“Commander Caraval,” Pirra radioed.
After a moment, the man’s voice crackled in her ear. “How is it?” he asked.
“Private channel,” she told him, and then relayed what she had just learned. She had closed her helmet and opaqued her visor to outside view. Dessei didn’t have much in the way of lips to read, but she wasn’t going to risk it, all the same.
“The rest of the crew don’t know, Commander. I get the feeling the Captain is unpopular with them and he doesn’t want them to think the situation is as bad as it is.”
The Commander was quiet a few long moments before talking again. “That’s not the only thing we’ve learned. Tred’s found that this was originally a pretty good ship that the Hev bought and built their own vessel around. It has its own zerodrive and a class-9 AI running it.”
“A class-9? That’s beyond most biological beings. It’s not even legal in the Sapient Union,” she hissed.
“More practically, it’s the source of their problem right now. Not many know this, but the better an AI, the more prone to tenkionic corruption by just this sort of thing.”
She put the pieces together. “So when they hit the Leviathan their AI was corrupted and that caused the shutdown.”
“Right. So before we can get the power back on, we have to purge the main AI core. It’s not exactly functional, but it’s not going to let anything run until we get that sorted.”
“Can we send in drones?”
“They’re not viable in this scenario,” Caraval replied. “We’ll some along, but a bio has to go in. Only way to be sure.”
She didn’t know why, and she didn’t need to. She just knew what she had to do.
“I’ll take care of it, then. I can get directions from the Ambassador with the least translations involved – should give me the best shot.”
Caraval hesitated. “I’m not trying to send you on every dangerous task here, Pirra-“
“I’m best-suited, Commander. Comes with the job,” she replied. “Just send me the instructions on how to purge the system.”
Turning, she looked to the Ambassador.
“I need to reach the AI core,” she told him. “We have to purge it before we can get the ship functional again.”
He bared his teeth and let out a growl, something she fortunately knew was a sign of shock and dismay. “That . . . is in the barricaded section,” he said.
Feeling her heart beat faster, she kept her face impassive. “Understood. Can the Captain let me in there?”
The Captain was watching them carefully, noticing that they were conversing. “[You get translators working?]” he demanded.
“No,” the Ambassador told him. “They have to purge the computer to get things working.”
He snarled. “[No! No touching that! Too sensitive! Too much private information.]” He whirled on Pirra. “[You want everything from us, don’t you? All our secrets!]”
She couldn’t hide the scorn on her face. “Tell the Captain that if he wants his ship to be more than a drifting hulk then we have to purge his illegal core. He can come watch me flush it down the toilet if he wants, but it’s happening either way.”
The Ambassador translated her words – carefully altering a few here and there to take out her rudeness.
“They know it’s an illegal AI,” he added.
The Captain’s face looked stricken, and for a moment Pirra wished she did have a sidearm. His hand had gone to his own, and she knew that the legal ramifications of his AI could be severe. But he didn’t draw the weapon.
“Tell him that as long as he helps us purge it, we can kill any charges. No one really even needs to know he had it,” she added.
After N’Keeea translated that, the Captain’s look softened a little. “[We got it that way]!” he added. “[Bought second-hand, didn’t know it was illegal!]” He let out a sigh punctuated with clicks of his sharp teeth. “[But computer is in closed-off section. Too dangerous to reach.]”
“I’m going in anyway,” she said. “I just need him to open the door and give me directions. Please impress upon him that without doing this, we absolutely cannot get this ship moving.”
The Captain nodded. He did not say anything, but reached up to a control panel.
“I’ve seen the computer core,” the Ambassador said. “It’s not hard to find. You simply go straight down the corridor, take two lefts, then a right and then the third hole in the ceiling. There’s a large security door, however . . . it seems that the crew often leaves it open. If it’s open you can go right into the computer room. If not – I’m not sure, as the system will not allow it to be opened.”
“I’ll just have to hope it’s open, then.”
She carefully recorded his directions, hoping she didn’t get lost. Summoning two drones, she hoped she could use them for any direct interactions.
“I’ve got it,” she said. Using maneuvering thrusters to move nearer the door, she nodded to the Captain.
“I’ll be back in five minutes,” she told them.
The Captain had hold of a heavy lever to manually open the door. He forced it and she jetted in, trying to touch nothing, not even the floor.
The door closed behind her.
Other Terrestrial 