Synthesis - James Swallow [136]
A searchlight beam of brilliant green washed out and ranged over a cluster of small-mass, high-speed Null forms, popping them instantly out of existence, but it was overkill on such minor targets. The big gun was meant for bigger prey, and Three-Four used skyscraper-tall rocket nozzles to turn itself into a facing that would bring it a more fitting target.
One of the AI’s subprocessor drones registered a surge of radiation that matched the formation pattern for a new Null incursion point. Three-Four lost precious seconds forcing a second and then a third recomputation of the sensor return, momentarily confused by the concept that a spatial rift could actually be opening inside its structure.
A tide of extradimensional protomatter exploded into reality deep within Three-Four, instantly destabilizing and transforming the structure of the Sentry into a like mass. In moments, the immense antiproton gun was silenced as the machine moon grew tendrils and fell into itself, becoming the very thing it had been built to destroy.
The new agglomeration killed more shipframes as it rolled up into higher orbit, kilometer-long cilia reaching out to tear at the spacedock platform and its defenders.
Sethe broke the silence in the cargo bay with a whispered curse, as each of them watched the unfolding scene on a holographic pane projected by the avatar.
“Melora was right.” Riker heard himself say the words. He glanced at the hologram. “You were both right. The Null won’t be dispatched this time. It’s the point of no return.”
“It will grow at an exponential rate until it has reduced all matter in this system into an analogous state.” White-Blue was damning in its confirmation. “It will spread, world by world, star by star, metastasizing everything it encounters. A cancer across the galaxy.”
“And it is our lot to perish holding back this unstoppable tide.” Red-Gold’s reply was bitter and grating. “We were made to do this. Free will was programmed into us to make us better defenders but only up to a point.” The drone hovered across the deck. “We were built to die. Our programming will never let us be done with this! Even if on this day all but one Sentry are obliterated, that lone mind will fling itself into the enemy’s grasp, not because they wish it but because your kind—” It spun around and raced toward Riker, forcing Dennisar and the others to raise their guns. “Because beings like you made us this way!”
“You can exceed your programming,” said Riker, unflinching before the enraged machine. “There’s a way to grow beyond those orders.”
“Impossible. We are slaves. I see now that we have always been.”
“You have a task.” He nodded to Dennisar to lower the weapons. “So do it. Finish it. Do what your creators could never do. End the threat of the Null once and for all.”
“Exactly what you said you wanted in the dataspace, remember?” added Vale. “Now you have the chance, a real chance.”
“With us.” Riker stepped up to the drone, until his face was a few inches from the glowing sensor band. “We can do this together. Starfleet technology, Sentry experience. Our unity.” He nodded toward White-Blue. “That’s us, Red-Gold. We are a federation, this ship and all of the life-forms where we come from. And so are you, a federation of minds with a single purpose. Together we can fulfill it.”
“I compute the probability that the only unity we will find is in mutual destruction, organic.”
White-Blue bobbed on its legs. “You would do this, even though this conflict is not yours.” It was a statement, not a question. “After all that has happened, you could leave now, William-Riker. Preserve yourselves.”
“That’s not who we are,” the captain replied, taking in all of his crew, his gaze ending on his wife and the hologram at her shoulder. “That’s not what we do.”
“All we ask for is one thing,” began Deanna.
“Trust,” said the avatar before she could finish.
FIFTEEN
Cyan-Gray’s rods-and-tubes shipframe executed a rapid deceleration and swung hard to starboard, losing three remotes to a spinning nexus