Starting from Scratch (18 page)

Bambi told Mike,
Sir, there is a viewing room in
the secure area, below the facility, close to the remains of the
scout ship. They call it The Junk Room. I suggest that Dr. Moshka
and his staff assemble there and we can work on this
together.

Bambi, is this going to slow down our other
projects, like upgrading all of the people we have on the Mother
Ship at the moment.

No sir. I can easily handle all of it at the same
time and do a thousand of other tasks simultaneously. Should I
include the scientists we have here now, as well. I’m sure they
would love to be involved.

No. They need to go through the upgrade first.
That’s a lot to handle for anyone. Just make a record of everything
we see. Once they’re out of the upgrade med unit and recovering,
then you can bring them up to date. I’ll rely on your judgment as
to when that is.

He interrupted the questions that were flying around.
“General, Bambi has suggested that the Doctor and his team assemble
in The Junk Room. She can hold a conversation with far more of them
that way and they can refer to specific parts and sections, which
are stored there.”

“Now how did you know about that?”

“I’ve had Bambi looking around for the last few
hours. It saves a lot of time. Sorry if I pissed you off, sir. It
wasn’t intentional. As I said earlier, we need to move quickly, on
a number of fronts, if we’re to make any real progress.”

Boltz glared at him and complained, “Yes, you do piss
me off. But, I have to admit you’re right about how to move quickly
and you’re damn fortunate in that you don’t have to answer to
anyone, like I do.”

“General Boltz, ultimately I’ll have to answer to
everyone on the planet and so will we all, if we let the
bureaucracy fuck this up.”

“All right Hurst. Dr. Moshka, get your team to The
Junk Room.”

Mike nodded and bid the gruff General adieu, saying,
“General, I’ll see you in a few weeks. Any time you wish to chat,
pick up any phone and dial 333. Bambi will probably answer and she
can answer most questions you may have. If you want me, tell her
and I’ll come on line immediately.”

Ok Bambi, cut the line.

Max waited a moment, and then said, “I wonder who he
called? Probably Mike Hardesty.”

Bambi told them, “No sir. He called Todd Pierpoint. I
believe he is the only man in the administration who knows about
the Januki scout ship.”

Max was surprised. “I’ll be damned. He was the first
one to volunteer to be upgraded.”

Mike wasn’t so surprised. “Max, he understands that
all of this is real and we need to get on the stick. And, he wants
to have all of the mental goodies that come with being upgraded.
The others are most likely still in denial. Let’s just hope they
come around fast, because we can’t do this alone.”

Chapter
10

Bambi commed him,
General, I have some good
news.

He responded, “Well thank God for that. I could use
some good news. What is it?”

“I’ve been analyzing the method I’ve been using to
upgrade humans and I think I can make it faster and less painful. I
noticed that humans who were in the best condition made the
transition easier and quicker. If I begin the genetic youth element
of the program, at the very beginning of the upgrade, these people
can transition right into the full upgrade process without moving
them physically. Because they will have already attained unusual
strength, they will be able to handle the worst of it much better.
Also, their recovery time will be quicker.”

“That is great news, Bambi. I wish you had figured
that out, before you drug me through the gates of hell.”

“Yeah. I’ll always feel badly about that, sir. But,
as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Mike wasn’t in a humorous mood. “Well, try telling
that to someone who is in the worst agony of his life and see if he
thinks that cute.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“Yeah. Well, it is what it is. Let’s not waste
another second talking about it. I want you to comm the staff,
explain what you just told me, and tell them I want volunteers to
begin the new process immediately.

“Another thing, Bambi. Can this work while we’re on
the way to earth? I mean can we put people in the upgrade med units
and have then upgraded on the way there?”

“Yes sir. The procedure won’t be affected by
intersolar travel.”

Changing subjects, he asked, “Have you had any luck
with reprogramming the older beacons?”

“I have delicately pressed them for some innocent
pieces of information and in doing so, I’ve learned enough about
their security that I believe I can make those alterations to their
original instructions.”

“So, do it. And tell me immediately if there’s a
problem, like if they got off an alert.”

“Yes sir.”

There was a long pause, as Bambi waited for
additional orders. When none were forthcoming, she softly asked,
“General, have I done something wrong?”

He seemed surprised. “No, I don’t think so. Why do
you ask?”

“Because you are so…solemn, as though some one died.
If the others see you like this, I believe it will affect them in a
negative way.”

He took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
“Bambi, I’m very worried. We are so far behind the Saurans and we
know so little about what we’re doing out here. It’s quite possible
that we’ll fail and that means the end of humanity.”

Bambi didn’t respond for a few seconds, which was
unusual for her. Finally she commed,
You’re scared shitless,
aren’t you?

Yes. I guess I am. I’ve failed before, but even in
failure, I never doubted that someone else would pick up the ball
and finish the game. I’m it. I’m the guy. We’re preparing for a
confrontation with the other team’s water boy and I don’t think we
can beat him. How are we going to protect the entire solar system,
once their varsity shows up?

“General, you’re going to do it one play at a time.
The Saurans are a huge military force, but I doubt they’ve ever
faced an enemy as implacable as humans. You are very rough around
the edges, but you are fighters and the Saurans aren’t used to
facing an enemy that keeps coming at them with such a strong
commitment to victory.”

She switched back to comm mode.
So quit your
fucking whining and lead us. Don’t go limp dick on me now. I want
to see you fuck those bastards.

Mike laughed harder than he had in a while. He had
just been given a slap in the face and a pep talk by a computer and
she was right. He had better get his sorry moaning head out of his
ass and lead.

“Bambi, as soon as the volunteers are loaded into the
med units, have the robots load them onto the shuttles. We’re
taking all three shuttles and I want everything we can take to
Earth that will aid them in manufacturing items for space
warfare.”

“Sir, what about the scientists; are we taking them
also?”

“No. Well, maybe we’ll take Bet Fulwiler. Her
God-daughter will be there and that relationship might prove to be
helpful in smoothing out a few of the ruffled feathers.”

Funny you should mention her, General. She has asked
Mary for a private meeting with you, in your quarters.

Mike was pleased at the thought of seeing her again
and also concerned about his mildly salacious interest in her.
Regardless, if she wanted to see him, it must be important.

“Tell Mary…oh never mind, I can do it.”

He commed his daughter-in-law,
Mary, I’ll be in my
quarters in two minutes. Please tell Bet she can meet me there. By
the way, do you have any idea what this is about?

No sir, I don’t. She mentioned that she was to have
dinner with you later, but she needed to see you now. That’s all I
know.

Mike was in his quarters, when Bet knocked on the
huge door. He pinged it open for her and she walked in. He couldn’t
avoid a quick sweep up and down her frame. Although he had a twenty
something body, he still thought like a much older man. For an
eighty six year old woman, who appeared to be in her fifties, she
looked damn good to him.

She noticed his brief leer and told him, “Mike, it’s
been a long time since a man gave me that kind of look. I like it.
It feels good. I can’t wait to join the young as hell club.”

He chuckled. Just her presence had cheered him up.
“You’ll get there soon enough, Bet. What’s up? Why did you want to
see me?”

“Well, there are several reasons. We have initially
broken up into groups, based on our primary areas of interest. My
people, the scientists, have pointed out a need for additional
experts in astrophysics, celestial mechanics, metallurgy and a host
of other scientific regimens. I’ll be submitting a list of people
we recommend that you to pursue. I want you to approach these
people delicately. By that I mean, don’t kidnap them.”

After a brief pause to gage his reaction to her
subtle warning, she told him, “I believe all of my people are
committed to the rebellion, as Bambi calls it. None of us enjoyed
the emotional shock of being taken forcefully and put in this
situation. It’s frightening. However, we are intelligent and can
see the logic behind proceeding the way you did. We think you’ll
get just as many willing people, if you give them the facts and
allow them to make their own decision”

Bet didn’t pause for effect, as some people did. She
expected people to pay attention to her, as she moved her thoughts
along at a pace most people would find difficult to keep up
with.

“Charu thinks there may be a way to disrupt the alert
signal. She ran her idea for a possible way to achieve that, by
Bambi. Charu’s main concern was that as soon as we turn off the
jamming, the signal would be sent out anyway.”

Mike told her, “So, don’t turn it off.”

Bet shook her head, “Bambi said that when we block
the signal, we will also be blocking all comm. Not only would you
lose the ability to comm one another, but Bambi would lose all use
of it, as well. Mike, there’s a possibility she might not be able
to run the ship. Everything she does is through the comm system.
Furthermore, we would lose contact with her. She’s terrified of
being left alone with her thoughts and nothing else. Basically, she
would be paralyzed.”

He put both hands face down on the table and ordered,
“Then figure out a way to block that signal, without messing with
Bambi’s head. I’ll never approve of such a thing.”

She didn’t seem upset by his harsh determination to
protect his friend Bambi. “Mike, there may be an awkward
alternative. We might be able to hardwire the most critical
components of the ship. In other words, we give Bambi a way to run
the ship and to communicate by running fiber optic cables all over
the place. We would need to be able to literally plug into the
ship’s system, which would give us direct communication to each
other. But, we would need to have a physical plug in our head or
somewhere on our bodies to do that.”

He tried to imagine the enormity of that task and a
troubling thought struck him.

“Bambi, will the jamming affect our ability to work
within our own minds?”

“No sir. But, all of you have been working to improve
your use of the comm system. Jumping back out of comm ability for
you guys will be disappointing to say the least. I believe you
would lose the ability to reference through me. You’d lose those
areas of interest that you wished to investigate. In other words,
what is already in your brains would be all that you had available,
until that jamming was discontinued, or you plugged into me through
a hardwire.”

Mike chuckled and said, “In other words, we would
just be normal humans. Using our own brains won’t be new for us.
It’s our natural state of mental processing; so we should be able
to handle it. Furthermore, our minds will still retain their new
speed and improved organization, which should help.”

Bet asked, “But couldn’t we use standard Earth
methods of computer access. We could put a thousand laptops on
board and create a separate network that wasn’t affected by the
comm jamming. It would be a much slower way to access info, but it
could work.”

Bambi told her, “I wouldn’t recommend laptops.
They’re archaic. I can have a fabricator manufacture a few advanced
computers and place one in each of the three critical locations,
the bridge, the back up bridge and engineering. We would still need
to shield them from outside jamming efforts, but it could work. I
could connect to them as well, and I’d be able to direct the flow
of information on them, although with less speed. But, we’d still
be able to comm with each other.”

Mike asked her, “Do you really think hard wiring is
going to be worth the effort?”

Bambi showed some enthusiasm for the idea. “Yes sir,
we should probably do it now anyway. The next group of Saurans to
enter our solar system might be able to jam our comm. We can’t be
certain, but it’s a possibility we must be prepared for; so we’ll
need to be able to counter it. I don’t believe they’d pick up on it
very quickly and while they’re trying to figure out how we’re
communicating, we could hit them with everything we’ve got, which
isn’t much by the way.”

Bet announced, “That might be about to change. Dr.
Frankenberger, that’s the tall gentleman in our group, thinks we
can produce a giant plasma rifle that shoots the equivalent of an
ionic sabot round, or bolt. He was going to explain his idea to
Bambi, but he got sidetracked.”

“A sabot round, “ Mike huffed in disbelief. “I
thought the plasma guns of the Saurans only shot bolts of
ions.”

Bet explained, “Basically, they do. What he suggested
was to build twenty small plasma barrels around the main gun. They
would fire a few microseconds before the real weapon. That would
create a channel of magnetically charged ions, which would reach
out approximately four thousand meters.