by D. R. Rosier
He nodded slowly in thought, “It would be better if we could find stability before that breakthrough, maybe a treaty forcing all signers to share if they breakthrough first? The idea is kind of frightening, Earth will be in trouble if they send out vessels from a bunch of different countries, with a bunch of different moral standards, most of which are probably looking to be exploitive. The galaxy will eat them alive if they try politics as usual, with caveat emptor.”
Ted replied, “I agree. So… will you drop by Earth after a quick visit here, and then talk to Celia?”
Celia being the prime minister.
He blew out a breath and suppressed the urge to ask why him. He knew why, his father couldn’t do it, and none of the other A.I.s would stand up for themselves. Some of his human brothers and sisters might be able to, but none of them were half A.I. or had his qualifications. Plus, he wouldn’t wish this on his worst enemy, much less family.
Of course, that was exactly what his father was doing…
Would he ever get to explore, and go on a honeymoon? He was beginning to doubt it. Still, he wasn’t sure he could help, or even how to help, but he was willing to try. He also wasn’t that positive on the being eaten alive part. Humans were a violent species, and brilliant when it came to making war. He didn’t believe they could match the A.I.s advances into Subspace level two or the power cores very quickly, since A.I.s had a large advantage in focus, intellect, and speed of thought.
But he also knew they would advance much more quickly than the other races. He hoped they would go out to make friends, make money, and trade. He feared they would make war as soon as they had the upper hand. The question was how to get them to a point where they wouldn’t see a reason to act in that way. For most humans that would be simple, most humans just wanted to do their thing, but for the ambitious and powerful leaders of the world, some of which, or possibly most, were corrupted by that power? He feared that would be impossible.
Still, his sense of duty and responsibility from his station, his family, and his conscience would force him to at least try, but it wasn’t a decision he could make on his own.
He finally replied, “Probably, but no promises yet. We’re about to land and meet Miroth’s leader, and I don’t have time to run it by the ladies first. I’ll let you know tomorrow, or possibly the next day.”
He wasn’t stupid, he wouldn’t make a large decision like that, which could put them on Earth for an indeterminate amount of time and mess with their plans, without giving his ladies input. Alyndra probably wouldn’t care because of the life-bonded thing, and Chrystal would let him get away with it, but be hurt all the same. Nadia… would kick his ass, figuratively and quite possibly literally, and he’d deserve it. Sometime in the future of his life, he knew he would have to make important snap decisions without consulting them, simply because there wouldn’t be time for anything else, but this wasn’t one of those times.
He was also sure he’d need their help, Chrystal was a psychiatrist, and Nadia was an ex-spy. Not to mention, Alyndra could read minds. It might be an impossible job, but with his ladies behind him and supporting him, it might be possible.
Probably not, might as well try for world peace and a united world, but it was more possible with than without. At the very least, he’d be able to figure out what they were thinking.
Ted laughed in his mind, “Wise decision son. A happy woman is a happy home, and when you have more than one woman that truth is multiplied.”
The ladies were all looking at him with questions in their eyes.
“I’ll explain later, something came up back home my father wants me to look into. We don’t really have time to get into it now, I told him I’d let him know later, after I talk to all of you.”
The ship was directed to land in the parking lot a short walk from the palace. The palace itself looked both large and small, being surrounded by skyscrapers. Yet, it was surrounded by lawns and small groves of trees right in the center of the city, and at a glance he knew there were several hundred rooms in the place.
Chrystal said, “We’ve been instructed to wait here for an escort. It should only be a few minutes.”
He shrugged, that was fair, they were a few minutes early after all. Since he suddenly had time, he took a few moments to lay out the problem his father had brought him, and waited for feedback.
Nadia sighed, “That’s fairly important, I have no objection to putting off our exploration. Any idea what we’d be aiming for?”
Chrystal said, “I agree with Nadia, but I have no idea where to start either.”
Alyndra said, “Convince your ally Australia to call for a world summit or convention.”
He tilted his head, “To what end?”
Alyndra replied, “Many have been done on your world, a lot of them failures. Some however were not. I seriously doubt anyone could get all the disparate countries to agree to anything on Earth itself, but perhaps a shared code of laws and conduct for how to act in space would be possible. Much like your Geneva convention covers what constitutes war crimes between all countries. Another at least partially successful one was nuclear proliferation. If at all possible, Mars should be included.”
He grunted, and looked out the viewport to see several soldiers moving their way in combat armor, along with Dahlia in her blue dress.
“That’s as good an idea as any I’ve come up with, so you three are behind this idea?”
They all nodded, and he wondered if he’d ever get to do what he wanted, instead of what was required. He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself, not exactly anyway. He was just a bit frustrated, it seemed like he did nothing but go from one crisis to another. He also knew that taking out the Kascorix galactic empire was child’s play compared to getting humans to get along with not only each other, but A.I.s and alien species as well.
He laughed, “Alright, let’s go to dinner and try to enjoy ourselves. We can brainstorm about this in a day or two once we’ve all had time to think about it. I suppose we’ll have to brief Dahlia as well, after tonight.”
Nadia said, “Can’t argue with that, after the last few months we all need a break, and enjoying Miroth and Selana-Esari will fit the bill. Earth will still be there in a couple of days.”
He stood up and they all followed suite and left the shuttlecraft.
Chapter Five
Dahlia looked him up and down with a soft smile on her face.
“Welcome to Miroth. Our leader is eager to meet you.”
He replied, “Thanks Dahlia, it’s good to be here.”
He made some effort to keep his eyes above her neckline, the blue dress she had on was alluring to say the least. In a way, it showed even less than the skintight suit she wore on the ship that went under her armor, but it was much sexier.
She said, “This way,” and the four of them followed Dahlia on the walkway to the palace, the guards took positions around them for the trip.
He felt a bit nervous, but he knew he really had no reason to be. He’d helped drive off the Kascorix invaders from around their world, and Miroth’s people had joined him to take the war to the enemy. There was a bond there.
They were led into the palace without ceremony, though he wasn’t expecting anything like that from the straight forward Mirosians. Their race let their actions speak for themselves. The palace was impressive, but not gaudy. There was ancient armor on display, and other art depicting battle on the smooth and polished white stone walls.
The honor guard turned off as they entered a dining room. The large table looked to seat twenty, and outside of the five of them, including Dahlia, was an older man who he assumed to be the leader, his wife, and his two children. With the nine of them, only one half of the table was set which told him the dinner wouldn’t be filled with pomp either.
He felt a little ashamed at his assumption when the older female stood up. He really should know better. To be fair, his translation software included father as a possible translation, clearly it was an ol
d usage. He also should have found out this information before ever getting to this room, apparently the world leader here was a woman. He wasn’t surprised by the fact, just annoyed at himself for making the assumption it would be the male because of a translation issue.
She nodded to them as a group, “Welcome to my world, I hope our two peoples can continue together after such an auspicious start. I would like to thank you both personally, and for my people, for coming to our aid.”
He replied, “Thank you, I would like our worlds to move forward together as well. I also thank you for the warriors who made subduing the Kascorix empire possible.”
She waved at the empty seats and they all sat down.
She said, “You may call me Anais. First, I’d like to introduce my husband Jerar, son Jerad, and daughter Anahlia. Jerad and Anahlia are still serving, but were able to get leave in order to meet with you all.”
He found that interesting, everyone served in the military for four hundred years on this world, even the leader’s children. The Mirosian people didn’t have nearly the variety of appearances as Earth did. Jerad, Anahlia, along with their mother and father all had golden blonde hair, and vivid blue eyes. A human wouldn’t be able to perceive a difference, but his android eyes could tell there were some small differences in shading.
Anais and Jerar looked to be about fifty in human appearance, so he knew they were at least seven hundred, perhaps eight hundred years old. Jerad and Anahlia looked to be in their late teens, or young twenties, he wasn’t really sure, he guessed they were probably two to three hundred. It was hard to tell really, and probably not that important.
They were all strikingly attractive, but he was used to that after spending months with Dahlia and her cohort of ten thousand warriors.
He nodded at them, “A pleasure to meet you.”
Anahlia asked, “So, you’re the ones responsible for the simulated training program?”
Anais cleared her throat, “Business after dinner, let’s not stand on ceremony and enjoy our meal.”
Anahlia blushed.
There were platters with different meats and vegetables, and something that looked like potatoes, some kind of starch perhaps. There were no servants around, and he hadn’t seen any since entering the palace. This meal with a world leader would be in family style, and unpretentious. He was impressed with the Mirosian people, and tonight so far had just highlighted that fact.
Anais taking a portion of what looked like a sausage seemed to break the ice and everyone else grabbed some portions as well, and passed the plates around. The food was excellent, if a little different from Earth foods. The topics of conversation during dinner were light, and for the most part Alyndra, Chrystal, and even Nadia shared small talk as he watched.
He wasn’t nearly as nervous by the end of dinner, as he’d been when it had started. Anais was charming, and her husband and children were engaging, and seemed genuinely happy and excited to have them there. It was hard to believe how short a time it had been since the day he reached his majority, and his father had asked him to check on something for him on Earth.
So much had changed. No, he hadn’t gotten to do his exploring, or putter around in a lab and do some engineering. But his life was extremely rich with Chrystal, Alyndra, and Nadia in it. Dahlia’s friendship meant a great deal to him as well. It was just surreal, knowing he was a senator, and dining with a world leader.
He didn’t really see himself as that special, but he knew his ladies would disagree, so never showed his doubts if he could help it. The humans had a saying for it, fake it until you make it. That’s pretty much how he saw the last handful of months of his life.
When dinner was complete, things got a bit more serious subject wise.
Anais said, “As my daughter alluded earlier, we are interested in the training technology. I know your ships and technology are restricted, but I wonder about additional things for the VR interfaces through the medical tech that you’ve already provided.”
He nodded, “We can certainly discuss it, what did you have in mind?”
Anais replied, “The suit training, for times there is no field training available on planet, or for scenarios is great. I understand my warriors were also taught how to fly your ships with the mental interface through their armor.”
He just nodded for her to continue.
She said, “We were wondering if it was possible to devise a virtual training interface for our ships, which are currently being rebuilt now with the latest advancements. We also wanted more scenarios. Obviously, the training scenarios for the Kascorix are not needed anymore. But say for the Canosians against the day they show up, or perhaps some kind of matrix where we could tailor our own.”
He smiled, “There is nothing in our laws to prevent it. I’m positive I could find an A.I. who would be interested, if not myself. Should I have them work through Dahlia for that, and to figure out compensation?”
She said, “That sounds good.”
He nodded, “Just one thing. Our simulations of battle against the Kascorix were good for a couple of reasons. One, they had a playbook, and had to stick to it, their leaders didn’t encourage original thinking, and actually punished it. The second reason was because we had the designs and capabilities of their ships and weapons after getting a database.
“While we could use sensor data for the Canosians, and generally know how they swarmed the Kascorix with their ships, that doesn’t mean they would fight us in the same way. Still, it would be realistic, but unlike the Kascorix we don’t know all the ways they fight.”
Anais smirked, “I understand the limitations, but it’s better than nothing, and will give us practice defending against them. There are only so many tactics to swarm a large ship with a great number of fighters, we will adapt, and consider all the approaches on how we would do it.”
He couldn’t argue with that, and he didn’t want to. He just wanted to make sure she understood the limitations. They couldn’t simulate something they didn’t know, either by capability or tactics.
They talked over their drinks for a little while longer. The major thing was that the A.I.s didn’t really need anything. That wouldn’t stop him from charging resources, or some kind of mutual defense, or something. He wouldn’t see his people abused, even though he knew at least a million or so would do it just to alleviate a few hours of boredom.
Overall, the dinner with Miroth’s leading family went very well, and he was more than pleased as they headed back to the ship. He forwarded the requests and ideas to his family, he knew they’d get it disseminated out to the A.I. population. This all felt like a step in the right direction for Mars, now if they could only get the humans to treat the A.I.s as well as aliens did, that would be a trick.
Chapter Six
Alyndra said, “You do know I’m your life sworn right?”
He laughed, “Maybe, but giving you pleasure gives me pleasure, would you like me to stop?”
It was the next morning, and they were pampering Alyndra in bed. She was laying back against Chrystal, sitting between her legs, who was massaging her neck and shoulders, and playing with her silky white blonde hair, while he and Nadia were giving her foot and ankle massages. Alyndra looked like she was really enjoying it.
Alyndra laughed, “No, far be it from me to deny you pleasure Mike,” she said with a soft sigh of contentedness.
He snickered.
“Have you contacted your father?”
They were going to Selana-Esari for several reasons. One of which was because they were invited back for a celebration after the danger had passed. They’d been in too much of a rush to get to Feilia the first time they were there. Secondly, he wanted Alyndra to have the opportunity to see her father again, and he was sure this wouldn’t be the last time either. Third, he was hoping to form some kind of treaty or alliance directly with Mars, so if anything similar happened again they could assist without putting the Esari people in debt again. It was a way to prevent any
more life-sworn debts between their people, both ways since Mars would be forced to honor their customs if things were reversed.
The last reason was a little more selfish, it would delay his return home by a day. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with the boiling pot of Earth-Mars relations, and he knew he’d have to help deal with it before he could finally go exploring, inventing, and just enjoy his mates. Sometimes he thought that would never happen, life plans were something you made while life happened. Still, someday it would happen. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have time.
Alyndra nodded, “Yes, he knows were coming this morning. He’s set aside some time to talk with me this morning, lunchtime he’ll meet all of us and we can discuss formal relations between the worlds. The afternoon is open, and then there will be a celebration feast that night.”
He smiled, “Sounds good, maybe the rest of us could check out the city in the morning while you’re with your father? As far as the afternoon, I’d love to see where you used to go on walks and to see the countryside.”
Alyndra shook her head, “You’re spoiling me.”
He moved his hands higher and started to work on her calf, Nadia followed his lead.
Alyndra moaned.
“Just trying to get to know you better, and maybe I am, just a little. I’m also depending on you during those discussions to prevent any social missteps, and to make sure both Mars and Selana-Esari come out well on the other side of them.”
Alyndra nodded, “I can do that.”
He reluctantly took his hands off her toned silky legs, he wanted nothing better than to allow his hands to keep wandering higher, but they were out of time.
“We should get into the shower, and get going.”
They were still in orbit around Miroth. That wasn’t a big deal though, Chrystal could have them in orbit of Selana-Esari before they were done in the shower. Dahlia was already aboard, and in her own cabin, and they’d said their goodbyes last night to Miroth, so they were ready to go.
