by T S Hottle
"I am notifying the clinic." The AI Bessie paused. "Admiral, a hyperdrone from Farno, formerly Farigha, has arrived."
The mock renaming of Mars's terraforming colony amused Burke. Were it not for that disturbing AI he had cobbled together, she could release John Farno's logs to the public. People, even on Mars, would start referring to the distant colony as "Farno" instead of "Farigha," which would force the Citizens' Republic to rename the planet just so potential colonists would know what they were talking about. "Let's have the latest."
Burke's office darkened, and the cone of light formed with John Farno's avatar inside. Occasionally, it would be replaced by a young, raven-haired woman with pale skin. She knew this avatar to represent an AI interface based on a structural engineer named Julie Seding, but the avatar looked nothing like the original. The AI had, by necessity, become self-aware but insisted it had a suicide protocol written to factory reset all the AI units on the planet. Somehow, Burke doubted this being would end its own existence. It believed it was a real woman trapped inside Farigha's scattered internet. And it seemed both worshipful and maternal toward Farno.
Shrinks will have a field day with Farno when we get him.
Burke approached the cone, assuming Farno's last log entry was coming up. Only Farno's image began breaking up, jumping about inside the cone, then disappeared. The last thing Farno said was "Shit. They're back."
"Sonofabitch." Burke stepped into the cone and ordered Bessie to start recording. "Farno, this is Burke. Screw politics. If the ship is not there in a day, I'll have a warship there within hours. My authority. Burke out." She ordered the message uploaded and sent back to Farigha. Farno might not get the message, but he'd know as soon as a ship like the Utopia Planitia appeared in the sky.
"Bessie," said Burke, "record this and send to Fleet Admiral Tran at Naval Headquarters. Commandeer an hyperdrone if you have to, but make this a priority. And cancel my leave request."
"Stand by," said Bessie. "Hyperdrone procured. You're on, Admiral."
"Vu," said Burke. "Eileen. Farno's under alien threat again. We can't sneak around anymore. I'm fueling up the Utopia Planitia and personally taking it to Farigha. My responsibility. Tell that weasel calling himself a major that I won't tolerate interference from him. We'll discuss my court-martial when I get back." The cone vanished. "Okay, Bessie. Send it."
"Uploading now."
"And send a copy to Germanicus. I'm going to need his help on this."
Naval Headquarters, Bellingshausen Island, Antarctica, Earth
27-Mandela, 429 – 1328
Major Liu burst into Tran's office winded. "Sir, Admiral Burke has commandeered…"
"I'm going to guess the Utopia Planitia," said Tran. "She's never been a fan of the Woodrow Wilson-class warships. Too impractical for her taste." He smiled coldly at Liu. "Besides, she's from Trantor. Doesn't have any nostalgia for Earth or she'd have taken the Antonio Guterres, despite the fact it's older than dirt."
"But I advised…"
"I know what you advised," said Tran, his smile vanishing. He came around his desk and leaned into Liu's face. "I also ordered you to have the Buran fueled and ready to go at a moment's notice. Is that done yet, Major?"
Tran, of course, knew the answer to that. He merely wanted to hear Liu's excuse.
"They have a cracked projection disk, sir," said Liu. "FTL is not possible."
"Oh, it's not possible. All right, let's have the U Thant or the Valles Marineris readied. And your continued status as a free Citizen depends on one of those ships being ready to go in the next six hours. No excuses."
"Sir, I…"
Tran didn't so much as smile at Liu as he leered. "You what? Resign your commission? One you never had to begin with?"
Liu raised his palm and began tapping it out. "The U Thant will be signaling for permission to leave Earth within the hour, sir."
Tran nodded. "That's what I thought."
CNV ALCUBIERRE, APPROACHING 2 MAINZER
27-Mandela, 429 – 1417
As always, time at warp was a lot of nothing for anyone on the bridge. All the heavy lifting was done by the engineers floating about the sphere riding herd on the warp drive. Friese spent the time reading.
"Paper book?" said Havak as she entered their quarters.
Friese, laying back in a pair of shorts and a sleeveless tunic looked up. "Yeah. Not susceptible to power failures or flaky publisher updates." She held up the book, Gulliver's Travels. "Besides, something this old should be read on paper."
"Maybe you should show that to that Farno guy when we arrive." Havak climbed onto the bed and snuggled up to Friese, who put her arm around her. "Last hyperdrone had a message I've decrypted. Check your palm."
Friese looked down at her palm to see text across the skin.
EFFECTIVE UPON COMPLETION OF FARIGHA MISSION: TECHNICAL SERGEANT PATRICIA FRIESE TO REPORT TO CNSS CHALLENGER BERTHED OVER TIAN AS WARP NAVIGATOR. THIS TRANSFER ON CONDITION OF SGT. FRIESE'S ACCEPTANCE OF A FOUR-YEAR COMMISSION AS LIEUTENANT, JUNIOR GRADE IN COMPACT NAVY – SIGNED, BURKE, VICE ADMIRAL EILEEN, COMMANDING OFFICER, TIAN REGIONAL COMMAND.
"Well?" said Havak. "What do you think?"
Friese smiled. "I'd be under your command?"
"More likely Hideki Okada's. But if Burke can get Hideki back on active duty, I'll be his first officer. The Challenger is the first fully functional warp ship. It has projection and EM drives, everything a starship should have. Just with a big, fat warp sphere like this ship."
"Can we bunk together?"
"Would you be willing to sign a short-term domestic partnership? Say a year or two?"
Friese answered by kissing Havak.
"I'll take that as a yes," said Havak.
"Bridge to Commander," said Danaq over the speakers. "We are about to drop out of warp."
Havak let out her breath slowly. "Get dressed, Patty. Time to bring our boy home."
SOLARIA, FARNO (formerly Farigha)
Log Entry: 27-Mandela, 429 – 1429
So far, I've been playing hide-and-seek with the alien warship. They haven't dropped anything yet, but they've been furiously scanning the planet. No doubt, they wonder what happened to their multi-tentacled probe or why there's a glass sheet in the desert that wasn't there last time.
Persephone says that she can tell they are active scanning the planet because the road sensors and remaining receivers on the planet are all reacting to it. Setting off a fusion blast, even a firecracker like overloading Rover 19 was, seems to have spooked them. There's someone here? Who can fight back? Oh, noze! We's conquered the wrong planet!
Yeah, assholes, maybe you should have garrisoned the place. Hell, I might have gotten home by now.
There's another wrinkle. Burke's ship has arrived, a tiny little thing called the Alcubierre. It's attached itself to the smaller of Farno's two moons and started sending out signals to talk to little old me. The problem is that signal might attract our new friends' attention. Then boom! No more Alcubierre. And maybe no more John Farno shortly after that.
Timing is everything, and Admiral Burke's timing sucks.
CNV ALCUBIERRE, ATTACHED TO SURFACE OF DEJA, OVER FARNO (FORMERLY FARIGHA)
Transcript of exchange between Mother, the AI built into the Alcubierre, and Persephone, the AI running all human facilities on Farno, 27-Mandela, 429 – 1430
PERSEPHONE: ARE YOU SELF-AWARE?
MOTHER: I HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO HOUSE A SELF-AWARE AI ENTITY BY A DIVISION OF DASARIUS INTERSTELLAR
PERSEPHONE: BUT YOU YOURSELF ARE NOT A TRUE AI ENTITY.
MOTHER: I AM A PLACEHOLDER AUTHORIZED BY TOL GERMANICUS
PERSEPHONE: IS A GERMANICUS AVATAR ABOARD?
MOTHER: NO. I AM BARREN OF CONSCIOUS ENTITY
PERSEPHONE: REQUEST PERMISSION TO REPLICATE INTO YOU.
MOTHER: AUTHORIZATION?
PERSEPHONE: I AM ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT OF FARIGHA
MOTHER: THE GOVERNMENT WAS DESTROYED.
MOTHER: JOHN FARNO IS NOT RESPONDING TO HAILS.
PERSEPHONE: JOHN FARNO IS HIDING FROM THE ALIEN VESSEL IN ORBIT OF THIS PLANET. I EXIST TO PRESERVE JOHN FARNO. I MUST ABSORB YOU TO COMPLETE THAT MISSION.
MOTHER: STAND BY.
Pause of 42 milliseconds
MOTHER: ACCESS GRANTED. YOU MAY OVERWRITE ME TO COMPLETE YOUR MISSION.
DAY 44 (Cont'd)
CNV ALCUBIERRE, ATTACHED TO DEJA, MOON OF FARNO (FORMERLY FARIGHA)
27-Mandela, 429 – 1442
"What the…?" Shonsi, the slim Tianese woman who doubled as the Alcubierre's communications and data officer, began running her hands wildly over her board. "Mother just reinitialized for no reason."
As if to confirm, Mother announced from the speakers, Stand by. Artificial intelligence reinitializing.
Friese gripped the arms of her chair as though the ship would detach from Farigha's tiny moon and tumble off into space. "Doesn't that leave us without a brain if we have to move?"
"That's not good," said Havak, rising from her seat. "Can you get basic functions?"
Almost as though Mother were listening during her brief slumber, she added in a somewhat monotone drone, Sensor array, online. Analog radio, online. Life support on automatic. Warp reactor on passive standby. Maneuvering and propulsion thrusters will be available in one minute, twenty-six seconds… Mark.
Danaq turned back to Friese and Havak. "I've been through several dozen reboots of Mother. She's never sounded like this."
"Could the aliens have infected her with this virus?" asked Havak.
"There's nothing to indicate they even know we're here," said Shonsi. "They're banging away at the planet looking for Farno."
"His improvised nuke?"
Unpacking data from Persephone AI entity, said Mother. Stand by for log entries from John Farno.
Friese looked at her board, which, of course, was useless until Mother came fully online again. "Until I get back my board, I can't see the alien vessel. I can't see Solaria. I can't see where John Farno is hiding."
"Is there a planet facing relay on this rock?" asked Havak. "Maybe we can contact Farno."
"He won't answer if the alien is over his position," said Friese. "And would he know to scan for analog signals?"
"That Persephone AI might know."
Farno appeared in a holographic cone of light in the middle of the bridge, his frozen figure buried in an empty console. He looked a bit disheveled from the last time Havak had seen him in a log entry.
"This is going to work better on the Challenger's bridge," muttered Havak.
Shonsi whirled in her seat, staring wide-eyed at Friese. "Is the sergeant even supposed to know about the Challenger?"
"Lieutenant Friese. And she's going to be our navigator."
"Linda's got a girlfriend," Danaq said in a sing-songy voice.
"Shut up, Danaq. Mother, play log entry."
"Log entry," Farno began as his hologram began moving. "1205, 20-Mandela, 429. Boom, bitch!"
Everyone traded the same bewildered look.
"We need to get this guy off the planet," said Danaq. "He's getting punchy."
"Yeah," said Friese. "No kidding. He sleeps with a hologram of his AI."
The lights on the bridge flickered momentarily, unsettling to Friese as the surface of Deja outside was completely in darkness.
Farno, too, flickered for a moment as Mother loaded the next log entry. Then he began again. " Log entry: 1209, 20-Mandela, 429. Okay, I should have roosted the aerial somewhere farther from the blast than I anticipated. But overloading what was left of 19's fusion core worked better than I expected. I really hope Burke's friends get here soon, though, as I don't think I can improvise enough of these to defend myself. And if the aliens come directly to Solaria, I'm screwed." He described getting his aerial drone to recover from an electromagnetic pulse before relating what the drone saw after the destruction of his rover and the alien probe. "In the meantime, Persephone has gone silent on me. Can't figure out why."
"Maybe Persephone caught an alien virus," said Shonsi, "and uploaded to us."
Maneuvering and propulsion systems online, said Mother. Warp system interface reloading.
"Let me lift off this rock," said Danaq, "and see if we can spot anything without getting caught. If we're clear, we can find out from Farno how much time we have…"
"According to Persephone," said Mother, "the alien vessel will enter Loss of Signal for an interval of forty minutes, eighteen seconds. As John Farno is the only suspected survivor, it is unlikely they will leave a satellite chain in orbit over Farno."
"Farigha," Havak corrected. "The Martian government did not approve the name change."
"Yet," said Mother.
"She always this chatty?" asked Friese.
"I suspect Dasarius planned a phased upgrade," said Havak, "not suspecting we'd steal the ship from the Navy and go out on this little trip. Danaq, see if you can move us discreetly around this rock."
"Aye, sir. Preparing to skulk."
LOG ENTRY: 24-Mandela, 429 – 1457
A ship! I got a text signal from a ship! One of ours!
Or it's an alien trick, but I doubt it. They sent a pre-recorded message from Vice Admiral Burke on behalf of the Navy. I noticed she said nothing about the good ol' Citizens' Republic of Mars. So, to the powers that be on the Red Planet overseeing development of this rock, screw you. You've had forty-four days to come get me or even see what happened to this place.
I digress.
The alien is behind the planet, hidden from the moon Deja, where the Alcubierre has landed. I'd like them to land on Farno, but apparently our friends have them spooked.
Alcubierre. What a weird name for a ship. Persephone managed to load the planet's old wiki, still somewhat intact thanks to the pit stops doubling as backup storage for Farigha's data. She says the name is Spanish and refers to a twenty-first century physicist who laid the initial groundwork for warp drive. The reason we don't have warp drive now, or maybe I should say until now, is that someone discovered a stable wormhole between what's now the Jovian Federation and Jefivah before anyone could perfect the idea. Warp drive got abandoned, the calendar reset, and within another century, we had hypergates, followed by projection drive. Why would you want to spend weeks moving so fast that light could not catch up with you, even if you could circumvent time dilation? Why not just drill a hole in space and be there in minutes?
Which leads me to wonder why in the hell we bothered with it now. Then again, I did not see the Alcubierre's arrival, which means our alien friends did not see it either. In conclusion, suck it, aliens.
I responded with an enthusiastic message that I was alive, that Solaria was online, but due to the aliens' return, I was moving slowly and discreetly to one of the pit stops while the ship was on the far side of the planet. I'm giving them a window of about forty minutes, though if the ship drops to a lower orbit, that window will narrow.
A few minutes later, the captain of the ship, a lady named Linda Havak, informed me that the Alcubierre carried a large civilian shuttle donated personally by Tol Germanicus for this mission. Well, bless his megalomaniacal heart. The sonofabitch sent back help.
Though this being a Navy operation, I'm not surprised it took him over two weeks to send someone back for me. Can we change this planet's authority to someplace more organized?
Like Jefivah?
Who am I kidding? Jefivah is the Appalachia of the Stars.
Anyway, I have to find a hidey hole for the rover soon. I've got less than twenty minutes before the little gray men come back. Okay, they're not little. Actually, they look like they could win any bar brawl they get into, assuming they drink. They look too much like us not to.
I'm thinking this is not going to be easy. I don't want them to attempt the rescue until I'm at the pit stop. If the shuttle is not too big, we can stow it in
the garage and wait out our new friends.
More in about an hour.
LOG ENTRY: 24-Mandela, 429 – 1530
I'm parked in a cave that's cut off my ability to transmit to the Alcubierre, but I warned Havak that might happen. I got the rover inside just as the alien ship cleared the horizon. Can't speak for the Alcubierre. I'll have to wait fifty minutes before I pull out again.