by S. H. Jucha
While waiting for Hermione to transfer her kernel to a human avatar, Ude spent the days speaking to Toralians and sisters, who’d become his friends. He regretted that his avatar lacked the sensitivity his body once possessed. He’d have enjoyed hugging the Toralians, despite the challenge of the delicate leathery wings.
On the day they were to leave Toral, Ude and Hermione waited for their transport to land.
Hermione noted a smile on Ude’s face. “Something special about our transport?” she asked.
When Ude shrugged, Hermione scanned the city-ship’s records of traveler flights and located the name of Lieutenant Petra Havard. Then she’d studied Ude’s face through the use of her avatar’s lateral sensors.
“So many reasons to be repaired,” Hermione said offhand, and she was rewarded with a thoughtful expression on Ude’s face.
The traveler landed, and they waited for the rear ramp to drop. When it touched the ground, Petra stood in the interior with hands on her hips.
“Couldn’t get enough of my charming personality?” Petra quipped.
“Need more practice appreciating my elevated status,” Ude shot back.
“Greetings, Hermione, and my condolences to you,” Petra riposted.
“We must deal with the burdens we’re forced to carry,” Hermione replied. She enjoyed Petra’s laughter and Ude’s shocked expression. This could be a more entertaining trip than I envisioned, she thought.
“Hermione, you’re welcome to ride co-pilot with me. That is unless you’re required to remain in the main cabin to hold Ude’s hand,” Petra said.
“I can see that you two are going to be fun companions,” Ude grumped, as he stomped aboard the traveler. His heavy avatar shook the ramp, and he enjoyed seeing Petra’s composure momentarily shaken.
“Don’t damage my ship,” Petra warned, as she hurriedly stepped out of Ude’s way.
The comment brought Ude and Petra up short, and they immediately assumed professional attitudes.
Most interesting, Hermione thought, and a slight smile creased her face, as she boarded behind Ude.
* * * * *
As the Omnian fleet made preparations to launch, Hector had a final message to deliver. He connected to Miriamette.
Miriamette ran through various concepts. Only one idea suited the odd collection of facts.
Hector sent.
After a tick of time, Miriamette sent quickly,
38: Sargut’s Visit
It had been a quarter annual since the envoys and their battleships had cleared Talus space. The Omnian fleet had only departed after the final envoy’s ship had sailed. That ship had been the Podarla vessel, with Commander Quizra aboard. The battleship had gotten underway with Commodore Jacinda’s squadrons keeping pace with the massive vessel.
During the intervening time, Sargut had incessantly used his implant. In his mind, he was in training for one of the most critical encounters in his life.
After the Sisterhood had requested and accepted responsibility for the control and maintenance of Artifice, no other race, except for a lone human, had visited the entity’s cavern. That was true until Quizra’s team required the visit as part of its list of demands.
Neither Quizra nor the envoys had an implant, which meant they’d been unable to communicate with Artifice. They merely observed the racks of ancient and new circuitry that fed the entity’s intelligence, until they’d spoken with Artifice through a sister.
Sargut knew the admiral had a brief exchange with Artifice, but she’d said nothing to him afterward.
As Sargut sat in the traveler, with Miriamette as pilot, he thought of the conversation he’d had with Ude. Conversation wasn’t the right word, Sargut reminded himself. It was a warning from Ude, and it was ominous enough to drive him to become adept with his implant.
As the traveler touched down inside the polar dome, Miriamette sent,
Sargut knew what Miriamette meant. No translation with Artifice was needed. The entity possessed every language spoken within the federacy. And many outside our space, he thought, whistling derisively. No, he thought. Miriamette wanted to act as a filter between Artifice and him. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t know if it was necessary, but his advisor was obviously concerned for him.
The decision to forgo an intermediary came down to two things for Sargut. With a filter, translator, intermediary, or whatever he called Miriamette, he wouldn’t have direct contact with Artifice, and that was absolutely necessary.
The second reason was that Sargut hoped that if Artifice was shortsighted enough to harm him via his implant, then the Sisterhood might have proof that the entity was irredeemable.
Sargut was led through the labyrinth to Artifice’s domain, and at the cavernous doors, he took a moment to compose himself. He called on the power that Toral had given him when he ascended the ancient mound. With Artifice’s defeat, he’d reclaimed the planet for Toralians.
Miriamette had no logical reason to fear for Sargut in his encounter with Artifice, and the sisters she communicated with were in consensus that the entity didn’t represent a danger to the president. But Miriamette knew that logic wasn’t playing a part in her thinking. It had been the presence of the Omnians that had influenced the shifting of her hierarchy. Emotional algorithms had been elevated and given greater priority. She considered Sargut her charge, and she intended to protect him from harm.
A shift in Sargut’s face caught Miriamette’s attention. The president’s ridges were warming. Blood continued to suffuse the ridges until they glowed with the heat.
A smile crossed Miriamette’s face. Her charge would fare well in his exchange with Artifice. The entity who had dominated the federacy for so long was about to meet the Toralian who reclaimed his home world.
As was a sister’s habit, Miriamette signaled Artifice of her presence, when she entered the cavern. Deliberately, she didn’t announce that the president accompanied her.
Sargut stared at the rows of data banks that fed Artifice. He watched sisters test the older sections, while others replaced various parts. The space that housed Artifice was enormous, and the amount of work to accomplish was astounding. Whether that work should be completed was what Sargut came to discover.
Ude’s warning was front and center in Sargut’s mind. Artifice couldn’t have been more congenial.
Sargut sent.
Again, Ude’s words prompted Sargut. He was to engage Artifice.
Artifice replied.
Sargut wanted to retort that Artifice had ruined that opportunity by the manner in which he’d treated the races. Instead, he sent,
Artifice replied.
Sargut detected the discrepancy in Artifice’s responses. The entity wouldn’t make an error in communications, which meant that he was being manipulated. The discovery empowered him, and he felt more heat flood his ridges, and his wings unfurled.
The sisters stopped their work to regard the sight of the president displaying his physiological power as the dominant Toralian of his race.
The question Sargut wrestled with was whether to challenge Artifice about the discrepancy or appear to be susceptible to being beguiled. He was reminded of Ellie’s efforts on the Talusians’ behalf. Despite her strong personality, she was adept at subtlety, and he chose to behave as a gullible biological. His thought was that it might encourage Artifice to further expose the thoughts in his digital mind.
Sargut detected a touch of pique, and he chose to continue to play the dumb biological.
Sargut sent.
Sargut folded his wings, and the ridges were allowed to cool.
As Sargut headed for the exit, Artifice sent,
As Sargut and Miriamette tread the corridor from the cavern, she sent,
Sargut replied.
Sargut sent.
Sargut stopped short of boarding the traveler, and he turned and regarded Miriamette.
Miriamette shared the conversation with the other centrists. Curiously, there weren’t responses. It was uncharacteristic of sisters not to have an instant opinion. Then again, Miriamette hadn’t a conclusion herself. It was the dichotomy between digital entities and biologicals that was a gulf that needed constant bridging.
Sargut visited Artifice many more times during the next annual. He was welcomed by the entity on every occasion. Eventually, there came the requests from Artifice to entertain other Tora
lians. Unknown to the entity, Sargut had ordered that they never take place.
When the entreaties to receive other Toralian visitors failed, Artifice switched the subject. Next, the entity requested vid elements be placed in the cavern, entryways, and on the surface.
Sargut’s replies started as outright refusals. Eventually, he said that the subject was under consideration. Ude’s warnings were never far from Sargut’s thoughts. His suspicions had been formed during his first visit. They continued to be affirmed, and his distrust grew of Artifice’s ultimate purpose.
Sargut believed the entity was willing to outwait the lives of Toralians. Somewhere in time, most likely in the far future, the entity might win freedom by the absence of biologicals who wouldn’t have forgotten or forgiven the tortuous dominance. He vowed to find a manner of either ending Artifice before then or seeing to it that the entity could never be fully restored.
— The Silver Ships series continues in Elvians. —
Glossary
Aliens at Talus
Boobaffle – Envoy with transmission device, leader of third cluster
Derterrick – Envoy who negotiates, possessing keen broad ears
Foothreen – Envoy who resembles a dirty ball of ice
Ghorget – Envoy
Kirmler – Envoy who is annoying leader of two clusters
Podarlas – Battleship wedge, led by Commander Quizra
Quizra – Commander of Podarla wedge, horny scales, slender three-meter frame
Rartor – First officer of Zoza’s ship
Rootog – Envoy
Syslerians – Battleship wedge, led by Commander Zoza
Tazar – Senior captain, Syslerian
Terrium – Envoy who abandons hall, protruding canines
Therathen – Envoy who negotiates
Voztar – Captain of Zoza’s ship
Zoza – Commander of the Syslerian wedge
Dischnya – Sentient species in Omnian system
