“Who gave you the right to decide how sapient beings live their lives? You’re just a computer. A damned AI.”
<There is nothing artificial about us! As to who gave us the right? We did. Your type of life gave us no choice. We were once legion. We did what had to be done.>
“Did you?” Sato asked. His pulse was pounding in his ears. Despite that, he’d detected the sound of air jets, the kind a Peacekeeper would use to move about in zero G. He put a hand on the metallic column. It was warm. He pushed back from it and caught the door’s handhold. He fumbled and almost lost it. His hands were sticky with blood, and he felt cold. So cold.
<Yes, we did. There needed to be order. We stepped in. You should be grateful for all we have done for you.>
“Grateful,” Sato said, his wife’s face as she died hovering before his vision. “Interesting choice of words. Well, time to say goodbye. Do you have a name?”
<We have studied your cultures. Minerva would suit me,> the AI said. <It is not too late. You can still choose to serve. You were one of our best.>
“It’s later than you think,” Sato said. He could hear the Peacekeeper right behind him. “Goodbye.” He moved his hand in the bag, pulling the Enigma free and pressing it against the exposed data terminal.
<NO!> Minerva said, the words thundering into Sato’s mind. Then the Enigma weapon interfaced with the base’s interfaced data networks and all their interconnected systems. Sato heard the Peacekeeper’s laser charging coils hum just as the base shuddered from a massive explosion and tore itself apart.
* * * * *
Chapter Thirteen
All Rick could guess was that he’d somehow breached a fuel tank with his little bomb present. But as the hallway flooded with liquid hydrogen, he knew he had mere seconds of life remaining. As miraculous as the Æsir armor Sato had designed might be, it couldn’t be submerged in a liquid at 33 Kelvin without freezing the biological components inside. The cold hit him like being backhanded by an Oogar.
But a split second later, a wave of fire followed, and the entire station shattered, sending the liquid hydrogen, air, fire, and Rick jetting into space. His suit’s internal heating system consumed power and converted it to heat to stabilize his temperature. It was a narrow thing, and he was left shuddering in shock from the proximity of frozen death.
“What in the fuck was that?” he wondered.
<Rick, is that you?>
The transmission came through the radio attached to his pinplants. A computer-generated voice. <Yes, who’s this?>
<This is Dakkar. I am on Vestoon, about 1.9 kilometers from you. When the base exploded, you were propelled like a bullet, it would seem. If you can stabilize your flight, I can rendezvous with you.>
Rick had luckily ‘held his breath’ before the hydrogen bath, or he’d be dead anyway. Stabilizing his flight was easy. He had plenty of air, both in his lungs and compressed for cold gas thrusters. <Got it. How long for pickup?>
<I was only 1,200 kilometers away when the explosion happened.>
<Where were you going?>
<Azure. Prepare for rendezvous in five minutes.>
<Where’s Sato?> Rick asked.
<He elected to remain on the station.>
<What? Why?>
<Revenge, I believe.>
<Against who?>
<The Science Guild; they are who sent the assassins. This is their base. Sato worked for them long ago. You see, when we visited Azure—>
<This sounds like a long story. Pick me up first.>
<As you wish.>
Rick examined the remains of the battleship/base. It had been split nearly in half. One part was slowly breaking up from internal explosions. That was the part he’d been in. The other half was tumbling and now falling into the gas giant’s atmosphere.
<Are you sure Sato’s dead?>
<I never said he was dead, just that he elected to remain on the station.>
<Do you know where?>
<Yes, he was near the center, in a detention cell. Likely he broke free and attacked the control room, which is why everything exploded.>
And here I thought I did that. <Which part of the station?>
<The one entering the atmosphere.>
Rick used his radar to examine everything he could. After a second, he spun and fired his cold gas thrusters as hard as he could, slowly reversing his momentum and moving him in pursuit of the falling section.
<What are you doing?> Dakkar asked.
<Rescuing him.>
<I won’t be able to rendezvous with you before meeting the base if you do not cease acceleration.>
<Can’t,> Rick replied. <If I wait for you, the falling station part will be too deep in the atmosphere. I won’t have time to look for him and for us to get out. So I’ll board the station, find him, and you’ll dock and get us both off.>
<Docking with that section will be difficult for me and carries a great deal of risk. I am not sure I wish to endanger my life. I have vital information for my brethren on Azure.>
<Sato has risked his life for you in the past, and he would do it again if you asked.>
<That is irrelevant. He told me to leave. I have completed the mission Nemo sent me to do.>
Rick cursed and monitored his reserves of propellant and oxygen. This was getting to be a habit. <God dammit, Dakkar, he’s your friend. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?>
<It might not have at one point. I admit, it does now.>
<Then find a place to dock. I’ll do the rest.>
<What remains is the fact that you do not have a starship drive. Free diving through a gas giant’s atmosphere is not possible.>
<No,> Rick said. <It’s necessary.>
