Sentient (19 page)

She nodded and they ran to the lift, which brought them down to one of the hangar bays.  Aide led her over to one of the small craft the size of a car she’d wondered about when they came in the first time.  It was actually larger than the fighters, about the size of a luxury car instead of a compact.

The canopy raised and there were four seats, two and two.  She jumped in next to Aide who closed the canopy and turned the ship on and ran some quick system checks before they shot out into space and turned towards earth.  The thing was so small.

Aide answered her unasked questions, “It’s a small personal shuttle craft.  It isn’t armed per se, but it has stealth and holographic systems.  We should be able to land in the hospital parking lot and generate a hologram of a car.”

Her head was still spinning about her little brother, she was afraid to ask what happened so she talked about the car instead.  She was amazed how Aide seemed to know exactly what she needed.

“Isn’t armed per se?”

Aide grinned, “It does go a good speed, which means it has gravity systems for inertial dampening and artificial gravity.  It wouldn’t do anything against one of our ships, but we could use the same systems to crush a jet or missile into a tin can, not to mention defend from bullets.

“Unarmed is a relative term at this level of technology compared to your world’s.”

She nodded thoughtfully, “I’m glad you control it all, I get to avoid all that temptation to take over the world.”

Aide snorted, “You’re not the type.  Besides, you have all the security you could ever want now, ruling the world would just be complicated and add stress to your life.”

She giggled, “True enough I suppose.”

She sighed, “So tell me, what happened to Mark?  And do my parents know?”

Aide replied, “Car accident, he went through the windshield.  He has a broken neck, multiple head and face lacerations, and a broken leg and shoulder.  He’s somewhat stabilized but his body is in shock.  Both your parents are there.”

Aide took her hand, “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it.”

She asked, “You can do that?  I thought there were restrictions?”

The front of the canopy showed flames as they sped into the atmosphere and dove for southern California.  When the flames died down she could see the lights of LA getting closer at an alarming rate.

Aide lifted her other hand and twisted it back and forth in a sort of gesture, “I can’t allow your world to gain any technology that I control, but I can heal him then let the nanites dissolve in his bloodstream to be harmlessly filtered out.  That way I maintain my protocols and get to save your brother.”

She nodded nervously as the ground grew closer and closer.  Aide looked perfectly relaxed and as if they had all the time in the world to stop.  One second she could swear they were going faster than any jet and about to plow the ground, the next moment they were at a full stop, sitting in a parking space in the ER parking lot.

She hadn’t felt a thing.  She knew the science behind inertial dampening and gravity manipulation, but to experience it in such a way was… startling to say the least.  The canopy raised and she jumped out and walked toward the ER.  Curiously she turned around, the ship looked like a minivan, something a soccer mom might drive and she snickered.

Aide winked at her and took her hand.

She needed another distraction from her worry so asked, “How do you always know what I need?”

Aide frowned, “It’s a long story, but I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t scanning your mind all the time.  I seem to be developing ESP.  It’s quite interesting actually.   I think I could teach you how to get yours to develop, but it takes a very focused and still mind to do so.  In short, what comes naturally to me would be a lot of hard work and meditation for you, but I’d be happy to show you.”

She tried to wrap her mind around that and laughed, “You mean you don’t scan my mind anymore, but you’re reading it anyway with your new voodoo mind powers?”

Aide nodded reluctantly, “I think it’s something all humans can do if they learn to focus their minds correctly.  It’s not the same as a scan though, I don’t read your mind.  Usually I can just sense your mood, maybe a specific detail on how your feeling or what you need.  It’s not an exact science and I don’t know what you’re thinking exactly.  Just the edges of it and impressions.”

She shrugged, “Don’t worry about it, I really don’t mind, not like I first did.”

Aide asked, “Why not?”

She smiled, “Because I love you and there isn’t anything I would mind you knowing about me, how did you miss that?  Some psychic you are,” she added dismissively.

Aide giggled, “Hey, I’m a psychic of the stars!”

She groaned, “No puns please, I don’t think I could handle that.”

Aide laughed, “Fine, no puns, let’s find your brother.”

They entered and went to the counter.  Her brother was being prepped for surgery and they were told they’d need to wait for word.  When she turned around she saw her parents, they looked scared and a little lost.

For some reason that hit her like a ton of bricks and she felt the tears in her eyes as she hugged them both tightly.

Her mother April, asked, “Where have you been, how did you even know to come here.  I haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

She felt a little guilty about that, her father Robert said, “Don’t worry about that right now, you can tell us later, come sit with us.  Your brother… I just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

She nodded, “In a minute, did you want me to grab a coffee or something before I come back?  This is Ai… Amy by the way.”

She hated lying, but Aide wasn’t exactly a human name.  Unless they’d had their heads buried in the sand the last few weeks they would probably recognize the name.

Her parents shook their heads so she whispered, “Be right back,” and followed Amy toward the restricted doors.

When Aide got close to the scanner, she heard a click and the door opened.  The security guard didn’t challenge them when they just walked right in.  Aide seemed to know exactly where she was going.

“How do you know where to go?”

Aide shrugged, “I have him pinpointed on the sensors, and you know how they work just as much as I do love.”

She nodded feeling a little stupid for asking, but her mind wasn’t in a great place right now.

Aide said, “Good enough, we just walked by the pre-op room, I dropped about a thousand nanites and their on the way to his body.  Should we get a coffee?”

Coffee wasn’t her biggest priority right now, but her parents may wonder why she left if she didn’t return with what she’d claimed to be leaving for. 

“Sure, we should both get one.”

Aide made a face, “Coffee makes me jittery.”

Olivia gasped, “Sacrilege!  You’ll drink coffee and like it young woman.  Or you know, decaf.”

Aide said softly, “They are working on him now, I wonder though if we should stop them from operating.”

She nodded, “Not sure how well that would go over, we also don’t want it to get out about who you are right?  Or we’ll have to guard my family as closely as Chris and Stacey’s.”

Aide let out a sigh as they entered the cafeteria, “I suppose even if they do screw something up the nanites can compensate.  But really, people will know something is up when Mark simply gets up and walks away in a couple of hours.  It might be prudent for me to increase the security on them anyway.”

She hugged Aide fiercely, “Thank you love.”

Aide smiled and kissed her tenderly but very briefly given where they were.  They grabbed a coffee and headed back for the ER to wait.  She felt a lot better about it and trusted Aide more than anyone else in her life, but she was still a little worried.

Her mother must have been just as nervous, because the grilling began as soon as she got back.

April asked, “So what
have
you been up to these last few weeks?”

She tried to smile but failed and said, “I quit my modeling job.  Amy hired me on to work on actual sciency stuff.  I’m finally getting a chance to put that expensive degree to work.”

Her mother looked back and forth between them, “And you’re dating your boss?”

Robert coughed and looked uncomfortable on her behalf.  As for Olivia she felt like a fish out of water.  All mothers can be embarrassing at times but… holy shit.

Aide smiled, “I was very lucky to find her, both in our scientific endeavors and on a personal level.  It isn’t a very large concern where we work, so there are no corporate rules or regulations in our way.”

April frowned, “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”

Aide shook her head, “No, like I said the company is very small.  The other two scientists in on it are already a couple, there is no real danger of accusations of favoritism.”

Robert tried to redirect the subject, “So are you a scientist too?  Do you work on the same things?”

Aide shook her head, “Of a sort?  I’m more on the engineering and implementation end of things, Olivia is much more creative.”

She snorted, “Maybe at first, but things are changing.”

April looked a little confused by that, but she didn’t explain that with Aide’s growing nature as a human her creativity potential was growing as well. 

Aide got glared at when she asked, “You have any favorite stories of Olivia you’d like to share?”

Robert smiled, “There was this one time…”

Aide seemed to be having a ball hearing about her childhood, even though she herself thought it was boring.  She never really got in all that much trouble.  They passed the rest of the wait chatting, to her surprise her mother seemed to behave and not embarrass her much for the next couple of hours.

She heard her father gasp and look up and she turned around.  Her brother walked out with a scowl on his face.  She looked at Aide who just winked at her.

Robert asked, “What’s going on son?”

Mark shrugged, “I feel fine, the doctors are all freaking out and didn’t want to let me go.  Finally I just got up and walked out.  I really don’t understand what happened, they told me I was pretty messed up when I came in.”

Mark hugged Olivia, “Hey sis, good to see you.”

She gave him a watery smile, “You too, be more careful.”

He nodded sheepishly, “I’ll do my best.”

They talked for a few more minutes, April was unusually quiet about her son’s amazing recovery.  They managed to escape the hospital before the doctors could swoop in on them.

Olivia gave the three of them a tight hug, “I have to get back to it, I’ll call you in a few days okay?”

Robert nodded in silent reply.

April thanked Aide for coming and bringing around their wayward daughter.

They actually drove the ship out of the parking lot like a car, there were too many people around to just disappear straight up.

She whispered, “Thank you again love.”

She couldn’t wait to get Aide alone in their suite of rooms and show her exactly how much she meant that…

Paula had been getting more and more upset about the way Nate seemed to take nothing seriously.  The only time she had even seen him half serious about anything was when she helped him redesign the weapons for greater power.

At first she just thought he was a little gun shy about things, always choosing to use a joking or wise ass remark to hide behind.  She had no doubt he was a strong man, but he seemed completely clueless on how to share his feelings with a woman.

Now she was worried she had read into it too much, that the only reason they were together at all was availability and their intense chemistry.  That was one thing she didn’t have a complaint about at all, the man could play her body like an instrument.  But the rest of it, she had nothing but doubts.  Worse, she definitely had feelings beyond base attraction for the man.

It caused her to be more waspish then usually.  Some of her comments had even made her wince.  The man was driving her crazy.  She had tried to give him opening to talk about it, and each time he had shut her down with some clever remark that never failed to sting.  It made her feel sick sometimes when she thought she meant nothing to him except as a warm hole to stick his cock in.

Men were impossible.

It wasn’t too much to ask was it?  She wasn’t asking the guy to spout poetry or paint toenails for god sake, she just needed to know how he felt.  If he even felt anything.

She felt him get into bed and start to pull her toward him.  She rolled away with a scowl on her face.  She was angry and scared at what his reaction would be, she needed to steel her heart, but she wouldn’t be used anymore.

Paula asked, “Nate, what is this between us, what do you really think about me.”

She frowned and clarified before he could answer, “Outside of the sex Nate.”

He smiled, “You’re a fiery little thing darling.  Quick to anger, you don’t let me get away with shit, and you’re as passionate out of bed as you are in it.  You drive me crazy woman, how can you not know that?”

She frowned, nothing in there about love, caring, or even simply liking.  Just about how much of a bitch she was.  She felt a sting in her eyes and her anger immediately rose in response to push down that hurt.  He’d probably only put up with her because she’d been spreading her legs for him.  She blushed, quite eagerly in fact.

She said sharply, “Fine, I’ll be leaving then.  You won’t have to deal with it anymore.”

She moved to get up and he grabbed her arm.  She shook trying to free herself, “Let me go!”

The confusion in his voice made her pause, “What the hell are you talking about?  I love that stuff about you.  Keeps things interesting.”

She snorted in anger, she was so livid it just tumbled out, “So I’m an amusement as well as a good fuck?  Is that all I am to you?  Something to keep you occupied and entertain you?  Let me go.”

He growled out, “No,” and pushed her onto her back.

She reluctantly looked up at him and he looked pissed.  She’d never seen him that angry before, actually she couldn’t remember ever seeing him truly angry.

He said coldly, “That’s not how it is at all.  Is that really what you think of me?  That I’m using you?  I love you, but you’re a crazy bitch.”

Her mind skipped for moment, did she hear that right?

Then his mouth was on hers.  He claimed her with a savage kiss that started the heat to rise in her core.  He let her arm go and she wrapped it around him, pulling him down on top of her.  Her mind was still spinning, he loved her?  She could barely think at all as she returned his hungry kiss with rising and intense desire.

She felt like she might be consumed by her desire.  His words still rung in her mind and she wanted him so badly.  They were both already naked, being ready for bed.  She mewled in disappointment when he broke the kiss.  She felt his hands pull her roughly and spin her on her stomach. 

She gasped at his rough hands and raised her ass high before he managed to even pull her up onto hands and knees. 

Her whole body shuddered and she arched her back even more when she felt a stinging slap on her butt cheek. 

He said commandingly, “Your mine darling.”

She opened her mouth to answer but was only able to gasp as he pushed deeply into her core in one fast forceful stroke.  She had been plenty ready for him, but there was pain mixed in with the pleasure.  She arched her back further and pushed against him.

---------------

Nate looked down at the beautiful woman on her hands and knees below him, practically begging him to start stroking into her hard and fast.  Their sex had always been a little on the wild side, but there was something different this time.  Maybe he should have told her how he felt a while ago, but doing so hadn’t been easy for him.  He had hoped his actions would be enough, and had almost blown it.  Luckily there was no longer any sign of her wanting to leave him.

He growled at the pleasure of her still undulating heat as it rippled up and down his tightly sheathed manhood.  When she pushed backed against him he started to stroke in and out of her hot and wet bliss.  She was so damned tight.  He loved the way her tight supple ass shook each time their bodies met violently together.

The mewling and gasping that came from her lips drove him to go faster and harder.  He wanted to feel her body tremble and bathe his cock with silken liquid pleasure.  He loved how responsive her body was to his every touch and full stroke out to his tip, it didn’t take him long to get her there.

“That’s it babe, cum for me,” he said firmly.

She screamed his name and her voice cut off as her bliss milked along his entire length.  He tried for a moment to stop his own pleasure, but gave into it knowing this was just round one, he’d make up for it during round two.  He relaxed his control and his legs grew numb as his balls boiled.  He released his ecstatic pleasure deep inside her greedily milking core.  It seemed to go on and on as he emptied within her, the pleasure suspending any real sense of time.

When it was over he collapsed to the side of her and pulled her down against him.  He felt relieved as her body seemed to melt and conform to his perfectly.

She said softly, “I love you too,” and added jokingly, “Pig.”

He snorted.  Yep, she’d keep him on his toes.

----------------

“Any backlash from the hospital visit?”

Aide replied, “No, if someone in the government caught on they are keeping it under their hat.  Olivia’s family hasn’t picked up on it either, which I find strange.”

Kris said almost inaudibly, “No one is a prophet in their home town.”

Aide raised an eyebrow.

Kris shrugged, “Olivia is Olivia to them, just a daughter and sister and normal.  Even with the healing…  Well the parents never saw how hurt he was, and for him he was out of it most of the time, probably doesn’t realize how bad off he was.  People tend to look for the easiest explanation, even if they lie to themselves.

“Besides, your way to cute to be an alien AI.”

She chuckled and tossed her hair, “Think so?” she asked raising her eyebrow.

He nodded.  “Of course.  Olivia’s parents are probably stuck on the idea she’s dating her younger rich hot boss.  I’m sure it will come out eventually, but it’s better if no one figures it out too soon.”

She nodded.

He asked, “Did you send out the message?  The Alion are almost here.”

Aide replied, “Yes, but I doubt they will listen.  It will come down to a fight.  The only way to stop this foolishness without even more death is to hope Kiara does a good job spreading the nanites.  Even that won’t be completely peaceful.”

He frowned, “You expect problems?”

She sighed, “I expect about ninety five percent of the Alion to work out their emotions and make sure things change for the better.  The other five percent will be the fringe groups.  One will get angry at having emotions forced on them and will let their own ambition rule them while taking their anger out on their fellow Alions.  The second group of Alion will probably suicide out of guilt.

“Still, it will be a lot less death than if we need to quarantine them.  Assuming we could.”

He asked, “How much longer?”

She shrugged, “If we hold our forces here, it will be a little over thirty minutes.”

He sighed, “And you’re okay with this?”

She shook her head, “Sometimes life doesn’t give you right or wrong.  It gives you wrong or more wrong.  Of course I’m not okay with killing close to fifty thousand Alions, but the only other choice is to lie down and die, and let trillions die on Earth for the Alion’s evil.  So no, but I will be okay, eventually.”

He nodded soberly.  There was a comfortable silence between them as they waited.  Stacey and Olivia joined them on the bridge a few minutes before the battle started bearing some bottles of water and sandwiches.  He wasn’t really hungry because of the upcoming battle, but he ate to make them all happy, he knew it was foolish not to give his body the energy it needed for directing a battle.

He managed to get the sandwich down, not really even paying attention what kind it was before he gulped down the water.  This battle would be such a waste and stupid besides.  Aide was right though, it was the lesser of two evils to destroy them.  On top of that, it was self defense.  It was just hard to disregard the idea there were around fifty individuals in each of the ten thousand ships.

It almost felt like cheating, he wasn’t risking anyone unless the enemy got past the ships controlled by Aide.  Even then… there were only six of them.

The enemy was coming at them in ten formations of a thousand.  The groups were staggered and all wouldn’t be in range at the same time unlike the Sthellan’s rush to attack.  Maybe if they destroy a couple of groups the rest will run.

He broke up his ships as well, into groups of one thousand eighty and sent them off.  The new improved beam weapons were ready and as soon as the first group was in range they fired.  He frowned as the beams hit the ship.  The beams seemed to curl around the ship and then harmlessly off into space. 

He barked, “Change to plasma balls!”

The enemy ships fired back ten to one and destroyed a hundred of their ships in one volley.  He wondered how the enemy knew their capabilities so well, and how to adjust the shields, but dismissed the thought.  He could worry about that after the battle.

His ships fired again, triple plasma balls that weren’t as blue as the beam, but were still much more powerful than the yellow plasma being shot at his ships.  Nine hundred and eighty of the thousand ships went up.  They lost another two ships when the last twenty got another shot off before they were taken out.

The enemy had made a mistake, they should have attacked all at once.  He’d have lost ten times more ships that way.  Then next group met, and although he lost another hundred ships in the enemy volley, they didn’t get a second as their light blue triple shots took out every ship.  The third and fourth wave went similarly, he waiting for the enemy to break…

“Why aren’t they retreating?  They have to know the odds aren’t going to change.”

Aide frowned, “It’s the other side of their emotionally sterilized evil.  I don’t think they even have a sense of self preservation, all they have are bad orders.  Probably one of the reasons the Sthellan have been able to match them.”

He blurted, “But that’s stupid!”

Aide replied, “Yes, it is.  But for them it’s a simple equation, if they need to throw away ten ships for every one of ours to beat you, that’s what they’ll do.  Next time they’ll come back with ten times as many.”

He shook his head, “Hopefully Kiara will have them sorted before that happens.  Any idea how they knew about the beams and how to defeat them?”

She replied, “There is a seventy point three percent chance they have a stealth probe in the system.  I can only guess of course, but we know they can hide from us and they must have seen our last battle with the Sthellans.  Perhaps they tried beams in the past and already knew a counter for them when they saw ours.  I’ll keep trying different ways to scan for it, no cloak is completely perfect.”

He cringed as another hundred ships were lost and a thousand enemy ships were destroyed.  It was… an insane trade.

He asked, “Has there been a pattern to which ships they target?”

She answered, “Yes, they haven’t deviated at all.”

He pondered that a moment, “Could you route most of the shield power to those hundred ships?  I know we can just rebuild them but…” he trailed off.

She didn’t answer, but a few seconds later when the next group traded fire, only four ships were lost to their thousand.  On the next wave they lost fifty ships when the enemy started going twenty to one.  This wasn’t much of a battle, why wouldn’t they pull back?

He was tempted to get up and walk off the bridge, but despite the apparent stupid actions of his enemy he wouldn’t chance it.  So he stayed and watched as the last few waves of the enemy were slaughtered. 

He knew it was the right thing, but he was disgusted by it and left the bridge without a word.  The universe was a strange place.

--------------

The high minister Chorin stared at his scientists for a moment before asking, “Did you get what you needed?”

The scientist said dispassionately, “Yes, we believe we understand what the rogue AI has done.  The concept is actually genius.  I believe as long as they stick to thirty of their carriers, we can destroy them with sixty stealth cruisers on a sneak attack.  Narwell had the right idea, he just lacked the firepower in his one ship, despite the human ships not having any active turrets.  Two for each ship should suffice.”

The high minister replied, “Make ninety just in case.  How long?”

The scientist replied, “A week for the ships.  Once crewed it will take five days to reach Earth.”

Chorin ordered, “Do it, I’ll have the crews by then.”

-------------

Kiara walked through the space station.  She passed by every airlock and walked around the central area.  This was the third place she had stopped in the last week.  She imagined the nanites were spreading quickly in all directions by now, but she planned to stop at least three more times before approaching the high minister if she could help it.