“So this is an all out war? Our ship was seriously damaged by a rogue artificial intelligence, but I didn't think that it would affect so many machines, especially not a military force.”
“Most of the military and police forces here were manned by intelligent androids. It's been a while since they turned on the humans and killed most of the population in the city center. They began organizing themselves sometime after that. They dispose of bodies, coral survivors until ships can take them away and fight us for this mountain. Damshir is the last refuge as far as we know.”
“Is the city inside the mountain?” Jason asked.
“Partially, but Damshir extends inland from the mountain as well as within. We only control a little more than half the city thanks to a network of energy barriers. There is constant tunnel fighting on the side opposite the cliff. We haven't been able to contact any other pockets of resistance or target any objectives outside of our area of control for weeks now thanks to the jamming.”
“Sounds dire.”
Alaka nodded slowly. “We're holding our ground though, getting better at working together.”
“Did you lose anyone while coming after us?” Oz asked soberly.
Alaka smiled; “No, today is a good day. I'll have someone introduce you to Roman, I have to go lead a counter attack on a post on the other side of the mountain. I'm sure we'll take the next tunnel, word of your arrival is already passing,” he said, gesturing to a group of soldiers quietly talking behind him who were intermittently glancing at the new arrivals.
Family Reunion
Ayan and her mother had seldom gotten along after she entered her teens. Things hadn't improved since she began her new life either. The woman hadn't visited, and what was worse, she had abandoned the original Ayan some time before Doctor Anderson and his team emerged from the time compression wormhole. Ayan couldn't imagine abandoning someone in their last days, someone who lived in pain and needed friends and family around them.
Just thinking of it conjured up the memories of what it felt like when her mother left as her first body had a serious bout with disease. Right before the full body scan was taken, close to the point where the old memories ended, she had suffered through sudden multiple organ failure. Freeground Medical had been there, Doctor Anderson was there in the first hour, where he'd come from she didn't know, but she was certain if he could have been there faster he would have.
Her memories were clear, waking up the next morning after dying on the table once, having multiple organ replacement and accelerated recovery therapy. She was heavily medicated when she woke and through the blur the first face she saw was Doctor Anderson's. Over his shoulder she made out the shape of her mother pacing through the recovery room window.
“Hey there,” was what she said when she saw him. Ayan remembered trying to sound upbeat, but instead her casual greeting came out as a croak.
He brought a straw to her lips. “Welcome back,” he said with a tired smile. “Take it easy. You'll be tired for a few days.”
The cool water was the perfect relief. “Everything okay?”
He nodded and took her hand. “You'll be doing aerobics and yoga again soon.”
“But for how long this time? Did they say if there were any other problems developing?”
“It looks good this time, everything looks fine,” he reassured. Her relief ran deep, if there was one person who wouldn't lie to her, it was him. “Your mother is here, she was on her way to the new colony when she got the call. Jason and Laura are on their way.”
“Geez, can't a girl get a good night's sleep anymore?” Ayan whispered through a wry grin.
Doctor Anderson chuckled and nodded. “You've been here a while.”
The door slid open to admit her mother. She was in full uniform, the state she was used to seeing her in back then. Admiral Rice only looked unsure and tentative when approaching a hospital bed. It was always the most awkward time for her mother, she never knew what to say even though just being there, trying to make the passing time more enjoyable would have been enough, more than enough.
“I'll leave you two for a while,” Doctor Anderson took his leave quietly.
“Thank you Doctor,” her mother said as he left. “How are you?” she asked Ayan.
“On cloud nine thanks to these recovery meds. There are days when I'd fake it if I could just to get dosed.” Ayan's attempt at levity didn't so much as dent her mother's awkwardness. There was something going on. Bad news hung in the air. “It was bad this time,” Ayan stated to gently press her mother for more information.
She nodded. “I'm sorry. They got it under control and were able to make your circulatory system viable again.”
Make your circulatory system viable. She'd never forget the stark reality of those words. It wasn't just organ failure, it was an all out attack that went well past it. Something she had to know, but not just then. “Thank you for coming,” she managed.
Her mother looked at her, a little startled. “Of course. When I heard I had them turn the transport around.” She sat down quietly.
Ayan recognized the look, her mother was trying to find the right way to say something but instead of waiting for her to phrase whatever it was just right, she decided to change the topic. “How's the colony?”
“Beautiful. Developing the existing flora and fauna is going much faster than expected. You should see it.”
“I will, when I can get away from Special Projects. We're just starting up two new developments.”
“I heard, Minister Ferrel can't stop talking about your success. It made getting your scan pushed through much easier.”
Ayan was genuinely surprised. She had requested access to the high resolution bioscanner months before but they hadn't so much as reviewed her application and there was little Freeground could do since it was owned by a private firm. Her mother wasn't even told about it. “How did you?”
“I put in a request of my own, they told me yours was already in queue. They'll take you as soon as you've recovered.”
She tried to keep calm, tried to keep the worst thoughts at bay. “Is it something the doctors said?” Ayan asked finally.
“It'll help if they can use a healthy scan as a base template.” It was a rehearsed response, it came too quickly and smoothly.
Even then she recalled thinking that there was something else going on. That kind of instant, high resolution image capture encompassed everything that was happening inside and outside of the human body was expensive and in very high demand. Physical and bioelectrical images were taken down to the molecular level. Several million frames in the space of a few seconds were captured with her scan, enough to see exactly how she worked, right down to the neural functions of her brain. “Thank you,” was all she could manage then.
Her mother smiled a little and patted her hand. “You're welcome.” They looked at each other then, and just as Ayan was starting to smile back, to expect her mother to stay a while, the woman cleared her throat and that sleek veneer replaced the soft expression that had made a brief appearance. “I'm sorry, I have to go. There's a shuttle waiting for me and I need to wrap up this part of the colony's development. I'd stay if I could, I shouldn't even be here now, but I have operational data that's critical to the colony's success.”
Ayan smiled reassuringly, through the fog of pain killers it was easier than expected. “I'll be okay. Thank you for coming.”
Admiral Rice stood up then, glanced at her daughter once more and left.
The memories were so clear, the view from that hospital bed as she watched her mother walk by the windows, off to continue her own life, to perform her duty. How badly she wanted her to stay just that once as the realization of her mortality settled in. That was the time she realized that things would only get worse, that she had passed a marker in the history of her illness and there was no going back.