AMP Colossus

by Arseneault, Stephen

  As we stepped onto the bridge, the Duke spoke. “Behold the nine Verna, Mr. Grange! The center of the Empire!”

  On the giant view-screens before us were nine identical stations formed into a tight circle. A large, flat disk sat motionless in the center. Thousands of small ships could be seen ferrying between the stations. The Verna were remarkable, and nearly identical to the Grid. I looked for the flaw we had seen on the image the Duke had displayed to us before. It was no longer there.

  The Duke again spoke. “From that expression on your face, I believe you may be quite impressed with our little wonders. This is our origin, Mr. Grange. I would guess that if your Verna… your Grid is similar, we both came to be in this part of the galaxy in the same way. It’s quite remarkable if you think about it, really. Two separate species placed on similar paths. Where did we come from, Mr. Grange? Who sent us here?”

  I stood for nearly a minute with my mouth open, gazing at the wonders before me. Was it real? Were there actually other stations like ours out there? Was the origin of the Colossuns in this part of the galaxy the same as ours? My mind raced.

  As I gawked at the screen, the Duke took note of Corporal Keith typing away on his arm pad. “Corporal? What is it that you find so fascinating?”

  The Corporal looked up quickly. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr…. Duke. I was just checking my gravity setting. That big image with the motion had me a little queasy. I had to make an adjustment. Feeling better now. Your Verna are a sight, Sir.”

  The Duke looked back at the screen. “Hmm. Yes, they are. Mr. Grange, do you have any thoughts? The Verna seem to have your full attention.”

  My eyes remained fixed on the screen as I spoke. “Yes, Duke. I have, or will have, a lot of thoughts… er… questions. When you said you had nine stations just like ours, I thought you were, well, I thought you were jerking me around.”

  The Duke replied, “Jerking you around?”

  I took a big breath. “Sorry, it’s just an expression. It means you weren’t being honest with me.”

  The Duke shook his head. “Mr. Grange, I brought you aboard my ship as a guest. I have treated you and your associates with respect. What is it that I have to do to earn your trust? I have taken you to our home world. I have taken you to see our most prized possession. And yet you are holding back on the one thing that will take both our people to the next level. Perhaps if I told you something about the Verna, we could compare our stations with yours. Would you be agreeable to that?”

  My focus was suddenly averted from the screen. The Duke was now probing for information. I knew the first image we had seen of a Verna was of our own Grid; I knew we had not actually been to Colos. I needed to know if the Verna were real. If he could tell me something, anything, of value about his stations that was the same as our own, I would have no excuse for not trusting that the stations floating before me on the view-screen were real, even if we were not actually positioned nearby them.

  I replied, “OK, Duke, tell me something about your Verna.”

  The Duke looked at the screen and spoke. “Our fuel is hydrogen. We have incredibly large storage tanks that are used to power everything aboard.”

  I nodded. “We have the same.”

  Much to the Duke’s disdain, my answer was short.

  The Duke continued, “Our structure—we have not been able to reproduce the material that makes up much of the ship.”

  I again nodded my head. “We have the same. It is extremely tough stuff, and we have not been able to duplicate it either. We have had to make repairs, and they are not nearly as strong as the original armor we replaced.”

  The Duke spoke. “Ah, so you have been attacked! The cannons on your station, are they as powerful as those on the Verna? Ion weapons like your blaster but on a much larger scale?”

  I hesitated before I replied, “Yes, we haven’t been able to reproduce their power; they are highly energized and extremely deadly close in to every ship we have encountered.”

  The Duke countered, “Ours are deadly out to five thousand of your kilometers. Beyond that, the ionization begins to bleed off rapidly and they lose effectiveness.”

  I replied, “Well, you were dropped in on those Verna four thousand years before us. Maybe the cannons we were given were upgrades. The ion charge doesn’t start to break down until you hit ten thousand kilometers. If you were able to get in close to that five-thousand-kilometer mark, I bet your pulse cannons could do severe damage, but not at ten.”

  As I closed my mouth, I gave a look as though I had just given away a piece of vital tactical information that was important to the Grid’s security. I glanced up to see a frowning Corporal Keith standing next to me. The Duke was a smooth operator, and I would have to be careful to not get lured into conversations where I would divulge such critical information.

  I spoke. “Nine Verna—you must have quite a few citizens just on those stations alone. How many citizens in your Empire, and how many of those are Veshan?”

  The Duke could switch conversations without so much as a change in expression. His cool and pleasant demeanor always seemed geared towards putting you at ease.

  The Duke spoke. “We number eighty-two billion citizens, of which the Vesha make up roughly three billion. That number was initially closer to seven billion, but over time, as the Empire grew and we became more affluent, our numbers steadily declined to the balanced level they now maintain. How about Humans? Are there any more Grid stations?”

  I turned back to look at the view-screen. “We started with five, but the others were destroyed early on in our history here. We have managed to keep our population around six hundred million or so for the past two centuries. It’s hard to grow and thrive when you are constantly at war and on the run. Speaking of being on the run, I have a question to ask.”

  The Duke offered a pleasant smile. “Please, Mr. Grange, you can ask anything you like of me. I will do my best to give you the answer you desire.”

  I spoke. “I don’t suppose you could loan us any hydrogen harvesters, could you? We would like to top off our tanks, not that there is any immediate need or anything, but we always like to be as well prepared as possible.”

  The Duke replied, “I will see what I can arrange, Mr. Grange. If you would like, I could offer that to you in the form of storage tanks until the needed harvesters could be gathered and transported to your location. Perhaps a hundred million metric tons to start?”

  I nodded my head. “That would definitely be a gesture of goodwill, Duke. They would have to be dropped at a location from which we could tow them back to the Grid. I’m not authorized to give out our location.”

  The Duke replied, “That is not an issue, Mr. Grange. I will see to it that a delivery is made. How would in orbit around Ponik work for you?”

  I again nodded. “That would work. If you take us back to Ponik, I can arrange for its transport.”

  The Duke tapped the transponder in his neck. “Set a course to Ponik. I would like us there within a week, if possible.”

  The Duke turned back before leaving. “I will see to it that the hydrogen tanks you request are delivered to Ponik. Please see yourself off of the bridge when you are done.”

  The images of the Verna on the view-screen swirled to the left and out of view as the Duke’s ship turned on a new heading. Corporal Keith placed his hand on my shoulder and gestured towards the door.

  As we walked, the Corporal spoke. “I checked my arm pad, Sir; we are not actually moving, and those Verna were not real.”

  I replied, “I know we were not looking at live images of the Verna, if that is what you mean. As to whether they are real or not, that is a different question. The Duke knew about the special materials those things are made out of. He has to have seen them before. I think they have at least one of them, if not all nine. He was just using those images to work information out of me. And before you say it… I know… I need to watch what I say. The Duke is good at what he does, that is for sure. I just wish I k
new what his bigger strategy was.”

  The Corporal shook his head. “I wanted to clock you when you blurted out our cannon range, Sir. That was something that you don’t give out to anyone. The men in the Gun Corps don’t even talk about that.”

  I replied, “Yeah, well, sometimes I have a big mouth on purpose, Corporal. I don’t know our exact cannon range, but I would be surprised if it was not a lot farther than ten thousand kilometers. It will be interesting to see if the Duke delivers on his promise of hydrogen. The amount he offered would keep that station running for another year. We wouldn’t be jumping anywhere anytime soon, but if we can keep things running for longer, that would be a big plus.”

  The Corporal spoke. “Just beware of strangers bearing gifts, Sir. You hold that hand out one too many times, and you are likely to draw back a stump.”

  I replied, “Point noted, Corporal. For now, let’s focus on learning as much about this ship as we can. Get everyone together and we will discuss what can be done. Maybe we can get lucky and dig up what the Colossuns are really up to. You said from the security systems you thought you could access anywhere on the ship. If so, I would like to know what the Duke has his commanders doing. And let’s see if we can tap into their comm system. That should tell us of any immediate plans.”

  The squads were assembled, and we went for a walk in the halls with our scarfs over our mouths. I let Corporal Keith lead the discussion about digging through the Colossun systems after he had managed to hack their network.

  The Corporal spoke. “If you have any computer skills, please speak up. I could use your help. For everyone else, if I send you a link to explore, please follow the instructions I send with it. If they catch us snooping around, either they will shut us down and possibly space us, or worse, they could start feeding us bad information. So, follow instructions, and if you have anything at all that you are unsure of, ask first.”

  After our walk, I sat in the room with York and Rodriguez. “Does any of this seem suspiciously easy to any of you? We have our weapons, we have our comm back, and we have hacked into their systems. It just seems like things have gone amazingly our way. That bothers me.”

  Rodriguez replied, “I know Corporal Keith enjoys poking around in their system, but have we considered the counterespionage factor? Can we test out his arm pad, or any of our gear for that matter, to see if the Colossuns have reverse hacked us?”

  I raised the Corporal on a comm channel. “Can you come to York’s room, Corporal? We have a few urgent questions to ask you.”

  The Corporal knocked on the door and York let him in. I had York and Rodriguez carry on a loud conversation as I leaned in and whispered directly into his ear.

  When I withdrew, he had a concerned look on his face. “I’m sorry, Sir, but I just don’t think that could happen. I placed all of our connections with the Colossun networks into a private, heavily encrypted memory space.”

  I replied, “Is there any way to check?”

  The Corporal thought and then spoke. “I could put a memory monitor on there. It would look for any access and report it to a log file. I could just let that run for a couple hours and see if anything hits. I will stop all the apps I have running, so the file should be empty if there are no intrusions.”

  The Corporal continued, “I have one more thing, Sir. I was able to pin it down just a short while ago. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. I have the Duke’s comm channel identified.”

  I replied, “The one he has in his neck?”

  The Corporal nodded. “Yes, Sir. And I think I can jam it from my arm pad, Sir.”

  I stood and began to pace the room. “Don’t use it, don’t try it. Don’t even mess around with it anymore. If they have reverse hacked us, I don’t want them to know we can jam the Duke.”

  The Corporal replied, “I don’t know that we can, Sir. I just have an idea of what we might try.”

  I left York’s room a short time later. I needed time to think. My mind was swirling with all that had happened. We had seen nine Verna that looked nearly identical to the Grid. Were they real? We had access to the systems on the Duke’s ship. Was it real access? Or were we being led around by our noses?

  Once back at my stateroom, I lay back on my bed. My mind raced. The day’s events would not allow sleep, and I was in need of rest if I wanted a shot at thinking things through. I sat up and walked into the sitting room. I poured a small glass of the Duke’s Lumian wine and downed it all at once. Soon after, I lost the ability to focus and those racing thoughts turned to thoughts of Ashley, thoughts of home, and thoughts of Frig. I wondered if he would ever find us after we had gone so far off course. It wasn’t long before I was sound asleep.

  Chapter 20

  The next morning I awoke with a headache. The Lumian wine had sent me off to la-la land as I had hoped, but it came at a price. I rang up Bachmin and had him bring me a glass of the cure they had provided before. Half an hour later I was full of energy. I showered and got back in my battle suit.

  When I arrived on the bridge, there was an image of the Grid sitting on the screen.

  The Duke spoke. “She is beautiful, Mr. Grange. Her technologies must offer comfort, security, and at the same time confusion over how they work.”

  I replied, “I thought we were a week away, Duke. Is that the actual Grid? If so, I would advise you to keep your distance.”

  The Duke smiled. “It is indeed your Grid, Mr. Grange. We have our modes of travel that we have not discussed.”

  All I could think was what a lying ass the Duke was. Of this I was certain.

  The Duke continued, “And don’t worry, we are outside of the visual range of your station. Your ion cannons could not possibly reach out here. I find it remarkable, though, Mr. Grange.”

  The Duke was silent for several seconds as he pressed for me to ask why.

  “What is so remarkable, Duke?”

  The Duke replied, “I find it remarkable that we see no ships! I would think you would have a fleet on patrol and transports and harvesters, yes, harvesters by the hundreds, moving about collecting resources. If you have just come on a long journey, you must need resources for replenishment of your supplies.”

  I shook my head. “We do pretty good with our recycling, Duke; you would be amazed at how long we can self-sustain.”

  The Duke again smiled. “The hydrogen gift should arrive later today. I have turned off the jamming of your comm system so that you might contact your Grid and tell them of the resource news.”

  I replied, “I appreciate that, Duke. Let me go back to my squads, and I will give the Grid a call and a heads-up.”

  The Duke managed a wide, wry smile. “Why don’t you contact them here and now, Mr. Grange. I would be interested to know if they are willing to accept the gift I have offered. I would like this moment to be the moment when we begin to establish good relations with the Human species. Isn’t that something that you also desire, Mr. Grange?”

  I spoke. “OK, we can do it here and now. Just give me a second to enable it.”

  I sent an urgent text to Corporal Keith.

  Have we been compromised?

  A reply came back quickly.

  Yes, they have penetrated our net, but not before we got into their security net. I don’t think they know we are in there.

  I looked up at the Duke as I opened a comm channel to the Grid. “Here we go. This is Grange. Can you patch me through to the Council?”

  A voice replied, “One moment, Mr. Grange, while we verify your credentials. OK, patching you through now, Sir.”

  The Council was in an informal session. They had been meeting every day to discuss options. Our hydrogen harvesters had been taken out of service until such time as they could be safely put to use. With the Colossuns causing trouble, we couldn’t risk losing the only machinery we had.

  Colonel Harper spoke. “Grange! Glad to hear from you. What in the blazes is going on? We got word from the Granger that you had left with the Colos
suns.”

  I replied, “I will explain later, Colonel. Right now I have Duke… wait a sec, I can’t even remember your name.”

  The Duke spoke. “My name is Ferdete of Colos. I prefer ‘Duke.’”

  I continued, “Duke Ferdete of Colos would like to offer us one hundred million metric tons of hydrogen. No strings attached. Are we interested in accepting this offer?”

  There was silence for several seconds as the council members who were present discussed.

  Colonel Harper spoke. “We will accept the Duke’s offer, but we will have to make the transfer from out there. We can’t allow a foreign vessel to be docked without first inspecting it, especially one with such a volatile cargo. If they will move whatever vessel they have to twenty thousand kilometers from the Grid, we will send out ships to make the transfer.”

  The Duke replied, “Agreed.”

  The Duke tapped the comm on his neck. “Please move the hydrogen stores to twenty thousand kilometers and leave there for transfer.”

  The Duke turned back towards me. “You have your hydrogen, Mr. Grange.”

  For the next nine hours, the transfers were made between the hydrogen storage tankers the Duke had sent and our harvesters. After nearly a third of the transfer had been made, a scientist on the Grid screamed for us to stop. The hydrogen provided was 96 percent deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen that the Grid could not process.

  Typically, during the harvest process, the harvesters would scrub out the vast majority of the naturally occurring deuterium. Deuterium, having an extra neutron, played havoc with our fusion reactors. The scrubbing process to remove deuterium was applied once again when the hydrogen was transferred to the Grid storage tanks, and then again for a final time as it was pumped into the fusion reactors. Every effort was made to reduce its occurrence before the hydrogen was put to use. The Duke’s hydrogen was heavily contaminating our system.