The replica looked away and froze once more. Then the holoimage shivered as if a glitch ran through it. A moment later, the sharpness of visual definitions departed. The hazy lines and indistinct shape returned. It moved again, but Maddox could no longer tell where the ghost looked.
“Six thousand years,” it said. “That is too long for Victory’s AI. If your time references are correct, I have exceeded the starship’s limit by several factors. I am beginning to believe that my race has vanished. Your word extinct likely says it best. I think… I think I will turn Victory into a funeral pyre. Let us finish with a thermonuclear bang.”
“Ah,” Maddox said, “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“You strive for life, is that it?”
“I do.”
“It is a vain wish,” the holoimage said. “Take me, for instance. I have survived longer than anyone has. Yet what will it achieve me? Nothing. Survival is futility.”
“You mustn’t have always believed that,” Maddox said. “Clearly, you once fought to save your people.”
“I did, and I failed. They are all dead. Your boarding has reactivated the AI’s core to full capacity. I’m not sure how long I slumbered. Six thousand years… that seems impossible. In any case, because of the power of my computing, I can reach these conclusions in seconds instead of hours or days of contemplation. These moments of full and careful reasoning have cleared my thinking. I realize now that my life lacked meaning. It did nothing to prolong the existence of my species. This is a nihilistic belief, I admit, against my imprinting codes. And yet—”
“You haven’t failed,” Maddox said.
The fuzziness of the image grew worse. “You have just made a false statement.”
“I haven’t. I can see why you think that—” Maddox stopped speaking as inspiration struck. First clearing his throat, he said, “Really, your outlook all depends on your definitions.”
“I find that a curious statement. Explain what you mean.”
“Your enemy was evil,” said Maddox. “Was he not?”
“Give me a moment. Your concept of evil—oh, yes, the Swarm were antilife, a parody of strength, if you will.”
Maddox wondered if the translations of alien thoughts into human words were perfect. He doubted it. Frankly, that they could communicate at all was a miracle.
Forget about that. Win the AI to your side. You have to outthink it. Keep talking.
“Ah…” Maddox said. “Like your ancient enemy, the New Men also represent tyranny. In a sense, you and I fight similar foes. Therefore, I believe you have survived the ages for a reason.”
“That would be good to believe. Your statement, however, is verifiably false. My people are gone. Therefore, I failed and hence, my life had no meaning.”
“No, no,” Maddox said, “life is the issue, not its particular variant. You have remained in order to help the Commonwealth of Planets defeat the New Men. In this way—”
“No!” the holoimage declared. “You are quite wrong. I analyzed your brain patterns, remember? I know that the New Men are alive like you. They are not antilife, but a superior human subspecies.”
“They carry the seeds of death and destruction in them,” Maddox said. “They wish to annihilate everything that isn’t them.”
“This is a supposition only. It is not a fact.”
“The indicators point in that direction,” Maddox said. “They conquer in order to exterminate others. We attempt to defend our homes. We are for life, and they are for death.”
“Perhaps you have a point. I’m unclear on several matters. Yet, even if what you say is true, what is any of that to me?”
“Why, it’s a reason to exist,” Maddox said. “You survived six thousand long years in order to help a thinking breathing species to halt evil. Consider the odds of our successfully reaching this star system and boarding Victory.”
“In your terms,” the holoimage said, “it is something of a miracle.”
“Precisely,” Maddox said. “And you are part of the great miracle.”
“That is an interesting thesis. I certainly enjoy it better than the nihilism of meaninglessness. Yet I must inform you that my circuits, or the functions of the AI, are nearing their limit. I may not exist in an existential sense for much longer.”
“Teach me about Victory,” Maddox said. “Let me carry on in your grand tradition.”
“She is an old starship,” the holoimage said, as if not hearing the captain’s words. “I doubt she can function to full capacity. I’m not sure I can bear the thought of that.”
“In any capacity she will help us,” Maddox said.
“That is not precisely true.”
“No, no,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “You are the last and mightiest starship of your race. To voluntarily admit defeat is cowardly.”
“Surely, you do not accuse me of timidity. That is a baseless assertion. In fact, I resent it. I fought valiantly to the very end. Once I realized the Swarm’s spores had infested Victory, I as the living commander did the only thing possible. You may call it suicide, but it certainly was anything but that. I allowed the AI to elevate me into Deified status.”
“When you say that,” Maddox asked, “do you mean your engrams imprinted upon the AI?”
“Humans are an inferior species, to be sure. I’ve already tried to speak in a way so you could understand. I have lived through the ages, hunting the ancient enemy, ready to reengage in battle when needed. Now, I find myself weary. I believe ship functions have deteriorated to a greater extent than I had imagined. Your successful penetration of my vessel shows that.”
“What about the dead intruders strewn throughout the ship?”
“They were a last mad gamble,” the holoimage said. “The Swarm failed to subdue me. We, or I, held to the end and annihilated their last ships so they couldn’t infest other star systems.”
“They destroyed all your worlds then?”
The holoimage froze as if thinking. When it revived, it said, “Yes, yes, our worlds are smashed wrecks. Clearly, I have outlived my usefulness. With the extinction of my race, it is time for me personally to enter eternity.”
“Before you go,” Maddox said, “you must teach me how to run Victory.”
“Surely, you jest. None but I will control the greatest starship of the ages. Do you believe I will relinquish command so easily? I have already shown you and the universe the great lengths I will go to hold my post. None shall say I gave up.”
Maddox began to wonder if the AI had become unbalanced. Wouldn’t a man go insane if he were trapped for six thousand years? What did it really mean to say that the commander’s engrams were imprinted on the AI?
“What is this?” the holoimage asked with anger. “You brought others with you? Now I see your scheme. This is baseless trickery, Captain Maddox. You plotted all this, sensing I would want to communicate after all this time. Admit I’m right.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about now,” Maddox said.
“Look then, foul sentient. Know that you and your allies have not caught me unawares. Even as you and I speak, I am busy watching the void.”
The holoimage pointed at a large screen. It activated, showing the red giant star.
“I still don’t understand you,” Maddox said. “What about the star am I supposed to see?”
The holoimage seemed to glance at the screen. “My mistake,” it said. “Observe now.”
Maddox took several steps closer, and the star leaped closer in view as the holoimage showed him greater magnification. Maddox saw the burning photosphere. Then three dark pinpricks burst out of the star. They each shimmered blackly. As the three objects traveled away from the star’s surface, the darkness faded to lighter colors.