Aurora

by Mark W. Tiedemann

  "I've appended other files pertaining to the status of your work and the current situation, other details regarding potential questions. . ."

  His voice became a drone she did not hear. Coren was dead. Killed. By a cyborg, an associate of Tro Aspil ...

  "One last piece of information regarding a communication we received by hyperwave several hours ago," Hofton said, snatching her attention once more. "If I'm reading this correctly, it came from Bogard- It relates to a hyperwave anchor from Aurora to Earth. He wanted the receiver here identified. We've done the trace and isolated the line. It was masked till now, bypassing all embassy monitoring in violation of our cooperative agreements. Curiously, it went straight to the former offices of Ambassador Gale Chassik."

  Derec emerged to find most of the crowd spread across the reception lounge, gathered in small groups, talking intently or just waiting with expressions of bored agitation. Bogard, still in position by the access, held Ariel's datum. She was absent, along with Dr Peni.

  "Bogard," Derec said- "Update?'

  "Chief of Planetary Security Pon Byris took Ariel and Dr. Penj to a conference room for a private talk. Lt. Craym is in satisfactory condition in the infirmary, though she has suffered a mild concussion. The Auroran Council is convening an extraordinary session about the situation of this Resident Intelligence. 1-"

  "We aren't under arrest?' Derec interrupted

  "Not as yet."

  "Good- I have a question to ask you before I talk to anyone else from the Calvin. This RI has been corrupted much the same way the RI on Earth at Union Station was., but for much longer. My question is, why did the other RIs permit it to continue to function?'

  'There are two reasons, Derec. The first is that, until recently, they were unaware of its dysfunction. There is no instance of any of them acknowledging a condition of error. The second reason, answering the next part of the question, is that once they discovered the problem, they could not find a way to deal with it that did not involve shutting down the RI. It was aggressively defending its mission and refusing to discuss the situation. It is now clear that this was a manifestation of a shell persona constructed over time by the corrupting program. This was not known initially. Once understood, however, it meant that the only way to deal with the problem would be to forcibly disconnect the RI. This would be a Third Law violation."

  "How so? It was another unit, there was no self-preservation involved."

  "Two factors. One, they did not know the method of invasion used by the corruption. Two, they did not wish to establish a precedent in which divergence of ideology or agenda might allow other positronic entities to destructively intervene."

  Derec looked at Bogard. 'They were worried that if they did it, it could be done to them?'

  'That is correct"

  I see. Well, I can circumvent the problem." He shook his head, wondering sometimes why he loved this work so much. It could be so frustrating. He drew a breath and stepped forward to meet the onslaught of questions.

  Masid found his billet in the Parapoyos compound and stretched out on the cot in the small room.

  So now what? he wondered. Mere do I go from here?

  His mission was largely unspecified- He had accomplished the easy part, he believed-he had gotten to Nova Levis, established himself in a community, found a way into the power group, and defined the basic problem on the planet. He had found the lab, he was inside the capital, he was in a position to

  To what?

  He had managed to ignore the one facet of this assignment that might have impaired his performance. Now he could no longer deny the central fact He was never getting off Nova Levis.

  On the one hand, acknowledging that fact was quite liberating. He could do anything, it was his choice.

  On the other hand, it meant he could not rely on outside help. Which meant there was actually very little he could do.

  Report, he thought. That is the only thing left for me to do that is effectively achievable. Report.

  "Hey."

  Masid looked toward the door. Filoo leaned on the jamb. "Hi," he said.

  "Have a nice walk?' Filoo asked, stepping into the cubicle. "Where'd you go?'

  'All over, I think," Masid said, sitting up. "It's not that big a city, but the streets are narrow."

  'A little overbuilt, maybe ?' Filoo laughed- "We'11, stick around tomorrow."

  "Big day. Clean up, too."

  Masid grinned- "Don't want the help looking too grungy when the boss shows up?'

  "Something like that" Filoo sat down on the edge of the cot. "Listen. If you stay here long enough you'll find out it's no secret a lot of people aren't too happy. The hard part is figuring out which ones. It can get interesting when it comes time to work together. Normally, it never matters because we all have separate territories, but. . ."

  "But we're all stuck on the same planet, targeted by the same guns.,

  just so, just so. Anyway, tomorrow-well, I have concerns."

  "Security?'

  'Always. Most of these fellows, there's no question of their loyalty. We've all been making a lot of money through Parapoyos. Success generates loyalty. It's a simple equation."

  Depends on how that success is achieved, Masid thought, nodding. "But?'

  "Well, it always generates envy. And we've all disagreed from time to time over policy."

  "How much security will there be?'

  "Outside the reception area, plenty. A gnat couldn't get through unchallenged. But inside . . . my fear is that one of our own might decide to settle a grievance."

  "The question is, how?'

  Filoo stared at Masid for a long time. "I know I trust myself. And maybe I'm not the only one thinking this way."

  Masid waited- It took another minute. But then Filoo pulled an object t from within his jacket and laid it on the cot.

  'A little extra security never hurt," Filoo said- He smiled and patted Masid's ankle. "You're a sharp one. You'll know what to do."

  Filoo stood and went to the doorway. "Better get some sleep.

  It's going to be a special day tomorrow."

  Masid unwrapped the cloth Within lay a flat, rectangular object about six by ten centimeters, and a little over one centimeter thick. Two depressions marked one surface. He had seen these a few times before. The projecting end forward, he aimed it at the floor and pressed the firing stud- Nothing. It had no charge.

  He went to the doorway and peered down the corridor. No one.

  Returning to the cot, he opened his pack and pulled out a small device with which. he checked the weapon. There was a very, very faint trace of energy, so faint he doubted anything but a direct search would find it.

  Once inside, he knew, he could activate it and the tiny energy-absorbing mechanism would find a power source and drain it It operated like a subetheric, tapping energy on the level of hyperwaves and liyperdrives. Not for long, it was not that sturdy, but long enough to give it a full charge for at least one shot.

  And if there's more than one assassin, Moo? Mat then?

  Of course, he knew there would be only one assassin.

  Him.

  "Tilla died," Kru explained carefully. "It's time for answers."

  Mia felt peculiarly strong. Feverish, but once she began moving it seemed she had ample energy.

  "You're sure I'm sick?' she asked.

  Kru did not reply. She continued gazing intently into the mists hugging the lake shore, one finger tapping rhythmically on her knee. Mia recognized that on one level Kru was mentally disturbed. But the girl had gotten them through several kilometers of treacherous traits through a bog that threatened constantly to drown them in the event of a wrong step. Mia did not believe she could find her way back to the clinic.

  So what was I thinking following her7 She gave a mental shrug It seemed like a good idea ...

  Out of the mists, several shapes emerged- Mia tensed-cyborgs. Not the same ones who had found her and Yalor, at least, she did not think so.

&nbs
p; Kru stood and walked forward. Mia heard them talking for several minutes. A couple of times Kru gestured toward her. When the conversation ended, Kru came back.

  "We go now," she said. 'They'll get us in."

  "In?' Mia rose and stretched- She felt physically fine. If she could only get rid of the mild, distracting headache and keep her thoughts centered, she would believe that she was in the best condition of her life.

  "Nova Levis," Kra answered. "It's time." She whirled around and walked toward the cyborgs.

  Mia joined them and the group moved off silently, into the fog.

  "We're an Nova Levis," Mia said softly.

  'The lab. Tilla never let me get in before, said it was too dangerous. But I've been inside, before Tilla."

  'Who's Tilla?'

  "She's dead."

  Kru increased tier pace enough to end the conversation. Mia resigned herself to not knowing anything more clearly; all her dialogues with Kru had been like this, staggered and incomplete.

  They traveled several more kilometers in the dense mist, the cyborgs leading with unerring sureness. Finally, they veered back toward more solid ground and left the shrouding fog.

  Rising before them, Mia saw a tremendous structure of turrets and cones and bubbles, pristinely white. The city wall ended at its outer surface. Kru came back to her and pointed

  "Nova Levis," she said

  'That explains everything," Mia said, giving her a significant look.

  Kru nodded sharply. 'Time to stop it. They killed Tilla."

  Mia watched Kru confer with the cyborgs again. A few of them left abruptly. Several more shook their heads violently, obviously refusing a request. But one of them glared at the others and shouted- Mia could not understand the language, but she caught the essence of the message. A few more left. The rest-about eight of them now-gathered around Kru to confer further.

  Then Kru motioned for her to join them.

  "TIley can get us in past perimeter security," Kra said. "They're afraid, but they agree with our purpose."

  "What is our purpose-~`

  Kru looked at her as if she had just said the most idiotic thing possible.

  "You're from up there, right?' Kru jabbed a thumb skyward.

  "Yes."

  Why?

  Mia shook her head- "It's complicated-2'

  "No, it's not You're here to stop them." She pointed at the building. 'Even if you don't know it, that's why you're here. Everything that made you come here starts there. Your purpose, my purpose, their purpose-2' she indicated the cyborgs'~--is to stop that"

  "Why haven't they done it before?'

  "Only humans can get deep enough in. They need us to finish what they want to start." Kru nodded- "Our purpose is to end it

  She spat on the ground and faced Mia, hands on I-lips.

  Crazy, but determined, Mia thought She looked past Kra to the structure. There was something familiar about it Had there been any mention of a laboratory in any of the material she had gone over?

  Yes, but it had been little more than a footnote. She remembered that part of the initial agreement with Solaria had been the setting aside of land for a research facility, a joint endeavor between Earth and a Solarian company. The agreement had been necessary in large part because the original Settler program had been comprised of religious technophobes-in itself a curious thing, since just getting here required such a high degree of technology as to seemingly violate any statement of moral purpose based on a rejection of said technology.

  Had it been called Nova Levis? It sounded right

  But what had it been researching?

  "Comine'Kru asked

  "Certainly," Mia answered

  The ten of them marched on toward the structure.

  The cyborgs veered north about a hundred meters from the base of the wall. They followed a berm, crouching below its crest, for another fifty meters, where a cut had been made through the earth in the direction of the lab. A short way along this declivity, a tunnel opened in the wall.

  They had to crawl in pitch dark for a dozen meters or more. Mia kept going doggedly, keeping tabs on those before and behind by sound alone.

  Ahead, a dim glow broke the blackness. They emerged into a damp tunnel lit by failing biolumens. Mia inspected the hole through which they had entered. It had been torn in the wall of the tunnel, sharp edges folded back on themselves.

  One of the cyborgs picked her up.

  "Got to be close to one," Kru said- "Trust them."

  Mia remembered another time being carried through caverns and let herself relax.

  The cyborgs moved quickly.

  The tunnel ended at the giant reservoir. The striated scarring and corrosion on the walls implied that it had been empty for a long time, unused- A ladder shot up the far wall. Her cyborg scurried up, one-handed, in a fast, jerky rhythm that ended before she became terrified

  They regrouped on a platform above the reservoir. Kru whispered in her ear. "Two more accesses, then were on our own."

  "Can't the sensors detect them?'

  "Sure, but they busted them here a long time ago. The tab never repaired them after it became clear that they couldn't get any further."

  "So how are we supposed to get in?'

  'That's your job," Kra said.

  mine."

  But Kru stepped away and gave a sharp order. The cyborgs proceeded through a heavy doorway at the back of the platform. Mia looked around at the enclosed space, the steel cave, and felt momentarily nostalgic.

  Back an Earth after all these years ...

  They went through a series of corridors that showed long neglect Heavy doors had been wrenched off their hinges. Mia glimpsed security arrays along the ceiling that had been smashed or removed, cables cut or ripped out, holes where other devices had been removed.

  Finally, they stopped in a chamber that looked very much like a decontamination facility.

  Kru walked up to a dust-laden console and patted it. "Now you do your part."

  Mia, bemused, walked up to the console. She stared at the controls, the array of dead screens, and from there let her gaze drift over the entire room.

  "It's a ship," she said. "It's a goddamn ship."

  Smiling, she touched the power-up sequence. A few moments later, the board flickered to life.

  Kru laughed sharply and clapped her hands.

  Mia ran a diagnostic. The board was old, but basically the same as what she knew from current configurations. It lacked a few details, but it responded predictably.

  She checked its links to the rest of the facility.

  There was an automated supervising program monitoring it. Mia answered its query with a standard response, informing the A.I. that the board was simply doing a routine self-diagnostic. Mia had no way of knowing how long it had been since the last one, but the A.I. accepted the response, logged it, and gave her an all-clear to proceed

  Mia found the controls for the door and the protocols for access. A complex sensor key provided a failsafe--the sensors would shift control for the door from this board to an outside

  control if they detected anything biologically questionable. Barring that, Mia could gain them entry.

  '-fell them to leave the chamber," Mia said, waving at the cyborgs.

  Kru did so. When the two women stood atone before the console, Mia checked for any alarms connected to the interior door. Finding none, she disengaged the lock and ordered the seals retracted

  Loudly hissing, the isolation door unlocked and swung outward.

  "Yes!" Kru cried, and ran toward it.

  Mia requested a schematic of the local area. The system informed her that such data required security clearance, please enter tier code.

  Shrugging& she tapped in tier Special Service clearance code.

  Three screens lit up, showing her the architecture beyond this chamber.

  It is a ship, she thought, dismayed- Mat the hell is a ship doing pretending to be a lab?

  "Come an!"' Kru b
arked.

  "Do you even know where you're going' Mia asked.

  Kru scowled, but did not move.

  "I do," Mia said- She stabbed at the middle screen. 'That way to bridge. Below that, the comm center."

  'What do we need with a comm center?'

  'I need to make a call." She smiled at Kru. 'After that, you can tear down anything you like."