Chapter 10 Intergalactic Criminal?
Intergalactic Criminal?
“Why would an AI need to be in a physical prison cell?” Khoth murmured.
“Forget that, Commander! Why would an AI be in prison at all? Is Gehenna some kind of intergalactic criminal?” Thammah asked, hands on hips, as she scanned their dark and foreboding surroundings.
Jace gave out a wheeze, which Khoth realized was actually a laugh, but he was so weak that it sounded more like a simple exhale of breath. Guilt assaulted him. The young man was near death. He could see the closing shadows in Jace’s gray eyes. He’d seen those same ones in Daesah’s.
I did not break the Rule of Duuskukeh to stop her suffering at the hands of the Khul! He reminded himself. I did not do it in a vain hope that somehow she could be saved. I did not do it because I couldn’t imagine a universe without her. Did I?
There had been no chance to save Daesah, regardless of what his Xi had wanted.
Khul infected their prisoners the moment they were taken.
Once the prisoners were on their ships, there was simply no chance for them.
The only thing Khoth could have offered Daesah was to end her suffering and to stop the Khul from learning all she knew.
But there was a way to save Jace.
All he had to do was take Jace to Gehenna and not interfere. Not delay the completion of whatever this connection was. Not seek another solution that would allow him to have the best of both worlds. All he needed to do was to honor his word to Jace.
But, in doing so, he would be again violating the Rule of Duuskukeh.
He could almost hear his mother’s voice telling him that what would be best for the whole is if he used Jace to find Gehenna, but did not allow the connection to complete.
His mother would remind him that Gehenna had the potential of increasing their knowledge of, not only Precursor technology, but the Precursors themselves, which was invaluable.
What if Gehenna could lead them to other unknown Altaeth worlds with stockpiles of new weaponry and technology that could aid their way against the Khul?
What if she could tell them the history of the war between the Altaeth and the Khul?
What had started it? What could end it? What if Gehenna knew where the Altaeth were now? And how to reach them?
Allowing Jace to connect to Gehenna would mean that this information--if it existed--would be shared only with the humans.
Unless, of course, Jace wished to tell others.
The humans--though they seemed to understand the necessity of the fight with the Khul--might try to use access to this information to bargain their way into the Alliance.
Humans are said to be too primitive to join us. And they could more than join us with the power of Gehenna. They could demand a position of leadership. Now that would be a disaster! To have a species that is barely able to stop destroying itself leading those who know better?
He shuddered at the thought.
So the Rule of Duuskukeh would dictate that he not allow this connection to happen. If such an action caused Jace’s death, that would be unfortunate. But the needs of the many simply outweighed one bright-eyed human’s life.
However…
Letting Jace die would likely damage the accord with humanity.
He had no way of knowing whether he could easily transport Gehenna off Earth.
Based upon her actions so far, it appeared she was limited in her ability to transfer from the prison cell.
Perhaps she was even limited to a physical form of some sort.
That would explain the need for a physical prison like this one.
And it might mean she was simply too bulky to remove without assistance and time.
Neither of which they had. He had his exo-suit monitoring the humans’ communications and they were all searching for him, Thammah and Jace. The whole of the base was on red alert.
Again, even if he could shoot his way out, would the loss of life, the loss of an alliance be worth it?
Gehenna, being in a prison cell, complicated the potential benefits she offered.
Someone had put her in there. Someone had perhaps thought she needed to be locked up.
Though from Jace’s pained amusement at her being classified as an intergalactic criminal, he did not seem to think her current whereabouts were a dealbreaker.
But she has linked herself to him for a long time, Khoth reasoned. She is his only chance of survival. Humans have difficulty with pure, clear-headed Xa at the best of times. This is hardly one of those times for Jace. So he might simply not want to admit the truth about her.
And yet, he also had to admit that Jace had remained remarkably calm throughout this.
There was also another point against letting Jace die, which is what if, as she had told Jace, Jace was truly the only one who could connect with her? If Jace died that eliminated the possibility of them ever having access to her knowledge and abilities.
After all, Thaf’ell had been aboard the Osiris since its discovery, but Gehenna had not partially bonded with any of them.
He could always argue that taking Gehenna at her word--or Jace’s word really--was the only logical course as he did not know what might happen otherwise.
And the risk of losing Gehenna altogether was too great as compared to sharing her with the humans.
I could always argue… My thoughts betray me. I am searching for a reason to not let Jace die.
The young man’s eyes were now closed and his breathing was coming in short gasps.
His skin was gray, an unnatural color for a human and a sheen of sweat covered his face.
Khoth imagined for a moment if those eyes never opened again, or, if the next time he saw them they were glazed over with the cataracts of death. He shuddered.
“Jace doesn’t have any more time, Commander. We need to get him to Gehenna,” Thammah reminded him.
Her narrowed eyes also told him that she was aware of his inner turmoil.
Though as a Thaf’ell she should be more concerned that he was leaning towards helping Jace no matter what the cost, rather than concerned he was considering how he might save Jace and keep the AI for the Thaf’ell.
But he had a feeling that she--like himself--wouldn’t be considered a very good Thaf’ell in many eyes.
“We need to find a way to open her cell door remotely. A control panel or something that our exo-suits can interface with,” Khoth said as he cast about for anything like that and found nothing. “We are not going to be able to access it manually.”
Gehenna’s prison cell was at the far end. While all of the doors that lined the hallway were impressive in terms of thickness and banding of the calcanth, there also looked to be sophisticated locking mechanisms attached to each and Gehenna’s looked even more complicated.
Even now, his exo-suit’s system told him that these doors remained firmly locked even without any power going to them.
This was unusual, because normally when power failed, locks automatically were opened, even in prison colonies for the safety of the prisoners.
But here, it was clear that the overwhelming purpose was to keep whatever was locked in these cells inside no matter what the cost. His suit’s scanners were not even able to penetrate the cell’s structure to see who or what was imprisoned inside.
Not that it was likely that anything could have survived all this time.
Except for an AI like Gehenna, he reminded himself.
“I don’t see anything. All these doors appear locked.” Thammah was tapping on her exo-suit’s holographic controls that had appeared over her right forearm.
“Just--just get to the door,” Jace got out. “I can… I can open it like the other parts. Still connected to the Osiris, too.”
“It will be done,” Khoth said.
They immediately began to climb the hallway. It was much harder going up than coming down had been as the hallway was at a 45 degree tilt. Even with the assistance of the exo-suit, his leg muscles strained.
“Sorry I can’t--I can’t walk,” Jace got out.
“I think Khoth likes holding you in his arms, Jace,” Thammah said with a wink at him. “For as often as he gazes down upon you--”
Khoth scowled at her, about to offer a rebuke to such flippery at this moment. But she must have understood Jace’s Xi better than he did as a hint of color
“You think?” Jace smiled even as his eyes remained closed. “That’s nice to be wanted.”
Khoth put more effort into his climbing. He wanted those eyes open.
“Why is she down here?” Thammah muttered.
“Perhaps she was placed here to protect her,” Khoth suggested.
“From what?” Thammah lifted an eyebrow at him.
He saw that she kept looking over her shoulder as if she heard something following them.
She was not afraid of the humans, he knew.
Their exo-suits made it quite clear that the humans were well above them with no idea about the hatch or the shaft.
Only Jace had been able to make the hatch work in any case.
“The rip in the Osiris’ hull, why has no one mentioned that it looks to have been caused by some internal act?” Khoth asked.
“That’s above my paygrade,” Thammah said.
Khoth’s forehead. “About your what?”
“It means that it isn’t something that I was assigned to look into,” Thammah told him. “I’d assumed that other Alliance members than me had their reasons for not including that in the previous reports. And I’m not much of a report person myself so…”
Khoth could very well believe that while Thammah would have any ship in pristine condition, she would likely never write even a line on a report.
“But this is crucial to knowing how and why the Osiris crash landed here,” Khoth said with a deep frown.
Perhaps the Osiris had been boarded. Or perhaps there had been spies who had tried to sabotage the spaceship. Perhaps there had even been a mutiny of some sort.