Alien Enigma (42 page)

Keane glanced at the chronometer. It was already down to twenty minutes, far past the time that Harriette should have left if she intended to live. She had no chance at all now. He looked at the viewscreen and saw Harriette smile and then cry. Her face looked pale and shocked. "Harriette, what do we have?"

"Captain, I'm able to get the robot home world hierarchy-it's what we read earlier but more detailed ...I think we missed something though with our earlier translations. I now have the exact location of their home world! And other CINs ...but the pattern doesn't look good, they're like a virus ...I'm sending it to your command viewscreen and
Eve
for analysis."

Keane looked at the ship's viewscreen and saw a slew of red dots splatter across the galacto maps. They scattered from a location thousands of light years from the Bolt Star cluster, but he could see how it was slowly progressing and expanding everywhere in that part of the galaxy. Also, there were hundreds of CIN planets surrounding the CIN Empire home world. It was a dense part of the Milky Way Galaxy, with hundreds of suns and planets nearby, all with completed CINs.

Keane shook his head. "I don't think this will be a good place to explore."

"No Captain it won't-and I just got a clarification on the hierarchy. There are more types of robots. There're two Explorer versions, three Warrior models, and another home world Alpha model."

"Well, we've seen two of the Warrior models, and that's enough for me," replied Keane, staring at the incoming charts and data. "Hopefully we won't meet that third class until we're more prepared. This new technology we discovered may help."

Harriette shook her head. "No Captain, I just confirmed the model codes from the robots we fought, those were the two Explorer models. We haven't met the Warrior models yet."

Keane tried to keep his composure. "Well, we'll deal with that when we have to. You only have five minutes or so left Harriette. You and your work here will not be forgotten. I can't say in words how much we thank you."

"I'm not done yet. I've been working on something else ...the reason I stayed down here..." Harriette clicked switches and looked at her screen. "Got it!" she shouted. "Captain, keep recording. I'm setting this up for a continuous loop. Record for as long as you possibly can so that if static or a stray electron bounces a word off the record you can correct the data loss. God, how stupid a robot can be! I can hardly believe it!"

"Um, what do you have, Harriette?" Keane dared to interrupt and ask.

"What? Oh. These stupid CINs have kept duplicating over and over right from the very beginning of their existence, even to back before they took over from the Worms. You know what they've been duplicating? A program that will purge its CPU completely! The CINs can send out a refresh code with no update, just a deletion. That's what took me so long, figuring it out. But I have it now and you're getting it. Just be damn sure you have multiple records of it. Now, by God, all you'll have to do is fight your way into a system and land, then capture a robot and have it broadcast the code."

"That's all?"

"I need to check one more thing, but theoretically you should be able to give this code to a robot, any robot. I've fixed it so that once a robot gets the code, it'll automatically send it on to its superior, which might be another higher up robot to the CIN itself, but it'll get there! Hell, you might even be able to figure out a way to have the CIN that receives it send it on to its commanding CIN via courier ship! It would take out every one of them on the planet you're on! But there's just one over-ride I'm having
Eve
try to crack.
Eve,
any status on the RIPC?"

"I'm sending possible patterns now," said Eve.

Harriette looked at her screen and frowned. "Well ...it looks like it'll work ...but it looks like there's one more catch. Let me check the code sequence ...ah jeez ...no."

"Harriette, we don't have much time. What's the catch?"

Harriette frantically hit keys. "
Eve,
is this data correct?"

Eve's
soft voice responded. "Yes, the Robot Internal Protecting Code can only be accessed via a model A-1, or Alpha model. With physical access your algorithm to wipe all internal processing systems with a zero update would operate as you suggest."

"Captain, for this to work, it looks like we need to capture an Alpha Robot ...but ...but I think they only reside on the home world."

Shit!
A world protected by hundreds of CINs and Warrior robots that are probably much better at fighting than the Explorers that almost wiped out the
Doc Travis
. But it was still critical data. "Harriette, this is vital information that could save Earth. You did great." Keane fought back a tear as he saw the time drop to five minutes before he had to explode the nuke.

"I wish it was better news ..."

"Harriette, I'd sacrifice this whole ship to safely get the CIN Empire maps back to Earth, let alone the robot kill-codes you discovered. You may have given us the key to shutting down the whole CINPire."

Harriette sat down on a cold rock. She felt satisfied with her sacrifice. Somehow she knew things would get real tough for Earth and that her small role might make the difference for the whole species. What more could a woman give to her race? Hell, this was really for Fred, and she knew it. She'd fallen in love with him but the robots took that all away. "Good bye Captain."

"You know I have to set the nuke off, don't you?"

"Of course I know. When those fuckers killed Fred, I made a vow I'd pay them back. And this is it. I hope and pray that the maps and intel help us destroy these bastards."

"The whole of humanity won't be enough to thank you properly, Harriette."

"I don't care about that. Now if you don't mind, Captain, I'd like to be alone for whatever time I have left. I don't want to know how long after you leave before you set the bomb off either. Let it be a surprise to me."

"If that's how you want it. Again, thank you. And I will recommend you for the highest award a civilian is able to receive. Bless you, Harriette."

"Just make sure you destroy this evil empire. That's all I want. And now good bye, Captain. It's been a pleasure."

Keane wanted to answer but she had already cut her receiving circuit. Only the broadcast relay continued sending its unending loop, repeated every three minutes and fourteen seconds.

***

"It's time, Captain," Commander Dunaway said softly. The
Doc Travis
had launched over an hour ago and was now outbound, getting ready to enter hyperspace where the enemy armada couldn't follow unless it knew where they were headed-and it didn't.

"Thanks, John. I'll do it now." He flipped the cover off the steadily blinking red icon. "Good bye, Harriette. God Bless."

He pushed down on the button and waited. And waited. The signal sped from the ship at the speed of light but it still took time to reach Xanadu. The big screen focused on the planet had a timer counting down to the final seconds but it seemed to take forever to reach zero. When it did the screen blazed with white static. The polarization continued for long moments before it again showed a view of the planet, seen through the ship's most powerful telescope.

A huge purple and orange mushroom cloud was rising from the site of Xanadu and the burial ground of Professor Harriette Juenne.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Future of
Wannstead Industries

Olson Wannstead hugged his son with a force that promised cracked ribs before he finally relented. "God, Brian, your Mother and I had lost hope that you were ever going to return. I can't begin to tell you how grateful and relieved we are to have you back." He hugged him again, briefly, then relented. "Have a drink, then you can tell me all about what happened out there. Or as much as you can. The Navy is keeping some of the tightest security I've ever heard of, and from the looks of the
Doc Travis
, you must have made it back here with spit and chewing gum holding the ship together!"

Brian laughed. He took the proffered glass of his father's favorite brandy and seated himself across from the older man. An inscrutable smile played across his features.

"Come on, son. Give! I can tell you're about to burst with the news!"

Brian laughed again. "I guess I am, Dad. I can't tell you much now, but I can say that the Navy is going to release a lot of data and recordings of our venture into the Bolt Cluster."

"Well, what can you tell me?"

"Um ...I can say this much. We know what happened to our lost ships now. The enigma has been solved, Dad."

"It has? Good. Now I can retire and let you take over running the business."

"I said the enigma has been solved, Dad. You may not want to hear about it, though."

"Why on earth not?"

"Because you're not going to be able to retire. In fact,
Wannstead Industries
is going to be very, very busy for the rest of our lives."

"I think I'd better have another drink."

"Make me another one, Dad, then I have to go tell Emily that I'm going to be very busy, too!"

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
- George Orwell

The End