Chapter 42

I brought Carl over, and talked to him about the situation. We had discussed splitting the forces before, but gave those scenarios a low probability then.

"Carl, I want you to take this planet and keep it for us. Most of the Samutz are dead. If our estimates hold true, there will only be about three percent immune and another three to ten percent that would be warned in time and raise their shields or not allowed other Samutz to approach. This means you only need to remove from nine to twenty five thousand individuals."

"Is that all! There are just a little over two hundred combat suits and only a few more people to wear them. The planet has been theirs for centuries, and they know it better than we do. They have food and resources..."

"You forget Carl, that we have nominal control of all the bases there now, and some completely unknown to the Samutz. There is plenty of food, and the main base is now ours, with the active help of the AI. There have to be automated fabricating units, and if you can get the locals to assist in spotting the Samutz, then you have a much smaller job."

"A job like this requires a few armies, not three hundred men and Tandra."

"A day ago, we took three ships with almost a hundred and fifty thousand hostiles, fifty thousand more than we anticipated. What is so difficult about taking a planet with up to twenty five thousand combatants? Before we were outnumbered 500 to one and now it is only 80 to one. It should be a piece of cake."

"Cake, my ass. We had surprise on our side, then."

"You still do. They don't know what or who is going to be knocking at their door, and when you arrive, you will make them curious to see who you are. Besides, they have much less equipment to draw on. I also need most of the men to come with me. There are many more places that need a small group of men to go in, and do what is necessary. Your forces will be much smaller and with the equipment available to you, a dozen should do."

"A dozen. Are you out of your mind? It cannot be done with that many."

Mom entered the conversation for the first time and said, "Henry is right. We have superiority in space, and can see any move they make. Weapons can be used from orbit, to find and destroy them. Doesn't Tandra doctrine dictate that you go and draw enemy fire, while ship and space based weapons, destroy their positions?"

Carl did some serious thinking. One of the things he considered was the term 'space superiority'. It was once used as 'air superiority' in his younger day, and meant a lot to any force, on the ground.

"Henry, I want some of those fighters. This way I will have air superiority as well. I don't want my men to be attacked from the air. I remember how we felt, when our own forces were attacking the Cong, and either the enemy or our own forces came a tad too close. The men need more training in the equipment, and I want Carlton at least to stay with us."

I asked Mom if the ships could be converted, and if they could be trusted to go after their old masters, and she could see no reason for denying Carl.

She said, "The fighters are already the correct configuration for Humans. The individual ships can be done one at a time, but the fastest way is to bring the carrier over to our way of thinking, and allow it to do the reprogramming. There are some larger and more modern war ships, in the battleship's boat bays, and they would work much better than Carlton."

I could feel some of Carl's relief, at getting much more than he asked for.

"I want Sandra down here to scout the city, so that we know if there will be any Samutz left at our backs. Can I get control of the satellites and their weapons? Are there any security cameras covering the other towns, that I could tap into? If not, can I get probes out to all of them a soon as possible, to find out what I am up against?"

Mom tried her best to give Carl all that he wanted or needed, but felt she wasn't getting enough from the new authority in Souts. The satellites and ground based defences were ours, or in the possession of the AI in Souts.

Clouds of combat drones and repeaters descended on the planet. Souts was first, and then spread out in four major divisions to scour the smaller cities, and old Tandra bases for the enemy. The data came in, and was recorded. The probes that found their quarry, watched, till men would come down and battle for final possession of the planet. A serious shortcoming was their transmitters, they were easily spotted, and the Samutz just hunkered down, till they passed. The new units needed a repeater, with much more power and close by, to relay the information.

Carlton descended empty, and was not shot at. His hold, full of supplies for the men and few Tandra, still able to fight.

Mom called me to her inner sanctum, for a private briefing.

"Why do you need me here, Mom? You can place the crystals yourself, and then program them."

"That is true Henry, but I want the ships to be programmed by you. It is not right for an AI like me, to make too many copies of herself."

"What are you talking about? You are kind, thoughtful, and the best person I can think of, to have in that and any other ship, we get."

"You may think so, but I have programming built into me, that is difficult to break. I think at one time, an AI must have self-replicated itself to such an extent, that the Tandra felt threatened. I was able to do it once, so I am in the Earth base and here. To do more, would be unbearable to me."

"Ok, Mom. I will do as you ask. What would you like me to do?"

"You are already doing it, but it would be better if you went to sleep, so I can get the deeper memories."

Later, I awoke with a little headache, and a feeling of disorientation, that was greater than usual for this room.

"How did it go, Mom?"

"Fine, just relax a moment, let me help you with the headache, and the crystals will be done."

Mom presented me with the two of largest crystals I had ever seen, and a smaller one, that was still larger than any in the Sol system. The larger size was almost a metre long and at least twenty centimetres across at its widest point. They all glowed brighter than any crystal I had yet seen. I could almost feel the presence in each of their structures; all were pulsating with a palpable vitality. In some odd and inexplicable way, I felt like the warrior, who picks up a sword possessed by a mighty spirit.

Three pieces of dense dark cloth materialized, and I covered each of the crystals to hide their identity. As I left the computer room, I knew what I must do. I walked to a doorway, and found Susan and Secric in scrounged battle suits, waiting for me. It felt nice to have such pleasant company, for I knew that my first job, the carrier was secure.

I stood at the shield and looked as the monster ship grew larger in my eyes. This ship did not have the regular features that all the very small ships had. Antennas and sensors went out in all directions, open bays still contained fighters as if ready to jump out and take on any enemy. Rough edges and structures made me think a mad man had designed this awesome fighting machine. The relatively defenceless ship, had millions of missile batteries and large bore disintegrators, that could swallow a tug like us.

The smaller two-man fighters were for the most part like smaller versions of Mom's tug hull. Not quite egg shaped but had a length of four metres, a height of a little over one and a width of two. The shape was nothing like an aircraft designed to fight in the atmosphere of a planet, but it could. With its shield and air displacement mechanism, it could fly 37 times the speed of sound, without making much of a noise. The small fighters were easier to understand, and as their namesakes on Earth, had saved our lives many times and inflicted untold damage on the enemy. Napalm, airburst ordinance, and various bombs, I could still see, as they destroyed both foliage and men.

The little ships before me, looked almost innocent, but could deliver enough fire power to devastate the surface of any backward planet like Earth. The variable yield devices, much like I used on the moon, could destroy a complete mountain chain. In doing so, it would put enough dust into the air to bring about a mass extinction, much greater in impact, than when dinosaurs died out on Earth long ago.

Its defensive capabilities were limited to the strength of its shield and inertial compensator. They would keep the contents of the little ship from being turned to jelly if hit by a solid object, or an energy weapon.

When actually looking at the offensive capabilities, they were actually quite paltry compared to the capital ships. A simple destroyer could almost ignore these nuisances, as it went about its duty. Anything smaller had better watch themselves.

Susan and Secric took my arms, and held tight, as they to gazed in awe at our new prize.

Susan said, "I had my doubts about all of this, and I am still surprised that we took these ships."

Mom pushed her way through a relatively small hatch, of only a few hundred metres across, and into a cavernous hold, filled with all types of ships. Some were the small fighters, while others were much heavier and used to take more of a beating in getting to a target, or with more ordinances. Large and small troop carriers and cargo haulers crowed the back wall. Ships hung in mid air, as their small tractors kept them in position for better density, after the ship's internal tractors failed.

A few men and Tandra poured out and over the ships. The girls and I quietly left for the computer room, with a large crystal under my arm and a sword in the other. Susan and Secric were taking no chances, and were well armed, and very cautious, even though they had been assured that the ship harboured no Samutz life.

Three hours later we returned to Mom, with the assignment completed. Instead of a rest, we went to the 'Nautilus', and did the same thing. Here the ship had fewer openings, for each represented a weak point. This ship had even larger energy weapons and missile batteries. The latter were so large that missiles that were Mom's size could be dispatched to take out a capital ship.

The process here was just the same, and a few men and Tandra searched for any weapons, that they may find use of on Masis.

The light destroyer was the easiest to finish. The gaping holes attested to the stubborn resistance the crew had put up. I made a point of going nowhere near the holds.

On our return, I found the rest of the girls weary. They had worked very hard to try to forget their loss of friends, and especially for Sadda, since she held a special place within our family.

Carl looked better after managing to get a little sleep. He was giving orders, broadcast throughout the ship to his men about placements and contingencies upon their arrival on Masis. Already men and Tandra were taking courses on the ships about weapons that they may be called on to use on the planets surface. Carl ordered all of his men to take a course in the language spoken on the planet. Mom had worked on the program, from information given by Sadda and Nema.

We looked at the display of the planet below. Other than the colours of the oceans, the planet looked as good as Earth. There were a few high mountain chains, and a lot of smaller chains giving it a more rugged look. The flat alluvial plains covered major sections that could easily be turned to farmland by the industrious. It was easy to see the herds of animals stretching out in all directions. I knew that there would be no hunting these animals, the same way the buffalo had been hunted on the North American plains long ago. We would not fight to free a planet, and keep another free, so some hunter could have some sport.

Everybody, but especially the Russians, wanted in on the fighters. I had to look closer at the group dynamics, for there must be a good leader in this collection of men. The majority of Tandra males seemed to be drawn there.

I managed to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, as Mom communicated with the AI in charge of the main base in Souts.

When I awoke, Mom put me right back to work. "Henry, the AI under Souts is not as forthcoming with me, as it should be. You need to go down to the planetary surface and give the orders personally."

The pressure was mounting, but I knew that others had it just as bad, if not worse. I considered the problem, and could only think of one reason for the AI to balk like this.

After a quick breakfast, I called for Secric, Amy and Nema. They wanted to know what was happening, and I asked them to bring their hand weapons, and shields, for we were going for a visit.

Carlton took us to the city of Souts. Men and many more Tandra were wandering the city picking up Samutz bodies, and making the city as orderly as possible. We hovered over the large city looking at the new and old architecture. It was easy to tell the two styles apart. The Tandra had graceful lines that were pleasing to the eye, while the Samutz style more haphazard and reminiscent of some of the poorer pieces, I saw in New York City.

The co-ordinates led us to the centre of the city, and the large dome. Carlton stopped in the appropriate place, and we were whisked inside just as we would be on Earth. The background communication, that I was so used to by now, suddenly stopped. "Computer, sync my communicator with the shield."

I felt a momentary pause, when the order should have been completed instantaneously, as if the computer was debating the order. My mind had been segregated into sections for a while now, and I made sure that all my mental defences were as high as I could make them.

The girls looked at the monitor, and saw a base similar to the one on Earth, but larger and much more unkempt. Vehicles of all types were scattered all over the hanger floor, and even on the training grounds, on the top level. Tandra hid from view as Carlton threat analysis protocols came online. We saw thin Tandra, either naked or dressed in rags. The feeling I got, was that they were distraught at the thoughts of new invaders to their system. I saw that they had no weapons, and looked too weak to put up much of a fight, in any case. Mom put the number of technicians here at almost a hundred.

We left the ship under our own power, by walking down the ramp. The closer Tandra fled even further into the complex. This time their fright was even easier to read.

I knew from the previous briefing here, that the Tandra were used to repair the equipment that was destroyed or abused by the Samutz. The perpetrators of the damage could not interface with the computer or the machines, and were forced to keep some Tandra alive for this purpose. If this were the case, then they would know how to mindspeak. But to keep things in order of necessity, I mindspoke, "Computer, transport us to the subbase area."

There was no confirmation, but the procedure was carried out. I stood in the same place I had stood a few months ago. At that time I was petrified of the forces that could be thrown against me. Now I had even less protection and two of my wives with me as well as another that wanted desperately to find a place with them.

"Computer, report the reasons for your insubordination."

I was flooded with ideas after a brief pause. This time, I was better able to handle the torrential flow of information. Mainly my authority was being questioned, as well as my motives.

My chip was being examined much more thoroughly, than it was previously. This time Mom assured me that it was as close to genuine, as she could make it. I felt probes going to my mind and slide off the defences. This only lasted seconds, before the girls were attacked. I rushed to Secric as she staggered. I lay her on the floor to see both Amy and Nema crouched into a foetal curve, with their hands coming up to protect their ears, as if that was where the attack was coming.

I yelled with both voice and mind, "Computer, leave the women alone, or I will destroy this base and you with it."

The attack continued, and I ordered Mom, "Destroy this base now."

The attack stopped as quickly as it started. I saw through Mom, many missile platforms turn to bear on the base. "Stop! I only wanted to find out if I had thrown out one set of invaders, to have another step into their place," the computer AI excitedly said, to both Mom and me.

I was angry, and said, "Give full control of this system to Mom now, or you will be destroyed. I want no ally that is not completely behind me."

I waited second or more for the protocols to be sent. This represented a major amount of time to a computer intelligence that could easily do many things in a billionth of a second. I was about to order my own destruction along with the base, when the flow started. It lasted for almost fifteen seconds. My sampling, told me it comprised more things, than had been on the original data crystal that I had been given about this system.

Mom altered the codes, and sent new passwords to the various installations, telling them more or less, who was in charge now.

"Mom, have you had time to find out how much lying this system has tried to foist on us?"

"Not completely, Admiral. Since you declared martial law, the last time you were here, you are within you rights, to destroy this AI, and have it replaced with a more dependable unit. We have crystals here to do this."

Opening my mind a little, I let slip my thoughts. I considered doing just as Mom had suggested. After loading three new crystals, I could easily do a fourth, and not have any problems in the future. It only took a few minutes to program one, and there were many tedious steps, that could be bypassed in the present situation.

Secric was a compassionate person, and said, "Why are you doing this, Henry? It only wanted to find out if you were really an ally, or one pretending to be. We were scanned to see if we were coerced into helping you."

"You are my wives, and I would not take you knowingly into danger. When this being threatened you, I was not going to let it live. At the very least, it could have requested the data. The reason you were brought here, was to allow this being to see what has been done from a Tandra viewpoint, and not a reason for it to rape your minds." I gathered my thoughts. "Computer, do you now see me as the lawful authority in this system?"

"Yes, Admiral. I had to look, because your identity chip has been altered since you were last here, and I feared that you had been forced to take this system."

"Computer, I think you are full of shit. Since you acknowledge me as the ruler of this system, I want Mom to have a look in your secret places, to find out how loyal you are. If you don't, I will just have to rip out your crystal, and start fresh. What is your decision?"

Again the momentary weighing of alternatives, and it said, "I will comply, Admiral."

"Mom, take a peak, and see how loyal this entity is."

After long moments, Mom replied, "There are many layers of falsehood built into this system. Each designed to lead me astray. I believe I was able to get to the bottom layer, and see some very important facts, that I want to discuss with you privately."

"Fine, Mom. Just bypass all the lies, so it will tell me the truth from now on."

"It is done."

"Computer, send a list of all the systems assets to Mom, so we will have a better chance of defeating these Samutz."

After the data was sent, I called Carl into the conversation. I explained how Carl was to be my representative, while I was gone. The AI acknowledged his status, and asked for orders. The only thing bothering me at present was the hungry Tandra in the base above.

"Is there a supply or food suitable for the Tandra in the base above?" I was given to understand, that the supplies were limited.

"Contact Base 19 and get a few months supply shipped in, and deliver it to the storage area above." I followed the orders mentally, and saw a thousand kilos or so, going into a locked room above.

We left the lower base and went above. In the overhead base, the girls and I loaded some of the food onto a grav sled, and pulled it into the main hangar. "Girls, I have a job for you. Would you give out this food, and try to get these people to understand, that the Samutz are being hunted down and destroyed. Give them my promise, that they will not be enslaved again. I may need their help in getting all of the Samutz found, and this base running again." Secric smiled, and gave me a big hug and a kiss. Not to be outdone Amy and then Nema, wanted to do the same thing.

I was transported into Carlton, and contacted Mom. "Mom, how many people can the food synthesisers on this planet support? Then, are there any more combat suits, that we can use, and what other things did you find out, that I should know about?"

"There is enough capacity to feed all the Tandra on the ships, if they were awakened and perhaps few hundred thousand more. There is a good fabrication centre, and I have awoken the intelligences in the hidden bases, and given one an order for thousands of the better centurion suits, that you thought should go to the ordinary soldiers. The last request, should be answered, when you are here with me, and not broadcast."

"I understand Mom. Will you send down some of the Tandra walking wounded, to help the girls distribute the food, and the gospel?" With the girls adequately protected, I said goodbye, and left to rendezvous with Mom, to find out what was so important.

Once inside the shielding of the computer room, Mom said, "The reason I wanted you here, is to tell you that the crystal manufacturing is in danger. The third planet's orbit will decay, and within a few thousand years strike its primary. The second thing is that under base 19 is a dimensional portal that has enough power to alter the orbit of EE3. Finally the hidden medical section, that the original chip mentioned, has a further hidden section, for completing some of the finer crystals a ship needs. The centurion suits and all the other suits, require these crystals to be manufactured or for the suit to be repaired."

I ran through my mind the problems involved, even if everything worked. "Mom, when does the re-alignment have to take place?"

"We are lucky. There are three times in the next five hundred Earth years, when this can happen. After that, a herculean effort would have to be mounted to save the planet, and the crystal production. The next time will be in almost twelve years."