Chapter 20
"What was that?" Maria asked as the deck shuddered from the blast shield falling. Janus turned towards the closed blast door and looked up at its top. Maria blinked, confused as to why she wasn't speaking. She moved closer to the mouse. "What was that, Janus?" Suddenly the mouse turned her head towards the woman, her purple eyes starting to glow. Maria stepped back in surprise as the mouse looked back towards the door.
"You need to get back, Dr. Robotnik." The mouse said, her tone an eerie calm. Then she looked back towards the door, closing her eyes for a few moments. Then the door began to rise. Once it rose high enough, Janus disappeared inside and started to walk further into the compartment. She turned her head from left to right, no sign of the hedgehog. Then she froze taking notice of Miles' body crumpled up against the blast door. Moving closer to him, she knelt, pressing two fingers to his neck. No carotid pulse. Then she reached out, opening his eyes. The pupils were fully dilated, no sign of any light reflex. Something caught the mouse's attention, causing her to focus on his head.
Zenith Defense Industries CSBv1.5 chip detected
CSBv1.5 operating and intact
Last biological state recorded:
Irreversible brain trauma detected
Blood pressure below sustainable levels
Ventricular fibrillation detected
No defibrillator implant detected
Committing last save to secondary storage
Save state successfully recorded
Asystole detected
Janus reached under the fox's back and started to lift him up, turning towards the blast door, carrying him through while triggering the door's lowering sequence again. Maria stared at her and then down at Miles' body, stunned. He wasn't moving and with the way Janus was carrying him, it was casual. She stepped closer as the mouse lowered him down to the floor. Then she realized what had happened, the way his eyes were fixed, noticing the same absence of light reflex. Pressing a hand to her mouth, she turned away and lowered down to her knees. Janus watched as Maria lowered her hand down to her chest, her body shaking as she turned and faced the two, sliding closer to the fox. The mouse could see her eyes reddening as tears streamed down her cheeks. Maria reached out and pressed her hand to the fox's burned cheek. Then she reached up and closed his eyes before dropping her head onto his chest, sharply inhaling before letting out a muffled shriek.
The mouse lowered down to her knees as well, waiting. After what seemed like a few minutes, Maria raised her head up, makeup running. Then her eyes widened as she looked at the way the mouse stared at her, much like the hedgehog. She slid back suddenly, sputtering and pointing up at the mouse.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" Maria hissed. "You were in their hands for the longest. Miles was the one that got you away from them."
"One of the Acornian sleepers?" Janus tilted her head. "If that were true, I would have likely killed the both of you by now. No, my loyalties were not in question. Especially to him. In fact, if we work together he can still be recovered."
"Recovered?" Maria looked back at Miles' body and shook her head. "He's dead. There's no way that body can sustain life any longer, in any shape."
"Correct, but there is more than way for a person to live, even past this state." Janus said, centering her head. Then she pointed up at her head. "Are you familiar with the concept of a cortical stack backup chip?"
"Yes, but they've been experimental for some time and not approved for general usage." Maria said. "Miles never had any degenerative brain disease or any other terminal condition that would have called for it and I would know if he did or went in for any trials. Not to say that procedure's even in the trial phase."
"He has such a chip installed. It was installed with the assistance of Dr. Moddex Everest. The uptime data shows it was activated Sunday, November 1, 2111." Janus explained. "Most importantly, it is working. It saved a checkpoint right as he was dying. His memories, thought processes, everything that you would use to define his consciousness is in there."
"Yes well, we may have a chip but how would we use it?" Maria asked, wiping her eyes.
"A suitable computer system could be used. But with the station under attack and main computer potentially compromised, I wouldn't recommend linking into it. A decentralized system. I would recommend something that we could arm." Janus advised.
"Like a robot?" Maria asked. Janus nodded and pointed past her. "That MAARS has more than sufficient power. If we tie the chip in, he could assimilate its systems."
"I would think if anyone was capable of it, he would. The boy thinks in code." Maria said softly, lowering his head. "Look at me, I've gotten so attached to him I speak of him in the present tense still, even though he's dead."
"What do we need?" Maria asked.
"Tools, there should be a maintenance area for the security robots nearby." Janus lowered down and picked up the fox's body. Then she stared over at the MAARS, the robot starting to become animated again, righting itself and rolling towards them. "I have it on manual control for now, so I would advise that we stay behind it."
KRSS Warspite
"Excuse me, Captain." The weapons officer motioned towards the main viewscreen on the bridge. Captain Concha got up from his chair and moved closer to the man. The weapons officer pointed towards the counter-boarding team's tactical display, then brought up the telemetry icons for Miles' team. Concha blinked and stared at them. One of them had went gray with a red X overlaid on it, biotelemetry readings going flat. Then he focused on the name, his eyes widening.
"We've lost the IWO, sir." Lieutenant Commander Percival said. Concha slowly reached up and took off his glasses, running his other hand through his hair.
"Goddamn it. The rest of his team's coming back though. What the Hell happened?" Concha asked.
"If I might suggest sir, you might want to look at the helmet camera in private. It wouldn't do to have this out on the bridge." The cat said quietly.
"Of course." Concha nodded and put his glasses on, making a fist. "Goddamn it." Percival motioned for Concha to take the lead. He looked over at Lieutenant Commander Bolton. "Take over if you would, Scott. I'll be in bridge conference with Mr. Bolton."
"Aye, aye, sir. I have the bridge." Percival acknowledged. Concha stepped out with Bolton joining him. They left the bridge and entered the bridge conference room, the cat locking the door behind them and blacking out the outer windows. Captain Concha leaned in and started to punch commands into the display where he typically sat.
"What's going on, Captain?" Bolton asked, watching the projector at the center of the table coming alive.
"Prower's dead." Concha spat, slapping the table. "I shouldn't have sent him on that boarding team. I should have sent someone else. So now I must write two letters and a report, that's the price I must pay for my foolishness. I shouldn't have given him permission to go."
"Sir. The lieutenant was counter-boarding rated and you did instruct him not to take unnecessary risks." Bolton said quietly.
"Risk is our business sometimes, Mr. Bolton. Sometimes even death!" Concha snapped. "That doesn't mean I have to like it." He then looked towards the projection that came up now. The two watched silently as a first-person view of the fox's fight against the hedgehog played out. Bolton couldn't help but to try to turn away as he saw the hedgehog's foot and booster came in contact, but Concha continued to watch as the Webley came up and fired twice, suddenly sending the viewer hurtling towards the blast shield. Then he rewound, seeing both Maria and Janus getting away. The human took a deep breath, held it and then let it out.
"He sacrificed himself to let them get away and put a highly dangerous asset out of play." Bolton said, leaning in. "Shall I put Lieutenant Prower in for the Victoria Cross?"
"No." Captain Concha straightened up and stared at the cat. "You may put Lieutenant Commander Prower in for the Victoria Cross. Assuming we get out of this to where there's someone to receive the request. Take the bridge, Mr. Bolton, I have to make a call."
"Aye, aye, sir." Bolton stepped back and unlocked the room, giving it a five second delay before it relocked and darkened. Concha sat down in his seat, pulling up a communications system that he had wished he did not have to use. Establishing a one way and secured connection would take some time. He swallowed, readying himself to speak, the words clear in his mind.
Field Marshal, it is my regret to inform you that your son, Lieutenant Commander Miles Prower was killed in action on this day of May 24th, 2115.
Mobotropolis, Keplerian Republic
I have outlived my wife and now my son.
Field Marshal Amadeus Prower had calmly closed off the call with Captain Concha but afterwards, the sixty-two-year-old fox rose up to his feet, and with a struggle he had upturned his desk. The loud thunderous crash of heavy wood, shattering plastic, shuffling papers and other equipment had gotten everyone's attention outside of his office. Even his red telephone added to the cacophony with a shrill busy signal. Then came the loud hoarse yell.
Major Antoine D'Coolette slowly approached the door and opened it, his ears twitching as he saw the fox pacing around through the wreckage.
"F-Field Marshal?" The coyote stammered.
"My son's blood is on their hands now." Amadeus growled, turning towards D'Coolette, chest heaving. "My only son is dead, Major. I want an interservice meeting in ten minutes here."
"In your office?" Antoine asked.
"YES! IN MY OFFICE!" Amadeus bellowed. "I don't care! We are going to sit in here and come up with a plan to relieve the station and once we have that plan in motion, we are going to execute it and I'm going to get my hands on King Frederick and he will die, slowly."
"Ten minutes, yes Field Marshal." D'Coolette said, slowly stepping back. Amadeus slowly walked over to the bookshelves on the wall in front of him and took up the same bottle of whiskey that he had drank from close to fifteen years ago, uncapping it before starting to swallow every drop left in it.
Space Station ARK
Small Robot Maintenance Bay – Observation Deck
Janus had set the fox's body down on a large workbench, looking around before spotting a large red tool chest. She rolled it close to the bench while Maria approached from the other side. The mouse opened drawers, searching for a knife. Maria looked over at Miles' body before speaking.
"What do you have to do to get the chip?" Maria asked.
"You have to cut into the neck, at the base of the spinal cord." Janus said. Maria reached out and touched the mouse's arm.
"Then I want to be the one to do it. Kepleroid or whatever you are, I'm the surgeon here." Maria said quietly.
"I understand." Janus said, holding the knife out to her. Maria slowly took it and took a deep breath before putting on a set of insulated gloves that she had found. A little bit thicker than surgical gloves but she had to make due. She took the knife while Janus stepped around to roll Miles' body onto its stomach before moving the overhead light closer. Janus felt around the fox's neck and pressed down a region, grabbing a pen that was left there, drawing a line. "There is your guide line, Doctor."
"Thank you, Miss Rotarl." Maria said, slipping almost automatically into the behavior she adopted in the operating room. Ironically Miles was the model patient for rapid surgery here. No need to worry about infection or maintaining vitals, she could cut at will so long as she didn't cut herself or somehow damage the stack. She pressed the blade down against the fox's fur, cutting in deep and drawing it down the line as darkening blood started to flow out onto the bench. She extended the cut with clamps and made another cut, getting past the fat and muscle tissue until the base of his spine was exposed.
There it was, inside of a diamond mold that was made around the base of his skull and spine. Maria picked up an extraction tool and carefully guided it in to the operating field, closing its pincers around the handle and slowly pulling back. The chip was unseated, and she set it down carefully on an antistatic sheet on the bench. She carefully folded the sheet around the chip and moved to another bench where the MAARS IX sat, shut down. Unfolding the sheet, she set it down on the second bench. Janus lowered a magnifier that was on an arm, turning on its light, carefully studying the chip.
"No imperfections or issues from removal that I can see." The mouse said, looking at Maria. "Excellent work, Doctor."
"Will the blood be any problem?" Maria asked. Janus shook her head before pointing to an open panel that was between the two tracks. She saw the empty expansion processor slot and then raised her head. "There should be a set of keys around here for the weapon safeties."
"Weapon safeties?" Maria blinked.
"We're plugging him into a new system that's armed. I do not think that you would have wanted us to go through this effort to only end up shot by him." Janus said. "Engaging physical safeties would be best."
"You make a good point." Maria looked around and walked over to the tool chest that Janus was using, opening drawers until she found a ring of keys with a green plastic tag. She walked over to the mouse's side, holding them up. "Are these it?"
"Let's see." Janus said, taking the keys while squaring up the lock. Flicking through them, she held one and inserted it, turning it to the left with a small click. The mouse nodded before holding them out to Maria. "We'll keep that on until he's acclimated." Then Janus picked up the chip and inserted it into the expansion processor slot, beginning the startup process by flicking the main power switch. Nothing seemed to happen other than a small whirring sound from the base. Maria looked at the robot nervously while Janus looked over at a direction terminal that was set up nearby.
QinteQ MAARS Mark IX
BIOS Version 2114.06 rev 01
© 2114 QinetiQ Group plc
Memory Check – 4096 TB (4 PB) OK
Storage Check – 1024 PB (1 EB) OK
Expansion Chip Detected
Sideloading Expansion Chip
Zenith Defense Industries CSB v1.5
© 2111 Zenith Defense Industries Inc.
Malware Check Completed
No Malware Found
Host System Detected as QinetiQ MAARS Mark IX
Memory Capacity OK
Storage Capacity OK
CSB Integrity OK
No Biological Systems Detected – Monitoring Service Stopped
Copying Core Consciousness To Storage
Please Wait
After a few moments the camera turned to focus on the two women. Janus could see the first-person view from the camera while new telemetry was coming from the robot. She found herself unable to take control of it as she did earlier. Suddenly the camera feed went black, causing the mouse to reach for the terminal, trying the usual key combinations to get to a command line or to attempt to access task management. The shell was still there but just blank until Maria leaned in and noticed a new line at the bottom.
Acclimation in progress.
MAARS IX Datascape
Everything around him was white. But the last thing that Miles remembered was crashing into the door, as well as those strange words that appeared in his field of vision before everything went black. He looked around for a few moments, realizing that he appeared to be alone before looking at himself. No boarding suit, that was strange. He appeared to be in his standard KRSN uniform. Reaching up, he took off his peaked cap and looked down at it. The texture felt right as did the weight. He hefted his cap for a moment before tossing it forward. It sailed forward for what appeared to be a meter before abruptly disappearing. Then he felt it back on his head, as if he never took it off.
"What the-" Miles reached up and took his hat off again.
"Mr. Prower." A male voice suddenly spoke behind him. The fox turned on his heel, finding himself face to face with what appeared to be another Keplerian fox, his fur more of a reddish orange of a classical Earth fox. He had a head of blue hair as well, with yellow eyes and rectangular rimmed glasses. Finally completing the ensemble was what looked like armor and businesswear combined.
"You gave me a start!" Miles growled. The other fox closed his eyes and bowed his head.
"My apologies Mr. Prower but we don't have very much time here." The fox said.
"Just who exactly are you? Where are we?" Miles asked, looking back up towards what he thought to be the ceiling.
"A more accurate set of questions would be 'Where am I?' and 'What am I?'." The fox said, crossing his arms. "As for me, I am technically not a person, just a virtual avatar of the man who created this system. His name is Dr. Moddex Everest, chief innovation officer for Zenith Defense Industries."
"I recognize the name." Miles said, looking back at the avatar. "One of the first and few Keplerian defense contractors. All right then, where am I? The last thing I recall was being on the ARK."
"You are still on the ARK." The Moddex avatar said. "As for the second question. It must be asked."
"Why can't you just tell me?" Miles inquired.
"My program only has a limited scope of awareness and abilities." The avatar answered.
"Fine, what am I?" Miles said, putting his cap back on.
"You associate yourself with the identity of Lieutenant Miles Prower, a 22-year old Keplerian fox who was born on October 16, 2092. Your program however activated today on May 24th, 2115." The avatar said.
"My program?" Miles focused on the fox's words, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes, your program. You are currently within a computer system, what appears to be that of a QinetiQ MAARS Mark IX armed security robot." The avatar advised. "This robot is your vessel, your physical body at this stage. Everything you see here, everything you sense, and feel is your own program."
"Physical body? I already had a body though." Miles swallowed, a sense of dread washing over him. Had. Then he started to put the pieces together, remembering what he had seen before everything went dark. "Unless I…unless I died."
"This program would have activated if the conditions meeting clinical death were met. A copy of your consciousness was saved within a cortical stack backup implanted at the base of your spine. It would have been ready to be installed into a proper vessel the moment that state was detected." The avatar explained.
"So, everything that I am is within one chip." Miles said quietly.
"Currently, no. You are within the robot's computer systems, using its sensors, storage, memory and processors. The cortical stack backup chip is refreshing and saving everything regularly so that if you have to be moved, you will not lose anything." The avatar said.
"Why did I have this though? I've heard some rumors about the technology, but they were just rumors. Why me?" Miles asked.
"I'm afraid I don't possess that information. You will have to ask Dr. Everest directly." The avatar said.
"Assuming I can get off the station." Then the fox's eyes widened. "Maria and Janus. I have to find them."
"First I would recommend that you take the time to probe the systems that are available to you. There are translation systems ready for use that will help you assimilate them." The avatar advised.
"That should be simple enough. I just think about it, don't I?" The fox asked. "I'm a MAARS Mark IX now." Suddenly the robot appeared in between them. "The camera is my eyes, there's microphones that would be my ears, speakers for a mouth. Weapons and other hardpoints for limbs."
"You've already activated the translation systems then." The avatar said. "Dr. Everest anticipated that you would be a quick study."
"This gives me a sense that this was preplanned though. I have to ask again, why me?" Miles said quietly.
"I'm afraid-"
"I'm afraid I don't possess the information." Miles said, then froze, his voice had transformed into a mimic of the avatar's. He blinked as the avatar smirked. "Fine, I'll ask this Dr. Everest when the time comes." His natural voice returned.
"My task is finished then, Mr. Prower." The avatar said, starting to disappear while the white space began to turn black. Suddenly he felt as if he was sitting on something like a table, Janus and Maria directly in front of him.
Space Station ARK
Small Robot Maintenance Bay – Observation Deck
"Maria?" The voice came from the robot's speakers and was unmistakable. Maria blinked in surprise as the camera panned around again to focus on her. She reached out and held her hand in front of it, flexing her fingers.
"He recognizes me!" Maria said incredulously. "Miles is that you?"
"It is." Then the camera turned to focus on Rotarl. "Lieutenant Rotarl."
"Lieutenant Prower." The mouse tilted her head as the camera angled up, lens focusing as it switched to a different spectrum.
"I detect organics but for the most part you are by majority robotic. A Kepleroid?" The fox inquired.
"That would apparently be correct, Lieutenant." Janus replied.
"Apparently? How could you not know?" Miles asked.
"It would appear that my creator wanted to ensure I could pass without scrutiny." The mouse said.
"I'm getting Zenith Defense product identifications all over from you." Miles said. "Would your creator happen to be Dr. Moddex Everest?"
"Everest?" Maria cut in, looking over at Janus. "Now I remember why that name seemed to ring a bell! He was there when Miles had that surgery. He seemed out of place. So, he put the chip into you but also positioned Janus here as well."
"Apparently so. Again, I don't know why." Janus said softly. "It would have been nice to have these systems activated far enough back to where some of this could have been avoided."
"What I don't understand is why I was chosen for this chip. You might have unknowingly assisted Everest in selecting me. For all I know your presence on that transport years ago might have been deliberate." Miles said.
"I..I hope not." The mouse blinked, tilting her head. "With what I had to endure on there, I thought it was just bad luck. Though it is possible there was some larger plan involved, I just do not know."
"Hopefully we can get some answers once I get you off the station. I have weapon systems, ammunition count is still green on all of them, but I can't activate targeting. Why?" Miles asked.
"We engaged a physical safety to ensure there wasn't any misfire." Maria said.
"Well turn it off, my aim wasn't bad in my original body. Now I have stability and better optics." The fox's tone of voice suggested he was grumbling. Janus angled around and turned the key this time two places to the right, a small green light lighting up before she removed the key and closed the panel. Cautiously, Maria and Janus stepped out of his line of sight.
"No jams detected in the squad automatic weapon, 40mm cannons seem OK as well, several ammunition types to load from including non-lethal. This will do nicely." Miles said.
"You seem to be awfully enthusiastic about this for someone who's been dead for several minutes." Maria commented from behind. He turned the camera to face her, one of the manipulator arms rotating and pressing against her abdomen.
"This is our way out and hopefully to a better body." Miles said. "One to where I can actually feel what I'm touching. Now, let's get started." He started to roll forward, causing Maria and Janus to bolt to grab him. The robot pitched forward but landed on its tracks, stopping.
"Damn it!" The fox growled. "That was stupid of me." Then he started to roll towards the closed door, the human and the mouse glancing at each other before following.