“Well, I'm sure I can provide a distraction. What will you be doing again?”
“You'll know it when you see it,” Alice replied as she began climbing up a long, narrow shaft packed with various cables and wires.
“Will you come back for me?”
“Oh, don't worry, I won't leave you behind after all the work I put in. Once I'm on my way out in the Clever Dream I expect you'll transmit yourself to her. You'll be safe and sound, back home.”
“That's a relief. What if I can't transmit?”
“Well, I'll work on some insurance.”
Several decks later she came to a broad junction with more room for internal infrastructure management. She climbed into the service walkway and laid her hand on a thirty centimetre thick bundle of cables. A small display came up on the visor of her vacsuit. “Here it is. The primary data cable for the secondary computer core. Ready to have some fun?”
“Oh yes. I love talking to strange computer systems.”
“Just tell me if you don't get control of the core before a defensive AI gets on your trail.”
“Will do.”
She carefully stabbed a small tool into two data cables and uploaded Lewis into the system. Transmitting complex data was always a strange sensation. It was like reading ten thousand pages in the space of five seconds and not remembering a single word.
“Oh, they'll never see this coming,” Lewis transmitted to her.
“Good boy, confusion and inconvenience, as much as you can manage.”
“I've taken control of the secondary core. The defensive AIs didn't even notice until it was too late. Going silent until you need me,” Lewis said gleefully.
Alice started to run down the narrow passageway towards her main objective. She was half way there when Lewis broke comm silence.
“Alice, you need to know this. Jonas is here.”
“What?”
“Jonas Valent. The real one, he's here. He's alive. He's in a suite three corridors down.”
“They captured him? How? He's sectors away.”
“No, it's all in the database. That is an experiment, a copy that failed regardless of how many times they tried to copy Jonas' conciousness. The copies kept on refusing to cooperate, suppressing or deleting the copied memories. Along with his experiences they all seemed to inherit his spirit of defiance, the will fight Vindyne, even if it meant sabotaging themselves. The being they have in custody here is the real Jonas Valent, however. His memory is intact and he has been awake for sixty three days.”
Alice felt as though her entire world had tipped on its head. “Show me.”
A flash of images flipped by on her eye implant and she read them with ease. Over the passage of seconds she knew exactly what she would do. Revenge will have to wait. I'll be back for you Gabriel, she thought to herself. “Lewis, I'd like you to look up a subprogram called dementia.”
“I have it, I did not know it was part of my program.”
“Please activate for fifteen minutes and extend immunity to myself, your core program, Jonas Valent and the Clever Dream. ”
There was no response. Once dementia was activated there wouldn't be. Lewis was busy doing other things.
She ran down the passageway until she came to an access panel. She switched to sonic and thermal sensors so she could see through it into the next room. There were two people, one of them was standing in front of a materializer and Alice couldn't help but smile at herself. She knew what was about to happen.
The order was; “two stacks of pancakes with extra syrup and whip cream.” Instead the materializer exploded with fire suppressant foam, instantly engulfing the crew member. The foam continued to spill forth at an incredible rate as Alice kicked the access panel out and walked through the room, past the other crew member who was near panic and on her way out of their quarters.
Alice ran full tilt down the hallway outside, taking in the information coming to her through her electronic eye. There were three crew members fighting off a maintenance drone around the corner to the right, another crew member trying to call in the malfunctions but only getting through to the intercom for that stretch of hallway.
She rounded another corner with her sidearm at the ready. There were two guards there trying to understand why the lift doors would close whenever they came near. Her first shot took the nearest in the shoulder, wrecking the bone beneath and his right chest cavity. Her second shot took the other guard's head off his shoulders. With the energy settings set so high on her sidearm, it would continue to be just as effective, but run out of ammunition in only thirty more shots, but under the circumstances, she'd have to make sure every shot counted, no matter what weapon she decided to use.
Alarms went off. That system was obviously still working. She unslung her rifle and begun to run. No one was moving just yet, but she had over three kilometres of hallway to go.
After rounding several corners and making it half way she came upon a storage area that was left wide open. It looked like the bots within were playing murder ball with packages and crates, several hapless crew members had gotten in the crossfire. A rifle shot narrowly missed her and she glanced to her right. The shot had come from a security team on the other side of the massive storage area. They were braving the bedlam to get to her. There was cover everywhere, and as she rolled behind a sturdy looking crate while several more shots rang out. They weren't using stun weaponry.
Hesitation was for the weak. It was something she had overheard Jonas Valent's drill instructor shout at him during basic training over twenty years before. From her inside jacket pocket she produced a strap of ten high yield disruptor grenades and ran around the corner as she tossed them across the storage area.
The fuse was set to three seconds, everything in that hold would be damaged or reduced to unrecognisable scrap. Her thermal readings told her that there was an entire squad of guards coming around the next corner and she began to fire.
Her particle acceleration rifle tore pieces out of the walls, the deck, and when she ran through the intersection of the hall it tore into the soldiers who never had a chance. The grenades went off.
The sheer force of air rushing from behind knocked her off her feet. She rolled and skidded down the hall, catching a corner awkwardly with her foot. “Pain meds, right ankle,” she told her suit, she knew she at least had a bad sprain.
It only hurt for three steps, then she was fine. It was a price she'd pay later. There was a group of soldiers coming towards her from another corner. From the other side of her jacket she pulled the second and last belt of grenades. As the lead soldier peeked around the corner she tossed the twenty centimetre long belt straight at his head. It looped around his neck, the six second fuse counted down.
In all her life she never ran so fast. She was almost there, just another corner and two hundred meters. The corner came up and she dove behind it, landing on her back, thanking the creators of the impact resistant vacsuit she wore. For a whole breath she looked into the visors of a pair of guards whose hesitation must have been a symptom of their surprise.
Then the grenades went off. The pair of guards were knocked off their feet by the violent concussive force. It took a moment for her sensors to reset and get back to normal, and she used the seconds to stand up. She straightened her jacket and brushed the dust and debris from the front of her vacsuit. “Lewis, open this door,” she ordered through her communicator.
A second later it opened to reveal Jonas Valent, just as she remembered him, only he was in plain grey civilian clothing, holding a thin computing pad. She stepped inside and let the door close behind her. “Lewis, increase gravitational force in the passages around this room by a factor of five point five.”
He stood, cocked his head and looked at her. “Wrong turn?” he asked.
Retracting her headpiece she smiled at him brightly. “Do you remember your eighteenth birthday? After the party was finished and you were back home in your room I asked you what you wished for?”
He didn't understand, but she had his attention.
“You told me you wished to live in interesting times. A few years later you found yourself on All-Con Prime watching a foundry explode and said; 'you just can't pay for this kind of entertainment back home.'”
He looked at her in disbelief for a moment and smiled.
She went on. “I commented; 'that's pretty good evidence that wishes can come true.'”
“Alice?” Was Jonas' only response.
“Daddy's little girl is all grown up,” she ran over and jumped into his arms. To her relief and joy he actually squeezed her back. The moment couldn't last, however. “We have to go. I don't know how long Lewis can keep everyone on their faces. He has the gravity turned up to five point five.”
“Yup, that kind of gravity would strain systems. Who's Lewis?” He asked as he accepted her rife.
“He's my artificial intelligence.”
“Nice. Let's get out of here.”
“The primary artificial intelligence is redoubling its efforts to regain control Alice, I don't know how long I can maintain this,” Lewis informed her.
“All right, stop work on everything but keeping yourself intact and keeping the corridors nearest us set to increased gravity.”
“I will try.”
Alice looked to Jonas. “Now we head to my ship.”
“Thank God you have a plan, because I don't have a clue.”
They stepped out into the hallway and could immediately hear the whining of the gravitational systems as they tried to keep up with the requested output. The pair of guards were in awkward piles. They tried to move, and would be fine once the gravity let up, but for the time being they could barely shift their weight.
Alice and Jonas ran as hard as they could, the sound of strained systems following them as much as the sound of their footsteps. They made quick time through several corridors. It was like some mad mixed nightmare. She was running beside her creator, twisted, contorted bodies wherever they looked. The level of gravity the crew had been subjected to wasn't the maximum tolerance of the human body, but it was enough to force just about anyone down. Lewis had set it higher than she wanted him to.
They reached a lift and Lewis opened the door. “I expect to lose control in less than ten minutes,” he informed her.
“Okay, clear us a path to the port reactor. In the meantime, deactivate gravity and the cars for this lift,” she replied mentally. “Change of plans, we have to hold the ship hostage. We won't be able to get to the ship before Lewis loses control.” Alice said aloud.
“You really do have a plan,” Jonas said, shaking his head as he followed her into the zero gravity of the elevator shaft. The door closed behind them and she lead the way down several decks. “I really just winged it whenever I could get away with it.”
“I know, that is until you took command of the First Light.”
“Yup, and then I relied on you for all the heavy lifting, cerebrally speaking.”
“Until I was transferred into the Overlord Two where I eventually found my way into this body.”
“That explains a lot.”
“We're here, time to put on a real show,” she started taking off her pack as they stepped into the corridor when a shot caught her in the arm.
Jonas pushed her to the deck and opened up in the direction the shot came from, catching the guard three times in the chest.
He checked her and saw it was a through and through burn that took a piece of bone with it. It was immediately evident that as a reaction to her brute force measures, everyone else had tuned their weapons up to their maximum setting. The reactor was just up ahead. There were three luminescent tubes a meter and a half across, each one filled with churning liquid that fluctuated in colour between deep red and deep blue.
“Pain meds are already kicking in. I'll take care of this myself. You have to plant this explosive,” Alice said, standing with Jonas' help.
“Gotcha.” He opened the bag and pulled the long cylinder free. The remote detonator was inside. He took a look at it. “Simple enough. Safety on the device here, and another safety on the trigger here.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, cover me,” he said as he started down the ramp to the reactor. There was another guard, but he had been crushed to the ground earlier at an awkward angle. Jonas made it to the nearest reactor tube and realized it was a regenerating antimatter core. “This is the most dangerous power system I've ever seen,” he said to himself as he affixed the charge and pulled the safety strip clear. He recognized the trigger system. If anyone moved it it would show on the trigger mechanism and the user would have the option of either setting a timer or blowing it right away.
He turned and ran back to Alice who was in much less pain. The vacsuit had regenerated across the wound as well. She smiled at him and flexed her arm. “Emergency nanobot kit built into the suit. My idea.”
“You make your father proud,” he said as he followed her back into the lift.
As they came to the level of the main hangar Lewis opened communications with Alice. “I am losing control.”
“Okay, deactivate dementia and upload yourself into the Clever Dream. Get her ready if you can.”
“Done.”
The way to the hangar bay was a grisly sight. The damage the Clever Dream was doing had caused a high temperature explosion throughout several hallways. They could see where pipelines had exploded, blowing huge holes in the walls and charring the decks and ceilings. The fire had been put out, whatever was flowing through those pipelines had been turned off but there were still corpses scattered throughout the hallways.
They turned the second last corner before getting to the nearest hangar access point when the door in front of them slid open to reveal a squadron of soldiers ready in firing formation. One group was in a kneeling line with rifles ready, the group behind were standing with their weapons trained on them as well.
Alice and Jonas moved with the same swift motion, diving into the adjoining hallway. Several shots rang out milliseconds behind them.
“Hold fire!” Called the familiar voice of Gabriel Meunez. “Alice, Jonas you can come out.”
“I do not believe you!” Jonas called back.
Alice couldn't help but chuckle. She took the dull grey metal sleeve off the detonator switch and gripped the cylinder. “I have a particle bomb strapped to your port reactor and one of us is holding a dead man's switch.” She balled the hand with the dead man's switch so Jonas could see that it was small enough for her to completely hide in her palm.
He caught on and balled his free hand. “We want a clear path to her ship.”
“Let's discuss this,” Gabriel said, trying to sound patient and shouting shakily, unsteadily instead.
“Ever since they woke me up I've been learning to hate this guy,” Jonas whispered.
“I know what you mean, I have a masters degree in hating this bastard.”
“Wow, my sense of humour, only better,” Jonas said with a quiet chuckle. “We're coming out!” He yelled.
“We are?” Alice asked in a whisper.
“What, we don't have to? Is there another way to your ship?”
“Maybe. Lewis, how is the Clever Dream?”
“A little warm but in fine condition. The main hangar doors are still closed though,” Lewis replied in her implant.
“Damn, the ship is still behind a locked door,” Alice relayed.
“Time for threats,” Jonas shrugged.
“Okay, we're going to leave. Open the hangar doors or I blow this and take the nearest escape shuttle out of here!” Alice shouted as she nodded towards the round door at the end of the hall.
To Jonas that little round hatch seemed very far away even though it was only ten meters. The thought of escaping with a five ton antimatter reactor exploding right behind them wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to.
“I don't believe you have a dead man's switch.” Replied Gabriel.
Alice shrugged and held her hand out into the hall.
“I can't see it with your hand closed.”
She raised her middle finger to reveal the detonator. “Have a crew member check the reactor, moron.”
They could hear more guards taking up positions from the way they had come.
Jonas looked at the wall he was facing and pulled an access panel free. There were a couple dozen wires, a ribbon cable, and a small box many of them ran through.
Alice brought her hand back in from the hall and mouthed; “What are you doing?”
“I don't know,” he whispered with a shrug.
His antics gave Alice an idea. “Lewis, patch into the service bot and hook into the computer system controlling the door. Maybe you can hack it into opening,” She communicated mentally.
Jonas forgot about the wiring and raised his rifle to cover the hallway intersection.
“Come now, we can be civilized about this. Please calm down and we'll talk things over,” Meunez called out.
“Oh, I know how you Vindyne love to sit around talking things over. My head still hurts from the last time,” Jonas called back. An armour clad black knee poked in from the left just enough for them both to see. Without thinking Jonas took aim with the rifle and fired. The damage was far more severe than he expected. The guard was sent wailing into the open, holding his half severed shin.
“Back off now or everyone here makes a mad dash for an emergency shuttle,” Alice warned. “Lewis, how is the bot doing?” She thought.
“Well! We've found some exposed wiring!”
“So the door will be open and you'll be able to pick us up?”
“There is an excellent chance.”
Alice looked to Jonas, who was still watching for anyone to poke their head or other appendages into the open. “We have a ride,” she mouthed to him, nodding at the escape shuttle.
He gave her a surprised expression. “We're getting away in that?”
“My ship will pick us up.”
Jonas grinned and nodded. “Run for it!” He whispered.
She complied.
“Hey Gabriel, give my regards to Major Hampon if you make it out of this alive. Tell him I'll be seeing him soon, real soon, ” he said before firing wildly as he ran backwards down the hallway.
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