Alien Mine Ch. 09

"They are deadly machines with a swarm mentality, like bees on earth. When one senses danger, they all attack with deadly precision."

"What can they do? Can they get through our armor?"

"Most certainly, they can attack and kill Om Trangrods' as well as the Om themselves. They are the last defense for the AI. If they fail, the AI will self-destruct. It is meant to stand sentry forever sweeping through the area around the AI, a protector. If even one senses you, the rest will know and attack. As long as neither of you disturbs it, you will be safe."

"How do we get the AI then?" Rhys asked, reluctant to leave after coming this far.

He could see the AI sitting in the middle of the swarm. It resembled a soccer ball on a pedestal gleaming dully. A soft glow emanated from it, but there were no other signs it was still active. The cloud seemed to be a live thing, moving slowly around the pedestal. The individual bits that made up what Bob called the death cloud were microscopic, so the cloud must be made up of millions of them.

"Billions," Bob corrected. The AI controls them, but they will attack if they detect a threat."

"The AI has not acted to hinder us so far; you said it 'recognizes me and accepts my status as 'One'. Will it let me approach?" he said, pushing off the wall behind, putting him on a course above the swarm of nanobits. "Stay there, Kiania," he ordered as he slowly floated to the top of the room. Looking down, he could see the death cloud flowing around the AI like a doughnut, none at the top. Strange, he thought as he floated carefully above the billions of tiny machines making up the cloud.

"The nanobits should recognize me, Bob."

"Perhaps. Only the 'One assigned to the ship, what you would call the Captain, could physically approach the AI. The nanobits would attack and kill anything else."

"Rhys, be careful. Leave it for now; we can return later when we know more." Sandy said urgently.

Ignoring Sandy, Rhys let himself drift down, slightly hovering just over the AI. Holding his breath, he reached out to grasp the top of the structure of the AI. Kiania was staring intently at the cloud, and she could see the cloud ripple and begin to move toward Rhys as if it was alive.

"Look out, Rhys," Kiania shouted.

The silvery cloud seemed to coalesce, then flowed toward Rhys in a sudden movement. He jerked back as the leading edge of the nanobits slid closer and closer. The cloud looked like it was positioning itself between him and the AI. Rhys froze as the cloud formed a protective layer below him. It seemed content to stay there, creating a deadly barrier that he didn't dare breach.

"It's moving again, Rhys," Kiania said as the cloud shifted, extending itself around between him and Kiania, effectively blocking his escape from the space. Kiania pulled herself back into the doorway away from the Cloud.

Damn, Rhys thought. They had perhaps an hour of air left, and they needed at least thirty minutes to find their way back out of the wreckage. He could try to wait the cloud out, hoping it would move, but not for long. Rhys wished he had a tool of some kind to cut through the wall, but nothing he was equipped with could cut through smart metal.

"Any suggestions on how we get back out? Is there any way to disarm the nanobits? Can you take control?" he asked Bob.

"Any attempt by me to take control will result in an immediate attack."

Rhys didn't see that he had much choice. The cloud was between and any escape from the space they were in. His options weren't good, stay where he was and suffocate or chance that the AI would not order him killed. He was down to forty-five minutes of air left.

We need to do something soon; I can't stay here."

"Agreed, prepare yourself."

Rhys had no idea how to prepare himself, just hoping he didn't die an ugly death in the next few seconds. Bob mentally guided him, his mind brushing against the AI. Rhys 'felt' something completely alien with his mind and tried to jerk back from the connection. Too late! The AI instantly surged deep into his mind; he could not break the link.

"Look out!" Kiania shouted as the cloud moved swiftly to surround him.

Rhys jerked as the cloud coalesced on him, then began to disappear like wisps of smoke.

"They are inside your suit," Bob warned him. I will do what I can, but I cannot control them; they answer only to the ship's AI.

Rhys mentally and physically recoiled, but it was too late, The AI had taken control of him, and he could not move. Rhys could feel something wrong, like ants all over his body, in his eyes, his mouth. He tried to scream, but he couldn't move; he was helpless, physically and mentally. Nerves screamed in agony as pain flowed through his body, and his mind blanked out as he lost consciousness, or so he thought. Instead, it was as if all control had been taken away while something examined him, probed him. Tendrils of fear washed over him as his barely conscious mind tried to fight whatever was happening to him.

Nothing seemed to be spared as parts of his brain would shut down and then start to function again. Unlike before when the Om virus had attacked him, Bob was still present but quiet, unable or unwilling to respond. Rhys could 'feel' the alien in his mind, sorting through him, taking him apart, and putting him back together. Parts of his brain reconnected, and his personality started to reassemble itself, and he was given back control of his mind. Then a jolt swept through him, and he felt something grab his mind and jerk it back to awareness. God Damnit that hurt, he swore as he cautiously moved his fingers and toes. His entire body hurt, but the pain was receding, and he began to feel normal again. He became aware Kiania was calling to him, Sandy, and the other girls as well.

"I'm ok," he managed to get out weakly, "I don't know what happened, but I am alive."

"Thank God, Rhys. You disappeared from the link just then; we didn't know what happened," Sandy said with relief in her voice.

"Apparently, the death cloud has accepted you as a 'One', as has the AI," Bob said.

"Great," said Kiania, "can we take it and leave; I am getting critically low on air if we are going to make it back."

"Yes," Bob replied, "it will go with you. Just detach it, and you can carry it back. The AI contains its own power source."

The structure was very alien, angles all wrong; it gave Rhys a sense of vertigo just looking at it." Place your hand there," Bob told him.

"I cannot take my hand out of my armor."

"Not necessary it just requires physical contact so I can make a connection. If it recognizes your priority as a "One," it will let us remove it without self-destructing."

Rhys placed his hand as instructed, feeling nothing through his suit.

"There," Bob said after a moment, "it has dropped all barriers; you may retrieve it."

As Rhys removed the small sphere, Bob, as the humans call it, pondered what had just happened. According to his programming, the AI should have responded with minimal access; even a "One" such Rhys was designed to have had only limited access. This AI seemed to recognize him at a much higher level, for lack of a better word giving him unrestricted access to it physically. According to the shuttles AI that could not happen. Even the Captain of the ship did not have that kind of access. This would require further consideration, it thought; the implications of this were not clear.

The structure folded in on itself, leaving a round ball about the size of a basketball.

"Is that it?" Rhys asked, moving downward to gather it in his arms.

"Yes," Bob replied, "it's safe, and may I suggest you hurry. Your air is limited, and if you die, so do I."

Rhys picked it up and started back the way they came. The suits they were using were not meant for extended work. Presumably, the armored suits the Drans used had a better oxygen storage system, but these were more limited. Using their thrusters, they moved at a quicker rate than on their way in. He hated to leave; there was so much they hadn't explored. He was particularly interested in finding the Drans equivalent of an armory. It looks as though the engines were not too severely damaged, he thought. We need to think about salvaging them in the future. If we can reconstruct the warp drive, that would save us decades of trial and error.

As Rhys came to an intersection where several passages met, he thought he recognized something. "Wait, Kiania, I see something. Hold the AI, please," he said, handing it to her. Rhys pulled himself into a dark corridor, then into a space on the left side. It looked like the room where he had regained consciousness. Looking around, Rhys replayed his memories of that moment when Jake had taken something from the wall and placed it against his head. Floating to the same area, he ran his hand over the wall. Here I think Rhys murmured to himself, searching for an opening in the bulkhead. "Anything here, Bob?" As fingers made contact, part of the wall dissolved; inside were several small cylinders.

"Are those you," he asked Bob?

"I do not know, I did not become cognizant until well after you left the ship, but they do correspond with our memories."

Rhys took them down, securing them tightly to his armor. "Let's get back to the ship," he said, wondering what he was going to do with the objects he carried with him. Who knows what other secrets this ship holds? Humanity has a lot of work to do, he thought. We had better get busy.

Rhys and Kiania were greeted with hugs as they stepped through the airlock. Sandy ran into his arms, pulling him tight. "I was so worried about you two in there," she said, releasing Rhys and pulling Kiania in for an equally tight hug.

"All of us were, said Amancia, Taking Sandy's place in Rhys' arms, then hugs were given from Thea and Leslie.

"We are glad to be back in one piece," he admitted. "It was a strange place, and we took video so you can see it all."

"The dead bodies of the Drans were the worst," Kiania said, hugging Thea. "You would have loved to be there, I bet," she said with a wide grin. "It was so full of strange tech, things we had no idea what they were used for. But the engines are partially intact."

"I can't wait to get a look at them," Thea said, but what about the Death Cloud or whatever that was. Sandy said something about nanotechnology?"

"Nanobits Bob called them. They attacked Rhys but then seemed to disappear," Kiania explained.

"No," Bob said, "they are still inside Rhys." He said over the speakers.

"Inside him?" Sandy asked with fear in her voice.

"Yes, they have remained inside him."

"What are they doing?" Rhys asked cautiously.

"I do not know; only the ships AI could have let that happen. They were under its control."

"Is he in danger?" Amancia asked fearfully.

"No, at least not right now. I do not know why they remained inside Rhys instead of returning to the AI; they are present but not active."

"How can the AI still be controlling them?" Rhys asked. "It is not connected to any power source unless it has its own power reserves."

"According to the shuttle's AI, it contains its own power, enough for the lifetime of the AI."

Rhys held up his hand. "If you all don't mind, let's finish the discussion over something to eat. Also, I think I could use a drink right about now; it's been a long day."

"What about Uranus?" Sandy asked. "It's a seven-hour run from here at half speed."

"We should go, we are already out here, and I want to drop off the first set of equipment. We will debrief over drinks."

"On the way," she said happily, turning back to the controls. The hologram was still up, and Leslie watched, still amazed as Sandy seemed to stick her hand inside it.

The walls were partially transparent, and Leslie could still see the wreckage. Watching, she could tell the ship was turning, then accelerating away. Gathering speed, the debris field receded from view leaving only empty space. The changes Sandy had undergone were something Leslie couldn't comprehend. Part-time stripper/prostitute, and fun time girl to piloting an alien spacecraft through the solar system. It didn't make sense, but then nothing about this situation did.

Rhys fixed everyone a drink, bourbon for him, martini for Sandy and Amancia, white wine for Thea, and chocolate martinis for Leslie and Kiania. It was the first time Leslie had ever done an official debrief with a drink in her hand, and she liked it. They drank, relaxing on couches while Rhys took them through the battle. They analyzed everything in detail, each person's actions scrutinized, dissected, and discussed, even Rhys'. It was the best after-action debrief Leslie had ever seen, and she had been through a lot. How does he do it, she wondered as she observed how everyone participated, accepted, even inviting criticism?

At the end, Thea asked the question that Leslie had been wondering about. "What was happening during the battle with the Om ships? Thea asked, "everyone seemed to go silent, then things started happening. Then Sandy screamed like she was in pain when the beam hit us. Are you okay, Sandy?" she asked, the concern evident in her voice.

Sandy leaned over and pulled her in for a hug. "I'm fine now; it was weird. The four of us were linked very closely with the ship's AI, and when we took a hit, I could feel it, like I was part of the ship and I had been hurt."

"Me too," Amancia added. It's hard to describe, but it was as if we were the ship, all of us."

Thea looked at Rhys As if expecting an answer.

"When we go into combat, the link between symbionts that we call the tac grid gets, well, I don't really know how to describe it. More intense, deeper, it's almost as if we are exchanging thoughts rather than words. This was even more so since the AI seemed to be running it. Instead of four separate people, it was as if we were one brain mixed in with the AI."

"It was incredible," Kiania added. "It was like we were in each other's minds. I knew what Rhys wanted me to do as soon as he thought it."

Bob, how about you explain it out loud, please.

"Rhys made the connection with the AI. As the 'One', he can extend that access to others which he did. All four of you were linked to each other and the AI, in effect creating one merged mind. Rhys had already linked Sandy, making her the pilot. As a result she 'feels' the ship' the most strongly," Bob continued, "and vice versa. Sandy feels the engines, the weapons, and the damage. When linked like that, you were all part of the virtual ship. Any damage the ship takes is transmitted through the link to the AI and to you."

"Is the ship alive? Leslie asked quietly.

Not as you understand it. For comparison, it has what you could consider a central nervous system with nerves running everywhere, just like a human body. These are molecular bio-metallic circuits that are embedded everywhere. They allow the ship to self-repair just as your body does, except better. When damaged, the ship responds much like a human body does, sending signals to the brain, but in this case, the AI.

"Is that what I felt? Sandy asked.

"Yes, you felt the pain as if it was your own body."

"Will I be able to access the AI as well"? Thea asked, looking at Rhys with excitement in her eyes.

"Of course, the 'One' has designated you as the ship's engineer now. The AI recognizes you as such, or will when your symbiont is mature."

"I can't wait," she answered, looking at Rhys with longing in her eyes.

Sandy smiled. "Yes, getting your symbiont up and running should take priority."

"I agree," said Rhys with a smile, "but we have a few more things to talk about."

"We learned a lot," said Rhys, "and we were lucky we were facing an inferior opponent. Amancia, Kiania, I need you to focus on the weapons, learn more about their capabilities and how to use them, Thea the defenses and damage control. What are the capabilities, how much damage can the ship handle, and what can we do to minimize the results when we do get hit. Sandy- as we saw, you did an excellent job piloting, and I need to do a better job anticipating threats. That hit we took caught me completely by surprise; we were lucky we only caught a little of it; it could have taken us out completely."

"Sandy, please work with Bob when we get back to set up simulators for each of us. After we have mastered our roles as best we can, I want everyone to switch. We need to learn each other's jobs in case something happens to one of us. We will also be training new people, and we may not always be all together on a mission.

"We need more bodies, I hate to say," said Sandy, not liking the idea of having to share Rhys even more than they had planned.

"I know," said Rhys, but I think we need to work on how we can use non-symbiont-equipped crewmembers. If we could find a way to link them into the combat systems through an implant or some other means, that would help a lot."

"Bob, is it possible to do that?

"That was never an issue for the Drans, as all crew members are equipped with a symbiont and linked to the Captain. Perhaps that could be developed; there is much interest in developing an implanted net chip in your military.

"Another option might be to just provide them with some technical expertise," Leslie said, surprising Rhys.

"What do you mean," he asked.

"Instead of developing one on our own, we get Bob's to work with the base AI, perhaps investigate how the human brain might be linked to a chip, then take that to the researchers."

"Or," said Sandy, "we can start our own company and hire the best to work on it."

"Both ideas have merit, Bob, can you please start looking into it, grab all the current research, and see who is doing what."

"Can we make this a CIA project?" said Kiania looking at Leslie. "We could buy or build the facilities, perhaps under the auspices of the CIA to justify the security we would need?"

"No," said Leslie, not unless you want to wait a few years. Getting something like that approved without word leaking out would be very difficult. Bureaucrats are less likely to turn loose of their funding than even Congress if they do not know what is going on. The best way would be to proceed independently. Private firms often have as good security as we do."

"Ok said Rhys, we will proceed that way, Amancia, you will be in charge of organizing it, develop a plan, and we will all go over it next week. Kiania will set up security. Bob, raid all the databases so we know who is who and can identify the people we want to hire."

"We can license it back out to these firms to make up for their losses," said Sandy, "better for us if we are not seen as the source. "

"Make sure Bob gets into the Chinese and Russian classified research as well, and the Indian. They are really pushing the envelope when it comes to neurological chips, at least the programming part," Leslie added.

"On it," said Amancia."

Rhys turned to Leslie and with a smile and said, "now let's talk about your role."

"We originally wanted to recruit you for your intelligence training and assets. That will still be your primary role. We will feed you information from around the world, intelligence Bob can pull from all sorts of classified sites. The idea is not to use it aggressively but to analyze and be able to control events. But what we need the most is actionable intelligence on the Om. Right now, we are flying blind; we know almost nothing about them, not even what they look like."