Authors: Jonathan L. Howard
“
Those were
not
the operational parameters you left Earth with,
”
Kane said, his irritation starting to show. He barely seemed aware of the Medusa’s sighting and sensor dots on him anymore.
“
They were not
the ones
you had when I left, either. You have been reprogrammed. Identify any and all personnel who have accessed your command levels since arriving at Russalka.
”
“
Kane, Havilland.
”
“
Yes, but when and for what purpose?
”
The
Leviathan
gave a date ten years before and added,
“
Maintenance and examination protocols were enacted.
”
“
What changes were made?
”
“
None.
”
“
Fine. That’s good. I didn’t break anything by accident. Now, list all subsequent accesses.
”
“
None.
”
“
None?
”
Kane shook his head angrily as
i
f somebody was telling him black was white and expecting him to believe it.
“
What do you mean, none?
”
“
No subsequent access demands were made to command levels subsequent to arrival at Russalka.
”
“
Kane,
”
whispered Lukyan, very conscious of the laser dot on him,
“
perhaps the Terrans programmed this in before you left.
”
“
What?
”
said Kane. He snorted with derision.
“
They told it to regard them as deadly enemies? Does that seem likely to you? Besides, even if they were crazy enough to enter such a program it would still have been registered as a command access.
”
“
Not if it was programmed not to…
”
“
No,
”
interrupted Kane firmly,
“
it does not make sense. They had no way of knowing I wouldn’t end up in that chair, no way of predicting this little scene. Therefore, why spend a lot of time and effort covering up a trail they never expected anybody to even have the chance of finding? It can’t be so.
”
“
Kane,
”
said Tokarov,
“
something’s bothering me about all this.
”
“
Only one thing? You’re ahead of the rest of us then.
”
“
Seriously, if it considers us all enemies, why are we still alive?
”
Kane started to open his mouth to reply, but stopped. He frowned. His gaze wandered back and forth across the floor as he worked through possible reasons and discarded them one by one.
“
You know, lieutenant,
”
he said finally, worry evident in his face,
“
I have no idea.
”
He looked back at the exit.
“
I’m not even sure how we’re going to get out of here.
”
“
Go?
”
said Katya.
“
We can’t go. We came here to…
”
A warning glance from Kane made her reconsider her words. She’d been about to say
“
…destroy this thing.
”
Saying out loud that they were a threat to the
Leviathan
while it was pointing high energy lasers at each of them might have been a fatal mistake. Instead, she said,
“
…deal with the situation.
”
“
I think,
”
said Kane, choosing his words just as carefully,
“
that
the situation
is very much in control of the situation. If we were to attempt to deal with
the situation
, I fear
the situation
would deal with us first.
”
“
We’ve proved that we can get in,
”
said Lukyan,
“
and that’s enough to be getting on with. It will have to be enough. I suggest we leave and reconsider what to do next.
”
Kane nodded.
“
I agree. Lieutenant?
”
Tokarov also nodded.
“
Well, we’re all agreed, then.
”
“
I agree too,
”
said Katya.
The three men had the grace to at least look embarrassed.
“
All agreed,
”
said Kane quickly. They turned to leave.
“
Would you open the hatch, please?
”
“
Which is the replacement?
”
said the
Leviathan
.
Kane stopped and looked back, his mouth working soundlessly.
“
What?
”
he managed.
“
Which is the replacement?
”
“
Clarify your statement,
”
said Kane, but Katya could see he already knew full well what the
Leviathan
meant, just as she knew.
“
Which of these three humans is to replace you as the biological component in my intelligence?
”
“
What makes you believe any of them are?
”
For its answer, shimmering multi-coloured beams spat from the surface of the Medusa sphere. Suddenly, there were two Kanes. The new one was faintly translucent and Katya realised it was a projected, animated hologram, a technology unavailable on Russalka
since the war destroyed the few facilities that contained it
. The new Kane was nothing like the one she’d first met back in the launch locks. He seemed younger and was wearing a Terran uniform. With a small shock, she realised that this was Kane as he’d been ten years ago. He was pacing up and down in front of the door, his eyes and hair wild. He looked like a man at the edge of a breakdown.
“
Why do you wish to leave?
”
boomed the
Leviathan
.
“
I… I just,
”
the holographic Kane ran his fingers through his hair and clamped his palms to the sides of his head in frustration and fury.
“
I just need to go, that’s all.
”
“
You have your function.
”
“
I cannot fulfil it, you
know
that.
”
“
Then you are without function.
”
“
In that case, I might as well go.
”
The younger Kane looked optimistically at the door, but it remained sealed.
“
You may still have utility for the mission. You will be retained.
”
“
No!
”
barked Kane.
“
No! I will not… You… This mission is over!
”
“
You do not have the authority to declare the mission aborted. You will be retained.
”
“
And what if I never have ‘utility’ again?
”
Katya could see the fear in the recorded Kane’s face. The real Kane looked away. Katya couldn’t read the expression on his face. It may have been sickened, or it may have been humiliated.
“
You will be retained.
”
“
I could die here! I could get old and die in this… this cybernetic mausoleum. With just you! You for company.
”
There was a sob in his voice.
“
I’m in Hell.
”
“
You are aboard the Terran attack cruiser
Leviathan
.
”
The recorded Kane laughed a horrible bitter laugh that quickly subsided into sobs again. He hammered at the closed hatch with his fists.
“
Let me go,
”
he begged,
“
please let me go.
”
“
You will be retained,
”
said the
Leviathan
, its intonation exactly the same every time it repeated the damning phrase.
Then Kane stopped his sobbing and looked back into the chamber with an air of cunning on his face.
“
I have utility,
”
he said.
“
Specify your utility.
”
“
You require a person to interface with, to attain full operational status, yes?
”
“
That is correct.
”
The recording of Kane stepped closer to the throne and pointed to it.
“
I’ll find you somebody who can sit there for you. I’ll find you somebody to merge with.
”
“
There are parameters to be observed.
”
“
I know, I know. I know all about all that. I can find you somebody.
”
“
Your mission is to locate and retrieve a suitable candidate.
”
Katya could tell that the
Leviathan
was not thinking it over with those words; it was telling Kane what to do. In the gap between two sentences, Kane had gone from the
Leviathan
’s prisoner to its agent. The door, the holographic door, slid open leaving the real one still in place.
“
Proceed to the launch area. The escape pod is being readied.
”
“
Yes!
”
cried the holographic Kane exultantly.
“
Yes!
”
He ran through the shadowed door.
The coruscating, brightly coloured beams faded and the laser-fed echoes from ten years before vanished.
“
You have fulfilled your function,
”
said the
Leviathan
. Lukyan, Tokarov and Katya all looked at Kane with horror.
“
Which is the replacement?
”
demanded the
Leviathan
.
“
You did this deliberately!
”
roared Lukyan.
“
No!
”
Kane looked in as much shock as the others. His eyes wavered around even as he tried to explain himself, as if he were trying to deal with the present and the future simultaneously.
“
Dirty Grubber…
”
Lukyan wanted to say something so vicious that it exceeded even his vocabulary. Instead he reached for the sidearm he’d strapped on before they’d left the mining station.
“
Hold on,
”
snapped Tokarov, grabbing his wrist. Lukyan glared at him as if to say he could be next if he liked, but Tokarov’s steady eye-contact gave him pause.
“
If you draw that gun, the
Leviathan
will kill you before you’ve even got the safety off. Calm down. It’s the only way we’re going to get through this.
”
Lukyan slowly subsided, but the looks he gave Kane were still venomous.
“
I’m sorry,
”
said Kane hopelessly to nobody in particular,
“
I’m so sorry. I forgot that I ever said such a thing. I was desperate, I had to get out. I’d have said anything. I
did
say anything.
”
“
Leviathan
,
”
rumbled Lukyan, hi
s fury suppressed but evident,
“
why was this man here, Kane, you said he was rejected. Why?
”
The reply was curt, factual and unhelpful.
“
Interface misphasing.
”
“
What does that mean?
”
Kane shook his head.
“
You’re wasting your time. It doesn’t understand language in the same way you do. It was never programmed to act like a thesaurus.
”
Lukyan turned on him.
“
Fine.
You
tell me then. What the blazes is ‘interface misphasing’?
”
“
I don’t think this is the time or the…
”
“
It’s exactly the time and the place,
”
said Lukyan, darks threats in his voice.
“
It’s not like we can walk out of here,
”
said Katya.
“
Please, Kane. If you were rejected, we need to know why. Maybe we can make it reject all of us.
”
Kane heaved an exasperated sigh.
“
Simply put,
”
he said with a sideways glance at Lukyan,
“
it means the
Leviathan
couldn’t interface with my nervous system. It’s supposed to attach itself to nerve endings and the grey and white matter of the spine and brain for full interface. For some reason my nervous system rejected it, or it rejected my nervous system. I don’t know which. All I know was that the attempt was very painful.
”
He shuddered at the memory.
Tokarov looked cynical.
“
You don’t know why it happened?
”
“
No. I don’t know why it happened.
”
“
It
just
strikes me as strange that the Terrans should choose you to go with this extraordinary vessel…
”
“
I volunteered.
”
“
Were you the only volunteer?
”
Kane’s lips narrowed.
“
No.
”
“
Well then,
chose
you from a pool of volunteers to be part of a vital mission and entrusted this astonishing craft, the
Leviathan
, to you. They did all this, gave you such a responsibility and
never
tested you for compatibility with it?
”
“
They tested me.
”
Kane seemed to be growing, in his own way, as angry as Lukyan under this inquisition.
“
I was fully compatible.
”
“
So what went wrong when it came time to do it for real?
”
Kane’s voice was tight and Katya half expected him to refuse to answer or even to strike Tokarov.
“
If I could tell you,
”
he hissed through clenched teeth,
“
I would tell you.
”
She was getting a little angry herself. All this bunch of so-called
“
adults
”
was doing was making enemies of one another when what they really needed to be concentrating on was how to get out alive.
“
Leviathan
!
”
Her voice sounded less impressive echoing around the chamber than she’d hoped, but it still stopped the men bickering. They looked at her in bewilderment.
“
When one of us is selected, what will become of the rest?
”
“
They will be without function. They will be stored until a function arises.
”
“
Clarify
stored
in this context.
”
Katya had spoken to enough artificial intelligences to know the terms it was easiest to communicate in. At the moment, the
Leviathan
was clever in military AI terms, but nowhere near as intelligent as it would be when it got its human… component? Victim? At the moment, it could be fooled easily enough if you were careful and clever.
“
Confined to living quarters.
”
“
Those were designed for one person,
”
groaned Kane behind her. She ignored him.
“
What if we had a function to fulfil for you? Would we be allowed to leave then?
”
“
That would be dependent on the priority of the utilisation.
”
“
We will attempt to recover drone six for you,
”
said Katya.
“
You cannot build new drones, each one you lose must be a serious drain on your resources. We can try and get it back.
”
She heard Tokarov make a pleased little
“
Heh!
”
sound and Lukyan said,
“
That’s my niece.
”
“
That is of utility,
”
said the
Leviathan
.
“
Then we can go? And try and get it for you, that is?
”
The
Leviathan
didn’t hesitate.
“
No.
”
“
What?
”
She thought she heard herself echoed by at least two of the others.
“
Why not?
”
“
Recovery of drone six is of a lower priority than locating a replacement for Kane, Havilland. A human is required for maximum efficiency. This is the higher priority.
”
Katya wasn’t beaten yet.
“
Kane, when you sat in that seat, when the interface with the
Leviathan
failed, were you forced into it?
”
“
I had no choice.
”
“
But that Medusa sphere up there was a surprise to you just now. It didn’t force you into the seat at gunpoint, so why did you sit down?
”
“
Because I had no choice. I couldn’t leave and there was nothing else to do except grow old in here. It kept demanding I took the seat, but I was never forced to. I just…
”
he closed his eyes and hung his head,
“
wanted to get it over with.
”
“
Fine. Thanks.
”
She turned to face them all.
“
I’ll stay.
”
“
Katya..?
”
said her uncle, appalled.
Kane’s eyes had snapped open and he stared fiercely at her.
“
You must not. The process is irreversible.
”
Katya shook her head, they just didn’t get it.
“
I’m
not
going to sit down in that ugly great heap of a chair. I’m just going to stay here for a while – like you did, Kane.
”
Tokarov was looking at her curiously.
“
For how long?
”
They
really
didn’t get it.
“
Until you figure out a way to rescue me, of course. I’ll be fine. I’m patient.
”
Nobody seemed very impressed.
“
That’s not a very good idea,
”
said Kane,
“
you don’t know what you’re letting yourself in for.
”
“
If you’ve got a brighter idea, let’s hear it,
”
she countered.
“
I’ll stay,
”
said Lukyan.
“
Uncle!
”
“
No, Katinka. You are young. I’ve already lived, seen a lot. Perhaps too much. I’ll stay.
”
“
What rank were you, Captain Pus
hkin?
”
asked Tokarov.
“
You’re a
veteran, aren’t you?
”
“
I am,
”
replied Lukyan, but he did not swell with pride the way Katya had seen in the past. His great patriotic war was starting to look like it had only been paused, not won. If the Russalkin had won, it was only through default.
“
I made chief petty officer.
”
“
And you’re in the reserve?
”
Lukyan nodded.
“
Then, by the powers vested in me by the Federal Maritime Authority, I recall you to duty, Chief Petty Officer Lukyan Pushkin.
”
Lukyan looked confused.
“
But, why?
”
Tokarov smiled wearily.
“
Because now you’re under military discipline. And I outrank you. You’re not staying, Pushkin. You’re leaving with Kane and Katya. That’s an order.
”
“
I…
”
The desperate need to find some flaw in what Lieutenant Tokarov had done was clear in Lukyan’s expression just as the failure to find that flaw was evident a few moments later.
“
Yes. Yes, sir,
”
he said numbly.
“
Oh, no,
”
said Katya firmly.
“
This was my stupid idea. I’m the one who should do it.
”
“
As you said yourself, Ms Kuriakova, all I have to do is sit around and wait to be rescued. As long as I don’t sit in
that
chair.
”
He smiled again as he jerked his thumb at the interface chair.