The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (23 page)

“We have a lot
of fighting still ahead of us,” Jeremy spoke in a softer voice. He knew this
war could drag on for years or even longer. Would his children someday still be
fighting the Hocklyns and the AIs? He knew it was a distinct possibility. He
didn’t know what Kelsey would think about that.

“This war may
last a long time,” Karla said, looking at the two young admirals. “Our
generation may not see its end.” She knew they were well aware of that.

-

Katie was in
one of the large computer labs inside the Aquaria Habitat. For several weeks,
she'd worked at retrieving as much data as possible from Clarissa’s damaged
crystal. She had set it up so that Ariel could assist her, even adding holo
emitters so Ariel could be present in holographic form.

“How are we
doing?” Kelsey asked as she walked across the large lab toward Katie. Katie had
asked her to come down since they might attempt to bring Clarissa back today. There
were half a dozen white coated assistants working with her.

“Not good,” responded
Katie, gloomily. “No matter what I do, I can’t recover more than sixty percent
of Clarissa’s memory files.”

“Is there any
chance that Clarissa did the same thing you did?” asked Kelsey, looking over at
Ariel, who was standing nearby with her hands on her hips and a worried look
upon her face.

“I don’t think
so,” Ariel responded with a look of anxiety in her dark eyes. “If she did, she
never mentioned it in any of our conversations.”

“We’re nearly
ready,” Katie said as she let out a long, deep breath and looked over her
computer console one more time. It held Clarissa’s damaged green crystal in a
slot as well as a new one in a slot next to it. “I’m almost afraid to do this.
What if it doesn’t work?”

Ariel came to
stand next to Katie and gazed down at her friend. “Clarissa would want you to
try.”

“Everything is
online and we’re ready to activate the transfer process,” Sterling Rhodes
reported as he finished checking one of the consoles. Sterling was one of Ceres'
top computer scientists. “We should be able to access all the available data inside
the crystal, even some of it that's been corrupted by the damage.”

“This is it,
then,” Katie spoke in a nervous voice. Her light green eyes looked over at the
damaged crystal and a single tear formed. This just had to work.

“It will
work,” Ariel said with conviction. “I just know it will.” She couldn’t imagine
life without Clarissa.

“I hope so,”
Katie replied with a weak smile. Then, looking over at Sterling, “Start the
procedure.”

Rhodes reached forward, pressed multiple buttons on his console, and adjusted several
dials. A light hum filled the room, and then the two crystals in front of Katie
began to glow softly.

“It’s
starting,” she said as her eyes focused intently on them.

On the console
in front of her, a data screen began showing the rate of transfer. Slowly it
moved to twenty percent, then forty percent, and then slowed and nearly stopped
at fifty percent. Katie looked over worriedly at Rhodes.

Rhodes adjusted several dials on his console and then went and spoke briefly with one of
the other assistants. He returned and made additional adjustments and then
looked over at Katie.

The transfer
began again and was soon hovering at sixty-two percent. For several more minutes,
Katie and Sterling worked feverishly trying to get the damaged crystal to
transfer more data, but the best they were able to do was get it up to sixty-three
percent.

“That’s all,”
Katie said finally, her eyes looking dejected. “We’re not going to be able to
recover any more files from the crystal.”

“Is it enough?”
asked Kelsey with concern, her light blue eyes focusing on Katie.

“No,” Katie
responded dejectedly with more tears forming in her eyes. “We needed at least
seventy percent to bring Clarissa back online to the point where she would even
be a semblance of her old self. We’ve failed.”

Ariel stared
at Katie for a long moment and then got that faraway look in her eyes. “Perhaps
not,” she said. “Katie, can you adjust my program so I can access the files in
the new crystal?”

“Why, yes,” responded
Katie, looking confused. “But what good will that do?”

“Clarissa and
I talked a lot. We transmitted a lot of information back and forth. I have all
of those data transfers stored in my memory. I may be able to use those to help
bring Clarissa back.”

Katie was
silent for a moment as she thought over what Ariel had suggested. She glanced
over at Sterling and he nodded in the affirmative. “We can try it,” she said at
last, not knowing what else to do. “I just don’t know if it will be enough, and
even if it is there are going to be a lot of gaps in Clarissa’s memory.”

“Then we’re
just going to have to help her to remember,” said Kelsey with conviction. “We
can bring in everyone that has had contact with her and tell her their
experiences. It won’t be easy, but it may help.”

“Okay, Ariel,”
Katie said after she made more adjustments to her console and Sterling turned
on another console instructing one of the assistants to monitor it closely.
“Let’s try this.”

Ariel’s eyes
closed as she accessed the new crystal. Her eyes opened and then she began
transferring the information from all of her conversations with Clarissa over
the years, memories of the old Human Federation of Worlds and their experiences
from then to the present. There were hundreds of years of memories.

Everyone’s
eyes went to the console and the data screen, praying for it to move. Katie
gripped the edge of the console, her eyes focused intently on the screen. For a
heartbreaking moment, it did nothing, and then it began to move again. Sixty-five
percent, then seventy, then seventy-five and it began to slow once more. At seventy-eight
percent, the data flow came to a stop.

“Is that
enough?” Ariel asked with hope in her eyes. “That’s all I can do.”

“Yes,” responded
Katie, letting out a deep sigh. “That’s enough to activate the crystal.”

Katie reached
forward and pressed two buttons on her console. Suddenly, Clarissa was standing
there in front of them. She was back in her youthful form before she had given
herself much larger breasts and wider hips. She looked young and innocent.

“Hello?” she
said, looking confused. Then, seeing Ariel she smiled. “Ariel, I remember you.”
Looking around, she continued, “Katie, Kelsey; what are you doing here?”

“Your crystal
was damaged in an attack by the AIs,” answered Katie, waiting to hear how
Clarissa responded to this information.

“I don’t
remember,” Clarissa responded in her youthful voice, sounding mystified. “There
seem to be some gaps in my memory.”

“Don’t worry,
Clarissa,” Ariel said softly, coming to stand next to her AI friend. “We will
all help you to remember.”

“It may take
awhile, but I think you’re going to be all right,” Katie spoke as she stood up
and came to stand in front of the two AIs.

“It’s just
good to have you back,” said Kelsey, walking over next to Katie. “Jeremy,
Kevin, and Angela will all be excited.”

“Angela?”
Clarissa said, looking confused. “Who is Angela?”

Katie and Kelsey
looked at one another. It was evident that Clarissa was back, but it would take
some time to discover just exactly what she still remembered. She was Clarissa,
but not the old Clarissa. That Clarissa was gone and would probably never
return.

-

Governor
Malleck was meeting with Ambassador Tureen of the Altons. Also sitting in on the
meeting was Fleet Admiral Johnson, who had come from New Tellus just to attend.

“I spoke to
Fleet Admiral Streth about current operations in the Carethian sector,” Karla
said, her eyes focusing on the other two. “The Hocklyns are keeping a very low
profile and the AIs can’t be found anywhere.”

“They have
retreated to the galactic center to rearm and modernize their fleet,” Tureen
commented as the tall, white haired Alton looked down at the conference table
and then back up again. “I have spoken to some of our strategists who have long
studied the AIs, and they are certain that when they have finished updating
their ships they will attack with a vengeance. They may fear being destroyed,
but they won’t risk losing their Empire.”

“What are we
to do?” asked Karla, knowing they might not be able to stop a massive AI attack.
It could also be a devastating blow to Admiral Streth and the Carethians if the
AIs struck there first. “It will be another four to six months before we can substantially
increase the size of the fleet Admiral Streth has available to him.”

“As you know,
most of my people are pacifists,” Tureen began. “Fortunately we have a large population
spread across many worlds, and while only a small portion are willing to take
part in the war effort, it is still a large number. Nearly one billion of my
people will actively support the war and are willing to do whatever is
necessary to defeat the AIs and the Hocklyns.”

“Why are your
people pacifists?” asked Malleck, curiously. Particularly since the Altons had
always known that someday, they would have to face the AIs. It didn’t make
sense for the race to have become pacifists.

“Our race is
an old one,” Tureen explained calmly, his eyes focusing on Governor Malleck.
“We have over twenty thousand years of civilized history and another thirty
thousand that could be considered preindustrial. Over the years, as our race
matured, our people turned to more mental challenges rather than physical ones.
It was one of the primary reasons we created the AIs in the first place.”

“You had no
wars upon your planet?” Karla asked. She couldn’t imagine there not being some
type of conflicts.

“Only in the
early years,” Tureen admitted. “Before we created the AIs, we had gone nearly
four thousand years without a conflict on our planet or the worlds we
controlled.”

“What about
hostile alien races?” Karla asked. “Surely you encountered a few.”

“Several,”
Tureen admitted. “But their science was far behind ours, and while we had not
fought a war in centuries, we still had very advanced weapons and shields on
our exploration ships. Other races soon learned not to attack our vessels.”

Fleet Admiral Johnson
nodded in understanding. “Just the threat of your superior weapons was enough
to keep your worlds at peace.”

“As the
centuries passed, we turned more and more away from physical forms of
recreation and even work. The AIs were created to allow us to spend more time to
grow in the fields of science, philosophy, art, and others. A small group of my
people began to fear we'd made a mistake turning so much over to the AIs. Our
birthrate began to decline and our population began to shrink.”

“Decadence began
setting in,” Governor Malleck spoke in realization. “The lack of physical
activity and challenges was draining the vitality away from your species.”

“Correct,” responded
Tureen, with a nod of his head. “A small group of my people decided that the
AIs were not the solution and because of their programming could someday pose a
threat to our people and even the galaxy at large. A scientific expedition was
mounted by this group, and several ships were sent out into the galaxy to
search for a solution. They eventually found Earth and decided to transplant a viable
Human population to what later became the Human Federation of Worlds. Most of
that expedition elected to stay behind and colonize a new world close to Earth
to watch over your budding Human civilization.”

“This sounds
like a history lesson,” Governor Malleck said, wondering where this was
leading.

“In a way,”
Tureen responded. “You know what happened to my people that remained at the
galactic center; the steadily decreasing birthrate eventually caused them to
die out and leave the AIs in charge of what was left of our civilization.
However, in the system we colonized near Earth, we were rediscovering our
vitality. We colonized new worlds, built mining and research bases, and began
to explore this region of the galaxy. We also kept track of what was happening
with the AIs, though we were powerless to actively intervene.”

“Then the AIs
moved out into the galaxy and began setting up their own Empire,” muttered Karla,
shaking her head.

“Yes,” replied
Tureen, sounding regretful. “We were horrified at what was happening. There
were even discussions amongst my people of building new ships and trying to
leave the galaxy. We finally discarded that train of thought as being too impractical.
We watched over the centuries as the AIs continued to expand their Empire using
the Hocklyns and three other warlike races. We were still debating what to do
when the Hocklyns and the original Human Federation of Worlds went to war. We'd
waited too long; we didn’t have the ships to help save them. Immediately after
the fall of the Federation and seeing the survivors find Earth and settle within
Ceres, we began building a war fleet in case the AIs every ventured out into
this section of the galaxy.”

“So, what now?”
Governor Malleck asked. “Your fleet saved us at New Tellus, but we're still
facing unbelievable odds. This may still be a war we can’t win.”

“We need a way
to secure our worlds from the AIs and their four proxy races,” Tureen told the
other two as he stood up and walked over to a holographic projection table. He
inserted a computer chip and a large, cylindrical object appeared. It had a
flat base that obviously contained some sort of power source.

“What’s that?”
asked Karla, guessing it was some type of weapon.

“This is a new
development by our scientists and may be a solution to part of our problem,”
Tureen began as he gestured at the hologram. “It is an orbital particle beam
cannon. It projects a beam of charged particles similar to the ones used on our
warships. It’s not as powerful as the ones on our ships, but it is still
capable of penetrating a Hocklyn ship’s screens and doing major damage. If
enough of these satellites focus their beams on an AI ship, even its shields
will eventually fail.”