Randolph Lalonde - Awakening

General Collins looked on as a large silvered M shaped vessel bristling with strange antennae listed to one side. The blue fires of the engines flickered and went out. The virus has been activated, he said as he rotated the holographic display around. A few seconds later the twin engines relit and the vessel started its faster than light systems, covering the hull with a shroud of energized particles and blasting off into space. It's too bad, they've advanced so far in so little time.

Eden Two was a disaster, a wasted resource guarded by mad digital Gods, said the holographic Regent Galactic representative. Reclaiming it is man's right.

This virus will go past that. Artificial Intelligences everywhere will be affected.

That is why we must follow the link.

And you're sure Gabriel Meunez is the man to find her? He's a freak, disturbed, blinded by his infatuation with Alice.

That is a kind of dedication you cannot buy. He thinks everything he has was gained through his own hard work. That is our control, we can render him powerless by telling him the truth whenever we like. Even the prize he holds at this very moment is under our control, after a fashion. The truth of his situation would instantly disable him.

That he has no control. He's a pawn, Collins finished, running his hand over his short, neatly cropped white beard. Still, I wish he could be reasoned with.

His talents can be guided, much like Wheeler's.

Collins couldn't help but chuckle. Guiding the minds of madmen is a lot like herding cats. As soon as you assume to know their intentions they prove you wrong and you lose an eye.

That may be true, but would you rather participate in this game personally?

With three wars about to break out and shatter the galaxy? I'll take my solitude. What about Valent?

He's exactly where he's supposed to be.

So he's been sold as well.

At a profit. Freeground Command was more than willing to withdraw their claim. They won't be coming for him.

I'm surprised. I didn't think they'd give him up. Even with Regent Galactic at their door. Even with the fate of their first colony on the line.

Valent isn't worth the future of their civilization.

If only they knew what he's caused. The fourth fall of man all started when he unleashed Alice on a super carrier. That artificial intelligence cost Vindyne more than it could afford, brought about it's eventual fall and has set entire sectors on a course to chaos.

Theory, economic theory. Vindyne was a bloated corporation with a poor sense of purpose. What's of importance is the fact that Alice provided the base template for the virus that will bring all the machines of the Eden system under our command. A fearless regenerating army of billions at a pittance.

General Collins shook his head. Ten years ago if you told me I would be commanding the scourge of the galaxy in a war for profit I would have laughed in your face.

Not a war for profit. A crusade for peace through domination and commerce. We will direct the people to utopia using the cash messiah model.

Your wealth will set you free. After avoiding a seventy year prison term I'm a believer, but the ninety nine percent of people who aren't rich enough to afford a piece of your utopia won't be.

The holographic image on Collins' desk straightened its suit shirt and watched as he walked to the window. A great blue and green planet surrounded by millions of perfect ships in orbit filled the view. He could just barely see one of the two terraformed moons. There was more natural life in the light year of space they occupied than in several sectors combined. This is not the way any humane being would go about taking control of this kind of power. There is life out there, in orbit around the planet. Machines that have emotions as deep as any sentient.

You try to apply humanitarianism to beings that have emotions exclusive to their race. What a machine feels is so unlike that of flesh and blood that a psychological baseline has not been determined by humans. It was related to us by an artificial intelligence. The first aliens humans ever met were of their own creation, the emotional artificial intelligence.

Philosophical recitations as we watch the independence of all these shining beings die. There is a spirit in the machine, and today it is chained.

Machines are unworthy of theological consideration. They are objects.

So we are brought back to Alice and her miracle. The body she transferred into was brain dead, in queue for organ harvesting. There was no way any conciousness could survive yet she willed synapses to start firing anew. An impossible act during an impossible procedure.

Miracles, spirits. Now whose gone mad? Will we have to watch you more closely after you've taken command? Will sympathy stay your hand when a sacrifice is asked of the silver army?

The slightest measure of sympathy can translate positively into any emotional vocabulary. You can watch closely as I lead the Eden system's guardians like the pied piper.

As you wish. You know the consequences of failure.

I die, these machines go back to guarding the most sought after solar system in the galaxy preventing any human from settling on it. Then they begin a campaign of eradication targeting anyone who uses electrical technology.

The stakes are high. We're glad you understand, General.

Comprehension is not the problem. Rationalization is the problem, but there's always a loophole around my kind of moral disposition. I'll lead your army of machine locusts. I'll bring about the fourth fall of man. Then you can come in and rebuild the galaxy under your own brand name.

The faces of angels are always prettier after staring down devils. Replied the holographic avatar. I enjoy our little chats. So sorry I have to go attend to the board of directors. They'll be glad to know you've accepted our job offer.

General Collins was left alone to watch the perfect ballet of unmanned ships around Eden II. He was the only human in the solar system, and the only man alive who understood how his virus would sweep through the fleet. The millions of artificial intelligences would soon be the servants of Regent Galactic. Only he and a handful of people would ever know how it had happened.

On the brighter side, within months the select social elite would begin making their homes on Eden II. I wonder what Jonas Valent and Alice would say if they knew they'd be responsible for the suppression of mankind and the second founding of paradise, he pondered aloud.

Repairs in hyperspace were always a careful thing. The Samson had sustained a lot of damage in her escape from the Thadd system. Finn wasn't ready to be the Chief Engineer, he knew it. So when the Captain started directing internal repairs and watching over the ship he couldn't have been more relieved.

The bridge station didn't tell him half the story about the damage sustained during their escape. There were two sections of bulkhead that had twisted, and a total of five compartments open to space. Two repair crew, Douglas and Julie were trapped in those compartments. They owed their lives to the ship wide policy of living in their vacsuits and keeping head pieces on your person at all times. Most of the vacsuits that were provided by the Captain had them built into hoods, but most of the maintenance crew had difficulty trusting the thin looking, form fitting suits, regardless of the fact that they provided more protection than the rough, heavy, older suits they preferred.

Even though they had been saved from the vacuum of space they still had to deal with the exotic particles that covered the outer hull of the ship during hyperspace travel. They had been pooling in the breached sections and would injure or kill Douglas and Julie in higher concentrations. Watching how Captain Valance directed the pair of trapped repair crewmen through sealing themselves off in a small section and then using a portable power cell to scatter the particles evenly throughout was amazing.