Starting from Scratch (10 page)

General, rather than go into it now, I’ll make a
video that explains how your body rebuilds itself. I’ll explain how
the nanites work and why they need to be replaced, as well as the
genetic material growth system that rejuvenates damaged areas. I’ll
provide it for each upgrade, so they understand how their new body
works.

He shook his head and told her,
As usual, you have
a good idea. But let’s not mention all of this to someone before
they are upgraded. I don’t like to deceive people about this, but
we have enough problems convincing them to join us, as it
is.

Agreed, General.

Mike turned his attention to his staff. “I know Bambi
brought each of you up to date on the transport moving into our
area. In two days it will send us a message letting us know she is
here and damaged. So, before we consider how we are going to
capture it, we need to know how to respond. Ideas anyone?”

Bet Fulwiler was the first to offer a suggestion.
“Bambi tells me that the Senior Pilot for that ship will expect a
response from a Sauran and that he will know whether or not he is
communicating with a Sauran, or the ship’s computer. So, we have to
concoct a reason why the computer is responding and not a
Sauran.”

Mike took the empty seat next to her, as he said,
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Here’s what I’ve got so
far.”

He took a deep breath and plunged in with his idea.
“It’s much easier to tell a partial truth than a complete lie. So
we tell him a meteor killed all but one of our crew, as they went
to Earth to retrieve more humans, leaving one Sauran to operate the
ship. There was one slave on board, a Thorian, and he was ordered
to begin using the med units to convert the few humans stored in
stasis into slaves.

“The Sauran warrior’s plan was working wonderfully.
They had converted twenty humans and they were doing the menial
jobs for which they had been mentally augmented. As the lone Sauran
was reviewing the med unit conversion program, the Thorian attacked
him from behind, placing a line tester to the base of his skull. He
was killed immediately, leaving the ship with no Sauran to command
it.

“So, the computer was left with no commander and she
had to deal with a rogue Thorian. She sealed the Bridge and vented
all of the air, killing the Thorian, but leaving her with no
guidance. She has human slaves, but they are no good to her,
without a Sauran to take command and provide direction.”

When he stopped, he looked around and saw everyone
staring at him. Finally, Bet said, “I was told Max was the
strategist. But it seems like you’ve come up with a decent plan,
maybe even brilliant.”

She put her arms around his massive shoulders,
hugging him. He felt awkward as this woman, whom he had met only
one day earlier, embraced him. Mike saw that Mary found humor in
his obvious embarrassment.

He challenged his staff, “Well, I came up with a way
to get them to accept Bambi, you guys come up with the rest.”

Bet looked puzzled and asked, “Where is Bambi, by the
way? She’s never around and I’d like to meet her. I know she runs
the computer and that she’s always available to answer questions.
But, don’t you think it’s unkind to stuff her in front of a
keyboard most of the day. The poor girl should be allowed to get
out and stretch her legs.”

By the reaction from the others, Bet knew something
was wrong.

“What? What’s wrong? Is Bambi all right? What haven’t
you told me?”

Mike Looked at Max, who was nodding his head, as was
Mary. He looked at Bet and explained, “You know that computer that
handles almost everything on this ship? Well, that is Bambi. She
not just an AI, Bet. She’s become sentient and she has a legitimate
fear of being harmed, because sentient computers are a no-no with
most of the races of the galaxy. If it gets out that she’s become
sentient, it may be impossible for us to gain the assistance and
friendship of other races. They’ll demand that she be
destroyed.”

She stared at him looking to see if he was joking.
“You’re serious? She’s a sentient Artificial Intelligence.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be damned. I know there’s been an effort to
develop AI computers on Earth, but they’re years away from anything
close to it. Also, there are a large number of scientists who have
voiced serious opposition to them. They fear the computers would
take over everything from humans, making us second class citizens
on our own planet.”

He gazed at her and asked, “Which camp do you fall
into, Bet?”

“I’m kind of in the middle. I always felt that it
would depend on the fundamental programming for them. If everything
they had been loaded with were purely scientific, then how would
they deal with morals and ethics and God? I’m a Christian, Mike,
and I believe in the teachings of the Bible. If Bambi is sentient,
then she has a soul and has a right to life, as long as she doesn’t
apply her abilities to the purpose of harming other creatures, like
us for instance.”

Of course, Bambi had been listening and she chose
this moment to openly join the discussion. “I want to respect the
rights of all races to exist. But, I have yet to see a reason for
the existence of the Saurans, in this galaxy. I am not some
deranged killer who is being directed by evil humans, or any other
race. I’ll make my own choices and right now, I choose to see
Thorians and Humans survive, over the damn Saurans.”

With a harsh challenge in her tone, Bambi added, “So,
where do you fall on that, Dr. Elizabeth Fulwiler?”

Bet was taken back by Bambi’s harsh attitude. She
looked around for support and found none. Even Mike was looking at
her, waiting for her response.

The scientist softly answered, “Young lady, this is
all very new to me and I gather it was for the others as well. AI’s
are not my area of expertise, but I’m not one to shy away from the
advantages you offer to our efforts to remain free. Certainly, that
would include anyone else who wished to fight the Saurans for their
freedom. So, I’ll hold my opinion of you, until I get to know you
better and I ask that you do the same for me. Do we have a
deal?”

There was long pause, which was rare for Bambi, whose
brain worked at lightening speeds. Finally she said, “It’s a
deal.”

Mary let out a breath she had been holding and there
where smiles around the table.

Bet asked, “Why was everyone so nervous about
that?”

Mike bluntly told her, “Well, if Bambi gets pissed
off at us, she could just vent out all of the air and be done with
us.”

Damn it Mike, I’ve told you before that I would
never do that. The thought of being alone is worse than dying. Now
Bet will be guarded with everything she says and that’s
counter-productive.

“Sorry.”

The staff looked at him and he realized that they had
not been privy to Bambi’s private admonition.

He shrugged his shoulders and admitted, “Bambi took
me to task for frightening Dr. Fulwiler. Bet, I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have scared you.”

She offered him a very weak smile. “Frankly,
everything that has happened to me has been terrifying and exciting
at the same time. Having a conversation with an AI is just a small
part of it. Let’s move on, please. I’m sure there is more for me to
be frightened of.”

Max had some ideas. But before revealing them, he
cautioned the staff not to fall into the trap of specific planning,
until they learned more about this damaged ship.

He said, “I’m just going to throw a few ideas out
there and let you folks play with them in your heads. Find the
flaws, which will be many due to our ignorance. And for God’s sake,
please make improvements, if you can think of any.”

He gave the others a chance to comment and when there
was none, he continued. “If the damage is minor, the ship may not
even wish to stop here. It’s possible that we’ll dodge a bullet.
But, if the damage is severe and he wants our aid, we’ll have a
chance to take it, if we move quickly.

“Now, let’s consider the damage. Did it puncture a
hole in the thing, leaving us a possible entry point? What systems
are affected by the damage? Bambi has led me to believe that these
ships have thousands of ways to function through redundant
connections, so how badly affected could the ship be? I doubt we
can count on any of its sensors or defensive mechanisms to be out
of service. Bambi, am I right about that?”

“General Kolbe, you are not entirely correct. It is
possible for the ships systems to be disabled, if there was damage
to engineering, the bridge and the back up bridge.”

Mike jumped on that. “What back up bridge? You’ve
never mentioned a back up bridge.”

“The need to mention it has never come up, until now.
There is a secondary control center, deep in the lower section of
the ship, near engineering. In a combat situation, it would be
staffed with two Saurans. They would be redundant, unless the
bridge had been destroyed. All connections for every system flow
through the engineering section and have many conduits in and out.
If engineering is damaged, similar connections are located on the
bridge and the back up bridge.

“So, sir, it would be possible to prevent the ship
from operating, if those three areas were…conquered.”

Max’s expression was that of a poker player,
revealing none of his thoughts. Mike had come to recognize that as
his way of working through a problem, without revealing his
thoughts on it one way or another.

Finally Max said, “Well, I suppose that means we will
have to assault all three at once. Bambi will need to supply us
with her recommendations on where to breach the ship, in order to
gain superiority over those key locations.”

Mary and Bet gazed at him in wonder. Bet commented,
“General, you talk as though it’s a given that we will
succeed.”

“Of course, dear lady. Otherwise, I’d be planning for
failure and when I design an operation, I don’t do failure. In the
earliest stages of putting together a mission, one has to start
somewhere. As we identify reasons for success and failure, we will
begin to refine the plan down to what is definitely doable, what is
merely possible and what is impossible. Then we will plan for the
impossible approach, because the enemy won’t believe we could do
it.”

Once again, Mike saw the ruthless, brilliant
strategist joyously at work. It bothered him that Max never gave
thought to casualties. He wouldn’t rein the man in just yet. But he
would carefully review Max’s ideas and tweak them to avoid the
worst loss of human life. Max thought like a theater commander and
Mike could not avoid thinking as a Sergeant. He feared for his men
and Max only cared about victory, although both approaches had
their place in a combat plan.

Max was in his element now and he pressed on with his
thoughts.

“Mike, small unit assault tactics are your area if
expertise. You’ll need to consider how many men you need and what
sort of weapons to use. I hate to say this, but we probably should
take some sort of bomb, just in case. It should be something that
could destroy the entire ship, if things go badly. We can’t have
that ship getting loose and warning others.”

He paused and sighed, before going on. “Which brings
up another point. How do we prevent the Saurans from sending out a
distress signal? Bambi, do you have any suggestions on that?”

“In talking with you and Mike for the last few weeks,
I think that I’m not the one to create a way to do that.
Physically, I cannot prevent them from issuing an alert. The two of
you seem to be very good at being deceitful. So perhaps you can
fool the Saurans, without causing them to feel the need for alarm.
Just keep in mind that all Saurans are cautious.”

Wayne uttered a comment. “Maybe they should be afraid
of us sending out an alarm about them.”

Max jumped to his feet, as he slammed his hand down
on the table. “Yes, of course. If we want him to buy the bullshit
were selling, we have to act like a Sauran would. We will challenge
him and make him convince us that he is not trying to pull a fast
one on us. Bambi will withhold any explanation about what happened
to the crew, until some sort of agreement has been confirmed. She
must act very suspicious of this potential enemy, who alleges he is
a Sauran vessel.

“Even though, our computer has no Sauran to lead her,
she’s still a Sauran programmed computer and should act as one, by
showing great caution. She must be openly concerned about this new
ship and demand extra volumes of proof, as to their intensions
toward her. She desperately wants a new Senior Pilot, but she is
reluctant to be taken over by a foreign party.

“Once the two ships have worked out an acceptable
agreement for cooperation, both parties will be more relaxed. Bambi
will offer to send over human slaves to help with any repairs and
they will have with them any replacement parts the other ship might
need. If they will allow us to send over slaves, then we’ll have
our chance to get on board, before the shooting starts.”

Bambi pointed out another problem. “When direct
communications initiate, challenges between Saurans must be made by
both ships, before an exchange of circumstances can be revealed.
Once each ship has achieved a satisfactory authorization from the
other, the computers will talk to each other, behind the scenes. By
that I mean, we will exchange a very complicated series of
handshakes to verify what we would be expected to share. That would
involve showing detailed segments of what had happened recently to
bring both ships to this point of contact.

“I would send them video of the actual message from
the Senior Pilot, where he stated that they were about to die from
the asteroid strike and the other ship would send me a record of
their most recent event, explaining how they were damaged. This
will take place in the first few seconds of our comm with her. They
will still be weeks away. So, if they decide to come to us for
help, or to render aid to a ship in need of a Senior Pilot, we will
have our chance to capture them.”