With grim determination, he stepped inside and keyed the outer door to close, glancing about the equipment present in the medical bay to quickly assess his quickest method of establishing a strong link to the shared mind. As the Captain had suggested, there were digitisation headsets neatly arranged within storage racks and power to the control unit beside them. He strode across the room and inspected the control unit, it’s design being fairly simplistic and not too different from those he was already familiar with from the colony.
He retrieved one of the headsets and slipped it over his own head as he took a seat before the control system. If he could simply establish the link between the on board systems and his own mind, he should be able to utilise the up-link to the colony to communicate with his peers and advise them of the treachery they had all been victim of.
For a moment his fingers hovered over the control to commit the headset to upload, his nerves and fears threatening to take hold once more as he realised that once he tapped the control there was no way back. He would be fully committed to this course of action and entirely vulnerable to both physical and mental assault as the computer would undoubtedly detect his attempts.
He flexed his fingers slightly as his hand hovered over the control, his face taking on the visage of grim determination as he stabbed downward and activated the system.
Within moments he could feel the link within his mind strengthened, the thoughts and feelings of his peers washing over his own mind as if it were some comforting blanket but whilst he could both feel and hear them, he could not yet communicate fully. It would take more fine tuning to be able for him to advise them of the situation.
He reached out and adjusted the controls before him, refining the signal to attune it better to his implant and allow him a stronger link. He just hoped Maddox could keep up his avoidance tactics to give him those extra few moments to achieve his goal.
Maddox knew that his time free from molestation by the AI was precious and made his way cautiously along the corridor of the Martian ship, steadily advancing upon the drive section at the rear with every step.
Once he was in there it was a rather restricted environment, but also boasted some critical equipment to the operation of the vessel and forgoing any concept of sabotage, if the AI sent more mechanical minions against him they would be a little more careful on how they tried to dispose of him. Or at least that was what he hoped. In it’s current mental state he would not put it past the AI to rip the ship apart just to put an end to him as the Sentinel on the bridge had simply torn through the consoles and had no reservations about unleashing waves of energy bolts towards him.
In the drive chamber, such actions would actually not only put an end to his adventures but also achieve the rather unpleasant goal which he was once again beginning to conceive may be the only way to put an end to the threat posed to the core worlds.
As he had no idea how many Sentinels the AI had access to on this ship, nor how many it could send against him at any one time, his efforts had to be towards the final solution to this problem with no reliance on any external help, as whilst his original intent had been to distract the AI long enough to allow Ezri time to interfere with the ship’s systems enough to prevent it’s departure, he now knew that she had been caught, possibly erased from existence. Now he was buying time for Marcus, but even that solution had large question marks over it’s success.
No, his endeavours now were returning to the plan of sending the ship up in one huge explosion and hoping like hell that Marcus could offer a less fatal conclusion in the interim.
His progress towards the rear of the ship was halted abruptly by the appearance of a Sentinel in the corridor ahead of him. Despite his rapid movements to press himself against the wall and shimmy backwards towards an alcove he had recently passed, he could feel the arcing lances of energy as blasts tore into the decorative furnishings all about him in the corridor. There was a distinct lack of precision to it’s targeting, rather filling the corridor in his vicinity with energy bolts, volley after volley further decimating the fine decor of his surroundings.
Pressing himself back into the alcove as best he could to avoid being singed, it dawned upon Maddox that any attempt he made to emerge from his meagre cover would be welcomed with a swift and unpleasant barrage, putting an end to this little escapade rather abruptly. The simple fact was that he was effectively pinned down and with no weapon to return fire and he was disastrously short on options.
Then the wall behind him seemed to disappear, his effort to push back against it now propelling him into the resultant gap and Maddox shot his hands out to grab the edges of the opening as it passed by him rapidly, stalling his backwards progress. The sudden panicked movement caused him to lose his grip on the helmet he carried, it now laying out in the open in the middle of the corridor for a few moments before more energy bolts from his assailant claimed both it and a good portion of the carpeting around. Glaring out of the alcove at the scorched carpet for a moment, he then took the opportunity to quickly glance about his new surroundings to discover he was leaning backwards into a covered alcove which bore a ladder reaching upwards from his current position, and also down to the level below.
In a moment of almost exultant joy he realised he had stumbled unwittingly into a maintenance passageway between decks, obviously discreetly hidden amidst the decor of the ship so as not to disrupt the stylish feel of the corridor. Pulling against the opening to allow himself an upright posture once more and whirling about to face the opening whilst not emerging out into the main corridor, he moved quickly to grasp onto the rungs of the ladder and began to ascend rapidly up into the crawlspace between decks, where he came to a halt below another hatch which would open and provide him access to the floor above. To the side of him there was a smaller hatch set into the wall of the crawlspace, quite obviously to access a maintenance tunnel running along the length of the corridor of the ship.
Quickly assessing his options, he opened the maintenance hatchway and made his way into the narrow confines of the maintenance tunnel, glancing ahead of him at the long run of cabling along the walls of the narrow passage and various junction boxes and panels at intervals along it’s length. He could not stand up so the best option available was to crawl along on his belly as quickly as he could away from the hatchway in the direction of the drive chamber to which most of these wires and conduits would eventually feed.
He knew that the Sentinel would be advancing upon his position below and would soon discover his method of escape, possibly even following him up the ladder. He paused to glance back at the open hatchway he had crawled through and pondered on shuffling back to close it but his momentum forwards was spurred on by the sounds from below him as panels and framework were mangled and ripped away, together with the appearance of a grasping mechanical arm which pierced through the floor of the passage in which he now crawled to grab at thin air in his wake. As he wiggled faster than he had before to try and put some distance between the grasping hand and himself, part of him was thankful it had not ascended the ladder, as if it were to fire down this tunnel there was not much Maddox could do, aside from being the proverbial fish in the barrel being shot at. The hand retracted and then punched through the skin of the ship once more, closer than before and grasping about once more quite obviously trying to grab onto him. Another retraction and another punch saw it moving disturbingly closer, grasping and then retracting once again, obviously trying to gauge his progress and ensnare him.
The passage to the right of him suddenly burst in-wards as the mechanical hand shot through the floor of the passage and narrowly missed his ribcage as it began to flail about, the metallic fingers grasping about in the hope of latching onto him. In a rapid movement Maddox rolled to his left side to avoid the hand and pressed hard against the wall of the maintenance tunnel, whilst he looked about with a sense of utter futility at his situation. There along the wall and running the length of this maintenance passageway was a thick conduit a
nd whilst he was not an engineer by any means, the clear zigzag symbol on the cable at regular intervals highlighted it as a power conduit and a rather useful tool for him at this moment in time.
He quickly tugged and pulled at it whilst trying to avoid the flailing mechanical hand, the cabling resisting at first and then pulling free of the securing clamps which held it to the wall, still pulling as hard as he could once it fell free to put it in the path of the grasping hand beside him.
As if in sudden reaction to making contact with something solid, the hand clenched around the cable and pulled it downward with a mighty effort, the cable being wrenched from a junction node further back long the corridor and the sparkling severed end dancing along the narrow passage towards Maddox’s legs.
His hastily devised plan was not going too well.
He pressed himself as hard as he could against the left hand wall of the narrow passageway to try and avoid the snaking cable end as it jogged past his lower limbs and then descended through the puncture made by the robotic hand to release the energy flowing live through it into the body of the Sentinel below.
Even a robust construct such as a Sentinel would have a hard time handling that much power suddenly flowing through it’s frame and frying some of it’s components.
Foregoing any joy at his success or glee at the imagined demise of his assailant, Maddox wriggled for all he was worth away from his position towards the end of the maintenance corridor which he could see not too far from where he currently lay, his only hope that there would not be a mechanised welcoming committee there.
Reaching the hatch with no further assaults from below, he keyed the controls on the hatch by his head to open it in the desperate hope his exit would be unhindered. Wriggling through the opening he pulled on the ladder outside to get himself clear of the passage, descending quickly to the corridor below and took a cautionary glance about, noting with joy the absence of any molesting Sentinels. The one which had been so intent on grabbing him stood limp, not too far along the corridor from him but the smoke rising from it’s torso gave him all he needed to know about it’s current status. Even so, he did not wish to linger too long in the debilitated machine’s presence, turning to the aft of the ship he set off at a jog.
He did not know how long he had before the AI sent yet another mechanical servant against him, but the fact they were coming one after the other seemed to denote that the AI’s control was still limited at present.
At least they gave him some comfort as he made his way to the drive section.
Marcus sat within the medical bay with his eyes firmly shut as he divested all of the recent experiences he had undergone on board the Martian ship to his peers, together with the conversations with the computer and Maddox.
He had been concentrating on fine tuning his connection to the on board systems when suddenly his mind was overcome slightly by the plethora of voices and thoughts from his peers. His link through the medical systems had been even more successful than he realised, allowing him full access to the shared mind.
He was bolstered by the support he found from Praia and the welcoming reception he met from all of his peers. Latent fears he bore about being outcast when they learned of his collusion within the deceit laid upon them were seemingly unfounded, as his peers deemed him as much a victim of the computer’s treachery as themselves.
They were all gathered within a leafy green clearing set in the midst of a digitally recreated forest, the setting being assembled from memories derived from within the shared mind and information gleaned from the data-banks of the colony vessel itself as to the flora and fauna which was present. Marcus knew instinctively that this digital construct was of Praia’s choosing as she had brought him and others to such an environment during their rest periods. For a brief moment Marcus revelled in the almost calm serenity of the surroundings before his focus returned to the task at hand, the purpose of this environment which had been established within the data core of the colony was to provide a gathering place so his peers could decide upon the information as it was being presented. The gathering now resembled more of a forum with the colonists sat about in rings about a central position with every member of the shared consciousness present to debate the issue and for them to reach a consensus in their opinion in regards to the shocking revelations he brought into their midst, although they had no reason to suspect him of malice or ill intent, this sudden change in direction and purpose was causing a distinct degree of concern amongst his peers. After all, the AI within the computer had guided and provided for them all these years in the wilderness. Why now should it be turning it’s back on all their efforts to enact some sort of scheme upon the core worlds?
As yet he had not encountered any resistance from the computer, but now that he had linked and shared the information with his peers he knew it would only be a matter of time before it reacted to quell the uprising that he hoped to effect, to return their attention and efforts to the security on board the Martian ship and to do away with those who sought to oppose it.
‘My brothers and sisters,’ he urged almost with desperation, taking the central position within the circular layout. ‘We do not have the convenience of a long protracted debate on this issue. What I have shown you is at hand and at present the Captain is facing mortal danger on board the Martian vessel in order for me to bring you this information and evidence. Any further evidence we may require to substantiate these claims will be within the protected data core which the computer has been adamant that we remain apart from. I can understand reluctance to follow my lead based on my previous performance, but a good man’s life is in the balance here and we must act now to suspend all activity whilst we try to inspect the details within the protected core.’
‘Which I have accessed already,’ another voice interjected. ‘And suggest you do the same. The computer AI of this colony was reactivated simply to facilitate your wishes, but has instead been directing your actions and own thoughts towards goals it has defined in tandem with influence back within the core worlds.’
Marcus concentrated on the voice, an unexpected ally in his presentation. His gaze joined those of his assembled peers as they watched the figure of a Venusian woman stride from the cover of the foliage about them, to end her approach near his position within the centre of the assembled group.
‘My name is Ezri, first generation adaptive digital construct and member of Captain Maddox’s crew on board the Erstwhile. Whilst I apologise for my uninvited intrusion into your conference, time is pressing as suggested and the requirement for your co-operation in our efforts is of paramount importance.’
Marcus felt slightly relieved at her interruption and nodded in agreement with her as he conceded the centre stage to her digital presence.
‘Your AI was quite obnoxious when I encountered it after discovering its various dirty secrets, even as far as setting the Martian ship’s anti-virus system upon me in an effort to deconstruct my matrix. It was not to know that I was encoded on special commission to the highest family within the Aries Corporation to watch over a wayward member of their family, therefore my own matrix is more than resilient enough to counter simple deconstruction and disassembly attacks from such facilities. I was designed to resist direct digital attack by parties destined to do harm to the young Mannheim, in order to better protect and serve him.’
‘What is Captain Maddox doing with a Martian program disguised as a Venusian aboard his ship?’ Marcus asked a little confused as to her origins and appearance.
‘Suffice to say that there will be time later for detailed explanations into my origins and how I came to serve alongside the Captain, but for now we should attend to the more important matters on hand. At present your AI is more interested in erasing Captain Maddox than to concern itself over our interaction here, at least in the short term,’ she remarked rather off-handedly. ‘Once I was able to free myself from the rather bothersome molestation of the ship’s anti-virus system, I monitored the struggle ongoin
g between the Captain and the AI which has apparently engorged itself with memories to the point were it has become decidedly unstable. I was able to stabilise your implants connection through the up-link to the shared mind Marcus, as well as facilitate an escape route for the Captain from a decidedly deadly predicament before I made my way over here to converse with you all, but I fear that even the resourcefulness of the Captain has it’s limits and we must all now act to ensure that this stops right here. Some of you may still hold reservations about the intent of the AI but I must assure you that your role in it’s scheme is one purely of test subjects and eventually the scapegoats to distract attention whilst it establishes a beachhead on Earth.’
Marcus piped up to voice the query filtering through the shared consciousness. ‘Scapegoats?’
‘Yes,’ answered Ezri as she turned to face him directly. ‘The acts which were committed in the core were multi-fold in their purpose. Firstly they targeted individuals within the Martian hierarchy whom unknown parties wished to remove from the playing field, then secondly it gave the Martians the consent of the other colonies to systematically purge the inner worlds of resistance who may be harbouring your very own terrorist cell. Thirdly the computer AI wished to make it’s return without fuss or attracting attention, so if the Martians were concentrating on those small groups they may not notice the AI creeping into the mainframe on Earth. Fourthly your location would be revealed as per a planned timescale, a fleet then being dispatched to attack this facility and subdue the threat as they perceive it. Whilst they are distracted the AI makes it’s move and begins to convert people whilst making it’s presence spread to the core mainframes of the other colonies. In short, your role in the coming scheme is of importance to the AI, but with terminal consequences to each and every one of you here now.’
Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1) Page 27