“We don’t know if Richard’s alterations are permanent,” Gloria explained to Jon. “If they are permanent, we have to figure out ways to work within those limitations.”
“There’s a problem,” Jon said. “Who remembers what we thought before the changes?”
“You should rest,” Gloria said. “Regain your strength. I still can’t believe you stabbed yourself.”
Jon felt guilty about that. He averted his gaze from her searching eyes. “I had to,” he said softly. “I saw the dead lying in the computer room. I couldn’t let them die for nothing.”
Gloria bent down and kissed him on the cheek. “It was one of the bravest acts you ever did.”
“It was wrong,” he said.
“Hush. Don’t talk that way. What does your book say, ‘Greater love has no man than this, that he lays down his life for his friend.’ You were willing to lay down your life for us. I, for one, greatly appreciate it. Your act bought me time to enter the reboot code.”
“I still don’t get that,” Jon said, changing the topic. “What did you do?”
“Followed Richard’s example,” Gloria explained. “Every time Cog Primus broke his restraints, Richard caused the AI to reboot. That allowed Richard to erase the changes and start over. That way, he didn’t have to invent new ways to contain the AI, but always relied on the tried and true.”
“Clever,” Jon said.
Gloria touched her scalp. “I wish I knew how exactly Richard changed me. I love him, and appreciate his greatness, but I’m beginning to hate the idea that he altered me.”
“Maybe that’s how we can all overcome the love conditioning.”
“Maybe,” she said. “Now, get some rest. We’re going to pass the rogue planet soon. Are we still heading for the Lytton System?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
Gloria shook her head. “We think we know what’s waiting for us there, but we really don’t know.”
“Agreed,” Jon said. He yawned, a big one, suddenly realizing how tired he was.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Gloria said.
Jon nodded as his eyelids closed. The Lytton System. Once they entered hyperspace, it would take the strike force twenty-four days to reach the next star system. Was the real Cog Primus already there? If so, had the AI spoken to the Dominion AIs or began a war with them?
There was only one way to find out, and they were approaching the jump-off point.
PART III
THE UNKNOWN
-1-
Twenty-six days after eliminating the cognate Cog Primus in the Nathan Graham, the four-ship strike force neared the end of its hyperspace journey.
Much had changed since then.
The biggest change was among the senior officers aboard the Nathan Graham. They had each come to accept the awful idea that Richard Torres had altered their minds. The hardest hit was the Centurion. But even he grudgingly admitted that Walleye did not deserve the death penalty. With that being said, the Centurion still hated the mutant, and clearly wanted to kill him despite his hard-won knowledge about Richard.
Walleye was no longer in the brig. He stayed to himself more often these days, seldom putting in an appearance in any of the cafeterias.
Jon had become a tad more thoughtful. The near-death experience, by his own hand, had matured him, making him less reckless. He wondered if that was bad, as his recklessness had been part of his power against the AIs.
Gloria continued to study Richard’s papers. She found them absorbing. Bast had tried reading the papers, having Gloria teach him the meaning of the various mentalist symbols. Finally, the Sacerdote had given up, believing the effort not worth the reward.
Gloria believed otherwise. Richard had stumbled onto amazing discoveries.
“If only Richard had lived,” she told Jon, shaking her head in their study chamber.
“What’s that mean?”
“He would have been a god,” she breathed.
“There’s only one God,” Jon said.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Jon nodded, mollified.
“Well, maybe it is,” Gloria said. “Richard’s thinking was constantly accelerating. The notes show that. Can a man mutate into a god?”
“On no account,” Jon said.
Gloria studied him as he worked over ship’s reports at his desk. He was nervous about the coming encounter in the Lytton System, but he would never admit that to anyone.
She decided not to press him on the idea. Jon had monomaniac ideas about God, which made sense, as the idea of God was a monotheistic one. She was a Marian mentalist. She did not see the need to worship a supposedly higher deity. She could see the utility in the concept, however. A fear of hellfire for wrongful actions helped people follow the rules.
Who set the rules, though? Jon’s rules came from his book, the Ten Commandments being their essence. They were good rules. In many ways, those rules seemed ingrained in most people.
That was odd.
Gloria shook her head. In her thinking, Richard had been mutating or evolving into something different. She had relentlessly read his notes and gone over everything she could find about him.
What had happened to change him? Why had he gained psionic powers? Why had he suddenly been able to solve problems others couldn’t in the past?
It was a dilemma she would dearly like to solve. For the coming encounter in the Lytton System, she planned to use one of Richard’s discoveries, one of his earlier ones. She had trouble understanding what Richard had written in his last notes.
The useable idea was a two-generational upgrade of the original anti-AI virus created by Bast, Benz and Vela Shaw. Their virus stunned AIs. The new one should take them over, a reverse-engineered computer-awakening virus, based on what the AIs had originally beamed at human-controlled ships, satellites and moon cities. Certain of Richard’s concepts that would make the new anti-virus work were still beyond her. She was quite sure the virus would work, though, as Richard had believed it would.
“Too bad we erased our Cog Primus,” she’d told Jon the other day.
“I’m glad you did it.”
As Gloria sat in the study quarters, thinking, she no longer saw it that way. They should have kept the cognate running long enough to test Richard’s new virus on it.
There was only one possible glitch to the new virus. Richard hadn’t fully written out the new software, but he had explained the essentials. For the past twenty-three days, she and Bast had finished programming the software by following Richard’s concepts. If there were enemy AIs in the Lytton System, their cyberships should fall to the new Richard Virus, as she’d named it.
Gloria sighed.
They were reaching the end of the hyperspace journey. Tomorrow, ship-time, they would find out if the stellar chart they’d found aboard the Allamu Battle Station was accurate or not. According to the map, the Lytton System should have a battle station around a Titan-sized ice moon orbiting a gas giant where Pluto orbited in relation to the Sun.
The strike force would enter regular space 54 AUs from the factory moon. According to the Allamu star chart, the gas giant and moon should be in orbital position nearest their hyperspace-departure point. If the chart was wrong, the gas giant and moon could easily be on the other side of the Lytton star.
-2-
Jon sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Nathan Graham as the cybership dropped out of hyperspace. For weeks now, the main screen had been blank. No one wanted to see the strangeness of hyperspace. As Gloria announced that they had successfully reentered regular space, the main screen activated.
Stars appeared.
Despite Jon’s impatience, he forced himself to wait for the bridge crew to update him on the exact situation concerning the Lytton System.
“G-class star,” Gloria said shortly. “It’s right where it should be, too. This is the Lytton System.”
Several people cheered.
Jon waited for more
data. It was the right star. Now, had the Allamu chart been right about a factory moon? Time ticked away as his stomach tightened. Why wasn’t there more data already? What were the techs doing?
“This is odd,” a sensor tech said.
Jon’s stomach tightened more. He still forced himself to wait as the seconds passed, turning into minutes. That proved too much for him.
“I presume no one sees any immediate threats?” Jon asked.
“None, sir,” Gloria said.
Now that he’d opened his mouth, Jon found that he couldn’t stop talking. “The star is where it should be,” he said. “What about the planets?”
Several sensor techs traded glances with each other.
“Don’t tell me the planets aren’t there,” Jon said.
“None of us have located one yet,” Gloria admitted.
Everyone on the bridge turned toward her.
“What’s that?” Jon asked.
“That isn’t necessarily a problem,” Gloria said. “I’ve already concluded that the planets are on the other side of the star.”
Jon frowned as he asked, “All of them?”
“That would be rare event, granted,” Gloria said. “But it’s not unheard of.”
“The Allamu star chart showed the planets in a much different orbital pattern,” Jon said.
“I’m well aware of that.” Gloria glanced at her sensor assistants. “Does anyone else have an alternative theory?”
“I do,” a wizened Martian said. His name was Juan Morales. He had short silver hair, leathery skin and a gold front tooth. “I’ve detected an unusual amount of radiation and debris. They’re in the exact orbital location of the predicated gas giant and ice moon.”
“Send me your readings,” Gloria snapped.
The sensor tech manipulated his console.
Gloria bent over her board, her hands a blur as she studied the data. A half minute later, she manipulated faster.
Jon couldn’t stand it any longer. He swiveled his chair and jumped out of it, striding to Gloria’s station. He looked over her shoulder as she studied readings.
“Heavy radiation and rubble?” Jon asked.
“I should have tested the location like Senior Line Tech Morales,” she said. “I failed to spot a planet, so I searched elsewhere. His was the more logical approach.”
“I’m not concerned about that,” Jon said. “What have you found?”
“Intense radiation,” Gloria said quietly. “It’s concentrated in the general region of the rubble and debris. It’s an unusually large amount of debris as well. It’s almost as if…”
“Yes?” Jon asked. “As if what?”
She shook her head.
“As if someone destroyed the planet,” Jon asked, “a gas giant’s worth of rubble and debris?”
“That’s what troubles me,” Gloria said. “Some of the debris is much finer than Martian grains of sand. If you know anything about Martian sand—”
“Enough about sand,” Jon said, cutting her short. “The planet is gone, destroyed?”
“It’s gone,” Gloria said. “I’m not sure about destroyed.”
“What could destroy a planet like that?”
“Precisely,” Gloria said. “The idea is frightening and…a massive undertaking, to say the least. If the AIs could do it, why would they do it?”
Morales had been obviously eavesdropping. “How do we know the AIs were the culprits?” he asked.
Jon rubbed the side of his head. Why couldn’t things work out for once? Why did it always— He shook his head. No excuses. Just get on with the task. He glanced around. The bridge crew looked frightened. It was time to manage his people.
“Gloria,” he said loudly.
She was busy studying her board.
“Gloria,” he said, more sharply.
Her head jerked up as she gave him a frightened glance.
“Listen to me,” he said in a measured tone, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear.
Something happened behind her eyes. Had it been his tone or simply his calm manner? Some of her fear seemed to depart.
“Yes, Captain?”
“Is the radiation and debris in the location of the expected planet?”
She cocked her head, and then understanding lit in her eyes. “Yes, Captain.”
“Okay,” he said. “Check the locations where the other planets should be. Tell me what is at each point.”
She nodded, turning back to her panel, beginning new sweeps.
The other sensor techs did likewise.
Jon stood behind her, waiting for the results. He’d calmed the others. Now, he needed to calm himself. What had destroyed an entire planet? Gloria didn’t seem to think that had happened. He did. The magnitude of such a weapon dwarfed anything anyone had used so far. Crashing cyberships into a planet couldn’t do that, certainly not against a Jupiter-sized gas giant.
As the crew worked, Jon moved away from Gloria’s station, prowling past the others, eventually standing before the main screen, studying the distant Lytton star.
“Sir,” Gloria said. “I’ve finished my investigation.”
Jon faced her across the bridge.
“As far as we can determine,” she said, “there are no planets in the Lytton System, not even dwarf planets or large asteroids. According to the Allamu Station map, there should be ten major planets. One or two of those planets might be hiding behind the star. I don’t think that is the case, though.”
“Why not?”
Gloria glanced at her sensor techs before regarding him again. “We’ve found ten major areas of heavy radiation and debris. They are each at the location of a planet, according to the Allamu Station map.”
“Do you believe the planets were recently destroyed?”
“We have to study this longer before we begin making proclamations about it.”
Jon rubbed his chin, finally turning back to the main screen. The Lytton star was out there, but maybe nothing else but radiation and debris.
“Concentrate on hunting down any vessels,” Jon said, half turning to her. “I want a thorough scan of the system.”
“That will take time,” Gloria said.
“Noted.”
Gloria swiveled back to her board, thought about it, and turned to her techs, giving instructions.
Jon, meanwhile, went to his captain’s chair. Now what was he supposed to do?
-3-
The strike force traveled at a brisk velocity. After a day of intense sensor scans and study, Jon called a meeting. Gloria, her best tech, Juan Morales, Bast, the Old Man, the Centurion and Jon met in the conference chamber. Jon would have liked to include Walleye, but in deference to the Centurion, the mutant had to sit this one out.
Jon opened the meeting and asked for Gloria’s report. It was the same as before, there were no planets, no ships, nothing but radiation, debris and a G-class star.
“What do you believe happened?” Jon asked.
Gloria raised her hands palm upward. “I can’t say definitely. Once, this system possessed planets. Now, there’s nothing.”
“I’m not asking you what exactly happened. I’m asking for your best guess.”
Gloria shook her head. “I hardly feel qualified to make such a guess.”
“If the mentalist does not care to guess,” Bast rumbled, “I will do so. I have a suspicion that Gloria balks at stating the fantastic. As a philosopher, I am likely more willing to engage in the ideas of the fantastic.”
“Those ideas being what?” Jon asked.
“The obvious,” Bast said. “Something destroyed each planet.”
Jon leaned back in his chair as his heart beat faster. It seemed each of them took the statement hard.
“It is true that it would take a massive force to annihilate a planet,” Bast said into the tense silence. “Notice that I did not say an impossible force, just a massive one.”
“But that’s just it,” Gloria said. “What could possibly have
generated such force?”
“I have no idea,” Bast said.
“That’s why the idea is ridiculous,” Gloria said. “The needed force…” She shook her head. “It makes the idea impossible.”
“Not theoretically,” Bast said.
“If we’re going to talk about imaginary power sources,” Gloria said angrily, “why not instantaneous travel and teleportation, too?”
“If I saw a man blink into existence in front of me,” Jon said, “I would consider the idea of teleportation as a real possibility.”
“I understand your point,” Gloria said. “We see heavy radiation and extensive debris fields out there…”
“Meaning, something destroyed the planets,” Jon said. “You already know that.”
“I haven’t agreed to such a preposterous notion,” Gloria said.
“Tell me this then,” Jon said. “Why are you raising your voice? Why do you appear so angry?”
“Because what I’m seeing should be impossible,” Gloria said. “Yet, that I’m seeing it—” She stopped talking.
The captain raised an eyebrow.
Gloria looked around the table. “This frightens me. It should frighten all of you. What have we stumbled onto?”
“The unknown,” Bast said.
Gloria put her palms on the table and looked up at the ceiling, breathing deeply. Soon, she regarded the others. “I’m baffled.”
“We all are,” Jon said. “But let’s make a few points anyway. I’m not a mentalist or a philosopher. I’m a soldier. As a soldier, I see a battlefield out there. Like all battlefields, there are broken things littered here and there. In this case, we see broken planets. To me, that means something immense attacked the AIs.”
“You’re postulating an alien force at war with the AIs?” asked Gloria.
“An immensely powerful one,” Jon said. “A force that can smash planets. But if you think about it, that makes perfect sense.”
A.I. Battle Fleet (The A.I. Series Book 5) Page 17
