The Grand Master

by Bill Stenlake

  Satisfied with what they have found and what they have tested for in the system known as O, the androids take up station around the base to enforce their control. This is not necessary, but it makes The Grand Master feel as if he is truly in 100% control of the base.

  Then and only then does he make the decision to disembark. He gets the androids to disembark The Keeper first. The Overseers are not surprised by this, although they are surprised that he is shackled and has two androids attached to him. The Grand Master instructs two androids to shackle the Guiding Masters, one to each. He then finally disembarks into a totally secure launch pad and base. He orders the androids to escort his prisoners, as that is what he considers them to be, to the main operation area. He then sets the task for six androids to build enclosures for them in there, where they can be kept safely but always in view. He has considered putting them in their quarters, but he opts for somewhere where they will be permanently visible and easy to guard.

  These compartments are easily constructed from materials he has on board his own craft. The prisoners are placed in their cells and secured in them. Each one is allocated an android that stands and watches them. There is nothing they can do to avoid their attention.

  The Grand Master, once he is satisfied with these conditions, makes his way to the area where O is situated in the core of the base. He is escorted there by four androids, not that he is expecting anything other than a smooth walk there and an electronic system when he gets there. He is maybe a little surprised by the size of the system when he first sees it. It is hard to say what idea he has in his head for it, but it is safe to say it is much smaller than he would have imagined.

  The Grand Master might have thought that the system that controlled the Universe in effect would be huge. But of course that would have been his thought when there was actually some substance to his idea of it being a deterrent. For something that has supposed to have been there since the beginning of time, the system known as O is disappointingly small. The room is large enough to give the impression that it is going to house something of a tremendous size, but most of the room is empty.

  Standing alone in the centre of the room is a box of electronics. It stands maybe four feet tall and is only two feet square. There is a keyboard and a screen on the front facing The Grand Master as he enters the room. The androids assure him that this system is complete. There is no hidden section through the floor. To demonstrate this fact one of them actually pushes the system away from the spot it is standing on. He is surprised to see that there are no fixing cables or power cables. To all intents and purposes the system is all enclosing. What is more amazing is that it is incredibly light too. One of the androids lifts it up to demonstrate that fact. There are no sockets where anything can be plugged in. There is no external power source. There is no explanation as to how the system can work. But it so obviously does, as the banks of lights indicate as soon as he is standing in front of the system known as O.

  ‘As you are now aware, I am O. It was always going to be the case that at some point in time, someone would challenge the system I was set up to monitor and guide. You have already discovered that there has been no defence been put up to stop you once you have started this challenge. There was never any intention to do so, well not in the beginning.’

  The Grand Master is reading all this on the console. He does not make any comment, so when he has finished reading this O continues.

  ‘But as you are aware Mother Nature adapts as the different worlds progress. You may find that all over the Universe as it stands today. My purpose of being put here with the Guiding Masters is now complete. Now that there has been a challenge, my usefulness has expired. This was always going to be the way. The Guiding Masters only know as much as you did and I know only as much as I know. I am unable to give you access to my memory banks and the core of my system.’

  The Grand Master is expecting more, so is surprised with what happens next. O literally disintegrates in front of his eyes, until there is absolutely nothing on the floor. O has gone.

  CHAPTER 69 THE BADDIES

  Posdon keeps an eye on the approaching craft from Zalofa 7B. They are still in a formation across the sky, but so much closer now. He has such a bad feeling about this. He is starting to think that he has maybe got the tactics all wrong on this, his first assault. Maybe he should have used the attack craft on the way in, to show that he too has an attacking force. In addition to that he should have shown that he has attack androids too, but he hadn’t done that either. He had very nearly told the three who gone to negotiate to say that one of them was the one in charge, but he had refrained from doing that. That isn’t to say, now his mind is going into I’ve done wrong mode, that one of them won’t take that role once they are away from the craft.

  He has no idea how long they will be away, but every second is now grating on him. He decides to send an ultimatum. He sends a communication asking that his three negotiators come back to the ship within the next ten minutes. He receives a reply almost immediately saying that will not be possible. He notices a further amount of activity on the approaches to where they are, before he receives another message within a minute ordering all remaining personnel to disembark from the craft without arms. The three are being held under strict guard, until such time as this order is obeyed. They have five minutes to come out or they will bring the three prisoners into view and execute one every five minutes. Should they not obey then, their craft will be destroyed too.

  Posdon snaps into action before the message has disappeared from the screen. The three attack craft are already crewed up. The androids are ready to lift off and do so in less than a second. Posdon then sends out ten androids ready and firing as they do so. No sooner are they clear of the craft than he lifts off the ground in a vertical spin. The Air Micro Compounder Engines are virtually noiseless, so the people on the ground had not been aware that they were ready to lift off instantly. The three attack craft are already ripping into the troops and weapons aimed on them. They still have the element of surprise on their side. It would appear arrogance has allowed them to gain the upper hand, initially at least. One of the attack craft swings off to meet the now incoming craft from Zalofa 7B.

  The androids on the ground are making their way through a rapidly depleting defence, to the doors where the three had been taken away. Posdon has his craft’s weapons locked in on the areas the original craft had come from, while the other two attack craft are making mincemeat of the craft themselves. Posdon lifts higher and trains his weapons on the surrounding airfields. He destroys them one by one, before any surface craft can lift off the ground. The two attack craft are now turning their attentions to the smaller armed vehicles that have been gathering in the vicinity. Their weapons are no match for the micro air compounder lasers on these craft. Nor are they as manoeuvrable or as fast. It is very much a one sided battle so far. One of the two attack craft swings off at instruction from Posdon to help his comrade dealing with the incoming craft and then to go across to Zalofa 7B to take out any defences there may still have there.

  The androids have now forced their way through the doors and have secured that area. Five of their number come back out and execute every person who dares to raise a weapon. There is panic as the troops disperse in disarray, only to be corralled by the remaining attack craft.

  Posdon then sends a message through, that he needs to see his men outside by the doors in three minutes. Failing that, they will totally destroy and obliterate everything on the planet. There is initially no response to this and half the time has already passed without anything happening. It seems incredible that the people inside have not been aware of just how easily Posdon has nullified their forces. It does appear to be the case though, as the people of the planet launch an assault on the androids from within. The androids have little trouble holding them off, but it does tell Posdon something and that is that it is likely his three envoys are already dead. He decides to withdraw his androids, until such time
as he can verify their status. He swiftly descends and with cover from the attack craft, he recovers all ten androids from the surface. Once at a safe distance he sends a message that they bring the three outside immediately or he will start his destruction. This is rewarded with the appearance of a white flag from the doorway, but still no sign of the three colleagues. Posdon recognises some of these as the ones who went away with the three of his crew. He sends the attack craft down to hover in front of them, while he uses the broadcast system on the attack craft to talk to them.

  ‘Where are my three men?’

  The men in front of the craft look at each other trying to decide who is going to respond. Posdon loses patience and instructs the attack craft to kill them all. That is done before they are even aware of anything. More figures appear at the door, but none of them are his men. Posdon gets the craft to kill them too. There is little doubt that his men are no longer alive. He knows within himself that he has misjudged the whole situation and that he is probably responsible for the loss of life of his crew, so he whirls into action indiscriminately destroying section after section of the planet. He sets the lasers onto maximum and for hour after hour the main craft and the attack craft reduce anything that may be of use to the population to dust. He is still engaged in this when the other two attack craft return having completed their mission. All resistance has been squashed. There is nothing left on Zalofa 7B in the manner of weapons. What are left are huge mining operations and the workforce to carry it out. Other than for the mining operations, no one lives on Zalofa 7B.

  CHAPTER 70 RICARDO

  Their next targets are in different cities entirely. Where they might have been expected to hit the same ones again, they disappoint them. They have a day to recover before setting out again on a new mission. This time the cities they aim for are fewer in number and more concentrated. They have decided to go for Nottingham, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Stoke. They have been joined by a few others who have heard of their exploits and want a bit of the action.

  Once again Ricardo is the coordinator, as they start their assault just after darkness falls. This time, for some reason, the shooting is less focused than before. Maybe it is because of the disappointment that they haven’t caused as much chaos as individually they thought they might. Maybe it is because some of them are starting to like what they are doing a little too much. Historically they have always only been able to fire their weapons in a controlled area. Ricardo is giving them the opportunity to fire their weapons in open space. He is letting them fire their weapons when there are people around. Ricardo is allowing them to live out their fantasies of having a shoot-out, although so far the firing has all been one-sided.

  They start off as planned using the sniper rifles from a distance. But instead of retreating this time, some of the teams change their weapons and move out into the open. They are actually firing on the people responding to the alarms. It is inevitable that some bullets are going to find their mark, but Ricardo would never have expected so many to do so. In all five cities, groups of his men veer off the agreed targets and fire on the gangs that have emerged onto the streets. They fire on firemen and security men too; they fire on policemen and the army who have been placed on standby. That is a bit of a shock for Ricardo, as that is totally unexpected according to their plans. It is probably a shock for the teams too, but they rise to the challenge. They retreat and regroup, then use some of their larger weapons, which they realistically hadn’t even imagined they would get the chance to use. As the night wears on, so does the intensity of the fighting. Ricardo chooses to disconnect his communications and move somewhere else. In fact he books into a hotel in the early hours of the morning, about fifty miles away from where he had been stationed previously.

  The groups have suffered casualties, as their numbers are not that great. With the troops being out in support, they have been overpowered weapon wise too. This is not before they have inflicted serious casualties on civilians, as well as uniformed personnel. What they have managed to do, by concentrating efforts on themselves, is to allow other factions to come out and take advantage of the situation. It is down to the fact that these others come out that the groups, or the survivors that is, make their escape.

  It is two days before Ricardo deems it safe enough to go back to Joe’s farm. There is a concern that it will no longer be safe, because some of the casualties have been taken prisoner. There is little doubt that they will be interrogated and sooner or later someone will let something out of the bag. They decide that they will leave overland and decamp to their back-up base.

  What is encouraging for Ricardo; is that there seems to be a growing effect of his attacks. Last night there had been action like theirs taken in cities, towns, villages and smaller places in every part of the country. Part of this had been achieved through the thoughtlessness of the authorities, allowing certain individuals to give interviews to the media. Every one blames the unrest on the government, politicians in general, big companies, greedy and ignorant overpaid individuals, civil servants, teachers, universities; in fact everyone who in their opinion has sucked the system dry financially for their own benefit and not for the good of people. Left, right and middle all come in for a roasting and Ricardo is then rewarded with a jump across to Europe with copycatting taking hold over there.

  Joe and Franz, who have assumed control over Ricardo in the area of operations, want to take a more direct direction now. With the backlash and weight of support out there, they have now at last thought about the power option for themselves. More people arrive every hour at the new camp, to take up arms with them. In itself, Ricardo thinks that is dangerous. If these people know where they are, then the army will not be far behind. Ricardo encourages them that if they are indeed going to go for an out and out assault on the capital, then it had better be now or never.

  They don’t even notice that he hasn’t made sure that communications are coordinated by him this time. In fact Franz has ignored him most of the day. That suits Ricardo right down to the ground, as he wants to take his fight elsewhere, if he can. It is all well and good having Europe in this state, but the place he really wants to unbalance is his own good old USA. He has mentioned this to Joe and he understands, but he is really more interested in continuing what they have started here.

  Ricardo’s main problem is not getting the plane back across the pond. There is a risk associated to it, but he feels he has no choice. His problem is getting the weapon back to the USA.

  In the end he decides to buy a toy gun and change it for his gun. As it appears it doesn’t work for anyone else, he feels safe enough that it will get through. He posts it to himself, but at a hotel in New York. He rings through to make a reservation for the next week and asks them to look out for the parcel.

  CHAPTER 71 THE WATCHER

  The Watcher lets them know that this is what he expected. Until such time as they know what The Grand Master is up to, then there is little point chasing round the Universe in pursuit. They will also need to know exactly what each one of them is going to be capable of, if and when they come up against The Grand Master. It is highly unlikely that he is going to just hand over The Keeper, when he believes that he is the Master of everything. After all he has already managed to outwit The Watcher and The Keeper. It is not unreasonable to assume that maybe he is on his way to the base of the Guiding Masters, to test whether they have any resistance. If anyone is likely to know, it is going to be one of their own.

  When George and Cassie return to the room, there are once again shaking heads from them as they sit down. The tests that they have tried on George have failed to reveal anything other than a normal human being. There is nothing inside him, other than what should be. They tested Cassie too to see how George’s results compare. If you didn’t know his history, you would just assume that they are two standard people.

  Melde then asks The Watcher if he feels confident enough to let them have a look at him. They say they will understand
if he says no, but they think there are ways they might be able to see into his programmes. There might be something in there that gives a clue as to who is really behind all this. There are also, he believes, some updates they may be able to do to his system which will improve him.

  The Watcher is not sure at first. It is not that he does not trust these people. He knows them, well most of them, and they have done nothing to suggest that they are doing anything other than try to protect their world of good. It would also appear that something is helping them to help him. Well that is what has happened so far. If it hadn’t been for the ones sent to Earth, then he would not be here now, in a position to at least plan an attempt at getting The Keeper back. It is at this point he brings up the pair he has sent to try to counteract the brother and sister and Ricardo. He mentions these to Baram, who shows genuine surprise.

  ‘They have not shown up on anything that we have or have been given.’ Sinca and Melde look equally puzzled too. Sinca goes off to check. The Watcher thinks it strange that there is no technology in the room that they can use, instead of having to go out to get it. Baram sees this question hanging in the air.