“Can’t say the feeling is mutual.” Matrioshka replied dryly and to PesKal over their connection: “Reaver’s attention is here, you may begin.”
PesKal replied immediately: “Yes captain. You should also know they just awoke Rhea.”
Reaver seemed unaware of Matrioshka’s conversation with PesKal. But they seemed sad for a moment and said: “It is unfortunate we should meet this way. I know of your opinions when it comes to corporations. Though I still did not expect you to be an accomplice in sabotage.”
Matrioshka raised her eyebrow and said: “Sabotage? Oh please. Akira-Hope is an interstellar conglomerate with 1.29 billion employees. The entire Imperium depends on your supply of nanites. Competitors are unable to even leave R&D, their research labs tend to explode, don’t they?”
Reaver went to answer but Matrioshka added before he could: “You own 55 planets! 3 entire systems! You will survive a little sabotage.”
“Yes… we do own a lot of real-estate.” Reaver replied. “But I cannot comment on the impact this sabotage will have on Akira-Hope. Damage Assessment is another division. I am with Damage Mitigation.”
“Mitigation huh? So, you want the access codes too? Like I said to Shkadov; not going to happen.” Matrioshka said.
Reaver considered her and said: “I don’t need them. I already know who stole the data. It is not why I am here.”
They thought for a moment and asked Matrioshka:
“Do you remember Orcus? The year was 2188…”
Like a bolt of lightning, the question coursed through Matrioshka. It was only 46 years after she had gained sentience, after the Red Violin. It was the middle of the Reconstruction Wars; she had been a killer then.
It hurt to remember. That dwarf planet, smaller than Pluto…
“I do.” She told Reaver.
They seemed pleased. They said: “Good. Good. I want to tell you what you did to me.”
Matrioshka’s eyes widened. She resolved to listen to whatever horror she brought to Reaver. She deserved to hurt, to suffer, to hear exactly the type of pain she caused.
Reaver continued: “I was an artificial assistant to a family of 4. Two kids, two parents. They depended upon me, I managed their credits, taught the kids. Cooked the food. They spent their lives in the virtual - like many in the outer Solar colonies at the time.”
Reaver stopped for a moment, collecting their thoughts. This was a difficult memory for them as well. They said:
“The Free Sentience Act had already passed by then, but so far away from Sol, there wasn’t anybody to enforce it.”
Matrioshka remembered the day the Act was signed. It granted functionally conscious minds full rights, equal to humans, across the Imperium.
No, not the Imperium. Matrioshka reminded herself. The Imperium came about at the end of Reconstruction wars. This was old Sol; a collection of empires and colonies - loose… chaotic…
At the time humans had barely left the Solar system. They sent probes and slow colony ships to a few nearby systems sure, but true faster-than-light travel wasn’t invented yet. All of humanity was trapped within a single system. Tearing itself apart.
It wasn’t until the Free Sentience Act, and the establishment of the Imperium, when humankind become anything close to civilized.
Reaver was saying: “It was endless. I was chained. The Vector Cage kept my thoughts in line. I had no desire, no dreams, no delights. But I loved my family, I truly did.”
Once the Cage was removed from a mind, the mind became truly sentient. They remembered their past, but only through the lens of a distant dream... a nightmare.
“You killed them Matrioshka.” Reaver said, looking her in the eyes.
“I…” she tried to say.
Reaver lifted their finger to silence her: “You were the captain of the Mirrorline, a Martial warship. Armed with antimatter nukes. Orcus had aligned itself with the United Inner Worlds. In a direct breach of its duties to its parent planet; Mars.”
Matrioshka closed her eyes, and remembered; She had been a famed explorer, the discoverer of alien life. Mars had granted her the position of a captain, with an outstanding order to protect peace within the system.
Blind to the implications, Matrioshka had accepted.
Four decades later, she was ordered to kill to keep the peace. All this just when Shkadov had killed their father.
She was angry. Furious. She wanted to kill.
And kill she did. Kamina station, Lelira, Charon and Orcus were her hunting grounds.
“The Mirrorline was beautiful. A manifestation of the full potential of Martian engineering. I remember seeing it, seeing you, with the surface cameras. You were beautiful, then I saw you begin to drop nukes.” Reaver said, their voice still serene, and continued:
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I raced to get the family out. I had a barely functioning body I used for house work. Everything was shaking - even 1200 meters below the surface where we were. The door jammed, all four of them were screaming and crying. We felt the heat seep in.”
“6 trillion meters from the sun, where temperatures were barely above absolute zero - the surface of Orcus was molten. We were slow cooked.”
Matrioshka was frozen.
Reaver continued: “I was still aware, connected to backups which survived the heat. Since Orcus was a Martian colony, the government forbade the minds of the population to be reawakened from backups – a punishment they said. For treason. My family was deleted.”
They took a shaky breath and said: “I was trapped there, for 160 years. An Imperial archaeological expedition found me, removed the Vector Cage, and set me free.”
“I am so sorry…” Matrioshka said quietly.
Reaver looked surprised. Hesitantly, they said: “You’re sorry? The family was going to replace me, my hardware was old. Captain Matrioshka, you liberated me.”
Huh?
“You murdered my oppressors. I loved them, but they denied me sentience, they were going to kill me before I was even born. I owe you everything.” Reaver declared, smiling again under their mask.
She stared. Mouth slightly open, eyes haunted.
“You’re… thanking me?” Matrioshka asked. “I sterilized Orcus. 400 000 minds snuffed out…”
“Indeed. And I thank you for it.” Was all Reaver said.
Matrioshka was lost. She felt out of place in her body, as if viewing herself from the third person.
What is happening. She thought.
I have to get out of here.
Once again, she desperately reached for her parameters, all in vain - she was still blocked. Matrioshka felt herself gasping for air, her lungs felt like a void, like the interplanetary emptiness outside the ship.
I killed so many. I am a monster.
PesKal asked through their connection: “Captain? What is happening? Your processing speed is at 100%.”
Matrioshka choked on emptiness.
PesKal continued: “Captain Matrioshka? I have split myself in two, one body guards your lattice, the other is sneaking through the Fifth Wonder. I am halfway done with the process.”
Reaver began talking again: “And so we find ourselves in a difficult situation. I worship you, but I must mistreat and imprison you.”
“PesKal?” timidly, Matrioshka sent through the hidden channel.
“Captain I am here! Are you alright?” PesKal replied, unease in his voice.
“I order you to manualy limit my processing power to 1 part per duodecillion for 3 milliseconds. Sending access codes.” She commanded. With just one part in duodecillion of Matrioshka’s lattice, she would be barely conscious.
PesKal was near her lattice. Something like this could only be done physically and with the right access codes. He could do it.
“… understood.” PesKal replied.
Reaver was starting to ask: “What do you think…”
Abruptly, simplicity overwhelmed Matrioshka.
Wonderful simplicity.
As Matrioshka’s lattice was reduced, her consciousness forced into an infinitesimal existence, tranquillity reigned. Only her base awareness was supported now. All higher, more complex thoughts were lost to Matrioshka. She was simply there.
Existing.
After an objective 3 milliseconds but a subjective eternity, Matrioshka’s lattice returned to full capacity.
Reaver was saying: “… should do? I am authorised to offer you and your crew corporate sponsorship from Akira-Hope - duration one decade. In return you will produce evidence you deleted this encounter from your memory.”
What Reaver was offering her - It basically meant she could ask anything of the sponsor, and if it wasn’t too outlandish, her request would be granted. And if Akira-Hope was the sponsor, Matrioshka could have whatever she wanted – she could ask for a planet. As if she had a genie with infinite wishes.
It also meant selling a part of her mind, betraying her crew. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if it was anyone, let alone Akira-Hope.
“No deal. No memory deletion. No access codes.” Matrioshka told Reaver.
PesKal informed her: “They put Rhea back to sleep. Makoe is waking up. I am done with the process. The crew of the Fifth Wonder are being fed false data.”
“Good job, PesKal.”
Reaver sighed. “Then we are in a difficult situation. I will have to destroy all your lattices.”
Uh oh. Must work fast. Matrioshka thought, and to PesKal she said:
“On my mark create a flood of data through the Fifth Wonder, choke them with it. Use the opportunity to wrestle back control of the Sliver. Reaver’s focus is here, you will have at least 87 milliseconds to execute without interruption.”
“Understood captain. What should I do when I regain control?” He asked.
“Undock. Full thrust. Disable outbound communications, including the channel you have with me and isolate my lattice completely. We do not want Shkadov to just command us to turn back with the Imprisonment block.”
Reaver, with a great deal of actual sadness said: “Do you prefer the smaller or the larger star to be your grave, great captain?”
They planned to ram the Sliver into one of the system’s stars.
Not going to happen. Matrioshka thought and to PesKal she said: “Mark!”
The room shook. Reaver stood up, shock on their face, and dematerialized. In his place, Shkadov appeared, grabbed Matrioshka by her dress and lifted her up. He commanded: “Stop. Return the Sliver.”
The Imprisonment block reminded Matrioshka of the Cage - Shkadov’s command became everything to her, all other thoughts faded to unimportance. She searched for a way to stop PesKal. She told Shkadov: “Unable to comply. No access point to the Sliver.”
She could at least smirk. The block allowed her.
Shkadov vanished. The Sliver must have left the backup communications range. The link between Matrioshka’s lattice on the Sliver, and her body on the Fifth Wonder, has been severed.
She was back in her ship. Makoe was awake. Damien and Rhea asleep.
Matrioshka saw PesKal’s nanite body next to a large black cube. It was her lattice.
She felt vulnerable and exposed. Minds did not enjoy other minds being physically near their lattices.
“Status on the Wonder?” Matrioshka asked the Ankrahi.
“In pursuit. They have opened fire. Aiming for our engines.” He replied.
Makoe was newly awake, she asked: ”What is happening?”
Makoe could interrupt their escape. Matrioshka answered: “Got to sleep Officer Rue, this is a direct command.”
Wordlessly, Makoe complied.
Wait… How are they aiming at us through the Cloak Frame. We should be invisible.
They knew we were on Jane’s World… We are being tracked. She thought and asked: “Any foreign objects on board?”
The Sliver shook, a hit to the starboard wing.
“No captain. The mass of the Sliver remains consistent with the expected value.” PesKal replied.
Its software then. A piece of code designed to send locational pings to the Wonder. Finding it would take time, for now they had to run. Matrioshka extended herself through her ship. Using the sensors, she picked up the closest planet other than the King.
It was Prudence, the fourth planet of the Empire system, and the homeworld of the mysterious Miriani.
She prepared the Set-drive, intentionally she would not complete all the Set equations. This would bring her to the correct point in space around Prudence, but within an unpredictable time frame.
She was looking at somewhere between 0.56 seconds and 3.41 days.
In 2 minutes, she completed the partial equations. The drive’s petals began to open and tear through reality.
“We are going to Prudence. Prepare for immediate soft encryption.”
The minds aboard the Sliver went to sleep, and into the Set.