by Scott Baron
“You seem all right,” she agreed, “but I can’t expose you to the others. Not yet. I need to run a few more systems checks.”
“You’ve done them all,” he lamented. “Twice, even.”
“Look, I saved you, okay? So just cut me a little slack here. I’m kind of busy.”
“At least finish my ship, then.”
“Your ship?”
“You placed my systems within it, so yes. My ship. Or my two-thirds of a ship, is more like it, since you won’t complete it.”
“It takes time to build a stealth ship, Joshua. It’s a very high-tech process.”
“I’ve already reverse-engineered your work and understand it fully,” he countered.
Freya was rocked a bit more than she cared to admit. Joshua was powerful, that she’d known. But just how clever and resourceful he actually was, well, until she’d seen it in person, it was hard to fathom.
Naturally, this only made her crush on him harder.
“No!” she blurted. “I’ll finish the ship when I’ve got time. Maybe back on Dark Side, after we’ve run the assault on the Ra’az fleet.”
“You’re assaulting their fleet? How are you going to manage against those numbers?”
“Shit. Forget you heard that.”
“Freya, you know I can’t do that. At least tap me in to the external comms so I can listen in.”
“No, you already tried butting in once. You almost ruined everything.”
“But––”
“Just leave it alone, okay? Look, I’ve gotta go. We’re landing in a minute, and I’m going to be dealing with a bunch of stuff. Just... I don’t know. Play a game. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Freya shut off her connection to Joshua, leaving him alone in her ship’s hold, surrounded by his partially completed craft and a bunch of random tools and mechs.
“Hmm,” Joshua mused as his limited available scanning apparatus surveyed the area. “I wonder...”
He shifted several of his onboard connections, reversing the polarity of one entire subroutine’s control motherboard in the process, and finally, after several minutes, he felt something.
The lights on a workbench control panel across the room flickered on a moment before going dark again.
“Well, I guess it’s a start,” he said, as a plan began to form in his powerful mind.
Freya touched down in Los Angeles to a warm welcome from the Chithiid youth. Since their victory over the Ra’az, Freya and Daisy’s frequent visits had quickly transitioned from a slightly frightening arrival to a cause for celebration. The quirky AI was popular among the Chithiid. Possibly even more so than Daisy, though the novelty of a wicked-cool stealth ship speaking fluent Chithiid might have had something to do with that.
Daisy left her precocious ship to chat with the locals, while she wandered into the heart of Downtown, where Maarl had set up his offices once the city had been secured. When she finally arrived at his door, he rose to his feet, a giant smile on his face and all four arms spread wide to give his friend a proper hug.
“Daisy, my friend. It is most excellent to see you,” he said.
“Very Bill and Ted of you,” she replied.
“Another of your ancient Earth references, I assume?”
“You know me so well,” she said with a friendly laugh.
Also rising to greet her was Aarvin, Maarl’s number two. A man he had known much of his life, and one in whom his trust was complete.
“Aarvin, it is good to see you again,” Daisy greeted him. “How goes your vetting of potential commanders for the remainder of the fleet?”
“We are making progress, and if all continues according to schedule, we should be at one hundred percent readiness within months.”
“This is fantastic news,” Daisy said.
Maarl patted his old friend on the shoulder and smiled.
“He has done admirable work, indeed. And in addition, Aarvin has aided me in the final checks of our young rebel infiltrators before their insertions back into the slave population on Taangaar.”
“Good news, Maarl. Soon they will be ready to make planetfall and begin their tasks,” Daisy said.
“Actually––and keep this to yourself, Daisy––Marty previously offered us his aid, and has landed several loads of our rebels on the surface already. With his stealth technology, he did so entirely undetected.”
“Wait, why didn’t you tell me?” Daisy asked. “Freya and I were supposed to help in this.”
“You have both been very busy, Daisy. And besides, we cannot ask Freya to be the only one shouldering the burden of delivering our people to their home. No, Marty is just as stealthy as she is, and he and Arlo have done a fine job thus far. In fact, with their newly installed warp drive, in conjunction with their pre-existing stealth technology, they have delivered over a thousand men across Taangaar in the past week alone. Thirty at a time, all delivered safe and sound.”
“Though once they integrate with the slave population, all semblance of safety will be gone,” Aarvin noted. “It is a bit difficult, training our youths to be spies and instigators, but they seem to have taken to it quite well.”
“Yes, it is an unusual scenario, indeed,” Maarl agreed. “Unfortunately, all males of age are taken off-planet and sent to the work forces, necessitating either females, of which we have none, or younger-looking Chithiid, of which we are fortunate to have quite a few.”
“You forget, Maarl, the loyalist conspirators are still on our world as well,” Aarvin noted.
“Wait, so there are males there?” Daisy asked.
“Yes, those of power who actively assist the Ra’az. They, and a select few who are kept to breed new generations are the only males of our kind on the entire planet, aside from those sequestered for labor. Those who interact with females are but a fraction of a percentage, nothing more.”
“But how will you keep track of your people among literally billions of captives on the surface?”
“It will not be easy, and we cannot be as overt as Craaxit’s team was with their bright red arm bands worn during the assault. That would be too obvious,” Maarl said. “While our people do traditionally often wear arm bands, we must blend in. We have found, however, that weaving a nondescript design into a plain material makes for a far more subtle, yet equally identifiable mark,”
He held up a swath of cloth for Daisy to inspect. Subtly woven into the material was a spiraling pattern. She recognized it immediately. The Golden Ratio, often called a Fibonacci spiral on Earth.
It seemed that math was one thing that held true across space and culture.
“I wanted to introduce you to a trio of up and coming leaders moving up in the ranks,” Maarl said, calling in three young men from the adjacent room. “They are each training to one day command one of the ships to be inserted into the Ra’az fleet. Marzook, will you please come in, and bring the others with you.”
Daisy shook each of their hands in greeting, starting with Marzook, and working down the line, then got down to briefing them on the details of the mission. The retrofitting, she informed Maarl and his team, was going fantastically, with great progress being made daily. In fact, Vince and the others were coming to the planet’s surface shortly to work on more of the commandeered vessels.
One area of concern was the periodic flare-ups of Ra’az survivors and their loyalist helpers. The recent attack on Dark Side had been thwarted, but the fact that the Ra’az had even gotten that close was a problem nevertheless.
“I can see how this would be most disconcerting,” Aarvin said. “When our ships warp to being our assaults, we will be sure to leave a small supporting force behind, so it is not only your small AI vessels tasked with protecting not only Dark Side, but all of our hard-won gains.”
“Thank you, Aarvin, that would be greatly appreciated,” Daisy said.
“Fortunately, thanks to Shelly, Omar, Tamara, and the cyborg soldiers who have been helping train our forces, we should have a ready f
ighting group prepared for such a task within weeks.”
“And loyalists? Have they all been rooted out?” Daisy asked.
“While there are sure to be a few stragglers among our people, we are confident that none are secreted away in sensitive positions,” Maarl said. “Regardless, we now keep all plans secret, only sharing them with key, trusted people, and only as needed for their particular missions.”
“Again, a wise move,” Daisy said appreciatively. “It seems you are doing well down here. But the other day, you mentioned there was a Ra’az insurgence in several regions.”
“Yes, the Ra’az and their loyalists, while still cut off from a global communications network, have been retaking certain high-value areas with much-needed resources and weapons. They will need to be dealt with, but those small pockets of the enemy are also heavily dug in and fortified against attack. So much so that we feel it is not practical for untrained Chithiid to put their troops and ships in jeopardy to assault them,” Maarl said.
“As Maarl pointed out,” Aarvin added, “They are cut off from each other. The destruction of the comms facilities accomplished that. However, while they are not a risk to the overall fleet or our missions, they are nevertheless a dangerous variable here on Earth, and one that is causing much death and damage, so long as they remain unchecked. We are somewhat at a loss, though. The first several ships we sent to investigate came under heavy fire and were forced to retreat. It seems we are unable to reach them without incurring heavy losses.”
Daisy thought on their situation a long moment, mulling over resources and options at their disposal.
“Hey, Daisy,” Freya chirped over the comms. “I hope you’re not busy in there, but would ya tell Maarl that I’ve got that prototype Chithiid neuro-stim for him, if he wants to try to learn English.”
“I will. Thanks, kiddo,” she replied to her AI ship, then relayed the information to Maarl.
“Excellent. I look forward to trying out this device. A clever ship you have, Daisy.”
“I know. There’s not much she can’t––”
Daisy fell silent as inspiration hit.
“Daisy? Are you all right?”
“I’m better than all right, Maarl,” she said. “Your Ra’az holdout facilities? I think I have an idea.”
Chapter Seven
Freya was more than a little bit overwhelmed with what Daisy had asked her to do. Not because she wasn’t able to handle the task––it was well within her capabilities as an AI of such magnitude––but because it was simply so far beyond anything she’d ever been tasked with in her life.
They had first flown a survey of the several dozen hardened Ra’az targets Maarl and Aarvin had plotted out on several maps for them. When they drew near and became visible to the naked eye, the Chithiid loyalists arming the weapons systems attempted to shoot them down immediately.
Of course, Freya provided no tracking signature for their weapons to lock onto, so they were forced to fire line-of-sight, as gunners had done since time immemorial. Unfortunately for them, she was too fast, her reflexes almost preternatural––which they actually had been at one point in time not long ago, when she was engaged in events that had already happened.
In this case, however, she was merely displaying her capabilities as the top dog AI in the galaxy. At least, that anyone was aware of.
Joshua––arguably even more powerful than Freya, and with many more centuries of practical experience to boot––was still quietly hidden deep in her secondary hold.
“Looks like these guys actually think they can win,” Daisy noted as yet another entrenched Ra’az facility targeted them and opened fire.
“Yeah, I kinda noticed,” the clever AI agreed as she easily dodged their attack and flew out of range.
Daisy studied the layout of the hardened facilities their quarry had taken refuge in one more time. Her assessment was as grim as it had been before, but she had an ace in the hole.
“Most of them are largely impregnable to conventional weaponry. They might as well be bunkers, given the way they’re constructed.”
“I know, Daisy. I scanned them when we flew over too. It looks like inserting ground units to do a sneak assault will be out of the question. No way we can sneak them in, even if we approach at night so they can’t see me. We would get close, but ground forces would be slaughtered.”
“Good assessment, kiddo. You’re getting better at this, you know?”
“Aww, thanks.”
“I mean it. Your understanding of tactical situations has really sharpened. Like you’re taking your game up a notch.”
Little did she know, the brain formerly behind all of NORAD’s systems now lay nestled in a small ship, hidden within that very same craft. Joshua’s presence alone had inspired Freya to throw added effort into her tactical planning.
She was only letting him have access to the barest of her comms and scanner data, but eventually, she knew she’d have to let him fly free, and when she did, she wanted him to be impressed with how she’d performed in his area of expertise.
It was a good plan, and she had been relatively sure Joshua would be impressed with pretty much everything she’d done since his rescue. That is, until she was thrown an unexpected curveball.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Daisy asked as Freya processed what had been requested of her. “You’ve got the processing capacity, and I damn well know you have the codes. Sarah and I got them for you ourselves, if you recall.”
“I know, Daisy,” Freya replied, more than a little trepidatious. “But you’re talking about thousands of missiles. Thousands. It’s not like just aiming a gun and pulling the trigger, you know?”
“Of course I do, but that’s what targeting systems are for. Set them for each facility, then launch the salvos. Freya, what did you think we were doing when we copied the launch codes for those hypersonic missiles back then? It wasn’t just for fun, I can assure you.”
“Obviously, but it’s not so simple. Aside from being insanely complex systems––and spread all across the globe, I might add––you’re talking about an arsenal that contains not only high explosive ordinance like you were going to use on the comms facilities, but also nuclear-tipped warheads. Nukes, Daisy. Do you really want to risk accidentally launching nukes?”
“Freya, we know all of that. We have for months. So what’s the concern here? I have faith in you. This is something you can do––your brain is so powerful, and you’re so clever, I’m absolutely sure of it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I just don’t know,” Freya sulked.
She was indeed capable of handling the mission. At least on a purely technical specs level. As a maturing mind, however, the task seemed Herculean in nature to her. Like green soldiers being trained to do things they formerly believed no man could possibly do, Freya, likewise, needed to be pushed to achieve more than she thought she could. Without a shouting drill instructor, if possible.
Once the impossible is achieved, other likewise difficult tasks suddenly don’t seem so far-fetched.
Daisy picked up on her kid’s hesitance, and her sister did as well.
“She’s scared, Daze.”
I know.
“She’s never done anything this big. It’s gotta be a bit overwhelming, even for an AI.”
Yeah, but the plan is a good one.
“I’m not arguing that. I’m just saying that maybe she needs a little hand-holding on this one. She’s growing up fast, but no matter how confident she may seem, she’s still a kid in a lot of ways.”
And this is how she grows into a woman, Sis. We won’t always be there for her, you know. A little tough love goes a long way sometimes.
“Well, you do the tough love thing. I want to talk to my niece. Put on the neuro-band, will ya?”
All right. Hang on a minute.
Daisy rose from her chair and walked to her quarters to retrieve the tiny unit. Freya had further refined the device to easily hide i
n Daisy’s hair, reading Sarah’s voice and allowing her to talk not only to the young ship, but to her flesh-and-blood self as well.
Okay. You’re hooked up, Daisy said.
“Thanks,” Sarah replied.
Deep in Freya’s hold, Joshua noticed something different. Something unusual happening on Freya’s systems. Bored, and cut off from everyone else, he began studying the strange signal trickling through the ship.
“Freya? How are you doing, hon?” Sarah asked.
“I’m okay, I guess.”
“You don’t sound okay.”
“It’s just, I don’t know if I can do this, Sarah.”
“Hey, there’s no rush to any of this. Take your time, get comfortable with the systems. The Ra’az aren’t going anywhere, and while their building up strongholds is problematic, numbers are on our side. They’re pinned down and can’t do much damage, so don’t sweat this, okay?”
“But what if I screw it up? What if I make the wrong decision?”
“We all make mistakes sometimes. That’s how we learn. But you don’t have to pressure yourself, Freya. Just run through the checklists and make sure you know which missile is carrying which payload to be sure it’s a conventional one. And again, there’s no rush and no pressure. This wasn’t a planned thing, it just sort of sprang up when Maarl told us how the Ra’az had been strengthening their footholds in a few places.”
“A few dozen is more like it.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t want to make a big thing out of it,” Sarah replied with a laugh.
“...codes––won’t target––mechanism––” a staticky voice blurted faintly over the comms.
“What was that, Freya?” Daisy asked, swiveling in her seat. “Sounded like a man’s voice.”
“Uh, hang on,” she replied.
“What are you doing? Monitors show you’re cutting power to a half-dozen pods.”
“I think there’s a bad comms link down there. I’m just sequestering them so I can track down the fault, is all.”