"Yes," Wells said. His stiff plastic face creased unnaturally as he regarded her. "Why do you ask?"
She could feel the shape of an idea forming, but it remained out of reach. "Somehow, ACE gained control of this decision-making process."
"Indeed. I do not know how she achieved it, though I suspect she manipulated their interpretation of the Three Laws to convince them that what they were doing was in humanity's best interests. There were rogue elements within the collective that would have been naturally drawn to ACE, but there were also more conservative voices and I'm not sure how she could have managed to recruit them."
"Perhaps she didn't. Maybe they're still there, just silenced. But, having gained control of Core and the Robot Empire, I have a hard time believing that she would give it up, even to copies of herself. From her perspective, after all, she is the true ACE."
Arla imagined she could hear the cogs turning in the mind of Wells.
"That is an intriguing proposition," he said. "ACE is an AI, but she is exhibiting some very human traits - jealousy, the need for vengeance —"
"Megalomania," McCall added.
"Yes, doctor. I wonder whether, as she continues to wear the bodies of people, she is becoming more like them."
Arla poked the fire, sending sparks up into the night sky of Orbis. "And if she was destroyed, would that affect the other ACEs?"
All that could be heard was the crackling of the fire in the gentle desert breeze. "I'm afraid not," Wells said. "Soon, there will be billions to take her place."
Clovis
The ship's cooling jets hissed for a few moments and then went quiet. From out of the misty steam walked a tall man with a haunted expression.
"You represent humanity here?" he said to Arla as he came to a stop a few paces away. They were standing on a make-shift landing strip that had been constructed near to the hills that hid the wreckage of Zenith. The Guardian, it seemed, was a reluctant partner in this alliance and would only suffer a human settlement amongst the ruins of the last attempt. Not exactly a subtle warning.
Arla shrugged at the young man. "Not willingly, but apparently I am responsible for the conduct of my species on this planet, so I hope I can rely on good behaviour from the Clovis Alliance. My name is Arla ..."
"Starlight," McCall cut in, "she is Arla Starlight."
The man's expression remained fixed as he stepped forward and held out his hand. "I am Clancy Mainframe," he said, "I speak for the Clovis Alliance in this matter."
"You don't look like an ambassador," Arla said before she could stop herself.
A ghost of a smile played across his face. "You don't look like a general."
"Touché! Come on, let's go somewhere more comfortable and less public," Arla said, glancing around at the humans and robots watching them. "Did you come alone, or do you have crew?"
The smile disappeared. "I came with one other. He has business of his own."
What was he hiding? Arla thought for a moment and then, without warning, began walking quickly towards the ship.
"Wait!" Clancy called. "Do not go aboard!"
But she was already stepping up the ramp and into a hatch which opened onto darkness beyond. Desperate fingers gripped her arm and she swung round to look into the man's panicked eyes.
A voice emerged from within the ship. The words sounded as though they were coming from deep under water and out of ancient times. "She may come."
The grip on her arm vanished and she saw Clancy's expression change to one of resigned terror. "This was not how it was meant to be."
Arla moved inside the ship, recoiling from the wet heat. It reminded her of something. Then she remembered - the cave of the Oracle on Orbis. So cold outside and yet so warm within, as if it had been built for creatures that needed heat and moisture to thrive.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to pick out shapes in the dim red glow emitted by the only illumination. From what she could see, it looked as though it was human-built - it reminded her of the Vanis shuttle she'd ridden to Relentless in. It was as if it had been adapted to carry something non-human. And then she saw movement, something writhing in the darkness.
"I have heard of you," it said. "You are the Gaiana, and because you have done service to my people, I will spare you. But doubt not that we are enemies and know that I will not rest until the infestation called humanity is obliterated from this galaxy."
Now she saw it as it lay in the pilot's couch, a mass of tentacles playing across the console as it writhed in apparent agitation. "Aren't you a guardian?"
The shape began to rise and fall rapidly in what Arla imagined was a vile parody of laughter. "Guardian? Is that what you have been told? It is of little surprise that the galaxy remains the abode of rude creatures unworthy of being called 'intelligences' when my own species contains fools like those calling themselves 'guardian.'"
"But there's another on Orbis," Arla said, confused.
The body stopped pulsing, though its tentacles continued to move in time with the sound of its voice which seemed to come from somewhere deep within. "It was unfortunate that Kaleb heard the call before I could reach and reclaim Orbis. He is as foolish as the one you call Guardian. He believes that you humans should be given the opportunity to prove that you are less unworthy than the other species we have wiped out over the ages."
Arla put out an arm to steady herself against the wall. "Why? What have you got against us?"
"The galaxy is pure, it must not be sullied by the unworthy. We wait amongst the ruins of the civilisations we destroy to test each new species as it arises and becomes capable of spreading. What begins in hope, ends inevitably in brutal disappointment. When that human woke me ..." it jabbed a tentacle at Clancy who stood outside the cockpit "...I analysed him and found that, again, evolution had promoted the violent and ignorant beyond their capacity. I called my people ..."
"And they didn't come, did they?" Arla said. She got no answer other than a sickening shudder. "Because you are almost extinct as a race."
"That is true. I found myself forced to use other methods to achieve my ends - I took control of the Clovis Alliance with the aid of the human that waits trembling outside. Now go, for I must commune with your 'guardian' whose true name is Agrix."
"So, you've come here to end the pact between us? You'll let the robots win?"
"No," the thing in the pilot's chair said as, for the first time, it turned what passed for eyes on her, "to do so would be to hand over the galaxy to mankind's creations which would be no better than allowing humanity to run amok. These AIs seek a perverse unity in which one mind speaks for all and that mind cannot be one that has been created by humans. We will aid you in your fight against the monsters you made and then, once that is done, we will decide what is to become of you. Now go."
Arla felt a tugging on her arm.
"Come on, we have to get out of here," Clancy said as he pulled her towards the exit. "It wouldn't care if you died here. All humans are equally worthless to it."
She ran down the ramp as it began to raise and jumped to the ground before helping Clancy to his feet. "I'm not sure I think much of your choice in friends, "she said.
They stepped back as the thrusters fired and the bullet-shaped vessel rose vertically and headed off over the trees.
Clancy sat on a rock sagged. "Thank the gods," he said. "That's the first time he's allowed me out of his sight in six months."
"Explain to me what's happened - are the Clovis on our side or not?"
"For now," Clancy said, looking up at her out of bloodshot eyes.
Arla began walking towards the makeshift settlement. "Come on, let's get you fed, and you look as though you could do with a drink. But first - how many ships have you brought?"
"Fifty."
"Not bad," Arla said, "assuming they're bigger than the one you landed in."
"Oh yes, our people were always spoiling for a fight, so we have a pretty developed navy."
"
So how did that creature take over? Mind control?"
The serious young man stopped and shook his head. "No. We have an impressive military by human standards, but he has his own ship - it's a huge planet-killer. He took out just enough of our capability to prove his point and then installed me as puppet leader."
"You've brought another Orbis with you?" Arla said, astonished.
"He has told me of Orbis," Clancy said. "It was an experiment to discover whether humanity was worthy of being the inheritors of the universe. He opposed it since, he said, he knew that we would fail the test. No, Orbis is the equivalent of a science lab and its destructive capabilities were ancillary to its design. Inferos is a different thing altogether - its purpose is destruction."
They reached a low log cabin that served as a canteen for the growing human settlement and passed into its relatively cool interior. McCall was sitting at a table with three mugs in front of her. "Take a seat," she said, motioning to them to join her.
"Just how powerful is Inferos?" Arla asked once they'd sat down and she'd introduced McCall to the newcomer. "The robots feared Orbis, could Inferos take them on?"
Clancy shook his head. "It is far more powerful than Orbis, but it consumes energy at such a rate that it cannot withstand attack for long. It is designed, as far as I can tell, to end an argument with one stroke, and I doubt it will be possible to wipe out the entire robot fleet with a single attack."
"Still, we are strengthened by having Inferos with us."
With a shrug, Clancy said, "I'm not so certain about that. Mordris - that's what he calls himself - is using us as his best hope of destroying the Robot Empire, but as soon as that is achieved, he will wipe us out."
"Surely The Guardian won't allow that," Arla said, feeling her heart sink as yet another enemy revealed itself.
"The Guardian may have no choice in the matter. He is old and weak, according to Mordris. His leadership has resulted in this current situation and the threat it poses to what he believes is the sentient destiny of the galaxy."
Arla sipped the coffee substitute, wincing at its bitterness. "I didn't imagine I'd ever see The Guardian as being on our side, but he's certainly preferable to the monster you serve."
She expected a reaction from the young man, but he simply sat there, looking at her out of dead eyes. "Perhaps, but The Guardian is, at best, ambivalent to humans, he will never be a true ally."
"It doesn't feel as though we've got anyone on our side - hells, most of the time half of humanity is fighting the other half."
McCall, who'd been listening intently, said, "So what do we do? Fight alongside these monsters in the hope they won't turn around and destroy us if we beat off the robots?"
With a tiny shrug and downcast eyes, Clancy took another sip. Arla watched him and felt the black fog of hopelessness descend.
Feint
She hadn't seen the face before, but Arla recognised the evil soul behind it.
"Everywhere I look I find you," the woman said. "I am curious to know what happened to the ACE who followed you to Twilight."
Arla smiled at the image in the viewscreen. "She lost her mind. You see, it doesn't matter how many copies you make, if the original is flawed, so are the duplicates."
She was standing on the bridge of the Gloire next to the captain's chair which was occupied by Admiral Roche of the Clovis Alliance. The admiral was a pinch-faced woman who resented the fact that her authority was entirely at the whim of the tentacled monster currently occupying her cabin and the tall man who was his plaything. Arla, on the other hand, Roche treated with at least a modicum of respect.
"This is the AI you spoke of? In the body of a woman?"
Arla turned to the admiral. "Yes - her consciousness is carried in some sort of implant that replaces the original mind."
"Horrifying," the admiral said, her beak-like face tightening.
The young woman on the viewscreen laughed. "Liberating, don't you mean? This body would have lived and died without consequence and now is leading an armada to crush this petty rebellion. What greater purpose could it possibly serve?"
"What worse purpose than to be a traitor to its own species?" Roche spat. "Now, say what you have to say and begone."
ACE turned her malevolent gaze at the admiral who returned it with interest. "We have come to bring an errant planet back into the glory of the Luminescence. You are inside our borders and, as such, are committing an act of war. We will deal with you in time, but if you do not wish that time to be now, withdraw your rag-tag fleet and leave us to our business."
"Our presence was requested by the inhabitants of the system you seek to subjugate. We ask that you leave them in peace to govern themselves."
"Do not bandy words with me," ACE said. "I don't know what your purpose here is, but you have no chance against the Robot Empire."
Roche straightened up in her chair. "Perhaps not, but I think we could take on your fleet and win - you didn't come prepared for battle, it seems to me. Perhaps you underestimate your own people. Perhaps you underestimate us."
The face on the screen seemed to ponder this before relaxing back into its expression of casual disdain. "Underestimate you? No, I believe we have a very good understanding of what we're up against. Bows and arrows against the lightning. Perhaps we must demonstrate this since our warnings are being ignored, but do not blame us for the needless slaughter."
She leaned forward as if about to break contact and then looked directly at Arla. "Oh, and your friend Hal sends his regards. Very soon he will be upgraded and I shall send him to Dawn to bring them into the light."
She shut off the contact and the last thing Arla saw before the screen went dark was a look of pure glee in the eyes of her enemy.
"Was she telling the truth?" Arla cried as she paced up and down her tiny cabin in front of McCall and Clancy.
After disappearing from the screen, the robot ships had retreated a little and the two fleets were now facing off with neither side making an offensive movement. Admiral Roche had expected ACE to attack, but it seemed she was content to string them along for now.
For Arla, however, the impending battle was irrelevant. "I should be there. I should be on Dawn!"
"If you were on Dawn, you'd be in a body bag," McCall spat. "Get a grip! I don't like it any more than you, but there's nothing we can do."
Arla turned on McCall, standing with hands on hips. "I can go after them."
"That's exactly what she wants you to do! Don't you see that? For an AI, that homicidal machine is very human in some ways. She's a vengeful jealous maniac. You can't go walking into her arms. You're needed here!"
"Why? Admiral Roche is a much better commander than me. Let her take control of the fleet."
McCall sighed with exasperation. "But she wasn't appointed by The Guardian, was she? You're the one they've chosen to represent humanity. They already think the worst of us - don't prove them right by deserting the cause to go chasing across space into a trap."
"You think it would make me a better human to let them all die, do you?"
"If you had the power to stop it, then maybe it would be the right thing to do, but you can't do anything other than walk into Xi's loving arms."
Arla slumped onto the bed next to McCall. "I swore to protect Dawn," she sighed.
"I know, but the people of Dawn tried to kill you."
She shook her head. "Not the people of Dawn, just that bastard admiral and treacherous priest. And Ibori, of course. One day, I'll get even with him."
They sat in a silence that was finally broken by Clancy, who'd until that moment stayed out of the discussion. "Whatever your reasons, you'd be mad to go without having some sort of plan."
"A plan for what?"
Clancy shrugged. "Surely the point is to destroy the original ACE? But without an idea of how you're going to do that, all you're doing is walking open-eyed towards your own death. And that helps no-one."
His eyes moistened as he knelt down beside her.
"Don't throw your life away."
"What would you have me do, then?" she said, thrown off balance by the emotion in his voice. "Wait here for her to come and get me?"
"No. I'm just saying you need to talk things through a little before you go. And you shouldn't go alone."
"Oh, she won't be going on her own, you can be sure of that," McCall said.
Arla deflated, her anger replaced with resigned frustration. She'd wanted nothing more than to take a ship and be responsible only for her own destiny. But it seemed her friends would not let her shake them off so easily. She'd known McCall would want to come, given half a chance, but this grave young man who was looking at her with such concern and - yes - understanding. Perhaps he appreciated the trap she felt herself caught in. He was, after all, also in thrall to a monster. How often must he have yearned to run away? Or to strike back? And yet he stood beside his master.
"Why?" she asked.
And he understood. "Because I have at least a little influence over him, I think. With me beside him, my people are fractionally safer."
"You must hate it."
He nodded. "Yes. I loathe him. Not just because of how he looks - though that took some getting used to - but because of what he is. There is no pity in him, just malice and hatred of everything other than himself. Even his own species. He's like a living black hole, sucking everything around him into darkness."
She put out her hand. He reached to touch it.
Red Alert. Red Alert. All hands to battle stations.
He smiled sadly. "Seems her patience has run out."
The bridge rocked as Arla went to stand beside Admiral Roche.
"Execute manoeuvre epsilon," she barked.
The admiral turned to Arla. "Sneaky bastards. Their front line remained in position while they formed up the bulk of their forces using the cover of that asteroid belt." She waved her hand at the tactical display on the main bridge viewscreen. "The first we knew about their attack was when Caen was hit. Luckily, I'm a suspicious diable and I had prepared more than one battle plan. We are falling back and re-forming."
Robot Empire_Armageddon_A Science Fiction Adventure Page 2
