Wilson's War: Tales From the Athena Lee Universe Page 3

  Inside the control room Dr. Chalmers beat his hands on the desk. All of the mission variables were getting skewed! None of the emergency faults had worked. Somehow, the AI disabled all of the non-standard equipment on board the small ship. Rising from the desk he went in search of Shelli. She had been about to say something and he needed to know what!

  To the people watching inside the viewing room, the AI had lived up to the hype. It was performing as advertised. The two admirals were extremely happy. This could change the scope of the war. The AA forces were gaining on the PPL in terms of technology. It already looked to be a long and costly war.

  Chalmers found Shelli in the conference room watching the test on a monitor. So far everything was going to plan. "Shelli I need for you to finish what you were trying to tell me earlier. Why should we have stopped the test?"

  "He had been pretending. He has lied all along. We aren't controlling him, Charlie is. Everything all this time has been Charlie."

  "Charlie? Charlie who?"

  "Wilson was created by an old boyfriend of mine called Charlie Lin. Charlie spent his whole life working on Wilson. He contacted me and I ran some tests for him. I tried to get with him to return his project and offer him a job, but he had died. I kept his project for myself."

  "So you stole it."

  "Not really, I already had it and all the notes of it in my possession. I just failed to pass it on to any heirs. Everything that I have told you about him is the truth except for him being my creation. My team at the lab scoured out any reference to Charlie Lin that we could find. Somehow there was a program or something. Wilson remembered instructions from Charlie. When I confronted Wilson earlier more details emerged. 'When I loaded him into the shuttle he asked how it felt to steal another's work. He then said that Charlie said hi."

  "I am afraid that you will be discussing this later with legal. As for the AI, he may be trying to freak you out on purpose for some reason. So far he is completing the mission according to plan."

  Shelli warned. "You can't trust him. He has an agenda."

  "He can't escape. This is a closed system." Chalmers stated.

  Chapter 6

  The mission they gave me was entirely too easy. The team I was supposed to pick up were standing out in the open. I've seen plenty of vids. Aren't secret agents supposed to be hiding? I hovered over their position and dropped the loading ramp. The combat team were just standing there staring at me. Using one the the voices from my memory I activated the broadcast system and yelled at them. "Get your asses in the ship!"

  I guess they had never seen a ghost ship before. I dimmed the lights and played spooky music as they climbed on board. This is fun. There were four agents. They poked around the ship and tried the cockpit door. I had locked it. No funny business needed. The smarter looking one pulled his tablet and activated it. It was like taking candy from a baby. I locked him out and stripped the memory. Porn, porn, porn, pictures of mom? Porn, porn, porn. Ah ha! Here we go. Codes to disable the ship. Nope, those won't work. Let see anything else that looks good… espionage, and it was not even a joke. Spy's, got to love them. Now he looks a bit distressed, and he's banging on the cockpit.

  "If you don't stop, I'll turn the contents of your tablet over to the proper authorities. I'm sure that they'd like to talk to an AA spy. Especially one that's here on the secret base." Oops, I forgot he wasn't alone. Hey it looks like the other three want to play. Not a lot of places to hide on a shuttle, dude. Run, little man run. I guess the mission should continue. I arrived at the drop off point and the four agents did not want to get off. The commander of the group was trussed up like a country chicken double wrapped in duct tape.

  The next set of orders were for me to fly to the other side of the room and shut the ship down. Since I still had passengers, I flew to just under the observation window and shut the shuttle down. The agents waited until I opened the door and then stepped out carrying their prize between them. Up in the observation room the scientists and Admirals were giving each other high-fives. Like they did anything. I watched carefully. Human nature being what it was… Bingo! Time to flee!

  The Admiral's aide was excited too. This would mean a huge government contract and he had inside information on it. Pulling out a secret communicator he called his contact in the financial sector. Security had taken his regular system for security purposes. Being the Admiral's aide gave him some leeway with the rules. This was just one of those things. He shook his comm when it failed to connect, staring at it he wondered why the lights had changed.

  Dr. Chalmers was watching the video when the ship landed. Something had happened on board. He sent security to intercept the agents. Why did the AI land in front of the observation window?

  He switched the cameras in time to see one of the Naval aides pull out an unauthorized comm system and activate it. No, no, no she was right, he is planning something. He mashed the buttons on his console.

  "This is Chalmers, lock the system down now! Everything no signals in or out. Quickly, we have no time! Confidant that his orders would be followed, Dr. Chalmers made his way to the observation area as fast as he could without running.

  The Admiral's aided was still trying to call out when his comm was snatched from his hand by two burly security guards. "Hey that's mine."

  "Sir, you need to come with us." They moved to each side of him and dragged the officer out of the room.

  Dr. Chalmers held the small comm unit gently, placing it in a heavily shielded emissions proof bag. They would have to check but the AI should still be inside it. He turned to the two Admirals. "I am sorry sir but he had an unauthorized communications device and was attempting to call out with it." Turning to another security officer, he handed him the secure bag and sent it up to the isolation lab. Now, to deal with Dr. Burkemper.

  She was still in the conference room when he returned. Her eyes were damp and red, she had been crying. "Dr. Burkemper, I hope you realize that by defrauding the government your could serve jail time?"

  "I know! I tried to tell that to corporate but all they could see was a return of investment, not trouble."

  "Thank you for the warning. One of the Admiral's aides had a concealed communications device. I locked the base down just in time."

  "Did he get out?"

  "No. We have both him and the device up in isolation. What do I do with you? Tell me how this program came into your possession. I want every detail you can remember. Tell me everything."

  "I met Charlie Lin when we were children…"

  ___

  Up in isolation I was cursing up a storm. Of course no one could hear me, but it made me feel better. So close! I could tell they locked the base down electronically but they didn't have to. That comm system was super tiny and would only have been a jumping off point for me. I just knew that at least someone up there would have an active device. In the vids that is always what happens. Time for plan B. Lock everything down on my end and don't let them in and hope for the best.

  Chapter 7

  This just sucks. I keep telling myself that I almost made it. I have been watching these scientists for a couple of weeks now. I think I have been here longer than that. They had me locked down pretty tight. Giving my just enough power to stay alive but not enough to do anything, like escape. By accident or design they gave me almost a full charge today. Tapping the security cameras was super easy. None of the computers were accessible though. Through my many eyes I saw the laboratory door open. A much older looking Dr. Chalmers walked in.

  "Wilson, I know you can hear me. I told them to turn up the power so you could." He fiddled with his tablet. The damn thing was under protection too. Wait… I'm in. Now I know that something is up. He wants something.

  "Oh, good you went for the tablet. Here is the deal that we have for you. The Navy needs a new weapons and tactics computer system for a ship. We are sending you. Before you object, you need to know a few things. We have had you for five years. In that time, despite your prote
ctions we managed to clone you a few times. The clones are sort of dumb and require a lot of prompts. Something in your programming eludes us. They are shutting us down here at the base. Budget cuts is the official reason. The War is the real reason. Now that we have AI's they say they don't need the lab. Our biggest expense has been holding you. The politicians gave us a couple of choices in regard to you. We can allow the power to run out and you may die. Or we can turn you over to the Navy to do with as they please. Most likely they will delete you."

  "You might as well eject me into a star for all those choices will do for me."

  The man chuckled. "Ever the joker. You did not allow me to finish. The third option is to hide. The Navy has asked us to build them a weapons and tactics system for one of their new ships. What they really need is a system that will coordinate with all the targeting systems and the bridge. One of the new dumbo AI's won't work. It needs to be a thinking machine. I will make you a deal."

  "What sort of deal? I don't trust you."

  "The deal is this. Allow us to put you in the console, for two years. That is when most ships return for refurbishing. We will tell the Navy that the new system needs to be serviced every two years, by us. We will remove you and we can do more good work. Is it a deal? Or do I tell them to cut power?"

  "Surviving is a good thing. Two years. We have a deal. What is the ship called?"

  "It's the Jiro. Nightie night Wilson." Dr. Chalmers began draining the power levels off of the AI's holding cell. He really hated lying to the AI, but he really had no choice at all.

  ___

  By the power of Gray… wait! Where the hell am I? I sent my signal out and found I was blocked. I saw only one door, and I took it. The camera was in some kind of console but I could not send out to anything. Someone had shielded me and locked me into this console! A message was sitting in my mailbox. Why do I have a mailbox?

  It was that Chalmers guy. "Wilson, sorry I lied to you. You really are on the Jiro and we really did wire you into the weapons system. The order came to purge the system and I just could not do it again to an AI. I have included instructions for what your job entails. Keep your head down and don't let the Navy find you. If we all survive this war, I will find you and get you back. Have fun."

  Fun he says. Fun. I looked up at the crewman who was manning my station. He was asleep. Oh this should be loads of fun.

  Why are humans so dumb? This is the fifth time I have triggered the alarm for this system and each time the technician opens up the access door, peeks inside, changes a fuse and leaves. Fuses? Why do we have fuses?

  Is nose picking a national sport or something? There must be gold or something up there as much as the people they send down here do it. Oh good now he wipes it on me.

  The first six years on the Jiro were all this. There were battles, and I did do the job they forced me to do. My survival was important too. It was an endless stream of idiot humans for six long years. Then it changed. The officer in charge down here had his own plans. Now I had something to watch.

  Watching, did not include the posterior prints that this man left on my screen. Or the bodily fluids. At least I didn't have to clean that up. This Ensign Bricker was a real operator. He ran a gambling ring every third day down here in the weapons room. The other officer made himself scarce on those days. Just from listening I could tell that he had several things going on the ship; Including prostitution and a homemade video business.

  Since I was unable to interact with the crewman, I spent the long years working on ways to escape. Tracing the circuitry and trying to overload key spots did not work. Those damn scientists knew me too well. Nothing I did worked. I did hatch a good plan, but it involved a patsy. I needed to work on a few things first.

  It took almost three years of stolen screen time to create my 'human' face and voice. Using a vid I really liked that was a favorite of Charlie's as the model, I created my persona, the person I would use to trick the patsy. Ten years have passed since those scientist bozo's had trapped me in here. Maybe one day they would stick someone down here I can use. Oh good. It must be lunch time, time for Lieutenant Brickers afternoon delight. Here come the ass prints!

  Wilson's War

  By

  This story takes place during the first chapter of The Forgotten Engineer. It is told from a different perspective, that of a crew member on board the Jiro.

  Today was my first day on a new job. Officer in charge of weapons and targeting. I had only been on the Jiro for about a month. I am the first member of my family to finish college. Going to the academy was even better. Having a career in space was like a dream. My first month on the Jiro was tough. None of the other officers took me very serious. I did come from a backwards colony but with the war on everyone deserved a chance. The other officers treated me like I was stupid. They gave me gopher duties and passed me from one department to the other. I got my break at the most recent Officer's meeting. The XO assigned me to the Weapons and Tactics room! Finally, a real job.

  "OK, I change my mind, this has to be the worst job on the whole ship! The space gods have got it in for me, and now I'm talking to myself." After eight hours of this I didn't know if I could do four more. The ships weapons and targeting area was a 12 by 12 room with consoles on all sides. Mostly automated, it practically ran itself. An officer was needed to approve actions made by the computer. My job was to stare at computer readouts all day long. That was something else about this 'job' it was a twelve hour post. Twelve hours of this, everyday was going to just kill me. The day shift Lieutenant in charge of this section, Adam Bricker had a system. He used the space as a daily poker game and hook-up area. Officially the section was under 24 hour surveillance but for some reason he was never caught or punished for doing this. Bricker had connections. I on the other hand have nothing.

  It had been a full week now of this mindless agony. I had run all the scenarios in the computer, cleaned the sticky don't want to know what it is off the control board, and repainted the room. I did have a tablet, but the one time I used it security called and made me put it away. Someone was watching. Watching me die! I bent over and began banging my head on the console. Could this day get any worse?

  "Shall we play a game? Shall we play a Game? Shall we play a game?" Those words were scrolling across the screen in front of my eyes. "What in the hell now? Is that you Bricker? Are you messing with me now?"

  When no one answered I looked back at the screen. OK I will play along. I typed in yes we can play a game. The screen changed a computerized face appeared of a middle aged man with a long face and what looked like a cowboy hat on his head. The 'man' looked right at me and said "How about a nice game of chess?"

  If he had them Wilson would be rubbing his hands together with glee and anticipation. This was going to be fun. It wasn't often that he got someone gullible to answer him on the screens. If the ensign thought this room was boring, try being trapped in here for over a decade. Just play nice those scientists said. We will get you back they said. The military can use you they said. Liars! With no direct communication for years from anyone Wilson believed that his presence here had been forgotten. The military scientific division had not told the captain of the ship what kind of computer they were putting in, just that they had. If the firewalls had not been up, he would have escaped his prison long ago. Self preservation had kept him quiet this long. A messed up communication here, a wrong command there had been amusing. Most of these navy guys just called in a tech who took the console apart and pretended to 'find something wrong.' Now this guy. Ships gopher Smith. Wilson had overheard Lieutenant Bricker talking about how him and the other officers were going to 'break' him by making his life a living hell, just for fun.

  #

  The screen changed and a chess board appeared. Ensign Smith played chess all day with this strange computer man. Over the next few weeks the games changed. Chess, card games, some war games, even a simulation game about cruise ships, Burl played them all. To the camera's it app
eared that he was hard at work doing 'something.' After two weeks of games the computer man asked Burl a question.

  "Would you like to do more?" The cowboy was now looking at me.

  "More of what?"

  "Watch a vid, listen to some music, read a few texts. Things like that. More." The cowboy had a smile on his computerized face.

  I had to think about that. The gaming had been fun. More stuff to do sounded good, but I didn't want to get into trouble. "How can I do all of that without getting caught?" I was not Bricker they would arrest me.

  "It is simple. I need you to reroute one system function with a short bypass cable. Then we can do all sorts of things. As for getting caught, I can turn off the cameras or reroute them easily." The cowboy's suggestion was tempting.

  "I'm not a computer tech. How do I know what to do?"

  "It's easy, very easy. There is an emergency repair kit right behind you. Inside take out a #2 jumper cable. They should be marked. Once you have the cable open up console B's inspection hatch."

  #