OMEGA Destiny

by Stephen Arseneault

  Joni returned with her new BGS filled with gel. Frig and the others stepped off the elevator just as first light was upon us. As the dim star-lights in the sky began to glow bright white, the colonel said, "You'll start to see the outlines of the mountains over here, and the coastline through this window. To the east and west we have forests. The next set of buildings is about a hundred fifty kilometers to the northeast, going up the coast. During the last round of terraforming, the ruins left over from our own wars were removed and the areas replanted. Only buildings deemed necessary were left."

  Go remarked, "So the rest of Earth is mostly unpopulated?"

  The colonel nodded. "There are probably four hundred buildings similar to this one that dot the landscape around the planet. There's a portal gate to each of them, with most located near natural features. There are only five near man-made wonders. The pyramids at Giza. The Great Wall of China. A place called Stonehenge. The dual mountainside carvings of Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. And the newest addition, the one-hundred-meter-tall granite carving of Don Grange. There's a twenty-meter-high carving of Frig beside it."

  Frig shook his head. "I objected at the time. Not to its size, but to its existence at all. I am not a believer in monuments made to people. We are all only here for a short time and the honors bestowed on people do not always transfer from one generation to the next."

  The colonel laughed. "Yeah, well, maybe that's why you only got twenty meters."

  The colonel continued: "The other buildings are either centrally-located or are positioned at natural wonders such as Yosemite Valley, the Alps or the White Cliffs of Dover. It's a beautiful planet."

  Garrett replied, "It's a shame it goes unused."

  The colonel shook his head. "Can't have people living here and protect it,too. People need to interact with others. We need to grow and discover and spread out. You round up all the Humans in the six galaxies and they won't fit on this one planet. The moment this world is taken out of hiding, it becomes a target for those who want to control it. We need this sanctuary hidden if we want to keep the peace."

  Later that afternoon, Quan's download was complete. The two meter tall green android went offline for several minutes as its systems rebooted. When the sequence completed, the robot opened its eyes and sat up.

  Garrett said, "And so it begins."

  The newly-enabled android extended its arms, moved its fingers and twisted its torso. After a hard lean forward, it straightened and stood.

  Garrett looked up from his position on the couch, shaking his head with a scowl.

  Quan squatted, jumped, touched his boots, and then stood erect. "Hello, everyone. I just want to say thank you for restoring me to a body. I believe I can be a more effective assistant to each of you without being confined to a ship or building. Thank you."

  Jack emerged from his medical procedure, talking as he approached. "Wow. It really feels as good as new. This is remarkable."

  Go gestured toward his BGS suit. "Have you had a chance to blink out yet?"

  Jack shook his head. "The bots literally just released me two minutes ago. I figured it might be wise to wait until I had some training on its use first."

  The colonel looked around at our crew. "This is probably as good a time as any to learn how to make use of your suits. Follow me. We'll head down the elevator and outside where we're less likely to cause damage."

  On the ride down the elevator, Garrett couldn't resist the urge to blink out. Before he realized his mistake, he had floated out over the floor, still ten stories below.

  Garrett said, "Uh, guys. I just screwed up. What do I do now? I'm floating ‘bout two meters outside the elevator and moving slowly away. The ground is coming up quickly here."

  Joni shook her head. "Just blink in right before you get to the floor. At this speed it should be an easy landing."

  As the elevator reached the bottom, Garrett panicked, blinking in with four meters to go. He fell hard, slamming into the polished marble floors of the atrium as he attempted to roll.

  The elevator doors opened and Joni stepped out. "Idiot."

  Garrett winced in pain as he rubbed his left knee and ribs. "OK, I guess I deserve that."

  Go grinned. "At least you got the first one out of the way. And just so you know, you'll do that a few more times before getting the timing down. At least you didn't break anything."

  The colonel took us out into a grassy field beside the building. After practicing our standing blinks, the colonel asked us to take a step forward. I soon found myself drifting just above the green field. When I blinked in, I dropped a half meter to my feet. The procedure was repeated several dozen times before a consistent landing was achieved.

  An hour after our training had begun, we made use of the BHD glove for the first time. The microscopic, temporary black hole moved you in whatever direction you aimed your fist. Slowing or stopping was only achieved when aiming the glove in the opposite direction. It was not an intuitive move.

  After losing complete control several times, I began to get the hang of the BHD and what it could do. By the time the lights of evening began to turn down, I was flying, stopping, spinning, and darting in any direction I desired. The freedom of the suit and the feeling of flying without the effects of inertia was something I had never dreamed of experiencing. My movements, as well as those of the others, were quickly becoming second nature.

  As the last of the daylights shut down, we were left standing in a darkened field. The bright lights of the towering portal building flipped off one floor at a time, leaving only the dimmest lighting at the base and on the eightieth floor.

  The colonel said, "Now we make use of some of the other features of the suit. Follow your menus to the viewport settings—that would be your visor. Select simulated daylight."

  I blinked at the setting and the view on my face shield came to life. Some of the colors were slightly off, but a clear image of the surrounding grass field was visible in front of my face.

  The colonel said, "The simulated mode is very close to normal daylight. You will notice a slight difference in colors. The biggest difference will be in the lack of shading. The helmet attempts to compensate for this by simulating a light source behind you. It will take a bit of getting used to. Some of you may find that you prefer leaving the setting in simulated lighting all the time. From experience, I can tell you it's not a good practice. At some point you will have to have it off, and the longer you have been in simulation, the longer it will take you to readjust."

  The colonel was both thorough and regimented in his training techniques. By the time the daylight was again beginning to show, I had flown hundreds of kilometers, I had been up to the edge of space, I had blinked out while occupying the domain of other objects, and I had repeatedly fired both the coil-gun glove and my blaster. The remainder of the daylight was spent doing more of the same.

  When we finally returned to the eightieth floor, Tony was standing with a silvery white maul in his hands. "Mr. Beutcher, a gift for you. If you would please turn around. I need to attach the holder clamps to your back."

  The colonel grinned. "Now that is a fine-looking weapon."

  Tony fastened the clamps. "The holder is magnetically guided. You should find it easy to return the maul to its storage position. Something you should keep in mind: the active skin of the maul draws its power from either of your gloves, or the holder clamps. If it's released in any way, it will blink in.

  "The sodium has been infused and hardened to allow the maul to strike objects with only minor risk, but it isn't foolproof. If the skin becomes damaged, it will no longer activate. If you are holding the maul at that time, your BGS will not activate. If the damaged maul is placed back in the holder, your BGS will not activate."

  I nodded. "So it just becomes a maul at that point, understood."

  The colonel looked at the slowly dimming lights of the day. "I want you to all take note of the following oddity. You've been busy for thirty-six hours s
traight. How do you feel?"

  "I feel pretty good," Garrett remarked. "Energy is up. No fatigue. Not sleepy at all."

  The colonel pointed. "That's one of the benefits of that BGS suit. For Humans, you can easily go seventy-two hours without issue. Performance will slowly start to taper off after that point. However, one of the fantastic things about this suit will be your ability to take short naps. We called them B-naps.

  "Find a good spot, set the suit for a fifteen minute rest, and blink out. The suit will put you in a deep sleep and wake you up with stimulants when the time is up, or when interrupted by outside events. That fifteen minutes will buy you another twelve hours at full bore. For a full reset, though, you will want to get in a standard eight. For me, I found getting in eight over a four day period was optimum. Break it into two hour B-naps if you want, just try to stay on top of it as you never know when you'll need that three or four days straight. I've been in battles that easily lasted that long."

  When the colonel had finished his talk, our attentions were turned back to Tony.

  A holo-display lit up in front of him. "The requested list of items is ready to be delivered and installed. A maintenance ship, the Delta Song, has been selected to assist with the new portal gates. She is fully automated. Once the new gates have been placed, she will proceed to each of the others to add new safeguards. Our engineers are confident the new fixes will be tamper-proof."

  Tony swiped on the display to bring up a new image. "We also made modifications to each of the main power generators. Internally, they will process the cesium fuel into the more efficient isotope. This will be done to the generators that power the portal gates first. That alone will cut the cesium needs to one quarter of the current requirements. A drone team will be dispatched to each planet over time to modernize each of the generators. It's projected that this enhancement should stretch our cesium supplies out to fifty thousand years."

  Go asked, "I know that's a long ways out, but what will the people do when the cesium supply is depleted?"

  Tony pulled up a new image of a lab. "We have designed a team of scientific research AIs that will work on that task while we remain in stasis. If a discovery is made, our engineers will be alerted to such and awakened. If the discovery has merit, the new designs will be rolled out to all colonies of the AMP."

  Garrett threw up his hands. "Great. More AIs. Wasn't the Duke a research AI gone astray?"

  Frig said, "The Duke was indeed a research AI. However, his inhibitive programming was deficient, and his inhibitive hardware was damaged. The Duke, who emerged in an unstructured environment, was largely a product of that environment. His poor behavior was learned and not inherent. The likelihood of that occurring again is not possible with these AIs. They are far less capable than the Duke was, or Quan is."

  Quan said, "My programming base has been changed to include the inhibitive routines, and my damaged circuits were repaired. I will not, and cannot, become like the Duke."

  Garrett waved his hand. "Fine."

  The colonel placed his fists on his hips. "OK people, it's time we got back and got busy. When the gate repairs have been completed, we'll evaluate whether or not we approach the colonies in Yallux. If we bring them aboard we can expand through the rest of that galaxy from there. If the AIs are out there in hiding, we'll find them and we'll finish them off. That will be the task I'm taking on going forward, and I would consider it an honor if any of you joined me in that endeavor."

  As Go began to stand, the colonel held up his hand. "Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, if you don't join, the BGS suit comes off. Sorry, but it's part of the deal."

  One by one, each of us stood. One by one, our answers were all the same. We would see to it that the AMP was spread throughout the Yallux, and that the AIs were eliminated. Standing in unison with the others, my feeling of purpose had returned.

  Chapter 3

  * * *

  New portal gates were delivered, installed, and made functional on two hundred seventy-two colonies, including feeder gates located around the main gate. Another one hundred thirty colonies had applied for a single gate, and more than fourteen hundred for additional feeder gates. The automated ship sent out to handle the task was kept busy, only returning to Earth for the gates themselves.

  Three weeks after our return, the Grunta Council voted to reinstate Getta. Public pressure had been overwhelming, with three more council members resigning after the vote. Both of the would-be assassins were no longer presiding over the needs of the people. Harden Salton continued to push to increase her popularity, and his propaganda machine was relentless.

  The Council ban on me was also in the process of being lifted. I was only hours away from a trip to Jorus to see the family. I was filled with excitement.

  The colonel was spending his time with the Talisans. They were as close to a military as we had, and with the colonel's full attention, they were well on their way to becoming one. Strategies, tactics, flight training, and hand-to-hand combat were all being pushed to their limits. The colonel found the Talisans to be willing students.

  Jack received a newly constructed ship, the Garmon II. She had our newest technologies, plus a few extras that had been provided by the Human clones of Earth. It was the only ship in active service with a portal gate, and was commissioned as the flagship of the newly created AMP Defense Force.

  The ADF's first mission would be to eradicate any AIs from the Yallux Galaxy. That mission was slated to begin in another week. We were all ready to get to work.

  I spoke with Getta over the comm. "I am eager to see you."

  Getta nodded. "We need to thank Harden. His work here has completely changed the atmosphere surrounding me. Instead of suspicion, I am now looked upon with respect, but I find it alarming that the people are so easily manipulated."

  I agreed. "Yes. For most who are not close followers of the news, if they hear or see something often enough they come to believe it to be true. A lesson in history would teach us that this has always been the case. Most don't care enough to pay close attention. Their lives are too demanding."

  Getta grinned. "You have twenty-eight grandchildren that will be eager to see their grandfather for the first time."

  I half laughed. "They aren't old enough to know who I am. To them I will just be another face to slobber on."

  Getta smiled. "Well, your children will be happy to see you, too. For a while they were starting to believe the negative news about you the Council was putting out. None ever said anything about it, but you could see it in their faces. They have since realized their mistakes and are eager for your arrival."

  Jack patted me on the back. "The Garmon is ready whenever you are. And just so you know, I'll be jumping back here to Dallex immediately after I drop you off. If you need to come back for any reason, the portal to there is fully open."

  I nodded goodbye to Getta. "I should be there within the hour."

  Getta leaned her forehead against the comm camera. I did the same before the comm closed.

  Go walked onto the bridge of our newest ship. "I finished an evaluation of the automated repair system. It's unlike any I've seen before. The manual says a minor hull breach can be closed in as little as forty-five seconds, with a fully-functional external patch applied within two minutes. A dozen of those repairs can be undertaken in parallel."

  Jack replied, "It's a system I could've used repeatedly. Hopefully, we never have to make use of it."

  Go sat in a chair. "It's been months since we detected an AI. Garrett thinks we should pay a visit to the Baldi. If anyone has heard from the AIs, it might be them."

  Jack pulled up a nav map on the holo-wall. There's a lot of space out there to hide in. Quan has been sweeping scans through this whole section over here. That's nearly 15 percent of the galaxy. The Baldi control this area over here. If scans turn up nothing, we are likely in for a long, boring hunt."

  I nodded as I sat beside Go. "Let's hope that's the case. If so, we can all
get on with our lives. For us, that would mean meeting new species and evaluating them as candidates for the AMP. If you are looking for action, I'm certain there are species out there who will have no interest in joining with us."

  Jack said, "I have doubts the Baldi will have interest after we took out their ship."

  Our conversation continued for another forty minutes before a jump was made to Jorus. My legal restrictions had been lifted. It was time for me to see our new home on the planet of our origin.

  Getta greeted me at the door. The rounded, adobe-style house had a similar look and feel to our prior home on Balimus. Two animal pens were fully stocked, and two square kilometers of crops had sprouted in the fields. After a good thumping of my chest, a door to a back room opened. As my eldest daughter stood in the doorway with a grin, a sea of Grunta crawlers began to stream past her feet.

  I walked over, lay before them, and was soon covered by two dozen curious baby Gruntas. I could not have been in a happier place.

  After three days of a blissful homecoming, a comm came in from Jack. "Sorry to break up the fun, but we got a hit on a single AI ship. Quan traced its trajectory back to an origin planet. We scanned it and found nothing. We then looked forward to a destination and again found no other trace of AIs. The colonel wanted us to go out to grab one of the AIs from the ship to interrogate. We don't need you to go, but I thought you would want to be informed."

  Other than a brief discussion with Getta about our new mission, I hadn't thought about the AIs for two days. It had been a much-needed break.

  I said to Jack, "Stop by here on your way. If everything goes well, you can drop me off on the way back to see Quan."

  Quan joined in on the comm. "Mr. Beutcher, I will be going with you. I can interrogate the AI as soon as it's captured. If it has been in contact with any others, we should know almost immediately."

  I rolled over to look at Getta. "They spotted an AI. I've got to go. Hopefully I'll be back in a couple hours."