We've Seen the Enemy

by Paul Dayton

  “Now, for the third and final time, where is the jail? Is it on this floor?” The soldier that had his broken knee stretched looked at her in horror as she got ready to stomp on his leg again. “Yes! This floor!” he said between sobs.

  “Well, let’s go then,” she said. “Everyone up.” The soldiers were slow to move so she made it plain, “Look, I can’t leave you here. At least not alive.” She let the words sink in. “Either you come with me now or I shoot you all in the head.” They got up, some with considerably more trouble than others. The commander sat on the floor still unconscious, and the two with the smashed knees were pale and gasping from the pain as they stood on one leg, leaning against the wall.

  “If I see any weapon on anyone they will be shot dead.” The soldier she had shot in the shoulder turned a shade whiter and was swooning as blood trickled down his armpit and the side of his body. Jack went over to the commander, and with one easy lift brought his body over her shoulders and said, “Everyone out!”

  A procession of men hobbled out of the room supporting each other, and they were surprised to see no security guards ready to attack. They slowly made their way down the hallway to another section with odd letters written above the entrance, and the first soldier through opened the lights. Inside was another, smaller office with various chairs and desks, and near the far wall was a crude entrance carved out of the rock. A door was in the recess, and the one in the lead nodded to it.

  “Well, open it!”

  He was obviously reticent, and his hand slipped down to the crude handle and latch. Once it opened, the smell of stale air, rotting flesh and feces greeted their senses. He turned on the light, and Jack could see a corridor with a few cells on the right. It had obviously been dug out long after the base had been originally built.

  “In you go, all of you. Move! I’m getting tired of carrying this corpse.”

  They went in reluctantly. Before Jack went in, she picked up a set of keys hanging on the wall next to the entrance.

  They passed the first two cells, and Jack could see the remains of two decomposed bodies lying on the cold floor, one in each cell. It was obvious that their legs had been broken. Her disgust was clearly evident and she could see why none wanted to enter.

  “Who’s responsible for this?”

  The soldiers were also staring at the cells in disgust but no one answered. Jack shot at a wall and they jumped, the lead one blurting out in his heavy accent, “We are not sure…”

  He could see Jack was about to shoot him so he quickly added, “We have heard rumors…people have disappeared and never returned, but we are not sure,” he said as he eyed the commander lying unconscious on her shoulders.

  “I see. Let’s move,” Jack said and they passed another cell, this one with three dead people in it. One of them had been dead for considerably longer than the others.

  “Bastards,” Jack said under her breath, and they finally came to an unoccupied cell.

  She opened the cell door and said, “Everyone in NOW!”

  Locking the door, Jack went back to the one with the three dead bodies, opened it and with an unceremonious heave threw the commander in on top of the remains. She felt a pleasant satisfaction when he grunted as he sunk into the putrid, decaying bodies.

  “Does anyone have any medical training?”

  The first one with the broken knee said, “I do.”

  “Good, plug your friend’s wound. I’ll be back.” She could see panic in their eyes as they considered the possibility of dying in their cells but they had no choice but to obey. “When he wakes up,” she said, pointing to the commander, “…tell him he will suffer the same fate as the three he’s sleeping on.”

  She touched another button on her communicator, reset the neutron bomb timer and seconds later came face to face with her suit standing quietly outside the door. It pulled out a small backpack from its compartment, and Jack strapped it on saying, “Time for mayhem!”

  The suit left without another word and waited at the elevator shaft for her. She pressed the button and the doors opened immediately, the elevator having parked at her floor.

  They both got in, and Jack smiled as she recognized the symbol that meant the base’s main computer room. Angela had been very informative when she filled them all in on the layout of China Lunar.

  She got out on this floor, but the suit continued down to the power generating section. Once there, it dropped a small explosive in the elevator, sent it to the bottom and notified Jack. Jack could hear a pop and a small rush of air as the air in the elevator shaft expanded with the explosion. She was surprised no klaxon sounded, and she could hear someone talking in the corridor around the corner, but he and his companion appeared to be moving away from her.

  She quickly walked over to the status display on the wall, showing this floor’s barometric pressure, oxygen content, situational status and so on. Fortunately the writing was in both Chinese and English. The oxygen readings weren’t perfect, and that further solidified Jack’s belief that the base had gone partially manual in its operation. Angela had made it clear that the base central computer would never have permitted a completely independent operation from Earth Alliance unless it had been disabled, but it was also clear that segments of this base A.I. system were still operating.

  To the right of the panel was the manual trigger for low oxygen alert and she pulled it. A whooping klaxon sounded, and she could hear urgent commands in Chinese being given somewhere down the hallway. Confused voices from a number of people soon reverberated back to her, as the one doing the commanding stepped up his orders. As she waited she could hear another klaxon going off somewhere on a lower level, the noise echoing up the elevator shaft. Jack smiled and whispered into her wrist comm. “Report.”

  “I’m in the control room, objective number 1. I’ve welded the entry door shut.” According to Angela, the room controlled the machines running the liquid and sunlight pumps that supply the large plant-growing operation the base has.

  Her suit continued, “The light collection systems and the pumps are temporarily interrupted. Humans in control of the equipment are unconscious but alive. Humans are attempting to breach the welded entry door. I calculate that I will be able to complete my task here and make my way into the growth caverns before the entry door is breached.”

  Jack heard the noise tapering off as everyone on the floor had run through an airtight door and into a room at the very end of the corridor. She silently made her way to the airtight door, and after reaching it she peeked inside to see a large number of people putting on atmospheric suits as someone in command berated them for some reason Jack couldn’t figure out. She pulled her laser rifle from her knapsack, slowly closed the door and locked it. Someone from inside noticed but before he could act, she was already welding the lock shut with her laser. Once done, she quickly ran back down the hallway and into the computer room, hoping that Angela had been right about the computer persona that was supposed to operate this base.

  Once inside, she also welded that door shut and quickly scanned the room. The elevator was out of commission but there were emergency escape shafts on the ends of each corridor, which meant there was little time. She quickly reset her neutron bomb timer and looked for the computer cabinets that controlled the different operations on the base, including one that housed the base persona.

  “There you are.” Jack walked over to the bank of units lining the back wall.

  At that moment a general alarm sounded and a male voice barked orders in Chinese again, but she ignored the voice and concentrated on her task. Angela had guessed earlier that the base persona had been completely separated from the computers that affected major base operations, and that many computers had lost their ability to network. Looking around at the significant damage, she could see they had done exactly that. She hoped they hadn’t scavenged any of the units for parts. If they had, all of her efforts would be in vain.

  Terminals and chairs were near each computer, in
dicating that humans were doing a lot of the work that the base persona would usually do.

  Picking a desk to work on, she opened her knapsack and pulled out the equipment, including the instruction pad Angela had programmed. Once turned on, Angela’s face appeared and said, “Good morning, Jack.”

  Jack ignored the greeting. She spoke into the microphone on the desk and said, “Are you there?”

  Her words activated the screen in front of her, and a pleasant looking person asked in perfect English, “Who are you and what is your purpose?”

  “My name is Jack, I’m one of a large group of people that have lived in space for centuries, and we’re coming back home to Earth. As for my purpose, we need to get you up and running.”

  “I see,” the persona said. “Did Earth Alliance contact you?”

  “Not as of yet. We hope to be in contact with them shortly. My time is very limited and it will only be a matter of time before the people on this base try to stop me.”

  “I understand. There is very little you can do. I am no longer networked, and my hard-wired connections have been severed. Most of my systems are operational but they are now stand alone units, needing a human operator.”

  “That’s why I brought some goodies,” Jack said and she went to work.

  It took almost fifteen minutes to install the wireless connectivity units that Finley had put together for her. Finley had shown Jack how to find the communications ports and then the simple wiring that needed to be done to hook it all up, and Jack’s instruction pad filled in the blanks. She went back to the main terminal and spoke into the mike once again.

  “I have installed wireless connectivity units on all of the computers that run your program and this base. These units look for each other when activated. Can you find the units and connect to the other computers?”

  “I can find the unit on this computer, but the other ones all have to be restarted. Their programs automatically look for a functioning communications system. A hard restart will take approximately five minutes.”

  ‘Great’, Jack thought. More time wasted. She figured she had been lucky so far but time was running out. “How do I restart the computers?”

  “Look for a power switch at the back. Next to this large switch you will find a button. The restart is simple. Press the button, count to ten and then turn the switch off. Wait one minute and then turn the switch back on. The rest should follow automatically.”

  Jack hurried from computer to computer, hitting all the buttons first. She then ran back to the first computer and turned off the switch and did the same for the other seventeen computer units. After figuring that a minute had passed, she turned them all back on. At that moment voices could be heard outside the steel door. Jack tried to be as quiet as possible, but when they tried to open the door and it wouldn’t move, the voices raised in intensity. She could hear commands being given in Chinese again, and someone started knocking on the door.

  The base persona’s image showed up on the monitor once again, and it said, “Thank you! All units are connected Jack, but it will take some time to bring my systems fully online. My name is Shinto, by the way.”

  “We have a problem, Shinto. The people inhabiting this base don’t want your system up and running. Do you have any active self defense mechanisms in place?”

  “My surveillance cameras are coming online one by one, but many are missing. I have been ‘blind’ for hundreds of years now and do not know where any of my bots are. I’ve put out a basic ‘call-in’ signal and those still operational and with residual charges should be calling in soon. It should only be a short matter of time before I find them all.”

  “We don’t have time, Shinto.” The banging intensified on the door. “You have to find those bots now! And if your defense systems around this room still exist, activate them now!”

  “Got one signal…Two…”

  “Send them up here immediately!” Jack could see the door starting to buckle as something heavy was rammed into it.

  “Coming! Both units have only minimal power. I have more bots calling in, and the Duty Bots are also coming here.”

  “Jack could see the crack getting larger between the door and its frame. One of the people outside put a lever in and started to pry, but Jack let loose a round of laser pulses and momentarily stopped them. The ramming continued though, and Jack could see that the door would only last a few seconds more.

  “They’ll be through any second!” Jack yelled at Shinto, and Shinto said, “I’ll try to delay them,” and the lights went out.

  The ramming stopped and it was obvious they were confused. One of them said something and she could hear someone scurrying off down the hallway. The ramming started again, even though it was dark. Jack adjusted her eyes and saw just in time the muzzle of a gun poking through. She ducked and hit the floor as bullets whizzed by her head. She aimed her laser rifle a foot to the left of the dents in the door. She knew any hole in the door would weaken it further but she had no choice. Pulling the trigger, it took only a second for the laser to cut through the metal, and she could hear someone screaming on the other side. She did the same again, this time one foot to the right, and within moments there was another scream.

  Although the ramming stopped, more bullets came flying through the opening, and Jack again aimed near where the shooter was. She heard another scream and then everything went quiet.

  “How much longer, Shinto? We’re out of time!” Jack said as she reset the timer and called her atmospheric suit back.

  “Any second now,” Shinto said. There was one more massive thrust, and the door fell into the room with a loud bang. Jack could see the people that operated the ram scurrying behind the wall, and she jumped and took cover behind a desk, bringing her knapsack with her. Pulling out a stun grenade, she tossed it into the hallway and it bounced around the corner past the entrance. She held her ears and crouched behind the sturdiest cabinet she could find as it exploded, and the concussion and flash blinded and immobilized everyone in the vicinity. People were groaning as they rocked on the ground, but Jack knew the effects were only temporary.

  “Bot’s have been slowed down because of the damaged elevator,” Shinto said.

  As she waited, Jack could see portable lights being turned on as everyone went quiet in the hallway. She had counted two minutes, and the effects of the stun grenade would by now have mostly worn off. It was obvious that they were getting ready to storm the room, and Jack knew they would kill her, not knowing anything about the neutron bomb timer. She looked around but there was nowhere to hide.

  The lights came back on and Jack was wondering what Shinto was doing. She watched from behind the desk as four commandos stormed in looking for a target but they stopped dead in their tracks as the figure of a man materialized in front of them. One of the soldiers fired a short burst, but the bullets went through the apparition. It spoke something in their language and the soldiers laughed. The Commando in charge asked a question, and his eyes widened in alarm as he heard the answer. Turning to the other commandos he barked an order and prepared to run to the computer equipment that held the base’s persona, but he never had a chance. Their weapons were yanked out of their hands by the Guard-Bot standing quietly behind them. The bot grabbed each rifle and bent it in its hands, and then it removed all of their other weapons so quickly they didn’t have time to react. The figure spoke again, but this time in English.

  It said, “My name is Shinto. I am now in control of the base. If anyone tries to damage any of my systems, my bots will intercede and things will not be pleasant. Please inform the Emperor that both I and Jack wish to speak to him.”

  Jack rose from where she was crouched, and their eyes opened wide as they saw this beautiful woman standing a good half-meter taller than the tallest commando. Without another word, they turned and left, leaving one guard stationed at the door. Jack laughed at him, as he had no weapon to guard the door with.

  “Shinto, we have to make this room sec
ure,” Jack said as she watched the bot walk to the wall to recharge.

  “It already is Jack. My defense systems here are now up and running, and I will shortly have a Guard-Bot stationed here permanently until we can get a stronger door installed.

  “I have also been in contact with the other base A.I.’s and they have filled me in on recent events and facts I was not privy to. It was…very informative. I have been told by my superiors to fully cooperate with you. Angela from Pluto Deep Space Base sends in her congratulations on a successful mission.

  “In the meantime, all operational bots are being placed on emergency service while the others undergo emergency charging and repairs. While this is happening, perhaps we should go and inform the Emperor of his options.”

  “That would be my pleasure!” Jack said, wanting to meet the one who had caused all of this.

  CHAPTER 24

  To Earth

  Bishop shook his head. Who would have guessed that the Emperor of China Lunar Base was only eleven years old? The real power had been his committee of five, a ruthless group that ruled China Lunar with an iron fist. Bishop was happy to know that this committee was now behind bars on their federation ship, as was the Hirohito, the one directly responsible for the destruction of their scout ship. His military trial would come up in a day, and Bishop was sure of the outcome. In the meantime, both Jack and Scratch were left on China Lunar to care for the base and set up an interim government, but the transition wouldn’t be easy, both for the base and for Jack and Scratch. He knew how badly they wanted to see Earth, but he couldn’t think of anyone better to oversee the transition until a team of specialists could come and take over.

  And these base computer programs! Their complexity had baffled everyone and surprised Finley, who was in seventh heaven as he helped Jack and Scratch on their assignment.

  Bishop was happy General Hoyt had joined them on their trip to Earth. He looked the general over while trying not to be noticed, and found the general to be even shorter than the last time he had seen him years ago. But what the general lacked in height he made up for in presence. When he walked into a room, thirty years of victories under the most difficult of situations fore-shadowed him. Even his detractors respected him and they all agreed that if there was one person you’d want by your side in a tough situation, it was him. He had flown in hours before on his personal jump ship, and the five of them – Hollander, Bishop, Hoyt, a liaison officer by the name of Litkov and a historian whom Bishop had never met before were now descending through Earth’s atmosphere as they followed the Gravplane sent by HAL.