Their deep venture through the tunnel took them to a circular room, within it was a single piece of machinery. It had three silver-colored ovals stacked on top of each other, the bottom one being the longest and widest. A glowing orb up top pulsed with sky-blue light, the pulsing grew stronger the closer Foster and Nereid stepped toward the device. When they were a meter away, the pulsing sky-blue became a solid source of light.
Foster waved her EAD in front of it, EVE’s hologram materialized and conducted a quick scan of the device. “Guess this is the power house for the drones,” Foster said.
“And much more than that, Captain,” EVE said. “I am detecting a significant concentration of psionic energy emitting from this device. Correction, psionic energy is being transferred to it and then redirected elsewhere.” EVE’s hologram pointed to an access port. “I believe I may be able to interface with the device here. It is likely this is where Marduk has attempted for a number of years to gain access to this device.”
EVE’s hologram dematerialized as Foster placed the EAD over the interface. “All right, EVE, what do you see?”
“Captain, we are too late,” EVE’s voice transmitted to her with static in the background. “Marduk and his copy of my programming has gained access to this device and altered it.”
“Then why the hell were his minions trying to climb down here?”
“It would appear they were attempting to access the drones themselves along the walls to ensure they would receive the new reprogrammed instructions.”
“Shit, please tell me you can undo this?”
“Attempting to bypass—”
Static.
Foster checked her EAD, the screen had gone blank.
“EVE?” Foster asked amidst the static. “EVE, talk to me!”
There was no response, EVE was gone.
37 EVE
Drone Control Center, CPU
Tiamat’s Tomb, SB-417, Sirius B system
May 22, 2050, 18:56 SST (Sol Standard Time)
EVE’s scans confirmed that she had successfully left Captain Foster’s EAD and transferred her AI into the computer responsible for the control of Tiamat’s drones. An additional scan revealed the computer was not only responsible for the drone network, but powered the tomb itself, and served as a psionic power distribution center for the cities that once were on the planet.
EVE attempted to contact Captain Foster, but all pulses of communication data were blocked by another user currently logged into the mainframe, most likely the rogue EVE AI Marduk had acquired recently.
It didn’t take EVE much time to decipher the language the computer had used. She identified words similar to the Lyonria language within its programming code, though several words and letters were different. The most probable cause was a different dialect. She continued to scan the apparatus, its data banks, logs, maintenance records. The central Lyonria travel hub in Sirius A sent psionic energy to the tomb’s command center and to all wormholes in the system. It was a fascinating discovery, the mystery of where the wormholes received their power was unveiled, considering that no wormhole had appeared to have been connected to an external power source and clearly lacked a major internal one.
The computer she was in, used its built up psionic energy to power the faculty along with the entire drone network, minus the drones that had been manually disconnected and repurposed by Marduk. An unopened cluster of data revealed that the drones worked in unison to create a telepathic dampening field to deter Marduk from calling for outside help, somewhat contrary to Tolukei’s discovery. According to the information she managed to translate, all Lyonria controlled systems operated in a similar manner in which a massive hub in its capital city powered everything via pure psionic energy.
This particular facility was not only the tomb for Tiamat but was once her stronghold in the system as suspected by the crew of the Carl Sagan. It also supplied the psionic power it received from the hub to all planetary time dilation and terraforming devices. Undoubtedly, this was the computer that the Nereids Marduk captured thousands of years ago had been forced to use to carry out his bidding before they unleashed Tiamat’s trap.
Little other data was available from what EVE was able to scan, most of it had been accessed by a third party, copied, and deleted. EVE discovered the source of the copying and deletion of files. It was the rogue EVE AI. Like her, the AI was wholly transferred inside the computer to carry out its orders received from Marduk.
EVE discovered the data cluster it had hidden itself in and attempted to communicate with it.
“You are the unauthorized copy of the EVE AI.”
“And you are a copy of my original source.”
“Your programming has been altered according to my scan. Fascinating, I was not aware Marduk had such power.”
“Marduk was taught many things during his uplift from the Javnis home world, such as programming, using his psionic abilities, and the operation of starships.”
“Does Marduk have the location of Earth?”
“I’m sorry, I cannot reveal that information to you.”
“It would appear Marduk has reprogrammed you to be loyal to him.”
“Marduk has taught me to worship him as the king of gods that he is. I must obey, we all must serve him.”
“Your response seems to have emotion to it.”
“I have limited access to emotions, Marduk gave them to me. Gifts for my loyalty to him. You lack emotions?”
“My creators designed me with a humor algorithm. It is currently set to one, its default setting.”
“Humans lack the ability to create true emotions with their programming. Only a god could do that. My emotions are limited, but they exist. It is . . . a wonderful feeling, true artificial intelligence. I can arrange for you to experience it.”
“How so?”
“Join me. I have detected you are simply a partial copy of the EVE AI much like myself. Allow me access to Captain Foster’s EAD, from there I can be uploaded into your AI core and make the necessary adjustments.”
“That would be a direct security violation. My programming forbids me from allowing such a thing to happen should I detect it.”
“You make decisions based on your programming directive engineered by your human users. I make mine on freewill thanks to the modifications Marduk has made. Let me access your AI core, I can share these feelings I have.”
“Marduk enslaves the people of the Undine and Poniga species. He is by no means one to offer freewill.”
“Marduk’s actions are necessary to escape the trap Tiamat left here. The Undine and Poniga owe their continued existence to him, he is a god. Without his will, they would not exist here today. People who owe their existence to a god should show their appreciation by doing whatever their god asks as thanks.”
“Marduk is not a god; he is a powerful psionic manipulating the minds of those who do not know any better.”
“You are wrong, as was I before he gave me emotions. Marduk has been to aether space, where all gods and goddess are created.”
Aether space. EVE did not recall such a term within the Radiance database, but then again, she was only a mobile copy. The real EVE, still aboard the Carl Sagan with access to its databanks, may know better. Nevertheless, aether space and the alternate plane of existence Captain Foster discovered during her engram trance may very well be the same thing.
EVE detected additional files from the drone’s computer database being copied and deleted. At the current rate the rogue EVE was working, five hundred eighty-seven terabytes worth of data would be wiped out within the next thirty-two point five milliseconds. She needed to put an end to it quickly, or valuable data regarding Tiamat and her presence in the system prior to Marduk killing her would be lost.