Gridlinked

'Do you have anything for me?' Cormac asked.

'Yes… yes, I think I do.'

Cormac dropped into the chair next to her.

She went on. 'They have been altered. I'm not even sure if they're the same ones. Their bone and muscle structures are lighter. If before they were made to be strong, now they have been made to be fast.'

Cormac looked at the two dracomen on the screen. Why? What was Dragon up to now?

Chaline watched the moles set off on their long journey to New Sea, and smiled under her mask. Improvisation under difficult circumstances: proof of a technician's abilities. Without the microwave receivers of the stations, they could not use the transmission dish that came with the runcible. But, as always, another way had been found.

Like giant silver woodlice with treads, the moles bumbled forwards in relentless slow motion, dragging their moling attachments along two metres below the surface as they laid the's-con cables. It would take them twenty hours to reach their destination. Hopefully the site here would be cleared by then. Chaline turned and watched the autodozers at work as they shoved huge mounds of dust and flaked stone before them and exposed the clean basalt below.

'Nadhir, is that second shuttle down yet?' she said, over the roar of heavy machinery.

The reply from her comunit was immediate. 'Down and ready.'

'Tell Dave to get over to New Sea and get things ready for the moles' arrival. He should be able to have the heat-sinks ready to be connected up by then. Those's-con cables out there weren't too badly damaged.'

At least Dragon had left them the heat-sinks. The heat-sink stations were now just metal-lined craters, but the sinks themselves were under half a kilometre of ice.

'He'll start moaning again.'

'Then he can moan. At least he won't be here doing it… Did the lifter get away on schedule?'

'It did, and by the time it returns we should have enough clear bedrock to offload the runcible onto.'

'Fused and levelled?'

'Yes, we're keeping up with the dozers. Should be able to drive in the bracings for the containment sphere by the time the lifter goes up for the prefabs.'

'What word from Jane?'

'The AI's ready, just has to be brought down and keyed in. The hour-eater's going to be setting up the horns and aligning the fields. The AI can do the fine tuning.'

Chaline nodded to herself in satisfaction: all according to plan. Fifty hours she had estimated, and fifty hours it would be. Chaline prided herself on her estimates.

'—lined in lies hurled grey-suited arms flapping wings of ashen crow cage him in screaming orbit cast and broken in sum beauty of chaos calm eye of storm hub fulcrum—'

'Hubris just does not have the processing power to unravel this mind without the danger of scrambling it further,' said Jane.

She and Cormac were seated before a bank of controls - grudgingly allowed them by the frenetic runcible technicians - in Downlink Com.

'Then that is a risk we must take. I've got my back to a wall here. I think Dragon is lying about an awful lot, but I've got no way to prove it, and this is a life-and-death situation. If I fuck up, people are going to die, and the killers are going to go unpunished. Remember, there were ten thousand people out here.'

'You do not have to remind me,' said Jane with something approaching anger.

'Sorry,' said Cormac.

'—axis screams roar of own might swastika purge emetic sponge of obscene colour blowing across lizards light fleeing sinter sinter fell into new day skulls satchel leather fetid hollows wasp eaten apples pork bone-exposed crackling… dying… black rats—'

'There, damn it. There!' said Cormac. 'Lizards could easily be the dracomen. Light fleeing could be the Maker escaping. And the skulls and crackling… ten thousand people.'

'Somewhat interpretive… But there may be a way…'

'—chewing rotating heart in assonance chained before red-hot grate spitting intestines died died am—'

'Sorry, what did you say?'

'I said there may be a way to unscramble it. Though Chaline won't like it,' said Jane.

'Tell me. Don't tell her.'

'The new runcible AI might be able to do it. It is not keyed into the grid yet, and has fifty times the processing power of Hubris. It needs that to sort out the five-space math and nil-space co-ordinates.'

Cormac was silent for a while, staring off down the room at a screen showing the heavy-lifter coming up from Samarkand.

'Of course,' he said. 'Of course.' He turned and stared at her fiercely. 'Now - we do it now.'

Jane looked at him carefully for a moment before speaking to Hubris. 'Hubris, the new runcible AI is in Hold 5A. Can you link with it there, or will there have to be a direct line?'

'A direct line is not necessary. Once initiated, the new AI would be able to access all systems. It would be able to compensate for any error I might make in transmission and reception.'

'Initiation would be immediate,' said Jane.

Hubris said, "There are dangers. This AI has been prepared for immediate installation in the grid.'

'The danger will be brief.'

'It will last for ten seconds. It will take this long for the AI to access all systems and ascertain its situation. Should I initiate, I will first sound a hold alert on all workstations.'

'Initiate then.'

'I cannot do this without a direct order from Agent Cormac.'

Cormac turned to Jane. 'Why the danger?'

'In an unprogrammed situation at initiation, the AI will immediately act to protect itself. It will take control of all accessible systems.'

Cormac turned to study the consoles. 'Hubris, initiate runcible AI.'

Hubris's voice sounded throughout the ship. 'All workstations, this is a hold alert. All robots will be going onto hold. All transient information is now in protected storage. I repeat…'

Cormac glanced around and saw that the technicians in Downlink Com were leaning back from their consoles and looking at each other in puzzlement, then looking to Cormac and Jane with chagrin.

One of them, who was at a communications console, glanced at Cormac and muttered laconically, 'Chaline'll be pissed. The autodozers went down just then.' He listened for a moment then continued. 'That was the lifter. They want to know why the main door isn't opening.'

'Tell them it's temporary. All systems should be back on-line… soon,' said Cormac. 'Hubris, you ready yet?'

'There is a heavy load being moved in the main bay. It will be in place shordy.'

Cormac ratded his fingers on the console in impatience.

'Load is now secured. I am now initiating—'

Suddenly the entire starship jerked. Gravity dropped to half. The screens began to run information at high speed, then faster and faster until they showed a grey blur. Lights and displays were flickering madly.

The man at the communications console said, 'Weapons systems just went online. Proton guns charging. Looks like the target is Dragon… Isolation just sealed up.'

Gripping the console, Cormac suddenly felt cold.

'Intruder defence systems—' The technician held a finger to his ear. 'That was main bay. The loading robots started up and turned to face them. They're shitting themselves down there.'

Cormac suddenly wished he could have the last few minutes back again. He was responsible. It was his order.

'Hubris?… Hubris?'

Suddenly gravity returned to normal. The screens flicked to a halt on disparate segments of data.

'Weapons systems coming offline. Intruder defence systems also… Loading robots going back on hold. Phew! Old Venolia sure knows some dirty words…'

Cormac slowly relaxed as the lights ceased their mad flickering and other displays returned to normal.