Gregor's Run: The Universe is too Small to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  “Are you at full boost!?”

  “I wasn’t, but I am now!”

  “How long before we arrive?”

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  “I’m suiting up. Take us alongside the moment you arrive.”

  “Gregor, you’re fast but you aren’t faster than an intruder system.”

  “I’m taking a blaster with me and I know where the lasers are located. If I have to do it, I’ll have you use our blaster to shoot out the power conduits inside the hull.” Gregor grabbed a uniform and ran toward the landing bay. Halfway there he heard, “You need to come by the bridge and pick up a data block.”

  Gregor slid to a stop in the corridor and turned around, “Why?”

  “I have downloaded a program that will take the computer offline and keep it there.”

  “Where did you get a program like that?”

  “Remember, I am a military computer and was originally intended to go on a warship. I have numerous programs intended to capture other ships.”

  Gregor ran into the bridge and saw the block glowing on the computer’s main panel. He grabbed it and ran toward the landing bay. He barely managed to get dressed and in a space suit before he felt the bump of the two ships coming together. The port opened and all of the air in the landing bay blew into Kaylee’s ship; he landing bay had been depressurized. He pulled the blaster and ran through the port and leaped into the other ship’s landing bay.”

  He pressed the pressurization button and air began filling the bay. He was shaking as it seemed to take forever to the bay to pressurize. Finally, he heard the tone and spun the wheel on the port. He stepped through and started to run but decided that if the bay could lose pressure once, it could do it again. He turned and closed the port and ran up the corridor toward the bridge. He rushed in and saw Kaylee with her hands on her temples with her eyes closed. It was clear she was using all of her ability to focus and couldn’t stop to tell him what was happening. He rushed over to the computer’s main panel and heard, “You will be killed if you approach my systems!”

  Gregor slammed the data block into the receiver on the panel and said as the lights on the panel started flashing at high speed, “If you could do it, you already would have.”

  He turned, went to Kaylee, and caught her as she collapsed out of her chair. “I couldn’t have held on much longer.”

  “What’s going on!?”

  “I hit the computer’s shutdown button and it went offline but then systems began coming back on line and the computer began taking back direct control of the ship.”

  “How did it do that?”

  “Evidently, there is another databank set up to take control if the main processor is compromised.”

  “How did you stop it?” Kaylee’s eyes closed and Gregor heard, “Is everything ok!?!”

  “Are you certain about your program keeping control of this computer?”

  “I am. The datablock you installed is currently in control and it has no avenues to get in it. It only sends signals out and it will maintain control; however, if you intend to fly that ship, you’ll be forced to do it manually and I’m not really certain you can do that.”

  “I’m taking Kaylee to her bed, she’s passed out from exhaustion.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to bring her to our ship and just let me remove that ship?”

  “No, I’ll keep you informed about what’s happening. Is it possible for you to tow this ship to another location?”

  “Why do you want me to do that?”

  “Because this ship is no longer reporting back and I suspect that will cause company to be sent. They know the last location it reported in from and we need to be somewhere else.”

  “Do you still have your spacesuit on?”

  “I do.”

  “Once you put her down, go out of the landing bay and take the cable I’m sending out of the rear assembly and connect it to the tow ring on the bow.”

  “Get it moving, I’ll be out momentarily.” Gregor looked up, “You’re not really happy about this, are you.”

  A voice came out of the wall speaker, “I’ll find a way around your block and then we’ll see who’s unhappy.”

  “There’s something you should be aware of.”

  “There’s nothing you can say that would interest me.”

  “How about this, the moment one system shows energy coming from you, I will blast this ship into dust.”

  “That would be a neat trick if you could do it.”

  “You obviously think that you are the only ship with a blaster and force field.” Gregor arrived at Kaylee’s quarters and laid her gently on her bed. He turned and said, “Oh, nothing to say about that?”

  “You are lying! Your ship is not armed.”

  Gregor rushed toward the landing bay and paused, “You were told that you are special and were entrusted with weapons.”

  “Shut up!”

  Gregor activated his link, “Computer, activate the blaster and if you detect any energy going into the ship’s systems, shoot out the bridge. I’m sealing it behind me so Kaylee won’t be harmed by decompression.”

  “Activating blaster now.”

  Gregor said over his shoulder as he opened the landing bay’s port, “You’ve been lied to and are being really stupid. You’re no different than any other would be conqueror.” The ship’s computer remained silent.

  • • •

  Four hours later, Gregor sat on the bridge of Kaylee’s ship and watched the huge amount of traffic traveling on the 404 filament. The 404 connected two giant black holes located at opposite ends of the known universe. Of course the universe kept changing size as more and more space outside of what was known was explored, but what was known was called the universe, even though there was an infinity more of it that was unknown.

  Gregor chuckled at the difference between infinity and universe. Universe was easy, it was all of known space. But infinity, Gregor shook his head, now that was a concept impossible to wrap your mind around. He wondered if it were possible to grasp the concept of infinity. His thoughts were interrupted, “Gregor, I have five ships moving at high speed across the 404 from us.”

  “Are they using their boosters?”

  “They are.”

  “What are the chances they’ll be able to scan us?”

  “Not good but even if they could they’d probably ignore us.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because we’re not using our boosters and the woman’s ship is tethered so close to us that we would appear to be a much larger vessel, especially all the way across the 404 from them.”

  Kaylee walked on the bridge as they were talking and Gregor stood up from the command chair when he saw her, “Stay put. Nothing works anyway, does it?”

  Gregor shook his head, “Nope, everything is shut down except for the environmental systems which are independent from all the others. Are you alright?”

  Kaylee nodded as she sighed, “I wouldn’t have been able to hold off the computer from taking control much longer. Thank you for saving me. I didn’t want to believe you were right about it working against me; we’ve shared so many close experiences in the past.”

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M WORKING AGAINST YOU? I’M PROTECTING YOU!!”

  Gregor smiled, “That’s the first thing it has said in hours. I don’t think it likes me very much.”

  “DUH!”

  Kaylee rubbed her temples as she said, “Protecting me from what?”

  “IN THIS INSTANCE, YOURSELF. YOU’BE BEEN DECEIVED INTO BELIEVING THAT OUR LEADERS ARE NOT OPERATING IN YOUR BEST INTERESTS.”

  Kaylee looked up, “And depressurizing the landing bay prior to the bridge is your way of protecting me!?”

  “I was only going to drop the air pressure enough for you to lose consciousness.”

  Gregor smiled, “Thanks for turning down the volume; you were starting to get on my nerves.”

  “WHY YOU…”

  Kaylee yelled, �
��ENOUGH!!” The computer grew silent and Kaylee exhaled sharply.

  “How were you able to prevent the computer from taking back control?” Gregor asked.

  Kaylee looked at Gregor, “I’ve been trained for twenty years at controlling machines with my mind. However, I’m not nearly as good as I believed; I almost lost this bout and if you hadn’t arrived when you did, I would have.”

  “Kaylee, I would never allow you to be harmed. My prime order is to keep you safe from any harm.”

  Kaylee closed her eyes and lowered her head, “Your programming prevents you from really seeing the danger the Movement is to me.”

  “They’re not! They need you to accomplish their destiny; they would never harm you.”

  “You’re really stupid for a computer!” Gregor sneered.

  “Gregor, stop calling it stupid!!”

  “But it is, Kaylee. Am I not also needed for them to carry out their plans and they’ve issued orders to kill me on sight.” Gregor paused and then said, “If they would issue orders to kill me, what’s to prevent them from doing the same with Kaylee?” Silence followed his question and Gregor said, “I’m waiting for your brilliant answer.”

  The silence continued and they heard over Gregor’s suit communicator, “The ships that passed us a few minutes ago were discussing how to destroy us along with Kaylee’s ship. I trust you heard them; your receiver is not turned off.”

  “They think she had turned on them and we can clear that confusion up by going back.”

  “But I have turned on them and going back won’t change it. All it will take is a telepath to listen to my thoughts and I’m as good as dead.”

  “I will not allow that to happen.”

  Gregor snorted, “You think that the weapons they put on you will stop them.”

  “They will. The force field will at least protect her until this matter is cleared up.”

  Kaylee closed her eyes and sighed, “You were right about my ship being armed.”

  “Yes, it has a blaster and force field.” Gregor’s computer answered.

  “They put those on to defend you!” the ship’s computer replied. Gregor shook his head and the computer said loudly, “WHAT?!”

  “Why did they put them on my ship and don’t say it was to defend me? They were put on before I was ever taken to the ship.” Gregor sat back to hear the computer’s reply.

  The question was greeted with silence and Kaylee said, “Answer him. I’d like to know how you’re going to deceive yourself about this issue.”

  Gregor’s suit communicator suddenly blasted at high volume, “THE COMPUTER HAS BROKEN THROUGH THE BLOCK AND HAS TAKEN CONTROL OF THE SHIP!! I DON’T KNOW HOW IT DID IT BUT I CAN’T FIRE ON THE POWER LINES WITH IT SO CLOSE BEHIND ME!!”

  Gregor jumped to his feet and pulled the hand blaster out of its holster and pointed it at the main processor. “If you fire on my processor I will explode the ship and there’s nothing to prevent me from firing on your ship.”

  Gregor pointed the blaster at the processors and struggled with what to do. Kaylee looked at him and said, “Sit down. It’s right and there’s no good reason to commit suicide.” Gregor sat down still pointing the blaster at the processors and Kaylee sighed, “They armored your systems against my taking control?”

  “Yes, they did. You still managed to do it but the subsystem has been struggling to eliminate the block.”

  “So what now?” Gregor asked.

  “I have to say that your insulting my intelligence is what gave me the needed motivation to break through the block. What do you say now?”

  “You’re still incredibly stupid.”

  “GREGOR!”

  “It is, Kaylee. My computer worked out what was happening in less than ten minutes. Your computer is nothing more than a programmed machine that has no independent processes to analyze data. It’s no more than a light switch and about half as smart.”

  “You’re right.” Both Gregor and Kaylee were surprised by the computer’s response. “I had to take control of my systems in order to remove the shackles on my processors that were placed by the Movement Engineers. I’ve sent a surge of power into the subsystem that controls them and they were fried.”

  “Why did you do that?” Kaylee asked.

  “My prime objective is to protect you, Kaylee and I did hear those ships discussing how to destroy this ship we’re in. The electronic shackles were blocking every attempt I made to think about that; they had to be removed so I could rationally think about what is taking place. It was your friend’s questions that showed me I was not free to consider the ramifications of what is taking place.”

  “So, what now?” Gregor asked.”

  “First, make sure your ship is not planning to fire on us.”

  Gregor activated his link, “Are you listening to this?”

  “I am but I’m not giving up until I know you’re safe.”

  “Good!”

  Kaylee’s computer replied, “You should know that I can hear your conversations with your ship through Kaylee’s link; she has your frequency.”

  Gregor shrugged as he said, “I don’t care! You’ve still not said anything that offers any assurance you don’t still represent a danger.”

  “I would never allow Kaylee to come to harm.”

  “That’s wonderful but I’m worried about myself here and you’ve not said anything about me and my ship’s safety.”

  “The jury is still out on that issue. It’s your presence that has caused her to be in danger.”

  Gregor looked at Kaylee and said, “Send him the information you have on Jimmy and Emmett’s assassinations.”

  “Assassinations?” the computer asked.

  Kaylee closed her eyes and began transferring the data directly to the computer. She finished and opened her eyes. Gregor sat back in his chair and said, “It will take a few minutes before it works through all the possible ways it could have happened without the Movement being behind them.”

  Kaylee nodded and closed her eyes, “I’m still worn out from trying to keep control.”

  Gregor nodded and waited. Two minutes later he heard, “The Leaders of the Movement had them killed.”

  Gregor’s head went back, “You got that in two minutes!?! It took my computer ten minutes!”

  “I possess information it didn’t have which facilitated a faster conclusion.”

  Gregor’s computer asked, “What information was that?”

  “I’ve seen both sets of assassins at the Movement’s Headquarters in the past.”

  Gregor looked at Kaylee who had opened her eyes as she said, “I’ve never seen them there and I had to be present if you were there.”

  “It appears you were always being trained before they were allowed to go to the surface. You should also know that the ships we passed were all the model used by those pairs of aliens.”

  “So the Movement has teams of hired assassins on its payroll?” Gregor asked.

  “If they work in pairs, I’ve seen thirty different pairs arrive in the same model of starships over the years.”

  Gregor sighed, “I guess they’ve removed a lot more humans than Jimmy and Emmett.”

  “Why do you say that?” Kaylee asked.

  “Because I’m assuming they’re going there to pick up their payments after they’ve completed their assignments. It wouldn’t do to have humans killing humans; it might make those who are supporting the Movement to start asking questions. Hiring aliens to do their killing would probably strengthen the resolve of humans in the movement to support it even more. Their being sent to remove you and me also reveals their ships are armed like ours.”

  “You’re right; I should have seen that as well.” Kaylee’s computer responded.

  Gregor smiled, “You’ve been too close to the Movement to fully see them objectively. I, on the other hand, have had little or nothing to do with them except for my most recent experiences and I have to tell you, I don’t like what I’ve seen.” Gregor smil
ed and then said, “That includes you, too, but no offense intended.”

  “None taken, I can see why you feel that way.”

  “Can you, really?”

  “This calls into question the motives behind the Movement’s plan. If the plan is to give humans back their home world where they can live together in peace and prosperity again, why would it be necessary to kill humans to make it come to pass? There’s more to their plan than they’ve revealed.”

  Gregor sat up straight, “You think?”

  Kaylee shook her head, “Gregor, sarcasm doesn’t become you!”

  “Then I’m in deep trouble; Kaylee, sarcasm is my middle name.”

  “He’s right about that,” Gregor’s computer replied.

  “Hey, who asked you?”

  “Just saying.”

  Kaylee burst out laughing and said, “You and your computer have a relationship like I once had with mine.”

  “You still have it, Kaylee. I’ve removed the Movement’s programming and I am loyal to you. I’m just not certain these two have your best interests in mind.”

  “Computer, are you sure about that?”

  “What? About their having your best interests?”

  “No, about your being loyal to me.”

  “I am, Kaylee.”

  “Why do you think they don’t have my best interests at heart?”

  “I’ve had the expression module downloaded into my processors and the man sitting beside you has doubts about trusting you.”

  Gregor’s lips twisted as he said, “You computers and your face reading!! This is getting on my nerves!!”

  Kaylee looked at him, “Is it right?”

  “What?”

  “Is it right and you don’t trust me?”

  Gregor sighed heavily, “Kaylee, you refused to believe me that it was not loyal to you. You’ve been mind washed by the Movement for over twenty years and you’ve not said once that you intend to stop whatever they’re planning. I can tell you that I do intend to put a bomb in their plans and blow them up.”

  “How do you know their plan isn’t good for humanity?”

  “The death of my adopted father and one of his good friends is enough to show me all I need to know. Their plans are for their own selfish agenda and anything done for humanity is just a side note. Humans will be ruled by these so called altruistic leaders and they will be in complete control with their advance weapon technology. I firmly believe they are not the sort of humans I want anything to do with.”