Nanotroopers
Episode 20: Doc II
Copyright 2017 Philip Bosshardt
A few words about this series….
*** Nanotroopers is a series of 15,000- 20,000 word episodes detailing the adventures of Johnny Winger and his experiences as a nanotrooper with the United Nations Quantum Corps.
*** Each episode will be about 40-50 pages, approximately 20,000 words in length.
*** A new episode will be available and uploaded every 3 weeks.
*** There will be 22 episodes. The story will be completely serialized in about 14 months.
*** Each episode is a stand-alone story but will advance the greater theme and plot of the story arc.
*** The main plotline: U.N. Quantum Corps must defeat the criminal cartel Red Hammer’s efforts to steal or disable their new nanorobotic ANAD systems.
Episode # Title Approximate Upload Date
1 ‘Atomgrabbers’ 1-14-16
2 ‘Nog School’ 2-8-16
3 ‘Deeno and Mighty Mite’ 2-29-16
4 ‘ANAD’ 3-21-16
5 ‘Table Top Mountain’ 4-11-16
6 ‘I, Lieutenant John Winger…’ 5-2-16
7 ‘Hong Chui’ 5-23-16
8 ‘Doc Barnes’ 6-13-16
9 ‘Demonios of Via Verde’ 7-5-16
10 ‘The Big Bang’ 7-25-16
11 ‘Engebbe’ 8-15-16
12 ‘The Symbiosis Project’ 9-5-16
13 ‘Small is All!’ 9-26-16
14 ‘’The HNRIV Factor’ 10-17-16
15 ‘A Black Hole’ 11-7-16
16 ‘ANAD on Ice’ 11-29-16
17 ‘Lions Rock’ 12-19-16
18 ‘Geoplanes’ 1-9-17
19 ‘Mount Kipwezi’ 1-30-17
20 ‘Doc II’ 2-20-17
21 ‘Paryang Monastery’ 3-13-17
22 ‘Epilogue’ 4-3-17
Chapter 1
“Infinite Armies”
“The role of the infinitely small is infinitely large.”
Louis Pasteur
Sisal, Yucatan State
Mexico
October 27, 2049
0600 hours (U.T.)
When Johnny Winger was six years old, the family took a trip to Florida. He remembered the trip: the boardwalk at Daytona Beach, playing skeeball with his brother and sister, plunging his face into cotton candy balls. Mostly he remembered riding the Dragon’s Tail at Cocoa Beach. Now that was a coaster. You got on and jerked to a start and the whole world turned upside down. You were slung from side to side like a rabbit in a cat’s mouth. You had to squint in the wind. Up, down, side to side, your guts pulled up right out of your mouth…it was all any six-year old could ever want.
That’s what it was like when you touched the Sphere.
After the world stop spinning, Winger rested for a few moments, letting the sensations around him flood into his head. He smelled salt air, he smelled fish, he heard something like boat masts clanking and flags or pennants snapping in a freshening breeze.
Then he opened his eyes, saw dimly some racks of twine and rope coiled and lined up along the stucco wall of some dilapidated warehouse and a sudden blur of motion out of the corner of his eye.
The blur turned out to be Taj Singh.
“Taj…it’s you…”
Singh sat down next to Winger. “Yes, sir…and Mighty Mite’s over here—“ he pointed to a bush nearby, where Barnes was getting up unsteadily to her knees.
She brushed off dirt and mud. “Where is here, Skipper…did we make it?”
Winger hauled himself to his feet, hanging on to a tree stump. They were near a fishing village—it looked like the Yucatan—and then he realized they had landed near the port of Sisal, on Yucatan’s Gulf coast. The odor of drying fish was now overpowering. Below them, a white-washed grid of stucco and plaster buildings was visible, and beyond that wharves and docks filled with fishing vessels of all types.
“I know this place,” he decided. “That Sphere dropped us about twenty kilometers from the base…I can’t tell about the time yet.”
“At least we’re in the neighborhood,” said Barnes.
Singh watched crews sort out their nets and gear on the wharf, getting ready for the day’s work at sea. He tried focusing on one crew—their boat had Maria Segovia stenciled on her stern—and watched them drag equipment on board. He became curious at the approach of another man, clearly not one of the crew, walking quickly down from the pilothouse, dodging nets and tackle. Perhaps an owner. Or a broker.
Then, with a start, Taj Singh realized he had seen the man before.
“Hey, isn’t that Jupiter down there?”
“What—where?”
Singh pointed out the dock, toward one end of the wharf. “The shorter man in the tan jacket, with the hat.” The man was sporting a Panama style hat, slung low over his eyes.
“Taj, I think it is,” said Barnes squinting in the sun. “What the hell—“
They watched for a moment, as Kulagin stopped to talk with one of Maria Segovia’s crew. Something was exchanged—money, perhaps? There were gestures. An argument. A third man was called in.
Winger watched it all. “Jupiter’s still our target.”
“Where’s Juno?” Barnes asked.
“I don’t know but I have an idea. Doc, configure C-38. Prepare for launch.”
“What do you have in mind, Major?” Barnes was almost afraid to ask. She knew Winger often went with hunches.
“I’m launching Doc and configging him to operate as a spybot. If I can get him close enough, we can embed Doc somewhere on Jupiter’s person and keep the surveillance up.”
As Winger’s shoulder capsule port opened and the sparkling mist of Doc began issuing out into the humid tropical air, Jupiter, aka Dmitri Kulagin, concluded his negotiations with the crew of the Maria Segovia. He hoisted up a small knapsack and boarded the craft.
***Configuring C-38, Base…adding extra grabbers now…what is the nature of the mission?***
“Doc, I want you to replicate at one quarter rate, maintain C-38 and go to max propulsor. Steer heading—“ he made a quick judgment on direction, “—one five zero degrees. You’re going to take a little trip, Doc.”