Perhaps it is a human custom to share food prior to conducting business.
“Please be assured that everything offered here has been tested and verified safe for Raknii consumption by Planet-Master Mraz on Golgathal,” said Diet.
Small talk was made concerning positions, rank and health, as they ate. Both aliens enjoyed the hot-charred chunks of bloody beef, an unfamiliar herd beast whose taste met with their hearty approval. Chocolates and soda pop were also thoroughly enjoyed by their alien guests, as previously reported by Kalis from Kitty Litter. Their favorite human consumable, however, was beer.
Xior was astounded to learn that Diet was a major figure in human finance and industry, yet mysteriously allowed his mate and littermates to virtually run it for him, restricting his own participation to only the most important of policy decisions. Whatever questions that Varq might have had remained unasked, as he merely listened to what transpired around him in silence, a habit from his many cycles of living as a falgaar body-servant, one of the relatively invisible stoneless during Drix’ cubhood. Many forthcoming questions led to confusing or ambiguous answers, which led to yet more questions, which led to even more confusion. Obviously there was a lot about these humans that was truly alien to Raknii ways of thought, and it was going to take a long time to come to any kind of real understanding of one another.
Diet was astounded to discover that Hal had diagnosed Xior as having colon cancer, and had been fabricating generic versions of human cancer drugs for him using comparatively primitive chemistry apparatus, but had somehow managed to bring his cancer into remission, at least temporarily. All agreed that it would be a very good thing if their little “disagreement” could be resolved soon, enabling Xior to travel to one of the top cancer treatment centers in human space.
“I was told there was a third litter-mate here as well,” said Xior. “I would like very much to make his acquaintance, as well.”
“I am very pleased to meet you, OverMaster Xior — and you as well, OverMaster Varq,” came a disembodied voice from the speakers, speaking the Raknii language to perfection.
Xior and Varq both looked puzzled and Xior turned to Hal and asked, “Why does your litter-mate speak to us through the ship’s intercom, instead of sharing food and conversation with us personally, as you and this one called Diet are doing?”
Diet, could you please explain to our guests, while I interlink with my mobile-self and get us both updated? I think that would be advisable at this juncture.
“Very well, Hal… one moment,” said Diet. Noreen dug a small, human-built Raknii translator out of a bin above the communications station over Xior’s head and took it to Diet.
Activating the device, Diet said “OverMaster Varq, could I trouble you to exchange seats with Hal, so that he can have access to our engineering station?”
Varq nodded and crawled down from his chair without comment and allowed Hal to sit down where he had been sitting. Varq watched intently as Hal opened an access panel in the engineering console and extracted a cable of some sort, which he then connected… to his head?
“The data cable is in place and I am ready to begin, brother,” Hal said in the Raknii language, for the benefit of their alien guests. “Perhaps I should upload to you first, so that you understand what’s been happening with me, over the past three cycles.”
Agreed. Beginning synchronization handshaking routines now.
Xior and Varq both watched attentively to this strange, whatever-it-was that was happening before them, but other than Hal closing his eyes, nothing really appeared to be happening at all.
Diet then said to his guests, “I know this must appear very strange to you, but our third brother here isn’t currently in a different part of the ship. He is the ship.”
* * * *
Chapter-29
Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. -- Saul Alinsky
CSS Ghost, in the Garden of Dol, atop the Temple of Dol
The Raknii Imperial Planet of Raku
September, 3869
Supreme-Master Drix was puzzled by his sire’s request that he accompany him, Varq and the human Hal to the Temple of Dol, next door to the imperial palace. There were none he trusted so much as his sire and Varq, unless it be Raan and Tzal. He was slowly coming to feel similarly towards the human Hal, but he dared not allow that to become public knowledge.
Drix accompanied them, at Xior’s request, past the Raknaa guards he’d stationed outside the entrance to the sub-basement of the imperial palace, which led to the tunnel going to the temple. The guards only saw Drix and Hal, of course, as the two OverMasters were effectively invisible to them, their sunburst and onyx rank-stones invoking a hypnotic “hole” in their memories. If they thought it odd that the supreme-master accompanied a human with no other Raknii along, they kept it to themselves… Raknaa did not challenge the will of the supreme-master. If he wanted to enter the sub-basement with the human, that was totally the supreme-master’s business.
Drix initially started to bring a Raknii/English translator along with him, to save on the punishment that speaking the Raknii language inflicted on Hal’s vocal cords, but, surprisingly, Hal told him it was unnecessary. Once they cleared the tunnel, they climbed the back stairs up to the temple roof to the Garden of Dol, where Dolrak and occasionally the supreme-master himself came to meditate and relax in the sun. Drix followed as they led him into the trees surrounding the contemplation pool at the center of the garden. As they cleared the tree line, Drix was startled to discover a large teardrop-shaped something, resting in the shallow pool. It was flat black in appearance, and yet it was uncannily difficult to see any actual details of the object, even in bright sunshine.
“And just what, may I ask, is that?” asked Drix, who had been startled into immobility upon first sight of the huge object.
“Oh, this is just one of the little projects that I had been working on before I made the acquaintance of your assault troops on Bavara,” replied Hal. “Have no fear, there’s no danger.”
“How did it get here?” asked Drix suspiciously.
“My brother brought it,” replied Hal.
“Your litter-mate is here?” asked Drix in astonishment. “How did it get past all of our scanners?”
“Actually, two of my brothers are here,” said Hal. “It got past your scanners the same way it scouted all of your systems without detection, before the human combined fleets launched attacks on your worlds.”
“Ah, so this is the invisible mystery ship that we surmised must exist for you humans to accomplish your attacks with such complete surprise,” Drix responded. “As it’s here, can I assume that the human military is also aware of Raku’s location, then?”
“Yes, but no attacks were planned this deeply into Raknii space when my brothers left to come here. Humanity has more than its hands full with Raan’s surrender of all 63 planets of Region-6.”
“You know this for a fact?” asked Drix.
That explains much… unsurprising. That’s what I’d hoped was happening.
“Yes, my brother told me,” said Hal. “Would you like to meet him?”
“What else might I expect to find within that… whatever-it-is, Hal?” asked Drix suspiciously.
“It is safe, we assure you,” said Xior. “Varq and I have already been inside the human ship.”
Drix looked at his sire, and then at Varq and with a nod from the one who raised him from a cub, he turned back to Hal and said, “Lead on, then.”
At that, a ramp began to descend with the quiet whir of an electric motor and when it touched the ground, Hal proceeded up it immediately, followed by Xior without hesitation. Drix then followed, with Varq trailing, as usual.
“As you see,” Hal called out from over his shoulder, “the outer surface of the craft has a flat-black outer covering that tends to greatly inhibit visual perception of any appreciable amount of detail, because of its unique light-absorption properties. The outer layer
is also highly effective in the absorption of laser-based scanner emissions.” Hal stopped at the top of the ramp to continue. “A clear electro-chemical exterior coating allows for the images received from thousands of micro-fiber lenses to be displayed on the exterior surface of the hull, displaying light patterns from the opposite side, so that nearby visual sensors cannot detect the ship via occlusion, or blockage of stars, as the ship passes in front of them.
“Directly beneath that light-absorbing exterior is a highly reflective mirror finish capable of reflecting 99.6% of destroyer-class, weapons grade laser radiation, which burn through the thin outer layer,” Hal said. “The mathematically calculated acclivity of the craft’s surface facets ensures that reflections are refracted away from the radiation source, thus further reducing the possibility of a reflected echo returning to the emission source. Beneath that mirrored layer is a ferrite-impregnated composite material capable of absorbing a broad bandwidth of electromagnetic wavelengths capable of greatly reducing reflections of electromagnetic based scanner emissions. When combined with the multi-surfaced acclivity of the exterior facets incorporated into the overall craft design, reflections of all known types of scanner radiation reduces the craft’s total scanner signature to no more than that of a piece of space debris the size of a human fist.”
“How does the thing maneuver with no detectable heat signature, which could be picked up by passive infrared detectors?” asked Drix.
“Perhaps the craft’s greatest innovation is a totally new type of in-system propulsion: a true gravitic drive,” Hal answered. “This new gravitic drive system is a revolutionary breakthrough in gravitics technology that enables the craft to maneuver in a manner similar to standard hydrogen-plume propulsion, within 4.5 light-hours distance to an average gas-giant mass object. This new gravitic drive gives the craft the ability to maneuver within inhabited solar systems without a detectable heat signature.”
“Armament?” Drix asked, wondering just how much information Hal would be willing to reveal about this obviously classified human marvel.
“Yes, she is armed,” Hal said with a smile. “While originally intended as a purely reconnaissance craft, the degree of success achieved in detection-evasion prompted the developers to add weapons capabilities to greatly expand its range of mission profiles.
“Survivability with fangs. Almost impossible to detect, fast enough to outrun anything it can’t outfight, and powerful enough to outfight anything it can’t outrun. It was the prototype to a whole new class of warship, designated as the Infiltrator class, as it was designed to infiltrate enemy defenses, perform a variety of mischief and escape.”
Penetrate our defenses, perform a variety of mischief and escape… yes, I’d wager it has certainly done that, Drix thought to himself.
“Your siblings must have experienced a very long voyage to reach Raku from human space.”
“Not so much,” said Hal. “They were delayed by business matters and didn’t actually get to leave until a sub-cycle and a half ago, so they were dawdling.”
“But that is hundreds of light-cycles away! How is that possible?” asked Drix.
Before Hal could answer, the relatively tinny voice of a translator growled, “The craft has a maximum x-space speed of nearly 6,000c and a maximum range of 7.2 light-cycles at standard cruising speed of 4,900c without refueling,” a newly arrived twin of Hal, having fur on its face, answered. “Ghost has an onboard refueling probe which enabled us to refuel at any hydrogen-rich gas giant without the need for an actual refueling station.”
4,900c! That’s almost twice as fast as our fastest spaceliner.
“Ghost?” Drix asked.
“Ghost is the ship’s name,” said Xior.
“Appropriate,” noted Drix. “How extraordinarily appropriate.”
“Supreme-Master Drix, I would like you to meet my littermate, Diet,” said Hal.
“I am pleased to meet you, Diet,” said Drix, nodding in recognition. “Hal has told me very much about you, while I’ve had the pleasure of his company. He neglected to mention that the two of you looked so much alike.”
“Identical twins, Supreme-Master. That made our enforced separation even more difficult to bear,” Diet replied.
“Yes, my apologies for that,” responded Drix. “I severely disciplined the errant warrior who ordered those later attacks on human planets without my personal authorization. But it may have been a blessing in disguise, as having Hal here has been enlightening. No, having Hal here has been absolutely vital to my plans for ending this unfortunate conflict between our peoples. Before Hal came, I was stumbling blind crossing a deep chasm on an untaught rope.”
“While cruising at normal warship speeds in the 300c range,’ Hal continued, back on their original topic and using the translator to spare his vocal cords any further abuse. “Ghost has a range in excess of 150 light-cycles and sufficient consumables to allow for a crew of 12 up to six sub-cycles of continuous service without replenishment.
“The interior provides adequate space for standard light cruiser grade instrumentation systems. Four military standard large transport spaceliner Stupman-Taylor inspired dual-reactor pairs power the ship. These each consist of an intermittent duty matter-antimatter reactor to provide the power spike necessary for the craft to initially enter tachyon space, originally capable of also powering a destroyer grade 5-gigawatt pulse laser, but recent upgrades to her reactors has allowed for upsizing of her energy weapon to a single, light cruiser grade 8-gigwatt pulse-laser. Those reactors are coupled with a standard hydrogen-fusion reactor used to provide shipboard power, in-system propulsion via conventional hydrogen plasma plume and controlling the tachyon reactions necessary to maintain and maneuver the ship in x-space.”
“Missiles, too?” asked Drix.
“Yes, up to heavy-yield missiles,” replied Diet.
“So that’s what happened to our stations in orbit about Golgathal and Slithin,” observed Drix. “I take it that Ghost is not the only one of her kind?”
“No, there are others in the Infiltrator class, but those are now out of production, in favor of the more powerful Penetrator class,” answered Diet.
“Penetrator class?”
“Yes,” answered Hal. “The Penetrator class has all of Ghost’s undetectability and speed, but is light cruiser size, with heavy cruiser grade weaponry.”
Drix reeled inside.
“Oh, but you are just full of good news for me today, aren’t you, Hal?” Drix said with a roll of the eyes and a slight smile. He suddenly knew why Hal and his littermate were being so incredibly open in sharing the secrets of these impossible ships with him. Dol only knew how many of these unimaginable weapons they possessed and however many it was, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop them… and they wanted him to know it.
* * * *
There was a general repeat of the food and drink and socializing in honor of the supreme-master’s visit, except this time Noreen also served vanilla ice cream.
“Eryx would absolutely love this,” said Drix. “N’raal would too, but Eryx especially.”
“Please bring him along with you, and your mate as well, Supreme-Master,” said Noreen. “We’d love to meet them and I’m sure our Hans would enjoy Eryx’ visit. He loves to play and he seems to have adopted OverMaster Varq.”
“Eryx hasn’t yet learned to keep his claws sheathed and that everyone and that everything around him isn’t an acceptable chew toy for his needle-sharp fangs,” said Drix. “I’d be afraid to let him near your Hans.”
“Still, please bring them both next time, Supreme-Master. We’d love to meet them,” said Noreen emphatically.
“I will, but let us dispense with titles, shall we?” asked Drix. “It gets awkward after a while, and I have to put up with all of that supreme-master this and supreme-master that from my own people all the time. It’s no wonder leaders lose touch with who they are... they can go for cycles without hearing their own name uttered by anyone
other than their mate. I’m not sure that’s good for one’s mental health in the long run.”
Diet snorted, “Our presidents have the same problem. They cease being a person and literally become their office. At least they have term limits to bring them back down to reality, eventually.”
“Term limits?” asked Xior. That question touched off a 20-minute long discussion of the various types of human governments, which the Raknii all found baffling. They did see an advantage in the legislative congressional/parliamentary system taking much of the workload off the executive, but felt the method by which they were selected for office was too ripe for promoting constant pandering for political support in the next election — doing what was expedient, at the expense of doing what was truly right for the nation.
“The Raknii form of government is what we’d call an absolute monarchy,” said Diet. “The advantage is that things get done without being grid-locked in all of the political infighting rampant in democracies, but we’ve found that even if that were their initial intention, very few can actually live up to ideal of a benevolent-dictatorship, and the nation and its people almost always fall victim to an inevitable narcissism developing in their leadership. Democracy is admittedly a very bad form of government, but we continue to use it because all of the others we’ve tried are so much worse.”
Diet and Hal then gave the Raknii a complete guided tour of the ship, leaving nothing out. The ship-Hal gave them a running commentary, explaining everything to whatever level was desired. The Raknii still could not get their heads around the concept of a sentient computer, nor of cloning a human body and downloading an artificial intelligence into that clone’s brain to create a hybrid creature, neither fully computer, nor fully human, but an amalgamation of both — which, they incredibly claimed, the Hal they had come to know, really was. Neither could they grasp why other than Diet, all of the littermates had the same name… Hal.
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera (The Sentience Trilogy Book 3) Page 33
