by Rashid Ahmed
Her blood pumping with excitement, Ásta looked up after a sensor pinged for her attention. She had set up her suit sensors to alert her in case of any abnormal movement or if new objects were detected. Turning her head upward and zooming in, she saw a vessel enter the atmosphere from the east. Ásta knocked on Jón’s helmet to awaken him, while keeping an eye on the approaching vessel. Jón awoke and was alert right away. Ásta brought him up to speed, rapidly transmitting thoughts and information between their diadems. Jón looked up as well, just as another pair of vessels entered the atmosphere.
Jón, Ásta and Áox made their way around the base of the hillock they’d spent the night at. Isla had located a clearing behind the mound, large enough to accommodate the inbound shuttles from Átt, and from the disguised framandi carrier vessel.
The framandi atmospheric entry shuttle landed first. It was large. Jón commented to his sister over their suit radios, “It’s as bulky as most heavy-lift aircraft on earth. Notice the extendable pairs of wings as they remould themselves. The vessel must be capable of considerable lift. I didn’t notice any jets or rockets deploying, so it’s likely they’re using manipulated gravity, inside the planet’s atmosphere. We could do with this knowhow.”
Ásta replied, “Well, the framandi have already provided us with the necessary information, all accumulated over time, from across their civilization. You’ll recall, it was their barter with us, for utilizing the solar system as a thoroughfare. We can only access advanced information, as we become capable of understanding it. It’s a framandi safeguard against catastrophic accidents, caused due to incomplete comprehension of their knowledge. I’m sure Rafael’s begun sinking his teeth into all the information he can devour.”
The twins observed as Áox walked over to the powered down framandi shuttle, as a wide hatch opened between the pair of wings to its left side. Two framandi disembarked, hopping to the ground, even as a ramp extended from the vessel’s side. Áox stood in front of the framandi; all three perfectly still. They were obviously focussed on transacting a complicated, data-heavy, mind-to-mind conversation. The twins had seen this kind of behaviour on Átt, whenever Áox and Áom dove into deep mind-to-mind conversations. The two shuttles from Átt landed soon after. Áom exited and walked over to stand beside Áox, joining the ongoing information exchange between the framandi.
The twins caught up with their crewmates, exchanging cumbersome hugs and pats. They’d already discussed recent events, so their verbal and thought exchanges were light.
Áox, Áom and the newly arrived pair of framandi walked over to them. Another two framandi joined, having unloaded necessary equipment from their bulky shuttle. Their suits had adopted similar forms and were visually indistinguishable from each other. The framandi suit material constantly reformed itself, mimicking shapes and colours that matched the environment. “Little wonder they weren’t detected in space by the gigils,” Ásta thought to Jón, “they’re masters of camouflage.”
Áox thought to the team in a torrent, “I will transmit the procedure for disabling the gigil defences. We will need to work in pairs, simultaneously. I will lead the system disabling process, providing instructions and imagery as I proceed. First, you must cover your suits in our smart material. It has already been programmed for this mission and will allow you to be camouflaged. Most detectable signatures will be hidden from observers. However, the material will cover your visors. You’ll be fed external visual inputs directly through your diadems. There should have no difficulty adapting.”
They multitasked. While the framandi dispensed their smart material onto their suits, Áox ran them through the plan. It involved each of them working on an oblong antenna, after having landed directly atop one. Six more antennas had been located inside the facility. They’d be breaching the facility while its defences were live. So far, nothing had indicated that the defensive perimeter was active, but they all agreed to proceed with utmost caution.
The human crew first synced their diadems to recognize and communicate with their new framandi companions. Áox then opened a common thought communication channel for the infiltration team. Each one of them had to individually opt in to participate. The diadems were very particular about permission seeking and granting. As they learnt to pass along enough information for the new framandi team members to understand them, the smart material completely enveloped their suits.
Áox initialized the connections between each human’s diadem and their suit’s smart material. Their diadems requested additional permissions to be granted, which allowed smart material feeds to be passed to their minds.
“Jæja!” Ásta exclaimed on the common thought channel. She hurriedly commented, “I’m seeing multiple images feeding into my mind simultaneously. They’re randomly switching between each other and some of them are merging. This is making me nauseous.”
“I’m facing this as well,” Sven stated, trying to maintain composure.
“Imagine the view you require; it will come to your mind. Look ahead as you normally would. Your diadem will pick up the correct input,” Áox suggested. Soon enough, they all had the hang of it. They were able to look forward, backward, around and in various frequencies other than light.
“We must proceed,” Áox let them know, handing a tool kit to each team member. Then Áox initiated the plan the framandi had put together, with assignments for each of them. Before heading to the framandi shuttle, Áox thought to Átt’s crew, “We are adept at formulating plans and seeing them through. But, should the need arise, we will rely on you for leaps of imagination and unconventional thinking.”
As the team boarded the framandi vessel, Stefán noticed another two suited framandi enclosed in a transparent bubble, towards the rear of the shuttle. He greeted them on behalf of the crew but did not receive a response. Áox informed that they were pilots and were immersed with the vessel’s systems. The team quickly reviewed their mission to ensure everyone knew their tasks.
They planned on rapidly gaining altitude and deploying directly over the gigil facility. Suits, now enveloped with framandi smart material, would automatically reconfigure. Reviewing the suit configuration, Stefán thought to the team, that they’d look like a dray of flying squirrels. Áox informed them that the smart material could take direct thought instructions, to assume specific preprogramed shapes, if it was required. The framandi requested them to enter an elevator, which took them downward. A wide circular floor hatch opened as soon as they were belowdecks.
The team formed up and leapt out of the vessel on Áox’s cue. Jón checked his suit’s sensors, now displaying into his mind. He quickly thought to the team, “We’re hurtling downward at just over thirteen meters per second, per second. Tough as our suits may be, we’re going to have a hard landing. Brace yourselves.”
Dropping headfirst so far, Jón assumed a skydiving arch position, on being given the signal by Áox. The suit adapted, deaccelerating him. He brought up exterior views in his mind, sequentially looking around himself on all three axes. He grinned to himself, recalling how owls were able to turn their heads nearly all the way around. Jón noticed the rest of the team stabilise themselves. He brought up their drop zone view in his mind. They were all on track. Each team member was expected to land on top of their target antennas. His suit changed configuration, creating balloon-like compartments, which increased drag. Then, the material adjusted once more, stretching itself out, creating a large surface area like a kite.
“Won’t we be detected by visual sensors?” Jón asked, thinking over the common channel.
“No, the suit material camouflages itself,” Áox replied.
“How am I seeing you then?” Jón enquired.
“Because your mind is receiving translated and extrapolated information. That’s so that we aren’t invisible to each other,” Áox explained. The framandi added, “Now focus. We’re arriving at our objectives.”
Jón found himself gently wafting downward over the antenna assigned to him. His bo
dy rotated within the stretched suit material, which soon formed a large disk-like shape around his waist. The material flared still further and gently delivered him on top of the antenna, attaching his feet to the surface. Jón crouched atop the antenna like a gargoyle. One by one, the entire team signed off, having landed safe atop their respective antennas.
Áox walked them through the process. Jón’s tool kit, which was attached to his chest, swung open. He followed Áox’s instructions as they entered his mind. The first of these was to carefully place three circular objects onto the antenna, at locations below his feet. The objects automatically rotated around the antenna, equidistant from each other. They stopped, slid downward, and back to their original positions. The visual input was precise. Jón noticed the objects leave microscopic filaments as they moved about. Just like spiders did. Then the antenna’s exterior covering just under his feet, dissolved away.
Keeping pace with the others, he deftly removed a tetrahedron shaped crystal from the opening in the antenna. A shiny purple liquid began to ooze upward from the crevasse below the crystal.
“Move quickly. That’s intelligent molecular machinery programmed to repair any damage, or decimate foreign objects,” Áox thought to them excitedly.
Jón grasped a sphere in the tool kit, squeezed on it and placed it where he’d extracted the crystal. The sphere collapsed over the rising purple mass of molecular machines, bubbling and occasionally letting out tiny tendrils of plasma.
Áox instructed, “Another one.” Jón repeated the process. Moments later all activity ceased inside the antenna. After taking a moment to check everyone’s feeds, the framandi let them know that the antennas were disabled.
Team members inside the perimeter, found access points at the transparent fence and let the rest in. They used daylight to explore. No gigils were present. The compound was industrial and used for mineral processing.
Towards dusk, Áox informed them with some urgency, “The command-ship taken over by Kei, has slipped into the wormhole, through which the gigils were retreating. It tried to take over two of our vessels which were pursuing the fleet. The AI was unsuccessful. We must follow. A small but capable fleet of our masked vessels will guard this planet for now.”
The team made their way back to the shuttles, after destroying the escape capsules used by Jón, Ásta and Áox to enter the atmosphere. They didn’t want to risk any portions of Kei being left behind.
Áox and Áom re-joined the crew on Átt. The disguised human vessel began a hard acceleration towards the wormhole through which the gigils and Kei had exited the system.
As soon as they were underway, the twins debriefed Gogh, Max and Maji. Then they spoke with their parents, ensuring them they were well.
Neither was convinced. “You’re both looking dishevelled and drawn. You need plenty of rest,” Katrín said to them. Gylfi looked at them with concern on his face. He said, “We’ve kept ourselves up to speed. You’re having quite the adventure. A dangerous one.” The twins comforted their parents, telling them about their recent exploits, emphasizing how careful they were. Before they ended the call, Gylfi warned them, “Be careful about Kei. I don’t think the AI means us well.” They exchanged air kisses and disconnected.
The Átt rapidly made its way towards the gigil maintained wormhole. They meant to track down Kei and investigate where the wormhole led to.
Pursuit
Sólríka Space Platform.
Katrín turned to look at Gylfi. They’d both been working hard to ensure the initial viral vector deployment was conducted successfully. Containers were still entering Earth atmosphere and dispersing their contents. The two had begun assembling the next batch of half a million containers. These were scheduled to be deployed within the next two days. Manufacturing was now being synchronised by Shun.
“Kei has taken the autonomous SSEV Nál offline,” Katrín said. She continued, “The AI had complete access to the framandi data unit provided by AL-I. There’s no telling how much Kei may have absorbed.”
“However much, the AI will hit a wall trying to store any deciphered information,” Gylfi replied. He added, “We’ve disconnected all its storage and processing resources in the solar system. Besides Nál of course. Max informed us they’re all being wiped clean. The AI should be moderately diminished.”
“I think otherwise. Having taken over a gigil command-ship, Kei may have been able to access their data storage and processing capabilities. It’s conceivable that the AI may have sponged-up human, framandi, gigil and kilig knowledge. We can’t even begin to imagine the capabilities it may have. It also has the Síast’s infiltration systems. Put together, it’s now a threat to everyone.”
“With its attempt at subjugating the two framandi vessels tailing it, Kei may have revealed its immediate intensions,” Gylfi said.
“And that would be?” Katrín asked.
Gylfi replied, “I’ve gone through all the telemetry from Jón and Ásta’s suits, from their time aboard Síast. There is no indication of any failure on the kilig spacecraft. I think Kei deliberately misled them and Áox into evacuating the vessel.”
“I see what you’re getting at,” Katrín said. She elaborated, “Having learnt how to subjugate gigil vessels and possibly a few gigils as well, Kei may have decided to go it alone. We need to get this hypothesis across to Max and Gogh. Now that the Nál is in Kei’s control, we may have a rogue AI problem in the solar system as well. I’m requesting a conversation with Max.” She tapped at her pad and waited for a response. To her surprise, Max accepted her request right away. Katrín tapped her pad again, bringing up the volumetric projection above the table, which her husband and she were at.
“Is everything all right?” Max asked. He seemed distracted and looked towards his left.
“Gylfi and I have a hypothesis about Kei that we’d like to discuss,” Katrín replied.
“I’m joining calls and bringing Gogh on as well. Maji is still with me,” Max said as he merged calls. Gogh and Maji appeared in the projection next to Max. “What do you have?” he asked.
Katrín and Gylfi took the trio through their recent thoughts. Wrapping up their deliberations, Gylfi concluded, “We think Kei may be on a capacity expansion spree and will attempt to absorb hardware, wetware and knowledge from wherever it can; all aimed at becoming a significant power itself.”
Everyone on the call fell silent while they considered this. A few moments later Max said, “We’ll need to inform the framandi as well. Their vessels and the Átt will be in danger.”
Gylfi said, “We may be in danger too. The Nál is a standardized space exploration vessel, which means that it is equipped with manufacturing on demand capabilities. Small scale, but enough to produce SSEV replacement parts, AMCARs, drones and some units of framandi design, like gaupas and quantum processors. The vessel’s mineral and resource sumps were topped up, before it departed to carry out our experiment over Venus. Should Kei choose to, it could create a significant hardware presence in the solar system, in a short period.”
“Or in connected systems,” Maji observed.
“Max, contact the crew of the Átt. Involve the framandi aboard,” Gogh advised. He instructed, “Make sure they know what we know. Let’s begin putting plans together, to counter the threat from Kei. For now, we’ll stay focussed on building defensive capability in the solar system.”
Max scheduled the topic discussed, into their regular updates with Átt. He thanked Katrín and Gylfi before disconnecting the duo.
Gylfi reengaged the volumetric projection bringing up the solar system’s situational awareness chart. They’d learned a few tricks from the framandi. With all their platforms cranking out defence network satellites designed by Rafael, their ability to monitor in-system objects had been vastly augmented.
Gylfi spoke to their older and still trusted AI, asking “Shun, what was the Nál’s last known location?” A blinking dot appeared just past Venus, towards the Sun.
“Show ou
r physical assets within half an AU of Nál’s last location. Include all newly deployed satellites.” Gylfi instructed. Additional colour coded dots appeared with labels beside them. “Task these assets to actively seek out the Nál using all available sensors. Include additional assets as needed, after calculating Nál’s range, accounting for full acceleration, limited only by the strength of the SSEVs structural integrity
“Nál’s designed to accommodate people. Its limitations are restricted only to those which impact us. Kei might have reinforced the Nál, to suit itself,” Katrín observed.
“You’re right,” Gylfi agreed. “Shun, double the initial radius of assets included in the search for Nál, and continue increasing the radius according to the vessel’s estimated speed, adjusting for any SSEV design enhancements you can conceive.”
“I’ve deployed an active search for the Nál.” Shun answered.
Just then an inbound call notification blinked on Gylfi’s mission pad. Noticing it was from the Átt, he connected and projected it right away, expecting to see one or both of his children. Instead, it was Sven accompanied by the shorter framandi Áox.
