by Rashid Ahmed
“The ejection hatches are jammed,” Jón thought to them. “They must have sustained some damage,” Ásta added.
“Glad to have you guys back,” Sven greeted the twins, thinking to them over the crew’s common diadem channel. “I’m back too,” Crystal announced, then added, “but I’m feeling a bit groggy and my legs won’t move.”
“Undock the shuttle from Síast,” Sven instructed. He thought a series of images to the rest of them, conveying a plan to pry the capsule escape hatches open.
“You might want to hurry. Kei’s attention is focussed on propulsion. The AI is limited for now and is barely able to spare enough processing to stay connected with our minds,” Jón thought to them.
Ásta announced excitedly, “I’m able to directly follow Kei’s actions. I can actually feel the steps the AI is taking.” She exclaimed, “Jæja! Here’s something new. I can actually access some of the ship’s controls, by riding Kei’s weakened mind connection” She was oblivious to the ordeal she and her brother had been through so far.
Jón added, “I’m going to try and lock Kei out of its mind access protocol if I can locate it.” Then realizing what his sister might be trying, he informed Ásta, “I’ll keep limited mind access activated while you ride Kei’s signal. Try to locate a separate path to propulsion control. Kei is resisting. This is beginning to give me a headache.”
Áom thought to the twins, “I’m going to relieve some of your pain by isolating both your brains’ pain pathways. Your attempt to reverse Kei’s mind access, is causing your brain to experience ghost visceral pain, associated with your musculoskeletal systems. You’ll need to learn to identify things like this, to manage it yourselves in future.”
Ásta replied for them, “We’re glad you’re here Áom. Do what you have to do.”
“The shuttle’s undocked,” Crystal let everyone know. She could still feel Kei’s presence in her head. “Manoeuvring to the capsule escape hatches,” she added. But before she could get the shuttle into position, Síast began moving away. She alerted the twins and her crew, “Síast is accelerating. The vessel’s picking up speed.”
Ásta replied, “Kei’s activated antimatter propulsion. Navigation shows Earth as the destination. Hang on. It shows Earth atmospheric entry.”
Jón interjected, “I’m accessing what equates to Kei’s memories and working backward from the last stored navigation commands.” After a pause he commented, “You’re not going to like what I’ve just found in current memory. Kei wants control of Earth. Even with encumbered capabilities, nearly all our planet’s technology functions on electromagnetism. Our tech would be highly susceptible to Síast’s subjugation capabilities. People would be too.”
“Not good!” Sven exclaimed. He asked Áox, “How do we catch up with Kei?”
“I have already conveyed our situation to our vessels, and to Átt,” Áox answered. The framandi continued, “Together, the four vessels can create a strong gravity well, ahead of us. It’ll catapult us towards Síast.”
“You’re conveying dejected and sad emotions, why?” Sven asked.
“The pressure from the required acceleration will be fatal for you and Crystal,” Áox.
Without emotion, Sven thought back, “Then the two of us are of no further use in this endeavour. Give the go ahead.” As soon as Áox had passed on the instructions, Sven said to the framandi, “Grab Crystal. Help me get her off the shuttle. We’re hopping off the bus, right here.”
The two of them assisted Crystal to the universal docking port. Then without another thought exchanged, Sven stepped of the shuttle, hanging tightly to Crystal, while he got a tether attached through the smart material covering her suit.
The two of them used thrusters to deaccelerate as they watched the shuttle in the distance, magnified by the smart material sensors. Then abruptly the shuttle shot ahead and disappeared. They were alone in deep space, their conventional emergency beacons pinged away, while their suits’ compact gaupas, updated their location to Átt.
“Hear you’re looking for a lift,” a voice faintly crackled through their earpieces.
“This is Sven de Vries. Who’s there?” Sven replied happily. Crystal and he’d been adrift a mere ten minutes. He’d expected the crew from Átt to connect with them through their gaupas.
“This is Gylfi Hallgrímsson along with Katrín Magnusdóttir,” the voice answered. Gylfi continued, “We’ve been tracking the Átt’s progress. Our situational awareness feed just updated with your location. The Átt and the accompanying framandi vessels are going after Síast. They have their hands full. We’re in the Habogi, a ‘nesting doll’ cargo and transport vessel, close to your present trajectory.”
“The Habogi! We’ve used the ACTV before,” Crystal said, sounding cheerful. She asked, “How far out are you?”
“You’ll have to hang on for forty minutes. We’re already deaccelerating,” Katrín answered.
“Super!” Crystal exclaimed happily.
“Really glad you’re coming to get us. Meanwhile, we’ll get in touch with Átt and let them know we’re okay. Hopefully they can transmit the situational awareness feed through our gaupas. We were hooked up to the shuttle’s conventional communications,” Sven said.
“Will do.” Gylfi answered. “We’ve begun to receive telemetry from your suit. We’re locked on to your position. See you soon,” he said encouragingly.
Crystal said to Sven, “I’m feeling great. Not foggy any longer. Guess Kei’s let go of my brain. And, I can wriggle my toes.”
The two of them drifted on their previous path while Átt’s crew took turns speaking with them. They’d begun receiving a fresh feed which showed Áox’s and Áom’s view. The two framandi were just about hanging on to consciousness. The fantastic force of acceleration on the shuttle had been hard, even on their toughened bodies. Their suits were healing them as they caught up to Síast.
“Ásta and I will pass out soon,” Sven and Crystal heard Jón’s voice, conveyed to their minds through their diadems. “Síast’s accelerating hard. We’re facing more vertical Gs than our suits or Síast’s internal gravity balancing can compensate for,” they heard him say. Then there was nothing further.
On Átt, Isla thought she’d have a nervous breakdown. Since entering the solar system, they’d been strapped into their grav-chairs most of the time. They’d pushed their bodies to deal with the exertion of the assignment. The uncertainty of Jón’s fate was eating into her. Átt was falling behind the accompanying framandi vessels. Their escorts had increased acceleration, to chase after Áox and Áom. She hung on, keeping an eye on the projected situational awareness feed.
Stefán announced, “Síast’s acceleration is evening out. I think Kei is trying to balance between keeping Ásta and Jón alive and arriving quickly at Earth.”
Jón had passed on the rogue AI’s intensions before he’d passed out. Ásta had also communicated that the two of them had managed to access portions of Síast’s systems by riding Kei’s mind access signals.
Isla’s intense feeling of dread subsided, but only slightly. She heard Eiji say, “Kei’s trying to achieve multiple immediate objectives, simultaneously. Getting to Earth quickly, cutting off the twins’ access to Síast’s systems and keeping them alive. I’ve estimated that it’s delicately balancing the three objectives, by gently massaging Síast’s acceleration. It’s up to the framandi now.”
Sven said, “You’re right, we’re out of this chase. There’s little chance of us catching up with either the Síast or the framandi. Crystal, drop our acceleration to six Gs. The speed we’ve picked up will see us at Earth in sixty hours, including time to deaccelerate. We need to rest and recover before deacceleration. We’re just observers now.”
None of the crew objected. They were all intelligent enough to understand the reasoning, however awful any of them felt.
Thirty-two hours later Áox and Áom had caught up with the Síast. They’d used manual thrusters to align the shuttle and brin
g it within hundred meters of the kilig spacecraft controlled by Kei. The two framandi were completely recuperated by now. They were providing a continuous visual feed to their own vessels, the crew on Átt and other Lýsi observers. A live common communication channel, connected through two separate gaupas on Átt, ensured the crew were able to keep in touch with Áox and Áom. Observers without diadems, saw a simplified text translation of the framandi communication, deciphered by Shun. Crystal provided a separate narration for the benefit of anyone not on the common gaupa channel.
As they watched, Áox and Áom pushed themselves off the shuttle, just as it was beginning to overhaul Síast. They made tiny course corrections as they rapidly closed the distance to the kilig spacecraft.
“Closing in on the kilig spacecraft. Aiming to land beside the capsule ejection hatches. We will begin to cut off the hatches over Jón and Ásta’s capsules simultaneously,” Áox conveyed over the common communication channel.
As the two framandi neared Síast’s hull, a battered but modified AMCAR emerged from the vessel’s docking port. It launched itself off the spacecraft. Built for rigorous autonomous asteroid mining or construction tasks, it was a daunting sight, even for the framandi. Alert and anxious emotions registered on their live channel.
The AMCAR immediately began firing both its high wattage lasers at Áox who was leading. The framandi chose not to take any evasive action, absorbing the brunt of the attack, while Áom followed closely behind.
Just as the AMCAR was about to collide with Áox, the framandi fired propellent thrusters and dove under the autonomous robot. Áom swung upward and over the AMCAR. It thrust out with its long hyper-redundant snake-arm manipulator, grabbing the framandi by the left leg. Both Áox and the autonomous robot pivoted. The AMCAR quickly stabilised itself while reeling the framandi in.
Áom began to slowly and deliberately take the AMCAR apart, beginning with a protruding visual sensor pod. The robot’s lasers were both focussing on specific points on the framandi’s suit, attempting to overcome the constantly replaced smart material. Another snake-arm lunged at Áom’s second foot. Leaning towards the AMCAR’s larger laser, Áom struck it hard. Nothing happened.
Sven, who’d spent time on the AMCAR design project, thought to the framandi, “The robot is built to withstand tremendous abuse, including collisions with asteroids. You’ll need to breach the panel next to the laser, on the far side. There are similar maintenance panels for the robotic arms too.”
Grappling with the larger laser, Áom swung it away while crouching. A dribble of the framandi’s suit’s smart material, found its way to the laser’s maintenance panel. Moments later the panel popped off and floated into space. Immediately after, the laser ceased functioning. Áom sequentially took out the second laser and then the snake arms, while noticing the increasing gap between the Síast and the AMCAR. By the time the framandi had disabled the robot’s ability to do any damage, they were over six thousand meters away. Áom quickly calculated an appropriate trajectory and launched off the AMCAR, using thrusters to accelerate.
Áox, having safely landed next to the designated spot on Síast, had begun working on the closest escape hatch. Turning towards Áom, Áox reached out to steady the rapidly approaching framandi. Áom overshot. Áox felt a jerk and a gradual shift in gravity. Kei had initiated deacceleration, in preparation for arrival at Earth. Latching onto the hull of the kilig spacecraft, Áox launched off the surface, trailing a thin strand of smart material. Noticing the distance to Áom increase, Áox activated thrusters while Áom pivoted and slowed. They closed the gap between themselves. Within a minute the two framandi connected; just barely. Áom grasped Áox’s hand a moment before the Síast would have pulled the framandi away. The two of them made their way to the hatch Áox had been working on. The deceleration force was gradually becoming stronger.
They changed tactics. Instead of tackling both hatches simultaneously, Áom supplied additional quantities of smart material, to aid Áox’s supply at the first hatch. The work progressed slowly. Kei was using its own smart material, previously drawn into the spacecraft, to counter the effects of the framandi’s efforts. The framandi had to commit nearly all their spare suit material to the task. They’d instructed their material to eject Kei’s into space, eroding the AI’s ability to repair and reintroduce smart material. They shouldn’t have been able to do this, but somehow, they were getting away with it.
“Áom, Áox, are you close by?” Jón asked. Both framandi paused, communicated between each other, and then Áox replied, “We are on Síast, trying to cut off the hatches over your and Ásta’s capsules.”
“Ásta and I just regained consciousness,” Jón informed them. He continued, “We’re attempting to pick up where we left off. This time around, we’ve had quicker results. We’ve been able to partially restrict Kei’s access to our wetware. Hopefully we’ll learn how to completely protect ourselves. Also, we were able to momentarily undermine Kei’s control over smart material slaved to Síast.”
“You have very little time to escape,” Áom let the twins know. “We’ll soon be at your planet. According to our calculations, Kei plans to take advantage of your planet’s spin, to bring Síast in on a high velocity entry, in the direction of the spin.”
“How much time do we have?” Ásta asked.
Pausing briefly to calculate, Áom responded, “A little over one Earth hour. Áox and I will have the capsule hatches off by then. Sooner if you can completely disrupt Kei’s control over Síast’s smart material.”
“I’ll do that while Jón tries to gain control over the propulsion systems,” Ásta said.
They all got down to the tasks at hand. Framandi and human observers felt helpless. Ten minutes after their last communication, Síast’s smart material ceased battling the framandi’s. Áom and Áox picked up the pace. They ripped off the first capsule’s hatch. The twins chose to eject together, only once the second hatch was cut off. The framandi started on the second hatch while the twins tackled Kei directly.
“Second hatch cut away. Eject now. Our three masked vessels have just arrived. They will pick us up,” Áox informed the twins as the two framandi stepped away from the capsule hatches. Seconds later both escape capsules shot out of Síast, rapidly falling behind as thrusters cut in. The two framandi leapt off the kilig spacecraft’s hull after them.
As they were exiting Síast, Jón thought to Ásta over the common channel, “Remember the hostile gigil drone we destroyed, while first entering the framandi system?”
“Yes, we formed a focussed gravity point inside the drone, causing it to implode,” Ásta replied.
Jón said, “Follow my lead. See the steps in my mind. We’re going to kill the antimatter trap in Síast.”
Moments later a massive explosion erupted ahead of them. The two framandi were enveloped in it. Áom communicated their situation. “Extreme heat and rapid degradation of our exterior matter,” Áom announced while transmitting concern.
“We’ve been knocked into a high velocity atmospheric entry trajectory,” Áox informed urgently. “We’re altering exterior material for re-entry,” the framandi thought to the twins.
“Re-entry suit-form completed. But my suit’s exterior material has now fused due to the heat. It’s no longer responding,” Áom let them know.
Áox and Áom began to descend rapidly. The three disguised framandi vessels had entered gravity projection range but were unable to capture them.
Jón thought to them over the common channel, “Ásta and I are coming after you. We’ll grab you once you hit terminal velocity. Sooner, if possible.”
Then Ásta said, “Jón look at the feed from the Síast’s explosion. The control cabin shell has survived. I can still feel Kei trying to access my brain’s processing capabilities.”
“I’d have thought surviving that explosion would have been impossible,” Jón replied incredulously, realising he too felt the faint brain-lag from Kei’s presence.
“Go
after it. You’re closest. Pull Kei’s trajectory from the situational awareness feed. I’ll go after Áom,” Ásta told her brother.
Readjusting his re-entry angle, Jón chased after the rogue AI in the control cabin shell. He announced, “If the cabin survived the explosion, its likely to have the compressive strength to endure aerodynamic heating and atmospheric drag. I’m on its tail.”
As the observers watched helplessly, the two framandi hit Earth’s atmosphere, enclosed in their sphere-cone shaped entry shells. Ásta followed, carefully increasing speed. Jón was a lot more cavalier and generously plied every bit of acceleration the emergency capsule was capable of. Moments later Kei’s cabin shell entered the atmosphere followed shortly by Jón.
Lýsi began emergency measures on Earth after pinpointing Kei’s expected landing point. It was heading for the coast off San Francisco Bay. A location close to Santa Clara, the home of Silicon Valley and the hub of most of the world’s high technology. Kei would splash down right over some of the world’s most important submarine data cables. The rogue AI very likely had the knowledge gleaned from its initial merger with the kilig AI, on manufacturing electromagnetic subjugation hardware. Lýsi leadership concluded that if Kei was able to inject itself into Earth’s internet, there may not be a way to stop it. Every piece of electronic technology and every person was at risk. Drastic and immediate action was needed.
