I looked at Go and Jack. "Can someone stay on the bridge? I don't think we need everyone here to tell them what's going on."
Go nodded. "I'll take it."
Jack stood. "I'd like to check up on Mr. Jefferson."
Joni leaned back in her chair. "I have all the tags in place, so unless we get a hit from one of them, I'd just as soon stay and listen."
I began with a brief history of the overthrow of the AMP, describing what conditions had led to that event and who had driven it. I next moved on to the portal gate Harden Salton had used to access the Yallux galaxy. I talked of the conscription of whole colonies and of the spread of the AIs. Several hours later, the story ended with the opening of the pods.
Frig said, "This artificial intelligence, it's of a distributed nature. That may be difficult to defeat."
I nodded. "The more it grows, the more it knows. We do have one significant advantage… that is, if it hasn't been discovered."
Frig propped his elbows on the table. "What would that be?"
I replied, "The AIs the Tamarin are building, they stole from us. Our designs had a kill switch built in. If we send the proper signal over a comm channel, all AIs within range will shut themselves down and scrub their own memories. The hardware remains, but it's useless without the software to run it."
The colonel asked, "You said 'if'."
"Yes," I replied. "If they haven't discovered and removed our fix. We used it once; they may have uncovered how we did it. If so, the kill switch option may have been removed."
Frig continued, "You mentioned the AIs being built by the Tamarin. Are there others?"
I nodded. "There were many others. A species called the Grotus, sworn enemies of the Grunta, were producing them on a large scale. So were several other species, including Harden Salton and the Humans, although they claim to have built in their own kill switch as well.
"We were preparing to have Quan broadcast the signal through all portal gates, potentially shutting down all of the AIs within range of those gates. However, we haven't attempted to go forward with that, as the AIs have one of our people at the moment, and we want him back."
The colonel leaned in. "So you're placing this one individual's life above that of everyone else?"
I held up my hand. "It's not so simple, Colonel. We have no guarantee that the kill switch will work. Or if it does, will it work well? We don't know. This individual they are holding means a lot to us. We'd like him back."
Frig asked, "How are the Tamarin moving here from the Yallux galaxy?"
Joni frowned. "That would be my grandfather's and uncle's doing. My grandfather figured out how to make a portal gate operate independently of its original location. Take it, power it up, and have it point wherever you want a portal opened. My uncle figured out how to make it mobile by building it into a ship. We think the Tamarin may have up to four of those ships in operation after shutting down and stealing gates."
I added, "The ships are fully automated and they're being run by AIs. Even though the Tamarin claim to be in charge, we're not so sure they are. The case may be that they only think they are."
Frig continued, "And these AIs, they operate on a distributed comm network?"
I replied, "Yes. We have a jammer of sorts that we can use when in close proximity. It disrupts the comm between AIs as well as between them and the bots they are controlling. What we've done is manage to overwhelm the comm channels they use with high power signals. Unfortunately, those signals require a tremendous amount of energy to broadcast, only making them useful in a limited area around a transmitter."
Frig nodded. "I would like to see the designs for this. Perhaps it can be improved upon."
The colonel tapped his knuckles on the table for attention. "Through all of this I haven't heard any talk of a military force. How many of you are there in this fight? Where are your troops?"
I shook my head. "We don't really have any troops, Colonel. There are seven of us with a couple other associates. I do command several million Talisan fighters, but they are not my army. And my own people, the Grunta, they are capable of fighting as well, but again, they are not our army. We've done our best to try to keep them out of the fighting."
The colonel frowned. "You're not giving me much to work with here, Mr. Beutcher."
I replied, "To work with for what?"
The colonel leaned forward. "To work with on taking back the AMP! You brought us back for that reason, did you not?"
I took a deep breath. "I suppose we did. We guessed that you might have knowledge that could help us in our cause."
The colonel scratched his chin in thought for a moment. "This ship is a portal ship and you are making use of our generator designs, courtesy of Quan. We can jump wherever we want, whenever we need to. We have fighters we could bring into this if needed, but we have no ships or armaments for them to use. What we need is a fleet of those sentinel ships and crews to man them. I think I can get the ships, if you can manage the crews."
I sat forward. "You have sentinel ships?"
The colonel shook his head. "No, but I think I know where we can get some."
I asked, "And where is that?"
The colonel grinned. "Earth. There should be several thousand of them parked there, waiting for our use."
I pursed my lips. "And how do we get to Earth, Colonel? We have no idea where it is."
The colonel sat back, crossing his arms. "The Earth sits inside a giant shell with an active sodium skin. It's there. You just can't touch it, see it, or feel it. And there is only one way in. Buried deep on Gratis is a portal gate that opens directly into a gate on Earth's surface. Take me back to Gratis and I'll take you to Earth."
I sighed. "Gratis is under control of the Tamarin. There are several thousand AI ships there right now. We believe they are attempting to acquire and make use of the technologies that may remain from the destroyed sentinel ships."
The colonel displayed an evil-looking grin. "Sounds like we need to go and take it back."
I gestured at our surroundings with my arms. "This ship is our only effective weapon against them. We can sweep ships away, one or two at a time, but we can't prevent new ones from being sent in so long as they have portal ships of their own."
I pulled up a display over my arm pad and started a portal scan of Gratis. Three minutes later the data was transferred to the conference room holo-wall. A giant floating image of Gratis was displayed.
I pointed at the data. "More than a thousand Tamarin ships in orbit and down on the surface. We can't get down there without a fight."
The colonel replied, "Not true. I have the exact coordinates of the gate room. So long as they haven't accessed it, we can portal directly there. After that we activate the gate and walk through to Earth."
I half smiled. "We can only hope it's that simple."
The colonel stood. "We have a plan. No time like the present to put it into action."
The colonel followed me to the bridge.
Chapter 8
* * *
I sat at the portal console. "Joni. I'm sending the colonel down to the gate coordinates he provided. I want you to go down there as well until he is able to get through that gate. Just keep him safe."
The colonel laughed. "Safe? Not to worry. The BGS suit I'm wearing will keep me safe. This is a combat suit. Hers is a maintenance suit. I'll be having to keep her safe."
I replied, "OK, what would you suggest?"
The colonel glanced around the bridge. "How about the one-armed bandit over there? I can take him through to Earth and get him a new arm. And a new suit. Heck, I can bring him back battle-ready. I would suggest we put BGS battle-suits on the lot of you. If we are going to turn the tides of this war, we need to put our best selves forward."
I looked at Go. "You interested in a visit to Earth?"
Go eagerly nodded. "Very interested. When do we leave?"
I performed a short scan of the underground gate. "I don't see any activity around
it. Stand next to the colonel and I'll sweep you both down there."
As Go stepped up to the colonel, Tom Harper slapped him on the back. "We'll get you all fixed up, son."
Go winced. "Please take it easy on me, colonel. I only have half a lung on that side."
The colonel pulled back. "What? You carry yourself very well."
Go half smiled. "I lost many of the functions on my right side due to a radiation incident. I'm down a kidney, some intestines, and half a lung among, other things."
The colonel gently squeezed his shoulder. "We have medical facilities there. I might have to leave you for a week or two, but they could make you good as new."
Go's eyes lit up. "What? They can do that?"
The colonel smiled. "If we can get the AMP restored, I'll see to it that the tissue replicators are installed throughout the galaxies. No reason for anyone to go around with a bum lung or bad foot when it can be regrown or repaired."
Seconds later a portal swept over the colonel and Go. We watched patiently as the colonel attempted to power up the millennia-old portal gate.
It was quickly evident that something was not right. "Colonel? What's happening down there?"
The colonel replied, "I need the passcode. As a security precaution, the gate hardware was encoded with multiple passcodes. When the sentinel ships were compromised, the primary code was automatically replaced with a secondary one. I was told what that was, but I can't recall it."
I said, "How do we recover this secondary key? Would it be in Quan's archives?"
The colonel thought for a moment. "No. It would have been encrypted into the ship's computers of those sentinels. Were there any left that were operational?"
Quan replied, "I have been monitoring the debris taken by the AIs on the surface. A section of a ship that possibly contained a potentially still operational computer was taken aboard one of their ships. That ship has since left the Gratis system."
The colonel made an angry face. "That means we either have to defend this gate or destroy it. Letting those AIs have access to Earth and her technologies would be a disaster."
Jack said, "With the Talisans and Gruntas we could take Gratis. I just don't think we could hold her for long."
The colonel asked, "Who are the Talisan?"
I sighed. "They are a species that claim me as their emperor. Even though they would go willingly, I would rather not involve them in any more of the fighting. They have already lost enough."
After a sweep, Tom Harper was towering over me on the bridge of the Ares. "These Talisan, do they live in this galaxy?"
I replied, "Yes."
The colonel leaned in with a growl. "Then they have a place in this fight. If they're an available resource, it's in their interest to join us. I don't care if they are Humans, or Gruntas, or Talisans. They all have a stake in this war and should not be excluded from taking part because of prior loses. This war is being fought now and we need all hands on deck."
"I understand your thinking, Colonel," I said, "but we don't have a plan where they would be of use."
The colonel stepped back and grinned his trademark evil grin. "Then we make a plan. Look, you said we know where the Tamarin are. If we take them out, do we then control the AIs?"
I replied, "Of that we can't be certain, but I believe the Tamarin have less control than they think they do."
The colonel sat in a chair, flexing his broad shoulders and powerful cybernetic arms as he stretched his upper torso. "I suggest we take the fight to the Tamarin and see. If we're able to recover that sentinel computer from them, we may have our access to Earth."
Frig asked, "Mr. Beutcher, I would like to do an analysis of your systems to see if there is opportunity for improvement."
Go laughed. "He doesn't have any systems, he's 100 percent Grunta."
Frig offered a polite nod. "I was referring to the systems of the Ares, but thank you."
I replied, "That would be appreciated, however, I think we would benefit more by having Quan's archives brought back online. There is much useful data stored in there that we are in need of."
Frig agreed.
I punched in the coordinates of the portal ship that contained the active circuits that made up Quan. Seconds later our new Gambit friend was standing on the bridge deck of Quan's portal ship.
After a brief tour, Frig opened a comm. "I believe we can have the archives online in as little as a week. Afterwards, I will work to reintegrate Quan's circuits into a single core. I believe his cooperation during the prior wars, and now this one, have shown that he can be trusted. His dis-integration was done so that control could be more readily maintained. I no longer believe that to be necessary."
Kerba asked, "So you're going to shrink him down? What size was he before?"
Frig replied, "Not much bigger than the size of your fist."
Kerba asked further. "And what of his archives?"
Frig smiled. "Those would be included in that size. Would you like to assist with this work?"
Kerba stood. "Please!"
Frig nodded. "I suppose you would be interested in Gambit history as well?"
Kerba almost burst with delight. "Please send me over, Mr. Beutcher. I have so many questions to ask."
Seconds later, Kerba Skol was standing on the bridge deck of the Quantix. The Gambit and the Ankor were quick to get to work.
I turned to face Tom Harper. "I suppose you would like to meet the Talisans and to have a briefing on the Tamarin?"
The Colonel nodded. "Those would be first in order."
I looked over at Jack. "You eager to take control of the Ares again?"
Jack replied, "I'm happy to contribute in any way I can."
Joni asked, "What about Go... and me?"
I gestured as I stood. "Let's head back to the conference room. You two can make sure I give the colonel all the information he needs. We'll give all the data on the Tamarin followed by a sweep out to Dallex. It will give me an opportunity to see my family."
Much of the remainder of the standard Earth day was spent in the conference room. Each of the encounters with the Tamarin was discussed, followed by a complete rundown of the Tamarin worlds. I could sense the gears turning in the colonel's head as he began to plan a strategy. He was focused and determined if nothing else. As the discussions concluded, we prepared for our jump.
I was swept onto the platform along with Joni, Go, and Colonel Harper. My Talisan staff was waiting to greet us.
I stepped forward. "General Kontat, this is Colonel Tom Harper. I would like you to give him a full review of your troops and their skills and abilities."
The general bowed to show his acceptance of the task. "Your Highness, the AI ships patrol this area of the Omega sector on a regular basis. We expect a visit within the hour. I would suggest we move your party inside quickly and that we keep your interaction with others to a minimum. I do not believe the AI pose an immediate problem, but they do have a propensity to ask the odd question which elicits further questioning from them. If this strategy is inadequate in any way. I humbly ask your forgiveness."
I shook my head. "Sounds prudent, General. Let's keep our contact and knowledge of our visit and its purpose to a minimum."
The colonel raised an eyebrow. "Your Highness?"
I half smiled. "They seem unwilling to address me in any other way, so I let it be. Colonel, these people are good fighters, and they will do whatever is asked to the best of their ability. I would ask that you make every effort to not risk their lives needlessly."
The colonel returned a stern look. "Mr. Beutcher, I can assure you that I will make every effort to keep every one of them alive. I've commanded troops for most of my adult life. Every loss hurts. I've lost brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and best friends; many of them lost as they fought by my side. Every life matters, and I'll take every precaution I can to ensure that every one comes home."
I nodded. "Thank you, Colonel. Now, I'll leave you in the capable hands
of Joni, Go, and General Kontat."
I had an officer fly me to the encampment of Gruntas that had taken over a city named Dolivu. Seventy percent of the city's population had been lost in the wars with the Grumar and Grotus. The remaining population had been relocated to other Talisan cities. After a short flight we landed and I was escorted into a conference room where Getta was waiting. Our usual embrace was followed by a bruising beating of my chest. I was elated.
Getta said, "The Talisans have treated us well. However, the Council looks for a way to get us back to Jorus."
I shook my head. "We can't return to Jorus until the Tamarin threat has been removed. They run everything now and care nothing of Grunta desires or needs."
Getta countered. "Then we take the fight to the Tamarin."
I replied, "I have something to tell you. I know this may come as a shock, but we found a planet named Gratis that some, from the War of Wars, settled on after the AMP was founded. There were five great sentinel ships waiting to dissuade any visitors from landing on the planet. We managed to get a code that allowed us access to the ships and the world below. Unfortunately, we didn't safeguard that code and the AIs used it to destroy the five great ships.
"In the wreckage of one of those ships were two stasis pods. One pod contained a great Human warrior from the War of Wars. Colonel Tom Harper has been in stasis for nearly two thousand years."
Getta inquired, "And the other?"
I replied, "The other was a Gambit, we know them as Ankors, named Bartel Helgris. He was one of the founding fathers of AMP as well, and was also a warrior who was instrumental in the Humans winning the War of Wars. The colonel is here, meeting with the Talisans as we speak. Bartel Helgris, he prefers to be called Frig, is assisting us in other ways. I'm telling you this because the colonel thinks we should be taking the fight to the Tamarin. He's here to raise an army."
Getta returned a half insulted look. "Why did he not come straight to the Council?"
I sighed. "He will. And he will want to know your strengths and abilities as well as your numbers and eagerness to fight. I assured him he will have no problem getting volunteers, although I warned him that any such service would likely come with requests and assurances."
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