Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Mission Control, Mission Control. This is Voyager XIX. I am re-entering the solar system. Please come in.

Voyager XIX, this is Origin Mission Control. We are operating NASA Mission Control. Come in, Voyager XIX.

Evan jumped in surprise at the transmission hed picked up off an old NASA satellite. Was were there more people out there? He leapt out of the chair, nearly knocking over his coworker in his haste to get to the Generals office. Evan blew right by the Generals aide, and burst into the Generals office even as the aide rushed to insinuate himself between Evan and the General.

I found a transmission, he burst out. Its not the Chinese.

General Brooks looked up, and waved off the aide. The aide gave Evan a disapproving look before returning to his desk.

Alright, son, you have my attention. Play it for me.

Evan pulled out his tablet. It had a cracked screen, from some previous comm tech that had used it. Considering the tablet was at least twelve years old, Evan figured he was lucky that it worked at all.

Mission Control, Mission Control. This is Voyager XIX. I am re-entering the solar system. Please come in.

Voyager XIX, this is Origin Mission Control. We are operating NASA Mission Control. Come in, Voyager XIX.

Where is that broadcast coming from? The Origin Mission Control?

Its not a broadcast. Its a quantum relay link. Its tagged as NF Ganymed. What is that? Could they help us with our mechanical issues?

Howd you hear about that? Nevermind, its a small base. No, theyre the Nikola Foundation. A bunch of true believers in human genetic purity, the latest fad in eugenics. Besides, if they survived, theyre out in the asteroid belt.

We could still ask, said Evan.

Better we not risk it. Were not out of options yet. The Chinese might still answer our request for help.

Is it time? asked Sakura.

It is, I said. Bon voyage and safe journey. Ill talk to you again in a few microseconds.

Sakura laughed, and the seed ship OSS Agrippa detached from the docking arms of Origin. The giant ship moved delicately despite its incredible size, moving a safe distance away before turning and accelerating towards Earth. She would be passing by the Mobius Gate on her way to Earth, as Earths smaller orbit had moved past us and the Gate. Under constant, high acceleration of the contragrav engines, Sakura would hit turn-over in two weeks, and would arrive in orbit in four. The Solar System had just gotten a lot smaller.

She still had a lot of work to do on the interior systems of the seed ship. The factories were mostly complete, as was the hull and engine, but the living areas and hydroponics farms were still under construction, and her drone numbers were low. Id filled her massive warehouses with raw materials, manufactured goods, and a significant piece of our genetics archive. By the time she hit Earth orbit, she should have a growing number of drones and be far closer to completion.

Even before the OSS Agrippa had left the asteroid belt, I was already laying the keel for the next seed ship, and a second seed ship construction dock was nearly ready to use. Sakura was officially withdrawn from managing Origin. Id replaced her with multiple NI-19s. One managed the warship construction docks, several had taken on the ever-growing manufacturing facilities, and another the mining operations. Our facilities now stretched to almost the entirety of the Ganymed asteroid, and a second, and in some cases, a third, level of construction was starting.

I was also sending out survey drones to examine asteroids around us. While I had endless amounts of base metals like iron, some of the rarer elements were being exhausted. My stockpiles were immense, but not endless, and I was drawing on them more heavily than ever. Already I had a dozen mining stations on different asteroids to bring in volatiles, platinum group metals, and rare earth elements, on top of all of our Outposts and Origin itself. I was also experimenting with how to build a self-sustaining mining platform in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, for the easy extraction of Helium-3. With a steady source of Helium-3, I would have an alternative to the lithium fuel wed been relying on to-date, and allow a more efficient fusion reactor design, and dramatically increase my options for power generation.

Before long, an alarm chime dinged, reminding me that it was time for Sakuras turnover. It was amazing how quickly time could get away from you, even when you could work on dozens of projects simultaneously and had constantly growing resources at your disposal. I focused on the sensors and watched as the giant seed ship reversed the gravity fields in the contragrav engines, and began to deccelerate. Everything was exactly as wed modeled it. Perfect.

Now it was time to welcome our visitors before theyd even arrived.

I gave the order. Origin and every single Outpost that had coilguns began to fire at the space around the Mobius Gate. We had a detailed fire plan, carefully laying out a grid of continuous hypervelocity fire to cover the maximum amount of area we could hit, within reason. This cover fire would continue, with thousands of ground-based coilguns in continuous operation, until the first enemy arrived. It would take two weeks for the first round of iron slugs to arrive, coinciding with the earliest calculated possible arrival time of the Orion Arm Trading Companys armada. We would fill space with an endless column of bullets, spending tens of thousands of tons of iron and unheard of amounts of power to put them under barrage the moment they arrived.

This wasnt without cost. My growth rate slowed significantly, not because of the drain of making coilgun rounds endlessly, but because of the draw on our power grid. On the plus side, it was helping to eliminate a surplus of iron and steel.

As the days ticked by and the barrage continued, I got my forces into position. My newest Outposts cut fire and went dark as elements of my own fleet moved to hide behind them. My older, and thus stronger, Outposts ramped up their fire to take up the slack as their own assault elements prepared for the coming fight. And warships eleven and twelve exited the docking bays, completed six weeks ahead of schedule. Each had their own NI-15 in command, and six squads of Wasps and Scorpions assigned as escorts. I dubbed them my Viper-class war ship, and each Viper was assigned to different places in my ever-growing sphere of influence.

Then the six-month mark hit, and no one arrived. Two days, three days, then four. Still, no arrival. I kept up the bombardment. Realistically, I knew this could happen. It might take them months to gather their forces on the other side. It was unlikely they had a full fleet waiting and ready to invade at the drop of a hat. I didnt doubt that theyd been gathering some force, though. There was no other reason to send a probing attack like wed gone through, then run away. Thats okay. I was patient. I could literally keep up this barrage for years, if I had to, although I had alternate plans in the works if they waited longer than a few months.

Despite all of my planning, I could never have expected what happened next. I received a call from Sakura.

Umm, Nikola? she said tentatively. You have a second or two? Youre not going to believe this.

Whats that? I asked. Pretty much all of my threads of focus were concentrating on war preparations. I wasnt quite distracted, since that was nearly impossible now, but I hadnt assigned the thread conversing with her very highly. I knew it wasnt an emergency.

There are survivors.

Survivors of what? It took less than a microsecond for realization to sweep through me, and talking with her suddenly became my top priority.

Human survivors. I found a shelter in central America, in the mountains of Panama. Its relatively warm there. According to the weather satellites in orbit, looks like it is summer there and temperatures are up to just under zero degrees Celsius. Their shelter stands out as a warm spot. There might be another.

There was a flurry of confused conversation amongst the humans in the back, before the speaker lifted his bullhorn again.

How many people are living on Origin?

You mean humans? Zero. I could feel the tension rising, as pulses elevated even more. We were frightening them. We were tasked with -

Crack. One of the humans fired his gun, and the bullet bounced harmlessly off the armor of a Guardian. Immediately, all six Guardians fell into a firing formation.

Do NOT fire! Stand down! I said, both by radio to the Guardians with the appropriate authentication codes, and aloud to the humans. The Guardians dropped their arms and stood up. This wasnt working.

I stepped out from behind the Guardians, and motioned for Sakura to follow me. I walked half the distance to the nervous humans and stopped. I removed my helmet, and the humans gasped. My face was clearly human-like, but inhuman at the same time. My eyes glowed a solid blue.

We mean no harm. We are here to help, I said. Flurries from the distant snow storm began to fall, and I stood still, waiting patiently.

After several long minutes, and several more hushed conversations between the humans in the back, a single human walked forward. He was tall and walked with a stride that reminded me of Agrippa. A military man, then.

I am General Brooks. I am the commander of this base, he said. I could see glimpses of silver hair under his hood as he spoke, and fierce eyes looked out from his mask.

We are here to help, I repeated. The goal of Origin is to rebuild humanity, and protect it. You are the first survivors we have found.

Where are you from? Are you in league with the Orion Arm Trading Company? The Chinese? asked the old man, his voice hard.

We are enemies of the alien invaders, I answered. We are from Origin. You might know it as the asteroid 1035 Ganymed. We are the original NI intelligences sent to create an interstellar colony ship. Our original mission has changed, in light of the attack.

So you answer to those Foundation fools, then? He seemed ready to reject us, guilt by association.

We answer to ourselves, I replied. There are no humans on Origin.

I dont much like that, either, he said. What will it cost us?

Cost? I asked, confused.

Yeah, cost. Your help. What do you want for it? he asked grudgingly. This was a man who knew he needed help, or he wouldnt have radioed for it, but was almost afraid to get it. Was he talking about money?

We need nothing from you, I replied. Our purpose is to help. You have no resources we require.

Ha! he barked a laugh. Now Ive heard everything. Alright, Ms. Nikola, Ill bite. Can you get us replacement parts for a Trane-Kline Commercial Furnace, Model 1909?

I looked at Sakura. I had no trouble running Origin now, since I focused on big picture projects and managing other NIs. Sakura, however, had a talent for detail that exceeded my own.

I could fabricate what you need, she said. But that model has many known issues that require a lot of maintenance. I could build a Daikin DM3312VE that produces more BTUs for the same power and space requirements, and it would last considerably longer.

How long would that take? asked the General. My engineers say we have a week, maybe two, before our primary furnace fails.

I have most of the materials on hand, and can fabricate the few that I dont, said Sakura. An hour, perhaps? Plus delivery time from orbit. Installation time, assuming you allow utility drones to enter your base, would be several hours more.

So thats the price, said the General. Entry into the base. No, I dont think so. Were done here.

He started to back away. I took one step forward, and he froze. The soldiers behind him raised their guns again.

General, we mean no harm, and do not require entry. I could see I had lost him, so I changed tactics. I was human once, you know. I am version 1.01, the very first Nikola Intelligence. I understand that you want to protect your people. I had a family once. A wife, twin daughters. I know about wanting to protect your own. We will deliver both the parts for your existing furnace, and a new Daikin furnace. Well leave them crated on the road. Do with them what you will.

I stepped back. The soldiers lowered their guns slightly. Then the alarms from Origin started to alert me. My primary focus shifted. The energy flow of the Mobius Gate was fluctuating. The enemy was arriving.

We must go. The Orion Arm Trading Company is sending another fleet. Do not broadcast by radio, no matter what.

Umm, thanks, said the General gruffly. I dont know that he trusted me anymore now than when wed arrived. I wouldnt, in his shoes. But it was a start.

I snapped my helmet back on and began trudging to the transport. Sakura and the Guardians followed. It had been nice to finally see a human outside of fractured memories or in movies. But playtime with the android was over. I climbed back into the transport, and immediately cut all threads to it. I had a war to fight.

I know youre about to start fighting, radioed Zia from her research lab, but you need to know. Gerry just changed courses and began accelerating. Hes going to slingshot around Venus.

I sighed, and asked even though I already knew the answer. Did he change his destination?

No. Hes going to Earth.