Chapter 1: Jason’s Battleship

“These gates are convenient. We traveled in seventy minutes across four galaxies. In an hour, we will arrive at Gromelikine,” said Andrea.

“I listened to the conversations the Gromelix King had with Queen Lynas Parayekt. His behavior was abominable. He reminds me of a spoiled child,” said Linda.

Jason nodded slowly. He crossed his fingers, placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his fingers. He sighed.

“I think she is ready to throw them out of the Kingdom. They don’t need to start a civil war to be freed from their union with the Tyrannosaurus Rexes,” said Jason.

“Jason, no doubt there is a big issue behind the scenes.There is no use speculating what it might be. We need to get there and start talking,” said Razza.

Jason nodded and sat back deep in thought.

When he returned his attention back to the others, Perdita caught his eye.

“Jason, I enjoyed talking with your daughter Lauren when we were on Porquenta. She is a capable and intelligent young woman and I did like her husband, Dan, very much. He is a charming and understated man,” said Perdita. “I was interested to hear what was happening on Earth.

“She told me she spoke with you about the progress the leaders have made in their discussions on Earth. I understand the nations will unify and join your house, it is only a matter of time. The leaders have had discussions with both Cassius and with Brecht Chatzke your illustrious convincing diplomatic insect mother in law. Cassius told them if they joined your house, they would become part of the Empire. Your mother-in-law told them to ignore your protestations about leading Earth; she said you are a great leader and other people will run Earth. She told them that you will keep them safe. She said you are perfectly capable and when push comes to shove you own Porquenta, Mars and Venus.”

“Earth has such a long way to go. It needs people with experience to help the planet catch up with the Collective,” said Jason. “I never thought they could ever agree on anything. I was surprised to hear how far they have gone to be prepared to unify Earth.”

Perdita nodded before continuing.

“Brecht explained all the allies would help Earth to develop. She told them the planets selected you to own them not vice versa. She informed them her daughter, the Empress Philippa, runs the show administratively on your behalf. Philippa runs thirty planets and one more will not be much more of a challenge. Brecht said Lauren has agreed to be the face of the house on Earth and she says Lauren has the ability to run Earth with her eyes closed. Most of the administration is done by an administration AI that could run twenty planets much more complex than Earth. She says few politicians are needed. The AI has rules for planets at different levels of evolution which it applies depending on the stage they have evolved to. These rules are based on past experience and extensive evidence and they work well. The law of the Empire is simple and politicians are not needed to make new laws except in rare situations. The AIs polish the laws using existing knowledge and evidence from past experience, then convert the laws into the rules they apply. There is a coherent set of laws for every developmental phase of a planet with associated sets of rules. We do it the same way in the Jumo Empire. The Collective under Ouma Chatzke have much the same system which they say was influenced by the ancients.

“Both Cassius and Brecht independently told them telepaths would quickly find and incarcerate the terrorists on the planet. They told the leaders they would assist the people of Earth in the same way they developed many planets before them. I also told Lauren to tell them how much you have done for the Jumo Empire,” said Perdita looking at him and smiling. “I suspect the sales job is done and you will be even more fabulously wealthy. Assets seem to seek you out. You are not only a black hole for trouble. You are a black hole for money! You are going to be an Emperor of a huge domain. I suspect you will be as reluctant an Emperor as you are a reluctant Warlord,” Perdita added laughing.

“I am not as reluctant as I first was to take on Earth. With Lauren in charge and Philippa helping her it will be a breeze. If Brecht and the allies help Earth develop, I will be happy to do my bit!” Jason stated smiling wanly.

“I love the sound of the administrative AI. Porquenta is very excited at the prospect of being able to participate in the development of Earth, but I suspect his real aim is he wants more manpower for Porquenta, Mars and Venus. He tells me he is busy building an AI for Earth that will deal with its entire AI and computing needs for the next hundred years,” said Jason before continuing thoughtfully.

“Earth already has integrated teams of experts from the Collective and the Empire helping with the necessary political development. With this level of assistance, I am looking forward to the prospect of helping Earth move forward reasonably quickly. Even though I joke about not wanting to run things, I am happy to do what I can. I am not a good day to day administrator, but I think I can make reasonable decisions at a high level. I watch Cassius and Brecht in action and they involve themselves only in working on major decisions. The rest of the time is selling the ideas and keeping people happy. They rarely tell people what to do.

“When I think about it they both listen a lot, give superb advice but rarely and they take long term views. Alana is a great administrator, she has superb social intelligence and is a master in the area of intelligence. Brecht is very versatile and a great leader and the best mother in law anyone could have,” said Jason. “I admire her enormously.”

“Ouma Chatzke and Cassius both say they have special programs for disadvantaged peoples. Cassius says compulsory military service makes an enormous difference to help the younger people integrate. He and Ouma Chatzke offered to help us if we don’t have the ability to cope with the volume of people involved,” said Jason.

“Linda you look like you are bursting to tell us something amusing.”

Linda laughed.

“I was speaking with Chuck and Chloe, and they are even funnier in person than when you tell stories of their adventures, Jason. Your grandchildren are exceptional young people. They are traveling the galaxies in their own shuttles with their war games teams at least once a month and are participating in strategy tournaments. In the tournaments, they fight for first place, but recently they decided they would not participate in the same tournaments unless they were really big ones. They and their teams each have outstanding reputations for innovation and unique solutions, much as you do. They have even traveled between universes. Mergal sent a ship to fetch them to visit her and to participate in a competitive set of simulations looking at the possibilities of how the Ghoul worlds could be taken. Admirals and generals participated from all the allies. Mergal hid them and their teams in a different room, with a proctor to ensure scrupulous fairness, and they competed against a thousand teams. The tournament was arranged during school holidays and they spent a week playing. They placed equal first. You can imagine the uproar that followed when the winners were announced. They are now well known in the Azayal Kingdom,” said Razza. “They and their teams present well on the media and made a big impact. Lauren says they are behaving much more maturely.

“That was why they were so secretive and only spent a day with us on Porquenta. They didn’t want to embarrass you if they did poorly, so if you didn’t know they were going and if they performed poorly you would not think less well of them. I told them not to worry about it.

“They both said they would rather surprise you after it was done. Mergal called me just before we left and told me about the initial uproar followed by their mature and gracious behavior,” said Perdita.

“They were chatting to Col. Constance Ross from Intelligence. She told them about her intelligence simulations and her father gave her intelligence simulations when she was younger. Both Chloe and Chuck wanted to try one of her simulations. She gave them a pack of her favorite simulations. Both of them disappeared soon afterwards and when they returned, they were both elated. They begged for some more. She gave them her whole suite of simulations for them to attempt when they returned home,” said Julia.

“Those are good skills to have. I found the intelligence simulations some of the most challenging of all the simulations I have done; you are constantly evaluating possible and probable implications from the data found,” said Jason.

“I am really missing Pardela. I became quite attached to her,” Razza said.

“I miss her too,” echoed Julia and Perdita.

“She said she couldn’t come with us even though she desperately wanted to come, because so much time passed while we were away, she had a lot to catch up with what was going on,” said Razza. “She is intimately involved in the restructuring of the University. She said that everything is now up in the air with a whole host of educators now spending time with the Azayal. I find it strange the Orcs and the Warriors of the Apocalypse keep themselves very much to themselves. I don’t know whether they want to be invited to participate more directly or not.

“They have willingly sent scientists to Porquenta. Maybe at the leaders meeting it could be something worth discussing. Integrating all the knowledge and education would be a monumental task, but I do think there may be holes and vulnerabilities each of the allies have and do not realize,” said Razza.

“I understand the Coven educators are delighted to have the opportunity to participate and learn from the experiences of others. They are finding the incubator environment of Porquenta stimulating.

“My father and grandfather are keen to lift the standard of Coven education as fast as they possibly can. The morale of the people is at an all-time high, despite the war continuing. They enjoy being part of a positive alliance and they are already seeing improvements in the standard of living in the Coven. The planetary AIs are participating in all of this activity and are also enjoying the new challenges. Nuswa, Porquenta, Mars and even Venus are beginning to participate and they all have a lot to offer. Unfortunately, Venus is going to need as much work as Nuswa. The refurbishment of planetary AIs is a complex and a big job according to both Claudette and Sheila. Nuswa is excited to hear of the pregnancy of Sheila. She says she is the grandmother and it is her first grandchild. Claudette is envious of Sheila, but she is having to do a lot of work to help Mars finish her upgrades and is also spending time with Sheila working on Venus and Nuswa.

“Jason she’s going to insist that you impregnate her as well. Mars is quite jealous of Porquenta,” said Razza smiling.

“I could not believe how excited Porquenta was. He has a grandchild to focus on and even though it is a fetus he is like a mother hen watching its development. His planet is growing and thriving and he says he is fulfilling his purpose every day. He is nothing like how I imagined an AI to be,” said Razza.

“He told me he regards me as a daughter as well. I was quite touched,” said Julia. “I spent quite a lot of time talking with him while we were on the planet. He has so many active projects, it is impossible for me to keep up even with my own AI. He tells me he’s still using only five percent of his current capacity and he told me he is keen to get more people from the Azayal and from Earth,” said Julia.

“His current interest is in building up your intelligence services. He has spoken about his plans with Chuck and Chloe and I think fired up both of their imaginations. They were excited to hear Connie was in intelligence and asked her how she learned about intelligence activities. She explained she did dedicated intelligence simulations. That added more fire to the appetites of both of them,” added Julia. “They begged to try some of Connie’s simulations.”

Jason smiled and nodded.

“They never cease to amuse and amaze me,” he remarked.

“Porquenta has been speaking with the experts from the allies and they are assisting him with the structuring and organization of his intelligence efforts. He is concentrating on decontaminating your companies,” Julia explained. “He believes you still have companies with criminal employees from the time of the priests.”

“I spoke with Chuck and Chloe after they had done three intelligence simulations. I then suggested they talk to Jacques from the Warriors and Marduk from the Orcs to see what they have. I want to draw in the Orcs and Warriors a bit more,” said Julia on a roll.

“He has never given me any intelligence sims,” said Jason. “I wonder why?”

“I will explain why. Chuck and Chloe went to speak with Porquenta to ask what he had. He said he was not aware he had any simulations of intelligence activities and said he was searching for some. He contacted Connie and thanked her for stimulating Chuck and Chloe and said the query from your grandchildren unlocked an intelligence section previously hidden within his memory. He found all the information he needed to set up his own services. He was excited and when I last saw Chuck and Chloe, they were deep in conversation with Sheila and Claudette talking about intelligence simulations.

“What do your family think about our relationship Julia, you did spend some time with them?” Jason asked.

“They loved Porquenta and enjoyed their stay. They tell me they only heard good things about you. I think they were a bit intimidated when they were exposed to the level of service we enjoy, the magnificent food and the wonders of Porquenta technology.

“Our meeting was too brief. They hardly spoke with you, Jason and that is unlike them. My mother said you have an aura that is overwhelming. She said she has never seen my father tongue-tied. They would like to meet you next time we are in the Empire on their own turf and over a meal or two. They would like us to formalize our relationship at some time,” said Julia. “My mother thinks you are a great catch, but she is scared when she hears what we have done and worries about my safety. She offered some of our warships and troops to help protect us.

“My father says you are an extraordinary man. He was most impressed to see how unpretentious you are. He says you feel more of an Emperor than Cassius. When I asked what he meant he said he could not explain it. He said even when you are joking you have a presence that makes him breathless, replied Julia.

“My father and Felix said the same. Cassius says your presence is growing quickly. He said Ouma Chatzke met the Emperor of your people a long time ago and said he had a huge presence. She said she could feel him as he approached her planet. She says you have a way to go!” Perdita volunteered smiling.

“How did you go with all of the mothers and babies?” She asked.

“I was overwhelmed with babies and with excited mothers in the Palace. They had a lottery for women who are living elsewhere to bring their babies to see me. I saw babies for half or more of every day. I was able to spend plenty of time with Philippa, Andrea, Linda, Celia, Felicia and their babies. Philippa is back to her former self and is calm and collected again,” explained Jason.

“What is happening about your wish to find a way to communicate with the mothers and children more regularly?” Andrea asked.

Jason nodded slowly.

“I had a very interesting discussion with Porquenta about establishing a relationship with the children. I said that I have always felt responsible for every child I fathered, but I am overwhelmed with the numbers of mothers and children. I said I could hardly conceive of twenty-nine million babies. He said that the number has gone up to thirty-four million as whenever I am on the ship, in the Empire or the Collective, my sperm is recovered and stored and given to my other women.

“I said even with one million babies, I couldn’t establish a relationship. He asked how he could help. I told him of Alana’s advice to use technology and to try a broadcast. He said that he thought it was a good idea, but he would like to make another suggestion. He said he will dedicate part of himself to communicate with each mother and baby every day, but he would communicate with them as if it was me. Each mother would record the development of the child with him and he would ensure each child was superbly educated. He would read to them and tell them stories as they grew older. He said later when he was more utilized, he would dedicate an AI to the task. He had the audacity to tell me my personality and mannerisms were well known to him and he could easily do my parenting job,” said Jason laughing. “I said he was rather full of himself considering his only experience in the area was one grandchild in utero. He had no reply to that, but he did laugh.”