AL:ICE-9 by Charles Lamb Read Free Book Online Page B

face.
    “My ex got that look when something bad came up, like she wrecked the car or ruined my favorite t-shirt. You know the ones with the half-naked hula girls. Genetics are a bitch.”
    “I’m not sure I like the association,” she fired back, “but yes, we do need to talk and I didn’t want to include this in the general presentation.”
    “So give” Jake said.
    “To put it flatly, we don’t know what’s next,” she stated.
    “What do you mean, what’s next?” Linda asked.
    “I mean up to this point we always had some indication of what the NeHaw might do next. However, as of now we are so far off the map, we have absolutely no idea of their next move. There are no references in any of the NeHaw manuals or Treaty materials to anything remotely like this situation. And remember, everything I just presented was our best guess, we have no real means of validating it.”
    Jake thought about that for a moment and then said, “Ok so let’s talk this through. First, we assume they know about the RF bombs, stasis shields and the rail guns, so coming here in any standard faster than light ships are out of the question. With our three re-enforced cruisers and their newest battleship, they would be out matched.”
    “Jake, can’t they just boost their shields to protect themselves from the RF?” Sara asked,
    “Even with updated RF shielding, that much high energy close up is still a viable weapon. It won’t work from a distance, it would have to be something like a space landmine. They would have to be right on top of it, but yeah we still have some life in that option.”
    “What about non-standard ships?” Patti asked.
    “That’s my thought. I imagine the NeHaw are dusting off all the abandoned and obsoleted technology they have on record, searching for a solution to this as well. Our one saving grace is they have a long way to go to get here and anything sturdy enough to stop a rail gun round is going to travel slowly.”
    “Why are you so sure about that?” Patti asked.
    “As a matter of reference, a traditional human top end heavy weapon is a 30mm machine gun. A 30mm diameter lead bullet weights 14oz. and travels at approximately 3,000 feet per second. Depleted Uranium is almost 70 percent denser than lead and the rail guns use 2 inch diameter rounds, or 51mm for you math challenged people,” Jake added while looking at Sara.
    At that, Sara stuck her tongue out at Jake.
    Continuing with a smile, he said, “It’s also longer so let’s just say its 3 pounds of hardened metal flying at 12,000 feet per second. For you non-physics types, Force equals Mass times Acceleration, but in our case acceleration equals velocity divided by time. For this discussion, time is a constant because in space, there is no deceleration whereas on earth, gravity and atmospheric drag slows the projectile over time.”
    At this point Jake paused to survey the collection of blank expressions, “OK, so in simpler terms, that equates to about 4 times the mass and 4 times the velocity of a 30mm round. Or to make it even simpler, a 30mm as described hits with 122,378 foot pounds of force over 1.1 square inch surface area while the rail gun is 6,713,287 foot pounds over 3.1 square inch area. Final numbers are, the 30mm hits with 111,253 pounds per square inch while the rail gun is 2,165,576 pounds per square inch. That makes the rail gun about 20 times more lethal.”
    Everyone sat staring at Jake. Finally, Patti asked, “Jake, why do you know all that?”
    “I did the math before asking ALICE to build them. Engineer, remember?”
    “And all that means?” Linda asked, clearly not wanting any more physics lectures.
    Jake paused a minute, and then said, “When we patched the NeHaw ships, we found holes that went through three decks before the round stopped. Some in the bow area where its narrower, went completely through, top to bottom. They sent the battleship because it was so thick it could take the pounding. If they