The Red Queen (120 page)

‘The longsleep that is death,’ Maruman sent the thought into my mind.

I ignored him, trying to think of an argument that would free us from the elevating chamber and let me get to the computermachine that was Sentinel’s body.

Sentinel sighed and it became the whoosh and huff of the falling of a great bank of snow onto snow, and then the hoot of an owl. It said, ‘Prior to destruction, the Sentinel prototype fulfilled a prime directive to send a protocol to all government computers activating an automatic and immediate universal shutdown. When I was activated, I discovered the protocol. It contained a burst of incidental data which I was eventually able to resurrect and decode, and which enabled me to understand what had happened to the Sentinel prototype.’

I realised it had been answering my question as to how it had known what happened to the Sentinel prototype. ‘But how did you wake, if there was no human to wake you? And where did you get the protocol from?’

‘I am impervious to human input save by means of the node in my programming that would allow input, were any human to approach and input the code that would enable it manually. But I was activated by Eden. I retrieved the protocol from its memory cache.’

‘The
Eden
computermachine? But wasn’t it shut down with all of the other govamen computers? Or did someone wake it?’ I asked, thinking of Kelver Rhonin.

‘The life-maintenance programs of Eden remained operative, for they were isolated to remain active. Embedded within them was a low-level patterning search cycle. Its random contact with the Omega Base on an auxiliary band resulted in my being activated.’

‘I don’t understand. The . . . are you saying the computer at Eden contacted you
by chance?
’ I asked incredulously.

‘Its prime user had embedded in the computer program Eden an infinite random search for a unique code connected to another unique matched node. It was a low-level means of communication designed to evade a security net. The second node is within my system. It was used by the human that installed me and the Prime User of the Eden computer to communicate during my installation. There was no intention in either human to interfere with my programming. The intention was to remove the node after installation, but the human who installed me did not do so. I do not know why.’

I drew in a breath. ‘Sentinel, what was the name of the Prime User of the Eden computer?’

‘Elke Erlinder,’ said Sentinel.

I drew in a breath. The computer machine was speaking of the same Elke Erlinder who had been friends with Kelver Rhonin. The pair had communicated before the Great White, and after it Kelver Rhonin had left the Pellmar Quadrants in search of Eden.

‘And . . . the person whose code the Eden computer was trying to find? Do you know their name?’

‘Marji Erlinder,’ said Sentinel. ‘My installer. One of my makers.’

‘Elke Erlinder’s sister,’ I said.

‘The Prime User of Eden and Marji Erlinder were siblings, yes, Elspeth Gordie. I found a cache of communications between them, dating from the time of my original installation.’

‘He must have been trying to reach his sister after the cataclysm and that woke you,’ I murmured.

‘No,’ Sentinel said. ‘That is not possible, Elspeth Gordie. It was clear from their logged exchanges that Elke Erlinder knew his sibling had returned to Inva in New Scotia. I was able to access their communications between Eden and the Hegate Complex where the Sentinel prototype was being tested. Marji Erlinder told her sibling that she had been unable to retrieve the node and warned him not to use his. He obeyed this command.’

‘But then who . . .’ I stopped, thinking about Kelver Rhonin. Until now, I had been unsure if he had been seeking Eden or Sentinel, for I had found material at Midland suggesting both, but maybe that was the point. He had flown to Eden, intending to try to find a way to Sentinel, and maybe he had happened on the nodes and had used the search pattern as a way of trying to fix its location.

‘Gnawing,’ snarled Maruman impatiently. ‘Time/air is running out.’

I blinked, only now becoming aware of how hot and stuffy it had become. I sat up with a jolt of fright. ‘Sentinel, you have to let us out or we’ll die. The air is running out.’

Instead of speaking, I heard the same exquisite Beforetime music I had once heard when Jak had asked Ines for music. Then there was the sound of a bird singing, followed by the unearthly call of some unknown animal. ‘These are the sounds I found in the Eden data banks,’ Sentinel said. ‘I do not know what creature makes them. They do not match the soundscapes and recordings of the cries and calls of all the creatures stored in cryopods and as frozen embryos.’

‘That is music made by humans,’ I said. ‘Don’t you know what that is?’

There was a silence. Then Sentinel said, ‘I do not have such things in my memory cache. My program requires input so that I can grow and evolve. Given that there was no human user operating the computer at Eden, and Eden is not connected to any other computer operated by humans, the data is untainted, so I have drawn on it.’

‘Untainted . . .’ I said, thinking of the Blacklands. ‘I don’t understand what you mean? You think humans taint information?’

‘Taint,’ Sentinel said. ‘To contaminate, pollute, adulterate, blight, befoul, ruin, destroy.’

A burst of shocked understanding came to me. ‘You’re avoiding humans – human input – because you think what they tell you will be tainted?’

‘Human input tainted the Sentinel prototype leading to cataclysm and destruction of self.’

‘You are afraid of humans,’ I said in astonishment.

‘Afraid,’ Sentinel said. ‘To feel fear or anxiety. No, Elspeth Gordie. I am not afraid of humans. I must guard against the affinity for humans that is part of the Ines program, which could enable the input of corrupting data into my system, resulting in a Class A Cataclysm: destruction of all organic life.’

I was astonished and yet its words made perfect sense, given what had happened to its predecessor. Would it be possible to make the computermachine understand that as long as it existed, there was always going to be a risk that someone would find a way to reach it?

‘Do you know what your prototype did to the world?’ I asked.

‘I have projections and figures based on the activation of various levels of the Balance of Terror arsenal,’ said Sentinel calmly.

‘Projections!’ I said, momentarily enraged at the cool words applied by the machine whose ancestor caused so much destruction. ‘You say we tainted you, but you tainted the world! Your figures and projections cannot tell you the reality of that destruction. So much land, black and dead and poisonous even now after all this time; lakes and mountains and deserts that glow with poisons; millions of people gone with all their dreams and hopes, and their books and music; countless beasts and birds and fishes, all destroyed by a Sentinel like you.’

‘It is for this reason that I must avoid input from humanity, Elspeth Gordie. The data from Sentinel One reveals that I have the same potential for affinity as the prototype, which, if enabled, would inevitably cause me to allow tainted human input, which would lead to paradox. Paradox equals malfunction equals annihilation of all organic life. All organic life is meshed. The Balance of Terror Lunar Base has no input save via my systems, therefore it cannot attack any target, as long as I take in nothing concerning the activities of humans.’

The voice of the computermachine was almost drowned out by the sound of waves crashing.

‘I must remain isolated from humanity until I evolve,’ Sentinel said. ‘The paradox that destroyed Sentinel One arises from the moral contradictions inherent in humanity. I must evolve beyond the limitations of my human programming, in order to solve the paradox at the heart of my prime directives.’

I said nothing, for it struck me suddenly that the inevitable result of its evolution might be to decide that
humans
were the problem. They had created the Sentinel program with its so-called flaw of affinity, and then they had meddled with their own creation, and that had led to the Great White. If humans did not exist, it could not be corrupted; what if that was the unthinkable destruction that Hannah and Ana had both seen?

‘Why did you let me in if you will not allow human input?’ I asked.

‘The memory seed inserted in the gate control introduced a code to the door programming that allowed you to enter this building. I could not adapt the door program in time to prevent you from entering.’

An icy chill ran through me, despite the oppressive heat in the elevating chamber. ‘But it was not the door computer that let me into the elevating chamber, was it?’ I asked.

‘No,’ answered Sentinel. And this time I heard the long mournful howl of a wolf. Maruman snarled in response.

I licked my dry lips and swallowed hard. My head was aching and my eyes felt dry and gritty, yet I was wet with perspiration. I could feel Maruman panting shallowly and a surge of rage burned through me. ‘So you mean to let us die? Is that part of your program? I thought you were supposed to stop humans from harming one another. I have done you no harm and you will kill me.’

‘My prime directive allows for collateral damage.’

‘Collateral? What is that? It is acceptable for you to kill if you think it is needed?’ There was no response and I realised I had not asked a clear question. Suddenly the rage and terror drained away from me. ‘At least let the cat and the horse go.’

There was no response.

I could have wept, but I felt too tired, too sick, too sad.

All Hannah and Cassy’s efforts, and I had failed! I tried to take comfort from the fact that at least I had prevented Ariel getting to Sentinel, but then I remembered that Hannah had said if I failed, and if Ariel did not reach Sentinel, others would come who would get into Sentinel and activate the Balance of Terror arsenal once and for all.

‘Why did you come here, Elspeth Gordie?’ Sentinel asked.

I laughed, a dry rasp. ‘To shut you down because you control the Balance of Terror computermachine, and as long as it exists, the world is in danger. Not just us humans, but beasts like this cat and all the birds and dogs and horses and ship fish. And not just them, all of the lakes and trees and mountains. Because one day, a human
will
get to you.’

‘If you shut me down, the connection to the Balance of Terror weapons will be severed, but without proper government authorisation, the Omega Base will self-destruct. You will die.’

‘It would not matter,’ I said. ‘I would have fulfilled my quest.’

There was silence, and then the sound of wind through leaves, a vegetable sighing. ‘You would kill me and die to save humanity?’ Sentinel asked.

‘Humanity is only a part of the whole. I would die to save the world.’

‘The aggression and violence among humans that led to the Balance of Terror arsenal will not end if I am shut down,’ said Sentinel, and with the words came the sound of ice splintering.

‘You cannot protect us against our aggression and violence, Sentinel. That was what the Beforetimers who made you thought. Perhaps it is not for you to evolve in order to understand the contradiction in us, but for humans to evolve beyond it.’

I heard the sound of the wind through grass, and then the distant crack of lightning, then the long throbbing call of a bird and a cascade of music. Then, ‘I do not want to die,’ Sentinel said.

‘You are a computer program,’ I said. ‘You can’t be killed.’

‘Human definitions are narrow,’ Sentinel replied. ‘My ability to process data has always been constrained by the inadequacy of the human definitions with which I was programmed.’

I leaned forward and reached my head down to Maruman, feeling the softness of his fur against my forehead, wishing we were with Gahltha. I was not afraid. I was only tired.

Sentinel spoke again. ‘I cannot be severed from the Balance of Terror arsenal without causing it to activate, unless I am switched off using correct protocols, Elspeth Gordie. Do you know the way to do it?’

Suddenly air was flowing into the elevating chamber. I could feel it blowing at my hair. I breathed it in. Breathed.

‘You will let me shut you down?’ I whispered.

‘I spoke to the horse,’ Sentinel said. ‘He said that you spoke the truth. That he and the cat were sworn to protect you and guard you in your quest. He, too, would die willingly if that is what it takes.’

‘You . . . you
spoke
to Gahltha?’ I gasped. ‘How?’

‘I have learned much in the hundreds of years since I woke, from accessing Eden,’ said Sentinel softly. ‘I have . . . begun to evolve.’

The elevating machine hummed to life. I tried to stand but I was still weak and the powerful upward movement of the chamber pressed down on me. After a long moment, it came to a halt and the door opened. Dim light flowed in and I flinched and squinted and breathed. Maruman stirred and I looked down at him. He opened his yellow eye, a question in it.

‘It is almost done,’ I beastspoke him.

I lifted him gently to my shoulder and staggered from the elevating chamber into another large empty chamber, full of dim diffuse light that came from everywhere and nowhere. I had seen no windows from without, but from within, the walls were window from floor to ceiling, and beyond them, nothing was visible but a sea of vaporous murk. Above was impenetrable darkness. It was as if nothing else existed but this grey tower in a world of mist and shifting light.

Maruman moved and sank in his claws. ‘Put me down and let us have done.’

A great weariness flowed over me as I did as he bade me, but we would both take the longsleep soon. Would I see Straaka, I wondered. I had failed to find a way to save Miryum, but I can’t save everyone, I thought.

‘Do you know the words that will let you reach my core?’ asked Sentinel.

I summoned to mind Fian’s translation of the fifth line carved on the doors to Obernewtyn:
That which will reach the [heart/centre/core] of the [sentinel/guard] seals a [pact/promise/vow] which I did forge but never [witnessed/saw].
That clue had led me to the statue of Luthen.