A Short Story: Fish by Frank Sonderborg (Republic of B Chapter 6)

Republic of B by Frank Sonderborg

Fish

Jeff Fish Galloway considered himself a reasonable man. Someone who obeyed orders.
He had gone through his Navy career without bucking the system or making waves.
Marine commando to Specialist Boat Service. He had served all over the world and then some. But now he was pondering his career moves and his family’s safety.

He had been called into the HQ of the Admiral of the Fleet, Hugh Martinson and been told he had been picked to go on a very important mission.
All very hush hush. As all these missions where. A save the world jobbie, as all these jobs where.
For England and the King old chap.

Only there was very little of England left to save or the world for that matter.
The King was missing, gone away? Nobody knew where.
Done a runner it was said from the crowds rampaging through London and the rest of the country. The world economy had collapsed. Food riots where the order of the day. Nothing electric seemed to work.
So Jeff, for the first time in over 20 years of service to the crown was thinking about number one. He had to get his family out and away from Portsmouth to somewhere safe.

Not very much was safe in England, as the world as he knew it fell apart.
Israel had Nuked Iran which had upset everybody including the Chinese.
Iran had managed to Nuke Israel right back.
So all oil from the Middle East was stopped.
The US had thrown a wobbly and then collapsed along with their Dollar and the world banking system.
Everybody started settling old scores. EMP weapons where unleashed.
Electromagnetic Pulse weapons that pushed mankind back to the stone age.
Countries just ceased to exist overnight and what was left was a loose coalition of warring tribes.
If you did not belong to a tribe any tribe you got Orc-ed.

The Dark ages had returned to Europe with a vengeance.
Gold was now the only accepted currency along with bartered goods.
Women, Gold and Land as the Afghans used to say.
And we were getting used to the Afghan way. As they seemed to have the only workable form of governance.
Nothing much had changed in Afghanistan for hundreds of years, as the rest of the world became a just another suburb of Kabul.

Except for the occasional radioactive rain fall.

Fish had grasped that fact before most and had started making his plans.
Treason it would have been called, in a more enlightened time.
Enough to swing from the yardarm. Now it was just a survival plan.

The Special Boat Squad was now his family, his tribe.
So he worked to get the best deal for his band of tribal warrior brothers.

They needed a place to move to en-mass with their families and equipment.
Their trading commodity was Intelligence and death. But for now, mostly death.
Guns for hire was how one SBS wag put it.

The only game in town was Brighton. The Gold City by the sea.
They paid in hard cash. And it would provide a safe haven for families.

He had Matt and Sea Legs doing a deal with the powers that controlled Brighton.

As he spoke with Martinson about loyalty to the Crown.

Martinson offered him a drink.

"No Sir," was his reply.

"Well it’s like this Fish, we need something to stabilize our country, our government.

Get things back running as they should be."

Fish just smiled and wondered just how much whiskey Martinson had been drinking before he came in.

“Yes Sir, I understand. What do we need to do Sir?”

Bollox to this thought Fish. Let’s hear the plan and then I will go off and shuffle a few papers around.
There was no way was he going to get involved in some idiotic plan to save the empire.

Martinson showed him a sheaf of pictures and maps and papers.

“What you know about “Zero Point Energy,” he asked.

“Nothing,” said Fish.

“No problem Fish,” and Martinson continued “In 1966, Gerald Feinberg described the existence of a faster-than-light energy called Tachyon. This is in theory, is where most of the "Zero Point Energy Units" actually derive their energy. Electricity is a type of energy. The word Tachyon describes the Source of All Energies. In the summer of 1931, Nikola Tesla tested, in what is now believed to be the first known "energy receiver," (a gravitational energy converter,) that actually operated a motor-less vehicle. Tesla said the converter produced enough power to illuminate an entire house as well as run the car."

Wow! Thought Fish now he has my attention. Talk about a trading commodity. This was the big one.

“I see you get it,” said Martinson, “We have had this technology since 1931. And it has been kept under lock and key.”

“What here in the UK.”

“No in the US I believe.
But we have heard there is a man, a Professor in Italy called Todeschini, of the University of Bologna with a working solar powered model.
If we can get it working here," he paused for effect, "you do of course understand the implications”

“Yes Sir I do, And where do we come in, Sir”

“Well, we want you and your team to go Bologna and “Persuade him,” to take it to the UK for his own safety of course. We will of course pay him for his troubles.”

Thought, Yea I am sure you will. A quick knife in the back perhaps.

“He must understand what he has,” Fish interjected.

“Indeed he does. His own death warrant if he is not to careful.
There are lots of dark beasts out there in the night Fish.
At the moment they are not too organized and we believe we have a window of opportunity.
A very small window. That you and your SBS boyzz can pop through and bring home the bacon, so to speak for King and country.”

Fish was certainly interested. He didn’t trust Martinson. He didn’t trust the Royal Navy anymore.
And he certainly was not going to do it for a Playboy King lying with some bimbo on a beach in the Caribbean.
If he brought this back it would be for the tribe. It would make him and his SBS tribe very rich indeed.

“Of course Sir, we will do our bit. For Harry and St George.”

“Good chap. I will of course be sending some of my own people along with you.
Highly trained Technicians. Take care of all that Mumbo jumbo techno stuff, you understand.”

Thought, Yea a likely story. Highly trained assassins more likely.
We do the donkey work and for our reward we will get tapped on the head.

Said, “Of course Sir. We will need a good ship and of course, I need to pick my team.
So I will contact you as soon as I’m ready to rock and roll.”

“The quicker the better Fish. We do not have much time with this.
This can save us all.”

Fish had a ship but did not feel the need to tell him that.

This would make it very legal for now. Our tribe was loading it with all our gear.
So we would be stocked up to fight a war. Any war. Highest bidder type of war.

This side trip would do just fine. If we came back with a working Zero Point machine we could print our own money.
Either way we could get our tools of the trade out and most importantly our families.
Fish saluted and left.