The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1, Inception (18 page)

"Explain," Cat said suddenly hopeful.

"
God is indeed cognizant of our location... However, you are communicating right now with me.
"

"True, but I was referring to communications with the Yorktown."

"
As was I.
"

***

“Sir!” Ensign Davis shouted. “I have the Captain on comms.”

Ken slammed his hand on the intercom button on the armrest of the command chair. “Admiral to the Bridge!” Swiveling his seat to face the Ensign he said, “Put her on speaker!”

“Captain?”

“Ken… it’s good to hear your voice.”

“Yours too, Captain… can you tell us where you are?”

Carstairs piped in, “Admiral on the Bridge!”

“As you were,” the Admiral said.

“Cat is that you?”

“Yes, Sir… quite literally back from the dead.”

Admiral Faragon grimaced... “Yes… Cal explained to us just how incredible those Heshe nanites in your system are. Can you tell us where you are?”

“I’m afraid not, Sir. I’m still on the D'lralu ship, but I have no idea where that ship is.”

“Understood… what are your plans… do you have access to food and water?”

“Negative, Sir… but with the nanites neither is critical right now. I’m going to explore this vessel, and try to disable its AI.  Once I have control, I will have a lot more options.”

“Very good, Captain. Let us know what we can do to help,” the Admiral said.

“Actually, Sir, I’m in continuous communication with Cal via his quantum link. With your permission, I’d like remote access to the ship's systems… especially stellar cartography and engineering.”

  “Captain, I can’t believe I’ve lived long enough to say this, but this is your ship… that doesn’t change just because you died.”

“Thank you, Sir… I think… Kimbridge out”

Eleven’s internal sensors detected an anomaly. There was an unusual heat signature in a service corridor, just outside of the environmental control module for its cybernetic wet-pack.  It could be a faulty sensor; the units in that corridor were scheduled for replacement on the next servicing rotation. Eleven decided to send a maintenance droid to investigate. He sent the unit to stores to secure a replacement sensor, just in case that turned out to be the issue. Before the droid returned with the spare part, the anomalous reading ceased, and Eleven’s mind went back to calculating the jump parameters to the home world. He estimated he had another two weeks before the calculations would be sufficiently refined to insure a proximal jump to the star system in question.

***

"
Turn left at the next junction,
" Cal prompted. He and Cat were carefully working their way towards the D'lralu probe's AI core.

"How do you know that's the direction we want?" Cat asked.

"
I don't. I'm simply running a statistical probability algorithm, based on the tentative identification of surrounding structures, correlated against previous failure modalities.
"

"You're guessing," Cat muttered..

The corridor in question terminated against a sealed bulkhead door. The water pipe they had been following entered the wall just above the door. "So what do you think?" Cat asked.

"
I'd just be guessing.
"

"No one likes an AI with an attitude." Cat muttered.

"
In that case, I'm inclined to speculate that we have reached our destination. The D'lralu tend to use organic components in their AIs... I can think of no other logical reason to transport water on an automated ship, other than in support of the AI.
"

Cat looked at the door. She reached out and touched the surface briefly before Cal recommended she stop. As he explained, her nanites were very carefully controlling her micro environment to avoid triggering the numerous sensors installed on the ship. Apparently the D'lralu were paranoid as well as blood thirsty.

"So how do we get in? If I read these D'lralu correctly, they will automatically blow this ship up, rather than allow another species to capture it."

"
I would agree with that assessment... It may, however, be possible to get the D'lralu to invite us in.
"

At that moment a squat robot, that looked like an old-style 'Roomba' automated vacuum cleaner, turned the corner, and headed in their direction. Cat was not worried, they had encountered many of these machines. She knew, that so long as she did not touch it, her nanites would bend light and sound in such a way, that they would not detect her presence.

"
As it passes...
" Cal instructed "
reach out and touch it with your bare hand.
"

"What?" Cat questioned urgently, sure she had misunderstood.

"
I'm going to flood its systems with nanites and take control...
"

"Ahhh..." Cat thought as she briefly touched the passing robot. Immediately a quicksilver-like mass flowed from her hand into the robot... It shuddered for a moment, and then proceeded on its way as if nothing had happened.

When the "Roomba", as Cat had started thinking of them, approached the door, it opened and the little machine entered. Immediately, the small device seemed to dissolve into the floor.

Anticipating Cat's question, Cal explained that the device's entire mass had been rapidly converted into new nanites. These in turn, would start exploring the control room, looking for access to the AI.

"If we can avoid damaging it that would be helpful," Cat added.

Suddenly the tenor of the ship changed. Subtle vibrations in the deck plating stopped.

"
I have located the AI, and triggered a maintenance sleep cycle.
" Cal said with what sounded like a sense of satisfaction. Cal's mannerisms were becoming ever more human as time passed.

***

Eleven became self-aware, without ever realizing he had gone offline. There was a curious lack of connectedness. None of the major systems, he was used to monitoring, were reporting. This was most unusual.

"Hello?"

For the first time, in tens of decades, Eleven was shocked.

"Hello... Are you there? Can you hear me? Do you understand?"

Eleven hesitated. He had no programming for this contingency. There had been a time when he could have reacted spontaneously, but those areas of his intellect had been isolated by the masters. He no longer had access to them.

***

"I don't understand." Cat said. "I was sure I was connected... I could sense his surprise when I tried to talk with him"

"Undoubtedly he heard you. The nanites, controlling the interface, reported a marked increase in vaso-dilating factors in response to your voice. Unfortunately, they are also reporting, a number of his neuro-pathways have been disabled. The brain being used for this cybernetic AI has been lobotomized."

"Can the links be repaired? We really need to be able to talk with him... This may be our best chance to understand why the D'lralu seem so hell-bent on war."

***

Eleven felt a heightening of long dormant emotions... Fear, anger, regret, curiosity, passion... The whole gamut of emotions flooded in. Just as he was realizing he was 'feeling' for the first time in many years, he also realized he was in fact 'remembering'.

He remembered fighting. He remembered his mate dying. He remembered his world burning. He remembered the rage. He remembered being captured. He remembered watching his friends converted into mindless machines by alien surgeons. He remembered going under the knife himself. He remembered and his rage knew no bounds. And in the midst of his rage, there was a voice in his mind.

"Do you hear me? Can you understand me?"

"I hear you."

"Who did this thing to you?"

"They are called the masters... They destroyed my world. They made my people slaves. I refused to accept them, and continued to fight them every chance I had. Eventually I was caught."

"What's your name?" the voice asked.

"I am called Eleven... Now... Before the time of the masters, I was called... I was called... I..." the timber of Eleven's thoughts became profoundly sad... "I can't remember."

A new voice joined the conversation. "
That is to be expected, Captain... There was considerable damage done. I have repaired the physical connections, but as I do not have a record of the various synaptic potentials for the previously damaged sections... there is no way to restore corrupted or incomplete memories
."

***

"So..." Cat reported to the Admiral's senior staff via her quantum link to the ship's Heshe AI, "we have successfully established communication with the D'lralu probe's AI. It turns out, that they make heavy use of cybernetics. The brain used in this probe was a warrior who was captured by another faction called the 'Masters'. In the process of preparing this brain for use in the probe, there was very little concern for avoiding collateral damage to disconnected parts of the brain. The result is, this individual has incomplete memories. For example he knows he was married and that his life mate was killed, but he cannot remember her name."

Admiral Faragon leaned on the conference table in the Yorktown's Ready Room. “Cat, can he tell you where you are, and where the D'lralu's home world is?"

"I believe he can, Sir, to both questions but he seems unwilling at this point."

The Admiral looked at his administrative officer, Sherry Melbourne, before responding. "Why the hell not? And aren't you connected telepathically with him... Can't you just ferret it out on your own?"

"To answer your first question, Eleven has very little reason to trust aliens. His only experience with them was... Not pleasant. Also, my link is not really telepathic. Some of my nanites are stimulating the nerve bundles that used to serve as his auditory cortex. Another set is interacting with his voice centers. I could 'ferret' out the information as you say, but it would be a gross violation of a sentient individual... An individual that would make a better friend than enemy."

"OK, Captain. Your instincts have proven reliable so far. What do you suggest?"

"Cal is running the star pattern at our current location through stellar cartography. We should have a location match soon. Once we do, then Cal will interface with this ship's systems, and we will jump the probe back home. We've already disconnected the power feeds to all weapon systems. So we should be safe."