STELLAR DATE: 10.23.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: NMSS freight shuttle orbiting Delta Moon
REGION: Epsilon, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
<Shit, Rika—what?> Leslie exclaimed. <We orbit this dumb moon for thirty minutes, and in that time, you found the AIs that control it and they want to help destroy the place?>
<Just one AI,> Rika corrected. <He’s multi-nodal and fractured. We’re going to save him.>
<You know why multi-nodal AIs are frowned upon, right, Rika?> Leslie’s tone was more worried than angry, but there was a touch of the latter. <They tend to get ideas in their heads…like humans aren’t worth keeping around anymore.>
<The ISF has a dozen multi-nodal AIs,> Rika countered. <Bob is—>
<The ISF is the exception, not the rule.> Now Leslie had reversed, sounding more angry than worried. <You know what they told us. The core AIs are really a bunch of disgruntled multi-nodal AIs that fled Sol six thousand years ago. They’re all pissed off because humanity beat them at their own game, and now they want to make us all dance like marionettes.>
Rika kept her mental tone even. <I have a good feeling about Piper. He initially just wanted help killing himself.>
<Rika. AIs are very, very clever. He could have been playing you, angling for the ideal outcome, he—> Leslie stopped, and Rika wished she could see her friend’s face to know what the woman was thinking. <OK, I know I sound crazy, and that’s probably how you think I’m behaving. But can you at least go into this with both eyes wide open? Just keep an eye on him, OK? Fractured AIs aren’t the most stable things out there.>
<Thanks, Leslie,> Rika replied. <I’ll be cautious. I promise.>
<Right, because caution is your middle name.>
Rika cocked her head. <What’s a middle name?>
<Stars…your ancient history education really is lacking.>
Rika decided to ignore the barb…and the one before that, and instead related the plan. Whether they rescued Piper or not, destroying the klemperer rosette required them to land at the ancient facility on Delta Moon, then get down to Piper’s node chamber.
Both his bandwidth and his access to the world outside his mind was restricted by a physical buffering device. There were also defensive NSAIs set up to ensure that the buffer wasn’t removed. Rika still hadn’t reviewed all the data on those, but Piper seemed to think they would be exceptionally challenging.
Regardless, once they had reestablished Piper’s full connection to the RMS systems, he could initiate a destabilization within a short period. The AI had explained that the moons each had a miniature black hole at their core, and that he could use one to shift the moon’s orbit. The moons sped around Epsilon at such a high velocity that the first collision would happen within days. Hours, if Piper could control the RMS systems on the other moons, which he believed should work if the remote access systems still functioned.
Leslie gave a mental sound of amazement. <Well, even if your crazy AI does kill us all, this’ll be spectacular. Just one question. Once we start this runaway reaction, how do we get away? We’ll be down on Delta Moon with this shuttle, and it’s not interstellar-capable.>
<Piper says that there’s a hangar with interstellar pinnaces at the facility that are big enough for his node.>
<OK,> Leslie said, sounding like she was slowly coming onboard. <What about the other nodes? If the plan is to have Bob fix Piper, we’ll need his other selves. How do you propose we get to the five other moons and pull their nodes before these moons are all pulverized into Epsilon’s new gravelly ring?>
<I’m not sure yet. Niki and Piper said they’re working on it.>
<Well, sounds like we’re doing this,> Leslie gave a resigned sigh to punctuate her feelings on the matter. <So how do we get the ship down to Delta Moon?>
Rika chuckled. <Well, I just so happen to have root access to Delta Moon’s STC, comm, and nav NSAIs.>
* * * * *
“Well that’s odd,” Ellya said, frowning at her console.
“What’s that?” Noah asked, looking up from the Private Huzzah cast he was watching—not the new one; they’d moved on to repeats by then.
Ellya gestured at the comm display. “We just got new orders. We’re to land on Delta Moon, and dock at the control facility there.”
“We what?” Noah asked. “I thought that place was restricted?”
“Me too. Orders check out, though. I guess they’re trying to clear the orbital paths and are doing some inspections down there.”
Noah half turned to Ellya. “Inspections for what?”
“Orders don’t say, but I pinged Chief Watson back on Farthing Station. He said fugitives escaped from that ship that came in, the Spine of the Stars.”
<Careful what you say next,> Rika spoke into Noah’s mind.
“Huh, that’s nuts,” the man said, his voice only wavering a little. “I guess we’d best get down to Delta. Maybe they’ll let us get off the ship and stretch our legs ‘til this all blows over.”
Noah didn’t reply, and Ellya altered the shuttle’s course, slipping into the flight path that the moon’s STC had provided.
<With our taps in their system, no one on the moon will see the shuttle coming in ‘til it’s at the hangar, but someone at Farthing Station may spot it,> Leslie said as the ship began to drop closer to the moon.
<If anyone above makes a fuss, I should be able to convince them that the shuttle had a malfunction and needs to land,> Niki replied. <It’ll be suspicious, sure, but it won’t get us shot out of the black.>
Rika chuckled. <You hope.>
<You have something other than hope to offer?> the AI asked.
<I happen to possess the skill of falling through space down to an airless moon,> she answered, still laughing. <I make a good rock.>
Leslie groaned. <Stars, let’s hope it doesn’t come to diving out of this thing.>
<Again with the hope.>
* * * * *
The freight shuttle had just settled on a cradle in the moon facility’s main docking bay, when a squad of soldiers rushed in, weapons drawn and leveled at that ship.
“Oh, shit…” Noah muttered, glancing behind himself. “They know you’re here!”
<Aaaand there goes our subterfuge,> Leslie groaned.
“Know who’s here?” Ellya asked, twisting in her seat.
“Dammit,” Rika muttered as she materialized. “They didn’t know. You should have kept your yap shut.”
At that point, both Noah and Ellya screamed. Rika supposed that having a two-hundred-plus centimeter mech appear right behind you was an alarming experience for most people.
<If we weren’t in such a hurry, I’d think this was funny,> she said to Leslie and Niki.
<I’m going to stay stealthed, if you don’t mind,> Leslie commented, pinging her location, which was now back at the shuttle’s rear ramp.
<Yeah, get out and get across the bay as soon as the hatch opens. I’ll join you in a moment,> Rika said to the scout before addressing Ellya and Noah. “Look, you two seem like fine people. Just doing your job—same as me, really. But I can’t have you telling those soldiers you saw me. So I’m going to disappear again, but I’ll stay close. You keep all this to yourselves, you got it? They’ll want to know why you’re down here, so you just show them the messages you got from the STC with the orders to dock here on Delta. Kay?”
“Uh…OK,” Noah replied, while Ellya just nodded.
“Good.” Rika faded from view. “Remember, I’m watching you.”
She rushed to the rear hatch as it finished opening, and barely managed to slip past a pair of soldiers storming up the ramp.
<Remember,> she sent into Noah and Ellya’s minds. <Not a word.>
Across the bay—which she noted also contained two of the interstellar-capable pinnaces—Leslie pinged her location at one of
the exits.
<I’m sending a passel of drones to the pinnaces now,> Niki advised. <When we need them, they’ll be ready to roll.>
Rika nodded, while Leslie asked, <Think our two friends in the shuttle will hold out long?>
A laugh nearly escaped Rika’s lips. <No, not at all. We’re on the clock.>
<When are we not?> Niki asked.
<I’ve provided a path to my node,> Piper instructed on the channel that Rika had established for the four of them. <It should be mostly clear, though you seem to have stirred things up here.>
<It’s a common failing,> Leslie said, her tone nonchalant, not betraying any of her prior worry over Piper’s stability or motives.
<It is nice to meet you, Leslie,> the AI said. <Thank you for helping me.>
<No problem,> she replied. <Helping people is what we do.>
<Not many humans would call something like me ‘people’,> Piper said with a note of amusement in his voice.
Leslie laughed as she and Rika rounded a corner, continuing at a brisk jog through the facility. <Well, what can I say, I’m enlightened.>
<Speaking of enlightened, base security is aware of your presence; it would seem that your attempt at intimidation with the Nietzscheans on the shuttle was not very effective,> Piper announced.
<Or it was too effective, and scared them so much that they couldn’t maintain composure,> Niki added.
Rika pursed her lips as she dodged a technician who was pushing a rack containing what appeared to be antimatter bottles. <Just caught the base command trying to relay a sighting of a ‘scary, black mech’ up to Farthing Station. I null-routed it for now, but eventually they’ll wonder why no one is responding, and switch to segregated backup systems.>
<Then we’d better pick up the pace,> Leslie announced, taking off at a full run, her stealth losing enough effectiveness that Rika could see a slight smearing of light ahead of her as they dashed through the corridors.
Nine minutes later, they reached a secured bulkhead that led into an old section of the base. Four guards stood before the sealed door, and Rika signaled that she’d go right and Leslie should take out the enemies to their left.
Leslie flashed an acknowledgement, and moments later, a pair of lightwands flared, appearing from nowhere moments before they drove through two faceshields, instantly killing the guards behind them.
Without hesitating, Rika slashed to the right, cutting into the neck of the second guard on her side before jerking the electron blade up and into the woman’s head.
She glanced over to see that Leslie had performed a similar move, and that both her Niets were down as well.
<You’ll need to—> Piper began, but Rika had already driven her lightwand into the door, cutting out a hole large enough for the women to fit through.
<I guess that works, too,> he finished.
<Less likely to set off alerts that the door opened,> Rika said. <Plus it’s fun.>
On the far side of the door lay a long, sloping hall that ran down for a hundred meters before curving around to the right. Niki had already sent a set of drones ahead, and the two women took off after them.
<So how are we going to get you out of here?> Rika asked Piper. <And how will we deal with your other nodes?>
<Once you get my full access restored, I’ll pull full mind-states from my otherselves, and write them to crystal storage. I’ll try to grab what remains of my nodes that self-terminated, as well. I won’t be in a complete state, but it will be something. There’s a shaft above my node chamber. An extraction system will pull my node up, and we’ll load it onto one of the pinnaces. I assume you can remote pilot them out of the bay?>
<Piece of cake,> Leslie replied. <How long will it take to do all this, once you get full access again?>
<No longer than an hour.>
<An hour!> Rika and Leslie exclaimed in unison.
* * * * *
The two women ran for another ten minutes through the ancient facility, the passage they were taking curving periodically as it led deeper into the moon.
After descending over a kilometer, they came to another door. Rika was about to drive her lightwand into it, when Leslie touched the controls, and it slid aside.
“Unlocked.”
“And if it triggers an alarm?” Rika asked as they walked through into a wide chamber.
“You can see the feeds above; they’re a minute from finding the four guards we killed. Good thing this base only has a two-squad complement, ‘cause we’re going to have to fight them off while Piper does his thing.”
Rika nodded while gazing across the chamber they found themselves in. It was nearly three hundred meters across, and fifty deep. The floor was a large bowl with a hole in the center, and above that hole, suspended on a complex gantry, was a large AI node.
It wasn’t as large as some of the NSAI nodes that Rika had seen in the past, but at five meters to a side, it was certainly larger than any SAI core she’d laid eyes on.
Above was another shaft stretching up into darkness, and Rika set about finding its control systems. When the lights came on, she could see that it stretched all the way up to where she gauged the surface of the moon to be.
Well, looks like that’s our way out.
“I’ll cover the door,” Leslie said from behind her.
She glanced back at her friend, who sported only a PR-109. “Here.” Rika pulled her AC9CR from its hook, and tossed it to the scout. “You’ll need some more boom. Just be careful, he’s my baby.”
Leslie snorted. “One hell of a baby. Don’t worry, I’ll burp him when I’m done.”
Rika wagged a finger at her before continuing to the center of the chamber.
Niki highlighted a device on Rika’s HUD that sat on the deck next to the node. <That’s the buffering system; you can see that whoever did this routed all of Piper’s access through it. We just have to physically disconnect his hard lines from it, and link it back into the moon network’s main trunkline.>
<Easy enough,> Rika replied as she approached the connection. She glanced into the hole beneath the node, and realized that she couldn’t see the bottom. <Piper…does that go all the way down?>
<Five hundred kilometers,> the AI confirmed. <Express elevator to hell, as I believe you humans say. We set them up this way so I could have direct line-of-sight monitoring on the black holes at each moon’s core.>
<Has it been…unnerving, spending centuries suspended over a black hole?> Rika asked.
The AI made a strange noise. <I compartmentalize those thoughts away.>
Rika wasn’t surprised. She’d never been this close to a black hole, and had no intention of repeating the experience anytime soon. She approached the physical network restrictor, and examined the connections. There were four of them, and she simply had to disconnect each line from the restrictor on each side, and then directly connect them all.
<You ready?> she asked Piper.
<I am,> the AI replied. <Don’t forget, your stealth technology has proven sufficient to mask your presence from the NSAIs who guard this chamber. But when you disconnect me, they’re going to activate and search you out.>
<Right,> Rika replied. <You said they had physical systems?>
<Look up…not at the shaft, but the rest of the ceiling.>
Rika peered at the expanse over her head, and realized that there were regularly spaced orbs set into the grey plas. Each one was a meter across.
<There are at least a hundred of them up there. What sorts of weapons do they have?>
<One hundred and nine, and they have railguns, pulse weapons, and projectiles. They’ll come for my connection and try to remove my direct access.>
Rika drew a deep breath, nodding slowly. <Can you control them?>
<No, they’re entirely automatous. No wireless connections.>
<OK, Niki,> Rika directed. <Get a nanocloud out and try to take as many as you can. I’m going to jack Piper in. We’ve no more time to mess around.>
<You got
it, Rika. Let’s do this.>
GETTING REAL
STELLAR DATE: 10.23.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: MSS Fury Lance, near Delta Moon
REGION: Epsilon, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
Though Chase knew Heather’s recommendation to remain on the Fury Lance made sense, it didn’t feel like the right move.
Half the Marauders are on stealthed shuttles approaching the various stations surrounding Delta Moon, and I’m up here. Pacing across this bridge again like a damn impotent fool.
<You’ve nearly worn a groove,> Potter commented, and Chase nearly jumped, wondering if the AI had read his mind. <You’re starting to make Ona and Garth nervous.>
<Shit, sorry,> Chase muttered to the AI as he turned and sat in the command chair. <It’s nuts…we could attack and destroy these stations with impunity, but without knowing where Rika is, we have to operate with kid gloves—feels like we do that a lot.>
On the main viewscreen, a group of Harriet carriers moved into a higher orbit around Delta Moon, with destroyers and cruisers in a widely dispersed escort pattern around the massive ships.
<Well…we may have stasis shields, but we’re a bit outclassed in this fight,> Potter admitted. <Only the Lance has the guns to go toe to toe with a Harriet. Even then, it would take some time to take those ships out. We don’t have the CriEn modules to hold out forever against the amount of firepower they can send our way.>
Chase set his jaw, glaring at the screen. <I know.... Still, it would be enjoyable just to go hog wild on these Niets.>
<I was talking with Dredge over on the Republic. There’s lore about this place—though I don’t know how true it is. From what he’s heard, there are ancient AIs trapped here. Shackled somehow and stuck controlling the moons. No one knew where this place was, so no one’s come to help them.>
“Stars,” Chase muttered aloud. “Nietzscheans really do suck balls.”
“Sir?” Chief Garth asked.
“Potter was just telling me how there might be AIs down in those moons, keeping their orbits stable in the rosette. Word is that they’ve been shackled there for some time.”