“There won't be anything left to rescue in four hours, Chief.”
“Give us a minute.”
“All right.”
“Why aren't they under attack?” Alice was heard asking through the communicator.
“I have no idea, but they should be shredded by now,” Frost replied.
The group of a hundred or so mixed armed citizens, most of them well moneyed from the look, stood in a line across the main gate leading to the Port Authority Inspection Point. There were several androids and various robots leisurely cleaning the street within several meters. They dragged corpses into gutters, pushed vending machines upright, and repaired fine electronics like door controls and communication hubs.
“I don't get it. Are those bots just unaffected by the virus?” Stephanie asked no one in particular in a low whisper. They were hiding inside a thick white brick building, looking through a thick transparesteel window. It was open just a crack, admitting a warm breeze.
“If Lewis couldn't resist the virus, I doubt a maintenance bot could.”
A woman and three men crept down the alley ahead and looked onto the same scene. After a moment's consideration one of them stepped out. “We have wounded, can you help us?” he called out to the line of people in front of the broad arched gate.
A sandy haired boy in blue and green robes emerged from the crowd and opened his arms invitingly. “If you are judged favourably by Eve's children the West Keepers will help you.” Spoke one of the guardians. The machines in the street all stopped what they were doing and looked at the solitary man.
He took a staggering step back. “Do you have a medic kit or is there a paramedic that could help?”
“Oh no,” whispered Alice sadly as she looked away.
The androids and robots all rushed the fellow, within seconds he was torn to pieces. Maintenance bots turned towards the alley and began firing high intensity cutting lasers, killing his fleeing companions. When the newcomers were all dead they set back to work cleaning up.
“There has to be another way,” Stephanie whispered.
“We could pretend to join these people, they're all wearing green and blue arm bands, that's got to help us somehow. Maybe we can beg or buy a few from them.”
“Or make like we forgot ours somewhere?” Frost added with a shrug.
“I'm a very bad actor,” Alice whispered.
Stephanie looked at the crowd of people quietly for several moments. “I don't know if we could pull it off.”
“We have a solution,” Came Captain Valance's voice through Stephanie and Frost's communicators. “We're going to go atmospheric and lay down cover fire for you. We're sending a heavy escape shuttle down. Does it look like that group is going to be a problem?”
“You could probably scare them back into the main port if you hit the street in front of the entrance,” Stephanie replied.
“What's going on?” Alice asked, unable to hear the Captain's side of the conversation.
“Captain's looking to make some craters and get us some help,” Frost said a little eagerly.
“He's taking Triton atmospheric?” she asked, her eyes wide.
A rumbling in the distance was her answer, and all three of them looked up. The Triton's broad hull was like a looming, growing stingray shaped shadow against the light blue sky. The five active pulse turrets on the bottom of the hull fired at smaller vessels that darted around it, making weak attacks. It was like watching a behemoth swat away flies.
One of the paired pulse cannons swivelled towards the street in front of the main port entrance and fired. The crowd turned and ran through the port gates. The air pressure shifted, they could all feel it on their faces, as three of the main engines rotated and fired in repulsor mode, glowing bright white. The ship stopped and hovered less than three hundred meters up as the pulse turret reduced two meter circles of sand to slag and glass.
The maintenance bots fired their cutting lasers to no effect as everyone and everything else ran for cover. A blocky emergency shuttle launched from one of the port airlocks and hastily descended. It landed hard in the street beside the building they hid in, kicking up dirt and dust for a city block in every direction. The weight of it crushed stone walkways and a fast food materializer station to rubble under its armoured landing skids.
The trio pushed the window of their hiding spot open and climbed through it as quickly as possible. A cutting laser swept across them to no effect, their vacsuits easily absorbed and dissipated the energy. Then they were inside the shuttle. Alice sat in the copilot's seat and to her surprise Ashley was at the controls. She gave her a brief, excited embrace and checked the copilot's station. “Who's flying the Triton?”
“Captain. I had no idea he knew how, but he did train me, after all.”
“The controls aren't much different from the style used by some very old Freeground ships. I'm not surprised. Still, some good piloting there.”
Several rounds struck the shuttle's hull, barely scorching the armour. They made a quick ascent and landed in a small space that had been cleared in the Triton's center hangar. Most of the space was filled with old salvage, damaged fighters and other unidentifiable heavy objects. The hangar door closed behind them. “Bridge, we're in,” Ashley reported.
Frost turned a small golden chip end over end in his hand. “I nicked it out of the holoprojector on my way out. Likely has more than the information we were looking for on it, I'd wager.”
Stephanie watched him from where she was strapped into her seat, across from him in the rear compartment of the escape shuttle. “Did you see anything before his Andi went homicidal?”
“Aye, directory trees with a few hundred entries.”
“Did you know him well?”
“Freeman? Never been one of my close mates. He kept closer to a more dangerous sort. Bein' a provider of information it helped his trade to know them better than people like me.” Frost looked across the dim cabin and smiled uneasily. “I'd have been done for good if it weren't for you back there.”
She smiled back at him, he didn't thank people often, not that she'd seen. “Nothing some quick thinking and a couple of grenades couldn't fix.”
“Where'd you learn ta move like that anyhow?”
“I was in gymnastics when I was growing up on the colony and I kept it up. It was hard on the Samson, but I can still do a backflip and walk on my hands in full gravity.”
“I'll have ta see that some time. I'm thinkin' you'll find somewhere on the Triton ta practice. ”
“I hadn't thought of that. There's just been too much going on I guess.”
“Aye, that there has. With tumblin' skills like yours, you should try one of the armoured excursion suits. I bet you could do cartwheels.”
The shuttle powered down and the hatch at the rear popped open and they both unstrapped. “The ones used for loading the rail cannons?”
“Aye, they're armoured space combat getups, made for a lot more n' loadin' guns. Ever try one?”
“I never had the chance to certify for vacuum combat in the army. Only special forces got to use that kind of gear. Our ships used energy weapons, so we didn't have big gun crews either.”
“Ah, they had thousands of marines outfitted with 'em where I'm from an' solid shot was preferred. Even I got to try 'em. Just imagine yourself bigger and about fifty times stronger. Not to mention a whole lot tougher. Come on up to the gunnery deck later, I'll show you how to run in one.”
She smiled and nodded. “Never know when I'll have to do a patrol of the outer hull. Thanks, I'll take you up on it.”
Frost and Stephanie led the way to the lift with Ashley and Alice behind, listening in on their conversation.
They looked around at the disused fighters, hull segments, machines and other random objects that were too heavy or large to easily transport elsewhere on the ship. Hanger one was the largest of the hangars. It was massive, stretching over five hundred meters down the center line of the ventral section of the T
riton. There were fighter racks and suspension arms to the sides and along the top of the great big space, but there were only three fighters in questionable condition, leaving over a hundred spots along the walls empty. “It's a shame ta see such a space wasted,” Frost said, his voice echoing.
“I guess Wheeler never got the right crews together,” Stephanie added, looking at a two seated fighter that had been deposited upside down on the deck beside them. One of its engines was a bubbled, molten mess.
“Do you think Captain will ever get a fighter wing on board?” Ashley asked from behind.
“If he wants a bunch of hot headed fighter jocks on board, he'll get them. He hasn't said anything to me about it though. Have you heard him say anything Alice?”
“Not yet, but then it's early. He's really just started getting everything together. I don't know where he gets the energy. I think he slept two hours last night.”
“There's a lot goin' on. I hope most o' my gunnery team arrived.”
“Too bad we didn't land in bay two, otherwise we might have run into some of them. They didn't all get a chance to dock with a hard point, some of them had to land in a hurry. One even set down on top of a couple emergency fighters. Paula was hopping up and down she was so pissed,” Ashley commented, shaking her fists and jumping a few times in imitation of the short, high spirited woman.
“The mess piles higher,” Frost commented with a chuckle. “Maybe Triton is cursed to collect trash.”
They stepped into the lift and Stephanie selected the command deck as their destination on the express car control panel.
“I'm sure Captain'll put the escape and boarding shuttles to use somehow or sell them somewhere,” Ashley said as she rocked on her heels. “I just can't wait to get back to the bridge. Flying Triton is amazing.”
“I'll be in the Security office for the next few hours at least. Your gunner boys will need somewhere to sleep and we'll be making the assignments.” Stephanie said, smirking at Frost.
“Don't be too good to 'em at first. I'll need leverage to work with. The best of them will get the good digs, while the worst'll have to make due with bunks.”
“That fits, I was thinking I'd put them in the upper berth where the refugees were. It's not far from the main gunnery deck and it's already been cleared.”
“Aye, that'll work. Glad you took the security Chief post, lass. You've got a good head on.” Frost said with a wink. “Oh, an' when ye hand out bunks, give 'em a notice ta clean the space, I'll be inspectin' their space.”
The express car doors opened and they stepped out.
“Thank God you're back in one piece!” Grace called from Frost's right. She stepped in close beside him and put her arms around his shoulders. He turned into her and was rewarded with a wet, lingering kiss that was salacious enough to draw stares and glances.
Stephanie watched for a moment, her face turning red, then Grace's eyes opened to slits and met hers. The taller woman pressed more eagerly against Frost, deepening their kiss.
“I'll be in security,” Stephanie said quietly as she jerked her gaze away and stalked off.
Alice and Ashley made for the bridge, leaving Frost and the temporary medical Chief behind.
Captain Valance stood and let Ashley take the controls as soon as she came to stand behind him. “Thank you for making that run, Ash,” he whispered as he walked back to the command chair.
“My pleasure sir. We really should keep one of those dropships ready though. That emergency shuttle flew like a brick.”
“We will. Chief Vercelli is working on sorting the deck out down there.”
“That could take a while sir,” Paula called up from below. “There's no room to work.”
“I know, thank you Assistant Chief.”
The control center below the main bridge had already started clearing out. There wasn't much need for anything but a watch of two while they were in hyperspace.
Ashley smiled at her copilot, Larry Nevil, who brought up their status. “We're in hyperspace, accelerating at thirty one percent of engine tolerance. Our course is steady and straight for the next two point five hours before the next course correction, all our emitters are firing normally except for twenty three B and ninety five C. We're headed to dead space past the Wargan System, nice and close to the Gavin Five nebula.” He informed her.
She checked her controls, made sure they were locked and nodded. “Why are we headed to dead space?”
“Captain said we needed time to get the ship in order.”
“That makes sense. I guess I'm used to the Samson. We'd take on a dozen people at the most and just train them as we went along. I think I held up the crew the most when I took over as pilot. Captain had to take the controls for a lot of minor things for a while.”
“You haven't been flying long?”
“A couple of years.”
“I'm surprised, you're really good. At first I didn't think you could hack it but you learned the ins and outs faster than I did and you listen to your navigator.”
“Thank you, and why wouldn't I?” she shrugged. “You're always calm and thinking ahead. Have you piloted the Triton before?”
“Only briefly. The profile took a lot of getting used to, it's a wide ship. I prefer navigation. I can't tell you exactly why.” His pleasant demeanour changed suddenly as he grabbed her arm in a vice like grip. Larry's eyes went wide, his pupils dilated visibly, and he began to choke.
“Captain!” Ashley called out.
He started falling out of his chair and Ashley tried to catch him, to hold him up.
Captain Valance and Alice were there an instant later. “Let him go,” Alice said calmly but firmly. They pulled him down to the floor and his body went limp.
“He's stopped breathing,” Captain Valance said as he took a medical scan. “Get that command and control unit off him. It injected him with a lethal dose of-” he took a moment to read the scan and shook his head; “something.”
Alice tried to pull it off, but the thin arm computing unit held fast. “There's an AI running on this thing. I don't know what it's doing.”
Ashley looked on helplessly as the colour started to drain out of her new found friend's face. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes stared off into nothing and she prayed the Captain could do something.
Alice got the control unit off his arm with a loud click. “Got it. The AI was holding it closed.”
Jake injected the navigator right away with his own arm unit then took out another cylinder and pressed it against the young man's throat firmly. “Cynthia! Send an order ship wide for everyone with an artificial intelligence to remove their command and control units then delete the AI.”
She took her own pair off then made the ship wide announcement.
Captain Valance did the same, pulling his large black command unit off before looking back to Larry.
The Navigator gasped, then began to vomit. Jake rolled him onto his side while Alice took another medical scan. “The nanos and chemical cocktail you gave him countered the toxins and are clearing them out.”
Ashley's eyes were locked on the scene before her. Larry curled into the fetal position as he retched and tried to breathe at the same time. Alice was comforting him, but he looked like he was in a desperate struggle to breathe between heaves. He coughed and gagged several more times, producing a brown and green sludge before the retching came to a stop. He laid there, catching his breath.
“You'll be fine. Your artificial intelligence tried to kill you.”
“It was just an organizer program with a base personality over top,” he said, still out of breath.
“There was no security installed?” Captain Valance asked.
“No, it wasn't that important.”
“Good, let's hope that we caught the problem in time. If the rest of the people who transferred AI's to their C and C units had security installed, they might get lucky.”
Captain Valance picked up his own arm unit. “Not by much, my AI w
as secure and it's already looking erratic,” he entered his security code and deleted it.
“If it's all the same Captain, I don't think I'll put my unit back on. Can I get another with just the base software?” Larry asked, finally catching his breath and wiping his mouth with a handkerchief from his thigh pocket.
“No problem,” Jake smiled back at him. His attention was drawn to the pile of throw up beside the young man and a sinking feeling came over him. He looked to the security station where a small, older fellow stood watch. “Shut down all the maintenance and cleaning bots. Everything that could have an AI.”
“Aye sir,” He replied. “Wait, they're already shut down.”
“Chief Grady to the Bridge. I shut them down as soon as someone down here collapsed. We lost three people.”
“I'm sorry Chief, take them to medical in case we can do something.”
“That's not likely. They were injected with hydrofluoric acid and blood thinners. It's like their AI's were networked and all came up with the same plan.”
“Do you have any recommendations Chief?”
“I'd have all the arm units with AI's tossed into recyclers. Even if they were deleted. Other than that you've done exactly what I would've.”
“Thank you Liam, I'm sorry about your men.”
“Nothing we could have done. Chief Grady out.”
Ashley Lamport
The two hours following the incident on the bridge were filled with bad news. They had lost forty seven people to attacks from the artificial intelligence programs many crewmembers trusted to help them through their every day lives. Over three hundred had been injured. The infirmary was full past brimming, and Alice had gone to help however she could. When she was an artificial intelligence herself she possessed a complete medical treatment database and a great deal of that knowledge had survived the transfer. It surprised even her how quickly it came back to her.
Morale on the ship was low, and to the crew's relief, only a minimum watch was required during hyperspace travel. Security was finally under control, and that made everything easier. If someone didn't know where they were supposed to be or got lost a soldier was always nearby to help them find their way. The unexplored sections of the ship were closed off and the entrances were all locked down or had guards standing watch.
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