Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 45
"Gentlemen," a voice emanated from the overhead speakers. "We've met before, in a manner of speaking. You may remember me as Cas, the lovable AI embedded in the Key you found aboard your ship that activated the Machine."
"Oh, shit," Twingo mumbled. "I should have stayed in bed."
Over the next four hours—only two of which Crusher was awake for—Cas explained how it came to exist, what Jason carried in his head, and why it was critical they find some sort of solution before the neural degradation became critical. Once the full weight of what the Archive really was sank in, the others looked utterly horrified.
"That should just be deleted and we purge your implant," Twingo said.
"I'm inclined to agree…we can't let the weapons technology that file contains out into the wild," Doc said. "Jason, this archive in your head is probably the most dangerous thing in the entire galaxy."
"You think I'm keeping it in my head because I'm too cheap to put it on a datacard and toss it in my sock drawer?" Jason asked. "I—and now you—have a responsibility for this since we were the ones that let the Machine out of its prison when we destroyed that weapon. Yes, it contains the specifics of their weapons tech, but it's also their entire history of culture, art, music, and science…everything that was unique about them is in there. If we delete it, then it will be like they never existed."
"Pretty words, but if the ConFed cuts your head off and gets the schematics for another superweapon and takes out Earth, will you still be so philosophical about it?" Crusher asked.
"The Archive is actually coded to Jason's DNA and alpha waves," Cas said. "Without him consciously doing it, the file cannot be unpacked or accessed."
"I didn't know that," Jason admitted.
"It was one of the changes I made when trying to stabilize your implant," Cas said. "For right now, his head is the safest place for it to be. The fact that nobody but him even knew it existed, including the Machine AI itself, made it a secret that couldn't be divulged…until now. Now, you are the weak links that could lead to someone finding out about this."
"I already don't like your passenger," Crusher said. "How do we know you won't sell us out? You're a scrap of software from the same system that spawned the Machine AI. How do we know we can trust you?"
"I feel my actions trying to save your Captain speak for themselves."
"Hardly," Doc said. "If he dies, you die. That's just self-preservation instincts kicking in. Even a swamp rat has that sort of loyalty when its own life it at stake."
"Point taken," Cas said. "However, if I was going to sell you all out, I could have done so at any time in the past since I became self-aware."
"Let's shelve the talk about loyalty for now," Jason said, glaring at Crusher. "Especially coming from people who were going to punch me in my sleep."
"It was for your own good."
"Let me begin working up a solution to either stabilize or replace the implant before we go on," Doc said. "Once we have that, we can begin hurling accusations again."
"We're only a day out from the Cluster and meeting back up with Mok," Jason said. "Better get busy. Kage, for now I want you to allow Cas access over the network to help Doc. You can implement any other security measures you deem necessary if you feel you must."
"Will do," Kage said.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed," Jason said. "The next person that tries sneaking into my quarters gets shot."
The next day went by quickly as the Phoenix streaked back towards occupied Eshquarian space. Doc and Cas worked the entire time to come up with a workable solution. In the end, they found that it wasn't going to be as difficult as they first predicted. The Type-3 implants had built in provisions for expansion in both processing power and memory, two things that Jason desperately needed while Cas was in his head along with the Archive. They found out Mok was on a planet called Formenos Prime, yet another of the old Eshquarian holdings that was never technically part of the Empire, and the place was developed enough that they were able to access the Nexus and pre-order the necessary upgrade components from an Aidla Technologies distributor that promised to meet them at whichever starport they landed.
"Why is Mok on Formenos?" Crusher asked.
"When a major power falls, that creates instability," Jason said. "Mok's business model depends on stable governments running worlds in a nice, predictable way. I'm guessing he's here to make sure that his underlings don't think the rules have changed just because there's a new landlord."
"Yeah, when the big boss himself pays you a visit, it tends to keep the skimming to a minimum," Kage said. "I've worked on a couple planets that had the local governments collapse. If it wasn't for the Central Banking System being an independent entity it would have been an even bigger nightmare than it was. Still…unrest and uncertainty make people a lot more cautious, and cautious people are way more difficult to steal from."
"Sometimes I forget that you were a filthy, bottom feeding criminal before we found you," Crusher said.
"Really? Because you bring it up all the time," Kage said.
"We've just gotten clearance to land," Doc called over the intercom.
"I'm on my way," Jason said, hopping off the couch and jogging up the stairs to the command deck. He slid