by M. R. Forbes
They moved beyond the bay, through a small portal labeled "DETOX." They passed into an airlock system that led into a pair of chambers beyond.
"The first will hit you with nano-abrasive air. It'll pull any shit off your clothes and skin. The second will scan you and hit you a little harder if there's anything clinging to you. Best frigging shower you'll ever take."
"Sounds great," Mitchell said.
The hatch opened ahead of them, and Digger ushered them in. A moment after the door closed, a small hum and a burst of air blew along them. Mitchell could feel the abrasives sliding against his flesh as a soft tickle. The second hatch opened.
"Won't Tio know we used this?" he asked.
"No. We're supposed to go in separately, so it will only register me, which is normal."
"Isn't that going to leave us dirty?"
"A little bit. I'm already risking my ass, though."
The second airlock closed, and they were hit with another round of the nano-particles. It stung a little more this time but was bearable. The final door opened, and they stepped through into a spotless corridor.
"This way," Digger said, turning left. "The main access corridor splits off to a maintenance shaft about halfway. If we go in through there, we can enter without being seen. It's higher security than the main entry, but I have clearance."
He moved ahead of them. Cormac leaned closer to Mitchell, whispering. "I thought this was going to be a lot harder."
"Me too," Mitchell replied.
It was almost too easy.
26
The maintenance shaft turned out to be a literal meter high and wide crawlspace that found Mitchell tailing behind Digger on his hands and knees, squeezing his more muscular frame through the passage while the lanky mechanic slithered through it like a worm.
"I think I'm going to die in here," Cormac said behind him. "I hate small spaces. Reminds me of when I was a kid."
"How so?" Mitchell asked.
"My pops had this ammo trunk he salvaged from a derelict ship. He was a junker, which is kind of funny because of where I ended up on the Schism. Anyways, he would get pissed and me and my sis and lock us in the trunk, sometimes for no reason. Sometimes together. Sometimes alone. I remember one time, he left us there and went out. Mom was going crazy looking for us. She found us in there, I don't know, twenty, thirty hours after. I think if we didn't have each other, we would have went insane. You lose track of time like that."
Mitchell tried to look back at Cormac, but there was no space. Was that why he was so messed up? He imagined it was at least part of it.
"I didn't know you had a sister."
"Yes, sir. She's still alive, too. Used to send me messages until I got busted to the Riggers. Now she thinks I'm dead."
"Does she know what you got busted for?"
He didn't respond.
Mitchell almost bumped into Digger as the mechanic stopped in front of a ventilated hatch. A laser lit the shaft for an instant as he was scanned, and then the hatch slid aside.
"We're in," Digger said, sliding out of the shaft and into the room. It was a tight fit, a tiny walkable space and kilos of electronics that kept the air warm and stale. "Don't touch anything."
They slid into the room, the hatch closing behind them.
"I've got a signal," Cormac said as soon as he was through.
"Knock Origin," Mitchell said. Digger moved to the end of the space, peering around the corner. "Trouble, Digs?"
Digger shook his head. "Not yet. There are usually techs coming and going, checking the systems. We're clear for the moment."
"Good."
"I've got Origin, Colonel," Cormac said.
"Ask him if he can send a message like we talked about with Millie."
Cormac's eyes shifted. A minute later, he nodded. "He said it can be done, but it will reveal the Goliath's exact position, and the odds of the Tetron being unable to decrypt the signal are next to nil."
"They already know where we are, so that isn't a problem. We need to send the message in my voice, and we need to scramble it up a bit. Can he do that?"
Cormac paused again. "What do you mean by scramble?"
"My brother Steven and I used to play this game encoding messages. Cryptography. We tried to make them unbreakable. We were just kids, so they weren't advanced, but I think if we put one of the cryptographic hashes on the stream data, along with a more secure encryption key, we can get the transmission out to him. It won't stop the Tetron from figuring out the message, but if we're lucky it will buy him a few minutes."
"A few minutes? How is that going to help?"
"It might not. Then again, it might. Can he do it?"
Cormac paused again and then nodded. "He wants to know the hash sequence and the encryption keys?"
"Can you remember this, Firedog?" Mitchell asked.
"I'll do my best, sir."
Mitchell began describing the patterns. It had been a long time since he had thought about them, and he hoped that Steven would remember. The cryptography was elementary, but if they were lucky it would be just enough.
He had to stop in the middle while Cormac relayed the information, and it took much longer than he was comfortable with. Digger vanished while he was in the middle of it to scare off a tech that had entered to check the equipment, but otherwise stayed with them the entire time, running diagnostics on the array while he waited. He didn't seem nervous about what he was doing or the possible repercussions if Tio found out. Mitchell wondered if he had managed to clear the logs ahead of time after all? Whatever the reason, if the mechanic was afraid for his life he didn't show it.
"Message passed to Origin, Colonel," Cormac said at last. "I think I got everything right."
"Let's hope so. Time to departure?" Mitchell asked.
"Twenty-two minutes, sir."
"Tell Origin to transmit in thirty. I want to be on my way to Hell before Tio finds out what we did. Nice work, Firedog. You too, Digger. You should consider yourself a hero. You may have just saved millions of lives."
Digger smiled, showing a row of crooked teeth. "I can't just let people die like that. I'm an asshole, but not that much of an asshole."
"Back out the way we came?" Mitchell said.
"Yeah. Unless you want to get your ass caught?"
"Not really."
They slid back into the shaft. Mitchell took point so that Digger could close it up and reset the security. He said it would make it less likely Tio would notice the disruption that way. Then they made the crawl back to the empty corridor.
Mitchell couldn't believe they had actually done it. Origin would send the transmission on the backs of the Tetron, in real-time instead of the weeks it would normally take to piggyback a data stream on a starship. Soon enough, Steven would know about the Tetron threat and would be able to warn the rest of the Alliance.
They would have a chance to fight back.
Earth would be safe.
Mitchell reached the end of the shaft, pulling himself forward one last time so that his head poked out from the opening. He paused when he saw the four pairs of boots standing in front of it, and then looked up.
"Colonel Williams," Tio said. "I seem to recall expressly forbidding you to send a wireless transmission."
27
Mitchell glanced at Teal and the two soldiers in light exo lined up behind the Knife.
"It had to be done," he said, pulling himself from the shaft. Would the Knife execute him and the rest of his crew for it?
"Oh, frig me," Cormac said, sliding out behind Mitchell and seeing Tio. He turned around and bent down towards the shaft. "You little frigging worm. You sold us out."
"Cormac," Mitchell said.
Digger's face appeared. "No, Colonel. He's right. I did sell you out."
"What?"
"I had to." He exited the shaft, bowing to Tio before straightening up. "I told you, I'm not enough of an asshole to let millions of people die. I am enough of an asshole to tell Tio afte
r I did it."
Mitchell glared at the mechanic. He wanted to ring his scrawny neck.
"So, now what?" he said instead, turning his attention back to the Knife. "I suppose our alliance is off?"
Tio shook his head. "Don't be foolish, Colonel. I expected that you would try something like this, assuming you had a strong enough reason to want to communicate with Origin. When Digger told me what you were doing, I decided to allow it. In fact, I wanted to apologize to you."
"Apologize?" Mitchell was confused. Hadn't he just broken the man's trust?
No. He didn't have his trust to break it.
"Yes. When your Admiral approached me about communicating with Origin earlier, I was concerned you wanted to report our internal schematics to your ship and crew. I believed your idea to send a message to Earth was a cover. In my mistrust, I didn't fully consider the potential."
"Why would I do that?"
"You don't trust me, Colonel."
"You don't trust me, either."
Tio laughed. "No. It hasn't been easy, fighting against a storm you were certain was coming but had no proof of. Being the only voice of reason in a universe of people who only saw the creature comforts AI could provide them. I've been betrayed more times than I can count, including by those I thought were closest to me. I believed you would seek to take control of Asimov by force and claim my resources as your own."
"That's ridiculous."
"It's happened before," Teal said.
"My wife. She attempted a coup a few years ago. She used poison to try to kill me, but she didn't use enough. She didn't like the way I was spending the funds that were coming in. She wanted opulence and comfort. I wanted to prevent a disaster."
"So you thought I would do the same? Try to steal it from you?"
"I know about Project Black. I know who and what its crew is. Would that be such a stretch?"
"Under normal circumstances, maybe not. But you were on Liberty. This isn't the time for petty bullshit."
"No, it isn't. And by removing me you would have complete control of my forces to use against the Tetron without having another level of command to worry about. It is a strategically viable solution."
"But not a very human one," Mitchell said.
Tio paused, staring at Mitchell. He nodded. "No. I suppose not." He put out his hand. "Again, Colonel, I apologize for my mistrust. I hope that this episode can help us both put a little more faith in each other, that we want was is best for humanity and not just what is best for ourselves."
Mitchell started to reach for the hand. He stopped halfway. He couldn't shake off the mistrust completely. Not with all of the rumors that had been passed on to him. He needed a little more than that.
"I have one question."
"What is it?"
"The cruiser that Millie said you had destroyed. Teal said it never happened."
"While we're spilling our souls, Colonel?" Tio's eyes shifted to the floor. "An unfortunate incident. It did happen."
"What?" Teal said.
"I'm sorry, Teal," Tio said. "You weren't on that mission. I hired a mercenary force for it, due to its less savory nature. I never told anyone."
Teal stepped back, away from Tio. "I don't understand, sir?"
It was obvious to Mitchell that Tio didn't want to talk about it. The Knife continued to stare at the floor, shaking his head.
"I received intel that there was going to be a Council member on board. A man named Liam Gray. He was pushing his pro-machine agenda very hard, and his visibility on the Council and in the media was proving to be a challenge for my own ends. We tried a few different tactics to dissuade him, including revealing that he had been having an affair with his wife's sister. The man was a dirt repulser. No matter how bad we made him look, he grinned and bore it and continued on to re-election."
Tio finally looked up, meeting Teal's eyes. "He would have destroyed everything we were working towards. He was about to get the Human Assistance Act repealed. I was desperate and out of less violent options."
"So you destroyed a civilian ship?" Teal said.
"Yes. He was supposed to be on board, traveling with the families to keep his image up. I knew we were killing innocent people, but I also knew how many more would die if the Act was repealed. An AI in every home? Can you imagine?"
"We don't attack civilians," Teal said. "Isn't that what you always told me?"
"We didn't. I hired an external team to do it."
"You still pulled the trigger."
Tio's jaw tightened. "And I killed him," he shouted. "Liam Gray was on that transport. He needed to die." He paused and drew a deep breath. "Without his weight, the vote failed. Yes, three hundred and twelve innocent people died with him. I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry your Admiral's mother got caught up in it. If you ask me if I would do it again? I would. Somebody had to, and I think our current predicament proves that I was right."
"Killing innocent people is never right, Liun," Teal said. "Colonel, I'd like to join your crew."
"What?" Mitchell said.
"You heard me. Damn. I don't know where to go. Back to the Alliance? Or stay with a murderer."
"Teal," Tio said. "These people are murderers, too."
"Not all of them. Not Colonel Williams. You killed civilians, and you hid it from me because you knew I would be pissed."
"Fine. You want to go? Go." Tio turned to the other two soldiers. "What about you two? You think war never has any casualties? You think I liked doing it? The blood is on my hands, for the good of everyone." He looked at Mitchell. "You know I'm right, Colonel. Don't you?"
Mitchell couldn't argue that he had been right about the future of intelligent machines. Not with the Tetron laying waste to humankind. There was only one problem with the Knife's perspective.
"It happened anyway," he said. "The civilians died for nothing."
Tio's eyes narrowed. His face softened. He licked his lips. "They did, didn't they?" He froze, remaining silent for a moment. "I can't change the past. I can only try to help you change the future."
"We have a lot of work to do," Mitchell said. "Teal, it doesn't matter whose side you're on right now, because there is only one side. The one that's trying to destroy the Tetron before they destroy us. Go back to the Avalon and tell Germaine we're leaving. Tio, don't tell Millie about this. Not yet. I can imagine how she'll react, and now isn't the time."
Tio nodded. "Agreed." He reached out and took Teal by the arm. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
Teal pulled his arm away.
"Heavy shit," Digger said.
"Seriously," Cormac agreed.
"Let's get moving," Mitchell said. "Time's wasting. Tio, find your brother. If there's any chance he can stop this without more bloodshed, I'd say it's worth it. Digger, you can forget your autograph. Teal, Firedog, with me."
"Frigging Riiigg-ahh," Cormac said.
28
Liun Tio walked slowly, his mind split into so many pieces and priorities that he was barely able to put one foot in front of the other without pausing to try to make sense of at least one of them.
It had never been his intention to become the violent, cold man that he was today. In the beginning, he had been nothing more than a curious child who had grown up into an even more curious adult. He had delighted in learning, in creating, in building. He had seen only the positives of technology and intelligence, his daydreams filled with visions of a future where there were no more conflicts between nations, where there were no more people or worlds hurt or marginalized.
He had shared that vision with his younger brother. For as smart as Tio was, Pulin had always been smarter. He picked things up in hours that Tio struggled with for days. He assembled abstract thoughts as though they were nothing more than links to be added to a well-defined chain.
And at the same time, he was impulsive and reckless, more of a doer than a thinker. He couldn't see past the things he created. He didn't pay attention to the way such things would harm or benef
it humankind. Everything was a challenge to Pulin. Everything was nothing more than a thing. It was the wall that rose between them, keeping them from being as close as they might have otherwise been and sending them onto such divergent paths.
It made so little sense to Tio now. If he had been asked years ago which of them would cause the death of innocents, he would have said Pulin without question. And yet, he was the one who had sacrificed a ship of civilians to assassinate a single rival. He had read the danger in the cards and acted on it.
He hated himself more because he knew that when he told Mitchell he would do it again, it was the truth.
His dream had grown into a nightmare too quickly. The more he had studied the AI that had been developed over the centuries, the more obvious it had all become. The technological singularity.
The end of humankind.
That it hadn't occurred earlier was a constant source of confusion to him. Rudimentary AI had begun to emerge in the twentieth century, almost five hundred years earlier. How had it not progressed past the point of autonomous vehicles and human-assistance robots in all of that time? Why were the machines of today still so limited in capability?
Just as curious, why hadn't humankind done more? Learned more? Advanced more?
He knew the history of XENO-1. He had spent sleepless nights scanning archives, trying to figure out the root of this mystery that billions of others were happy enough to ignore. The crash-landing of an alien spacecraft had created an explosion of new technology over the next eighty years or so.
And then?
There had been no new major breakthroughs. Smaller achievements in medicine, in communication, even in AI, yes. Nothing that changed the galaxy. The hyperspace engines of today were the same as the one that launched with the Goliath all of those years ago. They were smaller, but there had been no improvements in the overall design, no deconstruction of the science around them to further alternate applications. He had begun exploring the basic algorithms in university, only to be shunted to another project before he could make much progress.