Chapter 5

Simon began to suspect that General David and the squad leaders were playing games again when his group were unable to shake off the white group that was pursuing them. He had personally walked their back trail to check whether any signs were being left. He was more than satisfied his group were being ultra careful and were not giving the white group any signs to follow.

He took to stopping occasionally on high ground, letting the remainder of blue group carry on while he watched their rear. It was on one such stop that he saw something that made his blood boil.

At fist Simon thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn that something had moved across the path below. His eyes picked up movement again and he focused on the spot and held his breath.

A further movement allowed him to pick out a trooper wearing a ghillie suit that was covered with grass and twigs - superb camouflage he had to admit. While Simon watched, the trooper carefully placed one foot down on a patch of bare soil, no doubt leaving a recognisable boot-print.

"The bastards! That's how they're doing it. They're leaving a trail for the white group to follow straight to us! That's not supposed to be part of this exercise and I'm damned if I'm going to let them get away with such a cheap trick!" Simon thought.

Barely an hour later the white group appeared — moving forward cautiously, alert for any potential ambush. Simon was relatively sure that the interfering squad leaders were spending their time observing his group. There was a risk in contacting Kirsty in the white group. But for what he had in mind it was essential.

Standing up so that he was momentarily in full view, Simon used the silent hand-signals they had been taught to motion for Kirsty to come forward to speak to him.

The white group were good — he had to give them that. No sooner had he stood than the entire group disappeared from sight, no doubt already fixing him in their sights.

Instead of the alarm ringing out on his sensors, which would have told him the white group were firing on him, he saw Kirsty making her way forward. Simon moved to meet his twin and they stepped off of the path to huddle close together in the midst of some bushes.

"Decided your lot aren't good enough?" Kirsty asked with a laugh. "I've got to warn you — you suck at covering your trail. Your snipers are good though. We've lost four so far and haven't even caught a glimpse of them."

"We haven't deployed any snipers," Simon answered. "We've lost four to sniper fire too — have you got snipers out?"

Kirsty's face showed that she had quickly grasped the meaning of what Simon was saying.

"You haven't been leaving a trail that a blind man could follow, have you?" she asked.

"No way! I've personally been checking our back trail and our field-craft is excellent. However, I started to get suspicious, so I've been lying up to watch you approach and guess what? A squad leader in a ghillie suit appeared out of nowhere and left you a fat juicy boot-print to follow!" snarled an angry Simon.

"They're back to playing games with us again, I thought we'd sorted that out the last time!" growled an equally annoyed Kirsty.

"Pay-back is going to be a bitch," said Simon. "Here's what I suggest we do. You brief your group and I'll do the same with mine. We should both be able to spare a few troopers without the 'watchers' noticing anything amiss. Have two of yours drop out and leave enough sign for mine to find them.

"I'll get the blue group to swing round in a loop to make it easier for the four of them to meet up and slip away. Their job will be to watch the watchers and report back on what they're up to. Once we have some intelligence, we can plan how to deal with them."

It took most of the remainder of the day to manoeuvre both groups around the area in such a way that the two white and two blue troopers were able to slip away and them begin to watch what the squad leaders were up to.

When the troopers returned to the blue camp it was dusk and they quickly reported what they had seen to Simon. It was clear that there was some kind of aerial surveillance, as the squad leaders had received communications telling them what each group was doing.

Simon sent the two white group troopers back to re-join their squad with a message for Kirsty about what Simon wanted to do. Once it was fully dark, he put on some night-vision goggles and made his way carefully out to meet his twin.

"They've moved the two groups pretty close together tonight for a reason," Simon suggested. "I think they're going to try to get us into a fire-fight with each other and I think we should prepare a little surprise for them!"

Everything was arranged quickly — with one squad from the white group and one from the blue group taking up positions to ambush any squad leaders who might be up to no good during the night.

Simon's guess proved to be spot on when the hidden squads radioed in to alert the two groups that the squad leaders were heading into the no-man's land between them. Not long after that, fire erupted around them with traces of light-energy from pulse rifles flashing all around.

The blue group returned fire, but deliberately aimed high to ensure they missed the white group. Seconds later the white group did exactly the same thing and both groups began to move towards each other.

Simon was still wearing the night-goggles and he saw the moment when the squad leaders were ambushed as they tried to scuttle away in the darkness. Four squad leaders were dragged to where Simon and Kirsty were standing, two of them had been roughed-up a little too much perhaps, but Simon wasn't in the mood to feel sorry for them.

"Well, well, isn't it amazing what you can stumble over in the woods at night?" said Simon. "Get them out of my sight. And as for their masters - Kirsty? On my count — one, two, three!"

Kirsty knew exactly what her twin was going to do and she hurried to join him. Both of them bared their asses for the benefit of the aerial cameras that just had to be on them. Their actions raised hoots of laughter from their groups and Simon and Kirsty's reputation was enhanced even more. Managing to turn the tables on the squad leaders was a major coup and baring their asses at the General was simply the icing on the cake.

Thomas was as nervous as he had ever been. The finishing touches were being completed on prototype one and it was getting near to the time when it would take its maiden flight.

He had already prevailed upon Ben to be the pilot for that — somehow it was fitting that it should be a citizen of New Woden that flew the first ship built on the planet.

Thomas looked across the gantry at the bullet-shaped ship. The external skin was a dull metallic colour, as the final sheen wouldn't be applied until after the trials were completed. He still thought she looked beautiful.

Inside, the new engines had been started up and they appeared to work exactly as they should. All of the systems had been tested and tested again and there was little else for Thomas and the Wodenite engineers to do.

He saw Ben and Sarah approaching with Elizabeth between them. Thomas shook his head again at how full of life Elizabeth was now and he could see that she was looking up adoringly at Ben as they walked. Thomas knew that something was going on between them, but strangely he didn't feel upset about it. Ben was obviously giving his twin something that he hadn't been able to and she was much the better for it.

"Thomas! It looks ready," Ben grinned.

"Almost, almost," Thomas replied. "There's something missing, I can't quite put my finger on it, but something's just not right. I can't shake this feeling that there's supposed to be something else."

Ben looked at him curiously.

"You too? I've been having some strange thoughts about this ship of yours for the past week or so now. I've been putting it down to being tired, but if you've got the same feeling then maybe there's something more to it?"

"Are you ready to try to take her up?" Thomas asked.

Ben couldn't keep the excitement off of his face.

"Are you sure? Can I? What about giving her a grand launch? Don't you want to show her off to everybody?" he asked.

"There'll be time enough for that later — once we know she does what we expect her to. There's not much point in arranging a fancy launch if the thing doesn't fly!" said Thomas.

"What about a crew, I can't take her up on my own," said Ben, suddenly not sounding as sure of himself as he normally did.

"They're already aboard," said Thomas. "I got them here earlier on the off chance that you might put in an appearance."

He grinned as he said this, as Ben had been coming by every day for the past week — unable to keep away from the sleek ship. There had been every chance that he would be by again today and Thomas knew it.

"Can we come too?" asked Elizabeth hopefully.

"Not on the first flight. It would be too much to have four of the five remaining original twins all at risk at the same time. Once we know it's safe, then you can join us," admonished Thomas.

Elizabeth's bottom lip pouted as she sulked, but Sarah snapped her out of it.

"Let's go play with your computers, if the boys don't behave you can always take over the ship from your command and control centre!" she laughed.

The security features built-in to the ship's systems wouldn't allow such a thing to happen — or so Ben thought — but Elizabeth did have a gleam back in her eye as Sarah pulled her away.

"Can she do that?" Ben asked, looking worriedly at Thomas.

"I don't think so, but you never know with Elizabeth these days. I've never seen someone display such a natural ability with computers as she does."

They walked out along the gantry towards the ship. It was barely sixty yards long and twenty yards in diameter, but it still dwarfed them as they got alongside the hull.

"Captain Marlon isn't too impressed by it — he think it's too small," said Thomas absently as his hand stroked the metal skin.

"It looks plenty big to me! I'll try not to dent it when we take her up," joked Ben, trying to control his sudden nerves.

Phelps met them at the entry way and he saluted.

"Welcome aboard prototype one, pilot," he said to Ben.

Ben nodded and he and Thomas walked inside the ship. Everything was spotless and gleaming — the drones had done a magnificent job — and their footsteps echoed along the walkway until Thomas remembered there was no need to walk.

"AI, activate corridor systems," he said.

"Affirmative papa," the AI replied.

"That's one of Elizabeth's little jokes," blushed Thomas, "it recognises my voice-print and calls me papa every time I speak to it. Elizabeth says it's because I treat the ship as if it was my baby."

Ben laughed at his friend's discomfort and then nearly fell over as the corridor started moving under his feet. Thomas had been expecting the movement and adjusted easily. Now it was his turn to laugh at Ben.

Ben regained his balance and stood while the corridor carried him along towards the bridge. He looked round for Phelps, but the Wodenite engineer was nowhere to be seen. Thomas guessed who Ben was looking for and explained.

"Phelps is onboard to look after the engines. The other engineers are all in front of monitors in the command and control centre for the same reason I wouldn't let the girls onboard — we can't risk all of our engineers on one flight."

They arrived at the bridge and the door opened to allow them to enter. Ben immediately recognised three of his Benite offspring who had been part of the DNA transplant programme. He correctly assumed that these were now able to operate as a navigator, comms officer and science officer. He nodded a greeting and then crossed to the pilot's chair.

Everything looked and smelled new and he let his hand trail over the comfortable looking leather of the seat before allowing himself to sit.

"There's a little bit of formality to be enacted before you will have control," advised Thomas. "This is something that we put together without you knowing."

"Who? When you say 'we put together' who's the 'we'?" asked Ben, thinking the answer might give some forewarning of what was going to happen.

"All of us — the remaining twins I mean. David, Sarah, Elizabeth and me. Don't worry, it's nothing unpleasant. Just lay the palms of your hands on the armrests. Now, just do what the AI tells you to."

Ben placed his palms as Thomas directed and then he heard the ship's artificial intelligence speak.

"Identity confirmed as Ben, Commander-in-Chief of all New Woden forces. Prepare for symbiotic protocol and dedication."

Ben felt a momentary sting on the back of his neck, much like the feel when he had used the applicator to upgrade his DNA. Immediately he heard the 'voice' of the AI inside his head.

"Commander, this is one of the breakthroughs that Elizabeth has designed in the past few weeks. There is now a chip inside you that connects us symbiotically. Amongst other things, that enables us to communicate without speaking aloud — you might find that helpful in certain situations. I suggest for the most part you continue to talk to me normally so that this capability remains secret. Oh, and Elizabeth has programmed me to refer to you as 'lover' when we talk like this."

Ben couldn't stop a grin from breaking out on his face at Elizabeth's sense of humour. The AI spoke aloud now once more.

"As a Commander in the forces of New Woden, do you swear to use this ship to defend your planet and people from harm?" asked the AI.

"Of course," replied Ben.

"A simple 'I do' will suffice Commander," said the AI.

"I do," said Ben.

"Do you swear to hold to the oath taken by all the people of New Woden to seek to liberate the planet of Woden from the Zytol?"

"I do," repeated Ben.

"Do you swear to Command your crew fairly and within the bounds of what is accepted behaviour on New Woden, without fear or favour, or prejudice and never to put their lives unnecessarily at risk?"

"I do."

"I confirm that your voice-print and DNA have been stored in my databanks and that this ship is now dedicated to your command until such times as you see fit to override that," announced the AI for everyone on the bridge to hear.

"I do so love it when you take control. You need to do that to me more often," came Elizabeth's voice in his head.

"Elizabeth? Is that really you or have you just coded a message into the AI's software?"

"No, it's really me. I'm in the Command and control centre with Sarah and we're getting a live feed of everything that's going on there. I thought I'd keep this little secret from you until I could use it!"

"Well, it was a nice surprise, but I don't think I will ever get used to the AI calling me lover."

"Ha, ha! Okay, I may have gone too far there, but I can easily change it. I'll leave you in peace now so that you can concentrate on what you're doing."

The 'voice' of the AI replaced Elizabeth's in his head.

"Commander, I'm picking up some unusual parameters from you — they're outside what Elizabeth has programmed me to expect. The ship's systems are able to work using the neural receptors built-in to the symbiotic interface we now have, but there are waves here that I can't explain."