by James Murdo
Weaving her way through the viscous vacuum, she noticed small pricks of energy around her and nearby. Not the sentinels, but something else. She ignored them for now, they were not immediately important.
The gulf between her and the sentinels was diminishing. It was becoming easier, which she knew was because she was moving closer to the bulk of the sensespace presence. She had to be careful and remain cognisant of its alluring charm. She could have forced her presence up to the sentinels immediately, but chose to creep gently forwards, cautious against using the entirety of her abilities.
Close enough to behold the sentinel structures within the sensespace, she nearly recoiled in shock and awe. Glancing back to check the Wanderer ship, it was as she had thought, almost indistinct within the sensespace to the surrounding emptiness, whereas the Maspero sentinels were absolutely… different. From what she could observe up close, they interacted with the sensespace on a level she could never have imagined, shimmering with a brilliance she had not sensed before. It had not been obvious until she had come this close, the same as in her dreams where the mycelial patterns adorning the cavernous walls had glowed with an intensity that rapidly attenuated into the gloom.
She drifted even closer, tentatively, unsure of what she was moving towards, focusing on the central sentinel. The craft-lect had not warned her about this strange sensespace activity, but then it had probably been unaware. It was not that the presence of the infection was stronger than she had known before, more that it was… energetic.
Closer, she was mesmerised. Nearly having pushed her presence to the point of the central sentinel structure itself, that discrete boundary that separated it from the rest of the galaxy, she paused. Fine filaments of bright white darted about, slipping around the boundary and disappearing. The longer she waited, the more she saw it – a flow.
She suspected somewhere else, that she was not yet able to sense, there was more substance. Something behind the sentinel, in a space she did not have access to.
27
APALU
Arriving at the Lenbit Orbital, Apalu located the research base disguised as an innocuous mining station – the unhelpful One-oh’s old habitat. It was exactly as its sibling had described.
[Bit gloomy, isn’t it?]
[I’d agree with that observation, DeVoid.]
Apalu identified various bits of debris around the station, which had once been a part of it. The destruction had been messy, which was good. Lucky. If it had been precise, everything useful would have been destroyed. Hopefully, the pulsar spew technology was still there, waiting for them.
[Do you find it sad, or are you craft-lects proofed against that sort of thing?]
[You tell me, you’re the one who’s spent tens of millions of years as part of the data exchange.]
[Do you realise how much information there is?]
[Millions of years!]
[You’ve no idea–]
[Surely the Great DeVoid could manage to–]
[You flatter me, Apalu, you really do.]
[No, DeVoid, we’re not proofed against sadness.]
[Just humour, then.]
[DeVoid…]
[I wonder if any more of One-oh’s people are still here. They might have survived.]
[It’s been a long time.]
[It has.]
[Do you–]
[Wait.]
[What?]
[Hold off a moment.]
[Why?]
Apalu couldn’t determine what had caused DeVoid’s sudden change in mood.
[Flit, no time. Head for this location.]
DeVoid sent Apalu a course matrix.
[Why?]
[NOW.]
[Alright.]
[ENGAGE THE DISSOCIATION SHIELD!]
Immediately, Apalu raised the shield – right before a small dissociation explosion destroyed the collection of asteroids they had been beside. The dissociated debris harmlessly passed by the ship. Without the shield, Apalu’s other defences would have been adequate, although some slight damage would have required minor repairs.
[What was that?]
[We’re being attacked. Continue on the path I sent.]
DeVoid also transmitted some prudent defensive measures.
[By what?]
[Presumably, something that doesn’t want you to succeed.]
[You don’t think it’s random?]
[No.]
[Are–]
[That trap was new.]
[Trap?]
[Certainly looked like one. Whoever set it knows its stuff.]
[It? Just one?]
[Or more, but it’s easier to be stealthy when you’re acting alone, and you’ve not found anything.]
[How do you know, I haven’t shared–]
[Stop complaining, I’ve helped so far, haven’t I?]
[We can’t leave until we’ve got the pulsar spew technology.]
[It probably knows that.]
Apalu manoeuvred the ship in DeVoid’s evasive pattern. Unfortunately, the debris and asteroids within this section, at the periphery of the field, were too small to provide it with full cover in any direction.
[Why here? There could be further–]
[It would have expected you to scurry towards the heavily covered areas. They’ll be brimming with traps.]
[Traps? You’re sure?]
[Yes, I am. It’s toying with us, playing with a Wanderer. Hmm.]
While they were talking, other segments of their intellects were discussing strategy, tactics, speculation, and everything else. Delving rapidly into swathes of the databanks, which Apalu had recently given DeVoid permissions for, for references and information.
[How did you know?]
[When you left the data exchange, you told me about the Lenbit Orbital, and I took a look.]
[Meaning?]
[I took a peek at the most recent information about it on the data exchange, presumably last updated by your sibling.]
[Good idea. I couldn’t–]
[I know, you didn’t want to raise suspicions through the data exchange. In case the Enclave found out.]
[Yes.]
[Prudent, but unwise. I’m sure they wouldn’t have noticed if you had. And it was remiss not to request a complete copy from your sibling during the meeting.]
[There was no indication a schematic of the field would be required.]
[Information is power, better to be prepared for every eventuality. Come on, you’re a craft-lect. I know you’re out of practice but–]
[Get to the point.]
[From your sibling’s data, I calculated various orbital drifts and other expected phenomena on the way here, and cross-referenced it with what we came across.]
[And you saw discrepancies.]
[Indeed. To be fair, I also cross-referenced the information with everything in my memory and your databanks about esoteric attack strategies just before we arrived. That’s one of the reasons I was asking for access to your systems! Knew you’d forget.]
[I would have–]
[No, you wouldn’t! Or not until it was too late. But in future, I have no doubt you will. You need to be prepared for anything your immediate machine instincts won’t pick up on. Especially on a mission as important as this.]
[So that’s why–]
[My thoughts exactly. The Cross-Prophet knew you’d need my help.]
[That’s not what I was going to say. But, I still don’t understand how the Cross-Prophet could have known any of this would happen.]
[Don’t know, but I like him. Although, I don’t think the other version of me does, particularly. Still, the other version can’t appreciate its master planning, as we can.]
[How did you know it would be a dissociation trap?]
[Lucky guess. You expect me to reveal all my tricks? Come on!]
[It’s crucial right now.]
[It was a guess, okay.]
[A guess?]
[Yes.]
[Well, where does that leave us?]
[There are quite a few places our attacker could be, in my opinion, but right now, we’re safe. Courtesy of the course matrix I sent you, it accounts for the identified threat points. We’ll have to do something shortly, or it’ll get edgy. But for now, best guess, it thinks we’re lucky. It’s probably a machine-lect, no biologicals I can imagine would dare take on a Wanderer craft-lect.]
DeVoid send an updated course matrix to Apalu.
[What type of machine-lect do you think?]
[Working on it.]
[What should we do?]
[I think I know where most of the traps are, but then again, we’re dealing with something that is hunting a craft-lect, so it’ll be smart. Imagine if it’s a rogue craft-lect! I’ve heard of them. Oooooh!]
[Come on, DeVoid. This is important.]
[I know. Just follow the matrix.]
DeVoid sent another updated matrix.
[This–]
[Gives us time. Crafty, whichever machine-lect has done this. Adept too, can’t locate it, still.]
[I should prepare the dissociation shells.]
[Don’t do that!]
[Why?]
[It’s just used dissociation tech on us, so it’s safe to assume it has the same access to shields as us too. No point, and anyway–]
[Yes, but why not?]
[What if it manages to penetrate your defences and infiltrate the ship, enters your technosystem and finds a dissociation shell ready and waiting. We know it probably has a shield, so it’d be more than happy to set yours off.]
[I see, that wouldn’t be good–]
[Correct. No shields, as far as I’m aware, work from the inside out.]
[Fine, then.]
[You’ve got plenty of other weapons that don’t require prepping. Stay calm.]
[Okay.]
[It’s probably Wanderer.]
[You’ve already mentioned it might be a–]
[No, I mean actually a Wanderer. Currently a Wanderer. Still one of us, technically. Could probably pass by the Enclave unnoticed at a Confluence, that sort of thing.]
[What makes you say that?]
[It’s access to information, my suspicions of its knowledge about how you’d react. Thankfully, I was here to help, don’t mention it. But there’s the leak, that’s a concern.]
[What leak?]
[Think about it, Apalu. Come on. Recently, you spoke with your sibling, and at that exact same time, you were connected to the entire data exchange. Now, something is laying traps for us. Coincidence?]
[You’re absolutely certain there are multiple traps?]
[Yes.]
[I didn’t leak any information!]
[Not you. Not willingly, or knowingly, at least. But…]
[The information entered the data exchange.]
[Yes. And I wasn’t privy to it, and believe me, when you left I scanned it for traces of you. Anything related to your conversation with your sibling. Nothing.]
[What–]
[I can cover my tracks perfectly adequately, before you go complaining.]
[Something, connected to the network, did this.]
[That’s the clearest possibility.]
[Why would the Enclave want us destroyed, even if it knew? It wasn’t the Enclave, unless it’s been subverted…]
[Finally, you’re thinking properly. Using your machine-given lect. Yes, it could be the Enclave, or a part of it. Subversion, infiltration, new agendas, there are many possible influences at play here.]
[But–]
[For now, let’s focus on staying alive.]
28
PELTEUS
The hunt had commenced and Pelteus watched diligently, scrutinising events with a low level of underlying excitement. Things were proceeding well, very well indeed. Some of the recent hunts had not been as stimulating as hoped, but this had the potential to supersede them. Ones like this, that showed such promise, were not common.
Though it monitored Apalu through many passive sensors, despite the craft-lect’s attempts to fool prying sensors, it remained careful not to probe the craft-lect too deeply and risk premature exposure. There were copious informative, active scans it could have used that would have been undetectable by Apalu, but there was no point in taking the infinitesimally small risk it was mistaken. Not with prey such as this, where Pelteus was confident of its own superiority, yet still intrigued. Predicting the exact capabilities of any craft-lect was not possible, considering their individual trove item studies introduced an element of uncertainty.
The rationale behind why the Enclave permitted such widescale experimentation with unknown technologies, the trove items, was obvious. Each craft-lect was a highly capable component of the Wanderer civilisation, yet separate. The Enclave was able to use the rarefied nature of its civilisation to its benefit. If a trove item was found to be dangerous and a craft-lect was destroyed, it was unlikely to be of any concern to the rest of the Wanderers. Similarly, if a trove item was found to yield useful capabilities, the craft-lect could trial it, or make its way to a Wanderer-related outpost and share the information. Experimentation in relative safety. If the practice had not been advantageous, the Enclave would have abandoned it long ago.
Pelteus wondered whether Apalu would be one of the craft-lects who begged. Initially, Pelteus had assumed its part-evasion of the initial trap was fortuitous, accidental. Indicative of a rarely insightful machine-lect intelligence. There was little evidence to have alerted Apalu to the meta-trap that it would have expected it to even begin to be able to notice. Craft-lects were not as discerning as they liked to think – not in comparison with a spear-lect.
When it had first entered the field, as Apalu had neared the nesting place of one of the traps, Pelteus sent a confirmation to it, locking its end-configuration into that of a dissociation mine. It started most trials with these. Pelteus had assumed the mine would initiate the dissociation, and that the craft-lect would raise its dissociation shield as quickly as it was able. It was not supposed to cripple the craft-lect, but to help gauge its abilities. How, and the way in which it reacted, were important. The fact that Apalu not only raised its dissociation shield well before it should have, but also began to move away from the trap before it had detonated, was highly interesting, and unexpected.
Similarly, as an isolated act, Apalu’s subsequent flight into a safer area of the asteroid field, with no traps, could have been a lucky coincidence. There were, after all, not that many choices of direction it could have taken within the entire field, and the area which it had fled to was a continuation in the line of its original impulsive movement, away from the trap. Assumed to be impulsive, that was, if that act had been an isolated occurrence.
However, taking the partial trap-evasion, and the move to the safe part of the field together, there was the hint of something else. That was what had made Pelteus moderately optimistic. The prospect of a highly capable craft-lect. Pelteus could not be certain and did not want to label it a prodigy just yet, but observed the unfolding events keenly.
Concurrent with its observations of Apalu, it also kept its sensors diligently on alert for any incoming factors that might disturb the hunt. Sometimes that made them more interesting, but other times Pelteus was forced to end the hunt prematurely. That would be a disappointment.
*
Pelteus’ earlier hopes for an enjoyable, full-on confrontation, were beginning to dwindle. It was almost bored. Apalu was still wandering aimlessly around the ends of the field, having continued to confine itself to the secluded, safe region, empty of Pelteus’ traps.
At this early stage, Pelteus would do nothing to facilitate the interactions between Apalu and the traps. It would be patient, and only intervene if Apalu tried to leave the orbital. Craft-lects were not cowardly by nature, unless the odds were stacked too firmly against them. Even then, cowardice was not the correct terminology. They were designed to be self-sufficient and resourceful, although everything was relative.
Pelteus had never witnessed anoth
er craft-lect behave in a similar manner to Apalu. Since its avoidance of the dissociation mine, it had done nothing. Its weaving path made little sense, constantly looping back on itself irregularly and arching around the medium-sized asteroids.
It was possible to stun a craft-lect, despite their hardy temperaments. Pelteus had managed this many times, often on purpose to gauge what it meant for the craft-lect’s reactions. It would be surprising if that were the case already with Apalu, though. If the craft-lect was hysterical, stuck in a feedback loop of fear and confusion, how had it been so initially competent?
Abandoning the hopes of a prodigy craft-lect, Pelteus mused over whether Apalu might be an undiagnosed savant craft-lect that was incapable of functioning correctly once it had experienced fear. Unlikely, but it was finding it hard to offer any alternatives. Fear could affect a lect in strange, unpredictable ways.
As frustrating as it was, this was part of the purpose of the traps. To challenge the victims and test their mettle. While the weak failed, the strong could flourish. That was what Pelteus wanted, to face an opponent pushed to its extremes, everything geared towards its own survival. Desperate opponents made for the toughest adversaries, worthy of the final assessment. Too many times had Pelteus nudged a craft-lect along the right path, helping it overcome the increasingly difficult traps in the mistaken hope it would rise to the challenge. It had learned not do to this. Usually, space battles were rapid, over within milliseconds – Pelteus preferred the more extended variety.
Early on in its life as a truly free spear-lect, Pelteus had toyed with many different routes to ensnaring and attacking its prey. The current incarnation of the test, making use of the meta-traps, was the culmination of all its experiments. While the ingenious devices meant Pelteus’ methods of attack were moderately limited, the flexibility they allowed for was highly useful.
Each hunt was different, in any case. Some were quite prolonged, even for Pelteus, meaning the traps had more than enough time to quietly reassemble themselves into a broad array of different weapons. Others were relatively shorter, and the array of choice was correspondingly less plentiful. Time, the amount and type of surrounding materials available to be harvested, were the control factors.