Taggart (Heroes of the League Book 2)

by Jo Carey

  Found on one planet in the League and strictly regulated, plant things were half-plant and half-creature that spent most of their time rooted in place, taking nutrients from the soil and sunlight. They could, when so inclined, uproot and travel to new digs. They ranged in size from softball to bus. Each was unique in temperament and personality. Some could even breathe fire.

  Dr. Devlin had over a hundred in her collection, a number that boggled the mind of any true plant-thing aficionado. She also had a snapdragon, the most dangerous of all the plant-things.

  "Perfect. Anyone who can handle that many plant-things can easily handle a Cube full of scientists and engineers," he said with a smile as he shut-down the table and main screen. He went back to work while waiting for Dr. Devlin to arrive.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dr. Ciara Devlin watched out her window as the ship touched down inside one of the Cube's vast shuttle bays. In the distance, she could see other ships of all sizes and shapes being serviced or lifting-off to take their passengers to all parts of the League of Planetary Systems. She looked down on the deck and saw marshallers walking around with their light sticks, ready to wrest order from the seeming chaos churning around them.

  "Dr. Devlin?"

  Ciara turned and looked up to see a woman standing over her. "Yes, I'm Dr. Devlin," she replied as she unbuckled her seat belt and got out of her seat.

  "Hi, my name is Periwinkle, but you can call me Peri. I'm the head of Employee Resources. How was your trip?"

  "Really good. The accommodations are most comfortable."

  "OffSec prides itself in having the safest and most comfortable shuttles in the League. Our flight crews receive the finest training, and the maintenance is top shelf."

  "It shows. So, what's first?"

  "Dr. Taggart."

  "I don't understand. Your tone of voice makes this Dr. Taggart sound like a painful experience."

  Peri walked them out of the shuttle and across the deck to a door marked "Private" which she opened with a keycard. "Through here, please," she said as she led Ciara down a hallway that looked to be out of a battleship. "This is the main corridor to the laboratory section of the Cube. Everything past that doorway is designed for pure efficiency. One never knows when a section has to be replaced."

  "Section? Replaced?"

  "Yes. If something goes wrong, the affected section is ejected, once everyone is evacuated."

  "Ejected? As into space?"

  "Into the dwarf star we orbit. It has a diverse diet, so we can't hurt it. Can't be too careful," she said as she looked around. "I don't come down here much."

  "What about Dr. Taggart?"

  "If I may be blunt, John has been a little different since his accident several months ago. He seems to be able to tell if a candidate is suitable for the position of Director after being with them for a short time."

  "I don't believe that. No one can judge a person that quickly, especially under these circumstances."

  "We have had two directors since he arrived. In both cases he predicted how and when they would leave based on his interview with them. In one case, he was with the person for thirty-eight minutes and the other forty-five. And it wasn't that he did something to them. He interacted with them during the interview, and never saw them again. Since then, he gets first approval of all candidates."

  "That's incredible. What if he doesn't approve?"

  "You're history. You're the third candidate since the protocol change. The other two never made it past him. He scares me. And those drawings he does..." she said. Ciara saw her shudder.

  "Drawings?"

  "He creates black and white photorealistic drawings--he calls them sketches--of creatures which he uses for his robotic form designs. The pictures stare at you." She shuddered again. "Here's his lab. Good luck," she said as she knocked on the metal door. The intercom next to the door activated.

  Ciara noted that it had a blast resistance rating that was higher than she had ever seen in a door.

  "John, the candidate is here," Peri said.

  "Come in," a voice said over the intercom before it deactivated and the door slid open.

  Ciara looked in expecting to see either Quasimodo or the Mad Wizard of the keep. Instead, she saw a human male about her age trying to extract something from the back of a large mechanical form which she recognized as a telepresence-operated sulfur harvester used on the surface of Venus.

  "Hi there, I'm John. Could you hold on for a minute?"

  "Sure," Ciara answered as Peri waved at her while hurrying out of the room.

  "Peri took off, didn't she?"

  "Yep. I think you scare her."

  "Yeah, I seem to do that," he said while appreciating her candor. "There are drinks in the fridge marked 'Food'."

  "What's in the one marked 'Not Food'?" she asked as she grabbed a bottle of water.

  "I think synthorganic ocular sensors," he said as he tugged something free.

  She opened the door a crack and looked inside. "Eyeballs. Cool."

  "Very," he said as he climbed down the ladder and placed a circuit board on the table. He washed his hands in a nearby sink and dried them before shaking her hand. She didn't flinch at the touch. He was getting good vibes about her, but he didn't dare tell her that, at least not yet.

  "Welcome to the Biocybernetics lab. My colleague is running late, but should be here within the next ten minutes," he said as he went to the food fridge and grabbed a bottle of ice tea. She noticed a pile of drawings on the table, which she picked up and shuffled through.

  "These are amazing. I would have sworn they were photos. You do these with pencil?"

  "Number two yellow pencils. As you can see they're everywhere along with little sharpeners and erasers."

  "Have you ever tried color?"

  "I would if I could see color, but I can't."

  "Color blind? Wasn't that cured a century ago?"

  "I lost color perception when I had the accident, which I'm sure you've been briefed on. I remember color, I just can't see it anymore and no one knows why. It can't be fixed because nothing's broken."

  "Amazing. Is this the wood elf?" she said, holding up a picture. “Like real elves, but much larger. I have some friends who would kill to have those muscles.”

  "Yes, it’s Gloria's favorite. She tests all my designs from wood elf to sulfur miner. So, you collect and raise plant-things? Which one is your favorite?"

  Caught off-guard, Ciara blurted out, "Clevon, the snapdragon. You know plant-things?"

  "I used to collect, but I had to give them up after the accident. I was making them nervous. They now live at the Cube Arboretum in the harsh environment section. The caretaker tells me they rule the roost. Why plant things?"

  "They fascinate me. They cross the line between plant and animal and each is different with unique personalities. Clevon has no problem using his flame breath to let me know what he's thinking, and think he does."

  John picked up one of his pencils and studied it. He looked up and looked at Ciara as if he was deciding something. Just then, Gloria walked into the lab wearing her wood elf form, something that throws-off most people. Ciara looked at her as if something normal had walked into the room. He realized that Ciara had adjusted to his environment in a fraction of the time most people required. It would take days or weeks for anyone else to feel comfortable in the lab. It took Ciara minutes.

  "Dr. Ciara Devlin, my colleague, Gloria. Gloria, Dr. Ciara Devlin, the new Director of Operations of the Cube, assuming she still wants the job."

  "I don't understand," Ciara said, confused.

  "People have a hard time dealing with the environment that surrounds me--the bots, my quirks, Gloria's bodies--but you've done it in less than an hour. Your resume is exemplary and you raise plant things. In my humble opinion, you are a perfect fit for the job. Now, I could obsess over the decision, defer it, or shrug and let someone else make it, but I think you should get the job, if you still want it."

  "Yes
, I want it, now more than ever," she said with a conviction that surprised her.

  "Good. Then I'll let Gloria show you around the lab and try to explain my insanity while I go talk to the ID," he said as he walked out of the lab.

  "Is he always like this?"

  "Yeah, except when he's drawing," Gloria replied. That was when Ciara noticed all the boxes marked "Drawings" stacked under the tables and along the walls. She looked at the elf who looked back and shrugged as if all this was normal. "Come on, and I'll show you the other workrooms.

  Three weeks later, Dr. Ciara Devlin took up the mantle of Director of Operations of the Cube. When she walked into her office she found a baby plant-thing sleeping in its pot in the middle of her desk with a note: "Welcome aboard - John." For the first time in a long while, she felt at home.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Fifteen years after John's accident and Ciara becoming the director of the Cube, the newsfeeds were filled with stories about the newest members of the League, the Erdexi, the only survivors of a massacre which took place over one thousand centuries ago. The story of the discovery of the Erdexi by a Cube Survey team lead by the Tyen xenoarchaeologist Dr. Nebulon Blyst was the stuff of legend. Once relegated to tasks involving the disarming of weapons, the Cube under the leadership of Dr. Devlin was now at the forefront of robotic systems research.

  John sat at a workbench and peered into a microscope while gently moving a joystick. Gloria sat nearby, watching his work via a large view screen. The target of his work was the last of one hundred rice grain sized swarmbots that were part of an experiment they were running for the League Division of Agriculture. He pressed a button and sat back, finished with his task.

  "Okay, all of them have their power cells reattached, so they're ready for activation," he said. He reached down, picked up the bot from the microscope and placed it in a tray next to the scope. The tray contained food plants in a soil mixture.

  Gloria, wearing her "Lab Assistant" body, typed commands into a terminal. "All bots read A-Okay."

  "Good. Activate them, please."

  Gloria tapped a series of commands which activated the bots and placed them into self-test mode for one cycle. The soil amongst the plants started to move as the bots went through a series of pre-programmed motions to check their internal programs and equipment.

  "All bot systems nominal," Gloria said after about five minutes of testing.

  "Excellent," John said as he peered down at the tray. "Begin Test Sequence One."

  "Test Sequence One in three...two...one...mark."

  The ground in the tray started forming into small rows as the bots turned the soil while traveling parallel to the long side of the tray. It was as if macroscopic tractors were out gang-tilling a field of crops.

  "Looks good. How's the telemetry?"

  "Moisture content, gas levels, nutrients, all streaming in. Coupled with micro-GPS positioning data, we should have a health map of the field when they're finished."

  "Now, if only they can remember where to park," he said, referring to their tendency to scatter to the four points of the compass when they finished their programmed task.

  He turned and jumped when he found Ciara standing next to him and peering into the tray. "Do they work with plant-things?"

  "Sure, but the real question is whether they would do so willingly. Clevon is a tough cookie."

  "Oh, just fireproof’em, and they'll be fine. Seriously, how's this going?"

  "Great," he replied as he stepped away from the table. "Gloria found the glitch and fixed it while I fixed the power connections, so no more shorting out. We still have to do long-term tests, but I suspect they will be ready for field trials in six weeks..." he looked up at Gloria who was holding up eight fingers, "make that eight weeks."

  "You two are ahead of schedule? I think I shall swoon," she said as she put the back of her hand gently against her forehead in a pose Scarlett O'Hara would be proud of.

  "Don't get too used to it," Gloria said as she pulled glass shields down around the tray and its miniature work crew.

  "What can we do for you, milady?" John asked as he jotted notes into a lab notebook.

  "Back in the day, around the time you and Gloria transferred from Omega Lab Six to the Cube, did the ID at the time mention multi-forms.

  "Yes, the idea of one operator controlling many bots. The Holy Grail of Biocybernetics. Since there are so few trained operators, such an improvement would be a boon to search and rescue, mining, hazardous material handling, you name it."

  "The shortage is especially bothersome for the military. Just enabling the recon units to use more than one form for each operator would be a boon. Think of a fleet of UAVs controlled by a single pilot.

  "Or imagine an operator-controlled swarmbot comprised of a thousand individual bots. Now that would be the ultimate scout form.

  Ciara stared at him while writing down everything he said. She had realized shortly after becoming director, that John's strange view of things made his musings gold. Many incredible developments had come from his random utterances.

  "I love it. This is what I need for my meeting this afternoon. Do you really think this idea of multi-remote control is possible?"

  "Does this have to do with what happened to Survey Team One with the Erdexi on Rhanna?" John asked.

  "Yes, the League Council members have their panties twisted in a bunch over this. Someone has technology on level with ours, and that has them worried.

  “I was amazed that your agent was able to overcome it in hand-to-hand combat," John said. He glanced at Gloria through a window. “Those synthetic bodies can be a handful.”

  "She's special. Hopefully, you'll get to meet her and the rest of her team," Ciara said.

  "To answer your question: Yes, it's theoretically possible. Normally, the operator's autonomic nervous system is maintained by the operator bed while the somatic nervous system is routed to the telepresence unit where it directly controls all the remote's functions. In a multi-unit configuration, we would route only the commands, letting on-board computers do the actual control. It shifts the paradigm from direct remote control to one of a general commanding his or her troops," he explained as he started sketching command pathways and multiplexed inputs to the operator. "Yeah, it's doable."

  Gloria walked up and looked at the sketches after emerging from one of the side rooms. "Cool. Wish I had thought of it," she said as she patted John on the shoulder.

  "Hi, Gloria. John, can you send me something for my report?"

  John tapped the table top and sent her everything. "Done," he said.

  She looked at her datapad and smiled. She jumped up and kissed him on the cheek as she passed by on the way out of the lab. "Thank you, good knight."

  "Aye milady, any time," he replied as he got back to work.

  "I think you made her day," Gloria said as she took a bin down from a shelf. It contained the next test subject on their list. "By the way, where's our new assistant?"

  The lab door opened and admitted a young woman barely holding onto a pile of papers. "Hi, I'm Serena, your new assistant," she said as she dumped the paperwork on a table before extending her hand. John shook it, but didn't let go for a moment. He turned her hand over and examined it. He let it go and looked into her eyes. "You're an Orta, aren't you?"

  "Yes, is that a problem? My supervisor said it wouldn't be a problem..."

  "John, you're scaring her, stop it. Don't mind him, he gets a little intense. He seems to have forgotten we asked specifically for an Orta to help us test travel suits. You're fine. We even equipped the lab with pinpoint microwave emitters so that you can walk around suit less if you want. The computer will automatically detect you and start following you. It's programmed to warn you if you're moving outside of coverage," Gloria said, smiling.

  "Sorry, yes. Your current suit is an interesting design, and I got distracted. Welcome," he said as he forced himself to be cordial.

  In response, Serena's body s
plit open, and a glowing form emerged as the humanoid body moved to a wall and connected to a power outlet. Beam emitters in the ceiling activated, beaming microwaves onto Serena, warming her and giving her nourishment. "This is wonderful. I've never been in a lab like this. Thank you."

  "Ah, tis nothing, milady. Oh, there's a walk-in microwave in the next room where you can take breaks," John said. "Gloria will assign you duties, but feel free to ask either of us any questions you may have," he said as he returned to designing something on the terminal table.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Ciara just finished her report to the OffSec Council when they broke for fifteen minutes. She could tell they were happy with her progress and happy with John's ideas and sketches. She hummed to herself while she went over to the refreshment table and got herself a coffee and a plate of fruit. For a facility, more than a light-year away from civilization, the Cube had excellent food. She made a note to herself to send compliments to Food Service.

  A crash followed by gunfire interrupted her reverie. Before she could draw her weapon--all OffSec personnel are required to wear a sidearm--she was grabbed from behind by a force which pulled her into a hard, cold surface. She looked down and saw she was held by a large mechanical arm.

  "Let me go, damn you," she yelled as she struggled to get free. "What do you want?"

  "I need immediate access to the Tombs" the bot said as it held her.

  "What the hell do you need down there. It's full of junk."

  "Not junk. I need access to bin alpha-zero-zero-three-alpha, and I need it now."

  "That's from the old Omega Lab Six. What do you want with that?"

  "That is none of your concern. If you can't give it to me then you are useless."

  "Robot! Let her go, and I'll give you access to the Tombs," John yelled from the intercom. The bot spun around and looked into the camera lens.

  "Taggart. So much the better. Just you. No tricks or she dies."