ARTIS PRIME

by Tobias Roote

  Kalla sat down in her chair, all pretence of superiority now gone. She does have very human-like mannerisms, RIGA observed suspiciously, but put it to the back of her mind. There would be another time to follow her thoughts on Kalla.

  “I believe I may have erred,” Kalla quietly admitted, as her own processing of the new data showed her a different slant on events.

  Kalla remained unmoving, but spoke up. “Ambassador Rigel, I believed in good faith that I was dealing with a faction of the Terran Empire that wanted to widen trade between themselves and the Empirum. However, where an open agreement would have been profitable, a closed ‘secret’ agreement would have been a hundred times more so, especially if the trade was controlled by a small minority, like myself and Tempus.”

  She looked directly at RIGA deliberately emphasising her openness. “I was approached by a different group to those working with Pelon and Fregal. I had not been included in the original secret cartel they had created. The potential losses to my interests on Artis Prime, if they succeeded in their plot, would have meant the loss of my Council seat. So, when the opportunity was offered, I was happy to negotiate with the ‘Terrans’ separately. Tempus was the middleman, and I suspect he intended to double-cross me later, but I was happy for him to try. He plays - he played, the game very well.

  Pelon’s influence was already eclipsing everyone else’s, even mine and Tempus’. He was poised to take over much of the technology production on Artis Prime and wanted no competition. He suspected someone else had access to the ‘Terrans’, but didn’t know who, and then you arrived with the MAC’s. He made the immediate assumption that you were the ‘other’ source and decided he needed to eliminate you before you had any opportunity to act against him.” Kalla paused giving RIGA time to absorb the information before continuing again.

  “I suspect that when the guards failed, he was in immediate touch with his partners who decided to wait for you in system ready to eliminate you on discovery of your ship. Fregal would have been the one who attempted to intercept you. He hacked into the Helis Warden’s mainframe and corrupted it; an easy matter for him to intercept and trace all communications between Helis and the outer stations,” Kalla said, still unmoving. RIGA thought that she was probably more active in her own network, than in her body at this precise moment as she sought to understand what had been occurring.

  RIGA thought for a moment, her analysis racing underneath her stony calm exterior; effectively playing the same game as Kalla, and giving nothing away.

  If Pelon and Fregal were already that deeply involved, was it possible they were aware that these humans were not Terrans? It was likely, seeing as they wanted RIGA dead possibly because she actually DID represent the Terrans, and therefore could cause their plotting to be discovered. Had they known she was ESSG? Probably not. A fast expedient assassination would have been called for, especially - as her mind raced - if their plans were coming to a head and they needed to buy time. How much time did she have?

  It was obvious now that these ‘Tochin’ had infiltrated Artis Prime. They probably had a strong hold on the asteroid’s technology production.

  “What technology has been infiltrated by these ‘Terrans’, can you tell me?”

  Kalla stood, “I cannot tell you what they have taken over, but I can itemise what contracts my companies have lost over the last six months since all of this has been building. The likelihood is that those orders have been taken over by Pelon’s cartel and are now being supplied by their factories.” Assuming RIGA couldn’t access a data packet sent across mentally, a plastiprint appeared out of a slot in the wall. Kalla gestured to RIGA to help herself to it.

  She moved sideways keeping Kalla in her sights all of the time, took the sheet, scanned it, keeping one blaster and one eye on Kalla as she did. Kalla for her part, didn’t move.

  The list was extensive; she converted it to a list of items in her head. Then, discarding the sheet on the table, continued to absorb the information. The Tochin had gone for both offensive and defensive products, new, or newly upgraded, probably with their own modifications installed. RIGA was immediately concerned to see a large production of missile warheads and tracking systems included.

  “They have only selected offensive and defensive technology. What does that imply to you, Kalla?” RIGA questioned. Surely the AI opposite her couldn’t be so blind as to not see the ramifications.

  Kalla looked nervously at RIGA. Those mannerisms again! “I thought they were selecting the most valuable sector of the market, but in light of your comment that they were seeking to start a war, they might have chosen these products to create some kind of incident,” she reflected.

  RIGA tried to hack into Kalla’s net link, she needed to get this information to Gossie. The system wouldn’t give her access, neither could she access anything outside of the shielded area. RIGA would have to escape this place before she could report in; therein lay the trap. You cannot get in, but if you do, you won’t get out - was the simple message she was reading into the security here. Was this why Kalla was relaxed and confident?

  Kalla had indeed relaxed and was now reclining in her chair again. She had detected RIGA’s failed efforts to communicate outside.

  “Ah! I see you realise your predicament, Ambassador. You understand now that breaking into my parlour was only half the battle. Now, you have to get out. I can well understand your need right now to share this information with your superiors. However, I also realise that I am expendable and I know your involvement with that shadowy organisation, ESSG, means that you are empowered to destroy me without regard to any Empirum laws.”

  RIGA understood all to well.“Yes, I see that, now. Very clever, Kalla. You have me at a disadvantage. If I kill you, an automatic self-destruct will initiate and if I disable you and try to escape, the extensive security in here will ensure I fail. I presume it is keyed to you only.” RIGA wasn’t going to let Kalla know about her shield, it might protect her from lasers and blasters, but not from a thermic explosion.

  “Yes, you’re very bright. I can see why the ESSG would use you. It seems we are at a stand-off.” Kalla paused giving RIGA time to consider the fact that she needed to negotiate her way out of here. “Perhaps there is a way we can both achieve our objectives, without having to eliminate the other?” she suggested.

  “What do you propose? Whatever it is, if you have conspired against the Empirum, I cannot let you live,” RIGA explained, knowing full well she would have to follow through on the threat, even if it meant her own death.

  “Ahhh!” Kalla sighed.

  “I haven’t conspired against the Empirum. I believed I was negotiating trade in good faith. I believe I can prove that to your satisfaction. At worst I will lose my advantage, at best you can leave things intact so that you can use my network to infiltrate and apprehend the real culprits in this conspiracy.” Kalla continued to recline, appearing to gain more confidence as she saw the impact her words were having on RIGA's blaster, which was beginning to point downward for the first time since entering the room. RIGA was doing so deliberately, she could have held the rigid aim for days if need be. Kalla would be suspicious if the hand didn’t waver.

  “Seems a fair exchange.” She had a point. RIGA was relieved that she wouldn’t have to eliminate Kalla at this point.

  Kalla obviously considered the matter resolved, as RIGA observed the lasers switch to passive, their active targeting switching off.

  RIGA decided on some conditions. “Agreed, subject to suitable validation of your activities I will permit you to not only live, but continue your operations unless I judge them detrimental to the Empirum at which point the deal is null and void,” she said, sure that Kalla would provide the proof needed to support her decision to stand down.

  RIGA lowered her blaster and walked to the seat opposite and sat like her, reclined. Her gun hand remained loosely aimed towards Kalla's position, who pretended not to notice.

  Over the next hour RIGA interrogate
d her over the history of her involvement with the Tochin. She still believed them to be Terran and nothing could dissuade her from that belief. RIGA, for her part, was unconvinced she could be trusted, and was in no doubt she was holding something back. However, Kalla was providing significant intel on the activities of Pelon and the human conspirators as well as clearing herself in the process.

  RIGA finally gained access to her network to verify her involvement as well as contact Gossie and upload the complete record of the events. It meant they could move onto a level of trust. RIGA put her blaster away.

  From there things moved swiftly. RIGA now had everything she needed to identify the activities of Pelon and Fregal as well as the information on the Tochin contacts, which Kalla was going to maintain links with, so that their activities could be followed. It was time for RIGA to leave.

  “So, Kalla. This is where we part company and you go about your activities, and I mine.”

  RIGA had been quietly hacking into the security systems. She had managed to isolate the shielding, which was part hardware, part electronic, it proved easy to write in some exceptions to rules in the security. She was sure now that she could operate the jump field through it, and leave without risk.

  Kalla smiled. “You believe you can get past my security systems?” Then it dawned on her. “Oh! It must be something to do with that matter transfer technology you have.” She chuckled. “Let me know any time you want a partner to reverse engineer that technology. We could market it to the whole of the Empirum.”

  RIGA smiled, noticing her humanly laugh. She decided she liked Kalla, but there was still something about her that would need further investigation one day. She didn’t feel it was an immediate threat to herself, or the Empirum. At least not yet, and RIGA needed her onside for the moment.

  She left her morsel to feed on. “I don’t think it’s mine to offer Kalla, but the Terran’s, the ‘real’ Terran’s might indeed give you the opportunity to trade with them if all this blows over and their membership of the Empirum Trade association is accepted.”

  “Keep your comms channels open to me, at all times,” she admonished the AI. She didn't want to risk the tunnel entrance again, and Kalla would find her hack in a few minutes, she was sure.

  Now feeling the ship’s proximity, and able to access the teleporter, RIGA activated the jump.

  Leaving Kalla to ponder her fate in light of all the new information.

  ***

  “Gossie?”

  “Yes, RIGA?”

  “It’s good to be back on-board. For a while there, I thought I might not make it. She’s very good, but l left us a back door into her servers when she let me investigate her activities. If she discovers it I think she will leave it in place, but attach an alarm to let her know we are accessing.” Then, adding her concerns, “she had Nu-worms down there protecting her access. They might turn up in the wrong place and I currently have no defence that I know of. I’m not sure if my shield will deter them.”

  In fact, RIGA was concerned that she hadn’t had an opportunity to check out the shields reliability in many situations. She really must get to testing its limits before too long.

  Changing the subject so as not to dwell on Osachi and the immensity of her mission parameters, RIGA moved onto the next objective. “Gossie, we need to locate Pelon and Fregal.” She refreshed her gear and checked her blasters while Gossie scanned the asteroid’s network trying to pinpoint the two conspirators.

  RIGA knew they wouldn’t make things easy for her, but had no doubt that Gossie would hunt them down. The only concern that RIGA had, was the fact that Fregal had hacked into the Helis Warden’s servers so might actually be deliberately mis-routing enquiries.

  “Have you set-up a trailer on your search to see if it gets sidetracked?” she asked.

  This was a second program that dogged the first to catch anything out of the ordinary that identified when a search was forced to jump past any particular paths in the data stream. It wasn’t 100% effective, but would bring up an error code, would bookmark it for Gossie to investigate.

  “Yes, I’ve improved that code, it's now quite intelligent. I have called it ‘Shadow Hunter’.” Gossie said, sounding quite pleased with herself.

  Gossie was programmed with skills from some of the greatest hackers and programmers. In the wrong hands Gossie could be used as a major weapon which, when she developed awareness, prompted a battle to get her quickly instated as a protected citizen. Following her acceptance there was a complete rethink of Empirum security.

  They decided that Gossie would be the perfect foil for RIGA and she was specifically trained to support her on missions. Gossie was ecstatic having believed she would have to indenture herself for decades to achieve that degree of freedom. Her loyalty to the Empirum, like RIGA’s, was total, and the ESSG had learned to trust both of them implicitly, but with some programmed safeguards that both the scientists and Bollida recognised as easily over-ridden. RIGA and Gossie both knew these safeguards were coded into the AI, but accepted them for what they were, ‘a voluntary contract of expectation and loyalty’. By accepting them she took a form of AI pride in strictly adhering to them.

  It’s accepted that all AI’s can hack, but Gossie was specially trained to hack other AI’s. She rarely failed to hack anything. Her biggest skill being patience, waiting to see what occurred over periods of days, weeks or even months. Then, when certain actions took place she hunted them down, exposing them to the relevant authorities.

  Luckily, It was only hours later, that Gossie’s programs discovered the back-door into the Warden’s servers.

  Following it back to the point of origin, took Gossie into unknown territory, somewhere in the new section of AI City, a small corner of the city newly built for the leading edge residents of Helis. She had not yet assimilated its newly mapped zones into her database so corrected her failure by taking the Helis blueprints then overlaying her tracking signal. She had them.

  “RIGA, I have traced them to the Pinnacle, it’s in AI City.”

  RIGA looked at the output on the vidscreen which showed a three dimensional blueprint of a large three sided needle-shaped building. It was an odd one that’s for sure.

  They adjusted their cloaked location so that they could focus attention on their new target. From the readings they could see that it had been heavily fortified. The work had been carried out subtly, much of it wasn’t indicated on the blueprints, obviously added after local inspection. Although rules were pretty much what they were prepared to make them on Helis, there was an unwritten rule instigated by the leading AI’s substantiated by various social models, that should one AI develop its own fortress style location, the others would follow suit and quickly turn the whole of Helis into a garrison state. It was therefore frowned up on and probably would represent an infraction if it had been someone other than Pelon, who could do pretty much whatever he wanted.

  It was a fair assumption that they had discovered Pelon’s headquarters.

  “Scan the building at all levels, let’s see the extent of their defences,” RIGA said.

  Gossie began scanning, but after a few minutes reported her progress. “I’m getting feedback on my attempts to scan, they have some kind of shield device installed that is skewing any results.”

  RIGA looked closely at the vidscreen showing waves of anomalous results being thrown back at their instruments. “It looks like they don’t want anyone spying on them. They’re also now probably aware of being scanned,” RIGA surmised.

  No sooner had she spoken, RIGA detected targeting sensors, originating from somewhere within the building, trying to seek them out. The attempt failed because the upgraded shield and cloak installed to safeguard their mission was equally as effective as the counter-measures, resulting in a stalemate between ship and building.

  “Can you get access via the link into their network, Gossie? I need to know the internal layout, and where the two AI’s are hiding.”

  “Workin
g on it. So far I have only managed to gain access to Fregal’s personal net. I’m hunting for any ad-hoc links and will use them to piggyback on to the other network,” Gossie responded.

  RIGA took over the controls and keeping the cloaking device provided by Osachi on its highest setting, proceeded to a closer surveillance location hovering above and to one side of the pinnacle. Their position now was almost level with a narrow pointed set of apartments at the top of the large building where RIGA suspected Pelon might reside.

  Whilst she was certain that Pelon’s sensors would not detect the ship, the Pinnacle’s own shields ensured the building was safe from any collision, or attack at this distance from the surface. The lack of any atmosphere ensured only ships could access the area. The normal flitters would not be authorised to fly at this height. Was this a reason for the extreme location?

  “We need to look at another point of access, Gossie,” RIGA said as she observed the level of security employed by Pelon. There was no way she could jump in, or out of the building, there were shields up at all the sensitive points. The shields, she thought. They must be drawing tremendous power from somewhere.

  Digging deep into the Helis database, she found what she was looking for, and pulled up the infrastructure schematics for the whole area on the vidscreen. She followed the power lines and substations to the location of the Pinnacle building, seeing a clean demarcation of the grid at the perimeter. There was no external power access whatsoever. It had been blocked off.

  The Pinnacle, as well as the foundation building, had to be managing their own power supply. According to the blueprints it had to be located well below the basement of the building, at least on Level five. RIGA immediately thought of Kalla and her defences, and grimaced.

  Scanning the base of the building was easier than expected. The shields didn’t begin to take serious hold until it reached the levels above the rest of AI City. This led RIGA to believe they weren’t so much concerned about security from their own, rather the sophisticated defences above the building line indicated concern over a space-borne attack.