Terra Dawning (17 page)

"I understand, Mother. I will assist to the best of my ability. I do have a question, if I may?" Hyroan asked.

"Of course, Ranger, that is after all why we are here," Mother replied.

"I know you are still explaining it to Hanna, but your primary processing matrix is far too small for the operations I have witnessed you performing. How do you explain this?" Hyroan asked.

"I take it then you are unfamiliar with meta-state processing matrices?" Mother asked.

"I've never heard of them, are you telling me you utilize an entirely different type of processing system?" Hyroan asked.

"One moment while I search for relevant data," Mother replied. "There it is. My apologies, Ranger Hyroan, I had to search for the information regarding current AI primary logic clusters. From what I am seeing here, the system I am using operates on the same base principles; that is, the data input would have the same output, however, the hardware that performs this function is very different. I will explain how the meta-state processing and memory crystals function. I have to instruct Hanna in this as well. My entire system is based on the meta-state technology developed by Doctors Ishiro Takahashi, Irandar Eiskidranian, Carl Hobs and Alexander Petronivitch..." Mother explained and began teaching both Ranger and fourteen-year-old, the theory and science of meta-state computing.

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C
ommand and Control bunker

Terran Defense Forces Base Alpha One

25 Apr. 10266 CE (AD)

Sector 34871 - Great Inland Sea

Earth, Sol System

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"I
must say Prime, you are being very helpful to us, considering the circumstances," Jance said while she and Ben watched the techs work with the Rangers to get their equipment to work together.

"Even before the Fall, I was raised to have a great respect for law enforcement personnel," Ben explained. "Granted, there were instances where the police in question did not deserve that respect, but for the most part, they were men and women that were simply trying to do their jobs and protect the rest of us. The legal system had its flaws, but it was the only one we had. From what I can see, that really hasn't changed all that much. You and your team have a job to do. As citizens, it is our duty to assist as much as we can when we are able.

"In this situation, it is doubly important to help because the whole damn empire is at risk. At least, you can understand why we believe what we told you about Duke Tammerain now," Ben finished.

Jance nodded. "The Imperial legal system is not perfect, but it is the best we can make it considering the diversity of the citizens. It is also under constant revision to make adjustments for unforeseen situations. As far as the accusation of Treason you have made against Duke Tammerain, I will not be filing charges against you. You and your people are justified in your belief and my team shares your concern. Indeed we are now working to find the proof required for us to arrest the Duke on those charges. The problem is that as a member of the Imperial Court that proof has to be pretty conclusive."

Ben nodded. "Somehow, I doubt we'll ever get him to admit it in front of you or your team."

"Oh, I could most likely get him to admit it. He has a temper after all, but the circumstance would have to be very specific," Jance replied.

"With respect, I think I'll leave that up to you. If I can help it, I don't think I want to get any closer to that big fuckin' lizard than I am right now," Ben replied.

Jance nodded. "Understandable, it is a well-known fact that very few of that race are socially compatible with the rest of the Empire. By and large, they are a dangerous species that view a good portion of the rest of us as a food source, which is the whole reason there was a war between us. It would be akin to one of our Coola farmers having his herd rebel against him and forcing him to live in equality with them. I doubt they will ever accept the rest of the Empire as their equals."

"Forgive me, but isn't that a somewhat prejudiced opinion for a Ranger to have?" Ben asked.

Jance nodded. "It is. Unfortunately it isn't one without justification. Even among their own race, trust of the individual is a rare thing. The Lizards are a very violent species; they have to be, or they would breed themselves into extinction. Only two percent of a clutch of Lizard eggs is allowed to become part of their society. They set aside another ten percent for use as their military assault troops. But even with restricting it to two percent, their still have to control their population by staging tournaments at several stages of development. These tournaments amount too little more than massive battles among the younglings. Each battle is to the death and is only stopped once the required amount of culling has been achieved."

"It sounds horribly brutal," Ben asked. "If they are so warlike, how does the Empire expect to maintain the peace?"

"They don't," Jance said bluntly. "Even the Emperor knows that war with the Lizards is inevitable. Unfortunately, most believe that such a war will be to the death - either of the Empire, or of the Lizards." She looked at him. "Your 'Earth' is on the border between them. Are you still sure you want to declare this as your home planet?"

Ben shrugged. "It is our home planet, Commander. Just because we're going to have a front row seat to another war doesn't change that fact." In front of them, one of Ben's techs went to a replicator to retrieve something before turning back to his work.

Jance nodded her understanding. "Prime Council, there is something I've been meaning to ask you about, however it is only my curiosity and you are not required to answer me if you do not wish to."

"I'll answer if I can, Commander," Ben replied.

"That is the second or third time I've seen someone go to that device and retrieve something. May I ask what that device is?" Jance asked pointing to the replicator.

"You don't have replication technology, Commander?" Ben asked.

She shook her head. "No, I don't think I've ever heard of it before. What is it?"

"I'm not a tech, so I couldn't tell you how it does what it does, but currently, it's our primary food and supply source. As I understand it, it can scan an item and create a pattern for it, then it can recreate that item by consolidating and restructuring matter into the desired form. It has some odd quirks to it, but for the most part, it's saved us from starving," Ben replied.

"It creates materiel goods from a molecular model?" Jance asked.

Ben shrugged. "I believe so, like I said, I'm not a tech or an engineer so I couldn't answer you exactly, but I think that's pretty close to how I understand it."

"Amazing, that could completely revolutionize space travel! Not to mention the military applications. Could you show me how it works?" Jance asked.

"Yes I can, but I feel I need to warn you, the Consortium might not be very happy with us for using these," Ben replied.

"Why would they? I'm certain that this is something that would be a huge benefit to the entire Empire," Jance replied.

"Well, let me put it to you this way, the Hyclarion Consortium is primarily a corporate state, correct?" Ben asked.

"Basically, yes, you are correct, however there is a lot more to it than that," Jance replied.

"Well, this technology could completely destroy the economy of the Empire. Think about it this way; this device creates almost any materiel good from what amounts to 'thin air'. There is no raw material needed to be mined, no ore to be processed, no labor needed to assemble it, virtually there is nothing needed to create it. So, if there was no cost in creating it, then no one got paid to build it, if no one got paid, then how could they afford to buy the product?" Ben explained. "We are only using it as a stop gap measure until our industry gets moving. Once we can get that going, we will be locking this system away."

"I never thought about that aspect," Jance replied. "I think you might be correct about how it would impact the Empire as a whole, but it could still be used aboard military craft."

"Agreed, it could, but how many industries rely on the military just to stay in business?" Ben asked. "Who made your side arm?"

"Most of the small arms we use were built by Orangam Arms Incorporated, on Hyclarion. It's owned by the Emperor's family," she replied.

Ben nodded as he stepped over to the device. "May I borrow it a moment, and is its design classified?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not classified," she replied as she handed the weapon over, grips first.

Ben carefully took the weapon and set it on the pad in the machine. He then touched the control to scan the item for storage. After a couple of seconds, the device beeped at him and he removed the handgun, handing it immediately back to Jance.

"Now, let's see if it understands the device enough to recreate it," Ben said and asked for it to be replicated.

It took a few seconds, but a new pistol formed on the pad. This too he handed to Jance. "Does this look like it would work?"

Jance took the weapon, popped a small cylinder out of the handle, which she pocketed, then proceeded to tear it down. "It certainly looks to be complete, but I'd have to fire it to be certain." She reassembled the small weapon, when she had returned the cylinder to its place, she pulled a small slide back and let it snap forward. The weapon could be heard to whine as a charge was built up.

"It appears fully functional, Prime Council," Jance replied.

Ben nodded. "What you have in your hand is as close to identical to the one in your holster as is physically possible. At present, I doubt even the manufacturer could tell them apart."

"Not possible, every weapon leaves a unique energy signature; that's just basic physics," Jance replied.

"We have a firing range down below the base if you would like to test out that certainty, Commander," Gail replied smiling.

"This is fascinating, I think I would like to take you up on the offer, General." She looked at one of her Rangers. "How much longer T’Gree?"

"At least an hour, probably two. You have time to go play, Commander," T’Gree said smiling.

"Which reminds me," Ben replied. "Commander, our local medical doctor would like to get a scan of all of you. He is curious about the other species and the information would help us to make sure our food is safe for you to eat."

"That will have to be a personal decision for each of my team to make, however, I will allow it if they will," Jance replied. "However, I would like to speak to your doctor first."

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C
ommand Pod Alpha One

25 Apr. 10266 CE (AD)

Sector 34871 - Great Inland Sea

Earth, Sol System

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T
o say that Commander Jance was a person of great interest to the pod residents would be an understatement. Both on the way to and back from the medical section, Ben and she had been stopped by the curious and asked questions. No one was hostile or even overly fearful, but all of them were respectful to the visitor and welcomed her.

Ben took her back to his apartment to meet the rest of his family and grab something to eat, since lunch had come and gone while he had been speaking with their guests.

Jon had cleared the Commander to eat any and all types of food currently available, so Ben decided to offer her lunch, which she accepted.

"I must say, Prime Council, your people are very polite and did not seem fearful of me at all," Jance said.

"While we're alone, or it's unofficial, please, call me Ben," Ben replied. "They all know who you are and what you're doing here. The all approved our plan for making peaceful contact with the Empire. They see you as not only a Policeman, but as a representative of the Empire we wish to join. None of the people, at least in our pod group, have ever had reason to fear Police. Most are like me, they were raised to be respectful to you and assist when they can. They're pretty good folks."

"They seem like it. I could see that they like and respect you as well. The obvious concern you show for them tells me you are good leader, regardless of your obvious age," Jance replied. "You may call me Jance when we are off duty."

Ben smiled and shook his head. "I originally thought the only reason I got stuck as the leader here was because I'm the son of the man who built all of this. However, I've been told that my father had been subtly grooming me for this my entire life. Before the fall, I never thought I would ever be in a position like this, but here we are and this is what it is."

"Considering the circumstances, I think it took a great amount of courage to approach us as you did," Jance replied.

"Well, we had to do something. We would have to emerge sooner or later, and once we discovered what was going on with the Duke, we knew we had to do it while we still could. More than anything else, the situation on the surface forced our hand. We couldn't sit idly by and let a being we knew was hostile to us destroy the only potential... well, ally we might find. We already knew what we could expect from the Duke based on our own records. I will admit we did consider just assassinating him, but it was dismissed as we did not have as good an understanding of Imperial Law as we do now," Ben replied.

"Do you seek to join the Empire as a Nation or as potential imperial subjects?" Jance asked as she took a bite of her cheeseburger. Her eyes lit up as the flavors hit her.

"We would like to apply as a free nation under the Empire if we could. Before the fall, most of our population was governed by many different types of rulers, and not all of them were feudal in structure so it might be a little uncomfortable for some to make the transition rapidly. If we maintained some form of control, at least on a temporary basis, I feel it might go a long way to helping our folks to learn to trust the Empire," Ben explained.

"That makes sense, but I don't know how well the rest of the human race will take it. Almost our entire race has been living under one form of oppression or another. The majority of our people are subjects of the Lizards, although Duke Tammerain seems to have the largest number of humans in his duchy," Jance explained.