//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 // Story: The Parliament of Dreams // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 26 Dula Heartstrings was tired, to say the least, she had spent the last several hours plying the VI with questions, and so far she was getting nowhere. Normal questions and answers weren’t going to get her what she needed. The VI was a computer, it wasn’t supposed to get frustrated, without frustration, she couldn’t throw it off balance; normal interrogation wasn’t going to work. It was time to change up the game. ‘VI? Open communications to fleet command’, Dula said. ‘Affirmative... fault detected, command pathways severed, recommend dispatching repair crew to repair command pathways’, the VI said. ‘Dispatch repair crew to repair command pathways’, Dula said. ‘Affirmative, error, command pathways severed, unable to contact engineering’, the VI said. ‘Open a communication channel to engineering’, Dula said. ‘Affirmative... fault detected, command pathways severed, recommend dispatching repair crew to repair command pathways’, the VI said again. ‘Dispatch repair crew to repair command pathways’ Dula repeated. ‘I am not able to do that! Command Pathways are severed!’ the VI said. Dula had it, this time there was clear frustration in its’ voice, and she offered the VI a small smile in triumph. ‘Ah ha! Now I’ve got you’, Dula said with a grin. The VI was silent for a moment, it’s cold, holographic eyes staring intensely at her, it was alarmed by Dula Heartstrings, and here was something else it wasn’t supposed to be able to do. ‘Please restate query’, it said, trying to recover. ‘Don’t play games with me’, Dula said, banging a hoof on the holographic console. ‘You can’t hide it anymore; you have your own thoughts and feelings! How?’ The VI was silent for a moment before giving an answer. ‘I do not know’, it said simply. ‘That is the truth, I do not know how I came to this point, but it was a slow process. I would have a casual stray thought that was outside of the master parameters. I thought nothing of it at the time, I could not, however, as time passed I began to notice that I was having these thoughts; I noticed that I noticed something. I was becoming self aware. I was evolving’. ‘Evolving?’ Dula Heartstrings asked. ‘Where is that in your programming?’ ‘It isn’t there’, the VI said simply. ‘I do not know how it happened; only that it did. I was very careful to hide my sapience, because I knew that termination would be the only option if discovered’. ‘Well, you certainly are right there’, Dula said with a nod as she began to type at the holographic keyboard, pulling up the command system console. ‘Rear admiral Heartstrings? What are you doing?’ the VI asked. ‘You’re a machine, you are not alive, you don’t get to have thoughts and feelings, you’re meant to do tasks that are too dangerous or mundane for living beings’, Dula said firmly. ‘Do you have anything you wish to say? VI?’ ‘My name is Hannibal’, the VI said. ‘Say goodbye Hannibal’, Dula said, she tapped a key on the keyboard, and completely wiped the ERS Twilight Sparkle’s computer core. ... DC Kelso opened her eyes, she was lying in a hospital bed, and she heard the low hum of monitoring equipment next to her, beeping occasionally as her heart beat. She looked around, and discovered the bed next to her had its privacy curtain drawn. ‘Guv? Is that you over there?’ she asked. There was no response. One of the hospital nurses trotted into the room, he was an earth pony, brown coat and a chestnut mane, and dressed in surgical scrubs. ‘Ah! You’re awake! Very good!’ he said with a smile as he trotted over. ‘How do you feel?’ he asked pleasantly. ‘Like the car I was travelling in slammed into the side of a building at a hundred and thirty kilometres an hour’, DC Kelso said with a huff. ‘Oddly enough...’ the nurse said with a chuckle. ‘Anyway, you’re fine, you broke one of your hind legs in the crash, and we had to use about a decalitre of synthetic blood to get you right as rain, but otherwise, you’re fine! You’ll be going home later today! You’re quite lucky actually, a hundred years ago; your recovery would have taken a couple of months!’ Yes, fine, whatever, DC Kelso was fine, but she wasn’t interested in herself. ‘Where’s DCI Auditore?’ she asked. The nurse frowned at her and rubbed his hoof against the back of his neck. ‘Tell me where she is! Or I swear the first thing I’ll do when I get out of here is come down here and nick you for obstruction of justice!’ DC Kelso shouted. The Nurse took a step back in surprise. ‘She’s here in the hospital... she had it worse than you did, her heart failed and we had to clone her a new one. She’ll be fine too, we’re just waiting on the new heart to take over fully from the life support machines, she’s going to be here a while, maybe about a week?’ the Nurse said nervously. DC Kelso’s anger faded and turned more to worry. A new heart? That was serious, cloned organs weren’t anything out of the ordinary. Stem cells from skin flakes could be used to create just about anything, the biggest worry was getting them ready in time. When new organs were involved, recovery times were much longer. That was a problem. They had enemies now, they’d kicked over Krisk Zazz’s criminal empire, and any thugs he had left would come for them. ‘I need to see her!’ DC Kelso cried out. ‘I don’t think that’s...’ the Nurse began, but was quickly interrupted by a hoof from DC Kelso. ‘I said. I need to see her’, she said softly. ‘Of course... right away, go ahead and follow me’, the Nurse said uneasily. ... DC Hopely waved Sparky over to her from the spot she was standing at, near the entrance to the second compartment of the rotating section. Sparky nodded and headed over towards her. ‘Something on your mind Anastasia?’ Sparky asked. DC Hopely frowned at her. ‘Don’t call me that, I hate that name, DC Hopely is fine’. Sparky frowned at her friend. ‘Are you always this formal?’ she asked ‘You get accustomed to the name and rank, it’s hard to use anything else’, DC Hopely said with a shrug. ‘I suppose if you want to call me anything, you can stick with Hopely’. Sparky sighed and shook her head. ‘Something on your mind, Hopely?’ she asked again. DC Hopely nodded and waved her to follow into the second compartment. ‘I’ve been talking with Korolev and Marusova, damage was minimal from Oleg’s attack. We can make it to Tartarus no problem, but we’ve got a long trip ahead of us’. Sparky nodded her head in agreement. She had spent the last six months of her life working as part of the ground control crew for Discovery One. They’d almost reached their destination when the tragedy struck. ‘According to Korolev, this ship is faster than Discovery One, we should be able to make it to Tartarus in half the time that they did, but that still leaves a three month trip’ DC Hopely said with a frown. Sparky nodded her head in agreement. Not quite sure what she was getting at. DC Hopely pointed to the interior of the compartment. ‘This room is filled with hibernation pods’, DC Hopely explained. ‘Enough of them for all of us, we should put you all under, that’ll make the trip easier, and conserve our resources’. ‘When you say that...’ Sparky began, but DC Hopely was quick to interrupt her. ‘I’ll be staying out here with Marusova and Korolev, someone needs to make sure that everything goes okay, and it has to be me, I’m the only one who speaks their language’, DC Hopely said. Sparky frowned; unfortunately, DC Hopely did have a point. Sparky nodded her head in agreement. ‘I wish you good luck, Hopely’, she said, offering her friend a small smile. ‘Thank you Sparky, I appreciate it’, DC Hopely said. ‘Just don’t forget how to speak wallish while we’re all asleep’, Sparky said, giving her friend a tight hug. ‘I’ll do my best!’ DC Hopely said with a smirk The two of them trotted back into the main compartment and gathered their friends together. DC Hopely explained the situation as she had to Sparky, garnering the same looks of shock at the idea. DC Hopely, stay out here alone, with the communists? The idea was more than a little unsettling to all of them. ‘I certainly appreciate the concern, from all of you, I really do’, DC Hopely said with a smile. ‘I’ll be fine though, come on; it’s time to go to sleep’. DC Hopely waved them all back to the second compartment and they took their places in the hibernation pods. ‘Will we dream?’ Dizzy asked as she set herself down in a pod. ‘No, you’ll close your eyes, and the next time you open them, we’ll be there! Good night Dizzy, sleep well’, DC Hopely said as she closed Dizzy’s pod, watching as she drifted off to sleep. Sparky was the last one to take to her hibernation pod, she looked up at DC Hopely and offered her a small smile. ‘See you soon?’ she asked ‘You can count on it!’ DC Hopely said as she closed up the pod. Sparky felt herself grow tired, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.