ALICE Resurrection

by Charles Lamb

  The charge blew the door free, and Banks stepped forward to see the four remaining Marines facing him.

  “Let’s move please,” Banks stated to the four.

  “Wait, they still have.....,” one started to say before he interrupted her.

  “We already have her,” he replied, not wanting to expand on the issue.

  Apparently satisfied at the response, the four quickly filed out of the room, intermingling with the SAS troopers as they headed out, moving down the hallway. Following the same path they entered on, Banks eventually found his way to the surface, collecting each man stationed along the way. Exiting the stairwell, he discovered the portion of the building he entered through no longer existed.

  Looking around as the others filed out, he could see the blast had leveled the entire area around the square. While the high rise still stood in place, the entire first floor was devoid of anything other than the support structures for the floors above.

  Two of his people, the ones responsible for recovering the body, were waiting, covering their exit from the stairwell. While he had no doubt the Chinese were rushing to discover the cause of the explosion, his people had yet to see a soul. Once he was sure everyone was out, he ordered his team to the recovery point.

  As they moved away from the blast area, he heard the occasional gunfire from above. Comforted that the hovercycles were clearing the area around them of hostiles, he urged his team forward, recovering all ten troopers before reaching the waiting transport that had brought them here.

  The last to enter, Banks gave the all clear and turned to find the four marines standing over the body of their fallen leader. They didn’t need to remove their helmets for him to know what was hidden behind the faceplates as their shoulders shook.

  Chapter 16

  Ivan had left two of his party to watch over the three holes, while he and the third member, Alexi, did a sweep of the surrounding area. He really didn’t expect to find anything, but it was still a necessary evil, and he was a methodical man. As they did wide, ever expanding circles around the area beyond the decaying structures of the old gold mine, Ivan noticed the small lake nearby and swung wider to intercept it on their next pass.

  ----*----

  Colonel Banks sat at the end of one row, next to his people. Like most military transports, this one had two rows of seating, facing each other along the crafts centerline. In the open area between the two, lay the lifeless form recovered from the square in Hong Kong.

  The four Americans sat on the opposite side, all quiet. Three had removed their helmets, but the fourth sat completely still, helmet still in place on her head. She was apparently staring down at the body on the floor, but with the faceplate still in mirror mode, he couldn’t be absolutely sure.

  From the rank on their uniforms, Banks was sure she was the team leader. He assumed she was distraught over some perceived failure to protect the mission leader. From what he was told, the blame lay with the body before her. Still, he understood the burden of protecting people from themselves.

  After becoming airborne, Banks had been notified that the transport would be heading east to the US first, and then on to London. He had no objections, as his XO had things well in hand back home and a trip to the US might prove valuable. It would permit him a firsthand opportunity to see the things his people had been reporting on their training here.

  ----*----

  Jake stood in the hangar watching the transport descend through the opening in the roof. Behind and all around him were the entire facility staff, all turned out to receive Sandy’s remains and pay their respects. As he watched the craft settle on its skids, he couldn’t remember ever hearing the hangar so quiet.

  Bracing himself for what was about to happen, he stepped forward as the ramp dropped. Colonel Banks and his troops lead the way off the transport, accepting Jake’s thanks and then stepping aside. Everyone watched as a robotic gurney rolled up the ramp and its arms assisted the three Marines as they placed the form on its bed.

  Jake thought it odd that the fire team leader stood nearby, observing, but not assisting. With her helmet still on, she followed the Marines as they escorted the gurney down the ramp and next to where Jake was standing.

  “Alice, please release the seals on Sandy’s suit,” Jake requested. He knew that unless Sandy had specifically designated him to do so, only she would have been able to break containment.

  After a moment, Jake reached down to remove Sandy’s helmet, bracing himself for the image he was about to receive. As he slipped the helmet off, confusion crossed his face. Where he expected a mass of dark hair, a light brown greeted him. The face it framed was not Sandy at all.

  “What is this?” Jake asked as he turned to look at the four Marines. As he watched, the fire team leader stepped forward, her helmet still in place.

  “That is Lance Corporal Alicia Ramirez. Alice, please release her suit seals,” the familiar voice said.

  While everyone watched her lift the helmet free, Sandy’s dark hair and tear streaked face appeared.

  Jake wasn’t sure what to think or feel. He was flooded with relief to see her alive and confused at how it was possible.

  “After we were captured, Alicia made me trade uniforms with her. At first, I didn’t understand why, but she knew what was coming. Oh god Jake, I never suspected this was why she insisted we swap. I would have never agreed to do it if I had known!” Sandy blurted as the tears came streaming out. She dropped to her knees and covered her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

  Jake stepped forward to help her up and he embraced her while she continued to wail. After a moment, Becky stepped forward from the crowd. She had flown out to be there when the body of her best friend arrived.

  “Let me take her,” she said quietly to Jake.

  Jake released her to Becky’s care and watched as she and another led her away. With that, Jake stepped up to the gurney and started to lead it away.

  “May I assist?” Colonel Banks asked as he stepped forward.

  “It would be my honor,” Jake replied, as the two highest-ranking officers led the body of the Lance Corporal down into the morgue.

  ----*----

  Jake sat in his office, sipping what Colonel Banks described as “the finest scotch he had ever tasted” with the man sitting across from him. Not normally a drinker, the two were toasting the hero of Hong Kong. Jake did not use the term lightly, but he could find no fault in its usage here.

  He had been notified earlier that Sandy was sedated and under medical observation. She had been inconsolable and Becky feared possibly suicidal. As it was, Jake was unsure of how to handle the entire episode. Sandy’s lark had turned into a full-scale military engagement, resulting in the death of her security team leader in a most gruesome way.

  He had little concern over her punishment, as she would bear the burden of that loss for the rest of her life. His challenge was how to deal with the aftermath. They had cut the head off of a twenty five thousand man snake, and it was now wandering leaderless in eastern China.

  The blast they had caused by imploding the repulser motors attached to the aircraft had removed the entire senior command. While unit commanders remained in place, there was no central leadership. From the radio traffic ALICE was intercepting, they were struggling to recover from the loss.

  Apparently, the Chinese General had allowed very little latitude in his field commander’s decision-making. As such, everyone was in a holding pattern waiting for the other shoe to fall. Both Jake and Banks agreed they could afford to wait a few days, but in the long term, they needed to assert some form of control or risk another dictator.

  “So, when do I get to meet this Alice of yours?” Jake heard Banks ask, bringing him back from his deep thoughts.

  “I’m sorry?” Jake replied, delaying his response as he weighed his options.

  “You all are forever asking Alice for this, or Alice please do that. I have to question who works for whom?” he replied with
a smile before taking another sip from his glass.

  “Yeah,” Jake replied with a smile of his own, “sometimes I wonder the same thing. Alice, would you care to say hi?”

  Jake saw a slightly confused look on the colonel’s face just before she responded.

  “Colonel Banks, please forgive him, this is Jake’s idea of humor. I am an artificial life form contained within the facility itself,” ALICE replied.

  “And the other locations?” Banks replied after a moment’s consideration.

  “Each with their own ALICE,” Jake replied. With that, Jake went into the explanation of who and what an ALICE was and how they all worked together. As he spoke, Colonel Banks sat listening, as stone faced as ever. Jake admired the man’s ability to hide his thoughts under circumstances that surely were a surprise to him. After he had finished, ALICE provided an unneeded reminder.

  “Jake, we still have the issue of Kola to resolve,” she added.

  “Kola?” Banks asked.

  “Yes. Each of the ALICE systems was encouraged to choose a name of their own. Some, like ALICE-1 here, did not see the need, while others like the Texas and Alaska Artificial Life forms, selected an alternative name. The afore mentioned Kola, has chosen to relocate from her home in South Dakota to the new carrier in space. We were in the middle of addressing that when the Chinese issue arose,” Jake replied.

  Considering the man had just risked his life and the lives of his people, Jake felt it was time to bring them completely into the fold. He could see the man thinking of everything he had just been told.

  “Do you mind if I stay on for a bit?” Banks asked after another sip of his scotch.

  ----*----

  The ceremony honoring Lance Corporal Ramirez was held the following day. Jake was a bit concerned about the perception of rushing things, however, he had issues piling up and did not want this to get lost in the confusion. Before retiring for bed the day before, he had set everything in motion.

  By now, it had become a tradition to honor the dead by solar cremation. Expanding on the ceremony Sara created in Maine; the fallen were placed in a sealed cylinder and taken into space. Once positioned appropriately, the cylinder was released and gently guided into the sun for final deliverance to whatever god the traveler held dear.

  In this case, Jake had directed the cylinder possess a brilliant eagle, globe and anchor in scarlet and gold across the gleaming silver of the tube. With the entire staff turned out in the hangar, all in dress uniforms or other proper attire, they paid their respects as they watched the holographic projection filling the air above them.

  Both the fighter transporting the Lance Corporal, and its chase camera companion had left earlier, providing a timely display for those gathered to honor her. With everyone in attendance and the ships in position, Jake gave the signal; triggering the twenty-one gun salute, as the casket was released.

  Scanning the crowd, Jake caught a glimpse of Sandy, standing next to Becky with tears streaming down her face. He suspected she was still lightly sedated, as there were two medical technicians behind the two, focused on Sandy and not the spectacle above.

  Per Jake’s instructions, the camera and transport fighters turned for the return flight without waiting for the casket to flair, being consumed by the sun. He felt that was something best left to one’s own imagination. As he dismissed everyone, Jake approached a still sobbing Sandy and gently kissed her forehead as she refused to meet his gaze.

  Turning, he headed off to his quarters to change and attack the mountain of challenges he had stacked before him.

  ----*----

  Ivan sat, squatted on his heels, staring at the body of water before him. Like any of the Blue Lakes in the area, the water here was considered deep but clear. That is what troubled Ivan. The water here was clouded, as if something had disturbed it deep down. And, it wasn’t a normal cloudiness either, it’s like the top half was normal, but there was a fuzziness down deep.

  At first, he suspected the vibrations he felt earlier by the holes, might have stirred up the bottom. However, it was currently silent, and surveillance over the last few hours had yielded no repeat of the sensation. Ivan was now positive there was something at the bottom of the lake attempting to hide from him. The fact that the lake was close to two hundred meters deep made any investigations problematic.

  ----*----

  “I want to thank you again for having our uniforms delivered for the ceremony,” Banks offered to Jake, as the two sat in the office Jake maintained. It had been Jake’s experience that the Brits were big on ceremony and tradition. As such, he had requested the uniforms the night before with the other preparations.

  “My pleasure. Your participation was not only desired, as the responsible party for returning her remains, it was a display of gratitude,” Jake responded.

  The two men had been reviewing the latest Intel on the Chinese units still operational. While Hong Kong was still in total disarray, the units spread between there and Hanoi only without operational instructions, so they hunkered down, waiting.

  With ALICE figuratively breathing down his neck to get the Kola issue resolved, Jake was tempted to turn the entire Chinese problem over to Banks and the Brits. The humor of returning Hong Kong back over to British control was not lost on him either.

  On the side, he received regular updates on Sandy’s condition as well. Still heavily sedated, Becky had moved her to her own personal quarters where she could work with her. ALICE had assumed the role of Psychologist, assisting in the emotional recovery process. As Jake was well aware, being personally responsible for someone’s death was not easily dismissed.

  “Might we consider a show of force to convince them to cooperate?” Banks asked as they both reviewed the display. Jake had zoomed into the area displaying Hong Kong on the right and Hanoi on the left. There was a grouping of dots, forming a trail between the two, and engulfing Nanning, that represented the twenty five thousand troops spread throughout the countryside.

  “Possibly,” Jake replied as he considered the question. The problem was what would convince that many troops not only to surrender, but also to join them.

  “Alice, I think I am going to need some help with the math,” Jake declared, as the inspiration hit him.

  Chapter 17

  Brian was not very keen on Jake’s new plan at all. While he agreed with the concept, he did not like the timing one single bit. Thankfully, he had continued training his crew in the down time created by the incident in China. Even without an ALICE on board, Brian was surprised at how few crew it took to operate the carrier.

  It had been just a few days since the recovery of the hostages and the funeral of Lance Corporal Ramirez. There had been discussions on how to more properly honor her heroism and punish the Chinese. While all that was discussed on earth, Brian continued to focus his people on things in space.

  Maintaining a polar orbit throughout its final construction, he had trained and then drilled a core team, insuring someone was always on hand, should the need arise to operate the ship manually. The need was explained to him in a transmission from Jake, with another man Brian had never seen before, in attendance.

  With assurances from ALICE that the ship could handle the gravitational stresses, he had been instructed to bring the carrier into the earth’s atmosphere and hover above an area in China. It was hoped, the show of force from the three-mile long spaceship would be enough to instill a sense of cooperation in the leaderless Chinese military.

  Brian’s real concern was the lack of an on-board ALICE, placing the ship's operation on his untested crew. He did agree with Jake’s offered opinion, that risking ALICE-3 on this same type of maneuver was unacceptable.

  Checking his approach for the tenth time, Brian noted they would be entering high over the Arctic Ocean. From there they would cross the eastern tip of Russia, crossing the Kamchatka Peninsula and then the northern tip of Japan. He would then lower to a few miles AGL over the Korea’s before reaching Chin
a. Besides impressing the Chinese, he figured they were about to scare the crap out of a lot of people in East Asia.

  ----*----

  HeBak was resting when one of the alarms in his control room began sounding. Rising from his bed, he hurried into the pilot’s space, concerned that his ship had been discovered. Taking a moment to review his instruments, he determined that the larger of the two vessels in orbit was entering the atmosphere and headed directly for his location.

  A sense of panic raced through his body as he quickly checked to see if this ships cloaking was still in place, concealing him at the bottom of the body of water he had selected for its depth. He noted in passing that two of the local inhabitants stood at the lake's edge, dismissing them just as quickly for they presented no threat.

  Checking the status of the three robotic miners, he verified they were irretrievable before the human ship arrived above his current location. He quickly slipped into the pilot’s seat, powering systems up and preparing to make a run for it. Pausing to do a mental calculation, he again verified the gold he had on board would carry him through retirement, but not in the comfort he craved.

  HeBak was not a brave man, but he was a greedy man. Therefore, he was well aware that the decision he was making to stay and risk capture did not have its roots in heroics. However, by all that was NeHaw, he wasn’t going to let some back world primitives force him into a one room dwelling on the home world, no better off than the retirement he would have earned without all this effort.

  Either he was returning to civilized space a very wealthy man, or he would die at the bottom of this lake. With that decided, he powered everything unnecessary down and continued to watch the ship on his screen grow closer.

  ----*----

  Having moved to a small mound nearby for a better angle, Ivan swore he saw something flicker in the depths of the lake. As the sun continued to raise directly overhead, he validated his earlier estimation that the lack of clarity in the water only began in the center near the bottom. As he and Alexi continued to concentrate, the sun was suddenly blotted as a huge shadow cast across the lake.