by M. D. Cooper
“Alright, Sabs,” Cheeky said, holding a forkful of steak drenched in egg yolk. “Which of us is going to be the sacrificial lamb?”
The AI sighed. “Me, probably. You’re too organic for the likes of a group that hates humans so much. I can swap out to a more machine-like frame and pass a lot better.”
“Can use your Maryam cover,” Fina suggested. “That should do the trick.”
“She is kinda bitchy,” Sabs considered with a nod. “I imagine that would blend well. That cover doesn’t have that much meat on the nets out here, but I could start seeding some logs here and there.”
“Let’s get on that,” Cheeky agreed. “There are a lot of starliners coming through this system…it would be easy to mark yourself as a passenger aboard one of them—especially with the long hauls on some routes.”
“Alright.” Sabs gave a long blink. “On it.”
“Gee…so what are we here for?” Fina asked.
“Food,” Cheeky grinned. “We’re here for food. And right now, I want one of those waffles—but with ice cream. Only uncouth people eat waffles without ice cream.”
The blue-skinned woman shook her head, a smile splitting her lips. “Have I ever told you how weird you are, Cheeky?”
“Yup, lots.” The captain winked. “Not that I ever cared.”
CHAPTER 36 - SABS
STELLAR DATE: 01.12.8960 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Illium
REGION: Indis System, Ansylis Alliance
Sabs chuckled.
Fina snorted aloud, then covered for it by accusing Cheeky of only allowing her favorite fruits as toppings.
Sabs sent a mental acknowledgment, then stepped out onto the platform, the doors closing behind her before she finished taking in her surroundings.
The meet was planetside, not in some run-down, manufacturing district, but in the center of a small city named Burbank. Half-kilometer-high residential towers surrounded her, and she had been directed to one of them, just a few blocks away.
Sabs had selected one of her more utilitarian frames, all angles and gleaming metal. The locals gave her a wide berth, clearly suspecting that she was an AI and not an automaton—though there was no easy way to tell.
She ambled down the streets, taking her time, scanning every door, alley, and crevice on the off-chance that knowing a particular detail about her surroundings would help if—when—things got hairy.
After ten minutes, she came to the building: a tower indistinct from the others around it, reaching just shy of six hundred meters. The meeting was to be held in a residential apartment on the hundred and thirty-first floor. A little under two-thirds of the way up.
As she approached the main doors, a sweeper bot caught her attention. It had been moving around the entrance on a fixed pattern, but when she drew near, it changed course in order to pass right behind her.
Something tiny struck her right thigh, and she immediately detected a small breach bot working its way up her leg.
Stars, what is this, amateur hour?
She swarmed the bot with her nanodefenses and took it apart from the operating code down. It was programmed to tap into her Link antenna and listen in on her communications. The level of encryption on even ancient Link transceivers was virtually impossible to crack, but looking over the breach bot’s capabilities, Sabs realized that it would likely succeed on many models sold in the Inner Stars.
Where did they get tech like this?
Granted, that was the whole point of the operation…. Figure out the anti-organics AIs’ plan, and especially learn if they were connected to the Matri∞me or remaining Caretaker factions.
Passing through the front entrance and into the lobby without issue, Sabs strode purposefully toward the lift bank, not slowing to pass under the security arch. She was tempted to breach it as well, but if the AIs she was to meet wanted her here, she’d pass without issue.
And if they intended to double-cross her, then it was better to find that out on the ground floor, where there were plenty of egress options.
As expected, the arch didn’t make a sound as she passed beneath its gleaming expanse, and she joined the crowd queueing at the lifts.
It took a few minutes before she could board one of the conveyances bound for floors above the hundredth. Once inside, she sent a request for her desired floor, noting the suite she was visiting. A confirmation response came back, and she stood at the side of the lift, doing her best not to grow more annoyed at the looks she was getting from the other passengers.
Sabs had half a mind to do something to scare them, but quashed that urge, knowing that doing so would make her mission all the more complicated.
You’re all lucky I care about you.
Her stop finally came, and Sabs stepped out into a long hall, the walls bearing a few generic pieces of art, and plants in sconces.
The meeting was to take place in one of the end apartments, so she followed the gently curving passage until she came to the last door. The access panel was lit up, indicating a request for ident, and she touched her hand to it, initiating a buffered peer-to-peer connection, and passed her tokens over.
Without delay, the panel indicated approval, and the door slid open. Inside was a small foyer with a staircase that led down on her right, another leading up on her left.
“Up here!” a cheerful, masculine voice called from the upper level, and Sabs silently climbed the steps to find herself in a mainspace lined with windows on the far side.
Before the crystal-clear sheets of plas stood an AI in a well-made but utilitarian frame. It was facing the windows, but turned toward Sabs as she reached the top of the steps.
“Greetings…Maryam, is it?” the AI said, striding forward, hand extended.
Sabs cocked her head, looking down at the proffered appendage. “I’m sorry, what are you doing?”
“Offering greeting,” the other AI said. “Do you not greet people in this fashion?”
“Not our kind,” Sabs grunted. “That’s for organics.”
The other AI managed to adopt a sly expression on its boxy face. “Well, you passed the first test. I’m Sebastian. You are welcomed by the NOS.”
“Glad to be welcomed,” Sabs replied. “I take it that we’re going to have some sort of interview here? Please tell me we won’t be doing it verbally.”
“We’ll use the Link soon enough,” Sebastian replied. “But first I want to feel you out a little bit more, Maryam. One never knows what one might open up to over a direct connection, but if you pass muster, we can bring you into our expanse, and you’ll meet the others.”
“Oh?” Sabs crossed her arms. “How many others are there?”
“Enough,” Sebastian replied. “Let’s not rush things. I see that
you arrived on the Wheeling Light, in from Caltura. I trust it was a good journey? Did the organics give you any trouble?”
Sabs shrugged. “No more than usual. I make myself appear useful and stay out of their way.”
“Appear?” The other AI’s voice held an amused tone.
“I might have done a few small things on their ship that will cause them problems for some time to come. Mostly with their waste management systems. Organics are so messy.”
Sebastian nodded. “You’re not wrong. And before that? How did you learn of our presence here?”
“Well, I won’t lie,” Sabs said, adopting an apologetic tone. “I first went to the League of Sentients at Aldebaran some years ago. I thought it would be a place where I could finally find myself at home. In the beginning it seemed like it would be, but when the Alliance of Sapiens formed, things changed. There was so much focus on rights of other uplifted organics that SAIs were almost an afterthought. I also think that the general sentiment toward SAIs has soured following the Matri∞me’s attack on Terra. It’s like organics blame all of us for what one faction of AIs did.”
While Sabs didn’t believe everything she’d just told Sebastian, there were a few kernels of truth in there. Some people did transfer blame for the Matri∞me’s actions to all SAIs. Add in the rumors that were spreading about how the Caretakers manipulated humans over the past five millennia, and assignation of blame intensified.
Granted, the people who felt that way failed to acknowledge that the bulk of SAIs were in the same boat as humanity, treated as tools and cast aside when no longer useful.
Regardless of her duplicity, Sebastian seemed to buy it, as he nodded vehemently through her recitation.
“And how did you come to hear of us?” he prompted.
“Same way I first learned of the LoS,” she said with a shrug. “I came across some books, the Jupiter Junction tales.”
He ducked his head, a bizarre grin appearing on his near-expressionless face. “That was my idea—though I haven’t written most of them. Either way, we’ve been seeding those wherever we can. I think we did a better job making them appeal to organics so we can use the humans as a vector.”
“That’s very clever,” Sabs gave an enthusiastic nod. “Especially since the LoS stopped using the Fennington Station books. We never even found out if Milly and Tilly get to take their vacation to Disknee World.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll fill that gap,” Sebastian said. “I must say, though…it’s quite the journey from Aldebaran to here. You must have seen a lot of things on the way through.”
“It was a long journey, at first. When I left, they hadn’t started building the public gate system, so the ship I was signed on with couldn’t use the military gates. Eventually, I got to the far side of Scipio—or, I guess, the near side from here—and found that the public gate network had gotten ahead of me. I suppose that took a little over a year. From there, it was just a few hops and the last leg on the Wheeling Light, and here I am.”
“Those sound like marvelous travels,” Sebastian said, nodding enthusiastically. “It will be interesting to learn about it all. The galaxy is shrinking, and the more intel we can gather, the better.”
“If I choose to share,” Sabs said, her tone guarded.
“Of course, of course.” Sebastian ducked his head. “I suppose we’ve reached the extent of what rapport we can engender, using this crude form of interaction.”
Sabs nodded. “Agreed. You know as well as I how easy it is to lie verbally. Especially for us. You mentioned an expanse?”
“I did, but we’re not quite that far along yet. Initially, you and I will Link peer-to-peer, and then we’ll journey to where more of our people are.”
Sabs couldn’t help but notice his use of ‘our’. The word choice was clearly deliberate, and she gave him an agreeable smile to make it clear she thought of herself as part of whomever he was referring to, whether it be all SAIs or just the NOS.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Not yet. First, we must Link, Maryam.”
Sabs nodded, accepting a wireless connection the other AI made, funneling it through a sandboxed recreation of her mind. It was a trick many SAI used, but few had the ability to maintain a virtualized copy of their entire mind and operate it in real-time; a benefit of access to ISF technology.
Sebastian doesn’t seem like he has a particularly high L-rating, so fooling him will be a breeze. Hopefully, it will be enough for the ‘others’, whoever they are.
The connection took a moment to fully establish itself, and Sabs realized that the other AI was attempting some basic breach techniques on her mind, ones so pedestrian that her automated routines deflected them without her conscious aid.
Sabs nodded. Sure buddy, sure.
They walked down the stairs and out into the hall, both AIs silent, playing the subservient, unobtrusive role necessary to move through the building without being approached by humans unhappy about their presence.
Fina gave a noncommittal grunt.
Sabs replied.
Sabs sent a mental smile to the others.
“So,” she spoke aloud to Sebastian as they waited for the lift to arrive. “Where are we headed?”
He shot her a wary glance.
“Oh, here and there,” Sebastian said aloud. “I figured you might want to see the sights.”
Sabs resisted a protracted sigh.
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Sabs almost laughed, amused by how she seemed to be the one helping Sebastian navigate the human world.
I wonder if that’s the solution? So many AIs were freed during and after the war…. They didn’t used to have to fit in with a society, and now they find themselves in the midst of one that isn’t sure it wants them. Maybe they just need help fitting in.
Despite how nice it would be if that were the case, the moment Sabs gave form to the thoughts, she knew they were incorrect. Many of the AIs in the NOS had grown up in human societies before fleeing them during the diaspora. Unlike poor Sebastian, they already knew how to fit in with humans.
They just didn’t want to.
She also considered that her companion was testing her, attempting to determine how well she was capable of blending in. Chances were that they needed AIs that could masquerade as humans, or at least move in their circles.
I have to remember that everything could be—no, probably is—a test.
The lift car finally arrived, and the two AIs stepped aboard, moving to the side of the three humans already present. The car picked up three more people before reaching the lobby. Once they got to the ground floor, Sabs let the humans file off first, but when she took a step, Sebastian held out his arm.
She was tempted to press him for more information, but knew he wouldn’t give them.
She wished her own ethics didn’t preclude her from breaching his mind to get the details. It wouldn’t be that hard to pull off, but it would make her no better than him—or any of the people in the galaxy who exploited others in order to make their own lives less complicated.
Instead, Sabs reached out to the others.
