ARTIS PRIME

by Tobias Roote

  She could actually see its individual filaments discharging electrical pulses that fluctuated in a rhythm, driving it forward, but also keeping it in the air. Some form of natural anti-gravity, RIGA suspected, astounded at the manoeuvrability of the creature.

  As if sensing RIGA was there, the worm seemed naturally confused, trying to understand what it was ‘not’ seeing. Then, as if reluctantly, deciding that she was neither food nor threat, it proceeded beyond her immediate range. She had image scanned the creature as it continued its search for a recognisable quarry.

  The image matched her database of natural Empirum life. It was a Nu-worm, a physical worm that could hover in mid air and send out a psychic version of itself ahead as a defence. If the worm’s psychic ‘other’ was attacked, the real physical worm would immediately mount an attack. Its head, a sharpened armour-plate, hardened in the crucible of evolution, was designed to penetrate its enemies and destroy them internally.

  It fed off their electrical activity, rooting out the source. Dissection of victims had uncovered eggs and body segments in the brains of its prey. The prey remained alive and conscious, but suffered intense pain, as the worm continued to escalate the electrical activity within the host body to feed nutrient to the egg.

  That was a formidable sentry. RIGA wondered why the electrical activity in her systems didn’t set it off, deciding that it must tune itself towards specific predator types and ignore everything that didn’t match.

  RIGA guessed it would have taken out any inquisitive human intruders, even AI’s that had no control over their emanations and were visible. It was a banned import. Even RIGA judged she was not immune to an attack. She wondered if the shield was active and working. She may well know the answer to that question soon. The IMAI would probably be the only one that could actively destroy the creature.

  The worms were very territorial so it wouldn’t stray far before returning along a parallel path. She thought of the staggered wall and thought she understood. The worm would reach the end of its territory, then reverse its course. Then RIGA read in her file on the creature that they weren’t just territorial, they also mated for life. Kill one, and you may still get killed by the other. There was a second?

  RIGA saw it, still a small distance away, taking a parallel route along the other side of the corridor. She managed to avoid its psychic advance guard allowing it to progress way past her, before finally relaxing. There wouldn’t be more, they would kill any competitors within a mile of their hunting grounds. Still, it meant getting a move on, or get hit from behind as they came back.

  RIGA walked on until she was several corridors further in. Noticing a closed section ahead, and realising that the traps were becoming more sophisticated the deeper she progressed, she halted. Taking stock of what she could detect of the surroundings, visible and invisible, as well as traps set into the infrastructure around her, RIGA now began to move with extreme caution. When her skin’s surface sensors noticed the minute change in the air she halted yet again, analysed the change, taking note of the depth of the field.

  It looked like a pressure zone, a field they placed in a restricted space that could magnetically hold a small amount of air pressure, maybe only a marginal difference of 5%, but her sensors were picking up resistance from it. If she carried on moving forward she would touch the edge of the field which would cause the ridge to bulge inward increasing the pressure and triggering an alarm based on the volume of the discrepancy.

  Without the disarm codes, or some means of circumventing the barrier, RIGA couldn’t proceed any further without tipping off the owner, and possibly creating an aggressive response. RIGA didn’t like the idea of a horde of nu-worms focused on her scent.

  She paused and considered her position. She felt she was almost through. If this wasn’t the final hurdle, then it was pretty close to being the last. Anyone coming through this route would need to get through this trap, therefore, it had to be passable with a key. RIGA could see the door beyond the pressure field. She couldn’t get Gossie to help because she was in a black hole where the sensors were being kept directed away from RIGA to protect her position and communication with Gossie wouldn’t work. However, RIGA could still sense the ship, which was not far away, just not communicate because of the interference.

  RIGA wondered if Osachi’s teleport field would work through the interference. It had an extremely high tolerance and rebuild threshold to protect the passenger in transit, triple copying the atomic structure piece by piece. Perhaps it might still function here.

  Her other concern was, what if there was insufficient space behind the zone? She calculated the distance and decided the zone probably extended for no more than four feet, that could leave approximately six feet in front of the door where you could stand without setting off the zone’s pressure switch. The risk of discovery at this juncture was very high. It was dangerous, and she would have to do this purely on eye and her passive sensor readings.

  Carefully calculating the coordinates of where she would be if she was in front of that door, RIGA reached out to the ship’s jump field. Activating it remotely, she vanished, reappearing a few seconds later on the other side of the field, almost touching the locked door. Too close - judgement by eye, even for her in this instance, had nearly merged her with a lump of metal.

  Gingerly stepping back on one foot in case there was a pressure switch buried in the deck she was relieved to note there were no alarms ringing. It wasn’t indicative of security as they could be silent, but she felt a strange relief to still be in one piece. She tried to contact Gossie to reassure her, but the interference was too much.

  Now, she needed to gain access through the door to discover what they were hiding down here. Before touching it RIGA scanned the door and frame with her sensors and discovered a flush mounted black on black reader, which in the dark couldn’t be seen, even by a keen eye, unless you were expecting it to be there.

  Pressing the heel of her hand lightly to the edge of the reader without her palm touching the plate, RIGA allowed her wire connection hacking routines to work their black arts. It took longer than expected, it always did. She should really revise her expectations, or upgrade her software. Finally the black plate changed colour to a black and sonic blue illumination, and her hacking tool advised her to place her hand on the plate. When she did, the door in front whooshed up into the ceiling leaving the entrance way clear.

  As the door silently slide down behind her, automatically relocking itself. RIGA took in her new surroundings. It wasn’t at all what she expected.

  The large foyer she stood in was softly lit with recessed lighting. The sumptuously decorated hanging curtains of synthetics; patterned and expensive, swept from high ceiling to floor, accentuating the entrance to another room. RIGA proceeded cautiously, still expecting an attack to materialise out of somewhere, and kept off-balance by the unusual decor. She found herself looking into an equally luxurious lounge. A vidscreen at one end showed multiple camera views, and human styled seating arranged in an easy manner, along with tables and other oddities, what RIGA would describe as clutter.

  Neither was the room empty. In the furthest seat from the door, sat Kalla, looking directly at where RIGA was standing.

  The AI Councillor was sitting relaxed, but alert. RIGA couldn’t see any weapons, but felt the armoury positioned behind the walls. Remembering the speed of the defensive gun mounts in the reception of the Council chambers, RIGA was acutely aware of the potential danger she was in, then remembered the Terran shield was active. Kalla addressed her even though RIGA was still invisible.

  “Whoever you are, show yourself to me, or I will allow my defences to blast you where you stand,“ Kalla demanded, quietly confident in her assertion.

  RIGA earthed her hand against the leather and it shimmered into visibility, to show her blasters pointing directly at Kalla. Tipping her head back to allow the shroud to fall, her face became visible.

  Kalla sighed, almost with relief. “So
, it’s you. After seeing your reaction to the threat in Council chambers I shouldn’t be surprised. I thought you were likely dead after the reports of a small space battle at the location of your last transmission.” She smiled mechanically, the action not lost on RIGA. “How clever of you to beat them AND my intruder system.”

  “When you saw through my deceit with the laser beams, I decided you were good,” she acknowledged. “I was, indeed, very impressed when you got past my little pets, I keep them hungry and they are trained to seek out humans. You really must tell me how you managed to avoid them. Perfume? A body screen? - I’m sure if I cut you up I could find out, but I fear you won’t be amenable to such an act.” Kalla smiled again, more warmly, indicating that RIGA should sit near her.

  RIGA declined silently, remaining exactly where she stood. She had realised that her ability to access the ship teleporter was cut off. The room was fully shielded. She now had no escape route and hoped it wasn’t going to be necessary.

  “Then, finally, when you detected the pressure plate I knew you were VERY special. Did you know that zone has a differential of only 4%? No human being, or AI should be able to detect that, but YOU did.” Her eyebrows raised at that and RIGA realised that she had been overly clever and achieved the impossible, which was as good as telling this AI that she, RIGA was non-human.

  “I have heard of a technology that dissolves and resolves matter, but when you reappeared on the other side of the pressure zone I knew that you had access to such a machine. I didn’t even consider that the door would cause you any bother after that. Still, you made me wait a good ten minutes longer than I expected for that last obstacle to be bypassed,” she said with mock disdain.

  “So Ambassador Rigel? Just who, or what, precisely are you?” Kalla demanded, finally getting out of her chair and proceeding to stalk towards RIGA who now decided that she might have walked into a very sophisticated trap. Kalla had obviously been monitoring her every move yet, was relaxed and in control.

  She decided to respond to Kalla while she checked out the room. “I am, Councillor Kalla, whoever I am required to be by the authorities on Epsilon Gamma. I am employed by them to investigate matters that interfere with the running of the Empirum,” RIGA confessed. It was an honest admittance that she hoped would discourage Kalla from any actions that might create problems in the immediate future, like the next ten minutes.

  “Hmm! ESSG. I gathered as much when I saw you react to the guards in the Chambers. I’m not stupid, the actions of some of my fellows have been begging for official sanction for some time.” Kalla smiled. “Still, you have some nice implants that I wouldn’t mind reverse engineering.”

  RIGA decided not to rise to Kalla’s attempt to ascertain the nature of her abilities, she hadn’t ascertained yet whether Kalla was friend or foe. RIGA could be in grave danger here, especially if Kalla was not who she pretended to be; this was a well fortified secret base.

  “When you arrived on Artis Prime, I had already resolved to help you in any way I could,” Kalla articulated with her arm in RIGA’s direction. “I’m impressed, by the way, with your perceptive abilities. That you were even aware I had impregnated the DNA strand on you at that meeting is astonishing. How did you do that?”

  Kalla wasn't really expecting an answer and continued after a small pause. “I fully anticipated the strand would infect you before your people realised that there was DNA that was not of the Empirum, thereby leading you to seek further afield for an answer. I even had the answers all ready for the authorities to find, except you discovered my plan before it even progressed, forcing me to communicate with you months before I was ready.”

  “Were you behind the attacks on my ship?” RIGA questioned while she digested the information about the DNA. So her suspicions had been correct, the intention had been to start some kind of epidemic amongst the humans. Obviously so Kalla, could be seen as the providing the cure, putting the humans in her debt. A debt that Kalla had probably already calculated the price for.

  “Attacks? No! That was something of a surprise. Because of that, and a few other incidents since your abrupt departure, I have had to hide and bide my time. I choose to let my enemies reveal themselves - which they will do, eventually,” she replied, looking at RIGA as though she might be one. RIGA wasn’t about to totally discount that notion, herself.

  “What other incidents? RIGA asked, keeping up the pressure while she continued to survey the room. The security was active and there were at least four hidden lasers trained on her. There would be other defences she was sure. She tried to access the net link, but was locked out immediately.

  Kalla smiled as she noted the attempted intrusion, but didn’t comment, then replied. “When your ship was attacked I was attacked too. They had been monitoring for communications. An assassination team, much like the one that attacked you in Council, came after me. Fortunately, I had this hidden fortress that I could escape to. Tempus was also attacked, although I understand he too, managed to escape.”

  “Who assassinated Tempus?” RIGA asked reminded of Tempus, watching Kalla for a reaction, but knowing she was too clever to show any real emotion. Some AI’s, like Kalla, were able to portray emotion in front of humans to gain what they wanted. Behind the façade though all were cold, calculating intelligences that rarely felt anything at all.

  “He’s dead?” Kalla paused, subconsciously biting her lip while she checked out the facts on her secure net link. “I’m not sure who killed Tempus, but I don’t think it was Pelon, or Fregal. It might be the people they are dealing with, though,” Kalla responded. “Shame, I liked Tempus - he wasn’t bright, but he was a lot of fun, and ran interference for me often enough that we became friends. I shall miss him,” she confessed.

  RIGA wasn’t so sure. Kalla hadn’t yet asked how he died and the net wouldn’t know anything much except a flitter had disintegrated in the park. There would be some remains, of course, but would Tempus be identifiable from the wreckage?

  “You said you had resolved to help me. Why?”

  Kalla recovered from her short reverie and looked RIGA directly in the eye. “There is more going on here than even you know, or suspect and I don’t intend to end up like Tempus.” Kalla added, “although I would like to know how they reached him.” Her head tilted as she communicated with her net link. RIGA decided Kalla spent too much time with humans, she had adopted many of their mannerisms.

  “The reports don’t say much at all, except it was an overload in his circuitry, possibly corrupted wiring. There is little left for them to work with,” she said, suspicion evident in her voice, though this was not directed at RIGA.

  “They used nanite technology to rewire the circuitry so that it concentrated the power into the fuel cells,” RIGA informed her, knowing it would spark a renewed contemplation by Kalla into how RIGA had already come by such information. For RIGA’s part she was also interested in how Kalla had gleaned so much from the net so quickly; her links into the Warden AI must be extensive.

  Kalla stood abruptly, all pretence of relaxed demeanour gone, her manner suddenly threatening. “Nanites?” she exclaimed. “How could you possibly know this?”

  19. Explanations

  No hidden weapons materialised out of the walls.

  RIGA correctly read Kalla’s action as bluster, but why was she alarmed at the revelation?

  RIGA raised her blasters directly at her to warn her not to approach, or do anything unexpected. She would kill the AI if she had to, but she really could do with an ally even though she knew that Kalla was herself a possible threat to the Empirum. As yet, RIGA had no idea what kind of conspiracy Kalla was mixed up in. Her DNA message and her explanation of her intentions left RIGA concerned that Kalla would continue to try to manipulate her for her own ends. She would leave it to Bollida to decide Kalla’s fate, probably at a later time.

  “I had help,” RIGA said simply, not wishing to expand on her abilities while Kalla still believed her to be a talented, or modif
ied human. If she suspected RIGA to be an AI, she wasn’t showing any hint of it and no local sensors were probing her beyond her human exterior. She could also not detect any threat other than the lasers from the walls, or from Kalla herself.

  Kalla relaxed, her bluster disappearing as quickly as it came.

  She sighed. “If there are nanites, then we are talking Terran involvement. You are, of course, aware of the Terrans, aren’t you Ambassador Rigel?” reminding RIGA of how all this began. “If the Terrans are here and interfering in our society, then they have indeed become a danger to the Empirum. I believe I understand now why you are involved,” Kalla surmised.

  RIGA still wasn’t convinced that Kalla herself, wasn’t involved in some way, but she would find out eventually. In the meantime she was in need of explanations. “Why did you implant the human DNA on me? What was your objective in telling us there was a foreign DNA that was neither Terran, nor Empirum?” RIGA asked.

  “Not Terran? - that’s impossible!” she hissed. “Of course it’s Terran. I obtained the sample myself.” Taken by surprise, her response appeared genuinely aggrieved.

  RIGA suspected that Councillor Kalla had no idea about the Tochin involvement, and that made her decidedly uneasy. She needed to progress the investigation, but didn’t trust Kalla to give up the information freely. If she was unaware of Tochin, was she being misled? Were they pretending to be Terrans to infiltrate the Council?

  “Kalla, I need to know what it is you have discovered, I need to know what they are planning?”

  “They? who are these people if not Terrans?” she exclaimed, sounding genuinely confused for the first time.

  “I believe them to be agents for another empire who wish to put Terrans and the Empirum on a war footing with each other.”