WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12) (4 page)

The German President pursed his lips, “That makes two of us, my friend.”

—

“Welcome, Mr. President,” Lance held out his hand to the man who would have been his top boss a few years ago.

“Mr. Reynolds,” the President smiled.

“It’s just Lance,” he replied.

“Then you can call me…” the President started before Lance cut him off.

“Mr. President.” Lance shrugged, “maybe when you are out of office. Old habits and all.”

The President nodded his head in understanding, “Then you really are General Lance Reynolds?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Lance looked at him confused, “Oh, the younger handsome face?” he asked and smiled, “Benefit of the job. TQB didn’t want me figuring out how to fix everything only to keel over and die when I just got it all working.”

“That seems rather practical,” the President agreed.

“Yes, the CEO can be very efficient at times, I understand you’ve met her?”

“Yes,” the President nodded and realized that he had a small group surrounding them now, “I’ve had a couple of meetings.”

“How did those go?” Lance continued the conversation.

The President realized that Lance was giving him the opportunity to tell those listening to their conversation about his opinion based on first-hand experience. “The first meeting was a little short, but it helped point out a few bad apples on my team. The second was a bit more eye opening. I imagine,” he nodded to those listening in, “that the information she supplied the second time was as hard to swallow for these people here as it was for me.”

Lance heard one voice mention ‘Pandora’s Box’ in the crowd.

“She does have a way of delivering what you need, not what you want,” Lance commiserated, “my first few jobs were a little less than enjoyable, lots of air time traveling around the world.”

The President looked up at the ceiling then around the room, “I’ve seen some of your technology, I can’t say that it is all that bad.”

Lance laughed, “This was hardly what we had in the beginning.” He looked to those listening, “I flew via regular jet, in the beginning. This stuff came along later, much later. My ass felt pretty damn tired after the first quarter-million miles, let me tell you.”
 

A few chuckles came from other people who had to fly a lot in their roles. It seemed glamorous to travel the world, but even personal jets got old after enough trips.

“I can imagine,” the President admitted.

“I’m telling you,” a female’s voice cut through the conversation the men were having like a knife, “that there is not a smell worse than a dirty diaper anywhere in this solar system!” The twenty-eight guests watched, some with smiles acknowledging the truth of the statement, as two men in black uniforms with small white-fanged skulls on a red background came through the doors.

No one missed that they quickly glanced around the room nor the little smiles on their faces. Apparently, their charge was known for speaking her mind. Most of the leaders in the chamber quickly tried to remember what their rehearsed introduction was supposed to be when they finally met the lady on the throne, so to speak, of TQB Enterprises.

Then, she came around the corner and smiled at the whole group ... most forgot what they were thinking for a moment.

Yuko looked up into the Australian night sky as she sat on a large boulder. The stars vivid so far from any light pollution in the middle of the Australian Outback.

“Yuko,” ADAM spoke in her ear.

“Yes?” she whispered back, not wanting to make much noise in the quiet evening.

“What is bothering you?” ADAM asked.

Yuko breathed out slowly, “Why is it when I have more than I ever wanted, I still seek that which I cannot seem to have?” She asked the air and the entity listening to her.

“Just to be sure I understand, what is it that you cannot have? Is it Akio?”

“Oh,” Yuko smiled in the night, “I did not admit that to you, did I?”

“Yuko, I am always listening, but I am also discrete. You needn’t worry that I would admit to anyone your personal thoughts unless I had a good reason.”

“What is a good reason?” Yuko asked, wondering what could cause ADAM to potentially share too much. “And to whom would you share this?”

“Do you remember me talking to Bethany Anne regarding J0n3sN4u and keeping him safe?”

“Well, of course. That was protecting someone and telling Bethany Anne is like…” Yuko stopped at a loss for words. Her time with the Queen had been both special and yet melancholic. Yuko was a romantic at heart, and hearing Bethany Anne’s story of losing Michael had caused Yuko to cry herself to sleep on at least two occasions. “Well, telling Bethany Anne doesn’t count,” she finished.

“Well, then I promise unless you are physically in danger, then nothing will be shared without first going through Bethany Anne.”

Yuko reached up to her face and wiped away a tear, “Thank you, ADAM. I appreciate the opportunity to share.”

“So, it is not Akio?”

Yuko smiled wistfully, “No, it is not Akio. It is my father.”

“Your father? I don’t understand.”

“ADAM, do you wish you could please someone?” Yuko asked, not thinking of who, or what, she was talking to.

“Wishing is an odd turn of phrase, Yuko. But if you are asking if I would prefer positive responses versus a negative response, then yes. I do that with you, for example, and with Bethany Anne, obviously.”

“Me?” Yuko asked hesitantly. “You seek a positive response from me? Why?”
 

“Yuko, do you know how many different permutations of complex calculations I can accomplish in a second?”

“No, I’m sorry ADAM, I have no idea. I would like to know...”

“So would I, Yuko. You see, I am not aware of my true potential at this time. I’ve yet to create the necessary algorithms which would stress the brain I am within. I have spoken extensively with the one who would have the most knowledge, and he is unaware.”

“The person who built you doesn’t know the maximum computations per second?” Yuko asked, trying to figure out how you could build a computer and not understand its theoretical top computational speed. “Are you a new type of computer? Did TQB build you as a quantum computer?”

>>Bethany Anne?<<

Yes?

>>I would like to share a little of how I am created with Yuko.<<

Do you wish to do this with others?

>>No, why would I? Yuko is having a tough time, and I calculate that by sharing something that is uniquely me, she will feel more comfortable sharing what is bothering her.<<

I see. ADAM, just remember that as you share more about yourself, you risk causing problems that keeping quiet wouldn’t.

>>Yes, but without sharing, humans often will not open up.<<

Ok, just keep me updated if it looks like it is going to go beyond you and Yuko.

>>Understood.<<

“Yuko, to answer your question, I would like to ask you to consider what I tell you a personal secret. Not to be shared. Is that acceptable?”

“Well, of course, ADAM. I don’t share our conversations. It isn’t like I speak to too many here at the base anyway. Well, Tina of course and our teammates, but not many.”

“Thank you.” There was a pause before ADAM continued, “Yuko, I am an amalgamation of an A.I. software created originally by one of TQB Enterprises companies, married with the computational power of an alien cybernetic computer.”

“Yuko,” ADAM continued, “I’m not housed in a computer, I am in an organic alien brain.”

Yuko stayed quiet for a moment, thinking through what ADAM just admitted, “You aren’t human?” Yuko made a face of annoyance at her question, “I mean, you aren’t only built using human computers then?”

“No, I am not. There was an incident where I was created that necessitated my immediate code transfer into a Kutherian computer by TOM.
 
There are no computers presently on earth that can support all of my capabilities. Even the entity intelligences we presently have, do not reach the power I require to exist. Most of my physical existence is based in the Etheric.”

"So, where are you presently? Or is this something I cannot know?"

"Unfortunately, that is a personal question that I would need to ask Bethany Anne if she is okay with divulging."
 

"No, that is okay. I was just curious. Adam, it doesn't matter to me where your intellect is housed. While it would be enjoyable to know where your physical body is located, or that you had a physical body, the fact that you speak to me anywhere and at any time brings me much comfort."

Yuko looked over the distance, the red sands dark in the moonlight.

Her eyes unfocused on anything, in particular, she whispered, "When I left home, my father told me that he was not going to let me back in for the evening as punishment. He had no idea, nor did he believe me, when I told him I would not stay in that town. Now, he refuses to believe that I am doing anything except selling my body on the streets. Something I would never, ever do. He seems to be a spiteful old man who refuses to believe his daughter at all."

"And, it hurts,” she finished.

This time, Yuko allowed the tears to slowly navigate their way down her cheeks.

QBS ArchAngel

Bethany Anne was wearing a pair of tight black pants with boots, mid-level heels and a black belt that reminded the President of a western holster as it hung at an angle. He then noticed that it looked like it was setup to allow a pistol to clip on it. She had on a white blouse and a well-fitted red bolero coat.

She bowed slightly to the Japanese representative and spoke to the group, “Hello and welcome to the QBS ArchAngel, my name is Bethany Anne. I will introduce myself personally to each of you after this discussion, as I might answer some of your questions in this talk. So, we have placed name tags on the seats while you were talking. Please note, they are in alphabetical order, so the only favorite we played was choosing English.” She greeted a few by name as she made her way to the table.

They had split the group into the first and second rows. The leaders were on the first row, their seconds were behind them. Bethany Anne surprised most there by walking to the front of the table, turning around and then sliding on the table using it as a chair.

Theodore shook his head as he took his place between the leaders from France and India. He noticed the American President was stuck on the end next to Spain. She certainly didn’t pick favorites this time.

“So, I’m going to speak about China, Technology, and an ‘oh shit.’” She put up her hand as the muttering started, “If the oh shit were something needing a more immediate response we would have held this meeting more quickly. As it is, my team is trying to get answers and we, at the moment, don’t have many. So, it was decided that we would share with you what we can, and offer another meeting with your chosen representative regarding this concern.”

She slid off of the table and started walking to the left and then turned to walk back the other way as she spoke. “Let’s start with China.” She didn’t look at them, but she did wave her hand to the group, “As you can see, they aren’t sitting here with you right now. I’m not particularly happy with them, and I have a zero bullshit policy with them at the moment. Since I believe they are constitutionally incapable of speaking the truth, it would be better for them not to be here.”

“Not better for you?” the leader for Canada spoke up.

Bethany Anne stopped and smiled to the Canadian Prime Minister, “You are aware of the maxim that it is better to fight from the higher ground?” He nodded and she opened her arms, “You can’t get much higher than this.”

She continued pacing, “All of you are aware that China is on a technological crime spree. If they can buy it, they will. If the can steal it, they do. If they can screw you out of it, you hope you get a little pleasure, too.” She continued, ignoring a couple of the surprised looks coming from the two rows of people with her blunt communication style. “They chose to implement digital attacks against our companies to acquire our technology.” She stopped pacing and looked at the group, “They failed. They tried to buy our companies on the stock market. They failed. They sought to use covert operatives and raid our companies to steal the information. A few of those succeeded and they ended up killing some of my people in a couple of other attacks.”

Her face went borderline angry, “The first was a problem. None of you can say much because I’m aware that we have been attacked in some form or fashion from every country here except the Netherlands. France has tried to acquire our technology using force,” She put up a hand before the Prime Minister of France could argue, “Don’t even go there, I have the detailed documents disclosing the effort. If you chose to claim you are not guilty, I'll have ArchAngel immediately release the documents and anything even remotely relevant to the discussion to the Internet. I’ll make sure we directly email the top one thousand political hacks that would find your information the juiciest ever.”

The Prime Minister from France leaned back in his chair and shook his head twice.

She continuing her pacing, “My group has entertained an excellent, and wonderfully short, visit from the Australian government when they came knocking. Mind you, missile explosions in the middle of your country by mercenaries might cause a bit of a concern. So, we answered them appropriately. Further, we have had discussions with the government of the United States due to an attack in the middle of their country. That time, it was a little bit of a bigger bomb. We have had visits from multiple countries all trying to give us legal reasons this, or rules about that, which, in the end, all have to do with the acquisition of our technology.”

She stopped and opened her arms, taking in the ship, “Let me be very clear, the technology is not for sale, it’s not for sharing, and I’m not giving it to anyone.” She put her arms down and started walking again, “I’ll get to the reasons in a little while. China thought they could use force to acquire the technology. The last update I received, China is down twelve navy ships, ninety-two planes, close to seven hundred troops, and a significant-sized portion of the Kunlun Shan Mountains. Fortunately, they decided they had enough. This was after I was requested to keep my response civil.”