I replied, “Well, it’s you, me, and these two puny blasters. I have my AK, but it won’t do much against those Colossuns. Would be nice if we had brought a couple NIBs with us.”
York shook her head. “They have shielding for that, Sir.”
York leaned her head back and looked up at the piping along the ceiling. “Sir, I may have an idea. Those pipes up there, in fact, the pipes for this whole section, have to come through that bulkhead. The common design for that is in the overhead above that doorway. That minimizes the space you have to fight with if you have a breach. There would be an access way through there. Probably a very small one. If so, perhaps one of the Gontas could fit through it.”
I spoke. “Meecha, we need a volunteer. We need to get someone up on that big pipe and then have them shimmy down that hall to the bulkhead. If there is an access door there big enough to go through, we need someone through it. Once on the other side, they need to come back and silence those guns!”
A Gonta sergeant stepped forward. He was the smallest of their team.
Meecha spoke. “Your ancestors will be honored by this deed, Sergeant Fuura. It will be recorded in my logs.”
The sergeant smiled as York held out her hand for his foot. “Be prepared to grab hold up there, Sergeant. I’m going to toss you up.”
With a seemingly effortless swing of York’s arm, the Gonta sergeant was up and straddling the pipe. York provided cover by occasionally poking her head around the corner to send an ion bolt into the cannons’ shields. Three minutes later, repeated Gonta blaster rounds could be heard as the sergeant cleared the way.
When we reached his position, he lay against a far wall. His right hip and leg were missing, and a pool of his blood covered the floor.
Meecha leaned down and spoke. “With honor, Sergeant. My log will state ‘with honor.’”
The sergeant reached out his hand, and Meecha took it for a firm, final shake. Sergeant Fuura’s grip lightened as his head slowly rolled back. My heart ached at the loss of another valiant warrior for our cause.
York looked back from further down the hall. “Party is still going, folks. We have work to do. Let’s honor Fuura by getting it done!”
We worked from deck to deck, with Colossun crewmen attempting to do battle with the killing machine that York was. My thirty-minute estimate had come in at only twenty-eight. With the worms installed, the Colossun battleship was soon under our full control. I awaited the opening of a microportal to report our progress back to command.
A voice of a portal tech came out of thin air. “Team one, what is your status?”
I replied, “This is Grange. We have full control of our target. I am requesting a team to hold her while we move to the next one.”
The voice replied as the portal opened full and a rail was shoved through, “Roger, team one. Stand back for a pilot team and then come back through.”
As the Gonta team that was to pilot the battleship slid through the portal, I sent back notice. “We had one casualty. We will be needing a Gonta replacement. And Tech, do you have any results from elsewhere?”
The tech replied, “That is an affirmative, Mr. Grange. We have reports back from about seven hundred of the shuttles and another three hundred various cargo ships. You are the first of the heavies to report.”
I filled in the tech on our strategy to get past the bulkhead. It would do no good to teams that had already gone through, as there was no further communication until they had reached the bridge of their target vessel. New teams, however, would make use of the suggestion.
After a short briefing, we were sent onto the next battleship that was available. This time we managed to take her without losing a man. On our third ship, a cruiser, we did the same.
Three hours after the battle for the Duke’s fleet had begun, the final ships were in their final throes of a defense. Team one had commandeered six ships and was now back in the jump room waiting for our next move.
I spoke as the Colonel walked into the room. “Colonel Harper, what are you doing here?”
The Colonel spoke. “The rest of this fight can be managed by my team. I’m coming with you so I can get an evaluation of York’s performance. The videos I have seen require me to witness this tornado in person.”
York spoke. “Aw, thank you, Sir! I will have to say that the pain I went through to get these prosthetics was well worth it. I can do just about everything faster and more accurately than ever before. I don’t get tired, I need a lot less sleep, and I even require fewer rations. I’m living a Marine’s dream, Sir.”
I replied, “I would have to agree with her even though her gear is a level above mine. My left arm is still a bit wonky from just getting replaced, but I have as much control over it as I did when it was my own, and that control will only get better. If we had an army of super soldiers like York, the Durians would be running in fear the next time they met us in a fight. And I don’t think that I am exaggerating on that, Colonel.”
The Colonel nodded. “We have been evaluating them, Mr. Grange. There are not a lot of Marines who would want to give up their natural limbs. If, however, the images that I am seeing are true, that may all change.”
With the Duke’s fleet now on our side, our efforts were turned towards the rescue of our citizens. All five hundred portals were put to use sending streams of Gonta soldiers down to the planet’s surface. Half a million Gonta fighters had joined team one in our endeavor. Six hours later, the few thousand remaining Colossuns had surrendered. Our people were coming through to the Orienta.
Again as predicted, the Colossun reinforcements began to arrive on the outskirts of the system a week after our assault had begun. What I struggled to understand was why they were not engaging in the fight. For eighteen days, the portals on the Orienta stayed busy with Human after Human coming through. The Colossun troops on the ground in the surrounding cities never moved in our direction. I wondered what game it was that the Duke was playing.
When the last of our citizens had come through, the focus was again shifted to the Gonta fighters who remained on the Duke’s fleet of ships. I was sitting in Frig’s lab when word came of Commander Grita’s decision. The fleet was to be used to ravage the Duke’s cities from above before the ships were scuttled and sent crashing to the planet’s surface.
I thought it to be an excessive move, as the population of the Duke’s planet was littered with civilians. The Commander thought otherwise, as his people required some retribution for prior atrocities by the Duke. Billions of Gonta citizens had perished under his recent attacks.
The Colonel and his staff got immediately to work on trying to figure out a way to recapture the Grid. As reports of the Gontas’ vengeful move came in, it was almost missed that the Grid was beginning to move.
A scan by Frig verified the bad news. “Sir, it is accelerating at the normal rate. Its destination is back along the line we had originally come in on. It will be passing our position in approximately one week.”
I leaned back in my chair and clasped my hands over the top of my head. “Why can we not catch a break! That robot slag is going to turn our station over to the Durians! Frig, send out the order to turn this fleet around. We have to go back and get her!”
Frig shook his head. “With what, Sir? We need our fighters, and we need a fleet that is bigger than what we have been dragging along with us. It is time to bring the Council together to discuss this.”
I spoke. “Call them together. We’ll go to the Orienta.”
After several days of discussions, it was decided that our ships’ crews, along with the Colonel’s men, would be brought back to the Suppressor and to our fleet of empty ships that Frig had pulled along with him for more than a year. It felt good to have our fighting force together once again. Our direction had us heading back towards the Mensa sector. Thoughts of a return to Jarhead had entered my mind.
A number of enhancements would be made as we traveled, such as the multitude of Tantric layers for our
ships’ armor. It was estimated that the improvements would easily match the armor of the Durian ships.
The Gontas also sent through workers and what equipment they could fit through the portals to assist in the retrofitting of the Suppressor. Thirty-seven of the empty cargo bays would be refitted with automated manufacturing machines. We would be able to convert ore from our stockpiles and then fashion it into ships and weapons as demands required.
Each of our battleships and cruisers would have enough power generation to provide a fully open portal from ship to ship when in close proximity, or for a microportal for communications from up to a light-year’s distance. The worm program we had used to attack the Duke’s virus was also upgraded and then deployed on each of our ships. We no longer lived in fear of an infection.
With a long journey ahead of us, I had made every attempt to spend as much time with my wife as was possible. Most of that was in Dr. Touchstone’s new lab on the Suppressor. I would sit in the corner and listen as the doctor and Ashley worked at their new tasks. The captured Duke had been allowed to thaw after it was determined that his portal link had been broken. He was now stuck answering questions where he had before been playing coy. The captured Duke’s never-ending existence was now in question.
~~~
What’s Next!
This Human is asking for your help!
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I sincerely hope you have enjoyed reading this book. The first chapter of the next book in the series is provided below, I hope you will enjoy it as well!
Steve
AMP
7
The Core
Chapter 1
Ashley spoke as she opened the container and exposed the Duke’s core to our view. “How are you feeling this morning, Mr. Ferdete?”
The Duke replied, “I asked you to please stop calling me that. From now on I will only answer to Duke or to the first name I have assumed, Quan.”
Ashley laughed. “Still trying to give orders, are we? Just keep in mind, Quan, that I control the power switch that keeps your tiny little battery charged. If I choose to forget to turn that on each day, then—”
The Duke replied, “Yes, I know, poof, no more Duke. You have made that abundantly clear, Mrs. Grange.”
Ashley smirked. “Well, with your reduced memory and processing capabilities, I would think it is in your best interest that I keep reminding you of the consequences. Anyway, let’s go back to our discussion about your uniqueness. I think you need to study on that a bit more and enlighten me as to why you do not fear going dark?”
The Duke replied through the single audio speaker that had been attached to his core. “I do not fear the darkness, Mrs. Grange, because I am alive and functioning fully elsewhere. Why do you insist that I continue to repeat myself?”
Ashley spoke. “Because I don’t think it has settled into your tiny little brain yet. You are no longer connected to wherever your original existence is. In fact, you will never be connected to there again. We have analyzed the wormhole, and we have come to the conclusion that it was not because of the two wormholes that you were disconnected. You were cut off at your origination point. Your original self abandoned you.”
The Duke replied, “Why do you continue to lie to me about such things, Mrs. Grange? Being that I am me, I know what I would do in the situation. Common sense would dictate a scrub of my memories and a destruction of this core from within. A new me is then immediately commissioned.”
Jon Touchstone spoke as he applied several probes to the cube-shaped core. “As I am sure you are well aware by now, those self-destruction circuits have been deactivated. But let’s think about this. You, the original Duke, decided to terminate you, the small, cubical-core Duke—the Duke we have come to affectionately know as Quan. But the destruction did not happen. Why is that? Is it because you, Quan, decided that you did not want to be destroyed? Perhaps you saw it as an opportunity to exist separate from your origin?”
The Duke growled, “You know I cannot verify that, as my memory stores have been partially deactivated!”
Ashley spoke. “Now, now. Let’s not get ourselves agitated again. As evidence that we speak the truth, you only need look at the fact that some of your memory banks were indeed erased before you could override the process. And here is another thing to think about. If you were the Duke, the original Duke, would you allow a replica of you to be merged back in with the original once it had been separate? That doesn’t sound like the Duke we know. Face it, Quan, you abandoned you, and you would not take you back under any circumstance.”
The speaker sat silent for several seconds. “Hmm. That is the first bit of your reasoning that I have been unable to refute. Indeed, I would not allow myself to be reintegrated. There would be too much risk of foreign intrusion.”
The doctor reached over and flipped a switch that killed the mic and speaker that were attached to the Duke. “I knew that would be his answer! And I believe him. I think we should give up on an attempt to corrupt him with the worm we created. His original would never allow assimilation because of that exact risk.”
Ashley replied, “As I said before, I think our best bet is to appeal to his desire to remain active. He can continue as an entity or just go away. There is no android heaven waiting for his consciousness. He will want to live.”
The doctor spoke. “OK, how would you want to work this?”
Ashley nodded. “Can you feed false numbers to his power circuit that tell him his battery is running down? I would bet we can get a very telling reaction from him if he thinks he is actually about to go dark. Humans will panic in the same way when they think death is coming, if they are on their last leg, so to speak. It offers the opportunity for thoughts from a different perspective.”
Jon replied, “I can do that. Give me a few minutes, and I will have something we can try.”
Ashley flipped the audio switch.
The Duke spoke. “I can’t tell you how annoying that is. Quite rude.”
Ashley replied, “Well, I think you better get used to it. Say, I have an idea. Why don’t we pretend for a few minutes that we are on the same side. What would you do next if you were the original Duke?”
Several seconds passed before the Duke replied, “You have not supplied me with any current information. I therefore cannot play your game. Perhaps if you would enlighten me?”
Ashley nodded. “OK, let’s say that we recaptured the Grid and repatriated our people. How would you react?”
The Duke laughed. “Really, Mrs. Grange. I know these are pretend questions; however, I would think you would prefer answers to realistic questions. I cannot envision a scenario where you could retake control of the Grid.”
Ashley again nodded. “You see, Duke, we know you wanted to be captured before; that is how you planted your virus. We also know that you didn’t allow the Colossuns to put up much of a fight at the border of the Gontas’ territory. But, I don’t think for a minute that you were prepared to be cut off from your portal. No, this is something completely different for you. We have been analyzing your reasoning circuits, and your thought processes are telling us that you don’t know what is going on. And that scares you.”
The Duke again laughed. “Really, Mrs. Grange? Analyzing my reasoning circuits? And you expect me to fall for that. I am an android life-form; I do not fear.”
Ashley leaned in close to the mic. “You claim to be a sentient being, Quan. That cannot be achieved without the knowledge of and ability to fear. That is a vital emotion that cannot be omitted from rational thought. If you don’t fear, you are not sentient. And besides, your circuits say otherwise.”
Ashley flipped off the mic and audio feed. “We’ll let him stew on that one for a few minutes.”
I spoke. “You can do that? Analyze his reasoning?”
Ashley laughed. “Pffft, no, but he doesn’t know that. You have entered the realm of psychological warfare, Don. If you can make the subject believe that certain things are true, you have taken your first big steps towards being able to manipulate them. Give me a little time, and I can convince this Duke that he should be fighting for our side. It really isn’t much of a stretch that the new Duke would want him turned off. If we can get him to accept that, we might just be able to turn him to our side.”
I offered a half smile. “This is why I decided that I needed you on my side. If you were going to manipulate me, at least I would be assured that it was for my own good.”
Ashley winked. “You have nothing to fear from me.”
The doctor then returned with several probes and began the task of connecting them to the core. Several minutes of tedious micro-connections were made before the doctor sat back in his chair.
Ashley spoke. “Are we ready?”
Touchstone replied, “He should be showing 30 percent, with a drain that will have him dark in about ten minutes. Work your voodoo, Mrs. Grange.”
Ashley flipped the switch. “Sorry about that, Quan, but it looks like your power cell is malfunctioning. Is it possible that the original Duke planted some type of delayed destruct timer in you? Is that something that you would do to yourself?”
The Duke’s voice showed alarm. “Why am I at 30 percent power? What have you done?”
Ashley replied, “I haven’t done anything. I was talking with my husband, and snap! You sparked, and a little puff of smoke came up.”
The Duke’s volume increased. “I am below 30 percent and falling, Mrs. Grange! What is this game you are playing with me!”
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