AfterLife

by BL Craig

  William’s smile fell away. He nodded curtly, turned, and left.

  * * *

  …

  * * *

  They reached Mirada on schedule. In order to prevent FTL ships from appearing in front of sub-light traffic and causing spectacular collisions, there were designated drop points for each Hades ship in every Earth Federation system. The Captain had told William that the system was full to bursting with fleet and various AfterLife transports. They would get the lay of the land, check with traffic control, and arrange a rendezvous with whoever was going to be giving them orders. The drop went just as planned, and in the distance, William could see it, the blue world with its two gates.

  The gates were marvels of construction and engineering. The massive circular structure of the Earth gate at Mirada was the largest ever made. Something about the greater distance required a larger aperture than gates to closer locations. The gate was not one solid structure, but many smaller components arranged and perfectly aligned to form a perimeter. Attached to the gate was Mirada station. The station looked deceptively small next to the gate. However, the half dozen ships looking like child’s toys in their docks gave a clearer notion of the station’s actual scope.

  Dozens of tiny VI operated vessels zipped around the station and the gate working on the final bits of construction. Small construction corvettes towed panels and modules many times their size into position where smaller bots fixed them into place with bolts, welds, or other means. The corvettes were basically small, overpowered sub-light drives with various camping arms. William had spent a lot of time watching swarms of the bot and ships building the station when he was a living Navy officer stationed in the Mirada system.

  William was familiar with the station. He had ferried many Navy personnel there for fleet business and leave. The main concourse was a large open multistory promenade ringed by balconies and sweeping ramps draped with climbing vines. Eventually the space would be filled with shops, galleries, and other commerce and leisure options. It had felt empty and strange with just a fraction of the storefronts open last he had visited.

  There were dozens of docking ports for larger ships, like the Tilly. Smaller shuttles and vessels could fly right into one of the bays, though most of those were reserved for the large cargo containers used to transport goods between worlds. William’s attention drifted from the station to the other gate, the one that lead to Rannit space.

  As William examined the second gate, he noticed something new since the last time he had been here. In front of the gate was a grayish oblong haze that covered the entire area in front of the aperture and extended toward the planet. It took him a moment to realize that the haze was a mine field to prevent any unwanted arrivals from Rannit space.

  “Alright, Nguyen, please alert AfterLife traffic control that the Mictecacihuatl is reporting for duty,” said the Captain.

  After a few minutes of waiting for the light speed message to travel to the gate controllers and a reply to travel back, a pleasant, professional voice came through the open com. “Welcome to Mirada, Mictecacihuatl. Please report to gate base and dock at port four. Your assigned course is being transmitted with this message.”

  The telemetry was passed to William’s terminal. There was an insane amount of traffic in system, but control had shunted enough ships aside to make a hole for them to transit. He laid the course into the navigation control. “Course ready. Captain, shall I engage?”

  “Yes, please, Mr. Butcher. Take us in. So much for getting orders. Looks like we’re doing this one the old-fashioned way. Alright, folks, back to your regularly appointed whatevers.”

  William guided the ship through the traffic and docked with the station, learning along the way that there was a “dead” side of the station. AfterLife ships docked away from the planet. The living used the other side. That was another thing he had never noticed when he was alive. How much more had he missed, he wondered.

  “I’m going down to meet the administrator. You’ve got the bridge, Mr. Butcher.”

  * * *

  …

  * * *

  Elva arrived at the airlock just as the AfterLife Administrator cleared the inner door. Fucking presumptuous to just let himself on her ship.

  “Captain Diaz, good to see you. All is well with your crew?” asked Administrator Perlin. He was tall, gaunt man, pale even by undead standards. His face was one of those that looked old despite the taut and firm skin granted by Elixir. The bones of his face coupled with almost no body fat made is visage craggy and more than hinted at the skull underneath. He flapped his hands about to no particular purpose, a habit that annoyed the Captain.

  Elva narrowed her eyes, “Yes, all is going as well as can be expected here on the Tilly.”

  Perlin looked a little haggard, unusual for a seasoned reanimate with regular Elixir rotation. The loss of the Yan Luo technical crew, even after a few months, must be proving a massive headache.

  “Excellent. Mr. Butcher is working out?” he asked, his listless, nasally voice grating on Elva’s ears. Elva wondered at Perlin’s knowledge of William’s assignment. She had been given next to no warning and had barely had time to talk to her crew about it. Perlin, however, standing over 500 light years from Elysium already knew. Maybe John was not paranoid.

  “He is a good pilot,” Elva answered. “I wish he’d had more time to acclimate before being thrown into the thick of it, but he’s performed well.”

  “He’s not here for the briefing?” Perlin asked looking about the corridor as though the pilot might simply step out from thin air.

  “I didn’t realize you wanted him to be here. He is our most junior crew member. As it happens, he just ended his shift and is taking rejuvenation time.” Elva did not mind fudging the truth to Perlin. There was something about the man she had never trusted. He was always polite and effective at his job, but Elva suspected he would feed infants to sharks if the company asked. Perlin’s interest made Elva glad she had not brought him. Technically, William was on shift for several more hours, but the Captain can change duties at any time she saw fit, so now he was on rejuvenation.

  “Well, I suppose we can make do without him,” the Administrator said, sighing heavily, “but what I have to tell you depends a great deal on his particular skillset. Shall we go to your office?”

  Elva took him to her office. Knowing that Perlin or one of his ilk planned to come aboard, Elva had done a quick sweep of the space. The frame that cycled through her favorite pictures of her and Jason and the crew and a few of their daughter, obtained through clandestine means, had been tucked in a drawer, as had a few tchotchkes and miscellaneous items. The painting Sarah had made for her 50th death day was slid discretely under the desk. These items were not against any written AfterLife regulation beyond the general order to keep spaces tidy and organized, but she did not like people like Perlin seeing anything personal about her space.

  Elva had no specific dislike for bureaucrats. Back in her Navy days she had made a point of keeping on good terms with the people who processed her supply orders, handled payroll, and did all the million obnoxious things that kept the fleets running. Most of them had been nice enough people who appreciated an officer who appreciated what they did. Having friends, or at least amiable colleagues, in administration could be of huge benefit when you needed a favor or wanted something handled quickly. There was, however, a particular tier of AfterLife Incorporated administrators that set off Elva’s caution alarms. Perlin was one of them. He was the highest up in administration that she had ever dealt with. He was old and he knew where the bodies were. Literally.

  “I’ll get right to it, Captain,” he said with more flourishes of his hands. “The situation here at Mirada has everyone on edge. The colonists have over 100,000 Rannit civilians in detention. Being honest, Captain, it’s a camp. And it’s just as bad as that word implies. The problem is we have no communications with their central government and no idea what the Rannit or the Cosi are plann
ing right now. We need information.” The last was delivered plaintively.

  He rooted around in an inner suit pocket and fished something out with a flourish. He slid the small data drive across the desk toward her. Her brows furrowed. Physical media was hardly ever used, save in the case of highly secured documents. “That drive contains detailed instructions for a series of FTL jumps. Your assignment is to travel to the other end of the Rannit gate and find out what’s going on there. We want to know if they are massing a fleet.

  “We have a limited sense of the scope of their holdings. During the peaceful times, a few living ships visited their nearest system. AfterLife also sent a few Hades ships to discreetly scout along their gate lines. Our ships managed to map out the next few systems, but the process was time-consuming and required some backtracking. The current conflict has put a stop to our explorations.

  “This drive contains data on the systems that were visited and some good estimates as to where the next several gates likely are. We want you to follow the gate line as far as you can and report back what you see. Pay particular attention to traffic and infrastructure. We need to know what the Rannit intend, and whether they are drafting allies. The Cosi have been extremely vague about the other races they work with. Government representatives are interrogating the Rannit in holding, but we need our own data. Data we can trust.

  “The company is hoping that this,” he paused as though thinking of a good euphemism and finally produced, “information-gathering assignment will put humanity in a position to open negotiations with the Rannit before further conflict erupts. As a stopgap, we have placed the mine field in front of the gate.”

  The surprise must have shown on Elva’s face because Perlin responded with an exaggerated, knowing nod. She had assumed the mines were the work of the Navy.

  “Yes, the Navy Admiralty are pushing for a preemptive strike on the Rannit. They have argued that the Rannit and the Cosi have been conspiring from day one to steal Mirada from us and build a platform here for invasion to the home world.” He added unnecessary emphasis to “home world” communicating his clear distain for the patriotic undertones of the phrase.

  “Is there any evidence of that?” Elva asked with genuine concern.

  “It’s all in how you look at the facts, Captain. On one hand,” he drawled holding a hand up for emphasis. “as the admirals argue, the Rannit and Cosi conspired to force settlements on our sovereign territory and then began arming and giving every indication that they intended hostility toward our civilians.”

  “And on the other?” Elva asked.

  “On the other,” he held up a second hand as if the Captain needed a demonstration to see there were multiple to ways to view the situation. “The Rannit were perfect neighbors until the incident. All reports indicate that they were conciliatory and stuck to their half of all agreements. Something that humanity cannot say. Even when hostilities broke out, they did not harm the human ambassador in their custody.” He paused noticing that both of his hands were still up and put them down. “We are getting some less than official reports that the opposite might be true.”

  He pursed his lips. “The fact remains that we need to know what is happening on the other side of that gate. We need to know before the Fleet does something that cannot be deescalated. You know the Admiralty intimately, Captain. Does engineering a war sound like something they might do?”

  Elva kept her face impassive. The Navy would certainly welcome a war. What had once been a proud organization dedicated to service had become an insular and cult-like organization dedicated above all else to its own continuance. What better than a war with aliens to demonstrate the continued necessity of the Navy and to glamorize the heroes who defended Earth.

  “I cannot say with any confidence that it is not something the Navy might do,” she finally said.

  “War with an alien species is not good for the living or the dead, Captain. It’s only good for the Admiralty’s agenda. But war or no war, we need to know what is happening on the other side of that gate. You are our most experienced Captain with a military background, and you have our only combat trained pilot.”

  Elva fingered the tiny drive.

  “It’s encrypted to your biometrics. Please review everything before you brief your crew. Headquarters wants you to leave as quickly as possible. You have 12 hours to prepare. You can requisition anything you deem necessary from the Mirada Station stores, though since you’ve just come from Elysium, I imagine you are pretty well stocked up. We will be transferring over extra tanks of Elixir, just in case the excursion takes longer than expected. I must emphasize that time is of the essence. We need to know what to expect. Do you have any questions?” He leaned back in the chair and crossed is legs.

  Elva thought for a moment. The assignment was not exactly what she had expected, but it was not surprising given the circumstances. She was sure the drive data would be as detailed as possible. She was also sure she would think of a dozen questions she should have asked later, but right now she only had one thing she wanted to know.

  “What did you do to get the Yan Luo crew to march to their deaths without protest?”

  His face remained impassive for a moment, meeting her cool gaze. Then he sighed and looked away a moment.

  “No one wanted what happened, Captain,” the indolence was gone from his voice. He simply sounded tired. “It never occurred to us that the Navy would show up on our doorstep and demand our life blood. The crew of the Yan Luo were AfterLife’s most prized asset. We never would have turned them over for any reason other than protecting humanity.”

  How did the company see they were “protecting humanity” she wondered? Was it the defense of a handful of colonists? Or was it a defense of the status quo, of the great lie that AfterLife had perpetrated against the whole of humanity, living and dead?

  Perlin sighed again, “Believe it or not, Captain, I lost friends in the battle, many friends.”

  “But what did you do?” There was steel in her voice.

  “I made it as painless as I could. That’s all I can say. I’m hoping that this mission of yours can help us avoid another Battle of Mirada. I think that’s something we all want.”

  Elva knew then that her suspicions were true.

  * * *

  …

  * * *

  Alex scrolled through the station data dump. One of the duties of any Hades Fleet ship was to transport transmissions from place to place. The lack of faster-than-light communications meant that information traveled between worlds only as fast as ships did. Every ship initiated a data transfer when they entered an AfterLife system. Complex VIs combed through the data and filtered out duplicates. Much of what the ship carried would be redundant, but that redundancy ensured that information got where it need to go, eventually.

  AfterLife communications officers had quickly learned how to find the hidden data. Some of it was packets AfterLife did not intend for mass distribution. Others were secret communications between reanimates. It was the most popular way to get information on living family members and news from home. It was also how reanimates shared information the company did not want them to have.

  Alex identified a number of packets in the dump. Most were marked for personal delivery. Those she left alone. One packet, however, stood out. It had been buried deep. Most comms officers would not have been able to find it. Alex was very old. She knew all the tricks and she also knew who this packet was intended for. She scanned the contents, shock seeping through her usual equanimity. Hopefully, the information had already gotten where it was intended. Alex did not think the Tilly would be heading back to inhabited space any time soon.

  She filed the information away. The crew would be angry if they found out she hid it from them, but right now it could only be a distraction. She respected the instructions of the author and kept it to herself. If the company found out the Tilly had this information, the consequences would be less than optimal.

  8

&nb
sp; Due Diligence

  The Captain had called the crew for a meeting as soon as the administrator left. William had finished watch and returned to his cabin for a quick shower, another depressing experience. William’s initial excitement at discovering the bathroom in his quarters had been quickly deflated when he realized he could barely sense the hot water. Cranking the control to the highest setting felt only lukewarm on his skin. Now, every time he showered, it brought his dimmed life into sharp relief all over again.

  Seated at the pilots’ console in a fresh uniform, his hair still damp, he listened as the Captain described the mission. That’s what it was: a mission. Not an assignment, but an honest-to-god military reconnaissance mission. Gates worked, not on line of sight precisely, but according to very specific alignment parameters. This meant that with careful calculations it was possible to predict where the other end of the gate was likely to be. Based on astronomical information about the surrounding space and some deductions about systems that would warrant the expense of a gate, the higher ups thought it likely that the Tilly’s crew would be able to follow the Rannit gate chain. Ideally, they could navigate to strange systems, and get in and out unnoticed, assuming they were very careful, and lucky. Space is big and it can be pretty hard to find one small ship, especially if it’s hiding and you don’t know to look for it.

  The location of the other end of the Rannit gate at Mirada was known. The aliens had allowed a few human ships through for trade purposes. Once the Tilly arrived at the system known as Rannit One, they would need to use the other in-system gate position to calculate the possible locations of the next Rannit world. Whoever had assembled the AfterLife data drive had decided, with an utter lack of creativity, to call Rannit 2. The data drive was full of information about Rannit One as well as data about other systems on the way via FTL. The first series of jumps had been planned to bring them in at the edge of the intermediate systems so they could gather sensor data to see if those systems showed signs of Cosi activity, or if they would be useful as Hades Fleet bases. The first system along the way would take three jumps and just over 5 days to reach.