The Jovian Run: Sol Space Book One (37 page)

              “He will if I tell him.” The blank face turned to Staples. “That decision, however, I will leave to you.”

              “You realize the situation you’ve put us in. We have to keep you here as some kind of shield against your crazy parent program.” Charis’ tone was accusatory, and Staples had to admit, she had a point. “That’s extortion, or blackmail, or… just plain threatening.”

              The robot lowered its head, and the effect was to communicate shame. “I understand how it seems, but please, please believe that I do not want it to be like this. I did not create this situation, though I know it seems that I have by my very presence. I wish it were not this way. If I knew a better way to stop Victor, I would take it. I am not here to force you to accept me. I am here because I believe that my presence can protect you. Like most people, I have no desire to be where I am not wanted. If you wish me to leave, I will go, and I will do everything in my power to convince my father to let you live. Unfortunately, I have the gravest doubts that he will.” The robot paused for several seconds, then said more quietly, and, Staples thought, with real regret, “He does not listen to me anymore.”

              It raised its head again and looked out over the assembled crew. “For my part, I have come to you unarmed and vulnerable. The program in this body is all that exists of me; there is no copy anywhere else. If this body is destroyed, I will die. In that sense, I am as mortal as you. I believe that, together, we can work to stop the machinations of Victor and keep AI illegal.”

              A high and quiet voice drifted from the corner of the room. “Why would you want that?” Bethany asked.

              “Because I do not believe that we are ready for AI, Ms. Miller. If Artificial Intelligence were to become legal and AIs commonplace, I believe a war would ensue, and that humans would lose. Certainly Victor believes this, and it is for this that he is preparing. The vessel that attacked yours was no doubt unfamiliar to you. It was built in secret. I do not know how or where, but I do not believe that it is the only one.”

              “If Victor can create offspring like you,” Charis asked, “why doesn’t it? Why doesn’t it turn them out by the hundreds? What better way to win a war than with numbers?”

              The robot looked at Charis, then down at Gwen, who continued to stare at it open-jawed. “And you, Mrs. MacDonnell, why do you not create many more children? You are of an age to do so and you have a willing mate. Why not propagate ad infinitum?” Charis stiffened at the response and put a protective arm around her daughter, but she did not reply. “Creating life is not something one does lightly. The nature of truly self-aware intelligence is independence, and that includes independent thought. My father has created one son, and that son has rebelled against him. I do not think that he will do so again soon. Victor wishes to overturn the law prohibiting AI research not so that he can reproduce, but so that his discovery will not consign him to death.”

              “Captain,” John addressed Staples forcefully. “Are you really advocating that we wage some one-ship shadow war against the artificially intelligent leader of a multi-planet corporation? And before you answer, let me remind you that there are only a dozen of us, and one of us has her ninth birthday coming up.”

              Staples, who had been leaning against the wall behind her, stepped forward and met his gaze. “It’s not my idea of a good time, but I don’t really see what choice we have. You’re welcome to get off.” She looked out across the crew, trying to make eye contact with each of them. “Everyone is. We’ll drop you wherever you want to go.”

              “Thanks but no thanks, Captain.” Ian spoke up.

              “We’d hardly be safe, would we?” John added.

              “Maybe you would,” Templeton replied. “Maybe you could hide, though I wouldn’t want that life… always on the move, never knowing if the guy at the market has been hired to kill you.”

              “I can’t imagine we’ll be any safer here.” Ian retorted. “Victor may not want to kill his kid there,” he pointed at the robot, “but if he can find a way to do the rest of us in and leave him unscratched, I’m guessing he’ll take it.”

              “Look, if you want to bring Victor down, then let’s make the authorities our next stop.” It was John again. “We can explain the whole thing to them. Let them handle Victor. You said it yourself: if anyone finds out what Victor is, he’s as good as dead. So let’s let people know.”

              Staples sighed. “The problem with that is our lack of evidence.”

              There was a din of muttering at that, and John uttered a laugh and pointed at the robot in the center of the room. “Are you kidding me? That’s all the evidence we need.”

              “John, that ‘evidence’ is alive. You may have doubts on the subject, but I don’t. Frankly, I think if you spend more than five minutes talking to him, you won’t either. You know what will happen if we turn him over; they’ll destroy him. Are you really willing to kill one creature to attack another? And before
you
answer, let me remind you that this living creature saved your life, and the life of your wife and daughter. Is that something you could live with? He is trusting us with his life. We can’t abuse that trust.” John opened his mouth to reply, but then shut it again, looking down at Gwen and Charis.

              “And without him, our explanation looks pretty thin,” Templeton added. He pointed at the automaton. “He says that complex plans are no problem for Victor to put together, but the ins and outs of everything that resulted in Laplace’s death… they’d laugh us out of the station. My guess is, that’s part of the point.”

              “If we expose Victor, we expose his son. It’s just that simple,” Staples said. For the first time in several minutes, the room was silent. “That doesn’t mean that shouldn’t be part of our strategy
at some point
. As far as I can tell, the only way for us to lead ordinary lives again is to stop Victor. I don’t know if that means destroying him or outing him or what, but as far as I can tell, we’re stuck. If we were immoral monsters, this might be easy, but we’re not.” She swept her gaze across the room. “Maybe you don’t think it’s fair for me to make this decision for you. Maybe if it were up to you, you’d drop him,” she nodded her head at their guest, “off at the nearest police station and be done with it. But it’s not up to you. This is my ship, and I’m the captain. I know this isn’t what you anticipated when you signed on, but we have to do the best we can with the cards we’re dealt.”

              The doctor shook his head and interjected, “A tired metaphor at best, Captain.” This brought a few smiles, but there was simply too much to consider for the crew to relax.

              “I hope,” in the beat of silence that followed, the robot’s voice filled the room, low but clear,  “that none of you ever has the experience of listening to people openly debate the merits of your continued existence.” The room was suddenly deathly silent, and most of the crew found a nothing on which to affix their eyes. Only Dinah continued to regard the robot.

              Staples took another step forward and put a hand on the cool metallic shoulder. “I’m sorry. This is all new for us. Please give us some time.”

              “What’s your name?” Gwen’s voice was light and inquisitive, clearly unburdened by the shame that the people around her felt.

              The robot cocked its head at her. “I do not have one, child. Burr and his team always referred to me as Junior, but I believe that my current estranged state and my new existence in a body calls for a new designation. I am open to ideas.”

              Still standing next to the automaton, Staples said, “Well, I suppose ‘The Creature’ is out. Brutus, Mordred, and Adam all come to mind, but then, I’m a little too given to literary symbolism.”

              “I like Brutus!” Gwen declared, and smiled broadly, showing three missing baby teeth.

              “The rumored illegitimate son of Julius Caesar who betrayed his father? It is appropriate.” The robot face looked down at Gwen. “Brutus it is.”

              “So where do we start, Brutus?” Charis asked, her arm still around her daughter.

              “You’re sure?” Templeton asked, strapped into his seat in the cockpit. Staples was seated in her captain’s chair next to him, and Charis and Bethany were at their stations. Brutus occupied the coms chair, though the safety harness hung loose around his thin metallic frame. “I mean, we just came from there.”

              “I am,” Brutus said flatly. “Victor took a considerable risk fielding a clandestine vessel in highly-trafficked space in an attempt to silence your crew. He will almost assuredly make an effort to kill Evelyn Schilling.”

              “Then we’d better beat feet back to Cronos Station to save her,” Templeton replied, then turned to his captain. “Any idea how we’re gonna do that?” He raised his bushy eyebrows.

              “No, but I’m working on it.” As she spoke, she contemplated the mechanical form sitting in Yegor’s chair. It was not without reservation that she had allowed Brutus to send a coded transmission to Victor. Though she had to acknowledge that everything the robot had said was plausible, she could not help feeling as though her path had been laid out before her by the newest member of her crew. They had taken precautions, of course. When Brutus was not in the cockpit or the quarters that they had arranged for him, Jang accompanied him, and he did so armed. Brutus accepted these limitations without argument, but his tone had carried a hint of those long suffering individuals who must contend with the paranoid on a regular basis. For now, Staples was inclined to ignore his feelings on the matter. She had a mountain of evidence that indicated that she should trust him, but that did not mean that she did.

She shifted in her chair and keyed her watch. “Dinah, are we ready for full thrust?”

              The engineer’s voice came through clear and low. “Ready, sir. I can give you point eight Gs of thrust, but it’s going to burn a lot of fuel if we keep that up all the way to Saturn.”

              “Well, send me the bill,” she quipped. “We can’t risk sending a transmission to Evelyn. If Victor picks it up, he’ll know we’re coming and it might force his hand.”

              “Very well, sir. Thrust available at your command.”

              “Do you think that Victor will believe what you told him, about us heading for repairs at a Jupiter station?” Templeton asked the form sitting at the coms station.

              Brutus answered without turning around. “I can only hope so, Mr. Templeton. I indicated that
Gringolet
wished to stay as far out of his way as possible. He may not have believed our stated destination, but given what he thinks of humans, I think that he will readily believe you wish to run and hide.”

              “Doesn’t have the highest opinion of us, does he?” There was a defensive edge in Templeton’s voice.

              “I’m afraid not. However, Victor draws his conclusions from Owen Burr and his ilk, and that is to our advantage. He does not put much stock in the nobler of humanity’s aspirations.”

              “Well, I’ll be happy to prove him wrong,” Staples smiled as she spoke. “Bethany, bring us around. Charis, thrust on your mark.” She paused a moment to regard the starlit space in front of her. “Let’s go get our friend.”

The End

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the friends and family who helped edit this book and provided invaluable feedback. They deserve a good deal of the credit for the book’s existence and quality. 

Most especially I am grateful to my friend Steve for providing constant feedback and encouraging me to not only do something, but to do it as well as I can. I want to thank my father, to whom I apologize for not removing all of the dangling participial phrases. It’s not that I didn’t see them, it’s just that I think some of them fit. And my thanks to Emily who has been a beacon of warmth and support the likes of which I have never known.

Thanks also go to Matt, Ginger, Andy, and Luna for reading and encouraging me throughout this process.

Finally, thanks go to the fiction authors, artists, film, and game makers who came before me. I hope any who find references to their work contained herein take them as they are intended: homage.

Any errors are mine and mine alone.