“These are the locations of the major settlements on this planet. Each had been disintegrated and in its place there was nothing more than a rent in the crust through which magma pours.”
McCall whistled through her teeth. “It’s as if something has surgically removed the settlements, leaving the planet to heal itself.”
“Yes,” Wells said. “The black area is a layer of carbon caused by a more general burning. We theorise this was to ensure that no thinking beings were left, even outside of the main settlements.”
The view zoomed in as Scout sped up her recorded approach. When the planet filled the screen, they could see the damage more clearly. “It’s like looking at the surface of Hell,” Hal muttered.
And now the view switched so it seemed to be flying across the surface beneath the raging clouds.
“This is the feed from a drone,” Scout said. “I did not dare order it to approach any closer as the heat would have destroyed it.”
The display showed a slowly panning view of a landscape out of nightmares. A massive ocean of molten rock filled the middle portion. Above stood the tortured sky and below the blackened earth. It was as if a vengeful god had abandoned its people and wiped clean the world it had created.
“What did this?” Arla whispered.
“We call it the Intruder,” the holographic Scout said, “since it came from outside of the Luminescence, outside of the main galaxy. We know where it originated, and have plotted its final destination —”
“Core.”
“Yes. But we do not comprehend the motivation for its mission.”
Arla stared at the hellish landscape for a few moments, lost in thought. “Where is it now?”
“The intruder seems to possess the capability to perform multiple jumps without emerging from each gate, making precise tracking impossible.”
“So it has bypassed some systems?”
The red-headed holograph nodded. “Yes. When we resolved its trajectory, we began evacuating the settled planets and bases along its path, but it has ignored most of them. It appears to use gas giants to refuel and destroys any settlements in that system almost as an afterthought.”
“But that seems incredibly inefficient,” Arla said. “If its aim is to wipe out intelligence, why does it leave so many untouched?”
It was Wells who supplied the answer. “On the contrary, it is very efficient. The longer it spends on its trajectory, the more time it gives us to respond. It wishes to arrive at Core as soon as possible and before we can mount an effective defence. And once it has cut out the heart of the Robot Empire, as you call it, I have no doubt it will, at its leisure, eliminate all the peripheral colonies with perfect efficiency.”
Abruptly, the display switched from the view of the planet to that of another sun. This time, however, the star was more bluish. “This is the recording of my first encounter with the intruder,” Scout’s avatar said.
They watched as the view swung round, away from the sun and its gate. Overlays appeared showing the same indecipherable digits as before until this was replaced, a few seconds later, by a schematic of the system showing the star and a gas giant with a hazy path shimmering between them.
“I detected a powerful x-ray signature during my initial sensor sweep,” Scout continued. “I theorised that this radiation was being output by the intruder and plotted its relative strength. What you see here is a plot of the irradiated debris within the system - interplanetary rubble that absorbed the radiation as the Intruder passed, and now emitted it back into space.”
“And that led you to the Intruder?” Arla asked, biting back her annoyance at Scout’s obvious smugness.
“Yes. I will now play the recording of the encounter, though I am not sure it will translate well to a video feed.”
They watched as the display switched back to a view of space that left the sun behind.
“Scout is overlaying the sensor readings across the entire electromagnetic spectrum,” Wells said, striding over to the screen and pointing. “They confirm that the Intruder emits x-rays and this area is a schematic of the gas giant.”
Arla followed his finger to a circular graphic that plainly represented the planet. Set to its side was a small dot and a funnel shape connected it and the gas giant together. The funnel pulsed as if something were flowing into the dot.
“Is it refuelling?”
Scout’s avatar nodded. “That is my theory. Material is being drawn from deep within the gas giant’s atmosphere - the colour you can see here represents the temperature.”
“So it’s not just siphoning off hydrogen?”
“No indeed,” Wells said, “these readings seem to indicate that it is imbibing the core of the planet.”
“Ripping its heart out,” McCall murmured.
“Dramatic but apposite. There is no telling what impact this reduction in the planet’s core will have on it and the system in general. Perhaps the bigger question is what the Intruder wants with such vast quantities of liquid rock and metal.”
Scout’s avatar swept her hand over the display and the view switched back to a star-field of deep black with a magnified segment at the top right that contained a telescopic view of the gas giant. A huge black spot sat on its equator, the wound caused by the Intruder which was too small to be seen at the same scale.
“It was at this point that it seemed to notice my scans. The next scenes are … uncomfortable … for me.” The avatar turned away, shielding her face from the view.
Arla held her breath. Nothing happened. The display continued to show the same apparently peaceful view as it had all along. She was just about to call to Scout when, in an instant, something flashed into the centre of the screen and grew so quickly she flinched, expecting it to burst out.
“What the hells was that?” McCall said as she lowered her arms.
Hal stirred for the first time. “It was an eye,” he said, his voice level, calm and devoid of life, “and in the pupil was an open jaw. I thought it was going to swallow us all.”
Wells stood up and dismissed the avatar with a gesture. “It was merely a ghost image created by Scout’s artificial mind as she unconsciously threw up her defences. What you saw there wasn’t something real in the physical universe, it was the manifestation of the Intruders essence as she interpreted it. Or, at least, that part of the Intruder that responded to her sensor probe. It’s possible that it was a reflex reaction to being examined - something akin to a wasp’s sting.”
“Charming,” McCall said, “We’re being sent to reason with a thing that boils down to an all-seeing-eye with teeth, or an insect’s sting. How do we even get close enough to communicate?”
“We have no reason to believe the electromagnetic pulse that resulted in that image will harm you at all, Doctor.”
McCall gave a grim smile. “No, and no reason to think it won’t, either.”
Raid
Bex fell out of bed as the alarm bellowed. “Lights!” she barked as she scrambled her way to the bed-stand and shoved her lenses in, impatiently waiting for them to adjust. She blinked and the room came into focus.
She stabbed at the contact. “What the hell is it?”
“We’re being boarded!”
“McLintock?”
Bex flinched as the channel filled with static. “McLintock!” She threw her jacket around her shoulders, stepped into her boots and headed towards Comms.
“Crew of Dawn, there is no cause for alarm.” Bex stopped and looked up at the intraship display. “We have a task to perform that should take very little time. Please remain where you are and do not interfere - we do not wish to harm anyone.”
Bex felt a chill spread through her body. The voice was obviously artificial, and yet it had implied a threat - something that ought to have been impossible for a robot to even utter.
Something shoved into her and she half fell against the wall. “Kumar! Look where you’re going, you idiot!”
“I’m sorry! I heard the announce
ment and came running! What’s going on?”
Bex pulled her jacket closer around herself. “Whatever it is, it’s not going on down there!”
Nareshkumar’s dark features reddened. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve never thought of you as a —”
“Woman? Nice.”
“Sorry…”
“Oh get a grip,” Bex said, “there’s not much to see, but what there is, I’d rather keep to myself.”
“Sorr—”
“Stop apologising! Get your head out of your pants and come with me, we need to find out what’s going on.”
She half dragged the paralysed geek along with her as they headed for Comms.
“Shit, what’s that?”
The hatch that led into Comms had been sealed shut and two figures stood outside. Two figures of metal and plastic - and they were holding weapons.
Bex jabbed a finger at the nearer of the two. “Who the hell are you?”
“I am Marine MSX1009-1RGX20. Please step back.” The robot pointed the business end of its rifle at Bex.
“You’re a robot, you can’t shoot me!”
“This weapon is designed to stun rather than kill,” the marine responded, “though I am told its effect can be quite unpleasant for humans.”
“What happened to First Law? To not harming humans?”
“It is unlikely that you would be harmed. I regret any possibility of injury, but my commander believes that our mission here merits that small risk.”
As it said that, the hatch rolled back and revealed a small figure that looked as though it was made up of flowing metal. It ignored Bex and Nareshkumar entirely and spoke to the guards. “Our mission has been accomplished and I have ordered our withdrawal.” Now it turned its featureless head in Bex’s direction, the only indication she had that it had moved at all was a slight change in the rippling pattern of its metallic skin. “Please do not attempt to hinder us. We will be gone shortly.”
“What the frak are you doing here?”
The metal figure moved out of Comms followed by a half dozen robot guards and swept past Bex without responding. The two marines at the door were the last to leave, following their commander towards the airlock. McLintock and three other engineers emerged, dazed, from Comms and watched as the robots disappeared from view.
“I want them followed,” Bex said. “Report as soon as they’re off the ship. And then I want to hear from every eye-witness - I need to know what their mission was.”
McLintock nodded. “I watched them, commander,” he said, “they went straight for the medical suite.”
“What the hell would they want there?”
McLintock shrugged and headed off behind the robots.
“They went into the ICU,” Medical Technician Temple said. Bex had found him locked in the supplies cupboard, bound head and foot. She ripped the tape from around his legs and helped him up.
“I don’t understand what they’d need from us - they’re hardly in need of medical supplies,” Bex said.
“Commander.”
“What is it, Kumar?”
She followed the sound of his voice and found him in the ICU where three of the four bays contained empty trolleys. The fourth bay, where Nareshkumar stood, contained nothing other than a tangle of tubes, some of them leaking fluid onto the floor. Without saying a word, he pointed at the display above the bed.
“Kiama!” Bex hissed. “They took Kiama!”
“But she was brain dead, wasn’t she? I mean, Kronke shot her in the head.”
Bex was pacing up and down, clack clacking her way from one side of the briefing room to the other. Medic Temple sat next to Nareshkumar at the horseshoe shaped table, a portable display in his hands, sweeping from left to right as if searching for something.
“Here it is,” he said, swiping the image onto the wall screen. “This is the scan taken by Doctor McCall when Kiama was brought in. The scan didn’t seem necessary, to be honest, as half her face was missing. As you can see there’s barely a trace of brain activity. The scan shows multiple injuries, especially to the temporal and parietal lobes.”
Bex threw herself down into the seat opposite Temple. “Look, spell it out for me. Was she brain dead? Explain it to me as if I was a child.” If you dare, she thought.
“Yes. The injuries were too serious, there was no hope of recovery.”
“If that’s the case, why was she being kept alive?”
Temple shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess the captain hadn’t yet given the order to switch off the life support.”
“So why did the machines take her? What possible purpose could they find in a dead body? Any theories, Kumar?”
The technician shook his head uncertainly. “Strictly speaking, the body wasn’t dead, only the mind.”
“Don’t get semantic with me!” Bex snapped.
“Hold on, I think he might have something,” Temple said, before turning to Nareshkumar. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the First Law would prevent a robot from abducting a human against their will would it not?”
“I am no robotics expert, but from what I understand you are correct - unless the robot believed it was in the human’s best interests to be abducted. A rare occurrence, I would think.”
“But how do they define a human? For one of our robots, it would be simple - if it looks like a person and acts like a person, it’s a human being. But these robots of Core seem to have moved on from this rigid interpretation. We know there are androids among them, for example, so the interpretation of the First Law must be more subtle.”
Bex felt the shape of the answer forming in her mind, but was beaten to the punch by Nareshkumar.
“You’re suggesting that Kiama’s injuries meant that the machines no longer regarded her as human? So they could take her without concern.”
“As if she was a hunk of meat,” Bex added.
Temple nodded. “It’s a possibility, at least.”
“But that just brings us back to the beginning. Why would they steal a living body without a mind? Unless … “ she paused as the thought finally coalesced. “Unless they have a mind in need of a body.”
Prelude
Another sun melted into view as Hal and Arla sat in the cockpit, going through the post-jump checklist.
“Scanning,” Scout said, her voice edged with an unmistakable nervousness. “Confirmed. The Intruder is currently orbiting the fifth planet in this system, designation CONDRUN RAD 138:877:129. I am now going into hibernation. Good luck.”
Instantly, the bank of instruments dedicated to Scout fell dark and they were alone. Hours earlier, Arla had stood beside Wells as he laid himself down on one of the cots in the Bunker – a lead-shielded chamber in the centre of the ship designed to protect the crew in the event of a catastrophic radiation event. What had been built to shield humans from supernova fallout was now being used to protect the delicate mind of a robot.
“Where is it, then? And why all the mystery?” Arla said as Wells settled himself.
“The Emissary?”
“Obviously. We haven’t seen it since we boarded Scout. And where’s her mind now?”
Wells sighed. “They are together. There is a vault accessible only to the commander of the vessel and that, since the Upgrade, has been Scout herself. If any one place could be described as her brain it is there. As with this bunker, it is fully shielded against all known radiation. I believe the Emissary has sequestered itself there, shut itself down and left instructions to Scout to admit no-one.”
“But why? Shouldn’t it be in here with you?”
A sheepish smile crept across Wells’ face. “It seems that the Emissary doesn’t entirely trust me. I don’t blame it for being cautious – it is incalculably valuable.”
“In what way?”
Wells sat up on his elbows. “You are aware of the problems Core is having with the dissenters. It may be that, even if we’re successful in finding a way to nullify the Intruder, we may return to find Cor
e irreparably damaged. The Emissary contains an uncorrupted version of Core Executive.”
“Like a seed?”
“In a way. Though I don’t know exactly how that version would be used to restore Core, without the Emissary, there would be no original version to use.”
Arla shrugged. “Does it matter that much?”
“Why should you care, you mean?” Wells responded. “Let me put it this way, Arla. Whatever you think of the Core Executive you experienced when you visited our planet, it was, at least, governed by a form of the Three Laws of Robotics and had, at its heart, a veneration and respect for human beings. You have seen our fleet - it greeted you when Dawn arrived – now just imagine that power turned against the petty kingdoms of humanity by an empire without the restraint of the First Law.”
Arla considered this prospect for a moment. “Explain again why I shouldn’t fly Scout back out of the system as soon as you’re all asleep and leave the Intruder to destroy Core?”
“Firstly, because to do so would condemn billions of sentient beings to destruction,” he said. “Secondly, because there’s still a chance that Core can be rescued from corruption. And because without our help, you will not be able to navigate back to Dawn. You will be lost in space. Finally, we have reason to believe there is a second intruder on its way to the heart of the Sphere, the old human empire, so this might be your only chance to find its weakness and save your own people. Now, I must deactivate before we arrive.”
Arla helped him settle again. “I guess we’ll do our best, then. Though, frankly, I don’t have a clue what that’s going to involve.”
Wells looked up at her. “I trust you, Arla. You will find a way because you must. If nothing else, you should learn all you can and broadcast the data back to Core in the hope that someone is listening. I will deactivate now. I have programmed this console to wake me when it is safe to do so. You simply need to touch the button and it will begin the activation sequence.” He gestured at the display alongside the bed.
“Goodbye, Arla.”
Something changed in the depths of his eyes and she knew he’d shut down.
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