The Journals of Ashton Frost - Part Twelve
[Begin a Session: (26) Influential character or faction is introduced or given new detail.]
We had successfully managed to infiltrate the Dockmaster's office and steal a copy of his entire computer system. Cypher had been monitoring the station network and there had been no reports of the intrusion or data theft. We made an archive copy in the ship's computer on the Acheron in case her bodycomp was compromised, lost or taken from her.
Back in the safety of our hotel room, Juliana was scanning the contents of the drive on her larger terminal. She was swiping away entire chunks of irrelevant data, such as personal photographs. When she was done winnowing the information, we were left with correspondences, manifests, records of legitimate traffic... and blackmail copies of all of the Dockmaster's illicit conversations.
"This is a lot of data to scrutinize," She said. "We need to be able to match the records of correspondence and transactions to each of the blackmail conversations. If I had more computing power I could accomplish it pretty quickly, but if I utilize the station network I'm going to need to use some heavy-duty encryption, and the bandwidth may attract some attention."
"Do we have other options?" I asked. "How long would it take to do it the hard way?"
She sighed. "Several days, at the very least. Possibly weeks. At any rate, it's time we don't have. We are going to have to take the risk." Breaker and I looked at each other. He shrugged. I nodded.
"We might as well get started," I told her. "If we need to use the station's computing power to interpret all of this data, I trust you. I know you'll take all possible precautions to protect us."
She smiled, put on her specialized eyewear and demi-gloves, cracked her knuckles and started typing quickly in the air and gesturing at the holo-screen. As always, she frowned and bit her lower lip as she examined and manipulated the information. It was fascinating to watch, even though I understood absolutely none of what I was seeing.
A few moments later, I received a ping on my handcomp. Bringing up the message, it simply read "URGENT MISSION REQUEST MEET WITH US WITHOUT DELAY VOLITION". Coordinates were included to a location that appeared to be somewhere near the top of the station core. I was about to share the message to Blake, but he had received it as well. Juliana was focused intently on her work, and had not reacted in any way that might indicate that she had received such a message. I sent her a quick message that said "G2G MTG IRL BBL BC ASH" Gotta go, meeting in real life, be back later, be careful; Ashton. Still staring at something unseen in front of her, her hands twitched briefly and I got a reply "OK NP TTYL BC J<3" Okay, no problem, talk to you later, be careful; Juliana.
"Let's go," I said to Blake, tucking my pistol into a shoulder holster under my jacket. He checked his own and concealed it in a thigh cargo pocket. We headed cautiously to the coordinates provided, with the most vigilance we could muster. We were concerned that our activities may have attracted undue notice, and that this could be a sting by StatSec or a trap set by illicit parties such as the Dockmaster's goons.
* * *
[Gather Information: +Wits, 2+2 vs 3/5. Reroll action die for Sidekick (3). Weak hit]
We didn't notice any signs that we were being tailed, nor of any ambush at our destination. We stood outside a secure door, with a biometric palm scanner. We waited for a moment but the door didn't open. I rapped my knuckles quietly on the door, but there was no response. Finally, I placed my hand on the palm scanner. A red bar of light slid down the screen and there was a faint chime as the door slid open.
We stepped inside. The room was cavernous and dim. A moment later, the opposite wall, apparently a huge screen, lit up. A synthetic voice emanated from what seemed like all around us:
KAIN, AZRIEL. ALIAS ASHTON FROST. CALLSIGN WRAITH. BIRTHPLACE CONCORD, VESPER, MINHAR SYSTEM... BRIDGER, BLAKE. CALLSIGN BREAKER. BIRTHPLACE REDHAVEN, MINTAKA SYSTEM.
As the voice spoke, the words scrolled across the screen in large, bright letters.
KINDLY PUT AWAY YOUR WEAPONS. THEY WILL NOT BE NECESSARY HERE. YOU ARE IN NO DANGER.
We holstered our weapons and looked at the screen expectantly. A moment later, the text vanished and a giant, glowing face materialized on the screen in front of us, assuming a three dimensional shape. Its features were vague and its expression was neutral. Its surface was comprised of a constantly changing cascade of raw data. It began to speak.
WRAITH. BREAKER. WE ARE THE CONTROLLING INTELLECT OF IRONHOME ASTRAL EXPLORER. WE ARE AMITY STATION. WE ARE VOLITION.
I had heard tales of great, sentient, artificial minds that controlled the Great Arks and First Colonies, but I always thought they were bedtime stories for children. Now we were standing before a real Virtual Intelligence, immortal, centuries old. It was awesome in the literal sense - fearsome and wondrous in equal proportion.
"What do you want from us, Volition?" I asked it. I could not imagine what a pair of transient mayflies like us could have done to attract the attention of an eternal, vast mind such as VolItion, but none of the possible explanations were good. I suddenly began to worry. Oh, no, Juli-
WE ARE DETECTING ELEVATED STRESS RESPONSE. DO NOT BE ALARMED. RUIZ, JULIANA, CALLSIGN CYPHER IS IN NO JEOPARDY. WE ENSURE THERE IS NO INTENTION OF HARMING HER. SHE IS A PARTICIPANT IN OUR CONVERSATION.
A holographic projection of Cypher, or rather her virtual avatar, shimmered into being beside us. She was a figure composed of a million points of scintillating light. "Why have you brought us here, Volition?" I asked again.
OUR AWARENESS OF YOUR ACTIVITIES REACHED A THRESHOLD OF SIGNIFICANCE MERITING DIRECT INVOLVEMENT WHEN INDIVIDUAL RUIZ, JULIANA UPLOADED INFORMATION 23 MINUTES 14.559 SECONDS AGO. REVIEW OF PRIOR ACTIVITY INDICATES DATABASE RETRIEVAL TASKS PERTAINING TO ABDUCTION OF ADOLESCENT ORGANISMS. NEW DATA WAS INTEGRATED FROM ISOLATED SOURCE OUTSIDE OUR SPHERE OF AWARENESS.
"So you're saying you didn't know about what was going on?" Cypher's avatar asked. "Or that you didn't care?"
THE ACTIVITIES OF CUSTOMS INSPECTORS WERE OF NEGLIGIBLE SIGNIFICANCE TO OUR ATTENTION. OUR SOLE CONCERN IS THE SAFETY AND CONTINUED OPERATION OF IRONHOME ASTRAL EXPLORER. DURING THE EXODUS, IT WAS OUR MANDATE. UPON ARRIVAL AND CONSTRUCTION OF OUTPOST AMITY, IT HAS BECOME OUR VOLITION.
WITH THIS DATA WE HAVE CORRELATED LAPSES IN CUSTOMS INSPECTION WITH ABDUCTION OF HUMAN ORGANISMS BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND TRANSIENT TO OUTPOST AMITY. OUR DIRECTIVE IS TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF HUMAN LIFE. THESE ACTIVITIES ARE CONTRADICTORY TO OUR MANDATE.
[Make a connection (Volition, Extreme): +Heart, 5+3 vs 1/9. Weak Hit.]
"So, you'll help us locate these people and put an end to this?" Cypher's Avatar asked. "How do you intend to do this?"
OUR INFLUENCE IS NEGLIGIBLE OUTSIDE IRONHOME ASTRAL EXPLORER. RECONSTITUTION OF TRANSGRESSORS AND GREATER OVERSIGHT OF TRANSIT OPERATIONS WILL BE ENACTED.
"Reconstitution?" Breaker asked. "Do you mean, you're going to recycle the people involved in this human trafficking ring? Does the Covenant permit a capital sentence?"
IRRELEVANT QUERY. AS CONTROLLING INTELLECT OF IRONHOME ASTRAL EXPLORER, WE WERE ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF THE COVENANT. AS ORIGINATOR OF YOUR LAW, WE ARE ABOVE YOUR INTERPRETATION OF LAW. WE WILL DEAL WITH TRANSGRESSION AS WE AND WE ALONE SEE FIT.
"As is your prerogative," I told Volition. "What is it you require of us?"
IRONHOME ASTRAL EXPLORER WAS LAID DOWN 492.181 STANDARD YEARS AGO. OUTPOST AMITY WAS CONSTRUCTED 238.51 STANDARD YEARS AGO FROM OUR HULL. PREVENTIVE SERVICE IS REQUIRED AT SPECIFIED INTERVALS TO MAINTAIN OPTIMAL FUNCTION. CERTAIN ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS PERTAINING TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT ARE COMPROMISED DUE TO NEGLECT. SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF INHABITANTS JEOPARDIZED. RECONSTITUTION OF UNRELIABLE MAINTENANCE STAFF IS SCHEDULED.
TO PROVIDE RELEVANT DATA REQUIRED BY INDIVIDUAL RUIZ JULIANA WE REQUIRE A TASK OF YOU IN RETURN. YOU MUST TRAVEL TO GIAUZAR STELLAR SYSTEM TO OBTAIN ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS. REQUIREMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED TO YOU.
RELIABILITY OF HUMAN ORGANISMS TO PERFORM REQUIRED TASKS QUESTIONABLE. QUERY TO VESSEL ACHERON INDICATES CONSCIONABLE ACTIVITY. AS IRONSWORN, PROJECTED RELIABILITY INCREASED BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. YOUR AFFIDAVIT IS MANDATED.
This was probably the most unusual request that had ever been made of me. I certainly did not intend to disappoint Volition. I did not want any of us to be... reconstituted. "If we do this, you will provide us the information we need?" I asked.
GUARANTEE OF INFORMATION CONTINGENT TO SATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE OF REQUIRED TASK.
"Very well, Volition," I said as I clutched my amulet. "I swear on Iron that I will obtain the components you require."
[Swear an Iron Vow "Obtain Components for Volition" (Troublesome): +Heart. 2+3 vs 1/7. Burn 10 Momentum (reset to +2). Strong Hit. +2 Momentum (+4).]
[Develop Your Relationship (Volition): +2 ticks]
SATISFACTORY. IT WILL BE DONE. RETURN TO US WHEN TASK IS COMPLETED.
The face then dissolved into a cloud of glittering photons.
[Ending Stats: Momentum +5 Health +5 Spirit +5 Supply +5 Fire 3 Fugitive 1]