ALICE Avatar, page 1
AL:ICE
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By CW Lamb
I thank all my readers for patiently waiting for this to be finished as I begin a new chapter in my life.
Copyright © 2023 by CW Lamb http://www.cw-lamb.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
First Edition
14 13 12 11 10 / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover Design: https://www.art4artists.com.au
Contents
Character pages
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Author’s Notes
Character pages
NeHaw Space Sector Nu Tau Beta
AL:ICE – Artificial Life: Intelligent Computing Environment
Jake Thomas– USMC Capt. Divorced orphan, wise ass. Sarcastic.
Sara Sullivan– Oldest of 3 sisters. Jake’s second in command. Mother of Amber and Jade
Bonnie Sullivan– Middle sis to Sara, quiet, reserved, mother to Julie
Becky Sullivan– Little sis to Sara
Linda Jones– Commander in Nevada, mother to Tracy
Kathy Jones– Linda’s sister, mother to Timothy
Sandy- Adopted mother to Padma and Jon
Abby – 10th cavalry Team leader
Brian – ALICE-3 Captain
Joseph – (just Joe) 10th Team leader
Jessie –Alaska Commander, mother of Ryan
James- Kola temp commander
Robert Jacobson – Bonnie’s husband, Jake’s Logistics Officer
Patti – Jake’s great, great granddaughter
Jacob – Jake’s great, great grandson
ALICE1 Nevada medical labs – goes by ALICE – Linda in Command
ALICE2 Texas ground vehicles – goes by Dallas – Bonnie in Command
ALICE3 Georgia – goes by ALICE-9 – Grace
ALICE4 Washington helicopter-rotary – Sharron in Command
ALICE5 Maine Medical Research – goes by Five – Barb in command
ALICE6 South Dakota weapons research –was Kola (now Dakota) – James in Command
ALICE7 Alaska aviation research – Seven – Jessie in Command
ALICE8 Hawaii marine – bay is 2000 feet long and 600 feet wide. -Lanai – Jacob in Command
Kola- Now the ALICE controlling the Space Carrier – Isabella in Command
ALICE-3- Now ALICE in the Battleship – Brian in Command
VF-84 Jolly Roger - Washington
VMFA -314 Black Knights - Texas
VMFA-112 Cowboys - Texas
VMFA-232 Red Devils - Nevada
VMFA-323 Death Rattlers - Alaska
1st Air Cavalry- South Dakota
BOOK 2--------------------------------------------------------------
Hector -ALICE-4 second in command
Chris Wade – LA compound leader.
10th Cavalry – A and B troops, Special Forces on hovercycles
Wawobash – 6-legged canine, shipyard
Kortisht – 3 legged humanoids, manufacture repulser faster-than-light drives
Crustacea – lobster people that specialize in communications
Lanai Patrol/Transports – Steel hulled 500 feet long, 250 feet wide – 8 to 40-man crew
Cruiser - 384 feet in length and 284 feet in width- 30-man crew
Destroyer –200 feet long 75-80 feet wide, 20-man crew.
HeBak – NeHaw communications supervisor.
MeHak – head of the high council
Klinan – fourth treaty partner- artists – long angular people yellow with a .85 G planet
Netite – mercenary force for NeHaw – blue ape like
NeHaw – light atmosphere – short stocky gray. 1.2 G planet
BOOK 3-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chilterns AONB – between Oxford and London
Ju Huang – Chinese General
Ivan – Cossack
Nigel – London, Helen
Colonel Edwin Banks – SAS
Major Bo Chao – replaced Ju
Lance corporal Alicia Ramirez – died protecting Sandy
Gemma – brit engineer – Nigel’s daughter
Jerrold – brit engineer
Lieutenant Daniel Atkins
Jon and Padma – Las Vegas kids 7 & 5
BOOK 4------------------------------------------------------------------
General KaLob – leader of the NeHaw coup
Hannah – SAS trooper on Phantom
Phantom – spy ship with cloaking unit
Samantha Watts – Marine/Analyst (Sam) on Phantom
Private Grace Middleton – Southern girl
Isabella Connor – Kola captain
James – North Dakota commander, Alaska Bill’s son.
BOOK 5 -------------------------------------------------------------
Station Alpha – space station at the edge of the solar system. (New ALICE) – Hector in Command
Station Beta – 2nd station positioned at the far end of the solar system
Station Gamma – off Wawobash Shipyards
London ALICE– Morgana - Nigel
Hong Kong ALICE – Shunli – Colonel Bo in Command
Captain James Erisey – Revenge Captain
Patti and Daniel’s son - Alexander
Jacob and Gemma’s daughter – Sophia
Lieutenant Alice Jenkins – Captain of D-9
BOOK 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Magellan crew
Magellan ALICE - Annie Edson Taylor
Pilot/Commander - Captain James Erisey
Navigator – Lieutenant Alice Jenkins
Copilot – Sergeant Hannah (SAS from Phantom)
Sciences/Medical - Heather
Engineering – Gunny Sam Watts
Weapons/Sensors – Joe/Abby
Ground Crew – Joe/Abby
Ground Crew - Gunny Sam Watts/Hannah
Impulsive crew
Mission Commander - Ivan
Captain – Eric Elstad
Pilot – male 2 Russian Dimitri
Navigator – male 1
Copilot – female 1 brit Emily
Sciences/Medical – Doc Smith
Engineering – female 2
Weapons/Sensors – male 3
Ground Crew – female 3- tactical Ivanna
Ground Crew – female 4 – medic American Mary
Native Guide - HeBak
Phasers – invading alien race
Captain Eric Elstad – Impulsive captain
Lieutenant Rachel Davis
Captain Lau Chen
ALICE’s
Shunli- Hong Kong Saucer
Morgana - London
Annie - Magellan
Seven – Alaska
Dallas - Texas
ALICE - Nevada
ALICE -3 – Battle Ship
Kola – Carrier ship
ALICE -9 – Georgia
ALICE-4 – Washington state
Lanai - Hawaii
Five – Maine
Alpha – Inside Sol saucer
Beta- Outside Sol saucer
Gama – Wawobash saucer
Dakota – South Dakota
Book 7 --------------------------------------------
Earth 2 – a copy of Earth with no humans
Uhnad - Reapers
Chapter 1
Outside Reaper’s World Solar System
“I hate these long-range patrols. We fly for hours and nothing ever happens,” Rick, flight designation Cowboys Three complained over the communications subnet assigned to the four fighters.
“They are worse than KP duty,” Tris, Cowboys Four, piled on.
The twelve craft that made up the Cowboys fighter squadron were currently assigned to the Earth Battleship known as ALICE-3, the name was in honor of the Artificial Lifeform that resided within. All Earth fighter squadrons rotated between the battleship, the space carrier Kola, and any number of cruisers and destroyers in the human fleet for their space duties.
Next were the space stations situated throughout the galaxy and finally there were Earth-based assignments when they went space crazy. The Earth Forces Command considered the rotation to be a great way for pilots to hone their skills in ever-changing conditions and avoid complacency.
“Be happy you are flying today, the rest of the squadron is on maintenance duty in the hangar,” call sign Buck, or Cowboys One the flight leader replied, as he checked his displays for the millionth time.
The complaining, while considered every pilot’s right, had him thinking his people were becoming complacent with the routine, and that was dangerous. The entire Cowboys squadron had been subdivided into three groups of four fighters. This collection of four pilots had been dispatched as part of a regular scouting patrol.
These patrols were standard procedure whenever one of the large military ships was on stationary assignment in unknown space. A trip of four hours out and four back, flying away from the system they were guarding and scanning in all directions, gave them an over-the-horizon peak. Once they returned the next flight of four craft would launch, ensuring a constant presence in near space from which to intercept inbound hostiles as early as possible.
The term, over the horizon, was a legacy reference used by planetary vessels. By launching aircraft to greater altitudes or in specific directions they saw past the curve of the planet. The goal was to prevent unwanted visitors from surprising the larger vessel unprepared for a fight by staying just beyond the planet’s horizon until ready to strike.
In some ways, these patrols were a crap shoot as the three-dimensional nature of space made it virtually impossible to cover all directions of approach at once. For that reason, their course was more of a broad loop rather than a straight line out and in again with deviations high and low to broaden their coverage. The fact that they never went to FTL also meant that at just under the speed of light they were able to scan outbound for the entire route, adding to the range and looking for anything of a suspicious nature.
It was this very thing that caught their attention on this patrol.
“Buck, I think we have a bogey bearing plus 17, minus 25, plus 02, at ten thousand klicks,” Kat, Cowboys Two, announced using Cowboys One’s call sign instead of his real name.
Buck had earned his call sign by the way he flew his fighter. Instead of maintaining a flat, level flight path, he tended to bounce slightly up and down as he guided the fighter, like a bucking horse. He claimed it allowed him to feel the responsiveness of his craft but the others in the squadron claimed it reflected his inability to relax.
The X, Y, and Z coordinates she provided were referenced from their current position. The three axial grids would provide a relative location and vector distance using the patrol’s location in space as 0,0,0 and the rotational measure from the nose of the ship.
In this case, 17, -25, 02 placed the target up and to the left in front of them.
“Where did that come from,” Tris commented as she verified the reading.
“Bogey confirmed, everyone on me,” Buck replied as he transmitted the data back to ALICE-3 before changing to an intercept course.
It was a funny thing but as long as they patched to the communications link on the battleship before departing the vessel, and they didn’t go FTL, they had a direct, immediate communications link to ALICE-3 for the entire patrol. All that without the lag that might normally be expected for the distances involved at radio frequency speeds.
It was a curious characteristic of the Crustacea communications gear that the link didn’t break with distance once established, it would just shrink and grow as needed. It involved something called quantum entanglement and it meant that the link held no matter what distance you traveled. That’s how it maintained connectivity between known points as the universe constantly changed around them.
“What the hell is that?” Rick asked as the patrol closed on four ships in a diamond formation, top to bottom and side to side in the same plane.
“Activate forward shields,” Buck ordered, referring to the stasis shielding each ship used for protection.
It wasn’t the unfamiliar ships themselves that prompted the question from Rick, it was a disturbance at the center of their flight pattern. The four alien vessels held their position in space as the disruption got larger.
“Tighten up, I don’t want them picking us off one by one if that’s a weapon,” Buck ordered, knowing they could go into a joined stasis bubble for protection if need be. The trick had saved more than one Earth spaceship in the past.
Buck scanned the scene before him as they closed on the unknown intruders. These ships didn’t resemble the traditional Phaser vessels they had encountered in the past. They were larger than the fighters he had engaged in combat with the Phasers but smaller than the full-sized combat ships that supported the fighters.
That analysis provided no insight into who the group might be allowing, permitting the humans to predict the intent of the unidentified aliens as friends or foes. In combination with the growing disturbance central to their formation, he had to consider them as a threat until proven otherwise.
It was for that reason Buck decided to gather his team and approached with caution. In a tight formation, they could slip away inside a hollow stasis bubble to fight another day, but if they got separated someone could get left behind or worse.
“Let’s slow our roll and pull in tighter,” Buck ordered as he had the formation reduce approach speed, almost close enough to touch one another.
Closing at minimal speed, their trajectory was aimed at the center of the diamond, right where the whirling unformed mass of lightning was growing as they got closer.
“I don’t like the look of this,” Buck mumbled as he considered his options.
As he was just about to order a course change, the disturbance at the center of the ships flared and everything went white.
----*----
Nevada ALICE Facility, Earth
General Jake Thomas was sitting in his small office just off the command center, reviewing progress reports from all across human space. While the discoveries on Reaper’s World dominated everyone’s attention, there were many other business-as-usual issues to attend to in the rest of the universe. During the current lull between Phaser attacks and the ongoing uneasy truce with the NeHaw, Jake was playing catch up.
Top of his list was still the recruitment of human survivors from the first NeHaw attack, oh so long ago. The ongoing effort lagged far behind the staffing needs as usual with no promise of relief. By now it was a well-oiled machine and a global effort tied to a careful screening process. Adding a malcontent to any ship or location was likely avoided by heavy screening of everyone and the best candidates came from established communities where the ALICEs had some visibility to the local population.
In addition, each region had recruiting stations accepting walk-in applications. Those candidates were housed, fed, and evaluated but the acceptance rates were still not great. It wasn’t that the people were incapable of learning the tasks and duties required of them, it was the amount of work undoing generations of social programming that they were trying to avoid. At some point, they were going to have to rethink that approach and circle back to review candidates, but for now, that was the standard.
On a separate front, Helen and Jessie were still collecting human art and treasures from around the globe, with it all moved and safely stored for future generations to appreciate. Robert was still searching the planet for the precious metals locked safely away to keep it from long-dead villains. The metals were necessary to pay the alien races for things the humans couldn’t build themselves.
He also located processed materials for the things they could make on Earth like Lanai ships and weapons of local design. The treasure room was bursting at the seams but the building materials were dwindling. At some point, Jake knew they were going to need more of the alien automated processing machines to dig ore and spit out sheet metals and rod stock.
Then there were the reports from ships and crews that patrolled the various space lanes and orbits, there to enforce the peace, and guard resources crucial to Earth’s survival. Gama alone held the dubious honor of ensuring the Wawobash were not to be threatened as they hid behind the largest stationery collection of weapons in the universe.
While ALICE-3 or Kola may have more singular firepower, they roamed the universe to serve as needed. Gamma and her associated Patrol craft were tasked with shredding anyone looking to destroy or acquire the vast shipyards surrounding Wawobash.
It was all this information and more that Jake worked to consolidate into a single view of his command. As far as he could see, everyone was doing their part without his interference.
“Jake, Sara is looking for you,” ALICE announced, breaking his concentration.
Normally all Sara would need to do is ask ALICE for Jake’s whereabouts, but he had invoked his do-not-disturb status earlier in the workday. The status allowed ALICE to deny the location confirmation until Jake revoked the status or confirmed the exception. In this case, however, domestic bliss called into question the limits of the setting.
