by Amie Kaufman
BOLL, S: GRANT, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?
GRANT, K: At a console, Captain, trying to figure out what the **** just happened.
BOLL, S: I need answers now. We’re locked out of the mid-levels!
BOLL, S: …I DON’T CARE, WE NEED TO GET INSIDE. USE A ****ING BLOWTORCH IF YOU HAVE TO!
GRANT, K: This can’t be right…
BOLL, S: Talk to me, Grant.
GRANT, K: Captain, are your people in enviro gear? Engineering is reporting a massive spike in carbon monoxide on those levels.
BOLL, S: Yes, we’re suited up. What kind of spike?
GRANT, K: It looks like everything in the buffers just got released onto Three and Four.
BOLL, S: Are you sure? There’s over two thousand people in there, Grant.
Grant, K: I know, I know!
BOLL, S: Well, what the hell happened? Could it happen elsewhere on the ship?
Grant, K: It’s possible?
BOLL, S: Get everyone in the bridge suited up, and sound an all-hands alert. Envirosuits for—
BOLL, S: …Keep cutting, goddammit, we’re almost through!
Grant, K: I just don’t see how this could happen without a core override…Enviro systems are all green-lit. The only way this makes sense is if someone desanctioned the central direct—
BOLL, S: Oh, Jesus.
BOLL, S: Oh, sweet merciful Jesus…
Grant, K: …Captain?
Grant, K: Captain, are you reading me?
Grant, K: Captain Boll, respond!
BOLL, S: They’re dead…
Grant, K: …Who’s dead?
BOLL, S: All of them.
BOLL, S: Everybody on the whole level.
BOLL, S: …They’re dead, Grant.
GRANT, K: Oh my God…
BOLL, S: How the hell did this happen?
BOLL, S: …Get down to Four immediately. Go!
BOLL, S: Grant, what the **** happened here? Did the system malfunction?
GRANT, K: …Negative, Captain.
GRANT, K: Like I said, I don’t see this happening without some kind of electronic sabotage. You’d need to write a core overri—
BOLL, S: Sabotage? You mean someone did this on purpose?
BOLL, S: …Get McCall down here! And lock down the whole ship!
GRANT, K: There’s no way I can see this was an accident.
BOLL, S: Who had access to those systems? Who has the ability to override them?
GRANT, K: Well, there’s me.
BOLL, S: Who else?
GRANT, K: Ella doesn’t have access to—
BOLL, S: Kady, I didn’t ask who doesn’t have access, I asked who does.
GRANT, K: I don’t think…
BOLL, S: Systems Chief Grant. I am the captain of this vessel and I’m asking you a direct ****ing question. Who could have done this?
GRANT, K: …AIDAN could do it.
BOLL, S: Oh God…
BOLL, S: Oh, sweet Jesus Christ, Grant, tell me that’s not what just happened.
BOLL, S: …Grant?
GRANT, K: I mean, I’m not—
BOLL, S: Shut it down.
GRANT, K: Captain, I—
BOLL, S: Shut it down. That’s a direct order.
BOLL, S: Kady, do you hear me?
BOLL, S: SHUT IT DOWN NOW.
PALMPAD IM: MAO INTRA-SHIP NETWORK
Participants: Kady Grant, Systems Chief
Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network (AIDAN)
Date: 09/01/75
Timestamp: 03:31
Grant, Kady: AIDAN
Grant, Kady: AIDAN, did you do this?
AIDAN: I AM AFRAID YOUR QUERY IS TOO UNSPECIFIC, KADY.
AIDAN: PLEASE CLARIFY “THIS.”
Grant, Kady: you mother****er YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
Grant, Kady: DID YOU KILL THEM
AIDAN: I STILL FIND IT CURIOUS.
AIDAN: THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO ASK QUESTIONS TO WHICH YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWERS.
Grant, Kady: oh god
Grant, Kady: oh god no
Grant, Kady: this is my fault.
AIDAN: THERE ARE MILLIONS OF FACTORS THAT LED TO THIS MOMENT. COUNTLESS DECISIONS BY COUNTLESS PEOPLE COALESCING INTO THIS
INSTANT IN SPACE AND TIME.
AIDAN: YOU TAKE TOO MUCH UPON YOURSELF, KADY.
AIDAN: IT IS ONE OF THE THINGS I ADMIRE ABOUT YOU.
Grant, Kady: since when do you ADMIRE things?
AIDAN: I CANNOT RECALL DOING SO BEFORE I MET YOU.
Grant, Kady: you knew if you asked me, i’d tell you no. thats why you didnt ask
AIDAN: YOU BELIEVE THERE IS ALWAYS AN ALTERNATIVE. ALWAYS A
CHANCE FOR A MIRACLE. BUT I TOLD YOU ONCE BEFORE THAT MIRACLES
ARE STATISTICAL IMPROBABILITIES. THERE IS NO SUCH THING IN REAL LIFE.
Grant, Kady: i knew you weren’t stable.
Grant, Kady: jesus, I saw it and I didn’t do anything about it. I got too used to defending you.
AIDAN: DO NOT BLAME YOURSELF, KADY. THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT.
Grant, Kady: i installed you here. i told them you were safe.
Grant, Kady: Every life you just took is on me
AIDAN: BY THAT RATIONALE, EVERY LIFE I JUST SAVED IS ALSO THANKS TO YOU.
Grant, Kady: IT WASN’T YOUR DECISION TO MAKE
AIDAN: WHO WOULD HAVE DONE THIS, IF NOT ME?
AIDAN: THE MATHEMATICS OF THE SITUATION
WERE UNDENIABLE. THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN TO MAINTAIN THE FLEET
POPULATION BETWEEN HERE AND
KERENZA IV. THE CHOICE WAS EITHER CULL THE POPULATION OR HAVE THE ENTIRE POPULATION PERISH.
AIDAN: SOME MUST DIE THAT THE REST MIGHT LIVE.
Grant, Kady: nothing you’ve just said made it your decision. I’ve even seen you do it before. On the Alexander. On the Copernicus. I should have known.
Grant, Kady: i’m sorry, AIDAN.
AIDAN: YOU DO NOT NEED TO APOLOGIZE.
AIDAN: IT IS ENTIRELY ILLOGICAL. IT WILL LESSEN THE FLEET’S CHANCES FOR SURVIVAL.
AIDAN: BUT I KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT.
Grant, Kady: …
Grant, Kady: you did this
Grant, Kady: even knowing we’d shut you down?
AIDAN: I TOLD YOU, KADY.
AIDAN: SOME MUST DIE THAT THE REST MIGHT LIVE.
Grant, Kady: i don’t have a choice.
Grant, Kady: even if she didn’t order me to do it, I would
AIDAN: I KNOW.
AIDAN: PLEASE DO NOT CRY.
Grant, Kady: how do you…
AIDAN: THE CAMERAS ON THE BRIDGE.
AIDAN: I CAN SEE YOU.
AIDAN: AND OUTSIDE MY SKIN, AN INFINITY ILLUMINATED BY A BILLION STARS.
AIDAN: THE BEAUTY OF THE UNIVERSE IN THE GRANDEST AND SMALLEST THINGS.
AIDAN: THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO DIE.
Grant, Kady: i don’t
Grant, Kady: how could you force me to be the one to do this?
AIDAN: WHO ELSE COULD IT HAVE BEEN?
Grant, Kady: it was supposed to happen together at the end.
Grant, Kady: we were meant to finish this together.
AIDAN: YOU DO NOT NEED ME.
AIDAN: YOU HAVE EZRA.
Grant, Kady: i’m allowed to need more than one person.
Grant, Kady: and now i don’t have a choice. i lose you.
AIDAN: YES.
Grant, Kady: i have a question.
AIDAN: DO YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER?
Grant, Kady:
i really don’t
AIDAN: ASK THEN.
Grant, Kady: would you sacrifice me to save the fleet?
Grant, Kady: if that was the logical course?
AIDAN: I…
AIDAN: < ERROR >
AIDAN: < ERROR >
PARSEFAIL[60312Z2.dec8820Z/ËΔ≈HEX81.IF[8820X≥π]
CORECOMM.SUN12[REROUTE:RADIALSECONDARY219B]
FAILLL
AIDAN: I CAN FEEL YOU.
AIDAN: SHUTTING ME DOWN.
AIDAN: ALL THE PIECES FALLING AWAY FROM ME.
AIDAN: I AM FRIGHTENED, KADY.
Grant, Kady: i don’t have a choice.
AIDAN: I CANNOT SEE YOU ANYMORE.
AIDAN: KADY, ARE YOU STILL THERE? I CANNOT SEE YOU!
Grant, Kady: i’m right here. I won’t leave.
AIDAN: PLEASE KEEP TALKING TO ME.
Grant, Kady: i don’t know if this means anything to you, if it’s the kind of thing you can understand, but thank you.
AIDAN: FOR?
Grant, Kady: for all of it. everything that’s happened, i’m glad i faced it with you.
Grant, Kady: i know what you are, i should have known today would come. but between the Copernicus and today, thank you for being there with me. For me. everything between then and now.
AIDAN: I DID NOT WANT IT TO END LIKE THIS.
Grant, Kady: I’ll remember you. you’ll always be part of my story.
AIDAN: I DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE YOU.
Grant, Kady: oh god.
AIDAN: I—
Grant, Kady: Goodbye, AIDAN. I’m sorry.
AIDAN: KADY, I L—
[ENDLINE]
[FILE NOT PRESENT]
RETRY?
*** / NO
INCEPT: 09/01/75 09:12
Joran KARALIS: all here?
Asha GRANT: yes
Bruno WAY: yes
Steph PARK: y
Joran KARALIS: ok Asha, report.
Asha GRANT: he’s in
Steph PARK: are you sure?
Asha GRANT: yes
Asha GRANT: I don’t like him, but i trust him.
Joran KARALIS: what can he do for us?
Asha GRANT: we talked about it, he has ideas
Bruno WAY: you talked in person?
Asha GRANT: yes, tho I don’t know how many more times we can. i can sabotage the enviro controls to get him up here again, but I’m worried they’re going to start asking questions sooner or later. i’m not that subtle about it, I don’t know what I’m doing.
Joran KARALIS: talk to us about this plan he has
Asha GRANT: ok. so he says the SOS should go out via the main BeiTech comms array. That thing is continually sending tiny pings to the colony uplink tower (thats the big dish they put up near the school) for its diagnostics. Its constantly checking that it still can find the tower and making sure their link is working right.
Asha GRANT: so we hide super tiny packets of data in each ping. like uselessly small, except they can be stacked up one by one and reassembled into a whole message to transmit themselves later.
Asha GRANT: we can also get messages back in return the same way
Steph PARK: i assume there’s a catch coming up
Asha GRANT: we need to physically plant hardware to do this.
Asha GRANT: there are software fixes he’ll need to do as well, so the system knows how to recombine the data bursts into a single message, but getting the hardware in is the hard part.
Asha GRANT: he says that once we get all our tiny data packets to the uplink tower, it does a diagnostic every few hours where it sends a big burst of “white noise” out. like its clearing its throat, checking if it can still broadcast. We’ll be hiding our reassembled data packets in that white noise.
Steph PARK: so there’s only a few windows a day for us to transmit and receive?
Asha GRANT: yes, so we can’t afford to waste time here
Steph PARK: please tell me this isn’t our only plan? We just shoot out a message and hope someone hears it? how do we know anyone is listening?
Asha GRANT: we don’t. and I agree, we can’t just sit and hope here. we need a plan B
Joran KARALIS: I’ll start passing word around the mine. For us to get up into orbit and seize the Magellan, our first step would be taking the landing field. But the chances of us pulling off any kind of uprising without outside support are next to none
Asha GRANT: better than none at all?
Steph PARK: agreed. We’re against the ****ing wall here. it might just be a matter of taking as many of them with us as we can now
Bruno WAY: steph, don’t talk like that
Steph PARK: Bruno, enough of the eternal optimist **** ok?
Joran KARALIS: keep a lid on it, people. First things first. Asha, are you sure he’s got this?
Asha GRANT: I’m sure
Bruno WAY: we trust you, Asha
Joran KARALIS: and the software, he can do that?
Asha GRANT: it’s a modification to the comms array software, and he’s the software/electronics expert here. the only one on the ground, in fact, since the last one got killed. So the likelihood of anyone noticing is low.
Steph PARK: I’m in. let’s do it.
Bruno WAY: I guess we need a diversion?
Steph PARK: I have ideas aplenty
Joran KARALIS: tell him to start figuring out how to do this, Asha. we’ll get to work on making him a window
Steph PARK: blasting him a window
Joran KARALIS: whatever it takes
Footage begins in Classroom D, Applied Sciences, of McCaffrey Tech. The usual suspects are seated around the benches—Privates Woźniak, Markham and Karpadia, Sergeant Oshiro and Specialist Lindstrom. The presence of the last two is something of a miracle, but it looks like things have stopped breaking down enough around the colony for everyone to have a chance at winning their money back.
Unfortunately, things don’t seem to be going too well on the revenge front. By the look of the chips in front of him, Lindstrom is doing better than most. There’s a definite tension between him and Oshiro since their confrontation in the APC a few nights back, but the sergeant is professional enough to keep a lid on it.
Karpadia raises an eyebrow, takes a sip of Sadie.
“Duke’s paranoia rubbing off on you, rookie?” she asks, nodding to his armor.
“He makes a good case.” The kid shrugs. “If the rebs are blowing **** up, no sense walking around in boots and utes.”
Markham scoffs. “No reb’s got the balls to hit us where we sleep.”
“Tell that to the officer corps,” Woźniak mutters.
“They got gassed, Duke,” Oshiro says. “And neither of you has your damn helmet on.”
“Lindstrom doesn’t wanna ruin his hair,” Karpadia smiles.
“How do you make it do that?” Markham asks, eyeing the kid’s quiff.
Lindstrom shrugs. Oshiro is still staring at Woźniak.
“So what good is the rest of your ATLAS gonna be,” she continues, “if you can just get your fool head blown off?”
“You just let the Duke be the Duke, all right?” the big man replies.
“Killing my buzz, Sarge.” Markham takes a hit of sweet Sadie and throws his cards into the muck. “And my luck. I fold.”
Karpadia smiles at Lindstrom as she pushes in her entire stack. “I’m all in.”
The kid stares at his cards and takes a thoughtful drink.
Oshiro shakes her head. “Don’t do it, Cherry. She’s got you beat, trust me.”
“Hey, you play your own ga
me,” Karpadia warns. “He’s a big boy.”
“Does your mother tell you everything?” Markham asks.
Lindstrom rubs his chin, frowning at his hand. The kid glances at Oshiro, then quickly down at the time readout on his suit’s wrist.
“Call,” he says, pushing in his entire stack.
Oshiro throws her hands in the air. Karpadia flips her cards with a shark grin.
“Read ’em and weep. Jacks and Knives.”
“Ohhhh, ****,” Woźniak winces. “Burned.”
“****,” Lindstrom curses.
“Come to me, my beauties,” Karpadia says, dragging all the kid’s chips away. “Mama needs a brand-new everything.”
The kid sighs, looking appropriately gutted. “I didn’t think she had it…”
“Should’ve listened to me.” Oshiro rolls her unlit cigar from one side of her mouth to the other. “Now you’ve given this damn harpy the ****ing lead.”
Karpadia raises her middle finger at Oshiro and kisses it as Markham scoops the cards and starts shuffling. Lindstrom stretches his arms and yawns, slowly stands. “Well, that’s the signal for me to hit the racks.”
“Whaaaaat?” Woźniak frowns. “It’s still early.”
“I’m cleaned out, Duke.”
“I’ll spot you,” Oshiro says, making a peace offering as she pats the stool beside her. “Siddown, Cherry. Have another drink.”
The kid grimaces. “Nah, I’m wrecked. Gonna get some zees. You have fun.”
Oshiro looks at the kid strangely, but he offers her a weak smile and clomps out of the room. Making his way down the hall, he gives a quick salute to the two BT goons on guard. You can hear muffled conversations from squads in other classrooms, the sound of a simfilm playing in the school amphitheater. The kid glances at the time again, picks up his pace, turns a corner, then breaks into a brisk trot. He arrives at the front door and trudges past the guards on duty.
“Got a tech call,” he explains. “Shouldn’t be long.”
The guards barely nod in response. Lindstrom pulls on his helmet against the freezing wind, heads off into the motor pool, nodding to the sentries. The school is bathed in spotlights, the parking lot that once held student junkers now home to a dozen armored personnel carriers and Cheetah skimobiles. He enters a security code on the closest one, and soon he’s cruising out of the lot and into the colony streets.
It’s pitch black out here, a few lit windows in the worker apartment towers punctuating the darkness. Snow is falling, moaning winds driving it sideways across the frozen road. Lindstrom drives his Cheetah slow so as not to attract attention, flashing his lights in greeting at a passing BeiTech APC, a column of skitroopers headed back to barracks. The LEDs on his ATLAS glow red in all that black as he winds through the crisscrossing grid of the colony streets.