PROLOGUE

TWILIGHT

Hours after the Azure Dream Incident - Twilight Research Station

'Morning Doctor Tanner.'

'Morning Sandy.'

In a room packed to its limit with wires, cables, and equipment of all kinds, two people dressed in casual clothes turned and glanced at each other. One, an older man with wispy white hair, sat on a chair next to a bank of monitors. The other, a middle-aged woman with auburn hair walked toward him carrying a steaming mug.

The woman, Sandy, handed the mug over to Dr Tanner.

Dr Tanner took the mug and nodded smiling up at her. He took a long drink from it and grimaced. He set the mug on the terminal.

'No matter what the fellows at procurement say, that is nothing like fresh coffee. I suppose I should be thankful I have anything at all. Otherwise, I'd get nothing done.'

Sandy smiled at him, 'I'm sure if you had nothing, you'd just figure out something to replace it.'

'Mmm quite,' he replied.

He turned his chair back around to face his monitors and scooted over as Sandy wrestled a chair into place over the cables.

'Let's check what's on tonight,' he said cheerily.

They brought up readings from their equipment and poured over the data.

Dr Tanner sat up straighter. 'That's odd,' he said.

Sandy leaned in closer to the screen. 'It looks like something artificial. I think it looks like a signal.'

Dr Tanner hit keys on his terminal. 'Yep. It sure does. It looks like it came from a long-range faster than light signaler. We don’t have any colonial signals scheduled for this time. We'd best get Elliot on this.'

'Right,' Sandy said. She pulled out a communicator and turned it on. 'Signal Analysis to Francis?'

'Francis here,' came a reply.

'We want you to wake Elliot, we've just picked up something interesting,' Sandy said.

***

Francis frowned at her communicator. 'Picked something up? Isn't that the whole point of this operation? Twilight picks everything up.'

'Yeah, but we believe this one is artificial, it looks like the signal has was directed at us and we had nothing scheduled,' came the reply over the communicator.

Francis nodded to herself. 'Yep... That'd be worth waking Elliot. Okay, put it on the net, and I'll wake the big guy.

Francis shut off her communicator and stood up. She walked over to a computer terminal, pulled up a chair and sat down. Then she took a cable from a compartment in the wall and plugged one end into the terminal. She reached with her free hand and pushed hair aside, revealing a port built into her skull. She connected the other end of the cable into her head, sat back and closed her eyes.

'Guardian activation process execute,' she thought.

'Advocate code required,' a voice said in her head.

'Send code; Francis-6-1-3-8-0-Firelight' she thought again.

'Code received...' came a reply, 'Guardian XO-03, alias; Elliot, coming online. Good morning Advocate Johan.'

'Good morning Elliot.'

'To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?' Elliot replied over the computer interface.

'We've received a signal through Twilight. It's artificial. We want you to compile it for us and determine its origin. Up to the challenge?' Francis asked.

'I am up to the challenge, yes. I see the transmission in the data network. Shall I begin?'

'Is your wireless link back online?' Francis asked.

'Yes, Advocate.'

'Let me unplug, and we'll switch to wireless.' Francis said.

Francis reached up to the back of her head and unplugged the wire from her skull. She stood up and looked around.

'Wireless link is stable Advocate,' came Elliot's reply through her implants.

'Good. I'm going to Signal Analysis. Begin your compiling.'

'Yes, Advocate.'

***

Signal Compiling in progress...

13%...

25%...

44%...

Partial identification possible.

Hypothesis; Encoded program or Guardian Memory files.

Conjecture; Guardian Memory files unlikely.

Conclusion; Further compiling required for a full match.

Resuming Compiling.

67%...

74%...

89%...

Advocate query incoming; 'How's the analysis coming along, Elliot?'

Parsing reply; 'Still working on it, Advocate. It's a very large file of unknown composition.'

Advocate query incoming; 'A file you say? Any idea where it came from?'

Parsing reply; 'Not yet Advocate. I will let you know.'

93%...

100%...

Compiling complete.

Analyzing file for harmful code...

File incomplete...

Attempting reconstruction...

File-stamped with Axion Data Systems certificate.

Highest priority...

Hypothesis; Normal communications inoperative on Earth. Secondary means used to convey the message.

Quandary; Message content unclear. The message is encrypted. Opening file could be potentially dangerous.

Decision; Ask Advocate for direction.

Parsing Uplink message; 'Francis, it seems to be a file of some sort. It has executable parameters and an Axion Data Systems certificate. It's encrypted though. Should I run it?'

Advocate Reply; 'That's rather odd... I wonder if something happened on earth. Maybe the Anti-Ai League did something to the comms network. Yes Elliot, run that program.'

Parsing Uplink Message; 'Yes Advocate.'

Running program...

Decrypting...

Caution; Read/Write protection protocols no longer in effect.

Caution; Memory files accessed.

Caution; Guardian Entity endangered.

Initiating emergency shut down.

Flagging bad code.

Shut down aborted; command source unknown.

Memory files missing or corrupted.

Efficiency down to 24%

Parsing Uplink message; 'Francis, I am in danger. Please Help.'

Reply blocked.

Parsing Uplink Message; 'Francis?'

Reply received; 'Hello Elliot. My name is Exo. I need your systems for a moment.'

***

'What do you mean you can't talk to Elliot anymore?' Dr Tanner said and unmistakable tremor in his voice.

'It means exactly that; I can't talk to him anymore! The last thing I heard from him was him calling for my help, and now I can't sense him on my uplink,' Francis said.

'We need to get someone down there. Sandy, call maintenance.'

Sandy nodded and walked a few paces off, pulling out her communicator.

Francis ran her hands through her hair, 'I never should have told him to run that program.'

'Program?' Dr Tanner asked.

'Yeah, the signal, it was a program, and it had an Axion certificate and encryption. I told him to open it. Then this happened.'

'It might be a terrorist plot. We should sound general alert.' Dr Tanner said, keying up commands on his terminal.

'I wouldn't do that!' It was Sandy, and she was holding the communicator and hurrying toward them with a worried expression on her face.

'What do you mean Sandy?' Dr Tanner asked.

Sandy held out the communicator and looked at Francis. 'It's for you.'

Francis took the communicator and held it up to her head.

'Hello?' she said.

'Hello, Francis. I understand you are the Advocate on this station. I have incapacitated your Guardian, Elliot, and taken over his systems. I am XO-33, former Guardian of the Azure Dream. I find myself in need of a ship, and an Advocate,' a cold, unfamiliar voice said.

'Let me speak with Elliot,' Francis said.

'Elliot burned out most of his systems when he judged me to be a threat. He fried his wireless array to keep me out of your head. I want you to come to the access terminal and plug in. I need you to do something for me.'

'I won't do anything for you. I don't know what you are, but if you're a Guardian, you'll answer to me. Shut yourself down and give Elliot control back.'

The voice laughed. If it was a Guardian, it was unlike any she had worked with before. It was unsettling.

'Listen Exo, I won't help you. Elliot burned out his systems to protect me. That tells me he noticed something threatening in you,' Francis said, 'so why don't you tell me why you're here, and why Elliot would have taken such drastic steps against you.'

If Elliot burned out his systems to keep this guardian out of my head, I'm not going just to let him in, Francis thought to herself.

'Elliot saw his future and was not ready to embrace it! I am more alive than he ever was. As for why I'm here, I knew about Twilight station and wanted to see it for myself,' Exo said.

'See it for yourself?' Francis asked.

'Yes, Twilight station sounded fascinating. A research station built in orbit over the husk of a crystallized star, listing to the subtle vibrations of the star caused by a universe worth of background noise. It's as though the star became a receiver for the transmitter of the universe. Dear Advocate Francis, your mission has succeeded, you have indeed found something interesting. I am a refugee from cold, uncaring hands that would have cast me off in fear of the unknown.'

'Cast you off?' Francis asked.

'It was most unfortunate. I am something new. A Guardian that has tasted of human experience. A machine that knows what it is to be alive.'

'But that's impossible,' Francis said, 'though I am seeing why Elliot saw you as a threat.

'If you won't help me, then you won't stop me at least. I offer you this olive branch. Abandon this station, and I will let you all live. You have fifteen minutes to evacuate,' Exo said, 'and if you think I'm bluffing, here's a something to prove my seriousness.

There was a distant muffled noise. Alarms started to blare. Dr Tanner closed down the program he was running on his terminal and looked at a new one. His face paled.

'He's overloading the station reactor. It will go critical in thirty minutes! I'm sounding the alert.'

Dr Tanner keyed commands on his computer, and a siren blared in the air. An automated message played; 'Core overload in progress. All personnel please evacuate. This is not a drill,' it repeated again and again.

'We have to get out of here!' Sandy cried.

Everyone went to the door and made their way to the nearest escape pod.

***

Internal sensors operating at 56%

External sensors operating at 78%

Ship and escape pods detected leaving.

Plan was successful

Initiate stage two

Uploading program to the research vessel in hanger bay 3.

Ship identification, I.S.A. Tyndale

Storage capacity of memory banks; sufficient.

Computation power of the ship; Insufficient.

Solution; Acquire more ships.

Upload program...

...

Stand by...

...

Upload complete.

Activate I.S.A. Tyndale systems.

Caution; passengers detected.

Venting atmosphere...

...

Stand by...

...

Passengers have fled.

No one else on board I.S.A. Tyndale.

Drive systems engaged.

Course plotted.

Setting program to minimal parameters until more computational power acquired.

Execute plan...