by Doug Farren
Cipher touched a control and part of the wall transformed itself into a viewscreen. Fidget watched in fascination as a duplicate of him sat listening to Admiral Wilson explaining the nature of their fictitious mission.
“Part of the hack was to create a believable duplicate of ourselves,” Cipher explained. “While we are here, we should keep an eye on what our duplicates are doing in case someone else intrudes into the program. We can even alter their behavior if we want. Right now, the data feed from our alter-egos is inactive – I didn’t want you to give us away by confusing you. If you’re ready, I’ll activate the link.”
“I’m ready,” Fidget replied.
Cipher didn’t move or touch any controls but suddenly Fidget felt as if he was in two places at once. It was akin to the split feeling he had when he was in a normal V-world where he could feel his ship body as well as his virtual one. Now, he could feel, see, and hear what his duplicate self was doing as if it was a ghostly shadow of himself.
One of the unexpected abilities that resulted from the merging process was the ability to multitask at an unprecedented level. Like a skilled pianist or guitar player capable of simultaneously playing two separate songs on the same instrument, or the rare person who could type an email while carrying on an unrelated conversation, a merged mind was capable of existing in multiple places at once. They could be involved in a conversation in the virtual world while simultaneously controlling their ship bodies.
Pointing to a large, square panel on the otherwise white wall, Cipher said, “This is the equivalent of a panic button. Touching this panel will immediately transfer our real selves back to the Star Trek V-world. We will instantly replace our duplicates. All of this activity is hidden from the normal system monitors and, as long as we are careful, should never be detected.”
Fidget turned from the monitor and looked at Cipher. “I’m impressed! You did one hell of a bang-up job on this – so why did you do it?”
“You said a few weeks ago that your dad told you our brains can’t be returned to our bodies. If true, then the government has lied to us. I want to learn more but I didn’t want to talk about it where anyone else could overhear the conversation. So now that we can talk in private, explain to me why your dad said what he did.”
“My dad’s a neurological biologist,” Fidget said, nervously rubbing his hands together. “He’s been a pioneer in the development of advanced cybernetic limbs so he knows what he’s talking about. Although the government tried to keep the process of merging a brain with a ship secret, a lot of the details have been known by the medical community for quite awhile. When I told him I was thinking of volunteering he said I was making a bad decision because the process is irreversible.”
“Do you know why?”
“Sure do. My dad tried to talk me out of volunteering by giving me all the gruesome details, complete with pictures of brain surgeries, in an attempt to change my mind. But I didn’t care. I wanted to be able to move myself through space, to look at the universe through enhanced vision, and to live practically forever with powers and abilities no mortal could ever hope to experience.”
“So what did he tell you?” Cipher asked, pressing the main point of the discussion.
“To make the merge happen, they trick the brain into thinking it’s still developing – as if we were back in our mother’s womb. Through the use of chemical and electrical stimulus, they force the brain to develop a huge number of new neural connections. These connections are formed in such a way that we feel as if the ship is a natural extension of our bodies. In the process, our brain nearly doubles in size and becomes an order of magnitude more complex than our original. It is this growth that makes it impossible for them to return our brains to our original bodies.”
Cipher nodded his head in understanding. “The doctors wouldn’t know what part to cut out and they certainly can’t make our skulls bigger.”
“Oh, they probably could. The problem is that our brains wouldn’t know how to control our old bodies. I’m sorry Cipher, you’re stuck where you’re at for as long as you live and, if the experts are right, you could very well be alive for the next several centuries.”
“Thanks Fidget. I …” Cipher paused and his face went blank for a moment. After a brief delay he said, “Bulldog wants to talk to all of us in the virtual auditorium. Remember, never talk about this place to anyone outside of this room. The only access point is through the Star Trek simulator transporter and I’m the only one who can activate it.”
“You’re welcome. Now, how do we get back without sounding the alarm?”
Cipher held his hand over the red button. “I press this and we take the place of our duplicates. As soon as we’re there, initiate a transfer to the auditorium. Ready?”
“Ready.”
The transfer was virtually instantaneous. One moment they were standing together in the tiny white-walled room and the next instant they were back in the Star Trek simulation. Their duplicates had left the Admiral’s office and were heading back to the starbase transporter when the exchange occurred. They stopped and transferred themselves out of one V-world directly into another.
After the transfer, Fidget turned to Cipher and said, “Too bad we didn’t get a chance to start our mission. I was looking forward to going up against a Klingon battle fleet.”
“Next time,” was all Cipher said. His mind was preoccupied with other issues.
Bulldog called the meeting to order and brought the fleet up to date on the latest intelligence.
Chapter 7
Granitus – Distance from Earth: 823 light years; Gravity: 0.89 Earth normal; Geology: Diameter 11,915 kilometers, tectonically stable, two major continents, nine minor continents, water covers 61% of the surface; Climate: Similar to Earth with equatorial temperatures averaging 31 degrees C with an equatorial-to-polar variation significantly less than Earth; Orbital dynamics: 422 day orbit and a rotational period of 27.6 hours; Satellites: Two – 986 and 2,014 kilometers in diameter; Last known human population: 1.4 million; Invaded by the Evendi: 2296.
Cipher was beginning to get nervous. For two days the fleet had been holding position in hyperspace 1.1 light-years from Granitus. Staying in hyperspace seemed like a tremendous waste of energy but it prevented the Evendi from detecting the characteristic energy pulse of a ship dropping in or out of hyperdrive. Such a hyperspace transition could be detected for tens of billions of kilometers because it generated a short burst of energy that radiated away from the ship in hyperspace at faster than light velocities.
He was nervous because even though they were in hyperspace a watchful Evendi patrol might discover them. Nearly every ship in the fleet was impatiently watching the data feed from the reconnaissance probe silently cruising through the Granitus system.
“They’ve taken the bait,” Sun Lee’s broadcast interrupted the silence.
The fleet watched as a large number of the Evendi ships guarding Granitus broke orbit and headed out of the system. Despite the fact that he no longer had a body, he felt nervous. This was not a simulation; he was about to go into battle against an enemy who would stop at nothing to kill him.
Cipher once again checked his systems. The entire process required less than two seconds. He then put himself in contact with Bug-eye, an older-model ship stationed three light years from Granitus in the direction the Evendi fleet would take as they made their way to Maelstrom.
“You okay out there all by yourself?” Cipher asked.
“I’ll be fine,” replied Bug-eye. “I’ve done this before. As long as I stay nice and quiet the cats won’t know I’m here unless they practically run into me. They’ll be moving so fast their sensors won’t be sensitive enough to detect me. It’s you guys I’m worried about. Be careful.”
While they waited for the Evendi to put some distance between themselves and Granitus, and to help calm his nerves, Cipher went back to work on his special project. If Fidget’s information was correct, the proof should be available som
ewhere. The trick was to figure out how to find it without being caught. Trying to break into a heavily secured military computer to root around in the system’s files would have been too risky. The security protocols in use were specifically designed to prevent such attacks. He needed another way. After thinking about it for a bit, he found the answer.
Cipher was given his call-sign because of his expertise with computers. When he was ten years old, he became addicted to a game called Planetary Conquest. He spent nearly every waking hour playing the online game moving up in the standings until he made it into the top 100. Suddenly, another player calling himself Megaclan began chopping away at the small empire he had built, taking over several star systems. No matter how he deployed his forces, Fernando always lost against this seemingly unstoppable opponent.
Suspecting something was fishy, Fernando pulled his forces back to a few core systems. He took a crash course in computer programming and enlisted the help of an older hacker who also played the same game. Together, they hacked into the game’s code and discovered the other player had done the same thing; he was cheating.
Fernando had always had high standards and cheating was something he refused to do. But in this instance he needed to fight cheating with better cheating. Although he had broken into the game’s code, making changes without getting caught was beyond the ability of anyone he knew.
He joined a group of online hackers and spent several weeks learning how to invisibly hack into computer systems while his empire crumbled around him. Armed with his new knowledge, he turned his full attention to restoring his previous, honestly acquired, status by taking back everything Megaclan had captured from him. In order to teach him a lesson, Fernando continued his assault and devastated his opponent.
Unfortunately, the back and forth battle got the attention of the game’s monitors. It didn’t take them long to figure out what was going on. Despite Fernando’s honest admission and impassioned explanation as to why he cheated, he was banned from the game. The only justice he received was the knowledge that Megaclan was not only banned from Planetary Conquest, but he had also been found cheating on several other games and was blacklisted from all online games.
This exposure to the mysteries of computer hacking had wetted his appetite and Fernando wanted more. Although he never used his knowledge for illegal activities, he became quite adept at bypassing and infiltrating supposedly secure computer systems. His talents landed him a job at a computer security company which was where he was working when he decided to volunteer to be merged with a ship.
Since breaking into the secure military computers was too risky, Cipher decided on an easier approach. People have always been the weakest link in any security system. Using that information as the starting point, he began his search for the truth.
“Twenty-four Evendi ships have just passed my position,” Bug-eye reported. “They’re heading for Maelstrom at high speed.”
“That’s our cue,” Bulldog announced. Since he was the senior ship, he had been declared mission commander. “Let’s do this exactly like it was planned. Squadrons 18 and 73 take the lead. One-twelve, hang back with the jarheads. Remember, they’re the package we’re here to deliver.”
Cipher put his project on hold and devoted his full attention to his immediate surroundings. Squadrons 18 and 73 broke formation and headed for Granitus. Stick-pen, still acting as squadron leader, waited 15 minutes then gave the order to follow. Cipher applied power to his drive system and felt himself slipping through hyperspace. In a matter of minutes he was traveling at nearly 12,000 times the speed of light.
Even at such an incredible speed, the trip to Granitus took 45 minutes. The lead squadrons got as close to the planet as they dared before dropping out of FTL drive. The moment the lead squadrons were in normal space, they applied maximum acceleration. Squadron 112, escorting the marine assault ships, remained in hyperspace. Cipher powered his weapons and prepared for battle. Minutes later, squadrons 18 and 73 engaged the Evendi.
As the attacking fleet approached, they split into two groups. Squadron 18 veered to one side of the planet while squadron 73 went to the other side. The initial phase of the mission was to get close enough to Granitus to launch their special missiles. For this to be successful, the attackers first needed to get past the Evendi. The constant acceleration would hopefully give them enough speed to do so.
The Evendi opened fire at a distance of 6,200 kilometers. Seconds later, the humans returned fire. Invisible beams of coherent energy crisscrossed space, some striking their targets, others missing. At this speed and distance, material weapons were useless. Each laser hit caused the armor to glow white at the point of impact. The combatants on both sides rolled their ships to prevent the lasers from burning through. This left long, glowing streaks across their hulls with the color changing from white, to yellow, to red.
Although the armor protected the vital machinery inside the ship, it did nothing to keep the lasers from destroying externally mounted equipment such as antennas, weapon mounts, and sensors. The targeting systems of both sides tried to pinpoint the location of these sensitive instruments. Even though the ship itself might survive, if it had no weapons it was no longer a threat.
Bulldog's squadron was the first to get close enough to Granitus to release their missiles. All of the ships had sustained some amount of damage but none were forced to withdraw. One Evendi ship found itself the target of a lucky shot and was now a useless wreck spinning out of control toward the planet.
“Missiles away!” Bulldog ordered, firing his own as he did. The others in the squadron made similar announcements.
“Unable to launch,” Topper reported. “My missile containment took a hit. The hatch mechanism is jammed.”
Twenty-one hundred mosquito missiles suddenly spilled into space. They ignored the surrounding ships and headed straight for the planet. Several Evendi ships attempted to intercept them, but the high-speed missiles evaded their targeting systems. Twenty seconds later, Apache, squadron 73's group leader, announced that they too had successfully launched their own missiles.
Forty-five seconds later, thousands of explosions appeared all over the planet. Each explosion marked the location of a potentially critical Evendi installation. Communication centers, power plants, and high energy laser emplacements were either destroyed or severely damaged. The ships that launched these missiles, however, didn't have any time to celebrate their accomplishment.
As the rapidly decelerating ships raced past the Evendi defenders, ships on both sides were lost. Icepick suddenly let out a piercing scream a split second before his ship erupted in a spectacular explosion as he collided nearly head-on with an Evendi warship.
“No fair!” Topper complained as four Evendi ships pounded him with laser fire. A moment later, one of the enemy lasers penetrated his exposed missile magazine and detonated the conventional explosive of one of his missiles. The entire magazine exploded, turning Topper into a quickly expanding cloud of debris.
Both squadrons managed to overwhelm the defenses of four more Evendi ships as the two fleets raced past each other. Apache’s squadron lost one ship. Two of Bulldog’s ships took heavy damage but remained operational.
Stick-pen ordered his squadron to remain in hyperspace as close to the planet as possible until the Evendi ships were fully engaged with the other two squadrons. Cipher could feel his hyperdrive generator complaining about being so close to a gravitational field – it was an uncomfortable feeling, like an amateur trying to stand on a balance beam. As soon as the cat warships turned to pursue their attackers, Stick-pen ordered the squadron to drop to normal and begin their run toward the planet.
Five Evendi ships instantly reversed course and headed for Cipher's squadron. The tactical computer assigned tags to each of the threats allowing them to be quickly and unambiguously identified. Cipher saw the incoming warships through full-spectrum electronic eyes as if he was a god-like being poised in space. He knew, as if he had always known, e
very detail of every ship in his field of ‘vision’.
“Hatchet, Rerun, Grasshopper, stay with the transports,” Stick-pen ordered. “The rest, break formation and go after those cats.”
“Fidget and I will take number three,” Cipher announced, choosing a lone ship that was trying to make an end-run around the defenders to get to the transports.
“We'll take number one and four,” Cowboy spoke for both himself and Genius.
“That leaves number two and five for us,” Snowman told Stick-pen.
“Roger that!” Stick-pen agreed. “Break and attack.”
Cipher linked his combat data center (or CDC) with Fidget’s, allowing them to see and feel each other’s tactical situation. “Let's kick some feline ass!” Cipher said.
“Tally ho!” was Fidget's response.
Because their mission was different, Cipher's squadron had not been madly accelerating and the relative velocity between them and the Evendi ships was quite low. Cipher felt the touch of a laser against his armor. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was a very uncomfortable feeling. He reacted by targeting the source and firing his forward lasers.
Because of the low relative velocity between them, both sides were able to use missiles. Vengeance class warships like Cipher were equipped with 16 small anti-missile defense guns known as CIWS mounts. The term, coined in the days of ocean-going warships, stood for Close-In Weapon Systems. Each mount was a self-contained module housing a targeting system as well as an anti-missile laser. Each CIWS was capable of fully-automatic independent operation.
Cipher detected the incoming missiles, activated his CIWS, and then forgot about them. Instead of worrying about defense, he could concentrate on his attack strategy. Even though Fidget was 500 kilometers away, they coordinated their attack as if they were sitting together in the same room. Their long-range lasers were trying to pick off every possible weapon mount on the Evendi ship. Both fired off a volley of missiles.