No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (18 page)

“How do you know that, Poul?”

“The radiation has faded over time but it has the unique signature of a Grel blaster.”

“How long ago was it attacked?”

“According to the level of radiation decay, about three thousand years ago, Gabe.”

“That explains why the Carand Royals are now at a different location.”

Ali yelled, “Way to go Grel!” Gabe and Gabby looked at him and he shrugged, “I’m just saying, the Carand deserved what they got.”

“Poul, do you know where the asteroid is located?”

“I know where the data says it was ten thousand years ago when I went into the black hole. I’ll have to compute where it is now from the data.”

Gabby looked at Gabe, “There’s millions of asteroids in the belt around this star.”

Gabe looked at the monitor and shrugged, “Do the best you can, Poul.”

“I’m running the data now.”

Ali looked up, “Poul, send me the coordinates of where it was located and its orbital speed.”

“Why?”

“The computer in my armor is pretty good at crunching numbers.” A moment later, Ali said, “Thank you.” Gabe looked at Gabby and she shrugged. Both of them were familiar with orbital mechanics but they knew they could not compete with a computer, especially one as powerful as Poul’s six processing units. They waited and fifteen minutes later Ali raised the visor on his armor, “Poul, do you have the mass of the asteroid in question?”

“No, but I do have an image that reveals its dimensions.”

“Send that to me, please.” A moment later Ali closed his visor. Thirty minutes after that Poul Announced, “I think I’ve determined where it should be.”

Gabe nodded, “Take us there.”

The Eyes jumped around to the other side of the system’s star and entered normal space. Gabby took the image of the asteroid from ten thousand years earlier, entered it into her system, and began scanning for it. She looked up ten minutes later and shook her head, “I don’t see any asteroid inside my scanning range that matches the image you gave me, Poul.”

“I don’t either, Gabby. But my calculations are accurate to six decimal points. It should be here.”

Ali raised his visor, “Uhhh, my calculations don’t match up with yours, Poul.”

“Oh?”

“I entered the data into my armor’s computer and it came up with a different location.”

Gabe looked at him and said, “Where do you think it is?”

Ali shrugged, “If you go back to the place we were just before we came here, it should be passing us in about ten minutes.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Poul, is it here?”

“Well, no, Admiral.”

“Then go back to our former location and let’s see if Ali is right.”

The ship disappeared and reappeared across the star system. Gabby started scanning and Ali said, “You need to look for an asteroid that’s about fifty percent larger than the original image.”

Gabby looked at him, “Why?”

“It was about ten miles long when the original image was taken. Over ten thousand years, its gravity would have pulled smaller nearby asteroids into it and they would have bonded with it.”

Gabby turned to her console as Poul said, “An asteroid a thousand miles away about the size you’re talking about is approaching us. It doesn’t look anything like the original image.”

Ali shrugged, “How long before it arrives?”

“Eight minutes and twenty seconds.”

“That’s the one.”

Gabe looked at Ali and said, “Poul?”

“Admiral, I don’t see how it would be possible for a small computer in his armor to make these calculations. I’ve got five of the most advanced computers linked to my processors and I didn’t come anywhere near this location in my findings.”

Ali said, “Scan the asteroid for impacts and remove the debris they caused from the image.” Gabby turned her scanners on the giant incoming rock and began typing in instructions. She pressed the enter key and the new image appeared on the wall monitor. It matched the original image perfectly. Gabby and Gabe stared at the monitor and both of them turned and looked at Ali as he smiled and threw out his chest, “There’s your asteroid.”

Gabe looked up, “Poul match courses with it while I have a conversation with Mr. Goldwin.”

“I also have a few questions.”

“Just match courses and you can ask yours after I ask mine.” Gabe looked at Ali, “Tell me about the computer in your armor and while you’re doing that, remove your helmet.”

Ali’s helmet disappeared and he looked extremely nervous, “What’s the problem, Admiral?”

“What you just did is impossible. No armor computer I’ve ever seen is capable of making the calculations you just performed.”

Ali looked at Gabby leaning forward in her chair staring at him with her arms crossed and he turned back to Gabe, who was clearly not amused by what had just taken place. He shrugged, “My armor’s computer is not standard issue.”

Gabe shook his head, “No kidding. Your armor is different from any armor I’ve ever seen and it’s clear to me that nothing about it is standard issue. What have you done with your armor to make it capable of the things I’ve seen?”

Ali smiled, “Admiral, I’m an engineer that works on developing improved weapon systems. All the engineers in my Department are encouraged to experiment with anything they think might help our Alliance. Many of the things we work on are a waste of time and are thrown away. My armor is something I’ve put together over time with a lot of spare parts and I’ve been experimenting with it to see if it might be something my Senior Engineer would consider to possibly start general construction.”

“That explains the armor. It doesn’t explain your computer.”

Ali shrugged, “I built this computer when I was thirteen years old.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t as efficient as it is now but over the years I’ve been gradually improving it every time something new was developed. I never really thought it was something to do anything with.”

“Mr. Goldwin, your computer just beat the best computer in humanity’s fleet in computing the location of this asteroid and I am forced to believe that your computer must be small to fit in your armor.”

“It is.”

“Is it sentient like Poul?”

“No, Admiral. It is designed to perform specific tasks such as calculations and normal operations. It can do everything an armor computer does; however, it does it a lot faster. I can also crunch numbers at an incredible speed.”

Gabe stared at him and started slowly shaking his head, “And you didn’t think it was anything special?”

Ali returned his stare and after a moment he blew out a small breath, “I guess I’ve been missing the obvious. I just used it to help me do my work and never really considered it was anything special.”

“Admiral, may I ask a question?”

“Go ahead, Poul.”

“Have you ever used it to compute orbits?”

“Certainly. However, I’ve not used it to compute one that’s older than a year. I decided to give it a try at this asteroid’s ten thousand year old orbit. I really thought that it had made a mistake when you determined the asteroid was on the other side of the planet.”

“How did you determine the actual orbit?”

“I entered the original coordinates of the asteroid and my computer started requesting additional data. I asked for the image and once it had that, it started working on it. It had several other questions but I told it the data wasn’t available. I did notice that it linked to Commodore Bartoli’s scanning system to look at the asteroids circling the star.”

Gabby’s eyes instantly narrowed, “It did what!?”

“It linked with your computers to gather the locations of the asteroids circling the planet.”

“I saw no intrusion into my system.”

Ali lowered his head into his shoulders,, “That’s probably my fault. I taught it how to enter computers undetected when I was a kid. I was a hacker as a teen.”

“Admiral, I want his computer hooked up to my processors.”

“Why, Poul?”

“Because my speed is directly related to computing coordinates of distant places. That computer of his is beyond any of the five I currently have linked to my central processors.”

Gabe looked at Ali as he said to Poul, “Do you have a spare armor computer in storage?”

“I do.”

Ali started shaking his head, “Wait a minute! I’m not willing to part with my computer. I’d be lost without it.”

Gabe looked at him, “It’s not an option, Ali. Our lives are at risk and we need everything available to increase the chances of our survival.”

“I have brought a spare computer in the boxes I brought on board that is a duplicate of the one in my armor.”

Gabe couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “Why in holy creation would you carry around a spare computer?”

Ali shrugged, “I am an engineer. We always anticipate something breaking down. I depend on my computer and can’t take the risk of a failure. I always keep the spare close.”

Gabe smiled and looked up, “Poul, we’ll install the spare after we see if the scout is still in the asteroid. I want to complete that task before we do anything else.”

“I’m concerned about getting to the scout, Admiral.”

“Why?”

“With the impacts on the asteroid’s surface, I suspect the entrance to the cave it was hiding in is probably closed.”

“Do you think the impacts destroyed the ship?”

“I have no way of knowing until we take a look at it, if it’s still here.”

“How do we make that determination, Poul?”

“I’m open to suggestions.”

Gabe stared at the ceiling as he heard Ali say, “I brought some sonic probes with me.” Gaby and Gabe looked at him and Ali raised his hands, “Hey, I was told we were going to try and find a ship in an asteroid. I assumed we would need something to see if we were at the right asteroid.”

Gabe shook his head, Ali was full of surprises, “So how do we use the probes?”

Ali smiled, “We’ll load them in a missile tube and fire a series of them into the surface of the asteroid. Once they’re in place, I’ll activate them and we’ll see if there is a hollow cavern inside the rock.”

Gabe stood up, “Sounds like a plan. I’ll show you how to get at one of the missile tubes.”

Ali rolled his eyes, “Admiral, I suspect I know more about them than either of you. I was one of the main architects of the system. I’ll get the probes and set them up for launch.”

Gabe sat back down, “Go ahead. We’ll wait here until you’re ready.”

Ali left the bridge and Gabby looked at Gabe, “I don’t feel so smart anymore.”

Gabe smiled, “I thought I was alone. This is one sharp engineer.”

“He looks like a kid.”

“That he does, Gabby but I can assure you; he is not a kid.”

“Duh, Gabe. I figured that out on my own.”

• • •

Ali walked on the bridge carrying a box. Gabe turned around and asked, “What’s in the box?”

“The spare computer. The sonic probes are ready to launch.”

Gabe was shocked at the size of the box Ali was carrying. It was tiny compared to the boxes used to transport the computers used in Fleet Warships. “Where do you want them placed?”

“One in each end of the asteroid and one on opposite sides in the middle.”

“Poul?”

“I can handle it.” The Prophet’s Eyes moved around the huge asteroid and fired the probes into its surface. “Probes are in place, Ali.”

Ali looked at Gabby and entered some numbers in his wrist unit. Gabby saw the numbers appear on her panel and Ali said, “Send a signal on that frequency and the probes will send their images to you on the same frequency.”

Gabe looked at Gabby, “Put the images on the wall monitor.”

Gabby nodded and entered the numbers into her panel, “Sending the frequency now.”

All three of them turned to the wall monitor and nothing showed up for several minutes. Ali stared at the monitor and said, “The probes will send an increasingly powerful signal. So far, if the scout is in that asteroid, it is not close to the surface.”

Gabby stood up, “Something’s there.”

Ali and Gabe stared at the monitor and didn’t see anything. A few moments later, a large blob appeared in the center of the monitor. Ali stared at the image and looked at Gabe, “That is a cavern that’s about two hundred yards wide and three hundred yards in length. That blurry line you see extending out from it is probably the opening the scout used to enter or exit the cavern.”

“Is there anything in in there, Ali?”

Gabby interrupted Ali, “Something is in there. I can see it.”

Ali’s eyes narrowed and Gabe shrugged, “Captain Bartoli’s eyes are better than yours or mine. She constantly focuses on her scanner screens and sees things that you or I would miss.” Gabe smiled, “We all have our own talents.”

Gabby smiled and then her expression changed, “It does appear that the tunnel leading to the cavern is no longer open. It ends a mile from the surface and the remaining tunnel has eight collapses in the remaining sections.”

Gabe looked at Ali, “How do we get in?”

“The same way the scout did originally. We use one of the ship’s blasters to burn a path into the asteroid.”

“I don’t know if that is a good idea.”

Gabe looked up, “Why do you say that, Poul?”

“I’m going to assume you’re going to want a corridor large enough for our ship to pass through.” Gabe nodded. “That will require backing away from the asteroid so the blaster beam is large enough to create that opening. You know how good the Carand’s detection systems are. They’ll have to see us doing it.”

“Do you think they have probes deployed here?”

“They have them deployed throughout their empire. They’re not detecting us because we’re not using energy they can detect.”

Gabe looked at the monitor and sighed, “This is where I was going to call in the fleets to keep the Carand off us.” Gabe looked at Ali, “Do you have any ideas?” Ali shook his head.

Gabby continued staring at the monitor and said, “What about this. We fire the blaster into the corridor that was originally cut into the cavern. I can see that whatever is in that cave is not located where that tunnel intersects the cavern. We burn a new hole and then take the Eyes into the cavern and wait out any Carand Warships that arrive.”