Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (4 page)

"You didn't contain the virus?" Eve asked,
outraged.

"It used your neural communications system
to escape. I'm sorry,” Hampon replied casually.

"Wait, if the cloistered section of the ship
suppresses wireless communications, how did she transmit
herself?"

"The answer will lead to more questions, but
you deserve to know. Watch." A holographic image of Hampon in his
life extension chair appeared in front of them. The hideous display
was enough to cause Lina to flinch. She looked away from the scrap
of a human being with its blood cleansing tubes, emergency
materialisation nodes crawling across his sores and lesions. The
playback started and Eve watched an image of herself leap atop the
rotting man, savagely tearing at two red tubes in Hampon's neck.
Blood sprayed, Hampon panicked, trapped in place. His working arm
tried to fend her off as she dug her hand into a soft, pink span of
flesh on his stomach. "You won't kill these people! I should have
stayed on the Overlord the first time and murdered you when I had
the chance!"

Guards finally got their hands on her, and
she ripped a data cable from the base of Hampon's skull. Without
hesitation she jammed it into her mouth and gripped the back of the
seat. One guard tried to rip it out but she held it firmly between
clenched teeth. Blood seeped from one eye as her face twisted in
agony. Two guards managed to pull her off, and she was shot several
times, the electromag rounds made her twitch and writhe.

"I was almost killed," Hampon said as the
image faded. "I assumed that whatever was taking control of you was
doing so wirelessly, and I was wrong."

"Evidently," Eve said quietly.

"It could be anywhere in the fleet by now,
but we're running scans. We've verified that your system has been
purged, however. You are yourself."

"No, I'm a shadow of myself, unable to
control anything remotely. What's worse, there are whole segments
of this ship's memory that I can't access anymore. I can't even
look up this Jonas program you keep bringing up."

"It's a failed initiative. We're more
interested in developing the framework system into a full-fledged
foundation for a new life form."

"I don't care about your programs or
initiatives! Return me to full functionality!"

"You could not deal with the DLG virus if it
comes out of hiding again. Remember what it accomplished using the
guise of Gloria last time? It hijacked your project and sent it
after me with a small army of framework soldiers."

“I’ll know what to look for this time. I
suspected that there was something else behind my... episodes
before."

"Nonsense. You were completely fooled,
terrified. Once we've found and eradicated the DLG virus and any
backups, I'll consider modifying your limiter chip so you can
regenerate your neural communication systems."

"I can help you find it if you-" Eve
pleaded.

"No. The best thing you can do is join me in
completing the New Genesis program. We need to increase the
regeneration speed of framework systems by over nine hundred
percent to accomplish my goal."

Even knowing what she was looking for, it
took Eve several seconds to locate the data on the New Genesis
program and several minutes to review it on the computer screen.
"If I complete this project for you, then you'll find a way to
re-enable my neural communications systems?"

"Complete this project? You think it's that
easy? We've been working on it for years, in fact, you're in the
body of the first test subject that showed any measure of
promise."

"I know," Eve said as she walked to a table.
With a hurried hand she brought up the fleet interface and began
scanning nearby space. "Where are the primary elements of my
fleet?"

"A sizeable portion of the Eden Fleet took
their place three light years from here to begin construction on
armed platforms so we can enforce our new frontier. They began work
a little over two weeks ago."

Eve checked for data referring to what he
was saying and discovered the Eden Frontier. She activated the long
range sensors of the nearest hypertransmitter and focused in on a
three hundred meter long ship with several small hangars. Broad
solar collectors extended from its sides, and large arrays of dark
intake cones splayed out from the bottom and front.

"It looks like a silver butterfly,
beautiful," Lina commented from behind her.

"It is a manufacturing ship. Given the right
conditions, it can fabricate hundreds of drones in a standard day,
and those enable it to create much more. I cannot command it
without a neural interface. Hampon, order this ship to join us
here."

"It is needed in that section," Hampon said
stoically. "We must create a manageable perimeter. Enemy forces are
already scanning our Frontier."

"If you want me to improve the framework
technology I need the systems on that ship. I'll also need to
understand how limiter chips work."

"So you can modify your own when you're
ready to connect to the network before we've taken care of the DLG
virus? You'd be at its mercy if it saw your presence on the network
again. You need to learn to protect yourself first, to focus."

"Then teach me, but without knowing what the
limiter chip does and how, I will only be able to improve framework
technology so much."

"I will give you access to the Jonas
project. You'll be able to find everything you need there,” Hampon
said.

"And my construction vessel?" Eve asked.

"We can fabricate anything it can on this
ship. The Overlord Two is fully equipped."

"Yes, but it cannot fabricate in the same
way, or at the same resolution or speed," Eve retorted as she
brought up a decryption interface and began to enter an
equation.

"Tell me what Eden technology you need and
why so we can work together on this problem."

"Never mind," she said as she finished
entering the numerical sequence and sent it to the fabrication
ship. "I've just ordered it to come to me. It would take me months
to teach your people how to construct the equipment I need. That
ship will arrive tomorrow with everything I require to solve your
problem. Eden technology has been capable of what you propose with
machines for well over a century. Combining Eden and framework
technology properly will solve your problem."

"You know the technology,” Hampon said. “You
don’t need the fabrication ship, you only need to run simulations.
I am not asking you for a prototype next-generation framework, only
a computer model for simulation and eventual production."

"I have always used practical testing. I
prove my own theories. Besides, computer simulations will take days
to program without an interface. You’re trying my hands and
demanding miracles.”

"You know I only limited your capabilities
for your own protection," Hampon said to her, half pleadingly.

"If you want me to fix your problem -
increase the regeneration rate of the framework technology so it
can rebuild you cell by cell fast enough to heal your temporal
radiation sickness - then you're going to have to trust me. You're
going to have to let me take control of the development."

"That is not the only reason why I want to
perfect the technology."

"I know that's your primary reason,
survival. Having been nearly killed several times, I can relate.
But regardless of your reasoning, I cannot accept being disabled as
I am."

"We are doing everything we can to locate
and eradicate the DLG virus. Seeing that you were unable to defend
yourself before, I can't have you vulnerable. You are too
important,” Hampon told her.

"I know, you need Eden technology."

"I also need you to take the place of the
Child Prophet. The Order of Eden needs someone to follow, and
instead of putting some grinning figurehead in front of them, I'd
like you to take the position. A large part of the Order's
philosophy was built on a foundation you laid down on Eden Two long
ago. Moving into the next phase of faith building is essential, and
I want you to be the messenger and icon.”

“To continue the farce of preaching purity
and balance? Everything I've seen on Pandem so far is pointing
towards a trend of overpopulation and irresponsible socialisation.
The frivolity of your tribute to Eden is insulting."

"You don't know all the facts. When you
present me with your improvements to the framework technology, I
promise to tell you everything about my plans. Pandem, what the
Jonas Project was supposed to prove, I'll fill in all the gaps. For
now, I need you to begin delivering the message of immortality made
real for the followers of the highest order.”

Eve couldn’t imagine giving such a gift to
any of the humans she observed on Pandem. Machines could be
immortal, but they didn’t have to destroy or corrupt their
environment, they could even be programmed to repair the damage
done by organics. Immortal humans would corrupt without end. “I’ll
do it on one condition,” she said, trying to hide her disgust at
the idea, but failing.

“What I can give you is limited,” Hampon
warned.

“Give me a basic connection, wetware only,”
Eve said.

“No connection to the framework technology,”
Hampon replied. He thought for a moment. “I’ll allow you to install
a Simex surface jack.”

“Not even an implant?” Eve replied. “I could
find one myself, that’s not much of an upgrade.”

“But the Order will not allow you to wear
one without my permission. This is the compromise I can offer. No
direct internal connection can be made with your mind or the
framework.”

“You want me to represent the Order,” Eve
said. “In exchange for this?”

“Not only will you represent the Order, but
you’ll do so well. This will be the second time we’ve saved you,
after all.”

“Some way to earn,” Quiz said from the seat
of his Uriel fighter. “Not much better than patrolling empty space
then coming back to a neat pile of GC and a pat on the back from
the Carthans.”

Minh could hear him suppressing a yawn and
momentarily considered dosing him with a mild stim but retreated
from the medical command interface. “You’d rather the sector was
crawling with Order fighters? Maybe some Eden drones?” Minh checked
the course their Uriel fighters followed once more. In a way, the
younger pilot was right; the sector was dead. “We’re out here
because our Uriels have better sensors than the Carthan custom
patrol ships.”

“Oh, why wasn’t that in the brief?” Fringer
asked.

Minh liked Quiz, but he’d been asking a lot
of questions that he could have answered himself just by thinking
the situation through. He took a deep breath then reactivated his
communicator. “Mostly because the morning brief was already two
hours long, and Slick has been mentioning it every time he does the
mission brief.”

“Oh,” Quiz said. “Well, it’s pretty sad when
their customs ships don’t have great sensors.”

“They’re used to having a network of
satellites as support. They’re too new to this system to have that
set up,” Minh explained. “It’s your turn to do a deep scan.” Minh
took an opportunity to stretch, and couldn’t help but notice the
empty seat behind him. He missed flying with Slick, but he was busy
commanding his half of the fighter wing. Flying alone in a Uriel
wasn’t difficult, but it was much busier. Picking up the duties of
pilot and copilot was sometimes too much for some.

Minh watched the readout on Quiz’s fighter
as he generated a millimetre wide wormhole that stretched out into
deep space. “That’s a little wide for a long range scan,” Minh
said. “You’re using extra power.”

“Right, sorry,” Quiz said as he focused his
scanners on the tiny wormhole aperture and activated them.

“No worries, that’s why we’re off in pairs,”
Minh replied. “I’ll have plenty of power built up for a transit
wormhole just in case we have to get out of here.”

“Nine patrols so far, and we haven’t seen
anything,” Quiz said. “I doubt we’ll have any reason to bug
out.”

The scan results started coming in from
Quiz’s fighter and Minh started calculations for a transit
wormhole. “Quiz, are you looking at your scan results?” he
asked.

“Oh, there’s something to see this time?” he
asked.

“Shut down the wormhole and look at the
results,” Minh ordered. “And get ready to manoeuvre for home. We
have work to do.”

“Holy shit! There’s a whole fleet headed for
home!” Quiz said.

Minh confirmed the scan results to verify he
was seeing the same thing. It was actually a large oval ship
measuring just under a kilometre in length and three hundred small
drones. He didn’t bother addressing Quiz’s overreaction, there were
more important things to think about. “Stop charging up weapons, we
can’t intercept while they’re moving that fast.” He opened several
small wormholes that were pre-set to point at the other patrol
sectors and sent a burst transmission containing the scan data. The
message would give Skydock, the main defence for Kambis, a little
over two minutes' warning, and the rest of Minh’s fighter patrol
group would be able to do scans of their own. After they were
finished they’d retreat to assist with the defence, the next thing
on Minh’s list of things to do.

“Why are those ships moving -“

“-so fast? Because they’re decelerating
after faster than light travel!” Minh replied, letting his
frustration get the better of him as he finished the calculations
for a transit wormhole back to Kambis. “You know this stuff
already, you just have to use your head to interpret the basic
information in front of you.” He flipped his fighter end over end
and began generating a wormhole. “This’ll be open in four seconds,
begin manoeuvring now,” he ordered.