To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “On Earth. He was in space,” Miss Cole said coldly. The lawyer turned to glare at her image. “He should have been spaced. He was trying to kill tens of thousands of people. He did help manage to help murder the crews of Daedalus and Prometheus, and he tried to kill other ships,” she said. The lawyer stared at her. “Furthermore, he was standing in the way of progress. Mankind can now move to other star systems. We can not only explore them, but we can also move our people there. Mankind can finally move out of the nest”

  “That is neither here nor there. The topic of this conversation is the brutal treatment of my client.”

  “Who brutalized and killed others. I'm not sympathetic to a murder or people who whine that he got what he deserved,” Miss Cole riposted. “I would have spaced the bastard.”

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  The FBI and Interpol were hammered in the press for not stopping the Luddites or the megacorps. It was obvious to some that their war was spilling over, damaging others. The stock market took a dive as people became worried about what could happen.

  Incensed and focused like never before to get it right, the FBI went after the hackers once more while they started to roll up criminal connections to One Earth. Through a great deal of analysis and a bit of luck a junior annalist hit on Descartes' trail based on the tips from Lagroose Industries.

  Descartes caught sight of increased federal activity in and around the colleges and campuses. Shadow reported a lot of bots monitoring net activity going in and out of the campuses. He realized they were on to him or someone like him. Someone somewhere had gotten something; the chatter was too secure to explain anything else. A sniff, an idea, something. The rather public raids on hackers told him they were after hackers again.

  Descartes sighed. He was old, he realized that. He was also ready he thought, ready for the final act. His climax, his symphony, his ultimate brain child and gift to the human race was complete.

  “It's me,” Shadow said as he realized their intent. “They know I am an AI. I thought they had been chasing my footprints in cyberspace, but they decided to look for the obvious.”

  “Obvious?” Descartes asked, fingers stilling.

  “The focus on college and other campuses. Places where we have been,” the AI said, pulling up a map of all their previous lairs. “They know I need a full net connection. We set up a pattern and didn't realize it,” he hissed, eyes pulsing.

  “I see,” Descartes said, then coughed softly. He should have sprang for the anti-aging treatments but he'd thought by now he could have uploaded his brain to the net. Such was not meant to be. All his attempts at copying the Gepetto work had failed to one degree or another. Oh, a few neural networks were still functional, he'd even incorporated a few into Skynet, but the rest had died.

  “Start phase one,” Descartes ordered.

  “You don't want to move?” the AI asked, surprised. The human had clung to life for so long, the indifference took him off balance momentarily.

  “Not yet. We'll get phase one underway then move. That should cover our tracks nicely as we move to the final lair,” Descartes said, licking his lips as he worked. He uploaded the latest string of activation codes to smart bot viruses already seeded into computers on the net.

  The activation codes awoke the viruses who started to assemble themselves or begin worming their way into targeted systems. For now they would do nothing, just get in, map the system, report back, and then wait. When Skynet launched then they would act in concert as planned.

  Some of the viruses created simple minded AIs and awaken others Shadow had seeded in mainframes. A few were immediately found out by the cybercrimes division since they had a net out for viral activity.

  The AI in the FAA noted the breach in security and fought back. That crippled its network of computers which in turn crippled air and space travel in the continental US.

  Shadow threw in a sacrificial bot to attack Lagroose assets but it was immediately rebuffed and hunted down by Athena's newest smart firewall and virus protection. The AI went further, taking apart a captured virus to use to inoculate vulnerable systems against further attack.

  The attack and it's direction made assistant director “Abe” of the FBI realize that open source computers were a major problem and a major hole in world security.

  Chapter 45

  One year after her jump Santa Maria returned from her mission. Each of the terraformed worlds were moving along but at a glacial pace compared to Eden. Even with intervention to help the process along it would still take nearly a half century before they were habitable. Right now Centauri B was clouded over from the multiple impacts, going through an ice age. The additional rocks Santa Maria had sent in to help adjust her orbit would further deepen her ice age.

  Hannah got the news of Bret's death when a pair of grim faced security guards met her in her quarters before the ship was even docked. She bewildered when they informed her about her father's murder; it seemed callous and cold the way they handled her grief. When they finished she checked the news in a state of denial, then her email and found hundreds of sympathy emails from her friends including Aurelia, Jack, and a host of Neo friends and colleagues.

  They hadn't even let her attend his funeral; it had all been taken care of while she was gone. Just like that, a switch and her dad, her last remaining family member was snuffed out of her life. She cried, stroking the photo of him she pulled up. She hugged her tablet and vowed to get to Roman and find out the whole story. He owed her that much.

  When the ship docked at the orbital complex, she had her head down and did her best to try to ignore the sidelong looks from some of the crew. To her surprise and anger a media crew ambushed her outside the lock. She was upset and grieving when she was interviewed. They hit her with the news that the killer was her ex-boyfriend implicating her and her father. The security goons that had told her about her father had never mentioned that. That shocked her. She stared wide eyed at the smug looking, so-called journalist for a long moment.

  Before she could wrap her hands around the woman's throat, the interview was cut off when security picked her up again. Two Neo gorillas escorted her to a secure room and ran her through the battery of questions again. “What the hell is going on? Why are you doing this?” she demanded, frustrated and appalled by what she'd heard. The past forty-eight hours had turned into a nightmare for her. She just wanted to wake up.

  “We just have some more questions, ma'am. And you weren't cleared to talk to the media.”

  “They ambushed me, remember? I didn't seek them out. There is also this thing called free speech you know,” she growled.

  “Ma'am, just answer the questions so we can all go home,” the aging silverback said.

  She crossed her arms defiantly and stared him down. His brown eyes widened slightly. She saw the hairs on his bare shoulders rise slightly. She didn't flinch or move. Nor did she move when he bared his canines. “Want it like that?” he demanded.

  “I want answers not bullshit. Just like you,” Hannah replied coldly. “Tit for tat.”

  “Apparently your voice stress analysis during the interview had thrown some flags, ma'am,” the first gorilla, a young male said.

  Hannah threw her hands up in the air. “Of course it did! I just found out that bastard killed my father! And you assholes have been nothing but fracking morons about it! Cold fracking,” she got up and paced, running her hands through her hair.

  “Ma'am, please have a seat,” a tech said, coming into the room. She turned to glare at the bonobo. “Sorry, just going my job, ma'am,” he said, holding up a briefcase. The silverback got up and moved out of the room as his partner moved into a corner out of the way.

  “And what are you after this time?” She demanded.

  “You are obviously distressed. We should be doing this at another time. But apparently, the powers that be think when a person is off balance it is the best time to question them,” the tech said, shaking his small head as he set the case down and op
ened it. He pulled out a hair net covered in probes as well as other devices.

  “So what, I'm supposed to be tortured now? I've got rights!” Hannah snarled, fists balling. “I want to talk to Doctor Lagroose! What the frack is going on!”

  “You're not going to be tortured, ma'am. You are going to be interviewed. Yes again,” the tech said. “But this time we're going to monitor you. You should recognize this equipment.”

  “EEG. BP cuff, pulse,”

  “You've never been through a full security review?”

  “Not since I entered the company,” Hannah snorted. The tech stared at her. She shrugged. “I'm a medical doctor. I was in the neo program. I know staring is a no no,” she said, some good humor restored. He looked away. She placed her hands on her hips. “So?”

  “Um …”

  “I worked as a personal assistant to Doctor Lagroose for decades. In the Neo clinic, then in the Neo hospital. You should know that.”

  “I'm sorry. I actually didn't know. I didn't recognize you, ma'am. I mean Doctor,” he said shrugging. He glanced at the Neo Gorilla. “Is she on the level?” The gorilla glanced down at the tablet in his hand then scrolled for a moment. Finally he chuffed and nodded once. “Okay …” the bonobo drawled. “So we have no recent files to compare to? Nothing for the baseline? Well that certainly sucks,” he said.

  “Why don't you just go and access my implants?” Hannah asked, now getting exasperated. The Neos stared at her. She pointed to her head. “Wi-Fi link?”

  “Ah, because we didn't … damn it. Someone really is behind the eight ball here,” the bonobo said, rounding on the gorilla.

  “Don't look at me. I was just ordered to pick her up and interview her. Again,” the gorilla replied. “I recognized her smell but not the name. Not until now,” he said.

  “Want to call Roman or Jack and ask what they have to say?” Hannah asked with a thin lipped smile. They eyed her.

  “Name dropping is indicative of something to hide, ma'am.”

  “Or I really do know those people. Which I do. If you bothered to access my recent email you'd see I got sympathy emails from both Jack and Aurelia. I was going to ask Roman what the hell happened but you goons scooped me up …” she waved to indicate the room.

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” the bonobo said as he finished the set up. “You really have implants?” he asked. She nodded. He made a face. “Well, that'll frack up the EEG readings,” he said with a sigh of frustration. She shrugged, crossing her arms in discomfort. She had to pee, but apparently they didn't want her to do that. She vaguely remembered a law show that had crap like that on it. Something about not letting someone pee to make them uncomfortable and more ready to confess. Her memory kicked in and she nodded. Yes, it was true. Also the chair … she looked around the room. They had pulled out a lot of the stops to do routine questions.

  “Sit,” the tech said, indicating the seat. “This shouldn't take more than a few more minutes of your time, ma'am, then you can go.”

  “Great. Let's get this over with. I've so got to pee,” she grumbled as she sat. The bonobo chuffed a laugh as he started plugging her in. They were more sympathetic with her when she passed the truth tests. The gorilla had apparently read her file; he allowed her to go to the bathroom then when they got the word to release her she was escorted out. No apology, no explanation, not even a thank you for your time. Just here is the door. She was too tired to get a mad up though; all she wanted to do was eat and rest.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  “Right. We're still behind on where I'd like to be on the Intel front, but …” Roman turned to see Aurelia sail into Jack's office. “Oh shit,” he muttered, seeing the wrath of god on the woman's face. He'd already heard back from his people and seen the exchange between the two women. He'd also gotten a few emails from the good doctor but had ignored them hoping she'd cool off. Obviously that wasn't to be the case.

  Jack heard the mutter and looked from Roman to his wife. When he saw her expression and body language, he started to rise. Obviously something was wrong, something someone had left him out of the loop on.

  “You asshole,” Aurelia snarled as she got within a meter of Roman. “You are so lucky I am a doctor or I'd cut your damn balls off and stuff them down your pencil neck throat. What gives you the right to torture my people like that?!?” she snarled, practically spitting.

  “Doctor Castill was a legitimate suspect and treated as such. I couldn't offer her special preferential treatment,” Roman replied with as much dignity as he could as he stood at attention. His hands went behind him and his eyes went to the bulkhead above the woman's head.

  “Bullshit,” Aurelia snarled. “Don't hand me that crap. You are so full of it, Roman!”

  “Okay, can the rest of us be brought into this conversation?” Jack asked mildly. She turned to glare at him. He held up his hands. “Honest, not in the loop.”

  “Right, sure you aren't,” she drawled scathingly. His eyes narrowed. “Sure you didn't let your feckless asshole of a lackey torture Hannah for hours on end.”

  “First off, she wasn't tortured,” Roman started but he was thrown off balance when Aurelia stabbed him in the chest with her index finger. “She wasn't tortured, ma'am,” he insisted.

  “What happened?” Jack asked mildly, voice cooling.

  “Doctor Castill was a legitimate suspect as I said. She had to be interviewed when Santa Maria got into port,” Roman explained. “She wasn't tortured,” he insisted.

  “Right. You bastards cut her out so she wouldn't know about her father being murdered. Then two of your goons go and interview her, intimidate her and drop a bombshell on her like that. Totally cold. Then when you finally release the information to her, she started to investigate and grieve. Which is normal,” she snarled. “Her father, the last remaining family member she has or I should say had left was murdered. While she was away. And you treated her like a suspect.”

  “We had to be sure.”

  “Bullshit!” Aurelia snarled. “Her brother was murdered on Daedalus. Her brother. Her friend was murdered on Prometheus. Now her father. By yes, her ex-college boyfriend. EX! The guy you warned her not to contact again. The guy you threatened her about. The guy you left in place and should have fired!” she snarled.

  Roman winced. Simpson had quit before he could have been picked apart by his people. He's slipped back in somehow, getting past all the carefully crafted reviews and checks in the system.

  “What is this about torture?” Jack asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

  “When she was coming off the ship, she was ambushed. Which is odd,” Aurelia said, eying Roman again. “How the media got into a secure facility, into the dock and just so happen to know she was coming out,” she said. He barely flinched. Her eyes narrowed. “Right. Again, a setup. I noted that the interview never made the news,” she said, voice cold. “One of your people no doubt, sent to set her up. Then you send in your bully boys to yank her out and then interrogate her. For nine hours without a break. No food, no rest, no chance to pee. Then,” she turned to look at her husband. “They sent in a tech to do a truth test on her. Since the stupid morons couldn't understand why she was reacting the way she was,” she snarled.

  “Okay, calm down,” Jack said, reaching out to touch her. She looked at him. He frowned. “Okay, yes that was wrong, but they had a job to do. They had to be sure.”

  “She wasn't a suspect. She was never a suspect. She's a victim in this mess. Someone who should be … should be respected,” Aurelia said, fighting angry tears. “And you stupid assholes can't get your act together! You can't do your jobs except to torture innocent people!” She snarled, slamming Roman on the chest with the ball of her fist.

  He stepped back but kept his hands behind him.

  “Roman,” Jack sighed, eying his security director.

  Roman's jaw worked for a moment. “I am sorry she felt the way she did. And I admit my people may have gone a bit overboard in this instance. But w
e can't take any more chances. Not now, not anymore,” he insisted. “Not with anyone.”

  “That still doesn't make it right. She's a damn good person. She's put up with a lot of shit from you. From me. From that asshole Sutly. From the universe. She deserves better,” Aurelia said.

  Jack bit his tongue to keep himself from reminding his wife that life wasn't always fair. Or just for that matter, he thought. But he could make it up to Hannah.

  “We'll make it right. Won't we,” Jack said, eying Roman. Roman gave a small incremental nod.

  “Good. Because she is this,” Aurelia measured a centimeter gap between her fingers under her husband's nose, “far from quitting. I don't blame her. Not the least little bit.”

  “If she does she does,” Roman said with a slight shrug.

  Aurelia immediately rounded on him. He kicked himself mentally for opening his mouth. She glared at him until her husband rested a hand on each of her shoulders and started to rub. “I will remind you, she is an asset to this company. She has been there for every medical tech we have worked out. Neos, cryostasis, cloning, medicine … any good hospital, research clinic, or other corporation would kill to get her on their staff. They'd kiss the ground she walked on,” Aurelia bit out in slow even words. “She's also full-up on starship tech. She's not as up on the physics as her brother, but she came up with the drive design for Prometheus and the other ships,” Aurelia said, shrugging off her husband's efforts to cool her off angrily.

  “That is a problem. A major security leak,” Roman said carefully. “If she leaves,” he said, looking at his boss.

  Jack slowly sat in his chair. His nostrils flared as his wife slowly turned to him. “Jack,” she said warningly. He raised a hand. She stared at him as he rubbed his wrinkled brow then his short gray hair. “Jack,” she said again, this time in a more imploring voice.

  “No, we're not going to do anything to her. We'll … we'll figure this out. First thing we're going to do is apologize,” Jack said, looking up to meet Roman's eyes. Roman grunted. “I'll … I'll see what I can do from there. No threats, no promises,” he said, looking to his wife.