Assault on Ambrose Station: A Seth Donovan Novel (11 page)

“Let’s go, before those military police widen their search.”

This human is always in such a hurry,
reported the cognitive processors responsible for audio and visual quantising.

Temporary Crewmember Derris exhibits higher levels of efficiency than most,
surmised the spatial awareness cognitive processes,
consider her haste under these parameters.

Indeed. She strives for more efficient input / output.

There was a general consensus among the higher level cognitive processors that Artemis was indeed a high efficiency human. Tac’s assessment of Artemis improved accordingly.

14.

Tac had noted on many occasions that the crew of the Dreaming of Atmosphere interacted on many social levels. For instance, when interacting with small, informal gatherings of between two to three crew there was a seventy-two percent chance that recreational topics would be discussed. Adding a fourth member to the discussion and there was a forty-six percent chance that humour would be interjected into the interaction. If a
fifth
member was present, however, the chance of humour rising would fall to only eleven percent, and the most common topic discussed during five member interactions was workloads and current work schedules.

Five member interactions rarely involved discussing First Mate Donovan being arrested by station security, however. Tac found the interaction fascinating as the Captain briefed Fel, Crege and Zoe on the situation. They were in Maxine’s cabin, seated around the small conference table in the compartment. Artemis sat opposite the Captain, trying to look nonchalant. Tac was observing from the centre of the table, having been removed from his jury-rigged chassis. Already the two synthetics in the aft cargo hold were rebuilding another robotic chassis for him to explore.

“So they just took him away?” asked Zoe, she appeared the most affected by the news.

“Doesn’t sound like he had much choice.” muttered Fel.

“But he didn’t do anything!”

“Human fired upon authorities. Reason enough.” explained Crege.

“With a stun gun!”

“That’s probably what stopped them from just gunning him down.” said Max, “or him gunning them down. I’m not sure what would be worse.”

“Max!” cried Zoe.

“The Captain is right, Zoe,” consoled Fel, reaching over and placing a hand on her shoulder, “Any fatal casualties on the military police’s side and the whole station would be on high alert. We’d never get off the station, and Artemis would be forced to contact Mr Jenner.”

“End of line.” agreed Crege.

“At the very least, we can still attempt the mission if we have to leave him here.” said Max.

“We can’t just leave him here!”

“We can. And if I deem that the best course of action, we will.” Max glared at Zoe, daring her to challenge her again. Artemis chuckled audibly. “What do you find so funny, Artemis?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you two yelling at each other. A nice change from you yelling at me.”

“Oh, you’ll get your share before the day is out, don’t you worry about that.”

“I look forward to it. Been a while since you’ve stalked me around this table.”

“Fighting amongst ourselves solves nothing,” interjected Fel, trying to calm everyone down, “Seth would understand, if this was the only way.”

Zoe looked down at her hands, which were in the middle of trying to dig fingernail marks into the table. “I’m sorry, Max. I just can’t picture us leaving Seth behind like this. We have to do something.”

Artemis leaned forward, “We are. The police don’t know who he is, or his connection to this ship. Otherwise we’d be in lockdown as well.”

“Tac and Artemis have bought us some time,” said Max, “We’ll use that to come up with a plan, either a legal defence or…”

“Or?” probed Art.

“Or something.”

“I have a suggestion.” Everyone looked at Artemis, suspicion in their eyes. “Don’t worry. I won’t kill any of your precious Protectorate. But we
can
stage a bust.”

“How do you plan on getting into a military brig without shooting your way in?” asked Fel. His eyes flashed an emerald green of curiosity.

“I’ve made several contacts on the station, already. I can get past several layers of security with only a little work. I’d need Tac’s help with the first few layers, but I’m confident I can get to Seth and out again without any fatalities.”

“It’s too risky.” said Max, “You get shot and we’re screwed.”

“I didn’t know you cared.”

“About you? Not directly, but your biometric trigger will detonate all the remaining bombs you and your boss hid on my ship.”

“What if I temporarily disabled the trigger?”

“I’d shoot you where you stood.”

That elicited a breathless laugh from Artemis, “I believe you!”

“I won’t authorise this.”

“You don’t need to, Max. I’m a free agent. I also hold all the cards. If I say we need Seth for the mission, I’m going to make sure we have him.”

Zoe was watching the exchange with big eyes, Tac could see that she was undergoing a moral dilemma. He knew that she would want Seth to be freed, no matter what. But he also knew she had strong convictions about right and wrong. Would she be sacrificing her principles if she supported Artemis? Tac focused his optical sensors on Zoe’s features and studied the myriad emotions playing about her face. He tried to perceive the moment when she decided that she would indeed support Artemis, as he knew she must.

He missed the next few exchanges between the Captain and Artemis, but he became aware when there was no more talking at the table. Max was staring at him, and Tac suddenly became self-conscious.

“What do you think of all this, Tac?” she asked him, “You’ve been awfully quiet. Is it because you think you’re in trouble for wandering off the ship without orders?”

I apologise, Captain. It was foolish of me. The result, however, is fortuitous wouldn’t you think?

“That doesn’t excuse what you did.”

I am unclear as to the extent of wrongdoing I have committed.

Fel held up a hand to stall the tirade that Max was about to unleash, “What he means, Max, is that there have been very little restrictions placed upon him since his joining the ship. There has been no need for any, and so I believe that fault actually lies with any directives we may have, or have not, delivered to him.”

Max glared at Fel, and Tac was thankful for his friend’s intervention. He did not like being the subject of the Captain’s displeasure.

“I see your point.” Max sighed, “Okay, Tac. You can’t just wander off the ship without permission. I need to know where all my crew is at any one time. You’re a valuable crewmember, and a priceless piece of technology that people have killed for in the past. Remember your former crew and the Viridian March?”

I remember everything, Captain. In my defence, I was suffering from a temporary loss of cognitive reasoning.

“Are you malfunctioning?” she was suddenly concerned.

No, Captain. I am functioning perfectly. I merely referenced that one of my semi-dormant cognitive matrixes gained dominance over my usual primary cognitive…

“He means he got curious.” offered Fel.

Systems Operator Fel’negr is correct, Captain.

“You got curious, so you built a robot body and wheeled off the ship in a trashed Corporate synthetic?”

When you put it like that, it does seem a more little extreme than my usual behaviour.

Max looked around the table, “Has anyone else been noticing a few changes in Tac’s behaviour? The way he talks?”

Everyone thought about it for a while. Tac studied everyone’s faces intently while they sat in silence. Occasionally, they would try to catch the eye of another.

I assure you, I am completely operational and all my systems are functioning perfectly.

“Why does that sound familiar?” chuckled Artemis, as she leaned back and put her boots on the table.

“I have a theory, Captain,” offered Fel, “If I may?”

“Go on.”

“We’ve always known Tac was a special sort of AI. We’re not a hundred percent sure exactly what he is, we only know that he exceeds most AI restrains on size and self-awareness. He has organic components, and is designed to continually grow, both as a person and as a computational entity.”

“What are you getting at?”

Zoe caught on, “He’s getting older, he’s growing!”

“That’s my theory. He’s interacting more and more with us, learning about the way we think and talk. His mind is adjusting to us and growing accordingly.”

“You talk like he is alive.” said Artemis with a snort.

“He is, for all intents and purposes. A silicon based life form. Think about it! What are the main hallmarks of sentient life?”

“Self-improvement!” said Crege, clearly excited.

“Yes! Learning and growing. Changing and adapting to your environment. Self-awareness! These are all things that Tac embodies.”

“But he’s a machine!” said Artemis, clearly not buying into the argument.

I am an organic shroud matrix based quantum computer. The auto-chef is a machine.

“A touchy machine!’ laughed Artemis.

“You just witnessed self-awareness, Artemis. You offended Tac, and he responded in kind.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen self-aware AI’s before. Big deal. Doesn’t mean they’re alive.”

“What would you say is a definitively living trait, then?”

“Living things grow.”

My mass has increased by 0.003% since I have joined the Dreaming of Atmosphere.

“So? You just picked up some lint, or metal shavings.”

96.7345% of my current form extends to adjacent dimensions. 0.003% is a relatively large amount of mass, were it to be perceived in three dimensions.

This caused her to pause and ponder.

“Okay, so we think he’s alive then. So what?”

“For once I agree with Artemis,” said Max, “We need to focus on getting Seth out. Enough talk about Tac, how are you planning to get to Donny?”

Tac committed half of his perception to the remainder of the conversation as the crew hatched out a plan, while the other half he used to explore the thoughts that were now floating through his consciousness.

Was I alive?

15.

I’ll have to admit, I kind of didn’t mind sitting it out for a while. The last few months had seemed to me just a string of crises, one after the other, and it always seemed to fall on me to get us through it. I did not mind, I wasn’t complaining just making an observation. Now that I was forced to take a back seat, or a cell in this case, it was up to the rest of the crew to come through for us all.

I had a lot of time to sit and think, so I used that time to ponder the coming phase of the mission. There were a lot of unknowns, a lot of questions and variables that I couldn’t account for. After a few dry runs in my mind, I realised I had enough time to work through many of the possible scenarios. Artemis had let slip that she hadn’t a clue how to locate our target, but I saw that as an advantage for my ulterior motive.

Over the coffin of my fallen childhood tutor, and close friend, I’d vowed to use the opportunity to free as many refugees as I could using Jenner’s stolen device. Sure, we’d bust Osiris Blackburn out of his exile, that was a given. I was sure we’d lose the ship if we tried to screw over Jenner, but rescuing the others was a bonus. That was my
true
goal.

I had asked Artemis about this device – a portable Jump Gate, if it could be believed. There were always rumours that such technology existed, but never confirmed. They were closely guarded treasures of the Galactic Corporations, so valuable that they sent at least two giant organo-ships after us to reclaim it, or destroy it.

How this thing worked, Artemis was very tight lipped about. More so than usual. A few things started to make sense, however. First, when Artemis had learned I had acquired a nano-proliferation implant she had immediately become interested. The first chance she got, she obtained a data chip containing an expensive Paradigm for me. Paradigms were sort of like programs for the implant, they made generating effects easier and more efficient. Artemis had given me the Spatial Translation Paradigm. A very useful power indeed.

The significance of the power had slowly revealed itself to me. I once sent my nanites into the unreality that is Jump Space while shifting between dimensions. The sensation was incredibly strange, and utterly alien, but very similar to the effect I feel when I use the power. I am now convinced that the Paradigm and Jump Space are connected, although the science escapes me.

So I had this theory, that Artemis needed me for her little escape project. Surely, that wasn’t her original plan? She did not even know about my NP until much later in our voyage through the Network, and I certainly didn’t have it when we’d begun the journey. So what was her original plan? It was clear she did not
need
me for the Jump Gate, but having me around was definitely a game changer for her.

Knowing this, I had leverage. Leverage I planned to use when it came time for me to fulfil
my
escape project.

Another question became prominent in my mind – the matter of heat. Travelling through Jump Space bathed the ship in an exotic energy called Fiddich radiation. Spacers had long since given it the slang term
heat
and shifting soon after exiting a Jump Gate was not good for your health. The ship’s hull and a protective energy shield mitigated most of the heat, but anyone outside of the hull was going to get a nasty dose of high impact radiation. If this portable Gate was able to send
people
through…well I just did not know how they would survive. Ships take three to four days of relative time to travel between Jump Gates, while the outside universe experiences nearly three months of time. Three to four days of heat exposure is a death sentence. Hell, half a day is a death sentence.

The next thing I had not worked out was exit velocity. Regardless of the velocity a ship had when they shifted into a Jump Gate horizon, they always exited Jump Space at seven hundred metres per second. Would Blackburn and company shoot out of the other end at twice the speed of sound? Where
was
the other end? Did Jenner have the Gate’s twin somewhere? I hope he had a big cushion set up on the other side.

Eventually, I gave up on wondering about the portable Jump Gate and focused on getting the ship to Ambrose Station first. I tried to recall details of the Push, what little strategic movements I had learnt, before and after. As a ground pounder, I wasn’t exactly kept in the loop with all the command decisions then. I did know that the Fleet used three key forces within the system to make their attack. One of the forces, Task Force One, was a diversion. Their mission was to attack the main force of Ghantri warships, somewhere between their home world of Ghan and a shipyard facility.

Task Force Two was to liberate a colony on the planet Nsarri, an inhospitable world that had not yet finished building terra-forming machines before the Ghantri Betrayal. Task Force Three, the one I was part of, was tasked with capturing the Ambrose habitat.

I learnt, months later, that calamity had befallen Task Force One. Although the Ghantri did not use the same level of sophistication that more modern star systems used to track traffic and navigational hazards, they had an exceptional deep space telescope system. The Eye of Ar’od Dar was a religious artefact revered by the Ghantri that was used to gaze upon the seat of their pantheon. It also had an excellent infrared, xray and radar tracking system. Coupled with this, they discovered that parts of the Gossamer system were seeded with dormant sensor beacons, following odd paths through the scattered debris and asteroid fields that dotted the system.

The path that Task Force One followed brought it within range of one such beacon and, as the fleet was not yet flying dark, the beacon activated. It then alerted another beacon using a tight beam transmission. This signal was carried all the way back to Ghan, where the aliens must have thought they had received a warning from the Gods. Task Force One went dark as they approached the enemy fleet position, but the Ghantri were ready for them. The Eye had them well and truly in its sights. As the ships had used passive sensors to avoid detection, they failed to see the pre-emptive strike.

The Ghantri tossed hundreds of asteroids and space debris at the fleet, destroying the Protectorate forces. Unhindered by Task Force One, the Ghantri war host attacked Task Force Three at the same time it had deployed the marines to capture the station. Without space superiority, we received no air support, no air lifting of troops for reinforcement, no medical evacuations. It was a brutal fight that forced the brass to order the withdrawal.

Before Task Force Two could even reach its target, it was called back to assist Task Force Three. There were heavy casualties and hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

All up, it was a bona fide tragedy, a military cluster fuck of epic proportions. The fact that there were cascading political falls outs due to the failure was little consolation. I had lost my entire squad, good men and women, and the psychological scars still had not healed one-hundred percent.

I knew that Task Force Two had managed to slip past the Eye without being spotted and I tried to recall the route it took through the system. I used my interface overlay to trace what I could remember about the system’s features and tried to map out which path it took. Why had it evaded the Eye’s notice? What had it done differently that meant it was able to get through the system unscathed? I was sure this was the key to reaching our objective as well.

Next, I worked on ideas to get from the Dreaming to the station itself. I knew there were extensive shipyards at the station, they’d been damaged heavily in the initial assault on the station, but the industrious Jaani would have repaired them long ago. There was a good chance that there was going to be literally millions of tons of debris around the station, the wrecked hulks of the many hundreds of warships that met their end during the Push. Some of it would have been used as salvage by now, but I was betting on that debris field being close enough for the Dreaming to get in close. The rest was down to my stolen Eclipse Fighter.

And my mediocre piloting skills.