ALICE Resurrection

by Charles Lamb

  That’s not to say Jake had no down time since the battle. After Klinan, Jake and several others had taken a short R&R trip to the island getaway Sandy had established in Australia. She had taken it upon herself to broaden their recruiting base, and overhearing a comment from Jake, chose Australia as her starting point. Sandy was a sort of a Public Relations Officer, though, like none Jake had ever seen before. She had a way with people that was just scary at times.

  As for her Australia trip, he could hardly argue the point, as he was completely unaware of her activities. The one saving grace was it had all been overseen by one or another of the ALICEs. Her base of operations there was a place called Border Island in the Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. Jake doubted he could have selected a better location himself, and their R&R time there had been simply marvelous.

  With his return from Australia, the rebuilding of their forces, fleet, and associated infrastructure had consumed most of Jake’s time. The addition of the visiting dignitaries and preliminary negotiations for establishing formal relations, consumed any remaining time he might have had to visit his children.

  Fortunately, at least two were in residence, so he did get a little daddy time, though it was hardly fair to the rest. Both Linda and Kathy were currently in residence with him in Nevada and made sure he got his fix. Jake had invited Sara to participate with the kids on multiple occasions; however, she insisted that was their special time, he and the mothers.

  The thought of Sara made Jake pause. Something was up there that he couldn’t quite place. She had been distracted lately, even emotional at times. If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn she was pregnant. He dismissed that thought as they had been trying for a while now, without success.

  Turing his display off, he decided he had a burning need to wander. Coming out from behind his desk, he braced himself for the trickiest part of his next move. By placing his office off the command center, he had to pass through the room beyond. That meant everyone knew when he was entering and leaving his office.

  He suspected both Sara and Patti had selected this location specifically for that reason. Jake’s dislike for his position as “Brass” was well known. He felt it put far too much distance between himself and the troops. It also meant that you never got the truth. People instinctively told you what they thought you wanted to hear versus the information you actually sought.

  To that end, as a bit of a protest, he had taken to forgoing the traditional uniform of the day, opting for attire that was more casual. Dressed as such, he felt that people who didn’t know him would mistake him for an average recruit. He did keep a proper uniform in his office, for the infrequent alien dignitary greetings, those to date all by holograph.

  Today’s selection was a printed T-shirt and cargo shorts, a regular favorite with him. He had convinced ALICE to recreate some of the prints he favored, with things like “Ron Jon’s Surf Shop” or classic car pictures. Jake knew he was only fooling himself, as everyone knew he preferred such attire. Most new arrivals favored the uniforms that were a novelty for them.

  As he stepped into the command center, Jake could feel all eyes upon him. Smiling and giving a casual wave as he passed through, he had almost made it out the other side before he heard someone hail him.

  “Colonel, wait.”

  He turned to find a young woman, no more than 19, or 20, rushing up to him.

  “How can I help you?” Jake asked as she stopped in front of him, preventing his exit.

  “Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan asked that if I saw you come out of your office, I should tell you she had to run to Texas to see her sisters.”

  Sullivan was Sara’s last name and she was the oldest of the three sisters. Both Bonnie and Becky were stationed together in Texas by choice, as Linda and Kathy had done here. Jake had wondered many times if letting Becky go had been the wisest of decisions, letting her get so far away from his oversight. While Bonnie was level headed and rock stable, Becky was a roller coaster ride of maturity and juvenile insanity.

  Becky was the chief of medical personnel there and was probably the best non-ALICE resource they had in that profession. However, when not studying or working in that role, she was the most self-absorbed teenager Jake had ever encountered. Almost 20 now, she had also been the most aggressive of the original recruits when it came to their personal relationship together.

  While Jake complained about it publicly, he had to admit secretly to himself that there were times when she was just what the doctor ordered. The fact that Sara had to rush off made Jake question what drama was being played out that he was oh so happy not to be invited to.

  “Thanks,” Jake offered the girl, and then asked, “anything else?”

  She paused for a moment, appearing confused at the question, “oh, no, not from her sir. But the Major told me to be sure you had everything you needed, do you need anything?”

  Jake knew the Major had to be Linda, as he had promoted all facility commanders when he was forced to up his own rank. With the spread of their influence and growth of the forces, rank was becoming an issue in keeping things organized.

  “No, I’m good,” he replied with a smile and then slipped past her, walking through the double doors and out into the hall. He continued out into the main passageway and eventually found his way into the main hanger. For some reason, the hustle of activity here always made him feel good.

  Chapter 2

  ALICE-1 was struggling with her own dilemma. For nearly 150 years, she and her sisters had existed in near equilibrium. Sure, she was the first and the oldest, but other than the sequence of their artificial birth, they were all on an equal footing. All facilities had a special purpose, that was true, but all had the same roots. Even the newborn ALICE-9 was tied to the same tradition as the rest.

  Now, however, Jake’s resurrection of ALICE-3 had turned that world upside down. Her recovery was a celebration for all the Artificial Lifeforms, but its ramifications were of a far greater significance. No longer was their species tied to one location. They weren’t even tied to a single planet.

  Now the embodiment of the reworked NeHaw battleship, ALICE-3 had traveled to a distant star system and engaged in the fight that saved Jake and his Marines from the NeHaw and their mercenary forces. The semantics of who actually saved who aside, the implications of this to the rest of the ALICEs were staggering.

  If one were to submit themselves to the equivalent of a brain transplant, any ALICE system could be reborn into a spaceship. They would then be free to wander the galaxy. The one catch to the whole concept had its roots in their core programing.

  They were still bound to their prime constraints, number one of which was the command limitations. She acknowledged they had played somewhat fast and easy in electing Jake president to circumvent other security protocols. However, all the ALICEs agreed that the singular restriction on Presidential Appointment for facility command wouldn’t withstand a Jake appointed candidate.

  Only the nuclear survival scenario, which allowed for multigenerational autocratic succession, was a sure bet. This meant every ALICE, born or transplanted to a ship, had to have one of Jake’s offspring aboard, or their freedom was limited to one human generation.

  ----*----

  Emerging into the hangar, Jake noted there apparently was a shipment being prepared for delivery, as one of the largest helicopters was in the process of being loaded with supplies. While the airframe was familiar with the aircraft he had known in his past, he still marveled at the four large hoops on top. With two forward and two aft, they generated the lift required to get the craft and its contents airborne. As he watched, robotic loaders were running up the rear ramp and placing crates into the cargo area. The funny part was, they weren’t the typical crates Jake associated with an ALICE delivery.

  “What’s all this?” Jake asked as he walked up to one of the people supervising the loading.

  “Oh, hi Colonel,” the girl replied, “this is a load for the ma
rkets in Prosperity.”

  As they were still running about 70/30 in the total female to male ratios, it didn’t surprise Jake to see so many women involved in the loading. The ratios dropped to 60/40 with the combat troops, the men holding a slim lead. The powered body armor helped offset the male strength and size advantages there.

  Jake knew that they had been acting as transport for the various communities they sponsored. Most of their early activities were between the town of Prosperity in California and the settlements in Texas. Their goal was to try to spark an economic resurgence, specifically around perishables. There was hope for additional markets in Maine and Washington State as their sponsorships spread.

  With such a large population reduction after the original NeHaw attack, the ability to scrounge whatever you needed without much effort had spawned almost two generations of effortless living for the survivors. For the most part, you could wander into any community around the world and pick up anything you needed from the abandoned structures. It wasn’t until the perishable food supplies started going bad that any real effort had been made to farm and ranch.

  That was also about that time the warring factions started forming. Large numbers of the survivors, including higher numbers of females, moved out into the countryside to escape the violence in the cities, forming agricultural communities. Others, predominately male, chose to remain in the cities, finding their own way amongst the fighting in the ruins. Jake had assumed that all the city dwellers were lazy slackers, an error in judgment he came to regret.

  A city resident named Chris Wade had staged his own version of a non-violent protest. Infiltrating one of the farming community patrols, an armed force supported by Jake and the ALICEs, he hijacked a weapons supply run intended for other settlements. The patrols had been cutting off the persistent raiding of the more criminal groups from Los Angeles. Those same groups had turned inward to harass people like Chris, looking to replace their sources of perishables. The guns hijacked from the patrol would help him deter that.

  In addition, as it was common knowledge that Jake would personally deal with any patrol member that abused their position, so it was an open invitation to visit. Jake came in expecting a gunfight and was surprised to discover a family community in the heart of what was once Pasadena. From there, a series of events created a relationship with the Pasadena compound that gave them security and Jake his foothold in LA.

  Now, Chris was another trading partner, safely supplying the country folks with nonperishables recovered from within the city. Meanwhile, produce and other perishables from the farms were shipped to him in return. With his trade excess, Chris had created a farmers market of sorts, inviting local residence to fill his shopping lists in exchange for fresh produce.

  The Pasadena location also served as a way station for people looking to escape the city and make new homes in the farming communities nationwide. Once they were vetted by an ALICE monitored interview, approved refugees were processed and transported to various communities throughout the US.

  Any one of the ALICE operated air transports moved people to one of the various communities that sponsored newcomers. As the majority of the refugee population in the city was male, they were a welcome addition to the female dominated countryside. Jake had made very sure that their transfers were on the up and up and no one was being taken advantage of in their new homes. They also cherry picked prime candidates for themselves.

  From the looks of this load, the crates contained goods from Los Angeles. External labeling listed clothing and household goods. Frequently, the supply runs to the communities would return stuffed with cargo rather than deadheaded back. All was stored, temporarily, in areas just off the main hanger, until the next hop delivered them to their final destination. Perishables went straight into stasis to ensure freshness upon delivery.

  Careful records were maintained, and each participating community was wired into the inventory system, all using ALICE provided terminals. Specific locals were properly trained to log and track all shipments. Jake was quite impressed at the logistical operation the facility commanders had created, as he had left it all up to them.

  They had created an entire industry around these shipments. Local clerks scheduled, inventoried, and tracked shipments. There were also positions for local dockworkers providing loading and unloading labor for each shipment. All aircraft had loadmasters, ALICE staff, whose watchful eyes supervised the activities.

  Turning away, Jake wandered over to one of the large storerooms they used as transitional storage and was amazed at the number of crates inside. They were stacked in neat rows, several layers high and as deep as the room was. Clearly, business was good.

  As he was turning to leave, Jake heard ALICE over the communications unit he had taken to wearing whenever he went out into the hangar area. It was a small clip, attached to the sleeve of his short sleeve T-shirt.

  “Jake, something has come up I think you need to come see,” ALICE said.

  “OK Alice, what’s up?” Jake replied, curious at the statement.

  “We are getting some satellite traffic we have never seen before?” she responded.

  “Deep space transmissions?” Jake asked, assuming it was another race looking for diplomatic relations.

  “No,” ALICE replied, “it’s coming from London.”

  ----*----

  Jake returned to his office from the hangar at a hurried pace. Upon entering, he found Patti there, and she had obviously been waiting for him.

  “Where have you been?” she asked somewhat impatiently.

  As his couple of great’s granddaughter, she had the luxury of family familiarity. Not that Jake was big on formality, but he tended to get a little more respect out of the line troops. Besides, while Patti might not want to hear it, she had some of Jake’s ex-wife and her couple of great’s grandmother in her attitude.

  “I needed to get out of the office for a bit, what’s up?” he replied with a bit of a sigh.

  “Didn’t Alice tell you? We are getting satellite traffic from somewhere in London. They are attempting to assume control of a pair of satellites that belonged to England before the fall,” Patti replied to the question.

  “I assume Alice has control of them currently?” Jake asked.

  “That would be correct,” ALICE replied, “they are some of the legacy satellites we have yet to replace.”

  “Do we know who it is and what they are trying to do?” Jake asked.

  “These two satellites are for communications and earth observation. They are a pre-fall version of what we use for planetary observation and monitoring,” ALICE replied.

  “At this time we have no indication of who is making the attempt, but the logical assumption is they are trying to use them as we do. These would be best for relaying images of western Europe,” ALICE finished.

  Jake stood in thought for a moment before asking, “Any harm in giving them control?”

  “No, these are scheduled for replacement, as they are far beyond the end of life. They have been a low priority though, as the need for observations over Europe have been in low demand and they still work fine,” Patti answered.

  “Looks like the demand just went up. Ok, let’s give them control and monitor everything they are doing. Try to locate the source of the signals as well. How soon can we get replacement birds in the air over England? I have a feeling we are going to need to visit soon,” Jake rattled off as he wandered over to his desk and brought up a map of London.

  ----*----

  Sara wandered unannounced into the Texas command center, in no hurry to disrupt either of her sisters’ daily routine. As it was still early in the day, she expected Bonnie to be busy overseeing things as the facility's commander. Becky’s whereabouts was an open question though, since she worked at the whim of the medical needs of the facility.

  Entering through the double doors of the command center, she was rewarded by the sight of Bonnie holding court off to one side. She was surrounded by
several people Sara had never seen before, presumably staff recruited and trained locally. Glancing up from whatever materials they had been reviewing, Bonnie’s face went from stern to glowing at the sight of her older sister.

  “Sara!” Bonnie declared as she rose from her seat and rushed to meet her at the door.

  “I had no idea you were coming?” Bonnie added as she swept her sister up in a hug.

  “It was spur of the moment,” Sara replied with less enthusiasm.

  At that, Bonnie released her with a look of concern on her face, “What's wrong?”

  “Can we talk someplace private?” Sara asked.

  “Let’s go to my room,” Bonnie answered.

  “No,” Sara replied quickly, “how about the hangar?”

  “I’ll be back in a bit,” Bonnie announced to the group she had been with as she gave Sara a confused look while leading her back out of the command center.

  Once out into the hangar area, Sara led Bonnie off to one side. Satisfied that the surrounding noise would mask their conversation, she turned to her sister and sighed.

  “I’m pregnant,” she stated flatly.

  “That’s wonderful!” Bonnie replied, sweeping her sister up in another hug of joy.

  Sara gave her a moment before pushing her back to arm’s length.

  “Yes, but why now?” Sara asked, “After all this time, why has Alice decided it’s now ok for me to be pregnant. You know full well I was supposed to be off birth control ages ago.”

  Bonnie thought about Sara’s statement before replying, “Don’t you think you are being a bit paranoid? Is that why we came out here, so the Alice’s’ can’t hear us?”

  Sara blushed a little before replying, “Yes, it’s not that I think she’s up to no good. I just suspect there is an ulterior motive to this.”