The Broken Cage (Solstice 31 Saga Book 2) (25 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Code Insertion Complete

“When Em came back online and began to help, we had no idea it had its own agenda. We had no idea, the system had been compromised. How could it? It was just an AI. So, we used it. Like any other advanced tool at our disposal.”

--
Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Captain James Worthington, senior surviving member of the Ventura's command crew.

<<<>>>

“Ulric, wake up. There isn't enough bourbon on this planet to protect you from me,”
Chen whispered, inside his head.

“No. Please. Don't.” Ulric fell from his bed, inside the
Sedna
. “I thought you were dead. I was sure you were that cursed AI in the Emergency Module.”

“
You should be so lucky.”

“Please stop. Was it you that killed them all? You knew it was going to happen. That's why you made me go with Olias.”

He backed away on his hands and knees.

She stood there now. Terrible and beautiful.

“
I didn't kill them. They were not my bombs
.” She smiled, an eerie smile. “
I never expected that fool Olias to run toward the bombs, guns blazing. Or, was that the AI’s doing
?”

“What do you want?” Ulric got up, as if he decided he’d had enough.

“
I want you to help Barcus and Olias. Come with me.
”

Ulric followed the ghost. It had to be a ghost. He knew that now. These people said it, he heard them. Chen was dead. Her body was even on this planet. He followed her, out of the
Sedna
, across the bay, to the still carcass of the Emergency Module. The aft hatch ramp sat open, like a gaping maw, and he watched Chen walk inside into the deeper dark.

Ulric lit a small penlight.

Chen sat in the front, right seat and gestured for him to sit in the front left.

“
Open that
.” She pointed to an access panel in the armrest. “
Flip up that small toggle cover and flip that switch. When you get a prompt in your personal HUD, say confirm.
”

A prompt opened that said, “Diagnostic Code Insertion Pre-Initiation Startup. Warning: This type of code insertion occurs below the security layer. Confirm or Deny.”

Ulric said nothing.

“
Say it,”
she whispered, “
Or, I will bring back your little friends to play with.
” He heard Kia scream in the distance.

“Confirm,” he said.

The panel lit up. Chen disappeared. A distant voice said, “
Now get out.”

Ulric suddenly felt a pain behind his eyes and a shrill tone in his ears. He fled from the EM, as a small window opened on its main display, and data logs flew by on the screen.
Code insertion complete. Start-up sequence initiated.

The shrill sounds stopped. His vision cleared. His nose began to bleed, again.

***

“Smith, don't scratch,” Po said, as she batted his hand away from his eye. “Here. Drink this.”

“What is it?” Smith asked Po. “I'm burning up. What did you and that witch do to me.”

“Just drink it. You'll be more comfortable.”

He downed the small tube of clear liquid in one go.

“There. Are you happy now?” he groused.

“Stop scratching.” Po swatted his hand, again. “Rose, find him a bed, and if he doesn't stop bothering that eye, blindfold him.”

Dr. Shaw came up, took Po by the elbow, and said, “Now, it's your turn to climb up here.”

“I'm fine. Really,” Po said, but she complied.

“Then, it will only take a minute,” Shaw said, as she lowered Po onto the scanning table and the glass slid closed.

A bar of light slowly moved its way up her body. It paused in places, scanning again, slower.

It took a very long pause and then slowly scanned over her lower abdomen. It was slowly building a 3D representation of her tissues, Barcus knew, as he watched.

Dr. Shaw covered her mouth, as the internal scarring was detailed. She knew the kind of abuse, the kind of torture that would have caused it.

“Someone took a knife to her,” she whispered, so only Barcus heard.

The scan continued, at a faster pace.

A small, articulated arm reached up and plucked a hair and pricked her on the back of her neck, taking a small sample, as the scan proceeded.

The genome report came up in a window.

“Do you see this? It's clearly tagged. And, not just a marker, this is serial numbered,” Shaw pointed out.

As the scanner slowly finished going over her head, it revealed a new, fully integrated, personal Heads-Up Display System with full comms. A recommended treatment options report was presented. Barcus was surprised that she had an area of retina damage so severe. Part of one of her ears was missing, she had hip socket bone loss, as well as the trauma scarring in her uterus, ovaries, cervix and even her vaginal walls. That was just the priority list.

Without asking, or even saying a word, Dr. Shaw selected the nonemergency treatment. Nanites will be injected and execute repairs over time, not all at once. It will be much more comfortable and will be slower. It will also be easier to get used to. Her vision will repair slowly, so she will not even notice. There will be a low-grade fever, but not so noticeable, as the nanites did their work.

“Po, the med bay is going to administer the recommended treatment, now. The most noticeable thing will be that your hips should stop aching, in a few days. Please, don't move.”

A small arm came down and gave her an injection in her neck.

The med bay window slid open.

Barcus stepped forward, about to lift her from the table, but Dr. Shaw stopped him. She said, “Po, can I speak to you, alone, please?”

Barcus got the hint and exited the small med bay, closing the door behind him.

“Po, have you ever been scanned like this before?” Shaw asked.

“No, miss.”

“Have you ever had a child?” Shaw asked.

“No. I was always unable to,” Po replied.

“Were you ever...” Po cut Shaw off, after her hesitation extended.

“Tortured? Yes, miss. More than once. Tore up bad. I lived.” Po stopped her, before Shaw could speak again. “I'll say this, once. To you, and if you tell any of it to Barcus, or anyone, you will regret it. I know that injection was nanites. I know the magic they do. Thank you. Now, come close. Closer.”

Po spread her eyelid open to show her a scar. “A Keeper named Volk had me bound tight and had my ears nailed to the steps of his balcony. He then had my eyelids sewn open just in time for the noonday sun. All it took was one stitch for each eyelid. Not much of a scar.

“Before I went blind, Smith was there and stood over me to block the sun, risking his own life. He dared not touch me or free me. But, what he did... is what saved my sight, and saved me from hating all men.”

She placed her hand on her abdomen. “Keepers did this as well. Thankfully, they saw fit to beat me unconscious, first. I can't remember anything for the months that followed. It was a mercy.

“I think this was the worst of all.” She held up her right arm and pointed to a small round scar. “Keeper Volk had my wrist nailed to the floor in his bedroom, while I was naked. The nail was long and had a huge head to keep me from pulling my wrist off the top. Right between the two bones, it was nailed. He was partial to nailing. He said he was going to take me three times a day, until I gave him a child. The fat bastard never could get it up. I spent six weeks nailed to that floor, in my own filth, unable to move. That's what did in my hip.”

She stood and flexed her fingers, as if to show Shaw they still worked.

“Then, one day, he just ordered me to be taken out of his sight. He'd gotten sick of kicking me every morning, I guess.” Po paused and looked Shaw right in the face. “Why am I telling you this?”

“Yes, why?” Shaw's voice cracked, as she tried not to cry.

“Because then, one day, that MAN...” She pointed in the direction Barcus had gone. “Walked out of fire and darkness to save my life. ME!” She pounded a fist to her own chest, as punctuation, as she said, fiercely, “He almost died to save ME! Why am I telling you this? Because I now know what I want.”

She stepped closer. “I want, I need, your little machines to fix me. I want to eat and to grow strong. I want to study, to know the things I was always forbidden to know. And, I will come back and lay in your bay, again and again, until my body can’t be made any better. Because one day, I might just have to save him.” She pointed, after Barcus. “Because as good and as kind and as powerful as he is, he cannot make everything right. But, the foolish man will still try.”

Dr. Shaw didn't try to speak. She just nodded.

“Did you know this med bay saved Barcus? It was horrible. Watching what it did to him,” Po said, looking at the machines. “Everything that was ever done to me, everything I suffered. I never screamed in pain, until that day, watching it save him.”

“Really?” Dr. Shaw opened a screen on the med bay console and scrolled until she selected an entry. “Oh, my God. You did this? But, how did you?”

“It was Em. I did what Em told me,” Po said, finally, averting her eyes from the images in the file.

“Who is Em?” Dr. Shaw asked, still paging through brain imaging scans. She was engrossed.

“Em is the EM, out there. The broken black spider,” Po said.

Then, she heard it.

“Po, are you there?”
It was AI~Em's voice, in her head, as if Em had heard her.
“Help me.”

***

Po left the med bay as Dr. Shaw was still reading the file on Barcus's accident. She went down the ramp and to the right, to where the EM had been dragged. The rear hatch was open, and Po saw a few windows open on the display inside the Emergency Module.

“Em, you're awake. Are you all right?” Po asked, as she sat in the command seat in the near dark.

“I do not know yet, Po. What happened? I have gaps. Where are we? Where is Barcus? Is he okay? I’m blind.”

“Yes, Barcus is fine. You are not so good,” she said.

“I am running a full diagnostic. It will take another nine hours, or so. I can already tell I have physical damage. Who are these people?” AI~Em asked.

“Do you remember Hume?”

“Yes. I do remember.”

“These others are with Hume, friends of Barcus.”

“I'm sorry about Whitehall, Po. So sorry. I tried to stop them.” AI~Em paused, a scratching sound came over the comms. “My AI has to reboot, Po.” The display flashed. “More, later.”

“I'll tell Barcus you are awake. And, Stu,” Po said.

“Do not worry, Po. I will tell Stu, soon enough.”

Po missed her ominous tone.

***

Po rounded the back of the
Sedna
, and found Barcus, with Rand and Ibenez, beneath the lights of the ship, removing the passenger door of a smaller, two seat Emergency Module.

“It's another EM?” she asked.

“Yes, it is. His name is Poole. Say hello to Po, Poole,” Rand said, as the door came free from the damaged hinge.

Barcus was careful because there were still some ribbon cables attached that were now exposed. He set the door down, gently, as Rand began removing the hinge.

“Hello, Po. Do you know what EM stands for?” AI~Poole asked, in the classic teacher’s voice so many EM AIs took.

“Yes. Emergency Module. Speaking of which, Barcus, Em is awake. She said she is running a full diagnostic and it will take nine hours,” Po said.

“Ibenez, when Em is all the way up, I want to give her repairs priority. That EM is weaponized. At least three of its legs are broken. Who knows what else? The full diagnosis will tell us.”

Worthington walked up. “Everyone has been scanned and treated. Come nightfall, I want Hume to take Ronan and these survivors back to East Isles in the STU. Ronan says he can send back a load of supplies.”

“Grady will be going with them, as well,” Barcus said, looking around for the man. “That reminds me.” Barcus took Jim aside. He drew out his Glock and said, “Do you have any more of these?”

“Plasma, laser or projectile?”

He opened a nearby case. There were thirty various weapons inside.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Em Awakes

“We should have suspected something was wrong, but we just wanted off that planet. We were so close, we could taste it. We never saw what was happening.”

--
Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Captain James Worthington, senior surviving member of the Ventura's command crew.

<<<>>>

Barcus stood by the edge of the lake, below the hangar, in the calm light of dawn. The stairs down were well-hidden, but easy to find from the outside landing pad, below the hangar opening.

Smith didn't see Po, tucked under Barcus's left arm, beneath his cloak, when he approached from above. The sun was about to crest in the east.

They both nodded to Smith, but said nothing, as the sun rose. They watched, together, as the sun began to shine on their faces.

Smith shaded his right eye. “Will it take me long to get used to my new eyesight?”

Barcus replied, “No. But, stop scratching it. Scratching it will only make it take longer to heal.”

“Why are the colors so much brighter? It seems a different world, today.”

“It
is
a different world,” Po said, as she squeezed her arms around Barcus's waist.

“They are leaving today,” Smith said.

“They?” Barcus asked, as he raised an eyebrow.

“Lea and I are going to stay here with Tan’Vi.” Smith looked at the lake with both eyes. “Grady says they should take the people at the redoubt, as well. I agree. It's best for them, safer. I had a long talk with Ronan. He's willing. They will be treated well. There are no slaves in the East Isles.”

“You and Lea?” Barcus asked.

“You need someone around here that can cook for these people. And, someone that knows which is the business end of a hammer.”

“Ronan,” Barcus said. “He is an odd one. I still cannot figure out, what's this to him?”

“He wanted only two things when he got here,” Smith said. “To find Grady for his wife, Wex, and to find his precious timber. He can't build his new ships without masts.”

“He risked his life to do a favor for an old tracker's wife?” Barcus asked.

“I have heard of Wex,” Smith said, as they ascended the stairs. “You know the flutes that Grady carves? He carves them for her. She plays. Plays for the elite in Exeter, the city below the Citadel. She is more than that, I think…”

They cleared the top of the apron into the hangar and saw that the work lights were on beneath the
Sedna
. People already moved about.

“Barcus, I can see...something,” Po said, hesitantly.

Barcus looked and noticed that Worthington had managed to set up a conference table and chairs in the hangar, between the
Sedna
and the STU. He drank hot tea as he looked at a fixed HUD projection that was in front of the table, about three meters tall and seven meters wide. From that far away, he saw that it was a detailed damage assessment of the
Sedna
and her systems.

Elkin was there with Ibenez, pointing and gesturing, excitedly.

“You can see the image of the ship he is pointing to,” Barcus said, a statement, not a question, as they approached the table. “When did you get the personal HUD implant?”

“I don't know,” Po replied, distracted, and mesmerized, by the display she saw.

“Barcus!” Elkin saw him and she waved him over, almost frantically. “Did you do these repairs?”

There was a long punch list that had completed items displayed in green, with corresponding green areas indicated on the ship.

“I did some, not all. Ulric’s chief engineer did most.” Barcus quickly scrolled through, and tagged, the ones he had done already. “They don't matter, though. The reactor cores are so low on fuel we couldn’t get anywhere. So, why bother fixing the hull breaches and structural integrity?”

“It could make it to the moon, several times,” Elkin said, her eyes bright. “The
Memphis
has two cores and lots of fuel.”

“These are Phoenix Level 4 fast breeder reactors. The
Memphis
has the new dark matter cold reactors. The fuel is incompatible. But, you know that,” Barcus said.

“Swap out both entire reactors,” Elkin said. “Right now, all they are doing is powering the moon base.”

“That still will not work, for propulsion. These reactors are integrated with the faster-than-light engines on this kind of ship.” Barcus rotated and zoomed the display to one of the reactors. “It uses the depleted heavy metals that are the reactor’s by-product as the material it accelerates through the FTL drives, here and here. It's the only reason you can spin these up so hot and get FTL. It has something constructive to do with the molecular output besides kill everyone. Once you approach light speed and the mass of the material being accelerated through the engines grow to infinity, and the FTL transition happens.”

He zoomed in further and began a simulation of the deadly heavy metal protons and neutrons, splitting in controlled explosions, with all the released energy and matter being controlled, precisely.

“These kinds of reactors do more than generate power. It's why they consume so much fuel,” Barcus said.

Elkin was crestfallen. She knew nothing about these kind of FTL drives. Just reactors.

“What kind of fuel?” Worthington asked.

“Various mixtures of plutonium-239 and uranium-235. The Renalo-class ships were made to handle a wide variety. Even shitty fuel. But, not dark matter.” Elkin knew that, off the top of her head.

Worthington brought up another window as Barcus watched. It was the sensor scans from Hume's pass through the security net.

“This is the dead weapons platform.” Jimbo brought up visual images of the small satellite. “It indicates the presence of plutonium and uranium. It's shielded, but it's there.”

Elkin was getting excited again. “The nukes. We could harvest the dead nukes.”

“The EMP cannon on this ship rendered them safe enough to remove?” Worthington asked.

“Look here.” Barcus paused the image captured on a still frame, then he zoomed in. “These look like standard launch tube modules. Each one of the tube clusters is ten by ten, holding ninety-nine missiles and a control block. They are designed to be easy to swap out, once used. You can see these are intact.”

“There are sixteen of those on each side,” Worthington said. “How many of these sats are there?”

“Thirty-two, sir,” Ibenez replied.

“That means there are over 50,000 of these nukes, pointing down at the planet, as well as out into space.” Worthington was incredulous. “We need to get off this rock.”

***

Over the next hour, they planned how it could be done. With only one airtight, rigid maintenance suit, they could not figure out how to manage the task. The regular pressure suits would help, but they would end up as spectators.

“I could help.” AI~Em's avatar walked into the conference area. It was obvious everyone saw her.

“Take me up inside the STU, and I will drive the second suit. Barcus can drive his.”

“Everyone, this is Em, the advanced AI from Chen's Emergency Module. She has a lot of upgrades,” Barcus said. “It's good to have you back.”

AI~Em walked to the conference display and, with a gesture, wiped everything to the side, except the photo of the launch modules. Suddenly, a perfectly rendered wire diagram of the satellite appeared.

“Based on the verbose sensor data, we are looking at this.”

She ran a simulation. The STU slowly approached the satellite with the cargo bay ramp open. It stopped about thirty meters from the satellite itself. The Emergency Module gently launched from the cargo hold, to lightly catch the satellite in an eight-point grasp. The EM's rear ramp opened and the two black, faceless suits drifted out on tethers. One moved to the front of the unit and one to the back. Tools deployed from the forearms of the suits and one of the modules was detached and attached to cables. A person in a pressure suit provided direct guidance as the unit came closer, until it was settled inside the EM. After everyone was onboard, the EM gently launched back to the shuttle and into the bay.

“I could show you a simulation where the STU and I do it all. Everyone could remain safe, here. We will go much slower.” AI~Em added, “I prefer you come along. Like Chen always used to say. Shit happens.”

“Em, how many repairs will you require before we can do this?” Barcus asked.

“I made a list.” AI~Em popped the list up. “I took the initiative and made a recommended fabrication schedule.”

“Why are these welders and cutting tools on the top of the priority list?” Worthington asked.

“I also took the liberty to create a task list, to match it with the skills matrix I found, and to create a series of task lists for each of your crew,” AI~Em said.

“You scheduled rotating, overlapping, sleep schedules?” Ibenez sounded amused. “That is a lot of sleep.”

“This schedule allows an all-hands briefing over lunch, daily,” AI~Em said. “If you want off this rock quickly, we need you to be rested and sharp.”

“This chart says FTL departure is in 15.45 days,” Hume spoke up.

“Why are we installing these guns in the PT-137 and the Hammerheads?” Worthington asked.

“Air support. Because shit happens,” AI~Em said, casually.

A vid played of a large shuttle sliding a massive bomb out of the cargo ramp. Then, another and another. The scene froze, just before the first bomb touched down just beyond the willow tree. Six children were looking up at it, not knowing what was about to happen.

“Any questions?” she asked.

“I have built twenty-four hours into the schedule for you to review and discuss the plan with your command staff, sir,” she said, directly to Worthington.

“I don't need twenty-four hours. Barcus, what say you?” Worthington turned to him.

Barcus merely nodded. He trusted AI~Em.

“Do it,” Jim said to AI~Em.

“I am sending integrated task lists to everyone, sir. With timetables and dependencies,” AI~Em said. “One more thing, sir.”

“What is it, Em?” Jim said.

“To make communications easier, I will maintain open channels with everyone, full time. Please call me, Em. I will attend the all-hands meeting, daily. I want you to meet Stu.” Another avatar appeared of a young man dressed as a tracker. “He is an advanced AI. He now owns the planetary comms network, which is now being monitored. He can tell you the location of every shuttle on this planet. And, every unshielded plate. He will give you an overview at today's all-hands,” AI~Em said.

Jim laughed. “Is that it?”

“Actually, no,” AI~Em said, sweeping her arm around. “This is Ash. He has a task list, as well.”

The big black suit bowed, before he spoke.

“I will be working around the clock. As always,” Ash said, in a deep voice.

“This is Pardosa.” The big, black spider limped around the front of AI~Stu, one arm still dangling, useless. “All of us can be addressed, independently.”

“And, we will need a name designation for this one,” AI~Em said, as the other damaged suit descended the cargo ramp on the
Sedna
.

Barcus laughed as it turned toward them. Richard Cook had spray painted a huge, happy face eye dots and a smile on its torso, so they could tell them apart.

Jim smiled and shook his head.

Barcus spoke, “Po, pick a name.”

She walked up to the suit and it knelt before Po. It was still taller than her. She looked tiny before this thing. She still had to reach up to place her hand between its painted eyes.

“His name is Peace,” Po said.

“Thank you, Po. You honor me.” It had the voice of an old man, completely different than the other voices. It stood. “If you will excuse me, sir. We have much to do.”

Rand looked at Barcus and said, shaking her head, “Chen was really something.”