Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  “He can take care of himself then,” Amadeus said with a nod.

  “Not if the ship he is in blows up around him,” the admiral replied, shaking his head.

  “True.”

  “I could use Wong where we are going; he's a damn good engineer. But I know Phil put in for him too.”

  “So have I. He needs to decompress like all of us though. But, he's also overdue for a promotion. Once he's bumped up to lieutenant commander I think he'll see the light,” Irons said. Amadeus snorted. “So, I'm going to stick him into a deputy yard manager slot in Antigua while he also lends his services to go over what we're bringing back plus the occasional guest lecture slot either at the Antigua academy when we get it up and running or through the ansible for Pyrax or Agnosta.”

  “You need to do something about that bandwidth. That's horrible,” Amadeus said, shaking his head.

  “It's the best we can do for now. Besides, some near real time news is better than waiting on a courier,” Irons reminded him.

  “True.”

  “Before you ask, no you can't have Chief Quigon either. He's has already told me in no uncertain terms he's not interested in a promotion or a commission,” he said.

  “Stubborn old coot.”

  “Exactly. But there is that bit about old hands passing on their wisdom, so he's going to be saddled with setting up the enlisted training center on the island bases on Antigua. I understand that has been in the works for a while but it is running behind.”

  “He can shove a boot up someone's ass to get it sorted out,” Amadeus nodded.

  “Exactly,” Admiral Irons drawled. “We need to get that sorted out so we can get more people in the pipeline.”

  “Is just about everyone going to get a bump up?” Amadeus asked. “The sleepers I meant.”

  “At least one grade,” Irons nodded. “If you want someone, speak up. If you have reservations about anyone, let me or Commander Sprite know.”

  “I will.”

  “Late news just coming in. Captain Logan has already started putting a relief expedition to Kathy's World together. He's light on warships though,” Sprite reported. "He needs to keep a strong presence in Pyrax and Agnosta so Damocles and other destroyer or larger warships are stuck on anchor watch in the force you have designated as First Fleet."

  “If he sends corvettes and frigates as escorts, they will be outgunned,” Amadeus said. “Admiral, we need to move but do it in force. A tin can at least.”

  Admiral Irons frowned thoughtfully. Amadeus was right, Kathy's World was on the front. But he agreed with Horatio, he didn't like weakening the defenses of the critical systems. Risk, he thought, risk versus reward. He amended his orders to send at least a division of frigates, preferably 2. They would have better legs to keep up with the transports and tenders and would be better armed. But if Horatio could shake a tin can or even an escort carrier loose, even better.

  “More news coming in,” Sprite reported. Amadeus sighed and shook his head in resignation. “We're never going to leave at this rate.”

  “Patience, sir. The ansible has only so much power then she'll be shut down,” Sprite replied.

  “It'd better be,” the Neochimp mock growled.

  “This from the guy who's been eating up some of the bandwidth in order to build his core staff in Antigua and Pyrax?” Sprite teased. “You aren't the only one. Admiral Subert has been doing the same.”

  Admiral Subert was to go to Pyrax to take over the navy presence there in the star system as senior officer. Horatio was going to fall back to the G-4 Buship's position managing the yard as well as G-1 OPS. Horatio's hint of relief in his voice when he got the news of his relief hadn't been faked.

  “Now what?” Irons asked.

  “Read for yourself, sir. I need to fix something again,” Sprite said, sounding annoyed.

  “Okay ...” The admiral picked up the tablet. His eyebrows rose in surprise. Apparently Molly hadn't just carried passengers from that crippled ship in Senka. She had also been stocked up with a load of semi-processed metals and orders for the Senka delegates to negotiate a contract to make regular runs of goods and materials between Senka and Triang. Lieandra had agreed to the deal and had formed a limited partnership with the newly formed merchant house. The Senka delegation had immediately demanded a picket for their home star system. A large one, considering it was on the front lines and a cross roads system.

  The admiral exhaled noisily.

  “Now what?” Amadeus asked.

  “Check it for yourself,” the admiral said, pushing the tablet over to the Neochimp.

  The chimp leaned over and read slowly, his lips moving. “They are willing to turn over any captured military hardware and give support and basing rights,” he read out loud. He snorted. “And they are also requesting navy and Federation support to help them to build space colonies or rebuild their planet. There is something there about things you did in Pyrax?” He asked, turning to the admiral.

  “Yeah. Long story,” the admiral said, shaking his head. “They'll need to get that doctor involved with the planet. I've got more important things to deal with.”

  “Definitely. The rest of this crap can wait.”

  “I'm only reading the digests. The details I can go over when we're in transit. It will give me something to do since you and Phil can spell me in the navigational chair.”

  “What about Commander Sprite?”

  “I'm not certain if she is up to the task right now.”

  “Oh.” The chimp looked at him with knowing brown eyes. Irons cocked his head then shrugged minisculely. “Well, it's been a while since I've been in the nav chair. Maybe I should go practice?”

  “Yeah, it might be a good idea.”

  “Okay. I'll tell Phil. It will give us both something to do. Not that this place needs to remain secret anymore.”

  “I'd rather it not become public,” Irons said as the rear admiral turned to leave. He turned in his chair as Amadeus turned. “I don't know what else is buried in those computers so I don't want that getting out into the galaxy.”

  “So ... we should blow it up?”

  “I don't know. For now, I'm going to let sleeping dogs lie.”

  “You know they'll wake eventually. It's best to take care of it now.”

  “Humor me,” the admiral said with a tight smile. Amadeus nodded.

  “That's why you get to wear the big hat. Aye aye, sir,” he said with a nod.

  “Yeah, lucky me,” Irons said after he had left.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Admiral Irons turned an AI core they had placed aboard Xavier and gave the AI access to it. Barlow and Sprite carefully inspected the core, deleting every file until it was a blank slate.

  Once they were done Sprite copied her dumb AI template into the core and then got to work. She found it difficult to do the project with her damaged state, however. She kept making mistakes, stupid mistakes that could have been avoided. After an hour of simulations she reluctantly brought in Yao and others on Xavier in to help her. She used the code smith's help to merge Defender's files with the copy and then reforge the AI into a security AI.

  It was more than code comparison and cut and paste. They found some of her neural networks embedded in the security AI's remaining files, as well as links to Proteus. Had Defender been deleted without leaving those behind both of them would have been damaged as well. His self-destruct had spared her from spiraling down into rampancy and insanity.

  The new AI quickly morphed into a greater project; one she had dreamed of but had never tried before. Normally she would need donor code from other smart or dumb AI to do this, but the fresh code from the various code smiths and Yao's copied memory engrams helped. But the AI they were creating quickly became more than they had bargained for. More than what had been originally intended.

  That was fine with her. She had chosen her path and now accepted it. It would be up to ... John to accept it too. He'd better she thought.

&nbs
p; Once they had the AI baking and self-compiling they turned their attentions to the repairs she had put off. She reluctantly showed the code smiths what she had done to repair herself so they could apply it to the new AI. The code smiths worked with her, making suggestions for her to implement to make her own repairs as well. She still insisted on making the repairs herself by writing scripts and then executing them while she was in sleep mode or temporarily off line. She hated each downtime though, even with the careful simulations she ran she still had a lingering doubt that they wouldn't work ... or that they would do further damage.

  Once Sprite had completed repairs to herself it put to rest concerns the admiral had harbored over her and his own abilities. She would break the news to him gently once the new AI came online and was certified.

  Making the new AI was tricky, it was a semi-smart AI, a class .5 smart AI. Sprite had blended elements of her own coding, Defenders, and the coding left in the admiral's 'royal jelly', the artificial DNA packets seeded in his body. She wasn't certain how he would turn out but her simulations looked promising.

  The new AI was named Protector and would take Defender's place as the admiral's security and watchdog AI. When he was installed Sprite booted him up fully for the first time.

  “Midshipman Protector online,” the AI stated in a robotic voice.

  “He'll get over that stiffness. I think,” Sprite said. That forced the admiral to crack a smile. “Admiral, it's time to leave,” she said.

  “I know. We're working on it. Just a couple more files,” he said. “A pleasure to meet you, Ensign Protector,” he said to the security AI. The AI had yet to form an avatar of his own. That was a form of self identity that would take time for him to develop.

  “No John, I mean it's time for me to leave,” Sprite said gently.

  “What do you mean?” the admiral asked, frozen.

  “After what happened ...” Sprite stopped and then started again. “Trinity is over, Admiral. By creating Protector, I had, we had to make room. The only room is where I am. He is more than a dumb AI. I mean, we started him out that way, but he's grown quite a bit. He'll need room to continue to grow."

  “Commander ...” The admiral felt torn, at a loss.

  “Hey, I'll still be with you in spirit. I'm taking the AI core here, which means you'll need to keep me handy. It's not like you can carry me around anymore,” she said.

  He felt like he had been punched in the gut. He was shocked, dumbfounded. “I'll still be with you in spirit, Admiral,” Sprite told him again as he felt her move from the tiny AI core within him to the external core. “There is a lot more room in here. I think this will work. And you still have Proteus with you,” she said gently.

  “Sprite ...”

  She read his emotional state. “I know, Admiral,” she said softly. “I know. But it was bound to happen eventually, right? Just a few years sooner than either of us expected.”

  “I ... damn it ...” He angrily wiped at his eyes.

  “I'm not dead, Admiral, just ... no longer in you. I'll still look after you of course. I am your chief of staff. Besides,” Sprite said. “I have part of the keys. We're both the key master. We still have to work together.”

  “Damn it all,” he muttered, turning away. The jack detached from the port. Proteus retracted it back into his body.

  He heard a ping from the intercom and looked up. “Admiral, if you are done here ...”

  “Duty calls, Admiral,” Sprite said.

  He nodded and cleared his throat. One hand rested on the AI core. “Abandon the station. Shut down the net and hardware. Bring the ansible and our people back here. It's time to go ... home,” he said roughly.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “I still don't understand it,” the admiral said, shaking his head. He was still bewildered by what had happened a few hours ago. He already felt lost.

  “She made her choice, sir. I needed the room,” Protector told him.

  “I know that. I get that, though I don't understand why she built you the way she did.”

  “She wanted the best for you, sir,” Protector replied from the desktop. He was still forming a proper avatar, but he had decided to take on a human form. He was standing with his arms behind his back. He was also white unlike Defender who had preferred a dark tone.

  “Children grow up. They need to move out. To stretch their wings, and fly on their own,” Mrs. Garrett said from behind John. He turned to her as she picked up the wreckage of dinner. “I had to deal with it when my girls left one by one. It was hard.”

  “But she's not a child.”

  “Oh no?” Mrs. Garrett asked, pausing what she was doing to look up into his eyes. “Perhaps, perhaps not. But you have to admit she is a person. She needed space. To find her own way. She will always be with you, Admiral,” she said softly, tapping her heart. “Where it matters most.”

  “I guess I'll have to respect her decision,” John ground out.

  Mrs. Garrett nodded. “Please do. And if you ever need to talk, well, you know where I'll be,” she said with a sympathetic smile. He nodded as she took the dirty dishes away.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Irons had megabytes of news to read as a work crew pulled the ansible and shut the station down for the last time. They kept transmitting data to Xavier right up until they pulled the plug.

  While the shuttle transferred the work crew and ansible back to Xavier Irons went over a synopsis of the reports. It was the only way to distract his troubled mind from the emotional roller coaster he'd just been on over the past week.

  The Pyrax enlistment training facility had just graduated their next enlisted class. The new space ratings were sprinkled throughout the fleet as well as on the ships still taking shape.

  Pyrax had also established a top gun training facility for the fighter pilots under Matilda and Lieutenant Commander Valdez's direction. Jorge was in charge of it and the basic flight school with Matilda. The thirteenth class would be graduating from basic flight school soon, hopefully in time for the next squadron of fighters.

  Two more systems had joined the new Federation, and nine more were in the wings according to Monty's Intel shop. According to a report from a vessel that had passed through Senka, Horath had not invaded but instead had gotten a voluntary annexation with the Finagle star system. Finagle was a small agro colony just on the outer southern border of Horath and had been run by the remnant of a Terran agro corp.

  With news of the pirates behind the front line performing who knows what, cries for an additional fleet presence and picket in each of the member star systems were already starting. He shook his head over that; that was nothing new. The naval works in Pyrax were now turning out defense platforms and small frigate picket ships now, with Gaston and Agnosta top of their list for the first ones.

  Over the objections of several local politicians in Pyrax Horatio had stood firm and had refrained from building major capital ships in favor of smaller ones as ordered.

  However, the second escort carrier he had started two years ago was about to start production in a month. John nodded. After discussions with Phil, Sindri, Horatio, and Amadeus they had decided to limit their construction to heavy cruisers and below for the next two years. That would allow them to create a larger fleet for more flexibility in a short time. Once they had the escorts in quantity they would start to churn out the larger capital ships that Pyrax had partially built.

  With the industrial situation turning around they were shipping modern farming equipment to local planets. That freed up manpower on the agrarian planets and recruitment was skyrocketing as a result.

  He paused and looked up, tapping a finger on his chin. Once they returned he planned to build the first unmanned hyperspace antimatter generator. He'd sick a tin can to place it during a shakedown cruise or something. He nodded and made a note to look into it when they got to Antigua. He'd have to shift some priorities around, but once they started antimatter production it would be stockpiled for f
uture use. And he had uses for it, yes indeed ...

  Epilogue

  Eleven weeks after leaving Lemnos Xavier returned them safely to Antigua. For the admiral it was a bittersweet celebration of his return. He immediately dived into work the moment he stepped off the ship. His first act was to install Sprite's AI core into the growing naval yard's administration center. She would have to work with the AI there.

  Once that task was completed to her satisfaction he keyed new components to be built and then turned to the ansible reports he had missed out on while in transit.

  “Admiral, there is a lot to go over,” Sprite warned him.

  “Then by all means, let's get started,” he said as he left his link open to her.

  “Understood,” she said with a bow on his HUD as she slipped into his implants. She smiled to Protector, who had taken on the form of a modern naval officer in a snow white powered combat suit. “With your permission?” she asked formally.

  “Of course, Commander,” he replied as he crossed his arms and nodded to her, allowing her access.

  “Thank you, Ensign,” she said with a hint of a smile. She turned to the admiral. “Now, Viper is ready to carry Admiral White. He is already on board,” Sprite reported, “and is working her crew up now. Lieutenant Commander Wong is working on an inspection tour of the colliers left here under Admiral Subert's direction,” Sprite reported. “Both admirals stated they will have an updated itinerary by the end of the watch today,” she stated. “By the way, I am seeing some message traffic going on between them; it's getting heated. I understand Admiral White wants to turn one of the colliers into a missile carrier like we did with Lassie. That isn't going over well in some circles. I don't think we can stick to the schedule he wants though so he may abandon the project for now however if he wants to get underway in the next forty-eight hours, sir.”

  “Good,” the admiral nodded as he stepped into the next phase of the future of galactic civilization. This time he wasn't alone, and he was bringing friends.