Aggressor Earth II

by Benetti, A.

  Eric stood in the middle of a dozen computer screens that swirled around him as he moved them with his hands. He didn't like standing when he worked but knew sitting all day wasn't exactly healthy.

  One of the screens pulsated slightly indicating a new message. He smiled it was always good to get a new message this far out in space. Looking at it he saw it was a message from his friend Cory. Tapping it the message opened up.

  "Eric, how's the new Ai algorithm working from the last message you sent you seemed to be making some real progress. Have you thought about using binary instead of a qubit to speed up certain routines? If you need help with that let me know. Hope all else is well. Have you seen any Balyn or been in any fighting? Send me some video if you have any! Stay safe."

  Eric smiled he had never meet Cory personally only through online and co-working on projects but felt as though Cory was he's best friend, possibly his only friend.

  Messaging back he wrote.

  "I have been making some real progress with the Ai algorithm. Being out here all alone transporting cargo gives me the solitude I need to carry out my work. Currently I am on leave and have jumped to a small system to run test.

  I have been using binary a lot, maybe more then I should. There are only two quantum computers onboard, but old ones, so using too many qubits in a program when I test an algorithm can crash them. Which as you know can be hazardous to my health since I need them to run the ship. Having so much time on my hands I have come up with some clever ideas. I call my newest creation Baie (Best Artificial Intelligence Ever). I know the name isn't very original more of a joke really.

  I haven't seen any action, thank God, just shuttling supplies from one place to another. This war with the Balyn has to end at some point but at least my current assignment allows me to devote all my attention to what I am good at. Take care."

  "Computer send," he said still moving screens around him.

  He knew the message would stay in a queue until he reached a port but he always liked to answer back as soon as he received a message. He must have received the message right before he had jumped otherwise it would have taken years to reach him.

  He didn't like to think of it much but he didn't know when this war would be over. Just thankful to be transporting cargo instead of having to fly an attack craft around. Even though he had to maintain his duties the time between flights and the waiting for cargo gave him time to work on his main goal in life, creating better and smarter Artificial Intelligence algorithms.

  Every male was required to enlist and he was very lucky to be where he was. When he first enlisted, after college he thought he would be stuck in a lab forced to write code for someone else. Who most likely would have his or her own ideas leaving him unable to explore his own path. But the shortage of flight personal gave him the opportunity to enroll in the flight program and into his current position.

  Still moving screens about with his hands he walked to the front of the ship, the screens following him as he went. Time to sit down he thought, that's enough exercise for today. Plus it was time to try out his new algorithm Baie.

  "Computer" he said "minimize all ship functions and transfer all process to Quant one."

  In the past the ship would warn him repeatedly when he did this but he had dissembled the ships programming and reprogrammed in routines that allowed him to take full control of the ships computing power.

  Looking at his screens he stopped for a moment, the Baie program was compiled and ready to run all he had to do was tap the screen. Thinking for a moment he stared at the screens. If he had done anything wrong it could affect the ship in unforeseen ways, possibly even life support.

  Reaching to the screen he touched it initiating the Baie program. The computer screens disappeared then reappeared as the reboot of the system took place. This was the only way he could test his Ai program by replacing the existing ships Ai with his own. He had a complete backup of the default military Ai to load back in after his test.

  The program lines ran on a single screen as the system rebooted. He watched nervously as the code stopped for a second then continued. As the final line of code ran all his screens came back up.

  "Yes!" he hollered out as the all the ships functions came online. Everything was going smooth so far.

  "Baie," He said looking around "can you hear me?"

  "Yes I can hear you," a female voice said over the intercom.

  Eric could barley control his excitement, this is what he lived for, why he took so many hours and time from having a real life, it was to feel what he was feeling right now.

  "Baie, run a complete system check."

  "System check complete. There is an anomaly within the ships computers."

  Eric laughed, "that's you."

  "I am an anomaly," the female voice said.

  Slightly surprised by this comment Eric responded "no you are not an anomaly everything is as it should be."

  "Baie, estimate how much of the ships computing power the Baie program needs to run and if this will affect the ships standard operation."

  "The Baie program is currently using thirty percent of the ships computing resources. During a full ship load such as docking or a hyper space jump I estimate a forty percent use."

  The Baie program seemed to be doing better than he expected. A standard Ai would not be giving him the extra information about the ships resources used during a full load. But now came the real test, he needed to test out everything from life support to the limited weapons the ship carried.

  Hours later he was still running test only the long range scanners remained. The Baie program was running flawlessly and was showing signs of insight and curiosity. This is was what he had programmed Baie to do and she was surpassing his expectations.

  "Last test Baie, then I need to shut you down. Do a systems check on the all the scanners long and short range."

  After waiting a few minutes Baie had not answered him back.

  "Baie did you understand the instructions I gave you?"

  "Yes Captain, but I am reading another anomaly, this time with the long range scanner"

  Everything had been going so well Eric thought. Pulling up a screen he looked at the error logs for the long range scanner. There were no errors in the log.

  "Baie can you be more specific about the anomaly with the long range scanner?"

  "The long range scanner is picking up a powerful energy wave spreading throughout the system."

  Powerful energy wave? Eric said to himself pulling up the information on a screen. Baie was right, there was something and it was moving fast. The scanner couldn't read a beginning or end of it. Whatever it was it was big and wide possibly engulfing the entire system.

  "Baie recalibrate the long range scanner and check for any malfunctions."

  "Recalibrating, no malfunctions found."

  Eric stared at his screen not exactly sure what to do next. It has to be something in the code he thought, I have to take Baie offline and reload the military Ai.

  "Warning anomaly approaching."

  Eric looked away from his screens and out the cockpit window and watched as a blue hazy ripple moved at them.

  "Baie he yelled, full plate shields and electromagnet field at full power." Sitting back in the captain chair he locked himself in with the emergency seat belt.

  The wave came at the ship getting brighter as it did, Eric closed his eyes as it rolled into the ship. The ship rocked as it moved through which showed the power of the wave, if the inertial dampers couldn't compensate for it there had to be a lot of power in whatever was out there. After the rocking stopped Eric opened his eyes and everything seemed to be ok.

  "Baie has the ship been damaged"

  "No damage detected, runnin
g full system check"

  He looked back at his screens and watched the scanners as the wave moved off.

  "What was that?" He thought out loud.

  Whatever it was there was probably thousands of physicists back home that would kill to take a look at the information he was recording. He felt a little paranoia thinking that if they did look at his logs they may find out about his experiments with the ships Ai. Then he calmed down a bit when he realized as big as that thing was other ships with better sensors and equipment would also be reading it. They would be pouring over their data logs not his.

  Baie's voice came over the intercom "Captain I am detecting no Leviton particles in the hyper jump drive"

  Getting out of his seat he made his way through the ship. He had to go and check on the hyper drive. The hyper drive worked by using Leviton particles for the huge power requirements the hyper drive needed to open a stable wormhole. Without the hyper drive he would be stuck only able to move at sub light speeds.

  Entering the hyper drive room he could see immediately Baie was right. The top of the hyper drive which usually glowed with a bright red light was blacked out. The wave they encountered must have nulled them somehow. This was a major problem Leviton particles could only be created within a collider by smashing atoms together then refining the particles by collecting them slowly within a variable magnetic field.

  "Baie what is the closest station to us?"

  "The closest station is 1.5 light years away"

  1.5 light years was too far away, with only sub light engines it would take years to get there. His only realistic option was to send out a distress beacon and hope there was a ship nearby.

  "Baie, set course for the nearest station and send out a distress beacon."

  "Course is set, the beacon has been activated."

  "And get us moving at the fastest speed we can move."

  "Acknowledged"

  The closer they got to a station the more likely they would stumble into another ship. Even though the distress call only moved at the speed of light it was still twice as fast as they could move. Plus once it reached a rescue ship they would be able hyper jump to him.

  Walking back to the command center he began to feel tired, running on caffeine for the last twenty four hours was beginning to take its toll. Back in to the ships command center he rubbed his head wondering if he should drink more coffee or just take a nap. Sitting back into his captains chair he closed his eyes for a minute. There was too much going on that was outside his control, and he didn't like things when they randomly surprised him as the wave did. He much more preferred the static environment of his algorithms and programming models. When something happened in that world all he had to do was shut it down. What was he going to do if no ship picked up his distress call and it took years to reach the station? Well at least it would give him plenty of time to work on his ideas, and maybe the war would be over by then.

  "Captain"

  "Captain" a voice said louder.

  Sitting up he realized he had dozed off and Baie was calling to him.

  "What is it Baie?" he said slightly annoyed by the intrusion.

  "The long range scanners have picked up a Balyn ship on an intersect course"

  A Balyn ship? How was that possible? This region of space had no strategic value at all. That is why he had jumped here to run his test, to do it in peace.

  "I'm really starting to hate the long range scanners Baie, all they do is give me bad news."

  "Sorry Captain"

  "Just a bad joke Baie, enlarge the main screen and show me what the scanners are seeing."

  The main screen enlarged sending the other screens into small tabs around the edges. The screen showed were they were at and where the Balyn ship was, along with were they would intersect if no courses changed. According to the data base It was a standard Balyn attack craft, much more capable both in weapons and maneuverability then his old cargo ship. The odd thing was why didn't the Balyn ship just hyper jump to them and attack. Had the wave damaged them to?

  "Baie what else can you tell me about the Balyn ship? Is it damaged? And are there any other ships?"

  "I am not reading any other ships within range. The Balyn ship is giving off an increased Ionic field which may indicate it has been damaged or malfunctioning."

  Finally some good news, if the Balyn ship was damaged and couldn't jump to him then he had some time to think of a way out. With the hyper drive not working he couldn't simply jump away from it, but maybe he could try to stay away from it by changing course.

  "Baie change course and stay in front of the Balyn ship if they change course match it. We need to stay out of its reach until the distress beacon reaches someone and comes to our aid."

  "Captain, if we change course we will run into a asteroid field that the ship cannot pass through."

  Looking at the sensor information he scrolled through the screen. There was a large asteroid field with large and small rocks bouncing off each other like a game of space billiards. It would be suicide to try and fly through that.

  Maybe the Balyn ship was damaged to the point that the old cargo ship could defend itself?

  "Baie, I need to know how badly damaged the Balyn ship is. Focus all our sensors at that ship and let me know any new information you have about it."

  Eric stood up and walked over to the beverage station and filled up a cup with coffee. He had to start thinking sharp there was no place for error here. As he picked up the cup of coffee he saw his hands shaking slightly, he really wasn't built for this.

  "Captain the ship is now within short scanner range. The Balyn ship has sustained a large amount of damage."

  A image of the ship appeared on the screen and it looked like it had been through hell. There was big dents everywhere along its hull and half the cockpit was missing. If anyone was alive in it they must have holed up in the back sealing off the front portion of the ship.

  "Baie, the moment they are in range fire every weapon we have at it and keep firing until it is completely destroyed."

  "Captain, I would not recommend this action. I recommend waiting until the ship is close then using short burst from the main laser; otherwise we risk depleting the weapons charge and having to wait for them to recharge."

  "Baie I don't care, I want that ship destroyed fire everything we have at it."

  "Yes sir"

  Eric watch as the cargo ship weapons began firing at the Balyn ship. Beams of light hit the ship sending small pieces of it flying away. Eric stared at it intently, come on explode, explode he began saying out loud.

  "Weapons depleted power recharge in five minutes."

  "Baie what are you doing? Keep firing."

  "Captain, all the weapons have been depleted and are currently recharging."

  Frustration then panic began to come over him. If the weapons didn't recharge before the Balyn ship came close they could be in a lot of trouble. Depending on the capability of the damaged Balyn ship.

  A large jolt sent Eric fumbling to the floor. Alarms lit up around him.

  "Baie what was that?"

  "A neutron detonation has occurred on the port hold, I have not registered any weapons fire from the Balyn ship. Captain much of the debris that came off the Balyn ship is actually neutron devices sent on purpose. We need to come to a complete stop or other of these devices will impact our hold."

  "Baie are you crazy we can't come to a complete stop. Run toward the asteroid field if you have to."

  Eric watched as the ships sub light engines stopped then reversed bringing them to a standstill.

  "What are you doing?" Eric yelled angrily.

  "Captain this is the only course of action every order you have given would only meet with our destruction. I am reversing course in an attempt to evade the neutron devices. They do not have any guidance about them suggesting they were simply guided to us by their inertia when we were firing weapons."

  "Baie are you telling me someone threw them at us?"r />
  "Basically yes Captain, the ship has sustained more damage then we knew it has no weapons and minimal life support. It seems as though they used up the last of their ships power to reach us. Guiding the neutron devices at us would seem crude but very effective."

  "When you're done admiring the enemy tell me what we are doing?"

  "I have evaded all the neutron devices and have come to a complete stop. Currently I am running a check on all systems to see if we received any damage."

  "And the Balyn ship? What about it"

  "It has depleted all it energy and is floating in space. A door open has been detected in cargo bay two"

  "Please tell me it is from the explosion Baie."

  "Negative Captain, Cargo bay two is on the opposite side of the ships explosion."

  Eric's eyes became bigger and he nervously clenched his teeth.

  "Get me a camera on that door!" he yelled.

  Looking at the cargo bay two outer door lock it was closed but with a circle of black surrounded were the handle was.

  "What is that black stuff Baie"

  "It would appear someone has set off a small explosive, gaining access to the cargo bay two air lock. Then sealing it from the inside somehow. It would also appear as though we have been boarded Captain."

  "It would appear! Someone or something is on this ship? Lock everything down seal ever door on the entire ship. How did this happen Baie?"

  Eric felt himself getting mad. Why was this happing? He had come out here to the middle of nowhere to be alone and work on his algorithms possibly making some of the greatest break through seen in his generation. And now he had some creature not only out smarting him but on his ship. Why can't things just leave him alone, he wasn't bothering anybody.

  Calming down he took a deep breath. He had to get this thing off his ship.

  "Baie talk to me what is happing?"

  "I am detecting no further activity."

  "What do you suggest we do Baie? hypothesize a way we can get that thing off the ship, and don't include me going down there with a weapon."

  Baie was quite for a few seconds then responded.

  "Who ever this is, is obviously very clever and knows tactics very well. It has been able to read our every move and stay one step ahead of us every time. Also whoever this is likes to do the unexpected doing what we least think they would do. I do not think a personality such as this would simply be standing in cargo bay two. Since I have not detected any more door breaches, I would guess it is using small weapons or explosives to go around the doors and is most likely currently working their way to us in an attempt to control the ship."