Maranta

by Frank Carey

"Seems like," Aerith observed. "And they stopped long enough to wire up a lighting system. Curiouser and curiouser."

  They extinguished their flashlights and headed down the corridor. The walls were utilitarian with no sign of ornamentation, not even safety signage. There were signs, though, of bots. The walls were pocked with blast pits and linear scars cut into the rock.

  "Lasers, possibly blasters made these," Iolaus noted as he looked closely at the blast pits. "A pitched battle occurred down here at some point."

  "Note the lack of debris," Aerith said. "I think someone cleaned up after the battle."

  "The question is what? Bots or our electricians?" Tannith observed.

  They continued down the corridor past a destroyed door. Then another followed by a third, which entered what looked like a control room.

  "Cool!" Mauro said as he pushed his way in and sat down behind a control console.

  "Careful" Tannith said but she was too late. Mauro had already pulled a device from his pocket and placed it on the console. It was round, about the size of a racket ball. Cables came out and attached themselves to the console the moment the device touched the surface. Immediately the room came alive as the other consoles and monitors powered up. "Mauro, how the hell did you do that?" she asked.

  He pointed to the device. "Hacker ball 328, the last word in computer system access and interfacing. The question is why does it work with ten thousand-year-old alien technology?"

  Aerith sat down next to Mauro and stared at him without saying a word. "What?" he asked as he started typing on the alien console.

  "Nothing. Just wondering who you really are. I don't think a cartographer/writer would have access to state-of-the-art hacking tools, nor would I think he could reprogram an alien control console to display a keyboard in Standard."

  Mauro stopped and smiled. "Damn, I guess I got carried away. You might know me by my handle, Euripides."

  Tannith went white. "Eruipides? As in the hacker who shut down the InterWeb for a day?"

  "Thirty-three hours to be exact, but yeah, that's me. Before you ask, I'm really sick. I just didn't get infected on vacation."

  "Let me guess. An assassination attempt?" Aerith said as she watched Mauro type commands into the console.

  "Something like that," he said. He read something on the screen in front of him and smiled while routing the data to a larger screen on the wall. "Anyone ever wonder how someone ever got the InterWeb to work?"

  "What do you mean?" Iolaus asked. His eyes got big as he watched code scroll-by on the big viewer. "Is that..."

  "The InterWeb is made-up of disparate computer systems from over thirty planets which are able to exchange data. Ever wonder how anyone was able to accomplish that particular feat of magic?"

  Looks were exchanged around the room. "Come to think of it, I haven't, but I should," Aerith said as she watched the big viewer fill with code. "Iolaus, I think you're right."

  "Back in the day, intercommunication between computer systems was a real problem. Then one day someone connected a device between a Tralaskan computer and an Alturan computer and voila! They could talk, easy peasy. Funny thing is, no one ever figured out where the original design came from...until now," he said, pointing to the screen. "That is part of the operating code for this system. If I'm not mistaken, someone visited here a while back and 'borrowed' this system's code and used it to create the InterWeb."

  "The League's data network is based on alien code?" Doris commented. "That's incredible. I assume we know what all this code does, don't we?"

  Mauro shook his head. "There are sections of the core code no one has been able to figure out. It's worked for decades, but we don't know how. I know it may seem odd, but it's true. I've augmented parts of the original code, but I have no idea how the core program does what it does. No one does."

  "Then how do they plug it into systems? Don't they have to load the code into something?” Doris asked.

  "You either get an installer or you get a box with the core preloaded. Install the code on any computer system, and that system will be able to interface with any other system using anything from flashing lights to advanced terabit network links. In some ways, it acts as a benevolent computer virus while in others it's like a marriage counselor."

  Tannith ran her hand over the console. "And you're sure it's from here?"

  "Yes, the core code is exactly the same with no augmentation present. I may not know how it works, but I damn well know what it looks like."

  "OK, assume you're right, and this system was created to facilitate communications between computer systems," Tannith speculated. "Why would you have such a capability on a rock out in the middle of nowhere?"

  "A rock with an infestation of killer bots," Penny added.

  "Weapons... A weapons lab?" Aerith speculated. "Dammit, maybe this place was used to test weapons. Those bots aren't search and rescue, research, or even manufacturing bots. They're weapons systems, and I bet this was a test facility. The code allowed any weapons system to interface to...what? Some kind of a control system?"

  "Something we haven't seen," Doris said as she munched on a nutribar. "We've got bots, and we've got a universal data communications link, but we're missing the third leg of this stool—the control computer--assuming it still exists."

  "She's right," Mauro said as he tapped the console. One of the walls slid out of the way to reveal floor to ceiling glass panels which looked out onto a room filled with rack upon rack of alien electronics. Overall, the room was dark except for pools of light projected from the ceiling which surrounded each rack. The racks themselves were maybe eight feet tall and hexagonal in cross-section. Each of the six faces was a video display filled with swirling light patterns playing across it like some kind of modern lava lamp. Each rack had a large bundle of illuminated cables or optical fibers emerging from its top, climbing upward until it disappeared into the ceiling. The room was filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands of these racks.

  "Doris, I present the third leg," Mauro said. "I think this is the control computer."

  "I'm getting a real bad feeling about this," Aerith said as she peered at the array of server racks. "That's a helluva lot of computing power just to run those bots."

  "Ah, guys, you might want to look at this," Mauro said as he brought up more information on the large screens on the wall. "I think this is the inventory of weapons systems stored on this planet for the last ten thousand years."

  "By all that's holy," Tannith whispered. "There must be thousands of units. What's that symbol?" she asked pointing to a glyph that resembled an eight-pointed star.

  "Let's see if my hacker ball is as good as the manufacturer claims it is," he said as he typed in commands. "I think it indicates an orbital asset."

  "Orbital asset! The Tung'We!" Doris said.

  "Nothing we can do about her now," Tannith said. "I'm worried about the rescue ship. Mauro, can we lock out any of the systems from here?"

  "Let me see... No. I'm denied access to all systems."

  "Denied access?" Tannith asked frowning. "Denied by whom?"

  "Not a whom, but a what. That system out there is alive and actively preventing me from accessing any of the command pathways. I can look, but I can't touch."

  "So, the central computer is active?" Aerith asked "Even after ten thousand years?"

  "Looks like it," Mauro said as he tapped commands. "No good. I'm completely locked-out even with the hacker ball. Let me try something."

  The wall displays changed to show a diagram of the computer room beyond the windows. Two flashing dots appeared, a red one and a blue one. "The blue dot is our current position and the red one is where a manual override control node resides. I can lock out all ground, sky, and orbital systems from there without the central computer system interfering."

  "Then let's go," Iolaus said.

  "But..."

  "There's always a 'but' isn't there?" Aerith quipped.

  Mauro smiled. "There is no way for me
to turn off the internal security system. The moment the computer considers us a threat, it will rain death and destruction upon us."

  "Death and destruction," Penny said. "Are you familiar with the concept of hyperbole?"

  "OK, how about just death," Mauro replied.

  "Works for me," Doris said.

  Shaking her head, Tannith asked, "So how do we get into the room itself?"

  Mauro pressed a button and the wall lowered into the floor. "Through there," he said.

  "OK, let's go, but watch for anything out of the ordinary," Tannith instructed.

  "Like a room full of alien computers?" Aerith observed.

  "Yeah, something like that," Tannith replied as she stepped into the computer room. "It looks clear."

  One by one, the others followed her into the equipment-filled room and down the corridor beyond.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Septar dropped out of other-space at the outer edge of the Maranta System and began long-range scans of the system and Maranta Five. What they found was not good. "Report, Science Officer," Elizabeth ordered from her Command Chair. Standing behind her were Harmon, Marta, and Royce.

  "System is clear of hostiles. No ships, probes, or habitations detected on Maranta One through Four and Six through Thirteen. Maranta five is another story. Sensors show several hundred small ships in orbit ranging in size from a baseball up to and including a shuttlecraft. I'm detecting debris consistent with the Research Vessel Tung'We."

  "Dammit, why destroy an unarmed ship? It makes no sense," the captain asked. "Any sign of the Asgard?"

  "We're still too far out to get accurate scans of the surface, ma’am."

  "Prepare a basketball and have it approach the planet from the far side of the system. Let's see what happens," the captain ordered.

  "What's a basketball," Marta asked Harmon in a whisper.

  "It's a probe, about a yard across and equipped with FTL, shields, sensors, and advanced communications. Basically, it has the energy signatures of a large ship without the ship itself. It'll drop out of FTL about a hundred thousand miles from Maranta Five before performing a close approach of the planet. The captain wants to see how tolerant the forces around the planet are to intruders who drop in uninvited."

  "Ready, ma'am," the science officer said.

  "Set it not to raise shields until it's at perigee," the captain ordered, referring to the probe's point of closest approach to the planet.

  "Aye, ma’am. Shields are programmed to activate post-perigee."

  "Launch."

  "Aye, ma’am," the science officer replied as he hit the firing button. The ship shuddered as the probe left its launch tube. "FTL in three...two...one...mark!" Moments later the probe appeared above the planet on a course which would take it within one hundred miles of the surface. "No reaction by the bots. Approaching perigee...shields activated...probe being fired upon...probe destroyed."

  "The damn things react to the shields. That would explain what happened to the Tung'We," the captain explained. "Standard Operating Procedure would have been for the Tung'We to maintain a sensor lock on the Asgard in the event of trouble. Something happened to the Asgard, and the Tung'We went to alert status, raising its shields in the process."

  "Which caused the bots in orbit to attack," Royce continued. "Since the ship made it into orbit in the first place, the bots must not react to navigation shields."

  "Or heat shields," Harmon said, "since the Asgard made it down to the surface in one piece. That leaves the defensive shields..."

  "So, the Asgard's pilot was testing his defensive shields, which set off the bots. Harm, can the Conquistador go down sans shields?"

  "Easily. I do it on a regular basis to fool patrol ships."

  "Fool patrol ships? How?" Royce asked, curious about how the smuggler worked his magic.

  "Conquistador’s cooling system can be routed into radiators in the fuel tanks. She hits atmo and lights up like a meteor while keeping the cabin cool as excess heat is pumped into the fuel tanks. I finish the gag by firing on some bare patch of ground, so it looks like a meteor hit."

  "Remind me not to invite you over for cocktails," the captain said.

  "Too late. I was at your last party—I was the ambassador wearing the ugly green suit."

  "Why, for God's sake, would you crash a party filled with League security?"

  "I wanted to see one of your guests, but she didn't show up," he said looking pointedly at Marta.

  "Oh. OK, change of subject," Marta said hastily. "How close do we bring the Septar to Maranta Five?"

  "Could you bring up an orbital map of the planet?" Harmon asked as his tail moved back and forth like a metronome.

  Elizabeth nodded to her science officer, who brought up a holographic display of the space surrounding the planet. "Here we go," Harm said as he pointed toward a large rock orbiting out about a hundred thousand miles from the planet. "That baby is iron-nickel about three miles in diameter—a perfect place to hide Septar while allowing for monitoring of the planet's surface."

  "That works. Comments?" she asked Royce and Marta who signaled negative. "Good. Helm, take us to these coordinates and park us by the asteroid," she said as she sent the particulars to her navigator.

  "Aye, aye, Captain," the helmsman said as he engaged the drive.

  Liz pressed a nearby intercom button. "Flight Deck, status of the Conquistador?"

  "Fueled, armed, and ready to go, Captain."

  "OK, this mission is go. Get ready. I'll come down to see you off."

  "Aye, Captain," Royce and Marta said with salutes while Harmon opted for kissing her cheek.

  "Harmon Aymar, you will turn my head," she said. "Now move along. Daylight's burning."

  Chapter Fourteen

  Led by Tannith, the group walked past endless numbers of server racks as they made their way deeper into the mountain.

  Like driving through the Desert Southwest United States Region on Earth, the landscape changed steadily as they approached their destination.

  "Wait a minute," Doris said while scanning a walled-off area with three doors, identical except for the symbols painted on them. "This can't be..." she said as she slid up to one and pushed it open, only to slide inside.

  "Doris, wait!" Tannith said too late.

  Moments later Doris stuck her "head" out and announced, "Bathroom!" before sliding back inside. A mass rush ensued as the other members of the group followed or ran through the other doors. As people emerged from their brief respite, they were able to quench their thirst at a water fountain they found nearby.

  When Aerith emerged from the ancient restroom, she walked over to Tannith with a troubled look on her face. "What's up?" Tannith asked while Aerith looked around the area.

  "At first I thought this was strictly a server room used by a weapons testing facility, but now I'm not so sure.”

  "I'm with you, sister," Mauro said as he joined them. "Server rooms don't have bathrooms and water fixtures inside. Water and computer systems don't mix well."

  Aerith walked over to one of the server racks—what she thought was a server rack—and ran her hand over the nearest face.

  Nothing happened.

  She tried tapping it, but it ignored all her attempts at interfacing with it. Mauro joined her and ran his hand over the surface, but was ignored as well. "Odd behavior for a touch-screen," Aerith noted.

  "If it is a touch-screen. Give me a boost," Mauro said to the much stronger Aerith, who obliged by effortlessly picking him up so he could look over the top edge of the rack.

  "Let me down, I've seen enough," he said. With his feet on the ground, he explained what he saw to the others. "It's a fake. Just view screens connected to power. The cables are just hanging inside. It's all for show."

  Meanwhile, Iolaus walked deeper into the maze of racks until he came to an abrupt stop. "So is this," he said while throwing a weak punch into the area between two racks. Instead of passing through the empty air, his fist ca
me to an abrupt stop with a loud hollow thump. "It's a projection screen. Everything beyond is just an image."

  Tannith and Penny looked around in disbelief. "Why go to all the trouble of creating such an elaborate simulation of a server farm? It makes no sense," Tannith said.

  "And how the hell is this connected to the bots that attacked us?" Penny added.

  "I don't know," Tannith replied, shaking her head, "but we need to get back on the road. People, time to go!" With that, they continued on their way.

  The landscape continued to shift until they walked up to a set of partitions which stretched out to the screens on either side of them, but stopped at the path they were on. Scans of the area beyond the partitions were blocked by some kind of interference, so they carefully walked up to the right-hand partition and looked into the area beyond it.

  "Another empty room," Mykkl said as he stepped past the partition. Once more, he examined the area with his scanner, stopping at a collection of stains on the floor.

  "Dried blood. Carbon-based life forms. Hemoglobin would indicate it's from someone not much different from us. There are residual weapon's signatures, possibly blaster-type. Whomever left the blood was probably shot.”

  "Shot by whom?" Doris asked as she joined him.

  “Probably these two,” Aerith said from the front of the room where several large screens were set in the wall next to a second doorway. On either side of the doorway was a pair of large, bipedal robots, each equipped with shoulder-mounted blasters.

  "The charge packs are depleted, and the barrels are scored," Mykkl said as he scanned one of the weapons.

  "Why is this getting really familiar," Aerith said as she looked at the stains. Without warning, the screens on the wall lit up with familiar images.

  "Hey, that's the landing site," Mauro said, pointing to one of the screens.

  "Yeah. There's the river, and there’s the cave entrance," Doris said, munching on a strange looking nutribar.

  "Doris, where'd you get that bar?"

  "Sorry. There's some kind of vending machine against the wall. Press a button under a picture and a bar appears in the tray below. I scanned it and it's oddly fresh. No sign of decomposition whatsoever and the bar matches my nutritional requirements to a tee."