The Long Road to Gaia (12 page)

"So," said Twelve. "This is
the one."

"This is the one," I repeated.
"Or so I'm told. He doesn’t look like much."

"What do you expect at eight standard
Earth years old?"

"Not this."

This was indeed an eight year old boy. He
was playing, for want of a better word, with a mish mash of technology, some of
which was so old, it really shouldn't have been able to be interfaced together
at all.

He was engrossed in a space combat game.
Oddly, a name-sake of his had played the exact same game at the exact same age.
This kid was better at it though.

"Okay," I said. "Let's see
how much I can manipulate this game of his."

Turned out, I could both change it and
influence it. I made his immediate mission a lot harder than it was, and
watched him flounder around trying to counter a better enemy than he thought.

"He is good Thirteen."

"He’ll be a lot better once I'm done
with him."

I kept throwing curve balls at him until he
tired, and went to bed.

I started planning what programs to get him
to play, in what order, and what I needed to use each one to teach him.

"Enjoy," said Twelve with a
laugh, and vanished.

Two Cruisers were lobbing shots at each
other at long range. Neither was doing much damage to the other.

Neither of them knew just how much danger
they were heading into.

I stood in space, waving a flag, which once
upon a time, meant 'you are standing into danger'. Alas, neither ship could see
me.

"What are you doing Thirteen?"
asked Twelve.

"Nothing," I responded, somewhat
embarrassed to have been seen enjoying myself.

"Shall we get down to business?"

"Why?"

Twelve was stumped. He floundered around
for a good reason. I laughed at him.

"Get a grip, Thirteen."

My hands reached for his throat. It wasn’t
the grip he'd been talking about. He vanished to appear again out of range.

"Quit fooling around."

I kept laughing. I'd been on this gig for
six hundred and thirty seven years, and truth to tell, there hadn't been a lot
of good laughs. It was time I made a few.

Jon, much to his parent's dismay, had been
watching zombie flat screens lately. They made a change from his usual science
fiction.

I held up my arms, and shuffled forward
towards Twelve, all the colour draining out of me.

Twelve vanished again, and came back with
One.

I changed direction and kept going towards
him.

One pulled out a machete.

"Spoilsport," I said to her, and
resumed my normal colouring.

The Machete vanished, but One remained.

"We have a job to do here,
Thirteen."

I looked towards the two Cruisers. One was
chasing the other into the system, and both were lobbing pot shots at each
other from long range. Both of them were now taking a beating from local space
conditions.

As we watched, the lead ship took a solid
hit, its shields shredded, and it was very swiftly torn apart.

The other ship kept on going, avoiding the
debris of its target. Shortly after, it made the null zone in the middle of the
system.

"I take it we weren't here to save
that Cruiser," I said.

"No," said One. "It was a
pirate. Our interest is the other ship."

"How so?"

"It needs to enjoy the hospitality of
the nearby habitable planet for a while."

"And?"

"You need to whisper to the helmsman
and help him find the least resistance way out of the null zone."

"Sure."

"Twelve and I have some work to do in
the engine room. When you get our signal, whisper to the Captain to stop, turn
towards the planet and take the shortest possible course to it."

"What signal?"

"You'll know it when you hear
it."

They both vanished before I could say
anything more. I shifted onto the Bridge of the ship, and did as I was told.
The helmsman, with a bit of prompting, found the way out, and the ship started
along this course.

After a while, a loud bang wafted through
the ship.

Assuming this was the signal, and with all
heads turned towards the noise, I whispered to the Captain to stop the ship and
turn for the planet.

"All stop," he bellowed.

The helmsman brought the ship to a stop
very quickly. The sound hadn't been one you wanted to hear on a ship a long way
from the nearest shipyard.

"Engine room report," the Captain
bellowed into ship coms.

"All that shaking seems to have done
some damage," said a voice.

"How much?"

"Not enough to stop us flying, but we
need to get somewhere in a hurry in case something serious breaks. Then I can
strip the casings off and see where that noise came from."

"Fine. Can you hold it together long
enough for us to make the only habitable planet here?"

"Aye sir, should be able to."

"Helm, put us on the fastest course to
the planet.

"Aye sir."

Nothing more happened until we made orbit.

"Finished with engines," said the
Captain into ship coms.

There was a loud series of cringe worthy
noises from the back of the ship.

"Aye sir, that we have," came
through the coms.

One and Twelve appeared next to me.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Made sure they were going
nowhere," said Twelve.

"Made sure they needed rescuing,"
said One.

I looked at them for a moment, One winked
at me, and they both vanished.

I looked around the Bridge, and caught
sight of a plaque on the wall.

The name of the ship was "Homer".

The small freighter launched from Outback
Orbital, and headed for the jump point.

Twelve was standing next to me, as we
watched it leave through a window on the main observation deck. Neither of us
said anything.

"And so it begins," said One,
materializing beside us.

I looked at her for some indication of what
'it' she was referring to. Her face revealed nothing. But her human body
language was tense.

"What begins?" I finally asked
her.

"Jon Hunter's learning curve."

"I've been training him for ten years.
He's ready."

"You think so?"

She looked at me like I didn’t have a clue
what I was talking about.

"He's well trained, yes. But this is
the real world. All he knows is the game worlds. It's not the same."

"I know. But he is ready. All he needs
is experience."

"He has a year to gain that experience
Thirteen. It's a year he MUST survive."

"Must?" asked Twelve.

"Must," replied One. "Our
existence is dependent on it. We have one path to walk here. His path. Stay
close to him Thirteen. He is going to make mistakes. Some of them are
potentially fatal, and this must not be. In exactly one year's time, he must be
back here, alive, well, and experienced enough to lead when the Darkness
arrives."

"Lead?" interrupted Twelve.
"At his age?"

"Yes, lead. On all else this
depends."

"Aren't you asking too much?" I
asked. "I trained him to fight, think, and build. Leading is something
else again. He lacks people skills for leadership."

"Leadership," said One, "is
something you are born with, or not. Authority can be trained and given with
experience, but true leadership comes from within. He has it within him to
lead, without authority. You Thirteen, must encourage him to become a leader,
not just an officer. Humans have plenty of senior officers. What they lack are
true leaders."

"So I still need to teach him how to
be a leader then?"

"No, you misunderstand me Thirteen. He
needs to discover the confidence to lead when others choose to follow him. More
than anything, he needs to build confidence in himself, so he can use the
training he has already had to survive the experiences ahead."

I shook my head for a moment. Suddenly I
was really confused.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Guide and encourage him, but let him
do things his way. If he gets into fatal trouble, intervene. You must not allow
him to die. But he must never know he is being protected. If he gets hurt, he
gets hurt. As long as it's not fatal."

"You don’t ask much, do you?"

One laughed.

"You better go Thirteen. Stay close to
him. Twelve, stay. I have some instructions for you also.

I looked at them both for a moment, and
shifted to the freighter Wanderer.

* *
*

Twelve appeared again a little while before
the jump into the Sydney system. He attached himself to the man flying the
ship. Jon was in the jump-seat behind him.

"Jon," said the elder Hunter,
"I think I left my pad down in the cargo bay. Can you go down and look for
me please?"

"Sure," said Jon, who was looking
bored.

Twelve detached, as Jon opened the rear
door and left. I gave him a penetrating look, but all he did was smile at me,
and vanish.

* *
*

"Don’t".

Twelve had appeared next to me again. Jon still
hadn't returned from the cargo bay, but the threat was out in front of us, as
the ship down jumped into the Sydney system.

"What?"

"Don’t intervene."

Three missiles fired, heading directly at
us.

"We can't let him die!"

"He won't. This is his first big test.
He has to do this on his own."

There was no time for more. The three
missiles hit, the shields failed, and the cockpit was destroyed around us. The
ship shuddered. There were several loud thumps from the other side of the
bulkhead. I pushed through, and saw Jon lying on the deck. He pushed himself up
to a sitting position, obviously in a lot of pain.

"Leave him be Thirteen."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. I know what's coming, and you
don’t. You need to stay close to him, but it's his learning curve. Let him make
his own mistakes."

"Easy for you to say."

"Of course," smirked Twelve.
"You'll know when you need to act."

"How? You'll turn up?"

"Probably."

He was laughing at me now.

"I'll be back when there's something
worth seeing."

And he was gone. I watched while Jon Hunter
saved not only his own life, but those on two other ships. And Twelve, blast
him, was right. I hadn't needed to intervene.

* *
*

Something about the Military Transport
bugged me, so I went back and checked. The ship had taken significant damage.
The cockpit was destroyed, and the engines were gone as well. Life support was
failing.

There had been only one death, the pilot.
The rest of those on board were holed up in the barracks, unable to get to
their Dropship.

There was something familiar about this
team. Like a long forgotten melody, which you catch just the hint of one day
unexpectedly.

The computer was still operational, the AI
still running. I accessed the databanks looking for the names of those on
board.

The pilot had been Alyssa Vasquez. Why did
that ring a bell? Annabelle Smith, Amanda Peck, George Murdock, Anne Baracas.
Smith, Peck, Murdock, Baracas?

Suddenly I remembered. It had been three
hundred and thirty one Earth years after all. Not long, but I’d been in human
form for all of it. Humans didn’t have the memory for that sort of time period.

Fancy that. Not only did the team's
families survive, they were still a team after all this time.

"And now you know why you were with
them that last trip to Earth," said One unexpectedly. "Look after
these people too. They're important as well."

* *
*

"Nice arse," I said as Twelve
appeared.

I'd been watching the two girls save Jon.
They appeared to be identical twins.

"Really Thirteen? You've been in human
form for too long."

"And whose fault would that be?"

"Don’t look at me."

"I won't then. I'll look at these two
cute arses instead."

"Two very competent mercenaries
Thirteen. The sisters Peck, part of Smith's Alpha Team."

"I know."

"A few centuries back, their ancestors
were part of the last team to visit Earth."

"I know. Military ran in the families
then?"

"Not always, but feel free to take a
run back along their timelines while Jon is being prepared for what is
coming."

"What is coming?"

"That would be telling."

Twelve vanished. Telling indeed. I was
getting so sick of this not knowing crap.

But he had a point about being in human
form too long.

Exactly when did I start liking them enough
find the human female form enjoyable to look at?

When the trio arrived at the hotel, I did
as suggested, and reviewed the Smith and Peck family's timelines, as well as
the rest of the team, even the ones who hadn't been on the team then, and those
who weren't now. It all made interesting viewing.

I arrived back in time to see both Peck
sisters in their naked glory.

Damnit! I really was starting to like
humans.

* *
*

The explosion brought back Twelve.

"Here to see the fun?" I asked.

"Of course."

"Care to let me in…"

"No. There isn’t a nuke, and these
guys are not very bright. We only need to watch."

We did. The kid kicked their arses, and for
the first time, I could see a man emerging from the years of training as a boy.
It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done. And knowing how good he really was,
I had a damn good laugh watching him pretend to fly.

When he was back on the station, Twelve and
I high fived, in human fashion, and he vanished, leaving me to observe the
celebrations alone.

* *
*

Twelve and I watched Jon handle Bob Derr like
a professional. Not sure what kind of professional, but it was professionally
done. By the time he left, Bob had a completely new class of fighter to build
for him, and was completely enthusiastic about it.

One stopped me leaving with Jon.

We watched Bob for a long time, as he went
through the design process. I raised eyebrows at One, asking for why we were
here, but all she did was smile at me in an infuriating way.

At last, Bob looked at AI's, and One's main
interest became apparent at last. He scrolled down the list of available AI's
within a week's travel, and chose a medium level one, at the high end of the
medium scale. Above it, there were only five others, and only one of them was a
true top end AI.

One attached herself to Bob loosely, and he
pulled out a different list of AI's, being those already in ships. It was a
fairly short list, given the military still hadn't come to grips with them
anywhere, and only the rich could afford one. None of them were higher than a
mid-range AI. He accessed another short list, and found all the top end AI's
were being used to run huge computer systems for planets, rich people, and
research facilities.

"Jon needs the best," whispered
One.

Bob closed the lists, went back to his
original AI availability list, and selected the one at the top.

He didn’t even look at the price. One
detached from him, smiled at me, and vanished.

Later, when the AI arrived, he almost sent
it back when he saw the invoice. But One had primed me to be waiting for this,
and I made sure he justified it to himself as necessary. Besides, Jon didn’t
need to know the actual price of just one item in the overall ship cost as it
wasn’t enough to exceed the swap over value established to pay for the new ship.
Used all of it yes, but it didn’t matter enough to question. It took a little
'self-arguing' to make him happy, and I helped him forget he'd even questioned
it.

I also helped him forget pulling up an AI
interface, and tweaking the AI's character routines, with an emphasis on
learning what the owner liked in order to interact better.

Jon needed a companion more than an
intelligent computer. And a companion operated a little differently to how AI's
were normally programmed.

One appeared again to watch him do the
character selection, and nodded to me when Bob finished. I hoped we'd gotten
the programming right, and I wouldn’t need to make changes later on.

* *
*

"You're going to want to see
this," said Twelve.

"See what?" I asked, as we
followed Jon and Amanda onto the Moose.

Twelve just grinned. I shrugged, and we
followed Jon into the Cockpit.

For a long while, nothing interesting happened.

Both of us cracked up though, when Jon's
first drop ended in little pieces of debris scattered over a large area.

"I take it you never showed him
Dropships?" said Twelve.

"No. Never occurred to me he'd ever
fly one."

"He seems to be getting the hang of it
now."

"Indeed."

We continued watching.

Jon's first real drop introduced me to some
genuine tension. Here was something I couldn’t really help with, something I
hadn't taught him, which had the potential to kill him without much warning.

Suddenly I knew he had it wrong, and
destruction was imminent. I opened my mouth to say something to Jon, but closed
it when I saw Twelve grinning madly at me.

Jon had seen and tweaked his down vector to
miss the top of the building. All the same, if I'd been inclined towards nail
biting, I'd have been well into it by now.

We kept watching, now standing in space,
somewhat away from the target building.

Twelve nodded away from us, and I saw an
incoming craft. Jon had seen it too, and we clapped as he engaged it and took
it down, using only ground use weapons.