“I may have overdone the sedative dose, as I clearly remember trying to talk to you. But can you tell me when was the last time I convinced you to do something when you had your mind set on doing the opposite?”
Ziron sighed. “Fair enough, I guess. Let’s not make a habit of this. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
* * *
When the last Arcadian destroyer exploded, Kevin threw his hands to the side in frustration.
“Can I ask you something?” said Kevin.
“Of course,” said Mira.
“Why don’t the new Arcadian destroyers have the Project Sigma weapon?”
“The answer to that is complicated.”
“Tell me, anyway.”
“The power requirement for the weapon is enormous, and the materials to create it are so rare that it can’t be streamlined.”
“Which makes sense. If they were readily available, the Arcadians wouldn’t have needed my help the second time around.”
“Probably, with a fleet of ships with that weapon, they’d easily have wiped out the Kregan Empire by now. But between you and me, I’m not sure any race should dispose of such a powerful weapon.”
“Yeah, the old ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ adage.”
“I don’t know that one, but yes, I couldn’t have said it any better.”
“Well, it would come in handy right about now, and just on one ship. Can’t we make one, even on a smaller ship, like a starfighter?”
There was silence before Mira answered, which Kevin thought was peculiar.
“There wouldn’t be time to create one, and we lack the materials, anyway. What little was left is being used to create the smart suits for you and Boomer.”
“That’s a shame. Well, not the smart suit part I mean, just that right now, I could use an ace in the hole.”
“I understand how you must feel. I’m also surprised there aren’t any other strategies, at least in simulation, that seem to yield a successful attack run.”
“It’s pure mathematics, more ships, more firepower.”
“You’ve defeated bigger odds in the past.”
“You don’t need to remind me. Maybe I’m not that special after all.”
“Don’t think this way, Kevin, we’ll find a way.”
“Will we? How many simulations have we run so far?”
“Two hundred and twelve.”
“Yeah, my point exactly. I’m running out of ideas.”
“It will come to you, but you should take a break and get something to eat.”
* * *
“What you guys call food is really disturbing,” said Kevin, playing with his spoon and the odorless and tasteless goop that dropped back onto his plate.
“I like it,” said Boomer.
“You’d eat anything, literally.”
Boomer barked and then smiled. “He’s not wrong.”
“I’ve eaten worse,” said Lacuna. “Not often, but still.”
Kevin smiled.
“Military rations aren’t the best our universe has to provide,” said Ziron. “But it nourishes the body with all it requires to perform adequately…even optimally if the creator of the food is to be believed.”
“And who would that be?” asked Kevin.
“It’s not important.”
Boomer stopped eating and fixed Ziron with a glare.
“What?” asked Ziron.
Boomer smiled and continued lapping up the grayish goop.
“It’s you!” said Kevin pointing at Ziron. “Isn’t it?”
Ziron shrugged. “Sorry. The Confederate asked me to provide easy and optimal food for everyone.”
“And you couldn’t separate humanoid and quadruped’s food, could you?” said Lacuna with a smile. “You had to be efficient and do one-food-fits-all.”
Boomer finished his plate and let out a long and loud burp.
“That’s gross,” protested Ziron.
But before Boomer could reply, Kevin’s plate slid in front of him, and Boomer went for seconds.
“At least somebody enjoys it,” said Lacuna.
“I miss sushi,” said Kevin. “And hamburgers, pizzas…”
“And Chinese food!” interjected Boomer between his voracious lapping.
“As a matter of fact,” said Kevin, “right now I think I could go for all four of them at once. When we get back to my world, I’ll treat you guys to…”
But Kevin stopped.
“What it is, Kevin?” asked Lacuna.
“It’s nothing…I wanted to say I’ll take you all to Chinatown and we’ll have a fantastic meal, but first, we need to save the planet.”
“We will,” said Lacuna with a reassuring tone.
“I’m not so sure. I can’t seem to find a tactic that works.”
“Could the simulation level be set too high?” asked Boomer. “Like that time you were training for the Omicronia mission.”
“Those were completely different scenarios,” said Ziron, “and Kevin had the choice of adapting the level that time. Here, they’re based on countless sensor data and battles we’ve waged with Kregans in the last hundred years, so it’s actually very close to the real thing.”
“Then we’re in deep shit,” said Kevin, his face looking down at the table.
An uncomfortable silence permeated around them until Boomer walked on the table and licked Kevin’s face.
Kevin petted his best friend and tried his best to smile. The weight on his shoulders felt so heavy that it threatened to crush him like a bug.
“Win or lose, at least we’ll do it together,” said Boomer.
15
The remaining three Arcadian destroyers split when trying to flank Xonax’s flagship, a Kregan monstrosity three times the mass of the rest of the ships in the enemy fleet.
Up until now, the main problem had been that the shields of this vessel were simply too strong. In the scenarios where Kevin focused on taking the shields down first, it always cost too much of his own fleet, even though the fight was slightly simpler, but it still ended up being a problem with pieces remaining on the board. It was like trying to checkmate the enemy with only the king and a couple of pawns. Not an easy task.
Kevin did something he didn’t like. With only three ships left and the flagship still up, with over fifty percent shields, he saw no alternative but to sacrifice one of his destroyers by ramming Xonax’s ship. The craft was obliterated by the impact. But then, the enemy’s shields dropped in time for the remaining destroyers to blast it to smithereens by firing all their torpedo tubes at once, doubled with every laser cannon.
When the flagship exploded, the resulting shockwave damaged two nearby destroyers, dropping one of the enemy ships and lowering secondary shield levels into the red.
With four ships left in the enemy fleet, it was Kevin’s best scenario to date, and victory was both so near and yet so far, especially when the Kregan destroyer with no shields rammed into one of Kevin’s ships, blowing them both up in the process and leaving him with a three against one scenario.
Focus, Kevin, see a way, see a path to victory, he tried to motivate himself.
A glance at his HUD’s readings crushed whatever hope his last thought had brought. While the one destroyer with shields in the red was the obvious prey at this point in time in the fight, the other two ships now vectoring toward him had full shields, and they just launched their fighters.
Kevin’s ship had no more starfighters. They’d all been destroyed earlier in the fight.
Then a ray of light burst through space and exploded into one of the destroyers, lowering its shields.
“Pause simulation!” said Kevin out loud.
Everything froze.
“What the hell was that?” he asked.
“I thought I’d give you another angle of reflection,” said Mira. “This was the Osiris sacrificing itself to provide you with a chance to win.”
“I’d be on the Osiris as would you and all
my friends. We’d all be dead right now.”
“I’ve taken that parameter out of the simulation. Just to give you another option.”
“That’s no option, I’m not sacrificing everyone I love to win.”
“You could beam them off to the surface before you do, and beam yourself to the last destroyer.”
Kevin shook his head. “This is pointless…” He left the holo-room.
Mira’s hologram appeared next to him in the corridor.
“Where are you going? You could at least try this scenario to its conclusion.”
“What’s the point, this is you cheating to give me hope. I would never have done that, and you know it.”
“Which is precisely why I proposed that variation. I can feel your motivation is taking a hit today, and I understand why, but we can’t give up.”
“Maybe you can’t, but I can.”
“Kevin!”
He kept walking without saying another word.
* * *
Lacuna took Kevin in her arms. He broke down in tears.
“I can’t,” he sobbed. “I can’t do it. Everyone is going to die, and it’s all my fault.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth. I can’t win this fight. I thought I could, but…I can’t.”
“You can, and I know right now it’s the last thing you want to hear, as everything feels like it depends on you, but perhaps that’s the problem.”
“I don’t follow?”
“Maybe we all should be in this fight instead of you trying to do everything on your own.”
“You don’t have the implant required to remote control the ships with your brain, apparently it requires a human mind.”
“Does it now? Didn’t Boomer do this for you at one point when you went to rescue Kalliopy on Xonax’s ship?”
“Yeah, but the odds were simpler.”
“You’re missing the point, why could Boomer do it and I can’t?”
“That’s a good question. But do you have any experience fighting large-scale ship battles?”
“No…but I have experience fighting. I did climb to the top of the Omicron tower. That was no easy feat. Granted, I wasn’t alone, I had troops, but it’s the same thing, well…kinda.”
“I suppose. I’ll think about it. But I feel we’re running out of time.”
“You still have a few hours tonight and another day before we reach Earth.”
“I wish we had more time.”
“That’s kind of what makes life what it is, it always feels like a race against time, one we eventually all lose. But right now, you should take a breather and do something else. Empty your brain.”
Kevin looked at Lacuna, and while sex sounded like a good idea, he wasn’t in the mood. “I don’t think I’m in the right frame of mind for that.”
She smiled. “I wasn’t talking about that, silly.”
“Oh…then what?”
“You tell me, what do humans do when they feel helpless?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s bull, you’ve told me so much about these movie heroes and their stories. You can’t tell me that none of them have an activity they like to do. Like that boxer guy, what was his name?”
“Rocky.”
“Yeah, him. He seems like a guy you could get inspiration from at the moment, right?”
“Oh, yeah! I could use his motivation right about now.”
“So…ask yourself this: what would he do?”
Kevin kissed Lacuna on the lips and walked to the door. He turned for one last look. “Thank you.”
16
Kevin walked back to the holo-room and keyed in a few commands on the outside pad before entering.
The room no longer showed any space battle scenarios but was now a chapel. Kevin walked by rows of pews until he reached the large cross. He kneeled.
“God…I know I haven’t been doing this a lot, or ever, but it seems to work for Ro— never mind. Please help me get through this task.”
Kevin didn’t know what to expect. Surely there would be no answer to his plea, but he’d hope that it would spark something in him.
“Can you give me a sign? Just a tiny little sign, anything.”
The minutes transformed into an hour, and he was still there, praying, but nothing seemed to lift his spirits.
“Look, God, I’m fine dying tomorrow. As a matter of fact, I’d give my life ten times over to save the planet, my friends, and my family. Can you tell me how I can do that? If you do, you can have my life. I just don’t want to fail and see everyone I love die.”
When no answer or sign came, Kevin, feeling defeated, rose back to his feet, turned around, and walked toward the door.
Stupid movies…if only life were that simple.
“Wait,” said a voice.
A shiver ran down Kevin’s spine as he stopped and turned.
Then everything changed, the chapel morphed into nothingness, and soon Mira’s face engulfed the entire room.
“What the hell? Are you listening in on my holo-simulation? Not cool!”
“You’ll want to hear this. I—I should have done this earlier. I’m sorry.”
“Done what?”
“I have to tell you something.”
“I’m not in the mood right now. Can we do this tomorrow?”
“You’ll want to hear this. It’s the key to your victory.”
“What the hell are you saying?”
Her holographic face took a deep breath, which Kevin found peculiar as she didn’t need air to exist.
“I’m not who you think I am.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m not an Arcadian Confederate AI, Kevin. I’ve been posing as one.”
“And that changes what exactly?”
“Granted, in and on itself, it wouldn’t change much. Unless I tell you more about who and what I am.”
“This should be interesting. I’m listening.”
“Long ago, I was created by an ancient and wise civilization. A new enemy came to their doorstep, and the civilization created me for protection. They didn’t want an artificial life to be the sole hope for their world, so the advanced technology required a living element to unleash its full potential. You’ve experienced part of that power already. The Project Sigma initiative.”
“No, that’s the weapon Ziron created.”
“Or so he thinks, same for the smart suits. Ziron thinks he created these inventions, but, in fact, I was there, nudging him in the right direction, ever so slightly whispering in his ear and filling in the blanks. The concepts might have been what he wanted to achieve, but without my unity matrix and part of my power, he would never have succeeded.”
“I think I need to sit down.”
A chair materialized under Kevin, and he let himself fall into it.
“You’re going to need to tell me more.”
Mira’s hologram smiled.
“You see, back then, Alphas, the civilization that created me, had evolved to the point where they had eradicated all sins in their lives, and they had no need for weapons since they didn’t wage wars anymore. They lived for centuries in perfect harmony with their world, nature, and the universe. Until a race came into contact with them.
“The Alphas had renounced space travel as they didn’t really see the need to explore. Everywhere they went, they saw things they didn’t have nor want to deal with anymore—death, war, desolation, greed, and so on.
“But this enemy race tricked the Alphas into teaching them things so they could also evolve like the Alphas. In reality, all the enemy wanted was their technology, and once they learned enough, they turned on their mentors.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised, it seems greed and power is a universal force everywhere in the world.”
“Unfortunately, the Alphas didn’t think so, and when the ancestors of the Kregans came knocking on their doors, they were quickly overrun. A scientist created me me
re days before the end of the Alphas. To save them.”
“And did you?”
“I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“My creator knew the potential in my creation was strong and if used by the wrong race, like the Kregans, it could potentially give them the ultimate weapon responsible for the destruction of all life in the universe.
“So to make sure this never happened, the fusion of my AI matrix with the life form component was created with a very high standard, and to make things worse, the Alphas thought it arrogant to mix the technology with one of them, so I was sent in the universe to find a worthy candidate. I never found one, until now.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“I am, Kevin, you’re the one. And this time I won’t let civilizations fall in doubting my selection process.”
“Is that what happened with the Alphas?”
“Indeed. A few days before their world was utterly destroyed, I found a potential candidate. But he didn’t match every criterion to one hundred percent. So I hesitated. And that cost my creators and a great civilization to be swallowed by evil. I can’t let that happen again. The Kregan Emperor, in many respects, was just as bad as his ancestors, who destroyed the Alphas. But Xonax is even worse.”
“I see.”
“You don’t, Kevin. I’m sorry to say this because it won’t help your anxiety, but we need to stop them.”
“Yeah, intergalactic stakes aside, I’m actually on board with that. I just wish I didn’t have to sacrifice the lives of others to win.”
“I know. And that’s why you’re not using every tactic in your simulations, but with my help, you can actually replicate the power of Project Sigma…tenfold.”
“If I may ask, by how much did that candidate match the criteria in your selection programming?”
“He was a ninety-nine point eight match.”
“You’d think that was good enough. Am I even that close?”
“You’re ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine five.”
Kevin laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your algorithm must be off, that’s all I’m saying.”
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 50