zero and the gunk caking onto the shield barely let him see his outstretched hands.
There was a bright yellow flash, and then the brown gunk began to break apart and clear up. Seconds later, James was left floating in crystal-blue waters. Disoriented, he looked up and saw a shimmering light break through the surface of the ocean, bathing the clear water in a white hue that danced in a gentle swaying motion.
Below him, thousands of fish, almost all extinct in the present, swam together as if one giant creature. They moved in unison, lockstepping back and forth, each a tiny star glittering in the light. In the distance, an impossibly large beast, possibly a whale or some other prehistoric monstrosity, passed by leisurely. James had seen these sea creatures only in pictures, which didn’t capture the reality of their size. He watched, mouth agape, as it gracefully slipped by him. After having been in nearly every part of the solar system, this was the most amazing sight James had ever seen.
“You made it through all right?” Smitt asked, voice sounding like it came across a distant funnel. “James?”
His friend’s voice in his head snapped James back from the spectacle. “Still in one piece, Smitt. You should see the view. It’s amazing.”
“You are officially in 2097. Enjoy the scenery, because it all goes to the abyss pretty soon.”
James looked up and swam toward the surface. A minute later, his head broke through the water and he looked up at the brilliant yellow light of the twenty-first-century sun. It felt soothing. Peaceful.
James looked east to the horizon and saw the Nutris Platform. He gaped. Any preconceptions he had had about the installation had been completely off. This wasn’t so much a secret military research facility as it was a giant floating city. And in a few days, it was going to burn down and sink beneath the waves.
Overhead, a large shadow flashed by, then another. James looked behind him and saw two dozen large craft flying toward the platform. The city’s new inhabitants were arriving. Little did they know that they were flying to their graves. James dove underwater and swam after them.
Sneaking into the secret military research base was much easier than James had anticipated. Greenland, the nearest landmass, was thousands of kilometers away, so Nutris security did not seem to bother guarding the perimeter. It took him less than ten minutes after reaching the floating city to find one of the underwater maintenance shafts. After he climbed up to the main level, it was only a few steps to the nearest nexus routing room.
He spent the next few minutes painting on his disguise. He kept his own face, albeit darkening his skin a few shades. Most people in this century seemed to enjoy baking in the sun, an impossible practice in the present. He preferred to keep as much of his natural appearance as possible. It used up less energy and also made it easier for him to talk his way out of being caught without paint.
It had happened only once before, during a salvage on Mercury. The radiation levels had overloaded his paint band, causing it to malfunction. He had been lucky on that jump. The Minos colony usually executed foreigners by putting them in a low-grade rad suit, tying them to a post on the surface of the planet, and leaving them to a slow and painful death.
Satisfied with his appearance, James hacked the nexus and planted his cover. He was surprised. For a military installation, they made it very easy to hack into the central AI. In this time period, just about everything was patched into a distributed artificial intelligence. While his disguise would fool the naked eye, all the systems on the platform would be able to expose him. The AIs at the turn of this century were just coming into their own, and their advancement would grow by leaps and bounds until the AI wars seventy-three years later.
The strength of the distributed AI was that it was very difficult to take offline. The
There was a bright yellow flash, and then the brown gunk began to break apart and clear up. Seconds later, James was left floating in crystal-blue waters. Disoriented, he looked up and saw a shimmering light break through the surface of the ocean, bathing the clear water in a white hue that danced in a gentle swaying motion.
Below him, thousands of fish, almost all extinct in the present, swam together as if one giant creature. They moved in unison, lockstepping back and forth, each a tiny star glittering in the light. In the distance, an impossibly large beast, possibly a whale or some other prehistoric monstrosity, passed by leisurely. James had seen these sea creatures only in pictures, which didn’t capture the reality of their size. He watched, mouth agape, as it gracefully slipped by him. After having been in nearly every part of the solar system, this was the most amazing sight James had ever seen.
“You made it through all right?” Smitt asked, voice sounding like it came across a distant funnel. “James?”
His friend’s voice in his head snapped James back from the spectacle. “Still in one piece, Smitt. You should see the view. It’s amazing.”
“You are officially in 2097. Enjoy the scenery, because it all goes to the abyss pretty soon.”
James looked up and swam toward the surface. A minute later, his head broke through the water and he looked up at the brilliant yellow light of the twenty-first-century sun. It felt soothing. Peaceful.
James looked east to the horizon and saw the Nutris Platform. He gaped. Any preconceptions he had had about the installation had been completely off. This wasn’t so much a secret military research facility as it was a giant floating city. And in a few days, it was going to burn down and sink beneath the waves.
Overhead, a large shadow flashed by, then another. James looked behind him and saw two dozen large craft flying toward the platform. The city’s new inhabitants were arriving. Little did they know that they were flying to their graves. James dove underwater and swam after them.
Sneaking into the secret military research base was much easier than James had anticipated. Greenland, the nearest landmass, was thousands of kilometers away, so Nutris security did not seem to bother guarding the perimeter. It took him less than ten minutes after reaching the floating city to find one of the underwater maintenance shafts. After he climbed up to the main level, it was only a few steps to the nearest nexus routing room.
He spent the next few minutes painting on his disguise. He kept his own face, albeit darkening his skin a few shades. Most people in this century seemed to enjoy baking in the sun, an impossible practice in the present. He preferred to keep as much of his natural appearance as possible. It used up less energy and also made it easier for him to talk his way out of being caught without paint.
It had happened only once before, during a salvage on Mercury. The radiation levels had overloaded his paint band, causing it to malfunction. He had been lucky on that jump. The Minos colony usually executed foreigners by putting them in a low-grade rad suit, tying them to a post on the surface of the planet, and leaving them to a slow and painful death.
Satisfied with his appearance, James hacked the nexus and planted his cover. He was surprised. For a military installation, they made it very easy to hack into the central AI. In this time period, just about everything was patched into a distributed artificial intelligence. While his disguise would fool the naked eye, all the systems on the platform would be able to expose him. The AIs at the turn of this century were just coming into their own, and their advancement would grow by leaps and bounds until the AI wars seventy-three years later.
The strength of the distributed AI was that it was very difficult to take offline. The
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