Tides of the Continuum 1: Making History (10 page)

-MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM 'BISHOP'

-FILTERING...

-DECRYPTING...

-TRANSLATING...

-DISPLAYING MESSAGE CONTENT:

You have not done enough

to weaken your ship. We

have sustained heavy

losses.

-COMPOSING REPLY FROM 'ROOK':

I have done my part, exactly as you requested. Don't blame me for your incompetence. I await extraction.

15

Lincoln shot a worried look at Aurora. How could he protect her if there was a firefight on the ship? On the other hand, maybe this was a chance to test her mettle. “Come on,” he said, “I’ll need you to be positioned near here.” Really what he was going to do was place her in the protective custody of several of his most trusted allies.

Athena had designed a team of advanced tactical androids capable of fending off any close quarters combat. They were fitted with the most tensile and light armor possible, making them invincible to weapons fire up to an antitank warhead. Fitted with electromagnetic dampers, they were completely immune to E.M.P. They acted autonomously from Athena, making them ideal for away missions. They were sleeker, more humanoid, and perfectly prepared for a protection assignment.

Lincoln left the alcove and glanced around the Ops stations. There was no sign of either Cutler or Ambrose. He led his feminine confidant to the maglev. “Athena, prepare three HOT units. I’ll need them to defend and accompany Aurora on her assignment.”

“Yes, sir. They’ll meet you in a few minutes at an upcoming stop,” said Athena.

“Hot units? Boy is that name cheesy! What, do they have flame-throwers or something?” asked Aurora.

“Actually, they don’t. The name comes from the acronym, Heightened Operations Team,” Lincoln explained.

“Oh. So you have a team specially formed to wear fire proof clothing?” asked Aurora, slightly confused.

A grin formed under Lincoln’s sparkling eyes. “Nope, even better. I have a team specially designed to withstand any kind of abuse the hands of man can inflict. They're bulletproof, fireproof, and immune to E.M.P. They can work under water, in sub-zero and scorching temperatures, and even in the vacuum of space, all without any equipment whatsoever.”

Aurora looked at Lincoln, “Wait, did you say immune to E.M.P.?”

“Yes, I did. They also think on their own; I mean, all the other androids can, also, but these specific units aren’t controlled by Athena,” said Lincoln.

The door of the carriage opened to reveal a trio of men, shiny skinned, and muscular. They were a very glossy black, as dark as night itself, seeming to reflect everything. They had emotionless faces, but eyes that seemed to glow, almost burn, blue with power. Each of them stepped into the car. One spoke, “I am Tork. This,” he introduced the companion on his right, “is Drokk. And this is Groto.” He pointed to the shiny figure on his left. “We have been briefed on the situation at hand, and are glad to be of service. Is this the woman we will be accompanying?” Tork inquired.

“Yes, you three will have responsibility for her safety, and should follow her orders, where such orders don’t cause her harm. Any questions?” Lincoln asked.

“None, Sir,” said Drokk.

The small ship flew into a less populated area of the launch bay. It was invisible to Athena’s array, but could be seen by the human eye. Some tactical robots jumped from placements on the ship’s belly, just before a bay-defense artillery battery impaled it. The sloop broke into multiple fragments each on its own trajectory. Pieces of metal and composite littered the empty space above the hangar floor. It would be days, if ever, before the entire mess was completely cleaned out, owing to the size of the bay.

A few of the bots ran stealthily to the outer door of the bay. It was over fifty feet thick and would impede any signal they could try to send through it. One intruder reached back and yanked a rather odd-shaped object from his back. He adjusted it in several ways, and then attached it directly to the massive door. The object came alive, resonating the door panel itself as its antenna, sending information back to the Koratind Ratahn flagship. The troops then hid themselves in a small cubby, waiting for further orders from their fearless
, yet demented leader.

The sleek black figures stood motionless, muscles taut. Actually, they didn’t have muscles, but they did have that appearance. When they moved, Aurora could almost see the sinews writhing under their slick skin. If she didn’t see their non-human faces, she’d swear they were just men painted black.

The maglev slowed again, this time near the origin of the intruder alert. It was one of many gigantic hangar bays, which housed the vast fleets of space fighters, freighters, and other ships, assigned to the Legion. The maglev doors opened and Aurora turned to Lincoln waiting for his instructions. "Well, Aurora, now is your chance to prove what you are made of. Of course, you will have these guys to watch your back." He winked and Aurora took a deep breath and stepped into the hall, unsure of what to expect next.

The doors closed behind Aurora as she and her guard detail stepped from the maglev. Lincoln rode the carriage on to another destination mulling over the upcoming battle when Athena interrupted his thoughts, "Sir, why would you introduce Aurora to a possibly dangerous situation?"

Lincoln responded, "Well, I want to take this opportunity to evaluate Aurora's natural reactions to what
she
considers a dangerous situation. I am considering her for a leadership position, and I want to gauge her abilities. In fact, Athena, please document her behavior and actions for later analysis. Consider this her litmus test."

Men and soldiers ran through the corridors. As Aurora quickly established a position facing the direction of the excitement, the intruders forced the bay door open. The alarm went silent; the intruder-response teams positioned themselves around a corner from the bay entrance, hidden from view. Relying on their training, they took their aim. While the bay access door couldn’t be seen from her placement, Aurora could still hear the scrape of heavy metal sheets being slid aside. The sound made her shiver, like fingernails on a chalkboard.

An Earth Protection Force security officer fired the first shot as one intruding automaton tried to stealthily peek around the corner.

Aurora, in a bit of a panic, began to fire her Stinger at the hiding enemy. Taking a deep breath, she paused and regained her composure. She fired again, but couldn’t see anything being discharged from its barrel, but then, it was only emitting spurts of highly concentrated microwave energy. She couldn’t tell if her Stinger was working until another one of the intruders peeked around the corner and took a shot to the face. It fell head long to the floor, not even twitching, just dead.

Aurora felt satisfied with her newfound ability. She discovered that the Stinger only had effect on the brains of the enemy androids, however, when she tried to hit one in the arm. It didn’t even flinch, just ducked back behind the corner. The enemy tactical units continued firing random shots from behind their cover.

As the smell of ozone became more pungent in the corridor, Aurora noticed rather nervously that she could detect her enemy’s shots with her eyes. This meant they weren’t shooting microwave bursts as was she. And that fact meant she most likely would be severely injured by a lucky shot on their part. She nestled herself lower behind the cover that her black mechanical teammates afforded her.
Their skin would deflect the enemy’s fire.

She also noticed that the weapons her team used were of the same design as the enemy’s. They reminded her of ray guns from the movies.

Suddenly, a light came on in Aurora’s head. She pulled one of her guard detail aside; she thought it could have been Tork. Pointing to his hand weapon and raising her voice over the sound of the enemies’ gunfire, “How good is your aim with that thing?”

Without flinching, he asked, “What do you need hit?”

Aurora reached into her shoulder bag. She had packed a few essentials, besides that which Lincoln assigned to her. She hadn’t intended her extras to be used in this manner, but at this point, she didn’t care much. She retrieved an aerosol can of Super Hair-Hold from her satchel. She asked hastily, “If I throw this, can you hit it on my command and make it explode?”

Tork quickly responded, “Without fail.”

Aurora turned again to the enemy invaders, just around the corner. Taking only a second to judge the distance, and preparing herself to shout a command, she lobbed the can down the corridor. It hit the floor and rolled about six feet before she shouted, “Now!”

As the word left her mouth, she covered her face, preparing for the eminent effect. A large fireball exploded out from the can's previous location. The flames were cut short by the quick slide of heavy blast doors. The explosion caused a sudden change in air pressure which triggered the decompression protocols, effectively sealing the tactical robots into a confined area.

“Yes, it worked! I read about that one in an
Onyx Red
book,” announced Aurora.

Some of the other security troops looked to each other, confused. She guessed they hadn’t heard of that series.
Oh well
, thought Aurora,
their loss
.

Gracchus sat up abruptly in his chair. He was sweating as he stroked his bearded chin nervously. His task force had been compromised.

He chuckled reassuringly to himself, thinking out loud, “Let’s let this situation play out a little bit longer, see where it leads.” He cracked his knuckles from habit.

He watched the view of space as his adversary obliterated more and more of his fighters. His confidence slowly dimming, he reached for his communication circuit. Shouting at his engineer, Kellan, he ordered more fighters sent to the skirmish.

Gracchus longingly glanced at a group of controls near his left hand. He scolded himself for his impatience, knowing that in time, he would use the weapon he enjoyed the most. “All things in time,” he thought.

He watched his viewer with anticipation. It was a split image view, one half of the dome was sent to him from a small observation ship positioned very near the space battle. The other half of his display showed a view from one of his tactical force drones on the enemy's ship. He tapped a link active, and then spoke to his tactical team, "Take a hostage. We need some leverage.” Gracchus planned to take the giant ship captive. It would make a fantastic addition to his fleet of warships. He would have some resistance from the crew, but then, it was always fun to watch humans die in strange ways. Gracchus resolved to expose the entire lot of them to the vacuum of space, watch them squirm.

-MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM 'BISHOP'

-FILTERING...

-DECRYPTING...

-TRANSLATING...

-DISPLAYING MESSAGE CONTENT:

Your extraction team is

trapped. Free them. We

will not wait long before

using the other weapons.

-COMPOSING REPLY FROM 'ROOK':

This had better be the last

transmission I receive from you. I

will free the team, but remember that

you must kill HER to gain control of

the ship. That was part of the deal.

As Gracchus watched, the Rook freed his team from their makeshift prison. The team immediately took a hostage. It was a handsome choice indeed, a member of the ship’s leadership. He didn’t put up a fight, which aided their purposes. The insurgents slowly went to the corner where Aurora and her team were still standing guard. The lead insurgent ordered the hostage to repeat something.

Aurora heard a familiar voice coming from around the corner. It was slightly labored, as if the speaker had a strong hand around its throat.

16

The voice shouted a very weak, “Put your weapons down! It’s me!”

Aurora knew what would happen next. She’d seen too many suspense movies not to. The bad guys would come around the corner with a gun to their hostage’s head. They would demand control of the ship, and use the hostage as leverage. That meant that if Aurora were to do what she had planned, she would have to be gone before they came around the corner. Otherwise they would see her leaving and act accordingly, which usually entailed shooting the hostage.

She leaned toward one of her guards. It might have been Groto, she wasn’t quite sure. “Come with me.” She whispered.

He nodded silently, following her away from the scene. They moved stealthily through the halls, checking for other enemy soldiers as they went. The problem with the Legion was all the corridors looked exactly the same. She hoped she was on the right path. Her goal was to get behind the nefarious troops, and launch a counter-attack, all without being discovered. This would be tricky.

“If this was a movie, I would probably be the main character who gets shot trying to free the hostage. Just my luck, I’m the only one who tries to do something heroic, and trips up at the last second.” She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular. Realizing her behavior, she said, “If I’m not careful, I’ll start talking to myself.”

She stepped close to another corner, getting ready to do the same as she had done at other corners: glance around the corner quickly, jump around into full view, point her weapon wildly at the empty space, then she would continue to the next corner. As she came even with the edge, she tensed her muscles, preparing for another lunge. Just before she did, she heard a click, barely audible, coming from her collar.

She stopped short, listening. She hoped her cover wasn’t blown. Then another noise came from her collar. Aurora realized it was actually coming from her comlink. She strained to understand it.

It was a voice, soft and feminine. “Aurora stop.” It was Athena. “The insurgents are around the next corner. If you continue in the same pattern, you’ll be seen, and quickly end your rescue mission.”

Aurora moved ever so slowly toward the corner. She peeked around it, only enough to see three metal men, holding Lincoln’s tactical officer around the throat, and pointing a gun to his temple. Even from where she was spying, Aurora could see his hands shaking. She slipped her hand into her pocket, feeling for her E.M.P. grenade. She remembered that it was devastating to technology, while only causing minor discomfort to humans. With luck, she could toss it close enough to the group, to incapacitate the soldiers, while not throwing it too far, or too hard, or getting caught in the act.

She pulled it from her pocket, setting the fuse for one second. Stepping to the corner again, she slowly moved away from safety. The group had their backs to Aurora, which gave her the advantage. She placed her thumb on the trigger, reeled back, and lobbed the grenade down the corridor. As soon as it left her hand, the timer started. She heard herself shout the word “Drop!” to Buck Heron, hoping he would properly understand, before the android’s trigger reflexes did.

The second passed with surprising speed, not like in the movies. On the big screen, this kind of situation would last for at least ten seconds, the whole scene occurring in slow motion. The grenade traveled true to course, detonating an inch before it would have landed. The entire group fell to the floor, in one lifeless heap. None of Athena’s artificial soldiers were standing within the blast radius, so they were just fine. A smile crept to Aurora's lips. Then she noticed that there was something which caused concern.

The entire group lay on the floor, dead. Not just the androids, either, Buck was also immobile. Aurora dismissed it as a dizzy disorientation, and rushed to his side. She tried to help him up from the floor. “Come on, fellah. Shake it off and step up.”

She was surprised by the weight of his body as she attempted to help lift it. His entire frame was as stiff as a board, as if he had rigor mortis in a very extreme case.

Aurora whispered, "You're not dead. Are you?" Getting no response, Aurora yelled, “Athena, what’s wrong with Buck? I thought those grenades weren’t harmful to people. Did I kill him?” Fear started to well up in Aurora’s mind.

Athena responded. “Let me run a scan.” Aurora closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as she waited.

Athena’s answer gave her some hope, though. “I think you can forget your fears, Aurora. Buck wasn’t really human. I scan very complicated construction and components. It was a very advanced android, one possessing internal weaponry, communications and even food processing equipment. Someone went to a lot of trouble designing him. Its creators made us think that he was the real Buck Heron. If he looked like the real one, I would have no reason to scan him and find the truth.” Athena reported.

Aurora caught a flash of remembrance. “It’s like your child care units. They look real on the outside, so the kids won’t suspect the guts are robotic. I bet that’s where he got the idea from, the guy who made this thing.”

Aurora, escorted by Drokk, returned to Ops to be debriefed by the Colonel.

The guard detail was still there, protecting the heart of the ship, though they had multiplied by several dozen. As they neared the door, several stepped aside to allow them entrance. Once they were in, the access was sealed from the inside. There were at least fifteen people milling around Ops, each performing a specified task.

“I agree with your assumption,” said Colonel Smyth. “The nannies, the child care androids, wandered in public and were easily accessible. It is possible the real Buck, if there ever was one, modified the design from available schematics to resemble himself. I have a team working on salvaging as much of its positronic memory core as survived the EMP.” Then he added, “By the way, Aurora, good thinking about the grenade. You may have shifted the battle toward our fortune.”

Paul Cutler approached his
Colonel to report. “Sir, most of their fighters are gone, now. This means that the chances of them using their big bad gravity gun are getting increasingly higher. We have completely decoded the remaining information on Buck’s memory drive, and have something to report. Sir, Gracchus has planned to implode the Earth from behind the moon. We have found incomplete schematics for a vessel named the Red Nova. Apparently it houses the Black Core device. We’ve found that it’s very well protected. It has extremely thick armor plating, lots of guards, armed to the teeth; you know, all the whistles and bells.”

Lincoln nodded. He turned to Peter Ambrose and was about to speak, but paused. He glanced at Aurora for a few seconds and then spoke, “Peter can you deactivate the proximity sensors on one of our freighters? I need it to get very close to another ship without stopping short.”

Peter thought for a moment, and then looked to an android standing near him. A second later, he looked back to his commanding officer, a smile on his face. “It will be done, sir. Anything else?”

Lincoln thought for a moment longer. “Yes. Athena, after the freighter is adjusted, fill it completely with protomatter canisters. I mean completely full, walkways and all. Do you understand?”

Athena acknowledged the order, “Yes, Sir.”

Deep within the ship, supply lines of refill canisters were rerouted. Extra androids were assigned to work on the modified vessel. The workers stocked the freighter with canister after canister of protomatter. Instead of stopping when reaching the doorways to the cargo holds, the soldiers continued loading. The canisters kept coming. They were stacked higher and higher, deeper and deeper, until they reached the outermost door. The hatch was sealed, and all the troops returned to their previous assignments, save one. He walked to an access panel near the cockpit of the freighter, opened it carefully. In front of his face stretched a very complicated network of wire and conduit, machinery and electronics. His artificial eyes were focused on one piece in particular. It was slightly oblong and irregularly shaped, with several nodules sticking off one side. Dozens of lines and conduits joined to it, being shunted to other areas of even greater complexity. The android waited for further orders from Athena.

Gracchus watched his last fighter get vaporized by his archenemies. A wave of hatred rising inside him, he reached feverishly toward a set of switches, separated just a few inches from the other controls at his fingertips. He flicked the first one, the signal to open the floodgates from the resource reservoirs into the dormant protomatter reactor. He activated the second control, the particle inversion grid. As he set it off, a few other lights began to flash slowly, in sequence. As they did, the ceiling lights in his control room started flickering randomly, signifying a dramatic loss of power on the ship’s overall grid. The capacitors were charging, getting ready to burst.

The third switch, when thrown at the right moment, would empty the super-capacitors in a single instant, and initiate a gravimetric field insertion pulse, which would make the weapon ready to fire. Gracchus braced himself for the inevitable. At once his mind began to swim with pain and uncontrolled vertigo. After a few eternal seconds, the feelings subsided and Gracchus recovered from the physical side effects the weapon caused as it distorted the fabric of reality in its vicinity. Its rapid burst caused ripples in space-time, as a pebble cast into a pond disturbs the surface. At that moment, when the ship's integrity was in danger of compromise, the systems governing the weapon tamed the disturbance, and the waves suddenly reversed themselves and retracted back into the heart of the device. The physical effects diminished to a relatively unnoticeable level, and Gracchus sighed as the pain seeped out of his body.

When he had again gathered his conscious mind, he cleaned the vomit from his display with a cloth rag and made himself comfortable in his seat, preparing to wait the several minutes before the recursion collider reached cascade potential at which point he could unleash his full fury on his enemy. He sipped again from his drink, washing the taste of sickness from his mouth.

Eyes glaring at the screen of his computer, he evaluated the available targets and carefully determined which would be the easiest. A certain ship was flying around dropping tiny canisters into space, these getting consumed by passing enemy ships. Obviously, those fuel cells were very heavy, close to half a metric ton each. He guessed his target was pretty full. It moved rather sluggishly, taking time to change course. It seemed to have immense inertia, making it an easy target. “Yes, that one will do nicely.”

A signal flared on his panel. He set the coordinates for his first attack. Firing his weapon was not very gratifying as he waited for the momentary pause, until his target's hull collapsed inward, crushed out of sight.

Gracchus sat back in his chair watching for his nemesis to make the next move. A smile slithered onto his lips.