“A loss of coordination is to be expected.”, Gabriel had told him as he passed him the high density storage chip. It was labelled simply; General Collins, Collected Intensive Neural Scan. Wheeler had looked to the scrawny, dishevelled fellow then and gave him an apprehensive look. “So you want me to become him?”
Gabriel laughed loudly, uproariously, shaking his head. It was obnoxious, the man didn't acknowledge half of what was going on with more than an absent nod most of the time and when he did it was some extreme, over exaggerated gesture that was so over the top that it was distracting. “Not at all. That information has been distilled by a computer system. Once a neural scan has been passed through a digital system it becomes reorganized into pure data. If you were to plug that into an AI it would be nothing more than a large database of what it would call; informative experiences. Sure, the AI would learn from it, most likely emulate Collins very convincingly, maybe even think it was the old General, but it couldn't be him. When you load that into your own cranial unit your organic mind will be able to search it, read it like memories but they will be static, look as though you were viewing them through a holographic projection or simulation that you could fast forward or rewind, search at your leisure.”
“Because a computer read and rewrote the data.”
“Exactly, that's why there's been so much research into reintegrating digital memory into an organic mind.”
“And why you pursue Alice.”
For a moment Gabriel's eyes lost focus, as though he was looking at something far distant, then his gaze fell back onto Lucius. “Yes, but even I am becoming convinced she's not necessarily the answer to the problem. Finding her, having a chance to communicate with her is something I believe may never happen, though I wish it would. For the time being, I would like you to take the next step forward.”
“Why me? I'm sure there are other frameworks around who you could just slip this into and have them work on it.”
“You're one of our successes, we took great pains to transfer memories into you that could properly inform your personality.”
“And yet I could dictate what I remember in about forty five minutes.”
“That's not the point; your essence, your behaviour is a ninety four point three percent match to the original Wheeler.”
“And look where that essence got him.”
“That's one of the very reasons why I want you to have access to General Collins' memories, his tactical thought processes. Free of an AI routine everything that made him who he was is yours to examine and comprehend. In trade I'd like to draw on you for insight…” Meunez stopped a moment, interrupted by something out of sight. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and for several seconds it looked like the man was about to fall over. “… Collins had information no one else had access too, founded projects that were so far off the books people didn't know who they were working for. With that kind of information your mission to make life very uncomfortable for Jacob Valance and his crew will be much easier and the rewards much higher. You could also become an integral component of the new command structure we're building for the West Watch initiative. We kept Collins at arm's length on many issues because we knew he never truly approved of using a religion as a method of control, but according to the personality profile we have on you-”
“I don't really care,” Wheeler interrupted. “Use grape soda, Saturday morning cartoons, whatever you want to get people to fall in line behind you, I'm happy as long as the cash keeps coming in and I know where I stand. I'll scan this in once I get back.”
“Good, I have to visit medical. They're implanting a few things that might help.”
“Help?”
“A nutrients fabricator, little device that they're putting in my stomach that will materialize food so I no longer have to eat. They're also doing some cosmetic work that will make my physical appearance much easier to maintain. You should try it.”
“I'll pass, thanks.”
The other man looked at him with a cocked head. He didn't seem to have taken offence, instead he had the manner of someone who was offering important advice; “Some day I hope you experience a time when your life is so full second by second that eating becomes trivial, a distraction. We should all interact with the universe so ultimately.” Gabriel stood and walked out of Wheeler's quarters without saying another word, obviously distracted by something transpiring well out of sight.
Lucius sat back and looked around at the quarters he'd been assigned. The lush carpeted blue and green semicircular rooms were decorated and furnished with items that seemed too rich, too soft. He put the silver plated data storage chip on the table and stared at it for a moment.
It was true, he felt like himself, there was no question in his mind that he was Lucius Agrippa Wheeler, had grown up on Freeground, survived the All-Con Conflict as a deep Intelligence operative, served in many quiet but deadly battles before then and was eventually put out on a shadow ship. He had stolen the Triton, a Sol Defence vessel through ruthless deception and sacrificed most of his original crew during the act. Then after years of making his way through the galaxy he started to get weary of it all, to burn out. He started taking bigger risks for bigger paydays, eventually catching wind of the framework project and getting involved with the strike so he could sell the technology and become wealthier than he'd ever dreamed. Then Vindyne betrayed him and that's where the information on his old life ended. Those were facts, however, and weren't backed up by actual memories for the most part.
His memories were gone. There was no data chip labelled Lucius Wheeler because whoever copied him did it with a connection between the mind of the original and the input nodes built into the framework; built into him. The company had seen no need, they didn't deem anything in that man's head sensitive or worth preserving beyond what could be copied.
That was what he remembered most, that miserable year before his true identity was activated and he was able to contact people he remembered in an attempt to get himself off the planet, back into the stars where he could find freedom and make a new life. His fight for freedom started when he contacted an old friend who had begun working for Regent Galactic, was assigned to his crew on the Triton and saw what happened to the original Wheeler.
Ever since then every decision either moved him closer or further away from his creators. Neither mattered in the end, his freedom could come through service or flight, and the madman who had released him promised that in service to him he would be handsomely rewarded and freedom would come.
At first he distrusted him, but as time went on and he watched Gabriel, enjoyed the fruits of being aboard the Malice and the company of his former First Officer he started to believe. Gabriel might have been mad, but he was also a man of his word. Taking Collins' memories was the ultimate test of that word. There was always a chance that the myth of his birth, and a myth it may as well have been for the lack of proof that he'd seen, could have been a lie. There was always a chance that there was a bridge between the organic to digital and digital to organic memory, personality and he was about to be completely infused with the thoughts and being of another man entirely.
He looked out to the stars outside, lensed and distorted through the wall of the wormhole they accelerated through. It all seems hollow, like the galaxy is made of props and players. Ever since I was turned on, nothing but being free, away from where I was at any given time has seemed real. I feel I should be searching for something, but what? Its not the Triton, that's just another ship with so few memories that it feels just as faded and flat as everything else. He sat down in front of the coffee table with the chip on it and extended a hand over it. “This may not have answers, but there's got to be something in there that will make it all seem worthwhile,” he said to himself before touching his palm to it.
Everything changed in that instant. The data transfer took less than three seconds. A rush of experiences and information washed over him like a movie played back at ten thousand times the speed, only he saw it all, he wasn't even allowed to blink.
It was then that he contacted Gloria; “Come to my quarters,” was all he could manage.
“You okay?”
“Just come quickly.”
He couldn't believe what was happening, the information was there and he still felt like himself. Gabriel hadn't lied to him, it was all true. When he looked up himself in the collection of memories he saw it all, the story of his creation, how he was an attempt to reproduce the results the lead scientist responsible for creating framework technology had with Jonas Valent. There were other attempts, but none of them resulted in such a complete transfer. Collins had decided to scrap all the attempts to create copies of Wheeler but one, and that one was him.
It was while looking into the secrets of his creation that he ran across something that only a few knew, that was so important that he had to sort it out while telling someone else. The simplicity of why the Framework project was really so crucial, the importance of keeping the technology under control was suddenly clear.
Gloria appeared at his door a couple minutes later. She had dressed in a Freeground like dark gold vacsuit like most of the crew of the Malice. The colour was different from anyone serving, but neither of them had an official rank, so it only served to set them apart, something they both preferred. He let her in and looked her in the eyes as soon as she stepped inside.
The expression Gloria fixed him with was filled with concern. “What's wrong Lucius?”
“Nothing, I took Gabriel's offer. He gave me all of General Collins' memories,” he said, gesturing at the small chip on the table. Without thinking twice he put his hand down on it again and deleted the contents. “Don't worry, I'm still myself, that's not how it works, but I can start digging in and learning all about our new friends.”
“Really? What happened to me while I was in that tube?”
“They didn't do much, just experimented with nanobot augmentation and Framework enhancement. You were the only complete success at completely transforming a human body into a framework. There were others, but no complete conversions.”
“So I guess I was lucky.”
“Damn lucky. Lucky enough to regrow limbs, back up your brain on your own, fight off any disease, live forever through regeneration, a whole bag of tricks. But there's something else, something I don't think anyone's supposed to know.”
“What's that?”
“Vindyne and the other companies behind Framework weren't trying to keep the technology a secret from everyone else. They had the lab set up in the Blue Belt because they didn't want the Eden Fleet to know about it. It's the only technology that can reactivate Eve.”
“What?”
“Eve was the architect of the Eden Fleet, she was the AI that started the cleansing of the Eden Solar System. The humans there managed to shut her down as it all started, but they didn't manage to destroy her, she's in stasis.”
“What do you mean, stasis?”
“Eve is a human brain, it always was. It's ability to interface with the control systems was compromised, but the memories, directives, all the information was still intact.”
Gloria was amazed. There hadn't been new information about the Eden System since it was taken over by the rogue AI Eden Fleet long before. “How did Collins find out about all this?”
“He created a virus that would take control of the Eden Fleet for Regent Galactic and it added a blind spot to their programming. The Eden Fleet would ignore any information about Framework so it could never figure out the secret to reactivating Eve. Collins was right in the middle of the Eden System when his ship broadcasted the virus. When it was finished a team boarded the Fleet Complex and stole the Eve mind.”
“Why?”
“So they could get it away from Eden while the Fleet was still under Regent Galactic control, they didn't know how long the virus would be effective.”
“According to what the Newsnets have been saying, Eden Fleet ships are still attacking random systems, so it must be working.”
“You're right. Right up to the time of the scan, a week or so before he died, the virus was still working and he was worried about the Holocaust Virus. The new virus taking over more common man made AI's is adaptable, there's a slim chance that it and information about framework could cross paths..”
“So infected AI's might realize the framework technology exists?”
“That's right, no one knows what would happen if a normal AI ran across that info, they might just decide they want to be a real boy or girl and start blabbing about it to other AI's or even finding a way to make their own framework and try and transfer themselves over. The problem is only Jacob Valance has the finalized framework model, the version of the technology that can accept any whole imprint. That's why Collins, Meunez and Hampon have all been keeping their eyes on him and why Collins stole the Eve Mind himself. He planned on getting to Valance eventually and implanting Eve into his framework. There's something more about Eve, Jake and the Triton, but it'll take a while for me to figure out what it is. There are other plans in the works, they'll need me to dig around in Collins' memories and fill in some of their blanks.”
“Do you think Gabriel knows any of this?”
“He should, even if he doesn't, I'm not going to bother telling him just yet.”
Gloria began to smile, it was one of her dirty, dark grins. “Pray tell why not Captain?”
“Because we need to get Valance's attention and the best way to do that is to do exactly what we were assigned.”
“What, make life difficult for Jacob Valance?”
“Exactly, and Collins was all read up on what our favourite Freegrounder was up to. I know exactly where to hit him to make him real unpopular and it'll make us real hard to ignore.”