Veiled Designs

by Amy DuBoff

The Pod Doc’s lid sealed her inside.

  “Stay still and try to breathe normally,” Doctor Dwyer said over an internal comm. “You may feel a tingle. This won’t take long.”

  Ava did as she was instructed. At times, she felt a tickle along her spine, and at one point, a pressure in her head. But, to her surprise, the Pod Doc’s lid popped open, and it didn’t feel like more than a minute had passed.

  “How do you feel?” the doctor asked from behind the drawn curtain.

  “The same,” Ava replied. I should sense something different. Where is the—

  >>I didn’t want to intrude,<< a voice said inside her mind.

  Whoa! Ava’s pulse spiked with the sudden appearance of the mental presence.

  >>I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to alarm you.<<

  You must be my new AI friend, Ava replied, trying to parse out the difference between her private thoughts and the internal speech.

  >>Yes. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ava. I’m Ruby.<<

  Hi. Er, it’s nice to meet you, too. She paused. Sorry, this is weird.

  >>I know. You can get up now.<<

  Ava realized she was still reclined in the Pod Doc. Right, yes. She climbed out of the device and began dressing in her shipsuit. What do you know about me, Ruby? Can you read all my thoughts?

  The AI chuckled in her mind—an odd sensation behind Ava’s eyes that almost made her feel like she had to sneeze. >>I can only see what you want to share with me. You are far more proficient with the distinction than most.<<

  The telepath thing, I guess.

  >>It’s a rare skill. I have never experienced such a mind before.<<

  I hope they warned you about the rest of me. You know, the Hochste nanocytes, Ava replied.

  >>Yes, I was given your official file and some supplemental reports prior to our pairing,<< Ruby confirmed. >>I am excited to learn more about these abilities with you.<<

  Have you been paired with a person before? Ava asked.

  >>Yes, on two prior occasions. You are the first warrior, however.<<

  The revelation caught Ava by surprise. She had figured they’d pair her with an AI specializing in covert operations to match her own skillset. What did you do before your pairing with me? Ava asked.

  >>I supported biomedical research activities.<<

  Ah, so that’s why they paired you with me.

  Ruby gave a mental nod—a far less disorienting sensation than a laugh. >>I know about your unique situation. I hope I will be able to help you.<<

  Me too. I don’t much care for the idea that I could randomly transform.

  >>I should be able to help you with that,<< Ruby told her. >>It will take me some time to get used to your body, but I have every belief that this will be a rewarding partnership.<<

  Ava finished dressing in her shipsuit. I do, too.

  “All dressed, Doctor Dwyer,” Ava said, pulling back the privacy curtain. “Ruby and I have been getting to know each other.”

  “Ah, good.” The doctor smiled. “Ruby received an excellent recommendation from one of my colleagues at another station. I think you two will get along quite well.”

  “We’ll see how Ruby does with my impulsiveness,” Ava replied.

  >>I think I’ll manage.<<

  You say that now, but just wait until we’re running from the bad guys while they’re trying to blow us up.

  >>Admittedly, that sounds stressful.<<

  Yeah, that’s one way to put it, Ava replied with a mental chuckle. But don’t worry, you get used to being shot at.

  >>Hmm.<<

  Ava laughed out loud.

  Doctor Dwyer gave her a quizzical look.

  “Poor Ruby is coming to terms with the insanity that is my life,” Ava explained.

  “Ah.” The doctor nodded. “Good luck with that.”

  Ava glanced at the time on one of the nearby monitors. “Is there anything else, Doctor? I should get to the Raven soon.”

  “You’re free to go,” he replied. “Come in for a check-up when you return from Gidyon.”

  “Yes, Doctor. See you then.” Ava grabbed her travel bag from the foot of the chair in the changing area and nodded farewell.

  She made the trek from the medical lab to the docking location of the Raven. She could sense Ruby’s fascination upon seeing for the first time the sights that had become commonplace to Ava after so many years.

  This is nothing. Wait until we’re in the heat of battle, Ava said.

  >>But you’re covert ops.<<

  Ava thought she detected a hint of concern in the AI’s mental tone. You’re out of the research lab now, Ruby! Welcome to the FDG.

  >>Perhaps my preliminary evaluation of this pairing neglected to take into account some of the variables involved in your field activities.<<

  Having second thoughts? Ava asked.

  >>No, just updating the assumptions in my statistical calculations for the likelihood of us ending up as a smear on the floor.<<

  Am I doomed?

  >>My estimations show that eventuality to be highly unlikely,<< Ruby replied. >>We might be stuck with each other for a while.<<

  Glad to know I’m not a completely disastrous mess.

  >>No, not completely. Just… ‘mess prone’.<<

  Ava smirked. Yes, we’ll go with that.

  She arrived at the Raven and used the gangway to board the craft. It deposited her on the residential level, and she walked down the short hall to the cabin she shared with her team.

  The other warriors were unpacking their travel bags when Ava opened the door.

  “Hey,” Ava greeted them.

  “Did you do it?” Samantha asked.

  Ava nodded. She set down her bag on her bunk in the lower left of the room. “Sure did. I’d like to introduce you to Ruby.”

  The AI connected to the comm system inside the cabin. “Pleasure to meet you,” an alto voice said.

  “You’re in for quite a ride, Ruby,” Nick replied.

  “It’s only been a few minutes since our pairing, but I’ve gotten that distinct impression,” the AI said.

  “It’ll be nice finally having an AI on the team,” Samantha added. “I miss having an EI pairing to help with hacks.”

  “Really?” Nick shook his head. “I’ve always liked going it alone. I live for the challenge.”

  “A partnership doesn’t diminish your individual abilities,” Ruby pointed out over the comm.

  “No offense meant,” the warrior hastily added.

  “None taken. I know that not everyone enjoys a pairing. I will strive to be a productive member of your team, in whatever capacity will be mutually beneficial.”

  You sure you didn’t work as a diplomat? Ava mentally asked the AI.

  >>Just because I’m scientifically minded, doesn’t mean I can’t have good social skills, too,<< Ruby replied with a mental wink.

  “If you can help keep Ava from changing against her will, I’m happy to have you along,” Edwin said.

  “We can use the transit time to get synced,” Ruby suggested. “I have reviewed all of Ava’s medical records, and I have some ideas for how to regulate the transformation.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Ava agreed. I’m very curious to see how this works, she added privately.

  >>Me too. I’ve also never been inside a Were before!<<

  It’ll be some real hands-on study, that’s for sure. Ava returned her attention to her teammates. “Now that introductions are out of the way, I think we need to address something that no one has wanted to say aloud.”

  Each of the warriors sat down on their respective bunks.

  “We’re up against something entirely new here,” Ava began when everyone was situated. “What we witnessed with Colonel Kurtz and Chancellor Heizberg was only one facet of this race’s capabilities. We know they can take over people with a compatible TR, but they have also swayed a number of individuals to work with them of their own free will. The ability to be so persuasive suggests a high level of social a
wareness that is contrary to Kurtz’s experience with Nox.”

  “Yeah, it sounded like Nox was really bad at blending in, once it asserted itself,” Nick agreed.

  “A clear distinction,” Ava confirmed. “When I talked to Nox, it seemed annoyed with our social constructs. Yet, Reya was adept at working within those systems to build what appears to be an elaborate distribution system throughout the Alaxar Trinary, and maybe beyond.”

  “Human individuals each possess different skillsets,” Samantha pointed out. “It’s not unreasonable to assume that the Gidyons, or whatever we want to call them, would have variation, as well.”

  Ava nodded. “You’re absolutely right. Where I’m going with this is that we’re working with a sample size of two, right now. We have no idea what other variations there are—how strong they might be, or how good at manipulating—but they’re smart. Andrea didn’t come up with the hybrid nanocytes on her own; she was using information that the Gidyons relayed to her.” She paused. “You know, we really need a better name for these guys. ‘Gidyons’ doesn’t really roll off the tongue.”

  “It’s also not suitably evil-sounding,” Samantha added.

  “Their actions may appear evil from our vantage, but who’s to say this isn’t a cultural misunderstanding?” Nick countered. “I’m not sure it’s fair to paint them squarely as the bad guys.”

  “Remember what they did to Heizberg, making her a prisoner in her own mind for decades?” Ava pointed out.

  Nick held up his hands. “I retract my statement. Evil-sounding name, it is.”

  “Gids?” Edwin suggested, but immediately scrunched up his nose and shook his head.

  “Dyons, maybe?” Samantha ventured.

  “They’ll ‘die on’ the spot when we come for them,” Nick jested.

  Samantha tilted her head. “Too on point?”

  Ava considered it. “You know, I kinda like it.”

  “Watch, they’ll declare they have their own name that’s something terrible, like the Fooferies,” Edwin said through an amused snort.

  “Stars! And then we’d have to use the official designation.” Ava groaned. “Let’s hit it hard with ‘Dyons’ now, while we can, and hope it sticks.”

  “I’m for it,” Nick agreed, followed by Samantha and Edwin voicing their support.

  >>Wow, I cannot believe that discussion just happened,<< Ruby interjected privately.

  Hey, this one was topical. Wait until Edwin goes off on a tangent about one of his videos.

  >>You know, you really are quite a gifted dancer.<<

  Oh, fucknuggets. You saw that?

  >>Of course. It was the most viewed video in multiple categories. I deemed it appropriate research to prepare for our pairing.<<

  Ava was silent for a moment. Ruby, you’re messing with me, aren’t you?

  >>I couldn’t resist.<<

  So her AI had a jokester streak. Duly noted. I better keep Ruby in my good graces, or Edwin will have a source with access to way too much material.

  Considerations for another time.

  “The point is,” Ava said, trying to get back on topic, “now more than ever, we’ll need to have each other’s backs.”

  “How do we go about defeating an enemy we can’t see?” Edwin asked.

  She smiled at the huge warrior who always seemed to lead with his gun. “They have a physical presence, even if it’s something different than we’re used to. We’ll find what it is and figure out how to disable them.”

  “Not destroy?” Nick questioned.

  “That’s not for us to decide at this juncture,” Ava replied. “We’re investigating a new lifeform. It’s not right to take the fate of a race lightly, even though they did paint a giant target on their telepathic backs.”

  Samantha eyed her. “And if our investigation confirms everything we already suspect about them?”

  Ava’s hazel eyes took on a slight orange cast for a moment. “Then their last thoughts will be regrets for ever messing with my home.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  With Ava busy in the Gidyon System for at least the next three days, Luke returned his attention to the tests looking for TRs in FDG personnel.

  He settled into his workstation in his lab with coffee in hand. What awesomeness awaits me today?

  Working with Doctor Dwyer, Luke and his team had developed an automated process to compare medical records with a new scan, but like any batch processing system, it was imperfect. The system kicked back the occasional inconclusive result, which required human review.

  Though Luke’s graduate degree was in genetics—he’d made that very clear—the rest of the team had spun his credentials to insist that that also made him an expert in neuroscience, and therefore the best person to review each and every one of those inconclusive records. While he could easily have pushed back and assigned the project to Tess or Jack, he decided to give them a pass this time around and just do it himself. A happy team was a productive team, and he’d rather have a favor stashed in the bank.

  As he did his morning inventory of the test results on his dashboard, he was happy to see fewer files to review than he’d feared.

  “Hello!” Tess greeted as she entered the lab, pulling Luke’s attention from the screen.

  “Hey there.”

  “Why the grumpy tone?” she asked while sitting down at her own station across the room. The workspace was affixed with an odd assortment of a dozen magnetic stickers, including a cat wearing a spacesuit and a taco with rocket engines that Luke hadn’t noticed before.

  How can she work like that? Luke shook his head. “The system is still kicking back these ‘inconclusive’ results,” he replied. “I’m getting sick of the manual review.”

  “Is there any common factor with those records?” Tess placed her hand on the desktop to log into the workstation. “Maybe we can tweak the analysis algorithm.”

  Luke took another sip of coffee. “I don’t think I’m awake enough for that yet.”

  “Get to it, boss! We have a lot to do today.” Tess grinned. She turned her attention to her screen and brought up her mailbox.

  “Wow, do you always have this much energy first thing in the morning?” Luke asked.

  She glanced over her shoulder at him with a raised eyebrow. “It’s 10:00. I’ve already had two meetings today.”

  “Is it?” He checked the time on his dashboard. “Guess I got a late start.”

  “I’ll say.”

  Luke turned back to his work. At least my team is more responsible with time management than I am.

  Tess was silent for a moment, tapping her finger on the desk. “Wait, where’s Jack?”

  “Dwyer wanted him for something,” Luke responded without taking his eyes off his monitor. He took a deep breath. Is she ever going to break that habit of tapping while she thinks?

  Tess was silent for another thirty seconds as she continued tapping her finger. She stopped. “Oh, that explains it.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me Ava got an AI?”

  Luke swiveled his stool to face her. “Why is that relevant?”

  Tess sighed and folded her hands in her lap. “Because Jack’s specialty is in bioelectronics integrations. We got thrown together on this team when you arrived, and we’ve been sort of fielding the random requests that have come in. But now that we don’t have an immediate crisis on our hands, this is an opportunity to take an approach that caters to our specialties.”

  “And that’s connected to Ava… how?”

  “Now that she has an AI, we can figure out what’s going on with her,” Tess stated.

  Luke crossed his arms. “She has modified nanocytes. I’ve run the genetic models. We already know what changes they’ve made to her.”

  Tess nodded. “On the physical level, yes. But now we have a chance to learn about how the tech thinks.”

  “I didn’t get the impression that it was a sentient entity.”

  “No, not like that,” h
is assistant replied with a touch of annoyance in her tone. “I mean, like, how it operates based on the specific circumstances. We know what it does, but her transformations have been random. With the detailed data collection from the AI, we’ll be able to analyze the specific conditions at the moment she’s about to transform—the triggers and the variables that impact the speed and expression of her abilities.”

  All right, so she knows her stuff. Luke leaned against his stool’s backrest. “I hadn’t thought about that part.”

  Tess pursed her lips with a hint of smugness. “It’s easy to think of the AI as just being a regulator, but for it to do that job, it needs to perform that analysis. We can access that data and learn even more about the tech.”

  “What can we do with that information?” he prompted.

  “Well, if we understand the triggers, we might be able to glean some more insights into what the aliens were after when they designed the tech.”

  Luke perked up. “Stars! I didn’t think of that. The trigger points will indicate certain expectations for the physiological state the Hochste would be in. How they’d be used.”

  “Precisely.” She pointed upward with her index finger.

  “Except, we already know the plan was to turn them into soldiers.”

  “Yes,” Tess acknowledged, “but Weres rarely stay in their transformed state for an extended time. If we know the chemical threshold to trigger a transformation, it’ll indicate how long one could stay in that state.”

  “Blitz fights or extended conflicts,” he said.

  “You’ve got it.”

  “Huh.” Luke nodded, impressed by her reasoning. “So, what might Jack be doing with Doctor Dwyer?”

  “Probably figuring out a way to port the medical monitoring into our models of the nanocyte expression so we can get a holistic view.”

  He chuckled. “You were doing just fine on your own before I came along, weren’t you?”

  She smiled. “We didn’t have the nanocyte or genetics angle before. It’s great to have you on the team now.”

  “Glad I’m not completely useless!”

  “No way.” Tess flipped her wrist. “Besides, it’s not just anyone who’d volunteer to go through all those records.”

  Luke laughed. “There’s grunt work with any job.”