“So she’s one of the transhuman AIs?” I said. “Great, so there’s no telling what she wants.”
Akio smiled. “Every time I think I have your measure you surprise me again. How do you know about the Lurkers, Alice?”
I shrugged. “I’ve met one. It seemed kind of nice, though I guess most people would have trouble relating to someone who only talks in math. He did warn me that neither of the ones who can communicate easily with humans is trustworthy, but I’m not sure how much I can rely on his advice. Did you know that Noriko warned me away from you, back at the palace?”
“Did she, now? That’s interesting. The last time I spoke to her she dropped hints about your ancestry, and acted like she wanted to see us together.”
“Great. I guess she’s after something deeper than the usual human social games, then. Trying to make you all so paranoid you evolve yourselves into superhuman schemers, or something crazy like that.”
“Possibly. But we can worry about that some other time, Alice. Are you safe where you are? I still have hopes of engineering a counter-coup here, but it isn’t going to be easy. Or quick.”
“Don’t rush on my account,” I told him. “I’m fine for now, and you’re probably only going to get one chance at this. I’m just glad to hear you’ve got a plan. Do you know if the Square Deal got away?”
“Yes. I still can’t believe they managed to jump right out of the hangar like that,” he said, shaking his head. “No matter how good their hyperspace converter is, you’d think a transition that close to so much mass would wreck them. But they’d already dropped out of the Gamma Layer by the time our ships got there, and they seem to be faster than our drone carriers. Uncle Noburu is so angry the officers are all terrified that he’s going to execute someone.”
“So they’re going to escape? That’s a relief.”
Akio got an uncomfortable look. “Well, most of them.”
My heart sank. “Oh, no. Someone wasn’t on the ship?”
“One of the techs was helping with the setup on that feedstock processor,” he said reluctantly. “The marines received orders to detain her before she realized there was a problem.”
“Which one?” I asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
“A foxgirl named Lina.”
I felt my hands clench into fists. “Where is she?”
“Alice, you can’t possibly mean to rescue her. She’s on the frigate by now. Even if you could get there somehow, the detention center is heavily guarded.”
“So I should just leave her in their hands? She’s a class three AI, Akio. I don’t imagine they’ll care much what happens to her.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Akio, what are they going to do with her?”
“I’m sure she has backups.”
“Akio! What are they going to do to her?”
He sighed. “Standard procedure would be to interrogate her, and then either turn her or dispose of her.”
“Interrogate her? How? She isn’t going to betray her pack no matter what anyone tells her, and her tamper proofing would keep anyone from messing with her hardware.”
“Androids aren’t actually immune to brainwashing,” he said hesitantly. “You can’t change their core programming, but if you pull the AI core and interface it with an extreme VR environment for a few subjective years-”
“Damn it!” I shouted. “They’re going to torture her? How can you be so calm about this?”
“She’s only a tech, Alice.”
“She’s my friend, Akio! I’m not going to abandon her to some horrible hell VR just because it’s convenient.”
“I don’t see how we can do anything about it, Alice. Most of the crew are still loyal to me, I think. But the marines and bridge crews are all in Uncle Noburu’s pocket.”
I massaged my forehead, and tried to think. The frigate was stationed a good hundred kloms from the wreck, and even with Mirai tech I doubted I could sneak any warbots on board. The Emperor’s Hope might have a working weapon or two somewhere, but there was no way my little reactor could power anything that would damage a frigate. The detention center was bound to be run by Yamashida’s people, so there was no hope of just having them fake the interrogation either.
Finally, an idea came to me.
“Akio? What about the shuttle pilots?”
Chapter 29
“We’re doomed,” the pilot grumbled morosely. “They’ll catch us for sure, and then we’ll all be executed. I’ll never see my pack again.”
The furry canine morph wrung her hands nervously, her tail lashing in agitation. I tried to contain my impatient response. She was obviously just a low-level flunky, and she definitely wasn’t made for fighting. Her uniform was just a pair of shorts and a halter top, without armor or even a basic sidearm, and her body was actually organic. I probably shouldn’t be surprised that she was afraid.
“Calm down, Nari. Your master and I know what we’re doing. They’re expecting you to head back to the ship in a few minutes, right?”
“Yes, my lady. Division Three has their daily standup meeting in forty minutes, and Director Song insists on having everyone attend in person. There are always crew chiefs who need to be shuttled over. But that’s just the problem, my lady. What if one of them reports us?”
I turned to the pair of significantly less furry and better dressed inugami who were waiting with us. “Is that going to be a problem?”
The taller one, an Amazon type with big, pointy ears, answered first. “No, my lady. We’re loyal retainers of the Himura clan. We would never betray the young lord’s secrets.”
This time I couldn’t suppress my eye roll. “I know that. Akio gave me your encryption keys, and I’ve been watching all your network traffic since we met. I was asking if you’re sure there’s no one else who might need to catch a ride on this shuttle.”
They exchanged disconcerted looks. The shorter one, a curvy inugami with a really bushy tail, answered this time. “Not for this meeting, my lady. Everyone else in our division is accounted for. But sometimes there will be managers from other divisions who show up unexpectedly.”
“We’re all loaded up, Mistress,” Emla called cheerily from the hatch that led back the shuttle’s cargo hold.
“There, problem solved,” I said. “Seal up and prep for launch, Nari. If anyone else comes along they’ll just have to wait for the next shuttle.”
The pilot’s ears drooped. “Yes, my lady.”
As the passenger door slid shut I put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey. You’re going to be alright, Nari. I take care of my people, and Akio is trusting me with you. Just follow my directions, and I’ll get you home safe and sound.”
She seemed shocked by my concern. “You’d trouble yourself over the fate of a simple tech, my lady?”
“This whole operation is aimed at rescuing a tech, Nari. Do you have backup support?”
“No, my lady. It isn’t worth bothering with for simple mass produced girls like me.”
It was a good thing there was a fight coming, because I really wanted to shoot someone. Instead, I patted her shoulder reassuringly.