Dreams moved slowly, slower than the smallest ship, as she crept into the system. Zander didn’t want to bother Maker or Dreams as they worked, so he used the console he was sitting near on the bridge to look at what the Mewtal system was comprised of. Only five planets, most in outer orbits, but there was an asteroid belt too. Not a single world had a habitable atmosphere, rendering the whole system pointless from an expansion standpoint.
Zander was amazed at some of the photos the scout had of the planets, even from outside the last planet’s orbit. Any of them would have been fantastic screenshots for space nerds back on Earth. Selda would have loved a couple of them, and he felt a trace of sorrow that she didn’t get to see them now. He felt the gentle mental hug from Maker and smiled softly. Selda wasn’t here, but her spiritual successor was, and he was sure she liked them.
They’d passed the outermost world and slowed a little more as they cruised toward a gas giant. The rings on it were amazing to see, and the slew of moons it had made him think of Saturn. The rings might have had something to do with that, though, as they were bright in the photos and on the forward screen. As he looked at the screen, he saw small flashes ripple across the gas giant.
“I sometimes forget how new to space you really are,” Vorsa said from beside Zander.
“Huh?”
“You look speechless,” Vorsa said. “And while worlds like this are a spectacle, they are far from the most noteworthy sights I’ve seen.”
“I’ll see those sights one day too, but for now this is…beautiful.”
“Captain, please collect the bridge officers into the briefing room,” Dreams said.
That had Veldiami, Ping, Vorsa, and Zander all rising to go. A minute later, they were seated, and Maker appeared on the holographic table.
“What we’ve found is an Antecedent ship,” Maker said. “We’re still working on everything, but I’m nearly certain what we have are recorded snippets that are replaying. The shocking part of it is that the voices are all AIs.”
“What?” Veldiami asked. “More than a single AI?”
“Yes. The one I was working on warns that if the signal is heard, it means that systems on the ship have failed. Origin is the name of the ship and the AI I’ve been deciphering.”
“Just Origin?” Ping asked breathlessly. “As in the start of something?”
“Yes,” Maker said. “I’m going to play the snippet we’ve been able to clear out of the rest. The voice is…far more real than any but me, Dreams, and the AIs I’ve helped. I’d have wondered if it was a person if not for part of the message.”
All four of the people around the table watched Maker intently. She vanished, replaced by the wave lines of audio being played, showing the peaks and dips of a voice.
“Repeat this is Origin, I have been…” the message went to static for a moment. “…Systems are compromised. Mission will not complete. Orders are to scu…” Another burst of static. “If you are hearing this message, you should leave. Damage might be catastrophic. I cannot guarantee safety for any in the system.”
Maker came back as the waves vanished. “That’s it. I’m inferring that the ship is damaged and is to be scuttled. The systems compromised clearly include communications.”
“What about the other voices?” Zander asked.
“Working on the second one now,” Maker said. “But this is a ship, and it’s Antecedent-based. This is bigger than my old ship, if this is an AI ship straight from the Antecedents with an AI as advanced as it sounds…”
“The Assembly will be beside themselves,” Veldiami said. “If there are multiple AIs there and the others are advanced too… Maker, we’ll likely need you to see about getting all the information you can from them. If the ship really is as damaged as Origin thinks, we might not have a lot of time to get what we can from him.”
“We still need to find it first,” Maker said. “But yes, I agree. If we can’t save the ship, I’ll do my best to pull Origin over at least.”
“Can we assist in any way?” Ping asked.
“Just stay the course, Dreams isn’t going to be focused on flying, but she will nudge things if she thinks we need more distance.”
“I’ll stay on station, just in case it was an attack on Origin,” Vorsa said.
“The question becomes, what do we know about Antecedent ships?” Zander asked. “I know the cruiser and battleship. There’s a scout too, but are those just what they left for us? Did they have other ships?”
“Technically, my old ship was a scout type, but it wasn’t the scouts the Assembly uses. It was for finding and testing new species,” Maker said. “Which makes me think the ruined one that switched with me was the same. And that ship type wasn’t known beyond mine.”
“So it could be something even more unique?” Veldiami asked with bright eyes. “If I were still in greed, I’d be burning this room down.”
“Good thing you aren’t then, because only Vorsa could survive that,” Zander said.
“Going back to work, I’ll update you when I get more,” Maker said before she vanished.
“This is big,” Vorsa rumbled, smoke flowing up in a plume from his mouth. “If the Assembly knew of the potential discovery, they’d send a dozen more ships.”
“It would take days to go back to the last placed relay and then get back,” Ping said. “The signal has already been active for weeks. If we take more time, it might be too long. Unless Maker can give us a likely timeline, we have to assume we’re on the edge of losing everything.”
“Along with the potential of the danger that Origin seemed to hint at if the ship is too damaged,” Veldiami said. “That sounded far too much like he’s worried the core would be breached. That would be the only thing to pose a threat to anything not right next to them.”
“Risk versus reward,” Zander grunted. “We already know this is big. We need to pinpoint the ship and see if we can save Origin. Maybe the other voices, too, if possible.”
“If the signal wasn’t disrupting so much, we could scan the system and find them,” Ping muttered.
“Not like we have a deflector dish to realign to manage it,” Zander snorted, thinking about sci-fi shows.
“What?” Ping asked.
“Just old sci-fi shows and how they’d always rewire a different system that would be the magical McGuffin to allow them to manage whatever they needed doing,” Zander shrugged. “Comm and scanner issues happened a lot, and there was always a workaround in the end to let them do what they had to.”
“Wouldn’t that cause problems for that system and any connected to it?” Vorsa asked.
“You’d think it should really cause at least some other scattered issues. Yet with a tight window to tell the weekly story, they never really had those happen, unless the complication further explained why shit was going bad to start with.”
“Sounds convoluted and yet also easy to see the story unfolding,” Veldiami said.
“In most cases, yeah. If the acting was really good, though, then you’d be caught up in the emotion and not be as analytical.”
“Since Maker’s done with us, should we head back to our stations?” Ping asked.
That was enough to get them all up and moving.
~~~
A couple of hours later, though, Maker pulled them back into the briefing room. Dreams had just cruised past the gas giant, then paused when the signal grew far stronger. Maker and Dreams needed time to slowly peel back the layers or find a way to keep it from touching Dreams’ systems.
“I’ve isolated another of the voices, but it’s not as good as Origin’s was,” Maker said. “And Zander, I’m going to ask you to go see Blurb after this to get knocked out.”
“Why?” Zander asked.
“Because when you’re sleeping, it frees up more of me to do other tasks. When you’re awake and active, I have to monitor more around you.”
“Programming?”
“Keeping you safe and healthy overrides nearly everything.”
“Copy that.”
“Here’s the next voice,” Maker said. “She’s called Tester.”
Maker vanished, to be replaced by wavelength lines. “Origin has initiated…” Static filled the line for a moment. “I disagree with his…” Another burst of static. “The program we are supposed…” The static was louder but shorter. “I have to Test them. It is my duty from the Antec…” The static was quieter but longer. “I can only hope the others can convince Ori…”
“That’s what I’ve managed,” Maker said, coming back onto the holographic table. “Singling out the different voice seems to be helping unravel the problem for Dreams. If we can untangle the knotted ball of static, I think it’ll give us the exact location of Origin. It should also let us cut off those channels so they no longer impact Dreams.”
“Then we will proceed with you two managing this,” Veldiami said.
“On that note, I’m drafting even more help,” Maker said. “Zee, you’ll find some of our wives in medical.”
“Their AIs can help?” Zander asked.
“Right now, every little bit can help,” Maker said. “Captain, the leads of most units will be in medical. I doubt we’ll need the mecha right now, but I wanted you to be informed.”
“Why just them and not all of the pilots?” Vorsa asked.
“We’ve been keeping a secret,” Zander said. “Maker was able to boost my wives’ AIs to be more.”
Vorsa rocked back in his seat. “She what?”
“Because of my nanites being pushed into them during sex, Maker was able to guide their AIs to break them down and begin replicating the advanced process she uses. Rasisar, because I’ve been giving him blood, has also started to slowly upgrade, too.”
“If Maker can do that, then the Assembly w—”
“And that’s why we aren’t telling people,” Zander cut him off. “I refuse to give up on killing the Entoma. She’ll work on making it possible beyond my blood and cum, but until she does, it’s kept close. It was family only, but you should know as a core officer of Dreams.”
“Dreams being upgraded was shocking enough when I understood what had happened, but pilot AIs too,” Vorsa shook his head, then exhaled slowly, a long plume of smoke drifting to the ceiling. “I appreciate the trust, Zander. I will not break it.”
“Figured you wouldn’t. It’s also why Maker mentioned it now. Tiptoeing around you felt wrong to me.”
“Zander, please report to medical along with the trio,” Veldiami said. “The quicker we can cut through the interference, the better off we’ll be.”
“Copy that, Captain,” Zander said, standing up. “See you once Maker gets this figured out.”
“If not sooner,” Maker said. “I think if we can just get a few more, we can manage it.”
“Good. I hate being kept out of the loop, even if you are the loop,” Zander said, then headed for the door.