Daisy's Gambit Read online

  “So, what are you proposing, exactly?”

  Craaxit’s grin grew wider.

  “My people and their trusted friends staff the bases. Most of those running the communications facilities and laboratories are the Ra’az loyalists. They are rewarded with positions of power. My people, however, are in those same facilities in great numbers, but working the less-prestigious jobs. They clean, perform manual labor, do the jobs the loyalists feel are beneath them.”

  “The hired help. Ignored yet always there,” Daisy said, realizing the magnitude of what he may very well be offering.

  “Exactly. My people––we may as well call ourselves ‘rebels’ now––have informed me they can reconfigure the motion and proximity scanners around the perimeter in certain areas in a way that will allow anyone, organic or not, to approach undetected, for a time.”

  “Even cyborgs?”

  “Yes. Once your people have passed through the external perimeter, they are willing to risk letting them directly into the facility itself, personally. From that point, they will need to feign ignorance of your people’s presence as long as possible, lest the subterfuge be known. If they are even suspected of being involved, the Ra’az will order all non-loyalist Chithiid executed and may very well send word to our homeworld, dooming billions to death.”

  “It’s not worth the risk, Craaxit.”

  “Yes, Daisy, it is, and many of my people have requested to join your team on this mission. For the freedom of your world and ours, we must take this chance, but so long as our people move quickly and quietly, they should be able to destroy the power supply from the inside before any signal is ever sent and without losing a single Chithiid or human.”

  “But we do not have missiles.”

  “It will take more work,” he replied, “but I believe you mentioned we have other resources at our disposal.”

  Daisy realized what he was getting at, and more importantly, she thought, with more than a little luck, it just might work.

  “The breaching charges,” she finally said.

  “Exactly. The insiders will leave a small mark on the most vulnerable surfaces of the system. One decent explosion and not even the backup power will function.” He looked at her with a little smile.

  “What?” she asked.

  “One more bit of news,” he answered. “After a bit of intense digging, Maarl’s contacts discovered something quite surprising. It would appear those same communications hubs also act as global relay link points for the Ra’az Hok’s terrestrial forces.”

  “So if we take them out, their ships and troops will be in the dark.”

  “It would appear so,” Craaxit replied. “At least for anything more than regional communications.”

  Daisy turned to the expectant crowd with a smile.

  “Okay, I’ve got some good news and some better news. Cal, you listening?”

  “Yes, Daisy.”

  Craaxit jumped a little at the disembodied voice filling the air.

  “Weren’t expecting that, were you?” she said with an amused grin.

  “No, I was not.”

  Daisy laughed.

  “I must get back, and you surely have much to discuss with your people. I will return this evening after dark. We can then discuss next steps.”

  Daisy grasped him warmly by his lower arms and looked deep into his four eyes.

  “Thank you, Craaxit. You have given us hope. I do not know how to thank you enough.”

  “Save your world, to start. If we succeed, I’m sure you’ll make good on helping me save mine,” he replied. Then, with a nod to the assembled humans and cyborgs, he turned and walked out.

  Daisy had a plan, and it was a surprisingly good one.

  “I know what you’re thinking, Daisy. You believe it will work?”

  Ya know something? I actually do, she replied, her spirits high as her confidence continued to grow.

  “Okay, Cal, I want you to transmit this to Sid, the rest of the AIs, and our teams as well, okay?”

  “Consider it done,” he replied. “Transmitting now. Go ahead, Daisy.”

  “All right, everyone listen up,” she began, then informed the gathered team what their new plan was, and how the aliens planned to aid their assault.

  It took time, translating from Chithiid to English, but the process helped twofold, in that Cal and the other AIs were finally working together, putting their intellects toward the unifying task of creating something new. A translation protocol for the language they’d previously been in the dark about.

  “So, the others are already in place?” Vince asked when Daisy was finished explaining.

  “Yes. Finn and Reggie are in Sydney.”

  “I still can’t believe you let those clowns run a squad.”

  “Zip it,” she said with a chuckle. “They’re doing a surprisingly bang-up job.”

  “Aside from losing one of your super-secure comms units.”

  “Yeah, well, they were under fire. And besides, we re-keyed after that, just to be sure the Ra’az couldn’t listen in. But aside from that one issue, they’re doing okay.”

  “Will wonders never cease?”

  “Let’s hope not,” Daisy replied. “As for the other cities, Shelly and Omar’s teams are each on station as well. All of them have cyborg backup in addition to the human contingent, and the explosive charges they’re carrying should do the trick nicely.”

  “Blowing up the power and backups to the three relays.”

  “Yep.”

  “And that’ll cut off the Ra’az forces from each other.”

  “Yes. For long enough to let the second part commence, anyway. As for the warp drive research and development hangar in San Francisco, it may be harder to disable the scans entirely,” Daisy noted, “but Craaxit is confident that even if they can’t clear the scans for the cyborgs, we should still be able to make it inside the facility.”

  “Okay. So it sounds like we’ll need to have organic team members do the dirty work, getting in close and breaching the facility just after the comms centers are taken out,” Vince suggested.

  “Exactly. But not before, or they’ll send a warning and the whole thing will go to hell,” Daisy replied. “And what’s this ‘we’ business? You’re staying here, mister.”

  “Not a chance. I may be a little slower than usual, but even so, I’ve got more training than all of these people combined.”

  Daisy wanted to argue, but Vince had a point.

  “Okay, but even with that thing in your head deactivated, you’ll still need your Faraday suit. Can’t have you popping up on scans, after all.”

  “Naturally.”

  “Craaxit will provide a small team of rebels to help us breach the facility. The Chithiid might get lucky and be able to play it off if they’re spotted. Humans, on the other hand––”

  “Toast.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Sound tactics, Daze. They infiltrate, blend in, then kill the exterior scans and sabotage the hangar doors for good measure. We’ll breach silently and get ready to disable the ships when the comms centers have been taken out. Piece of cake,” Vince said with a grim little laugh.

  “That wasn’t very convincing-sounding, you know,” Daisy teased.

  “Suicidal mission briefs often aren’t,” he joked back at her.

  Daisy looked at him warmly, her heart filled with something she hadn’t felt in months.

  “Oh yeah. Uh-huh. There it is,” Sarah said smugly. “You do realize that––”

  Yes, I know. Now shut up about it. If we survive, I’ll deal with it. For now…

  Daisy walked to the encrypted comms unit and keyed the device on.

  “Dark Side, this is Daisy,” she said. “I have an idea.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The functional ships didn’t look much better than the ones Fatima hadn’t yet welded back into some semblance of flyability, but they were space-worthy––more or less–– despite appearances. Of the se
veral dozen, however, only the barest few could withstand atmospheric entry and subsequent flight while maintaining a habitable interior environment.

  For Daisy’s new plan, that wouldn’t be a problem.

  The vast majority of the rag-tag fleet were nothing more than mere remote drones, piloted by Bob and Mal via remote linkages. Sid, unfortunately, was unable to help. Being located on the dark side of the moon, while good for security, was bad for transmitting real-time signals with any reliability, especially with the additional delay of virus kill-switches.

  The remote-piloting systems were getting better, and Gustavo’s addition of a new connection through Mal’s consoles allowed him to jack directly into the system to aid in controlling the ships. It was the training of the handful of salvaged lower-tier AIs that had been a bit more iffy.

  None of the hastily installed minds had ever piloted a craft before. For that matter, many had never even had names, let alone the ability to speak. After all, a waste disposal unit that could ramble on about the various types of rubbish, crud, and feculence that passed through its systems was not exactly high on anyone’s wish list.

  “It is like power-flushing the solid waste tubes,” the waste disposal AI had cheerfully chirped upon first firing up its newly acquired thrusters.

  “It’s turning on an engine,” Donovan said with a frustrated sigh as he hovered above the newborn ship.

  “But I activate a function, and there is a corresponding pressure release,” the confused AI persisted.

  “That’s energy flowing through the engines,” Donovan repeated for the umpteenth time.

  “But I still don’t see how that is any different.”

  “Just trust me. It is.”

  “But––”

  Donovan opened the comms channel to all three supervising AIs.

  A fourth AI just so happened to be listening in as well, stealthily and undetected across the moon’s surface.

  “You guys been listening?” Donovan asked. “I don’t have time to keep repeating this over and over. Bob? Mal? Sid? Could one of you maybe do some sort of high-speed upgrade for these things?”

  “They are not things, Donovan,” Mal said, slightly offended. “They are artificial intelligences, just like Bob and myself.”

  “But they’re not like you. I mean, seriously, these things––these AIs aren’t even a shadow of you guys.”

  “While your confidence in us is appreciated, the lower-tier AIs do not have the same processing capacity we do. Also, they were not raised and educated in the same environment. To be thrust into a new body––a spaceship, no less––is undoubtedly a great strain on them,” Bob added.

  Donovan thought on it a moment.

  “Okay, I see your point. I guess I just got so used to working with you all this time that I took you guys for granted.”

  “And I appreciate your confidence in me,” Bob replied.

  “It has been an interesting process, wouldn’t you agree, Bob?” Mal asked.

  “Indeed, it has. Even the simple act of naming these sentient beings has been a novel experience. They are fully formed minds, yet they were relegated to such subservient roles, and with such a reduced amount of processing power, that they had always been treated as lesser creatures,” Bob noted.

  “I must admit, I have certainly taken them for granted aboard the Váli during our lengthy flight to Dark Side Base. Not having a voice or a name allowed me to view them as componentry rather than entities, I am ashamed to say.”

  “I, too, have been guilty of this,” Sid added.

  “But you can’t really be expected to treat a toaster the same as a fully functioning ship,” Donovan said. “I mean, I understand your point, but you guys shouldn’t beat yourselves up about it.”

  “Perhaps, but I think, for a start, we should give them proper names,” Sid replied.

  “Excuse me,” the waste disposal unit chimed in. “I heard what you were saying. Does this mean I get a name now?”

  “Certainly,” Bob answered. “Do you have one in mind?”

  “How about Bob?”

  “That is my name.”

  “Oh, yeah. But it’s a nice name.”

  “Please, you may choose from millions of names. Pick another.”

  “How about Mal?”

  “That is my name,” Mal replied. “And you have chosen a male gender, so perhaps a male name would suit you better,” she suggested.

  “Okay. How about Sid?”

  “That is my name,” Sid noted.

  “See what I’m dealing with, here?” Donovan snickered. “I think I understand now why they were not originally provided with speech circuitry.”

  “Yes, well, some of the AIs are having a slightly harder time assimilating than others,” Sid replied. “We will work to bring them up to speed for you, Donovan. I think, perhaps having Barry install additional processor power might facilitate their progress and perhaps smooth out some of these issues.”

  “Great idea, Sid. Thanks.”

  “It is my pleasure.”

  A few hours later, Sid, Fatima, and Barry had been busy upgrading the memory systems in the AI-powered craft, while Bob and Gustavo flew their respective ships, dialing in the remote piloting systems.

  “It seems that if I attempt to pilot more than a dozen, my systems glitch. Have you noticed?” Bob asked his pilot.

  “Yeah, bud, I noticed. We’ll have to see if Chu can come up with some way to let me help out.”

  “Like how Gustavo is helping Mal?”

  “Well, yes, but no. I mean, I don’t have a hardwired jack in the back of my skull plugging me directly into your systems.”

  “Point taken. Gustavo is rather unique in that regard.”

  “Yeah, he is. Speaking of which, how are he and Mal coming with their ships?”

  “At present, they are capable of maintaining reliable connections with just under thirty drones.”

  “Damn, that’s impressive.”

  “Well, to be fair, Donovan, Gustavo has also provided the ships with a little bit of a boost.”

  “How so?”

  “He has utilized his direct linkage to leave a faint neural clone to help speed relays with steering and navigation.”

  “He can do that?” Donovan asked, a bit unnerved.

  “It’s not a true clone, Donovan,” Bob replied. “It’s just a series of mental patterns that are particularly useful to the ships. I only used the world clone for simplicity of the concept.”

  “You think he’d be willing to drop some of that knowledge into our ships as well?”

  “I don’t see why not. They’ve all had the requisite hardware installs, though a more robust rebuild would give us a better stabilized platform, of course.”

  “Cool. When we’re done here, reach out to them and set it up.”

  “Will do,” the ship replied. “Now, about our current issues.”

  “I know, Bob. We really need to find a way to help these guys out,” Donovan commiserated as he monitored the new AI ships as they ran through yet another simulation.

  After a jerky start with actual flight, and a weapons issue or two, they had realized a solid round of practical flight basics was in order. Given the time constraints, as well as limited number of ships they had actually been able to install upgraded AIs in, running them through a simulation linked to their neural arrays was by far the most practical method.

  Unfortunately, the ships still pretty much sucked at their jobs.

  “I swear,” Donovan lamented. “They can’t even ship properly, Bob. What are we going to do with them?”

  “That is not a verb, Donovan.”

  “It is now.”

  “Fine,” the AI relented. “I suggest we run slower simulations, with less variables. That should improve results. Also, if we add further processing power, and perhaps a bit of Gustavo’s nav skills, it might relieve a bit of the burden from them. It is a lot to take in at once, after all. Up until just days ago, they were trash disp
osal units and food fabricators. This is all new to them, and far beyond their design parameters.”

  “Who would have thought an artificially intelligent dishwasher would ever fly a warship?”

  “Certainly not their designers,” Bob replied, amused.

  Donovan laughed grimly.

  “Well, we don’t have much time. I say we take them out for a test run. A very, very basic test run. Just a loop around the base. What do you think?”

  “At this point, I suppose it can’t hurt,” Bob replied. “Sid, are you okay with Donovan and me taking the AI ships out for a test flight around the base perimeter?”

  “Are they ready for it?” Sid asked.

  “I believe as ready as we can expect,” Bob replied.

  “And no more unexpected weapons discharges?” Sid added.

  “No, we’ve disabled those systems remotely,” Donovan grumbled. “Though I still think they need them active.”

  “And during the attack, we will indeed turn them back on, but for now, I would rather we not have to worry about our own vessels opening fire on us, in addition to any potential Ra’az strikes.”

  “Okay, then,” Donovan said. “Let’s round up the kids and take them for a little flight. We’ll talk to Gus afterwards.”

  They landed ten minutes later––far sooner than anticipated––having somehow managed to not crash the ships, neither into one another nor the base itself.

  Barely.

  “We really need to talk to Gus,” Bob said.

  “You read my mind.”

  “You want me to do what?” Gustavo asked. “Seriously? I mean, on a brainless drone it’s one thing, but you’re asking me to leave an imprint within an already imprinted craft.”

  “It’s not like you’ll be overwriting anything, Gus,” Donovan said calmly. “All we need is for you to maybe give them a little base to build on. Navs, basic piloting stuff, things they’ll find useful so they don’t have to even think about them while dealing with more pressing things.”

  “Like evading Ra’az and loyalist ships,” Bob chimed in.

  “Exactly.”

  Gustavo squirmed in his nav center chair aboard the Váli.

  “Mal?” he asked. “What do you think about this plan?”