Despite being from a scaled-down subclass of Scarran strykers, the warship fills Moya's hanger to capacity, its pronged nose nearly touching the aft wall. Its thrusters extend on either side of it like spread wings, giving it the rather depressing appearance of a caged bird of prey. Near the tail, Talyn is lecturing in Pilot's language to a team of DRDs, who nod their antenni in agreement before zooming off to do their respective jobs.
Talyn leans against one of the styker's rear prongs and grins at Bialar. "Beautiful, isn't it? Makes Aeryn's prowler look like Crichton's module."
His residual Peacekeeper prejudice bristles at that, and he shrugs. "Other than being an example of it, I have little experience with Scarran technology. What are this ship's capabilities?"
"Pulse cannons that could take out a Leviathan hybrid in two, maybe three hits. Some shielding, but not much. It's primary defense is supposedly its speed. My data banks say this thing can outrun Moya's starburst."
"How?" Bialar wonders.
Talyn shrugs. "No idea. As soon as this thing is online, I'm going to link into it and start finding out."
"No. I won't allow you to expose your mind to alien technologies--"
"Worried about me becoming irreversibly contaminated?" Talyn laughs and raises an eyebrow.
"I believe the phrase that applies is 'irretrievably corrupted.' It could have defenses against tampering. Use Ceredin."
Talyn's amusement drains from his eyes. His mouth compresses into a stubborn line, and he folds his arms across his chest. "Use Cer? If I weren't linked with you, I'd think you were frelling kidding!"
"Not the biomechanoid girl, the program-- the one Gemmi created specifically for this kind of task. She can dissect the stryker's algorithms systematically."
"The girl in the bioloid is Gemmi's program. I won't risk any instance of her AI--"
"Talyn, do not let your attachment to her rob her of her purpose!"
"That sounds like Peacekeeper dren to me, Bialar."
Bialar shrugs. "Ceredin will agree with me."
"Frell."
Coming from Talyn, that monosyllable has a range of meanings, and in this case, Bialar takes it as an acknowledgment of defeat. Using his link to Talyn and Talyn's link to Ceredin's bioloid, he calls out to the pseudo-consciousness. Ceredin?
Yes? Her response is attenuated by the distance, but clear enough to understand.
Were you aware that the stryker can can outrun a Leviathan's starburst?
Hm! I don't see how. Does Talyn have that thing online yet? The link reverberates with her excitement and curiosity.
He will soon. I suggest you be here if you want to be the first to explore its capabilities.
Talyn has one hand clapped to his forehead and the other clutches at the back of his neck. "I really, really wish you two wouldn't do that! Bad enough you gang up on me, but you have to do it in my own head? If you like Cer that much, why don't you link with her?"
Bialar shakes his head and says, "The current situation is satisfactory," just as Ceredin replies, One frelling mess is enough, thank you!
"Happy now?" Talyn asks sourly.
"I am... optimistic," Bialar replies. "Ceredin should be able to compile the stryker's algorithms into Leviathan patterns, as well as find out exactly what physical components of the ship are responsible for its speed. Given her capacity for optimization, she can probably improve upon the design."
"This is about Mina, isn't it? I should have known." Talyn groans. "You're as bad as Gemmi, or worse. You know why Crichton calls her 'Dr. Frankenstein,' don't you?"
"Some reference to Earth literature, I assume. If I questioned every one of Crichton's eccentric quips I'd accomplish nothing."
"Yeah, but I asked him about that one. He explained Dr. Frankenstein was a fictional scientist who made monsters-- things that were better off not being. I guess the whole point is it's dangerous to frell with Nature."
"Talyn!" Bialar chuckles and sighs. "Crichton is from a quaint world, one that clearly hasn't progressed far past planet-centered paganism. Evil sorcerers, or scientists, as the case may be, appear in the mythology of virtually every primitive planet. It's a manifestation of the fear of change, distrust of the unknown."
"I guess." Talyn shrugs. "Just remember your project is my sister, Moya's baby."
"And your sister will be able to outrun a Scarran stryker!" He slaps the wing for emphasis. "Moya will be proud of her."
"Moya will be proud of her if she stays alive," Talyn snaps.
"My point exactly." Bialar reaches up and touches the stryker's pulse cannon, then leaves to share Ceredin's soon-to-be-made discovery with Gemmi.
***
To his surprise, Gemmi is not to be found on Mina's command deck. More astonishing still is the fact that a new door has appeared at the rear of command.
"Well done!" he congratulates the hybrid. "You are developing impressively. Now will you open it for me?"
Lights flicker, accompanied by an unmistakable series of chirps, and Bialar sighs. He does not enjoy being laughed at.
"This is not how Leviathans are supposed to behave," he growls.
The chirps escalate in volume and the lights ripple across her displays and consoles.
"Gemmina!" He shouts her full name.
The electronic laughter stops, but the door still won't open. He pounds on it with a fist, hoping Mina's Kalish namesake will hear the noise. As usual, Gemmi's link with the hybrid has taken precedence over her link with him, which makes the transponder useless in communicating with her.
More laughter, the natural-sounding kind, comes from behind him, and he turns to see Ceredin's hologram manifested above the main command console.
"This... malfunction is hardly funny, Ceredin," he chides her.
"You're right-- it's frelling hilarious!" She wipes insubstantial tears from her spectral eyes. "See? I laughed so hard I cried."
"Just override her and open the door."
"Oh, no!" Ceredin raises both hands, palms out. "Taking away her free will makes her even more irritated than calling her 'Gemmina'. How did you like it when the Scarrans made Gemmi put fail safe code in your head? Hm? I've heard how you reacted when she finally removed it, Bialar. And you want me to override Mina? I thought we were trying not to make another monster." Her eyes go wide and she claps a hand to her mouth. "Oh! Don't tell Talyn I said that, please?"
He nods agreement. "Can you ask her to open the door then?"
"Mm-hm." She closes her eyes for a few microts, making a silent request to which Mina replies with a few uncertain bleeps. After a few more microts, Ceredin twirls a lock of hair around a finger and regards Bialar. "She wants me to promise you won't 'do anything' to Gemmi. She's very worried."
"I have already given Gemmi my word I will not harm her, that should be enough for Mina as well."
"Hm." Ceredin tugs on the lock of hair, tilting her head from side to side. "And by 'harm her,' you mean, 'do something to her she doesn't want you to'. Oh, don't look at me that way, I'm not commenting on your recreation, it's just that that's a bit of an advanced concept for a small neural net to grasp."
"And she defines 'harm,' how, exactly?"
"Numbers, Bialar! Simple minds like numbers. 'Harm' is anything that increases Gemmi's heart rate by a factor of two or more, or increases her respiration rate by a factor of one point five, or results in accelerated production of endorphins--"
"I see." His hands clench in frustration as he eyes Mina's guns. "Very well, she has my word."
"--or anything that causes her link with Gemmi to be severed," Ceredin finishes, smirking. "Aren't you glad I warned you about that one?"
"Just open the door."
"Because that's what you were going to do, isn't it?" She nods in self-congratulation.
"I should not have to justify my actions to a transport!" Bialar snaps. "Especially not when they involve my-- when they involve Gemmi."
"Well, you don't have to justify them to me! I hear enough from Gemmi as it is." Ceredin wrinkles her nose. "I'm just trying to make sure you don't get your biomechanoid brains blown out." She closes her eyes again, and the door slides open.
As he steps across the threshold, he looks over his shoulder and nods to Ceredin. "I appreciate that."
"Yes, Mina, it's perfect!" Gemmi's voice comes from somewhere down a corridor. "Your own idea? Really? I didn't know you could modify your own-- Well, of course I like it! I'm just... surprised, that's all."
The corridor opens into what appears to be a small living chamber, complete with a bunk and food preparation area. A row of pulse guns hangs above the doorway, a biomechanoid honor guard. Hearing his footsteps, Gemmi whirls to face him, but her eyes remain unfocused.
"Mina? I want you to play a strategy game with Ceredin." Gemmi chuckles and rolls her eyes. "Yes, I know she's an awful, gloating winner. That's why you have to concentrate very hard-- so you can beat her this time. Well, don't let her use so much of your processor! Multiple instances? Really? Tell her that's cheating, and I said so."
"This was not part of the original design." Bialar gestures to the room as he sits down on the bunk.
"I know." Gemmi sits down beside him and brings her feet up so she can rest her chin on her knees. "She isn't supposed to have living quarters for another two monens, but she wants me to stay with her after the birth. I explained I had what I needed on Moya, and, well, Mina responded."
"You have Ceredin teaching her tactics already!" Bialar squeezes Gemmi's shoulders briefly and releases her, afraid that if he does any more to show his admiration, Mina will misinterpret his actions.
"They're taking opposite sides in some of Talyn's pre-programmed battle scenarios. It's the only way I can get her to leave me alone for a bit. I can still feel her mind, but it's not as-- not as heavy, somehow, ah, I don't know how to explain..."
"No need." He strokes the back of her neck, tracing the ring of scar tissue surrounding the transponder. "I understand what Talyn would call the consequences of tampering with nature."
"That doesn't sound like Talyn's word choice," Gemmi mutters, smiling.
"It isn't, but it is his sentiment, as if I needed to be reminded of the cost of the hybrid project. He's concerned about the idea of reverse engineering the stryker's propulsion and equipping Mina with it. She would have super-starburst speeds."
Gemmi's eyes light up and her smile broadens. "Offer it to her! She'll want it, I know she will!"
"But if she does not, you can directly modify her specifications, can't you?"
Gemmi shakes her head. "Only the physical specs. As I said before, her mind will stay a pure living consciousness for the first cycle. That's why she's learning tactics from playing with Ceredin instead of being force-fed Talyn's AI."
"'Trying not to make a monster this time,'" Bialar repeats. "Ceredin was quoting you."
Gemmi nods. "I'm sorry. I love Talyn too, you know that--"
Bialar snorts. "Your 'pure living consciousness' threatened to kill me when I tried to recreate with you! You're not going to manually correct that?"
"Of course not! She has to learn things on her own." Gemmi turns to face him and tilts her head, looking particularly Kalish as she frets over the problem. "Maybe..." she bites her lip and tilts her head from side to side. "Yes! This should work."
"What should work?" he asks warily.
Gemmi slides into his lap, wearing a smug expression that was no doubt the template for Ceredin's. "I have the perfect solution! If you stay very, very still, Mina can't possibly think you're attacking me. Then maybe she'll understand what you were trying to do. That you weren't trying to hurt me, I mean."
"Dubious logic, Gemmi." He eyes the guns in the doorway, not daring to move a finger. The iridescent scales on Gemmi's neck have darkened in a way that indicates her heart rate and breathing are probably escalating as well.
"It'll work!" she promises, stroking his cheek. "Besides, I think Mina knows I'd be devastated if anything happened to you!"
He allows his shoulders to flex in the faintest possible shrug. Gemmi's attachment to Mina means she looks at the hybrid and sees a complex being, but Bialar mentally replays Ceredin's assertion: Simple minds like numbers. Mina understands ideas that can be translated into variables-- greater than and less than, on and off. It will be monens before she can grasp the idea of "right and wrong," and it will be their job-- his, Gemmi's, and Ceredin's-- to make sure she has nothing to regret once that happens.
"It'll be alright," Gemmi assures him.
She begins undoing the buttons on her blouse with systematic efficiency. Bialar makes a conscious effort to keep his eyes on her and not Mina's internal weaponry. Scales and all, Gemmi is a far more pleasant sight, and besides, he'll be able to hear the mechanical buzz of the guns if they turn to aim at him.
