Warden's Vengeance

by Tony James Slater

  The weapon.

  Kyra’s head snapped around to look back at the robot — to find the muzzle aimed directly at her.

  She didn’t even have time to scream.

  28

  Kyra flinched back, eyes screwed shut, teeth clamped, one hand coming up uselessly to ward off the blow—

  Which never came.

  A long second passed, and her heart beat loud enough to deafen her.

  She opened one eye a crack, squinting through the fingers of her covering hand.

  The robot was still standing there, not moving, the huge weapon still pointed right at her head.

  What the fuck?

  She opened both eyes and took a cautious step to the side, expecting the robot to track her.

  It didn’t.

  It stood there, frozen, immobile.

  Lifeless.

  What… what did you do? she asked the others.

  Nothing! Tris came back. He sounded as freaked out as she was.

  Before Kreon had chance to add his thoughts, there was a distinctly inelegant shudder from the robot.

  A portion of its translucent chest popped open, hinging outwards like a locker door.

  And a glowing cylinder ejected in flare of light, floating down to land on the platform.

  Kyra gazed at the object. It was vaguely familiar. Is that…?

  His Sentience Unit! Tris was elated. It looks just the same as Loader’s!

  A stray memory clicked; Tris sitting with a glass can of fireflies on his knee during their trip back from Kreon’s World. It was all that remained of Loader… and it was now hidden inside the steel shoebox at her feet.

  Did he do this?

  She glanced down at Loader, then back up quickly in case the robot moved.

  It didn’t. It was still inert, upright but sagging forwards, as though someone had flicked the ‘off’ switch.

  Sydon’s sake, I hope that wasn’t the answer!

  “Is this… finished? Are we done?” She used the comm to make sure this wasn’t all happening in her head.

  “Congratulations!” ALI’s enthusiastic chirp came over the comm. “You are now safe.”

  Kyra glanced around, half expecting to see Wayfinder hovering in the void behind her.

  The ship wasn’t there, but then she remembered Kreon’s extra transceiver.

  “How the hell did you do that?” she asked. “Not that I’m not grateful or anything…”

  “It was simple.” The chirpy AI actually sounded proud of herself. “The artificial construct is a miracle of engineering, but the mind inside originated in a biological body. He had the power of a machine, but was unable to think like one. He had no conscious control over his autonomic systems. I created eight-hundred and seventeen mirror programs of myself and simultaneously attacked his active processes; power management routines, gyroscopic stability monitoring, servo maintenance protocols, for example. Once I had compromised enough of his systems, it was easy to set up a cascade failure.”

  Kyra had to admit, she was impressed.

  Particularly since ALI had saved her head from getting barbecued.

  “Eight-hundred and seventeen?” she asked, letting sarcasm cover her relief. “Not eight-hundred and eighteen?”

  “I ran out of time,” ALI admitted. “But Loader was responsible for cracking the construct’s encryption and allowing me remote access. He is also deserving of praise.”

  “Yeah…” Kyra looked down at the metal box. “Sorry about that, little buddy. For a minute I thought you might have had a change of heart.”

  Loader’s rumbling boom rolled through the intercom. “A sentiment I appreciate, since it ascribes me a heart in the first place. However, my brief interaction with this ancient being left me with a distinct impression of their civilisation. In their own time, they subjugated and annihilated all other sentient species in the galaxy. I could not allow this aspect of history to repeat itself. Humans are petty and illogical, but they do not deserve to be exterminated.”

  “Thanks Loader,” Tris said. “I think.”

  Kyra glanced at him. She was still a bit worried about the damage he might have suffered during his crash landing, but that could wait until they’d got the hell out of here.

  Kreon was obviously thinking the same thing. “Can you summon another exploration pod, ALI?” he asked.

  As though she’d been waiting for precisely that question, a bubble-shaped shadow fell across the platform. The second pod, identical in appearance, settled to the deck opposite the wreckage of the first.

  “I took the initiative again,” ALI chimed smugly. “I trust that is acceptable?”

  Kreon muttered something under his breath that his mic didn’t pick up.

  Tris had ventured over to the inert form of the robot. He crouched down and picked up the glass cylinder, turning it to study the pinpricks of light inside. “What do we do with this?”

  Kyra gave up trying the free Loader’s cable gingerly, and reached for the hilt of her Arranozapar. “You still got explosives?”

  “Yeah…” Tris sounded uncertain. “But both these things are pretty much indestructible. In vacuum, won’t an explosion just push them really far away, really fast?”

  “Your point being?” Kyra studied the cable, and made one swift cut through it.

  “I don’t want to leave them both lying around here. What if someone else finds this place, and puts the Sentience Unit back in the robot?”

  Kyra returned her swords to her waist and pointed at the glowing cylinder he was holding. “You want to take that with us? Add it to Kreon’s ‘too dangerous to see the light of day’ pile?”

  “Maybe. But I was thinking… hey, Loader? Your SCU looks just like this one. If we put yours inside this body, would you be able to control it?”

  “It is something I have considered,” Loader rumbled. “But whilst the functionality of such a vessel appeals, my destructive potential would be unrivalled. I’m not sure I am ready to experience that again.”

  “I would not force you to engage in combat,” Kreon piped up, coming over to stand by Tris. “This form is your birth right. I would entrust such power to no-one else, but you have demonstrated your worthiness many times over.”

  Loader sounded a bass note — either of confirmation or of gratitude. He was obviously mulling things over.

  It didn’t take him long, by human standards. “Then I accept. Installing me in the body is a simple procedure. I have already withdrawn all connections to my current housing, save the one I am using to communicate. Once that link is severed, my Sentience Containment Unit can be placed in the appropriate aperture. No further connections are required; I will establish those myself once the carapace is sealed.”

  Kyra raised an eyebrow. Not that anyone could see it. Loader had always been frugal with his secrets around her — not that she’d made a concerted effort to befriend him like Tris had. But the old talos let slip the odd glimpse of his capabilities. Evidently his glass-jar form was not as helpless as it seemed.

  Passing the decanted SCU over to Kreon, Tris handed her his knife. For delicate work, it won over her Arranozapar hands down.

  “Okay, here goes,” she warned Loader. “I’m gonna open you up.”

  She dug the tip of the knife in, its impossibly sharp blade sliding through the steel case like it was foil. She made one careful cut around all four sides, then gingerly pried the top loose.

  And whistled.

  She wasn’t sure what she’d expected to see inside, but not this.

  Loader’s SCU sat nestled in layer upon layer of complex, interconnected circuitry. Thousands of tiny components assembled to fill the space inside completely; she’d have struggled to get a hair clip in there.

  She looked at Kreon with newfound appreciation. “You did this?”

  “Guided by one of the greatest intelligences in the galaxy. My part was simply joining up the dots.”

  The can of fireflies came out easily; Loader was right, it wa
sn’t attached to anything. She stared at the shifting lights, mesmerised by the pattern, then handed the thing up to Tris.

  He took it reverentially in both hands, and carried in back to where the gleaming blue robot stood immobile. He offered Loader’s SCU up into the cavity in the robot’s chest, and gave it a little push to settle it. Then he stood back, swinging the translucent chest armour back into place.

  A tremor ran through the robot, and Tris sprang back.

  Kyra couldn’t blame him; the kid had been dodging that thing’s claws the whole time she’d been chopping machinery into scrap. He’d done an amazing job of it, too. Without him keeping the robot occupied, things down on the platform would have gotten way too hairy.

  A light was growing in the depths of that gem-like torso. It expanded suddenly, flaring out to make the entire surface opaque for a split second. Then it was gone — and the robot straightened up, raising its stalk-like sensor-cluster.

  And a voice like the screech of tearing metal came through Kyra’s comm.

  - METAMORPHOSIS IS COMPLETE - NOW YOU DIE -

  Kyra leapt back, uncoiling her swords in the same motion. She glanced at Kreon to see horror in his face, his staff still dangling from lax hands.

  Only Tris stood his ground, his hand pressed against the robot’s faceted chest.

  “Loader?” he said, his voice stern. “You’d better be screwing with us in there.”

  A boom rolled through Kyra’s helmet — it had the quality of a laugh.

  “Perhaps my idea of humour is inappropriate?” Loader rumbled. “It was never my forte.”

  Before leaving, they attached their capsules of Mairugar to a magnetised work bench. Kreon pronounced it the best they could do. The shaft leading to the surface was directly above them; a few parting shots from Wayfinder would destroy Gerian’s research craft above, allowing ALI to launch a cluster of micro-missiles directly down the shaft. If the resulting explosion didn’t destroy the moon’s contents, nothing else in their power could.

  Rather than accompany them in the pod, Loader used his new wings to fly alongside them.

  “Although the wings themselves are purely decorative,” he explained, his link to their comms still active. “In reality it is similar to electromagnetic repulsion, though considerably more exotic.”

  Kyra stretched in her seat, enjoying the moment of respite.

  She wasn’t even flying! Sometimes being one of the very best pilots in the galaxy sucked ass — mostly when the mission was over for everyone else, and she still had to drive them home.

  The cabin of the pod wasn’t built for comfort though, with barely enough legroom. Still, she was alive, against the odds. They all were. It was a minor miracle — and Loader becoming invincible was just the icing on the cake.

  Cake? Damn, I’m hungry!

  Tris and Loader were still chattering away; she listened with half an ear, while she indulged herself with fantasies of a juicy burger from that place in Bristol.

  “What about ALI?” Tris asked. “Can you still sense her?”

  “My connection to ALI has been re-established, but the capabilities of this form lie beyond any conventional notion of communication. Through our quantum connection it is like we are sharing one body.”

  Kyra’s com squealed with an unnecessarily happy burst of static. “What he neglects to mention is that I have left my primary mirror-program running in his cortex. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to keep him out of trouble is to be inside him.”

  Kyra couldn’t help herself. She nudged Tris with her boot to get his attention. “I hope you’re listening. That’s good advice for your relationship.”

  He made a face at her, and she could feel the embarrassment coming off him like a wave of heat. She chuckled. The more confident Tris became, the harder it got to mess with him. But there were some buttons she could always push.

  They docked back in the lower level of Gerian’s research ship.

  Kreon had been silent during the journey, but now he snatched off his helmet and gave vent to his frustration. “All this time, wasted! If Gerian was still alive I would kill him all over again for this. Because of this ridiculous distraction, my daughter is heading into combat without me. Even at best possible speed, it will take Wayfinder almost two days to reach Helicon Prime. The battle will be long over by then.”

  “We could send her a message?” Tris suggested. “Tell her to wait… she might not listen, but it’s got to be worth a shot?”

  Kreon shook his head. “It’s too late. They will have engaged by now. Her fate is in her mother’s hands.” He sounded sour, as though he resented this part most of all.

  As they disembarked the pod, Loader landed next to them. His slender form captured the artificial light and threw it back in a prism that dappled the steel deck. “There is another way,” he rumbled. “During our incarceration on Helicon Prime, Gerian brought me here through a Portal beneath the Tower of Justice.”

  Kreon sighed. “We destroyed it. The Siszar brought the entire building down. And the Portal here led to a work room in Gerian’s private residence on Obsidia, but I had Sera smash the gate at the far end. Now it leads nowhere.”

  “You are mistaken, Lord Anakreon. The Portal Gerian used to transport me led directly here from an office below the Tower of Justice. It was sufficiently deep to survive the destruction of the Tower; I was there at the time.”

  Kreon’s face lit up, something like hope flickering back into his eyes. “A second Portal? I knew you had to be close when you signalled ALI to help liberate us.”

  “Gerian brought me here to experiment on, but he was unable to force my cooperation. I agreed to assist with his research in exchange for being present at your trial. He returned me to the office to observe the proceedings via viewscreen — a slight violation of our agreement, but it was sufficient for me to coordinate between you and ALI. During the Tower’s collapse we remained safe inside the office. I believe it should still be intact.”

  Kreon’s face was alive again, and he beckoned them towards the elevator. “There could still be time!”

  Kyra hung her helmet from magnetic clasps on her hip as they rode up the few floors to the laboratory level. Stepping around the corpses in the hallway they entered the main part of the lab, which had been completely wrecked. More bodies lay in here, their various parts scattered around the room in an orgy of bloodshed. Once again Kyra felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that the robot had never got close enough to attack her in hand-to-hand.

  They got halfway through the enormous room when Tris stopped, his eyes on the floor.

  Kyra followed his gaze down to the body of a man in a smart grey uniform.

  Gerian…

  No wonder Tris looked upset.

  Kreon stopped beside him, and placed one hand on the boy’s armoured shoulder. “I never had the chance to tell you, but Gerian also sent people through the Portal on Oracle. He taunted me with this after his robot subdued me. He had long since discovered that psychics could not survive the journey, so instead he sent ordinary people; some acolytes, and some who had been Committed to the Church. He gleaned much knowledge from interviewing those that returned. And then, to reward them for their service, he executed them on the spot. All to keep his secrets safe… he was an evil man, Tristan. You did the galaxy a favour by removing him from it.”

  “I know.” Tris seemed unable to tear his eyes away from Gerian’s body. “But something he said… I do have the same darkness inside me. How else could I kill him in cold blood? I’ve… struggled with it a lot. Ever since that very first battle on Ukerdi.”

  Kyra knew how desperate Kreon was to get out of here, but still the Warden took time to enlighten his apprentice.

  “That may be so. But a degree of darkness is necessary to be a Warden. We operate in a realm where conventional notions of right and wrong cease to have relevance. We must each strive to develop a higher sense of ethics, and hold ourselves to it while the galaxy t
wists the rules around us. Nevertheless, mistakes will be made. Emotions can easily override morality; even the finest amongst us constantly walk that line. It is our curse, to be granted the power of life and death over countless individuals. Learning how to apply it judiciously is the study of a lifetime.”

  Kyra went to stand beside them, filling her eyes with the sight of Gerian’s misery. “Tris, what Kreon’s trying to say is that killing people is a lot like eating donuts. You’re allowed to enjoy it, so long as you know it’s bad for you.”

  Kreon gave her a flat look. “Kyra! Tristan is my apprentice. If you break him, you will have to buy me a new one.”

  “Pfft! You don’t pay me enough for that.”

  “I don’t pay you at all,” he declared, stalking off.

  He’s right! The bastard.

  Through another door and down a short hallway, they came to a much smaller computing lab.

  The far wall featured two doors on opposite sides, each looking like they’d lead to a private office. Kreon levelled a finger at the one on the left. “We came through there. I didn’t even notice there was two of them.”

  Loader strode up to the right-hand door, and pushed his claws against it. The door popped free of its hinges, toppling inward. Kreon crowded in, and Kyra put her arm around Tris, steering him in too.

  What faced them in the sparse office was a black mirror just like the one on the Folly. Its frame was smooth and unadorned, but the glossy surface of the glass promised hidden depths.

  She looked up at Loader. This place is just full of surprises, she thought.

  And for a wonder, she heard him reply.

  I, too, am surprised by this turn of events.

  Kyra nearly jumped out of her skin. Loader? Is that you? Shit, did that robot have the Gift?

  It was my species’ primary means of communication. The substance this body is fashioned from was chosen for its excellent psychic conductance.