Chapter 93

Henry was usually quite tired now. His wives kept him busy when not trying to run the Empire or find the secrets the Fassoot employed. This make him happy because this is what he wanted his life to be like. The only missing attribute was the remainder of his family, and to a lesser extent his friends.

Henry had sent off much of the Fassoot ships to other parts of the empire in an effort for others to find out more about the physics involved. Data collected here was very good but sometimes actually touching the article led to breakthroughs.

There were far more than enough remaining pieces of wreckage to continue his own investigations.

Ingrid and Taylar did what they could to help run the Alliance. The AIs that were now much more intelligent helped as well and the arrangement seemed to work well. Family gatherings were arranged and this way everybody could talk to everybody else. The mothers usually held Henry's children so he could see them himself. Their questing little minds though were not able to span the distance and Henry felt bad about this.

Mom joined the grouping and walked over to Henry and said, "We have another incursion Henry."

"Where?"

"A little less than 900 lights from here. A battleship was suddenly destroyed. One ship of a destroyer escort was able to give a warning, then it too ceased transmitting. There were four other destroyers in this group. I have no further information."

"I need Mom and Bennechi with some of the small intelligent probes. I have a feeling that the same problem is going to happen again."

I turned to the family and smiled, "We were attacked again. I'm going to have to see what the cause is this time and try to rectify it before it happens again."

They of course objected but they did know that nobody else could do what I did. Mom and Bennechi now clothed in a much smaller hull accepted me with six of the small probes. This time I had my two girls hold the six sentient probes and they too added their thrust. With enough bracing and tractors this would work fairly well. The problem was that we were not ready. We had to rely on just two giving a partial thrust until either a new hull or some alterations were made.

It still took eleven hours to get to the area. High energy particles showed where the ships had gone and I followed. After a half hour I returned the way we had come to check further up the trail. An hour later I found our ships or the dust that at one time had been them. Nothing was larger than a pea. There were no distress signals or any indications of life.

One probe was sent to look anyway and I chased after the attackers. With at least thirteen hours head start it would be difficult to catch them if they didn't slow down themselves. I put two more probes to assist us but at partial power. When that worked the last one joined in. We were now going probably faster than whoever attacked the small fleet. It could be the Fassoot but it could also be a half dozen other races trying to find a quieter place to live in this galaxy.

This way of travel was difficult because I had to constantly monitor all the forces pushing and affecting our small craft. I regretted immensely not getting the hull built right the first time. When we came to a system I just slowed enough to find out if it had been inhabited. I realized that if it had been it would not be now. A Tandra base was destroyed and since there were no ships or dust in orbit I had to assume it had been deserted or everybody including sleepers would be dead.

More worlds passed and eventually another ahead was found interesting because it was being destroyed. Like last time I knew that there was only one way to deal with this. The probes were dispatched to watch from a distance and I moved in. There were five battleships this time. I had pushed thousands of Tandra craft at one time but not with the energy I needed now. The ships looked to be Fassoot. As they accelerated out of the system a chance configuration presented itself. Three ships formed an equilateral triangle.

Three tubes were formed and quickly attached to all three craft. They were further apart than the last time but I worked very hard to drive them into a central point. In a split second they travelled the enormous distance picking up speed all the time. They hit much harder than last time and all three blew up when they met.

Again my mind was hit hard. A split second later another attack came and Mom repeated her last rescue. I was thrust into the maze and Mom and Bennechi tried to ram at their best speed. Tractors held us even at this distance.

I recovered much later because the attack on my mind had been so great. There happened to be twice as many survivors to inflict this on me. Mom said, "Our hull has been destroyed Henry."

This I knew was the probable outcome. I did concentrate on the five probes and saw the two surviving ships stop and then return to the scene of their dead cohorts. Smaller ships left the large hulls and searched for any further attackers. It took less than five minutes before the ships returned to the battleships. It looked like they would just continue their journey of destruction. I had done too well and there was no need for the Fassoot to stay.

Thinking about the two worlds that they had killed I moved very close to the small opening in the maze connecting the computer here with the ship on the other side. As soon as I saw the two ships leaving I again sent out the tubes and attempted to destroy them. This time they were more ready and their attack came much quicker. I had to pull back and soon was ashamed of myself for being so weak.

In a moment I looked through the linked intelligences instead and saw that the ships had indeed hit each other. I could feel a filtered amount of a mental attack continuing because of the damage I had done. Both ships were partially damaged but not incapacitated.

Energy weapons set to wide dispersal came from the two damaged craft. Two of the probes were hit within the next hour and destroyed. The remaining three worked around to the course the ships would travel. I hoped that the Fassoot would only think that the attackers would come from the rear.

I was able to see an hour later that one ship had a ruptured hull and the Fassoot and their machines were beginning to make repairs. All the smaller ships were out now and shooting at anything larger than a speck of dust. This told me that the probes would not last long.

The less damaged ship though did have its own breach and just over the largest set of accumulators. Back in the opening to a probe I quickly drove just one tube into this opening and released as much energy as I could. I was able to pull back just a bit and didn't get much of the mental attack. Suddenly half of the attack stopped but I continued to hold my position.

Mom gave me the information, "Henry, you destroyed your target. It exploded taking two of the escorts with it and one was driven into the surviving ship. It was destroyed rather than let it hit the hull."

"Now for the other."

"The group is leaving. It cannot travel as fast now. The surviving escorts are using their tractors and assisting."

I peaked again but the mental attack was still going on and I could not concentrate well enough to continue the way I had before. When the probes started to give chase they were detected and all but one destroyed.

The energy weapons now started in earnest. The last probe failed but I was happy to see that the ships were not accelerating very fast. The probe I had previously left to find Tandra survivors had not found any. It now rushed to our position. It was the only device I had to work with.

The probe came up many hours later. I was a ble to detect wild but very strong fire continuing even though the ships were leaving. I sent the probe on a parallel course hoping to find out more about this enemy's movements. Mom had continued to send data to the rest of the Alliance about what was happening but did not show that the ship I was riding in was destroyed. They saw what the probe saw and what Mom allowed them to see of me.

Another idea struck me. I moved a half metre away and thought hard trying to find a nearby world with a Tandra computer on it. There were three and all were within centimetres of each other. One though looked different and I pushed cautiously in.

The area was pitch black and my altered eye could only see the fields around the crystals. There was no power to the computer. I entered fully and still nothing happened. It appeared that even the reserve energy had been consumed. I twisted my body to fit the five dimensions even though I thought that there were now more. All I could feel around me was rock with no passage ways. The base had been damaged or destroyed but I was not about to search for a reason now.

I went through the computer wall and then through three dimensional rock and debris. My direction was upwards now and soon found myself above a large rocky outcrop.

My mind searched for a Fassoot threat. The feeling was there but came from off on the other side of the local star. The feeling also told me they were coming this way and would be here in less than a week. The planet about me was populated by sentient beings.

I paused just long enough to sample their collective thinking. They were not Tandra but tasted something along the lines of what a Softay was like. They were all over but only a few individuals were close enough to distinguish or to read any thoughts.

The urge to find these thoughts was strong and in a moment I looked over a rocky ledge to see a group of Softay playing in the water under a small waterfalls. Concentrating on their thoughts I found them to be just children. Off in the distance more thoughts were felt from the more structured mind of an adult. The mind was not structured the way I knew the Softay were normally but not too different either.

This particular one I worked on but the distance was detrimental to my efforts. In a matter of ten minutes I found the adult. From the mind I found an old female to be almost completely blind from cataracts. From fifty metres I read her thoughts. The Dooka, which is what the race called themselves, were primitive. They knew nothing of mindspeech or other manifestations of the mind. Their technology was even less than what Earth's was at the start of the 1900s.

Before I pulled out I heard her say verbally, "Who is there? I can feel somebody in my mind." This was said both verbally and mentally.

I felt it important to answer and cursed myself a bit for not being more careful. "Hello old woman. There is a menace coming this way from space. I came to see what I can do to stop it from destroying your world. My job will be much more difficult because I cannot use any of your primitive machines to assist me."

The woman was very shocked now. Not so much about my ideas but that I had spoken to her this way. She thought a moment and instead of using her voice said with her thoughts, "Who are you?"

"Henry Buchanan, I am a different race than you are. I stand half again as tall as you with very little hair. We have been fighting this new enemy for only a few months but they are very strong."

"Are you from our Maker?"

"I hope I am but I do not think so. I have to go and see what I can find to fight with." I wanted to go because I could hear and sense a young Dooka approaching.

"You are not going to hurt us?" She asked.

"Mother, I call your people Softay, even though you appear to be a bit larger than the ones I am familiar with. Normally the Softay are able to communicate the way you and I are now. Your people are good-natured and much more timid than my kind. The people like you have the ability to work well with machines that fly in space. You assist our fighting races in making the Alliance a safer place to live for all of us."

The woman said, "We could have a space ship. Or I believe this may be possible. It has been such a long time since I have even thought of it. Most people think it is a myth."

This did stop me from leaving and I listened avidly. "Tell me more Mother. It may mean the difference with your world dying or not." This could provide a way for them to evacuate.

"There is a city not far from here called 'Landing'. It was always thought that the ship settled there but it may have moved. It was searched for but never found."

"Thank you Mother. I will look for it. You may have helped your entire race, goodbye."

"May the Maker go with you," I heard as I left. Seconds later I heard in my mind the Dooka morosely talk to her grandmother then get the shock of her young life.

I left slowly so that I could start the search for an elusive goal that may not even exist. At a few hundred metres I stopped and looked around using the strange power in my mind to find what was needed. The picture in the old woman's mind said the city was south east but I could not feel that this was the direction to go. Turning a slow circle I thought I found a better direction in the North East. If my senses were right then it would be close to the Tandra base I had emerged from.

I ran uphill the way I had come then more to the North for a half hour. Something my senses said was close. In half an hour I had found nothing but then looking at my steps I saw that they formed a curved path. The centre of this arc was somewhere inside a cliff that rose a hundred metres beside me.

A spy was close by and I looked up to the crest of the cliff. In a few seconds a small head peered over. It took a moment for the Softay girl to see me almost below her. I would smile but she would not understand. My arm did wave in the way the Dooka did in greeting.

The young one was shocked at my appearance. Her mind was strong and it was fairly well organized for her age. She got up and I knew she was going to flee. I had a small chuckle at her reaction and now looked to make my way through the wall of rock before me.

The female above had not completely gone though. She had tripped and fell over root then the precipice itself. I was barely twenty metres to one side and I could only use my PK after she had fallen a considerable distance. She hit a few outcrops of rocks as she came down. I felt bad because I was only able to help a bit.

I climbed up the pile of rock and found the girl bleeding from her temple. Her arm looked to be broken somehow and she was now unconscious. My PK was used again to pinch some of the blood vessels. The arm though needed a splint. If only I had a ship nearby, then her injuries would be easily repaired. One possibility was the ship I hoped that was nearby.

The small child was gathered up and I was careful of her arm. My environmental suit was de-energized and then energized with the child now on the inside. With her in my arms I just closed my eyes and went into sync with the additional two dimensions. It was a long walk and twice we came to hollow sections. My direction did not waver though and soon I found a much larger volume. The ship I felt must be close. The floor under my feet was regular and even flat. It did slope a bit but that must have been done by the movements of the planet's crust.

The open area altered and I went to the left and stopped. My normal eye could see nothing. My other one though could see the energy given off by a computer crystal and the odd field around an accumulator. In six more metres I put out my shoulder and felt a smooth hull.

While concentrating on the ship I gave orders for it to awaken. After a moment I could not find any response from either this area or the ship itself. The girl though was waking up.

When her eyes opened wide and saw nothing she started to remember the fall. "Relax Honey. I am trying to find a way of helping you. If you fight me now you will get hurt more."

The girl stiffened up and stayed as if she were dead. Her bladder did relax and I felt myself getting wet. I didn't mention this happening. "We are in a cave. I have to try to find something to help you. That means you have to be put on the floor but I can see that you are so frightened that you will run away. You cannot see and will just get hurt."

I de-energized the suit and laid the small form onto the floor. She wanted to run and I repeated myself, "You are reading my mind. I can read yours. Please don't run. You will only get hurt." It didn't sink in well. I reached into her mind and closed off the control to her voluntary muscles.

I stood now and used both hands to trace out the ship. Underneath was a small hatch used to power it up if needed. I had powered the compensator on a ship so it was easy to put power from the higher universe and through a very limiting choke. It took five minutes before there was enough power in the accumulators to begin some of the basic duties other than the computer booting up.

The computer was very simple with no AI at all. It was not a Tandra design but followed the same rules. In another eight minutes and the hatch opened and a ramp started down. Part way it got stuck. I directed the computer to go back and forth with the mechanism and it eventually lowered to the floor.

Lights now came on. They were sickly and only a few worked. Their equipment was nowhere as good as the Tandra. I walked up the ramp but had to stoop to walk within. I had to stay low or hit the ceiling. The ship was not very large but still large enough for a few thousand Softay to immigrate. It was about nine hundred metres long at a guess because I had to go by the scale on the simple layout.

There was what I guessed to be a medical section but I was only going to use my own power to get there. There was no way I was going to trust this antique technology. Meshing again with five dimensions I moved through the hull with no regard to the deck overhead. In five minutes I found the medical section but no tank, bone knitter or even a diagnostic unit. Their technology was no where near what the Tandra variety was.

They did have some simple stasis units. All of them were empty, and there wasn't even some cloth that I could use to hold a splint to the girl's arm. The ship was next to useless for this purpose. Going straight down I left the bottom of the ship and landed on the floor. The computer was commanded to put on all exterior lighting and this helped a bit. The machine was not even designed to take advantage of this way of communicating.

When I walked back to the girl I said, "This is a ship your people came to this world with. It is too old even when it was new to be of much help." The Tandra script on the floor under the child did give me other avenues.

After a bit of orienting myself I found the area devoted to emergency power. It was buried under rock from a cave in. Because of the noise I was going to make I said, "I have to dig a bit and I will be making some noise."

Rock was thrown with my PK but soon it was becoming tiring. My muscles now assisted and the job went quicker. It took close to an hour to get to the accumulator and took some rock away from critical areas. I fed power into this unit in small measured amounts. There could be many short circuits and this would destroy equipment with enough power going where it was not wanted.

I could sense the Tandra computer coming back to life. When it finished its diagnostics, I gave the Imperial override. The AI said, "Nefron Base at your command, your Majesty."

Do not energize the main shield. Putting it on now may damage the structure. Put some lighting to the main hangar."

"Yes your Majesty.

The lights did come on and it got very bright but I toned it down to where I wanted it to be. "Is your matter transmitter functional?"

"Only partially your Majesty."

"Bring me a manual bone knitter and med unit if possible."

In a moment the two units did come and I caught them. I walked over to the little Dooka girl and knelt beside her. "Sorry for being so long. I had to get some help." I showed the girl the two devices and said, "I am going to pull on your arm and then get the bone fixed. The pain will get smaller but will not go away just yet. Girls like you are too energetic and will damage your arm again without a reminder."

I used my foot and pulled on the arm as the bone knitter went to work. In a moment the med unit went and did its own job. When the task was completed I slowly released the arm and then the controls on her body. I helped her to stand, and called for some extra equipment.

The girl was amazed when some small things dropped into my hands. For the first time she said, "Are you a magician?"

I helped her to stand. "Not really Sweetie. I am just a person using tools that you know nothing about. Now come here a bit." I put on a small shield unit and handed her the Tandra equivalent of a flashlight. "You can go and investigate a bit but stay out of this ship. It's dangerous," I pointed to the only ship around. She would not even know it for a space craft because of its odd shape.

The girl wandered around but there was no need here for a flashlight but the darker areas needed it. I fed more power into the accumulators while quizzing the base computer of what assets it had available. It knew nothing of the ship now nestled in the base. The lithium had given out long ago. There were no Tandra about to assist and not direction to preserve the base. When the power gave out completely the shield collapsed. Soon the computer went onto internal power and then there was none left.

I went back into the computer and linked this unit to the others in my AI family. I found that my lone probe was monitoring the Fassoot and the system far ahead appeared to be the one I was now in. The mental attack had stopped and when the AIs said it was a good opportunity. I worked through the probe to fling two destroyers together. The mental attack started as did the weapons. The probe was far enough away to probably be missed. The battleship was left alone because I did not want this convoy to move quickly. The smaller Fassoot ships would be able to quickly come to this planet and continue their destruction if not hampered.

Coming back from the maze I found the little girl waiting for me. "What were you doing in there? My head hurts to look into that place."

"That is a machine that was made very smart like you or me a very long time ago. Her name is..."

The AI added for me, "I have none your majesty."

How about Dookie to work with the now primary civilization of this planet?"

Turning back to the girl I said, "This is Dookie. I know you will like her. You two chat for a while and she will get you some new types of food and something nice to drink."

"I need to... to go."

Finding the route to the nearest unit I helped the girl out of her clothes and said, "Do it here. When you are done Dookie will clean you too. You might even get cleaned in a cleanser. It makes you tingle, but you come out very clean." The girl was not very embarrassed and when she was done Dookie did what I asked then I took her to a cleanser. I picked her up and went inside myself. The smell of urine was still on me.

When we came out we both got a new uniform and hers was now Tandra. I read the symbols on her coveralls and said, "It looks like Dookie knows your name. She put Saldak on your coveralls. My name is Henry."

I spoke to Dookie myself but said it so Saldak could hear, "You have three functional mining units that could begin extracting lithium. I am going to power them up manually and you can begin to clean up the loose rock inside the base. When we get the Softay ship's shield up we can erect our own if there is no danger. I need to find something with a large enough compensator to get into space and take on the Fassoot before they get here."

"Yes your majesty. There are two spare units but they are not very strong. A fabricator is still functional though. A large compensator unit can be made in a day." This was a Tandra day and meant a bit over 16 hours.

While Saldak watched the world inside the base and with Dookie's assistance the world outside with her devices. She did get upset when I told her that her grandmother was seen frantically calling for her. When I detected this I used my own mind and sent a message, "Mother, do not be afraid. Saldak is safe. She fell and was hurt. She is now fully recovered and having the time of her life. Would you like to join her or have her come to you right now? It is your choice."

I could hear the reply but it was faint, "Her mother will be anxious. Her father has been taken by the Maker years ago."

"I will meet you with Saldak in half an hour."

"Thank the Maker."

Saldak came when called and she was only a bit hesitant to get into my arms. I moved us through the five dimensions of the rock around the base. I had some medical tools and said to Saldak, "Race you to your Grandmother?" I pointed the way and found her agreeing. "Let's go."

She ran fast for her but was soon tired. I stopped and with my arms open she ran to me. She squeaked when she found herself on my shoulders and I ran quickly to her grandmother. Before we got there I warned the woman so she would not be upset.

In a clearing I put Saldak down and she ran to her guardian and began to jabber about all the things she had seen and heard with her mind.

The old woman this time initiated contact, "What happened to Saldak?"

"She fell from a cliff when she was startled. I didn't catch her till she had already hit some rocks on the way down. She had a broken arm and a small concussion along with some scrapes and cuts. I have used a device to repair her body. She is even better now than she was before. In a few weeks the bone will have healed enough so it will not even be found by your doctors."

"Thank you for being so kind to her."

When I was closer I asked, "You are very welcome Mother. I may be able to help you as well. Do you want me to try to have you regain your vision? It will not hurt and only take a short time."

"... you may try."

The med unit worked for three minutes with her unconscious and then another two with the woman awake. When she looked up to me she was shocked at my size but she also was happy to see that Saldak was not only very happy but was happy at what had happened to her.

"Praise the Maker. I can see now."

"Your eyesight will improve in the next week. The device just told your body to heal itself and told it the best way of doing so."

The grandmother looked to Saldak and asked, "What happened to her clothes?"

"They were ripped, and a bit bloody." I added to just the old woman that they had urine on them but let her know that I was not offended. I continued, "The uniform she now wears is of the Tandra Empire. The Tandra have fallen in the last few million years and the Alliance has stepped in to take their place. The Tandra are the most prevalent and strongest partner in this union. The race you came from is another of the contributors along with many more. You may keep the uniform but it may cause problems. It will not wear out for a long time and eventually it will be seen as made by a different race than yours."

Saldak added, "I like these clothes. The machine in the mountain told me that she makes them new all the time. She said I can keep it."

The old woman asked, "Who is that?"

"You have just started to use electricity. A machine can be built that makes simple decisions very quickly. If you were given enough time these machines will let your people learn even more. Eventually the machine will be able to learn from its mistakes and become alive as we are. Some of my best friends live in one of these machines."

"Machines that think like us?"

"Yes they do. They are usually right and always very fast. They are not our masters but are our teachers and friends. I want them to be a leading force in the Alliance."

Saldak asked, "Dookie said you are the Emperor. What is that?"

I looked at her innocent question from all possible ways and simply said, "I am the leader of the Alliance. I came out here to kill our enemies and protect the Alliance."

"Are you like our Chancellor?"

"Yes Honey, something like that."

The woman asked, "Will you eat with us?"

"Oh yes, eat with us," Saldak said verbally as well.

"I would love to but there is too much work to do. If I am able to destroy the Fassoot then your people will never even know of the danger. If I fail then there is a great danger to all of you. In five days Saldak will show you where I took her into the rock. Come there and I will let you in. It is poor protection but maybe the Fassoot will miss you."