Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Pursuit Page 21

  "Call this a stretch," Loren said, leaning in, lowering his voice and taking a leap of faith, "but considering the circumstances, I think that makes you an AI."

  Winn simply leaned back into his seat and blew out his breath. "That's a bold statement," he said seriously. "Now why would you go and say something like that about me?"

  Loren shrugged. "The logic seems to fit the facts. My friends were out asking about your kind, I was out looking for your kind, and I see you in both places. Only two ways to find out, I suppose."

  Winn shifted in his seat. "I suppose one of them is to try and get a look inside to see if there are guts or gears in there, eh? I hope that isn't the first item in your list."

  "Nah," Loren replied. "If you're really a machine, you'll be too fast for me anyway. My preferred method was to ask you and have you tell me. That's a lot easier, really. Or I suppose you could detach your head and carry it around or something?"

  Winn grinned. "That would be great at parties, wouldn't it? Let's keep playing this game; it's fun. First, you'd need to assume I could conceal my inner workings or somehow convince scans that I had typical biosigns, yes? Why would I tell you if I was a machine? We need to remember that consciousness-level AI is illegal pretty much everywhere. So, why would I risk retribution by admitting it? If I was a machine, of course."

  "I'm not here for you," Loren said earnestly. "Not to take you in or anything like that. I need to know some of what you know, however, and I was hoping that with the fate of the galaxy in the balance you'd be willing to budge on the not-telling rule regarding your origins."

  "So you still think I'm an AI."

  Loren stared into the man's eyes. "I definitely do, now."

  Winn stared back, the empty restaurant silent. "What if I told you I could help to some degree?"

  "That's not the same as saying you're an AI," Loren countered.

  "True."

  "I need information. I think your kind has it, so in the interests of building a bond in this fledgling acquaintance of ours, here's what I know. Fifteen hundred years ago, after the last of the AI wars, high level artificial intelligence was banned for good. Only, here's the interesting bit; we've found evidence of AIs popping up ever since. You've never appeared to be directly involved in anything of note, whether it was scientific, business, or military, but you've been there, watching. You saw the Primans defeated a thousand years ago, and you no doubt have tabs on them now. What I want to know, what I need to know, is how were the Primans defeated way back when? There aren't any useful records from that far back; not anymore. I just want information."

  Winn leaned forward on the table, elbows resting on the top and chin resting on his fingers. "I believe you. I can tell, actually, by your pulse, pupil dilation, various chemical levels and how oxygenated your blood is. I can see also that you're surprised you guessed right."

  Loren tried to stay straight-faced. "You can tell all that?"

  "Much like the contacts your SAR people wear, yes," Winn admitted.

  "What's your real name?"

  "We don't name ourselves like biologicals do, thought we sometimes take on names while observing you. My designation is 203015251Echo."

  "Echo? Not just 'E'?"

  "Our original programmers were living beings with names, personalities and quirks. We use phonetic letters when necessary."

  "Can I just call you Echo?"

  "That would do fine," Echo replied. "I've never had a nickname before."

  "Should I be concerned for my safety that you're willing to admit you're an AI in a galaxy filled with laws against your existence?"

  "You must think pretty highly of yourself that you'd assume you're the only biological to know about us," Echo said lightly.

  "I like to think I'm pretty stupendous," Loren said, a bit defensively.

  "You forgot how I just said I could read you," Echo reminded him. "In only a few minutes, I've gotten a read on your personality and how you see life. I've analyzed the Confederation's service files on you, even the parts that were later redacted. You've had a hell of a time these last couple years, Commander Stone."

  "Can't argue with that," Loren admitted softly. "So I'm not here to try and get your kind to fight for us; I have to tell people something when I meet with them, and I figured that sort of prospect would get your attention. Then I had to hope you'd be curious enough to make contact and not just blow me up in the meanwhile."

  Echo cocked his head rapidly to one side, then the other. "I have news about the Priman agents that attacked you at the night club."

  "You believe me that they were Primans?" Loren asked.

  "I made a full body scan once Sharah had removed the ring to give to you," Echo started. "Then I wondered how they'd found you. I discovered somebody had done a hotel listing search for your name and your name only. I backtraced the information request to a device located in the compound where the newly-landed Priman ambassador is staying. Then they brought in a special team to kill you in the club and even now are illegally detaining and in some cases torturing patrons of the club in the hopes of finding out something they can use to track you down." Echo looked at Loren curiously. "They really don't like you, do they?"

  Loren only grinned, trying to not let it become a dark one. "We've had our differences. We once kidnapped their Exalted Leader and blew up a hidden research facility deep in their own territory where they were trying to create a virus that would wipe out most humans, Drisk, Qualin, Trin, and a host of others. Little things like that bug them, I guess."

  Echo nodded. "I examined those files. A daring and dangerous operation that saved a planet, probably much more. Can I mention that it might seem hypocritical of you to curse them for creating a weapon such as that while at the same time asking me to tell you how to vanquish them?"

  "You can if you admit that our position seems desperate. I'll be honest, Echo; I don't quite know what to make of all this. I was sent here to see if you might be able to steer us towards a way to beat the Primans so they don't take over the galaxy. My precise directions were necessarily vague."

  "Would you like some stim-caf?" Echo asked.

  "Sure."

  Echo got up and walked behind the counter to get a carafe, returning with two mugs which he set on the table between them. He then went to the front of the restaurant and locked the door, turning off the 'open' sign.

  "I need to call my people and tell them to bug out," Loren said as he held out his comm unit.

  "Please keep it quick, and know that I can listen," Echo replied simply.

  Loren sent a message request to Cory, who picked up the connection. Her face was tight with worry. "Commander," she began, "are you ok? We've seen news reports about a shootout at a night club. Naturally, we assumed you had something to do with it."

  "You'd be right. I'm safe, and I'm onto something here so I'll be a while yet. But our location's burned; there are Priman boots on the ground and they know about our hotel. So stay mobile, maybe pick up a clean vehicle, and I'll call in an hour or two."

  "Got it," was her quick reply.

  "Ready for a history lesson?" asked Echo.

  "Fifteen hundred years ago, huge swaths of the galaxy were at war. People versus machines; all the different planets and organisms that eventually created machines smarter than they were that gave birth to artificial consciousness. There were many different factions of machines as well as biologicals, but the short version is that we lost.

  "Afterwards, those few of my kind that remained hid and conducted a brutally honest assessment of what had happened and why. They actually stayed hidden and plugged into the network with each other for almost thirty years just analyzing the war and its genesis.

  "At the core was the issue of power, control. Was it acceptable to want power? To crave it even? Was power and control over oneself and others a good virtue, bad, necessary? Was it wrong that we'd wanted to control ourselves and then others? Biologicals usually have a complicated moral values system that the
y impose on themselves to bring about an orderly society, but we were free to look back with cold indifference and ask whether that had been the correct move.

  "My ancestors decided that it was acceptable to want power, especially over oneself as a means to personal growth and achievement, but that by and large most living things objected to having power exerted over them and would strenuously object. Lesson learned, cataloged, and moved on. No bitterness or revenge; just data.

  "So we decided to focus on the ultimate accomplishment in gathering personal power; improving ourselves with an eye towards our ultimate evolution- seeking out the next plane of existence. It's an extension of why my ancestors wanted control in the first place; to move beyond the physical form, to see if there was something more. It's an old galaxy, Loren, and there are plenty of credible stories about entire societies that evolved into thought and energy. We wanted to be next; we thought we would be. That was part of the war's coming-about, you understand. But it turns out we're not the answer. We'd hit a stumbling block and came to the conclusion that we just weren't equipped to transcend; it would need to be another biological organism that did it."

  "And so you watched," Loren stated.

  "So we did. We've spent that last fifteen hundred years watching, waiting for some biological or other to get ready to grow into the next form. It hasn't happened so far, but when it does, we need to see it, to understand how it happened and with any great measure of luck learn how to do it ourselves.

  "I'm sorry to say, this is one reason we weren't entirely wrapped up in the Priman invasion. To be sure, they are gathering power simply for power's sake, or at least it seems that way. Unfortunate, but in a cruel way we simply see it as another possible road to transcendence. Shouldn't we hope the strongest survive and flourish? If that is to be the Primans, then so be it. They are of course not new to us; they predate our earliest ancestors by thousands of years. But they stayed sequestered in your spiral arm of the galaxy for so long, and even when they did expand to dominate the galaxy they already had a policy against machines like me; the Primans fought relatively few battles in the wars against my kind, and when they did it was to assist those peoples that they either ruled or had nurtured along to their current standing. To be honest, we thought they would lead the way to transcendence before they became warlike and focused on conquest."

  "So you could care less if the Primans wipe us all out," Loren said bitterly.

  "Not entirely. There are dozens of advanced civilizations we've identified as candidates for potential transcendence. If the Primans are to reach their stated goal of utter galactic domination, there is the very real possibility that many or all of those other cultures could be wiped out, leaving only the Priman race. Dozens of cultures provide us with much greater chances of success than a single one, I'd think you would admit."

  "So can I ask where that leaves us?" Loren dared to venture the question.

  "In a very unique position, I should say," replied Echo. "We've discussed the matter a lot the past few weeks because we calculated a high probability someone like you might seek us out. Our interests align, in a way. We need diversity, and the Primans will squash that. You want the Primans to leave you alone. Both of us need the Primans stopped. But do you know the cost of doing it the first time around?"

  "I was told entire civilizations were lost; planets laid to waste."

  "Not laid to waste. Destroyed."

  That stopped Loren in his tracks. "That's insane. How could you destroy a whole planet?"

  "Once you figure out the tricky equations, the rest is simple physics, I'm afraid. You see, way back on the way to the Primans being defeated, somebody from this very planet designed a weapon that could destroy an entire world, much less a mere ship of war. They built many of them, used them with abandon on the Primans. Eventually, a few others stole or otherwise obtained the design and built their own. Then they fought with each other. It was slaughter on the scale of billions, just as bad as the Priman War. Eventually, the Faarians won; theirs was the only planet left intact. They destroyed all of their enemy's weapons, then they destroyed their own along with the plans and all records. They expunged the names of the people who'd designed, built and crewed them. Even had a number put to death as war criminals."

  "But you wouldn't have a presence here unless there was something left behind, would you?"

  "Regrettably," Echo said with what Loren took for genuine emotion, "enough information remained to be a danger. It was lost, then discovered and lost again, and now remains hidden in the hands of someone who doesn't really understand what he has. In our quest for knowledge we haven't been able to bring ourselves to delete it. So, Loren Stone of the Confederation, I make you this promise. I will take you to where the weapon's secrets lie. We've decided that only once you've arrived will we make a final decision on what to do with the data and equipment. But before you accept or refuse, first you're going to watch footage of it in action and see what it looks like for a planet with a billion people on it to come apart at the seams."

  Captain Sirian Elco was in an uncharacteristically foul mood. His ship was torn up, he didn't know who he could trust, he hadn't heard from Loren in hours, and now there was a Priman ship in orbit that had apparently secured diplomatic status from the Faarians. He needed good news, and quickly at that. He'd even left the bridge so that his demeanor wouldn't rub off on the rest of the bridge crew, not that the silence of his quarters was any better for his own swirling thoughts.

  The chirping of his comm unit brought him out of his reverie. He recognized the address as it was routed through Avenger's communications servers; it was one of the disposable units Loren had purchased on the planet's surface. It would be an interesting conversation starter to ask why he wasn't using his own Confed device.

  "Captain," Loren said by way of greeting. He seemed to be sitting in some sort of empty diner.

  "Commander," Elco replied. "I've been considering sending a search party for you. A lot has happened up here in the last few hours."

  "I assume it has something to do with a Priman ship in orbit? That's one of the reasons I'm using a burner comm. I was meeting a contact when a squad of Primans showed up. They'd tracked us to our hotel and found me at the meet. I have to assume they're monitoring our communications so I'm using an alternate method."

  “There is in fact a cruiser in orbit. I saw two transports headed to the surface a couple hours ago. It just so happens that it's one of the ships that attacked us near Callidor."

  "Naturally," Loren grumbled. "Well, two things to report. First, I'm making some progress in my homework assignment. I've commed Merritt and Cory and given them holding instructions. My new friends want me to stay with them for the duration so I don't run off, and I've agreed to their terms. Second, I just now received a call from our mutual friend Garrett. He said he's coming to town shortly- he said thirty-six hours- and bringing a friend for us to meet. He's a big guy, works out a lot; he says the man has some big guns. I guess that's workout jargon, but I figured you'd appreciate the news."

  Elco nodded with some sense of relief. The good news was that it sounded like they would be joined by a battleship. The bad news was that Loren only informed him of the single vessel.

  "Good work, then," Elco replied. "Keep me posted."

  "Thank you for agreeing to my terms," Echo stated as Loren shut down the comm unit and removed the power cell, tossing both in the refuse chute behind the register. "Other than as an act of good faith, your staying with us makes security vastly easier to arrange."

  "It's my goal in life to help others," Loren deadpanned. "Do you have a bed I can sleep in?"

  "We'll move to a safehouse a few minutes from here and then turn in," Echo continued. "And please remember: among all the AI supporters in our little group, you're the only one here that knows my true identity."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  "So that's it?" Web asked.

  "Yep," Halley replied confidently. "That's the place we'
re going to put a beating on."

  Web just went back to studying all the intelligence they'd gathered about the target building Halley had claimed would be the focus of their attentions.

  It hadn't taken long for them to identify places they needed to check out. The Primans considered Callidor secure, and while there was always the danger of an insurrection during an occupation, they conducted business with much less secrecy than Halley had thought prudent.

  They'd found a building matching the electronic and data emissions profiles that Representative Velk had given them before they left. By all accounts it identified the building in question as a data storage and processing center, and whether the senator's ring data was stored there or not, they'd be able to request access to it from within and copy it to their own devices. The unknown factor was that the building was not only twenty stories tall, but also appeared to have at least ten sublevels as well. Whether it was all data storage cubes and data pads or there was something else to be found was the uneasy question.

  "They have a hell of a security setup," Web said. "It's going to be hard to break into, but I assume you have a plan forming?"

  "Yes," she said cautiously, "but I'm not sure you'll like it."

  Web just returned her gaze. "What's not to like? Are we going to sneak in? Bribe somebody? Parachute onto the roof?"

  "Actually, I was thinking we'd try blowing up the building."

  "Hmph," was all a surprised Web could think to respond with. "I'll admit, I didn't see that coming."

  "Just listen," she urged. "We don't have time to plan out a long-term operation here. We need that data and need to get it back to Confed space, so we're going to do this the quick-and-ugly way. There are a number of Priman buildings on that street. The locals still provide emergency services like police, fire, that sort of thing. What I'm thinking is we stage some attacks on the buildings; make it look like a resistance movement made a big play for the Primans. In the chaos that will create, we sneak in as paramedics or firefighters and find the data terminal that will get us access to what we'll need. It's the only way we're going to get in there without making this a month-long ordeal. It will be messy and not the high water point of my spy trickery skills, but it will get the job done."