spend a single credit to be spared from the cleansing.”
“That's a break in the contract, Gabriel! We promised exclusive control over that list to Regent Galactic. Sure Hampon's in charge of his little cult but we didn't let him off the leash, Regent did! If they find out you did this without authorization they'll take everything!”
“You always were easily controlled. A slave to your need for power, material possessions. These things are only tools. A means to gather that which matters, objects worthy of our lasting desires.”
“You're starting to sound like Hampon. I knew there was a chance running the West Keepers and the Saved initiatives would push him over the edge eventually, but I thought you had your baggage under control. I never would have imagined you'd lose it before him.”
“This is not insanity! This is destiny! Hampon will save a thousand for every million and elevate ten to West Keeper so they may protect the one in a million that go East, to Eden itself!”
“You're jacked into this with him? Eden in the east, protectors in the West. It's all based on a misinterpretation of old religious passages he used to form a cult while Regent Galactic gets proper marketing together! There's nothing more to it! When we're finished Hampon will be given a nice little system out of the way or martyred so the whole thing can be replayed on a bigger scale!”
Gabriel continued, furious beyond reason, tears dripping down his shaking, flushed face. “Alice will be as the first Eve, she will show us the way to our mechanized utopia and rule from her high seat in Eden right beside me. The division between men and machines will break down as both races find the next evolutionary stage!”
“Bullshit! It's all just a way to tear the competition apart and take control! This safety key you made will diffuse the virus as soon as Regent Galactic rescue ships arrive, they'll get all the credit! That's the point to all of this! The Cash Messiah Business Model demands that all of this chaos is eventually brought to an end with as few benefactors in place as possible! One day I'll get the call and the whole party ends, AIs go back to doing the thinking we don't find interesting and we'll be their unquestioned masters again. All with the insertion of a simple deactivation code!” He pulled a data chip on a chain out from under his shirt and held it out as he stood to shout at the other man. “Get your head straight or you won't have a place with anyone standing at the top!”
Gabriel snatched the decanter from the table and clubbed the other man hard, breaking teeth and skin. He took it up over his head with both hands and brought it down over Collins as he fell, crushing his nose. Following him down to the deck and kneeling on one of his arms he brought the bottle down again and again, across his eyes, his forehead, over and over until Collins stopped breathing, moving.
Gabriel Meunez let the unbroken decanter fall from his hands and let a chortle escape between his clenched teeth. The sound pierced the silence in the room, a second giddy chuckle threatened to burst from the tight bundle he felt in his stomach but he scowled and clenched his jaw. “No, can't let it happen. The machine feels one way, man feels another, can't let them tangle just now,” he tore the virus deactivation chip off the corpse and put the bloodied chain around his own neck. The vacsuit and jacket he wore was covered in blood, a fact he didn't notice as he crossed the room and interfaced with the main computer in the Generals quarters using his neural link. “Man emotions make the digital unclear, the wheels cackle their own statement of affairs. Straight, have to keep them all straight for control,” he breathed to himself, trying to regain his composure.
He reached into his digital memory and commanded a version of the Holocaust Virus to replace all the command codes with his own and form a direct link between himself and the vessel. Only the current crew of the Saviour wouldsurvive aboard. The ship would kill intruders and traitors who disobeyed orders.
“Bow to me, Saviour, ” he said aloud and digitally to the ships artificial intelligence, and after a few moments, it was done. The grin threatened to return and he let the joy on the cybernetic side of his brain commingle with the feeling of satisfaction growing in his birth given brain. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his connection with the ship computer was complete and the artificial intelligence there signalled its absolute subservience. “I bet God never experienced quintplex cluster core processing or a quadrillion petabyte database.” He spent minutes that felt like days on his knees, experiencing the link with something larger than himself. The machine had answers. Asking questions of the collected information, sorting through communications was only the beginning. Before long his unified mind, part artificial and part human intelligence was putting something together; a big picture.
The occurrences and plans of Regent Galactic, how it fit with the fall of Vindyne, where he and Hampon fit into the puzzle and where the Board of Directors wanted it to lead were all becoming clear. It was a realization that defied expression, but there it was, seated in the center of his mind and suddenly so many little things ceased to matter. Gabriel's eyes snapped open, he hadn't realized what toll the experience was taking on his body. His mouth hung slack, only a passage for him to breathe through, his heart pounded so hard he feared his ribs would break, and the blood rushing through his head sounded like a roaring river. “The pawn only transcends once he can see the entire board,” he managed between hurried breaths.
Gabriel strode out of the quarters covered in the blood and gore of his labours and crew members stepped out of his way immediately, one stopped to throw up at the sight of him. Half way to the bridge he was confronted by four guards who levelled their rifles at him. “Come quietly sir. The Regent Galactic Liaison would like to address what's happened.”
Wordlessly he willed the emergency bulkhead to shut. In the space of half a second it closed, crushing down on one of the guards arms and legs. Using his mental link with the ship he ordered it to eject the contents of that hallway section into space, and it was done. The bulkhead opened again and he continued on to the bridge.
The shocked stares of the bridge officers brought a smile to his face. They will worship my power. “I am assuming command. Have your scans located one named Alice Valent or the Clever Dream?”
The tactical and communications officers got to work nervously, quickly checking their information. “We don't have a current location on Alice Valent and the Clever Dream has entered a wormhole. ”
Gabriel clenched his jaw and sneered, his anger threatened to boil to the surface as he stood at the rear of the bridge with clenched fists. His eye focused on the Triton then as he watched it in orbit. Jake Valance was in command. Hampon had informed him a very short time ago that Wheeler had lost control. If he attacked that ship it would disappear. Their cloaking device was near impenetrable and they'd most likely not make the mistake of engaging in a firefight with so much chaos in the system.
“Coordinate with the Malice and set a course for Lectivus!” He shouted. “We have some precious cargo to retrieve.”
“So you are aware.” One navigation officer started nervously. “That'll take us twelve days at our best speed sir.”
“The passage of time will serve our purposes. While we travel the Holocaust will spread and billions of disciples electric will be ready to do my bidding upon our return. Set the course and get us underway.”
The Rescue Effort
“We have nothing combat ready down there?” Captain Valance asked Paula at the flight control station on the deck beneath him.
“Nothin'. Chief Vercelli started working on the Cold Reaver but didn't get a chance to finish. Other than that we're full up with personnel transports and a couple boarding craft,” Paula reported with shrug.
“The boarding craft, can he get one of them ready for launch?”
“No, one of the personnel craft went berserk and smashed itself into the deck. Lucky we didn't lose hanger two all together. Can't launch anything until the wreck is cleared. Chief says that'll be at least half an hour.”
“Do we have anyone else incoming?”
“Nay sir, the last personnel transport was destroyed before she could get to us.”
Captain Valance sat back in his chair. “Tactical, how are our shields holding up?”
“We're fine. Nothing out there is big enough to penetrate except for that station, and it looks like they have it under control.”
“Good. Cloak the ship if something dangerous has us in its sights.” He knitted his fingers together and leaned his chin on his knuckles as he listened to Stephanie, Frost and Alice's chatter. They were under fire from something, and on the run. “We have three people down there and no way to retrieve them. Does anyone have any ideas?”
For a moment everyone seemed stunned, the sounds of an active firefight over the command chair speaker
