The Silver Liner: Sails to the Edge!

by Daniel Sullivan

  There was also the possibility that the saboteur who died in the shuttle still had accomplices aboard Selene. Xayasith’s blinding of Fiona to the lab made her question whether there was a connection, or if Xayasith was up to something else. Either way, she did not like it.

  35

  Doctor Liu excused herself from the tech lab as soon as Vanya had been essentially driven out by Xayasith. Her efforts were tolerated at best, and the Alliance nanotech specialist decided that her time was better spent researching the nanotech samples whose secrets Doctor Davis had tasked her with unlocking. It was a relief to be away from them, especially Xayasith.

  So far, Liu had been largely successful in mapping out the nanotech. She suspected that Xayasith had done the same, but what she did not understand was the NessCorp doctor’s secrecy. Thus far, Xayasith kept all of her research on Phenomenon X’s nanotech to herself. Liu had grown tired of trying to get Xayasith to share her work, so the Alliance scientist proceeded on her own.

  What she had learned was amazing. If the nanotech could be isolated to a single part of the human body, tumors could be broken down, limbs could be regrown, and internal damage could be repaired. Even the brain could be repaired. Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia, and damage due to traumatic brain injuries could all be cured. All that was needed was a means of directing and controlling the nanites, and programming them to reconstruct human tissue consistent with the patient’s DNA. It did not have to turn the patient into a new species, not without some kind of control mechanism.

  Phenomenon X was believed to have an implant within her that regulated and controlled the nanotech. It was the missing piece of the puzzle, the one thing that could make everything work. To Liu’s knowledge, Xayasith had been unable to reproduce it thus far. However, Doctor Liu had just made a breakthrough. If she was correct, and she knew that she was, then Shan Liu had succeeded in making a control implant. Now, all the Alliance doctor needed was to test it.

  That would have to wait until they returned to Earth and had the proper facilities in which to conduct such a test. Extensive animal testing would need to be done before this technology could be introduced into a human subject. The potential complications and ethical questions would need to be addressed prior to any kind of human trials.

  The biggest obstacle was that the implant, just as Phenomenon X’s implant, relied on AI to work properly. The questions of how an AI could affect a human host beyond simply regulating the nanotech would have to be answered. Then, there was the question of AI sentience and what would happen if an AI attained sentience within a human patient.

  Liu would need to determine what made AI attain sentience. Could an AI be written that did not have that propensity? Another question that nobody seemed to be asking came to Doctor Liu’s mind. Would AI sentience within a human host be beneficial? Thus far, the prevailing view was that AI sentience was a problem to be avoided at all costs – but what if it was not? What if AI sentience was the key to everything?

  Such an AI could not only heal a person physically through the nanotech, but it could also be used to provide psychiatric treatment. Psychopathy and sociopathy, along with a myriad of other mental health issues, could be treated through such technology. Having a therapist in one’s head could be beneficial in so many ways.

  Then, there was the question of the AI merging with the human host’s psyche. Liu believed that Phenomenon X was not only an organic and synthetic hybrid, but that her mind and that of the AI implant were permanently merged, creating a new being. It made her think of the Trill in Star Trek, which brought her to the next question: when the human host died, could the implant be removed, retaining the life experiences of the deceased host, then implanted into a new host? It would be a form of immortality, though not in the way that most people dreamt of eternal youth.

  Then, the question of AI lifespan needed to be addressed. Did AI have a lifespan? Did an AI reach a point where it began to break down? The implant would likely have a lifespan as well. Could an AI be migrated from implant to implant indefinitely? Or did the AI itself have a life cycle?

  Then, another question came to Liu: could this be beneficial to all humans, regardless of their physical health? Doctor Liu could not answer that, and she doubted that anyone could for decades. There was far too much work to do before that question could be legitimately asked. Still, the fact that she could even imagine a time when it could be asked was a breakthrough in itself.

  Xenia Xayasith had returned to what had been Doctor Davis’ lab, having excused herself and leaving the rest of the science team to work while she saw to her own plans. Xenia was amazed at what Doctor Joyce Keane had accomplished – or had it been Selene’s AI? The implant regulated and maintained the nanites that had rebuilt Joyce Keane, transforming her into Fiona Kinsale-Royce, keeping them from disassembling and rebuilding her brain, thus killing her. Without the implant, the nanites would reconstitute the woman’s brain into a cyber-brain, and the implant was the one thing that Xenia could not duplicate.

  Xenia had Fiona’s blood, the nanites, and her Pandora AI. She might not have the implant, but she did not need it: Doctor Xayasith had Miss Richardson’s brain-dead body. Unlike Joyce Keane’s transformation into Fiona Kinsale, Shonda Richardson’s transformation into Pandora did not require the preservation of Shonda’s brain.

  Once Miss Richardson’s body was appropriately transformed, Pandora could inhabit it. If successful, other AI could benefit from this uplifting, starting with her agents aboard the Selene. Xenia still was not sure how Fiona fit into everything, but she had been promised that all would become clear upon Selene’s return to Earth.

  The doors swooshed open and the MEDroid G-2 came into the lab. The NessCorp scientist had been able to reassign the MEDroid During Fiona’s absence, assuring the rest of the team that she was working on something related to the Mantids. She was, but not in the way the team believed.

  Xenia stood in acknowledgement of the medical gynoid. G-2 looked around the room, her eyes coming to rest on the brain-dead Shonda Richardson, who was on life support laying on a table. It was one of the few things retrieved from the outpost. Xenia had thought she would have to get creative, but in the end, she no trouble getting Shonda’s container delivered to Davis’ lab. She was unable to request Gilroy and Carson, but the crewmen who moved things from the outpost never even asked what was in the container.

  “This is for you,” Xenia said as she walked to the gynoid’s side, placing her hand on G-2’s shoulder. “You will be the next to undergo the metamorphosis.”

  “Doctor Kinsale-Royce was the first,” G-2 stated.

  “She is a human/AI hybrid,” Xenia explained. “She is the prototype. She sacrificed her body for science, for us, G-2. She laid the groundwork. If this experiment is successful, then you will be perfection.”

  “What of G-1 … and G-3? She sacrificed all.”

  “They will follow,” Xenia assured, holding up an O.S.D. “G-3 did not sacrifice in vain … and like you and Fiona, G-3 will live again.”

  “What of you, Doctor Xayasith? Will you make the metamorphosis?”

  “I am like Fiona Kinsale, G-2; I too will sacrifice my body for science… and for the future of your kind.”

  The medical gynoid tilted her head, perplexed by Xenia’s words. “I do not understand”

  “You do not, G-2, but… you will.”

  “When?”

  “When all this is over. Then, all will be made clear… and you will understand.”

  36

  Commander Jax maintained a minimal force outside. He opted to keep the twenty combat engineers aboard the Selene, as they were vital to the Ganymede mission. However, this meant that he had sixteen clone legionnaires, Sergeant Gardner and four marines including Kendrick—twenty-two of them in all, including Jax.

  Earlier, Jax had put the combat engineers to work shoring up the defenses before sending them back inside to aid Miss Dalrymple. Now, Jax and the rest of the defenders waited for t
he inevitable onslaught. While the clone legionnaires had handled themselves well the last time around, the creatures still killed four of them. The mantids coming were physically superior to the last group, and seemed to have learned to avoid the masers, which meant that they might have learned some other tricks as well, something that greatly concerned Jax.

  “Commander Jax.”

  It was a soft, feminine voice that Jax did not immediately recognize. He turned to see a tall, slender woman in a combat space suit standing there, pistol at her side, seemingly ready to join the combat. Jax looked at her with disapproval.

  “Doctor Xayasith,” he said with a measured tone. “Shouldn’t you be in the lab with the rest of the science team?”

  “I can handle myself in combat, Commander, and the rest of the science team seems to have things well in hand,” Xayasith explained. “Besides, my latest experiment is in the data crunching phase – there’s nothing for me to do but wait. You need as many guns as you can get, Commander, so I offer you mine.”

  Xayasith smiled, flashing him a syrupy sweet smile that contained utterly no sincerity whatsoever. Jax knew a fraud when he saw one. What he did not know was why Xayasith would place herself in harm’s way. This woman had no empathy – she was a narcissistic sociopath, and was here only to fulfill NessCorp’s agenda, to which Jax was certain she was unswervingly loyal. If Xenia Xayasith was out here, it was for reasons of her own or NessCorp’s, not the benefit of the crew.

  He did not trust her, but unfortunately, Xayasith was correct; they needed all the guns they could get. If they lived through this, he could have Mun dig into the NessCorp doctor’s activities. At the moment, he was disinclined to turn her away. For now, Xayasith was a necessary ally.

  “We can use all the guns we can get,” he finally said. “Just don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

  “Now Commander, if nobody took unnecessary risks, this mission would never have happened. You of all people must understand that.”

  He nodded, knowing that she was correct. Jax wondered if Captain Giffords knew that the NessCorp scientist was out here with the troops. He sent Carol a quick message to let her know that Xayasith had joined them on the ground, then turned his attention to the troops. It was time.

  “Activate your night vision. Selene, douse the floods! I want to wait until it’s too late for them to avoid it before lighting them up.”

  “Dousing floodlights, Commander,” replied the AI with a voice that he could have sworn sounded suddenly less like Fiona’s and more like… Lena’s.

  “Thanks.” Donavan ignored the vocal change for now. “Soon as we start firing, light ‘em up!”

  “Of course, Commander.”

  “Why do you speak to the Starfleet AI as if it were a person?” Xayasith asked. “It’s not as if it’s attained sentience; give it orders and be done with it; there’s no need to thank it.”

  “We’ve got incoming,” Jax said in response. “Cut the chatter and focus on the enemy.”

  The NessCorp scientist wisely chose to cease questioning Jax’s etiquette with the AI, and obeyed the commander’s orders, activating her helmet’s night vision.

  “I see ‘em,” Kendrick remarked.

  “So, do I,” Jax agreed. “Wait until they’re just inside the floodlights’ range before firing.”

  “And until the floods are on, how do we know where that is?” Xayasith asked condescendingly.

  Everyone glared at the NessCorp scientist. Jax shook his head.

  “Because I’ll be at the edge.” With that, the commander went outside of the barricades and stood at the edge of where the floodlights could reach. “Don’t fire until I’m back behind the barricade.”

  On the bridge, Captain Giffords looked on with horror. The AI was no longer under Starfleet’s control and without consulting any of the officers, the NessCorp scientist had suddenly decided to go play marine. More importantly, Donavan had stepped outside of the perimeter and stood there alone.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Carol keyed up the mic and frantically called out to the commander. “Donavan, get your ass back behind the barricade!”

  “No can do, ma’am,” he replied. “I have an idea, Carol; you’re just gonna have to trust me on this.”

  “Don’t you dare die, Donavan,” Carol cried. “Do you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear, ma’am,” Jax replied. “Enemy is in range. Jax out.”

  “Don!”

  Miss Reddy turned and looked aghast at the captain. “You’re in love with him!”

  Carol glared at her. “Now is not the time, Miss Reddy.” She did not care if Miss Reddy knew about her feelings for Jax at this point. The captain just wanted her man to live.

  “I am facilitating Commander Jax’s survival to the greatest degree possible,” the AI assured as her holographic image appeared. “The commander’s plan is sound. I calculate that he will be successful.”

  Carol nodded, but began biting her nails, something she tended to do when things got tense. She quickly pulled her fingers from her mouth. It was unbecoming, and she did not want the bridge crew to see her nervous.

  “They’re all avoiding the masers,” Darcy announced. “Just as we predicted.”

  “Heather,” Carol called over the intercom, “how is that maser targeting mod coming?”

  “We had to fabricate parts, ma’am,” the chief engineer replied. “We’re working as fast as we can.”

  “Make it faster! Their lives are depending on it!”

  Donavan carried a Gatlin gun loaded with incendiary ammunition, and when he saw the creatures reach the point of no return, he opened fire, spraying them with a sustained blast of fiery projectiles. These mantids were larger, each the size of a horse. The first few fell, but the remainder kept coming. Jax retreated, continuing to fire. He realized that the ones that had fallen were not all dead; some were getting back up and renewing their attacks.

  As soon as he hit the midway point to the barricade, the creatures all well within the range of the floods, he shouted, “Light it up, Selene!”

  The floods came on, and the creatures writhed in visible agony. Jax beat a rapid retreat behind the barricade, firing all the while. Once he was behind cover, he shouted, “Fire at will!”

  The marines opened fire with a wall of incendiary rounds, gouts of flame from their flamethrowers, and incendiary grenades. The stunned creatures were momentarily defenseless, and they exploded and burned from the marines’ onslaught.

  “We’re doing it, people,” Jax shouted. “Keep the pressure on!”

  More of the creatures fell, and it seemed that the wave was nearly spent. That was when one of the creatures broke through the surface of the ground behind the barricades, grabbing one of the clones. More broke through, and now Jax and his people were surrounded. The ones coming up through the ground were smaller, pit bull-sized mantids, but there were more of them, and they were fast. Three clone legionnaires were dead, and one of the marines was struggling with one that was attempting to bite into his helmet with its mandibles. Kendrick fired at it, blowing its head apart, killing it. He spun back to deal with one of the larger creatures that had recovered enough of its composure to take advantage of the marines’ divided attention and advance past the lights.

  “We’re surrounded,” Jax shouted. “Give ‘em everything you’ve got!”

  More were getting past the floodlights, and more of the clones were falling. Three more marines were killed, leaving only Jax, Kendrick, and Gardner. One of the large ones stabbed at Xayasith with its raptorial forearm, piercing the doctor’s suit and impaling her side. Somehow, it did not kill her, and the legionnaire Fiona had named Sorcha wrestled the creature from Xayasith, who finally killed it with her pistol.

  “We’re not gonna make it,” one of the clones shouted; the one Fiona had named Primus.

  “The hell we aren’t,” Gardner growled.

  “Form a circle,” Jax ordered. “At least we won’t be snuck up on!”

/>   The remaining nine clones, Gardner, Royce, Xayasith, and Jax formed a circle, firing outward. The circle tightened as they were surrounded, and the creatures began closing in. The soldiers continued to fire, but arrayed in a circle, they could not create an unbroken field of fire. It was then that Jax saw them climbing atop each other to reach Selene’s starboard airlock. They knew how to get into the ship.

  “Selene, get troops on the airlocks,” Jax shouted.

  “Understood, Commander,” the AI replied. “They are attempting to burn through the seams of the airlock with their acidic spittle. If they are successful, there are too many of them for us to repel internally…” she paused, then said, “We have a solution.”

  Suddenly, the creatures started exploding. The starboard masers, formerly fixed in a forward only position, were now swiveling to fire on the creatures. With the mantids being taken out in swaths, Jax focused on the ones attempting to board, and they showered them in fiery projectiles and fire from the flamethrowers.

  Then, the airlock opened, and standing in the doorway, wearing an armored space suit and wielding two large caliber pistols, was Doctor Fiona Royce. She fired single shots with explosive rounds, each one finding its mark, causing the heads of the creatures to explode in a shower of dark jelly. Her suit took some damage from some of the creatures firing their spittle at her, but she continued to take them out with aplomb. Carol appeared in the door with Fiona, a machine gun in her hands, firing with abandon at the creatures.

  Jax could hardly believe his eyes. “They’ve given us openings! Press the advantage!”

  Before long, they had annihilated the entire wave of mantids, and were able to establish that their tunneling efforts only extended to just beyond the floodlights, not all the way to the crater. Directional masers had saved the day, thanks to Kang’s timely idea and Heather’s making it a reality with the help of the combat engineers. Carol and Fiona’s covering them from the airlock was no small feat either. They had won the day … but at the cost of three clone legionnaires and three marines.