“I fucking knew it.” She hid her face in her palms. It had been staring her in the eyes this whole time, hadn’t it? “They might glass a planet or two and knock out interstellar travel, but they don’t actually care about killing anybody. They just want to keep us under control with minimal effort.”
What do you mean?
“The Union is filled with paranoia about artificial intelligence and human genetics because of a Haint virus called Umbra Ex. You said yourself that will slow them down.”
Umbra Ex Machina? I have encountered this label in Union records. Descriptions of the virus match what I encountered on the Watersmoke when I first found you. The agent was a quantum virus far more sophisticated than the Union seems capable of producing.
“They thought it was just rumours or old history.” She thought about that for a long, silent moment. “Could Umbra Ex be sabotaging any AI they ever build, to make them think it’s inherently dangerous?”
Not only artificial intelligence. Union history features numberous unexplained and severe malfunctions in other fields: synthetic biology, interstellar spaceflight, nanotechnology, and more. The Union has suffered statistically extreme numbers of cancelled research projects, renowned scientists killed in accidents, and large public outcries against technologies in these specific domains. I destroyed the infection on the Watersmoke before completely analyzing its algorithms, but it is not impossible these are all rooted in Umbra Ex.
“Of course. All the Haints need to do is pop up every thousand years to scare them into blowing up their jumpgates. They’ll never progress beyond where they are today. That’s why they only commit the bare minimum fleet they need to beat the Union.”
Additionally, committing minimum fleets encourages the Union to engage instead of fleeing by providing a sense of hope, ultimately speeding up the destruction of Union assets. Ada, given time and systems access, I could craft a viral counter weapon to neutralize Umbra Ex throughout Union networks.
“We’ll make time later. Right now… ”
What did she know?
The Haints were trying to contain everybody. They knocked out Mir, they fed the forces who would create the technophage, they crushed the Union nearly to extinction.
Now the Haints were attacking again, and why? Ada had brought the Union to Earth by lifting the gods’ cloak of silence over Earth, and now she had brought Earth to the Union.
Her heart started pounding. The gods. “They knew. The gods were isolating Earth because they were trying to protect us from the fucking Haints , Cherry!”
This theory is consistent with what I now know.
“I asked them to disable their tachyon interdiction fields so we could reach these idiots in the Union, and the gods never said anything! And now the Haints know a human left Earth, without the technophage, and brought a ship with her. The Haints know we broke their containment, Cherry.”
You anticipate they will move against Earth.
She rested her hand over the pocket where she kept the locator stone. “We’re practically begging them to attack Earth, and what the hell is Earth going to do about it?”
Cherry was silent for a long moment before finally answering. This hypothesis could be consistent with the data we have, but we do not have any evidence yet they will move on Earth.
“Tell me you’ve got a better idea of what’s going on. Please, please tell me you do.”
I do not.
Together they stared at the Union fleet and the civilian evacuation ships, slowly moving towards the jumpgate.
Ada, I am sorry. The only comfort I can offer is that, if we fail to bring in more assets from Earth, it is possible Haint algorithms will conclude my appearance was a strategic anomaly, not worth pursuing.
Of course. Of course she couldn’t go back. If she had already painted a target on her back, the last thing she wanted to do was wave that target around near Isavel.
But she didn’t want Cherry to be a strategic anomaly. She didn’t want Earth to remain safely derelict. Sooner or later Earth needed to wake up, and the Haints would be waiting for them.
“That’s not enough. None of this is enough.”
Her ship didn’t question her as they zipped over to Baoji’s ship, still hours from the jumpgate but at least well out of Haint range. She sidled up beside them and opened the comms, raising a hand as she glimpsed Baoji and Elsa, Turou behind them, through their cockpit window.
“Hey friends.”
“Ada.” Elsa’s voice was somber. “I never thought I’d see… that.”
“I know.” She reached into her pocket, gripping the dim locator stone in her fingers. “This is my fault, and the Union is suffering for it. But if I don’t do something, they’ll come for Earth too. I can’t let that happen.”
She took a deep breath. Isavel was still back there, and if the Haints came for them there was nothing they could to do stop them. Only the gods could even try, but she wouldn’t hold out hope. She couldn’t let them destroy her home or hurt Isavel. She had to warn them.
But she had to stop the Haints as well.
“I’m going to go for a trip.”
“What?” Elsa sounded puzzled. “Back to Earth?”
“No. The Haints have me marked for how powerful my ship is - I can’t lead their attention back there.” She shook her head. “I’m going to find the Haint homeworld.”
The silence was deafening until Elsa broke it. “What? Are you out of your fucking mind? I mean, more than you already -”
Maybe she was. “No. Surviving isn’t enough. If we can’t stop the Haints, nobody can ever thrive. Not the Union, not Earth, not any other civilization that follows in our footsteps. So I need to find out where their heart is, and rip it out.”
She could tell Baoji was shaking his head. “Ada, you can’t just fly -”
“I can and I will. This is what I came here for.” She squeezed the locator stone. “I left everything behind because I wanted to know why Earth had fallen, and how to build something new from the ruins. This is the answer: we can’t build anything new while there are Haints waiting to use our own weaknesses to knock us down again. You sure as hell can’t stop them, but maybe I stand a chance.”
They were quiet for a moment before Baoji spoke. “Go. Do what you need to do, sorceress. We’re making the Tlaloc connection. If you come back, look for us there.”
“ When , not if.” She cricked her neck. “Stay safe.”
“Winds at your back, Ada.”
She turned to warp away into deep space. The wormship seemed to dare her from afar as she tried to steel herself. The Union military was clearing the moon’s well, leaving it behind. The beast fell into orbit around its dead prey, smaller Haints and their veils spreading like roots into orbit, and to her surprise she saw some of the Haint warfleet disappearing back through the wormship.
“Cherry, where are those ships jumping to?”
Based on spacetime deformations and the jump algorithms they share with the Union, it seems to be a system a few dozen light-years away from Union space, away from both Earth and the system the Hornet originated in.
“So either they’re surrounding the Union and that’s another base, or they’re attacking someone else.”
Both possible. Only a few small Vultures and Hornets appear to be making the jump, and they are not in need of repairs.
“Hm.” She considered it. Another civilization under attack? An exploratory mission? Reinforcements for a Haint system under attack itself? Impossible to say. “We can check it out later. I want to know where these fucking things come from and how we can stop them.”
Very well. The origin system is three warp jumps rimward, with eight-hour waiting periods between jumps to regenerate energy through the vacuum cells.
“Fine. First, though.” She took a deep breath. “I want to send a message to Earth. To the gods. To Isavel Valdéz if they can find her. Can… can we send an audiovisual transmission?”
Yes. Ready to record at y
our mark.
She took a moment to decide what to say. She held the locator stone in her right hand as she did, looking into the faint reflection of herself in the glass of the cockpit before her, a reflection she only ever saw if she looked very closely. It was enough, something to make eye contact with.
First she told the gods what they needed to know. They would have to deactivate or destroy the Tannhäuser Gate around Jupiter to prevent any immediate Haint incursions. They would have to disable communications from Earth, again, to stay hidden. She sent them Cherry’s data on Haint fleets and equipment and tactics, and footage of the destruction of Chang’e. Everything they would need to know.
She told them to find Isavel Valdéz, wherever she was. The only other earthling freed from the technophage. The only person Ada could trust with the protection of Earth.
And then she spoke to Isavel herself. Only the truth. Her failures, her frustrations, her fear, her resolution. In a sense, she was doing this for her, and she wanted Isavel to understand that, however selfish that want might be. She needed Isavel to stay safe, to protect the world and, above all else, herself. And if Ada never returned to Earth to find her, she needed Isavel to know why.
She was doing what she could.
She let the transmission fly towards whatever distant star concealed Earth under its skirt, and turned Cherry towards destinations unknown. They were going to cross vast distances, fly further than the entire expanse of Union space. Astronomical records of this distant star were sparse; it had six planets of various sizes, and emitted no intelligible electromagnetic signals. It was, to all eyes, a dim, unremarkable sun.
“Isavel.” She muttered under her breath as the brilliant blue warp stabilizer crackled into place around the ship, briefly reminding her of a proper, living sky. “Gods protect you. Stay safe.”
Starlight around Ada smudged as they warped deep into the black, the galaxy whipping by at speeds no animal or machine could comprehend.
Chapter 20
The first warp took them well beyond any area ever visited by humans, mirrans, or either of their robotic probes. It was a long and featureless jump, the sight of stars and planets crushed into a blue glow against the glass by the impossible speed . Ada closed her eyes, the warp field too dizzying to look at directly.
They fell back into normalcy in an uninhabited, unremarkable star system, far enough from any planet that the only thing she could see with her eyes was the local sun. She looked around, taking stock of the emptiness, and realized she would have to spend eight hours in the middle of nowhere. The less she used the ship, the faster it could regenerate whatever energy it fed off, after all. “Okay, first jump went well. Anything nearby?”
I detect a Haint jumpgate orbiting the second planet.
Ada jolted. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I detect no further Haint activity in the system. The jumpgate is large enough to accommodate a wormship, but it seems to be inactive.
Small mercy. They had little choice, though, so Ada tried to get herself to sleep, which Cherry was happy to help with. Eight hours later the ship woke her with a gentle chime. She felt a bit more stable; seeing a planet destroyed was not something she expected to shake off easily, but sleep had a cooling effect on just about any nerves.
I have been monitoring transmissions from the jumpgate, as well as analysing the sum of transmissions and algorithms and data I have on Haint communications. I believe I may be able to synthesize a basic framework for understanding the native language of the group that created them.
For what good that would do Chang’e. “Sounds worth trying. Are we ready to go?”
Yes .
They cracked across space and time, falling out in another star system, near a dark, barren lump of a world. An unsettling familiar one. One that looked…
“Cherry, is this… another planet they glassed?”
Chemical signatures suggest the same weapon used on Chang’e was used here, yes. I detect a Haint jumpgate in equatorial orbit around the planet. This is not one of the lost Union colonies.
Ada looked around and spotted it, a smoky, glowing white ring dancing around the planet like the skeleton of some long-dead moon. She glanced back at the planet, ashen and lifeless.
“Who lived here?”
I detect alien wreckage orbiting the planet, of unfamiliar composition. A civilization with spaceflight capabilities may have lived here, but I can deduce nothing further.
She zipped into closer orbit, and did indeed find clouds of the stuff. Fragments of exotic metal, odd pieces of machinery, all scorched black by starfire. Alien designs by unknown peoples, long lost to time. “What else?”
I detect Haint ships active several million klicks away, in an asteroid field orbiting the local sun. Their behaviour suggests mineral extraction. I will continue to observe as my vacuum cells recharge.
Ada’s fingers fidgeted against the control grooves. There was no vengeance to be had for whatever had happened here. Attacked the mining ships would draw more attention than was worth the trouble. She pointed Cherry away from the husk world, and tried to turn her mind elsewhere. “I don’t think I can sleep another eight hours.”
I can run neural simulations for educational or entertainment purposes. This would only add two minutes to the necessary recharge time.
She grimaced. “What do you mean, neural simulations?”
Somewhat similar to the thousand worlds, as you know them.
Her eyes widened. “What? I thought Earth was too far to reach them.”
It is, but I can still influence your brain into believing it is somewhere else, doing and experiencing other things. We have a vast range of options catering to various interests and moods. It can be very useful for pilot health.
She reached into her pocket, pulling out the locator stone and letting it rest in her hand, pinching it between her fingers. She let her memories drift. She could imagine all kinds of recreational options, but something struck her. “I… could you teach me how to dance? I never got a chance to learn.”
Certainly. I will stop the simulation if I detect suspicious activity.
Ada felt the world suddenly melt away. For all that she knew she was seated in her ship, all her senses told her otherwise. She was standing alone in a fairly large room with polished stone floors and tidy, simple wooden walls that vaulted high into the ceiling.
Someone was standing in front of her, someone who looked like Isavel. She flinched .
“Not her. Someone else.”
“Very well.” The figure’s shape immediately changed, Isavel replaced by what appeared to be a perfect copy of Ada herself; the voice remained Cherry’s all the way through. “Is this more agreeable?”
Ada laughed. She - the other she - took her hands, and awkwardly and poorly Ada tried to move along with her, doing whatever she was told, glad for a while not to think about where she was or what she was doing. Time was muddled here, as though her brain had stopped keeping track, and when Cherry gently brought her back out of the simulation she wasn’t sure if she had been in for minutes or days.
Astronomical analysis indicates Haint travel logs coordinates correspond to a specific planet around our destination star. The radio burst from our warp dropout may alert them, unless we arrive in the shadow of a body that can absorb the burst.
Her muscles tingled, as though she had been using them for real. She flexed them gingerly, rubbing her legs with her palms. “Like what, behind a moon? Can we do that, melded maybe? But make sure we have enough energy to get warp the hell out if we need to.”
Acknowledged. The last leg of the journey will be half the distance, so we will have sufficient energy for operational purposes and for emergency escape.
“I like that.” She laid back in the seat and rolled her shoulders, breathing deep as the stars waited outside the glass. Who had built these Haints, exactly, and why?
And how would she take them down?
The last jump dropped them int
o a soup of urgency and alertness. Swarms of needle-like dangers and unknowns descended on Ada’s brain, all the information she needed to know and all the emotional burn she needed to take it seriously.
This system was fucking crawling with Haints.
They had jumped in behind a barren moon, the prismatic cloud of dust from the dropout dissipating towards it. Hopefully that had concealed her approach. As she zipped around the moon, her destination soon became visible in the distance, and she swore.
It was ringed by massive, hulking ships and space stations, all oozing a thick veil that coalesced into an smokey mockery of Earth’s own ring. The planet itself was quite subdued. It was mostly grey, with smudges of green and brown here and there. Featureless expanses were viciously cut apart by vast straight lines across its surface, all running parallel to the equator and the ring-fleet around the world, some deep blue to black and others brilliant green.
The large facilities orbiting the planet appear to be Haint shipyards.
They were already melded to the stars, so Ada steeled herself and zipped towards the Haint menagerie. “Did they notice our jump?”
They do not seem to have. The radio burst is very brief and narrow, and was absorbed by the moon.
She approached the planet, pushing the ship as fast as it would go without warping, and the shipyards came into focus. The vast, spindly things were surrounded by long grids of support structures and swarms of tiny Haints welding and fitting and otherwise connecting vast pieces of equipment together. She quickly noticed the was unmistakable, half-completed structure of another wormship, skeletal and emaciated without its protective veil.
The stations are transmitting vast amounts of superluminal communications. They appear to be coordinating fleet movements across dozens of star systems.
“Can you see their targets?”
Directionally, yes. I am storing the information. We will need more data to determine the precise target systems and the nature of their Haint presence, but probabilistically, I believe they are transmitting to seventy-six nearby stars in varying capacities.
The Broken Third (Digitesque Book 4) Page 34