Chapter 53

I groaned a little, and gained my feet. I placed my clothing on the bed, and sat in the chair. "I came here to gain an ally, and give some help if it were possible. You or anyone else would like to see whom they are thinking of allying with, before an agreement was made."

"You want my empire. That is the truth, isn't it?"

Even with the rough treatment I had been given, I laughed a little, "Bassinda, I have forces on almost a hundred and thirty systems. Four more would mean very little to me, especially when I will have to fight the Samutz or the Bintuu for them. If I were unscrupulous, I would let you fight the Samutz, and then take on the winner."

She did not like the familiarity I had with her, but she just said, "How is it that an admiral has a hundred and thirty systems?"

"Simple, I just kill many billions of Samutz, and then get the Tandra, Softay, T'aut and other races to start fighting for their lives and freedom, in a cause that they now have a good chance to win. You on the other hand, and by your own reckoning, will loose the coming fight. If the Bintuu get here first, you will just substitute masters. What I am called, is really unimportant."

Her mind was very quick, and came to the conclusion that I was probably right, at least for what I said. "What can you offer us as an alternative?"

"You will govern a system, and raise our children, as they should be raised, in accordance with Tandra law. The Tandra Empire will flourish again, and all of us will have the rights and responsibilities of any citizen. I imagine you have heard of what it used to be like?"

"Yes, I have, and how will you bring this all about?"

"Most of those systems will be making weapons soon, to fight any and all aggressors. We have developed a new shield that does not allow zinc and iron to penetrate or the missiles of the newer Samutz ships. That information I will give you, without any stipulations. We have our own supply of crystals, and will share with our allies. Finally, I have with my home planet, almost 7 billion people that are willing to follow me." The last figure completely hinged on what Mom was able to do with the ships I sent her and the scattered Tandra on various planets, following our cause.

She tried to get some hard data, and I had Jamal send down the specs for the shield modification. Next, he sent down a list of all the planets we conquered, the resources acquired, and the Samutz that died in the taking of it. She was going over the data with the AI and her councillors, but I remained naked as she was.

During a lull in the activities, I stood up and coaxed her over to the bed. For the last few minutes, I was slowly caressing her urethra with my PK, and it stood prominent from her mons. No matter how she moved it, it always remained erect, and she stayed on the borderline of wanting sex. Picking up her legs, the startled woman fell onto the bed, and in a second I was inside her, again.

"What are you doing? We were discussing our chances of survival."

"You have not mentioned it, but my little troops have not reached their objective yet. I think I should send in some of the reserves."

She did not understand, till I showed her the microscopic view of her reproductive organs. I started moving as she saw this, and all too soon, she had no other concern than me. I tried to keep a nice steady pace, and only rested as she orgasmed. Soon a new stream of invaders swam to their objective.

The woman beneath me was again unconscious. She was bright, resourceful, and would make a good mother, even if she had a vicious streak. I knew somehow, that she would have to remain mine, and I worked on her as I did Star, not long ago. I invaded her deepest reaches and showed what she would get from our alliance. The girls were all shown, and the promise of more children, was all it took to bond her tightly to me.

When she awoke again, she looked around, and then inside herself, and said, "What have you done?"

"You are now my wife, and I will be the father of all your children. I will protect you to my dying breath, and insure the safety of all our descendants." This was as much as I could say, for my marriage vows, and Bassinda held me tight, as she said 'yes, yes' many times in my brain.

While in bed, we watched the steady progress of sperm cells, and the quicker movements of the egg. Thousands of cells worked on the egg, and finally one found an opening, turning vertical, then wiggled his way inside.

"Well, Love, as soon as the egg attaches itself, you will be pregnant. Let's get up and see what we can do on our feet, for a change?"

She said, "How can you make those visions, for some reason I took them to be pictures of what is really happening."

"They are. I seem to have a lot of little tricks, and more seem to be popping up all the time. I would like to think it was an accident of birth, but the truth is, Tandra males modified us millions of years ago, and spent a long time in doing it. The end result, I found, is a better match for the Tandra race. The two races will intermix, and our children will inherit at least this galaxy."

I had long since dropped any holds on my aura, and the two of us walked out into the waiting room hours later. Bassinda was actually on my arm, and the rest stood at our approach. The pretty male, and then one after the other the females dropped to one knee. This time the genuflection was for both of us.

In the coming hours, I was given high authority to make changes in personnel, and in manufacturing. Many of the more educated Mordis were transferred to the New Hope, to learn ship functions.

Their galvanized ship killers, were even better than our design, and reflected many centuries of work. By incorporating the newer shield in each small missile, there was no need for two different types. Our main missile would still be the large ones, intended for beating in a heavy shield with shear force, and destroy the ship.

Jamal shipped down a dozen major crystals, and many smaller ones, to the ships that needed them. The trick with the Samutz working through a mine field was already understood, and different defence was already in use.

I threw out some old Tandra from places of responsibility, and placed younger ones, that would follow orders. The ones losing their positions cried loud and wide, even complaining to the Empress. She still had the concern of her empire at heart, and sided with me in this matter.

The crews suspected of favouring a mutiny, were all swapped at the same time by different crews, with a high proportion of Mordis.

Chris, aboard the New Hope, was my liaison with all the Mordis and her image remained off line, unless it was secure. Here, instructions were to get the Mordis to such a mental state, that they would not surrender the ships after the battle, that is, if we lived. Trying to take over the ships with my own imperial directive would be futile, and only serve to warn the elite, what was happening.

Some of the better combat suits were altered to fit a Mordis physique, and I soon had a large infantry if needed. The elite were very worried about this last point, more than all the rest.

The time arrived, and 37 major ships joined the New Hope, and we flew off to meet the coming armada. We were outnumbered here almost three to one, but from recent odds, this was quite acceptable. Our ship formed the head of a convoy and flew at 161 times the fastest speed of the slowest ship. After only five minutes, we released over half of our entire heavy ordinance at an enemy we could not even see or detect. The Samutz did not usually vary their plans, and this time, I hoped they followed their own rules.

Our convoy changed course and flew around the coming confrontation, and stopped in space before returning towards the planet and the remainder of the Samutz armada, from the rear. Again we launched blind, and got out of sensor range. All we could do now was return to Defren, rearm, and wait for the survivors to come at us.

Three hours later, 42 damaged ships came out of hyper, and proceeded at a much slower pace for their target. Our pickets had detected them early, and giant missiles flew to their expected positions, as our main fleet fired from their other flank.

Before they struck, small repeaters transmitted the imperial decree. This had no effect, and we got no reply. An AI to respond would be avoided by the approaching missiles.

Five battleships blew up, along with three carriers, and a half dozen troop transports in the rear.

Jamal flew at the best speed we could muster, and crossed their line of advance, and released a heavy barrage on only some of the selected targets, hoping to overcome any defences that a combined unit could mount. Our speed was our greatest advantage, as the missiles could not overtake us, but had to be fired on a course they thought we might come.

Waves of the smaller missiles came and impacted on our altered shield and had no effect. The larger ones were rare enough, that our own point defences were able to destroy them before they got close enough to damage us.

The Samutz suddenly ignored us, and charged the blockading force now hoping to inflict as much damage as they could. Heavy missiles, and small, all rained out in an attempt to take out the defenders. The Samutz must now know how untenable their position was.

The New Hope flew across the Samutz flank, and three battleships blew to fiery ruin, when their defences were swamped. A carrier and two more troop ships protected by the heavier ships, belched flame and stopped accelerating.

Smaller ships tried to screen the main body, but provide enough room for an exchange of missiles, that were as large as or larger than they were. The Tandra ships in the centre took most of the fire, and sent the most in return. They were crewed mostly by Mordis, and knew that their future, in more than one way, depended on how they performed.

The Samutz escort ships took much of the fire, and ate up much of our weapons. A high rate of fire was seen early on, and remained a major factor in most large engagements. Missiles positioned almost five light seconds out came in by the thousands. If the missiles were saved, there may not be a planet to save them for. They all came at the Samutz and ship after ship blew up or remained quiet.

Seventeen ships looked like they could contain life, and half a million Mordis infantry fanned out to take the ships, and regain any of the techs aboard. Tandra battle ships came in and their tractors tried to alter course of the now inoperative enemy ships. Small weapons fire came from the rescued vehicle, and I saw a missile go right through one ship and impact on a shield of another ship. Appropriate weapons answered, and the ships were towed out of the system.

The New Hope followed to provide protection with six battleships, and their escorts. Damage reports came in, and very few problems were reported. Some of the older structural members had failed, as had some of the components, but the fabricators were busy supplying new parts.

The fleet was a different story; the Parmain, Soffal and the Couda were all damaged. The Couda was the worst, and crews from the other ships came over to help. The Parmain was the second most damaged of the three, but abandon ship orders had been issued. The details were odd, and I looked deeper into the matter.

There were dimensional shifts going on inside the hull, but did not go out too far. I gave orders to have it towed out of the system, by three other ships for safety. This weapon on a small scale was what protected the Tandra systems for the most part, and here by some fluke, it was working within a ship. There were many Mordis trapped on the ship. I could hear them mentally screamed for help. This ship, as well as the other three, was mainly crewed by the four armed Tandra, but all the officers were of the two armed variety.

With the obvious bias shown in this system, I knew that the two armed variety would not give as much assistance to their former slaves. There was only one way to go and to be truthful, the phenomenon intrigued me.

"Jamal, we have almost six thousand infantry that could help the Parmain. Get them into combat suits, as a damage control party, and send them to Runna."

"Chris, you are the captain here now. I am going to see if I can help the Parmain."

"What?"

"You heard. You have been the captain when I was on the planet, now just continue for a while, and see what you can do to take those wrecks we are towing."

She did not want this, and wanted to leave the captaincy to Star, while she came with me.

"That is an order, soldier. Both of you are staying on this ship, and see what we can do to make a difference."

I left the ship in Chris's hands and took Runna from the boat bay, with thousands of Mordis crammed into every possible place. As we accelerated to the Parmain, I told them about why we were going, and their duties. Things were changing very fast for them, and it was hard for them to really understand my reasoning.

The Parmain looked normal except for the battle damage. Individual parties of 12 headed out, with as many heavy duty controllers as they could find. The small ones in the suits would not work nearly as fast, as the single purpose tool. The injured were to be brought to Runna for transport, as I searched for the cause of the odd and infrequent distortions. The computer was not working well, and the AI was of very little help, as if it were a child.

Information from the ships doing the towing, told me the disturbance centred around the computer section. I ran through the ship, with my own controller, and found large sections of the ship's frame completely missing. This was the expected result of the dimensional shift, but this time it did not travel far into the hull, as a normal weapon would. I gave help where it was needed, but mostly got some of the crew to help themselves, and others. After a half hour, I was at the computer. I had deduced the problem as being the matter transmitter being damaged, and for some unknown reason, the computer and AI, could not shut it down.

The door slowly opened to me, and I flew in. This battleship was like the first one I sent back to Earth, and the layout was the same. The forces inside the computer were not though. Usually this location was only disconcerting and a little nauseous. This time it was many times worse, as conflicting fields buffeted me. The only good thing was that the cries from throughout the ship were cut off abruptly by the fields and the main shielding. Turning a corner, I saw the alcove with the AI, it was almost unrecognizable. The AI was only a fraction of its original size, and an area behind it, had only a gray haze of dimensions my brain wasn't equipped to see.

I backed out, and headed where the main transmitter module should be. Ten minutes later the controller in my hand lost the tip, as a shudder travelled through the ship. Even in a weightless environment, I still felt it.

An excruciating pain suddenly shot through me, and my body coasted into the wall. It felt like I was being ripped apart. My head, legs, and arms throbbed where the crystals were placed. I tried to pull myself together and shut my pain down then the transmitter. Even though the pain was excruciating, I continued, till I found an area where everything was twisted like an expressionist painter's canvas. Everything here was in more than just 3-D. Pieces were missing and some fallen over, but in the centre glowed a much darker pulsating area.

The only thing to do was destroy the module, and I could not trust my accuracy with a throw. I raised the controller like a club, and raced in as best I could. The improvised club came down on the crystal with all my might. The environment got very bright, and the pain only increased, till I could take it no more.

Some time later, I opened my eyes and only saw black, the pain was everywhere. One eye was an agony, I could not even begin to describe. I had been able to block the stimulus to my brain, but much was still able to get by.

The pain seemed to awaken me again, and I tried to move but every effort was so hard.

I woke up again, but now I was in a gray fog, and my fingers pulled me forward. The fingertips hurt, as if I had crushed them. The arms felt no different, as if they had been pounded by a giant. Somehow gaining control of the combat suit, I directed it forward, but it hit a wall. The pain again was just too much to take.

Coming around again, my thinking was muddled even worse than it used to be before meeting the Tandra. I chose another direction at random and pushed again with the mental controls to suit. I drifted till I saw another wall out of my left eye, but my vision changed. The right eye with all the pain, told me that there were more edges and openings. Turning my head was torture, but I saw the corridor that could be the way I came, and headed towards it, only on the suit power. Any movement of my body brought even more unbearable anguish.

The colours now were much different, than I had ever seen before. Openings were in the long corridor that was never there when coming in, or in any other ship. Making the suit stop, I positioned it to bring my arm around and carefully, while thinking of the anguish I would get, I pushed my suited hand into the hole and it actually went in. Pulling out, I returned to trying to find an exit. I tried to visualize the path, knowing full well that it never worked before, and found my mind encompassing dimensions, I had never been able to see. It was as if my mind was desperately trying to find a path that would take me away, from this agonizing discomfort.

The discovery made me stop and I carefully thought of what actually happened. The view was something like what Mom told me long ago. There were corridors going off in five dimensions, when only one with three dimensions was before my real eyes. The computer was damaged in many places, and I used my PK to gently move a module in my altered vision, and things seemed to make more sense. This was like putting a few pieces of a large jigsaw project together, and I saw that there was actually a symmetrical construct, in the small pieces.

Curiosity got the better of me, and even through the pain. I stayed, and tried to do an experiment with the computer. Further on was a damaged area, and I tried the first test. Seven experiments later, I came to the AI. There was much more here, than I ever saw before. The gray spots had changed, and I could see damaged components far into the ship. Instead of leaving like I should, I started to repair the area, and found things in the living computer, that could be changed to make them work better. Little by little the area started to take on a much different light and life.

I opened my other eye, and saw the view my old self would see. Things were bright before, but now they made much more sense. This was like after Nova first improved me, or when Mom compartmentalized my mind. This was much more that even recently, when Jamal put the crystals into my body, and hooked them up to my nervous system. Closing my eyes again, I went within myself and saw damage that looked much like the ship that I was within. Small chips had torn my body, and cut nerves while others were not where they should be, yet there was no ripped flesh to show where they came from. It was as if the transporter placed them inside my body, like the matter transmitter moved equipment.

My right eye was the worse damaged, and gave me the majority of my pain. The crystal fragments were actually sticking out of the iris and pupil. The suit auto doc and the one in my body had obviously done some work on me, but not nearly enough. The eye would require a visit to the tank, but the fingers could be done now. Before the trip to the moon, I learned about Human and Tandra bodies in great detail. The view I got of the tiny shards of broken crystal, showed that they were bonding to my nervous system, just as the larger crystals were forced to do. As an experiment, I helped some tissue graft to a small speck, and the pain lessened a small bit. This heartened me, and I went throughout my body finding particles, and binding them to my living flesh, and the pain got less every time this happened.

The last to be done, was my head, and taking a foolish risk, I worked on a few shards, and bonded them to my cortex. It was like waking up. I could see other shards, and bonded them as well. Some were placed wrong symmetrically, and I moved them to where they were required, before I reattached them. As I did more, my awareness increased, and the pain subsided. A large collection of shards where the crystal had fragmented made an odd sense. I turned some, and moved a few, and like the jigsaw puzzle, I saw into many dimensions. The crystals were moved through the other dimensions, and hooked up with other crystals in my body, through a way I was not able to understand. I just did it, because I believed it to be right. It was almost an instinctive fashion.

When I was done, I stood back from my creation and saw how it worked, then saw how it could be improved. I went back in, and moved some to the crystals attached to my cortex, then stepped back again. It was getting better and better, as my mind cleared, and the construction became even easier.

When I was done, I saw a glimmering shape of many dimensions, with my brain interfacing with it in all the major points. My intellect had shot up once again, and I thought of many of my old problems, and found some of them solvable in a short time. The shield would have two layers, and each operating independently. If each were of a different harmonic, they would make an almost impenetrable shield that used even less power. The high energy universe next came to mind, and I formed a microscopic tube of force to direct the stream here.

I stopped just before this experiment. I needed to get out of the ship to see this. Before I left, I broke up the crystal protruding from my eye, and expelled almost all of the small pieces. A tiny fraction, were tied to my retina, and I was able to still see the computer as it really was, before all the dimensional warping crystals were installed. Like focussing on a distant object, I was also able to see more possibilities in other dimensions. The pain now had all but disappeared, even without my block.

The computer was basically flawed in many ways. Much too much, mass was used in the three better known dimensions, that we were all used to. Data could flow faster if it could jump, like everything else did on a modern ship. Clearing off an area of computer substrate, I took pieces and reassembled them as they should be. Ideas came to me easily, and I incorporated them in the substrate at a fast rate, using all of the available dimensions. Crystals were taken from damaged areas and added. Some of these even needed to be improved. The haphazard way they grew in nature, did not make for an efficient crystal.

When my small section seemed to work much better than any I knew before. I modified it again, and added more parts and circuits. Time seemed to mean nothing, but an added dimension, but eventually I programmed the section I made to take over the rest of the computer, cannibalizing it for parts. The new area grew, and grew getting faster, as it progressed.

I could not find a way to automate the work on the crystals. I just took the easiest course, and reprogrammed the crystals and streamlined their structure, as I came to them. I was physically exhausted by the time the process was finished. The finished computer needed an interface in it, to communicate directly to the structure in my brain. The speed of the improved computer stunned me for a while. I worked faster, but I was not able to keep up as I use to. I built a slightly different interface in my mind that would allow me to increase speed and throughput, if I could, or remain at a more comfortable level.

With the use of the computer, I built a mock-up of the structure in my mind, and ran tests on it. I found a few places where I could do some altering to improve efficiencies. I saved the plans of this mock-up, and made the actual changes in my mind. The computer seemed to slow down a bit.

It was now time to see what was happening in the system. I followed the external sensors and found only a few derelicts nearby. There was no trace of any of our warships or even the New Hope.

Reaching across to another wreck, I found the reason. Weeks had passed, and they had almost given up looking for me, especially when another fleet came into the system. The ships were strange and I could only think of the Bintuu coming to take the system.

I searched for a way of getting back, and only found some simple four place fighters, all else had been stripped.

Coming back to my body, I found the way out of the computer room with no difficulty. In a way, I could not understand how I had ever got lost in this environment before. I scanned for life, and found none aboard. I categorized my needs and got the supplies by hand, because the damaged transmitter was no longer functional. In an hour, I was flying back as fast as I could push the ship, till I remembered Nedue and Soma. I visualized the high order universe and made the smallest tube possible, but kept it external to the ship with the discharge end far back.

The small ship was shot crazily forward without control. The acceleration had hurt my back and neck, for there was no real control at all over a system like this. Observations showed that the ship should have covered a million kilometres but we had gone thirty million, and was on the other side of the system. With the prospects of a 5 hour trip ahead of me, I refined the layout of the tube. The section before the ship separated into three sections that would trail much further behind. The configuration would give me stability if they could be aimed correctly. I finally coiled the tube to form a sort of choke, and sat back in my seat, and fed in power even slower than before.

The inertial compensator could not keep up, but I was able to take the 12 gravities that I was subjected too. In a few second I came to the Mardaf Limit. I started to slow immediately, and just fed more power to compensate. Soon I was flying faster than any ship could, within this volume of space.

There was a lot of firing going on, as many ships were throwing missile after missile at one another. I collapsed the tube and formed a new one over a Bintuu ship, and released the energy. It shot out of the system like a watermelon seed, between two of my fingers. I was doubtful if anybody could have survived, even with a much better inertial compensator. Within a minute there was only one ship left, it was the one that stood on the periphery of the battle, and was probably the command ship.

It turned tail and flew out at its maximum speed. I followed behind, and put the tube to this one too. I put much less power to it, as I fought its engines. The engines went to maximum then even more, as it tried everything it could do to escape.

The tube did not take up my entire mind, so I made another, and anchored this to the ship, and with a much larger choke, burnt off all their engines. It was unable to move now and just drifted with its residual momentum.

Bassinda had told me about the Bintuu, and our computers had mentioned only a little more. They were formed like a millipede, but with ten legs. The back four allowed the creature to rear up to a three metre height. They were very quick, good soldiers, and apparently had law that they scrupulously followed. Obviously they were raised in a hive, and an empress governed the empire, but only the males served as the warriors. For the last century they had been resisting if not pushing the Samutz back. The Samutz had been mostly occupied with fighting them off, or trying to retake more land far back from the front, to keep their own population safe. Killing the Samutz may have been a bad thing, for they kept the Bintuu in check till now.

I concentrated on the ship, and distinctly heard Tandra mindspeak along with another, that seemed much different in pitch. The high pitched voices were giving orders to repair the systems that were completely burned away. Weapon's officers were at every station, ready to take on any ship coming close.

The computer was like the Tandra variety, but had a personality hard wired directly in, with small crystals doing the job of one large crystal, much like the way my brain was now organized. This would give me the most information, and I found many ways to wiggle into the basic coding of the machine. The codes to destroy the ship, deactivate the computer, or make it respond directly to the Bintuu's Empress. The last had a lot of qualifications that the empress had to pass, before this could be done. DNA, brain scan, as well as 33 other criteria were necessary, not to mention gender. I stretched out, and reprogrammed the machine to accept me, and then gave it the code override.

A scanner found me, but I was too far away for proper identification. The computer would not allow me to be shot now, or at least till I failed the inspection. I did not withdraw from the machine, but continued my investigation of the race, and this machine in particular. The fighter's engines were powered up, and I made a leisurely trip to the derelict hull.