I Fell From The Dark

28

They walked back down the concrete stairs and into the entrance hall of the Institute. When they reached there, it was the closest thing to a panic that she'd seen since arriving: grey-suited workers were hurrying in and out of the building, faces as expressionless as ever. Some were carrying boxes, others were empty handed. One was clearing the way for a maker, a male with sideburns and a bowler hat.

Jean waited for the maker to pass, and then pushed his way through to the security guard. Mia followed.

'What's happening?'

The guard didn't look up from his tablet.

'It's changed course. It'll be here sooner than we thought. The final launch is leaving in half an hour, and the Traveller is setting off straight after.'

Jean nodded. 'Okay. Did Albert come in?'

'Yes. He's in the command room.'

'Thank you. Come on, Mia. This way.'

This time they didn't enter a worker area; instead, they went through one of the huge wooden doors which lead off the main hall. This led into another room, with dark wood panelling and shining scrollwork on the high ceiling, and a deep blue carpet flecked with gold. The room was filled with low, warm light which came from a chandelier hanging in the centre of the room.

A huge multi-sided table dominated the space. Workers sat at it, monitoring screens or talking softly into head pieces. Albert stood at one end of the room, his glasses flickering. He barked an order at the nearest worker, who bowed and hurried out past them.

'Ah, Jean. What have you got?' he asked, in his staccato English accent.

'There was a second enemy ship. It sent a message to the probe which compromised it. That, in turn, sent a message to the Solar Pilgrim. We expect that this also compromised some part of it, but we haven't yet decoded it. We think that's what corrupted the AI.'

'Well, that's a surprise, but not completely impossible. Don't bother trying to decode the second message: you won't be able to. It'll be something which causes the weights to be changed, and without a working AI we won't know what that does, although I think we can guess from what we saw.'

Pilgrim claimed not to remember me, thought Mia. Was that what had happened? Had the probe's message sent her insane?

I know that Jean says that we can't think of AI as sentient, but...

'Now, I have another job for you,' said Albert. 'The incoming ship is launching landers. They'll be here in about six hours. We need groups of workers ready to intercept. Go and choose some, suit them up, and arm them with as many pulse guns as you can get. They need to be ready in an hour. There are six landers, so I want six groups of five. I'll release you the code which allows you to override the gun prohibition for those workers.'

'Yes, sir,' replied Jean.

'Oh and Jean; I'll send you the killswitch code, too. Detonate any workers who won't do what you tell them. We don't have any time for foolishness.'

Jean's face was a mask of calm; all except for his jaw, which he briefly clenched. 'Yes sir.'

'This one, the ship unit. You have orbital mechanics knowledge, yes?'

Mia realised that Albert was talking to her.

'Yes sir... I think so,' she replied.

'Good. Jean, plug her into one of the units over there. Lawrence will tell you what to do. Now, come on! I don't have time for dallying!'

Jean reached down, and took her mind box from her. As he did, his finger tips touched hers. She looked up at him. There was no little smile on his face now; just sadness, and fear.

'I'm going to take this. You need to sit down one last time,' he said, so softly that she barely heard him. 'Goodbye, Mia.'

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, and then she realised: he wasn't expecting to survive this, and, moreover, he was going to be sending scores of other people to their deaths.

'Goodbye Jean,' she whispered back. 'I enjoyed the fire at the cliff top.'

He gave a gentle, bittersweet smile. Then walked over to a rack and pushed the box into it, closed some clips, and threw a switch, and everything went black.