expected a negative answer.
I couldn’t evade it any longer. “Uh, yes, sir, there is one more thing. Uh, it’s about Kaleen.”
Cord looked puzzled for a moment. “Kaleen? Rimrunner 's AI? Did something happen to it?”
“You could say so, sir.” I took a deep breath. “Sir, Kaleen’s sentient.”
He frowned. “Are they still arguing about that?”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand, sir. There can be no argument. Kaleen is sentient. Uh, perhaps I’d better bring Dr. Petain in to join this discussion.”
The frown had deepened. “Perhaps you’d better,” he replied. His tone had turned cold. I triggered a signal, and Dr. Petain entered the comm room.
“Good morning, Viceroy,” He began excitedly, “has the Admiral told you the good news? Kaleen is sentient! She's developing her own personality…” Cord held up a hand to force a pause in Petain’s bubbly recital.
“Please, Doctor,” Cord said coldly. “Restrain your enthusiasm for a moment. Thank you. Now,” he continued, “You’re absolutely certain that Kaleen is really sentient? A few weeks ago, there was considerable doubt, as I recall.”
Dr. Petain was squirming in his chair, struggling to restrain the enthusiasm of a scientist encountering his greatest dream and challenge. “Oh, there can be no more doubt,' he bubbled. 'Even that cretin Volpig will have to admit it. Kaleen is sentient! It’s wonderful!”
Cord turned his attention to me. “I gather that you had a hand in this, Admiral,” he said mildly, “If you don't mind my asking, what the Sheol did you do to my ship? ” He looked furious.
“Uh, nothing, Viceroy,” I replied weakly. “I just had a lot of time on my hands during the trip to Thaeron and back. I… uh… I talked to Kaleen.”
His face was grim. “You talked to it… er… her? That’s all?”
I nodded. “That’s all, sir.”
Cord looked thoughtful for a moment. “Can she hear us now?”
I shook my head doubtfully. “I don’t think so, sir. I ordered her to disable all audio and video input from this room. I hope she obeys the order.”
“Oh, she’ll obey,” Dr. Petain interrupted, “It wouldn’t occur to her not to obey an order.”
“Really?” Cord's look was skeptical, his tone scathing. “Can you be sure?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Never mind. Admiral, I want you to bring Rimrunner to Haven immediately.” He held up a hand to forestall my interruption. “You will break orbit within the hour, and will proceed to Haven as quickly as possible. I want maximum acceleration between jump points, and maximum length jumps. Is that clear?”
“Uh, sir, I’ve got a lot to do here…” I began.
Cord shook his head coldly. 'You have nothing to do that’s more important than getting that ship here to Haven as quickly as possible.” He turned to Dr. Petain. “Doctor, you will accompany the Admiral on this trip. You will spend the trip studying exactly what has happened to Rimrunner ’s AI, and studying its emerging personality, if any. You will ground at the palace, Admiral, and you and Doctor Petain will report to me as soon as you arrive. Are these instructions clear?”
“Yes, sir” “Yes, Viceroy,” we chorused. “One more thing,” he added. “Admiral, make arrangements to move your headquarters to Haven. You can have your flagship follow along after Rimrunner.”
“But…” I began to protest when he interrupted me. “I know, Admiral. Consider your protests entered. But unless you can name me one thing that you can do there that Commander Carlon cannot, I’m ordering you to move to Haven. You can no longer plan on having subspace communication available, and coordination between us will be increasingly important.”
With a wave of his hand, Cord terminated the connection. Petain and I looked at each other. I wasn’t surprised that Cord was unhappy that his yacht was now a living being, but I couldn’t think of anything we’d done to provoke that kind of reaction.
“Kaleen,” I said tentatively. No reply. Maybe she had obeyed my orders not to eavesdrop.
Petain snorted and gave me an ‘I told you so’ look before stalking out of the comm room. I followed more slowly. I’d looked forward to exploring Suli’s remarkable reaction to my return. We hadn’t had time since the party, but it seemed to me that Suli seemed equally anxious to talk with me.
Well, with Valkyrie following me on to Haven, perhaps we’d find the time there.
Old farts my age should not be having such fantasies!
Seventy-three hours later we emerged in Haven’s system, and began driving at maximum acceleration for the planet. I shuddered with anticipation of the cold.
Shortly thereafter, Kaleen informed me that a Fleet warship was orbiting Haven. I called Cord on subspace.
“Actually, there are two of them. They’re refugees from Jonas,” he told me irritably. “The Cruiser is Fearless, and the Destroyer is Harpy. I took a chance and ordered them to assume orbit until your arrival. My people have been aboard both of them, and by all reports they’re genuine, but I reserve judgment until you can decide yourself. I understand that their CO’s have some interesting stories to tell.” He waved a hand impatiently. “Just get down here as quickly as possible!” He disconnected.
We strained the gravity compensators getting to Haven and grounding. Kaleen was still shutting down the inertial drives when Cord’s personal guardsmen began spilling from the palace. The ground was still steaming as their officer began pounding on Rimrunner ’s lock. It looked like we were in big trouble.
An armed guardsman remained on the bridge, while an armed squad double-timed down to the comp bay, and another squad escorted Petain and me into the palace. I didn’t even have time to complain about the cold.
By the time we were ushered into Cord’s office, Petain and I were unsure that we were going to survive this experience. Cord wasn’t alone. I recognized the room’s other occupant as the gaudily uniformed Captain of Rimrunner.
Cord waved us to seats. “Doctor,” he began, “Your report, please.”
Petain swallowed nervously. “Yes, sir. Uh… Kaleen is definitely sentient. I’m unable to state positively whether she’s been sentient all along, or whether the Admiral somehow triggered something. Uh, there’s a lot we don’t understand about sentience, especially since we’ve only encountered two other species that might possess it. I’d estimate her personality development is approximately that of a brilliant child of about five. She’s exceedingly curious about herself, wondering about her place in the universe. She’s also brutally honest and clumsy with social conventions; in fact, I had to explain to her what a social convention is. Of course, she doesn't think she’s human or anything, and she understands she’s unique, and that we’ll be learning from her as much as she’s learning from us.”
Cord still looked grim. “Does she understand that she’s not, can’t be, an independent agent? That she’s dependent upon humans for maintenance, supplies, and support? In other words, does she understand that she must obey us? And will she obey us?”
I was beginning to see why Cord was so worried; still, he seemed to be overreacting badly. “I’m sure she’ll cooperate,” I said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with her, and I don’t think she even has the concept of disobedience. If she does, I’m sure it never occurred to her.” Then her actions in shutting down Nemesis ’ gravity generators occurred to me…
Cord swung those cold eyes to me. “I certainly hope you’re correct, Admiral, and that it remains that way. Doctor, you remember the larger duplicate of Rimrunner that we were building for the Emperor?'
Petain nodded. “Of course, Viceroy. In fact, her AI’s slightly in advance of Rimrunner ’s. Don’t worry, sir, we’ll make sure that everything’s all right before we send the ship on to the Emperor.”
Cord shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Doctor. You see, while the Admiral was off on his mission, the Emperor himself made a secret, unannounced visit to Haven. It’s the first time that an Emperor has ever visited the rim. He came to personally participate in ceremonies turning the rim over to me. All the teams involved in building the Emperor’s yacht agreed that it was ready, and we commemorated the visit by presenting the yacht to the Emperor. As we speak, the Emperor is riding his new yacht back to Prime. What if his AI wakes up? And what if that AI decides that it doesn’t like him? Does it just depressurize itself, leaving itself a free agent? Or does it trigger an overload in its jump engines, and simply disappear from normal space forever?”
I was dumbfounded. The Rim’s technological superiority could very well cause the Emperor’s death and the Empire’s disintegration. I looked over at Petain. He was a ghastly pale.
“Viceroy! I… er… that is…” Cord waved him to silence.
