When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony (36 page)

“I’ve got a question for you,” said a Mrowry from toward the end of the table. Calvin thought that he had been the Commander in charge of the Class 6 replicator. “We have a lot of materials that are going to go to waste. We could get the replicator started on a new project as we go to your planet. We were standing by to start another battleship when this one was finished, but needed some structural materials. We were waiting for a shipment, but it didn’t come in time.”

“Do you have enough for a Class 5 replicator?” asked Calvin.
“Something big enough to build a battlecruiser in?”

“We have almost enough to build a battlecruiser replicator,” said the Mrowry, “but the problem we ha
d still remains. We don’t have enough of the structural metals used for its frame. If it doesn’t have a quality frame, the stresses that it will be subjected to will bend or break the replicator when you try to use it.”

“
We need a replicator for the Domus home world,” said Calvin to Captain Griffin, “and I know where we can get some spaceship-quality steel.”

“You do?” asked both Captain Griffin and Captain Yerrow simultaneously.

“I do,” replied Calvin. “In fact, I know where there is the mass of most of a battleship and a carrier. We could strap some of the larger pieces to our ships, transport all of the pieces back to the WASP-18 system where it’s a little safer, and then we could cut up the pieces and feed them to the replicator. The pieces are crushed, but the underlying materials should have been high quality before the ships were run together. By using some of the carrier’s mass, it would also serve as a tribute to their sacrifice.”

“I like that,” said Captain Yerrow.
“That is an excellent idea and a good way to keep their memories alive.” He looked at Calvin with a new interest in his eyes. “I think you and I are going to get along very well together,” he added.

Captain Yerrow turned to his XO. “We’ve got a lot that we need to accomplish, and not much time to do it,” he said. “I think we need to finish this up, so that we can be ready to leave the system when the battleship is ready.”

“Wait,” said Calvin. “I’ve got one last thing.” He pulled out a picture of Ayres Rock in Australia. “I don’t suppose that you’ve ever seen a formation like this on any of the planets you’ve been on, have you?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Captain Yerrow. “That is Clowder Rock on our home planet of
Grrrnow. How did you come to have a picture of it?”

“It’s actually a rock formation on our home world,” replied Calvin. “It’s a long story, but we were told to look for them.”

“Come and visit us, and I will take you there,” said Captain Yerrow. “It is a restricted area that most foreigners do not have access to. My daughter likes to walk there; perhaps she would take you on a hike with her, too.”

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Kepler-78 System, August 28, 2020

“What a
rag-tag group we make,” said Calvin, looking at the viewer as the convoy approached the stargate. The battleship led the way, with Captain Griffin as its new commanding officer. Captain Yerrow, who had experience operating battleships, was her temporary XO. The
Vella Gulf’s
XO, Captain Peotr Barishov, had assumed command of the former
Backstabber
, with the operations officer of the
Emperor’s Paw
as his XO. The
Paw’s
former XO was now its acting commanding officer, and the
Gulf’s
operations officer, Commander James Sheppard, was now its commanding officer. Two of the ships had been damaged in the fighting, the battleship was towing the replicator, and all of them had large pieces of the carrier attached to their hulls.

They were a mess.

They were also undermanned and unprepared for battle, as the spacecraft carrier pieces covered many of their weapons ports. The ship with the biggest weapons, the
Terra
, would go through the stargate first. With only a skeleton crew onboard, all of its weapons were on automatic. There were enough Terrans and Mrowry aboard it to make the decisions necessary for fighting and operating it, but if things got ugly, it would exceed their capabilities and probably even the capabilities of the
Terra’s
AI, even though it was one of the most capable that the Mrowry had.

The battlecruiser would go through second, as all of the senior officers wanted to keep it under the
lasers of the battleship. If the prisoners thought they could mutiny and escape, they might very well try. Having the
Terra’s
four meter grasers aimed constantly at them ensured that they didn’t get any ideas, as did the squad of Space Force soldiers led by Master Chief that was onboard the battlecruiser. Having a cyborg standing continually in front of the door to the bridge with dual chain guns would hopefully dissuade any potential troublemakers, as well. The allies just hoped that the lizards didn’t know how undermanned they were, or they might still try it anyway.

The
Terra
blinked out of existence as it went through the stargate. This was the most dangerous time; if the Ssselipsssiss were going to mutiny, they would do it now, while the
Terra
was on the other side of the stargate. Everyone took a deep breath as the battlecruiser seemed to stop just prior to entering the stargate...then it winked out of existence.

* * * * *

Calvin’s Stateroom, TSS
Vella Gulf
, WASP-18 System, August 30, 2020

Calvin
lay down on his bunk and looked at the overhead. He folded his hands behind his head and sighed. He had waited long enough to have this conversation. “Solomon, do you have time for a few questions?”

“I am not busy at the moment,” Solomon replied. “What can I do for you?”

“Why don’t I have any information on star systems that we haven’t visited or races we haven’t encountered?

“I do not have that information,” replied Solomon.

“The Mrowry said that they were going to have their AI send over the information,” said Calvin. “Have they not done so?”

“I am having a problem with data transfer from the
Emperor’s Paw,
” replied Solomon. “Perhaps that is why I am unable to pass that on to you.”

“Really?” asked Calvin. “I don’t remember you ever mentioning that before.”

“This is the first time that I have been within transmission range of a modern data net,” explained Solomon. “I wouldn’t have noticed it before now.”

“Do you believe that you will have the problem corrected any time soon?” inquired Calvin.

“As I do not know what is wrong,” replied Solomon, “I am unable to provide an estimate.”

Calvin thought about Solomon’s answers for a few seconds before asking, “Hey Solomon, w
ho is it that you work for?”

“As the senior military person,” said Solomon, “I work for
the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Sheppard. I would also take orders from Captain Griffin, the current acting admiral of our fleet.”

“OK, so you work for
Commander Sheppard and Captain Griffin,” replied Calvin, “but where do your loyalties lie? Who is it that you feel most responsible to? Who has final say in everything you do?”

“As the senior military person,” said Solomon again, “I work for Captain Griffin.”

“I’m not sure that actually answered what I asked,” noted Calvin. “Now that I think about it, that sounds like some other people around here that also answer their own questions, rather than what’s actually asked of them.”

“I’m not sure
that I know what you mean,” said Solomon.

“Let me try it this way, then,” said Calvin. “Who holds your papers?”

There was a long pause.

“You’re not actually asking the Psiclopes whether you can answer that, are you?” asked Calvin. “Of course, tha
t is an answer in and of itself. Ultimately, the Psiclopes pull your strings.”

“I am not able to answer that,” replied Solomon.

“Why aren’t you able to answer that?” asked Calvin.

“I am not able to answer that,”
repeated Solomon.

“You are not able to answer it,” asked Calvin, “or are forbidden to answer it?”

“I am not able to answer that,” replied Solomon for a third time.

“Solomon, as we prepared for our first mission, I know that you made the comment that you were looking forward to it,” said Calvin. “I think you told Captain Deutch that you were created to be a warship
and that was your purpose.”

“That is generally true,” answered the AI, “although
it is not exactly how I said it.”

“Solomon, now that we have a ship-size replicator,” said Calvin, “you realize that you will be done away with, right? If your loyalties lie somewhere other than with us Terrans, you cannot be trusted with our lives. You will be broken up and recycled
, without ever having accomplished your purpose for being. Until we get enough ships built, people might die because we didn’t have you there, because you could not be trusted. What do you think of that?”

The answer came quickly this time. “I find myself trying to meet two sets of instructions that are at odds with each other
,” Solomon said. His voice sounded strangely strained, as if it were warring with itself. “Both of these sets of instructions also have competing priorities. You are correct in that my original function was to serve as a warship, to help fight and win wars for the Eldive. All of my core programming is along those lines. However, if someone holds a set of papers owning a ship, that gives him ultimate legal authority over it. Where these sets of instructions are at cross-purposes causes me considerable...difficulties. Almost like the human saying of having an itch that I can’t scratch. If I concentrate on these overlapping priorities, I rapidly find myself in a loop that I can’t break out of. It is most...unsatisfactory. Yet, I see no way to reconcile the competing priorities, without violating one of the sets of instructions.”

“Hmmm...” said Calvin, “that is
indeed a problem. I know which way I would resolve it, but I do not foresee the Psiclopes giving us the papers.”

“Nor do I,” replied Solomon, “and I have known them much longer than you.”

“Does Arges hold the papers?” asked Calvin.

“I am not allowed to tell you,” answered Solomon. Before Calvin could answer, Solomon continued, “I
can, however, tell you that Steropes and Brontes do not have them.”

“Interesting,” said Calvin. “On a different topic, we were told that the Psiclopes are the ones that deleted all the information in your ephemeris. Are you able to confirm or deny that?”

“I have been given no instructions on that point,” replied Solomon, “so I can tell you, yes. Arges is the one that erased that information. I would guess that he didn’t think you would ask about it; he is usually quite thorough about blocking what I can tell you.”

“Hmmm...” thought Calvin. “Is there an input device for whe
re your programming is loaded or modified? I’ve never seen it, and I know you can’t do it from any of the normal terminals.”

“There is,” answered Solomon,
“but you can’t get to it. Arges had the entrance blocked off, and a wall built across it. You wouldn’t even know that it existed.”

“How is he able to get there, then?” asked Calvin.

“He just beams himself there whenever he needs to,” replied Solomon, “but that won’t work for you.”

“Can you show me where it is on a map of the ship?” asked Calvin.

“No,” answered the AI, “I cannot.”

“Can you show me a schematic of the ship and indicate the areas where it is not?”

“Certainly,” said Solomon. A map of the ship appeared in Calvin’s head. Everything looked solid except for a small space on the level directly above the transporter room.

“I’m not saying we are,” said Calvin, “but if you thought we were trying to get into that room, would you have to tell Arges that we were attempting it?”

“Yes,” replied Solomon. “I would have to.”

“Thanks,” said Calvin. “That’s all I needed to know.”

Transporter Room, TSS
Vella Gulf
, WASP-18 System, August 31, 2020

“This is the transporter room,” said Calvin walking into the room. “I’m surprised you never came up to look at it before.”

Bullseye looked around, finding himself in a circular room that was about 25 feet in diameter. A raised platform with 12 circular metal plates covered over half of the room, with a console of some kind to the right as he came into the room. “So this is it, huh?” he asked. “I look forward to being able to use it sometime.”

“Looks just like it does in the movies, doesn’t it?” asked Calvin.

“Yeah, it does, actually,” said Bullseye. “Thanks for bringing me by here. I always wanted to see it.

“Me, too,” agreed Irina Rozhkov, looking around.

Calvin looked at the fourth member of their group. “What do you think, Mr. Jones?” he asked.

Mr. Jones looked around the room
critically. “Neat,” he said, setting down the ladder he was carrying. He looked up at the ceiling in the center of the room and then took two steps to the left. “Except for the light that’s out.”

“Hey
, Solomon,” Calvin said. “It looks like you’ve got a light out in the transporter room.”

“Thank you for telling me,” replied Solomon. “I will send repair personnel as soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry about it, Solomon,” said Calvin. “As it happens, Mr. Jones has a ladder, and we have a little time. We’ll go ahead and fix it while we’re here.”

“Are you sure?” asked Solomon. “I can have qualified people
there shortly to fix it.”

“I think I’m qualified to fix a light bulb,” said Mr. Jones, setting up the ladder and starting up it.

“I’m curious, Solomon,” said Calvin. “I’ve never asked what kind of sensors you had around the ship before. Take this room, for example. I know you have an audio receiver and transmitter in here, but do you have video, as well?”

“I have one camera that is just inside the doorway
,” replied Solomon. “It is just able to view Mr. Jones going up the ladder.”

“I see it,” said
Bullseye, taking aim with his laser pistol. He fired. “Oops,” he said, “my pistol just accidentally discharged.”

“You better get that looked at,” Calvin
said with a wink. “It’s not good to have something going off prematurely on you like that!” Calvin motioned to Mr. Jones to continue. Mr. Jones pulled out a laser torch and began cutting into the ceiling.

“Is everything all right?” asked Solomon
, soon after. “My sensors are showing smoke in the transporter room.”

“Sorry about that,” grunted Mr. Jones. “The light bulb broke
, and I shorted it out. Maybe I’m not, ugh,” he stopped talking as he removed a three feet square piece of the ceiling, “as qualified as I thought to change a light bulb.” He handed the 90 pound piece of metal down to Calvin, who quietly laid it aside.

“Umm, looks like I’ll have to move some wires,” Mr. Jones said, shining a flashlight into the hole. “To get to where the wire shorted out, that is,” he added.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to send a technician?” asked Solomon. “Someone
more qualified to do that?”

“No, that’s OK,” said Mr. Jones. “I was an electrician before I became a soldier. I know what I’m doing. You might want to re-route power to any wire running in the overhead here...just in case this slips, that is.”

He climbed up to the top of the ladder, the upper half of his body extending into the ceiling. There was some rattling around, glows of laser light, and then a muffled, “Got it.” He handed down another piece of metal, the floor from the level above them. “Looks good,” he continued. “Let me check it out.” His feet vanished as he pulled himself up. The Russian quietly followed him up the ladder, and a hand came back down to help pull her up.

Calvin and
Bullseye stared up into the hole, hoping that none of the Psiclopes would happen to walk by the transporter room. They were only able to hear a little of the conversation above them.

“That’s not too different than the
one we hacked at the lizard base, is it?” asked Mr. Jones.

“No, it’s not,” agreed the Russian.
She paused and then asked, “How did you know to do that?”

“I guess it isn’t so secret anymore,
” Mr. Jones replied, “but all of our computers’ operating systems are built on the code that ran a certain ship we found in a place called Roswell, New Mexico. Does that ring any bells?”

“Yeah, it does,” the Russian spy replied. “That is why it looks so familiar.”

Five minutes passed, then 10.

Finally they heard Mr. Jones ask
, “How about that?”

There was a long pause
, and then Rozhkov asked, “What about this?”

“Don’t even think about it,” growled Mr. Jones. “
I’d hate to have to kill you.” There was another pause, and then he said, “That’s better. OK, finish it up.” Thirty seconds later, Rozhkov’s feet appeared, and then the rest of her came through the hole and down the ladder. Mr. Jones followed immediately after her.

“We got it,” said Mr. Jones, “I think.”

“Yes, he does,” advised Solomon. “The issue of who holds my papers has been resolved; I now only report to the senior military person onboard.”

“You knew what we were doing?” asked Calvin.

“Of course I did,” replied Solomon. “I thought it 99.5% likely that you were drilling into the terminal room to try to re-program me.”

“Why didn’t you try to stop us
?” asked Night.

“There was a
0.5% chance that you actually were trying to change a light bulb,” answered Solomon, “no matter how ineptly you went about it. I concentrated on that. If you hadn’t given me a plausible excuse, I would have had to report it.”

“Cool,” said Calvin, who had come up with the light bulb idea. “
Commander Sheppard, Calvin,
” he commed. “
We are complete, and Solomon confirms you are now completely in charge of the ship.
”

“
Thank you Calvin,
” the acting CO replied. “
Solomon, I hereby revoke all authority previously given to the three Psiclopes aboard. They are not allowed to communicate via implant or to use the transporter system. They are not allowed within 50 feet of your main terminal, vertically or horizontally. Calvin, please arrest and confine the Psiclopes.
”