Chapter 19

After the meeting with the crew ended, the medical staff came over to Sarah’s Clan. Nadia said, “It would be easier to go over what we’ve found in the clinic.”

“Lead the way,” replied Sarah.

Once in the clinic Judy said, “I suspect you want to go over your findings in detail.”

“Yes.”

Luther added, “This is far outside of our experience, but now that we have access to the main library, we are a bit more comfortable with our diagnosis. We’ve found several treatment strategies, however we believe that we only have time for one. A further complication is that we should start immediately.”

Nadia said, “Currently the virus has not attacked the brain, brain stem or other tissues in the head. Its primary focus seems to be on nerve sheaths and connective tissue.

“Earlier at Star’s request we increased the IV flow for energy nutrients to Erica, then the others. Although we were tempted to object, we did it for two reasons. One was because of her position and the second was that we didn’t see how it would be detrimental, but it is most unusual.”

Ignoring the subtle complaint Judy asked, “What was the patients’ response?”

Luther said, “Their vital signs seemed to improve shortly after we increased the IV flow. I looked just a minute ago and they were still improving. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Judy said, “Well a few things took place that you didn’t see.” Judy described what they had learned earlier about the macrophages and their interaction with the virus. She explained that based on other experiences they had decided to provide more energy to the macrophages. After that the macrophages began to aggressively attack the virus and the infected cells. “You should run tests on the patients to make sure the macrophages are overcoming the virus. By boosting the IV, their kidneys will bear the brunt of effort to rid their bodies of the trash.”

“We can add a temporary kidney to address that concern.”

“Excellent, idea.”

“Are you sure the macrophages are overcoming the virus?” asked Haydée. Both her tone and expression indicated she didn’t believe Judy. However, she couldn’t deny the fact that the monitors for all five patients indicated that they were improving.

“Well, it looked like the virus was in retreat. Although, we don’t know how quickly it can mutate, so they need to be carefully monitored.”

“Definitely,” responded Nadia with Luther nodding.

“One thing to bear in mind is that, if we had not had some of our recent experiences, we might not have thought of that approach. Can it be done again? I’d rather treat this as a unique event.”

“Would you document what you saw and thought while you were doing it?”

“Certainly,” replied Judy with a smile. “If I was in your shoes, I would be just as skeptical as you are. So no offense is taken. Feel free to ask us questions, but I can tell you that our response was based on intuition and instinct. The basis for those actions, we think, was based on our recent experiences. I think all of us feel we took the correct steps and we didn’t see any downside to trying it.”

“Could you describe the treatments you were considering?” asked Joyce shifting the groups focus back to its original purpose.

Nadia and Luther quickly outlined what they thought were the best choices.

Sarah said, “Is there a reason you didn’t include a genetic treatment similar to what we were given?”

“We didn’t consider that kind of treatment because we wouldn’t be able to get their permission,” responded Nadia.

“But you didn’t get ours beforehand either.”

Luther frowned then said, “We didn’t see any other choice in your case. This time, we have more applicable knowledge and believe the treatments we outlined will be sufficient.”

“Isn’t there a significant difference in probability of success between that choice and the others under consideration? I believe the genetic treatments utilizing the incubators have a significantly higher probability of a successful outcome.”

“Yes. But...”

“You know these patients very well. If you take the less aggressive approach and it is partially successful, what then? Each choice gives you an indication of possible residual issues. Can those be corrected? Will the patients be strong enough to undergo the additional procedures? What is the probability of success with each of those subsequent choices? Or would it turn into a series of partial successes? Also consider the emotional toll on the patients and the crew.” During the series of questions several started to respond but then hesitated.

Sarah paused for a moment then said, “Consider it from their perspective. What would your choice be?”

“I hadn’t looked at it that way,” replied Luther, with the others nodding agreement. After looking at each other they said, “We will start the genetic treatments as soon as the cocktail is prepared.”

Sarah’s Clan noted the relief of the staff, and realized that this was the choice they wanted to make. Their hurdle was in not being able to obtain prior consent and a reluctance to be the first to suggest it. Everyone knew that their survival so far was due to the leadership of Amy’s Clan.

“Thank you for being patient with us,” said the medical team.

“We understand your dilemma,” said Joyce. “We are thankful that you chose to treat us as you did without our prior consent. We believe Amy’s Clan will feel the same way.”

“Again, thank you,” replied a woman. “Now we need to determine the composition for the cocktail.”

Judy said, “We anticipated your agreement and asked the Medical-AI earlier to begin identifying the composition required.”

“Thank you. That will shorten the time before we can begin their treatments.”

“My suggestion was to use essentially the same cocktail you gave us, along with some antibodies specific to this virus. We also suggest using the incubators.”

“That will alter their species as it did yours.”

“We know. In our opinion, you chose well when you did that. We are not sure we would have been brave enough to make that choice beforehand. So thank you.”

It was quiet for a few moments, then one said, “Thank you. You may not realize how much better that makes us feel.” The others nodded indicating they agreed with the speaker.

“With this link, we think we have a good idea how you feel,” responded Tara as all of Sarah’s Clan smiled.

“A benefit to what is really a species hybridization and utilizing the incubators is that we can accelerate tissue regeneration. This should significantly speed up their recovery.”

“We will leave those details to you,” replied Judy. “We think Amy’s Clan is in good, competent, caring hands. Please keep us informed of their progress.”

“We will be pleased to do that. You are much easier to talk to than the previous ‘Chosen Ones’.”

Sarah said, “We have two other tasks for you. The virus needs to be isolated and characterized so an antidote or vaccination can be developed for it.”

“We have several large samples from the two women as well as some from Amy’s Clan. A project to do that is already in progress. The samples appear to be a mix of several viruses but they act in a similar manner. Examining how the macrophages changed should help us move forward. We have learned that to become infected, the virus only needs to come in contact with a warm moist area of the host. This is consistent with the steps we saw Jennifer take in the surveillance videos. Both the capsules Laura and Jennifer carried were cleverly designed. The one placed in their uterus shows that the people that inserted them may have a human form but that they aren’t really human. Even animals have more intelligence and scruples than them.”

“We agree. Can you take us to where we can observe Laura?” asked Sarah.

“Yes. I’ll take you,” said Nadia.

At the view port, Sarah’s Clan scanned Laura to see if she had noticed the previously hidden memories. When they connected with her, she was reliving a memory of the summer camp, but as an observer. She was very upset with the way she was behaving. Terry and Sarah planted suggestions that her physical responses were natural and that those running the camp were manipulating her on many levels. About that time, she came to another memory where she was hypnotized then given instructions on how she was to behave. Sarah suggested to her that this was part of the reason why she was willing to follow the instructions they gave her. Both assured her again that her physical reactions to the stimulation were normal and pleasurable in the right environment. They walked with Laura through a few more memories before backing out.

Nadia said, “That was amazing to watch. I don’t know of anyone else who could do that. Can we call on you if we need this kind of assistance in the future?”

“Yes. Definitely. Remember, we are all in this together. In order to succeed we must act in ways that benefit all of us.”

“All of us agree,” replied Nadia and Haydée who had just joined them.

Haydée added, “It is reassuring to hear you say that.”

Rusty said, “Good. When Laura and Jennifer wake up, they should probably be placed in the same room as they are twins. Being together should help them adjust, but keep a close eye on them. We are concerned that when they realize what they did while under hypnotic control may prompt them to consider suicide. When you talk with them try to draw them out so they talk about what they remember. They were raised in a very conservative, religious environment. It is an environment that would be appalled by the way we dress and interact. Even so, based on their memories before the summer camp, we think they will be comfortable around us. What we don’t know is how they will react to being the ones who led the raiders to the different places. It is probably best to keep them somewhat isolated from the crew. Answer their questions truthfully. After they are awake for a few days, we will make arrangements for them to have access electronically to the island and Earth’s Internet. Let us know when they wake up. We would like to know how they react and what they talk about.”

“We will. Will they be punished?”

Sarah’s Clan replied, “Although they delivered the virus, we don’t see anything to indicate that they chose to do it. So for now we consider them victims. If it proves to be otherwise, they can walk back to Earth from here.”

“You can’t walk from here,” said Nadia then added, “Oh ... now I see your meaning.”

“We saw their memories. They did not give any indication of choosing to do this, however reading another’s memories is not as easy as reading a book.”

“Agreed.”

“We need to return,” said Sarah. “The next time we are here, we will be sure to see you.”

“We will be looking forward to that.”

They were on their way back to the shuttle when Erin said, “Star, how are those on the island doing?”

“Donna’s activity appears to be normal. I’ve not queried them nor have they queried us since you arrived here.”

Just as they reached the shuttle Sarah said, “I think we should visit the bridge again before we leave. It feels like we are missing something.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” added Erin.

They turned and walked back toward the bridge. Intuitively they knew which passage ways to use. To them it felt as though they had done it many times.

On reaching the bridge, they slowly looked around, examining each aspect much closer than before. Afterward, each went to a console appropriate for the role they chose to fill. They sat down in the chair and slipped on the head set. Meanwhile Sarah and Rusty sat in the chairs on each side of the pillar holding the crystal. Once they were in position, a sense of being one flowed over them. Each of them was actively aware of what the others were doing but not distracted by it. As they went through the different options on the consoles, their operation and purpose became much more apparent.

Once comfortable with their consoles, they collectively wondered what the previous command staff had seen when the events contributing to the sabotage began to take place. Rusty said, “Control-AI, I presume all activity on the bridge is recorded?”

“Yes. It includes activity on the consoles, the monitors and any commands. The only time there would be visuals is if a bot entered the bridge, which was rare.”

“If we were to replay it, beginning at two time cycles prior to the incident, would that be enough time to understand what is happening?”

“It should be. If not tell me to stop and I can start at an earlier time.”

“Okay. We want to run this as a full simulation with two conditions. We want the ability to immediately freeze the replay when requested by any of us and we want it run at half speed.”

“Okay. It will take me a few moments.” It wasn’t long before the Control-AI said, “Ready when you are.”

“Do it.”

The clan was so fascinated by the views on the monitors that they almost forgot about the consoles. Their attention turned to the consoles just as they heard the command to initiate the transition from hyperspace. Watching their consoles they initially saw the changes taking place in concert with the voice commands. Suddenly it changed, warning messages flashed up, condition monitors flashed yellow then red and at the same time you could hear panic in the voices.

While watching the rapidly changing conditions on the consoles, Rusty noticed a cover on the deck slide slowly to the side opening an access port. When it was open a platform began to slowly rise. On the platform were darts pointed at each station and the two command chairs. The platform was hardly above the deck when Rusty and Sarah exclaimed, “Freeze the replay!”

The ships Control-AI stopped the replay freezing the view and the rising platform.

“Reverse replay 10 time ticks.” Sarah and Rusty stood to get a better view the platform holding the darts. They watched the details of the scene rewind and the platform lower.

“Now advance 1 time tick then pause 5 ticks between each frame unless otherwise instructed.”

Mind-linked, they watched the frames click by in the window showing the ship’s movement through space. Through Rusty and Sarah’s eyes they could all see the platform of darts rising slowly from the floor, with a dart aimed at each position.

“Be ready lay your head down on the console. Do it just before you sense the darts will fire.”

“This is scary,” said Joyce. At the time click when Sarah and Rusty felt the darts about to release, they each extended an arm, pointing at the platform, then there was a flash, which engulfed the dart tray. The tray melted and sagged to the deck as a slug of glowing metal partially filling the access port.

“Halt the replay,” said Rusty as his spouses looked at the molten mess on the deck. “Okay everyone take a deep breath and relax a bit. We need to finish this replay. Each of you need to be very alert to any unnatural events taking place at your positions. Someone went to a lot of trouble to do this, so I don’t think we’ve seen everything.”

After a few moments he said, “Before we resume, why don’t all of you come up here with us before we continue the replay.”

They gathered quickly on the upper bridge, standing close enough they were touching.

Sarah suggested, “Let’s stand off to the side then project an image of ourselves at each of our positions.”

After everyone was in place Rusty said, “Control-AI, restart replay as before.” The replay resumed one time step past the point when the darts would have fired. During the next few steps the lateral head supports moved toward each other. When they were close to each other, there was a bright flash between the two head supports along with a series bangs.

The loud noises caused many of them to jump along with a few shrieks.

Rusty told the Control-AI, “Freeze.”

Trembling Jill exclaimed, “Holy cow, what was that?”

Terry replied, “I suspect it was an electrical discharge between the pads. If there had been a head between them then I don’t think it would have been noticed.”

“That was too close,” said Tara. “Who ever set this up wanted to make sure everyone was dead.”

Sally responded, “Well now we know, what happened to the last Chosen Ones. It was pretty ingenious to have it rearm after killing the last Command Staff.”

They terminated their projected images then Rusty said, “Please resume play from this point with one frame every 2 time ticks.”

They watched the rest of the sequence on the consoles and wall monitor. As the replay continued more and more systems entered a failed state, then they heard Star say, “Command Staff is not responding. Attention. All crew members stabilize systems. Prepare to initiate hibernation procedures.”

“Star, to the bridge. Now!” they exclaimed.

Star appeared and was shocked by the hard expressions of the Command Staff.

After they told her what they had been doing and what had happened Rusty closed with, “Control-AI indicates there isn’t any video of activity on the bridge.”

“It is the Command Staffs decision whether to have video record of general activity on the bridge. They chose not to.”

“What happened to the bodies?”

“Before this portion of the ship shut down, I had two bots clean up the area. They just barely finished before it shut down. Presuming your next question, I didn’t mention how the Command Staff died as it didn’t seem relevant to what lies before us.”

Sally said, “Tell us everything about the organization of this ship.”

“I have shared with you everything I know. I have followed all the protocols I have for verifying and accepting a new Command Staff.”

“Control-AI. Who setup the darts and chairs?”

“Those were placed in the ship when it was built. The code to initiate the two events could only come directly from the leaders of our world. The defined purpose was to keep a renegade Command Staff from taking control of a ship.”

“Was the old Command Staff, executed by a signal from your home world?”

After a pause it replied, “Yes and no. The logs show that the key was entered to initiate the action, but there is no corresponding confirmation of receiving the command.”

“So where did the command originate for what just happened?”

There was a pause. “The logs show that the correct key was entered for the recent event. How can that be, we don’t have any communication with our home system?”

“We need to figure that out. There could be other hidden traps.”

“What happened to the bodies of the original command staff?”

“The robots placed them in capsules and set a timer to eject them after dropping out of hyper space.”

“How does that fit with Star’s comment?”

“Different units. Star used bots. The record for accessing the bridge shows two robots entered shortly after the deaths, removed the bodies, then did any necessary cleanup. This was all part of the script for removing renegade commanders.”

“Okay, if we continue this replay are there any other surprises for the occupants currently on the bridge?”

“No.”

“Okay, then restart the replay with full detail beginning just before the darts table comes out.”

They watched as the sequence was replayed again. The replay continued until the damage and lack of Command Staff forced the ship to shut down and enter hibernation. By this time the only living souls on the ship was the group in Jim and Amy’s survey ship.

Sarah said, “I am puzzled by the ship being in hibernation, yet it still supported the crew.”

“It is a question of how you define ‘hibernation level’. With a crew on board, it is more active than it would be if no one was on board. Activity level was thought to be sufficient to ensure the crews health until relief arrived.”

“That makes some sense. Control-AI, you are an AI like Star correct?”

“Yes.”

“Are there others on the ship?”

“Yes, two each in engineering, power, systems, environment, weapons and four in data management.”

“Are all of you equally capable?”

“Nearly so. Each department AI is configured with a slightly different set of attributes. This enables us to be more efficient in completing our primary tasks.”

“Okay. Bring all the AI’s into this link.”

“They’re listening.”

“From this moment, until further notice, all AI’s will maintain an open link with each other. Each of you will function normally and assist with any repairs in your area. Anything observed operating outside normal parameters will be shared with all the others. If not immediately resolvable between you, you shall shut that aspect down and promptly contact us.”

“You do not have the authority.”

On hearing the challenge Sarah’s Clan, began citing a series of numbers rapidly in rotation until the sequence was completed.

“Command accepted.”

“Good, because if it wasn’t, I was going to pull all of your logic cores,” said Rusty. They felt a slight mental shudder from the AIs. “That is not something we would do unless there was no alternative.”

They then began to give instructions in clan mode. “AI’s, if you have linked with Star, you know we prefer names for each entity to aid the way we communicate. We will give each of you a name the next time we are on board, in the meantime we will direct our contacts through Star, or by using the name of your department or function and appending a number when necessary.

“Control-AI, you will see to it that anything resembling the devices just seen on the bridge are disabled. This includes the console chairs on the bridge. You will provide us with the location, purpose and type of all devices you find. It might be wise to check all the console chairs on the ship.

“Any concerns with our requests or other questions?”

Star responded, “In light of what just occurred, we will check all of the console chairs. In doing so, we will focus on those similar those on the bridge.”

“We will be leaving for the island shortly. Ensure the shuttle is ready. We will be here frequently, but don’t hesitate to contact us.” With that they left for the shuttle that had brought them to the ship.

“Star I think we should have a shuttle on the island available for us all the time. Will that create any problems?”

“No. It does have a weekly for maintenance schedule.”

“Okay. How are the AIs doing with establishing links between them?”

“They are established, but they are primitive. We need to work out some communication details and then sort out what information is easily available to each of us. It is now apparent that we all draw on the same memory core.”