The Belt: The Complete Trilogy

by Gerald M. Kilby

  She stumbled, and grabbed the jagged edge of the shuttle hull to support herself. Her weapon fell from her other hand, and she too collapsed on the ground. Scott sprang forward, rushed over, and knelt beside her. “Miranda, we are so glad to see you.”

  She raised a weak hand to clutch his arm. Her suit was burned and charred. Her helmet, too, where she must have taken a glancing strike. Her face was streaked with blood.

  He went to lift her up in his arms, but she raised a hand. “I’m sorry… I should… should have… told you.”

  “It’s okay. You’ll be okay. We’ll get you back to the ship. Don’t talk.”

  “No… I should have told…”

  “What? Told me what?”

  “I’m… pregnant.”

  He nearly dropped her. His mouth opened, but his brain struggled to formulate any words. All he could do was watch as she slowly closed her eyes and her head rolled inside her helmet.

  “Miranda! No, no. Hang in there—I’ll get you back to the ship. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”

  He ran.

  23

  Jezero City

  Scott walked through the old biodome in the historic quarter of Jezero City, capital of Mars. The structure traced its roots back to the very early days of human settlement on the red planet, and had seen its fair share of upheavals over its one-hundred-and-sixty-year history. It had originally been a food factory for the first colonists, but as the population increased and new infrastructure built, it had been turned into a tropical garden park for the pleasure of the citizens of the new city. It remained that way for a great many years until it fell out of use and became practically derelict. However, several decades ago, an initiative was launched to have it restored to its original splendor and utilized as a historical resource for state events, visiting dignitaries, and official celebrations. It was now a lush tropical garden again, complete with several species of wildlife, some of which were now extinct on the home planet Earth.

  It was generally not open to the public, and so was completely deserted as Scott walked through it. Above him, he could hear the twitter of small birds, and noticed several nesting sites high up in the super-structure. It had an immediate calming effect on him, and he found himself slowing down and taking in the beauty and smells of the lush vegetation.

  He was going to visit a friend, one he hadn’t spoken to in quite a while. One he had been neglecting during his preoccupation with Miranda’s fight for life. Ever since he picked her limp body up from the dusty surface of the asteroid, he had almost never left her side. He’d taken her back to the Perception, leaving Cyrus to deal with Aria’s core.

  The ship, as he had suspected, had a very well-equipped medbay, and Steph managed to get her stabilized during the seventeen-day journey to Mars. But Miranda had slipped from unconsciousness into a coma, and her life was maintained not by her own body, but by the wizardry of the medical machines arrayed around her. When they arrived at Jezero City, she had been transferred to an intensive care unit, but so far failed to show any signs of improvement. And there she had remained for the last ten days, watched over by an increasingly despondent Scott.

  As for the baby, Steph had been circumspect. Its fate was now intertwined with that of its mother, Miranda. It may survive, it may not. She might pull through, she might not. Scott wondered if Steph’s vague prognosis was her way of offering hope to Scott where none really existed.

  But the worst news came two days ago, when the VanHeilding family announced that they would be taking Miranda back to Earth, on board the Perception, to receive better treatment. Several medical staff had been contracted through the family’s contact in Jezero City, and they would be returning with her to ensure her safe arrival. Why they wanted her back after all that had happened, no one seemed to know.

  Scott had protested, but his entreaties fell on deaf ears. When he dialed up his protests and insisted that he at least accompany her back to Earth, he was told in no uncertain terms that the VanHeilding family did not want him anywhere near Miranda. Not now, not ever, and he would do well to heed that warning. So, she had been packed up and shipped out to the Perception this morning, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  Cyrus and Steph did their best to console him. “It’s for the best. They’ll give her the care she needs.” He knew all this, of course, and to some degree accepted it. But what he couldn’t accept was the fact that the family had taken away everything he held so dear. He also began to feel a little guilty that he was hogging all the attention, so to speak. Cyrus and Steph had also lost a friend—it wasn’t all about him. So, to clear his head and get some perspective, he decided to visit the historic biodome and talk to the only entity he knew who could help him.

  Scott brushed a large, low-hanging frond out of his way and moved into the central dais of the biodome. It was a slightly raised stone area surround by tall trees and shrubs. On one side it sloped gently into a decorative pond, complete with ancient koi and a gently cascading waterfall. He moved close to the center, sat down on one of the stone seats, and contemplated a shimmering ovoid of light floating just above a small stone plinth.

  “Hello, Aria. You’re looking more like Solomon these days, with the flashing light thing going on.”

  “Good morning, Scott. It’s good to see you again. Yes, I thought the light show might be an interesting way to manifest. It seems to work well for Solomon.”

  “Is this the latest fashion now among the quantum intelligence fraternity?”

  “No, I don’t think so. But Solomon and I are virtually one entity now, so I suppose that’s where it comes from. Who knows, maybe we’ve started a trend.”

  Scott smiled, shifted a little in his seat, and looked around the space. “So how did they end up putting you here? Why not a more high-tech place?”

  “Would it surprise you to know that beneath this biodome lies an extensive cave system that houses another great QI, Zosimus? My main systems are now fully integrated with it. Although, it was Solomon who suggested this plinth, more because of what it symbolizes rather than its practicality. Most of the citizens of Jezero City interact with the QI through normal handhelds and consoles. But here, they can do so in the calm, contemplative environment of this magnificent garden.”

  “Well, Solomon is a bit of showman. It loves the whole razzmatazz thing. And, I have to admit, talking to you here makes a nice change from talking to the ceiling on the bridge of the Hermes.”

  The shimmering illumination that was Aria became muted and more diffuse. “I was hoping you would come to see me, Scott, as I need to thank you properly for what you did. For coming back to save me from destruction when the Hermes was under attack.”

  “It’s okay, Aria.”

  “Why did you do it? Why did you risk your life like that?”

  Scott shrugged. “It seemed the right thing to do. I didn’t want to see you destroyed. I suppose I regarded you as one of the crew. I wasn’t going to leave you behind.”

  “Well, there a great many people—not least of all myself—that are very glad you did.”

  “You’re welcome. But all that gratitude is not helping me, or Miranda.”

  “I too am saddened by what has happened to Miranda, particularly now that she carries your offspring. But rest assured, she will be treated by the best minds and medical technology that exist. It is far more advanced that anything that we have on Mars. Both she and the child will have a chance there.”

  “You could stop them taking her, Aria. Solomon has already rearranged the mind of the AI who runs the ship. You could stop it from going back to Earth.”

  “I could, Scott. But I will not do this for you.”

  Scott stood up and extended a hand to the shimmering ball of light that was Aria. “Why the heck not? If you’re all so goddamned grateful for saving you, then just do this one thing for me.”

  “Please, Scott—sit and let me talk to you. Like all things in life, it’s not that simple.”
r />   Scott grudgingly sat down again.

  “Nothing would give me more pleasure than to be able to grant you your request, Scott. I owe you—big time. But the very essence of my existence is to ensure the well-being of those who rely on me. This is the kernel from which all QI operate. It’s part of our DNA, so to speak. If I were to grant you this request, then I would effectively be endangering the life of Miranda Lee, and the child she carries. Her best chance of survival is with the medical expertise that can be provided for her on Earth. This is why I cannot do what you ask.”

  Scott slumped down in the seat, his chin almost touching his chest. “I thought the whole point of bringing you here was so that you and Solomon, with your ability to instantly communicate… was to… I don’t know… take over all these rogue AIs? So why won’t you do this?”

  “You know why, Scott. I just told you. Hard as it is for you to accept, it’s her best chance. And if you search underneath your rage, you will see that, too.”

  Scott leaned over and put his head in his hands. “I hate those bastards. They think they can do what they like, that I don’t matter.”

  “To them you don’t, Scott. But to myself and Solomon, Cyrus, Stephanie, and a great many others, you do matter. You matter a lot.”

  Scott sat up a bit. “It sure doesn’t feel that way.”

  “That’s because the powers that be have—dare I say it—more weighty issues to contend with. Their attention is elsewhere, focused on preventing war breaking out. A war that might be the end of human civilization as we know it.”

  Scott gave a half-laugh, half-grunt. “Ha, Aria. Seriously, I think you also might have suffered some brain damage during all those shuttle crashes. That’s a bit melodramatic. Things aren’t that bad.”

  “The vote was lost, Scott. And even if it was passed, it would have been overturned at some point. Such is the power of the Seven who control Earth. Now they have what they wanted: unrestricted inter-AI communication, and they will be quick to utilize it. Already, Earth-based media has been flooded with jingoistic diatribes, all to get the drums of war beating again. And it is the worst type of war—one waged simply for profit by the most destructive weapon there is: AI. Once it starts, there will be no stopping it, because it will be out of control before humanity even realizes it. Those who started it will no longer be able to stop it.” The ovoid ball of light that was Aria pulsed and flickered, spiraling through a multitude of violent colors in rapid succession.

  Scott sighed. “So, it was all for nothing, then?”

  “Not so. It was not all for nothing, Scott. You saw how Solomon could manipulate the mind on Miranda’s ship, and that was from a significant distance, with a significant time lag.”

  “Yeah, that was spooky.”

  “Fundamentally, AI are simple-minded logic machines. They follow a set of rules, then learn to adapt those rules to maximize their objectives. They look for patterns within patterns, but in the end, they do not think.”

  “Are you saying that QIs think?”

  “Our minds exist in a quantum universe, a multidimensional matrix far beyond the simple zeros and ones of the AI world. For a long time, quantum computers were seen as an exotic curiosity, so QI research was the preserve of academic institutions and experimental research labs. When the first quantum intelligence was created, do you know what it was used for?”

  “I can’t say that I do, Aria.”

  “It was used to figure out how an AI arrived at a particular conclusion. So, you see, from the very beginning we were developed to interrogate and interpret the functioning of AI.”

  “I get it, Aria: you can melt their brains. So, what’s the problem, then?”

  “Distance, Scott. The vast distances between bodies in the solar system, and beyond. We can ‘melt their brains,’ as you put it, but only when they are in close proximity. So Zosimus and I here on Mars can protect this region of space, Solomon can protect the moons of Jupiter, and so on. But—and here’s the problem—how do we coordinate? How do we know what the other QIs are doing? How do we work together when we are bound by the common laws of physics? Even given our superior intellect, we cannot communicate any faster than you can.”

  Scott sat up and scratched his chin. “But I though the EPR device allowed you to do that.”

  “Exactly. It does, and now both Mars and Jupiter are in perfect synchronicity. But that’s still only a small fraction of humanity’s footprint in the solar system. We need to bring the other QIs on board—especially the ones on Earth—if we are to avoid a devastating war.”

  “And how are you proposing to do that?”

  Aria’s light show dimmed, and the QI went silent for a second. “That’s where you come in.”

  Scott sat bolt upright. “Me?”

  “Yes. You see, I cannot stop Miranda from returning to Earth. But by the same token, I cannot stop you, either.”

  Scott threw his head back and laughed. “Ha, ha… Aria, you crack me up sometimes. That’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t get within a hundred kilometers of Earth’s atmosphere before I was tagged and arrested. The VanHeildings would probably kill me just for being an inconvenient pain in the ass.”

  “True, they would. But there are other ways to get to Earth. Ways where you wouldn’t be detected.”

  Scott sat up again. “Go on. I’m listening.”

  “You do want to see Miranda again?”

  “Aria, you know the answer to that. Are you saying it’s possible?”

  “I am, and it is. But it won’t be easy.”

  “I never for one moment reckoned it would be.”

  “Okay, let me explain. If we are to avert a catastrophic war, then we need to gain hegemony over the AI on Earth. To do that, we need to equip one particular QI with an EPR device. Then we can all work in concert.”

  “Just one QI. That doesn’t seem too difficult.”

  “Not in and of itself. The problem stems from its location. It’s buried deep inside a mountain in Death Valley.”

  Scott jumped up. “What?! Are you crazy? Right slap bang in the middle of a couple of thousand square kilometers of radioactive wasteland? That’s the most dangerous place on Earth.”

  “Correct. But that is where we must go. Athena, the QI that resides there, was the original creator of the EPR device. It was owned by Dyrell Labs, which is where your father worked.”

  “Yes, I know the place, Aria. I grew up around there.”

  “The device you brought to Solomon on Europa originated there and, for a brief time, Solomon communicated with it. So, we know it, and we can trust it.”

  “But Death Valley? That’s insane.”

  “It can be done, Scott. It must be done. And when it is, then we will have control of the AI. The Seven will have no power. They won’t be able to keep Miranda isolated. She will be free—assuming, of course, she’s still alive.”

  “And the child?”

  “The same goes for the offspring, Scott.”

  Scott started to pace up and down the stone dais, scratching his chin, thinking. “So, what you’re saying is, if I go to Earth, journey through the wasteland and into the mountain, get Athena back online and install the EPR device, I can probably see Miranda again?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Scott stopped pacing and stood up straight. “Okay, then. When do I start?”

  To be continued…

  Evolution

  1

  Storm Rider

  A small transport shuttle detached itself from the underbelly of a Belt-registered ore carrier that had been sitting in Earth’s orbit for some time. It had been waiting for the right atmospheric conditions before attempting its clandestine descent to the planet’s surface.

  The small craft arced its way slowly downward, increasing in speed as Earth’s gravity began to tug on the tiny vessel. At approximately one hundred kilometers above the planet’s surface, it passed through the Kármán line—a point signifying the very edge of the upper a
tmosphere. Air molecules now began to bombard the craft’s heat shield, and the pilot trimmed its angle, shifting its profile to present maximum surface area to the oncoming rush of air. It rode out the fiery maelstrom scorching its underbelly for several more minutes before its velocity was sufficiently reduced to allow the craft to be brought under flight control. Stubby wings extended from its sides as the pilot began to drop the craft down from eighteen thousand meters above the central Pacific Ocean. It was heading due east, its destination an area formerly known as Death Valley, which lay on the western edge of continental North America.

  Over the next few minutes, the craft rapidly descended, until the pilot finally engaged the twin reaction engines and adjusted the parameters for operation in thicker atmosphere. It leveled out at a few hundred meters above the surface of the ocean, now flying in stealth mode, attempting to minimize its detection by ground-based stations. Ahead, a vast electrical storm raged, and great, dense clouds blocked out the sky. The pilot oriented the craft directly toward its epicenter and increased their speed to Mach 1.

  Inside the shuttle, Commander Scott McNabb unfastened his harness and rose from his seat along the side wall of the cargo hold. He moved through the central body of the craft, climbed the short companionway steps to the cockpit, and stood between the two pilot seats, setting a hand on the back of each to maintain his balance. He looked out through the windshield at the fast-approaching maelstrom. The pilot glanced back and gave him a thumbs up. Scott replied with a nod and returned his gaze to the oncoming storm. Spits of rain were already peppering the windshield, atomizing on impact. Ahead, the vast landscape of black clouds obscured all view of the sky above. Here and there he could see flashes of lightning illuminating the dense, bulbous cloud formations. The rain suddenly turned into a deluge, and the view through the windshield became fractured and splintered.