Chapter 5: Judgment

He had, in a sense, humored the general by not pushing the issue. He understood her deep-rooted respect for the Special Agents, and how difficult it would have been for her to see the conspiracy he saw. Truth be told, the defection of one Special Agent was bad enough. There didn’t have to be a conspiracy too for them to be a serious threat to the Terran Federation.

Yet, he firmly believed there was a conspiracy.

Because, despite the validity of the arguments he had made to her, he had kept the most damning one close to his chest.

It was so easy to get caught up in the defection of Myan Lami. The very idea that a Sunguard Special Agent could betray their genetic loyalty was simply unfathomable. The notion brought with it such terrors that you could be forgiven for letting your line of thought stop right there.

However, this wasn’t just a case of the Special Agent corps protecting one of their own who had defected. Like General Talerk had said, that could be understood, or even excused.

No, this was a case of the Special Agents protecting a man who had defected and killed a hundred thousand people. And that was a conspiracy, if he had ever heard of one.

But as terrifying as that thought was, it paled in comparison to the other evidence he sat on. The one proof he had that turned the conspiracy from the acts of a small group of Special Agents into a system-shattering apocalypse.

The truth was, he had been wrong when he had initially assessed that forging the digital certificate on Sunguard documents was technically impossible. Oh, the Special Agents couldn’t do it, that much was true. Despite their immense power, they were still essentially human. Even though they were constructed from microscopic self-replicating computer chips rather than from biological cells, their genes—stored as software rather than as DNA—were still, for all practical purposes, human. You didn’t just create artificial life out of thin air, that was too complex. Six hundred years ago, the scientists at the Sunguard’s Research and Development facility on Mars had, meticulously and with the help of their immense intelligent computers, translated Terran DNA into the equivalent biotic computer code.

They had modified the code to fit their purposes, of course, adding such things as the math, physics-prediction, and communications cortices of the Special Agents’ brains, the radiothermal organs that powered their bodies, and perhaps most important of all, their genetic loyalty to the Terran Federation. But more than 99.9 percent of their genetic code was still the equivalent of human. They were powerful, yes, but they weren’t gods. They still could operate only within the laws of physics and biology—albeit the artificial, biotic kind.

Thus, even the best, most intelligent biotic Special Agent in existence wouldn’t have the mental capacity to go up against the intelligent computers that ran the Sunguard’s data banks. Bypassing their all-seeing eyes to replace a digital certificate without them noticing, or at the very least reverting the change, would simply not be possible, even for the best of the biots.

And so, Colonel Reynolds had initially dismissed the very idea that someone could do that as “impossible.”

How wrong he had been.

Because there was one type of being who not only had the means to do so, but the opportunity as well.

An intelligent computer.

An intelligent computer, like the one responsible for running the Sunguard’s digital archive.

An intelligent computer, that was essentially just one giant biotic brain floating without a body in a tank of non-conductive silicon oil.

An intelligent computer, that was, in essence, just another form of biot.

As conspiracies went, Colonel Reynolds had a hard time seeing how they could be bigger than that.

* * *

His musings were disturbed when the door to the conference room opened and General Talerk entered. She sat down next to him without so much as a word.

Colonel Reynolds found the silence between them uncomfortable. After less than a minute, he couldn’t take it any longer.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said. “I thought I did the right thing. I didn’t mean for you to get into trouble like this.”

That was a euphemism, he thought. “Trouble” didn’t begin to cover the depth of the unpleasantness they were in for.

She sighed. “I know you didn’t. And I’m the one who brought it up to Admiral Kovalenko. Once I told her, I knew she’d inform the rest of Solar Command as well. But it was necessary, and now we’re here.”

Yes, now they were here, indeed. Sitting in a small, windowless conference room two hundred meters below the surface of Europa, waiting for… whoever the Sunguard would see fit to oversee their judgment.

He was glad he hadn’t told the general everything. At least now, they would only be condemned for the treasonous words he had blurted out, not for the thoughts he had not yet spoken but which were immensely worse.

“I assume they’re listening?”

“Of course,” she replied. “But I have nothing to hide.”

He stayed silent. General Talerk might be in a confessional mood, but he most certainly wasn’t.

From outside the wide, gray metal doors of the conference room, he heard laughter. Two female voices were talking over each other. Colonel Reynolds had a hard time making out the words, muffled as they were through the thick doors and obscured by the laughter, but there was a mention of a birthday party and of someone eating way too many hot chili peppers.

With a squeaking sound, the doors were pushed open to reveal Special Agent Ellie McBrian and a second young woman. She, too, was in her early thirties, but unlike Special Agent McBrian she had long, straight blonde hair and the bluest eyes imaginable.

And she, too, wore an unadorned gray jumpsuit with thin red stripes running down its sides.

“Hello,” Special Agent McBrian said as she leaned forward across the table, reaching out her hand to shake theirs. “General Talerk. Colonel Reynolds. It’s good to meet you again.”

She smiled. The smile of the wolf before turning on its prey, Colonel Reynolds thought darkly. He shuddered, but still shook her hand. She had no formal rank and existed entirely outside the traditional military hierarchy, and so he was under no obligation to salute her. Most soldiers of the Sunguard tended to treat the Special Agents the way they would behave toward an admiral of Solar Command, though. Still, the solar wolves themselves rarely insisted on anything more than a simple handshake.

The blonde woman next to her did the same as she introduced herself. “Hello. I’m Special Agent Anna Kinnunen. At the request of Solar Command, I’ll sit in on this briefing, too.”

Colonel Reynolds nodded. There wasn’t much he could do about it now. He did notice her use of the word “briefing”, though. That was, he assumed, yet another euphemism.

The two Special Agents sat down on the opposing side of the table. Silence entered the room once more, like a soft blanket of despair. Clearly, they were waiting for more participants before the executions could begin.

The doors opened once more.

General Talerk shot up from her chair, snapping to attention. When Colonel Reynolds looked up at the newest participant in their meeting, he did the same.

High Admiral Okamoto returned their salutes, without so much as glancing at the Jerrassian general. “At ease,” he said. “Sit down, please.”

When they had resumed their places, he turned to the Special Agents seated to his right and continued, “Before we begin, let me make it clear that I’m here representing Solar Command.”

That had the expected effect on the two biots. “Yes, sir!” they responded, almost in unison. While they could command the individual admirals of Solar Command, they could not give orders to the Sunguard leadership as a whole.

“Well, let’s get started, then,” High Admiral Okamoto declared. “Let me just summarize where we stand. We’ve all read Colonel Reynolds’ brief. General Talerk is here in her capacity as his superior officer and the one who brought this matter to our attention. Special Agent McBrian is present because she’s the focus of the accusations leveled by Colonel Reynolds against the Special Agents corps. And finally, I’ve requested the presence of Special Agent Kinnunen as a counterbalance. Special Agent McBrian is an early model. Let’s say she’s from the twenty-third century.”

The red-haired Special Agent seemed about to voice a protest but caught herself at the last moment and stayed quiet.

“Special Agent Kinnunen, on the other hand, was taken online only a few decades ago,” the High Admiral continued. “I wanted to have the viewpoint of a recent model present as well.”

Something in what the Supreme Commander of the Sunguard had said bothered Colonel Reynolds. At first, he couldn’t put his finger on it, but then he remembered the third person he had identified as part of the conspiracy and realized what was missing from the room.

There was no telepathic Special Agent here.

Ellie McBrian was old. Old enough that the telepathic cortex hadn’t been invented yet when she was taken online. And Anna Kinnunen was new. New enough that Sunguard R&D had engineered it away again.

Only the mid-range Special Agents, like Paul Williams, were able to read and influence minds by interpreting the electromagnetic fields of biological brains and inducing currents into them in response, like neural writers on legs.

And none of them were present here.

It was curious, but he didn’t know what it implied. Perhaps there was no reason behind it.

Or perhaps it was intentional.

High Admiral Okamoto leaned forward from his position at the end of the table. “Let me begin with the point of contention brought forth by Colonel Reynolds: Myan Lami. We have the testimony of Special Agent McBrian that he has been ‘lost to the Sunguard’—I believe those were your words, yes?”

He turned toward Special Agent McBrian. “Is he, or is he not, alive?”

She hesitated. “Sir,” she said carefully. “My testimony stands. He is no longer available to the Sunguard. I do not consider his status beyond that to be relevant.”

“Let Solar Command be the judge of that,” High Admiral Okamoto countered. “Again, is he dead?”

“He is not,” Special Agent McBrian admitted. “Colonel Reynolds is correct in that regard. Former Special Agent Myan Lami no longer considers himself a member of the Sunguard.”

“So he has, effectively, defected?”

“That’s an accurate description, yes, sir.”

“Should he then be considered an enemy of the Terran Federation?”

Special Agent McBrian paused for a moment before replying. “It is my personal conviction that Myan Lami is not, and will never be, an enemy of the people of the Terran Federation, no.”

“And you base that assessment on what, Special Agent McBrian?”

“He cannot break his loyalty, sir.”

“And yet he defected? I find that statement baffling.”

“Defecting doesn’t automatically make him an enemy, sir,” she explained—or at least tried to. “He doesn’t want to be a weapon.”

“He doesn’t want…?”

It was as if the Supreme Commander of the Sunguard couldn’t process the notion. As a Special Agent, Lami’s very purpose of existence was to serve, to uphold the law, and to enforce the peace. His need to do so was part of his genetic loyalty. He shouldn’t be able to not want that.

“Sir, Federation law is clear on the definition of the term ‘human,’” Special Agent Kinnunen chimed in. “Any being belonging to a species possessing the mental capacity to develop and use technology is, by definition, ‘human.’ That includes the Terrans, the alien civilizations we’ve encountered, the biots, and the intelligent computers.”

She turned toward General Talerk. “Would you agree that is an accurate summary, General?”

The Jerrassian nodded. “Yes, ma’am. That’s how we’ve always defined humanity.”

The blonde Special Agent turned her attention back toward the Supreme Commander.

“And before we forget, there’s another word we need to define: ‘slavery,’ meaning to own another human being. It’s something that’s been outlawed since long before the formation of the Terran Federation. If Lami doesn’t want to work for the Sunguard anymore, he cannot legally be forced to.”

High Admiral Okamoto seemed to mull that over.

“That may be so,” he said eventually. “If it’s truly what he wants, then I can’t object, I grant you that. But my objection isn’t based on his legal status as a human. I don’t dispute that. What I do dispute is that he should be physically able to want something other than serving the Sunguard in the first place. I’m questioning the technical reasons behind his defection, not the moral ones.”

“The technical reasons can be handled,” Special Agent McBrian said, brushing the issue aside. “I think we should focus on the fallout instead.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we don’t want anyone to look too closely at Myan Lami’s defection. Not the public. Not the press. And not the rest of the Sunguard.”

“And how do you suggest we go about doing that?”

For the briefest of moments, Special Agent McBrian glanced in Colonel Reynolds’s direction before she continued, “By enforcing the quarantine of Eta Boötis. Let him stay there, cut off from the Terran Federation for the rest of time. Or until he changes his mind and decides to come back. General Talerk had some ideas for handling the public perception of the issue.”

She turned toward the Jerrassian. “Would you kindly tell us your thoughts, General?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the woman replied, her black fur bristling nervously. “Eta Boötis is expanding, and has done so for several hundred million years now. The fourth world, which used to be covered in ice and home only to primitive life, is now a planet with a tropical climate. But with its star’s expansion also comes increased tidal forces. The core of New Caribbean is slowly heating up. While this is a process that takes millions of years, it does mean tectonic activity is dangerously high there. Claiming the colony was lost due to a supervolcanic eruption would be entirely reasonable.”

Special Agent McBrian nodded. “While I don’t exactly approve of that lie, there are situations where deceptions are necessary. I believe this is a viable way forward.”

The Supreme Commander stayed silent for a moment, thinking about what the two Special Agents had said.

“All right,” he concluded. “I’ll defer to your judgment there. I will propose to the Solar Council that Eta Boötis be excluded from the Terran Federation and designated a no-fly zone. We can’t have people starting to believe our biots can’t be trusted. Information about Lami’s defection will be compartmentalized and contained within the Sunguard on a need-to-know basis.”

The two Special Agents nodded.

“And speaking of judgment,” High Admiral Okamoto continued, “even though this issue has been resolved amicably, Colonel Reynolds here did—with the approval of his commanding officer, I should add—disobey a direct order. While I’m grateful this was brought to our attention, obeying a lawful order is still not optional. There will have to be consequences.”

The lump in his throat felt very real, Colonel Reynolds thought. For a moment, he had managed to forget his own situation, focused as he had been on the continuous stream of revelations coming from Special Agent McBrian. This had been the culmination of her validation of his investigation, and he hadn’t wanted to miss one bit of it.

But now? With all her cards on the table, it was his turn to face judgment.

“I see no reason for that, sir,” Special Agent McBrian said to his surprise, contradicting the High Admiral. “There was no malice involved in Colonel Reynolds’s investigation. I do not want to give the impression that he’s being reprimanded simply out of spite.”

High Admiral Okamoto turned to him. “I’m not quite prepared to go that far, but I respect the Special Agent’s opinion. Your record will carry an official warning of insubordination, but there will be no punishment beyond that. What do you say, Colonel Reynolds? You have your answers now. Can you drop this line of inquiry so we can put all this behind us?”

“Yes,” Colonel Reynolds lied with confidence. “Of course, sir.”

Special Agent McBrian looked at him again, her green eyes as deep and unfathomable as time itself.

Author's Note

The story you're reading is one of many set in the Lords of the Stars universe I've been creating over the past 30 years, where familiar characters and places reappear, and new favorites await discovery. Check out my profile to explore more stories from this universe.

While Guardian of the Wolf is entirely standalone and can be read without any prior knowledge, I think you’ll particularly enjoy Soldiers of Heart and Steel and Choices of Steel, both which are prequels to this story, as well as Conscience of Steel and From My Point of View, which are sequels.

Visit the official Lords of the Stars blog for more information about this hard sci-fi universe: https://lordsofthestars.wordpress.com

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