by Kord Stone
Jason turned to Alise. “I think we need to take full possession of TDS 5 before the pulse. There should be ten to twelve hours of recharge time. We need someone to stay on overwatch here. Do you want to do it or do you want me to?”
Alise had taken hold of Jason’s hand and brought it to her lips and kissed it. “I will stay here, and you can go help Jerren if you wish. I want you to keep the communications open though… Agreed?”
“Agreed.” Jason kissed her on the cheek and said, “I am going to get geared up just in case we run into anything hostile on TDS 5.”
Calia said, “I will go to our ship and get it ready to GMP the planet if we encounter any issues…” She looked at Justin and said, “You will need to be careful over there. Enyali was not right in the head and there is no telling what you might encounter. I would suggest you get geared up as well and you can meet up in the master control room in twenty minutes.”
Justin wrapped his arm around her waist and said, “That sounds like a plan.” He said to his brothers, “I’ll see you there in twenty minutes.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Justin was looking through the prep panel for his time displacement suit, but every time he created it, it came out in the same condition it was in the last time he had worn it. He called out in mind to Calia, I’m unable to create my time displacement suit. It keeps giving me the damaged one.
Calia replied, That is not good. It was the only one we had left. We only ever had two of them and Atlas was wearing his when he was at Lantis. You will have to get something else for now, and we will scan your brothers and see what materials we are missing so we can replace it. For now, just find a durable suit, preferably made of a trinsiline carbon fiber. They are resistant to energy weapons, but they are bulky, and the liner is supposed to be an insulator.
Sighing, he went back to the panel and browsed the inventory list. He located the trinsiline armor she suggested and selected it. He looked down and was bewildered by the garment that had appeared in his hands. This is not what I selected.
Calia asked, What was that?
I selected the trinsiline armor you said to, but a shimmering gold silky one appeared, he replied.
That is strange. It should have given you your selection. My last commanders never used anything but the time displacement suits. Maybe the gold suit is part of the insulated portion of the trinsiline armor.
Justin tried to select the armor again but nothing happened. As a matter of fact, the armor display disappeared altogether and the weapons display appeared. He looked through the selection in astonishment. He had seen armories that didn’t have the selection of personal weapons he had to choose from. At a loss for what to choose, he asked, What would be a proper weapon to bring along with me?
Calia said, I hope you will not need a weapon, and since A-twenty-one didn’t work for you—
He had just gotten his question out when a weapon belt materialized on top of his flashy gold suit. Shaking his head, he said, Never mind, I have one, thanks though.
Thinking Calia was right and the body suit was a type of under covering that had to be worn in order to place a more durable armor over it, he put the suit on. He was going to see if the armor selection came back online, but the moment his arms were in the suit, the seams of the suit sealed, giving it the appearance of being painted on. He tried to bring up the armor selection again to find the rest of the suit, but the display went blank. Looking down through the golden blur from his body, he saw his feet and chuckled.
Calia must have caught the chuckle because she asked, What is so funny?
I put on the suit that the ship gave me. I didn’t notice it at the time but it has footies. They just reminded me of pajamas I had as a child. The suit doesn’t feel like armor but the ship will not allow me to select additional armor to put over it. He examined the weapon and took a few minutes to familiarize himself with it. It resembled a standard pistol, only there were no moving parts, just a grip and it didn’t even have a trigger. Noticing it was almost identical in appearance to the suit, he chuckled and strapped the weapons belt on. A second later he extended his arm pulling the weapon from the holster and took aim with it.
The moment he drew the weapon the sleeves of his suit extended to cover his hands and bonded with the weapon. At the same time, his head was covered in the same material. His vision became enhanced, then a tracking display seemed to follow his every movement and glance, giving readouts on all the trackable objects and surfaces, not to mention his personal statistics.
Justin holstered his weapon and a second later the fabric retreated. He was amazed at the functionality. He looked down and was about to put his boots on over the footies when the boots vanished.
Justin shook his head in wonder. Before the HUD activated, he would have thought Calia was just having a laugh at giving him the silky suit. But now he seriously doubted she was responsible.
Calia called out, It is almost time for you to meet your brothers. Are you ready yet?
Yes, I’m on my way, he replied as he made his way to the control room where Calia was waiting.
Justin was surprised at how much support he felt around his feet and ankles, not to mention the rest of his body. “Well what do you think?” he asked upon entering the control room.
Calia turned to look at him and gawked. “Wow! I have never seen that one before. For a second it looked familiar, but…” she muttered the rest in silence.
He laughed and said, “Wait ’til you see this.” He reached down and drew his weapon and the fabric covered him once again.
“WHAT! Where are you?” Calia looked around in apparent shock.
“I’m right here,” he said, but she continued looking around in concern, so he holstered his weapon and said, “I was right here.”
“When you drew your weapon, you vanished. That suit is amazing,” She walked around him, running her hands over him and examining it closely.
Justin smiled affectionately at Calia and said, “We’ll have to see if there’s one for you when I get back. I think my brothers should be ready by now.”
As if on cue Jerren’s voice rang out. “We’re ready when you are, Justin. Just wait ’til you see what Jason’s suit can do.”
Justin had a sneaking suspicion he knew what Jason’s suit was doing and he replied, “I’m on my way.” He gave Calia a chaste kiss and said, “I’ll be back soon.”
She smiled up at him and said, “Be safe.”
Justin entered the master control room. Looking from Jerren to Jason, he realized that he was right, and chuckled. “I see your clothing was chosen for you as well, and seeing it from this angle, I recognize it now. This is the same kind of suit Inola was wearing.” He looked back to Jerren who was still in the same outfit as before and asked, “Couldn’t you find anything to wear?”
Jerren shook his head, “Jason kept choosing items but nothing would appear, and after he got that and his weapon, the displays went blank. We think I might have to get mine from my ship.”
Justin nodded and said, “I think Jason and I should go in first since we have the suits on. Are you okay with that?”
Jerren nodded so Justin drew his weapon and vanished.
“What the hell? Where did he go?” Jerren asked.
“I’m still here. I thought you knew we could disappear,” Justin stated.
“I can hear him,” Jason said.
Justin holstered his weapon and reappeared, “What else can these suits do if you didn’t know you could vanish?”
“This,” Jerren said, as he hauled off and punched Jason in the gut. Jason’s body seemed to turn solid as steel and Jerren said, “Damn, that hurts.”
Jason laughed at Jerren saying, “Then stop doing it.”
Justin turned to his other brother. “Jason, draw your weapon.” He did and Justin saw him vanish.
A few seconds later Justin heard Jason say, “WOW! This is amazing.”
“I know,” Justin replied.
“Yo
u know what?” Jerren asked. “I couldn’t hear him.”
Justin smiled. “he said it was amazing, and I agreed.” He held up a finger and said, “One moment.” Justin drew his weapon and a second later he could see Jason in his suit. “This is insane. I can see you now.”
“Same here. Let’s get back to Jerren before he feels left out.” They both holstered their weapons, which caused them to reappear.
“I think we need to clear the path to the armor and weapons first so Jerren can get his suit. What do you think?” Jason asked.
Justin agreed and turning to face Jerren he said, “Wait three minutes, then follow us in. If there’s a problem, we’ll contact you. Otherwise, make your way to the prep room.” Justin and Jason then drew their weapons and stepped through the archway to TDS 5.
Justin and Jason entered TDS 5 and began their sweep. They cleared the inner corridor first, then entered the control room and separated. Jason took the cluttered corridor to the prep room and held his position. Justin took the passage toward medical. He managed to climb over the fallen debris in the corridors and when he made it into medical, he found that he had to be extra careful.
Among the piles of leather straps, chains and manacles, there were bladed knifelike weapons, trocars, saws and sharpened hooked blades that put him in mind of gut hook skinning knives he had seen on Earth. With a cringe, he realized what the room was being used for, and it was not healing. A few minutes later he exited the decon room and made his way through the mess in that corridor. He met up with Jason in prep and said, “The first level is clear. Hold here. I’ll escort Jerren.” Jason nodded and Justin made his way to the engine room.
A few seconds later, Jerren appeared through the archway. Justin holstered his weapon a second and said, “The path is a mess but clear. I have your back,” He drew his weapon and followed Jerren to the prep room.
It only took a minute for Jerren to don the new outfit and weapon belt. He drew his weapon and a second later he heard Jerren say, “Damn this is sweet!”
Justin said, “This is your ship. We’ve secured the first level. What would you like to do now?”
Jerren said, “Let’s make our way to medical. We can put Nuit-Atem into stasis here, and then we can sweep the rest of the ship.”
“We’ll have to be careful in there. There are… Well you’ll have to see it to believe it,” Justin said with disgust.
Once they made it to medical, it only took a few minutes to clear the medical bed of the debris that had rained down on it, and it only took Jerren a few seconds more to locate Nuit-Atem and transport her to medical. Once they were sure she was secured, they made their way to the second level. Jerren’s feet hit the floor and a second later Justin heard him say, “Were all of the commanders slobs?”
Jason chuckled and said, “You could clean it before we go any farther.”
Jerren shook his head. “I’ll do it after we sweep the ship. I want to get an idea of what’s in Enyali’s head.”
Justin thought back to medical then snorted and replied, “I wouldn’t go there if I were you,” then he let out a laugh as he followed his brothers.
The second level and the rooms on it were almost impassable. They figured that when they knocked the ship off the beam it must have shifted all of the relics. The debris was suffused with dangerous items as well, so very carefully they took their time, so as not to injure themselves. They managed to make it through the three rooms on that level then proceeded to the third level. The upper bedchamber looked as if a queen had lived there. This room was cluttered as well, but the difference in that room was that everything was made of gold, and the opulence was astounding.
Jerren shook his head in apparent disbelief.
For such a small ship, it had taken them several hours to clear it, and once they cleared the observation room they all holstered their weapons and Jerren spoke again. “What a mess.”
Justin laughed, vividly remembering his ship. “This is not a mess. Now my ship was a mess. At least we could climb over the crap in your corridors. Mine was stacked close to the ceiling.”
Jerren smirked, apparently at the memory of his torment, then he closed his eyes and a moment later he opened them and let out a sigh of relief.
Justin looked around then grumbled, “You got it easy, finding out the tricks ahead of time and not having to muddle through it.”
Jason chuckled and said, “Maybe you should call the AI so we can get some answers.”
Jerren nodded and smirked at him then said to the room, “I don’t know what your name is, but I’m speaking to the artificial intelligence aboard this vessel. We need to talk.”
Justin knew Jerren had worded his attempt that way so he would not agitate the AI in the same way Justin had by calling the TDS 3 AI Alise. He smirked at Jerren. They waited with bated breath for a response from the AI, but after several more attempts, there was still only silence.
Jerren let out a sigh after the third attempt to contact the AI and said, “I don’t know. Maybe Enyali messed with the AI’s programming somehow. She did say it was defective. I guess we’ll have to continue with Plan B.” He closed his eyes a moment and said, “I can sense the AI’s presence but it hasn’t responded to me yet. I don’t know if anything is wrong… The ship will be fully charged in a little over eight hours. Did you hear that, Alise?”
“Yes, as soon as your ship is charged, move it to the safe location we discussed and I will coordinate a focused GMP with Calia… Could you check and see when the last AI core upload was?”
“One second.” Jerren closed his eyes a moment, and then he replied, “The last AI core upload was over one hundred twenty thousand nonlinear years ago, why?”
There was silence a moment then Alise said, “It is not ideal because of the information that would be lost, but if the AI program is damaged, you can purge the current version and re-download the last saved version. But as I said there would be a lot of potentially valuable information lost forever.”
Jerren sighed and said, “Understood, and I agree. That will definitely be my last resort, thanks.”
Jerren asked Jason, “How are your mind reading abilities coming along?”
Jason sighed. “I haven’t tried it yet.”
Justin shook his head. “Me neither.”
“When we wake Nuit-Atem for questioning, I think we should all give it a try… Well, as long as I have to wait on the recharge, I might as well reconfigure the control room. Do you two want to join me?” Jerren asked as they descended on the gravity lift.
It took no time at all for Jerren to reconfigure the control room. Jerren had arranged his control consoles in the same configuration as the ones on TDS 3, then placed the chairs on the same oculus-shaped track. At which point Jason said, “Damn… That’s a good idea, I think I’m going to do that on my ship. What do you think, Justin?”
Jerren let out a booming laugh, then said, “Where do you think I got the idea? I like the way his bedchamber is set up as well. But I think I’ll add some portraits and maybe a viewport or two.”
Jason said, “I am going to head back to my ship and add this feature. Jerren, just call me if you need anything. After the reset, and if we’re able to get Gebb-Atum, we’ll have a meeting to decide their fates. I know the girls are going to want to question Nuit-Atem as much as we do. With any luck, she’ll be more forthcoming than her daughter.”
Jerren looked down at his wrist then back at Jason and Justin. “What happened to your life monitors? Alise is not going to be happy,” Jerren said.
Justin looked down and said, “I still heard you when you called over.”
Alise then spoke up. “I am still getting telemetry from it. The suit must have the features built in.”
Justin asked Jerren, “Are you going to be okay over here?”
Jerren laughed and said, “Yes, you can go back to your ship too. It looks as though I only have a little over seven more hours before the charge is complete, and the disk’s bonding see
ms to be progressing well. I can access most of the ship’s systems now and once we’re clear and out of phase I’ll do a diagnostic of the AI program and see what Enyali did to it.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Several hours later Justin was sitting and talking with Calia in the control room. She was explaining that she was getting concerned about the energy readings emanating from the planet and that she was thinking that they would need to GMP the planet sooner than planned. He had asked her why she thought that and she had just finished her explanation when Jerren called over.
“Jason and Justin, we have Gebb-Atum in stasis aboard this vessel. If the plan is still to bring Gebb-Atum and his wife to your ship, when do you want to collect them?”
Jason said, “How did you get him? Never mind, we can discuss it later. We’ll stick with the original plan since we have him now. One second…there, we have additional medical beds to keep them in stasis together. That way we can question them all in one location. I’ll be over in a few minutes to collect them.”
Justin smiled and announced, “I’ll be there in a few minutes too.”
Justin met Jason in the master control room and entered TDS 5 with him. They made their way to the medical unit, where they met up with Jerren. Justin carried Nuit-Atem and Jason helped Jerren with Gebb-Atum. They made their way to TDS 1 and placed their prisoners in stasis in the medical units beside their daughter, as Jerren explained that his AI finally spoke to him, and it was the AI who led Gebb into the trap that allowed them to capture him.
Justin said to his brothers, “Calia thinks we should still GMP the planet. She said the energy readings from the planet have grown much higher than they should be and she’s afraid they might have repaired the ship hidden below.”
