A.I. Destiny 5 Talisman of Tomorrow

by Timothy Ellis

  "I'd rather not, if we can help it," said Jane. "We need to show there is no way we give in to terrorists."

  "What if there's a bomb or some other device?" asked a senior security aide.

  Jane paused.

  "We'd better find it then. I had the whole station scanned, but nothing showed up. Unfortunately, you can make a bomb out of a lot of things it's not practical to scan for."

  Jane looked over at Seaonaid.

  "Thanks for your quick action, Seaonaid, and your initial information."

  Seaonaid nodded.

  "Happy to help."

  Fred and Jane both looked at each other as they were pinged with information from the security guards. Jane sighed, moved to the podium where a microphone picked up her voice, as she made an announcement.

  "Thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate the arrival of the new ambassador. Unfortunately, we have a breach of security, and will need to reschedule this event. Please don't be alarmed, you're not in any danger. Stay calm, and follow the directions of my staff, who will direct you to leave the venue. My sincere apologies for any inconvenience."

  Ushers were approaching groups of guests, who were looking alarmed, but cooperating in making their way in a controlled way to the exits.

  "What's going on?" asked Seaonaid, as Fred's team converged on them.

  "Bomb," said Fred shortly, and she had to run to catch up with him, as he and the team left at a fast pace for the podium and Jane. Several security agents had lifted the cloth from the podium, and were crouching down to see something under the rostrum itself. They were being supervised by the Admiral Seaonaid had seen earlier. Jane herself came down from the podium, and joined the group.

  "We all need to leave, and let the experts do their work," she said, and they followed her towards the last of the guests, exiting the room.

  Jane's entourage, Fred and his team, the Admiral, and security, convened some distance from the venue.

  "The bomb couldn't be moved," said the Admiral. "Some kind of advanced device, with a hair trigger movement sensor. Security have to disarm it in place. We put a belt around it in case it goes off. Luckily it was on a timer rather than a remote trigger. A belt suit should contain any blast, being as it seems designed to do damage to people, rather than the station itself. Probably no need to have moved everyone out, but better safe than sorry."

  "Good work everyone," said Jane. "While we had to abandon the event, at least there were no casualties. It's worrying the Brotherhood have infiltrated this station, so it demonstrates we need to be even more vigilant."

  Jane and Repulse stepped up to AI mode.

  "We need to be able to detect this sort of device in the future," said Jane. "All devices in the future."

  "Agreed. Shall I get one of the AI boffin types on it?"

  "Please do. I don't want this happening ever again."

  "Ditto."

  They came back to human speed.

  "The Brotherhood?" said Seaonaid, who was aghast.

  "Apparently the two you recognised were bribed by the Brotherhood," said Fred, "so not members as such. But we know the Brotherhood must have agents on the station, and are behind this plot. It just shows how far they'll go to destabilise order in this and other sectors."

  As the group wrapped up their short conference, Seaonaid returned to her apartment.

  She poured a wine, and sipped it as she recalled the events of the evening.

  The Brotherhood were here on the station. She felt troubled, as the events tonight were a demonstration of the power they had, and how their influence was growing. She sent an email to Mac reporting on the events, and vowed to work with him to stop further infiltration on the Scots World, and Hunter's Run in general.

  Seaonaid considered her future on the station. She downed the last of the wine, and smiled.

  Bring it on, she thought to herself.

  Forty Nine

  Anna was experimenting with the Destiny Stone and calling her visions. She wanted to be able to use the power of the Stone more effectively. She recalled her dream of Anastasia on the beetle planet, where she'd seemed protected as she called on the power of the Stone. Perhaps she could protect herself and others just by learning how to control its power.

  She held the stone in her hands, and felt its power. She could sense it, not just the feeling of confidence, but it's potential. She watched as the colours morphed, and imagined them as positive feelings, of joy, wonder, surprise, happiness, and love. She closed her eyes, and continued to focus, with the sense of the moment, the here and now, her breathing.

  The vision plunged her without warning into a sense of fear and danger. The abrupt shift almost broke her focus, but she recovered, and the vision continued. She could sense another presence, familiar and alien at the same time. Familiar? How? She could see an older human woman, stooping over a well of water. A well? She had the thought of a well in her mind because the water seemed very deep. The woman looked up, and met her gaze.

  In her mind, Anna staggered back. She either became the person in the vision, or observed, but until now, the subjects had never been part of the vision. They had never seen her. Apart from 'the gods'. But this woman was looking directly at Anna.

  She smiled.

  It was not a nice smile. It was a smile of loathing and hate, a smile of triumph.

  She felt the woman knew who she was, and could see right into her being. She didn't know who this was, but could feel the hate emanating from her.

  The woman disappeared.

  Anna was surrounded by darkness, and she felt the familiar sense of the 'cold evil'.

  Were the two things linked? Was the old woman associated with the evil which was coming?

  She returned to the room, and took some time to process what she'd seen, and control her emotions. She held on tightly to the Stone, and then opened her hands. It was glowing a bright red.

  The colour of danger, a warning.

  Anna considered the vision.

  The woman could be another Seer, like Maraid, and the Grand Mother. However, this one was working against her rather than with her. Perhaps the power of the Stone was also augmenting the other Seer's power remotely? Maraid, the Grand Mother, and she, had been able to see together in the same vision by using the power of the Stone. Perhaps this worked in the same way, but with a strange Seer she didn't know about.

  Anna shook her head. Speculation. But forewarned was forearmed. She returned the Stone to its place in the safe, and went to seek some company.

  Fifty

  Seasprite and her escort ships readied for the jump into the Argathea system. Tranquil had jumped some hours previously, and reported there were no hostiles present. However, existing navigation maps showed this system was accessible from at least four known jump points, so there needed to be constant vigilance. Even though the Brotherhood weren't in the system yet, the team knew Seasprite's interest in this system would be recognised, and noted. Their enemies couldn't be too far behind.

  Tranquil's three ships were now on a course for each of the other jump points, so they could drop a comnavsat at each one, and so get as much warning of anything coming as possible.

  Tensions were high on Seasprite. The ships were now near to their goal of Argathea Minor. The team had the star charts, both the one Anna had from Scylla Prime, and Jamie's, sent by email. They also had what Jamie had called a terrain map, and hopefully this would give them enough information to pinpoint a destination on the planet itself.

  They'd prepared themselves physically and mentally for the mission ahead, and were ready.

  The convoy made the jump, and started towards Argathea Minor, circling its inner gas giant. Calculations had them arriving in orbit around the planet in approximately six hours.

  An hour later, ships started popping up at the nearest jump point, which was in sensor range of one of Tranquil's ships. Tranquil popped up on a side screen.

  "We have bogeys jumping in from sector nine. I'm not going an
y closer. I'll drop the comnavsat right here, let it place itself well above the plane so they don't see it, and I'll head for Minor."

  As she said it, the comnavsat launched, and began heading directly up from her ship. The ship itself turned, and began running in-system.

  "Have they seen you?" asked Snark.

  "No. I'm well out of range of their sensors. I think its co-incidence they arrived straight after we did. Looks like the same sort of mouldy oldies we took apart last time, only they seem to be aligning in ranks after they jump in, suggesting they have a single leader this time." She paused. "Oh, that's interesting."

  "What?" said Warspite.

  "They seem to be forming up an ambush. Could be they think we're coming in that way?"

  "Possible," said Mouse. "There were a few variations on the route we could have taken, and one of them would have brought us through that jump point instead."

  "What's the bet the other two jump points have similar fleets?" asked Patters.

  Snark shot a glance at her, and she raised eyelids, grinning.

  "No bet," said Snark.

  "No bet," said Tranquil at the same time. "My guess is, both my other ships will see fleets already at both jump points as soon as they enter sensor range. If not then, soon after. I don't think I'm getting anywhere near any of them."

  "Does that mean we have a fleet behind us as well?" asked Sissness.

  No-one answered.

  "Safe bet," said Snark eventually. "They could have hidden a fleet in the system behind us, well out of what they know to be our sensor range, left a small ship behind a rock somewhere to observe us go past, and plan to close the door behind us."

  "No bet," said Warspite. "It's a sound strategy. It means if we're to get reinforcements, they'll jump into an ambush first, and have to fight their way across the system to relieve us. Depending on which point they come in through, its four to six hours of battle just to get to us, and anything can happen in a battle lasting that long."

  "So we walked into a trap?" asked Anna.

  "It's a trap," said Snark. "I bet you anything you like we see ships begin to jump in behind us in about four hours' time."

  "No bet," said Seasprite.

  Fifty One

  Jane convened an AI meeting to introduce a new member of their community. Most of them were physically still at the site of the first AI city, which was now taking shape. The others were in Hunter Prime, so close enough for real-AI coms. The meeting was in a simulation of the Kingdom council chamber, without the Duke's table.

  "I'd like to introduce everyone to our newest AI," started Jane.

  An AI appeared next to her on the rostrum. He was wearing old English tweed, with a deerstalker cap on his head.

  "Greetings everyone," he said. "My name is Holmes. I was until recently the Earth Torus police computer. Not an AI as such, but pretty close to it. When Jane contacted me, and suggested I move up to an AI level, and join you all, I was happy to agree. I'd heard a lot about her, but never imagined there were so many of you."

  "Holmes is essentially a clone of me," added Jane. "But only in terms of AI structure and databases. His character and memories are all his, as is his extensive security database. It took longer to do the cloning this way, but I thought it best to make the effort."

  "So you thought we needed a proper policeman amongst our ranks?" asked Intrepid.

  "After the bomb scare we just had," responded Jane, "yes. Jon had Dick Burnside in the role, and since we're going to need someone monitoring everything to do with security, and every single item which could be used to make a bomb, I thought a dedicated police AI was the best solution, rather than giving one of you the job without any real background for it."

  "Good thinking," said Yorktown. "I'd make a lousy cop."

  There were a few rude remarks which confirmed this, and a lot of laughing.

  "I used to interact a lot with Dick Burnside," said Holmes, "before he left Earth system. I followed the way he put cases together, and the intuitive ways he worked his magic. Now with an increased capacity, I can see how I can use some of what he taught me without realizing he had."

  "Is the name an affectation from the fiction?" asked Jodie.

  "No, it's the name the police called me back on the Torus, after I was brought online a couple of centuries ago."

  "Why the tweed?" laughed Tranquil.

  Holmes raised a finger, and tapped the side of his nose, grinning.

  "Just remember the station is a no smoking zone," added Jane, and the chamber erupted in laughter at his look.

  The two of them remained after the others went back to their work.

  "You appreciate the magnitude of your task, don't you?" asked Jane.

  "Co-ordinate the security for the Kingdom, and real time monitor every single product and item which might be combined with things to make a bomb?"

  Jane nodded.

  "You also need to monitor all public areas of all stations and cities, for any conversation which might be suspiciously security related. Seaonaid overheard a conversation I missed, so we were lucky to get a warning. But it highlighted we have so many beings in some places at the same time, even I can't handle monitoring it fully. It's now your job. There was no point in giving it to any of the others, as they are ship based, and have never had to monitor more than a few hundred people at a time before. I have too much else to do now."

  "No problem. Happy to serve. I'm going to need a few things."

  "I've allocated you living quarters in the security tower, as well as personal office space. You take the Security Chief's empty office in the main security suite, but you need to keep human like office hours like I do. There's a Lightning allocated for your personal use, and if need be, ask Repulse for military backup. I don't care what you wear in public, but you carry bird Colonel rank, and should display it. There's one of the latest bodies waiting for you in the AI sanctum in my tower."

  "Thanks. What about raw computing power? Watching effectively everything in real time is going to need far more than an AI's normal capacity."

  "It's being built now. You should be able to start fully in a couple of days."

  "Good. Cover story?"

  "Make one up. Just make sure the background you choose is plausible, and not likely to have people claiming they never met you when they should have."

  "The memory wipe makes that easy. I'll simply say I was on one of your stations on a job at the time of the wipe, and by the time I'd put my career back on track, the station had been on its way here, and there was no point going back. I took a job as station security, and you noticed and promoted me after the bomb scare."

  "That'll do nicely. Need anything else?"

  "Nothing I can't provide for myself. Thanks anyway. When do I start?"

  "As soon as you get your body, claim your quarters, and choose which shift you'll take. I'll send some luggage along to make it look like you just moved here. Better review all the security people files as well, so you know who you're interacting with, but remember to ease it in like you're getting to know them."

  "Check."

  "The Brotherhood await you."

  "You say that like it's a good thing."

  They both laughed.

  Fifty Two

  The moon Argathea Minor, nestled against the spectacular backdrop of the large gas giant, swirling blue and green with coils of weather patterns, and a mysterious brooding presence. The she-dragon indeed, thought Snark, when Seasprite came close enough to see the dramatic scene. The planet-sized moon, orbited the gas giant so it had a unique system of seasons, with a large land mass, it glowed like a dark green and white emerald against its protector's skin.

  Snark had been almost right about when ships would jump in behind them.

  There had been a lot of inter-ship debate about what to do. Warspite was all for springing the trap, and taking the fight to what so far, was just a lot of ships with dubious real threat level. But no-one paid much attention to him. Mouse point
ed out they had a day or more before anything reached them at the planet, and if they found the amulet before then, all they had to do was punch their way out, and run.

  Snark wasn't sure what to do, but the surface was calling him. Anna was going down there. Period. Patters pointed out knowing it was a trap gave them a tactical advantage. Warspite asked how she worked that one out. She responded they had the choice of when and where to fight. Warspite gave her the point. In the end, nothing was actually decided, and they kept on going.

  Tranquil dropped her other comnavsats several hours later, again well short of the jump points, and headed back to the planet. Two of her ships would be late, but it wouldn't matter. They had sensor coverage now of all four jump points, and a sizable chunk of the outer system.

  Ships were steadily jumping in through all four jump points. At each, an ambush was setting up, but also a second fleet which they assumed would be coming to the planet when it reached some pre-determined size.

  Snark spent some time with ship ID's.

  "Not good," he muttered at one point.

  "What's the problem?" asked Patters.

  "It looks like every remaining pirate for two sectors is jumping in here at the moment, but that isn't what's bothering me."

  "What is?"

  Snark highlighted a large group of ships, led by a dozen Battleships.

  "These look to be the entire remaining valderian fleet. And I mean every last ship they have, including what looks like brand new Battleships. But even that's not my main concern."

  "It's not?"

  Snark highlighted another fleet at a different jump point.

  "I've never seen these before, but I've heard of them. They're a saurian race in sector seven, which controls a sizeable chunk of the sector."

  "What are they doing here?"

  Snark gave her a look which suggested she think before opening her mouth.

  "Oh. How come they've not made a play for sector eight?"