I spoke. "Thank you, Sarah. And Sarah, I am having trouble creating the DNA serum you gave me. I’m passing the information to you. What piece of the process am I missing?"
Sarah replied, "The serum must be exposed to a plasma field that is rich in gamma radiation. Optimum exposure time is eight minutes and four seconds."
I opened the Defender’s rear hatch and stepped up into the four-chaired cockpit. "How do I create this plasma field?"
A diagram appeared on a holo-display in front of me. "The plasma field generator is a specialized piece of equipment that is built into this ship."
I selected the diagram to zoom in on its location on the Defender. "Is this generator available on the
Swift
and the other ships that were updated?"
Sarah replied, "Yes."
I spoke. "Why was this not included with the plans for making the serum?"
A new diagram appeared. "The serum can be modified to be applied to other species. As a safeguard prevention measure, it was decided that the two sets of information be separated."
I replied, "Thank you as always, Sarah. I will be leaving now."
I blinked out and powered my way back to the bridge of my destroyer. Contact was made with the Defiant fleet, and orders were given for a transfer of all ships to the Saw Blade galaxy. The journey would take just over thirty hours.
I lifted off from Molov and was pulling to a stop just outside of the Grid several minutes later.
I raised the Colonel on the comm. "Colonel, get a batch of that serum ready for me. I know how to activate it now. We should be able to start the injections shortly. I also have some other fantastic news!"
The Colonel replied, "And that would be?"
I smiled as I passed the data on the Defiant fleet over to the Colonel. "We will have a fleet of about fifteen hundred ships arriving in about thirty hours’ time. These are very capable ships, Colonel. I don’t think we should have anyone set foot on them until the serum has taken effect. During the meantime, you should be able to take those specs and get any number of simulators up and running to get everyone trained."
The Colonel hesitated and then replied, "Simulators, Mr. Grange? What are you referring to, and how do we get them up and running?"
I sighed. "Crap! I guess the Duke erased them from your memories too. I’m surprised he left as much up there as he did, Colonel. I think they blanked out a lot of the important training tools from your memory in an effort to make everyone just learn how to swing these primitive weapons. I’ll transfer a template over to the bots so they can start building them. The simulators will allow us to train pilots and assault crews without ever having to leave the Grid."
The first batch of DNA serum was activated and sent back to the lab for analysis. Several hours later, it was deemed ready for dispersal, and the first of eighty volunteers was brought in. Once the injection had been received, the volunteers were herded into an observation room where their vitals would be closely monitored. The following day, the process was repeated.
Soon after the serum injections had begun being rolled out to all military personnel, the Defiant fleet arrived. As progress continued with the bots in Alpha Bay, the programs were expanded to include the Humans on the other Grid. Our fighting force was really starting to come together.
I used my free time to continue my efforts to woo Ashley. She slowly warmed to my attention, but the spark that had first ignited our romance seemed to be missing. I wondered if that spark was something that would ever return. Was that our one chance to be happy together that had been wiped from her memory? I desperately hoped that would not be the case. Until such time as that spark was to once again happen, I would have to continue my efforts to bring out her love.
The next six weeks were spent manufacturing BGS suits, training our troops, and updating power cells in those who had prosthetics. As I walked the hallways of the Grid, I could see in the faces of its inhabitants that sense of purpose and feeling of confidence. Instead of the long and dire faces, the people were working hard in preparation for a fight that they fully planned on winning.
I walked into the Colonel’s conference room. "Have we completed the DNA scans of any of our Marines yet, Colonel?"
The Colonel replied, "The first set of reports came in this morning, Mr. Grange. Eight of the twenty Marines tested showed no sign of the Duke’s bio-markers. They are ready for the live training."
I nodded. "OK. Have them meet me in Alpha Bay. I’ll take them out to the ships. I will train these eight as trainers in preparation for those who will be coming after."
The Colonel smiled. "You are always one step ahead of me, Mr. Grange."
As I left the room, I began to wonder about the Colonel. The old Colonel was gruff. He was blunt, and he came at you full force with everything he did. There was something missing. The sharp edge that had made the Colonel a leader had been wiped away. I wondered if the Duke’s memory suppression on the Colonel had gone too far.
As I drifted aboard the destroyer with the new recruits, they were in awe of what they saw.
"Keep in mind, this is the latest and greatest. I will be taking each of you over to a Wren after a quick tour here. The Wrens should be identical to the simulators you have been training in.
"Here we have nav, over here weapons, defenses, and finally an environmental display. Keep in mind that your environmentals are minimal on these ships. They are designed for pilots and crews that are wearing BGS suits. If your suits should fail, you have about six hours of breathable oxygen. Use your portal generator to jump to a planet with an atmosphere and wait for assistance. Just try to communicate where you are heading before jumping if possible. Also, these BGS suits become toxic when the filters stop working. If that happens, you may need to remove them."
One of the Marines raised his hand. "We don’t have anything under these suits, Mr. Grange. If they have to come off, what are our options?"
I replied, "Each of the Wrens will have a spare hybrid suit on board. They are a universal fit and will not be as functional as the formfitting ones you used to have."
I stopped myself. "OK, never mind, I’m sure you don’t remember the hybrid suits. Anyway, a universal-fit suit is on each ship. The oxygen in that suit will last you several days.
"As an extra added bonus, we have a line of the bots that are now building smaller bots of about one meter in height. They are not as powerful and will be a bit slower to complete tasks, but we are putting one on each of these ships as they become available. If you should crash-land or be forced to set down somewhere, you will hopefully be able to make use of the bot."
I switched my talk back to the nav display and gave a complete tutorial on its basic use, along with how to use the built-in Help and tutorial system. Once the weapon and defense displays had been discussed, I took the Marines to the destroyer’s docking bay and to the eight Wren fighters that sat waiting for their pilots.
I spoke. "These are your Wrens. Take them out, carefully at first, please, and then go have some fun. Pick out a local star system, find a planet, and hone your skills on your weapons as well as your flight controls. At the moment, we shouldn’t be encountering anything that we can’t easily handle, but those things have a way of changing quickly on the battlefield.
"These androids that are running this war want to see a show. I have no doubt that they will throw a few surprises our way just to keep it exciting for themselves. Go practice for a day. When you return, you will have the honor of being our trainers."
Over the course of the following day, another eighty Marines were deemed to be bio-marker-free. Once on the destroyer, they were put through the initial tour by my first eight trainers and then assigned to their own Wrens. It soon became obvious that most of these Marines, including my trainers, were not fighter pilots. They were deck stompers and ground pounders. We would have to change our training strategy to accommodate the different specialties as each Marine became available.
I worked for hours to coordinate training schedules with the Colonel and the Admirals until a plausible strategy emerged. Admiral Zimmerman would be taking over the pilot training duties while Admiral Chaulk and the Colonel handled the assault troops.
As I worked to coordinate training with the military leaders, a warble came over my comm. "Mr. Grange! I am happy to see you made it out!"
I replied, "Frig! Man, get your stubby arms over here, and I’ll fill you in on what’s going on!"
Several minutes later, Frig drifted aboard the destroyer. "Interesting ship, Sir. How did you come by it?"
I replied, "I programmed those bots we left on that planet to build it. We have another seven just like it parked not far away. Get this: we can now jump nearly a million light-years at a hop! This boat is packed full of cesium generators. I flew from the Tadpole to here in just over two hours. Defenses are better and weapons are better as well."
For the next several hours, I filled Frig in on everything that had happened with the Duke since his departure from the Duke’s complex. "... and we’ve just started all the training a couple days ago."
Frig spoke. "Impressive, Sir. If given the time, we could conceivably remove the entire Human population from this game."
I nodded. "There is something that has been rolling around in the back of my mind, though. We only have a few hundred Humans that have gone off of the Duke’s sensors. At what point does he come out to do something about that? He is not just going to let us all slip away."
Frig replied, "Sir, perhaps we should move this fleet and anyone who has gone silent to the Duke to a remote location. Once the bio-markers are no longer resonating, have the individual power out to a ship. We can program it to jump to the remote location, where the training can begin. You have to know that the Duke is watching everything that is going on here."
I thought for a moment. "You and I are going to have to figure out how we are going to kill off the Duke. We have to destroy the android version as well as the version at the complex at the same time. Hey, how did the Duke get back to the complex so fast, anyway?"
Frig shook his head. "Just when I thought you were getting smarter, Sir. Once the Duke’s troops took control of the complex again, he would have had them open a portal to wherever he was. He would just step through and once again be on the complex. We destroyed his control room, but that can obviously be rebuilt in a short time."
I nodded. "Yeah, it was as good as new the last time I was there. Do you think we can count on that complex being the same for each of the Duke’s buddies?"
Frig replied, "They do come from the same individual android. Perhaps it is time we find out."
I sat in the captain’s chair on the destroyer. "What do you have in mind? Hey, wait, you have on a BGS! You got the gel changed over to meet your needs?"
Frig smiled his occasional rare smile. "I did. And I have to say that the time savings are incredible, Sir. I completed my efforts one week into my journey here. During the other nine weeks, I have only slept for six hours and, well, you know the rest.
"I continued to quiz Quan during that time. He now requires five to eight seconds per response. I did verify with him that there is only a single Duke android out there. He is paranoid about creating more of himself should his android body become disconnected from the wormhole. There are internal programs that will wipe the android’s memories when the connection is lost. I think we unknowingly managed to save Quan from that memory wipe with the freeze unit."
I spoke. "You have the locations of the other species that will be fighting us?"
Frig replied, "I do. And would have to say that I was surprised that there were two Grid stations here. I only detected one during the scan."
I laughed. "Man, there is so much going on I have a hard time keeping up with it. The Grid you found—those were the people from Grid-1! Our long-lost brothers and sisters from a thousand years ago. They survived whatever fight the Duke kept them in, and he transferred them here to this galaxy as well. Who knows, he may have been hoping to pit us against one another. When I came through the portal and I was wondering where everyone I knew was, I’ll admit to being a little shocked when I figured out what was going on.
"I went back through to the complex and managed to find our people about fifteen light-years away. I powered up the gravity drive and moved them over here. We don’t have a way back on that complex, but we will in about thirty days. I programmed a bot to sit and wait in one of those portal rooms. When that time hits, we need to be sitting here waiting if we want to get back in there."
Frig spoke. "The Duke and his fleet will not be far from here; he will want to observe the action from up close. If we can locate that fleet, we may be able to coordinate two attacks at the same time."
I nodded. "OK, but we first need to kill off a king, an emperor, and a supreme master or whatever the third one calls himself. Plug the coordinates of one of those other species in, and we will see if we can find one of those androids."
Frig moved over to the nav display and began swiping at screens and pressing holo-buttons.
After several minutes of his tinkering, I became curious as to what he was doing. "What do you have going on there?"
Frig replied, "I am bringing the
Swift
into the docking bay. I think it may also work to our favor if we have a full contingent of Marines on this vessel. I see that it has bunking for several hundred plus a crew of eight. We may need them should we need to assault a ship or another complex."
I raised the Colonel on the comm. "Colonel, have York and Frost been tested for the bio-markers?"
The Colonel replied, "They are in the current group. I am expecting results in about an hour."
I sighed. "Well, if they check out, Colonel, have them come to the destroyer. I am also going to have to commandeer a hundred of your Marines. Preferably those with the prosthetic enhancements. We may have a special assignment for them."
The Colonel sent data on the Marines that had passed the bio-marker test. "Take your pick from this list, Mr. Grange. They all have the prosthetics. It seems the last place the DNA serum affects is the arms and legs. Since these individuals don’t have them, their conversions are happening quicker. There are only two on that list that do not have prosthetics."
I replied, "Thanks, Colonel, we will pick our way through them. The rest will be sent off to the remote training area. The troops remaining are under the command of you, the Admirals, and General Hammond. Use them as best you can to defend the Grids should the Duke move you into war while we are away."
When the hour had lapsed, the good news came in. Both York and Frost were among the Humans that had checked out as clean. When they arrived on the destroyer, I went down to meet with them and the other Marines and crewmen we had selected.
I spoke as I walked in front of the group. "Ladies and gentlemen. This is your lucky day! You have been selected for a special mission. We are going to find and kill the four androids that are responsible for our being here. I will explain later exactly how we plan to do this. For now, we will be dividing you into nine squads. Intimately familiarize yourself with the team members in your squad, because these may be the last people you ever see. The places we are going are probably as dangerous as the worst places any of us have ever been. So, know your squad members, because you will likely be depending on them for your lives."
After the briefing, I stepped up into the hold of the
Swift
and sat beside Quan’s core. "So, Quan. You are able to detect these BGS suits when you are in close proximity. Tell me how that is possible, and how we can mask whatever signal is being detected."
The android answered, "The electron spin of the sodium atoms on the skin of the BGS suits is not brought completely to a stop. There is a range of spin that is very near zero that causes the electron to flip to a reverse spin. When a reverse spin is enacted, the electron is lost to all control. Therefore, the electron spin is slowed to its minimum stable rotational speed. That minimum rotation emits a signal that is detectable by a sensor that I have constructed. The design template for the sensor is available at memory location MXT13144ASG2."
I turned to Frig, who was standing behind me. "Do you think you can figure out how this sensor works and then how we might mask this signal from detection? I think that is the only way we are going to get close to the Duke from here on out."
Frig nodded. "I will do my best, Sir. While we are here, I have another ancient Human discovery that I would like to test. The quantum entangled communication device. It purports to offer instant communication between any two points, no matter the distance. That would be critical to any simultaneous attacks that we are attempting to coordinate on the Duke and the other androids. I would like to complete my testing of the six quantum pairs that I have created."
I smiled as I stood. "Absolutely! You know, I am so glad to have you back. It’s like everything just seems to come together when you are around."
Frig replied, "Thank you, Sir. However, I believe the credit should go to your efforts. This ship, the DNA serum, the BGS suits, and the two Grids parked side by side—those are all of your doing, Sir."
I placed my hand on Frig’s shoulder. "Yeah, well, I can get us 85 percent of the way there, but I need you for that last 15."
The following day, Frig had a solution to the minute sodium signal given off by the active skin. "Sir, after a short period of experimentation, I discovered that our original signal inhibitor from the
Swift
, the inhibitor unit that we designed so many years ago, well, it seems to block the signal in question."