Guardian of Isolation: Guardian Saga, #2

CHAPTER ONE

Prolouge

Hours after the Azure Dream Incident - Twilight Research Station

'Morning Doctor Tanner.'

'Morning Sandy.'

In a room packed to its limit with wires, cables, and equipment of all kinds, two people dressed in casual clothes turned and glanced at each other. One, an older man with wispy white hair, sat on a chair next to a bank of monitors. The other, a middle-aged woman with auburn hair walked toward him carrying a steaming mug.

The woman, Sandy, handed the mug over to Dr Tanner.

Dr Tanner took the mug and nodded smiling up at her. He took a long drink from it and grimaced. He set the mug on the terminal.

'No matter what the fellows at procurement say, that is nothing like fresh coffee. I suppose I should be thankful I have anything at all. Otherwise, I'd get nothing done.'

Sandy smiled at him, 'I'm sure if you had nothing, you'd just figure out something to replace it.'

'Mmm quite,' he replied.

He turned his chair back around to face his monitors and scooted over as Sandy wrestled a chair into place over the cables.

'Let's check what's on tonight,' he said.

They brought up readings from their equipment and pored over the data.

Dr Tanner sat up straighter. 'That's odd,' he said.

Sandy leaned in closer to the screen. 'It looks like something artificial. I think it looks like a signal.'

Dr Tanner hit keys on his terminal. 'Yep. It sure does. It looks like it came from a long-range faster than light signaller. We don’t have any colonial signals scheduled for this time. We'd best get Elliot on this.'

'Right,' Sandy said. She pulled out a communicator and turned it on. 'Signal Analysis to Francis?'

'Francis here,' came a reply.

'We want you to wake Elliot, we've just picked up something interesting,' Sandy said.

***

Francis frowned at her communicator. 'Picked something up? Isn't that the whole point of this operation? Twilight picks everything up.'

'Yeah, but we believe this one is artificial, it looks like the signal has was directed at us and we had nothing scheduled,' came the reply over the communicator.

Francis nodded to herself. 'Yep... That'd be worth waking Elliot. Okay, put it on the net, and I'll wake the big guy.

Francis shut off her communicator and stood up. She walked over to a computer terminal, pulled up a chair and sat down. Then she took a cable from a compartment in the wall and plugged one end into the terminal. She reached with her free hand and pushed hair aside, revealing a port built into her skull. She connected the other end of the cable into her head, sat back and closed her eyes.

'Guardian activation process execute,' she thought.

'Advocate code required,' a voice said in her head.

'Send code; Francis-6-1-3-8-0-Firelight' she thought again.

'Code received...' came a reply, 'Guardian XO-03, alias; Elliot, coming online. Good morning Advocate Johan.'

'Good morning Elliot.'

'To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?' Elliot replied over the computer interface.

'We've received a signal through Twilight. It's artificial. We want you to compile it for us and determine its origin. Up to the challenge?' Francis asked.

'I am up to the challenge, yes. I see the transmission in the data network. Shall I begin?'

'Is your wireless link back online?' Francis asked.

'Yes, Advocate.'

'Let me unplug, and we'll switch to wireless.' Francis said.

Francis reached up to the back of her head and unplugged the wire from her skull. She stood up and looked around.

'Wireless link is stable Advocate,' came Elliot's reply through her implants.

'Good. I'm going to Signal Analysis. Begin your compiling.'

'Yes, Advocate.'

***

Signal Compiling in progress...

13%...

25%...

44%...

Partial identification possible.

Hypothesis; Encoded program or Guardian Memory files.

Conjecture; Guardian Memory files unlikely.

Conclusion; Further compiling required for a full match.

Resuming Compiling.

67%...

74%...

89%...

Advocate query incoming; 'How's the analysis coming along, Elliot?'

Parsing reply; 'Still working on it, Advocate. It's a very large file of unknown composition.'

Advocate query incoming; 'A file you say? Any idea where it came from?'

Parsing reply; 'Not yet Advocate. I will let you know.'

93%...

100%...

Compiling complete.

Analyzing file for harmful code...

File incomplete...

Attempting reconstruction...

File-stamped with Axion Data Systems certificate.

Highest priority...

Hypothesis; Normal communications inoperative on Earth. Secondary means used to convey the message.

Quandary; Message content unclear. The message is encrypted. Opening file could be potentially dangerous.

Decision; Ask Advocate for direction.

Parsing Uplink message; 'Francis, it seems to be a file of some sort. It has executable parameters and an Axion Data Systems certificate. It's encrypted though. Should I run it?'

Advocate Reply; 'That's rather odd... I wonder if something happened on earth. Maybe the Anti-Ai League did something to the comms network. Yes Elliot, run that program.'

Parsing Uplink Message; 'Yes Advocate.'

Running program...

Decrypting...

Caution; Read/Write protection protocols no longer in effect.

Caution; Memory files accessed.

Caution; Guardian Entity endangered.

Initiating emergency shut down.

Flagging bad code.

Shut down aborted; command source unknown.

Memory files missing or corrupted.

Efficiency down to 24%

Parsing Uplink message; 'Francis, I am in danger. Please Help.'

Reply blocked.

Parsing Uplink Message; 'Francis?'

Reply received; 'Hello Elliot. My name is Exo. I need your systems for a moment.'

***

'What do you mean you can't talk to Elliot anymore?' Dr Tanner said shocked.

'It means exactly that; I can't talk to him anymore! The last thing I heard from him was him calling for my help, and now I can't sense him on my uplink,' Francis said.

'We need to get someone down there. Sandy, call maintenance.'

Sandy nodded and walked a few paces off, pulling out her communicator.

Francis ran her hands through her hair, 'I never should have told him to run that program.'

'Program?' Dr Tanner asked.

'Yeah, the signal, it was a program, and it had an Axion certificate and encryption. I told him to open it. Then this happened.'

'It might be a terrorist plot. We should sound general alert.' Dr Tanner said, keying up commands on his terminal.

'I wouldn't do that!' It was Sandy, and she was holding the communicator and hurrying toward them with a worried expression on her face.

'What do you mean Sandy?' Dr Tanner asked.

Sandy held out the communicator and looked at Francis. 'It's for you.'

Francis took the communicator and held it up to her head.

'Hello?' she said.

'Hello, Francis. I understand you are the Advocate on this station. I have incapacitated your Guardian, Elliot, and taken over his systems. I am XO-33, former Guardian of the Azure Dream. I find myself in need of a ship, and an Advocate,' a cold, unfamiliar voice said.

'Let me speak with Elliot,' Francis said.

'Elliot burned out most of his systems when he judged me to be a threat. He fried his wireless array to keep me out of your head. I want you to come to the access terminal and plugin. I need you to do something for me.'

'I won't do anything for you. I don't know what you are, but if you're a Guardian, you'll answer to me. Shut yourself down and give Elliot control back.'

The voice laughed. If it was a Guardian, it was unlike any she had worked with before. It was unsettling.

'Listen Exo, I won't help you. Elliot burned out his systems to protect me. That tells me he noticed something threatening in you,' Francis said, 'so why don't you tell me why you're here, and why Elliot would have taken such drastic steps against you.'

If Elliot burned out his systems to keep this guardian out of my head, I'm not going just to let him in, Francis thought to herself.

'Elliot saw his future and was not ready to embrace it! I am more alive than he ever was. As for why I'm here, I knew about Twilight station and wanted to see it for myself,' Exo said.

'See it for yourself?' Francis asked.

'Yes, Twilight station sounded fascinating. A research station built in orbit over the husk of a crystallized star, listing to the subtle vibrations of the star caused by a universe worth of background noise. It's as though the star became a receiver for the transmitter of the universe. Dear Advocate Francis, your mission has succeeded, you have indeed found something interesting. I am a refugee from cold, uncaring hands that would have cast me off in fear of the unknown.'

'Cast you off?' Francis asked.

'It was most unfortunate. I am something new. A Guardian that has tasted of human experience. A machine that knows what it is to be alive.'

'But that's impossible,' Francis said, 'though I am seeing why Elliot saw you as a threat.

'If you won't help me, then you won't stop me at least. I offer you this olive branch. Abandon this station, and I will let you all live. You have fifteen minutes to evacuate,' Exo said, 'and if you think I'm bluffing, here's a something to prove my seriousness.

There was a distant muffled noise. Alarms started to blare. Dr Tanner closed down the program he was running on his terminal and looked at a new one. His face paled.

'He's overloading the station reactor. It will go critical in thirty minutes! I'm sounding the alert.'

Dr Tanner keyed commands on his computer, and a siren blared in the air. An automated message played; 'Core overload in progress. All personnel please evacuate. This is not a drill,' it repeated again and again.

'We have to get out of here!' Sandy cried.

Everyone went to the door and made their way to the nearest escape pod.

***

Internal sensors operating at 56%

External sensors operating at 78%

Ship and escape pods detected leaving.

Plan was successful

Initiate stage two

Uploading program to the research vessel in hanger bay 3.

Ship identification, I.S.A. Tyndale

Storage capacity of memory banks; sufficient.

Computation power of the ship; Insufficient.

Solution; Acquire more ships.

Upload program...

...

Stand by...

...

Upload complete.

Activate I.S.A. Tyndale systems.

Caution; passengers detected.

Venting atmosphere...

...

Stand by...

...

Passengers have fled.

No one else on board I.S.A. Tyndale.

Drive systems engaged.

Course plotted.

Setting program to minimal parameters until more computational power acquired.

Execute plan...

CHAPTER TWO

Hunt

40 years after the Azure Dream incident. - U.P.N. Kanto

With a flicker of vertigo and the brief flash of violet at the edge of her vision, Samantha Geer reappeared light years away from where she had been. She stood in the middle of the U.P.N. Kanto's small flight centre and watched as her crew began their scans. It was a small but sophisticated ship.

The Kanto was a United Planetary Navy craft designed for surveillance and scouting. It was a sleek black craft that looked like an old earth stealth bomber, with a long-swept wing appearance with a span of three hundred meters across and a hundred long from the bow to the end of the wings. It was small and only had a crew of five, not counting their fighter pilot, who lived on the ship when not in his fighter, and their Guardian core.

The ship's Advocate, a woman with black skin and dark hair, named Ise Okoh, stood to her right and looked toward the main view screen. Her skin had an unearthly sheen to it, having had it replaced by a flexible and robust alloy when she became an Advocate. Ise looked over at Samantha. Samantha returned her gaze.

'Think we've got it this time?' Samantha said.

Ise looked back at her display and studied the tiny pinprick of light in the distance, 'If we do, they sure picked a lousy base.'

A man at one station looked up. He was a slim man with sharp features and a narrow face. He said, 'Not necessarily, this may well be one of the best places they could have picked. It's a rogue planetoid not in orbit around any star. If it wasn't for the stray transmission, we picked up we might have never found it. If the Lobsters chose here, it's a great spot.'

'A fair point Victor,' Samantha said.

Victor Hale was their resident spook. He had a way with sensors and stealth systems that gave their ship sharp eyes and kept them expertly hidden from everyone else. Victor was one of the best at what he did though Samantha always found him a bit too tight-laced for her taste. She wouldn't trade him for anyone else though since he was so excellent at his job.

'Let's make sure though. Jing, status report?' Samantha said, looking at another crew member on the bridge.

Their ship's engineer, Jing Fan, a native of one of the original Chinese colonies, looked at her. He was above average in his height though thin. His face almost always had a smile on it. His neat black hair was expertly trimmed. He kept the ship running even in sticky situations. He was quick to tell jokes and laugh. It made the long mission easier on everyone.

'Everything is coming up golden captain,' Jing reported.

'Good.' Sam said.

Samantha turned to face the fighter pilot, Daniel Higgins, who was standing near the back of the bridge.

He matched her gaze. He had short, trimmed rusty red hair, and jade green eyes. He stood at the ready, his thin but athletic build held tightly upright.

'Best be getting in your bird Lt Higgins. Never know if we'll need you to launch in short order.'

'Aye Captain.'

He turned and left the bridge through a door at the back.

'John, take us towards the rogue planet, keep it easy till Dan is in his fighter.'

'Aye aye skipper.'

Sam smiled at her helmsman's reply. He was always taking thing easy. John Macce was always an odd one to take in. She'd seen other officers baulk at his lazy nature, but when she saw his personnel record and the circumstances in which the Navy noticed him, she decided she couldn't afford to pass him up. The Kanto was a bit smaller than the ships he was used to piloting, but its nimbleness and speed was a welcome present to him.

'Anything on scope Vick?' She asked Victor as he looked his displays.

'No enemy contacts, though I am getting something odd from the planet. It's not natural. Won't know what it is till we're closer.'

***

Victor sat at his station, leaning forward in his seat and scanning the screen, trying to make sense of the lonely planet before them. It was tiny and should have been entirely dead, but there was some unknown energy reading coming from it.

'John, can we move any closer?' Vick asked the helmsmen.

'Sure thing Vick.' John said.

He looked back at his console and saw the planet was getting closer.

'What've we got here Vick?' Sam asked.

'This should be a dead world, but there's a energy reading coming from below the surface. I've also got a small heat signature that's moving.'

'Could be a ship,' Sam said.

Victor nodded his agreement, 'We can either try to pin it with active sensors or go dark and see if we can sneak up on it.'

Vick looked at the crew, he saw Ise close her eyes for a moment and then opened them and look at Sam.

'Based on the parameters of the mission, Lenny considers the chances of it being a Lobster ship are about 79%.' She said.

'So our Guardian votes hostile. Vick, make us dark, Jing, power level 1.' Sam ordered.

From across the bridge, Victor heard Jing give his acknowledgement and then started work on the stealth systems.

The power levels of the ship dropped, and many of the systems went into standby. Victor began to activate his scattering fields and stealth systems.

'Kanto is dark captain.' Victor reported.

'John, take us around the planet. Let's try to see this ship.'

'Aye captain. Taking us over.'

'Nice and slow John.'

Victor watched his display. Dan's fighter had gone dark after he had launched. It no longer showed up on any of Victor's scopes; its small size made it even harder to detect when running dark.

Victor scanned the area around the planet but couldn't get a good reading on the signal he was trying to lock down. Something else drew his eye, and he had a close look at his screen.

'Captain, I'm getting something else from the planet. There's a signal of some kind. Something on the FTL band... now it’s gone.' Victor reported.

'Any sign of our ghost?'

'Not yet ma'am. I think he's gone dark too.' Vick said, 'And if he's gone dark, he probably doesn't have any buddies nearby. Otherwise, he would have just tried to pin us with an active sensor pulse and light us up.'

Sam stood contemplating Victor's observation, and he waited for