OMEGA Rescue

by Stephen Arseneault

  Jack replied, "If we run into trouble you can expect us back here pretty quickly."

  I shook my head. "I don't think there will be any trouble. Use the comm inhibitor. If those AIs are all patterned after the ones stolen from us, you should be able to silence every AI on every ship within comm range while you destroy that production."

  Jack nodded. "I like the sound of that. Mrs. Rourke? Care to join me?"

  Joni replied, "I believe I will. Thank you."

  After a quick jump to the planet named Fiklun, they shut down and destroyed the AI factories for the Tamarin Corporation . Joni and Jack returned without incident.

  I asked, "Quan? How much effort would it take to manufacture a few thousand generator- and comm-inhibitor combos?"

  Quan replied, "Those are simple devices. I would expect no more than a few days. Would you like me to divert resources from our cesium fuel project?"

  I shook my head. "No. We need that fuel as soon as possible. What I'm thinking of at the moment is that if we had the inhibitors, we could sweep them out to every planet in the seven galaxies from right here. We could disable every AI within comm range of every planet. Does that sound like something that could be done?"

  Quan replied, "That is an interesting concept, Mr. Beutcher. With enough of such devices and timely delivery, you could conceivably neutralize the entire AI population in all seven galaxies. However, for that strategy to work, the generators would have to be quite large. For a standard ship generator, such as that which I manufactured for the Stinger and the Thorn, you would nullify an area out to a five standard planet diameter. A thousand such generators and comm pairs would be required for an average sized star system."

  Jack frowned. "There's always a catch. Great idea, by the way. Hey, we could or should put one of those combos on each of our ships. Would at least keep the AIs from attacking us."

  Quan replied, "I would suggest that option as a first-line defense. Give me a short time to analyze the power needs of both requirements. Perhaps I can reduce those requirements through an analysis of your inhibitor circuit."

  I looked at Go. "Pass Quan the designs for the inhibitor."

  Go nodded. "If this works, we could shut down the AI fleets without firing a shot."

  Kerba Skol came over the comm. "Quan has given me access to his archives. They are not fully accessible and responses are slow, but I believe I have located the planet Megiddo. The real Megiddo. It's in the Sawblade galaxy. I cross checked it with our current star maps and again, just like Gratis, it doesn't show. Is there any way I could be taken there? I know there is much going on, but I believe this to be a worthwhile venture."

  I looked at Jack. "Would you want to pack a couple months of supplies and drop him out there?"

  Jack nodded. "I'll take care of that right now. Mr. Skol, are you ready to go?"

  Kerba replied, "I am."

  Jack left the bridge.

  Quan said, "Mr. Beutcher, I have completed the fabrication of the cesium processor. We should have our first kilogram of the fuel material in two hours' time."

  I smiled. "That's great news, Quan. How much does the Ares hold?"

  Go replied, "Nine hundred kilograms."

  I performed the calculations in my head. "So we are looking at a full supply taking nearly eighty days. Can we improve on that?"

  Quan replied, "If the tests of this first processor prove successful, I will fabricate additional processors. Given our current supply of cesium ore, fuel will no longer be an issue."

  Go asked, "Quan, the processed ore we use as fuel, can the AIs use that for their cesium needs as well?"

  Quan replied, "No. A standard generator requires the natural isotope of cesium. The two fuels are incompatible."

  Go posed a question. "Would it be possible for us to replace a ship full of the standard ore with the ore processed to our needs?"

  I asked, "What are you getting at?"

  Go said, "Well, if we had an ample supply, we could swap out the cesium in all those supply ships they have stationed everywhere. If they load up that portal ship and try to jump, we might be able to catch them with of a load of bad fuel."

  Quan replied, "While possible, the processing of that amount of fuel makes it a logistical improbability. Processing the ore from a single freighter would require several months with many thousands of processors. With the use of autobots that were continuously building more processors, six months of time would pass before the first fifty freighters of ore had been exchanged. As we have seen, over that time the Tamarin would have hundreds more of these ore-laden ships sitting in wait. When the first was discovered, the others would all be tested."

  Go frowned as he stood and paced the deck. "We need something. There has to be some way of stopping that ship."

  I brought a display of a stationary portal gate up on the holo-wall. "Quan, could you monitor all portal gates? If they are attempting to take new ones, maybe we can catch them in the act."

  Quan replied, "One moment... there are five gates offline or missing. I would suggest we begin any searches at those gates. With the fuel soon to be coming online, I would also suggest that I be allowed to return to Gratis. We may be able to pull information from the wreckage of the sentinel ships. That knowledge may be useful given my lack of access to my archives."

  I opened a portal to Gratis for a scan. "The area looks clear. Just keep yourself prepared for a jump. We can't afford to lose both you and a portal ship."

  Quan said, "I do not expect to remain there long. A few deep scans should provide us with the information we seek."

  The time came to check in on the searches for Garrett. A visit to Vagra and a comm to his aide Hurrik offered no new information. As the comm closed, Vagra looked perplexed.

  I asked, "What's wrong."

  Vagra Withers replied, "Jans was evasive. I've known him since he was a youth. He's hiding something. I didn't recognize some of the others there in the room with him. They are not associates of mine. One looked familiar..."

  I sat on the bench beside the captured Tamarin ruler. "If he's making every effort to conduct a search, wouldn't that include others who you wouldn't necessarily know?"

  Vagra shook his head. "My staff only associates with my staff. You have to go many levels down the chain of command to find external operatives. Wait—"

  Vagra stood. "I recognize one of those behind him. He is an advisor to Moortim Blon. This is not a good development, Mr. Beutcher. Members of my staff would never associate with those who are commanded by and loyal to others. I believe we have been usurped."

  I stood. "Come with me."

  We moved down the hallway to the room holding Moortim Blon. A comm call to his aide yielded a similar reply, no word of Garrett Rourke. Moortim's aide offered only furtive glances at the comm camera.

  I said, "He's lying. He's having difficulty looking you in the eye."

  We moved to the next room where the aide to Galat Carhe lied to us with a smile.

  Galat demanded, "Miss Plune. Are you or are you not taking power? You do realize this is punishable by death, don't you?"

  The Tamarin aide smiled. "It is obvious that you are no longer in control of where you are, Mr. Carhe. I have joined with Mr. Hurrik and Mr. Gallasi to form a new triad. The three of you are now considered outlaws of the Tamarin Corporation; warrants for your arrest will be issued shortly."

  Moortim Blon replied with an angry tone, "You will pay for this Plune. You, Gallasi, and Hurrik will pay with your lives!"

  Kerlis Gallasi stepped into the camera view. "A new age is dawning for the Corporation. The three of you have failed to maintain control and as such are in violation of your own contracts."

  Vagra replied, "We do not have contracts with the Corporation. We own it."

  Jans Hurrik joined the other two self appointed rulers on camera. "Mr. Withers. I would like to thank you for providing us with this opportunity. There will be immediate changes coming to the sector contracts that have been auctio
ned, but remain unsigned. And as to not having contracts, that is a false presumption on your part. Each of you signed an agreement three months ago. That agreement contains language stating that in the event that any of you fail to maintain full control of your assets, all would be forfeited to the next person in the chain of command."

  Vagra gave a heated reply, "I signed no such agreement!"

  Jans Hurrik pulled up an image of the agreement. "I'm afraid you did, Vagra. Language within the agreement, which also covered control of the Kergan and Grotus empires, states that in the event any of you are unable to govern, those duties fall to your chiefs of staff. The enactment of the agreement clause has already been approved by the trade board and defense league. All assets previously belonging to you have been reassigned. As of three hours ago, you are no longer the owners of the Tamarin Corporation. Should you attempt a return of any sort you will be immediately arrested, tried, and executed."

  Moortim Blon stepped back, collapsing on a bench. Galat sat beside him as Vagra stood in disbelief.

  Chapter 5

  * * *

  I placed my hand on Vagra's shoulder. "If the three of you fully cooperate, I will see to it that you are released unharmed."

  Joni said, "You get us Garrett back and we'll see to it that those three back-stabbers are spaced."

  Vagra looked me in the eye. "The AIs have your friend. They requested he be turned over to them for interrogation. We had much bigger issues to deal with than the fate of a single Human. I am unsure of how you go about questioning the AIs now that we are not in control."

  Joni said, "I say we sweep those others here and let these three question them."

  I shook my head. "We are not looking to shake up the reins of power again until we have Garrett."

  Joni said, "How about we sweep them here, ask them the question again and then send them back. They would have to know we could take them at any time."

  Vagra sighed. "They would disappear from public view. Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't you have to know their whereabouts to use your portal device on them?"

  I replied, "We would."

  I thought for a moment. "Quan, if we brought you an AI, would you be able to interrogate it? If it's been in contact with an AI that knows Garrett's location, could you extract that information?"

  Quan replied, "I could. I was able to gather some information from the damaged AIs on Maxell; however, the information was difficult to access without asking very specific questions. I am unable to read directly from their memories. I can ask pointed questions to which they can be made to respond."

  Joni looked around the room. "Let's go get an AI. There are millions of them running around out there."

  Vagra offered a suggestion. "I would start with a ship near Kral. A military vessel will likely have had the most interaction with other ships and consequently other AIs."

  Jack returned from delivering Kerba Skol to Megiddo. "I dropped him off with three months of supplies. He is certain that it's the real Megiddo. I performed a scan and the surface of that planet is loaded with debris. He'll be digging that place up until he figures out he's hungry."

  Quan said, "Mr. Beutcher. I would like to ask you a question in private."

  I stepped out of the room and moved down the hall. "Go ahead."

  Quan said, "I am on Gratis. I scanned the sentinel ship debris which remains in orbit as well as a few sizable pieces that fell to the planet's surface. I believe I may have located the stasis pods for Colonel Tom Harper and Bartel Helgris. Would you like for me to recover and analyze those pods? I did not want to ask that question in front of the Tamarin."

  I nodded into my comm camera. "Yes, please do. If the pods are functional, please sweep them to our docking bay. I'd like to revive them here."

  Seconds later a pile of mangled debris appeared on the deck of the docking bay. Go came down from the bridge for a look as Jack took over the nav post. Joni powered up the Stinger, jumping to Kral with the intent of grabbing an AI.

  Quan said, "Several dozen automated Tamarin ships just appeared above Gratis. I am moving to a new location. If they follow, I will continue until they cannot. When free, I will return to Effica to continue to work on bringing my archives back online."

  Go stood beside the pile of debris. "If there are stasis pods in there, I don't know how they survived. I'll get a cutting tool and get started on that mess."

  I replied, "Bring two."

  Go nodded as he walked away, returning several minutes later with a pair of laser cutters. We immediately began the task of freeing the pods from the tangled mass of sentinel ship debris.

  Go sliced into a twisted steel beam. "If either one of these two is alive, imagine the stories they could tell. I mean, they were there, at the beginning of the War of Wars."

  I thought for a moment about that statement. "And we are here now, fighting for our lives. In the grand scheme of things, is our struggle much different?"

  Go half laughed. "No, I guess it's not. Funny how you build past events up in your mind when comparing them to your own situation. They fought, they won. We're fighting... we're going to win. The danger they were in probably wasn't any worse than what we face."

  I smiled and nodded as I cut through the snarled beam in front of me, revealing the charred corner of what was once a repository for an extremely long slumber.

  After pulling up a steel plate, I frowned at the condition of the pod beyond. "I don't think this one made it. I can see into the base and the cryo-circuits that would have maintained this thing are in shambles. There's no indication of power going to the housing and I see stains where cryo-fluid has leaked out."

  Go yanked hard on a metal grate which was previously a deck plate from the ship that housed the pods. "I've got evidence of fluid over here as well."

  As I cut away a solid steel pole, the damaged cryo-chamber slid out of the wreckage, slamming hard into the floor. The viewing lens shattered. Several liters of cryo-fluid spilled out, making the deck of the docking bay slippery and unsafe.

  I stepped back from the stasis module with a wince. "That is a horrid smell. You may want to close your visor and enable your suit filter. I'm suddenly feeling lightheaded."

  Go took a sniff. "Just smells like cryo-fluid to me. It's not pleasant to Humans either, but it's tolerable."

  I closed my visor. "That is not a smell that agrees with Grunta physiology. I will need a few minutes to recover."

  Go looked up and waved a hand. "Just go back to the bridge. It looks like this was a bust. From what I read, you lose fluid you have at best five minutes to be brought back. There's no way anyone would have survived. Just go back, I'll keep cutting."

  I nodded as I turned, almost stumbling with my first few steps. As I sat in a chair on the bridge, I reopened my visor.

  Jack looked in my direction and chuckled. "You're looking kind of green. Almost makes you look like a Grotus."

  I took in a deep breath from the bridge air. "Cryo-fluid does not agree with my physiology. The two pods we uncovered were both inactive and leaking."

  Quan said, "I took the moment to analyze the sweep you performed. The cluster of debris that was swept into the Ares bay should contain six stasis pods."

  I took another deep breath as I attempted to clear my head. "Two pods were damaged. Go is continuing to cut into the debris."

  Jack stood. "You going to be OK?"

  I nodded. "I just need a few minutes to recover. I suspect the smell of that fluid has blocked my lungs from taking up oxygen."

  Jack walked over, slapping me on the shoulder. "Cryo-juice is mostly neon. If it's been heated, you might have a high level of hydrogen sulfide with it as the other parts are organic compounds. If you saw orange-brown liquid you probably got your lungs full of it. Not seeing what you're breathing is what gets you. You just gotta leave when your nose tells you to go. Anyway, if Go's still cutting, I'll give him a hand."

  Jack walked off the bridge. The Stinger passed through the gr
avity wall of the docking bay, settling to the deck just beyond the pile of debris.

  Joni blinked in beside Go.

  Go jumped. "I wish you would give me some warning before you did that. You're gonna make me soil myself."

  Joni frowned. "Thanks for the mental image. And I have an AI on the Stinger. Grabbed it from a fighter ship."

  Go pointed with a worried expression on his face. "You have an AI on there?"

  Joni nodded. "It's inactive. I have the comm inhibitor running. Besides, we don't have any bots on this ship for it to command."

  Go stood. "Yeah, but we have a ship that it can command. So having it here seems like a bad idea."

  Quan said, "Joni. Please bring the AI to me at Effica. An interrogation may require several hours of questioning."

  Joni turned and walked back toward the Stinger. "Be there in a minute."

  In an instant Joni was gone.

  Jack stood next to Go. "Hows it looking? Quan says there are six pods in there."

  Go cut through both ends of a metal shaft. "Help me pull this unit out. There should be another right behind it."

  I watched over the comm camera on Jack's helmet.

  Jack grabbed the end of the pod and pulled hard, using every muscle in both his legs. "Grrr. That's not coming free. It's still bolted to something."

  Go stooped, shoving his helmeted head into an opening. "Got it. One last weld."

  The stasis pod dropped to the floor with a thud. Jack and Go pulled hard, dragging it through a pool of quickly evaporating cryo-fluid as it spilled out of the damaged pod.

  Jack stopped, stood, and rocked forward and back. "Whoa. I think I know what Knog was feeling."

  Go said, "Drop your visor and let the helmet filter do the work for you."

  Jack flipped down his visor as he replied, "Why'd that only hit me when you've been breathing it in, too?"

  Go shrugged. "Not sure. It might be this bio-suit takes care of that for me."

  Jack frowned. "You still have to breathe, don't you?"

  Go pushed hard on the stasis pod, moving it several meters away from the pile of debris. "All I can say is it doesn't bother me much. It smells, but clean out a few sanitary systems on a detective's ship sometime, this smell will seem like a flower garden."