by S A Pavli
The station had a number of very small rooms used by the staff and after dinner in the galley Manera and I took two rooms for a nap. I slept longer than expected and was woken by a soft kiss.
“Breakfast awaits your majesty,” she whispered.
“Ah thank you my child. That is definitely the way to be woken up…” Before I could finish I was tipped out of the narrow bunk onto the floor.
“There is a war on and you are snoring like a drunken sailor?”
“I should be so lucky. Not a drop has passed my lips for weeks,” I protested.
“You have a short memory,“ she laughed, handing me a sealed flask of coffee. “The Settang has arrived.” I took a slurp and then kissed her back.
“Give me a minute to visit the bathroom and I will be with you.”
It took just a bit longer than a minute before I made it to the now fully staffed control room. The media feeds were showing the giant Settang Despass next to the Earth cruiser Invincible.
“The alien warship is five times the size of the Invincible,” the commentator was saying.
“Have they assessed the Freylan’s defences yet?” I asked the Admiral.
“We are waiting to hear from Hamolatonen,” he replied. “A full frontal assault will be expensive so we are trying to come up with a better solution.”
“Have we tried talking to the Freylan?” I suggested. I got a blank look from the Admiral.
“Are you going to offer it an amnesty?”
I ignored his sarcasm.
“The Freylan is a standard Peacekeeper ship AI. The Pramasticon is one of the master AIs that seceded from the ruling triumvirate. It was effectively the Freylans boss. It may now accept Cora as the rightful Peacekeeper master AI. It’s worth a try.”
“That will be too easy,” said the Admiral with a disbelieving expression.
“We deserve something to be easy,” I said.
“Well, let’s put it to Hamolatonen,” said the Admiral. “If this works Constantine, we’ll give you a medal.”
“That will make me very proud sir.” This caused grins throughout the control room and even the Admiral’s lips quirked.
My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice in my ear.
“Paul, that is a good suggestion, but if it doesn’t work we may be able to attack the Freylan with a virus. But we need an extended dialogue in order to insert the viruses.”
“Alfred that is an even better idea. How do we get you in the comms loop?”
“That can be arranged by the engineers.”
“Of course. Okay leave it to me, I’ll talk to the Admiral.”
I put Alfred’s suggestion to the Admiral and he put it forward to the military.
When we again managed to contact Hamolatonen, he also put my suggestions to him. He called in Cora for her thoughts.
“We have attempted to communicate with the Pramasticon but it does not respond. We may get the same from the Freylan. But I will try to assert my authority with it. As for Alfred’s viruses, having been infected once they may now be resistant. Unless he has some new ones.”
“I have a selection,” said Alfred. I chuckled at Alfred’s laconic response.
“Hamo, get Colrania and her engineers to patch Alfred into the comms line and see what you can do,” I suggested.
“Agreed Paul, let’s do it.”
It took an hour or so for Colariaa’s team to carry out the technical changes to patch Alfred into the communications stream and allow him to insert his viruses. We succeeded in persuading the Earth authorities to allow Cora to conduct negotiations with the Freylan. It was a surprise to us when it responded immediately to our first communications. It made us an offer: exchange the prisoners for its freedom.
Cora pointed out to it that it was disabled, without fusion rockets, AG or Hyperspace capability. It replied that its engineering robots would be able to fix all the damage, but we would have to supply it with some raw materials. She then got into a dialogue about how we could be sure that the Freylan, if it was allowed to fix itself, would peacefully leave the Solar system and never return. She was dragging out the ’conversation’ and I guessed that Alfred’s deadly little viruses were being attached to the data exchange. The Freylan pointed out that it was now just one ship against many and it would be suicidal for it to return. It further added, in timeworn hostage taker fashion, that if there were any further attacks on itself, it would start killing hostages. Cora said the proposal would be considered, and passed the decision to the Earth’s authorities.
They were in a difficult dilemma. They were adamantly against allowing the Peacekeeper starship to go free. It was a machine that had no compunctions against killing and as such could not be allowed to go free. But it was also politically unacceptable to bring about the death of the fifteen or so Russian citizens. Alfred’s viruses seemed to be our only hope of a clean victory.
I suggested to the Admiral that agreeing the Freylan’s terms and keeping it talking would give Alfred greater opportunities to smuggle in more viruses. As a condition to our agreement we would be able to confirm the health of the hostages and supply them with food, clothing and any other essentials.
We also urgently needed to get Cora down to Krasnoyarsk to try and solve the other hostage problem. The hostages had been without food for nearly two days now. After some discussions amongst the military and other interested parties they agreed that a small team should go immediately to Krasnoyarsk. Manera and I were included, as we would be known to the locals. Cora and a couple of Colrania’s team would leave immediately in one of the Peacekeeper fighters and meet up with us at the town.
We prepared for departure in the Epsilon, which still had adequate fuel for the trip. The responsibility of twelve lives was in our hands and we needed to come up with a solution quickly.
Chapter 40
After an uneventful trip over the snowy wastes of Siberia, we arrived over the ramshackle little town of Dikson, which had now achieved international fame. The scene now was quite different from the one we had left just a couple of days earlier. The hills around the town were carpeted by tents, caravans and motor homes. The media were here in force.
We circled the clearing where the Peacekeeper fighter still sat and Alfred connected us with the Russian authorities and gave them our identity. Eventually a gruff Russian voice gave us permission to land. Alfred brought the shuttle down next to the Peacekeeper fighter.
We put on our cold weather outfits and exited the air lock to find a welcoming committee. Behind them a posse of photographers pointed cameras at us. The cold air chilled my cheeks and lungs.
“Smile darling, you are on 3D,” whispered Manera.
“Fame is such a burden,” I sighed. “All those people relying on one.”
“One is full of it,” she retorted.
Repressing my humorous reply I stepped forward to shake hands with a tall lean Russian military individual. Grey eyes locked with mine as he attempted to squeeze the life out of my appendage.
“General Sergeyev. You are Captain Constantine?”
“Yes sir. Pleased to meet you sir.” I nodded politely. His face remained stony.
“What is your plan to release the hostages?” he asked in heavily accented English.
“We do have a plan sir, if you will be patient. We have support on its way from one of the alien starships. We believe she can communicate with the military robots inside this craft and make them stand down.”
“She?” He cocked his head at me questioningly, a frown on his bony face.
“Well, not strictly a ‘she’. One of the leaders of the Peacekeeper army. She is an AI with a female avatar.” He seemed baffled by what I was saying and stood in thought for a few moments before speaking.
“Why would the leader of a robot army want to appear as a female?”
“Uh, well, I guess because amongst the Hianja, females tend to predominate in positions of authority.”
“Is that so?” His eyes turned
to Manera, back to me, then back to Manera with increasing comprehension. “You are….?”
“Yes sir. Manera Ka-Hatekan, scientific officer.” Manera stepped forward and held out her hand firmly. The General shook it, his face a picture of incredulity.
“Manera, why are you so human?”
“That is a mystery we have yet to solve sir.”
“Yes. So….” He seemed to shake himself into attention. “This Peacekeeper AI?”
“Cora sir,” I said. “That’s her name. Alfred, do we have an eta for Cora?”
“One hour thirty seven minutes Captain.”
I repeated the figure to the General and he nodded his head and grunted.
“Do we trust this Cora? She is their leader.” He nodded towards the Peacekeeper flyer.
“She is the leader of the Peacekeeper force. But these two starships that attacked Earth are rogues. Their programming has become corrupted.. It’s a complicated story.” My answer did not seem to allay his suspicions because he scowled ferociously.
“What do you need from us?”
“For now, nothing, other than to keep the crowd back.”
“That is done. The media want to talk to you.” I looked at Manera and she gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. I was aware that as a result of the Peacekeeper invasion we had a publicity disaster on out hands. Humanity had been told the Hianja were a peaceful, indeed, violence hating civilisation. And yet, their robots had invaded Earth and kidnapped innocent people for almost certainly appalling experiments.
Manera and I had been the visible face of Human Hianja relations to the media. They were not aware of course that there was anything more to our relationship. We were just the two individuals from each species who had first met. But I was afraid for Manera. She had been met with enthusiasm before. How would she be seen now?
“General, can you tell the media that we will give a full press conference after the hostage situation is resolved.”
“They are desperate for information. The relatives of the hostages.” He indicated the downed ship. “They want reassurance.”
“Tell them the situation will be resolved in the next ten minutes,” I said firmly. I was sticking my neck out but facing grieving relatives and baying media was not my chosen profession and I was not about to change. The General nodded reluctantly and made his way back towards his line of troops. I turned to Manera.
“What’s our line?” I asked. She gave me a blank look. “Our… story, explanation?”
“Just the truth.”
I must have looked doubtful because she shrugged and gave me an enquiring look.
“The truth is complicated and worrying.” I thought for a few moments before continuing. “Let’s just say that one small part of the Peacekeeper force developed a fault and went rogue. Cora is now fully back in control and the rogue Peacekeepers have been eliminated.”
“If they ask if it could happen again?”
“We have taken steps to prevent anything like this happening again.”
She nodded thoughtfully.
“Keep it simple,” I finished. “The Hianja authorities will provide more detailed information.”
There was a thunderous roar overhead and a Peacekeeper fighter hurtled over the trees and banked steeply over the snow covered hillside in spectacular fashion.
“Cora is a bit of a showman,” I observed. The flyer continued its steep turn, slowing dramatically in a way that would be impossible for an Earth ship. It made a full circuit of the broad grassy knoll and then came in for a landing next to the Epsilon. Manera and I headed over to the ship to meet Cora. I noticed that behind us there was a nervous movement of guns and tank snouts and a murmur of voices.
The ship’s air lock slid open and out sprang two of the insect like robot soldiers. I heard a furore behind me, raised voices shouting in Russian.
“Alfred, please advise the Russian authorities that everything is under control,” I shouted into my comm. I walked confidently forward towards the soldiers with Manera beside me. Cora appeared at the airlock and she climbed down the steps and walked quickly towards us.
“Paul and Manera, a pleasure to see you again,” she said as we exchanged shoulder hugs.
“Cora, welcome to Earth,” I said cordially.
“I am looking forward to seeing more of your lovely planet,” she said. “When we resolve this unfortunate situation.”
“Do you have a plan Cora?” asked Manera.
“We have recorded and analysed the Freylan’s AI protocols but we cannot be certain which protocol is the right one to cause the soldiers to stand down.,” she said.
Oh shit! I thought. If we used the wrong protocol, anything could happen.
“Do you have some idea which is the right one?”
“We have a group of protocols which are very similar. We believe they mean prepare, deploy and stand down. We can try them in turn.” I sighed with some relief.
“Good, that sounds safe.” We turned and walked back towards where we had left the General and I saw him and a group of senior officers peel off and come towards us. I stood back and allowed Manera to make the introductions. The Russian officers were clearly fascinated with the alien android, throwing glances at each other and whispering. Cora was smoothly polite and reassuring. I was impressed with her verbal abilities until I realised that she, like us, was being interfaced via Alfred, who was doing the translating. Except that it was direct, the translation taking place in a silent communication between her and Alfred before she even spoke.
Cora explained to the officers what they were about to do. I saw news cameras buzzing in the air above us and I could imagine the scene being transmitted throughout the Earth Federation.
The Russian military returned to their men and their was a rustle of activity. Jeeps raced along the perimeter ensuring no civilians were encroaching. Cora, like a regal queen in her metallic cloak strode towards the downed Peacekeeper, flanked by two of her soldiers. I took Manera’s hand.
“Darling, perhaps we should take cover behind the lines.”
“I think everything will be fine darling,” she said.
“If it isn’t, we are in the line of fire.” I pointed to the Russian tanks behind us.
“Oh!” The thought that something may go wrong had not occurred to her. Such faith in a technology that had already failed. We made our way towards the lines and the General ushered us into a high sided command car from which we had a clear view of the downed fighter. We were surrounded by 3D monitors, consoles and comm units and officers crouched over their displays, earphones on talking in muted tones into their computers.
Cora and her escorts had stopped thirty metres or so from the fighter. The two soldier robots stood reassuringly tall next to her small figure.
“Alfred, can you keep us in touch?”
“Yes, Paul. Cora has begun transmitting the preamble. She will expect to get back the correct responses before proceeding.”
“Right.”
We waited, the tension increasing, the figures of Cora and her soldiers motionless. Alfred’s voice came again.
“Correct responses received, Cora is now transmitting the stand down codes.” Manera was also receiving Alfred’s updates and we both looked out of the window towards the fighter. Suddenly, the airlock doors slid open. There was frisson of activity and voices in the command car. Then two of the soldier robots appeared in the airlock, and jumped to the ground, rapidly followed by two more them two more again and again until eight of them were arrayed in a semi circle in front of Cora and her two robots.
“Yes baby!” I exclaimed, turning to smile at Manera who gave me a delighted smile in return. There was shouting in the command car and we were suddenly shocked by the sound of gunfire, and the heavy thump of tank weapons.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I screamed. “What’s going on?” Gouts of soil were exploding in front of the soldier bots and I saw one soldier take a hit, it carapace splintering and hot flames sh
ooting out. The Peacekeeper robots moved like lightning, their guns swivelling onto the tanks and armoured cars and rockets screamed away from them. A tank erupted into flames and I felt the clattering of debris on the command car. “General, for God’s sake tell your men to stand down. This is a disaster.” I shouted into the General’s ear. He was shouting at his men and it seemed to have all degenerated into pandemonium.
“Fucking Russian military hot heads,” I muttered. I grabbed Manera’s hand and pulled her towards me. “Let’s get out of here.” We dived out of the command car and I dragged Manera away from the action as around us tanks and cars went up in flames and soldiers raced towards the soldier robots and almost certain death.
We had a very substantial slice of good luck in getting away from the action. A large armoured truck almost ran us down and we skirted around behind it and ran for our lives into the open grassland between the military line and the cordon holding back the public which was a good eighty metres away.
“Alfred, tell Cora she must tell the soldiers to stand down,” I gasped into my comm.
“She is doing so Paul, but has apparently not found the correct codes. The soldiers have switched to automatic because they have come under attack.”
“Bloody stupid Russian military. What do they think they are doing?” I panted. It was a rhetorical question and Alfred did not answer. I spotted a line of low heavy metal barriers, the type used to stop vehicles, and stopped, pulling Manera down next to me to crouch behind a barrier.
“These should give us cover. You okay?” I looked her over solicitously and she nodded.
“I’m fine.” The firing seemed to be dying down, but mostly because all the Russian tanks and artillery had been destroyed.”
“Those Peacekeeper soldiers are lethal,” I said.
“Their missiles are very potent,” said Manera. “I think they are very small fusion devices.”
We crouched down in our shelter, watching the previously gawking public running down the hill towards the town until only a few die hard types were left, prostate on the floor, occasionally raising their heads to see the action. In front of the public barrier the string of guarding military were also flat on the floor, their rifles pointing optimistically at the empty sky.