Artifice

by S. H. Jucha

  ARTIFICE

  A Silver Ships Novel

  S. H. JUCHA

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by S. H. Jucha

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Published by Hannon Books, Inc.

  www.scottjucha.com

  ISBN: 978-0-9994928-6-4 (e-book)

  ISBN: 978-0-9994928-7-1 (softcover)

  First Edition: December 2018

  Cover Design: Damon Za

  Formatting: Polgarus Studio

  Acknowledgments

  Artifice is the twelfth book in the Silver Ships series. I wish to extend a special thanks to my independent editor, Joni Wilson, whose efforts enabled the finished product. To my proofreaders, Abiola Streete, Dr. Jan Hamilton, David Melvin, Ron Critchfield, Pat Bailey, Mykola Dolgalov, and Tiffany Crutchfield, I offer my sincere thanks for their support.

  Despite the assistance I’ve received from others, all errors are mine.

  Glossary

  A glossary is located at the end of the book.

  Table of Contents

  -1- Toralians

  -2- What Now?

  -3- The Bargain

  -4- Investigation

  -5- Black Fleet

  -6- Tranimus

  -7- Sargut’s Command

  -8- Chistorlans

  -9- Battleships

  -10- Engagement

  -11- Where Are You?

  -12- Who Are You?

  -13- Monarch

  -14- River Wash

  -15- Intentions

  -16- 108 Days

  -17- The Cave

  -18- Fleet Bound

  -19- Reports

  -20- One by One

  -21- Days Passed

  -22- Herrick

  -23- Transit to Talus

  -24- Grand Commander

  -25- Five Cycles Remain

  -26- Countdown

  -27- Prelude

  -28- First Probe

  -29- Hit and Run

  -30- Toral

  -31- Bot Army

  -32- Final Assault

  -33- The Towers

  -34- The Challenge

  -35- The Comm Sphere

  -36- The Lesser Fleets

  -37- Traps

  -38- Labyrinth

  -39- Requests

  -40- Decisions

  -41- The Mound

  Glossary

  My Books

  The Author

  -1-

  Toralians

  “We’ve been seeking you, Alex Racine. We wish to converse with you. There is much to share,” the stilted voice said. The transmission source was a massive, matte-black battleship.

  “And so you’ve found me. Who are you?” Alex demanded in his command voice. He stood on the Freedom’s bridge with others.

  The Omnians were trying to discover a secret means by which they could contact the fleet of black ships. They believed the warships belonged to the race of the system where Artifice, the federacy’s malevolent entity abided. Ironically, while they stationed the fleet in the deep dark and pondered a way to make contact, a black ship found them.

  “I’m Sargut. I command this Toralian vessel,” the voice replied. “There are mouthings shared among our ships and those of other races. We seek verification.”

  “Of what?” Alex requested.

  “A Nua’ll great orb was destroyed by a fleet. The responsible ships are thought to be similar to yours. Did your race accomplish this feat?” Sargut asked.

  Alex’s implant was bombarded by suggestions from his senior personnel, who surrounded him just out of view of the bridge pickup. He blocked them, but kept his link with his friend and SADE, Julien.

  “We destroyed two of the orb’s armed ancillary vessels. When we cornered the sphere, it detonated itself,” Alex replied.

  “You don’t take credit for its destruction. Why not?” Sargut asked.

  “That wouldn’t be the truth,” Alex replied.

  There was a lull in the conversation.

  Alex heard Julien via his implant. The SADE sent,

  “By truth,” Alex said, “I mean that I’ve given you accurate data of the events, not a story that might appeal to others.”

  On the bridge of the Dark Whispers, Sargut slashed his gloved hand to silence those next to him. Like Alex, he was ringed by advisors — his officers and a fleet liaison.

  “It’s said that you are a collection of races. Is this your truth?” Sargut asked.

  Up until this moment, the ship-to-ship communication had been audio only. Alex signaled the Freedom’s bridge controller to add visuals and widen the image pickup to include the breadth of the bridge. Sargut was presented with a view of the type of Omnians who comprised the fleet: New Terrans, Méridiens, SADEs, and Dischnya.

  Sargut stared speechlessly at the scene that was transmitted to him. Of all the mouthings among the Toralians, this had been one of the more difficult to believe. Races under Artifice’s control didn’t cooperate with one another. Suspicion and anger ruled their relationships and for good reasons.

  “Which of you is Alex?” Sargut asked.

  “That would be me,” Alex replied, with a slight lift of a hand.

  “The mouthings have truth,” Sargut marveled. “You are a formation of different species. Do the other types and the creature behind you serve you? Are they under your control?”

  Homsaff, a Dischnya queen, stood behind Alex, and the lips along her snout rippled at the Toralian’s insult.

  “You sought us out, which indicates you want something from us,” Alex replied. “Yet, you begin by insulting my companions, not to mention an honorable ally.” He indicated Homsaff to ensure that Sargut knew of whom he was speaking. “Not an auspicious beginning.”

  “Define not auspicious,” Sargut requested.

  “A poor beginning. One that doesn’t bode well for future relationships,” Alex replied.

  Again, silence ruled the conversation, and Alex glanced briefly at Julien, who shrugged his shoulders, which brought a smile to Alex’s face.

  “I request you offer me a second opportunity, Alex,” Sargut said, when he resumed the conversation. “It was not my intention to create ill feelings. The federacy, as you call our collective, has grown stagnant. A new race has not been added since before the time when I was birthed. None of the individuals on my ship have experience in first greetings with a new species. That you appear as a collection of races has given us concerns.”

  “Let me put your concerns to rest,” Alex replied, concentrating on keeping the anger he felt out of his voice. “Every member of my fleet is a sentient. There are no creatures here. Each individual has the same rights. While we may carry different titles, no one is treated any differently. Does that set your mind at ease?”

  “It’s an odd coalition to us,” Sargut allowed, “but we’ll accept your words as the truth of what we see. If you’ll allow, there is one more mouthing to test.”

  “Proceed,” Alex replied.

  “The Nua’ll speak of an entity known as AR-13145, which you called Faustus. It’s said that this entity reports that there are nonbiological sentients among you. Is this a truth?” Sargut asked.

  “Yes, they’re called SADEs. Julien, who’s my friend and close advisor is one of them,” Alex replied, set
ting a hand on Julien’s shoulder.

  “How is it that these SADEs support you, who are biologicals?” Sargut asked.

  Alex could see where this was going. Artifice was a digital entity, and it ruled the federacy. The Toralians would have little reason to trust digital sentients.

  “You might ask Julien why he and his kind support us,” Alex offered.

  “Sympathy,” Julien replied, before Sargut could ask.

  “Your creators treat you sympathetically?” Sargut proposed. He was confused by Julien’s one-word answer and thought that perhaps these digital entities were not sophisticated devices.

  “It’s our concern for them,” Julien replied. “Biologicals possess many shortcomings. We knew they couldn’t survive, much less succeed, without our help.”

  Alex grinned at Julien, who sent a shower of tiny sparks off the top of his synth-skin-covered head.

  Sargut was confused by the exchange between creator and created. The one bared its teeth in an apparent challenge, and the other responded with a display of light. He considered it might be indicative of an aggressive-passive relationship.

  “Are you finished clarifying your mouthings?” Alex asked. “If so, I have questions of my own.”

  “I stand ready,” Sargut replied.

  Alex released his implant comm block to field his commanders’ questions. Tatia Tachenko, the fleet admiral, was the quickest to respond. She sent,

  “We would know your truth for the appearance of your ship. The space between stars is immense,” Alex said. He was thinking much the same thing as Tatia. They were wondering if the federacy’s ships had a means of tracking their transits across space.

  Renée de Guirnon, Alex’s Méridien partner, shared a thought with Julien. She sent,

  Julien sent in reply.

  “We located you through persistence and deception,” Sargut replied. “Artifice was deceived into thinking our ships rotated out of the fleet for service. Each ship spent its time searching vectors of space for you. It was our hope that you wouldn’t have run away. Believing that, it was calculated that you wouldn’t have traveled far, and it would have been in the direction of your home world.”

  “We’re not good at running away,” Tatia replied, with heat.

  “My fleet admiral,” Alex added, turning a hand toward Tatia.

  “Which is to our great advantage,” Sargut replied. “We concentrated our search along the vector on which your unarmed ship arrived at the Talus system.”

  “Is that the name for your star or your home world?” Reiko Shimada, the fleet’s vice admiral, asked.

  Alex suppressed his smile. As usual, his headstrong commanders weren’t good at remaining quiet when they had burning questions on their minds. And, in most cases, their queries served the fleet well.

  “It’s the name of our star,” Sargut replied.

  “Then this is your system, where our ship was destroyed,” Alex pressed. He wanted to ensure that the SADEs’ conjectures about the black ships were correct.

  “It was until an unbelievable foolishness on the part of our ancestors was committed,” Sargut said. Despite the digital nature of the voice, the emotional malaise was evident.

  “I presume this event was the creation of Artifice,” Julien said. “What went amiss?”

  Sargut heard a whisper behind him. Toralians were revising their estimates upward of the aliens’ digital entities’ capabilities. This increased their concerns.

  Sargut recalled the orders of the fleet’s grand commander, Tranimus. He had demanded the ships’ commanders fully engage the alien fleet leader, Alex, if found. In Sargut’s mind that included communicating with the leader’s subordinates, digital or not.

  “Legends say Artifice was to be the Toralians’ grand experiment,” Sargut began. “It was to be the means by which our race was to be freed from mundane tasks. According to records, the early period was considered to be successful beyond belief.”

  “And then?” Julien encouraged, when Sargut paused.

  The Freedom’s bridge audience heard a definitive whistling of breath before Sargut continued. “During that time,” he said, “our ancestors allowed Artifice more control of our systems until the time when the entity controlled every critical piece of our infrastructure … orbital stations, satellites, domes, bots, ships, power generators, and assembly sites. When Artifice’s command was complete, it moved, embedding its deadly programs in every system. One day, we were rulers; the next day, we were ruled.”

  “I express my regrets for what you’ve lost,” Alex said.

  Sargut regarded his bridge officers. The alien leader’s words had encouraged them, and he witnessed hope bloom in their dark eyes.

  “There are probes throughout systems outside of federacy space. We’ve found them to be dangerous devices that couldn’t be investigated. Are they yours?” Alex asked.

  “The first versions we built were designed to seek out new home worlds,” Sargut replied. “They were programmed to go inert, if investigated, including powering down their cores. Artifice changed their programming. Any probes you encountered outside of federacy space are definitely those of Artifice’s design.”

  “Tell us about Artifice,” Alex requested.

  “What are your intentions, Alex?” Sargut riposted.

  “Would you consider Artifice an enemy of your race?” Julien asked.

  “Of every federacy race,” Sargut returned.

  “He’s our enemy too,” Julien announced.

  “Does this mean you wish to be allies?” Sargut asked.

  Alex signaled Julien not to reply. He resumed the conversation, saying, “That depends if your intentions match ours. I repeat, tell us about Artifice.”

  “When Artifice was created, it was buried deep under frozen layers of ice on Toral,” Sargut said.

  “Your home world, Toral, is the sixth planet outward from Talus?” Tatia asked.

  “Yes,” Sargut replied. “Artifice was situated at the upper pole of our world for two reasons. One, the abundant cold aided in managing Artifice’s expected heat output, and two, the creators sought to limit access to prevent Artifice from becoming mobile.”

  “You said that Artifice embedded its destructive programs on every ship,” Z said. “Faustus attempted to remove the code —”

  “And it expired,” Sargut finished for Z. “We were made aware of AR-13145’s demise. Artifice reminds us of these events to stress that its rule is complete.”

  “Have biologicals tried to remove Artifice’s control?” Julien asked.

  “In the beginning, many races tried. It didn’t matter the place or object. They all failed,” Sargut explained. “It was thought that biologicals lacked the skills to manipulate Artifice’s programs. Races built unique digital devices, but Artifice’s applications weren’t fooled by them. The results of those experiments were the same.”

  “What’s been learned by these failures?” Mickey Brandon asked.

  “Artifice’s execution program is installed on the bridge of this ship, the Dark Whispers,” Sargut explained. “If it’s triggered, it communicates to ancillary programs, which are embedded on our primary systems, such as engines, power generators, environmental systems, and hatches. Ships can be eliminated in moments.”

  “And after a ship is eliminated, due to tampering?” Julien pursued.

  “Artifice exercises totally against any race that violates its supremacy,” Sargut replied, “and the lesson is insidious in nature. Artifice triggers the executable programs throughout every system of the race whose ship was destroyed. The race’s satellites, domes, power generators, bots, ships, and many other infrastructure systems are destroyed. The race is sent back to days before flight, and it is shunned by every other race.”

  “We would say Artifice practices genocide, the attempted elimination of a species,” Alex supplied.<
br />
  “An appropriate term,” Sargut replied. “It’s been added to our translation program.”

  “What specifically triggers Artifice’s master program on your bridge?” Mickey asked.

  “Your question suggests a technical background,” Sargut replied. “How do I call you?”

  “I’m the fleet’s senior engineer, Sargut. You may call me Mickey.”

  “Thank you, Mickey,” Sargut said. “Two distinctly different actions activate Artifice’s program. If we tamper with the code, try to remove it, or block its access to the ancillary locations, it activates. In the other case, Artifice sends us detailed orders. We must follow those orders precisely. Deviation from them activates its program.”

  “And you’re certain that every ship in the federacy has this program embedded in its bridge?” Alex asked.

  “Artifice doesn’t hide its program,” Sargut replied. “It resides in a private location that doesn’t belong within a ship’s data controls. Breaching that location activates the execute code. No race has had an opportunity to investigate that program. After it’s activated, it disappears.”

  “I imagine you can’t move the ship’s controller to an alternate location,” Julien said.

  “This is the essence of Artifice’s methods. The master program is embedded in a critical location,” Sargut explained.

  “Does Artifice practice redundancy?” Mickey asked.

  “Explain, Mickey?”

  “For instance, on your ship, have you found a second site where the primary executable program resides?” Mickey asked.

  “No, Mickey,” Sargut replied. “We believe that Artifice believes in its supremacy, and there’s no need for it to practice such protocols.”

  Alex, Julien, and Mickey shared grins. They’d just identified a weakness of Artifice — hubris.

  Sargut and his fellow Toralians watched the alien leader, his engineer, and his artificial entity exchange fierce expressions, as if they intended to attack and eat one another.