...and they are us 3: HiveWorld

by Patrick McClafferty

  Zed thought about it. “I’m going to meet the folks from the Boston when they get here in a few days. If you can look like a normal human, why don’t you come with me?”

  “Ugh!” LOLA made a little moue of distaste. “Look human?” She let out a mortified sigh. “I suppose so.” She gave him a sympathetic look. “Get a few hours of sleep in one of the berths right here.” She pointed to the dozen cylindrical sleeping berths that ringed the interior of the saucer. “Nobody will bother you, I guarantee that.” Zed just grinned.

  “How are things going, Kal?” Zed sipped his coffee and noted how tired his friend looked on the screen.

  “Pretty good, all things considered. We loaded the last of the 2000 veterans and their families aboard last night. Mike told me that he has 1000 pioneers that will be ready to begin transporting tonight. It should only take a few more days. LOLA uploaded the Callidus coordinates to my computer already, along with the appropriate IFF codes. She told me that Athena is in a shoot-first-ask-questions-later mode.” His bloodshot eyes studied Zed. “I see that we’re not alone up here anymore.”

  “Yeah.” Zed replied slowly. “Back at Callidus we loaded up the Boston with all the nonessential types when it looked as though our survival was in serious question. It was a good thing we did. Most of them would have gone down with the Rose. The scout saucer we have now, the 7651J Rose of the Dawn, was damaged in the fight. After being repaired and rebuilt, she is much faster than anything else we have in the fleet, so we were able to fight the Creednax, recover, and still beat the Boston here. Now all we have to do is find my wife and the others.”

  “It might be smart money to recruit a few shiploads of colonists from Dramul and Chamdar.” The former Sergeant Sirak said seriously. Dramul and Chamdar had been economic and military rivals for 25 millennia, until Zed and the original Rose of the Dawn stepped in to end the wasteful silliness.

  Zed gave Kal a thoughtful look. “That might be a very good idea. We could have the Mistral concentrate on supplying colonists from Dramul and Chamdar for Cybele. Argonaute could concentrate on people from Earth for Callidus. Athena and Cybele, the AI from Thal’ark station would be able to keep an eye on things just fine.” Zed gave a dry laugh. “You should get your current XO trained up in a hurry. We’ll probably need you elsewhere soon in the Formidable.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Kal paused to yawn. “I have to get some sleep. Give us a call when the last batch of colonists are ready to go.”

  Zed glanced at the wall clock and noted that it was 10:00 PM. “Will do. We’ll do the transfer here, since the Boston will be setting down at Mountain Home tonight to unload her scientists.” Zed smiled at his friend. “Nite Kal.” The man on the other end grumbled something in return, and snapped the screen off.

  The time was 11:30 PM, under a heavy and threatening sky when the small saucer pierced the clouds, heading for the ground at Mountain Home AFB. LOLA, flying with her usual precision, set the craft down in a small aircraft parking area set off the main taxiway. Zed stood and looked around the small cabin. Dimitri, Larisa, Chief Lopéz and Helen Sutherland returned the look in silence.

  “The Boston is on final approach.” LOLA commented sardonically from the pilot’s position. “Tom Covati is taking the cautious approach.” She shut her golden eyes. “Twenty meters… The Boston has landed undetected.” The saucer door slid open.

  “All ashore.” Zed waved his hand at the darkened landscape. “Let’s go greet our friends and fellow crewmen.” One by one they left the ship. He was the last. Beside him stood a tall young woman with dark hair, the hood from her jacket pulled up to almost cover her face. LOLA gave him a wink. “Good job. Let’s go.” He turned for the door, walking quickly down the ramp. Behind him the door vanished into the blackness of the night.

  Men with flashlights guided the debarking scientists from the Boston to the large maintenance hangar, the last one still standing at what had been Mountain Home Air Force Base. Light blazed in the hangar, and on the other side of the building sat five waiting busses. Although he hadn’t planned to do it, as each former crewman or woman entered the hangar Zed shook their hand, and welcomed them to Earth. The very last person to shake his hand was Thomas Covati.

  “Hello Tom.” Zed said softly. “Welcome to Earth.”

  The man just held his hand for a long moment. “I’m so sorry for your loss… our loss. Can I get a list of the casualties?” Without a word Zed handed him a folded slip of paper.

  “The survivors who didn’t come with us have taken jobs either on Callidus or on the Battlecruiser Yamato, under our friend Dan Grinwell.”

  “The Yamato?” Tom frowned.

  “Biggest ship you’ve ever seen. Think four kilometers. More powerful than any two Creednax battleships.”

  The men turned to watch the scientists load on the busses. “What now, Zed?” Tom asked in his soft deep voice.

  “Well, I figure that you can rotate your crew here to take shore leave. Then I’d like you to set up sensors around the entire Sol system. The Creednax have been hurt and hurt badly, but they are still out there. Your job, until we can get a base set up somewhere close-by, is to patrol this system. We’ll have military veterans coming here regularly looking for employment off-world. Take who you need.”

  Tom nodded. “Have you given the folks at NASA a call?”

  “I wouldn’t know who to talk to.”

  A sly look crossed the former astronaut’s face. “I do. How many ‘volunteers’ are you looking for?”

  Zed gave him a level look. “All of them; every single man and woman associated with the space program. I know that you haven’t met her yet, but Cybele, the AI for Thal’ark station would kill for people of that caliber.”

  “All of them.” Thomas Covati murmured, a faraway look in his eyes. “People in the government will go crazy.”

  Zed grinned. “Yeah.”

  The commander of the Frigate Boston frowned. “Didn’t I read that the Colonizer Mistral was 300 meters long?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Well, the Mistral, or any colonizer for that matter could come in at night and set right down on the base runway. Open all the access doors and you could load all 3000 people in 30 minutes. This base is isolated as hell. With no lights nobody will see a thing.”

  “How about satellites?”

  “I think the Creednax took out most of the surveillance satellites we had in orbit.”

  “Surveillance drones?”

  “I’ll have the AI on the Boston install a few point defense lasers on the base. It doesn’t take another LOLA to do that. You’ve just given me a lot of things to do, Zed. I’d better go do them.” The man turned, heading back to his ship.

  “We had better think about moving our current operations, Zed.” LOLA whispered close by his side. Zed jumped. He’d forgotten she was there

  “Why?

  “Your government might ignore a few hundred people disappearing, but when thousands start to vanish they are going to get interested.”

  Zed frowned. “I may just have Tom Covati threaten to nuke Washington if they don’t leave us alone.”

  “You don’t need another war. A better idea would be to buy your own island, somewhat close to the shore of your country. Set your spaceport up there, and let anyone who can make it there go where they will.”

  “Can you say blockade?” Zed replied dryly.

  “Boats leak.” LOLA rebutted. “After a few dozen blockade boats sink, the rest will give up and go home.”

  Zed just shook his head in pure admiration at the audacious plan.

  “Who’s your friend, Zed?” Mike Flaherty’s voice was startling loud and Zed jumped involuntarily.

  “Hi Mike. Ahhh, this is, ahhh…” Zed didn’t know what to say. LOLA turned slowly to face the big former Marine directly… and winked. Mike frowned for several long moments, and then his eyes widened in surprise.

  “LOLA?” She winked again. Mike turned to glare at Zed. “How t
he hell is she doing this? She’s an AI, just a holographic projection from the mainframe, right?”

  Zed sighed. “She was. There was a significant breakthrough in technology while we were at Callidus. LOLA, Athena, and Cybele are no longer tied to mainframes. They are independent entities, as alive as you or I.”

  “But… but that’s insane!” Mike blurted. “An AI without a control is…”

  “Zed is our control.” LOLA murmured very softly. Mike’s jaw shut with an audible snap. “Zed has the ultimate veto over whatever we do.”

  “But in 20 or 30 years Zed will get old and die because he’s only human. What will happen then?” LOLA just held Mike’s eyes, until finally it began to dawn on the man. “No!!” Zed was staring at LOLA.

  “Why don’t you ask Doctor Sutherland what she thinks?” LOLA replied in a gentle voice. “She has a good idea what Zed is. She saw him after he…” Her glance turned to Zed. “…died.”

  Mike turned to his old friend. “I really don’t know you, Zed.” He sounded sad.

  “You should have been there. I didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

  “I was there if you remember.”

  “Yeah, you were 15 minutes ahead of me getting back to the safety of Callidus. Those 15 minutes were three minutes too long for me.” Beside Zed LOLA suddenly got a far-away look in her eyes.

  “Zed, we have a problem back at the ranch. It seems that a group of hunters got some pictures of the Argonaute shuttles loading. Can you imagine the sensation if they hit Facebook?”

  Zed chuckled. “I’ve seen less believable pictures on Facebook. Mike, could you round up the others? Meet us back at the saucer.” He caught the former astronaut’s eye. “I won’t hold it against you if you don’t show up.”

  The big man sighed. “Like I’d abandon you now, and besides, I have Alina to find.” He went to turn and stopped. “Just promise that you will sit down and explain it to me someday.”

  Zed laughed. “THAT I promise to do.” Just as soon as someone explains it to me. He thought to himself in an ironic voice.

  The young red-headed clerk, who they found was named Caleb Prevost, greeted them as they exited the saucer. He didn’t wait around for anything as mundane as for them to step to the ground. “One hundred and eighteen kilograms of gold.” He said proudly.

  Zed glared at the youth. “Pocket change. Plans have changed. Find out who is the current owner of Guana Island in the Caribbean, and buy the island from him. Double the current value and offer him that. They can keep the management of the resort if they wish and the profits, if there are any, and the flag. All I want to do is build a spaceport there without interference.” Caleb was standing with his mouth hanging open. “Now what’s all this about hunters?”

  “Ahhh, a half dozen hunters came out of the woods as the shuttles were loading and snapped some pictures.” He pointed into the blackness. “They went that way.”

  “Good. Now call the lawyers, and get busy with our island.” Zed glared. “Well, don’t just stand there.” Caleb ran. Zed turned back to the others. “Back to the saucer. We have to find those hunters before they dump those pictures on Facebook.” He looked at Dimitri, Larisa and Emilio, the three leaders of his Strike Team. “Do you have anything that will knock those hunters down without killing them?”

  Surprising them all, it was Doctor Sutherland who came up with the solution. “There’s a substance based on the Russian drug fentanyl. It’s said to be quite effective.” Dimitri looked embarrassed that he’d not thought of it first. “That is if LOLA can create a batch based solely on the chemical formulae and put it out as an aerosol spray we’ll be all set.”

  “No phasers on stun LOLA?” Zed asked in a wry voice.

  “I can set up a disrupter that will incapacitate the humans, but it will probably kill much of the smaller wildlife in the forest.”

  “Damn. Will the gas hurt the wildlife?”

  “Not appreciable Zed, however they will all probably have headaches and not be in the best of moods when they wake.”

  “It sounds like me. Go for the gas.”

  “Already loaded.” He could tell that she was laughing. “We’re coming up on the hunters now… traveling on foot, they’d only made it a half mile from the ranch. Dispensing the gas… The hunters should be incapacitated by the time we circle and land. You should hurry. You only have a few minutes until they wake.”

  It took Dimitri, Larissa and Emilio a total of ten minutes to secure the hunters and load them aboard the saucer. The largest of the men, a burly dark haired man with a three day growth of beard was already beginning to stir when Zed removed his camera. The man growled like a bear, and then looked around him. The growls turned to whimpers. “Yer nut gunna sperimint on me, are ye?” His speech was garbled by the aftereffects of the drug.

  Doctor Sutherland wrinkled her nose at the man’s fragrant odor as she examined him. “No we’re not going to experiment on any of you. We’re just going to take your cameras. CNN isn’t ready for us yet.”

  The man blinked. “Are you from the government?” His diction was improving rapidly.

  Zed laughed aloud. “No. Actually the government would flip if they knew we were here.” He frowned at the man. “Essentially, we’re loading colonists for off-world.”

  The man’s eyes lit. “What type of world?”

  “Manufacturing world, specializing in R&D and starship design. The planet just survived a savage bombardment and is looking for people willing to work. If that isn’t your cup of tea, we have a rural world that needs settlers. It might be a couple of months before we have a ship headed that way however. Callidus needs the people first.”

  “How many are you looking for?”

  “Oh… five million to start.”

  The man on the floor made a gurgling sound, and Helen Sutherland bent over quickly in concern, to discover he was laughing.

  “Government?”

  “Technocracy on a planetary scale, run by a very wise AI. Democracy on a smaller scale in smaller communities. No organized religions at this time. We won’t put up with ‘my god is better than your god’ stuff. Free trade is encouraged. Worldwide population only a few hundred at this point. Since you’ll be working for Athena, she will provide food and lodging and pay in whatever currency you desire. If you find you don’t like Callidus you can go to Cybele whenever you wish.”

  The man shut his eyes and appeared, to Zed’s amazement, to be crying. “Where do we sign?”

  “How many are you?” Zed asked curiously.

  “Fifteen at last count.”

  Zed gave the man a long look. “If I were to let you out, could you bring all your people back to the ranch before dawn?”

  “Not today. I can have then at your ranch tomorrow night.”

  Zed scowled. “LOLA, will Kal have room?”

  LOLA, now wearing an eye-searing sleeveless magenta jumper grinned. “I’ve made sure that there are places for 15 more.”

  “LOLA?” The man on the floor asked.

  “LOLA, the Loquacious Octoplex Loyalty Adaptable Algorithm.” Zed replied seriously. “The ship’s AI and much more. She is one of the crew… and my friend.”

  “Awww, that’s sweet Zed.” LOLA was actually blushing.

  “I have a PhD in neurolinguistic programming, and astrophysics. I feel like a child beside her.” The man on the floor murmured in a gruff voice.

  Zed reached down and cut the man’s binders, along with the other hunters. “Join the club. Where is your camp?”

  “About eight kilometers north from where you caught us.”

  “LOLA?”

  “I see the camp, Zed. There is a small clearing about 50 meters south of the camp. I’ll drop them there.”

  “Thank you, LOLA.”

  Rubbing his wrists gingerly, the big man sat up. “You said something about a battle?”

  “It’s a rough galaxy out there, mister… I don’t even know your name.”

  “Riley Green.”


  “Mister Green. We’ve been fighting this species for the better part of two years now. They are an insectoid race that will strip a planet of its resources in no time at all and kill every man, woman and child. I lost my ship and half my crew defending Callidus.” He patted a console affectionately. “This is just the scout ship from The Rose of the Dawn.” The hatch slid open and the ramp flowed to the ground. “Here is your camp. Be at the ranch tomorrow. The shuttle will leave with or without you.”

  Riley reached out, and his huge hairy hand engulfed Zeds in a crushing grip. “We’ll be there. Chances like this don’t come often.”

  Zed removed his hand from the furry vice, wiggling his fingers to make sure they still worked. “Then I’ll be seeing you around campus, neighbor.” The hunters disappeared down the ramp.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing.” Mike growled from the XO’s seat.

  “I think I do.” Zed replied, frowning. “Besides, we still have their cameras.” He grinned. “It’s been a long night. I want to go to bed. Tomorrow, after the shuttle has departed we’ll leave to find our lost women.”

  “About damned time. We’ve been here weeks.” Mike muttered darkly. “Who the bloody hell knows where they are by now?”

  The temperature was far below freezing, and the night flawlessly cold. Stars glittered in a sky that could have been the black of space. Overhead a meteor streaked across the firmament in a vivid slash. Zed had said his goodbyes to Riley and Kal Sirak before they loaded the final shuttle, and now he stood watching the hatch slide slowly closed. The darkened shuttle began to rise.

  “Mister Yates.” A voice said at his elbow. Zed held up a single finger, indicting wait a single minute. The shuttle rose to a hundred meters and then flickered out of existence as the cloaking field was engaged. They were gone. He turned to the young man standing beside him.

  “What is it, Caleb?”