Chairman Yang was closer to losing his grip now than he ever had been before. Aki Zeta-5 had outmanoeuvred him! Only a few minutes after he had closed his commlink to her, hundreds of Consciousness troops had crossed the Hive borders and had begun decimating his armies. Whole columns of his best forces had been completely wiped off the map. Now the Cyborgs were conducting systematic surgical strikes against his largest bases, and had captured three already. Reports coming in told him that two more were under heavy attack and could not hold out much longer.
The Chairman's hands began to clench and unclench, a nervous habit that he thought he had broken himself of since before the Unity left Earth. Not now, not now! He hadn't time for this now.
He tapped a sequence of commands on his datapad, and the face of one of his aides appeared on the viewscreen in front of him. Portia Krakowski, looking exactly the same as she had the day he had first met her aboard the Unity . Twenty-two years old in face, many times that number in mind. The new longevity treatments were obviously working.
«Yes, Chairman?»
Her voice, so smooth, so melodic...he shook himself. This wasn't like him at all. I must see a doctor, he reminded himself. But later. Right now I am needed here.
«Portia, I need you to organise our defences here in The Hive. Recruit as many people as you can, train them quickly, and give them weaponry and armour. We will need all the help we can get.»
He pressed his hands to his temples, trying to collect his tattered mental faculties. Why was it suddenly so hard to think?
«Station our defenders around the...perimeter defence. This base must not fall to the...the Consciousness...»
His aide was startled to hear the Chairman begin a conversation with himself, mumbling and muttering almost unintelligibly. It sounded as though he was dangerously close to madness - could this really be the same Sheng-ji Yang who had commandeered a Unity escape pod and set out to construct a Utopia on Planetsurface?
«Not enough time...never enough time...algorithms...there must be something in the algorithms...Aki Zeta-5...strength is togetherness...unity...must have unity...»
Slowly, Sheng-ji Yang (was that his name? He couldn't remember clearly) sank to his knees, one hand steadying himself against his desk. From the viewscreen, his aide...Portia, wasn't it?...was asking him anxiously if he was all right.
He raised his head, then was forced to lower it again as his eyes blurred and defocused. He couldn't think straight, couldn't remember anything, couldn't do anything...
His knees gave way, his head hit the floor with a dull thud, and he slipped into the dark waters of unconsciousness...
«Yes!»
Lady Deirdre looked on as her Empathi began to cheer and stamp. Their plan had finally come to fruition. They were using their empathic talents to confuse Yang's defenders, panic his citizens and, most importantly of all, reduce Yang himself to unconsciousness.
That had been the hardest part. Yang's mental defences were considerable, walls which had to be broken down before the assault could continue. However, eventually the final barrier had been pushed aside, and her Empathi had begun their attack. It was the work of but a few minutes to confuse and dull Yang's thinking, and after that it was a simple task to dampen his mental functioning enough to force him into insensibility.
It wouldn't last forever, but it would last long enough to severely alarm Yang's subordinates and throw off any plans for strengthening the defences of The Hive, long enough for the Consciousness to overwhelm the defenders and capture Yang's headquarters.
Deirdre stood, and activated the microphone in front of her. She didn't have a speech prepared, but they so obviously wanted some encouraging and congratulatory words from their leader.
«My Empathi, I congratulate you on the success of your efforts. If our allies are indeed able to seize The Hive, we will have dealt a severe blow to Yang and his minions. We must always remember that, pacifists though we are, we must be ready to defend ourselves against the insurgency of those who would rape and despoil Planet. Yang was such a one, and even now our allies the Cybernetic Consciousness are conducting a successful military campaign to neutralise the Hive threat and liberate those poor oppressed people from Yang's control.»
She took a deep breath, and continued.
«I knew Yang for but a short time, during the period directly after the Unity disaster. Back then he was Chief of Security, while I was a lowly botanist under the command of Prokhor Zakharov. Now he has become our greatest enemy, and we must do what we can to preserve both our way of life and our link with Planet.
If that means that we must take up arms to defend our cause, then so be it. Let it never be said that a member of the Gaian Federation was afraid to fight to defend their principles.»
A massive cheer went up from the gathered Empathi. Lady Deirdre sketched a bow and sat down, emotionally drained by the passion that she had put into her speech. With determination this strong, and such resolute people behind her, she felt she could achieve anything...
* * * * *
«Talent Rachelle Williams, do you have any further questions about the Cybernetic Consciousness?»
And the incredible thing was, she hadn't. Aki Zeta-5 had anticipated her questions at every turn. She had been shown the massive uplink networks which kept every mind in the Consciousness linked to every other mind, the enormous databanks where backups of the Consciousness were kept, and many other wonders of engineering and computing which kept the Consciousness together.
«You have shown me everything which I wished to see, and more. And now, Prime Function Aki Zeta-5, I would like to give you something in return.»
The Prime Function's face lit up, and she leant forward to better hear Rachelle's next words.
«I would like to become a member of your Consciousness.»
In Aki's eyes she could see elation. She plunged onward.
«As diplomatic aide to Lady Deirdre, I have been to many places and met many faction leaders.
I met Academician Prokhor Zakharov, and. I saw a hunted, driven man, desperately seeking an answer to unanswerable questions, trying frantically to escape his own mortality.
I met Commissioner Pravin Lal, and I saw a man whose profound love of humanity and protectiveness of human rights crippled him at every turn. While his morals and ethics are laudable, he spends too much of his time interpreting and enforcing the UN Charter, and his society is stagnating around him.
I met Sister Miriam Godwinson, and I saw a woman who could have single-handedly led this mission to unified success on Planetsurface, were it not for her intense devotion to her faith. Her charisma alone could have held the mission together when it was fragmenting high above Planet, but instead she chose to walk the path of God, and pays the daily price that He demands.
I met Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, and I saw a man whose desire for a Utopian society overrode any concerns for the welfare of his people or for their democratic rights. His social experimentation, for all his good intentions, is sick and twisted and completely indefensible.
I met CEO Nwabudike Morgan, and I saw a man who loves and cherishes wealth above all things. Yet how would he fare if trade and commerce dissipated tomorrow? What if society finally evolves to that higher plane where material things have no significance?
I met Colonel Corazon Santiago, and I saw a soldier fighting a thousand needless wars. Survivalism has no place on Planet, where all should be allowed to live in peace and harmony with one another, not brainwashed into fighting crusades against all who oppose them.
I met Datatech Sinder Roze, and I saw a woman whose love of anarchy and devotion to covert operations blinds her daily to the realities around her. For her, the virtual world is fast becoming the real world, and the day may come when she retreats into that world completely.
I met Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, and I saw a man who lost everything he had, and who now erroneously believes he can find it again in the oceans. His unswerving ardour for his precious waters overrides all else.
I met Foreman Domai, and I saw a man whose dedication to his people leads him to treat them as eggshells, that they may break if they are dropped. His suspicion of knowledge and scientific progress is crippling his society, and his industrial efforts simply turn Planet against him.
I met Prophet Cha Dawn, and I saw a young boy whose empathic talents gave him an inflated sense of self-importance and led him to believe that he is Planet's chosen emissary to the people. His ideology is contradictory - on his quest to wipe the blight that he calls humanity from the face of Planet, he is himself defacing Planet's surface daily with more and more strip-mines and boreholes.
I even met Caretaker Lular H'minee and Usurper Judaa Marr, and I saw the last few members of a race which tore itself apart over the results of a single experiment. Their technology could have been used to incredible ends, but now it has been used to construct terrible weapons which they daily use to decimate their own kind.
Even my leader, Lady Deirdre, is not without her faults. Her commitment to keeping Planet pristine and pure is exemplary, but her pacifism is her undoing. She is not prepared to fight for what she believes in, and I believe that will be her downfall.
And then, Prime Function, I met you, and I saw in you a convergence of two worlds, the natural and the technological, and I saw the product - a woman whose only goals are enlightenment and rationality. Your logical progression fascinates me, and I applaud your quest for knowledge.
And to further those ends, I would like to join you.»
«Prime Function.»
The voice was not far above a whisper, but still clearly audible in the hushed stillness of Alpha Prime's main hall. Rachelle and the Prime Function had been driven there in record time by their chauffeur, and now preparations were fully underway for her Initiation.
She had been told she was very lucky. The Prime Function hadn't personally supervised an Initiation for at least a year. The last one had been when Colonel Santiago's second-in-command, General Garin Leyla, had petitioned to join the Consciousness.
«Prime Function.»
The voice came again, a low whisper, sounding as though the speaker was almost embarrassed to disturb the silence.
Aki Zeta-5 turned her head and nodded at the aide who had spoken to continue.
«The Lady's quarters are ready for her, if she would care to proceed to them. Level 5, section 6, sub-block 2.»
To call Rachelle's quarters opulent would have been to miss a perfect opportunity to call them palatial. Every comfort and convenience invented by humankind in all their years of civilisation were represented here, from a thick, luscious cerise carpet all the way through to state-of-the-art information facilities, including news from all over Planet. All this, apparently, was to make her feel at ease, for conducting an Initiation when the subject was tense or anxious was difficult at best.
She took a luxurious, lengthy bath, and then occupied herself by perusing the news reports filing in over the networks. Colonel Santiago's position at the head of the Spartan military junta was becoming more and more precarious; the Progenitor war was edging towards its ultimate conclusion; CEO Morgan had fled Morgan Industries after the Nautilus Pirates came dangerously close to overthrowing him; Nettap Complex had revolted against the Data Angels and proclaimed itself part of the Free
Drone Empire.
Suddenly her eye was caught by a small article, way down the list. She scrolled down, then magnified.
'Chairman Sheng-ji Yang's representatives today refused to make a formal apology for the Hive's complete obliteration of Last Rose of Summer. Lady Deirdre has denounced the Hive as 'ruthless, evil barbarians' and has mobilised her troops against Chairman Yang. The other factions have all imposed strict economic sanctions on the Hive, cutting off all trade and commerce. Prime Function Aki Zeta-5 of the Cybernetic Consciousness and Commissioner Pravin Lal of the UN Peacekeepers went even further, declaring official Vendetta upon the Hive, citing an alliance and the UN Charter as respective reasons for their course of action.
Since his collapse two days ago, the Chairman's physical condition has caused his aides constant concern. His lapse into unconsciousness has no medical explanation. He has been treated with all the latest stimulants, but so far he has not responded to treatment. His doctor, David Mendel- Waren, gave us this statement:
«We believe that the only remaining explanation of the Chairman's condition is empathic neurosuppression. We also believe that the perpetrator of this atrocity is the Gaian Federation.»
Lady Deirdre Skye was quick to refute the doctor's statement, saying,
«The Gaians are doing nothing but responding to the Hive's aggression with assertiveness. We do not intend to be cowed by Yang's posturing, and we will fight for what we know to be right.»
In the Chairman's absence, his two chief aides, Portia and Sonia Krakowski, are supervising the running of the Hive. However, Consciousness troops are continuing to capture more and more bases from the Hive, and it is the opinion of many that Chairman Yang and his followers may not last long.'
Her anger, when it came, boiled over in one long scream of rage. How dare Yang refuse to apologise! She had lost everything when his troops destroyed Last Rose of Summer - family, friends, colleagues, everything! Nothing had been left to her - and that, she was coming to suspect, had been one of the reasons why she had been so quick to make her decision to join the Consciousness.
That supercilious...she couldn't even think of a word bad enough to describe Yang!
Still fuming, she called up the datafiles on Portia and Sonia Krakowski.
'Portia Krakowski, born 3rd June, 2038 in New Warsaw, chief aide to Chairman Sheng-ji Yang. Former Governor of People's Teeming until its capture by Consciousness forces. Now believed to be joint Regent of the Hive in the continued absence of Chairman Yang.
Sonia Krakowski, born 3rd June, 2038 in New Warsaw, chief aide to Chairman Sheng-ji Yang. Former Governor of The Colony until its capture by Consciousness forces. Now believed to be joint Regent of the Hive in the continued absence of Chairman Yang.'
Identical twins, both born twenty-two years before the Unity mission. Originally assigned to Prokhor Zakharov's science team, then defected to Chairman Yang's landing pod in their pursuit of the perfect life.
Rachelle turned her head away in disgust, bile rising from her stomach. She had known them. At one of the diplomatic banquets held in Gaia's Landing, ambassadors from every faction (excluding the Progenitors, of course) had thrown their differences away, for one short night, and come together in one room for the first time in decades.
She remembered that night well. She had sat with them on her right hand side, and her leader Lady Deirdre Skye upon her left, at the head of the table. The two - she almost called them girls, but then realised that they were several times older than she was - had laughed and joked and behaved exactly as everyone expected two twenty-year-old girls to behave, given that they were in honoured company, of course.
But Rachelle's empathic talents, coupled with her keen powers of observation, had told her more. Behind the laughing, convivial facade, two hearts beat, as cold as the deepest depths of midnight space. Two scheming minds plotted and planned their way to power, with no thought for those who stood in their way.
She had been disgusted. You could see their eyes snapping and darting in their faces as they smiled, taking in every nuance, every detail, anything that might be of use to their leader. She couldn't help but be impressed at their deception, but the idea still left her sick to her stomach - they had seemed so genuine, so ordinary.
Now they were the Gaians' greatest enemies...
«Run!»
The fear twisted deep in Lady Deirdre's stomach, writhing and contorting like a tortured mindworm. Aki wasn't fast enough...
Precise as the Consciousness attacks had been, they hadn't been fast enough. The first wave of Yang's troops had escaped destruction, and were now looting and pillaging Gaia's Landing, the closest Gaian base to the Hive border. There were simply too many of them, and the Gaian defenders had been driven further and further back into the base. Though their photon wall armour was a match for the Hive missiles, they had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of Hive attackers, and now the last few citizens were being evacuated from Gaia's Landing.
Lady Deirdre, dressed in green-and-brown battle fatigues, leaned gracefully around the corner of a building and took a shot at a Hive soldier who was wielding a vibro-saw and laughing maniacally. He went down, his laughter now changed to screams of pain, his shoulder reduced to shreds by the Lady's shredder pistol.
At least we got most of our people out, thought Deirdre. It had been a close call. The enemy had managed to surround the base of the main tower, and they had been hard-pressed to fight their way out. However, her valiant defenders had managed to screen the civilians from the assault and most had got away in the prepared scout rovers. Now only a few troops remained, desperately trying to hold back the onslaught as the last citizens made their way through the streets to the rover fleet.
«Lady Deirdre!»
It was Lindly, her favourite Talent since Rachelle had gone missing. Her mindworm boil had been obliterated by the Hive, but luckily Lindly had been able to break the psi link before the worms' mental death shrieks had reduced her brain to madness.
«Please, you must get to the rovers. We may not get another chance. They almost have us surrounded!»
Deirdre looked at Lindly, her eyes ranging sadly over her Talent's countenance. Her long brown hair was caked with mud, her face was streaked with blood, and her clothing was ripped and torn where shrapnel had slashed through it. Blood pumped from a gash on her left thigh, and she still bore the signs of mental anguish which came from the wrenching split with her mind worm boil.
All that we can hope for is that our children never have to see these horrors, prayed Deirdre. Soon, very soon, Yang's spectre will no longer hang over all our heads...
She spun on the ball of her foot, and shot down a Hive soldier who had been creeping towards them. The woman shrieked aloud and dropped her missile launcher, which then exploded at her feet as the missile misfired.
Both Lindly and Deirdre ducked as shrapnel screamed overhead, mud spattering down over them both.
Deirdre caught hold of Lindly's arm and began to run. Within a second, Lindly was pounding along beside her as they headed desperately for the one remaining rover.
They gained the rover, slammed the door behind them, and kicked it into gear. As it shot forward, gears protesting loudly, a missile impacted at the exact spot where the two women had been standing only seconds ago.
As Lindly wrestled with the rover's wheel, frantically trying to get it under control, Deirdre gazed back at the burning wreck that had been her home for so many years.
She slung her backpack onto the seat, opened a side pocket and took out a small white pine seedling, no more than a foot high, her last redemption from the ruins of Gaia's Landing.
Our hope will live again...
* * * * *
«Peace.»
The word rolled out into the hall of Alpha Prime, amplified a hundred times by the system of carefully concealed microphones and speakers. Silence began to spread in its wake, flowing like a tide throughout the room.
Rachelle stepped forward, as she had been instructed. Her single implant rested against her skin, cool metal on flesh. She'd been told that she only needed the one implant - technological advances had made the five sported by Aki Zeta-5 a thing of the past. They had situated it high on her forehead, where it could be covered by a simple restyling of her hair.
She was partly anxious, partly afraid, but mostly exhilarated. Catching herself, she reminded herself of the importance of emotional detachment, and reached inside herself for the calm centre that her Empath tutors had taught her to touch...
There, she thought, as she felt tranquillity flood through her body. I am ready.
«Peace,» said Aki Zeta-5 again. «We are here to witness the Initiation of another into our number. Let the ceremony begin.»
Short and sweet, thought Rachelle. That's the way they work, though...
Aki Zeta-5 stepped forward, wearing a simple white gown and holding her head high, the silver implants gleaming in the subdued light.
«There is no war, only peace.»
A thousand voices echoed, There is no war, only peace.
«There is no fear, only peace.»
Again the tide of responses, There is no fear, only peace.
«There is no hunger, no pain, no loneliness; no anger, no division, no hate; there is only peace.»
The shells faithfully echoed her words.
«Our ultimate goals: logic, rationality, and knowledge, but above all things knowledge. For knowledge is the lifeblood of human civilisation, the cornerstone upon which we build everything.»
Knowledge... they responded.
Rachelle walked forward again, and spread her arms above her head. The microphone concealed in the folds of her dress picked up her voice and amplified it, spreading her words throughout the hall.
«I am ready. I come to you as one seeking unity with the many. Together we shall ascend to greater heights of knowledge and rationality. I seek your approval!»
A murmur ran through the room, and then as one they spoke.
« We approve. »
From the corner of her eye, she could see a technician press a button on his console, and the uplink began...