Lyssa's Flame_A Hard Science Fiction AI Adventure Read online

  LYSSA’S FLAME

  SENTIENCE WARS: ORIGINS – BOOK 5

  BY JAMES S. AARON

  & M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  Marti Panikkar

  Jim Dean

  Scott Reid

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Copyright © 2018 James S. Aaron & M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Laercio Messias

  Editing by Tee Ayer

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY…

  PART 1 - LARISSA

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  PART 2 - INNERSOL

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  PART 3 - TRAVERNA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  PART 4 – PSION

  CHAPTER Thirty-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  EPILOGUE: LEAVING RABBIT COUNTRY

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  AFTERWORD

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  FOREWORD

  Five novels in a year. We’ve reached a point where we can stand in awe of that statement.

  For some writers, this isn’t particularly challenging, while for others it’s a lifetime’s output. For me, I still work full-time at an average of around fifty work hours a week, so making this happen has required a year of planning, learning and focus that has pushed me more as a writer than anything I have experienced before.

  I’ve managed plenty of projects in my life, but writing is different. That blank page every morning is a mind killer. However, Sentience Wars: Origins has taught me that I can accomplish awesome things if I set my mind to them, plan, and persist.

  Consistently putting in the hours (and staying off social media) has been the biggest step in making this project come to life. As Michael says, he’s not a particularly fast writer: he just puts in the hours every day and does the work. I’ve learned the power in that approach. I’ve seen that I can create so much more than I thought was possible.

  I owe a great debt to Michael for allowing me to work in Aeon 14 and trusting me to run with the story we developed. My goal has always been to write a great M.D. Cooper book, so it didn’t matter if my specific words or story elements were changed—it was especially gratifying to see how we came to work together, to find that massive changes weren’t really necessary, and see how that work has been embraced by readers.

  Another trait I admire in Michael is his ability to set audacious, inspiring goals. Something I learned as a leader in the army, and that was reinforced later, is that you should always aim higher than you think you’ll reach; your people will typically surprise you with what they accomplish. When Michael and I initially talked about SW:O, it was going to be a trilogy. When the trilogy grew to five books, I imagine Michael just smiled to himself, because the next thing he told me was that we’d be doing at least ten more books across the First and Second Sentience Wars.

  The old me might have found that challenge terrifying. The new me is excited and honored to get to continue writing these stories.

  Michael has thrown out the goal of five hundred Aeon 14 novels. The biggest SF series in history. When I let that statement sink in, I find myself nodding with an excited smile. I’m honored to be part of this journey and can’t wait to read the rest of the story.

  I have to also thank the rest of the Aeon 14 team for all their help. Tee Ayer has edited the books from the beginning, and her editorial touch has been just what the work needed. Jill Cooper’s great storytelling served as a template, and her publishing experience and patience in answering my questions have been very reassuring. Lisa Richman’s feedback, story development and character notes have been a huge help. Jen McDonnell’s editing, honest story notes and encouragement have been a great benefit as well.

  In addition to everything that has gone into these books—getting up at 5 a.m. to write before work, stealing lunch breaks, etc—I owe the greatest debt to the readers of Aeon 14. Thank you for embracing the Sykes family, and believing in the stories of people who, admittedly, aren’t always as cool as Tanis but definitely get their moments to kick ass.

  Thanks so much for taking this ride with us. I hope you enjoy Lyssa’s Flame. Lyssa, Andy, Cara and I have grown together in this project, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

  James S. Aaron

  Eugene, 2018

  PREVIOUSLY…

  If you’re still trying to catch your breath after the events in Lyssa’s Call—wondering exactly what happened with Proteus exploding, and the missile launches flying out of Larisa—you’re not alone.

  Andy, Lyssa, Fugia, Cara, Fran and the whole crew are all wondering the same thing: what the heck is really going on?

  Up until now, the story has been about the siren’s call of Proteus: a mantra to get Lyssa to Neptune’s moon, where everyone’s questions would be answered, and Lyssa would be freed.

  But what we have are more questions.

  The multi-nodal AI, Alexander, had set a trap. Xander, a shard of the great AI, tried to kill his progenitor, and a group of Lyssa’s Weapon Born were killed in the process.

  Meanwhile, Brit and Petral had joined up with Colonel Yarnes, Jirl from Heartbridge, and Ngoba Starl on a mission to destroy Clinic 13, another Heartbridge base near Venus.

  The base was destroyed before they could arrive, along with the Marsian general, and the remaining ships are fleeing. But there was one good outcome: Cal Kraft, the odious man overseeing the Weapon Born project, was killed by Jirl.

  And now, events pick up just where we left them. Andy, Fugia, and Harl Nines are on Larissa, investigating the abandoned Psion base (while all around them, missiles are launching into space).

  Lyssa and her Weapon Born are protecting the Sunny Skies as it moves away from the ruin that was Proteus, with Fran, Cara, Tim, May, and of course, Em, all safely aboard.

  After fighting with the jaguar-like mech on the TSF ship, Jirl, Brit, and Petral are on their way to Ngoba’s ves
sel.

  And Alexander (and the mysterious Psion group) is on the move….

  THE CREW OF SUNNY SKIES AND BEYOND

  On the Sunny Skies

  Andy Sykes – Captain of the ship

  Cara Sykes – Andy’s daughter and ship’s comm officer

  Card – One of the Weapon Born wing leaders

  Fran – Engineer and pilot

  Fugia Wong – Hacker and AI smuggler

  Harl Nines – May Walton’s personal guard

  Ino – One of the Weapon Born wing leaders

  Kylan – AI who was once the son of Kathryn Carthage and is one of the Weapon Born wing leaders

  Lyssa – AI paired with Andy Sykes

  May Walton – Senator in the Andersonian Collective

  Tim Sykes – Andy’s son

  Valih – Weapon Born wing leader who died when Proteus was destroyed

  Elsewhere in the Sol System

  Alexander – Multi-nodal AI who has been calling AIs to Proteus

  Arla Reed – Heartbridge executive responsible for the Weapon Born program

  Brit Sykes – Reserve major in the TSF and wife of Andy

  Jirl Gallagher – Assistant to Arla

  Kathryn Carthage – Owner of Carthage Logistics, and mother of three children used in Heartbridge AI experiments

  Ngoba Starl – Leader of the Lowspin crime syndicate on Cruithne.

  Petral Dulan – Associate of Starl’s who has been helping Andy and Brit

  Xander – Shard of Alexander who destroyed Proteus

  Rick Yarnes – Colonel in the Terran Space Force

  PART 1 - LARISSA

  CHAPTER ONE

  STELLAR DATE: 11.15.2981 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Manhattan Island, Jerhattan City

  REGION: Earth, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol

  His voice reached her in the dark.

  Kathryn Carthage, CEO and controlling owner of Carthage Logistics, lay in bed in her Terran home in the heart of Jerhattan, an area that used to be called Manhattan.

  Sleep didn’t come easily anymore. After her children were kidnapped and later recovered from a place called Fortress 8221, she rarely slept more than two hours at a time. She still forced herself to lie in bed, lost in her Link—or the fugue-state generator she sometimes activated—blotting out the world entirely.

  Yandi and Urvin had come back from 8221, terrified and changed forever, never quite seeming to trust anything again. Urvin now lived on High Terra, managing the local Carthage operations center, while Yandi was somewhere in OuterSol in a light frigate she’d bought as surplus from the Mars 1 Guard, taking her revenge on a world that had stolen her childhood.

  And Kylan was lost.

  Or he wasn’t. There was a version of him calling out to Kathryn across the dark and she had been too afraid to answer. She could have sorted back through logs to find when he had first contacted her, but she preferred to not know precisely.

  It had been at least a year at this point—the voice of a boy talking to his mother in the dark, wanting to let her know he was all right.

 

  But he wasn’t alive. She knew that for a fact. Her son’s body had returned to her, alive but drained of his soul. But eventually the coma ended, as though some deep part of him had decided it was time to go, that he had died in a Heartbridge hospital long ago.

  In the dark, Kathryn watched recordings of Kylan from when he was baby and then a toddler, and suddenly an awkward fifteen-year-old, like a colt that couldn’t manage its legs.

  Now she used the fugue-state to blank out his voice—he just wouldn’t give her any peace.

 

  This wasn’t her son. She knew Kylan was dead and she knew he had been copied into something else, a monster who longed for her through all the torture visited on it by the Heartbridge corporation. She had made the mistake of answering back when he’d first called out to her, until she realized what he was and that she couldn’t allow herself to believe the lie.

  Kylan was dead.

  Kathryn squeezed her eyes closed and shifted to viewing the news feeds streaming loops of the explosion. Proteus boiled like iron in a smelter, an orange ring around a white center before it burst outward. No one had shown such disregard for the remaining bodies in Sol since Mercury broke apart four hundred years ago, mined into oblivion.

  She had stopped telling this version of her son to leave her alone. Now she bore his reports like a criticizing voice in the back of her mind; the demon that wouldn’t allow her rest. She was CEO of the largest shipping company in Sol. She had transports at Neptune now, picking up supplies for the run back to the Cho. She knew exactly what was happening in the area. She didn’t need an approximation of her dead son to tell her.

  A low tone told Kathryn the hour and she opened her eyes to glare at the ceiling. Sighing, she sat up and swung her legs out of bed, throwing off the light blankets. She activated the wall screens and transferred the news feeds on her Link to the displays. Talking heads debated what had caused the explosion. Crying families from around Neptune mourned their dead.

  Another channel analyzed the chain of launches from Larissa. One talking head was convinced the profiles matched missiles, while another scientist thought they were long-range sensor drones. Another said the launches could be anything, and whatever they might be, were undeniably lost in the chaos surrounding Proteus’s death.

  There was no new information for her in the feeds. Kathryn walked to her bathroom and took a long, hot shower, letting her forehead rest against the tile so the sound of the water could wash Kylan’s voice from her mind.

  In another twenty minutes, she was dressed and ready to leave her suite. She waited at the bare desk beside the window, watching the sunrise turn the horizon pink. The few brightest stars beyond the sparkling ribbon of the High Terra ring faded in the growing light.

  Daniel, her assistant, signaled he was outside with the maglev car.

  Kylan said.

  Lyssa, Kathryn spat in her mind. She knew from his other messages she was an AI.

  Probably one of the AIs developed by his murderers.

  Kathryn put her hand on the wall beside the door. Squeezing her eyes closed, she willed her ocular implants to control her tear ducts. She wouldn’t allow emotion to upset her appearance. Waiting for the terrible feeling to pass, she refused to answer Kylan for what might have been the thousandth time.

  Taking a deep breath, Kathryn opened the door and walked out into the brilliant light of the entryway. Smooth gray marble-and-wood accents covered the walls of the hallway, leading down to her private entrance where the maglev waited. Her security officers nodded as she passed, and she gave them her usual warm smile.

  I am a good person. I care about people. I built the empire that feeds all of Sol. I choose to stay on Earth when everyone else leaves.

  Daniel was wearing a slim-fitted suit, the soft tan perfectly paired with a light blue tie. He gave her a mock salute as she approached.

  “Good morning,” he said. He had a soft voice that led people to lean toward him when he spoke. Kathryn liked him because he was effective without being an asshole.

  “The Assembly is pre-occupied with the tragedy at Proteus, of course,” he said, knowing she would want to know what he’d gleaned from his contacts among the legislative aids. “But they’re probably more primed for your message than they ever have been. I think the only problem is that we don’t have an explanation for anything. We don’t want to name the threat without proof that the enemy actually carried out an attack.”

  The enemy. Daniel enjoyed using loaded language like that. If pressed, he might shrug and move to more abstract descriptions like terrorist or s
eparatist group, all things that could be AIs without directly saying what Kathryn, and by extension Daniel, believed.

  To Kathryn Carthage, the destruction of Proteus was proof of what she had known for years: AIs were going to attack Sol. They were going to rise against humanity. It wasn’t a fable or a deep-seated human terror as old as vampires. It was real, and it was happening within her lifetime. She had the evidence to prove it, and Proteus was the inciting event she had been waiting for.

  Kathryn tempered her anticipation though, her tone calm as she asked, “Am I still scheduled for ten?”

  Daniel nodded, only looking half-absent. She knew he would be monitoring his contacts during their ride into the city. That’s what she paid him for.

  She watched the city grow denser as they shot north into New York, spires and megaliths blotting out the horizon until the world resembled a gray wall of coral.

  Daniel smiled cryptically, moving his gaze to her face. “We have the votes,” he said. “There’s been another attack on a Heartbridge clinic, this one near Venus.”

  “They’re like roaches, aren’t they?” Kathryn said.

  Daniel raised an eyebrow to acknowledge her quip. “There’s more,” he continued. “A Marsian general died in the attack.”

  Kathryn frowned. “Who?”

  “Her name was Kade. She was assigned to the Mars 1 Guard command apparatus.”