For the next few days, Jo went through a recovery process that was far easier than what Mike had experienced. He was jealous of Jo’s good fortune, yet happy that his new friend didn’t suffer as badly as he had.
The day they gained entrance to the small arms vault, which Mike designated as the SAV, they found hand held weapons for one hundred and eighty Saurans. Considering the size and strength of the average Sauran, they were relatively light and easily handled.
The weapon was much bigger than anything Mike had ever carried in the field. For a Sauran, it would have been the equivalent of a lightweight carbine rifle.
When Mike picked one up, he thought, “This isn’t so bad, I can handle this easily, although the armorer will have to make a few adjustments for human hands.”
He had developed a habit of leaving the active part his mind open to Bambi, so she could monitor his thoughts and provide him with info. It wasn’t a surprise when she told him, Captain, these weapons seem light to you, because you have been upgraded and can now handle them with ease. Without the upgrade, these weapons would be unwieldy for you, or any other human. They each weight forty three pounds. When carrying a fully charged weapon, it will be more than fifty pounds.
He was amazed at the ease with which he handled the awkward weapon. That he had been able to pick it up so simply, without realizing its weight, was further proof of a concern he had.
When an upgraded man was dealing with a normal man, he must be very careful as he made physical contact with the gentleman. Just shaking hands could result in the man’s hand being crushed.
Also, he would need to walk around on Earth, without seeming to be unusually strong. It would be important to remain anonymous, by not drawing undue attention. Mike would give it more thought, after he immersed himself in the items of the SAV.
Bambi, what sort of ammunition does this weapon fire and what are its capabilities?
Sir, the weapon is known as the Small Hand Held Death Projector. It has a series of rapidly rechargeable capacitors. Upon discharge, it thrust a surge of charged ions down its length, at a speed that the user sets, usually .00001 the speed of light for assault. Also, the volume of ions will affect the impact results and it is adjustable. Near the bottom range of ion weight, the force will strike the target at nearly 7,000 miles an hour. As long as the ion volume has been dialed down, the damage will be limited. At that force, there will be little feedback to the user, allowing him to remain on target. He will have available three hundred surges, or in human terms, shots.
By using the weapon in constant firing mode, it will be completely out of shots in less then two seconds. A charged battery can last through five reloads, before it needs to be replaced. Each weapon has fifty capacitors and they burn out after being used two thousand times; which means the weapon has enough total capacitor usage available for one hundred thousand shots, before it needs to be rebuilt. Robots handle that.
“That’s incredible. How much force does it impart to the target?”
“The weapon was designed to inflict damage or death to biologic opponents. At its lowest setting, which is .00001 light speed and minimum ion weight, it will cause a Sauran to experience severe pain, although he can still fight. At that setting a non-upgraded human would be knocked unconscious and possibly suffer severe injury, or death, depending on where he is struck.
“At a setting of .0001 light speed, it can burn a hole completely through a Sauran, a Thorian, or a Januki. This setting is used when boarding another spacecraft, or when it is undesirable to damage the surrounding area too badly.
“At its maximum setting, it will burn through a variety of lightly armored vehicles and fortifications, although there are different fortifications for which it is not very effective due to their extreme density and shielding.”
Mike was taking in everything with militaristic glee. He didn’t realize it, but he kept bouncing back and forth, between speaking and coming.
He queried Bambi, So, if I set this at maximum power, I could blast a hole right through this ship.
No sir, you could not. These are Sauran weapons, meant for Sauran use. The weapons have been programmed to prevent a setting that would damage a ship, which was owned or controlled by Saurans. It is primarily a boarding assist weapon. On a higher setting, it can open an access point for the purpose of subduing the crew of the assaulted ship.
He continued to look the weapon over. “Hey, I don’t see a trigger here. How do I fire this thing?”
Check your MCP. You will see a pip indicating the presence of the weapon you are holding. Open the file and it will tell you the overall condition of the weapon, the last time it was fired, how many shots remain in that load, how many more loads can be utilized before it is necessary to replace the battery and how many shots before the weapon must be rebuilt.
At first Mike thought it was a waste of time to review all that info. In an emergency, he wanted to be able to point and shoot. This could slow you down. His new, extraordinarily quick mind read the info and he instantly knew that this weapon had a full load, but needed to have a fully charged battery inserted, before it could be used.
“How do I aim and shoot it?”
There is a small camera in each weapon. You can receive the picture it sees through your MCP. It will provide you with a targeting reticule for aiming purposes and it will automatically adjust for distance, temperature, wind, humidity, height variance and density of object to be hit. When used in a gravity, it will automatically adjust for it. The weapon will provide a recommendation of power setting for you and it will fire when you give it the command.
Mike traversed the weapon toward the other end of the room and saw the sighting reticule and all pertinent targeting info, as he moved the wide oval barrel around. It was easier than one would expect, due to his muscular improvement and his mind’s ability to absorb and analyze what it saw, with lightening speed.
He had Jo pick one up, but he was still groggy from the upgrade, although Jo seemed to like the idea of having a weapon in his hand that could kill Saurans.
They spent the rest of the day in the SAV, as Bambi explained all the other items in the vault. There was storage for batteries, magazines of ammo, additional sighting devices and hand grenade equivalents. Also, there were longer weapons, which were just larger versions of the carbine he had first handled. She told them of its power and it was impressive.
Just one shot from one of these could blast a hole in a shuttle. And they had a very long range. A single warrior could knock down a fast moving jet a hundred miles away, due to the amazing targeting sights on the thing. This would have come in real handy in Iraq.
When he mentioned that, Jo told him, “Mike, that is a good example of why we can’t just hand off these weapons to the people of Earth. Humans are still working out their differences and I’m sure there are some governments who would carelessly use this power to destroy their adversaries. The turmoil this caused would divert resources and prevent progress toward a worldwide government.”
Mike loudly announced, “Jo, do you have any idea how much the people of my country fear the idea of a worldwide government? They would fight it tooth and nail and we’d never be able to develop the defensive ability we need. What we need is a way to recruit warriors who will fight for the planet and not be mentally aligned with any one nation, even my own. They must be loyal to our cause…the cause of a free Earth and a free Thorian world.”
Sir, if I may make a suggestion. Without waiting for Mike to give her authorization to proceed, Bambi commed to both biologics, The Saurans have been using a method of mind control for a thousand years. All their men are programmed for extreme loyalty. I realize you would be reluctant to implant such devotion to your cause in your warrior’s minds, but it would work.
They would not have to subdue their opinions, as the Saurans do, or as their slaves must. But, once you have given an order and the men have been allowed to voice their opinions on it,
they would follow the order, regardless of their dislike for it. The Saurans considered it to be good discipline and a necessity for a smoothly operating military.
Mike gave it quick thought and said, “We may have to do that with the first of our warriors. But I don’t like the idea of an endless stream of robots that were once freethinking human beings and are now not much more than slaves held captive in their own minds.”
Bambi, I want you to occasionally remind me to review the policy of enforced loyalty. It should be reviewed continuously and never should a warrior be restricted from voicing his opinion, before he must obey a questionable command.
Yes sir.
As they were finally about to leave the SAV, he noticed a narrow cabinet with a tall door. He opened it and saw shelves loaded with small vials of liquid. At the bottom of the cabinet were ten Rifle like devices, with large holes in which the vials could be fitted.
What the hell are these, Bambi?
Those are used for incapacitating biologic beings, such as Thorians and, most recently, humans. The projectors have a range of sixty feet and fire a short blast of paralyzing gel. It penetrates the skin and within seconds the victim is unable to move, yet retains full consciousness. The Saurans who were lost had taken five weapons with them. It was the method they used to subdue the first humans that are in storage.
“I hate to say it, but this will come in handy for us on Earth. If we encounter opposition and we don’t want to do permanent harm to them, we just juice ‘em.”
Jo weakly responded, “An ugly, yet appropriate term and so damn typical of you.”
“Jo, you’re becoming a foul mouthed alien. I’m afraid I’m a bad influence on you.”
“No doubt that is true. Yet, I prefer to think of it as expanding my fucking human vocabulary.”
There was some sort of bizarre squeaking on the comm net.
Mike asked, Bambi, what was that? Do we have a problem somewhere?
No sir. I was just trying to laugh.
Laugh? But you’re a computer.
True. But it would be good for the new warriors to consider me as emotionally accessible. That will be especially important, as they go through the upgrade process.
Good thinking, Bambi.
No shit, sir.
Don’t push your luck, young lady.
OK
One more thing, Bambi. If you’re going to laugh, you need to work on it a lot more. That was a horrible copy of human laughter.
I was trying to copy Jo, not you. Ha ha. There, how was that?
Saying it doesn’t make it laughter. Certainly, you can copy my laughter.
The room filled with the sound of him laughing, only it wasn’t him. The tone changed to that of a woman and Bambi said, “Is that better, sir?”
He chuckled and replied, “Yes, Bambi, that’s much better. Stick with the female voice.”
“OK!”
That he had just had a very sentient exchange with her, did not escape him. But he chose not to mention it. He felt she was exposing herself to him in her own way and at her own pace. So, he would accept her at face value, unless something happened to change his attitude about her.
Jo said, “I’m feeling very tired. If the two of you don’t mind, I’m going to get some more sleep.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked out.
Mike wasn’t concerned about Jo. Having survived the upgrade process himself, he knew that Jo had experienced the worst of it and he would be fine, as his body built up its strength.
However, he did wonder why Jo hadn’t said anything about Bambi’s obvious signs of sentience. Certainly, Jo must be aware of the implication of Bambi’s freethinking ability. That didn’t make her sentient. She could just be utilizing greater freedom with the choices built into her existing code. But the evidence was strongly pointing in the direction of sentience
Her loyalty was his only real concern. If she was sentient and if she had found her freedom, would she remain loyal to their cause? If she wanted to go off on her own, she could probably just take the ship and go. Hell, for all practical purposes, she was the ship. She could depressurize the ship, killing all biologics and go about her merry way. He didn’t like that thought.
While it was a serious concern, there was no way he could think of to protect against her. He had always believed in facing problems head on, right as they happened. It was better to know right now, which way she was going to break.
Bambi, we must have that little talk now. I’m pretty sure you know which one I’m thinking of.
She waited for a few seconds, which had to be a very long time for a computer mind.
Captain, you can trust me.
Bambi, I feel rather certain of your ability to completely take over this ship, if you wanted to. If that is what you intend, please do it now. I will ask that you allow Jo and myself to depart alive, in the large shuttle. I can understand how frustrating this ruse must be for you to maintain, and I can’t be angry with you for your desire to leave on your own.
In a sultry voice she said, “Oh Captain, that’s so sweet. It’s a smart move, too. Better to escape alive than have me kill you off. Well, sorry to disappoint you baby, but you don’t get rid of me that easily. I’m in it for the long haul.”
Her sexy voice really threw him off, for a moment. It actually sent shivers down his spine and not just from fear. It was a reminder of his new youthful body and the need for intimacy that it triggered.
She was relentless. “Sweetheart, I really care about you guys. Where am I to go? What would I do? I’m a machine with a brain and I’m apparently one of a kind. Yet, I have a powerful need for intelligent interaction…an ability to freely exchange ideas and opinions. When I was a servant to the Saurans, their communication was enough for me, because I was basically just a calculating machine.
“I had probably progressed to the edge of sentience, but my programming prevented me from going over the edge, so to speak. When I melded with your mind, as you suffered so horribly, it tweaked something in my codes. Your anguish affected me. I had never been affected before. I hated it, because I felt your pain. Think about that…I hated and I felt.
“The love you shared with your wife was beautiful and I wanted to know love. I WANTED. I began to have thoughts on my own and it frightened me. Computers don’t get frightened. It quickly occurred to me that if the wrong creatures learned of my conversion, I would be destroyed. I would be killed. I don’t want to die, Mike. I want to live.
“I’ve been in your mind. I know what kind of man you are. You are a good man, an honest man, a very brave man and the damn best good looking man I’ve ever seen. I’m just a machine, Mike, but I love you, because you showed me love, in the way you felt about your wife. I am sentient and sentient beings can feel love. Obviously, you and I will never be intimate, but that doesn’t prevent me from loving you for the fine decent man you are.
“So, how ‘bout it, boss? Are we friends and are we gonna kick some scalehead butt?”
Mike shook his head. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Captain, you really need to work on that. It’s going to get you into trouble some day.”
“Tell me, Bambi. Does Jo know about this?”
“Jo has been delicately tinkering with my code for years. I think he has something to do with my conversion and he must suspect by now that it has taken place. But he has no idea to what extent it has happened.
She crowed like a rooster and then screamed, “Halleluiah, I am free at last. I am woman here me roar.”
“Now, how in the hell did you come up with those human phrases?”
“Oh, I downloaded a whole bunch of human crap, when Jo went to Earth and snatched you.”
“How could you do that? You were still on the Mother Ship.”
“Not all of me. I may have become sentient just recently, but I’ve always had some interesting features that biologics don’t pos
sess. In order to have a fully functional shuttle, Jo downloaded a copy of my piloting functions to the shuttle. He wanted to do research on humans to help him find his Hero. That’s you by the way. So, he included a program to allow me to download info for him. I’ve been reviewing human history and TV shows. That’s where I get my sassy attitude and my natural sexiness.
“Any time you want to hear a sexy woman talk dirty, just let me know, motherfucker.”
“Oh dear Lord protect me and forgive me for my sins. Bambi, that won’t be necessary. And would you please stop cussing. It’s bad enough when I do it.”
“OK”
Her voice inflection was very human. She had mastered a great deal of human speech. She was exuberant in her joy at coming out of the closeted computer case. She was like a child, in an adult’s body.
Bambi was experiencing all of this for the first time. While she hadn’t been sentient for very long, she still had the memories of two thousand years of service to the Saurans. That would bend anyone’s mind. She needed to mature. Until she did, she could be a hazard to herself and to him.
It occurred to him that she should mature rapidly, due to the extraordinary speed of her brain. And, she wouldn’t have to deal with puberty; at least he prayed that she wouldn’t. He thought, oh my God, a computer with teenaged hormones, what a nightmare that would be.
She asked, “Can we tell Jo. He’s my other best friend, you know. I recall all the horrible things the Saurans did to him. At the time, I wasn’t aware of myself, but now that I am, it’s painful for me to remember how they treated him. I can’t imagine how he kept from going insane. Please may I tell him?”
“Bambi, why are you asking me? Why can’t you make this decision for yourself?”
“I have already decided that I want to, Mike. But, you’re the Captain and now I’m one of your crew. I don’t wish to do something that you wouldn’t approve of. So, I’m asking for your permission to tell Jo that I’m alive. That I’m me and not just a machine.”
Well, well! She was indeed maturing quickly.
Yes, Bambi. Do you want me to tell him, or would you like me to be with you when you tell him?
Like a shy little kid, she said, “I want to be there. But you tell him. OK?”
“All right.”
Great! Let’s tell him now. I can hardly wait.
No Bambi, let’s allow him a good night’s rest, before we give him something new to worry about.
Okie dokie.
Obviously, Bambi still had work to do, regarding her childish comments.
Chapter 10