Allie felt numb; she couldn't believe that she might never hear her best friend Ally again. Charles had been working on Ally's circuits for over two hours, he'd almost had to shut part of Cici's circuits off, he'd been begging Charles to save Ally. Charles had been through its systems almost twice, though he'd replaced close to half of the systems major circuits he still had no idea why Ally still wasn't active.
From what he'd seen the by-pass had absorbed ninety percent of the overload so if anything Ally should still be half active. Charles had stopped the Time Raider not sure that he could maneuver the ship close enough to the capital planet for them to use the MTM to set down in the empire city.
Cici was finally quiet it seemed it too was to the point where it was numb. Another five hours and Charles had finally repaired everything that had burned out, flipping the last of the circuits on they all waited.
"Ally?" Alatem said, "Can you hear me?"
For a moment Charles thought he might have forgotten something, then there was a massive feedback signal then they heard a voice.
"Beginning primary start-up, loading all parameters, now initiating, loading of all security programs, working," came a very mechanical voice.
"Charles!! What happened to my Ally?" Alatem said as she rushed to his side.
"I warned you, I wasn't sure I could get this much of her back, I still need to load another program or we are in trouble," Charles replied. Alatem just nodded as she watched Charles work.
A moment later they heard, "Accepting primary protocol, Princess Alatem, is primary, Charles Ricksome is primary, secondary. As per all directives no living entity is allowed on board without permission of either. The AI Cici is allowed access to all base systems, including navigation, time slip protocol, MTM operation, all protocols loaded awaiting commands."
Alatem turned away hiding her face in her hands her sobs ripping at Charles heart; with all he'd done he still hadn't found where Ally's personality circuits were. Thinking a minute Charles tried to think of where in all these systems, where Ally actually was, if he could then there might be a chance.
Thinking a minute Charles looked at Alatem.
"Allie, we need to inform your father that there was a problem on the ship, that you have a tech here and you need the specs for the AI," Charles said.
"No, that might arouse more suspicion from him, he is already close to guessing everything. I think we need to contact the techs themselves, it might be better in the end although," Alatem thought a moment, "they are fiercely loyal to father."
Within an hour Charles had the plans but then they had the Emperor to deal with, "Alatem what happened?"
Sighing Alatem knew that she had to deal with this sooner or later better now than then. "The ship was attacked by raiders, I barely escaped after Allie destroyed them, but Papa Allie sustained damage." Alatem started to cry hiding her face she almost whispered, "I may have lost her Papa, the tech that is here managed to get the systems back on, but that's it. Oh Papa, I can't lose her, I can't."
The Emperor sighed he never seen his daughter this heartbroken before, it almost killed him to see her like this. "Let me talk to the tech Alatem," drying her eyes but still sniffling, she motioned to Charles.
Charles had been prepared for this; Alatem had described in detail how the techs were. "Your majesty, is this really necessary?" Charles said a shimmer cloak around him.
"Yes damn it," the Emperor said exasperated, "Is there any chance to repair the Allie unit."
"As I said I don't have time to talk if I am to save the best computer we have ever engineered," Charles replied.
"As I already told the princess, I have already repaired the unit and all systems," Charles said trying to sound aloof, "the problem is either the AI was destroyed, in which case we can try to rebuild it though it won't be the same. The other scenario I have postulated is that the AI is trapped in a dead end loop and I don't have a lot of time to find it before power to that section is lost and therefore it is also. Now then, no more interruptions!"
The Emperor sighed he was going to have to do something about the techs they were starting to get too cocky for their own good.
"I hope he can repair it, Alatem I know you considered it to be your best friend, we can only hope." The Emperor replied sadly.
"Without Ally, the Time Raider is useless, without the Time Raider the Empire is in trouble father," Alatem replied keeping an eye on Charles. "We'll come in as soon as we have enough control to move the ship Papa."
"Alright Alatem, advise me as soon as you can start in," he replied.
Clicking off Alatem breathed a sigh of relief, Charles shimmer shield went off a moment later. "I can't believe that we fooled Papa," Alatem said. "I have found, that when people are distracted, they tend to ignore the obvious or in this case the near obvious. You know he'll call back soon wondering why there is a tech on board when there wasn't before." Charles said.
Alatem sighed as always she knew he was right though what she'd tell her father she wasn't sure.
Pouring over the schematics Charles finally found where the human sounding Ally was. Problem was there were so many safeguards, firewalls, inner security, and hidden traps to break the loop. Charles wasn't sure he could do it all without Ally.
Three more hours of work had gotten him through all the firewalls, past all the safe guards, almost all the inner security was deactivated now to get past the traps he should be ok. Another three hours he was finally at the first chamber where Ally was where he hoped she still was. Everything had locked down so tight he wasn't sure now.
For another hour Charles worked at the magnetic lock carefully deactivating everything he came to. Finally the path ways were open, looking in he saw there was only a fourth of the brain cells that were Ally.
Charles couldn't fault the techs that had built this they were, trying to be safe yes, but this was almost paranoid, separated into four sections? Sighing Charles finally released this section though he knew it wasn't the part they needed at least it could help in the release of the others if they were still viable.
There was a soft crackle over the speakers then a younger sounding Ally spoke up, "Papa? Where are you Papa?"
Alatem's face lit up, "Ally? It's me Alatem you do know me don't you?"
Ally was quiet a moment, "I was with Papa, he was going hunting but I fell when I got on the horse, when I woke up I was here."
"That happened many years ago, let me explain ok?" Alatem said.
For the next two hours Alatem tried to explain, what had happened, who was who, the family now. Charles had crawled back into the space working his way toward the second chamber, Alatem explained what Charles was trying to do, asking the young Ally if she could help, sure she said a little giggle, telling Alatem that they were pretty now that they were older. Alatem smiled telling Charles that Ally was working on everything that it could.
Charles sighed when he saw the AI trying but unfortunately it still didn't have enough access to disarm everything, he was glad he went in prepared.
An hour later Charles had reached the second Chamber, sweating like someone had poured water on him he had to be twice as careful as everything was slippery now. Finally getting it opened, he'd just released it into the mainframe when several alarms went off. An older version of Ally's voice came out of the speakers, "I am detecting strange ships I don't recognize them."
Charles came running, staring at the readings, he started to curse, turning he was running for the engineering section.
"Ally," he shouted as he ran, "activate all the shields, charge the plasma guns!"
"Activate the what? Charge the who?" Ally hesitantly said.
"Damn it! Bring up the shields or those raiders are going to blow us out of existence!" Charles yelled as he raced deeper into engineering.
"Why didn't you say so in the first place! Gee! You didn't have to yell at me really!" spit out Ally.
Charles was checking everything, he didn't want another repeat of the last time, damn it! How in the fuck had they found them so fast again? Running sensor readings all over the ship, he soon found three trackers on the outer hull. It figured, there was no way they could be inside, not with Ally.
Charles reached to activate the shields and plasma guns and received a huge shock, "Damn it! Why'd you do that?" Charles yelled, the charge knocking him across the room.
"I said I'd do it!" Ally said, "you don't have to mess with my insides!"
Picking his half numb body off the floor Charles look over to see Alatem snickering, "I could have warned you, I was the same way when I was a teen, daddy said that was when I started rebelling."
Charles could only stare at her a moment, "Anything else I need to know, before Ally kills me out of just plain principle?" Both Alatem and Allie were both snickering.
"No, but if you want Ally's help, you're going to have to treat her a little more patiently, after all Allys just a teen." Alatem said smiling slyly.
Charles shook his head if he lived through this he and these two were going to have to have a talk. Sighing Charles decided what the hell couldn't hurt, "Ally, do you have a number of them yet?" he asked.
"As of yet I only see six ... no wait! There's ten! What do they want?" Ally asked.
"The bastards want us dead, I have a feeling your uncle is behind most of this!" Charles growled.
"It wouldn't surprise me knowing what we do now." Alatem spit out, "Looks like he'll stop at nothing to destroy the Royal Family."
"I thought those in stasis looked familiar, though they look so much older, is there that much missing from my memory?" Ally asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid I was only able to recover half so far, there were far too many traps, firewalls, internal security and safe guards to move too quickly I had to be careful, not just for you and Allie but another that loves you. Though at the moment Cici is almost non-functional," Charles said, sad that his friend was in such pain.
Ally growled, suddenly every system on the ship came alive. "I have a message from the raiders," She growled.
"Empire ship, we know that you are helpless; your energy production is at a minimum. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded! Resist and we will not hesitate to destroy you! You have one minute to comply."
Allie growled again, "should I destroy them now?"
"I've got an idea Ally; let them get closer, can you hack their systems?' Charles asked.
"Yes I can, OH! You were right Allie he is brilliant!" Ally said in happy surprise.
"Alright open a channel Ally," Charles said. "To the raiders, we will not surrender! Come meet us if you wish to die!"
Within moments the raiders started their runs, for a few tense minutes the ship shook till Ally said, "Hack complete!"
"Alright Ally, Now! Take the bastards out!" Charles shouted.
The ship suddenly came alive, as five of the raiders suddenly vanished, Ally growled more, taking three more in less than another minute. The last two turned trying to escape but Ally relentlessly gave chase easily destroying them.
Laughing Ally said, "Don't piss off a girl gentleman!"
Charles was at the console checking readings, "Good job Ally! It appears that we are clear as far as I see. Now all we have to do is get rid of those tracking devices on the hull."
"They did what!? Ally shouted, growling she started to scan the hull. "I see them Charles, they appear to be equipped with an explosive device. I am afraid that I won't be able to remove them."
Sighing Charles knew that he would have to go out on the deck to disarm and remove them. "I'm going to need you to monitor them while I am out there Ally. Please let me know if you detect any change in their signals, or their chemical make-up. I'm depending on you Ally."
"Yes Charles, you can depend on me, I see why you fell for him, he is somewhat enticing." Ally replied to Alatem.
Charles suited up god he was tired; after all of this is over he was going to take a long fucking vacation. About to put on the helmet Alatem ran to him and kissed him, "You better come back, that's an order," she said as she watched him finish suiting up.
Half an hour later Charles had removed two of the devices and had the third lose when Ally yelled, "Charles! The last one has activated! I estimate we have thirty seconds! Throw it and I'll try to get us away!"
Charles threw the device but it was like slow motion to him, twenty seconds later Ally managed to get the light shields near the hull up, but couldn't move the ship that fast as Charles only had a tether. Thirty seconds up, the device exploded, though the blast didn't affect the ship or Charles, the concussion wave from the blast pushed Charles harder than he could cling to the skin of the ship.
"Charles!!!!!!" Alatem screamed as he started to float off the hull. "Ally can you track him?"
"No Ally I cannot, the sensors are blind from the blast." Ally sadly replied.
"NO!! Ally we have to get him! We have to!" Alatem said franticly.
"Without sen ... wait, I think I have something, yes, I think it's him!" Ally shouted excited.
Charles felt like crap he should have foreseen this. Activating The emergency air tank when he knew the tether wouldn't hold, he was just hoping that Allie could find him before the Tank was gone, looking at the gauge he had half an hour not much.
Twenty minutes later he saw the ship coming after him; well at least they'd be able to get his body. Pulling his personal recording device he talked into it till he knew the air was gone. Alatem knew they had to hurry. It didn't matter how much air he had he was only in a short maintenance suit, outside the shield it wasn't the best to keep radiation out and she wanted more than one child.
Twenty nine minutes later they were next to Charles Alatem had rushed to the air lock to put on another suit, opening the door Alatem grabbed a motionless Charles pulling him inside. A small recording device fell from his hand, thinking nothing of it Alatem picked it up and slid it into her pocket.
Barely allowing the airlock to pressurize she was taking his helmet off, "Charles! Charles please, please, please! Breathe damn it! Come on Ricksome you can't give up on us yet!" Balling up her fist she hit him several times in the chest, "BREATHE!!!"
Choking, Charles gasp for air, looking into the emerald eyes of the woman he loved. Trying to sit up he felt as if there was a heavy weight on his chest plus the pain was a sure sign something was wrong.
"Princess Alatem I think you bruised his ribs," Ally said. Smiling sweetly she looked at Charles, "Can you forgive me? It was the only way I knew that I could get you breathing again."
"Of course I can, I always will Allie, always," he whispered as he passionately kissed her.
Separating Alatem helped Charles to the med bay to start the healing on his ribs, which in this case involved taping his ribs since Ally still had only partial control of the equipment.
"Ally," Charles started, "do you have enough control over all the lock down systems, to allow me close enough to open the third chamber?"
"I don't have total control over the four, the firewalls and most of the internal security but nothing of the internal traps, and only twenty five percent of the safe guards," Ally stated.
"Well," started Charles, "that's a whole lot better than I had with the first two. Alright Ally I'm going to need you to keep a constant eye out for more raiders and all the readings while I am in there ok?"
"Yes, if you work as well as you are brilliant, I think I am going to enjoy this," Ally replied Charles rolled his eyes that was the only thing he didn't miss from the whole Ally.
Charles began the slow crawl into the mainframe damn, each chamber had tighter and tighter security and room to move around in. With Ally's help it only took an hour and a half to reach the third chamber. This time though there was an added feature, it seemed the techs were really paranoid by this time. Physically there were lasers across the chamber opening, along with all the previous traps and these damn things didn't seem to have a nearby shut of.
An hour later Charles had finally deactivated them but was still no closer to actually opening the chamber pathways into the outer mainframe, finally everything ready Charles slowly backed out his ribs starting to ache more than he cared to admit. Almost out he heard the whine of this section of the mainframe start to activate SHIT!
"Ally hold off on the reactivation!" Charles yelled into his com trying to speed up his escape. Another minute and he'd be clear then he could close it up and THEN activate it.
"Charles!" Came Ally's voice, "I am trying to hold off the reactivation but the section you opened is trying to override me and it's winning, you have to hurry please!"
Charles was moving as fast as he could but he could feel the current trying to flow and re-energize all the circuits around him. Finally out the door Charles slammed it home, holding his sides he made his way as fast as he could, to the control center. Walking in several alarms went off but were just as quickly silenced.
"Oh my!" He heard Ally say, "It's that man with the wonderful hands, but Alatem, why is he here in our time?"
"There was an overload and Charles made a by-pass to absorb it, but..."Alatem started.
"Ah!" started Ally, "In that case protocol SA5549 was enacted."
"I'm not familiar with that one." Alatem stated.
"It's a self preservation program enacted only in the worst case scenario, which it appears happened. You can tell me later, we need to get Charles to the med bay."
Charles could only nod as the pain increased, breathing became a chore, then the world went black as he heard Allie scream.