Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  “Heat! We found a modification that was created for clones sold to Diablo, a colony world that eventually failed for other heat related reasons. However, the clones fared reasonably well in even higher heat than we have on Koban. The problem here is that there is also a more severe winter than most warm worlds usually experience. There is a mod for cold adaptations as well, but we need to find a gene switch to activate one or the other, as the seasons require. The ‘Hot mod’ is ready for testing however.” She held up a second finger.

  “Strength! That was a common request from clone customers, and it is easily implemented as well. However, as I told you before, there is a limit to what human muscle tissue will tolerate because we were not born as gorillas. Don’t mess with a Krall no matter how powerful you feel.” A third finger was raised.

  “Endurance! An equally common request for clones, but there is a trade off with strength because there is only so much muscle mass we can give you, even with exercise, and it will be shared between fast twitch and slow twitch cells.

  “If we inject for both traits, you would eventually be stronger, and last longer, but neither trait is as great as if you received one modification alone. The consensus was, three hundred years ago, that you should do both if the clone was general purpose, and just one if it had need for only one advantage. I think both would be needed in our general circumstances.” A fourth finger was raised.

  “Epidermis and Skin! We have some mods to toughen our skin against chafing and scratches, to promote wound healing and automatically reduce bleeding. However, we have to study what impact it has on the heat modification that also includes some skin changes. Not ready.

  “Vascular system and lungs! Possible to improve, but this is much more complex, and it takes longer to do. Not Ready.

  “Rather than list more that we can do but are not ready to even test, let’s examine what we have ready, and how long they take to see improvements.

  “The first four: metabolism, heat, strength, and endurance can be implemented reasonably quickly.”

  “The Metabolism mod should produce beneficial effects in one or two days with some diet and supplement help.

  “The same two days for the heat tolerance mod and the two diets can be combined, and some of the supplements are the same.

  “Strength or endurance, will start to implement in a day or two, but it takes time to build the muscle mass and new cells. You need diet and exercise and the same supplements we take now, but we would make better use of those supplements with this mod and shorten the time for muscle growth. But it could be weeks to a month for devoted exercise to make a significant difference.”

  Mirikami asked, “What happens if you implement all four at once?”

  “What’s the rush? We have four week at least.”

  Looking around the table in warning to the others, Mirikami told her. “For the sake of discussion shall we say, if we wanted results in a test subject that are usable in three days from right now, can any or all of these be started simultaneously for good results?”

  Aldry caught his look at the others, and instantly knew he wanted them to keep quiet. That meant this was no hypothetical question. She had heard this morning of the announced Testing Day in three or four days, so clearly the Captain’s question was connected to that in some way. Her answer potentially had life or death implications for some or all of those sixteen selected, she assumed.

  “Tet,” she started cautiously. “I believe there were tests on clones that did apply multiple enhancements at once, to see what would happen. There were mixed results, and some complex changes, which we aren’t prepared to inject anyway, resulted in clone death.

  “Of the four mods we have ready, and I’ll have to get Jake to comb the records, I think they could all be started at one time, but the two longer developing mods for strength and endurance would progress considerably slower. I’m sure they would divert much of the body’s resources from the metabolism and heat mods, slowing those improvements.

  “Plus there are potentially debilitating side effects to consider. These come about because our viruses are all infectious agents, and we have to use immune system repression to prevent the body from opposing their introduction, at least initially. There will be fever for the first day or two, and for muscle growth there will be a lot of aches and pains. You also have to be wary of outside infections with your immune system repressed.

  “Fortunately, one of the existing general population modifications you didn’t list is our improved immune systems, which accounts for a lot of disease reduction, and the disappearance of many infections from the population due to lack of hosts.

  “The population of Koban Prime has stayed pretty healthy without a doctor or pharmacy because of this, and like most alien planets, the majority of infectious agents here did not evolve to attack us, nor ours to attack them. The old ‘germs’ from outer space fears proved overblown in hind sight.

  “Even with a lowered immune system, there probably are only a few things we can catch; the previously called ‘common cold’ is still one, but it will only last twenty four to thirty six hours anyway. After about a day our little ‘super viruses’ will have entered the targeted cells and be out of sight of the immune system, inserting their changes, so we can stop suppressing.”

  Now she lowered two of her four fingers.

  “But I think we can only employ the first two on short notice, for metabolism and heat, with a chance for success in the time limit you mentioned.” Now she looked around the table, a stern look in her eyes.

  “Who are the test subjects? The sixteen people selected? I will not inject them with anything we made without full disclosure of what we are doing.”

  “Not to worry Aldry. I’m only considering one person. Myself.”

  “What?” She almost recoiled from him.

  There’s that same damned reaction, he thought.

  Then Dillon made his own case for the injections, pointing out that since he was also going on the mission, it was as reasonable to test the enhancements on him, and that he was definitely well informed as to the risks.

  In one hour, Mirikami and Dillon were rubbing their sore arms, calves, shoulders, and buttocks from the massive aerosol injections they had just received. This was despite equally massive objections from Aldry and her three teams of still learning “experts.”

  The trip to the pharmacy was short, because they stored most of the required supplements in the labs for safekeeping.

  The pharmacy items Mirikami had wanted to check on were more of the kind that go “bang” than the kind you swallow. They were starting to produce plastic explosives in the compartments around the now missing main engines. However, the triggering devices needed small amounts of more sensitive chemicals that could be mixed by the automated pharmacy equipment, using programming instructions Jake had located in old records.

  Satisfied that the machine shop would have the material to assemble what he had asked for later, he went to eat. His sense of satisfaction wasn’t long lasting.

  The pile of food, some of which he didn’t like, and large hard to swallow uncoated vile tasting supplement pills was daunting to Mirikami’s palate. He normally ate moderately, and much less red meat. He and Dillon were receiving an unfair share of the dwindling meat stores he thought.

  He sighed, under the watchful eyes of both Noreen and Maggi, who had practically sworn an oath to Aldry to make them stay with the regimen she had printed out and handed to the two men.

  Dillon always ate hearty, but because of his larger body mass, he also had a proportionately larger amount of food to consume. After the genetic changes were inserted in the cells and switched on, via the “messenger” signals that were also part of the injections, their bodies would soon be “demanding” materials to work with, and it had better already be in their blood streams before then.

  Thad had been provided with a wired ship com Link in his quarters, which was tied into Jake’s growing communications net in the d
ome. He managed to connect to Mirikami by dialing some random numbers, being forwarded by a crewmember when he didn’t find the Captain on the Bridge or in his quarters, the only numbers he knew.

  The Koban Committee had been discussing the possibility of making Thad the first person outside of the Flight of Fancy’s complement to receive one of the few remaining transceivers. He wasn’t “officially” aware of Jake’s existence, but he knew about their embedded communication devices, having deduced their existence on the first day he met with them.

  “Tet, I expected you back over here by now, for the scouting mission you wanted to make. Did something come up that you need to reschedule, or did the Ladies I saw you arguing with as you walked to the ship talk you out of your lunacy?”

  Regretting having put the com set on speaker, Mirikami forced a mouthful of food down with a quick gulp of mineral laden liquid. It made him grimace with the taste.

  Before he could speak, Maggi took her opportunity. “Thad, he’s chewing his lunch at the moment, but no he did not let us talk him out of his insanity. In fact, he’s crazier that we thought, and made a second rash decision right after that. That’s why he’s late…. Oh, quit waving me to be quiet Tet.” She said off to the side.

  Clearing his oversized mouthful, Mirikami finally could speak. “Thad, I’m sorry, we will be making that trip as soon as I finish eating. I have a rather large meal being forced on me, which I will explain to you when we meet. I’d like you to come over here however, because I plan to use one of our own shuttles to make the scouting go faster and to let us cover more territory.”

  “That beats a bumpy truck ride, and I’ve not seen the compound from the air. We weren’t allowed in the Krall cockpit on hunts, and they don’t consider passenger windows essential to a nice flight. Are we getting out? I’ll still wear my armor if so.”

  “I hadn’t thought about armor, I only tried a set on just the one time, but I’d like to look around, even if I’ll be going back out again later today or tomorrow.”

  “Tell me what your size was and I can check a set out, and bring it over.”

  Dillon told him, “I need a set as well, can you bring two?”

  When he answered in the affirmative, they told him their sizes, and he switched off, after saying he’d be there in thirty minutes.

  Maggi asked, “How can he carry two of those suits and all the guns he wears too?”

  “He can manage. The suits are ultra-light, only about fifteen pounds each even here. We thought they were more like human made light armor, which are at least forty pounds in one g. The Krall use either a material that the Olt’kitapi invented or one of the races the Krall enslaved did. The guns are partly made of a variation of that strong lightweight stuff I think.”

  “Why don’t the Krall warriors wear armor?” Noreen wondered.

  “They do have some. One of our people asked them that on the ship. They don’t like to be encumbered any more than we do, but heavy weapons, tanks, and artillery on a battlefield will convince them. I’m counting heavily on their thinking it isn’t needed against the guns they give us.”

  Tet stabbed a forkful of meat. “Now you two stop talking to us so we can eat this whole horse and cardboard box you gave us.”

  “Fine!” Maggi said. “You don’t need to respond you know, but we can still talk; you don’t even have to listen. That’s something you both have proven adept at doing.”

  Satisfied to have gotten in the last word, she and Noreen were content to let them eat in peace.

  When Greeves arrived, Mirikami called Ms. Jorl’sn to have her ready shuttle one for a local flight. He asked Noreen to escort the Colonel there to stow the suits, and to help Roni with the preflight.

  Feeling overfull, Mirikami went to the Bridge to make use of the Krall transceiver. Maggi and Dillon asked if they could come, so all three went to see what Telour might have to say about the scouting flight, and the two additions to the Training Day team.

  It took a few minutes for Telour to answer the call when the transmit button was pressed. They were not sure if he was actually some place away from his own unit, or because it was always sending, faked it by waiting.

  “Clan leader, I am not surprised you contact me. I know of the search for the two human cowards that have hidden themselves from selection. Do you claim immunity for any of the humans selected?”

  “I do not Telour. Instead I want to inform you that two additional humans will join that team, and that I will soon fly one of my small clan shuttles to examine the areas where they might fight.”

  “Two more will join this group? Are the two humans that are hiding to be sent? I did not think they had been found, or do you ask that we use our Katusha’s to help you search?”

  “The two additional fighters are not those two. I don’t believe any human would want those cowards standing with them in a fight. The two additional fighters come from my crew. They will test some of the new weapons to see if they offer us any advantage.”

  “The warrior novices will not know of the two additional enemy and they will face unexpected weapons. I approve your test of my plan clan leader.”

  “Thank you. I will work particularly hard to demonstrate your plan will work. But you offered to assist us in finding the humans we seek, was that with the tool you use to apply tattoo marks?”

  It sounded like a chance learn something about them.

  “Yes. If close, they can see the material in the ring of the tattoo. Your older captives have used them, and they know how to search. Are you requesting some of these to locate where the cowards hide? The dome is large.” He pointed out.

  “Yes I would ask that we be given as many as you permit us to have, and allow my crew mates to train on their use. Could we keep some for use in this training?” It was worth a shot.

  “None to keep, but I have one hand of them for you to use for one hand of days only. Our slave races cannot make new Katusha’s, and one day all will be gone. Before we received the Katusha’s from the Olt’kitapi we made status marks with small sharp…,” he paused. “The word sounds most like noodles, but that is a food. What is the word in Standard I seek?” He asked.

  “Telour, the word you mean is probably needles, which are small thin sharp metal rods that can also be used to put color in skin such as tattoos. Do you mean only the Olt’kitapi made Katusha’s for you?”

  “Yes, they are very old and each Krall received one when becoming a novice. Now there are many more Krall than when the Olt’kitapi still lived, and many tools were lost in war and some no longer work. Our greatest K’Tal said the tools are quantum machines, but the science of their making was lost when we destroyed the Olt’kitapi. We are returning now to our ancient tradition of marking status by our own hand.”

  “When and how will we receive these tools to help us search?”

  “Because you are not permitted on our level, I will send a K’Tal to deliver four Katusha’s to you. Place your clan mate where she can find them in the room you call Great Hall.”

  “She? The K’Tal is a female? None of us from the Flight of Fancy have seen one of your females.” Mirikami was surprised and curious.

  “I think you have seen them but did not know you had. Females are smaller than a mature male warrior, and the smell is very different, but humans cannot smell their own behind. Until a female is swollen and soon to lay eggs she looks the same as a male novice.”

  “My clan mate will wait where Training Day selections are posted. Thank you.”

  “If human fighting ability improves in this first test I will be pleased. I will speak to you if it goes badly.”

  There was an audible click, as if he had broken the connection, but Jake assured them by Link that the transceiver was still sending.

  Mirikami played up to the eavesdropper. “Telour has approved our test and the additional fighters, now we need to scout the possible territory of our battle ground each day to make our plans. We had better get going.” He resisted the temptati
on to say he’d like to shove a grenade into a Krall orifice.

  Once out of range of the Bridge transceiver, he told Cal Branson where to wait for the K’Tal delivering the Katusha’s, and told him to bring them to the ship first for analysis. If there was time later, they might even look for the criminals.

  His entourage in tow, Mirikami made his way to shuttle bay one, where Thad had taken the armor, and Jorl’sn with Noreen’s help had had finished the preflight check.

  Thad showed Mirikami and Dillon how to open the clamshell torso of their armor sets, and slide into and attach the legs and arms. The helmets activated the visor system once in place, giving them infrared and ranging recticles.

  Then he showed how they could zoom on objects and read the ranges using chin and tongue press controls. There was enhanced external audio amplification, and the com system was decent, but subject to interception and directional detection by Krall warriors if used in the field.

  There were outer attachment points for weapons belts and clips. The suits were as light as promised, but felt confining and would still contribute to tiring out any user that wasn’t Koban adapted.

  Thad cautioned that a skeeter would scent where body odor came out of gaps, and could sting and bite you if you ignored the small gaps that might be revealed when you sat down or twisted your body. wolfbats, if you were not actively fighting them off could get through the armor as well. Kants would find their way in at multiple weak spots.

  34. Scout Mission

  All six people in the bay wanted to make the flight, since the little shuttle had eight seats and a storage area. There was a small airlock if needed, but in a breathable atmosphere, a side hatch for the storage area could also slide open for easier egress.

  Noreen took the copilot seat next to Roni, who was their best pilot. Maggi and Thad took seats behind them where they could see out both the front and side ports. Dillon, and Mirikami, sat closer to the back so they wouldn’t step on or bump anyone getting in or out, feeling clumsy in the armor.