by Dean Henegar
He kept slowly adding more processing power to the research. When he hit the limit, there was a tingle in the back of his mind, letting him know he couldn’t push any further. The schematic was changing rapidly before his eyes, and he added a percentage indicator to track the estimated progress on the railgun schematic. The number fluctuated rapidly at one point, going to ninety-eight percent complete, then back down to fifteen percent. As time passed, his mind began to get the hang of tracking the progress, and the numbers began to progress steadily.
With all his processing power being thrown at it, the wildly fluctuating percentage eventually landed at fifty-two and was climbing rapidly. He now pulled his view away from his research, seeking to distract himself as the process ran in the background. He needed to find out if the process was truly automated or if he would be forced to manually watch it as it progressed. Resisting the desire to pull up the research tracker, he instead looked about the ship for his humans, eventually finding Doctor Cheng delivering the prisoner’s meal; it appeared that Illissa still needed to eat or at least had some desire to. That reminded Slater that he still had a decision to make about her.
“Lieutenant Camden, can you and your soldiers join us with the prisoner?” Slater asked, wanting input from the rest of the crew.
“Roger that, sir. Moving,” Camden replied, grabbing both Long and Harris.
Slater watched the trio move to the prison compartment. He was glad to see they always brought their weapons with them, wherever they went. Once everyone was gathered, Illissa looked up from her meal in surprise.
“Have you decided to . . . terminate my stay on your vessel, Captain?” she asked. The elf tried to maintain a flat expression, but Slater could see hints of stress and fear deep in her eyes.
“That remains to be seen. I wanted to bring everyone here because we need to make a decision regarding the elf,” Slater advised.
“My name is Illissa,” the elf snapped back.
“Fair enough, Illissa. I apologize for not using your name,” Slater said. It was a rude gesture the elf didn’t deserve, and he’d even chastised her for calling him “human” in their earlier conversation.
“I’ll take care of the problem for us, sir. Her people killed Sergeant Gonzales and she deserves the same treatment he got,” an angry Private Harris said.
“I understand that anger, Harris. I felt it, too. In Illissa’s defense, she was being controlled at least partially by the same parasites that tried to control and consume me. I don’t hold her blameless in their attack, but I also have no particular desire to see her killed. That brings us to the problem of her imprisonment. How long do we keep her behind bars?” Slater asked, unsure of what to do and hoping someone had a good answer.
“You know that I have been speaking with Illissa each day as I bring her meals,” Doctor Cheng said. “I truly believe she does not mean us any harm. Her story is as sad as any of our own, and her entire people were destroyed by this council and the races that follow its commands. She is now free of their taint, just as Captain Slater is. Consider that as we decide what to do with her.” After their conversations, the doctor was obviously feeling sorry for the elf. Slater didn’t know what to think, and the doctor did strike him as a bit naive about these types of hard choices. He doubted that she had to face too many life-and-death decisions in the world of academia.
“Your thoughts, Private Long?” Slater asked, holding off on asking the lieutenant his opinion until last.
“I don’t know, sir. I hate what they did to the sergeant, but I also understand she was being controlled by something else. It’s all above my pay grade, sir,” Private Long truthfully answered.
“Lieutenant, your thoughts?” Slater asked.
The lieutenant’s face displayed a flurry of emotions in a short amount of time. There was hatred, anger, and sadness in equal measure. After a long pause and a sigh, he replied, “It’s never a good idea to let a potentially hostile person have free rein of the ship. She’s part of the reason I may never see my wife again. On the other hand, there is no way I can condone killing someone for an action that wasn’t her own. She was controlled by the council and had been for who knows how long. If—make that when—we return home, how could I face my family again, knowing I allowed an innocent person to die? How can I risk not seeing my family again by letting her free? I can’t make this decision for you, Captain Slater, because I genuinely have no idea what the right answer is.”
Slater knew that the lieutenant was right. This was a decision he had to make by himself; to have the others try and decide for him was not the right answer. This was one of those cases where either choice could end in disaster. In the absence of a clear answer, which was the right side to err upon? All of his processing power meant nothing when it came to a moral decision. Cold logic might dictate that killing Illissa was the correct choice: it would eliminate a potential threat, even if it meant losing a source of knowledge. But Slater wasn’t just a computer; he was also a human being. If he wanted to keep alive the part of him that represented humanity, he needed to take a risk on Illissa. He needed to prove to himself that he was still human, not just some computerized monster drifting through space.
“She will go free,” Slater said flatly. The reaction of the others wasn’t quite what he expected. The doctor was visibly relieved, but Private Harris seemed to accept the answer, if not necessarily approve of it. Lieutenant Camden nodded his agreement, and Private Long simply patted Mr. Bitey on the head. It appeared that Mr. Bitey had no opinion on the matter.
“Illissa, I cannot fault you for the council’s actions,” Slater said. “I’m placing myself and my crew at great risk in trusting you. For now, that trust doesn’t extend to arming you. Your staff will stay under lock and key. I will have separate quarters set up for you when I rebuild the ship shortly. Any whiff of trouble from you and I will designate you as hostile and throw the full force of my derelict against you. You are on my ship, and though you may not be a part of my crew like the others are, you will agree to obey my orders or you can rot in your cell.”
“I agree, and I thank you for your mercy, Captain Slater. Few others in the galaxy would have done as you have this day. I will help as much as I can, and I understand if the others still blame me for their loss. If I can help in getting all of you home, I will. As far as trust goes, let’s just say I wasn’t so confined and helpless as you thought. I’ll make my own way out, Captain,” Illissa said. Her eyes flashed with power, and the bars of her cell bent out, opening enough space for her to exit. Having not deactivated the system yet, the drone above her cut the chain, dropping the containment box. Instead of slamming down, the box was held aloft by Illissa’s magic, the elf visibly straining with the effort.
After she stepped safely through, Illissa released her power, and the box crashed down over an empty cage. The soldiers all had their weapons pointed at her, only lowering them when it became apparent that she wasn’t intending to attack. Slater felt a bit more justified in his decision after coming to the realization that, all this time, she could have escaped and caused any number of problems for him, but she hadn’t.
“For the time being, can I have Illissa assist me with my research?” Doctor Cheng asked, breaking the awkward silence that followed Illissa’s display of power.
“That would be a good fit, though you need to understand that I don’t want her to have access to my core chamber just yet,” Slater advised.
“That’s understandable. There is plenty for us to do and many questions to ask that don’t require access to the equipment inside your core room,” Doctor Cheng said. The doctor motioned for the elf to follow her. Illissa did so hesitantly, looking as if she still expected an attack from either Slater or the soldiers.
“I don’t think I have to mention that even though she is out, I expect you three to help me keep tabs on her,” Slater told the soldiers after the others had left.
“I believe you did the right thing in freeing her, Captain
, and now you’re doing the smart thing in asking us to keep an eye on the elf. Consider it done, sir,” Lieutenant Camden said, motioning for the other soldiers to follow him back to their recreation area for some PT. With Illissa’s situation—hopefully—solved, Slater checked back in on his point-defense railgun research.
The research on the railgun hadn’t completed, but it was up to eighty-eight percent and climbing. He would have breathed a sigh of relief if he still had lungs; background research did not require his direct involvement. He now set about creating a status screen that would give him a clearer picture of what was going on with the critical systems of his vessel.
Slater, Level 7, Derelict
Core Upgrade Progress: 17%
Hull Integrity: 100%
Shields: 100%
Power Availability: 22%
Current Research Allocation:
Railgun Point-Defense System: 100%
Research Progress:
Railgun Point-Defense System: 88%
MOBS: kobold warriors (22), kobold taskmasters (5), defilers (7), eviscerator (1), pairs of bilge rats (14)
Boss MOBS: kobold captain (1)
Construction Drones: 25
Ship’s Weapons: railgun: (1)
His new readout gave him a brief rundown of what he had to work with and the critical systems on his ship. He would have to tweak it more as he explored his new freedom. What he had, for now, was a good start, but he had more upgrading to do and priorities to set.
— 5 —
Slater planned out some research while he waited for the point-defense railgun schematic to complete. As far as critical systems went, he would need to start researching a jump drive, finish the main drive, upgrade his shields, research missile launchers and missiles, and, most importantly, upgrade and complete the install on his new sensor suite. He needed to see where he was and where he was going if he wanted to survive.
He could feel the processing power return to him as the point-defense research completed. The schematic was complete and pretty much an exact copy of the weapon that the Tuxpam had wielded. His version was a bit more powerful and efficient, his automated research subtly improving on the original design. While the weapon had been installed on a civilian ship, it was still a military-grade unit. He figured that continuous conflict with other species would have made Earth governments more lenient about civilian vessels sporting military-grade weapons. His drones could now install and upgrade the one he had stripped from the Tuxpam as well as create a second weapon for his buildout.
As a test, Slater tried to see what happened when he pushed some research power into his new schematic for the point-defense gun. Like before, the schematic changed as his processing power tried to improve on the design. Slater had no real idea where he wanted the research to go, so it chugged along several paths of improvement. The process was slow and he didn’t want to waste valuable time on it while other important areas needed attention. The experiment at least showed he had the potential to improve upon existing designs, even if it was a time-consuming task.
Slater had only a basic understanding of jump drive technology. The schematic he began to form was very limited, only having the basic shape and functionality of the drive. An idea hit him, and he wondered if he could have other people help him craft the starting point on a schematic. He knew the perfect person to ask.
“Doctor, do you have any knowledge of jump drive technology?” Slater asked.
She looked up from a table full of devices that she and Illissa were working on. “Oh, hello, Captain. Didn’t realize you were watching. I know some of the basics, but I’m sorry, that’s not my area of expertise. I may have some data stored away that may help you. I’ll send over anything I can.”
Doctor Cheng left Illissa to continue with whatever they were working on while she made her way to the core room. Connecting her device to the input port he had installed there allowed her to upload everything she had on her device. There was basic information on various subjects, including the current research on magic that she and Illissa were working on.
“Doctor Cheng, I know you’re not a medical doctor. What exactly is your area of expertise?” Slater asked, feeling foolish that he hadn’t brought it up before.
“Oh, I thought you knew. I never specialized in a single field, as I enjoy working on different projects. I was the ship’s science officer on the Havoc,” Doctor Cheng replied. Slater explained his research methods and the crafting of schematics. The doctor agreed to help by sharing any knowledge she might have on a subject and also suggested that he work with the soldiers on personal weapons for his MOBS.
After leaving the doctor, he pulled up the jump drive schematic once more. There had been some minor progress toward a real design, but there was still a long way to go. Slater didn’t want to stall all his other important research, so he decided to apply twenty percent of his processing power to the jump drive task. When some of the other items on his list were done, he could bump up the percentage.
Slater then ordered a team of five drones to begin stripping down the drives from the gnomish ship attached to the Tuxpam. The gnomish vessel was a little on the small side and didn’t have a jump drive. Still, its thrusters should give him a good basis with which to start his schematics. Any insight into a proposed design looked like it sped up the corresponding research. Slater also tasked the drones to sample the hull composition of both vessels just in case they held any tricks he could steal.
The other area he wanted to check on was his nanobots. He tried to force them to replicate, but it felt like he hit a wall when trying. Something told him that the ones he currently possessed were all he could control without upgrading his core. Of course, when he upgraded his core, most of the new nanobots he could support would likely be used to expand his ship. He was able to see the exact composition of his nanobots, but after placing power into researching them, he realized the process was painfully slow. With his whole processing power applied, it would take years in order to research even the most basic upgrades to his nanobots. There was no way he could ignore his other research for that long and hope to survive. For now, he would need to find other ways to improve his vessel and protect his ship. He moved on, trying out another idea.
“Lieutenant Camden, I could use your help with some research I’m about to conduct. Can you have one of your men field strip a rifle and lay the components out? Also, if you could take one of your explosive rounds apart, I would like to get a look at them, too,” Slater asked.
“No problem, sir. Harris, field strip your rifle and set it out for the captain,” he ordered.
“Sir, your drones aren’t going to eat my rifle, are they? I got this baby zeroed in just how I like her,” Private Harris said.
“No worries, Private. I’m just scanning them to see if I can create something better than the rifles my kobolds use,” Slater advised.
Harris had his rifle broken down quickly with the skill every soldier had knocked into them during basic training. Slater ordered a drone over, which began to examine the components, picking up each part with its tools and scanning everything it could. After a few minutes, the drone scuttled off to its next task. As Harris got busy reassembling his weapon, the schematic began to build in Slater’s vision.
The council had screwed him again. The modern rifle was easily within his capability to reproduce, and the first schematic he was able to make was already close to being complete. He placed ten percent of his processing power into the research for modern rifles and another ten percent into the ammunition. It would take time away from other research, but there was no longer a need to progress through the various weapons of history like he had been forced to do before. Modern battle rifles would mean an exponential improvement in the effectiveness of his MOBS.
For the rest of his research, Slater placed twenty percent into sensors, ten percent into missile launchers, ten percent into missiles, and ten percent into his main battery railgun since the current weapon was
very primitive. He reserved ten percent and was going to use it to experiment with his MOBS. He zoomed in on a kobold warrior, and a strange type of schematic was created for it. It showed all the biological systems of the creature and looked more like a series of diagrams from a biology textbook than the technical schematics used for his other systems.
Not sure how to proceed, Slater just dumped the final ten percent of his processing power into the kobold. The various schematics changed as body parts and systems were tweaked. Spending some time going over the schematics, he could see some inherent weaknesses in the kobolds’ body structures. The weaknesses looked to be intentionally placed inside his MOBS—another way to hamper his development. The “level” upgrades he had researched under his old system had likely only stripped off a single weakness or two in their genetic code, leaving his MOBS underpowered for longer than necessary. He would push more research into the MOBS once the ship was ready to go.
It didn’t take long for the drones to finish deconstructing and scanning the gnomish drive system. They were fine for the small gnomish craft but would be a bit underpowered for a ship of his size, but the engines’ modest thrust would at least allow him to move at more than a snail’s pace. He moved the last ten percent of his processing power from his MOBS and allocated it to finishing off the engine design. With all his ship’s systems being in the final stages of design, it was time to build out the new vessel. By the time the buildout was complete, the research on the various systems should be done and he could then get to work on finding a way home.
“All hands, now hear this. The USS Franklin is about to be completely rebuilt. I’m not touching your quarters, the dining hall, or the med bay just yet, so make sure all your gear is cleaned out of anywhere else on the ship unless you want my drones to break it down for salvage,” Slater announced throughout the ship.
