The Big Surprise

Finding One's True Self: Part 15

By Xan Steel

Altair followed Ohm back to his office, as he closed the door and went to a cabinet to pull out a bottle, and a pair of tumblers. He then went back to his desk and proceeded to fill them, and offered one to Altair. Altair took it and sat down on the opposite side of Ohms desk to sip it. "Zorginian Scotch?" Altair asked. 

"Yeah, I keep some around for rougher than average days," replied Ohm. 

Altair then got up and walked over to looked out Ohm's window while sipping on his drink. "You know." Ohm began while sitting down, "He's a fascinating individual." 

"So I hear. I'm hoping to get a chance to know him." Altair said while continuing to look out the window.

"Though now I suppose we need to figure out who has jurisdiction in this matter," Ohm said while peering through his glass. 

Altair sighed as he went back and sat in the chair again. He never really liked judicial matters even though as an Admiral he had to learn enough to be able to protect Alliance ideals and its people. "It all depends on whether or not either one of them plans to file any charges against the other. Though I wonder what started all of this?"

Ohm began to recount the full details of the incident as well as showing him the recorded evidence that he had. "Wait, she's basing this all on the fact he didn't dissolve in the Brine?" Altair asked perplexed as Ohm nodded. 

"According to her all the Mark II's were destroyed this way, one cycle after the launch of the Mark III's. So his unit shouldn't even exist," Ohm explained. 

"There could be another factor such as the Brine being at a very low salinization," Altair added.

"I had that checked out with the local scientists. That event isn't expected to happen for another four cycles, but they double checked and found no change in the salinization," Ohm replied.

Altair sat there thinking, as well as being impressed by how thorough Ohm had been. "Then the only other thing we can do is transfer him to another unit, and disassembled the one he's using to found out what's happening," Altair said after a time. 

"I came to the same conclusion and had a transfer unit, and a Mark IV sent here this morning. The only thing now is to wait for a research tech from H.R.U. to handle the transfer properly." Ohm finished.

Altair just looked at him in amazement. "Have you ever thought of joining the Alliance? I mean seriously? I really could use you out there." Altair's voice gave a tone of genuine amazement.

Ohm gave a light laugh. "I'm a planet side male, space never really appealed to me sadly."

After a moment Julyna came in with Rubicant behind her. She went to Altair and hugged him as he stood up to greet her. Ohm looked at Rubicant. "How are you feeling Mr. Tavar?" he asked.

"Better." He looked at Altair, "Thank you for bringing Julyna here. I don't know what would have happened to me if she hadn't been here too," He paused for a moment. "Fix me." He finished in a sheepish tone. 

Altair spoke in a friendly tone "I'm just glad she was able to help you. There is another thing we'd like to ask you." 

"Oh?" Rubicant asked as the tone of his voice picked up a bit.

Ohm spoke as he got up. "We'd like to transfer your consciousness to another unit. I'm not going to force this on you, but we'd like to take a look at where the Mark II you're using came from," he finished.

Rubicant's engineering side perked up making him brighten up emotionally. "That would be interesting find out, and maybe see what brought me here," he said.

They took Rubicant to another room where they had the transfer unit and the Mark IV sitting. Julyna had him sit in the seat directly across from the Mark IV and began to hook him in. He felt a poke under his tail as she connected him to the unit, while Ohm and Altair met with the tech. 

"Greetings Detective, Admiral, I'm Juren head of the Research and Development department at H.R.U." They greeted him in return, as he began to explain the process of how he was going to transfer Rubicant over as he started running the diagnostics. "So it's a relatively simple procedure," Juren said. 

"Just make sure you don't lose him," Ohm added. 

"Not possible, this procedure is one hundred percent safe." Juren finished as he began working the console to start the transfer process.

Julyna stood in front of Rubicant. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Nervous and a bit scared," Rubicant replied.

Julyna smiled at him as she knelt down in front of him. "That means you're still normal." 

He gave a light uneasy laugh. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." 

They suddenly started hearing alarms going off on the console in the other room. Altair burst through the small office door, "UNPLUG HIM NOW!" Just as he finished, Rubicant screamed out in pain as his body began to convulse like it was being electrocuted. Julyna rushed to grab the plug just as it shot out of him, as his body went limp in the chair. 

Julyna came back around the front of him, and gently grabbed his muzzle and lightly patted him. "Rubi? Rubi wake up sweetie! Damn it, Altair what happened?" She looked at him. 

"The system power surged when he tried to bypass a level twelve security measure," he said.

"Level twelve?" He looked at her making sure she understood what he was talking about as her eyes went wide.

Rubicant's body sat straight up, and his eyes glowed as it spoke in a deep male computerized voice. "Warning primary functions offline, Rerouting to secondary functions!" It paused briefly. "Warning secondary functions not responding! Switching to Core Mode, Running self-diagnostics!" it finished.

Ohm and Juren came in the room at this point to see if everything was okay. Unfortunately, it wasn't. "What's happening?" Ohm asked. 

"The unit he's using has been damaged, and is currently running self-diagnostics," Julyna replied. She was pissed, and walked over to Juren and pushed him up against the wall. "What did you trigger?!?" she yelled. 

"Nothing that isn't standard procedure. Look I don't know who made this unit, but it's not a Mark II. This is a custom unit. I don't know anyone with a level twelve clearance. Do you?" He finished as Julyna relaxed off of him. She understood Altair's look now. There was only one individual in the galaxy that had that clearance. 

"Initiating repair procedures, the unit will reboot into Core Mode and begin repairs in five minutes!" The Unit said.

"WAIT! YOU CAN'T REBOOT!" Juren yelled.

"Why, what will happen?" Ohm asked calmly. 

He turned with a very grave look on his face. "It will kill him with him still anchored to the unit." Everyone was silent. Julyna fell to her knees as she began to weep. She was about to lose someone she loved dearly, and after she just finished helping him become whole again.

"Warning, Primary Consciousness detected. Encapsulation required for survival!" Rubicant's head turned and looked at Altair. "Connecting to Alliance network! Rank! Admiral! Name! Altair! You possess the skill that is required!" 

Altair knew what it was asking. "Inquiry. How long will repairs take?" 

"Repair process will take seven standard hours!" It responded.

"That's longer than I'm able to keep him encapsulated." Altair softly said.

Rubicant's head turned to look at Ohm. "You have several Derlenian on staff that can transfer their energy to him! A list has been sent, have chairs and cots waiting for them!" It said.  

Ohm began to protest. "Now wait a minute," 

The Unit interrupted him, "This Consciousness is more important than all life in this galaxy! As of right now until repairs have been completed, and the consciousness returned to the unit! All laws and orders are now rescinded, by order of the GrandMaster!"

And there it was. The GrandMaster himself had brought Daniel to this Galaxy mentally. Altair stepped forward and began to encapsulate Daniels consciousness into his mind. Julyna went and helped Ohm bring in the necessary cots and chairs, as well as food. Once he had Daniel in his mind, Julyna helped him sit down in a chair to relax. The unit then powered down and powered back up to begin repairing itself.