Марта Уэллс - Network Effect

But at this point, the only thing I could do to find out if DockSecSystem was compromised was get in there and look. So I did.

The first thing I hit was a barrage of configuration errors. I couldn’t tell if the Barish-Estranza crew had failed the install or if something had tried to mess with it later. It made it a little harder to take control, not because it was trying to fight me but because nothing worked right. In fact, it seemed pathetically glad somebody who knew what they were doing was here. I got control of its entry functions before we reached the lock and told it to let us in.

The hatch slid open and the lock cycled us through to a large reception space, designed for big groups or bulk objects. The EVAC suits had their own lights and vision filters, but the lights embedded in the bulkheads flickered on. Two large rounded doorways with open safety hatches led into corridors and like ART’s scan had said, life support was active.

And unlike the outside, the inside looked nearly new. There wasn’t much, if any, wear. Some scuffing on the floor, that was all. No sign of recent activity, but then we didn’t know which lock the explorer had used.

No, there was a sign of recent activity. A big version of the Adamantine logo with its stylized depiction of a planetary landscape, a cliff face above an ocean shore, was painted onto the metal of the far wall. Someone from the explorer crew had scratched at it with a sharp tool and drawn a sloppy version of the Barish-Estranza logo on the gray and green cliff. Ha ha, vandalism expresses our corporate loyalty, right. Well, the joke was on you, Barish-Estranza employee, because not long after you did that you got killed and/or mind-controlled by alien remnant raiders.

(I know, it’s a logo, but I hate it when humans and augmented humans ruin things for no reason. Maybe because I was a thing before I was a person and if I’m not careful I could be a thing again.)

And maybe it was just the hamstrung SecSystem, but I had the feeling we were going to find some dead bodies in here.

I told my EVAC suit to open and released my drones. I only had sixteen survivors after everything that had happened on ART, but that should be enough for a quick reconnaissance run through this area of the dock. They were also running one of the new codes I’d written. It would emit a field that any targetDrones would associate with the Targets’ protective gear. (If all the targetDrones operated the same basic way, which, of course, we had no idea. But it was worth a try.)

I also had a large projectile weapon from ART’s supply and a smaller energy weapon.

I kept two drones with me in a holding pattern over my head, since I wasn’t getting anything from the cameras except static. As the others zipped off down the shadowy corridors, Overse asked, “Are you picking up anything?”

“The feed is partially down, cameras are offline, and the DockSecSystem isn’t responding correctly.” My drone inputs showed dark empty corridors, with no obvious sign of human occupation, if you didn’t count the bodies. There were three in the junction between the corridors leading to the control area and the passenger entrance to the drop box.

They were all wearing gear in Barish-Estranza colors but I slowed the scout drones down for a long close scan just to make sure. One sprawled face up, the other two crumpled against the wall. Appearance of the wounds suggested they were made by energy weapons, no surprise there.

ART said, Unidentified, which was its way of expressing relief that none of them were its crew members.

There was another body further up the corridor but I already knew what had killed that one.

What I wasn’t seeing was anywhere humans could be locked up. The dock hadn’t been anything but a temporary waystation while the colony was in development, so there were no cabins or facilities yet, just some minimal supply storage and waste disposal. There were interior hatches, but none were shut, suggesting the place had been searched earlier and left like this. I tagged some spots to check out more closely and then sent my drones down the wide corridors meant to transport cargo containers to the drop box loading entrance. It looked like the bigger modules were meant to be moved along the outside of the dock and attach directly to the box.

I forced DockSecSystem into a restart, hoping that would help, and climbed out of my EVAC suit. This time we were wearing the environmental suits under the EVAC units. The material felt thin, but it protected against a lot of toxic substances and had a closed breathing system attached, which we were using despite the fact that the dock’s life support was still working. The suits were really meant for planetary environments but it was a good precaution.

I signaled Overse and Thiago that they could leave their EVAC suits and told them, “We’ll start a physical evidence search here and work our way toward the control area and the drop box.” The drones were telling me the likelihood of Targets lying in wait was low to nil, and without a targetControlSystem installed, it seemed unlikely that there would be targetDrones. We still had to check for any evidence that ART’s crew might have been here. A note saying “help, etc.” was preferable to signs like body parts stuffed into maintenance cubbies or blood and/or viscera smears on walls and deck.

On the comm, Ratthi said, “That still looks like a lot of area to search. Maybe Arada and I should come over, too.”

For fuck’s sake, Ratthi. Amena immediately jumped in with, “Arada should stay with the ship. I could go.”

I started to answer (I don’t know what I was going to say but it was probably something I was going to feel bad about later). Overse and Thiago both took breaths to object. But ART got in before any of us (it helps to not actually need any air to talk) and said, No .

Ratthi tried to clarify, “No to Amena, or no to—”

No to all of you, ART said.

“ Perihelion ’s right,” Arada said, in a Mensah-like I’m-being-reasonable-but-you-should-all-shut-up voice, “Now let’s let them focus.”

Overse and Thiago had gotten out of their EVACs and did quick checks of their environment suits. Thiago said briskly, “Should we split up?”

I was facing the right-hand corridor and didn’t turn around. I don’t know what my back told him (possibly it was my shoulders, having a reaction to how my jaw hinge was grinding) but he added, “And that was a joke.”

Overse’s smile was dry. She told him, “It was sort of a joke.”

“This way.” I started down the corridor, telling one of my drones to drop back into a sentry position behind the humans to make sure nothing snuck up on us. Yes, I know the scout drones weren’t finding anything, but still. On the shows I liked best, monsters were always a possibility in these situations, but in reality it only happened around 27 percent of the time.

Also a joke. Mostly.

We cleared the short corridors that branched off the main corridor to each lock, and checked the few storage/maintenance cubbies. We weren’t finding anything, not even trash. As we moved to the forward section, I gave up on accessing DockSecSystem through the feed; I needed to find its direct access station to see if it had had any moments of lucidity after the failed load. Not that this situation needed to be any more frustrating or anything.

The lights flickered on for us as we passed and flickered off afterward. We didn’t technically need lights; my eyes and my drones had dark vision filters and the humans had hand and helmet lights they were using to check the walls and floor. I thought the best chance for actual evidence was in the DockSecSystem’s archive, if I could just get the stupid system to load right. If we had to bring ART’s big fancy drones over and do a search for DNA traces, it would be a huge pain in the ass, and if they found nothing, it still wouldn’t be positive evidence that the crew hadn’t been here.