Borne On Wings of Steel (37 page)

"What kind of transmission is it?"

"It is badly garbled due to the weak signal as picked up by the alien starship. This ship, an Addai trader, recorded it six months ago in a distant quadrant as it made a run. I will play one section that especially intrigues me."

"Why did the Paum send it?” Minstrel asked.

"He said it is a gift from him that shows his true concern for me. And the children. He only recently realized it was part of his data. It was logged by the Addai trader under low priority and submitted to the Naval authorities as a possible beacon for rescue. After a brief investigation, they too filed it away as of little importance, seemingly because there is not enough of the original message left in which to ascertain either the origin or the actual reason for it."

"It is about human survivors?” Minstrel surmised.

"Yes."

"Then, it may not be reliable. Remember how the Paum's agents used this very ploy."

"The Paum says this is a gift, whether I decide to visit him or not."

"No doubt, the coordinates are very distant."

"True. But the coordinates are in relative proximity to the original human worlds—about two full sectors outside the quadrant humankind once inhabited. If this transmission is reliable, then this group escaped in the opposite direction from the route the children and I took when we left the same worlds. It is a likely coordinate one would expect such a transmission to emanate from."

"Interesting.” Minstrel glowed brighter. “And the Paum has simply given it to us, no strings attached?"

"Correct, I have the entire transmission stored now."

"Play the key section of it for me."

"As I said, most of it is static and badly garbled words. I have amplified and corrected some of it. And I can infer parts of it from what does come through clearly."

"Please, play some of it."

The speakers located throughout the bridge came alive with the steady drone of static. Mother continued to fine-tune and filter the background noise as the volume increased then suddenly decreased. Faintly, amid all the crackling background noise, whispering voices rose.

"Here, the signal suddenly improved. Perhaps because the Trader homed in better on the weak signal."

"—
static
—survivors of—
static
—
static
—left our worl ...
static
—” The static increased and droned for several, long seconds. Almost as if a switch turned on, a voice suddenly came through clearly above the ever-present static.

"...called humans. We hope anyone getting this will..."

The static drowned the male voice once again.

"Here,” Mother said. “As you see, so little came through that it is of little value. Little value except to those who have knowledge in which to fill in the blanks. But notice this part, this is the part that seems to validate the entire transmission. I will fast forward through the noise and incomprehensible words."

The static over the speakers crackled with a faster tempo. Then the male voice came through, crystal clear.

"...will repeat. I am Shri Patel of the human world Oceanus.” A momentary pause ensued, but the static remained at a low level indicating that the speaker had paused and not that the noise was drowning out any words.

Suddenly, a female voice spoke.

"My name is Susan Chen. I am from...” Static once again flared, drowning out the rest her words.

A third voice spoke after Mother fast-forwarded through the static again.

"...aldo Gutierrez. Originally from—
static
... rth, but lived most of my life on Nuevo Mu ...
static
—Please, help..."

The all-pervasive static rose to a deafening roar.

"There are brief parts where one or two other words become discernable, but this is the section that checks with my knowledgebase."

"The surnames are accurate for humans?” Minstrel asked.

"Indeed. And they are from three distinct ethnic groups that originated on the human homeworld of Earth."

"Would the Paum have sufficient knowledge in which to fabricate this message?” Minstrel asked with a subdued glow. “The parts that are discernable are few and brief."

"Yes, most of the words the Paum could have fabricated,” Mother agreed. “With the exception of the proper names of the three individuals and the one clearly stated name of a planet. And the two partially stated names of planets."

"Oceanus was a world inhabited by humans?"

"Yes, a small world that was actually a moon orbiting a larger gas planet uninhabitable by humans. It is referenced in my knowledgebase. The other planet partially stated would be Nuevo Mundo, a planet that the children and I actually visited before we left."

"And of course, the last partial name could be Earth,” Minstrel added.

"Yes. And the Paum claimed the message was picked up well after the final T'kaan assault. The facts seem to fit,” Mother said. “The Paum might know about the name Earth. And definitely the word human and all the other words—but how could he fabricate the personal names of the three voices so exactly—without some source on which to base them?"

"And the only sources that exist in the entire universe are within your knowledgebase, within the network of Minstrels, and within the systems of the Three Kingdoms.” Minstrel's body suddenly expanded. “Unless the Paum has interrogated one of those, it could not have fabricated the names so accurately."

"This is the first evidence we have obtained that has a high probability indicating that there are other human survivors,” Mother said with confidence.

"And not just the hopes and dreams of Jaric and Kyle.” Minstrel paused. “Will you share this with the children immediately?"

"No, I want to run more analyses and try to clean up more of the message. Perhaps I can learn more, hear more of the original message and thereby focus our search more exactly when the time comes."

"And you will do this while you visit the Paum.” Minstrel's tone was matter-of-fact.

"Yes. I will instruct the children to meet me at these coordinates in two weeks—a small system outside the Paum-controlled worlds. At that time I will share this transmission with them."

"But, you will tell them that you go to meet the Paum—in person?"

"Yes."

"I would suggest you not only encrypt the message, but let us forward the message on a tight signal to my ship. I will set up a delay timer and have the message sent on to Meramee."

"Do you think that is necessary?” Mother asked.

"I think so—just to be safe. And, I would like to send a message to the other Minstrels and let them know that I am going with you. Once our meeting is over, you and I both can report our findings to the Order of Minstrels."

"That would be an honor,” Mother said with pleasure. “And we will report only the facts about this entity and the worlds he governs—not any bias. The universe will know the truth about the Paum AI."

"I hope our report will vindicate the Paum,” Minstrel said with a sigh.

[Back to Table of Contents]

"MOTHER IS GOING to visit the
Paum
?” Jysar said with utter disbelief.

The delayed transmission from Mother and Minstrel—delayed one day since originally sent—finished playing on the console before the Hrono Technologist, the Mewiis explorer and the Kraaqi captain.

"How can that be? We warned her about the Paum already,” Krinia added in the same tone. “She was just going to spend time with Minstrel."

Jysar's face frowned with a puzzled expression.

"It is as the Iraxx warrior warned,” Rok said with a nod. “Somehow the Paum has seduced Mother to come to him. And once there, he will attempt to infiltrate her systems."

"Or worse!” Jysar exclaimed, remembering his first contact with Mother. And remembering his instructions to disassemble the MotherShip and reverse engineer her so the Hrono could recreate the AI starship for themselves.

"I will contact Qirn.” Rok immediately punched up the Iraxx starship parked a short distance away from them. Seconds later, the now familiar visage of Qirn resolved on the screen.

"Is something wrong?"

"We've just received a transmission from Mother,” Rok began. Quickly, he recounted the gist of her message to the Iraxx warrior.

On the screen, Qirn rubbed his chin in thought. “It is just as I feared,” he said. “I knew the Paum would find a way to lure the Mother AI to him."

"Why would she ignore our warnings?” Rok said. “We warned her that the Paum would try to lure her to him. We sent multiple warnings with more detail each time."

Qirn stared back at Rok from the view-screen. “How many did she acknowledge?"

Rok's eyes widened with thought.

"One, I am sure of. The others..."

Qirn's face grew devoid of emotion.

"It appears some of your messages did not get through to her."

Rok slammed his fist down on his console in anger. “We should have confirmed each one!” He looked at the others with dismay. “We have been too preoccupied with the beauty of Meramee—and too lackadaisical about security!"

"Don't blame yourself, the Paum is a tricky enemy. He has fooled warriors as great as yourself before. The Paum even took my world under its control.” Qirn shook his head sadly.

"What can we do?” Rok growled. “We may not reach Mother with a warning. We will try, but if she does not reply, we must assume it too was blocked."

"We will rescue her."

Rok stared at the view-screen with a surprised expression. “How can we do that? We need detailed planning—well-thought-out preparations. That takes time."

Qirn's eyes narrowed as he nodded with newfound respect for the Kraaqi. “Indeed, my people planned such a thing long ago. We have only been waiting for the right moment."

"And how could you have predicted that an AI starship would be taken to the Paum AI? You had no idea until the last few weeks that such existed.” Rok looked at the Iraxx with suspicion.

"No, our fleets and armies have waited until the right moment when we could coordinate such an attack from
inside
the Paum as well as outside!"

Rok growled in a low tone as he stared at the Iraxx a moment in silence.

"Go on."

"The main complex of the Paum is protected by an immense array of shields. Besides, the Paum is also very redundant. It is possible to cut off his network to all the other worlds he controls, including our homeworld. But we could never fully free our worlds unless we destroyed it.” Qirn watched Rok carefully for his reaction.

"So, you have a plan of attack that you've held for the right situation,” Rok said with a doubting tone. “How has this made it the right moment?"

"The Paum complex is vast. A small army of robots and aliens travel daily to its interiors in order to provide routine maintenance. We have duplicated a few identification passes that will allow access. But so few could not hope to do any real damage.” Qirn smiled. “But, if we can rescue the Mother AI and use her weapons on the Paum—
from inside the shield array
—we could do enough damage or cause enough trouble so that we disconnect the Paum from all the other worlds and defeat all its fleets and then destroy the Paum once and for all."

Rok thought of Mother's arsenal of weapons, especially the powerful hybrid weapon. He looked at the Iraxx with a neutral expression. “It is possible that Mother could do some serious damage."

"See!” Qirn said enthusiastically. “That is more than we had ever hoped for, a powerful starship deep inside the Paum when our attacks begin. All we have to do is get to her."

"And how hard will that be?” Rok asked.

"We have spies inside—a few. Once we know where in the complex the Paum has her, I will let you know the difficulties involved. But we must act quickly. I am sure the Paum will try to make a direct connection with the Mother AI in order to inject his code and infiltrate and control her systems. If that happens, all will be lost."

"Mother's message was sent yesterday from Malata. How far off is the Paum world?"

"It is a seven-day journey by hyperdrive from Malata. It's about ten days from Meramee."

"Then, we have already lost..."

"No, not if we take a more
unorthodox
route.” Qirn smiled wider as Rok arched his eyebrows.

"And that is?"

"
Wormhole
."

Rok shook his head in order to decline even as he fought to accept the wild and dangerous idea. For long seconds he did not say a word. Finally, he took a deep breath, held it a moment, and let it out with a rush of air.

When he spoke, his tone was deadly serious.

"These high stakes warrant such a dangerous route."

"Good. In that case, we will reach the planet the Paum complex orbits within hours of the Mother AI's arrival. It will take us six days, sixteen hours to make the Wormhole entrance—traveling in the opposite direction. And six hours traveling inside."

"Short Wormhole,” Rok commented.

"But enough for our schedule. We may make it in slightly less time—depending on how much damage our ships take inside the Wormhole."

"I am sending a recall to all my crew and passengers now,” Rok said with a commanding tone. “My ship will lift within the hour. Send me the coordinates to meet you out in space."

"Done."

The view-screen went dark.

On board the Iraxx starship, Jerr approached Qirn.

"Did I hear right? You think a small team, even if they can get through Paum security with fake IDs, will be able to survive for even five minutes once the Paum determines they are not mere workers?” Jerr stared with utter disbelief at Qirn.

"We do not have to survive,” Qirn said without emotion.

"I guess not!” Jerr shouted angrily. “It is pure suicide. The Paum complex is crawling with Destructors! We'll have our guts sucked out before we make it halfway to the MotherShip!"

"Then we need to hope that the emotional bond we have observed between the humans and the Mother AI will predicate a reaction by it—a violent reaction—if her children are in mortal danger.” Qirn stared resolutely at Jerr. “I will only ask for volunteers. But, I will personally lead this team—live or die."