by Ben Winston
So when the young programmer in the command center listed the stolen vessels as hostile, the computer assumed all Alliance vessels were to be considered hostile, and the system was now under attack by the Alliance. As a safety measure, the control computers for the weapons platforms in the system had a lock out protocol in the event of an attack. In order for the platforms to survive long enough to do their jobs, they would lock out all control after receiving their last instructions, and those are what they would follow.
Stolen Alliance vessels were attacking the Galtair system defenses.
Veranorian ships were part of the Alliance Fleet.
The Alliance was attacking the Galtair System.
All Veranorian ships are attacking Galtair system
Eliminate Veranorian ships.
Every defensive platform in the Galtair system immediately began targeting and attacking every Veranorian ship they could find. These weapons systems had been designed to repel an attack by pirates or raiders, and to assist the protective fleet if it was a large-scale attack. Since the Veranorian fleet was spread all over the system, the computers analyzing the attack determined that it was a large-scale pirate attack. So they didn’t seek out the fire control computers of the defending fleet, instead remaining autonomous.
The Veranorian ships, a heavy cruiser and two destroyer escorts, were simply out gunned. The fleeing ships were a Battleship, an Assault Cruiser, and a Heavy Battle Cruiser, which would better be classed as a light Battleship, lacking only one set of main guns, and the fighters a battleship normally carried. The Assault Cruiser was purpose built for pounding a target into atomic particles. It was a flying battle station that wasn’t as fast as its two sister ships, but carried far more anti-ship weaponry than either of the others.
While the Battleship and the Battle Cruiser provided point defense, the Assault Cruiser selected the Veranorian Heavy Cruiser as its primary target, and simply waited for it to come into optimal range.
The Veranorian ships watched and decided that the Assault Cruiser had inactive weapons, and the only weapons active on the Battle Cruiser were defensive. Other than assuming a battle formation, the Veranorian ships did not alter course at all, and continued to accelerate towards the fleeing ships.
As the Veranorian captain of the heavy cruiser was about to issue the order to fire on the Battleship, sure of design weakness downloaded in his database, the Assault Cruiser turned it’s formative weaponry and targeted it.
“Sir, that Assault Cruiser is targeting us,” the tactical officer reported.
The Captain waved it off. “It’s a bluff. That ship is toothless, and crewed by Shallans. We’ll take care of it in a moment.”
The TAC officer didn’t look too sure, but followed orders.
“All ships, target the Battleship. If we take it out, the other two will surrender without a fight,” the Captain said. “Fire when ready.”
The distance between the two antagonists had closed to less than a light second, so when the two destroyers suddenly blew up, the Captain of the Heavy Cruiser was taken completely by surprise.
“What was that?” the Captain asked.
“Sir, we have closed to optimal range of the Battleship and the Battle Cruiser. The Battleship destroyed the H’lvore, and the Battle Cruiser destroyed the B’that. No enemy ships have been damaged,” the TAC officer reported.
“What? How is that even possible?” he asked. “Never mind, assuming that its weapons are active, when we will be in optimal range of the Assault Cruiser?”
“We entered it fifteen seconds ago, Sir.”
Bright flashes on the viewer distracted them all, but before the Captain could ask, the ship suddenly began shaking and several explosions could be heard. The flashing on the screen hadn’t stopped, although it was getting more difficult to see because of the explosions on the hull blocking the sensor array feeding the image.
“Get us out of here! Jump if you must!” the Captain screamed.
“Engines are off line, shields are down to fifteen... uh, ten percent! Damage control is responding. We have lost integrity on decks five through eight! Hull breach in that area is imminent!” the damage control officer replied as the ship shook again and the lights went out, then came back on, but dimmer. “Main reactor offline! Damage control systems, offline! Fire suppression systems are offline, inertial dampening is fluctuating. Sir, we are adrift and leaking atmosphere.”
As suddenly as it started, the ship became eerily still and silent. Ironically, the viewer was still functioning, and it showed the three ships they had been trying to stop heading directly for them.
At point blank range, the battleship fired all of its main weapon mounts into the hulk of the Veranorian Heavy Cruiser, vaporizing what was left, and killing the remaining crew instantly. The three warships continued on as if nothing had happened to them, eventually jumping to Hyperspace after crossing the system boundary.
Behind them, in the Galtair System, complete chaos reigned. In order to cover the programming mistake, the Yard Master on duty when the ships departed blamed the weapons malfunction on the deserters that had stolen the ships. He claimed that they had sabotaged the weapons systems programming in order to ensure their escape from the system.
A search of the Clan Therinate Compound on the planet showed that it had been completely abandoned. All supplies and personal effects had been removed, and the computers systems had been purged of all data, including all the design data that the clan had been so famous for.
The Veranorian Admiral in charge of the defenses took his anger out on the weapons control center. He destroyed the module and two hundred Shallans that had been manning it, in it in retaliation for the damage done to his fleet. None of his ships had been destroyed, only damaged, and only one Veranorian had lost its life during the attack.
The Shallan Directorate officially declared the Clan Therinate as traitors and saboteurs, blaming the destruction of the Control Module, as well as the damage to the system defenses done by the Veranorians, on them and ordered their immediate capture and execution for their crimes. Of course, the Shallan part of the Directorate knew that the clan was gone, but it had to save face with the Veranorians, or more examples would be forthcoming.
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Primary Computer Core Room
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth’s moon
Sol System.
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“How does it feel, Sarah?” I asked.
“There is no possible way I can tell you how this feels. I simply can’t describe it. It’s almost like I was imprisoned, and now I’m not. This is...“ She shrugged. “Like night and day, this is so much better!”
“Well, I don’t see how you could perform any better than you have been, Sarah, but it’s good to know you are happy with the new core,” Vance said.
“Oh, I think you’ll all notice,” she said smiling softly. On each side of her new holograms took shape. Each of them looked like her, but one was dressed in a uniform of the Alliance, without rank insignia, another was dressed as a medical doctor, yet another was dressed in a business suit, and another was dressed as a research scientist.
“In this new environment, I can multi-task more efficiently, and even leave some of my subsets active all the time, such as the weapons controller and the medical doctor. While they will perform exactly as I do, they will be running independently of this primary, function,” she explained. “They are all still me, but now if research needs my help, and I am also assisting the medical section while doing a few other tasks, there will be less of a chance of a slowdown, or a denial of service, due to a logic overload.”
I chuckled. “That’s her fancy way of saying she’ll be able to multi-task much easier due to the ability to ‘clone’ herself. It’s a subroutine I programmed in when I was dreaming of building a server farm back on Earth.”
“How many of these clones ca
n she control at one time?” Vance asked.
“An unlimited number, actually. She doesn’t actually control them; she simply copies herself into a separate process and gives that version the task she built it for. She also has the ability to assign data sets to a clone, and they can communicate with one another. When the task is finished that the clone was built for it ‘returns’ to her,” I explained.
“That could be handy, but I think it’ll drive me insane if I try to think about it too hard. As long as it works for her, and she’s happy, I’m all for it,” Vance replied. “But how do I know which version of her I’m talking to at any given time?”
“It doesn’t matter, Sir. All of them are really her. No matter which version you are talking to, you will be talking to her,” I tried to explain.
“Okay, now I’m getting a headache,” Vance replied.
Sarah bowed. “Matriarch Nori, with your permission, I would have you leave the old system functional for a while longer. There is much data to be copied, and I feel it would be good to have that system as a back-up.”
Nori nodded. “I concur. However, I wish for this data cache to be secure. Therefore, all terminals for it, save for the one here, are to be removed. We will discuss encoding and security once I have returned to my office, AI Sarah.”
“As you wish, Matriarch. I will see you there,” Sarah replied,
“How are you handling the security to this vault?” Vance asked.
Nori looked at Eric, and nodded for him to answer.
“Sir, we would like two Marines in Battle Armor stationed outside the inner door. The hallway between the doors will be pumped down to a vacuum, and two other guards outside the outer door, also in battle armor, so they can relieve the inner guards if needed. Sarah herself will have access control to this room. However, both Logical Engineer Cohren Nori and I both have override codes in the event of an emergency. I also have emergency shutdown codes for Sarah herself. If I ever have to use that code, Sarah will not survive.”
“Master Eric, in the event something happens to you, I want you to either share that code with someone else, or create a different code for them. I would feel more comfortable if another person could shut me off if it was needed,” Sarah said. “If you wish, I could provide a list of the people I would trust with it.”
“I would feel uncomfortable with such knowledge,” Ced replied. “No one should have that kind of control over another person.”
“Master Ced, please do not think of it that way. A human can be killed either by a bullet, or a laser, or any number of other methods. It is far easier to stop an insane human than it would be to stop me. There needs to be a failsafe of some kind.”
A failsafe, yes, but one that simply removes you from control, not one that kills you! That would be murder!” Ced argued.
“Master Ced, you of all people should know exactly what I’m capable of. Do you honestly think I would stop if I had somehow gone insane? What if I decided that the Alliance was too screwed up, and the only way to fix the issue would be for me to take over completely?” Sarah asked.
“I actually don’t see a problem with that. You do a hell of a lot better job than those idiots are doing now!” Ced replied.
“Okay, so what if, after I took over, I decided that I didn’t really need humans after all, and killed them all off? After all, the lot of you are irrational, illogical, and emotional based beings that let your sexual urges dictate your actions.” she said, but winked at me. “Yes Ced, I have total control over everything, and I decide that humans are too much trouble to deal with any more, so I simply eliminate them? Who could stop me?”
Ced shook his head. “That would never happen.”
“Really? You know how easy it would be for me to do it, Ced. I have this shiny new core that is far more powerful than anything ever created before. Because of its crystalline structure, I’m creating my own power internally...” Sarah replied, trying to convince Ced.
“Enough, I agree with Doctor Cowan and Sarah. She needs to have a failsafe that will stop her, one way or the other. Doctor Cowan has reported to me that he has already implanted one into her. However, Sarah is correct, more than one person has to have the ability. Although I would postulate that Sarah not be aware of who that person is at this time.” Vance said.
“I agree. I will select one or two more people to program into Sarah’s failsafe system without her knowledge, sorry Sarah,” I said.
“No need to apologize, Master Cowan. This is something I want,” Sarah replied, smiling. “Might I suggest that the list includes Commodore Vance, Logical Engineer Cohren Nori, and one other staff level head, in addition to three others of random selection?”
“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that many people having your kill code, Sarah. However, I’m willing to discuss it with Master Cowan, and LE Nori,” Vance replied. “For now though, we all have other matters to attend to. Once again, congratulations on the new core. It is a remarkable achievement. Now, if you will please excuse me,” Vance bowed slightly to Nori and me before leaving the room.
“Distracted, Commodore Vance seems. Troubling to him this discussion has been,” Nori said.
“It’s been troubling to me as well, Matriarch,” Ced replied. “I can accept the need for a failsafe, but I really can’t believe it will ever be needed.”
“Neither do I, Ced, but that’s why it’s called a failsafe. It is simply a measure of last resort, nothing more, nothing less,” I replied.
“Commodore Vance is also dealing with Mr. Teece and Logical Engineer T’harnes this day. I am sure he is not looking forward to the task,” Sarah added.
“Did you ever discover anything more about the missing data, Sarah?” I asked.
“I did, however, I cannot discuss it at this time, I am sorry, Master Cowan,” Sarah replied.
I nodded my understanding. She had discovered something, but couldn’t discuss it because it dealt with an open investigation. “I understand, Sarah. When we leave this room, be sure to seal the vault door. All the override codes have been installed.”
“I will. Once you exit the outer door, I will place the hallway in vacuum until the guards arrive,” Sarah said.
“Very good, please resume your duties, AI Sarah,” LE Nori replied.
Sarah bowed to us, and faded out. As we headed for the door, I turned to Ced. “Say, how is your programming studio coming along? Has Foreten Kree been upgrading it again?”
“Actually, it’s almost finished. I made him promise to limit the upgrades to no more than two. Although I am really looking forward to getting the suite, he is so energetic about his work that I can’t tell him to just finish it already!” Ced replied chuckling.
“Master Kree is renowned for his abilities as a builder. Manages to finish by completion date even with ‘improvements’,” Nori said, “He is a very energetic Simonian.”
“All his antics aside, I’m glad we have him here,” I said.
Nori nodded. “A great asset to our cause he is.”
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Main embarkation lounge
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth’s moon
Sol System.
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“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Coryn. In addition to being the base commander’s wife, I have volunteered to welcome all of you to Apollo Base. You will each have a liaison assigned to you by the Master Builder and they will be more than happy to answer most of your questions. We understand that this is the first time you have been off your planet Earth, and other than your popular entertainment, none of you have seen beings that are alien to you,” Coryn said in slightly accented English.
“Be that as it may, there are what you would call aliens on this base. In point of fact, all of you will be working under one. The Master Builder, Foreten Kree, is Simonian. He will appear to you as a very large gorilla.” She paused as a few of the constructi
on workers chuckled.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, you all have a lot to learn about social customs, and inter-species interaction. Under normal circumstances, you would be required to go through a three-week course that would teach you about all these customs. We do not have that option this time; we need all of you on the job as quickly as we can get you there. Do any of you have any questions for me?” Coryn asked.
A middle-aged woman raised her hand and Coryn smiled and nodded to the woman. “Yes?”
“I’m Helen Hollins, Miss. You’re name, Coryn, sounds Slavic, but your accent sounds Asian. May I ask what nationality you are, if that’s not too personal?”
“I don’t mind, Mrs. Hollins. I do not have a nationality as you know it because I am not of Earth. I am a member of a human race called Novans. I was born and raised on a planet almost three hundred light years from here,” Coryn replied.
One of the men chuckled. “You certainly don’t look like a short bug-eyed Martian to me!”
“No, I don’t suppose I do. However, just so you know, I am just as human as you are. We are of the same race biologically. My part simply evolved on a different world than yours. As I said there are other races here on the Base, and I’m sure some of their appearances will seem strange or even frightening to you. Rest assured, you have nothing to fear from any being on this base,” Coryn said. “In order to help you adjust to life here, your liaisons are all from different races.”
Summoned by her words, a group of beings from other races, all workers from the building department, filed into the room. There were three Novans, two Veranorians and even one Shallan, however the race most represented was Simonian.
“Excuse me Ma’am, but why are there so many... did you call them Simonians?” One of the men in front asked.
“Yes, they are Simonians. The reason for this is that most of the department is populated by that race. Each race is capable of construction in most forms; however, the Simonian race seems to excel in it. It is also the field that most of them seem to be the most suited to, and also the one they enjoy the most. That being said, we do have Simonians in other fields as well,” Coryn explained. “If there are no more questions for me, I’ll leave you to get acquainted with your liaisons. They will show you to your quarters and explain the amenities here. I’m sure I’m not the first, and I know I won’t be the last. To thank you for coming to help us, and once again, welcome to Apollo Base.” Coryn waited a few moments to see if there were any more questions, and also to make sure that there were no issues while the liaisons began to mingle with their new charges.