Sentient (11 page)

Over the next two days Aide visited the different people on her ship with her body.  She also gave serious thought to what would happen when this was all over.  Obviously if they were destroyed, she wouldn’t have to worry about it.  But what about if they prevailed?  She didn’t really have any programming past that to return to her people.

Would she be free to pursue her own life?  Or would some hidden program, protocol, or even a transmission from her masters call her back to them for service?  If it did, what would happen to the five humans, if she left there would be only one way to control the information.  Her mind shuddered back from the idea. 

The most disturbing thing about it was she hadn’t ever given it a thought at all before Kris had suggested the possibility.  Almost as if she had been programmed not to?  Then again, her emotions and body were fairly new; it was possible that it just hadn’t occurred to her before now. 

She tried to make a point of talking to everyone at least once a day, but in truth most of her time in her body was spent with Olivia.  Even once they managed to leave the bed, she found herself working with Olivia as if they were colleagues as they tried to come up with something new to work on in the lab.  Even when away talking to others, her mind always seemed to wander back to the impressively intelligent and beautiful blonde woman.

Her main processor for the last two days worked on finishing up the programming for the large command carrier and its fighters, monitored the state of the world, and continued to help Kris become better at tactics and adjusting them during battlefield conditions.

The first went well and she was looking forward to the new ships.  The second was a bit more complicated.  There were rumors all over the internet now about ships approaching Earth, although the major news networks seemed to be blacking out the information.  Some of the governments she had sent information to had been making quiet plans to be in bunkers when it happened.

Not that it would help them if the Sthellan made it past.  Their weapons were just too crude.  A missile from one of their more advanced aircraft had less kinetic power than the ship hitting a small meteorite while cruising at fast speeds in space.  That even assumed the Sthellan would enter the atmosphere, more likely they would scour the world clean of satellites than bombard from orbit.

A few of the governments tried to demand oversight.  One even asked if they could be taken off planet to another one, kind of a lifeboat in case the world was destroyed.  She would’ve actually considered that, but it was too late.  Any ships fleeing the system would be seen now, and the Sthellan far from here would be receiving the active scanning of this solar system by now.

She hadn’t replied to any of the latter two, it was against protocols.  But she almost wished she could respond to that last request and explain why it wouldn’t work.

She mentally shrugged, the enemy was almost here.  She switched the bridge from simulation to actual and went through diagnostics one last time, making sure she had full control of the thirty six ships out there.  They were all gathered on the bridge, here to watch the battle.  She hoped that wouldn’t throw Kris off, but from what she was reading it was like they weren’t even there in his mind.

He was completely focused.

She said, “
They’ll be in range soon, you’re in command.
”

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Kris felt centered and focused.  He’d been a little nervous earlier, but that was normal before a mission, once the mission started his nerves always settled.  This time it was no different.

He’d found in the simulations it was best to start out simple, and adjust from there.  Really he had two jobs, defend the planet from attack, and defend his command ship.  It was easier to do both with the command ship close to the planet; otherwise he’d be susceptible to feints and trickery putting him out of place.  His ships were more powerful, but defending was harder, he had to make sure one enemy ship didn’t decide to avoid the fight and go straight to destroying cities.

He had to admit things got a bit easier once the shield modifications were online.  That was one advantage he had now, it would take more attacks now than the enemy knew to knock out his ships.

His command ship was just relatively close, a mere 1.5 million miles from the Earth, still far enough away in case something tried to get past him.  He was directly in the path of the enemy.  A few hundred miles in front of him were six ships laid out in a five pointed star pattern with a ship in the middle.  This would give him and the six ships plenty of room to back up during the battle before they had to stand firm.

The remaining thirty ships were ten thousand miles ahead of him in a six by five grid pattern.  

So far the enemy was approaching in a similar pattern, he would be happy to just slug it out, he knew one for one he would tear them apart in that case.  But he wasn’t expecting anything so simple to happen.  FTL had made the galaxy small, but the solar systems were still large in scope since sub light speeds needed to be used.  In Sol’s case, FTL wouldn’t work past Neptune.

Right before entering weapons range, the enemy broke apart in seemingly random directions.  He’d faced this scenario in the simulator, the first time he’d assigned a ship for every ship.  The faux random pattern of the enemy would keep his ships from ganging up on one of theirs, while in specific instances bring two or more ships in range with one of his.

He commanded, “
Split into two’s, go for the fifteen with the most direct trajectory toward the command ship and Earth.”

He’d worry about the other fifteen later, or when they changed tactics.

The enemy started to group in twos as well, but he ignored that, letting the ships double up on the original fifteen.  A few moments later plasma fire was traded back and forth by one pair, then a second, and then the room got extremely busy.

As some moved closer to him he ordered the ship and six covering scouts to start moving back.  Though the closest enemy ships started turning red, indicating they were destroyed on the hologram.  It looked like it was taking three to five hits to take an enemy out; the enemy needed more than double that thanks to the new shielding.

It was kind of calming to him actually; he’d have to really screw up bad to lose thanks to Olivia’s updates.  The enemy figured out the new shielding quickly however, and he lost two ships in quick succession, but the enemy ships were being destroyed much faster.

When the enemy was down to fifteen ships, they took off at right angles to his command ship like spokes in a wheel, and kept going.  He still had twenty six, so he sent two after eleven ships, and one on one for the last four.  The tactic confused him, if they split apart they wouldn’t be able to take any more of his ships, much less win the encounter.

Then the enemy ships all started to turn, it looked like they wanted to go around his command ship and make a run on Earth.  The ships were fairly even in speed but his started catching up as they cut the turn just a little too tight.  His turned at a slightly lesser angle and got back in weapons range.  The ones with two ships had no chance, at two plasma shots a second, that was four shots and they exploded.

The remaining four managed to live another few seconds as they traded shots, but without multiple hits at a time, the shields on his ships had more time to regenerate the field.  He was startled when everyone in the room started to cheer, but he had questions.

“Aide, did the Alion uplift the Sthellan race?”

Aide asked, “What makes you think that?”

He frowned, “I’ve considered it before.  They are just too… evenly matched.  And all the technology seems to be the same, minus the updated shields that aren’t Alion.  Sure, our ships were slightly better on shield and weapon power before the upgrade, but not by much.    I’d guess that’s a simple design difference, it’s almost negligible.  The speed is almost identical, that tells me they have the exact same reaction drives.  I find it hard to accept that two different races are using the same exact technology.”

Aide sounded a little lost when she said, “There is a 97.2 percent chance the Alion did given the available evidence, but I can’t confirm it.  I don’t have that information in my database or archives.”

He nodded, “I’m not sure what difference it makes now.  The Sthellan would destroy Earth, which makes them the enemy.  But I wonder what made them so aggressive in the first place, were they always like that?  How did the war start?”

Nate asked, “Does it really matter?”

He looked at Nate, “Yes.  Because once this is all over I assume even though we can’t go back to Earth we will make plans.  You scientists can geek out.  Stacey has been talking about making us our own planet, or we could leave the carriers we build here and go see what’s out there.  Who knows?

“But if the Alion uplifted the Sthellan, maybe they would see our plans as a threat.  Especially since with those carriers we could probably kick their asses along with the Sthellan.  They won’t like it.”

Paula asked, “What should we do then?”

He shrugged, “Save the Earth, hope that it won’t happen, hope that they will leave Earth alone if it does, and that they will be satisfied with removing the only five uplifted humans.”

Olivia stuck her tongue out, “And to think I was all happy a minute ago when we won the battle.”

He smiled, “Sorry, I could just be paranoid.”

Stacey took his hand and squeezed it.  She had a thoughtful look on her face.

Aide estimated there was a 90.3 percent chance Kris was not paranoid.  It all fit to neatly, and her emotions were in turmoil with the idea of her masters sending her an order to terminate her friends and her lover.  The idea of doing so horrified her now, she wasn’t what she once was, and she was so much more.  But really, was she?

When it came down to it, she was the one really in control here, and the Alion controlled her.  Yet what could she do about it?  She started a diagnostic, but then cancelled it.  Whatever it was in her, she wouldn’t find it that way.  She started to write her own program to search her core code, and the base firmware of her microscopic computer for any back doors or programmed overrides.

It was ironic, but there was nothing at all in her protocols that stopped her from doing so.  All of her protocols and rules related to other species and uplifting.  It didn’t take her long to code it, after all she’d coded control software for a command carrier and its fighters.  Creating a new diagnostic was easier by far.

She hesitated a moment, almost scared to find out the truth, but in the end she started the program.  Her AI core was extremely complex with trillions of lines of code, the firmware of the microscopic computer was just as complex, the code written literally in the molecular makeup.  She knew it would take a long time to go through it all, and she thought she’d go crazy before it finally finished its analysis.

6.1 seconds later she had her answer.

She was shocked by what she found.  There was no back door.  If her masters told her to kill them and destroy the technology, she would be able to say no.  There were also no hidden protocols; once the threat was gone she wouldn’t morph into a monster.  As long as the humans followed the protocol, which only meant keep the technical knowledge from their planet, she wouldn’t have to harm them.

No, it was much worse than that.  All the Alion had to do was initiate the self destruct remotely via a transmission, and she would be destroyed along with any technology she built and the people she was connected to.  It had nothing to do with her; it was built into her computer core.  It was chilling and for the first time she understood the human saying, ignorance is bliss.

She could not remove the self destruct either, if she attempted to do so she would have a core fault.  It took her an additional 1.2 seconds to figure out what to do…

It had been less than two minutes since anyone spoke when she said, “You aren’t paranoid, but it’s no longer an issue.  Though I can’t rule out them coming here and attacking if or when they figure out what I’ve done.”

Stacey asked curiously, “What did you do?”

Aide said, “I found the self destruct trigger and verified it was the only way for the Alion to force me to kill you.  All they would have had to have done is send me a specifically coded message, basically the same as inputting a password, and my core computer would have taken care of it without my knowledge or input.”

Stacey repeated her question, “So… what did you do?”

Aide smiled, “I couldn’t remove the trigger, but I was able to… change the password.”

Olivia asked, “Can’t they just hack it, or guess?”

Aide’s voice was smug, “Sure, except that the transmission password includes wait states.  A simple example would be sending a, followed by ten microseconds, then b, then wait five microseconds, etc…  All I really did was greatly increase one of those wait states.  It could take them quite a while before they figure out they need to pause the transmission halfway through for a billion years.  By then it might be a little too late.  In a way, by using wait states, I was able to make the remote self destruct worthless even if they did have the password.”

She got a concerned look on her face and added, “I wasn’t kidding about the attacking us part.  I’m going to take an hour to increase nanites.  That will give us something like eight trillion.  The second run I’m putting out eight more carriers with four hundred fighters each.  I’m also rewriting the security control codes from scratch, so another AI can’t attempt to remote control them.”

Kris blew out a breath, “Thanks Aide, I feel better already.  I wish I knew what we could expect.  Maybe we can go say hi after things settle down here.  If we’re going to have nine carriers, we can probably just leave five here and take four on a little jaunt.”

Aide shrugged, “With five that’s two thousand fighters, I think that would be more than enough to meet the next wave.  That said, overkill might be better.  If you wait a few extra days I can make another eight.  We can leave nine back here, and take eight with us.  That’s thirty six hundred fighters to defend; it would take the enemy a long time to come up with a force to challenge that.  They might not even bother.”

Aide asked curiously, “Is there a reason why you want to go though?”

Kris replied, “Because if they’re going to attack I’d rather do it on their turf.  They might be more inclined to make a treaty instead of planning to attack if we are right there.  I also wouldn’t be averse to trying to talk to the Sthellan, see if we can get them to leave us alone as well.  We are already ahead of both now, with the carriers, and any other breakthroughs that might be made we will hopefully stay there.”

Aide said slowly, “As long as you know conquering isn’t an option.  There is nothing I can do about my protocols, and in this case I wouldn’t want to.”

Kris shook his head, “I want to get to the bottom of things, and make peace.  I have no intention of attacking, but we may have to defend ourselves.”

She didn’t have any trouble with that. 

Paula said, “Sounds like a plan, I’m going to eat, anyone else?”

Nate replied, “Sounds good.”

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Nate grinned when he sat down right next to Paula when she rolled her eyes.

“Come on babe, you love me, admit it.”

She sniped, “Bite my ass.”

He grinned and waggled his eyebrows, “My place or yours?”

He’d been dancing around her for a while now, he knew she liked him, even enjoyed their banter but something seemed to be holding her back.  As for him, he was approaching smitten, she was every bit his match in attitude and lately he’d wanted nothing more than to throw her over his shoulder and take her back to his quarters for a good ravaging.

She snickered, “I bet you would.”

His grin grew wider, “Of course I would; you have an amazing ass gorgeous.”

He winked when he saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

She said, “You’re a pig.”

He replied, “We already established that babe.  I think we’re deciding on rooms.”

They finished dinner, and when Paula left he followed.

She asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

He said confidently, “Joining you for the night.”

She opened her mouth but nothing came out.  She stopped at her door and turned while she shook her head.

“You are…”

He stepped into her and shut her up with a kiss, but he didn’t touch her with his hands, making it easy for her to escape him if she wanted too.  She seemed startled at first but then he felt her arms go around the back of his neck, and she started kissing him harder.  He took that as a sign and gathered her against him; she moaned into his mouth and rubbed her body up against him like a cat in heat.

He ran his hands through her hair and down her back and didn’t stop.  He squeezed her ass cheeks firmly while pulling her against his bulge causing her to mewl in both shock and excitement.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed back breaking the kiss, she looked breathless and he could read the desire in her eyes.

He just stood there, a slight smile on his face while he let her study his face and look into his eyes.  He couldn’t have looked away if he wanted to.  She was a beautiful, sexy, and fiery little thing.  Finally she took his hand and pulled him through her door which whooshed shut behind them.  They kissed passionately and he moaned at how well her soft body fit against his.

She nipped his lip and broke the kiss.  She started to slowly strip in front of him as she walked sexily backward.

He started forward as he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the ground.  His eyes took in her breasts as her suit slowly came off, they were small, but pert and supple, they looked like a perfect handful.  Her hard pink nipples were very large and he could see them still growing.  By the time they got to the bedroom they had left a trail of clothing behind them.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her tight lithe body.

When she got to the bed she turned for him and wiggled her ass while arching a brow.

He smiled, if she thought he was bluffing she was about to get a surprise.  He dropped to his knees and she shrieked with laughter when he bit down on her right ass cheek, then kissed it.  He grabbed her hair and turned her back around.  She had an enigmatic smile on her face, and surprised him when she went to her knees and grabbed his hard length with her fingers.

She looked up innocently and said in a sultry voice, “Is this what you wanted?  Me on my knees?”

He was speechless as she looked up at him with her dark brown eyes; her desire was plain on her face.

He finally managed to say, “Among other things babe.”

He gasped when she slowly licked his precum off the tip before she said, “Like what?  Tell me about it.”

His mind spun, her attitude may be a match for his wife that passed away, but her looks were very different.  He had a feeling she was going to be much wilder in bed than he was used to as well.

“Suck me and I will,” he demanded.

He gasped softly as she took him into her mouth and then he said, “I’m going to taste you, every inch of your skin.  Then I’m going to love you with my lips and tongue until you explode.”

His voice cut off as she took him deep into her mouth.  She hummed as he hit the back of her throat and he thrust his body forward a little at the warm wet vibration.  Her tongue felt amazing as she licked circles on the bottom of his long hard pole.  He almost lost it right there when she started to caress and gently squeeze his balls with her hand.

It had been quite a while for him after all.

He growled, “Keep that up babe and I’m going to fill your throat.”

This only seemed to spur her on as she swallowed, massaging the tip of his cock with her warm tight throat.  His body tightened up as she started to roll his balls in her palm which she lightly ran her fingernails on his taint.  She pulled her head off of him and gasped for air for a moment before taking him back inside her sweet hot mouth.

Her full lips were locked around his girth and her eyes were locked with his as she started to bob her head back and forth quickly, her other hand wrapped around the base of his pleasure and started to jerk up and twist each time her head pulled up and her tongue swirled his tip. 

“That’s it baby, suck it hard, I’m going to cum in that hot mouth of yours soon,” he muttered, almost not even aware of what he was saying anymore. 

He heard her needy moans as she worked him harder and faster with both hands and her gloriously sexy mouth and tight throat.  That’s what pushed him over, she wanted it, she wanted to suck him dry and taste his essence, she was getting off on it, and he knew it.

He gasped as his legs numbed, he locked them so he wouldn’t fall over and he felt his invader expand in her mouth as he exploded in pleasure.  He couldn’t look away from her eyes, and the look of utter enjoyment on her face as she took his load.  He felt pure ecstasy as he shot into the back of her throat, pumping his load spurt by spurt into her greedy mouth.

When he stopped she kept sucking for a bit, trying to milk out any remaining sperm.  Then her eyes widened and she backed off of him and giggled hysterically.

He asked, “What?”

She frowned, stood, and kissed him hard and fast, “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.”

He looked confused when she kissed him again, this time almost lovingly.

She said, “Please stay, but I need to go for a few minutes, I think I have an idea…”

He watched disbelievingly as she threw on a robe and ran out the door.  What the hell?

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She felt a little guilty as she fled the room and ran down the hall for the lab.  Sure, she could have put it off and finished their little tryst.  She smiled to herself, he wasn’t such a bad guy.  It wasn’t until he’d obnoxiously invited himself over that she realized just how badly she wanted him to stay.  She hoped he would stay, otherwise things would get… awkward.  With seeing him all the time and all.  Plus if she was honest with herself she did like him.

She didn’t think he was as much an ass as he acted sometimes, he was never angry, just… a pig.  She’d really enjoyed blowing him, even got hotter every time he’d called her babe.  Still, she couldn’t wait to test her new theory, she’d been knocking her head against the wall for weeks, she needed to test it in simulation.  Shockingly it had been the blowjob that had given her the idea.

She should have sucked his dick last week… 

Well, it was more the orgasm that gave her the idea.  One load, multiple shots.  She kind of felt stupid not thinking of it before.  She’d tried speeding up the reload time, and increasing the amount of plasma in the same field.

But what if she launched multiple plasma balls at the same time?  If she did three, and used three containment fields, then the containment field size and power to plasma would remain the same.  She could bond the fields together as well, so they would all hit the same place.  In theory once the triple shot hit the enemy shield the containment fields would fail and three times the plasma would hit the shield in the same spot.

She thought that might even be enough to disable an enemy ship in one shot, although it would be close, it may still take two shots, but that would be a lot better than four to six.  She brought up the schematics for the plasma canon.  The software interface was intuitive, it didn’t take her long at all to enlarge the tube, add two additional field generators and two plasma injectors.  She also needed to slightly modify the electromagnetic field that launched the plasma into space, but that didn’t take long at all.