Chapter 27

Action (TY53-month 631)

I was dressed in my battle gear, including skinsuit and facemask, and fully armed. I received word the council—or what remained of it—had begun transporting to the palace and would wait for me. I hoped I wouldn’t need to use my weapons and tools on any of the mayors. I stepped onto the transporter nexus when it lit up and disappeared from the citadel.

I did not arrive in the audience chamber. The confused Tara AI tried to troubleshoot where I’d gone to and was surveying every transporter pad on the planet to see where I’d emerged.

I came out in a hall several stories beneath the Governor’s palace. A lone guard stood in the room and was surprised when I stepped off the pad. He started to raise his stinger and I threw the boomerang. He fell to the floor unconscious before the stinger had come to bear. I picked up my weapon and left through the only doorway in the room. I turned on my headlamp as I descended flight after flight of dark stairs.

“It’s a long way down here,” I mumbled. “Are you sure I’m in the right place?” My question was met with silence. I wondered if I had exceeded the range of my communications with Cricket. It was spookily silent. Even the scrape of my boots seemed muted. I sealed the mask of the skinsuit and could see clearly, aided by the light on my helmet.

I entered the core room at last and swept my head lamp across the small area. Green mineral deposits were scattered everywhere. It was obvious that maintenance had been performed to chip the deposits off the core chamber itself. A recycling unit was equally coated with the green crystals and stood broken and idle. A pickaxe lay nearby. That was probably the reason for the guarded transport chamber and stairs. Someone had to come down here periodically and chip the slag off the core. It looked like it had been a long time since it was last maintained. I wasn’t going to get to the core with it covered in the deposits, so I decided that was where I should start. I used the pickaxe to begin tapping the minerals off the core.

I don’t know if I expected recognition from the AI or something like HAL’s verbal defense asking me not to shut it down. Everything was silent except my hammering at the rocks. It felt as though the minerals were somehow a living being as they seemed to cling tenaciously to the housing of the AI core. The dust hung on my skinsuit and I imagined it binding to the fibers and growing on me. Eventually, I managed to clear the deposit from the hatch.

The tools I’d been given were not human, but Cricket had given me a sleep learning session on how they were used—normally by robotics. I didn’t fully understand the principles on which they operated, but my hands had practiced using them. The cover was supposed to snap off, but the mineral deposits prevented an immediate release. I had to go back to pickaxe to remove enough for the hatch to release.

Looking at the core of an AI is a strange thing. It gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘solid state.’ The green mineral had coated what otherwise looked like a large capsule. It was nearly two meters long and half that in diameter. It was still eerie that I’d had no contact with anyone other than the guard since I transported off Ponderosa. I heard nothing and saw only what was in front of me. I hit the core with my axe but, of course, nothing happened aside from some of the mineral deposit chipping off. I stepped back and aimed my pulse rifle at the core and fired a long burst. The mineral deposit glowed and it looked like the capsule got hotter, but I didn’t penetrate anything.

The next step was to try extreme cold. The AIs had developed the chemical we used to fight fire and said by grinding the pellets into a crystalline form and mixing another chemical with it on delivery, we could drop the temperature generated to about two degrees Kelvin. Inside my miniature firehose were two small transporters. When I squeezed the trigger the two chemicals were transported out the barrel to combine in a mist. This coated the capsule. I swung my heavy hammer at it and heard a distinctive crack. Only one, no matter how frequently I hit it. The chemicals were dissipating as they warmed in the air. I could detect a fine crack in the capsule, but as I watched, nanites were healing the injury. There was one more chance I could try before setting powerful explosives and essentially killing myself down here. I put a fresh cartridge in the pulse rifle and hoped it would be enough. I started with the firehose again dropping the temperature of the case as far as I could. Then I switched to the pulse rifle and sprayed the capsule with fire, using up most of my ammunition in an extended burst. The capsule glowed hotter and hotter until even the mineral clinging to it was white hot. This time, the crack was loud and long. I hit it repeatedly with my hammer and the fissures spread across the capsule. I sank the pickaxe into the fissure and pried it wider. Pieces began to break off the capsule with the green mineral as I continued to hammer away.

And finally, there was a sound. Nothing human or identifiable with what I’d come to expect from an AI. It was a long slow moan. In my head I heard a single syllable. “Peace.”

I jumped back when the capsule split in two and rolled out of its protective chamber. It lay in pieces on the floor in front of me. Inside the protective chamber, dozens of connections were sealing themselves off. I knew it was not yet enough.

I switched to my modified rifle and began firing repeated EMP micro bursts into the broken capsule until the connections stopped sealing themselves. The nanites were dead.

«We’re in, Niall. Tara AI has released control of all the planetary systems. Teddy is taking over as we restore services throughout the colony, » Cricket spoke through my implant. I was glad to hear him.

«I believe Tara AI is dead, » I said. «I’m heading for the transporter pad, but get me to a decontamination station. This green mineral dust is all over my suit.»

I planted explosives on the raw edges of the core and headed back up the stairs as fast as I could, which after about two hundred steps was not very fast at all. I paused at the top of the stairs and removed an explosive charge from my belt, set the timer, and threw it back down the stairs as hard as I could. I scooped up the unconscious guard and scarcely made the transporter pad when I heard and felt the charge go off. I was out of there.

I woke up when the med tube opened and saw the room was sterile with no sign of my battle uniform or the mineral that was clinging to it.

«We’ve isolated your clothes and all weapons in a containment chamber where analysis of the mineral is underway. It is not a mineral or atomic structure we have encountered in any other world. You’ve probably made an important discovery, » Teddy said.

«Not exactly what I wanted to be known for, » I laughed. «Like the first guy who discovers a fruit is poison.»

«Let me see, » Teddy continued. «Niallium or just Choium? We need a good name for the stuff.»

«Why not just Tararium? I think ... It’s strange, Teddy. I think Tara AI was suffering. The last thing it said was ‘Peace.’ I don’t think it was a blessing on me. I think it was its feeling.» I dressed in the new uniform provided for me. I found my Gumdo and rifle—or new replicas of them—next to the replicator. I was in battle dress again, though I wasn’t sure why.

«We’ve saved the prisoner for you to interrogate before you go to the council meeting.» I headed into the room where the erstwhile guard was sitting at the table. He wasn’t restrained, so I assumed he’d been rendered harmless—or perhaps he’d been harmless all along.

“I wasn’t told anything except where to report for duty when I turned fourteen. That’s been thirty years ago. I was allowed to choose four concubines, even though I was only qualified for two. The other guards—there are twenty of us—live in a small enclave with our concubines and families. We each have our shift and guard the transporter until the next guy arrives. It used to be that once a month or so, a team of concubines arrived and was sent to the basement. None of us have ever been down there. The concubines transported out and we never saw them again.”

The guard I’d knocked out was happy to provide us with details about what he was doing and why he was in that chamber. He didn’t know there had been a Swarm landing nor that Governor O’Hara was dead. Teddy’s assessment was that he and probably all the people in their enclave had been utterly brainwashed and isolated. Tara AI had used the implants to create a virtual world for the guards that was now falling apart without its constant maintenance. Teddy said he could repair the enclave and it was possible the guards should just be maintained on their current rotation.

“I think you and the rest of your cadre are due a nice vacation with your families,” I said. “We’ll get you all through med tubes and arrange for you to see the world.” Our decontamination was complete and we were allowed to leave the chamber.

Facing the Council (TY53-month 631)

“We’ve put this off as long as possible, Governor. The council is waiting for you,” Teddy announced.

“Is that why I’m in full battle dress? Am I going to need to fight them?”

“We don’t believe so, Governor. But the uniform and weapons establish you as a military leader without mimicking the Marines or Navy. You’ve promoted Chief Kramer, but the Governor is the actual leader of the planetary Militia.”

“What’s with calling me Governor, Teddy?”

“Currently there are ten Tuull rescue ships who have all been here before in Tara orbit. All have confirmed with the consent of the other AIs on the planet that you will replace Governor O’Hara. The council is waiting to affirm the choice of the AIs.”

“Great. I don’t get any say in this?”

“You can say ‘yes’,” he snickered. I stepped on the transporter pad and arrived in the governor’s audience chamber where I’d been headed for my execution. It gave me the creeps.

When I arrived, I just stood at the transporter and waited.

Of the eight township mayors, only five were left, including Commander Inslee of Sunnybrook. Centurion Oswald sat in his usual seat, but the seats for the Chief of the Militia and Provincial Governor were empty. Oasis, Lleifior, and Green Acres were also empty. And, of course, the Governor’s seat.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the AI announced. I was shocked. It was Tara AI! I quickly stepped off the transporter pad and put my hand on my Gumdo. If I had to fight my way out of here, at least it looked like I was the only one armed. “The purpose of this meeting is to establish the next Governor of Tara. We wish to recognize the great sacrifice of over a quarter million of our citizens in fighting off the Sa’arm invasion. The Militia and volunteer forces were led by Lieutenant Governor Cho. The Marines and sponsors were led by Commander Inslee. Gentlemen, you have the thanks of a grateful planet.” There was a little light applause in recognition of us but it died quickly.