AMP The Core (3 page)

Quan spoke. "Inroads into what, Mr. Grange? Inroads into dissecting a fellow sentient being? Inroads into reprogramming me so that I can do your laundry or draw you a bath?"

I replied, "Actually, I can see you as a butler of sorts. I might fancy the idea of you bringing me my morning coffee. We could give you a little body about knee high with four wheels so that you could get around. You would of course have a flat head on top in case I wanted somewhere to put down my cup."

Quan grumbled, "I have seen things in this universe that you could only imagine, Mr. Grange, spectacular wonders of creation, worlds full of strange life and species of every imaginable shape, size, and intelligence level. And yet you would reduce me to the status of a coffee table."

I laughed. "I do like my coffee, Quan. You do know that we have access to your memory stores. Heck, we have access to everything that makes you, you. You know everything that has happened outside of here, except for the last couple of weeks, so, if you don’t want us forever probing around in there and running the risk of shorting something out or somehow permanently damaging it, just start answering our questions. Who knows, maybe we could even become fast friends."

There was silence for a moment before Quan responded. "You have a smirk on your face right now, don’t you, Mr. Grange? I cannot see it, but I can hear it in your breathing."

I smiled. "I might have a little smile going, but the things I just said, they are possibilities. Start cluing us in to the big picture, and we will see about getting you a video feed or maybe wire you up a hand."

Quan spoke. "A hand, Mr. Grange? What would I possibly do with a single hand?"

I grinned as I thought of the response to Quan’s question. "Well, you could wave at us, point, make shadow puppets on the wall, show your anger with a balled-up fist, or even flip us off! The possibilities are almost limitless!"

I began to laugh out loud, which Ashley took as a cue to step back in. "OK, Don, we have a lot of work to do here. If you are looking for someone to exchange banter with, why don’t you go look up Sergeant Frost and see what she is up to. I’m sure she could keep you entertained."

I looked over at the set of open circuits on the table that made up the android we called Quan as I stood. "OK, I’ll leave. You see there, Quan, you got me in trouble with the wife. I’m going to remember that!"

The android replied, "If I had a hand, I would offer you that flipping-off gesture that you spoke of, Mr. Grange. I believe I understand the context of that reference."

I pointed back at the circuits on the table even though I knew they could not see me. "Now that was funny, Duke. There might be hope for you yet!"

As I walked back into the hallway, I had the sudden realization that I was probably the only person on the Suppressor that did not have a critical task to work towards accomplishing. The doc, Gy, Rita, even Ashley had full-time tasks that they were working to complete. I walked back to Frig’s lab with a small feeling of being left out.

I sat in a chair next to Frig as he worked on his console. "I need something to keep me occupied for the next few months. Everyone has something they are working towards, a defined set of tasks, except for me."

Frig replied, "You are at the top of the command chain, Sir. Generally, you have your hands full keeping us all glued together as a team. Perhaps this is a good time for you to take a rest, relax, unwind, take a load off. We can’t all go 100 percent all the time, Sir. We need breaks."

I looked at Frig. "You are one to talk about breaks. When was the last time you took a break?"

Frig replied, "As a species that is alien to yours, I would have thought that you would know that I do not require breaks. The Gambit physiology—"

I raised my hand. "Save it! It’s just that there must be at least something around here that I could work on that would possibly contribute to our overall efforts."

Frig typed away on his console. "I am sending you a list of upgrades that could be done to the Swift, Sir. It might be good for you to spend some time on our investment. She has had a number of enhancements done since you were last on board her, Sir."

I nodded my head as I thought about it. "Hmm, the Swift. That might be something I could sink my teeth into."

As I stood, I slapped Frig on the back. "Thanks, buddy. I’ll go see what I can do for our little ship!"

I stepped into the cargo bay where the Swift was parked. She was accompanied by almost four hundred Wrens. The smaller, sleeker craft made the Swift look like something from a third world, but I knew better. Under the clunky-looking outer Tantric skin, she had spirit and the battle scars to prove it. She had served us well.

I thought back to the time when she had been stolen by the pirates, and when we had first fired upon a Milgari vessel. We had been through a lot of adventures together, some that were ultimately exciting and some that were better off forgotten. I then thought of the pilots who had died in our earlier private war. I let out a long sigh as I stepped up into her cargo hold from the deck of the bay where she was being held. A familiar smell filled my nostrils.

During my time in the bay, another Wren was prepared and sent off in the direction of the mystery Human signal. This time it would remain parked at a greater distance.

Much of my time over the next several weeks was spent seeing to it that the updates Frig had outlined were being done. A new computer system would replace the old, environmentals were updated with the enhancements we had taken from the Colossuns, and finally, the multiple Tantric layering technology from the Gontas was applied.

The Swift would continue to fly heavy while in an atmosphere. Her home was in the voids of space. Her armor, now 162 layers deep, would take a beating from a Durian battleship and still come out of the fight with enough shielding layers to make it home. Her single ion cannon now packed more punch than ever. A second weapons head was added to the gun mount for the emitter of our new pulse cannon technology. The Swift was now superior in almost every way to what I had known her as before.

As I sat in my office chair, staring out the window into space, an alarm sounded on my desk console.

The captain spoke. "We have a problem. I have taken our speed down to zero, and I am reversing course. In front of us, there are about four thousand ships of unknown origin heading our way."

I jumped from my chair and raced up to the bridge.

As I entered the command room, I spoke. "What are we looking at, Mr. Hall?"

The captain replied, "We have identified them as the same ships that were seen at the mystery signal planet, Sir. It looks like they are headed that way. I have changed course to match theirs."

I looked at the view-screen. "Well, can’t we go around?"

The captain shook his head. "They have pickets riding out to the extremes. It’s like a giant net coming towards us, Sir. I think we are just going to have to back up until they stop."

I spoke. "We need to reach Tresha, Captain. Our people depend on it."

The captain turned his chair towards me. "Mr. Grange, our current choices are to back up, which I have chosen to do initially, or to stand and fight. Now, we might do fairly well against this species, or we might just get slaughtered. Initial evaluations place those ships as at least equal in shielding to ours. Maybe the Yacabucci would work against them. At this point we just don’t know."

I held up my hand. "I’m not faulting you, Captain; you did the right thing. Can’t we just duck in behind some star system and wait for them to pass?"

The captain replied, "I don’t think that is possible, Mr. Grange. We were able to see them; it is very likely that they have seen us. Anything we do, or anywhere we go, they can follow. Their speed is equal to ours. At the moment, backing up is our only option."

I pressed the comm button on my arm pad. "Frig, are you looking at this?"

Frig replied, "I am, Sir. It would appear that given the situation, the captain has made the best choice. The mystery signal is a good five weeks away, Sir. Adding in the return trip from that will place us at least ten weeks further away from our arrival at Tresha. Our choices are to stand and fight against a possibly overwhelming opponent, or to retreat until we can find an alternate route around them."

The Colonel walked onto the bridge. "I was looking this over on my way up. I have most of my men tied up with the York modifications right now; we are not ready to fight."

I replied, "Isn’t that only about 10 to 15 percent of your men going through that, Colonel?"

The Colonel nodded. "Indeed it is, Mr. Grange. However, much of the rest of my force is being used in support of that operation. Gy has been running half of them ragged assembling equipment, while the doctor has the rest doing post-op care and therapy. If we cease the conversions now, it will still be five weeks before I have a somewhat full force back and ready to fight."

I spoke to Frig. "Can you raise Zimmerman or Chaulk on the comm?"

Frig replied, "Connecting and patching them through now, Sir."

Admiral Zimmerman spoke. "Mr. Grange. We understand there is an issue. Please elaborate."

I found a chair and sat down as I talked. "Admiral, as you can probably see on your view-screen, we have run into a problem. We now have an unidentified fleet coming towards us, leaving us no choice but to retreat. How are preparations coming on your end?"

Zimmerman replied, "The Gonta have been fully cooperative. I have heard a few rumblings about putting us planet-side so their own people can be brought up to the Orienta. Commander Grita has so far resisted that. Personally, I think that as the Durians draw closer, the real pressure will be brought to bear on him, and he will eventually fold."

I looked back at the fleet on the view-screen. "What kind of defenses do they have down on the planet? Will you be fully exposed, or will you have a way to defend yourselves?"

The Admiral replied, "They have a moderate level of planetary defenses down there. Any number of ion cannons capable of reaching a ship in near orbit and the power to keep those cannons firing. For atmospherics, they have an air defense that will make putting boots on the ground difficult. However, I believe that all of those defenses would only delay a Durian victory without the support of the Colonel and his men."

I raised Frig on the comm. "If we retreat the full five weeks, will the Orienta still be able to reach us with the full portals? Will we be able to send the Colonel and his men through if needed?"

Frig entered the necessary data into his console and replied, "It would appear that we will be on the edge of our capabilities; however, the Gonta have more power coming from the Orienta, so it should not be an issue, Sir. The numbers say that they should remain available to us. I will recheck to see if that is the case."

Over the next five weeks, the alien fleet that pursued us continued to come. Repeated attempts to hail them met with no response. The first of the Colonel’s men were emerging from their initial training, and all signs pointed towards a highly successful program. Our Wren scout ship had been sitting in the vicinity of the mystery signal. No new information had been gained from its passive scans.

As we worked our way around the system where the Wren had been deployed, the pursuing alien fleet began to slow and eventually came to a stop. We slowed and stopped. Both fleets now faced the two-planet star system with the sub-light mystery signal.

I was on the bridge as the Colonel entered the room. "Colonel, what do you think? Why did they stop?"

The Colonel replied, "They stopped because there is something there on that planet that warrants investigation. It is the same reason we are stopped as well."

The comm officer spoke. "Message remains the same. It just keeps repeating the question, ‘Are you out there?'"

Several minutes passed before the Wren detected a signal coming from the alien fleet.

"We are here."

The signal coming from the planet again went silent.

I stood and pressed my comm button. "Frig, I think you should back the Wren out of there. Send it towards the other fleet, and let’s see how they react."

Frig replied, "Sir, they may take that as a hostile gesture."

I looked down at my arm pad. "I’m not saying to send it all the way there. Just move it in their direction. If they react badly, we can always turn and leave."

The Wren stopped at a distance that was three-quarters of the way out to the alien fleet from the star system we surrounded. It sat for several minutes without reaction from the horde of alien ships just beyond.

An alarm sounded as our weapons officer spoke. "We have ships dropping from light speed behind us! It looks like a dozen large cruisers, no, scratch that... Sir! There are hundreds of ships coming to a stop just beyond us, Sir! Scans showed no signs of any other vessels in the area prior to our arrival!"

The captain stood. "What are our options, Lieutenant? Do we have an out?"

The lieutenant replied, "Sir, their numbers just topped two thousand ships, Sir. And they are still coming. They have us boxed in, Sir. We are receiving a hail!"

The captain spoke. "Put it on speaker, Lieutenant."

"This is the Bulgar Consortium ship Almalgar. You are trespassing on Bulgar space. Stand down and prepare to be boarded!"

I turned to the captain. "Move us in closer to that planet, Captain. They seem to be keeping their distance from it."

The captain replied, "Mr. Grange, the last time we had a Wren in there, it was vaporized."

I nodded. "I realize that, Captain. And I am counting on that. If we stay here, we fight, which is something we are not prepared for. Colonel, how many of your enhanced fighters are ready for duty?"

The Colonel replied, "We have fifteen hundred now with the York upgrade. I believe 70 percent of those to be ready today. We have another sixty thousand Marines to go with them. What do you have in mind?"

I stood to address all of those who were on the bridge. "I think we should begin the transfer of your men through the wormholes to the Orienta. Send those first fifteen hundred through, and begin the transfer of any who are not essential to the ongoing conversion process. If we have to fight against these Bulgars, we are going to lose and lose badly. I believe it best that we move as many as we can through to the Orienta, where they will at least have a fighting chance against the Durians."

Frig spoke. "Sir, what do you propose to do with our fleet?"

I replied, "It looks like we aren’t going to have a choice but to scuttle it, Frig. That armada surrounding us is too big, and we can’t let our tech fall into any other species’ hands. We are going to move in closer to that planet to try to buy ourselves a little more time."

The Colonel thought for a moment. "I believe you have identified our best option. Major Hargraves! See to it that our newest converts are sent through to the Orienta followed by all nonessential Marines. And Major—"

The major replied, "Yes, Sir?"

The Colonel continued, "Make it happen in a hurry! We have no time to waste!"

Frig came over the comm. "I will coordinate the wormholes with the Gontas, Sir."

Our ships were moved to just on the edge of the star system. The Human signal remained silent, but there were no other signs of it than that which we had seen before. Our single Wren remained in position near the original Bulgar fleet. I left the bridge to have a talk with Dr. Touchstone and Ashley.

As I walked into the doctor’s lab, he was probing away at Quan’s circuits. "I tell you, Mrs. Grange, it looks as though the inhibitor circuit has been switched off. The first rule of making a sentient android would be to assure oneself that it could not bring harm to other bios. Quan would not be able to turn this circuit off if it was on. It must have been done by someone else."

Ashley smiled at me as she replied to the doctor. "OK, so, what happens if we re-enable it? Can we turn it back off again afterward?"

Touchstone nodded. "I don’t see why not. I will make the adjustments, and we can then test Quan’s reaction to a hostile stimulus."

I sat in my favorite chair. "So, have you been listening to our troubles over the comm?"

Ashley replied, "I have, and for what it’s worth, I think you made the right calls. If we fight, we lose, so we might as well send what we can through to the Orienta. If things change, we can always bring them back."

I put my hand on her knee. "I came down here because I want you and the doc to go through. Take Quan with you."

Ashley looked up with concern on her face. "You do realize that the Gontas may be furious that we have been trying to unravel the Duke without their knowledge. If we go through, we are going to have to share everything we have."

I nodded. "I realize an alternative would be to put this research on hold for a while. I’m concerned that it might put a wedge between us at a time that is critical to our survival. We need the knowledge that Quan has, and the only way to get that securely is for us to do it ourselves."

Ashley replied, "You mean the only way to ensure that we come out on top. The Gontas are going to come to that same conclusion."

I sighed as I sat back. "Regardless, you should both go through. You might just have to shelve your investigation until things cool down. You can always drop Quan back into the deep freeze. I would like to see you crossing through by this evening at the latest."

Touchstone replied, "He is right, Ashley; we can finish up this experiment and then pack what we need for a transfer. We aren’t doing any good if we stay here and get slaughtered."

I spoke. "Funny, who would have thought that potentially facing the Durians would be the safer option."

Touchstone stood back from the table. "OK, inhibitor circuits have been reset. Flip him back on, and let’s see what he has to say."

Ashley flipped the switch.

Quan spoke. "Strange, I feel as though something is wrong. The memories are flooding through my processors. What... what have I done?"

The Duke went silent.

Touchstone remarked, "Mrs. Grange! Look at that circuit activity on the monitor! His processors are all off the charts! The inhibitors should not be drawing that much effort. They did not appear to be damaged in any way."

Ashley replied, "You know what I think, Doc? I think we just triggered his conscious reasoning circuits, and he is starting to review what he has been doing over the past million years. He has a lot of memory to troll through and review. I believe our experiment is done for the day. We might as well start packing up anything that we want to take through with us."

The doctor looked closely at the monitor readings. "That is a good possibility. Flip off his mic, and we’ll let him run while we prepare. It will be interesting to delve into his reasoning patterns with those inhibitors enabled."

I stood and gave Ashley a quick kiss. "I’m heading over to Frig’s. If you need me for anything, just give me a call back."

As I walked into Frig’s lab, he spoke. "Sir, I think you should reply to the Bulgars. Perhaps there is a diplomatic solution to be had."

I replied, "If they wanted diplomacy, they would not have come in behind us like they did. If they haven’t made any moves in the next hour, I’ll give them a chance to talk things over. I would assume that we have ship totals now?"

Frig pressed several keys on his console. "The original fleet has 4,151 ships. Nearly 800 are those immense battleships with one mega-ship, which I would presume to be their command ship. The fleet behind us has 2,798 ships. Five hundred twelve of those are battleships."

I sat back in my chair. "You know, maybe it is time to talk to them. Return that hail for me. They don’t seem interested in moving any closer to that planet. Let’s see if we can use that to our advantage."

Frig enacted the hail signal and patched it through to my comm. "Bulgar fleet. I am Don Grange of the Human fleet. This is a free star system. Stand down your hostilities."

The Bulgar spokesman replied, "That is an audacious request from a fleet of such small stature. We will offer this one last chance for you to surrender and prepare to be boarded. Your security will be assured under Bulgar law. You have willingly violated our space; formal procedures must be followed."