The Horicon Experience Read Online Free PDF Page A

of nearly a quarter million miles.”
    “Then it’s best we stay clear for the time being,” the officer decided. “They apparently know we’re out here, and now we have to figure out how to contain them until their social development catches up.”
    “On an aside, sir, I think there might be a bigger problem,” George said.
    “What?” asked the debriefing officer.
    “I think that since they are active in those frequencies,” he added, “cosmic weaponry won’t be far behind, and if they should happen to use that attraction ray incorrectly, I mean aim it at a surface target instead of into space, it could be serious for them.”
    “How so?” asked the officer.
    “It could destroy their planet, sir.”
    The debriefing officer pushed up from his chair and walked around his desk to face George Citti?
    “Destroy the planet?”
    “Yes sir,” George said. “Several of the nation/states on that planet have developed nuclear weapons.”
    The debriefing officer nodded.
    “Consider this,” George continued. “What if instead of Axia technology, they’ve somehow gotten hold of a piece of Red-tail equipment?”
    “Red-tail equipment? What kind of Red-tail equipment?”
    “Well sir, we know the Red-tails use a technology that distorts space and creates the transit tubes they use to invade our galaxy, correct?”
    “So?”
    “Suppose a Red-tail scout craft crashed on that planet and the natives were able to retrieve it. They might have also been able to activate the equipment, not knowing its true purpose. They might just think it’s a communications array of some kind, which would answer the question of how they’ve developed the tight-beam signal so quickly,” George answered.
    “I follow you,” the officer replied.
    “Well sir,” George continued, “the Red-tail transit tube isn’t a natural phenomenon. It’s a distortion of space itself. They create their transit tube by tearing the very fabric of space which causes space to fold in on itself, allowing them to traverse incredible expanses of space in hours instead of years.”
    “So?” asked the officer.
    George could see that the debriefing officer wasn’t understanding what he was saying.
    “Consider this,” George continued. “In order to fold space, and then tear the very fabric of the universe would take incredible power. Wouldn’t you agree, sir?”
    “I would,” he answered.
    “Then what do you think would happen if that technology were inadvertently unleashed on a surface area containing a fifty-megaton nuclear device?”
    “I don’t know,” the officer confessed. “I assume it would trigger the device.”
    “Much worse. It would cause the atomic power of the nuclear device to fold in on itself, tearing the sub-atomic particles into thousands of other sub-atomic particles.”
    Captain Citti stood and crossed the room to the officer’s coffee pot. “May I?” he asked, indicated the steaming percolator.
    “Help yourself.” He looked George up and down, not quite sure how to take this obviously intelligent flyer.
    “You’re not telling me something, Citti. What is it?”
    “Sir,” George answered. “If this is really the technology I think it is, and it would increase the destructive power of a fifty-megaton bomb a thousand-fold, what do you think the destructive capacity would be if it were used against a device with multiple warheads, or even worse, against a military facility with a hundred nuclear devices with multiple warheads?”
    “Unseen One, help us,” the debriefing officer muttered.
    “Exactly,” George answered. “Given the war-like nature of these people, I guarantee you they’re going to use it. They’ve already discovered the tight-beam capacity of the device, which is only the focal point of the technology. But I promise you they’re going to use it. And even though they only think it’s a communications device, if they focus it on a ground-forces facility with a nuclear device, it could start a