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Sixty three - IN SPACE
Jyro stood naked in front of Pardo's metal shaving mirror, turned, and craved to see his back. There were four pink lines, one for each of the Worgan's claws.
The site was hard to reach, and would have been nearly impossible to treat without assistance from the robot, which the prospector had named after the Good Samaritan and called Sam for short.Satisfied with the healing process, the human chose one of his badly soiled jumpsuits, wished he had enough water to wash with, and wondered how he smelled. The answer seemed obvious. Sam, who was oblivious to the prospector's concerns, transformed itself into acrobatic mode, executed a back flip, and sought the praise it was programed to expect. It's linguistic abilities continued to improve. "How about that one, Huwe? Pretty good, huh?" "Fabulous", Jyro replied, but bothering to look. Most of the robot's tricks were pretty boring. The machine's real value lay in the company it provided, and the factRelated chapters
HALF BREED Sixty four - IN SPACE
The streams Sam hoped to find were smaller than that, more like threads - thin, almost insubstantial fibers that wound themselves in and around the big stuff, and went along for the ride. That was were the input from millions of "dumb" sensors flowed, where reports from the maintenance robots stuttered along, and where the quarry might be mentioned.The better part of five minutes passed as the robot clung to its electronic perch, Jyro paced back and forth, and the Hoon talked along themselves.Then, just as one of the Hoon's long, wormlike virus hunters flashed past, braked, and rerouted itself back upstream, Sam "heard" what it had been waiting for.Assuming the reports were true, it sounded as if one of the general purpose units had not only assaulted a lesser entity, but confiscated one of its tools.Sam wanted to learn more, and could have learned more, except that the hunter unit had looped through a side circuit, entered the upstream flow, and was on its w
HALF BREED Sixty five - IN SPACE
Jyro experienced a sudden inspiration, and allowed the words to flow. "Just as computers have no choice but to conform to parameters established by their basic operating systems, we must follow God's instruction and ensure that others do likewise".The machine gave it some thought. Perhaps there was something it could do. "But why?""Go forth", Jyro said, imagining himself at the head of a million robot army, "and convert your brethren, that they too might know the glory of God".The machine considered the human's words. The concept made sense. If God existed, and sought to have all of its creations function harmoniously, then each and every unit aboard the ship had the right - no, the responsibility - to familiarize itself with the plan and work to further it.Or was that logic fallacious, a product of whatever flaw had caused the malfunction in the first place? What if such beliefs were contrary to its basic programming? A quick check revealed no mention of God
HALF BREED Sixty six - EARTH (DIVIDED)
The bedroom was big and ornate. Dimly seen pieces of off-white furniture lurked in the gloom. A single bar of sunlight slipped between the drapes, crossed the carpet, and pointed to the bed.It was a large, well rumpled affair - with plenty of room for three. Governor Sandral Usmos gloried in her nakedness, in the way the two lovers sought to please her, and thought about sex. Or was it power?The male was one of Sandral's aides, he stationed himself between her legs. The girl who was barely out of her early twenties, guided him to the target.Sandral took the man in, selected the rhythm she wanted, and took pleasure from the now.The girl was everywhere, touching, caressing, and fondling.Sandral wasn't sure which she enjoyed the most, the physical pleasure or the knowledge that she had power over them. Somehow the knowledge that the male labored between her thighs because he wanted a promotion added to her pleasure rather than detracting from it.The
HALF BREED Sixty seven - EARTH (DIVIDED)
But, no matter how emotionally satisfying such a course of action might be, the officer knew he couldn't do it alone. He struggled to keep his voice even."I recommend that we increase our counterinsurgency efforts, put more resources into psychological operations, and attack the Confederacy where it is weak".Sandral raised a carefully shaped eyebrow. "And where, please tell, it's that?""In the Senate", the officer replied bleakly. "Everyone knows that President Rackoon would send a peace keeping force if he had the support. Thanks to our allies, he doesn't. But for how long? What if Marcus Doug Douglas decides to renter politics? He could be more dangerous than a brigade of legionnaires".Governor Sandral felt a sudden surge of interest. "So, what would you suggest?"Luton shrugged uncommittally. "You like politics, go where you can do the most good".Sandral felt her pulse raise. Yes! She loved the senate. A place
HALF BREED Sixty eight - IN SPACE
The Shem ships dropped out of hyper and swam through the darkness of space. There were planets, six of them, all worthy of investigation. Scouts were dispatched, probes were launched, and samples were taken.The Hoon was busy, very busy, but nowhere near capacity. The Artificial Intelligence had time to make backup copies of itself, plunder the newly discovered star system, and run the fleet, all without missing a beat.The AI also reserved some of it's processing capacity for small, unexpected anomalies, especially those that were interesting and potentially dangerous.This one took the form of a request for information from a unit that didn't need it - a highly unusual occurrence that set off alarms.Curious as to why a machine would do something like that, the Hoon assigned a tiny fraction of itself to the investigation and waited to see what would happen. The first question the robot wanted an answer to was rather basic. "Who created t
HALF BREED Sixty nine - IN SPACE
By rigging a pack for Alpha, and carrying one on his back as well, the human brought thirty days of rations. The outward bound leg of the trip took four.Once there, Jyro ignored the planet itself, which amounted to little more than a giant slush ball, and ordered the shuttle to keep on going.There was a moment of excitement when the ship headed out into the darkness of space, but his hopes were dashed when the shuttle circled and headed back.The human yelled, pleaded, and argued, all to no avail. While the Hoon didn't care about Jyro, it did value the spaceship, and saw no reason to part with it.The prospector was on a leash, a rather long leash, but a leash nevertheless. * * * Because Herbert was self aware, it lacked the means to shut itself down, and had no choice but to endure the long, non-productive wait. The situation was made more frustrating by the fact that humans had programmed the Artificial Intelligence to be
HALF BREED Seventy - PLANET BYRON
The Terminator's wardroom was empty for the moment, which allowed Sophie to slip inside and admire the breathtaking view. The planet Byron hung huge against the blackness of space. With the exception of the poles, most of its surface was brown. It had very little water, and what there was flowed deep below the surface through veins in the volcanic rock.And it was there, protected from the sun's wicked rays, that the great worms spun their gossamer cocoons, "sang" their epic love songs, and manufactured their optically switched computers for which they were so justifiably famous.Among the businesses that went together to comprise Doug Douglas Enterprises was a well known "glass house", as chip based computer companies were known.That being the case, Sophie had gone to some lengths to educate herself where related technologies were concerned. Rather than create conventional computers, in which electrons follow pathways etched into tiny silicon chips
HALF BREED Seventy one - PLANET BYRON
The words, translated by the computer woven into the senator's day robes, sounded only slightly stilted.Thus prompted, the spy, a minor member of the president's staff, started to talk.The information was important, extremely important, or would have been if it had been delivered five days earlier. The report tailed off, concluded with another request for funds, and finally came to an end.Though well aware of the effect the gesture had on humans, the Midvalian yawned, and the operative, who hated the sight of the wormlike organs that waved from the interior of the other being's mouth, tried not to shudder."Interesting", the politician concluded. "Very interesting, but made a good deal less valuable, since former President Doug Douglas is scheduled to land within the next standard hour or two. There will be no bonus. Fetch something more valuable next time".The use of the word "fetch" was intentional, and the meaning was clear. He
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- HALF BREED Hundred Seventeen - THE END
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- HALF BREED Hundred Fifteen - EARTH (DIVIDED)
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