Devastator

by Isaac Hooke

  “At least try to press for more,” Cranston said.

  Jain considered for a moment, and then glanced at Maxwell. He spoke over the main comm: “You say the onus is on us to break into these AI cores? Well, I’m afraid we’re going to need more than that. We need an actual way in.”

  Maxwell shook his head firmly. “No.”

  “A basic account,” Jain said. “That’s all we’re asking. You give us that, I’ll agree to your terms right now.”

  Maxwell hesitated, then sighed. “I can give you the equivalent of one of your low level accounts, no more.”

  Jain resisted the urge to smile. “Perfect.” he told Maxwell. “Send the knowledge, and I’ll set you free.”

  “First, issue the order to bring in a rift ship,” Maxwell said. “A physical token of goodwill, to prove you’ll keep your word.”

  Jain glanced at Sheila and continued to speak over the main channel. “Issue a command to the Daktor. Bring it here. Start opening a gate when it’s two minutes away.”

  “Will do,” Sheila replied.

  Gavin spoke over a private channel. “This is how it begins... we’re starting down the court martial road.”

  “If the alien lives up to his word, there won’t be a court martial,” Jain said on the same line. “What we learn here could turn the tide of this war.”

  “Or it could be a treasure trove of false documents,” Gavin said. “Would you give your enemy the ability to crack your secure networks?”

  “If it’s true what he says, that he belongs to a faction of aliens who believe we might be of some use to them, then helping us might be justified in his mind,” Jain said. “Especially if it means his life. Consider, if you were hovering above a black hole and about to be spaghettified, would you be willing to give up humanity’s network protocols and encryption keys in exchange for your life?”

  “I don’t really know,” Gavin said. “I’d like to say I wouldn’t, because it seems a selfish choice. I mean, encryption keys and schemes can be changed of course, but not before many lives are lost.”

  Jain nodded. “I’d like to say I wouldn’t either, but I don’t know what I’d do if my soles were held to the fire. I do know I would give my life for any of you, but for some abstract network protocols and encryptions keys? Probably not. Though the first thing I’d do once my enemy let me go would be to inform my allies that our protocols had been compromised.”

  “Our friend will probably do the same,” Gavin said. “If not immediately, then after he returns home. That means we might have a short window where the keys work on the enemy vessels. They’ll quickly adapt, though, and change their keys, or encryption techniques. It probably won’t turn the tide of battle, let alone the entire war, despite your optimism. The alien knows this. In fact, I suspect once we break into one of the Mimic AI cores, it will be a helluva lot harder to download anything of value than this alien is letting on. And as for actually taking remote control? I have feeling we’ll be shut down by internal security protocols real quick.”

  “We’ll just have to see, won’t we,” Jain said. “Knowing their comm protocols, network infrastructure, and programming languages is good enough for me. Everything else we get on top of that is just a bonus.” He returned his attention to Maxwell, who had remained quiet the whole time. To him, Jain would have appeared to be staring straight ahead, occasionally blinking, but otherwise saying or doing nothing.

  “Well?” Jain said over the main comm.

  “I’m waiting to confirm that this Daktor of yours is heading my way,” Maxwell said.

  Jain reduced his time sense closer to normal for a few moments and watched as the Daktor changed course and made its way toward Jain and the others; the alien pyramid, meanwhile, drifted closer to the black hole.

  Jain set his time sense back to maximum acceleration in time to catch Maxwell’s next words.

  “I suppose that will have to do for your token of goodwill,” Maxwell said. “Please accept these files for your perusal. Some I have prepared specifically for you, such as the video and hologram files.”

  “Just now?” Jain said.

  Maxwell inclined his head. “That is correct.”

  Jain glanced at Sheila.

  “His clock speed is obviously a lot faster than our own,” Sheila said. “Probably ten to twenty times our cycles per second, allowing him to drop to an even higher time sense than our maximum.”

  Jain received several requests. Some files were in a video format, others holographic, others text. He sent them along to Sheila.

  “Scan these for viruses, and have a look,” he told Sheila.

  “At least he’s converted a lot of these files into readable English,” Sheila said. “He’s also documented the visual and written languages the aliens use, providing an extensive translation guide. That in addition to documenting their major programming languages. You might want to accelerate your time sense slightly. It will take me a while to review all of this.”

  “Rather than do that...” Jain still had a copy of the transmitted material in his cache, so he did a virus scan on it as well, and began to review the data.

  There was a lot there. Almost too much. Network protocols and programming languages. Encryption schemes. All of it translated into English. Everything that was promised. What caught his eye, however, were the private and public key equivalents—a commanding officer’s variants—which could be used to access any subordinate vessel in the fleet. Those keys would only grant him the equivalent of a low level account, true, but with them Jain could at least remote into any ship still under Maxwell’s command. Until those ships changed their keys, at any rate.

  Apparently Sheila had found something else even more exciting, at least to her, because when she finally looked up, she said: “Incredible. If this is true… their entire network infrastructure runs atop gamma rays. I believe I can modulate my reactor core to transmit the desired wavelengths. They won’t be directional, though, which means they’ll be weak: I’ll need to be right up against any vessel we attempt this on. Plus I’ll have to take a few of the sensitive reactor rods I have in storage and set them up in one of my cargo bays to receive the modulated gamma waves the alien sends in return: communications are always two-way. I’ll have to keep the bay doors open, otherwise the radiation armor will absorb too much of the incoming signal.”

  “Won’t your armor also interfere with the original transmission of the data from your reactor core?” Mark asked.

  “No,” Sheila replied. “I can just triple the output so that the rays outpunch the armor.”

  “Are you satisfied with the data I have given you?” Maxwell asked.

  “We are,” Jain replied.

  “So you’ll provide me transport out of this system?” Maxwell pressed.

  “When I have a chance to try this on a ship,” Jain said.

  “There isn’t time,” Maxwell said. “Already members of your fleet are coming this way. Look at your map. Let me go.”

  Jain looked at his map. Sure enough, some of the Manamas fleet were approaching, flying over the horizon of the planet. The tactical map updated in its entirety, now that they were back in line-of-sight: the Mind Refurb fleet was reduced to thirty surviving members in total. Twenty were cresting the horizon, while ten stayed behind, ostensibly to stall the eighty remaining Mimics.

  “Looks like most are retreating,” Cranston said.

  “Yes, and a good number of Mind Refurbs are staying back,” Sheila said quietly. “Giving their lives. Sacrificing themselves to buy time for their brothers and sisters to escape.”

  “Let me go,” Maxwell repeated.

  “Not yet,” Jain said. “So these keys only work on your subordinates? Not you?”

  “Obviously I wouldn’t give you access to my own ship...” Maxwell said.

  “All right,” Jain said. “So, is the closest ship here with us a subordinate then? The one whose upper half we chopped off shortly after arriving?”

  “Yes,�
� Maxwell said.

  “Then we’ll head there first and try these keys,” Jain said. “If they work, we’ll let you go. If not...”

  “Fine, but be quick,” Maxwell said. “And tow me. I won’t wait here, helpless while the rest of your fleet arrives to destroy me.”

  “I really love his use of ancient human metaphors,” Sheila commented. “It’s kind of cute in a way. And disturbing in another.”

  “You heard the man,” Jain said, “or alien, rather. Mark, fire a dispersion bolt, get rid of that black hole. When it’s gone, everyone, launch grappling hooks. It’s time to give our friend here a tow.”

  18

  The black hole winked out, and then the team members launched their grappling hooks at the pyramid vessel.

  “Plot a course to the second ship,” Jain ordered when they were secured.

  The four Mind Refurbs dragged the alien toward Sheila and Cranston, who were still babysitting the second damaged pyramid.

  Jain put Maxwell on mute, which dimmed the alien’s avatar slightly, and then glanced at Xander.

  “Are there any micro machines crawling up our tow lines?” Jain asked his Accomp. “And trying to sneak aboard?” He wouldn’t have put it past Maxwell to try something like that, considering past treacheries and deceptions.

  “Not yet,” Xander said.

  “Keep an eye on them,” Jain said.

  “I have been,” Xander promised. “By the way, Captain Hax is requesting you log onto the conference line again.”

  Jain hesitated. Then: “Do it.”

  “Well done,” Hax said over the line. “You’ve captured two of the alien vessels. We’ll be taking them with us, of course.”

  “That’s the plan,” Jain said.

  “If they don’t self-destruct before then, that is,” Hax said.

  Jain didn’t answer.

  “We’ll be leaping to Earth system,” Hax continued. “Have your ship, the Daktor, rejoin the other units at the rendezvous point. The rest of you are to divert there immediately as well.”

  Jain glanced at his tactical display, and saw that the other rift ships were gathering in low orbit twenty thousand kilometers off starboard. A waypoint highlighted underneath them, indicating the rendezvous point.

  “All right,” Jain said. “But I need five minutes.”

  Silence. Jain could almost imagine Hax’s eye bugging out at that request.

  “Why?” Hax finally said.

  “One of the aliens has made a bargain for its life,” Jain said. “I intend to keep it.”

  “You have no authority to make any bargains,” Hax spat.

  “When you see the data we’ve received, I think you’ll change your mind.” Jain glanced at the tactical display again. “There are more than enough rift ships to get everyone through. One less generator only means you’ll just have to hold the other rifts open a little longer.”

  “You plan to open a gate to a different system?” Hax said. He sounded outraged.

  “I do,” Jain said.

  “Unacceptable,” Hax said. “Are you not aware of the tactical situation? Enemy units are directly behind us, and closing. When we reach the rendezvous point, the Mimics will be almost right on top of us. We can’t afford to dally.” Hax paused, as if realizing something. “You’ve already received this alien data?”

  Jain glanced at Maxwell, who was still on the bridge, though muted, and thus unable to hear any of what was transpiring. “Well, yes, but—”

  “Then there is no reason to keep your word,” Hax said. “As I told you, you had no authority to make this bargain. Send me the data, and proceed to the rendezvous point immediately.”

  “What’s that?” Jain said weakly. “You’re cutting out.”

  “Don’t give me that lame excuse—” Hax began.

  Jain made a cutting gesture toward Xander, who ended the communication.

  “He’s requesting we reopen the line,” Xander said. “And promises there will be hell to pay if we don’t.”

  “Stall him however you can,” Jain said.

  “Now this, right here, is treason,” Gavin said.

  “Why do you care?” Mark asked.

  Gavin shrugged. “I suppose I don’t.”

  “We always knew this would lead to a court martial…” Mark said. “Might as well suck it up.”

  “Okay, I have the basic reactor core modulations working,” Sheila said. “I’m able to create gamma rays on demand. That’s a start. It’s kind of hard on the engines, though. At the very least, I’ll probably have to replace my reactor cores when this is done. And I can’t move while I’m doing it.”

  “All right, good job,” Jain said. “Any idea when you’ll be able to actually form a coherent remote request?”

  “I still have to tweak the rays so they line up with the expected alien protocol,” Sheila said. “The margin for error with these frequencies is less than point five percent, according to the data. My cores have to modulate a whole lot faster… I’m hopeful I can get this done without changing any hardware. I’m testing a few different software modifications to my reactor as we speak, and with luck I’ll have something workable shortly. Might tear my engines apart, but hey, it’s all for a good cause. I should close with the alien vessel soon, so I can get some feedback on how much tweaking I have left to do. My shield is online again…”

  “Not yet,” Jain said. “In case it’s a trick. Gavin, are your drones recharged yet?”

  “To a degree,” Gavin said. “I have enough to boost her shielding with my own.”

  “Good,” Jain said. “When we arrive, you’ll reinforce her shield.”

  “By the way, the Daktor just crossed the two minutes away mark,” Sheila said. “I can start the rift creation.”

  Jain glanced at his tactical display. He would reach Sheila in thirty seconds, so Gavin could join her, and it would take another thirty seconds for them to get close enough to the alien ship to attempt interfacing. That left Sheila only a minute to interface, and confirm that Maxwell hadn’t cheated them.

  “We can always shut down the rift before it forms,” Sheila said, reading his thoughts.

  That was true. If the Daktor shut down the creation process before the rift was actually formed, the rift ship could start again without having to wait another twelve hours.

  “All right, go ahead,” Jain said.

  “Any choice of systems?” Sheila asked.

  “Anywhere but Earth system,” Jain replied.

  “You’re worried he’ll attack?” Cranston said.

  Jain shook his head. “No. I’m worried the fleet there will attack him before he has a chance to repair.”

  Cranston nodded. “At least you’re true to your word.”

  The Daktor fired its creation beams, and started the process of opening a rift while still en route.

  Meanwhile, members of the Manamas fleet continued to approach. So far, none of the vessels in the vanguard had made any offensive gestures. That was a good sign.

  The Void Warriors neared Sheila and Cranston, who yet babysat the second pyramid.

  “Has the Mimic moved since we left?” Jain asked.

  “Negative,” Cranston told him. “It’s been adrift.”

  “They’ve probably been repairing all this time,” Jain said. “So be wary. It might try something now that we’ve brought along another pyramid. Speaking of which, this is close enough. Full halt.”

  Jain fired reverse thrust, and all three of them came to a halt. The pyramid they tugged continued forward until it reached the extents of the cables. And when the alien vessel had halted as well, the team members reeled in their grappling hooks—just in case Maxwell tried something.

  Jain fired a few shots from his barracuda into the wounds in Maxwell’s pyramid to remind him who was in charge.

  “Hey, that was uncalled for,” Maxwell said.

  Jain didn’t answer, and kept the line muted.

  “Gavin, join Sheila,” Jain said. “Make sure she
’s shielded as she goes in. Mark, Medeia, put some distance between yourselves and Maxwell’s pyramid here. In case he decides to fire at me after all… I don’t need the bolt arcing to you. But if he does fire, taking me down, feel free to spaghettify him with your black hole, Mark.”

  “With pleasure.” Mark moved the Grunt backward, and Medeia joined him in the Arcane.

  At the same time Gavin’s Hippogriff accelerated forward and joined Sheila, escorting the Wheelbarrow toward the second pyramid. He sent his three drones in front of her, and they formed a triangular pattern, activating the force field between them. The Hippogriff meanwhile stayed behind the Wheelbarrow so that Sheila’s vessel was between Gavin’s and the target.

  Abruptly the target pyramid activated its lightning weapon, and fired it directly at the Wheelbarrow. The bolt passed through the force field produced by Gavin’s drones and lost half its power before hitting Sheila’s shield, which again diminished its strength. The reduced bolt struck her hull, and the resultant electricity sparked weakly across her hull, seeming to cause no damage—her running lights remained active.

  “I knew it!” Jain unmuted Maxwell so that the alien could see the incriminating gaze Jain shot his way.

  Maxwell shrugged. “I didn’t know it would do that.”

  Sheila turned around in her station. “I’m fine. The induced electricity has already dissipated.”

  Jain angrily fired several energy cannon shots at the second pyramid, targeting previous wounds, and since it was unable to move, the vessel took them full bore.

  “You think you got the lightning weapon?” Mark asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jain said. “Maybe. But the point was only to vent my frustration.”

  He glanced at Maxwell, and realized the alien was listening in, and quickly muted him.

  Sheila decelerated, coming to a stop just above the damaged craft. She hovered next to the hull.

  “Don’t touch it,” Jain said. “We don’t need termites swarming over your hull.”

  “Don’t intend to,” Sheila said.

  Jain glanced at the incoming rift ship. It was a minute away, as predicted.