WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12)

by Michael Anderle

  >>Bethany Anne?<<

  Yes?

  >>I would like to share a little of how I am created with Yuko.<<

  Do you wish to do this with others?

  >>No, why would I? Yuko is having a tough time, and I calculate that by sharing something that is uniquely me, she will feel more comfortable sharing what is bothering her.<<

  I see. ADAM, just remember that as you share more about yourself, you risk causing problems that keeping quiet wouldn’t.

  >>Yes, but without sharing, humans often will not open up.<<

  Ok, just keep me updated if it looks like it is going to go beyond you and Yuko.

  >>Understood.<<

  “Yuko, to answer your question, I would like to ask you to consider what I tell you a personal secret. Not to be shared. Is that acceptable?”

  “Well, of course, ADAM. I don’t share our conversations. It isn’t like I speak to too many here at the base anyway. Well, Tina of course and our teammates, but not many.”

  “Thank you.” There was a pause before ADAM continued, “Yuko, I am an amalgamation of an A.I. software created originally by one of TQB Enterprises companies, married with the computational power of an alien cybernetic computer.”

  “Yuko,” ADAM continued, “I’m not housed in a computer, I am in an organic alien brain.”

  Yuko stayed quiet for a moment, thinking through what ADAM just admitted, “You aren’t human?” Yuko made a face of annoyance at her question, “I mean, you aren’t only built using human computers then?”

  “No, I am not. There was an incident where I was created that necessitated my immediate code transfer into a Kutherian computer by TOM. There are no computers presently on earth that can support all of my capabilities. Even the entity intelligences we presently have, do not reach the power I require to exist. Most of my physical existence is based in the Etheric.”

  "So, where are you presently? Or is this something I cannot know?"

  "Unfortunately, that is a personal question that I would need to ask Bethany Anne if she is okay with divulging."

  "No, that is okay. I was just curious. Adam, it doesn't matter to me where your intellect is housed. While it would be enjoyable to know where your physical body is located, or that you had a physical body, the fact that you speak to me anywhere and at any time brings me much comfort."

  Yuko looked over the distance, the red sands dark in the moonlight.

  Her eyes unfocused on anything, in particular, she whispered, "When I left home, my father told me that he was not going to let me back in for the evening as punishment. He had no idea, nor did he believe me, when I told him I would not stay in that town. Now, he refuses to believe that I am doing anything except selling my body on the streets. Something I would never, ever do. He seems to be a spiteful old man who refuses to believe his daughter at all."

  "And, it hurts,” she finished.

  This time, Yuko allowed the tears to slowly navigate their way down her cheeks.

  QBS ArchAngel

  Bethany Anne was wearing a pair of tight black pants with boots, mid-level heels and a black belt that reminded the President of a western holster as it hung at an angle. He then noticed that it looked like it was setup to allow a pistol to clip on it. She had on a white blouse and a well-fitted red bolero coat.

  She bowed slightly to the Japanese representative and spoke to the group, “Hello and welcome to the QBS ArchAngel, my name is Bethany Anne. I will introduce myself personally to each of you after this discussion, as I might answer some of your questions in this talk. So, we have placed name tags on the seats while you were talking. Please note, they are in alphabetical order, so the only favorite we played was choosing English.” She greeted a few by name as she made her way to the table.

  They had split the group into the first and second rows. The leaders were on the first row, their seconds were behind them. Bethany Anne surprised most there by walking to the front of the table, turning around and then sliding on the table using it as a chair.

  Theodore shook his head as he took his place between the leaders from France and India. He noticed the American President was stuck on the end next to Spain. She certainly didn’t pick favorites this time.

  “So, I’m going to speak about China, Technology, and an ‘oh shit.’” She put up her hand as the muttering started, “If the oh shit were something needing a more immediate response we would have held this meeting more quickly. As it is, my team is trying to get answers and we, at the moment, don’t have many. So, it was decided that we would share with you what we can, and offer another meeting with your chosen representative regarding this concern.”

  She slid off of the table and started walking to the left and then turned to walk back the other way as she spoke. “Let’s start with China.” She didn’t look at them, but she did wave her hand to the group, “As you can see, they aren’t sitting here with you right now. I’m not particularly happy with them, and I have a zero bullshit policy with them at the moment. Since I believe they are constitutionally incapable of speaking the truth, it would be better for them not to be here.”

  “Not better for you?” the leader for Canada spoke up.

  Bethany Anne stopped and smiled to the Canadian Prime Minister, “You are aware of the maxim that it is better to fight from the higher ground?” He nodded and she opened her arms, “You can’t get much higher than this.”

  She continued pacing, “All of you are aware that China is on a technological crime spree. If they can buy it, they will. If the can steal it, they do. If they can screw you out of it, you hope you get a little pleasure, too.” She continued, ignoring a couple of the surprised looks coming from the two rows of people with her blunt communication style. “They chose to implement digital attacks against our companies to acquire our technology.” She stopped pacing and looked at the group, “They failed. They tried to buy our companies on the stock market. They failed. They sought to use covert operatives and raid our companies to steal the information. A few of those succeeded and they ended up killing some of my people in a couple of other attacks.”

  Her face went borderline angry, “The first was a problem. None of you can say much because I’m aware that we have been attacked in some form or fashion from every country here except the Netherlands. France has tried to acquire our technology using force,” She put up a hand before the Prime Minister of France could argue, “Don’t even go there, I have the detailed documents disclosing the effort. If you chose to claim you are not guilty, I'll have ArchAngel immediately release the documents and anything even remotely relevant to the discussion to the Internet. I’ll make sure we directly email the top one thousand political hacks that would find your information the juiciest ever.”

  The Prime Minister from France leaned back in his chair and shook his head twice.

  She continuing her pacing, “My group has entertained an excellent, and wonderfully short, visit from the Australian government when they came knocking. Mind you, missile explosions in the middle of your country by mercenaries might cause a bit of a concern. So, we answered them appropriately. Further, we have had discussions with the government of the United States due to an attack in the middle of their country. That time, it was a little bit of a bigger bomb. We have had visits from multiple countries all trying to give us legal reasons this, or rules about that, which, in the end, all have to do with the acquisition of our technology.”

  She stopped and opened her arms, taking in the ship, “Let me be very clear, the technology is not for sale, it’s not for sharing, and I’m not giving it to anyone.” She put her arms down and started walking again, “I’ll get to the reasons in a little while. China thought they could use force to acquire the technology. The last update I received, China is down twelve navy ships, ninety-two planes, close to seven hundred troops, and a significant-sized portion of the Kunlun Shan Mountains. Fortunately, they decided they had enough. This was after I was requested to keep my response civil.”

  “
I’m sorry,” the Canadian Prime Minister interrupted again, “but am I understanding that was a restrained response?”

  Bethany Anne stopped and looked at him, and then took in the rest of them with a frown, “Did you guys all choose Canada to suck it up and ask all of the hard questions?”

  There were a few chuckles before she turned back to him, “Yes, that was restrained. They had two options, kill me or sue for peace. I suppose complete devastation was a third option, but even I don’t think they are that hard headed… perhaps North Korea would be, but not China. They play a long game. No thanks to a fair amount of Western countries who have abused them. While I might understand their mentality, it doesn’t mean I have to accept it.”

  She continued pacing as the leaders worked to try and pigeonhole this lady into one of their known personality types and faced difficulty.

  Ball-buster was a running favorite, though.

  “So, let’s get on with this technology we have here. This is the QBS ArchAngel, one of two operational spaceships we have right now. The other, the QBS Defender, is the one responsible for the little parking lot which was formerly a portion of China.” she flipped a hand out, “Yes, Prime Minister, we did save quite a few people during the resulting devastation. If I had wanted to harm more of their people, I wouldn’t have chosen a location so far from most of their populations.”

  “Isn’t this a little much,” the leader from Mexico entered the conversation, “All of this power?”

  Bethany Anne stopped and raised an eyebrow, “And you would have who hold it, exactly? If you even remotely suggest that sycophantic tic on the ass of a baboon named the United Nations, I’ll have to ask you to leave as being too stupid to sit with the adults.”

  The Mexican President opened his mouth, then shut it without making a sound.

  “Yes, now you come to the realization that none here are going to allow you to be the only one, right? Any country in a group that might be a part of the joint ownership is going to immediately suffer from the advanced capabilities of the U.S., Russia, China, and to some degree, the European democracies. Either way, my mind is made up, so the wiser of you will move on to the next item on your list that you would like to accomplish.”

  She continued walking, “Now, we come to the good part, the part that makes all of this make sense, and for some of you it will both open the next Pandora’s box, and get you irritated as hell with a few of your friends. In the end, it doesn’t matter.”

  The lights started dimming as Bethany Anne stepped to the side of the room as did her guards. “Gentleman and ladies, the reason TQB Enterprises exists is to try to protect the world, but not from someone from our world, but rather from a set of Alien clans which enhance sentient beings to fight a galactic version of cockfights. Winner takes all.”

  The muttering started when the middle four displays behind the table showed a set of stars in the background when suddenly a flash occurred and for just a few frames, a spaceship appeared, then was gone.

  “We Have Contact.” Bethany Anne told the group before she paused.

  “And we can’t find them right now,” she finished.

  Yollin Deep Space Ship - G’laxix Sphaea

  Kael-ven T’chmon reviewed the deep sensor readings and recordings from their last three trips around this sun. He pointed to one area within an asteroid belt, “This, this is one area they are mining and where they are possibly manufacturing.” Moving around the display, he pointed at the third planet from the sun, “Here, here is their world with their pitiful technology base.” Reaching forward with his two arms he spread them apart to zoom in on the planet. The Yollin’s Captain was from their noble line. He had four legs and two arms. “Here is the one moon they have near their planet. It looks like they are using it as a base of some sort. We will have to search closer to see much here.”

  The captain slapped his hands together, and the display disappeared, “Pah! This is such a backwater location. It is embarrassing that I was chosen to even scout it for our King.” He scratched his dry skin, a piece flaking off he grabbed and stuck in his mouth, thinking about what he had just reviewed.

  He started walking towards the soft couch that captains used. It had no back, rather small at 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. Captains of Yollin ships rest their long torsos on the top and use their four legs to grab underneath to lock themselves in.

  Kael-ven T’chmon lowered himself into the Captain’s Rest and looked around the bridge. While it was true that it was an honor to be given this opportunity by the king, to have such an inferior technology base was quite a letdown.

  “Perhaps they will have some technology we have not seen, which will make all of this effort worthwhile. If so, then we can go back through the Annex Gate and advise our King to expand the acquisition effort. If not, our expedition must be complete so that we can decide how many solar years before we come back.”

  “Captain?” The communications specialist called out. “Should we ping for the Master Race?”

  Captain Kael-ven T’chmon grunted. “That is a good question specialist Melorn. While we have not seen any evidence the Kurtherians have been here, should we not abide by the Rules of Acquisition, our King would have our heads.” The Captain opened up the display on his right side to note his command.

  “Send the ping,” he spoke the command as he documented the command in his log. He looked up, “Melorn, make sure we have all been updated with the basic language node for this … location.” The Captain completed his command, trying to keep an even keel on what had been, so far, a rather unimpressive scouting trip.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  QBS ArchAngel

  Bethany Anne looked out across the representatives and smiled, “Now, I am open for questions.”

  The immediate merging of ten different voices caused Bethany Anne to put up her hand, “Please, I can’t do this with all of you shouting at once.” One of the men that had arrived with her suddenly turned and walked out of the room.

  “Until Eric gets back, I will go from my left to my right. So, I will answer the question from the President of the United States first.”

  “How long do you believe they have been in our system?” he asked.

  Bethany Anne replied, “Seven weeks.”

  Spain, next to the United States, asked the next question, “Do you know if they are friendly or unfriendly?”

  Bethany Anne shrugged, “While we do not and cannot confirm they are unfriendly that is our position at the moment. The assumption is, based on information we have, most star-faring races should be considered unfriendly until you have negotiated a treaty with them. Or, your reputation is such that they do not immediately attack you.”

  She put up a hand to stop Spain from immediately asking a follow-up question, “Sorry, one question each pass.” At that moment, Eric came back in with a handful of pens and notecards. Bethany Anne turned and retrieved them from him and started walking to the group and passing them out. “We are going to do this the old-fashioned way. Please write down any questions you have here on these cards and we will pick them up. I will answer a couple of more questions while you do this. Remember, we still have to get you guys back to Earth in a reasonable amount of time. We will have further discussions with your duly appointed representative tomorrow.”

  She turned back and walked to the table and then nodded to Mexico, “I see that the Netherlands has not requested a question so Mexico it’s your turn.”

  “TQB has stated on multiple occasions that you are not interested in using your technology to accomplish goals near earth. What is TQB’s goal then?”

  “Good question, the short answer is our effort is focused on protecting the Earth from,” she used her thumb to point toward the video shot of the alien spacecraft behind her, “them.”