Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens

by Robert E Colfax

  Lexi shook her head. “No, even after all this time, I still have gaps concerning background information on the Accord. I think if the green man we were fighting in the arena is Wraix, that supports my theory that we have a Wraixain warship off of our forward bow.”

  Geena voiced the question now in the back of all their minds. “It’s been centuries since anyone has seen one of the Wraix. They used to occasionally be seen in Accord-space, but do they even still exist?”

  Chapter 9

  David vs Goliath

  Lexi nodded her head toward the monitor and by inference, the alien ship displayed there. “What do we do about that?”

  “I can tell you what Geena and I are doing,” Ron stated. “Assuming Urania is basically offline, and if she’s really here, that seems likely, we’re taking manual control of those monster Zappers we installed when we armed her. We’ll be setting up a manual launch sequence for the missile tube as well. But I imagine we will hesitate when it comes to firing them until we know what is happening with the two of you. Or until we have no other choice. That being said, I don’t know how the flow of time in this sim compares to reality. I can think of no reason to expect it to be one-to-one. We may not have started yet.”

  After a pause, he added, “I’m basing that on Urania being absent from command-comp on this ship and you still hooked into the educator.” They all turned to look at the fifth person on the bridge, Lexi’s sim, still attached to the educator, unconscious and strapped in her chair. Lexi-avatar still didn’t know what to do about her. Neither did anyone else.

  “Thanks, Ron,” Lexi said. “The real problem is we’re all just guessing about this.”

  “OK, then,” Geena said, “what have we got to work with? Other than guesses. What do we know that is real?

  Urania remarked, “Not much. I traced the ship we think stole the specimens to here. It should be the larger of the two small ones over there. We’ve assumed it is a pirate ship and has the missing Vankovian specimens on board.”

  Lexi nodded. “Yes, that’s still an assumption. A reasonable one since it is a Unity Raider-class, but still. OK, then what?”

  “The next thing I am sure of,” Urania began, “is I tried to hack into the green ship’s command-comp. The coding language is alien, but it still boils down to zeros and ones. That’s the last thing I remember before the insanity started. I didn’t get very far with that before I found myself in that disturbing arena scene.”

  “Go on,” Lexi prompted. “We haven’t told Geena and Ron about that yet.”

  “I wound up in a hot Roman arena, with several alien races I didn’t recognize populating the stands. I tried to fight the big toad guy. He looks like one of the Wraix. He claims he’s the command-comp of the green ship. He injured me quite badly with a sword. I was bleeding out, and that is a bizarre thing to hear myself say, when Lexi showed up and drove him off.”

  “You know,” Ron said, “this sounds like the holodeck in a Star Trek episode. Everything seems real, but can’t be.”

  “Hold that thought, sweetie,” Lexi requested. “What next, Urania?”

  “Lexi,” Geena said, “we already think Ron and I aren’t real. What if Urania isn’t either and this is all just you suffering a breakdown in the educator.”

  Lexi sighed, nodding her head. “That could be the case. Some kind of bizarre overdose after the changes we made. I remember putting on the educator helmet to go in after you, Urania, because, well, your voice changed and you were responding like an AI and not you. Then, yes, I was in the arena with you, fighting for your life. I brought you back here. I don’t know how I did that, nor, really, why I thought I could. Your turn, sweetie. You likened this to a holodeck.”

  “Sure. When you’re in a holo scenario, it is real to you. There are no physical limits. You can walk for days. I suppose you can be on a huge green ship. That ship must have something like that, right? The new lifeform sensors didn’t pick up any life over there.” He paused. “Any of us could still be holodeck characters. The big ship could be just a holodeck artifact. We wouldn’t know.”

  “If that’s the case,” Geena said, “we could be prisoners. Hell, we could be caught up in something Lexi is working on, although I don’t remember her mentioning anything like this.”

  Urania shook her head. “No, I can’t buy any of that. I can’t picture any circumstance where I would have wound up human unless that ship over there is responsible. He wanted another body to kill.”

  “So, to summarize, we don’t have a clue,” Lexi said. “We have to operate on assumptions, adjusting them as we learn more. I’m sure this isn’t something I did in my lab. Believe me, I don’t know how. This isn’t one of those things bouncing around in my head, like food-replicators, that I thought would be cool to develop.”

  She laughed. “Of course, now it is something I want to figure out how to make because, well, just because. Anyway, I think we can trust that Urania did attempt to hack into that ship’s command-comp because that is the correct action to take in this scenario. Look at the thing. Who wouldn’t want control of its command-comp? And it’s alien, whether Wraixain or not. I’m going to want access to its technology. I think we have to assume that it is sentient. That it put us into this situation. Everybody with me so far?”

  Geena nodded. “It’s bad, not being able to tell what’s real and what isn’t. So far, what you’ve said makes sense.”

  “Good. I also think somehow, everything we’re currently experiencing must be based on educator technology messing with our minds. For one thing, if Meat is Wraixain, the green ship is probably also Wraixain, as is our educator. Meat almost killed Urania. This is real for her. It’s real for me. Which means it must be real for him, too. I think we’re going to need to board that ship.” And why is it just sitting here in hyper? Lexi wondered. If he likes killing, he should be hunting in n-space, not sitting in hyper, nowhere near traveled space lanes, waiting for the random ship to come to him.

  “How do you plan on accomplishing that?” Urania asked. “You managed to bring us back here from the arena. Can you put us on board the derelict?”

  “I don’t want to even try. For one thing, I’m not sure why that worked. I can only guess that I wrote a new scene in his simulation. If that was a loophole, he’s probably already closed it. And this is still his simulation. I would need to know what the interior of his ship was like in order to even try it. I suppose I might be able to get us back to the arena, but I don’t think that is a good idea. Where would we go from there?”

  “I did manage to get basic data on the layout of his ship before this happened,” Urania said. “Not much detail and no technical data, though.”

  Lexi took a sip of her coffee. “Good to know. That should come in handy. I’ve had two ideas about getting us over there.” Lexi paused. “I originally thought we might be able to jump across in suits and cut our way in with Zappers. Or climb in through the open section of the hull. It’s pretty far to jump though. We’re clearly going to want to upgrade the spacesuits at some point. That might be more important than figuring out the educator or the hulk-meds. Plus, we can’t be sure that Meat can’t or won’t fire on us. We also don’t know what happens if you jump from a ship in hyper. I’ve never heard of anyone trying it. It was my first, obvious thought, but the more I think about it, the more I doubt we would survive.”

  “It can be done,” Geena said. “However, at this distance, that tactic would drop us into n-space as soon as we passed beyond Urania’s hyper-bubble,” Geena said. “If dropping into n-space didn’t kill us outright, lack of air eventually would. We would need to be close enough that the hyper-fields overlap to jump between ships. Even then, it’s dangerous. The frequency of the hyper-fields needs to match very closely. They usually do, but we’d want to make sure before trying it. What’s your other idea?”

  Despite the seriousness of their situation, Lexi’s face lit up with a broad smile. “We’re in a simulation, less than four miles from
a hostile ship with its shields down. Ron is already thinking of Star Trek technology. Engineer Scott can beam us over. He does it all the time.”

  Chapter 10

  Interlude

  The modifications Lexi made to convert a gravity-pad into a transporter-pad were completed in less than six hours, a record even for her. Building the gravity-pads in the first place had been a time-consuming, dangerous, and relatively frustrating effort. A sprinkling of the theoretical physicists of the Accord were adamant that artificial gravity did not need to be built into an entire ship, that it should be possible to build relatively tiny, standalone generators. They had the math to prove it. An even larger number, the vast majority of them, also mathematically armed, insisted it couldn’t be done. Conferences attended by disciples on both sides of the argument tended to get rowdy. The bottom line was those who didn’t think it was possible didn’t even try. In the camp that believed it could be done, no one could engineer one that worked. Then Lexi did it.

  Until Lexi engineered grav-pad technology, a ship couldn’t generate artificial gravity with an active hyperdrive. The technology to do so didn’t exist. The interaction of the standard ship-wide, artificial gravity field with an active hyperdrive resulted in a massive, ship-annihilating explosion, an event everyone on the starship was strongly opposed to. The small, finely-tuned grav-pads that were now installed throughout Urania, used in no more than a few areas at a time produced no significant adverse effect.

  True, the pads increased the turbulence experienced when transiting through hyperspace, slowing them down marginally. The modifications Lexi made to the generator, the dampeners, and the drive as part of the solution to the Ostrieachia situation made the extra turbulence negligible.

  Modifying one of grav-pads into a transporter, once she set her mind to doing so, proved to be almost straightforward. It was still gravity. In this case, in simple terms, it was shaped gravity designed to lift anything or anybody within the field from the pad and deposit them elsewhere. It was capable of reaching out, picking them up, and depositing back on the pad. Lexi had to rebuild the devices to handle higher power requirements. What made it complicated was that the device bypassed the space between the origin and the destination. When she had more time she’d look into a refinement allowing transport of people from point A to point B without having to stand on the pad.

  Again gathering in the control room, Lexi said, “I’ve got it now. It was strange working without interacting with Urania.” Looking at Urania now, she added, “I should have asked you to stay with me rather than suggesting you have some fun. Although that would have just been selfish, I suppose.” She sighed. “It’s been a long day. You guys should get some sleep. I’ll stand watch.” Under normal circumstances, no one stood watch overnight. Urania was always there for them. “I need sleep less than the rest of you.”

  “I think not,” Urania stated. “I’m a computer, remember. I don’t sleep at all unless this really is just a dream I’m having. Top that one, honey.”

  “But you’re in a human body,” Lexi countered.

  Urania smiled, “Yes, and it’s really weird having muscles. You never told me how amazing hormones are, either. Thank you for loaning me Ron. But in this respect, it doesn’t seem to matter, dear. I’m wide awake. Besides, I’m not really in a human body. Neither are you; remember how fast you moved in the arena? I was bleeding out at the time, but I don’t think I imagined your speed. Lexi, it was as though you were already using the performance enhancers you still haven’t perfected. I know that type of speed and strength is what you expect from them. You go get some rest too. I’ll wake you all up in four hours.”

  ***

  In bed with Ron, held in his strong embrace, Lexi let herself relax for the first time since they encountered the derelict. “There’s something I want you to check, Lexi, when you get back,” Ron said. “I’ve been thinking, which is kind of weird in and of itself, isn’t it? I mean, if I’m imaginary, how can I have original thought? Must be a hell of a computer program running my sim, I guess. But, anyway, Geena mentioned I told her I thought you might be the smartest person I ever met. Lexi, I remember telling her that.”

  He paused. “It might be a memory the sim created for us. If it turns out we remember it outside of the sim, you need to figure out how our two sims knew about it when neither you nor Urania did. Neither of us has used the educator since you stowed away, so it’s not the backwash effect. We weren’t on the ship at the time, so Urania couldn’t have overheard me either. Mom met me in town for lunch from time to time. I made that comment about three weeks before you seduced me. Thank you for doing that, by the way, kiddo.”

  “You’re so very welcome,” she murmured into his chest. It didn’t matter that she was an avatar and he was probably a sim. He was her Ron, regardless. She fell asleep thinking about being held by two Rons.

  Chapter 11

  Never Forget the Name Enterprise

  “This isn’t funny, guys,” Lexi said, eyeing her two friends dressed in what were clearly supposed to be StarFleet uniforms. Not that the uniforms came even close to Fleet regulation, except maybe in a slutty alternate universe that could never, ever be shown on TV. Or in anything other than an “R” rated movie.

  Misunderstanding on purpose, Geena said, “Oh, we made uniforms for you and Urania, too. You’ve got captain’s gold. Urania is our first officer in a blue science tunic. Hers has additional support for her breasts. Why do you suppose she wound up so much more bosomy than either of us?”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Lexi asserted.

  Ron said, “Look, Lexi, whether you like it or not, Mom and I are simulations. Hell, I don’t like it, but we all know it pretty much has to be true. Yes, we could be in an alternate universe, but none of us believe that. Don’t forget that both Mom and I expect our command-comp to be sentient. At the moment, she isn’t. I think that disproves the alternate universe theory.”

  He sighed. “We’re wearing red tunics because more often than not, it’s the red shirts who wind up dead and not the main characters. And yes, that’s because you can’t kill off the main characters every episode, so think of our wardrobe choice as a subtle reminder to both you and Urania not to sacrifice yourselves for us. We all know either of you would do it in a heartbeat if we were real. If we’re even close to being right about what is going on, then as computer-generated sims, neither Mom nor I can really be hurt or killed. As avatars, the theory is you guys can. And for the record, remember you’re the one who started this theme when you decided to convert my shower stall into a transporter room.”

  Lexi had to smile at that. “I can’t argue with that one. Nor can I dispute your logic as to why we can’t be experiencing an alternate universe. As for the transporter, at least I didn’t fancy it up to look like a set. As it turns out, gravity generators are more interesting than I originally realized. Now that I’ve worked it out, I can do the same thing in the real world, if and when I get back to the real world. This design doesn’t work like the transporters in the movies. Even Bones wouldn’t gripe about this.”

  “You’re sure about that?” Geena asked. “Because frankly, darling, I have the same concerns he tended to voice.”

  “Yes, I’m sure. It doesn’t disassemble us. Which I imagine would be tantamount to murder. Then too, there’s the disturbing fact that a Star Trek transport isn’t instant. People have not only been scrambled, they’ve been stuck in the device’s buffer. I could probably figure out how to disassemble a body, preserve the pattern, and reassemble it, but I’m pretty sure the reassembled body would be dead. Not good. My approach basically bends space so much that we suddenly have to be somewhere else. And then we are. I needed a gravity pad in an enclosed space and since development time is a factor, that meant the shower. Getting it to work with the hyper-generator active was the hard part. It punches an opening through the hyper-event horizon. It’s very, well, I guess focused is the best term. It won’t punch through
or around, I guess, active shields, including our own.”

  She looked the two of them up and down and sighed heavily. “I still don’t like the thing with the uniforms, guys. While I understand where you’re coming from, I can’t bring myself to think of you as expendable. You’re very real to me. All right, get Zappers with a full belt of reloads. We don’t know what to expect we might run into over there, so I want us armed with knives, swords and assault rifles too. Now, where’s my uniform?”

  As Ron left to get armed, he turned back to her with a frown on his face and said, “A word of advice, kiddo. Don’t convert the shower into a transporter when you get back to the real world. I’d never be comfortable taking a shower in there again. We do get kind of physical in there sometimes. Who knows where we’d wind up if I bumped the wrong thing with my butt?”

  Chapter 12

  Double Trouble

  Lexi had only a few minutes to do this before the others started wondering what was keeping her from joining them. She looked down at the still body seated in front of the educator console. She’s going to be getting hungry and thirsty at some point. I could move her to the surgical bed. Or, I could just push the simulation even farther. Maybe it’ll break somewhere. Wish I could determine ahead of time whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing.