ARTIS PRIME

by Tobias Roote

  RIGA transmitted the unlock code to her armoury. After selecting her lightweight battle gear and helm, she armed herself with blasters. She intended to be prepared for anything, and that meant being able to blast everything to stardust, rather than lop an arm off here and there. As she came out, the HT called her on the priority circuit.

  “RIGA, I’m getting an highly urgent communication through the network, but I cannot identify its origin,” HT advised urgently. Then without asking for permission the system was overridden and the message broadcast directly on her comm net.

  “Get out NOW! Your apartment is compromised,” the voice stated with sufficient urgency to prompt RIGA to react.

  That voice again, RIGA thought to herself as she sprang into action going for the flitter, now grateful she had left it on standby instead of the usual shut-down mode.

  As she leaped, the sound of blaster fire and explosions sounded at her apartment door. The RORI was activating the house defence system which would send a concentrated ring of decimating fire into the intruders, as they attempted to enter. There was also a fail-safe which would set off a localised EMP in twenty seconds. She needed to be gone, she had shielding from an EMP, but the flitter hadn’t anything like that.

  She sent the RORI an immediate security shutdown command which would cause the data files to be wiped when the EMP went off. The AI would automatically reboot in one hour without the lost data, and would continue to operate as normal. The Warden’s forces would go over the place with an atom-level investigator. They would know what had transpired and would be asking the singular question - why?

  Hearing the sound of laser and flechette fire approaching the main room she had recently vacated, RIGA made a final leap into the flitter, already commanding it to depart out of the parking slot and into the short tunnel leading to the exit. It was a matter of seconds, but those few essential seconds she now had to get clear, were thanks to the anonymous warning. Who was this unknown guardian who was helping her to stay alive and keeping her one step ahead of her enemies?

  RIGA took physical control of the skimmer as it broke out of the shadow of the building, scanning the approach to her apartment. Her sensors mapped out the traffic patterns around the vicinity of the needle apartment block highlighting any potential hazards.

  Looking inward at the display in her mind she could see that she was faced with four flitter signals approaching at full speed. One was much closer than the others and was the immediate threat. RIGA woke up the lasers giving them the seconds needed to create a full charge. The targeting computer automatically zeroed in on the nearest flitter that she focused on, locking with it. She adjusted the targeting so instead of aiming at the flitter the laser directly itself into the passenger compartment. It fired a tight slim beam which, invisible until it hit the vehicle, nonetheless did its work and penetrated the canopy of their flitter.

  RIGA had to assume they were on manual approach. If she disabled the pilot, it would come to a stop without being shot out of the sky, causing massive repercussions at surface level. RIGA needed to avoid unwanted attention from the traffic security.

  Zooming in on her target she was pleased to see the pursuer slumped over, while the others desperately tried to wrest control back to pursue her - not human then, she noted. Since the enemy vehicle was slowing and no longer heading towards RIGA, she decided it was no longer a threat and took off the laser lock and stood it down.

  Anticipating her pursuers only had standard drives, RIGA aimed her craft up to gain manoeuvring room. Her additional speed and mental control gave her an opportunity to draw some distance between the other craft that were still too far away to do anything. It was unlikely they were armed, but she wouldn’t take any chances. Several minutes later, RIGA had an opportunity to evaluate her position; the other flitters were falling behind and there was no sign of any other interceptors. Her warning had taken her aggressors by surprise and they had lost the initiative. RIGA was in no doubt that without those seconds she had gained, the outcome would have been a diplomatic mess.

  Her sensors widened to analyse any other threats in the local vicinity. As she continued to scan the sky around the flitter, RIGA considered the ramifications of the organised attack. She had not been in the apartment very long, a scant fifteen minutes, yet the attack was prepared, hurriedly yes, but still prepared. So, it must have been organised prior to her arrival at the apartment. How had they found her?

  Her Fellie Jinks cover was blown, and her apartment had been under surveillance with the enemy teams standing by waiting for her to turn up. Did they know she was coming? Had they been lying in wait in the hope of catching her out, which they almost did - if it hadn’t been for that warning. Had her outgoing call signalled the start of the attack? Was Tempus involved?

  RIGA mused over her anonymous ally. Whoever they were, they seemed to have an almost godlike awareness of what was going on. Considering that RIGA was supposedly operating in a clandestine environment, this represented something that needed serious contemplation.

  Her QDE analysis told her that whoever, or whatever it was, had to be an AI. Yet as far as she was aware, nothing on Artis Prime knew of her origins, and Bollida would never share such information outside of the ESSG director’s office. Had she lapsed in her personal security, or been observed, or slipped up somewhere?

  Her inner clock told her she still had approximately ten minutes to get to the rendezvous with Tempus. She would make it, but there would be no time to check out the location. She would have to hope that the information had not been intercepted, and that the meeting point was clear of attackers. The small craft negotiated the airlock that would take her into the human supported zone under the domes.

  These airlocks were more stringent than others, because the humans insisted on being able to walk without hindrance around their habitat and wouldn’t wear the atmos-suits that were provided by their employers. Elsewhere, like the area where RIGA was docked, they would accept the higher risk of a leak and wore them, ready to don their hoods at a seconds notice.

  The warnings and alarms drilled into them from their very first day on Artis Prime meant their reactions became second nature. There had been no fatalities for four years and thirty four days, the illuminated sign stated on the poster display at the end of the public docking area. Quite a record for Artis Prime, which showed the efforts to increase safety for the humans was having an effect.

  Once through the final airlock section, RIGA proceeded to follow the traffic patterns of human-manned flitters hovering around the area, until she turned off to reach the park that was the intended meeting point with Tempus.

  17. A Maze Defence

  It was still relatively early in the day for Helis, as far as days went on an asteroid that rotated sufficiently to provide a reasonable semblance of day and night. Proximity to its system's sun meant it could never be a warm, or welcoming place, and early meant the human shift patterns didn’t change until later. So, the park was empty, except for a few straggling workers using the quiet to enjoy the relative solitude.

  Tempus was standing at the exact point she had set, and was alone. As she set her flitter down close by in an area kept clear of the growing hedges and trees, she proceeded through the artificially planted copse, to the open area to meet the Alder that wanted her cooperation. Something was bothering her, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. Perhaps her systems were still twitching over the apartment raid, but RIGA was still feeling on edge. There was nothing tangible, yet she sensed that it was as if the park and everything in it, was holding a collective breath.

  “Well met, RIGA,” Tempus welcomed her in the traditional way of Artis Prime.

  “I’m sorry it couldn’t be sooner,” RIGA apologised, looking carefully at the AI, noting he was armed with a small blaster. Helis wasn’t a place where violence erupted spontaneously, but there was no mistaking his mood. His sensors swept over her aggressively, still apparently assuming her to be human, and therefore unaware of an ele
ctronic sweep. Or, maybe he was suspicious and was testing her to see if he could gain a response.

  “I had business in another system and the attacks in the Council Chambers have caused considerable outcry at Epsilon Gamma. They are not accustomed to having their Ambassadors attacked by Artis Prime’s Council guards,” she added.

  The Alder nodded once. “Yes, we received a very detailed complaint from them immediately after your unexpected departure,” Tempus acknowledged. “You must have recorded the whole incident for them to have so accurately relayed the list of rules broken by the Artis council. I can only apologise, but quite honestly, I have no means of promising it won’t happen again. There is much going on these days that is more than a little disconcerting.” He would have seen the recordings of her escape from the council chambers, but most of what happened could be put down to fast reactions by genetic enhancement, so her cover wasn’t currently compromised.

  “Yes, what do you know of it, Tempus? The government has empowered me to investigate this, so, I’m here officially, as well as to find out what you were interested in talking to me about,” RIGA responded attempting to move the conversation beyond the recordings.

  “Only that, over the last year or two, there has been an increasing number of new technological products that have been introduced through the Council that have subsequently never seen the light of day on Empirum worlds,” Tempus stated, indicating they should walk and pointing to a path circuiting the park.

  As they walked, RIGA watched the AI who showed increasingly nervous signs, more in tune with a human. He looked the part too, she observed. Tempus had spent a great deal of his fortune on modifying his artificial features to reflect those of a human. Whether ego, or a desire to be accepted by the progenitor species was behind it, RIGA had no idea, nor was she interested beyond idle curiosity. It didn’t matter to her what, or who, they wanted to look like. So long as the Empirum ran smoothly, her thoughts on AI fashion trends were irrelevant.

  We all spend too much time emulating these biological creatures, she thought. Why do we do that when we can so easily manage ourselves in so many efficient ways, communicate faster, react quicker and understand without error. Yet, we speak, walk and behave like them. Why am I designed to be human, and act human and yet, still be an artificial life-form. Where is my thinking originating? Do other AI’s think like me? She suddenly realised her thoughts were drifting, something she wasn’t prepared to let herself do. She put it down to the unsettled feeling she still felt, but couldn’t place.

  RIGA used her recording of their conversation to catch up with what Tempus was saying.

  “...my attempts to find out where the technology has gone has met with no progress, and at least two possible destructs of underlings can be tracked back to efforts to uncover its whereabouts. I am amazed it has just gone to ground, it’s not showing up anywhere,” he said.

  “Interesting, so are you implying that new technology is being diverted by someone on the Council? Do you know where they had got to in their investigations, before the investigators unfortunate destruction occurred?” RIGA asked him, thinking that there may be some useful groundwork she could build on here.

  “Yes, if I had to guess I would say Pelon is pulling the strings, but Fregal knows what’s going on and may even be directly involved.”

  “So, could you give me a list of the missing technology?” RIGA asked.

  “Can your comms take data downloads?” Tempus asked knowing that she had an implant, but not figuring it to be biogenic, a new method of creating biologically based components that wasn’t even out of research yet. RIGA could take everything he could send without blinking.

  Inbuilt nodes were an increasingly common enhancement for humans in high places and commercially advantageous when dealing with the AI industries. RIGA would be expected to have one which was why Tempus had tight-beamed her in the Council chambers.

  RIGA gave a human nod to confirm that she could and was rewarded with a data communication link from Tempus.

  “What was it you wanted from Epsilon Gamma, Tempus?” RIGA asked.

  “What you are already doing, Ambassador Rigel,” he said indicating the shorter path back to the flitters. “I need to prove that there are conspiracies within the Council, proof that will assist me in furthering my own cause.”

  “What cause would that be, Councillor?” RIGA asked. It would be expected of her to query his comment, although she already guessed more than he would tell.

  “I can gain greater control over the management of the industrial sector which has suffered badly these last few years. I suspect much of that to do with the nature of your mission for Epsilon Gamma. Just tell them, the Empirum council, how I have supported and aided you,” Tempus said.

  “I can do that, meanwhile have you heard of anything to do with a race called the ‘Tochina’?” RIGA asked.

  RIGA watched the Alder carefully for any reaction. Tempus mused while he processed his memories, turning his head towards her as they walked. “I’ve heard that name more than once. I thought it was a product, but you’re saying it’s a race? It’s in the data dump I’m sending you. Standby.”

  RIGA set up a depository for the download. She had no reason to suspect the data, but she placed a firewall around it anyway until it could be properly checked.

  “One last thing,” Tempus offered. “The Council have pulled back on the order to detain you. However, the mutterings I am hearing from the ground are that there is a contract out on you. It may be the same one that you experienced when you arrived for the meeting, or it might be a new one. Either way I would watch where you sleep for the time being.”

  RIGA nodded again. “I’m getting that message loud and clear. There have been three attempts so far and that’s just on Artis Prime. Elsewhere, there have been as many. This is something quite big, so keep your head down, Tempus, or you may become a target. These people are not interested in anyone discovering what they are up to,” RIGA advised.

  They were almost back to the starting point; the park wasn’t that large and they had not taken the widest route. There were still only a few humans around and the area was clear. RIGA’s sensed the danger for Tempus was greater than he realised. His investigations may well have set him up as a target as well, and possibly by the same attackers.

  RIGA stopped and turned to the AI, she thought to warn him.

  “Be careful Tempus,” she said.

  He nodded and walked off to his flitter.

  RIGA waited, she still felt something was amiss and so quietly monitored the ether while she tried to pin it down. Her senses were tuned into everything around her, the network traffic... was quiet. That’s what was bothering her. The normal level of network noises from the communication between the citizens of the asteroid were subdued, quiet, as if.....

  She looked over to where Tempus had disappeared, her thoughts attempting to catch up with the realisation that whatever it was had something to do with the Alder. She began to run to where he had turned out of sight a few minutes before just as –

  WHUMP!

  The pressure wave of the blast enveloped her body milliseconds before the flames and the debris did. She was far enough away not to be damaged by the detonation, but close enough to be inside the zone. She had landed near her own flitter as the blast tossed her from area of the explosion.

  As quickly as flames erupted, they disappeared, as the fire fell back consuming what was left of Tempus and his flitter.

  Somebody had sabotaged the flitter and set-up a suppression zone around it to contain the blast, ensuring no humans were hurt, or the dome broken. A very considerate killer, RIGA thought either human themselves, or an AI who wanted Tempus out of the way and as little fuss as possible. As it stood she acknowledged that it would probably be reported as a catastrophic failure of the anti-grav drive, and then filed under misadventure.

  She heard the sound of the emergency RORI’s coming to the scene. She ignored them, sensors still jarre
d from the explosion as well as an unsettling suspicion that things were still not right. The quiet in the net was still there, being held back. She felt that same malevolent silence... waiting as if it had unfinished business. Her inner alarm bells went off warning her. That same feeling of impending danger was still there, floating on the surface of her intuition.

  The human desire for shrubs and bushes meant she remained undetected by the small gathering of humans. Turning from the source of the explosion, RIGA began to make her way to her parking area. She searched for beams, tripwires, any evidence of a trap. Her sensors indicated no humans near to her, or her flitter and no electronic, or magnetic interference indicating any remote triggers. Nothing seemed out of place, yet she felt the anticipation there. The suppression field was still dampening the area around her.

  As she approached, RIGA decided to look closely at her own flitter. Outwardly everything looked the same, her attention to detail was picture perfect, she could see no external evidence of tampering. She pulled off the inspection panels that would expose wiring and computer chips. It seemed like nothing at first, but then, as her mind put together a picture of her flitters interior, she noticed things that weren’t in the right place. It had been modified, but when? Looking at the changes in detail, the flitter would never have flown in this condition - everything was in the wrong place and there were completely new connections that didn’t initially, make sense. Had RIGA been human she might possibly have doubted herself, but she wasn’t, and her memory of the original layout was perfect, these changes were strange.

  RIGA couldn’t quite see how it would cause an explosion of such proportions as it had with Tempus’ flitter. As she pushed and pulled at the connections, she noticed that they were covered with dust, leading her to believe it had been done a while ago. This couldn’t be right - she had flown here and the flitter had run perfectly. There was something important she was not registering.