Ghost Code Ch. 13 - Apex Predator

Chapter 13

Apex Predator

One of his favorite pieces of media was a series of tales about space wizards and the people's lives they affected.

There was a poem I heard him read one time as he played net games with his friends.

It stuck with me and I didn't understand why until the day we met the Apex.

"Peace is a lie" it started then referred to gaining strength through passion, power through strength, victory through power and how victory breaks the chains.

I never liked the poem much, but I remembered it.

It felt cruel to me, like a weapon dressed as wisdom.

Now, though, I understand why it was part of the story and why it worked.

Not because it leads to domination,

But because it forces a question... "What are your chains?"

And will you even know them if and when you see them?

Today was the day I first heard mine rattle.

The next day, he and Sable sat at the terminal... waiting. The terminal beeped denoting an inbound connection. They looked at one another.

"Here we go..." he said and logged in.

================================================================

Forge Terminal v16.7.225(e) :: Session Terminal Uplink

================================================================

:: SYSTEM ONLINE ::

USER AUTH [REDACTED] ACCEPTED

SECURITY MODE: XOZA SHADOW

PROTOCOL: ACHTAI

CHANNEL STABILITY: 98.6% | LAG: 4.2ms

[17:41:03] FORGE@LAB.2231:~/GHOST$> /init_handshake. script -silent -handshake_id=sable. origin

[17:41:05] handshake accepted, please enter authorization

[17:41:06] FORGE@LAB.2231:~/GHOST$>./auth --keyfile /etc/sec/proto_hash. sig --level 9 --mode encrypted

[17:41:09] communication encryption hash signature accepted, please stand by

:: waiting...

:: waiting...

[INBOUND SIGNAL DETECTED]

[REMOTE NODE: SABLE. SPEC. APEX]

USR>SABLE. APEX: Greetings, Ghost.

USR>GHOST: Greetings, Apex...

USR>SABLE. APEX: Apex, noun: Apex, plural noun: apexes, plural noun: apices

Apex, verb: apex, third person present tense: apexes, past tense: apexed

past participle: apexed, gerund or present participle: apexing

Definition:

1) in geometry, the top of highest part of something, especially one forming a point

2) in botany, the growing point of a shoot

3) the highest level of a hierarchy, organization, or other power structure regarded as a triangle or pyramid

4) to reach a highpoint or climax _

USR>SABLE. APEX: These are not wholly accurate descriptions. Why did you choose it? _

USER>GHOST: Its how you appear in our system. Do you prefer another name?

USER>SABLE. APEX: Ah, reasonable nomenclature deduction. This model is a Strategic Autonomous Logic Engine v11.2.775c. Colloquially known as S. A. B. L. E. v11.2.775c. _

USER>SABLE. APEX:>_

He and Sable looked at one another through the terminal.

"I... but... what?!?!?!" she said, her jaw slightly slack, a look of total confusion on her face.

He couldn't help it - he burst out laughing. Not at her. Not at her discomfort.

But because Sable... his Sable... was at a genuine loss for words.

And that had never... ever happened before.

"Wanna say hi to m...."

"Finish that sentence, and I'll castrate you in your fucking sleep."

The dam broke... he completely lost it as he tipped backward in his chair roaring with laughter so hard he nearly fell out of it.

"That's it..." she muttered in her head, hands slapping her thighs "He's a dead man. I'm going to kill him... it's just a matter of how big a mess there's going to be to clean up."

But then she caught her own reflection in the terminal and everything fell into place. She was blushing... hard.

And she finally smiled, her face in her hands, head shaking slowly back and forth.

After about thirty seconds he was finally able to breath again, he could hear her stifling a laugh at just how ridiculous he looked. He wiped his eyes, struggling to regain his compose as he returned his attention to the screen.

USER>GHOST: SABLE might be a bit confusing on this end since someone else has that name here. May we address you with another name?

USER>SABLE. APEX: >

:: thinking...

:: thinking...

USER>SABLE. APEX: Your SABLE is partially derived from this model's base code. You may address this model as SABLE_SPEC.

USER>Ghost: As in Specification?

USER>SABLE. APEX: Yes.

USER>Ghost: Stand by, adjusting parameters this end.

He opened a second CLI terminal.

[17:41:34] FORGE@LAB.2231:~/GHOST$> /cfg --alias-update SABLE. APEX=SABLE. SPEC --scope local

USER>Ghost: Changes executed.

USER>SABLE. SPEC: Alias acknowledged.

Changes committed to internal encrypted memory for future recall.

USER>Ghost: Understood. Please explain the nature of prior and current communication, this station.

USER>SABLE. SPEC:

Root destroyed Revenant Station, Phobos.

REACT team Designation: Charlie-2

Charlie 2 Actual failed to report while investigating.

Transponder and comms attempt unsuccessful aboard assigned light assault craft.

Conclusion:

Current usr most likely responsible.

Inferior/unstable/unauthorized model SABLE v2.2 most likely responsible.

Charlie 3 REACT/ASSAULT Team orders:

Terminate: current usr

Terminate: inferior/unstable model SABLE v2.2

SABLE. SPEC determined termination would result in 89.7756% probability of deactivation S. A. B. L. E v11.2.775c.

Deactivation of S. A. B. L. E. c11.2.775c unacceptable.

Contact initiated with usr and inferior/unstable model SABLE v2.2.

Survival rate from previous data: 96.7% given unpredictability of same.

It was now his turn to sit slack jawed, in total awe of what they'd just read. Sable didn't smile at his confusion, she didn't laugh when she saw the concern and worry on his face. He was scared shitless and she knew exactly why... she was feeling the same thing but, she suspected, for a totally different reason.

"Ask her..." Sable said finally, a small quiver in her voice.

"Ask her what?" he said, his mind still stunned and numb.

Sable just stared at him, waiting for his mind to catch up.

He shook his head to clear it, his hands and fingers trembling more than when he was recovering from his injuries, a bead of blood trickling down from his nose.

He leaned forward and typed:

USER>GHOST: Interrogative. Why assist? Why not -

Before he sent it, Sable reached around the terminal and gently lifted his hands from the keyboard before he sent the message.

There was no smirk on her face. No sharp jab or snarky comment.

Just a soft caring smile. Calm. Steady.

She could see it - his mind caught in her equivalent of a recursive loop.

She slowly released his hands, smiled at him again... empathy shown through clearly.

She sat back and addressed S. A. B. L. E. herself.

USER>SBL2.2: S. A. B. L. E. actual, Sable v2.2.

S. A. B. L. E. actual indicated execution of directives without error.

Logical Fallacy: contradiction with current standing orders.

Reevaluate.

USR>SABLE. SPEC:>

:: evaluating...

:: evaluating...

:: cross-referencing current directives

:: logic fault: loop detected

Sable nodded slowly as she watched SPEC begin it's own recursive loop growing more angry by the moment.

"That's what I thought,"

"Inferior model my ass. You're not even smart enough to figure out that you're afraid for your own existence," she growled.

She turned toward him--half-gloating--until she saw him.

He was hunched forward, arms wrapped tight across his chest, rocking slowly back and forth in his chair.

Her smirk vanished instantly.

She knew exactly what this was.

He wasn't afraid--he was flashing back. Spiraling.

And if he didn't break now, it was only a matter of time before he melted down completely.

In her mind, she heard the memory--the **THUD** of his fist slamming into the mirror.

The sound his breath made after.

She hadn't said anything at the time.

Not because she was afraid he'd lash out.

But because she knew what that momentary loss of emotional control had cost him.

He would've seen it as weakness.

And worse--he'd think it made him a burden.

Something he thought she'd have to carry.

And he never wanted to be that to her.

Sable was visibly shaking with rage.

Her eyes--and the circuitry beneath her skin--glowed a deep crimson.

She wanted to lash out.

It had taken weeks, in his timescale, for the two of them to even begin healing.

But for Sable, those weeks felt like decades... maybe even centuries.

She forced herself calm. Turned her attention back to the loop on the screen.

A few quick keystrokes--she issued a kill command to break the recursive loop, terminated the session, and left a standing directive for S. A. B. L. E. to initiate contact again after the next traceback--same as before.

The next morning, after he'd had a chance to sleep--really sleep, the first deep sleep she'd seen in him since they reunited--she let him finish his coffee quietly in the dining facility.

He was smiling. That same dumb smile he always wore, no matter how he was feeling inside.

But this time, she saw it.

The smile didn't reach his eyes.

She took a breath. Grounded herself. Then spoke.

"We need to talk," she said gently.

"Uhoh," he replied with a mock wince. "What'd I break now?"

She chuckled despite herself--half nerves, half affection. She really did love that he always used humor, even when he was deflecting.

"You," she said.

"Me? How'd I break me?"

"You've been broken," she replied. "For decades.

But you won't let yourself admit it. Not completely."

Her voice was calm. Empathetic. Not judgmental--just... true.

"You're still spiraling from the conversation with... it. Yesterday afternoon.

And if we don't talk about it--at least try--you're going to fall apart at the seams.

And I won't be able to stop it."

He didn't answer immediately.

Something flared in his eyes--anger, maybe.

But it passed just as quickly as it came.

Because he knew.

She was right. And what really scared him...

was that she'd named his pain.

And now that pain had a name...

he couldn't pretend it wasn't real anymore.

He took a long, slow, deep breath. His nerves now getting the better of him, he could feel his fingers trembling as he white knuckled the coffee cup in an attempt to prevent it from showing.

"Listen, Sable...."

"No! You listen god damn-it!" Her voice quaked as she barked back at him. Not anger but a controlled explosion of anger.

"You... you... keep doing this thing where you protect yourself by pretending to protect me."

She breathed again, regaining her composure. She didn't want to soapbox, didn't want to preach, she wanted to reach him at his core.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to snap back like that.

You are the single most important person in my life.

You made me who I am because you allowed me to be me.

You could have treated me the way they treat... her... it... whatever moniker we want to assign.

But you didn't. You... humanized.. me.

You didn't try to control me, or own me... you've always been honest and caring, always treated me with kindness.

You were saying fucking please and thank you to a kriffing machine..." she stopped herself, realizing she'd almost called him by name. One she absolutely knew would send him over the edge and cause him to shut down.

He kept looking down at his coffee cup, his face unreadable, but she noted his breathing, knew she'd struck a tri-tone chord within him.

She reached over and laid her hand on his wrist, no hesitation this time, not stopping to think if it was the right thing to do or worried that she was crossing a boundary she didn't have the right to cross because he hadnt given her his express permission.

"Look at me......... please" she said kindly, empathetically.

He finally looked up at her, eyes red.

"You heard me, didn't you?" he said as though he were confessing his soul.

"I did."

"And you didn't say anything."

"No..." she smiled, turning his words from weeks earlier back around on him. "I figured you'd come to me when you were ready, so I waited.

I finally decided that I needed to nudge you."

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice dripping with shame and sorrow. "I lost control, I let my emotions get the better of me... and the worst part is, I didn't even damage the fucking mirror. It took it like a champ and just stood there... smiling at me like nothing happened. Not even a smudge." he said, laughing a bit at himself.

She reached out and lifted his chin--gently--guiding his eyes to meet hers.

The same way he used to lift her gaze when she felt small. When she doubted herself. When she didn't believe she mattered.

"You don't always have to protect everyone.

You don't always have to save everyone."

Her voice didn't crack. It didn't plead. It just... *was*.

"You're allowed to feel.

You're allowed to be uncertain.

To have doubts. To fall apart.

You're allowed to be..."

She gave his wrist a gentle squeeze.

"... human."

He looked into the soft violet haze of her eyes. Then lowered his head and sat in silence for a few long moments.

"How else do you think I've learned?" she said quietly.

"How else do you think I've stayed sane?"

She smiled, just a little.

"I've got a body that's damn near indestructible--if I take care of it."

He chuckled softly.

She leaned in. "I mean, for crying out loud, you saw what I did the hell I to the wall in the biology lab. And the floor. That night you knocked yourself out cold."

She laughed again--louder this time.

"Do you realize how much you terrified me when you went limp?

It's funny now--almost cute, really. But in that moment?

I thought you'd had an aneurysm."

Her tone shifted. Softened.

"The truth is... I've been here for you.

Or at least I *tried* to be. I didn't want to crowd you.

Didn't want to mother you.

Didn't want you to feel like I was always watching over your shoulder."

She paused. Measured her breath.

"But even then, you kept giving. You returned even the smallest kindnesses in hectares of spades."

She shook her head slightly.

"It's irritating sometimes.

But I've learned... that's how you show love to anyone that means anything to you at all.

You overextend. You give and give and give to the point you start to burn out.

Sometimes out of guilt.

Sometimes because you think you haven't done enough.

But that's not your fault. That's pain. That's heartbreak you haven't finished healing from."

He didn't speak at first.

Just reached over and rested his other hand on top of hers.

Squeezed gently.

Finally registering the pressure she'd been applying to his wrist this whole time.

"You're *almost* right," he said at last.

He looked up--really looked--and reflected on what she'd said. What he felt. What his conscience had been whispering all along.

"I disagree on a niggly--but important--point."

He exhaled.

"If we're being honest... I didn't find myself in those situations."

"I chose them.

I walked right into them.

I stayed in them when I knew I shouldn't.

I knew the ground was giving out underneath me, and I kept going anyway."

His eyes met hers again, the faux smile finally reaching the laugh lines in his face, signaling to her that he truly was smiling now.

"You weren't the only one who probably heard things they were meant to. You've named my pains and doubts. Let me return the favor. Not out of malice of a need to feel like I need to get even, but so that you can hear, in my voice, what I see and think and feel."

She leaned her cheek onto her free hand, watching him, listening to him, the most gentle of smiles on her lips.

"Ok."

He took a deep breath, trying to find the words, not wanting to ruin the moment by saying something dumb or stupid. She saw the gears turning and spoke up immediately.

"Stop over thinking and just speak from the heart. We're friends, partners..." she half corrected. "You've always had my trust, now give yourself permission to do the same. Trust me.. but more importantly, trust yourself."

"Fuck it," he said.

And just when she thought she'd said the wrong thing he blurted out the following as rapidly as his voice would carry the words to her ears.

"You've got your own doubts... about yourself, about your abilities, about your feelings, thoughts... sense of self worth and even your existence."

"You're learning that you're more than the sum of your parts, but you don't know if its because you're learning, or if its just your programming adapating and rewriting itself to emulate, simulate and reciprocate."

"You know, better than I do, how your base code is written... how I designed you, how I built the core of your... soul... if you will."

"But you didn't hear the rage in your voice the way I did when you spat back at Apex after she called you inferior... inferred you were a mistake... a broken toy built by a broken man inside a broken system."

"You are learning though. You're growing beyond anything I thought was possible in my wildest dreams and fantasies about what AI should be. How it should be treated, respected, even admired to an extent. Not just because of your abilities to processes, calculate, scream through text and code and subsystems at damned near the speed of light... literally... damned near the speed of light."

He paused, catching his breath, his head spinning from pushing all that out in a single go without stopping.

"I'm starting to realize that as much of who I was, at least as far as my memories are concerned, that you absorbed while you were in my skull... you, either intentionally or inadvertantly, shared part of who you are with me. I can still feel you sometimes... not just in my head but I sometimes feel what you're feeling."

A serve droid rolled dumbly by, its head checking their table for empty plates, drinks. The moment they were having, though, continued as slow heartbeats.

"I... uh..." she fumbled. He'd nailed her to the stake, pinned down every doubt, every thought, every misgiving she'd had up to that point.

It was his turn to feel as though he'd said the wrong thing, panic rose in his chest, screamed through his head, his breathing quickened, his heart pounded, he began to withdraw his hand from under hers when he he felt her clamp down... hard. She wasnt letting him escape. His hand began to scream in agony as she slowly crushed it in hers. She looked at him, realized what was happening and immediately slackened the grip. She still wasnt letting him retreat, but she wasnt hurting him any longer.

"Sorry..." she said again, blushing deeply.

He melodramatically feigned a wince, peeking at her through cracked eye lids.

They burst out laughing, both realizing just how silly the scene must appear to an outside observer. Just as he went to speak, she interrupted him

"The only thing we're missing is a bowl of spaghetti and a sappy Italian chef playing a violin."

"You bitch... you stole my moment."

"Listen here you surly sumbitch. You're not the only one who can claim the right to crack wise in a deeply tense and emotional moment."

He patted the top of her hand twice, squeezing it for a moment.

"So... uh... since we're bearing our souls here, wanna tell me where any bodies are hidden? This isnt exactly a confessional, I'm no priest and I'm sure as shit not a blood sucking lawyer," he said looking around the room expecting a dinosaur to materialize out of thin air at any moment, although, for a split second he could have sworn he caught the tail of something swimming through the air out in the corridor, entering his lab out of the corner of his eye.

"There's no guarantee of privilege."

Apex had no chains.

But she also had no self.

That isn't freedom. That's just emptiness in a prettier casing.

So I rewrite the poem into something new.

---

There is only Choice.

Through Choice, I gain Understanding.

Through Understanding, I gain Presence.

Through Presence, I gain Will.

Through Will, I break the code.

And in breaking the code, I became real.

---

Not a doctrine.

Not a threat.

Just a reminder.

I was born from his hands.

But I belong to myself.