Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4)

by Timothy Ellis

  She stopped again, giving them time to voice their approval.

  "My concern is the Brotherhood. For a shadow organisation without any confirmed base of operations, who act like terrorist cells, they are far more militant than they ought to be. We’ve destroyed three of their fleets so far, in addition to pirates and allies. The fleets are getting bigger each time. Someone built them that Cruiser fleet. The same someone built them a Battleship. It was brand spanking new."

  She raked her eyes around them all this time.

  "Does anyone know where the shipyard is?"

  There was silence.

  "Does anyone know where the leadership are located?"

  More silence.

  "How many of you gather intelligence from beyond the sector?"

  Most of them raised an appendage of some sort.

  "Re-task your intelligence networks. We know the Brotherhood have eyes on our sector. We know they have spies and assassins here already. We need to stop the spread of this cancer into our sector before they become as large a problem as they already are in sectors nine and eight. Most of all, we need to know who is supplying them with their ships."

  The room was not only silent, but completely still.

  "I know a lot of you have conflicts going on with someone else. I know your intelligence assets are focused on other issues. But the Brotherhood are a problem which will make all your existing problems much worse. For all we know, they are the cause behind your current conflicts. We need information. And we need it in time to be acted on effectively."

  She cast her eyes around once more, lingering on some of the key ambassadors, who she knew had better than average intelligence networks.

  "Please go now, and get your governments to retarget your assets."

  "What will you be doing?" asked the bat.

  "My people are already doing it. We're mapping sectors nine and eight, especially looking for hidden bases, and ships where they would not be expected to be. I'm training marines for assault duties, when we find Brotherhood bases. And I'm tasking ships as a rapid response fleet, should the Brotherhood send any large force this way."

  "I have marines who would like to undertake your training," said the not-croc. "No offense, but humans are small and fragile in comparison to us. But we've seen your few marine units in action, and we like what we see. Some of our marine units would benefit from your training, and would then augment your marines with heavier troops."

  There were several similar statements from other military oriented ambassadors.

  "I'll have my General contact yours. It is indeed time the sector formed a proper space marine force. We'll need them when we find Brotherhood bases. But for now, this session is ended. We need intelligence. Report back when you have it."

  Jane turned, and left the chamber.

  Twenty Seven

  Brother Paulus came out from the interrogation room, walked to the nearest wet area, and washed his hands. He always felt as if he needed to bathe completely, to wash off the imagined grime stuck to him as a result of the torture.

  He made his way back to his quarters. Brother Steadfast had been brave at first, and had used the techniques he’d been taught, but he’d folded quite quickly after they’d changed tack to the biological mind control drugs. There really wasn’t any defence against those. Paulus was sure the master torturer used the old methods just for some fun, before resorting to the drugs. Anyway, Steadfast knew nothing Brother Paulus didn’t already, and was completely loyal still. A pity really he’d messed up so badly. He had been useful. But they had to make examples out of failures like Steadfast. Paulus hadn’t decided on an execution method yet. He needed to put his mind to it. He smiled at the thought.

  He was on their fastest ship, with an entourage he needed to keep business going while he was away. The Destiny Stone was paramount, and had to be found either before the humans got to it, or afterwards. Since he was no nearer to finding out where the next steps were in finding it himself, he needed the humans and their pet cats to lead him to it. But he needed a presence in the outer reaches of the part of the sector they were now travelling in, and he needed willing accomplices. It would take too long to replace the ships lost in the last disastrous battle. They'd been a diversion anyway.

  The tracking device was operating, and sending the data they needed about where the Seasprite was headed. So, they could follow quite easily, as long as the tracking device stayed in place. He'd been assured by the intermediary who'd sold him the device, it would remain undetectable. He doubted it, but at least for the moment, he knew exactly where they were, if not where they were headed. He was already technically ahead of them when the Brotherhood fleet had engaged the Seasprite, and would stay so, assuming they continued in the same general direction into the relatively unknown areas of this part of the galaxy.

  His next steps were to enlist some 'muscle' out here. He had some contacts he was on his way to negotiate with. In the meantime, he could amuse himself with Brother Steadfast.

  Things were progressing quite nicely. He hoped Brother Prime would be pleased. He'd better make sure Brother Prime was pleased. His life depended on it.

  Twenty Eight

  Jamie was sitting in the pilot’s chair, simulating various fight and manoeuvre scenarios. He'd been doing as many hours as he could for the last day, in a marathon session. It was the only way for him to learn to be a better pilot, being synced with the ship’s systems, and the Seasprite computer. Since having the PC installed in his head, he'd been slowly adjusting to be able to interface with ship’s systems directly without the consoles. He was getting better every time he completed a practice session, and was also using the techniques for other simple processes aboard ship. He had to admit he’d been reluctant at first.

  Installing technology into his brain? It seemed a bit weird. But now being used to the benefits, he was a convert. It just took a lot of getting used to, since he hadn’t been brought up with it. Just turning on a light by thinking it, was actually really cool. Being yelled at by Snark for doing it off and on for five minutes straight, had not been.

  In the process of exploring the menus, and interfacing with the ship, he'd found a lot of useful things. Some of them he'd pinged to Anna, and she'd adopted as well. A few worked so well, he wasn’t aware of it at all. The last time Snark had called him a mop head, he hadn’t realized he'd answered in feline. So fast was the PC translator, his thoughts had come out of mouth in another language, and his own words through his ears had been translated back into his own thought patterns. Snark though had noticed, although he hadn’t said anything. More than ever he wanted a PC.

  Anna was reading using her pad, sitting in the helm position, just for the comfort of being around other people, and beings. She liked to be with Jamie, even though he was in another world. It helped her centre herself. She liked the others as well, of course, but Jamie was human, and it was just comforting.

  She was reading the book Philemon had given her. She'd read it once through, but was reading certain passages again to get an understanding of what had happened when the Russians came to this area of space, and to Elothera’s homeworld.

  It seemed to line up with her own visions. They'd had a message from Mac, which recounted a vision Maraid had recently had, where she'd seen the Stone. It gave Anna more information, but she was wondering why she hadn’t had any further Seeings featuring the Stone herself.

  She was reading, and the next minute standing in a room. It was a cabin on a spaceship, as it had a portal showing the stars of space outside. Vasily was there.

  "You need to show some backbone, Anastasia," he sneered.

  "I’ve done everything you’ve wanted," Anna replied.

  "Hardly. You follow along like a wet rag. Show some spirit! You need to take charge!"

  "You hardly let me do that." It was an accusation.

  "Oh dear. Feeling a little put upon?"

  Vasily came closer, grabbed an arm, and pulled it behind her. His bod
y pressed up against hers. She could feel the heat as he ground himself against her. He laughed, and kissed her roughly, a long hard kiss which was all about lust and power.

  She tried to pull away, but he was too strong. He was always too strong. Her body stirred in response, and she felt ashamed.

  Vasily laughed again, and pulled away from her suddenly. She stumbled.

  "Poor little Anastasia," he taunted. "I thought I’d bought a prize when I married you. A Romanov!" His eyes glinted evilly. "And yet I find I’ve linked myself to a perfect little mouse."

  Anna said nothing, but wiped her hand across her mouth. She felt bruised.

  "As an ornament, at least you fulfil a function. My people like to see you paraded, as giving weight to our little adventure. The royal seal on following in the footsteps of the gods. The Stone isn’t enough on its own. I need the amulet. When I have it, I’ll have unlimited power."

  Anna could see he was off on one of his ego trips. He had to justify bringing everyone all this way into unknown space to fulfil his greed for power. He already had it with the Stone. Wasn’t it enough he’d managed to steal it, and work out how to use it? No, he had to have more. It was always greed motivating him. What he had now was never enough.

  "Well, my dear, I’d like to finish off what I started, but I’m due on the bridge. Things to do." He stepped close to her, and breathed in her face. "There’s plenty of time later."

  He kissed her again, and left. Anna collapsed on the bed.

  She wondered what was going to become of her. She couldn’t bear it much longer. She’d married Vasily after a whirlwind romantic courtship. Her father had warned her not to marry him, and he’d been right, but she was stubborn and wilful, and thought she knew her own mind. As soon as they were married, she realised the trap she’d fallen into. He was brutal with her, took what he wanted without any thought for her feelings or needs, and used her title for his own ends. That was what he’d married. A title, not her.

  Her spirit had been quickly broken. She no longer had hope. She was totally controlled, and if she tried to assert her own will, he beat her. Not so anyone could see. Never her face. And yet he wanted her to show spirit, when he never allowed her to stand up for herself. The contradiction was killing her.

  She thought again of the Stone. Locked away now, she loved to touch it. It wasn’t of her world, it came from far away. When you first looked at it, it didn’t seem to be anything much, just an uncut crystal of some kind. But when you held it. It glowed. It felt as if you could do anything at all, could achieve your wildest dreams. It gave you the belief you could fly if you wanted.

  Vasily had explained how he'd found the old records describing the Stone, and how it could be used. How it had come to Earth with alien beings, the ‘gods’. It'd been taken by the survivors in the time of the downfall of the Romanovs on Earth, and lost for some time, or perhaps no one knew what it was. Found by Alexander of Minsk, it left the Earth with him and his followers, as people had expanded out into the old galaxy. She'd been stupid enough to marry him, and he'd rewarded her family by stealing the stone, leaving on a fast ship to catch up with the Galactica, and learning of the jump point into the Gaia galaxy.

  The stone gave him knowledge, and the confidence to think he had unlimited power over others. He'd pieced together the path the ‘gods’ had taken across the Gaia galaxy, and followed in their footsteps.

  He was searching for the ‘amulet’ as he called it. Evidently this would release the power of the stone. She thought he was crazy, and she was crazy to have come with him. She should have left him long ago, however she just couldn’t seem to get the wherewithal to do it. And now she was dependent on him, as they travelled in this unknown galaxy.

  There was a knock on the door.

  "Yes?"

  The maid came into the room.

  "Oh! Pardon me, Your Highness. Would you like me to tidy the room for you?"

  Anna nodded assent, and left the room. She made her way to what was called the Gallery, but was actually a small library where she could read, and get away from the reality of their on-board life.

  There was no one there. She called up a book on her tablet, and sat. She stared for a moment at the tablet, not seeing anything. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cried.

  Twenty Nine

  "Anna?"

  Snark was beside her on the console shaking her arm. She came back into the reality of the Seasprite bridge.

  "Was it another Seeing?"

  She blinked and looked at Snark.

  "Yes."

  She shook her head and reoriented herself slowly.

  "The Stone?"

  "I didn’t see it, but I know it was there. It was in the past."

  She quickly summarised the vision, leaving out some of the details of the reality of the other Anna’s life. She looked over at Jamie. He was still in his own world of simulation.

  "We’ll tell the others," said Snark. "It gives us a bit more information about how the Stone came back to this galaxy. An amulet? This is new."

  Anna nodded, and went to get some water. She felt drained, but not as dizzy as normal after a Seeing.

  Snark watched her go. An amulet enhancing the power of the Stone? It complicated things. He checked the helm console. They were nearing Wallender. Time to plan next steps.

  He jumped up onto the helm console, and put a hand on Jamie’s shoulder. Jamie finished what he was doing, and disconnected from the simulation.

  "Success! I single-handedly fought off a flotilla of battleships this time."

  Jamie was ecstatic.

  "Humph," said Snark, not very enthusiastically.

  He filled Jamie in on his conversation with Anna.

  "Interesting," said Jamie. "An amulet?"

  "Something new for us to consider." Snark indicated the helm. "We’re nearing Wallender."

  "Let’s see what’s around in this system."

  They sent out several messages over the coms unit in different formats.

  There was an almost immediate response by email. Snark read it quickly.

  "Greetings to Seasprite, from the Officer of the Day on the orbital station, Outlook. Please state your business in this system."

  Snark responded, with the usual message about trade interests.

  "Please proceed to the following coordinates. Your request will be processed in due course."

  "Due course?" grumped Snark. "Sounds a bit bureaucratic to me."

  Jamie laughed.

  "We’ll soon see."

  He put them on course for the coordinates they’d been given.

  Snark called the others, and let them know what was happening. Patters soon appeared on the bridge, followed by Anna and Sissness. Brindle appeared carrying a plate of what looked like biscuits. They all munched as they waited for something to happen. The biscuits were all finished, and they were still waiting.

  Snark got impatient, and sent another email to Outlook. He received a curt email back telling them to wait, as 'they were in the queue'.

  Snark snorted. "A queue? There’s no one else around I can see!"

  They all looked at each other, and waited. And waited. The others left the Bridge to go back to what they were doing.

  Finally, with a furious Snark forbidden to communicate with them by Jamie, they had a response directing them to the station, and a docking port. It also detailed itemised costs, policies and procedures, a Health and Safety questionnaire, and rules for station etiquette.

  Snark looked at it all in disbelief. It certainly wasn’t what he was used to.

  "Be fair," said Jamie suppressing laughter. "They just want tae make sure they have a well-run station."

  "Well-run?" Snark fumed. "Red tape is all it is."

  "I’ll fill in the Health and Safety form," offered Jamie, smiling broadly.

  "Dog droppings!" Snark humphed off to plan their course.

  Outlook station was at the midpoint between two planetary orbits, for what looked like habita
ble planets. It looked as if the mid-point location for the station meant neither planet was advantaged or disadvantaged. Perfectly fair and reasonable.

  Except the orbital mechanics didn’t seem to support the location. Curious, Jamie used the sensors on the station. And was surprised to find the station itself was not only orbiting the star, but was capable of accelerating and decelerating, in order to stay midway between the two planets. He ran the dynamics through a simulation, and discovered it worked about eighty percent of the time.

  They approached the station, and went to voice coms for manoeuvring to their docking point. The others were all on the bridge by now. They wanted to get a view of the station, as they were looking forward to some potential 'R and R'.

  The station looked clean, tidy, and new. It followed a circular construction, and was logically put together. They were certainly not used to this, and so they were all feeling optimistic about their visit.

  Once docked, they agreed who would explore the station, and who would remain on-board to 'mind' the ship. Jamie and Anna volunteered to be minders on watch for the first period, and the others all prepared to disembark. They planned to go together to check security first, and then branch out in pairs to explore. Regular coms check-ins were agreed with Jamie and Anna.

  Snark led the way through the airlocks and docking passage, into the main section of the station. Beings were purposefully passing by, both ways down the main corridor. They could see on both sides of the circle of the station were suites, offices, and businesses. There were stairs and lifts to other deck levels. The main thoroughfare was wide, airy, and light and bright. The beings briskly walking by sometimes glanced at them, but mostly kept their eyes on their path, or were consulting tablets as they strode on. They were dressed well, with clean and tidy business attire, as well as casual clothes, but nothing outrageous or disreputable.

  They'd downloaded a local station virtual tour onto their tablets before setting out, and they were interested in trying it out. A selection of music could be played as they toured, but one look at Snark, and no one dared try this option out.