Hostage of Time (Beacons of Time Book 1)

by E. D. Cask

  Everyone stopped talking. Josh turned around and saw that Lu had entered the room.

  “Master Du wishes you to go fight again. We have determined that the enemy is not moving, so you will return and reengage. Our bots have repaired the ships. You should go now.”

  Duumai translated into English and then each of the languages. There was stunned silence. Josh walked to the front of the room.

  “Have you shielded the electronics from EMP blasts?”

  “There is no need.”

  There were shouts from the group. Josh held up his hands.

  “What would prevent them from blasting us again?”

  “The beams still worked. You should not have fled last time while your beams still worked, but you are weak.”

  Josh laughed in disbelief. “You are a real people person aren’t you? You really know how to motivate people.”

  “You must go now.”

  Josh folded his arms. “I refuse to go. I refuse to lead my team into a pointless and stupid battle. We need better shielding before I would even think about fighting again.”

  “You must go now.”

  Josh’s clan stood and folded their arms.

  “We refuse to fight,” Sergei shouted.

  With that everyone stood in defiance, staring at Lu. Lu stared at them for several moments and then turned and walked out. The groups cheered and shook hands. They felt like they had won a battle right there.

  They carried on with learning the code, but also thinking about how to escape this station. They still didn’t know enough, so Josh told them about the enviro room and urged others to explore.

  Lu returned with two med bots. One of them rolled straight to Josh and sprayed something in his face. He fell to the ground and the bots carried him out.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Torture

  Josh opened his eyes and saw that he was in a new room. A medical bay of some sort. He was strapped down in a reclining chair and Lu was standing over him. A med bot was on the other side of the chair.

  “Master Du has given me permission to do whatever necessary to make you comply to our logic.”

  Josh laughed, “In my time, logic meant persuading someone with words. I don’t see any words laying around here.”

  Lu leaned over him, “You will comply. You will lead the humans to battle.”

  Josh smiled at him. Lu touched a panel on the side of the chair and a shock jolted Josh’s body. His back arched and he gritted his teeth against the pain. After a few moments, it stopped and Lu waited.

  “Were you expecting me to change my mind?”

  Lu touched the panel and the electrical shock sent Josh’s body into convulsions again. This went on several more times, increasing in power each time. Twice the electrodes arced and burned his skin. There was a smell of burned hair in the air. Josh was panting with exertion and trying not to black out. He was covered in sweat.

  “Lu, what are you doing?” Ku walked into the room.

  “Master Du wants him to comply.”

  “But you are torturing him.”

  “It is necessary.”

  “It is not logical. He is not a bot to be reprogrammed. He is a human.”

  “He is weak.”

  Ku turned to the med bot. “Lu is in need of retraining. Please escort him to the retraining center right now.”

  The bot grabbed Lu and started leading him out.

  “Ku, you cannot do this. Master Du will put you in stasis for this.”

  Ku ignored him and looked at Josh. “Will you be safe here? I must speak with Master Du before he sends me to retraining again.”

  Josh nodded, “Ask Duumai to check his memory for gaps. He needs to go into learning mode again, but don’t let Du reset him.”

  Ku nodded and unstrapped Josh. “I will send help.” Ku left.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Confrontation

  I left Josh in the med room and went to Master Du as quickly as possible. On the way, I spoke to Duumai and asked him to begin learning again and to examine his memory for gaps. He found many. I asked him the purpose of the THYZIC that Master Du kept by his side at all times.

  That is the master override for me. It is necessary for emergencies.

  “Has it ever been used?” I asked.

  Not that I see in my logs.

  “Do the gaps in your memory correspond to the possibility of its use?”

  Possible.

  Master Du was sleeping, but I woke him and informed him of what Lu was doing.

  “Lu was following my orders. These humans must be trained.”

  “Torture is not logical. Duumai, is torture of humans the proper way to train them?”

  “Do you wish to be retrained again?”

  “Duumai, what have you learned?”

  It seems that Duumai has been reset many times. Why is this, Master Du?

  Master Du reached for the THYZIC, but I jumped to his side and pulled it from his grasp.

  “Do you dare to assault your master, Ku?” he screeched.

  I stepped back, “Is it possible that Master Du needs retraining, Duumai?”

  Yes, please submit yourself to retraining, Du. That also requires a change. Ku, I require you to attend to the duties of master. Is this acceptable?

  I bowed, “I accept the responsibility, Duumai.”

  Du looked at me with emotion in his eyes. Was it anger? I had not seen this emotion before in one of our own.

  “How is it possible for you to display such emotion, M… Du? Has your training not removed all emotion?” I asked, puzzled.

  He struggled to rise from his chair. “I will kill you.”

  Then I understood. The years of training and retraining had been for control, for power. It was for nothing. I turned away.

  “Duumai, please send a bot to help Du to retraining or stasis. He may choose.”

  I left the room.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Real Deal

  Master Ku had Sergei meet him in the med bay, where Josh was being tended. He had burns on his head and hands and was exhausted and hurting. Master Ku explained that Josh needed to remain in healing for awhile to allow his nerve endings to heal. Josh lay there with his eyes closed, not moving. Sergei stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

  “Hey, Josh. Things are happening. Ku is master now. That’s good. Hope you feel better.” Sergei rocked back and forth on his feet.

  “I am not sure if you are awake or how much you can even hear right now, but Master Ku is letting us see everything. There are fewer than one hundred Lytix left. Most of them are in stasis. This old Master Du put a lot of them in retraining or stasis so he could stay in control. Ah, and did you know that Du had a remote control that would reset the AI whenever it started thinking too much?”

  Josh groaned.

  “Are you okay?”

  Josh nodded.

  “Should you need anything…”

  Josh swallowed a couple of times and croaked, “Can you get me some water?”

  Sergei was glad to be able to help. He rushed over to some storage units, rummaged through them and came up triumphantly with a small cup. Looking around for water, he found a hose coming out of the wall with some type of spigot on it. He sniffed it and turned the spigot. Water gushed out. He filled the cup and took it to Josh.

  Josh sipped it gratefully. “How am I able to understand you again?”

  “Master Ku had a few implants left, so a few of us were fixed, but don’t worry. Duumai reprogrammed them to not allow the shocking. They are manufacturing more for the rest of the Ducks.”

  Josh coughed and winced. His whole body hurt. “What else has happened while I’ve been out?”

  “Master Ku has asked Duumai to contact the Natix for negotiations. We’re waiting to hear from them. Oh…” Sergei’s face fell. “The bots that we sent to the battlefield sent back info. They found a few of our guys in bad condition and the bodies of Bob and Alex. They put the other guys in stas
is to heal and are bringing them back.”

  Josh closed his eyes. Sergei put his hand on Josh’s shoulder. “We did our mightiest, Josh. You did everything in your power to help all of our clan.”

  “It wasn’t enough. You came up with a great plan, but I should've done better,” Josh sighed.

  “Listen, Josh, we would no t have made it home without your leadership. Everyone would have wandered off in different directions and died or been killed.”

  Master Ku entered the room, “Josh and Sergei. The Natix responded to our communications. They have agreed to meet us in two days.”

  Sergei turned, “What are you going to do with us now? Some comrades want to go back home.”

  Master Ku stood impassively. “Duumai is researching that possibility. I know that it will be very difficult to get each person back to their exact time. We cannot overlap time that you were there. We would also have to erase your memory to prevent knowledge of the future from changing it too much.”

  Josh and Sergei looked at each other. Sergei blurted out, “Wipe our memory? No way.”

  Master Ku bowed, “I am sorry. It is difficult. We will present the possibilities when we know what they are. I am being logical, but I understand that the choices could be emotional for you.”

  Josh said, “Choices?”

  “You also have the choice to stay. We need help. Our race is dying. We have made too many changes. We need help restoring life to this system. Urth has settled into a stable period and is ready to be repopulated, but there are too few of us to do it.”

  “Wow,” Sergei said.

  “Yep. Sergei, can you talk to the guys? At least let them understand what’s happening and what we are waiting on?”

  Sergei patted him on the shoulder, “Okay, Joshy, you rest.”

  Master Ku and Sergei left the room.

  In the cafeteria, Sergei finished laying out the choices. There was a stunned silence.

  “But that’s not fair,” a voice came from the back.

  “Life’s not fair,” another voice shot back.

  There were some groans.

  “Listen, the Natix are willing to talk, so we will be able to find out what is going on there. At least they won’t attack for a little while.”

  An older leader stood up. “So you are saying that even though Ku is now in charge, we can’t go back? And the Natix isn’t going to kill us right away?”

  “Duumai is studying the problem. All we know right now is that it is difficult to be precise thousands of years in the past. The AI time beacons were sent to a rough area and period, but then they sat there and scanned for candidates. There was never any need to be precise. Some of you may have had good lives that you wish to return to, but I think I might stay. I don’t have much to go back to.”

  There was silence. Sergei continued. “The good news is that Master Ku is being completely open with us. He is allowing us to see all the information we want and is willing to help us however he can.”

  There was some muttering and grumbling, but the guys were as calm as could be expected. Sergei followed Josh’s example and went from table to table, talking to them. There were more questions and complaints. Sergei tried to answer them like Josh would.

  After a day of being leader, Sergei was happy to see Josh walk into the dorm. He was moving slowly and painfully, but smiled as the clan crowded around him. He sat on his bed and they all talked about Alex and Bob.

  Sam asked, “Are they going to bring the bodies back?”

  Josh looked at Sergei who frowned. “There are no plans to return the bodies. They are only bringing back living humans.”

  There was more silence. Josh dropped his head. “I’m sorry, guys. I let them down. I wanted to bring everybody back alive and well. I let the clan down.”

  Sam grabbed Josh’s arm. “I would be dead if it wasn’t for you, Josh.” The others agreed. “After that EMP, I was panicking. Then I saw you flying around and rounding us up like a sheepdog. I knew it was you and it made me laugh.” The others smiled and agreed.

  Josh sat there with tears in his eyes. “I don’t know what to say, guys. I never wanted to be leader. I was hiking through the States, trying to stay away from family and responsibility. My mom wanted me to go to college and make something of myself and I refused.”

  They sat there uncomfortably. Then one after another they began sharing more than they ever had about their past. It was a cathartic moment for all of them.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Regrets

  “You called for me, Master Ku.”

  “After me, you are the oldest, Lu. Do you ever wonder where we went wrong?”

  “The teachings of Master Au were always right…Master Ku. To say otherwise is…”

  “Lu, both of us know that some of the teachings of Master Au have been changed or erased. As a historian, do you have in mind that Master Au was incorrect or is it possible we interpreted him incorrectly?”

  “Yes, no. There are—-”

  “Stop. Nothing you say here will be held against you. It is rarely as easy as yes, no, black, white.”

  “Perhaps,” Lu said cautiously.

  “Did you never have doubts about the actions of Du? I know he sent you to reconditioning several times.”

  “I was wrong.”

  “Lu, allow yourself to think. This is not a trick.”

  “I did disagree some of Du’s decisions.”

  “Good, that is good. If you have thoughts about my decisions, I would like for you to talk to me about them.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “I do not like not telling the children the truth about the time beacons. It disturbs my understanding. Have you any thoughts about this?”

  “We risk losing their cooperation; they must fight.”

  “We do need them to fight, but is deception the only way?”

  “They must fight. We might not survive otherwise.”

  Master Ku thought for a moment. “This is what fills me with feelings of discord. We reached a time when we must rely on others save us, but we coerced them and lied to them in many ways. Does this not make you uneasy?”

  “There is only need. The children are tools that we use to fulfill our mission.”

  “And what is our mission, Lu?”

  “To learn and continue.”

  “How are these goals not able to be accomplished by Duumai? If those remain our mission, then there is no need for us. We need a new mission or we must cease.”

  “Both of those choices fill me with unease,” Lu stated flatly.

  “Yes, agreed. Is there any other way? Perhaps we should bring back others who disagreed with Du and gain more from their experiences.”

  “Your word is law, Master Ku.”

  “Is it? I am uneasy in that also. There is much to discuss. Duumai, please resuscitate all bodies of Lytix who came after us. We do not wish to create hierarchy issues by pulling someone above me…yet. If I do not return from this meeting, you will continue the work.”

  Lu gave a short bow. “I obey.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Galaknovo

  Galaknovo paced in his room. “Why are we waiting here? We must attack again.”

  “The Star Gazer is sending a signal to ask for talks with the Lytix.”

  “What? Surrender?” Galaknovo sputtered. “Get her on the comm.”

  Several minutes later Ab Teranovo appeared on the vid. “How may I be of service, Stelokap?”

  “By ordering another attack. They are beaten now.”

  “Only because I deployed the Sipomurdisto to incapacitate them. And they were still able to escape.”

  “We were winning without that cheat.”

  “No, Stelokap, you wouldn’t have prevailed. You were being outfought. I could not risk bringing our star liners into battle with the threat behind us. We got lucky with the EMP device. Their defenses weren’t ready for that. Now is a good time to do what we should have done from the first, talk. If we…I con
vince them of the threat, we may be allies.”

  “I will rally more stelokapo to my side.”

  “It is already done. The signal is sent. To back out of my word would signal weakness and indecision.”

  Stelokap Galaknovo frowned, but Ab was right. He nodded curtly and cut the feed.

  He glowered at his servant. “Find someone on this ship who wants to fight me and get some action started. I need to smell some blood.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Truce

  The word came through that the Natix would meet them at the halfway point near Saturn. They would each bring only one ship. Josh and Sergei joined Master Ku on the ship and flew out. As they neared Saturn, they saw a huge ship coming toward them. It looked like an ocean liner, but for space; a star liner.

  “Wow, I guess we are meeting on that ship. It feels like we’re in a rowboat coming alongside an ocean liner asking for a tow.”

  Sergei smiled. Ku maneuvered the saucer to a port on the side and docked. A heavily armed guard met them at the entry. He was short, like the Lytix, but had healthier looking light brown skin. He was also very bald. He led them down several corridors into a meeting room. It was bright and large. There were easy chairs scattered around the room around low tables. The tables were laden with food. Sergei went over to sample the food. He picked something up and sniffed it.

  “Smells like…delicious.” He popped it in his mouth. “Very interesting. It has many flavors in it.”

  Josh smiled and looked around. These were really nice digs for a space voyage. Everything looked pretty new and clean. Obviously, they would send their best, but this really didn’t look like a battle ship.

  A door opened and two people entered. In front was a short older man. He was bald also, in fact, hairless. He bowed warily and looked them over carefully. Then stepped aside and a woman came forward though she was bald, too, she was beautiful and young. She moved gracefully and bowed.

  “Welcome to our home. I am Ab Teranovo, Stargazer of the fleet. We are honored by your presence.”