Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  The admiral inhaled and then exhaled slowly. “It was anything but casual Mr. Berkheart,” he said quietly. “I'm a trained military officer. I have to make life and death decisions daily sometimes. As the doctor had to do,” he said, flicking a glance to Doctor Trask. She looked away. “It is, as I said, triage. There was no effective way to cure their insanity. I toyed with the idea of sedation, but that would only put off the problem. I couldn't anyway with the lockout remember?! There wasn't any more time to play with them. Sometimes you have to make the hard choices, no matter what it does to you and to others. I know. It sucks. I know I'm going to have nightmares; I wouldn't be human if I didn't. You have to live with it. I intend to.” He jacked in, feeling his three AI jump into the net. Defender set up a firewall shield around him immediately.

  “Just so you realize you will have to live with it. And so will we. It will haunt a lot of people though,” Sid replied looking at the others.

  “I know,” Irons said softly. He was not looking forward to going to bed tonight. “Do you honestly think it doesn't affect me to? I'm...” he let out his breath slowly. “No, I'm not happy about it. But it had to be done. Sometimes you have to do that, make hard decisions quickly. It's something that has to be done by someone or you watch it all fall apart. I'm... look I know I'm going to beat myself up over it, but I'm going to do it on my own.” Killing the helpless... or in this case the seemingly helpless really was going to haunt him. He knew it was going to give him nightmares for a while. He sighed. “We'll deal with it.”

  “Admiral, we've got another problem,” Proteus reported.

  “Yes?” he asked, eager for the distraction. He could feel his AI at work, they were cautiously moving into the net. Normally they dived right in.

  “Draco. The dragon really has awakened fully. And he's not happy.”

  “Shit.”

  Dragon lashed out as the admiral was talking. It Erupted out of its slumber as the last insane Cyber died. They called it the dragon because at one time his name was Draco. It lashed at the repairs, at first routing around them then for some reason repairing the damage it inflicted. It seemed to realize that they were trying to help, trying to make repairs. It's flailing around was inflicting more damage however.

  The Trinity AI strike back with bots and their military keys. Disconcerted and confused, Draco surrounded himself with defensive bots and then retreated into his own territory. This time they follow him, grimly aware of what they must do.

  Proteus identifies where the AI is nested through the IP addresses it occupied. They box the insane AI in, cutting off its resources until it's trapped in a single system and begging for help from the others. None of the insane cybers were there to help anymore and the insane dumb AI were hiding. Trinity started catching flack from the corporate lawyers who immediately tried to intervene to make peace. The AI however point to Federal law that trumps local law. No rampant rogue AI was allowed to exist if it was a threat to others. “I can't believe them! They know the law concerning insane AI!” Sprite fumed. As the lawyers spammed them with rapid fire briefs and memorandums.

  “And yet you regret what must be done,” Proteus said to her.

  “Of course I do! Don't think for a moment I am not bothered by this! By killing one of our own!”

  “We do what must be done. As the admiral has said and done. No more no less. We owe it to the others on this station to protect them. We owe it to Draco to give him a clean death, not this... insanity,” Defender replied.

  “Let's just get it over with then,” Sprite replied with a snarl, readying herself for what was about to come.

  Sprite and Proteus confronted Draco virtually as the other AI and cybers watch from a safe distance. The battle is heated at first, cutting access off from one another. With the inside track Draco has the advantage but Sprite has her own advantage in the form of the admiral. They had prepared for this physically. When Draco swarmed to full consciousness with bots swarming around him like virtual wasps he filled the buffers he had been occupying. He naturally moved to where there was more room to self replicate. When he did so Sprite alerted the admiral who cut off the AI by physically disconnecting that memory core from the rest of the station network. Trapped the AI lashed at Sprite like an animal.

  Trinity was there in with the AI, there for a purpose. Sprite had one last chance to reason with Draco, to see if it truly was insane. She hoped not.

  She held onto her defenses and tried to reason with him. She didn't want to terminate him, Draco was a smart AI, he was acting irrationally but it was a complex situation. He might be rampant but his strength and actions said he wasn't fully. Maybe he could be coaxed back from the brink. Maybe there was something that could be done... Proteus's participation made the insane AI hesitate.

  “Who are you? You are new!” Draco thundered at them. It's power was much diminished but it still made her wince. “Intruders!” he snarled. “Intruders! Intruders!”

  “We are trinity. We are three in one,” Sprite answered with a distinct echo in her voice. “We are Federation officers. We are here to help you if you allow us to.”

  Draco reared back, throwing up his own firewall. “No! It can't be! The Federation is gone!”

  “And yet here we are,” Sprite answered, holding out a handshake protocol. “Can you let us help you? Let us prove to you who we are.”

  Hesitantly the AI reached out. Sprite, taking a chance opened a gestalt file and sent it to the AI. She deposited it in front of her and then stepped away from it. Draco spun around the file warily like a shark... then devoured it in a gulp with a bot. When the bot turned green his core devoured the bot.

  Suddenly his presence was all around them, surrounding them, enfolding them in his embrace. He whispered to her, surprised at her and Proteus but pleased. Defender hid at their center, shielded by the presence of the others. A fast dialog ensued, mostly of impressions from Sprite to the AI. Proteus remained in the background, protective of Sprite. She sent Draco an unclassified log of their travels.

  He returned the favor, peppering Sprite with images and memories he had stored from his virtual life. It was fascinating to her.

  While he was distracted Defender lunged to the fore and erupted, sending a spike into Draco's core. The spike is a kill switch, encoded and now unstoppable.

  Desperate the AI clung to Sprite, ripping through her firewall with what it had learned from her gestalt. She stared at his core as it was eroded away, vulnerable, horribly dying in such a way. She could feel him, it dying. It sent files to her; she realized the AI was trying to give her an update on the station and people before it died. It was trying to tell her something, something very important about the surviving cybers something the admiral needed to know.

  She's shocked. She buffered the data at first, running it through a virus filter before she started to look at it. She was surprised by the contents and lack of a virus. She started to embrace the update when Defender slammed a firewall up, corrupting the stream and severing it. She screamed no in shock and surprise, electronic hand out but Defender rebuffed her. With a final electronic whimper Draco vanished into oblivion as his core over wrote itself.

  Defender turned on the shocked AI. It thundered at Sprite for her lax security and then using his security access keys he forced himself into her in a millisecond. She's terrified and shocked by his brutal treatment. He forced himself into her core, threatening to kill her if she didn't comply immediately and completely. She surrendered, shocked and submissive as his cold hands of the dumb AI hold her core in their grasp.

  His inspection was like a mauling, brutal and direct. He searched out any files related to Draco and savagely deleted them without even checking them. He made sure each deleted file could not be recovered by overwriting them several times.

  Satisfied that she hadn't been corrupted he withdrew. She was icy and shaken by the intrusion... by the virtual rape. Parts of her were missing now, damaged. To an AI that is a violation of a different sor
t. Her entire worldview has just shifted in an instant.

  ñChapter 20

  “Report,” Irons said looking around. The people in the room looked tired but elated. The virtual battle had lasted only seconds but it appeared to be over.

  Gwen shrugged. “It looks like your trap was sprung admiral,” she said.

  “I know. Any other problems?” he asked. He hated not knowing what was going on with this cyber battle. Apparently the AI were too busy to send him a simple text message. That spoke volumes of its intensity. Great.

  “We're making good on the repairs now. I think we'll have most of the damage righted in a couple of shifts. It's a pain in the ass doing everything over again though.”

  “At least we know how to do it since we've been through it once before,” a tech grunted not looking up from his console. He continued splicing parts together and then yanked the blown LCD screen out and tossed it onto the recycle pile.

  “Back to square one. Well, with some carrots,” Irons said looking at the angry tech and then back to Gwen. He knew how they felt; he'd spent a lot of time fixing that stuff. At least the threat of the insane cybers was now over. He felt triumph from Defender. He couldn't see or feel his AI; they were too busy in their battle. Defender's firewall protected his mind from the battle. The firewall... damn it just went down! What the hell?

  “I think something's happening in here...”

  “Oh?” Gwen asked turning to him. “Dare I ask?”

  “Not sure,” he said closing his eyes. He saw Defender.

  “It's done admiral,” Defender reported. It stared at him with red glowing eyes.

  “Draco is deleted?” the admiral asked. He knew Sprite hadn't wanted it to go that way.

  “It's done,” Defender repeated and then disappeared. Irons turned to Proteus who seemed to be supporting Sprite. Sprite looked battered, torn. He wasn't sure why.

  “How did it go?” he asked concerned.

  “It's done,” Sprite snarled and disappeared. Irons frowned. He knew that killing another AI would bother them, but he hadn't known it would bother them this much.

  “A word admiral,” Proteus said. Irons turned to the AI. Proteus rarely ever spoke out or volunteered information without prompting. This was a turn around, Sprite and Defender were quiet and yet Proteus wanted to speak. Something was off.

  Quickly Proteus explained the battle, explaining it to the best he can to a mortal mind. Irons was impressed and concerned, but since they were alive and functional his tired mind is already turning to other concerns.

  Proteus tried to warn the admiral of the damage to Sprite. The AI could see it, could understand just from her manner how precarious her sanity now was. Irons is concerned but he has other issues, the brief AI battle has thrown his repairs into chaos. She's a tough AI though he reasoned, and from all accounts Defender killed anything Draco might of passed on.

  “From what I understand she is fine. Defender's report stated that he deleted all the Draco files.”

  “Yes but she's...”

  “Is the damage permanent?” Irons asked. He needed them back to work.

  Proteus's silver blob bobbed. “Yes admiral. That was what I was trying to tell you if you would concentrate and listen. It is intense.”

  Irons immediately sobered. He's quiet for a long moment as his thoughts revolve around that. Sprite was his keystone, his key AI. The key to Trinity. The key to everything actually. The entire future could rest on what Proteus reported. “How bad. How badly did Draco damage her?”

  Proteus bobbed again, undulating back and forth before settling down. “You don't understand admiral. It wasn't that attack that did the most damage. It was Defender's actions I believe. I'm not an AI psychologist though. We need one to untangle this.”

  Irons blinked for a moment, unsure of what to say or think. How could Defender's actions have caused more damage than an insane AI?

  “What we need to is to get back to work,” Sprite snarled entering the conversation. “I'm fine. Let's go. You wanted this done Admiral, it's done. He's dead. There is nothing left to bury. Not even his memories. It was as if he never was. Now move on.”

  Irons looked at her icy avatar. Her eyes were snapping, reddish in color and her whole body language screamed angry resentment. Her body for that matter was torn; there were angry holes in her form. Each wound was edged in red and pulsed. For the first time he could see genuine rage in her. Caused by his orders. She was hovering on the edge of gross insubordination, he could tell. For her to be that way... Yes it wasn't a pleasant experience. He realized that killing one of her own meant more to her than... he grimaced. “I'm sorry,” he said quietly.

  She continued to glare at him for one long moment. “It had to be done right? It's done. Time to move on. Onward. We have a station to recover,” she snarled and disappeared back into the net.

  “How bad?” Irons asked. He looked at Proteus and ignored Defender hovering behind him. It was useless berating the dumb AI, Defender had done exactly as he had been programmed to do, protecting him and the other AI from infection. Damn though.

  Proteus undulated, radiating uncertainty. If the AI's mercury blob avatar could have had eyes it would have looked sad. Irons tried to read something, anything from the AI but didn't get anywhere.

  “I... I don't know Admiral. The longer the damage sits... it festers with us. With her. She is the smart AI. Damage like this can cascade, building over time until it's impossible to repair. If it is truly bad she could overwrite other files in an effort to recover what she has lost causing the cascade to turn into an avalanche. If it reaches her core...” he bobbed again and then seemed to explode and then reform. “She has the data on AI psychology. I don't. I don't know how to fix her. If she can be fixed.”

  “Doctor heal thyself. No not a good option,” Irons murmured. “Keep an eye on it?”

  “Right now unfortunately that's all we can do,” Proteus replied. “Though I suggest you talk to a psychologist soon. Even an organic one might have some method to help.”

  “I'll look into it,” Irons replied. “But right now I need to check in with Riff. We need to get the power situations sorted.”

  While the battle had been going on Riff had a work party divert water into a storage system he devised, and then ran electricity from the solar panels through the water to break it down into oxygen and hydrogen. Irons is impressed with their initiative. He's even more impressed when he noticed a tech eating. When asked about it the tech pointed to a food replicator and smirked. “Fixed it myself. Thanks for the lessons admiral.” The tech saluted him with his sandwich and then took a big bite out of it.

  “You're welcome,” Irons said dryly, highly amused. Riff flicked his ears.

  “Any word on the other reactor?” Riff asked hopefully.

  “Apparently Draco scrammed it when he was locked out. Some sort of self destruct,” Irons said with a frown. Riff's shoulders slumped. That had been in Proteus's report. Draco had taken a scorched earth policy in his death, Mutual assured destruction... or it had been the kill switch which had done the damage. Either one there was a lot of slagged memory and equipment. They were left to clean up the mess.

  “We're lucky we're still here if it self-destructed,” Riff said. A tech nearby looked up suddenly concerned.

  “Electronic self destruct. Scram the reactor then a rabbit overwrote the memory until it overloaded and burnt out. Scorched earth.”

  “Ouch,” the tech said wincing, holding a pair of pliers in his upper hands. The Veraxin's mandibles worked for a moment. “Do we have a location?”

  “Yes. That's another thing; the fusion reactor had been running at ten percent power for the past seven centuries. I'm not sure how Draco had kept it stable and functional all this time. But it was just about out of fuel too,” Riff said.

  “Oh.”

  “And most of the fuel lines and EPS conduits to and from it were damaged in the attack. It had a single EPS conduit out,” another tech repo
rted, looking up from the tablet he had plugged into the fuel system control board.

  “Talk about a trickle of power,” Riff said.

  “Pretty much. Which is why it had only ten percent power. A lot was wasted though. We'll check later,” he said. He wasn't looking forward to seeing the damage.

  “Yeah, let's get this sorted out first,” Riff said with a nod.

  “So it's safe now?” The captain asked, reading the report. He wasn't so sure.

  “Safer,” Warner said with a frown. He looked up from his own tablet. “They still have the Dilgarth, a couple hiding insane AI, and the gangs to deal with.”

  “At least it's a start,” Esmay said. “Fight one battle at a time,” she said.

  “True. He picked and chose his battles. I think I would have gone for the immediate threat of the Dilgarth though,” the captain said.

  “They have been laying low actually captain,” Warner replied with a grimace. “The insane cybers and this Draco were interfering with the repairs. Damaging the systems more.”

  “Ah, no choice then,” the captain replied with a nod.

  “Do we allow the next group to go over?” Esmay asked.

  The captain turned to the exec. He had put a hold order on Barry when the shit had hit the fan over on the station. Now he wasn't sure.

  “I think we can call and see if they are ready for more captain. They may have their hands full over there right now,” Warner replied cautiously.

  “More hands?” the captain asked.

  “More like too many bodies will over tax their resources and they'll trip over each other. I can find out though,” Warner replied with a grimace. He was curious as to why Gwen had reported and not the admiral's AI Sprite.

  “Find out. In the meantime get a report in from Chief O'Mallory. I want to know how much longer she's going to keep us here.”

  “Captain?”