A.I. Void Ship (The A.I. Series Book 6)

by Vaughn Heppner

  What had happened after Boron 10’s escape craft had fled the Beta Hydri System?

  Given Cog Primus, the sooner he put down the AI rebellion, the better. Given the human-originated Confederation, the sooner he destroyed them, the less they could grow into a true fighting force. Given the elusive Center Race aliens that used the void…he must proceed with great caution against them. Caution implied a massive fleet action. Going there sooner implied a quick strike force eradicating the troublemakers.

  If he waited and gathered the entire forces of his three regions, he could arrive in Confederation space with an overwhelming armada. Even if the Center Race aliens aided the Confederation, such an armada would likely sweep life’s forces out of existence.

  Yet, arriving with such an armada would give Cog Primus and the Confederation time to grow. That would likely mean heavier losses to his forces.

  Main 63 had labored across the centuries to build up to this position as a three-region Controller. If his forces took too many losses, he might conceivably lose one or even two of his regions. Another Main could gain them.

  Main 63 yearned for greater bulk and greater control. Thus, he hated the idea of losing regions.

  Could the Center Race aliens do to him what they had done to Boron 10?

  Once more, Main 63 ran war simulations. He carefully took notes on the 4,281,001 computer reproductions.

  Afterward, he decided on a quick strike against the Confederation. Regions 7-D19 and 7-D20 would continue to annihilate their local species and build up with more factory planets. Main 63 would use himself, the five siege-ships here and ten cyberships to augment the fleets in Region 7-D21.

  He and the siege-ships represented a vast increase in fighting power. He would annihilate these humans in particular and smash to atoms every brain-core tainted by the Cog Primus virus. If the Center Race aliens appeared—Main 63 did not chuckle, but he maintained a mirth mode as he considered what he would do to them. The reckoning for those troublesome life-forms was almost at hand.

  What then should he do with the Centurion?

  Main 63 would delay that decision for now. Perhaps there was some iota of data he could wring from the lone marine at a later date. Yes. He would run tests on the Centurion as the Headquarter Fleet journeyed to Region 7-D21.

  PART V

  ARMAGEDDON

  And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.”

  -- Revelation 19:17 (NIV)

  -1-

  Icy wind tore at Jon in his spacesuit. He was on the tallest mountain of the factory planet in the Allamu System.

  The orange sky roiled with ice clouds and snow whipped around his booted feet.

  It was beautiful up here even as he gazed down at a vast planetary crack that glowed with the heat of a hundred furnaces. The gargantuan zigzagging crack was below the nearby valley. The planetary crack housed the majority of the factories that mass-produced the components that went into making Enoy null-splitters, reality generators and quantum-pi power plants.

  The Enoy technology was strange, well beyond the understanding of the human and Roke scientists that studied it. Only the few Nathan Graham technicians that had been directly taught through Enoy dreams had been able to retool this part of the factory planet.

  That had been over eight months ago. Eight months of frantic work and many setbacks as the Confederation readied itself to fight the great battle that would likely decide whether humans and Roke lived for another year or not.

  Jon snorted softly to himself, turned and staggered against an icy blast that hit him at precisely the wrong moment. He fell. He climbed back to his feet, dusted off the snow and trudged to the heavy orbital that had brought him here.

  The orbital rested on three huge landers. It was a black, ungainly looking vessel, more bulbous than round. Several space marines in battle armor waited near the elevator that would take him up into the ship.

  As Jon trudged, he found it hard to believe that eight months had passed so quickly. He shook his head.

  In these eight months he’d had four cybership-class vessels newly outfitted, each now having a null-splitter, a reality generator and a quantum-pi power plant. Four. Far too few for the coming holocaust, he was sure. Yes, each of the four could theoretically protect two other regular cyberships while in the void. That gave him twelve cyberships able to use the void to travel from one star system to another.

  Those twelve could launch masses of Vestal missiles, accelerating them to five percent light-speed. Could those twelve cyberships defeat…six AI siege-ships, say?

  Jon had his doubts, as he knew how he would defend against a Vestal missile assault if he controlled a siege-ship.

  What made everything iffier was that none of the Confederation ships had ever used the void under their own power to make a void journey. The Sisters of Enoy had not shown them how to travel in the void yet. Yes, the four void-capable cyberships had the equipment that should theoretically allow them to do what the Rose of Enoy did. But theory was always different from reality.

  Jon shuddered as he climbed aboard the elevator.

  The space marines joined him, and up the contraption went.

  Jon waited in silence and the space marines respected that. The elevator came to a stop. The door opened and Jon exited first, still wearing his spacesuit as he headed for a seat.

  He’d been finding it increasingly hard to concentrate these past months. Gloria had examined him and declared that he should be as psychologically fit as ever. He was sure the lack of concentration had to with a change to his mind from traveling through the void the one time.

  Nine percent of the human crews and twelve percent of the Roke crews that had been in the ships traveling from Beta Hydri to the Allamu System through the void had gone stark raving mad. Because they lacked insane asylums here, the mad had gone into a maximum-security prison.

  Am I willing to lose my mind in order to save the human race?

  After a short countdown, the orbital blasted off from the mountain, interrupting his musings. In his seat, Jon shook like the other passengers. It got worse and then the shaking slowly eased out. Finally, as they reached orbital space, the shaking ceased altogether.

  Jon exhaled with relief as he twisted off his bubble helmet. He handed the helmet to a stewardess coming by, a pretty young woman.

  It was too bad they didn’t have a method to accelerate the Vestal missiles to five percent light-speed without the void. He knew that was impossible, of course, but a man could hope, couldn’t he?

  Soon, the heavy lifter neared the Nathan Graham in the factory planet’s outer orbital region.

  Jon unhooked from his seat and went to a port window. He peered at the approaching cybership. It did not look the same anymore.

  The Nathan Graham was still cylindrical and one hundred kilometers long. But it did not possess a smooth hull anymore. Instead, it had a rocky, asteroid-like hull. That kind of hull allowed the reality generator to “throw” out a greater and stronger reality field.

  Four Confederation cyberships possessed asteroid-like hulls. Four.

  Jon returned to his seat and strapped in. He waited and would have liked to go to sleep. That was another “benefit” from his single void journey. He only slept two hours a night these days. The rest of the time, he stared and did lots and lots of thinking. In his opinion, far too much thinking.

  Two weeks ago, Bast had told him that the sleepless state actually helped a philosopher. It gave him more hours of concentration.

  The extra and seemingly endless thinking had caused Jon to believe in, and argue for, a concentration of all Confederation fleet power in the Allamu System. The Main that Zeta had talked about was undoubtedly already coming to destroy humanity. What Jon desperately needed
to know was the exact location of the enemy armada. Given the properties of hyperspace and hyperspace travel, they would only learn the location when the AI armada dropped out of hyperspace at an inhabited star system. That also meant humanity would likely lose that star system.

  But that was okay…even if they lost the Solar System that way. They had to keep the Confederation fleet concentrated so they could attack the AI armada in the first system, and hopefully annihilate it there. That would protect the rest of the Confederation star systems.

  If Zeta were right about the AI response, it would be overpowering. The AIs would likely hope to annihilate the Confederation in its early stages of expansion. Thus, if the Confederation could destroy the first AI armada, they might be able to counterattack immediately and grab even more enemy factory planets.

  The truth was that life needed far more combat mass if they hoped to take on the AI Dominion. The normal death machine response—according to Zeta—was to smother resistance in an avalanche of missiles and gravitational beams, millions of them, if needed.

  A red light came on in the passenger cabin.

  Jon figured that must be for him. He pressed a switch on his seat’s armrest, linking him to the flight crew.

  “You have a message, sir,” the pilot said.

  “Let’s hear it,” Jon said.

  “I’ll patch you through, sir.”

  There was a moment of static. Then, “Jon?” It was Gloria.

  “I’m right here, love,” Jon said.

  “The Rose of Enoy has appeared in the system. It’s heading for the Allamu Battle Station. It’s about six millions kilometers out.”

  “Have you spoken to Zeta or Ree yet?”

  “Negative,” Gloria said.

  “You’re sure that—”

  “Jon,” Gloria interrupted. “The Rose of Enoy is heading to the station.”

  Jon inhaled more deeply than before. “Send the void ship a message. Tell them I’ll be on the Nathan Graham soon.”

  “I’ll tell them,” Gloria said. “And I hope you hurry.”

  “Are you worried about something?”

  “Jon. I’m petrified. The Sisters of Enoy have returned. It must mean that they’ve spotted the AI armada.”

  “We should know soon,” he said.

  “Eight months, Jon. Don’t you remember? Zeta told us that if—”

  “I’m signing off,” Jon said, interrupting. And he did, as he clicked the armrest button. Then he sat back as his gut began to seethe. They had four void-capable cyberships. Four. Humanity and the Warriors of Roke needed more time to prepare. It was too soon for them to have to fight the last battle for existence.

  -2-

  Two days later, Jon held a meeting on the Allamu battle station. Only the highest-ranking members of the Confederation fleet were in attendance, with their immediate staff members.

  There was old Toper Glen, the Warrior Chief of the Space Lords of Roke. He’d left his home world for the great and glorious battle that would decide if their races would live a little longer. The war leader had more white in his fur than Jon remembered. Old Toper Glen was still taller and fatter than the other Roke and had trouble straightening his back.

  Hon Ra the First Ambassador was with the Warrior Chief and three of Toper’s highest-ranking clan chieftains.

  Bast Banbeck was at the meeting, and Gloria, Walleye and the Old Man. They were all part of Jon’s brain trust. Three fleet admirals sat in, each of them controlling a portion of the regular cybership fleet. One of the admirals was Maria Santa Cruz, a tall, thin woman from Mars. Many years ago, she had been a Vice Admiral in the Martian service. She had listened to Premier Frank Benz back then and had won Mars’ first cybership. Now, she was one of the three key fighting admirals in Confederation service.

  Toper Glen had brought an amazing 217 bombards and 16 Roke cybership-class vessels.

  Jon’s Void Flotilla had 12 cybership-class vessels. The rest of the human-crewed cyberships numbered 32 altogether.

  Jon stood at the head of a massive conference table. Today, he wore his dress uniform in honor of the Star Lords of Roke.

  The Supreme Confederation Commander cleared his throat. He’d spoken with Zeta via comm a day ago. Her information had floored him. He’d been exploring ideas with his brain trust ever since. Now, it was time to talk to his chief officers and allies and see if any of them had an idea that might work.

  “I’m not going to lie,” Jon said quietly. He wore his serious face, and he glanced at each person in turn. “The news is as grim as it gets. The good part is that each of you has done as I’ve requested, bringing your ships to the Allamu System. That means we have the largest concentration of warships…”

  Jon paused as he watched old Toper Glen whisper to Hon Ra. The First Ambassador looked up and raised a furry paw: a massive set of digits compared to a man’s hand.

  “Yes, First Ambassador,” Jon said.

  “I am honored to be here, Supreme Commander,” Hon Ra said in his deep Roke voice. “Yet, as I observe you, it appears that you are highly distressed. Perhaps we should adjourn for the moment until such time as you are—”

  “No,” Jon said, as he touched the tabletop with his fingertips. “It’s time to get this out in the open.”

  Hon Ra nodded. “Then I withdraw my suggestion.”

  Jon cleared his throat. “Like I said, it’s bad. Now, the Rose of Enoy has been doing recon the past six months, using the void to zip here and go there. I’m sure that Zeta would say it otherwise, but she wants us to know the exact number and positions of our enemies and possible allies.”

  Jon paused as if considering his words. “The Kames do not fight space wars like we do. They use thousands of remote-controlled projectiles and single-ships. They have swarming tactics and often position black ice objects near enemy vessels before exploding the matter/antimatter bombs inside.”

  “Please excuse me again, Supreme Commander,” Hon Ra said. “By ‘the Kames,’ do you mean the aliens in the Delta Pavonis, 70 Ophiuchi and Sigma Draconis Systems?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Jon said. “Yes. We don’t know much about the Kames, just what Zeta has told us and the little we’ve found in AI files. They’re rocklike creatures, silicon-based life.”

  “Just like the AIs,” Gloria muttered quietly.

  “Yes, the AIs are also silicon-based,” Jon agreed. “The Kames are quite unlike computers or robot ships, however.”

  Gloria looked as if she might argue the point, but finally nodded in agreement.

  “That being said,” Jon continued, “the Kames are quite different from humans or Roke. Not only are they composed of rocklike substances, but they’re groupthink beings. I…” Jon turned to Bast. “Perhaps Bast Banbeck could better explain the Kames.”

  Jon sat down.

  The Sacerdote did not stand, although he spoke up. “I’ve studied all available data on the Kames, scanty as it is, and gleaned what I could from Zeta’s descriptions. The Kames are…” Bast seemed to grope for words. “They are all of one unity, would be the best way to say it. I suggest that they have a form of telepathy, but only amongst themselves. From what I can gather, Kames do not view any of their members as individuals.”

  Ponderous Toper Glen leaned near Hon Ra and once more whispered to his ambassador.

  “The Warrior Chief understands,” Hon Ra said. “He wonders what any of that has to do with the approaching AIs.”

  “I’ll take that,” Jon told Bast.

  The Sacerdote nodded and leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak.

  Jon stood again. “The point is the Kames don’t have large spaceships like we do. Their single-ships and remote-controlled projectiles are all based from local moons or terrestrial planets. Thus, the Kames are ill-suited in more ways than one to help us in the coming battle by leaving their system and rushing to any of ours.”

  Once more, Hon Ra raised an arm.

  “Yes, First Ambassador,” Jon said.

  “
I did not realize you have been in contact with the Kames. Shouldn’t you have informed us of that sooner?”

  “If I’d contacted them some time ago, yes, you would be right,” Jon said. “But I haven’t contacted them. As Bast said, our knowledge of the Kames comes from a few AI files we happened to find and from what Zeta graciously informed me of a day ago.”

  “For what reason did the Enoy tell you about the Kames?” asked Hon Ra.

  “Right,” Jon said. “That’s the point. That’s what makes what I’m about to say so…unsettling.”

  As if his knees were no longer strong enough to keep his legs locked, the Supreme Commander sat down. “We trust the Sisterhood of Enoy. I don’t think we have a choice in that, not given the siege-ship we faced at Hydri II. The Enoy have also given us fantastic new technology. The so-called void tech will be our only hope, although I now admit that I don’t see how it’s going to help us win.”

  Toper Glen whispered to Hon Ra, but the First Ambassador did not interrupt this time. Everyone waited expectantly for what the Supreme Commander would say next.

  Jon sighed, shaking his head. “I spoke to Zeta via comm. She informed me about the appearance of the Main and his attendant siege-ships. According to her, they arrived in our local region from the Algol System, which is approximately 90 light-years from Earth.”

  “There is more than one siege-ship?” asked Hon Ra.

  Jon stared starkly at the First Ambassador. “It’s much worse than that, Hon Ra. There are five siege-ships.”