SECTION 05

I SAW THE EARTH FROM ABOVE

DATE: NOVEMBER 30, 250 A.D.E.

TIME: 1522 HOURS

LOCATION: THE DOME, MILITARY POLICE ACADEMY, LECTURE THEATRE S.12

"…An' with one mighty burst from his plasma mortar, I fell into a world of pain as my arm was seared clear away! Oh, ye should've heard me scream. Nothing wrong with a good blood-curdling scream if ye've been 'urt enough. Speaking of blood…"

I sighed as Gobber descended into a gruesome description of the events that had left him as the cyborg he was today, Waif several rows down emitting a terrified squeak and sinking low into her chair as he began to describe the 'crimson fountains'.

Having worked with the major for two years, and with him being one of my Dad's best friends, I'd heard this story several hundred times in my lifetime. So you can imagine the bored look on my face as I gazed up at the tiled ceiling shrouded in gloom, my feet resting on the top of the empty chair in front of me.

How exactly had a lecture on Dragonoid weak spots turned into Gobber's War Tales was beyond me.

"I'm so angry right now!" I was just about to doze off when Snotlout jumped to his feet in a frenzy. "I'm gonna…I'm gonna avenge your beautiful limbs, sir! I'm gonna break into every Dragonoid I fight and chop off the limbs of every pilot I see…with my face!"

…

'That made no sense to everyone else right?'

The stunned silence from the announcement seemed to confirm my thought, although the image of Jorgenson trying to go toe to toe with the 7"5-foot tall Ruusaan (teeth and all) brought a somewhat pleasant smile to my face.

"Well…tha's ah…very thoughtful of ye corporal," Gobber smiled warily as Snotlout was dragged back into his chair by Astrid. "But the pilot should be the least of ya worries. If ye want ta take out a Dragonoid quickly, ye should find a way ta get ta it's power source. Knock tha' out, an' the entire machine is dead inna water, an' we can move in to capture it. 'Course, if ye wanna really impress the brass, find a way ta take out the A.I. memory core. Tryin' ta find info out without tha' thing going all beastie on us could be a real time saver!"

That's when it hit me, like a bolt of lightning to the brain. It had been staring me in the face the whole time, ever since I first found those blueprints.

Without even thinking, I stealthily rose from my seat and headed for the exit as Gobber warbled on, only aware that Astrid's bemused eyes watched my back until I was out of site.

TIME: 1531 HOURS

LOCATION: THE DOME, WEST SECTOR FIVE, MCKRILLEN RESIDENCE.

The lights grudgingly flickered on as I barged into my room, one hand fishing my tablet computer from the desk drawer while other padded down my pockets for a certain flash drive I currently never left home without. It was so obvious, so stupidly obvious. I opened up the translated pages of the Night Fury manual from the flash drive, flicking through page after page until I found the one I wanted.

INTERNAL VIEW-TECHNICAL DIAGRAM

My eyes darted across the page until I found what I wanted. That block, the unidentified module that was placed beside near the power source. Now fully translated, I realised why Ruusaan had highlighted it so urgently.

A.I. MEMORY CORE

TOO CLOSE TO POWER SOURCE IN UNABLE TO TRANSLATE CONFIGURATION! REMEMBER TARGET'S ATTACK!

I slumped back into my chair, letting the tablet fall the short distance from my hand to the desk. In its' Dragonoid configuration, the Night Fury's A.I. memory core was practically right next to the power source. When transformed into humanoid mode, the Core moved with the rear cockpit chair to a position near the mech's head, but the machine was subjected to a direct EMP in Dragonoid mode, like say the one attached to a Stinger missile, the A.I. would be fried. And unlike the power source, there was no chance of a reboot of power once the EMP was removed. A look through the A.I. Construct Protocols, only confirmed what I'd already figured out.

The Night Fury couldn't fly because it had no Artificial Intelligence to help it.

Among its' primary functions, Beast mode notwithstanding, an A.I. was tasked with keeping a Dragonoid stable while in the air. In the Night Fury's case this was even more important than normal; the Dragonoid mode, while fast, was clearly designed to be compact rather than completely aerodynamic, and I didn't want to even think about how the humanoid mode would stay aloft for very long. Without its A.I., it was a wonder that Ruusaan had been able to get the damn thing up in the air at all. She most likely crashed when she tried to transform her machine back into Dragonoid mode, probably to try and get away faster. So if I was to try and get the Night Fury running again, all I needed was to get the machine a new A.I.…

Easier said than done.

My first thought was to try and steal one of the A.I.'s from the Dragonoids we kept at the Arena, but I quickly banished such thoughts. Even if I did find a way to bypass security and download one, I very much doubted even the Nightmare's A.I. could keep up with the calculations necessary to maintain the Night Fury's functions.

That left me with two options, neither of which I particularly liked.

The first was to abandon the Night Fury altogether, but somehow leaving an advanced Dragonoid where anyone could find it didn't seem like the best idea, something I think Ruusaan would agree with me about. This would also leave me with the problem of what to do with said alien co-pilot. It wasn't like I could just put her in a basket at the end of my bed like a stray animal I felt sorry for. I shook my head as I leaned back to stare at the ceiling. Leaving the Dragonoid to the elements wasn't much of an option. Which just left…

I rubbed a hand across my face. I wasn't really considering going through with this was I? I had no guarantees it would work, no promises anything I did would be accepted by the Dragonoid, both machine and alien.

But if it did work…

I sat up, determination crossing my face as I flicked through the pages again until I came to the section I needed. It wouldn't be easy, but if the Night Fury was ever going to fly properly again, I was going to have to try and build something no human had even considered building from the day this war began.

I was going to have to program a Dragonoid Artificial Intelligence.

DATE: DECEMBER 4, 250 A.D.E.

TIME: 1348 HOURS

LOCATION: ENGLAND, SIX KLICKS SOUTHEAST OF DOME TERRITORY, NIGHT FURY LANDING SITE

"Gar vaabir'naas haa'taylir bid jate."

I ignored the amused looking Ruusaan as I slumped down onto the back of her armour she'd offered me for use as a cushion against the frosty ground in front of the fire. I didn't have to understand the co-pilot to know she'd just made comment about my current state.

My form was hunched over, eyes ringed by dark circles as my joints complained from being in curled over computer screens for hours at a time. Even with the manual's A.I. Construct Protocols in front of me, I'd spent long days and sleepless nights trying to transcribe alien procedures and data files into something human computers could understand. That I'd managed to put together a prototype in around five days was a miracle in itself. Score one for the inventor in me I guess.

"Meg vaabir gar ganar ogir?"

I glanced tiredly across the flames to where Ruusaan sat, trying to ignore how much more…feminine she looked without the armour that now served as our seating. Her emerald eyes were curiously on the tablet under my arm as it beeped urgently. I smiled as I set the computer between us.

"Say again please," I tapped my mouth as I spoke. Ruusaan gave me a strange look, but quickly understood what I wanted.

"Meg vaabir gar ganar ogir?"

What is that?

The words appeared on the screen as the built-in microphone picked up her voice, causing a smile to cross my face. I'd managed to install a basic translation matrix onto the tablet's main drive, nothing too fancy or memory clogging. The program was designed to pick out words it recognised from the small pool that had been installed and make form a sentence as similar to it as possible.

Ruusaan's eyes widened as she recognised the Dragonoid script above the translation, "Ni haa'taylir. Bic reddo miit, serim? Mav bic reddo gar'ra miit?"

I see. It says my words. Will it say yours?

I shook my head. It was by no means a perfect program. Translating the Dragonoid language was easier because I had a translation matrix to base it on, but for the moment I couldn't translate my own words back, simply because no one had ever thought a Dragonoid and a human being would ever need to have a conversation. I was glad the small project I'd worked on the night before was working well enough.

"I'm sorry we can't have a normal conversation," my words were accompanied by a series of hand gestures and shaking of my head to try and help her understand, "This is the best I can do for now. I'm here to help…Gaa'taylir…and this is how I'm going to do it."

Ruusaan didn't answer, but I think she got the gist of my hand waving. Moving the translation matrix to one side of the screen, I brought up the A.I. construct protocols for her to see.

"Ibic la teh ner Ca'furor dajunes. Tion'jor copaani gar tengaanar ni ibic?"

"This is the reason you can't get Ca'furor to fly," I hoped using the Night Fury's actual name might help. "It has no A.I.," I winced as she gave me a blank look. Of course a human acronym wouldn't make sense to an alien. "It doesn't have this, erm…" I flicked back to the translation matrix, opening a new window and flicking down the list of words, "Ca'furor…nayc…mirshe!"

Ruusaan gave me a weird look, somewhere between confusion and trying not to laugh.

"Te Ca'furor ne'naas ganar mirshe?

It has no brain?

I rubbed an embarrassed hand over my face. Wrong word obviously. I brought up the A.I. construct protocols and tapped them, "I call this an Artificial Intelligence. We think of it like a brain for machinery." I tapped the side of my head, then indicated to the Night Fury.

Ruusaan's smile disappeared as she nodded with realisation.

"Gar inno te Mirdala," she glanced up mournfully towards the Night Fury. "Te Ca'Furor Mirdala la dar."

The intelligence is gone.

"Yes-I mean elek," I nodded as I pulled the flash drive out of my pocket, "But it's okay. I've been working on something that might help."

New files appeared as I inserted the drive into a USB port, the co-pilot's eyes widening in mild surprise as familiar images appeared accompanied a language that from her perspective was almost alien: English.

"It's just an early prototype, so it won't get you home just yet…"

"Te naas ani."

"No, it's not finished," I shook my head, a part of me glad to see I was slowly picking up the language. "I need more data than the protocols can give me. I…" Ruusaan looked up at me inquisitively as I struggled with a line of her language I'd tried to memorise, ""Ni linibar…aht…kebbur ibic…bat te Ca'furor."

I need to try this on the Night Fury.

Ruusaan stared at me quietly, her face unreadable. I didn't blame her for being hesitant. After all, I was asking permission to install untested enemy (in her eyes) technology on an advanced mech on the off chance it might get her back to Washington Crater. I tried not to shrink back under her intense gaze. I felt like I was being analysed like a damned science experiment, while at the same time I felt very…exposed. it wasn't until I started to wonder if the Dragonoids had some kind of clothes only x-ray vision that a smile spread across Ruusaan's face.

"Ori pirusti."

I looked down at the tablet, a smile of my own crossing my lips.

Very well.

A few years back, I came across an old movie made well before the Dragonoids had invaded. Funnily enough, it was an alien invasion flick. It was the usual thing really: Aliens arrive, aliens kill humans, America saves the day and all that. But the thing that stuck in my mind about the film was a scene towards the end when one of the heroes interfaced with the alien mothership…using a human laptop. At the time, I'd always wondered if it would be so simple for human technology to interface with alien technology. And as I tried to pull my hair out with frustration, I was very quickly realising the answer to my question.

While rebuilding the A.I., how I was going to transfer the program into the Dragonoid had surprisingly never come up. I had been more worried about building a working prototype and the repercussions of installing a human Artificial Intelligence onto an alien mech, and now I was paying for my short-sightedness. Dragonoid computers were closed circuits; all data was transferred through wires via a computer kept on the mech's home installation. As such, trying to get the flash drive bound A.I. into the Night Fury's Memory Core was hardly…fun.

Wires trailed from the connection port near the A.I. dome to where I sat in the forward cockpit chair, the tri-pointed connection plug lopped off with Ruusaan's combat knife and the protruding wires crudely connected to my tablet through one of the USB ports. I had no idea what this would do to my computer, but it would have to do until I could attach a proper plug to the connection wire…if I could attach one. I was already aware of the odd spark that flared from the exposed wires if I so much as shivered, the tablet feeling unnaturally warm against my knees. Downloading the A.I. was already an annoyingly slow task, the last thing I needed was for my trousers to catch on fire.

"La bic ani?"

I glanced up as Ruusaan's head popped up through the cockpit hatch, her face no doubt a mirror of the bored look I gave her. It also didn't help I had to shut down the translation matrix to speed up the download process. I didn't need to know anything about the Dragonoid language to guess what she'd asked, however.

"Nope, not done yet…for the hundredth time" I shook my head with a strained smile. "Cut me some slack, I'm not exactly enjoying this either you know!"

The co-pilot scowled, making a sound like a cross between a tut and a sigh through her pointed teeth, "Gar vaabir'naas ganar aht orjorer."

I rolled my eyes as she ducked sulkily back outside to continue her lookout, before turning back to the tablet. Considering it was the Night Fury that was really doing the downloading, I had no way of knowing how far along it was until the Dragonoid itself reacted to the presence of the A.I.. I sighed as I leant back in the cockpit chair, my head grazing the bottom of the headrest as I closed my eyes. The cockpit was surprisingly clean when I'd opened the hatch, the blood scrubbed from the chairs, any sharp edges from broken machinery filed down or pushed back into place. Ruusaan had clearly been busy between my visits, but I felt a bit guilty that she'd been repairing the Night Fury's innards all by herself. After all, I was the one who shot her and her Alor down…

I grimaced as I recognised the faint traces of an awful smell, "It's faint but…it still smells of blood in here…"

"Mirdala nari ani."

I blinked in surprise as a deep computerised voice rumbled up from behind me, a hopeful look crossing my face as I turned to the rear of the cockpit. Before my eyes, the circuitry patterns that lined the A.I. dome's surface were gradually taking on a crimson hue, the camera in the centre adjusting itself like an iris. I smiled in relief as I turned back to my tablet and hastily disconnected the wires, "Well, glad that's over with…"

"Tolase: Strena…a-a-a-a-a-as-To-To-To-las-las-…"

I froze as the voice stuttered over its words, the dim lights flickering as its tone seemed to get higher with every second. As the voice reached an ear-splitting pitch, the cockpit hatch slamming closed and the lights above snapping off, leaving me in total darkness and nothing but the noise to assure me the Dragonoid hadn't killed me.

"This can't be good."

"…To-To-To-To-To -Sys-las-las-tem-To-To-tem-Sys-To-Sys-las-las-las-System-tem-tem…"

The voice cut off, leaving me with the realisation of how hard my panicked breathing was.

"System: Online."

As the lights flashed on to a blinding brightness and the Night Fury thrummed to life, a quick glance behind me allowed me time to see the last of the red disappearing from the A.I. dome, replaced by a cool blue that seemed to better fit the militaristic female voice that came from the cockpit's speakers…a voice that had started to speak English.

I sat back as I felt the main thrusters ignite.

"No…not good at all."

Ruusaan heard the sound of her precious Ca'furor long before the mech tried to take her head off.

She had been on her way back to check yet again to see if the A.I. had been moved yet when the machine roared to life, the co-pilot barely having time to leap clear into the pond before Ca'furor took off across the crater floor.

"Hey! Where are you going!?"she spluttered through a mouthful of dirty water. "Get back here with my…"

Her voice died as Ca'furor collided with the side of the crater, realisation dawning as the machine's powerful thrusters pushed it up along the wall and into the air.

"He has no control…"

I was numb, terrified even.

Pressed into the cockpit chair, all I could see was blue sky ahead, clouds streaking past as I watched alien numbers climb on the console before me.

The tablet clattered to my feet as I groped blindly for the control sticks, but both of them were slightly too big for my hands to properly grasp. Even if I'd been able to operate them, I had no idea which stick did what!

The Night Fury continued to climb, the heavens beginning to darken as we soared higher into the sky. A hundred thoughts flashed through my brain as I closed my eyes. What if we breached the atmosphere? Was the Dragonoid safe for space flight? Even if it was, would I have enough air?

I couldn't take it

"Stop…please stop…" I whimpered pitifully, clenching my eyes shut. "Please. PLEASE STOP!"

"Home Language confirmed." The A.I. spoke calmly. "Order unclear. Nearest logical order at current flight stage is level out…"

"YES LEVEL OUT!" I shouted in hysterics. "PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF…JUST LEVEL OUT NOW!"

"Order Acknowledged."

The Night Fury lurched, and I had to throw a hand out to stop my head from being smashed against a bulkhead. I didn't open my eyes though, not until I felt the ride smooth and a strangely lighter gravity retake control of my feet rather than my back.

"Level out complete. Query Pilot: are you incapacitated?"

I cracked an eye open. I was alive…somehow. I could still feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, but I was alive, that was the important thing.

And I had quite the view waiting for me.

Across all screens, the sky was dyed a dark blue, the Earth curving away slightly near the bottom of my vision. I'd lost sight of England and the rest of the British Isles entirely, what little I could see through the cloud layer revealing vast plains land layered with thick snow.

Then it hit me: I was doing what no human had done for almost two and a half centuries. I was flying.

"Query Pilot: are you incapacitated?"

I shook myself from my stupor as I looked back towards the A.I.. Something had gone wrong with its installation. I'll admit my Dragonoid wasn't exactly up to scratch, but I was sure I'd programmed the new A.I. specifically to the details written down in the construct protocols. Maybe something from the tablet's systems got transferred along with the A.I., a problem with the transfer could also explain why the Night Fury had just taken off like that…

"Query Pilot: are you incapacitated?"

I shook my head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about such problems. The A.I. seemed to be working, at any rate; keeping the Dragonoid in the air at least, so that was something.

"Yes, I'm currently unable to pilot the Night Fury properly," I smiled weakly at the blue 'eye' that was staring at me from behind. "If you wouldn't mind, could you please return us back to where we took off? Slowly?"

"Order acknowledged."

I sighed as the Dragonoid slowly banked in a wide arc, watching as more of the Earth came into view as I strapped myself into the safety harness. The world looked peaceful from up here. You'd never know a war was being fought below. In fact, you'd never even know anyone lived on this small blue and green world if you just looked down on it from up here…

The skies were starting to darken when Ruusaan heard the familiar sounds of Ca'furor's engines overhead, a pang of relief flitting through her heart as she watched the onyx machine circle the crater and touch down near the pond. Her mind had been plagued by a hundred different worries and scenarios since she'd seen her mech disappear into the sky. She'd been scared and confused, stranded in the middle of unfamiliar territory with a human colony not so far away. She also felt angry though. Admittedly, it probably wasn't Hallex's fault that Ca'furor had taken off as it did, but that split second fear that he'd just abandoned her had stuck in her mind, playing over and again like a projection on a loop. As such, she had a good long lecture for his computer thing to translate for her as he clambered out over the edge of the shield plate…only for it to be lost in an instant as he staggered towards her.

He looked paler than before, his legs a little wobbly, but he was smiling thinly, eyes slightly unfocused.

"Are you al…"

She trailed off into a surprised gasp as he collapsed into her arms.

"Sorry," he said weakly into her jumpsuit, "I'm…not feeling so hot."

She didn't understand a word he said, but she felt herself smiling slightly as she recognised the symptoms of air sickness. Her kind considered it to be a healthy reaction when pilots first took to the skies. After all, if a species is supposed to fly, the Universe would give it wings on which to soar.

With a quiet sigh, she gently brought Hallex over to the remains of the fire and knelt down before it, resting his head in the crook of her arm as she hugged him tightly, pulling a thermal blanket around them both to protect them against the coming cold of the night.

"Silly little human thing,"she muttered fondly, brushing traces of his hair off his forehead. "Why are you doing so much to help me?"

Hallex didn't reply, not at first. He just shivered against the cold, turning his head slightly towards her. She felt him smile through her jumpsuit.

"I saw something wonderful today," he murmured, "I saw the Earth from above…"

Ruusaan frowned as she watched him drift off into a fitful sleep, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, and not because of the position she was sitting in.

Hallex was the enemy, yet he bandaged her wounds, brought her food and even managed to get Ca'furor flying again. He wasn't like other humans. Why wasn't he like other humans? He should hate her kind. He should have shot her the moment he saw she was alive in that moment when they first met. On the other side, she should have killed him the moment he first entered the cockpit. But she hadn't killed him, and he hadn't killed her.

And now here they were; curled up by the low flames of the fire. The danger she was putting herself in by even talking with Hallex seemed trivial at this moment. If her Superiors ever discovered she had been in contact with humans, they would have her killed for treason. And Hallex…she didn't even want to think of what they would do to him if they found it was him who had made contact and meddled with their technology. Chances were good they would hunt him down and drag him back home, torturing him and parading him through the levels like some tournament won prize.

She didn't want that, she realised. Ruusaan didn't want to see Hallex hurt.

She wanted to see him safe.

It was there and then that she made her decision. Holding his sleeping body close, Ruusaan slowly bent down and whispered her promise into his ear:

"For as long as you need me, Human Hallex, I will protect you from all harm."

She didn't hear Hallex reply, but Ruusaan swore she saw the human smile.

DRAGONOID TRANSLATIONS (POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

"Gar vaabir'naas haa'taylir bid jate."
(You don't look so good.)

"Meg vaabir gar ganar ogir?"
(What do you have there?)

"Ni haa'taylir. Te reddo miit, serim? Mav te reddo Gar'ra miit?"
(I see. It translates words correct? Will it translate your words?)

"Ibic la teh ner Ca'furor dajunes. Tion'jor copaani gar tengaanar ni ibic?"
(This is from my Night Fury Plans. Why are you showing me this?"

"Ca'furor…nayc…mirshe!"
(Night Fury no brain!)

"Te Ca'furor ne'naas ganar mirshe?
(The Night Fury doesn't have a brain?)

"Gar inno te Mirdala. Te Ca'Furor Mirdala la dar."
(You mean the Intelligence. The Night Fury's Intelligence is gone.)

"Te naas ani."
(It's not complete.)

"Ni linibar aht kebbur ibic bat te Ca'furor."
(I need to try this on the Night Fury)

"Ori pirusti."
(Very well.)

"La te ani?"
(Is it complete?)

"Gar vaabir'naas ganar aht orjorer."
(You don't have to shout.)

"Mirdala nari ani."
(Intelligence move complete.)

"Tolase: Strenaas."
(System: Active.)
Note: This is what the A.I. was trying to say before it got overwritten.

Author's Notes

I'm sorry the notes for last week were long and rambling. As I said, I was running late in uploading it (I usually aim for around 5:00pm GMT) so I didn't really look at it that hard before uploading. Ironic that I don't really have anything to say this week.

So that's it for the 'remastered' chapters. Next week is the first chapter to be uploaded that hasn't been uploaded before, and it's got mentions of Christmas-y stuff in it. Ain't that topical?

See you all next time!