Gridlinked

Mika said, 'Plausibility does not denote truth.'

'It does not, and of course there are your thoughts on what Dragon might or might not make,' said Cormac, looking at her meaningfully.

'That was… speculation,' Mika admitted, a pained expression on her face. 'A confinement vessel for some kind of energy creature would of necessity not be biofactured.'

'By any method we know,' Cormac added.

Mika's pained expression became one of annoyance. 'Quite,' she said, not meeting his eyes.

Cormac nodded and opened the channel again. 'What do you mean by "energy creature" and where is it now?'

'Its substance is mainly gaseous, and it is held together by lattices of force much like your shimmer-shields. I do not know where it is now. It has escaped via your runcibles.'

Cormac closed the channel again. 'Do you notice a certain lack of resemblance to previous Dragon dialogue?' he said to them all.

Mika said, 'It is answering your questions directly.'

'Precisely. That makes me very suspicious.'

He reopened the channel. 'Dragon, there is little we can do about this creature now. We came here to install a new runcible, and we wish to set about this work. Have you finished scorching Samarkand?' He could not keep the sarcasm from his voice.

Dragon took a long time replying. 'The criminal must be found. The danger to your kind is great. It has taken ten thousand lives. Next time it might take millions.'

'I repeat: there is little we can do about this now. We need the runcible installed so that communications can be opened with the grid. Then perhaps some way can be found to trace this Maker. Tell me, in what ways is it vulnerable?'

'You have devices… Your proton weapons, contra-terrene bombs…'

'These will kill it?'

'If they do not kill it, they will hurt it sufficiently to make it run. It knows your runcibles now. It will run for them.'

'But why should we want it to run?'

'So it goes somewhere else.'

This was more like the Dragon of old: it was playing semantic games with life-and-death issues. Cormac paused for a moment of thought before continuing.

'Dragon, what did you intend to do had the Maker been here, and free from its containment vessel, when you arrived?'

'Now you have a grasp of the basics, Ian Cormac.'

'You would have killed it here, then. And you still can,' said Cormac. Then he added, 'We have a runcible to install now.'

'I will not hinder you. But you may take onboard my creatures. They will assist you. They will obey every command. This I offer in reparation.'

'Accept or die,' whispered Thorn.

Cormac did not like this. He felt, as he always felt with Dragon, that a lot was not being told. He especially did not like an offer of reparation that was not open to negotiation. Should he refuse, and risk more of the wrath they had just witnessed? He let the thought slide, and in that moment decided there was one more question that needed an answer.

'Dragon, where is… the rest of you?'

The reply came slowly. 'We are at the four corners of your galaxy, Ian Cormac.'

Cormac thought how apposite this was. He visualized star maps with little arrows pointing to the darkness at the edge of the galaxy, and there written the words: 'Here be dragons.'

'An object has been launched from Dragon towards us.'

'Scan it. If it looks suspicious, destroy it.'

'It contains the two dracomen.'

'OK, bring them in,' said Cormac. There seemed little else to do. He was not about to start becoming argumentative with Dragon just as he was beginning to get some answers, truth or not. He closed the channel with the alien, and turned to Chaline.

'You can get on with it now,' he said.

She smiled happily and left the room.

'How much of that did you believe?' Cormac asked Mika, Thorn and Aiden.

'I think it will let us set up the runcible, and I believe it is genuinely after whatever was in that artefact. Beyond that its motivations are debatable,' said Mika.

'All of it is plausible,' said Aiden. 'One must question one's own motives for distrust.'

Cormac answered him. 'Dragon has little regard for human life; we know this. Why would it be concerned about the possible deaths of a few million people?'

Aiden looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, 'You are correct. It has motivated us because it requires our assistance. This makes a number of its claims invalid. I concur with Mika.'

'Thorn?' asked Cormac.

'Tapestry of fucking lies, old man,' said Thorn, smiling bleakly.

Cormac was sitting on his bed, wondering about the possibility of sleep, when there came a knock at his door.

'Come in,' he said.

In came Jane, apparently no less a goddess because she wore baggy overalls.

'Jane, please, sit down.'

Jane swished into the single chair with an economy of movement and an elegance that was enviable. She had a grace that Aiden lacked. But Aiden had a brute power she lacked. Bodi of them could have squashed the likes of Thorn widiout needing their artificial sweat glands.

'What do you require of me?' she asked, crossing her legs.

Cormac rubbed at his forehead. 'Chaline told me that your speciality was secondary installation. You deal with AIs normally, which was why she could release you to me last time. You hadn't a lot to do then.'

Jane smiled. 'Yes, that is correct.'

'That submind we brought back - Hubris can't get dirough to it. It's completely internalized. Do you have any suggestions as to how we might get dirough?'

'It would be kinder to shut it down. It was part of the Samarkand AI, and as such more of a fragment of a mind. The destruction of the rest of it has driven it insane.'

'No, I can't allow it to be shut down.'

'Might I ask why?'

'Dragon.'

'You think it contains vital information?'

'All I know is that when Dragon was scorching the planet, it managed to vaporize every remaining installation of the Samarkand runcible. It was all well disguised, as it scorched the entire area. But I find it suspicious for all that.'

'Destroying the evidence?'

'Looks like it.'

'What do you hope to find?'

'Perhaps some chronology to these events. There might be a record of when the dracomen arrived, or when the Maker left…' He paused and stared off to one side. 'Shit! Blegg!'

'I beg your pardon?'

'He knew! The bastard knew!'

Jane waited. Cormac went on.

'When he sent me here, he told me the runcible AI managed to transmit some information. I bet it told him about the arrival of the dracomen. That's why he sent me.'

'Does this mean the submind can now be shut down?'

'No, definitely not. All we can be sure of is that he knew about the dracomen, and about the runcible going down. There might be more. What were the events surrounding these various arrivals and departures? I need to know. Will you try?'

'If you so wish.'

Jane glided to her feet and with a quick smile she left him. He lay back on his bed. He could see what Blegg had done: given him the minimum of information so he would have to get over the effects of gridlinking and approach the problem without preconceptions. Did Blegg believe Dragon had destroyed the runcible? Or did he have some inkling of Dragon's version of events? Whatever the answer, Cormac knew he could not expect Blegg to deliver it to him. He was on his own, as always. Half-truths and outright lies, the casual killing of thousands; Blegg knew what motivated him. Cormac was determined that he would not let go until he had found some answers and someone, or something, roasted for what had happened here. He did not like playing the fool.

22

The lines between sciences have, in the last few centuries, become wide grey wastelands where questions of science become questions of philosophy and sometimes of religion. If you can build a human, molecule for molecule like any other human, then is he a human? Perhaps it is a question that will not need to be answered. Though we have the capability, we do not have the inclination. We can build better than nature now. We can now design and build machines that make some of the creations of evolution seem comparatively clunky. Of course, you then have to think about whether or not this is merely a continuance of evolution, then you're back to philosophy again.