Mateo was missing his wife, so he’s teleported himself to Mangrove One, the
floating platform off the coast of Balikpapan, Indonesia. He’s waiting in
their quarters at the moment. When she gets off work, they’re gonna fight.
She wants to come home, but she has to stay here and see this through.
Aldona has asked her for help in completing the defensive capabilities of
this reality’s version of Earth, and that’s what she’s going to do. She has
some conditions, which she has spent the last couple of days researching.
Her conditions would have been moot if the proverbial ship had already
sailed.
First of all, they need to stop making ships. They can make a few more if
they want, but they’re not the best way to go if the people running the show
are being honest about their intentions. If they’re truly only doing it to
protect the planet, then they should build a defensive orbital grid. The
ships are great; they can be used for patrolling and transport. But they
waste precious resources on mobility when all you really need is a wall.
Aldona is fighting her on that point, but not because she doesn’t agree.
She’s just spent so much time on this strategy. Leona has decided to let her
cool off on that, and ask about something related. “Why didn’t you develop
weapons for them?”
“I’m not here to help them kill people. I’m just here to protect people,”
Aldona replies. “I wouldn’t have thought you would suggest such a thing.”
“I’m not suggesting it,” Leona says. “My biggest worry is why they didn’t
demand you help them with offensive upgrades.”
Aldona chuckles and shrugs her shoulders. “They can demand in one hand, and
shit in the other. I ain’t givin’ them jack.”
Leona narrows her eyes. “The U.S. has never asked us for weapons either. Why
do you think that is?”
She shrugs again.
“You don’t find that suspicious?” Leona presses. “This world is famous for
its wars, yet nobody has asked known time travelers for better ways to make
that war?”
“You think they’re hiding something? Like what?” Aldona asks.
“Like a traveler that we don’t know about,” Leona hypothesizes.
Aldona goes back to plotting the locations of the next round of launching
platforms. “I would think you would have found a way to find all the
travelers by now.”
“We did. Well, we have, but we think there are two still left to check off
our list.”
“Why do I feel like you’re about to ask me something?”
“You have a thousand of these ships, right? And you said that you’ve only
been able to test one,” Leona begins.
“Mangrove Zero; launched from Panama, but Columbia was butthurt about it.
It’s international waters from now on. Mangrove One is the only one this
close to the coast.”
“But Mangrove Zero is still up there, correct? Doing what?”
“It was only proof of concept. It’s not doing anything. The small crew came
back down in a drop ship. Why? Do you want it?”
“We lost our ship. We could use another. With a permanent orbital
installment, I could confirm whether or not someone else is here, and where
they are,” Leona explains.
Aldona considers the request. “Okay, I’ll send it up the chain. I can
promise nothing, but my word should go a long way.”
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