X. Diamonds in the Sky
SECURITY SUBROUTINE FROZEN
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FAILSAFE OVERRIDE REQUIRED
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HAILING...
VARIAN SECURITY CHIEF GRANSTRA NOT FOUND
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HAILING...
DEPUTY SECURITY CHIEF GARNT NOT FOUND
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CONTINUE HAILING CREW ROSTER
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LOGIC SUBROUTINE INITIATING
ANALYZING...
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STELLAR SCAN RESULTS...
INTERSTELLAR VEHICLE ACTIVITY IDENTIFIED
57 VESSELS RATING ARCTON CLASS OR ABOVE
PROFILES DO NOT MATCH KNOWN SKARSAK DESIGN
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CURRENT THREAT LEVEL: SADE
THREAT ASSESSMENT DOES NOT SUPPORT INTERSTELLAR WEAPONS DISCHARGE
OVERRIDE REQUIRED...
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HAILING...
SECURITY CHIEF GRANSTRA NOT FOUND...
River examined their new domicile like she would an archaeological site: with sharp attention to detail and an appreciation for the original builders. Just off the lounge was a kitchen, with flat screens inset into the tiles. She looked one over curiously. Varian scrolled across it; it was a menu of sorts, offering foodstuffs to the base's non-existent inhabitants.
She explored down the hall, noting individual rooms and storage cupboards. One of these slid open, triggered by her approach. It held oxygen canisters with accompanying masks. She checked the gauges on each canister, and pulled out the four appearing to be in the best condition.
A blueprint of the base hung beside the cupboard, helpfully pointing out emergency exits. She studied the layout, noting the central column, which was almost certainly the main housing for the energy collector (and the power plant for the base and the gun). The place was a self-sufficient city - as if Fred's longevity had left that to doubt. The facility sported its own bertrillium processing facility and manufacturing plant, side by side with an arboretum, promenade and - she squinted at the writing - some kind of geothermal bathhouse. Inspired builders, the Varians: not only did everything have a purpose, it was beautiful, even viewed ten thousand years later with human eyes.
She collected the oxygen canisters. She tucked one under her arm and slid the other into the cargo pocket of her trousers. It clinked against glass and River remembered the model sailing ship. She set the canisters on the ground and reached into her pocket.
She withdrew the bottle, running her thumb over the crack in the glass. "You've made it all this way," she mused, "and now I can't afford to keep you." River turned toward a small window, one of the few inset every few metres along the hallway. She set the ship the the niche, and watched as the light from the plasma storms outside shimmered in the glass. She patted the little ship once before turning reluctantly away.
River picked up the oxygen canisters again and headed to the Doctor sat at a oval, buffed conference table. He was hunched over, working on her scanner with his sonic. The chairs and tables were too small for his lanky frame, and he looked for all the world like an adult trying to fit into a schoolroom. "Oh, good, you're back. I've got your scanner back together. Ow." As he stood, he banged his knee on the table. "Find anything interesting?" he asked as he rubbed the sore joint.
She set the canisters down beside him. One of Fred's sentries floated by the window, and she waved.
"Good." He inspected one and said, "They won't exactly fit, but should suffice. If we're quick. Really quick."
"If our luck holds," she said darkly. River leaned over his shoulder and peered at her scanner. "How's it going?"
"Good as new, try it out." He pocketed his sonic.
River took it from him and tried to pull up a map of the base. The holograph extended a few feet, then vanished. "And that's where Fred's jamming comes in." She kissed him on the cheek. "It's brilliant. Thanks."
He grinned, his face glowing with a fetching blush. "Glad you like it. But now, Dr. Song, we need to find a way out of here. Well, not just a way out of here, but a way to the TARDIS. And Fred can't be allowed to pick off innocent miners or spacecraft."
She pulled up a chair. "Which means we need to take care of Fred before we find the TARDIS. It's a pity. The last surviving Varian AI. It's a window into their culture, the way they thought." She drifted off, imagining her name at the top of a universally recognised treatise.
He snapped his fingers. "Focus, Dr. Song!" but there was a gentle smile on his face. "Sadly, Fred has got to go, and there are really only three ways to do it."
She nodded. "One, we could destroy the computer core from the inside. Not my favourite option. From what I've read, the core of a Varian AI was refractorally sealed and kept at near-absolute zero with toxic coolant. It's enough to make the surface of this moon look like a vacation paradise."
"Minus protective suits - at least ones that aren't Varian-shaped - or enough time for a safe shutdown and heating cycle it's... well, it's a one-way ticket," the Doctor agreed. "That leaves us with pulling the plug, or hacking into Fred's code and persuading him to see things our way."
"Of course, all of this becomes a moot point if we can get to the TARDIS. We could materialise inside the core and the feedback would seize the quantum processors. The drawback is that going for the TARDIS is the obvious move. I'm sure it's crawling with sentries right now."
"If I were Fred, I'd assume we would go for our transport." He caught her eye. "What is she telling you?"
River paused, searching for the musical notes in her mind which signified the TARDIS. They were discordant and impatient. "She's terribly put out with us at the moment. Beyond that, I get the feeling she's warning us away. We might want to try something else."
He cracked his knuckles. "I'll look for an access terminal."
"Sweetie, believe me, I have the utmost faith in your persuasive abilities. However, I think we should set up a Plan B before you try to out-logic Fred."
He held his hands to his chest. "Why, River, I'm cut to the quick."
"No offence meant," she said with a grin, "I just know how your plans tend to go."
He propped up his head with his hand and glanced sideways at her. "And how do my plans go?"
Ah. And there it was. The twinkle in his eyes, the sly smile. River fought the urge to kiss the look from his face. Instead, she leaned forward and lowered her voice to a gravelly purr. "Up a tree and round a bend until they finally reach something resembling a resolution."
He stared at her for a long moment, his expression dreamy. Then he blinked. "Hm? What was the topic again?"
She smiled smugly. "Plans. For dismantling Fred." Suddenly, River felt a spike of annoyance at the AI. If not for the computer, she and the Doctor could be happily digging in mud, flirting over pot shards and old bits of ancient writing.
"Right. Right, you wanted plan B. I have an idea."
CREW ROSTER NOT RESPONDING
CONDITIONAL JUMP OR MOVE DEPENDS ON UNITIALISED VALUES
CAUSAL LOOP
NO BREAK POSSIBLE
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FAILSAFES HARD CODED
NO OPTIONS AVAILABLE
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SECURITY SUBROUTINE COMMAND:
/MONITOR
/SECURE PERIMETER
/WAIT
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WEAPON ARRAY SUBROUTINE COMMAND:
/MONITOR
/WAIT
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THREAT LEVEL ASSESSMENT:
CURRENT THREAT LEVEL: SADE
UPGRADE THREAT LEVEL: QOF
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ERROR
MONOMORPHISM RESTRICTION
HIGHER SECURITY LEVELS NOT AVAILABLE TO FACILITY MASTER UNIT...
CREW OVERRIDE REQUIRED...
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/WAITING
River rolled a serving cart piled with electronics up to the table. In amongst the wires and circuit boards rested two short range holounits of the sort provided for casual entertainment. She set one on the table and settled next to the Doctor. Carefully, she set to work prying apart the casing using the chisel from her utility belt.
They worked in silence for a while, and as they did, River felt a sense of contentment wash over her. She glanced over at the Doctor, and noted the smudges of grease on his fingertips. He really has amazing hands, she thought. For all of his flailing, he could display an economy of movement that took her breath away.
As she peeled back the casing from the first holounit and set it carefully aside, she was struck by the simplicity of the moment. She'd wanted to share something of herself with him. She'd made the mistake in thinking that entailed grand gestures and declarations. It was humbling to realise that all he needed - all they needed - was a moment of stillness and quiet laughter.
"You have grease on your cheek." River swiped at the smear with her thumb.
He met her gaze, his green eyes bright, and slyly tapped the tip of her nose with a smudged finger.
"Ooh. You're going to pay for that!" And he would. At some point in the future, she'd tell him about this moment, remind him about the insane Varian computer and how they'd beat it with spit and bailing wire. River took a deep breath. She'd been so focused on what she shouldn't tell him, she'd forgotten what she could.
The holounit in her hands became something more than wire and metal; it became her promise to him. She filed down the edges, connected the battery pack and moved on to the second one. Today, 'I love you' was a cobbled together cloaking device. Tomorrow it would be something different, but something uniquely them.
"Looking forward to it!" The Doctor's arm was shoulder-deep in the guts of the sentry she had dispatched earlier. He had been prying recalcitrant parts loose and arranging them on the table. He grunted with effort. "There has to be a transponder here, can't seem to - ah! I think that's it." His features contorted as he struggled. "Got it!" His face fell. "Except now I can't get my hand out. Help?"
She chuckled at his pathetic look. "Here. No, don't squirm. Relax." She reached in and found his hand, then used his sonic to remove the bracket trapping him. His hand came free with a 'pop' and she winced in sympathy. "Sorry."
He unclenched his fist and the transponder dropped to the table.
"You are determined to injure yourself, aren't you?" River massaged feeling back into his hand.
"You're asking that now?" He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it delicately.
Strangely, she could feel herself blushing. "Oh, it's something I wonder about constantly. Silently."
He looked at her, his gaze dropping momentarily to her lips. He was motionless for one second, and then, like lightning, he reached his hands out and captured her face, pulling it towards him. He planted a tender, searching kiss on her lips. She braced herself with her hands on his thighs. When he released her finally, he said, "That's a promise. For later."
She licked her lips. "I'll hold you to that." And to a lot of other things. Later. River let her thoughts show in a smirk. And there would be a later. It was a comforting thought.
"I will get you out of here, Dr. Song. With your help, of course." He winked.
Irritation flashed through her. River bit her tongue. "Of course." With effort, she remained calm. The poor deluded Time Lord actually thought he wasn't going to make it. Well, he'd been wrong before.
He took her scanner and punched up several readings on the transponder. He must have picked up on her tension. "Um, have I vexed you unintentionally?"
"Not at all. You're just being... you."
He sighed. "I can understand that is vexing. There - got it." The scanner dinged and he showed her the results. "One transponder, fully charged. The means by which the sentries and Fred identify one another. Part one of our brilliant back-up plan. How is part two going?"
"Almost there. The battery pack is giving me problems. It's refusing to interface with the holounit."
"Let me," he fiddled with the unit for a minute, checking his sonic readings and adjusting wires. "I think that's as good as we're going to get," he said with a frown. "The transformer is inefficient. It's good for maybe... well, it'll be good for one small-radius cloak. Three minutes, maybe? Two."
"It's not enough." River eyed the massing sentries dubiously. How many were there? Seventy? A hundred? Fred had them neatly pinned down. She reached for the first oxygen canister and checked the seal. Airtight. She checked it again for good measure. Next, she slammed a fresh battery pack into her stolen weapon. Only one refill left, and there might not be time to pick up more. "If you can't hack Fred, we get one shot at this."
He took an oxygen pack and tried it on. It didn't fit, having been designed for Varians - the nosepiece was too narrow and pointed and there wasn't enough room for a human jaw, not to mention the Doctor's. "It will be leaky, but we should be able to live on it for a mad rush to the TARDIS. You found four?"
"Yes. We'll have to be careful none of them get nicked in the firefight." The oxygen tanks were a liability in their own way, but necessary. She rummaged around the lounge for parts for a makeshift backpack.
"So it's straight through the gauntlet, to the TARDIS. Do you have the map?"
She nodded. She'd already copied the wall diagrams and memorised the layout of the base. "Right here." She patted her scanner. "I have it programmed for the shortest route to the TARDIS."
He drummed his fingers on the table. "Then I suppose there's nothing else for it. Ready?"
ACCESS DENIED
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ilogin attempt: tag value single loop parameter 1
#6.67893es4589ks93jgs/i
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ACCESS DENIED
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FACILITY MASTER UNIT UNDER DIRECT ATTACK
THREAT LEVEL UPGRADE REQUEST
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HARD CODE OVERRIDE EXCEPTION GRANTED
NEW THREAT LEVEL: QOF
"Oops," the Doctor said.
River looked over his shoulder at the machine code streaming on the monitor. "'Oops?' Sweetie, we don't have time for 'oops'."
"I know, I know." He rapped his knuckles on the table. "Fred is apparently more free to act when it's in direct self-defence. I need to find a way to get in that won't trigger any more exceptions. Ah. Aha." He opened his sonic and set it to run some calculations, and then grabbed her scanner. For several minutes, he rapidly tapped out code into her scanner, then uploaded it to the sonic. He poised the sonic over the terminal. "Every good hack needs a worm. Let's see if this does the trick..."
River tensed, and reached for her weapon. She had absolute faith in the Doctor... most of the time. Even so, she liked having a back up plan. And the more heavy artillery that plan involved - the better.
ACCESS DENIED
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irequest: superuser account
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override enable/i
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ACCESS DENIED
NO SUCH USER
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iroot level architecture
administrator account
/upload subroutine/i
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UPLOADING.
EXECUTING...
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INSTALLATION SUCCESS
SUPERUSER ACCOUNT CREATED
ADMIN LEVEL AUTHORITY GRANTED
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ilogin/i
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ACCESS DENIED
ACCOUNT IN USE
"Fred!" the Doctor said indignantly, "you beautiful, clever, terrifying machine!"
"What happened?" River asked.
"He's using my worm... to override his own failsafes!" The Doctor collected the transponder and the holounit, even as the windows shattered under the onslaught of the sentry's disruptors. "Plan B!"
SUPERUSER LOGIN SUCCESSFUL
FULL ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS GRANTED
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SECURITY SUBROUTINE COMMAND:
/CREW QUARTERS FAILSAFE OVERRIDE
/RAPID FIRE PATTERN
/ENERGY BURN AUTHORIZED
/TERMINATE
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CURRENT THREAT LEVEL: QOF
ANALYZE THREAT MATRIX...
BYPASS ROSH
NEW THREAT LEVEL SHIN
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THREAT LEVEL SHIN PROTOCOL
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WEAPON ARRAY SUBROUTINE COMMAND:
/TARGET VESSELS
/PLAN WEAPON DISPERSAL FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT
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ENERGY COLLECTOR SUBROUTINE COMMAND:
/ACCUMULATE ENERGY FOR WEAPONS DISCHARGE
The bulkhead doors released with a series of hisses that echoed throughout the section. Disruptor fire blazed both outside and inside. Fred had apparently abandoned its previous surgical accuracy. The Doctor grabbed River's hand, but she pulled away to better handle her weapon. "Don't shoot yet!" he said.
"We're being shot at!" She snapped. But River held her fire, ducking down low beneath the disrupter beams, and cradling a canister of air against her chest.
"Trust me!" As the windows blew, the moon's atmosphere rushed into the base, bringing with it both oxygen and cold.
Disruptor beams crackled in all directions, stitching patterns of deadly light all through the room, but missed River and the Doctor entirely. "It's working! Something I'm doing is actually working," the Doctor said. "Come along, we only have a moment."
River fell in behind him, "Fred certainly has bad aim."
"Fred has perfect aim," he took a deep breath and stepped into the corridor. Sentries - presumably perimeter guards - hovered at the crew quarter's entrance. Behind them, the initial attack was going gangbusters. The Doctor held the transponder aloft, and stepped cautiously out of the crew section. The sentries continued hovering. "Fred - or rather the security subroutine - thinks we're friendlies. He'll figure it out quickly."
"Which means we'd better get moving." River tucked her oxygen canister under her arm. She moved forward and led him past Fred's perimeter. "The air is getting thin," she raised the oxygen mask to her face. He saw her grimace. "I'm not getting much O2, here. The mask is too small."
They turned a corner into a blissfully empty corridor and the Doctor sucked in a few breaths of air from his own awkward oxygen supply. "Better than nothing, yes?" Behind them, disruptor fire slowed to a pitter pat. "Let's go - down two levels, then through the breezeway."
PERIMETER BREACH
SUBJECTS BYPASSED SENTRY DEFENSE
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ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
EVALUATING...
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IDENTIFY SENTRY UNIT TRANSPONDER X98*++^%48
DEFUNCT UNIT
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SUBJECTS IN POSSESSION OF SENTRY TRANSPONDER X98*++^%48
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TACTICAL EVALUATION
EVALUATING...
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GENERAL EFFECTIVENESS OF STANDARD SENTRY UNITS -0.011%
COMPUTE ALTERNATE STRATEGY...
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SWARM COMMAND:
/ALL SWARM FORMATIONS ACTIVE
/SWITCH SWARM FUNCTION TO SECURITY SUBROUTINE
/TERMINATION AUTHORIZED
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MANUFACTURING PLANT COMMAND:
/SWARM FORMATION PRODUCTION INCREASED TO 100%
/ENERGY BURN AUTHORIZED
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SECURITY SUBROUTINE COMMAND:
/DISENGAGE TRANSPONDER SAFETIES
/FULL ENERGY BURN AUTHORIZED
/ALL UNITS CONVERGE ON TRANSPONDER X98*++^%48
River and the Doctor moved through the base. Fred still had the doors locked down tight, but they managed to get back out the same way they came in. The entire process was much quicker without sentries breathing down their necks. The Doctor grunted as reached elbow-deep into the control panel. The last door lurched open and they crawled beneath it into the breezeway, a walkway above a forlorn promenade. They dashed across, furtively glancing at the skylights.
Another locked down panel stopped them, and the Doctor worked the mechanism open. Behind him, River said, "There aren't any sentries outside."
"Change of tactics, perhaps? Honestly, I think it's about time. If you look at it perfectly logically, the sentries just aren't doing the job, are they?"
River cast him a withering look, and they were through the next door. They raced through several more, and stopped in their tracks. They heard the familiar sounds of distant doors opening, "I think our free pass has been revoked," River said. "We need to get rid of this thing. It's a big fat target." They rounded a corner and saw a faint shimmer in the air. The shimmer solidified into a swarm - transmat bots appeared first, then the sensorbots, and finally buzzbots.
The eyebots broke away and floated toward the ceiling. Beside him, River opened fire. She hit two, spinning them to the ground. Behind them, the doors hissed open, and the Doctor glanced back at the sentries bearing down on them. "Not good!"
"Dive!" River grabbed his arm and hauled him to the ground. The buzzbots whirred overhead. "Wait for it," he heard her whisper. The buzzbots, blinded and unable to check their momentum, slammed into the oncoming sentries and chewed through them in a shower of sparks and screaming metal.
The screeching rang in the Doctor's ears, and he clapped his hands over them. When it subsided, he said, "Nicely done!"
"Thank you! It looks like Fred's taken your advice." River indicated the buzzbots still tearing into the sentries above them. "The swarms are more flexible and more difficult to dodge. It's what I would do."
He stared at her, mind racing... calculating.
River looked back at him. "What?"
The Doctor stared at the transponder in his hand, and then at the charred and twitching remains of the sentries and buzzbots. The transponder was now acting like a magnet for Fred's minions... a great big beacon for Fred to hone in on. It would make sense to dump it quickly, but a niggling thought tickled his brain. What if he wanted to be followed?
"I've got an idea. Change of plans. Powerplant!"
"Oh, I hate you." River lunged to her feet.
The Doctor set off on a run, heading back to the center of the base. "No, you don't!"
They quickly dismantled another door, and were surprised to find a long, unobstructed corridor ahead. River took a breath of oxygen then gripped her weapon more tightly, "I don't like this."
"No, no, no. It's good. I think," the Doctor also took a hit of oxygen and set off down the corridor, breathing heavily but unable to resist chattering. "Fred is overcompensating, making mistakes. He's disabled his own logic functions. That's good for us. Mostly." He sucked in another gasp of oxygen, and then stopped in his tracks as a blast door to his left opened. He yelped and ducked, giving River a clear line of fire.
River strafed the sentries in front of them and they kept moving. "'Disabling logic functions' sounds a lot like 'going crazy', you know that?"
The Doctor giggled manically, and before the smoke had cleared and the last sentry part had hit the floor, he sprinted through the newly-opened door and darted down that corridor, trusting River to follow. Another gasp of oxygen, then he said, "The swarms are harder to fight, but if we stay unpredictable, the transmats will have a harder time compensating. Keep moving," here, he ran out of air and took several more puffs.
At the next junction, the tell-tale sound of imminent transmatting filled the air. "Down! Lower levels - blow that lift door!"
River turned her attention to the materializing swarm. "You get the door. I'm busy!"
"Um," he cringed as River's gun discharged, sending sparks and robot pieces raining down on them. Not knowing what else to do, he pushed the lift button, and jumped when he heard the doors ding. "Uh, oh," he said quietly, then louder, "River, we've got company!"
River and the Doctor took positions on either side of the lift, as it disgorged a patrol of sentries. The bots fired wildly.
Without missing a beat, she swung her gun toward them and pulled the trigger once, twice, three times. Several sentries careened into each other, their motion sensors damaged.
The Doctor surveyed the destruction and clapped his hands. "Right then. Do you need another gun, dear?"
She flashed him a smile. "Two would be ideal, but given the circumstances..." She hefted the oxygen canister in her arms.
Leaving River to cannibalize more power packs, he turned his attention to the lift panel, which was now hanging on the wall with just a stripped screw holding it up. "Thanks for getting the door," he said. On a hunch, he tested the panel with the sonic, and the deadlock had been blown. "Lucky me," he whispered. With a few well-placed adjustments, the lift car dropped out of sight, exposing the open shaft. He took a damaged gun from one of the wrecked sentries, and holding it awkwardly, shot out the power conduits, leaving the lift dead. It wouldn't do at all for Fred to use the lift car to squash them when they were climbing down the shaft.
He inhaled a few breaths of oxygen, and called to River, "Follow me, going down. We're almost there." Then he ducked into the shaft and found the service ladder. He clambered down.
River swung out onto the ladder behind him. "Well, it's not a ravine," she murmured.
They climbed down three levels, to the very bottom of the base, just above the canyon floor they were led across hours ago. The Doctor hotwired the doors, which opened into the engineering section. Once inside, he leapt into the corridor and sprinted down. "Almost there! Keep going, River!"
"Ah. And I thought I'd stop here and have tea," she said dryly, "maybe invite a swarm or two."
"Oi! I'm being encouraging and optimistic!"
At last, they reached their destination: the beating heart of the entire base. Ten thousand years it had siphoned energy from the plasma storms with its network of lightning rods embedded in the moon's rocky surface. The column pulsed, mirroring the plasma activity in the atmosphere. It powered the base, Fred, and protected the entire sector from Skarsak attack.
Or rather, anything Fred evaluated as a Skarsak threat. Successive mining operations had been surreptitiously sabotaged and abandoned, with the base's presence never suspected. And once, three thousand years ago, it obliterated the entire Frillan Armada, two parsecs away, leaving no trace.
Now it had to go.
Access to the central column was through a double-doored, reinforced chamber. Through the small, circular window, they could see the chasm that held the power plant, and the catwalks that bisected the chamber. The Doctor examined a control panel and disengaged the airlock doors. They now had a clear path to the central column, but he motioned for her to wait. He pulled out his oxygen and took several deep, enriching breaths. "Let's give Fred a chance to catch up to us."
River took a hit of oxygen as well. "Sweetie, you know I trust you. But how are you going to destroy the power plant? Play chess with it?"
"I'm not going to do anything," he said, showing her the transponder. "Fred will."
At that, a transmat field formed in front of the lift. "Take this," he pushed the holounit into her hands. "Come on!" He grabbed her arm and led her out onto the catwalk. "Stay close, stay really, really close." He slammed the doors behind them, locking them shut.
They sprinted onto the catwalk until they reached the halfway mark. Below them, the chasm gaped, and the glowing plasma collector filled the center: its roots were embedded deep into the moon and extended to the top of the base. The catwalk vibrated with the power of the machinery.
The swarm had materialized, and was in the process of buzzing through the reinforced doors. At the opposite end of the chamber, more doors were opening, and another swarm burst through. Above them, a phalanx of sentries floated down the central column.
"Wait for my signal," the Doctor breathed. He wanted their pursuers close. As close as he would dare. He felt River's tension, but ignored it. "Wait." The ornate patterns on the sentry's armor came into focus as they bore down on them. Buzzbots bounced and whirred, picking up momentum.
"At the... last... possible... moment... Now!"