"Sir, we've set up camp, and we're ready
to search for metal deposits," said Jones the
radio operator.
"Excellent," replied CO Wilson, " Tell
me when you find some heavy metal deposits.
They will help us speed our colony's
development. Soon we will be able to support
thousands of people here."
Wilson began to think to himself. His
people had finally begun to explore their
surrounding systems. This expedition
is their first venture into the Velha system, a
solar system only 3 light years away
from Tanasus, Wilson's people home planet.
Velha III was the only inhabitable planet
in the system, and it would make a great
colony when more colonists arrive. Velha
III is a planet similar to Earth, with various
ecosystems and climates.
"Sure, we've been in space before, even
to our moon, but this is our largest and
grandest endeavor into the unknown,"
Wilson thought. " After two thousand years of
waiting, we're finally exploring again."
After traveling 150 years to the outer
reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, Tanasus had
been found. It had been over 3500 years
since the people of Tanasus had arrived on
the planet. Earth was dying. The colonists
had left Earth just before the galactic
governing body known as the Core had
formed. They founders were looking for a
better way of life, and they found it
in Tanasus. In the early days, the people of
Tanasus had been struggling to survive,
but now their society has flourished into a
technological marvel.
"Sir?" Wilson's thoughts were interrupted
by Jones' voice, " I just found some heavy
metal deposits only a few kilometers
south of us. They will be easy to drill because
they are only a few meters below the
surface."
Wilson stopped thinking and responded,
" Very good private, I'll join you with the drill
team in a few minutes."
After 20 minutes of travel on the hot,
humid drill, Wilson was ready for a cold drink. It
was hot on the barren plain, but the
metals the colony's infrastructure would need
were located here. The drill team began
to set up a soil scanner so they could
accurately pinpoint the locations of
the heavy metal deposits.
"Colonel Wilson? I just found something
very odd in the ground 5 meters below us. It
is a heavily concentrated metal deposit,
but it looks like a large box!" Jones said with
curiosity.
"Well, let's dig up whatever this is.
I want Drill Team 1 on this odd deposit and Drill
Team 2 and 3 on the other deposits,"
barked Wilson to his men.
The heat began intensify when the gleaming
drill reflected the light off its surface.
What could be down there? The drill
got closer and closer to the this mysterious
thing. Four meters, three meters. Then
the drilling got tough. The drill was
encountering some sort of petrified
wood. The drilling went on though. Two meters,
one meter After an hour's worth of drilling,
the rectangle deposit could be seen with
the naked eye.
"What the Hell is that?" Jones yelled!
"I don't know," replied Wilson, " But
we'll find out."
The Dig Part II
Wilson pondered his next course of action
when he heard a rumbling sound from
above.
"Must be rain," Wilson thought. " Hey
guys, get that thing uncovered and get it back
to camp ASAP. We can figure out what
it is there."
On the way back to camp, Wilson began
to inspect this enormous thing. It looked
ancient, at least 2000 years old. On
closer inspection, the large box was 7 meters (21
feet) in length and 3 meters wide (9
feet). It was a dull gray color all over. Probably
from a lighting strike. For the short
time that Wilson had been on Velha III, lighting
storms seemed to be pretty common in
the barren desert areas. The box had distinct
upper and lower portions. It had a huge
char mark on the a small box like area
protruding from the center of the upper
portion, probably where the lighting struck.
The longer he started at the lower portion
of box, he could of sworn that it consisted
of two legs, bu they looked fused together
by the lighting strike.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Wilson was back at the base with Jones.
"Now we can finally figure out what this
thing is. Jones, go get our hardware expert,
and have him bring the scanner and a
plasma blowtorch," Wilson said.
Minutes later, Avery, the hardware specialist,
arrived on scene with the scanner and
blowtorch. He booted up the scanner,
and entered some commands into the It made
a whirring sound, a small arm extended
from the scanner's main body and placed
itself over top of the large object.
"The scanner is in place sir," Avery said to Wilson.
"Begin the scan, put the results on the main screen," replied Wilson.
The scanner acts kind of like an X-ray,
it allows the operator to see past the external
covering of most matter. A green light
began to pulse into large gray thing. It began to
scan the bottom. Wilson's earlier suspicions
were correct, the monitor showed what
looked like the infrastructure of a
pair of metal legs. It was the objects propulsion.
Unbelievable! This was some sort of
vehicle. Further scanning revealed a sort of
metal exo-skeleton. Then, something
even more interesting showed up on the
scanner. It appeared to be a foot! The
following scans showed a full bipedal skeleton.
It looked like it was wearing a jump
suit of some sorts, and it had a helmet on its
head. Even eerier, it appeared to be
human!
The Dig Part III
Inside the hanger where the vehicle is
housed.
The human-like organism was about 2
meters tall (6.5 feet). He was housed in the
small protruding box in the upper end
of the vehicle, which turned out to be the
c0ckpit. Metallurgical scans revealed
that the composition of the vehicle was similar
to that of one of Wilson's vehicles.
Plus there was a complex looking weapons'
system. These people were obviously
advanced.
"Lets open that vehicle up and figure
out what that is! Open up the c0ckpit," The
excited Wilson yelled.
Avery powered up the plasma torch and
began cutting into the pilot's area. When he
was finished, a medical officer pulled
out the corpse and took it to the medical ward
for examination.
"I'll give you the results of my test
as soon as I can Colonel Wilson," said Medical
Officer Walleck.
"What can you tell me about the c0ckpit Mr. Avery?" asked Wilson.
"Well, it seems to be pretty cozy in
the there, only enough room to stand, and the
helmet the corpse was wearing is actually
a neural helmet," Avery replied.
"Neural helmet Mr. Avery?" Wilson was puzzled.
"You see Colonel Wilson, a neural helmet
is a helmet that allows a person's brain to
directly control a device without needing
any appendages to physically operate it.
The helmet interprets the pilot's brain
waves and converts them into instructions that
the on-board computer can understand.
This can let the pilot move the machine as he
or she would move his or her legs, without
having to think about it. It is a really
exciting piece of hardware. Our historians
tell us this idea has been around since the
days before our Exodus from Earth.,
but we have never needed to use then because
we simply haven't needed to use them.
The helmet's only real practical use is for
military vehicles and , as you know,
we do not have or need a large military force."
"I see," Wilson looked a little less perplexed.
"The c0ckpit also contains a computer
that seems to be intact. We might be able to
boot it up, but we will only have access
to the memory systems. The sensors and
other systems can only be activated
by the neural helmet, which is damaged beyond
repair. I think they limited the control
to the neural helmet in order increase security.
Before we boot up the memory system,
I would like you to look at the weapons
system. The weapons are housed on each
side of the torso, which is located 2.5(8
feet) to 3.5(11 feet) meters below the
c0ckpit. It is very advanced compared to what I
have seen. It looks like and advanced
version of our EMG weaponry. I believe you
know what that is," Avery said to Wilson.
Wilson shook his head yes, but Jones
looked puzzled.
"What exactly is an EMG Mr. Avery?" Jones wanted to know.
"EMG stands for Energy Machine Gun. It
is like a machine gun that uses bullets, but it
fires a low powered energy beam a high
velocity. Is that right Avery?" Wilson said to
Jones.
"You are correct Colonel Wilson. Now
lets see if I can boot up the computer's memory
system, " Avery replied.
"Colonel Wilson? I've identified the
skeletal remains as a male human. It appears to
be 22 years old. From what I could tell
from looking at the skeletal remains, this
person was genetically altered in some
way. I think it was for the purpose of having
better control over that machine there.
" Medical Officer Walleck had returned with
the results.
"What the hell is happening here people.
This is very strange. I bet our ancestors on
Earth survived long after we made our
Exodus," Wilson was feeling a little worried
and intrigued about this.
"Sir I got the computer's memory system
online, it is being patched directly to our
main viewing screen. Maybe now we can
figure out what going on."
The screen said, " Welcome Dark Angel,
please enter system password."
The Dig Part IV
"Can we bypass that password Avery?" inquired Wilson.
"Yes, but it will be an hour or so."
"Make it happen then."
"Sir?" it was Medical Officer Walleck,
"I have also learned that the pilot died of
electrical shock. I guess lighting struck
his vehicle and then the excess electricity
overloaded his neural helmet. It basically
fried his brain Sir."
"Thank you Mr. Walleck. Keep me informed."
Wilson pondered his next move. "Should
I call high command on Tanasus or keep
quiet? If I tell them, they will send
a research team and take this marvelous find away
from us, but if I don't tell them just
yet, we can do our research and still keep the
vehicle. All this commotion is making
me tired, I'll go grab a quick nap."
Wilson went to his quarters and took
a nap. About an hour into his slumber, Jones
came and told him Avery had cracked
the password. Back to work.
"What's in the memory system Mr. Avery?"
"There seems to be three distinct sections:
The pilot's personal log, a history section
of his people, and the vehicle's specifications.
I found out that these sections can be
voice activated. I managed to hook up
some of our speakers into the CPU because
its speakers were damaged from a lightning
strike. Where do you want to go today
sir?" Avery questioned.
"Lets check out the History section.
I want to see what his people are like. Then I
want to figure out how he got here."
The screen came up.
"Computer, show us your History system. Start from the beginning of your file."
Words began to flash on the screen. They
flashed too fast to be read. Whoops,
someone forgot to set the screen scroll
speed.
"I guess our clone friend can read a
whole lot faster than us. Computer, start back at
the beginning of the file, set the scroll
speed to very slow," Avery had remedied the
problem.
Words began to scroll much more slowly. The words read:
"Before the galactic governing body known
as the Core came to rule the people of
our known galaxy, our race was in turmoil.
We were on the brink of dying, and the
Core brought peace and prosperity"
"Core?" Wilson was thinking aloud "Who the hell is the Core"
"Sir, if you keep reading, I'm sure we'll
find out who the Core is," remarked a certain
radio operator Jones.
"Oh, keep quiet, we're all trying to
read!" Wilson replied to Jones. He was a little
surprised at what Jones had said. He
read on.
The screen read:
"The Core was a governing body based
of science. The Core made life a virtual
paradise by developing cures for diseases,
ending hunger and poverty. The Core
was the best thing that ever happened
to the Human race. Until the development of
patterning."
"Patterning, this is getting very interesting,"
Wilson thought.
The Dig Part V
Wilson and the others looked on in amazement.
Others had heard about the
discovery of the vehicle and had come
to gaze at it in aw. Wilson continued to read
the material on the screen. He and the
others had just learned about how the Core
brought peace to humanity just after
his people had left the Earth forever. Then
patterning was mentioned.
The screen read:
"Patterning was developed 50 Earth years
after the Core came to rule the people of
the known galaxy. Patterning was developed
to help the sick and elderly live longer. It
involves the electronic duplication
of a person's brain matrices and allowed the
transfer of consciousness into a durable
machine. This meant an end to all death and
the Core saw this as the perfect way
to ensure there citizens' safety. The ordered all
citizens to be patterned. Many saw this
as an atrocity while others jumped on the
chance for immortality. This violated
about 60% of the galaxies religious views on life.
Pro and anti-pattern factions soon became
visible. Whole planets would submit or
resist the Core's decree, while even
more planets would be split down the middle.
Hundred's of billions resisted the Core's
rule from that point on, both sides would take
over military bases, industrial and
government complexes. The Core began to force
people on the divided worlds to be patterned
against their will. They cried out for help
to their comrades on the 100% anti-pattern
worlds. Galactic Civil War was inevitable.
Civilians began to flee to safer worlds
through the use of galactic gates. Galactic
gates allow for matter to be transported
anywhere instantly as long as there is a gate
at the receiving end.
"Fascinating, instantaneous matter transport!" Avery thought to himself.
Both sides began to develop their war
machines. The Core transferred the minds of
people directly into high-powered combat
machines. The anti-pattern forces called
themselves the Arm because they occupied
an arm of the galaxy. The Arm build
powerful war-machines for their human
Populus. They came to the help of their
brethren on the divided worlds. Armed
conflict broke out at a anti-pattern rally on the
occupied world of Mars when 5 protesters
were killed by riot control vehicles. Conflict
was disorganized and clumsy at first
since the military personal had become
splintered. Worlds were ravaged and
neither side was gaining ground. 200 years into
the conflict, even though there were
hundreds of billions of Arm soldiers, the Core
began to out produce the Arm. The Arm
turned to the cloning for help. Many people
opposed this, but realized that they
would lose their fight to exterminate the Core
atrocity. The Core transformed an unknown
world into its head-quarters. Where it is
or what is composed of is either unknown
or classified. Battles were fought at
Barathum, Earth, Mars,"
"Computer close this file," Wilson found
out all he had wanted to know about his great
ancestors, " Since we obviously know
this is a combat vehicle that was owned by a
ancient faction know as the Arm, I would
like to find out what type of vehicle this is."
Avery called up the next section.
The Dig Part VI
"Man, a galactic civil war, how horrible,"
Wilson was thinking aloud, "The Arm's part in
the war seems to be just, even though
the Core meant well for its citizens."
"Sir, the computer's memory system has
helped confirm that this vehicle is 2005 years
old. If the Core was formed shortly
after our people's Exodus, that would mean that
their galactic civil had been raging
for nearly 1500 years. I wonder who won?" Avery
said to his colleges.
"I hope the Core won. They were only
trying to help their people live longer. It was a
noble cause and the Arm insurgents were
overreacting. Do you guy think either side
still exists?" Jones replied to Avery.
"From what the vehicle's database has
revealed to us, the Core patterned some of its
citizens against their will. That doesn't
seem right to me. Any government that forces
its citizens to do things against their
wills or beliefs should be overthrown. On a side
note, reports of preliminary pattern
tests showed that the individual that was
patterned lost almost none of his or
her personality," Avery retorted.
Wilson asked,"Have you booted up the unit's specifications section yet Mr. Avery?"
"Not yet, give me a few minutes."
"Man, getting patterned sounds great!
Especially if you don't lose any of your
personality. It means immortality,"
It was Jones again.
"Well I personally hope we never run
into the Core. They could decimate our world as
they and the Arm helped decimate others.
I'm glad our people of Tanasus left the
strife of the Earth before the Core
was formed. Even though the made life paradise
for fifty years, the civil war they
helped start seems to far out way the good they had
done. Now I think I might me a little
less hostile towards the Arm since they are
human, even though I still do not condone
their use of cloning." Wilson preached to
his subordinates.
"Well I think that patterning is bad.
It would put me out of business!" Walleck had to
get his 2 cents in. Being a medical
officer was his life.
"Sir, the units specifications have come on-line," Avery said to Wilson.
"Okay, put it on the main screen. I want
anyone who has some extra time on there
hands to help us go over this vehicle
and find the parts that show up on the units
specifications." Wilson focused on the
screen.
The screen flashed up. It read:
Unit Allegiance: Arm
Unit codename: Peewee
Unit Type: Heavy Attack KBOT
Height: 21 feet
Width: 9.5 feet
Arms: Dual Electronic Machine Guns
Armor: Advanced Heavy Armor Generator
Top Speed: 21 m/s
Acceleration: 1.2 m/s
Some of the specifications showed on
the screen puzzled Wilson,"Mr. Avery? Can
you look up what KBOT and Advanced Heavy
Armor Generator are?"
Avery punched in a few commands and the results came up.
KBOT- Acronym for Kinetic Bio Organic
Technology, This is a class of war machines
that are noted for legs and that can
step over rough terrain, and often have a
human-like physical structure.
Heavy Armor Generator- Generators that
bind the armor of the unit into by artificially
strengthening and compressing matter
to make the whole of the outside of the vehicle
into a giant molecule. These generators
allow for maximum protection with minimal
amounts of armor. If the generators
are destroyed or damaged, they tend to
catastrophically fail, resulting in
the destruction of the unit. Heavy Armor Generators
have been used in all military vehicles
since its development
"Interesting, it sounds like the Arm was very advanced," Wilson remarked.
"Colonel Wilson, it seems that this section
also contains information on pilot protocol.
I'll bring it up," Avery said to the
colonel.
"Excellent, then we will check out the pilot's personal log if we can."
To be continued, comments are appreciated.
Part VII soon. I tried to put what I could
remember into them, but I think I forgot
to add something good. Please tell me what
you think
The Dig Part VII
This the newest part of my story. If
you don't now what side I'm writing about just ask
me. Enjoy!
Wilson's research team was making considerable
progress. They had already
identified the Peewee's propulsion system.
It used a fusion power plant to supply
energy to the systems legs. The fusion
plant was approximately one thousandth the
power of today's current fusion plants.
Too bad the plant was too damaged too work
properly. Lightning had destroyed many
of the Peewee's systems. Wilson was busy
looking at the Pilot Protocol section
which was located in the Unit Specifications
section. This section told of how pilots
were named.
The screen displayed the section:
Cloned pilots are given 2 names: and
official designation and a call sign.
The official designation included three
parts: The last name of the person that the
pilot was cloned after, the planet the
pilot was on, and the number of clones of the
original person that had been made on
that planet. This pilot's designation was:
Walker Velha III 976.
"That's weird, they call this planet the same thing we do, Velha III," Walleck remarked.
"That is weird, but not uncommon. They
probably used the same star charts our great
Exodus ancestors did when the left Earth,"
Wilson said.
The screen displayed the second part:
The pilot's second name was a more personal
name. A pilot was allowed to choose a
call sign to go by while he was on duty.
Pilot's were allowed access to many literary
works and names by which to choose.
This pilot choose the call sign Dark Angel.
"Ok, that explains why the computer asked
Dark Angel for the system password,"
Jones said aloud.
"See if you can boot up Dark Angel's
person log, I want to know what was happening
when he died," Wilson ordered.
Avery said,"It'll be a few minutes sir."
"Tell me when it is ready."
"Sir?" It was a private who was helping
with research on the Peewee, " Can we open
up the skylight above to get more light
in here? Even with flashlights it's kinda hard to
see inside the c0ckpit."
"Go ahead and open the skylight private."
"Colonel Wilson, I finally gained access
to the Pilot's log. I'll put it on the screen,"
Avery put Dark Angel's log on the screen.
"Thank you Mr. Avery, put Dark Angel's last entry onto the screen."
Dark Angel's last entry read:
" Private entry of pilot Dark Angel,
Walker Velha III 976:
The Core has stopped there planet-wide
advances on our bases. Both sides have
taken heavy losses. Man, I am happy
high command gave me command of a
Peewee. These things are GREAT. It has
kept me alive through many battles now. I
have a feeling that this will be a heavy
hitter for the Arm for many years to come. The
only thing the Core has been able to
counter with is a KBOT of similar size code
named the AK, but it cannot even rival
the Peewee's destructive capabilities. Oh yes,
where was I? High Command has ordered
a planet wide evacuation of Velha III
because the planet is becoming very
unstable. I believe that the Core is doing the
same. Man, 1500 years of war. I can't
believe it. Even sadder, our non-cloned
population has hit an all time low.
The only thing left of the Arm could be clones like
me, how sad. I am making my way back
to the our evacuation point so I can leave this
planet. Earthquakes and storms have
become more prevalent, it is not safe to be
here anymore. Our galactic gate has
been destroyed so be must evacuate using
spacecraft. On a brighter side, we blew
the Core's galactic gate too, hehe, they have
to evac using spacecraft too. Man looks
like a storm is about to set in. This can't be
good. I am passing through what looks
like a petrified forest. Oh sh1t, I've been hit by
lighting, I'm a giant lighting rod out
here. D@mn, and I was supposed to get a lighting
shield tomorrow too! If I take any more
hits, I'm a goner. D@mn, my propulsion's been
fried. I'm stuck here. My radio won't
reach High Command in this storm. One more hit
and I'm dead. (Loud crackle heard over
speakers). Noooooooooooo!"
"Turn this off, what a horrible way to
die. There must be wreckage of other units lying
around just like this one. I'm gonna
radio our command back on Tanasus. We need a
real research team up here now," hearing
that man's death was rather disturbing.
"Sir, I'm reading an unusual power spike
that appears to be coming from somewhere
in this lab area."
"Find out where its coming from Private Johnson." Wilson ordered.
"I just did, it is coming from the Peewee!"
"What!?!? How is that possible?" Wilson was very perplexed.
Avery ran over to the Peewee with a scanner.
The scanner picked up the energy
spikes too! It was coming from an internal
transmitter. It must have began powering
up when the skylight was opened and
began to shine sunlight on it. It was a
solar-powered backup transmitter!
"Colonel Wilson, The Peewee is transmitting
an encrypted code! What should we
do!" Avery asked.
"Shut it down, who knows who could hear
it.. Even though the Arm and the Core are
probably extinct, I don't want to risk
having anything happen. Most likely, nothing will
happen," Wilson responded.
"I got it turned off Sir," Avery responded.
"Good, I am going to radio High Command
at Tanasus now. Keep me informed."
Wilson left the lab.
The Dig Part VIII
Wilson activated the communication link
which allowed for real-time contact with High
Command on Tanasus. It allowed for instantaneous
with his Tanasus even though it
was just over three light-years away.
"High Command? This is Colonel Wilson,
the commanding officer on Velha III asking
for permission to talk to whoever is
in charge. My I.D. is 77479. Please confirm, over
and out."
A Few seconds went by while the operator confirmed Wilson identity.
"I.D. confirmed. What have you got for us Colonel Wilson? This is General Hayes."
"Well Sir, we have found an ancient vehicle
that seems to have come from our Earth
ancestors. It is a sort of battle vehicle
that used in a galactic civil war that erupted
over the development of a certain technology.
I think we should keep the contents of
the material I send you classified so
a civil war does not erupt too. I also suggest that
we do not try to develop the technology
I send you. I am also requesting that you
send a research team here to help my
group study this ancient vehicle. If a group
leaves next week it should be here in
3 standard weeks. I will send you all the
information I have collected now. Transmission
in progress."
"Your request on the research team has
been granted. I will review your other
requests at an appropriate time and
I will send you my decision. The research team
should arrive at Velha III in 4 standard
weeks then. Over and out," General Hayes
said.
"Thank you Sir, over and out," Wilson
replied.
Wilson was happy that the transmission
went so well. He went to go lay down and
think to himself.
His team continued to make progress
with their research but they could only go so far
with what they had. Time passed, the
colony's infrastructure continued to develop
and grow. A small city had developed.
Three weeks had passed.
"Sir, I've detected something in orbit.
I think its the research vessel," The Comm
officer said.
"It can't be, the research team isn't
supposed to be here in a week. Hail them," Wilson
ordered.
"No response sir. It looks like they
are going to land about three-hundred kilometers
from our location."
"Send out a scout team. Jones you will
operate the radio and surveillance
equipment," Wilson said.
"Understood," replied Jones.
Within an hour, the scouting party was
on its way. The video feed was coming
through and the radio was operating
normally.
"Sir, I can see the vessel. It is very
big. I can ..ee. so..th...moving ...ound" The static
was very bad. The video feed was also
getting choppy and static. The vessel must
be jamming the feed. But why? A minute
later all communication cut out.
"Jones, please repeat, please repeat!" Wilson yelled.
"Should we send another part to find them sir.?"
"Negative Corporal. I have a feeling they will be back."
The Dig Part XI
Ever since his men had found the 2000-year-old remains of the
Peewee, life had
become complicated. All he wanted to
do was to help his people colonize a new
planet. The disappearance of his scouting
party and one of his best men, Radio
Operator Jones, has caused him to make
some painful decisions.
"We're not going to look for them?!?!
Sir, isn't that unwise?" Wilson's number 2 man
Captain Ramirez asked in a look of confusion.
"I do not want to lose another scouting
party to whatever is out there. For all we
know, those people could be dead! I
do not want that to happen to anyone else,"
Wilson fired back.
"But those are our people out there?
How can we just abandon them? Its not right!"
Ramirez did not like the idea of having
his men disappear.
"It is not your place to tell or question
my orders. I just do not think it is prudent to risk
other people's life's rig."
"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but
I just picked up multiple land-bound contacts on
radar heading our way from the unknown
ships direction. Should we intercept them?"
Private Johnson asked.
"With what? You know well that we have
no military equipment here. This is a mission
of colonization and exploration, we
had no need for the use of military weapons. Lets
go see what it is at least." Wilson
replied.
Wilson and many others went to go see
what the radar contacts were. A large
metallic object could be seen just over
the horizon. It was at least 7 meters(21 feet)
tall! As it crossed over the hill, two
large metal legs could be seen.
"Must be a KBOT, like the Peewee," Wilson thought to himself.
The KBOT did not look like the Peewee
at all. It was moving around the same speed
the Peewee would have if it was in working
condition. This KBOT was slenderer than
the Peewee, and it was not as squatty.
Another KBOT of the same kind was trailing
the lead KBOT.
"What is that, trailing the second KBOT?
It's the scout party, but where is Jones?"
Wilson wondered to himself.
The lead KBOT approached within 200 meters
of Colonel Wilson and began to
speak!
"I am Diplomatic Specialist Whitaker 12 of the governing body known as the Core."
"The John Whitaker who helped negotiate
the Treaty of the Worlds? You were near
sixty when my people left Earth." Wilson
asked. Whitaker had helped negotiate a
temporary peace on Earth, but the peace
only lasted a year. Shortly after the
temporary peace Wilson people left Earth.
Fifty years later the Core had been
formed, and then patterning was developed
fifty years after that. That mean Whitaker
was about 150 years old at the time
patterning was developed! 150 years was fairly
old for humans of the pre-Core era.
"You are correct, I was near death when
patterning was developed. I am the 12th
copy of the original Whitaker. My diplomatic
skills help me earn eternal life with the
Core. I am in a support chassis known
as an AK. Our scout ship detected an
encrypted signal coming from this planet.
We thought it was from our nemesis known
as the Arm. We intercepted your scouting
party and realized that you were not of the
Arm. My pattern was then downloaded
into this AK so I could be meet you. We
offered your men immortality through
patterning. All but one refused to become
eternally young." The AK said.
"Who?" Wilson yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Me sir," it was Jones! He was the second AK.
"But, but why?" Wilson yelled out in a confused and somewhat surprised voice.
"This is my dream Sir. It is great. I
have all my emotions and even all my senses too.
This is wonderful!"
Jones exclaimed.
Diplomatic Specialist Whitaker spoke
up, " We have come to give your men back, and
I have a proposition to give you. We
will give you your men back. All of you now have
to choice to become immortal. We will
be back in a standard half hour to retrieve
anyone who wants to join us. Anyone
chooses not to join us will be exterminated and
your home planet of Tanasus will follow.
Radio Operator Jones information has been
very helpful. We have sent our High
Command information on your people, " The
Diplomatic AK began to leave and Jones
joined him.
"I don't and won't kill you Sir, but
others will. They have a hatred for anything
organic." Jones yelled as we crossed
the horizon.
"Well that wasn't very diplomatic," Ramirez commented.
"I assume that Jones is the only person
who wants to join the Core. Am I Right? From
what the AK said, it sound like the
Arm and Core's civil war is still raging. All you
would do is fight for eternity! Who
wants to do that?!?!" Wilson yelled to the colonists.
"We may have no weapons but we have
our pride and freedom. I do not want to see
those rights violated!"
A chorus of agreement went up throughout
the colony. No one else would join the
Core. A half our passed . . . A large
group of blips could be seen of radar. The large
group could be seen over the horizon.
Vehicles that resembled the KBOT's,
battle-tanks, and a large transport
appeared. About seven units could be seen. An AK
spoke up.
"It is I, Whitaker 12, what is your choice.
As you see, I am ready to either take you to a
life of immortality or death."
"I am sorry, but we decided to remain
human." Wilson responded. He continued to
speak but was interrupted.
The new comm. officer spoke up, " We have something important to tell you."
"What could be more important than being
killed my large war-machines?" Wilson
asked.
"Well, ... we just detected another ship
coming into orbit. It is not the research ship
either."
"What the hell, this is really bad timing." Wilson exclaimed.
Whitaker spoke up again, " I am sorry
that we will have to kill you. All combat units in
alpha squad charge weapons."
Loud humming sounds could be heard as the vehicles weapons powered up.
"Colonel Wilson, I am detecting a large power surge coming from the unknown ship."
Just as the comm. officer has said that,
a large blue streak ripped out of the clouds
and sliced the Diplomatic AK half. Seconds
later another streak followed, blowing one
the battle-tanks to Kingdom Come. All
of the Core units began to retreat away from
the settlement as if my subliminal command,
or by internal comm. units. One by one,
the Core units were picked off from
high above. Soon, none were left on radar.
"Sir the unknown ship is begging to descend.
I tried to hail them, but there is no
response." The Comm. Officer said to
Wilson.
The ship dropped down next to the compound.
It was a huge ship. A small platform
began to sink down from the ship. A
large door-like structure opened. A small man
appeared.
"Let me guess," Wilson yelled, " You are with the Arm."
The man shook his head "Yes."
Part 10
"Are you the person in charge here?" The man from the craft asked.
"Yes I am. I thank you many times over, but who are you and how did
you find us?" Wilson
asked.
"I am Walker Messiah 1265. We followed an extremely old encrypted signal
from a Peewee to
this planet. We detected a Core scout vessel in the system and began
to jam any transmission it
made. Our ship, the Messiah was looking for new planets to set up camp.
I would like to talk to
you in private please," Walker 1265 said.
"Is your ship named the Messiah, if it is , it's a very appropriate
name? You came in the nick of
time," Wilson said as he led Walker 1265 to his office.
"Walker, may I call you Walker? Wait a minute, you are the same Walker
we found in the
Peewee, but only older."
"You are correct on both parts, our ship is the Messiah and I am probably
the same clone that
you found on the Peewee. This person was found to be skilled in many
areas and agreed to be
cloned. He is a very common clone now."
We have the wreckage of one of your Heavy Attack Peewees here. We were
examining this
Peewees advanced technology when it began to transmit an encrypted
signal out into space,"
Wilson said.
"Peewee, a heavy hitter? That is a very funny notion. The Peewee has
only been to a scout for
the past 1500 years. Its time as a heavy attack KBOT was short lived,
but it has been around for
quit some time. The Core has begun to jam our transmissions and we
have been jamming theirs
for some time. This mean that only the victor will leave the planet
with knowledge of what
happens here."
"The victor, what are you talking about? Your planning to fight them?"
This was getting more
and more interesting all the time.
"Of course, we must keep the Core from over running this planet and
yours too. Will you help us
to fight our misguided and troubled enemy? You may refuse to fight
and we will battle the Core
on our own or You can join us and help us eliminate the Core from the
galaxy." Walker said.
"Whoa, wait a minute there Walker. I need some time to think this over." Wilson replied.
"It is your decision. Please inform me when you make your choice." Walker
started to walk back
to his ship.
Wilson walked back to his quarters.
"What am I to do? Who can I commit my people to a lifetime of war?"
Wilson though to himself.
"I don't know what to do. I cannot ask high command for a decision
because of the jammed
transmissions. I'll have to discuss this with my personnel."
Wilson always thought his people would be thrown into a galactic war
by an outside force. He
just never knew his own kind would be the cause. The colonel began
his walk to the conference
room.
The Dig, Part XI
Hours upon hours had been spent arguing over the fate of colony of Velha
III. Trying to escape
the planet would probably be impossible due to possible Core air or
land interception. The
colony could just sit by and watch the battle rage on, but they could
be destroyed like they
almost were hours ago. They could fight and maybe die, but at least
they would be defending
themselves. Finally, a decision had been reached. Walker 1265 came
to Wilson's office to
discuss the colonies's decision.
"Well Colonel Wilson, have you made a choice?" Walker asked.
"My people and I have, but you may not like what I have to tell you.
We also have a question to
ask you. Why don't you send the your ship back into orbit to blow up
the Core forces?" Wilson
asked.
"We cannot send the ship back up because it does not have enough power
to operate in orbit
right now. We drained the ships' power when we fired the energy weapons
that saved you from
destruction. You said you made you choice."
"Yes, we will fight, and we will help with your cause. Now here is the
part you may not want to
hear. If and when the Core are removed from this planet, we request
that you leave this Velha III
and never return, never involve this colony or my home planet, Tanasus
in your war. I hope that
you will agree to our requests." Wilson said to the clone.
"We will review your requests and get back to you in an hour or so.
In that time, you and
whoever is going to fight you should begin to learn to operate our
combat vehicles." Walker
replied.
Wilson suddenly had a worried look on his face. Walker sensed something
was wrong.
"Is there a problem Colonel?"
"Well," Wilson said, " Are we going to be cannon fodder for your war
machine? From what we
have learned in last few weeks, countless lives have been lost. In
the personal logs of the
Peewee we found, almost all the non-cloned population was wiped out.
That means hundreds of
billions on people died in less than 500 years of war. This is three-thousand
years later, maybe
trillions of minds have been obliterated on both sides. I do not wish
to be a small insignificant
casualty in a war that I never knew existed until three weeks ago.."
"You are a non-clone, are you not? You have skills and abilities that
clones have trouble honing.
You and your colonists will be given command of our most advanced machines.
Non-clones are
unheard of in our civilization now. Someday, someday clones will be
replaced with naturally born
people, but that day is far off." Walker sighed, " Death is a sad thing,
but it is inevitable in war.
Especially in a war of this scale. We will inform you of our answer
to your request." Walker
began to walk back to his ship.
"Colonel Wilson, will you have one your geological experts help us find
heavy-metal deposits?" It
was one of Walker 1265's lieutenants. This is one area where the Arm
gained an advantage.
Wilson's people had already located many of the heavy-metal deposits
in the surrounding area.
"Ok, I will have them report to you soon lieutenant." Wilson answered.
Another one of Walker's subordinates led Wilson and a group of his personnel
to the Arm's huge
ship. Large units could be seen scurrying about some were using cylinder
shaped rods that
sprayed a green mist over a bright skeleton looking frame. Captain
Avery, the hardware
specialist inquired to what was happening. The guide explained that
the units were called
Construction units. The rod-shapes cylinders were call nanolathes,
a device that uses micron
sized robots to build objects, to help set up a base. Each ship comes
with a standard compliment
of a few construction units that are used to help start bases.
"Very fascinating!" Avery said.
Wilson and his men looked on in awe. The ship was huge. Large containers
were visible in the
corner of a room in the ship. Avery instantly recognized them as matter
storage containers. They
were led to a large 13 (40 Feet) meter building inside of the ship.
"This," the guide explained, "Is what is known as an Advanced Kinetic
Bio Organic Technology
Lab, or Advanced KBOT Lab for short. This lab builds the advanced war
machines that you will
pilot. Three units have already been built for you. Our units a designed
on a hit and run theory.
We use fast maneuverable machines that can out preform the Core's heavy
siege units.
Unfortunately, the Core's units have extremely powerful armor generators.
That means their units
have very heavy armor and are therefor very durable."
"I would think that the Arm would want to have units with a high rate
of longevity. It takes a
considerable amount of resources to clone a person. It sounds like
the Core only needs copy
and download a pattern into the vehicle, then they're ready to fight.
A pattern would be more
expendable than a clone. The clones need be educated and I would think
you would want them
to stay alive for a maximum amount of time," Avery said.
The guide said nothing for a minute or two, " The two units located
here will be piloted by your
highest ranking officers. These two units are the most advanced KBOTs
that our side has
developed."
Colonel Wilson and Captain Ramirez looked at their new machines. The
units appeared to be
the same type. They both stood on four legs. This type if unit was
10(30 feet) meters tall ,7 (21
feet) meters long, and 7(21 feet) wide. This unit was truly massive.
It dwarfed the Peewee by all
comparisons. In some odd way though, it reminded Wilson and Ramirez
of a pet on Tanasus
called a canine, or dog.
The guide continued to speak, " This unit is called The Fido. It is
a heavy, but fast, and,
maneuverable war machine. It is armed with a gauss cannon that fires
Ferro-fibrous slugs a
supersonic speeds which are very powerful. The other unit we have sitting
on the floor is and
Advanced construction KBOT. It will be piloted by your medical officer."
"What?!?!" Walleck yelled.
"The medical officer's KBOT will be assigned to repair Colonel Wilson's
squad when it returns
from missions. He will also help us expand our base. His nurses and
sickbay assistants will be in
command of
Regular Construction KBOTs which are also assigned to preform the same
functions as The
Med. Officer has."
"I guess I can do that," Med. Officer Walleck said.
The guide said that the three officers could start learning how to operate
their vehicles. Wilson
walked over to the Fido designated as his. He climbed up a ladder that
led to the c0ckpit and
stepped inside.
He saw a button that read "Systems Power Boot Up." The Colonel pressed
the button and the
Fido came roaring to life.
"Welcome pilot. I will teach you how to pilot this machine. Please designate
a call-sign." The
computer voice said.
"Hmm, I'll have to think about that. But for now, lets see what this puppy can do!"
---------------------------------------------
Ok what did you think. The Fido is the most advanced KBOT right now
because this is not the
Core Contingency. If you think that having a button that starts the
machine is kinda cheesy , it
isn't. The M1A1 Abrahams tanks that the U.S. uses powers up the exact
same way. : )
----------------------------------------------
The Dig Part XII To Pilot a Fido
"Please sit in the designated command chair," The computer commanded.
Wilson sat in the large metallic chair. It was cold, hard, and very uncomfortable.
"Son of a, this chair hurts." Wilson stood up and grabbed his back to rub cold away.
"Please sit down."
Wilson reluctantly complied. The cold, hard chair was very uncomfortable.
Seconds later,
something miraculous happened. The chair began to heat and mold to
the contour of his back. It
felt wonderful!
"Have you designated a call-sign pilot?" the computer asked to Wilson.
"Hmm, let's see. Just call me Wilson," it was a little plain but Wilson
didn't like things to get
confusing.
"Pilot Wilson , please allow the neural helmet located above you to
be placed on your
shoulders."
The huge block of metal located on the ceiling, a few feet above Wilson,
descended upon his
head. The block rested upon the length of Wilson's shoulder. The backside
of the block clamped
itself to the metallic chair to help Wilson support its weight. A small
helmet on the inside of the
block came down on to Wilson's head. A transparent visor came over
his eyes. On the inner-part
of the of the helmet, a small plate attached itself to the base of
the Colonel's neck.
"Do not be alarmed by the neural transceiver located at the base of
your neck. It is designed to
intercept the signals sent form your brain to your legs. It interprets
these signals into a code that
I, the computer can understand. I then use your commands to move this
vehicle. Moving this
vehicle is similar to moving your legs. All you have to do is think
about moving your legs, then the
Fido should move. This makes you one with the machine, a cyborg if
you will."
"Do you have a name, I mean, calling you computer can take awhile in
the heat of battle?"
Wilson asked.
"I am an autotomic virtual entity. I have no name, but I am designed
to operate this vessel incase
the pilot is incapacitated."
"Hmm, autotomic virtual entity, I will call you AVE for short," Wilson grinned.
"I am activating the neural interface. 3..,2..,1.., interface activated.
You may begin by moving the
Fido forward 10 (30 feet) meters toward the Messiah's main exit. "
Someone watching the Fido would have noticed it take a stumble a few
feet forward and to the
right. Wilson was in for a tough ride, and Captain Ramirez was also
having similar troubles.
Wilson was having trouble moving his 4 metallic legs.
"Wilson, I have noticed that you are having trouble piloting this machine.
Why is that?" AVE
asked.
"I am not sure, but it is kind of hard getting used to moving four legs
instead of two and having no
arms to speak of whatsoever." replied that Colonel.
"Beginning biological scan, please stay in seated Wilson," said AVE.
A blue light washed over Wilson. It started at his head (still located
inside the helmet) and
worked its way down his body.
"Biological scan complete. Error detected, pilot is missing gene sequences
227,228,229, and
230. Please wait, computating course of action."
"Missing gene sequence? What the hell is AVE talking about?" Wilson pondered.
"Please wait, receiving file from Arm HQ. File received."
"AVE please tell me, what am I missing? This is getting way too weird for me."
"Course of action has been calculated. The genes sequences you are missing
come from
various four- legged animals. Fido pilots have these genes spliced
into them in order to help
them pilot this type of machine more efficiently. Since you do not
have these genes, you may
require an extra amount of time to learn to pilot this machine by using
a neural interface. We do
not have extra time right now. Fortunately, I have received a file
from our local Research and
Development department which will alleviate this problem."
"Whoa, wait a moment, I ain't (Texas slang for am not) gonna have my
genes spliced with any
four- legged animals." Normally Wilson tried to use proper language,
but with the idea having his
genes butchered and spliced made him for get about his grammar.
"No gene splicing is required Wilson." AVE told a freaked-out Wilson.
Seconds later, a hatch located directly in front of Wilson's command
chair opened. Two levers
raised up to the levels of Wilsons arms. At the end of the levers facing
Wilson's hands, there are
soft grips with buttons located at the top of them.
"These two levers," AVE explained, " Are what you will use to pilot
your machine until you
sufficiently learn to use the neural interface. Each lever is interlinked
to the two legs on each
Fido's side. The levers are set in neutral right now. To turn right,
push the lever on the right side
forward. To turn left, push the left lever forward. To move forward,
push both levers forward. Pull
both levers back to move in reverse. To make a quick spin in either
direction, push one lever
forward and pull the other lever back. This system is remarkably simple
to master, but it is not as
efficient as the neural interface which you will eventually learn.
When you learn the neural
interface, you will be able to preform complex techniques. The Lever
Control system is also used
on some tank systems when a neural interface in non-functional. I am
activating the Lever
Control System.3..,2..,1.. Activated. Practice moving forward."
This time, someone watching the Fido would see it move forward without any trouble.
"Very good, now practice turning in either direction," AVE commanded.
Wilson was using this system without flaw.
"Excellent operation Wilson."
"Thank you AVE, I am operating this so well because I used to own a
ATV that operated like this
when I was young."
"Now I will teach how to use you visor. Activating."
A second later the transparent visor in front of him came to life. In
each eye, Wilson could see a
an image of the outside world that was ahead of him. The detail in
the images were very good.
"Turn you head to the right," AVE ordered.
Wilson did so, " Wow, I can see the rest of the building in my right
eye. It is as if the Fido's
interior is not there. The image in my left eye is still facing forward
though."
"The image in your left eye is your piloting image, it will show you
images of where you are
going. The image in you right eye is your weapon/viewing port. Where
your turn your head,
weather up, down, left, right, or backwards, your right eye port and
cannon faces too. You will
use this port to manually aim your weapons if you do not wish me to
target enemies. Targets of
importance appear with a yellow outline around them. Units that you
have a weapon's lock on
will have a red box outlining them. There is also a small circle located
in the top left corner of you
left screen eye. It is your radar. Enemy units are red, and friendly
units are blue. It may take
some time to get used to having two different images to focus on, but
you will learn it. To fire you
gauss cannon say or think the word "Fire" or push one of the buttons
on the grips of you lever.
Now steer this machine outside and find a tree to practice aiming at."
Wilson piloted his machine outside and saw a massive structure towering
before him.
"What is that huge thing.?" Wilson asked.
"That," it was the guide from the tour, "Is a Commander Production Facility.
The commander is a
massive 25 meters( 80 feet) tall. He has immense power and can build
a base in mere days.
Walker 1265 will be piloting this monster because he is the highest
ranking officer on planet."
"Cool, I guess we can really sock it to the Core now," It was Captain
Ramirez from the other Fido.
"Hey Colonel, did you pick a call sign? Mine is Bandit."
"Unfortunately, The Core also posses a similar technology," the guide said
Wilson switched over to Ramirez's radio channel, " No, I did not. I
will be called Wilson at all
times thank you. You using this lever system too?"
Ramirez said, "Yes, sure am sir, but I can't wait to get this thing
moving by just using my
thoughts. I'm going to target practice, how bout you?"
"Let us go find a tree and learn to use these cannons here. Follow me." Wilson ordered.
The sounds the Fidos created while walking were loud. Wilson found and
tree in a few minutes.
He was finally getting used to the two different views. He saw the
tree and AVE gave it an enemy
designation.
"You may fire at will," AVE told Wilson.
His right eye focused on the tree until the red box appeared, then he
said , "Fire".
The tree was nearly 300 meters away. The cannon was absolutely quiet,
only a gentle rocking
was created when the gun fired. Then it happened, BOOM! The gauss slug
broke the sound
barrier and ripped the tree clean in two.
"Good shot sir," Bandit(Captain Ramirez) said over the comm-link.
"Warning, enemy units inbound 20 kilometers north of this position,
move to intercept," said a
radio operator to all available units.
At that, The two Fidos ran off north at a tremendous pace. Their loud
thundering walk could be
heard from miles around.
The Dig was over, and The Battle had begun.