by Tobias Roote
It had taken RIGA and the Ship AI several months of space-hopping to compile a trajectory map from which they could extrapolate potential star maps that could guide them to the area of space that might fit the coordinates. A further six months of long hyperspace hops gave them their first glimmer of success, an abandoned asteroid mine.
The information gleaned there gave direction and language samples as well as a measure of their technological level, which seemed quite advanced. Empty habitation confirmed a bio sentient species, and tools established that they were bipedal and similar to Empirum members.
In the end it was easier than she expected, the bio sentients were extremely vocal on common frequencies and it was just a matter of following the direction of signals and studying both visual and audio references to establish both language and social structure. The similarity to human members of the Empirum was sufficient for the ESSG to permit RIGA to make contact.
7. Terran Stand-Off
Gossie sent the signal to the reclined figure in the repaired and upgraded cockpit chair, and was rewarded with an affirmative code response. When in hyperspace Gossie would use the downtime to do self-testing and checking out of all the instrumentation. The ship AI even had a small army of mini-bots that could crawl outside and make repairs, or modifications. RIGA had no purpose during these dead periods so often went into shutdown mode. Gossie was uniquely privileged, in that RIGA had given her an activation code on that would ‘wake’ RIGA, when required.
An alarm went off inside RIGA’s head.
>/
> Unit: Prototype-AM: Regenerating Independent Genetic Android/Artificial Intelligence unit AMYA/4B.
>System reset complete 23:40HRS EST.
>Maintenance Mode: COMPLETE.
>Neural Network: OPTIMAL.
>Surveillance systems: OPTIMAL. NO THREAT DETECTED.
>Defence Perimeter: SET. NON-HOSTILE.
>Location: HYPERSPACE. Coordinates: CLASSIFIED.
>Galactic Star Date: 2145,14,25.
>Task Schedule: UPLOADED.
>Unit Readiness: RIGA,AI OPERATIONAL.
>/
RIGA’s return to awareness was immediate, as she took in the ship’s state of readiness; the current activity of the AI indicated that Gossie had pulled her out of stasis.
“HYPERSPACE EXIT IN FOUR MINUTES,” Gossie announced verbally, making sure that RIGA was paying attention.
She liked this about the ship AI; it wasn’t constantly in her head giving her the feeling of an invasion of her privacy. Not that she had private thoughts, but sharing your head isn’t recommended for multiple reasons.
“Thank you Gossie,” she responded, as much to confirm she was vocally active, as to let Gossie know she was up to speed already.
“You have shifted the exit point,” she noted.
“In view of the risks to date and the possibility that the pirates are in receipt of our previous arrival coordinates, I deduced that a computational shift in our arrival point was a paranoid, but prudent action. It merely required a simple calculation of known orbits to put into effect,” Gossie responded, deliberately understating the complicated means by which she had done so.
“You may be right, who knows who's involved and where this conspiracy will lead,” RIGA admitted.
Giving thought to their impending arrival in the Terran system, RIGA couldn’t help reflecting on their last visit. The pleased response of Osachi when she told him that she represented a trade pact consisting of fourteen planets of bio sentients like them. They weren’t concerned at all about the involvement of artificial lifeforms in the PACT, and introduced their own AI's, who appeared integrated into their Empire, although disappointingly, not as independent individuals, as in the Empirum.
“EXITING HYPERSPACE IN TEN SECONDS.”
“Put all weapons on-line and prepare for escape and evasion. Plot in a short hyperspace hop, Gossie. I don’t want to go far if we land in something hot. I want an opportunity to assess the situation,” RIGA instructed as Gossie pulled her from her short reverie.
The ship slipped quietly and unobtrusively into normal space without causing a ripple, then cloaked. There was no sensor signal within range, only a large area of emptiness prevailing around them.
“Seems we have a bit of a journey to get to civilisation, Gossie. Most direct route please, full power to drives.” RIGA smiled. She still maintained command of the vessel and the mission. It was good to keep up the habit of issuing orders, lest the ship decide to go off making its own decisions. At least more than she was already doing, RIGA corrected her thinking. Gossie was as much an agent as RIGA, but unfortunately confined inside a shell.
With the course plotted, both RIGA and Gossie spent the intervening time studying the star system, logging planets and stars. Their knowledge of this region was still limited, and the last visit had left them with little opportunity to survey the system.
They were picking up radio and video transmissions from the main planet. This gave them considerable anecdotal data to be taken back to ESSG. It would help provide background for the planet’s case for entry into the Empirum.
It was Gossie that noticed the small fleet first using her low powered scanning waves. There were five ships holding fast, out of range of the space station they were heading towards.
“Gossie, bring us to a new bearing, then shut down drives,” RIGA indicated the position on the view screen of a small asteroid field of ten or twenty objects. “When you get there, remain cloaked and passive while we work out what’s going on,” she added.
As they quietly drifted, their scanners kept a close watch on any activity. As they pulled up to the small lump of an asteroid that still dwarfed them by about a factor of five hundred, they were able to read the drive signatures of the skulking ships, and logged them for future reference. They both had no doubt these were part of the group trying to destroy them. It meant they were on the right track, or at least they thought they were.
Over the next two days, they watched silently, as at regular intervals the ships broke off and proceeded to patrol the area, spreading out in a wide circuit that would take them towards the outer system. They then observed them turning and coming back in from a slightly different angle, until they all arrived back at the same point.
“Those look suspiciously like the same class of ship that intercepted us at Epsilon Gamma,” RIGA commented finally, as they decided that they needed to make some effort to break out of the impasse.
“Certainly the odds of there being a small fleet at every point we have been anticipated to jump to is compelling. My analysis suggests that this conspiracy we are involved in is far larger than we believed, and may, in fact, involve whole systems.” the AI suggested.
“Yes, I agree. The fact they are maintaining minimum distance from the Space Station indicates they are trying to remain outside of any potential Terran jurisdiction,” observed RIGA.
“I believe, that if we hail the Space Station those ships will zero in on our transmission, and we will end up as space dust within the hour,” the AI commented.
RIGA decided they needed to act soon. If they could somehow distract the fleet long enough to reach the Station, would they hold back, or attack the Terrans? Analysing their options RIGA realised there was only one that had a chance of success. The trouble was, it was theoretically possible, but there was no record of it ever being incorporated into space procedures.
“Gossie, is this ship capable of sub-light jumps?” asked RIGA.
“It is, but I have no experience of attempting it, nor has the database got anything, other than basic theory. You have a plan?” she asked.
“Yes, but I need to know if it’s physically possible for the drive to carry out a local jump.”
“Then, I will proceed on the basis of it being possible and do my own computations,” Gossie responded, already surmising that the question implied a need to achieve such a thing, if possible.
A few hours later, RIGA peeped in o
n the AI’s running computations, and decided that it was better to keep away from such things. That kind of math was best left to a computer; she laughed silently to herself at the irony.
It was nearly a day before the ship’s AI responded.
“How far do you want to jump?” Gossie asked.
RIGA, who was in the middle of following an outpouring of political discussion from the distant planet, about the extensive use of robotics denying people the right to work, was relieved at the interruption.
Leaning back in her chair, she thought out loud. “Ideally, the other side of that planet, far enough away so as to be able to jump back out again without being caught in the gravity well. I would want to jump there, send a message and then jump somewhere else, then hide until the reply came through.” RIGA responded.
“Well, that is possible. It is not ideal, but possible,” the AI responded.
Gossie explained her findings so far. “The reason the jump specs aren’t in the database, is because humans are physically unable to withstand the immense pressures of the procedure. The start and stop occurs virtually simultaneously, causing their bodies to collapse, and brain damage occurs from the massive jolt.
The bulkhead mounting modifications we had to reinforce our short landings are actually perfect for maintaining the ship's integrity in sub hyper jumps. The only problem we have is keeping the power drain under control. We are also going to go from a full start to a full stop in the space of sixty seconds, or less. This might damage the drive, although admittedly, it is a small risk.”
“How accurate can you be?” RIGA asked.
“Well, I’m not sure until we have done a few jumps. However, I do believe we ‘could’ theoretically land in the middle of a fleet of ships, like the one currently on our view screen. However, they would need to be travelling at roughly the same speed that we were, and in the same direction, if we wanted to avoid being squashed,” the AI admitted.
RIGA nodded. “Here’s the situation then, we are vastly out gunned. So, messing with even one of those ships is out of the question. We need to stay out of their range completely. I suspect they have even developed a strategy to counter our short stops already. We need to send a message to the Space Station, and await for the reply, but not by sitting here ready to be turned into scrap by those ships. We have to move about in-system, but quickly.”
Gossie caught on. “Yes, but they will see the jump signatures and know where we are, so it won’t help us.”
“Not if we jump out and then immediately jump back through the same anomaly wave.” RIGA suggested.
“Why not prepare your message RIGA, while l compute our jump in and out,” the AI suggested.
Two hours later the small vessel lurched as it spasmed into real space, the ripple of its arrival although distinct, fell rapidly behind as the slim pencil craft accelerated into the shortest U-shaped curve allowed for by its drive.
Having completed its turn, it then ran back to its arrival point. A small temporal anomaly, no wider than the craft’s width, pushed ahead of it briefly like a ring of crystal flecks before swallowing the craft whole. The eddy of its brief existence merged with remains of the first one, forming one single disturbance to confuse sensors of any ship attempting to interpret what had occurred.
Back inside the ship, Gossie checked all systems in preparation for returning to real space within the next three seconds. For the purpose of the jump, and as a precaution, RIGA had dampened her systems to ensure no damage to her firmware, in the event the jumps were worse than expected.
Her ship reappeared in normal space, half days travel from the Space Station in a completely different sector of space. One that had not been part of the patrol by the small interception fleet; far enough out that its sub hyper jump would not be detected.
The ship AI sent an alert to RIGA and her systems awoke from their temporary suspension.
“Ah! Did I miss anything?” she asked.
“Everything occurred exactly as planned. The stress to the ship and the drive were well below expected tolerances. The message was sent and we are now operating at 80% speed en-route to the Space Station.”
“Where is the fleet?” RIGA asked.
“The suspect fleet is currently racing to our jump point expecting to find us there, not realising that the signal it is getting from the anomaly is in fact two incidents in close proximity. Incidentally, that was a brilliant ploy and worked perfectly,” Gossie acknowledged.
RIGA smiled. They were cloaked and moving toward the Space Station, but now the fleet were at a disadvantage. Not only did they still not know where RIGA was, they knew that the small ship had outwitted them. Hopefully, the information transmitted to the Space Station would translate to action shortly. They had to wait and see.
A few hours later they were close enough to see the glint of the Station. Gossie powered down the engines leaving them to cruise comfortably. Of the enemy fleet there was no sign.
“That’s worrying,” said RIGA
“It’s not like them to give up, but I’m not reading any drive signatures in range of my sensors. They must have jumped out,” the AI said.
“Hmm! proceed to the Station. Keep all sensors on full scan. Have weapons on-line and a jump solution in the queue at all times, until we stand down,” RIGA commanded.
The ship AI quietly concurred, and applied an in-system jump that would place them on the opposite side of the Station at a distance that would give them a chance to run, or dock.
Seeing the Gossie’s actions RIGA approved, nodding. “If you detect an anomaly near us, don’t wait for orders, jump immediately.” She was learning to trust the AI’s judgement. It meant she could concentrate on other matters, leaving their defence to her ship.
RIGA scanned the comms channels looking for some kind of signal from the Station. Her clients should be there; a response should have been sent by now.
As she considered sending a new message to the Station, RIGA felt the change in the local area of space they were travelling through. Her sensors, still set on local sweep, picked up the anomaly at the same time Gossie realised they were in the middle of a new hyperspace event.
The collision warning sounded before the AI managed to switch it off. They were about to be squashed, being deafened would just be adding to their problems.
“We cannot jump in this field, the re-entry well is skewing our settings,” Gossie announced.
“We’re right in the middle of whatever is jumping in,” RIGA acknowledged.
They watched, powerless to do anything, as the anomaly grew around them; strangely their ship appeared to be in the eye of a flux event. So far they were only suffering a mild buffering.
“If it is the suspect fleet, I think we might be in for a tough time,” the ship pointed out.
“Who else could it be, they must have worked out our game plan and calculated our likely return point,” RIGA said.
“You mean they can do short jumps in those beasts of ships without killing everyone aboard?” Gossie pointed out the obvious flaw in RIGA’s theory.
They continued to observe the event, as the hulls of two enormous ships resolved into normal space either side of their tiny craft, which now bobbed uncontrollably in the expanding bow waves of the new arrivals.
These ships were incredibly large in comparison to the fleet they had been expecting. There was nothing they could do while the ripples of the space shift continued to eddy around them.
Then the comm’s channel burst into life and a voice came over the internal speakers on the same frequency they had called the Space Station.
“This is the SCN (Space Council Navy) Tesperadus and SCN Brent. Are you in need of assistance?”came an official sounding voice. Then a scrabbling noise, and an entirely different voice came over the channel, one that RIGA knew well.
“Ambassador Rigel, is that you? Are you all right? It’s Osachi,” the voice sounded worried.
“Osachi? Yes I am fine, thank you,” RIGA r
esponded.
“Ah, good! I got your message, and I was going to reply, but then I thought that might not be much help, so I brought some friends with me. If you need additional assistance, I can get more.” He laughed.
There was a muffled sound and the original voice took over.
“Ambassador, this is Captain Jennings. We wish to transport you aboard our ship. Do you have any objections? It will make it more secure for you and easier for a proper debriefing of your experience with the small non-Terran fleet that is holding outside our perimeter.”
“When you say transport, I’m not sure I fully understand your meaning,” RIGA said.
“It will be easier if we show you, Ambassador, please stand by. Out,” the gruff voice said.
There was a delay of a few moments, then Gossie advised. “There are some strange fluctuations occurring around the ship RIGA. I think they might be attempting to activate some sort of tractor beam, but I cannot see how it would... hold on” Gossie said sidetracked as the fluctuations appeared to affect the ship directly.
RIGA waited anxiously, remembering the tractor beam of the Mirage, and not too certain of the Tesperadus’ intentions. Then, as her internal scanners lost all of their connections; regaining them a few seconds later, but now limited by some form of shield. She sensed human heat signatures around the ship. Now confused.
She was about to confer with Gossie that they were under some form of attack, when she happened to look out through the ship’s screen, amazed to see they had indeed been transported; precisely how, RIGA had no idea. There were people standing around the deck area and vehicles moving around on anti-gravs. Amazing! A transportation device INSIDE a ship.
A new voice came across the intercom, sounded different, with more of an echo. “Ambassador, the repellers are stable and you are in normal atmosphere, please neutralise all drives and thrusters and stand down your systems. You are invited to exit your ship an escort is ready to take you to the Bridge.”
