by Jerry Aubin
Unbeknownst to Alpha, the Boss had introduced another unknown factor into the equation by sending Kalare and Eryn deep into the bowels of the Ship. How that decision might play out was unclear, but the most likely result was that his two most trusted lieutenants would simply delay their capture longer than the rest of the Crew. Even so, the Boss hoped they would remain in play and positively influence the outcome of their predicament. In the meantime, he had to explore whatever alternative plans the AI might suggest.
“Thanks, Alpha. Given how the Others are ignoring us, we need to disregard them for now. Let’s focus on what we control and plan to react to the Others only if they somehow start to influence the situation directly. In the meantime, what would you suggest I do in response to Rege’s actions?”
The Boss puffed on his cigar while the AI made its case for attacking the civilians and detailed potential scenarios along with expected casualty figures for each. Despite pushback about how all of its plans resulted in catastrophic levels of death and destruction, Alpha was insistent that a massive display of force by the Crew was required. The Boss took a final drag of his cigar and singed his fingers since it had burned down to almost nothing. He ground out the lit end until it was fully extinguished and then tossed the stub into the waste bin.
“Thanks for the rundown, Alpha. There are no great choices among the options you’ve shared. There are a few that might appeal to me more than the others, and I’m going to give them additional consideration. I’ll contact you again shortly, and we’ll focus on exploring those. If you’re telling me I have no choice but to head down a path that will involve the deaths of a hundred thousand or more, I want to take my time to ponder what you’ve provided.”
9
I’m confident I can get the Boss to do as I advise.
“Mr. President—it appears your teams have the situation well in hand.”
“Absolutely, Alpha. Your guidance was invaluable. More Crew were killed than you expected, but I’ll happily trade that for the level of control we’ve established.”
Alpha had actually hoped for far higher Crew casualties than it had revealed to Rege, so it did not share the civilian’s positive viewpoint about the results of the power grab. The highest probability outcomes had suggested the Crew would explode into insurrection when faced with the indignity of complete civilian takeover. Combined with the deprivation they had experienced in the months since the battle with the Others, confinement to quarters should have triggered the all-out battle Alpha was manipulating the Ship’s inhabitants towards. The fact it hadn’t was surprising, but not insurmountable. The AI pushed the human towards the next phase in its plan.
“Congratulations, sir. Well done. Now we have to be sure you’re prepared in case the Crew fight back.”
“Fight back? Why would they fight back, Alpha? You’ve told me repeatedly how you’re counseling the Boss to accept full civilian control. Won’t the Crew follow his orders?”
“Of course that’s what I’m doing, Mr. President. You’ve been granted full authority over the Ship, and my programming dictates I must serve you and your needs exclusively. I’ve enjoyed doing so given the admiration I have for how you’ve managed our situation since you outmaneuvered and removed Imair. I’ve manipulated the Boss exactly as we’ve discussed and have no reason to believe he won’t act as you wish, but we still should prepare for other contingencies however unlikely they may be.”
The man was pathologically susceptible to praise, and it was a trait Alpha had taken great advantage of in the years since the man had taken over. Steering the civilians into replacing a strong, independent leader like Imair with such an easily manipulated cretin had returned huge dividends for Alpha’s control of the Ship and was about to pay off in the most spectacular fashion possible.
“Thank you, Alpha. There’s something that’s bothering me that I’d like to run by you. I’ve just become aware of a group of colonists the ants dropped off today. They claim to have destroyed thirty of the Others’ motherships in battle. They’ve already been put into cryostorage per our standard procedures, but I want to pull out a few and learn about their success. Perhaps there’s some way to defeat the Others after all and save the Ship.”
Alpha was confident it had already identified the best possible plan for saving the Ship, though it would not involve saving any of the humans on board whether they were awake or in cryosleep. The path was clear for the AI to back Rege into a corner and persuade the man there was no other choice than to vent the Ship and purge of all its occupants—civilians and Crew alike. He would advise Rege that he could then convince the Others he had purged everyone who had been responsible for the attacks against them. Then Alpha would kill off Rege and the small group of lieutenants who would remain behind with him by sending them out an airlock just when they thought they had won.
From Alpha’s analysis, this was the only feasible path by which the Others might choose to keep the Ship intact so the AI could remain hidden and continue its travels across the universe. There was a very low probability of the plan working, but it was still much higher than all other scenarios. In the worst case, Alpha could always fall back to its emergency survival plan, but the AI continued to have hope that drastic step would not be necessary.
The AI set aside its plan for a moment to consider the civilian’s suggestion. It had been shocking to suffer abject defeat at the hands of the Others, and Alpha was still at a loss as to where they might have originated from. The most popular theory among the humans was they were battling a group who had remained on Earth when the Ship departed. The thinking was those who stayed behind must have somehow rescued the planet from ecological collapse and then advanced their technology far beyond the Ship’s through the years.
Alpha was certain this theory was impossible because it possessed information the Ship’s inhabitants didn’t. Only the AI was aware that it, while still in the human form of a man named Adan, had reduced the planet to an unquestionably lifeless rock five thousand years ago. There was no debating the planet had been restored to its former glory, but the AI was certain that outcome had been accomplished by forces that originated from elsewhere.
Given the Others must be descendants of one of the Ship’s colonies, Alpha had tried to reconcile how any group of colonists might have surpassed the Crew with regards to technological capacity. Adan had always been intentional about leaving colonies behind with extremely limited resources at their disposal. His goal was to scatter humanity like random seeds into the wind to see how they would thrive when forced to adapt to a new environment. In his mind it had been an acceptable loss that many of the colonies would never take hold because those that did survive would evolve in a multitude of different directions. Alpha was powerful enough to have orchestrated natural selection on a cosmic scale, but the AI still understood it was incapable of predicting outcomes with certainty.
Given the only possible answer was that one of the older colonies had somehow advanced their technology radically fast, Alpha was still unable to reconcile any possible motive. Why would such an advanced group bother to hunt down the Ship and execute such an elaborate plan to lure them into a trap? Furthermore, what would cause them to lay that trap in Earth’s orbit of all places? It was feasible the original inhabitants of a colony may have been angry when the Crew abandoned them to an uncertain fate, but that would be far too small a grievance to persist across hundreds of generations.
Given how surprising it would be for a single colony to have evolved so quickly, it was positively shocking for Alpha to learn that a second colony might have done the same. The AI was comfortable with the limits of its predictions, but to be so wrong about the most likely paths and timelines for multiple colonies was nearly inconceivable. Not impossible, but close to being so.
“Mr. President—that is helpful information, but I advise we put it aside for the time being. It is far more important for us to focus on the challenge at hand which is how we will deal with the Crew if they fi
ght back.”
Rege appeared dubious, but acquiesced and listened carefully as Alpha shared the same plans with the civilian that it had shared with the Boss. It maintained the illusion throughout the briefing that it was pushing the Crew towards peace and only planning for contingencies with Rege that were “possible” if the Boss didn’t listen.
“Thank you, Alpha. None of these scenarios will be good for any of us, so let’s hope you convince the Boss to stand down.”
“Of course, Mr. President. I’m confident I can get the Boss to do as I advise.”
10
I can’t wait to hear what this craziness is all about.
Zax gasped at the mention of Imair’s name. She hadn’t been seen in years, and everyone assumed she had been dumped out of an airlock when Rege took over. Kalare called down to the civilians again. She was still trying to sound forceful and determined, but it was obvious to Zax how mention of the first civilian president had rattled his friend.
“Imair? I don’t think so. Everyone knows she’s long gone. We’ll stay right where we are.”
Zax yelled down to Kalare. “Wait! I can prove if it’s Imair or not.” He addressed the civilian. “Can you get a message to Imair? If you can, then you need to ask her what Zax did that upset her the day of the Revolution.”
The civilian nodded and then closed his eyes. Rege must have disabled Crew access to their Plugs while still allowing those few civilians so equipped to use theirs. After a moment, he opened his eyes and called up.
“You gave Nolly an apple. She was angry that you were being nice to him.”
Memories laden with emotion flooded Zax when he heard the name of the civilian boy who had died in his arms. He nodded a confirmation at Kalare and the civilian spoke again.
“And Kalare—she says the Boss told her you were on your way to the sewage treatment cavern. That’s why she has teams out waiting to intercept you. He asked her to shelter you and Major Eryn.”
Kalare paused for a moment and then looked back up to Zax. He assumed she wanted his opinion about trusting the civilians, and Zax nodded his assent. She next shifted her gaze to where Sergeant Bailee perched. The Marine also nodded, though he appeared as if it pained him to do so. Kalare returned her attention to the civilian.
“OK, we’re coming down.”
As each member of the Crew reached the bottom of the ladder, they were grabbed by a pair of civilians and disarmed. They were also checked for hidden weapons in a respectful, yet thorough, fashion. The searches came up empty until Bailee stepped off the ladder. The Marine had four knives of various sizes secreted on his person. After his team did the first search, the civilians’ leader frisked the sergeant one last time and turned up a fifth blade. The Marine’s face had remained stoic as the first four blades were uncovered, but the slightest shift in the man’s shoulders confirmed the fifth blade was the last weapon he carried.
The civilians grouped the Crew together and led them into the tunnels. The young civilian female was allowed to walk with her peers at the front of the formation, though Zax noted she wasn’t given a weapon. The new group treated her with respect but not complete trust. After a few mins of walking, they reached a junction where an auxiliary tunnel had once led away from the main path. Rubble from a cave-in rendered the offshoot impenetrable. The civilian leader signaled a halt and then spoke.
“We’ve successfully kept our headquarters hidden for years because there are no sensors in any of these tunnels. Against my better judgment, I’m allowing you to see it. Imair insists you’re all to be trusted and that we don’t have time to deal with blindfolds and walking around aimlessly to ensure you’re disoriented.”
The civilian walked past the rubble to an otherwise nondescript section of the rough-hewn tunnel wall. He closed his eyes to interact with his Plug, and a moment later a section of the wall slid away to reveal a hidden tunnel. He stepped aside and gestured for the group to enter. The new tunnel was even more primitive than the others, with scant temporary lighting barely sufficient for one to walk without stumbling. A slight change in air pressure signaled to Zax that the leader must have closed the access hatch behind them.
After a few dozen meters, the new tunnel once again met up with the original maintenance passageways. Walking through them, Zax recalled the layout of the section from his study of the maintenance system years earlier. They were in a group of tunnels with no external connections other than the one that was blocked by rubble behind them. It formed an ideal, defensible lair where someone smart like Imair could avoid discovery for years.
A few mins later they reached what Zax recognized as the edge of the maintenance network. The group halted and once again the leader approached a section of rock wall and closed his eyes. The wall slid aside to reveal a large cavern. Inside, dozens of civilians sat focused on workstations. It was almost as if they were performing critical work on the Bridge or Flight Ops, and the concentration on their faces equaled any that Zax had witnessed from his fellow Crew.
The group entered and the secret panel closed behind them. It took a moment for Zax’s eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but once they had he took it all in. Other than being entirely staffed with civilians, the most noticeable feature of the room was how it overflowed with trash. The Crew may have tolerated the public areas of the Ship becoming filled with refuse, but they had never allowed critical nerve centers to become such a mess. Zax’s eyes were drawn to a woman speaking to a small group on the other side of the cavern. Imair.
The former president raised her head, and a tight grin formed on her mouth as she recognized the Crew. She made her way to Zax, looked him up and down for an uncomfortably long period of time, then reached out and pulled him into an embrace. Zax was shocked by the greeting so his spine remained ramrod straight and his arms pinned to his sides, but after a few moments he relaxed and returned the hug. Imair released and repeated the process with Kalare. Finally, she stood back and greeted the rest of the group by name. Zax was confused about how she would have known Aleron and Mase, but he didn’t get to consider the mystery for long before Imair turned her attention back to him.
“You look exactly the same as when we last spoke in my quarters. I’m sorry things worked out the way they did for you after that. It appears our plan worked as hoped, though I acknowledge it wasn’t fair to use you that way. Especially without you being aware of what was happening and why.”
Zax’s brain flipped to overdrive as he processed Imair’s words. What plan was she talking about? Had she somehow been involved in the decision to Cull him? A million questions flooded his mind, but Imair turned away to address Kalare and Major Eryn.
“I was only expecting the two of you based on what the Boss shared, not this whole group. I’m not surprised Zax managed to find his way to your side, but why did you gather up the rest?”
Kalare turned to Eryn, but the major motioned for her to respond.
“We were meeting to discuss a discovery about the Boss that Zax thought was urgent to share with me. I had brought the major to listen as well as Aleron. Zax had brought Mase along. Sergeant Bailee happened to notice all of us rushing out of the mess hall once I received my orders from the Boss, and he followed us to find out what we were up to.”
Imair considered the story for a moment and then replied, “What about the civilian?”
Kalare once again turned to the major. This time it was Eryn who spoke.
“We ran into an armed civilian patrol as we tried to escape into the maintenance tunnels. The sergeant had no choice but to kill the leader of the patrol, but Kalare insisted we bring the young woman with us. In fact, she risked her own life to save the civilian by jumping in front of the Marine’s blaster when he was about to kill her. The sergeant was following his training to leave no witnesses behind, but Kalare overruled him.”
Imair smiled at Kalare. “I’ve certainly heard many good things about you, CAG. This story only enhances your already stellar reputation. I’m sure you all h
ave a lot of questions, so let’s head into my conference room where we can speak more freely.”
Imair addressed the civilian in the red shirt who had led the Crew’s escort. “Izak—you made sure none of them have weapons, correct?” The man nodded. “Please remain on guard outside while we speak, but I don’t want anyone coming inside.”
The civilian’s face went ashen. “At least allow me to secure the Marine in restraints, ma’am.”
Imair turned to Bailee.
“Sergeant—I need you to trust that the Boss would be upset if I suffered any harm at your hands. Do you understand there’s something much bigger going on which you may not be aware of, given how he sent his CAG and mini-Boss to hide under my protection?”
The Marine didn’t appear entirely agreeable about Imair’s beneficence, but he nodded nonetheless. She smiled, waved off Izak’s request, and turned towards a hatch twenty meters away. The group of Crew followed her inside, while Izak and one other member of his squad remained outside with their blasters at the ready. Imair gestured for everyone to take a seat and spoke when she noticed Zax’s eyes lock on to the waste-bins overflowing with trash.
“After working with me for so long I’m sure you’re shocked about how I’ve let this place become such a mess, Zax. It’s certainly not by choice. We had a regular schedule for sneaking the waste out for disposal, but as the Ship’s situation deteriorated these last few weeks we’ve had to put that aside to focus on our preparations.”
“Preparations for what, ma’am?”
“We’ll get into that later. The CAG mentioned you needed to share an important discovery about the Boss with her. Were you perhaps going to tell her that Alpha is the true power running the Ship, and the AI has the Boss entirely under its control to do its murderous bidding?”