by D. R. Rosier
One of the early problems on Earth with digitization was it hadn’t felt natural and real to the human psyche, and had caused insanity. One of the key reasons for that was sexual stimulation, the sex drive was an important part of the survival instinct, and the initial androids during the first trials were incapable of a realistic human experience.
The initial trials had insane human minds in android bodies, that pretty much ran amuck and got a lot of people killed. That’s why the project had been abandoned, and the technology outlawed on Earth.
There were other problems to overcome as well, which the A.I.s eventually did. His father had been the first successful human mind digitization into an A.I. matrix, and his four human mothers were the only other ones so far, and had been similarly successful.
The reason it wouldn’t work for Alyndra was similar to the early human failures, the software didn’t exist that could accurately simulate their instincts, and of course the largest barrier to that was telepathy. Telepathy was central to their being, and as far as he knew there was no technology that could read minds yet. Or at least, not the way a telepath could from a distance. Until or unless that ever happened, an Esari trying to digitize would always fail.
Still, the point that it was impossible didn’t make him feel less guilty for getting cocky and quite possibly getting them killed. By lowering his perception he’d given himself time to think, but implementing the new plan would take several minutes in real time, which they almost surely didn’t have.
Chrystal said, “I can find their apertures, but the field loses cohesion when I try and stabilize it on the other side. Either there’s a trick to it I don’t know, or they have more protection than their normal artificial gravity shields. I’m not a creative engineer, we need someone else to look at.”
He was an engineer, and he should have figured that out himself. He hadn’t considered there might be major adjustments needed.
He brought up the logs of what she was doing, and started to study the results.
Five more holes were ripped through the ship.
He said, “Gravity works in subspace, but most of the other universal laws are different. I believe the field geometry is being warped by the transition, and then further warped by the second transition, to the point it won’t work.”
Chrystal asked, “So how do we get it to work?”
He frowned, “We’d have to figure out the distortion, and then compensate for the distortion by sending out a field from our end that is already distorted, and have subspace twist it into a working field configuration on the other end. To make it more complicated, the distance in subspace is a factor, so I need to work out a mathematical formulae accounting for that as well.”
Chrystal sighed, “So we’d need to rewrite the software once you figure out the calculations. Do we have time for that, even the way we are? The enemy ship is firing two pulses a second, another one is due here soon.”
He said, “I have a crazy idea, if I can’t figure it out by the time implementation reaches the bridge, we go with crazy.”
Then he told her his plan.
She said, “That’s insane, you know that right?”
“Yes, but it’s the only way we can save Alyndra, and possibly win this battle, if I can’t crack this. Implement, unless you’re pulling the objection card.”
She replied, “No… I’ll do it, but it just seems so wrong.”
He chuckled, and got back to his calculations. The problem was he didn’t have controlled conditions, and couldn’t test the various outcomes from disparate distances. He didn’t have enough data to work with to figure it out.
Five pulses tore through the ship, and he was pretty sure that last one had hit Nadia’s closet.
He brought up his overlay, as the large holographic table in the middle of the bridge disappeared in fire, as a huge pulse went through the ship and tore a hole eight feet wide, and fifteen feet long.
He smiled, Chrystal was right, that did seem wrong.
He worked on the math, even though he was almost positive he couldn’t do it under these conditions. He needed more test data in the real world, simulations wouldn’t be enough, and the real world required real time perception filters being active.
Two more attacks, and ten holes later, a shuttle, fitting perfectly in the hole they’d blown through their own ship, rose up through the hole and onto the bridge. Well, he did admit the plan was crazy and wrong.
He reinstated his perception filters.
“On the ship, now!”
Both Nadia and Alyndra seemed frozen in either shock or fear, he grabbed Alyndra, and Chrystal grabbed Nadia and they ran for the shuttle. The pulses in real time were much scarier, as his ship was steadily torn apart around them, ten new holes a second. They were attacked twenty times by the time they got into the shuttle and had closed the canopy.
As the canopy sealed he said, “That did seem wrong.”
Blowing a hole in their own ship.
“Launch all ships.”
He fired a pulse, and flew the ship through the resultant hole which was opposite of the enemy ship, as the thirteen other surviving shuttles shot out of the ship as well, and accelerated to point four light speed in moments. They were also programmed to slightly change course and speed randomly twenty times a second to make it almost impossible for the enemy to target one, much less destroy all thirteen shuttles before they could get out of range.
Then he opened the command console, and activated the self-destruct on his ship, which merely dropped the secondary field on the four dark energy cores inside the ship. A build up and overload of the system took less than one hundredth of a second, and the ship exploded into dust. Hopefully, that would blind the enemy’s sensors even further.
He watched the scanners and breathed out a sigh of relief, when instead of trying to chase them on thirteen different constantly changing headings, the enemy ship turned and started back for the planet.
Nadia was as white as a sheet, and her mouth opened and closed several times before she declared.
“That was crazy!”
He laughed…
Chapter Eighteen
Alyndra asked, “What now, this ship does not have subspace capabilities.”
Chrystal smiled, “I’m still here.”
Chrystal held herself up in the palm of her hand, it was the little square that held her true A.I. core, not her android body. So of course, that had been saved as well. Not to mention the dark energy core, matter/energy converter, and the precious Vathiecium.
They flew out to the gas giant in the system and hid behind it, the other ships scattered throughout the solar system and hid as well.
“How long for the battleship configuration?”
He figured they might as well upgrade, again. All ship configurations had the new shield setup, so they should be good there.
Chrystal smiled, and the cube started to glow, and golden light filled his vision.
“About thirty minutes.”
The battleship configuration had the same one hundred yard by fifty-foot top tier for a twenty-person command crew, and the second tier engineering level was also the same as the destroyer. There were four more power cores to support the much larger ship with all the extra emitters, but other than that the engineering level wouldn’t be any different either.
The third tier was completely different than the destroyer, instead of being a mere one hundred yards by one hundred feet, it was three hundred yards by one hundred yards, with two additional decks beneath it.
The primary reason he’d chosen the much larger ship, was because he didn’t think the destroyer would be able to carry enough troops back to Feilia, assuming the Mirosians would be willing. This new ship could carry many thousands, and should be more than large enough. It also had larger shuttles, for troop transport, as well as far more of the smaller shuttles.
Most of those really wouldn’t be needed though, since a handful could do the job. He would have just s
tuck with the destroyer if he’d only had to worry about space battles. Then again, this new ship would be able to tear out far larger sections of the enemy’s hulls when it got in range.
The new battleship and attack craft would also have the updated three tier subspace shield configuration, which was more powerful than the enemy’s hasty upgrades. Not to mention safer.
He reached out and took Chrystal’s free hand, and then started to work on the gravity problem…
“Mike?”
“Mom?” he replied to Mia.
Mia sent to him and Chrystal, “Eight more worlds have been attacked. It looks to be a full-scale invasion. We’ve voted to give the Xarans the configurations for second level subspace, but not your new power modules. The ones they use should be strong enough for that, if they use enough.”
Well, shit. Not about giving away the tech, about the invasion part.
He sent, “I have new configurations, the ones I worked with Trudy on aren’t good enough anymore.”
He sent her the data, and new configurations for three tiered shields, and as an afterthought sent them to Trudy as well.
Mia was silent for a minute, and then asked in a concerned voice, “Are you all okay?”
Chrystal replied, “We are, thanks to Mike’s crazy plan.”
Mia’s laughter was a little strained.
“I’ll pass this on to the Xaran through dad, he’s been coordinating on Xaran. Be careful, I love you both.”
He replied, “Love you too mom.”
He said out loud, “Eight more systems have been attacked. The A.I.s are working with the Xarans to give them a chance in the fight.”
Nadia asked, “What does that mean for us?”
He replied, “Nothing, we’re still clearing out Miroth’s orbitals, and then hopefully recruiting a ground army to free Feilia. Others will respond to the rest of the incursions. We’ll figure out what to do next, or where we can help, once our current mission is done.”
They couldn’t save everyone, even if he wanted to, or was willing to.
He spent the rest of the time trying to work out a mathematical formula to account for the gravity distortion going through subspace, but he only got so far. They needed downtime to figure it out. Hopefully it wouldn’t be needed again until they had the time to work it out.
He could send it to the other A.I.s, but was reluctant to ask them to assist in weapons development. He’d figure it out, eventually.
He also sent Nadia and Alyndra the layout of the new larger ship.
The golden light died, and this time they looked out of the small craft into a cavernous flight deck with hundreds of small craft…
Nadia sighed as they walked to the lift that would take them to the command deck.
“Probably not that important in the scheme of things, but clothes?”
Chrystal replied, “I scan everything taken aboard me, so I was able to recreate them. Your stuff too Alyndra.”
Alyndra nodded in thanks, it was really hard to read her sometimes, but she appeared thoughtful, and impressed that a full battleship this size, with accompanying craft, was made in a little over a half hour. He was also used to seeing her in just a ship suit, not that it wasn’t still nice to look.
Nadia just looked numb to it now as they made their way down the familiar corridor.
They entered the bridge, which was the same size as the destroyer’s, the command crew complement being the same.
“Alright, let’s try this again, set a course for Miroth at point four light speed, and engage.”
Chrystal smiled, “Right away.”
The large ship swung around the gas giant, and headed in system.
He looked at Nadia again, “You look exhausted, did you want to sit this one out?”
They’d been at it all day. Of course, as far as he was concerned it was over two months’ time, but really it’d been less than half a day. Still, the day’s events had to be emotionally exhausting.
Nadia shook her head, “After, I imagine it will take time to gather together a ground force. I could use a sandwich though, and a coffee. I’m starving.”
He added it all up in his head, and realized she hadn’t eaten in over ten hours.
He frowned, “You need to take care of yourself, Chrystal and I don’t have to eat.”
He felt guilty for not noticing before now.
Nadia replied, “It’s all the adrenaline, and the crash, I wasn’t really hungry until now.”
He turned to Alyndra, “Are you hungry?”
Alyndra replied, “I could eat.”
Chrystal made a plate of finger sandwiches, and some drinks out of thin air. They both ate while he watched Miroth grow closer on the holographic system.
This time all three ships moved toward them. He was confident this time, but also cautious, who knew what they’d come up with next?
When they reached energy range, their ships started to send pulses of energy at them, which they routed over the shields, enhanced, and fired back. He relaxed slightly when the ships were holed, last time they’d suckered him in this way, but he didn’t believe that to be the case this time.
He blew out a breath as they passed the halfway point, and nothing changed.
Nadia asked, “Problem?”
He shook his head, “Nope, not this time. Chrystal, launch three fighters for each ship.”
Chrystal replied, “On it.”
They closed into gravity weapon range a short time later.
He winced as he watched a football field sized hole ripped out of the front of the enemy’s ship, and they tilted up and sent a pulse of energy just as wide into the hole in their enemy’s shields.
The enemy ship exploded.
Maybe the ship upgrade wasn’t needed for space battles, but it sure made them faster.
The four of them watched, as the shuttles ripped small holes in the hulls, and flew inside to cut the two remaining enemy ships into pieces from the inside. This time, both ships exploded from secondary explosions, which was honestly a relief.
Him killing the helpless remaining aliens of that one ship still bothered him, even if the enemy seemed to be irredeemable. Better if they died in battle, for his conscience anyway.
Chrystal said, “I’m replacing those shuttles, they were all lost in the destruction.”
He nodded.
“Take us to Miroth and make orbit, and see if you can contact anyone in charge.”
Chapter Nineteen
“This is Commander Dahlia, identify yourselves.”
The view screen showed a woman in glowing white armor that completely covered her except for the face plate that was currently open. All he could really tell was she had an attractive face with porcelain skin, and incredibly vivid blue eyes.
He replied, “This is senator Mike Stedman, aboard an A.I. ship responding to the request for help at council. Your orbitals are now cleared of the enemy invaders.”
Dahlia said, “Excellent news. We still have a few of the bastards to put down on the surface.”
“Commander, we were hoping the Mirosians might be willing to assist Feilia, while we cleared their orbitals they don’t have a chance on the ground, and neither do we. We only have four people aboard this ship.”
Dahlia grinned, and not in a nice way, though he realized the nasty smile wasn’t for him.
“First you clear our orbitals, and now you want to invite us to a party? Give me… twelve hours to finish up, get things settled, and I’ll bring my command aboard your ship.”
“How many is that?”
Dahlia replied, “I command a full cohort, ten thousand armored soldiers. Your ship looks big enough.”
He nodded, “More than commander, and thank you. Just signal and we’ll send enough shuttles down. I’m also transmitting the layout and facilities available to your people.”
Dahlia smiled again, but this time it was a nice smile.
“Very nice to meet you Mike, I’ll see you soon, and call m
e Dahlia, only my troops need call me commander.”
He nodded, and they signed off.
“Chrystal, you have security well in hand?”
Chrystal looked offended, “Of course. They won’t get on the engineering level, and if they get too curious about our tech it will self-destruct.”
He smiled, “Sorry for doubting you.”
She sighed, “I know how you can make it up to me.”
He asked, “How’s that?”
She giggled, “We have twelve hours, and nothing to do.”
He grinned, and said to Nadia and Alyndra, “Time to get some rest. We’ll be… in our quarters.”
He took Chrystal’s hand and started to walk off the bridge.
He couldn’t help but notice the unguarded wistful look on Nadia’s face as she watched them. She must have been exhausted to allow that to show so obviously on her face. But he’d have to deal with that another time, he wanted his love badly, and she wanted him. There was also no way to tell if it had been a moment of wishful thinking on her part though, or if she really did want him as much as he wanted her.
He hoped it was the latter, but it also could have been just envy for the relationship he had, which so far had eluded her in her life, and not about him specifically at all, just what he and Chrystal had. Or… something else. He wasn’t afraid of rejection, he just didn’t want to push her, it had only been four days since they’d met after all, even if it was almost sixty-four from his point of view.
There was also the matter of her being able to accept the polyamory concept, he didn’t just want a quick tumble with the incredibly sexy and well-built woman, he wanted a chance for much more.
Alyndra looked, almost amused, but it really was hard to tell. She was also still obviously uncomfortable and unsure of their arrangement. He’d been treating her like a guest instead of a servant, and as far as he was concerned that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon. From what he understood, according to her culture she should be sleeping at the foot of his bed, helping him dress, bathe, and bringing him food, all while protecting him with her own life.