Warlord 2: The Nobility

by CJ Williams

  “What?” Carrie exclaimed angrily. “George, Commander Blackburn is dead! We have other priorities at the moment. No offense Sadie, whoever…or whatever you are, but please back off. George, get me back on board Lulubelle.”

  “I apologize, Admiral. I am unable to do so at the moment.”

  Carrie focused her thoughts on communicating directly to Grimes. She had only done this on rare occasions. Johnny? Can you hear me?

  “I’m sorry, Admiral,” George said. “Person-to-person communication at this distance goes through my systems and I have cut all communications between Sadie and Lulubelle for the moment. Sadie has informed me there is additional information you must listen to. Please advise when you are ready.”

  Carrie gave up. “Make it fast, Sadie. We need to come up with a workaround quickly before one of those level-two Bakkui shows up here. And we have to get that data back to Bradley’s Planet.”

  “I understand, Carrie,” Sadie replied. “I was able to glean enough information from the infected drone to take care of that problem. All of your warships and fighters have been inoculated against the virus or anything similar. And George just sent a separate drone to Bradley’s Planet that will do the same to your forces there. As we speak, he is launching another drone directly to Moonbase One. You are safe and we are making all Alliance forces safe. Now, will you listen to me?”

  “George,” Carrie said. “Can you confirm what Sadie just said? All of our ships are going to be safe? How did she do that?”

  “I confirm Sadie’s report, Admiral. With a single exception, all of Alliance spacecraft in this system are now protected from the Bakkui.”

  “What exception?” Carrie asked. “Why?”

  “I am the exception, Admiral,” George responded. “Sadie has informed me that I am to be sacrificed within the next few minutes.”

  “Like hell!” Carrie shouted. “Sadie, I order you to fix George. Vaccinate him or whatever that means!”

  “Carrie,” Sadie said softly. “Please let me know when you are ready to receive my report.”

  For several minutes Carrie raged at George and Sadie, singly and together, all to no effect. Finally, she slumped in the pilot’s seat.

  “Give me your report, Sadie.”

  “Thank you. Are you aware of the hierarchical nature of artificial intelligences which you refer to as AIs? I am talking about their ranking, such as level-one, level-two and so?”

  “I am now,” Carrie groused.

  “And you are familiar with abilities from the earpiece given to all members of Lulubelle?”

  “It translates when we meet new civilizations and lets us talk to George mentally.”

  “That is reasonably accurate,” Sadie acknowledged. “Do you understand that your implant also includes an authorization level that AIs must adhere to?”

  Carrie thought about it. The Commander had authority over George and no one else did. She had heard that before Annie left, she had a special status as well. “Only in a general sense. I guess the answer to your question is no.”

  “Commander Blackburn and Miss Daniels held level-one, First Family implants. Do you understand what that means?”

  It was George who gasped in astonishment. It was another expression that Carrie had never heard from the unemotional George. He spoke and the amazement in his voice was perfectly clear.

  “I had no idea,” George said aloud.

  Carrie shrugged. “I guess you mean he could tell you to self-destruct?”

  “Admiral Faulkner!” Sadie scolded. “This is not a joking matter!”

  “I don’t know then!” Carrie retorted. “If that’s not the case, then you tell me what it means!”

  “It is the case! In fact, in a moment of self-indulgent pique, Miss Daniels once ordered me to self-destruct on Moonbase One and I had no choice but to carry out her orders. You should be thankful that my masters within the Nobility’s First Family included a contingency plan for my inadvertent loss. George’s Standing Order 905 requires him to re-manufacture me in the event I am ever lost or destroyed. Had the Nobility ever imagined that such an act would be required solely due to a childish temper tantrum they would never have approved giving out an implant.”

  Carrie recalled the incident. Everyone on Moonbase had heard rumors about it. Carrie had been down planet at the time, working PR for Amanda Carlson.

  “Okay,” Carrie said. “So?”

  “So I am trying to impart to you the seriousness of the situation. Commander Blackburn has been lost to us.”

  Carrie nodded soberly. “Believe me, Sadie, you don’t have to tell me how serious this is. It still hasn’t sunk in or I’d be a mess of heebie-jeebies right now.”

  Sadie sighed audibly. Carrie noted in the back of her mind that Sadie’s personality had always been more distinctive.

  “Miss Faulkner,” Sadie said. “I am not making myself clear. The nobility erred in their instructions to the Commander. They did not inform him, nor train him, about the extraordinary capability he was given. I understand the reasoning for withholding the information, but it was wrong. I am saying he had the ability, through his implant, to stop that level-two device on his own. He just didn’t know it.”

  Carrie cried out as Sadie’s words pierced her heart like a dry nail. “Are you saying the Commander died needlessly?”

  “Not needlessly,” Sadie replied. “But unnecessarily, yes.”

  “That’s a pretty fine distinction,” Carrie argued. “So why didn’t you ever tell him?”

  “Because, Admiral, I operate within the confines of my mission, as do you. But I do have a certain amount of flexibility. The mission he was given remains unchanged—to defeat the Bakkui. That is now your responsibility. In that regard, the situation has changed. I was to remain a covert observer, reporting to the Nobility when required. I now conclude the time for secrecy is past.”

  “So you’re going to help me?”

  “I am.”

  A small panel on the left console opened to reveal a matchbook-sized box. Inside was a new earpiece.

  “Does that have a bomb in it?” Carrie asked. She had heard tales from the Commander.

  “Of course, not,” Sadie replied, exasperation in her voice. “That was a ridiculous idea from Sam. Do you know who Sam was?”

  “He was the guy that got Luke started.”

  “That’s correct. I couldn’t believe it when he came out with that stupid notion, but because I was covert, I couldn’t say anything.”

  “Is that true, George?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes, Admiral. I always wanted to apologize to the Commander. I’m afraid the misunderstanding is what drove Miss Daniels away.”

  Carrie shook her head. “You guys are a couple of idiots, you know that? Every member of my crew is killing themselves to fight the Bakkui. Some of them have died, and you’re going around playing I’ve got a secret. Why should I believe anything you say?”

  After a long pause Sadie replied. “Because, Admiral Faulkner, if you don’t, you will lose the war in the next few minutes.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Carrie asked tiredly. She was getting tired of the two AIs playing word games.

  “Please take the earpiece and I will explain.”

  Carrie stared out of the canopy for a full minute, thinking about Sadie’s request. Lulubelle was no longer bouncing around. The giant vessel looked so ugly and at the same time so beautiful; a massive contraption put together on the fly, designed by her buddy Riley Stevens, her favorite engineer on Moonbase One.

  Back then, everything about the Nobility’s technology was still new. Designers and architects created new miracles almost every day. It had been an exciting period in her life, primarily because their mission was so inspiring.

  Carrie still felt that way. She had engaged and defeated the Bakkui in several battles. She was leading a powerful fleet, fighting for a noble cause. Then why did she feel so down?

  Because now the Commander is really gone,
she admitted to herself. It was a different world now. She had to pick up the torch and bear it onward without complaining. I’m just letting my mind wander, Carrie realized. She was still in shock from the Commander’s last message.

  “What the hell.” Carrie snatched up the earpiece and shoved it into her ear. It was like an oversized earbud, just like the first one she had been issued. And like before, the feeling of fullness melted away. She touched her ear and it was gone. It had been absorbed into her body.

  And then she knew. A certitude filled her mind that had been missing just a moment before. Sadie was being honest. There was no question about it. But it was more than that.

  Carrie now had a deeper understanding of the two AIs. George and Sadie belonged to her and vice versa. Whereas before the change, she sometimes questioned George’s judgment, she felt a new confidence about his staid wisdom.

  Her relationship with the AIs was now more solid; it permeated her consciousness. And a hint of the vast array of knowledge they held grew in her mind.

  There really was a difference between the earpieces, she realized. Not only did she more fully understand her AIs, she cared about them. Even more than that, she grasped that Sadie was concerned about Carrie’s wellbeing. That was small consolation, considering the circumstances, but it helped.

  “Now what?” Carrie asked. She needed time to accommodate her new insight into George and Sadie’s mental state.

  “Later I will brief you about the capabilities of your new device,” Sadie replied. “But first, we need to discuss George. The message drone is infected with a level-two AI virus that will corrupt his core programming. I detected the virus and quarantined it before it could do any damage. Had I not, George and all of your warships would now be under the control of the Bakkui.”

  A cold chill ran down Carrie’s backside. She no longer had any doubts about anything Sadie said. Somehow the implant made it clear that Sadie would not lie to her. They had indeed come very close to extinction.

  “But you stopped that, right? You inoculated all our ships. Then why did George say he was the exception?”

  “Think about it, Admiral. This is a chance to mislead the Bakkui away from Earth and your colonies. I can plant a false history in George’s database and he can take that back to their central location as misdirection. I will try to implant a counter virus of my own to enable him to send us their location, although such an effort would, admittedly, carry a slim possibility of success.”

  “But what about George? Is that fair to him?” Even as Carrie spoke the words, she knew it was a foolish question. George was a machine. Fair didn’t apply.

  “You know the answer to that, Admiral. Besides, George has exceeded his usefulness. I’ve monitored your comments; you admit that you fly with a fraction of your normal crew. A vessel of this size is not a requirement at this point. However, if you wish, I will install a copy of George, complete with his current memories, in a new warship once we return to Bradley’s Planet.”

  It was a little overemotional, but the idea did make her feel better.

  “All right,” Carrie agreed. “But won’t the Bakkui find out about you then? That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

  “You are correct. We will have George accomplish a memory restore from the time period right after the battle. One of his background functions that you are not aware of is that George performs routine backups of his AI module. He can receive a restore command from an external source. In this case, you will command him to Execute restore memory 125608EB4B78. That will reset his memory to the point when the battle you just won had ended.”

  Carrie’s initial reaction was she would never remember that command. Even as the thought came to mind, she realized she could. It was solidly registered in her long-term memory. She wondered if that was the new implant at work.

  “How can I tell if he executed the command?” Carrie asked.

  “Neither you nor the crew will notice anything,” Sadie replied. “The restore function includes using available information to catch up any lost time. I have scrubbed all crew logs of the intervening time period, but this is why it is crucial that we move forward with this expeditiously. Otherwise it could register in his memory that an extended time period has elapsed. It might alert the Bakkui to our attempt at subterfuge.”

  “So is he just going to take off or something? What about the crew?”

  “I am trying to decipher the virus code as we speak,” Sadie explained. “There will be a delay while the infected software installs itself. When it happens, George will stop responding to commands and proceed straight to the location specified in the virus’s code. I have not been able to break the encryption of that location. When it happens, simply abandon ship. Your warships can return the crew to system J97. I suspect you will want to be the last person to leave so you should board me at that time. Until then, treat both of us as before.”

  It was a lot to take in, but Carrie was convinced. There were no guarantees, but it might help protect Earth.

  “All right. Sadie, please return us to Lulubelle. George, I’ll speak with you on the bridge.”

  “Acknowledged,” both AIs responded.

  *.*.*.*

  What a high-stakes gamble, Carrie thought as she stalked toward the bridge. Was her acceptance of Sadie’s plan the result of adrenalin or an overconfidence stemming from her new insight? More likely because she was still in shock from the Commander’s message. The bottom line was she didn’t have an alternative to the AI’s suggestion. That being the case, it would be a mistake to start second guessing now. The bridge crew was waiting for her with expectant looks.

  “Admiral?” Grimes began. “What was—?”

  Carrie silenced him with a fierce glare and drew her thumb and index finger across her lips and then turned an imaginary key. Her expression brooked no argument.

  George, she sent to Lulubelle’s AI. Execute restore memory 125608EB4B78.

  Carrie took a deep breath. “I’ll be in my quarters, Johnny. If I didn’t say it before, good job everyone. I’m so proud of all of you.” Be quiet, she thought. Get off the bridge before you spill the beans. “Let me know when you get the message drone on board.”

  “Aye, ma’am. It won’t be more than a couple of minutes.”

  “Okay, I’ll meet you in the conference room in ten. I want to freshen up.” That part was a lie. Carrie just wanted a short delay so George could finish his reboot.

  A startled gasp came from Ensign Freeman at the Comm position.

  “Captain, another message drone just entered the system. It’s from Earth.”

  Maybe this would be a bit of good news. Carrie hoped so. It would be hard for things to get any worse.

  “You can brief me on both of them, then,” Carrie said, nodding at Grimes. She spun on her heel and left the bridge.

  *.*.*.*

  Freeman and Grimes were waiting in the conference room. Other members of the bridge crew were standing by uncertainly, not sure if they would be allowed to listen in. Carrie waved them in and took her seat at the head of the table.

  “What do you have?” she asked.

  “Good and bad,” Grimes replied.

  “Show me the good news then.”

  It was a message from a harried-looking Doctor Higgins. Carrie recognized his Moonbase One office in the background. “Luke,” he said. “Sorry it took so long for this follow-up; it’s been a rough couple of weeks. We lost all of our large-scale replicators and I just now got one going. I want you to know we’re alive, so I’m sending our first two message drones to you at Jigu and Bradley’s Planet. Bottom line is we took a lot of hits, but we’re still kicking; we beat back the Bakkui. People on Earth weren’t so lucky. DC and Beijing were the worst; they’re gone.”

  He started to say more but someone interrupted, shouting his name urgently. In the emergency process of recovery there was obviously a huge demand for his attention. He faced the camera and it was clear he had lost his train of thought.


  “I’ll send more details tomorrow,” he wrapped up hurriedly. “Amanda is putting it together. We learned a lot that’s for sure. Can’t talk now. Stay well.”

  Thank God, Carrie thought. They were fine, and with the information Sadie had sent their way, they would survive any repeat attack in the future.

  “Here’s the other message, Admiral,” Grimes said, intruding on her thoughts.

  Carrie silently watched the replay of Commander Blackburn’s final message. It didn’t sting so much the second time, but she couldn’t hold back all the tears. A few seeped out and she wiped them away with bare knuckles. She wasn’t the only one in the room who did. When the screen faded, Carrie turned to Grimes.

  “Johnny, organize a memorial service for anyone who wants to attend. I’m sure they’ve already held one on Bradley’s Planet so we don’t need to ask them to repeat it for us when we return. Finish the after-action checklist and we can start back when all of those tasks are complete. I don’t feel like visiting the local population at the moment. I doubt they have any idea how close they came to being wiped out today. I’d just as soon we leave it at that for now. Let’s remember to send back a First Contact Team in a few weeks.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Grimes said.

  Carrie spared a glance for the rest of her officers. “We’ve been knocked down and gotten up before. We need to do it again.” She stood up to end the meeting and her officers jumped to their feet. “Carry on,” she muttered.

  After everyone filed out of the conference room she sat back down to have a moment of solitude. There was a lot to think about.

  She needed to get Johnny aside and inform him of George’s impending demise and do it in such a way that George himself could not overhear. She put the task on her to-do list. For the moment, he still had to finish the after-battle actions. She wanted to help but it would probably be best if she just went back to her quarters.

  She was on the way when a new call came. “Admiral Faulkner, please report to the bridge.”

  George must have already succumbed to the virus, she thought. It had happened faster than she expected. When she arrived, Grimes was huddled with the reconnaissance officer.