AL:ICE-9 (5 page)

The idea that she might actually make this trip just her and Jake however, lasted about as long as it took to see Sandy slink off into his bedroom, while everyone else was engrossed in discussion. Therefore, after excusing herself last night, she headed to her own room and started contacting all the others with her idea. Their responses totally caught her off guard.

Linda and Kathy, both new mothers, couldn’t imagine leaving the babies alone so soon. In addition to that, neither would even consider anywhere that might require wearing a swimsuit. Jessie just laughed at the notion of any travel, so unless they were going to R & R in Alaska, she was a no go.

Bonnie had been the most perplexing of all. As the one who delivered first, Julie was the oldest of the babies and well established with a nanny. None of her excuses made any sense to Sara, and if she didn’t know better, she thought Bonnie was looking for reasons not to go with them.

Becky however, was the exact opposite. She was more than supportive of the idea and was suggesting that maybe Sara should consider skipping this trip altogether. Once Sara explained, in no uncertain terms, that wasn’t an option, she started suggesting more reasonable options for a larger group.

Sandy wasn’t available until this morning and Sara was lucky enough to catch her at breakfast before Jake’s untimely arrival. She was ever so enthusiastic, completely unfazed by the idea that there would be more than just her and Jake. The conversation was cut short however, by Jake’s appearance. However, Sandy was able to finish that she was happy with whatever Sara set up.

The sudden outburst and exit had startled Sara, apparently as much as the others. Then again she thought, as brilliant a people person as Sandy was, her inner teenager appeared at the most unusual times.

----*----

After breakfast, Jake had excused himself, stating he wanted to try to get some work done. With that, Sara announced she was off to the command center on some errand of her own, though Jake noted she had chosen not to expand on it. Kathy, the last of the three, declared she was going to have a little more coffee and then head off to medical for her normal shift.

Instead of finding a vacant office, Jake just returned to his room and grabbing a seat at the desk, hit the display button on his terminal and set about reviewing his personal communications. Jake directed ALICE to classify information on his “Special Project” for his eyes only. This was in contradiction to most of the daily reports, which were available to all staff personnel unless they involved things like personal medical information.

As a rule Jake hated keeping secrets, if you were good enough to recruit and passed the ALICEs two-week post recruitment psych evaluation, you can be trusted. This information, however, would become disruptive once out, so he wanted all his ducks in a row first.

Jacob reported he was finished with the first 10 prototypes, per Jake’s request, and the test results had proven better than expected. Both Abby and Joe, Jake’s personally selected testers, had reported their satisfaction with the initial two prototypes and the expanded test group all reported similar results with a minimum of requested changes. Jake could hardly wait to get his own shot at one but knew that had to wait.

In separate communications, both Abby and Joe had reported on the other assigned activities outside of the testing work they were performing. Each assured Jake that their training was on schedule and that the individual and joint exercises he had assigned them were on track for completion within the next two weeks. They both expressed a desire for Jake to allow them to demonstrate how effective their newly acquired skills would be in practical use.

Jake was quite positive, given their personal relationship, that both Joe and Abby knew exactly what the other was sending him. However, Jake could separate out just enough from each to feel confident they were in fact progressing right on schedule and to the necessary level of excellence. He knew what he needed for this project to succeed.

The last few months had Jake concerned over the ever-escalating aggression, both at home, and in space. If things continued on this track, he was going to find himself in a two front war with dissention on earth and with the NeHaw above. With the NeHaw, he had hoped to be using the stasis shields, rail guns, and RF bombs in a direct run on their home world. With that, he could knock them so far back on their heels, earth could have time to rebuild in earnest.

Now that he understood they didn’t exactly know where the home world was, the rail guns upset the faster than light field generation and while the RF bombs would make great land mines, the NeHaw would explode them far sooner and much farther out, minimizing their effectiveness. However, doing a planetary bombardment like the one earth had received had distinct possibilities.

Never being the kind of person who wallowed in self-pity, this simply meant that Jake had to focus on front two for immediate actionable resolution. Jake had always maintained two daily routines since he started this new life. The first was his daily workout, it wasn’t always first thing in the morning and with these ribs it was on hold, but he would do some form of exercise. The second was a review of all the status reports provided from every ALICE location and community patrol.

The internal reports he scanned for irregularities. When organizations start to become routine, the odd items jump off the page and foretell trouble. The community reports gave Jake a sense of the world at large, or rather the parts they were directly influencing. If one area increased the quantity or type of supplies they ordered and the ALICE team in that region hadn’t indicated additional activities there, Jake would have ALICE increase observations. He hated to think of it as spying, more like dad installing a GPS in the kid’s car. It never hurts to know where they are going.

In most cases, the observations revealed increased hostile activity by outside factions. The whole idea of community patrols had been to create and support safe zones around the civilized communities. The need arose from outside lawlessness and the patrols were there to ensure stability. They weren’t cops, they didn’t enforce local laws necessarily, although rape, murder and other such severe violations were exceptions. It was up to the towns inside the stable zones to create and enforce their own local ideas of the civil code.

The patrol ensured that the raiding and pillaging elements remained unwelcome and these communities prospered without fear of the loss of all that they worked so hard to achieve. Unfortunately, as is all too painfully obvious at times, only the threat of force prevents the most aggressive of types from having things their way.

This too, was why Jake had such a hard and fast rule about those allowed to join the patrols. Considered a high honor, it was second only to direct recruitment into an ALICE facility. Once you became a member, it was more than just common knowledge of the consequences around abusing their position. Anything from punishment to banishment was possible by their communities.

The communities knew lack of enforcement meant the risk of losing all support. All members considered getting local punishment as getting off easy, for if they called in Jake to intervene, well, the well-known incident at Kern had the usual embellishment. While not technically an abuse of patrol, it certainly was abuse of a community under Jake’s watchful eye.

With all his correspondence and paperwork caught up, Jake stretched, wincing only a little, then got up and headed out to see what trouble the others were getting into.

Chapter 5

MeHak had been head of the High Council for many, many megacycles. She was the supreme leader of over a thousand worlds and controlled NeHaw interests throughout the multiple galaxies they managed. Ignoring the occasional token concession to other council members on issues of lesser importance, she always got her way.

Therefore, saying she was at her wits end over these catastrophic failures in some backwater sector, was a complete and total understatement. The loss of five, top of the line, combat vessels, and the year’s tribute of the entire sector was intolerable. The whole reason those four battle cruisers patrolled that sector instead of the smaller and more common destroyer class was to prevent this very thing from occurring.

However, at the fringe of the NeHaw galaxy, those five worlds’ technological production struck at the very heart of NeHaw power. Repulser and faster than light drive manufacturing, a major starship construction and repair yard, and worst of all, the source of the NeHaw interplanetary communication's equipment. All from planets in that sector.

She had every council member scurrying around, searching for answers and quelling the questions among the many subspecies they “protected from outside aggression.” This recklessness was the kind of thing that gave them ideas of independence.

Then there were still those on the council pointing at her, reminding her that all the decisions made to this point had been at her approval. Although she would not admit it, it was not until the need to send the battleship that she remembered even discussing that forsaken planet. She had not recalled anything out of the usual in the reports. These were undesirable incidents for sure, but not without precedent.

Then there were the rumors circulating. Some were saying there was altering of reports and the actual incidents were far more devastating to the NeHaw. Even if untrue, there were far too many ready to believe them. Really, a primitive planet defeating four cruisers and a battleship. How absurd.

With the loss of the battleship, however she had issued an order to upgrade all NeHaw combat vessels insuring no other would fall into inferior hands. It was bad enough to lose the ships, but to have them used against you was beyond insult.

Her challenges of late related to the stupid males she had to deal with on a daily basis. Between the council members, Space Fleet commanders and ships captains, she had her fill of failures. Females were naturally more intelligent than males but these seemed to be denser than usual. Her female friends had never understood her desire to pursue a political career. It was such a useless pursuit for anyone with true intellect. Art, philosophy, and music were the only acceptable callings for the female elite.

MeHak tried to explain the beauty in mass manipulation, or the utter joy of orchestrating a coup over a political opponent. She relayed the sense of accomplishment when you subjugated entire species, bending them to the needs of the NeHaw. None could grasp her motivations for any of these activities. They could not get past the excessive amount of time spent with lesser beings, be they NeHaw males, or subjugate representatives.

Pushing all that from her mind, she set to the task of dealing with the issues at hand and uncovering the truth. She needed to understand what was really occurring and how far this corruption had truly spread. Therefore, she thought she had just the test in mind.

----*----

After leaving his room, Jake headed to the command center to see if Linda, who was the true location commander here, needed anything from him. Checking in there and getting the all clear, he headed to the hanger area to check on their fighters and see what other trouble he could get into. He wasn’t used to all the down time, having been at a run since the last engagement.

While checking out his ship, the overhead doors opened and one of the many heavy lift helicopters dropped in and settled to one side of the large open area inside the hangar. Once it had shut down, the rear door dropped and a group of staff, actual people instead of bots, climbed aboard and started offloading vehicles. Jake wandered over and slid quietly up to the person he figured was overseeing the operation. Standing there for a few seconds, he then quietly asked, “So, what’s up?”

He felt bad after the poor woman almost jumped out of her skin before replying, “Oh, hi, major, this is just a vehicle transfer from the Texas location. When we need special equipment, they just stuff them in a helicopter and fly them here.”

Jake thanked her and continued to watch quietly as they unloaded the rest of the vehicles, and then he walked over to one of the many-parked helicopters on the far side of the floor. After he climbed in, he verified the comm. system was up and functional.

“ALICE, what is the current status of
Revenge
?” he asked.

“
Revenge
is still in orbit, just outside of the repair zone surrounding the battleship. Human habitable status is green. All necessary system refits are complete. It is currently acting as a training platform for crew space readiness and with a six person team on board.”

“Is it supporting any of the repair activity?”

“Negative, it was intentionally left off repair duty as crew training was considered a higher priority and its participation would be a marginal impact at best.”

“Good,” Jake replied, “can you have it brought in and refit. I’d like any upgrades that impact faster than light removed, i.e. the rail guns, and have it readied for space trials. Do we have a crew capable of running some faster than light testing?”

“We have completed a significant number of crew rotations, providing a 30 person pool of acceptable crewman.”

“In your estimation, how many would be required for, oh let’s say a 10 day trial?”

“While the NeHaw staffed this particular cruiser at 35 personnel, I would suggest no more than a 10 to 12 human crew. With a 5-person bridge, including a captain, and two in the engineering section, there is sufficient redundancy to allow for both on and off shift periods for all members. Were this to be of extended duration, a larger sampling would be prudent.”

“Yeah, that was my thought as well and let’s be honest, if things don’t go well in testing, I don’t want to risk our entire resource pool,” Jake offered.

“So here’s the million dollar question,” Jake continued, “what do we do about astronavigation? I mean that once this ship leaves the solar system, it’s all on them, no ALICE support. I presume you can pre-program the sequences I am thinking about, but in reality they need a navigator capable of bringing them home.”

ALICE replied, “As you might have assumed, that is not a skill set easily acquired. With the capture of the first cruiser, we began evaluating potential candidates for the initial sleep learning program. At this time we have identified 11 strong candidates and have begun the initial practical training as sleep learning is almost complete.”

Jake asked, “I assume all were included in the spaceship crew training program as well?”

“Yes, one of the criteria was a desire to go to space. Without that, they would be of limited value.”

Jake laughed at the comment. While all the ALICEs currently populated had displayed a certain “humanization,” they all still held a certain clinical attitude about some things.

With that exchange as a kickoff, Jake went into the details on what he was thinking and what testing he desired completed in these trials. He also listed some additional personnel he wanted to include, but warned ALICE to ensure that all personnel selected were to keep quiet on the subject. Like his “Special Project,” if this got out too soon, it would cause disruption amongst the staff.

Once they agreed on a timeline, Jake asked for notification once the ship was ready for return to space. He then climbed out of the helicopter and headed back into the main facility for lunch.

----*----

The following morning Jake awoke alone, an event that somewhat surprised even him. Seeing as there were four of the rotation ladies in residence and Sandy had pretty much removed the stay on those activities, he assumed someone would be knocking on his door last night.

At breakfast, they reinforced his confusion, for as he walked in he found Kathy, Linda, and Sara all at chatting away. Again, grabbing his food first, he took his tray and took a seat with the group.

“Morning all,” he said as he seated himself.

“Morning,” was the unanimous reply.

“What’s with the combat suit?” Jake asked of Sara, she being in full dress, minus her helmet.

“Just prepping for our day, after breakfast you need to get suited up as well,” she replied with a smile.

Both Linda and Kathy just smiled at Sara’s statement, making Jake suspect a conspiracy.

“And we are going where?” he asked, not really expecting to be told.

“Oh it’s a surprise,” Sara replied, “just eat up and then we’ll get you suited up.”

Acknowledging Sara, and knowing he would not get any more out of her, he finished up while the three women continued to chat. Once he finished all four rose and both Kathy and Linda gave him a kiss and wished him good luck with a laugh. Jake then followed Sara to the ready room off the hangar area and gently suited up, his ribs still reminding him of their current state of disrepair.

Once suited up with helmets in hand, the two jumped into one of the smaller helicopters, Sara’s pre-packed bags already loaded. The bags confirmed Jake’s suspicions that Sara was whisking him away, possibly a repeat of their island adventure. The memory of the sand, sun and Sara, gave him a surge of excitement.

Not wanting to ruin her surprise, Jake avoided asking her directly about their destination. Instead, he just enjoyed the ride and her company. They chatted as the trip progressed and as they passed over the LA area, Jake was even more convinced he knew their destination.

Once they were over water, Sara started to strip down, inviting Jake to do the same. She produced two swimsuits, one for each of them. To Jake’s disappointment, hers was not the one he had originally provided her on their first trip. That moment passed quickly though as he remembered how little time she actually wore the suit, spending most of the time completely naked in the water or on the beach.

By the time they reached the island, Jake was in a swimsuit, with a t-shirt covering his wrapped ribs. Sara had a similar t-shirt on over her 2-piece swimsuit. Instead of landing at the beach as they had on the first trip, the helicopter continued up to the airstrip, slightly around and back onto the island.

Once on the ground, the door opened, allowing Jake and Sara to disembark. Jake was shocked at what lay before him. Several more aircraft sat parked along the airstrip, with people moving between the aircraft and the building. The people were working on the structures, clearly making repairs. At this point, one of the many jeep type vehicles pulled up next to the pair. Having come from one of the nearby buildings where it had been stored, Jake assumed it was their ride. Sara grabbed their bags and dropped them in the back, motioning for Jake to climb in.

“Get in,” Sara told the confused Jake.

“What’s going on here?” Jake asked, pointing at all the activity as he got in.

“We are upgrading the island. Wasn’t it your idea for this to be a regular rest and relaxation facility,” Sara replied, “isn’t that what you and ALICE originally planned?”

“Sure,” Jake replied, “I just didn’t think that was in motion yet.”

“Oh no,” Sara answered, “we’ve been working on this place and rotating staff though here for months.”

They had been talking as the jeep passed the construction on the buildings along the way. All the work consisted mostly of human efforts, with the occasional bot or automated construction equipment tossed in. As they turned down the familiar path to the beach, Jake was surprised to see several more people either playing in the water or lounging in the sand and sun.

Pulling up in front of the same container like box he and Sara had occupied before, Jake noted several more identical boxes lined up down the beach, each pushed back next to the bank and all had their awnings out and doors open.

All up and down the beach, he could see mostly women, with the occasional couple, taking full advantage of their down time. He had a bit of a flashback to the pre-disaster California. The only thing missing were the surfers.

As they climbed out of the jeep and grabbed their bags, Jake turned to the sound of someone calling his name. In the surf, waving at him were two immediately recognizable women. Becky was there, having been the one who hailed him. She was wearing the black two-piece bikini ALICE had made up, similar to the one he had made Sara. This one however, Becky had insisted be made smaller, to one up her sister. Standing next to her was Sandy, in a pink with white polka dot suit, far more conservative than Becky’s bikini, but still smaller than most of the other 2-piece suits on the beach.

Jake tended to avoid making comparisons of the different women he was involved with, preferring to think of each of them individually. This however was completely unavoidable while watching the two younger women standing together in their swimsuits. He had always considered Sandy to have the bigger bust line while Becky was just curvy. He now realized Sandy was all boobs, with a slender body beneath while Becky was every bit as busty, just more balanced. Both women were built to entice.