But Logos 1.1, who was busy downloading himself from the vest via a wired connection, didn’t want to be interrupted. Especially given the fact that the transfer was 96 percent complete. “Remain where you are,” the AI ordered tersely, his voice booming through the overhead speakers.
Fortunately, Rebo was standing so close to Tepho and Logos that when the hidden weapon pods began to fire it was impossible to score a direct hit on the runner without harming the AI as well. The norm felt a momentary sensation of heat as a ruby-red energy beam scorched his right sleeve, struck the deck beyond, and etched a black line into the steel plating.
“Stay close to Tepho!” Norr shouted, and was reaching for the power pistol when Sogol attempted to jump free. Not in an attempt to flee, but to reach the console, where the AI hoped to download herself into Socket’s CPU.
But Norr managed to grab hold of the construct before she could escape, said, “Oh, no you don’t,” and took aim at the nearest laser pod. The automated weapons couldn’t fire back, not so long as the sensitive had Sogol to protect her, which left the variant free to destroy the energy projectors one at a time. It typically required at least three energy bolts before a given turret would explode in a flash of yellow light. And that meant precious seconds were coming off the clock.
Once Norr had neutralized all the pods, and Rebo was able to step away from Tepho, the sensitive carried Logos 1.2 over to the console. There was a small metal-rimmed hole off to one side, which was intended for her, and the AI went in headfirst. The variant saw Sogol’s tail wiggle for a moment, then disappear as the construct sought the evil twin within.
Tepho felt the gun barrel jab the base of his neck again. “Stand up,” Rebo growled, “or I will blow what passes for your brains all over that console.”
The technologist stood, mind racing, while the runner tugged at the vest. Never in his wildest imaginings had Tepho visualized a situation like this one. But there had to be a way out, some means to escape the couple who had caused him so much trouble, and return with reinforcements. What neither man realized was that by the time the technologist passed the vest over to Rebo, Logos was no longer resident within it, which made them vulnerable. A fact that quickly became apparent as the surround rippled and three of the spherical enforcers appeared. The first energy bolt punched a hole through the garment that dangled from Rebo’s hand, the second took a chunk out of Tepho’s left arm, and the third severed the top of the chairman’s thronelike chair.
Tepho ducked behind the console while the others turned to engage the enforcers. Having already learned that the energy rifle didn’t have the power required to punch holes in the robot’s armor, Rebo dropped that weapon in favor of the dart gun, which he removed from its shoulder holster.
And, while Norr was ready with her sword, the sensitive was so busy ducking and dodging it was impossible to use it. The variant’s opportunity only came when the runner fired—and the first explosive round hit the enforcer nearest him. There was a loud
boom
, the robot belched smoke, and the acrid stench of ozone filled the air.
Then, as the other machines turned to concentrate their fire on Rebo, Norr managed to roll under one of them. That turned out to be a mistake however, because the downward pressure generated by the enforcer’s onboard repulsor unit was sufficient to pin her down, and the machine clearly intended to crush her.
But, thanks to the fact that the sensitive’s sword was pointed upward, the enforcer wound up impaling itself on the supersharp sliver of steel rather than killing the human being it was after. Norr felt the pressure disappear as the repulsor went off-line, knew the robot would fall, and hurried to roll out of the way. The variant felt the machine’s metal casing brush her arm as it fell. There was a loud
clang
as armor hit the steel deck followed by the gentle moan of released air.
Meanwhile, the battle between Rebo and the remaining enforcers continued. The good news was that the explosive darts were effective against the big spheres. The bad news was that the first unit the runner attacked sustained three separate hits before finally suffering significant damage to its onboard guidance system. A few moments later the construct powered its way through the surrounding holo curtain, smashed into the bulkhead beyond, and crashed to the deck.
Now, having taken cover behind the wreckage of the first enforcer, the runner was attempting to get a bead on the
third
robot. Unfortunately for Rebo, the machine had the capacity to learn. And, having observed what had happened to the other units, had taken evasive action. By going up to its maximum altitude of twelve feet, the robot had positioned itself against the dark overhead, making it difficult to see. Although Rebo could see the energy bolts as they flashed down at him, it was impossible to know which way the machine would move next. All of which explained why the last three shots had missed their mark.
But the enforcer’s plan, good though it was, failed to take the second biological into account. A fact that became evident when the robot passed under a crossbeam and felt something land on top of it. Then, even as the machine readied an electric shock designed to counter that sort of attack, the weight dropped away. The enforcer bobbed upward, and was still in the process of analyzing what had occurred, when the phib energy grenade went off.
Since she knew next to nothing about the robot’s design, and was eager to jump off the machine as quickly as possible, Norr had been content to shove the little bomb into any aperture she could find. Which, as it turned out, was an intake vent. And once the grenade detonated, the duct channeled hot gases directly into the enforcer’s high-tech guts, where they triggered a secondary explosion. Rebo heard a dull
thump
, saw flames shoot out through multiple cracks in the machine’s armor, and watched the construct as it fell on the far end of the kidney-shaped console.
Rebo’s first thought was for Tepho. Had the technologist been killed? The runner sincerely hoped so, but crossed the room only to discover that the slippery bastard was nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, deep within the surreal universe of Socket’s CPU, an entirely different kind of war was being fought. A desperate conflict in which bolts of logical lightning illuminated a bleak landscape, multicolored lights glittered as they cascaded down tiers of memory into rivers of molten data, and mountainous subroutines vanished only to magically reappear as twin titans battled for control.
But dramatic though the contest was, there was never any doubt as to which AI would emerge victorious. By the time Sogol entered Socket’s Central Processing Unit Logos was so firmly entrenched that a miracle would have been required to dislodge him. And there were no miracles within the space station’s CPU, just calculations, which the older AI controlled. So, even as Sogol continued to fight, she knew what the ultimate outcome would have to be. And though not capable of human emotion, processed a sense of profound noncompletion, which was analogous to regret.
Norr had just learned of Tepho’s escape when Sogol’s voice came over the speakers. “I will hold out as long as I can, but Logos 1.1 will ultimately seize control of Socket, and therefore humanity itself.”
“No!”
The word was formed by Norr’s lips and delivered from her mouth, but had been spoken by someone else. The sensitive felt a surge of something akin to electricity as the entity once known as Emperor Hios took control of her body. “This is Lysander. . . . Hold Logos 1.1 off as long as you can! There is a way to destroy Socket . . . a code that I took to my grave. Once I enter it into the console, my channel will have ten minutes to evacuate. Then, once the power core blows, the entire satellite will be destroyed.”
Rebo watched Lysander walk Norr’s body over the badly ravaged console. There was an audible
whir
as a section of seemingly solid material opened in response to her touch, and a keypad was revealed. Slim fingers danced over white buttons as a string of potentially lethal numbers were entered and Logos 1.1 immediately sought to neutralize them. But the AI
couldn’t
interfere with the ultimate safeguard, not so long as his programming was intact, but was quick to express his frustration. “
No!
Are you insane? When Socket dies, everything you built, everything you worked for will die with it!”
“That’s true,” the onetime emperor intoned. “But it’s better than allowing entities like Tepho and you to control humanity! Perhaps someone will reinvent the star gates one day. . . . If so, I can only hope that they do a better job of it than I did.”
Then, as if to underline Lysander’s words, a klaxon began to bleat. Norr staggered as the spirit entity released its grip on her, felt Rebo take her hand, and heard him yell, “Run!”
Tepho tripped, fell, and threw out his hands in a last-
second attempt to protect himself. Having added still more bruises to the collection he already had, the technologist struggled to his feet and limped ahead. The shoulder wound was painful, but the flesh had been cauterized by the same bolt of energy that injured it, so there wasn’t any blood. Of more concern were the robots that wanted to kill him. But not if he made it to the star gate first!
Armed with a pistol taken off Shaz’s headless torso, the technologist was on level one, making his way down a long stretch of corridor, when a klaxon began to bleat. Emergency beacons began to flash soon after that, and it became obvious that something was wrong.
But the administrator was already running as fast as he could, so there was nothing more that he could do as a synthesized female voice began the final countdown. “Time remaining for evacuation nine minutes, thirty seconds. All personnel who wish to exit the station prior to detonation are ordered to leave Socket
now.
. . . Time remaining for evacuation nine minutes, twenty-five seconds. All personnel . . .”
Tepho lost track of the announcement as a loud
chittering
sound was heard, hundreds of guardians poured out into the hallway in front of him, and the technologist was forced to stop. The pistol jumped in the administrator’s hand as he fired into the oncoming mob. Tepho had the momentary satisfaction of seeing more than a dozen robots go down. But then he was out of ammo, and with no backup clips to call on, the norm could do little more than throw the empty gun at the roiling mass of electromechanical bodies before him. Just as Tepho was about to surrender to the inevitable, a dart whizzed past his right ear, struck one of the mechanimals, and exploded.
“So, we meet again,” Norr observed, as she stepped up to fire her shotgun.
The technologist felt something warm seep down along his legs, and looked down to discover that he had peed himself, even as Rebo fired three explosive rounds into what remained of the horde. “Time remaining for evacuation, eight minutes, fifteen seconds,” the voice announced calmly. “All personnel who wish to exit the station . . .”
“That would be
us
!” Rebo exclaimed, and reached out to help Norr through the electromechanical gore that covered the deck.
“But what about
me
?” Tepho wailed miserably, as the others left him behind.
“It looks like you’re screwed!” Rebo shouted cheerfully, as Norr rounded the corner ahead, and he followed. The couple were in the final stretch by that time, and racing through the area where an earlier battle had been fought, when Sogol was forced to capitulate. There was a symbolic explosion deep within Socket’s CPU, as the eternally shifting computational landscape was momentarily illuminated by a brilliant flash of light, and operating system 1.2 was eradicated.
And it was then, even as the countdown fell to six minutes, twenty seconds, that Logos chose to close all of the station’s airtight, blastproof doors in hopes that he could trap Rebo and Norr in the main corridor. Rebo saw the steel barriers begin to deploy and urged Norr to greater speed, but knew it was hopeless. They were still fifteen feet away from the nearest hatch when metal clanged on metal. Socket was going to blow, the countdown continued, and the star gate lay on the other side of the hatch.
Rebo felt his spirits plummet as both he and the sensitive were forced to put on the brakes, and were still struggling to slow themselves, when they threw up their hands. “Damn,” the runner exclaimed as his hands made contact with cold steel. “What now?”
“Time remaining for evacuation, five minutes, thirty seconds,” the voice put in emotionlessly. “All personnel who wish . . .”
Norr had no answer, and was just about to say as much, when a third person spoke. “Perhaps I can help,” Tepho said calmly. They turned to find that the technologist had approached them from behind. The front of his pants remained wet—but the technologist was otherwise composed. “As with any habitat of this size,” Tepho continued carefully, “there is more than one way off. Come . . . I’ll show you.”
So saying, the administrator turned and limped back the way he had come. Rebo looked at Norr, and the sensitive shrugged. With no other options to choose from, the twosome had very little choice but to follow Tepho a short distance to a newly opened hatch and the bright red decal located beside it. The sign was directly opposite the area where the first battle with the guardians had been fought— which explained why the runner failed to see it earlier. Simple though they were the words caused his heart to leap: ESCAPE POD THREE.
Norr peered through the opening and saw that a short ladder led up to another smaller hatch. The sensitive looked at Tepho and frowned. “Why come get us? You could be clear by now,” the variant commented suspiciously.
“Because I can’t climb the ladder by myself,” the technologist answered honestly. “Please help me.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Rebo responded angrily. “After everything you’ve done? I don’t think so. Come on, Lonni, let’s get out of here.”