Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1)

by Paul J. Fleming

  This was to be another line of defence.

  Maddox closed the hatchway and then proceeded to turn the handle set in the centre to drive locking pins home to secure it. If he could not prevent the Sentinel from it’s dogged pursuit, then he’d make the damned thing work to acquire it’s target once more.

  ‘Captain?’ Ezri’s voice filtered into the small room from the operations centre. He glanced at the hatch for a moment, knowing that the Sentinel would quite easily open it from the underside but it would cause a slight interruption in it’s progress and he resigned himself to the fact it would have to do. In any case, there was a pressure door between this room and the operations centre so that may afford him a little more time.

  ‘Ezri?’ He replied inquisitively and made his way cautiously to the doorway of the room, peering through the opening into the operations centre. The newly acquired pistol held at the ready, he could not immediately determine her location but then he heard her voice once more from amidst the consoles slightly further into the room from his current position and over to his left. An almost joyous sense of relief filled his chest which was respite from the concern over his current situation.

  ‘Okay then, we have very little time so let’s not waste it,’ Maddox said as he pumped the little handle to secure the doorway to the small room. Slowly but determinedly it closed over the gap and prevented unwanted molestation for the moment. At least it afforded them a short time to determine their course of action. He turned back to the operations centre as he considered their options. ‘The computer killed the adults and has been guiding the colony development ever since, influencing their technical development and more recently their goals to both strike at the core worlds and to make their return. Right now it has all the colonists plugged into the system, directly interfacing with it to crack the security of the ship wide open so that it can do whatever it wants with the vessel. It had some help from an unknown source on Mars but now seems to be working to it’s own agenda. As soon as it has achieved full control and transferred itself fully to the ship’s computer core it is going to abandon this colony and inhabitants to fly off into the sunset and cause mayhem for some other poor unfortunate sods. That about right so far?’

  ‘I think that about covers it Captain,’ Ezri replied as he made his way over to the control station and regarded her face upon the screen.

  ‘I think I know the answer already, but if Maia has been able to fix up the Erstwhile would we be better off departing quickly and scooting back to the belt to try and drum up some support in stopping the AI?’ He asked as he raised his eyebrows in a half hopeful expression, but in his heart he knew it would not be so easy.

  ‘If we work on the assumption that our ship is indeed space worthy once more, which we cannot currently confirm or deny, then we would be relying upon acquiring sufficient support to bolster our own efforts in combating the vessel out in open space. If such support was not forthcoming due to the Martian effort to purge the core of resistance elements presently underway, we would be alone in our quest and substantially outmatched both in manoeuvrability and firepower. In short, there are so many variables to that course of action to make it unfeasible when determining a successful outcome to halting the plans of the AI.’

  ‘Okay, so running for help isn’t an option then,’ Maddox said with a sigh as he scratched his head where the probes of the headset had pressed into his flesh so harshly.

  ‘No Captain. Indeed, from my research into the protected area within the core I do believe that the AI is not intent on making landfall with the ship, rather to transport itself back within range of a substantially strong connection with SOLnet. Once there it can simply upload to a planetary mainframe and in essence disappear within the system. Our efforts then to track it down would increase exponentially as it could transfer to any system connected to the interplanetary network to spread it’s influence. The ship is only a means to bring itself within range, without that it is trapped out here as the signal is too weak for it to upload across.’

  ‘Right. So as we said before, stop the ship leaving first and foremost and then deal with the AI. Fantastic. Did your research give a hint to it’s weaknesses at all or is that too much to hope for?’

  ‘It did reveal a few details Captain, for example with regards the collusion between the AI and the unknown party on Mars. The AI was sending feedback on the technology developed and the development of the colony, more akin to a field report on a test project than an update as to their status and wellbeing. In return the AI was furnished with fleet movements, meeting schedules, schematics and plans for the regeneration of Earth together with research information which it used to not only improve the technology at hand, but to further it’s own development and matrix. One rather disturbing aspect was a developmental version of my own core program which was evident in part although I could not determine how much had been transferred or indeed implemented.’

  ‘Your program? I thought you said the link was to weak for uploading or downloading?’

  ‘It is Captain, however it is one thing to try and distribute an active functional matrix such as my own via SOLnet as opposed to information on the same. The latter takes much less bandwidth and could be achieved even over a sporadically weak signal.’

  ‘Hang on a moment. Marcus did elude to the fact that the AI had incorporated the experiences and memories of the adults who landed here, after which point it began using plural pronouns to refer to itself. If the AI has tried to implement your own technology into it’s program, then would it have your learning and adaptive capabilities too? Could it then take all those memories it has uploaded and filter them through to make itself even more obnoxious?’

  ‘Yes, in theory a crude implementation of my program may allow a more simplistic artificial being to interpret and essentially absorb memories, but with the possible side effect of overloading it’s own core matrix and causing instability.’

  ‘In other words, it could go nuts.’

  ‘Yes, rather crudely put but correct. It would essentially develop multiple split personalities if it failed to integrate the memories properly. One may dominate the others, but they will all contribute to the whole.’

  ‘Maybe that’s why its now working against it’s former compatriots back on Mars? Maybe at first it was something they could influence and control, but now has developed a mind of it’s own, so to speak.’

  Maddox brought his right hand up to stroke his chin thoughtfully. As he had suggested to Praia earlier, there were still pieces of this jigsaw puzzle which were missing and even though the entire picture was gradually coming together, it’s entire meaning still remained just a little out of reach.

  ‘What the hell has all this got to do with the Children of Earth and the attacks in the core words? Why would the Martians strike at their own?’

  His frustration was quite obvious.

  ‘If I may Captain, as you eluded to earlier in the core chamber before we were rudely interrupted, I do not think the intention was for the colonists here to ever return to the core worlds.’

  Maddox raised an eyebrow and fixed the image on the screen of Ezri with a intent stare.

  ‘Okay, that was just some sort of cover story then?’

  ‘Indeed. The Martians originally removed the colonists from Earth so as to prevent the next generation of thinkers and strategists from inciting a rebellion amongst their peers. Instead they planned to utilise their intelligence and talents in the service of the Company on Mars but no one could have predicted the events that followed during the apparently botched rescue attempt, or the path the ship took for it to end up all the way out here. Indeed, to all intents and purposes the ship was indeed lost as historical records indicate,’ Ezri explained. ‘Their survival and development was a case of the colonists working in unison to survive, but the computer took their efforts in a new direction and once it had re-established contact and updated it’s masters on their status and predicament a whole new strategy was imp
lemented which we are now in the throes of.’

  ‘So as I said earlier, the Martians are the ones behind things here and orchestrating the whole terrorist threat back in the core?’

  ‘Indeed Captain, there is certainly contact with Mars but no evidence that this is a corporate strategy from the company itself, rather a facet of some as yet unknown organisation on Mars that is facilitating these events to some currently unknown agenda. The vessel which is on the ground nearby is a Martian naval patrol vessel and was carrying out company orders, however I do not believe that any level of collaboration on the part of the company would include the decimation of the crew on board. To that end I would propose that even though the Aries Corporation is the dominant force on Mars and holds sway over the redevelopment of Earth and the military wing of Mars, it is another third party on Mars enacting their own planned agenda.’

  Maddox took a moment to absorb everything she was saying, conscious of the fact there was a murderous Sentinel on his tail and even though he had done his best to secure the hatchway in the small room and lock the door between that room and the operations centre, those mechanical murderers were rather persistent and it would probably make it’s way through eventually.

  ‘So to try and summarise, things went wrong and the colonists ended up out here, but now the AI has re-established contact with some group on Mars and whilst they have furnished it with information, they are using this ‘Children of Earth’ moniker to strike at other members of the Core worlds and incite support for punitive action against all the resistance groups in various places?’

  ‘Yes Captain. To extrapolate further, the information they have furnished the AI with has been used in the development of the shared mind and the community here, it being an experiment away from the watchful eyes of those who may object to human testing of such experimental technologies within the core worlds. Now the experiment has proved such a success, the next stages can be conducted which involves the implementation of this technology both within the confines of Earth and beyond. Once the purge of active resistance groups has proved successful, I would propose that a sudden discovery is made of this moon as the source of those warning transmissions, and a fleet will arrive here to discover the colony therefore giving a tangible and final outcome to their efforts to secure the perpetrators of the attacks within the core worlds.’

  ‘So from being live experiments, they’re now going to be scapegoats?’ Maddox asked quite simply.

  ‘Yes Captain, but I must warn you that I do not believe even the third party on Mars suspects the level to which the AI here is committed to enacting the new co-operative back within the core worlds. In essence, whereas they believe they are conducting a carefully controlled subjugation of the Earth through implantation so they may better control those who remain there, it is the AI’s intent to roll this out throughout the colonies too, in effect bringing all within the co-operative mind and under it’s guidance and control.’

  Maddox was quiet for a moment, mulling over the words he had just heard before speaking once more. He glanced down at the floor, having an increasing suspicion that his next question would be one to which the answer would be very unpleasant indeed.

  ‘What about the colonists? If we stop it from leaving, even shut it off, what happens to them? They depend upon that AI for their existence.’ He asked solemnly.

  ‘Captain, I cannot predict the outcome for the colony here if we are to intervene. There is no precedent for this to my knowledge and our very act of stopping the AI may harm the colonists, possibly fatally.’

  Maddox fixed the screen with an intense stare as he realised the full extent of her warning.

  Stop the AI, save the population of Earth from subjugation but potentially at the expense of the colonists. He had left Praia in the pod in the hope she would be safe and secure until such time as they could stop the AI and save the colonists, but now it seemed that even in there she was under threat from the actions he was being forced to undertake. He did not know the other colonists well enough to associate with them, and if he had not taken the time to talk to Praia and get to know her then maybe that would have made his choice a little easier, even if undesirable.

  However, Praia put a face on their existence. Through his short time with her he realised that all the colonists here were just what they appeared to be, just children. Separated from the shared mind they were full of innocence, fears and dreams.

  If only he could know for certain that stopping the AI would just release them all with no adverse effects, but as Ezri had pointed out they was no precedent for this and no clear determination what would happen to them all.

  Now he had a choice to make.

  21 Sacrifice of the Lambs

  Ezri made adjustments to the local system sensor records so that Maddox’s biological signature was masked from any scans performed, logging it as an anomaly which should be ignored. Within every system there was a level of tolerance and adjustment and this little tweak had just made the Captain invisible to electronic monitoring which would allow him to move freely about the colony without molestation from the computer should it come looking for him. Obviously if he interacted with any equipment then his location would be known, but for now it gave him a little breathing room for manoeuvre.

  The presence of the Sentinels on the moon as part of the Martian ship’s complement posed a great threat to Maddox’s continued survival and any success they hoped to gain from their efforts. She knew the AI must have routed control of these through the patrol cruisers systems as they would only accept updated instructions from authorised sources, which meant the AI could not transmit instructions from the colony’s computer core for they would be rejected by the verification checks inbuilt into each Sentinel’s program. However each Martian naval vessel carrying a complement of these mechanised soldiers contained an encoded transmitter which could update priorities and instructions to it’s robotised forces.

  If she could disrupt the communication between the computer and its robotic minions they may be able to disable them but to simply attempt broadcasting an interference signal using the colony’s transmitters would prove ineffective as the Sentinels would proceed with their predefined instructions even if the signal was interrupted. Aside from that, the AI would undoubtedly override such interference quite easily to re-establish control.

  There was an active up-link to the patrol cruiser’s computer core as the AI worked to fully establish control over the Martian vessel, through which it was obviously sending instructions out to the Sentinels. If she was careful enough she could discreetly upload herself within this uplink and alongside the streams of data. The idea was indeed risky as the colony AI would be actively monitoring and utilising that link, but Ezri was very adept at masking her own program when within foreign computers in order to avoid anti-virus software. If the AI’s attention was split between monitoring the uplink and events elsewhere then she may be able to manage it, which would not only allow her to disrupt the Sentinel control but also begin shutting down the cruisers systems to prevent it’s departure.

  Maddox had been relatively quiet as she had run through her proposed actions, prompted for response occasionally to which he simply grunted in acceptance of what she had just said before seeming to drop back into a dark brooding train of thought. His demeanour caused Ezri to pause in her determination of their actions to address his mood directly.

  ‘Captain, for this endeavour to succeed I need to know that you are in agreement with the roles we shall both play. Your minimalist grunts are not encouraging.’

  Maddox raised his gaze from the floor of the operations room and met hers, his eyes and taught expression betraying the haunting thoughts which were playing through his mind.

  ‘Yes, yes, yes! I know. I just….’ He snapped quickly but then his voice tailed off as he could not put his thoughts into words under Ezri’s direct scrutiny.

  Ezri was quiet for a moment as she considered Maddox’s retort, his usual bouncy de
vil-may-care attitude seemingly repressed presently.

  ‘I cannot fully understand your emotional angst Captain, but the facts before us quite clearly determine that we must act to shut down this scheme here before it spreads to the inner worlds. At present the AI only has the option of the ship to transfer itself away from here and back to the major colonies, but once it is within range of SOLnet and secure wide-band communications it could potentially upload to any colony mainframe and begin this process of implantation on a wider scale. To prevent it there would be a mammoth task, if not impossible.’

  Ezri paused momentarily to let those words take effect but then proceeded before Maddox was able to make any reply.

  ‘I do understand that you are having tremendous difficulty after interacting with the young colony members here, but they are already part of the machine which is threatening to subdue those on Earth. Our focus should be on how to stop the threat here and now to save the countless thousands this could prove detrimental to.’

  ‘And what about Praia and her friends here? We just shrug our shoulders and walk away? Oh it’s okay, we may have doomed a few colonists who were considered lost anyway, but we’ve saved thousands back on Earth!’ retorted Maddox with a snarl, his face clouding with anger.

  ‘No Captain,’ Ezri replied trying to be as diplomatic as possible. ‘It is not okay by any stretch of the imagination, and if we can prevent the spread of this scheme whilst helping these colonists then that is the route we must take, but to do absolutely nothing would not help the children here be free, nor the people of Earth who would suffer this fate.’

  Maddox shook his head, laughing derisively at the situation. His gaze dropped to the floor for a moment before raising up once more to rest upon the image of Ezri before him, the anger subsided after a few deep breaths and a look of resignation on his face.

  ‘I know.’ He said quietly and let out an indignant snort.

  There was silence for a moment between the two of them as Maddox tried to find the right words.