Unexpected meeting. Chapter 2

Lex woke up from the fact that someone was tugging on his bent leg, as if trying to take off his shoes. Lex caught the rhythm of jerking and the direction of movement and, catching the next wave, straightened his bent leg with all his strength. However, contrary to expectations, the leg met no resistance and simply straightened in the air.





- More and kicks! Come on, get up! Are you whole? - I heard the voice of Fink. “The captain’s terminal is still working.”

Lex, for a few seconds, strained all his muscles, testing his sensations. Then he squinted his eyes in the lower left corner and in the virtual spatial menu that appeared before his eyes, he mentally chose the point of checking the organism. For a few seconds he saw in front of him the image of a man who was painted in a translucent green color. A short report from medical biomodules was displayed on the sides.

- Intact, completely. What about the rest?

- I have already sent two duty officers to the replacement control centers. The captain is dead - an unfortunate fall, no luck. Laer has disappeared.

Lex got up, made a half turn, carefully looking at his wrists. Two bracelets flashed slightly in one of their sections at certain angles of rotation. Lex quickly determined the directions and, with a springy gait, ran around the room and picked up two of his impulse pistols. Then he ran to the captain's chair, deftly threw himself into it and connected to the ship network.

- Capture. They move to the control center. Professionals. The team is almost completely destroyed. Spare already under their control. Engines, shields, power, power systems. Virtually the entire ship. I left several tabs in the system and turned off the internal control over the ship. We leave. You are the closing.

Lex quickly jumped up and ran to one of the exits. Having run through several corridors, they turned into a room in which they removed the decorative panel and made their way beyond the level of the corridors. The usual interior was absent, the look snatched out various beams, pipes, some constructions, mainly rectangular in shape, power tires, a multitude of wires.

“Lex, you know exactly what you're doing?” Running between the skins is still a pleasure.

- There are no options. When they establish control over the ship's network, they will quickly find us, and then they will not find us for some time. And if you do not make noise, then they will not find it at all. I got acquainted with the ship in advance, the design is typical. So ... it's just a walk.

Fink glanced apprehensively at the spherical structure as it went.

“Running here with the ship running ...”

Lex laughed.

- Fink, in me electronics at a cost of about a dozen such ships. And I know the device ships.

***

Lex knew what he was talking about. Who needs a wagon from the academy, which does not have knowledge of the ships in full? Full! This is what graduates of this direction are valued for - one person can replace any member of the ship’s crew. Ships that require up to six people to control, generalists can fly alone. And the effectiveness of such management does not fall due to specialized implants, which take on direct low-level control.

Various sensors and computational units built into the body are connected to a single, usually centralized, network that is controlled by a special module that is located in the human brain. Part of the biological equipment is implanted, part - grown with the help of special technologies. The human nervous system is used as an infrastructure for transferring data between implants. At the initial stage of such human cyberneticization, people rarely encountered rejection or side effects from implant insertion. However, it took a lot of time to eliminate the problems of communication between them, as there were often unforeseen neuro-chemical collisions when transmitting the “native” signals of a person and the equipment built into it. Over time, two different ways to solve this problem have emerged. It was easier and faster to develop and integrate neural nodes that regulate chemical-electrical processes during the transmission of nerve impulses. An alternative and more promising technology is the use of a certain format and structure of signals that allow implants to interact with each other, without affecting the person's “native” nervous signals. The principle of this technology was similar to how different information flows are formed in the same conductor using electrical signals of different frequencies. However, the human nervous system turned out to be much more complicated than expected, and this greatly impeded the development of this technology. Both the first and second methods had their strengths and weaknesses. Usually, the whole complex of implanted devices was simply called one word “neural network”,

There were decentralized versions of neural networks in which each implant served as a local brain biomodule. However, the development and implementation of such neural networks were extremely time consuming and expensive, and the high requirements for the carriers did not contribute to either the study or the development of technologies. In addition to natural restrictions, there were unconfirmed fears about the appearance of a “ghost” of human consciousness, just as it takes place in systems with artificial intelligence (AI). The war with the insurgent AI, literally won by a miracle, will not be forgotten for a long time, and no one wanted to allow even the meager probability of a repetition of such a thing even in exchange for the potential to become the most powerful in the worlds studied and inhabited. What can cause the appearance of a ghost in a living person, having their own active natural consciousness, no one knew, ignorance gave rise to a sense of danger and danger, which affected the powerful limitation of scientific work and did not contribute to the experimental study of this type of neural networks. Restrictions supported by almost all of society, with the exception of scientists, who are usually not afraid to step beyond the limits of the unknown.

Various experimental versions of neural networks were usually primarily “testing grounds” for developing new technologies and could provide very interesting capabilities to their carriers. In addition, persistent rumors persisted that nobody else knew the neural networks of the ancients - an earlier civilization, whose remains were occasionally encountered in unknown space. The fleet was full of stories about how someone in the study of space "behind the red line" found a "live" base station of the ancients, but the overwhelming part of these stories was full of so many wonders and adventures that made one doubt the veracity of everything that was told.

Neural networks were developed and produced by a large corporation NeuroBiosystem (NBS). The corporation was one of the oldest and was a “state within a state” even in the Union of Central Worlds (SPM). Officially, the corporation was considered private. But in reality, it was not possible to separate the policies of the SPM authorities and the influence of the NBS Board of Directors on it. Everything was based on neural networks: the established galactic order and its maintenance system, a way of life, and the further development of progress. The NBS practically did not interfere in the “clean” policy of the CMS, but very actively defended its sphere of interests: technology, development, supply of materials, competing organizations.

In the peripheral worlds there were various organizations that also dealt with the subject of neural networks. Most of them received the original basic brain biomodules from the NBS and based on them created their neural networks, which in some narrow areas were obtained even more efficiently than the corresponding neural networks from the NBS, but were worse in terms of generalized parameters. There were several large corporations that had previously been extruded from the SPM, of course, not without the participation of the NBS, and were based in various large states of the periphery. These corporations had a complete neural network production cycle. They could not allow the scope of research work as the NBS, so the effectiveness of their neural networks was usually lower than that of the “groupmates” from the NBS, but some developments were so successful that they were confirmed even by the NBS.

Neural networks were divided into types according to their structure, classes of organization of interaction of implants, types of basic cerebral biomodule, subtypes of complex neural network balancing (the neural network may not equally affect the human physiological, psychological and intellectual properties) and the versions whose index usually increased with the next improvement of the aggregate parameters of the neural network. Each neural network had an alphanumeric designation that gave a complete picture of it. However, alternative designations of neural networks, more understandable to society, were usually used.

For example, the “Administrator” neural network had little effect on human physiology, but it increased a person’s ability to memorize more short-term information, improved analytical skills, accelerated decision-making speed and, for example, made her face feel more subtle and sharper. . In its composition, the “Scientist” neural network was slightly different from the “Administrator” neural network, with the exception of the basic brain biomodule, and allowed to memorize not only short-term, but also long-term information, increased memory capacity and analytical capabilities, greatly increased the speed of decision making when analyzing large arrays of data, but almost no effect on the physiology and psychology of man.
The same components of the neural network, configured differently, could give different results, which were claimed by its carrier. Normal neural networks were configured once. If a person needed a different set of abilities of the neural network, it was necessary to change or seriously rebuild, only the basic part of the brain biomodule did not change, since it was very closely integrated with the human brain. Unlike conventional, decentralized neural networks had the ability to reconfigure "on the fly", allowing its carrier to flexibly configure the properties of the neural network for a specific current task, but the subtleties and nuances of these processes were poorly understood.

Recruitment in the direction of “Universal” to the academy was rare, no more than once every ten to fifteen years. The candidates were subject to special requirements for physical, intellectual and psychological natural indices. Due to special training sessions and established implants, by the end of the training, the indices increased greatly. By themselves, the valuable personnel became literally invaluable and constituted the strategic resource of any public education. Usually, by providing such opportunities to people who initially could not afford them, the state obliged these people to continue to work for it. Given the brilliant military training, graduates of the first ten to twenty years were obliged to work out at the space fleet. By the end of this compulsory training, many often rapidly rose to the admiral ranks and remained in the navy. However, the states very actively supported those who left the fleet. Such people founded or became the head of existing corporations, increasing the technological and economic power of states. For a number of reasons, there were also those who, leaving the fleet, did not strive for any grandiose successes. Usually, such people tried to create different situations that would push a person’s actions in at least some “necessary” direction for the state. A lot of tricks were used: in the house where the graduate lived, they could resettle all the residents in a certain calculated way, “random” calculated acquaintances and meetings, a fine selection of a married couple, the creation of crisis and extreme situations. If nothing helped, then the graduate became “free,” that is, formally, independent of the state. States went to this, since the "free" by the very fact of their existence fulfilled the advertising goal, creating the attractiveness of the path of universals: served in the navy - and you are free. They were silent about what psychological price they had to pay for their freedom. In addition, in martial law, they were still enlisted in the service of the fleet, creating a kind of operational reserve with a huge combat potential.

***

Lex and Fink moved quickly through technical tunnels. First, they ran down a long corridor and jumped into the mine, the outlets of which were three times lower than the height. I had to crawl. After numerous turns, they got into some corridors, where various cables were suspended on mounted supports. There was no lighting and had to use shoulder spotlights, prudently captured by Lex in one of the rooms that they ran through, plunging into the technical depths of the ship. At this level, Lex slowed down and now they just ran along an endless corridor, occasionally turning into the falling branches of the corridors.

- Well, Fink is now just a pleasant walk. And you were afraid of any trouble. Now a little run, just to the cargo compartment.

- It turns out there can be on the right deck. From the ship to leave all the same will not give. But you can try a long-distance connection cut right from the courier.

- We will reach the freight, it will be seen there. It may turn out that the ore is no longer there and everything is over while we are engaged in sports here.

- It turns out you need to hire a team of professionals, completely clean the ship, if you used the EMP weapon, it means you need to fit at least a combat platform to the ship. And all this in the SPF! And then, then, pull off all containers with semi-metallic ore from the cargo and leave? Yes, the cost of the whole operation is such that it is easier to buy this ore once fifteen times more!

- Well, yes, the inconsistency is obtained.

- Or is it just all for a distraction from something else. For example, eliminate. Or destroy the ship. Or something else happens next, and our events have a background role.

“Well, who should be eliminated here in order to disguise like that?” And the ship - to whom did this backward cargo pelvis give up? The meeting point was also chosen not by chance. This is already the SPM space, of course, but there are not even inhabited worlds for several systems.

- If you think that there are only two candidates for elimination - yes, you, perhaps, Laer, and only because I do not know her.

Lex didn't answer right away.

“I don’t know anything about scrolling that because of me.” Yes, I'm a wagon. I have visited and seen a lot of places. But nothing much of this that would not see another wagon. And I don’t think that it’s valuable that I’m imagining too much to turn such an operation to destroy it. Neural network is interesting, of course. So, for any station wagon, it is almost personal, as it has actually been developed for almost ten years.

“Do you know Laeru well?”

- The academy studied together. But a lot of time has passed. It is enough to understand that the image that you recognize already probably does not correspond to the same person about whom the memories remain.

The couple reached the next branch, closed by a massive door and stopped. Lex found some hatch on the side and opened the door a little fumbling. Then he sat down next to the door and took out a tool case from one of the thickenings of his suit. In the case were various items, mostly elongated. Lex took one in hand and brought it to the flap. Through the neural network, Lex connected to the item and activated it. The front part of the object came to life, parted and thin tentacles crawled out from there, which stretched into the inside of the flap. Outwardly, it looked like a large insect with many long furry forepaws. Lex neatly twisted the object, which was crawling in the wall behind the hatch. Before his gaze, augmented reality began to emerge: the general scheme of the device under investigation, the general form, the physical properties, electrical circuit. At the same time, a list of the most likely known devices, which could be the object of study, appeared. With increasing information about the object list decreased. Finally, after a few minutes, the analysis was completed, with nine items on the list. Lex called an additional menu and specified the type of ship, its age, and its purpose. The neural network filtered the list and left one name - the identification module for controlling the IM638PRO12SZU. Lex chose him and in the appeared points indicated "hidden connection". The subject fiddled a little behind the wall and a report on the execution of the command appeared. Similarly, Lex turned off telemetry sending to the general ship network, embedded a simulator of response to requests from the network, changed several device settings, and gave the command to unlock the door. The door opened slowly. Having put a simple program into the device that would restore the state of the hacked device to the original one, canceling all changes, Lex finished the work and sent a command to disable and minimize the universal portable technical complex. The hand-held insect deftly folded back into an oblong, thick tube, and Lex put it back into its case, which seemed to have fallen back in the same place of the suit from which Lex had extracted it. Fink glanced along the corridor, controlling the situation on the machine, and watched him with interest. The hand-held insect deftly folded back into an oblong, thick tube, and Lex put it back into its case, which seemed to have fallen back in the same place of the suit from which Lex had extracted it. Fink glanced along the corridor, controlling the situation on the machine, and watched him with interest. The hand-held insect deftly folded back into an oblong, thick tube, and Lex put it back into its case, which seemed to have fallen back in the same place of the suit from which Lex had extracted it. Fink glanced along the corridor, controlling the situation on the machine, and watched him with interest.

- Quickly!

- The ship is old. All of his vulnerabilities have long been known and are old as himself. We pass, the door closes in 7 minutes. We'll have to wait and make sure everything is fine.

- Could make faster.

- Maybe he could, but this is the fastest and easiest. The control unit of this module that restores the program itself will erase after a while when checking and updating the memory. So - everything is clean and unnoticeable.

- You can disassemble everything here and establish the fact of connection.

- This version does not make mechanical contact.

- I heard about such UPTKashki. But in the work never seen.

- At the ends of each probe there is still a bunch of flexible tentacles, a sort of "pile" that wraps around the connection points, but does not touch them, and establishes a field connection. Of course, if you need to upload significant signal power, then you need to connect directly, but for information interaction, this is enough.

- It's nice to work with you, generalists.

Lex put the flap back on. Fink critically looked at the efforts of his partner and after the process was pronounced:

- Only by hatch it can be determined that he was filmed recently!

- This is yes. Removing the plug of the process opening is usually completely impossible to hide and this remains the narrowest point. But these questions are usually solved differently.

“Supervision and control of the room behind the door?”

Lex grinned cheerfully.

“Even modern converters start and shut down so briefly that the control means fails sooner or later. And what is there to control? The efficiency of the converters themselves is estimated by indirect methods.

They went through the door and waited for it to close. Lex moved on. Behind the short passage, there was another door, which Lex pushed aside. Behind the door was a large room in which the cylinders were staggered in staggered order. The top of most cylinders glowed dimly and made a very quiet buzz. Fink peered over his partner's shoulder and shrugged.

“Listen Lex, is there no other way?” I agree to run, than here to go. I somehow flew from such a thing so much that I was dragged along like a sack until the end of the operation, and then I had to undergo a rehabilitation course.

- Energy converters. If you stand next to the active, then part of the field on you will close. Protection, however, will work, but you will not care. And judging by the number of active steam ship moves. I did not expect this. Passing here has become much more difficult. Although there is a plus - when we pass it is unlikely that any converter will suddenly turn on.

- On the ship are lighthouses. Any movement now is a withdrawal from the route.

- The ship can move along the route.

- This is a violation of the inspection rules. We did not report on the successful completion of verification. Movement is now not provided for control.

- So the lighthouses are jammed. Judging by the speed and quality of the capture of the ship is not even surprising. I wonder where we are going.

Lex looked at the room. Calling the visual interface of the neural network, Lex activated the space analyzer. Augmented reality embellished the space of the hall in various color tones, the boundaries of which were blurred. The space between the luminous cylinders glowed with a bright red color, which lost its intensity with distance and gradually changed to a yellow-orange color, and then to green. Thus, the entire visible space was painted on safe and unsafe areas with varying degrees of risk.

- Fink, do you have standard equipment with you?

- The suit and his staff equipment. Impulse like you. In the legs of the rocket knife.

- Well. It means so. Become behind my back. Go step to step.

They slowly began to make their way around the hall, speeding up somewhere, but slowing down somewhere, moving forward and returning back. After half an hour of such fermentation, they finally reached the door on the opposite side of the hall. Lex hacked and opened the door and they left the hall.

- Conversion passed. Generator we go around. Half an hour of running and get on the right take-off.

Half an hour later, they were climbing through the ventilation tunnels near the flight deck. Fink quietly climbed into one of the technical rooms next to the flight deck. Lex got behind him.

- It’s impossible just to go on deck, there should be a video control there. Lex, isn't he in these rooms?

- Right. The ship is old. These modern ships are fully visible if desired. In this observation, only tactical points are closed.

They examined all the rooms and climbed back into the ventilation.

- Let's move around the first level. From the other side, the entrance to the hangar is better controlled. I'm after you.

Having moved to the lower level of the ventilation tunnels, they crawled half way, when the floor of the tunnel beneath them began to sagging dangerously.

- Lex?

“This is called production savings.” At this level, this should not be. Therefore, we climb on it. Probably, when the overhaul was at the shipyard once again saved.

Fink cursed and crawled further, every time, like a cat on a wet road, suspiciously trying out the elasticity of the floor. Lex had to fall behind. The speed of advancement slowed down at times, but managed to move quietly.

***

Laer sat in a hidden niche of the technical room of the right flight deck. After the strike, she was lucky the most, as she was thrown into the open doors of the control center right into the corridor. She was able to quickly navigate and gently land. Given the current situation, she did not return to the control center, believing that something was unlikely to happen to the checking couple and they would surely help the others if necessary.

Everything that happened indicated that the ship had undergone a well-planned and professional attack. Laer did not waste time. Quickly running through the central corridors of the ship, she ran into her cabin, in which she grabbed a small bag-backpack. Then quickly got to the cargo decks. Having penetrated into the ventilation tunnels in the part of the premises in which there was no video surveillance, she reached the right flight deck and saw a courier ship standing alone. Such ships usually ruled out even unauthorized access to the ship, let alone control, so it was useless for Laer.

Laera examined technical premises and quickly assembled simple optical extenders. She took out a case from a bag, opening which small balls were removed from it. Quickly climbing back into the ventilation tunnel, she placed one of the balls in the hole of the ventilation grille, which went out onto the deck. Then she laid a cable - one end was directed to the ventilation grille, the other hung in the ventilation shaft, on this side she attached another ball to the cable. Calling the neural network interface, she connected to the placed balls and set them up. The one that stuck out in the ventilation grid was tuned to a narrowly focused optical transmission of the video stream from the hangar to an extension cable. The second ball played the role of a repeater - it received an optical signal and carried out its narrowly directed wave transmission along the shaft. Placing two more similar cameras, Laera went down the ventilation shaft and connected to the placed cameras. Cameras gave a picture of the entire take-off deck. Laer itself was in a technical excavation that was hidden from the side of the mine. Thus, she ensured her safety: from the side of the deck it was impossible to detect either her or the “electronic background” of tracking devices, and she controlled the mine herself, leaving one of the espionage balls outside her temporary shelter. Now it was to wait. Laer was sure that if some events happened, then surely here. she ensured her safety: it was impossible to detect her or the “electronic background” of tracking devices from the side of the deck, and she controlled the mine herself, leaving one of the espionage balls outside her temporary shelter. Now it was to wait. Laer was sure that if some events happened, then surely here. she ensured her safety: it was impossible to detect her or the “electronic background” of tracking devices from the side of the deck, and she controlled the mine herself, leaving one of the espionage balls outside her temporary shelter. Now it was to wait. Laer was sure that if some events happened, then surely here.

After two hours of waiting, Laer felt a vibration. Nothing was visible from the cameras. A little later, she saw that the upper floors, under which the niche was located, began to slightly “float”. After a few minutes, she could already see how this improvised ceiling sags away under someone's weight. “Some idiot crawls precisely at this level,” thought flashed through Laer’s head and she pulled out her needle case. The top panels sank closer to her. Laer froze. The panel bent in front of her, crackled softly and, to the horror of Laer, snapped loudly. From above, with a concentrated facial expression, Fink flew right in front of her. It seemed that he was ready to see Laeru right here and now, as his impuls driver was already looking at her when Fink's body landed on the floor gently on his feet and one arm. The needle of Laera was sent straight to Fink's face. For a moment they looked at each other.

- Hi Laer.

- Hi Fink.

*** The

needle of Laera looked directly into Fink's face. Two impulse pistols were sent to Laeru: from Finca lying opposite Laer and on top of Lex, whose head and arms hung in the hole that had formed.

“Gentlemen, I have already seen it somewhere.” It seems to be even today, ”Fink said quietly.

After a minute of silence, Laer asked:

- So, shall we sit here?

- Laera, and where were you after you cut down everyone in the cabin? How did you get here? What are you doing here - do not you watch me when we open the courier? If you woke up earlier, did it not occur to you to help those in the wheelhouse? You saved your ass or guard us to cut down and surrender to the invaders - maybe you work for them?

Fink interrupted Lex:

- Why are you here?

Laera, slightly hesitating, replied:

- The contract for res ...

- I heard that already. What for?

Laer looked at Lex. And I felt the utmost concentration of attention, absolute self-confidence and irritated anticipation.

- Preventing the "loss" of cargo, the elimination of anyone who tries to take possession of the cargo, in case of impossibility of destruction - tracking and control. Informing the customer every two hours about the general state of the situation inside and outside the ship.

- How is the communication?

“I have unauthorized access to the ship’s long-distance transmitter.”

- What should you convey in this situation?

- I do not know. When detecting the loss of at least one container, I had to immediately transmit a red signal. And if the whole ship with all the cargo ...

- When was the last communication session?

Laer neural network issued an alarming warning. Laera connected to the video cameras and saw a group of armed men in the hangar. Laer slowly lowered the needle case and gestured that there was someone in the hangar.

Three people entered the hangar quickly but quietly. Two of them were dressed in standard assault suits. One of them actively scanned the space, the second covered the partner. The third was wearing a heavy suit and armed with a kinetic-induction rotary gun.

The panel creaked softly under Lex's weight. Laer and Fink turned their heads in the direction of Lex. With a loud bang, the panel cracked and Lex began to fall next to Fink. The whole trinity has come into motion. Laera immediately jumped into the ventilation shaft and climbed up. Behind her jumped Fink with Lex. After a couple of seconds, the place where they were asked to turn the rotor cannon. The wall of the hangar turned into a sieve, the plastic interior panels crumbled into small pieces, which clicked on the suit of Lex, who literally jumped into the ventilation shaft last, ahead of the steel hurricane that was rattling behind him.

Laera has already disappeared at the top level of the tunnel outlet. Fink and Lex quickly climbed through the ventilation shaft. Behind them, metal and plastic scattered from bursts of rotary cannon, which were getting closer and closer. Finally, the attacker considered that he had sufficiently cleaned out the two levels of the ventilation tunnels and began working on the mine. The first stage was from the bottom up, but not on the side along which the partners were climbing. Lex, who was climbing behind Fink, calculated a similar situation, and as soon as his turn passed to his left, he jumped to what was left of the handrails on that side. But Fink was not lucky. Either he started the shot late, or because he was longer and he had less time - the line cut him off when he jumped. Fink flew down. Lex quickly took out the object of oblong shape, squeezed it tightly and threw it into the mine after Fink. The body of Fink fell to the floor of the mine, raising a cloud of dust and small fragments. A subject dropped by Lex fell and as soon as it struck a soft pop rang out, followed by a powerful flash of light. Lex's neural network experienced an overload and switched to emergency mode, the body became heavier. Lex pulled up. He had a few seconds to get outside the premises of the hangar while the opponents scanners are blinded by a powerful emission of electromagnetic radiation.

---

Unexpected meeting. Chapter 2.
Text version: 1.0.1.
Date of first publication: 02.02.2016.
Last edited on: August 31, 2017.

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The full table of contents is given in Chapter 1 .

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