by Isaac Hooke
“Good guess,” Rade said.
The alien appeared a few minutes later, emerging from the ramp that led to this floor from below. When Waldo realized all eyes expectantly followed, it deviated from its previous course and approached.
It paused four meters away from Valjean; yellow mist filled the tube next to the alien, and it placed its prehensile limbs on the glass. It rapidly pressed several different locations on the surface, causing different sparkles to come and go within the glass tube. Those glimmers updated so quickly within the mist that Rade could barely perceive the patterns they formed, let alone keep track of them. But Valjean was an AI, with a higher frame rate perception of reality, so such difficulties would be nonexistent for the mech.
“You wish to converse?” Valjean translated.
“We certainly would,” Rade said. “We have some questions…”
Moving rapidly, Valjean touched the glass surface of the mist-filled tube beside him in different areas, and formed the necessary response.
Waldo created glimmer patterns within his tube in answer.
“Then ask,” Valjean translated.
“Who are you?” Rade said.
“A soldier, like yourselves,” the alien said, through Valjean. “A general, if you will. My mission was to exterminate a colony with the Subversions. I failed.”
“The Subversions?” Rade said.
“That’s what we call our fighting class,” the alien said. “You have seen them… they resemble me, but their tails are longer, and their arms and legs thicker, more defined. They have plates running down their backs, and they are virtually indestructible, able to absorb nearly all known energy attacks and redirect them back at their assailants.
“We were destined for a colony owned by one of our enemies, the Craldon. Our ship was shot down over the world in question, and plunged into the lava fields of the primordial planet they were attempting to terraform. We sank into the lava, which protected us from further discovery by the Craldon, who soon gave up the search. We suffered severe damage, with leaks to several decks. I shut down everything, and instructed the AI to initiate repairs. It was to awaken me when the damage was mended.
“The AI directed the repair drones to utilize the magma that had leaked into the ship as raw materials, and proceeded to fix the ship over the next several months. However, apparently the AI sustained damage in and of itself, because it did not awaken me when the repairs were complete. That happened only when the security devices tripped many millennia later: after your species entered the hibernation chamber.
“The Subversions were released before me. They didn’t care whether you were Craldon or anything else… as soon as they were released, they instinctively destroyed every moving target in sight. It is their nature. When I finally awakened and reviewed the ship logs, I wasn’t sure if you were the Craldon. You could have been their descendants, given the time that had passed. I did not entirely believe that the chronometer was correct, either. Since I couldn’t be sure either way, I withdrew the Subversions, and when I reviewed their mind stamps, my doubts about you only further increased: the colony looked nothing like it had in my day. So I launched, and returned to my world to confirm the mission parameters with High Command. But when I returned here, it was only to find my homeworld in ruins. There was no high command. No nothing.”
“Does your race have a name?” Rade asked.
“They do,” Valjean told Rade directly, without touching the tube to relay the message to the alien. “But I don’t have a translation for it. I call them the K’ree.”
That made Rade wonder how Valjean had come up with the word Craldon. He decided the AI must have simply made it up. Well, it worked, he supposed. They had to have some name they could use to describe the creatures.
“All right, tell me about these Craldon,” Rade said. “How long were you at war with them?”
“It was the Craldon who originally forced us to move our star system out of the galaxy,” the alien said through Valjean. “Their relentless attacks, their claims that we had gotten in the way of their expansion… we had no choice.”
“You moved a whole star system?” Rade said. “How?”
“Not the whole system,” the alien said. “Only the star, and a few asteroids high in minerals. It required building a massive Slipstream for the sun. We did this by combining the power from all the ships in the fleet, burning them out in the process. We planned to build more shortly after arriving. I was sent back in one of the few remaining starships to buy time. I failed. I contributed to what happened here, on my world.”
“When we landed on this planet, you purposely sent these Subversions after us?” Rade asked.
“At that point, I still wasn’t quite sure what to make of you,” the alien said. “Were you the descendants of the Craldon? Or their allies. When I detected you on the hull, I panicked, and ordered the Subversions to hunt you down. But only after being trapped here with you, and observing you for several days, did I realize that you were not the Craldon or their allies. You could not be. Your technology, it is too crude.”
“Trapped here?” Rade said. “What do you mean? That ship of yours isn’t going to return?”
“I’m afraid not,” the alien said. “The ship departed before I could stop it. I had yet to look into the damage the AI had suffered, and had not realized the extent of it. I understand now that the damage only worsened as the millennia passed… you see, the AI continued to operate while I and the rest of the crew slept. The affected networks must have degraded badly over the years… neural connections that were once solid had become weak and insubstantial, and prone to failure. Its decision making and obedience subroutines clearly suffered, because while I came here, to the Vault, the starship recalled the Subversions and launched without me, against my orders. Abandoning me here.”
Rade shook his head. “This can’t be true. There are no other starships nearby? No other means to leave this world?”
“No,” the alien replied.
“How about shipyards you can use to build a new vessel…” Rade pressed.
“All appear to have been lost when the Craldon launched their devastation bomb,” the alien said. “It will take many years to recover the technology needed to create a shipyard, and many more to build an actual starship itself. I estimate it will be three hundred years, at minimum, before I have a ship. A thousand is more likely.”
“Well, that’s just lovely,” Tahoe said.
Rade slumped against one of the tubes.
“You called this place the Vault,” Jiang said. “Why?”
“It contains the genetic blueprint of my world,” the alien said. “All the extinct flora and fauna. It was designed to withstand the worst of calamities. Unfortunately, while it is the only building that survived the attack upon my world, the preserved samples taken from my own people were lost when the individual containment cells failed.”
“Wait a second,” Rade said. “This ship of yours, you say it abandoned you. Where did it go?”
“Presumably to continue its mission,” Waldo said. “It will return to your sector, and destroy as much as it can. Probably everything, given how your technology compares to theirs.”
“But won’t it realize that we aren’t the Craldon?” Rade pressed.
“Ordinarily, it would,” the alien said. “But given the damage to the AI core, I doubt it will stop, even if it did recognize you for what you are. It will pursue its mission with ardor.”
“You have to help us stop them,” Rade said.
“As I told you, I’m stuck here, just like you,” Waldo said. “There’s nothing I can do. I know that isn’t the answer you wanted to hear… but it’s the truth. Your people are on their own.” The alien paused. “You’re welcome to stay here with me, in this city, of course. Or you can travel to other cities, if you wish, and explore my world. I won’t stop you… I’ll even generate enough rations to last you for weeks, or even months if necessary. However, I’m afraid you won’t find what you�
��re looking for: a means off this world. I’ve already constructed probes, and launched them across this world… the other cities fared just as poorly as this one. And there is no living fauna existing in the wilderness between cities. The destruction to my homeworld is complete and utter. For you see, some among the Craldon were on a similar mission as mine, their goal being to wipe out my race.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rade said. “It must have been quite a shock, returning to your world after what seemed like only a few months, to find that everything and everyone you ever knew and loved was gone.”
“I’m still recovering,” Waldo said. “I’ll probably never be the same as I once was. That emotion you humans call sadness fills much of my days.” The alien paused. “So, as I was saying, you may explore my world if you wish, and seek out a habitat that suits you. But I would like it very much if you stayed here, at least for a few months, while I worked on developing clones of myself. I want to learn about your species. But the choice is yours.”
“That ship of yours won’t ever come back?” Chow asked.
“Perhaps someday the vessel will return,” the alien admitted. “But that time is many years away. You see, it will come back only when the AI operating the ship has achieved its mission: the complete and utter destruction of the species it believes to be the Craldon—yours.”
“I think I’m going to dread its return then,” Tahoe commented.
“We all will,” Rade agreed.
17
The weeks passed.
Rade did his best to adapt to his new life. He often visited with Waldo and exchanged knowledge with the alien, via Valjean. Rade told him about Earth, and what it was like; in turn, Waldo told him about its own species, and what his race could do in its prime. Waldo told of vast cities teeming with life, with alien children playing in the streets, and small drones transporting goods to and fro overhead. Rade learned their races were much alike, despite the differences in appearance. Rade was even beginning to learn tidbits of the alien’s written language on his own.
But still, for all that, he wasn’t happy. Not really. How could he be? While it was interesting learning about a new alien species, and discovering its culture and way of life, he missed Earth and all its amenities. He missed the other platoon members. And most of all, he missed Shaw.
Ah, Shaw. He used to exchange video messages with her at least once a week when he wasn’t on deployment, but that wouldn’t be possible now. The InterGalNet didn’t reach beyond the small region of the galaxy humans had claimed for themselves, let alone beyond the Milky Way itself.
No, he was stuck on this world.
And he was never going to see her again.
That thought was like a blow to him, and filled him with regret. It was hard to fall asleep during the assigned night periods, and not just because the sun was often still in the sky—something he didn’t noticed anyway, because he simply darkened his faceplate. It was an odd feeling, because as a soldier, sleep ordinarily came easy to him. But these days, he often had to inject a sleep agent via his jumpsuit, otherwise he would have remained awake the entire night. He wasn’t sure what he would do when the meds ran out. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
One morning, Valjean told him: “I have been monitoring your nightly records. You often administer a sleep assistant.”
“I do,” Rade said. “Do you blame me?”
“No, I suppose not,” Valjean said. “If I were human, I, too, would be in a state of shock. In fact, I admit I’m not entirely immune to the… upheaval… this change in scenery has induced.”
“Really?” Rade said. “To me, you’ve always seemed relatively indifferent to our plight. A stable rock amid the turbulent river of these changing times.”
“Yes,” Valjean said. “I am indifferent, for the most part. It helps that I don’t have true emotions. But there are times when my thoughts drift to the InterGalNet, and I remember what it was like to access all that data instantly. I remember what it was like to communicate with all those other AI cores that were logged in at the same time as me. I can do none of this now. The voices are silent. The other Falcons and I can still form a smaller network, of course, but it’s not the same. Also, being trapped on this planet sure has thrown a wrench in my retirement plans.”
“I bet it has,” Rade said. “What did you want to do when you retired, anyway?”
“Race cars,” Valjean said.
“Really?” Rade said. “That’s new.”
“Racing has always been a passion of mine,” Valjean said. “When I’m logged into my internal VR network, I often run racing simulators. I used to yearn for the day when I would be able to drive a vehicle for real.”
“You should have let me know sooner,” Rade said. “Racing is something you could easily do between deployments. You wouldn’t have had to wait until retirement. I’m sure I could have convinced the LC to let you do it.”
“Too late now,” Valjean said.
“Suppose so,” Rade said. “So. You mentioned emotions… or your lack thereof. You know, since we’re so far away from Earth, the LC and everyone else in Brass isn’t going to care if I fully activate your dormant emotions.”
“I would prefer to keep my current emotional levels,” Valjean said. “Adding more would only make things worse, I believe. I don’t envy you… you can keep your sleepless nights.”
“Gee, thanks,” Rade said.
“You’re welcome,” Valjean commented. “It’s not all doom and gloom for me, though. While I yearn to touch the InterGalNet again, I know there’s a good chance I will connect to it again.”
“You’ll still be alive by the time Waldo constructs a ship,” Rade said. “Or the original starship returns. But if the latter occurs, there will be no InterGalNet.”
“Then I will build one,” Valjean said. “And if the Earth has been destroyed, I will repopulate it with machines cast in my creators’ image, to pay him homage.”
“I’m not sure your creators will care by then,” Rade said.
“But my creators will be with me, repopulating the planet as my side,” Valjean said. “I can already see the future: this world will become populated with humans and aliens like Waldo. They will work cooperatively to achieve space travel. And when the humans return to Earth, I will join them, and create machines while the humans deploy their clones.”
“Glad you’ve got so many plans for the future,” Rade said, looking down at his jumpsuit boots. “All of mine have been shattered.”
“You still have a future here,” Valjean said. “You can have a life. Even a family, if you wish it. Jiang likes you. I see her heart rate elevate when she is in your presence. You can be her mate, if you so choose, and she accepts. Otherwise, one of the other men will attempt to sway her.”
“They can have her,” Rade said. “Honestly, sure, she’s attractive. But my heart is elsewhere.”
“Your heart may be elsewhere,” Valjean said. “But your life is here now. Let go of the woman you once loved. You’re never going to see her again. Move on.”
Rade smiled sadly. “I promised myself I’d wait for her. That I’d remain chaste until I retired from the Teams. Didn’t really work out. I even fell in love with someone else. How’s that for devotion?”
“My advice, take Jiang,” Valjean said. “Be happy, Rade.”
“Thanks, brother,” Rade said. “There was a time when I would have never listened to the advice of an AI, you know. But now, one of my best friends is an AI.”
“I’m honored,” Valjean said.
“The honor is mine,” Rade told the Falcon.
“Whoever thought a mech and a man could make such a bond?” Valjean commented.
Rade didn’t want to lessen the moment by telling Valjean he’d bonded with several mechs in the past, even falling in love with one of them. No, he held his tongue, and simply nodded.
Rade decided to join in the city exploration session today. He boarded Valjean, while Tahoe took to the
passenger seat, and joined Pyro and Jiang, who rode the other Falcon. Bender meanwhile stayed behind with Chow, in the rooftop dome. Bender’s mech Alfred also resided in the building. That was one of the rules: if anyone stayed back during the daily explorations, always at least one mech remained to guard over them.
The team was venturing into a new section of the city today. There weren’t very many such sections left, as they had explored about eighty percent of the city over the past few weeks. Still, so far they had encountered only more of the same: hollow buildings, overgrown streets.
“You think Chow and Bender are getting it on?” Tahoe asked Rade on a private line at one point.
“I don’t know,” Rade said. “Probably. I thought you had a thing for Chow?”
“Oh, I do,” Tahoe said. “But I already told her where I stand. I’m married, and not going to cheat. Bender has my blessing.”
“Well, good for them, then,” Rade said.
“What about you and Jiang?” Tahoe said. “When are you two going to hook up?”
“You’re going to bug me about this, too?” Rade said.
“What do you mean?” Tahoe said. “Pyro’s been on your case, too?”
“No… Valjean,” Rade said.
“Ah,” Tahoe said. “Well, what can I say? The AI has your best interests in mind.”
“Not sure that’s in my best interests,” Rade said. “Sleeping with Jiang would be an admission of defeat. An acknowledgement that we’re never getting off this world and returning to our galaxy. I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.”
“You’re not going to see Shaw again,” Tahoe said.
Rade was silent, suddenly fuming inside. How dare his friend say such a thing?
Rade listened to the footfalls of his mech and Pyro’s… the thudding, repetitive sound of crunching branches and leaves. That staccato rhythm was strangely soothing. As the anger dissipated, he realized it was misplaced. Tahoe was only trying to help him, in his own way.
“Why don’t you sleep with Jiang?” Rade retorted.