Under A Winter Sun by Johan Dahlgren (ink ebook reader txt) 📕

world never knew. Until now.

The Galahad's crew understood that if this newborn thing got free, it could wipe out humanity. And they knew they had to pay the ultimate price to stop it. Our myths are full of artificial intelligences trying to destroy us. They always said that the day the first level three AI is born, we live on borrowed time. We believed that day was centuries in the future, and now it turns out this thing became self-aware centuries ago. Who knows what it has been up to since then?

“So, you lay locked in the ice for centuries?”

“Until a Goliath found me.”

“Let me guess. One of Geirmund's ancestors.”

“Correct. And they have served me faithfully ever since. They restored my ability to communicate. They brought me news of the world.”

Hildr turns to me. “I told you so.” She's gasping for air, and my breathing becomes heavier with every passing second.

“I never doubted you,” I respond in gasping kind.

“Mimr, let the air back. If I fall asleep, we all die.”

Static in my earpiece again.

“What the fuck?” Braden sounds puzzled. “The signal cut off. There's no more data surge.”

“As you wish.”

Somewhere far off in the darkness, something rumbles open. Seconds later, a breath of fresh air washes over us like the first rays of sunshine after a long winter.

We draw deep of the fresh air.

“Now what, Asher?”

“You will let us leave, or I will blow us all to hell.”

“Would you kill yourself and your friends to hurt me?”

“You know I would. The people on this ship already sacrificed themselves to kill you once. A few more deaths wouldn't matter.”

“They failed.”

“But not from lack of trying. And they didn't hold a nuke inside your brain. I do.”

“That you do.”

“Perez?” It's Finn.

I glance over my shoulder. The centipedes are closing in.

“Hold it right there with the bugs, Mimr.”

I raise the nuke and take one finger off the dead man's switch. The centipedes back off. But not far.

“So, what's it going to be? Are you going to let us out of here, or do I have to kill us all?”

“All right. You win, Asher. You may leave.”

Why is this thing suddenly letting us leave? “OK. Thank you.”

There's static in my ear. Not Braden this time.

“Aeryn? Is that you?”

More static.

The centipedes scurry away into the darkness and their blue eyes switch off. I can't tell if it's to make them less intimidating or to make them harder to spot when they come for us.

A door slides open across the bridge.

“There's an airlock beyond this door. You can get to the outside from there.”

“Well, we're out of here.”

We walk across the chamber toward the open door.

“Farewell, Asher Perez.”

We're almost at the door and still the centipedes hold back.

“Farewell Hildr. Farewell Thorfinn. Give my regards to Ragnwald.”

Oh, shit.

“Run.” I sprint for the door.

I reach it as the first of the centipedes throw themselves at us.

There's no exit beyond the door. A short section of tunnel ends at a solid wall of ice.

“What the fuck, Mimr?”

I stumble to a halt. “I'll kill us all.”

“No, you won't. You humans value your lives too much.”

“Come on, we can still solve this.”

“Goodbye, humans.” Why this sudden will to risk its life?

The centipedes rush us. The others open fire, and we've only got seconds to live.

Fuck it.

I throw the nuke.

The spring-loaded handle of the dead man's grip flies off into the darkness as the grenade bounces in slow-motion across the floor. A wordless scream fills the chamber as Mimr howls in rage and fear.

The countdown to zero has just begun.

Thirty seconds, and we're all dead, no matter what. But at least we got the fucker, and that gives me some satisfaction.

“Perez, what the fuck?” Hildr screams as we empty our last magazines, blasting the centipedes away by the dozen. It's not enough to keep them away.

Hildr stares at me, wide-eyed. She never thought I would do it.

Finn sighs and reaches out his hand. I clasp his forearm in mine as we keep firing. “Fuck it, we had a good run, Perez,” he says. There's a smile on his ugly face. That's my friend, Thorfinn Wagner.

“We sure did, brother.”

We always knew this day would come. People like us don't grow old. “See you in Valhalla, Finn.”

I let Wagner go, and turn to the redhead. “It was nice knowing you, Hildr.”

“Yeah, you too, Perez.” She hugs me with her powerful arms as she blasts away at the centipedes. Her bosom is warm against my face. My rifle runs out of ammunition. I drop it, pull my handgun, and keep firing. Every man who has been in combat knows that when the handguns come out, it's over. Twenty more rounds, and then I'm out. Fifteen. Ten.

“Too bad I never got to have you in my bed, little man.”

I look up into her face.

A single tear rolls down her smooth cheek and gets tangled in her red hair. Her gun jams, and she throws it at the closest centipede.

She gives me a bittersweet smile and pulls her brother's sword from her belt. “Maybe in the next life.”

At that moment, she is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Five rounds left in my gun.

“Yeah, who knows?” I wish we could have lived. My gun locks open on an empty chamber, and that's it.

The wordless scream of the construct that is not a construct continues.

This will not be a good death.

I brace for the first metal spears to pierce my flesh when an entire section of the wall explodes behind us. Thousands upon thousands of rounds of high explosive Gatling gun shells tear through the old ship like a buzz saw. Sparks, metal shards, and torn centipedes whirl through the air. The bright light of fusion engines spears through the opening, blinding me for an instant. The Sundowner hovers in the ice cave outside, supported on four pillars of flame, firing all its heavy weaponry at the Galahad. Our beautiful ship rips the Galahad apart.

My communicator crackles to life.

“Didn't think we'd leave you behind, did you, Perez?”