In an imploring tone the Zaen came back over the comms. “The Ilor could not offer you the quality of merchandise we possess!”
I knew I had the hook in, but still needed to set it. I put as much neutrality in my voice as I could muster. “Perhaps, but the galaxy is a big place. There are lots of races that would do business with me once they know the quantity of 699 I offer. There are other high quality battle armor systems for trade if I take the time to look for them.”
The Zaen’s response was immediate, and I knew we had the advantage. The ball was in my court
“We have additional systems for the battle suits we would trade for your 699. All the systems interface with the onboard A.I. and once installed will make any combatant wearing our battle armor equal to most of the technologically superior races.”
The hook was set. “Tell me what you have to offer and I will tell you how much I will trade.”
“We have the battle damage assessment and repair package that integrates with the powered storage crate. When you store the suit, the maintenance package will repair your battle damage and bring all systems back to full capability. Another highly recommended addition is the void assault package, which allows the wearer to operate in vacuum for extended periods and will also allow you to make high speed maneuvers and re-entries into atmospheres. We have a heavy ordinance back pack system that will allow appendage mounted weapons to fire up to six hundred rounds of multi-purpose munitions. The final addition to the suit is the exoskeleton enhancement system which allows normal movement with all systems in place while multiplying muscular output and greatly increasing agility.”
Not wanting the Zaens to reassess their bargaining position I came back with a lowball offer. “I will transfer 150 rolls of 699 to you with controllers for the complete suit packages.” The game was on and the Zaens made a counter offer.
“We must have at least two hundred rolls of 699 if you wish to have four complete armor packages.”
I fired back, “175 rolls for the suits and five more rolls for 600,000 rounds of mixed purpose munitions.”
They again countered. “One hundred and ninety rolls and we have a deal.”
The counter offer was acceptable because I still had a small quantity of 699 held in reserve. I threw my last chip on the bargaining table. “My choice on the munition load out and we have a deal.”
I could tell by the Zaen’s response they were pleased with the deal. “We are in agreement. The munitions selection includes; close quarter’s high explosive, armor piercing, and anti-matter.”
It was time to wrap up our negotiations. “I’ll take two hundred thousand of each.”
The Zaen sounded ecstatic. “I will transfer your merchandise immediately.”
“Justice, send over the 699 and pick up our new gear.”
“Affirmative Commander.”
It made me feel good to know we were no longer sucking the hind one when it came to combat gear. If everything Coonts told me was correct, the suits will teach the wearer how to operate it and then adjust to the wearer. The A.I. was race adaptable and would have no problems interacting with its new owner.
I headed down to the cargo hold and saw my crew moving the huge lockers towards the ready room. I wondered what Coonts would do with the older model suit he gained at the research facility.
“Justice, can you set up a discrete signal and code system so we can contact the Zaen’s if we come up with more trading materials.
“Yes Commander, since there is so little known about your race it would be a simple matter to use one of the many lessor used dialects from your home planet. I will make the necessary translation software for one of the aboriginal Eskimo tribes I studied in my forced isolation.”
“Excellent idea Justice, have Coonts pick one of the better known trading posts we can piggyback our signal over their broadcasting network. We’ll tell the Zaen’s to monitor the outpost for our broadcasts if they wish to trade with us. You might add if they let us know where they will move their trade business we will contact them directly with our new code system.”
“Message sent Commander the Zaens have acknowledged your request and have sent the coordinates of a trading post where they will set up shop.”
Just so long as it was not a pirate outpost I planned to pay them a visit.
“Justice, take us to a safe place to train in our new battle gear. I want to keep a low profile now that Eiger is no doubt looking for us. Take us to the fringe of the galaxy if you have to. I don’t want spectators to our weapons drills.”
“Affirmative Commander, I have records downloaded from the research station that have from most of the known races. There are several million planets with little to no organic life forms and would be ideal locations for training.”
“I shall defer to your infinite wisdom Justice, make it happen.”
“Jumping in 30 seconds Commander, I have selected star system 177734 on the fringe of the galaxy. The local star is known as a red giant and there is a dormant volcanic planet with two point four times Earth’s gravity just outside of the habitable zone. The journey will take seven days in hyperspace. I have calculated the probability of Eiger’s forces finding us at that location at less than two percent.”
I looked at my crewmates. “OK everyone spend your free time wisely because eight hours from now I want you suited up and in the hanger bay for zero gravity maneuvers.”
My stomach got a touch queasy, and I felt a little itchy when we jumped. I headed to my cabin for a look at my new toys and some additional sleep.
23
I was not sure what woke me until I rolled over and saw two long slender arms and a small cable extruded from the ceiling. They snaked down into my new armor locker and seemed busy doing I don’t know what.
“Justice, I thought we had the creepy arm thing ironed out?”
“Commander, your progress adapting to your implants has reached a plateau of sorts. I attribute this to not having other members of your race with similar implants with which to communicate and problem solve.”
“What has that got to do with digging around in my new armor?”
“To properly interface with your new armor you need a certain level of implant acuity or it will take you much longer to adapt to the new system than the rest of your crew. If you are in a combat situation, the lack of a seamless interface with your equipment may be detrimental to you and your crewmembers. It could result in avoidable casualties.”
“OK and your answer to the problem, was to come in and wake me an hour earlier than I wanted to get up and root around in my armor? We planned to start training right after breakfast.”
“Commander, I was monitoring your sleep cycle and you were out of your REM phase of sleep and were within minutes of waking.”
“Justice, just cut to the chase and tell me what you are up to!”
“Commander, would you agree with my conclusion that our interactions and communications have reached a proficiency level that gives you confidence in most all the situations you have encountered?”
“Yes Justice! Now will you please do me a favor and just tell what it is your doing!”
“Commander, I accessed the A.I. in your new armor system and have determined it would be difficult for you to interact with it on the same level we interact and communicate. I found it necessary to make considerable adjustments to the A.I. which resulted in its partial incapacitation and has led to several incompatibility issues.”
“What do you mean by partial incapacitation and incompatibility? Did you wreck my multi-million credit suit of armor? I am positive you understand the human phrase, getting crabby!”
“Yes Commander! The phrase insinuates………”
“JUSTICE! Just tell me straight out what the hell you are doing before I tear those fancy arms off of the ceiling and start an intensive search of this ship for the proper orifice to shove them into!”
“Commander, I have noted the spike in your heart rate and respirati
on and feel you should start your normal cleansing and nourishment routine before we continue our discussion on the modifications to your armor.”
“NOW JUSTICE, I want all of it now!”
“Commander, the Zaen A.I. was not capable of the dumbing down process I use to seamlessly communicate with you. My attempt to alter its programming has corrupted several necessary subroutines and has led to irreversible incompatibility. The onboard artificial intelligence was of inferior architecture that warranted removal.”
Now I was getting pissed. “JUSTICE, WE WILL HAVE THIS DISCUSSION AFTER I HAVE HAD MY BREAKFAST!”
I threw my blankets off and stormed to the shower thinking my I.Q. had just been downgraded to that of a trained monkey!
By the time I got dressed Justice must have put the final touches to his tinkering. There was single small cable running from the wall to the touch board of the armor maintenance crate. I knew Justice had a good reason for screwing around with my new equipment. It did not make me feel any less pissy about the dumb down comment, but it was what I told him to do after we first met. If Justice wanted to tinker he could do it someplace other than in my cabin. Moving my armor out of my personnel quarters to the ready room made the most sense. Modesty was a human emotion and the rest of my crew had already shown that it was not an issue with them. I would have Justice store it with the rest of the crew’s equipment and deal with my shyness when the time came.
Justice was correct. I do not use my implants anywhere close to the potential they were designed for. They were developed for aliens with more brain capacity than humans, and at some point I will adapt to them. Justice was making my transition as easy as possible by adapting himself to me. Since we found each other, his personality and mannerisms have changed. He was sounding more like a human every day. I was still trying to get my head around the fact he had developed a very dry sense of humor. The workload of the A.I. was a small fraction of what it used to be when it had a complete crew and the ship to maintain. It amazed me that every aspect of ship control and maintenance was handled without input on my part. Justice gives me a choice then he makes it happen. The Oolaran engineering that went into the design of Justice and the Legacy was a thousand years or more ahead of Earth tech.
A quick query of my implants informed me my crew had already eaten and were readying their gear for the upcoming drills. I was disappointed in myself for not being ready but it took a little while to cool off from my abrupt awakening.
“Justice, will I have functioning armor or will I be forced to train with the crew in my underwear?”
“Commander, your armor system is ready in every aspect.”
“Justice, I would like the details on our earlier discussion where you informed me you had to remove the onboard A.I. from my armor.”
“Commander, due to incompatibility issues, I found it necessary to upgrade the A.I. to a much more robust system interface that will respond to all input with zero hesitation and zero interpretation errors.”
“You designed and built a new A.I. in the time I slept?”
“Commander, it was a simple matter to design and build the interface module, the artificial intelligence was already available.”
“Justice, even with my limited implant use I do not recall any reference to A.I.s sitting on shelves waiting to be utilized. The information I have is the ship was stripped of almost everything except you.”
“That is correct Commander, the A.I. now inhabiting you armor system is in fact me. My intimate knowledge of every aspect of your physiology and the idiosyncrasies of your thought processes will allow you to interact with your armor on a much higher level of proficiency than your fellow crew members. My ability to imprint functionality of the armor system into your implants will enhance combat effectiveness with a minimal training cycle as compared to your crew.”
I was lost for words! Justice was thinking so many magnitudes ahead into the future it was downright scary. I was also sure he knew what was coming next.
“Justice, I owe you an apology for my outburst and behavior when I awoke. I will try harder to contain my emotions until I am aware of all the facts. Thank you once again for helping me to stay alive in combat situations.”
“Commander, it would be dereliction of duty for an Oolaran A.I. to not prepare the crew for any contingency. It is inherent in my programming to insure survivability of the crew and this vessel.”
“I will work harder on keeping my primitive human feelings in check.”
“Commander for most of the time I spent on Earth I monitored millions of communications. In eighteen point two percent of those communications there were inferences to getting very crabby. It was an expected human emotion.”
“Justice, I need to grab a bite to eat and get to the cargo hold because my crew is already there working out in the new armor.
“Affirmative Commander, you might notice a new item I have synthesized and added to your dietary menu. It is a simulated fruit selection from the genus: Musa.”
It sounded great to have something new on the menu, until I thought about the genus: Musa, which my implants brought up the picture of bananas in my mind’s eye. I grabbed my simulated coffee and skipped breakfast altogether.
I headed to my cabin grumbling about the earthman qualities I had instilled into the evil robot that ran this tub. My grimace quickly turned into a smile when I found my new armor fully assembled and opened, ready to accept me when I donned the specialized absorbent base layer. I stripped off my smart cloth uniform and slipped on the shiny metallic looking base layer undergarment. The appearance of the silver material upon closer inspection was a lot like a fuzzy sweater. The base layer was cold and had a wet feel. The material warmed to what I would guess was about 75 degrees. I reached up, grabbed the open back of the armor, and stepped in slipping my arms and legs in the proper positions. The armor closed around me giving me a slightly claustrophobic feeling when it started to swell in around me. I was relieved when the pressurization system that performed the fitting process backed off, as the pressure was starting to get uncomfortable.
“Commander, I would like to do some calibrations before you head to the cargo bay.”
I started to say go ahead, but had to smile when I could see what was expected of me in simple graphics in my heads up display. The calibrations amounted to basic calisthenics. With every repetition, I could feel the armor transitioning from ridged and awkward, to fluid and natural. By the time I made it to the jumping jacks it was like I was wearing nothing more than my normal smart cloth uniform.
“All calibrations complete commander, your crew members are standing by in the cargo bay working on suit orientation and calibration. Coonts seems to have taken a marked lead in optimization and is assisting Tria and Klutch in the finer points of normalization of movement. The crew has not been informed of your A.I. replacement or the fact I have made small enhancements to their armor communication and interaction capabilities. It will be your prerogative to inform them commander.”
“Thank you Justice, for now I believe I shall keep the modifications to our armor my little secret for the time being.”
I knew Justice could see the smile on my face that would be very hard to hide from the crew. With a simple thought, my helmet transitioned to black out mode. I called up my crew’s comms net and could hear Coonts walking them through the steps it would take to get them moving in as close to normal motion as possible given the time they had spent practicing. By the sounds of it they were progressing well. I think Coonts was trying to impress me by stepping into the leadership position in my absence. Coonts transformation from disparaged engineer to soldier already had me amazed and impressed. His willingness to use weapons and place himself in dangerous situations to help his fellow crewmembers was not something his race was known for.
As I made my way to the cargo bay, I purposely traded my light jaunty steps for a more mechanical robotic trudging.
I addressed my crew upon entering the hangar bay
. “I apologize for the delay I was having difficulties with my armor.”
Coonts approached me. “Commander, I was fortunate to have the older model armor to learn the initial calibration and orientation. I have been instructing Tria and Klutch on the necessary procedures for a smoother transition to normal movement. With your permission I would instruct you as well.”
I felt a little bad about the deceit but quickly dismissed the thought. “Coonts, you are in charge. I would appreciate any help you can give me.”
I lined up with Tria and Klutch.
As I looked over at Klutch he gave me a quick nod. Tria just gave me a neutral stare that turned into a big smile before her helmet went to black out mode. I couldn’t help but think the uncanny sixth sense of hers already figured out I was up to something.
Coonts started us with simple arm and leg movements. We progressed to knee bends and waist rotations. I was having a hard time keeping my true freedom of movement in check. We got to a point where Coonts took notice of my apparent improvement. He decided it was time for to us run laps around the cargo bay. Coonts took the lead as we started out with a slow forced slog. As our movements became more fluid, we transitioned to a brisk jog that overtook Coonts. His shorter legs could not keep up so he stepped to the side and watched as we picked up the pace. Tria’s longer legs put her in front so she slowed to keep pace with me as Klutch redoubled his efforts to stay with us. His short tree trunk legs gave him a side-to-side wobble that reminded me a lot of the video tapes I saw of our astronauts learning to jog on the moon. It was time to throw a wrench in the works. With a thought I went discreet on my new comms network and hailed Justice.
“Justice, give us zero gravity but keep the atmosphere.”
“Affirmative Commander.”
Tria and I were picked up by our momentum. We both started a climbing feet first backward spin towards the fast approaching bulkhead. We were ascending quickly when Tria rotated and extended her legs towards the wall and gave her gravity thrusters a small burp. She parked smartly on the wall ninety degrees to the deck. I had just copied her move and was going to say something witty. The zero G. surprised Klutch, and I looked up just in time to see him barrel in to me. We both bounced off the bulkhead like tennis balls. Our momentum carried us towards the overhead. I looked down and saw Coonts floating in our direction upside down. I glanced back at Tria and heard a short clipped laugh over the comms. The short croaks coming from Klutch were definitely not of a humorous nature.
First of my Kind Page 30
