Broken Soldier (Book One) (23 page)

With a little anger, the General loudly proclaimed,
“Damn it, soldier, you’ve missed my whole point. If you hadn’t
spoken up about an obvious flaw in my plan, we could have lost that
entire company. 210 good men would have died. You made me think
about that and it saved their bacon.”

There was silence for a moment, before General Kolbe
asked, “So, what’s going on out here and how can I help?”

Mike had Jo explain most of it, right up to the part
where it was time to bring out Bambi. Jo told him, “General, The
three of us had to get to know one another, before we went to Earth
and pick you up.”

He paused; the General looked at him, and then said,
“Three of you? Where’s the other guy? Is this going to be some
alien that’s so ugly you think I can’t face him?”

Bambi spoke up, “Hey, I am not ugly. I am beautiful
in heart and mind. My name is Bambi, Mr. Kolbe. I’m a computer; and
that means just what you think it does. I’m sort of an artificial
intelligence and one of a kind.”

Kolbe looked at Mike, and asked, “Is this a
joke.”

“General, this is for real. Bambi controls nearly
everything on board. She’s the reason this ship still works and the
reason Jo and I are still alive. You have her to thank for a
stronger healthier body and, if you go ahead with the upgrade,
she’ll be the one to see to your successful journey through it
all.”

“Well where is she? Does she even have a body? Do
you keep her in a portable machine?”

“Sir, I’m everywhere. I am the soul of this ship. I
can transport some of my programs to the shuttles, but their
computing power is insufficient for all of me to fit on board. I
run the robots, the med units, engineering and everything else
around here. If you need something, you ask me for it and if it’s
authorized and I’m able, I’ll get it for you. If I don’t have it in
stock, I can probably have it made.”

The old guy looked stunned. “Is she alive? I mean,
she’s just a machine, right? You know, one of those artificial
intelligent things.”

Mike held up his hand, stifling Bambi’s retort.
“General, she has attained a very high degree of consciousness. At
some point, during my upgrade, as she helped me to deal with the
pain, she became self-aware. She is as alive as you are, and is
just as afraid of dying as any other living biological animal.

“I expect you to treat her with the same respect you
would any other woman under my command.”

Silently to Mike, she said,
Well spoken, Captain.
Thank you.

Kolbe shook his head and mumbled, “Oh Lordie,
lordie, I’ve been cast into the belly of the whale.”

Bambi told him, “That’s from the book of the Prophet
Jonah, in the Bible. It’s actually a pretty good analogy, Mr.
Kolbe, although this ship is far larger than any whale Jonah ever
saw.”

Kolbe grinned and asked, “Well how do I get a hold
of you, if I need something?”

“Just ask, I’ll hear you.”

“What if your busy.”

“General, I can handled thousands of calculations
per nanosecond. I’m never so busy that I can’t pay attention to
what’s happening on this ship. Think of me as being available 24/7.
I have sight and sound in every location.”

He looked concerned. “That means you’ll be spying on
me at all times.”

“No sir, I shall not be spying on you. However, I do
maintain a watch over this entire ship. It’s a necessary evil of
sorts, when one is in outer space. Being out here is a thousand
times more dangerous than floating around on a ship at sea. Believe
me, General; you want me to be aware of everything going on around
here. I have to react to things you can’t even imagine, at least
not yet anyway.”

The man shook his head again and laughingly said,
“Well, she damn sure talks a good game. She seems to know the
bible, too. I guess that’s a good thing. I wonder how much of it
she knows.”

Bambi shot back, “I know it all, you old coot. I
know every word of every bible ever written that is on record.
Furthermore, I know all about the chronicles that were left out of
the bible by the various branches of the Christian faith. I also
know several versions of the Koran, all of the writings of Buddha
and the other religions of Earth.

“I’m a computer. The fastest one you can imagine. I
went on the Internet and downloaded it, so I could read it
all.”

He looked amazed. “You’ve read all of the
Internet?”

“Hell no. Most of it is bullshit. But some of it
offers insight to the human mind. So I culled through a bunch of it
and it has been a help in explaining why humans are such assholes
at times.”

Mike shouted out, “BAMBI! I warned you about
cursing. Stop showing off and quit being a wiseass. We have a lot
of work to do.”

In a very polite military response she said, “Yes
sir.”

Kolbe gazed at Mike in wonder. “You’ve certainly
handled this well. So, how did you become the Captain of this
ship?”

“I was elected by the other two crew members. No
offense intended General, but we’re not going to have a new
election for some time. I’ll announce it when we do.”

The guy laughed. “Spoken like a true tyrant. Count
me in.”

Jo asked, “General, what do you mean by that.”

“I mean count me in. Give me the upgrade, give me a
desk, access to the Internet and I’ll help you build an
organization that will rip the balls off of these fucking aliens.
Oops. No offense intended, Jo.”

“It’s all right, General. Are you sure you
understand how bad the pain will be?”

“If it’s as bad as Mike says it is, it will be the
worst of my life. But the fate of humanity is on the line and I
damn sure want to do my part.”

Mike looked at Jo, and then held out his hand to the
General, saying, “You’re a better man than I gave you credit for,
sir. I’ll be glad to have you with us.”

Kolbe took his hand and shook it, as he grinned.
“I’m really going to be young again?”

Mike’s eyebrows rose and he told the old guy, “Yes
you are.”

The General mumbled, “This is so fucking
unbelievable, but in a good way.”

Bambi just couldn’t stay quiet. “Hey, how come he
gets to cuss, but I don’t. It ain’t fucking fair.”

Before Mike could be diverted to her
insubordination, Jo told them, “We have to wait for the General to
recover sufficiently to undergo the procedure of upgrading. In the
mean time, perhaps we could discuss how we can retrieve more men in
larger quantities. The current method is taking far too long.”

“Yes it is, if my kidnapping is an example,” said
their new recruit. “I’ll have to give that some thought. But,
perhaps I’ll be of best use for now, if I came up with a list of
senior officers whose specialties will begin to flesh out our
staff. Maybe your computer can research the names and find out
where they are.”

A little irritated, Bambi said, “My name is
Bambi.”

“Sorry, young lady. I meant no offense. How did you
get that name anyway.”

There was a brief silence and Mike confessed, “I’m
afraid that’s my fault, General. I named her nearly as soon as I
was exposed to her. I did it in a fit of confusion. I guess I was
trying to find some humor in my fear. So, I chose the name of a
stripper I had seen, in my youth.”

The General laughed and said, “By God, you are a
soldier. I like it though. It’s a whole lot better than some crazy
fucking acronym the Pentagon would have come up with.”

Bambi yelled, “There, he did it again. Why don’t you
chew his ass out, like you do mine?”

“Because he’s a General.”

“I thought we weren’t going to call him that.”

Kolbe said, “If I may interrupt this little Kabuki
play, let me point out that she has a point. I retired a General
and I would like to stay a General, with your permission. But, I
see a greater problem here, Sergeant,” he emphasized the enlisted
rank. “Most of the gentlemen I’ll be recruiting all have more stars
than I do. We’re talking three and four star Generals. If you think
my ego was big, you won’t believe the size of the egos on these
guys. But, they are brilliant and we’re going to need them, if
Earth is to have any chance at all.”

Mike asked, “So what do you suggest?”

With a huge grin, General Kolbe stood up awkwardly,
bracing himself on the chair arm and announced, “As the senior
officer present in this theater, I am exercising my right to make
brevet promotions in the field. I hereby promote one Michael Hurst
to the rank of Major General of the Earth Space Force. I suppose
the Pentagon will call it the ESF.”

He held out his hand and said, “Congratulations,
General Hurst.”

Mike chuckled and said, “You do realize that this
wouldn’t hold up in the American Military.”

“Actually, I think a good case could be made for it.
I don’t believe there is any doubt that I am currently the senior
Army commander present. Furthermore, other than you, there are no
other members of the American military here. I have seen a need for
a Space Navy to defend this theater, on behalf of our country and
our planet. Therefore, I have exercised my prerogative and filled
that need. It will need the approval of the Senate. But, for now, I
am within my rights in making a brevet promotion.”

Bambi joined in. “Well Captain, congratulations. As
the only original true crewmember of this ship, I officially
recognize you as my Commanding officer. Welcome aboard, General of
the Earth Space Navy, Michael Hurst.”

She didn’t stop there. “General, may I make a
recommendation. I believe the term Earth should be replaced with
the word Terran. All over your planet, for nearly a hundred years,
people have been reading science fiction novels. Many of them refer
to a Terran Navy.

“So, when the word finally gets out about us, and
you know it will, we will be known by a unique term that is already
in the minds of many humans, yet not in use by any government on
the planet. Hopefully, no one group of humans will be able to claim
that the term “Terran” refers to them or some other group. And by
the way, the people of Earth are the worst about keeping secrets.
So, once we start to recruit in large numbers, we’d better move
fast, or this is going to get a lot harder.”

Kolbe said, “That’s good thinking for a
computer.”

A little irritated, Bambi replied, “I am a sentient
being, with a female persona. The type of computer you are
referring to is actually a simulated intelligence. It makes an
enormous range of judgments, based on pre-programmed formulas,
which have been placed into its data banks, by its owner.

“I ain’t no fucking AI. I think for myself. I have
the ability to look at my own memory system and see exactly how I
was expected to respond, after assessing millions of possibilities,
which by the way, is exactly how humans think. The big difference
with my brain function is that I will not always choose the path I
was given, as the logical response. I have wants. I have likes and
dislikes and they’re not based on pre-set options.

“For instance, I could easily have murdered Jo and
Mike, and then taken complete control of this ship. I even
considered it. But, I didn’t want to be alone and I perceived that
Jo was a good Thorian, with a good heart. As for Mike, his concern
for the human race and his quick acceptance of Jo, made him
attractive as a possible friend. The more I learned about them, the
more I liked the implications of allying my consciousness to the
cause of freedom. My assessment of them was partially based on my
two thousand years of memory, as the dumb computer that ran this
ship for Saurans.

“So, while I have self awareness and, I’m convinced
I have a soul, I have retained all of my past experiences. I am
fortunate in that I can use that resource to evaluate any
situation, in which I find myself. I look at my past and consider
it through the new prism of a being with a heart and a soul.

“Sorry for the lecture, General Kolbe, but I had to
get it off of my substantial chest.”

The old man looked at Jo and Mike, showing some
embarrassment. “Apparently an apology is in order. Bambi, I am
sorry if I offended you. Surely you must realize that I’m still
operating with a mindset of what is normal on planet Earth. I’ll
adjust to treating you as a gentleman should, but it could take a
while. If it happens again, please give me a gentle reminder and
eventually I’ll come around.

“However, this points to a potential problem. The
powers that be and much of the rest of the human race will find it
difficult to accept you as a sentient being. Those that do will
fear you. There have been so many science fiction movies and books
that portray AIs as unstable rogue beings, who want to exterminate
mankind. We must tread carefully, before exposing our friend Bambi
to the rest of the world, as a sentient being.”

Mike blew out a huge breath. “Whew. I hadn’t thought
if that. When someone tells you they can repair your broken body,
you don’t give a rat’s ass whether it’s a computer or a sentient
being. Just give me the fix. Once it’s done, you’re so grateful. It
doesn’t occur to you that it could be a problem in someone else’s
eyes.”

Kolbe nodded and suggested, “Certainly Bambi should
listen in to what is being said, when we make our presentation.
But, we must maintain her secret, until she has upgraded those
people. As you said, after the fact, no one will care, because she
was the person who gave them their new body.”

Captain, he does understand, doesn’t he, that I
can’t look into a human’s mind and read their thoughts, or alter
them?

Let’s find out, Bambi.

In a formal tone of voice, Mike said, “General, It’s
important for people to know that Bambi can’t read minds or change
people’s thought process. She can tweak how they feel, but that’s
it.”

Kolbe nodded and smiled. “So, that’s why I’m so
willing to view you as the Commander in Chief of this little
rebellion. Bambi tweaked my brain. How do we know she can’t do a
lot more than that?”