Sentient: Evolution Read online

  “Yes, I’m fine, but there is a new enemy and… you’ll see when you get here.”

  He replied, “Will do, I’ll see you soon.”

  He was shocked when she sent him warm feeling of affection tinged with worry but no sadness, wasn’t she still mourning?

  He rose up off the ground and entered in the address with his thoughts, it was in New York City, and he started that way.

  Kate Atwell elbowed her opponent in the face and stomped on his instep. He roared in anger and tried to bowl her over, and she moved with him, put him into a hold and used his own strength to throw him. He landed with a loud slap on his back. She really wanted to stomp his face, but sensei called a halt.

  She knew she had anger management issues, it was why she was here. To get her frustrations out. There was also a part of her that felt a little guilty for taking it out on Dan. Her body was very much in shape, and was petite, except for her breasts which were entirely too large for her frame. Not grossly so, she was a thirty-six C cup, which wasn’t much above average, except her petite five foot four body made them look enormous, and even at twenty-six years of age they showed no sign of sagging.

  Still, she’d had trouble all her life being taken seriously because of her exotic looks and too large breasts. The logical part of her however, knew Dan hadn’t done much more than glance at her body when they took their bow, still, it had set her off. When bowing the eyes were supposed to meet and stay connected, and she was sure he got an eyeful of her cleavage looking down her shirt instead.

  She moved over and put out her hand, and helped him up. She smiled in amusement, his eyes hadn’t gone below her neckline at all since. Too bad she couldn’t do that at work.

  She at least did have a job in her field, one she had worked hard for. Unfortunately, her boss was quite a piece of work. Of course, she was hardly the only person that didn’t like their boss, and she put up with him for the opportunity to work on cutting edge developments for Earth ships. The boss tended to take credit for her work, and blame her for his failures, so really the joy she took in advancing her understanding of the universe, and an almost unlimited budget to test new ideas, was her sole motivation for staying there.

  After her self-defense class she showered and changed into a pair of tight jeans and a clingy shirt. She smirked at herself in the mirror. It wasn’t that she really hated men checking her out, it was simply there was a time and place. She walked back to her apartment. She didn’t bother buying a car even though she could afford it, it just wasn’t worth it in the city.

  As she came up to her apartment she saw a man waving at her from his car, he was actually quite handsome… but he looked confident to the point of cocky as he got out and walked toward her, and that just rubbed her the wrong way.

  “What?” she asked with a little attitude.

  He stopped and the smile melted off his face, he said tentatively, “Hi, I have a job offer you might be interested in.”

  She shook her head, “I have a job already,” she wondered if the guy was for real.

  He sighed, “Can we speak in private, it’s really important, please? My name is Timothy, Timothy Miller.”

  She snorted, like his last name would mean anything to… wait a minute. She studied his face for a second, and he did look like the pictures she’d seen of Kris Miller.

  She tilted her head and said grudgingly, “Alright, come in, but mind your manners. I’ll give you ten minutes.”

  His smile came back, and she shook her head again as if negating what she was doing, and led him into the building and up to her apartment. It was then she realized he hadn’t looked below her neck at all, not even once, and that bothered her for some reason. She was definitely going crazy…

  Timothy sighed, or at least he did in his mind. He’d read what Aide had on Kate, and she was absolutely brilliant, had been involved in several of the improvements in tech for Earth over the last four years, and she was also stunningly gorgeous. Not that the last part mattered to him at all, all he’d been able to think about was he would be seeing Aide again. What the file didn’t say about her, was that she was prickly as hell, and quite possibly violent.

  Her apartment was eclectic. There was a lot of antique furniture, even an analog clock that he guessed must be a millennia old. It was also filled with high-tech gadgets, including a house A.I., although the A.I.s Earth was building now were a poor shadow compared to Aide, they were still good for what they did. After all, a house A.I. just needed to balance a budget, order food and other incidentals, keep track of messages and contacts, and stuff like that. They didn’t have to remote control millions of ships all at the same time, and run a body on top of it. It was a computer hardware thing, Earth had caught up to the Alion in a lot of ways, but a molecular computer wasn’t one of them yet.

  She turned with an impatient look on her face, but seemed to find her manners a moment later and offered him a drink. He said anything is fine, and she brought out a couple of sodas. He’d rather have had a beer, but he did say it was job offer of sorts, not exactly… he shrugged off his thoughts.

  Kate asked pointedly, apparently out of patience, “So what’s this job offer?”

  He frowned, this woman seemed angry at the world. Maybe she even had a right to be, but it sure as hell wasn’t his fault. He hoped that wouldn’t be an issue for Aide but he wasn’t all that excited about it, since it would just be the three of them for who knew how long.

  “Well, I’m not sure exactly what it entails yet, I just know Aide has need of a scientist, and you were her first choice. Is that something that would interest you? Most likely you wouldn’t get to publish, and you’d be stuck with her in your head for the rest of your life.”

  He was honestly more thinking that poor Aide would be stuck in her head… but he couldn’t say it like that, they were in a kitchen with knives, and other sharp objects. Sure he had a shield that would stop anything short of a nuclear blast, but she still freaked him out a bit. Frankly this woman set him on edge, except right now she was smiling like he’d offered her the world. Crap…

  She said softly, “Please tell me you’re not joking,” with a yearning that took him off guard.

  He shook his head, “Not joking, pack whatever you think you’ll need, I don’t think we should dawdle, Aide sounded pretty worried but I haven’t been filled in yet. Keep in mind on the ship the nanites can make anything…”

  She nodded absently, like he’d stated the obvious and got up to pack a few things. He watched bemused as she barked a list of orders at her A.I. that would take care of her work and apartment, and she was ready to go before he’d even finished his soda.

  Chapter 3

  As soon as Aide detected Kate in the shuttle, she sent nanites into the young woman’s body and built a standard package for protection, and also programming to monitor and ensure Kate followed the protocols. She wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Another system had gone dark an hour ago, three more ships destroyed, and she couldn’t get Kate to help, or even download the knowledge, until the package was completely built and interfaced.

  Aide was a lot more intuitive and creative than a thousand years ago, but she still had no idea where to even start. She feared their new enemy was simply so far beyond them that it was already too late. During this last fight, she’d powered down one of the ships, and flushed the plasma. She’d thought maybe the beam just destabilized energy fields, but that didn’t stop the hidden beam or whatever it was from destroying it.

  The beam did take down containment fields, but it wasn’t just the plasma destroying the ship as she had previously thought. She had sensor readings that show the ship simply broke down on the molecular level, as if the forces holding the matter together simply… stopped doing that. Maybe she needed to add magic back onto the list because as far as she knew that was impossible.

  She snorted and left her bedroom for the first time in a long while. This was one of the smaller command ships, she didn’t need the
space of a carrier, and it was a waste of resources, she could connect from anywhere after all. And with Titan supplying power to the ship it was one of the strongest in her armada. Not that it would do more than die quickly if she faced that new enemy.

  She was freshly showered, and used the nanites to give herself a haircut and remove her body hair from all the places below her neck. She was wearing one of the ship suits that conformed to her body and for the first time in over four hundred years felt… alive. She was also considering the idea of creating a daughter. Not another human daughter from her body, a full-fledged A.I. She had considered what would happen if she were ever to die, especially with this menace coming.

  With a child, if she did ever get destroyed there would be someone to take over, the fleet wouldn’t self-destruct, instead merely changing hands. It would be much like Kris’s family continued to host her down through the generations.

  She was already planning it out, and despite the Alion’s treachery when she was built, she thought their rules of engagement and other protocols were well thought out. The last thing she would want to do is create a monster. She’d need to redesign the hardware portion though, no self-destructs or other back doors into the system would be acceptable for her child.

  Her daughter would need a body as well, but she thought it best to let the child decide and build one herself when she was ready. It was a difficult thing to balance her own wishes for her child against the child’s free will already, and that child was barely a concept right now.

  There was also a… portion of selfishness to the act. She loved her human family, and watched over them as they lived out their lives on Earth, but she wanted one child that wouldn’t grow old and die on her. Perhaps… she shook her head and walked into the hanger deck.

  She relaxed her control over her empathy, it had also grown stronger over time and she hadn’t used it in a long while. She’d been having enough trouble dealing with her own emotions, much less the people around her.

  She sensed both eagerness, and annoyance in Kate. That reminded her of Paula a bit, but Paula had been ten years older than Kate when they’d met. It seemed Kate still needed some time to rub off the sharper edges on her personality.

  She felt exasperation from Timothy, apparently she was already trying his patience, she hoped…

  Her thoughts cut off altogether as Timothy caught sight of her and she absorbed the emotions he put off in that moment which took her completely off guard. Love, lust, attraction, despair, frustration, shame, anger, compassion, guilt, and hope all rolled over her like a tidal wave.

  She was so confused by the mélange of emotions she wanted to do a scan to figure out what it all meant, but it was merely an idle wish, she wouldn’t do it. All she knew for sure, was Timothy felt very strongly about her, and she felt shame then, for blocking him out and away from her for six years as she continuously grieved for Olivia seemingly without end. She’d done this to him somehow, he was all in knots. No wonder he had left. She didn’t have time to deal with it right now though.

  It didn’t show on his face though, he smiled at her and said, “It’s good to see you again Aide, what’s the emergency?”

  She returned his smile, it felt unnatural at first, it had been so long since she smiled, “Good to see you too,” she turned to Kate, “Kate, it’s nice to meet you. Right now I should get you both settled in. In about an hour Kate’s interface will be active, and I’ll download all I know to both of you. Even with the wait that will be much faster.”

  Kate returned her smile, “I can’t tell you how great it is to be here, or how terrifying. I imagine the excrement is really hitting the rotary impeller.”

  She tilted her head, “You could say that, follow me. I’ll download a virtual tour for you as well, so you’ll know where everything is, and how to get the ship to make you anything you need,” she turned to Timothy, “Of course, you already know all that, the captain’s quarters are yours.”

  He raised an eyebrow, and then nodded soberly. She couldn’t really feel much from him anymore, he was guarded. It must have just been the shock of seeing her again that let it all out of him like that. She turned and they both followed.

  Kate asked, “Will I have to wear one of those? It’s kind of revealing isn’t it?”

  She looked over her shoulder, “Yes, it’s a space suit with a helmet that will activate if we lose pressure. It’s also quite durable, and functions best when it is fitted perfectly to the body. That doesn’t mean you can’t wear clothes over it as well though, it’s extremely thin and comfortable so even your tight clothes should fit over it. I just choose not to since I’m rather accustomed to it.”

  Kate looked dubious but nodded acceptance. When they reached the officers’ quarters close to the bridge and engineering she led Kate to one of the three spare rooms. She was already situated in the first officer’s quarters, and Timothy left them at that point for the captain’s quarters.

  Kate asked, “There are labs?”

  She nodded, “A few close to here on the main deck, and another six on the deck below and above. You’ll know all about the ship soon though. Once you have access, feel free to redecorate your quarters however you wish, I find the default terribly austere.”

  She walked over to the slot on the wall and grabbed a space suit, and then handed it to Kate.

  “Please change into this, wear anything you want over it, but it needs to stay on you at all times, unless you’re in the shower or…”

  Kate raised an eyebrow, “Or?”

  She shrugged, “Other activities that require nudity,” she winked and left Kate standing there with her mouth open as she exited her quarters to give her privacy to change.

  From the emotional barrage that hit her back, she realized Kate had a big hang up about her body, which was a shame, she was gorgeous. It was clear Kate saw it as her enemy, instead of an asset. Humans could be so messed up, although she supposed she had her moments as well. There was still over thirty minutes before she could give Kate the download, so she went back to planning out her daughter, while another part of her mind considered the issue with Timothy.

  Specifically, how did she really feel about him? He was handsome, well built, there wasn’t a problem with attraction, but her emotions were still all over the place. It would take time to figure out if she could feel anything for him. Oh sure, she loved him as her host, and family… but the rest? She’d just got done grieving for four hundred years, and only because their very existence was threatened and she’d been forced to take actions to move on. Did she really even want to get into another relationship?

  Would it be worth it? She didn’t know…

  Timothy knew she was beautiful, but he’d forgotten just how beautiful. Especially in that body conforming suit she was always walking around in. Her hair was a curly strawberry blonde that reached her lower back, her liquid blue eyes were warm and expressive, she had full lips and a lovely face that bespoke innocent beauty. Her body had looked better than he remembered as well, her thirty-eight D breasts were mouthwatering, seeming to defy gravity above her sexy thin waist and flat stomach. Her hips flared back out and she had a sexy heart shaped ass he’d had to look at more than once on the walk over to the command deck.

  He’d been overwhelmed when he came on board, but he didn’t think she’d noticed as she was introducing herself to Kate. He changed into a ship suit himself and reacquainted himself with his quarters. She hadn’t changed a thing since he’d left. He also hoped Kate would loosen up, she actually hadn’t been that bad on the trip up, but it was obvious she didn’t trust people, especially men.

  Kate blushed when the door closed. When she’d decided to come up here, she’d assumed Aide would be all business, and she would be able to focus on her intellect. She’d no idea what to think about that suggestive wink Aide had just delivered. She looked at the suit in her hand dubiously, and then with a shrug stripped down and pulled it on. She walked over to the mirror, and her own reflect
ion made her blush. She shook her head, and pulled her jeans and shirt back on, feeling a bit better she explored her room but found no interfaces.

  Apparently everything on the ship worked through thought control. She sat on the bed and waited, not sure what to do with herself. She’d always hated when her looks overshadowed her intellect in the mind of others, but Aide had been so entirely comfortable showing off her own body that it made her thoughtful. It was clear Aide picked her for her mind, so maybe it didn’t matter? She knew she had issues, maybe she could talk to Aide about it?

  She wasn’t sure, she’d have to think about it, but she had to admit, she was envious of Aide’s nonchalance. She was just laying back and resting her eyes when her implants finally came on line.

  Aide said, “Hello Kate, ready for the download?”

  She asked curiously, “Are you in my head?”

  Aide replied, “Yes and no. I’m not reading your mind, but there are protocols that are reading your mind, and passing on what you intend to say to me. I don’t review that information unless flags are raised.”

  She nodded even though Aide wasn’t there to see it, “Okay, I’m ready,” she thought with a little bit of steel in her mind, she was nervous.

  She felt a strange sensation in her mind, almost a tingling, and then she felt the knowledge enter her awareness. First she learned about the ship down to the last nut and bolt, and she was amazed. She’d thought the Earth was close to what Aide had, and she supposed they were, but in some things they had a long way to go.

  Then she saw the two encounters with an apparently invisible alien that swatted the tech she’d just been amazed about, like it wasn’t even difficult. She watched as ships just died for no reason. Then her mind was flooded by reports, sensor scans, Aide’s analysis of said scans, and lastly the archive of Aide’s favorite sex toys that Aide had designed herself.

  Wait… what?

  Aide sent, “I thought you might appreciate those, it gets lonely up here sometimes…”