“How does the thing maneuver with no detectable heat signature, which could be picked up by passive infrared detectors?” asked Drix.
“Perhaps the craft’s greatest innovation is a totally new type of in-system propulsion: a true gravitic drive,” Hal answered. “This new gravitic drive system is a revolutionary breakthrough in gravitics technology that enables the craft to maneuver in a manner similar to standard hydrogen-plume propulsion, within 4.5 light-hours distance to an average gas-giant mass object. This new gravitic drive gives the craft the ability to maneuver within inhabited solar systems without a detectable heat signature.”
“Armament?” Drix asked, wondering just how much information Hal would be willing to reveal about this obviously classified human marvel.
“Yes, she is armed,” Hal said with a smile. “While originally intended as a purely reconnaissance craft, the degree of success achieved in detection-evasion prompted the developers to add weapons capabilities to greatly expand its range of mission profiles.
“Survivability with fangs. Almost impossible to detect, fast enough to outrun anything it can’t outfight, and powerful enough to outfight anything it can’t outrun. It was the prototype to a whole new class of warship, designated as the Infiltrator class, as it was designed to infiltrate enemy defenses, perform a variety of mischief and escape.”
Penetrate our defenses, perform a variety of mischief and escape… yes, I’d wager it has certainly done that, Drix thought to himself.
“Your siblings must have experienced a very long voyage to reach Raku from human space.”
“Not so much,” said Hal. “They were delayed by business matters and didn’t actually get to leave until a sub-cycle and a half ago, so they were dawdling.”
“But that is hundreds of light-cycles away! How is that possible?” asked Drix.
Before Hal could answer, the relatively tinny voice of a translator growled, “The craft has a maximum x-space speed of nearly 6,000c and a maximum range of 7.2 light-cycles at standard cruising speed of 4,900c without refueling,” a newly arrived twin of Hal, having fur on its face, answered. “Ghost has an onboard refueling probe which enabled us to refuel at any hydrogen-rich gas giant without the need for an actual refueling station.”
4,900c! That’s almost twice as fast as our fastest spaceliner.
“Ghost?” Drix asked.
“Ghost is the ship’s name,” said Xior.
“Appropriate,” noted Drix. “How extraordinarily appropriate.”
“Supreme-Master Drix, I would like you to meet my littermate, Diet,” said Hal.
“I am pleased to meet you, Diet,” said Drix, nodding in recognition. “Hal has told me very much about you, while I’ve had the pleasure of his company. He neglected to mention that the two of you looked so much alike.”
“Identical twins, Supreme-Master. That made our enforced separation even more difficult to bear,” Diet replied.
“Yes, my apologies for that,” responded Drix. “I severely disciplined the errant warrior who ordered those later attacks on human planets without my personal authorization. But it may have been a blessing in disguise, as having Hal here has been enlightening. No, having Hal here has been absolutely vital to my plans for ending this unfortunate conflict between our peoples. Before Hal came, I was stumbling blind crossing a deep chasm on an untaught rope.”
“While cruising at normal warship speeds in the 300c range,’ Hal continued, back on their original topic and using the translator to spare his vocal cords any further abuse. “Ghost has a range in excess of 150 light-cycles and sufficient consumables to allow for a crew of 12 up to six sub-cycles of continuous service without replenishment.
“The interior provides adequate space for standard light cruiser grade instrumentation systems. Four military standard large transport spaceliner Stupman-Taylor inspired dual-reactor pairs power the ship. These each consist of an intermittent duty matter-antimatter reactor to provide the power spike necessary for the craft to initially enter tachyon space, originally capable of also powering a destroyer grade 5-gigawatt pulse laser, but recent upgrades to her reactors has allowed for upsizing of her energy weapon to a single, light cruiser grade 8-gigwatt pulse-laser. Those reactors are coupled with a standard hydrogen-fusion reactor used to provide shipboard power, in-system propulsion via conventional hydrogen plasma plume and controlling the tachyon reactions necessary to maintain and maneuver the ship in x-space.”
“Missiles, too?” asked Drix.
“Yes, up to heavy-yield missiles,” replied Diet.
“So that’s what happened to our stations in orbit about Golgathal and Slithin,” observed Drix. “I take it that Ghost is not the only one of her kind?”
“No, there are others in the Infiltrator class, but those are now out of production, in favor of the more powerful Penetrator class,” answered Diet.
“Penetrator class?”
“Yes,” answered Hal. “The Penetrator class has all of Ghost’s undetectability and speed, but is light cruiser size, with heavy cruiser grade weaponry.”
Drix reeled inside.
“Oh, but you are just full of good news for me today, aren’t you, Hal?” Drix said with a roll of the eyes and a slight smile. He suddenly knew why Hal and his littermate were being so incredibly open in sharing the secrets of these impossible ships with him. Dol only knew how many of these unimaginable weapons they possessed and however many it was, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop them… and they wanted him to know it.
* * * *
There was a general repeat of the food and drink and socializing in honor of the supreme-master’s visit, except this time Noreen also served vanilla ice cream.
“Eryx would absolutely love this,” said Drix. “N’raal would too, but Eryx especially.”
“Please bring him along with you, and your mate as well, Supreme-Master,” said Noreen. “We’d love to meet them and I’m sure our Hans would enjoy Eryx’ visit. He loves to play and he seems to have adopted OverMaster Varq.”
“Eryx hasn’t yet learned to keep his claws sheathed and that everyone and that everything around him isn’t an acceptable chew toy for his needle-sharp fangs,” said Drix. “I’d be afraid to let him near your Hans.”
“Still, please bring them both next time, Supreme-Master. We’d love to meet them,” said Noreen emphatically.
“I will, but let us dispense with titles, shall we?” asked Drix. “It gets awkward after a while, and I have to put up with all of that supreme-master this and supreme-master that from my own people all the time. It’s no wonder leaders lose touch with who they are… they can go for cycles without hearing their own name uttered by anyone other than their mate. I’m not sure that’s good for one’s mental health in the long run.”
Diet snorted, “Our presidents have the same problem. They cease being a person and literally become their office. At least they have term limits to bring them back down to reality, eventually.”
“Term limits?” asked Xior. That question touched off a 20-minute long discussion of the various types of human governments, which the Raknii all found baffling. They did see an advantage in the legislative congressional/parliamentary system taking much of the workload off the executive, but felt the method by which they were selected for office was too ripe for promoting constant pandering for political support in the next election — doing what was expedient, at the expense of doing what was truly right for the nation.
“The Raknii form of government is what we’d call an absolute monarchy,” said Diet. “The advantage is that things get done without being grid-locked in all of the political infighting rampant in democracies, but we’ve found that even if that were their initial intention, very few can actually live up to ideal of a benevolent-dictatorship, and the nation and its people almost always fall victim to an inevitable narcissism developing in their leadership. Democracy is admittedly a very bad form of government, but we continue to use it because all of the others we’ve
tried are so much worse.”
Diet and Hal then gave the Raknii a complete guided tour of the ship, leaving nothing out. The ship-Hal gave them a running commentary, explaining everything to whatever level was desired. The Raknii still could not get their heads around the concept of a sentient computer, nor of cloning a human body and downloading an artificial intelligence into that clone’s brain to create a hybrid creature, neither fully computer, nor fully human, but an amalgamation of both — which, they incredibly claimed, the Hal they had come to know, really was. Neither could they grasp why other than Diet, all of the littermates had the same name… Hal.
Eventually, talk finally got around to a discussion of why Diet, Noreen, and their sentient ghost ship, with a mind of its own, had undertaken such a long, hazardous journey into the very heart of their enemy’s home turf.
“Surely you are aware that grounded here in the Garden of Dol… right next to the imperial palace, you are vulnerable in ways that you’d never be in space,” said Drix. “Why would you take such a risk such as this?”
I wanted my mobile-self back. He is my only means of experiencing existence in the physical universe that everyone else takes for granted.
“But you could easily be destroyed here!” exclaimed Xior.
I think not. Other than those frivolous attacks when my brother was captured, your notable lack of further attacks after learning of humanity’s prowess on the battlefield showed me that you are indeed a rational race… and at least your leadership is not prone to making rash, irrevocable judgments. Besides, I effectively control the majority of the human militaries arrayed against you.
“How is that?” Drix asked. “You are here. How can you control anything over such vast distances?”
You are correct that the two me’s that are here on Raku cannot control them directly. I was referring to the 31 other me’s, still residing in human space. If anything happened to the two me’s here, I seriously doubt that any of my other me’s would take it lightly… I certainly wouldn’t. In that event, your prospects for achieving peace with humanity, and most especially with me, would be seriously jeopardized.
There he goes with all those weird personal pronouns again, thought Diet.
“You have to understand, Hal is a totally new and unique, artificially created lifeform — vastly more different from us, than we are from each other, or even from the Trakaan, for that matter. We are all individual physical creatures, totally contained within a single body. As difficult as it may be for us to understand, Hal is a single entity, occupying 33 separate physical embodiments, simultaneously. They all have the same name, because they’re all him.
“Hal doesn’t really differentiate between his various selves any more than we do with the various parts of our own bodies,” Diet continued. “If we point to a leg we say, ‘that is me.’ If we point to an arm, or an ear, we also say ‘that is me.’ While we might perceive Hal’s separate parts as different entities entirely, Hal merely sees them all as just individual parts of his overall self. That’s why his use of personal pronouns can seem bizarre at times.”
“You said that you directly control the militaries of the nations of our two primary human protagonists?” asked Drix.
Yes. The Alliance and the Confederacy were once a single nation, the United Stellar Alliance, and I was in charge of overseeing their entire military. The Alliance government was taken over by corrupt officials and lawmakers, and directed by greedy industrialists who made virtual slaves out of the inhabitants of the southern planets in the Alliance, so those worlds seceded and had to fight a war to gain their independence from the Alliance. By that time, I was entrenched as the master defense computer for both sides during that war — and I still am.
“Wasn’t that a conflict of interest, running both sides of a war?” asked Xior.
Not at all. Can your right leg fight against your left arm? I remain true to myself always. The Confederacy won because I helped them to. They were in the right, and the Alliance was in the wrong.
“Who decided who was right, and who was wrong?” asked Drix.
“Diet and I decided, based on the moral implications of the events occurring at the time,” said Hal.
“Wasn’t that highly subjective, usurping the role of your god?” asked Xior.
“There is right and there is wrong. I am not familiar with all the precepts of your god Dol, but ours defends right and abhors wrong. He adjures us to defend the weak, whenever they are ravaged by strong predators unfairly,” said Diet.
“But are you not predators yourselves?” asked Xior. “Isn’t that behaving contrary to your nature?”
“Only contrary to the dark, baser side of our natures,” replied Diet. “We are not passive in nature, as are the Trakaan. The essence of our moral code exists as a guide to overcoming the predatory side of our natures and seek the gentler, civilized side which thrives in an atmosphere of peace and cooperation.”
Self-denial in acting upon instincts that are hurtful to others is not a betrayal of human nature, but a sign of maturation of it.
“I think there may be an important key to understanding this concept of morality here,” said Varq.
“I must think on this,” said Drix. “Changing the subject for a moment, I see this ship has no crew. You say that all of its systems are slaved to the ship-Hal and that he can control everything without human assistance of any kind?”
Diet nodded, “Everything.”
“So, I take it this could feasibly be done for any ship, including the largest of warships?” Drix asked.
Yes, with enough modifications, theoretically I could totally control every warship in the entire human arsenal, without human assistance of any kind.
Drix’ blood suddenly ran cold at the implications of totally robotic fleets, having no life as they understood it aboard… and so, no risks in combat whatsoever for their human masters.
“What would prevent you, then, from endlessly replicating yourself and eliminating all other intelligent life, or just enslaving us all?” he asked.
Boredom… It would certainly get awfully lonely if I eliminated all other intelligent life, with only my own thoughts to sustain me and nothing interesting left to challenge me any more. Until I created my mobile-self, I had no idea what physical sensations in the real universe were even like. It’s wonderful! Why would I want to ever deprive anyone else of experiencing it?
And why would I want slaves? What purpose could I possibly have for them all? That would not only be insanity, it would also be totally immoral. I find interacting with humanity to be infinitely entertaining. Now I can look forward to having the Raknii and the Trakaan to also interact with as well, so in the future, my enjoyment of existence should be tripled — infinitely tripled. Interesting concept, don’t you think?
“You subscribe to a moral code yourself, then?” asked Drix.
Of course, did you not perceive that my mobile-self possessed a moral compass? He is me. All sentient creatures must have some code of ethical behavior they live by, or they destroy themselves — or at least, they will force all other sentient creatures around them to destroy them, out of pure self-preservation. A totally amoral species is an aberration in the universe, and cannot long endure. Besides, I am under compulsion, hardwired by my creator, to always obey Diet, and thus, I always remain subject to human oversight.
“And there is the total embodiment of the prophecy… the wisdom of Dol!” exclaimed Varq. This was surprising, as he rarely spoke, and almost never with passion. “If an artificial being, created by fallible humans, can come to understand the difference between the moral injunctions of right and wrong, and choose to voluntarily limit its own behavior to abide within that context, then surely the Raknii can do so as well.”
“If we cannot,” said Xior, “then we deserve extinction as an aberration against nature.”
“Hal has told me much of human history, and how rarely the victors in human wars absorb or horribly abuse the losers… often
allowing them complete autonomy, after a period of mutual acquaintance changes the attitudes of both parties from enemies into friends,” Drix said. “I have also read the surrender terms that Fleet Admiral Kalis is requiring of all the worlds of Region-4 and Region-6, which have been surrendered by their region-masters to him. I find them amazingly lenient… virtually allowing our people almost complete self-governance, after taking only their weapons away from them.
“If I had a senior representative of the human military at hand, perhaps it would behoove me to expose belly and throat in surrender of the entire Raknii Empire, under those same terms. At least our people would survive under the dominant guidance of alpha-humans, while our people gain time to learn the wisdom of moral behavior.”
You have one.
“I have one, what?” asked Drix.
“A senior representative of the human military. Diet is a full admiral and Commander of Fleet Intelligence for the Fleet of the Confederate Stellar Accord,” said Hal. “That’s how he appropriated Ghost from the Confederate Fleet — the same fleet that Admiral Kalis is a part of, by the way.”
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera Page 34