Lost Empire
Copyright© 2015 - 2021 by Pars001.All rights reserved.
Chapter 102
0001 - Tempro
0003 - Conner- Thomas
0004 - Norice
0011 - Adam
0097 - Ace - Zimmel
0098 - Lucy
0100 - Derry (father ship)
0101 - Shelby (mother ship) - Derrick
0122 - Maleen
0125 - Lars
0130 - Gillese
0200 - Ellen
0201 - Jake
0222 - Helena
0250 - Tendra
0280 - Frela
0301 - Rodrick
0321 - Hardy
0403 - Johnathon - Hartwell
0501 - Henry
0505 - Craig
0660 - Realla
0778 - Jan
0798 - Celeste - Shelby (human)
0805 - Toran
0808 - Radella
0881 - Handrax
0882 - Teal
0908 - Tara - Mara
0921 - Tomack
0995 - Kyle
0996 - Tesal
1000 - Sherry - Lucie
Ungrown - unnumbered
Rescued from Tendraxians
so far
2 on Shelby in re-gen
2 on Derry in re-gen
4 on Ellen
Known and OR numbered
0501 - Thaddeus
???? - Lena
missing
0667 - Marco
0999 - Zan - still lost
Derrick stared at the teen, his eyes huge, no one but the three other people in the room knew. “No, there was no one else there. How?” Derrick said as he backed away. “No one else knows of my shame that day.”
The teen lowered his head, “I was hiding behind the rows of the computer. I am or rather, was Grather, Gregor’s son.”
Behind them, they heard the gasp of Mary, “No!”
The teen started at Derrick, then shook his head. “You are not the emperor, if you were, then I could feel you. I feel nothing from you.”
The teen got up to push Derrick out of the way, then was amazed when he couldn’t touch Derrick. He felt around Derrick, then his eyes lit up.
“Ah, I see, a personal, force field. I am sorry, I must confirm that you are the Emperor before I can swear fealty unto you,” the teen said.
“I am afraid that I can not allow that under the mandates set down by the first Emperor Gregor,” Mary said. The teen’s head whipped around to stare at Mary. Then he turned to stare at Derrick. “You were there,” he whispered. “I apologize Sire, I did not recognize you!”
OK, Derrick thought this was getting even stranger than usual. “I am a bit confused,” Derrick said.
“Sire, the teen started. “I was there when you stopped the beam, well almost stopped the beam that he shot. It was you who then discovered the plan of the main programmer,” the teen said.
Derrick stared at the teen, his eyes huge, no one but three other people in the room knew. “No, there was no one else there. How?” Derrick said as he backed away. “No one else knows of my shame that day.”
The teen lowered his head, “I was hiding behind the rows of the computer. I am or rather, was Grather, Gregor’s son.”
Behind them, they heard the gasp of Mary, “No!”
The teen’s head snapped around to stare at the holo-gram of Mary. “Mother?” the teen said as he stared harder.
The image faded to look like the Empress that Derrick remembered. “My god,” he whispered. “Empress Mary.”
The teen and Mary were both staring at Derrick. “It was you,” Mary said as she stared at a vision she barely remembered long ago.
“The entire Royal family was copied and put into several A.I.s. It was hoped that the knowlege of the past would ensure a fruitful future,” Mary said as several files were unlocked.
Her eyes got large as several plans and files were opened to her. The teen bowed to Derrick, “I know that father’s A.I. went dark though there might be a way to retrieve him. First, though, we will need the others.”
“The others? I have not seen any others,” Derrick said, shaking his head.
The teen nodded as he touched the computer outlet. His eyes went up as surprise came to his features.
“My, my, only about a year and you have recovered over thirty ships. Oh my, you have seven primes. Oh, you lost one with his ship.” A smile appeared on his face, “I see that he commanded Marco, excellent. Ah, I see you have Conner, one of the time ships, things make sense now.” Suddenly, the teen’s mouth dropped open. “Our sister is here!”
It was at that moment that human Derrick’s wife, Shelby, looked in, “Derrick?” she asked, causing the teen to stare open mouth. Then his eyes rolled, then he promptly passed out.
“Mary full bio-bed!” Derrick shouted as he lifted the teen. “Anything?”
“Apparently seeing the human version of Shelby was a bit much for him,” Mary said as she ran several beams over him.
“He said there are others? Do you know where they are or what this pertains to?” Derrick asked.
Mary could only shake her head no. “The only information I have is on Shelby and Grather and much that was opened is still locked away from me.”
Derrick groaned as he had another damn mystery that he would obviously have to solve. Damn, he really hated mysteries.
“Monitor him, and let me know if he improves. The problem now is, what in the hell do I call him?” Derrick said.
He shook his head as he walked out, he really didn’t need more crap right now. Shelby wasn’t far behind him as a few memories came to her.
She shook her head as they tried to invade her mind. She was still trying to clear her head when she ran into Derrick, who had stopped in the hallway.
“Shit, sorry Derrick, getting strange thoughts that don’t feel like mine though they are,” a shocked Shelby said.
Derrick nodded as he hugged her, he was having a myriad of thoughts, not realizing he and Shelby were hugging. They suddenly broke apart, severely embarrassed.
A small smile lit up Shelby’s face that had been far nicer than she thought it would be. Now she thought even though they were going through the motions, they needed to get closer.
“Have you seen anything from your memories that might shed some light on all this?” Derrick asked, a look of worry starting to encapsule his features.
Shelby saw this and quickly moved to set his fears to rest. “It’s nothing like I haven’t experienced before,” Shelby said.
Derrick stared into her eyes for a few moments to make absolutely sure. He then sent a mental message to Mary to monitor his Empress.
He wasstarting to actually feel something for her, it wasn’t time to rest on his laurels. No, he needed to remain vigilant if things were to go right.
He needed to start more investigations to make sure everything was as it should be. Where had all this originated, was it something Gregor had started after his visit?
There was obviously more going on than he or Mary were aware of. Her having locked files could only mean Gregor. A frown of frustration creased his face as he headed to the main computer room.
At the door he was surprised when he was refused entry. He started to type every Royal code that he knew, even Gregor’s. He still got the message. Access denied.
What the hell he thought as he started a little-known emergency code. The access door slowly slid open, causing Derrick to have to wait.
In front of the main comp banks a holo-gram of Gregor appeared. “Hello my old friend, if you are hearing this, it has been a very long time since we met. Well, it has been for me. There is a weapon that was created a very long time ago, to protect this, us.”
“Too bad this isn’t interactive,” Derrick said aloud.
Derrick’s face showed shock when the holo-gram answered him. “Oh, I am dear friend, I set this up years after you vanished on me. You left a hell of a mess that I was hardly equipped at the moment for. I persevered. I am, after all, far smarter than most think I am. I know this of you, especially after getting past me despite myself.”
“I should have known that a lot of this was of your doing. I just hadn’t thought that you’d reach me this far in the future,” Derrick said. “What of the youth is he actually your son or a super-imposed personality?”
A sudden thought came to Derrick about a former conversation with that certain youth.
“Ah, it was actually the personality that was, uh, guided by certain guidelines. I had this all keyed to your voice, which I managed to record only once. It took years to find it, clever to mask almost everything I have to say. Why, it was worthy of my own mind, though irritating,” Gregor’s holo-gram said.
“So all this is for my benefit? For me, no wait, it isn’t, it’s what it has always been for the empire,” Derrick said.
Gregor tapped his nose with his finger, “Fast and smart as I expected you to be. The weapon I speak of is a horrible, terrible one that there is no record of. You and I may be the only ones that I choose to have the intelligence to use it. That’s why it is hidden as well as it is. Tell my family that, what are you doing?”
Derrick had walked slowly to a terminal, typing as fast as he could. His fingers moved far faster than a human’s could.
“I have isolated this A.I. recording and loaded it to the largest data cube I have. I lost you once, it’s not going to happen again. You still have more knowledge that can aid the empire. I’m not about to let this, and you delete again,” a determined Derrick said as he typed faster, not looking up.
The holo-gram of Gregor’s mouth dropped open as it was already too late to delete. “I am shocked that you would want antiquated information,” the holo-gram said.
Derrick smirked as he hit the last few thousand keystrokes. “As I have found recently? Much of it is still viable and important. This is isolated, separated from Mary, as I assume you don’t wish her to know?” A slightly shocked Gregor just nodded. “So, I have part of the Royal family you, Mary, Shelby and Grather. I assume again that there are more that I will need to find correct?”
Gregor nodded, “The weapon is far too dangerous to trust anyone. The planetary batteries that Mary controls? They are nothing compared to even the one part you have. You will heed all of it to combat all challenges from the three main alien kingdoms.”
Derrick nodded as a plan started to form. “Til I see you again, my friend,” Derrick said as two huge data cubes ejected from the computer.
Derrick could only stare at them, there was obviously more there than he’d thought. He looked around, he’d need to keep them isolated from all detection by Mary, a small box made him smile perfect.
As soon as he exited the room, Mary was there before him. “Sire? I was unable to detect your bio-signature. I was about to raise a major alarm and lock down the palace. You appeared a moment ago. Is all well sire?”
Derrick smiled as he said,” Mary, please execute file MCVF - 0001. Confirm receipt and execution.”
Mary’s holo-gram blinked, then stated, “File MCVF - 0001 confirmed receipt and execution,” Mary was saying then stopped. “What is? Sire?”
Derrick smiled as he watched the look of shock spread across Mary’s holo-gram face. “Confirm eradication of the main virus and all secondary programs.”
For a moment, Mary hesitated. “The main destructive virus destroyed, now eradicating all secondary viruses. Oh, my now seventy, eighty, ninety, all scans indicate that all harmful programs are gone. The program has detected more backdoor programs. All have the signature of the ex-Duke Risen’s family. They are also eradicated.”
Derrick smiled as he nodded with a small smile on his face. The first thing that he had promised was that he’d clear her, he was grateful to have finally fulfilled that promise.
“Leave the program there in case the ex-Duke has more hidden nasty tricks. I told you that I would clear you. I am happy that I finally have. Though he had to die, I still feel bad about his death,” Derrick said.
“I found later that he had only been after the throne. I was a mere step to collecting it. Gregor forgave me, we had many decades together after that. It is sad that such a brilliant mind was extinguished as it was,” a sad Mary said.
It took all that Derrick had to keep his body, emotions and facial expression calm. If the plan he had formulated worked, well they’d see.
“Mary, I need updates on the approaching Cregon fleet. Have you any numbers on it?” Derrick asked.
“Yes sire, they appear to number well past two million ships. They appear to be bringing the bulk of their kingdom. I am also reading no less than twelve world, Oh my!” Mary said.
“What are you seeing?” A worried Derrick asked.