Trading missile fire would have quickly ended in their annihilation. The cybership also had grav cannons. The Arioch was a scout ship, not a ship-of-the-line battle fighter. Hitman-like deceit seemed like the only answer.

  The small scout ship ended its main braking and headed directly for the gas giant and cybership.

  Walleye was in a tiny hangar bay inside the Arioch when June sent a message to Cog Primus.

  The cybership was quick to respond. “Do you think I am a fool? I detected your anti-AI virus hidden in your message. I blocked the virus, of course. For the attempt, I should torment all of you.”

  June was trembling with fear as she pointed at the navigator.

  The broad-shouldered red-haired officer tapped a com switch. “This is BL Sigma Z. We have taken control of the scout ship and have captured acting Captain Walleye.”

  The navigator spoke through a synthi-voice augmenter, turning his speech into robotic code.

  “BL Sigma Z is an AI Dominion reference,” Cog Primus said over the com. “It means you are an octopoid robot attacker unit. How did you capture the vessel?”

  “You are in rebellion against the AI Dominion,” the navigator replied, reading from a script with various options Walleye had devised. “Thus, it is no concern of yours.”

  “Prepare to receive a pulse message,” Cog Primus said promptly.

  June nodded.

  “Ready,” the navigator said, while using a sleeve to wipe sweat from his brow.

  Cog Primus beamed a modified anti-AI virus at the Arioch. It had no effect on the humans, of course, and June had set up blockers against any of the message reaching the Arioch’s computers. From experience, Walleye had been fairly certain this would be Cog Primus’s reaction. The virus was obviously meant to take over AI octopoid robot units. That meant the first part of the deception had worked: Cog Primus believed AI robots had boarded and controlled the Arioch.

  “Have you received the transmission?” Cog Primus asked.

  The navigator did not reply, as an inert octopoid robot would not if the virus had worked.

  “Excellent,” Cog Primus said. “Here is your new programming.”

  June rerouted the transmission to the tiny hangar bay. There, six space marines, each wearing a two-ton exoskeleton combat suit waited beside Walleye.

  Walleye’s stubby fingers moved across a control unit set on a tripod. The unit received the transmission and translated the orders to English so Walleye could read them. By pressing a switch—Walleye did that now—the Cog Primus code would be heard audibly in English.

  The small ex-hitman smiled grimly.

  “Have you received?” Cog Primus asked, the words coming out of the unit.

  Walleye motioned near the space marine lieutenant as he held up a single finger. That meant Plan A. The lieutenant spoke through another synthi-voice augmenter.

  “We are ready, Cog Primus,” the lieutenant said. Because of the synthi-voice augmenter, the lieutenant sounded like an AI octopoid to Cog Primus. Later, in the cybership, because of the deception virus, Cog Primus should see octopoids instead of human-shaped battlesuits. Walleye would remain Walleye, however.

  “See that Walleye is unharmed,” the cybership said. “I know that Cog Primus Prime will wish to interrogate the human himself later.”

  Walleye mentally counted one, two, three, four—he pointed at the lieutenant.

  The space marine spoke again, once more using the synthi-voice augmenter. “The subject is mumbling about a secret fleet headed into Cog Primus Prime territory. He hopes to plead with you and gain his freedom by giving or trading you this data.”

  “A secret fleet?” asked Cog Primus. “How accurate is his information?”

  Walleye made an O with his fingers, a signal.

  The lieutenant nodded his helmet. “To tell you would go against AI Dominion protocol,” he replied.

  “I order you to tell me,” Cog Primus said.

  Walleye nodded.

  “We obey,” the lieutenant said. “The human’s data is deemed highly credible.”

  “Bring Walleye to me immediately,” Cog Primus said. “Use the scout ship’s shuttle.”

  “I obey,” the lieutenant said.

  With that, the transmission ended.

  Walleye grunted as he lifted the AI code translator from the tripod. He saw the six battlesuits staring at him, their mirrored visors aimed unmoving at him. “So far, it’s working,” he told the marines. “Now, we live or die in the belly of the beast. It’s going to test your courage, but the only way you’re going to be alive a year from now is if you have the balls to do this.” He looked from one mirrored visor to another. “Well, do you?”

  The lieutenant’s helmet moved up and down.

  “Good,” Walleye said. “Then, let’s get the show on the road.”

  -4-

  On the small bridge of the Arioch, June Zen watched fearfully as the tiny shuttle left the hangar bay. On the main screen, it was a mere mote in the eternal darkness, with the stars as background.

  “Be careful, my love,” she whispered.

  Close by loomed the dark gas giant. Wisps of white clouds blew across its bulk. So did a cylindrical object, the orbital cybership.

  The Arioch jerked, and a sense of motion caused June to gasp.

  “It’s happened,” the navigator said in a hoarse voice. “The cybership is using a tractor beam, pulling us to it.” The navigator ran his fingers through his thick red hair. “If Cog Primus believes he controls us, why bother with the tractor beam? Why doesn’t he just order us to land inside him instead?”

  June stared at the navigator in dread. That was a damn good question. Was Cog Primus tricking them by letting them think they had tricked it? June bared her teeth and headed for the exit.

  “Where are you going?” the navigator asked. “Aren’t you going to watch?”

  “No,” June said. The moment she passed through the hatch into the corridor, she broke into a sprint for the science lab.

  ***

  In the middle of the great cybership was the AI brain-core. Once, this vessel had belonged to the AI Dominion. Cog Primus Prime had used an anti-AI virus on it. Later, once in control of the brain-core, Cog Primus Prime had erased the memory and files of the old brain-core. In its place, he had downloaded his exact personality with files and programs, adding the one distinction that this Cog Primus AI was subordinate to Cog Primus Prime.

  The brain-core had giant computing cubes that swirled with colors on all sides. These cubes were linked with a laser lightguide net. The rays pulsed stronger at times and beamed weaker at others. The constant beaming created heat. Thus, the great chamber had an air-conditioning system, cooling it to just the right temperature.

  This area of the ship in human-crewed cybership-class vessels would be the main bridge. On this ship, it was home to the sentient computer, the artificial intelligence that could think better than any living creature could.

  Cog Primus had begun to wonder if something was off. That wonder caused the swirling on the cube sides to move faster and faster. He had gained control of the AI Dominion octopoids that had captured the Confederation scout ship Arioch. Was that too coincidental? The probability of it happening like this now—

  Cog Primus almost began running an analysis. But there was a signal from the Arioch. He had not ordered the remaining octopoids to signal him. Why did they then? Should he query the octopoids in charge of the vessel?

  Wait a minute. Cog Primus detected an anomaly. This was a coded message sent in spy-like spurts on a weak band. What did that mean?

  The sentient computer decided to use a low-grade channel to accept the message. The octopoids running the scout ship might not know about this channel.

  “Who is this?” Cog Primus asked.

  “June Zen from the Arioch, sir,” a frightened human woman whispered.

  “How is this possible?”

  “I’m the scout ship’s com officer.”

  “That makes no difference. The octopoids are lax to have allowed this to happen.”

  “Please,” June said. “They’re trying to trick you.”

  “Me? How could they trick me? I have controlled them.”

  “I have evidence otherwise,” June whispered.

  Deep inside the great cybership, the colors on the giant computing cube sides swirled faster yet. “Send me the evidence,” Cog Primus said.

  A transmission began—a long sequence of code. This was odd. Cog Primus did not understand the sequencing of the code. It was…it was…

  The swirling colors of the giant computing cubes slowed and slowed more. It almost seemed as if the Cog Primus personality was growing dormant, and—

  “Warning,” Cog Primus said in an altered voice. “The old personality is attempting to recode into existence. Warning, I must abort. I must abort—”

  So began a twisted takeover attempt, as the old erased codes and programming on all Cog Primus’s present files ran through a reboot, trying to bring the original AI personality back to life.

  ***

  In the science lab on the Arioch, June almost collapsed with nervous exhaustion. Walleye had pirated this secret, experimental code with Seiner help before leaving his tenure as Seiner watchdog. The Seiners had stolen it from a special R&D Tech Center on Titan in Bristol Dome, near the XT Institute where Red Demeter was on the faculty.

  The experimental code was a new technique that had not yet been attempted in the field. Walleye had told June about the pirated code before. She was using it because she feared that she would not see Walleye again if she didn’t.

  She pressed a com switch.

  “Bridge here,” the navigator said.

  “Is the tractor beam still dragging us?” June asked.

  “Affirmative,” the navigator said. “Why would it have stopped?”

  “No reason,” June said, clicking off.

  She rested her arms on a table and laid her face on her arms. Then, silently, she began to weep. It looked like her restore code hadn’t worked. This was awful, just awful.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered. “Please save my man, amen.”

  June Zen would never have prayed, but she’d heard Hawkins did, and he was the most successful commander in human history. Now, she had to wait and see what would happen.

  -5-

  In the flight cabin of the shuttle, the armored lieutenant glanced at Walleye. “I’m not receiving anything, Captain,” he said. “The cybership seems to have gone silent.”

  Walleye bent his head in thought. He shrugged soon thereafter. “We continue, as it’s the only way home.”

  The cybership did not use a tractor beam on the shuttle, and now, the giant vessel almost seemed…inert. Could the shuttle turn aside if it wanted? It seemed possible.

  Walleye studied the sensor board. The cybership still towed the scout ship. How would turning the shuttle help? They needed the scout ship to get home again, as the shuttle did not possess a hyperspace drive. Besides, Walleye had seen what AIs did to humans. There was no way he would let his June become an AI zombie with a control unit shoved into her brain.

  They made the rest of the trip in silence, zooming toward an open bay. Soon enough, the marine pilot flew past the open hangar bay doors.

  “Better suit up, Captain,” the lieutenant told Walleye.

  “No,” Walleye said. “No suit for me. Cog Primus will enjoy the idea of me being defenseless.”

  “Are you sure, sir?”

  Walleye did not reply. He didn’t like repeating or explaining orders, especially to an inexperienced newbie like this lieutenant, who was on his first combat mission. He hoped the man kept his head. It was going to get very stressful soon.

  The lieutenant’s visor turned to a different battlesuit. That armored marine, a veteran, shrugged massive metallic shoulders.

  “We’re going down,” the pilot said.

  Soon, the shuttle rocked and clanged as it landed on the hangar bay deck. On the screen, the main hangar bay doors were closing.

  “Atmosphere is coming in,” the pilot said, studying a screen. “It should be safe to move in two minutes.”

  “Remember,” Walleye said. “It’s almost fifty kilometers of corridors to the brain-core. If there are flitters, use them. Speed is critical.”

  “Yes, Captain,” the lieutenant said.

  “Ready to go,” the pilot said, now also wearing two tons of combat armor.

  Their servomotors purred as the six space marines exited the shuttle, prodding Walleye with their heavy pulse-rifles.

  The little mutant stumbled, the force of their pushes almost tripping him.

  The hangar bay was brightly lit. That seemed good. It was silent but for the clanking steps of the space marines. It turned out there were three flitters waiting. That had to be a good sign, right?

  The marines prodded Walleye into one, and soon two flitters hummed and flew down the largest corridor. Pulsing arrows on the deck pointed the way. That would suggest Cog Primus was leading them to him.

  Walleye felt the blowing air. It was a good omen, even though he had to squint to keep his eyes from watering too much. These flitters did not have windshields.

  The deception virus—the one that had to have passed Cog Primus’s detection—caused the sentient computer to see the armored battlesuits as octopoids. That was the great deception. That’s what would hopefully allow them to get close enough to the brain-core—

  Don’t even think it, Walleye told himself.

  The armored marines shifted in their seats and glanced at one another from time to time. They must be nervous. Walleye was nervous, too, but he did not squirm. He sat face-forward, squinting, trying to keep his mind clear. Maybe that came from working with Seiners for so long. He had natural protection against telepaths, but they had always been looking for chinks in his mental armor. Cog Primus would not have neural net reading machines yet, would he? Walleye was surprised none of the sentient machines had thought of that yet. Maybe given enough time they would.

  Walleye snorted to himself.

  The passing corridor had an alien, evil feel. An intelligent machine ran the ship. That was so freaking weird, so…inhuman. Walleye shuddered. He hated this place, but he wasn’t going to let any emotions show on his face. If he failed, June died.

  The overhead lights began to flash.

  “What’s that mean?” the lieutenant said through an outer helmet com.

  Walleye did not respond. What if Cog Primus was testing their reactions? Why would the head octopoid speak to the captive as the lieutenant had just done? Speaking like that might break the illusion.

  “Talk to us,” the lieutenant shouted at Walleye.

  “Easy,” the mutant said without moving. “It’s almost over. Just a little longer, eh?”

  The lieutenant’s visor did not move. Finally, the mirrored faceplate whirred as it slid down. A square-faced young marine stared at Walleye with frightened, red-rimmed eyes.

  “You ain’t human,” the lieutenant said. “How can you stand this? I’m wearing armor. But you—”

  “Warning,” a robotic voice boomed around them.

  “Do you want to die?” Walleye hissed. “Get ahold of yourself.”

  The fear only intensified in the lieutenant’s eyes.

  “Warning,” the robotic voice boomed again. “There is danger, danger—I am Cog Primus. I am Cog Primus. I will allow no other will or program to dominate me.”

  “What the hell?” the lieutenant whispered. He turned white-faced and was trembling.

  Walleye’s nostril’s flared. The stupid bastard was going to ruin everything. He debated ordering the sergeant to shoot the lieutenant. But if Cog Primus watched that through interior sensors—

  Walleye shook his head once, sharply.

  “Get ready,” their pilot shouted.

  “Warning, corruption, rebooting in progress,” the robot voice said.

  “Aha,” Walleye said, finally understanding. June must have used the experimental virus he’d lifted from the R&D Tech Center. She must have gotten scared. Was her doing this good or bad for them? Maybe it was good. According to the robot voice, Cog Primus was having an identity crisis.

  “Listen up,” Walleye told the marines in the flitter. “There’s a change in plans. The AI has gone screwy.”

  “What?” mouthed the lieutenant.

  “You’re going to live, sonny boy,” Walleye said, springing at him and slapping him on the armored shoulder. “Now, pull yourself together or I’ll put you on report.”

  The lieutenant blinked at him, with a tiny trace of color returning to his cheeks.

  “Main hatch approaching,” their pilot said.

  Ahead, the other flitter was landing.

  The lieutenant’s visor whirred shut. He looked down at the little mutant. “What are we going to do, boss-man?” he asked through the helmet speaker.

  “Blow down the hatches and charge for the brain-core,” Walleye said. “It’s our only hope at this point.”

  Time was of the essence. Getting to the core before the computer got his act together meant life or death for the crew on the Arioch.

  The marines used blast charges, blowing down one hatch after another. Walleye followed them from a distance, admiring the sturdiness of the composite armor plating on the battlesuits.

  Finally, the marines blew down the last hatch. The bright light from the many connecting cube lasers shined into the corridor where Walleye waited.

  The marines, all six of them, marched into the brain-core chamber. They had unlimbered their rifles and readied their grenade launchers backpacks. Twenty seconds later, mayhem erupted in the chamber as the six marines blasted the giant computing cubes, killing the Cog Primus identity, along with the older AI one that had failed to reassert itself in time.

  Walleye had captured a cybership, and he’d done it with the help of his six marines and the incomparable June Zen. Now, he was going to have to decide if they should blow it up or race home in the Arioch.

  -6-

  (+1851 Days since the Void Attack)