Salvage Fleet

by Kevin Steverson

  “I told you to call her, dude,” Clip said out of the corner of his mouth to Big Jon as they left the bridge.

  “Sso, what have you done to my engineer?” Zerith asked Big Jon, once the shuttle was under way.

  “Sir, I just…we just…we went out while we were on leave in Leethog. It was just the once. I thought we had a great time, but leave was over, and we have a battle looming,” Big Jon explained. “I was going to talk to her after we defeat the Squilla.”

  It was the first time any of them had ever seen the big Leethog nervous. Normally he moved around the ship with a swaggering confidence that could not be denied. Right now, he was out of his element.

  “Sso tell her that,” Zerith said, shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal.

  “You think?” Big Jon asked, surprised it could be that easy.

  “Don’t look at me, dude, I told you to call her. I didn’t say I understood them,” Clip said. “Nobody does.”

  “That iss a true sstatement,” Zerith agreed and reached into a pocket for something to snack on.

  Harmon listened to them as he flew the shuttle, thinking about Evelyn and wondering if he would finally get some leave time with her after all this was over. Of course I will, he thought. I’m in charge; I’ll just grant my own leave.

  As they approached the research station, they saw it was a smaller version of a typical spaceport, with an inner and outer ring. Harmon could see that two of the docking arms had small ships connected. The ships were single engine craft, and were bigger than a standard shuttle, but they were only about half the size of a frigate.

  “I wonder if those are the ships that have complete automation,” Clip asked from the copilot’s seat.

  “I don’t know about that, but I see the retractable panels on both sides of the rear ramp. That type of design usually denotes a mine layer,” Harmon said. “Either it carries small mines, or there’s more room in the cargo area inside those ships than I can tell from the outside. Neither have missile tube covers or defensive laser turrets mounted on them. That tells me they aren’t designed to fight or even defend against attacks. If those are warships, they do their job before the battle starts; I’d bet good credit on it.”

  “You can tell all that with jusst a fly by?” Zerith asked.

  “Sure, can’t you?” Harmon asked.

  Harmon waited until the all clear in the bay was given before he dropped the ramp. As they walked down the ramp and got a good look at the inside of the ship, they could tell it was large. It was big enough to see the outer walls curve away. There were two more ships in the bay similar to the two that were docked out on the outer ring of the station. One of the ships had scaffolding all around it, as if major repairs or refitting was going on right there in the bay.

  As they stepped away from the ship, a man came walking over from the entryway into the station. He was of average height, slim but not skinny, with his balding hair cut short—almost shaved. He had a big grin on his face as he reached out a hand to Harmon.

  “Harmon Tomeral,” he said. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Van Plexico. Hey, introduce me to your friends.” Again, that smile.

  “Hi, you knew which one of us was me?” Harmon asked, surprised.

  “Sure did,” Van said. “Harmon Tomeral, Number 23. You had 6,234 yards rushing, with a 5.2-yard average. System champions, three years in a row. You racked up more points than anyone in your system’s history. Man, there have been very few to score that many points in any system, even here in the Multi-Systems Inter-Collegiate Association. You know you could have transferred and received a full scholarship at any school here in the MSICA…even at my alma mater, War Eagle University.”

  Harmon was shocked. Here was someone from a system several gate days away from the Tretrayon system who knew all of his stats from playing warball at the Academy. He didn’t know if he should be surprised, embarrassed, or what he should even say.

  He finally decided to be honest. “I don’t know what to say,” Harmon said.

  “I told ya, man, he has a Net show about warball called ‘The Eagle Talks,’” Clip said. “He has millions of followers. Even fans of other conferences than the MSICA.”

  Clip held out his hand. “Hi, since Harmon is beside himself right now, I’m Clip. This is my buddy Zerith, and this is our head of security, Jontilictick. You can just call him Big Jon. We all do.”

  Professor Plexico shook their hands and then looked back at Clip. “Clip…Clip, now why do I recognize that name?” he asked. “Were you ever a kicker? Wait…Clip! I know now. We’ve gone back and forth on some of the Earth History forums. You think Earth Common developed from what used to be English because it was used for Earth air traffic control before man ever made it to the stars. I contend it developed because of business trade necessity, Earth-wide, in the twenty-second century.”

  “Actually, you’re both correct. It was a combination of the two,” Jayneen said through the speaker of the slate in Clip’s hand. A cable ran from the slate back into Clip’s kit.

  “Well, we did agree to disagree on the subject,” Van said, looking around. “Wait, to whom am I speaking?”

  “That iss a ssurprisse,” Zerith said.

  “Well, let’s go to my lounge and grab a bite, and you can tell me what the four of you came all this way for,” the professor said, leading the way into the station.

  “Yess, do you have fressh fruit?” Zerith asked. “And it iss five, not four.”

  His lounge was a huge room, with shelves along one wall containing warball collectables and actual paper copies of the books Van Allen Plexico had written. Most reading was done on personal comps or slates across the galaxy. The books were a throwback to centuries before, when humans preferred to hold one in their hand and read. Clip was thrilled to see them. Harmon was more impressed with the sports memorabilia on some of the shelves.

  “Is that an actual football helmet?” Harmon asked.

  “It is. A helmet from the twenty-first century, in mint condition,” Van replied proudly. “I have it in that case in a controlled environment.”

  “Thatss old,” Zerith said.

  “I’ll say it is,” Harmon said. “It’s hard to believe the players wore helmets. I’m glad they aren’t worn now in warball. I mean, how would you throw an elbow to keep from getting tackled if the defender wore a helmet?”

  “They didn’t even allow fights in football,” Van said, looking at the helmet with Harmon.

  “Didn’t allow fights?” Harmon asked incredulously. He couldn’t believe it.

  “No, really, they didn’t. There was another sport played on ice that allowed small scraps, though,” Van said.

  They all sat down around a conference table set over to the side and helped themselves to a few snacks. Most of the food was familiar to them, except some of the fruits. Van identified them, and Zerith tasted and verified all of them to be excellent.

  “So, I know you four didn’t come all this way to look at my memorabilia. What can I help you with?” Van asked looking at Clip.

  “To be honest, it was worth the trip just to see all this. The books, the memorabilia…the ships we saw docked, and in the bay,” Clip said.

  “Ah, the ships,” Van said. “Yes, word of the automation has been spreading.”

  “I’m not sure if you’ve been following what’s been happening in the Tretrayon system,” Harmon said, “but we were able to hold off an invasion by the Squilla, and they’ll be coming back for at least one more round.”

  “I saw some of it on the Net news,” Van admitted. “But there are system wars happening throughout the galaxy, unfortunately. I don’t condone war, and I especially hate it when fellow humans are involved, but the realist in me understands that sometimes it’s the only option. Not to subjugate another system, but in defense. There are usually many factors in war; treaties, alliances, trade pacts. It can get complicated, I’m sure.”

  “In our case, it’s for our very survival,” Harmon said.<
br />
  “I don’t doubt it, with the Squilla involved,” Van agreed. “They do have a reputation. But what has all this to do with me?”

  “Your ships,” Clip said. “Specifically, the programming. Are they truly automated?”

  “They are,” Van admitted. “It’s no secret. Once I got the programming right, there was no reason to continue to develop them in secrecy. I made a little credit in my lifetime, and now I just work on my hobbies. If one can call it work.”

  “What type of mine layers are they?” Harmon asked.

  Van laughed. “You guessed that? That part of it wasn’t something I let be known. The ships can be programmed or remote controlled from a great distance. They have extensive shielding, since none of the power has to go toward life support or any type of environmental system, and you’d be surprised by how much more power can be directed toward it.

  “I designed them to stay dormant until a ship or a fleet is nearby. Then, they accelerate at an incredible rate—there are no life forms on board, so G-forces are irrelevant—and drop mines that are capable of emitting a huge electromagnetic pulse when they’re triggered. Theoretically, this will cause a lot of systems on a ship to go offline and make it vulnerable.”

  “Could the mines be used to stop a salvo of missiles?” Harmon asked, thinking of the battle to come.

  “Interesting. I’m sure they could, if the mines were set in the right place,” Van said. “You know, I’ve been working on this as a means of defense for my system. Not that it appears as if we have anything to fear, but one never knows. Like I said before, there are wars happening all over the galaxy. Granted, there are thousands and thousands of star systems out there, with many of the disputes going on long before mankind left our home system. I think a defensive system like the one I’ve developed could end some of these wars.”

  “Are the sships and miness for ssale?” Zerith asked.

  “I understand your need, but I think they’re still in the development stage,” Van said. “I have four hundred mines and two ships complete. It works, but I think for it to be truly effective, it would take bigger ships and many more mines. You have to understand, when I started working on this, it was just an idea. I’m pretty good at programming…and I had the credits, so I had this research station built to work on it, but it’ll be a while before it’s ready for star systems to integrate into their fleets.”

  “Is the entire station dedicated to the automated ships and the mines?” Clip asked.

  “Mostly, but I still write, and there’s the studio where I do my show on warball…and there are a few other things my people are working on that I’m not at liberty to discuss right now,” Van admitted.

  “Would one of them be what’s commonly known as artificial intelligence?” Jayneen asked. Clip’s slate was on the table, with thin cords running to his kit where the computer and power cell were.

  “How would you know that?” Van asked with a frown. “You still haven’t explained why one of you is here for this meeting through the Net instead of along with the rest of you.”

  “Clip,” Jayneen said, “could you please place me on the table?”

  Clip looked at Harmon and Zerith, and they both nodded. Clip looked over at Big Jon, who had been quiet the whole time, performing his security duty. Big Jon just grinned. This was waaaay above his pay grade, and he wasn’t giving any advice. Clip reached into his pack, pulled out Jayneen’s computer and the power cell, and placed them on the table by his slate.

  “Hello, Professor Plexico, my name is Jayneen,” the AI said. “I would shake your hand, as is the human custom, but as you can see, I have none.”

  Professor Van Allen Plexico sat and stared. He studied the cube that was Jayneen, the slate it was hooked to, and the power cell. He knew he had never seen the design of the computer, and he had never seen that type of power cell. Those details by themselves did not mean that this wasn’t just an elaborate hoax being played by the group of beings in front of him, though.

  He was an intelligent man; well above average. He knew from online discussions that Clip was intelligent, as well. Van knew of Harmon Tomeral. He knew his capabilities on the warball field. He, like many others in several systems, knew of the competition Harmon had won. He was aware of the results of the attempted invasion by the Squilla on the Tretrayon system. He also knew that the Auburn System Fleet had allowed the battlecruiser Salvage Title to come into their system without challenge and had even directed these individuals to where to find him.

  All this went through his mind and, given his intelligence, it didn’t take long for him to come to the only conclusion possible. He had just been addressed by an actual AI, quite possibly the only artificial intelligence in the galaxy. He started to smile and shook his head.

  “You know, I believed it was possible,” Van Allen Plexico said. “I really did, but I thought it would be years…decades in the making. You’re actual artificial intelligence.”

  At hearing the Professor say this, Big Jon’s eyes went wide. Clip scooted his chair away from Jayneen just a little. Zerith opened his mouth to speak.

  “Professor Plexico, now that you’ve established who I am, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t refer to me as ‘artificial,’” Jayneen said, the tone of her voice invoking no argument.

  “My apologies, Jayneen. Please…call me Van,” he said quickly. He had noticed the other’s reaction to what he had said.

  “I have to ask, how? Where did you come from? Who created the programming?” Van asked.

  “I was created to navigate the Gates,” Jayneen explained. “I was the first of my kind, from what I have gathered. The first memory I have is coming out of a gate into a resupply system for the Grithelaons over twenty-two hundred years ago. There was an incident that wiped out the entire race that created me. They are extinct. Shortly after, I was removed from the bridge of my ship and placed in dormant mode. The next memories I have are when Clip revived me.”

  “Extinct? Her programming? You’ve studied it?” Van asked Clip.

  “I have,” Clip said. “I have the basics down, and I’m learning more and more. Like how to adjust shielding and other things.”

  “This is incredible. I would love to learn more,” Van exclaimed. “To do that, you all have to survive. Listen, if I can have a chance to study the programming with you…you can take the two ships and all the mines I have. You just have to promise me you’ll all survive. To lose a…uh…person…being…individual like Jayneen would be a travesty of galactic proportions.”

  “To losse our friend would be worsse,” Zerith said.

  “Yeah,” Harmon agreed. “It almost happened in the last battle. Part of her computer started burning, and Clip had to move her to temporary storage. It took us going to her home system across the galaxy to find another computer capable of holding her entire core program without suppressing files. Without that computer, she’s restricted in her capabilities.”

  “If she hadn’t left the fifty-digit coordinates, we’d have never been able to save her.” Clip added.

  “Fifty?” Van asked. “To lock in a destination through the gates? As far as I know, every destination listed on the Net has thirty-eight digits. I’ve never heard of a gate location with fifty. Interesting.”

  “He’s correct,” Jayneen said. “All the others are thirty-eight digits. It’s never occurred to me to mention this.”

  “So, you’ll let us use the ships?” Harmon asked, bringing the point of the meeting back to the main reason for the visit. “We can pay for them. I can’t guarantee they’ll survive the upcoming battle.” It seems as if I say that a lot lately, Harmon thought.

  “Absolutely,” Van said. “I have the programming, and the research is done on the mines. I can make more of both the ships and the mines. Besides, I want to go with larger ships after this third one is complete in a month or so. Don’t worry about the credit. I’ve made plenty in my life. One can only spend so much. There are many things in life worth much mor
e than credit. Family, friends, warball…things like that.”

  “I agree, though having plenty of creditss iss never a bad thing,” Zerith said seriously.

  “Speaking of warball,” Van said as they all stood up. “Harmon, would you mind a little sit down? I’d like to interview you about your collegiate career, and why you chose not to go pro. I could post it on my channel tonight. Warball fans in several systems would eat it up, even though you played in a smaller conference.”

  “Sure, I guess,” Harmon said. He didn’t mind talking warball. He missed the game and his teammates from the Academy, many of whom hadn’t survived the recent battles. He intended to talk about how, without them, he would never have achieved the numbers he had racked up.

  Van introduced Clip to his lead technician, so Clip and Jayneen could receive instructions on the mining ships’ operational systems, and Zerith could coordinate locking the two ships to Salvage Title for easy transportation. Harmon went to Van’s studio for the interview. Big Jon stayed with Harmon and stood out of the camera’s view.

  “Welcome once again to The Eagle Talks,” Van said to the camera. “I am your host, Van Allen Plexico, and I have a guest in-studio today. Some of you may have heard of Harmon Tomeral. If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat. He put up some of the best numbers ever in collegiate warball…in any system. Harmon, thanks for dropping by the studio today.”

  After the introduction, Van asked several questions about Harmon’s career and the decision to go back home to Joth instead of playing professional warball. One of the lines of questioning revealed part of the reason for Harmon’s success. On Joth, warball is played by all races on mixed teams. Traditionally, it’s a human sport, and very few planets have other races playing. Men and women both played on teams together, but no other races. On Joth, Harmon had played against Yalteens and Pikith on defense against him.

  When he went to the Academy, there were only humans on the other side of the line, not seven-foot-tall, three hundred plus-pound opponents. He also didn’t have to play against Pikith and their incredible speed. To be fair, he did have other races playing for his team in secondary school too, so the games were even. It was just that, in college, only humans played. Going against other humans was a lot easier in Harmon’s viewpoint.