Chapter 13
The 'talking' went backwards and forwards for another five minutes and then suddenly.
“You speak our language,” said the alien,” I am most surprised you have the ability to learn so quickly.”
“Not half as surprised as I would be if I could,” said Pat, with a big grin on his face,” thanks George.”
“My name is not George,” said the alien,” it is 1, Karv 1, and these are my fellow crew mates. Who is George?”
“That would be telling,” said Carl, wanting to keep George a secret, let them think they were aces of language, it could give them an edge,” I'm Carl and this is Pat.” Indicating Pat, who had sat down on one of the seats.
It was only three seconds before Pat was flat on his back on the floor, the chair had collapsed under his relaxed weight.
“Are you injured? That was a bad fall.” Karv 1 asked.
“Only my pride.” Pat said. His shield and drive module had stopped his 4G fall, he hadn't felt a thing.
“Perhaps you had better sit on these,” and Karv 1 indicated two flat plates that had risen from the floor,” your mass is so much greater than ours.”
Carl tried one of the plates and it bore his weight without difficulty, if required they could sit on their shields by forming a solid base under their backsides, but the plates were satisfactory.
“Is it possible you can help us in our dilemma?” asked another of the aliens,” I am Karv 20 and of the same data as Karv 1.”
The same data? Weird sort of term to use.
“Is that right George?” Carl mumbled to himself.
“That was an exact translation Carl, perhaps they are all built from the same stock.”
“Built?” Carl asked in a surprised voice.
“Oh yes, these are androids with living brains.” Answered George, as if he met this sort of thing every day.
“Bloody hell”. Said Pat.
“We might be able to help,” Carl answered Karv 20,” however, we will need some advice as to what is going on here.”
“I am Karv 12,” said another one of them, and both Pat and Carl could now see they were all exactly the same,” we are part of the sentient crew of this search and mining vessel and we were boarded by those machines that attacked you. We at first thought the ships were new versions of our contact vessels because they had knowledge of our entrance coding,” he continued,” however, when their ships were in our docks, their doors opened and hundreds of missiles shot out and knocked out thousands of us before we could activate any of the emergency doors.”
“You say ships,” Carl noted,” are there more than one?”
“I am Karv 15,” said another of them,” there are five ships in our docks right now.”
“You've all bloody-well moved about now,” Pat said,” and I don't know who's who anymore.”
“Do not worry,” said another of them,” we are link-minded, you can talk to anyone of us and we will continue where the other left off.”
“We know you are constructed beings,” said Carl,” are any of the fully alive beings on board.”
“Oh no,” said another one,” that is quite impossible, I am most impressed you are aware that we are androids, how could you know that when we have never met before?”
“It's just one of our many talents,” Pat bragged,” there's not much gets past us.”
“Apart from relaxing your lift module when you sit down.” Commented George.
Pat gave Carl a look, who couldn't help smiling.
“So,” said Carl,” these machines are on board, and what exactly is going on?”
“There are only two other groups of us left, M and D data, all the rest have ceased to communicate, it is a very sad day for us all.” Replied one of them, Karv 20, as far as Carl could make out.
“How many have you lost then?” Pat asked.
“26,020 all told.” Was the solemn reply.
“Holy Mother.”
They were both shocked into silence.
“It appears the machines want to get rid of us all,” another of them supplied,” it is a slow process but they are making progress towards us.”
“Why?” Carl asked.” What are they after?”
“We have huge stocks of metals on board, metal we have mined over the past one hundred and fifty years, metal we were to have taken back to our home planet of Delmane. The machines are moving one block of cargo to their ships now. There are three other blocks complete.”
what sort of metal and how much?” asked Carl.
“There is platinum and plutonium, 80 million tons in all.” Supplied Karv 20, or was it Karv 6 or 8?
That amount of precious metal would tempt anyone into the devious ways of a non-barter system.
“Do they have any crew on their ships?” Pat asked.
“Not that we are aware of.” Answered one of them.
“I detect no life other than you and the Delmanes,” George informed them,” and I have been scanning every sentient frequency I can programme, I do believe there are only the machines.”
“Have you succeeded in destroying any of the machines yourself?” Carl enquired.”
“We have no weapons and all our tooling is for mining.” Replied another of them.
“Looks like a pretty hopeless situation to me,” Carl remarked to Pat,” surely we can't get rid of all of them, what do you say George:”
“It would be possible to destroy them with our mice but it would be a very long and complex procedure, this mining vessel is so enormous we could possibly never round them all up.” George replied.
“Mmm,” said Pat,” what do you mine with?” Asking the question of the nearest Delmane.
“We use photon cutters, laser smelters, diamond blanket pulverises, ultra sonic beams,......”
“Stop, stop,” said Pat”you lost me on the first one, and what's a diamond blanket when it's at home?”
“It is an area of force field that is fed through the matrix of a tubular mesh which is impregnated with diamond cutters. The blanket is vibrated at 5000 Giga-Hertz and pressed onto the rock face by the force field. The dust that passes through the matrix is vacuumed into the smelters. It will pulverise anything.” supplied one of them.
“Including machines!” said Carl.
“Why yes, I expect so.” One of them replied.
“I bloody know so.” Pat said.
George had just confirmed to us that it would.
“Right,” Carl said, he had an idea,” how big an area does this blanket cover?”
“To a maximum of 1600 square metres.” The answer came.
“What are you thinking of Carl?” Pat asked.” It's too cumbersome to block off a corridor with.”
“But not too big to eat one of their ships,” Carl countered,” how many of these blankets do you have?”
“150,000 approximately,” was the very positive reply,” what do you have in mind?”
“We can eat their ships, in the holds.” Carl answered.
“You mean destroy them, but that is not permitted in our culture, we have been trained to save life, not destroy it.” Was the reply from one of them.
“These are bloody machines,” blurted Pat,” not sentient life, you can knock out machines as much as you like, you're not hurting anyone.”
“That is very true,” answered Karv 15, or 20,” we had never thought of that.”
“Why haven't you had any ships arrive from Delmane to help you with these machines.” Carl asked.
“How could they help?” One of them answered.” They would be attacked the same as us. We possess no weapons.”
“Oh yes you do,” Carl assured 'one' of them,” what range do you use with a photon cutter, whatever that is?”
“Oh, we cut up asteroids at a range of one thousand kilometres and then collect the pieces. Why do you ask?” Came the reply.
“I think these buggers are a bit thick,” Pat said,” they were just going to sit down and wait to be kno
cked off.”
“They don't seem too bright, do they?” agreed Carl.” You see,” Carl spoke to Karv l5 or 20,” your photon cutters could destroy their ships, as could the blankets and, I expect, the lasers could as well. The obvious problem you have is getting the equipment aimed before you are hit by machines, you have no personal force shields?”
“No, we are not damaged by vacuum, we just seal up our orifices with muscular effort and only return to this ship after we have stopped breathing for too long. About six hours.” Replied one of them.
“Lucky sods.” Came Pat.
“The only problem I can see,” Karv 20/15/10, or whoever it was, said,” is that the machines have stopped our major work power-plants from operating, we cannot power-up any of our tools.”
“That presents no problem,” George said,” our generator mice will have more than enough power to run a dozen of any of their tools at any one time, you only need to provide me with a plan and it will be carried out.”
“Great.” said Carl.
“What is?” They asked.
“Just a problem I have solved.” He answered.
“Where's your nearest computer link?” Pat asked.
A panel rose from the floor, which had a screen with keys displayed on it.
“Any interface access?” Carl asked.
The side of the screen opened and many sockets and pins were evident.
“Place the interface anywhere near a cable or plug, Carl,” came George’s voice,” what do you want me to do?”
“Look into the records and find out where the blankets and cutters are housed, how they work, how to adjust the blanket size, etc, etc, the full works, ok George?” Carl provided.
“Ok Carl, I have the locations and the working principles, the adjustments, oh your language is so slow. I have all your details, what now?”
“He's a bloody smart arse at times. Really pisses you off, don't it?” Pat said, hands on hips.
“Who does?” asked a Karv.
“Oh, someone we know.” He said.
“Where's your home planet?” Carl asked. His Hud lit up with the full information before any of the Karv could reply, which was just as well, as it happened.
“We don't know that, it is all taken care of by our Navigator Terminal.” Said one of them.
“They're worse off than we are.” Said Pat.” How do you go home then?”
“We only return when our freight holds are full, that will not be for another twenty years.” One of them informed them.
Poor sods. They may be androids but they had minds the same as Pat and Carl, friendship and such, they must get very homesick.
“We prefer to stay in space, mining. It is what we love to do. Our home planet is a very hostile place for us.” Oh well, not often right but wrong again, they didn't want to go home. They were home, life's funny at times.
“Carl, Pat, for your information Shadow is under a particularly savage attack from the machines. I do not understand it at all. There are literally hundreds of machines and they are pounding the shields, more than two every second. Every time they attack they are totally destroyed. They are committing suicide.” Said George, in a rather concerned tone.
“There's no problem for you though, is there?” Asked Carl.
“Oh no, just thought I'd let you know, such a shame about all this self destruction.” George replied.
“The only problem I can see is us trying to get back in Shadow, I don't fancy darting through that bloody fracas.” Said Pat.
“Karv,” Carl asked one of them,” if I wanted to receive some of our machines, could you open the doors, we will ensure that none of their machines will be able to follow.”
“That is no problem, we will put an automatic on the probes, tuned to your machines, that is how we did it for you.” One of them replied.
“What you say Carl, get the power mice connected to a few blankets and cutters and set about their ships?” Asked Pat, rubbing his hands together.
“That's exactly what I was thinking.”
“How big are these photon cutters George?” Pat asked and then looked down to see a Karv carefully aiming his sight from Pat's eyes to where Pat was talking to. He looked at Pat and then along the line of sight. No one was there of course. He appeared most puzzled.
“Move over there,” the Karv instructed his buddies,” you are in the way of the other person that Pat is talking to, even though we can't see him.”
“Er, Karv,” Carl called,” don't bother, we have voice contact with our ship, that is who we talk to.”
“I see, but where is your transmitter, we have ours all around us but you didn't bring any.” The Karv responded.
These Karvs were definitely not on the same wavelength as the Shadow force were. To say they were as thick as two short planks was a bit hard on them but they were definitely as thick as one short plank.
“It's a long story,” Carl said,” just believe me when I say our ship can hear us quite well.”
“Right.” Pat got up from his slab.” Let's do something, this is wearing me a bit thin.”
“We can offer you food if you are hungry.” Said a Karv.
It was getting worse.
“Er,...... thanks, I'm ok.”
“What do you say Pat,” Carl prompted a continuance of his positive action,” get the blankets wired up and the photon cutters and march ahead?”
“Sounds good to me.” He agreed.
“The stores for the apparatus is linked to your access service tunnel.” George informed them.” It is about one mile away, do you want the power mice there or with you?”
“I'd prefer them with us,” Carl replied,” then we could leave a couple of mice here to guard the Karv and use the rest as our scouting party.”
“On their way, already in the corridor, into the room, in the service tunnel, with you now.” Said George, and with that the team of mice slammed into the room.
“Bloody hell, that was quick.” Pat said.
“Your machines are very agile,” said a Karv,” the doors were only open for a split second, that's all the door times added together, amazing.”
“You're right there, I wasn't expecting them for a couple of minutes at least.” Said Carl.
“I have found that the alien machines are slow to respond to our actions until they home-in and then they are very fast,” George informed them,” I don't think they even noticed anything leaving Shadow.”
“What about the attack on you George?” Pat asked.
“It carries on without diminishing in its intensity,” George replied,” they have to smash through the debris to reach the hull. I am totally submerged in dead machines.”
“They're out of their minds.” Said Carl.
“Nothin between the ears more like.” Pat added.
They left via the roof hatch, none of the Karv wanted to go with them, and they seemed quite content to await a certain death.
The Shadow entourage arrived at the storage area for the tools, a hatch opened in the side of the tunnel wall and they entered, the lights came on just as Carl was going to carry out a bit of I.R snooping.
The place was immense, it must have been about 10 square miles in volume, a mass of caves in a cliff is all Carl could associate it with. There were thousands of cliffs.
“Must be bloody big fork-lifts trucks around here.” Said Pat.
Somehow Carl didn't think they used that system here anymore, George confirmed that.
“What exactly do you want?” Asked George.” I will have it selected and placed on the departure ramp for you.”
Carl supposed the departure ramp led to outer space.
“Hud us the ship layout between here and the docks we need,” Carl instructed George,” we'll have to go there through corridors, we don't want to be exposed outside.”
The Hud came on and they could see any amount of routes, one was obvious though, it was a main thoroughfare, like a motorway all the way through the mining ship, it p
assed by all the docks.
“That's the way,” said Pat,” what's your idea?”
“I was thinking of one or two of the largest blankets to force over the ships and the photon cutters to knock out machines and cut up the other ships,” he said,” what do you reckon?”
“Why not take five blankets, one per ship?” Asked Pat.
“Why not,” agreed Carl,” got enough power mice George?”
“But of course,” replied George,” they will be with you shortly, I am sending some more mice to assist with the construction and connection.”
They set about arranging the nets on the vast storage deck. George had the 'fork lift trucks' working overtime. They were rather large floaters, looked a little like ruddy great lobsters, same bluish colour too.
Pat and Carl had the nets set out on the deck whilst the power mice welded themselves, somehow, to the power connection housing. Within ten minutes they activated a net whilst it was in the hover and it turned nearly invisible with its ultrasonic vibration. The noise was fearsome.
Pat glanced at Carl,” Do you think they'll do the job?” he asked.
“I think it depends on whether those ship's shields are more powerful than the nets”, he replied,” we can give them a dose of the photon cutters to use up their energy.”
“The cutters are now set for micro second pulses,” George informed them,” it will be too much of a risk to set a solid stream in case we cut through, we could then possibly breach the Karv ship at the same time.”
“Right,” Pat agreed,” how's the fighting getting on with you George?”
“I have ejected hundred of tons of scrap metal out of the dock entrance and the machines have again attacked with senseless fury.” Said George.
“Bet it's a bloody row in there.” Carl said.
The construction work was nearing an end. The photon cutters were enormous pieces of equipment, about the size of four Challenger tanks welded together. They were nothing like either Pat or Carl had expected, no fancy flashing glass fins and humming noises. They looked like ruddy great Bessemer Furnaces, with the molten metal outlet covered with a mass of course wire mesh, or something akin to it.
“The connection is complete and the photon cutters are one hundred percent serviceable,” George informed them,” I have carried out test firing, at low-low power, and I estimate we can fire at full power, continuously, for six months, that should be more than adequate for the job in hand.”
“Holy moses, six months, I ain't stayin here that long George.” Said Pat.
“Well, we have five nets and five cutters,” Carl said,” I suggest we set the cutters to destroy the engine outlets, if they are obvious, then set the nets on 'em.”
“How does that go past you George?” Pat asked.
“We will need to recce the holds to ascertain their position, I have our minor mice ready and am slipping them through now.” Said George.
“He don't waste time does he?” Pat said.
“That's a fact.” Carl replied.
“I have the layout,” interjected George,” this machine force is very sloppy on security. It has no guard force in action and I sense no viewers on the ships. They are sat blind. We are ready for action.”
“Ok let's go.” Said Carl, moving toward the door. It slid open and, luckily as it happened, they had placed the nets, fully activated, in a globular position around themselves and the photon cutters. The claustrophobic atmosphere of being enclosed in a screaming razor sharp net was very unnerving. It was, however, a most effective guard system. Their larger mice were supporting the net with their shielded 'hands' and the alien machines rained through the net meshing as so much metal dust. It was snowing steel, or whatever the machines were made of.
“They're mindless of their self-destruction,” said Carl,” what manner of intelligence allows its own to suffer like this?” He wondered.” It reminds me of a sci-fi story I read years ago, by Harrison - Deathworld - where the local animal and insect life was hell bent on killing the off-worlders. Just like this lot.”
The attack was increasing in intensity as they arrived at the first hanger, there were three ships in one hanger and two in the other. George was co-ordinating the attack. They packed through the access doors as they slid wide. The nets opened and the photon cutters set up a lip and ear tickling blammer of light resulting in pieces of metal and gas showering everywhere.
The nets seemed to be alive, although they knew it was their mice doing the animation.
Viewing the scene was very difficult, they were so busy dodging machines, with only a glance every now and again at the ships. Carl noticed that Pat was hit a couple of times, which resulted in a startled cry from him.
“These damn machines can hit with a powerful force Carl,” he shouted,” and the shield's not taking out all the shocks, in fact it's pretty painful”
With that, Carl was hit by two very large machine devices, which nearly knocked him senseless.
“George, what's going on,” he shouted,” the shields are not fully protecting us?”
There was a reply from George but Carl was too busy to be able to hear it, the machine dodging now became an essential survival exercise.
They were now in the hanger that contained the two ships and it was from the other hanger that there came an enormous clap of thunder followed by a massive flame wave leaping through the access doors to 'their' hanger.
“Something's gone off in there,” shouted Pat,” I think we'd better sod off before these go up.”
Carl was about to agree when his shield dimmed into solid black. Even then, and Carl supposed it was normal, he saw first one and then the other ship buckle into the 'air' and swell like rotten apples. They both burst, with a loud slap of released energy, their hearing had been shielded so he suspected the real sound was titanic.
Machine and ship debris struck Carl's face shield and the entire area of his body. He was encased in living explosive flame and his shield twinkled and flashed, it was having a very heavy Sunday dinner of raw radiation. Fortunately it was able to handle that and the heat energy, had it not been able to, Carl suspected that both Pat and himself would have been turned into microscopic dust.
Carl's Hud was going wild with information and it was more than could be taken in but he could see it was going into memory for future reading.
There were further thunderous noises through which Carl heard Pat shouting.” Take a look at that, November the bloody 5th.” He was enjoying the destruction. Carl had to admit that his initial terror had given way to a feeling of joyful satisfaction.
Suddenly sight returned to normal, although at the moment both Carl and Pat were on I.R because all the lighting was definitely out, and an enormous noise was being made by the last of the debris falling at 4G onto a tattered deck. Carl could see no nets or cutters anywhere although their mice were evident.
“The job is complete,” said George,” we have suffered no casualties. I do note, however, quite extensive Karv ship damage adjacent to the docking areas.”
“Bloody hell Pat,” Carl gasped, he hadn't breathed for the last three minutes,” that was some sodding experience and no mistake.”
“I never thought I would be in the centre of something like that in the whole of my life, God, what a feeling.” Was Pat's reply.” Let's finish off the rest of the machines before they have time to regroup.”
“Pat,” came George’s calmest of calm voice,” all the machines have fallen to the decking, they appear to have lost all power or ability to command-receive.”
“Thank Christ for that, let's go back and see how the Karv are getting on then.” Was Pat's alternative.
They met the Karv crew on their way to meet them, they actually seemed excited, it was the first emotion they had seen them display.
“We saw all the action on our monitors,” said one of them,” it was amazing the way you dealt with them, we owe you a debt of gratitude and our masters have asked me to invite you to a welcoming cerem
ony.”
“Oh, right, we'll have to think about that,” said Carl,” won't we Pat?” Turning to Pat for some indication.
Before Pat could answer one of the Karv spoke.
“Perhaps I could offer you some advice,” was it Karv 10,12,15,20? who knows,” we would advise you to decline the invitation. Our masters are not visible to you in a way you could appreciate, they are, as you would see them, no more than intelligent rock. We are purely constructs of convenience for mining purposes.”
“Well thanks Karv,” Carl replied,” we'll send your bosses a message, through you, a little later, but thanks for the advice. They won't be upset if we don't go then?”
“Oh no, they would not even know if you were there, you emit very low radiation. They can only sense radiation such as the stars or the compounds we mine and construct into coverings for the rocks.” A Karv replied.
That was a good saver, the last thing either of them wanted was a visit to a 4G Gas Giant, all ice and muck, or whatever the surface was made of.
“I say Karv,” said Pat,” I'm afraid we've lost a lot of your gear in this escapade.”
“Big words Pat!” Carl noted.
“Shut you mouth,” he quipped,” you've got plenty more haven't you?” To the Karv.
“That is no problem,” Karv replied,” we carry the basic materials and manufacture replacements when required.”
“That's what I thought.” Said Pat.
“What're you up to?” Carl asked.
“I was just wondering if they had any of the pulverising netting raw materials,.... if you get my meaning......?” Pat was giving him a big look.
The nets used,. ... raw materials of. ... now Carl could see what he was on about.
“What a good idea,” he observed,” will you ask or shall I?”
“You ask”. He said.
“What is it we can do for you Carl and Pat?” asked Karv some number or other.
“Instead of us visiting Karv,” Carl said,” would it be possible to have some of the netting raw materials do you think, the cutting pieces for instance?”
“Of course, we will have a consignment made up for you, what sort of volume were you considering, we have one million cubic meters of all grades in stock, name the quantity.” The Karv said.
If Carl had been stood on anything like a firm terra he would have landed on his back, his shield and modem kept him, and he noted, Pat also, in an upright position.
“I think point-five cubic meters of the clearest pieces about one centimetre each will be quite adequate.” Carl said.
“You will have it in no more than five minutes,” the Karv assured them,” It seems an unusual request, perhaps you wish to keep some of Karv with you to remind you of us?”
“Yes, that's exactly what it is for.” Carl agreed.
“Would you like to visit Shadow for some refreshments, a drink with us, like, you understand?” Pat invited, questioningly.
“Yes, we understand, I will come with you, the rest will meet with the other crew and receive instructions as to our future programmes. I will go with you but cannot accept your offer of refreshments, I fear it will ail me.” The Karv moved off with them.
“I have prepared the atmosphere in Shadow for the Karv. It is Number 15 who is with you.” George stated.” The Earth atmosphere would have caused serious injury to 15.”
“Thank you George.” said Carl.
“Will I be able to meet George?” Asked 15.
“I'm afraid he is only a voice to you, to us he is a person, you will not perhaps understand that.” Carl replied.
“You are correct, I cannot understand that.” Said Karv.
Shadow looked her good-old self. Their mice had all but cleared the hanger of debris. They walked up the ramp with 15 and moved to the lounge, two beers were ready as both Pat and Carl were too.
They flopped into seats, including Karv, and looked at each other.
“Cheers.” Said George.
“Cheers.” They all replied.