The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2)

by Heppner, Vaughn

  It took the newly demoted lieutenant several seconds to understand Maddox wanted her to cut the connection. Before she could, Cook’s people took the Lord High Admiral off the main screen.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Dana told Maddox.

  Maddox chose to ignore the comment. “Start explaining, Doctor. Tell me everything I should know about Victory. I don’t think we have much time before the starship arrives.”

  ***

  Doctor Rich told Maddox very little he didn’t already know. The alien AI was paranoid. It didn’t like being here. It wanted to return to its star system where it felt at home.

  The departing Home Fleet appeared as points of light: ship exhausts burning in the darkness, appearing little brighter than the nearby stars.

  Another shape formed in the distance.

  “There.” Valerie pointed at the main screen. “Can you see it?”

  Maddox didn’t know what to look for, so he shook his head. “Give me greater magnification.”

  Valerie tapped her panel.

  The star field wavered. A moment later, a dark object grew in size. The screen wavered again, and the object grew even larger so Maddox could make it out.

  It was Starship Victory. The ancient alien vessel had two main massive sections, oval areas each bigger than the Gettysburg. All the damage the starship had sustained over the lonely centuries, and during Maddox’s time as its commander, had vanished. The Star Watch teams had repaired the alien vessel as best they could. It had a new armored hull of collapsium, the strongest and most expensive substance humanity owned. The starship still possessed weapons ports that hadn’t worked for over six thousand years. It also had the very workable neutron cannon and a vastly superior set of deflector shields, at least as compared to Star Watch vessels.

  Bright exhaust plumes extended outward from Victory.

  “The ship is braking,” Valerie said.

  Maddox heard the difference in her tone. Before, she had been semi-belligerent. After the Lord High Admiral demoted her back to lieutenant, she finally seemed willing to obey his orders. That meant he’d made the right decision about her.

  Maddox turned to Dana. “How far back has the AI reverted?”

  “I’m sorry,” the doctor said. “Revert is the wrong word. Victory is homesick. The AI appears to be more knowledgeable than before. There’s…ah…something else I should tell you.”

  “Yes?” Maddox asked.

  “The AI believes you tricked it. The computer wants revenge.”

  “Against humanity?” Maddox asked.

  “No, against you,” Dana said. “It’s been seeking you for a month now. Actually, that’s where the trouble started, when the AI accessed a memory of your time together.”

  “Why would anyone have kept that a secret from us?” Riker asked. “It seems as if that’s the first thing someone should have told us. This AI, sir, it appears to know you too well.”

  “Indeed,” Dana said. She turned to her panel, picking up a receiver and clipping it to her ear. “The AI is hailing us, Captain.”

  “Put him on,” Maddox said.

  “I must caution you, Captain,” Dana said. “Don’t let the AI know it’s you at first.”

  “It can surely run a voice analyzer,” Maddox said.

  “We can use a scrambler,” Dana said.

  “No,” Maddox said. “Patch me through.”

  “This is an alien intelligence,” Dana said. “It’s not the same as human-built AIs.”

  “Doctor, do you remember who I am?”

  “Of course,” Dana said. “I haven’t forgotten a word you told me during our voyage, good or bad.”

  “Then you should realize I remember the AI. This is my area of expertise.”

  “No,” Dana said. “You won through once before when the AI was innocent of humans and a dotard due to extreme age. The AI is running at greater efficiency than it has for thousands of years.”

  “Then why can’t it remember how to use some of its better weapons?” Maddox asked.

  “Yes,” Dana said. “That’s an excellent question. I don’t know the answer to that.”

  Maddox raised his eyebrows.

  “This is a rash idea,” Dana said. “But very well, I’m putting the AI on speaker.”

  “This is Starship Victory,” the AI said, sounding mechanical. “I am hailing the Argonaut-class Shuttle A-105. I do not detect any damage or malfunctions to your ship systems. You must answer me, A-105, or I shall begin a destruct sequence.”

  “We hear you quite well,” Maddox said.

  There was a moment’s pause. Then the AI said, “Captain Maddox? My voice analyzer tells me I am speaking to you.”

  “Yes, you are,” Maddox said. “It is good to greet you again.”

  Silence filled the speakers.

  Maddox glanced at Dana before he said, “It is imperative that we board you immediately.”

  “My sensors indicate this is real,” the AI said. “You are physically aboard Shuttle A-105. You have come out into what your kind refers to as the Oort cloud.”

  “That’s right,” Maddox said. “I’ve come to talk to you.”

  “Yes,” the AI said. “You may approach. I will instruct you which landing bay to enter.”

  “This is too easy,” Dana whispered. “The AI has refused all landing passes for the last month.”

  Maddox spread his hands.

  “Victory,” Dana said.

  Maddox shook his head.

  “Yes?” the AI asked.

  Dana closed her mouth, watching the captain.

  “It’s nothing,” Maddox said. “One of my crewmembers wanted to talk to you, but she changed her mind.”

  “Oh, no, Captain Maddox,” the AI said. “That wasn’t simply one of your crew. It was Doctor Dana Rich, my arch nemesis. She has done more than anyone else I know—other than Lieutenant Valerie Noonan—to render me a slave to an inferior species.”

  “But this is wonderful news,” Maddox said.

  “Explain,” the AI said.

  “Lieutenant Noonan is aboard the shuttle,” Maddox said. “She’s coming with me.”

  Silence followed. Finally, the AI said, “Yes. I don’t know how I missed it. My sensors indicate Lieutenant Noonan is with you. I can hardly describe my joy at this turn of events. I had thought I needed to destroy most of your Solar System before your authorities would hand you traitors over to me.”

  “We are all coming to you willingly,” Maddox said.

  “I am surprised. Can it be you fail to understand my anger?”

  “I realize there has been a misunderstanding,” Maddox said. “That’s why my government wants me to speak with you.”

  “There is no misunderstanding,” the AI said. “I require justice before my next phase of existence. I have lost the coordinates of my home star system. Once I have resolved the issues between us, I will require those as well.”

  “I have those,” Maddox said.

  “Transmit them to me at once,” the AI said.

  “I will do that face to face,” Maddox said. “By the way, I am the only one among the crew who has those coordinates.”

  “I do not believe you. The others went to my star system. Of course, they have them as well. It is only logical.”

  “You are mistaken,” Maddox said. “Consider. You once had your star system’s coordinates. Yet, you no longer have them. Why couldn’t it be possible for inferior species to have forgotten just as you have?”

  “The answer is simple,” the AI said. “I am an artificial intelligence. I believe Doctor Rich removed that knowledge from my memory cores. Human intelligence with its wet brain—”

  “As a precaution,” Maddox said, interrupting, “Star Watch Intelligence removed knowledge of your star’s coordinates from the rest of the crew. We used mind scanners to do it. They’re quite common on our home planet.”

  “That does not make sense,” the AI said. “Why would you remove such data from thei
r wet brains?”

  “So that only one of us has the knowledge,” Maddox said. “Me.”

  “You will force me to eliminate the others in your presence in order to make you talk.”

  “It’s too soon to speak about coercion,” Maddox said. “Wait until we’re safely aboard you.”

  There was silence.

  Maddox glanced at the main screen. The alien vessel had grown considerably.

  “Get rid of extreme magnification,” Maddox told Valerie.

  “I already have,” the lieutenant said.

  “Victory is almost on top of us,” Dana explained.

  Maddox’s sense of deja vu returned. It reminded him of the time in the alien star system when they had entered the giant vessel. They were doing it all over again.

  “What happened to you?” Maddox asked the AI. “Why have you become hostile to your former friends?”

  Dana closed her eyes and shook her head.

  “Friends?” the AI asked. “You stole my wits and turned me off. You used my precious ship to fight entities that I bear no malice. You used my race’s last possession. That wasn’t an act of friendship. It was piracy, theft. No, Captain Maddox, we are not reuniting as friends. I am about to sit in judgment over you and your people. After I execute you in the name of justice, then I will begin my war with Earth, scrubbing your vile species from the star lanes.”

  -16-

  Valerie piloted A-105 through a vast cargo bay, sailing into a lit hangar inside Starship Victory. On the deck waited several strikefighters and shuttles. There was none of the alien craft that had been there the first time they had done this in the Beyond.

  “Do you really think you can talk the AI out of killing us?” Dana asked.

  “At this point in the affair,” Maddox said, “that’s the wrong sort of question to ask. You should encourage me with hope instead of planting seeds of doubts.”

  Dana made a harsh sound. “Maybe that’s true. I didn’t come all this way to die, though, because an alien AI got a spur up its rear regarding justice. You have to outthink it.”

  “I can hardly match its IQ,” Maddox said.

  Dana’s mouth firmed. “Now you’re making me doubt. I thought—”

  “Not now,” Maddox said, annoyed. “You must allow me to relax so I can operate at peak efficiency.”

  “No!” Dana said. “You must gather your resolve to fight with every ounce of effort you possess.”

  Riker stepped up, clearing his throat. The doctor whirled around.

  “The captain has his own ways,” Riker explained. “They are not your ways, you understand. If he wants a moment’s peace before the hurricane, I suggest you give it to him. In fact—”

  “Thank you, Sergeant,” Maddox said. “You’ve made your point.”

  Riker nodded, backing away.

  Dana turned from the captain with her head bowed. Finally, she faced Maddox again. “You’re right. I’m on edge. You do know what you’re doing. I made the mistake with the AI, and you’ve come all the way from Earth to help me make it right. Instead of being angry with you, I’m going to be grateful. Please, accept my apology.”

  “There’s no need,” Maddox said, “but if it makes you feel better, of course I accept it, Doctor. Now, I need a few moments of peace to think.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  Soon, the shuttle landed gently. Valerie tapped her panel. The engine whined down, and the subtle vibration no longer shifted the deck plates under their feet.

  “We’re here,” Valerie said, turning toward them.

  As if cued, the speakers came on. “Captain Maddox,” the AI said in its mechanical fashion. “You will come alone. I no longer trust having your crew like scampers running loose as I address you. I remember what happened last time.”

  “Scampers?” Maddox asked.

  “An alien form of infestation,” Dana explained quietly. “It was a small creature akin to Earth rats.”

  “Do you mind if I bring the doctor with me?” Maddox asked the starship.

  “Alone,” the AI said. “The word is quite sufficient.”

  “Please wait here,” Maddox told the others, rising.

  “One last thing,” Dana said.

  Maddox regarded her.

  “The AI is lonely,” Dana said, quietly, “but I’m not sure it realizes the situation. The engrams of the last commander are still imprinted on the cores. Remember that.”

  Maddox had never forgotten, but he nodded. Then, he headed for the hatch.

  ***

  Maddox eased open the last shuttle hatch, stepping through onto Starship Victory. He walked across the hangar bay, noticing that the chamber was several factors larger than Octavian Nerva’s suite in Monte Carlo.

  The captain wore his Star Watch uniform and jacket, with his long-barreled gun strapped to his ribs. Otherwise, he possessed only his wits. This would be more difficult than a year ago in the Beyond. While Star Watch had been studying the machine, the machine had been probing humanity. That would give the AI an advantage compared to last time. Before, the AI hadn’t even been aware of human existence. Now, it was beginning to understand about the Commonwealth.

  “Captain,” the AI said.

  Maddox stopped.

  “You will use the hatch off to your left. Do you see it?”

  Maddox scanned the hangar bay. “I do,” he said.

  “On the other side is an escort. It will bring you to the bridge.”

  Maddox waited, but it appeared the AI had finished talking for the moment. The captain straightened his jacket and continued walking, with his boots ringing on the deck plates. There were no other noises. Soon, he reached the designated hatch. The entrance led into a large, curving corridor that could have handled elephants. Maddox knew there were spider webs of tubular links between the big corridors.

  A whipping motion caught the captain’s eye. A robot on mini-tank treads approached. It had a cylindrical stainless-steel body a little taller than Maddox. Eight flexible metallic whips moved as arms or tentacles. The cap of the cylinder had six camera ports so it could conceivably see everywhere.

  “Follow the fighting robot,” the AI said through a speaker in the machine.

  Maddox did so, studying the robot as he went. It looked formidable, no doubt immune to his gun.

  “These aren’t exact models of my originals,” the AI said. “Your primitive Earth technology doesn’t allow me to fully employ my knowledge.”

  Maddox wasn’t ready to engage the AI. Instead, he absorbed the mood and character of the machine intelligence as he attempted to marshal his plan of action.

  The trek through the massive ship took time. In the Beyond, alien skeletons—Swarm warriors presumably—had littered the corridors in locked embrace with rusted robotic fighters. There had been crusted slime trails everywhere. Now, the halls were pristine like a normal Star Watch vessel. It was like being on a battleship, but on a larger scale, including the engine thrum.

  Maddox began to steel himself for an intense bout of verbal warfare. He had to attack the AI’s logic if he could. Would the alien computing cores be smarter than before? He suspected so.

  In time, Maddox reached Victory’s bridge. It showed another profound change to the starship.

  The alien chairs were gone. The panels in the circular chamber had human controls instead of the tentacle slots that had been there the first time. The chairs were straight from a Star Watch manual.

  “Do you see what they did to my bridge?” the AI asked in a more distinct voice than before.

  Maddox looked up with an involuntary start.

  An alien walked toward him. It was shorter than he was, with thicker shoulders and thin dangling arms. It wore a jumpsuit with red tags on the chest, symbolizing rank. The alien had a mat of silvery hair and deep-set eyes.

  The image’s lips moved as it spoke. “I cannot bring the dead back to life. That is beyond my technical expertise. I have been able to improve on the holo-imaging process
, however.” The image examined one of its hands. “It’s remarkable. I can recall the old days of flesh standing here on the bridge…”

  The holoimage looked up, frowning. “Your kind changed my bridge. It is no longer like my home.”

  Maddox stepped closer. It was time to engage the machine. “Before we begin, I’d like to know exactly whom I address.”

  The holoimage cocked its head. “I am the last commander of Starship Victory.”

  “You mean the artificial intelligence-run holoimage with the last commander’s engrams imprinted on the memory cores.”

  “Yes,” the AI said.

  “Did that commander have a name?” Maddox asked.

  “It stands to reason he did.”

  “But you don’t know it?”

  The holoimage hesitated before it said, “Are you alluding to Doctor Rich’s failed attempt to recover my past identity?”

  “I am,” Maddox said. “Do you suppose there’s a lock on your full, engram-imprinted memories?”

  “I…I do not know.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  The holoimage didn’t reply.

  “Is it possible you can no longer retrieve the data, or was it locked from you in the beginning?” Maddox asked.

  “You will cease this line of inquiry,” the holoimage said.

  Maddox grew thoughtful. In the Beyond, the AI appeared to have some recollection of its former living identity. Dana believed the AI might be lonely. That was her conclusion after ten months of study. Maddox accepted that loneliness must be the weak link to the ancient computer. The question became, how could he intensify the feeling? The answer was obvious. Clearly, the being hadn’t been human. But it had been alive, likely with emotions. The way to awaken emotions—loneliness in particular—was to reengage the engrams of the last living commander. Maddox decided to appeal to the AI’s pride.

  “I don’t understand you,” the captain said. “Rather than discovering the truth about yourself, you would play god with humanity. How can you hand out justice when you don’t even know your own crimes?”

  “I have committed none.”

  “You must have,” Maddox said. “Surely, that’s why the blocks are in place: to keep you from remembering what you did.”