Sunborn

by Jeffrey Carver

  Bandicut scowled. “Issues?”

  “Yes,” Copernicus said, rolling forward. “Force and acceleration do not appear to function normally here.”

  Bandicut could feel his blood pressure rising. “Explain.”

  “It is difficult, milords and lady,” Copernicus said. He rolled out into the viewspace, as though he were going to launch himself straight off into space. Then he stopped and raised a metal arm. It rose vertically from his side, then bent to point forward. “I believe it is necessary to steer that way”—he gestured slightly to the right of the dark central object, then swiveled his arm to the left and raised it forty-five degrees—“in order to go that way. It’s not unlike a magnetic field, where forces get turned ninety degrees.”

  Ik rubbed his chest and squinted, saying nothing. “Of course!” Li-Jared said suddenly. “It’s like a plasma jet coming out of an imploding star. Everything’s at right angles to the magnetic field lines.”

  “Correct, if oversimplified,” said Copernicus, swiveling to face them. “The point is that we cannot see the whole tangle of n-space pathways ahead of us. Charli suggests there may be exit points ahead. But they might only seem to be ahead.”

  “Why would they be toward the center of the attraction at all?” Bandicut asked, trying to control his exasperation.

  “Ah,” said Napoleon. “We think exit holes may have been created when our friend out there puckered n-space like a fabric. There may be an escape chute waiting for us. The only catch is, we don’t know exactly where. But we think the puckers are most likely to occur near the stress. Possibly near the Mindaru object itself.”

  They all stared at the robots for a few moments. The facade of romance was gone. The metal creatures were completely serious.

  “It’ll be a little complicated,” Copernicus said at last. “Because n-space is so warped here, it may be a very twisty path out. There could be up to nine-and-a-fraction spatial dimensions to steer through before we complete the route.” As everyone gaped in dumbfounded silence, he added, “It’s fractals all the way down, folks.”

  Chapter 21

  Ready to Break

  The Mindbody took its time, modulating the sensor beams to make its entry into the larger invader vessel. With a bit of experimentation, it determined the best frequency for penetration. The invader vessel was proceeding cautiously, which gave the Mindbody time to complete its testing.

  The invader possessed a sophisticated machine intelligence of its own. That increased the risk, because it might fight back—but also the potential reward, if the Mindbody could subsume useful parts of the intelligence into itself. The Mindbody understood machine intelligences very well, and considered the chance worth taking.

  The pathway into the other was not difficult, though it took a few redirects and false starts to find the way in. The spying threads established a beachhead in a maintenance subsection, and from there began to survey the surroundings. There was no immediate defensive action. The ship continued to move in a satisfactory arc toward the Mindbody’s capture fields.

  *

  Napoleon swiveled his metal head to speak again. “Milord—or Cap’n, if I may—the flying ahead is going to be tricky, with many small corrections. Perhaps, if possible, you should consider jacking into the AI to help you do the job. Can Charli help you do that?”

  Bandicut felt a dull pain as he pondered the possibility. How many times had he tried that, and how many times had it gone wrong? But Napoleon was probably right. /Charli?/

  /// I’ll try. ///

  “Okay,” Bandicut said to Napoleon. He turned to Li-Jared. “Can you be ready to step in and fly, if something goes wrong? Jeaves, have you set up those backup controls? Can Li-Jared use them if something happens to me, or to these controls?” He gave Li-Jared a questioning look and was answered by an emphatic nod.

  “I am activating secondary controls in the common room right now,” Jeaves answered. “By the way, I’m starting to pick up some long-distance probing from the Mindaru object. Nothing I wouldn’t expect. But it answers the question of whether Delilah successfully diverted its attention from us.”

  Bandicut grunted. “Then we’d better get moving. I’m jacking in now.” /Ready, Charli?/ He squeezed the handles on the flight controls and felt the shipboard AI surround his mind like an inrushing tide.

  *

  It was a shocking echo of the old days on Triton, and even before, when he piloted survey craft by mind-computer link, before the accident that crippled his neuros. He felt an exhilarating rush from the sudden fire-hose of connectivity to the intelligence system. That gave way to a surreal blankness. An instant later, he felt the emptiness buzzing with activity beneath the surface, like the perfect vacuum of space swarming with virtual particles. He clung dizzily to the control panel. /Help me in,/ he thought. /Show me the condition of the ship./

  You are connected. How can we help you?

  It was the voice of the AI. For a moment, his mind was filled to overflowing with questions, and ways he would like the AI to help him. Then, with Charli’s help, he focused. /I am John Bandicut. I am taking the con, and I intend to fly the ship manually, from within the system. Can you provide me with real-time guidance?/

  Yes, of course. Napoleon has briefed me on your needs. Would you prefer visual or auditory feedback, or both?

  /Both, please. Can you provide me with a control interface?/

  A variety of interfaces are possible. Any of them should provide several orders of magnitude faster response than the physical controls...

  There was a sparkle in the darkness, and floating before him was a matrix of colored lights. He stared at it without comprehension, then said, /Next./ With another sparkle, the image was replaced by a visual replica of the physical control stick and control panel.

  This might be more familiar, while eliminating the delay of your physical reactions.

  Bandicut touched it tentatively with his thought. /Maybe. What else?/

  The third image was a topographical map of the n-space web they were caught in, similar to the display on the bridge, with a simple spaceship icon. /Do I just push the icon the way I want it to go?/

  Correct. Do you wish to—?

  /Let me try it./ He reached out a virtual finger and placed it on the icon. /Ready when you are./

  Napoleon suggests following this course. A glowing line in the display indicated the course. Turn left forty-five degrees...now. Down ten degrees...now....

  *

  Ik watched Bandicut turn stony-faced as he connected with the shipboard AI. Something about this sudden plan troubled Ik, though he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the fact that if John was going to do all of the flying from within the AI, there was no way for the rest of them to know what was happening. And no way to step in if something went wrong. Li-Jared had left the bridge to stand by in the common lounge, but if things went badly amiss here, how much good could Li-Jared do from there?

  Ik had been very quiet since the death of the star. Perhaps it was time for him to start pulling his weight. He stepped up beside Bandicut, and placing a hand on the control console, closed his eyes and focused on his voice-stones. /Can you connect me to the shipboard AI?/

  *For what purpose?*

  /To monitor what’s happening with Bandie’s connection. To make sure everything is all right./

  His voice-stones seemed to consider that before answering, *We will try. Keep your hand on the console, to improve the connection.*

  Within a few moments, Ik felt a tingling in his temples...

  *

  The Mindbody threads had the layout of the invader mapped in a short time, and decided they would go a little further. Rather than just observing, they would risk taking control over one or two subsections, and test the waters for a complete takeover. A good place to start could be the structural subsection they were hiding in now. If that seemed solid, they would test the active control system.

  They had just observed a new control process connec
ted to the biologicals; perhaps it would be worth testing there, to find its vulnerabilities. And now a second new one had just appeared. Perhaps the time for a takeover was closer than they had thought.

  *

  Bandicut found the piloting interface to be quick and easy to master. But something was erratic about the way the AI interfaced with him, almost as if it were only giving him part-time attention, even though he was at the moment performing the most important function on the ship.

  /Are you there? Are you with me?/ he asked, after several seconds had gone by with no directional information. The ship was now gliding on a path that looked as if it would take them straight to the Mindaru object at the center. That could be misleading, he knew, but it was alarming.

  The AI finally answered, I am here. My time is divided among many functions. What is your goal with these maneuvers?

  /What do you mean? Our goal is to escape. We are trying to find a path out of this—/ Bandicut stopped in midsentence, with a sudden reluctance to keep speaking. The AI knew as well as he did what their goal was. /Why are you asking that? Didn’t Napoleon make it clear—?/ He stopped again, realizing he hadn’t heard any direct communication from Napoleon in a while. Or for that matter: /Charli? Charli, you here?/

  Instead of the quarx, he heard a buzzing—more a feeling than a sound. He looked around, and everything had changed. He suddenly felt as if he were in an enclosed space—silent, hot, vapors billowing, clinging to his skin. A blast of steam threatened his face. He felt an oppressive pressure. /What is this?/ In answer, he heard a remote, metallic banging, then silence. It reminded him of undersea sounds. Was he slipping into madness, or silence-fugue? No, this was different. He was rational. Scared, but rational. /Charli?/ He could no longer feel the quarx. Where had she gone?

  The ship was still moving, yes?

  Yes...

  /Who is that? The AI?/

  Yes...

  /What direction are we moving?/

  Where we must go.

  He felt a chill, in spite of the steam. /Why aren’t you giving me directions?/

  There has been a change. We have suspended your control while a check is made for system corruption.

  /System corruption? What kind of corruption? Why wasn’t I informed?/

  It was only just detected. Please wait while we perform some tests.

  Bandicut wanted to protest, but he felt a strange cottony fullness in his head. /Can’t wait.../ Steam continued to coil about him. /Char—/ He could not finish the call to Charlie, and he couldn’t do anything to protest the AI’s preemptive action. He was boxed in.

  Enveloped by steam.

  *

  Li-Jared was lost. How could this be? He was just going to the common room. But no sooner had he left the bridge than the corridor started to morph violently—lurching like an earthquake and contracting and twisting. “Stop it!” he yelled, turning to charge back to the bridge. But the route to the bridge was closed off, and the glowing corridor now kinked and looped backward like a serpent.

  Terrified, Li-Jared turned around. Twenty paces in the direction that had been the way to the common room, the corridor now ended abruptly, in a doorway that looked out onto open space. Li-Jared staggered to a halt, hearts hammering. And then a side passage opened to reveal a normal-looking passageway. He dove that way and ran, not knowing in the least where he was going.

  *

  Progress was encouraging. The Mindbody had probed deeply enough in the control system to interrupt the activities of one of the biologic elements. The biologic was a likely chaotic attractor, and it was vital to establish the ability to control it, or at least remove it from the control loop. It had not surrendered voluntarily, but the Mindbody had locked it out.

  The Mindbody threads sent an imperative back to the Mindaru core: prepare a docking space in the salvage area. The invader was interesting enough to keep.

  *

  “Lady Antares—you seem ill at ease.” Copernicus rolled forward.

  The Thespi woman was touching John Bandicut’s arm, and leaning to peer at his face, and the face of Ik, standing still as ice on Bandicut’s other side. “Yes. We are no longer maneuvering. And look at John Bandicut.” She reached up to touch his unresponsive face. “He looks unconscious. And now Ik. Copernicus, I fear something is wrong.”

  “We’ve missed three important turns,” said Napoleon. “I am recalculating on the fly—but my instructions no longer seem to be reaching him.”

  “Can one of you norgs enter the system and see what is happening?” Antares asked.

  “At once,” Copernicus said. He spun and rolled to the nearest wall. Provide hard jack at this location, he requested of the system, speaking through a low-gain comm-link. A small, oval outlet appeared in the wall. Monitor things out here, he said to Napoleon.

  Use caution, answered Napoleon. But also speed.

  Of course, Copernicus thought. He remembered his experiences back on Shipworld, when there were dangerous AI conditions. And he remembered the steps he had taken to protect himself. He took several long microseconds right now to generate a condom protocol across the interface.

  Then he jacked into the AI.

  *

  Bandicut, waiting for Charli’s voice, was startled by the sudden presence of a robot nearby, somewhere among the clouds of vapor. /Napoleon, is that you?/

  Copernicus, Cap’n. We lost contact with you. Are you unharmed?

  /Well, I’m...not sure. The AI cut me out of the flying control loop—said it was investigating a possible corruption./

  Corruption? Can you refrain from action for a few moments, while I investigate?

  /I have no choice. The AI froze me out of the system./

  Really. That is very strange. Cap’n, perhaps you should withdraw from your link while we sort this out. Copernicus’s voice faded to a low rasp, as though he were hurrying away.

  /Well, I don’t—wait!/ Bandicut said, finding he could not pull out of the system. A block had dropped into place. From the AI? Or some automatic safety?

  Copernicus returned. John Bandicut—are you still there?

  /I can’t move./

  Copernicus faded, muttering incomprehensibly, into the distance. Bandicut heard a crackling sound, almost a clashing, like gates opening and slamming. A struggle? Copernicus and the AI at odds? He heard a squeal like quarreling squirrels; then Copernicus was back. There is a malfunction in the system. I’ve severed piloting control from the AI and will be transferring it back to you. First I must get you out so you can fly by hand.

  /Copernicus, wait—/ Bandicut’s mind was spinning. How could he be sure it was the AI that was malfunctioning and not Copernicus? He remembered all too clearly Copernicus’s shaky episode in the midst of the boojum crisis on Shipworld. /Aren’t we communicating through the AI?/

  Through an isolated channel. Cap’n, I’m going to try to cut you loose. Get ready.

  Bandicut felt a sudden clunk, like a knife blade dropping. Gasping for air, he found himself standing in his own body again, arms clutching the control console.

  /// John! John, are you all right? ///

  /Charli! Jesus! I think so. Where the hell were you? I couldn’t find you the whole time I was in there./

  /// I was protecting you.

  At first I was just maintaining the link.

  But something in the AI didn’t seem right,

  and it took all I had—///

  The quarx was interrupted by Antares, on his right, shaking him and calling, “John!” On his left, Ik, standing very close, jerked his hands in the air and jumped back as if he’d been shocked. “Hrah!”

  Bandicut breathed deeply, trying to pull himself together. He called to Copernicus, jacked into the wall. “Can you talk, Coppy?”

  Napoleon answered for him. “He’s busy figuring out what’s wrong with the AI, Cap’n. We’re on our own for the flying.”

  “Right.” Bandicut glanced outside, where n-space was growing more and more savagely di
storted. Fractals all the way down. “We’re getting awfully close to that Mindaru thing. Have we missed any crucial maneuvers?”

  “Yes,” said Napoleon. “But I believe we can make up for them. I’m ready to feed you directions.”

  “Why don’t you just fly it?”

  “I’m not a pilot, Cap’n. You are. Now, with all respect, let’s do some flying. And let’s hope...”

  “Hope what?”

  Napoleon hesitated, as though drawing a breath. “Just hope. Ready now? Apply the n-vector thrust at half, turn three-zero degrees left and twenty-four down...now, Cap’n!”

  Bandicut did as the robot asked. The ship rotated briskly on its axis, and began to slip across the n-space field lines.

  *

  The invader had some unexpected tricks, then. After infiltrating the vessel’s intelligence core, the Mindbody suddenly found itself on the defensive, pursued by an altogether different intelligence. It seemed to have come out of nowhere, and it aggressively intervened against the actions of the Mindbody—first cutting the AI flight control, then releasing the bio-form from the cell the Mindbody had created around it. Finally it had begun a search-and-destroy mission, though it probably did not know what it was looking for.

  So there were multiple, independent intelligences aboard this vessel. The Mindbody had underestimated their adversary. The infiltrating threads were still in communication with their home logic-core, but in this fight, they were on their own.

  And they were being hunted.

  *

  Bandicut blinked sweat from his eyes and forced himself to relax his white-knuckle grip on the joystick knob. That’s no way to fly. He gave the knob a more deliberate squeeze. It gave slightly and recontoured itself into a more comfortable shape.

  “Cap’n, turn right eight-seven degrees now,” Napoleon snapped. “And two-zero degrees down...now. Hold for six, five, four...ready to roll ninety degrees to the left...”

  Bandicut followed Napoleon’s instructions without hesitation. He had no idea what course they were following—some invisible thread through the labyrinthine n-space field of their adversary. The instructions were coming faster and faster. /Help me stay with it, if you can./