Spin accepted it and pressed it to the dermal computer on her arm. A collection of files transferred. Sun was really leaving. It was to Spin's benefit, there was no doubt in her mind her former mentor intended to do what she promised, it should have been a relief. "What am I going to do without you? I'm not ready to lead a ship, so many people have died already. Larken because I wasn't smart enough to realize he was right behind me, so many of our friends because I wasn't smart or fast enough, Boro…" The sight of the first tear falling onto her arm stopped her recount of the dead. "I've never felt so small." They kept coming, the parade of tears was on.
Sun's slender hand came to rest on her arm, and Spin leaned in, accepting her embrace. "I've never understood how you could believe you're small. I've never met anyone with a better education, who is so smart yet so kind, but you believe you're the smallest of people. If there's one thing you have to learn from me, it's that someone did that to you. Someone made you feel that way long enough so you started to believe it. You need to forget that as fast as you can. Forgive yourself for everything that didn't work out and take the straightest path to getting a cure. Any consequence you can make up for later is worth it, even a few you probably couldn't. A lot of people want to see you live a long time, because you're the most amazing person most of them have ever met, and they love you. I…"
"Sun, your shuttle just landed in Bay Three," Sharon said. "How long do you want me to tell them you'll be."
"I'll be there in three minutes," Sun said.
"All right, I'll tell them," Sharon said.
Spin wiped her tears away, more came. Her chin was tilted, up, and Sun kissed her, holding her soft lips against hers for a long time before leaning back and smiling. "I love you, Spin. I'll do what you're too kind to. I'll save you if I can, so we can be like sisters again."
Sun added a pair of tears to Spin's deluge, which she caught with hooked fingers before leaving the embrace entirely. "I…" the word came as a desperate creak. "I'll see you again," she managed more gracefully.
The flap on top of Sun's rucksack was drawn down, sealing, she put it over her shoulder, and smiled at Spin. "You will, Spin. Just remember: you saved us, now it's time to save yourself."
Four
The dimmed lights in the large tactical control room aboard the Lux Royal Fleet ship, Queen's Pride, helped the analyst group Gavin and Skylar belonged to watch their holographic displays for more information. They weren't close enough to the exit point of their wormhole to gather any significant data, but they watched nonetheless, at a loss for words. "Begin final stage deceleration," the voice of their master, Prince Connor Lux, commanded from where he sat one deck up on the bridge. "As we enter this battle, we must keep in mind that we are acting on the ideas offered by Countess Valona Tineau Danti. I'd like this to be a reminder to my officers, as well as all the constructs and volunteers serving under them that great minds can be found amongst those who are less than us. Her love of her own synthetics inspired her to petition the Royal Family to join her. I also love my companions, high and low, so I took that idea and developed it into a plan that may well save the galaxy. From such a small seed planted by a distant relative, I will grow a new era of peace and prosperity that will begin today. Still, I beg of you: when you are enjoying your good lives, thank my father and mother, me, but also the Countess. Now we fight. Powerfully and with great skill. Remember your training."
It wasn't his most inspirational speech, but it was a welcome distraction from the rumbling of the deck and the distant roar of the engines. The dampeners could barely keep up, but none were failing.
Skylar, his counterpart and the love of his life, looked at him nervously. "I hate combat deceleration," she whispered as she gripped the arms of her chair.
A lock of Skylar's curly blonde hair came loose from her bun and fell into her face. The deceleration was a little unnerving to Gavin as well, but he'd never let her see it. He offered her his hand and she took it, interlocking her fingers with his and squeezing for a moment. You weren't supposed to feel so much as a tiny bump or gravity anomaly aboard the larger ships, with combat deceleration being the exception.
They were about to emerge in the Geist System, not on its edge, but near Planet Sa-Hadin. The gold bracer on Gavin's wrist lit up for half a second. A new computer system must have tried to connect to it. "We're almost out," he said, looking at the secondary holographic display in front of him.
Combat deceleration was always a gamble. You were betting that the navigation staff and their systems could determine the last possible instant to begin decelerating as hard as the ship was able before emerging into normal space from the mouth of a wormhole. If an engine failed, the wormhole changed or their calculations were off, they could all end up skipping out of the wormhole at a speed that the ship couldn't handle. Their mass would suddenly increase unevenly - higher at the front since it emerged first - and the ship could collapse onto itself then continue moving at an incredible speed. Even if the ship survived, the people inside would have to deal with normal space deceleration at speeds that would cause time to move very differently for them as opposed to the rest of the universe. That is, until they could get another wormhole open. Other things could happen to ruin their day thanks to Wormhole Combat Deceleration Manoeuvres, but those were the examples Gavin knew were on Sky's mind. Her fear began when the entire Royal Fleet eschewed artificial intelligences with higher independent functions. Something about trusting the calculations to old fashioned programs and humans made it terrifying for her.
The crossing to Geist was one of the best times they'd ever had. They were synthetic constructs. Ordered by the Prince himself, Gavin and Skylar were designed along with several hundred of his bridge staff and companions. After a wonderful childhood with others of their kind, they'd grown into a young adolescent pair, separated only for a year where they received harsh military training, then brought back together when they came of age to be married. The week and a half long journey to Geist from the Celestial Core, where their King and Queen reigned, was their working honeymoon.
It was the first time Gavin and Skylar had private time together that wasn't stolen or taken knowing that there would be punishment later. They weren't alone. A hundred fifty-seven other pairs were aboard as well, celebrating their new unions in quarters made for the new couples. Only eleven of them were married by the Prince himself, however, marking them as friends and preferred companions.
There were three balls, several special dinners hosted by His Highness, and a few late-night events that were fairly private affairs with a very limited list of participants. They were invited to and attended almost all of them. They only attended one late-night, private party, and while it was a feast for their eyes, Gavin and Skylar preferred to be intimate in private, and retreated before they found themselves invited to participate by name.
Being alone with Skylar, not being told that their time had a purpose for most of that week and a half was like reaching the promised land. They were free to celebrate, love, speak about whatever they liked, and even argue more than once. Away from the expectations of their Prince, and with only three shifts to serve at their stations on the bridge the whole time, Gavin knew he'd never forget it. There was something they spoke about once in the middle of the night, when the lights were low and they drank cold, bubbly Crystal Shimmer that he knew would come up again. "How do you think normal people feel when they find someone?" Sky asked.
Gavin recalled how she snuggled against him, unmindful of where the sheets did and didn't fall. "You mean people who weren't designed for each other?"
She nodded, covering her nose and mouth as she almost silently let a burp slip and snickered at herself. The carbonation in Crystal Shimmer made it a near certainty that they'd both burp at least a few more times before the expensive bottle was gone. The gas in the bubbles was part of how the joy inducing inebriant was delivered.
"It can't be easy to find someone who's right for you if there's no desi
gner making it happen," Gavin said.
"But how do you think that feels? Finding someone to love when there are billions of people across the stars but no one made for you?"
"I never thought about it," Gavin said. "I've always been for you. What do you think it's like?"
"I hope it's a celebration. So many of the songs you brought back from your training year were about love."
"The best ones were always by normal humans," he agreed. "You'd think it would be the opposite. I know I could have written you a thousand songs the year we were apart. Some of us tried to write music for our partners at night, but it was never as good as the old songs, from before people were made, from when they were just born."
"You didn't try to write me a song?" she asked. Her blue eyes were expectant, but she was poised to tease, not about to be disappointed if he told her he didn't.
"I started a few times. Then they told us that if we trained harder, scored higher, we could see our partners earlier, so I had hope, and sometimes having it wasn't enough. Sometimes I had to do something with it, like sing, or write really bad lyrics."
"There were lyrics?"
"They were really bad, I deleted them, sorry."
"That's okay. Are you sure you don't remember any?"
"Not right now, it could be the bubbles, though."
"They gave us false hope in the camp too. There was even a board in our barracks marking how many hours we knocked off the end of our training. They kept it up right until one of us reached our early exit time, then they found a reason to cancel it so we would have to keep training."
Gavin knew that pain, the same was done to all the male trainee constructs. "It was one of their tests, to see how quickly we recovered after disappointment. I tried to escape the night I found out I wouldn't see you early."
"You didn't!" she said. "Why haven't you told me until now?"
"It's a bit embarrassing, I guess. I stole a stunner, used it on three guards and slipped into a service bot corridor. When they caught me, I was over the line, off the base and in the forest."
"You got out?" Skylar asked, surprised and excited.
"I did, but it was another trick. They showed us a spot on the map on day one, told us it was the women's training centre, but you weren't even on the same planet."
"I know, I did a flyby when I was cleared for solo flight. I was put under supervision and given extra duty for a month, but I told you about that. I wasn't the only one, either. What punishment did you get when they caught you?"
"My commander crushed this hand," he said, raising his right arm, flexing his fingers. "I had to spend three days in our hot box and then I was on probation until the end. I thought it was embarrassing."
"No, it's romantic," Skylar told him then, punctuating it with a kiss. "You couldn't stand being away from me."
"I never could."
"If we're ever separated like that again, I'll be the one who gets away and finds you." It wasn't flippant talk, but a real promise made by her serious blue eyes.
"We'll find each other like everyone in those love songs." Then he told her something that they used to have to say in secret when they were growing up together. "We belong to each other first." Thanks to their new privacy, they could say it without being punished for claiming that they were owned by anyone other than the Prince. They said it often.
That isn't to say that they didn't love Prince Connor or believe in his cause. They were about to arrive in the Geist System so he could recapture lost technology that would allow his synthetics followers to improve their lives. Gavin knew that the Prince was also after technology for faster travel, communication, and looking to claim several manufacturing stations in orbit for himself. Most of them made fabrication technology that was used in ship yards across the galaxy, making them some of the most important technological sites in the known universe.
The brave Prince would have to lead his people in a fight against the artificial intelligences that had a firm hold on the Geist system and avoid angering the Issyrian civilization that dwelled on the planet. It was a worthy cause, making the galaxy safe against the threat in the Geist system and enabling thousands of industries to flourish once the macro fabrication systems could be made and sold again.
Despite those higher causes, Gavin and Skylar focused most on the possibility that they could have a child of their own once they found the genetic keys that would allow their master to make them fertile. It was a dream that was so precious that they avoided speaking about it.
The deck stopped shaking. They let each other's hands go as holographic displays populated with clearer data, more data than they were able to gather while they were in the wormhole. "Sa-Hadin is completely shielded," Skylar said from her Science Station. "Planetary shield, combat grade, several thousand projection sites on the surface, they are not at risk nor are they accessible."
Gavin looked at the holographic image of the space surrounding their ship. His fellow tactical analyst, Toby, to his left marked the target he was scanning: it was a massive manufacturing base in orbit around the blue-green planet called Iron Haven. "Registering little significant movement aboard the nearest station. First scans indicate that the main manufacturing systems are powered down, the biological fabrication and development labs are inactive as well. Taking further scans." He announced.
"Gavin, report," ordered Prince Connor in his ear. He was sitting on the bridge upon a white seat gilded with gold. His pale face was locked in a stern expression.
Gavin continued analysing what he saw. There were thousands of hulks, chunks of hull, ruins of ships all around their battle group. Finding out what destroyed them was his duty. Vivien, a synthetic who was also favoured by His Majesty, was taking care of identifying the ruined hulls.
"One moment, Your Majesty," Gavin plead as he discovered hundreds of tiny latch marks on one large section of hull plating. There were burn marks adjacent to them. He was pleased with himself as he found a longer, incomplete cut made by a particle weapon along another hull fragment. Then he spotted a highly prized sign of damage. "There is an enemy ship in the area that is capable of launching focused antimatter attacks. That is most likely how the larger ships entering this area were destroyed."
"Confirming! I see antimatter damage on three hull segments," announced Vivien.
Their scanners swept into a new arc from their port side and Gavin felt as though the blood drained from his face as he saw evidence of thousands of dead ships. "We're in a graveyard," Toby said under his breath.
As he saw it happening, Gavin announced; "I have five battleships powering up and signals from several hundred small ships hiding in the debris."
"Twenty-eight destroyers, beneath us, marked on tactical," Vivien announced.
"Machines are patient," the Prince said. "We knew they'd be lying in wait. Alert all commands. Move ahead in box formation, launch all alert fighters and gunships." He ordered. "I do not celebrate the things we will have to do to end this war, but I will bring it to an end nevertheless."
Gavin was relieved as he watched their battlegroup of carriers, destroyers, fast corvettes, frigates and heavy battleships move into formation in perfect synchronicity. Smaller ships started launching, and he almost wished he was aboard one of those gunships, bravely charging against the worst enemy of their time. This was a war brought about by badly misguided artificial intelligence. It would end thanks to the genius and resolve of constructs: perfected humans the rest of the galaxy called dolls.
Five
"Aux Panicia?" Boro asked. "We're inside British Alliance space? What the hell for?" he was digging inside an access hatch, up to his elbows, cutting with a high-powered particle beam tool.
"I suppose you wouldn't remember," Aldo said, watching the pilot's station. They were minutes from emerging into normal space. The thick-bodied man he rescued had a lot of questions, some of them verified something Aldo suspected. The torture system Master Kort used was so severe that new memories were difficult fo
r the subjects to hold. That should end, if his theory was right. "The Countess sent Master Kort on an errand to recapture Aspen and Larken. Last we saw, they were headed for British Alliance territory. I rescued you because we were nearing the end of the crossing."
"I remember now," Boro said, prying a small metal box loose with a final jerk then handing it to Aldo. "The last tracker aboard this heap."
"Wasn't it wired into something important?" Aldo faintly remembered hearing one of the other guards explaining why Kort's carrier didn't see regular ship thefts.
"Oh, communications, the Navnet receiver, nothing I can't wire back up in a tic." Boro had a way of reassuring people, a warm smile that Aldo had only seen a few times, but it grew on him fast. "We'll be pinging and ponging again in a moment."
The armour fit Boro, but it didn't look right on someone so squat and wide. It looked like the man grew up on a high gravity world, but his file didn't have any details about that. He might have been genetically unlucky instead. A peek at the communications panel to his right filled Aldo with quiet alarm. Whereas before it displayed wave forms and other signals that were always present in the background, all the windows on the display either said; NO SIGNAL or NO DATA. He was no pilot, but even Aldo knew that they would be at risk if they emerged from the mouth of their wormhole and couldn't communicate with Navnet at least so they could be assigned a safe course.
Boro grumbled more and more as he fiddled inside the bowels of the ship from where he sat on the floor. After a while he leaned in so far that his head almost disappeared into the small hatch. "Goddammit!" he exclaimed, holding his hand out to Aldo. "I'll be needing that back."
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