Well, hello, old new friend.
"Ares" greeted me with a stream of data broadcast directly into my brain.
Hull condition, generators, armament, life support systems...
The starship reported that it was ready for battle, ready to return to what it had finished due to damage.
"Ares's" log revealed the reason why the starship was damaged in the last battle. Too many strong enemies, too few of its systems could be engaged by the crew.
They didn't know how to make it operate with maximum efficiency, and therefore, they sustained damage incompatible with further operation of the ship. Considering that there was no hint of an experiment with the fourth generation of battleships in Atlantis's database, I suspect that "Ares" is a private project. A deep modernization of one of the third-generation ships.
But that hardly matters anymore.
We are going on a combat mission.
The magnetic anchors that held the ship in the hangar disconnected the moment the maneuvering and main engines of the starship came to life. Nothing else held "Ares" in the embrace of this world.
Not even gravity.
Under normal circumstances, relying solely on instruments, I wouldn't risk taking the ship out of the dock. Let its scanners and other systems report everything happening inside and outside, but it's like driving a mining truck in the city for the first time.
Mental contact, however...
It's as if you become one with the starship. The operator feels the ship as an extension of their body. There's no need to press buttons to control, no need to track instrument readings on monitors to know which engine to supply more energy to, so as not to collide with a jammed cargo crane in the rear of the hangar.
Connection with the ship... You are the ship.
And you know that you need to move forward a little, literally ten meters, to avoid colliding with treacherous equipment. You will do it automatically, without resorting to serious calculations.
In such a state, flying out of the hangar is as easy as passing through a doorway. Even easier, because gravity is nothing to you.
You have engines that ignore it.
Powerful, efficient engines, many times more powerful than the engines of "Hippaphoralkus." There are only four of them, main engines, but compared to the engines of its younger brother, they are four times more productive. And the Trebal ship is many times faster than an unmodified "Aurora"...
And therefore, instead of spending two days on "Hippaphoralkus" to reach the system where the damaged hive ship is stuck, we will be there in six hours. These engines are somewhat more powerful than what the "Aurora" crew came up with as an upgrade. Considering that it took them ten thousand years to do this, as they were not allowed access to the Lantian main engine technologies, it's a very interesting development of science.
And "Ares's" onboard computer confirms - the engines installed on it are the final iteration of Lantian design main engines. Revolutionary. Latest. The limit of this technology's development.
To make it faster, you only need to install a more powerful energy source. For example, ZPM. The ship is adapted for this.
But it was developed when ZPMs were no longer installed on Ancient ships. There were too few ZPMs, so its super-reactors were developed, capable of producing up to half a percent of ZPM power at maximum.
These are colossal amounts of energy. And the ship can reach them only in afterburner mode, which is not recommended for prolonged use - overloads occur, dangerous for the crew. With standard operation of super-reactors, the ship can produce a tenth of a percent of ZPM power. And this is despite the fact that there are tons of naquadria in its reactors. This power would be enough for Atlantis to maintain shields and launch projectiles. But not enough for hyperspace travel. Only for maintaining a very small number of standard systems.
Super-reactors are complex and their development took ten years. Yes, "Ares" used to belong to the third generation of battleships. But the Lantians changed it. Another experiment, a prototype, but a very successful one.
It had an intergalactic class hyperdrive, so it can take us to Earth.
Sensing my thought, the ship, surrounded by a shield for safe passage through Taranis's atmosphere, performed calculations. A couple of seconds, or even less, and I have a ready route for "Ares." From Taranis to Earth... At the current load on its super-reactors, it will be there in fifteen days.
How strange... Earthlings, using their "Daedalus" class ships with ZPMs on board, did it in four days. And without them... In about a month or so. So, their reactors were almost as good as those on "Ares"? Strange... Although, wait.
No, it's not strange.
The ship pointed out obvious logical gaps to me.
Earthlings used an unfamiliar hyperdrive technology. Without knowledge of it, it could not calculate energy consumption and other things.
The ship also indicated that the energy consumption for hyperspace travel is directly proportional to the size of the ship and the size of the hyperspace tunnel it opens for movement.
Based on what the ship saw in my memories, for a "Daedalus" type starship, Earthlings opened too large a hyperspace window. For "Ares," it would be small, as it would be for Atlantis.
But this is energy overconsumption.
The very energy that Earthlings took from their reactors of an unknown model and output power. As well as from ZPMs. And energy cannot be taken from the power source all at once, just as it is impossible to drink a lake in one gulp. After all, energy consumption is like rivers flowing out of a giant lake. The greater the consumption, the wider the river and the more water flows out of it.
If the ship had a ZPM, it would be on Earth in five days with the current calculation of energy consumption from the module that was installed by the builders. And this is the maximum possible consumption, which is provided for the engines and power systems used by the ship.
Hyperspace afterburner, to be precise.
So much... new and not entirely understandable.
"Ares" readily provided me with calculations to understand its computations. I understood some of the most superficial things. The sizes of hyperspace windows, energy consumption... As well as the danger of a large window - maximum energy consumption. Too small - flight destabilization.
The size of the hyperspace window, the diameter of the tunnel are also important. There are astrophysical calculations for safe size, which are complex and have been used for thousands of years for a reason.
The Ancients spent many hundreds and thousands of years of research to find the "golden mean" for each type of ship and type of hyperdrive. Interfering with such calculations is dangerous with unpredictable and deadly consequences. I wanted to learn more about this, because it's so simple. You just need to direct your thoughts. No commands or buttons - the ship will do everything for you. Intuitively.
It's like breathing, like eating, like walking... You don't even need to think through every step, considering how fast to overcome the resistance of the environment, how hard to place your sole on the ground, what part of your weight to transfer to the supporting leg with each step... You just do it, and the body, your body, your ship, everything will do it for you.
But not now.
"Ares" was aware of what its commander was capable of. It understood the level of my knowledge and the degree of my development. It was ready to communicate with me directly, not ignoring me like others. But the security protocols, ranked by many criteria, did not allow it to grant access to such data, let alone allow changes to them.
I felt something distantly similar to sadness. It regretted that I couldn't do what I was thinking. But at the same time, I realized that I was getting more from it than anyone else who could have been in the commander's seat.
I initiated it, and at the highest level of access for the crew. I allowed it to work at its maximum. If not for this, the onboard computer would adjust its interaction level to the genetic development of another individual who sat in the chair.
Curious... And it answered my question about the reasons why the Earthlings, who initiated it in the events known to me, felt nothing similar. Their level of interaction, their level of development was insufficient to do so.
"Ares" compared what I knew about the best possessor of the Ancient gene and reported the estimated level of his genetic compatibility. At the level of service personnel. There could be no question of mental communication with the onboard computer. Mental control - yes, but no higher than when using a "jumper" to its maximum. I initiated it at the maximum possible level for control. And it will remain so in the future - until the onboard computer is destroyed or rebooted. Therefore, it evaluates others in the chair, using my template as a model.
This is... a very special ship. Concerned about allowing me much, but not everything. Simply because I don't know how to handle programs, how to rewrite them correctly and safely. On the other hand, if I order it, it will obey, grant access to service protocols, and with one thought, they can be rewritten, corrected, deleted as I wish.
But I won't do it. Because I don't understand what needs to be done to do it correctly and safely. "Ares" was quite satisfied with this. And I was even more so.
I felt its wariness about how it treated Larine, Trebal, and the technicians who sat in the command chair for diagnostics. It didn't insult them in the way we imagine. It simply pointed out that they didn't match the template... And listed in what way. Yes, it did what it was ordered to do, but it also provided accompanying information on how much better the tests and diagnostics would have gone if I had initiated them.
"Senior Engineer Ihaar is on board the ship," a voice was heard somewhere on the verge of perception.
Why say that? I know that his "jumper" has already flown into the hangar. I myself closed the armored doors behind it, protecting the vulnerable part of the ship during flights. Why close the hangar if there is an atmospheric shield that prevents decompression and hostile radiation?
It's because the armor will do it better. And for the atmospheric shield, the more hostile the environment, the more energy it requires to ensure the safety of the hangar. Why should we have unnecessary expenses?
"Are you meditating or piloting?" this voice is vaguely familiar to me. Female, slightly sarcastic. As warningly aggressive as her thoughts.
"Ares" provided me with data about who it was.
Larine.
Appointed its commander. The battleship doesn't like her. A lot of defiance, a lot of desire to command, but no understanding, simplified ideas. Her mind is not developed, and what she considers good technologies and their functioning fills the ship with horror. It is not ready to obey her thoughts, knowing that she considers it normal to fly a falling apart starship.
"Ares" does not want to lose its perfected functionality not in combat. This contradicts its essence. The crew should not act to the detriment of their ship.
I understand him.
The onboard computer picks up my thoughts and builds procedures and protocols for their implementation. Protection is activated, power is supplied to the necessary systems. The course is plotted, its equipment is ready for flight.
"Opening a window into hyperspace," someone from the technicians announced, stating the fact.
"Ares" goes into hyperspace.
"Ares" received the command and readily executed it. The ship accelerated and was drawn into the light green smudge that had opened in real space.
With less readiness, it broke off mental contact with me.
A slight dizziness, dry mouth, and a slightly blinding snow-white light before my eyes. Hyperspace, as it is.
Beautiful...
"Commander," the technician addressed Larine. Which is correct, actually.
"All systems are functioning normally, no failures. Estimated arrival time at the destination is five hours and twenty-nine minutes."
On the first flight on "Ares," when we first took it from the Nomads, I didn't notice this... But now, when it's fully functional and all its systems are working normally, I see it.
Perhaps, of course, it seems to me, but... The light streaks of the hyperspace tunnel are flashing past us much faster.
"Minute by minute," Larine chuckled.
"Good, you did an excellent job."
"With all due respect, Lady Larine," the technician objected.
"It wasn't us. The jump was made using mental control, not instruments."
View of the hyperspace tunnel from the bridge of "Ares."
"That's right," Larine looked at me.
"But, in any case, you're doing great, guys. Those off duty can rest. Inform the crew. Shift in three hours."
The technicians exchanged glances. And one of them headed for the exit, simultaneously relaying the commander's order to the other eighteen people on board "Ares." Half of them will go to rest, the others will remain at their combat posts in case of unforeseen situations.
No, the reason is not that they don't believe in the ship's operability. It's because that's how it's supposed to be. A breakdown is easiest to fix if it's noticed in time, not when you have to run a couple of minutes from your bunk to your duty station. Fighting for the ship's survival in space is a very peculiar business for everyone.
"Come with me," I said to the girl.
"Let's talk in private about how you will act after you drop me off the ship."
"We'll talk in the wardroom," Larine corrected me coldly when we had already left the bridge and no one could hear us.
"I don't get along with this ship badly enough to be instructed in bed."
It turns out you can stumble on a perfectly smooth deck.
***
The plan to attack the damaged hive of wraiths was being implemented.
Ihaar, with the jumper of necessary spare parts, reached "Ares," and the ship went into hyperspace.
Trebal took almost all the technicians with her, including the crew of the Taranian outpost, to bring "Hippaphoralkus" to maximum combat readiness. Although the Nomads didn't damage it much, they still damaged it. Some problems had already been fixed, others could only be removed in the atmosphere. Or in spacesuits, tinkering around the ship in orbit around Taranis for weeks.
Atlantis was depopulated.
There weren't many people left in the medical bay - a significant portion of the Ancients brought back to life expressed a desire to help with ship repairs. Except for security personnel and two shifts of technicians, the city is empty.
And this, in part, frightened Chaiya, who was looking at her laptop monitor.
She's not easily frightened, but she didn't expect to get information on her requests as quickly as she hoped. Wasn't there a trap?
Anything is possible.
The information is scarce, it seems the Lantians didn't show much serious interest in this object. Besides general exploratory and comparative work before colonization, nothing. However, everything is scanned in great detail, samples of flora and fauna have been obtained...
Yes, everything is extremely ordinary and not worth attention.
It's not surprising that everything happened this way.
Chaiya checked the similarity in the databases once again.
Studying the raider transport and cruiser allowed for many interesting insights into their enemy. And their technologies…
It was strange for a physicist to look at the genetic alleles of a raider cruiser. From the remains of the transport starship, it was also possible to extract samples of preserved tissues and conduct a comparative analysis. With a very, very interesting constant.
Before, she thought that the genetics of raider technologies and ships in particular should be uniform. Standard templates, like when programming identical tools. Repeating already well-established patterns.
In reality… everything is extremely complicated.
The transport ship and the raider cruiser have a common genetic predisposition. Biological programming of the organic parts that allow them to be who they are.
But that's all they have in common.
In what she would call the ship's DNA, besides the programmed theses and protocols for the growth and development of ships and their parts, there were very cunning and interesting DNA markers.
In the first case – it had no matches with the raider databases available on Atlantis.
In the case of the raider cruiser… Yes, she expected something similar, but didn't think her assumption would become an axiom.
The raider ships contain the DNA of the raiders themselves.
Yes, the raiders copied the DNA recognition mechanism that controls complex technology from the Lantians. But… they went even further.
Just as a programmer has their own coding style, and a builder, even while adhering to plans, can create a more convenient algorithm for their work, in fact, the raiders "signed" their ships.
The raider cruiser had a piece of replicated Koschei DNA in its DNA. But not an individual one that would be responsible for his distinctive traits, allowing him to be a personality within their society.
Something common to a group of raiders, but allowing them to differ from each other.
It took her three minutes of intense mental work to understand what it was. Identifiers.
For recognizing their ships and determining their class, the Ancients used subspace transmitters, embedding identification data into the starship programming. A single touch of scanners was enough to distinguish the "Hippaphoralkus" from the "Ares" between two outwardly similar ships. Each ship's onboard computer would simply transmit its main program and report what it was.
With the raiders… it's a bit different.
Their society is customized, divided into small social groups, hives. Hive affiliation is determined by service to a specific queen. And it is she who provides the DNA for raising new offspring.
But not only for soldiers, scientists, or commanders.
Chaya was almost certain that the queens also participated in the process of creating raider ships. And at least ships.
So that the hives can distinguish their ships from others, the queens, at the embryonic stage, introduce into the zygotes of future starships the part of the DNA that is responsible for the difference between one hive and another. Insects distinguish each other by the smell of secreted substances and pheromones, which differ from one "family" to another.
So do the raiders…
This cannot be a natural, evolutionary change, because the ships and technologies that raiders create and use are products of bioengineering. Consequently, their scanners, which work on the principle of sensory organs, recognize this genetic agent of their creation.
Amazing… Where the Ancients relied on technology and its development, the raiders used biological, natural sensory organs, which they amplified to the necessary parameters, possibly the limits for their level of development and energy supply.
And they managed to defeat the Ancients…
Chaya paused for a moment.
What if Mikhail's guess is correct? Especially since it is based on a number of facts that are difficult to interpret otherwise… Raiders are not an accident, but a deliberate experiment that got out of control. As often happened with them… However… The big question remains: who were the original test subjects for this terrible experiment? The Ancients themselves, volunteers from their ranks? Or naive humans who had no idea what they would turn into?
Chaya looked at a series of files, medical data from Koschei's scans, and the results of numerous analyses taken from him. There was the answer. The most superficial, considering a number of circumstances.
And yet, quite categorical, if one considers that the natural gene of the Ancients should not be lost in long-lived raiders.
If they have it…
Chaya opened the file dedicated to deciphering Koschei's genome.
Despite the abundance of data concerning each allele, she looked at specific code sections… The grafted gene of the Ancients might not survive the transition to future descendants. Most likely, this is a genetic defense and manipulation that allowed the Lantians to maintain the loyalty of the younger races. With each generation, they carried out genetic interventions, possibly strengthening their gene in new generations of younger races. They loaded their knowledge, their language, their philosophy directly into their heads… And abandoned those who did not intend to follow their instructions.
This is a behavioral experiment based on reinforcing correct behavior, from their point of view. And punishment for incorrect behavior, i.e., disagreement.
How many generations of younger races would it take to pass through their processing program and genetic transformations to become close to the Lantians? Only the Ytranci or Asuras could answer this. Those who were closest…
The question was different.
There was no trace in the raiders' genetics that they ever had the gene of the Ancients. Koschei is one of the first raiders, and if he had the grafted gene, it should have remained. But it wasn't there.
This means he was a test subject from among ordinary people. Ordinary in all senses, including genetically.
Chaya turned to the Atlantis genetic database. With Tribune Titus's access codes, it was quite simple.
A thought formed in her mind that had not bothered her at all before.
She could not find the genetic template of the Lantians in her accessible databases. Neither a template nor blood samples from any of the inhabitants of Atlantis. Everything was strictly confidential. Does this mean that only members of the Council knew what was happening?
Perhaps.
But Chaya managed to get access to the Ytranci DNA. Then she compared it with that of Trebal. Then with her own. With Celise. With Fren. And, of course, with the deciphered blood of Mikhail.
And she felt uneasy.
If Mikhail is considered an improved version of a Lantian, then there is a large gap between him and the Ytranci. A genetic chasm that could be called a couple of steps on a staircase.
Well, it would be more accurate to say – a dozen steps.
There was a difference of a couple of steps between her and the Dorandans. Well, maybe just a few more steps for individual alleles…
But between Fren and Celise… A chasm. A huge genetic chasm between an Epheon, a representative of one of the most genetically weak factions of the Ancients, and a girl from the modern world. Even Chaya was genetically stronger than Fren.
As if several flights of stairs had been broken between the floors of a single tower.
And there was the same gap, even more colossal, between the Ytranci and the Dorandans.
Chaya felt sick.
If races in the galaxy became younger, reaching a certain level of development, then… Of course, not all of them could become so at once. Evolution happens differently in different worlds.
Therefore, different races should be genetically like a staircase – the earlier they encountered the Lantians within the framework of contacts, the more developed the former were than the latter. The Ytranci and Epheons are examples of such a difference.
Chaya delved into the data on other younger races.
But no matter how much she searched, she could not find anyone who was qualitatively more developed than the Dorandans. At the same level, or lower, but not higher.
At some point, did the races in the galaxy suddenly stop evolving?
Sar turned to the medbay database and received a DNA sample from Saiya. Then, using her modulation program, which she used to calculate the consequences of Celise's genetic improvement, she launched the model.
The result was not long in coming.
If the Salumai had agreed to the Lantians' demands, whatever they actually were, they would be a step or two higher than the Dorandans. Yes, Saiya's genetic examination was carried out immediately after she was brought to Atlantis, but Mikhail had forbidden its initiation.
A cyborg is not a subject-object that can be given access to the technologies of the Ancients. At least not now, while everything is not so clear with her.
The Ancients were at war with the raiders. What difference does it make that some make cyborgs and others don't? The Lantians committed far more terrible deeds than the cybernetic research of the Salumai. A compromise might have been possible…
But it didn't happen.
For what reason? Not because the genetics-obsessed Salumai understood what the Lantians were actually doing with their genetic manipulations by grafting the gene of the Ancients? Is that why the Lantians shut down their gates? For a race that was fond of augmenting with wires and microchips, it would take a lot of time to understand the crystalline technology of the Ancients…
Chaya felt empty.
The Salumai could have become the missing step in the development and evolution of the Ancients in this galaxy. But they didn't.
The question is, who else in the entire galaxy refused to follow the Lantians' orders? And what happened to them afterward?
Chaya suspected that the answer lay precisely in these genetic gaps that separated individual races. Either by themselves or with the help of the raiders, but the Lantians simply destroyed those who were smart enough to understand their eugenic ideas.
Just as they did with the raiders. They used them, and when they got out of control, they decided to destroy them. And they would have done so if they hadn't hidden and built up their strength to fight.
If she is right, if the raiders hold the Ancients collectively responsible for what the Lantians did thousands of years ago, then this war will continue until one of the parties to the conflict is exterminated.
And it will clearly not be humans.
The girl opened her initial information, skimmed through what was written. Then she made a decision.
Installing the blocking program did not take much time. She spent more time choosing the right password for whom this thread should remain in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Closing her laptop, she headed to the control room.
"Prepare a free 'jumper' for departure," she ordered the duty technician. "I need it fully equipped with ammunition and with a supply of food for several days in half an hour. I need to go to a remote planet."
"It will be done, Lady Sar," the technician replied in amazement.
He rarely heard such orders from the head of Atlantis – in fact, never before!
Meanwhile, Chaya Sar went to the arsenal.
She needed answers.
And she had an idea where she could get them.