Paradigm 2045- Trinity's Children

by Robert W. Ross

  In one fluid motion, Misha activated her boots and felt them latch onto the cabin’s right wall. She pushed past the momentary vertigo as she found herself standing perpendicular to what her brain argued was the floor. While Sokolov had some training in zero gee, all told, it comprised less than two hours. Her training had been done in twenty-five-second bursts via a Howard-Technologies reduced gravity aircraft. The hollowed-out 787 jumbo jet created weightless environments at the top of a parabolic flight path relative to the center of the Earth.

  Misha bent her knees, pulled herself into a sideways crouch, and pushed outward while disengaging her mag-boots. Sokolov felt a mixture of surprise and satisfaction when she shot from the wall like an arrow. She streaked toward the Chinese navigator who had been trying to retract her taser darts. The woman’s face barely had time to react to the Russian when Misha connected, activated her boots, then used the provided leverage to slam the navigator’s head against the wall. She went limp, her eyes rolled up, then she began floating sideways like a rag doll.

  Misha was trying to orient herself toward the remaining threat when a scream ripped through the cabin. Sokolov felt her blood run cold as her training took over and she yelled, “Gun!” The last remaining Chinese man had just released the slide of what she immediately recognized as a QSZ-92 automatic. It was Chao’s daughter who screamed when the man pointed his weapon at her father. It shook slightly as the taikonaut held himself in place with a free hand.

  “Don’t do it,” growled Misha. “If you miss him, you’ll vent the ship and we’re all dead.” The man shook his weapon and yelled something in Chinese. Misha raised a hand in an attempt to calm him. “What are your orders?” she asked softly in Russian, and mentally crossed her fingers that the Chinese military still required learning the language.

  He shifted to imperfect Russian. “We are to bring them for debriefing in Beijing and terminate both, if they resist.” The taikonaut shook his head as if clearing an errant thought, then gestured with the weapon. “Who are you!” he screamed.

  Damien made a subtle gesture from behind, and far to the right, of the Chinese man. The android knew Misha’s peripheral vision would pick it up without her having to break focus on her pistol wielding adversary. Damien motioned for Misha to keep the taikonaut talking as the android slowly dragged himself along the far wall. This could end very badly, thought the security officer, and she wondered how much of the taser effect Damien had been able to shrug off.

  Chao Keung locked eyes with Misha, then spoke for the first time. His Russian was much better, with just a hint of accent. Keung gestured to the teen girl, at his right, and said, “Please, don't let them take my daughter. I’ll go with you and will make no trouble.”

  “No! You be quiet,” yelled the taikonaut, then several things occurred all at once. Despite having been stunned, Damien tried to mimic Misha’s previous mag-boot fueled launch maneuver. He was only partially successful. Instead of grabbing the man’s weapon he slammed into the taikonaut's shoulder. The pistol discharged and Misha immediately saw that the round would go wide right. We’re dead, she thought, and tried to prepare for the ship’s uncontrolled decompression.

  Nothing happened. Damien wrestled the pistol from the taikonaut with more agility than Misha would have expected. He flipped the weapon and brought it down hard on the man’s head. He crumpled. Sokolov thought she might have to reevaluate her belief in God when a thin voice spoke in english. “I feel cold, Father. Why do I feel so—”

  Chao Keung’s eyes were wide with terror and he thrashed against his restraints. “Annchi!” he screamed, and Misha winced at the pain with which each syllable ripped from his throat. The girl’s eyes fluttered as large spheres of glistening blood broke off from the spreading stain in her chest.

  A small clinical voice spoke to Misha from deep inside. 9mm round striking center mass at 350 meters per second. Potential aeortic rupture. Estimated chance of survival, thirty percent. The security officer shook her head, cursed inwardly, and thought, that would be my chance of survival, this girl is already dead.

  “Sokolov!” yelled Damien again. “Lieutenant! Did you hear me? Get the girl unstrapped and back to Galileo. I’ve got Keung.”

  “But,” began Misha, “She’s—”

  “That was an order, Lieutenant. Now!”

  Training took over. “Aye, sir.” Her mag-boots snapped against the deck and in less than twenty-seconds, Misha had cut the girl’s limp form from the restraints and was moving her toward the breaching tunnel.

  Keung continued screaming incoherently from behind, but Damien pushed him toward the shuttle. None of that was Misha’s concern. She had her orders. They didn’t make sense to her, but she would get the girl’s corpse into Galileo because that’s what she was ordered to do. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, Sokolov, she thought, then froze in place as Richard Carpenter reached for the girl’s limp form. Or does it?

  “Sit down and let him work,” said Damien, in a voice that brooked no objection. Misha and James each rested a hand on one of Keung’s shoulders as he, once again, tried to leap toward his daughter.

  “What’s he doing to Annchi?” yelled Chao, in near perfect English. “Let me go to her. She’s hurt.”

  “Listen mate,” began James, “that’s our doctor and he’s trying to help her. Your daughter has been injured and he—”

  “Your daughter is dead,” said Sokolov, “and her only chance of not staying dead is that man. If you love her, stay out of his way.”

  Keung slumped in his chair as tears streamed down his cheeks. Damien turned to Misha. “I’ve got him. You and James seal the breach so we can detach.”

  “Seal it?” growled Sokolov, “Fuck that. Let’s detach and blow those bastards into space.”

  “No, seal it.”

  “But, they tried to—”

  “Defend their ship!” yelled Damien. “That crew responded to an unexpected threat and followed orders that I’m sure weren’t written as abduct innocent man and his daughter. Who knows what they were told and I will not be judge, jury, and executioner. You have a legal order, Lieutenant. Carry it out, now!”

  “Fucking android piece of—” grumbled Misha so low that she didn’t think anyone could hear.

  “What was that?” asked Damien.

  “She said fine android thinking,” lied Linnea then shot a glare at Misha. The Russian just shook her head and moved toward the breaching corridor with James.

  Rick held both hands on either side of the girl’s face. He kept shaking his head and muttering. “No, that won’t work. Try to repair the other one first. I do not accept that, do it again. What do you mean there is only one option? What is it? I don’t care if it’s a bad option. That’s for me to decide. Explain.” Carpenter paused briefly and glanced over his shoulder at Keung. He turned back to Annchi and said, “That’s the only option? Yes, I know you told me it was a bad option. Program it and standby. Do not execute without confirmation.”

  Dr. Carpenter rose and clomped awkwardly toward Keung.

  “No, no, no,” yelled Chao, “You are a doctor. You have to save her!”

  Rick crouched down before Annchi’s father and took the man’s trembling hands in his own. “Your daughter has suffered massive damage to her heart muscle including a complete aortic tear. She will suffer irreversible hypoxic brain injury in less than six minutes, and I need you to make a decision. Can you do that?”

  Keung glanced over Carpenter’s shoulder to the still form of his daughter and nodded. Rick sighed and said, “Okay, this will be a lot to accept, in too few minutes, but it’s all the time we have. I’m the product of a eugenics program and have the ability to direct replicable nanites that operate within my bloodstream. I sent a cohort of those nanites into Annchi. I tasked them with repairing the damage but it is too severe for them to affect those repairs before brain death occurs. Our only chance is an even more massive infusion of nanites. Such an infusion will increase their networked capacity an
d enable them to correct the damage within our time constraints.”

  Keung grabbed Rick’s hand. “Do it!”

  “Wait, there could be side effects that she might have to live with the rest of her life.”

  “But she will live!” her father yelled. “Do it.”

  Rick ignored Chao’s frantic outburst and continued calmly. “I will have to infuse Annchi with so many of my nanites that the shock to my system will render me unconscious for a time.”

  Damien turned to Rick in alarm and said, “Doctor Carpenter, we cannot have you—”

  “No!” yelled the doctor, “We are the proximate cause for this girl's injury and I have told you before, I will do no harm. Besides, I will regain consciousness as my nanite flora replenishes itself, which should be within the hour. That's not the problem. The problem is that the nanites normally would require my mind to guide them through their repairs, and then recall them into myself. I won’t be able to do that. Instead, I will sever those nanites from my mind and give them autonomy." Carpenter leaned forward and said, "Let me be perfectly clear. I will be introducing almost a million artificially intelligent microscopic robots into your daughter. While their primary function is to repair, I cannot predict what they will do, within Annchi, once those repairs are complete. They might simply deactivate themselves. They might remain active to ensure that Annchi remains in good heath.” Rick paused, and stared directly into Chao’s eyes, “They might do something none of us can predict.”

  Keung gripped Dr. Carpenter’s hands tightly and said, “Save my little girl.”

  Rick gave him a curt nod and turned to kneel beside Annchi. He cupped her face with his hands and began murmuring as he had before. “Commit cohorts as sufficient to repair damage. Remove autonomous restrictions. Confirm. Confirm. Confirm. Sever hive mind from host. Confirm. Confirm.” Rick looked over his shoulder at Chao, Linnea, and Damien. “I pray this works,” he said, then added, “Confirm!”

  Doctor Carpenter collapsed, rolled onto his side, and closed his eyes. Keung pushed out of his chair and would have sailed to the top of Galileo’s cabin if Damien didn’t restrain him. The android linked arms with Chao and settled him next to his daughter. He touched her neck and pulled his hand back in alarm. “She’s burning up.”

  Linnea had moved to sit beside Rick and placed a hand on the doctor’s forehead. “So is he. It’s like he has a fever of one-hundred-five or something.”

  “More like one-ten or one-fifteen,” said Misha as she and James entered from Galileo’s aft airlock. “My all-time record was one-hundred-twenty, but I had been both shot and stabbed multiple times.” She held up her right hand and waggled her pointer and middle fingers. “Oh, and the bastard who shot me also bit off these two fingers.” Misha nodded at the memory, “Nanite replication requires energy. Energy results in heat." She shrugged," I definitely scared some nurses at that hospital when they wheeled me in. Still, one-hundred-twenty…you have to admit, that’s—”

  Keung looked up from his daughter. “You have these nanites in you as well?”

  Sokolov nodded, “Yes, but mine don’t listen to me the way Doc’s do him. Honestly, I didn’t even know they existed until Howard-Prime told me about them. I just figured I was lucky.” She shrugged. “Speaking of the doc, why is he sacked out on the floor?”

  “Apparently, he’s in a nanite-depletion coma,” said Damien with a sigh.

  Chao looked up from his daughter and asked, “Who is this Howard-Prime, and will he be able to tell me how these nanites might affect Annchi long term?” He stared down at her and added softly, “assuming she—”

  The girl’s eyes flew open. She sat straight up and stared at her father. A split second later she looked down, placed both hands over her chest, and screamed.

  Linnea pointed at Misha and said, “You need to sit down and stop talking.”

  The security officer raised both eyebrows at Sorenson’s uncharacteristic outburst, but her face darkened a moment later. “Listen, Barbie, you don’t get to tell me what to do. First of all, I out rank you, but more importantly I could bend you into a little blonde pretzel.”

  “But I outrank you,” said Damien coldly “and we’ve yet to test the limits of my android physiology, so there’s no way to know who might be bending who. More important than all that, you are making things immeasurably worse, Lieutenant, so I am ordering you to shut the fuck up.”

  “Great, now the android is cursing, glad I’m having an effect,” grumbled Misha, then saw Damien’s face and gave him a placating wave. “Fine. I’m sitting down and shutting up.”

  Linnea turned toward Chao and his daughter. The two remained on the cabin floor near where she had been laying. Her father cradled Annchi in his arms, and stroked her hair, while staring back with wide eyes at the others.

  Sorenson shifted back into Mandarin and said, “Mr. Keung, please forgive Misha Sokolov. She is a valued colleague, but not particularly tactful in such things.”

  The security officer pointed at Damien, “I heard my name. What the hell is Barbie trying to—”

  The android glared at her. “Not another word, Lt. Sokolov, until you are asked to speak. Am I clear?” She didn’t respond, but crossed her arms and frowned up at James. For his part, the pilot gave her a half-smile of commiseration and headed toward the Galileo’s pilot station.

  The side conversation had drawn Keung’s attention, but now he focused back on Linnea. “What did that woman mean by saying that I would have to leave Annchi on Earth? I’m not leaving my daughter.”

  Sorenson shook her head and sighed. “Misha spoke out of turn. No one is going to force you to leave your daughter anywhere.” She gave a mirthless laugh, “In fact, I think the only one who could even—” Linnea made air quotes, “order you to do so would be you.”

  “You don’t understand,” said Chao, “I was not in command of the lunar base. I am only Zhong Xiao, a Commander. I reported to Shang Xiao Qishan. He was my superior officer and accountable for everything that happened on Luna’s dark-side. He’s the one that ordered my arrest and return to Earth. None of this is making any sense. Who are you people and why did that one—” Keung jabbed a finger in Misha’s direction, “say that if I didn’t help you succeed, Annchi would die of plague?”

  Linnea sighed. “Again, she should not have said what she did. Misha is the human embodiment of the phrase, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I know none of this makes any sense to you right now, but I think I can help you understand.” Sorenson rocked back on her haunches and stared deeply into Chao’s eyes. “Unfortunately, you’ll have to trust me for it to work. If you don’t, it will just serve to reinforce your already held suspicions.”

  Before Keung could respond, Annchi looked up and asked, “Father, can you make the voices stop? There are so many voices. Are they real? They seem real. Do you hear them? Father?”

  Linnea stared at the girl and felt her eyes begin to fill with tears. She didn’t know what to do. Keung drew her attention from his daughter and asked, “Can you help her?”

  Sorenson glanced to Rick’s still form and back to Chao, then shook her head. “No. I believe she is hearing the nanites. I don’t have any experience with them. Can we shift back to English? I could ask Misha what she thinks.”

  Chao gave a grunt of frustration, then shifted to English. “No, we must take things in their proper turn. The Russian’s experience with nanites can wait. I need context. Nothing I’ve heard makes any sense.”

  Linnea nodded, but said, “As I just told you, though, I cannot help you unless—”

  “I trust you, yes. I heard you, Linnea Sorenson.” He looked around the cabin. “I have always been an excellent judge of character. I gather disparate pieces and form a whole when others cannot. That is why I was placed as Captain Qishan’s intelligence officer.” Chao pointed at Damien. “Clearly you lead this crew. You ordered these others to attack and board a Chinese military spacecraft in transit between Luna and Eart
h. You left that crew largely intact, despite their use of lethal force against you. You successfully repaired the Xinhua’s hull rather than simply detaching and allowing her crew to perish in vacuum.” He glanced down at Annchi. Her near constant mutterings paused briefly as she met his gaze. Chao smiled at his daughter, then looked at Linnea. “Finally, one of you sacrificed himself to try and save my daughter.” Keung inhaled deeply and inclined his head. “For that alone, you have my undying appreciation and trust. What I need now is the context that leads to understanding. If you can provide that, Linnea, I will accept it most willingly.”

  The telepath looked over to Damien who nodded at her unvoiced question. Linnea locked eyes with Chao and said, “You will need to let go of Annchi.” He stiffened and held her even more tightly. “What I am about to do is based, in part, on proximity and physical contact.” She gave a tired exhalation, then added, “I’ve had a couple bad experiences when two people were touching. The link became shared and that’s not a good thing.”

  Chao glanced up, and looked wary, as Misha moved to crouch beside Linnea. She nodded her head and gave him a warm smile that did nothing to dispel his concern. “I know I can be an insensitive asshole,” she began, “but I am also ridiculously loyal and have an oversized soft spot for kids.” She tilted her head toward Linnea. “Just ask Barbie.” Misha held out her hands. “I’ll take good care of your daughter. You have my word. She’ll be safe with me.”

  Several heartbeats passed as Chao Keung’s eyes bored into Misha’s own. She could almost feel the man taking her measure. He gave her an almost imperceptible nod, then opened his arms.

  Annchi looked up, and her face flashed with relief, as Misha took the girl’s hand. “The voices like you. They call you Xuè jiě.”

  Sokolov smiled as she helped the girl to her feet, then guided her to the nearest acceleration chair and strapped her in. “Sorry,” said Misha, “I’d say my Chinese is rusty, but that would be an insult to rust.”