Coeus?

by Andur

  ~Don't get distracted! This situation is dangerous!~ Cyla's mindvoice returns my attention to the situation at hand.

  Ed's superior points at Sadina. “Who is that?”

  Ed gets to his feet. He was resting on a chair close to Sadina. “Actually that's Sadina's body.”

  “What?” Zibil calls out.

  My father holds up his hands. “Wait. I can explain everything. And the reason why you are here is that you are the only elder whom I am certain of not having any dealings with Sanguin.”

  Zibil visibly forces himself not to spit on the ground. “I hate that guy. His silver tongue is much too smooth and somehow he knows of some illegal activities before they occur. If he hadn't control over Sol's mainframe I would have pulled out the carpet from under his feet long ago.

  And now that I mention it, I don't like you either. Whenever there is a problem which you need an elder for the first one whom you call is Sanguin.”

  “That's just because he gets things done much faster than when I have to grovel in front of the other elders. But that's not important. There are new developments regarding Sadina.” And so Ed starts informing the two of the entire story in a slightly edited version in which I am not that central to the events. Only then it occurs to me that Ed is lying to an elder with a whole bunch of people around him who know the full truth.

  Well, he isn't really lying, but twisting the truth nonetheless! My eyes wander around but the mind-medic are caught in their trance and everyone else doesn't want to risk interfering.

  It takes a long time to retell the entire story. Unfortunately I can't see the expressions of Ed's superior, but Zibil's face changes through the full spectrum. From white to blue and then even red.

  In the end Zibil stands there, stroking his beard, left eye twitching uncontrollably. “We can't get that bastard on a memory report alone. But if Gideon really challenges Sanguin's qualifications my party can assist that claim to get it through.”

  I shake my head. “I am still hoping that there is another way. What do we do if I lose against him?”

  Zibil snorts. “Don't make me laugh, Kid. I saw you in the news when you messed up that blood-mage. Sanguin may be smart and skilled, but if you are half as smart as you have skill, then you can best him. I saw your VR evaluation, just use your speed until Sanguin can't keep up.

  And Ed is right when he says that getting him out of his office before we accuse him is better. Even if you lose we can still go with the accusation. Of course it will be much harder to make it stick if we can't investigate Sanguin's memories.”

  “What about the virus?” Ed's superior asks. “We have to do something about it!”

  “And what exactly do you propose?” Zibil snorts. “If we make it public we will alert Sanguin.”

  “Blast the planet in question to pieces?” Melan asks.

  I shake my head. “And how exactly would that not alert Sanguin? Not to mention that we would betray ourselves to the aliens in case that the virus already spread beyond the planet. It would be very suspicious if we blast the point of origin of the virus a few hours after it started spreading from there. Everyone would ask how we knew!”

  “That's not an option. Only all the elders together can decide to use the teleportation nodes as weapons.” Zibil's eyes wander to Sadina. “But what to do about the problem which is in reach? All those crimes allow only one judgement, no matter her reasons. In a way it was still her.”

  “Of course! Sadina will be judged for her actions.” Ed answers without hesitation and I turn towards him, doubting my ears.

  Melan wants to say something when she is interrupted by the five mind-medics who end Sadina's treatment. Raina reaches for the hand-held computer on Sadina's forehead and picks it up, holding it very carefully. “We are done. That's-”

  “Perfect!” Ed runs forward and snatches the hand-held out of Raina's hands. “That's the twisted Sadina?” He doesn't even wait for Raina's approval and returns to his superior. “Here, Sadina. Neatly packaged for transport.”

  Stripes takes the device slowly and carefully, then his eyes wander back to Sadina. “Ed. You know that this is-”

  “What you have there is the twisted Sadina.” Ed points at Sadina. “The personality that remains inside that body did nothing more than committing dangerous research on campus grounds. We aren't even sure if she can be held responsible for the explosion. And even if, she already suffered a thirty year sentence in her very own prison. Punishing her a second time would be just wrong.”

  Stripes tilts his head in thought, then he speaks with a warning voice. “You have one of those days of twisted logic again, Ed.”

  “I'll owe you a favour.” Ed answers with a grave voice.

  “I can already feed a fusion reactor with your favours, Ed. Free access to the database, Orbit One, Lunar Space Station. Do you remember? Or even better! The Revelation Wing base! All favours you will have a hard time to pay back!” Then Stripes pockets the device and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “But I guess the hero who took down the Revelation Wing deserves a favour here and there.”

  That was me! I cleaned up that asteroid base! Now I want to strangle Ed!

  ~Don't say a word. Let Ed have the glory if it helps him to protect Sadina.~ Cyla interrupts my thoughts.

  ~Yes. Yes, I know! But it still bugs me.~ I answer, grinding my teeth.

  “Ahem. If that's all of the bad news I'll go and prepare the other elders. I suppose you will file your complaint right away, Gideon?” Zibil addresses me.

  I nod and activate my VR for a short moment. Then I take my time to file a nice and long complaint about Sanguin and the inadequacies of having an old, senile politician as an elder. In addition I point out that he is already with one foot in his grave and that he handled the Oibras incident very badly despite having access to the mainframe. When I am done I forward the document to the government network. “Done.”

  Zibil turns around and leaves the room. “Fucking techno-mages. Cheaters altogether! I wish I could write a report in the blink of an eye!”

  “Right he is.” Stripes mumbles and follows Zibil. “Don't forget that you owe me, Ed!”

  “He is just jealous!” Raina crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Now, do you want to know the status of the patient or are government affairs more important?” When nobody answers she simply continues speaking. “We removed the manipulated personality and freed the caged one. Then we tried to stabilize her by suppressing the memories of her imprisonment. She will slowly remember bit by bit as she learns to deal with her experiences. That's why initially she won't know anything about Gideon, Saden, Galia or Cyla. To her she lost consciousness soon after being caged inside her mind prison.”

  “She will still have to deal with the shit that happened to her once she starts remembering, but I think she is at least not likely to commit suicide if the memories return while she can interact with people. Though I assume that she will have a mental breakdown once the more mortifying memories return. I suggest for her parents to take care of her and that she sees nobody else until she gets to terms with herself. We also would like to have one or two more sessions with her to check our work.”

  Melan returns to Sadina's side and strokes her head. “I'll be there when she wakes up.”

  “How do you feel about that.” Cyla whispers from my side.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Indifferent. I didn't care much about Sadina until she became dangerous. And whoever that other personality may be, she isn't my mother. I know her even less than the manipulated version. To me Melan is my mother and that will never change.”

  My eyes wander to the door and I realize that a certain someone probably just vanished out of my life for good. Will I ever miss the psychological discussions with Sadina while she was posing as my school's counsellor?

  83. ~0010=2~

  “

  The first internet was based on slow electronic computer systems and lasted for a little less than one thousand and f
ive-hundred years. Remnants of that network can be watched in Aether's historic museum where an old archaeological site shows how the telecommunication cables ran under streets and from house to house.

  With the advent of quantum computing all that ended overnight. The wireless possibility of transferring data directly by interlocking a set of quantum particles with each other made all that unnecessary. Nowadays communication speed isn't limited by your connection, but by the size of the communicating devices.

  ”

  -Galactic History

  Sol, Aether

  Cyla

  “Welcome home.” Exo greets me upon entering the living room. “Isn't Gideon with you? I thought everything went well at the hospital?”

  “No and yes. As soon as we returned home Gideon ran off for some obscure reason. He didn't even deem it necessary to tell me what he is up to.” I grumble.

  One might think that being partners in crime and in bed counts for something. I am spreading my legs for him, so he could at least try to keep me up to date.

  But Gideon still has those moments when he suddenly gets a weird idea and starts setting things in motion without telling people about it. Or he gets on a trip and starts creating all those weird conspiracy theories. He is very much like Ed in that regard. Maybe not with the conspiracy theories, but certainly with the hidden plans. Hmm... probably that shouldn't surprise me. Ed is also a schemer and some of his genetic code is now in Gideon. Like father like son.

  “I've the honour to inform you that Aurelia is making great progress in regards to language since she can't zap me any more. I am trying to hold my lessons in a playful manner, combining them with basic programming exercises to assist her talents.” Exo announces and floats to the cradle. “Sometimes it surprises me how fast some organic beings change their opinion of someone. In one moment they regard you as plaything and in the next you are a counsellor.”

  “Mom!” Aurelia calls out with her tiny voice. Her vocal cords don't allow for much more at the moment, but I can guess what she wants.

  “Yes, Honey.” I walk over and pick her up. Cradling her in my arms I head for the sofa to sit down. Closing my eyes I activate my VR and connect to Aurelia's mind. A moment later I find myself inside an empty, white room. A seven year old child with shoulder length, black hair is clinging to my knees.

  “Not that! I was hungry.” She mumbles. “But the VR fixes that too.” She reaches out and an ice-cream cone appears in her hands. Then she starts licking.

  I sigh. “What did I tell you about eating inside a VR? I'll feed you once we are outside.”

  She looks at the ground. “That it is bad to satiate bodily needs inside the VR.” Nonetheless she continues nibbling on the ice cream.

  This representation of Aurelia fits her mental age much better than her real body. I smile and kneel down to hug her. “How are you doing with your studies and physical training?”

  She pouts. “I still can't crawl. And talking with my real body is a pain! The throat hurts! I would like to spend much more time inside the VR with you and dad. Can't we stay here forever?”

  I ruffle up her hair. “That's not possible. You have to train your body. That's what most techno-mages neglect. I hope you always follow Exo's orders?”

  She huffs and sits down on the ground. “Yes, but it's still boring! All I can do is listen and wriggle with my arms and legs.”

  I smile. “You might not understand it right now, but wriggling with your arms and legs is the whole point of the exercise. And we can't allow you to use accelerated VR while you are alone. Would you even want to be alone in here?” I make a gesture which encloses the empty room. “I am sure that you will survive it. And in the evening we can play until you get tired.”

  She sighs and answers.“No, I don't want to be alone. And if Exo continues to give me so many tasks I'll be too tired to play.”

  She pouts, but I can see that the prospect of playing games with Gideon and me is exciting her, so I try to sweeten her work out time a little more. “If you don't fall behind with your studies I might lose Gideon's password for the file-server with all his movies.” At least the section which is suitable for children.

  Her eyes light up immediately. “Really?”

  I nod. “It might be somewhere in the master-server's trash depositories. But you have to find it yourself.”

  Her expression drops. “He always uses those nasty firewalls to shield the master-server! They really burn when you touch them.” Aurelia rubs her chubby hands together with a pained expression on her face.

  I raise an inquisitive eyebrow and look down on her.

  Then her eyes widen. “Of course, not that I have first hand experience. I was just watching from afar and imagined that it must hurt.”

  Blatant lie. The security only activates when someone actually tries to access the server. Otherwise the entire infrastructure looks like it is completely unprotected. “I thought they don't activate as long as nobody trespasses?”

  Something starts working inside her head and she evades my eyes. “I used Exo as a probe?”

  “Why are you asking me for a way out of your own web of lies?” I snort and take the ice-cream. “That's punishment for lying to your mother.”

  Aurelia draws a sharp breath upon losing the candy and I grin. “Have you ever tried to delete a file on your slave-server and then riding it the entire way to the master-server's trash folder?”

  “Dad's security doesn't check those files?” Aurelia asks astounded.

  “No. Why bother? The trash folder is a quarantine zone, nothing gets out and you can't execute programs from within it because they just display and read as binary data. But I guess finding something as simple as a text-file won't be a challenge. All you have to do is search for the header and copy what comes afterwards.” I shrug my shoulders and smile. Giving Aurelia a little motivational homework while neither Gideon nor I have time is the best way to occupy her.

  Her eyes narrow. “I have to code something to hold the port open and read the trash-folder. Otherwise I'll be stuck inside the trash folder.”

  I pat her head. “Such a smart child.”

  Sol, Aether

  Gideon

  I lean back in my office chair and put my feet on the desk. Finally five minutes of rest with nothing on my mind. Aether isn't under lock-down any longer and Zibil will see to it that my complaint is taken seriously. In addition I've dealt with all my office work for today and secured my mental peace.

  Grasping the tablet computer tighter in my hands I press it to my chest. Hacking the faceless network without ringing any bells was a hideous task. If I hadn't already done my research because of Ed it would have been impossible.

  The only reason I managed it was because I logged into their internal network over Ed's mobile phone. I hacked the phone a while ago and exchanged the operating system with my own.

  The faceless's internal network is completely disconnected from the quantum net. There is no way to get something in or out without having someone on the inside. And pulling a complete image of T-Sadina's personality was a hell of a hacking job.

  I had to hold the connection open and stay unnoticed while playing cat and mouse with the security A.I. of the faceless network. They hired a paranoid monster who was even checking the communication between the network and registered user devices.

  Before I could even attempt to download T-Sadina I had to isolate the network devices which transmitted the data to Ed's mobile phone. Then I edited their communication protocols to hide any trace towards Ed's phone.

  Loading several yottabytes of information took a little time, even with quantum computer at hand. And the mobile phone was a serious bottle neck! I wish Ed had invested in one of the new devices.

  Nonetheless I managed to copy T-Sadina's personality safely to my tablet. Though what to do with it I don't know yet...

  It's a personality image like those found inside a human brain. It won't run on a quantum computer, I need an actua
l human brain. Maybe I should have thought about the hardware problem before taking the risk of breaking into a high security government network to steal a useless file.

  On the other hand, now I have a copy of her. Whatever the faceless do with their version shouldn't trouble me any more.

  Maybe I should try to code a virtual brain to emulate T-Sadina on a computer? If that's possible I could edit her nasty streaks out of her as I wish. Or would that corrupt my relationship with her?

  I could register her as my personal A.I. and claim that I programmed it. It would be the perfect explanation.

  I gnaw on my lower lip, then I open the drawer next to my office table and place the tablet inside. Whatever I decide to do, it has time for later. Right now I have to concentrate on getting rid of Sanguin and dealing with that Drazi fleet.

  Hopefully the new weapons will be ready in time.

  84. ~Mainframe.~

  “

  It would be easier to think if I hadn't a hundred little men inside my brain.

  ”

  -From when the mainframe started talking

  Sol, Mars

  Gideon

  “This is so cool.” I watch in awe as Zibil guides me, Ed, Melan and Cyla into a huge sphere-like cavern. The walls are entirely made up out of crystals and light seems to pulse through each and every one of them. Zibil fetched us three days after I brought forth my complaint against Sanguin and we took a direct teleport to this place.

  It seems like we are inside a huge, sparkling geode. The crystals at the walls look awfully familiar... yes! Could it be that this is the quartz which makes up the waveguide cores of quantum computers?

  A quantum computer's infrastructure doesn't operate on electrons and cables, but on light and photons. The logic circuits are etched directly into the magically grown diamond to fracture the light as it is needed. The entire manufacturing process is hideously vulnerable to outside factors. In fact nine out of ten personal quantum computers are discarded during the manufacturing process.