70 Book 4 - Chapter 128

Chapter 128:

Y: 2143 - M2

Daedalus Financial Position: +14,340,000 bitcreds

Master Haddad turned to his friend and Master Picard, "Coming?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Lee Austin replied; now Chief Austin.

"Master?" Master Haddad referred to Picard's father the same as everyone else, simply calling him Master.

He nodded.

Barran ran to Daedo, "Can I come? There is …"

"Yes," Daedo replied.

Barran grinned, "That was easy."

Picard suddenly had the urge to accompany her friend and father, "Daedo can I …"

"No," he replied cutting her off.

Her inner discipline fought a tough battle with her immediate emotional response to the seemingly unfair rejection. Her mouth twitched, but she hung her head. Daedo was the commander and she was in the military, she would not question him and certainly no in front of everyone.

She quickly donned her helmet and began to write up a submission, she had only moments to get the correct form into Daedo, thinking perhaps a formal request would be successful. Until she arrived at the field; 'reason for request.' Damn, she thought, she just wanted to go because her father and Vannier were going. She quickly thought and submitted, added security. She then generated a threat analysis with measures to reduce, which of course included herself.

The response from Daedo was immediate. She barely hit send and his response was: 'DENIED.' He even detailed the reasons and counterpoints to her arguments.

She ran to the dock and watched with the others as the carrier floated towards the surface.

Ikaros was standing there. He barely said a word these days. He looked sad. He turned slowly and went back to work.

Picard stopped feeling sorry for herself in that instant.

She turned to walk with Daedo's father.

"Hi," she said.

There was an almost imperceptible nod of his head.

"I'm sorry," she said.

He kept walking slowly down the corridor and she kept step with him.

"I remember when it was just me and Daedo against a few thousand EUDF soldiers -," she began and told him the story of their training exercise.

By the time she had finished, they were in the industrial complex, where Daedalus kept all its refining, recycling and manufacturing equipment. It was ten times the size of their old workshop in Nanterre now. It was even bigger than the Marais carrier plant.

"You don't need to be sorry. If what Daedo thinks is coming, comes, many more parents will lose their children. At least mine is still here." He said sadly.

Picard hugged the uncomfortable mechanic.

"Everyone loves you, please don't be sad anymore," she said. It was nonsensical, and she knew it, but she didn't care. She didn't want Ikaros to be sad anymore.

He patted her head softly, "You're right. I'm being selfish and it's affecting all of you. We all need to make sacrifices, right?"

"It's easier to say than to do," Picard stated, which was from her limited experience, true.

"Stay alive," Ikaros said while patting her. "Just stay alive."

She thought about his words wondering if he meant the medical facilities. They could fix almost anything as long as you were alive. Or if he was just being a kind, old man. She hugged him tighter.

"This is not like you," he said after a minute.

Picard sighed, "No one can see. And you looked like you needed a hug."

Ikaros smiled. The first one in months.

"New York airspace is nothing to be trifled with little girl," Chief Austin informed Vannier.

Master Haddad cleared his throat over the comms, a noise which a user would normally filter. "Lee, you are a Chief and she is one of your cadets." He reminded his friend for the fourth time in as many days.

"Fine Haddy," Chief Austin replied. Vannier chuckled at the nickname the Chief had for his friend. He had always been Master Haddad to them.

"Cadet Vannier," Chief Austin tried to sound pompous, "when we are 1000km out, I will take over. You will watch and learn - this time." He added the words this time in an encouraging manner, indicating she would be able to take the controls next time.

"Isn't it automated?" Vannier asked.

"Pfft," Chief Austin spat, "like I would trust that shit."

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Master Haddad cleared his throat again.

Mace sat with Daedo, Barran and the Master. Her parents were seated behind and were discussing security.

"What's the plan?" She asked no one in particular, but the recipient was obvious.

"Master Haddad and Vannier will put forward our proposal, and in the end, they will approve," Daedo replied.

"In the end?" She queried.

"He means that we won't take no for an answer," Barran said.

Mace though about asking why Barran was there, while everyone else had a role, it was strange that Daedo accepted Barran with no proposal and rejected Picard with one. Albeit it was put together last minute, but it was logical despite that.

All the officers had access to submissions to the Commander, it was one of his transparency policies.

They were supposed to watch him. He wanted them to - was what she inferred. Until recently they voted on important matters with their shares. And when the time came to change it was unanimous, however, what followed next was not known at the time of the vote. Daedo was changed. Changed forever.

He was introspective before. He was logical before. But now he was downright scary. Mace read all the research and tests that had been done before Daedo. He was the first person to survive past a week and she had questions. A lot of questions.

"Can I ask you a few questions Daedo or would you prefer I submit a document?" Mace asked. She took the plunge she had imagined for the last couple of weeks.

"Ask your first round of questions and the more complex ones can be submitted, that would be the most efficient and I'm sure everyone would like to hear your questions and my answers. Do you have any reservations sharing it with command?"

Command was the term for every one of officer level in the Daedalus Private Military. For expediency, they believed that the Private was redundant and it was dropped from their internal terms making it simply Daedalus Military (DM).

"No," she said honestly.

"Begin," he said.

Barran listened intently, he seemed excited by the prospect although Master Picard seemed unphased, as usual.

"How are you still alive?" Mace asked, "when so many before you had their brains turned to mush?"

Daedo took a deep breath and began his response.

"Myrmidon and Daedo merged very slowly. First the AI became accustomed to utilizing the human neurons and synapses at the micro level. When the first experiments the AI expanded, first to thousands and then to millions. After operating this way for a few days, the human aspect was able to access the cybernetic implant processing and data storage."

"This was unique to us. From our research no one else had attempted a reverse takeover, they merely allowed their AI to use their brain. This was a mistake because their cybernetic bandwidths were low. They were compensating for low bandwidth which was always going to fail."

Mace interrupted his reply, which was almost as if he was reading a report, "What was your bandwidth before you attempted the merge?"

He replied, "Over two thousand and rising daily."

It was four times what Mace had ever heard anyone possessing. She quickly looked it up on the net using her own AI to assist. The previously highest recorded bandwidth, which was publicised was 712.

Barran whistled and then stated, "Those aren't rookie numbers."

"Daedo?" Mace asked, "Are you still Daedo? Do you talk to Myrmidon as a separate entity?"

"I am Daedo, and Myrmidon is here too. We don't talk to each other anymore. I know everything he does, and he knows everything I do, so there is no need to talk."

"That's freaky!" Barran exclaimed as if he suddenly realised merging with your AI was a bad idea.

"Would you teach anyone else to do this?" Mace asked her piercing question.

"No," Daedo replied, "It's too dangerous."

"And yet you did it." Mace stated, "Are you in danger. And if not, how would you know? Can we monitor you?"

"No, I will send a report and yes if you must you can have access to my sensor data," Daedo replied.

"Are you still Daedo?" Barran asked.

"Yes, but with Myrmidon integrated rather than existing as an assistant. There are major differences in how we see things and we are still learning how to utilise our combined assets. A good example was how we could project our visualisations live today."

"That was live, none of it was prepared?" Mace asked she sounded astonished.

"Yes, it's rather an easy thing to do. It is the same way we used to communicate."

"Will you be better at combat?" Barran asked.

"Yes," Daedo replied.

Barran whistled, "Is that why you haven't been sparring? You were hiding your ability?"

"No, we are still coming to terms with it. Our priority was the Troika reactor. If we didn't have it we would have all died to the big three sooner or later. It gives us the capital, the influence and the assured protection. Without it, we were a threat that could have been easily neutralised."

"So you risked your life for it!" Mace accused. She sounded angry now. "And you didn't discuss it with anyone? Not your father?"

"No," he said.

She shouted over the comms, "Not me! You could have asked me! We would have found a way."

This was not like Mace to get emotional. She had been withdrawn since the discovery, but it was all flooding out now.

"I did the calculations. There was no other way other than leaving Earth now." Daedo replied.

"That would have been less risky than what you did!" Mace accused.

"But everyone else would have died. This way we can train and equip others to help defend the planet," Daedo said calmly as if he was discussing the weather.

"I hate what you did," Mace said.

There was silence for a minute, even Barran did not disturb the quiet.

No one made a sound for thirty minutes.

Until Barran asked another question, "So can you like download Brazilian jiu-jitsu and know it instantly?"

"Yes and no," Daedo said, "Muscles still have to learn. And there are no modules to download, only information that needs interpreting and understanding."

"What's the biggest change?" Barran asked out of pure curiosity.

"Everything is different, I see clearly for the first time," Daedo replied.

"Can you still like get with girls?" Barran asked.

"Oh! The most important questions I see!" Mace was still angry but listening to Daedo's replies.

"It's the one you wanted to ask wasn't it?" Barran was not stupid despite how he acted most of the time.

"Why would I want to get with girls?" Daedo asked Barran.

Barran laughed and laughed while Mace was dead quiet. "See he's the same old Daedo. You just have to know what questions to ask." Barran pointed out.

"You're coming to the next sparring session Cadet Daedo, no excuses will be accepted," Master Picard ordered.

Both Barran and Mace had totally forgotten he was there.

"I look forward to it Master," Daedo replied.

"Downloading, chichi, chichi, Brazilian jiu-jitsu," Barran said in a robotic voice in jest.

"I know kung Fu," Daedo replied.

The carrier had almost arrived at the outskirts of New York when it veered to the offshore landing facility.

It cruised down to one the massive pads which opened for them and then it descended beneath the surface of the ocean.

The city had expanded so much other the decades that it now stretched out into the ocean itself. The carrier was lowered all the way to the bottom where the massive travelator carried it to its docking bay. They couldn't see them all, but there were literally thousands of docking bays of all shapes and sizes.

From the underwater facility, they would travel by Autocar on a mag road and into the city where the headquarters for the Federation of International Academies was located.

The tunnel's construction was clear, and they could see the deep blue of the ocean, but not much else, as they travelled at high speed to the city.

They had separated, leaving Gabe and Adele behind to make their own way into the city. It was now the seven of them.

"So why are you here?" Vannier asked Barran.

"Hmm?" He replied with no answer at all.

"His parents are here, and he wants me to come with him to meet them," Daedo stated.

"Holy!" Barran exclaimed.

"I see all of your DM correspondence," Daedo stated.

"That's!" Barran began before he was interrupted.

"Normal military procedure," Master Picard stated.

"So … nothing is personal … not even my …," Barran was horrified.

"Use your personal account idiot," Mace said. They all had two accounts, one for their rank and a personal account. Barran couldn't be bothered with two so he used his military account for everything.

The team arrived at the headquarters finally, after the general meeting and carrier flight it had been a long day.

Master Haddad chatted with Vannier who looked over her shoulder once at Daedo and then went back to the conversation with the Master.

They were all dressed in their tight-fitting black Daedalus bodysuits with red rivulets stylishly contouring their athletic bodies. Everyone was in top physical condition, including Chief Austin and Daedo himself. Their helmets were also black and red. They hung on their backs in the normal position for ease of access.

Daedo's bodysuit had an additional scalp hugging piece which only left his face showing. It made him stand out from the rest whose hair was visible. From Vannier's long red locks to Barran's short blonde hair.

Mace's pure white hair was tied into a single ponytail which shimmered with incandescent blue when it moved. Master Picard's hair was so short he almost passed for bald. He was tall and lanky, well over 2m in height, taller than Master Haddad with his olive complexion and dark curly locks to Chief Austin with his blonde hair which flowed around his shoulders in a very unmilitary like fashion.

A young lady, who looked to be in her twenties approached the group. Only Master Picard was her senior in years. Daedalus was a young outfit.

"You're early," she stated.

"Only an hour sweetie," Lee Austin replied with a charming smile.

Vannier was aghast. Barran chuckled.