Chapter No. 124. Shock

Bad news is the last thing I wanted to hear.

Lori turned to me with a somber expression on her beautiful face. "The antimatter weapon that you fired at the attacking ships destroyed 10,320 lives."

I sighed. "Shit! I was afraid of that. Tyco deliberately sacrificed those lives in an attempt to destroy me and take over our collective." I sighed again. "Is there any way to determine who they were?"

"We did a scan of them and determined that they were many human lives taken by Tyco and resurrected as androids. We have created a list based on the signatures we obtained in our scan."

"Is there any possibility that we have their personality and memory data?"

"We believe that many of them are in the data files on Helios Station."

"Thank you for your work," I said. "I will see to it that they are resurrected."

They didn't appear to be fazed by my statement. I doubt that they have any feelings for the androids that were destroyed, but you never know.

I returned to the command deck and sat down next to Alexa. "I was informed that we destroyed over ten thousand androids with that antimatter missile."

She shook her head. "I'm not surprised. Tyco wasted their lives to get at us."

"Fortunately, the engineering androids did a scan and identified them. They believe that their data is stored in the data banks on Helios Station."

Her eyes brightened. "Are you going to resurrect them?"

"Yes, but the problem is that they'll never remember anything about their time under Tyco's control."

"Maybe that's a good thing."

I sighed, but then gave her a weak smile. "Yes, you might be right. We'll have to go over the list and discern if any of them are a threat."

"Judy, take us back to Earth."

We went into spin drive and within ten minutes were back in our solar system. As we approached Earth, I made a new order. "From now on, Judy, when this vessel goes out on a mission, I want three Myst Ships and Two Scath vessels to accompany it. You may select the crews for those vessels."

"Yes, Jason."

"Take us to Helios Station."

Our vessel turned and accelerated away from Earth. Within twenty minutes, we were near Helios Station, which orbited the Sun in the L1 Lagrangian point with Earth.

"Begin a search of the Data Stacks for the list of androids that were destroyed."

"I'm on it," Molly said.

Later that evening when we gathered for a communal meal, I greeted the dinners wearing my apron decorated with a stylized spoon and fork. "I have made an unusual meal that I think all of you might like. It's barbecued ribs with a tasty sauce. I remind you that this meal is a synthetic creation. Under no circumstances do we kill animals for their meat. I hope you like it."

After helping serve, I sat down next to Molly and Marie. "What do you think?"

"I haven't had anything like this in a long time," Marie said. "You've managed to duplicate it to a tee."

"You're a true chef, Jason," Vince said.

"I like to experiment," I said. "It takes my mind off the problems we face."

"Are you going to resurrect more people?" Alex asked.

I turned to Molly, and she gave the reply. "Yes, we will, but first we have to determine if there is any Tyco code hidden in their data."

"Actually," I said. "I've been thinking about this. I believe it might be a better idea to wait until we've defeated this Tyco idiot once and for all before we resurrect anyone else. The last thing we need is to put more possible unknowns into the equation."

"You might be right," Molly said. "We've had some of these Tyco attacks because one of the androids had a signal device in her body that we failed to detect."

I nodded my agreement.

After supper, we gathered in the living area of my new quarters to listen to a musical recital by the thee M's, Molly, Margaret and Marie. They treated us to some Brahms Piano Trios, specifically Trio No.2 in C Major, Op. 87.

I was astounded that they played with professional talent. Obviously, it was possible for any of us to acquire the expertise to do that. It reminded me of Star Trek's Data, who had this ability.

The audience applauded. It reminded them of their human roots, which was a good thing.

Later that evening I was watching a Star Trek Next Generation episode, The Measure of a Man, where Data was considered Star Trek property and was about to be dismantled to see what made him tick so that they could duplicate him. The process involved a trial to determine if Data was indeed a person.

Alexa, in her pristine state, approached my bed. She looked up at the screen I was watching. "Ah, that's the episode where they considered that Data was not a slave."

I smiled. "Yes, and I think that it has relevance to our present situation."

"I agree."

"So, what brings you here?"

"I was wondering if I could become stronger like you so that I could help you defeat Tyco."

"I've already set that morph into action. You should be up to par shortly."

She seemed surprised, but she settled down to just a subtle smile. "Thank you."

"I also made it possible to do all of the tricks that I can."

She tilted her head. "Wouldn't you be concerned that I would try to take over if you did that?"

"I trust you. In fact, you're the only person I trust."

"If I were in your situation, I wouldn't have done that."

"Why?"

She smiled. "Because I know how power can lead to delusions of grandeur."

"I agree, but I don't have time to worry about what might happen. I need your help, and I think you understand why that's important under the circumstances. If you want to make more of the decisions, I welcome that."

"So, you wouldn't mind if I decide what we might do?"

"No. In fact I would welcome it."

She stared at me for a moment. "You are a strange person. I've never met anyone like you. You seem to have no bias about anything."

"I don't think that prejudice makes any sense. We are all in this together. There is no need for us to segregate. We are essentially identical and have a common mission. That's what a collective does."

"Speaking of powers, I've discovered an ability that we didn't realize we have.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. We can fly."

I chuckled. "That's wild; although, I don't know what good it would be, especially since we can teleport instantly."

"It could be useful when we have to combat Tyco."

"Yes, you're right, especially if the final battle takes place on a planet."

"Let me decide where we go to hunt for Tyco."

"Sure, go for it," I said.

She smiled and disappeared.

I realized that she was feeling her oats, so to speak. I just hoped that she didn't do something she would regret. I also realized that she already knew that I was giving her my powers.

The next day, Molly had some news about the identity of the people I had destroyed in the last Tyco attack.

"I found a female scientist by the name of Helen Stromberg. She's an expert on this Tyco character."

"What makes her an expert on him?" I asked.

"It's because she worked with him, but he murdered her once he gained all her knowledge about quantum physics as it applies to black holes."

"Wow! That sounds like the ultimate dirty deed."

"Do you want to resurrect her?" Molly asked.

"Yes," Alexa said. "Resurrect her. We need her knowledge of him."

Molly turned to look at me, but I simply nodded. I could see in her face that she was not exactly happy about me allowing Alexa to make the calls.