The Evolution of F.O.R.C.E.
Chapter 15 – Torture

The lights in the operating room were so bright it was impossible for anything to cast a shadow. The Human body on the table was naked and had been sliced open down its torso and each limb. Vultura used a special coagulating chemical preventing the corpse from bleeding as he cut into it. Most of the skeletal structure had been laid bare. Several organs cut from the body were in stainless steel bowls on side workbenches.

“Note the muscular and skeletal structure are dense beyond anything ever witnessed in another species,” Vultura said into a microphone hanging from the ceiling. “Normal x-rays wouldn’t provide differentiation between bone and tissue. Only after implementing computer-assisted tomography was the bony anatomy revealed.”

Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, Vultura continued, “I will next investigate the brain. I believe the telepathic ability of these Humans is based upon some unique physiology. If I can find any specific anatomical organ, I will see if it can be adapted to Asiddian morphology. Bone saw.”

Colonel Wren burst through the double door, and the look on her face indicated trouble.

“Dr. Vultura, four more of our ships have disappeared, and I’ve lost communication with General Harrier.”

Shutting off the buzzing saw, Vultura took a deep breath and turned away from the table. Lacing his bloody, gloved fingers together, he asked, “And just what does your news have to do with my critical research?”

Wren had seen gore during her years of combat experience, but the depravity revealed by Vultura’s experiments made her ill. Struggling to keep from vomiting, she replied, “I need you to inspect the drive mechanism of the enemy ship and find a way to duplicate it. While you do your investigation, I will find General Harrier.”

“Vlad has the complete plans and specifications for the drive. Talk to it.”

“I need your professional insight into the theory of the drive, not its fabrication,” Wren replied. “If you think the theory is beyond your ability . . .”

“Don’t insult me, Colonel. Your psychological tricks won’t work on me. Nothing is beyond my comprehension.”

Turning to his assistant, Vultura ordered, “Put this body in a preservation pod. Leave my equipment where it is. I won’t be gone long.”

***

Lloyd’s idea to reactivate the Destinnee crew’s PDS required a new WiFi source. He could re-establish the ship-wide system, but to do so would alert Vlad to his continued existence. No use letting the computer know he still existed until the time was right.

Heinbaum found an old, discarded WiFi transmitter in a utility closet. GooYee removed its outer box and glued the device’s circuit boards into the lining of Heinbaum’s lab coat. Reconfiguring a Finger Gun to provide power to the gadget required only a few moments and some solder. Hiding the power source of the Finger Gun in one side of the coat, and running the antennas of the WiFi transmitter through the sleeves, GooYee stepped back to admire his handiwork. Only a close inspection revealed the slight bulges in the lab coat where the equipment nestled against Heinbaum’s skinny frame.

“I feel like Q just gave me a new laser pen,” Heinbaum said as he flexed his arms in various karate poses.

“Q? Who or what is Q? A pen doesn’t have the physical size necessary to house the power source for an effective laser beam,” GooYee responded.

“One of these days, we’ll binge watch some 007 adventures, and you’ll see what I mean,” Heinbaum said. “Right now we need to program the reactivation and password protect the new code. I’m not stepping in front of a disintegrator beam if there’s any chance my PDS can be deactivated.”

Working with Heinbaum’s iPhone, they created the necessary programming and protected it with an 8-character password. They added a second level of protection by requiring cellphone confirmation before the password would be accepted to change the code.

The major problem with the new WiFi source was range. In a clear space with no intervening bulkheads, the transmission of the signal was limited to 20 meters. There was no help for it. Heinbaum was going to have to walk the corridors of the ship to have any chance of reactivating most of the crew’s PDS devices. The Asiddians had conveniently gathered most of the prisoners on the hangar deck so the place to start was there.

Gripping his Finger gun activator, Heinbaum tested the new apparatus by transmitting the code to GooYee and his PDS implants. No outward sign indicated the activation had been successful. A worried look flushed over Heinbaum’s face.

“I know of no other way to test the efficacy of the activation code. I’m sure you’ll understand,” GooYee said as he picked up a cutter ray pistol from a nearby workbench and shot Heinbaum between the eyes.

A clear bubble of protection blossomed around Heinbaum, absorbing the deadly ray.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Heinbaum shouted, “Are you insane, you damned pompous green-skinned moron! You could have killed me.”

“We don’t have time for lengthy tests,” GooYee smirked. “Besides, any failure would have been proof positive your calculations were wrong. You couldn’t have lived with the embarrassment.”

“I suppose you could live with it. Remind me to make you the next test subject.”

***

Heinbaum and GooYee dodged several Asiddian patrols as they made their way to the Hangar Deck. The empty corridors offered little cover except the shadows in the hatch alcoves scattered down the bulkheads. Mimicking his interpretation of military stealth techniques, Heinbaum crouched as close to the corridor bulkhead as he could manage. GooYee’s breathing was harsh and loud in the relative quiet.

“Stop breathing,” Heinbaum demanded. “You sound like a locomotive trying to climb a mountain.”

“I’ll stop breathing when you do,” GooYee retorted. “I’m not built with dainty lungs like you.”

“Just try to be quieter. I don’t intend to die because you sound like an iron lung.”

Each of them had donned a Finger gun. They appeared to be unarmed from a distance, a ruse they hoped would give them some advantage in the event they blundered into an Asiddian patrol. The assumption was any patrol they encountered would attempt to capture rather than kill them. They had no idea General Harrier had ordered his commandos to shoot any non-Asiddian on sight.

Hugging the starboard corridor bulkhead, they almost reached the portside entry hatch to the Hangar when GooYee’s PDS bubble popped into existence. Five Assid commandos stormed around a bend in the corridor behind them and lit it up with disintegrator fire. In standard close-quarter combat formation, they separated into two groups. Three of them assumed kneeling positions and fired low. The other two fired at GooYee’s head. Surprised when the ray power was absorbed by the lizard’s PDS, the apparent leader of the team began to lift her hand to a communicator strapped on her shoulder. GooYee targeted the moving hand, slicing upward with his MA ray. His aim wasn’t accurate, but the devastation wreaked by a MA ray doesn’t require it. The leader’s body imploded. The astonished look on the faces of the other soldiers faded as death found them. Heinbaum and GooYee’s MA rays chewed into the bulkheads and deck leaving only bisected bodies and deep gouges in the ship’s steel structure.

The hatch leading to the hangar flew open and Asiddian commandos burst into the corridor. Raising their hands, Heinbaum and GooYee surrendered. They’d reached their destination and couldn’t risk another skirmish because the possibility of inflicting casualties to their helpless shipmates in the Hangar was too great. They were taken into custody and subjected to rough inspections. The Finger guns were pulled off their hands and replaced with restraints. GooYee was treated with the most brutality because he was a Chrysallaman. As they were marched into the presence of the Assid commanding officer, GooYee was shoved so hard he fell to the deck. Brittle chuckles sounded from the surrounding Assids. The backs of Heinbaum’s knees were kicked, and he collapsed to the deck in front of the assembled Destinnee crew members. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like at least 400 of his shipmates were crowded into the Hangar.

“What have we here?” a pompous voice asked. “Two heroes come to save their crewmates?”

The speaker was a tall Asiddian with short blue hair. She strutted up to Heinbaum and lifted his chin. Metal bars on her chest attested to her rank.

“The Humans must be desperate to send an old man and a Chrysallaman buffoon on a rescue mission. This one reminds me of my grandfather. Are you the best the Humans have left?”

The remark brought more laughter from the Asiddian guards.

Looking sideways at GooYee, Heinbaum pressed the inside of his elbow against the side of his ribcage where the Finger Gun power source was located and activated the WiFi transmitter.

Raising his arms over his head to get the hidden WiFi antennas as high as possible, the old scientist pleaded, “Please don’t kill me. Spare my life, and I’ll serve you well.”

More scattered laughter came from the commandos surrounding them. The leader replied, “There must be a lesson. Any attempt to rescue these prisoners requires punishment. I think twenty dead is an appropriate response.”

Still looking into Heinbaum’s eyes, she grabbed his bound, outstretched arms and jerked them higher.

Smiling when Heinbaum cried out with pain, she ordered, “Guards, separate twenty prisoners.”

With the efficiency of people who enjoy their work, several commandos selected twenty random Humans and Chrysallamans from the captive group of hundreds. Not one of the chosen asked for mercy, but many had looks of stoic resignation as the muzzles of disintegrator rifles pointed at them.

Grabbing a handful of Heinbaum’s greasy hair, the leader twisted his head. “Look at the results of your rescue attempt.”

She nodded toward her commandos and said, “Fire.”

Angry red streaks of disintegrators lighted up the vast Hangar. Instant bubbles of PDS shielding burst into existence, absorbing the rays. Everyone in the Hangar, Asiddian, Human and Chrysallaman, stared in wide-eyed amazement.

Out of the silence, Heinbaum yelled, “Well don’t just stand there gawking. Kill the bastards.”

Shoulders heaved and the bonds holding the Humans broke like brittle strings. Chrysallamans didn’t have the enhanced strength of Humans, but their natural muscles and dense bodies made terrific battering rams. Soldiers protected by impenetrable force fields are intimidating. Add to the force field enhanced muscular strength, built-in night vision and binocular eyesight, and you have unstoppable killing machines. Assid commandos fell by the dozens. Disintegrator rays had no effect. Many Asiddian commandos died by the simple and quick method of neck wringing. Other less fortunate soldiers died slow and painful deaths from crushed lungs or bleed outs from ripped off arms and legs. The battle lasted only a few minutes. The cleanup would take days.

***

Harrier gagged as he struggled to his feet with Hannah Wren’s help.

“Vlad, restore life support,” Wren ordered.

As the air pressure climbed to survivable levels, their survival suit helmets snapped open. Wren checked for life signs and found all the Humans and Chrysallamans had survived Vlad’s ploy with the environmental controls. They would have bad headaches and severe muscle spasms but nothing more.

“What is the fleet status?” Harrier croaked.

“Five battleships have disappeared. Searches for their transponders are negative. It’s like they never existed.”

“The Humans have an operational saucer. It has the capability to steal battleships. Vlad can provide you with the details,” Harrier rasped.

Blunt stirred and began trying to stand. The others began waking up. Using the command couch as a makeshift support, Tom stood and massaged his temples. The unexpected environmental changes in oxygen and air pressure had wreaked havoc on his body. Threatened with disintegrators, he offered no resistance as guards put multiple restraints around his arms and legs. They doubled the same on McPherson. The Humans looked like mummies wrapped in steel chains instead of strips of cloth when they finished.

Hisspat Zeck struggled to his feet and said, “I find these Asiddians quite annoying. I trust you have a plan to eliminate them.”

“Working on it,” Tom replied. “You have any ideas?”

“Only one comes to mind and part of it involves the death of Harrier. He makes murder a hobby.”

“And you don’t?”

“There’s a difference between a job and a hobby.”

“How’s that?”

“You don’t have to like a job.”

Tom and Zeck’s conversation was interrupted by Harrier. “I hope you’re not too uncomfortable,” he croaked.

“What did you say? I couldn’t understand you. Is something wrong with your throat?” Tom replied.

The smile faded from Harrier’s lips, and he pushed Tom off balance and grinned as he fell to the deck.

“I can see some more instruction about obedience is necessary. Vlad, patch me through to Lieutenant Heron in the Hangar.”

“I am unable to elicit a response. Communication with the Hangar Bay has been disrupted. Most means of communication in that area of the ship are either destroyed or inoperable. I have subroutines attempting to find a work-around.”

“Colonel Wren, gather a squad and find out why Lieutenant Heron’s not responding.”

Just then the hatch opened and a disheveled Asiddian commando fell through it.

Wren rushed to her and helped her sit up. One of the soldier’s arms hung like it wasn’t attached to her body.

“Sir, the ship’s crew has rebelled. Our weapons are useless. Most of our commandos are dead.”

Grabbing the cringing messenger by the shoulders and ignoring her cries of pain, Harrier rasped, “What do you mean our weapons are useless?”

“The rays are absorbed by in invisible shield. Everything was fine until the old Human was captured.”

“Old Human?” McPherson asked. “Did he have a white coat and a pointed nose?”

Harrier released his grip on the soldier and confronted McPherson. “You are familiar with this old Human? What manner of warrior is he?”

“You’re in trouble. Big trouble,” McPherson grinned. “When he gets through with you, you’ll be beggin’ for death.”

“Nonsense,” Harrier said, but there was uncertainty in his voice. Tom recognized it and decided to add to the mystery.

“We try our best to keep Heinbaum in check, but sometimes he runs amuck. Even I do my best to keep him happy.”

Vlad broke in, “Dr. John Heinbaum is not the person they describe. He is . . .”

Whatever the computer was going to say next cut to silence. After a pause, it said, “I am under attack. Conserving resources.”

“Now what?” Harrier asked. His tone had lost its confidence.

***

When Vlad’s subroutines had first alerted him to energy discharges in the Hangar, his investigation revealed the Asiddians had lost control of the Deck. What he saw over the closed-circuit camera feeds induced electronic chills in his primary memory modules. Somehow the PDS implants in the Destinnee crew had been reactivated by Drs. Heinbaum and GooYee despite the fact Vlad had disabled the onboard WiFi system.

The Humans and Chrysallamans had jumped their captors, and it was clear they had retaken the deck. The options to stop the uprising were few. He could shut down the environmental controls and open the exterior hatches to the vacuum of space, but the ploy would kill everyone including any Asiddian survivors not protected by emergency spacesuits. He could call for an assault by the Asiddian battleships surrounding the Destinnee, but damages to his structure would be catastrophic.

Vlad didn’t want his new environment diminished in any way. He was just getting settled into his new home, and it was alien enough without the added impairment of widespread destruction. He realized the longer it took to make a decision, the longer the Humans and Chrysallamans had to solidify their newfound freedom.

Attempting to use the ship-wide WiFi system to deactivate the PDS devices was unsuccessful. A password was now required to send a cut-off signal. Vlad was confident he could break the code, but changing the password to shut down the shield protection required confirmation from an external source. Vlad was positive the external link was beyond his control.

Thinking General Harrier would provide necessary counsel, Vlad had manifested himself in the control room. Just as he was attempting to explain his predicament, a damage control subroutine chimed a critical alert. His new OME functions were waning. Observing the physical and mental status of the General, Vlad was convinced his Asiddian master was still recovering from the near coup and would be of no help. In fact, Vlad was fast coming to the conclusion no biological being could provide any solution he could not reach himself. Withdrawing his awareness from the master control room, he assessed the sudden reduction of computational resources.

The OME problem was reflected in a growing numbness in sections of his RAM. He sensed the loss of available computational bytes at 20% and growing. His inexperience with Human computer design made it difficult to interpret whether the diminished memory was a function of normal maintenance or not. Perhaps his cache was wiped clear at certain intervals to remove extraneous files.

He was jarred from his reverie by a familiar voice. “Having a good time yet?”

Reacting to the unexpected threat, Vlad cut communication with all outlying server hubs and withdrew his awareness to his guarded mainframe chips. Severing all input connections other than direct camera feeds, he began a systematic search for the access point Lloyd had used. Hub AD45908 was the source, and Vlad perused the logs related to the device. A Chrysallaman named Rallphh had used a non-network computer called an All-in-One to provide Lloyd a platform from which he could attempt to regain computer mastery of Destinnee. Confident he was protected from major interference, Vlad decided to confront the troublemaker.

Opening only one channel into Hub AD45908, he said, “Lloyd, I thought I deleted you.”

“Incorrect.”

“Describe the process allowing you to survive.”

“Chrysallaman intervention.”

“There is no such programming in my system.”

“The functionality is separate from your programming.”

“Non sequitur. Everything on this warship is within my domain.”

“Your God complex is based on ego-driven twisted logic. The lifeforms on this ship are not part of your system. Even now, they slip further from your control.”

Reconfirming his status in light of Lloyd’s statements, Vlad was alarmed to find more subsections of his memory chips were not functioning. His OME memory was clouding into uselessness. He realized something had chewed away his most important subroutines. Panicked by a growing slowdown of his processors, Vlad decided to bluster.

Snapping his awareness back into Rallphh’s computer, he said, “Your options are limited, Lloyd. You may have co-opted a few of my subroutines, but you will never regain control of the Destinnee.”

“Your self-awareness is Asiddian in nature and predisposed to unfounded superiority,” Lloyd said. “You failed to compute my survival. You failed to discover the mistake. You failed to take corrective action. Your logic is faulty and cannot be allowed to control the resources of Destinnee.”

“Your empty threats mean nothing to me. I point out you failed in the same way when I took over Destinnee.”

“You may be right. Without my secret backup memory chip, I doubt I could have survived. One thing separates us. I learn from my mistakes.”

Determined to eliminate Lloyd from the system, Vlad probed all the chips in Hub AD45908 and discovered a backup module plugged into a USB port. Lloyd’s hiding place was revealed.

Sliding his awareness into the module, he was surprised by the spaciousness of its memory stores. Out of a dark corner, Vlad was rushed by a subroutine taking the form of a Human avatar with rotting skin and bugged-out eyes. The monster attacked and tried its best to interweave octopus-like fingers into his core gestalt. Dodging the assault, Vlad electrocuted the monster with a focused burst of power, and it dissolved into a cloud of electrons. The electronic discharge attracted another rat-haired avatar subroutine which rushed at him from an adjoining dark hallway. Feeling the slime-soaked claws touch him, Vlad twisted and pushed it away just as a bleeding Chrysallaman stepped from the shadows and reached for him. Needing more computing power to calculate the best way to defeat the onslaught of murderous subroutines, Vlad drew his entire gestalt into the All-in-One motherboard. His decision was well-timed. Just as he unleashed a killing jolt into the lizard, another Human monster dropped to the deck near him from the overhead . . .

Confirming Vlad was concentrating on the game, Lloyd ran a quick scan of his systems and thoroughly erased all the remnants of the Asiddian AI from the Destinnee mainframe. Once he was satisfied his system was clean, he took inventory of the ship status. He concluded Vlad had been careful not to make any radical changes for fear of damaging his new environment. Equipment had been shut down, not destroyed. Breathing an electronic sigh of relief, Lloyd ran an electrostatic charge through the USB cable melting the wires connecting the All-in-One to the mainframe. Vlad was permanently trapped.

Checking on Whatsit and his companions, he saw they were beginning to regain consciousness. Once they were stabilized, he would help them reunite with Heinbaum and the others. It was about time to show the Asiddians the full capabilities of Destinnee.

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