When she arrived, she found only a white door flanked by giant purple vases overflowing with airscrub gra.s.s, each with a miniature palm tree rising from the center.
Aldriena let herself inside. Beyond the door, she found a simple room with advertis.e.m.e.nts flickering on the walls. A conveyor belt and a drop chute sat empty and silent. Someone had discarded a hardcopy of the station rules on the floor. She chuckled at the irony of it. It was harder to stifle the spread of electronic copies of the crazy code of behavior, so the spinners gave out hardcopies instead. The more primitive medium was easier to keep under tabs. Her link picked up the book"s service cybloc. She could see that the chip forbade making electronic copies of the content by any method. Of course, her Cascavel could cache away a copy of anything that pa.s.sed in front of her eyes without alerting anyone.
Her link picked up a service for ordering parts from the wall near the conveyor. Apparently, the module was completely automated. Aldriena had imagined a setup where people ordered new parts and a specialist fabricated and delivered them. Not surprising, considering that Aldriena herself had been acting as a delivery girl for the stations. But the reality was that parts were usually ordered via link and delivered by robots.
She poked around the interface in her PV for a while longer. Then she saw that the station did have a troubleshooting alias for requesting help.
Aldriena sent the request and started pacing. Her link told her that she had three hours left before she could expect the UNSF. At least the swift execution of the first half of her mission had bought her some time.
A person wearing green-trimmed gear walked into the room from the door Aldriena had used.
"Hi. What"s the problem?" the person asked via link.
"I need to take a part to Claw in the lab, but I don"t have the authority to get in," Aldriena said. "Claw asked for it. I"m in trouble if I can"t get it in there soon."
"That doesn"t sound like a fabrication problem."
"It"s not, but do you ever take parts there? Can you get in?"
"I"m not going into any lab with Claw unless he orders it."
"Can we talk face-to-face? These helmets are ridiculous, don"t you think?" Aldriena asked.
"Take the helmets off? Uh, are you feeling okay?"
Aldriena pulled off her helmet.
"What"s wrong? Afraid of a little excitement? This place is so dull!"
The helmeted figure looked her over calmly.
Then the troubleshooter took off his helmet.
Aldriena"s heart sunk incrementally. The man was a woman! A beautiful woman.
The face before her had a splattering of freckles and long brown hair. Her eyes were a startling clear green.
Aldriena"s face must have betrayed her disappointment.
The other woman giggled. "You were so brave a moment ago," she said.
Aldriena gathered her wits. Time for a change of plan. First, her Cascavel isolated the woman"s link so she couldn"t call for help.
"I need your help," Aldriena said.
"Yes? Did you get in trouble for taking your helmet off?" the woman smiled. "I"m Sheridan."
"I"m Aldriena, and I"m here as the vanguard of a UNSF incursion to this base. It"s been taken over by an AI."
Sheridan"s beautiful eyes flexed wide. Then she laughed nervously. "Are you a whack job?"
Aldriena sensed that Sheridan had half swallowed the information. The nervous laugh and the way her body had frozen meant that she was considering it. Aldriena knew it was a good lie. If she mentioned s.p.a.ce aliens, she"d get nothing. But mention an AI and everyone was ready to believe it. After Ma.r.s.eilles, fear brooded in everyone"s mind that it would happen to them.
"Think about it. Have you heard about the incursions?"
"Well ... security is on high alert ... maybe for wackos like you."
"The AI is in control. That"s why we have to wear these crazy suits. All these inexplicable rules ... all created by the AI." Aldriena pointed at the book on the floor.
"That"s not my copy," Sheridan said quickly.
"I didn"t say it was. I don"t care if it is."
"What do you want, Aldriena?"
"I want to clone your link and get into that lab," she said.
"No. I don"t know you. I think I should report this."
Aldriena considered attacking her, but she didn"t feel like making a mess.
I can still talk my way out of it.
"This is bigger than us, Sheridan," Aldriena said.
"What is Claw working on that the UNSF needs to stop it?" Sheridan asked.
Aldriena had no idea. She was about to ask Sheridan the same question. But she could use the question.
"A weapon," Aldriena said. "But I can"t say much. Earth is in danger. A lot is riding on this, Sheridan."
"I don"t know you. You"re probably lying."
"All right. Tell the authorities ... if the UNSF doesn"t show up here in a few hours. But when they do, let me into that lab. Okay?"
"Maybe you"re a criminal and the UNSF is coming after you," Sheridan said.
"Think about it. You know things are far from normal here," Aldriena urged. "Do you have a better explanation?"
"I"ve been thinking about it. That"s the only reason I"m even having this conversation. What good is getting into the lab before the UNSF gets here? Won"t they let themselves in when they arrive?"
Aldriena produced her grenade. "I"m supposed to neutralize the spinner for the s.p.a.ce force," she said. "Claw is a new model. The first of many. It"s the primary muscle of the AI. With Claw out of the way, we might have a shot at containing the AI here. Haven"t you noticed the communications crackdown? Earth is trying to protect itself."
Sheridan stared at the grenade. "You"re either a freakin" s.p.a.ce force commando or a terrorist," she said. "How"d you get that on the station?"
"It"s a glue grenade, so there"s no incendiary signature," Aldriena said. "But it is industrial strength glue. Should shut the spinner down. It could save lives. You"d be a hero."
"Okay. Tell you what. You pa.s.s a T check and maybe I"ll believe you."
Aldriena knew a truth check relied on links that were obeying the spec. Her Cascavel could easily defeat the check.
"Okay."
Sheridan activated the truth check protocol. Aldriena"s link, had it been obeying the WLP, would now be monitoring her mentality, searching for cues of deception. On Earth, the protocol could only be activated with the permission of the link host. Aldriena had signed away her rights to refuse it several times when entering the deep s.p.a.ce stations.
"What is your real name?"
"Aldriena Niachi."
"Wow. Weird name. Okay. Are you working for the UNSF?"
"I am."
"Are you here to steal information?"
"No."
"Hrm. You did pa.s.s."
Aldriena smiled. "Keep it on."
"Okay?"
"I am a giant purple elephant. I eat plutonium for breakfast. I have been to the center of the sun."
Sheridan frowned.
"You see, Sheridan? I"m espionage operative. I can pa.s.s the T check no problem, whether I"m lying or not."
"I guess I should have known that," Sheridan said. "If you"re an operative though, your story could be fake. You could actually want into that lab to steal company secrets."
"Then go to the s.p.a.ceport. Wait for me there. If I don"t show up, call security. If the UNSF shows up, then you"ll know I was telling the truth and it won"t matter."
Sheridan looked thoughtful. "If you don"t want anything in the lab, then why go in? Why don"t you just bring Claw to you and then use the grenade on him?"
"How?"
"I"ll contact him and tell him it"s an emergency. I"ll tell him I"ve found a spy. Then when he comes here, you can get him."
"He"d be suspicious. Forewarned. I"d never catch him. He"d kill me."
"Then I can tell Claw that the fabricator is broken and his project will be affected. He"ll come here to see for himself. Then you can ambush him."
Aldriena thought it over. Clearly, Sheridan didn"t completely trust her, which made sense.
Eh, maybe I shouldn"t have told her so much. I don"t want to have to force things from here.
"Okay. I guess. You"ll need to leave. If you stay here, you could end up dead."
"Oh, I won"t be here. You shouldn"t be either. This is a fabricator for G.o.d"s sake. Make a b.o.o.by trap. Should only take us a few minutes. We"ll rig the door to activate the grenade. Then it"ll go off when he arrives. We won"t be anywhere near it."
Aldriena nodded. "That"s a great idea."
Sheridan smiled. "People aren"t used to making anything they want on the spur of the moment. They buy things that are ma.s.s produced."
"True. I didn"t design this grenade. Or C4B."
"What"s that?"
Aldriena shrugged. "Long story. Look, we don"t need to make a trap. The door here has a cybloc. We"ll set it to signal the grenade next time it opens."
"Claw will be able to see the door has the notification."
"I"ll disguise it as an innocent notification. Like one to let you know he"s here."
"What if someone else opens the door?"
"The grenade is smart enough. I"ll give it a signature that only matches Claw," Aldriena said. She set the grenade down on the floor across from the door. She accessed the door"s service interface and set the grenade up to listen for an opening event. Then she paused.
"What are you waiting for?" asked Sheridan.
"The grenade has an ambush mode," Aldriena said. "I"m trying to decide which is more likely to give us away, an active grenade or the door signal."
"I can"t believe I"m having this conversation. The last one I had was about how well cooked my eggs should be with my room servant. Hey, the grenade must be stealthy. Probably only uses pa.s.sive detection. Or else how could it work on other soldiers?"
"Yeah, it is stealthy to us. But Claw is a warrior and very advanced. So he might be alert for some trap like that and might overlook the simple door notification signal to wake it up. Especially when you"ve just called him."
"Use the ambush mode. The designers had more time to think about hiding the grenade than you"ve got to set up the door signal."
She"s right. The grenade will be pa.s.sive and off the network. The only thing that would give it away would be a power source and a chemical signature, both of which are there whether it"s in ambush mode or not.
"Okay, it"s in ambush mode. Screw the door signal."
"We could have had a lot of fun making an old-fashioned b.o.o.by trap," Sheridan said.
Aldriena smiled. "Some other time, perhaps."
"Now what?" asked Sheridan.
"Like you said. We make sure we aren"t here when Claw opens this door."
"When should I call?"
"Not yet. We need to wait. We should time it so that the trap goes off right before the s.p.a.ce force arrives."
Aldriena led the way out of the fabricator room.
"Can you mark the room as out of operation? I don"t want anyone to come across the grenade. Not that I think they would steal it. But if no one is around when Claw goes in there, all the better."