Chapter 3

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential ... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”

—Confucius

The Gazronnaas Colonel her holo-insignia flashing approached the doctor, the cyber warfare team and the captain and asked them to meet with her to discuss their progress.

A half an hour later they joined the colonel in her office. It was sparsely furnished. The colonel’s desk was clean and had battered slate diagonally placed in its center.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have lost 37 highly qualified soldiers and we have little to show for it!

“I will take your reports in order and we will address the problems we face.

“Doctor, please report.”

The doctor sighed. “The physiology of the beings we have encountered in this universe and Bekta Delta is incompatible with us. We work slowly in this environment as we are limited by our armor. We cannot access our equipment interfaces properly. Our soldiers die unpredictably and don’t report back to us. I have requested them to return halfway through day two so I can discover what the problems are and retrieve their consciousness. I have also asked four of them to remain here after we transfer them to students.

“Our energy needs drain the limited psychic energy of the subjects unexpectedly quickly, and we find they are self-metabolizing. We don’t know how the Uzliumbax, Destroyers and the Dinnion successfully made the transfer of their consciousnesses. I don’t have the basic science I need to work here and understand my subjects. Nothing I do works here properly. We have gone about this campaign back to front. We should have been in this universe a hundred thousand years ago, not when our people are panicking about the state of Norbut 19. The basic scientists should have gone in first like we did on Mespa 49. They took two thousand years to work out how Mespa 49 worked. Then the rest followed. This place is nothing like Mespa 49. The atmosphere is toxic and the beings operate differently. I am paralyzed and frustrated.

“We transferred twenty of the students and four guards to the mothership. I asked them to help us work out how they operate. The problems we face exceed the limited means at my disposal and I was forced to ask for help from the science and medical team on the ship. The students die as they expend energy and do not absorb it. As an interim measure I have requested our people to supply us with a separate power supply that we can implant in the students. The students don’t use power the way we do. We don’t understand the nature of their metabolism and the raw material they require to maintain themselves. We have had too little training and education applicable to this universe to discover what we need to live here. An energy supply that sustains us and our host is critical to our success and I have asked them to prioritize our requests.

“The Medic-General requested we send many more subjects to them, but she is pushing us to transfer more soldiers and to direct them to observe how and what they feed upon. She accepts the regrettable but inevitable loss of soldiers. She says the survival of our people is of paramount importance,” said the Colonel.

The doctor held her hands up and shrugged.

“I am sorry Colonel; inevitably, we are going to have to lose many more of our soldiers before we gain a sufficient understanding of how our subjects work. I hate sacrificing them at the rate we are doing.”

The Colonel looked at the doctor, sighed and turned to the captain, “I also hate losing so many good people but I have no choice.”

The colonel turned to the next person.

“Capt. Krenko, please report.”

“We are having the greatest difficulty staying in the enemy network. Security within the University has been tightening and the level of countermeasures is increasingly more sophisticated. They are trying to find where we are and are counterattacking us at every turn. We can only work in their network in short intense bursts before they are alerted to us and push us out. It is getting harder to get in. We are going to need our best AIs and we need more people. The information we extract is encrypted and we are struggling to make sense of it.”

“Krenko, have you managed to find this Emperor?”

“We managed to hack into the surveillance system, then we matched the images with the known appearance of the Emperor. Our image recognition software performs poorly on humanoid students. It is so poor it is worse than useless. We made use of the University system for brief periods, and we located a close match. The name of the student does not conform with that of the Emperor, and he does not come from the correct planet. He must be disguising his identity. Of that we are convinced,” said Krenko.

“Excellent Krenko, you have done a good job in a difficult position. I will bring in extra resources for you. We have created the extra space you will need. I will ask for some additional AIs and personnel to support us in our efforts. Can you find the courses they are teaching at the University?”

“The material is similarly encrypted. We decrypted some of it but the information we found is not linear. It is in pieces and we cannot discover how they link it up. We also can’t work out how the students are acquiring knowledge and information. They are carrying devices that they call slates or brains, but they don’t learn from them. They look like our devices but we cannot operate the student’s devices. Our soldiers don’t have enough time to master the devices before they die or if they master the device, we don’t hear about it. They will only operate if the original owner is holding them and remains in close proximity to the device. We cannot find the device or system they use to acquire knowledge. They have many devices in their rooms. The only common devices are those that operate services, an octagonal device, and the slate. We cannot determine when, and how they learn. The students do meet with teachers to discuss what they have learned, but we don’t know how and when they learn.”

“Krenko, did you open the devices you have found?”

“Colonel of course I opened several of everything we found. The slate self-destructs as does the octagon. Every electronic device we have opened does not survive the investigation. I sent samples of these devices back with the last shuttle. They informed me they do not survive in our environment. The AIs are an entirely foreign system. They do not operate like our equipment. The computer network and its operation do not make any sense to us. We do not have the theoretical understanding of the mathematics and physics we need. There is no short-term help that we can get from our scientists. We are sending our scientists all the information we discover and discuss the problems we face, but no one has been able to assist us with anything in any area. Our people set us a massive task. As the doctor said; the problems we face need teams of basic scientists involved long before people at our level come along. No one is doing better or is ahead of us. Our scientists are not progressing.”

The colonel nodded.

“This is a punishing experience, but it will get worse if we don’t carry on. I made up a list of students, for you, in some of the more remote parts of the University. Our masking technology is working well so we can begin capturing more students.

“Sir, we are all frustrated and sick to death of living in this armor. I have an itch on my side, that I can’t reach and my mouth tastes foul,” said Krenko.

“Krenko, we are all frustrated. Our leaders are pushing my General, and she is driving us and threatening me. Our leaders want the job done, and they want it done now. We can but do our best. They push us, but they are also pushing intrusion teams on a Destroyer and a Dinnion planet,” said the Colonel. “They are as frustrated as we are. Everything we discover goes to our scientists as do the problems we encounter. They are battling as much as we are.

“Our patrol, last night, discovered a large hospital next door which contains millions of medical pods. There may be some opportunities for us to experiment on the Uzliumbax using their own technology.”

The Colonel leaned forward. “People, we have lost far too many of our best soldiers. You need to move quickly. If we do not make any progress and other teams get ahead of us, they will recall us, and we will find ourselves in an unpleasant backwater at best or ejected into space at worst. Now let’s make something happen.”

“Doctor bring our people back after 36 hours as you suggested, and put them back in their original body. Let us see if the subject recovers and can be used again and find out how long it takes for our people to be ready to enter a new body. We have a big pool of subjects we can access.

“My superiors sent a hundred troops last night; I have a mission for five of them and I will send five of them to you. Please transfer them in the next hour. We will meet again next week at the same time. Dismissed.”

The Colonel walked to the back of the room where the sergeant was working.

“Sergeant, please bring us five more subjects and take them to the doctor along with five of the troops we received last night. I want to speed things up. Tonight, pick up twenty more of the subjects; we are accelerating the pace of our work. Tell the new guys to remain no longer than 36 hours in a body. We will then give them a break for two days before we transfer them again.

“We are trying to get power supplies manufactured for us and the subjects so we can stay in them longer. Tell the troops to observe how the students find and use power sources. The suckers are wasting away. The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can get out of this shit-hole of a universe.”

“Sir, several of the students have been uncooperative, how tough on them can I be?”

“Shoot one of them in every batch if they waste your time. Life is too short to spend time with uncooperative expendable vermin.”

She laughed as she turned away. “The vermin are all around us. Who cares if we kill a few hundred or a few thousand of them? When you are finished come to talk to me again; I have a plan to deal with the Emperor.”

****

Annjus dimmed the lights in the room and lighted her torches one by one. She carefully looked around the room to ensure everything was in its place. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Finally, she switched on the large hologram and waited.

“Annjus, how are things going, have you managed to remain on top of your class?” Her grandmother, Deolinda Drewek-Mechelle, asked her.

“Thank you very much for asking grandmother, I am tired, frustrated and totally pissed off. Working and living in this body after stasis takes much more effort than it should. It isn’t getting better. As far as class is going, I am remaining at the top, but next term we start mathematics and the sciences with a vengeance. We also begin our engineering studies. Many in the class have considerable experience in those areas. It is going to be much harder for me to stay at the top. Have our doctors said anything about what we can do to improve the state of our bodies?”

Chajos Drewek-Mechelle, Annjus’s mother looked at her and frowned.

“Everybody we speak to, tells us they are feeling tired and lethargic. The only people who are feeling well are those who were rebuilt. We did find out what needs to be done to rebuild our bodies. We wanted to control the process on our own machines. The Collective has the technology but will not license it to private corporations or private individuals without the Emperor’s explicit permission. He refused to permit us to acquire the technology. He says he will rebuild all of us within the next five years, but it could be sooner. He told us he will give priority to the students. He wants to be sure our Empire is secure before he begins to permit the broader use of body rebuilds. He said the allies are updating their own medical machines to be able to do rebuilds and offer other forms. They will be common features available for most medical pods in the future.”

Annjus frowned. “That sounds like a lot of nonsense, what could the security issue be?”

“Annjus, don’t be a fool, ask yourself who would like to make use of such technology for less than helpful purposes?” Deolinda asked her.

“The syndicates would love to store their consciousness at periodic intervals and recreate their body if they are put into stasis. Yes, I can see that, but it doesn’t change how frustrating it is right now. In five years, I will be out of this place and will have completed my studies. In the meantime, I battle every day. I finally have an incentive to befriend the Emperor,” said Annjus.

“Have you made any friends?” Chajos asked her.

“There is a young Teokraeus, who spends a lot of time with the Empresses, that I’m getting to know. She is very much the teenager; impulsive and emotional, she is highly intelligent and I like her.

“I can see why the Uzliumbax and the Teokraeus spent so much time together. She is a delight. I hope I can persuade her to join our Association. She will be a close friend but also a great prize if she formalizes her relationship with us.”

“Well done, Annjus. Bring her to visit us during your break. Show her some of what we do,” suggested her grandmother.

“She doesn’t feel like she is competing with me and she is a warm and loving person. She doesn’t get on well with that primitive Jason, she seems to argue with him often, and that is a recommendation for me.

“Oksana also remains close, but she is a wheeler and dealer, much like most of her family. She cannot resist playing one off against the other. Ostensibly she is my friend, but she has no hesitation in using me to achieve her own objectives or obstructing me if I am in her way. At least I understand her and her family. I enjoy spending time with her.”

“Don’t underestimate her, Annjus. Her family plays politics well and specializes in playing dumb, to great advantage,” her grandmother continued. “I accept them for who they are, I suggest you do the same. We are not the easiest family to be around and she has been a good friend. She accepts you.

“Grandmother, thank you, for arranging to send my instructor. It is the only way I will stay ahead. There is so much talent here it is hard to keep ahead. That primitive is getting better quickly. It’s a real chore to stay ahead.”

“Annjus, do you top the list in every subject?” Deolinda asked her impatiently.

“No, grandmother, the Dinnion is a close second to me, and he does better than I do on one-third of the subjects. The primitive managed to beat me in politics. Our opinions differ in everything, yet he seems to have a skill in applied politics that I can’t master. I did better when we were studying political theories, but as soon as we began to use the theory, he has managed to do better than I do in class applications and simulations.

“What do you mean, your opinions differ in everything?” Deolinda asked frowning.

“We are forced to work on our classwork and projects together,” said Annjus. “He and I see the world very differently. The teacher and the simulations score him higher than me,” said Annjus.

“Annjus, darling could the teacher be incorrect or worse incompetent?” Chajos asked her.

“The professor who teaches us is regarded as one of the best in the Uzliumbax Empire. She is highly intelligent and able and has advised the Emperor in the past. She ensures in every case that people of that civilization are made available in our sessions to discuss the issues. This Jason character must have some way of gaining access to the correct answers. I cannot believe a primitive from a backward planet could know the depth of detail he acquired.

“Have you found any evidence for me to use to prove he is cheating?”

Her grandmother looked at her and frowned.

“There is no doubt the intelligence group who created this character did a poor job. We easily exposed Jason’s fake background. The timing is not right for the Destroyers to insert an agent through Earth. It would have to be another civilization who wanted a sleeper agent for a different purpose. Our intelligence people are struggling to understand who this person could be and who is behind him. We cannot confirm he is cheating. He is working hard as is the other primitive. Ben was a childhood prodigy. We cannot get into the medical files of Jason, the University has no access to them, which is another conundrum. We know he has been injured and he has had treatment at the University. Yet mysteriously no record exists. We have the records that he has attended but not the associated procedure or even the assessment. We also believe we know why Ben, the so-called primitive, is in your group! We have the DNA of the Emperor which we collected when he visited us in the past. This was used when we checked on the identity of the returned Emperor.

“My agents accessed the DNA of Ben. There is no doubt he is a very close relative of the Emperor. We believe he is his descended son. Now you know why Ben is such a capable young man. The Emperor is one of the most intelligent men I have ever encountered. He was a great scientist and a superb mathematician. The Emperor fought exceptionally well with a pair of swords and was often an unarmed combat champion,” Deolinda explained.

“We also discovered another group of students is receiving additional tuition in fighting methods. That same group has worked on military simulations since the beginning of term. Jason and Ben do more than the others, and I suspect it is recreational for them. We cannot access exactly what they’ve done and how they are performing as it is not being done on the University system, but it is being routed elsewhere. We can detect more or less what they are doing, but the work they do switches out of the University into a hyper-secure system. We were warned if we continued to try and enter the system we would be prosecuted by the military. The question again arises as to how this young man manages to get into such a system. Annjus are you sure you want us to pursue this further?” Deolinda asked. “He is very much part of the Uzliumbax establishment and is being protected by them. Unlike Ben, we could not even get near his room to collect his DNA. He is definitely not a Destroyer.”

“Grandmother, I think it would be diminishing returns from now on. I think there is no doubt the University or those who are behind this Jason, are on to us but are simply watching what we are doing. What puzzles me is why would they do such a shoddy job in covering his background. Did they think they were doing a good job, but we are too good for them or have they done a tenth rate job to lead investigators astray?”

Annjus’s grandmother shook her head vehemently.

“I caution you about speculating about his background further. Annjus beware of what you do with Jason. He has an unusually high level of protection and is important enough for a senior intelligence operative to come to see me and tell me to back off.”