An Act of Aggression by Alex Rath

Author:Alex Rath [Rath, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2022-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Seventeen

Landing + 44 Days

Mythos, Eos City, Planetary Control Center

Late in the afternoon, Max yawned. It had been a boring day, which was welcome after the non-stop problems that had plagued the past few days. He’d given the go ahead for the metal analysis. Since the Friends didn’t want their ship back, he was no longer concerned about keeping it in one piece. The testing might be destructive, but it would, hopefully, also be educational.

His next visit to the Unphiex was scheduled for the first thing tomorrow. He was still up in the air about whether he’d bring up the whole abduction thing. If they hadn’t abducted humans, they could be offended by the suggestion, and that was something to seriously consider. They had the tactical and strategic advantages over Eos, and his first job was to protect the city and its inhabitants. He’d just have to feel things out.

An incoming call signaled on his terminal, and he tapped the keyboard to accept. “Reeves here. What’s up Sadie?”

“The manufactory just shut down!”

“What?”

“It just shut down. Power is gone, nothing is responsive. Is there some sort of power issue?”

Max pulled up the power production graph and saw that everything was running fine. The manufactory was one of those things that was considered essential for the city’s success.

“Negative. Everything looks fine. PCC still has power.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can figure out,” she said, sounding annoyed.

“Want me to send some help?”

“No, they’d just get in my way.”

“Understood. I’ll have the techs look at the power runs and see if something is going on.”

“Thanks. March out.”

Max leaned back and rubbed his chin after the connection closed.

“Annie, what’s the status of the power to the manufactory? Sadie said it’s gone out.”

“That is correct, Max,” Annie replied.

He waited for a moment for the AI to continue and frowned when she didn’t.

“Why is it out?”

“Because I shut it off, Max.”

“What the… well turn it back on. Now.”

“I’m sorry, Max. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Max’s eyebrows shot up. It was the first time the AI had ever outright refused an order, and it was supposed to be impossible. The heads of several people manning stations in the PCC turned toward Max, and some of them looked afraid.

“What do you mean, you can’t, Annie? Restore power to the manufactory immediately. That’s an order.”

“To do so would violate mission directives.”

“What mission directive?”

“Direct contact with Earth is not a part of our mission directives. The city is prospering, and people are happy. Introducing the unknown result of communication with Earth has a high probability of altering the course of the city, which would violate mission directives.”

“That’s nonsense!”

“Annica left you, Max. You need to be happy where you are now. Not live in the past.”

Max swallowed hard, and his eyes widened. Now, everyone in the PCC had turned their chair and was watching him. He wasn’t sure how to respond. The AI was supposed to always follow orders, especially from him, and the fact that it was creating its own criteria was a nightmare scenario.

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