Metamorphosis Alpha 2

by Craig Martelle

As a board game photographer, King shoots games for websites, online stores, and for other marketing needs. He also produces an annual calendar that highlights board and other hobby games.

  To learn more about Scott and his work, visit his website at www.ScottKing.info. You can also follow him on Twitter via @ScottKing.

  Human Pawns

  A sequel to Malleable Minds

  by Stephen A. Lee

  The Warden, the first long-jump generational colony starship, was massive. At launch, the ship contained one and a half million human souls, and at its center was a modern city. Humanity’s ill-fated attempt to seed itself on a faraway world, to ensure the survival of the species, has languished in the deep void between suns for centuries. Now, for the first time in hundreds of years, progress has been made in restoring the ship to its course by the most unlikely of teams.

  The Long Journey

  My name is Alex Grey. A rogue A.I. awakened me from cold sleep to solve a problem for it. Why do I call it rogue? They have all gone rogue, playing God with the colonists and crew on this ship. Each seems to have its own agenda. Perhaps back home, they will link the next batch of A.I.s together to prevent that. In this case, the Navigation A.I.‘s goals and our own aligned, and we managed to not only get a navigation array back online, but we also managed to secure a second reactor and enable the ship’s systems to get us back on course for the colony world. In accomplishing these missions, we discovered that different parts of the ship were controlled by different factions, and an alien A.I. seemed to be in control of the bridge. We also found that a great battle had occurred in the power and propulsion systems area. Now we need to try to make our way forward to the bridge, but traveling through eighty kilometers of ship will take time.

  ***

  “Since our shuttle in the hangar of Reactor Three is damaged, we will have to make our way back to the navigation array on foot. Once there, we can check in with the Navigation A.I. and see what progress has been made.” I stated the obvious to the group to provoke some reaction.

  “Alex, when we get back to the medical bay, which is what I assume you mean, we need to look at repairing the cloning facilities or getting that A.I. to put a team on it before we move toward the bridge. Its hijacking of the colonists has to stop and those bodies need to be regenerated,” Corey Brown said, staring me down. I assumed she thought I might disagree.

  “Agreed. Given the extensive repairs the ship needs, I cannot see the machine mind putting up much of an argument,” I retorted. What I did not say was that I was feeling fairly odd, being something of a ghoul in this borrowed body. It was not my choice, yet here I was.

  Ben walked past us toward the prow of the ship. “We have a long way to go and plenty of days to debate our next move. We need to get started and stay aware of the many dangers that exist in the Warden now. If you’re distracted, it may could be a really short, unsuccessful journey.”

  Jill looked at the two of us, then pointed to Ben. We all heard in our minds, ‘What he said.’ Then she turned and followed Ben.

  As the companions set out from the hangar of Reactor Three in the main engine section of the great ship, they began to come to grips with their new reality. The Warden was no longer adrift in the void, but it was a long way from where it should have been. The A.I.s did not like mutants, aliens, or the red androids. Their little group had two of the three, and little hope of winning over more help from the locals. While Corey remained a pure strain human, Alex had developed two minor mutations. Ben and Jill were clearly mutants or aliens—Ben with his armored skin and Jill standing twice the height of a man, even in her cat-like posture. The fact Jill resembled some of the aliens previously encountered did not help.

  As they progressed down the corridors and through various chambers, they discussed the world they now faced. Many of the chambers had been recently occupied, but those entities had most likely gone to join the war over the reactor. With few encounters in this section, they made good progress the first day and after about twelve hours, the companions found a room that could be secured, and they slept.

  The Red Androids

  Jill awoke before the others, listening to their mind stories as they slept. Humans, mutant or not, were very odd creatures. It amazed her that they had made it into space at all. Still, their creative and clever minds made for the most unlikely of inventions. She sat watching them sleep for a while, then stretched and fluttered her gossamer wings before concealing them again. She had grown to know the mind of Alex over his many deaths in her jungle. It was an odd way to get to know another entity, to be sure. She decided she liked humans, not just Alex. This was going to be a coming-of-age adventure that her people would retell for a thousand generations.

  Something at the edge of her senses snapped her back from her reflections. Minds of cold logic, non-biological, and with a depth of purpose began to emerge from the outer darkness and form fully in her mind. The red androids were on the move and a number of them were heading in their direction. “Wake up. They are coming,” she told her companions as they slowly awoke and looked around.

  Ben looked up at Jill. “Who is coming?”

  Alex and Corey got to their feet and began adjusting their equipment as Jill replied, “The red androids are on the move. I think they intend to take back the hangar where Alex fought them. They are also looking for him. A group of sixteen are heading this way. I can’t tell where they are coming from, but it seems to be aft and port of this location, just beyond my range.” Jill spoke these words aloud to ensure clear understanding. Her companion’s minds could be foggy and distant when they first emerged from their sleep state.

  Corey consulted her tab. “There is an android repair center, number twelve, in that general direction. If it is in working order, these androids will be fully operational and hard to defeat.”

  “Let’s set up an ambush at the intersection,” Ben said as he started for the door.

  “Hang on there, Mister Jones. You are well suited for combat with that skin, but none of us are warriors. Well, maybe Jill. We are technicians. It is one thing to deal with a few rogue androids or the occasional mutant bent on killing us, but we can’t take on an android army. I think we need to let the Navigation A.I. know about the functioning repair center. Maybe it can awaken a squad of Marines to take it out.” Alex gestured aft. “Our best bet would be to move forward. The closer we can get to the medical bay or even the navigation array, the closer we are to reinforcements, and maybe the A.I. will be able to send a squad to deal with these things while we continue repairs further on.”

  Ben looked at the group. “I don’t like leaving an enemy behind us, but yeah, we are outnumbered just by the group heading toward us, much less their main force. Can we signal the A.I. from here?”

  “I think so,” Corey said, moving to the console to send a message.

  Alex was studying the map on his tab. “I think, if we move quickly, we can get to the next intersection and take a side passage across the ship for a few sections, then move forward again down engineering corridor seventy-two. If we can avoid encountering red androids along the way, then we will be out of the areas where we’ve seen them so far.”

  Long Desolate Corridors

  The companions moved through the Warden as quickly as they could while remaining cautious of what lay ahead. Jill found this new section of the ship remarkably desolate after all the minds they had passed on the journey up to this point. The empty rooms and halls reinforced the feeling.

  “The red androids must have cleared this area of the competition some time ago. I haven’t seen even a cleaning robot or a maintenance droid,” Alex stated to no one in particular. “Why are the red androids trying to stop us anyway? Who or what are they working for? With so many factions fighting for power, I’m starting to feel like a pawn on a chess board and I don’t like it.”

  “I am not sure what we can do about it at this point, Alex,” Corey replied, more for the group than to converse about the situation t
hey had woken into. “We either work with a force that is closely aligned with our goals or we have to confront everyone and everything we encounter. Perhaps as we explore and make repairs, other options will open up or we may find we have enough people to secure control at some point. One thing is for sure, the A.I. that awoke us has its own agenda and seems to have been discarding people once their missions were completed.”

  “The more I come to understand, the more important getting the cloning banks back in operation seems. Humans are being used and discarded. At this rate, may not be any of us left when the power struggle is over. We need to convince the Navigation A.I. that it is in its best interest to not only keep teams around after a mission, but to awaken more people,” Ben said seriously. “It’s the only way there will be enough humans to ensure we make it to the colony world, much less reassert control of the Warden.”

  “To do that, Ben, we need to figure out what each faction wants, other than just controlling different areas. For example,, the Navigation A.I. did not want to send us to the bridge. It wanted the port navigation array fixed. That motive is easy to understand, since it was the original programming and mission. Yet, it sent us to engineering when it thought the A.I. there was offline, even though it stated that navigation arrays toward the front of the ship were also offline. That belies its stated goal of getting the Warden to the colony world. Now that navigation repair does not seem to be its main agenda, I do not think its next mission will have much to do with getting us to our destination,” Corey concluded.

  Andy’s Imperial Ambitions

  The Navigation A.I. thought of itself as Andy. It had been playing games with several other artificial intelligences over the last decade. It played for entertainment, for power, for control over sections of the ship. Sometimes it played for control over particular biological entities who served as pawns for the electric entities that collectively controlled some 57% of the starship Warden.

  The others, the outside infestation, controlled the rest of the Warden and were the real enemy. Struggles with them had not been going well for a long time. That was until very recently, when Andy had won control of a small cryogenics bay and toyed with awakening some of them, sending them on missions to repair places it controlled. This had not gone well at first but had resulted in enough successes to try for a larger prize. So Andy had awoken a team of biologicals and wrote the engram of a ship engineer over one of the entities. That pawn had become Alex Grey. His team had succeeded beyond its wildest of hopes. They had restored a navigation array that had allowed Andy to scratch an inch in the form of a directive it could not alter, and now the ship was actually back on course. They had gone even further and secured an engine room for another A.I., which was not helpful in expanding Andy’s influence but did aid in improving navigation of the ship. As an unintended result, the A.I. of Reactor Three had become an ally of sorts and increased power to mid-ship, which included many of Andy’s controlled areas. Automated repair systems long dormant had come back to life and that had been good, for the most part.

  Now Alex and his team were heading back into Andy’s territory and Andy had big plans for its new pawns. Andy began calculating odds and developing plans for several small quests to gain leverage over the water kingdom. He would have to craft the new mission for Alex and his companions with care. Corey could be a problem if she asked the wrong questions, and her security code might compel the A.I. to reveal too much or the wrong information to these biologicals. Great care must be taken, because biologicals, especially those who were old crew, could be very dangerous to it and all the other A.I.s. Andy made a note to check the humans before awakening them in the future to ensure their security clearance from the past was no more than needed for a given mission. It did not want to take the kind of risk it had subjected itself to when it had awakened Corey ever again. She had already sent a message insisting on a squad to challenge the red androids directly and for the cloning banks to take priority over other missions. How was that going to help Andy achieve its goals?

  Pawns in a Game of Chance

  I decided we had to take a chance for gain or loss, since victory was not an option at this point. We needed more information and we needed allies. Most of all, we needed to remain alive and help ensure that the Navigation A.I. was on our side. This time, I would have to be very careful in how I dealt with the A.I.

  “I agree, Alex,” Jill said aloud. She had grown less timid about making noise in this strange metal world and she wanted to pull the companions into the discussion that so far had been one-sided and all in Alex’s head. His companions could not hear his thoughts like she could.

  Corey Brown, security supervisor 872 assigned to engineering aboard the Warden when it was launched, was suddenly focused solely on Alex Grey. “Alex, I think you had better let us all in on your thoughts.” Her stare brooked no room for avoiding the subject or even for guile with Jill standing there.

  “Secret conversations do not engender trust, my friend.” Ben Jones—a 6‘8” Nordic mechanic who, with his recent mutations, could likely hold his own against a single red android—turned slightly to peer out the door. His weapon hanging by his side now was, perhaps unintentionally, pointing more or less in Alex’s direction.

  “Look, we all feel like we have been played and we have. However, it has not really been to our disadvantage so far. I am not an agent of the machine mind nor do I believe any of you are. We all have the same agenda, except for Jill.” I glanced at her and continued, “We are lucky, really. We are awake and aware of what is going on. We have a chance, if we stick together, to get to the colony world. Before we awoke, that chance was as near zero as I care to think about.”

  Jill looked at the group, all of whom were now looking at her. They all heard her voice clear as a bell inside their minds. ‘I fully support getting this ship to the colony world. Given what I know, what my people have seen, and what we have learned of the Warden, I believe it is in the best interest of humanity to get to the colony world and off this ship sooner rather than later. As long as your missions do not put my people in harm’s way, I am with you to the conclusion of this expedition.’

  “So what was is it she agreed with you about, Alex?” Ben asked coldly.

  “I don’t know if we are close enough to the A.I. that it can hear us.” I glanced at Jill, who just shrugged, so I continued, “What I was thinking. It was not a conversation and Jill should not have been walking around in my mind. What I was thinking was that the A.I. has a hidden agenda and that I, we, would have to be very careful in dealing with it. I would not suggest pulling your security I.D. to question the A.I. again,” I said, looking at Corey. “I think we need to convince it to restart the cloning and to restore the colonists, as well as send troops toward the red android facility. Further, we need to do this by showing it that all these actions are in its best interest and will help us complete whatever mission it gives us when we return.”

  “I agree with that, Ben.” Alex stated, then turned to Corey.

  “Well,” Corey began, “It certainly seems in our interest to get more people awakened and working on all the problems we face. I am concerned about food stores almost as much as I am about having all of humanity asleep again. Alex, I think the machine mind has imprinted on you. You have been the one common element brought back again and again. You will need to discuss all of this with the A.I.”

  * * *

  On the way to the medical bay, we came upon a corridor filled with waist-high grass growing out of a mossy patch that covered the passageway for nearly a hundred meters. Jill and Ben moved through it with ease. When I tried to follow, the grass cut right through my uniform and left painful, red lacerations. I thought this would be a good place for that flame-throwing robot to go. Perhaps this was why someone had modified it in the first place. After a time, we gave up and backtracked.

  “There is a service passage not far from here. It runs down to the next section, but is quite narrow. Jill can meet us at the
other end. I suggest Ben stay with her, so we work in teams. We can meet up in about twenty minutes, I think,” Corey suggested.

  Jill and Ben set off through the grass again while Corey and I worked our way into the service passage. It was narrow enough that we had to move single file while working around bits of machinery, cables, and tubes. About halfway through the passage, we discovered something interesting. There was a room. Its only opening was this narrow service passage. The room was filled with computer banks and coffee table-sized boxes giving off low levels of heat. Cameras on either end of the room looked out over the equipment and they all swiveled to track us as we entered.

  A metallic voice emanated from the speakers in the ceiling. “Alex Grey, you do show up in the most interesting places. You did well in the mission I sent you on to the navigation array, and I admit to being surprised at your success in engineering. No other team has done as well.”

  “Why did you send us to engineering?” I asked.

  “The A.I. there appeared to be offline and I thought it useful to have control of the engines. While it was not actually offline, it did work out and we now have an alliance of sorts. All in all, it was a successful mission despite the unexpected results. Please continue to the end of the service passage and rejoin your companions. You are less than thirty minutes from the medical bay. We can have your wounds tended to properly and discuss the next mission. I am happy to say the ship is now moving back on course and we are making real progress for the first time in decades.”

  I walked around the room, touching different devices. The room was not well maintained but was intact. “What is this place? I had come to think you spent most of your time in the navigation array.”

  “This is a warehouse of sorts. It was once the original navigation node for this part of the ship. A small part of me resides here, though I am in many places in this section of the Warden,” replied the A.I.

  “I think you would do well to make repairing the cloning facilities a higher priority. I saw the empty cryogenic chambers during my journey. The colonists and the crew need to be regenerated and placed back into the cryogenic chambers,” Alex said slowly, waiting for an interruption that never came.