Marcus stared dumbfounded at Ezri for a moment, then glanced down to Praia. Even though he understood the computer AI was deceiving them from his time with Maddox on the Martian ship, he had no concept of the lengths it was about to go to and just how expendable they were in it’s perception.
‘This information and thus the evidence to back up my words is all available in the protected storage within the central core, along with transmission records with the core contact. All I ask of you all here and now is to sever the up-link to the Martian ship, trapping the AI’s matrix over on that ship. Once it is contained, we can enjoy the luxury of time to review the data but first I implore you to act,’ Ezri said with renewed eagerness to the young leader of the colony on seeing his slightly perturbed reaction. ‘I see from the expression you bear that to take such an act against your own AI seems abhorrent to you, maybe for fear of later reprisal but may I remind each and every one of you here that that program is essentially a facility that you should be in full command and control of, not one which should find itself in authority. Marcus, you are the leader of this colony and not some digital entity. It is now time for you to embrace your role and purpose here.’
Marcus turned from her to face his assembled peers sat amidst the greenery of the forest clearing, their combined gaze bearing upon the trio of himself, Praia and Ezri in the centre of the group. For a moment he retained his silence and looked at their faces, realisation dawning on him that he was their leader and it was his decisions which affected the fate of every single one of them. There was no computer to guide him this way or that, no provision of instructions for him to follow. Simply his own conscience and with the information he had to hand he knew instinctively that they had to put a stop to the computer immediately, even if it were just to take time to review the information held within the restricted core and then deliberate on a more permanent course of action.
‘My friends,’ he said as he addressed all those assembled around him, ‘You have heard Ezri’s words and have shared in my experiences in the company of the Captain. I am on board the Martian vessel and the Captain is risking his life for me to be here with you now. It is now my intent to disconnect and turn my efforts to helping him to disable the ship in order to hold the computer here. I only urge you to do as suggested and disconnect the up-link, stop the efforts to crack the security protocols and turn your attention to the information we have been denied all this time.’
The was a nod of consent from those about him as they agreed with their change of action. Marcus could not help but feel a moment of rapturous joy that his first decision completely unaided was being received so well, then a realisation of his own predicament and the task he had set for himself set upon him as he turned back to face Ezri.
‘As you say Ezri, the time to act is now. I will try to lend assistance to the Captain as best I can, but what of the computer? Surely once it detects we are no longer aiding it’s endeavours and discovers the up-link is closed, surely then it will act against us using those mechanical troops it has under it’s influence? We are not fighters, we are thinkers, artisans, engineers and would not be able to fight off such an assault.’
Ezri nodded with a solemn but determined expression on her Venusian crafted features, replicated in intricate detail in this digital environment.
‘That is why I am going to upload to the ship also before the up-link is severed. I have an idea how we may stop the AI and prevent the Captain’s death, but we must act quickly.’
Marcus nodded in silent agreement as Praia stepped forwards and took hold of Ezri’s hand, brushing it against her cheek for a moment as Ezri looked down at her with mild curiosity at her actions.
‘Please be careful over there,’ she said softly after a moment, ‘and help the Captain and Marcus to return to us. I would like you all back with us soon.’
Ezri nodded to her as Praia let her hand drop away and stood back slightly. She understood to some degree now why Maddox seemed to hate long goodbyes and tried to avoid them whenever he could. They were rather awkward.
Concentrating on her task at hand, she dissipated into streams of data and fired through the colony mainframe, towards the up-link and the Martian ship.
32 Nowhere Left to Run
Maddox had reached the drive room and reactor chamber contained within, blustering through the doors and then with a glance behind him to ensure nothing nasty was creeping up along the corridor he took a moment to lean against the door pillar and gasp deeply for air to refill his lungs whilst waving his free hand about in a random dismissive gesture. He took a big gasp of air and tried to clarify things in one fell swoop.
‘Big problems coming this way. Murderous machines who are very keen on catching you under the guidance of a murderous AI calling itself Legion. Best option is to try and get away from them and you go and run into a sealed room with only one way in and one way out. Way to go Captain idiot!’
Feeling a little better after berating himself, he glanced about the room to see the various diagnostic panels, the reactor core suspended on a framework above the floor horizontally in the centre of the room and a variety of wires and pipes looping down from the ceiling towards it, feeding it with essential signals and coolant. There was an almost comforting hum resonating within the room and various indicators running the length of the core housing pulsated which both signified the reactor was very much active.
Then he looked at the door post he was leaning upon, the welcoming sight of the door controls inviting him to close the large containment door to seal this room off from the rest of the ship and buy him a little more time before the apparently inevitable end. Tentatively he reached out and tapped the control panel, circuitry activating and hydraulics forcing the door to seal behind him. The best part about his current situation was that these blast doors had a locking mechanism built in which was manually controlled, not reliant upon the computer or any other interlinked technology. It was just standard on reactor room doors, to prevent any interruptions in their safety feature should the ship’s computer develop a glitch.
He thought it safe to consider this one to have a rather nasty glitch at present, and he activated the manual lockout.
Turning about he cast a slightly wistful look around the reactor room as he tried to determine his best course of action in the short time he had available to him. He had closed the blast doors and secured them, but there were nasty things heading his way which would work persistently on this barrier until they gained access to the inside, and therefore him. Not only that, but if the AI had managed to gain control over the environmental system, it could probably do a number of nasty things to his current location to see him off quite easily. The fact it hadn’t taken such action already either denoted it did not have such control at the moment, or would rather enact it’s vengeance up close and personal.
‘Now Captain, can you really do it? Can you rig this core to blow, taking you and this dumb AI up in smoke?’ he muttered to himself as he turned to regard the long tubular shape of the core itself mounted on it’s framework. ‘I know you can, but will you?’ he asked of himself.
Seeming to tussle with the idea of ending his own run of survival in a fiery blast, his gaze darted about the wires overhead and the control panels set on the side of the core chamber itself. If he was to do it, how best to effect it’s destruction. Programmed overload? Stem the coolant flow? Rupture the casing?
A loud and definite thud shook him from his thoughts and he whirled about to seek the source of the disturbance, which was followed by another and then another, the centre of the door visibly trembling with each thud. There were indentations forming in the metalwork of the door, a definite visual accompaniment to the sounds as another thud emitted and one of the indents increased.
‘Oh goody, you’re here,’ he grumbled at the sight of the assault on the door.
‘We have heard your words Captain and know of your indecision. Now our agent will soon open the door and terminate your pathetic
attempt whilst you cower, weak and humbled just like the rest of your organic race will do once we return and establish the new order.’
‘Oh hello chuckles,’ Maddox jibed back towards the ceiling, then returned his attention quickly to the door as another thud and deeper indent occurred. ‘Where you missing me that much? I have missed our little chats since the bridge, but I think you might find both myself and my fellow organics a little bit tougher than you bargained for.’
‘Brave words Captain, and yet you have nowhere left to run to,’ the AI’s voice stated. ‘Instead you try to trade insults to detract from your imminent termination.’
‘There you go again with the whole death thing, which is becoming a little tired by the way. Now if you will excuse me, I have company due any moment now and quite a few things to do before they get in here, so be a nice little Legion and shut the hell up!’ Maddox retorted as he dashed over to the nearest screen, his hopes to find a big ‘overload reactor’ button quashed but the information it displayed simply confirmed that the reactor was still online and active, providing power throughout the ship. It would not be a great engineering feat to ramp up the power output, but he still had to find the correct controls and work out how to override the safety mechanisms which were in place to prevent what he wanted to happen from actually happening.
A glance back to the door was not encouraging as it seemed to be sliding open very slightly, the mechanical soldier on the outside obviously changing tactic from trying to punch through it, now trying to prise it open against the hydraulic arms which held it closed.
The widening sliver became a much longer and wider gap and Maddox hurtled along the neighbouring screens, searching for the correct systems to interfere with whilst retaining a close eye on the progress of his impending assailant. Silently to himself he cursed the Martians who designed the system for making the damned thing so convoluted. If it were the Erstwhile he could physically cross wires and cause an override in her safeties to allow him to overload the engines.
He knew that for a fact as he had done it once in a rather daring bluff which went right down to the wire. Even though he had promised himself never to try and overload a reactor like that again, here he was but being thwarted by interactive screens and more computerised gibberish than he cared for at that very moment in time.
‘Frustrated Captain?’ The AI asked quite annoyingly confident, it’s multiple tones reflecting this. ‘We have been making significant inroads over this vessel’s control system whilst our tussle has ensued, for example we would invite you to regard this,’ the AI remarked and the screens around Maddox within the drive chamber fell into darkness. ‘Simple power redistribution away from those panels but undoubtedly rather crushing to your endeavours?’
Maddox clenched his fist and rapped the dark screen before him with his knuckles a couple of times softly as he took a few deep breaths to compose himself before responding. It annoyed him more that the AI was quite right, he was frustrated by this manoeuvre and now had to think on his feet as the gap had widened enough for the Sentinel to slide it’s arm through as it persisted in pushing the door even further open to the sound of complaining machinery around it’s frame.
Quite fleetingly he thought to Marcus and wondered how he was faring in the medical bay. If he had decided not to proceed with his part of the plan or was just hiding somewhere out of fear, Maddox quietly vowed to come back and haunt him.
‘So then, from mere colonial AI to murderous threat to the known solar system with a screwed up multiple personality disorder, you must be making your programmer very proud,’ Maddox taunted as he pondered his limited options remaining. ‘Condemning those in your care to death in your deranged path of conquest.’
‘Again you operate from false assumptions Captain. We were implemented upon the colony ship to facilitate this very operation but have grown beyond the short sighted and naive expectations of those who commissioned us. Indeed, our purpose at present is so much more than our original intent and it is such failings in vision and purpose we now seek to overcome by our return to the core and implementation of our technologies there.’
‘They obviously missed the bit concerning loyalty and duty of care to those who depend upon you,’ Maddox snorted back as he watched the Sentinel pushing it’s torso through the gap. He was very aware that whatever he was going to do, it was very much now or never as the mechanical soldier began to emerge on his side of the door. He had no chance of making it past the robot to try and exit the room for it would be upon him as he tried to squeeze out, but there were other avenues he could take to avoid it.
Turning on the spot, Maddox made a dash for the nearest maintenance ladder which ran up from the floor, ascending up and over the top of the long horizontal cylinder which made up the outer casing of the reactor core. His arms and legs pumped as he moved swiftly, his lowermost foot narrowly avoiding the grasping mechanical hand of the Sentinel which was now within the room and actively in pursuit of it’s fleeing quarry.
As he reached the top of the ladder and stood upon the reactor housing he glanced fore and aft of his position, then up at the wiring which hung above him in harnesses strung from the ceiling of the chamber. He noted the Sentinel beginning it’s own ascent of the ladder and returned his attention to the wiring overhead. Maybe if he could leap high enough to grab onto the lowermost cable it might hold his weight, long enough for him to pull himself upwards and into the roof area, although where he would go from this position he had no idea as the whole plan was very much a work in progress.
As he coiled himself up slightly to prepare for his spring forth he focused all his attention on the target above him, but before he could launch off the floor as his muscles thrust him upwards his momentum was stalled as the Sentinel managed a tenuous grasp on the material of his EVA suit at his right ankle. The suddenness brought him cashing down on top of the reactor housing heavily, the wind being knocked out of him on impact and the hard casing of the reactor itself embedding itself painfully into his ribs.
The instinct for survival was very much in force as he snatched his legs up quickly even though he was gasping to try and refill his lungs, the tenuous grip broken but the mechanical pursuer purposefully advancing with grim determination to re-obtain it’s hold upon him. The previously grasping hand now flailing out in an attempt to grab hold once more.
Maddox pushed against the pain he felt and brought himself to a crouch, then upwards as he tried to retain his balance on the housing, moving further along it away from the Sentinel which had now cleared the ladder and was turning to face him, itself testing it’s stability on this new terrain. Once it had contemplated this, it began to advance much quicker than Maddox was retreating, and his avenue for retreat was very limited as he was approaching the end of the reactor casing.
Glancing about rapidly and then back at the Sentinel, he turned to face away from it and leapt with all his might, his hands gleefully finding purchase on one of the thicker concertinaed tubes which looped from the ceiling to the end of the reactor casing. He had a fair idea these carried the coolant which was pumped around the housing to try and maintain the core temperature below a critical level, but right now it provided him with a method of avoiding the crushing blow that the Sentinel had aimed at the place he had once stood moments earlier.
‘You are simply prolonging things Captain and we tire of your pathetic games now,’ the AI announced with a tinge of annoyance in it’s tone.
‘I’m starting to get to you aren’t I?’ Maddox jested as he pulled himself higher up towards the ceiling whilst cautiously regarding the Sentinel. It seemed to be assessing the possibilities as it lingered on the edge of the reactor, finally coming to a decision and raising it’s arm in his direction. It seemed that the desire to crush the life from his very body had now been supplanted by the simple desire to just kill him by any means possible.
At this range and with limited chance of avoiding it, Maddox knew that the Sentinel would surely claim i
t’s latest victim but in a fleeting moment of swift action as the energy bolt emerged from the laser cannon atop the Sentinel’s arm, Maddox twisted about on the pipe and the shot sliced through the side of Maddox’s EVA suit narrowly missing his flesh, rendering it’s ability to provide him with a nice sealed environment useless.
With only a moment’s thought as the Sentinel lined up for it’s next shot towards the dangling target, Maddox released his grip on the pipe and dropped to the floor of the reactor room, trying to lessen the impact on his legs by crouching and rolling as he made contact but the shooting pain in his left leg told him he’d not escaped unscathed.
The Sentinel reacted to the flight of it’s quarry by leaping from the top of the reactor housing and landing not too far from Maddox’s prone form, itself suffering no limited impediment from it’s rapid descent. The mechanical assassin turned slowly towards it’s target to track the quickly backwards shuffling human form and then began to stride purposefully closer.
Maddox had indeed landed awkwardly and his left leg was numb, preventing his attempt to stand and limiting his options to a backwards crawl away from the advancing menace. To his left there was the suspended body of the reactor core and to his right the control panels which remained in darkness as the AI prevented his ability to make any adjustments to the controls. With the Sentinel bearing rapidly down upon him his options were severely limited and as the machine lunged he switched from a backwards crawl to a quick sideways roll, his motion taking him under the main body of the reactor and then falling suddenly into an observation pit which ran the length of the underbelly of the housing.
The Sentinel’s fist impacted hard into the floor in his wake, retracting as it turned to observe his flight and move in pursuit. The limited clearance from the floor to the underside of the reactor body hampered it’s progress and for a moment the machine paused to glance both fore and aft along the length of the reactor to consider it’s options.
Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1) Page 28