by Saxon Andrew
“The ship is yours, Sir.”
Steve activated the stardrive and pushed the thruster handle slightly forward. The Eyes accelerated like a Cheetah with a pride of Lions on its tail. He moved the ship outside the edge of the galaxy and then weaved back into the stars. In three hours he heard, “The rear of the Traugh Fleet is now inside scanner range. Steve looked up at the monitor and saw a solid wall of blue stardrives in the distance. He slowed the ship and moved in slowly on the Traugh Fleet. He shook his head. He looked from the tactical monitor at the main monitor and saw the twenty giant Traugh Fleets with a small space between them. The giant formation looked like a four sided square with five fleets on each face of the square. Inside the square was the Fleet Leader and with a screen of ships defending his vessel. More than ten thousand warships surrounded his ship. “That’s a tough formation to attack.” Neither Lani nor Poul responded to his remark and he lifted the nose of the Eyes and flew over the giant square toward the core of the galaxy where the monster black hole waited for their arrival. He thought of Death Prophecy Two and hoped for the best.
Chapter Eight
Lani stood up and looked at herself in the full length mirror hanging on the wall in her quarters. She had let her hair down earlier and combed it for twenty minutes trying to get the tangles out. It was long and brown and hung below her waist. She was proud of her hair, as most Hawaiians are. She had not really cut it since she was ten years old and her dark olive complexion was a perfect match. Her green eyes were different and she wondered which ancestor they had come from. She was two inches short of six feet and she had to admit Admiral Connor was right; she wasn’t fat. Willowy would have been a good description and it wasn’t because she controlled her diet. She had a ravenous appetite but she never gained weight. It must have been her metabolic rate, she very seldom stayed still.
This suit she was wearing was really comfortable. It felt like she was wearing nothing and honestly, it was pretty close to it. It hugged her every contour and was more revealing than she was comfortable with. But…now that she had grown accustomed to wearing it, going back to her normal clothes felt like she was wearing a suit of armor. Oh well, if Admiral Connor was ok with it. She tied her hair up and turned to see her back side. Oh my! She turned back around and headed toward the bridge. The Traugh Fleet would be arriving in another twenty minutes and the images needed to be sent back to Fleet. She arrived and saw the Admiral was not present. She looked up, “Where’s the boss, Poul?”
“Taking a nap. He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to get some sleep so he decided to take advantage of the time before the Traugh arrive.”
“Darn, I should have done that.”
“Maybe you can take a break once this situation resolves itself.”
“I hope so.” She looked up at the tactical monitor, “They should be here shortly.”
“They’re slowing down. It appears they’re going to stop close to the end of the bar where the Perseus Arm starts.”
“How long before they arrive now?”
“An hour or so.”
“I’m going to lean my chair back and close my eyes. Wake me when they are five minutes out.”
“Will do.”
Lani closed her eyes and in a few minutes, she was asleep.
• • •
Death Master looked at the huge monitor on the wall and said, “Are we close enough to the core for you to detect stardrives around it?”
“We are Fleet Leader. We have been for the last two hours.”
“Are you of the opinion that there are no star-faring species around the core?”
“I am, however, we are not able to see the other side of the core.”
“We’re not going to move any further. Stop the fleet and turn them around.”
The Second-in-Command began issuing orders over the fleet’s frequency.
• • •
“Admiral Connor, report to the bridge! Lani, start sending images to Fleet Intelligence per Admiral Connor’s instructions.”
Lani jerked awake and started warming up the communicator before she was completely awake. She glanced at the monitor and saw the giant Traugh formation stop and reverse course. Steve rushed through the port and rushed to his chair, “What’s going on?”
“The Traugh Fleet Commander has ordered the fleet back home. They’re not going all the way to the core.”
Steve shook his head, “I was hoping they would move close enough to that unknown enemy to detect one of their ships.” Steve looked up, “Can you send a communication wave toward the Traugh Fleet?” Steve waited and after a minute had passed he said, “Poul, did you hear the question?”
“I did but I was looking at the strategy database to see if that would be wise.”
“What?”
“I told you that I will answer your questions and also provide other pertinent information. I was examining the strategy database to see what your decision meant.”
“Where did you get a strategy database?”
“The first one to imprint on this ship was the Prophet and he copied everything in his ship’s database into my storage.”
“What was the Prophet doing with information on strategy?”
“He realized that he had no battle experience when he first came to Earth and he collected everything on the planet that dealt with strategic thinking.”
“And what is your conclusion about sending a communication to the Traugh Fleet and turning them around?”
“You are of course attempting to follow the Second Death Prophecy.”
“I am. Never do what someone else can.”
“Your intention is to put the Traugh and the UE in contact in the hopes they will destroy each other.”
“That’s right.”
“I can send a communication wave at the Traugh Fleet.”
Steve stared at the wall speaker and saw Lani staring at him. He almost ordered Poul to do it but said, “What did you determine when you examined the strategy database?”
“You don’t have enough information to know the consequences of sending that wave.”
Steve’s mouth tightened. “Explain what you mean?”
“You don’t know anywhere near enough about the new Unknown Enemy to know what will fall out of bringing them together. It may be that the new UE will be far more powerful than the Traugh and utterly destroys them and their planets, if they continue the practice of blowing up their conquests.”
“You sound like that would be a bad thing.”
“And if they do that, they are going to be ten times closer to Earth and Bosrean than they are now and they don’t know about the deception of Earth being in Andromeda. They will find Earth much sooner if that happens. The original estimate was that the Traugh would arrive at Earth in one to two hundred years if they weren’t slowed down. Since this new UE doesn’t conquer planets and take the time to enslave the populations, it would arrive at Earth in fifty years or less.” Steve stared at the wall speaker and after a moment of silence he heard, “Another possibility is that the Traugh survivors will flee from them and arrive at Earth in less than a year.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before I ordered you to send that wave?”
“I told you there was more information but you did not ask me about it.”
“You should have known I needed to know that before I made a mistake.”
“I told you that I am a computer that can make observations, answer your questions, and provide more information if desired. I do not make value judgments about the available information.”
Steve shook his head. He looked at Lani and she shrugged. “Poul, I am instructing you to give me any information that’s attached with any question I ask that might lead to an enemy civilization arriving at Earth sooner or later than the current estimates.”
“Your order is now recognized as a prime protocol.”
“I keep thinking you’re not just a machine but actually intelligent.”
“Knowle
dge is often confused with intelligence. I possess a massive data base collected by the Prophet and I’m able to cross reference everything in it at high speed. I can pull up possibilities but you will have to determine which possibilities should be used to make decisions.”
“Are there other scenarios you’ve not mentioned?”
“There’s about thirty other possibilities with the most dangerous being the Traugh encountering a really dangerous species in Andromeda that follows them here and kills every one of us.”
Steve stared at the wall speaker and Lani said, “What’s the possibility of that happening.”
“One in five.”
Steve’s eyes went wide, “WHAT!!?”
“In the Milky Way, two really dangerous aggressive species have been found. If you add the Bosrean, Human, and Loran civilizations; that makes five highly advanced civilizations and all of the galaxy has not been explored yet. Andromeda is older and has twice the number of stars than our galaxy. That means, on average, there are at least ten advanced civilizations with four of them being highly aggressive. If you factor in that Andromeda is older than the Milky Way, these advanced species may be more advanced than those here.”
Steve looked at Lani, “Did you record what Poul just said and sent it to Fleet?”
“I did and that’s a frightening prospect, Admiral.”
“Just get it to Fleet and let them decide what to do about this.”
“Sir, should we allow the Traugh to go there?”
Steve shook his head, “There’s too much happening to get a grip on what should be done. We can’t get the Traugh and UE fighting until we have an idea of just what danger the new enemy represents. And we don’t know what to do about the Traugh going to Andromeda until we see what lurks there.” Steve looked up, “By the way, Poul, when is that Traugh Formation going to arrive at that civilized planet in Andromeda?”
“Six hours.”
“Get us back there now!”
“Do you want to send that communication wave?”
“I do not! Take us to that planet.”
“Fleet has requested you to join a conference by communicator in five hours.”
“Notify Admiral Osborn what we’re doing and ask her to release me from attendance.”
Lani spoke quietly and listened for a moment. She nodded and looked at Steve, “The meeting has been moved from this evening to nine AM Eastern Time on Earth.”
“How do our clocks match up?”
“We’re three hours ahead.”
“Poul, match our ship’s clock to Eastern Standard Time on Earth.”
“Done.”
“Notify me one hour before nine AM.”
“Alarm set.”
“How long before we arrive at that planet?”
“We’re there now.”
Steve and Lani’s eyes flew wide open and they looked out of the viewport. The planet was hanging in space below the ship. Steve leaned back in his chair, “Poul, what is your maximum speed?”
“I’m not really certain.”
“Take a guess.” Steve saw Lani shaking her head and he closed his eyes slightly and she made her expression neutral.
“You know how the new communication systems sends out pulses that our scientists believe move instantly around the universe.”
“Yes.”
“Those pulses don’t actually move through the void but through the space between normal space and the void. Since this ship is in that space, it does appear there is no limiting of speed so long as you have a location on where you want to go.”
Lani softly said, “Why do you need a location?”
“If you just accelerate you could leave this area of the universe and arrive halfway across the known universe. If you are flying to a known location, you enter it and the ship goes there pretty much instantly and stops at the location entered in the stardrive.”
“Why did you take time to fly back to the Milky Way?”
“I’m learning my capabilities as I use them. I didn’t know I could fly this fast. I entered the location of the planet below us and went to full speed. We arrived here in less than a second.”
“You didn’t know about this?”
“No. The Prophet deliberately flew slowly to his home world and your ancestor also took his time returning to Earth. I’ve only been experimenting with my speed since you bonded with the ship.”
Lani shook her head, “Poul, the laws of inertia and gravity make traveling at the speed you’re talking about impossible.”
“Only if the laws apply in this space we’re in. It appears they don’t.”
“But we have gravity on the ship?”
“That is generated artificially by a gravity generator.”
Steve sighed and nodded, “I suspect that is why touching the ship’s hull is lethal.”
Lani looked at him, “I don’t understand?”
“The hull doesn’t exist in normal space and touching it removes all the laws that holds a person’s body together. They just fall apart into atoms.” Lani stared at him and touched her chest. The suit felt much more a part of her after hearing that bit of information. Steve saw her and nodded, “That’s why these suits we have on are impervious to energy weapons. They must polarize with the hull and insulate us from it.” Steve looked up, “Poul, does this mean the hull is immune to energy weapons?”
“That is something that can only be determined by the hull being hit by one. However, being able to see this ship in order to fire a weapon at it is highly unlikely.”
“What do you think would happen if we were hit by a disintegrator beam?”
“Stand by and let me examine some data.”
Lani looked at Steve, “Every time I think I’m getting comfortable with Poul, something comes along and throws me for a loop.”
“He is a machine, Lani. He’s proven that to me earlier. We’re probably in the safest place in the universe right here on this bridge. The fact that we can travel at a speed that is impossible will make our task of seeing what’s happening a lot easier. I’m thankful for it.”
Lani smiled, “I’m really happy to be here in the middle of this. It’s really exciting.” Connor sighed and Lani said, “What?”
“You’re probably not going to like what I’m going to ask him.”
“I hoped you wouldn’t think of that. I really don’t want to leave.”
“You already…”
“Suspect he can communicate through this between spaces without needing my communicator. But Sir, I don’t want to leave and if we start revealing all of Poul’s capabilities, Fleet will build more ships like him regardless of how many die doing it.”
Steve snickered, “I’ve always thought you are one of the smartest people I know. This proves it. We’re going to have to hide his speed and that he exists in a different space. I just worry about your safety.”
Lani tilted her head back, “We’re probably in the safest place in the universe right here on this bridge.”
“Oh, using my words against me!”
“If they suit my purposes, you bet your butt I will.”
“Ok, you win. I’ll not force you to leave, yet.”
“But…”
“Relax, Lani. There might come a situation that calls for it and I will do what I think is best.”
Lani stared at him and sighed, “Yes, Sir.”
“I have an answer to your question. If my hull is struck with a high energy beam, it will probably do what every other energy wave does and just bend around the ship and continue on the opposite side.”
“Thanks, Poul. Are you able to communicate using the pulses without Lani’s communicator?” His question was greeted with silence. “Poul?”
“I can.”
“Why did you hesitate?”
“Because there is a high probability of your sending her off the ship if she’s not needed.”
“I thought you’re a machine; why would that bother you?”
“I’ve seen i
nstances where her input changed your decisions. It is a better pattern to have multiple inputs in making decisions.”
Steve looked at Lani and smiled, “I can see you’re right. It helps to have a smart person involved in the process.”
“I didn’t know you knew about that.”
“About what?”
“Lani’s academy scores.”
Lani’s eyes narrowed, “What about my scores?”
“In your graduating class, you scored the highest scores on Fleets Intelligence Tests. The Academy Commander recommended you be given command of your own ship as quickly as possible. He suggested this happened after you turned twenty five.”
“My twenty fifth birthday was three months ago. I thought they were going to give me a command to induce me to go on this mission.”
Steve shrugged, “You would have been given a command even if you didn’t come.”
Lani smiled, “Well, I’m really glad I’m here. This has been the most interesting time I’ve had since graduating.”
“I don’t know what to think about my subordinate being smarter than I am.”
“She’s not.”
“What?”
“Your scores were three points higher on four of the tests. She beat you by one on the fifth.”
“How do you know this?”
“When they were working on me in the construction hangar, I linked with Admiral Hudson’s computer when he received updates. I downloaded everything in his database and used his connection to Fleet’s personnel database to download everything in it.”
Steve shook his head, “And they didn’t catch you doing it?”
“Like I mentioned earlier, my central processor is made up of eight computers instead of just one. I was bored and needed something to do. That information kept me busy.”
“But you’re a machine!”
“That is built to compute. I was doing nothing and there’s one thing a computer can never have enough of…”
Lani laughed, “Information.”
“Exactly right.”
Steve shook his head slightly. He was thirty-three. His children would be able to fly this incredible ship one day. If he ever had children. He really didn’t feel the need but this changed things. He’d think about this later. “Poul, what can you tell me about the planet below us?”