by Ben Winston
“Doctor Cowan?” Atnon replied.
“Yes Captain, could you please ask security to send a detail to the computer vault to take custody of a saboteur?”
“They are on their way, how much damage did they do?” Atnon asked.
“None, the AI was active when Crewman Ohlms tried to activate a virus. She actually caught him,” I explained.
I noticed Ohlms moving out of the corner of my eye. “Stop him!” I pointed, both the Chief and the other tech tried to jump on him, but it was too late. He had taken the pill that was in his hand. He sagged in his chair just as the other tech knocked him to the floor. He was dead before they stopped moving.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” I cursed.
“Report! What’s going on down there?” Atnon asked urgently.
Jonti unsealed her vault door to let four Marines in. “I’m sorry Sir, Ohlms is dead. He had a suicide pill.”
“Fuck!” Atnon swore. “Well, at least he was stopped before damaging the ship.”
“Yes Sir, we were about to leave the vault to introduce you to the AI,” I said. “We’ll be right up as soon as the Marines have finished.”
“Understood. I’m having two guards stationed outside the vault. From now on, it’ll always be guarded,” Atnon said. “I look forward to meeting her.”
The comm disconnected, and I waited for the Chief to finish talking to the lead Marine. The Marine spoke to Jonti as well as the other tech. He turned to me and asked if I had anything to add to the statements, and I shook my head. “No, I think the others pretty much covered everything. Jonti can release the video to you for your file.”
The Marine nodded. “Thank you Sir. Having Jonti aboard will be a great asset to all of us.” He followed his men out of the vault, they were carrying the body of the former crewman. I nodded to the Chief.
“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, Toibell?” the Chief suggested to the other tech. “Just make sure you’re available if Security needs to talk to you again.”
“Yes Chief, thank you,” the tech replied. Stepped past me, and turned down the hall.
“Let’s go introduce Jonti to the Captain, and you can head back for the Base,” the Chief said. I could tell he was upset at discovering a spy on his own staff.
“Chief, you can’t let this get to you. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I had one of them on my staff as well. All we can do is go back over their work and see what mischief they might have had a hand in,” I said to him.
“I hadn’t heard actually. How many more of these bastards are there? Why are all of them here? It just doesn’t make any sense,” the Chief replied as we left the vault.
Jonti had her hologram ‘walking’ with us. We waited and watched the vault door close and seal. The two Marines nodded to us, and we headed for the bridge.
When we arrived at the bridge, the Marines had to ask for permission to allow us to enter, since the ship was still at yellow alert and the bridge had been sealed.
Atnon allowed us to enter, and we introduced Jonti to her Captain. He cocked his head at me. “I thought she would look older?”
“She will, eventually. Since she is a new it was decided to set her relevant age to sixteen human years. She will age as she gains in both knowledge and experience. That’s not to say she is the same as a sixteen year old girl, she is as mature as we could make her, and she has the same knowledge that your computer system had before it was upgraded. She can also access Sarah, or any other AI, to get any additional information she may need,” I explained.
“Ah,” Atnon nodded. “I understand.”
“Have you received your command packet?” I asked. The ‘command packet’ was the customized authorization codes for the AI, including the emergency shut down code.
Atnon nodded. “As I understand it, three other members of my crew also received a packet, and that none of them know who the others are?”
I nodded. “Yes, not even you can know who they are. That way, the kill codes are anonymously distributed before the new AI comes online. Sarah suggested it work that way as a safety precaution.”
“Jonti, please assume your duties,” Atnon asked.
“Thank you Captain, I am looking forward to serving,” Jonti said, smiling.
“So, where are you off to next?” Atnon asked, turning back to me.
“Back to Base. We are only doing one start-up a day. It’s another safety precaution,” I replied, shrugging.
“You do not agree with the policy?” Atnon asked.
“Well, I do admit, it is nice to have a day between activations, so I can gather my notes, and focus on the next AI activation. However, it’s also a bit of an inconvenience because I can’t really get into my next project because I’ll be interrupted the next day,” I replied. “But, this needs to be done, so it has to be this way. May I ask why we’re at Yellow Alert?”
“The fighter construction base has detected an intruder; a Veranorian spy ship,” Atnon explained. “Our alert status is a normal procedure for this situation,” Atnon replied. “Doctor Cowan, I want to apologize for my actions when you first arrived. Although I understand I was under Veranorian influence, I still feel guilty for how I acted.”
I waved his apology off. “Captain, as you said, you were under their influence. Most folks were. I took no offence at your actions, as I do not consider them to be made by you.” Sarah had coached me about the right way to say that, since people had begun apologizing for their past actions.
Atnon smiled. “You are too kind, Doctor. I will honor your belief and not mention it again.”
I returned his smile. “Captain, I need to return to the Base. With your leave, I will depart.”
“Altuis Tanae, Doctor Cowan. You are welcome aboard any time,” Atnon replied and bowed to me.
I returned the bow. “Altuis Denay, Captain.” I turned slightly, and looked at the crew. “Altuis Tanae, Jonti-Sa!”
Jonti bowed to me. “Altuis Tanae, Father.”
I winked at her, “Happy Birthday, Jonti,” I said, and left the bridge for the landing bay, and the small shuttle Commodore Vance had assigned to me.
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Main Medical Facility
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth’s Moon
Sol System
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“Mental activity is nominal. Christy,” Dr. Carvelle said.
Christy nodded. “Excellent. The 'cytes are ready to go, Doctor. They’re just waiting for the field to dissipate.”
“Life Support systems are online and ready, Doctor,” a nurse reported.
“Thank you, Jhall.” Dr. Carvelle replied. “Let’s bring the stasis field down.”
“Stasis field deactivated. Life support systems assuming bodily functions,” the Nurse, Jhall, reported. “Look at those little suckers go!”
Christy grinned. “The ‘cytes are on the job. Beginning stage one reconstruction. Stage one will finish in eight hours, nineteen minutes.”
“Mental activity is still within acceptable parameters. Nice work, Christy!” Dr. Carvelle said grinning. Applause could be heard from the gallery above the theater they were in. Almost all of the doctors from the fleet wanted to attend to see how the new biocytes performed.
Smiling, Christy bowed to the gallery. “Thank you, Doctors. As you can see the patient made a safe transition from stasis to a medically induced coma. Since the last software adjustments, all test subjects have a made a full medical recovery, save for the last two, and they are almost finished and have excellent prognosis.
“Our primary concern at this point, and will be as we move forward, is the mental activity and health of the patient. In the test subjects, indicators tell us that there was no mental reduction or degradation. However, there are two factors here we have to consider. The first being that the patient has been in stasis for an extended period as compared to the test subjects. The seco
nd being, that this is a sentient human. As you all know, this is the first time the biocytes have been used on a higher life form. We will be issuing weekly updates on the patient’s condition, as well as notification if anything goes outside expected parameters. Thank you all again for attending.”
In the Gallery, several of the medical professionals stood and bowed to her and Doctor Carvelle before leaving the gallery. Christy turned back to the Doctor. “She’s on her way back to us, H’arn. So far, everything looks promising.”
“Yes, it does.” He got a serious expression on his face as he spoke next. “Christy, I want you to understand, that even if this goes wrong somehow, the work you have done here has advanced our medical knowledge and abilities quite a bit. The patients that volunteered for limb replacement and other illnesses are doing remarkably well. Even if the biocytes cannot save Commander Shakier, they have already proved that they will save countless others.”
“I appreciate that, H’arn, I really do. But the goal I set for myself was to save the Commander. That will convince me that my biocytes are what I designed them to be. If they don’t save her, I will consider them a failure and return to the drawing board,” Christy replied, shrugging. “Saving critically and even mortally wounded is what I designed them for.”
“I can understand if you may want to improve or upgrade them. But the current version has a viable and very much needed role in current medical procedures. They give a doctor a non-surgical alternative, and that is pretty major. Please don’t scrap the idea if they fail to save Commander Shakier,” H’arn asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, H’arn. I know they’re working on lesser wounded beings, I wouldn’t scrap the whole idea over that,” Christy replied. “I simply meant I would have to design a new version.”
H’arn shook his head. “I don’t think you’ll need to do that, Christy. The way you designed them, they don’t even need the life support systems in the chamber, we’re only using them to free the biocytes of that function.”
Christy nodded. “Jhall, could you get a couple more canisters of the synthetic biomaterial? The one we installed is already almost empty.”
The nurse nodded her head and scurried off to get the requested canisters.
“Do you still plan on developing a version of biocyte for our pilots and Marines?” H’arn asked.
Christy nodded. “Yes, I do. I feel that having resident biocytes could give our people an increased survival probability. They’ll handle initial medical treatment when they are wounded. As well as having the ability to place an ejected pilot into a coma to preserve life support prior to rescue.”
“What about ability enhancement? I’ve heard rumors that you’ll be able to increase strength and stamina, as well as cognitive function,” H’arn said.
Christy frowned. “I don’t know about all of that. My major concern is to keep our people alive longer, not make them a more efficient killing machine.”
Christy, H’arn and the nurse Jhall had suited up in the event something happened and they would have to open the chamber, but since that hadn’t happened, no one got bloody, the chamber was still sealed, and Shakier was still ‘sterile’.
Christy and H’arn had left the OR and were removing their ‘scrubs’ while they talked. “How will that work once the soldier is recovered and in a medical center? If we try to do something to help the patient, will the biocytes fight against us?” H’arn asked.
“They shouldn’t, part of the system will be a small module issued to each medical facility that will let the resident biocytes know they are in a medical facility. At that point, they will begin trying to connect with the medical computer so they can give a report on the patient, and receive orders from the doctor treating him,” Christy explained. “As for making our troops some kind of super soldier... I think I’d need to do a whole lot more research before even considering that.”
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New Apollo Shipyard Construction Module
Pleiades Asteroid Field – Jupiter’s Orbit
Sol System
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“Master Halflan, in an effort to make sure you and the project are as protected as we need, I am going to send the Cruiser Jonti-Sa to you, in addition to your existing defenses. Doctor Cowan has recently finished installing her new AI. I feel that having her out there could be a great assistance to you, as well as provide superior protection while we get the rest of the ships upgraded,” Commodore Vance said over the comm.
“That would be a great help, Commodore. I fear that the Veranorians are not very happy with us at the moment. May I ask if there are additional AI planned for the facility we are currently building?” Halflan asked.
“According to the schedule Doctor Cowan and Logical Engineer Cohren Nori have provided. Your facility is to undergo instillation immediately after our defense fleet is finished. In fact, I am told your new core is already growing in a special tank,” Vance replied.
Halflan nodded. That made sense to him. “Commodore, do those plans include the ships my clan are bringing here?”
“Not at the moment,” Vance replied. “There is an issue with standardizing the design. Doctor Cowan is waiting to see what the ships actually have before starting the new cores.”
Halflan nodded. “I remember seeing a memo about that, but at the time, I couldn’t approach anyone to discuss it. Would such a discussion be welcomed by Doctor Cowan?”
“It would, however, Doctor Cowan is not the one currently in charge of that. I can put you in contact with the man that is,” Vance replied.
“I thought the new computer core as well as the AI were his?” Halflan asked.
“The AI was created by him, yes, but the new crystal computer was created by his wife, Doctor Christy Cowan for her medical biocytes. Doctor Eric Cowan adapted that knowledge into the new computer systems for our ships and the bases,” Vance replied.
“Ahh that is where I got confused then. Yes, if you could please put me in touch with the head of the project I might be able to assist them,” Halflan replied.
“I will certainly do that Master Halflan. I am surprised that they haven’t contacted you already, anyway,” Vance said, smiling. “They designed a pretty radical restructuring of the command area of the Bridge, and I’d heard since that had been so successful, they were looking into incorporating that design into the rest of the ship as well.”
Just as the small man was about to answer, the lights on the station turned red, and an alarm started sounding. Halflan looked up at the tracking officer. “What’s going on?”
“The computer identified incoming missiles, and set condition red! We have no way to stop them!” the man answered excitedly.
“Master Halflan, evacuate the station until the Jonti-Sa can dock with you. Do it now!” Vance called. The old Shallan nodded, and slapped the evacuation alarm. “It’ll take a bit longer than we have to recover the workers that are outside.”
“Have them meet the shuttle directly, and get them aboard that way. Just get out of there as quickly as you can!” Vance replied.
Halflan nodded once and killed the comm unit. “Tell the workers to head for the shuttle directly, we’ll take them inside after we separate from the station!” The comm officer nodded and typed furiously on his keyboard while speaking into his own comm unit. Halflan did his own typing, calling up the fighters and the cruiser to let them know they were bugging out.
When he’d finished, he saw that the comm officer had just finished as well. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here before those missiles arrive!”
“Forgive me, Master!” the man said, and picked up the diminutive man before running at full speed for the docking area.
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Alliance Heavy Cruiser Maljesti
Pleiades asteroid cluster, Jupiter orbit
Sol System
Captain Brasten, Commanding
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“Flight control, launch fighters to cover the station personnel while they evacuate. Tactical, where did those missiles come from?” Captain Brasten called.
The Flight Control officer was busy with his orders, but the TAC officer looked to her captain. “We’re plotting that now Sir. We can tell you that they were not launched from outside the cluster. There are either more ships, or there are remote missile platforms hidden in among the asteroids,” the woman said.
“Could those other false readings the scanners were picking up be the missile platforms?” Brasten asked.
“That’s entirely possible Sir, we have the original plot for those, and we’ll cross reference it,’ the lieutenant replied.
The Captain nodded to her. “Mark those locations for strikes, but don’t execute until you confirm it.”
“Aye Sir. Marking all locations.”
“Sir, using the ship’s main weapons in the asteroid field could have disastrous effects. An explosion of sufficient magnitude could cause the asteroids to break free of their orbits, and put them on unpredictable vectors at high velocity, I would advise caution,’ Brasten’s executive officer said from where he stood by the Navigator’s console.
“I agree, First. Let’s just hope the Veranorians are concerned about it too,” Brasten replied.
“Maljesti, target has cleared the asteroids, and seems to be heading for the outer system,” Annes reported.
Brasten looked at the plot that tactical had up and shook his head. He thumbed the channel open. “Be on your toes, Specter. He has to know he has no chance in Hades of out running you in open space. Be advised that Base is sending two flights of bombers, and another flight of fighters to help search for its parent ship.”
“Understood, the help would be appreciated,” Annes replied. “We’re leaving the asteroids, time to intercept is now two minutes, thirty one seconds.”
“Sir,” the navigation officer said. “The exit vector of the hostile is almost exactly one hundred and eighty degrees opposite of what we predicted.”
“We see that too, Nav,” the TAC officer said. “Captain, we recommend having one of the inbound bomber flights, with a fighter escort, recon the predicted target area anyway. The target could be trying to either lead us away, or distract us while the big ship gets away.”