Gesturing towards two leather chairs near the window, Christine walked over to them and sat down, closely followed by Parmenion.
“What other steps do you believe we need to take, given the possibility of the intelligence being correct?” she asked, knowing he would have already scanned the summary Vimes had just sent him.
Parmenion gestured towards the window, at which point a section of it turned opaque and began displaying tactical information relayed to it via his implant. It now displayed an aerial view of the Palace grounds taken from low orbit, showing in blue all troop dispositions. As he began setting out his additional recommendations, the display changed, updating itself to mirror the points he was making and provide emphasis where required.
It was going to be another long meeting.
Scene 13, Boundary of Heaven’s system
For Adam, the days passed quickly. He and Vimes had managed to come to an understanding of sorts, despite the circumstances of them coming together. Adam had to admit that Vimes was good company and part of him now regretted the schism which had separated them all those years ago. Grudgingly, Adam also recognised he was the one who had lost out through being stubborn. He’d learnt more about Imperial politics and the workings of Empire from Vimes during these days onboard, than in the previous ten years from the various tutors and professors his parents had provided. Somehow, Vimes made it all seem so relevant and interesting, whereas the others had made their subjects seem dry as old bones.
To aid him in assimilating all the data, Adam had even allowed Vimes to bring his implant up to full speed, enabling them to converse, when necessary, at the speed of thought. For the moment, unless there was an emergency, Adam preferred to speak out loud to Vimes, just like his mother. Strangely intimate after so long apart, Vimes had seemed genuinely touched by this acceptance and for the next two days hadn’t played any tricks on him, even going so far as to instruct the android to make him his favourite food; potato pancakes made with oats, egg, and onion. Over the years, Adam had tried to make them himself, and when they hadn’t turned out as he remembered, had some of the finest chefs of Capital try and replicate the taste, but to no avail.
“It’s for this, if for no other reason, that’s meant this trip hasn’t been a complete waste,” he thought contentedly, finishing off his fifth pancake in succession.
He could have eaten three times the number, but Vimes had sent the android off to pack away any loose items in preparation for the QA Jump. Following a private message that arrived the previous night from the flagship, Vimes had altered course away from the Imperial Jump Station and would use the ships own QA drive once they’d reached the edge of the systems Jump Point. He had also engaged the cloak and other stealth features to ensure they left unobserved. It was obvious his father wanted to keep his departure and arrival point known to as few people as possible.
Adam walked forward to the flight deck. Although fully automated, the yacht could still be flown manually should circumstances require or, more commonly, simply for the thrill of it. Although the Empress was an excellent pilot she rarely flew herself, but both Adam and Alexander liked to fly whenever the opportunity presented itself. Adam sat down in the pilot’s chair and instructed the smart-metal to clear so he could get an unobstructed view of space. Unfortunately, there wasn’t currently anything to see this far out on the systems edge, apart from distant stars and galaxies. Not wishing to fly today, he didn’t bother merging with the ship.
“Once we’ve Jumped I’ll send a coded signal to Commodore Haynes advising him of our arrival and estimated transit time, depending on where he is in the system,” Vimes advised Adam. “It will be somewhere between seven and ten days, but still plenty of time for us to finish updating you on your duties.”
“Vimes,” Adam asked, relaxing fully into the chair, “will you be leaving a full copy of yourself with me or just the old stripped down version?”
“That’s up to you Adam,” he replied. “Your father didn’t give me any instructions not to leave you with a fully functioning copy of myself. Perhaps he assumed you wouldn’t want one so the possibility never crossed his mind. Now that you have reactivated the implant the decision rests with you. Do you want me around?”
“Yes, I do Vimes, please,” Adam replied without hesitation, “Daft as it might sound after so long an absence, now I think I would miss not having you around.”
He stayed quiet after that, thinking about his parents and what he’d done over the last few years to disappoint them, whilst watching the control readouts cycle through the Jump initiation routines. Behind him, for the first time since boarding, he could hear the yachts engines start to make a sound other than their usual background thrum. As the energy build up continued, Vimes overlaid onto the field of stars a silent countdown, showing the seconds before initiating the QA drive.
Despite having Jumped on countless occasions in the past, Adam found himself holding onto the armrests as the countdown reached ten seconds.
Suddenly, Adam felt a disturbance in the connection between himself and Vimes, as if his aide’s attention had been suddenly withdrawn and focused on something else. “Aborting Jump sequence, Adam,” Vimes spoke in his mind, as metallic crash restraints formed over his shoulders and across his waist, holding him tightly into the seat.
“What’s happening, is anything wrong?” he thought back at Vimes, the display continuing its tick down to zero.
“Something’s wrong with the command interface which started the moment we reached ten seconds,” Vimes replied. “Control has been taken away from me and the QA destination sequence has been scrambled so I can’t abort the Jump and now don’t know where we are being sent …
Discontinuity
“…to. Oh! At least we survived; that’s good.”
Moments later, everything shut down and the quiet thrum of engines ceased. All the displays and the artificial gravity went off, together with main lighting apart from a few emergency backups, leaving Adam with the strange sensation of falling. He fought down the urge to vomit up his pancakes and was glad the seat restraints stopped him from floating out of his chair.
“What’s happened Vimes, are we OK?” he asked, not really sure if he wanted to hear the answer.
“I believe the QA drive and ships systems were hacked by a semi-sentient Infiltrator Programme, which resulted in our making an unknown Jump,” the reassuringly calm voice of Vimes spoke to him, via the implant. “I was able to stop the IP from spreading to the ships engines and other systems, but only by using an emergency shutdown. I will need to restart each system individually to determine where the IP is residing, then quarantine it for later analysis to try and determine where it came from and who planted it.”
“Why didn’t you spot it before?” asked Adam, “Surely you run diagnostics and have other safety features which should have picked it up?”
“Yes I do and did,” Vimes replied, sounding a little tetchy, “unfortunately, the IP was very cleverly written and only became active once the Jump sequence reached a critical point. I suspect, but won’t know for certain until I have analysed it, that it was designed to either send us to a predetermined point or initiate a cascade failure in the ship's systems and matter conversion engines which would have resulted in our total annihilation. Luckily, I was able to stop both the cascade and its spread by shutting everything down in time.”
“What about life-support and that kind of stuff,” asked Adam, trying to make sense of what he’d been told and his current predicament. “How long will it take you to get gravity and the essentials back on?”
Vimes paused for a second then replied. “An hour for ships systems to be fully tested, then another hour before I’m satisfied that nothing else has been infected. Don’t worry about life support; emergency back-ups have reserves for much longer. My concern is that I am unable to see anything going on outside the yacht and have no idea if there is anyone or anything outside. From observing the star patterns through the windo
w I can confirm we are no longer in the Heaven system and have apparently made a safe Jump, but not to our planned destination. With the limited field of vision available to me I am unable to match the visible stars I can see with any known configuration.”
“I need to go to the toilet, Vimes. Are they working in zero-G?”
“No,” came the reply, “they self-sealed when gravity was lost to avoid spilling their contents through the ship. If you are desperate there are several emergency suits with relief facilities you can use.”
“I’ll pass on those Vimes; I think I can hold on until everything is fixed. What should I do? Can I help in any way?”
“That will not be necessary Adam, but thank you for asking,” Vimes replied, “However, I recommend you remain in the chair until I tell you otherwise. If the IP had sent us to a predetermined ambush I feel we would already have been attacked or contacted, but to be safe please stay where you are, just in case I have to take any sudden action, such as jettisoning you in an emergency pod.”
“OK, Vimes, I’ll let you get on with it.”
Adam decided that as he was stuck here he might as well stay comfortable and try to relax. He had complete faith both in the technology that surrounded him, knowing that accidents were extremely rare, and in the ability of Vimes to fix whatever had gone wrong. It wouldn’t be too long before everything was back to normal and they would Jump back to their original destination and continue as planned. Adam called up some music stored in the implant and hoped it would take his mind off the uncomfortable falling sensation in his bladder and stomach.
Adam woke up with a start as the artificial gravity came online, pressing him back down into his seat with a bump.
“You dozed off for a while,” came the voice of Vimes, “I thought it best you slept during the repairs so I tweaked your neural patterns a little to encourage you to nap. You must have been tired anyway, otherwise it wouldn’t have worked. Don’t worry, I won’t do it again but as these are not normal circumstances I thought it best. If we had been attacked whilst asleep you wouldn’t have felt a thing.”
“Is everything fixed, do you know where we are and who did this to us yet?” asked Adam out loud, releasing the seat restraints and standing up, pleased to feel the floor firmly under his feet. “Toilets?”
“Safe to use, I’ll brief you once you get back,” Vimes replied, watching Adam walk swiftly to the toilet. A few minutes later he returned, noticeably slower than when he’d left. Sitting back in the chair he told Vimes to update him.
“The good news,” Vimes began, “is that nearly all ships functions have returned to optimum levels and I have already determined where we are not. The bad news is that we are not in any part of known space, nor can I determine the position of any quasars or other stellar phenomena matching those in our own section of the galaxy. For the moment, we are effectively lost. That’s not all. We are unable to Jump or send any QA transmissions as the Infiltrator Programme effectively scrambled the drive and transmitter beyond my ability to repair using resources available to me on the ship.”
“What are we to do then Vimes?” asked Adam, feeling again the horribly familiar sensation that he was going to hear something really bad.
“Fortunately, there is an M-Class planet in this system that we can go to. Its indigenous population are human with a rudimentary space flight capability. From listening to the electromagnetic transmissions being generated by the population, it would seem they have already visited their orbiting moon, but have not yet built any colonies. A full précis is available should you require it.”
“If we are not in the Empire does the Alexander Doctrine still hold true?” he asked, not sure what the answer might be.
Vimes considered for a fraction of a second before responding. “No Adam, I don’t believe it does, however, please consider the ramifications if we should reveal ourselves to the planet. I believe this would place you in a very dangerous position, with a strong probability you would be either imprisoned or dissected simply for access to our advanced technologies and your genetic material.”
“Why is my genetic material so important?” Adam interrupted.
“Productive lifespans for these people average anywhere between 50 to 70 years, depending on the severity of their lives, with the final third of their total life span lived in increasing decrepitude before death,” Vimes replied, “that is why they would want access to your superior genome. A cautious approach is in order.”
“Travel time to get there?” enquired Adam, hoping he would have enough time to learn the main language of the planet otherwise he would be completely reliant on Vimes to translate for him, which would look odd to anyone he spoke to.
“I will answer that in a moment, Adam. There are three matters I need to explain to you before we go any further or you make any decisions.” Vimes voice took on a serious quality. “There is a secret known only to the Emperor or Empress and their spouse but before I tell you it is imperative that you do not reveal this to anyone should we be successful in returning to the Empire. Do you agree to this?”
“What can be so important that even the Crown Prince has to be sworn to secrecy?” Adam replied, “But yes, I promise not to reveal this to anyone. So what is it?”
“I can see from your biometric readings you are telling me the truth, so I will continue. This ship is, or was before the IP infection, capable of making a QA Jump or sending a transmission from anywhere within a gravity well.”
Adam furrowed his brow, thinking over the revelation and the implications if true, but then why would Vimes lie?
“But that’s meant to be impossible. Why would we have Jump Gates and Customs Posts set up if anyone could simply Jump and…oh, I begin to see the implications. The whole fabric of the Empire would be disrupted. Travel between systems becomes faster and cheaper, smuggling becomes impossible to police, criminals can escape to another system at will….no wonder we don’t want that secret to come out. It would stop us controlling travel. Not only that we lose revenue and our control.”
“Yes Adam, and there’s worse. Imagine a fleet of hostile ships that could Jump in close to Capital unannounced and begin bombarding the Imperial Palace, catching everyone unawares. If your father's uncle would have had access to this technology at the start of the Successions Wars, neither you, your mother or father would be alive today. Think on that if you are ever tempted to reveal it.”
Still trying to fully understand the implications of this totally startling news, Adam asked what the second issue was.
“I was not fully able to repair the damage caused by the IP, nor were my attempts to contain it totally successful. We have a short window, sufficient to get us to the habitable third planet and land, but that’s all. At some point, I will have to self-destruct this vessel to stop the IP taking control and possibly coming after you. Whoever set this trap was expecting the Emperor to be here, not you, and the IP was instructed to kill anyone left alive should its initial attempt to destroy the ship been unsuccessful. I cannot risk it being clever enough to view you as a worthwhile secondary target of opportunity.”
“So what’s the third issue then, Vimes? It can’t be worse, surely?” Adam asked.
“Good news this time, well, at least for me that is,” responded Vimes, sounding slightly more cheerful. “There is another, closely guarded secret that applies to the Imperial bloodline. Being from a non-Royal bloodline your mother doesn’t have it but you and your Father do as you are blood relatives.”
“Have what, Vimes?”
“The implant at the top of your brain stem is not the only means you have of interfacing with me. Look on the screen for a moment please.”
A slowly rotating double helix DNA strand appeared on the main screen in front of Adam. Another helix appeared next to it, this time with a third strand of DNA intertwined around the original two.
Vimes began speaking again.
“The third strand is unique to the Royal bloodline and is passed
down through the family. Now only you and Alexander have this enhancement since the rest of the Royal line was murdered or executed during the war.”
Vimes continued, stopping Adam before he could interrupt and ask the obvious question. “No, no need to ask what it does Adam, I will tell you. It’s me. I’m the third DNA strand. Actually, that’s not strictly accurate. Think of me as a hive mind with multiple drones that take the form of the mainframe Vimes that controls Capital, sundry versions such as the one piloting this ship and the two organic ones that inhabit you and your father.”
Seeing the shock on his face, Vimes continued, “If it makes it any easier, think of me as one consciousness but multiple bodies.”
Adam was completely taken aback by these revelations and stared at the rotating helices. Vimes dismissed the double helix and enlarged the triple to give him a better look at how it interacted with the original.
“Remember what I told you at the start of this voyage when we first began to be reacquainted?” asked Vimes. “I said to you “I am the sum of all their experiences, memories, hopes, fears and dreams for the future. One day I hope you too will share a bit of yourself so that I can add to the Emperor’s wisdom and so benefit the Empire and your successor.” I told you the truth, just not all of it as I did not know how you would react then.”
Vimes waited for Adam to say something but when nothing was forthcoming he continued.
“If we had remained close, your Father would have revealed this to you on or before your eighteenth birthday, depending on your maturity, and I would have been fully activated within you. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out the way we plan and after our falling out over that girl it was decided to wait until you and I became reacquainted.” Vimes laughed, “You are certainly your father’s son and we underestimated just how much of his stubbornness you inherited!”
Adam finally thought of something to say that would make sense. “So does this mean you are alive and can control me or affect the way I think?” he asked, not a little fearfully.
Imperium: Betrayal: Book One in the Imperium Trilogy Page 12
