Chapter 19: Wuland

“Where is Jason?” Linda asked.

“He is lying down. He says he wants to meditate and have a chat with Porquenta and will join us in half an hour before we reach Wuland,” said Lisirra.

“How are you going with your therapy?” Linda asked.

“I am doing fine, not that I had any issues. I had it all sorted in my mind a long time ago. I agreed to go for therapy, so I went. I find the experience pleasant,” said Lisirra.

“How do you feel about Jason?” Andrea asked Lisirra who was looking at her feet. Andrea and raised her eyebrows inquisitively while Linda grimaced.

“He is steadily improving since we visited my family. I am enjoying watching Jason change for the better. He demonstrates more integrity than before. I think my father’s influence has played an important role and calmed Jason down. He is not trying to be what he is not,” said Lisirra.

Linda looked at Andrea and shrugged. Andrea shook her head opened her mouth and looked at Lisirra with her eyes wide. She winked at Linda and started working on her hologram.

“Lisirra, you and Jason’s groups have made a big difference in these battles. I am worried about this next one. I hate the idea of Jason getting caught by this Pericles,” said Linda.

“I don’t think he should go anywhere near those vaults,” said Andrea looking down as she moved the shapes on her hologram, “but you know him, if he wants to go, he will.”

“I have been talking with Porquenta, he thinks Pericles can incapacitate both biologicals and AI marines,” said Sheila. “Porquenta says the Grork developed drug delivery micro-missiles that penetrate armor and implemented the concept to capture people in the past. He also thinks as the Grork have been working on gaining control of communications, they may have trans-dim control systems for non-biologicals.

“He says the Pericles may have the ability to generate conditions like those in another universe to degrade non-biologicals and the armor of biologicals. He is evaluating methods of dealing with the problems we may face. Porquenta explained we are not facing a new challenge or a new type of trap, but we need to find out what the challenge is so we can address it.

“As we speak, he is talking with Jason about the information he has in his archives, and he is providing suggestions to prevent the Pericles from achieving his objectives,” said Sheila. “The Safion were well aware of these devices and methods. Several varieties of countermeasures proved useful in different situations.”

“Porquenta is very keen to meet you Lisirra,” said Sheila, “he has been very impressed to hear of your achievements. He thinks Jason will gain a lot from contact with you. He liked the strategies you used with the Schlogg, and he praised the fact that you were able to continue what you did for so long without being detected,” said Sheila.

Lisirra beamed and for an instant looked like her mother.

“Porquenta likes generals and admirals who can think out-of-the-box. He is also impressed with your father with whom he has spoken on several occasions. Your father sent the simulations that both you and he have been doing in the last few hundred years. He told me you are both in a class of your own,” Sheila continued.

“I have heard so much about him and I definitely would like to meet him as soon as I can. I suspect I don’t need one of his bodies as we found ours, but if I did, his seem to be the best. I want to have my child before Ixal has hers. I hated my body in that awful dimension. There was no way I was going to have a child that looked like those monsters,” said Lisirra. “Incidentally where is Ixal?”

“With whom would you have this child?” Linda asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“With Jason of course!” Lisirra opened her mouth and put her hand in front of it. “Oh, drat it why did I say that?”

Linda and Andrea laughed and bobbed their heads.

“Ixal is in one of the other battleships,” said Linda.

“She is a powerful telepath, and since she was enhanced, she can kill some of the most powerful Grork. This ship is the only one with double psychic enhancers. We spread out Jason’s team members to other ships,” said Andrea who then looked upwards to talk to Ship.

“Ship, please warn Jason we are approaching Wuland, we will be there in fifteen minutes. I will be interested to hear of his discussion with Porquenta.”

Jason returned and looked cheerful.

“Porquenta upgraded Patton to the highest level he can. Lisirra he is my early battle AI which ran my simulations. Porquenta is building him a body so Patton can travel but will have an instantaneous connection to his larger AI self if necessary, much as Sheila has with Porquenta. Patton misses spending time with me and I have to admit I miss him. He doesn’t want to spend all his time building curricula and creating simulations for the war colleges.”

“Patton wants to spend time with Jason and with the crew of his ship or wherever he may be,” said Andrea. “I think it is going to be a bit late for him. The Grork are the last of our enemies at least for a while, I hope.

“I want to spend time with my baby, and I wouldn’t mind a break for a few hundred years. I would also like to do some history and politics at University.”

“Porquenta and Patton are not optimistic that we will have peace for long. Both say at least one new enemy arises every thousand years,” said Sheila.

“I would be delighted to have a thousand years before I would need to fight another a major war,” said Jason. “A thousand years for me is ten lifetimes. For Andrea and Linda, it is even more lifetimes. I want to study in peace, do some work, have a cup of coffee with friends without worrying about being attacked and I certainly would like to spend some time with my children as they grow up. I am sure I can find competent people to run my developing Empire, though I suspect I will lose the AI planets as they belong to the Safion. I will be sad to miss you guys Sheila,” said Jason. “I also can’t see myself living in the Uzliumbax crystal city we saw.”

“How did the rest of your conversation with Porquenta go?” Linda asked.

“I spoke with both him and Patton,” said Jason. “We went through a series of scenarios and he explained the alternative ways The Pericles could have set up his trap. We both agree the Pericles will use Ooryphyon. The Pericles will try to encourage me to have to rescue her. He has a way to persuade me to be the one to do it. Porquenta believes there is a trans-dim lock that is structured so I’m the only one who can open it.

“Porquenta says we can easily block the escape of the Pericles, but if he captures me, I could die if we block the tunnels. He reassured me we could capture the escape capsule after it goes trans-dim. He says the ship has sensors to locate the shuttle and we can do it without major difficulty. We discussed a variety of alternatives of what could be done and discussed these with the ship. I want to discuss the alternatives with Ooryphyon who can tell me the likelihood of the outcomes,” said Jason. “Can we get the other generals and admirals involved in planning this attack to join us before we hit the ground?”

“Jason, I can sense you developed one of your sneaky plans,” said Linda smiling, “I will ask ship to get it all organized. Lisirra, I have sent your signals to the ground and those of Jason to tell the Schlogg the ground invasion is imminent. Our team and the planning group will be with us in half an hour. The chef is preparing lunch. We can talk while we eat.”

“I need to concentrate as I am going to try to form a secure telepathic link to Ooryphyon. I don’t want to take the risk that the Pericles gets the gist of the communication. I am going to the small conference room next door,” said Jason.

“Can I come with and link into you at the same time?” Lisirra asked.

“Of course, you can,” said Jason grinning at Linda and Andrea who both laughed.

Lisirra looked at them her eyes wide, then frowned and turned to run after Jason as he left the room.

“She has no idea at all,” said Andrea laughing loudly. “The amazing thing is she is insight-less about how she feels about him. She is as besotted as Ixal. Ixal contacts me at least three times a day to find out how Jason is doing. Ixal is easy to get along with, but Lisirra has also become much less obnoxious. The treatment seems to be doing her a world of good. She may be a great strategist, but she behaves as if she has rocks in her head as far as relationships are concerned. Her sister had her pegged.”

Linda sat leaning forward, intently watching her holograms — “Jason must’ve been very busy talking with Ship before he joined us here. I am seeing constant notifications of the drones loading heavy equipment onto the assault frigates. The ship is blocking me from finding out what we are loading. My efforts amuse her. Aha, she sent me a message. Ship asks me to guess what strategy Jason may be planning and she says you have to guess as well. She says it is a concept familiar to us both.”

“I ordered the AIs to load the frigates with everything we needed for a ground assault,” said Linda. “I cannot for the life of me think of what else he would load. The equipment is heavy,” said Linda.

“He is not going to fall for the trap. Maybe they are drills?” Andrea surmised.

“Yes, I thought they were drills. But they are not as the drills we have are packed in trans-dim pouches and weigh nothing much. The Collective people gave them to us,” said Linda. “This is puzzling! I would use multiple drills, and I would drill multiple tunnels to every part of the shallow and deeper tunnels simultaneously. I would ask the scientists to test the environment and develop countermeasures. I would then invade the tunnels and vaults and catch the Pericles. I am not sure how I would get Ooryphyon out,” said Linda.

“Maybe you could drill into the room and then get her out without triggering the bomb?”

“I can’t think of a way I could save her,” said Linda, “What would you do?”

“I would do the assault precisely as you suggested. The only problem that we would both face would be if we cannot neutralize the environment. I am also stuck trying to find a way to rescue Ooryphyon. Linda, I have a new message. The ship informs me the same activity is occurring on all of our assault frigates and all the Uzliumbax ships. Whatever this is, we are doing a lot of it. I am well and truly intrigued. The first shuttles are arriving from the allies. We are directing all of them to the large canteen. That way everyone can sit comfortably and eat.” Andrea said.

“How are things going on the ground?” Jason asked.

“The Schlogg gained control of the ground missile and cannon installations, except for those under the shield. They have not been able to neutralize the shield and gain entry to the capital city Yolazul,” said Linda

“The Schlogg think communications do not penetrate the shield and that includes tight-beam,” said Linda. “It is the densest shield I have yet encountered.”

“I will be interested to see if Chloe and Chuck’s technique works with the shield. There is no reason for it not to ... I can’t claim the idea was my own,” said Jason.

“I have ordered our assault to begin. The allied troops are heading for the ground and into the other cities. The Schlogg are packing the captured and incapacitated Grork on the captured Grork fleet into stasis containers. We will help them load cargo ships on the planet once we gain control of the area under the shield. The senior Grork captured are heading for interrogation. The assault frigates have reached the shields.

“Have a look at that! The missiles are through, and they are heading for the shield generators. Part of the shield is already down. Our troops are transmitting the messages from Lisirra and Jason before entering the city. They will wait fifteen minutes. We are detecting frequent small explosions all over the inside of the area where the shield was.

“Our troops are assembling for the attack on the city. Lisirra, you and Jason don’t need to link into the ship. Your group on the other ships have knocked out all of the Grork they can locate. They can’t find the Pericles. The Schlogg once they got rid of the Grork helped free some of the other species acting as hosts for the Grork. They are using a poison they place directly on the Grork. Our people are now streaming in and helping the Schlogg with the Grork,” said Andrea.

“Thank you Lisirra for what you’ve done with the Schlogg, and also to you Jason for using your grandchildren’s method of bypassing the shields. Our intelligence units are interviewing the Schlogg to try and obtain more information on the vaults,” said Linda. “In the meantime, the AIs and drones are assembling your equipment, whatever it is! The Orcs and the Collective engineers are mapping the tunnels, vaults, and crypts. They are sending the images and interpretations through to us as they progress.

“They can see a separate series of wider and deeper tunnels. Marduk and Ixal are both on the ground and are working together. They seem to be getting on very well. They say everything will be ready in an hour and they will come to our ship together with the Collective engineers,” said Linda.

“The capital city, Yolazul is a very ancient city according to Marduk. He said he looked at the city and its architecture is imposing and impressive. The homes are beautiful. He said it is quite unlike what he saw on Grorkin. He said he believes a different species built the city. It has been well-maintained by the current residents. He said it is beautiful and elegant,” Linda added.

“Ixal called to ask after Jason. She also tells me she loves the city. The Schlogg told her the city was there before they came to the planet. They also told Ixal they were not comfortable on Wuland and are happy to return to Bekta Delta or go to Flafelc or Grorkin. They say the spirit of the planet is not suitable for them,” said Linda.

“None of the Schlogg we have encountered so far has been down into the vaults. The map of the catacombs the Teokraeus provided to you Jason looks to be incomplete. From what I can see on this hologram that was the first crypt built by the Grork/Schlogg and then they dug a much bigger one,” Linda told them.

Marduk strode quickly into the room with Ixal scurrying behind him smiling broadly. Five people followed them struggling to keep up.

“Jason, you are a very clever young man. You made it very easy to get rid of the shield. Our scientists are looking at how we can build missiles to achieve the same result. Lisirra, my dear, you are an ideal complement to Jason. Your work with the Schlogg has been brilliant,” said Marduk. “Our mapping of the underground vault is complete. Our sensors and the Collective mapping are complimentary of each other. We will put it up on the hologram, and we will show you what we found.”

Marduk waved to the five panting followers — “These are the engineers and sensor people. They will integrate what you have into our sensors. We combine both methods, and you get an excellent picture.”

Ixal moved to sit next to Jason. She kissed him on the cheek and put her arm around him. Linda looked at Lisirra and then at Andrea. Lisirra did not look happy. Andrea looked up at the ceiling, then they both giggled.

The engineers and sensor operators separated to liaise with their counterparts in the operations room. They pulled out equipment from small backpacks. Five minutes later a picture began to form on the large presentation hologram.

Marduk moved over to the hologram and began to manipulate the picture until he found his target. “The main entrance is over here. Look closely; there is a large box with explosives behind the door. There are more interlinked explosives which will collapse the tunnel if we try to go in that way. In case your strategy doesn’t work Jason, we didn’t want to waste time. We have begun drilling tunnels towards the vaults. We will not go all the way through, but we will go far enough to be able to sample the contents of the caverns you can see. These are the biggest vaults I have ever encountered. I have evaluated many in my very long life. I also wanted to show you that beneath these spaces are even bigger caverns. We can’t see them clearly, but from what we can see they are below the other large spaces. I suspect they are much older as they are of a very different design. There is no evidence of any activity in those large spaces,” said Marduk. “Something is blocking what we see in the deeper vaults.”

“There appear to be many beings in these vaults,” Marduk said as he pointed out figures moving along passageways and in caverns.

“However, actually there are only two living beings down there. The other figures are constructs. I will now subtract them,” said Marduk and then indicated towards the sensor technician.

“You can now see there are only two bright figures in these rooms close to each other.” Marduk pointed to one of the figures. “This is undoubtedly Ooryphyon. The room walls are metallic, and if you look where I am pointing, you will see the explosives Ooryphyon described. We have seen the other figure leave the room and walk down the passageway. Ooryphyon is in a cage within the room. We can see other explosives spread throughout the passageways and spaces. No-one could move through the passages unless Pericles allows them to do so. An assault on the passageways will be a nightmare. We are boring our tunnels close to the passageways near and above the room of Ooryphyon,” Marduk said. He then pointed at another area a short distance from the room of the Pericles. “This is where his escape capsules lie. You can see fifteen large capsules. We can’t find escape pods in any other location, nor can we find other escape tunnels. We have followed all of the tunnels and blocked them at their ends for the time being. No escape pod will get through, and the Pericles will come to a crashing halt if we don’t catch him in his room or the tunnel when he tries to escape. There are definitely no alternative tunnels.”

“Marduk, what can you see in the caverns?” Lisirra asked.

“They are dedicated to storage. In most of the containers, we can see bodies in stasis. The containers are standard stasis containers, and they are packed tightly. The technicians tell me the air in most of the vault is of a different density to that in the area of the Ooryphyon and the Pericles. Jason your equipment is ready, we can try your method to sample what is in the vault,” said Marduk.

Linda and Andrea looked at each other and shrugged before leaning forward expectantly.

Jason fiddled with his brain. “I sent the signal; the equipment is working correctly. They have extracted a sample which we are analyzing.

“I am very curious,” said Linda, “how are you getting a sample using your machines?”

Jason smiled, shook his head and ignored the question.

Marduk laughed and Ixal giggled.

“That was quick I have the results. The cavern areas have normal air. The Grork filled the passageways with corrosive and toxic gas. The scientists tell me they would eat through our armor in ten minutes. No biological or non-biological would survive in that atmosphere,” said Marduk.

“We found several other interesting items. There is a big trans-dim projector attached to the power supply over here,” Marduk said and pointed. “Here we have a device Porquenta confirmed is one of the new devices the Grork used on Earth to gain control of the communications of the battle computers.”

“An Una in poor condition hosts Pericles. You can see his or her color is dull,” said Marduk. He pointed to one of the bright small Grork and the dull figure next to it. “We are now targeting the replicators manufacturing the toxic gas mixture. Jason, this is going to be a critical test of your idea.”

Linda and Andrea looked at each other shrugged and grinned.

“Very clever Mr Smartypants Emperor!” Linda exclaimed.

“Excellent! We got them all out except for this one over here. You are a clever fellow, Jason. You are using transporters,” said Andrea triumphantly.

Jason and Marduk laughed. “Now we test our backup plan, watch closely. Did you briefly see the Marine?”

“Yes, I did,” said Linda, “what were they doing?”

“They are putting an identifier onto the replicator. We put the Marine in and get him out as quickly as we can, and they go into a decontamination facility. We then target the replicator more accurately and take it out. You can see it has disappeared. Now we get out the gas. We are practicing our techniques first. The transporters are doing the job well. We will pull out as much gas as we can and when the pressure declines, we start replacing the gas. The Grork sealed the toxic gas in constrained areas. We will go through four complete cycles. The scientists believe we will then be safe if we wear armor. The scientists detoxify the gasses into inert compounds. We now move to the next phase.” Marduk enlarged the area near the entrance.

“We will now extract the bombs from the vault entrance,” said Marduk as he pressed a button on his hologram. “Excellent, we got all of them. Now for the critical one.” Marduk moved the hologram until it showed the room of Ooryphyon. He sent the order, and the bomb disappeared. “This is very exciting, now enter the Marines,” said Marduk.

Marines entered Ooryphyon’s area and tagged her. Ooryphyon and the Marines disappeared.

“We will now dispose of the psychic projector, the controller of battle AIs and a few items of which we are unsure. Now the Pericles is all on his own. Jason can you and Lisirra link to the ship. We are going to grab him and the Una. I want to be sure he does not attack us,” said Marduk.

Jason and Lisirra linked to the ship. Jason waved to Marduk. Jason and Lisirra kept their eyes on the hologram. The Pericles disappeared.

“The containment worked, both of them are asleep,” said Marduk. “We will be collecting everything from the brain of the Pericles before we destroy him.”

“We are now starting to transport troops into the vault entrance area to see if they can open it. We are transporting decontamination replicators into all the affected passageways. This final phase of decontamination will take approximately half an hour. We will then send in explosive specialists to search the vaults. We want to be sure we have found all the bombs.

“We were approached by the Schlogg who tell us they have exquisitely sensitive noses and can detect explosives. They have volunteered to accompany our troops,” said Marduk.

“Jason, as you know we Orcs fought with the Emperor many times,” said Marduk. “You have a different skill-set from him. He was used to big battles and slugging it out with the opposition. I was also brought up in the same way. I do appreciate the way both you and Lisirra operate.

“You use highly effective efficient methods to achieve your aims!” Marduk remarked admiringly.

“The use of transporter technology made an enormous difference. We would have sent missile after missile to deplete the shields. The shields blocked trans-dim missiles, but not transporters. We would have lost many troops entering the vaults using our conventional drilling technology.”

“The transporter technology works incredibly well to remove the opposition and booby traps. Send my compliments to your grandchildren. I am looking forward to spending some time with them. I believe both are similarly talented. Now you also have Lisirra, and I believe the Ordreg warlord Greffecht is similarly talented much as is Lisirra’s father,” observed Marduk.

“Marduk, you are also much appreciated. You did a wonderful job today, and your missile systems that counter planet destroyers are invaluable. Each of us makes different contributions. The diversity of talents and abilities is what makes the team great. Do you know what has happened to Ooryphyon?” Jason asked.

“Yes, I do know. Ooryphyon was immediately conveyed to a medical pod and put to sleep. We are searching her body for any possible device that has been used to either control her or will damage her and others. She is also being checked to ensure her health is satisfactory. We are using the pods on this ship for her as ship knows her physiology well. Let me check with Ship what is happening,” Marduk suggested.

“Emperor and King Marduk?”

“What is happening with Ooryphyon?” Marduk asked.

“We are very carefully removing several devices inserted into Ooryphyon. They contain explosives and of sufficient power to both kill her and anyone near her. Several devices are implanted in her brain and are designed to punish and to control her. These devices also contain small amounts of explosive and are extremely difficult to remove without causing damage. The doctors have placed her into stasis and are consulting with others to decide what to do. They called the most senior medical specialists from the allied fleet and linked the medical AIs together. They are also consulting with the engineers and explosives specialists. The doctors say, once they decide what to do, the process will only take seconds. We can see she has been seriously abused and has not been properly maintained by the Grork. The necessary work will be extensive and will take twenty-four hours at the very least. She faced a million years of neglect and torture. She is an extraordinarily robust individual, which is the only reason she survived.

“The Teokraeus are an ancient people who lived five million years without optimization. I have met several over the years, but I have never encountered one in such bad physical shape. Ooryphyon was in a cage too small for her. The cage caused contractures in both of her legs. Both of her knees fused in a bent position and her muscles wasted. She could not have stood and walked. She has evidence of many burns. We can see they broke bones frequently in both her arms and legs. The Grork broke every single one of her ribs more than once. She has evidence of several skull fractures as well as old vertebral and hip fractures. They blinded her in one eye,” Ship reported.

“The Grork produce medical equipment and can deliver outstanding medical care. There is absolutely no reason that they neglected her to such a degree. The Teokraeus are wonderful people. They are kindly, very social and most of them have delightful personalities. They are warm and helpful people and would never harm anyone. This level of abuse and maltreatment is utterly distasteful,” said Ship. “I knew how evil the Grork were. I read the reports of tens of thousands of interrogations. Not one single one of them showed any compassion. They were successful because they could work with others who were equally evil or could manipulate others to do their bidding. Surprisingly they did keep their word to their allies and were conscientious about so doing. With those they manipulated they promised much and delivered as little as they possibly could,” said Ship.

“I was going to suggest we have a celebratory dinner tonight, but I have lost the will to do it until we can resolve what we can do for Ooryphyon. She did an extraordinary amount to reduce our casualties this battle,” said Marduk.

“We will have dinner together tonight,” said Jason. “I would like to see what the sensors can show us of the deeper vaults once they can move them down as far as they can, as soon as they can.

“Ship, when the doctors have completed their deliberations and have reached a decision could one of them please report to us what they have decided?” Jason asked.

“Emperor, they concluded their deliberations five minutes ago, three of the most senior doctors are making their way to speak with you,” said Ship.

Three doctors led by a pair of Marines entered the control room ten minutes later. Ship introduced them.

“Lord Kargo, it is a great honor to meet you and we ask you to decide a matter of gravity,” said doctor Parbath Gremmith, the leader of the senior doctors.

“We have the most senior doctors from our friends and allies, who contributed to the evaluation and selection of the most appropriate options for treatment for the Teokraeus. I am from the Orcs and have previously provided medical treatment to Teokraeus. The ship provided us all with further extensive information on the disorders, the anatomy and the physiology of the Teokraeus. That was very helpful, but the issues would have been the same with any species.

“We have removed several explosive devices from the thorax and abdomen of the Teokraeus. The fundamental problems we face are substantial. The Grork inserted the devices into many areas of the brain and linked them in several dimensions. They created a secondary neural net to anchor the devices. They made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to remove the devices without causing extensive brain damage. Each device in the brain links directly to two or more other devices. We suspect, and the engineers confirmed if we remove one of these devices the others will explode.

“We examined the devices that we removed from the thorax and abdomen that were not connected and consulted the engineers. They confirm the prostheses are robust and hardened. We cannot find a mechanism to switch them off. We have tried many methods. We considered leaving these devices in place. We can detect timing devices in all of them. We suspect they are counting down to destroy the Teokraeus. The Grork wanted to ensure that even if the Teokraeus was by some miracle saved it would die afterward. We do not know precisely when. In stasis, we can slow the device countdown, but it still continues. The Teokraeus has, therefore, been put in stasis in a dimension where the clock will not progress in any of the devices.