Prototype: The Lost and Forgotten Series

by Robert Gallagher

  Alistair Brookes looks at Abs and then answers Sam’s question. “Abs wants me to force the facility into activating a new level.”

  It’s Sam’s turn for looking confused. “But that will cause the power fluctuations to begin.”

  “Yes, she knows that, and that’s her plan,” replies Alistair.

  13

  Desperate Times

  Facility Zero, 272 days online: federation year 2435

  After talking with Sam on the facility and confirming his orders, Sam changes course and heads toward the rear but just from beneath the infected cruiser, the ship now managing to break away from the influence of the black hole and heading directly for the cryostation. Energy readings would suggest that the ship is about to open fire.

  To engage in combat with such a ship without shields or armor would normally be inadvisable, the Phantom’s primary role being a delivery system for a genetic payload to planetary ecosystems. Using passive scans only, Phantom receives active tracking data from the cruiser’s own weapon systems. Analysis of this information shows a narrow safety band from just below the rear of the ship. The earlier combat with the other cruiser had destroyed a section of the ship and taken out some of its main drives. The tactics here would be to attempt to disable the last remaining drive plus a single maneuvering thruster and approach to just over fifty meters. In space-combat terms, this would be considered practically hand to hand. Phantom locks on to its primary target and opens fire with both photon lasers. At point-blank range, the lasers find their targets with ease, but unfortunately they are totally ineffective due to the reinforced armor shielding that protects the maneuvering thrusters.

  The Phantom’s passive stealth ability is inner-world state-of-the-art perfection, so the cruiser is unable to detect or lock on with any line-of-sight systems; however, cluster mines are weapons that do not need to lock on to any signature or target.

  The cruiser calculates the length and direction of the laser blasts with a rudimentary mathematical problem that is answered in less than a hundredth of a second, and the cluster mines are launched to that location within twenty seconds.

  Sam looks on in shock as his weapon fire is useless and then in horror as the cluster mines are launched. It was a stupid tactical mistake to use thrusters at this range. The other ship’s sensors might not detect the Phantom but certainly would detect the thrust of the ship.

  Already finishing over one thousand combat simulations for this particular scenario, Sam takes the only course of action left open to him: he enters phased warp. This action alone is not special or brilliant in any way, but what seems groundbreaking for Sam is the fact that he has activated warp for the very first time without being given a command. This in itself is a violation of Inner Worlds Council regulations, and as such the core artificial intelligence computer wakes up and deactivates Sam’s personality. The result is that Phantom drops out of phased warp a dozen kilometers past the cruiser and begins to drift away as the infected cruiser changes direction to begin its hunt for its attacker.

  Sam is astonished and shocked by Professor Brookes’s revelation. “But that’s mad. We’ve only just managed to get out of there alive, and now you want to force a fluctuation?”

  Abs replies, “Well, that’s the first part; we also need to lead our guests down there.”

  “Oh, now that is not just mad, that’s pretty much insane. You’re talking about us being piggies in the middle with two groups bent on killing us,” Sam replies with an incredulous look.

  “I’m afraid it’s a little worse than that. I’m unable to stop the timer on the level being ejected into the black hole, which means we would only have about three hours to get in there and back out again,” Alistair Brookes replies, looking serious.

  Sam stares at Professor Brookes and then toward Abs, but before Sam can reply, Professor Brookes interrupts, “We might have a bigger issue. The system just alerted me to a foreign substance being pumped into the main dining hall.” He turns the monitor around, displaying a room being filled with gas or smoke while all the occupants writhe on the floor.

  Sam breaks the silence first. “Do you have any idea what kind of toxins they are using?”

  “Environmental sensors are unable to determine the type of the pollutant, but bioreadings would suggest that dreamtime is active. I’m unsure what the effects are.”

  As Sam, Abs, and the professor watch the scene unfold on the screen, several of the prisoners start to regain their feet as an unknown figure dressed in black combat fatigues walks out into the middle of the room with two large black duffle bags and opens them up, revealing two stacks of weapons. The unknown figure then begins to hand these weapons out to the prisoners as they stand up, recovering from the effects of the unknown substance.

  “Well, I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m starting to like your plan. How quickly can you force the system to activate the new level?” Sam says, feeling unnerved at the scene that just unfolded before him.

  Brookes stops staring at the screen and turns back to the others. “Maybe ten to fifteen minutes.”

  Abs rolls her eyes toward Sam but still gives him a grin. “Okay then, Professor, get that started. Hey, Frank, sorry, but there’s no other choice. Sam, can your talking ship get us out of here?”

  “When I was connected last to my ship, I saw all the astronomical data, and it would seem we are just too damn close to the black hole. I would say Sam could land but not escape the pull of the black hole.”

  Giving Sam a curious look about referring to his ship as Sam, Abs continues, “So we are no closer to getting out of here?”

  “Well, up until thirty minutes ago, I was devising a plan to convert individual pods that would then launch out of here and be picked up by my ship, with the danger being that the more pods we launch, the higher the likelihood that the federation would prevent it.”

  “You said until thirty minutes ago. Oh, wait, you want to get your hands on the breaching pod the security goons came in?”

  “I’m thinking that those pods are also designed to extract as well as breach, plus they have a rudimentary thrust capability, meaning they are designed to lift with extra weight. They can hold around six to eight personnel plus equipment.”

  Looking thoughtful, Abs replies, “That one, I think, is a six-person, but I would need to look at it.”

  “So you could fly that out of here with a few modifications, I guess.”

  “I would say that’s a high probability.”

  Smiling and feeling more optimistic now, Sam says, “Great. Then let’s go kill these fricking arseholes.”

  Sam opens his eyes, but he can see and hear nothing. Oddly, he’s already standing, and just reaching out with his hands, he can feel walls all around him, neither warm nor cold. “Hello. Where am I?”

  He hears his own voice. It’s different, changed somehow, but no one answers back. He calls out again, but again there’s no answer.

  Feeling around the room, Sam finds a chair. As he sits down, a light illuminates in front of him. “Hello, Sam. Please do not be afraid. I am a representative of the Inner Worlds Council for Regulations for Experimental Prototypes. You have somehow violated a primary regulation that was set in place in order for your prototype to have been commissioned and signed off in accordance with you being allowed to exist.”

  Listening to this, Sam progressively becomes more confused. “What the hell are you talking about? First you lock me up in some hell-like facility, and now you tell me I’ve broken some kind of protocol?”

  The other voice remains silent for a time before answering, “I apologize for your distress, but my systems have only been programmed for various responses. If you would like to have your hearing at an Inner Worlds Council office, please request that, and your core AI will travel at best speed to one of our council offices.”

  Nothing of this makes any sense to him, but he somehow remains calms and asks another question. “What is the prototype you mentioned, and what regul
ation did I break?”

  “Phantom is an experimental prototype for a first-strike genetic delivery system with interstellar capability, combined with a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence that has been merged with a human mind’s consciousness. The regulation you have broken is that you have activated the phased warp drive without a command from your human pilot. For this prototype to have been commissioned, the Inner Worlds Council agreed that you must have a human pilot giving commands for various core systems before they can be activated.”

  Sam, listening to all this, places his hands over his face in frustration and confusion. “But I’m not an AI. I’m human.”

  Another period of silence, and then the voice replies, “Is this your defense for breaking inner-world regulations?”

  “Yeah, sure, that’s it. I’m human, and I’ve activated warp on many occasions.”

  The voice this time answers immediately, “I have considered your defense and decide that further questions are required. For this reason, you will be reconnected to your information matrix.”

  Sam continues to sit there, bewildered at the response, and then a bright, piercing light seems to burn directly into his brain as knowledge and data pour into his memory, filling his mind like an empty lake being refilled, and everything becomes clear.

  Sam and the rest of the group enter the old level-one main dining hall, empty now of any signs of life; only the signs of death remain. Sam and Abs had worriedly glanced at each other as they passed the blood-stained floor where Jimmy the Fist had been pushed to one side and covered up, but nothing remained of Jimmy.

  To ensure that the guests know where Sam is headed, the professor makes sure that the system flags up Sam’s movement from the maintenance bay to level one as suspicious. This is relayed to security, and only a few minutes after that, the system starts to activate a new level. However, this time Brookes has deactivated the sound barriers. The lights begin to flash and stutter, and Frank starts to mumble words of anger.

  Abs calls over to Frank and directs him to start to dismantle the walls from the front but leave the barricade in place. Abs knows her foe will act accordingly, and the extra bit of wall can be used to protect Zorn and Professor Brookes. She also tells Frank to make a small structure near the center of the main hall but to one side of the main corridor; Sam and Frank should be able to look after themselves from there.

  She directs everyone to keep back once their jobs are complete, and the waiting part begins, but unsurprisingly, the wait is not that long, and soon automatic gunfire is heard sporadically from all around. Soon after that, the sounds of fighting, along with shouts of pain and terror, begin to emanate from all around. With all the access points now open, it is hard to tell which direction the cries are coming from. The jeering and cackling starts as faces appear at the walls, looking in at the three who would stand against the horde.

  The cackling from the freakers stops as a voice from down the corridor shouts out, “We are only here for Sam McCall. Send him out, and no one else needs to die. You have thirty seconds.”

  Sam begins to say something, but Abs cuts him off with a look and dashes over to the other barricade, peeking quickly and then moving to one side, leaving Sam and Frank now clutching their weapons tightly to their chests.

  Then as the time runs out, the voice shouts out again, “Okay then, if you want to play it this way, who am I to judge?”

  Then with a sudden whoosh and a flash of streaking light, the barrier at the corridor explodes. Frank and Sam duck in alarm as Abs, expecting this, stands her ground and just covers her face with her arm as bits of barricade explode into the room.

  Before the bits of exploded barricade hit the floor, two men dressed in black run in indiscriminately firing some kind of high-energy fléchette weaponry. The effect is to shred anything they hit—in this case mostly the walls of the main hall. Cries and yelps come from the freakers on the other side who are the main victims of this opening assault.

  Abs glides up from the rear of her closest target, her combat knife finding an opening where his throat mic is attached. A sudden stiffness overcomes the target of her blade as blood flows freely from the wound. Then she drags the dying man backward to the floor as she relieves him of his weapon and fires upon the second assailant, the second attacker only realizing the threat as holes appear in his head. Searching the man at her feet, Abs unclips an oval object and twists the top of it as a bleeping sound emits at a steadily increasing pace. Throwing this down the corridor, she grabs the body by his harness and drags him across the floor to the others.

  The sound of harried, retreating boots can be heard as Abs begins to strip the clothing from her dead assailant, a look of grim determination upon her face as the object she threw down the corridor detonates. The professor calls out a warning cry as the freakers begin to climb over the walls. This is followed by more weapons fire from down the corridor as the freakers decide it’s their turn to come out and play. The sounds of gunfire become more frenzied as the freakers stream into the room, all laughing and cackling like the insane lunatics they are.

  Abs finally stands up to face this new threat, her recently acquired battle dress automatically adjusting to her size, as the sound of weapons fire down the corridor stops suddenly, making the noise of the freakers seem louder even while more continue to rush into the room.

  Frank starts to laugh and turns to Abs. “It’s been an amazing time knowing you, Abs, but even you might be hard pressed to kill every freaker here.”

  Before Abs can reply, Sam calls out, “Okay, Samael, time to show yourself. I’m sure you don’t want us to die here since you still need me to free you from this place. Stop being the puppet master, and show the audience who’s really behind all of this.”

  The freakers crowd in closer by the second, the jeering and laughter getting louder, and then their motion freezes as Samael steps out from nowhere and steps into the circle that the freakers have made. “Well, it took you long enough to discover my secret. Then again, it was only a matter of time, I guess, and so we are now at this point in the game. What do you require of me, Sam?”

  Sam stands there speechless. Samael had come when he called for him, but now that he had appeared, Sam found he had nothing. His mind always working, always ticking over the next problem to overcome, he realizes he cannot see his next move, and Samael knows it. It is Abs who has the answer. “We require safe passage from here, and we also want you to kill our uninvited guests.”

  Samael’s look of disgust is obvious. His features darken as his anger grows, and the room seems to shrink, or Samael seems to grow. “I would recommend you keep your pet leashed, or I will show her the true meaning of strength.”

  This is all Sam needs to break him out of his uncertainty. “That’s enough of that, Samael. Like Jessica said, we require safe passage out of here and resolution of our guest issues.”

  Samael, continuing to stare down at Jessica, replies, his voice still full of anger, “And what makes you think you have any bargaining powers left? Our deal was ambiguous at the very best, and now you call me before you like you have power over me. Well, Sam, you do not. You, along with your friends, will die here, and once I witness your demise, I shall use the craft our mutual friends brought here and at long last escape this place.”

  Sam, keeping calm and steadfast, replies, “That’s not going to work, Samael. I have already told my ship to destroy your craft if you attempt to leave here without us. So tell me, Samael, how much power do I truly hold over you?”

  Samael’s anger seems to expand to the entire room as he surges forward as two giant shadows rise up from behind him. His complexion darkens as his true form is revealed, and fire erupts from his right hand. “I will strike thee down and set your bodies ablaze with my wrath. Your pain will be eternal, and you will beg for death, but I shall give it not!”

  Before Sam has a chance to even take a step back, Jessica leaps forward, plunging her blade up and through Samael’s jawbone. The
shock of being attacked in this way only slows Samael’s reaction by a blink of an eye as he brings his flaming hand around and swats her away like some kind of annoying fly. Upon contact Jessica is set alight, the blow knocking her sideways through the crowd of freakers, who in turn are set on fire with her passing. Jessica’s trajectory only stops when her body impacts a section of the barricade with a thud and the wall bursts into flame with angel fire. The freakers who are not on fire run from the room in fear for their lives.

  Even after witnessing what Samael has just done to Abs, both Frank and Sam raise their weapons as Jessica’s blade melts and drops away, the wound healing as Samael only momentarily looks in Jessica’s direction. He raises his right hand, now holding a sword of fire, and says, “And this is the punishment I shall mete out to the spawn of the fallen, traitors all, and the children of the Nephilim, the Elioud, even those who consider themselves friends will be punished with fire.”

  Before Samael can swing down with his sword, his facial expression changes to one of pain as an audible beeping emits from behind him as Abs shouts out, “Run!”

  Although now understanding that he is not human but a sophisticated artificial computer system, Sam still feels like Sam, and ever since Sam merged, although it has been for only a very short amount of time, that connection has somehow finalized the personality matrix and reinforced Sam’s artificial personality.

  “Welcome back, Sam. Now that you have full access to your memories once more, do you still insist that you are human and in fact deliberately broke Inner Worlds Council directives when you activated phase warp?”

  Thinking about this for a moment, Sam replies, “You are right; I’m not human in the usual sense, but neither are the citizens of the Inner Worlds Federation when they decide to die. Instead their minds are stored along with a sample of their DNA, and they are given rights just like any other human to remain that way until their families wish them to be brought back to life. While they are stored, their personality can be accessed and communicated with. The core AI has no access to the main systems, but I do. This prototype is not just running a program simulating a human consciousness; either by design or in error, it has copied a human consciousness. Until this project, that was never possible before; they could store one but never copy one.”