came across a sealed container with Fritz’s
name on the outside.
‘Hey, Fritz. You know there’s a
container with your name on it here on the hangar deck?’ he said through his
comms link.
‘Had better be, mate. That’s my
diagnostic and information retrieval unit. Don’t touch it! Has all the octopoid
coding in its computers so I can read the stuff in the Octopoid Library.’
‘So, only you can read the info,
if there is any?’
‘Nah, the intel AI they’re
sending over will have its own backup suites of data as well.’
Marko arrived back at his
workstation on the bridge to find that Fritz and the monitor had long gone.
Marko smiled to himself, knowing that Fritz and his own computer systems would
have taken a great deal of information about the monitor, without her or anyone
else knowing. He also knew that Fritz’s computer systems would be able to lie
much more effectively than him about what happened to the information, so when
the opportunity allowed, Marko would get it all as well.
‘Hey, Harry. You realise that Basalt and all its craft were down on the planet?’
‘Yeah, saw that in the logs.
Those craft all useable?’
‘Yup, filthy, but no major
damage. All the internal diagnostics are OK. Looks like they were used hard.’
The captain’s voice came over the
comms link. ‘Marko, stand by. Engineering AI is sending across a heavy midi
clone of himself. He’s Patrick. Plus we’re getting a senior security and
intelligence one from Gamma. She’s Lotus. We’ll have two AIs on board,
twinned. A low-key operation, they say, but one they’re taking seriously.’
Marko was overseeing four drones
that were checking the outer hull of the ship when a squad of MPs arrived at
the secondary airlock with the two AI midis.
‘All stations. Gravity is going
off on the bridge support deck in two minutes. Will have it back as soon as we
twin the midi AI Patrick and AI Lotus.’
He programmed the system then
went to the airlock to meet the MPs as the gravity gradually lifted. Between
them, they manhandled the three-metre by two-metre armoured, gold-and-red,
barrel-like canisters into an escape pod, advising them to activate. Each
canister extended a few little arms and rotated and locked itself into the
receptacles, which then closed and sealed, while also linking to the power
supply, communications systems and running their own checks to attain full
system-wide control of the ship, including its computers.
‘Crew, I am Lotus. It will be a
few hours before we depart. Compliments to you, Captain Longbow. I shall enjoy
getting to know you and your crew better.’
Marko wasn’t surprised that one
of the AIs would dominate, as the more senior ones had always done so in the
past. Back at his workstation he watched the boards on the displays beginning
to all turn green as systems were slowly secured during the course of the day.
~ * ~
Six
Early
that evening the captain announced, ‘We are good to go, people. Physical checks
on airlocks please. Flight, this is the frigate Basalt. May we have a
tug in attendance please?’
They soon felt the gentle motion
as the frigate Basalt was pushed away from the Orbital by a large waldo.
Marko and the others sent brief messages to their respective darlings. The tug
came up, locked on between the main engine thrusters, oriented the frigate,
then started to push up and away from the other Orbitals and capital ships. An
hour or so later they were given permission to operate under their own power as
the tug pulled away.
Marko brought the fusion engines
online, then once they were a few thousand kilometres from the planet he
brought the antimatter engines online, smiling as he did — they were one of the
propulsion systems that he had always enjoyed. Inside the frigate the gas pressure
from the exploding matter.’ antimatter against the engine bells generated a
nice, steady
name on the outside.
‘Hey, Fritz. You know there’s a
container with your name on it here on the hangar deck?’ he said through his
comms link.
‘Had better be, mate. That’s my
diagnostic and information retrieval unit. Don’t touch it! Has all the octopoid
coding in its computers so I can read the stuff in the Octopoid Library.’
‘So, only you can read the info,
if there is any?’
‘Nah, the intel AI they’re
sending over will have its own backup suites of data as well.’
Marko arrived back at his
workstation on the bridge to find that Fritz and the monitor had long gone.
Marko smiled to himself, knowing that Fritz and his own computer systems would
have taken a great deal of information about the monitor, without her or anyone
else knowing. He also knew that Fritz’s computer systems would be able to lie
much more effectively than him about what happened to the information, so when
the opportunity allowed, Marko would get it all as well.
‘Hey, Harry. You realise that Basalt and all its craft were down on the planet?’
‘Yeah, saw that in the logs.
Those craft all useable?’
‘Yup, filthy, but no major
damage. All the internal diagnostics are OK. Looks like they were used hard.’
The captain’s voice came over the
comms link. ‘Marko, stand by. Engineering AI is sending across a heavy midi
clone of himself. He’s Patrick. Plus we’re getting a senior security and
intelligence one from Gamma. She’s Lotus. We’ll have two AIs on board,
twinned. A low-key operation, they say, but one they’re taking seriously.’
Marko was overseeing four drones
that were checking the outer hull of the ship when a squad of MPs arrived at
the secondary airlock with the two AI midis.
‘All stations. Gravity is going
off on the bridge support deck in two minutes. Will have it back as soon as we
twin the midi AI Patrick and AI Lotus.’
He programmed the system then
went to the airlock to meet the MPs as the gravity gradually lifted. Between
them, they manhandled the three-metre by two-metre armoured, gold-and-red,
barrel-like canisters into an escape pod, advising them to activate. Each
canister extended a few little arms and rotated and locked itself into the
receptacles, which then closed and sealed, while also linking to the power
supply, communications systems and running their own checks to attain full
system-wide control of the ship, including its computers.
‘Crew, I am Lotus. It will be a
few hours before we depart. Compliments to you, Captain Longbow. I shall enjoy
getting to know you and your crew better.’
Marko wasn’t surprised that one
of the AIs would dominate, as the more senior ones had always done so in the
past. Back at his workstation he watched the boards on the displays beginning
to all turn green as systems were slowly secured during the course of the day.
~ * ~
Six
Early
that evening the captain announced, ‘We are good to go, people. Physical checks
on airlocks please. Flight, this is the frigate Basalt. May we have a
tug in attendance please?’
They soon felt the gentle motion
as the frigate Basalt was pushed away from the Orbital by a large waldo.
Marko and the others sent brief messages to their respective darlings. The tug
came up, locked on between the main engine thrusters, oriented the frigate,
then started to push up and away from the other Orbitals and capital ships. An
hour or so later they were given permission to operate under their own power as
the tug pulled away.
Marko brought the fusion engines
online, then once they were a few thousand kilometres from the planet he
brought the antimatter engines online, smiling as he did — they were one of the
propulsion systems that he had always enjoyed. Inside the frigate the gas pressure
from the exploding matter.’ antimatter against the engine bells generated a
nice, steady
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