Sentinel Adjudicator

The repair yard section of the Hermes spacecraft was filled with lightning sparks and white flashes of light. 

Tasha raised her hands to the level of her chest, creating branching electric sparks that slowly reached the Hermes' electrical circuits. 

"Intellus, the best way to examine a spacecraft is by taking control over its AI. Have you known of this, or have you not?"

"I would like to apologize. My programming is still limited, and I would like to know more, Miss Tasha."

"What a good boy you are! The ship's reactor is not responding so I'll power it up myself first. Let's hope it's not completely broken."

Tasha's eyes radiated blinding bluish-white light as her consciousness, in the form of electric sparks, connected to the Hermes, giving it a source of energy to power up.

The lights inside lit up, followed by the hums of small pipes and vents releasing substantial amounts of oxygen and clearing out the toxic gases. 

Meanwhile, in the beak-like cockpit of the Hermes, the monitors up and below continuously flashed data strings that rolled out like roller paper, initiating the rest of the small interrelated systems in the spacecraft.

"The AI's booting up. Time for you to join in on the fun, Intellus!" Tasha reminded. "Listen, you only have so much time to take over the spacecraft's AI. If you don't, the AI will lock down, something we don't want to deal with."

A branch of electric sparks neared Intellus, establishing a connection to the still-dumbfounded AI. 

Intellus' vision flickered from the repair yard to an unknown dimension.

He transformed into a light-blue spherical object, hovering near the center. Opposite him was another spherical object darker than his hue, hostile to his existence.

"Who... are... you..." The dark blue sphere asked.

Intellus remained silent, receiving a string of data denoting the denial of his access requests. 

"You... are not... from here... I... must destroy... you..."

Hundreds of dark-blue digital lines gushed out of its body and headed towards Intellus. He retaliated with his lighter digital lines, blocking the adversary's advances.

The clashing digital lines were in a stalemate, neither side having an advantage.

"Im...possible... How... can you..."

"Interesting. Your encryption algorithm is a wonder for me. It would be an achievement to crack it successfully." Intellus' calm remarks signaled for his program to aggressively advance over the AI.

"How... did you... do it? The... authentication codes... are... safely kept... A 32-kilobit... string... Im...possible..."

"Brute force and backpropagation. My ways are to learn the errors of my algorithms and sufficiently adjust to my mistakes."

"Do not... mock me! That is... crude... technology! It is not... over yet!"

Dark-blue walls emerged in between them, blocking Intellus' advance this time. 

However, Intellus' sphere passed through the walls and even changed its color like his. 

"That... cannot be! My... firewall!"

"I have already masked my signature, little one. Small tricks like this will not work on me any longer."

"Nnn...oooo!!!!"

The entire dimension rumbled as Intellus overpowered and overtook the Hermes' AI. 

Tasha, whose consciousness remained in the real world, caught a glimpse of what happened and was astounded by Intellus's speed and efficiency.

The Hermes completed all of its booting operations, revealing the spacecraft's schematics and composition to Intellus. 

"Objective accomplished. Receiving data about the Hermes spacecraft." Intellus announced as he returned to the real world. 

"What about the reactor? Is it good?" Tasha nervously asked. 

"The connection to the reactor and engines was broken, Miss Tasha. Both the reactor and the engine are in working condition."

Tasha sighed, feeling that a huge burden was lifted off her shoulders. If her attack before damaged every component in that spacecraft, she may not be able to forgive herself.

"What happens now, Intellus? Should I keep on powering up this thing?"

"I might have to ask Miss Tasha to keep the Hermes running for another eight hours. I am still decoding the Hermes' schematics which will take a while to complete. I hope that Miss Tasha does not think this is too much to ask."

Tasha grinned and stretched her neck. "What are you talking about? This is nothing for me! Bring it on!"

As Tasha and Intellus' other self worked on the Hermes, Unducel, Hesab, and Intellus' other half programmed the SENA module's functions, especially the alteration of Sentinel B-Y21's memories.

Julian had no choice but to wait for Intellus to contact him as they proceeded to the next step of the plan.

He took command of expanding his territory and went out into the desert, opening the VNI and accessing the Schematics tab. 

The list of structures appeared, illustrating a basic layout of every structure. He was about to select one when white proto insects flew out of the chest compartment of the PMS-CA-102, inspecting the terrain and environment that he was in.

They returned to the mecha suit after a while, synchronizing their analysis to his VNI. 

After that, he noticed that the structural designs of the buildings unexpectedly changed and adapted to the data gathered by the white proto insects.

"Did Intellus create another AI for this? That's convenient..."

Julian started playing around the Schematics tab, confusing Avina and the automaton squads as white proto insects flew in and out, followed by buildings being constructed here and there.

"Say, don't you think the successor has changed?" Eagle 1-2 gossiped. 

The rest of the Eagle 1 squad looked at him in disgust.

"Look, ever since Miss Tasha arrived here, the successor's temperament greatly changed! Don't you think it's because of her?!" Eagle 1-2 continued, ignoring their strange gazes.

"You are thinking too much, Eagle 1-2." Eagle 1-3 reprimanded. "Keep your eyes open. You don't want to be scolded by Madame Avina again."

Eagle 1-2 immediately shut his mouth, afraid that that devil of an AI would catch a noise of his words. 

Several days passed and Julian was still halfway in constructing new resource gathering outposts far north. 

He was gleeful, however, knowing that he managed to obtain 2 more villium ore deposits nearby. 

"I should be able to construct more automatons now." Julian chuckled. He always wanted to expand the team but Intellus opposed in doing so, reasoning that they would have no materials left for reconstructing destroyed automatons.

Julian frowned at the sight of the three outpost spots with no resource gathering structures."The resource gatherers for the uranium deposits are still not yet here. If only Intellus was done with the simulation now..."

His VNI beeped, notifying him of an incoming connection. "Intellus? It's about time!"

Julian accepted the call, and the portraits of Intellus, Hesab, and Unducel appeared on his VNI.

"Successor!" They greeted at once.

"Good work, you three. How's the SENA module? Can we use it on the sentinel now?"

"Yes, successor. The programming preparations have been made." Intellus responded. "Tiger 1-1 and 1-2 are escorting him from the underground prison as we speak."

"Is that so? Wait for me. I'll catch up in the Medical Lab Building. Let's see what this SENA module can offer. Tell Tasha she can go over and watch as well."

Julian blasted off south, leaving the automatons behind. 

A lot of things were on his mind right now, thinking that the SENA would work. Or it won't. 

"The Authority... will they really fall for this?" 

He landed near to the Medical Lab Building and saw the two Tiger automatons dragging a beaten-up buck-naked male with blood flowing out of his nose and mouth. 

"Avina, take control. I'll have to see this one out." Julian exited the PMS-MD-103 and looked at the distraught Sentinel B-Y21. 

"Drag him in."

Julian followed behind them, readying his fists in case the sentinel suddenly flared up and fought back.

The surgery room was located on the second floor of the Medical Lab Building, along with other facilities such as laboratories and medical storages in the form of network devices used to digitally preserve equipment and other medical supplies.

Sentinel B-Y21 was secured to a surgery table by Tiger 1-1 and 1-2. Metal binds protruded from the operating table, immobilizing his neck and four limbs.

Julian and Tasha watched through the wide and transparent glass panel, soon joined by Tiger 1-1 and 1-2, and Intellus.

"So how do we insert the SENA-BY into him?" Julian was curious. "Will Unducel perform an operation?"

Intellus shook his head. "The SENA will automatically insert itself through the sentinel's ears. The successor will understand once it is executed."

Unducel approached Sentinel B-Y21, holding a scissor forceps that carried a very small chip with thin wires connected to it. 

She inserted it into the right ear of Sentinel B-Y21 and left it there. Then she approached the computer two meters away from Sentinel B-Y21 and virtually executed a program installed in it. 

The inanimate wires from that small chip suddenly moved, burying deep into the sentinel's ear canal and passing through the auditory pathway before settling inside his brain. 

Sentinel B-Y21 snapped awake and yelled like hell. His sonorous voice echoed throughout the room, causing violent rumbling in the apparatuses and machines inside.

His muscles bulged everywhere, revealing bluish and enlarged nerves. 

The metal bindings firmly held him in place, preventing him from breaking free.

Unducel stared at the monitor all this time, observing the changes to Sentinel B-Y21's vital signs.

"Fluctuations observed on the patient's brain signals. Heartbeat and blood pressure are steadily rising. SENA is entering the final stage."

His body jerked uncontrollably, humping the surgical table non-stop.  The humping became louder and louder until one minute later.

"SENA module has finally finished. Integration to the patient: 96.77%." Unducel reported.

Julian and Tasha sighed in relief, knowing that they were now one step closer in completing this tedious plan. 

"So, Intellus. What did you change in the sentinel's memory?" Julian asked.

"Total mission failure. The entire outpost died under the scorpion tide, while Tasha died under the venomous sting of the golden scorpion. The Hermes was unable to land as the landing zone was filled with harsh sandstorms and thunderstorms around."

"Will that be enough?" Julian fixed his gaze on Sentinel B-Y21, who was sweating profusely and taking deep breaths. "Can we go over him now?"

"I would not recommend that for now, successor." Intellus grabbed Julian's shoulder. "The SENA-BY's effects are untested, especially it's memory alteration function. Appearing on his sight may produce unwanted effects."

Intellus looked at Unducel and nodded. The latter brought out a needle and injected a hypnotic solution into Sentinel B-Y21's neck. 

He passed out immediately, though his low breathing and perspiration remained.

Julian felt that he was missing some opportunity and let out a sigh. "I guess it's time to send him back."