Summoned Again? - Chapter 209: Working Things Out

The scientists and programmers around me were shocked at my learning capacity. I didn’t tell them I had already pumped up the skills and stats needed for that. I could also ‘feel’ the nanobots in my head as they fruitlessly tried to change my class into whatever I had been arbitrarily assigned. The data they were pumping into my parietal lobe was interesting, too.

If I ever found the god or goddess that was responsible for this world, I was going to give them some reprogrammed nanobots and then devour them. It would be the least they deserved for how they had brought us to this world. The consequences were horrible when you didn’t use the actual summoning ritual… and then I found parts of the ritual were embedded in the programming.

I am definitely going to eat them for this. I thought as I discovered that the summoning ritual had been recreated using equal parts technology and sorcery. How they had worked magic into the programming was beyond me for now.

The power requirements and the energy conversion had been used to replace the magic charge that it should have had, which meant that it had run away from them because they hadn’t closed the magic channels to finish the summoning. The only reason I discovered that was because of my own experience with the spell itself. The problem I now had was figuring out how to fix it.

“Damon? What are you doing?” The woman I had terrified in the control room asked. Her horror at their mistake had faded as she watched me work.

“I’m trying to figure out how your programming was used to open the rift to the realm you plucked us from and how it reconstituted us back into flesh and blood bodies.” I told her.

“We used the matter converters and emitters in the transport pad, of course.” She told me.

I slid over slightly and motioned to the computer. “Show me, Sandra.”

Sandra nodded and sat down beside me on the chair and her fingers flew across the keyboard almost as fast as mine did and my eyes widened as she brought up the plans for the technology and how it gathered ambient molecules in the target area, used the original signal as a template, and recreated the body as it was meant to be.

“You have this advanced technology and you somehow thought reaching across to another realm was the best way to use it?” I asked, surprised.

“We’ve never done this before with it, so I’m not sure how to answer that.” Sandra said and brought up the programming for it. “This is an automated process as well. It’s just inked in as the final step.”

I pretty much absorbed the programming and I had a neat idea about how to fix things. “Can you show me how you entered the criteria for your targets and then implemented that without just grabbing a random being that was nearby?”

“We do have pattern recognition software.” Sandra said in a condescending tone.

“Using the same emitters?” I asked.

“No, the detectors in the search array.” Sandra responded and showed me what they were and one of the other programmers had to take over and taught me how they worked.

To my delight, they recognized all of the patterns in the area and chose the one best suited for their needs. Those patterns were recorded in the data log and used as a kind of anti-detection restriction to not take those molecules and patterns along with the ones they wanted.

That meant they had the records of the people that had been around the targets. What they did not have was a way to reconstitute them over there from this side, since the technology to reconstitute them was here and not there.

“Is there a way to send one of the transport pads to where the targeting software took us from?” I asked.

“What?” The other programmer asked.

“Why would spirits need any kind of technology?” Sandra asked me.

“Who told you that we don’t have technology there?” I asked right back and she looked shocked. “Your assumptions have caused a lot of problems and it shows in your people’s programming.”

“What do you mean?” The other programmer asked.

“I’ve been trying to figure out your programming restrictions and the rules for it, only I’m coming up with arbitrary values and things that I would have assumed were guesses and not actual scientific principles.”

Everyone in the room stared at me with surprise on their faces.

“How you feel right now is exactly how I feel.” I said and that made all of their faces change from surprise to thoughtfulness. “Are the transport pads independently powered?”

“No, they are hooked up to the building’s power grid.” One of the technicians said.

“Hmm.” I sat back and put an arm across the back of the chair. I did not miss the blush on Sandra’s face as I inadvertently did a date move to put an arm around her. I hadn’t meant it like that, though. Now was not the time to think with my other head.

“What… what are you th-thinking about?” Sandra asked, her voice a little shaky.

“Do you have wireless charging technology here?” I asked.

“Of course! We’re not some backwards country that doesn’t serve the basic needs of the people!” Another of the techs exclaimed.

“Then my idea might just work.” I said.

“What idea?” Sandra asked as she leaned back onto my arm and she turned her body a little to look at me. I heard her heartbeat speed up and gave her a warm smile.

“We have the best tech people and programmers here, including a budding techno sorcerer mechanic in the other room. I think we can construct an independent transport pad with enough microprocessors to automatically run the reconstitution program and use the overcharged fusion reaction to power it up after transporting it to the other realm.”

All of their mouths dropped open and two of them fainted, one man and one woman.

“With an actual transport pad on the other side, sending us back will be as easy as starting the program and the extra power won’t cause a massive explosion.” I explained.

“We’ll need several large capacitors and at least one recycling system for the power requirements.” One of the techs said. “That much power sent through the normal power channels would blow half the circuitry before it could activate the programming.”

“The pad would need to be about double the normal size.” Another tech said, the brainstorming session getting everyone excited. “We could hook up two pads in a series and that would half the power load requirements.”

“We would need to add a coupling and a decoupling attachment to both of them if we did that.” Another tech said. “Then again, with enough capacitors, we could forego the decoupling requirement and cancel one of the redundant safety procedures.”

“You mean we can dump any power overages into the unspent capacitors instead of letting the decoupling mechanism detach the power leads?” The first tech asked.

“As long as we can add in the bleed-off protocols to the preloaded programming.” Sandra said, getting into the discussion. “Setting the proper priorities might be a little difficult, especially if there’s no one there to monitor the power regulation.”

“We could create an overwatch program.” One of the other programmers said. “Set in a bootstrap for the automatic processes that are essential and then let the overwatch program handle the priorities list.”

Sandra relaxed onto my arm and reached around me to rest her arm across my shoulders. “That could work, especially if we…”

I didn’t let my surprise show at how quickly my idea was being hammered out. Someone even went into the other room to bring Clark in to join the discussion. He saw where I was being cozy with one of the programmers and didn’t say anything, then he realized I had sparked the whole idea thing and he nodded slightly to me and joined right in.

*

“I can’t believe we never thought of that.” Grenada said to her partner as they watched the monitor.

Darsha shook her head. “I’m not going to compliment you on having your mistake actually work out for our benefit.”

Grenada gave her a sexy smile. “What if I do that thing you like with my finger in your…”

“NO!” Darsha yelled and interrupted her.

“I think someone protests too much.” Grenada said and leaned in to give her a tender kiss. “If they can build the prototype as quickly as they can postulate the construction and work out the programming, they should have something ready in a couple of hours.”

“They’ll need to do extensive testing.” Darsha said.

“No, they won’t.” Grenada said. “One test for short range, one test for long range, and then they are going to use it by sending it to the other realm.”

“How do you know that?” Darsha asked.

“That man’s behavior. He won’t waste time by repeating successful experiments. If they have a failure in the long range test, either with the power transfer or with the reconstitution, they will redo everything. Otherwise, their cooperation to handle our problem will be assured.”

Darsha sighed. “You don’t think they are going to demand to go back right away.”

“Oh, they will. They just won’t be allowed to.” Grenada said. “You know we can’t let them leave with their knowledge intact. It would corrupt the other realm, especially after they learn about the incursions. Any knowledge leaving this world would bring them nothing but trouble.”

“And you brought them here and gave them nanobot reprogramming anyway?” Darsha asked.

“I had to. We can’t handle what’s going on and we needed beings that not only had experience with that, they can give us the knowledge to deal with it. When we add their knowledge to our own, we can save our people and our world from those that would destroy it.”

Darsha sighed and leaned into her partner’s embrace. “I really don’t like being deceitful like this.”

Grenada hugged her and gave her another tender kiss. “It’s only until they have gained sufficient levels to become assets. Once they have enough experience of our world and our people, we will tell them the true nature of their task here.”

Darsha nodded and they went back to watching the large group of techs and programmers working hard. Their discussion was still going on as they also started to gather the parts and tools needed to make Damon’s idea a reality.

*

Ten hours later back on Earth, a ten foot long and ten foot wide metal platform appeared in the middle of the destroyed kitchen in a cordoned off house. The families of the victims had gathered outside for a midnight vigil to mourn the deaths from the explosion that killed everyone at the birthday party. They all held candles and huddled together to mutter prayers for the lost souls.

A bright flash of light gained their attention in the darkness, since they could easily see inside the kitchen through the lack of a front wall. To their utter shock, fifteen people of various ages seemed to form from nothing.

“Jessie?” One of the crying mourners asked when she recognized one of them.

“Mom? What are you doing here?” One of the twenty year old boys asked, clearly confused.

“JESSIE!” The woman yelled and dropped her candle and ran into the house and hugged her dead son to her chest.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Jessie asked as he blushed. “Why are you hugging me in public?”

“Oh, Jessie!” The woman held him closer and cried and cried.

Soon, everyone that had been in the vigil stormed into the kitchen and each claimed their dead child or good friend. None of them noticed the platform melt from the inside out and then solidified into a solid state.

“Hold on!” One of the returned people said and gained everyone’s attention. “Where’s Connie?”

*

In an apartment in another city, a much smaller platform appeared and a man named Harold reformed on it. He looked around the destroyed apartment and frowned. “Carol? Where are you?”

*

“According to the final readings from both platforms, it worked.” Sandra said, her voice full of relief. “Fifteen in one location and one in the second.”

“Thank god!” Carol and Connie exclaimed at the same time and hugged each other as they cried.

“That’s great!” Clark said. “You can use those platforms to send us back. They are already in place and…”

“You missed the reclamation part of the programming, didn’t you?” I asked him before anyone else could speak and gain the man’s ire.

“The what?” Clark asked and he squinted his eyes at me. “What did you just say?”

I motioned at the room we were in and then at the various tools, electronic components, and devices scattered all over. “You don’t really think they are going to allow any of this out of their sight, do you? It’s highly advanced tech and probably costs more than you could afford if you worked your entire life.”

“It’s about twice that and only if you didn’t eat.” Sandra corrected for me.

“Thank you.” I said and she gave me a heartwarming smile that she wouldn’t have been capable of a few hours previously. Working so hard together to solve such a difficult problem had loosened up her own way of thinking and she had forgiven me for the casual murders of two of her colleagues. Her people really were ridiculously passive when it came to violence.

“We can build another platform and…” Clark started to say.

“We can’t.” I interrupted him again and he glared at me. “You’re forgetting two very important things.”

“Then why don’t you enlighten me, smart ass.” Clark said.

“First off, we were brought here for a reason.” I said and his glare didn’t lessen. “Second, we have nanobots floating around in our brains and they can’t be removed until their programming is complete and their task is finished.”

Clark’s glare disappeared and he slapped a hand to his face. “Goddammit, I did forget about that.”

“What level are you at now?” I asked him, even though I knew.

“I’ve already passed Level 25 and…” Clark sighed. “The starter bonuses are already gone.”

“I think they extended until your first event ended. Since it was a huge accomplishment that even the experts here were having difficulty with, it gave you much more experience than you would have earned on your own.” I told him.

Clark nodded. “I checked my logs and I’ve already surpassed both basic and normal knowledge for the local tech trees. I’ve got a lot more to study to reach advanced knowledge.”

“We can help with that.” One of techs said, eagerly.

Clark looked at their faces and he nodded acceptance.

“Sandra, is there anyone we can find to give Carol and Connie a hand with their own specialties?” I asked her.

“I think so. I’ll have to get access to the system back before I can send a request up to the boss.”

I walked over to the console I had used and entered a single password and everything unlocked. The shutters and security doors all opened up. “There you go. Full access has been restored.”

The other three summoned heroes gave me incredulous looks.

“What’s with the look? I only took control to make them fix their mistakes when they abducted us. With the people that had been killed reconstituted, I don’t need to hold anyone hostage anymore.”

Sandra turned me around and gave me a deep passionate kiss that made herself blush.

I gave her a questioning look to ask her if she was sure, and she shyly smiled and nodded. “All right, people. We all have a lot more to learn about this world while we’re here. Hopefully, whomever investigates the platforms will find the messages we left on them and delivers them for us.”

The other three nodded and were handed communication devices. I took one as well and Sandra gave me a very hopeful smile. I waited until the others left before I asked her something important.

“I am going to assume we’ll be assigned living space somewhere.” I said and she nodded. “Do you want me to ignore it and stay with you instead?”

“Yes.” Sandra said and boldly took my hand. “I think you need more hands on experience… with programming.”

I raised my eyebrows at her and her shy smile changed to an inviting one. “How can I say no to that?”

Sandra’s smile became smug and she led me from the room to take me back to her place.