by T. R. Harris
The elevators aboard the six-mile long ship were driven by air and shifted from vertical to horizontal with ease. Still, it took three minutes before the doors slid open and presented the passengers with a jaw-dropping view of the largest bridge Adam had ever seen aboard a starship.
Senior Fellow Cannin was the only person present.
“Please enter,” said the Klin. Then he laughed. “There is plenty of room.”
The three Humans walked up to the tall, slender alien, while the three robots took up sentry posts near the elevator door. Adam knew every move they made would be tracked by the killer bots, more-than-likely with infrared targeting beams already locked on their hearts, or electro-shock wands ready to zap them at the slightest infraction. This was neither the time nor the place to make a move. Besides, Adam had information to gain, and the over-confident alien was anxious to spill his guts.
“I have brought the three of you here—”
“Why not the rest of us?’ Sherri interrupted, still agonizing over Arieel and Coop.
With a slight grin, the Klin regarded her for a moment before answering. “Because you are the three Humans who most played a role in disrupting a very long and complicated sequence of events set in motion by the Klin. Now, with no further interruptions, I will give you some background as to the new plan of the Klin—more of an amendment, actually,” Cannin said
He stepped over to a control station. “At each of these consoles you see an integrated module. This is my crew, all automated, highly-skilled and efficient. As you can tell, this ship wasn’t originally designed for the modules, but rather for a living crew. That changed when we lost twenty thousand of our fellow Klin a few years ago.” He cast cold glare at Adam and Riyad. It quickly passed.
“Fortunately, even tragedies such as that often result in new paths, better ways of thinking.”
“We call it a ‘silver lining,’” Sherri offered.
The Klin perked up, seeing the irony in the phrase. “Indeed, a very appropriate expression. As it turns out, it forced us to look for alternatives.”
Cannin moved to the expansive viewport along the forward bulkhead of the bridge. He remained with his back to his guests as he spoke. “In the past, we were forced to enlist the help of other races in our plans, seeing that our own numbers were so small. These included the Kracori…and the Humans. As you know your history, that did not work out very well for us.” Cannin turned to face the bridge. “Automation was the answer. Each of these integrated modules can do the work of ten crew, and much quicker and more efficiently. And the AN-9s, they are equal to a hundred standard combat units each. With a new strategy forced upon us, we have effectively multiplied our numbers by a factor of many thousands, with more being added every day.
“These automated units also have one added feature, which we Klin value above all else. They will not rebel against us. On two separate occasions, our surrogates sabotaged our efforts precisely at the time we were to take our rightful place as leaders of the galaxy. That betrayal came at a great cost, taking the Klin to the brink of extinction.” Cannin glared at the Humans. “That time is past. The Klin are now stronger and more advanced than ever.” He waved his hand to indicate the room they were in. “This is the most-powerful starship ever built, and all it risks is a single living Klin. Imagine a fleet of such vessels and the damage it can do to the Expansion, and all guided by a handful of Klin. Never before in the four thousand years of our exile have we been in a better position to fulfill our destiny.”
“You have a fleet of these ships?” Riyad asked.
The Klin stepped closer and grinned. “No, we do not.” Adam was surprised by the admission. “We do not need them. Instead, we have found efficiency in automation. This ship and the initial AN-9s were built at the expense of one of our remaining five Colony Ships.” He smiled. “And until recently, we did enlist the assistance of another surrogate race to build more of our robots and other starships. That affiliation no longer exists.”
“What did you do, kill them?” Sherri asked with dripping sarcasm.
“No Ms. Valentine, we did not kill them.” He pointed to the AN-9s along the wall. “They did. Once there was an ample supply of AN-9s on the manufacturing world, they simply killed their overlords and began creating more of their kind with even more speed and efficiency. There are now a hundred thousand such units being produced every day, along with two other warships in final construction.”
Adam did some quick calculations. Damn!
Then something dawned on him. “The crates in the landing bay….”
“That is correct, Mister Cain.” The alien nodded to the robots.
One rolled forward. With swift and silent efficiency, all the external accouterments disappeared into hidden compartments; even the dome on top cycled over and retreated inside. The box body then descended on the tracks, absorbing the runners into the body of the robot as well. Five seconds later, the AN-9 was nothing but a four-foot square metal box.
Adam’s mouth fell open at the revelation. Cannin smiled.
“Yes, you are correct. There are three million, one hundred ten such units aboard.”
“What are you going to do with them?” Sherri asked.
“Conquer a galaxy, Ms. Valentine, what else?”
“It’ll take a lot more than three million,” Riyad countered.
Cannin frowned at the Human. “Did you not hear me? We are producing more, and at an accelerated pace. It seems no entity can make AN-9s as efficiently as other AN-9s. And as we progress in our conquests, more manufacturing facilities and raw materials will become available. I assure you, we have done the calculations. We will have more than enough to conquer the galaxy.”
“We’ll fight back,” Adam said, defiantly.
“Yes, we know.” Cannin pointed to the AN-9s. “There has been an incredible benefit derived from creating weapons from machines. Unlike with our prior surrogates, who were limited to what they could achieve both physically and mentally, we were able to create our magnificent new surrogates limited only by our imagination and intellect. We studied all the tactics, capacities and strengths of our enemies, and built machines to defeat them. These robots are not merely substitute fighters, they are better fighters, superior fighters. Again, we have done the calculations.”
“I think you misplaced a decimal point somewhere,” Adam said. “It still won’t be enough. We’ll figure a way to defeat you.”
Cannin laughed. “That may very well happen, Adam Cain; as there are always unexpected scenarios which may appear. However, you and your friends will not be part of those calculations.”
Riyad flashed his trademark smile. “Which brings us to the coup-de-grass. What’s going to happen to us?”
The Klin wasn’t confused by Riyad’s bastardization of the phrase. “First, you will witness the inaugural implementation of our master amendment, how we intend to conquer the galaxy. However, your witnessing of this event is only a consequence of my taking you prisoner, and for no other reason. After the battle, I will bring you to the main Klin concentration, where Pleabaen Gadis Sumlis will decide your ultimate fate.”
“Gadis Sumlis?” Adam inquired. “I don’t think I’ve killed him yet, not like the other Pleabaens I’ve met.” Adam smiled like the Cheshire Cat.
“Yes, I am fully aware of your history, Mister Cain. Yet be assured, the Klin now calculate everything before we act. Your fate was already decided even before I changed course for the Nuorean planet. Now return to your rooms. I will summon you again in two days, when we arrive on station for the coming battle.”
142
LtCol. Josh Nolan was wondering if the mystery ship was ever going to reach its destination. The Rutledge had piggybacked on the black ship’s gravity-well for nine days, and even though the huge vessel was out of visual range at over a half million miles away, the strange vortex the ship was caught in remained constant.
That changed suddenly, when normal space popped into existence outside t
he forward viewport. The Rutledge, however, continued to be drawn forward, this time from its position on the opposite side of a small braking-well the huge ship had created to slow it down. If the bored and brain-numbed bridge crew hadn’t snapped into action as fast as they did, the Rutledge would have fallen head-long into the deadly maw of a miniature black hole.
Creating its own braking-well, the Human warship essentially skidded to a halt in the emptiness of space, barely a hundred thousand miles from the invisible singularity. When the deadly gravity source disappeared, Nolan sent his ship moving forward again, before cutting power and drifting in the rest of the way to the black ship.
The huge craft was using a maneuvering-well, and the Rutledge was able to approach the rear of the ship in dark status. And now, as the monstrous vessel loomed ahead, Nolan was doing his best his trying to figure out what to do next.
Eventually he had the Rutledge match velocity with the behemoth before ordering a series of small gas bursts to move them even closer. Then with precise docking maneuvers, the Rutledge made gentle contact with the alien starship.
“Bennett, Jong, grab some magnetic anchor cables from the cargo bay. Then suit up and meet me at the aft airlock.”
“Sir, are we going to—”
“Yes we are. Now go.”
“Can’t I just hire someone else to do it for me?” asked petty officer Victor Jong.
Nolan turned an evil eye on the enlisted man, before he saw the amused grin on the man’s face. With all members of the crew theoretically being multimillionaires, Josh believed him…at first.
Once outside the Rutledge, the two Marines and one sailor stood on the exterior of their ship, staring out at the incredible expanse of black starship spread out before them. They’d never been this close to something this big in space. It was both awesome…and terrifying.
The men set four cables to the Rutledge and then made their way onto the surface of the black ship using magnetic boots. They had no problem finding places to secure the cables, and soon Nolan’s two assistants were heading back to the airlock.
Nolan remained outside, moving slowing along the hull of the black ship. His breath was taken away by the overwhelming size of the gravity generators, and he marveled at the hundred foot long spike that ran out the back, which Josh had seen draw in the combined energy from a hundred flash bolts. There was a similar antenna at the forward tip of the ship.
He came to a large seam in the hull and recognized it as half of the door to a landing bay, a landing bay larger than anything he’d ever seen. Along the side of the towering panel were three small airlocks. These were used by tow and maintenance crews, as well as for access to shuttles and other vessels too small to warrant the venting and subsequent pressurizing of the large interior compartment. Each opening cost time and money. Often it was more effective just to shuttle over and dock with an airlock.
It would be through here that Nolan and his commandos would gain access to the interior, if they didn’t trip alarms by activating the airlocks. Josh wasn’t ready to test it, not just yet. He would need a lot more information on what was on the other side of the airlock before he was.
143
Adam sensed the Klin ship drop out of the deep gravity-well. It had been two days since the meeting with Cannin; the alien would be calling them to bridge soon.
That’s when he felt Arieel in his mind.
Do you feel that? the Formilian asked.
What? He was so distracted with his research into the operation of the AN-9 robots that he didn’t know what she was talking about.
I do not know…a presence.
Adam could feel it now, and he knew instantly what it was. It’s the ghost program in the Rutledge. They must be close enough for us to read the signal.
But how? We have been traveling for nine days. They could not have followed the Klin ship.
Adam reached out and accessed the remote program, then fed the contact through the ship’s 1MC. Nolan was in his mind a moment later.
The Marine officer gave them a quick rundown of what happened, after which Adam told his story. Nolan lit off on a cussing tirade when he learned that he was attached to a Klin ship, and that the evil aliens were holding Adam and his people prisoners. But he really lost it when Adam told him about the four men the Klin had executed.
“Calm down, Colonel,” Adam said. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. Besides, Cannin’s robots are everywhere, and until I can figure a way to disable them, we wouldn’t stand a chance against them. These things were designed to kill Humans—and every other race in the galaxy.”
Where are we going? Nolan asked after regaining his composure.
“Some world in the Expansion I imagine, where Cannin can deliver a statement regarding the power of his starship.”
And he has over three million of those killer robots aboard that you talked about—thought about…whatever? How does he plan on deploying them?
“Unknown, but one thing is sure, he’ll have to open the launch bay doors to do it.”
And we blast them when they come out!
“All three million of them, Colonel, and while the Rutledge is being cut to pieces by defensive lasers? Like I said, let me and Arieel work on the robot problem. They’re made of Formilian technology so there has to be a weakness I can exploit—”
Formilian technology is the best in the galaxy! Arieel protested in his mind.
I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that we have access to their various parts and pieces with our…Gifts.
Oh…of course.
“Josh, stay put. Cannin said he’d call us again when we reach our destination. It looks like we’re there.”
And we’re supposed to just hang out here and hope no one spots us?
“The Klin ship is pretty automated. If they haven’t spotted you by now, they probably won’t. Just hang tight…and thanks for coming for us.”
Nolan stammered you’re welcome, although he’d already told Adam how they’d been sucked along with the gravity-well against their will.
“For now just chill, Mister Nolan,” Adam said. “But be ready. It’s going to get pretty hairy here pretty soon.”
In the two days since his last meeting with Cannin, Adam had made a lot of progress analyzing the AN-9s operating system. There was a kill switch after all, but not what he’d been hoping for. It simply cut off the robot’s awareness. All the weapons systems would remain active, just the robot wouldn’t be able to detect any threats around it.
He also learned that each robot ran periodic diagnostics on all its systems which would detect Adam’s messing around with the AN-9’s brain. This happened every five minutes, and each bot was on a different schedule, depending on when it was first put into service. The maximum any machine would be down would five minutes, and that’s if Adam caught it just at the right time. And with multiple robots on scene, units could start coming back online at any time…and begin shooting.
However, there was one encouraging bit of information Adam found while digging around in the programming with his mutant superpowers. The robots used flash weapons. In fact they were their preferred weapon system. It made sense. Nearly all creatures in the galaxy were susceptible to flash bolts, either level two or three. Only certain species—such as Humans, Q’uel and Juireans, among others—could resist bolts at that strength. Juireans bought it at level one, as did most Humans, if struck in the right location. The hard-headed Q’uel would laugh off a level one bolt and just keep charging.
The AN-9s knew all this and made accommodations. For Juireans, the level on the bolt launcher would be cranked up to the highest setting. For Humans—being a major threat to the Klin and unpredictable, even when injured—they either got the laser, the stun gun or hot lead. The Q’uel would get lasers, if the time ever came when Klin and Q’uel met.
Yet the Klin were practical as well. Lasers were an incredible drain on the power reserves of the AN-9, so they would be used sparingly. The same wit
h ballistics weapons which required physical slugs to be expelled. The robots could only carry so many rounds, so these weapons were also reserved for rare occasions. That left flash weapons as the go-to device. They were easy to use and quick to recharge and would be effective against all but the toughest creatures in the galaxy.
And Adam Cain knew a secret about flash weapons. With just a simple disconnect of the firing controls using his ATD, the energy fed into the weapon without an accompanying shot would result in a fairly sizable explosion. AN-9s had formidable exterior defenses, but Adam was betting they couldn’t survive an internal explosion the size of a hand grenade.
The problem—again--came from the diagnostic test. It would detect a severed connection and repair it, making the weapon active again. Also, Adam could only create an explosion while the weapon was in use, and before the AN-9 ran a diagnostic.
How all this new knowledge would be applied in a practical situation was the other problem. He didn’t have a clue.
144
As expected, Adam was summoned to the bridge a few minutes after speaking with Colonel Nolan. But it was only he who was summoned.
“When more than one Human is in a room, they tend to engage with each other, building confidence and courage. I have no time for such games,” Cannin explained when Adam asked why only him. He couldn’t argue with the alien. His observations were spot on.
Adam looked out the forward viewport and saw the shimmering arch of a planet below. He also noticed streaks of flash cannon fire coming at the black ship, along with the accompanying glow of the impossibly-far-away diffusion screen. Cannin was seated at the command chair, his head propped up by a long, silver arm, looking bored.