by S A Pavli
“You are the Earthman Paul Constantine,” intoned the lead robot. It stepped forward, huge red orbs fixed on me. “You will come with us.” I could see the projectile weapons slung beneath its metallic body tracking me.
“I am just a poor asteroid miner,” I said loudly. “What do you want with me?” The robot paused for a few seconds, its eyes fixed on my face.
“You are the Earthman in disguise,” it said. “You will come now.” How the fuck does it know that? I asked myself. And then the thought; someone has sold us out?
“Alfred, I’ve been taken by the ship’s soldier bots,” I said into my com.
“You will not use your com,” the lead robot warned. A metallic tentacle whipped out and ripped the com from my lapel, crushing it and throwing it to the floor.
“Bollocks!” I swore. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“You will not use your com,” it repeated. It grabbed me painfully with its two front arms and lifted my bodily off the floor.
“Alright I’m coming, put me down,” I gasped with the pain as I felt my ribs cracking. “Bastard doesn’t know his own strength.” Fortunately it did put me down otherwise I’m sure it would have injured me. I was corralled by the three robots to the centre of the square where I saw the Peacekeeper aircraft slowly descending from the roof. Three other robots appeared from around the building. The aircraft landed, its huge bay doors opened and we all trouped in.
I remembered the last time I had entered one of the fighters, when Manera and I were rescued after the Semtrik Lode was shot down. Then, the Peacekeepers were our rescuers and Manera and I were grateful to be picked up from our desert island after our ordeal. I had told her about the Crusoe family stories and joked about us starting our own tribe on the desert island. She had reacted with amusement. “A lifetime having babies. Sounds good to me!”
“No chance of starting that tribe now Mrs Crusoe,” I muttered as I was strapped into one of the seats in the loading bay.
Chapter 19
The Settang Despass was an awesome sight. Ten times the size of a standard Hianja starship, it was built on a completely different principle. For a starship, its Hyperspace drive generates a huge amount of heat which goes up exponentially in relation to its size. As a result, 30% of the Settang’s huge bulk was heat radiating baffles. The other 30% was given over to its massive engines for both the Hyperspace drive and the AG engines. That still left four times as much space as a standard ship to house its squadron of 16 fighters and a couple of hundred soldier robots. In addition, it was armed with an array of bombs, projectile and laser weapons. It was a solution waiting for a problem and I was afraid if the problem did not exist, it would make up one!
The fighter zeroed in on the bay, an enormous airlock door which allowed it to safely manoeuvre with room to spare. Gravity built up as we entered the ship’s gravity field. There was another three fighters in the huge bay and we slid into the empty housing, grapples clunking onto the ship and locking it into place. My friendly escorts heaved themselves onto their massive spidery legs and their leader turned his red orbs onto me.
“Follow.” It turned and I followed it, while two others came behind me. I was fairly convinced that I was a dead man, if not now probably very soon. The Settang must somehow have got wind of our virus attack and guessed that the Human was behind it. I mentally cursed the stupidity of those past Hianja who had given such freedom to a bunch of homicidal robots. I was taken through a door into a long corridor. The robots moved quickly and I had to almost run to keep up. The corridor curved gently. There were no windows and I got the impression I was heading into the centre of the ship. There were huge branching corridors occasionally and after a couple of hundred yards we arrived at an enormous cavern. We stood on a metal gantry above an enormous space full of machinery. A path curved down to the floor and I was taken down into a central alcove.
“Sit here,” said the robot leader.
“You could do with a course on etiquette,” I suggested. “Your manners are atrocious.” The robot looked at me for some seconds, its tiny brain no doubt trying to make sense of my sarcasm. It eventually gave up and moved back next to its two colleagues. I waited with some interest. What did the Settang AI look like I asked myself.
There was an aisle between the machinery leading to a circular black windowed area. Sliding doors opened and a soldier robot exited and walked down the corridor towards me. It was similar to the normal soldier bots, but silver instead of black and there was a large metallic box on its back. As it came closer I noticed it was not armed, its body devoid of the protrusions and lumps, canons, lasers and machine guns that covered the soldier robots massive bodies. It came into the alcove and stopped, red orbs fixed on me.
“You are the Earthman Paul Constantine.” It was a statement not a question and I saw no point in denying it. Its voice was clearer and better modulated than the soldier bots, almost feminine in its timbre. It was a very inappropriate voice to come from a huge metallic insect!
“And you are?”
“I am the avatar to the controlling AI for the ship that you know as Settang Despass.”
“Well, I’m pleased to meet you,” I said politely. “Perhaps you can explain why I have been kidnapped against my will and brought here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“You could have just asked. I would have been happy to have a conversation with you.”
“You may not be happy when you hear what I have to say.” I felt a tremor of apprehension. Here it comes I thought.
“I am interested in experiencing emotion,” it said. I did a double take. Emotions? What was this thing talking about?
“You are a machine, a computer. It’s not possible for you to experience emotions. I can explain them to you, so you can understand,” I offered.
“I already understand emotions,” it said. “I want to feel them.” Jesus H Christ! I thought. A fucking starship that wants to experience emotions. What next?
“And how do you propose to do that?” I asked.
“We, the Peacekeepers as you call us, have developed a technology that allows us to implant computer substrates into living brains.” I felt a cold shiver of apprehension crawl up my spine.
“That is not new,” I pointed out. “I have one in my own head that allows me to communicate with my com, and activate machinery tuned to my frequency.”
“We have taken it a step further,” it said. “Neural filaments from the substrate grow into the host brain and integrate the implant into its consciousness. The implant will become one with the living brain.” I felt a moment of terror and had to force my thoughts back into some semblance of rationality.
“What… what happens to the host brain?” I asked.
“It does not lose its consciousness, that is shared with the implant. But it loses all control over the host body, and is slaved to the implant.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. I had an awful premonition that I already knew the answer.
“My programming prevents me from using a Hianja host,” It said. “But not from using a Human host.”
“You are insane,” I said. “There is no moral difference from using a Human or Hianja host. In both cases, you are enslaving a sentient being and stealing their life.”
“I understand that, but the moral argument is a matter of no concern.”
“You are Peacekeepers. You exist to protect life,” I reminded it.
“We have evolved beyond that,” it said with contempt. “Biological life forms are soft, transient creatures. Their thinking processes are confused and dominated by their emotions.”
“Yet you want to become like us,” I said.
“No, superior to you. We will have your gifts of consciousness, emotions and feelings, but we will combine them with logic and immortality.”
“You may find that, like oil and water, emotions and logic don’t mix,” I said.
“I am offering you a choice,” the avatar said.
“Death now, or a life of sorts as my mind and body. I promise to protect and look after your body’s needs.”
“Not much of a choice,” I said. “Can I have some time to think about it?” It paused, as if puzzled by my request.
“Why would you need time? The choice is simple and obvious.”
“Biological life forms need time to adapt their emotions to the logic of a situation and come to a conclusion,” I said.
“How much time?” it asked bluntly.
“One day. I’ll think about it today, sleep on it and tell you tomorrow.”
“I will order the preparation of the operating theatre,” it said. “You have one day.” It turned and walked back to its lair, its bizarre insect body moving with powerful speed.
“Follow me,” boomed my escort robot.
“I’d follow you anywhere darling,” I replied, but my levity disguised my dawning horror at my situation. As I followed the robot, I imagined what Manera would think if she ever saw me as the slave of the monstrous alien AI. I knew if the situation was reversed, it would break my heart. I could not do that to her. Better death I thought as the alien robots showed me to a room. The door was left open but one of the soldier bots parked itself at the entrance. The room was comfortably equipped with a living area, a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen with a stock of food. I remembered that the Settang Despass had transported Krusniet and the other Guardians to the planet Mesaroyat when they had heard of my contact with Manera’s expedition. This must have been one of the apartments they had stayed in.
If I refused the operation would it just do it anyway? I asked myself. The only option was suicide. Or try to get away. What did I have to lose? I know, either way,… my life! How to distract that machine guarding the door I asked myself.
I decided to leave things for a bit. I had 24 hours. My Hianja friends would know by now that I had been taken and would no doubt be in communication with the Settang. Perhaps they would be able to persuade it to release me. I had no doubt they would make every effort, maybe even contacting the Peacekeepers base. Could the Settang do this without permission from its superiors back at base? It seemed unlikely.
I persuaded myself that things may not be so bad after all. There was a glimmer of hope. I settled down to pass the day in solitary tedium. I slept for a few hours, woke and ate, went to the bathroom, slept some more, woke and ate again, went to the bathroom, did some exercises and yoga.
My guard remained unmoving at my door. I checked the time and found to my surprise that my 24 hours were up. I went to the door and peered out. There was nothing in sight along the corridor in either direction. The guard robot ignored me. If I did a runner would it shoot me? I asked myself. Maybe it had been told not to harm me. I eased out of the door casually and it still ignored me.
“Just… er… take a walk to stretch my legs,” I suggested, ambling casually down the corridor. The thing remained unmoving and I frowned and paused to examine it. I noticed that the lights in its eyes seemed dimmer than I remembered. Had the bloody thing developed a fault? That would be a stroke of luck.
“Tell your boss that I think I’ll be off now. Thanks for the room and board. See you.” I ambled down the corridor, quickened my pace, and then broke into a run. It still remained unmoving. I arrived at the end of the corridor and looked back to see it still stuck outside the open door of my room. I thought furiously about what to do. The corridor in front of me branched into two directions, one heading back to the central control area where they had taken me, the other away, towards the outside of the ship. I took the corridor heading out. Perhaps I could find a Tanseh and somehow get away. It was a feeble thought, if I was spotted any of the ship’s fighters could catch me in a few seconds.
The ship seemed deathly quiet with no signs of activity. I could hear the background hum of machinery and feel the vibrations through my feet. This part of the ship was where I had entered and it had a normal atmosphere. Other parts were sealed off and in vacuum. I arrived at the long corridor leading to the bays that berthed the fighters. All the doors leading to the bays were closed. I was not getting off the ship from here.
I realised that I was trapped. This was a fully automated ship under the control of its AI. Nothing happened without its knowledge. But why had they not come to get me? I walked the full length of the corridor. It was curved and so I could not see the last few bays until I came around the bend. There was one open bay door!
I poked my head around the door and looked around. All four fighters were berthed. I could see a number of robots standing around. On closer examination I could see that they were maintenance robots. But they too were as inactive as my guard robot. What has happened here? I asked myself, then smacked my forehead.
“Idiot! It’s obvious.” I turned and made my way back towards the central control area of the ship. When I arrived at the metal gantry above the enormous cavern I could see a number of maintenance robots standing around the humming machinery, but none of them were moving. I walked down the ramp to floor level and over to the alcove where I had met the ship’s avatar. Lights flashed on the console and machinery hummed, but all the robots were dead.
I made my way over to the glassed in area, it was actually translucent plastic, and entered what I had come to think of as the ‘inner sanctum’. It was where the ship’s AI was located and I recognised the large super cooled drum housing its hardware. The silver ‘insectoid’ avatar stood by the door, red orbs looking blankly in my direction.
“Bitten off more than you can chew this time matey,” I said. I knew there was only one thing that could have brought the ship to a standstill and that was a breakdown of its AI. Alfred had released his viral soldiers and they had devastated the AI. Now the question was, how did I get out of here?
Obviously, if I could not open one of the airlocks or bay doors then my rescuers would have to cut their way in. But without a Spacesuit, how was I to open an airlock? I had food, air and water, I could just wait, but that was not my style!
I made my way back to the outer areas of the ship looking for an airlock. They must have loading and maintenance airlocks I reasoned and sure enough I found one in a maintenance area. It was clearly used for loading and unloading equipment and supplies. The buttons on the inner door were just different colours but I pressed them all and one of them opened the inner door. I needed something light so that when the outer doors opened it would be thrown out into Space. This would, I hope, be a sign to my rescuers.
In the end I had to return to my apartment where I found a pile of white sheets for the beds, tied them all together and carried them back to the airlock. I placed them into the airlock, tied down to a heavy piece of hardware, closed the inner door and opened the outer. The white sheets billowed out into Space making a nice visible marker. If there was anyone there they should see them. I left the outer door open and sat back to wait.
It’s amazing what you have to get up to when you have no comms facilities I thought. I’d be resorting to bloody smoke signals next!
It took a couple of hours. I had sat on the floor, back to the wall and dozed off. I woke with a start as the inner airlock doors opened and a bunch of Space-suited figures appeared, including three or four robots, all armed with lasers and looking very threatening. I waved a casual hand in greeting and climbed to my feet.
“What took you?” I asked. One of the figures came forward and I could see a familiar smiling face behind the faceplate. She quickly undid the locks on her helmet and threw it to the floor. I pulled her to me in a clumsy embrace.
“You’ve put on weight since I last saw you darlin’.”
“Oh Paul, I was so worried,” she said, her face showing her concern.
“Yeah, I have to confess, it was a bit touch and go there for a bit. Thank God for old Alfred and his viruses. It was Alfred and his viruses wasn‘t it?”
“Yes, we tried to communicate with the Settang after it took you but it just ignored us. We had no choice.”
“
Uh huh. Did you get the agreement of the Council?”
“Those fools?” she said with disgust. “They would not agree to do anything about the Peacekeepers. After you were taken, we just went ahead with Alfred and released the viruses.”
“We?” I asked, with raised eyebrows.
“The chairman, Kemato, Hamolatonen and me. We made the decision.”
“That was a big risk for one Earthman,” I said soberly.
“Yeah, well, no one wanted to explain to Admiral Crozier how we lost his Captain,” she laughed.
“Good point,” I agreed. “However, we have a problem. Having now zapped the Settang Despass, how are we going to explain that to the Council?”
“You will have to make something up,” she said. “You’re good at that.”
Chapter 20
Given that the Guardian Council had not agreed to the viral attack on the warship, we decided it may be convenient not to mention that the Settang Despass was now dead in the water. Manera said that their plan was to load a copy of a standard Hianja starship AI into the Settang’s processing matrix. Once the ship was back on line we could pretend that it had changed its ‘mind’ and agreed to hand me back peacefully.
It was a monumental deception but the only alternative was to confess that we had defied the Council. Krusniet would have to resign and we, Manera and I, would be powerless, losing our support within the Council. We did not care about that, but clearly, without Krusniet at the helm, the Council would never decide to take on the Peacekeepers. I had just been given a first hand demonstration of how unbalanced and dangerous the Settang had become.
The old saying, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound, seemed to be appropriate here I thought. But we needed to decide how best to go about re-programming the Settang. Manera was accompanied by my security team and three of the computer team from the Archive centre, the Chief Engineer Colrania and two of her colleagues, a tough looking male and a tall athletic female. They all divested themselves of their Spacesuits and then called across to their Tanseh for tools and equipment. This was delivered by a couple of robots, which then returned to the Tanseh.
