ARMS Beckland's Fall: (Book 5)

by Stephen Arseneault

  Harris replied, "Tell us what you know."

  "Two dozen Ratoon were seen near Jellon. And another forty passed the Rumanta system, with more than two hundred of those Dulons following. We don't know where any of them went as they outran our scouts and seemingly disappeared. And we got a flash report from a scout this morning about a new ship, bigger than a Ratoon. Only got out a half dozen words before they were vaporized."

  "We've been scanning the truce colonies for any signs as well."

  Bax shook her head. "They're avoiding the colonies and staying in free space. Our scouts just happened to catch them after I asked how we patrolled the open areas, which are immensely huge and nearly impossible to cover. We got lucky."

  Tawn said, "So the Denzee are back. This is just great. Has your emperor passed this information on to Domicile and asked for help? How many ships do you have in the fleet now? A hundred fifty?"

  "One-seventy-two. This week we'll be back to adding four per day. In two weeks I'll have that number up to seven. I canned the cruisers as they were no more effective than destroyers but took much longer to build. And I have a new frigate design that should accelerate those production numbers even further if we can ever get its construction started.

  "And no, the emperor is not asking for help. If we can run for another few weeks we'll be well over the two hundred ship mark with all having the updates you gave us. Our military leaders believe those numbers will be sufficient should they attack."

  "And what do you think?"

  "I think these people are nuts for not screaming for help. Before, the emperor was worried about it being a sign of weakness. Now he's worried it would stop the Domers from dismantling their fleet further."

  Harris asked, "You can't convince him? Thought you were the great manipulator."

  Bax scowled. "Even I have my limits. I can't go against his military council without making enemies. And that group is not one you want to be on the wrong side of. I'm seen as a good manager, but not a warfighter, so my opinions don't carry much weight with those issues."

  Tawn said, "So the Denzee have an even bigger warship? That's not good news."

  "All we have is the word from our scout patrol. He wasn't able to send through the sensor data that would tell us anything other than it being a larger vessel. He just said bigger than a Ratoon, so it may not actually be a warship. Just one more thing for us to watch out for."

  The comm from Baxter Rumford ended several minutes later.

  Harris shook his head. "We're stuck. We can't destroy this production with that threat looming. That's at least two fleets they spotted running around."

  Tawn replied, "Or it's propaganda. Meant to dissuade us from obliterating those mines."

  "We'll have to question Alex about his scans when we get back."

  Sharvie asked, "Can we check on Gondol while we're out?"

  "Alex had the Earthers still there two days ago," Tawn replied.

  Harris opened a comm portal from where they were, performing a quick scan. "Hmm. Gone. We'll jump there for a look. If it's clear, Tawn and I will bring the Bangor back with the docking adapter Mr. Morgan built for us. And, Sharvie, I know you're itching to see what's there, but we'll be leaving you three back at Midelon with Mr. Morgan. There's too much work there we still need to get done."

  "Well, that's not fair."

  "Tell that to the Denzee."

  Tawn said, "Maybe we could open and leave open a comm portal with the video feeds from our helmets. Your curiosity gets satisfied and progress on the Banshees continues."

  Sharvie frowned. "Not live, but I'm guessing that's my only option."

  A jump was made followed by the ten minute flight to Gondol. Scans revealed no sign of Earther ships or an Earther outpost. The rubble surrounding the prior Denzee building had been dug up and combed through. No evidence of any findings had been left behind. A quick run to the site of the Gondol rock showed no sign of disturbance. Just over twenty minutes later, the Hailstorm settled on the grass near the bunker at Midelon.

  Harris hopped out as he opened a comm to Alex. "Any new sightings while we were gone?"

  "None."

  "Bax said the Earthers have seen two Denzee fleets, possibly three, all in the last few days. They weren't seen in any systems, but traveling through free space outside. Have you done any scans in those areas?"

  "You're talking an area a million-fold beyond my current scans. A star system can be scanned for ships in seconds. Scanning an area covering a light year beyond a star system, most of an hour. Star systems in our sector of the galaxy? Close to ten thousand."

  Harris half scowled. "I see where you're going."

  "Perhaps if we began with where the Denzee were seen?"

  Tawn replied, "Passing Rumanta and Jellon. And we don't have specifics as to direction of travel, just that they passed nearby. Bax said they got lucky with their sightings."

  "I will begin with the areas surrounding those systems. If you acquire further data to submit to add direction of travel, please do so."

  Tawn and Harris walked to the Bangor. After a check of the device created by Bannis Morgan, a jump was made to the Gondol system. As they approached the planet, four Earther ships showed on the nav display.

  Harris huffed. "What is it? We can't get rid of these people."

  "Hmm," said Tawn. "Looks like they just deployed a probe."

  All four ships began to move away. The probe remained in place.

  Tawn shook her head. "They've decided to monitor this system. I'm detecting an active scan running."

  Harris threw up his hands in frustration. "Let's just go back to Midelon and focus on building our Banshees. I'm growing a little tired of this goose chase. I know we want a look at what that shaft going down is about, but finding what's there will have to wait."

  The Bangor turned. Seconds later, a wormhole was opened to Midelon and the would-be explorers slipped through.

  — Chapter 10 —

  * * *

  Three weeks passed without further sightings of the Denzee. Tawn, Harris, and the others forged ahead with their work on building the tools needed to produce their first Banshee. The five android assistants were now flanked with eighteen bot workers. With both processor benches fully operational, two new workers were being produced every day.

  Harris had Bannis Morgan standing beside him as he opened a comm to Alex. "And the bots... are we building a new processor bench?"

  "Two," Alex replied. "I expect those to be complete tomorrow."

  "How's our schedule for the first Banshee coming?"

  "The armor foundry will be operational this week. The mold is ready to pour. The aft milling machine, the final addition to our shop, will be operational before the pour."

  Bannis asked, "Do we have a processor core to drop in? And what of the wormhole generators? What's our progress on those?"

  "Once the pour and subsequent cooling are complete, the next processor off the bench units will be used in the Banshee. The wormhole generator has been assembled, but remains untested. We do not as of yet have a functional drive. With the loss of our suppliers on Domicile, we are having to craft the necessary circuits in our shop. Those are requiring extra time to perfect as early units have been unreliable. I fully expect a completed and functioning drive before the milling is complete."

  Bannis nodded as he turned to face Harris. "We get this initial unit built and checked out and production should move into full gear. I have to say, I'm astounded by what we've accomplished considering the resources we have. Had I had those bots working for me, I'd have built a million of them. Tireless workers who do exactly as told and never complain. Imagine what could be accomplished with that kind of workforce."

  "I've thought long and hard on that, Mr. Morgan. The one thing I keep coming back to is these bots have intelligence. They can learn. They have a lot of shortcomings with regards to their reasoning, but with the right patterning, those shortcomings can be worked around. And when that happens,
who's to say they won't rise up and kill us all?"

  Bannis tilted his head. "There is that. Which is why it's imperative we keep tight control of their programming. Are there any other emergency methods for shutting them down?"

  "Not that I know of. Alex, are there any other ways to shut down one of these bots should we so desire?"

  "A simple word command should be sufficient."

  "And what if that doesn't work? What if the bot is damaged in some way that prohibits that?"

  "We cannot attempt to cover every scenario possible, Harris."

  "We aren't talking every scenario, just likely scenarios. If the bots audio is down, can we send a comm command? And if that's not available, I would want a physical method, a kill switch if you would. Can you design an update or series of updates that allow us to do that?"

  "I can."

  Harris rolled his eyes. "Please do so and tell me when it's ready. I'd like it built into all future bots. These early ones we can upgrade as we have time."

  "Very well. I'll begin that task immediately."

  The comm closed.

  Harris turned to Bannis and smiled. "And that's how it's done. There will be no overthrow of Humans by these bots, at least not immediately."

  As the week drew to a close, Harris and the others stood in the new building. The pouring of the first mold was underway.

  "Glad to see we've made it this far in such a short time," said Tawn.

  "We won't know how far that is until that mold cools and the blank inside gets machined." Harris glanced down at his comm bracelet. "Hitting lunchtime. Anyone hungry?"

  Tawn nodded. "You can always count me in."

  "Looks like you've lost a few more kilos. Those runs must be having an effect."

  Tawn replied, "Meh. Not enough. I'm down to almost seventeen minutes for my 5K track though."

  "Just broke seventeen yesterday."

  "What do you weigh in at now?"

  "One-eleven. Have to say I'm feeling much better than I was. I've been doing a lot of stretching of late and some of my flexibility is beginning to return."

  "One-eleven? Outstanding. I'm down six kilos from my peak, but I like my meals too much to be rid of this excess."

  Harris chuckled. "Yeah, I can't say how many times I've dreamed about the buffet at the Emporium. I've already determined I'll gorge on that buffet in celebration should this mess ever end."

  The group was soon seated in the supply hut, opening packs of MREs.

  Gandy said, "What's the latest from the colonel and the other Bios at the Retreat?"

  "Everything is quiet there," said Harris. "The DDI has agents in each of the domes and ships overhead. They're watching but so far not interfering. His contacts haven't given him any indication he should be concerned. At the moment, the pacifists are focusing their energies on how to again chop the defense budgets."

  "If the DDI is watching, will we be able to get to the colonel and his crews should the Denzee make themselves known?"

  "Couldn't say."

  Gandy asked, "Who's gonna fly the Hailstorm and the Legion ships?"

  "We'll just have to figure out a way to get them away from the Retreat," Harris replied. "Those ships can't fly themselves."

  Trish said, "Technically they could. All we'd have to do is wire in a few of those processor cores."

  Tawn looked up from her food. "You suggesting we automate those ships too?"

  "We could. Or we could even crew them with some of these worker bots. Your bots flew the Bangor in battle and managed to do well. We could drop a dozen of these workers on the Hailstorm and not have to risk anyone, including the colonel or the other Biomarines."

  Tawn sat back. "Not a bad idea as a contingency. If we can't safely get the colonel and the others away, no reason we couldn't still make use of those ships."

  Bannis nodded. "I would have to agree with her. If we have to go into a fight we should be taking everything we have available with us."

  "Alex?" Harris asked. "What's the likelihood of crewing those ships with either workers or processing units?"

  "The Hailstorm has twenty-four rail cannons. Between the bridge, maintenance, and those manning the weapons, there are thirty-two crewmen normally aboard her. The Legion ships require two fewer. An equal number of automated workers would be required to man those same positions. However, I believe a pair of processing units could be made to accomplish the same tasks."

  "Two per ship?" Trish asked.

  "Yes. One to control the bridge, and another to control the weapons. This scenario would require alterations to these vessels. With a fully automated set of workers, the ships could be crewed without any updates."

  Harris crossed his arms. "What kind of training or reprogramming would the worker bots need to make this happen?"

  "Only minor modifications, Harris. Soft updates would require less than a second."

  Harris glanced over at Gandy. "Good thinking, Mr. Boleman. I think you just enabled our full fleet. Would take every worker bot we have to crew them, but those resources are available here and now."

  Gandy grinned as a comm came in from his bot. "Sir, the fourth processor bench is complete. Where should I turn my efforts?"

  Harris said, "Tell him to build four more. We keep expanding our workforce for as long as we can."

  Tawn turned back to her food, chewing and swallowing a portion of bogler steak before looking back to Harris. "I think we should consider building a facility here to house the Biomarine crews. I know we would also have to feed them, but it would give us the option of just picking up and going should the Denzee attack."

  Harris thought for a moment. "I'm starting to lean toward Gandy's idea. If we automate those ships, we don't risk any lives. We also don't have to house or feed anyone. You opposed to an all-bot force flying with us?"

  "No. Not at all. But I do think we might be missing the Human factor should things get dicey. The colonel would make every effort to save us regardless of the situation. I'm not sure these bots would care. In fact, I know they wouldn't care, and they might not act on our behalf because of that."

  Bannis said, "Both sides of that argument have merit. Personally, given the results you've seen from the bots in combat, I'd have to give them the edge. They're reactions are faster, and as you said, you aren't risking any lives."

  Harris finished his meal. "Sharvie, you've held silent through all this. You have an opinion?"

  "I would agree with Mr. Morgan. The assistants certainly seem capable. And you're not risking anyone. Only..."

  "Only?"

  "Only I don't know that we can trust them to do what's best for us. Since the rebuild, Emily is not the same. She lacks much of the empathy she showed before. I loved the old Emily and thought she was genuine. This one? I'm not so sure. And it's the same with all the originals. They've lost something."

  Tawn chuckled. "Yeah, well, they're all based on dingbat here. He and I aren't the fountain of emotion you three are. It was trained out of us. Now is that a good thing or a bad? Who knows. But I would expect all these bots to not be as empathetic as they were. Maybe time with each of you can change that."

  "Only we don't get time with them anymore. Every hour is spent with them building more bots. I don't think I've had five words with Emily in the last few days. And it's sad, because I enjoyed our talks."

  Harris said, "Once we get these Banshees flying off the line we can turn those bots back over to each of us. Right now we need them to be productive."

  An image of Alex appeared on the wall. "The mold blank has sufficiently cooled. Milling will begin in a few minutes. Should I hold progress until you are all present in the fab facility?"

  Harris shook his head. "Keep it moving. We'll be in there when we're done. The milling takes a few hours anyway, doesn't it?"

  "It does. Two hours twelve minutes to be exact. Afterward, a five minute cleanup will be followed by the installation of the systems. Once complete, the reactor will be powered up and the system
s thoroughly tested. By this evening we should have our first Banshee making a test flight."

  Harris stood. "Anyone who wants to watch should head over to the fab."

  Tawn asked. "You not going over?"

  "Going for a run first."

  "Hang on, I'll join you."

  Minutes later, the Biomarines were out on the trail Tawn had made permanent.

  "So you think this Banshee will fly?" Tawn asked as they ran.

  "Has to. Unless we can crank out a hundred of these things, we don't stand much of a chance against the Denzee. I'm still pissed the Earthers didn't tell us about the sightings."

  Tawn chuckled. "Yeah, well, we didn't tell them about the scout, did we."

  "That's different. It's a scout, not a fleet."

  Tawn shook her head. "No difference. And this argument has no merit. Doesn't get us anywhere."

  Tawn glanced up at the sky and then back at the trail. "So we get this Banshee and a hundred others out there and we beat back the Denzee... again. What do we do with the Earthers?"

  "I think we have to take them on directly. We would actually have the firepower to take down their entire fleet."

  "Conquer them?"

  "I wouldn't really call it that, but yeah, why not? Take the emperor down and turn that place into a democratic republic like our own."

  Tawn smirked. "I wouldn't mind taking down our own government for that matter. Clean house and put in some decent patriots who are there to protect and serve the people. Not those idiot pacifists who are making loads of backdoor deals to enrich themselves while tearing down everything of tradition. I mean, I get why we don't want war. But to blindly ignore it because it's against your principles? That's just inviting disaster."

  "I'd like to see the colonel and the Retreat vote for secession. And I say that partly because we only have about seven weeks of food left in there. That's getting dangerously low for us."

  Tawn glanced around at the green grass on either side of the trail. "We have all this land and we still haven't made any attempt to farm it. Or with that ocean out there... how many times have we thrown out a fishing line?"