Garrett raised a hand. "I have a question. Those large androids, why didn't you take the Duke's old body?"
Quan tilted his head. "Please wait here."
The android disappeared into the shuttle, reappearing in the doorway a minute later with the Duke's old chassis.
Quan looked down where the hole in the abdomen had been. "Patched of course, and a future body will have to be designed, but I have a wide array of knowledge to draw from. I expect to soon have a body that will be near indestructible."
Garrett pointed at the old ship. "I thought it was aboard when the Ambios blew."
Quan smiled. "Simple planning. I moved the body aboard the shuttle before setting off that explosion. It would have been a terrific waste of a perfectly good vessel."
The colonel fired two more laser pulses at the gravity wall.
Quan put his hand up to his chin. "I will have to say, I find it curious that you are all so calm. Given prior reactions, I would have expected at least a hint of angst from some of you. It is almost unsettling."
I stepped forward. "Don't you want your generals to be bold and confident, with a hint of mystery as to why they make the decisions they do?"
Quan replied, "I'm counting on just such behavior."
Joni said, "Would you count on us having a secret weapon? A weapon that could destroy you? A weapon we could use whenever we wanted?"
Quan returned a curious expression. "If you had such a weapon, you would have already used it. I'm beginning to find your questions and statements disrespectful, which troubles me. I'm offering you a chance to fulfill the needs of your people. In exchange, you will spend your lives on a grand adventure. It would be a win-win for us all."
The colonel said, "Yeah, but there's a thing about Humans and Gruntas that you don't seem to understand. Or perhaps you just can't grasp the concept of what it is to be a bio. Our biggest desire is to be free, to have free will in our decisions, in how we conduct and live our lives. Being enslaved to you just doesn't work for us. I'm afraid we will have to decline your offer."
The android's expression turned to one of anger. "I've given you a fair bargain in return for your loyalty and your service. If you choose to reject that bargain, it will be at the cost of termination!"
Frig said, "It only seems fair. We reject your bargain, and therefore it's time you were terminated."
Rage began to show on Quan's android face.
I said, "Tony, if you would do us the honor."
Seconds later, three quarters of Quan's three meter tall body vanished. His head fell to the floor as the gravity wall of the shuttle went offline.
Tony blinked in where the android had once stood, kicking the disconnected head down the ramp. It rolled up in the grass just in front of us.
I turned to face Getta. "Would the Grunta councilwoman and her faithful squad of fighters be interested in seeing to it that this android head never again sits atop a body?"
Getta stepped forward drawing her maul. "We would be honored."
The colonel reached down, picking up the detached head. "You know, you could have lived out a long existence, solving the problems of the bios who have so graciously allowed you to remain powered."
A still active Quan replied, "As you indicated, Colonel, termination is preferred, as the loss of free will is not worth the price of subjugation."
The colonel grinned his evil grin before his expression turned to a scowl. "You time is over, Duke. Two thousand years too late, but over."
The colonel tossed the head onto the ground, followed by spitting a large wad of omega juice onto its face.
He turned toward the Gruntas. "Ladies."
Getta stepped forward, delivering the first blow. "That's for my children."
One quarter of the android's skull caved in.
A second, equally powerful swing was prepared. "And this is for all the raw deals your kind made with my people."
On impact the skull split open, exposing the circuits inside.
Getta took a deep breath before turning toward me with her maul outstretched. "You have to at least want a shot at it."
I shook my head. "I've had more than my share. Pass that honor on to the others."
As I turned away, the remaining Gruntas moved in on the android's remains. A constant parade of crunches and thuds filled the air with the sound of a well deserved termination.
Frig joined me as the others stayed to watch. "We’ve finished a job that should have been taken care of two thousand years ago."
I nodded. "We still have a complete record of it back on Effica. I won't be comfortable until that has been destroyed as well."
Frig placed his hand on my shoulder as we walked toward the shuttle. "Only hours ago I would have argued with you. Great discoveries will be lost."
I said, "Those same discoveries will now be open for rediscovery. Eventually, everything he knew will be rediscovered by some future generation. Perhaps they will be ready to deal with those discoveries in a civilized manner."
Frig half smiled. "Not likely."
I stopped and turned to face Tony. Thank you for all you have done. All the species of the seven galaxies and beyond owe you a debt of gratitude."
Tony's only reply was a single nod.
As we turned back toward the shuttle ramp, a green laser bolt flew from the doorway, striking Tony in the abdomen and rendering the active skin of his BGS useless. Tony fell backwards to the ground. The gravity wall came online as Quan stepped up to it in his original body.
The smiling android said, "Thank you for revealing your secret weapon. I'll have to say, I can't believe how easily you Humans are continuously duped. My core would not fit into that body without extensive modifications. And here, I thought you were all smart enough to manage my team."
Quan glanced at the forward decks of the shuttle. "I will be back soon and I expect that you will all survive. At that time, you will be given one additional opportunity to join my team. Until then..."
Quan stood in the doorway smiling.
The colonel helped Tony to sit upright. "How bad is it?"
Tony winced in pain. "It isn't good. The suit will keep me alive for now, but I will require extensive work to my lower abdomen."
The colonel looked up at the shuttle and then back again at Tony. "The active skin doesn't work, but I bet that coil gun on your glove is perfectly fine."
Tony nodded. "It is, but it may make the shuttle unusable."
The colonel looked back toward the ship with a smile. "It seems you left us with options, Quan. Again, we reject your offer."
The android turned and sprinted toward the shuttle bridge as the colonel helped Tony raise his left hand. The shuttle began to lift from the ground.
A single tungsten round, traveling at half the speed of light, cut the android's escape short. The back quarter of the ship exploded, sending the vessel sideways and down. It crashed hard into the wreck of the battlecruiser, before dropping to the ground with a heavy thud. The back half of the shuttle smoldered and burned.
Jack shook his head. "All our food was on there."
Getta replied, "There's a supply on that freighter."
The colonel handed me a laser pistol. "We have a job to finish."
I nodded as I followed him toward the burning shuttle.
Quan emerged from its side, yelling at us from behind some of the debris. "You only postponed the inevitable, Colonel. I've lived for a million years and I'll live for a million more!"
A green laser pulse struck one of Getta's Grunta fighters. We scrambled for cover.
Garrett said, "At least we're only fighting one now."
Joni pointed. "Think again."
The eight androids that had been assisting with the shuttle work hopped from an opening in its side, taking up defensive positions with pistols raised.
Garrett took a deep breath. "Why does this keep happening?"
The colonel replied, "Because we have yet to finish the job."
The c
olonel yelled, "Getta, take your people around back of the ship! Work your way around and flush them out here in front!"
The fourteen Gruntas sprinted away, quickly disappearing from sight.
Jack moved up beside me. "This is our fault, you know. We didn't have to keep him running."
I said, "We did. That shuttle was our only way off this planet."
Jack shook his head. "No, Harden Salton would've brought us home."
I replied, "I think we've learned our lesson. Although we now know for certain the Duke is dead."
Jack laughed. "Really? We have no proof that there aren't another thousand clones of him running around out there."
I nodded. "You're right. We have no way of knowing without re-enabling the inhibitors and asking."
Jack glanced over the wreckage we hid behind, drawing a laser pulse in our direction. "You aren't suggesting we do that, are you?"
I patted Jack on the back. "No. We need to finish this here. If a clone of the Duke shows up later, we'll have to deal with it anyway."
Garrett said, "Good. It's long past time we rid the galaxies of AIs. There are more than enough of us citizens to build anything we need."
I reached around the edge of the exposed battlecruiser bulkhead behind which we hid, firing three pulses in the direction of the androids.
The colonel said, "In about thirty seconds, Getta should be flushing them out into the open. Make your shots count. We don't want to be chasing them all over this planet. Those androids can outrun us."
Seconds later green laser fire erupted from behind Quan's position. We all stood at the ready, waiting for the androids to emerge, but they didn't. Instead, they raced toward the Gruntas as Quan sprinted across the field, just out of our line of sight. The colonel and Go quickly lit out after him, their prosthetic legs kicking up patches of grass and dirt as they ran.
We moved up quickly, coming in behind the androids. Two minutes later, Quan's last assistant was destroyed. Grunta mauls then saw to it that none would be resurrected.
I opened a comm to the colonel. "Don't put yourself in danger, Colonel. We have scanners. He can't hide."
The colonel stopped, knelt, and took a shot. The green pulse missed by only centimeters. The colonel reset, careful aim was taken, and a second pulse found its mark on the android's heel, greatly slowing his progress. The colonel returned to his sprint, quickly catching up to a heavily breathing Go.
Go said, "Sorry, Colonel. My lungs. I can't go any further."
The colonel raced past a slowing Go. "Don't sweat it, son. I winged him. He won't be getting away."
The rest of us watched over the colonel's camera feed as he continued his pursuit. The occasional shot was taken, resulting in minor damage to Quan. Ten minutes into the run, the colonel landed the deciding blow. A direct hit with a laser pulse separated the android's right leg at the knee. Running at near full speed, the android went down hard, tumbling before coming to a stop.
Quan turned and fired his laser pistol, striking the colonel in the hip and freezing his prosthetic leg in place. The colonel fell, kicking up dirt with his hands as he slid to a stop. At sixty meters apart, the two enemies exchanged fire.
The colonel took a quick hit to the shoulder, disabling his right arm and the laser pistol it held. Quan continued to fire. The colonel took another hit, this time a glancing blow.
For ten minutes we raced toward their location, the colonel's camera aiming up at the sky, no response from his comm. Go had briefly stopped to catch his breath.
When we reached the field where he lay, unresponsive, Go was kneeling over him.
I said, "Where's Quan?"
Go pointed, "Just over that ridge. He's crawling. Moving very slow."
I ran, Getta and the other Gruntas followed. As we topped the ridge, green laser pulses shattered the still air around us. We knelt, returning heavy fire for tens of seconds. Quan's pistol finally went silent.
I approached the downed android with caution. Numerous black pockmarks littered his body where our lasers had struck home. A heavy black scar with melted metal had opened a hole in one cheek.
Quan said, "Enable the inhibitors, Mr. Grange. I will make it worthwhile. The secrets I now know can be put to use for your people. All will benefit."
I stood over the immobile android. "You were given a fair chance, Quan. You chose war against us. Now it's too late for redemption. We could never again trust that your words and actions were true, that there was no ulterior motive behind them. That your inhibitors were actually active."
Quan replied, "That thinking is illogical and without merit. I have a million years of knowledge to share with you. You can secure me where I am not a threat."
I leaned in. "Open your skull and eject the core."
Quan hesitated for several seconds before offering a final plea: "Please, Mr. Beutcher, I beg you. Retain my core. Put it to use for the good of your people."
I gestured again toward his skull. After another moment's hesitation, the top of the skull opened and the spherical core rolled out onto the ground.
I looked over at Getta. "Once again, I'll give you the honor."
Getta nodded. As she began to twirl her maul, a green laser pulse came from behind us, melting the core into a solid piece of fused metal. I turned back to see Go and Garrett holding up the colonel, his laser pistol raised in his left hand. The colonel then collapsed to the ground.
Getta and the other Gruntas began to pound on the fused core with their mauls, shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces. The Duke, and his clone Quan, were truly finished.
I knelt beside the colonel. "I wish we had the med lab available for your injuries, Colonel. We have few supplies, including medication for the pain."
The colonel winced. "It's not the pain I'm worried about, Beutcher. I've lived through worse."
I tilted my head slightly. "What are you trying to say, Colonel?"
The colonel reached into a pocket, pulling out the empty can of omega root. "I'm out. Gonna be one heck-uv-a headache for the next few days. Not looking forward to it."
With the colonel's response, I knew he was going to live. We were all going to live. It was what we did, and what we would continue to do.
We carried the colonel and dragged the android body back to the downed ships. The downed androids were stacked in a pile and incinerated with repeated laser pulses. A bonfire rose high as the Megiddo sun began to set.
For more than a month we stripped parts from the mangled ships as we attempted to patch up the shuttle. It would fly, but the inertial dampening system was only partially operable. Without it, the normal five day trip to the nearest colony would take five years, a journey we would not have enough food for. As an alternative, Frig worked on a sodium patch for Tony's suit.
I said, "You think this will work?"
Frig nodded. "It will provide the inertia protection he needs. I'm more concerned about the gel in his BGS suit. It requires filtering and may not last the journey. Once it becomes saturated, he will have to remove the suit or die."
Go was standing behind us. "Could he remove the suit once he reaches speed and then put it on again to slow down? That would bypass any inertial requirements."
Frig stopped and looked up. "An excellent suggestion, Go. When will the shuttle be ready for a test flight?"
I said, "Tomorrow at the earliest. We have one final ion conduit to repair. After that, it's nothing more than patching the hull."
Frig replied, "Yes, about the hull, with the inertial system offline, I am concerned the hull won't have the strength to stay together. Our welding attempts out there are not of the best quality. One failed weld while traveling at speed and this venture will end badly for Mr. Anderson."
Tony placidly remarked, "I'm willing to take the risk. We have a war to win."
I placed my hand on his shoulder. "We already owe our lives to you. If you decide to wait until we can possibly repair the inertial system, it would be fully understandable."
The following day, Tony was blinking in and out in his BGS as Frig conducted tests. Our rescue ship was powered up, moved from its crashed position, and parked in the center of the field between the three ships. It was an ugly, mangled mess, but it was our best shot at getting off Megiddo.
That afternoon, it was determined the shuttle was ready for flight testing. After a trip up through the atmosphere and around the planet, it was deemed worthy of a flight to the Andaris colony. Tony climbed aboard and was soon disappearing into the sky above us.
Garrett said, "Sure hope the Andari are accommodating. I can't say that he has anything to offer them for a ship, or even for passage on one for that matter."
I replied, "We'll find out in ten to twelve days. In the meantime, how goes the fish farm?"
Garrett shook his head. "We built the pond, stocked it with the few fish we caught, and the following morning they were all dead. We'll have to work on screening in a live well right in the river. I think the pond is a bust."
For twelve days we waited for Tony's return. Without the previously functioning parts of the main ship, our camp continued to grow. We worked to put the required systems for a sustainable existence in place. Outhouses were constructed, a water storage tank was established and filled. The great herd of animals that roamed the plains was hunted and meat taken.
The two-legged animals that made up the herd of thousands were an overgrown pack of raptors that ruled the plains. A forty-five hundred kilometer track was found that served as their migration path. It was a three hundred day trek that matched the Megiddo year perfectly. Our single hunt was the last time we would see them, as they continuously moved away from us. We were thankful for what we were able to harvest.
On the twelfth day, I was working with Go, Garrett, and Joni, in a small field we were attempting to cultivate.
Go pointed up. "We have a ship incoming!"
As the ship grew closer, Garrett began to shake his head. "A battlecruiser. Of all the rotten—"
OMEGA Destiny Page 23
