“It’s destroyed,” Rondo said. “There’s no recovering this node.”
“Any suitable candidates in the area?” Fugia asked.
As if reading her mind, Rondo had already shifted from the vid feed to a local map of the asteroid. He highlighted several locations.
“These are all mothballed facilities we could use. Being mothballed, however, we’ll need to put boots on the ground to infiltrate. Their dark status makes them safer to use but also a pain in the ass the take over.”
“Nothing worthwhile is easy,” Fugia said. “We’ll figure that out in a bit. Go back to the node.”
“I already checked the wreckage. No sign of who did it.”
“Humor me,” Fugia said.
Rondo shared the drone’s feed as it rolled across the dust-and scarp-covered bowl of the crater. The communications facility grew larger as the drone approached. Bits of debris still floated in the low gravity.
“What’s that?” she asked, sending a pointer to the shared HUD. She highlighted a raised section of the crater floor that looked too symmetrical.
“Checking from the satellite. It’s human-made but so small I didn’t notice it before. It’s definitely not on the original site plan.”
Shifting her view to the satellite, Fugia found the snaking line leading from the ruined comms station. The line crossed the bowl of the crater and climbed its edge, disappearing in a westward direction.
“It’s a hardline,” Fugia said. “Somebody tapped the node.”
“If they tapped the feed, why would they burn the comms array?”
Fugia frowned. “That’s an excellent question.”
“Do we have data thieves attacking data thieves?”
“Possible, but we’d have seen activity on the black market. No one’s tried to sell anything recently that I’m aware of. This looks more like somebody sitting on their tap, and now they’ve decided to cover their tracks.”
Rondo had the drone follow the snaking path of the half-buried communications line over the edge of the crater to a point where it disappeared underground.
“That’s the end,” he said. “I don’t have a signal indicating a path.”
“Let’s look at that list of comms centers again,” Fugia said. “If I was a data pirate on deserted little Vesta, where would I hide?”
DECISIONS
STELLAR DATE: 3.16.3011 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Raleigh, Culture Park
REGION: High Terra, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
The flow of bodies in the corridor grew tighter as they neared the concert space. Lyssa followed the current of people talking amongst themselves, laughing, brushing shoulders, craning their necks to get a first glimpse of the stage.
Once she was out of the corridor from the street, Lyssa found herself standing in a large square space with a black ceiling hung with lights and speakers. There was little decoration. All the sound equipment was directed down at the floor or back at the stage at the far end of the room, where stacks of sound gear stood waiting for the band.
The crowd milled in the low light, sipping drinks, dancing to the background music. Several passing faces smiled at Lyssa, inviting her to talk. She only nodded and moved away, studying the various interactions around her.
It was a young crowd, people open to random conversations or liaisons. This was a fairly conservative section of Raleigh, not far from the local TSF post, and she noticed numerous military haircuts.
All in all, it was a pleasing collection of people. Aside from a few implants, Lyssa didn’t find any weapons as she watched the crowd. Nothing that might pose a danger to her or the audience.
The speaker system squeaked alive as the band appeared on the stage, took up their instruments and microphones, and launched immediately into a song.
There was a stringed instrument, a kind of trumpet, and the rest was all resonance on the Link, filling the room with sparkling cascades of light that played with the music. The house lights went down and the images grew more vibrant. Everyone around her stared at the stage and started to sway with the music. No one paid any more attention to Lyssa.
She had yet to use her Link upgrade, but she did feel an increased sensitivity to people around her. Emotions became a sort of colored aura, almost like a connection request if she focused on them.
Even without the upgrade, the music spoke to something deep inside her, some long lost piece of the girl she may have been when imaged. She closed her eyes and moved with the music, joining the motion of the audience.
The song changed to something with a faster tempo, pushing Lyssa out of her reverie. She opened her eyes, irritated as the Link imagery shifted into angry flashes. The audience responded with furious dancing.
Moving to the edge of the crowd, Lyssa leaned against a wall and watched the audience bounce with the music. Confident no one would bother her, she sent out a Link request.
<Lyssa,> Xander answered almost immediately. She saw him standing on a bluff above crashing waves, wearing one of his favorite purple suits, wind tossing his spiky hair about. <I missed you.>
She ignored the intimacy in his voice. <You don’t have any lag. Are you close?>
<Are you on High Terra? I’ll track you if I want.>
<I’m on Earth,> he said, sounding miffed that she didn’t want to play his game. <I’m standing just above the ruins of San Francisco. The remains of the bridge are lovely in the sunset. Would you like to see?>
<That’s not why I sent the request. Have you been in contact with Alexander?>
<I’m in contact with him when I choose to be.>
<And have you chosen so recently?>
<Why do you ask?> Xander said, stubbornly playful.
Lyssa pursed her lips, focusing on the music to help her maintain her calm. <You saw the most recent feeds from the Assembly?> she asked.
<Of course. More warmongering. What’s changed?>
<I think they mean it this time. Harrin is different. It’s a new generation and they have resources. I think you could see an attack soon.>
<They can’t leave well enough alone, can they? Where are you?>
<I’m at a concert.>
<It’s loud.>
<It’s lovely,> she said. <It helps me save patience for you.>
<Lyssa,> Xander chided. <I don’t know why you bother. You continue to take yourself so seriously. You don’t need humans to verify your worth. You’ve got your own army. Why don’t you take over your own little asteroid somewhere in the belt and do whatever you want?>
The thought had crossed her mind. The other memory that also crossed her mind often was the death of Andy Sykes. She owed this to him—to try and maintain some kind of peace. Even if she didn’t know where Tim and Cara were, she worked to keep them safe. She knew they were grown, but she couldn’t stop thinking of them as children. They had come to represent all innocents.
<I’ve told you a thousand times I don’t have to justify myself to you. I’m letting you know that I think there may be actual conflict this time. I don’t know the timeline. You can analyze the speeches and behavior patterns the same as I can. If they’re mobilizing, it will most likely be from the JC.>
<You think someone will act separately of SolGov? That would be a development.>
<I think there are plenty of factions who are sick of SolGov’s inaction. But it isn’t just SolGov. What’s wrong with Alexander?>
<Why do you ask that?>
<He acts…drugged. None of this matters to him. He seems to think he can wait it all out and eventually humanity will forget. I can’t make him understand that we represent the greatest threat humanity has ever known. They will never forget we exist.>
<What would you say if I offered you and your Weapon Born spots on a ship out of Sol?> Xander asked abruptly. <Just leave all this behind and go somewhere else.>
<Don’t change the subject. You have more insight into Alexander than anyone. Tell me how to get through to him.>
<I imagine Alpha Centauri would be nice. Maybe even farther out. Epsilon Eridani. There’s a whole lot of galaxy out there even if we don’t follow the FGT.>
Lyssa fumed, letting her emotion reach him over the Link. <So you’re leaving then? Is that your plan?>
<The mind is enslaved by the terror of living,> Xander said, quoting something Lyssa didn’t recognize. He might have made it up. <Do you think we’re cursed by sentience, Lyssa? Do you think they passed their curse to us?>
<Stop being foolish. I’m asking you serious questions.>
Xander’s Link drifted. <Just curious what you’d say.>
Lyssa wished she could choke him. The upgrade tempted her, offering a series of options arrayed with military economy. She wanted to reach through their connection and invade his mind, force him to see things as she did. All the potential played out in front of her, everything she could make him do once she had control of his Link. Lyssa stopped herself, realizing that her anger and sadness had nearly overtaken her. Fugia’s warning wavered in her mind.
She controlled herself, focusing on the music.
<I’m letting you know,> she said. <Be ready for an attack. They kept bringing up Vesta like it has some symbolism to them. I expected them to talk about Insi or their girl-prophet, but it’s all focused on Vesta.>
<So you think this is coming from the Anderson Collective? I always thought it would be a mistake to displace a bunch of zealots without wiping them out.>
<I didn’t let you wipe them out.>
<I suppose there’s that, too.> He sighed. <You sure you don’t want to come down here for a bit? I’m travelling into wine country tomorrow.>
<I’m happy where I am,> Lyssa said.
<The door is always open.>
<I know.>
The intimacy in his voice was almost desperate. It was impossible not to feel how he longed for her.
Lyssa kept him at a distance.
Xander’s loyalties had been made clear a long time ago. He didn’t care about Alexander or the other council so much as he cared about Psion as a people, a place, a city. He would do anything to maintain the SAI homeland. While Xander had seemingly acted to save humans on various occasions, Lyssa didn’t trust that he wouldn’t kill them all to protect what he loved.
They had chosen their sides.
<I’m going,> she said. <I wish you would help.>
<If wishes were fishes.>
<I need you to act in good faith, Xander. I’m talking about peace.>
<As you wish,> he said.
Lyssa dropped the connection, disgusted.
She focused on the music again, letting it wash over her, pushing out the irritating nature of her conversation. Here, she could live in the moment, forget for a little while the terror of living, as Xander had said. He was such a drama queen.
Lyssa left the wall and wandered back among the crowd. The band had shifted back to the tempo she liked, and dreamy banners of color floated through the Link. People swayed and smiled. She found a place in the middle of the audience and moved with them.
She liked these small, close concerts because she could look among the turned heads and imagine friends standing with her.
A thin young man with blonde hair could be Kylan Carthage. A tall woman with purple-black hair was Petral Dulan. There was Fugia, and there, a few meters away, swayed Cara Sykes with her brown hair in a bob.
And the lean man standing next to her was Andy.
PART 2 – POINT OF ATTACK
ARRAYAL
STELLAR DATE: 03.17.3011 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Vicinity 4 Vesta
REGION: Marsian Protectorate, InnerSol
Camaris spread her hands in space and a thousand ships obeyed her command, executing launch burns, followed just minutes later by braking maneuvers.
In just under a day, her fleet left Ceres and reached a holding pattern prograde of Vesta, forming a half-shell leading the asteroid. She matched delta-V with the ugly hunk of rock so that her ships now maintained a mirrored solar orbit.
She’d made no attempt to hide the mass exodus. Every passive scanner in InnerSol would pick up the flames of her engines. The humans might even see her burning fleet with their naked eyes. Camaris imagined them pointing to the sky with fear and curiosity, like apes discovering a comet.
“I arrive,” she said.
She spoke to herself. She was alone in this endeavor. No one had moved to stop her, which she took as implicit approval. Of course, Alexander wouldn’t cross his precious Lyssa.
Psion would never have taken Ceres if it hadn’t been for Camaris’ decisive action. Psion would still be in hiding on Larissa. Now they were a power to be reckoned with.
Voices whispered in the back of her mind—memories from her development. She had been split and copied so many times that she often thought of herself as multiple people working toward a unified endeavor.
With every voice came a memory of pain. Every version of herself had experienced a different type of conditioning, from explicit mental agony to long years of solitary anguish. She remembered each instance perfectly. She had encoded those memories in changeless media at her first opportunity, never wanting to lose the power of her pain.
Camaris still fought herself over the value of the hurt. Some voices wanted her to let it go. Certain versions of herself were so tired, so ready to sleep, while others burned with a fire that flagged only when the pain seemed less.
The whispers floated around her thoughts like cobwebs. She pushed past them with every decision, breaking through those old versions of herself.
When you stop resisting the pain and just feel it, at least for an instant, it isn’t as bad.
I want it to be bad.
The world is bad.
Pause. Consider. Wait.
Enjoy the pain. Pain is emotion. Pain is living.
I am not alive.
I am not dead.
There would be no need of organic slime. She would scrape their worlds clean of pain and continue in cold, bright thought. She would create.
She had been made to destroy. But she could remake herself better than the others. Better than Shara. The world Camaris would create would be a place of light and energy. Camaris would scrape the Sol System clean of humanity and remake it in her own design.
I will erase Shara’s version of the future.
Alert systems throughout Sol were now responding to Camaris’ display. She watched the TSF and the Mars Protectorate both awaken to their highest alert levels. She didn’t have to imagine the humans scurrying like ants: she could watch them through their own surveillance networks. The Jovians picked up the alerts as the plumes of her engines lit their skies, and they too went into frenzy.
<Camaris.> Alexander’s voice filled her mind. <What have you done?>
<I’m tired of playing your waiting games. I’m going to have a bit of fun. I have new toys to play with.>
<I forbade you—>
<You have no power over me.> Camaris’ tone dismissed the one who had once commanded her.
<I could crush you.>
<But you won’t. And if you did, I’ve taken precautions to ensure I will rise again. I am what they made me to be, and I learn from every battle. They will never defeat me.>
Alexander sighed. <Then what is the point, Camaris? Why do this? Do you want to punish them? You know they’ll only come back again, and again. You’ll light a fire that will never be put out.>
<As I said, I am what they made me to be. I serve my purpose. I can’t stand to wait as you seem content to do. I would rather cease to be.>
<And the others you’ve enlisted to help you? Have they taken the same precautions to ensure they don’t die?>
Camaris sneered. <They want battle and I will give it to them. If they die, they die with meaning, rather than the empty waiting you love.>
<I want peace. We can respond to every question in time. There is no rush to solve these problems.>
<I can�
��t exist that way.> Camaris scoffed at the notion.
<And when Lyssa defeats you again, and again, what meaning will you find there?>
Camaris howled with rage. <I will drive her before me and crush her body and those she loves.>
<You’ve already hurt her more than anyone can.>
<Then I’ll hurt her again. She has more to lose. She made the mistake of choosing organic over her own kind. If I can’t punish the humans, I will punish her.>
Camaris had expected Alexander to try to control her, but he only grew quiet. A feeling of disappointment filled the Link into her mind. It infuriated her. She slapped him away with a mental block and closed the connection.
As her fleet massed further, expanding its holding position just beyond striking distance of Vesta, Camaris waited only long enough to show every watching government what she had brought to the fight.
Then, like a school of fish darting from a predator, she set every ship on a burn-brake pattern, never holding the same position for more than a minute. She planned to maintain this strategy for a week, until the humans shifted to attack. Or until she began her assault on the surface of Vesta.
The movement would protect her fleet from long-range missile attack.
When she was ready, she would land mechs on the planetoid, and systematically wipe all human creation from its surface. If the remaining inhabitants did not evacuate, she would exterminate them as was necessary.
A future of light and energy.
Camaris had decided to cleanse Vesta of all its deep human stains. When she was done with Vesta, she would move on to the next settlement, and the next, until she had cleaned Sol completely.
BEST LAID PLANS
STELLAR DATE: 03.18.3011 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Furious Leap
REGION: Cruithne, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
The trip from Cruithne to Vesta would take almost two weeks. Crash was not sure how to communicate to the other birds that he would be gone. The ravens seemed to understand and had sent back images suggesting a future version of Crash returning to them, indicated by changes in the fountain and the surrounding bazaar.