Puppet: Defender

  After full regeneration, Bob wanted the alien removed. The Puppeteer left reluctantly but promptly enough.

  The other two were amputees. Their regeneration took about three months. Interestingly enough both wanted to keep their Puppeteers. The condition of staying on the station if they wanted to keep their Puppeteers proved to be too much for one of them, who had a family to go back to, whereas the other stayed.

  After a year, the population of Guided had grown to 20 residents. There were 6 others that functioned as pilots for the various shuttles and heavy spacecraft. At that point, construction began of an observation platform to keep an eye on the Puppeteer’s main base.

  The Guided were much better at zero-G construction than Mike would have thought possible. A human with a Puppeteer could last twice as long with the same amount of air that a regular human could. What’s more, their hyperactive attention to detail meant that there were much fewer accidents than the human crew experienced.

  Three of the heavy ships were brought to the station to help bring asteroids to be hollowed out. These were turned into living quarters for the increasing population of scientists, military and Guided.

  Mike was pleasantly surprised that there were no problems between the human and Guided populations. He had been worried that people (Guided or otherwise) might go stir crazy after being cooped up on the station for a year, but the scientists were too in love with their work. The military types did not trust the Guided, and insisted on exhaustive (and exhausting) tests for possession of everyone on the station.

  The Guided, it turned out, were incredibly adaptable. In a few months, they were completely acclimated to life on the station and fell into an easy rhythm of working on extensions to the station and working with the scientists on the technology.

  Everything was going so well that, in hindsight, it was predictable that the Puppeteers would spoil it all by attacking.

  The first sign of a problem was that some of the military were agitated. Most people would not have noticed anything, but the Guided were so in tune with their environment that they noticed it right away.

  Mike received confirmation when he ran into Major Sterling in one of the hallways.

  “Good afternoon, Major Sterling.”

  “Oh, hello, Mike.”

  “You seem a little preoccupied, is everything alright?”

  “Oh fine, fine.”

  For Mike, this was incontrovertible proof that something was going on.

  Using a telescope that the Guided had cobbled together, Mike was able to find the Puppeteer base. There were three ships pulling away from it.

  During the time that they had been at the station, PD had installed mines in the rocks surrounding the base. Mike didn’t think the Puppeteers were likely to make a determined effort that way. This was probably a test to see if the aliens could make it past whatever defenses PD was willing to commit against an attack.

  While Mike didn’t doubt the courage of the defenders, he wasn’t sure that they were experienced enough to go toe to toe with the aliens. To make matters worse, PD were using ships that had been designed to use a Puppeteer as their primary control interface. Mike was certain that the aliens were not going into combat with this handicap.

  * * *

  A couple of days after detecting the invaders, the station launched 3 ships of its own to intercept the Puppeteers.

  During this period, the military personnel were especially tense. Mike confronted Major Sterling in a hallway.

  “Good afternoon, Major Sterling.”

  “Mike.”

  “I couldn’t help noticing that Capt. Wrenchworth, Merriweather and Sminov appear to have left the station in three of the ships.”

  “Oh, they’re off performing a training exercise. Should be back in a couple of days.”

  “Oh, good.”

  The Guided had a meeting to discuss what to do about the latest move by the Puppeteers.

  Mike opened with “PD sent three ships to intercept the Puppeteers.”

  “Wrenchworth, Merriweather and Sminov?” queried one of the Guided.

  “That’s right.”

  “I would have sent Kent instead of Merriweather.”

  Mike shifted anxiously.

  “I think we should have a plan in case they do not succeed in their task.”

  “Well, what are you suggesting?” asked a younger woman. “PD won’t let us near a ship or the weapons, or even the observation platform.”

  “Perhaps we should have a meeting,” said an older man.

  “We are having a meeting.”

  “Oh…good show.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Perhaps we could try talking to the Puppeteers again?” said someone in the back.

  “You know how crazy those guys are.” Mike responded glumly.

  “Well, technically we’re crazy too.”

  “What are we going to say to them? Please go against your dearest wish and don’t attack the Earth?” Mike put in. “Or maybe a Jedi mind trick: this is not the planet you’re looking for.”

  The assembled Guided gave a chuckle.

  “Good one.”

  “I like it!”

  “Do you think that would really work?”

  More seriously, Mike said “I have an idea…”

  The assembled Guided listened closely.

  “That sounds dangerous.”

  “Thank you for stating the obvious.” Mike said.

  “But I can’t think of a better idea, if PD fails.”

  “Me neither.”

  The assembled Guided all reached consensus on Mike’s idea.

  “I really hope PD succeeds.” said one of the Guided just before the meeting broke up.

  “Me too,” answered Mike, and went off to prepare.

  Life went on much as it before, though the PD personnel were more on edge. When the time finally came for the two groups of ships to intercept one another, there was little that the Guided could do other than try to figure out what the results were.

  A few days after the meeting it was determined that the three alien ships were still heading towards Earth, while one of the PD ships was heading back to the station. The Guided concluded that PD had lost two ships while the Puppeteers hadn’t lost any.

  This assessment was confirmed by the behavior of the PD personnel on the station in another hallway “confrontation” between Mike and Major Sterling.

  The Guided held another meeting once the conclusion had been reached.

  “PD failed to stop the Puppeteers.” Mike stated.

  “So it would seem. Are you sure you want to go ahead with your plan?”

  “We have to do something, and this seems like our best shot.”

  Each of the Guided wished Mike good luck.

  As Mike was leaving the meeting he found Alice in his way. Next to her was Tom.

  “Not the two of you.”

  “I think I should go instead,” said Alice.

  “I don’t think either of you should go,” cut in Tom. “Or if you do, don’t leave me stuck again to clean up the mess!”

  “There’s no help for it, Tom, you’d just get in the way and get us both killed.”

  “I could at least interface with the ship systems.”

  Mike gave this some thought.

  “Don’t even think about it,” warned Tom, “the last two you two ran off I ended up spending a couple of months in the slammer.”

  “Good news! The station doesn’t have a brig!”

  Alice glared at Mike.

  “I have more experience with piloting.” Mike managed after a pause.

  “Actually the pilots have more experience piloting,” she pointed out.

  “They’re all away from the station – perhaps part of the timing of the attack.”

  “And besides, you’re going to need someone with a brain on the crew.”

  “Are you trying to say I’m stupid?!?
??

  Tom and Alice glared at each other for a second.

  “Well, I could help interface with the other systems,” Tom came to Alice’s defense.

  “Oh very well…” grumbled Mike.

  Most of the Guided, including Mike and Alice, headed for the EVA lockers to commence with the day’s work on expanding the station. When they got outside, Mike started working in a corner of the station that was close to where the remaining ships were located. After about an hour, he headed over to one of the ships and entered through the emergency airlock. Because of some earlier “modifications,” the alarm that would have normally sounded in station control failed to operate.

  Mike made sure the weapons on the ship were operational and the fuel tanks were full, and then took off. On the way out, he picked up Alice. Then he turned towards the new intercept point with the Puppeteer ships. A minute after departing, the comm system chimed. Mike opened a channel to Major Sterling.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Going off to fight the Puppeteers.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “We have to do something.”

  “So you admit that all the Guided were involved in this little escapade?”

  “Yes.”

  “This will have ramifications for the entire colony.”

  “Look Major, we’re talking about the entire Human race here. I need information. Our guess is that your pilots blacked out during high-G maneuvers – we think that a human with a Puppeteer is better able to withstand them. Is this what happened?”

  The Major considered Mike for a while.

  “Even if it were true, what good can you do against three enemy ships?”

  “Can the returning ship help me?”

  “No – she was too badly damaged.”

  “Did you damage any of the alien ships?”

  “If so, it was not enough to slow them down significantly.”

  “Could you relay the details of the engagement to me?”

  “Very well.”

  “Then if I need anything else, I’ll let you know.”

  The Major was silent, then, “good luck, Mike.”

  “Thank you, Will.”

  After brooding for a few minutes Mike turned to Alice.

  “Do you think this is crazy?”

  Before she could say anything Mike hastily motioned her to silence.

  “Never mind,” he mumbled.

  If it helps…

  Shut up.

  I don’t think this plan is nuts.

  What?!

  This is the only choice left – if we fail at least we tried. We owe it to everyone to do this.

  Mike was speechless.

  Oh, and yeah, I think you’re nuts.

  Jerk.

  Twit.

  Blob.

  Ape.

  * * *

  When Mike was an hour from contact, his comm system chimed. It was the aliens. After some consideration, Mike opened a channel.

  “It’s you,” said the Puppeteer captain.

  “How are you gentlemen?” rejoined Mike.

  “All your base are belong to us,” said Alice.

  “Very funny,” smiled the controlled human. “But if you don’t want us to set you up the bomb, you had best surrender now.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

  “You realize we already defeated 3 PD ships.”

  “Then one more shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “No, it won’t be.”

  The channel closed.

  After some thought Mike said “You know, you could have stayed home.”

  “And miss all the fun?” Alice looked at him sharply. “Besides” she continued more gently, “someone has to keep an eye on you.”

  Isn’t that what I’m for?

  Nobody asked for your…

  Hey, if these are my heroic last moments I want my own bit of dialog too.

  The three aliens changed course, moving into an attack formation. Mike countered, focusing on one ship that might have been damaged from the last engagement, but he was really trying to just get close to them. Maybe he could detonate the ship and at least take one of the enemy out.

  When the 3 ships closed with him, Mike tried some maneuvers that some of the other Guided had suggested. At first he was sure they were setting a trap for him: their tactics seemed so obvious. Then Mike figured that the human part of the Puppeteers must be interfering with the enemy.

  Then Mike realized that his Puppeteer must be working with him. Mike had worried that the alien would try to get in his way but when he stopped to check the only sense he got was

  They have no chance to survive; they should make their time.

  Who said they didn’t have a sense of humor?

  Mike stopped trying to second-guess everything and just trusted his instincts.

  He lined up one ship and fired a few missiles that he knew would miss. This caused the ship he was focusing on to swerve to avoid the shot, which caused another ship to have to correct its course. This resulted in a realignment of the others, all the way back to the first, which brought it into the perfect position for Mike to blast it with his lasers.

  One down, two to go.

  The others seemed dismayed by the development. Mike took advantage of the situation to line up a shot on one of the enemy craft. He fired from too far away to do any damage but it had the intended effect: the enemy panicked. Mike closed in, but this gave the other alien a chance to line up a shot on Mike.

  Mike had been planning this, though, and he fired his thrusters in full reverse, causing the other ship to overshoot and fly past him. Mike fired his lasers from point blank range, hitting the Puppeteer ship. Simultaneously, he fired a couple of missiles at the other ship, knowing that the debris from his hit on the first ship would obscure the launch.

  The pilot of the relatively undamaged other ship fell for the trap and slammed right into the missiles, creating a satisfying kaboom. Or at least there would have been a “kaboom” if you could hear things in space.

  The final ship had been damaged by Mike’s laser hit and was no match for Mike’s undamaged craft. Mike flipped on the communications system. After a short time, the person that he had talked to an hour ago came on the system. Mike expected that he would have to destroy the enemy vehicle, but it couldn’t hurt to try and get him to surrender.

  “Please don’t kill me! I give up!” The other pilot pleaded.

  Mike blinked.

  “Aren’t you going to talk about it is better to die in the name of the hive or something?”

  “The hell with that! I want to live!”

  “Can we kill him anyway?” asked Alice.

  Mike glared at her.

  “All right, head back towards the station. One false move and you’re a gas cloud.”

  “Right!”

  The other pilot disconnected.

  Mike considered this development.

  I think you should have killed him.

  At least this way we get another ship back.

  Hmmmm…good point.

  Mike was surprised to return to a hero's welcome. He had thought PD would be upset with him for stealing a ship for a suicide mission, but he had underestimated the devastating impact that the initial engagement between the humans and the aliens had had on the crew.

  While Mike had been correct about the effect of high-G maneuvers on humans vs. Guided, it seemed that having both the Puppeteer and a human working together made quite a difference from a lone human or even an alien and an enslaved human.

  The Guided were mostly happy with his return.

  “Go Mike! You showed em!”

  “Hooray for Mike!”

  “That’s $5 you owe me, Harry.”

  “What were the odds on me?” Mike asked.

  “5 to 1…”

  “Wow, you guys really must have believed in me.”

  “Again
st.”

  Mike glowered.

  Major Sterling himself congratulated Mike on his success.

  “Next time, ask first.”

  “But you would have said no.”

  The Major slapped Mike on the back anyway.

  Interrogation of the captured pilot revealed that the 3 ships that the aliens sent were a small portion of what the Puppeteers possessed. Worse news was that the aliens’ base had the ability to produce more ships – including the “heavies” that were capable of towing asteroids to hurl at the Earth.

  PD “reviewed” their policy towards the “alien defectors” and decided that they could be trusted after all. This was good news, seeing as Earth had fewer ships than the aliens.

  As expected, the Guided were better at sustaining high G forces than regular humans. Even after the human host had blacked out, the Puppeteer could exert enough control to guide the ship until the human part of the team regained consciousness.

  The ability of the Guided to combine forces with their symbiotic counterparts also made them superior pilots to unguided humans. So, PD started training 4 of the Guided as pilots.

  As it turned out, the Puppeteer part of each Guided was able to transfer skills such as piloting very quickly to another individual. A mere 4 weeks after the first battle the Guided pilots were ready.

  PD was more forthcoming with information which was why, 4 weeks after the first battle, Major Sterling spoke to Mike and the 3 other pilots. "I think we upset them."

  "Why?" Mike asked.

  "Because we've just picked up 16 of their ships heading this way."

  "Oh my."

  "Exactly."

  "Is it too late to back out of this squadron?" asked Alice nonchalantly.

  Two days later, PD held a mission briefing. Major Sterling addressed the 4 pilots.

  "I won't lie to you. Even assuming that you are vastly superior to the enemy, 4 to 1 odds are daunting. To make matters worse, one of the ships..."

  "My ship," chimed in Alice.

  "...Lieutenant Anderson’s ship." Sterling directed his "I am not amused" glare at Alice "was captured in the previous battle and sustained moderate damage. "Furthermore, Lieutenant Gupta's ship was only recently converted for use in combat and is still missing some additions."

  "The aliens are gunning for the station. We planted mines in the outer belt, but we can't count on the Puppeteers setting them off."

  "This is a do-or-die mission, people."

  Despite her flippancy, even Alice seemed sobered by the news. The 4 trooped out of the makeshift situation room and headed for the hangar.