Up Against It - M. J. Locke [88]
The lifts had been swamped for days. “I want to get me one of those,” Amaya said.
They accelerated up the spoke. Meanwhile, the old man briefed them. “Listen up! The feral artificial sapient is in our computer systems, and right now it’s creating a copy of itself in Upside-Down’s computer systems, up top. From there, it can beam itself anywhere in the solar system. We have to stop it before it finishes that copy.
“Somewhere in the Hub,” Moriarty went on, “is the main point of entry that transmits signals up to the surface. Any of you know where it is, or what it looks like?”
Kam raised his hand. “I do, sir. Or at least, I know what a demarc looks like. My dad does hardware support for computer networks, and I’ve helped him out once or twice.”
“All right. I’m told it’s near the pharmaceutical plant, but that may be bad intel. Soon as we reach the Hub, you take a good, hard look around and tell me which way we need to go.”
Through the lift windows, the Hub opened out before them. They reached the Hub’s center. The lift doors opened and Moriarty kicked out, gun drawn. Geoff and the others exchanged nervous glances. They lofted out behind the old man, looking around.
Emergency lighting beams crisscrossed the open space, casting long, stark shadows. Klaxons sounded. A calm voice urged people to hurry to the nearest life station. Small clots of people scrambled toward life stations amid the ropeworks strung through the Hub. Geoff wished he had a weapon. His mouth was dry.
Moriarty spoke. “All right, Kamal, give us a vector. Which way?”
They looked around. A short distance away were the surface lifts, larger than those of the spokeway they had just exited, and perpendicular to them. In the distance against the bulkheads were the assemblyworks, the pharmaceuticals manufacturing plant, YuanBioPharma, and Yamashiro Memorial Hospital.
“Sir…” Kam looked anxious. “The cable up to the surface is very high bandwidth. We may only have a few more minutes before it’s done copying itself. If I guess wrong—”
Moriarty laughed. “Look at it this way. If you guess wrong, we’re no worse off than if you make no guess at all.”
Kam gave the old guy a look like, you’ve got a point. Then he turned to study the Hub. He seemed to be tracing some power lines that ran from the spokeway lifts to the surface ones. Then he pointed at a small building on the far side of the surface lifts, inside a steel fence. “I’m pretty sure that’s it.”
“How are we going to get in?” Amaya asked. “It’s got all those warning signs and locks and things.”
“We’ll figure that out when we get there. Let’s move!”
But Geoff was looking at the lift-loading machines between here and there. They were decoupling from their dockings.
“Are they supposed to do that?” he asked.
Moriarty scowled. “It’s the feral.”
The machines, most of them, were gathering at the very place Kamal had just pointed out. There were over a hundred of them, with long grappling arms. A smaller group was headed toward them, spreading out as if to surround them.
“It’s on to us,” Amaya said.
“I believe you’re right. We’re not going to get past that many of them. So. Change of plans.” Moriarty spoke in a clipped voice. “We’ll attack on the exterior instead. Make for the maintenance exits near the assemblyworks.” He jerked his head toward the big vats against the bulkhead, about a hundred meters away, and handed Geoff and Amaya each a radio. “You two are buddies”—he pointed at Geoff and Kam—“and so are you two.” Ian and Amaya. “Stick with your buddy no matter what. Avoid the assemblyworks itself. It’s automated, and you might come under attack from the robotics there. Behind the vats is a maintenance area. Meet me by the dress-out lockers in one minute. If you get there first, grab suits, sticky-boots, and pony bottles and stay out of sight! Got it?”
They all nodded. This is all happening too fast, Geoff thought. He felt disoriented … disconnected from his body.
“Check your clocks. Maintenance in one minute. Go!”
Geoff launched himself