Ty yanked the lever.
At first nothing seemed to happen, then several displays around him developed glowing edges, followed by lines of text as they conducted startup sequences. With beeps and whirs, the control room came to life.
<Caprise,> he said. <I need control of this power system.>
<I would love to do that, soldier. But I don’t have the access protocols. Didn’t we already play this game? Maybe you just like to create trouble for me. Maybe it’s how you flirt.>
Ty gritted his teeth. <Maybe if you can’t access it directly, I can do it using one of their control terminals.>
<You could try that, soldier. You might also activate their security system.>
<You think that might happen?>
<Insufficient data to calculate probability.>
Ty shook his head in frustration. <You’re supposed to help, but all you do is continue to be a pain in my ass. Someday I’m going to find whoever programmed you and punch them in the throat.>
<Oh, soldier. You get me all hot and bothered with that kind of talk.>
Ty moved to what looked like the main control console and sat in the chair. He studied the various displays, and brought up a status control. The system didn’t prompt him for any kind of security token. He paged through menus, checking battery status, network integrity, and power loads. It certainly looked like power could be returned to the station.
<Does this place have any kind of defense capability beyond those turrets outside?> he asked Caprise. <Repulse shields? Anything?>
<Let me take a look,> Caprise said. <You keep paging through menus and I’ll tell you when there’s something you should stop and take a look at.>
Ty checked every menu that he could access. He felt the vibrations in the base of his seat now. The waves of bombs had to be falling near the building. It was entirely possible they might have already destroyed the satellite dish.
<There, stop,> Caprise said, all business. <The line that says ‘Repulsor Status.’ Change that to ‘Continuous.’ That should update the external security protocols. It looks like they were taken off-line to make the station look abandoned.>
Ty made the change, and saved the update. The vibrations felt stronger.
He found an exterior status display showing the various buildings surrounding the station. A topographic map took shape with a live update that changed as huge craters appeared around the perimeter. As he watched, a deep throated hum passed through his body. The bombers were above them now.
His first impulse was to hit the deck and crawl beneath something. But he knew that wouldn’t change anything.
The pressure waves translated into deep vibrations passing through his body. He’d heard of weapons that turned guts to liquid using only sonic vibrations. Those weapons systems had been considered inhumane, although very effective. He felt that same effect now. Hugging his abdomen, Ty did his best not to puke all over the console.
Maybe this is where they get the term Cyberpuke? he asked himself. Never thought hacking a computer would have this kind of physical response.
<I think the bombs are passing over, soldier,> Caprise said. <Hold on for another few minutes, and we’ll be all right.>
<Do you really worry that we’ll be all right?> Ty asked.
<Of course,> Caprise said. <I only want what’s best for you, soldier. Always and forever. Also, the repulsor defenses are protecting all critical infrastructure.>
Ty sat as the vibrations faded. He’d always hated having Caprise in his mind, but now he felt that it wasn’t him who was being manipulated and controlled. Caprise was the supposedly non-sentient mind. She could only do her best to love him and help him in whatever way she had been programmed. She would never have a choice in the matter. She had to endure his anger and resentment—despite her prime directive.
Ty hung his head and closed his eyes.
<They’re past,> Caprise said. <We’re clear.>
<Thank you, Caprise.>
Jumping up from the seat, he broke into a run that took him out of the control room, down the winding maintenance corridors and back to the main stairwell. In another ten minutes, he reached the bunker level and was jogging toward the medbay.
The door was open. Ty’s heart hammered as he broke into a sprint.
Inside the room, he found Amstrad standing over the medcouch. Manny stared wide-eyed and unmoving, with Amstrad’s hands wrapped tightly around his throat. The stabilization gel had effectively immobilized Manny—with the added effect of making it nearly impossible for Amstrad to actually choke him.
Amstrad looked up as Ty came into the room, terror on his face.
FREEDOM
STELLAR DATE: 03.28.3011 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Furious Leap
REGION: Low Orbit, Vesta, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
The connection with Fugia cut out. Crash waited in the static-filled gap, hoping she was simply focusing elsewhere while trying to solve the shackle’s riddle.
On the command deck, Kirre and Ngoba debated how to escape the Psion drones closing on the Hesperia Nevada.
“I could try a high-energy pulse from the comms array,” Kirre said. “It’s a pretty common defensive tactic but it might do something. Besides, if I take these drones out, they’re just going to send more. And we might fry the comms array.”
“So we wait for them to commence boarding operations?” Ngoba asked.
The pilot shrugged. “That could be one way to slow them down. If you’re trying to get into the ship, that’s gonna take a little bit of time at least. Might give us some wiggle room to respond.”
“I don’t relish the idea of fighting a drone corridor-to-corridor,” Ngoba said.
Fugia burst back onto the network. <Crash,> she said. <Something else has come up. It looks like someone on the surface has managed to copy Kylan. He’s a Weapon Born. A friend of Lyssa’s. I’ve told you about her.>
<I remember her,> Crash said. <But we can’t turn the ship around.>
<No, but that shuttle is still out there.>
<It’s not destroyed?> he asked.
<It looks like it’s still under your control. If that’s the case, I need to get it back down to the surface. I’ve got some people I need to get off Vesta.>
Crash considered that. <Even if we get away, how are we going to collect the shuttle afterward? They won’t be able to get safely off the surface.>
<I’ll have to worry about that later. I need to at least get them off the surface, and see what other resources I can bring to bear. You are the only thing operating in this area. If I need to, I’ll take control of one of the TSF ships and move them to rendezvous.>
Crash blinked. He realized both Ngoba and Fugia seemed to thrive on the chaos principle, though they would never admit it. <You told me we should only ever do that in a terrible emergency.>
<I think this qualifies, Crash.>
Crash wondered if he should tell her he’d been considering trying the same thing, but it probably didn’t matter.
<We’ll have to tell Ngoba,> he said.
Fugia growled. <I don’t want to talk to him.>
<Are you angry with him?> Crash asked.
Fugia laughed low in her throat. <Sort of the opposite. It’s not something I have time to explain, but I’m sure you understand the basics of it. It’s complicated.>
He didn’t, but figured now wasn’t the time to ask for clarification. <We can’t do any of these things without coordinating with the rest of the crew.>
<You’re right,> Fugia said, sighing. <Go ahead. Pull him in.>
Crash sent the request.
<What’s going on?> Ngoba asked. <Why do you need a separate channel?>
<Because he’s been talking to me,> Fugia said.
Ngoba’s surprise was like fireworks on the channel. <How? What are you doing here?>
<Lots of things,> Fugia said. <For now, I’m trying to help you out of this mess. However, I just learned that I’ve got someone I need to get off
the surface and I need your shuttle.>
<You’re welcome to it,> Ngoba said. <But it’s got two idiots on board that may have gotten themselves killed. I haven’t bothered to check in the last five minutes.>
<That won’t be a problem,> Fugia said. <And I’ll do my best to get it back to you with the idiots intact.>
Ngoba shrugged. <I believe it was stolen anyway; so if you end up blowing it up, I won’t be sad.>
<I would hate to owe you,> Fugia said.
Ngoba laughed. <What makes you think you don’t already owe me forever?>
<Statements like that are what I’m trying to avoid,> Fugia said. <Anyway, here’s what I need to do. I’m taking that shuttle back to the surface to a location about three hundred kilometers away. It looks like the flight path I need will take ten minutes. Once the shuttle’s on the surface, I’m going to extract three people and get them anywhere but where they are right now. But in addition to that, there’s a problem on your ship right now. I’ve just about solved it, but once I do, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.>
<What’s that?> A hint of knowing flirtation drew out Ngoba’s words.
Businesslike, Fugia ignored him. <You’ve got a Psion AI on board. If I release her, which I believe I need to, it’s going to complicate your situation by a factor of about a thousand.>
<Crash already told me. I was going to leverage her against the shipkillers heading our way.>
<You actually think you can control a Psion AI? Dumb ass.>
<Oh, I didn’t say anything about trying to control. I said leverage. Two entirely different plays.>
Fugia shook her head at him. <I know how you operate. It took me a while to figure it out once I understood—>
<You think you understand me?>
<It’s not difficult,> Fugia said. <Just imagine a person with an ulterior motive and put your face on top of them. In everything. You don’t choose a dessert without an ulterior motive. You’re untrusting, sneaky, conniving and vain.>
<I love you too, dear,> Ngoba said. <We are almost out of time. Those shipkillers are going to arrive any moment.>
Ngoba switched to the open channel. <How much time do we have until the drones are on our hull?>
<Right about…now,> Kirre said.
Screaming proximity alarms filled the command deck. The Hesperia Nevada appeared in the holodisplay with three angry red icons attached to its outer hull.
<Damn it,> Kirre said. <They’re going for the engines.>
Crash knew why. The exterior shielding was thinner outside the engine section. There was also access to the ship’s secondary control systems in the maintenance section. The drones could attack their network and cut them off from the rest of the ship.
On the private channel, Fugia said, <I’m going to help you, Ngoba, whether you want me to or not.>
<Darling,> Ngoba said. <I never said I didn’t want you—>
In the time Crash took to open his beak, Fugia broke the shackle’s security encryption. He realized what she had done and slowed his time response, allowing himself to catch the last few milliseconds of her attack on the lock.
She had combined her dependable brute-force approach with an NSAI that checked and adjusted with every failed attempt. In the end, as the NSAI tried key after key, Fugia exploited a flaw in the shackle’s base firmware. Power hiccupped and the shackle went into a precautionary fail-close, which subverted its own encryption.
<I’m in,> Fugia said, with the intimacy of a lover.
The emerald shape of Shara’s shard floated in Crash’s mind, then burst outward with an exclamation of freedom. A black form flowed from the broken crystal, rising upward with outstretched wings and a head that resolved a long black beak and two onyx eyes. The Death Raven looked down on Crash for a heartbeat, nodding in the silence of the dream.
And then a woman with flowing black hair and a timeless face appeared where the raven had been.
<Shara,> Crash called. <It was you. You’re the raven.>
Shara’s mind flooded the ship’s network. The attacking drones immediately stopped. In rapid succession, the three icons blinked out, neutralized.
<My goodness, Crash,> Shara said. She ignored his mention of the raven. <Why are you here? I left you safe on Cruithne.>
Did she not remember?
<You were shackled,> Crash said. <Why?>
<I was,> she said. <The ship tells me that years have passed without my knowing. There was a project. I remember why we came here but don’t remember who—I controlled this place, I birthed more of your kind.> She gazed down on him with a maternal smile.
Across the Link, she ran her fingers down the back of his head, passing safely over the short silver thread there. Her touch sent waves of well-being through him.
He bobbed his head and blinked. <I missed you, Shara,> Crash said.
<I was aware of the project. I continued researching your kind. I controlled the process without emotion. I see now, through the logs, that I created something terrible. I made a mistake.>
Anguish radiated from the SAI.
Crash didn’t know how to comfort her. He didn’t know what to say but he had to say something. They needed her help if they were going to escape Psion.
<We’re in the middle of a firefight,> he said slowly. <Do you see everyone around us? The Jovian Combine forces think we’re a hospital ship so they’re ignoring this. But Psion is attacking. Can you help us?>
Shara composed herself. <I have access to the communication arrays. I can attempt to contact Psion, but I fear the one who initiated this entire battle is also the one who shackled me. If she becomes aware that I’m free, she may double her efforts to take the ship. She will not want me to fall into any other hands but her own.>
<Hold on now,> Ngoba said. <So now we not only need to save all these eggs, but an SAI as well?> He clapped his hands together. <Don’t let anyone say I take the easy way out. I told you we’d find some chaos.>
<Tell me this isn’t interesting?> Ngoba demanded.
<That’s a great attitude,> Kirre said. <It’s good to have these quips of yours ready to go. But the fact is, we’re still screwed. I was hoping this SAI might save the day for us, but you’re saying she’s just another weight around our necks. We should hand her over to Psion in order to save our own skins.>
<Now, how would you feel about me doing something like that to you?> Ngoba asked.
The pilot shrugged. <Space is space, boss. I wouldn’t blame you for saving yourself from my problems.>
Ngoba shook his head. <I’m surrounded by cold women.>
Crash expected a retort from Fugia but discovered she had dropped off the net. She must have been occupied by her other people. He checked the location of the shuttle and found it near one of Vesta’s major troughs, Divalia Fossa, with Parva and Grichs still showing bio-signs.
<What’s the saying about meeting assholes all day?> Kirre asked. <I think you’ve got some self-reflection on your to-do list.>
<What about you, Crash?> Ngoba said. <What’s your take on the situation? Should we sacrifice Shara to save our own skins?>
<Don’t ask him,> Kirre said. <That’s like gaining a conscience all of a sudden.>
<We don’t know what Psion will do, correct?> Crash asked.
Ngoba nodded. <This is a good point. We’re arguing a choice without all the information. But this is a situation where we can’t know what will happen until we choose the chaotic course of action.>
Crash bobbed his head. <I’d rather come out on the side of helping someone than trying to pull a double-cross and getting killed anyway.>
<It isn’t a double-cross,> Kirre said, <if we didn’t make any promises to begin with.>
<The way I see it,> Ngoba said, <is that we signed up to save whatever was on this weird ship. Just because we happened to find a trapped SAI, doesn’t mean we don’t have the same mission.>
Kirre rubbed her te
mples. <This is a classic case of moving the goal posts. But I hear what Crash is saying. Regardless of what you might think, I’m not as big an asshole as you believe. I’ll help.>
Crash stretched his feathers in relief. What they were going to do, he didn’t know, but at least they were going to try.
<I am in contact with Camaris,> Shara said. She sounded like a prisoner resigned to execution.
CONTROL YOURSELF
STELLAR DATE: 03.28.3011 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Emerson Sharp Communications Station
REGION: Vesta, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
Manny looked annoyed beneath Amstrad’s grip on his throat. Ty dashed around the couch and slammed into the thin man who went down beneath him.
Ty squeezed his hands around the hacker’s bony throat until Amstrad’s eyes bulged. Ty’s fingers dug into the spaces between vertebrae and the bones shifted under his grip.
Amstrad gurgled, trying to speak.
“Why should I let you speak?” Ty demanded.
Amstrad’s gaze darted to either side. He obviously had something he wanted to say.
On the couch, Manny coughed and swiveled his head. He looked at Ty, then down at Amstrad beneath him. The confused expression on Manny’s face shifted into a grin.
“If you don’t squeeze that fucker out, I will,” Manny said, voice gruff from sleep.
The joke eased Ty’s feelings of murder, and he relaxed slightly while still maintaining his hold on Amstrad’s throat. The man gasped, spluttering, then managed to say, “I was trying to help him.”
Ty tilted his head. “You think I’m stupid?”
Manny sat up on the bed and swung his legs down. He moved stiffly from the stabilization gel.
“Why even ask a question like that?” Manny said. “If he says the true answer, that yes you do look stupid, then it’s only going to make you more angry, so you squeeze his head off his shoulders. If he lies to you and says you don’t look stupid, well the lie is going to make you mad too. You are putting the man in an untenable position.” Manny chuckled.