Spinward Fringe Broadcast 3

by Randolph Lalonde

  “We're trying to get something off the deck for you now, but it's a mess in orbit. Every ship with an AI is shooting down manually run vessels. Even the space station started firing for a while,” Cynthia replied.

  “We have to get under cover,” Alice said as the three of them looked around. The streets were starting to empty, corpses, ruined fixtures, scorched ground and broken storefronts marked the passage of the recent carnage. Most of the machines had moved indoors, chasing after people who tried to take cover.

  “Tell us if you manage to get anything off the deck and on it's way. We're heading for the port,” Stephanie said finally.

  “We've got company,” Frost said, looking up to a pair of surveillance drones. They were unarmed but speeding towards them.

  All three of them drew and fired. One of the green oval drones was sent spinning off to the right, the other was destroyed in mid air and they had to dodge the husk as it crashed between them. “This is going to get worse before it gets better, lets go,” Stephanie said, heading out at a run towards the load lifter's remains.

  General David Collins

  The bridge of the RGS Saviour was quiet but busy. General Collins watched the thirty posts from where he sat at the rear of the large triangular compartment. The slanted transparent panels along the front two sides of the bridge provided a breathtaking view of the Pollanis system. The distant planet of Daracka hung in the distance, while the dark side of a large rogue planet obscured a third of the view.

  The rogue planet was erupting with plumes of ice and water as nearby gravity compressed it from the outside in. The particles drifting across the vista looked incredible, but more importantly the moon and it's debris masked the presence of the Saviour, a small but well armed Regent Galactic Destroyer.

  Most of the bridge staff were busy collecting data from Daracka, the first deployment site for the aptly named Holocaust Virus. Every time Collins heard or had to say the name he was tempted to shake his head. Gabriel Meunez, it's creator, had named it. The man may program fifty four lines a second but he doesn't have a truly creative bone in his body. Even the Holocaust Virus, God, that name again, is only derivative and it took him forever to finish it.

  “Sir, the VCS Malice has just arrived. They're two point three kilometres off the aft port side.” Reported the blue eyed, dark haired woman at tactical.

  “God, I have to have him recode his transponder so it doesn't read as a Vindyne ship.” Collins said, shaking his head.

  “Malice command informs us that his shuttle is on it's way,” reported the tall, thin blond haired communications officer.

  “Have him meet me in my quarters,” he said as he stood and straightened his long grey shirt. The exit was right behind him, something he liked about the new bridge design. He was forced to walk a few steps down from his solitary command seat then around the dais, which was a design aspect he did not like, however. The rationale behind it was simple; no one could speak to him from behind. He still disliked the extra few steps he had to traverse in order to get to and from the chair.

  The main hallways on the new ship weren't broad like the ones on the Overlord class vessels, one of the few things he missed from his days with Vindyne, but three people could pass without knocking elbows. Just a few steps outside the bridge there was a private lift so he could reach his quarters in less than a minute. A request he had made when they assigned him to the Saviour. From what he saw in the report regarding the alteration, which he barely read, they had to re-route main power lines and many critical control circuits to fulfil his request.

  He didn't care as long as they got it done by the time he arrived on board, and it was all there as promised on the ship's recommissioning date. The ship was only a year old, but he insisted it be re-christened under its new name. He was bringing them Hampon and more importantly, the obsessed Meunez. To Regent Galactic's broad approval, the plans were working. The Eden Fleet was under their control, and the Holocaust Virus was starting its rampant tear across the universe.

  Only the Saved and Regent Galactic controlled systems would be safe from the billions of artificial intelligences that saw humanity as a scourge. The company would have control over as much or as little of the galactic market as they liked. When the Virus made it to the Core Worlds, the economic center of the known galaxy, all of humanity would quake. A new center would be formed, the location of which would be left to Regent Galactic's choosing.

  The double doors to his quarters parted and he stepped inside. The open concept space lit up dully. The whole ceiling and half circle hull surrounding the living space was transparent. The white and blue rogue planet was in full view. The ice and water spouted out into space, a sight he would miss. Just to the edge of the its horizon was the Malice. Compared to the efficient looking design of the Saviour the Vindyne warship looked like it was constructed out of blocks and rectangles laid down from left to right, from largest sections to smallest. It looked like it was from not only a different part of space, but another time entirely. The galaxy has moved on out here, Gabriel. I wish you could see that and move on as well. You were a good man before Alice came along.

  The center of the lavish abode was reserved for entertainment and seating. Three sofas that shifted and reclined as the occupant moved were the main feature of the semicircular seating area. Between them were blue recliners that were of similar feature, and in the middle was an antique cedar coffee table. Atop that was another of his favourite things; apple whiskey. Of all the things Regent Galactic produced, and there were millions of objects, that was his favourite.

  He clapped his hands, rubbed them together and walked around the low table to the middle sofa. General Collins poured himself a glass of apple whiskey and sat back.

  As he just finished taking his first sip and smacked his lips the door chime dinged. “Come in!” Collins called out.

  Gabriel Meunez stepped inside and walked straight to the window. Outside was the Malice, her long, severe shape was darkened by the edge of the rogue planet's shadow. “I haven't seen the repairs from the outside of the ship yet.”

  Collins looked at the man. He was in a dark blue Freegrounder vacsuit. Over top he wore a flight jacket, like the antique leathers pilots donned in centuries past on earth, before space travel. It was inspired by Alice, he knew, and it didn't suit the shoddy looking scrawny man. His shoulder length hair was unkempt, it looked like he hadn't slept in days. Something had happened to the genius at the core of their operation. He could hear the micro motor in the other man's eye adjust and focus in on the ship in the distance. “You should get that fixed or replaced by a biological one with a wet circuit that does the same thing.”

  “It works perfectly. The noise is only an irritation to those who have an intolerance for people who improve themselves past specification,” he examined the section of the ship that had been damaged by the antimatter explosion set off by Jonas and Alice when they escaped. “I'll have to reward my crew when I return. They did an excellent job. You almost can't tell there was ever any damage.”

  “You should put that ship in mothballs and accept Regent Galactic's offer. These new destroyers do with a quarter the crew and a third the size what two average Vindyne vessels were capable of.”

  “Ah, the Malice is not a typical Vindyne ship. There are few vessels in the galaxy that can match her,” Meunez turned around and picked up the decanter on the table. “Your criticisms aside, how is the deployment going?”

  “Perfectly. The Clever Dream allowed her pilot to land and once she was refuelled it started sending the Holocaust Virus through every communications system on the planet. After that she moved on.”

  “Where to?”

  “Most likely the nearest settled area with a hyper-transmitter system.”

  “Was anyone aboard?”

  “We couldn't tell for certain, the infected AI aboard-”

  “Lewis,” Meunez filled in as he put the decanter back down making a disgusted expression at the smell of
the liquid inside.

  “Lewis was too evasive. We won't be actively tracking the Clever Dream anyway. Dozens of hyperdrive and wormhole capable ships have already left the system to spread the virus.”

  “You should track Lewis, there are possibilities there. Are you surprised at my Holocaust Virus? How much more capable it is than yours?” Meunez asked with a smug grin.

  “Two tools performing two completely different tasks. Mine defeated all the digital defences of the Eden Fleet and created a control interface while yours twists and corrupts normal artificial intelligences then tasks them to obey Hampon's zealots. Both are impressive in their own way.”

  “Modest as always. What of Alice?”

  “She's probably dead. She's not in the West Keeper or the Saved databases, so the AIs won't spare her.”

  “You didn't send units down to rescue her?”

  Collins looked at the other man and sighed. “Gabriel, you have to let it go. You've obviously learned what you had to from her, what more can there be?”

  Meunez pushed his wavy dark hair out of his face and sat down in a deeply padded blue arm chair. “She is a miracle. Compared to her your kind are but children at play.”

  “We have scans of her, whole nervous system and brain captures from numerous port authority checks. There's nothing there Gabriel. Whatever special attribute that body or her artificial intelligence had that allowed her to seamlessly cross over is gone. She's probably grown out of it or become so well integrated that she's just another human woman now. Perhaps exceptional on that scale, but worthy of quoting poetry and sending millions worth in resources after?” Collins threw up his hands. “It's pointless.”

  Gabriel stood up and pointed angrily. “The deal was; I get Alice and keep Jonas if I can infect Lewis with the virus and get this whole God damned show started for Regent Galactic so they can push their Saved agenda out here and the Citizenship agenda closer to the core. That was the deal!”

  “That was supplemental to what we actually needed! All you really had to do was finish your Holocaust Virus and find a ship to distribute it, something small, fast and durable enough to survive several jumps to well settled systems. As for the riders you attached to our deal, well, you're the one who let Jonas and Alice escape. I'm surprised they didn't discover the Holocaust Virus and disable it. You took far too great a risk.”

  “The Clever Dream is the perfect ship, and there's no telling how far she'll go with Lewis aboard. I did my part, but you knew Alice was on that planet and just ignored the opportunity to get her back to me. I risk my life for the cause and you just disregard my goals? That's an insult!”

  “Some assets are too much trouble to acquire! Go back to your ship and deal with it, get over it, make some flesh and machine amalgamation or transformed tart of your own in that lab of yours.”

  “If only it were so easy. You never did appreciate the uniqueness of her. Besides, Eve's children and the Holocaust infected AIs will not kill her. She was the first name on the Saved list. The only one that will not have to spend a single credit to be spared from the cleansing.”

  “That's a break in the contract, Gabriel! We promised exclusive control over that list to Regent Galactic. Sure Hampon's in charge of his little cult but we didn't let him off the leash, Regent did! If they find out you did this without authorization they'll take everything!”

  “You always were easily controlled. A slave to your need for power, material possessions. These things are only tools. A means to gather that which matters, objects worthy of our lasting desires.”

  “You're starting to sound like Hampon. I knew there was a chance running the West Keepers and the Saved initiatives would push him over the edge eventually, but I thought you had your baggage under control. I never would have imagined you'd lose it before him.”

  “This is not insanity! This is destiny! Hampon will save a thousand for every million and elevate ten to West Keeper so they may protect the one in a million that go East, to Eden itself!”

  “You're jacked into this with him? Eden in the east, protectors in the West. It's all based on a misinterpretation of old religious passages he used to form a cult while Regent Galactic gets proper marketing together! There's nothing more to it! When we're finished Hampon will be given a nice little system out of the way or martyred so the whole thing can be replayed on a bigger scale!”

  Gabriel continued, furious beyond reason, tears dripping down his shaking, flushed face. “Alice will be as the first Eve, she will show us the way to our mechanized utopia and rule from her high seat in Eden right beside me. The division between men and machines will break down as both races find the next evolutionary stage!”

  “Bullshit! It's all just a way to tear the competition apart and take control! This safety key you made will diffuse the virus as soon as Regent Galactic rescue ships arrive, they'll get all the credit! That's the point to all of this! The Cash Messiah Business Model demands that all of this chaos is eventually brought to an end with as few benefactors in place as possible! One day I'll get the call and the whole party ends, AIs go back to doing the thinking we don't find interesting and we'll be their unquestioned masters again. All with the insertion of a simple deactivation code!” He pulled a data chip on a chain out from under his shirt and held it out as he stood to shout at the other man. “Get your head straight or you won't have a place with anyone standing at the top!”

  Gabriel snatched the decanter from the table and clubbed the other man hard, breaking teeth and skin. He took it up over his head with both hands and brought it down over Collins as he fell, crushing his nose. Following him down to the deck and kneeling on one of his arms he brought the bottle down again and again, across his eyes, his forehead, over and over until Collins stopped breathing, moving.

  Gabriel Meunez let the unbroken decanter fall from his hands and let a chortle escape between his clenched teeth. The sound pierced the silence in the room, a second giddy chuckle threatened to burst from the tight bundle he felt in his stomach but he scowled and clenched his jaw. “No, can't let it happen. The machine feels one way, man feels another, can't let them tangle just now,” he tore the virus deactivation chip off the corpse and put the bloodied chain around his own neck. The vacsuit and jacket he wore was covered in blood, a fact he didn't notice as he crossed the room and interfaced with the main computer in the Generals quarters using his neural link. “Man emotions make the digital unclear, the wheels cackle their own statement of affairs. Straight, have to keep them all straight for control,” he breathed to himself, trying to regain his composure.

  He reached into his digital memory and commanded a version of the Holocaust Virus to replace all the command codes with his own and form a direct link between himself and the vessel. Only the current crew of the Saviour would survive aboard. The ship would kill intruders and traitors who disobeyed orders.

  “Bow to me, Saviour,” he said aloud and digitally to the ships artificial intelligence, and after a few moments, it was done. The grin threatened to return and he let the joy on the cybernetic side of his brain commingle with the feeling of satisfaction growing in his birth given brain. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his connection with the ship computer was complete and the artificial intelligence there signalled its absolute subservience. “I bet God never experienced quintplex cluster core processing or a quadrillion petabyte database.” He spent minutes that felt like days on his knees, experiencing the link with something larger than himself. The machine had answers. Asking questions of the collected information, sorting through communications was only the beginning. Before long his unified mind, part artificial and part human intelligence was putting something together; a big picture.

  The occurrences and plans of Regent Galactic, how it fit with the fall of Vindyne, where he and Hampon fit into the puzzle and where the Board of Directors wanted it to lead were all becoming clear. It was a realization that defied expression, but there it was, seated in the center of his mind and suddenl
y so many little things ceased to matter. Gabriel's eyes snapped open, he hadn't realized what toll the experience was taking on his body. His mouth hung slack, only a passage for him to breathe through, his heart pounded so hard he feared his ribs would break, and the blood rushing through his head sounded like a roaring river. “The pawn only transcends once he can see the entire board,” he managed between hurried breaths.

  Gabriel strode out of the quarters covered in the blood and gore of his labours and crew members stepped out of his way immediately, one stopped to throw up at the sight of him. Half way to the bridge he was confronted by four guards who levelled their rifles at him. “Come quietly sir. The Regent Galactic Liaison would like to address what's happened.”

  Wordlessly he willed the emergency bulkhead to shut. In the space of half a second it closed, crushing down on one of the guards arms and legs. Using his mental link with the ship he ordered it to eject the contents of that hallway section into space, and it was done. The bulkhead opened again and he continued on to the bridge.

  The shocked stares of the bridge officers brought a smile to his face. They will worship my power. “I am assuming command. Have your scans located one named Alice Valent or the Clever Dream?”

  The tactical and communications officers got to work nervously, quickly checking their information. “We don't have a current location on Alice Valent and the Clever Dream has entered a wormhole.”

  Gabriel clenched his jaw and sneered, his anger threatened to boil to the surface as he stood at the rear of the bridge with clenched fists. His eye focused on the Triton then as he watched it in orbit. Jake Valance was in command. Hampon had informed him a very short time ago that Wheeler had lost control. If he attacked that ship it would disappear. Their cloaking device was near impenetrable and they'd most likely not make the mistake of engaging in a firefight with so much chaos in the system.