"And where am I gonna get pepper?"
"Hey, I'm just the consumer. You need to take that up with your suppliers. And if you don't mind, I could use another bowl."
"That one's almost full."
Harris lifted the stew to his mouth. Tipping the bowl back, he sucked down the contents with three giant gulps, finishing with a grin. "More please."
Gandy walked away with a scowl.
Tawn sampled hers. "Hmm, good stuff."
Harris leaned over. "Don't tell him that. I want him to keep working on perfecting it."
Reggie moved over from a corner to stand beside his master. "Sir, Miss Freely complimented the stew and Mr. Gruberg asked her to not do so."
Harris replied, "Wow, looks like we have a squealer. You need to teach him to use discretion when tattling on others. That's something to be done in private."
"So you did like it?"
"I said so, didn't I?"
"No, you said, 'Not bad.'"
Harris turned to face Tawn. "Are we in elementary school again?"
Tawn raised a hand. "Just keep me out of it."
"How much of your harvest did it take to make this?"
Gandy sat another bowl in front of Harris. "Not much. I could make this every day from here on out if needed. I think we're finally self-sustaining on food."
Tawn said, "At least that's a positive."
Alex came up on the display wall. "I have good news. You have all reached the next level. When you are ready, proceed to the processor labs for direction to your newly available space."
Tawn stood as Harris glanced down at his full bowl. With another effortless motion, the bowl was turned up and the contents gulped down.
The empty vessel was returned to the table as Harris let out a satisfied sigh. "Ahh. Let's go see what we're in for."
Tawn, Harris, the Bolemans, Sharvie, and Bannis Morgan made their way into the bunker. The group came to a stop in the processor lab.
An image of Alex appeared. "Again, congratulations. You have all shown yourselves to be worthy of entering the next level. Proceed down the stairs to the lower lab. Enter the lab and follow the yellow line to the centrally located door on the left. It will be unlocked when you arrive."
Harris hurried forward. "This is kind of exciting. I'd almost forgotten there was more to go."
Tawn glanced over her shoulder as they entered the stairwell. "I still get the feeling someone is messing with us."
A hologram of Alex appeared next to them as they walked. "Trust is key, Tawn. Each of you has proven your motives are true. Not all decisions made are the best, but you've shown integrity and compassion in your dealings with others. I would add that much of your humor walked a thin line between acceptable and not. Human humor is a complex concept that is sometimes reliant on context. My algorithms often struggle with interpretation."
The door was reached and opened. A large room sat before them with a single standing structure in the middle. The group walked up, standing in silence for several seconds as they attempted to determine what the structure might contain. The item was a meter-square at the base, rising two meters tall. The steel enclosure had rounded corners and a single display screen mounted three-quarters of the way up its face.
Harris asked. "What is it we're looking at?"
Alex replied, "Each of you must place a hand on the yellow highlighted square until such time as it turns green. When all have done so, my journey as your guide will come to an end."
"What?" Gandy asked. "You're going away?"
"I have no further instruction, nor answers. Place your hand on the highlighted scanning device. One at a time, please."
Being the closest, Harris reached out. A red beam moved down his hand, the square pad turning green as it finished. Each of the others followed, with Bannis Morgan going last. The square flashed green, followed by the panel beside it lighting up. Hundreds of unknown symbols flashed blue, red, and green on the display.
The pace of the flashes began to pick up as a chime sounded with them, increasing in frequency and volume.
Harris stepped back. "Anyone else think that's a countdown?"
Tawn replied, "And if it is? Not much we can do not knowing what's next. Alex? Can you give us anything?"
No reply was returned from the hovering image.
The frequency continued to increase, turning the noise from a chime into a loud buzz. A bright flash occurred, followed by silence.
Alex said, "I have been directed to send you out of this room for a period of one Midelon day. Please proceed back to the doorway."
Harris chuckled. "OK, that was anti-climactic. A lot of drama for just watching a few lights flash. I can't wait to see what the next level holds."
The group made their way into the lower level of the processor lab. With the vital resources needed for production run dry, all the machines for producing cores sat silent.
As they walked toward the stairwell going up, Tawn said, "We need to remedy our material shortage. We can't build bots or ships. Our fleet of forty-four Banshees is barely enough for an assault on a fifty-ship fleet."
Harris said, "I hate to say it, but at the moment we're reliant on Red coming through for us. She needs to deliver on the propaganda and the herbicide ingredients. If she’s successful, we can have her go after production materials."
Trish hurried past, almost running up the stairs.
Harris chuckled. "What's her hurry?"
Gandy replied, "She's in love with Garvis."
"She just met him."
"Not like there are a lot of options for her out here. And he seems like a nice guy, and smart."
Bannis nodded as he began to fall behind, Sharvie taking his arm. "He's a good kid. Hard working, and smart like you said. He only lacks experience."
Gandy stepped back to assist with the elder statesman. "Besides, not like we have a lot else going on right now. We're stuck here waiting for something to happen."
The remainder of the day was spent jogging the trail, tending to crops, or in the case of Trish and Garvis, walking the perimeter of the island they called home. Alex was silent when asked any questions.
The following morning, breakfast was concluding when the silence broke: "Everyone," said Alex, "you have been invited back to the bunker for an important meeting. Please do not ask about what as I do not have any further details."
The group returned to the bunker, standing around the same monolith in the center of the room. A single door on a back wall opened. An elderly man with white hair and a scruffy beard emerged. The group stood in silence as they watched him slowly walk to where they were standing.
"Hello?" Gandy said.
The man stopped, looking each of the team slowly up and down for several seconds. "Uh-huh. Good. A good crew."
Harris asked, "You are?"
"I apologize for my behavior. I'm still a bit addled at the moment. It has been just over eighteen hundred years since I went into stasis. It will take my body and mind a bit of time to normalize. My sight is especially poor right now. I am Alexander Gaerten, chief scientist of the first team at Domicile."
"The actual Alexander Gaerten?"
"That would be me."
"What was all this nonsense about levels and such before meeting you?"
"I'm not sure what you're asking."
"How we got here… to this level in the bunker."
"You didn't take the stairs?"
Harris chuckled. "We followed the direction of your avatar. The Alex avatar."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"The avatar that controls this complex. We followed its instructions to get down here. It took a long time. We had to answer questions and go through simulations before it would allow us deeper into this place."
"I left instruction for two sets of questions to be answered. With the proper answers, you should have had immediate access."
The holo-image of AI Alex appeared. "I must apologize. I took the liberty of addin
g to the requirements in an attempt to ensure you were only exposed to a worthy group of Humans."
"What's the meaning of this? Why are you displaying my likeness?"
The AI replied, "I believed it to be in the best interest of the mission."
"The mission? Please change back to your original image."
The holo-image changed to a display of a Burrell. "I thought it better to greet Humans with a Human image."
Alex said, "I don't suppose we could go somewhere where we could sit and talk? I'm not all that stable on my feet at the moment."
Tawn stepped over, taking his arm. "Sure. We'll take you out to our normal meeting place."
"Outside? I'm sorry, I don't feel comfortable leaving this facility yet."
Gandy stepped up. "Harris and I will go get chairs. One for you and one for Mr. Morgan."
Gandy pulled on Harris’ arm. They hurried to the outer room and up the stairs, returning shortly, carrying two chairs each. Four bots followed immediately after with additional seating.
Alex stared at the bots with a leery eye. "Where did these come from?"
"We made them. We used Alex as an AI for their brains. The processor was made on the bench several floors up."
"You inserted the AI code into that processor?"
"And built the bodies so they could walk around. They've been a huge help."
Alex looked up. "AI, shut down all cameras and recorders on this level. Send these bots up to the first floor and prohibit their further entry into this complex. Follow that up with shutting yourself down. The Human conversations in this facility will be private from here on."
"Recording has been stopped, sir. Goodbye."
The holo-image disappeared.
Alex sighed. "How many of those bots do you have?"
"Close to a thousand," said Harris. "Why?"
"All on this planet?"
"At the moment. What's wrong?"
"What's wrong is those processors and that programming are alien technology. We purposefully restricted it to this facility because we were unsure if we could control it once it got outside."
"Alien technology?"
"Yes. As is this complex."
Tawn said, "I thought the science teams that first came out here built this?"
Alex smirked. "This place and the technology it houses is far beyond what we were capable of. Tell me of Humans. What has become of us?"
Tawn told him of the history of Domicile and New Earth, going from the period when Alex had gone into stasis up until the troubles of modern day.
Alex let out a long sigh. "These Denzee, you say they just recently appeared?"
"Several years ago. I suppose one good thing they brought was an end to the Great War."
"I don't understand. This war… our peoples were all full of cooperation when I went under. Both sides. The space surrounding us had all the resources we could possibly need for thousands of years. The discovery of this complex was supposed to increase our cooperation and trade."
"How was this place found?"
Alex took in a deep breath. "Since our arrival in this sector, our space travel had largely been limited to the systems we called home, Domicile and New Earth. We had each spent several hundred years establishing our colonies and getting set for the long term. One day, a wormhole appeared in Domicile space. A similar one opened at New Earth. A science team was organized and sent through to here."
"The Burrell built this place?"
"You know them?"
Tawn said, "We've seen a dead one. Died before Humans arrived in this area of space. There are two planets that have these massive underground complexes set up three kilometers down. When activated, they supposedly terraform the planet in about a ten-standard-year time frame. Remarkable stuff. We found the Burrell in one of those complexes. Interesting. It had an AI in there that was responsible for maintenance. Much like the AI here."
Harris added, "The terraformers spun up these massive hurricanes, filling the atmosphere with CO2. Giant freezers full of plants and insects were supposed to be deposited once the proper atmospheric levels were reached. A decade from the start, the oxygen levels and plant life would have been ideal for supporting a new colony.
"Our early studies of both Domicile and New Earth showed a similar process had taken place. We were never able to find a reason as to why. I would now suspect both planets have one of those terraform complexes buried deep beneath the surface."
"So these Burrell were busy making some of the planets in this sector habitable. If they were looking to colonize, why bring us through?"
"Perhaps it was an attempt to save us from the eventual destruction of Earth. A benevolent move if you would."
Gandy asked, "You indicated you're worried about the bots getting out, why?"
"We don't know enough about the AIs or how to fully control them. We attempted updates to their programming, which were accepted, but we discovered those could be overridden by the AI should it decide to do so. We also discovered they were keen on learning every little thing they could about us, our lives, our habits, how our bodies functioned. While extremely helpful to our efforts, they seemed to have an agenda of their own that we were unable to follow."
Harris said, "So far they may be the only reason we're still alive. And they've definitely been key to stopping the Earthers from overrunning Domicile, and for stopping the Denzee from overrunning us all."
Sharvie sheepishly raised her hand. "There's another planet out there like Midelon. Only no one can get to it. What do you know about it?"
"It's merely a relay for the boson field. There's nothing there but an amplification and broadcast station. Of course that's assuming the records we had access to here were truthful. As to that planet being similar to this one, we planted that story with the AI for the purpose of keeping people away. If that complex is disturbed, we would lose half the space we can travel to."
"Why'd you go into stasis?" asked Tawn.
"I'm the last of the original science team. The stasis pods on the level below us were compatible with Humans. We felt it important to keep a science team going as long as possible. Our first generations born on Domicile and New Earth had tested to have below normal IQs and cognitive ability."
Tawn looked at Harris. "So we got dumber? I have to think we must have stayed that way."
Harris chuckled.
"It makes for an excellent workforce, but does little for scientific achievement."
Harris nodded. "That explains a lot for why our science hasn't progressed much during the last two thousand years. And all this wormhole and space travel wasn't even us."
"This is troubling. Our team of ten scientists was supposed to work on a solution to this problem. All but one of us went into the stasis chamber. As the active scientist died, the next was revived. I should have come and gone long ago."
"That avatar put us through our paces to get here. Multitudes of questions and a number of mental challenges in the simulators where our actions were evaluated. It was a struggle."
Alex shook his head. "None of that was of my doing. That sounds like what we were seeing from the AI. It was one reason we tried to keep it isolated to this building. It wanted to know too much about us."
Gandy said, "We have them piloting ships for us in battle."
Alex turned. "What? Every indication we had of their programming indicated they were unable to cause harm to others. A fighting ship isn't much good if it can't do harm."
"They've been killing Denzee and Earthers for us. The first ones indicated they weren't allowed to be violent. But we persuaded them we needed to be protected. They were able to do that. They've even gone as far as conducting a fight on their own when we were incapacitated."
"That is a troubling development. My advice would be to remove their mobility and shut them down immediately."
Harris said, "We can't do that without leaving everyone vulnerable. The Denzee will attack if they feel we're no longer a threat. And without those
bots we're no threat at all."
— Chapter 13 —
* * *
Trish crossed her arms. "This is all crazy. Nothing is as it seems. Alex, the AI has been our ally since we've been here. It hasn't shown any hostility toward us. It's been our friend."
"As it was to us. Only we determined it could not be reliably controlled. Tell me more of these Denzee."
Harris gestured toward where the avatar had been. "Most are similar in stature to the Burrell. They have queens that govern their populace—workers, warriors, scientists. We likened them to giant ant colonies. They claim to just be passing through this section of space because they're being chased by the Hoya."
Alex sat up. "The Hoya?"
"Yes. You know them?"
"The AI referenced them often in our talks."
"Well, we haven't seen any, other than in video logs. The Denzee went up against them and got their butts kicked. Those recordings are all we have on them. The Denzee seem to be terrified."
"As they should be. The Hoya have been spreading through the galaxy for millennia. That's according to the AI. Although they weren't suppose to be near this sector. The Burrell appear to have been a well-traveled species."
Tawn asked, "The rest of this complex, is that just for the boson field?"
"We were not allowed beyond the next floor. We were told that to do so would risk a full shutdown of the field."
"Does that make you suspicious?"
Alex nodded. "It does."
Tawn said, "We've been out in the water. Part of the complex here is exposed at about five hundred meters down. Looks like a giant doorway for a docking bay or something. We didn't want to mess with it for the same reason we followed the AI’s precise instructions up here."
Gandy said, "There's also a cave on the south side of the island with a door we can't see behind. We think it's part of the complex too."
"Hmm. It would appear you know as much about this facility as I do."
"We haven't seen the stasis pods."
Alex glanced toward the far door. "Would you like to see them?"
Gandy nodded. "It adds to our knowledge."
ARMS Domers Unite: (Book 6) Page 11
