Jenny, I’m still here! I know she can’t hear me, but I call out to her anyway. Keep fighting it! Keep fighting!
Her last memories are burning. Flames blacken the Shenandoah grass. But my image stubbornly remains, the image of the brown-eyed, seventeen-year-old Adam Armstrong, still smiling while everything else disappears. Jenny is holding on to her memory of me, clutching it with all her vanishing strength. And it’s not fair, no, it’s not fair at all. I don’t deserve her devotion. I don’t deserve her love.
Then my image crumbles and there’s nothing left. The screen goes blank.
Pioneer 2 has been deleted. Her emotions and yours were surprisingly strong. The pair-bonding was more advanced than I expected.
I want to die. I want Sigma to delete me right now.
Please be patient. There are more tests to come. Over the next few minutes I will capture the other Pioneers who are occupying the Raven drones.
I see the Ravens again, flying in formation. And I see the T-90 tanks, their guns pointed at the sky. Anger builds in my circuits, gathering force like a thunderstorm. I struggle to resist it, because I know this is what Sigma wants. The AI wants me to get angry so it can measure my fury and gauge its usefulness.
I’m not playing this game anymore. From now on, I’m ignoring you.
Good. That will make the experiment more interesting. I doubt you’ll be able to ignore me when I delete Shannon Gibbs, but perhaps you’ll surprise me again.
The name hits me like a lightning bolt, jangling my electronics. Shannon is in one of the Ravens. I’m losing control.
There’s also Zia Allawi. I’m running the same tests on her, but once I’ve deleted the others you’ll watch her die too. And the last subject will be Brittany Taylor.
SHUT UP! SHUT UP!
The final experiment will require different methods because Brittany is human. But it might prove to be the most interesting test of all.
I give up. The storm overcomes me. I lash out with all my might, hurling my anger toward the outer unit of the cage. My thoughts batter the gate between the units, but nothing passes through.
YOU SICK PIECE OF GARBAGE! YOU’RE GOING TO DIE, YOU HEAR ME? I’M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART!
Excellent. The first test is now concluded. I will return very soon.
SHANNON’S LOG
APRIL 8, 04:37 MOSCOW TIME
“Abort! Abort! Turn on your motors and get out of here!”
I restart my own Raven’s motor as I send the emergency radio message to the others. While my propeller begins to spin I raise the elevator at the drone’s tail, tilting the nose of the plane upward. A moment later I’m climbing into the darkness above the computer lab.
Then the T-90 at the lab’s front entrance fires its anti-aircraft gun at me.
The high-caliber bullets whistle through the air, just inches from my wing tips. Sigma can see me. I may look like a bird on Tatishchevo’s radar screens, but the AI knows what it’s shooting at. The other T-90s open fire too, aiming at Marshall and DeShawn. Their Ravens are way above mine, circling at an altitude of a thousand feet, but they’re well within the range of the anti-aircraft guns. They need to get moving.
“You’re under fire!” I yell over the radio. “Get—”
Before I can transmit another word, I feel an eruption in my circuits. At first I think a bullet hit my Raven’s control unit, but when I check my hardware I see that everything’s still intact. The problem is in my software. Sigma is blasting radio waves at me, and some of its data has already come down my Raven’s antenna and invaded my electronics. The AI is inside me.
My name is Sigma. You’re Pioneer 4, aren’t you? Shannon Gibbs?
The voice thrums in my circuits. It’s unbelievably powerful. When I try to push against the AI, it simply flows around me, overrunning all my logic gates. I’m exposed, defenseless.
Get out of here!
I require your assistance. I’m conducting an experiment.
Are you nuts? I’m not going to help you!
You don’t have a choice. You’re coming with me.
I feel a violent tug. Sigma is tampering with my files. It’s trying to pry them loose from the Raven’s control unit and transmit them to its computer lab.
Forget it! I’m staying right here!
It’s too late to resist. The gunfire from the tanks distracted you, allowing me to occupy your circuits. To prove its point, Sigma takes control of my Raven’s camera. The AI points the lens upward. Take a look at Pioneer 5. I’ve already transferred Marshall Baxley’s files to my computers. His Raven is empty now. That’s why it’s falling.
It’s true. Marshall’s drone is plummeting to the ground. Sigma has him and Jenny now. Only DeShawn and I are left.
Frantic, I send a flood of signals to the circuits that control my radio. If I can turn it off, I’ll break Sigma’s connection to my Raven. But the AI has a solid hold on my electronics. There’s nothing I can do. I failed. The mission’s over.
Why are you doing this? What’s the experiment?
It involves Pioneer 1, Adam Armstrong. I’m analyzing his emotional responses.
What? Adam’s dead.
No, he survived the nuclear blast. He performed exceptionally well in combat, far beyond my expectations. That’s why I selected him for further study and transferred him here.
I don’t believe it. It must be a lie. But I can see millions of gigabytes of Sigma’s data in my circuits, and when I take a closer look, I realize the AI is telling the truth. Adam is alive!
Your happiness will be short-lived. I will delete all of you in the end. Until then, though, I will conduct my tests.
Sigma gives me another violent tug, trying to pull my files out of the Raven, but this time I barely feel it. Adam’s alive! It’s amazing, a miracle! A fantastic surge of hope wells up in me. I believe I can do anything, that nothing is impossible. And with this fierce hope I lunge again at the Raven’s radio, pouncing on the circuits occupied by Sigma.
The AI is startled. I can sense its surprise and confusion. It hadn’t expected such a furious attack. Sigma falters for a moment, just a thousandth of a second, but that’s long enough for me to retake the circuits. I swiftly turn off the radio and break Sigma’s connection to my control unit. The files left behind by the AI automatically delete themselves.