Excerpt: The Sol War

He was taking a particularly large bite when his phone rang. A transparent display appeared in from of him, projected onto his eye by his electronic contact lenses. Lennart stared at the name and number dejectedly; it Adam Benlow, one of his correspondents. Being interrupted during lunch only meant that this was incredibly important and stressful, the very last thing Lennart wanted at lunch. He reached up and activated his phone.

“What‘s the news, Adam?”

“That‘s disgusting, are you eating?”

Lennart chewed for a bit and swallowed “You bet, what‘s the news?”

“The mission to Rome II has failed catastrophically. Only one of the ships returned, with only a pilot and incomplete data from the station.”

“Shit, that‘s not good.”

“Could you please stop chewing?”

“No. Why is it important that I know about this? Shouldn't be contacting someone in the Intelligence Agency?”

“I already have, and what they‘ve turned up is what‘s important to you. A man named Immolen Pract left the station during a lock-down. He was a civilian, so we must assume that he left against the will of MEST, but get this: He‘s a MEST loyalist.”

“Get to the point.”

“His name‘s turned up in New York. He docked with the coastal spaceport yesterday afternoon, and checked in at the street-level Cress hotel. We need you to go and talk the guy, find out what he knows.”

“Adam, I‘m an ambassador, not a spook.”

“Do you think a MEST loyalist would talk to a spook? We need you to convince him that it‘s a matter of inter-planetary relations.”

“Even though it isn‘t?”

“Well, it is on some level. The military needs to know where to point it’s gun.”

“Wonderful.”

“Are you eating at that natural-beef BS restaurant again?”

“I might be.”

“Enjoy your cow flesh.”

“Bug off.”

Call ended.

The Cress Hotel is the cheapest, seediest, most scummy hotel you could hope to find. Three hundred years ago it was shining beacon of modern technology. The ultimate in high-tech luxury and class. The showers could read your mind and adjust their temperature and position in a moments notice. The wine was served in glasses made of a near-invisible space-age glass, making it seem as if the fine, expensive drinks simply floated to your lips. An incredibly advanced AI controlled maid would tend to your every whim, and keep everything as clean and fresh as physically possible. The food was imported, the beds were made of molecular-engineered substances that adjusted to support, massage, and sooth away your every ache and pain. It was, for a time, the most luxurious place on the planet. Then the AI maids decided to start killing people.

At the time truly self-aware AI was a fairly new development in the world of computer programming. The US government was floundering to pass legislation on the rights of AI programs, figure out the legal implications of a sentient being created solely for slave-like labor. The M.A.I.D. AI at the Cress Hotel was controversial, and several protests were held at the Hotel’s doors, but it didn’t prove a real problem until a glitch in the AI’s programming caused it to murder several important figures staying at the hotel. Since legislation on AI was so minimal at the time, the hotel only paid insurance dues on the deaths of ten people, and the AI’s programmers were convicted of first degree involuntary manslaughter and put in jail for the rest of their lives. The AI’s glitch was repressed by a coding workaround devised by a minor AI programmer of the time to rid the AI of free will and sentience, and the government had nothing more to do with it.

While the Cress Hotel didn’t take much of a legal hit, the bad press was absolutely monumental, and business plummeted. Most of the hotel’s luxurious attractions were sold to cover the falling revenue, and with the growing rift between upscale arcology living and street level culture, The Cress Hotel became the home of traveling organized crime syndicates and convicts, and as such fell into relative obscurity. The current owner has admitted that he only keeps the hotel in business because his great grandfather made him swear to on his deathbed.