AMP Armageddon (10 page)

After fifteen minutes of drifting back and forth, we decided it was time to give the portal a try.

I stood behind the doctor as he slowly drifted towards the portal opening. "Looking good, Doc. Top and side alignments are excellent. Just don’t make any sudden moves, and we will be right through."

When the doctor had cleared the portal, I powered through behind him.

I spoke. "Well, Doc, how does it feel?"

Touchstone replied, "How does what feel?"

I laughed. "How does it feel to have traveled about 420 million light-years in an instant?"

Touchstone smiled. "Feels just like another day at the office, Mr. Grange. This is about as sciencey as it gets!"

I shook my head. "I hear you, Doc. Now let’s get down to some sciencey business. I need you to figure out how the controls in this room work. We can’t screw with this portal, or we may end up stuck here, which would not be good for either one of us. So, whatever you do, try to keep it to a minimum. If you can figure it out, I can try it out in another portal building."

Touchstone spoke. "Exactly what are you wanting to accomplish, Mr. Grange?"

I replied, "I want to open a portal like this one, to the coordinates of a nearby star system. If I can make it there, I can possibly bring a few of those bots back through for us to make use of. If we can get them, we can build suits, weapons, and ships. Enough to outfit both Grids, which is more than enough to take control of this complex."

Touchstone nodded as he began to inspect the first of many control panels. "Sounds like a worthwhile goal, Mr. Grange. Let me see what I can do."

I moved over to the dial that controlled the portal’s size. "This one makes it bigger; that’s all I know."

The doctor analyzed panel after panel, keeping verbal notes in the suit’s audio logging system. After two hours of peering and poking, he stepped back with his big bubble arms placed on his big bubble hips.

The doctor spoke. "I think I have an idea of how this set of controls operates, Mr. Grange. This panel to the left controls the distance the portal will extend to. This lower panel in front of me has a three-dimensional coordinate system that seems fairly straightforward to control. And this panel, the one you are familiar with, controls the portal aperture. A fourth panel over here to the right is the portal initiator."

I replied, "So, tell me what to do, Doc. Where would I start?"

Touchstone moved in front of the initiator panel. "You power up the portal here. You move over here and enter the desired coordinates. The portal depth then has to be established so that adequate power can be fed forward, and finally, on the panel you are familiar with, use that dial to adjust the aperture. It’s not a complicated system."

I replied as I shook my head and smiled, "Thanks for making me feel like an idiot, Doc. Now, you are going to stay here while I move over to the next portal building. I’ll be asking questions; you provide answers."

Touchstone held up his thumb.

Three minutes later, I was powering through the adjacent portal building’s walls and settling on the floor of the control room.

I stood in front of the initiator panel. "OK, looks like this one is already running, Doc. Hang on while I scan where it is pointing to."

I continued, "Looks like free space. This one won’t be missed if we tinker with it."

I moved to the coordinate panel. "I’m transferring the coordinates in our language, Doc. Tell me what to set in front of me to give us the equivalent."

Touchstone replied, "Set the slider on the left to twelve, the second slider to one hundred eighteen, the third to one hundred sixty-five, leave the fourth and fifth at zero."

I pulled my hand back. "Do I zero them if they aren’t already there?"

Touchstone replied, "My apologies, Mr. Grange. The answer to your question would be yes, zero them. Once you have completed that, set the four dials, going from top to bottom, to eight, forty-four, fifty-one, and nine. When you have them set, read the settings on the sliders and the four dials back to me, please."

When the task was complete, I moved to the depth control.

Touchstone continued, "Set the dial to one-five-three-six, that’s one thousand five hundred thirty-six. When you are done, you may adjust the aperture."

I dialed the aperture wide and performed the scan. "OK, wow, Doc, you are good. Looks like we are parked a few thousand meters above the planet’s surface. Give me a minute to perform a deep scan, and I can tell you for sure if we are at the right place!"

When the deep scan was complete, I spoke. "We are there, Doc! The bots are about 150 kilometers from my position. I’m going to try to bring one back."

Touchstone replied, "Mr. Grange, can you give me the exact coordinates of where the bots are?"

I passed the data over the comm. "I’m guessing you can move the portal closer? Will we have to shut it down?"

Touchstone ran a few calculations on the computer in his maintenance suit. "No, Mr. Grange, we should be able to move the portal while it is open. Go back to the coordinates panel and set the following: set the second slider to 122 and the third to 174. That should place you within a kilometer of where you want. The three knobs at the top of the panel are for fine-tuning that position, but I don’t think their adjustment is necessary in this case."

After setting the sliders, I performed another scan. "Four hundred meters, Doc. Very nice!"

I moved the fine-tuning knobs and rescanned the portal several times. "Fine-tuning works great too, Doc. I have the portal sitting about twenty meters from the closest bot. I am ordering it through now."

Once the bot was standing on the deck before me, I looked around the room. The single doorway into the building was sealed.

I spoke. "I have a new problem, Doc. I don’t have a way to get this bot over to your portal. This building is sealed, and I don’t want to start blasting, as that would only bring unwanted attention."

Touchstone replied, "There is no need for you to do so, Mr. Grange. I will pass you the exact coordinates for our portal. You can move yours to the same position."

In under a minute, I had the first bot transferred to the Grid. The excitement was building as I thought of what we would be able to build with an army of the bots doing the work for us. They were relentless; they didn’t get sick or tired or complain. It was a perfect workforce for any repetitive task. The next several hours were spent transferring a replicator and several dozen more bots.

I returned the portal to its original location and powered back over to Touchstone. "OK, Doc, I think we have enough. I don’t want to stay here too long. I left a single bot over there in standby. If needed, we can signal it with directions."

Touchstone replied, "Why don’t we leave it with instructions? Continue the transfers; I’m sure we could use more of the bots."

I sighed. "I think we are good with what we have, Doc. Bots can build bots. What I should have done was left orders for the bots that are still on that planet. They could be building us warships or something. In fact, let’s get you through this portal, and I will then go back and give them orders."

Twenty minutes later, I came back through the portal to the Grid. "Colonel, it’s time we made us a few more of these BGS suits. I have the template loaded in the replicator, and these bots should have no problem constructing them, but they will need raw materials. That will be where we come in. Take the manifests they supply and keep them fed with what they need."

I assisted several techs who were assigned the task of overseeing the bots. It wasn’t long before progress was being made on the BGS suits. Within an hour, we had teams of runners organized whose mission it was to gather the needed materials for construction. We anticipated the first BGS suit to be ready before the end of the day.

I spoke. "Colonel, I would ask that you round up Sergeant Diane York and Sergeant... wow, I’ve been fighting beside her for years, and I don’t even know her first name! Last name is Frost."

The Colonel laughed. "We all know who Frost is, Mr. Grange. I will have those two ladies meet you in the conference room if you like."

I replied, "I like, Colonel. The three of us are going to go investigate that complex. I want to know if the Duke is connected to that control room again."

When I walked into the conference room, York and Frost were waiting.

Frost smiled and spoke. "Hey, Yorkie, I know this guy! He was the one I told you was groping me in the hall the other day!"

I replied, "Hello, Sergeants. I don’t know if the Colonel told you anything or not, but I have a mission I am planning for us."

Frost spoke. "Will there be more groping, Sir?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Sorry, Frost, won’t be time for any groping on this mission. We will be leaving this station and possibly facing an army of a million android fighters. How does that sound?"

York nodded. "I like the sound of that, Mr. Grange. When do we go?"

I laughed. "Glad to see you have the same old spirit, York. We have a couple of these BGS suits under construction. As soon as they are done, we will be doing a little training here, followed by more training off station. We will try to stay away from the androids at least until the two of you are fully up to speed with using these suits."

York sighed. "There’s always a catch. Sorry, Sir. I’ve just been feeling a little caged in lately."

I smiled. "That’s what makes you special, York. If something is wrong, you want to get out there and fix it. That drive is one of the things that make you such a good fighter."

York replied, "Well, thanks for the compliment, Sir. I’m not sure where you got your information, but I will do my best to live up to that reputation."

I laughed. "Miss York, Diane, I know you don’t remember, but we have been fighting side by side for the last couple of years. When you go on a rampage, there is just no stopping you until the job is done. And Frost, it’s the same with you. My knowledge of what you both can do is firsthand. Now, before you both get big heads, let’s turn our attention to the touch-wall over here. We’ll be looking at the Duke’s complex and doing some initial strategy planning."

Frost raised her hand. "The Duke, Sir? Who’s that?"

I turned off the touch-wall and sat at the table with my two new recruits. For several hours, I told the story of our immediate past and how we had come to be in the galaxy we now occupied. When I moved back over to the touch-wall, I had their full attention.

I spoke as I pulled up images of the complex. "This place is immense. It’s a brown dwarf star, wrapped with this structure that is a kilometer thick. The structure has twenty billion of these power converter/portal building pairs and a fortified control complex at the very top and another at the bottom. The complex at the top is where all the action is.

"The top fortification has an outer wall made up of layers of Tantric armor and an inner wall that is much the same. Between the walls is a ten-kilometer expanse where the million android soldiers reside. Inside the inner wall is the Duke’s control room.

"When I last left, before going back for the bots, the Duke’s men were taking control of the complex again. I don’t know if the control room has been rebuilt yet or not. That is one of the things we are going to find out. If it has, and if the Duke is present, it will be our mission to destroy them both."

Frost raised her hand. "When do we get started, Sir? I’m with York; let’s get this mission started."

I replied, "As soon as the Colonel gives word about the BGS suits, we’ll get started. York, how are those prosthetics holding up?"

York responded, "As good as my old legs, Sir."

I replied, "Yeah, any issues? Power packs holding up?"

York stood and put one foot up on the chair in front of her. "Power runs down a little quicker on this leg than the other. I don’t know, maybe I have been favoring it."

I pointed at her leg. "When the bots are done with those suits, I have a power pack upgrade for you. It should last you for eighty years under a heavy load."

York replied, "I probably don’t have eighty years left in me, Mr. Grange, but it would be nice to drop the monthly top-off charges."

I laughed. "York, once we get you in a BGS and once we get all your power packs updated, you are going to go crazy with all the time you have available. You will even need less sleep. I know I don’t make it sound all that appealing, but your productivity, if you stay busy, will go way up."

Frost spoke. "What can we expect from these suits, Mr. Grange?"

I sat in a chair and crossed my arms. "What you can expect is probably more than you ever dreamed of. Walking through walls, taking a direct ion blaster bolt, physically staying fit without ever working out—all those things are just sitting there waiting for you once that suit is on. No more eating, no more going to the can, no more showers—"

York raised her hand. "What you said about the can, Sir. Is that what I think you said?"

I nodded. "It is. It’s a disgusting thought at first, just going in your suit, but after the first couple of times, you really don’t think about it. You will occasionally get a hankering for the taste of a juicy Borak steak, though. There is nothing to stop you from eating it. It’s just not quite as good as you remember when you aren’t hungry. Takes a good bit of the satisfied feeling out of it.

"So, here is a rundown of your weapons. On this hand we have your standard blaster. It can be commanded by finger impulse, audio command, eye command, or thought command. For thought, you need to have an implant like this one in my neck. During combat, I have had trouble focusing when trying to use the eye commands for firing; it takes too much effort. And the thought command, while awesome to trigger any number of events, takes too much of your conscious thought to fire repeatedly. When in battle, you will often be blasting away constantly.

"On the left hand we have the coil gun. It fires a tiny tungsten round at about half the speed of light. It will yield significant physical damage to an object that has ion shielding. There are some suit armors out there that will stop it, but the impact and proceeding concussion can do nasty things to a person.

"The third weapon is in the end of the right glove. It doubles as your propulsion system. Tiny black holes will pull you in the direction you aim your fist. Those same black holes will cut through whatever they come in contact with. And when I say
whatever
, I mean everything.

"Now, there is one more thing that can be used as a weapon, and that is the BGS suit itself. When it is fully activated, everything that you come in contact with will be absorbed into the active skin and held there while you are occupying the same space as whatever you contacted. If you blink in, which is to deactivate the suit, the matter that overlapped with your suit just goes away; it disappears, we don’t know where to, but it is gone. By blinking in and then back out again, you can effectively make whatever you are in contact with disappear. It’s powerful stuff."

York spoke. "So, what’s to stop someone who is wearing this suit, Sir?"

I pointed at York. "Excellent question! This power cell on the belt provides power to the suit. The sodium skin that covers this suit requires power to function. If a strong enough force or energy impacts this suit, the ability of the sodium to absorb whatever that is can be overwhelmed. Overload the skin and you lose it. You then take the full impact of the excess force or energy."

Several hours of discussion had passed when a lieutenant brought in two BGS suits.

I spoke as I stood. "You ladies go put those on. Come back here when you are done, and we will bring them online for you."

I walked to Alpha Bay to check on the progress of the bots. Two new replicators and three new BGS suits were under construction. I stopped one of the bots and fed it the template for the cesium power cells I had in my prosthetics. After several minutes of calculations, the bot returned an estimated time to complete the first cell of four hours.

I turned to the Colonel. "I think we need a change of plans here, Colonel. I need six of those power cells as soon as possible. We should scrap the suits and replicators until we have those power cells. I will also need a bot to manufacture the bio-gel we need for the suits. York and Frost are going to be very unhappy until we can fill those suits and bring them fully online."

The Colonel replied, "You are the man with the knowledge, Mr. Grange. If you see a need for something, then just speak up, and I will try to make it happen."

I nodded. "Thanks, Colonel. After we three are set, I would suggest building more bots. I will leave the templates that I have for constructing suits, ships, and weapons. I would suggest an ore harvester as a first ship so that you can have a steady stream of raw materials coming in. I’m sure what we have here on the station is limited."

The Colonel replied, "We have numerous ore bins on the station, but I can see those being emptied out quickly if we start building ships. An early harvester or two would be a good investment."

Once the new power cells and bio-gel were ready, I met with York and Frost. "York, replace your power cells with these. Frost, that would only be the main cell on your belt. When you have those changed out, we can pump in the bio-gel."

Frost replied, "I can’t say that I’m loving this suit, Sir."

I laughed. "That is the same reaction you had last time, Frost. Once we get the bio-gel in there, it will be a different world for you. Right along the kind of feeling you seem to like."

Frost winced. "OK, I’m not sure what to make of that, Mr. Grange, so I guess I’ll have to take your word for it."

Several minutes later, a corporal wheeled in a cart with a hand pump and two ten-litre containers of bio-gel.

I spoke. "OK, ladies, let’s get you lubed up! Frost, you’re the complainer, so let’s go."

The first pump of gel brought a squeal. "Yikes, Sir! That is cold!"

I laughed. "Yeah, it usually comes in at body temperature. You are just going to have to tough it out, Frost. It takes less than a litre once it settles out. We have to overfill and then back out a little once the suit starts circulating it. Once it’s heated up, you are going to like it."

As the gel warmed and the suit began to make use of it, I could see the expression on Frost’s face change. Her scowl turned to a tepid nod and finally to an all-out smile. When the gel was in a completely fluid state, I let the suit pump out the excess into an empty container.

I then turned to York. "This will be cold at first; just give it a minute to warm."

York smiled. "Not an issue, Sir. I’ve had worse done to me."

I laughed. "Yeah, I guess getting your arms and legs cut off in battle can be a little traumatic as compared to this."

York replied, "My arms and legs what?"

I grinned. "I was there when you got both arms and then both legs shot off by Dakar laser fire. You were pissed that it took you out of the fight."

Frost spoke. "That sounds like her, all right. If you chopped off her head, it would just make her mad."

I continued, "Anyway, we took you back through a portal and got you some prosthetics. We upgraded those prosthetics when newer, more powerful models came out."

York replied, "What were the upgrades, Sir?"

I pulled the injector tube out of the pump and laid the open end in the flushing container. "More power, better shielding and armor, and a new balancing algorithm that allows you to train them faster. Hold on, and we’ll have a look at what you have."

When the excess gel had been removed, I reached down and found the nodule on York’s leg. After a preset number of presses, the leg detached from her torso. Bio-gel spilled out onto the floor.

I spoke. "Aw, crap. Sorry, I forgot about that. Until we take that suit fully active, it doesn’t fully seal."

I carried the leg over to the touch-wall, grabbed a universal cable, and plugged the ends into the leg and the touch-wall. Two screens later, I had the leg parameters on display.

I depressed several touch-wall buttons. "Hmm. It looks like someone did a detune on this leg. With the current setup, you aren’t much better than standard."

I grabbed another cable and plugged it into a small socket on my leg and again into the wall. "Let’s move over these updates and do a quick reboot. OK, I think we have it. Take off your other leg and hand it to me. Frost, give her a hand."

Fifteen minutes later, York had been updated with the latest controller codes.

Frost spoke. "What about me, Sir?"

I laughed. "Sorry, I’m not touching your legs, Frost. Yours are natural, and I know what you are up to."

York turned with a smile. "I think that proves that he does know us, Frost. Those gears in your filthy little mind are always turning."

Frost replied, "Hey, a girl’s gotta try!"

After a quick cleanup of the spilled bio-gel, I set York’s suit to full activation. "Now, understand this, Sergeant. I just ramped up the power delivery on those arms and legs. You are going to want to move real slow until your brain has been trained to react to the impulses coming back from those prosthetic interfaces. Maybe we can get lucky and your brain will remember, since you had those settings before, but I would just be careful for a bit."

York slowly stood and walked around the room. "I think I have it, Sir. It feels pretty natural."

I pushed one of the metal chairs over to her position. "Take the top of that chair in your hand and crush it."

York reached down and squeezed with her left hand. The thin metal of the chair back twisted and then snapped.

Frost spoke. "Whoa! Maybe I should have those, Sir."

I replied, "We tried to get you to swap out, but you didn’t want any part of it. ‘Natural or nothing’ was along the lines of what you said at one point."

Frost nodded. "That does sound like me."