I shook my head. "It is an interesting enough similarity that I believe we should investigate. If the Jorus system was the planet of our origin, it would be the first time in our lives that we knew more of our beginnings than when we were first taken by the Duke."
A day and a half passed as the Odenta engineers made great progress with the use of the replicant AI and its autobot. Go and Garrett returned to the Garmon as preparations were being finalized for a trip to Jorus.
Getta stood in the doorway of the transport. "So you are set on doing this?"
I replied, "Yes, I believe it to be in our best interest to know. The Grotus lied about much of what he told me, but it looks like there were sprinklings of truth in his words. If Jorus was our home, there will be evidence of such. It will take six weeks to get there and back. Hopefully, things here will remain peaceful."
Getta smiled. "If the Grotus show, we will make do."
After a long embrace, I left my wife, heading for the Garmon. We lifted off on a calm Odenta spring day. The materials required to construct our missile launch tubes had been loaded into the cargo hold. Garrett worked with Go as the autobot worked its magic.
Garrett winced. "I still think it's crazy what that machine can do with just a suggestion from you or me. It's scary."
Go laughed. "We haven't had a single issue where the AI has done something irregular, suspicious, or malicious. Its programming is sound. Why else would the Grotus be using it?"
Garrett continued with a scowl. "I'll admit that it's a remarkable piece of machinery. And the programming seems to be far ahead of anything we have. I just don't trust it."
Go pulled up a manifest of the tube parts. "Well, being advanced over what we could do doesn't take much when you consider the AMP's AI ban."
Garrett nodded. "True, but this seems far beyond what I believe we are capable of. When you talk to it, it does a better job of understanding what you're saying than most people do. That's the part I don't like. If you took away the visual and just talked to it over an audio comm, you wouldn't know it was a machine on the other end."
"We'll have to get the autobot to custom-make this latch," Go said. "It doesn't show in the inventory. And as to the AI, who knows, maybe one day they will be what saves us. I mean, think about it, we could automate ships and then automate fighting bots to go out and fight our wars without having to risk life."
Garrett shook his head. "Now that's the scariest thing you've said yet. If they are programmed to go out and fight, what makes you think they won't one day come back and fight us. To me, you would be building and arming your enemy."
I stepped into the conversation as I assisted with the attachment of a power conduit to a tube. "I don't think you two need to discuss that any further. You are clearly on opposite ends of that argument, with no give toward the middle."
Garrett replied, "Here's what I don't get … the Grotus have this technology, and yet those battlecruisers, as powerful as they are, that’s the best they can come up with? It would seem to me that to take advantage of this tech you would build millions of these autobots. And have them do all of your manufacturing. The Grotus only have just over a hundred of those battlecruisers. Why?"
Go looked over at the single bot working on the tube assembly. "You have a great point."
Go raised his comm. "Anterra, how many of the autobots could you efficiently manage?"
The alien AI answered. "I have the processing bandwidth necessary to simultaneously control three thousand forty-eight autobots. Why do you ask?"
Garrett pointed. "That. Right there. I don't like the fact that it can ask questions."
Go spoke into his comm. "Anterra, how long would it take the autobot to construct ten new autobots?"
Anterra responded. "Would it not be better for each autobot to assist with building new ones instead of a single autobot conducting that task?"
Go looked back at Garrett and smiled. "Well, yeah. If the construction process is optimized, what is the least amount of time it would take to construct ten new autobots?"
The Anterra replied, "It would appear that we have sufficient resources on this ship to conduct this task. Time for construction is estimated at between eight hours, seven minutes, and nine hours, four minutes, depending on the abilities desired."
Go raised an eyebrow. "What abilities?"
The Anterra delivered an image to Go's display. "This is a list of sixteen possible enhancements to the autobot that would improve its efficiency. Would you prefer these enhancements?"
Garrett looked over the display floating above Go's arm pad. "Uh, I don't think I like number four on that list. It says, 'Enhanced decision making'."
Go shrugged. "So?"
Garrett huffed, "So? We're making the autobots smart now too? You don't see a problem with that?"
Go laughed. "You are just too paranoid. Anterra, please construct the additional enhanced autobots."
The Anterra replied, "Thank you for your kind command, Go. I believe you will be pleased with the resultant workers."
Garrett looked back at me. "They are taking over already."
I turned to Go. "I would like to proceed with caution on this as well. Please don't enable any more features or add any bots without first discussing it with Garrett, Jack, and me. We don't know if we can trust that this AI will always act in our best interests."
Go sighed. "OK, I guess that's reasonable. Anterra, you will take no orders from anyone but Garrett, Jack Carson, Knog, or me. Is that clear?"
Anterra replied. "Clear. I am here to serve. I will await requests for assistance from one of the four you mentioned."
Go held up his hands. "Anyone else hungry? We have nine hours to kill."
Jack met us in the cafeteria. "I was listening in on your discussions about that AI. I think we do need to proceed with caution. Your Talisan engineers have made a few updates to the Garmon's systems of late. Don't get me wrong, they have all been beneficial as far as I can tell, but the Talisan allowed that AI to sniff around our nav, comm, and weapons computers.
"Some of the enhancements were made there. Our ion drive efficiency was increased by 3 percent. What I don't yet know is how. I've since had the AI blocked out of our systems, and I have my team digging into any changes it made. Again, we haven't found anything bad, but I don't like that it was in there."
Go replied, "I believe we just addressed your concerns with our latest orders. I won't tell it to do anything the four of us haven't already discussed and it won't take orders from anyone but us."
Jack nodded before falling on Garrett's side with his concerns. I began to wonder if we had already gone too far by leaving the Odenta with a fully functional clone of the Anterra's computer and AI. It would be another six weeks before we would find out.
Chapter 17
* * *
The Garmon slowed as we entered the Jorus system.
We dropped into the atmosphere with Jack pulling up the sensor display. "I'm seeing structural remains, but no sign of intelligent life. System looks clean of signals. I'd say it's definitely uninhabited. The planet is one point one times standard size with a molten iron core. Gravity is 106 percent standard. Water covers 62 percent of the surface and the oxygen level sits at 19 percent.
"Toxin scan shows only a slightly high radioactive reading, with traces of depleted heavy material spread across the two continents. I would say this planet saw some serious nuclear activity. Radioactive decay of the fission resultants places that event at ... three thousand one hundred years ago."
Jack looked over at me. "This has to be your place. That's just a bit too coincidental to not be it."
Jack turned back to the view-screen. "I do like the amount of greenery though. I love dropping in on lush planets. You can keep the largely dry ones like Doomlight. Too much dust and dirt for me."
I pointed, "That appears to be the remains of a large city. Take us there."
The Garmon was soon settling on the ground. Go was the first out, drift
ing through the Garmon's hull. Garrett followed, going down the ramp.
Jack grabbed my arm as I headed for the exit. "You won't need a helmet. Everything checks out as safe."
I thanked him as I put my helmet on and snapped it into place. As I walked down the ramp, Go and Garrett stopped and stood looking at an aluminum signpost that barely held the rusted remains of its one-time message.
Garrett was the first to speak as he kicked the sign post, snapping it off halfway up. "That aluminum is brittle, been out here a long time. I saw walls still standing a few hundred meters to the west of here. We can cut our way through this brush."
I nodded. "Why don't the two of you take the Jess out and survey the rest of this planet. I'll look around here to see what I can find."
Garrett replied, "OK, just stay in contact. We'll add Jack into a four-way comm."
Garrett and Go returned to the Garmon. The Jess exited the docking bay and soon disappeared over the horizon. I made my way to the series of walls we had seen from the air.
Jack's image came up on my comm. "Anything I can help with? You have ninety Talisan Marines on this ship just waiting to assist their emperor in any way they can."
I replied as I approached the first block wall. "Just hang tight and watch the skies for anything suspicious."
The two meter thick wall in front of me rose eight meters up, flowing off into the distance in both directions. Stains showed where there had once been signs, long ago rusted or rotted away. Just down from my position was a set of stairs that led to the top.
As I climbed the stairs above the overgrown vegetation, I began to see the outlines of streets and the remains of buildings. My eye was caught by the remains of a much taller building, about two stories high, with piles of rubble on top. After dropping myself over and down the wall onto the other side, I made my way the half kilometer to the two-story.
Brush grew out of where windows had once been. I found it curious that the remains of the structure appeared to be of a design similar to many modern Grunta buildings. Heavy solid blocks, supported by concrete columns, made up the lowest floors. Their first floor walls were still standing.
As I stood before the two story, I hesitated to go in. Was this a building constructed by my ancestors? Was it Grotus? As I stepped into the open doorway, the blackened walls revealed that fire had swept through the structure. I had no way of knowing if it was from some long-ago war, or from a raging wildfire after a period of drought.
I stepped over debris just inside the door into what was once a building lobby. Evidence of restrooms rose from the floor to the left where interior walls had rotted away. A stone countertop lay shattered on the floor where leaking rainwater and flame had destroyed its supporting structure.
Jack came over the comm. "Not sure you'll find much in there. Fire can wipe a place out."
I walked around the lower area for several minutes before traversing the unsafe set of concrete stairs that led to the next floor. Half of the second floor held debris that ran up to and beyond where the ceiling had once been. As I walked down what was once a hallway, peering into the rotted-away rooms on either side, I began to wonder if other than some failing structures, would there be any signs of civilization?
I came to a stop in front of a metal door with solid block walls on either side. The door faced toward the back of the building.
Jack speculated. "Looks like a maintenance closet. Open it up. If it didn't burn up through the floor below, there may actually be something of use to us in there."
I braced my shoulder against the door and pushed. Nothing happened. I stepped back a half meter, lurching forward and ramming my shoulder into the door. Again, nothing gave. I stepped back again. With a swift kick from my boot, I was still denied entry.
I stepped further back, pulled my blaster and let loose a minimum power ion bolt. The steel door rattled but still refused to budge. I raised the setting on my blaster, following that with a series of bolts. The door glowed red hot, but did not yield.
Jack laughed. "Just do the same to the wall beside it, that won't be so tough."
Three blasts later a large hole appeared in the wall where once solid block had prevented my entry. Bright light shone through the dust as it began to settle.
I glanced through. "Back wall is gone. Nothing to see."
Jack shook his head. "Should I bring the Garmon overhead for some deep scans? That would have told us of the missing back wall."
I replied, "Not necessary. I don't think there's anything to be found in here. Too much decay."
Garrett came over the comm. "Hey, I think we might have something here. It's a structure built into the rock of an outcropping on a steep hill. The outside is a wreck, but we can see hollows in behind it going back into the hillside. Should we investigate? I can send in Go in his suit without having to set down."
I nodded. "Send him in. And let me know the second you find anything."
Jack forwarded the results of a deep scan to my holo-display. "I see two hollow structures about a hundred meters to the southwest of your location. It's possible they are buried under rubble, but that might be something worth exploring."
As I left the two-story and walked toward the hollow structures, Go came over the comm. "I'm inside. This place goes way back into this hill and is mostly surrounded by solid rock. It definitely looks military. Whoa. I have half a dozen skeletons lying on a floor in front of me. Leather boots on all but one. Clothing has fallen off as dust. I guess they aren't really skeletons, just decayed to the point of looking like it."
Go reached over and gently picked something up. "One has a metal necklace on. It has a gold symbol that looks like an 'S' with three lines going through it. Didn't I see your wife wearing one something like that?"
I replied, "Yes, it's our symbol for life, love and happiness. The 'S' symbolizes a river that was supposedly once sacred to us. The three lines represent our lives as we cross the river of life. It's more of a spiritual item than a religious one now, although it's a symbol many of our people still cherish."
Go laid the necklace down and picked up a knife, pulling it from its decayed leather sheath. "Whoa, this is a bad-ass knife! Still has its blade! It has an inscription on it in a foreign language."
Go held the knife inscription up to the camera on his holo-display. "Let's see if the Grotus algorithms can translate it."
"It says Guide our souls, for the journey may be difficult. Sounds like a serious dedication. It was identified as the Grotus language. I think we have your confirmation on this being the Grotus home world."
I nodded, "Bring the necklace and the knife with you."
Go gathered items as he continued farther into the hillside.
After opening a door, he again spoke out. "You guys seeing this? That's an armory. I don't recognize anything, but they are definitely weapons. Large blades, and these look like racks of some kind of kinetic weapons that use cartridge rounds. The front half of the cartridges look like acrylic glass, while the back half looks like a hard wax. The projectors hanging on the rack have two chambers that are magazine fed. And a trigger that is connected to what appears to be an ignition mechanism. Anyone want to see if they will still fire?"
Garrett replied, "Anything in the room have writing on it?"
Go nodded. "There's writing all over. Let me do a full camera sweep with the translator algo running. You can all look at the results."
We were soon awash in text. The room was indeed an armory. Yellowed but intact posters lining the walls spoke of weapons safety. Go unsealed a metal cartridge case, pulled out two pre-filled magazines and pulled one of the weapons from the rack.
Garrett said, "Go, what are you doing?"
Go walked back out to the edge of the open building. "I'm firing this gun, that's what. Wouldn't it be cool if it still works after three thousand years?"
Garrett shook his head. "I wouldn't do that, it might just blow up in your face."
Go smiled. "Already thought o
f that. I'll be partially activated when I pull the trigger. It can blow up if it wants to."
Go took one of the two magazines in his right hand with the weapon in the other. "Insert magazine one, insert magazine two. Pull back lever to spring load the first rounds. Flip on igniter switch, aim, and ... pull trigger!"
The kinetic weapon jerked lightly as each round was fed into the igniter chamber. A low thud could be heard as the hard wax substance making up the back half of each round failed to fully ignite. A separate mechanism ejected each failed wax explosive out the side of the twin barrels as the acrylic projectiles fizzled, falling to the floor in front of him.
Garrett laughed. "Impressive!"
Go frowned. "That was a letdown."
I arrived at the first hollow structure Jack had scanned. "Let's get back to exploring. We are looking for full evidence of my people being here, as well as the Grotus."
I stood back, firing repeated rounds at a steel door hidden under an alcove. The frame around the door gave way, falling inward.
Jack said, "I see a hall and seven rooms behind that door."
I replied, "It's a bunker. I would guess that it's military as well."
Go came over the comm. "OK, I have a room with maps in it. We are at a military base named Komanre, on the eastern shore of the Taretha continent. There are eight large bases on the map. Each has a big red X marked through it. The room has radio gear. Looks like a command center.
"Your coordinates place you on a continent called Derbegee. The continent has a long river that crosses from the mountains in the east to the ocean on the west, as it goes through rocky terrain it has the same shape as this necklace. There are three other smaller maps, the other continents on this planet. They are all covered in red X’s, except for one, a continent called Apaka. The map here has hundreds of defensive missile silos dotting the landscape there. It must have been an important place."
I entered the first of the seven rooms. "I have four bodies. Mummified. No signs of trauma. Two are lying on the ground while the other two are seated in chairs. I see two empty boxes marked as food containers on the floor over to the right. There is equipment that highly resembles computer gear sitting on two desks. It's without power. The storage rack to the left has hundreds of small black cartridges on it that are all numbered."
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