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Chapter 46
By AC
"Izumi"'s command room was, like so much of the ship itself, relatively small. When Raoul got there, he found Tamiko there already. She turned to face him. "Sir?"
"What is it?" Raoul sat down in one of the seats. Unlike the military ships of old, there was no "captain's chair" nor any specialized workstations. "Izumi, can you show me Paula's current location?" A holographic window with a map of Central District appeared in front of him. A smaller window showed the planet itself and the Izumi's orbit -- Raoul noted that they'll be directly over Central District within a few hours.
"We've found the missing ranger," Tamiko said, her seat moving beside Raoul's. "It's been disabled... right here." She tapped a spot on the window and a small red dot appeared. "I've already dispatched a shuttle with worker bots to retrieve it."
"Good work, Tamiko." Raoul looked at the map. A point of light -- Paula's position -- blinked near the centre of the District, just outside a complex of structures that the locals called "the Core". "Izumi, can you contact Paula?"
"I am trying. However it appears that she has disabled her communit. I am trying to override -- Override accepted. We have an open link."
"Patch me in." Raoul mashalled his thoughts. "Paula, this is Raoul; can you hear me?"
"Raoul? How did--"
"Izumi issued an override. Listen; are you alright, we still don't have any medical telem. from you."
"I'm fine -- physically. But I think we're going to need some help."
/"Paula, who are you talking to?"/ A man's voice.
"Who's that?" asked Raoul.
"That was Darian Ashley. I've fallen in with... this is going to take a while to explain."
Raoul leaned back. "I'm all ears."
By the time Paula finished, Raoul was not alone. The other four human members of the expedition had joined him in the command room.
The entire story was on the near side of incredible. A Ministry that sacrificed modified humans for energy, gang wars and corrupt police, an incorporeal and quite mad enemy... and a planetary mind.
But then, Raoul reminded himself, the Survey had as its goal the finding of the incredible.
"... this makes formal contact more important than ever," Paula said. "If the Ministry continues with its work, it might destroy the planetary mind."
Raoul nodded. Irreverently, a part of his mind recalled an ancient joke: /Congratulations, you've just made contact with an alien intelligence... and you've killed it./
"But this Dalasius could be an equal threat," she added.
"How's that?"
Izumi spoke for the first time in the past half-hour. "If I may make an observation, the planetary mind would have a limited capacity, like a human brain or even my own quantum neuronets. I have mapped Ether networks across the entire planet and, operating under the assumption that one Ether node equals a human neuron or a quantum node, I have calculated that there is sufficient storage capacity in the planetary mind for one sentience, but not two."
"Go on."
"By copying himself into these networks, Dalasius has exceeded the planetary mind's storage capacity, and may be interfering with vital processes in the planetary mind. His function in the planetary mind would be the same as a virus in my own neuronets; unless checked, he would destroy the mind."
"Death is one thing," said Sal Oxteb, the physical anthropologist. "From what Paula said the planetary mind doesn't appear to be afraid of dying. But to be taken over from the inside... That's too horrible to contemplate."
"I agree," Raoul said. "Paula, for what it's worth, you've got our support."
Paula sounded relieved. "Thanks, Raoul... While we've been talking, Darian, Anika and Talehn have been talking. I think they have a plan, but it could get rough."
"Anything we can do?" asked Yin Deveraux.
"Well, my first aid unit needs restocking. And my stunner's gone. Aside from that... I'm not sure what else you can do right now."
"A shuttle's already on the way down, I'll have one of the worker bots diverted to bring those items to you."
"Thanks again," Paula said. "We're getting ready to move. If you can have the bot meet us at..." she gave an address, which Izumi and Canmat used to pinpoint a street corner on the map."
"Will do. Watch yourself down there." Once the connection broke, Raoul turned to the others. "We could lose our jobs and licences over this, so if anyone wants to back out you can consider yourself excused and relieved of duty until we get back to Lalande. Nothing will happen to you, I promise."
He looked around at the others. Nobody moved.
"Izumi, you obviously can't leave the room but you are free to deactivate and turn control over to the autonomous systems. If you help us you could lose your petition for full sentience status."
The "Izumi" said, "With respect, sir, I can be of greater service to you and the Compact by remaining active. I consider my loss of status to be an acceptable risk."
Raoul looked around at his crew, relieved. "Okay. Instruct the shuttle fabricators to prepare the items Paula asked for. Do we still have an open quanlink?"
"Yes sir."
"Send a message to Compact Capital at Lalande. I want to speak to the most senior person you can reach."
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