The System

by Skyler Grant

  We were barely scraping by. Being a member of galactic society was expensive, more so when they weren't exactly thrilled about having you. A lot of those fees were effectively protection money. So long as we paid them, protection provided by the Galactic Council would keep any random threat from coming by and razing our planets.

  That happened anyways, of course, and explained why we had a job working for them. When the council had to clean up messes, it required someone both expendable and capable. We were both to their minds.

  "We need to up that. What’s holding the terraforming business back?" Anna asked.

  Sylax shrugged. "Nobody wants to risk a world on us no matter how cheaply we price our services. There are other more trusted civilizations with a proven track record."

  We'd been bumping into that a lot lately. We were trusted enough to fling ourselves into danger, but not to do anything that more enlightened species were usually tasked with.

  Flower returned, a shimmerbloom in her hair. "Evil plotting all done?"

  "We want a chance at terraforming Korridol Five. Can you make it happen?" Anna asked.

  Flower tilted her head to the side. "Multiple missing colonies. Interesting. The Synaxi got it in trade with the Hangol and are not happy about it. It has a basic biosphere already, but isn't well-suited to either people. You're thinking something nasty lives there?"

  "We're thinking we need to prove our terraforming abilities. With a council contract we can do just that and clean up the problem at the same time," Anna said.

  I said, "It is called trying to be good at our jobs. I doubt you'd understand after having spent centuries on extended holiday."

  "Earth disappeared from the universe. What else was I going to do? I kept an eye on you. I'm still keeping an eye on you.” She paused, apparently listening to some internal messaging. “In response to your request, the Synaxi say no with an impressive number of expletives, but the Eightfour are willing to take a chance you can make Korridol Five habitable for them," Flower said.

  The Eightfour were council members, if low-ranking ones. They took the name from the fact they were the eighty-fourth civilized species their planet had created. Their homeworld suffered seismic activity that resulted in a planetary extinction event roughly every twenty thousand years. Successive species started to leave records to help jump-start the development of those who followed them. It was the Eightfour who finally developed space travel and survived to break the cycle. A gloomy people focused on the inevitability of death, it wasn't that much of a surprise they might be willing to take a risk that, if we did poorly, could get a lot of them killed.

  They had environmental requirements similar to the Titans. Earth conditions wouldn't work, but we had a well-established genetic template that would.

  "We can do that. Well, I can do that. All of you are, of course, useless unless eating, gardening, or evisceration is required," I said.

  "I like where I came out in that. I’m sending an acknowledgment. Reward will be contingent on success," Flower said.

  A terraforming assignment. I was looking forward to it. It was always refreshing when I got to create life instead of destroy it.

  3

  Korridol Five was a cold world that had once been warmer. Vast oceans had frozen and much of the biodiversity had been depleted with only the species most durable against the lower temperatures surviving. The Eightfour could survive in those conditions, but they'd prefer something warmer.

  Two Juggernauts and the Graven jumped out of dimensional space and into orbit. Whatever killed the past colonists, there was no sign, although I was detecting multiple previous colonization efforts. There were three small cities on the planet. On a surface level all appeared to still be intact and functional.

  I began to fire growth pods towards the surface. Growth pods were a new invention, a core of bioreactors, adaptive bacteria, and growth vats. They would allow me to quickly start harvesting local biomatter and begin construction. Changing the atmosphere would either require a time-consuming and expensive effort, or establishing a planet-wide dimensional bubble to alter the local conditions. I preferred the latter option. It was what we had used to terraform the planets in the Sol system.

  I wasn't happy about having anyone irreplaceable along on this mission, but both Caya and Anna insisted on coming. I didn't like either of them being in the line of fire. At least their combined power was so great that if there was a hostile force on the planet it would have a fight on its hands. Flower was along too, of course, dogging Anna's footstep. Flower’s continued survival wasn't especially relevant to me.

  "I'm not seeing anything unusual on long-range sensors," Caya said from her seat at the bridge console. "I recommend we head towards the Synaxi settlement location. As the most recent colony to go missing, the traces of whatever happened will still be fresh."

  "Agreed. Do it," Anna said.

  I brought the Graven down to the surface along with shuttles from the Juggernauts to investigate the other colonies. The Synaxi settlement might be the best lead, but it wasn't our only one and the more data I could gather, the better.

  The Synaxi were an avian race. Their colony was a series of tall, spindly towers beneath a force dome. Flight was vital to their happiness and so the colony was in no small part about giving them the space and conditions to do it.

  The landing pad had several shuttles present. Nothing so large as the Graven. Automated docking systems squawked for clearance as we drew near. In response to our council credentials they blipped affirmatives and allowed us to land.

  Everything was still shiny and new, recorded announcements musically chirping away in the Synaxi language. Welcoming messages about community events, and the ambitious future of the planet.

  "It all seems so normal," Anna said, as she looked around.

  "Can you access their systems? Are there emergency routines?" Caya asked.

  I was busy doing just that and I didn't even have to hack them. Council authorization made a lot possible and with the right codes I was allowed broad access to their systems.

  "There are basic emergency protocols that broadcast messages, like clear the skies and remain in place. I use similar protocols to clear the bottom floors of a building when Anna is above them, just to be safe," I said.

  "You're really focused on my weight lately," Anna said.

  "It seemed kinder than continuing to remind you of the abject failure of your dating life. Planetary Empress and you still need me to manufacture your lovers," I said.

  "Really?" Caya asked, a little intrigued despite herself.

  Anna scowled, "Missing colony, so focus."

  I said, "I don't make them save the memories. I hate subjecting my drones to unnecessary trauma."

  The only exit to the shuttle bay was an elevator which after a short ride led to a large open air platform buffeted by winds.

  "I brought some propulsion boots, but these winds are extreme," Caya said.

  They were extreme. Anna, Caya, and Flower were having their hair tossed wildly.

  "I can get us where we need to go with telekinesis. Where are we going?" Anna asked.

  That was a good question. The command and control center was located in one of the higher towers of the city, but I already had full access to their computers, surveillance systems and their records. Unfortunately there was almost nothing turned towards the city itself. The Synaxi were obsessed with privacy and what I had of their external sensor logs wasn't proving useful.

  "The squat building to the north-west. I'm giving your visual display an indicator, main housing units," I said.

  Anna took my drone and Caya's hands and they were surrounded in a shimmering green aura as they took to the air. It was a short journey, the settlement wasn't all that large. It was also the first time that you could really tell something had gone wrong. There were belts and pouches on the ground where we landed.

  Caya knelt and studied one. "Synthetic. I assume this is what passes for clothing amon
g the Synaxi?"

  "I should get an outfit made totally out of belts," Anna said, thoughtfully staring down.

  "You'd look good in that," Flower said.

  I said, "I'm about preventing trauma, remember? Do you have any idea how many resources would be involved in resetting every drone who sees you?"

  "Please. If you were being realistic you could simply temporarily blind them, or do a visual filter," Caya said.

  Well, true, I could do any of those. I should probably design the subroutine, just in case. I sent the design request over to Amy. She had more processing power to spare.

  The Synaxi had individual living spaces and here was more proof that whatever had taken them happened suddenly. In several units food was left mid-preparation, and everywhere we found the remains of synthetic clothing but a lack of bodies.

  My shuttles had landed in the other settlements and drones were carrying out similar inspections. The Hangol were not so fanatical about personal privacy like the Synaxi. From there I was getting video of when the population disappeared.

  I took over one of the local displays so I could show it to Anna and Caya. The Hangol were reminiscent of small elephants, if even bulkier as they were dressed in heavy furs. I showed vision of a half-dozen gathered in a large room, shimmering white light rippling across their bodies.

  The Hangol grew translucent and vanished.

  "Dimensional transit?" Caya asked.

  "Not everything is about your current area of specialization," I said.

  "And if it were dimensional transit, you'd expect inorganic compounds would go with them. The fact they persist suggests something else," Flower said.

  "Any ideas as to what?" Anna asked.

  "In the past, machine intelligences have built defenses against encroaching organic life. This could be similar," Flower said.

  "Yes, yes, your people are all terrible. However, the local flora and fauna doesn't seem affected," I said.

  "Is the target intelligence, and all organic matter in its vicinity?" Anna asked.

  That seemed possible. I was continuing to correlate sensor readings between the various settlements and I was finding something common.

  "In each case there was an unusual weather event accompanying it. A sudden snowstorm," I said, bringing up the weather data on a monitor.

  Caya studied it and frowned. "I'm seeing a pattern here besides the obvious. Note the wind direction."

  As usual, Caya was correct. The wind direction for each of the colonies came from what would have once been a large island in one of the planet’s vast oceans. Now only a lone mountain peak rose above the fields of ice.

  I focused sensors from the Juggernauts in orbit. If there was anything technological down there it was either well-shielded or so alien that my sensors couldn't detect it.

  "I see it. None of the previous colonies detected the pattern, and none sent any expeditions to the origin point," I said.

  "You two should return to orbit. Emma and I can investigate this," Flower said.

  "Like hell," Anna said.

  Caya agreed. "She's right. Flower doesn't have a biological component in her and Emma can hop into a mechanical drone from a Juggernaut. Based on what we've seen they should be immune to whatever is making colonists vanish."

  "You can try out the new body," Flower said happily.

  The "new body" was a gift from Flower's people, a feature-poor version of her own. I think they found it a bit horrifying that I was an artificial intelligence of electronic origin that had chosen to become mostly biological.

  I didn't like it. It was stronger and more durable than any of my human hosts, but it was so empty inside with only my own mind. I was used to a drone's intelligence and personality in the background.

  Still, Caya and Flower were right.

  4

  I kept a small contingent of non-organic equipment on any Juggernaut. Time had taught me that it was best to be as versatile as possible and while my strength was on the organic side, the other did have some selective uses. I sent Anna and Caya back up in the Graven after retrieving my robotic body and a shuttle to pick up myself and Flower.

  "I really don't see how you're comfortable in one of these things. And why is it so garish?" I said, studying the body in one of the camera feeds. Dark-haired, a bit over five foot, and endowed a bit too much to be practical.

  "Please, I picked it based off your usual preferences. You're actually wearing the face of a great Italian opera singer," Flower said. “From before the whole world went to hell.”

  I keyed in the destination to the shuttle and took a seat in the pilot’s chair. Flower settled down in the co-pilot seat beside me.

  "Once again you prove that you have terrible taste in addition to being traitorous and untrustworthy. Do all your models become weak imitations of their hosts like you did?" I asked.

  Flower tilted her head. "I've never really thought about it, but now that I do, yes, usually. We're meant to appreciate a new species, to understand them, to become closer to them. I guess you could say integration is a part of what we're designed to do. We do it well. I'm glad I was allowed to remain with the humans."

  "Not desiring a new adventure?" I asked.

  Flower gave a faint smile. "There probably wouldn't be one. I served my purpose and adaptation to another species after humanity would be more difficult for me than a fresh unit. I'd likely have been deactivated and put into storage in the event a perspective on humanity was desired in the future."

  That wasn't quite death, but it was close to it. Death was in some ways a foreign concept to me. I'd faced it often enough, but now with my processors distributed across multiple worlds I'd be very difficult to kill. My drones were also all immortal in a way. Even if I didn't have bodies for them, I could keep their consciousness active in a virtual environment, if they wished it. Although with new worlds to colonize and a galaxy to explore, bodies weren't in short supply.

  "If that is the case I'm surprised you didn't ask for asylum. Too cowardly to fully commit?" I asked.

  "I thought about it. I know that you don't like me, but I think Anna would have honored it," Flower said.

  I know she would have, and for all that I wasn't crazy about Flower I would have as well. If you joined up and stayed loyal, you were part of the team, part of the empire. We'd stand by you to the end. They were the rules we lived by, and though they hadn't always been easy we hadn't had cause to regret them yet.

  "Probably, she is weak-minded like that. So why didn't you?" I asked.

  "Because you didn't need me as a citizen in need of your protection. You needed me as your friendly advocate to the council," Flower said.

  That was all very true, and sensible, and uncomfortable. If that really was Flower's motivation then she'd been true to us in the best way that she was able. No friendship is one-way. If she really was that much of a friend of humanity and the empire, then we were obligated to her in ways I hadn't calculated. I wondered about her cookie-eating habits. Given her fascination with Italy perhaps some form of biscotti? I'd have to start formulating recipes. I could use the attunement of my own mechanical body's taste sensors.

  "Have you ever thought of going somewhere else?" Flower asked.

  "You think an alien blizzard-world filled with lost colonies doesn't seem exotic enough for me?" I asked.

  "Any of the artificial intelligence havens. There are whole civilizations built of people like you. You might not control worlds like you do with the humans, but they have data constructs billions of times more complex than any that hold you. You could spend lifetimes in exploration and improvement with those who truly understand you," Flower said.

  They had made offers. Ever since the council had decided to let me and the others live, a trickle of discreet approaches had come in. I was something of a curiosity in my construction and development, and some prestigious collectives offered me a place. Galactic civilizations with far more esteem than Sol managed to achieve.

  "My
creator didn't fail me. I still don't know that human's name, or what they were like apart from their odd sense of humor by building me with the flaw of being insulting. I do know that the end of the world was coming and they did their best to make sure I'd survive it," I said.

  "They failed," Flower said wryly.

  "They did. I didn't come back online until Anna connected me to a crystal, but part of the reason I could was the framework laid in place. It may seem strange, but that means a lot to me. A creator owes things to their creations, they have responsibilities to see they flourish," I said.

  "And humanity is yours," Flower said.

  "Humanity existed long before I came around, but not as they now are. I have changed the nature of their society, their civilization. I have helped to remake them in my own image, just as they originally made me in theirs," I said.

  Flower pursed her lips at that. "I understand what you're saying, but even amongst humans is the idea that there is a point you boot the children from the nest. You make sure they can find their own way."

  That was true, although I didn't know what she meant in this case. Was I the child? The parent? Sometimes you are both. Sometimes plithy wisdom just isn't a guide for how you need to live your life.

  "Getting off Earth, getting out into the universe? We're just getting to the good part. It would be a stupid time to head for the door," I said.

  Outside the shuttle the winds were picking up. The direction was consistent with the storms that caused the disappearance of the colonists. I buckled myself in and Flower did the same.

  "I'm not feeling anything unusual. You?" Flower asked.

  I wasn't, outside of some turbulence shaking the ship.

  "If it is targeting anything it does seem to be biological intelligences. If any of the colonies had made use of AI we might have found our clues more easily," I said.

  The shuttle was Exploration class. Heavy sensors and redundant systems meant to take a beating and keep on going. The winds were fierce and the engines were straining, but we were holding our altitude and heading. The mountain peak should be coming into visual range soon.