Network Effect

Chapter 16

Deployed aboard Barish-Estranza Explorer

Mission Status: Delayed

TargetControlSystem knew me. I’d killed a part of it, the part that had taken over ART.

I said, Did it hurt? Tell me all about it.

It was resident in the explorer’s systems where the poor bot pilot had lived. I got a brief glimpse before it walled me off, but all that was left were random sections of code; the bot pilot’s kernel had been deleted. TargetControlSystem would like to haul me out of the SecSystem so it could kill me, but it had access to the bot pilot’s archives and it knew what killware was.

I told it, Come in here and get me. (Yes, I was stalling. I had code bundles in place and there were a lot of destructive things I could do to the explorer, but no way to get the humans off the ship or get a message to ART.)

Then something else established a connection, an off-ship connection through the comm. From another ship? The space dock? Or wasn’t there a planet around here somewhere? And whoever was making the connection, it must be a Target, because it was using their language. I was reading its communication through targetControlSystem, but I could still see the original, untranslated signal.

TargetContact wanted targetControlSystem to find out what I was, so they could use me. I might be just what they needed. TargetControlSystem told them I was a SecUnit. TargetContact said that wasn’t possible, a SecUnit is a kind of bot, like the ones on the captured ships, easily dealt with when you had control of the humans.

(Yeah, it said “the humans.” But if this was an alien intelligence then all the horror media I’d watched had really gotten it wrong. Which is not impossible considering how wrong the media gets everything else.)

(You know, I don’t think this is an alien intelligence.)

The targetControlSystem said, no, I was too dangerous.

I said, It’s right.

TargetContact heard me. They were startled. They said, What are you?

A SecUnit. Killware.

TargetContact said, A software ghost.

I liked that. I had watched media with ghosts, though I didn’t have access to the files or titles anymore. I said, A ghost that kills you.

To prove to me that I was helpless, TargetContact started to show me security video. There was no metadata to tell me where it had been recorded. Not a ship. The space dock, maybe? But what was an agricultural bot doing on a space dock? An agricultural bot that’s fighting with … Holy shit, that’s me.

TargetContact told targetControlSystem, This is software, not a SecUnit. The SecUnit was on the surface, we have it now.

TargetControlSystem told TargetContact: You are giving it data, stop.

Me Version 1.0 is on the planet and has been captured and we are seriously screwed now. I’m sorry, ART. I’m sorry, humans and Me 1.0.

That was when I caught a tentative secure contact from SecUnit 3.

It had just disabled its governor module.

I checked the corridor camera view and watched it surreptitiously move its feet, the armor flexing as it shifted its shoulders. It was strange seeing this from the outside. I knew what it was thinking. My first realization had been: the governor module’s gone and I can do whatever I want! My second realization: what do I want? (I’d been stuck on that question for a long time.) (Actually Me Version 1.0 was still stuck on it, as far as I knew.)

I asked 3, What do you want?

SecUnit 3 said, To help you retrieve our clients. Then it added, After that I have no information.

Now it’s on.

I sent SecUnit 3 a brief instruction/message bundle and it answered, Acknowledge. On your mark.

TargetContact was telling targetControlSystem, Neutralize this software, then—And then they started screaming because I’d triggered all my code bundles and targetControlSystem had triggered its code bundle to purge SecSystem and I had attempted a purge of targetControlSystem. Weirdly, TargetContact was somehow directly connected to targetControlSystem and seemed to be experiencing physical responses based on what I was doing to it. Wow, that was a bad position to be in just about now.

TargetContact tried to disengage and but I locked it in. TargetControlSystem tried to delete me but I was making single-function duplicates of myself and turning them loose so it was having to divide its attention a lot. Other things were happening at the same time, three of which were:

1)  CodeBundle.LockItDown had closed all the hatches on board except those directly between SecUnit 3’s position and the shuttle access.

2)  CodeBundle.FuckThem had fried all targetDrones.

3)  CodeBundle.FuckThisToo had cut the connections between the solid-state screen device and the humans’ implants. Oh, and I shut down life support on the bridge so the Targets in there would be thinking about other things besides restarting their screen.

I told SecUnit 3, Mark.

It pivoted to the locked hatch of the lounge, punched through the panel for the controls, and hit the manual release before I could open it remotely. (That’s one of the reasons Me Version 1.0 misses its armor.) Some humans had jolted awake when the implant connections were cut and others had started to twitch and moan. ART’s human Turi, who was young like Amena, shoved halfway to their feet and stared at SecUnit 3 as it stepped inside. SecUnit 3 said to all the dazed, half-conscious humans, “I’m here to retrieve you. Please cooperate to the best of your ability and I will take you to safety.” It had read my message bundle because it then turned its helmet to Turi and added, “Perihelion sent me.”

Still on the floor, Karime gasped and staggered to her feet. As she and Turi hauled Martyn upright, she said, “There were other people with us—in uniforms like this, are they—”

“They are no longer aboard.” SecUnit 3 stepped over and pulled a Barish-Estranza tech off the couch and set him on his feet. “Please follow me quickly.”

Real killware would have destroyed the ship by now but I had to wait for the humans to get to safety. TargetControlSystem fought me for the bridge life support and lost, then retaliated with a hit on SecSystem and deleted my file storage. Well, now I’m really mad. I hit the engine control systems and made it think I was going for an overload. It panicked and moved to reinforce the hastily assembled walls there and I switched to weapons control and dropped off another code bundle that would blow a hole in the hull if anybody tried to lock in a target.

TargetControlSystem wrote and ran a process to delete the duplicates of myself almost as fast as I could create them. (The other iteration of it aboard ART must have been able to send a report of how Me 1.0 had taken it down the first time. Luckily I wasn’t sloppy enough to use the same primary attack twice.) I was splitting my attention and fighting on a dozen fronts. I lost CodeBundle.LockItDown and all the interior hatches opened. I got a glimpse of a corridor camera where Karime dragged Martyn along while Turi guided the stumbling Barish-Estranza crew ahead of them. A woman with bridge crew insignia said blearily, “The rest of the crew— Is the supervisor—”

“You are the only survivors aboard,” SecUnit 3 said.

Two armed Targets reeled out of the corridor junction to the module dock and fired at the humans. SecUnit 3 lunged to take the hits on its armor, fired the projectile weapon in its arm, and was on top of the Targets when I lost the view.

All this time (it was 3.7 minutes, which is a long time when you’re in a viral attack) TargetContact had been trying to break its connection to the ship. If I let it go, I’d have more resources for kicking the shit out of targetControlSystem, but I wanted that connection.

Almost there.

TargetControlSystem had broken down my walls to fry sections of SecSystem and I was running out of time. I couldn’t contact SecUnit 3 and couldn’t get a camera view of the shuttle’s module lock. Oh, I’ve got an idea.

I abandoned SecSystem as targetControlSystem triumphantly destroyed the rest of its functions and transferred myself to the relatively small system that controlled the module dock. It gave me the twenty-two seconds of breathing room I needed to get a local camera view and see SecUnit 3 holding off the Targets at the module hatch as Karime and Turi pushed the other humans aboard the shuttle. I managed to lock the module hatch, blocking the Targets’ access. SecUnit 3 turned immediately and chucked the last wavering Barish-Estranza human aboard, pushed Turi and Karime in, stepped in after them, and closed the hatch. As soon as the seal was solid, I jettisoned the shuttle.

TargetControlSystem hit me with everything it had. It told me I would never take the ship.

I told it, Okay, you keep the ship. I’ll take the planet. Then I transferred myself to TargetContact’s connection and fell down away from the explorer, following TargetContact’s comm signal.

I heard TargetContact order, Fire on the shuttle, don’t let it get away!

(Yeah, it doesn’t sound like an alien. I think it’s a human. And hah, I hadn’t planned for this last bit to happen but it sure worked out well.)

TargetControlSystem reported a confirmed targeting lock.

My last code bundle, the trap I’d left in the weapons system, went active. The static as it triggered the explosion and the explorer’s hull split echoed after me as I fell all the way to the bottom.