by M. R. Forbes
"What's the longest jump you've made in this thing?" she asked.
"Three months," Tio replied. "When I was first scouting for a home. It was a lot easier when I was younger. I rarely travelled alone back then."
"It's a tight fit for more than one person on a long trip."
Tio smiled. "Not when the people involved want to be that close."
He settled into the pilot's seat, reaching out and activating the touchscreen. He navigated deftly through the menus, checking the status of the equipment on the ship before opening a channel to control.
"Control, this is Knife. Please release the docking clamps."
"Yes, sir," control replied.
The ship vibrated as the clamps were released. Tio reached for the stick on his right and the thrust control on his left and began to ease the Lanning away from the docks.
Millie claimed the seat next to him, watching the precision of his manual steering with interest. She had grown up with neural control. She had no idea how freeing that kind of flying could be.
"Do they know where we're going?" she asked.
"Control? No. Nobody knows. If anything happens to Asimov while we're gone, we won't be compromised."
"The perfect time for you to kill me," Millie said. "Maybe I should have stayed behind."
Tio looked at her. The hidden anger had faded from her face, replaced with a slightly more jovial smile.
"Admiral, you should be careful. If we spend enough time together, you may decide that I'm not a complete monster after all."
"I doubt that."
31
They spent the six hours it took to reach the transmission point in fits of silence and conversation. Tio worked to break through Millie's angry exterior, telling stories of his time in university and his less renowned exploits as a prankster. She had laughed, genuinely laughed, when he had told her of the time he sabotaged a fellow classmate's robotics project, reprogramming the machine to attempt sex with the professor.
She was a tough nut to crack, but he could see the tension lines beginning to grow across her shell. She had spent too much time with criminals to disregard a man like him.
The Lanning dropped from hyperspace, the universe moving back to proper dimensions and leaving them sitting in hyperdeath a few million kilometers from a small star. Tio could see the trawler ahead of them, tethered in orbit around another rock that was orbiting the star.
"Gamma, this is Lanning," Tio said, opening the channel.
"Roger, Lanning. It's good to hear you, Mr. Tio."
"I have Admiral Mildred Narayan of the United Planetary Alliance with me. We've come to pass along directives to the fleet. I'm sorry to say, my friends, that the shit has officially hit the repulser."
There was a quick pause at the other end. He glanced over and saw Millie eying him suspiciously. She would be thinking his idiom might be some kind of code, and would be trying to figure out what it meant.
"Roger, Lanning. You're saying you want us to gather the entire fleet?"
"Affirmative, Gamma. Please begin your recorders."
"Affirmative."
Tio breathed in deeply and muted them from Gamma. "Are you ready, Admiral?" he asked.
She still looked suspicious. "Why did you want me to come along?"
"I told you. Trust."
"And I told you I'll never trust you."
Tio unmuted them. "Gamma, please stand by."
"Roger."
He closed the channel. "This isn't just about you and me, Millie. I need my people to know that we're working together so that they don't turn and run when they reach the rendezvous point and see a ship they don't recognize there."
"You could have told them about Goliath."
"And when they tried to communicate, and an Alliance Admiral answered? This way they know who you are. They've already heard your voice. They know we're in it together. Trust."
She softened a little. "Okay. I see your point."
Tio could have let it go then, but he didn't want to. He had stuck the knife into her defenses, and now was the time to twist a little bit.
"I've been wondering about something, Admiral, since the first time we met?"
Her eyes narrowed. "What is it?"
"I've read the reports on Project Black. I've seen the personnel files, including yours."
She smiled. "And you want to know how I can have such disdain for you because you killed a ship full of civilians when I also killed a man who was presumed innocent? When my crew is stacked with men and women who have murdered, raped, stolen, and more?"
She was more astute than he had given her credit for. "I'd love to hear your answer."
"For one, the bastard I killed wasn't innocent. I don't give a shit what anyone else says, I was the one he and his friends drugged and raped. Number two, I didn't ask to have any of those people on my ship. Their presence was under orders. No choice, no questioning. Do your job or find yourself dead.
"That doesn't mean that some of them haven't turned out to be decent people. That doesn't mean some of them haven't become friends. It takes time to earn someone's trust. I bet that you think I hate you because you killed my mother."
Tio was intrigued. "It had crossed my mind."
"Yes, there is a personal nature to it, and at first, I was livid about that. I'm too jaded and too experienced for that to fuel me for long. That's not why. Not now. It's that smugness I see behind your fake smiles and your platitudes. You look at me like I'm an idiot who can't recognize that every word you say is prepared and planned. You're a programmer, in every sense of the word. Not only with machines and binary but with people. I can see there's a lot going on in that brain of yours that you aren't saying. I know there's more to you than you're willing to reveal.
"So, no, I don't trust you. If you want me to, really want me to, you'll have to give me a lot more. Otherwise, we can keep going this way. You can play your game, and I'll play mine, and we'll let fate work it out for us."
Tio stared at her. He had completely underestimated her. She was a feisty one, and he could see what Mitchell admired. He would have to be more careful with the way he approached her and mix a little more sincerity into his words.
"I appreciate your candidness, Admiral," he said. "And in all truth, I find your attitude very refreshing, and very appealing."
Millie glanced towards the small space in the rear of the Lanning. "I believe that's the first honest thing you've said. Not in a million recursions, though."
They shared a laugh, and then Tio re-opened the channel to Gamma.
"Gamma, this is Lanning. We're ready for the transmission."
"Roger. Everything okay over there, Mr. Tio?"
Tio looked at Millie, who nodded. "Yes. We just needed a moment to discuss the exact directives we wanted to pass on. Please start recording."
"Roger. Go ahead."
They passed the information together, with Tio spouting off security codes and information specific to the fleet while Millie described the growing Tetron threat. Tio finished with what he believed was a powerful and rousing call to arms, which he had practiced on the way there and recited without a hitch.
32
The Lanning slid neatly into place at the end of the docking arm, the clamps causing the ship to shudder as they locked it into position.
"It's nice to have something go relatively smoothly for once," Millie said as they moved towards the airlock.
"I was more accustomed to that before Liberty," Tio replied.
He had made better progress with the Admiral after their discussion, feeding her a bit more of the truth mixed with some honest emotion. She had warmed up to him somewhat, enough that he had considered telling her the truth about why he had the Alliance transport her mother was on destroyed. Then he had remembered what Mitchell said and reconsidered.
A part of him did want to apologize for his decision.
A part of him wished he didn't have to be who he was.
"We should check
to see if Bethany and Watson have made any progress," Tio said. "Then you should get a little rest. You look exhausted."
"I don't know how you do it. You're my father's age, and you still look like you just got out of bed."
"I've never spent much time sleeping."
They navigated the inner corridors of Asimov until they returned to the operations center. Watson had replaced Bethany at the controls and was sliding his hand back and forth along the letter pad. Lines of mathematical calculations already littered the screen.
The hours had left them looking a little more ragged, a little more worn, but both engineers still seemed to have plenty of energy left in the reactor.
"Bethany," Tio said. "Tell me you've eaten and used the bathroom?"
Watson stiffened up at the voice, hands freezing in place. His eyes shifted back towards the Knife though he didn't turn his head.
Bethany did turn around. "Yes, Tio. One short break a few hours ago. Admiral, your engineer here is a genius."
Millie shrugged. "He has his uses."
Tio knew what kind of man Watson was, so he wasn't surprised by her reaction.
"What have you accomplished?" he asked.
"Bethany is no amateur," Watson said. "But I found a few areas where we could improve the compression methods, mainly in key replacement and better hash algorithms. We're getting closer, but we aren't there yet."
"We're talking about four hundred percent gains," Bethany said. "And Rubin thinks we can get another two hundred percent."
"At least," Watson said.
"Interesting. Will that be good enough?"
"It'll be close," Watson said. "We may need to selectively purge some of the less important data."
Tio scowled. "Purge? Corporal Watson, we have no idea what data may be more valuable than others. Even tax records could be a crumb that leads us to a larger revelation."
"I understand, but-"
"No buts, Watson," Millie said. "Get it done."
His eyes lowered. "Yes, ma'am."
Tio leaned in to scan the calculations. "Yes, I see what you're doing here. Inverse quantization, but you've refactored it."
"I've resolved inefficiencies with an extended Alosian algorithm."
"Very nice. I see how it fits. Move aside, Corporal, I can help you with this."
Watson surrendered his seat to Tio, who began moving through the algorithm and adding new equations.
"If we abstract the Alosian here, and insert a third compression pattern like a Koffman, that should get you a smaller package."
"Yes, it will," Watson said. "Except the encoding is going to take too long. I know because I already tried it."
"You did?"
"Yes. Mr. Tio, if you want all the data, there's only one way I can think of to preserve it."
"Which is?"
"Use the communications array to stream it to Goliath. We have plenty of data storage on board."
Tio stood back up. He was shorter than Watson, but his commanding presence combined with the engineer's meekness made him seem much larger. "You want me to place all of my data, my life's work, into the safe keeping of a Tetron?"
He wasn't going to give them access. If they had the data, they had the control.
"Tio," Millie said. "Origin is on our side."
"Right now. How do we know that he will remain that way, either by choice or by force? From what I understand, the intelligence on the Goliath is not a full Tetron. Can it defend itself from control by another of its kind?"
"We have no reason to believe that he can't."
"He? No. It, Admiral. Let us not assign it human traits as though it is human. And we have no reason to believe it can."
"We can encrypt the data," Watson offered.
"Even a partial Tetron is capable of defeating encryption."
"Eventually, yes. But I can set it up with rotating keys."
"Not good enough. It requires full biometrics."
"Origin can replicate your physical structure," Watson said.
"Not if he hasn't collected enough of a sample. Simple DNA won't be sufficient, as I have damage to my internals that he would not be able to account for in a healthy replica."
"The point is that only you'll have access," Millie said. "What if you die?"
"Then you have an incentive to make sure that doesn't happen, don't you? The data is mine, earned by sweat and blood. Your access to it is at my discretion. I'll help you use it to win this war, but I will not give it to you."
He clenched his teeth after he said it. If he had earned any trust with Millie before, he had just driven a starship through it. It was an unavoidable outcome if they couldn't make the data stack portable.
"Fine," Millie said, her voice cold. "Do what you need to do, and then get to work on those searches. We've already burned a day. Tio, do you want to have me escorted to the apartments, or do you trust me to find my own way?"
"I trust you, Admiral. I'll arrange for some food to be delivered."
"Thank you." Millie bowed to him before taking her leave.
"What do you think of her?" Tio asked after she was gone.
"The Admiral?" Watson said.
"Yes."
"I like her."
"She wants you dead."
"I know. I understand why. She is what she is, just like I am what I am."
"Just like we all are."
"Yes."
33
It was five days in hyperspace to the planet known as Hell.
Five days to get there, three days to load up whatever they could salvage, and then five days back. Twelve days. Origin was reasonably sure the Tetron would reach Asimov in five to eight days.
It meant that they wouldn't be making a return trip to the Knife's hidden base. Instead, they would rendezvous at a designated star, chosen by Origin due to the Tetron's ability to feed from the energy of the mass.
Five days in cramped quarters with four dozen men and women Mitchell barely knew, their space limited by their need to gather as much cargo as they could. The Avalon was configured to the barest of bones. Just enough rations for the trip there and back. No showers. No change of clothes. No way to stay at all modest crammed as close together as the occupants were.
It was the stark reality behind this kind of mission. It was dirty, messy, smelly, and ugly.
He hadn't realized how much he missed it.
"Let's go over this one more time, Colonel," Germaine said, leaning forward in the pilot's seat of the Avalon. He hit a switch, and a holographic view of Hell appeared ahead of the viewport. "You believe the Tetron have already attacked Hell?"
Mitchell was in the co-pilot's seat, enjoying the space afforded by the cockpit. He was in standard grays stained with sweat. He was sure he smelled awful, but so did everyone else, to the point that none of them noticed anymore.
"That's the idea, yes."
"But you expect that we'll find something worth taking there?"
"Yes."
Germaine laughed. "Are you crazy?"
"Not at all. You weren't on Liberty, Sanders. The Tetron take the people, the ones who are fit to fight. Sometimes they take the starships. They don't bother with anything else. Hell is a military training ground. It's sure to have a ton of equipment that the Tetron thinks is useless that we don't. Plus, we know we aren't going to get surprised there because we're picking at a corpse."
"You brought a lot of firepower for picking at a corpse," Germaine said. "Hey, have you ever wondered what the Tetron's plan is?"
"What do you mean? We know their plan. They want to destroy us."
"Yeah, I heard. But I don't get it. Why do they keep taking people alive?"
"When the Tetron hack into their receivers, they become slaves. Not really much more than organic robots. I wouldn't call that alive."
"You know what I mean. I get why they take the soldiers. Soldiers can use the weapons and add to their military strength. But you said that they took the civilians on Liberty too. As many as th
ey could who were young and strong. Why do you think that is?"
"Since they have p-rats, the Tetron can use them as soldiers, too."
Germaine thought about it. "Maybe, but it doesn't seem right to me."
"No?"
"How many soldiers do they need to wipe us out? Between the Alliance, the Federation, and the New Terran militaries, we're talking millions of combat ready humans. If you added civilians into the mix, you're talking billions. Except they aren't landing dropships everywhere and overwhelming us. From what you say, they don't need to do anything but take control of the people with the p-rats and have them kill the minority that don't have them. So what do they need billions of people for?"
"They have to know we'll get the word out about the implants sooner or later. They'll be ready when we do with as many fresh bodies as they had time to claim."
"Okay. But why? Tio said they can obliterate the surface of a planet with a few dozen shots from their main weapon. They don't need that many bodies for that."
"Tio thought it was about statistical probabilities, and ensuring complete victory. He said it made sense from a mathematical perspective."
"I'm no genius, Colonel. Maybe it does. Maybe he's right. Something about it seems off to me."
They fell into a short silence while Mitchell considered it. He had always assumed the Tetron's actions were completely logical based on their goals. Then again, they had made a mistake in assuming the Tetron were always logical. They were sick. Broken in some way that Mitchell didn't understand yet. Was their collection of healthy humans a simple matter of bolstering their forces and providing manpower to create new ones, or was there more to it than that?
Origin had absorbed the flesh and bone of the original crew of the Goliath, storing it in order to create his human-based configuration.
Were the Tetron creating portions of themselves in man's image? If so, why?
"It doesn't matter right now, does it?" he said, leaning in towards the hologram. "First we need to get ourselves into a force that can at least pretend it can fight back against them, and to do that we need as much salvage as we can grab."
