Spinebreakers

by Mitch Michaelson

  Hawking thought for a moment. “Using parts from a glider and an atmospheric missile, I could design a slow drone, Master Steo.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “You can’t build it on your own, so I’ll help. I’ll be your hands,” Cyrus volunteered.

  “Then let us go to the technical bay, sir.”

  In a few hours they had a working drone that could fly faster than a glider but slow enough to navigate carefully around the Vadyanika. They launched it from 50 miles away and waited half an hour for it to arrive. Its real-time video feed revealed pockmarks in the ship.

  “The Vadyanika hasn’t moved since we were here last,” Hawking reported. “The coordinates are the same. The graviton pattern we had their engines emit proves it has remained here.”

  “How does that work?” Yuina asked.

  “Gravitons are all around us. Their engines leave an image in the local graviton field. It’s like a footprint in the sand,” Steo said.

  The drone slowed as it approached the Vadyanika. It was a torpedo two feet in diameter and four feet long, its payload replaced with sensors and delicate controls. Through the vid-feed the crew could see the pitted hull. The space around the ship had a telltale crystalline fog, the result of escaping gases freezing at true zero.

  Yuina flew the drone remotely. She directed it around the wreck until they found a hole large enough for it to enter. Eventually she made it into a corridor.

  “How does this look Steo?” she asked.

  Back in the holobridge, he viewed a hologram of the Vadyanika’s layout. “It’s too far forward. We should go to the rear. If any doors are closed we’ll have to back up and try another route.”

  Hawking said, “Power is on but computer systems are down. They shut them down from the main computer, probably to restart and overcome Master Steo’s lockouts.”

  “Could we connect and turn things back on?” Glaikis asked.

  “Their systems are not receiving,” Hawking replied. “Many are down due to the hard radiation. Some circuits are melted.”

  Yuina steered the drone through the corridors. The image flickered.

  “That was to be expected,” Hawking said. “The apollium emissions are intense inside the ship. The drone will take damage until it fails completely. We shouldn’t recover it.”

  The drone maneuvered down the corridor. It passed several floating bodies. She carefully navigated it between bent beams and tangles of loose wires. Finally it entered the corridor leading to the lab.

  “Door’s closed,” she said.

  “There is nothing we can use to protect anyone who tried to board that ship,” Hawking warned.

  “Backing the drone up,” Yuina said as she tapped controls. “I have an idea.”

  Glaikis glanced at her and squinted. “What are you going to do?”

  “Does the rotary cannon have single-shot mode? What do you know, it does!” Yuina said. She made some quick calculations, then hit her console with a fist. There was a loud ZING from the internal sounds. On the forward panel, a direct line appeared between the ships. The vid-feed shook.

  The six-barreled gun was designed to place large numbers of bullets into precise locations in space, where flying missiles would hit them and be torn apart. Missiles couldn’t fly at faster-than-light speed, but when pursuing prey they raced at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour. An unexpected impact would tear one apart.

  Hawking was on the bridge and offered to help with the calculations between the two stationary targets. On the fourth shot, the door and the wall it was attached to crumpled into a pile. She had punched through the ship and hit the door from a distance of 50 miles.

  “Make way,” Yuina said. There was enough space to move around the bent metal. The drone floated into the room. A few lights flickered.

  “Good thing you didn’t destroy the lab,” Steo said.

  “It is open to space now though, Master Steo,” Hawking said.

  Steo and Cyrus had seen the room before, but not the others. The only difference was a floating body.

  “Can we open any of the containers?” Cyrus asked.

  “Do you think that wise?” Renosha asked.

  “Uh, probably not,” Cyrus conceded.

  “You could not hope to be made happier by the contents. Perhaps we can find out who that body was though,” Renosha said.

  “It’s face down. I’ll bump it.” Yuina moved the drone and tapped the body until the face was visible. The features were bloody and burned, but not beyond recognition. The eyes were melted.

  Hawking said, “This is vid evidence. The features of the dead figure match Dr. Spierk.”

  “What did this?” Cyrus asked.

  Glaikis, a former mercenary, spoke up. “Probably a Venom missile. Apollium is the deadliest radioactive substance known. It’s difficult to handle and store. Venom missiles carry tiny missiles, which are loaded with apollium pellets. The carrier missile explodes near the target, the miniature missiles surround it, then they shoot it with the pellets. It’s certain death but not a slow one.”

  “Who would use something like that?” Cyrus said.

  “Somebody very angry or just plain mean. I know scurjes love them, but they love any bizarre and twisted weaponry,” Glaikis said.

  “All right, originally we found the Vadyanika and I came back to our ship with Cyrus. We left and the Fire Scorpion followed within a short period. There are no signs of other ships. It seems most likely the Fire Scorpion did this,” Steo said.

  “Highly likely, Master Steo,” Hawking said.

  “So the question is why. We took their experiment. Sorry, Cyrus. They didn’t want the information getting out, so they punished the Vadyanika and chased us.”

  “We shouldn’t leave it here like this,” Cyrus said.

  “Why? Nobody can board it and nobody knows it’s here.”

  “I don’t know. I think we should blow it to bits though. Put an end to this story.”

  “We don’t have nuclear weapons,” Yuina said.

  Hawking said, “No, but the Vadyanika has a few missiles on board.”

  “Leave the drone inside the Vadyanika. Yuina, take the shot,” Steo directed.

  She dropped the targeting reticle over her eye. “Spike is warmed up. Orienting ship for firing.” The bay doors opened and the massive gun’s barrel moved forward.

  Glaikis said, “There are missiles in that lower bay.”

  Yuina oriented the Eye of Orion so that it faced the Vadyanika. When she fired, the internal sounds didn’t make a ZING like the rotary cannon, it made a loud BOOM.

  Nothing happened at first. The word VADYANIKA jittered a bit, then disappeared with a BEEP.

  “Target destroyed. Only fragments remain. Debris is moving rapidly away from the center of explosions,” Hawking said.

  “Good job everyone. Move away, into the cloud.” Steo headed down to his quarters and found Governor.

  “Hey old chap, come over here please,” Steo said.

  “How may I serve, sir?”

  “You’ve pulled me out of quite a few scrapes.”

  “Indeed I have, sir.”

  “Link to the ship’s computer and look under the training section, okay?”

  “Done sir.”

  “There are medical applications I had installed when I bought the ship. Are you able to use them?”

  “I am able to understand them sir, but I take your point. These were designed for medical assistant robots assigned to a sick bay. With these I could diagnose an ailment, provide a prognosis and prescribe treatment. Perhaps not with the speed of Hawking sir, but faster than a human. While I could perform many basic tasks like taking blood samples and injecting medicines, I lack the tools to perform surgery.”

  “That’s fine. Go ahead and download them all. You should have ample memory space.” Steo wanted Governor to be able to contribute more than just a butler.

  “Indeed sir, but even robots benefit from experience,” Governor said.


  “Unfortunately I fear you’re going to get more than enough.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Genetic Drift

  Behind closed doors, Slaught’s soldiers called the people on the AndroVault “defectives” because they were damaged by ages of recycled waste running through their veins. Recent radiation exposure had made it worse. While in cryogenic sleep they had genetically drifted. Most had shrunk by several inches and had poor posture. Their muscles were weak. They had sores and lesions. The medical staff worked to decontaminate and detoxify them.

  “They won’t heal as fast if you keep waking them up,” Hack said to a honna. The devilish alien was Kiluth, section leader of the socio-psychologists.

  Kiluth said, “Doctor, sleep deprivation is an excellent tool for weakening the subject’s resolve. We wake them from deep sleep with questions and tasks, under the guise that we need their involvement. As this process continues, their will becomes sublimated to our guidance. It’s already working.”

  “Rest is the first thing doctors recommend. If we want these people as soldiers, we don’t want them walking wounded!”

  The honna waved his cracked red hands in concession and bowed. “I cannot argue with you doctor. I will advise that the sleep manipulation be cross-indexed with the physical recuperation program to achieve maximum synergy.”

  “Thank you,” Hack said. It wasn’t sympathy that made him discuss the well being of the defectives, it was just a job.

  Slaught entered with the section heads. He was back in battle clothes. He rarely wore the Councilor Ulay robes and blindfold.

  “Welcome to the first cabinet meeting of the new empire,” Boc said.

  Hack gave his medical update. A few hundred had been awakened and the medical staff was successfully treating them. Each subject was different, but the staff expected them to recover within two weeks of awakening. Some damage like shorter stature was permanent.

  The honna, Kiluth, gave a report about the socio-psychological program. The awakening process was kept mystical to the defectives. Medical attention was given freely with statements designed to induce feelings of guilt. Sleep deprivation kept leaders confused and disoriented. Food was rationed. Better food was supplied to those who attended meetings. Hologram speeches were played near informal meeting areas. Emphasis was placed on notions of rising from the graveyard and an idealistic future. Awakened people who responded to these efforts were given better food and their families were awakened sooner. The manipulation efforts were in their early stages.

  Tech Commander Makkiner reported that repairs on the AndroVault were largely done. The ship was designed to last eons so once the nuclear reactors were repaired, not much more was needed. With the resources of the ship graveyard, he had repaired the hull of the Fire Scorpion too.

  Pesht thanked Makkiner for repairs to the Fire Scorpion. His report only lasted long enough to say the ship and its crew were in excellent shape.

  New recruits were arriving, usually in small ships. So far seven cutters had joined, with crews of about 10 each. Cutters were the smallest of interstellar combat ships. From largest to smallest the classes were: battlecruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and cutters. The mercenaries had sworn allegiance to Admiral Slaught, signed contracts and been put to work. Some were sent to repair promising ships in the graveyard. They could crew the vessels if they could get them working. There was no waste in Admiral Slaught’s campaigns. Every being contributed.

  Boc reported that they had to rotate some of the men off the AndroVault. The mercenaries’ aggressive manners were causing problems. Only human volunteers worked on the bioark. Otherwise his troops were ready for battle.

  “Have the battle plans been fully drawn up?” Slaught asked.

  The tactical section was represented by a robot that gave a detailed overview. The AndroVault needed refreshing if it was going to support two million awakened people. The tac-robot showed the designated target, saying that it would be an invaluable supply of gases, materials and recruits.

  Slaught turned to Hack, who looked at the familiar hologram and nodded his approval.

  “Makes sense,” Hack said as he looked at the diagrams of the free station.

  CHAPTER 7

  The Battle of Metal Carcasses

  “It isn’t necessary to remain silent aboard a starship,” Hawking said. “Although we are trying not to be noticed, sound does not travel through space.”

  Yuina scowled at him. The crew was quiet after finishing the jump.

  With the navigational information they had downloaded from public networks (and some private ones) on Kurzia Station, they had determined the most logical location of the generation ship. There weren’t many ship graveyards in the Percaic spiral arm, and this was the closest. There was no reason for the Vadyanika to travel to this spiral arm and still be months of travel away from the graveyard.

  Steo decided to take a safe approach to the graveyard. The Eye of Orion appeared behind a stray moon that had once circled a planet but spun away and was now in its own orbit around the sun. The Eye of Orion immediately began recharging but otherwise kept its signals low. The graveyard was on the other side of the system.

  Everyone was in the bridge or the attached holobridge, except for Governor who was assembling tools and materials for medical use in the tech bay.

  To avoid being noticed, they sent a slow probe to edge around the moon and collect data. It was undetectable. It sat for two hours before returning to the ship. Hawking evaluated the results.

  “Are there signals in the graveyard?” Steo asked.

  “I have thoroughly checked the sensor readings. The probe detected the ship graveyard and multiple signals, including many active scans,” Hawking replied.

  “A ship graveyard in the Percaic spiral arm with many active scans?” Glaikis said. “That should raise red flags for anybody.”

  “Agreed. Hawking, scour the data. We need details, not generalities.” Steo went back to the holobridge.

  Cyrus followed. “What happens if Hawking finds the Fire Scorpion here?”

  “We isolate the elements. Where they are and what they’re doing. Then I’ll put together a plan. I need a map first.” Steo pulled up a hologram of the solar system. Starships emitting active scans transmitted waves and received back results, much like old-time sonar in water. Some of the relics leaked radiation, which produced a similar effect. The drone had gathered some of those waves so Steo could get an overview of objects in the system.

  The graveyard consisted of thousands of ships and an incalculable number of bits and pieces. It was a three-dimensional forest of metal, plastic and exotic composite materials. Here was a pleasure liner stripped of everything of value, there was an empty water freighter.

  Slowly Steo got a clearer view of the graveyard. It didn’t move much, and wasn’t close to a planet.

  Hawking said, “Large artificial object in the graveyard detected, Master Steo.”

  “What is it?”

  “Larger than any known vessel operating in this quadrant of the galaxy. It is colossal in comparison to even the largest freighter or battlecruiser.”

  “Are there any known records of such a ship?”

  “No. Not verifiable ones with factual measurements.”

  Steo knew the robot was avoiding conjecture. “Does it match any legends or myths?”

  “Yes, Master Steo. It fits the description of a generation ship.”

  More data was compiled. Steo zoomed his hologram into the graveyard. He selected the option for the computer to extrapolate as it drew. It wasn’t hard to find the colossal ship. It was copper colored and looked like an upside-down rowboat, flat on the bottom and back, with a sloped front and top. Lights glittered on its sides.

  Steo brought up a sample hologram of the Eye of Orion and dragged it next to the generation ship for comparison. The corvette was a speck next to the generation ship’s expanse.

  “That has to be Slaught’s generation ship,” Steo sai
d.

  “Look, it has a name now,” Cyrus noted as the word ANDROVAULT appeared.

  “The Fire Scorpion has to be near!” Steo shouted to the bridge.

  “He’s impatient,” Yuina said.

  “How are you, Yuina?” Renosha asked.

  “I haven’t been in anything this hot before, but I know what I can do.” As a pilot, she didn’t have much to do without a course laid in or something to dodge. “What about you, Renosha? You’re a robot so you can’t get the jitters.”

  “Even robots have destruction avoidance protocols.”

  “You think your continued existence is in peril?”

  “I predict adversity ahead,” Renosha said.

  Yuina opened her mouth to ask a question but was interrupted by Hawking. “The Fire Scorpion is within the ship graveyard.” Everyone was energized by the announcement.

  Steo briskly scrolled through icons. “I have it.”

  Cyrus saw a tiny red dot in the graveyard adjacent to the AndroVault. “That information is hours old now. What are we going to do to get current coordinates?”

  They discussed ways of doing this. At normal in-system speeds it would take hours to fly across the solar system to the graveyard.

  Yuina asked, “Could we make a drone look like a comet? Then it could pass by really close.”

  “Even the fastest natural comet travels one million miles per hour, and we’re 75 million miles away,” Hawking said.

  “What’s wrong with just coming out from behind the moon and getting a full read on them using their scans? The data would only be a few minutes old, and the odds of them detecting us would be nearly zero.”

  Steo didn’t respond, and looked through the holograms.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do.” They all listened. “When you’re on a gearjacking job, the first thing you have to account for are guards and cameras. There are a couple ways of handling them but I won’t bore you. One of the simplest is overload the system. That’s what we’re going to do, once we get more information.”

  The Eye of Orion went silent and slid around the edge of the moon, risking detection. A few minutes later they had enough information. The crew were ready to act when Steo stopped them.