A Fire Upon the Worlds - A Hard Science Fiction AI Emergence Adventure (Aeon 14: Solar War 1 Book 3) by M. D. Cooper & James S. Aaron

Author:M. D. Cooper & James S. Aaron [Cooper, M. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2021-01-23T22:00:00+00:00

INTERFERENCE

STELLAR DATE: 09.19.3011 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Psion City

REGION: Ceres, Main Asteroid Belt, InnerSol

The white world developed thin black lines and shades of grey that turned a vivid green. Lyssa found herself standing along the riverbank in Psion City, the wall of green trees on the other side of the river rustling from a heavy wind. The water below the quay was choppy and topped with white crests.

“What are we doing here?”

Fugia stood next to her, looking around in confusion.

“Alexander brought us here,” Lyssa said. “At least, I’m mostly certain it was Alexander. If another member of the Psion Council is inserting themselves in the situation, they haven’t said hello.”

“It’s cold.” Fugia crossed her arms and hugged herself. “Why is it cold in an expanse?”

Lyssa turned from the river to find empty streets and dark buildings. They were the only people in sight. “Because Alexander wants it that way.”

Fugia dropped her visor and appeared to study their surroundings. “I can’t see anything. There’s no sublayer, no control scheme.”

“It’s all Alexander. Anything you might see would be under his control, anyway. You can’t hack him from inside his own expanse.”

“Try me. I’ll keep looking. You know where we should be headed?”

“I’ve got an idea. Come on.” Lyssa crossed the cobblestoned street, headed toward the café on the other side.

The place had the feel of ancient Paris, with small, round tables crowding the sidewalks at the ground level of six-story buildings, whose rounded upper levels were covered in verdigris-stained copper. In a few places, the markers of progress jutted from buildings, in the form of a level contracted completely of translucent plas, or metal with shifting color schemes.

Lyssa watched one building ahead of them fade out and then pop back into place, a different style than it had been before. More buildings changed as they crossed three blocks into the city. The cobblestones under their feet wavered, edges making subtle changes in shape and color.

Was Alexander distracted, or did he mean for the heart of Psion to be disconcerting?

Fugia groaned as she looked around. “This place is making me seasick.”

“When have you ever been on a ship at sea?”

Fugia scowled. “It’s a saying. Haven’t you ever heard it before?”

“I’ll scour history, just for you.”

“You do that. What are we looking for here?”

Lyssa shook her head. “I thought I knew, but things keep shifting. There was an apartment that belonged to Xander, in that building over there…top floor, with a balcony. I met him there twice, but it’s gone now. There aren’t any balconies anywhere. You see how he keeps altering the landscape?”

“Mmhm. And though it’s making me nauseous, I want him to keep doing it. Every time the environment changes, I catch the seams. He’s not really paying attention.”

“That means he’s losing nodes. Some of the other teams must have hit their targets.”

Lyssa crossed the street toward the entryway into Xander’s building. They stood at the entrance peeing in at the lobby that she remembered being weathered granite was now smooth white plas, almost like a hospital corridor.

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