“But if the station crashes, we’ll be inside it.” Derrick spoke like he was addressing a small child. “How is that an improvement?”
Min shrugged. “It’s a chance, right? I’m open to safer plans, believe me.”
Tack stepped into the circle and spoke in low tones. “I like the idea Min, but how can we control anything? If what you’ve told us is true, Sophia lives inside the station’s hardware. She’ll block anything we try.”
“Well . . .” Sarah chewed her fist as she studied a monitor at her workstation. “Maybe not.”
“Explain please,” I said. As politely as possible.
Sarah’s hand dropped, her mouth twisting into a nervous grimace. “The basic programming aboard Chrysalis is still original Nemesis software. It looks like Sophia didn’t scrap things that functioned effectively. I learned this stuff while killing time inside the silo during the Program. I understand how most of it works.”
Ethan crossed his arms. “What are you saying? You can fly a space station?”
Sarah shook her head. “I’m saying, Sophia isn’t completely invulnerable. Right now she’s essentially a virus inside the Chrysalis mainframe, overriding the original AI and manipulating the station however she wants. But the original system has debugging procedures.”
“Why didn’t you say that before?” Ethan exploded. “You can kill her and haven’t done it?”
“Because it’s pointless,” Sarah shot back. “I can engage the antivirus software and sweep Sophia from the primary system, but she can hide inside any attached machine with a separate hard drive. Remote devices, life support systems, engines—anything with a firewall and decent memory. Sophia is much more sophisticated than the Nemesis mainframe she’s inhabiting. Once the scrubbing program ran its course, she’d simply reemerge and reinfect the whole system. The software can only drive her into hiding temporarily, and probably only once before she throttles it. So why bother?”
Min was staring at Sarah. “Can you isolate her from this module?”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Like I said, she’s already locked out, or we’d be dead. When I enacted emergency procedures, the first thing it did was sever hardwire links to the rest of the station. Wireless was deactivated, and virus scrubbers purged and reset the command software. She’s not in here, in this room, right now. This module was built with backup gravitational and life support systems that are invulnerable to outside cyberattack. But Sophia’s lurking in the rest of the station’s systems, ready to kill us a dozen different ways the moment we open a link.”
Rose stepped up beside me. “But if the command module is clean, we should be able to steer the station.”
Sarah shook her head. “I had to sever everything. Sophia isn’t a normal computer virus. If I open a channel to send commands to, say, rocket propulsion, she can slide into this system and that’s the ball game. We’re safe, but we’re trapped. We can’t issue commands beyond this room.”
We all fell silent at that. Then I had a thought.
“Is the original AI still functional?” I asked. Min’s gaze darted to me, but I kept my focus on Sarah.
“The one that built Chrysalis?” Sarah took a moment before answering. “It’s offline, but a copy was preserved in the command backup system.”
“Can it help us? I’m sure it can’t be a fan of Sophia.”
Cyrus edged forward with a thoughtful look in his eye. “Suppose we wake the AI and set it against Sophia. Could that program help us land the station?”
Sarah snorted. “Sophia is a brute force beyond anything imaginable. I doubt the original AI could play Minecraft without her permission.”
“But it can do a lot at once,” Min muttered.
I took her hand in mine. “What do you mean?”
“What if we hit Sophia with a surprise punch?” Min said.
Sarah opened her mouth, then closed it, her gaze turning inward. Finally, “If the Nemesis AI could slam Chrysalis with flash orders—a burst of commands to multiple ship systems—maybe we could slide a few things by while Sophia’s distracted.”
Derrick frowned at the floor. “It won’t work. If she’s so much more advanced, whatever we send she’ll negate. We can never be faster, right?”
“What if the orders simply caused damage?” Cyrus said. Rose squinted at him, while Sarah shifted her weight.
“Go on,” Min said.
“What if we blindsided Chrysalis with instructions meant to short-circuit things?”
Sarah covered her mouth, then ripped her hand away. “Yes! We could send short commands solely designed to create havoc! Orders for opposing engines to fire simultaneously. For gas to vent into flammable areas. Packets that could be sent in a blink, with no time to stop them. Then while Sophia is putting out fires—”
“—we bring the station down,” I finished. A dangerous strategy was forming in my mind. “We sabotage everything but a place for us to hide.” I smiled ruefully. “Then hope for the best.”
“Orders alone won’t destroy Chrysalis,” Tack countered sourly. “We can maybe distract Sophia and force her to respond, but surely she’ll stop any major commands that could scuttle the station.”
“Then what’s the point?” Ethan grumbled.
“We can attack while she’s distracted,” Rose said, meeting my eye. She understood. I nodded for her to continue. “While Sophia is diverted, we bolt down the access tunnels to the inner ring, and . . . I don’t know . . . blow everything out there to hell.”
Eyes widened around the room, but there were nods as well. Sam actually smiled.
“Explosions along the inner ring would destabilize the outer one,” Cyrus said. “No need to even go there.”
“And then gravity drops us all down onto the planet.” Sarah rubbed her cheek. “It could work. Of course, we’ll probably die horribly in the process.”
“How do we bomb the station, though?” Derrick said, ignoring her. “Anyone bring some hand grenades?”
“In the command burst, we send a few packets that seem innocuous,” Rose said, clearly brainstorming on the fly. “Increase O2 levels around the inner ring. Divert fuel into pipes. Juice the electrical grid.” She raised a blaster in her hand. “These weapons short-circuit if powered too high. I’ve seen it happen. Runners can take blast guns out to the ring, set them to overload, and place them in vulnerable spots.” She made an explosion with her hands.
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, thinking hard. “If several blasts occurred in concert at dangerous points all around the inner ring . . . it could work. We could devastate Chrysalis.”
“What do we need?” Min demanded, all business.
“I’ll work on the command burst,” Sarah said. “We have to flood the system with billions of instructions to keep Sophia busy. Only the original AI can pull it off. We have to hope it wants to work with us.”
“Sophia will attack this sphere as soon as we open a gateway.” Rose pointed to a storage room in the back of the module. “Everyone will need to put on a survival suit.”
“I can help with programming,” Cyrus said. “I knew the system well back in the Program.”
Sarah snapped off a somewhat-distrustful nod. A sense of purpose began to fill the room.
Min turned to Rose. “We need a strike team to deliver the weapons. There are five spokes left that access the inner ring. How many runners do you suggest?”
Rose regarded Min coolly. “One per corridor. Any more and it could look like a mass breakout attempt. Sophia might ignore everything else and leap to snuff it. I’ll take a tunnel.”
“I’m in,” Tack called out, at the same time Gray said, “Me too.”
I stepped forward. Min’s gaze shot to me, and I sensed her fear, but this was something I had to do. “I’ll take one.”
Derrick kicked the base of a workstation. “Yeah, yeah. I make five. Y
ippee.”
“Nope.” Casey stepped forward, eyes intent. “Rose doesn’t get to be the only girl to risk her neck. We can’t lose you, Derrick. You and Min have to lead everyone to safety. I’ll make the run.” Her voice broke. “For Lauren and Dakota. And the others.”
Derrick stared at her, then nodded slowly. “Okay, Case. If that’s what you want.”
Several others spoke up—Sam and Ethan most loudly—but the matter was decided.
“Everyone get to work,” Min ordered. “Let’s kill this robobitch.”
Hector raised a shaky hand. “Maybe we should talk about that place of safety, though?”
* * *
• • •
We would go home.
If things went our way and we scuttled Chrysalis, we’d ride out the crash inside our silo.
Rose explained how Toby had gotten in and out of the lab complex under our noses—a maintenance ladder ran straight from the command module’s roof hatch to the massive Terrarium overhead, accessing the silo’s power plant level. A check of the monitors showed that the water had been drained. The place was a wet, filthy mess, but it sat in the center of the largest structure on Chrysalis, surrounded by fortified concrete walls. For anyone attempting to survive a crash landing from orbit, it seemed like the best bet.
Sarah was working with the AI to develop our sabotage protocol. “It’s amazing, Noah,” she breathed. “This little bugger knows what happened to it. It wants to fight Sophia. I’m mostly just staying out of its way as it prepares a trillion commands designed to wreck the station. We have an ally here!”
I snorted in bemusement. “Tell it thanks.”
“Will do. I named our friend Skippy. It approves.”
The notion of a computer program with opinions gave me shivers, but I was grateful for any help we could get. The thought of opening a connection to where Sophia lurked terrified me. What if she struck too fast? Plus, I’d been a program like Skippy only six months ago. Everything felt full circle.
Rose and I were preparing a set of blasters to fail. After the command burst, we’d race down the access tunnels to the inner ring, hoping to slip under Sophia’s notice. We had no idea where the remaining troopers were—none had appeared since we’d taken over the hub—but they must be out there somewhere. I had to admit, this was the most dangerous part of the plan. Min was clearly upset Tack and I were doing it.
I put that aside. I was determined to pull my weight.
Thirty minutes later, we were ready.
“Let’s go over everything,” Min said, with a calm I couldn’t believe. I was ready to mess the survival suit Rose had helped me put on. Everyone in the module now wore one.
“The attack starts when Sarah and Cyrus send the AI’s kill-command packet,” Min continued. “This will distract Sophia so that two things can happen.” She held up a finger. “The strike team will fire down the tunnels to the inner ring, open walls at key points, and overload their weapons. The explosions will cripple the station so that it has to crash-land.”
“So many insane assumptions,” Ethan grumbled, but he fell silent at a glare from me.
Min held up a second finger. “The strike team will run back and join the rest of us as we climb into the Terrarium. We’ll gather inside the silo and . . . prepare to land.” She made a fist and slammed it into her palm. “It’s going to work.”
My eyes traveled the group. Min. Derrick. Cyrus and Sarah. Tack stood with the rest of the strike team—Rose, Gray, and Casey. Across the room were Sam, Ethan, Akio, and Rachel. Alice Cho. Hector. Hamza. Jerica and Parisa. Eighteen kids. All that remained of humanity. That we knew about, anyway.
“Does everyone agree that we will succeed?” Min said loudly.
Nervous nods. A few soft voices in assent.
“Then say it. This will work. We will survive.”
“We will survive.” In one shaky voice.
“Again!” Min demanded.
“We will survive!”
“Louder!”
“We will survive!”
“Good.” She blinked glistening gray eyes. “Now let’s do it.”
Cheers erupted, Nemesis One and Three together. We might go down, but it’d be swinging. I reached out and pulled Min into my arms. Our lips met, and time rolled away. I didn’t care about the crowd, the situation, anything but that moment. I wanted to hold her there forever. But we had work to do.
“See you soon,” I whispered.
Her voice choked up. “You better.”
She kissed me again. Harder. Like the kiss itself could keep me safe. But eventually we broke away. I strode to my assigned airlock and didn’t look back.
It was time.
We had an alien to kill.
37
MIN
“You ready?” Sarah whispered.
“Are you?” I asked.
She laughed. “I’ve never been this scared in my life. This could go wrong in so many ways. I might’ve badly underestimated Sophia.” She looked down at the keyboard. “Min, we could all die the second I press Enter.”
“That won’t happen,” I said brusquely. “Skippy won’t let it.” So much of our plan relied on Sarah’s frisky new AI buddy. I could swear she was getting attached to it.
“I hope poor Skippy knows how to run,” Sarah said softly. “There’s a monster at the gate.”
Rose, Noah, Casey, Tack, and Gray stood at the five airlocks, space suits on and weapons ready. Each carried two blasters—one for protection, the other to overload as a makeshift bomb. The access tunnels were now suspiciously free of troopers, all five squads having retreated while we prepared. Sarah guessed that Sophia might be leery of the pressure trick we’d pulled to collapse the sixth spoke and was holding them back at the inner ring. But it was just a guess. We had no idea what was waiting for our friends.
Sam and Derrick stood with the others in the center of the room. A ladder had been lowered from the ceiling. Rose said the hatch above led directly to a shaft accessing the lower Terrarium, which hung above us like a giant hornets’ nest. The silo would save us or be our tomb. It seemed fitting.
I wondered where Toby was at that moment. Liquidated along with the Nemesis Three kids? I found I didn’t care. He, Josh, and Chris had chosen the other side. They could go down with Chrysalis.
“Okay.” Sarah took a deep breath. “Skippy is ready.”
I looked up. Everyone in the room was watching me.
“Helmets on.”
I was staying in the command module until our runners came back. Derrick had tried to talk me out of it, but I’d been firm. He and Sam could lead the escape up the ladder. Tack and Noah were racing into danger. The least I could do was watch their backs.
“This is going to work,” I called out.
Nods. Flexed shoulders. Hector said a quick prayer.
We were ready.
God help us all.
“Do it,” I said.
Sarah pressed Enter.
The world exploded.
Air rushed out of the sphere. The temperature dropped to nothing. My feet floated up off the floor.
Sophia was attacking.
Troopers appeared at the far end of every tunnel and raced down. Our plan seemed dead before it even began.
Then the guards stumbled and collapsed. Alarms sounded inside the sphere. I watched lights die along the inner ring, replaced by red-tinged backup illumination. One access tunnel cracked in the middle and crumbled into space.
“Skippy is fighting back!” Sarah shouted. “Send the runners now!”
Four airlocks slid open. Our attack team took off for the inner ring, Gray following behind Rose since his spoke had just been destroyed. Sarah and I watched on side-by-side monitors as Noah and Tack raced past malfunctioning troopers and reached their doors to the inner ring.
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“Let’s go, people!” Derrick started pushing kids up the ladder one at a time. Sam went first, opened the hatch, and disappeared through it.
The far door in Noah’s tunnel opened swiftly. Same for Rose and Gray, and Casey, too. But Tack’s portal wouldn’t budge. He wrestled with it for several fruitless moments, then gave up with a growl of frustration. He turned and sprinted back toward the module.
“Casey’s in position!” Sarah pressed fists to her cheeks. “Sophia is hunting Skippy through the system. She’s not paying attention!”
Casey knelt in the corridor beyond the inner-ring door, tapping blaster controls. Then she lifted her other weapon and fired at the wall, creating a ragged hole. She stuffed the first blaster next to several exposed canisters, then bolted back into her tunnel and sealed the portal.
A blast roared behind her.
“One down!” I shouted, as more alarms screamed. Fire ignited within the inner ring. Casey ran back toward the hub.
A second explosion shook the station. Rose and Gray had run all the way to Gray’s intended target and detonated his blaster beneath a fuel junction. But it was a long way back, and hungry flames chased them back down the corridor.
“Brave idiots,” Sarah sighed. “They’re going for Rose’s target, too.”
Tack reentered the command module. Control panels were blinking like Times Square as Skippy battled Sophia inside the station’s electronic pathways. So far Sophia hadn’t noticed the physical damage being done by pathetic humans.
I intended to order Tack up the ladder, but never had the chance. He ran straight through the sphere and up Noah’s tunnel. “Damn it, Tack!” But he was already gone.
Rose and Gray reached her objective and blasted the wall. She placed a beeping weapon within a confluence of pipes, and then they bolted inside the access tunnel. The explosion tore a hole in the side of the ring just as they sealed the portal. I watched in sick fascination as everything beyond their door was sucked into the vacuum of space.
“Three down!” Sarah shouted.
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