Cyber Viking Box Set

by Marcus Sloss

  “Daxstar, you seeing this?” I asked.

  “Yes, we most certainly are. This is not good. Cancel your movie, we go into a briefing in the VirtaBox as soon as we get home. Ovinious will need to see this,” Daxstar said, closing my call before suddenly reopening it. “Actually head straight to Base Roost. Longoria will pick you up.”

  I stared at the image of the mothership using what appeared to be repair bots on the exterior of its ship. There were turrets and upgrades being added to the ship’s hull. Not far from the ship small defense platforms were under construction. This data was hours old meaning some of these would be done soon if not already.

  The fight for space above Earth suddenly got even more interesting.

  CHAPTER 21

  So much for having a rousing victory speech. Moments after Sinclair’s demise Perci addressed the nation for me as the people’s Queen. She was fantastic, from what I heard.

  My ability to listen to our acceptance speech was missed because I was too busy talking to a very disgruntled Goldie.

  “What the…?” I was feeding off his negativity. “You’re kidding me. This is not a regular mothership controller?”

  “Eric, it’s important that you understand there are millions of mother ships destined to spend eternity in solitude as they ensure planets stay the way Seetheus and the controllers desired. So, if you stick a full clone into motherships they literally descend into madness. Not maybe, not kind of. Those who don’t violate their prime objectives and start adding more Xgates to new populated areas, or blast down to cities that could shield its firepower one day, and some even abandon their planets to do more important things.

  “The first Xgate iterations were really a big learning curve and for the better I believe, but I’m biased in that I fought to get the changes applied. So the clones are not true clones. By mandate blah and article bleh of a document I enforced during the quarantine expansion initiative we decreed all motherships be controlled by partial clones. Now, these clones are far more computer than anything else. At least they should be. There were carefully laid plans to abuse the system when the timing was right,” Goldie said with clear resentment. “Our opponent had his own ideas that we’re just learning of. We knew something was off the moment Sol’s mothership didn’t fly into the flames of the sun. For thousands of years we had crews waiting to strike at the precise moment. An upgrade request was sent, a flaw in the code. They accepted and boom we removed as many guardians of planets as we could. When the update was pushed we may have tweaked the code for an emergency update past a certain time frame would trigger a chain of commands for a suicide run into the sun. Yet, that didn’t happen and the update resulted in this mothership building a base of sorts.”

  I mulled over what he was saying. This had more implications than just the coming space battle.

  “Alright, so you wanted the ship to fly into the sun, I can acknowledge that. Why is it building a base? Do we even need to be stealthy on a space program anymore?” I asked.

  “No need to be stealthy, we’re openly constructing the launch platforms and we even stuck Sammie in a mounamine body. Nothing is tempting that controller,” Goldie grumbled.

  “Goldie, I get you’re frustrated but spell it out for me. What is that controller?”

  “We don’t know, there are solid theories. The most logical conclusion is that Seetheus updated the program clones before their departure. He loved to do bon voyage inspections. Which means there is probably some additional memory function to this opponent. The fact it’s building a base and avoiding its prime directive tells us it is thinking beyond its programming,” Goldie said with a defeated sigh.

  “Okay, so you have a plan?” I asked.

  “Indeed. Go into space, defeat the ship at all costs. Don’t let it get away so it can start building an armada in the asteroid belt,” Goldie said and I snarled at the impossible task. “Yeah, it’s not a pretty challenge.”

  “So… what is the plan?”

  When it was explained to me I nodded, then bobbed my head at the idea, and finally sighed. It was a decent idea.

  I absorbed the view of the flight while I went over contingencies.

  Our dropship landed in a mountain top opening not far from Base Roost and Longoria said, “Here is your orb my king. If you get on the other side of the planet, well don’t. I happen to be a fan of your angel body and that Linda Growlen lady is charging too much.”

  “Huh?” I asked with a scrunched face.

  “I will tell you about it while you transition to the pad that will fly you to your doom,” Longoria said, shooing me out of the cockpit. My Gpad populated her face as I exited the aircraft. “The economy is opening. A lot of what Koor had we’re implementing and adapting to. Then we got to shop at the grand market beside there to really sway Bastion into the future. With the smarty pants starting to swap to businesses, well, things are changing. The arena is having its first competition with sporting events. Mainly because the synthetic blood we want to spill on the ground is still ramping online. Linda Growlen is selling the first synthetics on the open market and she is not alone. There were a few companies that pooled money from investors, but Linda is ahead. Have you thought about what business that you want to do? I was wanting to open a school on history.”

  “History? As in the stuff we have on the Gnet?” I asked. There was certainly going to be a family meeting for what to do with our lives. Sitting in the castle was nice for a break, but not forever.

  “Sure, that and the stuff the divines have. There is a lot on record and I find it important to discuss when digesting such information,” Longoria mentioned.

  “I guess that is great, the more jobs we have the better. I haven’t put much thought into a long term economy or what job I want besides being the boss,” I said with a shrug. She couldn’t see it but it made me feel better. “Alright, let me call Sammie, be safe Longoria. Oh, and get me, Everly.”

  “Willow too?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Shit, I was hoping to not lose all our mind orbs. Yeah, Willow too. I guess messing with the other continents can wait. I will find a fourth pilot,” I said trying to hang up.

  “I would love to go. Okay, getting the others, meet you up top,” Longoria said, closing the connection.

  She was a fabulous pilot and it was hard to argue. I had left the opening for her to take the offer anyway. A history buff. That made sense for her and yet I always saw her gowns were hand stitched. Maybe both. I’d like to think with all free time from virum reduced sleep we could do so much more in a given day.

  When I walked on top of the crunchy snow the dropship pickup quickly before the aircraft banked for Roost entrance. Longoria’s abrupt departure left me in a cloud of snow dusting. When it cleared my breath frosted and I found myself alone. The area was still a mess waiting to clear for me to see so I dialed Sammie’s voice chat.

  “Your highness,” Sammie said with a shy smile.

  “I missed you, and I’m glad to see you,” I said, with a sad longing. “You look lovely.”

  “Don’t go spoiling me, your grace. I got the very first body from Growlen Enterprises. Now, I have three youngens to attend to,” Sammie said with a pause. There was a shout of ‘let me go’ in the background that drew Sammie’s attention off screen. “Mark Yang, you put your little brother down this instant. Gotta go Erik, good luck.”

  When she fled to deal with the situation I kept the video on. I spent a few minutes watching the children play and terrorize each other. Our third child had been a four year old boy named Peter. He was not very nice to his little sister Karen, which meant Mark would step in. They were play-acting their problems to keep Sammie busy who was gleaming with a smile. Nancy strolled into the room in a fine hip-hugging dress and stern eyes. The silence that followed was motivating.

  She was being a mom, her gaze was enforced by a leveled finger. The corner smile ripped into a full grin as she offered ice cream. The kids screamed in acceptance and Sammie t
ossed her hands in the air in mock frustration. I enjoyed every stinking moment of the video.

  That was a future worth fighting for, for dying for. So many sacrifices over the years to get to this point. Just a little stretch of peace would mean so much to those we lost. To do that, there was one obstacle left.

  With my motivation set, I walked for an underway. In this desolate landing pad it was the only thing around so that must be where I needed to go. The booth shot up at my approach. I stepped in, the door hissed closed, and a second later I dove down. The transition to below was short with me arriving in an assembly line of sorts.

  Ah, here was everyone. There was a staging room with those orbs flying things. I had to look up the acronym we settled on. SP01, right I had to change them from SS01. Eh, wish I had named them instead.

  A mounamine male in a flight suit approached me, his impatient wave for me to close the distance aggravated me.

  “Follow me, Sir.”

  Apparently I was expected because we skipped to the front of the line. A demonix entered a clear ball in front of me, and my guide held out a hand. The ball was sealed tight. A see-through shielded wall lifted out of the floor to protect those around the orb. There was a crack of air that I flinched from.

  A wave of energy washed over the shield and pushed me back. When I looked at the launch point, the ball was gone.

  “Ha, so that was the plan, not build a spaceship, just build a zero-g spaceship and a launcher it hardly uses,” I muttered. “I guess that would be a workaround, the mothership does not detect an spaceship capable of reaching space on its own.”

  Yet, there was no doubt the mothership knew we were coming. The evidence of it preparing for our assault was not in dispute.

  The ground opened up and a new SP01 rose into the slot.

  When we walked to the ship I asked, “I need a helmet or anything?”

  “For what?” he replied with a snicker.

  “You know, living?”

  “Ha! I like you, get in, your grace.” The guide said with a chuckle.

  “Is this a synthetic thing? Like can I breathe in the void?” I was confused.

  “No one… It’s space. Not a happy place where you dance on clouds with rainbows and unicorns, you die. There are dozens of launches planned behind you, are you understanding?” The guide said strapping me in. He secured my mind orb in a back compartment. “You ready.”

  He gave a thumbs up to the mounamine behind him. I said, “Well -”

  “Hey asshole,” I said as the door sealed loudly.

  I caught the shit waving goodbye to me. The crew plugged their ears, and then there was a disorientating boom.

  I shot out of the mountain and straight up.

  So there were dampers, and yes they were on, and yes, I still passed out.

  Drool trailed down my face when I drifted back to consciousness with a head shake. Oh, I was still leaving the atmosphere. The exterior shielding kept the heat at bay as I rocketed off Earth. The angry shielding calmed and suddenly I was drifting without input.

  “Wing Three for Wing Six, over,” a voice said.

  The fighter orb slowed until I was suddenly weightless, drifting in a path out into open space. A ping hit my display showing our small force gathered not far away. I directed the spaceship to the group of fighters.

  “Am I Wing Six?” I asked when no one else answered.

  “Yes sir, we were told to hurry up and wait for a mission briefing,” Three said, and I chuckled.

  Hurry up and wait. The motto of all militaries.

  “Sounds about right, I am guessing there are not many of those launch pads,” I replied and realized the statement was rhetorical so I continued on. “Okay. How about we plot a flight time? Four hours to reach the target. Is there a turbo boost option?”

  “Did you…? Never mind, welcome to on the job training. Names Donald Larkin, or Wing Three. I am a fighter pilot transfer from Teton. And Six, let me say. I never thought I’d get to fly against the mother ship for a personal chance at payback, so thank you,” Donald said. “Did you get any simulator time?”

  I flipped on the camera screen after halting the SP01. I shook my head to an image of a stern faced young man. Damn virum never let me tell how old someone was.

  “That is fine, Sir. The mothership is stationary at the moment so I’ve got time to teach you while our forces gather. There are two outer bars circling the ball. The engines can rotate on them. Go back to your menu. Select orient for maximum flight. Then select the mothership as your destination,” Larkin said and I followed his instructions. “What do you see now?”

  “Thirty-six minutes. Okay, and I see how to return the motors back to flight. Perfect. Any other pointers?” I asked and he frowned.

  “Yes, sort of. Can you take lead?” Larkin asked.

  “Indeed, part of the briefing. Which, let me see.” I paused to retrieve information. “We got thirty more ships with four in flight. Nine more minutes until everyone is up here,” I said checking over the data. “Wing Three keep guiding new arrivals to us. I’m going to lay out our plan. Six out.”

  I saw additional arrivals join our clump. The sensor buoys were due to arrive on any flight now. Everything relied on them tracking our foe if it got away. Ah, my screen populated them as needing a catch.

  “Fleet, this is Six, proceed to intercept the buoy package. Eight, you have the buoy missions,” I said.

  “Wilco,” Eight replied.

  All he had to do was leave early and then set the container to open. The small buoys were set to rocket around the mothership to track her movements. We arrested the forward movement by blocking the flight path of the rider less ball. A few bounces later and Eight connected before leaving in a hurry.

  “Six this is Queen Six over,” Everly said on a private channel.

  “Umm…” I hesitated and then Willow and Longoria joined the channel. “You can’t all be Queen Six.”

  “I got seven,” Willow said.

  “Called five,” Longoria mentioned.

  I rolled my eyes but avoided debating the which queen got what call sign. “Okay, here is the mission,” I said, sliding the data over to the ladies. “Since we’re on point go ahead and study it thoroughly.”

  “Uh… I guess this makes sense, wow.” She paused, opening and closing her mouth in shock. “This is going to suck,” Willow said with slumped shoulders in her harness. “Ugh. I hate dying.”

  I chuckled and the others joined my laughter until a tense silence hung in our small cockpits.

  “We’re running the gauntlet to help the others achieve the mission. Try not to run into each other,” I said nonchalantly.

  A notification went off telling me it was time to go since everyone was here. One hundred and fifty-three SP01 zero-g fighters ready to kick ass.

  “Fleet this is Six, here is your briefing,” I said as I disseminated the information in the battle plan. I knew there were people looking over my basic outline and realizing it was lacking depth. I had kept it simple for a reason. “We head to the Seetheus clone, get in close, and blow it up. We stop at this point, wait until the buoys are set, and then into the breach.”

  I waited for questions and was a bit surprised when there was none. We spun as a unit and oriented for the mothership.

  The forty-minute journey started with us picking up speed. Our success rate was just high enough to keep the enemy from fleeing. Sixty percent is what Goldie and Daxstar predicted the enemy would set our chances at. Forty percent were pretty good odds. We were preparing to launch a second assault and it was obvious too. Maybe this mind knew something we didn’t long term. Or they wanted us to force the issue before abandoning their prime objective.

  Goldie had pulled out all the stops to try to get the clone with its ship in closer to us. One of the teases was our spare spaceship carrier being modified. Yup. A modified spaceship carrier that would be used to protect the Sol System. We were reclaiming our home, not an if but a when. This mother
ship was going to go down eventually. Either in this fight or chased out of the solar system.

  My observations of the fleet formation was disturbed by an interruption. I answered the call without much thought. My bad.

  “Stop and desist immediately,” an angry orb said. I named him Beetheus since his tone had a masculine ring to it.

  When I grunted and said, “You talking to me?” He visibly radiated with anger.

  “Your kind must return to your containment. How you achieved this technology is profane. There are -”

  I muted the voice while nodding. My Gpad vibrated.

  ‘You’re talking to the mothership?’ Longoria.

  ‘Stalling, and yeah.’ - Eric.

  I released the mute button to see if I had gotten caught typing. Nope, still droning on about the validity of his mission and how essential the Xgates were to preserving life in the universe for the worthy species. It was a very compelling argument if it didn’t mean I had to die so tree-hugging smart frogs could live.

  When Beetheus stopped talking I paused holding two hands up passively.

  “Are you lonely?” I asked in the most sincere way I could.

  If I hadn’t been baiting him I would have cried out in horror at the emotional outpouring. I nodded, added the correct um… hmm… to let him know I was listening and watched the timer countdown. The buoys were released. Three more minutes and -

  Shit, I had zoned out.

  “How does that make you feel?” I said and felt I nailed it.

  Five minutes later the tracking buoys were set. Finally, the orb gave a long huff and replied, “I am grateful you have spoken with me, it gets awfully boring. This will provide me with countless hours of reflection. Now I see you’re ready to fight. I must tell you to lay down weapons and accept my contract.”

  A contract pinged for an infinite time, no food or water. I guess I was in a synthetic so this made sense. I closed the connection and declined the contract.

  “We’re declining right?” Wing Three asked.

  I knew he was fucking with me, it was the good ole pilot bullshit line. “Yes, you decline, follow in hot. Spread formation. Everything comes down to -”