The Pattern Ship (The Pattern Universe) (16 page)

“Ship, can you delay implementation of that code until roll-out of the products to the public domain?”

“Affirmative, Zeke.”

Zeke had more to say. Something was disturbing him about all this.

“We also need to monitor General Ferris. I suspect there is more to this than just a simple matter of maintaining justice.” Zeke finished his thinking out loud and sitting back pensively, his good mood from the porthole lost now as he worried about Ferris and his activities.

“Ship?” commanded Zirkos

“Understood, Maker. You want all communications from and to the human, Ferris monitored and all links leading from him for indications of conspiracy to overthrow present authority.”

“Ship?”

“Yes, Maker?”

“You are getting to think like an ‘Eight’ Do I need to reclassify you?”

“Negative, Maker. This A.I. has learned that it is important to follow the train of discussion between the Maker and the human, Zeke as it usually follows that further instructions will be passed to to it during such exchanges.”

“Thank you Ship.” Zirkos grinned at Zeke, a silent signal of approval slipping between them.

They were both pleased at how the A.I. had shifted its perspective to both of them and now considered Zeke to be part of the hierarchical set-up.

“So, these shields are tuned to just the two of us so one will reinforce the other giving us added density when in close proximity?” Zeke queried as they both slipped them into their grey jackets.

Zirkos nodded. “Ship, locate the Premier of China and advise.”

“Pod advises Premier is with the President discussing matters pertaining to the US,” Ship responded

“Ready?” Zirkos asked Zeke who took one last look around before nodding.

“Ship, transfer us please.”

***

For Ferris the progress had been too slow. He wanted to push for more metal to be inserted, but the scientists in charge needed to feel their way with this research and he wasn’t supposed to be anything other than a willing participant.

In the end he had sat down with Jannson and knowing just what made him tick, played heavily on the premise of being his friend and colleague, told him in confidence, that his religious ideals were somewhat juxtaposed to Jannsons.

It didn’t take long for Jannson to become animated and supportive. He felt that the incursion of aliens into our world was the work of the Devil, and that it meant God was being usurped. He was unable to accept any dependency on outside intervention, for him it was an Adam and Eve thing.

He resumed being the staunch ally of Ferris, which, as it turned out, was all that was needed to tip the balance in Ferris’ favour. The scientists caved in and Ferris got a bigger section of Ferrazite inserted. Microscopic in comparison to the amount Callaghan had, but enough to see improved results in his reaction times, speed and pain thresholds.

Now, several months later they had forged a secret group of fifth columnists all opposed to the idea of their way of life being upended to meet the suspect ideals of an alien who had somehow hoodwinked the President into disembowelling the complete law enforcement structure of the USA and intended to hand over all the new power and technology to America’s enemies.

These die-hards, that were either gun carrying independents or religious cult types, were perfect fodder for Ferris who needed to build a network that he could use to gain control of the Fortress. With the latest technology in his hands and the over-ride codes he would be able to expand quickly and seize power with the assistance of outside groups he was secretly working to bring aboard.

Jannson didn’t know his full plan, only thinking as far as his religious mania allowed him. The guy was getting more unhinged by the day and seemed to be falling into his obsessive depression and would soon become a liability.

He still needed him especially as the metal was having a disastrous effect on his health at present, despite all the advantages, he still suffered.

The scientists had found a way of increasing the speed of transformation by agitating the brain tissue that was secreting an enzyme which appeared responsible for dissolving the metal. The end result was he was constantly approaching saturation point in his bloodstream and they were having to clean his blood regularly to extract the Ferrazine.

Jannson was making sure that the extracted alloy was kept secure. They intended to use it themselves at a point in the future when they had control of the Fortress. Hopefully, if Jannson could hold it together for long enough.

Ferris planned for an accident to happen to Jannson when he was no longer needed. The last thing he needed was an unhinged mad scientist running amok. One megalomaniac General was enough, he chuckled to himself.

Now they were just waiting for completion of the prototype of the city sized shields which had the latest designs with the new scaled up power to density stabilisers. They had all agreed it should be first installed at the Fortress where testing could be carried out in situ.

That worked very nicely into the scheme of things and Ferris, quite rightly felt pleased with their progress. It wouldn’t be long now.

- 16 -

Zeke and Zirkos developed into a powerful team over the following months. As problems arose elsewhere on the planet, Zirkos would leave the issues to Zeke, who’s historical experience in guerilla fighting on the planet tied nicely with his skills as a politician. He hated the breed. Politicians, he would complain were all self serving, it was their very nature to put themselves first in everything, but Zirkos would point out he was excellent at the infighting and instinctively intuitive in detecting efforts to undermine their plans.

After three months of building and ironing out the bugs of the Defensive shields and without advising the USA of their intentions, the two of them visited first the Chinese, where they nearly got drawn and quartered by some very fast Samurai Traditional Palace guards. Luckily the shields kicked in just at the moment Zirkos would have been cleaved in two, thus saving mankind from an inestimable tragedy.

It took some time to convince the Chinese that their intentions were honourable. After a face-off between them and the normal military palace guard, they developed a healthy respect for Chinese zealots who had flung themselves at their shield in a pointless effort to overpower them and throw them in their palace jails.

They finally reached a point where the Premier ordered their scientists to look at the plans for the shields that had been redesigned by the Americans, based on the designs from Zirkos’ patterns.

A month later the Chinese factories were manufacturing at such a fast rate that the supply of nanobots, secure in the hands of the Pod A.I. were dangerously close to falling behind.

The Ship A.I. noted that each time the Pod seemed to get to saturation point it somehow re-balanced its resources and soldiered on, seemingly capable of additional capacity. Zirkos himself kept meaning to check on the Pod’s arrays, but everything seemed to be moving at a high speed and there never seemed time.

The Russians who had been given the blueprints at the same time as the Chinese, were still arguing over who was going to do the manufacturing.

Limited supplies had begun to emerge, but typically the leading classes only managed to obtain them, and those only after heavy bribes to the Russian ‘Mob’ who’s stranglehold on the countries economy was total. Their control over transportation, oil, food grain, imports, and all major manufacturing caused Zeke and Zirkos to consider a backup plan.

It was this plan they were now refining. It meant that they would have to put themselves at some risk, but the progress of the overall shield design in the hands of the Americans and the Chinese had bought about some major advances.

Now, besides being intuitive, they were linked directly to the individuals bio signature so could not be used except by the registered wearer. This same feature also measured the vital signs of the user and could detect when a threat may be developing even if there was no overt act by third parties.

It relied heavily on the personal circumstances of the user. If they were constantly at risk through their work, or by circumstances, then the Shield identified with their pattern and adjusted its norm accordingly.

Ship had been busy too, it had followed Zirkos’ suggestions about technical implants that the Maker had discovered but put aside, while designing the new Warrior T-Ship and came up with an ability to insert communication devices into both of them so that they could speak directly with Ship without voice.

It currently only worked when the range was direct line of sight and Pod had no spare capacity to run the communication protocols which meant it could not act as a relay. They were considering a set of relay satellites around the planet, but this was temporarily shelved due to a lack of time. They didn’t want to put the Jenari’s satellite plans in the hands of Fortress at this time. Earth wasn’t ready for some of the tech involved.

Meanwhile, the implants proved extremely valuable when Zeke was working with foreign governments as when language issues arose Ship translated seamlessly. It was definitely on the list to be expanded.

More recently, they were into personal weapons, something neither of them had been keen to carry in the early days while they were effectively on a peace mission to make friends and gain influence. It was nonetheless becoming increasingly evident that at some point they were going to have to protect themselves in a less passive manner.

Zeke was experimenting with the new TR Beam gun derived from a pattern in the library that he now had access to.

It was a modification of the tractor beam technology and when the trigger was depressed it fired a short tractor beam chunk at the assailant and depending on the setting, it either flattened them and knocked them unconscious with a pressure blast, or if on a narrow setting it sent a tight beam straight through a block of six inch steel while maintaining killing power beyond the other side.

Its range wasn’t great, it was a close quarter weapon and Ship had keyed it into the same implant they used for communicating with it giving them total control over how the weapon was used. It was useless without the implant.

It took practice to fire because the commands to set levels from one to six were given mentally through the implant, while the ability to fire was kept with the trigger finger, thereby requiring physical intervention to shoot someone.

Zeke could think of other uses for the weapon, but was keen to keep ideas to himself until the need arose.

Now, they were in a position of having to go to the surface and start a ruck with the Russians. Bearing in mind these people rarely took orders from anyone, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience for anybody.

Necessary though, thought Zeke as he checked off his points before D-Jumping to the meeting in Moscow Central. He would need to get all of the major powers onto the same page before moving onto the next phase. If the Russians wouldn’t play ball now, they would oppose them in the future. Stubborn is as stubborn does, he remembered.

Zeke told Ship to jump him only, Zirkos was going to stay behind and keep watch for surprises and besides Zeke did so well when he was on his own.

He materialised within the meeting room. Ship had placed him close to a wall so he wouldn’t get jumped from behind before his shield took full control. They had got the delay down to half a second, but since the Samurai sword incident they had been a little coy in just walking into a bear trap.

There were four people in the room. Every one of them was armed, they also had their personal forcefields on. Either they didn't trust each other, or they were anticipating trouble. Zeke decided the former was the problem.

Zeke held his weapon in his hand, he currently had the advantage.

“Gentlemen, I know I wasn’t invited to this meeting, so I invited myself.” He informed them in perfect Cossack Russian.

They whirled around to face him, guns coming out of jackets and belts as he approached them. As they recognised him from earlier visits and realised he was also protected by a Personal field, they backed off keeping their guns in front of them. Zeke silently commanded Ship to remove their weapons.

As their hands emptied their eyes changed from aggression to alarm. They had yet to see the full extent of passive defence that could be achieved by Ship, most of them weren’t necessary. Zeke was now the only one armed.

Russians like their toys, but it didn’t mean they were harmless without them. He kept a respectful distance from them, shields aside he didn’t want to get that close to human killing machines.

“Now, it has come to the attention of our people that you are deliberately refusing to support the manufacturing of this new technology because it defeats your oppressive system of intimidation and control of your own people. That’s very sad,” he concluded.

“I completely understand your sense of loss as you would no longer have the ability to kill, maim or beat into submission the people who cannot pay you, distribute your drugs, or steal for you.”

He waved his gun a little ostentatiously.

“This is so, yes?”

No comment.

“So, what should we do about this little problem that needs to ‘how do you like to say it in Russia ’go away’?”

He turned to the big bear dressed in Armani, his unruly unkempt beard didn't fit his dress sense. His eyes baleful and full of malice as he tried to make Zeke cower from his presence alone. Typical Russian, Zeke thought. So many years of living off of a fearsome reputation they themselves were now afraid of losing the control they wielded.

Zeke smiled, all the time thanking the stars he had the shield and a quick D-Field exit should he need it. It was almost a shame that he never got the chance to test his extraordinary strength and speed at all. The risks were always deemed impractical. However, this was one time he wouldn't have argued. The Russian, on his own, was formidable, with his comrades in arms, downright scary.

“Novamursky, you are the money man behind this little Mafioso, yes?” It wasn’t really a question.