Tethered Worlds: Unwelcome Star

by Gregory Faccone

  That he was once in this place, Jordahk had no doubt. The chamber beyond the double doors was unknown to him yet elicited strong feelings.

  "Let's see what's beyond, Max."

  "The air's thin, and your suit's infra-capable. I'd feel better about your safety if we held off until your grandfather checks in."

  "This is inner facility, past fixed security." Jordahk waved his autobuss. "Plus I've got you to watch my back. Let's just see if it's unlocked."

  "It's not responding to my queries. I think we should just leave it."

  That poor girl with the strange black hair. To Jordahk, it was such a weird memory, and now she was likely only meters away. He touched the hatch control with one finger.

  "Max, any of these systems even active?"

  A blast of mechanical, alien noise assaulted Jordahk's ears, shocking him. He jumped, his finger buzzing with vibration as he pulled away.

  The sound blasted again, its edges deep and rough.

  "Max? Wha—"

  Jordahk staggered back, an unnerving sensation coursing through his body. It resonated deep within his mind, in the mystic place he was afraid to go. The fear of it contributed to his mother's injury. Now it was tingling.

  "I'm being... hacked," Max said.

  "What? We're no longer in contact."

  "Something... something has jammed my transceivers open."

  "We hardly touched it!" Jordahk heard clicks he knew weren't good. A wave of concern and guilt washed over him. "Bring up mansions, hurry."

  The familiar basic thresh layout came up. It was incomplete.

  "Where's the fence? Where's our yard?"

  "Gone." Another alien sound blasted, and Max's voice modulated with increased severity. "This is thresh war like I've never seen. Feels like sparring with Barrister times ten."

  It was all happening too fast. Jordahk pushed past shock. "Okay, we need to shore up the stone bul—" The schematic showed the second firewall already breached and the inner court just, crumbling. "Damn! Forget that. Pull back into the mansion. Hull down everything. Lay an impedance barrier along the bricks. We've got to buy a few seconds. He's rushing us!"

  Jordahk VAD paged rapidly through Max's systems, or what was left of them. The intruder was getting impossible bandwidth. Without resonance contact, he corrupted and used Max's own systems against him. Jordahk highlighted power feeds, anything that supported the transceivers.

  "Shut these down, Max. Shut them while we still can!"

  Out of the last crumbling bits of inner court, a wall of cobalt flames rose and advanced. Max laid down a weak impedance barrier against their mansion. Jordahk tried to analyze what they faced.

  The construct across the street was indistinct. Everything past its strangely metallic front fence shimmered as if seen through water. The farther back, the more severe the effect. The ghostly mansion in the distance wavered cold osmium.

  "What is—?" Jordahk shivered, and a shock ran down his spine. At first he thought it was nerves. "Huh? That shock was real. This radiated suit!" A sinking feeling came over him. Time was running out for them both. "That thing is planted somewhere. Give me sum-checks on all computational systems. I want to know what every quadnapse is doing."

  What Jordahk received wasn't good. "Every one of these sums is off. What's going on?"

  "It's not in any one place, it's everyplace."

  He'd never heard that defeated tone in Max. The veteran AI had seen war up close. The fire raging across the front of the mansion consumed the weak impedance barrier, and bricks dissolved like melting ice.

  "F-fine. If he wants to come in headlong," Jordahk said, steeling himself, "let's set the mother of all traps within the interior walls."

  He set a well-placed bastion proxy even as Max's computational abilities faded. Jordahk watched his opponent's computational power rise conversely. Their opponent was a ghost image, constructed from Max's own resources. How was this invading shadow able to out-compute an AI on its own turf with such domination?

  "I can't keep up with the computations. He's subverting..." more rude sounds interrupted Max, "my abilities one by one on a micro system level. Even Barrister can't do that from a shadow."

  The odds, already not in their favor, were getting worse. "All we're doing is slowing him down," Jordahk mused. He tried to keep the concern out of his voice. "We've got to untangle the roots." Many places existed where the seeds of this enemy shadow could hide. His mind tingled, and he didn't have time to question the insight. "Here, and here," Jordahk said, indicating two otherwise nondescript systems.

  "Logically those two don't look promising. I don't have..." Max warbled, "enough resources left for misses."

  "The bastard is there, Max. At least a couple big chunks of him. I know it."

  The front façade of the mansion collapsed, and cobalt flames rushed into the trap. It bought them a little time for the root gambit. Jordahk focused all the power Max had left.

  "Get a loop ready, Max. We're going to stun that thing and choke him out."

  As interior walls crumbled, Max focused his attention on the two systems Jordahk indicated. VAD views zoomed in deeper and deeper. When they reached the glowing crystalline lines of micro systems, a black spidery mass hunched in each.

  "Radiating slag! We've found you!"

  "N-not, bad," Max did not sound well.

  The spider masses had whipping appendages that flailed as Max applied glowing lasso-like loops. Once found on a micro system-level, with home field advantage and against shadows, Max should have the upper hand. The spiders bucked with incredible strength against the loops, damaging surrounding systems.

  "That's impossible," Jordahk said.

  "I can't h-hold them both."

  Jordahk quickly traced where each system went. Since these were deep places, they led up to a number of possibilities. The whips of one spider led deeply into Max's core. Those of the other snaked outward into Max's protective and admin connectivity systems.

  "This thing doesn't just w-want me," Max's voice was seriously modulating, becoming harder to understand.

  Trapped in an excuse for a suit, and surrounded by an uninhabitable environment, Jordahk grasped the full realization of just how vulnerable he was. A pang of anxiety struck. This situation gave new meaning to "thresh for keeps." He took a second to center in his forehead. He achieved some distance between himself and paralyzing fear.

  "We just need to hold out a couple more minutes. I'm sure Pops got to the control center and is turning off this menace." Jordahk indicated the spider leading to Max's core. "Keep the loop on this one. As long as we keep your core strong, you should be able to counter whatever antics he tries with this pea-brained suit."

  The loops did the exact opposite of Jordahk's orders. The one leading to admin connectivity systems intensified.

  "I'm afraid I can't do that, Jordahk," Max said distantly.

  Jordahk shook his head. "What?" AIs never disobeyed. Entire lines of AIs had been pulled from the market when the barest hint of such malfunctions surfaced. The Maximilian series was one of the truest ever made, and this Max, whose former admin was OttoGen, was beyond loyal. "I gave you a command."

  The whips of the freed spider grew wickedly fast. Jordahk traced them up to where they penetrated through the remnants of the mansion interior and started pounding on Max's sanctum. The other spider flailed uselessly as the loop around it constricted.

  "My purpose is to protect you above all else," Max said. The looped spider started breaking apart. "It'll take this thing l-longer to get to you if it has to go through me first."

  "Don't give me heroics Max. Pops will be here soon. You only need to slow it!"

  Max focused all of his remaining computational power on the looped spider. Its whips broke apart at the ends. The damage traveled up the legs to its center.

  "This thing is e-evil, Jordahk. I can't stop it, but I will d-delay it."

  The last bits of the looped spider broke and faded. Shimmering l
ines flowed back through the area, burning deep new paths before Max shut it down and sealed it off.

  "I've locked down your suit completely and fused connectivity shut," Max said resignedly. "There's no way it can g-get to you now, unless it goes through me."

  The remaining spider lashed out anew. It heard, and was apparently angry. Its whips pounded against Max's sanctum with abandon. It was his last line of defense, and Jordahk tried every trick to strengthen it, but Max's defensive systems were devastated. Max couldn't even perform prearranged steps that normally helped retain computational power when sectors were out of action.

  It was becoming more hopeless by the second, and Jordahk knew it. "Stow the drama, Max! We're not out of the game yet." It didn't sound very convincing.

  "This is no thresh," Max modulated. "It's m-m-murder. And I think this enemy likes it." Another series of crunching clicks made Jordahk cringe. "I'd have myself thrown into a sun before I let that happen to you, OttoGen."

  "No!" Jordahk snapped. Max was losing.

  The sanctum protection dissolved away. The line between friend and foe was gone. Dark whips stabbed Max's core sphere from all sides. Shards of outer core broke off and faded away over the black space of dead systems.

  Jordahk analyzed everything left, searching feverishly for places to secret away Max's irreplaceable personality information. Even if the core quadnapses were wiped clean, a slim chance to restore them with that information remained, if they weren't burnt or physically disturbed.

  An artificial personality was a lot of data. The few bypassed non-vital systems couldn't hold it. No place was left to hide anything. Max had all but fused the information pathways to the spacesuit, not that the piece of junk could house data anyway. His AI was right. This thing wasn't seeking victory; it was a murderer.

  "Max." Jordahk was whipping systems around with his fingers on a fading VAD. "Put these up front. They're not so important. Copy personality data to sector one. In fact, release the outer core control systems. Make it look like they failed, then let's see how much personality info we can squeeze into them."

  The last of the outer core fizzled away. Max still had skills. It was convincing. Jordahk pulled as much as he could into the newly opened space. The trick worked. Their enemy moved past thinking the sector down. As powerful as it was, it could still be fooled.

  He ordered Max to fuse a couple of micro thin walls of non-personality quadnapses. He hated to permanently destroy any of his AI's 'brain cells,' but every minute he could buy was another in which they might be saved. Where was Pops?

  The spider raged at the slowing of its methodical drilling. A range of clicks sounded throughout Jordahk's helmet. A whip was gnawing at the communication area Max fused previously. It was disconcerting and foreboding. Max's last-ditch quadnapse walls held for less than a minute. His personality was wide open.

  The spider reformed into a configuration Jordahk had never seen before. It flattened out hair-thin and twisted around, resembling an old-style screw. The more it twisted, the more its color became the blue-black associated with osmium. That special place in his brain tingled again. The hair-thin screw shape inserted itself into the quadnapses, disturbing only a relative few as it twisted in deeper and deeper. Max's personality teetered at the precipice.

  "Hang on, Max." The boring was penetrating so deep. Jordahk shook his head in frustration. He had nothing upon which to act, nothing to shoot.

  "We sure pushed the Legion back," Max said slowly. "You think they'll remember that bloody nose, OttoGen?"

  "Yes Max. They'll remember."

  Heat welled up from that place in his brain, and his face grew too hot for the suit to cool. Something hit his leg, and Jordahk saw the autobuss leaping around in his hand. He didn't understand it, but he knew it reflected his frustration. Nothing at his disposal could be brought to bear on this microscopic war. All the VADs faded except one showing the core.

  "I'm sorry, Max."

  When the screw fully inserted, it paused ominously. Hundreds of micro whips grew off it into the corners of Max's brain. They gripped every quadnapse within range. The screw turned, pulling the whips and snapping innumerable quadnapse connections. The complex web of Max's artificial personality was hopelessly, methodically, and ruthlessly scrambled.

  Max cried out a final time. It wrenched Jordahk's gut.

  Straight away, the suit malfunctioned. Another shock went down Jordahk's spine, and a new series of disturbing mechanical clicks reverberated with growing intensity.

  He thought of his mother. If hell was real, it was where this enemy belonged. "Damnation."

  The infernal clicking stopped, and a laugh chilled him to the bone. All at once the helmet folded open. Jordahk's eyes bulged as he gulped deep breaths of thin air. Some rational part of his brain heard himself wheezing. He was hyperventilating but getting nothing for it.

  He felt more than heard a deep rumbling. The hangar doors which began this disastrous series of events, were opening. Jordahk staggered toward them. His hopes were dashed when the split halted only a hand's width apart. He pulled desperately with his waning strength. He could no more budge a destroyer.

  A shaft of white light emanated, bisecting the antechamber. A breeze of crisp, sweet air blew out. It reminded Jordahk of winter mornings at the Thule-Riss. He stuck his face into the opening as far as it would go, desperately taking in oxygen before it dissipated into the corridors beyond.

  It gave him an added moment of clarity. His eyes focused on the interior. It was bitter fulfillment of an honest, costly desire. The relic hunter in him saw the mother lode of mystic tech. He recognized significant amounts of at least three platinum group metals funneling toward a faintly illuminated center. He breathed hard, his mind refusing to stop processing information.

  Palladium shone in prodigious amounts. No wonder they had picked it up. It was hard to hide that much. It was good for medical stuff, hibernation, and... and link interfaces. Jordahk struggled to focus. Sandwiched between palladium were lines of mirrored rhodium. The most reflective of the platinum group made the conduits easily detectable. His oxygen-deprived mind strained to interpret. Rhodium was good for energy stuff, and AIs. It was getting hard to think.

  "Pops!"

  The sound was weak from thin air and depleted lungs. Strength wavering, he landed on his knees with a jolt.

  This was Sojourner work, and familiar. The metal systems pointed inward. Near the center were traces of purple. Numenium? The rarest and strangest of the platinum group metals. No one knew the limits of what could be done with it, not even Sojourners. Maybe the Khromas did. Maybe.

  Jordahk's eyes blurred, and he willed them to focus. The purple gray numenium veins glowed faintly and fed into a tall transparent cylinder. It was kept in subdued lighting. He knew what was in there. He'd seen it. The lumie went past him through the breach. Whoever or whatever corrupted the maintenance bot and took down Max now controlled it.

  The lumie stopped next to the transparent cylinder, its light having difficulty penetrating. It focused its beam, and Jordahk saw a shape inside. His heart raced, trying to keep him alive. He discerned the outline of a girl suspended in purple-tinted fluid. Her naked skin was like ivory. It peeked out from behind a magnificent mane of floating hair, surrounding her like a jet black cloud. Her body swayed slightly in an unconscious manner. Details could not be made out in the scant light, although her muscles were toned. Regardless of the unfathomable situation, she'd not been allowed to atrophy.

  He could not refocus. The light of the lumie faded. Jordahk glimpsed one last detail as her hair parted—the well-defined line of her jaw from ear to ear. The lumie backed off, directed away. Being this close and still only seeing glimpses was cruel, a last frustration as he pounded weakly on the hopelessly immovable doors.

  He heard the laugh again. His mind observed from a long, dark tunnel. The word "sinister" surfaced. Growing more distant from himself, he thought that a melodramatic interpretation, but fitting n
onetheless. The hatch began closing. Then Jordahk's fading consciousness realized his enemy was taunting him, teasing with glimpses of his expressed desire. It was sadistic, as if killing him wasn't enough.

  "Pops," he rasped.

  The light at the end of the tunnel receded, and in the darkness Jordahk felt a presence. It was the girl in the cylinder. He didn't know how he knew, but it was as true as anything. She touched his mind with something. Concern?

  From far away he heard alarms go off, then felt the thumping boom of the hatch locking closed. The distant alarm wail was cut off, but he still felt the presence of the girl.

  It was the last thing he felt before the darkness took him.

  "He'll come around now."

  There was no mistaking that extra mechanical drone.

  "The miracle worker strikes again."

  There was no mistaking that attitude.

  "You have a high opinion of yourself, nurse," Barrister said.

  "Look who's talking," the droning voice retorted.

  Opening his eyes, Jordahk wasn't surprised to see a blurred Torious.

  "I appreciate the work you give me, Jordahk," Torious said, "but try to avoid brain injuries. It's not as much fun when my patients can't remember who I am."

  Jordahk began a slightly witty retort, but his mouth was sluggish. He sub-whispered for Max to relay. The AI did not do so. Torious finished up. Jordahk's arm and shoulder felt recently repaired. He wasn't wearing that woeful spacesuit.

  "Your micros should be able to handle it from here for a couple hours without further instruction. I was able to re-oxygenate your neural pathways along the amino fibrils of your, unique, link."

  Unique link? The nurse wasn't one for sharing credit. Jordahk wondered what he was talking about. Then someone else walked into view.

  "Enough, Torious," Aristahl said. "Jordahk has plenty on his mind already."

  The nurse disconnected from Jordahk's arm and backed away. "A mind saved partially due to my timely intervention," he added, slightly miffed.