The Algean swayed a little and said, “That’s because you two are the only one of your kind. You were constructed completely different from every other ship.”
Matt asked, “What does that mean?”
“Al has been given a neural network that is staggering in its structure. He, and wings, was designed to take the Searchers brain structure and duplicate it inside his network. Basically, Mr. Gardner, he is you with all the knowledge of the Realm available for decision making. He is the product of incremental developments from the computer we originally put in for Sten during the construction of the Alexander Kosiev more than a thousand years ago. That computer was the starting point of all our modern cybernetic developments. That was the first ship that would imprint on its commander. Our modern development will also imprint the commander’s personality.”
Matt thought about what he had just heard. “Then why do you need me? Just imprint ships on Searchers and do away with the pilot.”
“Doesn’t work that way; unlike the first computer in the Kosiev, the modern neural network only stays intact by contact with the Searcher’s mind. If the Searcher is separated from the computer for longer than five days, the network breaks down.”
“You’re not planning any trips are you,” Al said to Matt.
The Algean actually laughed in his thoughts and couldn’t stop. Soon Matt and Al caught his laughter and began laughing themselves. “This is better than I ever thought possible,” the Algean got out between his chuckling.
Matt took a deep breath, “What do we call you?”
“I’m still an adolescent so I have not been given an official name by my leaders. You may call me whatever you want.”
“Who are your parents?”
“I am a seed of Sprig and Twig.”
“Holy crap,” Al and Matt thought together.
Matt paused and said, “That means you have all of the memories of your parents; both your parents. I am impressed.” Matt leaned back in his chair and thought, “We are going to call you Stem.”
The Algean’s thoughts showed his approval. “I accept. It’s a good name. Thank you.”
“Why did you choose the two ships for your experiment?”
“Hey, who you calling an experiment?”
Matt smiled and thought, “I thought you only responded when asked a question.”
“That was then, this is now.”
“I’m afraid your computer is right, Mr. Gardner. Unlike other ships, this computer will develop skills that will make him somewhat more autonomous than others. I’m here to see how he develops and see if that autonomy interferes with your use of the ship or enhances it.”
“I’ll behave; please don’t turn me off.’
Matt smiled and said, “I actually like you the way you are, Al. You are the one that saved the Gresh fleet from destruction. Thanks for your help in avoiding the loss of life.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I think that you need to call me Magic instead of Mr. Gardner, Stem.”
“Magic it is. You can tell me why later; right now you have a task ahead of you, don’t you?”
“Yes, it seems the Gresh were planning to invade all eight planets that were trading partners. The other Searchers found fleets headed toward the other six planets and turned them around. One of those fleets had a third of it destroyed before the Gresh High command recalled the others. I think a trip to the Gresh home world is called for and I was trying to decide whether or not to call in some of our defender ships to get their attention.”
The Algean thought a moment, “I think the size of those ships would certainly get their attention, however, sometimes they need to know they stand no chance. If they could not withstand one of our small ships, then they should get the message about our larger classes. By the way, you know that an Alpha ship can defeat any ship in the Realm’s Navy.”
Matt paused a moment, “No, I didn’t know that. I assumed that the larger ships were also endowed with greater weapons.”
“Only the Alphas have all of our systems built in and only one of them has every system.”
Matt waited and didn’t want to ask but he felt he should know. “What ship is that?”
“You’re standing on it, buddy,” Al answered. “I wondered what all this stuff was that isn’t listed in the ships manuals.”
Matt then asked the question he wasn’t sure he wanted an answer, “Why was I selected to command this ship?”
The Algean bent forward slightly indicating a smile, “Because your mind is the only one big enough to be able to control it. The ship selected you. If you had not come along this ship may have never been raised; it did because you possess the necessary abilities to use it. However, your tests indicate that you are not completely developed. Some of the systems in this ship will not activate until all your psychic skills become active.”
“When will that happen, Stem?”
“Maybe never; latent abilities could remain dormant or they could happen immediately. Either way, your current level was enough to raise this ship. I have been waiting for this moment for three hundred years and I must say that I am excited at the prospect of seeing what the future holds.”
“What about Wings? Does she also have all of the advanced systems?”
“No, she was designed at a lower threshold than Al. If Angel had not already raised wings two months earlier, you would have probably raised both ships. We were incredibly lucky that Angel raised her ship first.”
“Well, I guess I am going to visit the Gresh. Perhaps they will listen to what will happen if they continue their aggressive habits.”
‘If you don’t mind, I’ve asked Fleet Command release Wings from her search mission until this problem resolves itself. I think it would be a good learning experience for Wing’s computer to take part in this exercise.”
“I don’t mind at all, Stem.”
“Now if you don’t mind I will probably just be an observer most of the time. There are some equations that have been problematic and I need the processing time. If you need me just send me a thought.”
“If you like I’ll sing you a lullaby to help you sleep,” Al interjected.
Stem chuckled, “I can already tell that this is going to get interesting.”
Matt just sat and shook his head.
“So now you have your own personal Algean,” Angel thought.
“Yep, why don’t you just fly on over to their home world and pick up one for yourself? Pick a short one, there’s not much room on your bridge for a tall one.”
Angel snickered, “No, I think I’ll just keep things as they are.”
“Are you ready to take a trip out to see the Gresh?”
“I’ll follow your lead. How do you want to handle it?”
“I am not going there to cause loss of life. I don’t think they can hurt us so I’m going to avoid killing their ships if it can be avoided.”
“Matt, I don’t think they will give you that luxury. It’s their home system and they will be ferocious in its defense.”
“Here’s how we’ll make that happen. They have not developed a star drive that allows them to jump inside the jump limit. I passed a system on my way into this spiral arm during my search that has a huge star. The jump limit is more than eighty hours out from the inner planets. I plan to teleport any ship that comes close to us to the inner planets of that system so they won’t make it back for more than three days. I of course, am not going to tell the Gresh that their ships are unharmed; I’ll let them think what they want.”
Angel was once again impressed with Matt’s ability to see patterns that she had missed. “We could have done that here.”
“Different situation; if the ships attacking the planet did not see the consequences of their aggression then they would have thought we were too soft to hurt them. They are not doing anything but defending their own turf when we go to them. We shouldn’t harm them for doing something that we would do ourselves.”
“Would you be so kind to send me the coordinates of that star system you want use?”
