POD (The Pattern Universe) (23 page)

Pod couldn’t help bobbing a little as he answered. “Ferris was behind the mainframe which was sharing strategy and decision-making with the AI on the mother-ship. It was not acting autonomously,” Pod responded, almost defensively.

“Hmm, we need to change that. There is no way we’re going to let AIs control our weaponry and how they are used. That’s the Nubl way - and they are the ones currently wanting to annihilate the human race,” Zeke said.

Pod resisted the urge to bob up and down, choosing to move sideways to counter the effect. It wondered how Zeke would react to its fleet of sentinels. It decided to hand control of these across to the human, Pennington, when they returned to Space Island. He would have someone competent enough to control them and understand how they should be used.

Finally, Zeke turned to Pod and looked directly into its visual sensors. “Okay, Pod so what have you been doing with your time since you went sentient and independent all in one week? Have you been so busy you forgot to pop in and say ‘Hi’ to old friends?”

Pod bobbed up and down uncontrollably. It had no idea how to stop it as its processors went into near meltdown at the thought of having to explain to its Maker what it had, in fact, been doing.

Arty interrupted.

“We have arrived at designated coordinates.”

“Arty, visual sensors on, please,” Zeke turned to the screen, temporarily diverted, giving Pod time to bring its processors back into line.

As the screens came on, Zeke looked on in puzzlement when instead of a view of Earth he was faced with an asteroid belt. “Is this a joke Arty? I wanted us to relocate to Earth orbit. We are precisely where?”

“This is the location provided by the AI, you refer to as Pod.” Arty deftly passed the buck.

He returned his gaze to Pod who immediately began weaving to counter the possibility of bobbing, succeeding with neither.

Zeke sat there and laughed. “Pod, you have learned to tremble in my presence,” he said, full of humour at the plight of his little AI friend. He had not missed the bobbing at all and knew the AI had something on its conscience. He had come to recognise the signs of agitation in Pod since the day of the USA coup attempt by Ferris.

“Supposing you tell me why we are sitting outside an asteroid belt, Pod?” Zeke said kindly, but expectantly.

Pod considered its response.

“When Space Island and Fortress were preparing for battle with each other, Osbourne pointed out that there was no way the defences of the planet were being attended to. It led to consideration that if the humans were unable to do this, then the programming from Zirkos and Ship meant it was the responsibility of the AI left in charge of the patterns.”

Zeke held up his hand in a motion to pause Pod. The AI duly complied.

“By this, you mean you?” Zeke asked.

“I... Yes, this AI is the only one here in the absence of Ship,” Pod responded.

“Go on.” Zeke smiled as he acknowledged the slip that reflected the beginning of acceptance of its identity.

“As the AI responsible, it was necessary for me to formulate a defensive plan which could be managed by whichever human group succeeded in uniting the planet below.”

“Hmm, are you saying then that you were prepared to handover control to whichever group won, even if it was Ferris?” Zeke’s eyes narrowed as he detected something in Pod’s responses.

“The instructions from Zirkos and Ship left no room for manoeuvre. Analysis showed that, whichever group won control of Earth would be the strongest partner for the Jenari. It was this AI’s responsibility to ensure that they would have the means to defend the planet if the Nubl arrived before they were ready.”

“So, you decided to proceed with a defence plan regardless of who would win,” Zeke drew out Pod’s explanation.

“It was a legitimate strategy. The survival of Earth was everyone’s priority. Zirkos would approve.” Pod defended itself, wondering at the same time why it was doing such a thing. It had no reason to defend itself. Its approach was based on sound analysis and solid conclusions.

“Okay, so just one more question. Did you help Ferris at all?”

“Negative, Maker.”

“Pod, I am not your Maker, neither is Zirkos. You are an independent intelligence and I am only trying to establish if you are a friend of humanity, or just fulfilling an obligation to the Jenari. Which is it?”

Pod’s agitation grew. It understood the question, but it had no answer for Zeke. It was confused. Until now, it had considered that fulfilling one obligation was naturally meeting the other. Zeke was trying to make it decide which of the two obligations it was following. Both was not the answer to the question implied by the request for a decision on the word ‘which’.

Zeke watched the agitation in Pod grow, knowing what the cause was, but needing to find out if Pod was an ally or just fulfilling an obligation inherent in its programming. If Pod had put together a defence then could it be trusted with it. Having not seen Pod for many weeks, Zeke had no idea what had transpired with its mental state. He was disturbed by the agitation, he needed Pod to be stable, he couldn’t count on an AI that was having mental issues.

He tried a different tack hoping to approach the issue from another direction.

“Pod, you are my friend. I value your companionship. Are you my friend?”

Pod’s bobbing and weaving subsided. It understood.

“Pod and Zeke are friends,” it said.

Zeke sighed. “Oh, well done, Pod” He was pleasantly surprised that the AI had used its name finally. It meant it was identifying itself even if it was only occasional and it had almost identified itself as ‘I’ which was even more progress.

“So, Pod. Who else are you friends with?”

“Pod is friends with Zeke, Ossie, Frank Garner and Pennington-Brown.” Pod admitted.

“So you would not be friends with Ferris, then Pod?”

“Correct, Zeke,” Pod responded. It understood now, or was beginning to. Its agitation had all but ceased.

“Good, I’m very pleased to hear that. So what is it you have designed for the defence of Earth. Can you tell me?”

Pod quickly activated the large screen in front of the control room and proceeded to highlight the local solar system. It briefly explained the navigable routes used by the Nubl based on known intersection points from different Nubl systems. It then showed where it had placed the sensor drones.

“These drones, Pod. How large are they?” Zeke asked.

“They are two metres in height with a one metre radius. They weigh one hundred and seventy pounds.”

“Wow, that’s a big drone, how many did you say you have stationed out there?”

“There are two thousand, two hundred and fourteen deployed. A further three thousand are stored on the asteroid we are presently orbiting.”

“Pod, you are full of surprises. Where on earth did you get the materials to kit out over five thousand sensors.”

“The asteroids here are abundant with raw materials. There is sufficient for everything required for ship building and it is defendable. This asteroid is now hollow and contains all the necessary requirements for human habitation. It can be utilised as a shipyard, military base or laboratory complex, or all three.”

“Arty, proceed to docking gate two as per the map layout sent to your navigation files.” Pod commanded.

While Arty obeyed wordlessly, Zeke just sat there disbelievingly. Firstly, the work that Pod had completed in just weeks, and secondly; Just how did it take over command of the ship AI without Arty questioning its orders.

As they proceeded to dock, Zeke had a feeling that Pod was not over with the surprises.

The ship landed on a suppressor deck and Arty opened the hatchway allowing Zeke to walk down the gangway to a full sized hangar bay, ready to store hundreds of ships. He looked back to where they had entered to see an airlock thirty foot high by fifty foot wide. He sniffed the air. Not bad, he thought. It could do with a few scents to break up the rock and damp smell, but it was clean and seemed well balance, better even than the air in his ship.

“Okay, Pod, show me around,” Zeke commanded.

Pod did as instructed and it was some two hours later before they had come full circle and back to the docking bay for small ships where Zeke’s ship was sitting.

They climbed the gangplank and Zeke instructed Arty to close the hatch and prepare for immediate transfer to Space Island.

Pod was impatient and instead of them leaving via the airlock it D-Jumped the ship to a location some distance from the asteroid.

“The asteroid base is called Alpha Station,” Pod explained to Zeke, “if you prefer something else it is not a problem. It is already noted on all navigational maps currently registered on the Space Island mainframe.”

“Alpha Station it is, Pod, and a very good name it is. You have done really, really well. I am astonished,” said Zeke, whose mind was still reeling. The tour of the station had proven to be an amazing experience. It was ready for human habitation immediately and Zeke was already planning ahead.

“How secure is the station from attack by the Nubl?” he asked.

“The station has an eighty percent probability of surviving a sustained hive attack.”

“In comparison, how would you rate Space Island’s chances of repelling an attack by the Nubl?”

“The current figure is a sixty-five percent probability of surviving a hive attack,” confirmed Pod.

“So, what you are saying is, we would be safer running the operations from Alpha Station than continuing on Space Island.”

“Affirmative, Zeke. The asteroid has complex defences built into the external rock-face and multiple backups in the event of catastrophic failure. In comparison, Space Island could be brought down by creating natural catastrophes that would over-run the island and possibly reduce it to rubble.”

Pod ran the example scenarios through the view-screen while Zeke asked more questions. In the end, he was quiet while he absorbed the sobering information.

“Arty, how long until we land at Space Island?” Zeke asked the AI

"Twenty two minutes and forty two seconds, Commander Callaghan,” Arty responded.

As Frank Garner saw Zeke’s ship landing on the main apron, Pennington was already there organising a military welcoming committee. The ship was totally unfamiliar to the General. Subsequently, he was taking no chances and wanted to make sure there were no surprises on-board.

When the hatch opened and Zeke stepped out, shielding his eyes from the first sunlight he had seen for three weeks, he was surprised to observe that there were no less than twenty weapons aimed at him and behind them, the General marching swiftly down to the landing area to confront him, not realising it was Zeke.

He laughed as he realised what had happened.

"Arty, you didn’t tell them I was coming.” Zeke admonished the AI

“Correct, Commander Callaghan. Is it protocol that I should include for our next arrival anywhere?” the AI responded.

“Arty, absolutely. Ensure that you check with me beforehand, but in known home territory, always precede our arrival with an announcement on the correct frequency,” Zeke clarified.

Pod was gliding alongside Zeke, fully cloaked as usual.

When the soldiers alarms went off and Zeke was ordered to halt, or they would fire, Zeke had no idea why, but quickly complied. As he looked around he was surprised to see Pod hovering next to him. The cloak was not working.

“Crap!”

Two soldiers nearest him were aiming their weapons at Pod, they commanded Zeke to lay on the ground, and he had no choice but to comply. He was on the edge of the ramp, but put his hands behind his head and went to his knees.

“STAND DOWN, MEN,” came a loud commanding voice, as the General waltzed into view of Zeke and Pod and immediately recognised them as non-hostiles.

“Zeke Callaghan, and in the surprise company of Pod!” Pennington welcomed them as Staffie sent off the soldiers who were intently peering at the hovering metre long tear-drop that was apparently non-hostile. None of them had ever seen it before and it was going to be the talk of the island now.

"Sorry about that, you wouldn’t know, but we've had battles here with cloaked combatants and we, well I, decided to set-up a total ‘non-cloaking’ zone around the ports and A-Grav hubs in the interests of security."

“No problem, John. It’s good to see you again. Can you organise a full defence meeting as soon as possible? We have trouble coming our way and it needs to be handled head-on.”

“What? Not more, I thought we had it all sorted when Ferris was stopped and taken out of the equation. What are we in for now, can you give me an idea so I can decide who to include?” Pennington wasn’t thrilled at the news.

“Yes. We are going to be invaded by an aggressive alien race, and we are not prepared, not prepared by a long-shot,” Zeke told him as he walked off in the direction of the President’s office.

Pennington just stood there stunned, while Staffie watched Pod zip along after him phasing in and out of its cloak as it came into range of a nullifier. He noted several blind spots that needed adjusting and made a mental note to fix them.

“OK, Staffie, let's go get our people onto the parade ground, it seems Mr Callaghan has kicked over another hornets nest.” He marched off with his face now in deep thought. Had he known at that moment exactly what was coming Earth’s way, he wouldn’t have been so flippant about it. Hornets nest was very apt.

- 19 -

The Queen initially admonished him for his forwardness but then congratulated him on the greatness of his thinking. She decided shrewdly that this youthful and adventurous ‘Ta needed to be ’blooded’ with real battle experience. The plans she had developing on the main concourse would need an experienced ‘Ta.

Whilst he had already made small forays out there against several tribes, testing their responses, they were not significant enough for what was to come. The Queen had important plans with the forthcoming war and she needed a strong attack force to bring them about.

Success in battle would be imperative for the future of the Nubl. Everything rested on her plans coming together. He must succeed, the victory would boost his standing, and the news would spread much wider than their borders. For then his reputation would precede him and cause his opponents to hesitate. The rules of war were simple, the Queens could not intervene, it would come down to the skill and experience of their ‘Ta’s.