Chip's Story

Chip's Story1

by Jim T. Henriksen2

Chapter one3

Imxor was impatient... he knew that his project would be closed if he didn't finish it within 4 hours. It was 20 hours since he got his final warning and a 24 hours last chance. The bosses were very angry. They wanted an android spy to replace the external affair-minister on Imur. They could not hold the minister captured for much longer, and if Imxor failed creating the android, they would have to destroy all the evidence, including killing Imxor. 4

This was such a slow process... Imxor knew he could put the android together by hand much faster than the assembly-robot, but the bosses had specifically stated that he should use the robot, leaving no evidence inside the android of whom it's creators were. The part the assembly-robot had most problems with was the main computer in the android head, which had many fragile parts. Finally the robot was done, and the android was ready to be put into action. "Have you finished, Imxor?" Oteg asked, appearing on Imxor's holo-screen. "I have, Oteg. It's all done here, but we need to test it before..." "There's no time! Teleport him here, right away!" Oteg literally shouted out. 5

Imxor did as he was told... this had been a fascinating project, and he'd tested out many new theories on the android, like artificial intelligence and transforming calories and fat from food into energy for the android. It would be difficult, if not impossible to see the difference between the minister and the android. Imxor planted the scalp-lid on the android's head and turned it on... 6

"What is your name?" Imxor asked the android. "Minister Toran of Imur," the android replied. "What is your mission?" "To report any information I find on Imur's external affairs, especially towards Imur's enemies, directly to Oteg of Cintor," the android replied. Imxor modulated its voice a little darker. "IMXOR! Send that android over here at once!" Oteg shouted on the holo-screen. "Sending it now, Oteg," Imxor said nervously, "I just had to do some minor tests..." Oteg's angry face disappeared from the holo-screen, and Imxor lead the android over to the teleport-chamber.7

Chapter two8

The android, which had been given the code-name "Chip", walked out of the teleport-chamber and walked over to Oteg. "Ah, there you are, Chip," Oteg said with a big smile on his lips, then he turned around to his holo-screen and asked the computer to link to Namur on an encrypted channel. "Do it, Namur," was all he said. Namur nodded and disappeared from the holo-screen. Facing the android again, he had the same smile on his face again. "Are you aware of your mission?" "I am." "Good, now teleport directly to Namur's place. As soon as you are there, you will have no more messages from anyone of us. Is this understood?" "I understand," Chip replied. He turned around and walked towards the teleport-chamber. 9

"We are ready to meet your demands," the security-chief said, "we will teleport three thousand units of Imurium to you, right away." "And we will hold our part of the agreement, and give your precious minister back to you." Namur pressed a button and the holo-screen disappeared. "Ok, men... you know what to do?" "We do," the men answered almost at the same time, as if they had no will. "Minister, say goodbye to your worthless life," Namur laughed and set his gun on vaporise before he shot the minister directly in the chest. Just a cloud of dust floated in the air where the minister had been. Three thousand units of Imurium appeared in the teleport-chamber. "Now teleport to the ship hovering over us, and take your place as the minister," Namur said to the android. Chip walked over to the teleport- chamber and vanished in a spiral of energy-particles. "Now!" Namur said, and as the command-word was given, he and all his men set their gun on kill and shot themselves in the chest... 10

Chapter three11

"Minister! Good to have you back! Have those terrorists treated you well?" Veno, the minister's wife asked. "They have, darling... except that I am very hungry. They gave me only dry bread and water." Porgo, the cook, clapped his hands and in came the servants with tons of food and gallons of wine. "Porgo! You shouldn't have..." the minister said... even if he was an android, he needed food... it was part of his camouflage, so no one would take him for being anything but the real minister, and he also used it as an energy- source. The minister sat down in his chair, just now noticing it was his own, or rather the minister's chair. "Ah, you even brought my favourite chair... you have thought of everything! This is almost like back home!" he said. 12

While he ate, the doctor came in. "What do you want?" the minister asked. "I just want to see if you are in good health, minister," the doctor answered. "Can't you see I'm alright?! The only thing is that I am hungry, and you're interrupting my meal! Get out, before I send my guards on you!" Veno bent down and whispered in his ear: "Toran, darling, aren't you a little harsh on him? You may take the medical tests later you know." "Yes... I suppose you're right, as always. Zwor, run after him and tell him that I will go to him when we get back." With that the security chief ran out the door to give the message. 13

As Zwor came back, he ordered the troops to teleport down to the place the minister had been held hostage. "Computer, show hideout on holo-screen. Minister, if you please..." he said. As they watched on the holo-screen they could not see any of the kidnappers. When the security-team came out of the teleport-chamber, Zwor asked toward the men on the holo-screen: "Security- team, report! Do you see any of the kidnappers?" "We do, sir! They are all here, but they are not alive... it seems they have shot them self!" replied the stunned officer. "Is the Imurium still there?" "No sir... the Imurium is not here." Zwor turned around facing the minister. "There seems to have been a double-crossing somewhere... someone has stolen our Imurium, minister." 14

Chapter four15

The minister was angry. First the idiotic doctor had been trying to stick his sharp needles in him, and then the security-team had found the kidnappers dead and the Imurium stolen. He let everyone in the room understand he was angry. No one, not even his wife dared say anything when he was in this mood. The minister passed back and forth in front of his chair. "Zwor!" he shouted, "I want some heads! Find out if these kidnappers had someone above them, and find my Imurium! If you don't find something, I will have YOUR head!" Zwor ran out of the room and down the corridor, with his men following right behind him. 16

The ship started its thrusters, and hovered back to the city. The minister calmed down as he looked out the porthole and saw the beautiful green sunset and the landscape below it... so many colours. As Veno saw he was calming down, she walked over to him at sat down next to him. "Darling, did you have to be that cruel?" "Oh, maybe you're right... I was maybe a little cruel towards Zwor." "Will you spare his life?" "I will, but he will live the rest of his days in a prison if he fails me." Veno knew she shouldn't try for any more. Life in prison was better than death. Zwor was after all her brother. 17

"Sir," a servant came in to the room, "we are coming to the city now..." "Thank you," the minister said, still looking out the window. The house was big. Almost like a castle, but not with all the Imurium-glitter as the emperor’s palace had... It was built of unknown slaves, six hundred years ago. This was one of the things Imxor had forgot to teach him. It worried him that things like this could destroy his cover, being an android copy of the minister. The hover floated down to the ground and the minister rose from his chair. 18

Chapter five19

"Traitor!" was the RMF-party's unified reply. The RMF-leader stood up and spoke: "No, minister, this is unacceptable! How can you ask us to back you up, when you work against us behind out backs?" "I think this is an 'unacceptable' debate... leave, all of you!" Politics was part of Chip's program, but it bored him. There was nothing to learn from hours and hours of political chitchatting, debating, quarrelling or arguing. The minister walked out of the room and out to the teleport-chamber. He teleported directly to his chambers. It was night, and it was time for the minister to go to sleep. Chip did not need sleep, but if someone found him awake, this would be suspicious. This feature was also part of Chip's camouflage. 20

42 hours later, the minister sat behind his desk and looked grimly down on the sheet he had there. "I need your signature, minister... we can't go to war on the Cintorians without your signature on this declaration of war." "Ok, ok, I will sign it. Give me the pen." Chip signed the declaration, but he knew he couldn't fake the minister’s handwriting. "Thank you, minister Toran," the clerk said and left the room. 21

The minister turned his chair facing the holo-screen. "Computer, give me Oteg of Cintor." The tired face of Oteg appeared on the screen. "What? Oh, it's you," he said and yawned, "what do you have to report?" "Imur is now going to war on Cintor... I could not stop it, or else they would have been suspicious." "That was bad news. Do you have more information? What have you found on Imur's defence?" "Imur has three stealth-satellites in orbit, one ground-to-orbit tachyon-cannon and a big armada of battlestars. I'll send you the co-ordinates on an encrypted channel." "Thank you, minister, you have been most helpful," Oteg said and broke the communication. 22

He had done his job here... he had given Oteg all the information he needed. Unless he came over some interesting material, he would just stay put and keep on the masquerade. Now he went to bed again... Veno had done the mating-ritual this evening, and if he didn't follow up, he would jeopardise his camouflage. He was worried that maybe his time was over... Things like mating was something Imxor hadn't programmed into him, and he had to learn, this as anything. The problem was that the real minister was a man who had experience, and when Veno discovered his "problem", she would know... 23

Chapter six24

"Minister! The Cintorians are attacking us... they've taken our stealth-satellites and half of our battlestars already!" Zwor was very upset by what had happened. This could only mean that there was a mole somewhere inside. Even how much Zwor was thinking of this, he couldn't find anyone as being the probable spy. The Secret Intelligence-guys told him that no one of the moles they knew of were in a position to get this kind of information to the Cintorians. It had to be someone high in the ministry, like the external affairs-minister, for instance... "Send all battlestars directly at their mothership. Hopefully we can beat them," the minister replied. "Right away!" was Zwor's last words before he disappeared from the holo-screen. 25

Chip sat still for many hours, just listening to the sounds of the war going on outside... Now the bombing was closing in on the city, and soon a bomb would hit directly. Chip called up Oteg on the holo-screen. "Oteg, there seems like we're caught in this little game. Veno has told everyone that she suspects me of being the spy, and it will not be long before security comes through the door." "Ok... You have served well, Chip. Now execute memory-resident program 13, password 'trokotabido'. Good bye, Chip," an obviously happy Oteg said and disappeared. 26

Chip rose up and walked over to the teleport-chamber. He teleported to a orbit-shuttle and set course for orbit. Outside of Imur's atmosphere, he set course directly for the Coron, the star Imur and Cintor circled around. Chip's last thought was human enough... "It has been a short life." Then he executed the last command in the memory-resident program, which erased all of his memory and fried the electronics with high voltage. 27

Chapter seven28

"Captain, there's a shuttle of some kind up front..." "On screen... enlarge... Seems like you are right. Is it heading straight for that star?!" "It is, sir." "Set course for the shuttle, warp 4. We must see if there's people on board there that need help." "No lifesigns onboard, sir." "None?" "No, sir, not even dead bodies is detected." "We are by the shuttle in half a minute, captain." "Slow to impulse. Grab the shuttle with the tractor-beam, lieutenant, and bring it in to cargobay four..." 29

"There's someone here! Seems like it is an android or something." "Is it activated?" "No, sir." "Take it to the science-lab. Let's see if we can get it to work, at least so it can tell us where it comes from and who created it." Ten men was needed to carry the android to the science-lab. After one hour, the scientists were all done; they could do no more reparation on the android in fear of making it short circuit. "Don't expect too much, captain... the microchips in its 'brain' was fried." "Thanks... look, he has opened his eyes!" the captain said. Talking to the android he asked it: "Do you have a name?" "Chip." 30

THE END31