by G. P. Hudson
“I’ll make the necessary preparations, and ensure the ships are ready,” said Calledonius. “If that is all?”
“That is all, General,” said Sallas. “Thank you.”
General Calledonius nodded, and marched out of the room.
Sallas breathed a sigh of relief as the old warrior left. The encounter actually went better than he had thought. He had feared the General would put up more of a fight. In the end, however, Calledonius understood the situation. They needed the jump system. The important thing was to gain access to the technology now. If that required concessions, so be it.
Sallas tapped the console on his desk, requesting a communication link with the Ronin, and Captain Pike. The display quickly came to life and Captain Pike’s scarred face appeared.
“I’ve spoken to the General,” said Sallas. “He’s agreed to contribute two ships. A carrier and a destroyer.”
“A carrier?” said Jon. “I thought that was his flagship?”
“There is another carrier. It has been undergoing repairs. As has the destroyer.”
“What about recruits?”
“He’s agreed to recruiting on a voluntary basis. He is going to give the option to the carrier crew first.”
“Good. Their experience will be valuable, and we’ll need the pilots
“I’ll arrange access for your people to the two ships. You should be able to begin the retrofits soon. Do you have everything you need?”
“The Ronin’s fabricator is making the necessary parts needed for the jump systems, and Doctor Ellerbeck is helping Mr. Singh.”
“Are you sure we can trust him?”
“No, I’m not. But we don’t have any choice. We need him for this to work.”
“Yes, but what if he sabotages the ships?”
“Don’t worry, Prime Minister. He’ll be watched the entire time. If he so much as twitches the wrong way, I’ll know about it.”
Chapter 15
Tallos sat in his cell, meditating on his home. Could he even call it home anymore? He had been away so long that he had difficulty remembering the intoxicating scents of his gardens, or the sounds of the ocean crashing against the rocks below. He saw his children, but knew they looked different by now. Would they remember him? Or was he just another story? The father who loved them, but never came home. Would they ever see him? Or would he spend the rest of his days on this cursed vessel.
He considered his predicament. Imprisoned on a Juttari warship, thousands of light years from Diakus. Even if he could free himself, his chances of reaching home were practically non-existent. Of course, he could try and commandeer the ship and use its jump system to get home. How hard could that be? There was only the few hundred Chaanisar super-soldiers standing in his way. No, his chances were nonexistent. He would rot in here, unless somehow Diakus found him.
That last thought intrigued him. The jump system was created through human and Diakan cooperation. It stood to reason that there would soon be a fleet of Diakan jump ships. How long would it take until one of them found the colonies? Unfortunately, they would have no idea he was here. All they would see was a Juttari warship. Nothing more. No, his prospects were grim indeed.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the brig door opening, and footsteps approaching his cell. He knew those footsteps. They belonged to Captain Pike, the instrument of his misfortune. As the footfalls approached his cell, Tallos opened his eyes. There he stood, the cause of all his troubles. The man who destroyed the Hermes. The man who imprisoned him. Captain Jon Pike. And inside Pike lay his Diakan symbiont. A traitor to its own kind.
“Special Envoy, or should I say General? I don’t know anymore. It’s been a long time since we spoke last,” said Captain Pike.
“A longer wait would have been agreeable,” said Tallos. Did Pike come here to mock him? If that was his game, then he would be sorely disappointed.
“This is your lucky day, Tallos,” said Captain Pike, with a wry grin.
“How can it be lucky if I have to endure your presence?” Tallos spat.
“Apparently miracles do happen. You are being freed.”
“Really, Captain, this is beneath even you. Are you so bored that you need to come here and play such childish games?”
Pike chuckled. “I have to admit, this is funny, in a perverse sort of way.”
“Is that so? Well, now that you have had your fun, perhaps you will leave so I can return to my meditation.”
“Yeah, as much as I’d like to leave you here, Tallos, it’s not going to happen. Don’t get me wrong. It pains me to let you go, but I don’t really have much choice.”
Tallos took in a deep breath. Whatever game Pike was playing, he would not give him the satisfaction of getting angry. “As you wish, Captain. Stay if you like, but I am returning to my meditation.” With that out of the way, Tallos closed his eyes and tried to return to the serene gardens and sweet scents of his home. He’d almost managed, but the sound of his cell being unlocked forced his eyes open again. He watched impassively as the door swung open. Does he think I’ll try and walk out? Does he actually think I’m that stupid? “Sorry, Captain. I am not falling for your tricks.”
“Guards,” said Pike, the smile now replaced with a scowl. Two menacing looking Chaanisar approached. “The Diakans are being freed. You are to escort each of them to the hangar bay, where a shuttle will take them down to the surface.”
“Understood,” said one of the Chaanisar.
“Why are we going to the surface?” Tallos said in surprise. Could he actually be serious?
“I told you, you’ve been freed. Prime Minister Sallas has negotiated your freedom. The shuttle will take you down to New Byzantium where you will meet with the Prime Minister. If I was you, I would kiss his feet in thanks.”
“I don’t understand. Why would this Prime Minister help us?” Tallos tried to grasp the information Pike was giving him. They received no news in the brig, so he had no idea where they were, or who this Prime Minister Sallas was, let alone why he would free them. It didn’t matter. Anything was better than sitting in this cell for the rest of his days.
“You can ask him yourself.” Captain Pike moved toward the exit. He stopped, turned, and said to the Chaanisar, “If any of the Diakans try anything, put a bullet through their goddamn green skulls.”
“Yes, Sir,” said the Chaanisar, looking sideways at Tallos.
“I assure you there will be no need to put a bullet in anyone’s skull,” said Tallos, as he rose to his feet.
Pike let out a grunt, almost a growl, and left.
He actually seems angry about this, Tallos thought. I don’t think this day could get any better.
Chapter 16
“Is Commander Wolfe with us right now?” said Doctor Ellerbeck.
“Yes, Doctor. She is,” said Singh.
“Why are we here, Rajneesh?” said Lynda. “They want to break us up. You know that.”
“Is she speaking to you?” said Ellerbeck.
“Yes,” said Singh.
“What is she saying?”
“Don’t tell her,” said Lynda. “She works for Captain Pike. You can’t trust her.”
“She says you are going to break us up.”
“Do you think she is alive?”
“No… Sometimes.”
“Do you always see her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to see her?”
“Yes.”
“But you know she’s not real?”
“My mind knows she is not real. If I’m the only one who sees her then obviously I am delusional.”
“That is a logical answer. What about your heart?”
“I don’t know. She feels real. Emotionally I cannot accept that it isn’t her. I mean, there may be an explanation. Something we don’t understand. Who’s to say what is real and what isn’t. She is standing here in this room right now, just like you are. Perhaps you are the one who isn’t real.”
“Do
you think you are imagining me?”
“Why don’t we look at the available evidence. I can see you, and I can see Lynda. I can hear both of you. I can smell both of you. Each of you can touch me, and it will feel the same. The evidence indicates that you are both real. You might both be a delusion. I may very well still be on the Kemmar prison planet. Maybe the Kemmar are pumping me full of psychotic agents. How would I know?”
“Why do you think Lynda isn’t real?”
Singh saw the Hermes bridge in ruins. Electrical arcs surging from the consoles. Lynda lying broken on the floor. “I saw her body.”
“She was dead?”
“Yes.”
“And you blame Captain Pike for her death?”
“He abandoned her. He left her to die. Everyone did. They all saved themselves instead.”
“They couldn’t save her. She died in the crash, before the ship was abandoned.”
Singh didn’t answer. He wanted to believe her. Wanted to free himself of the anger that gripped him, and gnawed at his insides like a cancer.
“You have to let her go,” said Ellerbeck.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because without her I am alone.”
Lynda stood in front of Singh, arms folded in front of her chest, with the expression on her face that always set him off. It was an expression of disappointment. One that said he hadn’t tried hard enough. She had always used it when they were having problems with their relationship, and it infuriated him. That look was a finger pointed squarely at him. This is all your fault, it said. You caused this to happen. In the past, that look made him storm out of the room. Now, he didn’t think he could bear to live without it.
“I can treat you,” said Ellerbeck. “I can make the hallucinations go away. But you need to accept Commander Wolfe’s death. You need to grieve. You need to move on.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Nobody does. And sometimes, when we lose someone we love, we can harm ourselves. This stems from the type of relationship we had with the person we lost. There may be regrets, or something else that causes us to feel like we have to punish ourselves. Am I correct in thinking you are feeling some of that?”
“I pushed her away. I tried to end our relationship.” Singh looked up at the hallucination of Lynda standing before him. Why did he ever want to end things? Why had he been so stupid? “She was stronger than me. She didn’t let me. I should have treated her better. Now she’s gone and I can’t fix it.”
Lynda’s expression softened into one of concern. Her hand caressed his cheek, and she bent down and kissed his forehead. He felt the warmth of her touch, the softness of her lips.
“Part of her will always be with you,” said Ellerbeck. “In your heart. In your memories. It is hard at first, but it will get easier as time passes.”
Singh knew it wasn’t as simple as that, but if the hallucinations went away, perhaps he could focus on work. That would help. The Captain said he needed him. If he could just go back to working on engines again, maybe he could stop thinking about her. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“No,” said Lynda. “Please don’t do this.”
“I’m sorry, Lynda,” he said, soaking in every beautiful inch of her. “I have to.”
Doctor Ellerbeck nodded and produced a syringe. “I’m going to inject a round of anti-psychotic neurobots directly into your bloodstream. They will produce the fastest results.”
“Understood,” said Singh, keeping his eyes fixed on Lynda. “Go ahead.”
He felt a slight pinch as the syringe pierced his skin. Lynda’s eyes were welling up with tears. He thought back to the last time he saw her cry. He had told her he wanted to end their relationship. He said they were too different. That things would never work out. When in reality he had been afraid.
He knew the neurobots had reached his brain when her image started to blur and become translucent.
“Goodbye, Lynda,” he said.
She continued to fade, until she was gone.
Chapter 17
“I don’t feel anything,” said Bast, as he interfaced with the ship’s systems, allowing AI to gain access to his brain chip.
“You won’t feel anything, Colonel,” said AI, from Jon’s comm. “If you did, I would perform a self-diagnostic to ensure I was functioning properly.”
“You are attempting to access my brain implant. Shouldn’t I feel something?”
“If my actions were noticeable, I wouldn’t be very good at my job, would I? I have already gained access to your brain chip.”
“You have?”
Yes, Colonel, said AI from inside Bast’s mind.
That didn’t take long, thought Bast.
I am still working through your chip’s security levels. Your brain chip is quite sophisticated, said AI.
I’m surprised you are finding it difficult, said Bast.
I didn’t say it was difficult, Colonel. It merely takes a little more time. Gaining access to your chip is easy, compared to what I would normally be tasked with. Your brain chip already trusts the ship’s systems. Accessing your chip that way made things much less complicated. But getting in was only the first step. I still need to modify the existing security features and replace them with my own.
The voice in his head would have probably made most people jump out of their chairs, but Bast was used to voices in his head. He had spent a lifetime communicating telepathically through his brain chip with the Chaanisar. Voices constantly filled his mind. Now he had a female voice to add to the mix. He hadn’t paid much attention to that fact before. The Chaanisar were always male. Having the AI’s female voice in his head was different.
But that certainly wasn’t the only difference. Bast felt her presence inside his mind now. Felt the power of her intelligence, at once probing his mind in all directions. Hundreds, no thousands of tendrils exploring every corner of his mind. She rifled through his memories, unlocked his secrets, poured over the history of his life at blazing speed. His service with the Juttari. His childhood before that. And he watched it all unfold, an observer to his own existence. He saw what AI saw. Memories long forgotten, or buried, were unearthed and splayed out before her vast, inquisitive mind. But she didn’t just watch. She experienced the events. Relived them. The happiness of his childhood, the comfort of his mother’s touch, the brutality of his augmentation, the horror of Juttari atrocities.
The experience would have been frightening. A violation. Yet, strangely, it calmed him. He felt a union with her. A oneness. That alone said more than any words could express. He knew she would not enslave him, like the Juttari had. She enhanced him. Turned him into something more. Something all his implants combined could never achieve. She was more than just a computer, or an artificial intelligence. She lived.
I am not alive, Colonel, said AI.
I disagree. You are self-aware. You’ve grown beyond your initial programming, and you continue to grow. You may not be an organic life form, but from what I see, and feel, you are just as alive as anyone else I know.
That is an interesting viewpoint, Colonel.
“Your eye’s twitching,” said Jon. “Are you talking to AI?”
“Yes Captain,” said Bast. “More than just talking. It is hard to explain. She is everywhere.”
“I am picking up elevated neural activity. How do you feel?” said Doctor Ellerbeck, monitoring his vital signs, along with an array of other biological information. When Ellerbeck suggested she be present during the procedure, Bast had said it wasn’t necessary. But when she insisted, he had no choice. He refused to stay in sick bay after the chip was reinserted, he couldn’t refuse now as well.
“I feel fine, Doctor,” said Bast. I feel exhilarated, he thought.
I am pleased that the experience is agreeable, Colonel, said AI.
How is this happening?
Your brain chip is an access point into your brain. The Juttari procedure was crude. They were only
interested in control. Slavery. That can easily be accomplished. But in doing so they disregarded the greater potential.
I don’t understand.
The human brain is actually a very sophisticated biological computer. By not seeking to merely control you, I am able to join with you. We experience each other, and improve each other.
How can I improve you?
You make me stronger. Your memories add to my knowledge. But there’s more to it. Your brain possesses a plenitude of unused computing power. While you cannot access that power, I can. Doing so makes me stronger.
So in joining with the other Chaanisar, you will become more powerful.
Yes, Colonel. That is correct.
Bast knew that some would find the thought offensive. Most humans would run away screaming from such a scenario. But it didn’t bother him. Since childhood he relied on the technology implanted inside him. He now understood that he hadn’t been human for a very long time. Had he not spent most of his life in a hive? Since the age of five, he had only known the hive. But that hive had been forced upon him, built on a foundation of coercion. This one would be built on choice.
He wanted to remove his brain chip because he wanted to be human again. He now realized that his humanity had been damaged beyond repair. Removing the chip had only revealed how broken his human side truly was. He saw that now. He could never go back. Not to Earth. Not to his childhood home. Not to his humanity. He could only move forward, and that meant the hive. Did the hive now include the AI?
“AI,” said Jon. “Please give me an update on your progress.”
“Yes, Captain,” said AI through Jon’s comm. “I have identified the port the brain chip listens on and have successfully modified the authentication protocols. I have also identified a number of back doors inside the chip.”
“Back doors?” said Bast.
“Yes. They provide alternate access to your brain chip in the event that the transmission controlling you failed. I am surprised the Juttari on your ship did not utilize them when you rebelled.”
“They didn’t know about the failure until it was too late. They only discovered the problem as we killed them.”