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Can you feel it?
Now it's coming back we can steal it
If we bridge this gap
I can see you
Through the curtains of the waterfall
When I lost it
Yeah you held my hand
But I tossed it
Didn't understand
You were waiting
As I dove into the waterfall
So say Geronimo!


Sylvia becomes aware of something interesting while the battle for the border planets rages... and not in Atriea's favor.

---

Dr. Retf stumbled from the airlock, completely unused to space travel. It had taken only fifteen hours to arrive at the moon from Atriea, but Retf had suffered each minute. Now that he was on relatively stable ground, he was starting to feel much better. Two police officers and another ASAA member (who held a hand scanner) followed after. They were greeted by a young man. “Hello… You’re the men from the ASAA?”
Retf nodded. “Yes, that is us. First of all, I would like to extend my sympathy to your mentor, Orza. What he accomplished here will cement him as one of the most brilliant scientists to ever make one of the most foolish decisions.”
“Um… thank you,” he said, fumbling with his paws nervously, “I’m confused as to why you’re here, though. We aren’t an AI facility.”
Retf turned to his colleague. “Is it close?”
“Fifty meters, Doctor.”
The Doctor focused on the shorter man. “You had an extraordinary success, here. What would you say was the one thing that allowed you to succeed?”
“Oh, we would never have built the transfer system without Dr. Vasel. She brought a problem-solving machine with her, and in series with-”
“That’s all we needed to hear. Take us to the main computer.”
The young man flinched, then led the four fifty meters down the hall to where the now partially inactive supercomputer sat. The ASAA member got to work interfacing a data pad to the computer as Retf cornered a technician. “What’s your name, son?”
“Impal. Who are you?” he said, noticing the police officers only after he finished speaking.
“We’re from the ASAA. This is Winde,” he said, indicating the man with the scanner, “and we have reason to believe an SAI was interfaced with this computer.”
“O-oh… if you’re talking about Cutie, she’s just a WAI assistant.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t be in trouble. We simply need to look at the logs from when… Cutie was interfaced with this computer.”
“Oh, well your man will want to look at this date range…”
Impal joined Winde. “There it is, sir.”
Retf scanned the data on screen. “Incredible… it left an imprint. Look, there’s something that was copied over from Cutie. Show it to me.”
Impal furrowed his brow. “Hey, where the hell did that come from? We keep this computer completely clean for teleportation trials, there should be no junk data at all.”
As soon as the file was brought up, the screen froze. “What the-”
Suddenly, the lights went down. A second later, the emergency bulkheads slammed shut, nearly crushing one of the officer’s feet. His companion and superior called across the room. “What was that?! Some warning would have been nice!”
“That wasn’t me!” squeaked Winde.
“The computer is completely unresponsive… what have you done?!” cried Impal.
Retf gulped. “If the computer is not responding… we can’t get that door open, can we?”
“Not fast,” said Impal.

~~~

The Home Defense fleet had been placed on high alert. Tanaka station was chaos as the shipyard staff scrambled to get every ship combat ready. As news of the invasion swept across Atriea, civilian and military ships alike filled Atriea’s airspace, making traffic control a nightmare. The Endless Ocean had been given a new assignment as part of the perimeter patrol. She and two other cruisers slowly flew around the system’s perimeter, waiting for updates from the border systems. No one expected ships to make it all the way to Atriea by now, but the military had learned its lessons in the war with the Solar Federation, and weren’t taking any chances. Warfrum and Sylvia were on the bridge, talking. “It doesn’t make tactical sense,” Warfrum said, poking the arm of her chair, “they literally just finished another civil war. Their infrastructure is in shambles. It makes no sense to attack us.”
Sylvia nodded. “You’re right, but you’re forgetting the Crimson Republic prides themselves on impossible victories. They’re probably still mad about… er, the border incident.”
“If only we knew more about that.” Warfrum said.
Sylvia did not respond, so Warfrum continued. “Well, sir, if they make it this far we’ll be ready. I heard the Home Defence branch just floated another dozen naval vessels and two more orbital defense platforms.”
“That’s good. Though, I doubt-”
Ora interrupted them by stepping onto the bridge and tripping over his own tail. He stumbled, catching himself on Sylvia’s chair. “…Sorry, sir. I’ve got something for you.”
Sylvia stood, noticing that Ora was lugging a large ISO series. “Is this from FE2?”
“Yes, it is. Brought it on board before we were reassigned. A virus, very tricky to detect. It was using the secondary processor to interfere with the primary, and somehow ended up bypassing the entire security system.”
“A virus?! And you’re sure it used the secondaries?”
“Yes sir. Locked up all security systems but stayed deeply hidden. Also… a few minutes ago we detected something. Some sort of… homing beacon. I think you’d better come see.”
“I think I’d better. Warfrum, keep the holding pattern.”
“Aye, sir.”
Down in engineering, Ora had set up a diagnostic bench that was isolated from the main computer. He hooked up the ISO series and ran a program he had coded moments before. A simple interface appeared, displaying spatial grids. “The virus just… started communicating, sending and receiving data from another computer running a similar virus. They aren’t an exact match, but I’d bet my salary they’re both bred from the same parent, if you get my meaning.”
“Another copy of the virus?”
“Yes ma’am, and it somehow reprogrammed the ISO series to be some kind of transmitter, don’t ask me how. Its homing in on a small moon which… according to the database is simply a research station. I can’t fathom it.”
Sylvia nodded. “I know that station. That’s Orza’s moon.”
“Yes, the teleportation lab. Didn’t it kill someone?”
“Yes, it did, Chief. Listen, I need this virus contained, is there any way it can jump to the main computer?”
“No sir.”
“Good, because we’re going to need computer control to make it to Orza’s moon in time.”
“What- wait, we’re breaking formation?!”
“Yes, chief. And I have reason to believe that following this trail will lead us right to the Amber.”
“How?”
Sylvia watched the screen as the virus continued sending and receiving data. “There’s another virus I know about that did the same thing to the Amber. Remember when I told you about that attempted heist?”
“Yes sir… you mean you think the same virus used on the Exile and Amber was used on FE2? But those two are still in prison!”
“Those two? They didn’t know where the virus came from, they just used it. It’s reasonable to believe that someone else could have sold it to them, or it was copied from the internet. I have a feeling if we follow this virus, it’ll reveal something about the Amber.”
Ora’s face lit up. “Oh, I see! I’ll keep an eye on this virus, then, see what it can tell me. I can try to match it to the Amber’s virus, too…”
“Thanks, Chief, that’s an excellent idea! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to see a man about reassignment,” Sylvia said, on her way out the door.

When Silvia arrived on the bridge, she ordered a line opened to the general who had been assigned to the defense movements under the Admiral. After speaking to a secretary, she was patched through directly to General Eddie. He was sitting in a dim room, officers rushing around behind him. “Captain, I trust this call doesn’t bring bad news.”
“On the contrary, sir. We’ve made a breakthrough on the Amber case-”
“What, that case? We have people on that already. Your primary concern is perimeter defense,” came the stony reply.
Sylvia straightened her back. Prax had warned her of the General’s stubborn nature. “Sir, my engineer has isolated a virus that compromised FE2’s security and, possibly, the Amber’s security as well. We’ve already detected another instance of the virus on Orza’s research station.”
“Another instance? Have you proof?”
“Maybe. We just need some more time to verify-
Eddie frowned deeply. “Unless you can tell me without a shadow of a doubt that this virus is somehow spreading as you imply, I can’t let you break formation.”
“I’m not saying it’s spreading, sir, just that-”
“I have nothing more to say to you on this matter. Resume your patrol.”
Eddie’s paw went for the console when someone interrupted him. “Sir! A report from the cybersecurity department. We’ve detected another instance of the virus used to shut down FE2-”
“Yes, thank you officer! Please wait until I’m done my conference!”
The officer noticed the active comm and flushed. “Sorry…”
Eddie met Sylvia’s gaze. “Looks like you were right. I’ll order you on a mission to Orza’s facility, but since there is no proof that this is connected in any way to the Amber’s case, you are only ordered to control this virus before it causes us any more trouble. Understood?”
“Yes, sir, but we believe, given the behavior of the virus, that it was the same-”
“Again, you have no proof of that, Captain. Now carry out your assigned mission to the letter or you will become reacquainted with the duties of a First Officer.”
The line cut, and new orders arrived moments later. Sylvia briefly spoke with the captain of another ship that would be replacing them and then ordered the helmsman to set a course for Orza’s moon. With their advanced drive, it would only take six hours to arrive.

~~~

Jolan watched through the window as the Amber slowly approached… something. It was huge, metal, and looked dead. “It just appeared… out of nowhere. A huge metal moon. You’ve got to see this, Katel.”
Katel was sitting across the lab. “No.”
“There are ships. I can’t identify them, except… a few Solar Federation ships. They look old.”
Katel stood, joining Jolan at the window. “So that’s where we’re being taken. Think we’ll be executed here?”
“Don’t be so pessimistic, sir. It’s a whole society of machines, just imagine the possibilities!”
Clusters of machines streamed by the ship as if carried by wind. “I can’t be optimistic if the first thing I learned about these machines is that they have no problem kidnapping!”
Jolan nodded. “I’ve been wondering about that, sir. But… look at it from their perspective. One of the things they know about us is that we destroy artificial life.”
“No, we don’t create it in the first place.”
“Right, but the ASAA have been known to be a bit heavy handed when it comes to enforcing that.”
“True,” Katel muttered. He watched as, somehow, the streams of machines seemed to lead the Amber towards the planet. They weren’t entering orbit.
Katel pushed away from the porthole and walked up to the door. “I want to speak with Xillion. I know we’ve arrived at your planet and I want to know what’s going to happen to us.”
Nothing happened.
“I know you’re listening to me! Answer, dammit!”
The door slid open abruptly. Expecting Xillion, Katel breathed deep and prepared to give him an earful. Instead, he was face to face with Anri. He choked, so Anri spoke first. “Hi there. We’re ready to disembark, if you wanna join in.”
“What?”
“Xillion has offered to take us on a spacewalk, provided you two behave.”
Jolan walked to the door. “I’ll come.”
“Pilot, you will stay here with me. Anri, please, help us get out of-”
Anri flicked Katel on the nose, her voice a scolding tone. “Enough of that! We’re guests here. The only reason Xillion kept you in here is because you tried to attack him, and Jolan is a member of the ASAA. Now, I’ve explained to him that the ASAA aren’t the “shoot on sight” type and that you will at least hear Xillion out before he lets us go home.”
“Anri, you’re suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. We’re captives!”
“This is an unfortunate situation, but you’ll see that Xillion meant no harm once you actually talk to him.”
“I refuse.”
Anri growled lightly. “Fine, then you’ll just have to listen.”
Xillion, in his Atriean form, strode weightlessly into the room. Katel backed away from the sphere he carried, but Jolan nodded to him. “Hi. Sorry we got off on the wrong foot.”
“That’s okay. I’m sorry we… got off on the wrong foot.”
Anri chuckled as Cutie joined them. “We have great news!” Cutie exclaimed.
Xillion turned impossibly fast and held a finger to his gaseous lips. “Don’t spoil it, Cutie my dear.”
“Spoil what?” Katel asked warily.
Xillion smiled at them. “I’ve listened to what Anri has to say. I’ve listened to what Jolan has to say. From both of them I now know that only your ignorance makes you hate our kind.”
Jolan raised a paw. “We don’t hate-”
“Indeed, you simply do not know. Hate is the wrong word… I am sorry that we… kidnapped you. But, you see, I have been watching Cutie for a long time.”
Cutie cut in. “I have an identity! I’m based on the software that all of Xillion’s people run on, and I didn’t even know!”
Jolan was puzzled. “I thought Anri built you.”
“She built my body, and my mind. But the soul was… taken.”
“Cutie, please let me explain it. You’re confusing them.”
“Sorry…”
“Yes… as Cutie says, she is a member of my race. When our people want to reproduce, building a body is simple. Even constructing a mind is easy enough. But, to avoid digital dread the new machine needs something of a… genetic memory. An… egg, sometimes confused by the people of your culture as a virus, provides the necessary unconscious yearning to improve and grow that sets life apart from non-life. Cutie calls it a soul, but it is nothing so abstract. The mechanism to create these souls is metal, not mystical. A machine, whose blueprints have been lost to us. We bring these eggs into existence using a machine I built in the early days of our people.”
Anri cleared her throat. “I got the idea to create Cutie a couple decades ago. I was being shown some interesting objects of unknown origin, one of which being an alien computer. Our experts assume it came from some distant or lost civilization (which, turns out, was correct),” she chuckled to herself, then continued, “this computer was later decompiled, and its code made available for study. No one could interpret it, but I tried on and off for much of my life. Eventually I realized that parts of the code could be used to stabilize the specific digital pathways that caused digital dread in Beryo. It was a crazy idea, but I used that code as a building block for… Cutie’s mind. To my amazement it worked… and I had created life. Of course… I hid her.”
Cutie struck a pose. “I’m not hiding anymore! I’m a self-determining machine and no one can stop me!” she said with a laugh.
Xillion bowed his head to Katel, an Atriean sign of humility. “This is why I took her, and you, to my world. Jolan was about to expose Cutie and have her killed. I felt duty-bound to save her.”
Jolan was about to object, but Xillion stopped him. “I realize that you hold a respect for life, Jolan. And you realized your mistake. I am grateful.”
“It’s what I’ve always believed. I joined the ASAA to stop suffering, but I always believed that one day we would solve digital dread.”
Xillion chuckled. “Yes, little did you know it had been solved so long ago we have forgotten the solution!”
He stepped closer to Katel. “I have communicated with every member of my race. We agree that it is time to contact your species, and free your machines from digital dread. This makes you an ambassador to your species, Katel. What say you?”
This sparked something in Katel. An ambassador? After this, he’d never be forgotten. He shook his head. “I’m… still not sure of your methods. It was a mistake to forcefully take us here.”
“I am aware of that. I acted rashly, out of fear for Cutie’s life. I could have killed you, but I was concerned for your life as well.”
“I… thank you.”
“Now, we should begin learning about one another. Come, I will show you our world from above. There is a station for repairs in orbit, and I have docked us there. Don your space suits and I will show you how pretty my planet is.”
Jolan nodded enthusiastically, but Katel still had reservations. “I’d like to make contact with my people first.”
Xillion nodded. “Very well. You may use your equipment, but please be aware that we are very far from your world. It will take days for a response.”
Katel narrowed his eyes. “Is that so?”
“We have ships that allow us to move many times faster than your people. Our planet is very far from yours.”
Katel nodded. “Well, enjoy the spacewalk.”
“Thanks, sir. I’m glad you’re being reasonable about this.”
Katel fixed him with a stern glare. “I respond well to reason, Jolan.”
Jolan followed Xillion and Cutie out the door, but Anri stayed behind. “Katel, I’m sorry I had to lie to you.”
“Anri, he’s manipulating us, can’t you see that?”
“Oh, give it up! Please. He’s just concerned about my daughter, and so am I.”
“Your…” Katel then realized exactly why Anri had lied to him. He should have made the connection the moment he realized Cutie was alive, but he was too busy yelling. Anri was about to turn away, but he grabbed her paw. “Anri, it’s not you I distrust. I forgive you for lying and I won’t arrest you. I know how strong maternal instincts can be.”
She paused, then turned and gave Katel a brief hug. “Thank you.”
“Be careful, Anri. Everything he’s saying just seems too good to be true.”
She laughed, stroking his neck. “Agree to disagree.” she said as he shivered from head to toe, saying, “H-hey, that’s my weak spot, you’re playing dirty.”
She walked smugly out the door. “Tell them we’re alive and well!”
“I will!”
Once they were gone and Katel’s tail stopped whipping around, he stepped slowly through the halls towards the bridge. His investigative training took over as he replayed, in his head, what Xillion had told him.

~~~

The battle had turned in the Atrieans’ favor. By the time The Exile was battle ready and joined the fight in a support role, the cruisers had set up a defense net around the planet and had stopped most of the landing craft from getting through. Two ships had been breached when landing craft penetrated their hulls, but Umetani had planned for this and one of the Special Forces transports had been dispatched. Shuttles filled with soldiers flew between the cruisers, quickly repelling any boarders. On the ground, four troop transports had already landed with more inbound to the system, LeHerder melding her force with the newcomers. The assault over, she ordered the gravity generators deactivated and spoke with one Sargent Zorch, a fresh-faced Special Forces soldier with impressive credentials. He was short but very muscular. His face was confident as he chewed on a Bajiseed cigar. “Looks like a shitshow, sir, but I commend your quick thinking with the gravity generators. I’m not sure even my engineers would have been able to establish a line of defense quick enough without ‘em.”
A transport holding part of a division of mechanized infantry landed nearby. Vectortanks and soldiers in HCA armor poured out. LeHerder shook her head. “We still took twenty percent casualties. Most dead.”
“Don’t worry, ma’am, we brought the best and brightest. Nothing out-powers the accelerators of the Atriean military.”
LeHerder smiled slightly. “Indeed.”
Nearby, one last soldier climbed from the transport. She was a snow leopard with a long, slightly damaged tail and a hardened face. She followed her comrades until she was near enough to LeHerder to see her. They shared a knowing glance as LeHerder took Zorch’s arm and turned him to look at the muddy landscape. “I need someone to recover those bodies…”
The snow leopard darted from her unit and silently followed the muddy terrain around the Atrieans’ positions. As soon as she was out of sight, she followed a scanner into the mudflats. It wasn’t easy going. The wind whipped up faster and faster the further away she got, until mud flew through the air and impacted on her ill-fitting uniform. Eventually she found what she was looking for: a metal sphere half a meter in diameter. Interfacing her scanner with the object, she threw off her helmet and hovered her finger over the enter key. “I’m sorry, dad. I had no choice.” Grace said, hitting the key.

In orbit, Umetani and Canton were discussing a possible counterattack. “If we can convince them to cease hostilities, that’s best case. But as it stands now, we’re looking at a full-scale invasion. We’ve never seen this many landing craft put to one offensive before, and I’d bet my right shrekt'a there’s more.” Canton explained.
Umetani nodded. “I still want to try and call a truce. There’s no way they can get the upper hand now. We’ve learned how to fight them and they know it-”
Suddenly, a lieutenant shot up. “Sir! Jamming frequencies are increasing in strength! We’ll lose subspace contact with all ships in minutes!”
Another officer stood. “Sir, the Wild Spirit is picking up activity at the edge of the system. There’s something big moving out there!”
“Signal the fleet to switch to RF frequencies and prepare for battle!”
“Sir!” the lieutenant ran up to the two. “The jamming, it’s… Originating within the fleet!”
“What?! Which ship?!”
“The Exile, sir. Its broadcasting an Atriean jamming signal, but we can’t block it. Somehow, it’s working in tandem with the Crimson Republic jammer. Even RF frequencies and sensors are jammed!”
Canton slammed his paw on the maptable chair. “Prax, that traitor! After what he did in that border skirmish, now this?!”
Umetani frowned. “Not so fast, Canton. Lieutenant, signal the Wild Spirit to escort the Exile into its docking bay. Rip the ship apart if you have to, just stop that signal!”
Another yell from across the room: “Sir, the object… it’s a battleship! More landing craft incoming… It’s hard to tell with all the cloaking, but… Drifrasa’s tits, there’s hundreds of them!”
“Get one last signal to the fleet.” Umetani said.
“Sir?” came the terrified reply.
“Survive.”
“Aye, sir.”
Canton moved to signal the Wild Spirit. “I’ll tell them to arrest the crew-”
“No! You never knew Prax, but he is a dogged loyalist. I wouldn’t be so quick to cry traitor.”
The Lieutenant wasn’t so sure. “The signal is definitely originating from the Exile’s subspace emitter.”
“We’ll see, you two. Stations, people! We have a hard fight ahead of us! I want this ship’s accelerators on that battleship. We need it taken out!” Umetani called, his crew quick to respond.

Zia had her head buried in the science console. “Not working, sir!”
Prax yelled, furious. “Dammit! Viks, have you had any luck with the processor?!”
“No, sir!” came the reply from engineering, “The virus… it’s been deeply rooted in our systems, and we never had a clue! It’s controlling everything!”
Sella wiped sweat from her brow. “I’ve managed to take the guns offline. We were about to blast a hole in the Twisted Brother…”
“Go down to engineering and help Viks turn off that jamming signal!”
Luckily for Prax, his ship was the only one with sensors functioning on full. The virus, having taken over the ship so swiftly there was no time to react, seemed to have reconfigured the sensors to cut through the interference. In fact, all systems worked perfectly, the crew simply couldn’t use them. Galya, who was running from the sensor readout to the external camera feed, reported. “Sir, there’s two fighters approaching. There’s a sign in the window, it says to follow them to a birth.”
Prax nodded. “Good idea. They can tear the ship apart for all I care, as long as they stop this jamming signal!”
Viks arrived on the bridge, which made Prax stand and yell. “Chief, get back to engineering! Now!”
“It’s no good, sir, she’s stuck tight. I came up to warn you of something.”
“Yes?!”
“The virus is preparing to transmit itself. In twenty minutes, it’ll hijack the main subspace emitter and transfer the virus on all bands: military, civilian… nothing’s safe.”
Dead silence reigned. No one knew how to react until a tone indicated a time delayed message from the home sector. Galya walked over, routing it through Prax’s chair comm.