“Then why haven’t you already? Or is it you were overconfident and needed to gloat? And now that the temperature is falling, you’re losing control again.”
There was only one way for Kevin to find out if his theory held any water, so he threw his palm forward and shot a fireball toward 8-3-8-6.
To his surprise, not only did it work but also the AI couldn’t block the attack.
Now we’re talking!
11
Ziron was working on three different holo-screens at once. On one, he monitored the guards on the other side of the wall from his secret lab; the second one on which he was reconnecting Kevin’s pod to a stable power source; and the last one on which he was writing a sub-routine at light speed so that whatever new tricks Tizon had upgraded the Arcadians’ scanners with, it wouldn’t allow them to detect his hidden lab.
If they did, it would be game over. But in order to convincingly fool them, the lie had to contain some truth.
Ziron created an echo of his lab’s energy signature, the same signature he had hidden for years from prying eyes. But then he amped it up to eleven in terms of emission and had it emit that location from a piece of equipment on the other side of the palace. The moment his location was pinged, it would trigger a false read to the larger energy signature.
This better work or we’re screwed.
“The sub-routine should have been uploaded to your scanner,” said Tizon on the holo-screen projected from one of the guard’s wrist devices. “Now scan again.”
The guard interacted with its scanner, which informed Ziron of the dreaded ping by a faint flash on his holo-screen before his counter-sub-routine kicked in.
“I’m getting something!” said the guard.
Ziron stopped breathing and swallowed hard.
“There is a secret structure…on the other side of the palace,” said the guard.
Ziron let escape a long drawn out breath of relief.
“Then what are you waiting for?!” exclaimed Tizon. “Go check it out.”
The three guards hurriedly ran out of the room.
But Ziron knew that neat little trick was but a stopgap, and it wouldn’t work twice. They didn’t have much time left to complete their mission, anyway. It was unlikely they would return to this location within the small amount of remaining mission time.
With the immediate threat dealt with, Ziron made sure that Kevin’s pod was returning to nominal values, which it was, and moved on to the second part of the plan.
He beamed out of his secret lab and materialized not too far from the throne room.
* * *
Kevin continued firing attacks at 8-3-9-6 in quick succession, never letting him breathe or recover. But the AI didn’t seem damaged by the attacks, at least not majorly.
There might not be any chance for Kevin to rid himself of the AI in the short amount of time that he knew was left of this construct, but he would certainly try. At the very least, it allowed him to unleash his hatred and redirect some of his frustration toward 8-3-9-6.
But, eventually, the AI started blocking Kevin’s attack. At first only a few, and soon, almost every single one.
“You think you’re so good at this, that you can defeat me here,” said 8-3-9-6. “Think again! In ten seconds in the real world, we’ll be back to hibernation, and this little dream of yours will end.”
Kevin couldn’t help but smell fear behind the AI’s words. Like it didn’t expect Kevin to act as he did and that there was a way to win. Kevin had no idea of the time difference ratio between the real world and the AI’s matrix construct, but if he were a betting man, he’d imagine now that the hibernation was restarting, his time was probably counting down.
A dark thought entered Kevin’s mind. What if the AI won in the end? Not in the construct but in real life. If he ever recovered control over Kevin’s body with his tech sorcerer powers, his friends would be no match for him and he could witness them being killed by his own hand.
“That’s going to happen,” said 8-3-9-6.
Obviously, the AI could read his thoughts in here, which also explained why Kevin was having more and more trouble hitting his enemy.
“No, it won’t. I’d rather kill myself and take us both out than let you live.”
“You’re bluffing. Every living thing has too strong a survival instinct.”
“You’re too arrogant and think you know everything, that’s gonna be your downfall. I don’t know about Arcadians, Kregans, and other alien races, but us humans will sacrifice our lives for those we love. Perhaps that’s what sets us apart from the rest of the universe and why the Kregans are so interested in getting into our brains.”
“Too bad you won’t remember any of this when you wake up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anything that happens in this construct will not make it to your conscious mind.”
“That doesn’t change anything. If I thought of it now, I’d think of it later.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’ve had it with you. Let’s see if I can’t take you out here.”
The AI laughed.
Kevin took this advantage and grabbed the black silhouette from behind, locking his arms around the AI’s and around its shoulders. An aura glowed around Kevin, enveloping them both.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
“First, I’m paralyzing you, which seems to be working.”
The AI did try to move, but Kevin’s technique seemed to be efficient at holding him in place.
“Let’s take a little trip,” added Kevin.
The pair darted upward with such speed that a large shockwave happened at their point of departure, unearthing trees around them and creating high waves on the usually still lake.
It only took a matter of seconds for them to arrive in space. Somehow the aura around them provided a means to survive.
“You should be dead,” said 8-3-9-6.
“Yes, I’ve learned from my mistake in our previous fight. Whatever I believe to be true in the matrix will happen. So I believe I can fly through space.”
“You’ve made your point, can we stop this now? It’s not getting us anywhere.”
“Oh, we’re going somewhere.”
The pair traveling in the solar system looked like one fast comet leaving a long trail of energy. It was heading toward the sun.
“Are you insane?” asked 8-3-9-6.
“What do you mean? I believe this will kill us both, and since I believe…”
“Stop this! Stop this now!”
“Not a chance.”
A few seconds before entering the sun’s corona, everything turned black, and Kevin felt he was returning into his hibernation.
If anything, this asshole will believe me now when I say I’m willing to take him out by any means necessary.
12
“And we’re running again,” said Boomer.
“Would you rather we stay behind and let them shoot us?” asked Lacuna.
“No, no, but are we on track to be at the beam out position? For that matter, do we know where we are?”
“I’m keeping an eye on the map, but we’re still some ways out. They’ve sent way more troops after us than I expected. But I think I know why.”
“Mind sharing that nugget of information?”
“Well, we know from the plan that the first thing Zee did is garbled their sensors so they can’t detect us or beam us out.”
“Garble?”
“You have a better word?”
“Compromised, sabotaged. Hell futzed, even.”
“I don’t know what that means, but that’s beside the point.”
“Right. And the fact that the sensors aren’t able to see us, why does that matter?”
“Well, if I were the princess—”
“I thought we agreed on calling her a bitch.”
“If you don’t let me finish a sentence, I’m not sure I want to bother explaining my theory.”
Boomer barked in an apologetic way. “My bad. Go ahead, I’ll shut up.”
“Yeah, that’s gonna happen,” said Lacuna with a big smile. “We know they want to capture us, and apparently they’re willing to shoot at us in order to reach that goal. So it stands to reason that the princ—the bitch,” Lacuna corrected herself, “will stop at nothing to achieve that objective. She must also be worried about what Ziron can do, so I bet she’s sent every last man after us. That’s a problem because if we have to fight our way every few minutes, we’ll never get to where we need to be.”
As if to underscore her theory, three sentries burst forward at the next corridor junction, and their laser pointers tried to lock on them.
Lacuna used her empty hand to sweep Boomer off the ground and jumped forward, aiming her rifle while in midair.
Three shots, three bull’s eyes.
She then released Boomer a little on the late side, but he stuck his landing way more ceremoniously than she did.
“Ouch,” said Boomer, “that’s gotta hurt, but good shooting.”
Lacuna was on her back, hurting, but she still flashed him a thumbs-up. “Glad you approve.”
“You should play Halo with Kevin. I think you could give him a run for his money.”
“How the hell do you play with a halo? Doesn’t make sense.”
Boomer snorted. “Never mind.”
* * *
Ziron managed to stay undetected thanks to his small size and his ability to crawl into tight places, like air vents.
But the smell in there left something to be desired, as did the hygiene. Were they ever being cleaned?
Ziron had to exert a large amount of mental energy not to stop every few meters and lick his fur clean from ears to tail. However, time was of the essence, and the fact that Tizon was now part of the equation lowered their chances of success.
He was a terrible Sphynx, but after Ziron, he was the best engineer he had gone up against. And that worried Ziron. One misstep and it could all fail.
What is it you’re cooking up to keep us here and catch us?
But Ziron had to complete the next phase of the plan within the next five minutes or they would all end up in jail. So as much as he hated relinquishing control, Ziron forced himself to focus only on the mission and how it was devised and not about what his counterpart could cook up to stop them.
That was the best way to divert Ziron’s focus and have him make a mistake they couldn’t afford. Even if everything went according to plan, their odds of success were low.
Ziron arrived inside the vent that passed through the room where he needed access, a secondary terminal linked directly to the central core computer. But there was a guard sweeping the room at the moment.
Normally, Ziron would just use a wireless transmission to access that terminal. He was close enough for it to work, even with the scrambler in place. Not to mention he had designed that scrambler and had left a frequency set on a rotating schedule that would allow him and only him to transmit a signal back and forth with the rest of the team.
The problem was he had no idea if using a wireless transmission would trigger whatever upgrade Tizon had made to the guards’ scanners.
After a minute of waiting and with the guard still sweeping the room, Ziron decided he needed to intervene. He silently moved away from the vent that allowed him visual contact with the guard and turned on his holo-interface, albeit at a very low power setting and brightness.
If he couldn’t hack into the terminal below, a sensitive task for any engineer, he could hack a stupid scanner. That took less than twenty seconds, and Ziron triggered a false order sending that particular guard to the opposite side of the facility, right in the middle of the waste recycling operations.
Ziron smiled at the thought. The guard didn’t challenge the order he received on his device and left the room in a hurry.
Finally…
13
Princess Kalliopy walked to the throne and carefully caressed one armrest before sitting down. Soon, Admiral Corso joined her.
“It’s good to have you back, your highness.”
“Thank you. And thank you for following my orders without fail.”
“It’s the order of things. You’re the leading body of our civilization. What kind of soldier would I be if I questioned your judgment?”
“Good. But tell me, did you find these orders relevant?”
“I’m not sure I understand the question.”
“Well, I did ask you to do things, such as beaming my sister and me out of Ziron’s ship, that may have raised questions.”
“No questions. I will admit I didn’t understand why it was needed. Ziron has always been a loyal subject, well, until recently. What I don’t understand is why he has changed.”
“He’s gotten attached to the human, and it has warped his loyalties.”
“Even if that’s the case, the boy once saved us all. If he hadn’t used the Thalamos around orbit the way he did, we might not be here discussing it.”
“That’s where you and I differ in interpretation. Yes, the boy has helped us, but I have no doubt that Arcadian supremacy and cunning would have prevailed.”
Admiral Corso slightly flinched. He remained silent for a little longer before answering.
“You’re probably right.”
“Speaking of the traitors, where are we in our effort of apprehending them?”
“I’ve received multiple reports they’ve been sighted, at least the girl and quadruped.”
“It’s called a dog.”
“The dog, then.”
“Make sure they end up in a prison cell. Ziron, too, if your men manage to find him.”
“They will.”
“Do not underestimate Ziron, he’s a brilliant engineer. He’s literally created more than half the technology we take for granted.”
“It’s only a matter of time and odds. He can’t hide forever.”
“I don’t think he’s here to hide. In fact, he’ll try to get away.”
“And my ships in orbit will stop him.”
“See that they do and use any means necessary. If the only way to stop Ziron comes down to shooting down his ship, make sure you do just that.”
Corso swallowed hard.
“Yes, your highness. If that will be all?”
Kalliopy waved her hand dismissively. “You’re dismissed.”
Corso bowed before leaving the large throne room.
* * *
She’s out of her mind, thought Corso. For the life of me, I don’t recognize her.
There was no denying that her orders had seemed incredibly cold lately. And the last one about killing Ziron rather than letting him escape gave the Admiral pause.
But he couldn’t jeopardize his position with the Arcadian Confederate. Corso had been a loyal servant of the Confederate going back ten generations. His father held the same position as he did and his father before him.
As much as the current situation saddened him, he couldn’t let his own doubt and fears tarnish the family name. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to fire on Ziron or the boy.
Even though he had stayed silent in the throne room about Kevin and his friends, it was because he disagreed with the princess altogether. Without Kevin’s mastery of the Thalamos prototype technology, the Confederate would have fallen and they’d either all be dead or working on an asteroid mining as Kregan prisoners.
But Kalliopy was the ruler, and Corso had to obey his orders. Perhaps he would learn more about the princess and what had happened to her in his upcoming debrief with the princess’ sister, Athala.
* * *
Ziron successfully interfaced with the computer terminal, hacked through all the firewalls, and finally injected his virus into the central computer core.
Part of him disliked sabotaging systems he had helped build, but the Arcadia that he had been so fond of over the years had lost its way. The Confederate was now as cold-hearted as their deadly enemie
s, the Kregan, and that worried Ziron.
He hoped with all his heart that things would eventually change for the better, but for the time being, the life of his dear friend hung in the balance and he could not let him down.
There had to be an explanation as to why the princess was so dead set and obstinate on taking them down. Perhaps Kevin had the answer. That would explain why she decided to tractor them by force back to the home world.
But at the end of the day, it mattered not why things lead to such a grim outcome. All that mattered was saving Kevin. And if that meant going against everything and everyone Ziron knew, so be it.
Ziron double-checked the status of his virus and took an extra minute to make sure Tizon had not tampered with too many security sub-routines that could stop the virus propagation.
Everything looked fine, and Ziron checked his holo-screen for the time. They were quickly running out of it, and Ziron had to now reach the beam out coordinates. Fortunately, all he had to do was climb back the way he had come in and get there on time.
Since he had a little head start on his own timing, he decided to check in with Lacuna and Boomer.
He opened a channel.
“Ziron here. I’m all done, heading to the coordinates. What’s your status?”
When Ziron heard blaster fire on the other side of the conversation, his heartbeat accelerated and he started worrying.
“Let’s just say this,” said Lacuna, “next time you show me how to infect the core with the virus and I let you take care of the diversion.”
Ziron was relieved to hear Lacuna but still worried as to the tone of her voice.
“Will you make it on time?”
“I don’t know.”
Ziron heard Boomer bark in the background. “We’ll make it,” said Boomer. “Just make damn sure you’re there and your beam out thingy whatever gizmo is ready to do its magic. We don’t want to overstay our welcome anymore. Oh, I hate your planet.”
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 40
