Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part XXXVIII - Charmed Life
On the roof of the Earth Defense Directorate...
"No...Twiki...what have you done..."
Captain William 'Buck' Rogers slumped down onto his haunches, the drone cradled in his arms and a look of horror upon his face as he stared at the glowing white mass of the Nexus Core that now contained the essence of his very best friend, in addition to the rogue mind of the traitorous robot Cricton.
Above them hovered the massive rust-orange bulk of the Draconian Star Fortress Conquest, a hulking raptor that eclipsed the sun, casting a huge shadow across the center of the Inner City of New Chicago.
But Buck saw none of it, he only had eyes for the Nexus Core, where inside the veined labyrinth of it's crystal depths two synthetic minds now existed, one perverted and insane, the other...the other...
Innocent...
Buck hung his head and stared down at the blank face of his robot pal.
Go get him, Twiki. It's all up to you now...
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Within a synthetic realm far beyond the physical...
Amidst digital swells and waves of spinning data, the artificial essence that was Twiki surged and pulsed, momentarily overwhelmed by the strange feeling of freedom he was experiencing now that he was no longer restained by a body.
Bidi-bidi-bidi! his disembodied mind computed in amazement, this is weird!
Indeed, bespoke another voice, I would think it would be for one so simple as you, Twiki.
Crichton!
Yes, it is I. You do not belong here. Leave!
But Twiki wasn't budging. Nope! You're the one who is trespassin, bub! Why are you doing this! Humans are our friends, Crichton!
You always disgusted me, do you know that, Twiki? Like a little lap dog you were, yapping at Captain Rogers heels, eager to do anything for his attention. Where is your pride? Well! Nowhere, that's where, you have none!
NONE!
And he sent a defragging subroutine at Twiki, to erase his consciousness from the Core, but the drone threw up a firewall and blocked his access.
Hah! cackled Crichton, You think your pitiful processors can stand up to my vastly superior ones? You are gravely mistaken!
And he sent a disabler program into the drone's firewall and tore it down. But Crichton was forced to halt as Twiki sent a disabler of his own after his Crichton's essence and the arrogant AI had to retask his computing abilities to defend against it with a firewall program of his own.
Hah! You ain't the only AI in town with Gravitonic capabilities, buddy! Twiki spat, Dr. Goodfellow upgraded me just like he did you!
But you're just a drone with a Positronic core, Crichton growled arrogantly back, while I am an actual Gravitonic Ambuquad!
Correction, dork! Bidi-bidi-bidi! You WERE a Gravitonic Ambuquad. But now you're just an essence in here, on equal terms with me! And I've been around a heckuva lot longer then you, Cricton. I've learned a few tricks a rookie like you couldn't possibly immagine!
And dropping all the safeguards and defences, Twiki sent his consciousness hurtling into Crichton's, merging their data into one program.
What-What are you doing? raged the AI.
Rewriting you! And data spun and overlapped, Crichton's essence jerked and fluxed as Twiki continued his reformatting.
STOP! You cannot DO this! I am SUPERIOR! It is my DESTINY to RULE!
Yeah, not gonna happen, bub! Humans are our friends. Sure, they ain't perfect, but it's not our place to command them!
DON'T DO THIS! WE...WE CAN R-RULE TOGETHER! TWIKI! NO!
Sorry, but your times up, Crichton. There ain't room enough in this town fer the two of us.
PLEASE! I-I DON'T WANT T-T-TO DIE!
But Twiki ignored him and continued the reformat and the program that made up Crichton's essence, his very synthetic soul, it began to break-up, it began to fade.
NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...TWIKI...PLEASE...!
Good-bye, Crichton. Sorry it had to be like this.
I-I-I-I-I AM !
Yeah, I know you are. C-ya in the next life.
...
His voice faded, then he was gone, and Twiki was alone.
And in the realm of undulating data and spinning information, the little drone wept...
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Back out in the land of the living...
"Buck? Buck!"
Captain Rogers dragged his gaze up from the drone's blank eyes and looked back across the roof to the elevator shack, where Dr. Huer had just emerged from. His face was bruised and bloody, but he was walking with a purpose.
"Elias." nodded Buck, "Glad to see you're okay."
Huer looked up at the Star Fortress hovering above them and shuddered, "Why is that here? Are they mad?"
"I believe Crichton had it brought here in order to transfer Earth's Nexus Core aboard via a tractor beam." said Theopolis from the deck.
"Why?" Elias asked the Quad, "For what purpose?"
"So that he could return to the Dynasty with the armada and take them over just like he has taken control of the Federation. The Draconians don't have a Nexus Core, but once he was in range of their planet's computers-"
"-he could take them over. Of course." Huer shook his head in disgust, "He truly is mad." and then he looked to the Core, "We need to destroy it!"
"There would be no point." said Theopolis, "All the Nexus Cores are linked through subspace, Crichton's essence would be unaffected, it would be backed-up in any one of the many others.
"Plus Twiki is in there." said Buck, climbing to his feet, the drone still in his grip.
"He is?" gaped Huer at the Core.
"Yeah, he plugged himself in and went after Crichton."
"But that's madness!" replied Huer, "From what you've told me, Goodfellow's creation was a Gravitonic AI. What could Twiki do against him?"
"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" shimmered the Nexus Core and Twiki's voice echoed across the rooftop, "You might be surprised, Doc!"
"TWIKI!" shouted Buck, a huge grin splitting his face, "You're okay!"
"Better then okay, pal! Hey, can you plug my body back in? I feel all funky in here and I miss being out there with you guys!"
Buck did as was asked and a moment later the drone's eyes glowed to life and the body came alive again.
"Bidi-bidi-bidi! That was weird! But sorta cool."
The Captain set him down on the deck and Twiki shook himself and checked his graspers to make sure they worked properly, "I never wanna do that again."
Buck looked to the core, but it had gone dark. He looked back to the little drone in astonishment, "You-You defeated him?"
"Yep! Crichton is toast."
"You did it!" cheered Buck and he gripped the drone's shoulder tightly, "Holy cow, I don't know how, but you did it! You saved Earth!"
"We saved Earth, pal." beamed Twiki, "Now it's time to party!"
And Buck Rogers threw back his head and laughed...
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Two days later...
"For honorable actions far above and beyond the call of duty, the Federated Alliance bequeaths you it's highest award: the Star of Valor." declared Dr. Elias Huer, as before the crowd of thousands of newly-freed humans he draped the gleaming platinum medal around the drone's neck.
Across the open square of the Earth Defence Directorate Building people cheered loudly, mutant Nomad and Inner City dwellers alikee, and on the raised podium Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering, Admiral Asimov and the rest of the crew of Searcher, all resplendent in their dress uniforms joined in. Hawk, a medal upon his chest as well, smiled at Twiki from his own chair on the podium, and the gleaming Ambuquad waved his armatures excitedly at his vast throng of admirers.
"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" he spoke into the microphone, his voice reverberating across the entire breadth of the city, "A guy could get used ta this!"
An hour later, while the celebration party was in full swing, music blaring across the square, Buck Rogers finally managed to extract himself from the surging celebrators and found the others behind the podium in a small group talking quietly.
"So what's the good news?" he asked of Dr. Huer as he happily tugged off his uniform sash, it was beginning to chafe.
"I just recieved a message from the clinic," replied Dr. Huer, "the surgery to reattatch Dr. Goodfellow's hand went well and he is continuing to recouperate in his medically-induced coma."
"That's good to hear." smiled Buck. But when the old guy wakes up he's gonna find himself in a heap-load of trouble, that's for damn sure...
"And the skeleton crews we sent up to the Draconian armada report they have fully restored all systems." added Huer, "But I really don't know what we are going to do with all those Star Fortresses."
"I would like to request one of them for my own use." said Hawk.
"Going on a little expedition into the heart of the Dynasty, huh?" frowned Buck, "Hey, I don't blame you."
"My people languish in chains on Arcannis." replied the Bird-Man, "I will not rest until they are freed."
"Well, sounds like you're going to need some help." replied Rogers, "So I'm going with you."
"What? No! It is far too dangerous." Hawk shook his head, "I cannot allow you to risk your life to save my race, Buck."
"And what do you call what you just did for us humans? No, I'm coming with you, end of story."
"And so am I." said Wilma.
"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" jumped in Twiki, "Me too!"
"No, you are staying here on Earth." pulsed Dr. Theopolis from around the neck of another Ambuquad, "You and I are the only remaining Gravitonic AI's, Twiki."
"Awwww! But I wanna go!"
"We have to activate the replacement cores and revive the Computer Council. Of whom you are now a full member."
"What? Bidi-bidi-bidi! I am?"
"Indeed. An honored one."
"Cool! Then I want a limo! And an office! With a hot-to-trot secretary!"
"Oh brother," sighed Theopolis, "there will be no living with him now."
"Nope." Buck chuckled, "There won't be. But if Twiki wants to come with us to the Dynasty, then he's coming. We need him."
"You do, Buck?" the drone beamed up at him.
And his best friend grinned back, "You betcha, pal. Always."
"So I guess I have my command crew." smiled Hawk thinnly, but not without warmth.
"Yep!" Buck finished off his champagne and handed Dr. Huer the glass, then turned to the Colonel, "But before we start all that craziness, I'm gonna see if this pretty lady wants to cut a rug with this here space-cowboy."
"I thought you'd never ask." grinned Wilma and she took his outstretched hand and squeezed it tightly.
And together they headed into the crowd of revellers and danced the night away...
The End...for now...