Rikas Marauders
Page 126
Rika wondered about Niki’s qualifier.
Though Rika conceptually understood that the other fragments of Piper that they’d been unable to rescue from their respective moons were sentient beings, and that they were also a part of Piper’s mind, it was nearly impossible for Rika to fathom the sort of internal strife that may cause a person.
She imagined it would be like losing parts of your mind, but parts that had diverged. It was possible that backups could be re-integrated, but doing so would change who you were…and possibly not for the better.
Rika sighed, slowing as they approached the node chamber where Piper was being installed.
Rika replied, remembering the network restrictor device and the NSAI attack drones that had watched Piper for centuries.
Niki didn’t respond at first, and Rika could feel that there was some sort of turmoil in the AI’s mind.
Rika laughed softly at how Barne still thought that he’d been instrumental in saving Niki. They’d not had the heart to let him know that Niki herself had set those wheels in motion.
Granted, Barne’s had been the hands that had done the work, without which Niki would still be on the Jones, so she felt that it was a harmless bit of misdirection.
Niki sent a mild feeling of exasperation.
Niki said with a laugh.
Rika nodded slowly, looking through each of the AIs’ service records. None of the three had ever been ship’s AI on anything so large as the Fury Lance. In fact, only Jane had ever run a ship at all.
Frankie currently ran the drop bays on the Golden Lark, and the ship was near the Fury Lance in the formation. As a result, Niki’s conversation with the other AI only took seconds.
Keeping a station in a stable orbit while its mass was constantly changing with ships coming and going was no mean feat, and one that required a sharp and focused AI—usually backed by an array of NSAIs.
Rika pursed her lips, wondering why nothing was ever easy.
Never having considered what sort of ‘thrills’ AIs sought, Rika paused to wonder what Potter got out of the arrangement.
The answer didn’t surprise her in the least. K1Rs drew weapons fire like nothing else on the battlefield. There were times that Rika had wished for one of their monster chainguns, with each barrel capable of tri-fire modes like her GNR, but the mobility that being an SMI offered, she felt, was far superior.
As evidenced by the fact that she and Kelly once took out a K1R on their own.
The memory of that day on Naera came back to her, standing atop the poor K1R that had been turned to the Nietzschean side, firing rounds directly into its body as the metal monster tried to choke the life out of Kelly.
For so long, that ultimate victory had been bittersweet, linked so closely to the memory of Kelly’s death—which had turned out not to be a death at all.
Even now, the memory of that three-day slog on Naera hadn’t caught up with the fact that Kelly was still amongst the living, and the same pain came back. Rika supposed that the memory of holding her friend in her arms with a hole blown throu
gh her torso was never going to feel great.
Niki’s voice contained a tendril of pained regret.
Rika groaned as she pushed herself upright.
Niki only laughed as they rounded the corner and walked into the entrance to the node chamber.
In the middle of the space sat the looming shape of Piper’s core. Five meters cubed, covered in shielding and a variety of status indicators, it loomed over them and the general disarray of the room.
“Sorry the digs aren’t as tidy as your old space, Piper,” Rika apologized as she approached.
Niki said with a laugh.
Rika shook her head, a smile forming on her lips. “Adira and her mechs are a bit nuts. I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my life.”
“You know,” a voice came from behind the core. “If I had some help down here, we’d be done already.”
Rika walked around Piper’s core to see the AM-X mech staring down at a mess of power conduits that previously fed the dozen NSAIs the chamber normally contained.
“Too heavy for you?” she asked with a laugh, as Stripes pulled one conduit under another and then laid it out straight.
“No…just….” He straightened and grabbed a cloth to clean the grime off his hands—one of which was standard AM-style, while the other was a massive K1R gauntlet. “Piper here doesn’t exactly have standard hookups. Been a nightmare trying to get the right power to the right place.”
Piper said.
“Glad it’s working,” Stripes said, gesturing to a pair of power lines that connected to a series of four chained converters, the last of which was connected to the AI’s core. “Just keep the draw low. I have the fab shop working on a single converter, but it’s going to take a day to make it and then put it through its paces. Then I need to make three more.”
“Should we ask the ISF for help?” Rika asked. “Maybe they’ll have something that would work.”
“Carson reached out,” Stripes said as he shifted another line. “They don’t have anything close, as it turns out. They could fab one, too, but I’d prefer that we do it here so that if we need to make more, we have the process down.”
“Really?” Stripes glanced at Rika’s stomach, and Rika laughed, tapping her head.
“She’s up here now, Stripes.”
“Sure, yeah, but then I’m looking at your eyes, and that seems weird.”
“Seems weirder to have you looking at my bellybutton.”
The corporal rose and glanced at Rika’s abdomen once more. “Good thing you don’t have one of those anymore.”
“I’ve still got a bioport in its place,” Rika tapped her armored stomach. “Not that I plan on ever sucking nutripaste in through it again.”
Stripes snorted. “I’d rather eat words than nutripaste.”
“Nice one,” Rika laughed.
“OK, well, if you’re gonna stay here and babysit our new AI, I’m going to go check on the fab shop.” Corporal Stripes began to step carefully over the power lines that snaked across the deck.
“Do I need to do anything?” Rika asked.
“Yeah, don’t touch anything.”
Rika shot Stripes a dirty look and then turned back to Piper, gazing up at his impassive form.
“So? Are you actually doing alright?”
Rika nodded, once again trying to imagine what that would be like.
A soft chuckle from Piper rumbled through their minds.
“That’s not where we landed,” Rika replied.
“So what do you want to do?” Rika asked. “I’ll remind you that we’re going deeper into Nietzschean-held territory. If you want any measure of safety, staying on this ship long-term is not going to provide it.”
“Return to Pyra with the ISF ships,” Rika offered. “There’s plenty to do there: build a ring, the shipyards, salvage—”
“Bob?” Rika asked, remembering that Piper had previously voiced uncertainty regarding meeting Bob.
Niki suggested.
“Very well, then you understand that the risks in remaining aboard the Fury Lance are likely more existential than visiting Bob? I’ve met him and survived the experience.”
Piper replied simply.
Niki added.
“Really?” Rika asked. “When was that?”
Something in Niki’s tone hinted to Rika that her AI was not ready to discuss the encounter in depth, and she decided to let the matter slide for now.
“OK, then,” she said to Piper. “It’s agreed. You’ll stay on the Fury Lance.”
Rika took a careful step back, not wanting to mess up St
ripes’ web of power lines, and gazed up at the AI’s core.
“Niki and I have both been prisoners in our own minds and bodies before. Inflicting that on another sentient is simply not something we’d ever do.”
Piper didn’t respond for almost an entire minute.
Piper laughed softly.
Rika breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks for that, Piper. I know trust is hard to come by these days. Hopefully we’ve set a good foundation for it and will earn more as time goes on.”
“Ummm…of course. I’m an open book.”
“Well, I’ll do my best. I broke my crystal ball awhile back, so I’m just winging it.”
“Seriously, Niki. Analyzing the joke ruins it. What’s the question, Piper?”
“Won what?” Rika suspected Piper’s meaning, but she wanted him to clarify.
“Do you ask that because it enslaved both of us?” Rika asked, pushing toward the point.