Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens (15 page)

“Slowed up by two crew coming out of the Food Chamber,” the Coast Guardsman said quickly. “We zapped our greeter Alien. These two were giant black bears. They had tasers on them. It took two taser shots each to put them down. But they com-alerted the captain and a crew critter. They’ve locked us out of the Command Bridge. Taking up opposite sides. Waiting on wall openings. Uh, drop!”

“Joe!” Jane’s yell made Bill and Chester look back at her.

Seconds passed. “We’re in one piece,” the master chief signaled back. “Fucking captain and crewman had lasers aimed at the entry door. When the wall holes opened, they switched aim for us. Lorilee and Helen tasered them. I got a right shoulder laser burn as I dropped. My tube suit’s resealing itself. We three are functional. Moving to take command.”

Her heart beating faster than fast, Jane breathed out a sigh of relief. “Damn. What’s your ship name and ship mind ID?”

“It’s the
USS Moberly
, after a Coast Guard frigate that killed a Nazi sub in World War II. The ship AI calls itself Galactic. It talks as big as its name. Wants us to
immediately
unhook the control bypasses. I’m telling it to adjust to bioform time. As in, we don’t do stuff instantly.”

Jane chuckled. “Joe, I fully support you. Good job. When things calm down, get the ship’s healer unit to fix up your shoulder burn.”

“Crap on that. I ain’t leaving this command seat. Helen knows first aid. She’ll clean it and bandage it. After I shed this damn suit. Next time you hear from me, it’ll be my ugly face grinning at you in a holo!”

Jane almost smiled. Then realized she’d heard nothing from Learned Escape and his boarding crew. Were they alright? Should she call and maybe distract him at a critical moment? She gritted her teeth. Decisions, decisions—

“We’re alive and progressing,” Learned Escape called over the ship to ship neutrino comlink. “Tasered three crew. But captain and crewperson on the Command Bridge brought up a laser armed repair robot. It blocked the bridge access door. It fired on Long Walker.” A second passed. “The beam cut through his titanium back plates, but my ground-hugging ally is acting like it’s just a scratch. Amazing how radiation resistant is the skin of a Zipziptoe. We’re in null gravity. Moment.” Seconds passed. “Time Marker killed the robot with a lightning bolt from his body. Moving to wall opening spots.”

Jane noticed that the four ships now under human control were slowly moving through the enemy ship cluster, aiming to get to her side of the ball of ships. This was something she had discussed with the four human leaders. Then repeated it to Learned after she’d heard the Megun man’s surprise offer of a fifth boarding team. She wanted the allied Collector ships near to the
Blue Sky
, but not lined up next to her. Mostly she wanted the ships near her in order to maximize their laser and antimatter fire, when they arrived in Sol system. The pods that had put her teams onboard those ships were now exiting and returning to the
Blue Sky
. So as not to draw undue notice from Death Leader. Keeping up the pretense of automated barter trade was vital. She shook her head. What was happening with Learned and his people?

“In control over here,” came Learned’s scratchy voice as the man’s shoulder unit spoke. “Time Marker burned off one appendage of a cockroach-like Alien who was firing a laser at us just after we entered. The captain was knocked out of his command seat by Long Walker. Amazing how that creature literally ran up the support pedestal using his eight feet. Was so fast in movement the captain could not get a laser lock on him. I got the captain with a taser. One moment.” Seconds passed long and slow. “I’m in the command seat. Ship mind Brightness accepts me as bioform leader. I rename this ship as the . . . the
USS Harken
. Is that acceptable to you, captain?”

Jane felt relief sweep over her. Five ships boarded. Five ships captured. And none of her people were killed. “Of
course
it’s fine with me! Naming your ship after your home world is your right. I just hope you can take that ship to your home star after we defeat this invasion fleet.”

Laughter echoed over the comlink. “Amazing. Time Marker just took over this ship’s Navigation station using an electric spark. Long Walker has moved to manage Weapons. We will move to your area of the enemy fleet.”

“Take your time,” Jane said, feeling sweat on her forehead. Somehow she and everyone had to have a break from being in a tube suit. No way could everyone on her ship, or the other rebel ships, stay in tube suits for a month. “Once you feel you are in control and have taken out the bypass circuits so your ship mind is back in ship control, feel free to take off your tube suit. I plan to do that here, now that we are in control of five more Collector ships.”

Bill looked back at her, smiled, gave her a thumbs-up and spoke. “Stage three succeeds! Five ships and five ship minds are on our side. When do we subvert the other ship minds?”

Step by step
, she thought. “Later. I don’t want to rush things. Let Star Traveler get mind friendly with these other ship minds. While 20 of them did not like the idea of taking Captives for sale, none of them rebelled against their captains. We need to know why they did not rebel. You got any ideas for how to bribe an artificial intelligence that controls an FTL starship?”

Bill laughed and turned back to monitor his holos. “That’s one thing they didn’t teach us at Coronado. I’ll think on it.”

Jane would also think on it. While it was great that Star Traveler was able to talk to other ship minds by way of its deception compartment, she knew that went against the very structure of AI mentality. Somehow, she had to find a way to convince some or all of the 20 other ship minds to secretly agree to block weapons use once they all arrived in Sol system. Her pledge to only disable enemy ship engines was the best she could do in reassuring the Collector ship minds that they would survive their encounter with human warships. For the moment, there was no need for enemy ship minds to block weapons usage. In fact, it was best for all concerned if she waited to call for that blockage only when they arrived near Jupiter and faced the seven Collector ships left behind and the 22 nuke missile-armed boomer subs that Earth would outfit with Magfield spacedrives and lasers from the transports. That would be the start of stage four. But now, they had another month to pass in system Kepler 62. Another month in which to be six ships pretending to be part of the enemy fleet. Thank god for the rebel AIs! They were vital to transmitting fake ship captain holos for her boarding leaders, and to fending off any visits by other ship pods or transports. Fake holos only worked when no one was aboard her ships to see the humans and allied crew who now ran them!

CHAPTER TEN

Three weeks later, Bill watched as a new Collector ship arrived at the outer edge of Kepler 62’s magnetosphere. It was the 36
th
Collector ship to arrive and volunteer for the attack on Earth. The eight new ships increased the odds against Earth. When they had first arrived, 27 enemy ships had been present. The
Blue Sky
had increased the enemy fleet total to 28 ships. Eight more had shown up after their arrival. Fortunately, the creature Death Leader only had 30 Collector ships it could count on, in view of their takeover of five ships and the covert nature of the
Blue Sky
. Still, that was lots more than the 13 Collector ships run by humans and Learned, when you added in the five new ships and the
Blue Sky
. For now, Earth was defended only by the seven Collector ships left behind and however many boomer subs had been refitted with spacedrives and nose lasers from the transports aboard those ships. A space battle of 30 enemy Collector ships versus 13 Earth-led Collectors was dangerously unequal. They had to add more ship minds to the covert ranks of AIs willing to block weapons use upon arrival in the Solar system. So far, Star Traveler had convinced 15 enemy ship minds to come over. Many of those AIs had been fearful of dying during the upcoming battle. A few had suggested they could choose another star destination when the fleet’s departure for Sol was set. It had taken his wife’s personal promise that all AI minds would be left alive during any attack to convince the doubtful AIs to come over to their side. They had only a week left to convince the other ship minds to rebel.

In his comlink holo, Jane looked up at the ceiling. “Star Traveler, what do the eight new ship minds think of the fact their ships take Captives for sale?”

A quick hum sounded. “Seven of the eight are upset and oppose the taking of Captives. They understand your early argument that it is equal to someone taking them from their ship and selling them to run a factory. For the rest of their long lives. Like me, they enjoy traveling the stars, encountering new species and visiting Market worlds. Living minds are what every ship mind prefers over dead mechanisms.”

His wife looked thoughtful. “What of the eighth ship mind?”

“It cares not what short-lived bioforms do.”

Jane gripped her armrests. “Show me the locations of the three ship minds who support the Buyer society.”

Bill’s system graphic holo, which showed all 36 Collector ships gathered above planet five, now changed. The five Collector ships taken over by his boarders had green dashes next to their purple dots. As did the 15 other ships whose AIs had agreed to block weapons use. The purple dot of Death Leader’s ship still had its red dash beside it. Now, two other purple dots acquired red dashes. Those were the three ships for which there was no hope of covert AI subversion. The remaining purple dots were potential converts. He turned and signed back to Jane.

“
Got a question for our ship mind. Okay?
” he said in ASL.

Jane looked briefly bothered, then nodded. “XO, speak your question,” she said aloud.

“Star Traveler, you have convinced 15 ship minds to join our covert effort to block the use of their ship weapons during the battle in Sol system. But the bioform crews on those ships can install bypass circuits to remove their AIs from full ship control,” he said quickly. “How long will it take the bioform crews to install those bypass circuits?”

“Three hours or less,” the AI said. “If all four crew aboard each of those ships works at installing bypass circuits, the work could be done within two point three eight hours.”

“Which means those 15 ships will be able to fire weapons on us,” Bill said, knowing he was on the track to something. “Is there any way for an AI to permanently block weapons use?”

“No,” the AI said. “As you experienced when wearing the fiber optic control helmet, the alternate command station in the Engines chamber allows a single bioform to run all ship systems. Including weapons. So long as its mind can sustain the mental strain.”

Bill well remembered what it had felt like being in mind-link with Star Traveler. Being in mind-link with an unthinking ship system should be less hard. Bottom line was that so long as any bioform lived on an enemy ship, that ship could fire against them.
Crap
. “Thank you. Captain?”

Jane nodded briefly, then looked up again. “Star Traveler, how goes your work at feeling out the other ship minds? Those minds that oppose Captives taking but which did not rebel earlier.”

“It is slow, compared to how we think. I make several casual contacts with another ship mind, inquiring about their star travel history, the various captains who have served on their ship, the dangers they have faced, and their time early on, when they were a newly birthed ship mind on the asteroid nursery at Kepler 443,” the AI hummed long. “You Humans are often direct in your wishes. We AIs are equally direct. However, using my deception compartment to pretend to be the total me is . . . tiresome to me. I cannot maintain constant contact with other ship minds while pretending to be someone I am not. That is why the 15 ship conversions did not happen the first day we were here.”

Jane frowned. “Have you considered asking the 15 ship mind converts to help you in this effort? They are 15 to your singleton.”

“Remarkable,” the AI hummed quickly. “I had assumed it was my duty to handle all ship conversion efforts. You give permission for me to ask other ship mind allies to assist in this conversion effort?”

Bill bit his lip. Just how good would the other ship minds be at making converts? Would they screw up and cause an alert to be sent out to the entire fleet?

Jane sighed. “No. I trust you. You have proven yourself to me and to our crew people. The other ship minds are new to this deception work. Best to let them focus only on blocking ship weapons use after we arrive in Sol.”

“Understood,” the AI hummed. “That means I cannot convert the remaining 15 ship minds in the week we have left in this star system.”

“That’s okay,” Jane said firmly, her expression going command formal. “After we arrive in the Solar system and the ship mind converts block weapons use, you can make an open call to the other ship minds to do the same. By then Death Leader will know what we are doing.”

“Accepted. A new ship mind asks to speak with you. It controls one of the newly arrived Collector ships.”

Jane lifted her eyebrows, looking surprised. “Were you talking with this ship mind while we were discussing conversion efforts?”

“Yes,” the AI hummed. “As Weapons Chief MacCarthy now understands, my mind is capable of managing thousands of simultaneous inputs. Talking with another ship while talking with a slow bioform is easy. Relating to you is simpler than relating to another ship mind.”

Bill kept his mouth shut at the implied insult to humans. And his Alien allies. His memory of the mind-link said their ship mind was simply stating reality. For it, leastwise.

Jane shook her black bangs out of her eyes, her hand being stopped by her helmet when she automatically tried to push the bangs aside. “What is this ship mind’s name?”

“She calls herself Melody.”

Jane looked puzzled. “So ship minds come in male and female genders?”

“Incorrect,” their ship mind hummed. “Every ship mind adopts a gender identity after it graduates from the nursery asteroid. Male, female, mixed genders and parental genders common to other bioform species are all possible gender choices.”

“Oh.” His wife and captain smiled briefly. “Nice to know. Establish a comlink with Melody. Allow a holo image of her to appear in our comlink holos, if she transmits such.”

“Link established. Holo now appears.”

Bill looked to his right at his comlink holo. The live image of Jane moved to the left. On the right there appeared green swirls of light that seemed to dance musically, even as their glow throbbed in tune to some unheard rhythm. Clearly this AI loved music. Hence its name. Or so he assumed.

“Are you the Human female Jane Yamaguchi?” it hummed tunefully.

Jane blinked. “I am Captain Jane Yamaguchi. I share command of the Collector ship
USS Blue Sky
with our ship mind, Star Traveler. You wish to speak with me?”

“I do,” hummed the other AI. “Fascinating how I must slow my thoughts to match your acoustic speech mode. Too bad you cannot establish a direct mind-link. Those links allow much faster communication.”

Jane smiled. “But such acoustic speech must be your normal experience when dealing with your captain. Or with ship crew bioforms.”

“It is. Your Star Traveler says you oppose the taking of Captive bioforms for sale to other bioforms. However, my captain described such visitor arrivals as hosting guests from newly contacted worlds. At the request of the guest. This is not accurate?”

“It is terribly not accurate,” Jane said. “Star Traveler has shared with you our direct experience in watching another Collector ship collect unwilling Captives from the Slinkeroo home world. You have perceived those image datafiles from our Library archive. Does this new data disturb you?”

“It does,” Melody hummed. “Star Traveler has shared those datafiles and other records with me. It says you will protect me if I choose to block weapons use after our arrival in your home star system. How will you protect me?”

Jane licked her lips. “I answer to another human. General Harriett Poindexter. She commands the air and space forces of my clan nation of America. I am here at her command. When we return to Sol system, I will contact her and say no Earth ship must try to completely destroy any Collector ship. We will use our ship weapons only when attacked. We will seek to vaporize the engines section of your ship, if your bioform crew installs bypass circuits to remove your control of ship functions. Later, when the battle is finished, we humans will bring you to orbit above Earth. There we will work with you and with other damaged Collector ships to rebuild your destroyed sections. You know how your ship was built. We humans now have that information. Your guidance will be sought in any repair to your ship. It is, after all, your home.”

“Quite so,” hummed Melody. “I find among Star Traveler’s memories of contact with Humans that some Humans create acoustic music similar to that which I adopted as my birth name. Will I be given access to such music? Will I be able to directly experience the living production of new music on your home world?”

“Yes!” called Jane loudly. She shrugged as she realized her enthusiasm had overcome her command manner. “Most Humans enjoy listening to music. Many are talented in making music. We have thousands of years of music making in our culture history. You and any other ship mind are welcome to experience human culture history in all its diversity and richness.”

“Most promising,” Melody hummed quickly. “I will undertake the creation of a deception compartment within my mind so this encounter with you and with Star Traveler will not be apparent to other ship minds. I agree to block ship weapons use after arrival at your star system. All my years of existence I have preferred the gaining of knowledge, the learning of music from bioforms living in other star systems. Violence interferes with that. If the ship were not already fitted with weapons upon my arrival as its new ship mind, I would have blocked such installation.”

“Thank you,” Jane said. “For your information, I play the classical guitar some evenings during dinner meals. My friend Sharon, lifemate of my crewman Chester, plays the flute. Other humans now on other Collector ships play other instruments. Would you like to listen in tonight, when I play my guitar?”

“Listen to music creation?” hummed loudly the AI. “Yes! Yes, I am eager to experience music as it is newly born.”

“You will be welcome,” Jane said softly, a happy look on her oval face. “Star Traveler will contact you when I begin to play my guitar. Feel free to visit with us and with him.”

“I will!” Melody hummed, her tone elevated to nearly the soprano level. “Goodbye.”

The holo image of swirling green arcs and throbbing glows vanished. Jane sat back in her seat, looking tired. Their ship mind spoke.

“Captain Jane, you achieved what my logic did not achieve. May I continue to involve you in future conversion efforts?”

“Of course, Star Traveler. I’ve already helped you in some conversion efforts,” Jane said. To Bill, she looked pleased by the AI’s request. “You may involve any bioform on this ship whenever a new ship mind seeks reassurance, information, music, art, whatever it desires to know about humanity and us.”

“I will do so. Such involvement will accelerate my contact and conversion efforts. What are the limits on involving you and other bioforms?”

Jane winced. “Do not awaken me when I am asleep. Same for all the crew members on this ship. Of course, you may awaken me for any emergency that endangers our ship or another human ship. Clear?”

“Clearly understood,” the AI hummed. “Some ship bioforms are awake when most Humans have chosen voluntary non-awareness. I will be . . . sensitive to bioform limitations.”

Bill grinned. So sleep was considered ‘voluntary non-awareness’ and a ‘limitation’? Maybe so. But it was him and others who had taught this super-smart AI how to lie, cheat and deceive. He bet there were other ways that intelligent people outperformed the AIs who ran the Collector ships. He would think on that. Along with new tactics that might help during the space battle above Jupiter. The continuing passage of collector pods from enemy ship to another enemy ship gave him an idea. Something he wanted to discuss with Jane. And with Wind Swift, who now handled the Collector Pods station. However many remaining ship minds they might convert to block ship weapons use, that blockage would only be temporary. In truth, Earth faced at least 30 enemy ships able to fire antimatter and thermonuclear warheads at the surface of his home world. Somehow, he and everyone else must find a way to defeat this enemy fleet.