“Not a screen,” Cora said. “A portal. Go get the rest of the men. We need to take a vote.”
“What? Why?”
“We need to decide whether we’re going to risk trying to get up to the Lapland with that swarm shooting at us or whether we’re going to jump through that portal.”
“But we don’t even know where it goes. It might just jump to another place on this planet.”
“I know. That’s why we need to vote.”
Chapter 19
Ian stomped on the deck, just to prove to himself that he was there. It was hard to believe that he’d actually made it back to a capital ship—and one that was authorized to escape at that. For the first time, he felt that he might actually survive this mission.
Of course, someone would have to talk some sense into the navy people flying the Lapland, first. Melina wasn’t cooperating.
“So, the crew and the scientists took a vote and decided to come and try to save us instead of making a run for it?”
The aide that the captain had assigned to them shrugged. “The vampires seemed to be concerned with other stuff, so it didn’t seem too suicidal. And I think the scientists were glad for a chance to actually volunteer for something for a change. The motion won by a landslide.”
“Well, I’m glad for that, at least. When do you think your men will be done loading the flyer with fuel for the dropships?”
They’d decided it wouldn’t be possible to try to bring everyone up on one dropship. It would take too long, and time was a luxury they didn’t have. The only hope was to load the Recon flyer with as many power cells as it could carry and try to make it in one jump.
Of course, a sudden reappearance of the swarm would make life very interesting.
“Thirty minutes, Commander.”
“All right. Can anyone put me up to date on what we know about this?” The first thing the crew had told them when they descended from the flyer was that there was big news about the vampires.
“Right this way. The head of our research team is waiting for you.”
The man led them into a large room. The wreckage of one of the vampires lay in one corner, and computer equipment and wires seemed to occupy the rest. A woman with rings around her eyes stood to greet them.
“Welcome to the Lapland. I think I speak for everyone when I say how happy we are to finally be helping someone. I’m Irene Sol Vianini.”
“They tell me you’re the expert on the vampires.”
“Well, as much of an expert as anyone can be, I suppose. But I’m not sure I fully understand what we’re dealing with.”
“I’ll take what you can give me. So tell all.”
“The biggest thing you need to know is that the vampires are not actually drone ships. Each is actually a self-aware computer-based entity living on extremely dense quantum circuitry.”
“So they’re alive? The vampires are individuals?”
“Well, yes… and no. They don’t see themselves as individuals at all. They are fragments of a much larger computer-based consciousness they refer to as the Oneness. Individual life is anathema to them.”
“But they still accept being broken off and becoming a self-sufficient entity?”
“It’s something they consider part of the service to the whole.” It was clear to Ian that the scientist wanted to say something more, but was hesitant to do it. Melina had also caught on and simply waited for whatever was coming. Finally, Irene spoke again. “I have a theory about that, too. But it might be way off.”
“Tell us. Your guess will likely be much better than anything anyone else will manage to come up with.”
“Before I can explain it, you need to know more about the Oneness. It has reached its present form by subsuming billions, maybe trillions of individuals. Humans and aliens. And most of them didn’t come willingly.”
“Like the Uploaders.”
“A bit. But if you believe in karma, you’ll be happy to learn that a lot of the personalities that make up the Oneness were once Uploaders, converted against their will.”
“Serves them right. But I still don’t see what that has to do with the individuals who fly the vampires.”
“I believe that the Oneness can select which parts of its personality to spin off. And it’s selected a very docile slice mixed with fanatics who truly believe in the hive-mind’s mission to fly the vampire fleet. So these guys aren’t going to question much.”
“And what is the Oneness’ objective?”
“I think it wants peace.”
Melina burst out laughing. When she got her mirth under control, she turned back to the scientist. “Clearly, you weren’t out there when the swarm hit. Those vampires are probably the least peaceful thing I’ve seen in a long life of fighting this war.”
Anger flashed across Irene’s features and, though she quickly got her expression under control, her tone of voice made it clear that she was still unhappy when she responded. “The thinking is that war is caused by individuals, and that if galactic civilization is ever going to be peaceful, then individuality needs to be suppressed. So they fight to further that.”
“Ah, peace by killing everyone else. Sounds like the blobs.”
“No. If the blobs win the war, they will likely turn on each other. Just the way humans would if they won. In that sense, the Oneness is right.”
“Perhaps. But if my options are to be subsumed or to go down fighting, it’s not a hard choice. I can face death… I wouldn’t be able to face losing my sense of self.” Melina shrugged. “But it’s academic unless they respond to our communications. Have they?”
“Not so far.”
“But they tell me that the base of their tech and language is very similar to what humans are using.”
“The language is nearly identical to what Standard would look like considering the time that has passed. Our translators took less than a minute to establish communication.”
“Does that mean that the Oneness is human?” Ian blurted.
Irene turned to look at him. “I thought that was clear. The Oneness isn’t human. But it once was the product of merging a number of human minds together. Minds with a particular vision of how to achieve lasting peace in a galaxy torn by war.”
“Utter loons, if you ask me,” Ian said. Irene gave him a dark look. He wondered why she was so defensive of an entity that, by all accounts, was even worse than the Uploaders. He shrugged it off. Maybe it was just a territorial thing: scientists hated when laymen got involved in stuff they felt only they were qualified to understand.
Melina went off in a completely different direction. “You said that your translators broke the problem of communicating with the fragment in under a minute?”
“Yes. We’ve got the best equipment available—or at least the best that was available when we set off—right here.”
“Then maybe you can help me with something. I sent some images over when we were approaching. One of them had text on it, text from an inscription in the facility on the surface. It looked nearly like Standard, but not quite close enough to decipher. Definitely human script, though. Do you think you could translate?”
“If it’s language or code, the program should be able to break it. Let me see.” The scientist pulled the image up, had the recognition program pull the letters, and fed it into the system. Almost immediately, a translation popped up. “There, you see. Nothing to it.”
Ian and Melina moved closer to the monitor.
Humanity desires nothing more than to live in harmony with the universe. The stars taught us lessons that we will never forget about the sacrifices one must make to attain that lofty goal. We have learned, we have gained new friends where we once saw only enemies, and we are committed to living in the hope of everlasting peace.
“Pretty clunky. I bet it lost something in translation,” Ian said.
“Yeah. And it’s definitely not the kind of thing you’d write in a place to store weapons like those wings, is it?”
The scientist spoke. “That’s not a storage facility. It’s a prison.”
“What do you mean?”
“The fragment explained it to us. The planet was once a colony that the Oneness attempted to subsume. It was home to an alien race, but we’re not sure which one, or at least this fragment doesn’t know. But it was a trap. Humans had fought a battle some years before and had learned how to defeat machine-borne civilizations. We’d formed an alliance with all the races we used to be at war with, and we were waiting… here.”
“Wait. How did they destroy computer life?”
“Those bullets they were shooting you with on the moon were basically nanobot delivery systems.”
“Yeah, and not much use.”
“They are potent weapons. The problem was that our computers weren’t advanced enough for the nanobots to identify as a threat. You can’t have a consciousness in a drive control unit. So you suffered almost no damage from them.” Irene paused and pointed to the wreckage of the wing. “But the computers in the fragments are hundreds of times more complex than what we use. They’re so sophisticated that we had to lower the clock speed on this one so that it could talk to us without suffering. Originally, it felt to it like it was saying a phrase and then waiting for a hundred thousand years in sensory deprivation for an answer. I can’t imagine how it managed to survive. Probably just because of the fact that it’s built out of multiple personalities, which gives it balance. Peace, if you like.”
Like any good soldier, Melina had a one-track mind. “So what we need to defeat the vampires is a crapload of those bullets. How soon can you start building them?”
“The Lapland isn’t equipped with cannons, Commander.”
“You can build those, too. From what you’re telling me, those guys are a menace, and we’re responsible for letting them out. The least we can do is kill them. If not, the modern humans and, I assume, the other five races from the chamber are going to be pretty pissed at us.”
Irene’s expression slammed shut like a blast door during decompression. “That’s something you’ll have to take up with the captain,” she said.
Melina was about to respond when an aide ran in. “We have trouble. All officers need to get to the bridge now.”
“Why?” their guide asked. “What’s happening?”
“The swarm is coming this way. They’ll be here in two hours, and we need to decide what to do.”
They ran off, leaving Ian and Melina alone with the scientist.
The two pilots took one look at her expression and decided to head back to the flyer.
***
Hémery watched the two officers emerge from the lab. Like everyone on the Lapland, he knew exactly who the visitors were. News traveled fast in a starship.
“Excuse me,” he said. “Could you spare me a couple of minutes?”
“What for?”
“I need witnesses, preferably someone with rank. I’m going to confront Miss Sol Vianini with certain criminal charges.”
“Her? What charges? Being sour in public?”
“Murder.”
“Count me in,” the man called Ian said without missing a beat.
Commander Tau Coloni sighed. “We have fifteen minutes, then we need to get to our ship. Time is already nearly impossibly tight with the vampires on the way.”
“This should be quick. I can’t make an arrest until the captain gives his OK, but we also can’t revoke any of her admin privileges until she is informed of the charges. Besides, if I’m right, she’s already killed two people and covered her tracks expertly. I still don’t know how she did it, so I prefer to have some backup when I talk to her.”
The two pilots looked at the scientist skeptically. She was busy at the console which allowed her to communicate with the Oneness fragment. Hémery felt some vague stirrings of doubt. Despite all his laboriously collected evidence, he still had difficulty believing that the woman could be capable of murder.
But the facts didn’t lie. There was just too much pointing to her. He pushed the door open. The two officers followed him into the lab.
“Miss Irene Sol Vianini?”
The scientist jumped and turned towards them. When she saw him, her look of surprise turned to anger. “Not now. I’ll look for you in a while and you can tell me what you need.”
“I’m sorry. That’s not an option. I’m informing you that you have been charged with murder. I can prove two counts.”
“What? Are you insane? I’m the leading member of this ship’s research team. I’m the only one who can speak to the Oneness. You can’t arrest me!”
“You’re not under arrest yet. But all your admin privileges are revoked from this moment. And you need to get out of this lab so I can seal it up.”
Irene stamped her foot. “This is ridiculous. I’m going to talk to the scientific administrative committee and the captain. I’ll make you sorry you were ever born!” She stormed past them and walked down the hall, presumably in search of someone who could make his life living hell. He doubted she would find too many sympathetic ears; he’d already shown the evidence to most of the higher-ups.
“That went well,” Ian said.
Hémery shrugged. “Better than I thought it might. I was half-expecting her to pull an industrial laser out of one of the cupboards and attack us with it.”
“Did she really kill two people? She looks more the type to make your life unpleasant by talking to you. But murder? Doesn’t make sense.”
“Trust me. She killed them. I still have no idea why, but her fingerprints, virtually speaking, are all over the murders.”
Ian shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Now let’s get out of here. I really do need to seal this lab. There might be more evidence I don’t know about. Commander Coloni?”
The woman was reading the text on the screen. She raised one hand. “Just a second,” she said.
A minute later, they were out in the hall again. Hémery was glad the job was done, but he wondered what was eating the commander. The woman’s angry expression as she set off down the hall had made Irene look positively friendly.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t his problem.
***
Melina couldn’t think. She knew she was on the verge of losing control. Just walking down the hallway without screaming took every gram of self-control at her disposal.
Ian walked beside her. He had clearly grown good at reading her moods because his mouth had been kept firmly, wisely shut. He hadn’t even asked where they were going, just accompanied her wordlessly.
She was about to stop the first person she passed in the hall to ask directions to Irene’s quarters when she spotted her quarry walking back down the hall. If anything, the scientist seemed even angrier than before.
Melina stood in front of the other woman. Even in her rage, she was lucid enough to note that they were alone in the hallway. “Come with me,” she ordered, placing a hand on her arm.
“Why?”
“Because if you don’t come right now, I’ll beat the shit out of you until you do.”
Irene broke out of Melina’s grip and began to walk past.
Melina acted before thinking. Her fist shot out and landed a beautiful right hook to the scientist’s mouth. Irene fell on her ass and looked up at them with a dazed expression.
“Grab one of her arms,” Melina told Ian.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he replied. But he complied.
Between them, they frog-marched the struggling scientist out of the main hall and into ever-smaller corridors. Soon, they reached one of the maintenance passages that bordered on the hull. No one ever came there, and Irene halted their progress beside a hull-inspection airlock.
“Did you really think you could surrender the Lapland to those things?” she demanded. “You have no right to make that decision for the crew. Who do you think you are?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the woman said through bloody lip
s. “You’re insane.”
Melina hit her again. Harder. She was satisfied to see the scientist’s head snap back and hit the bulkhead.
“If you wanted plausible deniability, you shouldn’t have left your conversation open on the screen when we walked in on you.” She paused, almost too angry to continue. “How could you give that thing access to our comm systems? How could you believe that being subsumed into some monstrosity that won’t even let you be yourself is something that others would want? What gave you that right? Can’t you see that everyone here is fighting a war so that humans can keep being human and not have to hide from aliens for the rest of our existence?”
Irene’s eyes blazed. “Maybe that’s exactly the problem. Everyone is always fighting wars to fix things. Wars never solve anything. The only thing wars create is more war.” She pushed herself away from the wall. “Haven’t you learned anything? Don’t they teach history in officer school? Time and time again, the same imbecilic cycle, perpetuated by unevolved simians like you, like all the soldiers on this mission. You need someone more enlightened to decide for you.”
“Like hell we do.”
“You do. Where would this expedition have been if wiser heads hadn’t prevailed? You’d have been in a blob system, throwing your lives away to murder sentient beings just so that they would be less powerful when they hit our other systems. A useless waste.”
Melina felt her breath leave her body and an icy ball form in her stomach. Suddenly, the anger gave way to a frozen calm. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that we aren’t in this godforsaken system by accident. This fleet didn’t suffer a technical failure that caused it to miss its target system.” Irene laughed. “And only a bunch of idiot soldiers could possibly have believed that. I mean, do you know how unlikely it is to miss a star system and then arrive at another by chance? You’d be more likely to catch a neutrino with a butterfly net.”
“I don’t understand.”
The words sounded cold even to Melina’s ears. Anyone could have read the violence in them, but Irene seemed to miss the import completely. The scientist just laughed again.
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