Star Thief

by T. Jackson King

  “I can,” Akantha sang softly. “However, to show such detail requires I display only a portion of the galaxy at a time since your cabin is not large enough for the full-sized depiction.”

  “Understood. Begin with this part of Sagittarius Arm, the nearby Orion Arm and the part of Scutum Arm that lies across from us.”

  “I will do so.” A hologram taller than her and wider than her mass took form in the middle of her cabin. Green star and orange Gate dots filled the galactic image of gas, dust, red supergiant stars, blue stars and dark red dwarf stars. “What Gate-star combination do you wish to check first?”

  It would take forever to examine every one of the 93,127 Gates in the galaxy. Her memory brought forth the answer. “Show me the closest Gate that lies next to a yellow-orange star. Soft Skin Captain Vitades calls them K-class stars.”

  “Displaying closest K-class star with Gate. Shall I also display any planets orbiting the star?”

  She sighed through her spiracles as a beautiful yellow-orange star took form before her, with the blue circle of a Gate. It was a true space depiction. Showing her the planets would require a graphic display. “Yes, display an overhead view of the system centered on the star, with planets, out to the Gate location. Put the graphic to one side of the true space holo.”

  “As you wish. Graphic of system 27,945 is now adjacent to the holo of this star.”

  She soaked in the vision of the yellow-orange star. Her compound eyes had the ability to separate starlight into its component color frequencies. Since every star of any class had a unique sequence of frequencies, she could detect her home star by comparison to her memory of her home star’s frequencies. The graphic display of planets was a help. Not this one. The frequency pattern was wrong and the star had seven planets orbiting it rather than the five worlds of her home system.

  “Show me another yellow-orange star.”

  “Complying.”

  Her eyes took in a new pattern of starlight color frequencies. Similar to but not the unique pattern.

  This was going to take not days but months. She had the time. And now she had the listing of every Gate and associated star within the galaxy. That was more than she had ever had before. Meander told herself she would find her home star. And then, perhaps, the captain would take her to see family and relatives on her home Nest.

  Laserta sat in her cabin’s rest-pod and contemplated the red color of blood. She wished AIs bled. She wished they had physical form that she could attack. While Quantum Entanglement resided within a green crystal, Stars That Beckon and Akantha were dispersed intelligences within this vessel. And she could not destroy the Tessene vessel without destroying herself. Or leaving herself stranded on some world. But would the beings of the Dookit Empire help her if she transmitted to them the locations of the antimatter beamer and gravity projector? That might allow them to defeat this vessel and kill Vitades. But a vessel-to-vessel space combat often ended in one vessel being vaporized or blown apart. She pulled the mind influencer globe from her waist-belt and contemplated it. Vitades surely knew what it was since he had forbade her to use it while aboard his vessel. But should she use it now? Influencing Vitades would not influence the Akantha intelligence. Nor the Stars AI. She reattached the globe, brushing against the gravband that gave her the gravity of her home world. It, at least, was one valuable she personally owned. And selling it to a corporate domain for reverse engineering would surely gain her plenty of Galactic Credits. But she wanted to control an empire. She laid back in the rest-pod and contemplated her future options.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Flow stood before her pedestal control panel and watched the front vidscreen. Blue wavelets spiraled about its center as if she were flying through an air vortex her captain called a tornado. Such air turbulence existed on Windy Air but the Lunteen had a different word for the event. No matter. Soon, very soon, they would exit this wormhole that connected two Gates and emerge into the Gate system controlled by the Dookit Empire. Her feather covered ears heard every breath made by every being in the Control Chamber. The breathing of Laserta sounded impatient. That of Draken sounded bored. Clearly he wished to be bombarded by stellar radiation. He sometimes sat on the Akantha’s exterior hull as the vessel neared a local star, enjoying the bombardment of the stellar wind and totally unaffected by the vacuum coldness. That was not possible while passing between Gates. A musical voice spoke.

  “Captain, emergence into system 28,293 will occur within 31 seconds,” sang Akantha.

  She let the AI’s announcement go unchallenged. It was normal for her or for Meander to announce the time to Gate emergence. But the Tessene AI had been acting more and more . . . like a bioform lately. At least it was on their side, when compared to the Harl AI Stars That Beckon.

  “Akantha, thank you,” murmured the captain, his voice tone sounding focused and thoughtful. It was the tone always present in his voice when they were about to exit from a Gate. “Weapons, activate power to your weapons but do not be the first to attack anything. Flow, be prepared to reverse course and re-enter the Gate if we are attacked or refused passage. Lotan, you will be first to respond.”

  “All weapons will be energized,” hissed Sharp Claw from her pedestal.

  Flow touched on the upgraded magfield drive and initiated the inflow of deuterium-helium three pellets into the fusion chambers of the two thrusters. Draken’s armored skin rippled with his eagerness to feel radiation. “We are ready to maneuver in normal space,” she chirped.

  The brown and white-furred being Lotan waved his right arm in a complex pattern. “Captain, I am prepared. Amphibians who speak by way of skin pattern changes are responsive to my influence.”

  Flow hoped so. She had accessed the vessel’s records of the Dookit aliens. They were two-legged and two-armed amphibians with tail flaps that powered them through coastal waters. They breathed both air and water through a complex set of organs. While they did not speak acoustically, unlike the majority of alien species known on this side of the galaxy, their skin pattern changes were part of the language inventory in their vessel’s Translator. Her study of other species communication modes had labeled those who spoke with skin color changes as chromatophores. A light flared in ultraviolet on her panel.

  “Exiting the Gate!” she chirped loudly.

  The front vidscreen changed from blue wavelets to black space. In the center left shown a white-yellow F-class star. The Harl preferred such stars for their Gate locations, but Gates were also found on G, K and M-class stars. She had heard of Gates at a few blue-white B-class and white A-class stars but had never visited them. She wondered what kind of planets orbited such shorter-lived stars. Her sharp eyesight caught the infrared glimmer of something warm to the right of the local star. A tap of her panel brought her its distance. And size.

  “Captain! A Battleclaw-sized vessel lies ahead! Distance is 92,000 kilometers. Our exit speed is ten kilometers a second. Shall I activate our thrusters?”

  “Yes! Move us up to one psol,” the captain said in his flowing Human speech.

  She touched her panel. Vibration came to her claw-feet. A second touch made active the magfield drive. Flow applied a randomized spiral course track to their forward progress, but held off on applying the full power of the magfield drive. Best to keep some things secret until needed. Or ordered.

  “Captain!” hissed Sharp Claw. “Incoming neutrino transmission. Shall I put it on the vidscreen or in a hologram?”

  “Vidscreen,” the captain said quickly. “Lotan, go for it.

  “Happily I will,” clicked the slim furry biped, amidst a flow of lemon and smoky odors that were his speech.

  Flow monitored her distance readout. In moments they would hit one psol. Which meant they would be within combat range shortly. She hoped this encounter would be peaceful. At least her research on this system had shown an absence of Harl installations. Maybe that would motivate the amphibians to be flexible.

  Lotan moved to the center of th
e Control Chamber, standing in front of the captain and the Employer. It was his preferred location when preparing to Influence an entity. The front vidscreen shimmered. The true space image to the left, with a graphic of the system appearing to the right. The center became occupied with the image of three Dookit amphibians. The Dookit occupied a square chamber covered in flickering lights and vidpanels filled with color patterns that moved too quickly for him to follow. One rear panel showed a true space image of the Akantha and the Gate behind them. The Dookit though were what mattered. One Dookit occupied a central basin elevated above the floor. The other two Dookit occupied lower basins on either side. Control panels rose up in front of each Dookit. He found their unfurred skin to be very alien. But the moist skin clearly needed a ready supply of moisture, hence the basins. While bipedal in shape, with a head, slanting shoulders and arms, their body shape was streamlined for passage through water. The central Dookit blinked two bulbous eyes that appeared green in color. His skin flowed in black, yellow and red patterns. The Akantha’s Translator turned the patterns into clicking speech and a wave of pheromones he understood. Around him other speech conversions sounded that were suitable for the captain and other crew beings.

  “Intruders, depart!” came a series of clicks and odors from the Translator. “This system is part of the Dookit Empire. We do not welcome strange visitors, especially land dwellers who cover their bare skins!”

  Lotan began his dance of Influence, his arms, hands, legs and body moving into the pattern of Friend Needing Help.

  “Oh powerful Dookit pod leader, I am poor Lotan, crew being on the vessel Akantha. We are ordered to visit a Harl world in the Scutum Arm, far beyond your domain,” he clicked and expanded with pheromones. The being’s eyes moved of themselves as they tracked his movements. The other two Dookit also followed his movements. “We seek only passage through the mighty Dookit Empire. Nothing will be disturbed. Nothing will be harmed. My captain is an archaeologist on assignment from Academician Lik Sotomor of Century Prime university on Primus 3 in the Noble system.” He paused and changed his head, arm and hand movements. “Will you grant us passage permission to other Gates within your empire?”

  The two Dookit flanking the leader turned to him, their skins flashing through patterns of black, red and yellow. Touches of blue joined the primary colors. Behind the three other Dookit turned from their basin work stations to look at the image of Lotan and the captain and the Employer behind him, as if curious about aliens who did not constantly need moisture for their skins.

  “Sensors advise the Dry Lander vessel is weapon dangerous,” one said.

  “Our duty has been too quiet. Let us demand a fee for passage,” the other said.

  Lotan changed his gesture pattern to Willing To Be Generous. The central Dookit lifted its smooth-curved head and fixed eyes on him.

  “Being Lotan, I might allow your passage through our empire upon payment of a fee,” the Dookit said in a distinct color pattern.

  Lotan felt a smile inside. His gestures moved to Happy Friend mode. “Surely we will pay a fee! But we are poor archaeologists. Our ship mostly contains food, fuel and exploring equipment. What type of fee do you require?”

  The central Dookit stood up from his basin, water cascading off his lower body. “I am Pod Leader Maven. I expect a fee of 7,100 Galactic Credits!”

  Lotan did not stop moving. The credit amount was large but not impossible. And the captain had told him what to offer. “Oh mighty Pod Leader Maven, we have few Galactic Credits. But we do have some precious minerals we use to pay for fuel and repairs in distant star systems. Would a sample of indium and iridium be sufficient?”

  Clicking sounded from the two associates. “Yes, yes, accept the minerals!” they both said by way of skin pattern changes.

  Maven blinked green eyes, though they still followed Lotan’s gestures. “The passage fee can be paid in iridium and gold.”

  Lotan moved to Satisfaction Guaranteed gestures. “Of course!” he clicked quickly. “Will two bars of iridium and one bar of gold suffice?” He gestured to Flow, who tapped her panel. An image of the bars joined his image and words as they were neutrino transmitted to the Dookit star vessel.

  Maven’s bulbous eyes widened. What Lotan offered greatly exceeded a value of 7,100 Galactic Credits. “Yes! By all the tides of the empire, three bars of iridium and gold will suffice. How will you deliver them?”

  Lotan knew the answer from past exchanges. “My vessel will launch a small spybot containing the bars. It will be aimed to arrive near your vessel.” He paused. “Oh, a final aspect of the fee payment is our need for the passage code so we can prove to other Dookit vessels we have permission to transit your watery empire.”

  Loud clicks that did not translate came from Maven’s two associates. His skin pattern changed only slightly.

  “Once we receive the bars I will transmit the passage code to your vessel. What Gate do you travel to next?”

  Lotan knew the answer. And since Maven’s vessel would detect the star light curve, there was no point in hiding their destination. Especially since the next Gate lay deep within the empire.

  “We will transit to the Gate in system 33,247, within your watery empire, with your permission,” he clicked.

  “Send the three bars. I will then transmit the code, which will be our permission for your peaceful transit through our empire,” clicked Maven.

  Lotan gestured in Friendship Established form. “Wonderful! May I depart your presence to locate the bars and arrange for their transport?”

  “You may depart. The image of waterless beings is not pleasant to us. No Dry Landers travel within our empire.”

  Lotan knew that. The Dookit had destroyed the space-going ability of the nine or so land-living species that the Galactic Council archives said lived within the empire. With no ability to travel star to star, the land-bound species did not exist to the Dookit.

  “I depart. The videye vessel will depart soon. We hope to receive the passage code once my vessel reverses course and heads for the Gate,” he clicked with a sharp flow of lemon scent.

  The image vanished from the vidscreen. Replacing it was a scope image of Maven’s vessel. It consisted of a large metal square box at front, a metal globe in the middle and a large box at the rear. Numerous domes covering its gray hull indicated weapons installations. It clearly met the Battleclaw class of combat star vessels. He felt glad they had not had to fight Maven and his vessel. He looked back, fixing on the Human who commanded his loyalty.

  “Captain? Shall I go to valuables storage and obtain the bars?”

  The poorly furred biped nodded in his Human body speech of agreement. “Yes, Lotan, go get the bars. Take them to a spybot in the hangar. Weapons will take care of launching the spybot.” The captain opened his pink-lipped mouth and showed teeth in what he called a smile. “You did very well, Influencer. I appreciate your smooth influencing of the Maven pod leader.”

  Lotan felt internal satisfaction. He always did well in Influencing other beings. It was his nature to succeed. Just as it was the nature of Jake Vitades to build loyalty among his crew beings. The Human built that loyalty without the aid of gesture control, threats, extreme riches or similar normal motivations. It was a talent Lotan had been studying for the last four cycles. He turned away and headed for the chamber’s exit, feeling glad this transit portion had gone peacefully. Future transits were unknown quantities. But past experience in transiting to other Harl worlds for ruin exploration had taught him that continuous peace was an illusion.

  I sat in my captain’s seat, with Laserta to my right and my crew at their stations. The front vidscreen was filled with blue wavelets and swirls. It was a week since our first encounter with the Dookits and we had passed through two more Gates in their empire. Neither system had held Harl ruins. However, this next Gate does hold a world with a Harl ruin. Which means we have to transmit the passage code, then travel into the system and explore, all the while hoping no Galacti
c Council contractor vessel interferes.

  “Gate exit will occur in 32 seconds,” chittered Meander.

  “About time!” barked Laserta, her impatience visible in her stiffened fur.

  The week spent with a former Employer who pretended to be a crew being had not been pleasant. The Mogelian clearly wanted to be at home impressing other female dominants, while growing super-rich off the sales of the tech we had gained. Perhaps she planned to rule a world. Or maybe more. The antimatter beamer itself was surely worth leadership of a small empire. I didn’t care. All I cared about was moving across Sagittarius Arm to Scutum Arm, visiting the Harl home world, then returning to Stars That Beckon with whatever we found. After that my vessel and my crew could discuss our future options since we would no longer have to work for rich aliens to pay our bills. The image of that liberated future kept me going even as images of Akantha in her graduation dress filled my nights. As they had for nine cycles. Feeling disgust at my fixation I wondered briefly if mating with Sharp Claw would be pleasurable. And safe. The female’s Mating Fangs were not anything I wished to feel. Then again, all humanoid species had several mating positions available to them. I focused on the blue wavelets.

  “Thank you, Astrogator. Pilot, put up a graphic of this system. Weapons, energize your weapons. Influencer, prepare to send the passage code signal upon emergence.”

  My crew acknowledged my orders. A brief vibration traveled through my seat. We had transited. The front vidscreen changed from blue to the black of cold space. A yellow-orange K-class star glowed brightly in the middle of the screen. At the right was a gray sparkle. A glance at my right armrest display said it was emitting infrared and UV. The Akantha’s scope zoomed in. It was a Battleclaw vessel identical to the first Dookit starship we had seen three Gates earlier.