Socrates and the Ionian

by Thomas Fay

  ‘Come on, let’s go!’ John shouted.

  They ran across the grass and into the trees. Fernali led the way, followed by Logan Myers. Miriam and the older man struggled to keep up. John fell back to match their pace, his head darting from side to side, searching for any sign of the second android.

  After several minutes they reached the parking lot. Two Sentinel cruisers were parked on the opposite side of the lot, facing towards the exit. The powerful vehicles were a reassuring symbol of safety, despite the potential for their Flux Cells to malfunction.

  ‘Get to the cruisers,’ John said, pointing at the cars. The three recently freed captives moved past him towards the cruisers. John and Fernali stood with their weapons drawn, watching the park around them.

  ‘Movement, over there,’ Fernali said.

  Sorensen emerged from the trees on the side of the parking lot. She was carrying the sniper rifle in her right hand. A backpack was slung over her left shoulder. John waved to her, motioning her towards the cruisers. She began to wave, then suddenly dropped to a crouching position, bringing the sniper rifle up to a firing position. John spun around.

  The second android was standing on the edge of the parking lot. Its eyes were glowing as it appraised them. Then it moved. Fast.

  ‘Run!’ John shouted. He knew they would never make it. The android was too fast. He could feel its metallic endoskeleton crushing his frail human body. He felt a cold shiver run through him as his body released an enormous dose of adrenaline. It would make no difference. He was too slow. They were all dead.

  Then he heard it. The high-pitched whine of the prototype motorbike. Just as the rogue android lunged at them, the motorbike with Socrates on it burst from the surrounding foliage. Aiming the motorbike directly at the other android, Socrates jumped off in midair. The bike slammed into the android, sending it flying backwards into a dense copse of trees.

  ‘Socrates!’ John shouted.

  His android partner was already in motion. Socrates ran towards Sorensen. Grabbing the sniper rifle as he moved past her, he turned and dropped to the ground. Aiming the sniper rifle behind him, he fired. Once. Twice. The sound of the rogue android’s head exploding was like a tyre bursting. The shattered remains of its body fell to the gravel.

  Socrates stood up. He offered the sniper rifle back to Sorensen.

  ‘Good shot,’ she said.

  ‘It was adequate to disable the android,’ Socrates said.

  ‘Damn, that was close,’ John said.

  ‘At least it ended better than the last time,’ Fernali said.

  John nodded. He walked over to where Logan, Miriam and the older man stood.

  ‘Thank you,’ Logan said as John approached them.

  ‘I made a promise,’ John said.

  ‘Lauren?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Logan nodded. The older man shuffled forward.

  ‘What is all this about?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s what I’d like to know … Mr Tesh, wasn’t it?’ Miriam asked.

  John looked at the three of them for a moment.

  ‘What’s the connection between you three?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, the only thing that springs to mind is that we were all about to announce our candidacy for the Ruling Council seat,’ Miriam replied.

  John nodded, remembering Frost’s announcement last night. ‘That makes sense. Someone really didn’t want you to run.’

  ‘But why?’ Miriam asked.

  ‘That’s what I’m working on.’

  ‘Are we in any further danger?’ the older man asked.

  ‘Possibly, which is why we’re going to take you back to Sentinel HQ. You’ll be safe there.’

  John turned to walk away. Logan grabbed his arm, holding him back.

  ‘Is Lauren okay?’ he asked.

  ‘Don’t worry, she’s safely back at Sentinel HQ.’

  ‘It seems I’m in your debt. If there’s anything I can do to help?’

  ‘I’ll let you know.’

  John walked back to where Fernali, Sorensen and Socrates were standing.

  ‘Did you figure out why the androids kidnapped those three?’ Fernali asked.

  ‘I believe so.’

  ‘And …?’

  ‘They were all going to run for the new Council seat.’

  ‘I guess someone really didn’t want them to run,’ Sorensen said.

  ‘The question is who?’ Fernali asked.

  ‘It would be logical to assume that whoever is behind the Flux Cell malfunctions is responsible for this kidnapping, given the involvement of the androids,’ Socrates said.

  John nodded.

  ‘I think that’s a given. They also broke into that CTS facility to steal their algorithm. Given what we know about the Flux Cells and this kidnapping, what would they need the algorithm for?’

  ‘The CTS algorithm is a unique resource allocation and scheduling tool. It was designed to facilitate maximum usage of available logistics resources and minimise customer wait times,’ Socrates said.

  ‘Yes, but why would someone who can hack into Flux Cells want it?’

  ‘One possible hypothesis is that they needed it to coordinate the syphoning of energy from the Flux Cells. Given a large percentage of cells are in motion and the negative side effects of overloading them if too much power is drawn, they may have sought to utilise the algorithm to maximise the power they could draw while minimising the chance of a destabilisation.’

  John considered that for a moment. He nodded, slowly.

  ‘That makes sense. Fernali, Sorensen, can you get those three back to Sentinel HQ?’

  ‘Sure,’ Sorensen said.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Fernali asked.

  ‘North Sydney.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because that’s where I should have gone yesterday, after Muller’s accident. If I’m not mistaken, that’s one of the main locations the energy from the Flux Cells is being channelled to. There’s something there they didn’t want Muller to see. I just hope we’re not too late.’

  As he said it, there was a momentary shimmering of the air around the two cruisers. Then the engine compartments folded in on themselves. A split second later they exploded outwards, pushing them all to the ground. John slowly raised himself up on his elbows. He cast around. No one seemed badly injured. Then he saw his partner. The android was lying on the ground convulsing.

  ‘Socrates, are you alright? Socrates? Socrates!’

  Forty-Eight

  An EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, is a burst of electromagnetic energy generated either naturally or by a manufactured device. In this case, the collapse of the anchoring mechanisms binding the singularities within the two Flux Cells resulted in a radiated EMP blast. While harmless to human beings, the EMP interference was extremely damaging to electronic equipment. Even a machine as advanced as Socrates was not immune to its disruptive effects.

  ‘Socrates!’ John shouted.

  ‘What happened?’ Fernali asked.

  ‘I don’t know! Socrates, can you hear me?’

  Sorensen approached the stricken android. She looked at him, then at the remains of the cruisers.

  ‘The Flux Cell collapse must have generated an EMP blast,’ she said.

  ‘What can we do?’ John asked.

  ‘Honestly? I have no idea. An EMP usually fries any sort of electronic equipment within range.’

  ‘Are you saying he’s …?’

  Sorensen shook her head.

  ‘I don’t know, John. It would have messed him up pretty badly.’

  John stared at his partner, who was still lying on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. It looked like an electrical current was passing through him. A high-voltage current. At least he appeared to be intact which suggested his own Flux Cell had not been overloaded. John reached for his phone. He flipped it open. The screen was dark. He pressed several buttons. Nothing.

  ‘Damn, it took out my phone,’ he said.

  �
��Mine too,’ Fernali said.

  ‘Sorensen?’ John asked.

  ‘Sorry, mine’s dead too,’ she said.

  John cast around. His eyes passed over the remains of the two cruisers. He dismissed those. There would be nothing usable inside the cars. The three Council candidates’ phones would have suffered a similar fate to his own. He had to look further, outside the EMP blast radius. That was assuming no other Flux Cells in the area had malfunctioned.

  ‘Sorensen, what’s the range of that EMP blast?’ John asked.

  The former military demolitions specialist gestured with her hands as she considered the question.

  ‘Hard to say but I can’t imagine it would be more than a hundred metres. We were all standing very close,’ she said.

  ‘So, anything outside that range should be working?’ John asked.

  Sorensen nodded. John set off at a run.

  ‘John! Where are you going?’ Fernali called out.

  ‘To find a phone that works.’

  ****

  John reached the Ruling Council facility, masquerading as the parklands office. He walked past the remains of the rogue android lying in the courtyard. For a split second the light played across the metallic endoskeleton, causing John to flinch. But Sorensen’s sniper rounds had done the trick. The android had been permanently decommissioned.

  Reaching the side door, John entered the facility. He found the second Council operative’s mangled body. Kneeling next to it, he quickly searched the lightweight armour. Nothing. Frowning, he looked around the room. There appeared to be no equipment, certainly no communications equipment, of any kind.

  ‘C’mon, think. They must communicate somehow. They …’ His words trailed off as he saw himself reflected in the operative’s helmet. He reached out and removed it slowly, bracing for the sight of the partially formed human face. The lifeless eyes that were an unnatural blue colour stared at him. Standing up, he turned the helmet around in his hands.

  ‘Here goes nothing,’ he whispered, putting the helmet on. Darkness surrounded him. Then a single point of light blinked into existence before his eyes. It rapidly expanded into the room around him overlaid with a complex HUD schematic. John looked around the room. As he did, the HUD outlined items with ghostly computer graphics. Icons flashed on the interface. They changed colour as he looked at them. Taking a chance, he stared at the first one until it was highlighted and then he blinked. The HUD changed colour to a dark amber. Lines of deep red colour glowed in places around the room while a triangular targeting reticle followed his line of sight. Looking at the icon, he blinked again. The combat routine dissolved to be replaced by the normal view of the room. John tried the next icon. This time, a voice filled his ears.

  ‘Unit Gamma-561, what is your status?’ the voice asked.

  ‘Ummm … this is John Tesh, Sentinel, ID Alpha-101. I need to speak to Councillor Alara Green.’

  There was a momentary silence.

  ‘Say again?’

  ‘Damn it, I don’t have time for this. Put me through to Councillor Green. Now!’

  There was an extended silence. The next voice John heard was a familiar one.

  ‘John, how did you get on this frequency?’ Councillor Green asked.

  ‘I’ll explain later. Right now, I really need your help.’

  ‘Of course. What can I do?’

  ‘How quickly can you get to Liberation Park?’

  Forty-Nine

  Professor Daniel Holstein’s robotics facility, masquerading as an old rundown warehouse in the back of Mascot, had always been a place where John felt out of his depth. The advanced technology and its eccentric but brilliant resident had always reminded him how little he actually understood about the Ionians’ advanced technology. A technology which permeated his everyday existence—from the Flux Cell to the red-light force-field barriers and UAV surveillance. On top of that, the professor had a way of explaining things that usually left him with more questions than answers. Today was worse. Today he felt completely helpless as he watched his partner of almost a decade lying on a metallic slab, twitching uncontrollably, while the professor attempted to fix him.

  ‘It’ll be alright, John,’ Councillor Green said.

  John turned to look at her. It was strange seeing her in her early twenties. He still pictured her as the stern-faced woman whom he’d met eight years ago. Now the Ionians had brought her back in an identical body, just twenty-five years younger. Yet another thing he would never understand.

  ‘Socrates has been my partner for over eight years now. I’ve seen him shrug off bullets, jump down several storeys and even withstand a direct hit from an arc cannon. I guess I always just thought of him as indestructible,’ John said.

  ‘While he may not be indestructible, he was built by the best of us. I’m fairly certain Frost would have anticipated an EMP blast.’

  ‘Then why hasn’t he recovered?’

  ‘I don’t know. Perhaps his Flux Cell was affected by the device that collapsed the other Flux Cells.’

  John nodded, not really wanting to think about what that meant. Thinking back to the incident in the park, he asked, ‘Did you figure out who those androids are working for?’

  Councillor Green shook her head.

  ‘No. Frost is convinced it’s an older design that was employed for deep-space exploration, hence their enhanced durability.’

  ‘Hang on—does that mean they were brought here by Ionians?’

  ‘It would seem that way, unless someone managed to find some we’d left behind along the way and bring them here, which seems highly unlikely.’

  ‘What about the Flux Cell disruption device? Did Councillor Stone find anything on the e-storage device?’

  ‘She’s still analysing the recordings. There were a lot of prototypes before Frost managed to create a stable power cell that worked in this region of space. Building an anchoring mechanism that doubled as a power converter to allow it to be used as an energy source was perhaps his greatest achievement. His genius for modifying something so advanced into a large battery which could be retrofitted to run everything on the planet is why I’ve always respected his intellect.’

  John nodded. Then he frowned. ‘Except, now, someone has found a way to turn his achievement into a weapon. One that’s capable of wiping out this city.’

  ‘That was never his intention. Whoever is behind this has perverted his vision and his achievement.’

  ‘Is there any way of switching the Flux Cells off?’

  Councillor Green shook her head. ‘No. Even if there was, that would be catastrophic given they power almost everything on the planet now. The world is completely reliant on the Flux Cell.’

  ‘So, by saving us you may have doomed us as well.’

  ‘Frost won’t let it come to that. He’ll find a way. He always does.’

  ‘I wish I shared your belief in him. Right now it looks like the city is falling apart at the seams and he’s watching old experiments.’

  ‘That’s not fair. Frost is doing everything he can.’

  John took a deep breath. ‘I know. It’s been a long two days and things seem to be getting worse rather than better.’

  At that moment Socrates stopped moving. John rushed over to his side.

  ‘What happened?’ he demanded.

  ‘I have managed to reboot his system,’ the professor said.

  ‘Will that fix him?’

  ‘It should repolarise his neural pathways and clear any residual disruption caused by the EMP interference.’

  ‘So, he’ll be alright?’

  The professor considered the question for a moment, scratching his cheek. Finally, he said, ‘I believe he will return to full operational capacity. It may take some time.’

  ‘How long?’

  ‘I cannot posit a reasonable assumption.’

  ‘Professor, that really isn’t very—’

  Socrates sat up suddenly, startling John, who fell back a step. Recovering, he approach
ed the android, who sat staring at nothing. His eyes blurred rapidly.

  ‘Socrates?’

  Nothing.

  ‘Socrates, are you alright?’

  The android’s eyes refocused. He turned his head from side to side, surveying the room. Finally, his eyes came to rest on John.

  ‘I am Socrates. Who are you?’

  Fifty

  Amnesia is a condition where the subject is unable to access some or all of their memories. It can be caused by brain damage, disease or deep psychological trauma. While the condition can be arrested, it is difficult, if not impossible, to treat in most humans. In the case of Socrates, an advanced synthetic life form created by the Ionians, it was a complete unknown.

  ‘Umm … Socrates? It’s me, John. Your partner,’ John said.

  The android’s eyes blurred again.

  ‘John Tesh, Sentinel. Born in Sydney, Australia, on the 10th of February 2006 to Henry and Clarissa Tesh. Both parents killed during Global Energy Crisis in 2027. Nathan Tesh, closest relative, became—’

  ‘Okay, I don’t think we need the full bio right now,’ John said. ‘Does this mean you remember who I am?’

  ‘Negative. I have accessed the Iona databases, including the registrar of births, deaths and marriages.’

  ‘So, you really have no idea who I am?’

  ‘You are John Tesh, Sentinel, born in Sydney, Australia, on the—’

  ‘Stop! We really don’t have time for this.’

  John reached inside his jacket pocket and withdrew his phone. He was about to open it when he remembered the EMP had rendered it useless.

  ‘Can I borrow your phone?’ John asked.

  ‘Sure. Who do you need to speak to?’ Councillor Green asked.

  ‘Qallan Frost.’

  Councillor Green took out her phone, a heavily encrypted Iona Corporation device, and pressed a single button. After several seconds the call rang out.