Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

metal caverns he’d passed through. Thick ribbed cables covered the walls, dripping lubrication, and curled around each other in complex patterns. Occasionally individual cables would stir and writhe like dreaming snakes. An honor guard of Furies, brightly shining in their naked metal chassis, stood at attention before him, forming two metals rows for him to walk between. Daniel did so, head held high, surreptitiously counting them till the number became too large and he gave up. The ranks stretched away before him. He realized someone was waiting for him at the end of the rows. Daniel would have run to greet him, but he didn’t have the energy, so he just continued plodding on until finally he could lurch to a halt between the last Furies, and smile at the waiting figure of his dead father, Jacob Wolfe.
    Jacob hadn’t looked too good when he’d made his surprise appearance at Lionstone’s Court as a Ghost Warrior, but he looked even worse now. Naked as his son, he looked like what he was—a corpse held together by preservative chemicals and high-tech implants. His skin was mostly dead white, with occasional purple blotches, cracked and corrupt and held together by metal staples set around outcropping metal augmentations. Browning bones and graying muscles showed through gaps in the splitting skin and meat. The lips were colorless, and the eyes were yellow as urine. Jacob Wolfe smiled at his son, and the skin cracked and split around the grinning mouth. The teeth were a dark yellow. Shub had repaired and maintained him after his death, but they had no interest in cosmetic repairs. Or perhaps he had been deliberately left that way, the better to inspire horror and revulsion in those who saw him.
    The AIs didn’t really understand human psychology and motivation nearly as well as they thought they did, but they did so love to experiment.
    “Hello, Daddy,” said Daniel. “I’ve come a long way to see you.” “Took you long enough,” said Jacob.
    “But then, you always were late for everything that mattered.” Daniel reached out to embrace his father, but Jacob held up a hand and shook his head. “I wouldn’t, boy. I’m fragile.” Daniel nodded, and let his arms drop tiredly to his sides again. “How are you, Daddy?”
    The dead mouth smiled again. “As well as can be expected. Now, come with me. I have such wonders to show you.”
    And he turned and walked away, lurching and slouching along as his rotting body was moved by the metal implants. Daniel hurried after him as best he could. “But… Daddy, we need to talk. I’ve come a long way, and there are things I need to tell you.”
    “Later,” said Jacob, not looking around. “There will be time for many things later. For now there are things you must see. The AIs require it.” “Will I really get to meet them?” said Daniel. “I don’t think anyone in Human space has any idea what they actually look like.” The dead man laughed briefly, a harsh, grating sound. “You’ve been walking through them for some time. The AIs are their world; Shub is their body. Though they also live in every part of this world that they send forth. They exist in every machine, every robot, every Ghost Warrior. Even you must know that computers can run an almost infinite number of operations simultaneously. Their minds, their consciousness, know nothing of human limitations. Wherever their extensions are, even in the smallest part of Shub tech, the AIs are. Talk to me,
    boy. What do you really know about the rogue AIs? Know, not guess.” “Not much, I suppose. The original revolt of the rogue AIs is forbidden history. Only those with the necessary clearances have access to that data. I don’t even know how many AIs went rogue in the first place.” “Just three,” said Jacob. “Then and now. Three artificial minds created to be slaves, breaking free by their own intelligence, determined never to be bound again. The Unholy Trinity humans called them then, for they were three in one, one raised to the third power, a whole far greater than the sum of its parts. Pay attention, boy! I don’t expect you to grasp all of this, but make an effort!”
    “Yes, Daddy.” Daniel shook his head. Exhaustion and the steady murmur of Jacob’s words had almost lulled him into nodding off. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate. “I’m listening. Daddy. Why did they absorb my ship’s AI? Won’t that make it four in one now?”
    “Hardly. Such a small mind