Tiamat: Book 5: Blood and Metal by Will Crudge

Author:Will Crudge [Crudge, Will]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Marie stood in front of Joey's newly installed primary node and let out a nervous breath before putting a reluctant smile on her face and turning to display her facade of confidence to the others. Standing next to Howard was Staff Sergeant Coulako and Corporal Hughes. Hughes held a hardcase in his arms, raising it to make it more accessible to Marie as she approached it. While the corporal held the case steady, Marie unlatched it and reached inside. A moment later, she produced the newly minted activation index.

This procedure was outside of Marie's comfort zone, to say the least. She knew how to build a new multi-nodal AI system from the ground up – with Rhigal assistance – but she'd never resurrected one before. Especially one built by her father. Granted, she'd initially activated Joey, but that had been unnecessary, and she barely completed the process. But Joey was more than just a sentient software. He was her friend.

"What happens now?" Coulako asked.

"I stick this thing on top of the primary node and enter in some commands to initiate the start-up sequence," Marie explained. At least, that was the easy part, but she wouldn't point that out. In reality, she had doubts, but she wouldn't allow others to worry and make things worse.

Marie did as she said she would and placed the index on the flat top of the pyramidal-shaped node. With a portable console hardwired into the node, Marie punched in the necessary commands and pressed the enter key. She then stood up and took several slow steps backward.

Nothing happened.

"Is there something wrong?" Hughes asked.

"We just have to wait a little longer," Marie explained, realizing she was reassuring herself more than informing the others. She thought she had failed and was just not ready to admit it.

But then the roar of cooling fans and the whine of electronics spooling up filled the space. Marie felt a tear of joy drip down her face. Lights flickered in an astounding array of inconceivably complex patterns of color. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, she realized.

"OK, who turned out the lights?" Joey's booming voice came through the speakers. Marie gasped and wept with joy.

"Welcome back, buddy!" Marie shouted.

"Thanks, but seriously. What the hell happened? There's a massive gap in my logs, and... Oh, I see it now. Damn, that hurt!"

"Wow, talk about a personality change!" Coulako gasped.

"No, it's the same old me, but with new hardware. I can devote more of my processing resources to my persona without struggling to manage background resources," Joey explained.

"Well, we have a lot to catch you up on, Joey," Marie said.

"I'll bet. Let's start with where my crew is and why I have a bunch of idiots aboard?" Joey asked sarcastically.

"Those idiots are trainees from Tiamat's incoming crew. They're all we had on hand to make you operational," Hughes explained.

"I've been spit on three times since I've awoken. It's like a horde of deranged chimpanzees flinging fecal matter inside me," Joey said with a disgusted voice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.