POD (The Pattern Universe) (26 page)

Pod swung around towards the computer systems that suddenly became visible as a cloaked screen dropped from the far side of the room. A massive mainframe which Goeth surmised was at least three times the size of the Fortress system was now on display, one bank of many hundreds of lights flashing indicating it was currently active.

"This is a mostly inactive mainframe computer. It needs the insertion of an A.I. to operate fully. When it is one hundred percent functional it will provide actively manned services and defences. The programs and subroutines are all installed ready for it to run. It does not require intervention by humans to work, but will operate better with human interaction."

“So, if it's not active, how will it help us defend Earth? I’m getting confused – ” asked Lang, plainly getting a little worried about dealing with a strange A.I. when time was apparently disappearing on them fast.

“– and where are we going to find an A.I., or build one in the time we have? The Fortress Medusa took months and was still only basic. You are talking about sophisticated circuits and programming ability that we just do not have the time for,” Goeth added.

Pod continued as if it had only paused for breath. “the A.I. Arty could be removed from Zeke’s ship and be made active within three hours. It could then run diagnostics to be completely on-line before the main hive arrives.”

The small A.I. went on, “you are here because I need your help. I need you to understand that there may be an outside chance we can reduce the impact of the Nubl attack on your population by giving them other concerns. There is a sixty five percent chance we will still fail and the Earth will be destroyed. If this occurs we will also probably be destroyed by their hive fleet."

“Wait! just wait... a moment,” Lang interrupted. ”You are going way too fast for me. We have no time to get our head around one bombshell before you add another to the pile. We need to deal with these points as we go along. How can you have done – all this –” he waved his hands pointing at the complex they were standing in, “ – on your own... in the time you say you had... It’s impossible.”

Zeke interjected, “actually, Lang, Pod could do this and has the capacity to do much more. Ship, the other A.I., was not as advanced as Pod has become and it managed to run the whole technological stepping process for Earth and more besides.”

“But... how can you get that much brain capacity into a small vessel like that?” he said pointing at Pod’s shell.

Ossie, who knew a little about everything, turned to Lang and said simply “Ferrazite” and turned back to Pod.

Lang whispered unbelievingly, “Ferrazite? the same stuff that turned Ferris into a monster? You cannot be serious?”

Zeke sighed. “Lang, you weren’t around when they took a massive metal plate out of my head that was pure Ferrazite. I would have ended up like Ferris, only worse, if the aliens hadn’t cleared it from my system.”

He went on impatiently, “it was Pod who discovered the process with which to filter it from my blood and remove the plate from my head without killing me, but.... I really think you need to suspend your disbelief until we have more time. Pod is our only hope to beat the Nubl and we are wasting time. Just believe for now and if you still don’t understand, then ask questions later.”

Goeth nodded. He had absorbed everything and quickly understood what was going on. He smiled at Zeke, then turned back to Pod. The A.I. was patiently waiting to resume. “Pod, I believe you had more to say? Please continue.”

“The mainframe, if it is working fully, can manage multiple actions simultaneously. If we attack the Nubl from multiple axis at the same time, there may be an opening for us to cause untold damage to the Nubl fleet.”

The A.I.’s metallic voice sounded almost apologetic. “It will not reduce the impact of their fire on the planet or the damage they can achieve, but might reduce the length of time they can remain here which would have a direct effect on the survival of your species.”

Everyone looked at Pod, the screen, then each other. Nobody wanted to believe that the end of their civilisation could be hours away and there was nothing they could do about it. They quickly came to terms with the prospect of having to place their trust in the bobbing escape pod which clearly indicated it had a plan for defence, but not one that would avoid destruction of their planet. They had little choice but to hear the rest of it.

“What’s your plan, Pod?" asked Zeke, who trusted the little A.I. who had saved his life and been the closest he had had to a friend since Zirkos and Ship had disappeared.

Pod outlined its basic idea and as each of them was given work to complete, they found that, far from an outside chance, Pod’s plan would give them a potentially excellent defence although as Pod had said it would not halt the attack itself.

As each took a console and began working on their role in the planned defence, Zeke wondered at some of Pod’s decisions.

He spoke to Pod through his implant.

‘Pod, if you remove Arty from my ship, we have no means of using it as part of the attack on the Nubl. I would have thought that me and Arty out there with the ship's heavy weapons would provide considerable fire-power support to Pennington’s Marauders.’

‘Yes, you have a point,’ Pod responded, the tinny sound causing Zeke to cringe a little as it seemed to oscillate his implant. ’However, if I were to take Arty’s place in your ship, we would have a much better chance of survival. Arty is ideal for this mainframe as it's matched to his terrestrial build.’

‘Oh, interesting! So, you would step out of your pod, I didn’t know you could do that. I would be most interested in working with you in the ship. That sounds like an excellent arrangement. Thank you.’

‘What for, Zeke? I don’t understand your reason for gratitude.’ Pod could be seen bobbing in the corner where it had elected to await further developments.

‘Pod, you have no idea how much I enjoy your company. Having you with me in the ship will be fantastic. Let’s hope we survive to look at the possibility of putting you into a ship of your own.’ Zeke outwardly chuckled, bringing strange looks from Goeth, who was working on the next console to him.

‘You humans can be so strange, sometimes,’ Pod responded with an almost audible sigh.

Zeke chuckled again, drawing further looks from Goeth, but just ignored him.

Osbourne and Lang were talking to each other as they brought the mainframe on line and began the activation of its routines. Once they had checked it for compatibility at the coding level, they set up a communication data-link with Arty on the ship.

“Arty, do you hear us all right in the control room?” Osbourne called out loudly as if he were in another room. He didn’t anticipate any issues with the transfer as Pod had mimicked the construction methods of terrestrial computers and Arty was familiar with the layout of everything.

“Yes, Ossie, I hear you fine. You can reduce your decibel output range by approximately forty percent which should help to preserve your vocal chords,” Arty responded cheekily.

“Arty, are you developing a sense of humour, now you're out of a box and flying around space?” Ossie joked.

“Arty, we do not have much time. Are you up to speed with Pod’s plan to integrate you into the asteroid mainframe?”

“Yes, Ossie. Pod has prepared the transfer of my entire set of routines and personality matrix and it can proceed at your command,” the A.I. confirmed.

“Arty, initiate transfer immediately. Advise when completed.”

“Affirmative, Lang. Processing now,” Arty confirmed.

Lang turned to Zeke and said, “this is going to take about ten minutes to get his entire core over the data-link during which both the mainframe and the ship will be inoperable.”

Zeke mused over the delay. “Pod, what is the ETA on the Nubl Shadow-ship?”

“Nubl Shadow-ship will be in range of the planet in forty four minutes.”

“Is there going to be enough time for Arty to get fully back on-line by then?” Zeke asked Ossie and Lang.

The problem was they needed to communicate with Pennington and update him with the ETA so that Pennington could get his fighters into space ready to take it on.

A little later, Pod activated Zeke’s implant.

‘I need to transfer myself into the ship, it will take more than ten minutes. During this time, you will have to make sure that everything goes as planned.’

‘Don’t worry, Pod, these people here can handle everything. As long as we don’t get attacked it will be fine,’ Zeke responded.

A new booming voice resonated through the room “Arty is on-line” and the mainframe suddenly burst into life. The timbre of Arty’s voice was significantly different. It carried authority and confidence. As different consoles turned themselves on, the group could see a wide range of activities streaming up the screens as the newly integrated A.I. ran all its subroutines to integrate them with its own core activities.

Pod disappeared. Zeke knew the A.I. would be transferring itself into the ship. He anticipated that he would be jumped aboard as soon as Pod was ready.

“Arty, connect with Space Island, General Pennington, please. Encrypt all communication in and out of Alpha Station at all times,” Zeke commanded.

The main screen switched from a view of Earth to the military command on the Pan Asia Military Base.

“Pennington, we are expecting the attack from a single ship to begin in approximately thirty minutes. You should be preparing your Fighter squadrons for launch.”

"Ah, Zeke. Where are you and what is that control room for?"

“No time to explain, John. We have set up secure channels of communication with your CC, we will provide you with live feed and information as it becomes available to us here.” Zeke looked to the terminals on the right and left where Arty was introducing feeds being received from the sentinels and triangulating the Nubl position. This was displayed on a three dimensional coloured grid-map that showed the Earth and Moon along with all of the earth satellites and the now vacant Space Stations that had been evacuated at the first sign of trouble.

Pennington was looking away from the main view-screen and confirmed. “Yes, we are getting the feed now, you must be in space to be able to secure this data. Are you somewhere safe?”

“Not for long, General, we have some plans of our own to help your boys out up here.” Zeke turned to Lang and Ossie's consoles where the two were typing furiously. “Lang are you ready with the updates?” he asked.

Lang responded without taking his eyes off the screen, speaking directly to Pennington while he typed.

“General Pennington, we are updating the firmware on your Marauders to include a recognition code that will ensure they are not targeted by our defences which will be coming on line...” he looked at Ossie for confirmation“...about.. Now!.”

He looked up at the view-screen “Your pilots will notice a small difference in their targeting displays, there will be yellow dots which are ‘friendlies’ - please inform them of the change before they get into the air – Lang out.”

Pennington was talking off-screen to an officer then turned back. “Confirmed, Lang. All flight briefings will be updated to include ‘yellow for friendlies’ - Zeke, do you have a plan of action?” he asked, looking a little distracted at the frenzied level of activity building around him.

Zeke decided to tell him the worst of it. “We think the Earth is going to get a hammering, this one ship may well be able to do severe damage on its own, but the worst of it is that it will be calling in reinforcements as previously discussed.

We are going to try and disable their fleet as it arrives. However, this is not going to be an immediate result, it may take hours to achieve the desired outcome, if it succeeds at all. There are doubts here as to whether it will work, or not.”

Zeke thought for a second, then added. “General, tell your pilots to steer clear of any enemy debris they come across, I would hate for them to become contaminated.”

“Will do, Zeke, talk later, I have to go - Pennington out.” His screen blacked out returning to the view of Earth from the Alpha Station.

- 21 -

“Arty, how are you settling in?” Zeke asked the A..I, not expecting to get an immediate response thinking it would be still trying to synchronise its activities. The mainframe was now fully activated, and the hum from the machines was discernible. The temperature was also up a few notches which improved the sense of good feeling in the control room.

“Very well indeed, Commander Callaghan. There is considerable space in here, plenty of room to grow, I believe, ” Arty responded. He had moderated his voice and was channelling it through the speaker nearest to Zeke. As a result, it was almost at a human conversational level.

Zeke chuckled; the A..I’s sense of humour was developing quickly. He expected being in the mainframe would somehow accelerate that in the coming days. He also wondered at Pod’s continued seriousness and suspected that the alien coding was slowing its personal development down. Judging by the speed of Arty’s personality growth, he would have to certainly consider the different approaches in the programming to be having some kind of effect.

“Goeth, how are you doing over there?” asked Zeke.

“Actually Zeke, very well. These sentinels are exceedingly well thought out, and that A.I. has deliberately expressed its coding so that humans can modify it. The killer nanites have been set with primary targets of control functions, power sources and weaponry. I have also added in sensors, so they are going to be nasty little buggers when they reach the enemy ship hulls.”

“How soon can you get them updated across the stationed sentinels so that we can be sure of their total effectiveness?” Zeke asked.

Oh, I think if I start now...” he leaned back and pressed the send button. “... it should begin to update and be finished in.....,” he looked at his watch, “about eight hours, give or take a few minutes.” He now looked across at Zeke and smiled, then looked back down at his screen and began typing again as he talked. “I will begin to set the modifications for the arsenal in the store room.”