Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering

by Gibson Michaels

  After discovery of the x-drive propelled the Raknii into interstellar space, they expanded ever outward for over a thousand cycles, enslaving several intelligent races. All had been less technologically advanced and therefore easy prey... until the Trakaan.

  The Trakaan were the only other star-faring race the Raknii had ever encountered. Incredibly, those first Trakaan ships carried no weapons at all… a concept totally alien to the Raknii mind. Even Raknii transports carried minimal weaponry. The Raknii were virtually unopposed for over six cycles before finally encountering a Trakaan ship that fired back. Even after they finally began to resist, Rak warriors mocked and derided their new prey, saying that the only thing challenging about hunting Trakaan was that one had to chase them farther before the kill.

  The Trakaan initially took to destroying their own ships, in an effort to hide the locations of their worlds. Some had even timed their self-destruction, so they could destroy or badly damage the Rak warships closing in to capture them. Eventually, there came a time when a Trakaan ship’s self-destruct mechanism failed and the first one was captured intact. It was then towed to the closest sector capital and analyzed by Raknii scientists.

  Science had come slowly to the Raknii, as generally the race just wasn’t emotionally equipped with the patience necessary for scientific discovery. But as the rise of the Dolrak had saved their race from self-extermination, they also provided a method for determining the best field that an individual Raknii citizen was best suited for.

  The Dolrak were all females, originally priestesses of the ancient Raknii god, Dol. It was said that in ages past, Dol had shown mercy on his savage Raknii children and given his priestesses the secret by which the bestial savagery that abounded within the Rak males could be tamed and harnessed. Dol taught his priestesses the art of hyper-hypnotics and instituted a ranking system by which every male’s place within Raknii society was established and recognized. All males except cubs and the lowest of all castes of Raknii wore a rank-stone on his forehead, just above and between his eyes. The material makeup of the rank-stones denoted an individual’s rank.

  The Dolrak used hypnotics in a secret ritual ceremony every time a Raknii male was advanced in rank. Obedience to those of higher rank, respect for those of equal rank, and restraint towards those of lower rank were hypnotically ingrained. Thus, it was that those males having the genetic inclination towards scientific studies, had those attributes hypnotically strengthened by the Dolrak. Similar hypnotic attribute selection and strengthening for virtually every profession within the entire Raknii civilization was the domain of the Dolrak. A very few Raknii seemed to possess a natural resistance to Dolrak hypnotic conditioning, but those were immediately killed whenever identified, for they were rogues — genetic throwbacks to an earlier, savage age in Raknii history.

  It took Rak scientists almost ten cycles of tinkering and studying of the alien Trakaan technology in that first captured ship before its secrets finally began to crack. Even the name the Trakaan used for themselves was unknown before the alien computer finally yielded its secrets. It had taken another dozen cycles before the Trakaan language was broken, but then the floodgates opened and the locations of Trakaan planets were revealed. With the knowledge of where their prey built their dens, Rak warships flooded into Trakaan space. Within the next ten cycles, the Trakaan were pushed back seventy-two light-years and surrendered 23 of their inhabited planets before winning even their first encounter against the Raknii onslaught.

  The Trakaan were a small, gangly, hairless species with ovoid shaped heads, grayish skin and overly large, black eyes with no notable external olfactory organs. The Trakaan might be ugly, but they were considered rather tasty to the relatively few Raknii who had been afforded the rare opportunity to actually eat one.

  The Trakaan eventually built a warfleet of sorts — their battle tactics evolving slowly by trial and error, but rather well suited to the smaller, faster, less armored disc-shaped ships they used. The concept of purposely building warships inferior to those of one’s enemy was puzzling to the Raknii and it wasn’t until after the first few Trakaan inhabited planets were taken that the Raknii made the shocking discovery that the Trakaan were truly a non-aggressive species, who only began arming their ships in self-defense. The idea of a non-aggressive species achieving interstellar travel capabilities was completely foreign and disgusting to the Raknii, and all further study of them was abandoned to scientists and the females of the Dolrak.

  The increased Trakaan resistance actually made the hunt more enticing for Rak warriors. Naturally, much greater honor came from being victorious in the frequent inter-regional engagements between the Raknii themselves, but there was just something extra special about experiencing actual combat afforded by hunting the alien Trakaan. Still, the Trakaan stood little chance, as they were almost always outnumbered since Supreme-Master Xinn had ordered the policy adopted that full 64 ship Imperial battlefleets be utilized, whenever resistance was expected. This policy had slowed the Raknii advance somewhat, but it had also enabled them to consolidate their conquests and strengthen logistical support.

  The poor, docile Trakaan could never guess that nothing remotely approaching the full military might of the Raknii Empire would ever be utilized against them, as most were part of the regional warfleets under the various colors of the constantly feuding region-masters scattered throughout the empire. Only those units honored to augment the Imperial Exploration Fleet would ever have the opportunity to hunt Trakaan prey. Only the very best warriors of each region were selected for a space-combat assignment within the Imperial Fleet. It was an honor beyond measure to wear the white leggings of the Imperial Fleet, beneath the colored silk tunics denoting regional origins.

  Of course, a number of imperial warships continued exploration of uncharted, uncontested space, along the edges of the quiet frontier sectors. While undeniably necessary, the discovery of a habitable planet or even the subjugation of another low-technology species just couldn’t compare to the joys of actual combat. Tzal had been proud beyond description when his squadron was chosen by Region-Master Glan to represent Region-3 in the Imperial Fleet. Tzal might admittedly be biased, but he truly believed the combination of the rich medium-blue silk blouse above the white Imperial Fleet leggings made up the most eye-pleasing uniforms he’d ever seen — with the possible exception of those fortunate ones born within the Imperial Region-1 who wore white imperial silks, as well as white leggings. Bah, those are in the Imperial Fleet simply by the fortunes of birth. I had to earn my Imperial whites. Still, Tzal envied them their good fortune... everyone did.

  Akudavex had six confirmed kills to her credit and the future had been very bright indeed. Most Rak warriors could only hope that they might participate in one of the small skirmishes, which flared along regional borders within the Empire. Rivalries between region-masters occasionally flared into open warfare, as they competed for political power and influence with the emperor, Supreme-Master Xior. These inter-regional spats amongst themselves constituted the only real threat to the Raknii, as everywhere else, with rare and minor exceptions, wherever Rak fleets went, they conquered. Until Jarp’s Folly, that is.

  Grudgingly, Tzal had to admit that the Trakaan had set their trap masterfully. All sixteen ships of Squadron-Master Boin’s point-squadron were destroyed within moments of the fleet’s conversion into real space, and the command and flank-squadrons had fared no better. Nothing remotely similar had ever happened in the thousands of cycles of Raknii recorded history. Tzal could only imagine the command crews on those 48 ships, frozen in uncomprehending horror as the inconceivable swept them away. The Akudavex, part of Squadron-Master Drik’s rear-guard had accordingly been among the last ships in the fleet to complete conversion back to normal space. Tzal became aware, only moments after their instruments had stabilized, that something was horribly wrong. Even before their comm could lock onto the fleet command circuit, Fleet-Master Jarp’s commandship had exploded.

 
Locked into the memory loop that had plagued him for turns, Tzal again relived the inquest that convened after their escape from the disaster. Tzal remembered seeing Drik escorted away. He had not seen the daring young squadron-master since, and possibly never would again. Tzal had been glad when repairs to Akudavex were finally completed and he’d received solo exploration orders from OverFleet-Master Maaz. Group-Master Skor, frustrated by over a cycle of having to deal with his unconventional superior, Squadron-Master Drik, regularly took his frustrations out on his most unconventional subordinate: Tzal. It was good to be away from Skor and his ilk, for the freedom of again roaming amongst the stars.

  Tzal was suddenly startled out of his reverie by a call from one of his bridge crew: “Ship-Master Tzal,” called his scanner tech, Operations-UnderMaster Heef. “X-Wake bearing 291-406.”

  An x-wake, way out here?

  “Identify!” barked Tzal. There shouldn’t be any Rak ships out here. Trakaan? How could a Trakaan ship get through so much Raknii space undetected to get here?

  “Unknown, master. The wake does not match any known signature of Raknii or Trakaan vessels.”

  “Put us into the wake shadow.” ordered Tzal.

  The Raknii had discovered several hundred cycles earlier that a ship traveling in x-space produces a distortion wave in tachyon space that travels out and away from the bow of the ship, in much the same manner as the wake of a boat traveling through water. They had also discovered that by placing oneself directly within that distortion wave, small speed and directional maneuvers could measure the intensity variations of the wave and provide information on direction and speed of the target vessel creating the wave, allowing the other vessel to be tracked. Also, by traveling within the distortion wave itself, normal scanners could not detect your ship as the wake distortion masked your presence.

  “We are within the wake shadow, Master,” declared Astrogation-Master Ceak.

  “Very good, let’s follow this stranger and see where he goes. It might be a new Trakaan design, so everyone stay sharp,” ordered Tzal.

  Akudavex continued following the unfamiliar ship, hidden within its wake shadow. Ship-Master Tzal chaffed at the stranger’s slow speed of only x120 light-speed, which was about half of their normal cruising speed, but it was imperative that they discover where this stranger was going, and where he’d come from. Tzal’s astrogator plotted both the forward and reverse of the stranger’s current course on their star chart, but unless he’d come from an incredible distance away, he’d made course corrections at some point. Perhaps this strange ship came from an isolated Trakaan enclave that had developed ships having a different wake signature than the ones the Raknii were familiar with. There was just no way to know until the stranger reached his destination and translated back into normal space.

  “Fuel status?” barked Tzal.

  “57 percent, Master Tzal.”

  At least this crawling through x-space at such an incredibly slow pace seemed to be reducing their fuel consumption. Tzal wondered if Rak scientists knew about this phenomenon. The Rak were normally a race of extremes — either fully stopped, or moving as fast as possible, with little use for anything in between.

  Tzal doubted that the ship they were stalking was Trakaan. There was just no way a Trakaan ship could get here undetected. If it wasn’t another Rak ship, who could it possibly be? Tzal pondered the quandary for a few moments, before a startling possibility suddenly revealed itself to Tzal’s unusually open mind.

  “Master Tzal,” called passive scan operator on duty. “The target is changing course. New heading is 401-056.”

  “Helm, change course to keep us within the target’s wake shadow,” barked Tzal. “Scan, has the target changed speed?”

  “Negative, Master Tzal. Speed is still x120.”

  Tzal got up from his command mount and nodded towards his deputy. “You have control, Unak. I will be in my cabin. Stay with the target and notify me of any changes. If he should happen to translate into normal space, follow and maneuver us directly behind him so that we’re hidden behind his engine plume as quickly as possible.”

  “Yes, Ship-Master. It will be done, as ordered.”

  Akudavex tailed the strange ship through three more course changes over a period of six turns. When the target suddenly dropped out of x-space, the Rak helmsman reacted immediately with no prior warning to the crew, as he’d been directed turns earlier. There were a few injuries from the unexpected lurch into reality, but the Akudavex managed to maneuver behind the stranger, hopefully without being detected.

  “Close up as close as we dare, without charring ourselves in his drive plume,” ordered Tzal. “If they have scanners going, I want us too close to differentiate from the target. Comm, activate recorders… I want everything covered. Astrogation, mark the location of this star system and give me everything you have on it.”

  “This system is beyond our available star charts, Master. I will make observations to create a star map of the surrounding space and attempt to correlate it to our logged speed and course variations to plot exactly where we are.”

  “Master Tzal!” yelled the comm tech. “I am picking up electromagnetic radiation communications on many frequencies… an incredible number of emission sources.”

  “Can you identify it?”

  “No, Master. It is not the Trakaan language — our translator does not recognize the language. It appears totally alien.”

  At Tzal’s command, Akudavex reoriented and with a short burn, dropped away from the target as they approached a dense asteroid field. “Helm, set us down on the closest asteroid having sufficient mass to produce enough gravity to keep us stationary.” Tzal could only pray they had escaped notice of the aliens, allowing the Rak ship to hide among the swirling rocks, monitoring and recording. Tzal then pressed the toggle on his console to activate the ship’s intercom.

  “All warriors, this is Ship-Master Tzal. It appears that the unknown ship that we’ve been stalking has led us to its den. While not confirmed as yet, initial indications are that we may have discovered a previously unknown source of prey.”

  Throughout the ship, excitement buzzed among the crew. If they truly had discovered a new star-faring race, they would all be entered into the histories, immortalized for all time.

  One of the Akudavex’ most startling discoveries about this new prey was the periodic departure of craft traveling at twenty times the speed of Raknii warships. Using only passive sensors, it was difficult to be absolutely sure that they had correctly identified each alien transmission, but from their best efforts, it certainly appeared the same transmission source traveled an impossibly large distance between transmissions.

  Tzal initiated open discussion among his bridge crew and listened closely to the resulting debates amongst his junior masters, concerning the dichotomy between the existence of these remarkable vessels, and the fact that the prey still apparently used conventional transports like the one they’d trailed to this system, the uses of which seemed about equal. Eventually, a consensus of sorts was reached that the faster vessels must primarily be used for passenger service and high-priority freight while bulk freight was still moved by the larger, slower vessels.

  The mere existence of these ultra-fast ships brought some consternation to the Raknii: how were they supposed to catch prey that could move that fast? Later, the concern faded as the fast ships were likened to the flying creatures on Raku the Rak were simply not equipped to hunt, but as both the slow ships and the planets themselves could be caught and devoured, the fast-movers were ultimately dismissed as irrelevant. The military potential of these fast-movers was also dismissed as relatively insignificant compared to the firepower and armor of a Rak warship like Akudavex.

  The sheer number of these incoming and outgoing vessels suggested a large number of planets within this civilization. When astrogation finished making new star charts from their observations and fuel reached 28 percent, Tzal followed another outbound freighter out of the
system as surreptitiously as they’d snuck in and Akudavex began the long journey back to Troxia Station with their treasure trove of information about these new aliens.

  Chapter-8

  Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.-- Benjamin Franklin

  The Planetoid Discol, City of Waston

  February, 3858

  Diet was settling into a routine within his sumptuous new digs, and getting used to the ghostly voice that seemed to come out of the air around him. He was also getting quite used to being waited on hand and foot. Hal manipulated remote-controlled maintenance robots around the apartment, taking care of all the domestic chores for him. Cooking, cleaning, laundry... Hal took care of it all, freeing Diet from the drudge-work of everyday life.

  After learning he was now the proud owner of more bank accounts than he could ever possibly need, Diet considered quitting his job and enjoying the lap of luxury this apartment and Hal offered him... for about a half-second. I’m too young to become a hermit. After a lifetime with few people in his personal life to talk to, Diet was coming to really enjoy his daily discussions with his new artificial friend.

  Diet regularly researched subjects that involved complex social issues, as fodder for his ongoing efforts to “educate” Hal in understanding and interacting with humans. In the real world, Diet had learned to avoid discussing certain subjects like religion and politics, as those subjects tended to divide people, and often generated great animosity from the arguments that inevitably ensued. But those were exactly the kinds of things that Hal truly needed to understand most about humanity — the subjects that generated strong emotions and irreconcilable differences of opinions.