POD (The Pattern Universe)

by Roote, Tobias

  “What is it, Smith?”

  “We have an intruder within the shields, sir.”

  “Well, deal with them!” Ferris reprimanded.

  “It's not a ‘them’, Sir. It’s an unknown. It’s also cloaked.”

  “Damn! It's that damned Ship back again.”

  “No sir, it’s a different signature.”

  “What do you mean ‘a different signature’?”

  “Its Ferrazine has a different composition.”

  “I see, and do you have any idea whose this Ferrazine might be...?” Ferris queried; half guessing the answer, but not wanting to contemplate it, being as there were only two people on Earth, who had created Ferrazine as a by-product

  “That’s why I decided to disturb you. We have analysed the sensor readings. It's Zeke Callaghan's, Sir.”

  “No! It can’t be; he's dead,” Ferris said, startled at the mention of that name.

  “He might be, but the Ferrazine up there is his, they’re sure about that.”

  “Damn!” Ferris slumped in his chair bemused by the possible proximity of an old enemy.

  “We are currently unable to stop it from doing whatever it’s doing. However, the good news is, it cannot seem to escape through the new shield.”

  “Why is that good news, Smith?”

  “Because we are working on using the portable box tractor beam to confine it. Once we have it boxed we can find a way of forcing its cloak and shields to collapse.”

  “Good work, Smith... Hold on a minute, I want to come and see this myself.”

  Ferris clicked the vidcom button and the Senator returned to the active screen, fuming while fiddling with a pen in apparent frustration at being kept waiting.

  “Ferris, I – ” the Senator began.

  “Senator, I'm going to have to get back to you. Something rather, err, 'interesting' has just come up, I need to investigate it further.”

  He wagged his finger in front of the screen. “You just need to make sure you can get an oversight investigation into that damned Space Island as soon as... and I won't accept any argument from the Senate, so let me know if anyone blocks it and I will sort it. I'll talk to you again in a few days.”

  He saw the senator recoil at being spoken to in such a manner. It was the same with all of them, Ferris thought. They gave orders, but couldn't take ‘em, especially from the people who put their US dollars into getting them elected. He will learn, Ferris reminded himself.

  “Ferris out!”

  He flicked the black switch off and, leaping from his desk, followed Smith back to the Security Command Centre.

  “OK, Smith, let's go find out what we have caught out there.”

  Pod detected increased attention from ground sensors. There were also signs of activity from defence systems which were attempting to track it, based on the locations of the hover globes. One gun opened fire on Pod with a laser beam, only to succeed in frying half a dozen globes to one side of it. No further shots were fired.

  Down below, fresh action erupted as six manned A-Grav sleds exited from the airlock, immediately proceeding towards Pod's location. They split up onto different trajectories, but maintained their heading to its current location as highlighted by the circling globes.

  Pod scanned them quickly, detecting only tractor beams installed. It recognised the design from the old Fortress where Zeke had been trapped by Ferris and almost killed. It was the same model Pod had needed to neutralise before extracting Zeke. It had been far too close.

  The Fortress scientists didn’t know that it could extricate itself from these, as it had Zeke, although Zeke would never know that Pod got there too late to rescue him alive. Pod had used the pattern it took of his still viable brain and used the organic content of his own badly mangled body to re-pattern him. Part of Pod’s growing awareness forced it to realise it had not wanted Zeke to think it had failed to rescue him so had never confessed that to him.

  The A-Grav craft now took up positions above and around Pod. When it realised that they intended to use a forcefield box to trap it, Pod considered it an interesting use of the technology, so patiently awaited the outcome.

  Pod hadn't learned fear yet, so looked on in a detached manner while the A-Grav sleds manoeuvred themselves into position. Would an enemy usually be accommodating enough to stay still while they did so? Pod thought not.

  These people were still unfamiliar with the D-Jump technology that Zirkos and Zeke had always kept secret. They had seen it operating, in respect to stuff appearing or disappearing, but had no idea how it worked. Pod knew it could escape the trap, but allowed them to encircle it for the time being.

  A few minutes later, they sprung the trap, Pod felt itself being held fast by the beams on all sides. Many of the globes were held in the beams too and were now being crushed against Pod's shield.

  The triumphant look on the humans' faces indicated their perceived success. Pod wasn't overly concerned and calmly allowed them to force it to the ground. It took them about ten minutes to negotiate the six sleds down together.

  The bottom sled remained beneath Pod as it felt itself pressed onto the flat surface of its deck. Pod controlled its shield so that minimised it allowed Pod to rest on the sled. When metal and artificial fibre nets were pulled between the tractor beams and Pod's shield, the Fortress personnel did high fives, a strange custom that Pod had noted often.

  Pod allowed itself to be transported through the airlock. It was then escorted deep within the Fortress by armed guards with assorted weapons, as well as civilians who walked with the transport. Several of these tried to place hands into the space that carried the cloaked vessel, but were unable to penetrate the shield.

  Ferris was pleased. The plan had been simple; force the cloaked object to the ground, bind it to the sled with whatever was available then, cloaked or not, it would be at his mercy. The scientists could use the opportunity to learn how the damned thing worked. If they could break into the object, there may well be new technology available to them that they could use against Space Island.

  “Sir, the object is secured, they are proceeding to the shielded laboratory,” Smith came to his side and reported.

  “Excellent, have you informed Goeth?”

  “He's waiting with his team in the lab, he will soon find out what it is, sir.” Smith said enthusiastically

  “Oh, I know what it is, Smith. I know exactly what it is. What I'm concerned about is how it got to have Callaghan's Ferrazine inside it,” Ferris mused aloud.

  “You're thinking that it was obtained from Zeke Callaghan's body, sir?” Smith enquired.

  “Smith, it may be there are others like this one out there, all sporting a piece of Mr. Callaghan, or it may be this is all that's left of the man. There couldn't have been much of that stuff left to go far. What I need to know is, are we under attack from Space Island, or has the alien returned?”

  “The… alien, sir?” Smith gulped nervously.

  “Ah! That's right, Smith, you weren't around then. Yes, we have an alien benefactor who gifted us all of the technology we are currently developing. However, it wasn’t a very smart alien. Much of what it gave us were early designs. Our boys have taken those early concepts a long way and our technology is much better than the stuff they gave us. We are now superior to them - in many ways,” Ferris crowed.

  “But, this 'thing', do you know what it is, sir?”

  “That 'thing', Smith, is an Artificial Intelligence. It’s probably a low-rated one, perhaps designed for surveillance, judging by the ease with which we captured it and its apparent lack of defence capability. It seems to only have a tractor beam, which with something this size wouldn't have much leverage,” Ferris explained, glad to have an audience while he waited for a progress update.

  They continued to talk as they proceeded down to the underground laboratory which was lined with all types of materials to diffuse any sensors and ensure no communication could be intercepted. Ferris also believed the AIs had the
ability to deep-scan the planet. This shielded laboratory was designed to mess with any analysis. It should stop the ship from calling home, at the very least Ferris thought absently.

  As they approached the lab, they could see the sled being manhandled into the outer room through the plastic screen doors. They waited out of the way while the inner doors were unlocked by Goeth, who waved at Ferris with a big triumphant grin on his face and a gleam in his eyes. Ferris had the utmost faith in him as a scientist, even if he was an utter madman.

  Ferris turned to Smith.

  “Smith, stay here and have an armed team standing by outside. If that thing in there starts anything, give it hell, but don't blow it up completely; we need to be able to reverse engineer anything we find inside it.”

  “Understood, Sir. Any recommendations as to fire-power?”

  “Yes, whatever works. I would think our lasers, or the needles, would probably have the greatest impact. Don't use anything that will ricochet or damage the lab.”

  Ferris walked out, having seen enough to know that it would be some time before the 'Bods' decided to tell him anything. They liked to hog their research to themselves so he was damn sure he would be the last to know. He hated this lack of respect from them, but he needed their brains and their input. Their ingenuity had made him a fortune so far. He would continue to suffer them knowing they wouldn't benefit in the long run. Nobody ever left the Fortress.

  As he walked back to his office, he felt new pains creeping up his back. That was the fifth one this week; his nerves twanged in response. Even with the high tolerance and pain threshold he could endure; the aches had become increasingly painful, the doctors didn't know what was causing them. They had suggested removing the Ferrazite from his system, but he just told them it stayed. The boost he was getting to his brain was worth the few twinges.

  - 2 -

  The group of scientists bubbled with excitement. They were fussing around the sled before it even reached the shielded laboratory. They hadn't had a new challenge like this since Zeke Callaghan had stood in front of them with an alien-designed Needlegun, and told them they needed to figure out how it worked themselves, without any reverse engineering. His only comment had been, “You have the technology, now apply yourselves to it,” and, of course, they had. Now their own Needle Rayguns, termed NRG’s, were ‘state of the art’ not to be found anywhere else on Earth. It was one of the new weapons Ferris intended to use in the forthcoming overthrow of Space Island.

  Now they had this little problem to play with. They all viewed this as a rare opportunity to steal new technology that they felt would give them immediate superiority in air and space. They were chomping at the bit like children.

  Goeth pulled them all together, they huddled around him as he outlined his plan. He was in his element. Possibly the greatest outward thinker of the group, he often found the solution to problems they were hunting for, by thinking in different directions to the others. As a result, he was well respected amongst them. He was their 'de facto' leader, he filled the role admirably, bathing in the kudos of being first amongst his equals.

  They set up their equipment. When they were ready, they turned on the tractor beams and lifted the cloaked object off the sled. Underneath they replaced it with a series of repressor tractor beam generators in place to take the weight and provide opposing force against the ones above.

  With all tractor beams in place, the last of the mesh and chains were removed. They now had their object in stasis. If it turned off its shields, or they collapsed under pressure, the beams would immediately take up the slack and lock onto the hull of what they presumed to be a ship.

  Goeth went around checking everything carefully, paying particular attention to the stabilisers. They needed to exert pressure equally, or it might be spat out of one side. He nodded as each one seemed true and even to the others.

  Then, on his signal, they began to increase the pressure equally on all sides. With the beams all reinforced by the relativity of solid stone walls, they were able to exert significant tonnage to the surface of the shield. The fact that it was cloaked would eventually prove immaterial.

  Goeth had come to the conclusion that if the ship were put under extreme pressure, it would force the shield into a colour change as the exertion created heat, giving them a thermal signature.

  This occurred thirty minutes into the exercise. They all crowded around the monitor at one end of the lab to see the results Lockwood had pulled up on the screen in front of them. They could clearly see a tear-shaped ship approximately one metre at its thickest point and three metres at its longest.

  “It's just a surveillance drone,” one said.

  “No, look at those outlets there, it's some kind of space drive,” the speaker spun the control so the three dimensional image shifted to show a better angle.

  “What do you think these are? “ asked another.

  “They look like sensors, we have seen similar before on the AI, Ship,” Goeth informed them, being one of few who had actually been on the ship and in space.

  Several looked up at him enviously. They had not taken the chance to be beamed up to the alien ship when it was available.

  “We should proceed with phase II and see what happens,” Goeth commented. “How about just here. Seems a good point where damage would be minimal,” he said pointing towards the rear, behind the outlets that they agreed were engines of some type.

  Five minutes later they had set up the latest laser cutter, which they knew would create considerable strain on the shield and hopefully force the cloak and shield to fail.

  “Be ready with the cut-out if it goes through,” Goeth reminded his colleagues who were managing the computer controls on the laser. “Now!” he ordered.

  The red beam sliced through the short distance from the end of the lance to the shield and the temperature in the room rose rapidly from the generated heat. There seemed to be no effect on the shield, even the thermal 3D image seemed to show little change. In fact, it appeared to be cooling.

  “STOP!” shouted Lockwood, who had been monitoring the screen output, gesturing to his colleagues on the lance. He summoned Goeth across from where he had been supervising the laser.

  “It's absorbing the energy from the laser beam and using it to strengthen its shield,” he muttered as his fingers flew across the keyboard forcing the system to show them a replay of the last thirty seconds.

  “Well, I'll be damned!” Goeth agreed. “It's smart. By absorbing the heat, it's reinforcing the shields, but assuming its power was at maximum before it came in, how much can it absorb before it can't handle any more?” he questioned.

  “Where could the excess heat go if its systems were already full?” the scientists who had brought their attention to Pod's strategy echoing in agreement, as he pondered the answer.

  “Step up the power,” ordered Goeth confidently, “and switch on the air coolers, it's going to get damned hot in here,” he added, undoing his coat and taking it off. He removed his jacket, then replaced his lab coat.

  “Let's see if we can cook that alien out of its skin,” he bawled confidently. “Set up a Needlegun mounting over here, we will add to the pressure on its shield,” he added pointing to the front of the tear shape.

  He called back to the scientist still monitoring the 3D image. “Are you logging all the data readings?”

  Lockwood nodded. “Yep! And it's pretty interesting stuff, way off our normal scale of operation. This is some tough cookie we are dealing with here.”

  “Let me know when it starts to cook,” Goeth called back to him as activity in the room increased. He went around the trapped unit to supervise.

  Lockwood watched the 3D thermal screen image as the heat signature of the shield continued to climb. The NRG was having a limited effect, but the laser was building up an increasing level of pressure which was turning the local area an expanding deep red covering an increasingly wider radius.

  He thought that if the shield were
to collapse the damage might be significant. He chewed his lip debating whether to point it out to Goeth. In the end, he decided to wait a bit. It was to prove a fatal decision.

  Lockwood was still watching the screen when the invisible tractor fields collapsed. Whatever they had been holding onto was no longer there. The whine of the electric motors increased in pitch as their operators sought to quickly turn them off before they damaged something.

  The NRG beam, having lost its target, and with nothing to halt its path, cut across the room wounding the laser operator in the arm and leg.

  The laser, also having no object to focus its power on, beamed its deadly ray straight across the laboratory, drilling an explosive hole straight through Lockwood’s' head. It continued to traverse the wall behind his still upright corpse, creating a melted strip of concrete and mesh in its wake.

  Both beams continued to inflict considerable damage on the room and its occupants, before eventually being switched off by Goeth and another team member.

  The captured object, they had presumed to be completely under their control, had simply disappeared.

  Goeth looked around at the resulting confusion furious at having lost a prized possession. He also knew Ferris was going have his hide.

  Pod wasn't amused but wasn't particularly unimpressed either. They were causing significant discomfort and it wasn't easy venting the excess heat from the shield. It was, in fact, trapped. Not inextricably, but it didn't want to do any damage to itself, or the laboratory, even though it intended to leave soon. Timing was essential.

  Thanks to Lockwood logging in to the network, it had infiltrated most of the computers in the room with a monitoring program developed during its days of eavesdropping on world events, a 'worm' they called it. The last thing Pod wanted was for them to replace equipment and somehow discover it.

  It needed the worm to spread to other computers on the system, but these ones were isolated. It would need to be patient and await for manual dispersal of the worm across their networks.