Veil of Shadows (Book 2 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  It took the engineering officer about half an hour to detach the computer from all outside contact and another half hour to repair the overloaded power lines that served it. The fusion plants were still online. Jared gave a nod when the engineer asked if he could power up.

  There was a risk that the system would erase itself, but Jared considered that unlikely. However, he had Andrews ready to cut the power at a moment’s notice if he was wrong.

  For such a major system, the room it was stored in looked very disused. Dust covered the consoles and there were very few footprints. He supposed there wasn’t much call for Pale Ones to come to a computer control center.

  Jared knew the moment the system came fully back online, because he “saw” its presence. Jared attempted to access the computer. He more than half expected the computer to immediately reject him, or to discover that there was some type of built-in access code that limited contact to only Pale Ones.

  He was half-right. He felt the connection take place, but the unit did not respond to him. It didn’t reject him outright, either. It was as though the system both allowed and disallowed him at the same time. Perhaps that was because his implants, though manufactured by the Pale Ones, didn’t have the required authority to communicate with their equipment.

  That presented a particular set of challenges. He shifted his gaze to Carl Owlet. The graduate student was the only other man present who knew that Jared had implants. And he was also a computer expert. Admittedly, he didn’t fully understand the programming language the old Empire used, but he’d made great strides in learning about the systems and their uses in the last month.

  Owlet casually pushed off from the main console and stopped adroitly beside Jared. He spoke when Jared touched their helmets together. “Yes, Captain?”

  “It allowed me to connect, but it’s not responding. Could it be because I have the correct hardware, but I’m not on some authorization list?”

  “That’s very possible. From what we’ve seen, the Pale Ones don’t utilize their implants to interface with old Empire equipment. The pilots on the ship that Princess Kelsey saw used the manual controls. Workstation Twelve also indicated that it received no direct control after the Pale Ones reprogrammed it. It may very well be that none of the Pale Ones’ equipment is set up for implant access.”

  Jared watched the engineering team work on the manual controls for a minute while he thought. “No, that can’t be right. Kelsey changed the course on that asteroid through a direct link to its computer. It allowed her access. Yet this system will not. I might be able to answer the question of why, if we can get past whatever the problem actually is. Any ideas?”

  “You say it didn’t reject your connection attempt. Let’s try a couple of direct commands. Instruct it to list the subsystems under its control. Don’t ask. Order.”

  Jared sent a command. The computer responded with a long list of systems. The list seemed related to ship construction. He passed the results of the experiment back to the graduate student.

  “That’s good,” Owlet said. “The system will obey you, but it won’t assist you. Perhaps they programmed it to be unhelpful. Why it would behave differently than the one on the asteroid, I don’t know.”

  Andrews looked over at them. “I’ve got some access here, Captain. The systems seem mostly intact, but it’s looking for an outside connection. I think the smaller annex might direct this one.”

  “Have your people continue to work with this system. We don’t know what it would do if we let it connect with the other computer, so we’ll keep them separated. While you do that, Mister Owlet and I will go look at the other one.”

  The remaining computer system was located at the opposite end of the shipyard. It was immediately apparent when they entered this computer room that it was different. Jared accessed the video he’d taken of the other control center. This one’s bulkheads were thicker.

  “Is it just me, or do these bulkheads look like they’re armored?”

  Owlet stood in the entrance and nodded. “They’re definitely thicker. That’s interesting. Let me get the system disconnected and we’ll see what we can get out of it.”

  By the time he finished disconnecting all the communication runs, the other teams had finished scouring the shipyard. They’d found and disabled half a dozen self-destruction charges. Jared ordered them to make a second pass just to be sure.

  “Powering up the system now, Captain,” Owlet said.

  Jared connected with this computer. It allowed him access, but with a twist.

  Error. Authentication not recognized.

  He smiled. You are mistaken. My hardware is on your access list. Verify.

  The computer did not respond for a few seconds. Hardware serial numbers validated. Authentication denied. Serial number not in access file.

  “It says my serial number needs to be in some file. Go see if you can find it and add me as an authorized user.”

  After about ten minutes, Owlet gave him a thumbs-up. Jared supposed that was the benefit of having physical access. If you knew enough about the system, you could find the necessary files. “I’ve added you and the Princess to the command and control file. Try again.”

  Jared attempted to connect again. This time, the computer granted him complete access. The first thing he looked at was the command and control file. There were half a dozen other entries in the file, however someone had excluded them from consideration. Jared wondered if they’d been users from before the Fall, or Pale Ones that Owlet had disabled.

  He looked at the file history and was able to determine the exclusion had taken place around the time of the rebellion. That must’ve happened when the rebels had captured this computer. Which meant that they’d salvaged it from somewhere else to do the work here.

  The next question was, what did this computer do? Jared wasn’t computer savvy enough to determine its function from its files. Why have two computers?

  Computer, identify your function.

  This unit directs the construction computer in what units to build and acts as an authorized controller.

  So, basically, this computer acted in the place of the humans who would normally control the other computer. Why not just program the other computer to do so? It seemed needlessly redundant.

  Where do your instructions come from?

  This unit receives instructions and guidance from the system primary computer.

  Jared frowned. He had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

  Explain what the system primary computer is.

  The system primary computer controls all equipment in this star system. This unit receives specific instructions on what ships to construct and on what schedule.

  How often do you receive these instructions?

  The instruction period varies from a few hours to several weeks. The most recent instruction was just over one standard month ago.

  That would be from about the time Athena dropped the fusion weapon on this shipyard.

  Where is the system primary computer located and what kind of computer is it?

  The system primary computer is located on the planetary surface. This unit does not know its precise location. It is a class V computer.

  Interesting. That was the same class of computer as the one on Courageous. While it was very capable, Jared had expected something larger to be in charge of the entire planetary system.

  He’d send any data they acquired to the team exploring the surface. Then he’d spend a lot of time going over what commands the planetary AI had been sending. Somewhere in all this data was the key to defeating the Pale Ones. He just had to find it.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kelsey expected the marines to slip quietly down to the planet’s surface, but they surprised her. They picked an area away from the mountains or any ruins and plummeted toward it from orbit like a stone.

  Lieutenant Reese went forward and commandeered one of the stations on the flight deck to be able to see the scanner reading
s directly, since they would not translate well to his armor. Senior Sergeant Talbot sat beside to her and kept an eye on the men while the pinnace dropped.

  She switched to the private frequency they’d agreed to as she watched the planet’s surface grow rapidly closer. “Aren’t you worried about the Pale Ones spotting us? Shouldn’t we be slowing down?”

  The grizzled marine grinned at her through his faceplate. “When somebody might have better scanners than you do, you don’t dawdle. The shortest amount of time to landing, the better chance we have of surviving. There’s a time for sneaking and a time for bold action. This is the latter.”

  He rapped his knuckles on her faceplate. “It’s really spooky not being able to see your face. I understand about the increased structural integrity, but I’d like to see the person I’m talking to.”

  She had to agree with him. Seeing faceless suits of armor would be intimidating, and perhaps confusing. She queried the armor and found a possible solution. The chameleon skin was high definition everywhere, but even more so on her faceplate. Perhaps she could control what it displayed.

  Kelsey accessed the interior of the helmet and found a vid camera. She turned it on and directed the output to the helmet exterior.

  Talbot’s eyes widened. “I can see your face! Sort of. It’s dark in the helmet, so you’re in shadow. Can you turn on a light?”

  Since the armor was feeding video right into her ocular implants, she wasn’t aware she was in darkness. The thought of being in pitch darkness had freaked her out the first time she’d worn the armor. Thankfully, she’d gotten over it quickly.

  She found an interior light and turned it on. “How’s that?”

  “Perfect. It’s as though you’re looking right at me. I can hardly tell it’s a projection or that you aren’t really using your eyes directly. Now, hang on. We’re about to level out. Expect some heavy G-forces.”

  Despite her tenseness, nothing bad happened as they decelerated savagely just above the surface and settled into a clearing in the vast forest of huge trees. Her artificial muscles and armor made the extra weight easily bearable. She imagined that the pinnace could probably handle a lot more load with a team of enhanced marines.

  As soon as they touched down, Talbot ordered his men down the landing ramp. They flowed out like water and spread out around the pinnace, their weapons covering the forest.

  Kelsey didn’t follow them. She had her orders. She and Talbot would stay inside the pinnace while the rest of the marines made certain that they were in no immediate danger. Lieutenant Reese was guiding his men from the flight deck.

  Even as the men were scouring the forest around them for threats, Reese launched half a dozen small drones. Four of them spread out over the immediate area and began scanning. The remaining two had targets further away.

  One headed toward the mountain range the asteroid had targeted. As that was the most distant objective, it would take about half an hour to get there flying close to the ground. The second drone headed for the nearest ruins. Scans from orbit had tagged it as a large city, the desiccated corpse of a once thriving pre-Fall metropolis.

  Kelsey examined the map of the area with her implants. The mountains were to the northwest and the city was almost due south.

  She split her attention between the various drones, but paid the most attention to the one going to the city. They had no immediate desire to go there, but it was the most likely location for the Pale Ones to have a base in their vicinity.

  Watching the drone fly over the terrain was like flying herself. She could almost feel the wind on her face. She definitely felt the lump in her throat when the drone crested a hill and the ruined city came into view.

  She’d seen images of devastated cities before, but this was like looking at one with her own eyes. Honestly, it felt a little bit more intimate than that. The forest was struggling mightily to retake the land the humans had appropriated, but it was making little headway. Even broken and abandoned, old Empire constructions endured.

  The rebels hadn’t bombarded this city from orbit. The buildings were intact, even though the people had abandoned them. Under other circumstances, she knew the scientists on Best Deal would’ve descended on this location like locusts on a crop.

  As the drone flew closer, Kelsey started to get an idea of the scale. She immediately had her implants perform a measurement on the tallest tower in the city. The answer shocked her so badly that she had it check again. Just to be sure.

  The central tower was over 1500 meters tall.

  That was three times taller than the most modern office building on Avalon. And unlike the skyscrapers she was used to, this one came up in tiered layers. The bottom of the building took up what would’ve been three or four blocks on a side. There were half a dozen distinct tiers as the building rose into the sky. The top segment was as thick as the skyscrapers back home.

  She turned to Talbot. “Are you seeing this?”

  “Seeing what? Which drone?”

  “The old Empire city. The towers are still intact and they’re huge. The central one has to be at least three or four hundred stories tall.”

  He stared at the readouts on the console and whistled. “Holy crap. That one building probably held a hundred thousand people. Using that as a yardstick, that city had tens of millions of people living in it. Maybe a hundred million.” This brought the scale of the genocide home to her in a way the books she’d read never had.

  Kelsey examined the scanner readings more closely. “It doesn’t look like there are any active power units in the city, but a lot of things seem basically intact. I can see where some walls have fallen, but that looks cosmetic. Bushes and trees have taken over the ground levels, but they haven’t affected the structures. It looks like the rebels left the city intact.”

  They sat in silence, watching the drones’ data until she noticed that the mountain drone was on station. Lieutenant Reese ordered it to go to a somewhat higher flight path traveling down the mountain range. After half an hour, they still hadn’t seen anything out of place. It looked like untouched wilderness.

  The hatch leading forward opened and Lieutenant Reese stepped onto the marine deck. “Have you been watching the drone’s transmissions, Princess? Hey. We can see your face.”

  “I figured out how to put a projection on the adaptive skin of the helmet. The city is stunning. The mountains are empty.”

  “Apparently so. At least that’s what it looks like through the drone. I’m wondering if the pinnace’s scanners could get a little bit more detail. Find something out of place.”

  He put his hands on his hips and stared out at the forest down the ramp. “We’re not going to see anything sitting here in the middle of the forest. Talbot, recall the men. Let’s make ready for a pass over the mountains.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  The marines returned to the pinnace in stages until everyone was aboard. The local drones returned to their recessed mounts. Once everyone was secure, the pinnace rose above the forest and headed for the mountains.

  The pinnace’s scanners were significantly better than those on the drones. As they made their way past the foothills and over the peaks in the mountain range, they could see deep into the ground. Nothing seemed out of place.

  They made a pass up one side of the mountain range and then returned flying down the other. About two thirds of the way back, Kelsey saw something in the readings that made her speak up. “Lieutenant Reese, can we hover here for a minute? I’m seeing something.”

  “What have you got?”

  She directed the pinnace’s scanners to probe more deeply once it came to a halt. “I’m not quite sure. It’s gone now. It was some type of transient reading.”

  She reviewed what her implants had recorded and saw it again. It was a density reading. For just a moment, the density of the rock they’d flown over had grown markedly stronger.

  “It must’ve been some kind of glitch. The ground seemed denser, but only for a moment.
Now that I’m looking at it, I see that there wasn’t a problem at all. We can go on.”

  The marine lieutenant didn’t answer for a minute. “Actually, I’m inclined to trust your initial instincts. If they’re wrong, all we’ve lost is a little bit of time. We’re going down.”

  The pinnace settled onto a plateau. The ramp came down, but the pinnace kept its grav drives online. They were probably afraid that too much weight might cause a rockslide.

  Once again, the marines exited and covered the area. This time Lieutenant Reese followed them out. He gestured for Kelsey and Talbot to follow him.

  The view was stunning. From this height, the forest stretched out as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful. She removed her helmet and took a deep breath of the fresh air. It smelled of nature, untainted by civilization.

  Of course, the reason for that was that the rebels had virtually extinguished humanity on this planet.

  Reese turned toward her. “Where exactly did you sense the density spike?”

  She pointed towards the center of the plateau. “Not precisely in the middle, but not very far away from it, either.”

  He directed one of the squads to scout ahead and the rest followed more slowly. The plateau wasn’t completely flat, Kelsey saw. As they went further from the edges, the center rose up. Not evenly though. Small hills and ruts cut by water made the surface uneven in places.

  Kelsey nudged Talbot. “Is it just me, or is this a great place to ambush someone?”

  “It could be,” he admitted, “except for the fact we didn’t detect anything even remotely like a living being on the scanners. This kind of open area makes hiding difficult.”

  “Isn’t that kind of the point of an ambush? I know I’m not a marine, but we are in a hostile environment. What do we do if somebody jumps us?”

  “We shoot the ever living crap out of them. See how widely spread out everyone is? Well, except for us. That’s to minimize casualties if we’re attacked. Which, again, I don’t expect.”