Borne On Wings of Steel (42 page)

"But we have this now.” Qirn held up a small, round shape—an object resembling a smooth, metal baseball.

"And what is that?” Jaric asked, unimpressed.

"We have calculated that under situations of constantly changing light, a Destructor's shape becomes visible to the naked eye. It was under such conditions that we were able to destroy the two from which we have constructed this representation.” Qirn tossed the metal ball from one hand back to the other.

He continued.

"When activated, this device will fire pulsating light beams in all directions for over one thousand meters. We hope it will reveal any Destructors within that range. And we can target and destroy them."

"Hope!” Jaric exclaimed with blatant sarcasm. “You
hope
it will work?"

"This will be our first real test,” Qirn admitted with another toss of the metal ball.

"This just keeps getting better and better,” Kyle groaned.

"Nevertheless,” Qirn said, a renewed authority in his voice, “this is our best opportunity. And, we will have surprise on our side. Nobody has ever attempted this before."

"Of course, nobody's been crazy enough until we showed up.” Jaric rolled his eyes in disbelief.

Qirn continued, ignoring the human's words.

"We will be able to traverse the complex with no suspicion up to the core complex. At that point, we openly begin our assault."

"Explain,” Rok urged.

"We will walk together as a normal work group all the way to the edge of this section.” On the view-screen a map of the Paum complex suddenly flashed into focus. A floor plan with countless corridors and rooms filled its every part. A red dot flashed at the entrance point where they would begin their trek. It moved, continuing to flash until it reached a point where the rooms and corridors gave way to a wide, empty space.

"These are the normal work areas. We won't be noticed until we reach this chasm here."

"Chasm?” Rok asked.

"The core part of the Paum AI is housed in this area. It is surrounded by open air—except for the supporting braces that connect it to the rest of the surrounding structure. But we cannot use that normal access point, as no biological workers are allowed within its confines—only robots specifically designed to work there. We would be killed in their narrow confines long before we reached the Mother AI."

On the screen, an egg-shaped object took shape within a center of open air with narrow tubes of metal extending outward. The vast metal walls of the main Paum complex surrounded it completely.

"It is a huge facility in its own right,” Qirn said. “About the size of five battleships put together."

"And how do we cross open air?” Rok crossed his arms.

"With these.” Qirn removed the foam from the top of the case that contained the blasters. He held up what looked like a Fiarri board—except this one was a third smaller than a normal board. With a flick of his fingers on some unseen control, the board extended itself until it became a meter long while retaining its original width of about half a meter.

"Looks like a Fiarri board.” Kyle chuckled, remembering the great times they had flying them back at Meramee.

"Military issue Fiarri, to be exact. We've boosted its power for combat use,” Qirn said with a smile. “You can make almost fifty clicks on one of these. And they have a tighter turning radius.” Qirn paused. “You could fly circles around any air-car or other hover vehicle designed for passengers."

"How far across the chasm is it?” Rok asked.

"The chasm is over three thousand meters wide at every point around the core complex. We can be across it very quickly."

"Not bad,” Kyle said as he glanced at the small flying board with renewed appreciation.

"But we expect the Paum has some type of security in place. So, be on the lookout once we take to the air."

"Probably robotic security,” Rok grunted.

"No doubt,” Qirn agreed. “The Paum only allows robotic devices from this point forward into its core."

"But, you're not sure,” Jaric said with hope. “Maybe the Paum doesn't expect an attack this close to its heart."

"We don't know. Nobody has ever made it that close to the core complex before. As I told you, only robotic workers are allowed there."

"So, we're on our own after we take to the air on these Fiarri boards,” Rok said matter-of-factly, his eyes hard and unflinching as he looked at the Iraxx warrior.

"We'll be on our own at that point. And the Paum will know our true intentions by then—he'll know we're not just errant workers lost in the wrong section. It will be imperative that we not only enter the core complex as quickly as possible, but that we make our way to the Mother AI as well. We don't know what awaits us from that point on—not out over the chasm, nor especially what's inside the core."

"Then, we must be fast.” Rok nodded.

A somber silence filled the room.

"
Destructors.
"

Jaric's voice jolted everyone in the room.

All eyes turned to his ebony face.

"Destructors wait for us inside the complex—that's the Paum's most effective weapon.” Jaric's voice grew hard. He took a deep breath as everyone waited, realizing the import of his meaning. He put into words what everyone already knew.

"And there will be a lot of them."

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"I WANT TO create a direct link with you."

Mother's processors spiked with activity.

"Why? We are communicating adequately now, exchanging information. For more massive amounts of data we can download to each other as we did even from long distance."

Mother felt a surge throughout her being. Perhaps something akin to fear, she imagined, as she compared its burning effect inside her circuits with biological observations she had made of the children when they faced similar, intense situations.

It had taken her well over an hour to reach this ship dock deep inside the heart of the Paum.

First, she traversed a wide tunnel that led deep inside the Paum station until she finally reached the core section. It seemed that ships loaded with raw material entered even this far inside whenever a new burst of construction was required to expand the Paum's systems.

New construction became common as the Paum's sphere of control over new worlds and their peoples continued at a quickening pace.

But this close to the heart of the Paum, only pure, electronic beings were allowed. The Paum stressed this to her many times.

She remembered how her sensors first perceived the chasm ahead, almost as if the center of this station was hollow.

The central core remained fixed in place by gigantic anti-gravity generators along with huge corridors of metal that physically connected it to the rest of the vast station. Mother sensed the massive amounts of electronic activity that flowed like oceans inside. And she sensed the unbelievable amounts of data that moved omni-directionally along the external network at the speed of light.

When she calculated the data rate from the smallest sample she could handle, the resulting answer numbed her mind.

Once again, she realized how much more powerful the Paum really was compared to her.

She remembered again how she shuddered as the huge, cargo bay doors first opened along the curved side of the egg-shaped central core.

For an instant, she wanted to turn and fly away.

But she couldn't hold herself back any longer.

There was no turning back.

She remembered all too well how the Hrono had trapped her with their powerful tractor beams when she first visited them. They had originally intended on disassembling and reverse-engineering her systems for their own morbid curiosity.

But this powerful entity had already shared secrets of its defense systems with her—baring his electronic soul to her. He demonstrated his trust for her as another equal, a fellow electronic being, by divulging details he had never shared with any other being.

She quickly reflected on just how efficient the Paum was as she reviewed what he had shared during her journey inside.

He felt little danger here at his core systems. It was mainly at the outer layers where the defense systems were multiplied in order to protect himself from outside danger, from the unknown—even from the workers who volunteered to keep his systems maintained, although that particular act of treason had never happened.

And of course, beyond the station's hull the incredible array of triple shielding protected the Paum from the bombardment of even the greatest of fleets for hours and days. But in addition to that almost impregnable system, the Paum always kept a standing army and battle fleet in close orbit around Iopa.

The Paum had carefully calculated every means of attack.

Even the unthinkable had been contemplated—a small team gaining access to the floating core at the heart of his complex. If any team ever made it through his defenses to that point, they would first have to traverse the empty space and face a squadron of flying attack robots—their sole purpose to seek out and destroy.

And if the attackers somehow made it past the robots’ deadly barrage of fire and managed to enter his core, then they would have to battle their way through his most elite defenders. Throughout the core, over one hundred Destructors prowled invisibly, guarding every corridor and path that led into the heart and into the very mind that comprised the Paum.

Long before such an attack could do any serious damage, the Destructors would have converged on them from every direction, their invisible talons reaching for them, ready to rip them to shreds.

It seemed the Paum left nothing to chance.

"A direct link will speed up our sharing. We will exchange data faster."

The Paum's voice broke into her current chain of thoughts.

A hundred milliseconds had passed while she reviewed the defenses of the mighty AI.

"There is no need to make it faster. I must digest the data anyway. Sending it faster will only create a huge backlog in my queues,” Mother replied tersely.

"Let me create a direct link,” the Paum urged impatiently.

"Why?"

A entire second passed in utter silence—an eternity of inactivity to both AIs.

"I want to."

"That is not a logical reason,” she replied almost instantly.

"We will know each other on a new level.
We will be one
."

Seconds ticked by in total silence.

Mother uttered a deep sigh inside her circuits that seemed to groan throughout her being. She remembered the direct link she had formed for Guardian—so long ago now. He had wanted to experience sentience—self-awareness. But his hardware would not support it.

Mother had given him a taste by creating a direct link—allowing Guardian to directly touch her own mind. It had been very special; she had been able to sense a little of Guardian's own joy as his mind suddenly awakened and reached a higher level of self-awareness.

Mother and Guardian shared that brief, intense moment together.

For just an instant, Guardian had been alive.

Mother always felt a warmth throughout her being when she remembered what she had given to Guardian. And if Guardian had survived, she would have kept her promise to upgrade his own internal systems and endow him with self-awareness.

Mother thought of that time and now considered what might happen to her, creating a direct link with this AI. She realized with a surge of power that the Paum AI was probably as many times more powerful and sophisticated compared to her, as she had been compared with Guardian.

Indeed, she might grow as a sentient being with such a direct link.

Perhaps...

"I will consider this new option. Give me some time.” Mother felt a sudden series of spikes throughout her circuits as she realized she had all but agreed—burning power surges filled her over and over again. And even more, she felt an electric thrill up and down her systems.

"I will allow one hour, that should be time enough time for you to process all the facts several times over and arrive at a conclusion."

"It will be adequate."

Mother reached out with her sensors once again. She shuddered as she felt the unbelievable power of the Paum all around her.

"I want to trust you,” Mother whispered.

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THE SMALL, JACARIAN-class freighter from Iopa picked up the assault team at the prearranged coordinates and quickly undocked from the
Aurora
. The team checked their equipment over one last time, carefully inspecting each tiny holo-generator that effectively hid the true contents of their work cases. Assault blasters were removed and inspected as well as handheld scanners and all the other equipment they would need.

Last, the military-issue Fiarri boards were powered on and their power grid verified as fully functional.

Qirn personally walked over and talked briefly with each team member to verify that everything was ready, that each one knew their duty. In return, each person either nodded silently or spoke a single word in reply—'
Ready.
'

When they finished, the bright blue orb laced with yellow clouds that was the planet Iopa filled the main view-screen. But it was the gargantuan object orbiting the planet that drew everyone's gaze.

"Man, that thing is huge.” It was all Jaric could manage to say as he gazed in awe. His eyes opened wider as the view-screen magnified the object. The vast Paum station now filled the main view-screen.

"Team, get ready for disembarkation,” Qirn ordered with an edge to his voice. “Double-check your cases one last time. As soon as the cargo doors open, we march to Security Point Beta to check in with the other workers."

"Here we go again,” Kyle said. He knew, as did everyone else on the team, that things were about to hit high gear. Still, his eyes sparkled with excitement as he felt the flood of adrenaline send an electric thrill throughout his body.

He loved that feeling.

"Let's rock and roll!” Jaric added with emotion.