Merc
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Chapter 20 - Alien Intent
The two Hawks and Orinoco regrouped and advanced. The piranha sat and waited. Tor was filled with nervous tension and Sweety had shut herself down. The gentle hum from the engines adding a surreal calming influence.
The two Hawks changed vector to swing in from either side with the slower Orinoco running head on. Plasma streaked towards the ship as the pirates opened up in what would otherwise have been devastatingly destructive crossfire.
The alien AI had other ideas and the ship suddenly moved vertically. As the pirates closed in and adjusted their aim, three particle beams shot out from the Piranhas shields each one tracking a pirate vessel. The furthest of the hawks veered away its shields collapsing under the continuous fire, one corner of its thruster housing being sliced away.
The closest Hawk had the top of the pilot canopy sliced open after the shields failed. The pilot was sucked out with the pressure loss and escaping air. The body cut in two as it crossed the beam. The pilot less Hawk span off in to the asteroid field and impacted on a distance rock.
The Orinoco was cut in two along its length. The engines exploding, sending debris in all directions much of it landing on the surface of the Asteroid.
The surviving Hawk fled the scene and the Piranha returned to its previous position and waited.
Tor sat patiently not knowing if he should move, eventually he glanced over his shoulder expecting to see the ship changed somehow. But it was still the same, the suited figure still lying on the bunk and connected to the air supply. He had the certainty that he was now being watched or more precisely studied.
"Greetings!" The alien AI spoke. The voice it used was male with a relatively soft tone.
"Um, Hi!" Tor replied uncertainly.
"You are a strange creature. I do not have your species logged in my databanks. However I have been asleep for some time now and traveled a great distance so this is not unexpected!"
"I am an Argon!" Tor responded as someone trying to appear helpful.
"Argon! Ah yes your own databanks describes your species." The Alien AI went quiet for a moment as it continued scanning through the information it now had access to. "A primitive life form. Your technology is also primitive, but interesting and shows potential to advance."
"I'm sorry to interrupt but before you took over my ship I was going to get some parts that your ship needs to get going again!" Tor hoped he could find some leverage to regaining control of his ship.
There was a pause as the AI translated and interpreted the statement. "Knowing that my masters ship is still intact and that you have supplied limited power to the systems, I will judge your species is curious and has a thirst to gain knowledge. The actions you have taken so far, to conceal and protect my ship, seem to be friendly. I will allow you to continue with this task."
"Does that mean I can have the helm control back?" Tor asked.
The AI did not respond immediately. "Helm control is yours!"
Tor carefully put his hands back on the controls then paused. "My data pad also has AI onboard, she controls my freighters remotely. Will she still be able to continue with this task?"
"AI? Do you mean the basic Advanced Thinking System that I encountered earlier?"
This time Tor hesitated with his response. "Yes! We call it artificial intelligence or AI for short."
The alien AI paused again to interpret the information. "If it will help you to complete the task then I will allow it!"
Tor was acutely aware of his complete lack of power. The ship now controlled him not the other way around. He was also worried for both Sweety and the scientist, as he could not protect either of them. For Tor, only by being friendly and reasonably honest could he see that the alien AI would return the ship to him. Also he hoped that by going back into the sector the thing would not try to impose itself onto other systems.
He reactivated the technical data pad. Sweety instantly shut herself down again.
"Is there a problem?"
"I guess she doesn't like strangers!" Tor replied quickly. There was no response.
Tor cursed quietly to himself as he went back into the rear cabin to retrieve his old personal pad. He glanced over to the sleeping figure and wondered if she was still in recovery without the assistance of Sweety to control the temperature. Feeling that he did not want to take the risk of her not receiving some assistance Tor unclipped the thermal control unit off his own suit.
He knew the alien AI was watching and assessing what he was up to. As Tor unclipped the unit off Tereanas' suit and replaced it with his own he glanced at the suit temperature. He knew he would have to remember to increase the level every half hour or so.
"Is there a problem with your companion?" The alien AI spoke up.
Tor did not turn around. There was no need as the internal scanners could see him from nearly any direction.
"She had a suit malfunction which caused her body temperature to drop to a critical level. I'm attempting to raise her temperature back to normal." Tor paused as he remembered the explanation Sweety had given to him. "If it goes up too fast she'll experience thermal shock and die!"
"Perhaps I may assist?" The alien AI responded.
Unseen by Tor, the AI adjusted the modified transporter matrix again. It had access to Argon medical information so it performed a bioscan to determine the current core body temperature of Tereana, then it cross referenced it to normal temperature.
The next thing Tor knew was he was looking at a naked, young, and attractive brunette standing, but still not quite awake on the opposite side of the cabin.
She stumbled forward slightly as consciousness returned and Tor just caught her as she began to fall. However he was now flushed red with embarrassment.
The computer AI monitored then spoke again, "I notice your own body temperature appears to have risen dramatically. Do you wish to be cooled?"
"NO! Absolutely not! No way! Don't even think it!" Tor blurted out.
Tereana was now awake and quite aware of her predicament, "What the hell!" She flashed an enraged look at Tor as she turned away from him and desperately looked for something to cover herself up with. Tor turned around and faced the bulkhead.
"I really hope you'll let me explain. It's not what you may think!" Tor knew he had to say something.
"What strange behaviour you Argon exhibit!" The AI commented.
Tereana had managed to retrieve a blanket from the bed to cover herself and had picked up something heavy to bludgeon Tor to death with, but paused as she mentally digested the comment the AI had just made.
"What did it mean 'you Argon'?" She asked carefully.
"Can I turn around?" Tor asked. "Then I'll explain."
She made sure the blanket was secure and then pushed the empty suit to one side before sitting on the bunk. Carefully resting the maintenance bar in her lap she agreed.
The AI monitored quietly as Tor recounted the chain of events, from his first arriving with food supplies for the team, to the search and finding the Professor and her. Both suits having the same thermal unit malfunction however Tor omitted the information that hers appeared to have been tampered with. The professor then continuing with his work after up loading the data retrieved so far on to the Piranha. The fight and sudden discovery of the alien AI, and finally to the AI speeding up her recovery and the unfortunate circumstances which followed. Even if Tor thought the day had suddenly shown an up side.
Tereana listened carefully, choosing not to interrupt. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was certain the Argon Secret Service would be extremely unhappy with the current turn of events. Any alien AI should have been quarantined. This one had the ability to transfer itself within a data stream and was now in charge of a ship and had open communications channels that it could exploit if it wanted to and move around the universe. More worrying still was that they had no means of determining if it had been given the coding to replicate itself.
"So you've agreed to help fix the alien ship?" She asked cautiously, looking for confirmation of Tors' intentions.
"That's the plan!" Tor responded and added by way of explanation. "It's the only way I can think of to get my ship back!"
Tereana was not keen but at least the voice that troubled her during the dreams she had been having was now silent. She could sympathize with Tors' plight however this was a traditional knee jerk reaction brought around by circumstances and the actions of someone who had not examined the potential consequences of what might happen after restoring the alien ships power. She did not know the answers herself but all the information was likely to be on the ship computer. All she needed to do is get the AI to let her examine it. This in itself posed her with a problem, how not to alert suspicion and perhaps a hostile reaction. The AI had full control of all the ships systems and an array of lethal countermeasures it could adopt to prevent intrusion into sensitive data areas.
She had to agree with Tor's plan, as well intentioned as it was, it was the only way she could see of buying herself some time to determine what needed to be done next. She smiled by way of reassurance, "Well what are you waiting for lets get some parts."
Tor gave a brief smile back but felt uneasy at the swift positive response. He had half expected her to respond with a long list of objections, and speculated they had studied the alien ship and developed an understanding as to the nature of the creature they were dealing with.
There was something slightly amiss to the tone in her voice and the expression she gave which tripped a tiny alarm in his mind. He shrugged, they had only just met and he put it down to being unfamiliar with her mannerisms.
Tor took his place in the pilot seat and took his bearings, behind him Tereana extracted her clothes from inside the environment suit and, ensuring Tor was not watching, got dressed.
When the Piranha had left the asteroid field some fifty k's behind he called Fenegalas.
"Sir, I wass beginning to think we had losst you again!" The young Teladi face gave a broad grin.
"Sorry about that, I'm going to need you to do me a favour." Tor paused a moment as he put the final details to his thoughts. "I need you to take over control of all the freighters, and use that Teladi business acumen of yours to generate profits. There will be a large bonus for you after all this. I'm going to put five hundred thousand credits at your disposal. It should be enough and good profit hunting."
"Yes, Sir!" The young Teladi saw this as the opportunity to make a big impression and boost his own credibility amongst the other Teladi traders.
By way of explanation Tor added. "Unfortunately Sweety is unavailable at the moment to continue doing this job. So see this as a bit of a promotion!"
"Yes Sir!" The Teladis' eyes shone.
Caran Belign glanced at the time on his console before looking out the window onto Argon Prime. Looking across, from the comfort of his office on the Trading Station, he could see storm weather fronts crossing the sub continents. He speculated they would be spectacular to watch, even from this distance he could see the occasional flash of sheet lightning running through the clouds and the localized vertical strikes flashing briefly.
He had expected a status update from Tor some time ago, direct communications with the station were banned for security reasons. It would be the first news since the mercenary ships returned having confirmed successful deployment.
The spy satellite in the Nopileo's Memorial sector had been primed to detect when Tor emerged from the asteroid belt. For added security it would also do a remote scan of the ship.
A com window opened on the console, "Sir, we have just had an update from Nopileo's Memorial. Mr Gralls' ship has left the asteroid field."
"And the scan?" Caran asked.
"Just sending you the data, looks like he still has the supplies on board, and one passenger. Getting some strange readout on the weapons and shield configuration." The agent responded.
The data appeared on Carans' screen. Inside he cursed there was no need to speculate that Tor may have found some fancy upgrade to his ship by one of the races. Although he did not understand what the readings meant it was painfully apparent the ship had been altered through an alien influence.
"Do we have the isolated coms room available?" Caran would try to make contact before deciding on how to proceed. The isolated coms room was constructed to be a direct communications path between the transmitter and the coms system in the room, without interfacing with any of station computers or sub systems.
Its sole purpose was to prevent corrupting data and alien AI from getting onto the stations systems whilst still being able to communicate with people that have infected code on their systems.
He thought for a moment, "Alert all allied stations not to open a communications channel with the Piranha registration SCG five, five, TG is a code red quarantined vessel, harbouring a hostile system entity thought to be infectious." This was standard procedure and Caran was going to strictly play by the rules.
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"Yes Sir!" The response came back.
Caran exited his room and made his way along the corridors. He signaled to Macar one of the technical staff to join him. People would be asking questions soon enough as to the source of the infection and the risk it posed. He needed to have the answers.
The door slid shut behind them as the two men sat down.
"Open a com to Piranha registration." Caran glanced down at his data pad, "SCG five, five, TG, location Nopileo's Memorial."
On the Piranha the alien AI notified Tor of an incoming transmission.
"Yes?" Tor took a moment as he looked at the holo projection. "Oh, Mr Belign!" He took a moment to compose himself. "What can I do for you?"
"First thing is you can bring your ship to a complete stop Mr Grall!" Caran responded softly.
"Actually I'm in a bit of a hurry!" Tor felt and looked nervous.
"Not any more you're not!" Caran replied and spoke slowly as someone who was choosing his words with great care. "We have detected some unusual adjustments to your ship, perhaps I should call them Alien. As a result all allied stations have been instructed not to let you board for fear of contamination. So we have plenty of time for you to explain what is going on!"
Tor swallowed hard and Tereana moved forward into the range of the holo projector.
Caran increased the viewing field, "Ah, Miss Tersill, an update please!"
She began to recount all the events from the first day through to the present, including the details Tor had explained during her period of unconsciousness.
Caran remained a silent observer as was the Alien AI. When she had finished there was a long pause.
"My apologize Mr Grall, I should have alerted you to the potential dangers. If I had then you would not find yourself in this predicament." Caran paused. "I cannot lift the restrictions on you or your vessel without better understanding the Alien AI and its intentions. However we will retrieve the items that you require and dump them near your location so you can pick them up."
The agent looked towards the console image of the Piranha as if to address the AI directly. "To the AI. Please download a list of the materials you need and any other data that can give us a better understanding of you, and hopefully give us an opportunity to be more welcoming than the current situation allows!"
The AI responded, "I understand your fears! Your databank is insufficient to carry all the data I have so I will send you your scientists' findings and a small subset of my own data." There was a brief pause, "Transfer complete!"
Caran glanced at the technician beside him who activated the console. He turned and nodded confirming the data was present.
"I ask that you all return to the science station and wait for us to contact you." Caran observed both Tor and Tereana expressions change to deep disappointment.
"Acknowledged." Tor cut the com.
Caran also closed down his end of the system and looked over to Macar. "See what you can find. I'll have this rooms access restricted. Focus on getting the list of items required for the fuel rods, even if we deliver them piecemeal at least we will be seen to be fully co-operating."
He stood up then left the technician to examine the information. Caran needed to talk to Creed get him to make some enquiries into who attacked the station. Having returned to his office he tapped into the console then requested a communications channel to Serandamancketal in Elena's Fortune.
The Paranid answered in his usual gruff fashion. "Caran!"
"Need to talk to Creed!"
Serandamancketal tilted his head to one side, "Creeds not here right now!"
"Pity!" Caran considered his options. "I need you both to do some investigation work in Nopileo's Memorial. We have some missing scientists and equipment. I need you to find who's responsible and what happened to them."
The Paranid gave a slight smile. "That's not a problem! We have some business of our own to deal with there."
Caran paused and looked hard at the Paranid trying to determine the nature of the business he was referring to. "I guess your talking about the newly formed Shadow Troop." Caran commented carefully. "I'm led to believe they are operating out of an ancient pirate base which, I'm sure, shouldn't prove too much of a problem to you!"
The Paranid grunted. It was as much confirmation as Caran needed, however the pirate base was reported to be considerably further along the belt then the scientist base. Even though it's exact position had not been recorded. A base that had been well hidden during the Xenon campaign and survived until the war was over but never fully restored due to it's remoteness. That is until now.
"Another thing. Our mutual friend, Mr Grall the young trader, is in a bit of trouble." Caran spoke softly and carefully as he pulled together his thoughts. "The bulletin that went out concerning the infected Piranha relates to him."
"Do you want us to destroy his ship?" Serandamancketal asked in anticipation of the request.
Caran paused and tapped his fingers on the desk briefly, "No! I somehow doubt you'd get the chance, the ship has an Alien AI on board that has reconfigured and combined the shield and weapons matrices. By the description it has the ability to lock on with a particle beam from any side of the ship. Not only that but it has multi-targeting capabilities."
The Paranids' eyes narrowed, "Sounds like a weapon system to die for!"
"Maybe, maybe not, we've always found this type of weapon has too much power draw. Attaching it to the shields will prolong the duration of the beam but at what cost? we don't know. When the weapon has completely discharged will the ship have drained its shields too? Again we don't know." Caran continued his train of thought, "It would be interesting to see how long it would last against a swarm of fighter drones!"
"We can arrange that!" Serandamancketal responded keenly.
Caran looked up then back at the image of the Paranid and in a slightly sarcastic tone commented, "I'm thinking things have been a little bit quiet for you recently." He paused and then added with a hard edge to his voice. "No I don't want them killed! There's one of the scientists with him. She managed to escape detection by the pirates, and has a much better understanding of what we are dealing with."
"Then what do you want us to do?" The Paranid asked a touch disappointed.
"Deliver some supplies to them. We are putting together a list of items and will arrange to have them dropped off. I want you to fly escort, keep safe distance and observe!" Caran added. "Under no circumstances try to contact the Piranha. As I said we don't fully understand what it is we are dealing with!"
"We'll start the investigation work. Shout when you have the supplies you want to drop off." Serandamancketal closed the com link.
The door slid open and Macar walked in with a data pad in hand. "Sir, the scientists appear to have already analyzed the reactor fuel rod. I've copied out the parts that'll be required."
"Anything unusual?" Caran was impressed he had found the information so quickly and reached out to take the pad, the technician handed it across.
"A couple of the elements only exists is quantity on a handful of the planets around the sectors." Macar took a relaxed stance. "Everywhere else these are considered trace elements." And shook his head briefly.
Caran studied the list. "But we can get them?"
"Yes Sir! But it's going to require an interplanetary ship to get them. Which will take a few days rather than hours." Macar was very matter of fact with his tone, and lacking in any sense of urgency.
The agent nodded, "Then I'd better tell our friends not to get on each others nerves!"
"Just as an aside, and I thought it might be worth mentioning, but we don't have the manufacturing ability to make this fuel cell!" Macar looked hard at Caran.
"That's okay we don't need to make it. Just supply the raw materials. If the AI wants us to manufacture the cell then it's going to have to tell us how!" Caran looked back and smiled. He stood up. "Now let's tell our friends the good news!"
Tor had stopped the piranha just short of the asteroid field, as both he and Tereana were apprehensive about returning to the science station. It was only a matter of time before being restricted to the close confines of the ship would start to show.
In the brief time since the call from Caran the uncertainty of the situation made them less inclined to talk for fear of sounding negative. Tereana had subsequently taken the bunk and quickly fallen asleep through general fatigue. The brief few hours of unconsciousness had not been enough to clear away the tiredness of the previous sleepless two days.
Tor hummed to himself and reviewed his old personal pad. He had considered retrieving the Guilard and playing on that for a while but he considered how annoyed Tereana might get if he disturbed her sleep. He glanced at one of the internal scanners.
"Computer, do you have a name?" He asked quietly.
There was a pause, Tor wondered if it would just ignore the question. "Why do you want to know?"
It was not exactly the response Tor expected. "Well." He hesitated for a moment. "It's just a more informal and personal way to talk to you. It lets you know that you're the one being asked the question or given the information."
"You called me computer a moment ago and I have answered, will that not do?"
"We call lots of things computer, it's a descriptive name for an object. When something gets or obtains intelligence or a personality of its own we generally give it a name. Didn't the people that created you give you a name?" Tors' curiosity was growing, and he felt that just through simple communication he might build some common understanding and even some trust.
"I am receiving an incoming transmission!" The AI responded.
"Mr Grall!" Caran spoke first.
"Good news I hope?" Tor eagerly asked.
"Yes and no!" Caran gave the faint hint of an apologetic smile, "Yes we have located all the raw materials you require for the fuel cell, all but two will be delivered within a few hours. The last two are quite rare and require retrieval from planetary sources. This means you will be stuck there for a few days!"
"Shit!" Tor responded. The Piranha was just manageable for one person to spend a few days in, but with two it would get much more interesting.
"The freighter will have two fighter escorts as you are still in the uncontrolled sector. They will keep their distance." Caran emphasized the point again. "They are there to protect the freighter and your cargo from hostile pirate ships in the area and are not to be seen as a threat."
"Understood Mr Belign." It was the AI that answered.
Caran appeared to relax. "Excellent. I will call you again when we have the last items." The transmission ended.
Tor sat back and he glanced at the internal scanner. He decided that he would leave Tereana sleeping and tell her the news later.
without it sounding like plagerism of some kind.
keep it up!
But that doesn't mean she's uneffected by the Alien (hence the voices in the dreams), once they find out more about the Alien then they'll know what may happen later...