Free Starting from Scratch by Bruce George Page A

information as you can absorb, about any subject.
    “I leave you now, so that you may discuss this among
your selves.”
    Bambi, cut the connection, but keep an eye on what
they chat about, after I leave the scene.
    On it.
     
     
    Chapter
5
     
     
    A few hours later, Bambi woke him.
    General…General. We have an emergency.
    When sleeping, an upgraded human could do some
incredible mental gymnastics. He had been reviewing his latest
conversation with the leaders of the English speaking nations. He
accepted that he would never be up to diplomatic speed, but he
could at least work on it. Bambi had offered to build a primer on
the basics for him study.
    Bambi, please tell me you haven’t interrupted my
sleep, just to show me your new program on how I can avoid putting
my diplomatic foot in my mouth.
    He was surprised to hear noticeable fear in her
voice. No sir. This is serious shit. One of the early warning
beacons just alerted me to the arrival of a Sauran vessel.
    Mike sat bolt upright and asked, “How many of them
and what kind are they? Is this the special transport, with the
escorts?”
    No sir. This arrival was completely unexpected. It’s
a transport just like me and it’s flashing a damage alarm. I
haven’t responded to it, because under normal conditions, I
wouldn’t know of its presence yet.
    The earliest Saurans in this area are the ones who
placed the first beacons in this solar system. They didn’t place
the beacons that alerted me; I placed the early notice beacons much
farther out, and they aren’t supposed to be there. Technically, I
won’t notice their arrival, for another two days. I would expect a
comm from the Senior Pilot of that ship any time after that.
    She finished her report and it occurred to him that
she was truly frightened. How odd that an AI would feel that way,
but then, why not? He was pretty worried and they still didn’t have
any useful info on this yet. It might not be as bad as he feared,
or it might be worse.
    “OK Bambi, we can handle this together. Tell me, how
long until the ship can reach us?”
    Normally, about four weeks. But it’s damaged, so it
could be longer.
    “Do those beacons gather any other sort of
information.”
    “ Well they can pick up ships unfolding in the
area, by the subtle gravitational changes. They can also detect
ship drives, but they have to be a lot closer for targeting
purposes. There is a telescope on board each beacon, but it’s not
especially powerful and the ship is too far out to show us anything
important, yet. I didn’t design them for much else, because I was
afraid if they probed for more info, it would be cause for concern
for any visiting Senior Pilot. We don’t want a Sauran vessel to
come by here and get suspicious.”
    “No, we certainly don’t want that. You’ve handled it
perfectly, Bambi. There was nothing else you could have done. Thank
you for warning me, it was wise to bring me up to speed as soon as
possible.”
    “Thank you, sir. I realize that I may have over
reacted here. But I didn’t know what I could do about this. So, I
woke you up and now I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. I’d be really pissed if you hadn’t. A
commander needs information, as soon as it’s available. It’s better
to wake me for something unimportant than to wait and deny me some
truly vital information, denying me adequate time to think it
through.”
    He sighed, put his head in his hands and thought for
a moment, and then told her, “Don’t mention this to anyone else
tonight. We’ll let them sleep. I will have a breakfast meeting,
with everyone present. Then we’ll make them aware of what’s
happened.’
    “ Yes sir. Do you mean all of the people we have on
board now?
    “No, just the staff. Until I designate anyone new to
the staff, that’s going to be, Me, Jo, Max, Wayne Mary, Al and I
think I’ll include Bet Fulwiler on it, too, even though she hasn’t
been upgraded yet.”
    Got it. Sir, are you going to notify the