Burnt Ice (26 page)

‘It’s gone, hasn’t it, Stephine?
There was something in there, but it is no longer.’

‘Yes, Marko. Your machine was
infected by an electronic alien prion. Something neither alive nor dead, very
difficult to pick up unless you have a piece of equipment designed to recognise
and destroy it. Lotus is not aware of this, or Jan’s Ernst, is she? No. I
thought as much. I am concerned that she may be also infected with this.
Looking through the records, there was any amount of time for that to happen. I
also note this is the ship that fought the octopoids down on the surface, so
that’s further opportunities for infection as they are airborne. I’ll have a
little talk with her. Leave it to me. I’ll also check the landers and the
skuas, then all the drones.

‘This is one of the weapons the
octopoids used against you and you did not know about it. I am familiar with
them because we have seen them on another world. We also were able to obtain a
great deal of information from the Octopoid Library I assume that the rest of
the crew know of these two AIs?’

‘Yes, except Fritz and Sirius. So
has this thing, this prion, been gathering information on us, or what?’

‘No, it already has everything it
needs. But it’s quietly networking. Your analogy of a shadow is partially
accurate. Shadows like this one are dangerous. And the things that create them
are even more so. This is extremely high tech. The octopoids who created it are
very old, once a highly accomplished race, best left well alone. They have
reached that stage in their evolution where they wish to forget their past
accomplishments, both good and bad, and go back to the sea. Something triggered
that attack on your base. Your record of the tests on the new dropships — they
probably considered that an attack. After all, your base and the main operations
had been dumping a lot of rubbish into their pristine ocean for some time. The
response from the Administration was far-reaching, overbearing and unnecessary.
A simple backing off would have sufficed. It is our belief that they just want
to be left in peace.’

After Marko had thanked her and
Stephine had left, he turned on the midi unit, allowing Topaz to attain
consciousness again.

‘Hello, Marko. I am feeling much
better now. It would appear that I had been suffering from some infection.’

‘So it would seem, Topaz. You
seem much calmer and, monitoring your systems, you appear to be no longer
suffering the spikes in unexplained activity.’

‘You are correct, Marko. It would
seem that one part of the good Doctor Ernst was a sophisticated guard against internal
threats, but it was slowly succumbing to this infection. If Stephine had not
killed it, the infection would have gained complete control of this machine,
and then you, within a matter of weeks. There is a fascinating plan, which the
prion has left behind, of a tailored infection, designed to take over your
conscious mind. It is interesting, but more importantly, unique. It targeted
you because of your excellent skills for creating sentient creatures. I believe
that the octopoid intelligences are fascinated with such technology. It
parallels some of their abilities. I also now believe that it is in our mutual
best interests that we make this known to Lotus. There is much to discuss. I
would also like to discuss many things with Stephine regarding this.
Particularly the method she used to destroy the prion. The closest analogy to
explain what she did was that she fed it huge amounts of sweet things, until it
literally could not take any more, and killed itself. Most intriguing method —
one I was not familiar with before.’

‘How about we wait a little
longer, to be sure that Stephine and her technology clears the ship of the
alien prions?’

‘As you wish, Marko. How long
will it be before you allow me control of my movement and manufacturing?’

‘Just a little longer please,
Topaz. I’ll talk with Stephine about that too.’

‘Very well. Shall we continue
with the dragon project? I like this creature. It has great potential as a self
species, if you so desire? I note a five-standard-year indenture to Willie der
Boltz. How would you like to proceed with the wing structural member interface
to the muscle keel?’

Marko found himself happy again.
It was fun. He got back into the groove with the design of the small dragon,
with Topaz providing many additional possibilities. A day or so later Lotus
announced that she had been suffering a ‘cold’, but now she was well. Everyone
commented on this, as her demeanour had also changed — she even displayed the
odd flash of humour, which no one had seen before. There were still a great
many rice paper notes being handed around, as the synthetics were discussed by
the biologicals, but the whole mood of the ship was lighter — although the
underlying concern of what may be waiting for them when they did eventually
return to their friends and families remained.

~ * ~

Marko
and Jan finally decided that Topaz was right. Lotus needed to be fully
informed. She was an intelligence AI, after all.

‘So, you have been hiding an AI
from me, Staff Sergeant Jan Wester. Such is not usually expected from crew
members, but then again there is a lot I am not able to access about this crew.
Also, we had all been infected by the octopoids, so I think it best that
nothing further be said. So, Sergeant Spitz — you also have been telling me
stories, or, shall we say, not giving me quite all the information. You are
both still basically biological, so what else can I say? Introduce me to the
two units and we shall discuss matters between us. I believe that Stephine has
a new fruit which she has grown for you all. Perhaps you should join her in the
mess.’

~ * ~

‘So?’

‘It’s OK, boss. Lotus is pissed
off, but sorta understands. Really wants to know about Jan and why she has the
Ernst unit with her.’

‘Yeah, well she can figure that
one out for herself. Leave them be for a while. Stephine has a thing, called a
pineapple, for us to try. Bloody different, if you ask me. And I will be your
chef for tonight! Any of you heard of shepherd’s pie? No. Good. You’re in for a
treat then.’

~ * ~

Every
day they could see changes in Sirius. She now cuddled against Fritz, looking
like a newborn baby until she opened her eyes and the burning intelligence
beamed out. Fritz had calmed down after the AIs had had a major discussion with
Stephine about the projected growth of Sirius and of how something unusual was
occurring — that she now slept for several hours a day. They concluded that
Fritz was aiding in a far greater way than planned or anticipated and that,
given he was continuously awake anyway, he should be given full access to the
data feeds from the ship when Sirius slept so he could continue helping Lotus
analyse the data from the Octopoid Library. Marko was pleased, as this would
make his friend much happier.

The months slowly ticked by,
everyone settling into routines of sorts. The three other chemical rockets were
now ready and installed, so Marko could balance the consumption of all the fuel
types. Sirius was now the size of a small child. Everyone could see that she
was beautiful. Fritz and Lotus were discussing such high-brow physics that it
made Marko’s head ache to try to follow their logic. The captain was very eager
to listen. They watched him spend more and more time digging through the
records of the Octopoid Library. Harry and Veg spent a great deal of time
together, either experimenting with the yeasts that Stephine had produced for
brewing beer, or making knives and jewellery, which Marko also greatly enjoyed.

Harry had never had the
opportunity to cut and polish stones by hand, so there had been a lot of time
spent discussing the best equipment for the job. Then building it. He presented
everyone with emerald rings or pendants of platinum and gold, even setting one
into the outer casings of the Lotus unit. Marko swore to Jan that he had heard
Lotus sigh when one of her proxies closely examined them for her. Jan just
laughed and told him he needed his ears cleaned.

Good progress was being made on
the dragon. The main body skeletal structure had been designed and was working
nicely in simulations. When Marko finalised the full parameters of movement,
the muscle structures were laid out and activated in simulations too. The
dragon looked a little too chunky once the skin structure was in place, so he
and Topaz went back to the skeleton and reworked it. Satisfied with that, the
nerve and power systems were integrated. Topaz had been working up the brain
casing and the additional space for the cognition and sentience units. Soon
those were ready and time was spent reworking the shape of the units to enable
an elegant skull structure.

‘Hey, Stephine. If you are free,
we have laid out how the dragon will look.’

A few minutes later she and Veg
pulled up chairs to look at the design in the 3D tank.

‘I have a nice little idea for
you, Marko. We can give him black diamond claws and white diamond teeth, if you
want.’

‘Nice! I like that. Certainly for
this unit. Topaz considers that this could be a candidate for species creation.
We all like the design. Do you know of some far-off planet in your program,
Stephine, where they could live?’

‘As a sentient species, while a
planet is repopulated by pure non-sentient biologicals? Yes, there are a number
of suitable places. If you do go down that path I can supply a great deal of
the sentience programs which would allow this to be an excellent candidate. How
will your client feel about that?’

‘He has signed to a five-year
indenture requirement. Also, the contract allows me total control of the design
and its future use. We can simply time-lock that part of the sentience until
the indenture is served. This unit would then seek you out, Stephine.’

‘OK. Are you going to allow this
creature to replicate itself, or would you go for a production run?’

‘What works best?’

Stephine nodded then said, ‘Let’s
see. It will have excellent all-weather capabilities, plus run, climb, swim and
fly. Intelligence gathering and reporting. And it will be about a metre long.
Looking at the micropile power plant you plan to use, augmented by solar
energy, it will have a life expectancy of some three hundred standard years
before a total rebuild is needed. Production run works best. No need to
complicate it further by allowing it to breed.’

‘OK. Production it is. Any ideas
for a wing material?’

‘Woven, chain-linked carbon,’
Topaz said. ‘Set up correctly, you could also use the carbon filaments to
generate energy from solar or, for that matter, any energy source. I have some
design work that may be of use to you for that, Marko.’

‘Thanks, Topaz. We will also go
for full chameleon skin. Have you a design for that to work into the wing
structures as well?’

‘If Topaz doesn’t, I have an
interesting series from the octopoid technologies.’

‘You never cease to intrigue me,
Veg.’

‘Ha, I have not taught you how to
make swords yet, Marko.’

‘Marko, I have a great deal of
information for your central nervous systems that may be of serious use to you
as well,’ Stephine said. ‘Looking at what you have here you are not aware of
some of the creatures that the octopoids created for land use. Very fast and
quite deadly. I would consider it a special gift to you. Shall I have Topaz
look at the information?’

‘Thanks, Stephine. I would be
honoured to accept them. Maybe I could build something for you?’

‘It’s a deal. I would like a
little cat, sometime. It would be very nice to have around. I’ve loved cats for
such a long time and have had many beautiful ones. They all break my heart when
they grow old and die. A synthetic one would be greatly appreciated. I know it
would be a relatively simple creation for you.’

‘I shall set one up for you,
Stephine. Small and elegant. Give me a few days to come up with some designs.
But why not do it yourself?’

‘Would you prefer to grow plants,
Marko? No? I ask this of you because you are very good at what you do, as I am
in my chosen field. Besides, I want to see what you will come up with.’