The Rhoedraegon Chronicles: Book Two. Paul Sr. Alcorn

makes it so unusual is its flight time. That’s a distance of four thousand yards that it covered in less than two seconds.”

      “And it was physical?”

      The chief nodded. “It was an object, not an energy wave or photon packet or any other kind of plasma. We’ve been trying to figure it out, but nothing’s come up so far.”

      “Tell me about its trajectory,” Mathew said.

      “I see you haven’t lost any of your sharpness. It’s the first thing I thought to check. If it had been a high arc, of course, I would have guessed some sort of mortar device or a rocket designed to run out of fuel just in time to drop the payload on the target from above. No luck. This came in vertically, straight line from the source to the target. Whoever it was that did this, they were good. They set up shop where they had a clear line of sight between two hills on the eastern side of the valley directly at the shipping depot. It was a straight shot.

      “What about a rail gun?” Mathew asked. The chief looked at him for a moment and blinked.

      “I hadn’t thought of that. It’s such old technology.”

      “But not cheap. How difficult would it be to set up a small portable rail gun, firing a projectile over that distance?”

      Wannamaker was pouring over a side screen, doing an instant search through the archives and proposing a scenario involving the type of weapon Mathew was suggesting. A rail gun is an almost frictionless projector, consisting of a channel above which floats a solid projectile that is thrust forward by electromagnetic couplings at tremendous speeds. Larger units had been developed that could produce several million foot pounds of thrust on an object as simple as a cylinder of plastisteel four inches long and one inch in diameter. The destructive force would certainly be enough to have created the effect of incinerating the storage depot on impact.

      “It’s possible and the expected results match what happened to the depot, but it would have to be massive in size! That was the original problem with railguns as a weapon. They were stationary, making them easy targets, they were massive, meaning they were easily detected, and they used massive amounts of energy. As soon as energy pulse weapons were perfected, they were abandoned.”

      “Well it seems someone may have resurrected the technology.”

      Ike Wannamaker whistled and shook his head. “If somebody has found a way to create a portable rail gun, even one of short range, they’d have an unstoppable weapon, wouldn’t they?”

      “That was my thinking. Has anyone been out to the site yet?”

      The chief nodded and brought up another image on a side screen. It was a list of names and an official action report.’

      “A team was dispatched as soon as we located the probable source of the projectile. Six troopers and one of my sergeants, all humans, were sent out for a look-see but they reported nothing.”

      Mathew thought for a moment. “Still, I think I’ll have a look for myself. What time is it?”

      “A quarter to noon, local time.”

      “Right. I have a guest I need to see to. Maybe we’ll take a little trip this afternoon, just to enjoy the countryside.”

      Wannamaker stiffened slightly. “It will take a while to arrange an escort…”

      “Not necessary, chief. We’re just going out for a little run around the country. Don’t mention any of this to anyone, and that includes your assistant chief. You might see what else you can find out about rail guns while we’re gone. I’ll check with you later.”

      “Yes, My Lord.”

      Mathew sat back down for a moment, and stared at the display. He scanned the whole area to see if there were other possible sites from which the attack could have come. There were none. This had to be a well planned and well executed attack and once again he had the nagging feeling that this was no random terrorist action by some small group of radicals. There was organization here, and planning. That frightened him more than the attack itself. He rose, nodded to Chief Wannamaker without further comment and left.