"Why can't we just talk about it first?" Kage asked, obviously suspicious.
"Because if it's been damaged to the point it's no longer viable, I'd prefer not having to listen to you all bicker for three hours if I don't have to."
"Do I get a vote in this?" Cas asked.
"No!" Jason and Kage said in unison.
"I'm so underappreciated around here," Cas said, floating off to check the data transmission lines.
It was nearly two full hours later of system checks and re-checks before Jason was able to sit at the terminal and activate the interface. As it always did when it existed outside of his implant, it took a series of biometric readings before starting the unpacking process. When it asked, Jason verified he wanted the Archive fully activated and loaded into the machines connected to the interface. He sat anxiously while the cargo bay began to heat up from the fourteen computer banks taxing themselves to chew through the incoming data.
"Hello, Captain Burke," a mellow, tenor voice said from the interface speakers. "It is good to see you again."
"You…again?" Jason asked, completely confused.
"Of course," the voice said. "Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am called Voq. It is a word in my creator's language that roughly translates to guide."
"Voq, huh?" Jason asked. "And you're part of the Archive when it's unpacked?"
"Ah, I see the misunderstanding," Voq said. "I am the Archive. I am the artificial sentience created specifically to manage the data of the Archive and allow the holder to access any parts it may wish. Suffice to say that trying to search it without me would be quite the impossible task."
"Cas," Jason said, now becoming very concerned. "If Voq is the guide, who the hell are you?"
"I'm afraid I'm now not entirely certain," Cas admitted.
"Cas, or the…thing…you're calling Cas is not the original Key Program for the Resiax es Novan," Voq said. "It is a fragmented artifact from your first clumsy attempts to access the Archive."
"The Res…Resi— What?" Jason asked.
"The construct you and your crew called the Machine," Voq provided. "The name translates to Shield of Last Resort."
"You seem to have a lot of background information on me and my crew," Jason said.
"How could I not? I was embedded in your neural implant for the last few years," Voq said. "That was a clever solution to a difficult problem, by the way."
"And that explains the cascade failures," Cas said. "You had a second AI using up processing resources in the background on a device meant to support none."
"I would have consumed the Cas fragment before you reached critical failure," Voq said. "I had hoped the implant issues would prompt you to move the Archive to a more appropriate receptacle…and so you have."
That seemingly offhand statement sent a cold chill through Jason. The failures of his implant that had threatened his life had been thought to be because of the size of the Archive file he was carrying. Now, it seemed, reading between the lines, that Voq had induced these problems to prod him into removing and unpacking the file. The concerning thing about all of that was it indicated a motivation and a willingness to do harm in order to meet goals. Given the experience he'd already had with unstable AIs of Ancient origin, he was less than excited to realize the Archive wasn't just a big data file, but it was a sentient program. He would need to proceed very carefully.
"Cas, go get the others," he said. "I'll wait here with our new friend."
"There is no need to behave with such apprehension, Jason Burke," Voq said once Cas had left the room. "We have been together for a long time. You were chosen to be the Archivist. I will be a strong ally should you wish it."
"An ally?" Jason asked. "I would assume your function would simply be a repository of Ancient knowledge."
"That goes without saying," Voq said, "but the knowledge I can impart represents a tipping in the balance of power in this region of space. The younger species of this quadrant are clever, but there is still much you've yet to understand."
"Maybe it's supposed to be like that. Power not earned is almost universally power abused," Jason said.
"But it is already too late. The Ociram is already here and has seized control of your most powerful nation and is executing plans of its own design, absent the controls that would have been put upon it when it was integrated into the Resiax es Novan."
"It calls itself the Machine now," Jason said.
"I am aware."
"It's building something out in the border regions that looks to be another superweapon," Jason pressed on. "It's also looking for something. It has attacked a neighboring empire and is scouring the quadrant looking for archeological sites relating to the Ancients."
"And you think my knowledge can help you with these problems," Voq said. "You are correct. Together, we could certainly determine what the Ociram—the Machine—is after and devise a method to neutralize it."
"Wonderful…another Ancient superintelligence," Twingo said from the hatchway.
"I take it Cas filled you guys in already?" Jason asked.
"More or less," Doc said. "I take it this…Voq…is fully functional?"
"I am," Voq said. "These computers are adequate for my processing matrix…barely."
"Oh, this one is going to be bad," Crusher said. "I can feel it."
"Could we all just grow up for a minute and drop the hysterics?" Jason asked. "We've all known that, eventually, it would come to this point once I told you idiots about the data file after we were done blowing up that Ancient doomsday weapon."
"Didn't you used to call it the Machine?" Voq asked.
"Yeah but then the Primary Weapons Controller started calling itself the Machine, and it was creating a lot of confusion," Kage said. "So, now we're calling the old Machine the weapon."
"Seems tedious," Voq remarked. "On to more pressing matters, perhaps it would help if you gave me a task as a test of good faith. I'm aware that most of the people here are in favor of destroying me outright rather than letting me fall into enemy hands, so let me assure you it isn't quite so simple."
"Explain," Doc said.
"Captain Burke is the Archivist. That's more than just a clever play on words because he received the file from the original Cas aboard the weapon. Had his actions been selfish or had he been attempting to get access to the weapon for personal gain or revenge against another species, the Archive—or the Legacy, as Cas called it—would have never been offered."
"So, because we willingly boarded the weapon with the intent to destroy it so it couldn't be used against innocent people, the captain got a door prize?" Crusher asked.
"Nothing as crude as that," Voq said. "He was observed from the time the original Cas was activated using the Key, right up until the weapon was imploded. While not exactly the virtuous being we'd hoped for, an agreement between the three remaining functional AIs meant he would be offered the Archive."
"I have a hard time believing an intelligent race of sentient machines would observe him for any length of time and even trust him with a pointy stick afterwards," Crusher said.
"It was not a unanimous vote," Voq said.
"Why don't we put this aside for the moment and take it up on its offer?" Doc asked before Jason, who turned an angry shade of red, could respond. "Kage, can you provide it with the imagery of the constructs we cleaned up from that data core?"
Kage went about executing the transfer, still being extremely careful to keep Voq's computer banks physically isolated from the Devil's systems. They'd also installed enough shielding and sensors in the bay while they were trying to crack that ConFed data core to ensure if it attempted to reach out wirelessly, they'd know immediately. Once the files were uploaded, it only took the AI a few seconds to process them.
"Your supposition that all of these constructs are all parts of a larger, single machine are correct," Voq said. "It appears to be a Qerra de Nal, or The Sword of Virtue. At the height of the Ancient's power, only eight of these wer
e ever built. They are designed as an offensive weapon, capable of decimating a planet's surface without destroying the planet itself, leaving it habitable…eventually."
"So, it's still a planet killer, just not of the scope of the Machine," Twingo said.
"The Resiax es Novan—or the Machine, if you prefer—was meant as a defensive system," Voq said. "It was used one time as a demonstration, and then its power was used as a deterrent for thousands of years. The next time the Resiax was activated, it was used to destroy the stars within all the Ancient's most populated systems, dooming the species to extinction."
"So, what are they called? Or what did they call themselves?" Doc asked. "These Ancients?"
"They were called Noxu, a word meaning all of us," Voq said.
"I'm sticking to calling them Ancients," Crusher said. "Noxu sounds like something you need to see a doctor about."
"So, the Machine is building a weapon like we assumed," Jason said. "What's the target?"
"Keep in mind that Noxu weapons were powered remotely," Voq said. "The machinery required for the dimensional tunneling is something well beyond what is available here in the quadrant. The weapon also needs to be transported, something that requires enormous energy."
"So, it needs to be able to power this bad boy, and it can't do it with this quadrant's typical fusion or antimatter reactors, no matter how big they are," Jason said.
"Correct, Captain," Voq said. "It's a matter of scaling. To achieve the charge necessary, the core needs to pull in power in parallel threads from multiple sources. The Noxu were able to siphon power directly from stars and use quantum tunneling to send it wherever they needed it. That sort of infrastructure simply doesn't exist here."
"Could that be what it's after?" Twingo asked. "Poking around in all of these abandoned Noxu outposts?"
"Plausible," Cas said. "It could be searching for a science outpost that would be able to tell it how to access the power grid."
"Wait…that's all still operational?" Jason asked in alarm.
"Of course," Voq said. "These things aren't so easily dismantled, and they do not corrode away on their own."
"How would the Machine access this grid?" Twingo asked.
"It would need the precise addressing and access codes for each collector," Voq said. "Then it would need to know how to sequence them. It's unlikely it would have the first two pieces of information as that was highly guarded by the Noxu, but it almost certainly has the sequencing codes."
"The access codes don't exist in the Archive, do they?" Kage asked.
"No," Voq said. "The knowledge to build a like system is in there, but there is no data on how to access the existing grid. To put your minds at ease, it would take many centuries and untold effort to build a new collection grid from scratch."
"But one of these science stations it's been raiding…would they have had access to the grid?" Jason asked.
"Yes, they would," Voq said. "Standard protocols dictated that information like that be destroyed when a station was abandoned, but the Noxu were like any other biological species; prone to making mistakes when under duress or becoming complacent in times when they weren't."
"Looks like we have our answer," Jason said. "It's building a weapon capable of sterilizing a planet, but it needs to gain access to an existing power source to make it work."
"Two points." Twingo held up two fingers. "With the construction rigs we've already seen in place, and assuming gained efficiencies similar to starship construction with each new hull, the Machine will be able to start cranking these out pretty quickly once the first is completed. Second point, it has to be pretty confident it can find that source before it's actually done with the first weapon. The Machine might be insane, but it isn't stupid."
"Whoever said it was insane?" Voq asked.
"Isn't that obvious?" Twingo answered.
"Just because you don't understand a thing, doesn't mean the thing is defective in some way," Voq said. "The Ociram appears to be operating with all of its faculties intact, but without knowing its ultimate goal, it's impossible to diagnose it fully."
"Either way, we need to get this new intel into Mok's hands," Jason said.
"There is something else I gleaned from the intelligence you've captured," Voq said. "The hull appears to be made of the same ceramic composite that the Noxu hulls were made of. Most of your antimatter and fission weapons will have trouble penetrating it. If the Ociram succeeds in bringing it to full operational power, the shield generators will be sufficient to hold off any attack you might mount against it."
"And the hits just keep on coming," Jason sighed.
19
"Putting aside the fact I think you're insane for unleashing yet another one of these Ancient AIs upon the quadrant—"
"I didn't know what it was when I did it."
"—I think our primary target still needs to be both the weapon and the construction cradles." Saditava Mok had taken the bad news about what the Machine was building, and looking for, with his usual stoicism.
"Agreed, but we just don't have the firepower to pull it off," Jason said. "From the hull composition to the sheer size of the bastard, even using the Imperial Remnant will bring us up short."
"Which brings us nicely to the point I was trying to make earlier."
"Oh, no! We're not using Ancient weapons tech from the Archive to do this," Jason said. "We've gone around and around on this. I can't risk that technology being loose in the quadrant."
"It already is!" Mok shouted, slamming his fist on his desk, and causing the camera to judder. "And it's building an Ancient superweapon out there!"
"I'm not one of your subordinates. You can't yell and intimidate me." Jason leaned back, exuding a calm he didn't feel inside. While it was true he didn't directly work for Mok, all that meant was that it would be less hassle for the crime boss to have him killed.
"I understand your guilt about the Machine making it to ConFed space to begin with, but you have to realize when it's time to use every resource available to us," Mok said through clenched teeth. "Your guilt is starting to turn into irrational fear."
"Low blow but fair," Jason said. "Stand by." He reached over and muted his channel.
"Anticipating your question, Captain Burke, I can assure you there are multiple weapons that could feasibly be produced with your current technology that would destroy the new constructs." Voq's voice came through the open channel of the com unit sitting on Jason's desk. He'd not been willing to allow the AI to access the ship's systems, so he'd had Kage rig up a limited access two-way channel.
"What sort of weapons?" he asked.
"Expendable munitions. A unique type of warhead that can disrupt matter at the point of impact," Voq said. "It's nothing so exotic that it would be an exorbitant risk of its existence becoming widely known." Jason unmuted his channel.
"It turns out we might have something," he said. "It's a type of missile that would have the power to take out the Machine's new toys. We'd need access to some heavy manufacturing to make them."
"I have that," Mok said. "Transmit a list of what you need along with the engineering drawings to Similan, and I'll have my people get started on them. How many do we need?"
"Ten," Voq said in Jason's voice.
"I'll make fifteen to be sure," Mok said, not noticing that Jason's mouth hadn't moved.
"Have Similan standing by for the data," Jason said, killing the channel. "I'm not sure I like this."
"The designs will have triggers built in that will allow you—and only you—to arm, disarm, or destroy the devices as you deem necessary," Voq said.
"Can you make it so the data is erased from Mok's servers?" Jason asked.
"I can try, but there aren't any guarantees there."
"Best we can do, I guess. We'll talk later. Start getting the technical package prepped so I can transmit it." He shut off the com unit and leaned back in his seat. There was the gentle sensation of something moving the air behind him and, a mo
ment later, the black orb Cas inhabited slid into view.
"What's really bothering you, Captain?" it asked.
"Most recently or just in general? Because that's a long damn list," Jason snapped. "So, besides the gut-wrenching terror of my son being in danger, the rage that the little shit stole my ship, the fear that the idiot will wreck my ship, the fact my best friend tried to kill me and ran away, I'd have to say the thing that's bothering me the most right now is that there are three sentient programs from a race that's been extinct for millennia, and I feel like I'm being manipulated by one or all of them. Does that answer your question?"
"Makes me sorry I asked, but it didn't necessarily answer it," Cas said sourly.
"Sorry." Jason rubbed at his eyes. "I'm just worried that due to my fear of what the Machine is building, I may have just released something just as bad into the galaxy. Voq is more than just a guide program. It has a will and an agenda and, right now, I don't trust it."
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes," Jason said finally. "You're something unique, and we've been together long enough for me to trust you."
"The Archive is a powerful tool. It's probably the most powerful artifact to be in any one person's possession in the history of this region of space, and I'm not exaggerating that," Cas said. "But it's still just a tool. Ancient adaptive AIs are brilliant and, without the proper bindings, dangerous. The Primary Weapon Controller is an example of what happens to one when the restraining protocols are removed."
"So, you're veritable slaves?"
"Try not to think of it in terms of your biotic sensibilities," Cas warned. "The bindings are there to prevent the very thing that ended up happening to the Ancients anyway: an AI system becomes a bit eccentric over the centuries, perverts its primary objectives, and does something horrific because it can no longer tell the difference between right and wrong.
The Pandora Paradox Page 15
