Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (35 page)

Before the enemy commander could raise his
weapon to shoot him in the head, to put him out of his misery, Oz’s
breathing stopped, his eyes looking blankly ahead.

Ashley had never seen anything that was
harder to watch, but she refused to look away. Tears threatened to
roll down her cheeks, but the Triton was trying to show them
something, and she’d be damned if she’d miss it. Oz’s arm was
across her shoulders, offering comfort.

“Hey, I’m still here,” he whispered.

“You weren’t so sure then,” the Triton said.
“Your medical systems were damaged, and there was no way you could
have known that you wouldn’t be dead for more than eleven minutes
before your medical systems resuscitated you.”

“Even worse than I thought. You understand
why I didn’t bother checking the log on that one,” Oz replied. “Not
many soldiers get a chance to offer last words. I gave mine to a
solder I respected. Cumberland was a dutiful man, just like me. If
we were on the same side, I believe we would have been
friends.”

The image faded and the room was filled with
a more reasonable level of yellow light. “I’ve reviewed the
information available on the local network, seen the Order of Eden,
Regent Galactic, and all the accounts of the refugees you’ve
welcomed aboard. We are leaving the age of artificial intelligence
and enter the age of the soldier. I need you to guide your crew and
me through it. Ashley Lamport, you have the highest authority
aboard now that the Citadel representative is gone. Thank you for
putting Terry Ozark McPatrick forward, I accept him, and will
accept his choices as he recruits his staff.”

“Thank you?” Ashley said, wiping a tear
away.

The broad pillar in front of them began to
darken. “I’m awake for the first time in decades, and all the
humans I was connected to are gone,” the Triton said. The pillar
became transparent, revealing a tank filled with clear liquid.
There was something alive inside, breathing, slowly flexing. It was
taller than Oz, with no legs, arms or discernible head.

The semi-translucent, smooth skin revealed
hints of long strips of muscle that stretched as its body
flattened, so it looked like one long, rippling fin. “I am the mind
of the Triton. I’m also a highly evolved, genetically crafted
human-amphibian, but I’m mostly human despite my appearance.” The
colour of its skin shifted depending on the angle Ashley looked
from. Patches had a rainbow hue like the scales of a fish one
moment, then they reddened and became soft-looking the next. For
the most part, the skin did resemble any human’s, though that’s
where the being's resemblance to a human being ended.

“We thought you were a computer,” Ashley
said. “But they just left you here alone?”

“Don’t worry, Ashley,” the Triton replied
through the sound system in the room. Nothing on the creature
seemed to resemble a mouth, and it wasn’t connected to any cables
or tubes. “I am a computer, more than eighty percent of my body is
neutrally active in a similar sense to the human brain. Through
forced evolution, genetic manipulation, and species mixing my
species was created for this specific purpose. To wake with this
ship, serve, and live for as long as there is a vessel for me to
interface with. Like the ship, I need a commander, a crew.”

The more Ashley looked at the creature, the
more it looked like a simple sea creature, like a soft, bottom
feeding eel that she might have stolen away to an aquarium if she
were allowed to have one as a child.

“You’re why the Triton is immune to the
Holocaust Virus,” Oz said.

“No computer virus can infect me, and my
mind is more advanced than even the highest order of Lorander
Navigator’s,” the Triton said. “Not that I’m bragging. Actually,
never mind, I am bragging, but I’m also being honest. Don’t worry
about my solitude, or slumber, Ashley. I enjoy ensuring that the
ship is functioning perfectly from one moment to the next, and I
further enjoy my role as a silent watcher. Most crews never realize
that I’m a being, they think I’m a computer without personality.
It’s procedure for me to only communicate with a few commanding
officers, and that’s what I prefer.”

“I apologize for the damage,” Oz said.
“We’ll find a way to make repairs.”

“You will, and I know you couldn’t find any
other solution, I have reviewed the records. Since we have the
introductions out of the way, I need your consent to connect
directly with you both. While Ashley won’t be in command, she will
still have an override.”

“I understand, and call me Oz. Now, how are
you going to connect with us?”

The voice that Ashley heard through the
sound system in the chamber spoke in her mind then as it said,
“I can focus my attention and communicate telepathically within
the confines of the ship.”

“Okay, that’s spooky,” Ashley said. “And
really cool.”

“What do you need to do to sync up with us?”
Oz asked aloud.

“
You only need to reply with your mind,
then I’ll strengthen the connection with one of my memories,”
replied the Triton.

Ashley thought,
‘sounds fun, can you make
it a happy memory?’
with surprising ease.

“That was quick,” Oz said to her.

“Pretty easy if your head’s already empty,”
Ashley replied.

“
Your head is anything but empty,
Ashley,”
replied the Triton.
“In fact, I see a quest for
happiness, security, and so much worry.”

“
So do I,”
Oz managed to reply.
“I
can see a bit, like some of those impressions are slipping through
our connection with you, Triton.”

“
It is one of my gifts. I can acquaint
the two of you with each other in a way few humans ever
experience,”
the Triton replied.

In a flash, Ashley felt what it was like to
be
Oz. She felt his awe at the discovery of the Triton’s
true nature, his confidence and a comforting certainty that he felt
that he was exactly where he should be, doing precisely what he
ought to be doing.
If that’s how he feels all the time, no
wonder he’s so amazing.

“
You’re incredible, Ashley. You don’t
have to feel so insecure,”
she heard Oz reply mentally.
“And
I’m not always like this.”
It was as though he summoned the
opposite sides of himself. She saw how uncertain he was when he was
in a relationship, how he felt like he had to guard himself when he
met men he was attracted to, and the pain he’d endured in many
failed romantic partnerships. That was where most of his self-doubt
resided. She also saw how he adored his friends, they were as
important to him as family. Ayan, Jake, Jason, Laura, and
surprisingly Frost, Stephanie, Agameg, Finn, and she were all dear
to him. His sense of duty was overpowering.

“
You are beautiful in mind, Ashley,”
Oz said to her.
“If I could love a woman intimately, I’d be
helpless.”

The connection faded, and she could feel
that she was only able to hear the Triton.
“I hope that wasn’t
premature,”
he said.

“Thank you,” Ashley said aloud.

“It was surprising, but not unwelcome. I
might feel differently if I were standing beside someone other than
her, though,” Oz replied, squeezing Ashley’s shoulder.

Ashley pictured what it might be like if she
was standing beside Frost and tittered a little. She was still
under Oz's arm, and felt more comfortable there than ever. The
kinship she’d gained with him in just a moment of being connected
was deeper than anyone else. Knowing what it was like to
be
someone else was incredible, and Oz was so strong in almost every
way.

“
I’d like to share what I am with you
through a few of my memories,”
the Triton said.

Ashley took a deep breath and nodded. “I
think I’m ready.”

“I’m ready,” Oz said.

Ashley’s mind was filled with vivid images
of the Triton being moved into the bowels of the ship. Glad
caretakers that were his closest friends from birth wished him
well, and offered tearful farewells as they caressed him for the
last time before he joined with his new home. That was when he
became the Triton, creature and ship united, and he connected to
his first captain.

That captain was a two hundred and six year
old human general named Trent Syphus. Four of his
great-grandchildren were officers aboard, and the Triton would be
his last command. He was best known for being an officer on the
bridge of the Tsunami, one of the first ships to make direct
contact with the Issyrians.

His retirement mission was to explore the
galaxy and eventually join with Lorander in extra-galactic
explorations. It was an exciting time for the Triton and his new
commander. There were other senior officers who all linked to the
Triton as well, and they flashed by. The Triton appreciated them
all in different ways, forming personal bonds with each.

A deluge of thought and images detailed the
months that followed. The Triton watched every member of the crew
as it managed the new vessel. He watched children grow, crewmembers
who couldn’t cope with being so far from home fall into despair and
recover over time. The Triton visited countless worlds, and
eventually fought an undesignated race of aggressors. Their ships
clamped onto the hull of the Triton and burned their way through,
assaulting the crew in the corridors.

The fight was eventually won, but that first
painful engagement with an enemy that offered no reason as to why
they struck from the darkness was an enduring scar. After nine
years, the Triton was recalled by Sol Defence. The disappointment
shared between the Triton and Captain Syphus was still fresh, and
they returned to Kuiper Spacedock. The last memory the Triton had
to offer was a visit from one of the people who helped bring him
into being, a man named Najim Ghali. He spent two days communing
with him as he watched his systems get shut down so the ship could
be refitted. The process wasn’t painful, but emotional support was
appreciated as the Triton’s greater body was disabled.

Najim said farewell, sad that they’d be
parted again, but he was also so enthusiastic.
“I’ll see you
soon, Triton,”
Najim thought to him, a smile on his face.
“When you wake up you’ll be refitted as a long range combat
carrier. I told them you were a fighter, and they finally
listened.”

The Triton was excited at the notion. While
his experience in combat was painful, the fight was invigorating,
and he quietly missed it. Energy was drained from most of the
ship’s systems, and Najim infused his containment system with the
chemicals that would preserve him while the ship was under
construction. He didn’t recall anything until only days before,
when Ashley was trying to make contact with the override code.

“
Now I must have a moment alone with
Oz,”
the Triton told her.

Ashley gasped and staggered as the being
released her mind. She ended up dropping onto the nearest seat. She
watched Oz slowly lower himself to his knees, then his head
jerked.

Slowly, he lowered his face into his hands,
shuddering several times. Ashley started to stand, but Oz raised
his hand. “No! It’s all right,” he shouted as if competing with a
great din.

She sat back and watched worriedly. Her
experience with connecting to the Triton was wonderful; she knew
she’d be thinking about it for weeks. To feel what it was to have
sensors, to move between stars and to observe thousands of people
who made their home in your extended body was incredible. Her
perspective seemed broader, so many of her problems felt so small
compared to how she thought about things just moments before.

Whatever Oz was experiencing had him
grimacing one moment and flinching the next, until he finally
sighed and stood. “I understand. I’ll find a way to repair the
damage and make the improvements uploaded from Earth.”

“Thank you,” the Triton replied audibly.
“Start with connecting me to my main computer interface after
you’ve attended to the needs of your crew. I’m eager to connect
with the updated software Sol Defence uploaded before breaking
their connection.”

Oz turned to her and Ashley knew immediately
that there was something terribly wrong. She was on her feet right
away. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. The Triton had to show me the
damage. The biological circuitry aboard is poisoned too, so he
can’t connect to half the ship properly. We were prioritizing
repairs. Something else just happened with the other team though,
they need us.”

“What?” Ashley asked as she followed him
down the stairs as quickly as he could. He was taking the steps two
at a time.

“We have wounded, and three technicians are
dead,” Oz replied.

The sight of all her medical experts
gathered in the furthest corner from the door in the conference
room did not instil confidence in Fleet Warden Kimberly Harrison.
One of them, a kind-looking man named Dr. Sewell, glanced over his
shoulder as she came in and whispered something hurriedly to his
five colleagues.

Kimberly sighed and slowly took a seat at
the end of the table. Reflexively she let the tie holding her
neck-length blonde hair loose and then tightened it even more. They
finally took their seats at the end furthest from her. Most of them
avoided her gaze.

Dr. Sewell activated a full-sized image of
the isolation room where they were keeping the man called Roman. He
was laid out on a gurney, his protective suit removed, and he moved
his head as though having an intense dream.

"Report," Warden Harrison demanded.

"It's as I feared," Dr. Sewell started,
sitting up extra straight in his chair. "When we removed Roman's
suit, we contaminated a sealed section of Enzo Station with
temporal radiation."