Chapter 4: Shocking News

She stood there and watched the four friends hug each other, and talk. She moved around the room and sat in one of the chairs. She studied each one, and listened as they talked about the fall. The one she had saved, Ken, was tall and handsome. He projected an aura of possible command material. The other male, jumped right in, and took over. He showed confidence and determination, a possible recruit as a Marine. The one, who carried her sensor crystal, had a quick mind, and a sharp eye. She appeared to be one who would stand with her friends and back them to the wall. One who would act like a crutch if her loved one were hurt. The AI could feel the love she radiated for the one named Ken, and would be like a right hand for him. The sister showed some promise, but needed the support of a loved one. She would need to have her confidence boosted by whomever would become her husband. Ted showed that love in many small ways for her.

Ted looked at his friend in amazement. He did not see any sign of a wound or even blood.

"Ken, we saw the blood. You shouldn't even be sitting up, let alone breathing. You should be dead."

Ken looked over at Ted.

"I think I was dead, but she brought me back to life."

He nodded towards the hologram.

Ted turned and looked at the image. She was about five foot five, long brown hair, green eyes, and her skin was like ivory.

"Who are you? This cannot be Earth technology! Its way too advanced, but you look human? How do these drinks just appear out of thin air? How is he still alive? Not that I am not glad he is alive ... Ken is like a brother to me. But he should be dead from that fall."

With a sad smile, she looked over at Ted.

"When I rescued Ken, he was in a deep coma. He had a broken back, shattered legs, a ruptured spleen, and a punctured lung. In one of your hospitals of today, he would probably be dead by now. I ordered my spider bots to load him onto one of our emergency vehicles, and bring him here to the ship. I had the spider bots place him into one of the medical beds.

"Then I covered him in nanobots. The nanobots were instructed to initiate their healing abilities. They were able to heal all his major injuries in ten minutes. They replaced his missing blood with synthetic blood. Also, I had instructed the nanobots to cure any genetic problems. That will take about ten more hours.

"However, what I did, was also dangerous. I flooded his system with nanobots, and ignored the safety protocols. I knew he had to live, and I knew there was a time limit with you coming after him. Ken, I am sorry I put your life in danger like that."

Ken looked at the hologram, and replied, "It's Okay. Please continue. You did what you thought was necessary. And all I can say is 'thank you'."

"You're welcome," she said.

She got up and walked over to the niche, and gestured at it.

"This is a replicator. Its function is similar to the one that is on your TV show 'Star Trek, The Next Generation'. It can create any item, as long as it has sufficient raw materials, and a 'map' (a scanned item in its memory bank)."

Walking back to her chair, she sat down, and continued.

"Now, as to who am I? That is a little harder to explain. I am the ship's AI unit ... an artificial intelligence. I was constructed in the Lunar One cybernetics lab, on the surface of the Earth's Moon, in the year 2473. I went fully active in March of 2474, and was installed in this ship as its AI. I was and am the AI of the last Terran Federation battleship ... the USS Washington. The Washington was number fifteen of a two hundred ship series. We fought over three hundred battles against a race called the T'Lari. The T'Lari are a race of seven-foot tall semi-insectoid creatures. They consider all other life a food source. They consider human flesh as a delicacy, especially human children."

"On June 6, 2498, a fold gate was detected outside the orbit of Pluto. A thirty mile long battleship appeared...

"Thirty miles long!

"It blew the Terran defense bases on Pluto to smithereens, along with her space stations. Then it turned in system, blowing the defensive bases apart as it advanced. It took minor damage as it advanced, but still, it advanced.

"When it got to Terra, we were down to five hundred thousand atmospheric fighters on the planet. They threw themselves at the enemy ship trying to stop it. The ship turned and fired over five thousand antimatter and chemical warheads onto Terra, in two attack waves. Within twenty minutes, seven billion men woman and children were dead.

"This ship, The Washington, was on its way to Centauri Prime, to boost the defenses there, when the recall came to all Terran ships to head for Terra. The Washington returned along with two destroyers called Dancer and Dachshund. We came out of fold, in an emergency fold exit. We turned, and realigned to Terra. We folded towards Terra, and my captain did the unspeakable. He brought us out near Pluto and then did another jump that brought us out near Mars. Usually a ship folds to the outside of the asteroid field, proceeds through it, and folds again. But he folded right through all of it."

"We came in as the T'Lari battleship was heading out system and was in the Mars orbit. We turned and headed towards the battleship and we both opened fire at the same time. Both destroyers were destroyed in the fighting but they brought the shields of the battleship down to less than twenty percent. Then our Captain Windsor fired all our weapons including the rail guns. He fired the rail gun's experimental antimatter warheads between the lasers and the missiles. The shield crashed down and our missiles with antimatter warheads proceeded to hit the ship. I think the rail guns did something to the T'Lari fold generators. Because, as the ship started to disintegrate, it formed a huge gate that sucked the Washington into it. With the energy from the antimatter warheads and the large generators on the enemy battleship, the ship was thrown back in time, to the year 800 AD.

"I came out of hyperspace between Mars and Terra. I was on a direct heading towards Terra. The repair spiderbots got the forward thrusters firing at seven million miles from Terra, but I still had no directional control.

"I hit the atmosphere just above the South Pole, and crossed over the Pacific Ocean. Just before I crashed into what you now call the North Rim, I was able to raise the shields. I plowed into the side of the sandstone cliff of the Grand Canyon. I kept the shields up while I fired the ship's weapons, to destroy the sandstone of the Rim, and give me room to stop.

"I did finally stop. The shields fused a cavern around me. Once stopped, I shut down all systems except for the spider bots. I issued orders to them to rebuild me and set scanners in all passageways near to the ship. It took two years for the bots to gather enough metal to even begin the repairs on the hull. Then it took another three hundred years to finish the major repairs. A hundred more years were needed to rebuild the fighters. Since the crash, I have waited nearly a thousand years for someone to find me. Now, all of my systems have finally been restored to 'as new' condition.

"The first ones that came near enough to be detected, were three Native Americans. This was about five hundred years ago. They attacked the spider bots, thinking they were demons, and the bots quickly killed the three warriors, before I was fully awakened. After that attack had happened, I reprogrammed the bots to hide. They were to notify me when anyone was detected within range of the sensors.

"All of you were detected as you entered the cavern that has the stream. I watched as you ate your dinner, and cleaned up. I saw you make your camp, and sleep the night through. I was trying to get a new sensor into that chamber, when you all got up. You cleaned up your camp and started down the new tunnel you had found.

"I screamed that the floor was weak, but the sensor bots in your area did not have audio. I saw the floor give out under you, Ken. I saw the rope go taut. I prayed that it would hold you, but then I saw the rope slide across the sharp quartz at the lip of the hole, and snap.

"I quickly issued orders to my spiders bots to go to you. They rushed to the accident scene, and gathered you up. After loading you onto an emergency vehicle, they rushed you to the medical bay. You were here in less than three minutes after your fall, and inside the medical bed before four minutes had passed.

"You were dying, and I was praying you would live. I have been so lonely for company. At times, I thought I would go insane while I waited. My last Captain had given me orders to save the planet and the human race. I hoped and prayed you would become my new captain, and that the rest of you would be the nucleus of my crew. I can train you to run this ship in less then twenty-four hours. It can be done while you sleep, with the training crystals."

Getting up she walked over to the replicator and two small crystals appeared.

"By pressing these two crystals to your forehead, I can transfer all the command codes. Also, the history of the Federation, with its laws and technologies will flow into your brains. If you wanted to be a doctor or engineer I could have you trained to do major surgery or repair an engine in twenty-four hours ... or anything else that you want to learn

The four humans looked at each other in shock at her words. Jen looked at the hologram and asked. "Before we continue, what is your name?"

Surprised by the question the AI, replied, "I don't have one, I am just the AI unit assigned to this ship. My designation is a series of alphanumeric characters."

Jen looked at the AI in shock.

"That is not fair! You should have a name! Especially with all you have gone through."

She thought for a few seconds, and then a name came to her. Sitting there looking at the AI, it was eerie how they looked so much alike. She could see such similarity to her friend. She and the AI could almost be sisters.

"I know! Let's call you, Amy."

She looked at the others in the room, to see their reactions to the name and hoped they would agree.

Tammy looked up at Jen's words, asking, "For Amy Lasker?"

The AI looked at the four of them in confusion. "May I ask who Amy Lasker is?"

Jen nodded her head to Tammy, and turned back to the AI to explain the name.

"Amy was a friend of ours who was raped and murdered last Christmas. She got off of work one night from a place in a shopping mall, and then just disappeared. Her car was found in the parking lot, with the keys in the door's lock. A week later, her body was found in the Truckee River about three miles outside of Sparks, Nevada. She was a sweet, loving girl who loved kids. She wanted to be a pediatrician when she got out of college. She had already been accepted to Johns Hopkins Medical School.