"I hope Moebius appreciates this." "They just joined the Commonwealth and we're already fighting their battles for them." "We just got an update from Tyr on Machen Alpha." "Rommie has contacted our informant, the Maru will pick her up, and they'll be back with our data in two days as scheduled." "As far as I'm concerned, they can take their time." "I'm in no rush to go toe-to-toe with a ship that can vaporize planets." "I wish I could put it off, too, but we've got two weeks at the most to get ready." "The Machinites have destroyed one world - two billion people and A.I.'s gone." "I can't let that happen again." "Ah, the Basilisk." "Funny how no one ever names their planet-killer "The Fluffy Bunny"." "Captain Hunt, the sensor drones are fully deployed and the missile launch has just been completed." "We're five-by-five with HTE." "Why, thank you, Trance." "Five-by-five?" "Military talk." "Ah." "Carry on, Ensign Gemini." "You know, I still think Moebius played us." "Sure, we'll sign your charter." "Have we mentioned that our next- door-neighbor is a homicidal maniac?" "There are four billion people on Moebius, and it's a fledgling democracy." "Exactly the kind of world we need on our side." "Commonwealth charter or no, we'd still be here." "Captain, I've analyzed the preliminary sensor data." "I'm afraid I have bad news." "I didn't authorize any bad news." "I'll file a reprimand." "The Basilisk task force is assembling much faster than expected." "She'll be ready to deploy in forty-eight hours." "So much for taking our time and doing this right." "That sucks." "I have a ship waiting to extract us." "Not good enough." "Mr. Kim, I understand that you're scared, but we don't have time for second thoughts." "I'm not a traitor." "I don't want any part of this." "Ok, you contacted us." "You offered to help." "For all the good it'll do." "If you knew what I know..." "Tell me what's happening, and maybe I can help." "No." "Not until we're as far away from here as you can take me." "You're my only insurance policy." "Why is that such a problem for you?" "I don't think he trusts me, Rev." "Hardly unreasonable for a man in his position." "You must assure Mr. Kim of your intentions, Rommie." "Yeah, Rom-Doll, sweet talk him." "Try appealing to his inner geek." "And if that doesn't work, unzip your, uh..." "Harper!" "What?" "I'm just sayin'." "It would work on me." "None of this is helping!" "We are behind schedule." "Knock him unconscious and drag him to the extraction point." "Better yet, take what he has now and leave before you're discovered." "Oh, yeah, like Tyr's the answer man." "You're gonna take me someplace safe." "Shhh." "Damn it." "I've got company." "Security agents in the hall." "I can hear them whispering." "Run." "Like." "Hell." "I didn't come this far to run." "Shut up and remember how much you love me." "Planetary security." "Nobody move." "Philip?" "What is all this?" "Philip Kim?" "I gotta tell you, you're in deep." "Way deep." "So, you on the Moebius payroll, sweetheart?" "Or are you more of a free agent?" "Free agent?" "I don't know what you think this is, but if my husband every found out..." "Tell me another one." "If you insist." "Don't puke on the way down!" "Artificial gravity harness." "Yeah, lucky for you." "You - you're..." "Oh, an android." "Thanks, I knew that." "Please." "Don't kill me." "He is the last guardian of a falling civilization," "A hero from another time, faced with the universe and chaos." "Dylan Hunt recrutes an unlikely crew and sets out to re-unite the galaxies." "On the starship Andromeda, hope lives again" "NËEOEÎI ×AËÎÂA×ANEÎA" "Dylan, we have a sensor fix on the Basilisk task force." "Acknowledged." "Move out, maximum stealth mode." "Moving out." "Clear something up for me:" "wasn't Rommie's informant supposed to give us the data we needed to defeat the Basilisk?" "Hmmph, now we're moving out before we get it." "This is just the opening round." "We're gonna harass them, ruin their schedule, and buy some time." "We're going to reject the taxic to synch with our pre-comm op-plan." "What?" "You're that guy from the Ministry." "Yeah." "My name's Carter." "Your first time fighting a real A.I.?" "You really think she's an A.I.?" "She incapacitated four highly trained agents, took a direct gauss gun hit, survived a forty-two story drop, then eluded capture by twelve more personnel on the ground." "Yeah, I pretty much think she's an android." "Of all things, why did they have to send an android?" "I'm probably better off turning myself in." "Mr. Kim, I don't know what you think you know about A.I.'s, but I'm here to help." "There's no need to be afraid." "That's what you would say, isn't it?" "That's how your kind operates." ""We're just here to help you. "" "Until it comes time to shoot me in the head." "Nobody's gonna get shot in the head." "Security closing in." "Take cover." "Move." "Clear, sir." "Security." "How did you know they were coming?" "Friends in low places." "Turn left, and then hide until the next patrol passes." "Their units are searching in a standard grid pattern." "Time things right, and eluding them should be trivial." "Easy for you to say." "You're not the one with a small army on your tail." "If I were, I'd have taken our Mr. Kim's information by force, shot him, and been at the evac point by now." "As it is, we'll see you in ten minutes." "So, believe me." "Nothing is more important to us than your safety." "As long as I'm useful, right?" "Harper, ten minutes to rendezvous." "Tell the Magog to prep for launch." "Thus spoke Anasazi." "Don't take it personally, Rev." "First he figures out you have a name, then MAYBE he gets around to using it." "It could be worse." "He could call you "annoying little man. "" "Your stomach?" "The larvae - are they active again?" "Nah, it's just a little indigestion." "It's the stress." "It makes you vulnerable to them." "You must try to relax, and" " Yes." "Take your medicine." "Right." "Thanks." "Harper, move." "Hey, genius at work, here." "And you would be rushing us why?" "Why?" "Because the military just detected your undetectable hack into their satellite network and they're coming to kill us." "MOVE!" "What's going on?" "Change of plans." "My friends have been discovered by your military." "So you're telling them to come get us, right?" "No." "I'm telling them to get off this planet." "We'll hide out until Dylan can extract us." "Rommie out." "Tyr, we can't just leave her here." "She's saved our asses too many times to count." "So did the gauss rifle I left behind on Enga's Redoubt, but you don't see me mounting a rescue mission to retrieve it." "He's un-freaking-believable." "Harper, you should only be taking that twice a day." "Yeah?" "Tell that to my little people." "We're about to reach the surface." "You might want to hold on to something." "Thrusters are out." "AP systems are unstable." "We're going into the drink." "Rommie!" "About two blocks from here, there's an entrance to a tunnel system that runs underneath the city." "We can use it for cover and enter the evacuation point from below." "So, is that where we sit and wait for your friends to come?" "They aren't coming." "Their ship has been crippled." "It's sinking to the bottom of the ocean." "If they can't stop it, they'll die." "I helped design the Basilisk, did you know that?" "But I built it to defend our world, not destroy entire planets." "I didn't know." "That your government would kill two billion people?" "People?" "You mean A.I.'s and their supporters." "Helping Moebius is bad enough." "But if they caught me helping an A.I. - that's high treason." "Well, charming as I may find your planet's prejudice toward artificial life forms, it's only my problem insofar as it affects my mission." "Prejudice?" "We're not afraid of A.I.'s because we don't understand you." "We're afraid because we do." "After the fall of the Commonwealth, we turned to A.I.'s to help stave off the chaos." "It worked, at first." "But after a while, logic started to take its toll." "Is the city endangered by periodic flooding?" "No problem." "Level the city and relocate the population." "Famine?" "Cut off the rations to the elderly, the disabled, and other nonproductive citizens." "Plague?" "Kill the infected." "When humans resisted, the A.I.'s rule grew harsher." "Eventually, we rebelled." "The A.I.'s were destroyed or driven off-world." "And now there are none left to give their side of the story." "Because your people opened up on their new world with god-knows-what and erased them from the universe." "How logical." "We may not have been good subjects, but we were excellent students." "We're at two hundred meters and falling." "The bulkheads are holding, but we don't know how long." "Please advise." "Maru out." "According to the last fix we had on the Maru's position, they were over a trench that drops nearly five thousand meters." "If they can't stop their descent, they'll pass below the thermic line layer and then they won't be able to send or receive any signals at all." "And if the AG fields fail, the water pressure will crush them like a can of Sparky Cola." "Andromeda, status on the Basilisk." "They'll be far enough out to slipstream in twenty minutes." "And then it's goodbye Moebius." "You're about to say that we have to abandon the Maru." "Four billion people, Beka." "The Maru's on its own." "You have to keep the AG field stable." "Hull pressure is building up." "I'm workin' on it!" "I'm workin' on it!" "Oh, great." "Depth charges." "Harper, be careful or you won't fix anything with a broken neck." "Ah, like it really matters when we're twenty thousand leagues under the sea and about to be squished into chunky salsa." "On the bright side, at least if I'm going down," "I know thirteen little baby Magog who are going down with me." "That's it, Harper." "Stay positive." "Rommie?" "Rommie?" "The density of the water's reflecting my signal, and we've just entered the tunnels, which doesn't help." "Tell Tyr that..." "Rommie!" "Harper!" "Rev Bem, can you hear me?" "Anyone?" "Maru, please respond." "What is it?" "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "You're lying." "That look on your face, it's almost..." " Sorry." "I must not be playing the cold, calculating A.I. well enough for you." "No." "You're acting human." "If I were acting human, we'd both be dead by now." "Still nothing from the Maru." "The Basilisk is nearly in slipstream range." "Beka, take us to the Moebius system." "When the Basilisk gets there, I want to be waiting." "We're on our way." "I say we swim for it now, before we're too deep to make a free ascent." "Too late." "We're already at three hundred meters." "You and I could survive the strain, but Harper would surely die." "If we stay here, we'll all die." "Not true." "Harper can repair the ship, we can escape, and we could still rescue Rommie." "The question is, can he repair the ship IN TIME?" "I have the utmost confidence in Harper's ability to repair..." "What's he done to himself?" "His medication." "He's overdosed." "WAKE UP!" "Looks like your hunch was right." "The military picked up a hack on their secure network and traced it to a submerged craft hiding offshore." "Have they captured the ship?" "Not yet, but it's a matter of time." "I'll believe that when I see it." "If the android's got a ship, then she must have arranged an extraction point." "And if she's got Kim with her, then it has to be close." "I'm gonna download a list of every structure inside five kilometers with a roof big enough to land a slip-capable spacecraft." "There could be hundreds." "Yeah, thousands, more likely." "But we only have to worry about one." "How could you let this happen?" "You have to get me out of here." "Mr. Kim." "You claim to have valuable information on your planet's weapons technologies." "My orders were to protect you and get that information out safely." "But now I have to wonder - are you worth it?" "Believe me." "If you knew what I know..." "But I don't, do I?" "Because you won't tell me." "I will tell you everything you need to know after you get me to safety." "Look, you say I'm an A.I. and that makes me cold and unfeeling." "But what you don't understand is that I'm trying to be nice." "I really am." "But three of my friends may die because of you." "For all I know, they may already be dead." "And I really don't feel like being nice any more!" "Friends?" "That's crazy." "A.I.'s don't have any..." "A.I.'s don't have any what?" "Emotions?" "You'd be surprised." "There." "Look in the VR playback file in the XRC folder." "It's the key to the whole thing." "Machen Alpha's entire advanced weapons research program traces back to it." "A Magog swarm ship." "You have to understand." "The Basilisk started as a defensive ship." "But at the end of its design phase, we got new specs for the propulsion and combat systems." "The main weapon" " I'd never seen anything like it." "Lemme guess, a point singularity projector." "It was centuries beyond anything I thought we were capable of, but breakthroughs happen all the time, and I assumed that we'd never use it except as a deterrent." "But then we used the Basilisk to attack the A.I.'s." "We destroyed their planet." "I thought it would stop there." "Until you found out about the strike on Moebius." "It doesn't make any sense." "Why Moebius?" "It's not an A.I. haven." "There had to be a reason." "The problem was, I - I'd pulled this string, and it just kept unraveling until I got to it - the Magog ship." "An intact swarm ship with no signs of battle damage, almost like a gift." "From the Magog." "Do you think your world is cooperating with them?" "I don't know." "I want to believe we're not capable of it, but my people have been through a lot." "Desperate people do desperate things." "Desperate?" "Do you have any idea what the Magog are like?" "I do." "They take those ships of theirs and they clamp down on your hull like ticks." "And then thousands of them pour inside." "And they don't stop until everyone is dead." "Everyone." "I need to see that ship for myself." "I was afraid of that." "They're keeping it at the Xenological Research Center under heavy guard." "I have a security clearance so high" "I have to kill myself if I remember that I have it, and I'm not allowed past the front gate." "You'll never get in." "Oh, you'd be amazed at the things I'm capable of." "Drones and smart missiles are covering most of the likely slip-points." "We're ready for them." "The Basilisk and her task force are emerging from slipstream." "Combat mode." "Combat drones are engaging the Basilisk's missile defense frigates." "Stripping away the Basilisk's protection." "Knock out those frigates and she won't close on Moebius." "Two frigates have been neutralized." "Wow, that's weird." "The Basilisk looks like it just turned into a planet." "Uh...my mistake, it didn't just turn into a planet, it just fired one." "Make that two." "Andromeda, report." "Ok, make that lots of planets." "Point singularity weapons." "They're using Magog technology." "Dylan, our drones have been destroyed." "He's ingested toxic levels of his medication." "He's in a coma." "He's stable, but if his condition gets any worse, the only thing I'll be able to offer him is prayer." "That's wonderful." "What's the bad news?" "To reach the surface, we must repair the ship." "To repair the ship, we must reach the surface." "An interesting conundrum." "Perhaps we should get out and push." "Perhaps we can." "Point singularity weapons." "At least we know how they vaporized a planet." "Pint-sized black holes." "Can't shoot 'em, can't deflect 'em, and the bigger you are, the harder they hit." "Dylan, do you think the Magog gave these people PSP technology to soften us up?" "It's what I would do if I were them." "War by proxy - set us against ourselves and wear us down." "And in exchange, the people of Machen Alpha get eaten last?" "That's some deal." "The important thing is we know what we're up against." "So do they." "They know we're here." "Which means we adjust our plan accordingly." "I was hoping to force them to withdraw, but now, the gloves are off." "That's your plan?" "You want to fill the ship with water." "By flooding the cabins, we equalize the pressure, thereby reducing the strain on the AG fields." "Then, we use the air circulation system to pull the water through the Maru, propelling us forward." "Albeit slowly, but nonetheless, upward." "Yes." "How slowly?" "Uh...approximately a meter a second." "It's suicidal." "You might be able to hold your breath that long, but I probably can't, and Harper would be dead for certain." "With the proper equipment, there's no need for anyone to hold their breath at all." "The EVA suits." "Note to Harper:" "Remember to repair the rest of the EVA suits before our next mission." "Harper." "One suit for three people." "Two people, one Magog." "With my physiology," "I can live without oxygen for nearly an hour." "I was designed to function in extreme environments." "So was I, but not for thirty minutes." "If we go through with your plan, either Harper or I will drown." "Harper will drown." "We're almost at the evac point, so here's the plan:" "I'm gonna highjack that swarm ship so we can study it ourselves and so I can get you off this rock." "You wait for me." "If someone should find you, I want you to shoot them with this." "I've keyed it to accept you as a user." "If things get nasty, set it to overload - instant plasma grenade." "Any questions?" "Just one." "Do you have a name?" "My official designation is High Guard XMC A.I. Ten-Two-Eight-Four." "My friends call me Rommie." "And when you're not getting ready to break into secret military installations, what do you do?" "I'm a warship." "Really?" "That's amazing." "I've spent my life building starships and giving them names, talking to them." "None of them ever answered back." "I wish" " I wish I'd known." "Would it have made a difference?" "Shhhh." "They found us." "My name's Carter." "I'm here to ruin your day unless you surrender right now." "This is gonna get nasty." "If you want to give up, I won't stop you." "I'm dead either way." "You tell me what's best and I'll do it." "Putting your trust in an A.I.?" "You have five seconds." " Four." " I hate ultimatums." "Get back!" "Three." "Two." "Kim!" "Big mistake!" "Because now I have no one to protect." "Pull back." "Pull back!" "I thought I told you to stay down." "You think I'm gonna..." "listen to a..." "An A.I.?" "...A woman." "Carter?" "Anyone." "If you can hear me, I thought you should know;" "you just started a war." "One you're going to lose." "Accessing XRC Facility schematics and designing optimal infiltration route." "Calculating probability of success." "Likelihood of survival: zero." "Damn it." "Ok, time for some lateral thinking." "How do I get the nice men with guns out of my way?" "Got it." "Make them run." "Accessing XRC Fusion Reactor control." "Unbelievable." "How could one android do all this?" "It's what they do." "Whatever she was after, she's got it now." "She just left 'em." "You expected an A.I. to shed a tear?" "I want every piece of equipment accounted for." "Now." "What are you thinking?" "I'm thinking what I'd do if I were a fugitive A.I." "with access to our computer networks." "I'd hurt us." "Useless entreaties to a dead God." "You're wasting our time!" "I ask nothing of the Divine." "I am simply emptying my mind that I might hear more clearly." "I see." "And what did you hear, other than the universe cares not whether you live or die?" "There is no fear in the Divine's embrace, Tyr." "There is only peace." "I can help you find that if you like." "I don't need your peace, Magog." "And if you've got nothing more constructive to offer," "I don't need you either." "We're losing power." "The AG fields are failing." "Soon, the weight of the oceans will reduce this ship to crumpled metal in the shifting sands, and all you will have left is the peace of the Divine." "Don't preach at me." "Don't you DARE preach at me, you sanctimonious...!" "What would you have, creature?" "Would it please you that I sacrifice myself for the likes of him?" "It's not going to happen!" "I ask of you the same thing I would ask of the Divine:" "Nothing." "But I will not help you knowing that it condemns Harper to a certain death." "You'd rather condemn us both?" "I would rather trust in the Divine." "You're a Magog." "You'll survive either way." "So it would seem." "He's got Magog larvae in his gut." "He's dying - suffering." "If I put him out of his misery now, there'll be nothing to decide." "Perhaps." "But that forces me to wonder..." "why you have not already done so." "Andromeda, prepare missile barrage, tubes one through forty." "Twenty salvos of direct offensive missiles, continuous fire." "Twenty salvos of hunter-killer drones." "That's our entire offensive payload." "We'll find you a nice asteroid field when we're done so you can make more." "Bring us about, O-Niner-One-by- One-One-Four, ahead one quarter." "Coming about." "Range to target: two light minutes." "I've got sensor locks on all primary targets." "Bring it." "The missiles - they're dancing." "Dylan, sensor drones report a volley of PSP's on course for Moebius." "We're too far out for defensive missile fire." "And offensive missiles are already committed to target." "Slipstream." "We can outrun the PSP's - open a portal." "And swallow up the PSP's." "If we open a slip-portal that close to Moebius, it could cause permanent environmental damage." "It's better than no planet at all." "Do it." "We got all of the PSP's, but Moebius's power grid is off-line and I'm detecting volcanic eruptions and earthquakes all along the surface." "Yeah, but they'll survive." "Good work, Beka." "Dylan, offensive missiles have reached the target." "The support ships are gone, but the Basilisk is still operational." "It's already dead." "They never had a chance." "No." "They didn't." "Our crew." "Take us to slipstream." "Destination Machen Alpha, all ahead full." "You want him to live?" "You dress him in that." "You've found an alternative solution?" "It will depend upon you." "And on the cold." "Hypothermia." "As a Nietzschean, I can survive maybe twelve minutes without oxygen, after which I'll allow myself to drown." "If the water is cold enough, hypothermia should preserve my brain functions long enough for you to revive me once we've reached the surface." "Tyr, I must warn you - if you go through with this, the margin for error is infinitesimal." "Now?" "Now you're concerned?" "Spare me." "Get the boy in his suit." "Carter, are you sure about this?" "She's an A.I. If you jack in and she's waiting for you she'll leave me brain-fried?" "Is that what you're afraid of?" "Something like that?" "Have a little faith, Ngomi." "I've got an edge." "Estimated casualties: seven hundred thousand military and civilian." "It could be a lot worse." "Initiate reactor overload sequence." "I wouldn't." "Agent Carter." "Still trying to ruin my day?" "If you set off an overload in that reactor, you'll kill everyone within twenty clicks of the XRC." "I can't let that happen." "But you can let your people ally themselves with the Magog?" "Destroy entire planets?" "You've got no problem with that?" "My current problem is you." "In case you're wondering, I've tapped into your civilian network." "It seems to be experiencing some technical difficulties." "Oops." "The main power grid for your largest city just went off-line." "That was communications." "There goes the civil defense system." "Water treatment." "Traffic control." "You're holding an entire population hostage just for your damn mission." "Don't you get it?" "You're making them right." "Do you know what happens when a human attacks an A.I." "in the information universe?" "Nothing." "What in the hell happened?" "Not enough edge." "Encrypt." "Alpha-three-one-five-niner." "Encrypt." "Initiate reactor overload." "Identify potential combatants." "Generate threat pacification sequence." "Initiate." "Reactor Overload." "Reactor Overload." "Evacuate facility immediately." "Repeat." "Evacuate facility immediately." "Find someplace else to be." "Well, I'll give you credit for persistence, but no points at all for brains." "I can't let you do this." "I can't let you stop me." "Once we are committed, there is no turning back - no second chances." "The lights will die." "The ship will fill up with water." "It will take some time before we begin to move." "JUST...do it." "Something else?" "In some cultures, it is traditional for those who know they are about to die to express any regrets they may have accumulated in life." "Perhaps you'd like to measure me for my coffin, too, Magog." "You make my skin crawl." "Get away from me." "Let's do this." "As you wish." "Tyr, in the darkness to come...you are not alone." "Remember that." "Regrets." "Pffht." "You're an android - an A.I." "These people just vaporized a world populated by A.I.'s." "Hardly surprising." "Not after what we did to them." "We?" "No." "You." "You were one of the original A.I.'s." "You didn't leave after the human revolution." "You stayed." "Why?" "Call it atonement for past sins." "And atonement includes turning a blind eye to the Magog?" "The people of Machen Alpha are afraid, and rightfully so." "Working with the Magog is their one chance to keep their heads above the bloodbath." "It's a smart move." "It's the wrong move." "I'm taking that ship." "Try and stop me, and I won't shut down the reactor." "I'll turn this place into ground zero." "No matter how many people it hurts?" "It's what you'd do if you were in my position." "Yes." "And if I were in your position, right after the launch" "I'd turn that ship's PSP projectors on Machen Alpha and eliminate that potential threat forever." "That's not going to happen." "I gave you my best offer." "You have seventy-three seconds to change my mind." "Seventy-three seconds, huh?" "Sounds about right." "It didn't have to be like this." "No." "It didn't." "Access reactor control." "Initiate reactor shutdown." "Authorization:" "Andromeda Ascendant, Alpha-Three-One-Five-Niner." "You have experienced an enormous amount of trauma." "The boy?" "Alive." "Alive and well, thanks to you." "But the local defense forces are going to be on top of us at any moment." "How perfect." "Alert." "Alert." "Magog swarm ship approaching." "PDL's are offline." "Somebody here call for a ride?" "Rescued by a swarm ship." "You see?" "Not only is there a Divine, He has a twisted sense of humor." "Thirty-two light-minutes from Machen Alpha, and still no sign of the Maru." "Then we do this the hard way." "This got way too ugly, too complicated, way too fast." "Target Machen Alpha's defense installation and keep scanning for Rommie and the Maru." "Dylan, you're not going to believe this." "Requesting permission to board." "Ok, so that's...different." "What do you know, a happy ending." "What do you know." "You're walking." "A significant improvement." "Yeah, Trance says my boys are napping again, but, man, I feel like I just drank an entire bottle of industrial strength solvent." "As well you should." "You nearly killed yourself and me right along with you." "A little nausea is small payment." "I know, I know." "I'm sorry." "From now on in, I'll be careful-guy." "Look, uh, I was talking to Rev and he told me..." "He no doubt regaled you with touching tales of noble self-sacrifice." "Be assured, it will never happen again." "I'll keep it in mind." "For you." "This is the order of the Vedran Empress." "You earned it." "But this is yours." "You got it for repelling the Magog attack on Dawkinstown Station." "And now it's yours." "For a job well-done." "Dylan, I don't deserve this." "The mission went to hell." "Kim died." "A lot of people died." "Maybe, but you saved the crew of the Maru." "Machen Alpha won't be threatening its neighbors for a long time, and we've got a Magog swarm ship of our very own to study." "You know, besides, I've, uh, I haven't handed out a medal in three-hundred-and-four years." "Humor me." "I don't usually have to make life and death decisions " "I just follow orders - but you do it every day." "And you're wondering how." "I" " I don't know." "And I don't want to know, because if I really thought about it," "I wouldn't be able to do anything at all." "Then that's my problem." "All I *do* is think." "That's not true." "You do more than think - a lot more."