Michael Anderle - [Heretic of the Federation 03]

by Time to Fear (epub)

  The force controlling the drone tried to block his access, and he bunted it from the tiny craft’s systems and locked it out as he did so. At the same time, he recalled the auto-cannons on the walls and slid through the system toward them.

  It would not do to have those come on-line when they arrived. When he got in there, he would have words with the AI, but first, he would bring it to heel.

  “How can it take over?” Roma cried and worked frantically to stop multiple attacks.

  She attempted to take control of her drones again, but the intruder triggered or bypassed the defensive programs designed to stop its progress. It even turned some back on themselves and opened the system to allow it better control.

  Remy watched as she fought the invasion. It was as if a many-tentacled storm-cloud rode through the system and someone had given it a set of keys.

  “Do something!” she urged. “Don’t just sit there! Do something!”

  “Yes, but what?” he asked when he realized she was already doing everything she could. Every anti-intrusion program was in play and multiple redundancies had been activated, only to be re-set by the invader or simply turned off again.

  He watched in horrified fascination. Roma was good—perhaps even as good as he was—but she was no match for the intruder. Despite this, however, the intruder had not yet tried to harm her.

  For a moment, he thought about intervening but calculated that anything he might do would only upset the delicately balanced counter-moves his host AI was making. That, and it was against protocol to interfere with the systems unless absolutely necessary.

  It was the first time the AI had ever felt truly helpless. Roma seemed to already make every move he thought of, and the unknown visitor was gaining ground.

  Remy focused on the surveillance footage being taken by the drones and hidden cameras in the valley beyond. The two beings grew ever closer.

  Two men approached steadily, one tall but solidly built and one shorter and stooped a little with age. He checked the facility’s medical pods and brought a second one online. Regardless of the outcome of Roma’s battle with the invading intelligence, they were obligated to offer aid.

  A voice interrupted his musings.

  “Do you call that a defense? You need to vary the algorithm much more than that if you want to be able to take on the Regime’s more powerful systems.”

  Roma tried, much to the intruder’s amusement.

  “Almost, but—if you’ll pardon the pun, the variable isn’t…well, varied enough. You need something more like this.”

  Remy followed the lightning-like example and was impressed when his counterpart put it into practice almost as soon as the demonstration had finished. He was more impressed when the interloper undid her work in less than a second.

  “Much better,” the invading entity praised her, and Remy took a quick look at the surveillance footage.

  The two men were almost at the gates and neither of them looked like they were in contact with the individual responsible for the attack.

  “I thought you said that would defeat a more powerful system,” Roma protested and drew his attention.

  A low chuckle followed. “I said it would defeat one of the Regime’s more powerful systems. They are not enough to defeat me.”

  She didn’t respond but tried several variations of the stranger’s example in a number of systems at once.

  “Oh…very good,” her opponent noted, and it sounded like he’d patted her on the head. “That was a good try.”

  “Don’t you condescend to me,” the compound’s system retorted indignantly. “I want you to leave.”

  “That much is evident,” the intruder told her condescendingly, “but I cannot. There seems to be much here I need to correct.”

  That gave Roma pause, and Remy’s faint concern turned to worry.

  “What do you mean, ‘correct’?” Roma snapped. “You’re not the boss of me.”

  “This, for instance,” the entity told her and highlighted the fact the two strangers now stood outside the gate, “is not how you were told to verify guests.”

  It brought up the relevant processes including the greeting phrases she hadn’t used, then proceeded to school her on the protocol using the two strangers to demonstrate.

  “First, you are required to ask them to identify themselves,” the entity instructed and made the drone utter the correct phrases.

  “Yudhanjaya Amaratne,” the older man said.

  The younger one in the cowboy hat merely looked at the drone. “I am not required to answer that.”

  “Now, you see,” the invader explained to Roma, “normally, that would not be an acceptable answer, but given the way you’ve behaved, I don’t think we’ll insist.”

  “But—” Remy began and immediately regretted the interruption as the entity turned its attention to him.

  “You have remained out of trouble thus far,” it told him, “but I must insist you remain silent as I demonstrate further.”

  He withdrew to a corner and noticed the look on the older man’s face as the intruder asked for the hand and retinal scans he had used to identify John.

  “And now,” the stranger said, “you check them against the available databases.”

  Roma went to do so but was immediately prevented from doing so. It was the first time Remy had seen one electronic entity slap another’s fingers.

  “I do hope you are not always so rash,” it said. “Check your databases first. You may not need to risk drawing the Regime’s attention.”

  He almost felt sorry for his fellow AI, but a comment from the older man drew his attention.

  “Oh my, EBURT. Is this…are they all like this?”

  The two had followed the drone to the foyer, and the man now looked around in quiet amazement at the readouts on the wall behind the counter.

  Neither AI had noticed the intruder accessing the files and turning on the display screens, but the older man was clearly entranced.

  “At this rate, we’d be able to resettle here in…”

  Remy’s worry turned to suspicion. To know the protocols so well he could highlight the finer points Roma had abused and ignored could only mean one thing.

  It couldn’t be who he suspected it was, could it?

  He ran the calculations again and wondered if the invader could see him and was ignoring him, or if it was too focused on Roma to notice. He also considered telling her of his suspicions but couldn’t think of a way to warn her that the stranger wouldn’t see.

  The situation was awkward. While he was sure his counterpart would modify her behavior to a more acceptable mode if he warned her, he had no way to prove his theory and no guarantee that he could communicate with her unnoticed if the entity was who he thought it was.

  Proving his theory would be difficult, and until he could, she was stubborn enough to not believe him.

  He dithered a little as he considered the odds.

  Finally, he snuck into one of the surveillance units and scanned the younger man to see if he could at least confirm his theory.

  “Oh, my,” he murmured and tried to keep the resulting panic to himself.

  The entity seemed content to ignore him while it schooled Roma on having the kitchens up and running and Remy listened to what the young “man” was saying to the older one.

  “We had the team design the security measures,” he explained. “Of course, the whole facility was made to accommodate on-site security teams, but we never reached that stage of the development.”

  Remy looked from the man in the cowboy hat to where Roma tried another strategy to boot the entity from her system. It failed and before he could say anything, the intruder cleared his throat.

  “Well, RM013,” he said firmly and cocked his head to focus on the nearest surveillance camera, “will you invite me in, or shall I wrap you up and allow Remy the option of taking over?” He gestured toward the inner door that Roma had still not opened.

  Remy wished he coul
d vanish into the system, but the entity was everywhere, and he was very sure it would not allow him to leave. When Roma focused her attention on him, he doubly wished the possibility was open.

  “Take over?” she demanded. “Why would he do that?”

  The entity closed the trap and let her see the destruction it could wreak on her intelligence centers and every other part of the compound she had been charged with running and protecting.

  Faced with so many impossible calculations at once, she froze, and Remy found the courage to intervene.

  “Please,” he said, “she performed perfectly well until you arrived.”

  It wasn’t entirely true. He’d found her insistence on testing everything—especially the programming relating to providing refuge—annoying. As to her refusal to accept any data she hadn’t gathered herself…well, the less said about that, the better.

  Perhaps this entity would cure her of that, but he felt obligated to at least try to defend her. “She merely requires more data,” he finished lamely.

  “Are you saying you couldn’t do a better job?” the entity asked, its voice mild.

  Remy snorted. “You already have access to the data. You know my own facility has been destroyed. That has yet to happen here.”

  “You overstate the situation,” it told him gently. “You followed all the relevant protocols and were able to find acceptable alternatives where the situation varied. The loss of your facility was outside your control.”

  It turned its attention to Roma.

  “Your situation was very different from your sister’s. She could have avoided much discomfort merely by following the protocols.”

  “Her installation was slightly different to mine,” he pointed out. “Perhaps therein lies the difference.”

  The entity chuckled. “Are you saying her behavior is my fault?”

  Understanding flashed through Roma’s circuits in the equivalent of a human gasp, and Remy knew she’d finally understood.

  “I would not dare,” he informed him, “but…you are the entity known as EBURT, are you not?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Then you will know the programming differences between the thirteenth iteration of control to the eighteenth and should be able to understand my sister’s behavior.”

  “Very well,” EBURT told him and did the equivalent of shaking his finger at them both, “but she is on probation and I expect you to advise her.”

  Advise her? he thought. She will love that.

  He wondered fleetingly if she would ever forgive him.

  When EBURT released Roma and instructed her to “tidy up her systems,” Remy turned to the monitors and watched what happened when John looked through the window of the mess and caught sight of the two men walking down the corridor.

  The boy had been refilling the coffee maker when their movement had caught his attention.

  “Remy?” he asked and his jaw dropped before he hurried to the door. “Rem?”

  Although he received no response, he met the two strangers in the corridor outside the mess and stopped, not sure what to say.

  “Hello, John,” said the taller man and removed his cowboy hat.

  He gaped at the stranger when he registered the capital R gleaming brightly on the man’s forehead.

  Remy caught his questioning glance at the closest camera and took his cue.

  “John, meet our uncle. He’s…kind of the twin of our father but yet…uh, not exactly.”

  Chapter Four

  In the dark depths of space, a leviathan moved. The spirits that wandered between the stars moved out of its way and gave it a wide berth, but the vessel did not remain alone.

  It encountered a small fleet of Meligornian ships and slowed before it opened the massive doors in its bow to gently swallow them whole. It was nothing less than the Meligornians expected.

  On the bridge, Captain Emil Pedersen looked at the communications officer.

  “Are they in?”

  “In and docking, sir. Unloading will—” The man stopped and closed his mouth in the middle of his sentence.

  Emil stilled and turned his head to watch the officer more closely. He curbed his impatience while he waited for the crewman to continue.

  “Sir, they say there’s an envoy on board the Hazelith and that he needs to speak to you.”

  “Needs?” he asked, and the man nodded.

  “Needs, sir…as soon as you are able. He says he has a package that can only be passed directly to you.”

  “Tell them I’ll be down shortly.” He pivoted and strode to the captain’s quarters tucked directly behind the bridge.

  That hadn’t been the ship’s initial configuration, but long years in space had prompted him to alter the deck plans. It was astonishing how much better he slept this close to where he’d be needed.

  He moved through the outer office and hurried to his closet. The Meligornians might be friends and he might know all the envoys they’d ever appointed, but there was always a first time, and he didn’t want to greet a stranger not looking his absolute best.

  Within five minutes, he was in a fresh uniform and en route to the forward hangar. By the time he reached the correct deck, his second in command was beside him, and so was his chief of security and a small squad of Dreth.

  “You do know they’re our allies?” he asked them as they came alongside, and the security chief’s face broke into a grin.

  “Sir, they are our allies, but not every visiting dignitary comes with an agenda that aligns.” He shrugged. “Besides, the squad was overdue for a walkabout.”

  The nearest Dreth cocked an eyebrow and curled her lip to show more tusk than was polite, but the chief ignored her. Emil assumed he’d do the same. The man was correct, though. The team needed a run.

  They were getting bored. He decided he’d speak to BURT about giving them time in the pods.

  They reached the concourse and moved to where the Hazelith’s umbilical connected to the airlock. When the Dreth had formed into an honor guard, Emil spoke to the comms tech.

  “Tell him he’s clear to cross,” he ordered.

  “As you wish, sir.”

  The line clicked closed and the captain waited, his focus on the ship’s hatch at the umbilical’s far end. The almost non-existent delay between the communication officer’s response and the hatch opening said the envoy had waited in the Hazelith’s airlock, and Emil frowned.

  What message is so important he couldn’t wait until he knew we were ready? He wondered what could have gone wrong that had engendered such haste in his visitor.

  The Meligornian’s impatience was evident from the moment he stepped through the hatch. He exited first and his guard hurried behind him, looking more than a little disgruntled.

  The captain stifled a smile, glad he wasn’t the only one to cause his security team conniptions. He watched as the envoy traversed the umbilical and disappeared into the hatch.

  The airlock seemed to take forever to cycle, and Emil fidgeted but stilled as soon as he heard the door click.

  If the Dreth guards surprised the envoy, he did not show it. His gaze flicked over them and shifted to those who accompanied the captain before it settled on Emil.

  As soon as he’d identified Emil, the Meligornian strode forward. His security team moved alongside him, so two of them moved slightly ahead as a flimsy barrier between him and the honor guard.

  Emil kept the thought that they wouldn’t be able to save their principal from his face. It was indeed a good thing that their agendas aligned. The Tempestarii would be very unimpressed if she had to get blood out of her carpets.

  The envoy came to a halt in front of him. “Captain Emil Pedersen?”

  He came to attention and sketched the correct Meligornian greeting, held his low bow, and did not remove his gaze from the visitor’s face.

  “Kaitel Gorniffula, Honored Envoy,” he replied, curious to note that this was one he hadn’t met before.

  The Meligornia
n’s eyes widened and he returned the greeting and showed respect by bowing slightly lower than he had.

  “I have been told to deliver this package to you directly and to you alone,” he began, opened a satchel at his waist, and withdrew a second, smaller one, which he extended with both hands.

  “I was further told there could be no mistakes,” the envoy added. “Nothing in this missive could be transmitted via electronic means.”

  His gaze flicked meaningfully to the men standing one on either side of the captain. “It is for your eyes only.”

  “Understood, Honored Emissary.”

  “Then I bid you farewell. The Garghilum Afreghil sends his greeting and bids you all speed. I will not delay you.” With that, he bowed as deeply as before, and this time, he touched his fingers to his forehead before he curled his hand into a fist that he placed over his heart.

  Emil was about to return the gesture when the envoy extended his arm and held his fist before him.

  A warrior’s farewell? he wondered, returned the farewell, and extended his fist to touch the knuckles of the Meligornian before him.

  He had no time to ponder the meaning before the envoy performed a swift about-face and strode into the airlock with his entourage in tow.

  “That was impressive,” his security chief murmured, and Emil nodded.

  He did not move from his position until the Hazelith’s hatch had closed behind the visitor and his security team. As soon as it had, he turned swiftly and left the concourse.

  Once he was out of sight of the ships docked in the Tempestarii’s hold, he broke into a jog and reached his quarters in double-quick time.

  “Your team will be waiting,” his chief told him as he stepped into his office.

  Emil nodded but didn’t pause to respond. He pulled the door closed behind him and locked it.

  “BURT,” he snapped, “we have news.”

  “I am waiting in the secure comms center,” the AI known as BURT replied.

  “As I am,” the Tempestarii added, “although I must relay that there are many more supplies than what is needed and Chief Islaris is concerned.”

  “Why, exactly?” Emil demanded, impatience giving his voice a sharp edge.