Growing louder, and louder, and louder.
“Commander Avalon, can you hear that?”
“We’re getting … ference. Can yo … peat … ext power…”
The comms were crawling with the sound.
The sound of the Spiders.
Cait’s eyes were drawn to the lightspeed link indicator, flashing more and more as the system struggled to maintain the connection to Earth under the strain of the data transfer …
Data transfer.
“Kill the link!” Cait yelled. Glass looked at her. Cait cried out in frustration and hit the controls, but nothing happened. The cockpit was filled with the Spider chatter, loud enough to be deafening.
The lightspeed link was stuck open. Cait had to act, and act fast. She grabbed the staser from Glass’s belt, ignoring the brilliant flare of pain the sudden movement caused. At point-blank range she fired three bolts into the control deck. Immediately an alarm sounded as half of the panel exploded in a shower of spark and flame, filling the cockpit with smoke. Cait waved it away, her battered body wracked with coughs. Finally the air cleared as the shuttle’s environment systems pumped the smoke out.
Cait blinked at the melted, shattered control panel. “Well, that shut the lightspeed link off, anyway.”
Glass peered at the damage, then tapped at the pilot’s control. “Control systems disabled. Autopilot offline. Manual controls non-responsive.”
He turned to Cait like he was waiting for an explanation.
She slumped back in the chair, letting the staser fall to the floor beside her. “The shuttle was acting as a relay—just close enough to the edge of the magnetosphere to pull in an echo of the Spider OS. I probably amplified it through my mind without even knowing. Then with the lightspeed link open it had a clear line to Earth and had tried to transfer itself to the system at the other end. I just hope we cut it off in time.”
She looked at the console again. She’d acted quickly, without thinking. She only hoped she’d been fast enough. If the Spider AI had managed to get back to Avalon’s ship, currently hurtling itself through the interstitial gap between dimension to reach their location …
Glass flicked an undamaged switch on the console. A screen flickered briefly, then went dark. He looked at Cait and frowned. “I’m afraid we aren’t going anywhere, Ms. Smith.”
Okay. Okay, okay, okay. She gave the servitor a nod. “Then we just wait until the Fleet picks us up. Hopefully Kodiak can get back and—”
He’s here.
Cait sat bolt upright, gasping in pain that soon faded as a fresh surge of adrenaline hit. She turned to the servitor sitting next to her, eyes wide. “What?”
“I didn’t say anything, Ms. Smith.”
Kodiak is alive, don’t worry.
Cait’s heart raced. The voice in her head was distant and echoed, but was unmistakable.
The voice of her brother.
“Tyler?”
Hey, sis.
“Where are you?”
They call it the Freezer. Had a little run-in with a Spider.
“What?” They’d been right. The Freezer was the source of the infection. The Spiders were there.
A million thoughts entered Cait’s mind. She fought to clear them, to focus on the here and now, aware that the infinite babble in her head was likely to confuse and disorient Tyler.
“Are you okay?”
Yeah, don’t worry. We both are—all thanks to your friend.
Cait smiled.
Listen, sis. We need your help to get out of here though. Okay?
“Okay,” said Cait, “but listen, I’m hurt, and not very strong. I’m having to speak aloud just for you to hear my thoughts.”
Are you okay?
“Mostly. Better once the Fleet arrives.”
Okay. But we need to do this. Will you try?
“What? Of course.”
Okay. Good. Turn off the viewscreen. Lie down. Can you go somewhere quiet?
“What are we doing?”
We’re going to form a gestalt. You’re far away, but that servitor with you, Glass, is doing his best to boost the signal.
Cait looked at the servitor. He nodded, a friendly smile playing over his lips.
“A gestalt. Okay.” Psychic warfare. Exactly what she and her brother had been at the Academy for. Except she hadn’t finished her training.
No. She pushed the thought away. She was more than capable, she knew she was. She was powerful. She was a warrior.
She could do this.
She had to do this.
Yes, you can do this.
Cait smiled.
I need you to concentrate. You need to be able to cut yourself off from the real world.
“I know, I know.”
Glass turned in the pilot’s chair and pointed toward the rear of the cockpit. Cait gingerly moved her own seat around. There, behind the flight positions, was the stasis pod her brother had been transported in.
Cait looked at Glass, a frown on her face. “Won’t that cut me off from Tyler?”
The servitor stood and moved over to the pod. He popped a side panel, revealing a simple set of controls. “The psychic shielding can be disabled, leaving just sensory deprivation.”
“Like an isolation chamber?” Cait smiled. Brilliant. She gave thanks to any deities listening that Kodiak had picked Braben’s shuttle by mistake.
“Tyler, I’ve got something, don’t worry.”
Great, sis. Now, let’s get to work.
44
Commander Laurel Avalon gripped the back of the captain’s chair on the deck of the U-Star Ultramassive as the Fleet destroyer exited quickspace ten million klicks out from Jupiter. The pink-and-blue kaleidoscope on the forward viewscreen cleared to show the planet ahead, a beautiful jewel in terracotta hues hanging in an almost featureless blackness. In the chair itself, Captain Henrietta Gartner began punching a sequence on the armrest as her crew, seated in the control pits sunk into the flight deck around the central platform, reported their status.
“Arrowhead assembled,” said one of the pilots, while next to him another FlyEye began reading off data coming in on the ship’s forward sensors.
“Identifying targets. Heavy magnetic interference surrounding the Jovian system.”
“Acknowledged,” said Gartner. She turned her chair slightly and looked up at Avalon. “This is your show. Just say the word.”
The chief nodded, and considered her options.
Despite her rank, trips out on U-Stars were a rare occurrence for her—or perhaps it was because of her rank, which had confined her duties mostly to the offices of the Fleet Bureau. Being out on a mission—a combat mission—made her … not nervous, exactly. Anxious perhaps. There was a quiet buzz on the Ultramassive’s bridge, the anticipation of the task ahead of them, of what they might encounter. Captain Gartner was a veteran of many battles, a commended officer who had earned her position leading a Fleet arrowhead of thirteen ships. The Ultramassive, at the head, was one of the larger and more powerful of the Fleet’s armada. For that, Avalon was grateful. The Bureau Chief was in safe hands with Gartner, and was well protected within the Ultramassive.
And now the captain was asking her what she wanted to do. Official courtesy between branches of the Fleet, Avalon assumed—she outranked Gartner by quite a margin, but there was no direct line of command between them.
But she trusted Gartner. She was hard-nosed, experienced—she even looked it, her steel gray hair razor short, her gray eyes sharp, her manner speaking volumes about efficiency, about leadership.
Avalon wished she shared more of those qualities herself.
But, for the moment, she was in charge. First item: secure the area, secure Fleet assets.
Avalon nodded at the captain. “Locate Smith’s shuttle and go in for pick-up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the captain. She turned her chair back around and gave the order. “Find the U-Star Cassilda and plot an intercept.”
“Yes,
ma’am,” said the pilot.
Avalon glanced up. The viewscreens of the Ultramassive extended from the nose of the bridge up over the platform on which the captain’s chair sat, curving back to provide a direct rear view. Slightly behind and above them was the keel of another U-Star, and in line with that ship, two more to both the left and right. The same formation was repeated underneath them, and two more followed in single file behind, bringing the arrowhead to thirteen ships with the Ultramassive at the point. It was a formidable force, but Avalon only hoped it was enough. They were here to fight a Spider. Just a single machine, according to Caitlin Smith’s report, but even that was a formidable foe. Just one of the alien machines had destroyed the moon and left an entire hemisphere of Earth a smoking wasteland. Another Spider this close to Earth was bad, bad news.
“Shuttle located,” said the FlyEye from her position below and to Avalon’s right. “ID is U-Star … Selene.”
Captain Gartner looked up at Avalon, but Avalon nodded. “Pull it in,” she said. “It’s the missing Bureau shuttle.”
Gartner confirmed the order, then turned back to the chief. “The one your rogue agent took?”
“Mike Braben, yes,” said Avalon.
The FlyEye read out the approach vector, and the U-Stars above Avalon’s head slid out of sight as the Ultramassive moved in to collect the shuttle. Ahead, a bright spot appeared on the left-hand side; the destroyer’s computer locked on and drew a vector to it across the viewscreen, labeling the target as the U-Star Selene.
Avalon watched the shuttle grow larger. Kodiak had followed Braben down to the JMC’s secret facility, which meant this shuttle contained Caitlin Smith.
The comms operator called out from the other side of the control pit. “Communications received from the U-Star Selene.”
“Put it through,” said Gartner.
Seconds passed. Gartner and Avalon exchanged a look; then the captain stood from her chair and moved over to stand above the comm position.
“Confirm comm, operator.”
“Ah, correction, ma’am,” the FlyEye reported. “Transmission is not on the comm. The shuttle is drifting and the automated systems are not responding to our call, but we are getting a signal coming through a short-range guidance channel.”
“Automated distress call?”
“Negative, Captain. It’s a pulse code. Decrypting now.”
Gartner moved back to her command chair. Avalon watched as the captain sat down and flicked a switch on the arm.
The shuttle was damaged, although it looked intact. Avalon thought back to her conversation with Caitlin, and how the signal had cut out suddenly. Something had gone wrong aboard. She only hoped Caitlin was still alive.
The bridge was filled with a low rumble. Then a voice spoke, distorted but audible.
“Hello, Commander Avalon?”
It was male. Avalon took a step forward, frowning, her eyes on the vector plots traced across the viewscreens. Whoever that was, they were on the shuttle with Cait.
“Commander Avalon speaking. Who is this?”
“You can call me Glass, Commander.”
“Glass?” The name Cait had known for the servitor Braben had shot. How he—it—was apparently on the shuttle was a question Avalon pushed out of her mind for now. “Where’s—”
“Caitlin Smith is with me, and she’s fine. Kodiak and Caitlin’s brother Tyler are down on Europa.”
“Europa?”
“Don’t worry, we’re handling it.”
Avalon turned to face Captain Gartner. Gartner’s brows were furrowed as she listened.
“What do you mean, you’re handling it?” asked Avalon. “According to our sensors your shuttle is disabled. Stand by, we can come and collect you—”
“We are not your priority, Commander,” said Glass. “We can wait. You need to get to Jupiter. The Spider war machine is active and has already taken out the JMC refinery. Your priority has to be to stop it from leaving the Jovian system. When the threat is eliminated, you can collect us and the others.”
Avalon’s eyes narrowed as she assessed the information. She watched the shuttle on the viewscreen—it had stopped moving as the Ultramassive maintained a parallel course. They could go in and pick them up.
But even that might be too much of a delay. The Spider. That had to be the priority.
Avalon clicked her tongue, decision made. “Understood,” she said. Captain Gartner, watching, nodded and began issuing orders to her crew.
“Wait, Commander,” said Glass. “Before you go in, shut down all comms. Use this beacon frequency to coordinate your ships, but even once the Spider is destroyed, maintain comms and lightspeed link silence until I can fully purge your systems.”
“Purge? Who are you, exactly?”
“There will be time for more formal introductions later, Commander. But the Spider AI has evolved. It’s learned how to transfer itself—or at least part of its operating system—across every kind of computer network. If you communicate with Fleet Central Command it will copy itself back to the main Fleet systems on Earth, and from there out to every system in Fleetspace. At the moment it is shielded by the magnetosphere of Jupiter. But once it penetrates that barrier, the results would be nothing short of catastrophic. We can’t let that happen.”
Gartner raised an eyebrow. For the stoic veteran, this was a significant expression of surprise.
Avalon felt the blood drain from her face. Now she understood why the communication between her and the shuttle had cut out originally. “Understood.”
“Good luck, Commander.”
“You too.”
Gartner pointed at the comms operator. “Cut the lightspeed link and reconfigure the comms to use that pulse beam channel. Signal the other comms ops in the arrowhead to do the same and link it back to my position.”
“Intership pulse link established,” the comms FlyEye called.
“Acknowledged,” said Gartner. She hit a button on her chair. “This is Captain Gartner of the U-Star Ultramassive. Prepare for arrowhead assault. All ships to alert status and sync all comms to this channel only. Disable all other comm systems. Acknowledge and confirm alert status.”
She released the button. Soon, the commanders of the other twelve ships signed in and the comms FlyEye confirmed the arrowhead’s communications net was linked in to the safe, short-range pulse channel. Avalon stood by the captain’s chair, arms folded, keeping out of the way.
The captain looked up at Avalon. They locked eyes. Then Avalon nodded. It was time for Gartner to resume command. They were about to enter the captain’s area of expertise.
The Bureau Chief ground her teeth, then nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Fleet Arrowhead Delta-Phi,” said Captain Gartner. “Commence attack run.”
45
Kodiak peered around the edge of a bulkhead doorway at a T-junction and scanned the corridor ahead in either direction. By mistake he hadn’t left the gallery overlooking the sleepers by the same corridor, and had had to carry Tyler Smith’s inert form around unfamiliar passageways until he was fairly sure he was heading back to the elevator lobby. As far as he could remember, it was just ahead. So far, everything was quiet. The drones and, more important, the Spider itself hadn’t left the oceanic pool.
Kodiak ducked back down the passageway to the small alcove where he had laid Tyler while he had scouted ahead. The alcove was not quite big enough to stand up in, but Kodiak recognized it as the same kind of servitor dock as on Helprin’s Gambit. There was a whole row of them, confirming his theory that Caviezel’s secret facility was completely automated, with servitors—the regular, boxy service machines—performing basic maintenance.
All of the bays were empty, and Kodiak hadn’t seen any service machines anywhere as he’d moved through the facility. While he had only explored a fraction of the Freezer, he had a feeling that there weren’t any service machines left. It was a pretty reasonable assumption, Kodiak thought, that the computer systems of the
Freezer had been the first to be taken over by the Spider OS, thanks to Caviezel’s deliberate action. The automated systems would have started reconfiguring its available resources—in this case, the maintenance servitors—recycling them into the baby Spider that was now living in the ocean pool, tending to the sleepers with its army of drones.
The question of where Caviezel had gotten the Spider AI in the first place was still to be answered, but Kodiak had more pressing matters. Like how to get the hell out of the Freezer and off Europa. If Cait had managed to get in contact with Avalon, then the Fleet should have been in the system by now.
Kodiak checked Smith’s vital signs. The psi-marine was still unconscious, but his breathing was steady, and his pulse was strong.
The important thing was that Tyler Smith was alive and apparently unhurt, which Kodiak took as a comforting confirmation that the others stored in the stasis pods were too. Fifty thousand personnel. Just the sheer scale of it made Kodiak’s head spin. He had the feeling he’d walked straight into the biggest conspiracy in Fleet history. How exactly they were going to deal with that was another problem entirely. Assuming they could destroy Caviezel’s Spider—and that was a pretty big assumption, even with a Fleet arrowhead—they would have to clear the Freezer of the baby Spider and its drones, and then figure out how to wake up the sleepers. The rescue and recovery operation was going to be huge.
And then there was the Fleet Memorial on Earth. How many of the caskets interred actually had remains in them?
Kodiak blew his cheeks out, thankful that that would be a task for somebody else to deal with. His only concern right now was getting the hell out. There was nothing he could do himself in the Freezer. It was too big, both literally and figuratively, for just one man to handle. He had to focus only on getting himself and Tyler Smith out in one piece. They just had to get to the elevator, then up to the hangar, and then they’d be in the shuttle and away.
Kodiak ducked back into the corridor. Muttering an apology, he grabbed Smith by the ankles and slid him out on the floor, now covered with a thin slush as the facility’s environment, presumably activated by Braben’s arrival, continued to heat up. When the marine was clear of the alcove, Kodiak grabbed his arms, put his shoulder into Smith’s stomach, and heaved.
The Machine Awakes Page 32
