A Planet's Search For History

by Burbaugh, MF;

  By the next Council meeting we had a plan, dangerous, but a plan. We took a chopper flight from the swamp exit to the cleared area north of the forest. They had already built several brick and cinder-block buildings. One was a large open room like a factory floor. Tables and chairs were set at one end and rows of chairs were set at the other.

  As we went in Lucy took charge. She had been studying our procedures after being appointed to Council. She centered herself and ran the seating of Council in the rear then the Sub-Council by what were now called districts. She passed out an old fashion paper file folder to each of us. Inside were printed papers covering the agendas we were going to discuss and various items requested for rulings from the Council. I could tell by it alone that it was going to be a long day.

  Once everyone was in place it was almost 9AM on Olgreender II. We’d been up, fed, and flown in before eight. Lucy called it all to order at exactly 9AM and the building was packed to standing room only.

  “Quiet please, quite,” she said. “For all those so inclined a moment of silent prayer. While I say my feelings out loud.”

  “Oh supreme being, creator of our universe, if you exist, grant us the strength to complete the tasks required of us and let all who have died rest in peace. Amen.” I heard a few ‘amen’s, mine included.

  “This Council meeting is called to session. Will the secretary call the roll please? For those not in the know, Col. Tally is General El’s Aid-de-Camp and has agreed to fill the roll until one is elected or hired.”

  Tally ran a quick name call for the record, all but one were present—that one was in the hospital with a bad flu bug the swamp planet had going around.

  “Thank you. I will dispense with the last meetings minutes and we have no treasury or bills yet so we can dispense with those. Let us move on to old business please. Anyone having old business among the Council members or Sub-Council, a show of hands please?”

  I saw three.

  “As I point to you, identify yourself and your business. This is not Olgreender and we don’t want or need long-winded, flowery speeches. State it and be done.” That got some applause from the crowd.

  Lucy pointed to one, who stood. “Councilwoman Delanor, the food supply, winter is upon us and food is tight, are we going to be able to feed everyone?”

  El said she could address that so Lucy recognized her. “Ma’am, your people have done miracles, I mean that. This building attests to it. I understand quarters will be tight for the winter as well but accommodations have been made for most of you. I also received and compiled reports of the farming effort. Thousands of acres of land have been cleared, plowed and are ready for seed, another accomplishment of unparalleled proportions. We have in stock enough to make it almost to spring, not quite. However!” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the murmur rising from the audience.

  “Please, allow her to finish,” Lucy said.

  “Thank you, Luc…however, we have Lucy and her replicators working night and day to make additional supplements. Also I understand the other planet has a slight surplus, we might be hungry but we’ll not starve, I promise. Eat what you need, not what you want, and we’ll be fine.” She sat as the crowd settled down.

  “Answered your question, Councilwoman?” Lucy asked her.

  “Yes, thank you. Guess we all go on a diet.” She snickered and got some laughs.

  “I tested them, those lizards you were complaining about can be made into a stew with a few vegetables. No idea what it tastes like—us androids don’t eat food, but food is food and it is safe to eat.”

  After staring around a bit she said, “Closed. Next, you young man?”

  “Weapons, we left most of those on Olgreender for the rest of them to use. Oh, I’m Sub-Council Troy.”

  “Weapons for other than choppers and our troops are pretty much non-existent as stated. Get these factories running and make them, meanwhile improvise with what you have. I also need a million more. I have artillery up the ass but few hand weapons. Does that answer your question?” Lucy asked him.

  He stood, said, ”Yes, thank you.” Then sat down.

  “And last, El, you had yours up as well?”

  “Yes, I am General El, Commander of our fighting force. When can I expect more troops to arrive from here? Now that winter is coming I suspect it should allow for a large number of idle hands. We train in the desert and small ops to be ready in case. Also it lowers the amount of food required at planet side.”

  Lucy asked, “Have you ever had a draft?” She addressed it to El.

  “Sorry, a what?”

  “About what I thought. Open to suggestions but it would go like this—everyone born between the winter to, say, midsummer, goes for two months training in, say, two or three weeks. When they return the rest go for two months, then it repeats keeping all fit and combat ready as well as familiar with any new equipment.”

  Well, that took an hour to hash out as to age, marriage, exempts for construction or other critical jobs. It finally went to the floor for vote, was passed, then to the people in the hall—they were mixed in view, but it still passed.

  “Okay, it shall start in three weeks; all Council will inform their constituents. Last call for old business. None? Okay, on to new business after lunch.”

  After a meal of soup and a sandwich we were back at it.

  “New business?”

  I saw a dozen hands. About half involved the idea of changing the marriage rules. Lucy did her spiel, El did one, Reta was called as a rep for her people and explained how they did it. Lucy then brought up the mental reading aspect, that it might be able to be passed to the mixed children. Finally a vote was taken and including all those present it split down the middle with a plus two lead to the yes group—motion passed with some murmurs.

  “I will say it again, no one is required to do this, but it can be done if they want. Let me reiterate it is a for life deal, so tell all to choose their paths wisely,” Lucy said.

  She fielded questions on the MKs, anything new? Any progress in defeating them? Etc. etc. She told them there was hope now, something that was lacking just a few short months ago.

  Council wound up appointing committees for building a transportation infrastructure, a farm co-op for sharing the limited machinery to ensure maximum planting and harvesting in the spring, various construction projects. The last item was a monetary system. That was tabled until next full Council meeting.

  The sky was dark when we arrived and so it was when we finally left. I know I was tired. We would someday sleep in our real home, not an apartment on Honor Central. Myla was already asleep in her little bed and I think I was asleep thirty seconds after I touched the pillow.

  ~~~

  I more felt than knew it wasn’t yet 6AM but I was wide awake. It dawned on me Myla was pulling my arm, saying, “Come.”

  I finally followed her as she went to the MK. It was dead, you could tell. I notified Lucy who came from the lab where she was doing some studies on Earth’s old weapons. She went in the cage and verified it was dead. I helped her get it to the lab as she said to Myla, “Thank you, I’ll autopsy it and let you guys know at officers’ call. Go back to sleep.”

  I looked at the clock, it was only 2:30AM. Didn’t take me long to be assured I was still sleepy, but damn six came very freaking early.

  “Headquarters Staff call, Mess Hall,” El said.

  Loka and I were eating already when it was called. Always six but it actually started after we had our food or coffee, informal and informative, El liked to say.

  “As most know already, our last MK died. First it isn’t a big deal, we had almost all the information we needed. Second it wasn’t anything we did, looks like it had the equivalent of a heart failure. A valve ruptured,” Lucy said.

  El took it from there. “Using all the charts we have on the area, Myla and Henry felt these rodents are from one of two different planets in two systems that are close to each other. We need to find some way to get to th
ose rodents. We are open to suggestions.”

  “Didn’t Earth have ships?” Tally asked. I knew the answer to that one.

  Lucy said, “Yes, they did, all those not destroyed in the war or from the nukes were taken by the MKs.”

  “Oh, okay,” Tally said.

  “Well, we can’t use Lucy’s—she blew it to space dust.” Loka laughed.

  “No choice, but that was a fine ship.”

  “How long do the MKs stay after they attack a planet?” I asked.

  Once the food’s gone I imagine they are too. Why? I know you always have something before you ask,” Lucy said. El smiled.

  “If so I never realized it. I was asking because we shot down a couple spaceships on Myla’s planet when they came in to land, remember? If what you said is true they won’t try to fix them. Might be enough of something left to use. You said we needed to get the rodents and they seem to have been at the planet those ships came from.”

  El said, “Sorry, we can’t risk it yet. We haven’t the troops or manufacturing capability to mount an offensive.”

  “Not what I meant. Lucy is a machine, so are the guard bots from Earth—use them, let her go in and see what is what. The terrain was flat and there was even a road near the gate, remember?”

  “But Lucy can’t battle them alone,” Tally said.

  “No, see if there is something recoverable and usable. See if the robots can drag it and see if the MKs follow them or not. More a scouting mission. If she is followed she can hide and send the ‘bots on alone while she sneaks back through the gate. Just an idea,” I told her.

  El started to reply but Lucy cut her off. “Excellent idea really, not like I haven’t had to rebuild myself before now is it? I’ll take two of the guard ‘bots but if their treads get stuck I’ll disable them and leave them behind. Yes, Eldon, an excellent idea. We need to fly from there one way or other. I’ll work a plan with El.” She was thoughtful.

  “Kork still in desert training, El?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes, need him?” she asked.

  “Yes please, I want a guard force on this side of the gate just in case.”

  “Okay, Tally dear, send word to him. Have him pull his entire force back for an immediate mission. Report to me in four hours.”

  “Yes ma’am, on my way.” She was gone at a run.

  El snickered. “That girl has too much energy—need to find her a man.”

  “Okay Lucy, if all goes to plan how long before we may need to see action? They modified the new fort and even found a way to mount four of Eldon’s cannons on it, one in each corner. The heaviest weight was the power supply so they have it cabled and sitting in the corners now. We have about one million trained and ready but only weapons for 200,000 troops.”

  “I think we need a crew of four trained on each 20MM and we mount them on carriage assemblies, like the cannons of old. Some sort of armor shielding for the crews. I’d love a hundred of them lined up in two rows deep and forming a square. One row fires while one reloads. With chopper backup and reloads available we can take out 20 million of those bastards.

  “Wait a minute, we only have two of the converted needlers,” she said. Why four points?”

  “Well, my turn to surprise the robot then. We actually have three now and the fourth sits on Earth, almost modified. I think they just need the ceramic inserts for the barrels and both need power supplies,” EL said.

  I think she said something like “Hot Damn!” Whatever that means.

  By the end of that one single day we had a real plan and it was designed to start to stick it to them. As Lucy said.

  ~~~

  Two Earth service ‘bots gave up their chassis so we could power the two latest needlers.

  Kork showed up, but not the same Kork as before; no, this guy was golden tanned and muscled as much, or more than even Tici had been. Funny what a few months working in the sands will do. I remember the aches. Nah, he could keep it. I saw El’s eyes dancing though. She liked what she saw. Wonder if his wife would too?

  The plan was simple, maybe too simple. Time would tell. Lucy would take two guard ‘bots under her control and try to scout Myla’s planet for the downed spaceships and see if we could get to them and recover enough to bother. Kork would have two needlers in the tunnel and ready to cover it if things went bad. Behind them, in the room would be the other two and as many 20MMs as we could fit. Lucy gave El some codes and two of the little cylinders she took from us so long ago. Just in case.

  It was all set for two days from now.

  Loka called and we went to Garth to find our weapons and ensure we were ready. We cleaned everything, making sure all was functional. I had a chance to look at the modified fort as well.

  Each corner of it had been reinforced and had a large slot cut out of it. If we placed the barrel there it could traverse close to 160 degrees and there was a thick shield that hooked to the lower frame of the gun so almost all the slot was protected. Looked good, we’d see how it worked.

  The meeting was set at 6AM as always. I had Loka take Myla to our friends’ home on Niketu yesterday. She didn’t like that at all.

  As we sat, coffee in hand and chatting with Garth and Tally, El came in, picked up a cup of coffee and sat down.

  Lucy showed at seven on the dot. “Well people, today we know where we stand. I went over all our videos and the placement of the nukes. No, I don’t see radiation problems. Maybe a little hot spot where each went off, but they were airbursts. Also the ships we are looking for were far enough away from any of them to be safe. I went over it with El. Loka and Eldon know the procedure if I don’t come back. I have an old robot carcass ready in the lab, the sticks are in the file.”

  “I will try to take two ‘bots along but if they get stuck I’ll leave them. My plan is to go first to the second village then see what is left of the ships. A quick scout of MK positions and situations, then back here, and we go from there. If I’m not back in two and a half days then energize a new me and we will send it to see what happened and adjust from there. Questions?”

  None, a pretty straight forward plan.

  At 9:30 she stood in the tunnel, linkpen in hand, two ‘bots following her around. We had the guns in place all the way back to the main connector room. “Wish me luck,” she said with a smile. A few of us mumbled something and she disappeared into that black wall. Now we sit back and bite our nails.

  The day went by with the usual nervousness. Not so much because of Lucy but because it was fairly certain combat actions were going to happen in the near future.

  Loka and I spent the day out on the desert planet, not only for some exercise, which we did almost daily, but some combat shooting as well. Kork had built a semi-permanent shooting range there. Paper MK targets were the choice and most had their heads shot off. We both used handguns, our weakest areas. For practice we used some modified 45 cal semi-auto pistols Lucy found on Earth and Lord P had been making. Fairly accurate, cheap to make, and there had been millions of rounds in storage. Officers now had them and swords. Normal troops had rifles of some type and swords were being issued as fast as they could be made. A normal human could thrust a sword or bayonet into either vital spot of an MK if they were close, but the object lesson being stressed was, ‘don’t let them get that close’.

  After spending the afternoon at the range we came back and showered and were in the mess in time for evening meal. El and Tally and Kork had showed, a bit later Garth was there. The chit chat was about nothing being heard from Lucy, everyone being ready, and did Loka and I think Lucy was a bit unhinged, even as a sentient robot.

  “Oh, she actually has some quirks and fetishes, but in reality most of us do too,” I said.

  Loka said, “She wants to feel like a woman, to feel she looks good and that people appreciate her for something besides her brains—exactly the opposite of the rest of us women, but still, it is her. She has never done a single thing that I felt jeopardized our goals.”

  “She all
owed us to send the MKs to Olgreender, resulting in the total destruction of our homes and people,” Kork said.

  I had to respond. “Look, she had no power then, none. I was there, Lord P told her to send four, so his scientists could study them. Lucy actually suggested they stay here but was overruled by Council. Lord P admitted fault and blame—watch the damn tapes.”

  El told him to sit down, I was right. Kork apologized, he claimed he didn’t know.

  El said, “This group is not run of the mill yes sir, no sir people, Kork. You need to learn that. Lucy accepted Lord P as did the rest of us. He selected us to try and save Olgreender and perhaps humanity. We lost our first round, fine, we all are to blame. Now we ready for the second round, then the third. Until we win or lose. If I hear any person on my team ever question the motives of anyone again they will be cleaning shitters on the desert planet until they die of the stench or old age, we clear?” She was glaring at Kork. Apparently she was a real General, she could keep her private life totally separate from business, and she was right of course.

  We all let it slide, except Kork. “I just meant it was her final call to release them and she let Lord P take the blame for her bad decision.”

  No one said a thing as I saw El twitch once. We ate in silence and the day ended with no word from Lucy.

  Next morning El had a formal combat officer’s call at the mess at 6AM. There was one conspicuous absence, Kork. After we had our food and coffee I found the number of officers had increased significantly. It was standing room only as El rose and called them to attention, and put them at ease.

  She said a prayer for us all while we did one silently, then she said, “Ladies and gentleman, we wait for Lucy’s return to see if we go to fight again. Fine, we wait. I called you all here to remind you of something. I am second under Lucy, that means what she or I say goes.”

  She glared around the room at them, then sipped her coffee. Finally I saw her twitch again. “An officer under my command disobeyed my order last night—what it involved and who it was doesn’t matter. What matters is when the discussions are over, the plans set, it is far too late to voice your opinion of anything, especially when I said I did not want to hear another word. This is even more irksome when it involves talk of ‘shoulda-woulda-coulda’ crap. We make mistakes, we all do. The trouble is when we do, people die. All of you will make those types of mistakes and sometimes your troops will die as a result. If I ever hear another person criticize Lord P or his picks and decisions I will put them in the cage where the MKs were and they will starve to death. Anyone got any damn questions?”