by James Warner
But I still couldn’t see anything.
“142, please dim the tunnel lights. Thank you,” I acknowledged as the lighting dimmed.
After a while I replaced the panel, still without saying anything. This facility was so far beyond anything our civilization had ever created and probably never would for thousands of years into our future, that I just couldn’t quite grasp the implications of having discovered it. If I lived to tell about it, “Artifact” would no longer be an appropriate word.
Meph and I walked the rest of the way down the tunnel to the main structure. We entered a lobby of some kind that reminded me of a hospital waiting room. It could hold about 100 people comfortably. There were chairs, desks, doors and so forth. I was still in shock. Over to our right was a large office encased in glass or plastic, with a large shut door. We wandered over there and inside saw several large desks, definitely for a race with a much larger physiology. We also saw what were some sort of active control boards. But the door was locked and we didn’t feel like it would be wise to break in to satisfy our curiosity.
Back at the end of the room were several doorways. I could see that the signs on them indicated that they were accommodations for short stopovers. Meph went into one and I entered another.
I was in a beige colored hallway with white doors on each side. Like all the doors in this place, the entry activation plates were at shoulder height and the doors were several feet higher and a foot wider than what I considered normal.
Inside this suite were three rooms: a large main room with no visible furniture, a smaller room off the back of the main (living?) room, again with no furniture and a smaller room to the left off the living room. The floor was some kind of soft, padded material similar to Sassy’s deck that was a neutral dark gray. The walls were a very light shade of gray, almost silvery looking. The ceiling was the same.
As the door quietly slid shut, the lights faded on and instructions for use of the facilities appeared slightly above my sight line. They said I need only ask for something and it would be furnished.
“I would like some furniture – a sofa, a chair and a table,” I said into the air.
In the air in front of me appeared, in dark blue writing, a list of available furnishings. I selected a couch, a chair with reading table and some reading material about this station. Up from the floor arose the furniture, as if the floor itself were some sort of elastic material, with the inner skeleton buried beneath. I stood enthralled watching the furnishings develop. When they appeared to be fully formed, I crawled into the chair (it was huge).
“Dim the lights except the reading light and give me a book about this station,” I said. As the room lights dimmed a slot appeared in the surface of the reading light base and a metallic covered book with what appeared to be gold leaf pages slid up to be grabbed. I grabbed it and watched the slot disappear, as if it had never been there – wonderful technology. And how many thousands of years had these machines existed? I opened the book to see if some of my million questions would be answered. There were only four pages. But the words kept being replaced as I read. Huh.
I was engrossed, reading the words on the gold pages, which kept changing as I read them (how did they know I had finished that sentence? Did they scan my eyes?) I was learning how they had hollowed out part of this planet, when a chime rang and I was informed that my partner was outside the door requesting to come in. I decided the couch was fine for him and told the system to let him in. “Captain, thank you for seeing me. I just couldn’t help telling you what I have been doing.”
“Hi Meph. I was just reading a short book about this place.”
“Well Captain, that is interesting. I’ll ask for it all to be sent to the Hornet. But what I wanted to tell you is that the Hornet and I have been monitoring the Pirate activities. It seems that they are nearing completion of their fleet. They plan to capture the outposts at this end of the galaxy and place them under their control as slaves to their empire, which they plan to expand in competition with Earth. This system is to be a base of their activities. And they are not human, in the sense that they were not descended from the Parents’ seed, so they don’t know about this outpost or any of the other Artifacts we have found this trip. It seems that 142 has been monitoring their activity, but lacking the ability to use offensive weapons has not been able to do anything about them.”
“Have a seat, Meph.” He sat on the couch, snuggling into its deceptive comfort.
“Are you saying that 142 and perhaps the other artifacts, can also act as protectors of their creators’ offspring?” Meph asked.
“Hmm, I guess so, “I said.
“How about that, 142?” he asked in Parent. The station seemed to have warmed to him as it replied right away.
“That is correct. Those units with destructive devices can carry out offensive and defensive missions to protect our Children. There are no such devices here except in the ships remaining in dry-dock, which are not presently under my direct control.”
“Ships?” I asked eagerly. “Ships? 142, please elaborate on that word.”
“There are currently twelve ships in dry-dock, all placed in permanent storage in my facilities here, as well as your ship which will be complete in 15 minutes. Would you like to see any of them?”
Twelve ships! “What are their functions?” I asked, excitement beginning to pump me up again.
“Six are deep space patrol ships, two are local defense platforms, three are cargo/transport ships and one is a general purpose battle cruiser. Of these twelve, four are or can easily be made operational, one of each type represented.”
“What are the crew requirements for each operational ship?”
“The deep space patrol ships require a crew of two to twelve, depending on the auxiliary functions to be performed. The defense platforms are robotic but usually use one crewman for decisional overrides. The cargo/transport ships require a crew of three although they can be run with only one if no cargo or combat is anticipated. The battle cruiser requires a crew of 20, seven of which are required for navigation and command, the rest for combat stations.”
I could see Meph was getting excited as well. He chimed in, in very good Parent language, “How long before one of the patrol ships could be readied for extensive space travel?”
“All the ships are low on fuel. One could be fueled by draining the remaining ships. This would take seven minutes. Would you like to see this ship?”
“Yes!” we both spoke at once.
“Follow me,” 142 said and a pulsing light point appeared at the door of my room, which had opened for us.
About an hour and a half later, I was back in my room, chagrined, to say the least. The tour had been magnificent.
I was pleased that the Parent ships appeared to be sentient. None of the Repair Stations or Libraries mentioned it, but I had expected this to be the case for all the Parent starships – each one actually having its own first Mate in a way. But the controls and systems of their ships were too big, too far from my reach and too alien to make it possible for us to use that ship for anything but a gentle ride back home. Besides, the Hornet was much better armed, if perhaps a bit slower, than their scout ships. A chime rang again.
“Your associate wishes to communicate. Do you wish it?”
“Yes.” I answered 142. I was getting used to having a personal communicator. It was a nice change.
“Captain, sorry to disturb you, but Hornet and I have been talking with 142 and it appears possible that we could rig a robot control for any one of their ships to follow us home, when we decide to go back. Which ship do you want as a puppy?”
I was getting really sleepy now. So I tossed off an answer, without really thinking, “See if they can all be daisy chained in a convoy. I’m going to sleep now.”
“Oh, good idea, Captain. Good night.”
I was lounging on the couch and mumbled a good night and never noticed the couch turn into a bed. I was really out.
I don’t know how long I slept. But I sure felt alive and hungry when I woke.
“142, you have been conversing with Hornet. Can you produce food like the meals the Hornet produces for us?”
“Yes Daughter.” Was the voice a bit more, well, affectionate this morning? Or was I just too hungry?
“Good. I would like a breakfast steak, scrambled eggs with salsa and some steamed peas, with apple juice to drink.”
“Very well, Daughter.” Yes! There was definitely a more human tone to the voice. Interesting.
“Your ship is ready whenever you choose to leave. The alien group you refer to as Pirates have begun to assemble their fleet between this station and the fourth planet of the system. I anticipate they will be ready for your attack in five hours.”
Translating that, I had about six hours to prepare for the battle of our lives. Just then my breakfast appeared through the top of a coffee table or the same Artifact material as everything else. The table grew from the floor in front of the couch. “I’d like to have my uniform brought from the Hornet, 142.” I said as I sat for breakfast and began wolfing down the food.
“Very well, Daughter.” Did I detect a note of pride in the voice? An interesting computer indeed.
A gangly bipedal black service ‘droid brought the uniform in through the wall. Don’t ask me how they did it, only the Hornet and 142 know. Just as I finished changing and the room cleaned itself up using small spider-like robots, Meph rang. It was time for our battle plan.
“142, can the defense platforms be used to shield a moving ship?” I asked.
“An interesting idea. There is no barrier to that kind of performance. I will program it in. I assume you wish to use both platforms. I can salvage what is needed from one of the scouts to make both operational in three hours. “Meph, I want to set up the defense platforms around our ship to provide an extra layer of shielding from attack. The plan is simple. We will charge right into their formation, blasting everything in range and go right for the planetary defense system.”
“142, can the defense platforms be instructed to destroy a planet, rather than defend it? Just reverse process?”
“No Daughter. This is contrary to their basic programming, which is hardwired into the system. They are defensive only and will not fire until fired upon. Their screens are automatic, however.”
“Okay, no problem. We’ll use the Hornet to blast everything on the planet that fires on us until they are quiet or we are eliminated. Sassy?”
“What is your desire, Captain my Captain?”
“Immediately prepare a transmission packet, download this mission into it and transmit it to the GED. It should stay public domain there. And hardcode every artifact except this station into another transmission packet and send it to HQ. Then hardcode everything from and about 142 and send it to that McDowell opera singer who is my next of kin and that guy Fred from Last Chance I told you about.”
“Okay. That takes care of record keeping. Meph, let’s go back to the Hornet and get ready. Thank you 142 for your excellent hospitality.”
“Yes, I understand your position about non-seedlings and I have been provided for in the highest quality manner.” Meph added.
Formalities completed, we left the suite and arrival bay and walked back along the tube to the Hornet. I felt great being back with my mechanical friend when we stepped through the hatch and patted her wall inside the airlock where she could see me. As the inner airlock door opened, I took a big breath, let it out and said, “Okay team. Let’s go!” Off we went to battle stations. I noticed a very faint strange smell, but couldn’t place it. Oh well, there was no time for curiosity. It smelled like mint.
The combat level checkout took an hour. I didn’t want to miss anything, as this time our lives would surely depend on the Hornet’s prowess under fire. Meph did the same with his equipment. Hornet’s guns and warp drive were in high readiness.
“Okay 142, it all checks out. Are your platforms ready?”
“They could not be fully fueled. However with this short an engagement, they should be sufficiently filled. The screens on unit two are not at full capacity. However, my sensors indicate we haven’t time to wait for further repairs. The Pirates are mobilizing more rapidly than I had projected. You should leave immediately. The platforms will precede you.”
“Thank you. Sassy, let’s see the platforms.”
On our screens we saw two tremendous spheres rise from the “floor” below – actually from the other side of the “planet”. Magnification indicated they would not fit through the tunnel we came in through. But as we entered our tunnel the platforms “popped” out another tunnel near their berths. Of course.
Our tunnel acted like an accelerator, popping us out also. We exited the atmosphere at warp point 6 and the platforms, I guess I should call them spheres, moved in and began a close orbit around our ship. Ahead we could see the Pirate fleet, not yet aware of us. How could they expect anything from the third world? It hadn’t shown any activity for tens of thousands of years.
By the time they picked us up our fleet was doing warp point 9 and the defensive shield generated by the spheres extended thousands of kilometers outward in a shimmering bubble of pure energy. The Hornet’s sensors were fed the information from the spheres that were under her control.
As we approached the Pirate fleet they woke up and began to englobe us. I had expected this. It was standard tactical for destruction of a less numerous enemy. However, with our defenses, I didn’t expect them to bother us too much. It was the planetary defenses I was worried about.
Several of the Pirate ships slow to react were atomized when struck by our shields. The other Pirate ships, which might have given the Hornet a good battle, couldn’t penetrate the spheres’ shields with anything. After they fired at us they were being destroyed at leisure by the spheres’ weapons. I relaxed back in the chair and concentrated on the planet ahead with its still orbiting planet busters. They had begun to move from their orbits to form a wall in front of us.
We slowed as we neared the planet. The Pirate ships were fair game for the spheres and their commanders had begun to realize this. The remaining ships began to retreat to the other side of their base planet to await the outcome. The comm links were buzzing with queries of who and what we were. Of course, no Admiralty ship had shields like ours, nor did any other ship I knew of – the same for the Pirate commanders. Some were shaken and fled the system.
The planet busters grouped and I could see they were planning a focused beam strike at us. I queried 142 if these screens could withstand such an attack. He didn’t know. Meph thought his shields would hold fine, though, through anything they could dish out. I wanted to hear and believe this. But it didn’t matter because then they fired.
Our progress slowed from the pure force of their cascading beam of energy. But we bored in nonetheless. I intended to get to that planet and nothing they had in space was going to stop me.
Well, we nearly stopped anyway. The focused beam withered away after what seemed an hour, but was actually only five minutes. Then the planet busters began to disperse. I guess they used up their best shot, or were getting out of the way for the planetary defenses to fire up.
“Captain, one of our spheres has lost most of its shielding. I am compensating with the other one,” Sassy informed me.
“Will it stay?”
“No sir. It’s leaving for 142.”
So it left the battle and we were down to two.
Meph had Sassy place the remaining sphere in front of us, reenergized our screens and in we went. Two of the planet busters tried to sandwich us but Meph disposed of them without using the Hornet’s main guns. I was too busy to ask about it.
We struggled into an orbit just outside their atmosphere and fired test shots at the Pirate base below us while we waited for them to fire. We didn’t have to wait long. Two beams shot up from nearly directly underneath us. At the same time four of the planet busters that had been maneuvering
behind us let fly. We were ready. The sphere melted down the planet beamers and I holed the planet busters.
I was actually enjoying myself. There was something evil about these guys; it was a spiritual sort of feeling. I had long ago learned to trust my feelings. So I just picked them out of space mercilessly, one after the other. Meph’s screens protected our behind admirably. The platform protected our front. And so we went on a witch-hunt over the surface of this once pretty planet.
The temperature controls in the Hornet had been damaged and I was sweating profusely from the heat, but I didn’t notice.
I never found out if there were any survivors on the planet. I hadn’t intended to perform genocide. I just wanted their destructive abilities nullified for a while until the Admiralty could get here and mop it up.
We finally came to the beam that had disabled the Hornet before. This time we were ready. But it was still more than we had bargained for. The planetary beam generator was well shielded. Our last platform’s screens flared up past UV then went down. Just before it could warp away another shot from the planet blew a hole through it. Some sort of important systems went down because it immediately shot off for planet three at warp point six, without a trace of shields. But we were too busy to regret its departure.