Mike Stedman 1: Invasion Read online

  Maybe he was just reading into things, but he kind of doubted it.

  She tilted her head, “But he didn’t mention it, or even suggest it?”

  He replied, “No, I suppose that was his way of leaving it completely up to me. He might have felt comfortable asking me to join the senate to represent and protect our people, but to help out the humans? No, he just threw me under the bus, and probably doesn’t care how I deal with that aspect of things.”

  She asked curiously, “And how will you deal with it?”

  He frowned at her, “It depends on what they want, or what their idea is. If it seems reasonable I may just go with it. The connection to Australia is important to the A.I.s, it’s the link to humanity, but it’s also important to them. But wherever we can help… And it’s not me by the way, it’s us, that’s why I’m telling you now, before we get off. We need to decide together, and if you say no that will be the end of it.”

  She asked, “Us?”

  He nodded, “Always us. I love you Chrystal. I also need your insight, like earlier, but preferably without the teasing.”

  She smiled and it was like the sun coming up, “I love you too Mike. I have for a long time now. As for teasing, I make no promises.”

  He picked her up as a surge of desire went through him, and his cock twitched in anticipation as he carried her to the bedroom.

  She asked, “What are you doing?”

  He grinned, “Collecting your debt, I can’t wait to feel you cum on my tongue, and we need a shower now anyway, the city can wait a bit.”

  Then he dropped her on the bed, and dove between her legs. She gasped when his tongue started to run over her folds, and squirmed in pleasure as he speared her with his fingers, and arched her back and begged for more as he teased her clit with his tongue… and she had absolutely no objections.

  It was almost two hours later when they got off the ship, freshly showered and in new clothes. Chrystal looked amazing in a casual white sundress, and three-inch high heel sandals, so much so that they almost didn’t make it off the ship.

  She giggled as she broke the kiss, “Later love, there’s someone out there waiting for us.”

  He tried to look innocent, “Really? I hadn’t checked the sensors.”

  She snorted in disbelief, “Liar. He’s been out there for ninety minutes.”

  He sighed, “I guess you’re right, I just can’t keep my hands to myself.”

  She kissed him, “I know the feeling, but anticipation is good for both of us.”

  He wasn’t sure about that, but he took her hand and they left the ship via the small airlock and walked into the terminal. To be fair, it was a new aspect of their relationship, they were quite literally in the honeymoon phase. He’d like nothing better than to just drown in the sensations they shared together for the next month or so.

  “Mike Stedman? You would be Ted’s son?”

  He nodded, “I am, and this is Chrystal. Who are you?”

  The man smiled, but it was obviously strained from waiting so long. He felt exactly no guilt however, it wasn’t his fault.

  “I’m Neil Dawson, I work for the Prime Minister, Celia Williams.”

  He said, “Nice to meet you Neil, we’ve come to see the sights, maybe have a meal, but we have a little time. What is it you want?”

  Neil cleared his throat, “The Prime Minister would like to speak with you, if you have the time. Is that a new type of ship?”

  He frowned, “It’s a new scout class design, for a small crew. It’s similar in most regards to the rest of the fleet.”

  Which was the truth, outside of the power systems, and the energy/matter conversion systems, but he wasn’t talking about those.

  He added, “I’d be pleased to accommodate that request, and the Prime Minister’s schedule. I’m sure she’s rather busy, and I’m just on vacation.”

  Neil smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes as he said, “As it so happens, she’s in the Sydney offices today. She’s available now, if you’d follow me? Afterwards I’d be happy to show you around the city.”

  Chrystal sent privately, “It’s fine with me, let’s get it over with.”

  Of course, that’s what worried him. What would the government ask of them?

  A.I.s could speak directly to each other, instead of using speech. It was little like text messaging between computers, but more than that because the receiver could hear the person’s voice, just directly in their head instead of being processed through audio receivers. They normally didn’t employ that measure when they weren’t separated, preferring human speech, but it worked for a private conversation in public or when not wanting to be heard.

  “Lead the way,” he said.

  Chrystal giggled in his head, and sent, “If I have an opinion I’ll let you know this way, otherwise just do what you think is best. Wow, I could totally use this for dirty talk when I can’t speak out loud, like when I have that beautifully large cock in my throat. You really do drive me crazy love, I’m already wet and dirty for you, and we just showered.”

  His cock twitched, “Don’t make me spank you.”

  Chrystal giggled out loud, “Promises, promises.”

  He squeezed her hand, and they followed Neil out of the terminal and straight to a limousine. Thank god Chrystal didn’t tease him anymore, he really was enamored with her, couldn’t get enough of her, and would rather spend the next month closeted alone with her on ship than do any of this crap. He’d worked for eight years on it, and she for six, didn’t they deserve a short vacation to celebrate that, not to mention celebrating their new union together?

  He didn’t think that would be too much to ask.

  A.I.s didn’t marry, but when they decided on who they loved, that was pretty much it. Chrystal was as good as his, and he was hers. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t love another, just that he would always love and be with Chrystal. He wasn’t so sure the reverse was true however. Chrystal wasn’t capable of jealousy, but he sure as hell was.

  He needed to think of something else, but her scent was distracting, and her dress alluring.

  She was also so obviously happy, thrilled, and in love with him, that she had his heart wrapped neatly around her little finger.

  He tried to focus on something else, and studied Neil. He figured Neil was a driver of some kind, or an agent.

  Probably the latter, but the man was playing chauffeur right now.

  Neil opened the door, and after they both got in, he closed it and then went up to the driver’s seat, and started the car.

  They headed into the city, and he wondered just what his father had gotten him into, and whether or not he would help. He certainly didn’t have to, he was a private citizen, but he also knew his family had great influence on Mars and to a certain degree on Xaran itself, didn’t that give him an inherent responsibility?

  It was clear without that influence, he wouldn’t have been able to finish Chrystal, the ship that is, without the authorization for the element. He didn’t have to do anything, but he wasn’t so entitled not to realize he had responsibilities. It was why he’d agreed so quickly to becoming a senator, although it was far from the only reason, he also agreed so he could protect his world’s and his family’s interests.

  His father had been right about that. Mike was more than capable of being selfish for his world, something beyond all other A.I.s.

  It had been his own father, and his mother Mia, that had signed the treaty on behalf of Mars with Australia twenty years ago. He even knew who the other people were at the signing, including a nervous young new assistant for the old Prime Minister Liam Brown, named Celia Williams. She’d come a long way since then in politics. If her request was reasonable, could he really in good conscience turn it down?

  He held Chrystal’s hand, took a deep breath, and he tried to enjoy the view of the city for the rest of the drive…

  Chapter Six

  He was surprised when they showed up at the Prime Minister’s home
in Sydney, instead of the government offices.

  His eyes narrowed in thought, when Neil got out and checked out the area carefully before opening the door and letting them out. Was there a possibility of danger, or was Neil just paranoid?

  “This way please,” Neil said and waved toward the house.

  He took Chrystal’s hand again, and moved toward the front door which was guarded by two men in suits. After a moment, they nodded and opened the door and waved them through. He exchanged a glance with Chrystal, and then they both walked inside.

  Neil entered behind them, and then led them down the hallway, into what looked like a study. He glanced at the book shelves, and they were filled with classic literature as well as law books.

  Neil walked over to the desk, and pressed a button.

  “Yes?” a female voice said.

  “They’re here Prime Minister.”

  He heard a loud click, and the bookcase slid out and moved to the side revealing another office, which looked like an old-fashioned panic room from fifty years ago.

  He raised an eyebrow, but the Prime Minister just waved them in.

  They stepped in carefully, and the door closed and sealed behind them.

  Celia smiled, “Wow, you look so much like your father, take a seat, both of you please.”

  She waved at the seats in front of her desk, and took a seat.

  “Would either of you like a drink?”

  He said, “That would be fine.”

  He and Chrystal exchanged looks, and she said, “I’ll have one too, thanks.”

  She smiled, “I bet you’re wondering why you’re in an outdated safe room. These thick metal and concrete walls will prevent anyone from hearing our conversations, I will just have to hope that you’re built in quantum connections are secure, as for me I don’t have mine with me, and my internal one is disabled. I’ll explain the cloak and dagger in a moment.”

  She walked over to a bar, and poured a few snifters of scotch while she continued to talk.

  “I tried to contact your parents, but either the roundabout message went astray, or they didn’t get it yet. I took your landing as propitious, and hoped you’d play messenger with… highly sensitive information, and a request.”

  He reached out and took the snifter, and Chrystal did the same, before the Prime Minister retrieved her own and circled behind her desk and sat down.

  He nodded, “I can do that, and may be able to help myself? I believe my father may have gotten your message. He suggested I visit here before going anywhere else. I have a new ship, and I’ll be taking over the council position on Xaran for Mars. At first, I thought he was pushing me into some responsibility, but now I wonder if sending me wouldn’t be more low profile than him coming himself.”

  Celia looked thoughtful for a moment, “Maybe, and if I didn’t know your family’s reputation, it would scare me that a father and his son now represent Earth and Mars, basically our entire solar system, to the empire.”

  She shook her head, “But that’s not why I asked you here.”

  She looked thoughtful for a second, and the screen over to the side of her desk turned on, and he realized she was controlling it through her thought command interface.

  “Watch this please, this is an underground top secret military installation… somewhere in Australia, and you may begin to understand my… our problem.”

  A video started of what looked like a warehouse, but must have just been a large underground room. The video was taken from an angle about fifteen feet above the ground, and there was a station with computers very close to it, past the small station was what looked like disk. A few seconds in, and one of the scientists spoke.

  “We’re all set, give it some power, slowly.”

  A few seconds later he took a long sip of the brandy, as the disk slowly rose up from the ground.

  “Artificial gravity? A flying saucer?”

  Celia paused the video, and turned back and made a face.

  “The project lead is a little… off, his sense of humor anyway. Obviously, the test object could have been any shape. But he’s brilliant. Yes, it took us twenty years, but we have conquered that little problem. I’m also told the estimate for FTL is three to four years from now, since it’s all based on the same multi-dimensional math and theory that AG is.

  “As far as we know, the other world powers haven’t cracked it yet, but we know they’re working on it. The three of us are in this little room, to prevent anyone from using distance listening technology, because I believe I have a leak somewhere. There have been several incidents of foreign agents trying to get their hands on this information. So far, the data has stayed secure.

  “There is also the matter of our relationship with Mars. We want, I want, our relations to grow stronger given this development, but as I’m sure you know, the implications of the world at large getting this tech is a huge headache. It’s also an inevitability, in another few years, everyone will have it. A few years after that, Earth will be just as interstellar as Mars.”

  Implications? He was frozen at the implications. They’d be able to stop any attack from Earth, even at the forty percent the speed of light that the gravity drive technology was capable of. Once they had subspace technology though, it would be much harder. Still possible, but harder.

  He wondered how much longer after that until they had the level two technology, he knew Earth only had the first-generation dark energy power cores, not even the ones the A.I.s were using on their ships before he’d given away his upgrade. Those weren’t capable of level two at all.

  Actually, his race was the only race capable of level two subspace in the empire, he didn’t think the Xarans could use it yet, or at least not reliably. Point being, would Mars be at war with Earth shortly, or would Earth let bygones be bygones? The A.I.s never really did anything to them, except express a desire to be in the real world, and move into space to achieve it.

  But that was all it had taken for the Earth to panic, except for some reason the Australian government. They were… smart about it, and had flourished by keeping connected with the A.I.s.

  “I see the difficulty,” he said in understatement, “What was your request?”

  She took a deep breath, “While it’s futile to try and stop the inevitable, perhaps we can delay it. I’d like Mars to give us permission to set up a base and research facility on Mars, it would be Australian territory, like the spaceport here is Mars territory. With your help, we would move all data and materials for this project to Mars, where the spies of other governments will be unable to reach it.

  “That should slow things down a few years, perhaps another decade if we’re lucky. I would also like two A.I.s assigned to the base as security, just in case the leak is someone in the project itself they would need to monitor and approve all communications.

  “Lastly, since we are about to join you in the stars, I would like to assign an assistant from Australia to your father to monitor the senate meetings, and perhaps even meet with other races if prudent during the down time, just to give us an idea of where all the shit lies out there before we step in it.”

  He laughed, and so did Chrystal. Mostly in shock at the PMs language choice.

  Celia continued, “From what we understand, most of the senators, their families and assistants stay on the planet between meetings. FTL is still too slow to go home between every meeting, and only your father has an android he can just log into.”

  “I’ll have to ask my father about the latter, and the former will take a full A.I. vote to approve.”

  Celia asked, “How long will that take?”

  He shrugged, “Ten or fifteen minutes?”

  He packaged up the meeting, and sent it to his mother Helen, she’d keep it secure, and make sure only A.I.s ever saw it.

  Celia’s eyes widened, “You can get a full vote that fast?”

  He shrugged, but then nodded.

  Helen sent, “Damn, this could be bad, or good.”

&
nbsp; He replied, “Let’s hope for the second one mom, but be ready for the first. Are there enough defenses around the planet?”

  Helen asked, “Don’t you know your father? He pestered me until we were buttoned up. We’re safe until they get FTL, then if they’re clever enough no one could stop them. That’s why we have the secret archive backup of every A.I. in three places, a ship, out in the asteroid field, and a third place you don’t need to know about.”

  He smirked, “Xaran?”

  Helen replied sharply, “Watch your tone young man, and no. Good guess though.”

  Damn, where the hell could it be?

  He sent to Chrystal, “Any thoughts on this?”

  She replied, “The vote will pass, it’s a good idea to keep the secret longer, and we’re allies with the Australians, and I hate to say it, but it will put more humans on Mars, which will thrill every A.I. out there. The two positions for security are probably already being hotly contested.”

  He took a sip of his drink, he didn’t think that way, about serving humanity, but Chrystal was right, the vote was as good as approved. Anything that would bring A.I.s closer to their creators and start to heal the current rift would be approved.

  He heard his father, “Can you do it? You have that nice ship to take the rep out there, and if a human is your assistant, the other races won’t try and use them against me, and wouldn’t bother to use them against you, since as a human observer they would have no real authority.”

  He thought that through, it was a pretty weak argument, but his father had a point.

  “Prime Minister, how would you feel about sending your representative as my assistant instead? They would still get a front seat view to the proceedings, and would find opportunities to talk to other races, but in addition it might confuse things for our political opponents. They wouldn’t be able to use the assistant as a crowbar to get at my father, and they wouldn’t even bother trying as the assistant would have no authority or standing as an A.I. for Mars. It would also show a certain amount of unity between our worlds.”