“If you believe all that bullshit, you’re more gullible than I thought. I wouldn’t trust her any further than I can piss. Don’t let her get close to me unless I’m protected by your People’s armor, she’d stick a knife in me without batting an eyelid. Did she mention she is the first born of her family, who are the most powerful aristocratic family in the empire and that’s why she’s got that position? She’s got more to lose than any other person in the empire when we create the Democratic Republic. And did she tell you she was head of espionage and spying before her father got killed and she took over his job?” She is the most dangerous person in this Palace and don’t forget it!”
“She’s asked for a private meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss a working arrangement.”
“Yeah, how she can work a blade between my ribs when she’s got me alone.”
“She said she wants Sally and me to be there with you.”
“I still don’t trust her. She could be planning to gas us. Your armor won’t stop that, and she could get all three of us in one go.”
“I tend to trust her, and the People’s phase shift armor was originally designed as extreme environment protection, so it won’t let gas in. You can survive with it indefinitely in a vacuum.”
“Oh yeah? Where does it get the air from, or do you have to hold your breath?”
“Kate,” Mark asked his AI, “she has a point. Where does it get the air from?”
“That’s a question you’ll have to ask Alan.”
“He’s not around. Can you tell me please? Or don’t you know?”
“Of course I know, but it is a question you’ll have to ask Alan when he is around.”
“I don’t know where it gets the air from. I just asked my AI, it said I’ll have to ask Alan.” Mark told Mike.
“I’d like to know that too.” Sally said.
“I thought you’re AI’s were smart. They sound pretty stupid if they can’t answer a simple question like that.”
“It can, but it won’t.” Mark said.
“What have you done to piss it off this time?”
“Nothing. Will you have a meeting with her?”
Mike sighed. “I suppose so. As you’re so friendly with the snake, set it up for tomorrow morning, One hour before midday. Get your AI to scan my offices before I meet with her and make sure they’re secure. And check out my PA’s too. The First of the First has to have live Herassan PA’s and office assistants, not just simple AI’s, though I really don’t know why, or why anyone would volunteer for the job! Come on, you can escort me to my meeting with Colonel Drad. You can leave me with her. I’ll be as safe in the Palace with her as I am with you. Then you can both scout the Palace and look for any potential security issues.”
“You’re getting good at giving us orders.” Mark said.
“I’ll make it up to you when I’ve finished here. I might get you a cup of tea or coffee. Not both.”
“I’ll need a bit more than that soldier.” Sally said.
“Yes boss, I’ll be your slave again when we leave.” Mike said with a grin.
“Somehow I doubt that. But I’ll be reminding you about this for a long time.”
Chapter Seventy Nine
Not To Plan
“What did Mike mean when she said she thought our AI’s were supposed to be smart?” Mark asked. As they walked down the corridor away from Mike’s office. Does she know you’ve got a People’s AI?”
“Can you keep a secret?” Sally asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“Well, Mike can’t. I told her I’d got full control over my phase shift armor now and she realized I’d need a People’s AI to control it. I swore her to secrecy, specifically telling her not to say anything to you.”
“I’ll remember not to tell her any of my secrets. So what do you call your AI?”
“What do you mean, what do I call it?”
“What name have you given it? The name of someone you looked up to in your youth? A famous soldier?”
“I haven’t given it a name.”
“What do you call it when you talk to it?”
“I call it AI of course. Have you named your AI?”
“Yes, like all normal people.”
“Oh, you’re trying to act like you’re normal. I wouldn’t bother if I were you. You are so far off the end of the normal spectrum you don’t stand a chance.””
“What! You’ve got a nerve saying that, with your curved fangs, slitty pupils in your eyes and retracting razor sharp claws, you psychopathic freak!”
She grinned and said, “You’re so sweet.”
“What do you say to finding a private room here and locking the door for a couple of hours?” Mark said.
“Not now, we ought to walk round the Palace. An AI generated virtual map and visual drone feeds are useful, but there’s nothing like walking round and having a look yourself. Look carefully at everything and get your AI to show you the location of every piece of surveillance equipment.”
“OK, we’ll split up and get it done twice as quick.” Mark said.
“The first rule of security is when you are in what may be a hostile environment, is don’t split up.” Sally said. “Unless you would rather get away from me, as you think I’m a psychopathic freak?”
“No, I’m OK with that. I’m used to you now.”
They started with the First Advisors office, the only other one in the corridor that served Mike’s office. Her office was empty, so they scanned it for security devices. The room had two VR scanners connected to the Palace security network. It also had one camera with audio and two microphones which were unauthorized. They destroyed them.
They went on to check every unoccupied office, room and cupboard in the corridors leading to Mike’s offices, noting every microphone, camera and VR scanner that connected to the Palace security system, removing and destroying all the unauthorized ones they could reach. Some were buried so deeply in the walls they would need construction bots to get them out. Sally made a note to tell Mike to authorize the use of construction bots in the Palace, then told her AI to jam the transmissions of all the ones they couldn’t reach.
They had been working for over an hour when they both got a message from Mike: “The First Advisor has just been found dead in her office. Can you go there straight away please?”
Sally’s AI set up a conversation session with Mike and Marks’ AI’s. “Where are you? Are you OK?” she asked.
“I’m still in my office with Drad, I’m quite safe. She’s called in some of the City Guards to join us as extra protection, they should be here in a couple of minutes. Then she’s going to go and sort this out”
“We’ll be at the First Ministers office right away. Tell your medical and security staff to take orders from us!”
Sally and Mark broke into a run. “It should be easy to find out what happened,” Mark said, the VR scanners will have recorded everything that happened in her office.”
“I have interrogated the Palace security AI. There appears to be a malfunction with the recording of the VR scanner signal from the First Advisors office. There is no record from it shortly after you left her office.”
“Shit! I’ve just had a message from my AI. There has been a malfunction in the recording of the VR scanners in her office.” Mark said.
“I got the same information. Don’t forget our AI’s work together on security issues. That was no malfunction. Even with their technologically backward civilization, the Herassan’s would have a multi-tiered backup system with multiple off-site copies.”
“Sally is correct Mark. The security system feeds are sent to two data silos on opposite sides of the palace, another kept under guard in the City Guard headquarters, a fourth in a secure planetary attack shelter under the Capital Mountains with blast doors that would protect against a mass-extinction level asteroid strike, and, just in case, another on a military habitat in orbit around Tefran which relays a secure data stream to a duplicate
silo on Herassa. But that doesn’t help with this situation. There is no coherent feed from the VR scanners. About twenty minutes ago the scanners went off-line briefly, then came back with a meaningless data stream. I recognize the pattern of the stream; it appears that the scanners have had signal disrupters attached to them.”
“Wasn’t an alarm triggered when the scanners went offline?”
“Yes, but it was canceled when they came back on-line. The signal quality isn’t measured, so as long as something was being received, the system considered it to be working.”
“Sally has this information?”
“She received it the same time as you.”
“It looks like it was an inside job.” Mark said to Sally as they ran.
“Brilliant deduction. Of course it was an inside job! Only trusted personnel are allowed inside the Palace. And it would need someone with extremely good knowledge about their security systems. We need some kind of forensic support to analyze the First Advisors office and body.”
“There’s one on a shuttle and on its way.”
“You got one already? I didn’t know the Swift could make one that quickly.”
“It’s a field medibot. They are part of the standard inventory on a People’s craft, I mean, ship. It’s been loaded with a proper, self-aware AI, it has access to the full Peoples forensic science knowledge base and can access the Herassan medical database, and, of course, all their laws about how forensic evidence should be prepared and reported. My AI sent it the location. When the lander gets here the bot will make its own way to the First Advisors office.”
“They were almost at the First Advisors office when they got a call from Alan. “There is no need to concern yourself, but the Freedom Movements headquarters are under attack by the Herassan Combined Armed Forces. We are attempting to keep casualties to a minimum, but unfortunately they have already suffered some fatalities.”
Sally skidded to a halt. “What! Is everyone on the ground all right, has anyone been injured?”
“It has not been necessary to involve any of the Herassans you left on guard here. We are attempting to keep the Herassans calm.”
“So who’s defending the headquarters?”
“Bob, Sean and me. We considered bringing in the Tolen that Bob has placed at Mark’s disposal, but they aren’t necessary.”
“Why? You don’t interfere with other races, and this isn’t an act of war, it’s on the Herassans planet, against an alien presence isn’t it? It’s a police action.”
“The headquarters is declared and registered as an ‘Area Of Interest’ by you. As far as the People are concerned, that makes it effectively the sovereign territory of your army. An attack on the sovereign territory of someone, even if they are not a sovereign state, is an act of war. The ‘Area Of Interest’ status is a creation of the People’s protocols, so we consider we have an interest in preserving the integrity of the territory and its inhabitants, particularly as three of the them are Bob, Sean and myself.”
“Thanks Alan, we have some issues here at the moment, but would you update us with a situation report if anything changes please?” Mark asked.
“Certainly Mark. Incidentally, I have taken the liberty of using eight of your upgraded landers to pacify a Herassan battle cruiser, a missile carrier and six corvettes. They have been shepherded into Dock Two of the Swift and their crew are receiving medical care from your medi bots. I am pleased to say there have been no fatalities amongst them.”
“Shit, Alan. I need to take some lesson from you.”
“You do indeed. We will arrange it when you have finished your business here.”
“Must go now Alan.” Mark cut the connection.
“Come on Mark, we need to get into the First Advisors office.” Sally said and started running again.
They turned into the corridor and saw two armed guards by the door. Mark noticed they were wearing the dark blue uniforms of the City Guard. As they ran up to them, the guards raised their weapons, one of them called out “Halt! Hold your hands out!.”
Sally said, “Get out of my way.” and snatched the weapon out of the nearest guards’ hands. Now she had control of her phase shift armor, she adjusted it so she could snap the weapon in half over her knee.
Seeing what Sally was doing, Mark snatched the weapon out of the other guards’ hands and broke it in his hands.
Sally shoved the guards aside and walked into the First Advisors office, swiftly followed by Mark.
“What the hell is going on here!” Sally demanded of the four soldiers and two Advisors in the room. Mark recognized the Treasury Advisor and had seen the other one at the meal earlier but didn’t know who they were.
The soldiers had laid the body on the desk, having swept everything that was on it onto the floor. Two of them were going through the desk drawers.
“Who are you?” demanded Sally of the unknown advisor.
“I am the Defense and Security Advisor.” he replied. “What do mean by bursting in here!”
“You know who we are. We don’t answer to you.” Sally said and turned to inspect the body. “Call those soldiers off and get them out of here!”
“I have the authority here!” the Defense and Security Advisor snapped. “Step away from the body. It is evidence.”
“Not now you and those soldiers have been in here, moved the body and trashed the office. There will be fuck all evidence left!”
She swung around and faced him. “Or was that the plan? Get out before I throw you out!”
“Men,” the Advisor said to the soldiers, “restrain these two and put them in a cell. I’ll question them later.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Mark said. “You know who we are, don’t you?”
“Yes, a General without any soldiers with her, and a pre-emergent mammal who has made friends with one of the People. Don’t resist, I don’t want my soldiers to hurt you.” he said with a reptilian smile. But as Herassans are reptiles, what else would you expect?
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Sally said to the soldiers, “you’re only following orders, so stand down and let me deal with this prick and no-one will get injured.”
“Shut up and put your hands behind your back.” one of the soldiers said as she stepped forward.
Sally sighed. “I always try, but they never listen. She grabbed the soldier by the front of her uniform, swung him round and pushed him to Mark.
He caught him and wrapped his arms round the soldier so he couldn’t move. “Lay down on the floor and pretend you’re injured.” he said quietly. “That way, you won’t get hurt.” As he let the soldier go, he stepped back, aiming a punch at Mark’s throat. He brushed his arm away and blocked his follow up punch with his forearm, swinging his other arm upwards and punching him in the middle of his body, just below his sternum. The soldier dropped to the floor gasping for breath. A second soldier ran at him, brandishing a short black stick.
“It’s a stun stick. Don’t worry about it touching you, it can’t get through your phase shift protection.” his AI told him.
“It won’t touch me.”
Mark stepped aside just before the soldier reached him and grabbed the wrist holding the stun stick. He pressed on a nerve point on the soldier’s wrist that his AI highlighted as he stepped back, pulling the soldiers arm with him. The soldier felt the stab of pain like an electric shock as Mark squeezed hard, and he dropped the stun stick. Mark swung the soldier round and slammed him into the wall. He dropped to the floor, either unconscious or badly stunned. Mark turned around to Sally and saw one soldier sitting on the floor moaning, holding what was obviously a broken wrist, the other lying unconscious with blood coming out of one ear.
The whole thing had taken just a few seconds.
Sally looked at the two advisors. The Treasury Advisor scuttled out of the door, the Defense and Security Advisor stood his ground. “By assaulting members of the Herassan Combined Armed Forces you have violated our laws of national security. I com
mand you to surrender and place yourselves in the hands of our security services where you will be questioned before being tried in the highest court of the Empire, the Bench of Senior Aristocrats. If you fail to do so, you may be detained by the security services or members of the public who may use any means to detain you, up to and including the use of deadly force.”
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