“No, we can’t start an approach yet,” Gus continued, “If we do, we’ll be sucked in by the beam like before. Only this time the Salvage-5 will get sucked in, too. This sphere has had more time to mature.”

  “How much more mature is this one, Gus?” Tucker asked.

  “Pretty far along, Colonel,” Gus answered, “I’m able to detect a carrier wave emanating from the sphere.”

  “Can it grab us from this distance?”

  “No, Tuck, we’re too far out. But if we get within 50,000 kilometers, it could latch on. It’s way more advanced than the one on Earth.”

  “Hmmm. That’s bad,” Tucker frowned.

  “Yeah, but at this distance, we can have the ping code all ready to go so we can approach without being dragged in.”

  “Oh, that’s good.”

  “I am detecting that this carrier wave has connected with a base on Earth.”

  “Bad... yeah, that is bad,” Tucker said with a head shake.

  Gus turned to Tucker, “Is that all you can say, Tuck?”

  “Well, yes. As a matter of fact, it is, Gus. I’m still analyzing the data.”

  “Uh huh,” Gus said with a roll of his eyes. “Is he always this way?” Gus asked Cassie pointing his thumb at Tucker.

  “Always...”

  “Great.”

  “Hey now, Gus, I’m trying real hard here. Please continue.”

  “Right, so anyway, we can make our way in just as soon as Cassie, Buster, and Calvin crack the lock on this code issue.”

  “How well do you think they’ll receive us, Gus?”

  “Well, Cass,” Gus began, “Once I’m close enough, with the sophistication of this complex, I’ll be able to tell them we have the box.”

  “You think they’ll really be interested?”

  “Yes, Tuck. I really do. They need this box to complete the sphere.”

  “But I doubt they’ll really be letting us go once we hand that little jewel over, huh?”

  “That’s why we’re still going in with cloned bodies, mine included.”

  “Gus, we’ve been over that, we’re not sacrificing anyone on this mission. You’ll be coming back with the rest of us.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on those odds, Tuck. There’s something more I need to tell you.”

  “Oh, like this isn’t bad enough, you have more? Please, do share.”

  “Unlike the last sphere encounter, we’ll see fully gestated clones that will attack any assault team they feel is a significant threat.”

  “Sounds like the first one we encountered, all right.”

  “There’s still more, Tuck.”

  “Well, this just keeps getting better now, doesn’t it?”

  “There’s something that’s matured enough to pose a rather significant threat.”

  “As if the regular cyborg-clones weren’t already a significant threat. Jeez, where do they find ‘em?”

  Gus continued, “It’s something I discovered when I jacked into the last complex. Something that none of us have seen in this programming. I found it, and I also can feel that it’s here, at this sphere.”

  “You sure you’re not feeling any residual amp charge pumping adrenaline from when we made our last escape?”

  “This is much more than a feeling, Tucker. It’s already probed my mind. It knows we’re here.”

  “What is this thing that’s got your panties all in a jam, there, Gus?”

  “It’s called the Guardian.”

  “What’s the Guardian?”

  “The Guardian is the central intelligence that runs the computer core. It’s similar to the birthed alien creature that Bennie killed on Earth, Xat-Anah, only it exists as a completely computerized Artificial Intelligence form.”

  “Are we talking real artificial intelligence?”

  “I’m afraid so, Tuck. It will be challenging to outthink this computer.”

  “And if we do give it the box...”

  “If we give it the box, Tuck, we won’t stop it.”

  “Well, I see we’re in for a fun filled trip to the alien sphere, then, huh?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Let me get this straight then,” Tucker began. “We have to infiltrate the base.”

  “Yes...”

  “Give them the box.”

  “Correct...”

  “Get them to hook it to their mainframe, and get out of dodge before it uploads the programming.”

  “That’s right. I never said it was going to be easy. We have to get the box hooked up to the mainframe, and send the antimatter missile, and get me out of the sphere before it has time to activate the full programming. That’s going to be impossible, Tuck.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “That’s the whole reason why you’re going in clone-walking. You two can terminate your clones. I’m expendable. That’s why you brought me back online. I have to be the one to give them the box. They won’t take it from anyone else. It has to be this way, Tuck.”

  Tucker changed the subject, “Hey, let’s go check in on Major Rothschild, shall we?”

  Cassie nodded, “Yeah, we should go see her. But I think I need to take this clone off-line. Kind of feeling run down.”

  “Okay, let’s grab our own bodies, and then check in on Sam. Good plan, Sass.”

  “C’mon, Tucker, let’s get to the Salvage-5.”

  Chapter 18

  15 Eunomia

  Saratoga Landing Bay

  Salvage-5 Crew Deck

  January 15, 2068 13:00

  Tucker’s eyes shot open when his clone went off-line. He reached around and unplugged the jack from the back of his head.

  “That’s always such a trip, huh, Sass?”

  Cassie sat up and dropped her legs from the edge of the chair, “Yep, very.”

  Tucker turned to Samuels, “Okay, Sarge. I need you to work with Calvin and set up our interface on the Saratoga. Cass and I will remain in our chairs and clone-walk from there. It’s going to be too dangerous to remain onboard Salvage-5. That means you stay on Saratoga too.”

  “What about Sam?” Samuels asked.

  “I don’t think she’ll be up for another trip to an alien complex. There won’t be an asteroid barrier to fly through this time. So, she’s staying here with you.”

  “That means you are only going down with Major Phillips and Gus?”

  “... and the box...”

  “Right, and the box.”

  “Sounds like you going to sacrifice the ship, Commander.”

  “Not if I can help it. I’m going to try to get us all out. But this way, we’ll get out safely.”

  “What about Gus here?”

  “You don’t worry about me, Sergeant,” Gus answered, “This is my programming now. I can’t escape my fate. This is the only way.”

  “I know, I know, but I hate the thought of losing you again, Major Jamison.”

  “I appreciate that, Sarge, but I’m not a Major any longer. Not since my real body died on Tucker’s first mission out here.”

  “Yeah, I remember that well,” Samuels frowned.

  “Okay, enough tears,” Tucker smiled, patting Gus on the shoulder, “It’s his choice, we tried, didn’t we Sass, but he won’t have it.”

  “We did, Tuck.”

  “I keep telling you, it’s hard code programming, I really don’t have a choice.”

  “Come on,” Cassie said, changing the subject, “Let’s go check on Major Rothschild.”

  “I’ll have the changes sent over to the Saratoga. We should be ready in short order, Commander.”

  15 Eunomia

  Saratoga Medical Bay

  January 15, 2068 13:15

  Sam waded through the sedative fog. Her eyes fluttered open, faintly glowing green. She lifted her head and looked around the medical bay.

  “Doc?”

  Sam tried to move her arms, but quickly discovered her hands and feet tied with restraints, “Hey, Doc? What gives here?”

  No one came to her side. She listened intently, but she seemed to be alone for the moment. Closing her eyes, she attempted to raise enough amp charge to untie the restrains as before.

  It didn’t work.

  “C’mon, Doc! This ain’t funny!”

  Sam tugged harder to no avail, “Hey!” She yelled.

  Nothing.

  “Will someone please let me up?” She bellowed as loud as she could.

  The medical bay door slid open. Doctor Smith floated into the room, followed by Tucker and Cassie.

  “It’s about time someone showed up!”

  “Take it easy, Major,” Tucker nodded.

  “Don’t tell me to take it easy! Take these damn straps off of me!” Sam demanded.

  “No, sorry, Sam,” Tucker again nodded. “Not this time.”

  “Doc!” Sam pleaded, but Doctor Smith failed to come to her aid.

  “Oh, c’mon now, Commander! After all I did for you down there?”

  “Yeah, and you were great down there, Sam. You stayed on the ship and all.”

  “Yeah, you told me to stay, so I did, okay?”

  “That’s not what Sargent Samuels says.”

  “Oh, that fink! He told on me, didn’t he?”

  “No, he didn’t as a matter of fact, you just did, though.”

  “AHHHHH! You tricked me!”

  “You wanted to leave, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, I confess, I wanted to go after you after waiting,” Sam raised her voice, “TWO HOURS, with no checking in.”

  “It’s all over this time, Sam.”

  “Why, whattya mean by that, Commander?” Sam begged, looking into Tucker’s eyes.

  “Doc here has told me everything this time.”

  Sam shot the doctor a glance and then back to Tucker, “He did?”

  “Yes, Major. I’m sorry about this, but I really can’t have you out there anymore. You’re sick, Sam... Dying, in fact.”

  “Damn it, that’s my decision, Tuck!” Sam blinked to clear a tear at the corner of her eye. “I want to live out what time I have left doing something meaningful. I won’t just lay here waiting for…”

  “I can’t have you on the team, Sam, I just cannot jeopardize the mission.”

  “I can’t have any kind of meaningful death strapped to this bed! Now, please, Commander, let me on this mission. Please let me have meaning in my own death...”

  “Sorry, Sam,” Tucker swallowed hard.

  Turning a sharp snap of her neck, Sam glared at the doctor, “You promised, Doc! I can’t believe you told him!”

  “I never said anything to Colonel Petersen.”

  “Well, you told Major Phillips, then.”

  “Nope, the Colonel guessed, Major.”

  “And let me tell ya’, Sam, I wasn’t completely convinced, but hunches, well, I’ve learned over the years to trust those feelings.”

  “AHHH, you tricked me again!”

  “Yes, I did, Sam, but like I just said, it wasn’t hard to guess that something serious was going on.”

  Sam scowled, pulling at the ends of her restraints.

  “So, Doc,” Tucker began, “Now that the preverbal cat is out of the bag, how bad is her cancer?”

  “It’s bad, Colonel. She has a malignant tumor that’s growing on her optic nerve. It’s also metastasized into the soft tissue of her brain.

  “How much time do we have? Will she make it back to Earth? Isn’t there any kind of treatment back home?”

  “No. Sorry, Colonel, but she has less than a week at this rate. Besides, once it reached her brain, there isn’t anything I can do.”

  “Hey!” Sam complained as she continued to fight her bindings, “How about not talking about me like I’m already dead, huh?”

  Doctor Smith glanced at Sam and then back to Tucker, “I’m sorry, Sam, those are just the plain simple facts.”

  “So,” Tucker asked, raising a finger in the weightless air, “How come her chip didn’t take care of this little tumor before it metastasized?”

  “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Sam. It was so small that when she became chipped, the programming ignored it as benign. Even though the tumor has grown to what it is now, her chip still has the same programming that cataloged it as benign.”

  “Is it common for this to grow as fast as it did?”

  “No. I think the powerful magnetic properties that you’ve all been exposed to has accelerated the tumor.”

  “Do you mean to say that these mag-rings are mutating our cells and giving us all cancer?”

  Buster came over to Sam’s side. Tears welled in his eyes as he took her hand.

  “Sam, why didn’t you tell me? You’re gonna die, Sam?” Turning to Tucker, “It’s like I warned everyone, Commander. These mag-rings do some pretty bad things to us on the cellular level. I really don’t recommend using them anymore until we can study the long term effects they have on us.”

  Buster looked back to Sam. Sam returned his puppy dog eyes, “I couldn’t tell anyone, Buster. It’s gonna be okay, okay?”

  “No it’s not going to be okay, Sam.”

  “I tend to agree with you whiz-kid on these mag-rings,” Tucker nodded.

  What does that mean for the CSMOs and the mining operations?” Cassie asked, “I mean that entire industry depends on these jump rings. Without them, they’re stranded for months at a time, with no effective way to transport the ore back to Earth?”

  “Kind of a sobering thought, huh Commander?”

  “It does put the kybosh on all asteroid operations, that’s for sure. But until such time that we can figure out a way to prevent this cellular damage, I think they all need to go off-line.”

  “Can you do that, Commander?” Cassie asked.

  “Not by myself. But with my report, and the data Buster and now Doctor Smith, can submit, we can make a pretty good case.”

  “We’ll just have to design better and faster ships.”

  “So, perhaps saying this was our ‘Final Mission,’ has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

  “It would seem so,” Cassie nodded.

  “You see?” Tucker said, returning his eye to Sam’s, “You can rest easy now.”

  “How’s that, Commander?”

  “That’s easy. You saved humanity from further deaths.”

  Sam relaxed her arms, tiring from the useless straining, “I guess that’s one way to put it. Yeah, okay... I’m saving humanity from long term space exploration.”

  “Oh Sam, don’t be such a pessimist.”

  “Easy for you to say, you’re not the one dying. So, does that mean there’s still a chance you’ll let me fly you and the ship over to the sphere?”

  “Hey, you’re a quick study, Major. Way to go with thinking optimistically, n’all,” Tucker said, shaking his head, “But no. Not this time, Major.”

  “Oh come on, Commander! You can’t keep me strapped in here!” I’ll just use my self-amp charge and take them off again!” Sam threatened.

  “I don’t think so, Sam. Doc has installed a dampening field around your table. You’re not going anywhere... sorry, Sam, but it’s got to be this way.”

  Sam growled at Tucker.

  “Wow, Sam,” Tucker said with raised eyebrows.

  Sam managed to snarl a response, “Wow, what?”

  “Wow, if looks could kill...”

  “Yeah, well, you never know, Commander!”

  Tucker’s ear piece alerted him of an incoming message. Reaching up to his ear, he tapped the device, “Tucker here, go ahead.”

  “Samuels here, Sir. The programming is all set. You can enter your clones from the Saratoga now.”

  “Wonderful, Sarge,” Tucker pointed at Sam, “See, we won’t need you on this mission. We’re leaving our bodies here, just in case, besides that, this asteroid is mostly in one piece.”

  “Mostly?”

  “Yeah, it’s fractured into three large sections. The alien sphere is still located in the middle.”

  “What about Gus? How’s he going to get back?”

  “Why is everyone so concerned about the Gus-clone all of a sudden?” Tucker asked, turning to Cassie, “I mean he’s a great guy an’ all, but he’s a clone. Nothing more... and might I remind everyone here, it’s his programming, okay? He said it himself.”

  Cassie rolled her eyes, “He’s still alive, Tuck. And besides, clones are still able to make their own choices.”

  “Hey, who’s side are you on, Sass?”

  “I’m on the only side there is, Commander.”

  “... and what side would that be?”

  “The right side!”

  “I see. Okay then,” Tucker returned his attention to Samuels over his wireless, “How soon before our clone bodies have recharged?”

  “I’d give them eight hours, Sir.”

  “Wow, a whole eight, huh?”

  “That’s my recommendation.”

  “Buster looked up at Tucker, “I concur, Commander, the clones need to recharge, just like a human body in order for them to operate at peak efficiency.”

  “Is that so, whiz-kid?”

  “Yep, that is so, Commander.”

  “Well, who am I to argue with my very own whiz-kid?”

  “Right, Tucker, err, Colonel, ah, Commander.”

  “Okay, so, Cassie and Buster, let’s meet Samuels, Gus and Calvin in the Salvage-5 crew quarters while we give our clone-selves a rest.”

  “And our real bodies, too, Tuck,” Cassie reminded, “We need to get some sleep too.”

  “Yeah, I suppose you’re right, Sass. C’mon, to the Salvage-5.”

  The four made their way to the upper deck of the frigate. Tucker tapped his headset and called for Hargrove, “Major, Go ahead and take Saratoga to just outside the 50,000 kilometer point. We’ve got eight hours to burn, so we’re not in any type of hurry.”

  “Roger that, Commander. Helm,” Hargrove relayed, “Set speed to 25,000 KPH. Keep us outside 50,000 kilometers until we have further instructions.”

  “Thanks, Major,” Tucker nodded, “We’re setting our clones up to be mission ready in eight. I’ll give a full briefing at the eight hour mark, and then we’ll clone up and head over to the sphere.”

  “Roger that, Commander,” Tucker heard over his wireless before he tapped it off.

  Two minutes later, Tucker, Cassie, and Buster entered the crew quarters of Salvage-5.

 

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