Traitor

Jason passed out in bed a little later. He was completely knocked out. While he slept his two companions went about their own tasks, working with dedicated AIs that helped them plan, coordinate others, and disseminate information and commands.

He woke an hour later and joined Linda and Andrea.

“What’s happening, and what are those AIs?” he asked.

“Jason, we commissioned the battle AIs some months ago. We fetched them from Mars after we took the planet. They were in secure storage. They are excellent AIs, supplied by the priests and are the latest Empire technology. We use them to plan then our teams meet after the planning meetings to break up their individual tasks and work with the AIs. Our officers are given a dedicated expandable AI when promoted to be a captain and they keep it for their career.

“The AIs are part of all meetings and specialize in all the necessary tasks that related to the preparation for war, including training, the evaluation of logistical requirements, the planning of the detail of the management and the coordination of orders for the troops in engagements, but they required that final decisions were made by people. They can evaluate the percentage chance of a variety of choices that include everything from how the ship was loaded, to a variety of choices about how an attack should be undertaken, and the choices that could be made depending on the level of resistance. They are used much as you’ve utilized Patton,” said Linda.

“The battle AIs relieved the planners of most of the hack work and because they could be aware of so much simultaneously, they’re of enormous advantage in assisting an Admiral or a General with communication and control during a battle. They are a triumph of tens of thousands of years of design input and refinement. They are masters of the presentation of emerging data both before and during battle.

“AIs have been around for a very long time and are sentient beings. This recognition has enormously improved the evolving relationship between people and AIs. The symbiotic relationship was recognized and a considerable number of rules were developed to ensure smooth relationships, but they also formed friendships with the people they worked with that lasted for thousands of years. The ship is an advanced AI that controls sensors and fire systems in battle, assisted by an advanced naval battle AI that each Admiral cultivates throughout their career. The ship AI was grown together with the ship and was highly integrated with it. In the same way, a General or Admiral is allocated an upgradable AI at an appropriate time, and this AI continued with them and developed along with the General,” said Linda.

“The same occurs with an Admiral, but the system is different. An Admiral is attached to a flagship, and the AI works in tandem with the ship AI. A general commanding a war theater, would have the use of a super ordinate AI called a War command AI, to assist his or her AI and coordinate the command structures right down to individual soldiers. Linda has brought two of them on board for her own use, but commissioned only one, leaving the other in reserve,” said Andrea. “My AI links into a large dedicated section of Ship.”

“An AI of a very much simpler ilk is part of the armor system of each soldier and integrates as required with communication, shuttles, artillery, missile and cannon systems, and every mode of transport on the ship and on the ground or in the air.

“As are all systems that use computer technology, the levels of security for the systems are highly advanced. Jason, it’s vital that we attack these systems in battle,” said Linda

“A large corps of IT people is necessary to be able to provide ways to infiltrate and take over systems. That in many ways oversimplified their activities. They themselves are provided with extremely advanced AIs dedicated to their tasks. They work closely with communications groups who undertake parallel tasks. Each specialty is too complex for an individual and even within the group there’s substantial sub-specialization.”

Jason, Linda, and Andrea returned to bed a few hours later. In the morning, they attended the gym together and did the group exercises, did some individual weights, used individual muscle development machines, and then rejoined Jason and his group for martial arts.

Lucia Pablo was not in the least intimidated when Jason asked if Linda and Andrea could temporarily join his group and be evaluated for appropriate placement. They did their forms together and he discovered that both Andrea and Linda readily kept up and appeared to know the movements perfectly. Their movements were fluent and graceful and a pleasure to watch. Lucia allocated sparring partners to them to assess their levels of competency. They were then asked if they had crystals and about their specific trans-dimensional powers. Both were quite impressive and aggressive fighters, very quick and agile with well-developed balance. They were both very athletic women. They needed practice but were very capable.

Linda was tested first with the martial arts strike board. Jason thought that it was amazing that the same idea of a board that they had used on Earth had survived tens of thousands of years in the Empire.

Lucia indicated when she was ready and told Linda to have first strike. Linda stood back and moved her right arm in front of her. The plank was seen to warp and crack.

“That technique is called gravitational warp. An intense gravitational force could be created at a point with enormous power over a highly localized area,” Lucia told them.

Linda then set it on fire. This was called cremation. A local highly intense temperature increase was invoked and led to the object catching on fire and disintegrating.

“This is the extent of the offensive powers that I’ve had time to discover, but I can create a short-term shield against offense.”

Andrea went next and demonstrated that she could throw fireballs and change her personal time which made her able to move extraordinary quickly. She could also transport herself from place to place moving about five yards each time.

Jason realized that he had not had the opportunity to ask Winston about his other skills and in particular what defenses he had against powers like cremation and warp.

’Jason, you can easily defend against all of that. You are going to have to spend some time learning about your offensive and defensive capacity. I’m not sure when you will do it, as there’s so much to do, and so little time. I’d suggest you eat and return to your stateroom where I’ll teach you an important meditation. You will be facing many hurdles and this is a useful tool to consider choices at a deeper level and provide also valuable rest quickly. It has many other benefits, too,’ said Winston earnestly.

Jason ate quickly, then excused himself saying he had some tasks to attend to, and returned to his stateroom. Following the instructions from Winston he sat with a pillow behind his back on his bed with his legs crossed. Winston took him into a profound state of meditation and created a word for Jason to trigger the state. He practiced a few times and then remained in the meditative state.

A vision of a being clothed in white holding a staff appeared standing in front of him with stars around and beneath him. Jason could see the same around himself and they stood facing each other. Furniture appeared and the being sat on a white sofa opposite Jason and suggested Jason sit on a similar sofa opposite him.

“Revered One!,” he heard from Winston and knew it was The One.

“Yes, Jason I am he,” said The One responding to the unasked question. He didn’t hear voices; the connection was direct to his mind. He had a great sense of peace. It was very much how he imagined heaven to be. The ground didn’t look solid. It was much like they were floating on clouds. He could imagine a heavenly choir, and floating angels with harps. The One had an ethereal air and he thought he could be a God. Indeed, the choir appeared singing beautifully which was startling in itself, but then he saw angels with harps sitting on elevated clouds gradually floating past him. The voices of the choir and the music was truly delightful. Jason looked at The One, entirely startled by the vision. The One laughed loudly and said, “Jason, we have been learning about a sense of humor. It must have been something that we once had but it’s truly a delight to learn this again. Your lessons to Winston are all passed on to us. We used to have a form, but we lost it during our first ascendancy.

“We have been around for at least three million years but we are not Gods.

“We think that there’s a chance, a strong chance, that you will play an important role in our current Universe. We have participated in two cataclysmic wars which almost destroyed us and our allies. Trillions of lives were lost. Both were dreadful events and matters are slowly building to what I fear is going to be a similar catastrophic series of events. The balance of forces following the second war is a critical factor in the coming war. The balance of order was upset at great cost by the winners and by the losers. The balance between order and disorder was disturbed. The protagonists widely dispersed powerful tools around the universe. They will be the keys to power to combat dark forces in the future. One will arise to restore the order. There are many who are potential key holders and those who wish to steal the keys to great powers. Over time we hope that the balance will be restored. For a long time, we have waited for the holder of the keys. The legends are that he will have formidable power. He will also have powerful friends and allies.

“You, we suspect, are not simply a person of Earth. Neither do we consider that you are simply of the Empire. There’s a very strong probability that you have a more powerful destiny. We have only become aware of this possibility in recent times. As yet we can’t see clearly and can’t be sure. You, coming into existence, caused a ripple. That ripple threatens to grow into a wave.

Beware that the tidal wave does not form and destroy what is known as The Mob. The original people and those they save have both been manipulated by dark forces. We’ll do better in the future war if we can make the groups who preceded the Mob our allies. The evil ones are large in influence but small in number as are the ones behind them.

Powerful and advanced beings have before both wars recruited us to fight on their side. The last war was almost the undoing of the Una. We escaped, and ran for our lives into other universes and the linking dimensions where most to this day remain lost to us. We obscured our planet and its system to hide it from destruction. We are now relatively few while we were many. We lived on many planets and thrived amongst the stars. We carry the legacy of the past and the memories of the pain of horrifying war, infinite cruelty, barbarity, and loss. We cry for our lost brothers and sisters, empires that shall be no more and great civilizations that were wiped from many galaxies.

“We don’t believe that it was a coincidence that you’ve reunited us with Winston. He wandered lost until you found him and you agreed for him to be your parcel.”

The picture that Jason saw in his mind of the ‘parcel’ was him seated on his sofa carrying a shopping bag from Saks Fifth Avenue, with Winston peeping over the top. The One laughed uproariously.

“He was the custodian, even though he’s one of the youngest of us, of a number of crystals that we had collected over the millennia.

“He felt the draw of the crystals pulling him through the mists of his dimension where he had wandered aimlessly, and was surprised to find you. He was surprised to find not one but many seeking you out. Your destiny so often chooses you, and not you, your destiny; and to us, your destiny is becoming clearer.

“You’ve done a great deed for our people. You have the blessings of the crystals and you will be in the future one of us. We welcome you even now as a member of the Una. The crystals or one of them may be one of the keys. We are not a party to that information. The sharing of your parcel with Winston, the acceptance of him, and therefore of us, has united us to you for all time. Your unconditional trust of him, and the purity of your mind and your intentions, lends us hope for the future. Your awareness needs to be heightened for the next conflict. Everything isn’t as it seems. Obey your instincts. We are with you, and you can always contact us.”

Jason awoke and had little but hazy memories of what had happened, and the fact that he’d met The One. He discovered that he was late for the evening meal. He quickly walked to the canteen and then to the conference room.

All was ready for the attack on the second planet of the clones, currently designated Planet B. He had a nagging sense that something was not right. He felt someone talking at the edge of his consciousness. They had to do something different on planet B. They couldn’t do something and he didn’t know what it was they couldn’t do. He just knew something was different, and he was going to make the difference in the attack.