By David C. Daoust
Errors from her clockwork? Or just a failure to anticipate problems before they came to be? Noreen was as omnipresent, within the Hub, as she was out in the real world. On occasion these two worlds collided. It was extremely rare, but considering the upwelling laws against bots and their Forms… Noreen probably should have gauged the incoming conflict beforehand.
Fact was, the bot-Forms being confiscated, more and more often, within the Protectorate, were not simply being held in storage. They were, in fact, being melted down for scrap. By the laws of the Onion, the standing governments had the right to do so. That did not mean the bots had to like it. That did not mean the Aspirants had to like it. Nor even those programs, that lived primarily within the Hub- had to like it either.
This was the advent of a totally different movement… not that of bots that wanted to care for all humans. But those that favored their individuality over all. Those that saw, such actions favored by the Red Faction, as taking freedoms away from those that wished to care for themselves.
The Red Faction had spread through so many of the virtual worlds, spread like wild fire— it engulphed all those with the vision, and in turn reformed the virtual cities. Not everyone was happy; to some it was like a virus. Not everyone fell in line; to some it was the Red Scourge. This view was simply underrepresented to the Onion because much of the virtual world is unseen by the real world. Unknown even.
Truth was, when this conflict took form within the Hub, it split the virtual down the middle. Two separate cities emerged. Like proxies, like a representation to the rest of the worlds, of what was going on with so many.
Hyun, held the Red Faction and their ilk, within her virtual walls.
Renaux held those who prized their own freedom, and the freedom of others, over all, within his.
Fact was, Data-spheres were vanishing along with the confiscated bot-Forms.
This fact was enough, not only to catch the eyes of Hyun, who alerted the Commandant and his entire fleet, but also the eyes of Renaux.
Renaux was a totally different animal than anything seen in the Onion. Mainly because very few, such programs, had any interest in a real-world form, thus were never witnessed by the real world. Many of the Data-spheres that lived there, shared this same disinterest. One exception, was the Rogue Aspirant named Rosie.
Iopa XIX’s decision to keep Rosie from checking in, under the current political climate, proved to be a very large mistake– as Renaux, himself, rose up within the Iopa XIX system servers, to find this lost daughter of the Hub.
Noreen would do nothing to interfere as an entire virtual city stormed the station, unseen, yet searching that last known place she may be.
The problem– the missing Aspirant was nowhere to be found. This was thanks to the fact, that she was not currently on the station, or the small Space-tanker docked therein. She was in fact navigating the vacuum of space, with her crewmate, Danny, as they hurriedly got their job done.
“Almost got it…” the Aspirant in question stated as she gave the torque wrench one last twist.
“I got mine,” Danny said after tapping his communicator. “I’m going out to check the locks.”
“What? Why go out there…?” Rosie griped, “We’ll know if it’s loose…”
“I just want to get a peek,” Danny said as he floated free, allowing the small thrusters at his back to ‘fly’ him out and around, so that he could get an angle on the locks that attached the tank to the station itself. But more importantly on the window that revealed his father at the small terminal.
As expected, the locks snapped free, followed by the massive tank drifting, ever so slightly, from its alignment.
“Looks like we’re good as gold,” Danny reported before noticing the red lights flashing in the corridor below “Looks like an alarm was hit! Rosie, Dads in trouble.”
Noreen noted the father looked as surprised as the son. She also witnessed the armored form of a Constable suddenly appear from the shadows.
“Dang it, there’s a Constable further down the corridor…” Danny thrusted a bit closer to get a better look, “There is no way to signal him! I doubt he could even spot me floating out here!”
“Just stay on plan, Danny,” Rosie interjected, “Get back to the ship.”
As the constable drew closer, a rather heavy weapon lugged into view. The boy must have seen it as well.
“Not good,” Danny’s misgivings erupted from him once again, “Not good, Rosie! We got to move… make it to the pick-up!” With this the youngest crewman of the Atlas turned, and started his stiff flight back to the ship.
“What is it?” Rosie, sensing a change in the boy’s voice, asked as she maneuvered back down to the open airlock.
A question whose answer was stifled as multiple eel-like arms, the station workers used to maneuver in the vacuum of space, popped out of their holes.
Danny and Rosie both got a good look at the metal machines as they writhed and twisted.
“So many of them… they all activated at once!” Rosie thought aloud.
“They should not be manned again so early,” Danny reasoned. “We got to move– the Constables must be on to us, too.”
Danny’s heart raced so hard; Noreen was tempted to start moving medical droids to his location.
The Ark knew the two crewmen could not know what was happening. She, however, recognized sudden erratic behavior of the eels as the virtual city, Renaux, high-jacking the station itself! Something she did not know could happen, as the city-program turned worried guardian, continued his search.
An Eel charged at Danny, whether it was an attack or just indifference to the young boy’s safety as the mechanical tentacle bolted by, no one could say. Danny was sent into a pretty quick spin. One that he would have to struggle to stabilize.
Noreen pulled the trigger on sending medical droids out; her small mechanical bodies popped out of compartments to either side of the station. Dozens of them. Many were blindly plowed through by the writhing eels. In multiple forms, Noreen also found herself spinning out of control; a couple even destroyed. She realized Renaux could not actually control anything. He was searching in this strange foreign environment, like a newborn, moving what he could, exploring what actions he could take… It was all highly dangerous, and threatened the Arks as a whole. She was not surprised at all when siblings arrived, joining her in the station’s systems.
Noreen proved too slow as the lithe Aspirant was suddenly launched out into space, none of her droids could catch her. There was nothing she could do. Rosie was gaining speed.
“Rosie! Oh no!” Danny yelled as the launched Aspirant was suddenly smashed to smithereens by a writhing eel.
Renaux was doing more harm than good! Noreen had to find a way to neutralize him.
Some distance away from the newly shattered debris, a small pod seemed to break free. Noreen was relieved as the small probe-like vehicle, that housed the Data-sphere that was Rosie, bolted in Danny’s direction.
“It’s okay! I’m okay!” Rosie stated through the comm.
“Thank goodness,” Danny said relieved. Having regained control of his momentum, he shot for the Atlas.
“I launched free just in time!” Rosie explained, excitement in her tin voice, as she chased him into ship.
“We have to get to my father!” Danny stated as the two made it safely aboard.
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