Alicia Jones 4: Enigma

by D. L. Harrison

  I subvocalized, “Well, we have shields, and can run to the fleet if anyone tries anything. And of course, we can always blow it up if someone manages to board the ship. Do you think the council would do that?”

  Al replied, “No, but it’s possible. Beyond that, a lot of races want Earth tech, and the council just pulled your teeth. It won’t take long for them to figure that out. On the good side, not many people know where the lab ship is located, and the void outside the galaxy is a very big place.”

  I nodded, “Remember our experiments though, what happened to the shielded probe when it got close to the opening to subspace? Not as widespread as the ripple wave the Drenil sent, but for a single ship…”

  Al was silent for a moment, “Not really a weapon, but in reality a weapon that makes a plasma cannon look like a pop gun. Understood. I will calibrate for targeting and determine the furthest effective range… so we know how far away we can open a doorway I mean.”

  I shook my head and suppressed a laugh, Al’s comments weren’t that subtle, but for an A.I. they certainly were… unexpected.

  “Oh, and Al. Contact Dral, let him know I have ninety full scale fabricators for sale. We’ll keep ten of them.”

  Al asked, “Won’t the board object?”

  I shrugged and felt a surge of annoyance, “Those fabricators are Tressian made, and fabricators are freely traded between treaty worlds, it isn’t a restricted technology. Just make sure you purge all military designs and data from them before we hand them over.”

  Chapter 17

  Kristi yelled, “Those idiots did what!”

  I shrugged, “They tried to pull our teeth. And succeeded… mostly. I’m actually glad, I’m pretty sure the vote to completely eradicate the Bug race will go through. I’d rather be left behind for that one. Hey, I got that experiment building, let’s take a day off, until it’s ready. Unless you’re too busy?”

  Kristi asked, “What do you have in mind?”

  “Hawaii. Luau. Bikinis, grass skirts, dancing, and the sun. Oh, and lots of margaritas.”

  Kristi beamed at me, like a proud parent, “Let’s go!”

  We put on some swimsuits, saris, and a pair of sandals and jumped into the sports shuttle. We’d have to pick up the grass skirts there. It was still early afternoon in Hawaii when we arrived, and we took a parking spot by the beach. It was warm, but not too hot as we walked out onto the beach and straight to the outside bar.

  We weren’t really worried about a room, by the time it got late enough here, it’d be almost dawn at home and we could just fly back and crash there.

  It wasn’t long before we were sitting out on some beach chairs. I got a few strange looks as usual, but ignored them, as I did with the looks from the men around us that lingered a bit too long. I needed to relax, and have fun. Maybe it was just as well I couldn’t even participate at all anymore in actively defending Earth and our allies, but in truth it did bother me a bit. Did they not trust me? Frankly, I started to wonder if I could trust them.

  If we dehumanized any intelligent creature to the point where eradication sounded okay, then we were lessening ourselves as well. Losing a part of our souls. It was bad enough they’d be using some of my technology to help do it. Ugh, enough thoughts about that, I was supposed to be having fun.

  I took a nice long sip of my margarita.

  I sighed when I heard a few disparaging comments about aliens from down the beach, comments that were laced with colorful speech. I guess the shiny really was wearing off. Then I got a little nervous, I usually wore my protective bustier, it had become a habit. Of course, I couldn’t wear that while in a bikini and a sheer light blue sarong with white flowers on it.

  I relaxed after a moment though, they just seemed disgusted, bigoted, but not violent, and only a few of them.

  Kristi asked, “Want another one?”

  I took the last few swallows, “Definitely, thanks.”

  She grabbed the glasses and went for refills.

  Eventually, I think it was somewhere around margarita three, was when my mind finally shut off and I managed to relax and start having fun. We tanned for a while, talked about anything not work related, and even went swimming for a short while. When the sun started to get low in the sky, some live music started and the food came out.

  I had fun dancing, mostly with Kristi but I didn’t ignore the people around me this time either. Time seemed to fly as the sun went down, and the tiki torches and a small bonfire was lit. We never did get around to picking up grass skirts, but we had a blast anyway…

  The next day, or perhaps later that day I should say, since we came in at sunrise, word came down on some of what was going on.

  Al reported, “News indicates a decision has been made in regards to the Gelnott. They’re calling for a quarantine of the system to be reevaluated in fifty years. I was able to discover through the stealth sensor net that Earth sent ten ships to force them out of space, and four platforms to leave behind when they’re finished.”

  I asked, “What about the Nairan, and Bugs.”

  Al replied, “Still under consideration. I have finished delivering all missiles to the fleet admiral, I’ve also finished removing the plasma cannons from our ships, and attack shuttles.”

  I thought about that for a second, an attack shuttle without anything to attack with is ridiculous.

  “Al, recycle both shuttles. Make one a taxi, and the second another science shuttle. How long on the experiment?”

  Al said, “Just over eight hours.”

  I nodded thoughtfully as I grabbed a coffee. I also grabbed two Tylenol, and a glass of water and left it on Kristi’s bedside table. Then I went for a nice long soak in the hot tub…

  Kristi came out looking miserable an hour later.

  “Don’t think that Tylenol and water earns you any forgiveness for being an alien freak that can’t have hangovers.”

  I smiled, “Noted and logged. But I forgive you for being prettier, and sexier.”

  She moaned as she slid into the water and said something very unflattering.

  I laughed.

  We pretty much blew off the whole day until my experiment was ready, and luckily she was fully recovered by then.

  We had the display on the house wall screen. The shuttle launched out in the void, and moved away from the ship. The lab ship itself went to FTL for a few seconds to give the experiment plenty of room, since the shuttle didn’t have FTL. It left a few probes behind to run scans from a theoretically safe distance.

  Kristi asked, “So what’s going to happen exactly?”

  I smiled, “I’m going to turn the shield on slowly, and see what it does. There are a whole series of things the ship will do if we lose contact with it. Al, get started.”

  At first very little happened, a luminescent light surrounded the hull, slowly getting brighter. I heard Kristi gasp as the ship wavered and became amorphous, and partially transparent. I wanted to laugh, but held it in. In theory, the ship was still in normal space, creating a gateway in all directions into subspace. Surrounded by subspace, yet not really inside subspace itself within the shield. It was a difficult concept. The field itself stopped that subspace from destroying the ship.

  Al said, “As we feared, quantum communications using frequencies has failed. However, the direct quantum entangled particles between the shuttle and the lab ship are still working so we still have a data connection. I’ll continue to increase power.”

  The ship continued to waver and disappear, and then it wasn’t visible at all.

  I pondered that, “Al, fly one of the probes through where the ship should be please.”

  He did, and it just kept going.

  “Can the test shuttle detect anything?”

  Al paused for a moment, “Negative, it’s completely blinded as far as sensors go. Even the normal cameras can’t see past the bright white of the shield itself.”

  Kristi grunted, “You’ll probably have to figure out some type of exotic
scanning particle. Something similar to the shield itself.”

  “Yeah, well at least we’re just blind. I’d expected to be blind and dumb. Okay, I’m pretty sure we took some normal space with us, or the shuttle did. I’m wondering if we just reduced power on the shield, if it will reappear in normal space. Let’s try that, Al, lower the power slowly, I don’t want the ship destroyed if I’m wrong.”

  The ship slowly appeared, looking nothing like a shuttle. It looked bizarre, twisted, and still mostly transparent. Then it slowly started to come into focus as the power lowered. There was a flash of light on one side, and then it was perfectly solid again.

  One of the probes surrounding it, at least two light minutes away, exploded.

  “Al, what the hell was that?”

  Al was silent for a moment, and then replied, “One of the emitters had a fault, which caused an imbalance in the shield. I cut all power to the system when it flashed like that. It appears to have created one of those waves that the Drenil made. Less controlled perhaps, but very similar.”

  I frowned, the shield is the weapon we saw the Drenil use? I thought about that for a while, until Al spoke up again a few minutes later.

  “The nanites have repaired it, shall we try again?”

  I nodded, “Yes, go to half power, full power being when the ship was entirely gone.”

  I watched as the ship wavered slightly and I could see the milky way through it.

  “Now try and hit it with a probe.”

  The probe exploded when it reached about a half mile away. Damn, I wished I still had plasma weapons, I’d like to see what the shield makes of it. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have an effect. Damn the council anyway.

  “Al, restore just one of the plasma cannons, and inform the council it’s for shield testing.”

  Al replied, “Working. This should take several hours.”

  “Alright, try to move the shuttle with the gravity drive.”

  The shuttle just disappeared off sensors.

  “Stop, what happened?”

  Al replied, “Calculating… the ship moved four thousand light years in two seconds.”

  That was… across the galaxy in just fifty seconds. Slower than a wormhole, but then the ship hadn’t been fully inside subspace either.

  “Alright, try putting the shield to full strength, and then use the drive for one second, then come out and figure out where the shuttle is.”

  Al replied, “Just a minute Alicia. Okay, it moved approximately ten thousand light years.”

  Kristi grunted, “That sounds about right, it would take ten seconds or so to transverse a wormhole across the galaxy. But at that speed how the hell can you be accurate as to where you stop, especially if you can’t see.”

  “Al, do the scanners work at any power level?”

  Al replied, “Negative, but a visual of normal space is possible up until fifty percent power.”

  Kristi shrugged, “It’s neat, but with a wormhole you can take other ships with you.”

  I frowned, “Yes, but this way the ship is immune to all known weapons, except perhaps gravity which is covered by the internal gravity shield. Not to mention a weapon that makes our enemies’ and allies’ current shielding obsolete. I’m sure we can work out precision flying once we figure out how to scan both subspace and normal space while submerging into subspace. Plus, on a real ship we can always switch back and forth between anti-mass FTL, wormholes, and whatever we’re going to call this. Subspace drive? Being blind is kind of a deal breaker though. Any ideas?”

  Kristi asked, “How do you think the Drenil do it?”

  I shrugged, “Who knows, maybe they use their body’s natural senses to see.”

  Kristi frowned, but didn’t comment. Despite me being right about the ship going into another layer of space, apparently the trans-dimensional body idea was still too wacked out. I had to admit it was also highly doubtful.

  “There is that other exotic radiation? The one the Drenil ship put out, the one we haven’t seen yet despite going in and out of the subspace layer like they do. Maybe that’s how they scan while inside subspace? Al, bring the test ship back, and I want to build in a secondary shield, I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of having a single point of failure when it comes to blowing up.”

  Kristi sighed, “That’s a definite possibility. But we have no idea how to create that exotic radiation, for all we know it requires a specific element to work, like in the anti-mass coils.

  “Agreed, but I still want to go for a ride when we build in secondary emitters and a secondary modified wormhole drive. Al, there hasn’t been any radiation internally has there?”

  Al replied, “No, the shield has kept it all out, including radiation in normal space when the shield is on minimum power.”

  I speculated, “Perhaps if we try shooting different particles into the shield from the inside, maybe the exotic radiation is caused when certain particles from normal space are destroyed?”

  Kristi replied, “Worth a shot, go for it.

  “Al, build a particle generator as well, we can try all the ones we’re aware of once all the updates are complete. And if the second round of testing works, I’m getting in the shuttle.”

  Al replied, “Will do. Twelve hours and forty minutes until completed.”

  Twelve hours, I was kind of excited. It was probably dumb, or at least a little crazy, but I wanted to feel what it was like to be surrounded by that space. Still, it should probably wait until tomorrow.

  “Al, when it’s ready tonight, test it out, both shields, and run the same tests we just did in addition to a low powered plasma attack. My ride can wait until tomorrow. You can also shoot some particles at the inside of the shield, see what happens. Oh, also see if you can aim the shield imbalance weapon, and determine if you can control the area affected in direction, distance, height, and width.”

  Chapter 18

  Shelly contacted me, and had been thrilled about the new computer design, but it also took the wind out of her sails. Once that was on the market, all other computers would slowly be phased out, so there was no point in her tweaking the A.I. matrix further.

  I wondered how many people that would annoy. Not to mention the quantum level fabricator, I couldn’t imagine how many more breakthroughs that would lead to.

  For instance, a research medical doctor may figure out how to repair DNA with it, and actually halt or even reverse aging a bit, enough to extend life some amount. I wasn’t really interested in medical tech however, and wouldn’t really know where to start. I was sure someone else would though.

  Point was, Shelly had given her notice, although she promised to come to us first if she ever found another research project that caught her eye. Right now she worked up a package to sell her A.I. enhancements complete with a new quantum computer. Once that was rolling, she’d be gone, and well on her way to being a billionaire.

  The only research person left in our company was Caroline, besides myself and Kristi, so I decided now was a good time to go shopping for new employees. I was once again checking up on those who had submitted grant applications to see if anything caught my eye. After a lot of sifting, I pulled two likely names, except just like last time I needed to go talk to them. The grant requests were vague, to prevent anyone else from stealing their research ideas.

  The first was Jason Matthews, who had a PhD in cybernetics and robotics. Considering his fields of study, it was almost certain he was looking to create more lifelike robots, but I also wouldn’t assume. He was in Denver, so instead of going to visit, I had Al send him a message which invited him to visit and pitch his needs in person. I thought it might be good if he saw the place, it might be easier to convince him to sign up for a job, assuming I wanted him after the interview of course.

  I couldn’t do the same with the second. Cindy Delouse was a research neurologist and located in Chicago. Her grant request referenced applied memory research. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what that would turn o
ut to be, but her brilliance was obvious from the grant application, and her current grant was running out shortly. I had Al send her a message that I’d like to speak with her in person, and hear her pitch, hopefully she’d call me back.

  It got a bit late in the afternoon, and I just sort of sat there at loose ends for a moment or two. Kristi was off with Joe who’d come back to town a few hours earlier, for a night on the town followed by couple activities that didn’t involve a third wheel. I didn’t begrudge them for a moment, or what they had together. I was bored however, and the idea of making dinner and eating alone didn’t appeal to me at all. Going out also held no appeal, and it was too early to try and make nice with Nadia after the crap that the council pulled.

  I knew she wasn’t responsible for it, and didn’t like it. But she was far from innocent. She did go along with it after all, and threw me under the bus for some political reason I wasn’t privy too.

  I decided to visit my parent’s home again and changed into a comfortable pair of jean shorts, a pink tee that wasn’t too tight, and a pair of open toed sandals. I jumped into the sports shuttle, and wondered if Tina would want to go out afterwards tonight. It was just a few minutes to Texas after all, so why not? I was also curious if the protesters were still there, so far there weren’t any at my own house, or my place of work. Not that I was complaining there wasn’t.

  I landed in the backyard and barged into the back door like I usually do. It was still my house, the one I grew up in, and I hardly needed to knock. However, when I turned around and closed the door, I heard a loud commanding voice yell at me.

  “Freeze! Police!”

  I froze, what in the hell?

  Then I heard, “Alicia?” in a wondering and questioning voice.

  I turned around slowly and looked down the barrel of his nine millimeter. He was a deputy with the sheriff’s department, and had very familiar brown eyes, although I hardly recognized the rest of him. He used to be a skinny cocky kid that always got into trouble, the last time I saw him was in my early teens before I went off to college. Now he was broad, muscled, definitely in shape, and his strong face and jaw only held the faint remnants of the skinny boy he’d been.