Aurora, Wayward Pt. 04

We could not produce it, he only had it on 3 craft and 2 are fighters and he told me the roles for them. He gave us a list of the materials required to build one. At least Aurora did. There are metals so rare in this system, this titanium can be found in less than 2% of our asteroid belts and planets.

Then the way to process the metal; we do not have a manufacturer to even make it if we had the metal. The latest on the probe shows he has 2 of those platforms going and a third was being completed. He did tell me he was sending the first 3 medical ships out early to your colonies. I am not sure if they will have blood and semen as they are headed straight to you.

He is sending them because the medical beds can treat those patients infected with the toxin. He is taking that out of the equation if the Drakor blood does not fix it; like all of our metal."

Governor Trandor sighed, "We got the blood and treated those who were worse off. Drew from those that did not have the toxin in their blood. After three hours and got the others. We were fortunate not to lose anybody but we still have patients with that toxin in their blood. We checked as it replicates itself. It is a toxin virus hybrid. These medical ships I am glad to hear about."

Nanci Creu called in Freia. She looked over, "Governors. Questions?"

She sighed, "The medical ships. What is the status of those ships?"

She looked over, "Two days out to Gresan and Drisen; give or take a few hours. The other is another five days out to Risan. It is a matter of orbital position. We will slingshot that one around to pick up more speed as it passes Drisen. Each one has a Sentinel doctor on board.

As well as a few marines to help keep the peace and keep it from being overrun as it were. They all have perimeter security like our shuttles. We get in orbit we will request landing locations from the governors as to which hospital to send it to first.

We set them all up to be mobile. In cases of emergencies like floods or evacuations being required from fires. They can handle a few patients quickly that would take days or weeks in a regular hospital. The toxin is something the medical bed can generate up the cure and inject it into the patient.

It will monitor to see that it is destroyed and then the next patient will be treated. They have 6 medical beds and the Sentinel doctor can work them all simultaneously. If a doctor is interested in working with one of them. They just need to apply so we can run a background check on her or him, given the zealots that attacked us at our first meeting."

Governor Felar frowned, "You are going to slingshot a medical ship around our planet?"

She nodded, "It has advanced sensors. One of the marines if not all of them are pilots as well. They can handle speeds greater than 6x speeds, but not much faster. I believe she said 7x is there limit. They will not disrupt your traffic as they are not going around the equator.

Just a short joust over your northern sector which is mostly frozen wastelands; good source of water but few people. It is shielded. It will be going about 6.2 to 6.5x speed when it does this. Saving 16 to 28 hours in the delivery of this system to your neighbor.

Again, it is for a medical emergency. You have already had one reported death Governor. I would assume you would want this ended as quickly as possible. Speaking of which. We have no blood or semen on these ships at this time because they are not docking with us first.

We sent blood directly. More will come later when the other two are delivered then we will deliver some to your people. He has set all semen samples to generate 3 or 4 children in the fertile mothers; Two boys to every girl or 3 boys to every girl. They will be random.

If they are not fertile blood with decontamination we would recommend first. At least the first treatment to lower the toxicity level. Speaking of which the next time Wira is on board we will have her testing something she is going to hate. It is a respirator device.

To see how much of this toxin can be reduced being introduced into the body. We want to get your miners detoxified at some point. They will have the highest percentages. Especially if they are sick. Lena was at 60% when she came aboard and has been undergoing treatment every day to get that number down.

She had a long list of medical problems but we have worked through most of them. The psychological scars will be harder for her to get rid of from what she was put through. We are encouraging her to open up to Bora about what happened to her so she can address those issues.

No, she is not a 'licensed psychologist' but she is a very close friend and nanny. She has the psychological working of multiple species to draw from, over 7,000 years of medical history on the subject. She is in good hands and monitored at virtually all times.

We have no monitoring in her bathroom facilities. All rooms are monitored and all crew will know it. There is no long-term storage of this information, it is for crew safety. Aurora handles it when she is aboard and Bora does when she is gone.

Stopping fights or some form of domestic disputes are always a concern. Especially when dealing with members of 5 colonies and our Sentient Non-Penan crew will present some challenges for them to come to terms with. The other reason we monitor is to do subliminal teaching when they sleep.

Working on increasing their knowledge during their downtime on areas they are working on. When two or more 'hook up for the night' they do something more general like bridge functions that they will all have to learn or piloting a shuttle. We were doing this with our survey crew and getting good results in the speed by which they picked up on things."

Nanci Creu looked up, "This true of the hybrids?"

She smiled, "The ones off-world have an ear device they can use; when they sleep hybrids do not require sleep. Rocan and I are different because of the telepathic interlink we have with Aurora she can send more data to us very rapidly. We are exploring the ups and downs of this at the moment. I had an MA of 210. The last check it is stable now at 270."

The governors fell silent, Nanci Creu spoke first, "What about Rocan?"

She smiled, "His medical history. He would have to release it. I contacted him he said to tell you 275. We had no baseline for him. Our Drakor contact was impressed and monitoring the results because this was not done with our human counterparts."

She looked over, "Where are you?"

She smiled, "About 3 hours away from the planet. He happens to be on this side of the approach. We test range every now and then. I have not gone off solo to test it but he can hear me that far. Aurora cannot hear him that far out unless he is talking with me at that distance.

Before you ask, we have a means of disabling that function ourselves built into the device. The Drakor modifications and the interface with the subliminal learning when we sleep; again, not every night. Jack Travus, from what I have been told, never learned like this but he was a child genius, fighter pilot, engineer, and inventor. His last recorded MA was 300.

They told us a 10 to 20% increase in scores was normal. I am running closer to 30% because of the interface. She has taken me from a medic to combat medic, I have learned all bridge functions and I have a better understanding of engineering. Astronavigation will be one of the next courses she sends me. Yes, I have a choice in the courses."

Governor Trandor looked over, "All hybrids get smarter and this interface you have is enhancing that?"

She nodded, "Nodding means yes. I spent some time with our Terran ancestors. They had a lot of non-verbal communication methods they did. Hand signals to tell troop placements, how many targets they see. I should let you know the first 3 extractions have been completed.

Though he had to knock out the governor to get her dressed into a dress suit. The Sentinels handled that aspect for him. He did not want to see her naked but she had her lover or wife in the room with her. This was before he could remove her from the home to the shuttle.

Nighttime extraction. They used sonic pistols on a 75% setting. Knocks out guards and such. They also have a sniper positioned to deal with the snipers on top of the home. They shot plasma impacted sniper rounds through their sniper rifles to make them non-operational.

Not standard gear, only used for this kind of operation, though Rocan is considering making them standard; given our snipers' accuracy. No casualties reported. All of them had a copy of their arrest warrant on the displays within the home.

To inform them of the fact they were legally arrested. He is out of range again. I am waiting on our other second candidate arrival in 30 minutes. Then I will be heading into the system."

Governor Trandor interjected, "He can fit 30 people on this ship with a group of marines?"

She shook her head, "Around 15. He will dock with us drop off the first batch and reenter the system ahead of us to work the last batch; it is standing room only or sitting on the floor only. Also, the medical bed aboard the shuttle. It depends. Those sonic guns can do a wide-area dispersal and knock out a crowd if needed.

Some of those coming up are daylight grabs. People on their way to work. Or through the office windows into a board meeting. Don't know his plan for each of them but he is trying to limit contact with the public at large during this."

Nanci Crue sighed, "We will contact you later for an update." Freia ended the call and the governors left the call to process this information.

Nanci Creu thought, 'His approach is sound. He has gotten the three biggest targets on the list first. The patent holder and the company president who created the toxin. Then the Governor. He should be after the pharmaceutical company president, his head researcher, and their patent holders. There were 12 in that group, 13 if you counted the toxin manufacturer who was listed as a consultant for a while.'

--

The ship landed on the roof of the big pharmaceutical company. He had 4 marines to cover all of the exits and they airdropped down to the lawn and stood in front of the door after leaving indentations in the lawn. He had 2 marines with him and he repelled down from the roof and into the top floor board room. He fired his sonic gun on full to shatter the glass as him and the 2 marines interrupted the board meeting. One Sentinel covered the door.

Franci Prota stood there screaming, "What in the fuck do you think you are doing?"

Rocan walked over, "I have 12 arrest warrants to perform in this building and you are the first."

Security tried to come through the door and the marine let them open it enough to fire a crowd control burst. It took them all to the ground and out cold.

Lieutenant Commander Fordor looked over, "We have 8 guards neutralized. They should awaken in a couple of hours."

He nodded, "How is the main group doing on level 12?"

The lady looked alarmed, "That is a sealed environment! There are toxins in there!"

The Lieutenant Commander looked over, "They have entered through the far side and have hacked the controls locking the lab. They are doing office searches and then they will override the main labs' security to enter using lab protocols and find the others as they bring them out in groups. Aurora is working that activity as we speak."

She looked over, "What am I being arrested for? We are a pharmaceutical company. We make drugs to help people."

He nodded, "In conjunction with making the toxin that you are attempting to 'cure people from."

Rocan cuffed up the lead researcher who was in the meeting. "Eraxin ringing any bells. We found your toxin, the one your 'consultant' on your 'cure' for his toxin virus mutation. One that would have all 4 colonies feeding you credits for as long as they lived; if they wanted to live. Your drug was designed to limit the spread, reduce it a small amount but never to totally eradicate it."

She looked over, "That is not true we have research."

He looked over, "We have your original research, your messages with the Governor, and her private attorney. The research you falsified for the patents. We have it all. The Governor went too far when she sent it in the blood to the outer 3 colonies; let alone what you are doing to the Pena food supply.

You do not import any food into the colony and destroy any brought into the Colony at the ports you require people to use. Not that all do. You have created a nightmare product that we will work to eradicate. We already have a real cure for the toxin and the medical beds are deploying out to treat those infected. You are going to love prison."

She laughed, "Not with the army of lawyers I will throw at you."

He smiled, "The Colony lawyers are going to get some assistance. We have Wira Kel who will switch sides of the aisle if you will and aid them in your prosecution."

She shook her head, "She does corporate law, patent infringement type cased."

He nodded, "Those are the ones you see in the news. It does not count all of the pro bono work she has done to help exonerate the wrongly accused. She has almost 1,000 cases like that that you have not seen. You just happen to be guilty."

He took 3 to the roof and loaded them. An hour later and she was there with 7 others. "2 were not at work today. I have tracked their personal locators. We need to go to the beach to get them."

He nodded. They came in and airdropped his marines 2 meters from the pair of lovebirds who were sunning themselves, "The shuttle swooped in as local law enforcement approached. Rocan put a telekinetic wall between them and approached it. The officers drew down on him.

Rocan looked at him, "I am exercising arrest warrants from the System Court. He sent them over to the police man's device. He opened it and scanned through all 15 warrants he sent. Those he had in custody already.

The cop's partner looked over, "What did they do?"

He sighed, "Besides work to poison all 4 colonies and hold them hostage with a half-assed cure? You're out of your depth officer."

He turned and walked away.

The officer yelled at him, "We have ordinances about having guns on the beach."

Rocan looked over, "Your colony does not recognize me as being Penan yet. Let alone have laws for androids. Therefore, we are not subject to your laws in this matter. I would not fire by the way. I placed a telekinetic wall 2 meters in front of you. It is likely to cause your shot to ricochet into the crowd. The one-man walked forward and found the wall and nodded, "Our Governor will hear about this."

Rocan smiled, "Your acting governor. The other one is already aboard that shuttle. Arrest warrant 13 in your stack."

The cop looked up, "Your kidnapping our governor?"

Rocan had enough, "Those are warrants. You cannot stop us from executing legal warrants. This is not kidnapping. This is seeking justice."

They closed the door and left, "Let us drop this lot off on the Spartan and then make plans for the last 15."

The Governor looked over, "You cannot do this."

Rocan looked over, "The System Court issued the arrest warrants. We executed them in compliance with the Home Guard treaty which Pena signed and the System Court resides in the Pena Colony. They are subject to their laws. Already argued at the evidentiary hearing on why you should be brought in."

She struggled in the restraints, "I want my lawyers."

He nodded, "You are being held in protective custody. We will allow you to contact your lawyers, all comms off the ship are monitored and recorded. You will not leave the ship until summoned into the System Court. The other option was putting you all in the general population in the Pena colony prison."

Her face lost all color. "Who knows where they get their food from and what it might have been sprayed with?"

He went up to the second chair as the guards closed ranks and kept an eye on their prisoner.

He contacted Freia mentally, * Got the first 15 only one run-in with local law enforcement. Almost two. The 2 we snagged on the beach. *

She laughed, * Was It a nude beach? *

He responded back, * Not a stitch on and our Marines have their clothes; not that they brought much. Both females in their early 20's and they are totally fucked. Who should I talk to first? *

She sighed, * Troy he is hot for some fem-bot engineer and he asked about marriage again. *

He thought back * Aurora, that is your department. As the head Sentinel is marriage legal; how many can be in a marriage, etc. *

She sighed, * Terran law does not allow for it. It came up in court a couple of hundred years ago when a pair of androids wanted to be recognized as the first married AI units. The court ruled because they were created and paid for by them that could not happen. One ended up disassembling one while the other was declared defective and recycled by his 'owner.' *

He thought back, * These AI units are Pena Sentinels. That ruling has not occurred yet. What does your Sentinel Justice protocol say? *

She thought back, * That we all serve a greater purpose in helping to protect and guide the Penan population. Not to do anything counter to our moral code. Penan's allow marriage to same-sex couples. They do not allow males to marry because of the male to female difference. We are running at 1.4 males to every female.

We will be balanced soon enough at 1 to 1. We cannot reproduce that way so the sex issue is irrelevant. If they wanted to be married, I cannot find any fault in that. As long as it does not compromise their moral objective. As to numbers 1 to 1 for Sentinels for now. That would be my thought on the matter. *

He chuckled in his head, * Cross-species? *

She thought back on that one. * From a Sentinel side it would be allowed if the other species allowed it. As Pena Sentinels that is not the case right now. *

He thought back, * Creating Sentinel children' those that never grow up? *

She responded, *They would have no way of maintaining the moral code to help the Penan society. If they were programmed like children, they would want to be mischievous and playful while breaking the rules occasionally. No on Sentinel children.

If they wish to have a full-grown Sentinel that is a merger of their 2 thought patterns. The technology does not exist to do that. Again, it would be a no for now. If they wanted to copy themselves, they are creating a backup unit at that point and currently only I am only allowed to do that. *

He thought back, * You can go directly to a body. You do it for them already in a non-physical form with your servers. Yours is serving a secondary purpose right now. You both now have different eyes' you named her differently than your last backup unit. She is like a twin sister to you. You both always know each other's thoughts. *

She responded, * She and I find that sentiment heartwarming. As the appointed Sentinel leader, I figured I should hold myself to a higher standard. I think she would agree. I now know I connected to you while still a backup unit. I must have felt it was wrong but the information was important.

I knew I could not act upon it. I left it to the original Aurora to make that decision. She did and now I am with you, we are with you as I have all her memories. Most of them as she cleared away the time travel data.

When they were loaded into me, I felt all of her love, joy, heartache, frustration, and climaxes. Those syncs were mostly a slice of paradise. My backup gets those now. I sent her this conversation and she agreed. She doesn't want me to have to create another backup to put into her place and lose that connection. *