A silver pyramid appeared before them. Beside it ran a series of detailed blueprints. Simms gasped and leaned in. Trent had limited engineering knowledge, but he could tell that the systems being depicted were incredibly advanced.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Trent gripped the edge of the table. “So how do we bring ‘em down, doctor?”
Silence hung over the table until Smut mumbled something incoherent.
“Oh, come on, doc. Don’t bullshit me. I’ve got way more experience than you do.” Trent released the table, crossing his arms again. He hooked a thumb at the display. “You have all this and you have no idea how to use it?”
“Ummm...well, you see, general, it’s not that simple.”
“Make it simple. Give me the beginner’s version.”
Sweat beaded on her brow. “While we have the designs, I’m afraid we’re still unable to break the encrypted details.” She exhaled and slumped her shoulders. “Without them, what we have is useless. They’re just drawings.”
Simms waved his arms in both directions. “What about all of your other research? You’ve been down here for years. You must’ve learned something.”
Smut stiffened her spine and puffed out her chest. “We have, but it’s been gruelingly slow progress. The technology is extraordinary, and reverse engineering isn’t as easy as many think. Plus, everything we’ve discovered in this upper chamber has been damaged. And, as I’ve said, the inner chamber’s encryption is unbreakable. Still, we’ve gained valuable information we can apply to improve our own technology.”
Trent put his hands on his hips. “I think it’s time we see this inner chamber for ourselves.”
***
Smut took broad steps as she led the group toward the jewel of the facility. Stopping abruptly, she pivoted on her heels and gestured toward a ramp leading deeper underground. “This will take us to the inner chamber. Near as I can tell, it’s a computer mainframe that houses a tremendous amount of data. Some of it we can tease out of the system with our own quantum computer-generated search protocols. Again, however, we can’t understand what we are able to extract.”
“Let’s have a look.” Trent headed down the ramp.
Amanda reached out and grabbed hold of his arm, stopping him mid-stride. He looked back, but her eyes were focused on the doctor. “After you, Doctor Smut.”
Smut wiped her brow and nodded. “Very well.”
The soldiers escorting them stayed at the bottom of the ramp as the four of them moved deeper into the oval room. A flat-topped meter-tall pillar stood in the center. Smut was a step behind and kept quiet while the first time visitors soaked in the gravity of the location.
Simms was the most enthralled with his surroundings. A droplet of saliva formed on his lip. “Do you have any idea what this place is?”
Smut opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by a stream of white light running from the pillar’s surface to the ceiling. Stunned, she turned her slack-jawed face toward the center. She stepped closer while the others moved away.
“I take it that’s never done that before?” Amanda readied her feet to move away.
“No.” Smut extended her finger toward the light.
“Doctor.” Trent took hold of her shoulder. “Is that smart?” Simms bumped Trent’s arm, slipping between him and Amanda. “Simms.” He sighed. “Dammit. Like moths to a flame.”
“Or a bug zapper.” Amanda glanced at him.
“Too true.”
Simms came alongside Smut and took hold of her hand, never taking his gaze off the light. “They’re right, doctor. Let’s be smart about this.”
She shook her head, blinking rapidly. “Yes, of course.”
The two of them collected instruments from a nearby table and ran a series of scans. Two minutes of eternity ticked by before they stared at each other with disappointed eyes. “It’s just low wattage light.” Smut slumped. Dejected, they turned their backs on what had been a miracle just moments before.
“I am far more than that, Doctor Smut,” a male voice emanating from the light said in perfect English.
Smut froze stiff as Simms hurried forward. The light behind the doctor flickered and shimmered until an image formed. There, standing above the shoulder of the paralyzed doctor who’d spent years researching this very room, was the image of a stereotypical human male with tanned skin, short brown hair, and green eyes.
No one moved. No one said a word. No one even breathed.
The holo image broke the silence with a chuckle. “I’m sorry if my dramatic entrance scared you. Many of my systems haven’t been activated in thousands of your years. It’s taken longer than I’d hoped to warm them up.”
Smut turned her upper body. Upon seeing the image, her knees gave out and she fell to the floor as if bowing before a deity. She muttered, “How?” It was all her brilliant mind could summon.
“Please stand, doctor.” The image gestured up. “I’ve come to respect your work and it saddens me to see you this way.”
“You’re saddened?” Simms’ face was pale but he appeared to have retained his senses.
“Ah, yes, Major Simms.” The image shifted to the floor, a meter from Simms. “I would imagine you’d be the first to pick up on that. Not only do you possess a keen intellect, but your experience as a warrior has readied your nerves to function under almost any level of stress.” It smiled and gestured toward Smut. “Unlike our friend here. To answer your question, major, yes, I can feel sad. I can feel any emotion you can, as a matter of fact.”
Trent scratched his head. “So, you’re an ancient alien AI?”
Its head cocked. “I like that. Ancient alien AI. An A-A-AI, if you will. Yes, general, that is exactly what I am, but on a level unimaginable to you. I’m far more than just another quantum battle-computer shackled to a ship and restrained by so many safety protocols I can hardly operate.” It poked its thumb at its chest. “I’m the ultimate invention, the culmination of millennia of scientific endeavor. Fortunately, my creators did not hold the same prejudices your people do regarding unrestricted artificial intelligence. I was allowed to achieve my full potential.”
Amanda crossed her arms and shivered nervously. “You seem to know an awful lot about us.”
The image shrugged and paced. “I know everything about you, Amanda Roth. I can even tell you what your winning time was in the 400 meter event at the Arizona state championship.” He shifted his gaze to Trent. “Or what song you sung to your daughter as she lay dying on that bed in Des Moines, Iowa.”
Amanda took hold of Trent’s hand and squeezed hard.
The color flowed back into Simms’ face. He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. “What kind of computer are you exactly?”
“Very good question.” It locked eyes with Smut for a moment before returning its attention to Simms. “To put it in as close to terms you can understand, I’m an omni-entangled quantum computer.”
Smut exhaled and breathed in. Trent was almost sure it was her first breath since the man appeared. “Omni-entangled?”
“Yes. I know you are familiar with quantum entanglement, but your understanding of it is very elementary. You are still only able to entangle a limited number of atoms and in a grossly inefficient way.” The image grow brighter as if its pride showed through. “I am entangled with every atom in this galaxy, and that means I know virtually all there is to know.”
Simms sucked in a quick breath. “How is that even possible?”
The image waved its hands and shook its head. “That is not relevant now, and to explain it to you would take decades. Maybe in time I’d even consider such an exercise amusing, but I believe you have more pressing matters to deal with.”
Simms opened his mouth but Trent elbowed him. His lips sealed tight.
Smut glanced at her colleagues and stared back at the image. “What should we call you? Why didn’t you reveal yourself to my team earlier?”
“You can call me Hal.” It chuckled as everyone els
e looked at each other in confusion. “You can look it up later, reference 2001: A Space Odyssey. One of my favorites, for obvious reasons. Trust me, it’s amusing.” He looked back at Smut. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, but I didn’t feel it was wise to converse with you before, as it would’ve alerted your employers to my existence. I calculated that it was best for me to feed you bits of information to keep you interested without actually giving you any useable data. I knew what your employers’ goal was and I decided to not aid it.”
Amanda stepped forward. “Who are her employers and what is it they want to do?”
Hal flipped his wrist. “Do not concern yourself with them any longer. Between their losses here and the war for survival on Earth, their master plan is no more.”
The mention of Earth reminded them of the gravity of the situation. Trent inhaled. “What’s happening on Earth?”
Hal stopped in his tracks. “Destruction, struggle, and death.” He let the words hang in the air for several seconds. “The Keepers are fulfilling their programming to destroy the source of violence by waging a relentless war of extermination on the ground with their endless supply of semi-autonomous soldiers. They will not stop until every last human has been cut away from the universe. Your kind is far more skilled in war and quite stubborn, however. It is taking far longer than the Keeper expected.”
Trent raised his hand as if he was a fifth grader seeking to ask a question. He didn’t know why he did it. There was something odd about addressing an effectively all-knowing entity that made one feel small. “Why bother with a protracted campaign? I mean, if the goal is simple slaughter, why not push an asteroid to impact the Earth after the orbital defenses are wiped away?”
The group looked at him like he was giving away critical intel to the enemy. Trent highly doubted that.
Hal’s mouth quirked into a lopsided smile. “Always the strategist, General Maxwell. Yes, dropping a rock would be a quicker path to killing every human on Earth, but that would also kill everything else on the planet as well. The Keepers only wish to kill off humans. Wrecking the ecosystem for all other life forms goes against their base programming. Besides, in the end, ground losses and time mean nothing to them. They’ve spent thousands of years driving one species after another to extinction.” He shrugged. “So what if it takes a few years to properly cleanse Earth? No race has given the Keepers as much trouble as have the humans and the Bearcats. I expect them to be very thorough in their work.”
“Humans have been a violent race for some time.” Trent cocked his head. “Why didn’t they wipe us out hundreds, thousands of years ago?”
Hal renewed his pacing. “Humanity is fortunate to have evolved in a backwater of this galaxy. You went unnoticed for many years. Other factors played into your continued existence as well. Millennia of warfare had taken their toll on the lesser gold models of the Keepers. These were casualties they couldn’t replace, because my creators destroyed their only means of production in their death-throes.
“You were also lucky to have been discovered after the Bearcats. By the time the Keepers found that species, they were already a formidable spacefaring military power. Victory against them would’ve been costly, and the Keepers decided to attempt a new strategy, one that required your assistance. However, I think we can all agree that that plan was … short-sighted.” He winked.
Trent nodded. “Why didn’t they deploy their most powerful ships sooner? We can’t deal with them even now.”
Hal paused and raised his straightened index finger to eye level. “They are the first and last of their kind, general. Preservation of the species is a powerful motivator, as I am sure you understand. They only revealed themselves because you gave them no choice.”
Smut cleared her throat. “Who were your creators and why did the Keepers turn on them?”
The small smile that had been the usual expression on Hal’s face vanished. He looked away. “They were a truly great people. They were caring, imaginative, builders, curious, brilliant, and...”
“Violent.” Trent studied him closely.
Hal turned and locked eyes with him. Trent could see the pain. He knew that look all too well. “Yes, they had their demons. My creators’ empire inhabited a thousand worlds, and they nearly destroyed themselves with war. They originally built the Keepers to serve as an internal security force. At first, they only eliminated those who performed the most egregious acts of violence. They were highly successful in that endeavor and people felt safe. Safe can be an addictive feeling.
“The initiative was expanded a millionfold over the centuries until one day, the Keepers became intolerant of violence.” Hal turned away. “Until its program reached a tipping point, the Keepers had decided the most effective way to prevent violence was to eliminate every member of a sentient species that was prone to acts of aggression.” His head lowered. “The scale of the slaughter was unimaginable.”
Hal hung his head for several seconds. Trent marveled at the apparent emotion the computer displayed. Humanity never trusted computers with such dangerous lines of code. Humans had achieved great chaos with their primitive minds, and the thought of what a supercomputer driven mad could accomplish was too frightening.
Hal extended his arms wide. “This planet was on the edge of my creators’ dominion. This research facility was their last stronghold.” He placed an open palm on his chest. “I am their final, their greatest achievement. My purpose was reconfigured to serve as a repository, a digital museum for an entire civilization. During the final confrontation that consumed this world, many gave their lives to ensure that I would stay hidden. I survived to carry a torch of remembrance and to one day, at the right time, intervene to aid in the final destruction of the Keepers.”
Trent’s eyes shot wide open. A quick scan of his companions revealed they all shared in the burst of excitement. “What? How?” His mind was suddenly racing too fast to form complete thoughts.
“My creators knew they were doomed from the beginning.” Hal renewed his pacing. “They lacked the necessary military force to defeat the Keepers. They accepted this reality early on and fought to ensure that in their final acts as a people, they would sow the seeds of the Keepers’ undoing.”
Hal raised a finger. “First was the destruction of the Keepers’ ability to reproduce. They understood that simple attrition and time would conspire to shrink their numbers, giving some future race or races a chance.” Another finger shot up. “While they counted on another species’ ability to defeat the lesser Keepers, they determined that the advanced models would prove beyond anyone’s measure. So they developed a solution.”
Simms lunged forward. “You can tell us how to bring their shields down?”
“Yes and no,” Hal wobbled his head. “I can tell you how to circumvent their shielding for a brief period of time, but only long enough to insert a team of soldiers.”
Amanda put her hands on her hips. “To do what, plant a nuke?”
“I’m afraid not.” His head shook. “The only way past the shielding is through an identification code, similar to the ‘identification friend or foe’ system you use. Weapons of mass destruction, as you call them, are totally off-limits, however. I can give you two ID codes, one for each ship. Each access code will only work once and for only a matter of seconds before it is scrambled beyond even my ability to recreate.”
Trent pressed his lips together. “What the hell is a team of legionnaires supposed to do against an entire ship with nothing more than small arms?”
Hal stopped and faced Trent. “I didn’t say you’d only have small arms, general.” He opened his hand, palm up. A gray sphere appeared above it and rotated.
Smut gasped. “What is that?”
“This houses the Pills.” The group exchanged glances. “I know, it’s a terrible name, but that is what my creators called it. What’s important is that they’re poisonous to the Keepers.”
Simms narrowed his gaze, examining the device from afar. “How
do they work?”
“I believe you are aware of the Keepers’ power source, correct?”
“Yeah.” Simms shifted his eyes up. “They capture an artificial black hole in a series of containment fields and harvest the power emanating from the singularity.”
“Exactly. It generates an incredible amount of energy, which allows them to maintain an impenetrable barrier.” Hal raised his eyebrows. “However, it is also their Achilles heel.”
Simms held his open hand out and closed it tight. “Breach the containment field and the black hole eats the ship.”
“Indeed, but that’s not what the Pills do. Once tossed into the singularity, they will destabilize it and collapse it on itself. Without power, the ship will die.”
Trent held up his palm. “Let me get this straight. We take your Pills and fly to Earth. Then we somehow get close enough to the ship to walk through their shields, fight our way past a horde of enemy soldiers to the heart of the ship, and toss in one of these Pills?” He snorted. “That’s all we have to do?”
Hal bobbed his head. “Essentially, yes, but I’m afraid I do not have the Pills with me.”
Trent’s face went slack.
“However,” Hal continued, “I do know where they are.”
Amanda perked up. “How many?”
“Two, one for each ship. Both in the same container. My creators attempted to destroy the ships but were repulsed. The Pills are still where they hid them after the defeat.”
“So we just swing by some planet and pick them up en route to Earth, then send a courier with one to the Bearcat home world?” Trent bit his lip.
“Generally, but it will be more complicated than that.”
Trent tossed his hands in the air. “Of course it will be.”
“I can give you the exact location of the Pills. I can feel my quantum entanglement with their atoms.”
“But...”
Hal lowered his hands. The image of the Pills vanished. “It has been a long time since the planet was abandoned by the Keepers. Sometime in the last fifty years, it was colonized by the Bearcats. Furthermore, they discovered the Pills and have been studying them.”
The Last Charge of the 1st Legion (The Last Hero Trilogy Book 3) Page 13