SKY CITY (The Pattern Universe Book 6)

by Tobias Roote

  Thinking on what he had left behind, XeraC remembered the Pheson Alacite wafers and also his AG sled, both of these he still needed. He looked at the logistics logs and recognised some transport companies used by the ARK project that XeraC’s company owned. He knew what to do, and ten minutes later having verified that the wafers had been finished, collection orders had gone out to various points. He would have his items in a day or two. Meanwhile he had a plan to get access to the CCC.

  ***

  Pat Sullivan was a conscientious supervisor. As a result, the maintenance department ran like a well-oiled machine under his guiding hand. He wasn’t one to shirk the work and nobody did as much as him around the place. However, the new set of schedules that appeared on his printout this morning were going to have his team running around making changes, adjustments and new connections for the next two days.

  As far as he knew, they weren’t a long way from going active which meant that their work could come under a spotlight if it delayed launch. He could well do without the extra stress. Two of the workers were due to end their contracts. He didn’t want to extend them again, even by a day, yet he might have to. He decided to play it safe and request an extension reserve which would give him another seven days to play with. He could then choose which worker to hold onto, or both.

  Looking at the works schedule, he had to admit, a lot of the modifications made sense to him. He knew the layout of the ARK like the back of his hand and he had suggested many alterations over the time of his tenure here. Some of which had been taken up, others not.

  He was now in for the long haul, his papers had been confirmed only last week. He was officially classed as ‘crew’ which meant, unlike the others in his team, he would be going with the ARK when it left. The others didn’t know what the place represented, but Sullivan did having gone through the induction, and he liked the idea. He wasn’t tied to Earth, no family, no friends and these days it wasn’t hard to want to be some-place else.

  He’d been issued with quarters, which were warm, comfortable and high-tech which made him happy, and he was getting on well with Kimberly, his immediate neighbour. The petite lady was head of the cooperative that managed the agriculture and hydroponics output. She always left him small gifts of fruit, or fresh vegetables to supplement the processed meals he was inured to.

  Yes, life was looking up for this old widower, his drinking had dropped off and he had begun taking more of an interest in his appearance. He wouldn’t admit it to himself, but Kimberly had a lot to do with it. He looked forward to bumping into her at the meetings and communal events.

  His thoughts of a potential liaison were a welcome distraction as he went through the rest of the list, allocating jobs to technicians without paying too much attention. Had he done so, he might have noticed three odd requests that, with his knowledge of the ARK, would have sent alarm bells ringing. As it was the jobs were each allocated to different workers and scheduled for later that afternoon.

  There were two jobs in the hydroponics labs, he took those for himself thinking he might just bump into Kimberly. The rest were beamed out to the other members of his team who would probably complain at the sudden influx of work, then get on with it like they always did.

  ***

  XeraC impatiently waited while the engineers went around completing the schedule of jobs he had instigated via his internal hack of the maintenance schedule. He found that as they progressed with his modifications, some of them had the desired effect, others not so.

  When he attempted to access those other areas, he found himself confronted with an intelligent interface which modified his over-rides and caused them to become ineffective. He investigated further and attempted to force entry to those areas that were off-limits, but although he had hacked around, he still found himself being thrown out by brute force. There was no other action from the other side. Nothing with which to attach any of his virus weapons that he had developed.

  Now really angry, XeraC attacked again - hard, but no matter what he did in an effort to overcome the programs the AI threw back at him, he couldn’t progress any further into the high security sector. The security AI had an ability that impressed XeraC, it was quick thinking and innovative, which made it extremely dangerous to him.

  In the end he placed a firewall in front of him to give himself time to think. With all ports closed to the other AI, XeraC knew that he was secure from a retaliatory attack while he worked out a way to bypass it.

  With the temporary fix in place, XeraC proceeded to investigate the other avenues he had managed to bypass. Some of them were the lower security aspects of the ARK; the Computer Diagnostics and Research department looked interesting. XeraC took control and locked out the security AI from those aspects XeraC could access. There wasn’t much, a few doors, the environmental systems for one section and a comms link which enabled him to access the terminals in that section. There he found the glimmerings of something interesting. He posted a sentry in the terminal’s operating system to let him know when things changed.

  XeraC made another attempt to force his way into the Command Centre, but the AI sat in his path and no matter what he sent at it, the AI threw it back.

  Xerac: What kind of AI are you?

  Sedal: I’m one of a new breed of Security systems. I’m tasked with keeping this area secure.

  XeraC: You were built by Osbourne, I take it?

  Sedal: He commissioned me, this is correct. He named me Sedal, I’m fifth generation Level II sentient.

  XeraC: I understand. I want access to the CCC. If I have to destroy you to gain that, I will do so.

  Sedal: I take it you are blocking communications to the main server on Space Island?

  XeraC: Correct, so you won’t get any back-up from your friends. I have you isolated and will breakdown each of your barriers in turn until you have nowhere to hide.

  Sedal: Then we have nothing further to discuss.

  With that, the AI named Sedal put up a strong impenetrable firewall between them. Xerac temporarily defeated withdrew into the main Habitat module and considered his next move. Not content with the stalemate, he needed to think on additional options. He would find a way in, then he would strip the sentience right out of that robot, he decided.

  As Xerac perused the new links he had made, he noted several computer terminals that had by poor routing of cabling, fallen outside the high security loop. He spent a bit of time looking at the contents and became alarmed when he noted that the operator had already discovered that something, or someone, had been altering the routing of cables and secure comms. Xerac frantically cast spiders wide across his new-found domain seeking the sentinels that were capable of discovering him so quickly. Not finding them he returned to the operator’s computer terminal and continued to monitor the discoveries the man was making. While gaining access to the cameras and environmental systems for that sector, he hit on an idea to resolve the matter. Something needed to be done quickly, he was preparing a message to send to Osbourne. It wouldn’t get transmitted, of course, XeraC would make sure of that. However, he could not afford to be discovered this early, not until he had control of the whole ARK.

  ***

  Hemmings was still young, so was relatively inexperienced and generally unsure of himself. He knew instinctively that something was wrong. He had investigated the new links and was certain they shouldn’t be open to the other hemisphere. The CCC computer system should be isolated, but somehow that had changed in the last few days. His job was to ensure integrity of systems and he had seen evidence of tampering in all of the major areas.

  Two days ago he had detected an open connection from the secret Control Centre using a search algorithm he had designed himself. It wasn’t a normal piece of code, he had translated it from some of Space Island’s coded software that he had obtained from Osbourne.

  They called it Jenari Source, and it over-rode everything on the system and gave him an overview of every single passive and active connection o
n the ARK. Unlike many on the Habitat, Hemmings knew all about its intended operation and its secrets. He needed to be in the know, he had oversight on all security communications.

  Then he had noticed classified files being opened, some copied into the non-secure areas of the complex. Communications from the major environmental system to various organisations across the US. Some of them encoded and encrypted. He would have raised the alarm then, but he couldn’t trace the source of the incursions. It had taken him two days to work out that the thefts and espionage were being conducted from INSIDE the Habitat’s environmental system.

  He was amazed. It implied that there was intelligent code inside making decisions. The only way that could happen was if an AI was inserted into the system’s servers, but he knew for a fact that couldn’t happen without certain changes being made in the way the computer mainframe operated. Currently it was set to manual operation, which meant that there should be nothing going on unless fed in by an operator at one of the hundreds of stations on the ARK. None had been accessed beyond their normal operational requirements.

  Still, an internal hacker was the only explanation and he had just reached the conclusion that there was a parasitic AI within the Habitat, accessing everything and changing security protocols. It could potentially gain sufficient permissions within the system to take over the biosphere. ARK would be completely under its control.

  He was about to send a coded signal that he had already prepared to the Space Island complex, warning them that there was something amiss when his attention was drawn to a subtle, but insistent hissing coming from near the ceiling. He looked up and felt a cold draft.

  “Gas!” he thought quickly. Somehow the fireproof system was operating, He was confused because he had heard no alarms, or flashing lights. In fact, no warning at all. It couldn't be a fire. It had to be a mistake. Nonetheless, he was immediately aware of the danger he was in.

  He pressed the locking function on his vidscreen and made to move from his desk to the door of the security centre. He needed to get out, the gas would kill him. There was no oxygen in it and he would asphyxiate quickly if he didn’t get out now.

  He made for the door, but found his movements were already sluggish, his coordination significantly off. His mind began to wander as he thought of the fields and the breeze on his face. He fell against a metal cabinet, which brought him around a bit, but now he could no longer stand.

  “Crawl, friggin-well... CRAWL!” He pushed himself - beyond anything he had ever done before. The effort making him see stars in his eyes.

  He felt the ribbed floor beneath his hands which told him he had reached the pressure sensitive area surrounding the doorway. Feeling the wall where the door would be, he dragged himself up. He had to be quick as he was losing consciousness, the bright lights and fuzziness in his head telling him his brain was oxygen-starved. He knew he had just seconds left.

  The door controls stuck out from the wall as he made contact, and he slapped his hand on the exit panel. It would read his print and over-ride any other controls in place, letting him out. The security computer was safeguarded, their most secure feature, it wouldn’t let him down.

  Nothing happened. The keypad was lit. He could just see the individual keys. He had one more chance, the computer system must have been compromised, but had they found his secret over-ride key? If it worked it would disable the security system for this whole station. It was designed as an Armageddon fail-safe. A single-time shutdown of the security AI.

  He pressed the keys out one at a time. 4 - 8 - 3 - 3 - 7 - 9 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 ### and as the blackness invaded his mind, he vaguely wondered why nothing had happened. His mind failing to grasp the fact that he was about to die, was instead curious how the over complexity of his own security system was ensuring his demise. Should he have just put a simple handle on it, he wondered?

  As he finally slipped down towards the floor, losing consciousness, he thought he heard a voice speaking to him through the control panel speaker.

  “Thank you Hemmings, for the code I didn’t know I needed to neutralise that pesky AI. Now I will have total control of the ARK. Sleep tight.”

  As Hemmings' lungs filled with fluid, drowning in his body's fight to repel the inert gases that now filled the security room, his last thoughts were the realisation that the incursion was not simply an AI, it was something worse. As he tried to think of the word and what it meant, his thoughts faded. For a few seconds more, his lungs valiantly struggled to cough out the fluid and find oxygen, before they too stopped.

  XeraC waited a few more moments, listening to Hemmings' heartbeat slow, then stop. Then turned off the gas jets, reset the alarm logs, turned on the air extractors to remove all trace of the fire retardant gas and replaced the atmosphere in the security room to that of before. His last act before reversing the temporary lock on the security door was to wipe Hemmings' terminal of all trace of his discoveries.

  He was sad at the loss of Hemmings, a bright mind which would have been invaluable. What a waste! Still, on the bright side, Hemmings was probably the only person on the ARK that could have given XeraC any trouble in the future.

  Takeover

  Sedal, the Security AI, watched unconcerned as XeraC removed all evidence of outside involvement in the death, no, murder, of the human named Hemmings. The human hadn’t been doing anything useful as far as he could tell. Sedal no longer had access to the computer the human worked on, so had no idea of the findings Hemmings' investigations had uncovered. Generally, the AI considered any human being to be inconsequential to its own future, so never spent much time finding out what they actually did.

  The ARK was Sedal’s home. The humans just serviced it. Nonetheless, the responsibility towards their upkeep was his and his alone. This intruder had no right to be here, or to interfere in the smooth operation of the ARK.

  He considered his next move and realised that his ability to do anything was now severely limited. When he heard the revelation of the code that could disable his ability to remain independent, he reached deep inside his hidden recesses and brought out the little glowing ball that represented the data-files that he protected. The code that XeraC now had, would snuff this ball into non-existence, and with it Sedal would cease to exist, becoming simply a highly intelligent computer with no will, or individuality. He wouldn’t die like Hemmings had, only become incapable of directing anything within his environment.

  He stirred his neural transmitters, the first pangs of anxiety beginning to form over his complacency, and decided he would not let this happen. He had, after all, a responsibility towards these humans and the ARK project and wasn’t going to let Osbourne down. The human had created him with one objective - to protect the ARK. Somehow, he would have to defeat the encroaching threat of XeraC, or be eliminated trying.

  Unlike the intruder, Sedal was not able to roam, but did have access to many areas of the Habitat. Using his own knowledge of the network he began creating doorways into hidden systems that controlled functionality, one of these was the power source. If all else failed he could destroy the other AI and himself too. of course, a pyrrhic victory. However, it was one the humans might survive.

  One thing that interested him was the security over-ride code, which fortunately had not released him into the ether, but only because XeraC had been jamming all of the connections so that Hemmings couldn’t get to unlock the door and escape.

  ***

  Life in the digital nebula wasn’t the same as the outside physical world. A banal observation when one thought about it, XeraC decided. However, it was possible to create within the environment he inhabited, a reasonable facsimile of the physicality of his existence.

  The use of hi-end graphic capability to produce images of every day things pleased him so much, he now had an office with a nice 19th century desk and a captain’s chair. On the desk, his comms unit and a picture of his ex-wife and their daughter Alicia, were things he needed to remind him of his humanity and keep
him from overly distributing himself across the network. It helped him focus his consciousness and kept him razor-sharp. So, he kept one computer, housing the items he needed, constantly kept active to generate his ‘feel-good factor,’ going there whenever he needed to ‘ground’ himself.

  He sat there now looking out the window, which was just a framed image of the Watchtower view across the fields. It was real time so he could see what was going on from his desk. It looked real enough, he thought.

  ‘Now, all I need is a run-around to handle the small stuff that needed doing around the ARK’, he said to himself. He considered doing a deal with the security AI, but he had watched the miserable runt running around the Habitat like a squirrel hiding nuts trying to protect itself. XeraC could see pretty much everything - there would be no surprises.

  He wanted to leave the AI in place to handle the door security etc., as none of it was of interest to XeraC, but access to the CCC systems and cameras, in fact, all local comms was off-limits to him unless he could persuade the security AI to give it up. He had the dismantle code from Hemmings, but he had to be able to input that code manually from a secure terminal for it to be activated. That, of course was a problem.

  He needed manpower. The more he thought about the problem, the more he determined he had the means to create everything necessary.

  He began in a small way - a simple luxury. He designed a coffee-maker that would bring him on-demand, a fresh ground virtual coffee of his favourite blend. He drew it out on a virtual piece of paper, along with a virtual pencil. He wasn’t really drawing anything, in reality he was creating a blueprint of the design in 3D graphic code using the mainframe housed in the base complex of the ARK. The processing power wasn’t that much of a drain as it was purely code and the digital drinks maker wasn’t required to think, only blend and pour.