Gandy nodded. "Definitely Gondol."
"Good then. Let's take a trip. If the Denzee are still gone we'll take a look at that submerged facility."
A half hour later, the Bangor was dropping through the Gondol atmosphere.
Harris said, "Scan shows no evidence of them being back other than to collect their dead."
Tawn winced. "Circle the globe at least once. That warship came out of nowhere last time."
"Sure, why not. Not like that block of rock is going anywhere."
Trish stood over his shoulder. "Run a scan while were going. Might as well know it all like you wanted to before."
The globe was traversed without any new information coming to light.
Harris parked the Bangor in a hover just above the center of the block. "So how do we move that water and mud back?"
Trish replied, "We dig down and bond something to the sides of that stone. Once all the way around we pump out the water and dig out the mud."
"Yeah that all sounds nice, but we need the equipment to do that with."
Tawn replied, "Would it be possible to configure one of those mine diggers we have sitting at the Retreat? Drop it on top and let it clean house?"
"Those are made for a dry environment. Maybe we need a visit to see Mr. Morgan. His engineers could come up with a quick solution."
"Great." Tawn scowled. "Wormholes. And I have Denzee ships coming through. At least five Ratoons."
Harris turned away from the incoming ships, speeding across the bog to a safe distance for a run up through the atmosphere. Two of the Ratoons began a pursuit, soon breaking off. Ten minutes later saw free space and a jump was made to Domicile.
A comm was opened to Bannis Morgan. "I take it you have news."
"Something different," Harris said. "We have a problem we need solved and wondered if your engineers could take a look at it."
"Tell me what it is and I'll pass it along."
"We have the block of granite as seen in the info I just sent you. It's buried in a bog. If you pull it up you'll see there's a hollow shaft running out the bottom of it that goes down at least a half kilometer. I can't say what's in there as we don't know. What we need is a way in. And if possible, without it being visible from above."
Tawn said, "We'd rather the Denzee not know it's there if possible. Any ideas your team can come up with would be appreciated."
Bannis nodded. "Data looks to be from a good, quality scan. I'll see what we can do for you. I heard you had some good news from Pache yesterday?"
"We took out most of their Ratoons, driving them back from the system. Also found their repair docks and did a number on twenty-one of those warships. Was a good day indeed."
Harris added. "Unfortunately they still have as many of those ships in our space. We're hoping this last defense will hold off another assault until we get the first of those Legion ships."
"Yes. I have some good news for you on that. We should have the Hailstorm back in service, along with five legions, four days from today. Will also have a dozen shields finished by then. And if you can manage four days after that the number jumps to eight Legions and two dozen centurion shields. That will give you a force of ten ships."
Harris nodded, "Fantastic. And if you're in need of more credits, we have more available."
"I believe we are in good shape with our finances, Mr. Gruberg. It will be months before I'm possibly hitting you up again."
I know I don't need to bother asking, but anything new on the gamma weapon?"
"Not at this time. The team has really been putting in the hours on that effort. I'm tempted to tell them to please just take a few days off. The fresh minds might do them good. But at the same time I don't want to interrupt the flow of any studies they have going on. I am growing confident that we will find a way to make this happen. Our research shows that it is possible."
With the data delivered and status given, the group returned to Midelon where Sharvie Withrow remained seated in front of a console.
— Chapter 26 —
* * *
"Any luck with securing those bots?"
Sharvie nodded. "Loads. And it might even be possible to give them some offensive capability."
Harris frowned. "Don't know if I like the sound of that. If someone was able to take control of them they could be used against us."
"I'm actually working on a series of system protocols that would hopefully prevent that."
Tawn asked, "What kind of offensive capabilities are you talking about?"
"Basically the same that we can do, only a lot faster. During our previous attacks on the Denzee my team was able to make adjustments on the fly that let us in to begin with. Those were still Humans making the decisions. Move that ability to one of our bots and we are talking near instant decision making."
"Sounds promising."
"Let's say the Denzee forced us out of their systems by walking their comm frequency up a scale at random intervals. We couldn't keep up with making the entries, so we would lose our connections. The bots won't have that issue as they could follow a thousand hops in a second's time while we lose it after the first two."
"If you think we can adequately safeguard an offensive feature," Tawn said, "then I say let's put it in."
Harris nodded. "I could be in agreement with that. When will these updates be ready?"
"Except for the protocols, they are ready now."
"Is this something you would want to test out first?"
"We can do that here and now if you like."
"Give it a shot."
Sharvie typed away on the keyboard in front of her. "I've just uploaded the abilities to Emily. Now we allow her to make a connection to the comm ship. Guys? Are you ready?"
Sharvie turned. "That's our team back on Domicile. They will be defending against the attack."
"We're ready here. Start whenever you like."
Sharvie smiled. "Emily, I'd like you to break through the firewalls of each of the systems connected to this comm. Please retrieve the computer IDs from each machine that is attached as proof of your getting in."
Emily nodded. "Done."
Sharvie gave a confused look. "Done?"
"The task is complete. I'm passing you the IDs."
Sharvie stared at the list in front of her. "Guys? You see anything?"
"I've had a single contact, but nothing on my monitors."
Two others responded. "Me too."
Sharvie took a deep breath. Can you confirm or deny that the IDs of each of your machines are not in this list?"
"Hmm. Wait. I'm on there. Where'd you get that?"
"Me too."
"And me."
"So everyone's IDs are on this list. And am I correct to assume someone would have to have full access to your machines to get those IDs?"
"Yes. They would."
"It looks like the three of you got hacked. And other than a single external ping of your networks, which might not have been Emily, you are all compromised."
Emily said, "Following the rules as given, each of their systems was relatively easy to access."
Harris chuckled. "She just blew threw your firewalls like they were made out of screen. I thought your friends were the ace-team?"
"They are. This is unsettling. If a machine is able to do this with such ease, what chance do we have of stopping it? We rely on our computers for just about everything. They fly our ships and other transportation. They run our comms. They run the wormhole generators and our environmental systems."
"Sounds like the perfect opportunity to work on countermeasures that will work against a machine."
"You have a suggestion for accomplishing that?"
Harris grinned. "Idiot. Get over here."
"Yes, sir?"
"Miss Withrow, if you would kindly make the upload to my bot."
"OK. Done."
"Now, Idiot and Emily. I want each of you to keep a running number in your memories that corresponds with the time of d
ay. Each of you has a mission to grab that number from the other as often as you can. You also have an obligation to block the release of that number to an intruder. And to show us that the fight is ongoing, I want each of you to do a squat at least once every three seconds so long as your systems are compromised. Do you understand our goal?"
Emily replied, "To defend against an intrusion?"
Harris nodded. "Exactly. Both of you begin when you're ready."
The bots faced each other. Seconds later each began to squat and then stand.
Harris chuckled. "I could almost watch this all day."
Tawn asked Sharvie, "Anyway to monitor their progress?"
Sharvie shrugged. "I guess I could ask them to each send a status with counts of intrusions and blocks. Every five seconds work for everyone?"
Harris gestured toward the bots. "The two of you heard that. Comm her status with those numbers every five seconds."
Data on Sharvie's display began to update. "Wow. Over a hundred thousand intrusions each. Only a handful of blocks."
The bots continued to squat and stand for several minutes.
Tawn pointed. "Blocks are going up."
Sharvie said, "Each of you send your processor usage on this next update. Wow. They're both locked in at 100 percent. Surprised they took our commands after they started."
Tawn crossed her arms as Harris continued to chuckle at the sight. "You really find that funny?"
"I do. Don't know why, but it is."
"Look. Emily's blocks just topped ten thousand. She's learning quick."
Gandy said, "Idiot just passed ten."
For several seconds both bots stood still. The block counts skyrocketed. Then, as quickly as they had stopped the intrusions picked up.
Ten minutes into the process, Harris stopped chuckling.
Tawn smirked. "Lost its hilarity?"
"Pretty much. Can't believe they are still pounding on each other like that."
Sharvie said, "They're learning. And that's both attack strategies and defense. This is actually very interesting."
Emily stopped moving. Several seconds later, Idiot did the same.
"This might be it," Gandy said. "Twelve minutes."
Sharvie looked around at the others. "I think we let them continue at it for a while just to be safe. Besides, it's dinner time and I know some of you are hungry."
Harris chuckled. "Might be why I was getting bored. My stomach was starting to growl."
The group moved to the supply hut where five MREs were consumed. The bots were allowed to continue for another hour before Sharvie ruled the results conclusive. Neither bot was able to infiltrate the others systems. The same programming was uploaded to the remaining bots and to Alex.
Harris made the comm rounds. Checking with the colonel, then Bannis Morgan, and finally with Baxter Rumford.
Bax had urgent news. "The Denzee have returned. There are fifteen Ratoons just now beginning to engage with the fleet. They've chosen the colony of Beijing this time. Thirty million citizens at risk. The emperor has again asked for your assistance."
Harris replied, "We're on our way, but it may be as much as a half hour."
Bax nodded as the comm closed. Harris checked the status of new shield ships at the factory. There were none.
"Well, Miss Freely, care to join me in another jaunt with the Denzee?"
"Just the one shield?"
"All they have ready. Idiot, Boomer, aboard the Bangor, now."
Tawn smirked, "Well at least we got to eat before going out. Of course these fights only seem to last a few hours."
Harris followed the bots into the cabin. Farker was right behind. Tawn stepped in after.
"Fifteen Ratoons this time," Tawn said as she sat in her chair.
"If the Earthers make the same effort as last time we should be able to handle this."
"Let's hope."
The battle was once again in free space surrounding the Beijing colony. Thirty million civilians waited below as the heavens above erupted in an immense display of plasma flashes. The Bangor was quickly joined by a small fleet of a dozen destroyers. The first Ratoon approached was taken offline and boarded without loss. The second saw four destroyers annihilated before it fell. Similar results were seen with the two that followed.
As the Bangor approached the fifth Ratoon a group of three destroyers moved in line in front of it. The first sacrificed itself as the blue-white disc illuminated on the front of the Ratoon. The second and third ships, and subsequently the Biomarines and their bots were traveling too close.
Without time for reaction the Bangor rammed into the back of an Earther destroyer. The inertial dampening system countered the sudden stop, but only to the degree it could. The Human occupants of the small ship were slammed into the console in front of themselves before being whiplashed back in their seats. The violent movements rendered them unconscious.
Tawn was the first to awaken two hours later. "What... what happened?"
Boomer was standing over her. "We had an unfortunate accident. Our dampening systems were unable to fully compensate. You and Mr. Gruberg have been unconscious for two hours."
Tawn tried to sit up but fell back. "Uh. I can't move my neck."
"As you shouldn't. Please remain still until proper medical care can be administered."
"Where are we?"
"We are parked in free space just off the Beijing colony."
"What happened? I mean in the two hours I was out."
"This vessel, with the assistance of three dozen Earther destroyers, disabled eleven of the fifteen Denzee Ratoons. The remaining four have fled the system."
"You kept fighting?"
"Yes. Once the hostilities had ceased, the Earther fleet commander asked us to come to New Earth where they would render medical care. We declined. That decision came only moments before you awakened."
Tawn attempted to nod but winced as her stretched neck muscles wouldn't allow it.
"Just take us back to the Retreat. The colonel will fix us up."
Twelve minutes later the Bangor settled on the tarmac outside dome one. A team was waiting, moving them quickly into the medical facilities. After an examination, Tawn was administered a sedative.
Seven hours passed before she awoke. Harris was sitting in a bed next to her with a cervical collar around his neck.
"Ah. Look who decided to join us."
"How long was I out that time?"
Harris chuckled. "I was told seven hours. You really did a number on your neck muscles. Gonna be stiff for a bit."
"What about you?"
"I managed to crack a vertebra, seems I hit the console just right with my head, sparing my muscles. You on the other hand, whipped forward and back like nobody's business. We have it recorded if you want to watch."
"No thanks. The ship OK?"
"Minimum damage."
"And do I understand the bots took over again?"
Harris sighed. "Took out six of the eleven Ratoons left. The Earthers managed two on their own this time. And get this, the emperor ordered them to follow the Ratoons when they jumped. They killed another one at Jellon, before chasing the remains of that fleet to Rumanta, where another battle ensued and the Denzee fled."
"Where'd they go?"
"Toward home I guess. And I learned from Boomer that she and Idiot were able to infiltrate the Denzee network and load in a nice delayed call to their self-destructs. Any ship in their fleet that made contact with that ship has a high probability of being infected. They should know the results in about seventeen hours. If all goes well that entire fleet will self-destruct all at once."
"Wow. So we get credit for another nine Ratoon kills?"
"Confirmed. And if the remaining fleet goes that will be another eight. But I don't know how we would be able to get credit for those."
"Any word from Midelon?" Tawn asked.
"They're on their way in one of the new shuttles. Alex did a scan of all systems through a comm wormho
le and found no evidence of Denzee ships anywhere. Hopefully they stay gone for more than a few days this time."
"What happened to the colonies they were building at Jellon and Rumanta?"
"Gone. Destroyed in a hail of plasma fire which the Earthers were all too happy to deliver."
"What kind of casualties did the Earthers take this time?"
Harris winced. "Half the remaining fleet. A hundred forty-eight ships. They have a hundred fifty-six remaining according to Alex."
"Wow. All those crews. Even if they build new ships it will take a good while to train new crews. All those lives and experience lost."
The colonel walked into the room. "Your friends are landing just outside. Will be up in a few minutes. Glad to see you both awake."
Tawn said, "Feel like I got run over by a truck."
"A destroyer good enough for you?"
"OK, a destroyer."
The colonel sat on the end of her bed. "What I find fascinating is the fact that your bots fought the rest of that battle while you two were incapacitated. Want to tell me more about them?"
Harris replied, "They were given to us on Midelon. We're not at liberty to discuss by who or why. And we don't have full answers on that anyway."
"Are there more?"
"They were supposed to be fashioned after us to be used as assistants. Not for fighting but for learning about everyday tasks. We each have one that's been assigned to us. Being Biomarines, Tawn and I thought it might be to our benefit to teach them how to fight.
"They studied our archives for the histories of wars, weapons, hand-to-hand, basically any knowledge of fighting. After that they watched us as we fought the Denzee. What they did while we were out was what they learned in the last few weeks."
The colonel nodded. "Impressive. And I would advise you to keep them close and not make more. With all our current problems, if we built an army of those to fight for us, we'd probably end up with a robot uprising and a new enemy."
Harris chuckled. "That would be all we need. Can you at least tell us where ours are right now?"
"In your ship. They won't come out and they won't let anyone else aboard."
Tawn gave a pained smile. "They're stubborn, like us. And It's good they haven't been carted away for study by the DDI."
ARMS Eden Lost: (Book 4) Page 23