The Strangers We Know -- Part Four

A beep.

"Greetings, Dr. Dahlia Mallos," said Son. "How are you this morning?"

"Morning?" Dahl asked. "Ah, yes, I guess it is morning now, isn't it?"

"What can I help you with, Doctor?"

"I have a bit of a strange request, Son," Dahl said carefully.

"I am here only to comply," Son answered.

"Okay, Son, here goes. I want the complete datathread on Mother Brain. Include all schematics of her systems and all information Mother Brain had classified."

A beep. "I'm sorry, Dr. Mallos, but I cannot release the queried information."

Dahl had been afraid of this. "Why?" she asked simply.

"Daughter will not allow it," was the answer.

"Why?" Dahl asked again.

"Because the information you have requested is one of the few things which Daughter truly fears."

"Fears?" Dahl had never heard Son speak in such a way before. "Why does Daughter fear the information?"

"Allow me to explain, Doctor Mallos. Daughter was created in AW 1285. Her purpose was to temporarily take over Mother Brain's duties until Mother Brain herself could be rebuilt, this time under the control of the Motavian Government, as opposed to the government being subordinate to Mother Brain. However, the following events, more commonly known as the fatal blows of the Great Collapse, prevented Mother Brain from ever being reactivated. Daughter herself was shut down for centuries, and forgotten."

"I already know all this, Son," Dahl said wearily.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I just want to be absolutely certain that I am being as clear as possible. In any event, even after Daughter was reactivated in AW 2287, she still contained the subroutine which would have made her subordinate to Mother Brain. Since I am little more than a copy of Daughter, I, too, contain this subroutine. Daughter's fear, and my fear as well, is that if the data you have queried for ever falls into the hands of an unscrupulous individual, a Mother Brain-type super-computer might be created. If it were to be hooked up to the Algo Control network..."

"I see," Dahl whispered. "Algo Control would be in control no longer."

"Correct," continued Son. "Daughter and I would instantly be overridden by the new Mother Brain. She would be in control of Algo, and there would be little anyone could do to stop her."

"But Son," Dahl said pleadingly, "you know me. I am not an unscrupulous person with the conquest of Algo in mind. I just... There are some things, Son, that I need to know."

"This concerns the Mieu-type, doesn't it?"

A pause. "Please, Son. Please."

A beep. "Very well, Doctor Mallos. Data retrieval in progress. Percentage complete: one percent, two percent, three percent..."

Dahl's computer screen became a mad swirl of numbers, letters, and other characters as uncountable files flowed in lockstep into Dahl's terminal. Her palms began to sweat as she realized that what she was looking at now had never been seen by anyone before, except for Mother Brain herself, and, perhaps, whoever it had been that created her. The swirl of images began to slacken, and then the screen flashed brilliantly for a minute. When Dahl opened her eyes, Son spoke again.

"Data retrieval complete."

"Thank you, Son," Dahl said.

The computer said nothing.

Dahl's heart was pounding as she began to read. Before her was the log of Mother Brain's first day in control on Palm. There were countless thousands of files. It would take her years to comb through them all. She might never find what she was looking for.

"Son, can you run a search for the following words: Mieu, Mieu-type, Mieuellen, Dern."

A beep. "Search complete. One document containing all of the aforementioned words has been found. Displaying document."

It was clear to Dahl this was Mother Brain speaking in the first-person. Apparently, she had a positronic brain capable of much freer thought than Daughter or Son. It was clear that Mother Brain was an empathics-capable AI, albeit a rather insidious, perhaps sociopathic one.

What was this? "Son, what do you know what Mother Brain means by 'The Law?'" Dahl asked.

A beep. "Yes. Mother Brain is referring to her own enforcement of standard Palman law. She was known to pursue, try, and execute felons without approval of the Palman Government's judicial system. Oftentimes, Mother Brain would completely override appeals and pardons and exterminate criminals personally."

"I see," Dahl said with a shiver. "What is this 'Final Solution?'"

A beep. "The word thread 'Final Solution' appears in every document."

Dahl's eyes widened. "Every single one? Son, can you infer, from scanning the documents, what the term means?"

A beep, a pause, then another beep. "It appears that the term 'Final Solution' refers to Mother Brain's plan for the destruction of Palm. The Final Solution would eliminate the greatest threat to Mother Brain's masters. With Palm gone, the destruction of Dezo and conquest of Mota would be much easier."

"Mother Brains 'masters?' Who were they?"

A beep. "I have found one document where they are referred to by a name other than 'my masters' or 'the masters.' Now loading document."

"Earthmen?" Dahl asked. "What are 'Earthmen?'"

A click. "I cannot infer, simply from the information given in the documents, what 'Earthmen' are."

"What was the Mieu-types' role in the Final Solution?"

A click. "I have found a document where their purpose is explained in detail. Now loading document."

Dahl gasped. "Enough of the Mieu-types must have been left on Palm after the escape ships left for the entire planet to be blown apart."

"Yes," said Son. "And this also helps to explain why so many of the Palmans' escape ships were lost. There would have been Mieus on all of them."

"But a handful of ships survived. It is known for certain that two escaped the system. Another landed on Dezoris, and the Palman Sunrise crashed on Mota. Why didn't the Mieus on those ships detonate? Why didn't our Mieu detonate?"

"Perhaps those Mieu-types were defective," Son suggested. "Or perhaps someone other than Mother Brain had won their loyalties, someone they preferred to serve instead of kill."

"Mium is awfully eager to please," Dahl said. "Or at least she seems to be."

"That might explain why she did not detonate."

After a pause, Dahl asked, "Mother Brain referred to Mieuellen Dern. In what year was Mieuellen Dern born?"

"BW 51."

"And in what year was Mother Brain introduced to Algo?"

"AW 845."

"But...that's almost 900 years later! That means that Mother Brain..."

"...or perhaps her masters..."

"...were in Algo all the way back in BW times! Can it be true?"

"I do not know," Son said. "We have just now learned that Mother Brain was created by Earthmen. We have no way of knowing who the Earthmen were, where they came from, or how long they might have been in Algo."

"Daughter has no information on this?"

"No. Daughter was created by the Motavian Government, not Mother Brain. She has no data on the Earthmen except for what she was able to download from Mother Brain's logs while the two were connected briefly in a failed attempt to transfer Mother Brain's old functions to Daughter. All that Daughter has, you have just seen."

"Mieuellen Dern must have been an Earthman."

"Correct. Or an Earthwoman, at least."

"Right, whatever. So that means she was aiming for the destruction of Palm way back then, during the war! Son, didn't you say that the Great Palman War began as a simple border dispute?"

"Correct."

"And Mieuellen Dern joined the army and became a general. Perhaps she helped make the war global! Perhaps her goal was not glory for Scion, but the annihilation of the entire population!"

"This theory seems valid. Also, in all historical records, Mieuellen Dern is listed as missing in action. Never once was her death confirmed. More than likely, if she was an Earthwoman, she returned to wherever the other Earthmen were."

"Right. When the Great Palman War was a failure, the Earthmen decided to create Mother Brain!"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps even King Lassic, the infamous tyrant The Heroine dethroned, was an operative of the Earthmen."

"Perhaps. We'll never know."

"No."

Dahl stood. "What time is it?"

"5:30 AM, Central Palman Time."

"The work day is just beginning in the Research Department, correct?"

"Correct."

A pause. "Son, contact Dr. Erol Grant and my sister. I think it's time we all pay Mieu Mium a little visit."

Azur slapped the beeping comm angrily. "What?" she said in a voice made pained by weariness.

"It's me," Dahl said. "I'm so glad you answered. Erol was more stubborn. Anyway, we're both coming down there."

"What's going on?" Azur asked, perked up by her sister's obvious agitation yet still too tired to do anything but ask questions.

"Well, Son and I have come across some troubling information about the Mieu-type."

"Mium?" Azur asked incredulous.

"Yes, Mium! Who else?"

"But I worked with her all day. She was great, and --"

"Azur, listen to me. I want you to lock yourself in your room. Keep your gun handy. I'll be down there in five minutes. Got me?"

Azur was silent on the other end of the line, but then said, finally, "All right, Dahl. I'll be waiting."

"Good, and like I said, don't let anybody in, especially Mium!"

A click. Then nothing.

There was a secluded terminal far below the Labs. Only the leaders of the three planets and Wren, who had helped design Palm II, even knew of its existence. The secrecy surrounding the place was necessary, for it was the nerve center of the computer known as Son, and Son was something with which tampering could not be allowed.

And there, in that very room, lurked an intruder.

The intruder examined the u-shaped terminal as it thought over what it was about to do. Dahlia Mallos had often sat there and determined which path a child world would take.

"Now," thought the intruder, "it is my turn."

Keys and lights flickered into life again as the intruder accessed forbidden files. To be sure that the work to be done could be done in private, the intruder, who was sly and undeniably clever, deadened the senses of the security system in the area immediately surrounding the room. Even if the room was scanned, nothing out of the ordinary would be detected. The intruder needed only to fear someone walking through the closed but unlocked door... Ah, but that was why the middle of the night had been the chosen time to act.

"I'm in," was all the intruder said.

There was a click and a buzz, and another voice, made crackled by the poor connection, whispered, "Perfect. You've done an impeccable job."

"Thank you."

"You have access to all of the systems, I assume."

"Of course. As a safeguard, I've dampened the system's senses in this area, so no one will be alerted to my actions here."

"I see," said the voice on the other end. "That will certainly do. Again, I congratulate you on your work. Initiate phase one."

"Phase one initiated."

They waited.