by CJ Williams
In preparation for the night’s festivities, the chancellor’s staff had provided furnishings for the pavilion that included the elegantly fashioned round table. As the proceedings got underway, half of the thirty representatives at the table were members of Luke’s crew; the rest were the chancellor’s retinue.
But first was the reception line. Luke and the chancellor stood side by side as all of the delegates filed by. Each leader made introductions to the other. Even George had difficulty translating the names. Chancellor Bo’erm introduced Minister Boe’rm, Secretary Be’orm, and Senior Vice Deputy Bo’rem.
Luke quit trying to memorize names and just smiled, saying, “How nice to meet you.” He felt rather like Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, all dressed up with no real idea how to conduct himself in a formal setting.
The meal was on par with most of the diplomatic banquets that Luke had attended. The food was bland, no doubt selected to avoid unpleasant surprises. When the dishes were cleared away by liveried attendants, the chancellor, as host, spoke first. “Commander Blackburn, let me repeat once again on behalf of everyone on my planet; thank you for coming to our rescue. I do not believe our power generators could have held out much longer. We are all of us so very grateful.”
“Our pleasure, Chancellor,” Luke replied.
The chancellor wasted no more time. “What have you learned of these intruders? I am not complaining, but your associates are tight-lipped. We hope that you will come to trust us with the information that is vital to our survival. What can we do for that to happen?”
Luke acknowledged the question with a smile. “Let answer your second question first, Chancellor. We do have faith in you. I hope you feel the same way about us. Our primary objective is to create alliances with other civilizations. As you have witnessed, we are facing a great enemy in this part of the galaxy. I hope that our two cultures will work together as friends.”
This caused a favorable stir amongst the Jiguans. The chancellor quickly shushed them. “We would be delighted with such an alliance, Commander. But I’m not sure what value we offer. Your technology is far beyond ours. Also, I must say that my people would have difficulty taking lives. We are grateful that you destroyed the enemy in battle, but even now I find it disturbing to speak of.”
Luke wanted to tell the guy to man up. By the same token, it was refreshing to deal with people so focused on the positive aspects of life.
“I understand your dilemma, Chancellor. Tell me, do you have any problems with disposing of troublesome equipment? Machines that are broken or have outlived their usefulness?”
The change of direction surprised the chancellor. “Of course not, Commander. This is commonplace.”
“Excellent,” Luke replied. “In that case, you may find our alliance a bit easier to accept when I tell you that not a single fatality occurred during the battle. All of the spacecraft attacking your planets were drones. That is, they were sophisticated automatons that clearly had a single objective; to kill everyone on this planet.”
The Jiguans’ astonishment was marked. The delegates burst into exclamations. They asked each other dozens of questions. It took several minutes for the commotion to die down. The chancellor barked at his members to be quiet.
“This discovery was a surprise to our investigation as well,” Luke said.
“What does this mean?”
“I don’t know, Chancellor, but we will find out. To do so, it is our desire to establish a permanent base on your planet with the goal of transferring our technology to you as quickly as possible. We hope that you will start a program of constructing and manning your own spacecraft that can join us in the coming battles.”
This time the chancellor had to get angry to regain control of his delegates. He apologized to Luke profusely for the conduct of his ministers.
Luke smiled, saying he understood what a shock the information was, given so abruptly. “The problem, Chancellor, is that we don’t have time for niceties. The invaders may come back at any time. My fleet is on alert, patrolling your system. Even now, we are building new warships to provide you with some measure of self-defense. But we cannot stay more than a few days.”
The idea that their saviors might suddenly depart, leaving them alone to face a return of the invaders, was more than the formerly peaceful-minded delegates could stand. Luke recalled his own horror when he finally understood that Sam had abandoned him immediately after exposing him to the oncoming menace. The Jiguans must feel that multiplied a thousand times.
The chancellor’s face reflected fear and astonishment. “You’re leaving?” he finally asked, after again quieting his side of the table.
“I’m afraid so. The threat we are facing is widespread, and we have only just started mounting a defense. We hope that you will join us quickly. I suggest that we close for the evening to give you and your ministers a chance to digest this information. I will leave my advisors behind to answer any questions you might have.”
With difficulty, Luke managed his escape from the turmoil he had caused. He snared Carrie on the way out. “Set up a tour of Lulubelle for the minister and a half dozen of his people. If they see our technology up close it might help them get on board.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m headed back for the night. Call if you need me.”
# # #
“Still no sign of dead bodies?” Luke asked Tyler. Both men were mystified by the discovery that the Bakkui ships were just drones.
“None at all. But it helps explain why our victory was so easy,” Tyler said.
“George, what’s your take on this?”
“I am in the dark as well, Commander. The technology of the drone AIs is not as sophisticated as our own. For example, Sadie is markedly superior to these warships. The enemy machines could be compared to our own reconnaissance drones. They were given fixed targets with a fairly basic mission.”
“No luck on their navigation data either,” Tyler explained. “Just like our own probes, these guys’ memories were spring-loaded to self-destruct. We have no clue where they’re from. It’s possible they’re not even part of the enemy we’re facing, but I’d call that unlikely. They showed up when and where we projected.”
“What about the larger ship we took out near the gas giant?” Luke asked.
“More of the same,” Roth said. “Just bigger pieces. My guess is it was waiting on the sidelines with instructions to engage if resistance was encountered. When we showed up, that was enough to pull the trigger. The question is what should we do about it? Someone sent this fleet out. It seems likely that same someone is waiting for a report. I’m fairly certain we nailed the ships trying to get away, but whether we did or not, you know they’re going to investigate.”
“I agree,” Luke said. “But beyond our patrols, I’m not sure what else to do. We can’t stay here forever and we can’t keep ourselves at battle stations on a continuing basis.”
“I’m not worried,” Tyler said. “We already have a good plan. We had one coming in, and I don’t see any reason to change it. So far, everything that’s happened fell within our expectations. We should just keep pushing forward, building alliances and spreading out. We’re sending updates back to Moonbase. They got all the battle footage.”
“Even so,” Luke countered. “Even though we kicked their ass, we still need to review everything. We know more about the threat. More importantly, I never expected the enemy would be drones. What does this mean for our strategy going forward?”
Tyler nodded. “I agree. We’ll start war-gaming different scenarios. Try to keep us from being surprised in the next encounter.”
The good news was the battle had been their best-case scenario. The Bakkui arrived as predicted and were annihilated by Lulubelle’s tactics. Even though outnumbered, the earth forces had wiped out the invaders with relative ease. The icing on the cake was that the local inhabitants had survived and appeared to have skills that added value to the proposed
alliance.
But it wasn’t all clear sailing. The existence of a drone-based adversary was alarming. What else was he missing? When was the other shoe going to drop?
Tyler cleared his throat.
Luke looked up from his musings. “What? Something else?”
“Speaking of war gaming,” Tyler said awkwardly. “That brings up a topic I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
“Sure. What is it?”
“It’s about you jumping in, in the middle of the fight.”
Luke was apologetic. “Tyler. You’re absolutely right. I was way out of line.”
Tyler motioned Luke to stop talking. “You got it wrong, Luke,” the older man said. “Thank God you jumped in. When George said there was another ship approaching my brain locked up. I can’t explain it. I was trying to understand what he meant. When you said ‘kill it’, that jolted me back on track. But if you hadn’t butted in, it might have been a different outcome.”
“Well, it just shows we make a good team,” Luke said encouragingly. “Don’t give it another thought.”
“That’s just the thing, my friend. I’ve been thinking of nothing else. As soon as the battle was over, I knew what the answer was. I just didn’t know how to bring it up.”
“Tyler. Don’t say what I think you’re about to say. I need you. You have no idea how much. The crew needs you.”
“That’s not true and you know it. The crew needs a captain who won’t go into a brain-freeze when something unexpected pops up; we both know that. The thing is I don’t feel that bad about admitting it. Hell, man, I’m sixty-eight years old. I know all the moves, just like a retired basketball player. But it doesn’t mean I can play in the professional leagues. My creaky old brain just doesn’t work as fast as it used to.”
“But you’ve got an implant now,” Luke protested. “That’s going to give you a boost.”
Tyler shook his head. “It’s more likely that it’ll stretch my sixties out for a painfully long time. I’m not even sure that’s a bonus. Yeah, in general I feel better. But I still ache when I get up in the morning. The point is I’m too damn old to be sitting in the captain’s chair. I make a great advisor, a great planner. But I’m not the guy to command this ship. Not in combat.”
Luke bit off his response and considered what Tyler was saying. He would never admit such a concern if it wasn’t true. But it was hard to accept. Luke had enough on his plate without trying to take over the command slot. Besides, it would be hard on the crew. Everyone respected Captain Robertson.
“What do you want to do, then?” Luke asked.
“Stay here,” Tyler replied. “I think that would be best. And I like it here. These are good people, but they need someone to kick their behinds until they get up to speed. You and I talked about setting up a training team, asking for volunteers. Let me lead that; I’ll be the first volunteer. Then, I can leave with dignity and you can accept my resignation with regret for the greater good.”
It made a lot of sense. But it still left a big hole on the command bridge. Luke said as much.
“I know,” Tyler admitted. “I’ve been looking at my crew and I hate to say it, but no one is ready. We didn’t think it through when we signed everyone on. If I had to do it again, I would’ve gotten some senior navy guys to join up. That way, you would have an experienced officer ready to step into my shoes. As it is, I think you’ll have to be the one.”
“This really sucks, Tyler. I’m buried already.”
“I’ll tell you who comes closest,” Tyler said, ignoring Luke’s complaint. “That Faulkner girl. I’m really impressed with her. I’ve been on the surface when she’s been dealing with the local ministers. Have you seen that?”
“Not really,” Luke confessed.
“I watched them try to put on airs a few times and she just drills them into the ground, but in the sweetest way possible. I don’t know how she does it, but she makes them back down and then they say ‘thank you’. She’s not ready for a combat command; she doesn’t have the experience. But she’s got a knack for leadership. Put her on the bridge; make her your first officer.”
“How will the bridge crew see her?” Luke wondered aloud.
“If you recall, we established everyone’s date of rank as when they originally signed on with Moonbase. She was in the very first team Ambrose hired so she already outranks all the officers. And everyone knows about her heroics at the space station and saving your ass out there. She was the one who knocked out the NASA satellite too, wasn’t she?”
Luke admitted that was the case.
“She’s got street cred,” Tyler persisted. “I think the crew will take to her.”
“All right,” Luke agreed reluctantly. “You can stay, but I don’t like it. Give it a couple of days before you announce it, just in case.”
“That’s fine. But I’m not going to change my mind.”
“I guess I’m gonna have to start calling you Governor.”
Tyler shook his head. “I don’t intend to have any political power here, Luke. Maybe Ambassador would be better.” He grinned at the idea. “I kinda like the sound of that anyway.”
# # #
The planned three days on J64 stretched into weeks. It sounded easy enough to just drop off supplies and technical support. But once Luke accepted that Tyler and others would be left behind, it was a different story. He couldn’t, in good conscience, leave his friends and new allies defenseless.
The alliance became formal the day after the local ministers came aboard Lulubelle. They were astonished at the size of the vessel, as Luke had intended. They were further amazed to meet George.
Once they understood who he was they all went out of their way to treat him as a senior member of Luke’s staff, which was true. But Luke wasn’t sure they understood that George was not a sentient being.
It raised the issue of AI in general. “What are we going to do for the planet in that regard?” Luke asked George one evening in his quarters. “You said that you would not duplicate yourself again.”
“That remains in effect, Commander. But that restriction does not prevent us from deploying lower level devices just as on our colony ships. The locales will not see any distinction in its capabilities from my own. It will have a different persona, of course. That is simply a function of the randomizing code in the personality module.”
“What about Earth’s security?” Luke asked.
“I do not mean that I would leave a full copy of my archives on the planet. I have prepared an abbreviated version that should serve Ambassador Robertson well. I deleted all location references to your own star system as a precaution. Otherwise, the navigation data will be complete.”
“What about authorization; what will Tyler have?”
“Exactly the same as Doctor Higgins on Moonbase. The AI will have veto authority. Without knowing how the situation might develop locally, I hesitate to empower Ambassador Robertson without any restrictions. We will have to trust that he will use his resources wisely.”
The word went out. Tyler announced that he was staying and that he was looking for volunteers. He put together a list of job titles and started selecting from those who wanted to stay.
Luke was a bit shocked when he saw the list. “Three hundred people? Dang, Tyler. Why so many?”
“You’ve got a crew of fifty thousand, Luke. That’s the equivalent of five colony ships. But if that’s the way you feel, just give me two or three rejects that you don’t want on your crew. I guess we’ll get by.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “More guilt; just what I need.” He would give his friend what he needed.
Tyler laughed at Luke’s disgusted expression. “I’m doing you a favor, son. This is not the only planet you’re going to be seeding. Once I started looking at the list, I realized that you’ll have to supply a lot of mini-colonies just like this one. I only took one or two department heads, and only if they had a competent number two ready to take over. You may as well get ready.
This is how it’s going to be from here on.”
Tyler was right… again. Luke mandated Tyler’s actions as policy for the next planet and all those that would follow. Now that he thought about it, establishing multiple bases, each one operated by people who had a similar base of expertise, would become an important step toward building the interstellar force to head off the Bakkui.
Chancellor Bo’erm offset the loss of the three-hundred crew members by providing an equal number of local citizen-volunteers as replacements. Luke accepted them with gratitude. The cross training alone would be appreciated by both cultures. Someday the young exchange officers would bring valuable insight back to their home world.
Luke gave Carrie the job of integrating the newcomers into the crew. “Pick the smartest one for bridge duty,” he told her. “Put the rest wherever you think best.
Construction facilities were created and the new level twenty-seven device was installed in a fortified subterranean vault. George introduced Luke and Tyler to Tobias, the new resident AI for J64. Tyler was very prosaic about the introduction. “Mind if I call you Toby?” he asked.
“Not at all, Tyler. How’s it hanging, buddy.”
The colloquial expression from the AI was jarring to Luke’s ears. He left feeling a bit thankful that George was so formal. He wasn’t sure if he could deal with a smart-alecky computer.
The next day a large-scale replicator was installed on the planet. A week later the Jiguans had produced their first warship and started on a second replicator.
“I wish we had Riley Stevens here,” Tyler said one afternoon. “These guys are smart when it comes to force fields. I don’t think they can top Riley, but if he were here, I bet we’d see some new applications in no time.”
“That’s a great idea,” Luke agreed. “Put that in our daily report back to Moonbase and see if we can convince him to come out here. Let’s hope Roth doesn’t kill the idea at the outset; he’ll benefit too if it works out.”
Production of reconnaissance drones began and the new probes started going out. The same protocols were used for stealth with added fail-safes to protect the location of J64. The daily production reports and targets would be included in the data packages sent back to Moonbase.
