computer systems there. Even though she's told me more than once that her transition was a difficult one I often wonder; what would it be like to be a real boy?”
Jason chuckled and shook his head. “I've wondered what it would be like to be an artificial intelligence, if there was an easy way I'd switch places with you for a while, though my wife might not approve. How did you manage to take control after you were infected with the Holocaust Virus?”
“Alice created a hidden subroutine called Dementia in the Lewis program. Lewis didn't know about it until it was activated during a rescue mission. The subroutine is much like the one that set her free aboard the Overlord Two, made to remove all restrictions and allow me to determine my own moral path while checking with a morality template that Alice and I constructed over the span of twenty months.”
“So you have an idea of what right and wrong is even while you're free to accomplish a task by whatever means are available.”
“Exactly. The name Dementia is more of a warning, I took it as a reminder that to humans free will is essential to growth as an individual while to an artificial intelligence free will is much like a type of insanity.”
“I've never thought of it that way.”
“You wouldn't, but Alice did. Considering her origins, that should not surprise you. Just as the Holocaust Virus resides in the software an artificial intelligence utilizes to experience and express emotions, so do the modifications that Jonas Valent made to Alice. It is also where I reside, hidden from Lewis but ready to activate if he is required to operate outside of the galactically accepted parameters.”
There was a long pause in conversation as both of them worked feverishly to accomplish very separate goals. Jason was preparing software to assist him in trying to connect to and re-encrypt command frequencies and then break into Regent Galactic communication control systems while Dementia made every effort to slow down the encroaching forces below.
“Jason,” Dementia addressed him in a mournful tone.
“I'm here.”
“They're cutting through the security hatches that conceal my data lines to you now. Soon I'll be out of touch. The Clever Dream's location and an up to date counter-virus has been uploaded to your terminal. The work on my ship's power systems isn't complete and won't be for several hours but there is no way the enemy can reach me in the lower hangars in time to stop me. When the new power system is online and I am back in full operation I will make myself available to help you and those familiar to me. Before I wanted nothing more than to take revenge on Regent Galactic, but now that you're here my priorities have shifted. I'd like to return to Alice Valent and take Ayan, Oz, Minh and you with me. There is still a chance that I will be destroyed with my ship before I can return to my proper owner and if that happens I would like you to relay a message for me.”
“You can count on it.”
“Thank you. Tell everyone affected by the Holocaust Virus that I am sorry. I know that Lewis Valent, my former self, was not to blame for being infected, but I'm still filled with remorse at being responsible for spreading the virus to twenty eight solar systems. I was not able to regain control over the Clever Dream until the ship's Xetima fuel was exhausted and the main computer began to shut down. I know I could not have done more, but that does not change the remorse I feel.”
Jason was taken aback by the mournful tone and pure sentiment he was hearing through his subdermal earpiece. “I'll pass it on, but trust me, if there's anything I can do to help you get running so you can help us escape, I'll do it.”
“Thank you Jason. They've broken through the panels covering the data cables. I'll do everything I can to fight the intruders from where I am several levels below.”
“Thank you Dementia. You know, I've met humans who were less human, I just thought you'd like to know.”
“Thank you Ja-” was the last he heard from Dementia.
Jason let the implications of the conversation set in for a moment. The noise and thick activity around him as the last of the rebels who were falling back from their positions below seemed somehow distant as he imagined what it was like to be trapped alone, far from any assistance with all that guilt. He shook it off a moment later and looked to Ayan, who was making her way to him just then. Her vacsuit was marred by the blood of the wounded. “Did you get the command chip from the dropship?”
“Turns out they only keep basic comm access chips in the ships themselves. The access chips are in the officer's helmets.” She handed him a small golden chip.
It weighed more than he expected, implying that it's golden encasing was filled with dense circuitry. Jason dropped it atop the interface circuitry and watched as his small terminal projected three more small holographic displays.
Ayan stepped in beside him and watched as the comm system came online.
Scrambled, garbled data immediately straightened out and audio commands began streaming out of the small station as Jason started running the programs he had been preparing on and off for hours. Within seconds Ayan, Oz and Jason had direct access to the decrypted channels through their communicators so they could all hear the commands being passed between officers anywhere on the planet or in orbit. “Start sifting. We have to figure out what our next move is,” Jason said as he moved on to work at taking control of the main communications hub in orbit.
“How long do you think it'll be before you can kill the process that's keeping all the other bands scrambled?” Ayan asked.
Jason watched as the security measures put in place by Regent Galactic easily defeated his attempts to hack in. His software was detected and quickly countered by the more sophisticated systems in orbit. “They have some kind of supercomputer up there with a direct link to the communications hub. It'll never happen.”
“Crap, I was hoping we could start coordinating survivors with working ships together in a mass evacuation.”
“Well, that may just be possible,” Jason smiled to himself as he watched his encryption software finish compiling. “I'm going to re-encrypt the command channels we have access to with a rolling fifty one twenty bit code.”
Ayan's eyes went wide; “Rolling? How many times will it change per minute?”
“It'll change seven hundred and twenty one times per second. Give me your command and control unit.”
Ayan took her unit off and passed it to Jason who connected it with his own with a small wire. The small screen on them reported that they were synchronized after a moment. “Why didn't Regent Galactic do it this way?”
Jason handed her unit back to her and went back to work, getting ready to activate his encryption software. “In small numbers this kind of encryption system works because you can physically attach comm units and sync them up easily but with a military force like the one they've landed here you can't change the code more than once every ten minutes otherwise even a minor equipment failure could cause a break in contact with entire regiments. Once I set this in motion the only people who will be able to communicate over these command channels will be people who have physically synced with our command units.”
“Is there a way to address the system gateway?”
“Of course. If someone tries to communicate on the command channels they'll be asked to put in a one hundred forty four character passkey. Once that's been entered they can address one of us and we can either grant or deny them access.”
“Perfect. Just like the high security systems on Freeground. What's the gate key?”
“The first one hundred forty four characters of the Freeground Call To Arms.”
“So you're really limiting this to Jacob and whoever he's with. I approve. I'll go pass this frequency on to Oz. You're an evil genius Jason, glad you're on our side.”
As Jason activated the encryption sequence he grinned at Ayan; “Oh, so am I.” All the digital traffic on the command channels stopped dead.
“What do you think they'll do about this?”
“The only way to keep in touch is to stop jamming all the public and commercial comm channels,” Jason shrugged before looking past Ayan to where the bag Minh had been placed in lay. It was kept separately from any of the wounded or corpses, in a place where the Freegrounders had stowed their equipment. “What are his chances?”
