“A coup? Don’t you think that’s a little…”
Shen-7 bent her head forward.
“Dramatic?” Kasso finished.
Shen-7 folded her gleaming metal arms. “What would you call it then?”
“A reimagining,” Kasso said with a grin. The day’s thirteenth sunrise cast harsh shadows across his face through the wall-sized window. It was a spectacular view, a privilege of his rank. He leaned back in his chair and observed the terminator crossing Tso Moriri in Old Tibet. The alluvial fans looked like the fallen leaves of space-elevator-sized ginkgos.
Shen-7 guffawed, an unusual mannerism for an android. It was distinctly human, a tell of her equally distinct and unusual origins. “The Counsel will never stand for this.”
“Well, yes, that’s something of the point, isn’t it? Look, Shen, I have tremendous respect for you and your fraction-sisters, and in particular your demonstrated ability to secure consensus where none appears feasible. This is why I’ve asked you here. But this is a precarious age we’re living in, and there won’t be any room for the gray in the fallout. I must have your support now, your complete commitment, or I will be forced to stand against you.”
Shen-7 did not answer. Did not move. Her quantum thoughts forked and branched and overlapped. Her mind was interference, just as all intelligent minds are.
The massive station thrummed. Louder, more intensely than usual. This was something more than the angular forces responsible for the sense of gravity. This was—
The station bucked violently. Furniture and documents and the décor meant to provide a sense of civility all launched into the air—as did Kasso and Shen-7—and in the air all of them remained. Various alarms engaged in a shouting match, each demanding urgent attention.
Kasso’s face reddened, and not only for centrifugal collapse. “You! What have you done?!”
“Call it a reimagining,” Shen-7 said. She bounced from the ceiling and realigned her external field lines, magnetically binding herself to the surface and standing amidst the chaos.
“I hope you live long enough to regret this,” Kasso spat.
Shen-7’s cold mechanical eyes held Kasso’s. “I cannot offer you the same,” she said, and transformed her arm into a kinetic cannon, firing a small slug at the window—careful to avoid the Earth—at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light.
The hatch snapped shut, and the maelstrom of sucking air and detritus quickly overwhelmed the heavily reinforced window, shattering it into a glinting constellation against the black. Kasso was swept along in silence.
Shen-7 walked to the window, stepped out, and continued along the outside of the station toward the waiting interceptor piloted by Shen-12.
Warmup Pages 