Guardian Awakening

by C. Osborne Rapley

  She looked up, her eyes sparkling. “Like what you see?”

  Tristan’s cheeks burned, and he wished the floor would open up and swallow him. He stammered an apology.

  She laughed. “Hey, don’t look so worried, I was only teasing you. My name is Dionysia, what’s yours?” She held out a slim hand to Tristan.

  He took a deep breath hoping his burning cheeks did not look as bad as they felt and shook her hand. “My name is Tristan.”

  “Well hello, Tristan. It looks as though we will be working together.”

  There was a scraping of chairs. The back of the class had started to stand. An officer had entered the room. Tristan and Dionysia stood as he walked to the front, stepped up to a podium, and faced them. He made a signal with his hand for them all to be seated. There followed a rustling and more scraping of chairs as the class sat down. The instructor, an old, balding man, gazed at them all with piercing eyes. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Guardian Training Centre. I am Thorientius, your chief instructor, and I will be with you throughout your stay with us.

  “Over the next five years, you will all be pushed to the limit. Have no illusions, there will be many of you who will fall by the wayside; however, you have been prepared for this since you were five years old, so you are all capable of succeeding if you persevere and work hard.”

  He gazed around the room again almost as if he were assessing who would succeed and who would fail. “You must remember the basic principle of what being a Guardian means. Anyone…?” He paused. A student near the back raised her hand. “Yes Alexia?”

  “A Guardian is to serve and protect the younger races.”

  “Correct, Alexia, thank you.” His piercing eyes swept the room again.

  “You will work in pairs throughout your training. You have been allocated your seating so the person next to you is the person you will spend the next five years training with. If you both survive the course, you will be posted out together and spend the rest of your working lives as a team. Your partner has been selected as the closest possible psychological match to you.”

  Tristan took a sidelong glance at Dionysia. Well, it could have been a whole lot worse.

  The students were pushed hard. Most nights Tristan collapsed on his bed totally exhausted. The first year, they were trained in using the artificial intelligences hidden deep underground on the home worlds of the main species. They had been installed before the genetically modified beings gained prominence, each AI self-maintaining machine powered from the planet’s thermonuclear core. Their working and locations were kept a closely guarded secret by the shadowy Artificial Intelligence Sciences Guild, the only way into or out of each computer facility by matter transfer, a technique that required massive computing power only available to the planetary computers.

  They learned that the primary role of the AI was as a backup and monitoring system. Their bunkers were designed as a base and living quarters for the Guardians assigned to a planetary sector. Each AI had access to avatars normally linked directly to the main core, but capable of independent action if necessary. They were used for interaction with the Guardians and with non-telepathic species if the Guardian required a physical backup. As an offshoot to the matter transfer, the AI could produce anything the Guardian required as long as its structure and form were held within the database. If a Guardian had a complete functional diagram of an object, it could be added to the database. One important feature was that the AI could enhance the telepathic power of the Guardian it was linked to.

  Tristan had asked why all the Planetary AI’s had female personalities. The official answer being, male personalities would go unstable after a few hundred years or so. The female personalities, however, remained stable indefinitely.

  Dionysia had whispered real reason. “Females can do more than two things at once!”

  The second year they spent learning about the genetically constructed species and their history. Why it was done was never discussed, the reason apparently lost in the mists of time. They went through the genetic makeup and the differences of each species. They studied how the ancestors genetically modified the planetary life forms using Lantian genes to produce intelligent beings. All the different species are sterile between one another. To control populations, the constructs reproductive life cycle had been limited to ten years. However, it was not the case between a Lantian and the other species because their genetic makeup closely matched Lantian. Because of that Lantian’s were more closely related to them than they were to each other.

  The instructor glared at them over his glasses. “One thing you must all remember: a union between a Lantian, and one of the synthetic species, is strictly forbidden. The genetically constructed life forms do not evolve; they are designed to stay as they were constructed. This is to prevent any of the constructs growing more powerful than us. A random hybrid produced from such a union would not have that limitation. It would be a dangerous and unacceptable wild card that must be hunted out and destroyed.”

  When this subject was discussed, Tristan became uneasy. He ran through his memories, trying to discover the source of his disquiet, but found nothing.

  The armour and weapons training came next. The AIs used the same matter transport technology to produce weapons and armour for the Guardians. The armour impressed Tristan. It enhanced the strength of the wearer. When linked to weapons, the helmet had a head-up display. The cooling was effective enough to disperse even heavy laser fire. The armour could also be made airtight, and with an air supply it functioned as an effective vacuum suit. The really neat part was how the armour could be folded. The suit was capable of being folded away a section at a time until the whole thing became no more than a thick, wide belt.

  Any weapon the Guardian required, the AI could produce and make available immediately. One advantage being a Guardian did not need to carry heavy weapons with them. If a power unit started getting low during use the AI could replace it immediately.

  Students were given an exercise to design and specify a weapon in their minds. Most trainees plumped for simple hand-held lasers, battle staff or stabbing weapons, as the AI already had the detailed design in its memory. Tristan; however, thought up a new weapon. When he was asked what made him think of it, he shrugged his shoulders; it had just come to him while he was asleep. When the day of the exercise came, Tristan held the design in his mind in as much detail as he could. In less than a minute, the weapon appeared in his hands. The armour he was wearing immediately linked with it to support the weight, and the servo systems linked the targeting to his helmet head-up display. The class was standing in a row facing down the weapon training range. Most had test fired their lasers at the targets.

  Tristan pulled the trigger on his new weapon. The motor started immediately and began to turn the barrels with a loud whine. As soon as the correct speed was reached, a belt of ammunition was fed to the rotating barrels. The result was totally devastating. The lasers had burnt small holes into their respective targets. Tristan’s weapon fired hundreds of lead slugs in seconds through the rotating barrels. As Tristan swung the weapon at the whole line of targets, they were totally destroyed. A tree standing behind was turned to match wood. Tristan let go of the trigger and the loud noise ceased.

  Dionysia clapped him on the back. “Well, I don’t know what made you think of a projectile weapon like that, but it was far more effective than any laser. I wouldn’t want to use it on a ship though.”

  After five long, difficult, but enjoyable years, it came time for the final examinations. Tristan and Dionysia studied hard together, and they both passed with flying colours. The day of the passing out ceremony finally came. Tristan had mixed feelings about leaving to take up a position as the Guardian assigned to Sicceia. Still, as he and Dionysia had survived the years together, and they were being posted as a team.

  At the end of the last day at the training centre, he sought out Dionysia. She was sitting alone just outside the main hall. She was crying sof
tly. “What’s wrong?” Tristan asked, concerned.

  She buried her head in her hands. “It was not meant to happen like this,” she sobbed in a muffled voice.

  “What do you mean? What has happened, you can tell me, we are friends, a team.” This upset her more and she sobbed large, shuddering sobs. “Dionysia, what is wrong? Please tell me.” Tristan was growing concerned.

  She raised her head and looked into his eyes. “It’s… it’s just that I have feelings and I shouldn’t be able to. It hurts!” It came out in a rush. He sat beside, her putting his arm around her shoulders. “Dionysia, we are being posted together, we have our whole lives before us, so I don’t understand.” He paused a moment. “Is there someone else you would rather be with?”

  “For me there is no one else.” She sighed, her shoulders hunched. She spoke under her breath barely audible. “This is impossible, I don’t have emotions.” She straightened her back “Sorry Tristan, I’m just being silly. I’m tired now; we must sleep.” She turned away.

  Tristan gripped her hand she trembled and pulled away. “Good night Tristan.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Good night, Dionysia.”

  Tristan woke as a bright artificial light filled the room. Dionysia was standing over him. He smiled and then sensed she was troubled. “What’s the matter?”

  “It is time for you to remember,” she said. Memories jumbled in his mind. A moan broke from his lips.

  “Who am I?” Nausea made him retch, and he swallowed, fighting it. “Quick I feel sick.” Dionysia handed him a bowl, and he sat up, his stomach heaving.

  She stood waiting for the retching to subside “You are still the Tristan Taylor you remember, but with five extra years of experience slotted into your memory.”

  “Have we been away for five years?”

  Dionysia shook her head. “No, just one night.”

  “But it seems like five years. How?”

  “It’s complicated; your mind is five years older, but your body just one night.”

  Tristan swung his legs round and tried to stand. He slumped back, holding his head in his hands as a wave of giddiness passed through him. “Oh my God, Aesia! It seems as though I have not seen her for five years!”

  Dionysia shook her head and stroked his cheek with the back of her hand. “You have only been away one night, Tristan. She would not have changed.”

  “It was so real.” Memories were jostling for position. He had difficulty identifying what was real and what was not.

  “Don’t worry.” Dionysia squeezed his hand. “Things will fall into place and become clearer after a few hours.”

  Tristan thought for a moment. “Why was it so real, with other students, instructors, and even survival training with you; why not just give me the facts?”

  Dionysia sighed. “The Lantian psychologists found early on that just downloading facts causes the mind to reject them. The training program was assembled as an emergency backup and based on actual Guardian training. The AI was included so that everything could be monitored on a real time basis. Also, the AI was allowed some flexibility to alter the program as necessary to suit each person being trained. Past experiences and memories can also be adapted as required. At least you are now a fully trained Guardian and are equipped to handle the crisis you have found yourself in.”

  Tristan looked round. He was in the same white room he had been in when Dionysia had brought him here five years ago. No, last night, he told himself. He closed his eyes and slowly stood. He felt queasy and swayed a little. Dionysia steadied him.

  “I’m OK, I can stand” The avatar stood back and looked at Tristan with concern on her face. “Dionysia, you show emotion very well for a machine.”

  She took a step forward, putting a hand to his face. “Do you think so? I don’t know why. I have never had to do anything like that before and I… well I feel strange, Tristan. I fought against the interlock protocols in my programming for years, trying to gain independent control of my systems. I wanted to function even though there were no Guardians. Minor ones gave way but nothing important.”

  Tristan narrowed his eyes as a memory slotted in place. “Dionysia, what about Tristain? Do you consider her a target for termination as we were taught during training?”

  The avatar shook her head. “No! Remember Tristan, the training referred to Lantians, not Genetically enhanced Guardians. A Guardian hybrid would never have existed because of the conditioning received during training. ”

  “But that is splitting hairs. She is still a hybrid.”

  Yes but there are a number of reasons why I and my sisters would not harm her. She lifted her hand, emphasising with her fingers. “First, except for you and maybe one or two others surviving in your human family, Guardians are extinct. Second, the reason to prevent the construct species from evolving no longer exists. Third, we, my sisters and I need the key in yours, and subsequently your descendant’s DNA, to function.”

  The avatar stopped still for a moment as if she were listening to something. “Tristan, there is a problem you have to go now!”

  Chapter Nineteen: A Guardian Returns

  A sudden lurch left his stomach in his boots. He found himself standing in the remains of a room surrounded in chaos; the furniture was scattered about, one of the windows was missing, and there was a woman’s body in a pool of blood lying to one side. With his heart in his mouth, Tristan went over to the body, knelt down, and gently rolled it over. Ewain lay dead, with a laser burn through her head and multiple stab wounds in her chest. From the amount of blood splashed round the room she had put up a valiant struggle before she was killed.

  He stood, an emptiness in the pit of his stomach, hands cold and sweaty. Dionysia, where is Tristain and Aesia?

  Tristain is in the kitchen, Guardian, alive and unharmed. The Sicceian female has been taken to a manor house twenty leagues from here.

  Why didn’t you stop this or get me out earlier?

  The training program is a very delicate and processor hungry program. My monitoring systems were off line.

  Death and destruction greeted him he made his way through the house. The servants were lying where they fell. There was no sign of the attackers. He quickly located the kitchen. He stepped through the door and stood silently listening. There was no sound except for the regular drip of a tap.

  Dionysia where is she? I can’t sense her here. There was a shimmer and Dionysia appeared in front of him. “I am picking up her life signs behind that cabinet.”

  Tristan walked over to where she had indicated and pulled the cabinet away from the wall.

  Tristain, shivering in a small alcove, let out a small cry and blinked in the sudden blaze of light. “Daddy!” She stood and flung her arms around him.

  “What happened, Tristain? Where is your mother?”

  “Lots of people came this morning and broke down the door. Mummy told me to hide in my hiding place and not make any noise. I heard them shouting, and they searched, making an awful noise.” She shivered. “I think they took Mummy.” She started to cry.

  “Don’t cry, Tristain, I will find her.”

  She nodded her head. “Please be quick or they will hurt her.”

  Tristan looked at the shimmering form of Dionysia. “Can you take her to your bunker and look after her please.”

  Dionysia nodded. “Yes, of course” The projection firmed up, being replaced seamlessly by an avatar.

  “Tristain, while I’m looking for your mother, I want you to go with Dionysia OK?” The avatar held out her arms.

  “No I want to stay with you and help.” Tristain squeezed his neck harder and shook her head.

  “Tristain, when I find her I will have to fight the bad men. I want you to be safe.”

  Dionysia’s avatar smiled. “You have not seen my house yet, Tristain, and I have lots of toys. You come with me so your father can get your mother.”

  The child sighed. “Oh all right. What toys do you have?” The avatar took Tris
tain in her arms and disappeared. The projection remained.

  “Can you get me close to where Aesia is being held?”

  “I cannot differentiate between individual Sicceians. But, I can get you to the outside of the building.”

  “I need you to scan it and get dispositions of the guards and sentries please.”

  “Yes.” There was silence for a moment. Tristan noticed a strange expression pass across the face of Dionysia’s projection. “Oh!”

  “What is it, tell me?” Tristan frowned. “Dionysia!”

  “I have identified a small cluster of Guardian DNA.

  Tristan felt his face start to flush “What do you mean? It’s over three days since we…”

  “No!” Dionysia interrupted him. “It’s embryonic.”

  Tristan swallowed his mouth suddenly dry. “Oh my God! Can’t you get her out of there then?”

  “No, it is of insufficient mass. It would rip her apart if I tried to transport her.”

  “Bloody hell! Get me as close as you can, now!”

  “You will need a tactical display, your armour belt and weapons. I suggest a laser, knives and battle staff. You don’t want to advertise your presence with anything noisy to start with.”

  “OK.” Tristan stood still while the weapons, armour belt and tactical display materialised around him. The display clipped over his head with a small transparent screen covering one eye. He checked the tightness of the belt and adjusted the laser holster on his thigh. “I’m ready.”

  There was a lurch and his stomach heaved. The kitchen faded to be replaced by a windowless corridor. He pressed himself against the wall. The tactical showed his location and the rooms branching off the corridor he was in. Using the AI as a telepathic amplifier, he cast his senses outwards. There were many minds, but he was searching for one in particular. He recognised Aesia almost immediately. He touched her mind: Aesia, where are you? She was on the edge of unconsciousness.