by Doug Farren
“Understood x-ray zero one. Olympus out.” The signal light vanished. “Tactical: Report any contacts.”
“None sir.”
“Very well. Plot a course to Olympus base and initiate.”
Four hours later, the X-01 arrived at Olympus and Captain Holbrook had briefed his bridge crew giving them the details concerning the base. A short time later, the ship’s weapons were ready to be tested.
“Target has been acquired,” the tactical officer announced after an indicator on one of his displays changed color. “Olympus base has indicated that their instruments are focused on the target area. Request permission to fire main laser.”
Captain Holbrook was as calm as ever. “Fire—Full power continuous beam.”
An invisible beam of pure energy lept out of the side of the X-01. The main monitor on the bridge showed a close-up view of the target area. Suddenly, the surface of the planet erupted in a cloud of dust. A moment later a red-hot circular area formed.
The beam continued to pour energy into the tortured rock. The circular area became a crater which grew in size and was soon filled with boiling, red-hot lava. “Full power pulse mode,” Holbrook ordered.
The tactical officer made an adjustment and the beam switched from a continuous discharge to a pulsed discharge. The individual pulses now carried more energy than the continuous beam did. Instead of a growing, glowing, bubbling crater of lava there were now explosions of molten rock. Huge gouts of glowing red-hot rock exploded out of the crater. “Cease fire.”
The monitor showed an angry red spot nearly one kilometer in diameter on the desolate surface of the planet. It was quite evident that the weapon worked. “Launch the shield test target,” Captain Holbrook ordered.
In response to the captain’s order, a large bump on the surface of the ship disengaged its clamps and started moving away. Small reaction jets fired to control its movement until it was stationed at a distance of two kilometers from the ship. A moment later the bump was surrounded by a faintly glowing sphere of energy. This far from any star, space was intensely black. The shield could be seen against this blackness as a faint bluish glow.
“Mr. Oshiro, lock main laser on target. Please verify that we are targeting the very edge of the shield. In the event of a failure I do not want to hit the generator.”
The tactical officer acknowledged the order and spent several seconds making fine adjustments on his console. When everything had been set up and verified he announced, “Weapon is locked on the shield test target. I have verified that we are targeting the edge of the shield.
“Commence test,” the captain ordered.
The X-01 then directed the weapon it had just tested, now set at a much lower power, toward the sphere. The weapon’s beam was invisible in the vacuum of space but the effect it had on the target was very noticeable. A spot of crackling energy appeared on the surface of the shield. The shield was designed to deflect rather than absorb the energy of the weapon. This deflection, however, did strain the structure of the shield causing a visible reaction.
“Shield is holding at ten percent load. Ready to commence power up.”
“Very well. Mr. Oshiro, commence increasing power.”
The power of the weapon striving to penetrate the shield was slowly raised. As the power increased so did the pyrotechnic display in space. At ninety percent power, the shield had become engulfed in a tangled web of crawling high energy arcs. At one hundred percent power, the shield was spitting visible bolts of deflected energy into space.
“We are at one hundred percent full continuous power,” the tactical officer announced. “Telemetry indicates the shield is holding with minimal detectable leakage.”
“Full power pulse mode Mr. Oshiro.”
The sparkling, spitting ball of resisting energy suddenly became even brighter as the weapon shifted from continuous beam to pulsed beam mode. Streamers of some indescribable type of energy could be seen reaching into space as the shield deflected the weapon’s fury.
“Shield is holding. Shield generator loading is now at 88 percent.”
“Initiate through shield firing test.”
The tactical officer entered a command in his console and a laser shot out from the shield test target toward the X-01. It was a much lower power version of the weapon that was currently attempting to penetrate it. This test proved that a weapon could fire through the shield even under a heavy load. “Cease fire,” the captain ordered.
The shield test target was retrieved so that the effects of the test on its various components could be evaluated. While this was being done, the crew prepared for their next test. “Mr. Oshiro, deploy the sledgehammer and commence power-up.”
“Aye sir! Commencing sledgehammer deployment and power-up.”
The sledgehammer was Jay Kauffman’s invention. It had been built in complete secrecy at a secure AST assembly plant and transported to the X-01 inside a shielded container. It had been stored within the X-01 inside a specially shielded area of the ship. Over the next few minutes the business end of the weapon was deployed into space and the weapon’s integral fusion reactor was started up.
“Preoperational checks have been completed,” the tactical officer reported fifteen minutes later. “Sledgehammer ready for testing.”
“Very well Mr. Oshiro. Begin phase one testing.”
Inside the throat of the new weapon, a faintly glowing sphere of electromagnetic energy sprang into being. Over the next minute this eerie, glowing sphere slowly grew until it encompassed the entire front section of the weapon. “Soliton formation is complete and appears to be stable. Standing by for low velocity test launch.”
Captain Holbrook glanced at the ship’s tactical display to verify there were no contacts in the direction of the weapon’s intended launch and replied, “Permission granted for test launch.”
A series of electromagnetic fields reached out and gently grabbed the sphere of energy propelling it into space. The soliton, a self-sustaining electromagnetic vortex, lazily floated away from the X-01. It continued to glow and crawl with faint streamers of plasma. After nearly a minute, the plasma streams crawling over the sphere’s surface started to change. A second later the entire soliton disintegrated in a brief electrical flash of actinic light.
Ensign Oshiro watched his diagnostics display for a few seconds and reported. “Phase one testing completed. Soliton stability has been verified. Ready to begin phase two.”
The captain entered a command into his console, opening up a communications channel to the base. “Olympus base, x-ray zero one, please confirm range safety for phase two testing of the sledgehammer. Also confirm that the security perimeter is clear of all contacts.”
After a brief delay the reply came through the speaker. “X-Ray zero one, security perimeter is clear of all contacts. You are clear to commence phase two testing.”
Holbrook closed the connection and turned his attention to his tactical officer. “Ensign Oshiro, commence phase two testing. Target primary coordinates on the planet surface and fire when ready.”
“Aye Sir! First test firing will be at 25 percent power.”
Again the glowing soliton formed inside the throat of the weapon. Once a stable soliton had been formed, the weapon’s two particle beams came online and began to feed high energy protons and anti-protons into the soliton’s electromagnetic field. Because of their opposite charges, the two streams of particles followed different trajectories within the soliton. The soliton took on a bright bluish hue and the spiraling streamers of plasma on its surface became brighter. After two minutes of charging, a series of powerful electromagnet fields propelled the glowing sphere out of the weapon towards the designated target.
The glowing ball of energy sped toward the planet surface at nearly three percent the speed of light. To the naked eye it appeared as if a bright beam had been emitted from the sledgehammer. When it impacted the planet, it broke apart, discharging its energy into the surrounding earth and releasing its
load of protons and anti-protons. The result was a large explosion leaving a small glowing spot on the surface of the moon.
The tactical officer studied his console for several seconds then reported, “All weapon diagnostics are well within nominal values. First test firing successful. Charging for one hundred percent full power.”
The previous sequence repeated itself except this time the weapon required nearly eight minutes to charge. Just before firing, an actinic, angry, glowing, spitting vortex of barely controlled energy was being held in check deep within the throat of the sledgehammer. The entire end of the launch tube and even parts of the X-01 itself were engulfed in a sort of St. Elmo’s fire. Electrical discharges crawled along the entire length of the weapon. When it was fully charged, the weapons officer depressed the firing button.
The ball of crackling energy sped toward the surface of the planet so fast that it appeared to be a single line of light. Upon impact there was a terrific explosion and a cloud of dust and debris was blown high above the planet’s surface. The flash of light briefly overloaded the X-01's external sensors. When the monitors recovered they revealed a scene of unbelievable destruction.
A crater nearly two kilometers in diameter had been blown into the surface of the planet. The edges of the crater glowed an angry red while the center still glowed an even hotter yellow. Captain Holbrook could not believe his eyes. He slowly stood up and shook his head in disbelief. The helm’s face had gone ashen and his jaw hung open in wonderment. The tactical officer said, “Oh—My—God!” Both the engineer and the communications watch had blank looks on their faces as they tried to comprehend the power of the weapon they had just unleashed.
* * * * *
“What is this project you’ve been keeping secret for so long?” Anita demanded from Jay. They were relaxing in Anita’s spacious office. Jay had arrived a few moments ago and had announced that his latest project was finally ready for her to see.
“You’re going to love this!” he excitedly replied, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Jay walked over to the door he had just come through, knocked on it three times and stepped out of the way.
A moment later, the door gently swung open and a two-legged machine walked through. “A robot?” Anita said as she screwed up her face in confusion. “We build all sorts of robots, what makes this one so special?”
The machine was about as tall as an average Human and was covered in smooth white plastic. The basic shape was modeled after a Human but it was clearly a robot. AST did build several models of robots which looked quite similar to the one now standing quietly in the room. They were primitive and programmed to perform very specific tasks. This particular model was equipped with human-like hands and a fully articulated, heavily instrumented head.
The robot took several smooth steps towards Anita, stopped and executed a very Human bow. “Hello Mrs. Kauffman. I hope you like my avatar.”
Anita’s eyes almost popped out of her head because the voice that had come from the robot was familiar. “CAIN?” The robot nodded its head. Anita was on her feet and quickly rounded her desk. “I’ll be damned!” she smiled. “You have a body!”
“A physical presence only,” CAIN replied. The arms of the robot moved to indicate the body. “My consciousness still resides within the optical matrix in the basement of this building. This avatar will now allow me to more easily interact with the outside world.”
“Why didn’t we think of this earlier?” Anita asked as she examined the avatar in more detail. “How are you controlling it?”
“I am controlling the avatar through a multiband encrypted radio link.”
“How do you…feel?” Anita hesitantly asked.
“Oddly enough, Mrs. Kauffman, I can honestly answer that question by saying that I no longer feel—shall we say—confined.”
“Several months ago,” Jay took up the explanation, “CAIN started acting a bit odd.”
“Odd?” Anita interrupted.
“It would not have been obvious to anyone else. Some of his responses seemed to indicate he was depressed. You see—CAIN’s intellect continues to grow. It took us both awhile to determine exactly what the problem was. CAIN sure didn’t know since he had no point of reference. This was something completely new to him.”
Kauffman walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of water as he talked. “Up until recently, CAIN has been content to explore our world through the realm of digital data. Without physically moving, he can see, and in many instances hear, through any number of cameras located both inside and outside the company. Through his shadow system he has full access to the internet. But, this vast array of information has always been one-way. CAIN had been given only very limited ways to interact with the outside world. This avatar corrects that oversight.”
Anita was half sitting on the edge of her desk with her arms crossed. She nodded her head and said, “I am impressed. I take it there is a fair amount of non-Human technology underneath that plastic skin of yours.”
CAIN swung his head around and looked from Anita to Jay then replied, “You are quite correct. We have incorporated a great deal of newly acquired robotics technology into my avatar.”
Jay gestured towards the robot forgetting that he held a glass of water in his hand. A bit of water sloshed from his glass as he said, “And since it's under CAIN's control it's far more than just a robot.”
“Let's just hope that nobody notices,” Anita said sliding off her desk and walking toward the bar. “If the wrong people get wind that you are more than an advanced robot we could have a problem on our hands.”
“You have nothing to fear,” CAIN replied. “I will be careful not to exhibit any behavior which might cause anyone to believe that the avatar is under the control of an entity such as myself. For all intents and purposes I will appear to be merely an advanced robot which is currently being tested by AST.”
“Besides,” Jay offered. “There is so much new technology showing up these days that I seriously doubt anyone would even question the existence of an advanced robot walking around. You might draw some attention if you walked the streets but everyone will assume that you're a product of Consortium technology and not give it another thought.”
Anita considered the proposal for a moment and replied, “I think that explanation will work. CAIN, as far as I’m concerned your avatar can roam freely about the company property. I’ll put out a memo explaining your presence in the morning.”
“Thank you Mrs. Kauffman. I will be careful in my interactions with other people.”
Jay walked over to the robot and patted it on its shoulder. “Someday soon my friend I hope to introduce you to the world.”
“Soon,” Anita added putting the finishing touches on her Long Island iced tea. “But not right now. I still think CAIN is a resource that is best kept to ourselves for the moment.”
CAIN turned to face Anita and replied, “I agree with you one hundred percent. It is uncertain at the moment how the Consortium would react to my existence. My research into the Consortium seems to indicate that none of the member species have succeeded in creating a truly sentient machine. It appears as if I am unique. In order to avoid the intense scrutiny that revealing my existence would create, I prefer to remain incognito for the time being.”
Anita returned to her desk, set her drink down and plopped into her overstuffed executive chair. “That reminds me. Have we made any progress at all on the acceleration compensation problem?”
Jay sat down in a chair in front of Anita’s desk and replied, “We might be onto something. At the moment, we simply don’t have the manufacturing ability to build a device as complex as those built by any of the Consortium races. The purity of the material, the ultra-precise alignments of thousands of nano-scale components, and the extensive control systems that are required make the device exceedingly difficult to build. From what I’ve been told, it is the lack of these devices that limits the number of warships that many of the Consortium
races can build each year.”
“Which is the reason we are given as to why we cannot buy them from the Consortium,” Anita added.
“But not the real reason,” CAIN said.
Anita looked at CAIN and raised her eyebrows. “No, it’s not. I suspect the real reason is to keep us from misusing the technology.”
“We couldn’t just buy an off-the-shelf inertial compensator,” Jay said. “Each one is tailor-made for the particular ship it is to be installed into and is virtually a part of the ship itself. Just like all the other races of the Consortium, we are going to have to learn how to build our own.”
“And you think you might have a solution?”
“Possibly. The device in use by all Consortium races is exceedingly complex. It might be possible to build such a device using a less complex design that relies more on brute force than finesse. Unfortunately, the resulting machine will not only be much larger but it will more than likely require at least ten times the power of a comparable Consortium generator.”
“But we will at least be able to build ships capable of high accelerations, right?”
“Right. But it will be an inefficient monster.”
“The point is that we will have the ability to apply large accelerations without crushing the crew. We need that ability to enable us to complete the Thor project.”
“We will know if it can be done in another month or so. It’s going to take us that long to build a prototype.”
“Let me know as soon as you have any results.”
Jay got up and walked over to his wife. He leaned down and gave her a passionate kiss. “You will always be the first to know how any of my projects are coming along. If we are ever going to finish the inertial compensator though I had better get back to my office. Come drag me out of there when you leave tonight.”
Anita grabbed her husband’s hand, pulled him toward her, kissed him, and said, “I love you Jay.”
“I love you too Anita.”