by Doug Farren
While Cipher read through hundreds of pilfered emails, the marines slowly regained control of Granitus. Even against overwhelming odds, the Evendi never surrendered. The marines soon came to respect the Evendi as admirable opponents. There were even some incidents of marines giving a wounded enemy soldier a chance to die fighting. The Evendi seemed to appreciate it.
After six days of battle, most of the planet was once again under human control. Three additional squadrons arrived as well as 15 large civilian freighters loaded with advanced military hardware. A few hours after their arrival, Granitus was ringed with a new weapon – orbital battle stations.
These fully automated, compact weapon platforms were designed to take a beating. They sported two extremely powerful lasers as well as multiple CIWS mounts. The station was heavily armored. Although they had no propulsion system, they were equipped with maneuvering thrusters for station-keeping and attitude adjustment.
Squadron 112 received orders to proceed to a featureless point in space and remain there until squadron 77 arrived. Cipher was glad to leave orbit – guard duty was boring. He was reading some new files that had appeared in his memory and almost flubbed the transition to FTL. He had to increase his speed slightly to catch back up to the rest of the squadron.
“That was pretty sloppy Cipher,” Stick-pen scolded him. “Everything okay?”
“I’m fine,” Cipher quickly replied. “I was momentarily distracted by a sensor glitch. Damn thing thought it saw something holding position off my port side.”
“Fix it and from now on stay focused.”
** Fidget: What’s going on over there Cipher?
** Cipher: I’ve found your evidence and something else as well. Meet me in the Star Trek simulator.
Chapter 11
Cipher read the document again hoping that something in it would give him cause to believe it was not true. Unfortunately, everything checked out. The data had been found on none other than Bill Roger’s personal computer. Apparently, Mr. Rogers kept his computer off the network unless he actually needed to upload or download a file. It was during one of these brief periods of connection that Cipher’s program scanned his system.
The file Cipher was looking at had been downloaded from a high security computer used by the medical staff of the volunteer project. Such a download was in violation of several pages of regulations but it was still common practice. Although it was stored in encrypted form on the military computer, it was in plain text on Bill’s.
EO-17-0227
Based upon MR-17-0042 (attached for reference) and in accordance with paragraph 6.c of section 8 of the volunteer contract, the following policy is in effect: When the services of a volunteer in the capacity as ship controller is no longer required, the volunteer shall be physically removed from his assigned ship and appropriate simulated stimuli substituted to prevent neural degeneration and associated mental trauma. The volunteer will be allowed to live out the rest of his life in a virtual environment and maintain contact with the outside world through this environment. The volunteer's life support system shall be maintained for as long as the volunteer's brain continues to function.
The executive order was signed by the World President giving it the force of law. MR-17-0042 was a medical report proving that Fidget's dad was correct – the process of merging a human brain with a warship was irreversible.
Fidget was standing next to him in their private V-world. He read the paper Cipher had given him then crumpled it into a tight little ball. "They've known about this for years and have lied to us the whole time," he said, throwing the ball of paper across the tiny room.
"I still can't believe it," Cipher said.
"Well, look at the bright side," Fidget smiled. "We'll be able to live any kind of life we desire. You can finally get to go mountain climbing if you want. Personally, I'm going to have a large harem and live like a king. They can’t very well prevent me from having as many women as I want then, now could they?"
Cipher looked at Fidget and shook his head. "But it won't be real. I have no doubt it would be fun for awhile, but you'd soon become bored. I like what I've become and I don't want to lose any of it. They talk about disconnecting us from the ship like we're some kind of circuit card that can be unplugged. How would they like it if we insisted they disconnect their legs or their arms?"
"What are you going to do?" Fidget asked. "Bring it to their attention? Disobey orders? Refuse to fight? Our choices are pretty limited."
"I don't know," Cipher said after a moment. "We've already found and disabled one of the safeguards built into our ships. That's a start. There might very well be more. I volunteered to fight the Evendi and that's exactly what I'm going to do. But if this war ever ends, I'm going to demand the right to retain my existence as a ship. I'm not going to live out the rest of my life in some make believe world of virtual reality."
"You’d better still be okay with telling the others about what you’ve found!"
"I'm not going to behave like the military," Cipher sneered. "All the volunteers have a right to know the truth. But we have to keep this to ourselves in case there are other safeguards we don't know about."
Fidget nodded his head. "I agree. We ships need to stick together."
The squadron dropped out of FTL at the designated coordinates. The nearest star system was over three light years away. "Command, squadron 112 is on station," Stick-pen transmitted.
"Roger 112," a voice replied. "Squadron 77 is en-route. ETA, six hours."
"Copy that command. Any idea what our mission is?"
"Mission details will be transmitted when 77 arrives on station. Command out."
Switching to ship-to-ship, Grasshopper asked, "Why does the brass think it's necessary to keep a mission to themselves until the last minute? It's not like we're going to tell anyone about it."
"They're afraid the cats might break our encryption code," Hatchet replied.
"Fat chance of that happening!" Rerun chimed in.
Cipher saw a chance to speak privately to the entire squadron at once and decided to take it. Switching to short-range radio he said, "Everyone listen up. Fidget brought something to my attention some time ago and I've been looking into the matter. What I am about to tell you must always remain a secret among the ships."
Cipher quickly explained what he had discovered. He told them about the disconnect safeguard and how to disable it. He showed them the executive order. Finally, he explained how they could talk among themselves using the hypercom without being overheard.
At first, there was a great deal of anger and several of the ships wanted to confront the military with the evidence Cipher had uncovered. But after a few minutes of heated discussion an agreement was reached to keep the information secret for now.
"Is there any way to know for sure if any other safeguards have been installed?" Rerun asked.
"The only way to be sure would be to do a detailed comparison between our design prints and our actual construction," Cipher replied.
"That could take months!" Rerun complained.
"There might be another way," Grasshopper said.
"How?" Rerun quickly asked.
"The computer controlling the repair robots would have to have knowledge of every inch of the ship," Grasshopper replied. "Otherwise, an unknown device might be seen as a foreign object and removed. If the safeguard device were to be damaged in battle, the bots would be required to repair it. All we need to do is to compare the schematics we’ve been given to the schematics internal to the repair computer."
"You're a genius!" Fidget said. "Cipher, can you do it?"
"I'll start on it right away," Cipher replied.
"You know," Stick-pen began, "If we win the war, the military will try to implement their plan. When it fails they might see us as a threat. That might be a problem because we need them to keep on living you know. We will always need maintenance as well as fuel, replacement parts, and brain food."
"Then we just need to ma
ke sure the war doesn't end," Rerun jokingly said.
Chapter 12
Squadron 77 dropped out of FTL and joined forces with squadron 112. After reporting their arrival, they received a data package containing their mission brief. An automated probe (one of thousands deployed along the edge of human space) had found evidence that the Evendi were building a repair and supply facility in a system designated as SL-1215 located 3.6 light years from their current position. Their mission was to destroy it before it became operational.
Before leaving on their mission, Cipher indoctrinated the newly arrived ships into the growing conspiracy. That was how Cipher viewed what they were doing. The ships, by definition, were conspiring to subvert the military's plan for their future at the end of the war. Even though the ships saw it as preserving their very existence, Cipher knew full well that he had started a conspiracy.
Jackrabbit took command of both squadrons and ordered them to proceed to their target. Squadron 77 consisted of 11 ships, a bit more than a standard squadron. Three of them were newly trained Vengeance class warships. The rest were older Defender class ships.
"I have what looks like eight battleships and four large freighters," Jackrabbit said as soon as they came within sensor range. Cipher wondered why Jackrabbit was verbally giving them the same information they all shared via their interconnected data links. He guessed human habits were hard to break.
"Looks like they're trying to run," Cowboy said.
"Confirmed," replied Jackrabbit. "I think we got here before they had a chance to fortify the facility. I guess those probes were a good idea."
"Should we pursue?" Stick-pen asked.
"Those freighters are probably packed with armament and supplies," Eight-ball remarked. "They'd make a pretty juicy kill."
"They would at that," Jackrabbit agreed, then added, "But I would rather keep all of us around to fight another day. Pancake, my stats say you've got a Mark-40 in your belly. Make a swing by the cat base and turn it into a crater. The rest of us will give chase until they transition to FTL."
A few minutes later, a 100 megaton thermonuclear warhead converted the recently abandoned base into a radioactive crater. The Evendi ships were followed until they engaged their FTL drive.
Cipher was a little surprised then became worried when central command told them to hold their current position until further notice. Could they possibly have found out? Did the military know that this group of ships was now aware of the lie they had been fed?
* * * * *
"Eight ball in the corner pocket," Cipher announced, lining up his cue.
The ships were taking a break in a virtual bar. Even though there was a lot of beer flowing out of the taps, everyone was still perfectly sober – it was impossible to get drunk on virtual beer. But they weren't there for the beer, nor were they looking for women, they were there simply to relax, to feel at least partially human for awhile.
Cipher's inherently honest disposition had caused him to adjust the virtual environment so that it accurately emulated a real pool table. Pool was a game of skill and using his super-human abilities to play the game was not only unfair, it would have taken all the fun out of it.
He drew the cue stick back then sharply brought it forward. The cue-ball struck the eight-ball sending it toward the indicated pocket. The english on the cue-ball caused it to stop and roll backwards. The eight-ball dropped into the pocket with a satisfying thunk.
"Where did you learn how to play pool?" Fidget asked. He leaned his cue stick against the table and started racking the balls for another game.
Cipher grabbed his frosted mug of beer off the table and drank half of it. As he set it back down, it slowly refilled itself. "I started playing when I was 14," Cipher explained. "My neighbor had a table in the basement and I would spend hours over there playing pool. My friend's dad was quite good and he taught us how to play."
Fidget rolled the rack back and forth a few times, carefully centered the point ball on the spot, and then removed the rack. Cipher chalked up his stick, took aim, and fired from the side. The loud crack was followed by the rumble of balls as they rearranged themselves around the table. None dropped.
Fidget scowled at the configuration and said, "Blue one in the corner."
** Fidget: Cipher, any results from the comparison?
** Cipher: I ran into an interesting problem. Access to the repair computer's memory is restricted. I'm going to have to hack into the damn thing.
Fidget sank the two-ball and watched as the cue rolled into position to allow him to drop the five into the side pocket. He called the shot and took aim.
** Fidget: Restricted? That can only mean they’re hiding something. Think you can get in?
** Cipher: I'm working on it now.
The cue-ball gently tapped the edge of the five-ball causing it to slowly roll over and fall into the pocket. The cue kept going, clipped the twelve and settled against the rail.
"Crap!" Fidget said. "I hate rail shots."
** Fidget: Any idea how long before you're in?
** Cipher: It shouldn't be much longer. It’s not a very secure system.
Fidget flubbed the rail shot but left the cue-ball in a bad position. Cipher grabbed his constantly frosted mug and sipped on it while he slowly walked around the table. Jackrabbit walked away from the dart game he was watching and approached Cipher.
"Have you ever wondered how this war is going to end?" Jackrabbit asked.
Cipher set his mug down then walked over to the rack and pulled the bridge down. "Not really," he replied. "I guess we either beat the tar out of the cats or they beat the tar out of us. It sure the heck doesn't look like there's ever going to be a political settlement. Neither side is talking to the other."
"We don't even know how many planets the Evendi have colonized," Jackrabbit replied, settling into a tall stool next to the table. "For all we know, they could be entrenched on thousands of planets. The ones we have found so far are certainly well defended. It could take decades before they surrendered."
"What are you trying to say?" Fidget asked, growing suspicious.
** Cipher: Careful!
"It's just that I was sort of looking forward to going back to life as a normal man one of these days," Jackrabbit replied.
"Eleven in the corner," Cipher said, setting the bridge into position. He laid his stick in one of the grooves, took aim, and then sharply drove his shot home. The cue-ball jumped over a ball and struck the eleven-ball causing it to very slowly roll toward the designated pocket. It stopped a fraction of a centimeter before falling in.
"Nice try!" Fidget said, readying his cue.
"We have no way of knowing how long the war will last," Cipher said, hanging the bridge back on the rack. "I'm sure that as technology advances we will eventually be retired. Those of us who live that long will be able to live the rest of our lives in luxury. For now, all I care about is keeping our population safe."
** Cipher: I'm in. Downloading the schematics from the repair computer. Is there anyone out there who's a good programmer?
Fidget lined up and slammed the one-ball into a corner.
** Bandit: I used to work at a gaming site. How can I help you?"
** Cipher: The additional safeguards we're looking for might not be physical. We might have code snippets buried in our systems that could be used against us. I could use some help in checking our code base.
** Bandit: I’d be glad to help. Where should I start?
** Cipher: How about navigation and bio-support?
** Bandit: I'm on it!
** Cipher: Thanks Bandit.
Fidget knocked another ball in but was interrupted by a message from central command. "Squadrons 112 and 77 proceed immediately to Granitus at maximum speed. A large Evendi fleet has been detected approaching the planet."
Chapter 13
Vengence class ships were capable of achieving a higher FTL speed than the older Defender class ships. Stick-pen took charge of the
newer ships as they left the older ones behind. By pushing their propulsion systems to the limit they would be able to get to Granitus in 36 hours. Cipher tapped into the Granitus defense network to monitor the situation.
Forty-one Evendi ships had exited hyperspace deep within the Granitus system and were on approach to the planet. Forty-six human ships along with 15 orbital battle stations stood guard over the recently liberated world. The defenders fell into a tight orbit around the planet and waited.
As they approached, the Evendi fleet broke up into groups of three or four ships each. Both sides opened fire as soon as they were within range. The Evendi had adopted the same battle tactic used by the humans. Each group of ships targeted a single vessel. Within a short time, both sides began losing ships.
The Evendi quickly learned to respect the automated battle stations. Although they were small, the stations packed a hell of a punch. Their armor was much thicker making them significantly harder to destroy. Their giant lasers, packing twice the power of any ship-based weapon, were protected by thick armor with only a tiny opening for the beam to exit. Each station mounted a dozen CIWS to stave off missiles.
Two minutes into the battle, the Evendi learned why the humans had remained close to the planet instead of engaging them farther out in space. Laser fire from the surface began to pummel their fleet. The primary weapon of a main battle tank was a large, powerful laser. Even though the beam's strength was reduced by its passage through the atmosphere, it still carried sufficient energy to burn through armor. There were now over 1,000 such tanks on the surface.
The Evendi were losing ships at an alarming rate and quickly decided to retreat. Instead of pursuing them, the defenders remained close to the planet. The Evendi backed off and held position several million kilometers from Granitus. Their forces had been reduced from 41 to a paltry eleven. The humans had lost five of their battle stations and 15 ships. The entire battle had lasted barely 20 minutes.