"Still need to deal with Blitz too" she mumbled to herself while walking to the shower. The cool water provided a respite from the haunting dream, and allowed her to focus on what she would have to do at the base. "Pegasus, what do you suggest as a course of action once we arrive at the base? Will you be able to access the mainframe once on the ground?"
"If I had the protocol codes, I could do it from 300 light years out. Unfortunately, I am not privy to the codes anymore. My basic programming tell me that we will be allowed to land, and a dialog will be opened with the mainframe AI at that time. I am not sure how long it will take for verification procedures, nor am I sure we will get authorized at all. There is no guarantee the mainframe AI fared any better than my systems did over such a long period of time. Our only option is to land and try."
Jessica finished her shower, still pondering that particular nugget of information. She hadn't even thought about the base AI experiencing system degradation. If that was the case, they might be making the trip for nothing at all. Well, maybe not all for naught.
"Pegasus, do you still have any records of what equipment was at the base when we left? I don't even know why I never asked you this before!"
"My records show the base was fully equipped for the repair and manufacture of ships my class and larger. It also had large facilities apparently for bio and chemical engineering. It has an orbital and ground based defense grid, obviously both are not on-line. Included were facilities which were designed for keeping large quantities of organisms in stasis. The base has approximately 10 levels below the surface of the planet, with..."
"That's plenty right there Peg,........I think I'll probably regret asking you this, but why didn't you ever tell me this before?" Jessica had an obviously irritated look about her.
"Do you really want me to answer that Jessica?"
"No" her exasperation was evident. "Let me guess, cause I never asked?"
"Well........" If a computer had ever felt sheepish then it was now. "I just didn't want you to rush back there too soon Jessica. The psychological trauma you went through almost reduced you to a catatonic state. Your recovery from that took time, and I didn't want you to rush back there too quickly. I do apologize."
This computer...no change that, this person (for that was how Jessica was viewing her anymore) never ceased to amaze her. "No need to apologize Peg, I guess you were right about me rushing back here too soon. I have a hypothetical situation for you, suppose the base AI is damaged, can you replicate your systems into his, maybe make a new composite intelligence just for reactivating the base?"
"Hmmm. I believe I could do that. As long as the system damage didn't mirror mine, I could probably create a "baby AI" and then guide it to full operation. That wouldn't help any memory loss, but my records indicate storage systems like this one are particularly resilient. It might still have full access to the stored memory."
"Well, I guess we'll find out when we get there. Is Blitz awake yet? I should go down there and start the interrogation. You'll be able to help with that too?"
"Yes on both, if he is adamant about not helping, I can persuade him. It won't be pleasant for him so perhaps we can use that as a last resort?"
"Pity for this one Peg? After he tried to activate that burner inside here I figured you would've spaced him." She laughed at that, knowing the computer didn't like to take life unless absolutely necessary. Jessica didn't have that compunction anymore.
"Sarcasm ill befits you Jessica Hunter!" The indignant computer managed a hrumph to end her reply, causing Jessica to laugh even harder. Pegasus reflected on how nice it was to hear her laughter echo through the halls, it was a sound that was all too absent normally.
Dozens of light years away, another ship trailed through hyperspace. It
followed as far back as it dared, on the verge of losing the slight radiation
trail, not wanting to be detected. It had lost track of the second great enemies
ship, but this one flaunted itself. Perhaps it was a trap? Perhaps this one
was a distraction, meant to be followed? Regardless of what was going on, it was
able to track this one, and hopefully, when the time was right, it would capture
the ship and passengers. Data taken so far showed the Humans and the Kalpurnians
had very little data on the hated Rat'chatkan, and none on the True Ones
themselves. So capture of one the ships was a necessity to finalize plans. A
full scale takeover of Human/Kalpurnian held space wouldn't be achieved easily
without Rat'chatkan interference. If they were still in existence and in a
position to resist them..... Conjecture at this point and time was irrelevant. A
small dead world seemed to be the final destination and that would make an
excellent location to take possession of the ship.
--MHal9000
"We are approaching the coordinates." The computer informed Riconis. "You may want to slow down just a little."
"Is the cloak still active?" Riconis asked.
"Yes. No failures." Riconis glanced back at the fist-sized hole in the right wing. "Yes even there. I was built to survive much worse."
"Lets see just how much worse." Ricons eased the throttle back and the engines gave off a high pitch whine as the power bled off. The blur of space faded back to the familiar field of stars. Slowing enough to avoid friction with the atmosphere, Riconis directed his craft toward a large crater.
"I'm detecting an instillation of some sort in the crater wall, it looks destroyed."
"Hope it is. Adjust the main field to atmospheres set nine."
"Done." The computer chimed in then fell silent. The ground rushed up to meet the small craft. At the last moment Riconis pulled up, pushed the throttle forward and raced just above the ground. With a flick he activated the tactical overly display on his helmet. A computer rendering of the ground and horizon filled his vision in all directions. Riconis scanned the horizon. Nothing. "Approaching the instillation. No targets so far."
"Mmm " Riconis murmured. Suddenly his weapons acquired a lock on a gun emplacement of some kind. "Hello."
"No response. The weapon must be disabled." The computer informed. Suddenly the cockpit flashed white. "Or not!" Target locks began to show up all over. Riconis dove to the left hard then swung around a pillar of rock. Dust flew up as his wing passed with in inches of the ground. The air was thick with laser and plasma charges. Pushing forward, Riconis spun, dove, climbed, and cork screwed through the thicket of destruction.
"I thought you said the cloak was functioning!" Riconis yelled
"It is!" the computer shot back. "I don't know how they are tracking us!" Riconis pulled up hard, a laser cut across the ground a moment later.
"They're not tracking us!" He yelled in realization. With a hard snap he flung the craft's nose up and over and was instantly up side down. His speed fell sharply. With twisted the craft flipped right side up and proceeded at a near crawl. All around the air was filled with explosions, then it was silent. Slowly speeding up he continued toward the crater wall.
"I see." The computer said with satisfaction. "They were tracking our disruptions of dust and air."
"Yes but their sensors are badly degraded. Other wise they could track us now."
"The installation is just up head."
"Good, the main structure should be right about th . . ." Riconis fell off as they flew toward a huge hole tunneling right through the center of the complex and out to the other side of the crater wall. Both pilot and computer were silent as they passed trough the gaping mouth of the tunnel.
". .by the ancients. ." Riconis finally managed to say as the passed through to the other side.
"There is another one almost on the other side of the planet that should be good enough." The computer informed.
"Hold on, here we go again!" Riconis gripped the controls as more defense guns took aim, then one by one the pointed down. Riconis check the tactical locks. "Humph. Lost power."
"They must have run out of reserve, or burned out what ever remaining power source was there."
"Ok then." Riconis said as he pulled up to a higher altitude and execrated. "Lets get going."
Jessica met Rook as they both rounded the same corner. Rook opened his mouth to speak but Jessica spoke first.
"I haven't decided yet, but you can come along for now." Rook blinked for a moment, then smiled.
"Very well." With that he turned and headed back down the corridor.
Jessica let out a long sigh. It had been a snap decision but she needed
someone who could read Rat'chatkan. Taking a deep breath she headed for
Blitz hoping that it would be just as quick. Quickly she decided that how she
found him would decide his fate.
When did I ever ask for such responsibility. Jessica thought to
herself as she opened the door to Blitz's quarters.
--Realm Scribe Shadren
If Jessica had known that things on the base were not as "dead" as she had last found it, she may have thought twice before rushing back. Pegasus had been right to delay the return, it knew some of its history and plenty more of its makers than it had told Jessica.
The arrival of Jessica and David had stirred up old systems, the robust AI system was more resilient than the one on Pegasus. The Rat'chatkan had known they were mighty but they were not blinded by their power or in the longevity of the Kurin'loth, the fleshless race that called themselves the True Ones. They were wise, they knew that over the expanse of time the Kurin'loth, the cancer of all sapient life would re-emerge.
The base had become aware. While the Rat'chatkan did not need to take bodies like the Kurin'loth, at times they chose to. David was gone, but his body had become the vessel for the first Rat'chatkan soul to look out on the universe since the birth of the human species.
To say he watched the base's sensors was not truly accurate, better to
say he felt them, from base perimeter to 100 light years he reached out
to feel the disturbances that lay on the fabric of space. Were the hated
Kurin'loth again drinking in the souls of the universe? Were the
Rat'chatkan again going to purge the universe of life in the hope of
erasing this species? He decided to wait, a number of ships were
approaching and perhaps they would hold some of the answers he desired.
--ARBIE
"What kind of a choice is that?" Blitz whined when he heard Jessica's offer. She had found him sitting in his room holding his head. It really didn't help her decide what to do with him.
"That's my offer, either stay in the brig or go with us onto the planet."
Blitz wrinkled his nose while he thought it over. He knew the planet had to be dangerous. Otherwise Jessica would not let him go with her unless she needed a decoy or something like that. Jessica sighed impatiently. If he stayed the ship might do something to him while she was gone. It was a hard choice for him.
Hes just a simple thief. Jessica thought to herself. She knew he had no idea that he could get a whole bunch of Rat'chatkan technology, but she was not about to tell him. It would have been like asking a grave robber to go along with you into a king's tomb. "Well?" She finally asked impatiently.
"I'll go." Blitz grumbled his response reluctantly.
"Good." Blitz blinked at her response. "But if you do anything to cross me, I'll kill you on the spot." Blitz grumbled some more but Jessica did not stay to hear it. Her mind was racing with what they might find when the Pegasus got there.
"So you did not need my help with the interrogation?" The Pegasus asked as Jessica sat in her chair.
"No. I think I'll still kill him though." Jessica put on her interface to the Pegasus. "Do you have that baby AI yet?"
"Yes. We will be arriving shortly."
"Great." Jessica gritted her teeth. "Lets get down there and find out what's going on." The Pegasus landed without incident. As the Pegasus planted the AI and began its attempt at accessing the base's main system, Jessica prepared to go outside.
Odd. But let them try. What they search for will tell me what they know.
At last the Rat'chatkan ship has landed and in doing so had shown the way to a surviving Rat'chatkan base. The true ones will be pleased. The modified alien ship slowed its approach and awaited more instructions. This new information about the surviving base must be given to the True Ones at once.
"Are you sure you want to land this far out?" The computer asked Riconis as the small ship touched down.
"Yes. I need you outside the base so you can fully detect if any one else shows up." Riconis answered as he climbed out of the still cloaked ship. To anyone who may have seen him, he would have appeared to step out of thin air. Attaching an extend time air pack to his suit, he surveyed the devastated land. Opening a side panel he removed some more equipment. "What if the base is still functioning?"
"That's why you need to finish making the rails." As he spoke, he locked two spelled gauntlets around his forearms, a parting gift from her. Once done fastening his sward belt over his other shoulder, he drew the energy-enveloped blade. The deadly skin of energy rippled with the currents of the poisoned air that drifted over the planet's surface.
"And if you're inside?"
"I said have those done by the time we need to be blasting our way out." He answered as he put the blade away. The ship's computer was silent. After scanning the ground immediately surrounding it, several answers were drawn, as well as a few more questions.
"I'll have them done. With all this Rat'chatkan technology it should be easy."
"Good." Riconis said as he set off.
"What about the Rat'chatkan ship that landed?" Riconis didn't answer. He still did not know how or why it was here.
"Just be ready." He finally answered.
Jessica found Rook and Blitz suited up as well when she arrived at the air lock with her mag rifle. Rook seemed to fill the suit quite well, Blitz on the other hand, just made it bulge in odd places.
"Good, you're ready." She said. Rook nodded but Blitz just glared back at her.
"I take it we will not have any weapons?" Rook asked. "If you remember you left mine back on Minos Gamma when you picked us up." Jessica thought for a moment. Begrudgingly she handed Rook a small plasma pistol.
"You even point that at me and I'll disembowel you." She promised, giving her rifle a small pat. She turned to Blitz who was now wide eyed, hoping he might get one as well. In a flash she caught him by one of his rat ears. Blitz yelped but was too slow. Pulling his head down she lowered her face over him. "If I ever trust you with a weapon in your hands, it will be just after I tear your arms off." She threatened through clenched teeth. With that she released him and roughly pushed him aside. Donning her helmet she gestured with her gun to get moving.
The information from the scout that was pursuing the Rat'chatkan ship was
most encouraging. Orders were given to capture them at once. The hated
Rat'chatkan would not be allowed to interfere this time. Slowly the scout
advanced, like an animal stalking its pray. It would land and take them,
convinced that a few more True Ones would be born that day.
--Realm Scribe Shadren
"Firn?", said Cable. She was holding out a plate with food to him. But Firn wasn't hungry. He sat on a small chair in the mess hall, with his knees pulled up to his body and his arms wrapped round them. He was too traumatized to cry, or even to be properly sad. He knew his mother and father were not with him, gone in some terrible, unfathomable way. Since the blind beggar girl had emerged from the sweetfern field on Karia to save him, he had merely functioned, moved forward through space and time without knowing either. For him all was still.
Cable smiled. For all her apparent blindness, the white eyes, the scruffiness and poverty, she could see a great deal. She touched the childıs mind and he reached out for the plate, took it from her and began to eat. He will survive, she thought, and if all else has failed, perhaps he will be a hope.
She still could not believe that the Karia colony had failed so catastrophically. That its people, who should have been such a powerful weapon, had succumbed to the ancient menace.
Despite her own tender years, Cable remembered the past more clearly than any synthetic data bank. She herself had been there, though, of course, she had not lived in the flesh, but her ancestors had, and she was the product of a quite specific lineage. As had been the larger community on Karia in a different way. She didn't know if she and it were alone of their kind. She guessed not, but she could not be sure. Everything might depend on her... and this boy. Now he alone held the coding of the dormant group-mind of the Karia community, which should have sprung to wakefulness and rendered the individual parasites into harmless puppets of their human hosts, to be used, in time, against the enemy.
Cable left the child eating in the mess hall, and returned to the flightdeck of the Cordjial Class 1 ship which had responded to her urgent call from its hiding place beneath the surface of Karia.
"Will we be detected?" she asked soundlessly.
"Once we leave the planet its very likely." answered the AI without speaking. "But we must assume that the boy is all that's left, and if we are to clone him and reconstitute a larger group-mind then we must return to Minos Revel. Only the base there has the organism stasis facilities, so far as I know. And there's no time like the present."
"O.k. Rubi. You do the necessary. I'll get some rest, and try not to dream bad dreams..." She wondered, as always before sleep, if she alone in the universe saw the persistent, terrible visions of total annihilation. Moments later the Cordjial Class 1 Vessel Rubicon swept upwards from the planet's surface, and then on outwards from the gravity well of Z9 77, the system's bright yellow star. Not long after, it made the jump to hyperspace: Destination, the newly stirring Rat'chatkan base on Minos Revel.
Another enemy vessel had been detected and reported, also heading for the newly discovered Rat'chatkan base. Good.
Queel-Thaar, formerly Captain Joseph Wright of the Terran Federal Commonwealth, had already proved himself in battle many times in the past - as a human, and this next excursion should be no different except for that last part. He was, in truth, still essentially human, but his parasitic companion possessed not only all his human knowledge, and skills, but also his will. He acknowledged his orders with a salute and the words "Kruhara veisara Rat'chatkan - Power to the True Ones." Then he turned an expressionless face to his second-in-command and told her to move the battle cruiser away from the space station and lay in a course to Minos Revel. Inside the head of Queel-Thaar there was pride that he would be leading the assault on the Rat'chatkan base, as well as a premonition of the glory and further privileges that he would gather for himself if the battle proved to be a hard fought and glorious one. He hoped so.
And inside the head of Queel-Thaar, somewhere, lost beneath the crushing alien mind force, there was the silent scream of a prisoner, half blind, half conscious, half mad, and wholly defiant...
Queel-Thaar mused on the pleasures of killing and mating, as his ship prepared to jump to hyperspace.
"Right Peg," said Jess. "Keep track of us," and then through the deepline throat link with her suit-com she added silently, "And if I don't come back you know what to do with the others."
"You can depend on me," said Peg. "Baby is awake and exploring. I'll keep you posted. You're clear to proceed straight ahead to the first hub intersection, at about one kilometer, then turn through 45 degrees right and proceed to the first shaft. That will take you where you want to go." Jess, Rook and Blitz were already some way from Pegasus, which had remained on the surface and, following some deft surgery, hardlinked into an external communications node so that Baby, the newly created AI could get access to the Rat'chatkan data banks.
Jess was leading the others along a major subterranean thoroughfare. Smaller tunnels and chambers opened off on both sides, and there were open shafts in the floor. It seemed likely that unencumbered vertical travel had been an option at one time, though now, equally clearly, it was not. An object dropped into the shafts merely plummeted down the 10 levels to crash resoundingly at the bottom. Which was where they wanted to go. Level nine to be precise, and, fortunately, they had their own means. Each of the humans wore a full anti-grav harness. They could have glided effortlessly along, but for now they were walking. Anti-grav's could be worse than useless in a firefight. If you started jumping around and lost your footing and your bearings, you could spin helplessly out of control until some unfriendly shot you down. And Jess wanted to be on terra firma where she had a cybernetic advantage. She couldn't count too heavily on her two comrades. She was sweating, despite the suit's cooling system, expecting at every moment to meet the creature of her nightmares, the Guardian, more afraid of its association with David's death than of any danger to herself, but wary even so.
"Blitz," she said, "It's about time you took the lead for a while. Don't worry... I'll cover you. Now move!"
Blitz thought better about his objections, closed his mouth and went on ahead of her, glancing uneasily from side to side.
"Pegasus? Any movement? In here or out there?... Pegasus?..."
"Yes Jessica, I'm here... I was about to tell you that Riconis has entered the complex, on foot. He's left his ship outside and I'm in contact with it now. I have some additional info on our situation. However..."
"Can I speak with him?" said Jessica.
"Only through me and C3 at present because..."
"That'll do fine. Put me in touch."
"Jessica...", Pegasus paused.
"Yes?"
"It's David... Baby is growing, infiltrating the data banks, booting up the systems, encountering all manor of records and recordings... And I think you should know now, David is... alive... in a way."
Jessica's mind darkened, her vision closed in. Blitz and Rook were moving on ahead of her, neither had noticed her coming to a stop. She knew Pegasus well enough not to question the reality of what had been said, but she needed it to be more precise. Her heart was pounding in her chest and in her ears.
"In a way?" she asked, but without inflection. Too numb, too confused both by hope and the fear of the loss of hope.
"His body is apparently being animated by the complex's intelligence. In fact, David is now the complex's intelligence. But whether he is still David, the person, as you knew him, in any distinct way, just isn't clear to me. What is clear though is that he's letting us in. He's letting us look, which means he's waiting to see what we'll find. I'm not sure what will happen once Baby is fully grown. There can't be two masters. We may all be in danger then."
"Where's Riconis now?" said Jessica, changing the subject to try to get a hold on reality and herself.
"Close enough," came the answer directly over the suit's com-link, "I have you in sight."
She turned to see a suited figure only twenty meters from her, and felt an immediate sense of relief that she would no longer have to face this ordeal alone. Rook and Blitz didn't really count.
At that moment the sound of small arm's fire came from up ahead, together with garbled shouts of alarm, and all at once Jess came alive with the realisation that while Blitz was expendable, Rook was not.
"With me!" she snapped at Riconis, and instinctively activated her cybernetics, sprinting along the thoroughfare, scanning with her enhanced vision, aiming her weapon, readying to fire.
All at once she was upon them, and there they were, managing to look sheepish even behind their visors.
"Sorry," said Rook, we thought we saw something. But it was only shadows..."
"You mean Blitz thought he saw something," snarled Jess, powering down to normal human responses. "This is Riconis, a friend of mine. He's going to help us in any fight. You best stick to translating." She had in mind to take Rook's weapon, but that seemed both churlish and unwise. Afterall he might be able to hit something, if there was something to hit.
"Jess," said Pegasus, "Baby is now fully grown, and ready to get to work. We seem to have uninhibited access to everything that's functioning. I'm checking history, planetary defenses, and other capabilities..." A pause. "You should know that David is waiting at your intended destination, sublevel nine... the organism stasis chambers."
Jessica nodded to herself. Nightmares and dreams. The worst and the best. All wrapped up in one. She thought that she would rather be asleep. Then, at least, she'd be able to wake up.
The Rubicon held its position in orbit above Minos Revel. There was a large, mixed Human and Kalpurnian fleet similarly holding position on the opposite side of the planet; and, on the surface below, there were several ships of Rat'chatkan origin.
Cable reached out her awareness and touched thousands of chained minds, as well as those of their jailers. And she also sensed something else, alien and yet familiar to her, on the edges of her memory. She drew back, uncertain, holding a residual image of a vast crater on an airless moon, and something within it. Distant, watching, but not, she thought, a threat. With an effort, she pulled her thoughts back to the here and now.
No action had been taken against her ship as yet, though its arrival could not have gone unnoticed. This was presumably the calm before the storm. She considered her options. There was nothing she could do alone. The boy, Firn, must be cloned, and the group-mind regenerated, larger than before. Thousands of, as yet, shapeless organisms waited in stasis chambers beneath the planet's surface. Time was short. She gave the order to descend.
Dropping back into real spacetime, Queel-Thaar considered his options, then ordered the fleet to deploy uniformly about the planet so as to take account of the, admittedly non-operational, defense grid, and then stand by to attack and destroy the Rat'chatkan base and all vessels rising from the surface. The battle would begin as soon as his own battle group was in position at the head of his forces.
With an emotionless human face, the alien Queel-Thaar smiled.
--Chris Hicks
