Not for the first time since I’d received my orders I felt uneasy and had doubts. Most of all I wondered why they’d sent me. There were several robotic craft nearby that could have accelerated faster and arrived sooner.
INTERCEPT: 41 DAYS, 7 HOURS, 11 MINUTES
I received my first message from Veronica Perez. It was a tight beam, meant for me alone.
“Can we talk?” Her face was drawn and pale. She looked tired and perhaps upset.
“Huizhu, please record and prepare to send the following message via tight beam. My name is Jager Jin. I am—”
“I cannot send your message,” Huizhu interrupted.
“What?”
“I’ve been ordered to allow no communications from this ship except to approved channels at Jīnshān Station.”
A heat grew in my belly and crept up to my face, making the mask suddenly uncomfortable.
“Why?”
“They gave no reason. My response-to-orders protocol is detailed in document 556845.67FG. Would you like me to open that file for you?”
“No!” I snapped. This made less and less sense.
Veronica’s next message came an hour later and she was a little more composed. Her eyes were harder and her expression intense. “I don’t know why you won’t respond. I just want to talk. I’d like to know your true intentions. The Mountain claims you were sent to render assistance should I need it. I don’t believe that.”
She paused and her gaze wavered for a second. “If you’ve been sent to kill me and my baby I can’t stop you, but at least have the decency to face me.”
INTERCEPT: 35 DAYS, 1 HOUR, 27 MINUTES
I woke suddenly from a deep sleep, confused and thrashing in the gel. Had I heard something? I immediately checked the status screens but all systems were green.
“Huizhu? What’s going on?”
“I launched the FL239 interdiction device.”
“Why?”
“I was ordered to do so by headquarters.”
“Why didn’t they send a damned robot?”
“You are obviously part of the rescue effort,” Huizhu said and started a video playing on my visor.
An attractive, perfectly groomed spokeswoman stood before the famous Golden Mountain logo. “The reports are correct. The pilot of one of our deep-system asteroid protection picket ships has taken it upon himself to go to Ms. Lopez’s aid. We have been unable to contact him, but he is still on course and will arrive in plenty of time to help with the birth should assistance be required.”
“Why are they lying?”
“I don’t know,” Huizhu said.
I still wasn’t sure why they wanted Veronica dead, but I suspected it was to make sure the child was not seen by the public. Could Veronica be right? Would the child be normal?
“I have to stop this,” I said.
“The FL239 interdiction device has been preprogrammed to carry out its mission. Once operational, these devices can be put into a communications-lockout mode and the one I launched has been so locked. You cannot shut it down remotely.”
“Huizhu—have I been completely cut out of the command loop?”
“Of course not, sir. My response-to-orders protocols are detailed in document 556845.67FG. Would you like me to open that file for you?”
Why did she keep insisting I read that file? Was Huizhu trying to help me?
“Yes,” I said. “I would like to read the file.”
INTERCEPT: 30 DAYS, 10 HOURS, 19 MINUTES
It was flip day. As soon as the engines kicked off, I crawled out of the crèche, took a long, hot bag shower, and used the bathroom like a normal person.
“The ship is turned,” Huizhu said. “We can initiate deceleration as soon as you return to the crèche.”
“Thank you, Huizhu,” I said, “but we have a few maintenance issues to deal with first. Please take the primary and backup communications antennas off-line.”
“Why?” Huizhu said. “Diagnostics indicate the antennas are nominal.”
“Because according to that news report, we are not receiving all the communications sent our way, which indicates either our antennas or receiver are malfunctioning, or the corporate office is mistaken.”
“Understood. Antennas off-line.”
“Do our missiles also have the communications-lockout feature?”
“Yes.”
This was where I had to be cautious. The “response-to-orders protocols” Huizhu had directed me to read basically said she must follow my commands unless they were contradictory to mission orders or those from higher up the command chain. The press release cast doubt on all of that, but I still had to be careful. I didn’t know what kind of fail-safes had been built into the instructions sent to Huizhu. If I said the wrong thing, I could be locked out of the loop permanently.
“Target one of the missiles to intercept and destroy the interdiction device,” I said.
“That would violate our orders,” Huizhu said.
“Which orders?” I said. “That FL239 launch was contradictory to the broadcast we received claiming our intention is to intercept and assist. Since our communications are already suspect, I prefer to err on the side of caution and assume the device was launched in error.”
I held my breath, hoping the circular logic would hold up under AI scrutiny.
“Understood. The missile programming is complete,” Huizhu said.
“Upon launch, initiate communications-lockout mode on the missile as well.”
“Understood.”
“Launch now.”
The ship shuddered as the weapon left its berth and I sighed with relief. As I climbed back into my crèche, I said, “Okay, Huizhu, let’s get this thing slowed down.”
INTERCEPT: 27 DAYS, 7 HOURS, 40 MINUTES
After three days I was starting to fidget. Being locked up in a jelly-filled box was bad enough, but without a connection to the outside I had nothing but onboard entertainment and Huizhu to occupy my time. I was tired of her beating me at backgammon and wanted to know what the newsfeeds were saying. I was curious whether the Mountain had sent me new orders, but I also missed Veronica’s broadcasts and messages.
Continuing my ruse, I ran extensive diagnostics and ordered Huizhu to bring comms back online. If the communication lockout on those missiles actually worked, then destroying Veronica’s ship was now off the table. I also continuously scanned the space in our vicinity and saw nothing moving. Any robot ships they might have sent would also be decelerating by now and consequently show up easily. They could, of course, change my orders or fire me, maybe even jail me, but they couldn’t make me kill her.
I spent the next few minutes watching and reading news. Public opinion had taken a huge shift in support of Veronica Perez during the days I’d been out of the loop. Even those not actively behind her appeared to be in a holding pattern fueled by curiosity. Everyone was waiting to see the child.
The balance had tipped after Veronica’s most recent broadcast. Sound bites and clips were all over the news and web, so I killed the sound and played the whole thing.
Her entire demeanor had changed. No fear or defensiveness now: her eyes never left the camera, nor did she fidget or waffle or plead. I saw nothing but confidence and determination. “Okay, Huizhu—give me sound and rewind to the beginning.”
“The Jīnshān Corporation doesn’t just have an economic monopoly on all off-Earth mining and manufacturing, they have a stranglehold on humanity itself,” Veronica said. “They used fake pictures and video to push through laws to criminalize zero-gee pregnancies, not because they care about children, but to protect their future earnings. Think about it. All off-planet human reproduction has to be approved by them. Do you think they want independent miner families competing with them for mineral contracts? They don’t care about children, they don’t care about humanity, and they don’t care about small, family-owned mining businesses. They care only about Jīnshān. And that’s why they’ve sent one of their people to kill me, before I can show my baby to the world.”