Freedom TM

shut down—blind to a complex multidimensional operation that required close coordination across six states.
    The Major burned holes into them with his stare, and then stormed out of the trailer. “Colonel, get these drones back on line or get more.”
    “They won’t get here in time.”
    “Then get amateur astronomers with binoculars in a fucking Piper Cub—but get me real-time information on my battle space. Is that understood?”
    “Yes, Major.”
    They were now walking among several large trailers placed within an aircraft hangar—thick bundles of power cables running from each.
    A Korr Military Services communications officer stuck his head out of a nearby trailer. “Major! You need to hear this.”
    He extended a pair of radio headsets.
    “It’s coming over all our encrypted channels.”
    The Major hesitated before putting them to his ear. He heard a vaguely familiar voice speaking over the comms….
    ______________
    Ross listened to the booming voice, echoing across the town. It seemed to be coming from the sky and was loud enough to be heard over the sound of nearby machine-gun fire….
    “Attention enemy force: you have unlawfully invaded this community. Drop your weapons and surrender and you will not be harmed.”
    The gunfire and explosions had paused. There was sudden calm as the voice in the sky spoke again, this time in a foreign language that sounded vaguely Slavic—yet not Russian. It was nonetheless a voice Ross recognized as that of Roy Merritt.
    The sheriff meanwhile had his HUD glasses back on and frowned in confusion. “Where is that coming from?”
    Ross pointed into the street. “Him.”
    They both looked down and saw the Merritt avatar with his hands at the edges of his mouth “shouting” his terms to the entire town.
    “But it’s coming from the sky.”
    “Hypersonic sound.” On the sheriff’s look, he explained, “High-frequency audio beam projection. I’ll show you later—just listen.…”
    They could now hear laughter emanating from the private military contractors arrayed around the town, standing behind their ASVs or crouching in nearby buildings.
    “
You have violated the popular will of a critical mass of thepopulation—which empowers me to take you into custody—by force if necessary.”
    A distant shout. “Fuck you!” Followed by gales of automatic weapon fire.
    “You have been warned.”
    As Ross watched, Merritt’s avatar raised its hands and looked up into the sky—where Ross suddenly saw a grid of numeric D-Space call-outs appear and slowly grow larger. As they did, physical objects came into sight—what could only be described as shimmering mirrored “dots” or tiny spheres coming down from above. It was impossible to say how large they were because he had no scale reference, but from his limited view looking up from between bank pillars, he saw at least five—arrayed in an orderly pattern. Merritt’s avatar lowered his hands, bringing the dots even lower. They appeared to be spinning very fast, shimmering.
    The sheriff looked up, too. “What are they?”
    Ross clicked on one of the call-outs and read its properties. “Hot mirror … faceted high-rotation inertial gyroscope … see Fire-Strike.…” He clicked a link. “One-hundred-kilowatt solid-state laser … infrared.” He looked back at the sheriff. “I think the shit is about to hit the fan.…”
    A bullet whined past and ricocheted off the wall.
    Ross ducked but then heard Merritt speak again.
“Network citizens! I need your help to identify the enemy. Aim any D-Space pointing device at enemy units until they throw down their weapons and raise their hands in surrender. You must respect their surrender. You will be scanned for honesty after this is over. Please keep pets and small children indoors. Thank you.”
    Ross and the sheriff exchanged puzzled looks, but Ross put down his AK-47 and clicked on his D-Space pointer. It appeared much like a laser dot, but was only visible in D-Space. He cautiously peered out from behind the pillar and aimed his finger at amachine gunner sitting in the turret of the nearest ASV, bringing the dot to bear on the man’s head.
    In moments, a discernable beam—like an intense ray of sunlight—shot from the nearest mirror ball and burned through the particle-filled air, becoming invisible by the time it reached the ground. But the soldier leapt up and tore off his helmet screaming and rolled off the turret. Other soldiers looked at him and