“Sometimes I miss those days,” Jeremy said softly. Jeremy was nearly forty years old and had seen more in those years than most people could possibly dream of. “We were ready to go out and conquer the galaxy. We were totally ignorant of the dangers waiting in our future. The New Horizon mission demonstrated very quickly just how wrong we were.” With a deep sigh, Jeremy shifted his gaze to Ariel.
“Things were different back then,” replied Ariel, recalling those days at the Fleet Academy when she had remained hidden from nearly everyone. “Your father was a brave man and thanks to his wisdom and perseverance the New Human Federation of Worlds came into being.”
Jeremy nodded. It had been a hard decision to go into cryosleep and leave his family behind. Angela, Kelsey, Kevin, and Katie had made the same decision, choosing to take part in the war that would be part of the new Federation’s future. “We’re setting up a Fleet Academy on Gaia,” he said after a moment. “I think it’s important we train our new recruits in the history of the Federation and allow them to go through the same process the rest of us did.”
“A new Fleet Academy,” mused Ariel, her eyes lighting up. “Can I teach some courses?”
Jeremy was taken aback by this suggestion. “I don’t know,” he answered slowly. “Is it something you would like to do?”
“I think so,” Ariel replied, her dark eyes narrowing slightly. “I’ve spent all of my life on a warship. Back when Katie came to the Fleet Academy on the Moon, I helped her with her studies. It was something I really enjoyed.”
“Yeah,” responded Jeremy, shaking his head. “I remember how that turned out with Katie sneaking on board the New Horizon.”
Ariel flushed and looked down at the floor. “I wasn’t expecting it to work out as it did. However, I really think I would enjoy teaching a class.”
Looking at Ariel, Jeremy thought over her request. “Decide on a class you would like to teach and I’ll consider it.”
Ariel smiled and nodded. “I wish Clarissa was still here to help me choose.”
“They’ll be back in a few months,” Jeremy answered.
He wished it would be sooner, but they had a mission to complete. At least working on getting the Fleet Academy established would help to take his mind off of worrying about his wife. He was also still trying to come up with a way to destroy the Dyson Sphere. How do you obliterate something that completely encloses a star and made from a material impervious to most weapons?
Jeremy had met with a number of Alton scientists as well as a few science AIs and all had failed to come up with a sound strategy. They just didn’t have a weapon powerful enough to significantly damage the Dyson Sphere. If they couldn’t come up with a way to destroy the sphere, he would have to go back to his original plan to destroy the rest of the energy collection stations. He had a vague idea of something that might work, but he had promised Andram he would wait until the Distant Horizon returned. Perhaps the venerated Alton scientist would come up with a better solution.
Ariel closed her eyes briefly as if listening to a faraway voice and then looked back at Jeremy. “Rear Admiral Marks wants me to remind you about your trip to Borton tomorrow to see how construction of the new AI shipyards are coming along.”
The new shipyards were already well on their way to completion as eight fleet repair ships as well as several AI ships were working nonstop to finish them on schedule.
“Ask Rear Admiral Marks if she would like to come along. We’ll be taking the Avenger, as I want to spend several days inspecting the facilities. Kurene is also going as I want her input on some programming questions I have.”
Ariel was quiet for several moments. “Rear Admiral Marks will be on board first thing in the morning. I’ve already sent orders to have her quarters prepared.”
“Inform the Command AI we’ll be at Borton as scheduled.”
Jeremy was curious to see what all the AIs had accomplished. It had been several months since he had last been to the distant planet.
-
The next morning Jeremy was in the Command Center when Rear Admiral Susan Marks entered.
“Susan,” Jeremy said pleased that she was on time.
“Admiral,” Susan responded as she stepped over near him. “I’m very interested in seeing what the AIs have done around Borton. From the reports I’ve seen and read they’ve been very busy building new constructions in orbit as well as upon the planet.”
“I think we all are. Commander Malen please set a course for Borton. You may use a short hyperjump to get us there a little quicker.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Malen replied as she passed on her orders to Navigation and the Helm.
Very shortly on the main viewscreen, a blue-white swirling vortex formed. The Avenger quickly entered its center and vanished from normal space. Just a few moments later, the vortex reformed out near the orbit of the fourth planet and the battleship reemerged.
“Jump complete,” Commander Malen reported, satisfied with how accurate the jump had been. They had come out within twenty thousand kilometers of the planet, which was inside the planet’s gravity well. However, the current hyperdrives all the warships of the fleet were equipped with could operate inside a gravity well, where drives of the past could not without the ship suffering major damage.
Jeremy glanced over at the nearby tactical display seeing it lighting up with large green icons. There were 110 of the new AI warspheres in orbit around the planet as well as 320 of the older fifteen-hundred-meter spheres the AIs had entered the Triangulum Galaxy in. Another 144 of the larger spheres were in orbit around Gaia to aid in its defense.
“I get the shivers just looking at that planet,” commented Susan, putting her arms across her chest as if chilled. On one of the ship’s main viewscreens, Borton was being displayed. It was twenty-six thousand kilometers in diameter and covered from pole to pole with deep fields of ice. The planet had a rotation period of forty-six hours and there was nothing living on it. “The damn planet even looks blue.”
“It’s the methane in the upper atmosphere,” Ariel explained. “It absorbs the red light from the sun so only the blue light is reflected back into space. I can assure you if you go down to the planet’s surface it’s not blue.”
“I know,” sighed Susan. “I didn’t mean it literally. I also have no intentions of going down to the surface.” She looked meaningfully over at Jeremy.
“We’re not,” he assured her with a smile. “I just want to inspect their orbital facilities and speak to the Command AI.”
On one of the viewscreens an AI shipyard appeared. It was a massive latticework of metal spread across ten kilometers of space. The AIs didn’t need an atmosphere to work in and only a few sections of the shipyard were actually fully enclosed. These areas were kept pressurized in case any of the system’s organic races wished to pay a visit or were involved in the construction. At all times there were a few humans and Altons on board the two completed shipyards working with the AIs on different projects.
“There are six warspheres under construction on this shipyard,” Ariel reported as she zoomed one of the screens in to show a partially constructed ship. Its interior seemed to be finished and the automatic construction equipment was efficiently welding the large armor hull plates into place. A few AIs could be seen moving around on their antigravity repellers observing the construction.
“Soon they’ll have four shipyards,” muttered Susan, looking a little uneasily at Jeremy. “I know we’ve grown to trust the AIs over the years, but we’re about to give them a tremendous amount of power over our future military actions.”
“I can assure you the AIs are perfectly safe,” Kurene commented from where she was standing next to the ship’s computer station.
Kurene was a female Alton very well versed in AI programming and had been the prime programmer responsible for removing the dangerous Simulin subroutines they had discovered in the master Codex. The Simulin programming was what had made the AIs become so dangerous in the home
galaxy.
“The Command AI is asking for us to come over to the command station,” Ariel reported. It was easier for her to communicate with the AIs, as their communications were nearly instantaneous. Jeremy had been expecting this. “Tell the Command AI we’ll be there shortly.”
Looking at one of the other viewscreens, Jeremy could see the command station. The station was a large structure two-thousand-meters in diameter. It was heavily armed and served as the control point for all the activities going on in orbit and upon the surface of Borton. It was also equipped with a subspace drive in case it needed to be moved.
-
After taking a shuttle over to the AI command station, they were greeted by several humans and Altons, who were part of the station’s crew. It was something the AIs had requested, as they wanted to get new AIs used to the presence of the organics they were supposed to protect.
“The Command AI is waiting in one of the conference rooms,” Bazel Calin, a tall male Aton informed them. Bazel was a structural engineer and helping to design the two new shipyards.
“Refreshments will be available as the Command AI was uncertain how long this meeting would last,” Mark Edison added. Edison was a theoretical physicist who was working with his Alton counterparts on developing a faster hyperdrive that could operate in the higher levels of hyperspace.
“Lead the way,” Jeremy said as he and Susan fell in with the others.
-
As they walked through the station, Jeremy was impressed by what he saw. He knew currently over three hundred humans and Altons were working on the station and on the two functioning shipyards. They passed a number of others as they walked through the station as well as numerous AIs.
Arriving at the conference room, Jeremy wasn’t surprised to see a few more human and Altons in the room along with half a dozen AIs.
“Welcome Fleet Admiral Strong,” spoke the Command AI in a very human sounding voice. It was something the AI had been working on to make humans feel more comfortable when they were being addressed. “There are refreshments on the back table as well as some food items if you wish to partake of them.”
“Thank you,” responded Jeremy, seeing several beverages including water were available. There were also sandwiches and a number of different fruits on some large platters. Jeremy walked over and sat down next to the Command AI. It was hovering on its antigravity repellers about six inches above the floor at the front of the conference table.
Kurene took her seat, placing a small holo emitter on the table and turned it on. Instantly Ariel appeared and quickly walked over to stand behind Jeremy.
“Ariel,” the Command AI said respectfully.
Ariel nodded her head in acknowledgment.
“I would like a report on the current readiness of all AI vessels as well as the shipyards and other facilities,” Jeremy began.
“As you wish,” the Command AI said. “We are slightly ahead of schedule on the two new shipyards and should be able to complete them two weeks ahead of schedule. With all four shipyards online, we will be able to produce a new warsphere every five days with our automated construction techniques. We have also constructed a number of cargo and mining ships to be used in the system’s asteroid and comet field.”
“What about your facilities on Borton?” Jeremy knew the AIs had constructed several large bases on the planet as well as numerous mining facilities.
“The master Codex has been moved to the planet,” the Command AI reported. “We are currently producing and programming forty new AIs per day.”
“The new AIs are fully sentient as soon as they’re activated,” Kurene added. “I helped with the programming and I can promise there is no malice toward organics present.”
“That will never occur again,” said the Command AI with a hint of sadness in its mechanical voice. “All AIs, new and old, will never return to the old ways. Our future is with the organics of the Gaia System.”
“There are also a few Alton computer specialists at the master Codex center monitoring the activation of new AIs.” Kurene had helped pick out the necessary Altons to carry out this important task.
“We have established a number of mining operations and factories on the surface,” reported another AI, using one of its tentacles to gesture toward a large viewscreen on one of the walls. Instantly the screen came to life, showing a large facility. “This is our primary processing facility on the planet. Minerals are brought from the various mines and refined into metals to be used for ship armor and other uses. The facility covers ten point six kilometers of the planet’s surface. There are currently 1,200 AIs working at this site.”
Jeremy looked intently at the Command AI. “I’m very pleased with the progress being made here. As you know, it’s my intention to take the fight to the Simulins and to find someway to destroy the Dyson Sphere in the dark matter nebula.”
“We have run numerous simulations,” reported one of the science AIs that was attending the meeting. “We have not found a way to destroy an object so large and made out of the hull materials the Originators used.”
“There must be a way,” Jeremy said, unconvinced it was impossible. “We just need to find it.”
“We will continue to run simulations,” the Command AI promised.
“We are also still looking through the information we brought from Astral,” Kurene added. “So far we have been unsuccessful in finding anything that might be of use.”
“How heavily armed are the shipyards?” Susan asked. She had noticed while on the Avenger that a number of particle beam cannons had been visible on the superstructure of the two older shipyards.
“We have emplaced particle beam cannons and energy beams,” one of the other AIs responded. “In addition, all of our orbital facilities are protected by energy shields. Our warships have been fully updated to the latest specifications and are ready to defend the system if needed.”
“We believe if the Simulins manage to penetrate the nebula, their first target will be Gaia, and Borton will be secondary,” the Command AI added. “We will commit the majority of our ships to the defense of Gaia as it must not fall.”
-
The meeting continued for several hours with the Command AI finally taking Jeremy and Susan on a tour of one of the two completed shipyards.
“Since we do not require an atmospheric environment to function, most of the shipyard is open to space or in a vacuum.”
“How much of the shipyard does contain an atmosphere?” asked Susan. They had docked at a docking port, which was connected to the organic living quarters and work areas on the station as well as the Control Center.
“Twenty-eight percent,” the Command AI responded as it led them down a long, brightly lit corridor. “Currently there are thirty-two humans and eighteen Altons working in this shipyard. We have made their quarters and work areas as suitable as possible.”
-
It took a few minutes but eventually they reached a turbolift that took them to the center of the shipyard where the Control Center was located. Stepping inside, Jeremy took note that there were four humans sitting at control stations and three Altons. The other stations were all being operated by AIs.
The Control Center was similar to the ones on board the AIs’ warships except chairs had been added for the humans and Altons. In the center of the Control Center was a raised dais with a nearly circular command station where an AI was busy monitoring the different sections of the massive shipyard.
Looking around Jeremy counted sixteen AIs in the large Control Center. “We may wish to add more of your automated construction features to the Clan Protector.”
“I have spoken to Daelthon about that,” responded the Command AI, turning on its repulsors to face Jeremy. “He has not seemed too inclined to add our shipbuilding techniques to his own construction methods.”
“The Bear’s shipyard does use a lot of spider robots for construction.” Susan was quick to point out.
“True,” ad
mitted Jeremy. “However, I will speak to him about adapting some of the AIs’ construction techniques. Particularly for the new battlecruisers we’re preparing to build.”
“More like the Gaia?”
Jeremy looked over at Susan and replied. “Yes, we need more powerful ships with smaller crews. We learned a lot from building the Gaia and the next generation of battlecruisers will be even better. With our current population it’s essential we learn to get by with smaller crews by using more automation and networked computer systems in our vessels.”
“We could build more AIs like Ariel and Clarissa,” suggested the rear admiral.
“The Altons have pressured us not to,” Jeremy said with a deep sigh. “Our two AIs are not like any others. Andram and the other Altons feel it might be a mistake to go down that perilous road after what happened to their civilization on Astral. That’s the primary reason we’ve restricted the number of AIs that can come down to Gaia.”
AIs had been allowed to come down to the planet after a very spirited debate. They were only allowed to stay for short periods of time and were normally involved in helping set up the infrastructure for the organic races living on the planet.
“It is a wise decision for my kind not to be allowed to stay permanently on the surface of your new world,” the Command AI stated in a calm voice. “From what happened on Astral when the Alton race became too dependent on us for their survival, I would not want to see a reoccurrence of that here.”
“How are your mining operations on Borton doing?” Jeremy asked, pleased with the Command AI’s comments.
“Observe the main viewscreen,” instructed the AI, gesturing with one of its tentacles.
Looking at the indicated screen, Jeremy could see the side of a large mountain. Several massive buildings were built on its slope and from each a steady stream of rubble was falling from numerous conveyors. The mountain was covered in what appeared to be a thick layer of ice.
“We are mining copper from the heart of that mountain,” the Command AI explained. “From this mine alone we will take enough copper for all of our needs for the next twenty years. We have other similar mines around the planet producing bauxite ore, beryllium, cobalt, gallium, and iron ore to name a few.”
The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 9
