“Your logic is dubious at best,” Gloria said. “You have made numerous assumptions that don’t necessarily bear out.”
“Maybe,” Walleye said. “But who cares? This is a plan, a way. We’re going to lose anyway. Why not try an idea that gives us a real chance of winning if it works?”
“And if that enrages the Sisters of Enoy?” Gloria asked.
“If, if, if,” Walleye said. “Let’s do it, and take our lumps later. Besides, maybe we can talk our way out of any punishments.”
“Like you just did now?” Gloria asked.
Walleye shrugged.
“Yes,” Jon said. “We have to align the null-splitters. Then, I’m guessing, we have to dump our extra cyberships into normal space. We may have to use all the quantum-pi power we can to create a gigantic reality rip to swallow the Main. We may not have enough power to keep the reality generator operative to keep the void from eating the other cyberships.”
“I don’t know,” Gloria said. “We could be grasping at straws.”
“At this point,” Jon said. “That’s better than grasping at nothing.”
“Is that a bad joke concerning the void?” Gloria asked.
“What?” Jon asked. “No.”
Walleye shook his head.
Jon looked around. A chance at winning the fight—it felt great to really hope again. He just hoped that this chance didn’t come at the price of alienating the Sisterhood of Enoy.
-13-
Aboard the Rose of Enoy, Zeta and Ree watched the four human-crewed void ships. They also monitored the energy levels that crackled between the points of life in the great null.
“They are calibrating the…” Ree said softly.
“I know very well what they are doing,” Zeta said crossly. “You do not have to hint at their disgusting habits. I am beginning to loathe these physical creatures. I never should have given them Enoy technology.”
“It is not too late to rectify the matter,” Ree said.
“I suppose you mean launching Vestal missiles at them.”
“I do,” Ree said.
An energy surge spiked on a screen.
The ball of energy known as Ree turned away to avoid seeing what happened next.
Zeta was ordered more sternly and wasn’t quite as puritanical as Ree. She watched the proceedings and found a tinge of pornographic delight at witnessing it. Perhaps this made her a voyeur and she should be ashamed of herself. The humans had turned out to be unbelievably filthy. And yet, she told herself that maybe they viewed the proceeding differently than an Enoy would. Who would have thought that the humans would have indulged in this?
“Are they finished?” Ree asked, still looking away.
“Not quite,” Zeta said.
“You’re watching?” Ree asked in outrage.
“Only in order to know when they’re done,” Zeta said, temporizing.
“I don’t know how you can do it.”
“I will be glad once this mission is over,” Zeta said, wanting to change the topic.
“Well…” Ree said. “Maybe we must endure a few indignities in order to prolong our mission against the robots.”
Zeta noted another energy spike. This time, she could not take it. She directed her attention elsewhere. The humans tried to align the null-splitters. And according to the little she looked, it seemed they were having greater luck than any of the Sisterhood would have had. Perhaps because the humans made the alignments so clinically, they actually had an advantage here.
Finally, a power surge left Zeta’s lightning-like humanoid form as she switched off the panel.
“The humans can make their tests,” Zeta said. “That doesn’t mean we have to watch. If they succeed, they succeed. If they fail, the failure will devour their vessels and we will be done with these disgusting creatures.”
“Have you thought what it will mean if the humans can achieve their foul goal?” Ree asked.
Zeta did not answer. She almost cast a bolt of energy at Ree. One more such haughty question and she would teach Ree a bitter lesson. The time of warnings had ended. Now, they were going to enter the time of punishments, both for her crew and the lewd humans.
One way or another, the fringe mission was surely coming to its close.
-14-
The human-crewed void ships individually opened reality rips. First, the two regular cyberships partnered with each void ship slid back into time and space. They did so in the Kuiper Belt. Then, the void ships joined them.
The location was on the other side of the Solar System from where the AI fleet bored in. That meant the Sun was between the two fleets. The AI vessels moved at high velocity, as they had entered hyperspace at that speed. The four void ships and their eight companions were almost at a dead stop.
That meant that despite the AI fleet’s greater distance from Earth, they would reach it far sooner than the Confederation ships could do—even if the Confederation ships began to travel at max acceleration.
A day later, Toper Glen’s cybership appeared in the near Oort cloud. It entered the Solar System from the direction of the Allamu System, which was quite different from the Delta Pavonis direction from which the AI fleet had dropped out of hyperspace. The Sun was not directly between Toper Glen and the AIs, but the two fleets were far, far away from each other.
Toper Glen’s fleet, including the bombards, moved at a much higher velocity than the Void Flotilla.
So far, the Rose of Enoy had not appeared in normal time and space, but remained in the void.
The Void Flotilla had used the wait to gather data on the Solar System. The data gathering had taken time. They heard terrified newscasts from Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Mars satellites and cities. There were no people on the Jupiter moons, as everyone had emigrated after the last AI Assault there years ago.
Finally, Jon called a strategy session in the Nathan Graham’s conference chamber in order to debate the meaning of the collected data.
Uther Kling and the other void ship captains attended, along with Bast Banbeck—Jon had quietly released him from solitary confinement. Walleye, June Zen and Gloria were there. There were also several staff members from the other void ships.
“I’ve been in contact with Toper Glen,” Jon said, opening the meeting. “Well, I spoke to Hon Ra, but the Chief Star Lord sat in, listening. They know about Admiral Santa Cruz’s defection and that twelve Confederation cyberships won’t be joining them.”
Jon stopped abruptly and looked around the conference table. “The loss of twelve cyberships might not matter, though. In fact, if our latest tactic works, it could diametrically change the balance of power. In that case, Toper Glen’s fleet will become overpowering. Combined with our eight companion cyberships, it could be enough to impose order on the Solar System.
“You mean if your grand idea works,” Kling said.
“Yes, if,” Jon agreed.
The hatch opened, and the Old Man walked in. “Sir, I’ve just received some updates. You may want to hear this.”
“By all means,” Jon said. “Come in, come in.” He already knew what the Old Man was going to tell them. But he’d decided to do it this way in order to pump up morale. At this point, every little bit helped.
The lanky Old Man stepped to the conference table and sat down at an open seat. For once, he wasn’t smoking his pipe—it was nowhere on his person. Clearing his throat, he said, “The Centurion is a prisoner aboard the world ship, aboard Main 63, as he calls himself.”
Others immediately started talking, asking questions.
Finally, Jon pounded the table with a fist. “Quiet! Let the man speak.”
After the others quieted down, the Old Man said, “We intercepted an AI transmission. It was directed at the newest premier on Earth. We also intercepted the Solar League’s reply.” He looked around the conference table. “The old premier—Alice Wurzburg—was murdered at the Zurich Spaceport.”
Again, the questions started flying, but the people qui
eted down faster this time.
Then, the Old Man told them what he knew about the incident.
“You’re saying that the premier’s own gunmen murdered her on the tarmac?” Kling asked.
“There’s grainy footage showing what happened,” the Old Man said, “as someone there happened to record the event. The Solar League authorities sent the footage to the AI in order to substantiate their claims. In any case, the premier’s gunmen were giants, all of them over seven feet tall. They murdered the premier and then they all shot themselves.”
“The Solar System is going mad,” Kling said.
Jon stared meaningful at the Old Man.
“Er, well, that’s not our take,” the Old Man said. “I had a suspicion about the incident and showed the footage to Red Demeter.”
“Our tame Seiner?” asked Kling.
“The same,” the Old Man said. “She recognized some of the…the Seiners in the footage.”
Kling’s eyes widened. So did many others’.
“The Seiners must have used telepathy,” the Old Man said. “They caused the premier’s bodyguards to murder her and her party and then themselves. Afterward, the Seiners reached orbital space, boarded the Solar League cyberships there, took over and are presently maxing out for the Oort cloud.”
“Just like Admiral Santa Cruz did a bunk,” Gloria said.
“Just like her,” the Old Man agreed.
“Because of the massed AI armada,” Jon said, “the Solar System is in turmoil. The Social Dynamist Party is breaking down, and the hidden Seiners on Earth are pulling out. The AI fleet brings the scent of doom with them.”
“The scent?” asked Kling.
“We’re going to attempt our great dare and—we hope—stop the AIs,” Jon said. “We’ve aligned the null-splitters. Soon, we’re going to go back into the void, although we’ll leave the companion cyberships here. We’re going to strike for the Main first. If this works—we don’t know how long we can keep using the null-splitters.”
“So we’re going balls out at the start, huh?” asked Kling. “We’ll probably get better at aligning the null-splitters with some practice.”
“You’re probably right,” Jon said. “But everything is on the line. If this works, we have a real chance at changing the status quo. If it doesn’t work and we’re still around, we’ll go back to firing Vestal missiles and killing as many AI ships as we can the old way.”
“We’re making one throw of the dice,” Bast said quietly. “I have a question, Commander. Are we going to rescue the Centurion?”
“How?” asked Jon.
“Send a team onto the Main once he’s in the void,” Bast said.
“We’re not going to have time for that,” Jon said. “If using the combined null-splitters works, we’re going to try to swallow up the siege-ships as well.”
“We’re going to leave the Centurion to his fate?” asked Bast.
“No one will survive for long in the void if he’s outside a reality field. We can’t waste time leaving a void ship beside the Main. Besides, that might be too dangerous for the void ship. One man can’t stand in the way of human survival.”
“The Centurion—”
“Bast,” Jon said. “Drop it…” Jon didn’t like leaving the Centurion to die, but he saw no way of saving his old friend. It was one more numbing casualty in the brutal war against the AIs.
“When do we begin the…test?” Walleye asked.
“A day from now,” Jon said. “Any more questions?”
There were tons more, and he answered most of them. But the critical issue had been decided. Soon, it would be time to see if the plan worked.
-15-
Jon paced back and forth on the bridge of the Nathan Graham. The asteroid-hulled cybership had reentered the void. Eleven crewmembers had gone mad because of it. It was worse on the Neptune for Captain Kling.
The reality generator churned at full blast. Jon was sure if it did any less, the madness would become general.
The truth was that the void was an evil realm. At least, humans should avoid the place. It made Jon wonder again on the real nature of the Sisters of Enoy.
The universe was much stranger than man had originally suspected.
None of that mattered here and now. Jon halted his pacing and cracked his knuckles. He looked up at the main screen. It was blank. Soon, they would attempt the great dare. He shook his head. Did he really think that he could defeat a world-ship? Was this a stopgap measure or was this the real deal—the answer they had sought ever since the AIs had first invaded the Solar System many years ago already?
There was only one way to find out.
Jon’s stomach churned. He didn’t want to take the last step. There was too much riding on this, like, just the entire fate of the human race. And the fate of the Warriors of Roke, maybe that of the hateful Seiners and the strange, rocklike Kames in the nearby star systems.
Could this be the beginning of the end for the AIs, the anti-life machines that hated biological life so much that it had been exterminating races for at least twenty thousand years? Had Walleye truly stumbled onto the answer?
“I’m ready,” Gloria said from her station.
Jon nodded without turning around. Even if it could work, they had to do this just right or the Main would simply zoom out of the way and save itself. That was one of the reasons he wanted to start with the biggest vessel first. This was a surprise. In war, in battle, it was best to use a surprise for a telling blow. Too many generals in history had frittered away a key advantage by using it too soon or using it on a weak target.
That wasn’t going to be his failing. Sure, maybe he should run away and build twice as many void ships. But that meant losing the Solar System, the bulk of humanity, and it could mean losing his nerve. Too many people might balk later. Besides, every time they went back into the void, more people went mad. Who would want to come into this realm again?
“Whenever you’re set, Commander,” Bast said from his station.
Jon ground his teeth together. It all rested on this test, this attempt. To try and fail—
“Yes,” Jon said.
He whirled around and marched to his command chair. He sat, and he opened channels with Captain Kling on the Neptune and the captains of the other two void ships. The Day of Judgment against the AIs was on hand, or the bitter day of disappointment for Jon Hawkins and his people.
“Let’s start aligning the null-splitters,” Jon said in as calm a voice as he could manage.
***
Deep in the bowels of the Nathan Graham, the quantum-pi engine began to whirr. The motion increased, and the great engine vibrated as an ethereal sound built up in pitch. The sound rose into an eerie howl.
The reality generator continued to churn, providing those on the Nathan Graham a sense of normalcy and being. Now, a greater portion of the quantum-pi energy went to the null-splitter.
The crew had worked ceaselessly to align the null-splitter with the other three. They were exhausted, but according to the panels, they should work.
In engineering matters, should was often an iffy word.
In the void, the Nathan Graham shifted precisely to take its exact position. The Neptune did likewise, seemingly far, far away from the Nathan Graham. The last two asteroid-hulled cyberships took up their positions.
“Go,” Jon said. “Begin.”
The quantum-pi engine howled like a banshee from Hell. Otherworldly power flowed to the reality generator but yet more went to the null-splitter.
“We need more power,” Bast said on the bridge.
“There’s no more to give,” Gloria said.
There was, and Jon knew it. “Lower the gain to the reality generator. Pump that extra power to the null-splitter.”
The techs did as bidden.
At that point, a foul pressure struck Jon’s mind. He believed he could feel the void out there trying to break into his sanity.
“No,” Jon whispered. “I’m g
oing to…to…hang on.” And he did, fighting the pressure that built up against him.
“Look,” Gloria whispered. “It’s happening. We’re doing it.”
Jon forced himself to look up at the main screen. He saw outside the null realm and into normal time and space. There before him was a monstrous ship. It was the size of the planet Mars. The Centurion was a prisoner on that vessel.
Jon moaned in dread for his old friend.
The glowing lines in time-space joined together from the four void ships. That caused an acceleration of the ripping of the fabric of time and space. The opening grew to a gigantic size, but the world ship was even larger.
At that point, Main 63 struck the giant reality rip in his path. The world ship was bigger than the warp in time and space. And yet, the very fabric of reality seemed to stretch in an obscene way as the great AI vessel pushed against reality. It a manner that should only have worked in a cartoon, the world ship squeezed through the smaller opening and seemed to plop into the null realm of the void.
Jon leaped to his feet. “Close the rip!” he shouted. “Close the freaking reality rip. We have it. We have the monster. It’s in the void. Now, we have to keep it there.”
As he spoke, a Luna-sized ship followed the Main, as that siege-ship had been near on the heels of the AI leader. Even as the glowing lines began to shrink, the siege-ship slid soundlessly into the void.
A ragged cheer went up on the bridge of the Nathan Graham. Two huge AI vessels had entered the void. That meant those vessels were no longer in time and space in the Solar System.
“Are you closing the reality rip?” Jon shouted hoarsely.
Gloria’s fingers flew over her panel. Bast Banbeck cursed in Sacerdote as he manipulated his board. On the main screen, the glowing lines parted, breaking into four separate pieces, and the reality rip abruptly closed, sealing the two AI vessels from the rest of the enemy fleet.
-16-
“Did you see what happened?” Ree declared from a viewing room in the Rose of Enoy.
A.I. Void Ship (The A.I. Series Book 6) Page 26
