Humanity's Hold, Sol, 4053.22.11 CE

23.7 megaseconds since the catastrophe

The uproar in the council room went on for a few minutes, at least. Gianetta could not have given a rational accounting of the time. Despite having come freshly to the whole scheme, she was still stunned by the enormity of Baker's news. The shock was double for the sheer whiplash of having gone from elation at the success of Phase Three to...to...this.

She made herself think the word: genocide.

Her ears were roaring, she felt light-headed, yet on another level she was also conscious of needing not to display an obvious weakness in this moment. Carpenter and Evans didn't really know which side Carson would take. Carpenter had, in fact, already begun a charm offensive against her, despite that lopsided smile.

Carson realized she must not immediately give them reason to believe she would oppose them. Not until she knew more.

Finally, Councillor Plummer managed to cut through the noise with a simple and obvious question: "What happened?!"

The room subsided to give Baker a chance to answer. Baker could have called the room to order at any time, and in his shoes, Carson would have done so almost as soon as the shouting had begun. She had to assume he had a reason for letting it run its course.

Baker took a deep breath and began. "The first stage of the plan to disrupt the TCTO went well enough. Several AIs were seen to behave oddly. Some were baselined, some were left alone—their crews deciding they were more amusing that way, maybe. This was what we'd intended, and as a council, what we ordered was that the flaw planted in the general template update be refined to produce the same results, but perhaps a little stranger.

"If it happened everywhere, it would certainly have kept the TCTO off-balance for months, possibly years, as they pulled in their resources and tried to figure out what was going on. More to the point, they likely would not have thought to discuss the oddities with others. In particular, despite hosting an advanced AI institute, they probably would not have taken their woes to David's Star, knowing that the DSR held the TCTO's style of templated, cloned AIs in mild contempt.

"The goal of Phase Two," and for this he was looking directly at Carson, the only person at the table who really might need a reminder at this point, "was not just to push the major alien powers off balance, but to keep them from leaning on each other to recover. We intended to exploit not just their individual weaknesses, but their distrust of one another."

Baker paused here, visibly trying to find the right words, or perhaps to control his delivery of them. He resumed, "What happened instead was that all but a handful of AIs that were either ahead or behind in their updates went on a psychotic rampage. Ships that were out alone simply self-destructed. Ships that were in populated systems either rammed other traffic or else navigated to take out as many civilian ships as possible when they destroyed themselves. Fully artificial stations were not exempted, which means large city-stations like New Norfolk were also destroyed with all hands."

There was not a repeat of the earlier uproar. Instead, all eyes turned to Carpenter, who just sat there, smiling, unperturbed and unabashed.

Plummer spoke next. "Citizen Carpenter," he said with ice in his voice, "I believe that part of the plan was under your purview."

"Yes, it was."

"Your smile suggests that this result is not an accident." Despite Plummer's efforts at control, his voice was rising in volume and tone.

"It certainly was not. I hope you don't believe me, or those I employ, careless."

"This council..." he was shouting now, but he didn't get to finish his rant. Carpenter had not reached her current position by letting anybody shout at her.

"...is a gathering of equals dedicated to the protection and ascension of true humanity. When we first started down this path, I proposed that the council's decisions be fully binding, and our newest councilor's uncle convinced the rest that such a rule would be against the spirit of the revolution. Ultimately, each of us are autonomous and the council's decisions advisory. That's what you wanted," she looked directly at Baker. "That's what you got."

There was silence at this. Carpenter let the barb sink home, then finally continued.

"There were only two polities that presented a real threat to our plans. One we all agreed needed to be destroyed by its own potential weapon, and now, New China is no more. The other was the TCTO, which this council persistently underestimated as a threat. I took care of it. Along the way, I guaranteed that anyone looking to go down the TCTO's abominable path with AI will think again before doing so."

Another uproar was in the offing, but this time Baker did bang the gavel, and said, "You certainly took care of something. But apparently they're smarter than you thought. Several of them had noticed the testing phase and taken precautions against a wider AI issue. The returning agent named three starships with survivors, and Robinson Station at Tau Ceti survived as well. Gliese 581 lost New Norfolk, but retained the shipyards and enough personnel to do something in them. A new ship was commissioned with a crew amalgamating the survivors of the other ships.

"The first place they went wasn't home to Tau Ceti, but to David's Star, where they were met not with scorn, but with sympathy and active assistance. You've driven our enemies together instead of apart!"

Carpenter's lopsided smile never wavered. If anything, the active side of her face got even more cheerful. "A single-system power, and a fractured alliance with a single starship, are not a threat even if they get into bed together. Phase Three, as I understand it, can be made more useful than sending a probe through the portal within weeks. The intervention at LHS 1140 succeeded—"

Carson started at this, having not heard anything about this before. Carpenter noticed and said, "Another bit of council-room only news. I'll catch you up later." This was said in a tone that suggested Carson was already an ally, or suddenly a protege even, of Carpenter. Carson just nodded, having decided her best bet right now was to give nothing away.

Carpenter resumed, "—which means we have the bridgehead we need, further to the edge of the diaspora and with a livable planet to springboard from. More, our geoengineers can study that planet in detail now and rediscover what a naturally habitable world even looks like. We can come and go a dozen times in the time it would take any of the aliens' ships to even start downwell from the jump boundary. This is how we win, Morris!"

Baker closed his eyes, angry, horrified, but unable to escape his complicity. Even Carson knew Carpenter was right about councilor autonomy. There were very few mechanisms in place for even the entire council together to sanction another councilor.

Silence, and then Evans said, "I think we're going to have to move up the time table for Operation Zeus. We need fewer eyes looking downwell until we've built that larger portal."

Amundsen looked skeptical, and voiced that skepticism. "None of the aliens have looked downwell in a meaningful way all this time. We built the entire solar collector network right behind their backs. They spend all their time looking outward, and have going all they way back to the day the first skipships rediscovered the colony at TRAPPIST-1."

Burke said hotly, "And how is that any different from us?! You talk about this new tunnel technology for going out and taking what we want. 'It's to rebuild Earth'," he said, in a deliberate sneer that mocked Carpenter. "Fah. All we're doing is creating a new diaspora, and telling ourselves it's fine because G-d loves us better. All you do, Amundsen, is look outward yourself!

"And now...," he turned to Carpenter, "mass murder? Really, that's justified in your mind?! You've made us all complicit in one of the most stunning war crimes in history!"

Finally, he stood, his face bright red with his indignation, and said, "No more. I'm done. I'm going back to my district and focusing on their real problems and their real future. Not this horror."

He stormed out. Plummer went with him. Thompson stayed. No one else moved.

Carpenter continued to smile.