“If we cannot gain control of the ship then it must be destroyed before it can cross the boundary,” said Donalds. “We cannot take the chance of how the Screen would react to a ship that large trying to leave the system. Destroying it can easily be covered up under the guise of an engine breach.”
“What about Admiral Johnson? Has he been located?” asked Admiral Dennin.
“No,” replied Vespia. “Fifty six shuttles left the Tormented Valley in different directions. The ones we’ve located have all been empty with the autopilot preprogrammed and broadcasting false human life signs. He has not turned up at any of his residences or on any ship. All we know is that he could not have left Earth.”
“We need to find him and get some answers,” said Donalds. “We also need to know why a civilian craft was in the vicinity of a restricted area during the supposed thruster test.”
“And what about these cadets?” asked Admiral Rodriguez. “We didn't even know they were on board until the President mentioned them."
“Yes, we cannot allow the civilian government to have information unbeknownst to us. Contact the Academy and have Superintendent Mortino give us all the information about them,” ordered Donalds.
“I’ve met this Cadet Roberts before,” admitted Block disgustingly. “He was an acquaintance of my son. He is a brash, undisciplined, disrespectful individual. I don't know how he managed to get accepted to the Academy. If the EXODUS has been hijacked I would not be surprised that he was involved.”
“So we are assuming the ship has been commandeered by rebels?” asked Vespia.
“Until we get some solid information, we will proceed under the assumption the ship is in control by a hostile force,” said Donalds. “I have authorized the release of the EXODUS’ schematics to the fleet in order to determine the ship’s weaknesses and most efficient way to halt or destroy it.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It was just another day for X, and the evening was turning out to be more of the same routine. The house bot had been in service of the Roberts' family for years. John's father, who carried the same name as his son, had purchased the bot as a Christmas gift to his wife when they moved to their house in La Habra. Graciella did not want to buy such a large house sitting on a huge piece of property. Where John Sr. saw privacy all she could see was work, work, and more work. To convince her that they should buy the home John Sr. purchased a house bot to handle all the house and yard work. The ploy worked and after the new year they moved into their new home. A year later John was born.
Nicole saw X as nothing more than another house appliance; however, John saw X as a playmate and delighted in crawling all over the bot. Graciella thought it nice that baby John had adopted X as a surrogate sibling and it seemed X's artificial intelligence had adapted to the baby's needs. X played with the baby, helped feed and change him, even sang lullabies to get him to sleep. John Sr. found the whole affair odd, but since his wife seemed content with the arrangement he wasn't going to say anything. The baby's love of X eventually changed the family's perception of the bot from a mere machine to a family member. X was even included in the family portrait when the baby turned four. It was the only picture of all of them together. John Sr. and Graciella died a few months later.
For an old bot, X was in remarkable condition. Nicole had X go in for a thorough maintenance check once a year, something John continued to do when his sister disappeared. Even after John left New York he made arrangements for a technician to service X annually. With John at the Academy X's daily activities were limited to maintaining the house and grounds. The days of being a part of a family relegated to some files in X's memory core.
Except for the kitchen light, the house was dark and silent. X spent its days mostly sitting in the corner of John's room; ever since John was little X sat in the corner when on standby mode, his presence a comfort for John. Even after John's departure to the Academy X continued to spend his time powered down in the room. It made no sense, with John gone X's programming should have dictated he power down by the front door. Yet for whatever reason the bot chose to continue to 'sleep' in John's room.
The black round robot had only been down for a couple of hours when its proximity sensor alerted it to a large incoming object. X immediately brought all its systems online and extended its four metallic legs from its lower body. The bot quickly walked out of the room and headed downstairs. By this time its sensors had clarified the object coming in was a shuttle. The shuttle had just landed in the field by the time the bot was outside on the porch.
X stood in front of the house and scanned the perimeter. It waited for the one person it detected inside the shuttle to emerge. The bot had already confirmed the individual was not John. This individual was older, taller, and heavier than his owner. The individual was also a man, discounting the possibility the individual was Nicole (unless Nicole had an operation to change her sex. X gave that scenario a 0.00000000013% probability).
X watched as the shuttle side door opened and the man emerged. The individual took a few steps before tripping and falling down into the field. X immediately responded by retracting its legs and switching to wheel mode. The bot raced down the steps and across the field over to the fallen man to assist him, scanning his body for any injuries he may have incurred in the fall.
"Let me assist you," said X in its low, calm, mechanical voice. The bot took one of the man's hand in its claw and slowly helped him to his feet. "I detect no damage to your body, however you must not attempt to rise up too quickly."
The man looked at X as he got up. The bot finally had a clear look of his face and accessed his memory files to determine who he might be. The face matched a photo John transmitted to X only hours ago.
"Admiral Oliver Johnson," stated X. "Welcome to the Roberts' residence."
The man grabbed X by both arm extenders and gripped tightly. X made no attempt to wrestle free, as the pressure was nowhere near to causing any damage to the bot. The man looked at X's two white optical interfaces with a wild look on his face.
"Are you one of them?" he asked. The question made no sense to X and the bot spent a few moments processing the query. The man quickly looked up in the sky, as if he was checking to see if he was followed. "The kingdom would protect me, they wouldn't send a devil."
"I am unable to properly reference your statements to compose an appropriate response," said X. The man looked back at the bot and blinked his eyes several times, as if he were trying to break free of some trance.
"No…,no. Of course not," muttered Johnson. He looked at the bot again. "He said I would be safe here."
"I conclude your reference to 'he' is John. He has instructed me to obey all requests from you. The residence is at your disposal."
"Residence? Right, right. I need to clean up, get organized."
"My scans indicate you are able to move under your own motion. Please follow me." X's upper spherical body turned and it drove back to the house. The admiral grabbed a duffle bag that he dropped when he fell and followed X to the house, looking back at the shuttle and the surrounding sky.
X had interfaced with the house computer and turned on all the lights downstairs. As it approached the porch steps its legs emerged once more from its lower body and it walked up the steps and into the house. X could hear the admiral muttering to himself, but the words were all jumbled. He made several references to a devil, kingdom, and a whispering Cory. X crossed referenced the words to encyclopedic resources, but nothing matched the probability parameters this situation constructed.
X went directly to the kitchen and retrieved a drinking glass. It filled the glass with cold water from the refrigerator door. By the time the glass was filled the admiral was inside the house and had just entered the kitchen.
"Your body's liquid composition is down 23.53%," said X as it approached the admiral and offered him the glass. "This will increase your hydration by 8.601%."
The admiral looked at the glass suspiciously. He felt that the bot meant him no harm,
but there were too many voices in his head telling him too many different things. It was difficult to sort them all out. He hit his head with the palm of his hand repeatedly, trying to hush the voices for a few moments. When he thought the noises had diminished a little bit he took the glass and drank it voraciously, as if he had little time.
"John had instructed me to interface with your shuttle and use it's sensor system to monitor the area. With your permission I will establish a link."
The admiral nodded quickly. That made sense. There were a lot of bad things out there. Maybe this bot could protect him from the evils lurking closer.
A few bleeps came from X as it established a link to the shuttle computer. In no time the bot activated the shuttle sensors and began monitoring as wide of an area the sensors could capture.
"Interface established. I will notify you of any incoming visitors," reported X. But the admiral had already forgotten about the bot. He just realized he was in John Roberts' family home. He walked into the adjacent dining room, leaving X behind in the kitchen. A large, plush wooden table stood in the center of the room, six chairs pushed in around it. This room had not been used in years and if it weren't for X's meticulous cleaning would have accumulated dust. At the end of the far wall was a large glass china cabinet. It was filled with beautiful chinaware adorn with pink roses. The top shelf had numerous liquor bottles, some empty, others never even opened.
The admiral moved across the dining room and into the large living room. Immediately in front of him was a pool table. But it was the fireplace that caught his attention. There sitting up on the mantle were numerous pictures. He moved past the pool table to get a closer look at the photos. Many of the pictures were of John's parents. They looked so happy in the photos, time freezing their moments of good times. The admiral remembered having such feelings when Cory was alive. Where was Cory? He hadn't seen him in so long. Why was that? There was a reason his son hadn't called, but the admiral couldn't think what it could be. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to remember. When he reopened his eyes he zoomed in on a single photo of a young woman.
"Devil," hissed the admiral. He grabbed the photo and shook it violently. "How did you get here?" He'd seen her before. Somehow, he knew she was with the devil. No, she was the devil, a devil.
X had entered the room moments before and approached the admiral. "Do you have a question about the picture you are shaking?"
The admiral looked at X with wild eyes. Was the bot in league with her? He thought it could be trusted. He thrust the photo in the bot's optical scanners. "Who is she? Why did you bring her?"
"The young woman in the photo is Nicole Roberts, John's sister," replied the bot in a flat tone. "She is currently not residing here."
The admiral was confused. He looked at the picture again. "She's not here?"
"Nicole departed this household in 2130," replied the black bot. "There is no record of her contacting the residence at any time and John has made no statements indicating he has had any visual or verbal contact with her."
So she wasn't here, which seemed to make sense. The admiral now knew he had nothing to worry about. She was an infection on the road to the kingdom, but he took care of that. The road had been cleared.
"Two shuttlecraft are on approach to the house," announced X unexpectedly. It jolted the admiral, clearing his head for a moment.
"Where?"
"They crossed the northern border of Whittier. Estimated time of arrival at current speed is eleven minutes. Their slow approach is due to detailed scans they are conducting."
There wasn't much time. He knew they would come here looking for him. He was hoping for a little more time, but the evil was relentless.
"My metal angel, you must help me avoid the damnation approaching."
"John instructed me to follow all of your instructions," replied X. "I am at your disposal."
"Then we must hurry. We must prepare for their arrival."
As the admiral prepared for the visitors he was expecting to show up at the house, the EXODUS began its course on out of the solar system.
“What is the status of the Interceptors?” asked John as he quickly reviewed the ship's power distribution network.
"Luna Squadron Alpha is fifteen minutes behind us,” reported Alex'sis. “By the time we reach the Mars defense perimeter we should have a twenty minute lead on them.”
The plan had worked. As Lieutenant Jacobson correctly guessed the pursuing Interceptors altered their course to try and catch EXODUS further up on its projected course. A quick burst at full speed quickly ensured the squadron would not catch them. John was relieved that one potential encounter with TERRA had been avoided.
"Any activity from the Mars defense perimeter?"
“I am monitoring high level communications between Luna and Mars,” reported Bret. “They've encrypted the transmissions so I can't drop in on what they are saying, but it looks like Mars is preparing for our arrival.”
“Commander, I’ve acquired telemetry on the Mars fleet,” reported Alex'sis. John jumped down from his command chair and joined her and Julie at the tactical table. Alex’sis punched up a visual grid of the ships on the table.
“They’ve mobilized a group of eighty fighters and two capital ships, the AURORA and the SYRIA. They’re in synchronous orbit above the communications center and will intercept us as soon as we pass by the planet.”
“If they’re above the communications center, that would put them near the planetary gun,” commented Julie.
“You really think they would use the gun against us?” asked John. He expected TERRA would use the cannon to try and disable them, but he was hoping that one of his officers had a different opinion to give him some hope that TERRA might not use it. He didn’t want to be right about them using the cannon.
“Tactically, it makes perfect sense,” said Alex'sis in a logical tone. “They can slow our advance with their fighters and capital ships, giving them a window of opportunity to have the canon's targeting system lock onto us.”
“We could alter course and avoid Mars altogether,” said Julie.
“If we alter course that will allow Alpha Squadron to hook up with the Mars group and stage a line against us when we move the ship back towards Pluto,” said John. “According to the specs the shields should be able to absorb a blast from the planetary gun. They’ll only get one shot off before we move out of their range.”
“Commander, the shields haven’t been tested in a live scenario, let alone here in space,” reminded Julie. “There’s no guarantee they'll even work.”
“I have to agree with her,” said Alex’sis. “We’re better off against a fleet of ships than that gun.” John didn’t expect her to concede such caution. Alex’sis had made it quite well known that she was fully confident in the ship’s capabilities. For her to voice any sort of doubt unnerved John a bit.
“That gun is the most powerful weapon in TERRA,” said John. “If this ship can’t survive a blast from it then we’ll have no chance against the Screen.” Both Julie and Alex'sis looked at one another. John had a good point.
“I recommend that engineering conduct continuous tests on the shield system until we reach Mars,” said Alex'sis.
“Very well, but let them know I want the system online in an instant of us intercepting the Mars group or coming in range of the gun,” ordered John. Alex'sis nodded and headed over to another station. John looked at Julie and saw the concerned look on her face. “You don’t agree with my call, do you?”
Julie shrugged her shoulders. “I’d rather go up against the ships than the cannon. I understand where you’re coming from but the power output of the cannon is enormous. The shields may overload.”
“The specs show the shields are designed to dissipate and absorb energy weaponry,” explained John. “The system is designed to minimize any possibility of an overload.”
“Commander,” interrupted Bret. “We’re getting a message from the Mars Communication Center. They
’re trying to raise us.”
“Put it up on the speakers,” ordered John. Bret hit a few buttons and patched the line through the bridge speakers. John was curious if they were going to demand that EXODUS halt its advance just like Luna Station.
“TXS EXODUS,” boomed the intimidating voice.
“Vice Admiral Rollins,” whispered Julie to John. She immediately recognized his distinctive voice. Admiral Rollins ran the day to day TERRA operations on Mars, reporting directly to Admiral Block. He was a tough, no-nonsense officer who had no hesitation of putting his soldiers lives on the line.
“You are illegally making transit through the inner solar system and have defied repeated orders to cease your advance,” continued Rollins. John rolled his eyes. No shit, genius. “You are ordered to stand down, disengage all defensive systems, and allow a troop detachment to board. Failure to comply will be interpreted as a hostile action and will be responded to appropriately. You have one minute to respond.”
Julie looked at John with some apprehension. He seemed to be contemplating what to do but didn’t display the same nervousness Julie was feeling. She hoped that John confidence would not waver.
“Shall we respond to the admiral?” asked Bret.
“Negative,” replied John. “Do not respond to any of their incoming transmissions.” He headed back up to his command chair while Julie stayed at the tactical table. “All hands, go to battle stations,” ordered John. The emergency klaxons blared as the crew readied themselves for Mars’ greeting.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The two shuttles landed in the field of the Roberts' residence near the admiral's shuttle. As their systems went on standby the main doors opened on the rears of both craft and several TERRA officers, armed with guns, exited in rapid succession. The group closest to the admiral's shuttle headed directly to it to secure the craft, while the second group set up position in the tall grass to conduct reconnaissance on the house. Two officers used their visual scanners to identify any activity occurring within the residence. The house interior was dark and even with the scanners they saw no movement inside.
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