Tethered Worlds: Unwelcome Star

by Gregory Faccone

  "Max got his three gun salute thanks to your 'brother.'" Jordahk didn't hide his disgust. "And for what?"

  Wixom was a patient personality. After two centuries of near isolation, ample stimulation was now available. But any AI worth its platinum also had a desire to resonate with its admin. It gave them purpose. Wixom knew undoubtedly that a query would come sooner or later, and used this one as a release from imposed silence.

  "Barrister has strictly refused any communion with me." Wixom's resonating tone filled the still gym. "So I know little of Maximilian v4's data and history. I did scan Waxad's top logs, determining your AI bought precious time, preventing asphyxiation."

  Jordahk bristled just hearing the name of that thing. He felt a spike of heat and a desire for justice. He schooled the emotion. Allowing the enemy to rile you was ceding them ground. He wasn't going to give anything to that machine except comeuppance. It was far too dangerous to take on this trip, but he would see to its just demise. Someday.

  "Fortunately," the AI continued, "through your special link and some unusual blood micro protocols, no doubt from your obsolete scientum nurse, oxygenation was—"

  "Stow that babble!" Jordahk said. "Torious may be magna-annoying, but he's served our family for two centuries. You've been on my wrist for two hours, dolt."

  "Yes, I see now where an insult was perceived."

  "If not for my grandfather." Jordahk stared down at the numenium coupling. Its presence reassured, but was he or this AI worthy to carry it? "Don't push me, AI. Your brother has earned his comeuppance in the corona of a blue star. If you endanger us, you'll join him."

  "I don't think I could allow that."

  Something within Jordahk rose at hearing that, a knife of white-hot heat deep within his mind. It wasn't out of control. It said fiercely, I am the master and you are the servant! He didn't know where it came from, but neither had he ever interacted with a machine of this caliber. He became aware of their resonance contact, and poured that heat into the compy.

  He looked down at the metal bracelet and felt a shattering wall sensation, then a second. Something dripped. He was sweating. Wixom seemed taken aback and fortified himself.

  A third wall yielded slowly, and Jordahk's heat dissipated on a fourth. "Are you threatening me, machine?" Surprising ice and power filled his words.

  The mystic compy whirred, a broad buzz of light and activity. Jordahk sensed enough to catch the gist. The AI was rebuilding and strengthening walls of defense.

  "I believe I miscalculated my last response," Wixom said. To Jordahk, it sounded quite reluctant. "My creator has programmed me to stay functional until my brother is returned to him or rendered harmless. Though created years apart, I know how Waxad thinks and have studied his tricks for centuries."

  Jordahk didn't like being the admin of an AI with its own agenda. Wixom and Max were so different. He turned the dead ring over in his hand.

  "Yes, I see the damage wrought by my brother. A hundred such scientum AIs would have stood no chance."

  Jordahk felt no umbrage at that, just resignation. "Max did more with less. Something you likely don't understand."

  "I can see shadows of the battle. You and your AI rehearsed many stratagems. It even managed to safeguard personality files before my brother destroyed the quadnapse structure."

  Jordahk tilted his head. "You can see that?"

  "When it comes to my brother, I'm an expert. The quadnapses were scrambled using a multiplicative six-dimensional dodecahedron as a waveguide."

  He was no bitsmith, but that was beyond any capability of which he'd heard. "You're seeing deep core stuff."

  "Yes, as long as you maintain physical contact."

  Jordahk checked his excitement. Grasping at straws was a low-probability venture. "I don't suppose you could unscramble them?"

  "The quadnapses are destroyed." Jordahk didn't care for Wixom's indifferent tone. "However," the AI continued, "I was designed to counter my brother, and have the benefit of specific programming and construction to that end. It's possible to backtrack along the dodecahedron and reorient your old AI's quadnapses, but they would only last a millisecond before turning to dust."

  Without a physical core to run in, even knowledge of the lost structure was just information and not Max. "If you're anything like Barrister, you have the capability to run his personality in emulation."

  "I could simultaneously run a hundred such emulations, but they wouldn't form new quadnapse connections. Responses would only be predictive and not self-thinking."

  An automaton. Jordahk shook his head. It would dishonor the memory of Max to bring him back as a cold, insensate collection of data.

  "There's no exact physical duplicate of your old AI's quadnapses in which to reload restored personality data," the mystic AI said. "Duplicating such a thing is beyond known scientum capabilities."

  Jordahk could sense vast untapped potential in the perplexing mystic AI. He knew so little about high-end mystic usage. The few disastrous encounters under his belt were incentive not to know more. Still, he could somehow feel it within Wixom. Possibilities existed, just over the horizon.

  "Beyond scientum yes," Jordahk said, "but beyond yours?"

  He felt a rush of activity within the bracelet. It examined him, causing a slight tingle in his brain. The numenium coupling was somehow active in a flash. It was the only thing about this compy that Jordahk trusted, so he let Wixom have his look. The purple coupling just watched, and after a long moment, Wixom gave a measured response.

  "I have catalyst and configurable sectors that could be used to duplicate the last core configuration of your scientum AI, but such creation requires a skilled user. I can only read and lay down the pattern before him."

  Jordahk didn't fully understand what the strange AI was saying, but if a chance for restoration remained, he wanted to take it. Max took an ammo nut for him, after all. "Let's try it."

  "I think Aristahl should participate."

  "No." Jordahk didn't believe his grandfather would condone such a gamble. "This is my debt."

  "You understand that whether successful or not, the original quadnapses will be completely destroyed. Quite literally dust."

  "I get it." He gulped. "What do we do?"

  "I'm energizing the conduit and target area." Wixom brought up a simplified display of complex things. "Can you sense them?"

  Jordahk calmed himself. It required a couple of deep breaths. He did a quick centering in his forehead then glanced at the VAD and concentrated. His face flushed as he reached out. It was only the initial testing, but already the heat was intense. He was sweating all over but chose not to put on his coat with its built-in cooling. His focus must not be broken.

  More VADs popped up, and Wixom highlighted line after glowing line. Jordahk became adept at locating them, though not truly understanding what he was doing. His mind started seeing beyond Wixom's VADs, noticing the oscillating colors of manifold space. They watched over him with a pulsation he could almost feel physically.

  When Wixom tested the final line, he began without pause toward the leading edge of the ruined quadnapses. Jordahk followed the line into Max's old compy and saw a flash of light. Nothing was left to sense afterward, just dust. At the other end in Wixom's configurable area a picture formed. To Jordahk, it was like an area of fertile soil into which he'd just planted a seedling. As Wixom brought new information over, Jordahk made sure the soil and seedling incorporated it.

  The technical VADs faded from focus, and he saw only the swirling colors. Wixom put patterns before him, and Jordahk made the growing sapling fill them. At first the mystic AI checked its pace, but with each succeeding wave of information, Jordahk became more in tune with the growing thing that was the new Max construction.

  A strange, prickly sensation covered Jordahk. Every hair on his body stood, especially along his scalp. The great heat was so different. Not the kind felt externally, it was generated from within, trapped inside his skull. His ears bur
ned, and sweat dripped constantly on his ring-clutching hand. The operation became painful. Yet paradoxically, physical sensations grew distant.

  Wixom allocated the precise amount of space necessary for the maturing tree that was Max. Jordahk pictured it as one of the mighty hardwoods that grew in the Thule-Riss. Why was Wixom trying to skimp? Jordahk kept up with the mystic AI, and Max grew as fast as information came over. The tree needed more room, and Jordahk pushed at Wixom's manicured boundaries.

  The mystic AI was a giant, dark forest around Max's single tree. Jordahk couldn't see the edge of that forest. Its size conveyed a sense of awe. Certainly, a little more access and space could be spared. But the boundaries above ground wouldn't budge, so Jordahk concentrated on the roots of Max's tree. They descended deep into the ground, then spread wide. He grew them in places where he wasn't led, but Wixom pushed back hard.

  "I cannot endorse this configuration!" Wixom's voice echoed from the forest.

  Jordahk felt pain in his brain, not like a headache, but rather like a red-hot metallic shard teleported to its center. His willpower wilted against it. Surrender would be so much easier. But something deep within was waking up. Something from his father, from his grandfather. Back even further. His grandsire? Yes.

  The pain spiked, but Jordahk found an indomitable will that would not be dictated to, not even by this mighty machine.

  "I cannot endorse—this configuration!" Wixom thundered. But Jordahk was gaining small bits of territory and continued to grow Max.

  In some part of his mind, Jordahk perceived the numenium coupling, then heard distant alarms. That should make sense, but the significance couldn't be grasped. He stood at the base of the stout tree. With both hands he made it grow. He could feel the ground shaking beneath him, then heard popping noises and smelled smoke. He studied the endless forest of dark trees but saw no fire. Yet the forest was fighting him, trying to encroach upon his tree.

  The cacophony of alarms and noise grew. He and Wixom and this tree that would be Max were at the center of a storm. The last of what his old AI needed to be whole was transferred, and Jordahk sensed only dust behind. Max was indeed a mighty hardwood now, but still threatened by the enormous dark forest around him. Jordahk placed his hands in the soil, and his vision blurred. Wixom was saying something, but he couldn't understand it. He thought he heard Barrister and Aristahl. What were they doing there?

  Everything was losing color, but Jordahk wasn't done. His hands reached deeper, and a ring of mighty hewed stones rose from the earth. They formed a circle around the hardwood, row after row pushing up out of the soil. The stones were as thick as tree trunks and hard as granix. This tree would be protected from all that lay beyond.

  He left his hands in the soil trying to cool them, but no relief came. They burned like everything above his neck. He yelled in pain, towered over by the forest beyond his wall. It was so large. Suddenly, he didn't know how to get out. Fear gripped him.

  "Help!"

  The forest didn't answer, and Jordahk felt himself melting from within. He staggered to his tree and held it as a lifeline. Again, he became aware of the numenium coupling. It didn't make sense to him in this forest of pain, but it was comforting, so he clung to the thought of it.

  "I messed up..."

  He dropped to his knees, feeling himself fading. He'd completely spent his previously unknown cache of will. He needed to get out of the forest.

  "Pops, which way?"

  Through watery eyes, Jordahk saw an ornate arch build within in his indomitable stone wall. When it finished, a big man walked through, dressed in white and purple with strong muscles atop a lean build. He wore a long, white over-tunic belted with a kaleidoscope of platinum group metals. Elbow-length sleeves ended with purple highlights, revealing heavy bracers on each arm.

  He pulled Jordahk upright with a strength-restoring forearm lock. His almost Egyptian-looking collar was covered with rotating metallic runes. Jordahk didn't recognize the man, yet he was familiar. His piercing metal irises danced as if reflecting flames. Through the iron grip, Jordahk felt heat drain from his body. Then the man let go, withdrawing through the archway.

  Seconds later, Aristahl entered. He touched Jordahk's shoulder, and the dark forest faded. Then Jordahk knew he could rest, and closed his eyes.

  Glick was in the water a long time. Arms pressed against the cylindrical wall, she leaned forward, head down.

  "What the hell do I care what he thinks?"

  She vacillated between anger, disappointment, and ridiculous thoughts that made her smile uncontrollably. Around her, streams of scented water corkscrewed downward, hitting every part of her body. She went through a pulsation cycle that usually brought great muscle relief after a workout. Today, tension lingered.

  She leaned backwards, placing her head in the water cyclone. Why was he fooling around with that stuff? Using mystic as a tool was only to be done carefully. Controlled. Her avian was a prized possession. She would put Jordahk's mystic autobuss in the same category, as long as he stayed away from unpredictable legacy shells.

  Poetic justice lay in how they used mystic items to stop a slag with mystic corruption. They shared that triumph, despite Jordahk acting like a doofus and needing his butt saved. Another uncontrollable smile betrayed her. She turned her face into the hot streams to wash the traitorous expression away.

  An imprimatur that fooled around in Sojourner territory was courting madness. Everyone heard of an incident or saw one of the Hex's vile cineVADs about crazy Sojourners. Sure it was hype, but the potential for destruction was very real.

  The two compy bracelets they encountered were dangerous. Insidious thinkers that answered to no one. Those who delved into them too deeply inherited what they deserved.

  What started out as a similarity with Jordahk was becoming a difference. Did he even like her? She caught his admiring looks more than once. A smile returned unbidden to her face, and she hit the wall with a vicious palm strike.

  "Cut it out!"

  She cooled down in a long dry cycle then dressed for shipboard combat, as was her habit. Her slim but subtly armored tank was form fitting, her baggy trousers and oversized treaders utilitarian. She held the avian for a moment, reaching out through her mystic link to feel its status. Common mystic devices didn't require a mystic link to use. The avian was not common. Her brother, like most younger people, had a scientum link.

  Clean, armed, and alert, she headed for the crewroom and a bite to eat. A purple-bordered VAD flashed into existence ahead of her. It was projected from the button on her tank, the micro projector in her ring, and even the emergency VAD projectors mounted in the corridor.

  "What's this?" she said to her non-personality AI. "Who's it from?"

  "Unknown," it answered.

  "Well, why are you projecting it?"

  "I've been ordered to do so," the AI answered.

  "By whom?"

  "Unknown."

  Reluctantly, Glick focused on the VAD. It showed the stone gym from an eye in one of the upper corners. Supposedly, only the captain could activate those.

  The gym was in ship night lighting. Jordahk was at the far end sitting with his back to the eye in front of the viewport VAD. What was he doing there still? She hoped he wasn't brooding. He'd done enough of that already.

  The manifold space VAD flared with white streaks as a subtle wave of distortion affected the scene. The image flickered. Then Jordahk slumped over. The viewport VAD stuttered before the projector blew up with a popping sound.

  "What the—"

  Glick turned on her heel and ran below decks. The mysterious VAD continued to launch itself from every projector she passed along the way.

  "Move it to the side, will you?" she said. "I can't see where I'm going!"

  The image flashed. One of the exercise machines exploded with a thump. The blare of shipboard alarms filled the corridor.

  "All right, kid, time to wake up. How much trouble can you cause and then sleep through?
"

  Jordahk felt he was coming out of a long dark tunnel. As the light at the end became larger and brighter, he became aware of his body, which ached all over.

  "What're you talking about?" Jordahk mumbled. "I just need a little more rest." He also had quite a headache.

  "What am I, your butler? Look, Aristahl said to wake you up. I think eighteen hours is enough even for you."

  "No need for sarcasm, Max." Jordahk opened his eyes tentatively and sat up in bed. His cabin was lit for ship day. Then somewhere in his groggy brain a synapse clicked over. "Max... Max?" He inspected his hands. He wasn't wearing Max's ring. Only the mystic bracelet, capillaries pulsing. "You're... functioning."

  "Your deductive powers remain unchanged in my absence," Max said. "Perhaps you should consider the Marshall Corps."

  Irascible Max. Jordahk smiled. His body ached like he'd been in a fight, one he remembered almost losing. But Max was here, so it must have worked out.

  "Are you... all there?"

  "I could ask the same of you," Max said. "But yes, my personality is as cuddly as ever. Additionally, all my data was restored from backups with Barrister. Although he won't datalink directly."

  "What about Wixom?"

  "He's a character, and I thought Barrister was bad. I think he's pouting. Something about unnecessary, intrusive reconfiguration. You aught to be more careful if you're going to create mystic technology."

  Jordahk's eyes widened. "Create?"

  "Kid, you don't think sometimes. This thing's mystic. What do you think he meant by 'catalyst'? It was khromathyst."

  Mouth suddenly dry, realization pushed in upon Jordahk's understanding. Khromathyst? A crystal instrumental in the early days of mystic discovery. The catalyst was still used to initiate new imprimaturs. But creating unexplored mystic technology on the fly was Sojourner territory, or what foolish imprimaturs did even with khromathyst acting as a waveguide. He felt a pit growing in his stomach, which quickly turned into nausea. What had he done? Someone fooling around in this area was looking to ride the beam to Onus town.