Chapter 14 Nature #2
Their connection cut off. Gehenna, he realized, was watching him. Or he thought she was. It was rather hard to tell as the cleaning bot had no eyes.
Your mother’s plan will work, Gehenna transmitted to his suit, expelling all doubt that she had heard. Jace will be moved by their suffering. He will want to avenge them and will want to keep others from that fate.
He flattened his lips. “The ships will have to be removed. It will be good for Jace to see… for the humans overall to see what we face.”
You don’t think that. You don’t want to do this, Gehenna stated.
“That would be illogical. It is best if this technology--including you--be in Alliance hands. Guided by the greatest minds--”
Forgive me, but your Alliance’s minds don’t hold a candle to mine, Gehenna stated.
“Really? So being tricked by the Osiris twice, or so it seems to me, makes you--”
The Osiris is far above your scientists too! But I will beat it. You will see, she said and he could almost hear a “humph” in her voice. So… what are you going to do?
Another one of the human military had arrived and from the medals on his uniform, he appeared to be a person of greater rank than even Colonel Diane Parker. This was not good.
“I need to get another Thaf’ell up here,” Khoth stated and used his suit’s communication system to contact Thammah. This time it went through without problem.
“Khoth?! Where are you? What happened to Jace? And that squid--”
“All are functional, Thammah. I need you by my side. We have… humans to deal with,” he said the last as the higher-ranking human met his gaze.
This human had dark brown skin and darker eyes. He was older than Diane and Jack. He held himself in that stiff posture of all of the military officers. The Parkers were speaking with him under their breath. Jace was adding his own commentary. It was more furious and intense from Jace.
They want to send Jace to the infirmary and take you into custody, Gehenna stated. Jace is arguing in your favor. He won’t be poked and prodded.
This leader smiled at Jace and patted his shoulder. He then fingered the material of the inner-suit that Jace wore and shook his head in amazement.
General Intoskin is telling Jace it will be fine, Gehenna stated. They do not respect Jace. They are treating him as if he is a child. He is the Pilot!
“Knowing Jace he will show them that in short order,” Khoth said dryly as he thought of the young man’s ability to get into trouble.
“Are you ignoring me, Khoth?” Thammah sounded ready to burst. “If you think that I’m going to sit down here while--”
“Come to my location. The lift is working, Thammah,” he said as he sent her his exact location and cut off the connection as General Intoskin and all three Parkers were approaching.
Khoth straightened up and crossed his arms at the wrists behind his back.
“Well, well, well, so you’re the Commander Khoth Voor I’ve heard so much about,” General Intoskin said. There was a smile on the general’s face, but it did not reach those assessing eyes. “From the moment you arrived, you’ve brought trouble with you.”
“I had nothing to do with the Khul coming here. They arrived before I did,” Khoth reminded the man. “And without my assistance, you would have been overrun.”
“Without both of us remember, Khoth? Despite your heroic landing pose, you didn’t do all of this yourself. Metal Rain, remember?” Jace stated as he brushed past his parents and General Intoshkin.
“You were very instrumental as well, Jace,” Khoth agreed.
“We make a good team.” He patted Khoth’s arm before going over to Gehenna, who was again trying to hide.
“Jace! Where are you going? Stay with us!” Diane called.
“It’s okay, I’ve just got to talk to Gehenna for a minute,” Jace called, not stopping for them.
Jace smoothed his hands over the squid-like head and tentacles of the cleaning bot. Though Jace was not speaking out loud it was clear that he was speaking to her. Probably calming her down. Khoth turned back to the general and the parental Parkers.
Jack put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “It looks like he has a very strange friend.”
“Can she be trusted? After everything she did?” Diane’s head swung to Khoth. “I’m not sure we can trust anyone.”
“It is interesting that you speak of trust, Colonel Parker, as the incident in this room that occurred before Jace’s birth was not reported to the Alliance,” Khoth replied coolly.
Diane became stony-faced. “We thought it a malfunction. Does one report malfunctions? Does the Alliance tell us all that it knows about the Osiris?”
“No, but that is not the agreement between us,” Khoth stated simply.
Diane’s nostrils flared. “I wonder if kidnapping my son and entering into the Osiris to release a prisoner AI violates that agreement?”
Khoth stared at her and said nothing.
“It seems to me that both sides have perhaps not lived up to the agreement,” General Intoshkin stated simply as if he were the reasonable one. “But the agreement will have to be reworked in any event as Jace is… the Pilot.”
Khoth saw Diane and Jack look at one another with a trace of alarm and unease. They’d had to tell the general some of what had happened evidently. But they didn’t look pleased to have done so. They knew that Jace would now be a pawn for the humans.
“Mom, Dad, uhm and General Intoshkin, I’d like you to meet someone,” Jace said with a touch of excitement in his voice.
Jace had a hold of one of Gehenna’s tentacles and was pulling the unwilling AI over to them.
Jace was grinning. Those eyes of his were sparking with eagerness and happiness.
He wanted his parents to meet Gehenna. Clearly, even if Jace had any qualms about her motives, her background or anything else, his evident affection for her outweighed all of those things.
My mother’s plan will work. He is all Xi. Glowing Xi. He needs to be balanced and yet…
“This is Gehenna!” Jace stated as he gestured to the squid. “Now, this isn’t her actual form. It’s a cleaning bot. She wants you to know that.”
Gehenna waved one of her tentacles at them as she hid most of her bulk behind Jace. Well, as much of it as could be hidden.
“She’s shy,” Jace stated as the three humans stared at the AI. “Mom, she’s a big fan of yours. But she’s worried that you’re… ah, well, after everything that you might not give her a chance.”
Diane stepped towards Gehenna. “Jace tells me that you and he are now connected for life.”
The lights in Gehenna’s skull burned brightly before becoming small.
“Mom, it was an accident. She was trapped. She never meant for you or me to--”
“But her actions caused all of this, Jace.” Diane’s eyes traveled over the squid-head. “She knows she’s responsible.”
Jace grimaced. “It can’t be undone, Mom. And other than the painful stuff done to you and Dr. Rancic, I don’t regret any of it.”
“You suffered your whole life, Jace,” Jack said. His jaw tightened. “In pain all the time. Thinking that you couldn’t have a life.”
“But I’m not in pain now. I won’t be again. And the life I can have now… is so much better than anything else,” Jace told his father. “Dad, I can fly spaceships because of Gehenna. I know how. I can teach you. We can fly together like we always wanted.”
Jack’s face showed a moment of… pain? Longing? “That’s good, son. More than I can say. But I don’t know if I trust someone who did what she did in the first place.”
Jace nodded. “She understands that. She wants you to know that… oh, Gehenna, no, we need to--okay, okay, I’ll tell them.” Jace grimaced and said, “She wants you to know that she will do everything in her power to keep me safe and happy.”
“She had better. Or we will have something to say about it,” Diane stated.
“Indeed, we will,” Jack said.
“She understands,” Jace said. “But I know she’ll make good on her promise.”
“While this is all very touching,” General Intoshkin stated, “I think we have other questions for Gehenna.”
Khoth immediately stepped between Jace and the general. “No questioning will occur without express permission of High Councillor Voor.”
“We are on Earth,” General Intoshkin stated. “Osiris is considered Earth property. Jace is a human and citizen of the United States of America. The Alliance has no authority here.”
“On the contrary, the agreement clearly states that the Osiris is a joint venture between the Alliance and Earth. Jace is the Pilot of the Osiris. So he is the concern of the Alliance,” Khoth stated.
“Our son is not anyone’s concerns, but ours,” Diane stated flatly as she glared at both him and the general.
“Colonel Parker--Diane, I did not mean to suggest anything to the contrary,” General Intoshkin stated. “But with Jace’s… new abilities and connection to Precursor tech, we have a right to--”
“Guys, I’m standing here.” Jace stepped out from behind Khoth. “Why don’t we stop speaking about me and start speaking to me?”
“The general wants to stick you in a lab and test you. He has no intention of letting you fly any spaceships or doing anything you are meant to do as the Pilot,” Khoth stated, seeing the lab-coated doctors that had appeared in the corridor. “Isn’t that what you intend, General Intoshkin?”
“I think a check-up isn’t an unreasonable request, Jace. Not after what you’ve gone through,” General Intoshkin said with a shrug.
Jace glanced over at the doctors and a moue of distaste crossed his lips. “I’ve had enough poking and prodding for today, I think. Besides, you won’t understand what you find anyways. And it can’t be duplicated.”
“How do you know that?” General Intoshkin asked. “Did Gehenna tell you that?”
Khoth was curious himself, but he knew that Jace was telling the truth.
Jace shook his head. He pointed towards the screen where the Osiris had communicated with them. The blinking cursor was back.
“The Osiris told me,” Jace answered.
“The Osiris… the ship?” General Intoshkin asked. “This ship is also an AI?”
“It’s something,” Jace said.
There was the sound of thumping boots as Thammah came down the hallway, jogging. Her cheeks were flushed a dark blue and she looked both excited and alarmed.
“What took you so long, Flight Commander?” Khoth asked with a frown as she ran into the room.
She put her hands on her thighs and breathed. “I hate running on this planet. I want my ship back.”
“Thammah, you okay?” Jace asked.
She looked up at him. “Holy hell, Jace! You’re two times the man you were when I last saw you!”
Jace grinned. “It’s wild, right? But… but you look at a little… winded.”
“I was delayed… and I’m winded,” Thammah gasped out. “Because I saw something. The ship… the wound in the side of the ship is healing.”