Boomer reacted instantly; he grabbed the frog in his tongue and brought it in his mouth as delicately as he could. Then Boomer leapt up in the air, grazing the creature’s antennas with his belly, and landed behind the creature and kept running.
“I have a strong lock,” Mira said.
Boomer turned his head and saw the beaming lights intensify around the creature, as it screeched louder until the ear-piercing sound diminished into silence when the bug dematerialized. Boomer stopped and turned around to see the last glimpse of transport lights disappear with the creature.
He heard an echoing “ribbit” from inside his mouth. He opened it and extended his tongue. Zelda turned back into a kitten Sphynx and jumped down to the ground. She then waggled her whole body to remove the saliva from her fur. The strong shaking motion caused Zelda to become unbalanced and fall flat, with a confused look on her face.
“Looks like we did it, that was good team effort,” Boomer said.
Zelda filled her tiny lungs with air and stood proudly and triumphant.
As Boomer retracted his tongue fully, his metallic body returned into a white tiger form and he winced. He tasted something foul in his mouth.
“Did you just pee on my tongue?” asked Boomer.
Zelda made big apologetic eyes and lowered her head.
“So—rry,” said a teeny, tiny voice.
Boomer puked his last meal on the floor, shaking his head and trying to wash out the stink with his white paws.
“That’s disgusting!”
* * *
The Osiris entered hyperspace the moment Princess Kalliopy returned on board. She was beside herself and refused to listen to Ziron’s plea to rethink her plan.
“But I received a transmission from Boomer,” implored Ziron.
“I don’t care. We have to get to Kregan Prime, now.”
“This smells like a trap.”
“I’m very well aware of that, but you have your orders.”
Kalliopy then stormed off the bridge with tears in her eyes.
“This is not going to end well.”
“At least we’ll be reunited with Boomer and Lacuna,” said Mira.
“Yeah, let’s hope it’s not for a mass funeral event.”
“Should I activate the hyperspace engines?”
“You heard her, she’s the boss. Let’s hope she knows what she’s doing.”
“It seems to me that fear and hate are in control rather than objectivity. But then again, I am not an expert in human emotion, I may not be programming her well.”
“Trust me, your programming is spot on. And that’s what I’m afraid of too, Mira.”
* * *
When Boomer returned to the bridge with Zelda in tow, Lacuna was looking at a holo-starmap.
“Oh, you’re back. Glad to see you found something to wear,” Boomer smirked.
“If you can call these clothes,” she complained.
Lacuna was wearing a khaki-colored jumpsuit that made her look like a grease monkey.
“This thing,” she said, “is the only one that would fit me.”
Boomer could tell that the suit was meant for a man and was pressing hard on her chest.
“While you were looking for clothes, I had an encounter with a nasty space bug, so believe me, do count your blessings.”
“Mira told me. Are you alright?”
“I’ll survive.”
Zelda ran in between Boomer’s white tiger legs and mewed.
“Hello, I’m Zelda,” said the tiny voice.
“What the hell is this?” asked Lacuna. “Did you also find this on deck four?”
“Technically. It must have sneaked into my fur while I was saying goodbye aboard the Osiris.”
Lacuna chuckled. “Is that one of Ziron’s offspring?”
“Yes, this is Zelda.”
Lacuna couldn’t help smiling. “She just said that.”
Zelda hissed.
“Charming,” added Lacuna. “I’m not sure this is a place for such a young creature, but now that she’s here, I guess you’ll have to tend to her.”
“Fortunately, they feed off energy from the ship’s engines.”
“I think I read that somewhere. I always thought it was a myth.”
“The one thing I don’t understand is how she managed to shape-shift like me earlier.”
“I think I can explain that one,” said Mira over the comm’s system.
“Then by all means, enlighten us,” Lacuna said.
“Since you were carrying her while transforming, some nano-material from the smart armor must have been accidentally transferred to our small warrior here, thus granting her temporary, though not very conscious, access to the technology.”
“I would say so,” confirmed Boomer. “It didn’t look like she had much control over it. As unfortunate and surprising as her presence has been, I think it made a difference with the space bug, I don’t know if it scared it or confused it, but it bought us the time Mira needed to beam the creature out in space.”
“About that,” said Mira.
“You beamed it to space, didn’t you?”
“My lock wasn’t strong enough for that, but don’t worry, we’re safe.”
“Where is the creature now?”
“It’s trapped in one of the ship’s memory buffers.”
“Can you try and beam it out, please? That thing gives me the creeps.”
“No, wait,” proposed Lacuna. “Maybe we can use it later.”
“Use it how?” asked Boomer. “It didn’t seem like the kind of creature that would take orders.”
“Still, it could provide us with a distraction. I’d rather we kept it in reserve.”
Boomer shook his head from side to side. “That’s a bad idea, mark my words.”
“Duly noted.”
“I agree with Lacuna on this one,” said Mira. “There may be a situation where it could come in handy.”
“Well, apparently this is a democracy,” said Boomer, “so I’ll leave you with my warning, but we’ll proceed with what the majority thinks.”
Zelda must have sensed that Boomer was uneasy, so she came and rubbed against his leg and purred.
15
Yxantion hesitated to give the order, which worried Xonax. He really felt like the hardest part had been done, but the wait was killing him. Not because the cold hard blade pressed against his throat was making him bleed lightly, but because he knew how impulsive his father could be.
Come on, just say the word already.
With his one free hand, Yxantion approached the manual release control for the palace’s shield that resided on a thin wrist band he was wearing at all times. He flipped the secure lock upward that revealed a blue control light, which also served as a holo-touch command.
Two of his father’s fingers hovered atop the control. Xonax had to fight the urge to press the damn button himself. But he knew he’d never get the time to give his officer the verbal command if he did. The seconds felt like minutes and then hours in his mind, and Xonax wondered if he shouldn’t have gone with Altanor’s more brute-force approach.
When he thought he couldn’t endure the passing of time any longer, Yxantion pressed the button and spoke.
“Transport now!” he ordered.
A beam of orange light appeared behind Yxantion, forcing him to look away, and that’s when Xonax’s own transport beam-out sequence began. He started dematerializing just as Athala was being beamed in. Yxantion had a smile on his face when he turned back, but it quickly turned to surprise and then anger.
The emperor slashed Xonax’s throat as he was vanishing, and blaster fire went through the air where Xonax had been a few milliseconds before.
Yxantion looked at the blade and noticed some minuscule parts of it where missing, as if insects had eaten through the alloy.
Suddenly, all hell broke loose when Kevin beamed in behind Yxantion’s back and kicked the emperor to the ground. The four imperial guardsmen open
ed fire instantly, but 8-3-9-6 had already erected the upgraded cutting shields before combat and was ready to deflect the laser blasts.
In one fluid and agile motion, the AI used Kevin’s body like the deadly weapon his training had turned him into. He slashed through all four guards effortlessly, cutting them to pieces.
By then, the emperor had turned over onto his back and reached for his hand-held blaster. 8-3-9-6 reacted in a split second and cast the shockwave spell, which smashed all of the emperor’s limbs onto the ground and stepped on the arm that had the shield’s control.
Without reactivation from the emperor himself, the shields would stay down. A legion of pirates beamed into the throne room, about the same time as more imperial guards rushed in to check what the commotion was all about.
Laser fire filled the air of the room as the battle raged on. Meanwhile, 8-3-9-6 addressed the emperor, who had almost lost consciousness from the power of Kevin’s latest spell.
“Your son wanted you to know he gave me specific instructions to make sure your suffering is prolonged, but within reason.”
A laser blast grazed Kevin’s neck and burned some of his skin, which forced 8-3-9-6 to engage a nearby enemy. He threw one of his shields that cut the guard in half.
Yxantion tried to speak, but instead he puked a significant amount on blood on his own face. No doubt, the pointblank shockwave had resulted in internal injuries.
I can’t watch this! said Kevin inside his mind.
He felt incredibly powerless and alone. He was witnessing an event in history he knew would mark his life and reputation forever. Everybody would remember the boy who took out the Kregan Emperor. Nobody would care that he was not in control of his actions, all they’d remember would be his face and his name, for probably longer than Kevin’s lifespan.
Ever since he had been seven or eight years old, Kevin had always hoped his name would impact history. But he had always thought it would be through an invention of some kind, one that bettered humanity. Like one of his spiritual mentors—Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. But not like this.
Still, as much as he didn’t want to, he couldn’t look away.
Don’t resist, I need your brain at peak efficiency to make sure we both survive this mission, said 8-3-9-6 in his mind. We’re lucky Xonax came up with a better plan than Altanor, as your body may survive after all.
Swell. I sure feel lucky right about now.
8-3-9-6 cast the time-bubble spell over Yxantion and looked around until he found the emperor’s blade that had been lost when their skirmish started. Yxantion tried to reach the shield control, but because of the time dilation field inside the spell bubble, he was moving slower than a sleepy snail.
8-3-9-6 walked toward the blade, paying attention to the battle around him and deflecting the laser blast that came his way with his one remaining shield. It was already flickering, so the AI erected a brand new one on his other arm and extended it to cover most of his body.
He crouched to grab the blade and returned next to the emperor. Yxantion’s hands were trying to join so he could reactivate the shield; he was about halfway through when 8-3-9-6 thrust the blade toward his head.
Kevin hoped the emperor would continue his current attempt at raising the shields around the palace, but that was discounting the instinct of self-preservation imbued in most living beings. While the blade at the end of Kevin’s hand slowed the moment it entered the time bubble, Yxantion instinctively tried to stop it with his hand. It all happened slowly, very slowly. The blade kept approaching the emperor’s forehead.
Futile, said 8-3-9-6. But so predictable.
The scene unfolding in front of his eyes disgusted Kevin. He already knew the outcome and wished he could look away, but part of him still hoped something would go wrong for the AI and the emperor would survive.
That hope died when the spell ran out of juice and time resumed to its normal pace. The blade pierced through the hand first, then almost instantly pierced Yxantion’s skull and lodged itself inside his brain.
The emperor’s eyes were briefly filled with terror before they lost all semblance of life.
If Kevin had been in control of his body, he had no doubt that he would have vomited right there. But he was just a prisoner, forced to witness acts that he knew would haunt him for as long as he lived.
* * *
Boomer was continuously pacing on the bridge, with Zelda walking behind him. He had morphed back to his beagle form, which he wasn’t exactly feeling safe about, but he wanted to save as much power as he could so he could use it to help Kevin.
“Will you stop doing that?” asked Lacuna.
“What is it to you?”
“It’s distracting, that’s what it is.”
“I’m nervous, I can’t help it.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” said Lacuna with a smile.
Mira’s voice boomed from the speakers.
“We’re three minutes away from exiting hyperspace. My long-range sensors, though not worthy of the name, have picked up some interesting data.”
Boomer barked and ran next to Lacuna. “What is it?”
“There seems to be some sort of battle happening in the imperial palace on the surface of the planet. I’ve intercepted communications that confirmed my readings. Also, we’ve received a subspace transmission from Ziron, they’re also heading this way.”
“Did he say why?” asked Lacuna.
“Negative. It was a text transmission. I suspect they can’t establish a video feed while we’re in hyperspace, these ships aren’t exactly running the latest tech. I’ve been doing some modifications of my own, and I’ve got something that should be of interest to the both of you.”
“What’s that?” asked Boomer, his tail wagging in anticipation.
“I’ve managed to establish read-only access to Kevin’s subspace transmitter.”
“That’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard all day,” barked Boomer.
“Why do I get the feeling there is a but coming,” said Lacuna.
“Very perceptive of you,” confirmed Mira. “There is something strange about the readings. Let me show you.”
A holo-screen sprung to life and Boomer looked at it. It displayed two animated graphs side by side.
“What are we looking at?” asked Boomer.
“I detected two different brain patterns from the same subspace transmitter, which is worrisome. As you can see, they’re very different.”
Lacuna pointed to the right one. “This one seems more angular, more mechanical, like patterns repeating somehow. And less complex.”
Boomer looked at Lacuna and the screen again. “What does that mean?”
“I believe the only hypothesis that can explain these readings is that there are currently two consciousnesses inside Kevin’s brain, one being artificial.”
On the left diagram, another brainwave graph superimposed itself in a different color.
“The left one,” Mira continued, “shows a match for Kevin’s brain patterns we have on file. But the right one seems to be an AI of some sort.”
“That would explain its blockiness and patterns,” said Lacuna.
“Correct,” Mira confirmed. “And herein lies the problem: most of the patterns responsible for motor functions seem absent from Kevin’s current brainwave activity.”
“He’s being controlled, his body at least,” said Lacuna.
“How the hell did you jump to that conclusion?” asked Boomer.
“That’s the most likely scenario,” said Mira.” I agree with Lacuna.”
Boomer barked in frustration. He was having trouble following the conversation and felt like he wasn’t as smart as he ought to be under the circumstances. Zelda must have sensed his distress as she ran by his side, jumped on his back, and rubbed against him.
Boomer gently pushed Zelda off of him. “Not now,” he whispered, “this is important stuff.”
“Can we talk to him?” asked Boomer. “Let him know we’re
coming.”
Mira didn’t answer. A couple of minutes passed, and Boomer was starting to lose his patience, but before he could verbalize it, Mira spoke again:
“I would recommend against it at the moment. I’ve managed to locate the AI chip, but there are multiple safeguards and firewalls around it. These aren’t part of its normal function. I believe the AI has erected them to prevent communication from the outside. And while these security measures are beyond my ability to crack them with the current CPU at my disposal, it may be possible for me to find a backdoor to give us a private line of communication with Kevin. But it will take some time, and we’re just about ready to arrive on the scene.”
“What about Ziron? Can he help free Kevin from the AI’s hold on him?”
“I’m afraid it’s too early to tell. My advice is for the two of you to beam down, incapacitate Kevin’s body, and bring him back on board. I should warn you that my sensors are showing that he’s been modified with cybernetic enhancements.”
“What?” yelped Boomer.
Lacuna kindly patted Boomer on the head. “What kind of enhancements?”
“Power sources, nano-circuitry, nothing as advanced as the smart armor, but I believe he’s been enhanced to be a killing machine. So you two are going to have to tread carefully.”
“So we need to engage him?” asked Boomer. “No! No way I’m attacking Kevin.”
“I understand how you feel,” said Lacuna, “but we may not have a choice. Right now the priority should be to get a hold of him and try and disable that AI.”
“Lacuna’s plan seems like the one that is the safest at this point,” said Mira. “I strongly suggest you use non-lethal force—”
“No shit,” barked Boomer.
There was a slight pause.
“Can’t we beam him on the ship?” asked Lacuna.
Damn, she’s full of ideas, thought Boomer, why didn’t I think of that?
“At this point,” said Mira, “I don’t recommend this course of action. The AI could perceive this as a threat and damage Kevin as a result. It would be better if you tried incapacitating him and the AI at the same time, once the AI’s brainwaves have been disabled, even temporarily, then it would be safe to beam Kevin back up.”
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 31
