Warpath

by Randolph Lalonde

  A male Ando android stood at his side, ensuring that everything he said and did was clearly recorded. “Doctor Messana was trying to solve the problem of removing framework from a living body, and she succeeded, but she also gave us a way to reprogram the software any way we want. This is the secret to destroying the indestructible army. The thing that brings them into being is their greatest weakness. We can infect them with a virus that tells their framework systems to destroy their organic material, and, if we have a gifted programmer, maybe even take control of the soldiers themselves.”

  He touched the cold cheek of the converted Alice copy briefly. Unlike so many autopsies and inspections he’d done before, this one was difficult to take. There was something about the way she looked, with features that were unmistakably the result of Ayan and Jake; that made him want to avoid looking at her. “Again, I do not condone Doctor Messana’s methods. Her logs indicate that she became obsessed with getting Jacob Valent back into shape, to the point of replacing fractured segments of memory with grafts from the original Jonas data found in the Fallen Star’s computer. The work she did repairing the emotional centre of his brain has had obvious results, he is more the man I met almost a decade ago aboard the Sunspire than the hard edged warrior I have come to know. Jonas and Jacob are both killers, there is no doubt there, only the first had a better moral compass, and I think that has been given to Jake, and now I have no misgivings about him and my daughter. I don’t know if Doctor Messana would ever tell him that she made those grafts, or that she adjusted his pheromones to be highly compatible with Ayan’s. It is as if she was so driven to help Jake that she had to ensure his future happiness at the same time. The muscle enhancement and enrichment packages that she installed perfectly were all intended to make his transition from a framework super-man to a mostly normal human as seamless as possible. Scar removal was another art she had mastered, I can’t help but admire the range of skills she had. It is a shame she lost her way, and a tragedy that she was murdered.”

  Doctor Anderson realized he was rambling, avoiding the most difficult topics of the day. “Details on all that are on record. Doctor Messana’s work on Jake led her to begin thinking that she could find a way remove framework systems from the hosts they create, starting with Alice. That was the top of her slippery slope into ethically questionable research.”

  He sighed and forced himself to look at the young red-headed corpse on the table. “This body is a testament to rushed research and an ethical code that was largely ignored. I would not have gone this far. That is coming from a man who made a daughter for himself without her mother’s permission. That is, while removing the mother’s DNA from the daughter I created and replacing it with programmed material instead. I will not apologize for how my daughter came to be, I broke no actual laws, but I did irreparable emotional harm to the first Ayan’s mother. If we’re comparing sins, and it is only human nature to do so, I admit Messana makes my transgression seem small. I admit, I have gone far and a little wide of my own ethics more than once, but never have I stretched that code to the point of breaking. This is a child, and the records show that she was not only alive, but was awake and aware.”

  “Are you sure you’d like your last statement, comparing your transgressions to Doctor Messana’s, on the record, Doctor?” the Ando asked him.

  “Absolutely. Anyone who dares to judge someone should be examined for hypocrisy. I’d hope that whoever gets access to this takes a minute to examine my records, and they’ll find my worst crime is a brutal one, emotionally speaking. I regret cutting the blood ties between Ayan and her mother, it hurt Jessica Rice deeply, and I loved her with all my heart for a long time. Part of me still does. So, no more asking if I’m sure about what’s going on the record, all right?”

  “I understand. Thank you for explaining, Doctor.”

  “You’re welcome, let’s continue. The research I’ve examined here can save Alice, and then save millions more by defeating the soldiers of our enemy bloodlessly. That raises the question: do the ends justify the means? Would I be proclaiming that they do by using the methods she discovered if I used her research? This is a question I’ve asked myself more than once in my career, and I have almost always answered no. I have seen medical technology that could have accomplished miracles, but had a hand in judging them based on how they were discovered. Locked away are the secrets to automatic limb regeneration, instantaneous memory transfer from any range, and not to mention the crush gate technology that Lorander has kept from the rest of the galaxy for over a century. My former association with the British put me on a council that judged the researchers of these and other technologies based on ethics before the first Ayan was even born, and I have to wonder if putting those secrets away was truly good for mankind. No one had to know how the technologies were discovered and the researchers could have been kept from reaping the rewards for their work. In this particular case, Doctor Messana is dead, along with all but a few members of her team. One is being delivered to a place where he will most likely not survive long, while the others are hiding somewhere on Tamber, a place that will soon be more dangerous than ever thanks to a food shortage. If riots or random crime don’t kill them, my Rangers will find them and I’ll have them imprisoned. No researchers will be rewarded for what they’ve done yet ethically using the technology to cure Alice is wrong. It validates their actions.

  At the same time, her future is in question because she is not suited to do the one thing she wants to most: become a soldier. I have been watching her progress for long enough to confirm that her ability to process traumatic events will not improve over time regardless of any therapy. Whereas the Framework technology stifled Jake’s ability to properly process positive emotions under most circumstances, something I admit I’m surprised my daughter was able to break through, Alice’s framework does something different. As Alice participates in, and witnesses more real or simulated violent acts, her mental trauma will steadily increase. A memory lock will prevent therapy from working. Reprogramming the framework technology so she is more receptive to therapy is not an option. Doctor Messana tried, and something inside the framework detects intrusions and reacts, sometimes destroying the framework host permanently. No, the only way is to trick the framework into thinking it is critically damaged, then to alter the software during repairs so the framework removes itself. It took seven tries to find the right method. Six copies of Alice were mutilated and destroyed before she got it right with the seventh. The solution is here, and I’m not supposed to use it to cure this bright girl of a system that will eventually take everything but life from her?”

  Doctor Anderson ran his hand down his face.

  “Am I supposed to answer that question?” asked the android recording him.

  “No, Ando Three,” he replied. He looked a little like Minh-Chu Buu, so Doctor Anderson left him that way instead of customizing his appearance. Doctor Anderson stared into the face of the Alice copy that had been cured for a long moment. “Wait, why not? Go ahead and answer.”

  “Putting emotions aside,” the Ando Three said. “You are questioning the ethics of using Doctor Messana’s research thoroughly and well. You’re also putting your thoughts on record, which offers people who question your decision later an insight into the process that will lead to whatever action you take.”

  “All right, so my butt is at least partially covered,” Doctor Anderson said. “What conclusion is your android brain coming to?”

  “It tells me to refer to the law. A machine that is proven to be fully aware may be copied legally if there is no other solution to continuing its existence, and only if that machine agrees to be duplicated,” Ando Three answered. “That is the law where I was manufactured on Albin Five. The law is a result of several judgements spanning the past seventy years. Those judgements answer the questions you’ve asked in a particularly clear way. Was it right for her to attempt to cure Alice? Yes. Was it right for Doctor Messana to conduct her research using sentien
t copies of Alice? No. Now that the crimes have been committed, does it matter if anyone makes gains from it? Yes. Are those gains satisfactorily prevented according to the Albin Courts? Yes, but only if the last two researchers who could have reported and prevented the crimes are apprehended and kept from making future gains. Will further harm come to the people who the research methods damaged? No. The subjects are all dead. Should you use Doctor Messana’s research to prevent further harm? Yes, but only if those benefiting from that research are made aware of how the treatment was discovered and refined.”

  “So, according to the laws governing sentient life on Albin Five, I should show Alice the records then ask her if she wants this cure,” Doctor Anderson said.

  “Yes,” Ando Three answered. “A difficult situation, especially since Alice is not known for being perfectly logical.”

  “Good point. What would you want, if you were Alice?” he asked.

  “She is a teenager. According to the Marson Guide To Raising Adolescents, all teenagers want to be treated as an adult sentient. They want to feel that they control their own destinies. If I were acting on the advice of that guide, the most popular guide on adolescents in the galaxy, I would show her the materials surrounding the issue and assist her in making an informed decision. I caution you that most teenagers want more responsibility than they know how to handle, sometimes leading to failure. It is one of the ways in which they grow.”

  “But Alice will never grow,” Doctor Anderson said.

  “Then I don’t envy the decision you have to make. It makes her problem unique, all living things change, but she does not, even though she qualifies as a living thing in every other way.”

  “I think I agree with you, Ando Three, thank you. One more question: What do you think of using this technology as a weapon to shorten a war that could kill billions?”

  “Two wrongs do not make a right. This research resulted in the destruction of sentient life. Using it to kill more sentients will only continue that legacy, especially when there is another way. Use the weapon the Order of Eden already made to kill unregistered frameworks instead. Even considering that framework technology may eventually be made immune to that option, the result will still be similar.”

  “I should just leave and let you make all the decisions,” Doctor Anderson said.

  “I don’t think that would help, since I wouldn’t get myself into your kind of trouble,” he replied.

  “Fair enough,” Doctor Anderson said. “All right, preserve this body for now. How is our VIP doing?”

  “She is stable, and ready to wake,” said Ando Two from the next room.

  “All right, wake her up,” he said as he left the main room of the lab, leaving Ando Three behind to carefully re-insert the body back into a stasis tube.

  An open, heavy reinforced doorway led to the next room where a woman was propped up on a table set to a sixty degree angle. Her chest and arms were visible but the rest of her was covered by a long tube. The room was simple, with life support machinery that was sealed and silent. The woman strapped into the table began to groggily open her eyes.

  “Welcome to our facility. You are the prisoner of a clandestine organization with no name, have no rights, and will not escape unless we decide it is good for us if you do so. Answer my questions, and we may consider making your stay more comfortable,” Doctor Anderson said as though reciting something he’d said a hundred times.

  She stared at him, and Doctor Anderson simply looked back at her, keeping his attitude and demeanor light. “You were put into full stasis after technically dying aboard the Fallen Star. They brought you to me on my request, and the records say that we were not able to save you, and that your remains were incinerated then put into this storage box.” He took a long silver box from the android standing next to him and shook the contents. It sounded like ash and bone fragments. “This is what we’ll be cataloging. About half of it is actually you, since I didn’t bother saving your legs or lower torso.” He handed the box back to Ando Two. “Catalog that in the official record please, we need to finish reporting her dead.”

  “Yes, Doctor,” Ando Two replied. “I’ll send Ando One in with some water for our patient.”

  “Thank you,” Doctor Anderson said. He looked at her and could see that she was trying as hard as she could not to react to her situation. Her arms did not move within their restraints and her breathing was steady. He brought up a medical hologram that verified that she was stable, and perfectly connected to the life support systems that did everything her missing organs were supposed to. “I’m not a ghoul, or a torturer, and I’d like to give you your independent health and mobility back some day. Until then, I’m not going to harm you, I’m going to maintain your life, and keep you as healthy as you are right now. You will be comfortable, but alone except for me and the three androids who maintain this space. That is, unless you give me information. I think we should start with your name. I don’t care if it’s your real name, though that would be preferable, but I don’t want the Andos to keep calling you ‘patient’ for the rest of your life, so anything will do for now.”

  Just for a moment there seemed to be a little fear in her expression. He was sure he caught it around the time he told her she would be alone. He waited. He did not move, but stared at her calmly and watched every motion on her face. Every few seconds she looked her up and down, calling her attention to what wasn’t there: nearly everything from the rib cage down. For several minutes she stared back at him, but then her gaze began to wander. His unmarked vacsuit didn’t warrant much attention. The open door kept her staring for close to a minute, where she could see the copy of Alice being put into a stasis tube by an android. She managed to look the rest of the room over in a few seconds. Then her eyes fixed on the hologram that displayed what was left of her body, everything from the mid-torso up, and her life data.

  Ando One arrived with a water bottle and offered it to their captive. She drew on the straw, drinking long gulps of the cool water calmly. Then Doctor Anderson saw the first crack in her armour, and it was a large one. She closed her eyes after the first few sips and continued drinking. A tear rolled down her cheek. She breathed raggedly and when she opened her eyes she was more a young woman in distress than she was a Citadel Special Forces member. “My name is Paka.”

  Ando One, who looked like a pretty young woman with almost overlarge cheeks and eyes, mopped up Paka’s tear with a soft cloth. “Are you finished drinking?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Paka said. “This was my first mission as an agent, I was a soldier with medical training before I was noticed, then retrained as an agent. I was told that you would torture and kill me if I was caught.”

  “Well, you’re safe here. I’m not interested in torturing you. I’m wondering what you were after in the Fallen Star? Why did you kill everyone aboard?”

  “They were playing with technology they did not understand, a trans-dimensional drive that could tear the galaxy apart,” Paka replied. “I was to kill the researchers and destroy the drive’s core.”

  “From what I understand, you had gained access to the main controls for that system. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to overload it. It would have been easier for you to destroy the drive then.”

  “It was my first mission,” Paka offered. “I thought it would destroy the drive, but it just killed most of the crew instead.”

  “And you finished the rest off yourself,” Doctor Anderson said. “I’ve been involved with the military, I understand. You had your orders.”

  “Yes, I had my orders.”

  “Well, thank you,” Doctor Anderson said. “It’ll take me some time to confirm your story. For now, you’re going to be kept still from the neck down so you don’t disconnect from any of the equipment keeping you alive. If you feel any pain or discomfort, the androids here will take good care of you. They will do their best to keep you entertained using the holographic system in the room, but you won’t be able to access anything
yourself, the androids will process any of your requests and enter them into the system. I’ll see you soon,” Doctor Anderson said, leaving the room. The armoured door closed behind him.

  “She lied,” Ando Two whispered. “I could hear it in her voice, everything she said was a lie.”

  “I know,” Doctor Anderson said. “Keep her comfortable. Record everything, and start installing what we were talking about yesterday.”

  “The direct access device? Are you sure?”

  “It won’t do any permanent harm to her, and we can keep her partially sedated to eliminate most of the discomfort. I’m willing to walk this line if you’re willing to delete the records.”

  “You are sounding like the scientists you seem to have a general distaste for,” Ando Two said.

  “You’re right, and I’ll have to live with it unless she starts telling the truth. The answers in her mind, the insight she can give us into Citadel are more important than preventing a mild period of discomfort.”

  “I understand,” Ando Two said. “I was only mentioning it because you told me to question acts that you may regret later.”

  “I know,” Doctor Anderson said. “Hold the door closed and keep things running until I get back. I have to go talk to Alice.”

  Chapter 46

  Overlord Patterson, the Beast of the Order

  The bridge of the Dominant was made of dark blue near seamless plating trimmed with silver. Three-metre thick transparent metal fronted the grand space, providing an expansive view of the brown, white and gold section of the Iron Head Nebula. To the sides were two railing ringed levels of control stations. Over sixty officers worked there. Beneath was a pit of less important stations, where technicians and lower ranking officers performed more pedestrian tasks at their stations. The broad, circular pit was split down the middle by a wide walkway leading to a platform in front of the tall transparent section of forward facing hull. Clark Patterson stood in the middle of a raised island at the centre of the bridge, he could see every officer at every station, and the only way to join him on the circular observation platform was a stair at its rear.