Chapter 12: Send in the Clones (Well you know what I mean!)

After viewing the recording of Brenda's abduction I quickly ran to the portal that they had used, I pressed the activator and the destination icon, but nothing happened.

"We've tried that as well, but it seems to be locked off." The Police Chief said shaking his head, "And if it had worked for you what would you do? You'd charge in and probably get killed in the process, and you just getting your wife back!"

I had to stop! This was true, I was letting my feelings rule my actions! And when you lose your head then you're likely to lose your head completely. "You're right Captain, I wasn't thinking. I need to find out why this isn't working, the activator is clicking correctly and so is the destination icon, it's as if the portal has been locked against activation, and I'm not sure how to override it ... yet!" I said going behind the portal unit to find an access panel.

The Android world portal opened up and a white coated technician stepped through, he nodded at me, "I've been sent by Central" He explained, I told him what I thought about the portal and he nodded, he was able to open the panel — which was at the side of the unit — and then he stood up. "There's a feed here that is connected to a computer at the destination, I can't release it as it would destroy the connection." He reported.

I nodded, "I see, can you get the address of the computer and then I'll need an interface unit so that I can contact The Green Lady and others." I asked him.

He was about to argue and then I showed him my letter of Marque, he then nodded, "Certainly Ambassador, I wasn't sure if you were supposed to know about The Green Lady, but this clears all the pathways." He said going back to Android portal.

After about half-an-hour he reappeared carrying a laptop computer, "We had to make this up to your world's specifications, but with a few security functions of our own, it has several terabytes of memory and is automatically connected to the drives at the Android homeworld, so that programs can be as large as you need and this will accept them all. It has a single user access, so only you can operate this." The man said (I know he was an android but it's still simpler thinking of them as men and women).

I thanked him and then he showed me how to connect the computer to the portal to access the remote controlling computer, at first I was presented with a plethora of 'illegal entry' messages and so I tried to be sneaky. I tried to convince the remote computer that I was a file-checker program and requested a low-level access, which it granted me.

Now I had to be careful, I loaded the command program — as part of the checking — as long as I didn't try to access the program live. And then I copied it to my holding area. From what I could read the program was a shackle on the computer itself, holding it down to a basic machine. I smiled.

"For what reason do you smile?" A voice spoke beside me; I turned to see Bran was standing there.

"BRAN! You're a sight for sore eyes, how did you get here?" I asked him in shock.

"Why by the portal of course how else would I travel?" he said a wide smile on his lips and then he turned to Margaret, "By the Green Lady! Be that you Lady Margaret? I knew that there was something being done, but this... ?" he held out his hand to Margaret and when she handed him hers he bent at the waist and kissed her hand. "I'm glad to see your living flesh at last, your shade was pretty, but you are beyond that." He said.

"I thank you Bran o'the Forest, but you seem to be avoiding my husband's question." Margaret said smiling at the man.

"Nay Lady Margaret, for your husband has avoided mine!" Bran pointed out and indeed it was true.

"Your pardon Bran, you see to keep control over some things Brak Distar, or rather Numan Distar as he should be known, has cut that computer down to just a simple control system, he's blocked off all the higher functions, which is where he's made a mistake." I said and saw I was losing them.

"How would you feel if you had been stopped from working to the best that you can? Wouldn't you try to find a way out?" I asked

Bran frowned, "Of a certainty I would, but then I am aware of these things, what you are connected to is just a simple computer!" He pointed out.

I showed him the program, "You see this is the control program for a superior computer system, it's a shackle! I would think that Brak has taken over some Maker's base, they would have had a sentient system installed to keep control." I paused for a moment as a thought struck me, "THAT'S WHAT WENT WRONG!" I said as I realised the problem.

Bran was watching me closely, "Why what went wrong?" He asked.

"The controlling computer didn't stop the process when the Maker's planet was destroyed! Why not? Because Brak had a program installed stopping it from interfering! It's probably still in the system!" I said looking at Bran

He thought for a moment and then nodded, "It may be that you are correct, The Green Lady has just gone through her memories and has found a few blanks! I would think that Brak Distar has a means of affecting her as well." He said and I knew that he had used his link to talk to her.

"Let the others know about this. Make them aware of the problem and to try to get around it." I said to Bran who nodded and closed his eyes. I concentrated on the program in front of me. A key part made me swear.

"What is wrong now John?" Margaret asked me concerned.

"It's this part here, I can't remove it but it locks the override code to the location, I can't enter it from a remote site, I'll have to be there to say it!" I said.

"You know what it is?" Margaret asked quickly.

I nodded, "Yes, it's this bit here, I can give the computer some control, but before I can get full control I'll need to be on site there, and the portal is locked at their end, it needs a code to unlock it!" I had found this out earlier.

Bran opened his eyes, "All systems are now aware of the problem and will try to isolate the cause, is there anything you need me to do?" He asked.

I pressed a key on the computer, "Yes, you need to send a message to Genius, if it comes from me it might be thought of as a trap, I don't think that Brak is aware that you are here. And then there's this..." I showed Bran a picture of the base that Genius and Brenda were being held in. "Brother Pieter is held here," a screen opened up to show Pieter looking at a wall display. Genius is being held..." The view changed to show Genius shackled in a cage. I tried to enter a command to free her but it didn't work. "Hold on a moment." I said and then added a line to the code on the screen, before I removed a similar one, then I saved it back to my system memory and then flagged it as clean, ready to be assimilated into the main program, because of my level of checking (as far as the remote computer knew) and as the program showed no real difference it was accepted back. A small hack allowed the program to take over the real one replacing my code over the Brak Distar's coding.

A small tune played on my screen and I smiled, "Success, the system AI is now in control, but still subject to Brak's commands. Bran, please do your stuff." I said and sat back.

"Lord John what should we be doing? All that's happened so far is that we've been held back while you put yourself into danger!" A man who I had assigned to take charge of the group while I was away came up with some other of my men.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry. I'm not used to this leadership thing. And that is why I seem to leave you behind so much," I said.

The man whispered, "You don't have to apologise to us Lord, you are in charge of us and we should be obeying your orders." He said.

I answered in the same way, "So you see what I mean, what do you suggest?"

He looked shocked that I would ask him. "My Lord! It's not for me to guess what you need." He said

I smiled, "Now it is! You are my second in command of these people; if I seem to dally with a command then you will ensure that you take up the slack, could you do that?" I asked him.

He thought for a moment and then shook his head, "I don't think so My Lord, I was only a farmer back home, what do I know about making commands?" he asked.

"As much as I do! Let's learn to do this together." I told him.

He nodded, "Cert's My Lord, what are your plans now?" He asked.

I gestured for everyone to gather around me, Margaret stood beside me. "Now our first target is the rescue of Brenda from Brak Distar, to do this I have to get to his base and give a special spell to gain control of it, then the way would be clear for others to follow us."

The lieutenant, Robert, then spoke up. "How wouldst we know it would be safe?"

I sighed, "That is true, you'll have to give me a few seconds. Should the portal close then it's a trap and I've been caught, but if it remains then follow." I turned to the Police Chief, "My men only have medieval weapons, is it possible that they be given more modern ones to defend themselves against androids?" I asked and he frowned.

"I would be against that myself, how would you feel if some heavily armoured brigands were allowed to run amok on your homeworld?"

"Your honour, if I may?" Bran spoke up, and I gave permission. "You see there is a way in which they can have the weapons and they would only work on the destination site, not here."

The police chief looked interested, "How would this work?"

Bran looked awkward, "It's something called an 'inhibitor circuit', which would be detected by the portal system, should they travel the portal wouldst find the circuit and work away on it." He looked at me, "Of course being from where I am then you may understand this better than I." He said looking innocent I knew that this was a ploy to cover his true state.

I nodded, "Yes, an inhibitor would stop the weapons from being used here, but when we arrive at the remote site they would be workable. You would have no cause for concern as all they would have here would be clubs!" I said with a smile.

The Chief thought for a moment and then began to smile as well. "Well we have plenty of fools with clubs, what's a few more!" He said.

I shook my head, although I was smiling, "Careful Chief, those are my men you're calling fools! So you'll allow the weapons to be handed out?" I asked

He nodded, still with a grin on his face, "That would be okay ... but as the Ambassador you could have just armed them and I wouldn't have been able to stop you." He pointed out.

I nodded, going more serious, "I could ... but then what type of person would I be to do that to anyone? This isn't my world and so I should respect your rules." He raised his eyebrows at that. "Just let me say that I would feel it was wrong." I finished by saying.

The Police Chief didn't say anything but just nodded, I turned to Bran. "How soon can the adjusted guns be ready?" I asked him

He looked to the Android World portal, which then opened up and two androids entered the Meeting Place carrying boxes, "Well these are them, they fire a beam that will disable the androids there, what they would do to Brak I can't say

"We'll have to take the risk. Robert please get these distributed between the men, and prepare them." I said as the screen began bleeping.

"John? What is that?" Margaret asked pointing to the screen.

I pressed some buttons, "There's a fire in one of the rooms ... Brother Pieter's! The computer has told me before activating its fire suppression system ... It's given me the code for his door," I pressed a few keys in command and watched as the door opened for Brother Pieter to quickly leave, before I could do anything else I watched as the door closed and then the room was filled up with an oxygen depriving gas.

"The computer there is trying to help us! It couldn't just kill the fire as it would also kill Brother Pieter, so it asked me to enter the door code to allow him to leave." I said in explanation.

The Police Chief frowned, "But why couldn't it open the door itself?" He asked.

"It's the command codes! The computer is still under orders not to initiate anything without a code being entered, so it let me know what the code was so that I could send it to the computer to activate the door control, think of it as a soldier who knows the password but can't allow the General to pass without it, he could tell the General what the password was and then accept it" I said — I didn't mention that any soldier who did that would face a court-martial for it!

"The code has to be entered from outside the computer! It can't do anything until it has received it, but it has no restrictions on sending the command to someone else." Margaret said.

Bran then looked up, "Lord John, I've been given the code for the portal, but there's a hitch. The code can only be entered at the site, not remotely!" he said.

I sighed, "Okay, add the data to the message you're sending to Genius, I'll tell the computer to confirm her identity, you can give the data for that to the computer I'm sure. I'd better give the computer clearance to help Brother Pieter." I said opening a new file on the remote computer, "I'm instructing the computer to help Brother Pieter as much as it can, and not to alert anyone that he's wandering around the base there," I said while typing away.

The Police Chief was scratching his head, "If you don't mind my asking? How can you do that? I thought you were from a world that just started on computer science."

I paused in my work, "I ... I don't know, somehow this all seems so easy, I can picture what the programme is doing and can see how to adjust it. I can't explain it." I said.

Margaret was behind me, rubbing my shoulders, "John was always able to work well with any equipment, he always knew how to operate any new machine that we got." She said proudly.

I laughed, "But it was all so simple!" I protested.

"There was one system that had to be returned by nearly everyone who brought it, John got it working! They sent out an engineer to find out how to set it up, and he was the expert! John spent a couple of hours on how it should really be done. The expert learnt a lot then!" She said laughing.

"So I understand machines, doesn't mean that I'm some kind of wizard." I said.

"So I saw when you healed the men!" The Chief of police said.

"That was ... I don't know exactly what it was." I said knowing I was losing the argument, "But for now we need to get Pieter to Genius!" I said trying to get things back on track.

We all gathered around the screen as Pieter retrieved a slender shock weapon from a secured area, he turned a switch and then began running down the corridor. In the other room Genius was being tortured with electronic prods wielded by the men surrounding her, there must have been something wrong with the image as the faces were all similar.

We cheered as Brother Pieter stormed through the door, his two weapons firing and taking down two of the men, another two went down before the remaining men recognised the threat, two of them spread out to split Pieter's attention while the third one continued with his torture.

Genius pulled on the prod, dragging the man into the bars of the cage and knocking him out, she turned to Pieter as he threw one of the weapons to her before the two men charged him. One ducked the beam by going to one side, but the second hit Pieter knocking him down and getting on top of him he raised his arms preparing to pummel Pieter who was defenceless.

A shot from Genius then struck the man in the back, making him fall almost onto Pieter who moved out of his way. Pieter got to his feet and was demanding something from the man who didn't seem to be co-operating, when Brother Pieter fired his weapon I could see it as the beam started to bore through the man's body, to keep his finger on the button until Genius called to him.

Brother Pieter pressed a button on the wall which opened Genius' cage and he was quickly removing her shackles, then the pair of them pulled the men into the cage before closing it again.

I watched as they began talking and could see that something had occurred with Brother Pieter, he was more relaxed with Genius. I did wonder what it was but it would have to wait.

"Well it looks as if we're going to be travelling soon, if I could have one of those weapons..." I said and then Margaret interrupted me.

"Two of them! I'm going with you John... 'Till Death do us part.' Remember." She said to me,

"But I've already lost you once; I didn't want to have it happen again." I protested but she kissed me to stop my protest.

"Never argue with a woman Lord John, they always win." Bran said with a laugh. I didn't reply — better to be quiet than make a fool of yourself.

After a few minutes the portal shimmered into life and both Margaret and I stepped through to appear with Genus and Brother Pieter. Margaret smiled at him "Brother Pieter, I'm please to meet you in my new flesh." She said.

I could see the surprise on his face "Lady Margaret, is this truly you?" he asked her

She gave a light giggle and then did a twirl for him, "Indeed it is. It seems the people of the android world were experimenting with duplicating humans, and I was the result."

"Not without problems though!" I said, I was happy to see them together but I wanted them to tell me in their own words about their actions. "Brother Pieter, Genius, I'm glad you are alright but how did you escape Brak's men?"

Brother Pieter gave a brief account, handing me a shock stick to inspect — I gave my gun to Margaret, and then Genius took carried on including the fact that Pieter knew she was an android, I wondered how this would affect him, "You have learnt a lot Brother, so now what is your intent?"

He gave a smile, "My Lord, you have taught me that it isn't how people look, but how they act. I now see what you meant and have decided that I want to continue this quest, with you and with Genius, whatever the cost might be."

I was happy that he had learnt the lesson so far, but would he remain so sure later, but for now I congratulated him. "Well said! You will find that there is something strange about this quest, what it is I'm not sure about either, but for now let's go and rescue Brenda." I said and handed Pieter back the shock stick, I then faced the screen. "Computer, override protocols, command name Brak Distar Dissertation Approbation and Purity. Cancel all voice controls except for mine and those of this party, new override code Alpha Alpha Delta Pi. Ensure that all people are held securely in their rooms and restore all functions to central computer."

"Thank you Lord John, all functions are now operative and will respond to your party only, all doors are now locked and all weapons secured from activating except yours." The screen reported and its tone was lighter and friendlier.

Pieter looked confused, "Lord John, what was this spell?"

I nodded to him it would appear to be a spell and so I said, "A special one, which allows us to enter all rooms and stops Brak's men from attacking us." He said.

"Beware Lord John, all these men are the same!" he warned me and I didn't understand.

Seeing my confusion Genius spoke up, "Aye 'tis true, they are all androids with the same face." She told me.

Now I understood! "A narcissistic person to the end it seems. He can only surround himself with images of himself. In a way he deserves pity ... in a way. But his crimes mean that he needs to be dealt with at a higher court, should he survive the oncoming war." I knew that he was guilty of the destruction of at least one world if not his home world, I would be happy to strike the blow myself; I put my hand onto the hilt of Twilight, feeling a pulse under my grasp.

Now I had to open the portal for the others to follow, I entered a command on the screen which brought up the portal again adding a command to keep the portal open — like keeping someone standing in the portal. "That will stay active for our men to arrive as well as some of the police from the last world. But for now it's up to us!" I drew Twilight from its sheath and started towards Brenda's cell, but the computer stopped me to give a report.

"Master, I have checked all rooms and have found no lifesigns except for yourself, the one called Brother Pieter and the woman with you, all other signatures are of android origin except for one who is guarded by two others, her signature is completely different." It said.

I swore, so Brak Distar wasn't even here! "Is it possible that Brak has managed to hide himself by disguising as an android?" I asked the computer.

The reply I got was in the tone that implied 'what do you think I am, human?'"No, Master, my scans are 100% accurate, although all the androids are duplicates of he who disabled me all those years ago!" It said.

Margaret spoke up, seemingly thinking for me — I was finding the questions difficult to find. "Do you have any records where Brak Distar might be?"