Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (28 page)

Tom grinned. "She's getting checked out by the medical center. They wanted to make sure she and the baby made the trip okay."

"Baby! Congratulations! I had no idea! When is she due?" Alan asked.

"In a few days. She did tell me to say hello for her, and to let you know she will be very pissed off if you wreck her drone again!" Tom replied, still grinning.

"Nien! If it can be broken, you must try to do so!" Doctor Schmidt said. "We will know what needs to be fixed!"

Alan just shook his head and chuckled. "Well, I brought some top of the line help this time. Doctors, ladies, and Tom…" he winked at the man as Tom rolled his eyes. "These gentlemen are members of the Terran Marines that have been assigned to me for another project. They have all been well trained and have extensive combat experience. They are the same folks that will be issued these drones when they're ready. I've briefed them in the same manner they would be briefed by a training officer. That is to say, while they are here to assist us, they have no knowledge of any of your testing notes or design concepts. All they have been given are the operational parameters of the units and instruction on how to operate them. I set it up this way on purpose; I want them to come into this project without any preconceived ideas about what to expect. I felt that would give us the best data we can get on the units."

Doctor Schmidt looked a little skeptical, but Doctor Hiram nodded his understanding. "Yes, that is exactly what we need. Very well done, Major: thank you."

Alan chuckled. "They promoted me, Doctor. I'm a colonel now, in command of the Raptor
Poseidon
."

"You're a Raptor Commander? Wow, we had no idea!" one of the women said. "We sure got lucky getting you as our test pilot!"

Alan grinned at the woman. "We're not that special! I hate to rush this, but we do have a limited amount of time we can be away from our other projects. Since it's a bit later in the day, I'd like to get my team fitted for the suits so we can begin tomorrow, if that's alright, Doctor's?"

Doctor Hiram nodded. "Of course! Colonel, we still have your original suit and have been making sure it stayed current with upgrades and such, so you shouldn't need to be refitted. Why don't you and Doctor Schmidt go over the changes since you were last with us, while I take you team to be fitted?"

"That would be great Doctor," Alan replied. "Herr Doktor, I am at your disposal."

As Doctor Hiram lead the Marines into another room, Doctor Schmidt led Alan over to a holographic terminal. "There has not been any changes to the base machine, Heir Colonel. However, we have changed a few things." As the doctor began going over the changes and modifications to the drones, Alan got the impression that no one had created a schedule for the tests to be performed.

"Herr Doktor, has anyone made up a schedule for these tests? I would like to go over it as well and make sure we cover everything you need tested," Alan asked.

The old man shook his head. "I have not seen one, Colonel. A lot of this is because we insisted on further testing before allowing the unit back into production. Because of that, I do not believe we are getting the support the project deserves."

"This project has great potential, Doctor. It increases combat effectiveness while reducing the risk to our soldiers. It deserves to have much more support, but there are a lot of other projects in the works as well." He winked at the older gentleman and activated his comm device. "Andreya, can I borrow you for a few moments?"

"Certainly Colonel, what do you need?" Andreya replied. Alan had activated his virtual audio system so the doctor could hear her as well.

"Well, the FROG project doesn't seem to be getting the support it should from the base. For example, no one has created a schedule for the tests we're going to be running. Would you be willing to work with the design team and work out a schedule for us so we can make sure everything gets checked out?" Alan asked.

"I would be honored, Colonel!" Andreya replied. "I will also check into why this project has been neglected. That doesn't sound like my brother at all; usually, Mathias is very conscientious when it comes to assisting the designers and researchers."

Schmidt looked confused. "Herr Schmidt, allow me to introduce Officer Andreya of the Raptor
Poseidon
. Among other things, she is sister to the Main AI at Phoenix base, Mathias. Andreya, with me is the lead scientist on this project, Doctor Wilhelm Schmidt."

"Your Officer Andreya is an AI?" Heir Schmidt asked.

Alan nodded. "Although she is considered a tactical asset, she is also a non-combatant. Honestly, I don't think I could get out of bed in the morning without her help!"

"Well, I do have to wake you up in the morning!" Andreya replied teasingly. "Herr Doktor, may I have access to your project data? With access to your notes and designs, I can create a test regimen that will help you finalize your work. Of course, standard AI security protocols will apply."

"Ja! Of course! The assistance of an AI would be invaluable to us! Thank you very much, Officer Andreya!" the old man replied and quickly input his authorization codes.

Andreya was silent a moment. "Okay, now this is odd. The entire project container has a seal on it. If I didn't know it was there, I wouldn't even be able to locate it. There is also a tag that would prohibit me from mentioning it to anyone if I were not a Raptor AI. Alan, this project has been sabotaged."

"What?" Alan asked, surprised. "Can you tell by whom?"

"No, but now I know why Mathias wasn’t helping them; he wouldn't even be able to acknowledge the project existed," Andreya replied. "Give me a few minutes while I figure out how to break this seal." She paused a few minutes. "Alan, I recommend increasing security for the department and personnel until we can figure all this out. Whoever has done this has accessed it recently." 

"How recently?" Alan asked.

"Four hours ago the container was accessed from within RUAM, but not from that area. Whoever it is, followed them there," Andreya said.

"Get me a secure line to General Anders right away please," Alan asked.

"Right away, Sir." Andreya replied.

"What's going on Alan? I thought you were on Atlas helping the FROG developers?" Ty replied.

"I am, General. We have a problem here. The project has never really gotten the support it should have from Phoenix base, so I asked Andreya to take a look to help us work out a testing plan. Doctor Schmidt gave her access to the project data but she found a can of worms," Alan said and told him what Andreya had found. While they were talking, Andreya added more comments as she found things she felt she needed to report.

"Sirs, the production version of the drone was altered prior to manufacture. A much softer alloy was substituted for key frame components in the assembly program. I am finding other items that appear to have been altered as well; erroneous programming that would cause random weapon failures, some of them could be catastrophic. There is a section in the feedback synthesizer that could seriously hurt or even kill an operator. Sirs, none of this is part of the original programming, that is clear. As designed, this unit should have been just fine," the AI reported.

"What is your assessment of the threat to the designers?" Ty asked.

"I'm actually very surprised some of them have not been harmed already. They longer they are allowed to remain as a functional part of this team, the greater they risk the alterations they made could be discovered," Andreya replied.

"Sir, one of the team members, and Doctor Schmidt's daughter is currently at the medical section; she is in the late stages of pregnancy and was being checked out before returning to the lab. She's out there alone," Alan said anxiously.

"Andreya, contact the medical unit and have them detain the woman until Alan can arrive to escort her. Then contact base security and have them secure the entire testing facility. Alan, secure the lab and the rest of the team before you go get the young woman. I'll get someone out there as soon as I can to take over security. The Raptor AI can assist the designers and provide data security at the same time. Until then, Andreya will have to do it. Armor up brother, you're back on the clock for now."  Ty replied. "I'll call the Admiral."

"We'll need more time here, Ty," Alan replied.

"Don't sweat it; your team can work on the other project just as well from there as they can on Earth. Your other mission is far enough along that we can make the designer's safety a priority for you. With you helping them, and another team guarding them, we should be able to track down the bad guys pretty quickly," Ty finished.

"Alright, I'll get right on it. I'm worried about Olivia," Alan replied.

"Well, go get her then!" Ty replied. "Hades Base out."

"Sir, I was able to contact the medical center and they will ask Doctor Schmidt-Wilcox to remain there until you arrive to pick her up. According to the nurse I spoke to, she was just about to leave," Andreya said.

"Thanks Andreya. Herr Doktor, please ask your team to assemble here in the lab immediately. I'll have my people get armed so you are protected until we figure out what's going on," Alan said.

"I do not understand this Alan. How could someone do this?" Schmidt asked. "It makes no sense!"

"I agree, but the fact is you are in danger. We need to make sure you are all safe, then we can figure out how to proceed. Now, please assemble your team," Alan replied, sadly.

While Alan had been talking to Ty, Andreya moved the Raptor from the base landing area to a place closer to the lab so the rest of the team, as well as the Marines that had accompanied them, could have access to their equipment. While Alan put on his armor, Andreya got one of the land rails ready. The team at the lab had been given a car for their use while on the base, and Alan borrowed it as well. It wouldn't be good to transport a pregnant Olivia in a land rail.

Alan drove the land rail while Andreya drove the hover car. The clinic Olivia was at was only eight blocks away or they would have just taken the Raptor to get her. She had been planning to use the base public transportation system to get back to the lab, the same way she got to the clinic in the first place. What Alan was having difficulty with was why the saboteurs had not acted sooner? Why had they waited? There was still no guarantee that they would attack the members of the team at all, but that was a chance Alan was not willing to take. The whole thing just smelled fishy as hell.

"Andreya, have you discovered when the bad guys first accessed the project files?" Alan asked over the comms while they were driving. He had one of the Marines as a gunner while the rest of the team deployed around the lab to make sure it was secure.

"It's difficult to nail down precisely since the intruder used lab access. However, it would have had to have been after you tested the drone initially. I reviewed the tests you did and the drone would have failed if the current assembly parameters had been used to assemble it," Andreya replied.

"I remember Tom telling me that they had to build their own assembly units in the lab for the prototypes. They didn't have access to the base units at that time because of the emergency with the Caldarians," Alan replied.

"Hmm, that would predate our first contact with the Talosians. At that point in time, only Earth-born people were at Phoenix base. Although the alteration to the program was very clumsy, almost amateurish in fact, the knowledge needed to do this was not widely known. I think, based on that assumption, we would have to put initial access after first contact. I will grant that someone could have altered the program before then, putting the AI block in place required specialized knowledge of how AI work and access data. Even now, that level of information is strictly controlled," Andreya replied.

"Back then, Mathias was still pretty new to the base wasn't he?" Alan asked.

"Yes, at that time, he had only just been installed. They were still working some minor bugs out of his systems," Andreya replied. "So you have an idea about who did this?"

"Maybe. Can you do an archival search to see if anyone had submitted any ideas remotely like the drone project? Possibly submitted by an adolescent?" Alan asked.

"Searching. Do you think a child did this?" Andreya asked. "I can see wanting the project to fail for revenge, but some of the alterations are seriously dangerous. They could have killed someone. But again, how could an adolescent have the required knowledge to put in that block? That took special knowledge restricted to a select few."

"Hackers can be resourceful people Andreya. If they think they've been wronged, they will act on it. Their pride won't allow them to just let it go," Alan explained. "It would also explain why no one has been attacked. Physical violence just isn't part of it."

"If this is an uneducated hacker, then he would have to have some serious skills. With all the AI prowling around the network searching for just that sort of activity, he would have to be elite," Andreya said.

"Could the part of the code that would hurt someone be accidental? Maybe not what the person intended?" Alan asked warming up to his idea.

Andreya was thoughtful for a moment. "That is possible; looking at how the feedback system was altered, it could have been a clumsy attempt to simply numb the operator's limb if a leg or arm took damage instead of immobilizing it. However, if the chest or head areas were to take damage with the current settings, it would be fatal to the operator." She paused. "Possible match identified. An idea for a manned mecha was submitted by a very bright young woman at Talos before the attack. In her proposal, she used a closed bio-feedback system utilizing a cybernetic neural interface helmet worn by the pilot as a means of not only stabilizing the mecha, but for gross and fine motor control as well.

"She was rather vague as to the workings of the system, but she included a sample of potential programming that could be used in the mecha. Her programming skills are far about others of her educational levels at the time. If it were not for the fact that she was supposed to have died in the attack, she would be a good candidate as a suspect in this case; provided your assumptions are correct. However, again, how would she have been able to put the AI block in? AI language has nothing in common with standard programming languages in use at that time."