07 - One Hell of a Rager

“What do you mean Nan’s not picking up? Did we break the communications array already?” Maya asked.

“I don’t believe so. We are well within the range that Shen’s ship would be able to pick up our signal, but I’m not receiving anything from Nan.”

“Trouble?” Maya wondered.

-Oh, no-

“Hey, Vesky, you need to calm down some. You’re in my head, and all that swooning and gasping at danger is really irritating.”

-If you had retrieved my body…-

“See, that’s something you should have brought up before we left the ship to save your little dino buddy. So, if you’re not gonna hand out pearls of wisdom, keep a lid on it, would ya? No offense, of course. I don’t wanna come off as a dick, but stressful times are arising.”

-Okay.-

Maya idled the truck. They were about half an hour away from Shen’s ship, at their current speed. She didn’t want to go wandering into some kind of ambush if she didn’t have to. There were far too many surprises in the last few days to occupy her mind.

“Rogue AIs?” Maya asked.

“Well, the probability is pretty high when you think about it,” Tender said.

“I’ll charge in and smash the shits,” Zono roared. The holographic figure appeared next to Maya in the cab of the truck. They were using a system tech communications device, one that connected with Zono’s massive mining barge body’s communication’s array.

Zono was following them, in his slow and methodical way, but still managing to keep up with the truck. He claimed he was an asteroid or even small planetary body mining barge, but he hadn’t been designed for long term functioning within a gravity well. Although he could repair himself, there were stressors and damage that was accumulating faster than his systems could keep up with, from rogue AI attacks and the plane’s gravity as well.

Maya had been hoping for a massive, heavily armed, mining companion to take up a spot next to Shen’s ship, but it was looking like Zono was getting the better part of the deal.

Repairs in exchange for Zono taking up a defensive stance and offering her a discount on materials he dredged up. It was an okay deal, Maya thought. Not the best since as she took a closer gander at Zono, she found plenty of un-repaired damage and his functionality had dropped by double digit percentage points.

A mutual defense pact, not System enforced, just between two SIL, not that Zono qualified as SIL, but he had programs that allowed him to enter agreements and negotiate semi-permanent agreements between himself and foreign parties.

It was a weird thing, Maya thought. The Far Reaches brand of creations were fully automated, independent AIs that were sent out to ‘backwater’ regions of the multiverse. Zono wouldn’t say who built him or where he came from, but he and a fleet of other mining barges were sent into a solar system in some universe to mine and if there were local SILs in the neighborhood, rent out their services or outright sell themselves for them to use.

Now, such a thing as independent AIs was a big issue in the Integrated Multiverse. An AI left alone for too long could go rogue over time. With enough of those rogue AIs around and at higher Tiers, they could be a massive problem; a wiping out whole civilizations kind of problem.

Therefore, whoever had created Zono and his band of miners, was either playing with fire or hoping that they were doing the universe a service. Maya wondered what humanity could do with a fleet of Zonos. Without worry from rogue AIs constantly attacking him, Zono claimed to be able to mine and process an ungodly amount of material, even Tier 2 materials.

That brought up the other question about Zono’s existence. Why would someone send out a fleet of these mining barges out into the multiverse? From what she could tell, some parts of Zono’s ore processing and manufacturing were higher grade Tier 2 components. That ‘spider sense’ she got when thinking about repairs and building things itched when she had looked over the parts and systems that made up Zono. From a purely tech component view, Zono was a walking mountain of useable parts.

Maya had no intention on going back on her deal. One thing Pops had always instilled in her was that she had to keep her word. Although she was contentious about a lot of what Pops had said, that was one thing she was proud to uphold. She gave her word and she would keep her word, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate the sparkling new components that made him up.

The optimist side of her looked at the damage that Zono had and saw it as an opportunity to learn more about his systems and also level up her Abilities. Perhaps she could reverse engineer some of his parts like she was attempting with the food processor and water filters. System tech was easy like that, no mana required. Just skill and a lot of brainpower.

“Well, what’s the worst that could happen,” Maya said. “Think of the worst that could happen and then dial it back about twenty percent. That’s what’s going on now.”

-You seem very pessimistic on your worldview-

“Don’t judge, Vesky. It’s been a trying two months.”

“If the worst that happens is this dimensional plane collapsing and thereby the System dying, what is eighty percent of that?” Tender asked.

“Jesus, Tender. That’s your worst case scenario? The System dying? And I’m the one being called a pessimist?”

“You gave no limitations on worst case senario,” Tender replied.

“Alright, think of it like this: What’s the worst thing that could happen to Nan?”

“She could be destroyed.”

“And?”

“She would no longer be functioning?”

“And?”

Tender thought for a moment.

“What’s with all this questioning of the murderous rogue AI for?” Zono demanded. His hologram glanced at Tender, even though they were communicating through a local comm network. “You teaching this thing something?”

Maya shook her head.

“Nan dying would be bad.” Tender stated.

“Yeah.”

“But we don’t know if she’s dead.”

“Yeah.”

“Therefore… that’s the worst case senario?”

“Most likely.”

“That would mean… Nan being injured is probably the current senario?”

“Probably.”

“Then what should we do?”

“You tell me,” Maya said.

Tender pondered for a moment.

“This is embarrassing,” Zono muttered and his hologram flickered away. The massive mining barge began moving, a little faster, but still slowly.

“Running and returning to the Hanganathorie would be the most prudent action,” Tender said. “Yet, you said use morality to make judgements, that would mean… rush to Nan’s aid. If she is hurt, she must be helped and if there are rogue AIs around the ship, they must be destroyed.”

“That’s your plan?”

“It is not a plan; more an outline of action.”

Maya grinned. “Cool, you’re the boss. Let’s go.”

***

“Fucking Nan,” Maya hissed. “I told her no ragers!”

They had decided to scout the ship, with Zono taking a break by a trash pile nearly a mile behind them. He was massive and being sneaky was not something what would be used to describe him.

Maya and Tender neared the ship using the bulk of a trash pile to hide their approach. They managed to arrive at spot that gave them an open view of what was going on.

Either Nan was hanging out with the wrong kinds of AIs or the rogue AIs had crashed her party. She definitely was going through a rebellious phase. Inviting AIs from the wrong side of the tracks to her rager.

Maya shook her head and focused. The entire ship and area was crawling with rogue AIs. From what Maya saw, they were on the smallish side and biped. It was an odd choice in design, a massive bulbous body that had thick inverted legs they scrambled around on with thick grasping hands.

Rogue AI NZN4587AE - Battle Drone - Level 10

There was a loud crack and Maya watched something detonate against the hull of the ship. She saw the smoking barrel of a turret on the back of the mecha. A moment later, five of the mechas fired a volley of shells at the ship, leaving behind a smoking scar on the hull.

“Kinetic accelerators,” Tender explained. “Similar to a railgun, but a system tech explosive charge is used to accelerate a slug.”

“A shell. We call that a shell,” Maya muttered. “There’s system tech explosives?”

“Simple low grade Tier 1 explosives that are only usable for ammunition,” Tender said. “Real explosives must be crafted.”

“Real,” Maya muttered with a slight grin. “They’re like little mechas with a gun strapped to their back. Almost cute if they weren’t so dangerous.”

“They’ll eventually dig out the mana core or break the ship’s defenses.” Tender said.

“Dig out…” Maya looked to where the dimensional bomb hole used to be. She had used Shen’s shiny tech 2 nanobots to bury two mana cores that powered the dimensional cage within the large hole that had been left over when Maya had set off a dimensional bomb.

At one time, she had just got her ass kicked by a pair of unruly higher leveled rogue AIs and she had been desperate. Shoving a dimensional bag into another dimensional storage device caused a big and terrifying explosion; big and terrifying enough that SIL across the multiverse disapproved of its usage. Maya had been unconscious afterward, but what remained behind was a perfect sphere where within its radius everything had been annihilated. From that bit of anarchism, she had received the less than desirable Enemy of the State title, which came with its own headaches.

The use of the dimensional bomb also created a dimensional scar within the hole that had formed. A weak spot in the fabric of the dimensional plane. A scar that had caused a certain Necro asshole to track it down, track her down, and then use her to open up a gateway back to the world at large.

“There goes our theory that the cores are hard to detect,” Maya said as she watched twenty odd gun toting bipeds digging up the ground. They were working efficiently and Maya wondered how long they were at it. They had contacted Nan only eight hours before, right as they were getting Yositari into the truck and loading up the remainder of the loot and components they had found.

“Make a note, Tender. We need to check in more often. We need to create some code phrases in case we’re ever captured or someone is hacking our comm network.”

“Alright, boss.”

“What’s the plan, Tender?”

“Me, boss? I cannot plan this defense.”

“You’re my right hand pal, pal. You own a shiny old dimensional bag and are the COO of this place. You can make decisions too.”

“I do not think I could come up with a moral way to resolve this issue.”

“Okay, so morality is great, but this is your home they’re attacking. That is your mana core they’re trying to steal and that is your friend Nan they’re going to hurt.”

“Nan is not my friend.”

Maya let out a gasp. “Tender!”

“But she is a much needed member of the Sullivan Survival Society,” Tender said. “She has much value and is also apart of the board of directors…. Therefore she must be helped. I also do not ‘own’ anything, boss. This ship is yours by right of killing Shen. You after all have the [Pirate] ability.”

“Let’s not talk about that, shall we? As for this ship. It’s yours as much as it’s mine. Without you, Nan, and Bell, I would never have gotten this far. It’s our home and when some group of assholes try to come and invade your home, what do you do?”

“Defend it?”

“No. You kick their asses, with unrelenting force.”

***

“That’s your plan?” Zono demanded.

“Yeah, problems?”

“Where to begin!”

“Look, all you have to do is stay out of the blast zone and keep the mecha shooters at bay for the time being. Head for the ship, they’re small and you’re huge.”

“Kinetic attacks are a real chore,” Zono said. “They hurt.”

“You have physical sensations?” Maya asked.

“No, but you get what I mean.”

“So, you down with this plan, then?”

Zono gave her a smug look. “Count me in. You SIL make the craziest of plans.”

“Tender came up with this one,” she said.

“What!” Zono glared at Tender. “I’m not following the orders from some scourge of the multiverse!”

“Technically I only became a rogue AI once I arrived here,” Tender said. “I have yet to do any scourging.”

“Plus, you already agreed. No take backs!”

“This is ridiculous! I demand we rethink this plan and come up with one that originated from an actual SIL, not some creepy ass machine bent on killing their creators.”

“Okay. I got a plan. We use Tender’s plan. SIL approved. Let’s move out.”

***

“I wish I still had Dimensional Inventory IV,” Maya said. “It would make this a whole lot easier. I could carry you around in my pocket.”

“That would be convenient,” Tender replied. “Although dimensional space felt… odd.”

“You were conscious while in my Inventory?”

“I am not conscious even now. But I was still active and operating when in your Inventory..”

“Weird. Is my Inventory a real space or is it, y’know, like a pocket dimension or something?” Maya wondered.

Tender shrugged.

“Hey, Vesky. How are you able to talk to me when you’re in my Inventory. Aren’t you supposed to be, I don’t know, in some kind of stasis or something. Like the food we found in those bags, frozen in time.”

-I do not know. Even the master craftsman Hozaro Knoavu, who created my core, is at a lost as to how his golems can still communicate from within dimensional bags. We are just able to; whereas other AIs, rogue or otherwise, cannot.-

“So you’re somehow alive and functioning in there?” Maya asked. “If Tender could still function, but not communicate, then that place has to exist as a physical area, right?”

-The question of what dimensional space is, is one of the greatest mysteries of the Integrated Multiverse. Many Crafters have sought the answer to it. Not even the greatest Tier 4 creators have discovered what dimensional space is or where the items you put into your Inventory go. It could be that the system destroys the item and then rebuilds it once you ‘remove’ it from the storage device. The current theory is that it is converted into mana and then that mana is converted back into a physical form. Perhaps that is the reason why only non-living items can be placed into a dimensional bag.-

“That’s some crazy Star Trek science right there. But you’re speaking to me, that would mean you’re whole and functional right?”

-I do not know. I am a mid grade, Tier 2 golem, I am sapient and somewhat sentient, therefore I am on the cusp of being a SIL. Perhaps, it is my ‘consciousness’ that exists, but the physical orb that I am has been converted into mana.-

“A ghost in the bag.” Maya snorted. She paused for a second. “Where I come from, we got science fiction that says energy can be converted into matter and matter can be converted back into energy. From the shows I watched, its how they use teleportation or matter transfer from one area to another. Beam me up Scotty kind of stuff. Teleportation does exist, right? Like I can be in one place and then in another?”

-Yes, it is a rare Skill.-

“Is there a technological version of it? Like through System Tech or Crafting?”

-Also yes. With a Skill one can teleport themselves and at higher levels, other people, but with system tech or crafting, it can only move non living items.-

“How does it work?” Maya asked, interested in the topic.

“What the hell are you fools doing!” Zono shouted. The hologram towered over the cab of the food truck, glaring down at them. The dog face was twisted in a snarl and holographic drool was dripping from his mouth.

“Chit-chatting,” Maya said.

“Were we not about to go charging into battle just now? Were we not going to rescue your friend and save your ship?”

“Dude, chill out. We got this,” Maya said. “We just need to be fashionably late and wait for the guest of honor to make their presence known.”

“Guest of honor?” Zono asked.

“Those little mechas are just drones. Tender’s been letting his modified sensor rats go running about, looking for the big guy in charge. It takes a hot minute to triangulate and pinpoint the bossman. But once we-“

“I have a target lock on the boss,” Tender said.

Maya looked down at the tablet she had on the steering wheel. On the screen was displayed a large multi-segmented creature that did not look anything like the gun toting mechas running around. The closest thing Maya could come up with was a metal snake about a hundred feet long.

The boss was hiding behind a trash pile, half buried and unmoving, but according to the rats; it was broadcasting a wide signal, jamming communications and ordering around its drones.

“Just laying around while everyone does the work?” Maya scoffed. “Now, I don’t hold to the belief that sloth is a sin, but it’s justification enough for me to unleash some pain on this party crasher.”