The Star-Keeper Imperative

by C N Samson

  “Your hurlie friend is jacked up on a load of sedatives,” Prester informed Valicia. “He’s not asleep, so he can still feel pain.” He told Norland to pull the view out a little.

  The screen now displayed a wider shot. Four soldiers were stationed outside the isolation unit, with one at the controls. The hurlie could be seen through the unit’s rectangular window.

  Prester touched his ear. “Give him a few seconds of juice,” he said.

  On the screen, the soldier tapped on the console. The hurlie let out a bellow as his body convulsed. His trunk madly flailed around.

  When the electroshock ceased, the hurlie relaxed, letting out wheezing gasps.

  “There, you see?” Prester said to Dr. Parzo. “I thought about putting the Guildie girl in first, but she wouldn’t have lasted a minute. This one, though, will give us a worthy show.”

  “You are just sick and evil,” the woman said with a sneer. Norland found it interesting that it took torture for her to show even a little emotion.

  “So I’ve been told,” Prester said with a little shrug. “Now, you’re going to cooperate with Mr. Norland here in getting this Chyth gadget working. Do everything he tells you to do, and you’ll most likely live. But just in case you’re willing to sacrifice the hurlie’s life...” Prester went to the console and tapped. Another view appeared on the screen, this time the interior of an airlock. Four people sat inside: Rheinborne; the blue-feathered sidhreen; the Libertine’s captain; and the Guildie girl.

  “Any sign of mis-cooperation and they get flushed, one at a time.” Prester turned to Dr. Parzo. “I assume you understand the situation?”

  “Perfectly,” Dr. Parzo replied. “But I have conditions.”

  Norland guffawed, but Prester silenced him with a sharp gesture. “Let’s hear them.”

  “If I do cooperate, as you say, then I want your guarantee that you won’t kill any of us.”

  Prester scratched the side of his face. “Anything else?”

  “I’ll need the assistance of Tahla.”

  “The little Guildie? I doubt she knows a thing about Chyth tech.”

  “Then give me Kassyrinx.”

  “Who? You mean the siddie?”

  “Yes. He studied xeno-technology in school.”

  “Done,” Prester said. “I’ll have him brought him up, but all the warnings I gave you will also apply to him. As for your first condition, I guarantee that you all shall live.”

  Dr. Parzo nodded. “That’s acceptable.”

  Prester flashed a satisfied grin. “If you need any cubes, water, or whatever, just ask. And Mr. Norland, please don’t mess with her again. She has to look presentable when we get to Maralto.”

  As soon as the man had left the lab, Dr. Parzo turned to Norland and said, “You heard what he said. Don’t mess with me again.” This time, she smiled.

  Fury boiled with Norland. He sucked in a huge breath and said, “You know what? I’ll bring your bird-faced friend up myself.”

  CHAPTER 27

  RHEINBORNE LEANED AGAINST the outer hatch of the airlock. Through the hexagonal window, the star-filled blackness of space seemed to beckon to him. He turned and regarded the others. Kassyrinx stood at the window of the inner hatch, peering out into the vestibule. The man standing guard banged his fist on the glass, startling the sidhreen. He twittered angrily and slid down the wall, coming to sit beside Tahla and Captain Drummond.

  They had spent some time speculating about what was happening with Valicia and Hurgompo, and why the ship was still in orbit around Arctareen. They had then discussed trying to somehow signal for help, but that matter went unresolved.

  All equipment in the airlock had been removed prior to their incarceration, so there was nothing they could use to improvise a weapon, not that such would have done any good. And although they hadn’t been in for very long, it seemed like hours.

  “Back in the olden days, before the Spacer Gene Program,” said Drummond, “a human being could survive suitless exposure to outer space for barely a few minutes, if they were lucky. Modern humans, on the other hand, are considerably better adapted for space travel. We have a greater lung capacity, a stronger cardiovascular system, and higher radiation resistance. In fact, the record for surviving vacuum exposure is, what, ten minutes?”

  “Seven and a half,” said Rheinborne, “but for the average person, it’d be more like six.”

  “Yes, six minutes, and few lasting effects upon rescue, if any. Now the thing to remember, if you’re ejected, is to get rid of all the air from your lungs as—”

  Tahla clamped her hands over her ears. “Uncle Angus!” she yelled. “This is not making me any calmer!”

  “Ah, sorry, Tahla,” Drummond said, patting her on the shoulder. “Just trying for some scrap of reassurance.”

  “I thought that was exceedingly informative, Captain,” Kassyrinx said, “but what do you know of the sidhreen? You wouldn’t happen to know how long I could survive in the void?”

  Rheinborne became alert as the inner airlock hatch swung open.

  “You, come with me,” the guard said, grabbing Kassyrinx by the arm and hauling him out. The sidhreen emitted an outraged squawk.

  A soldier entered the airlock, followed by Norland.

  “You’re going to tell us what going on, right now,” Rheinborne said, balling his fists.

  The soldier lunged and yanked Tahla away from the others. He clutched her against his chest, held the muzzle of a pistol to the side of her head.

  “Get off me!” Tahla said through gritted teeth.

  “No heroics,” said Norland. “Or you know what happens.”

  “Don’t you dare harm my niece!” Drummed roared.

  “Fercocking cowards,” said Rheinborne. His whole body tensed.

  Norland chuckled dryly, stepped forward a pace so that he was in front of Tahla and the soldier. “Mr. Rheinborne, at last I see your true self,” he said. “You got by me, back there in the city. That was due to my own carelessness, I suppose.” He slipped a hand into his coat pocket. “Come over here for a moment, if you would.”

  Rheinborne glared at the man. His first thought was to go tell the little biter to go wreck himself, but there was no doubt he’d retaliate against the others.

  “Fine,” he said, and took one stride toward Norland.

  The man’s hand flashed out of his pocket. A glint of metal and an arc of electricity were all Rheinborne saw before an intense pain coursed through his body. He collapsed, but Drummond caught him before he could fall to the airlock floor.

  “Leave him!” Norland screamed.

  Rheinborne felt himself slide to the floor. He lay on his back, saw only the ceiling.

  “Don’t interfere, or else,” Norland said viciously. “I owe him this much.”

  A powerful kick to his ribs made Rheinborne cry out.

  “How about another, eh?” Norland said, and kicked him again, even harder. Pain exploded in his side.

  “Leave him alone!” shouted Tahla.

  Rheinborne curled into a ball as Norland kicked and stomped on him. The one thing that prevented him from snapping the cowardly cocker’s neck was the fear that Tahla and Drummond would be his next victims.

  “Enough, damn you! Enough!” Drummond demanded.

  “Not nearly,” Norland said, his voice husky.

  “Uh, sir, you’re wanted in the lab,” the soldier said.

  Norland ceased his attack.

  Rheinborne lay in agony, eyes shut. He heard the sound of footsteps receding, then the clang of the hatch being closed.

  “Blake, are you all right?”

  Rheinborne opened his eyes. Tahla and Drummond crouched over him.

  “Oh, Great Lord,” Drummond breathed. “Can you sit up?”

  Rheinborne groaned as he uncurled. Drummond helped him slide back against the outer hatch.

  “I have no idea what I did to deserve that,” Rheinborne said.

  Tahla’s eyes watered. “Dumb question
, but how do you feel?”

  “Horrible. But I’ve got sped-up nano in me, so I should be good as new real soon.”

  “That’s good. That’s good.” Tahla sniffled, wiped her eyes.

  “Oh, no,” Drummond said. He stood and pressed a hand to the window of the outer hatch.

  Tahla looked up. “What’s the—” She gasped and leaped to her feet.

  “What is it?” Rheinborne asked. “What do you see?”

  “The Libertine,” said Drummond, his voice full of emotion. “They’ve tossed her out. She’s adrift in space.”

  CHAPTER 28

  WHEN NORLAND ARRIVED at the science lab, Kassyrinx was already there, in conversation with Dr. Parzo. They immediately ceased talking upon seeing him.

  A lone guard had been posted inside the lab, beside the door. Several dataslates and stacks of live-paper were arranged on the worktable beside the Chythex device.

  “Welcome...Kassyrinx, is it?” said Norland, avoiding eye contact with Dr. Parzo. “Have you been briefed?”

  “Oh, I’m quite certain that I know all that I need to know,” the sidhreen answered with thinly disguised insolence.

  “Here’s the schedule, then. You have half an hour to look through the notes on the component. I know that the doctor destroyed hers, but I found some that are still intact.”

  Kassyrinx’s head crest rose, but fortunately for him, he said nothing.

  “Then you’ll have one standard hour to adapt it to one of our shuttles, and show that it functions as it did back on the planet where we found it. And after that, I think you may have to demonstrate it once more. But anyway, get started. If it doesn’t work, for whatever reason, Mr. Prester will be incredibly disappointed.” He snickered. “And always remember that we’ll be watching and recording, so make sure you speak clearly.”

  Without waiting for a reply, Norland spun around and left the lab.

  BECAUSE DR. PARZO’S group no longer had functioning ECMs, Prester had shut off the signal jammer and was now conducting business over the GalSigNet. Norland had the task of monitoring the prisoners from the security station. He watched the lab for a while and noted how Kassyrinx appeared to be genuinely interested in the ancient component.

  One of the people on the science team had said that the Chythex handed down specifications for machines to their sidhreen servants with orders to build them, but left the actual designs up to them. The only requirement was that the devices functioned as specified. This was why the component was compatible with human technology. The sidhreen had been given access to materials plundered from all of human space, and incorporated such into their creations. That same scientist—he couldn’t remember the name—had even boasted that adapting the component to a human-built spacecraft would be but the work of one standard hour.

  Norland switched on the lab’s audio and listened.

  “The one thing that can’t be replicated,” Kassyrinx was saying, “is the core. My brother would hypothesize that this is what generates the field, and I would agree with him.”

  “Should we try to open it?” Dr. Parzo asked.

  “Do you want to kill us all?”

  Norland nodded to himself. Good to see that the siddie was taking this seriously.

  He switched over to the airlock view. Rheinborne was now standing on his own, and no longer looked like he was in pain. The fercocker certainly was resilient.

  Captain Drummond and the Guildie girl Tahla were huddled together. Norland activated the audio.

  “—fault that we’re in this terrible situation, and for that, I apologize,” Drummond was saying. “If I hadn’t accepted the charter—”

  “Uncle Angus, no!” said Tahla. “It’s always risky, taking gigs from that Mr. Gwynne. Don’t blame yourself.”

  Ugh, boring! Norland returned to the lab view, then checked the time on his ECM. Half an hour had elapsed since he had left them, so it was now time for the real work to begin.

  “HEY!” TAHLA YELLED, kicking at the inner airlock hatch. “We’re dying of thirst here! Come on!” She pounded, kicked some more. “I know you hear me. Water!”

  She had been doing that for several minutes, and it was beginning to give Rheinborne a headache. Her uncle had told her to cease several times, but she hadn’t listened.

  “We should have done something!” Tahla screamed, delivering a back kick to the hatch. “We could have tried to take that guy hostage, or—”

  “Tahla!” Rheinborne said firmly. “If I thought there was any chance, I would have taken it. We just have to be patient.”

  “Yeah, patiently wait for them to decide to kill us? No!”

  She was about to pound again when the guard outside held a water bulb up to the window. “Get back!” he commanded.

  Tahla moved to the other side of the airlock, stood with Drummond and Rheinborne. The inner hatch cracked open, and three water bulbs rolled inside. The hatch closed.

  “Hah, see!” Tahla said triumphantly as she gathered up the bulbs. “Persistence pays off.” She handed one to Drummond, but Rheinborne waved away the one that she offered him.

  “You’re not thirsty?” she asked.

  “It’s not that,” Rheinborne said. “But do you see any sanitary facilities in here?”

  Drummond’s eyebrows rose. He paused in the act of sipping from his bulb.

  IN THE Skyward’s hangar bay, a personnel shuttle named Skylight Dawn had been prepped for the component demonstration. A quick diagnostic had revealed no faults, and Kassyrinx and Dr. Parzo now worked to integrate the Chythex tech into the shuttle’s systems. Camera drones hovered around, recording the process, and soldiers were stationed around the shuttle.

  Prester and Norland were at the observation window that overlooked the hangar. According to Norland’s last time check, the hour’s deadline was nearly up.

  “What if they’ve done some sabotage?” Prester asked, tapping his foot.

  “The ship’s AI has been observing,” Norland replied. “It’s been programmed to warn us if it thinks they’ve rigged an explosion, engine meltdown, or anything like that.”

  “You let the computer do your thinking for you?” Prester crossed his arms. “Ridiculous, not to mention lazy. There’s no substitute for the human mind.”

  Norland received an ECM call. It was Emlyn, who had been watching Dr. Parzo and Kassyrinx as they worked.

  “They say they’re ready, sir,” she said.

  “Good,” Norland replied. “We’ll be right down.”

  When he and Prester walked out on the floor of the hangar bay, they saw that a remote control station had been set up near the shuttle. A science robot waited at the foot of the entry ramp.

  Emlyn stood guard behind Dr. Parzo and Kassyrinx, both of whom manned the control station.

  “Everything still recording?” Norland asked Emlyn. “Even the robot?”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied.

  “Get on with it, then!” Prester said.

  Dr. Parzo typed on the control console. “The robot already performed a volumetric measurement of the interior,” she said. “You can see that here.” A number flashed on the control station’s monitor.

  “I’ll bring up the robot’s point of view,” she continued, “and now power up the shuttle’s engine.”

  The spacecraft’s exterior lights switched on. A window on the monitor displayed the rear entrance of the shuttle.

  Kassyrinx emitted a nervous twitter. “Activating the component.” His slender fingers typed on his console. A low hum emanated from the shuttle, and Norland glimpsed a kind of shimmer in the air in the open space of the shuttle’s cargo entrance. It was the same phenomenon that he’d seen the first time.

  “I’ll now have the robot proceed inside,” Dr. Parzo said.

  “Hold on there a second,” Prester said. “You’re going in with it.”

  “It’s not necessary,” the archaeologist answered. “The robot can—”

  “I just want to make sure it’s safe fo
r people. So go on.” Prester grasped Dr. Parzo’s upper arm, marched her over to the robot. He turned, bowed with a flourish, came back to the remote station.

  Norland found that odd, then realized that he was doing it for the cameras. Prester was going to send video of this to Briggston and wanted to make sure that his face was plainly visible.

  “All right, siddie,” Prester said. “Send in the bot.”

  Kassyrinx entered a command. The robot trudged up the ramp, with Dr. Parzo right behind it. They came to the threshold of the shuttle’s entrance, stepped into the vessel, and vanished. On the monitor, the robot’s view was now that of an empty, off-white room.

  “Dr. Parzo,” Norland said, “can you hear me?” His voice was being transmitted through the robot’s chest speaker.

  “Yes, I hear you.” She came around to the front of the mechanoid.

  “What’s it like in there? Do you feel any different?”

  She gazed around. “There’s light, and air. The floor is solid, but not metal or concrete. I feel fine.”

  Kassyrinx asked if he should have the robot take another volumetric scan.

  “Yes, do a scan,” she replied.

  The robot pivoted in place. A moment later, the measurement value flashed on the monitor.

  Prester leaned closer to the monitor. “Almost twice the size. Amazing.”

  “The more energy you put into it,” said Norland, “the larger the virtual space.”

  “Walk around a little, doctor,” Prester said. “Have the robot track you.”

  Dr. Parzo explored the space, going from port to starboard, then to the fore of the shuttle and back to the robot. Norland mentally compared her movements to where he expected her to be, found it bizarre how she could be walking past the shuttle’s bulkheads.

  “Great,” said Prester. “I’ve seen enough. Come on out.”

  The robot’s point of view swung around, settled on a dark rectangular patch that was presumably the way out of the space. Dr. Parzo went first into it and disappeared.

  Norland looked up at the shuttle, saw her seem to emerge from nothing. The robot exited a moment later.