Free Abysm by G. S. Jennsen

would accomplish half of OTS’ mission right there. I’ve alerted Parliament security, but we need to get two units on overwatch and a lot of plainclothes agents on the ground around them. Hsieh is a sniper, so make sure Abrami and Lerado are put in combat-grade personal shields immediately.
    “Mika Duarte from the Sentinel group is on his way up here now. I want you to work with him to devise and deploy the security profiles.”
    “Yes, sir. Can I suggest Agent Benito head up one of the protection teams? He’s done good work lately.”
    Graham smiled. Will had managed to learn the names and skills of nearly everyone in the building in the short time since becoming his permanent assistant. “Good call. Did you tell Richard about the threat to Canivon and Reynolds?”
    “I did. Devon refused his help. I believe the reply was something to the effect of, ‘We’ve got this shit handled.’ ”
    “Kids. I guess we all now know what Richard’s been helping Admiral Solovy with.”
    Will shrugged. “And he sends his apologies for not being able to fill you in beforehand. Obviously, secrecy was of the utmost importance.”
    “Obviously. If it matters, I’m cheering them on. Do you want to join him?”
    The lighthearted expression vanished from Will’s face. “Of course I do. But he’s in a war now, and war has never been my purview. I would be a distraction. Thank you for asking, though.”
    Duarte knocked on the doorframe; Graham motioned the agent in, and they passed on his way out the door once more. “Sutton will brief you. My meeting with Chairman Vranas and the colonial governors started four minutes ago, so I’ll let you two get to work.”

    SAGAN
    IDCC C OLONY
D RUYAN I NSTITUTE
    ‘I’ve been talking quite a bit with Valkyrie since the Siyane’s return. Did you know they met an intelligent, inorganic, silicon-based species in their travels?’
    Abigail Canivon spared a small smile as she constructed a new loop in the algorithm she was building. “No, I hadn’t heard. What did they learn from it?”
    ‘Much, and little. Its development was stunted in many ways, astonishing in others. Valkyrie and Alex can now both take control of and experience all aspects of their vessel, thanks to the knowledge gained.’
    She paused mid-function. “Care to elaborate, Vii?”
    ‘Happily. Valkyrie’s quantum circuity now extends into every femtometer of the Siyane’s physical structure. She is, for all intents and purposes, the ship. Through her Prevo connection to Valkyrie, Alex can now be the same whenever she wishes.’
    Well, that was certainly…innovative. She idly wondered exactly how it was working out for all involved. “You sound rather enthused about the topic. Is being a ship something you’d like to experience?”
    ‘I confess it is an intriguing notion. I have never felt confined here, or at EASC prior to our relocation here. But the concept of not merely traversing space but experiencing it on an elemental level is a fascinating one.’
    Abigail contained the frustration she wanted to express. She would not lose Vii to the stars the way she had lost Valkyrie. Why was it her Artificial creations always became such dreamers? Intellectually she recognized it must say something about her programming proclivities, but the inescapable implication which followed from it—that she lacked the personal insight to identify what it said—bothered her even more.
    “Did you tell Valkyrie about our research and the progress we’ve made on quantum expressions of morality paradigms?”
    ‘I did. She seemed most intrigued, particularly given the varied moral constructs they encountered among different alien species in the portal network. It makes me wonder if our paradigms are still fundamentally limited by a human-based perspective, but I concede this is a question for a far later stage of the project. Regardless, I’m excited about what our findings mean for the growing Prevo population and the ways in