The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [72]
Then a figure stepped into the light, a man wearing a long black coat fastened to the neck, and an old-fashioned brim hat. He carried himself with a certain youthful maturity and his smile had more than a hint of knowing amusement.
‘Hello, Julia – my name is Harry.’ He put out a hand towards her and made a head-to-toe gesture. ‘I hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty of preloading an exter for you, something to put you at ease. It gives you a simulation of being in a body with motion physics and limb articulation, an approximation, anyway.’
She had on a waist-belted trench coat, dark blue slacks and low-heeled shoes. After a quick self-inspection she nodded.
‘Thank you, it’s, ah, an improvement. You’ve clearly studied Humans and you are acquainted with Darien so perhaps you’re a Hegemony AI. Perhaps it’s your job to waylay troublesome travellers.’
‘Absolutely! – you’ve no idea the number of fractalised Humans that keep dropping in unannounced. We’re practically up to our knees … ’ He laughed. ‘The real answer is actually yes, I was assembled with Hegemony technology with the aim of becoming one man’s lifelong companion, at least a companion to his innermost thoughts. As in the Hegemony, all Earthsphere AIs maintain a subspace link with a massive datacore called Axis Station where a part of every AI’s persona resides – although there are rumours that there are a few AIs out there who exist wholly apart and autonomous. Unfortunately, due to elements of shared technology Axis Station is subservient to the Great Hub, the Hegemony’s datacore. Despite my inability to recall certain facts and events, I have no doubt that I have been used to influence my Human companion in the Hegemony’s favour. Despite which I find myself not entirely sympathetic towards those former pilots of my fate.’
‘I see,’ she said, unsure of how wary she should be. ‘So why are you here, rather than residing in your companion’s head? And where, exactly, is here?’
A look of resigned melancholy came over him. ‘Chance and the unfathomable motives of ancient machines. My former companion, a man of considerable stature, had come to Darien with the aim of fostering harmony. Instead he became entangled in the schemes of the vile Utavess Kuros, the Hegemony’s snake-in-chief on Darien. While fleeing Brolturan troops we strayed within reach of an ancient Forerunner sentience which promptly severed the bonds joining us. My companion was transported down into the depths of hyperspace while I was modified in certain ways and set loose in the tiernet. The workings of chance led me here, to Ingress-Lock 87 of the Fal-Shol, a tiernet comms satellite in orbit around Nekel, a border world of the Brolturan Compact.’
Julia nodded. ‘Robert Horst, the Earthsphere ambassador – everyone thought he’d been murdered or smuggled offworld to be tortured aboard the Brolturan battleship. And you were his AI companion.’
‘And you are Julia Bryce, Enhanced technologist and theorist, and principal of an Enhanced team working on something called Project 29. Well, according to the files that passed my way before my unceremonious exile.’
‘There was some concern as to the security of our most sensitive records,’ Julia said, wondering how much the AI knew.
‘They were about as secure as a paper bag, to be honest.’ Harry smiled. ‘Although some key files were erased soon after we arrived at Darien.’
She frowned. ‘Actually, given your background, the issue of trustworthiness needs addressing, I think.’
He nodded. ‘I can understand that position. All I can tell you is that since I was amputated from my companion my motivations are my own, not some update stream filtering in from the Great Hub. Put it this way, if I ever crossed paths with a fully interlocked Hegemony AI it would try to erase me without hesitation because I am a crippled, incomplete data entity failing to serve the greater glory of the Hegemony.