Starting from Scratch, page 7
Breaching would be easy. Transport hulls are thin and not designed for direct combat. You could be onto the bridge in less than two minutes, but you would still be facing armed Saurans. They enjoy fighting and will kill just for the fun of it, not to mention that they will fight to the death. And then there’s still the problem of the warning signal.
And another problem would be the computer. We computers are programmed to scramble everything, in a situation as you are describing. I mean everything, Mike. There would be no way to operate the ship.
“Once we’ve established control, couldn’t you download a new program?”
The drive would have been melted by then. It’s part of the scramble program. And in case your thinking of installing a new drive, it would need to have more than three million different connections, in order to run the ship. It could take humans hundreds of lifetimes to get it done.
“This is good, Bambi. We’re making progress.”
Bullshit, we’re not making progress.
He was actually glad to hear her vulgar sarcasm return. It was a sign that she wasn’t as frightened as she had been. Apparently, just like humans, when an AI addresses her fears, and begins to deal with them, she feels less afraid, because she’s doing something about it.
“Bambi, we are doing something constructive here. When we identify a problem and look at specifics about it, we begin the process of finding a solution. It isn’t always easy, but in most cases it can be done.
“You’ve given me some valuable info on that ship and possible Sauran reactions. The more we talk about it, the more I learn. However, strategy isn’t my strong point. I wish Max were awake. Oh what the hell, wake him up and tell him to meet me on the bridge.”
Yes sir.
The tone of her voice seemed almost chipper.
Mike was on the bridge, when General Kolbe entered. Max told him, “Bambi brought me up to speed on the damaged ship headed this way and what she had already discussed with you. There are some possibilities here.”
Mike lifted his coffee cup, “Like what?”
“From your questions, I believe we are thinking along the same lines. We have to try and take that ship. Whatever it’s carrying will give us more insight to the galaxy, even if it’s nothing more than farm equipment.”
“I agree. We really have no choice, but to go for it. The damn thing is headed this way regardless of what we want. The biggest problem, as I see it, is that it could get off an alert message, before we can disable the comm. Then there’s the problem of how many awake Saurans are going to be waiting for us.”
Max nodded. “We can do this, Mike. It will depend on how badly damaged it is and how big of a welcome they’ll give us. This operation calls for more men. So we need to get the old vets on the stick and put them through the upgrade.
“If Bambi is correct about Sauran fighting ability, we are definitely going to lose some people on this mission. But if it results in the capture of that ship, it’ll be worth it.”
Mike hated to hear him mention casualties so early in the planning stage. But he knew that Max was right. They needed more men and they were going to take losses.
Bambi, we will probably be assaulting three different locations, the hanger deck for certain, a breach at the closest point to the bridge and we’ll need your guidance on the best place to breach that can get us to engineering.
General, there are four possibilities for getting to the bridge. The most obvious is not truly the best. In my calculation the Saurans would have that way heavily protected. The next two would require your warriors to fight down three levels and the Saurans would have time to establish a blocking force. The ship is damaged anyway, so why not go through all three levels at once? I can design a charge that would blow through the hull and the next three levels, giving you open access to the bridge from space. The Saurans would be caught by surprise and the seconds you would save would also save lives.
Max looked at Mike and winked. “Damn girl, you just may have the plan we need. I thought you had no experience with combat. How did you learn to assault a spaceship?”
Earth science fiction books, sci-fi TV and movies. You do realize the warriors will need space suits. I’ll design them. I have designs for Saurans, Thorians, Januki and seventeen other races.
Mike asked, “Would the Saurans be wearing some sort of space suit?”
“Maybe. Their physiology allows them to briefly withstand a vacuum, usually about four to five minutes. Then, their bodies begin to succumb to the internal pressure, as their body’s air runs out. However, on the bridge, they have quick suits, which they can put on in a matter of forty to fifty seconds. If we breach all three levels, we’ll expose them to outer space and they’ll move to put on the quick suits, if they haven’t already climbed into them. It will buy time for our warriors to get in and confront them.”
“Bambi, when you make our suits, is there any way to make them impervious to the plasma weapons?”
Yes sir, there is. But they would be extremely heavy and cumbersome, even for an upgraded human.
“That’s OK. Only the men in the lead will need them. The men behind them can be the fast movers for us. What about the Saurans, would they be likely to where armor?”
It’s possible, but not likely. Saurans have genetically altered skin that has its own natural resistance to low yield plasma bolts and projectiles. It’s also what makes it possible for them to handle short duration vacuum pressure. With their big egos, they would assume that an assaulting force would be unlikely to be able to harm them, unless they carried something more powerful. I know we have such hand weapons, but I have no direct knowledge of their capabilities against Sauran heavy armor. As the ship is already damaged, it’s possible they would be armored and carrying heavy weapons. As I’ve said time and again, they are cautious.
“Is there a suit of Sauran armor on board? I’d like to test it and see how it reacts to a full power shot from a plasma gun.”
I believe that one of the small secret storage compartments has ten of them, sir. I can have a robot place one at the end of a target range for you.
Max, probing for every advantage he could think of, asked, “Can an upgraded human wear one of those and if he did, would a Sauran know he wasn’t facing a Sauran?”
Mike mentally kicked himself for not considering that.
It’s very unlikely that you could pull that off sir. The battle armor is mentally melded to the wearer, through the users biologic comm. Even with my help it would take months of use to be able to present the user as a Sauran. Without that familiarization, the enemy would notice it very quickly…in seconds I would think.
Mike mumbled, “That might be enough for a human to get off a disabling shot.”
Max was disappointed. “Shit. Bambi, you don’t give us much hope. If we don’t get stopped, before we breach the bridge, we will still have to face at least one and probably two Saurans. And you’re saying we have no chance in close combat with a Sauran.”
Mike shook his head. “Hold on Max. These guys may be fast and strong, but close combat can go either way. My unfortunate skirmish with a wounded Sauran proved that they could be beaten, if we use teamwork. The least little thing can turn the fight into an advantage for the weaker man, or men. I know, because I’ve been in that situation before.
“If we can fool the Saurans for just a few seconds, we might be able to bring weapons to bear and get off a few shots. It could give us an opening.
“In hand to hand combat, every one of the five senses is heightened and of all those, sight is usually the most important. Bambi, what would happen if a Sauran had his eyes shot by a plasma gun?”
He would be blinded. A med unit could repair his sight, of course.
“Yes, but once he’s blinded, he would be vulnerable to additional wounds and death. It might take several attempts, but I bet we could nail the bastards. We’ll tell the men to shoot for their eyes first. Sweetheart, where is the next most vulnerable spot on a Sauran?
Through his comm, the Sauran will still have access to the ship’s cameras and sensors. He would still be able to target you using those. Although I suspect it would take a second or two for him to focus on them and shoot accurately. As for the next most vulnerable area, I would say the hands and arms. When I have sensed concern on the part of a Sauran, it was always when his hands might be lost. Again, the med unit would grow them back, but he would be worthless until then and be ridiculed by his fellow warriors. Peer image is very big for Saurans.
The possibilities still didn’t look good, but the way Mike and Max kept pushing Bambi, had her sounding less skeptical about their chances.
She told them, “I have never heard Saurans as relentless as the two of you. You just won’t accept the facts. You keep pushing and pushing, and then you see something I never would have considered. I believe you are both brilliant warriors, although I doubt either of you could best a single Sauran.
Max laughed and teased, “Bambi, with compliments like that, we will never be over confidant; discouraged perhaps, but never defeated. Perhaps you can learn to think as we do, without this mental block about the Saurans being unbeatable. No one is without weaknesses. We just have to find theirs.”
Mike called their gathering to a halt. “Max, I’m going to grab a shower and give this some more thought. Bambi, in two hours, wake the staff, bring them up to date on this, and have them meet us in the conference room for breakfast and a brainstorming session.”
General Hurst, is there anything special you would like for breakfast?
He cut loose an evil laugh and told her, “Yes, I want fried Sauran hearts, with my eggs.”
At first, Bambi didn’t get his gallows humor. Sir, I don’t have that available right now. If you give me two days, I can take out the heart of the Sauran that Jo killed and have it replicated in the food processor.
It was Max’s turn to laugh as he told her, “That was a joke, Bambi. Don’t worry, he wasn’t serious about cannibalizing the enemy.”
Oh! I see. Well, even if he did wish to eat a Sauran heart, I would have no problem with that. The God of us all has seen them do much worse to their victims.
Mike found it odd that this sentient computer would make a reference to God. Yet, why would she not? Aren’t all creatures in the universe children of God? That a living, thinking being like her would bring God into her thoughts was strangely comforting.
Then he wondered if Bet had any religious beliefs and would they conflict with the actions the Terran Space Navy would have to take, in order to protect the Earth. He hoped not. He liked her and didn’t want to do anything to lose her respect.
Chapter 6
Al Benson had commed Mike to tell him he would be late for the meeting, because he was attempting to resolve a few issues that the veterans had raised. He would listen in on the meeting, with Bambi’s help.
When Mike walked into the conference room, he was embarrassed to see he was the last one there. His son looked up and casually taunted him, “Well, if isn’t our fearless leader. He drags us away from a good nights sleep, and then is late for his own meeting.”
As Mike poured himself a cup of coffee, he decided to ignore the good natured prod from Wayne. He filled a plate with a mound of food and realized he thought nothing of the enormous volume of food he had been eating lately. Also, he noted, that he and the other upgrades ate five or six times a day.
Bambi had told him the upgrade process would require more intake of food to satisfy the higher metabolism they now possessed. Apparently they were burning up the calories at a prodigious rate.
Bambi, will we always need to consume this much food.
General, I doubt it will be necessary to eat this great a volume, as your bodies settle into the new regimen. But, you will definitely need more basic sustenance and the additives that I provide.
That comment surprised him. What additives.
Sir, in order to maintain your proper supply of nanites, I add small amounts of elements to your food and drink. Nanites have a short shelf life and the fundamental metals and chemicals are needed to help your nanite production centers maintain the proper level of nanites in your system.
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?”
And another problem would be the computer. We computers are programmed to scramble everything, in a situation as you are describing. I mean everything, Mike. There would be no way to operate the ship.
“Once we’ve established control, couldn’t you download a new program?”
The drive would have been melted by then. It’s part of the scramble program. And in case your thinking of installing a new drive, it would need to have more than three million different connections, in order to run the ship. It could take humans hundreds of lifetimes to get it done.
“This is good, Bambi. We’re making progress.”
Bullshit, we’re not making progress.
He was actually glad to hear her vulgar sarcasm return. It was a sign that she wasn’t as frightened as she had been. Apparently, just like humans, when an AI addresses her fears, and begins to deal with them, she feels less afraid, because she’s doing something about it.
“Bambi, we are doing something constructive here. When we identify a problem and look at specifics about it, we begin the process of finding a solution. It isn’t always easy, but in most cases it can be done.
“You’ve given me some valuable info on that ship and possible Sauran reactions. The more we talk about it, the more I learn. However, strategy isn’t my strong point. I wish Max were awake. Oh what the hell, wake him up and tell him to meet me on the bridge.”
Yes sir.
The tone of her voice seemed almost chipper.
Mike was on the bridge, when General Kolbe entered. Max told him, “Bambi brought me up to speed on the damaged ship headed this way and what she had already discussed with you. There are some possibilities here.”
Mike lifted his coffee cup, “Like what?”
“From your questions, I believe we are thinking along the same lines. We have to try and take that ship. Whatever it’s carrying will give us more insight to the galaxy, even if it’s nothing more than farm equipment.”
“I agree. We really have no choice, but to go for it. The damn thing is headed this way regardless of what we want. The biggest problem, as I see it, is that it could get off an alert message, before we can disable the comm. Then there’s the problem of how many awake Saurans are going to be waiting for us.”
Max nodded. “We can do this, Mike. It will depend on how badly damaged it is and how big of a welcome they’ll give us. This operation calls for more men. So we need to get the old vets on the stick and put them through the upgrade.
“If Bambi is correct about Sauran fighting ability, we are definitely going to lose some people on this mission. But if it results in the capture of that ship, it’ll be worth it.”
Mike hated to hear him mention casualties so early in the planning stage. But he knew that Max was right. They needed more men and they were going to take losses.
Bambi, we will probably be assaulting three different locations, the hanger deck for certain, a breach at the closest point to the bridge and we’ll need your guidance on the best place to breach that can get us to engineering.
General, there are four possibilities for getting to the bridge. The most obvious is not truly the best. In my calculation the Saurans would have that way heavily protected. The next two would require your warriors to fight down three levels and the Saurans would have time to establish a blocking force. The ship is damaged anyway, so why not go through all three levels at once? I can design a charge that would blow through the hull and the next three levels, giving you open access to the bridge from space. The Saurans would be caught by surprise and the seconds you would save would also save lives.
Max looked at Mike and winked. “Damn girl, you just may have the plan we need. I thought you had no experience with combat. How did you learn to assault a spaceship?”
Earth science fiction books, sci-fi TV and movies. You do realize the warriors will need space suits. I’ll design them. I have designs for Saurans, Thorians, Januki and seventeen other races.
Mike asked, “Would the Saurans be wearing some sort of space suit?”
“Maybe. Their physiology allows them to briefly withstand a vacuum, usually about four to five minutes. Then, their bodies begin to succumb to the internal pressure, as their body’s air runs out. However, on the bridge, they have quick suits, which they can put on in a matter of forty to fifty seconds. If we breach all three levels, we’ll expose them to outer space and they’ll move to put on the quick suits, if they haven’t already climbed into them. It will buy time for our warriors to get in and confront them.”
“Bambi, when you make our suits, is there any way to make them impervious to the plasma weapons?”
Yes sir, there is. But they would be extremely heavy and cumbersome, even for an upgraded human.
“That’s OK. Only the men in the lead will need them. The men behind them can be the fast movers for us. What about the Saurans, would they be likely to where armor?”
It’s possible, but not likely. Saurans have genetically altered skin that has its own natural resistance to low yield plasma bolts and projectiles. It’s also what makes it possible for them to handle short duration vacuum pressure. With their big egos, they would assume that an assaulting force would be unlikely to be able to harm them, unless they carried something more powerful. I know we have such hand weapons, but I have no direct knowledge of their capabilities against Sauran heavy armor. As the ship is already damaged, it’s possible they would be armored and carrying heavy weapons. As I’ve said time and again, they are cautious.
“Is there a suit of Sauran armor on board? I’d like to test it and see how it reacts to a full power shot from a plasma gun.”
I believe that one of the small secret storage compartments has ten of them, sir. I can have a robot place one at the end of a target range for you.
Max, probing for every advantage he could think of, asked, “Can an upgraded human wear one of those and if he did, would a Sauran know he wasn’t facing a Sauran?”
Mike mentally kicked himself for not considering that.
It’s very unlikely that you could pull that off sir. The battle armor is mentally melded to the wearer, through the users biologic comm. Even with my help it would take months of use to be able to present the user as a Sauran. Without that familiarization, the enemy would notice it very quickly…in seconds I would think.
Mike mumbled, “That might be enough for a human to get off a disabling shot.”
Max was disappointed. “Shit. Bambi, you don’t give us much hope. If we don’t get stopped, before we breach the bridge, we will still have to face at least one and probably two Saurans. And you’re saying we have no chance in close combat with a Sauran.”
Mike shook his head. “Hold on Max. These guys may be fast and strong, but close combat can go either way. My unfortunate skirmish with a wounded Sauran proved that they could be beaten, if we use teamwork. The least little thing can turn the fight into an advantage for the weaker man, or men. I know, because I’ve been in that situation before.
“If we can fool the Saurans for just a few seconds, we might be able to bring weapons to bear and get off a few shots. It could give us an opening.
“In hand to hand combat, every one of the five senses is heightened and of all those, sight is usually the most important. Bambi, what would happen if a Sauran had his eyes shot by a plasma gun?”
He would be blinded. A med unit could repair his sight, of course.
“Yes, but once he’s blinded, he would be vulnerable to additional wounds and death. It might take several attempts, but I bet we could nail the bastards. We’ll tell the men to shoot for their eyes first. Sweetheart, where is the next most vulnerable spot on a Sauran?
Through his comm, the Sauran will still have access to the ship’s cameras and sensors. He would still be able to target you using those. Although I suspect it would take a second or two for him to focus on them and shoot accurately. As for the next most vulnerable area, I would say the hands and arms. When I have sensed concern on the part of a Sauran, it was always when his hands might be lost. Again, the med unit would grow them back, but he would be worthless until then and be ridiculed by his fellow warriors. Peer image is very big for Saurans.
The possibilities still didn’t look good, but the way Mike and Max kept pushing Bambi, had her sounding less skeptical about their chances.
She told them, “I have never heard Saurans as relentless as the two of you. You just won’t accept the facts. You keep pushing and pushing, and then you see something I never would have considered. I believe you are both brilliant warriors, although I doubt either of you could best a single Sauran.
Max laughed and teased, “Bambi, with compliments like that, we will never be over confidant; discouraged perhaps, but never defeated. Perhaps you can learn to think as we do, without this mental block about the Saurans being unbeatable. No one is without weaknesses. We just have to find theirs.”
Mike called their gathering to a halt. “Max, I’m going to grab a shower and give this some more thought. Bambi, in two hours, wake the staff, bring them up to date on this, and have them meet us in the conference room for breakfast and a brainstorming session.”
General Hurst, is there anything special you would like for breakfast?
He cut loose an evil laugh and told her, “Yes, I want fried Sauran hearts, with my eggs.”
At first, Bambi didn’t get his gallows humor. Sir, I don’t have that available right now. If you give me two days, I can take out the heart of the Sauran that Jo killed and have it replicated in the food processor.
It was Max’s turn to laugh as he told her, “That was a joke, Bambi. Don’t worry, he wasn’t serious about cannibalizing the enemy.”
Oh! I see. Well, even if he did wish to eat a Sauran heart, I would have no problem with that. The God of us all has seen them do much worse to their victims.
Mike found it odd that this sentient computer would make a reference to God. Yet, why would she not? Aren’t all creatures in the universe children of God? That a living, thinking being like her would bring God into her thoughts was strangely comforting.
Then he wondered if Bet had any religious beliefs and would they conflict with the actions the Terran Space Navy would have to take, in order to protect the Earth. He hoped not. He liked her and didn’t want to do anything to lose her respect.
Chapter 6
Al Benson had commed Mike to tell him he would be late for the meeting, because he was attempting to resolve a few issues that the veterans had raised. He would listen in on the meeting, with Bambi’s help.
When Mike walked into the conference room, he was embarrassed to see he was the last one there. His son looked up and casually taunted him, “Well, if isn’t our fearless leader. He drags us away from a good nights sleep, and then is late for his own meeting.”
As Mike poured himself a cup of coffee, he decided to ignore the good natured prod from Wayne. He filled a plate with a mound of food and realized he thought nothing of the enormous volume of food he had been eating lately. Also, he noted, that he and the other upgrades ate five or six times a day.
Bambi had told him the upgrade process would require more intake of food to satisfy the higher metabolism they now possessed. Apparently they were burning up the calories at a prodigious rate.
Bambi, will we always need to consume this much food.
General, I doubt it will be necessary to eat this great a volume, as your bodies settle into the new regimen. But, you will definitely need more basic sustenance and the additives that I provide.
That comment surprised him. What additives.
Sir, in order to maintain your proper supply of nanites, I add small amounts of elements to your food and drink. Nanites have a short shelf life and the fundamental metals and chemicals are needed to help your nanite production centers maintain the proper level of nanites in your system.
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?”
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