by Matt Verish
Lin blushed.
“Must you always refer to the AI as ‘ him ‘ ?” Emmerich asked.
“Would you rather I say ‘ she ’ ?” Cole asked. “His voice is a little androgynous....”
Cole saw Lin pale just before the lights outside the ship turned off. “Um... Is that a problem, Doc?”
Lin nodded, but CAIN answered in her stead.
“So we’re trapped,” Emmerich said, voicing what everyone was thinking. “Did anyone know SolEx had this capability?”
Lin sighed, despair resonating through her Rook. Again, CAIN took to responding.
“Fred makes everyone else’s business his business at all times,” Cole said. “He must’ve been in closer contact with us than we thought.”
“He had personally spoken with me prior to my escort here,” Lin explained as though she was responsible for their demise.
“I’m not going to any debt colony,” Emmerich declared, lifting her assault rifle.
Cole wasn’t eager to go out in a blaze of gunfire. “You’re quiet, Cain. Care to share your thoughts?”
Nothing like a cryptic, born again AI. “Could you maybe elaborate?”
Cole swallowed nervously. “Um, I thought those were non-functional.”
“A single penetration will tear the hangar bay wide open,” Lin said, her voice quavering.
“Everything and everyone on this level will be sucked into space,” Cole summarized. “There has to be another way.”
Lin looked up at the console. “CAIN. Once SolEx comes back online, will you need to reestablish your link with the system in order to access the hangar bay door?”
“I’m sensing a ‘however’ somewhere,” Cole said.
“Upon full reboot, SolEx security will revise its entire code from scratch,” Lin supplied. “CAIN will have to navigate through a myriad of new firewalls in order to breach the mainframe.”
“How is that different from last time?” Emmerich demanded, impatient.
Lin turned to look at her as though she was daft. “I initially supplied CAIN with all the necessary codes upon its creation when I still had complete access to restricted information. Hacking back into SolEx will be a massive undertaking—even for CAIN.”
“We’ll be overrun long before then,” Cole said.
Emmerich scoffed. “So, what do we do?”
Cole had noticed a mischievous glint in Lin’s eye. She’s plotting something. I know it. “Doc?”
“Exterior manual override,” Lin offered. “It will need to be timed perfectly. The reboot should complete soon. If CAIN were to sync with one of the repair drones patrolling outside the S3, we might be able to manually open the hangar from the outside after the atmospheric security shields raise up.”
Cole’s mouth twisted. “Is that even possible? And what are the chances you’re wrong about the timing of the system reboot?”
“And wouldn’t everything—exterior repair drones included—have gone dark during the shutdown?” Emmerich asked.
Lin was nodding, shrugging, and shaking her head to each question in turn, but it was CAIN who took the opportunity to reply.
You didn’t think to attempt this method first? Cole thought, surprised the AI had opted the more violent solution. “Barring the possibility SolEx and Caliber haven’t already guessed our intention, we just have to sit tight and wait.”
“Meaning they might decide to keep the system shut down and call our bluff,” Emmerich inferred.
Cole frowned. “Wait. A minute ago you were ready to blow a giant hole in the side of the S3 to allow our escape. Wouldn’t that have jeopardized the lives of everyone?”
CAIN answered.
“So glad we have an artificially intelligent mind like yours to make such a decision, Cain,” Cole said with more than a hint of sarcasm.
CAIN broke the following silence.
“Here we go,” Cole said, his eyes rapt to the viewport screen. He counted at least ten armed security guards in riot gear jogging in the ship’s direction. A couple of them slowed to check on the two unconscious officers before hustling to catch up with the group. “Any idea how long we got till the system is up and running, Cain? Not sure how long these guys are gonna stand around and watch us taxi toward a sealed door.”
“ ‘No,’ then,” Cole simplified. “I guess we wait and hope no one can find a way aboard.” He kept to himself the thought that SolEx might open fire on the ship with them inside.
“What’s to keep them from waltzing aboard this ship while we wait?” Emmerich asked.
“How about short-range rockets?” Cole asked, watching as several of the guards produced large, cylindrical weapons from their backs. “Didn’t know this place had those.”
“They’re bluffing!” Emmerich shouted. “Even if they were to score a direct hit, who knows what sort of shockwave or debris the blast would produce. They wouldn’t think of putting the S3 in jeopardy. Not with Caliber aboard.”
Cole rounded on her. “You willing to take that risk? You heard Cain; this place is built like a brick shithouse.”
“Heh.” Cole cleared his throat to suppress his laughter. “Who knows? Caliber might be on an escape pod heading toward Mars with his accountants.” He was awarded with Emmerich’s derisive snort.
“Why would he gamble away his most valuable chips?” Emmerich argued. “They still have to contend with Terracom’s backlash for our screw-up.”
“I don’t recall ever hearing anyone mention that Terracom wanted us alive, let alone at all,” Lin said, her voice tight. “None of us had yet completed our interroga
tion. CAIN intervened before any outcome could be reached. Unless the two of you heard otherwise, we have no idea what anyone wants to do with us.”
Cole scratched the back of his head and nodded. Emmerich’s silence only confirmed the obvious. CAIN fired several auto cannon rounds into the hangar bay door.
The S3 groaned.
What the shit! Cole’s eyes hurt from opening so wide. He watched as the security guards turned and fled in a panic. Some tripped on their way toward safety. All of them ignored the two unconscious officers. If there is anywhere safe to run to now. “Um, Cain... That was a malfunction, right?”
There was another louder, longer, groan from the damaged portion of the space station. A tremor rippled throughout the ICV-71. No one breathed, their eyes affixed to the point of attack.
When several more seconds passed without the incredible force of outer space ripping the S3 apart like tinfoil, Cole sighed. “We really need to discover a better way of escaping corporate space stations.”
Crack!
The sound of the S3’s breached hull had been imperceptible aboard the ICV-71, but the venting of atmosphere became obvious when random loose objects began sliding, rolling, and hurtling through the air toward the new opening.
“So much for relying on the maintenance drone to let us out,” Cole muttered, locking himself into his chair. “Maybe next time you should leave the hypothesizing to us humans.”
“There’s not going to be a ‘next time’,” Emmerich said, also bracing for the inevitable. “Everyone in this hangar is going to die.”
“Always the optimist,” Cole said, reaching out and squeezing Lin’s hand. She looked up at him in shock but did not pull free. “Whaddya think? Two-for-two in daring escapes?” She gave a reciprocation squeeze.
Cole gripped the flight yoke. The shields are back up! That lucky bastard. “Get us out of here, Cain!”
The hangar door was already lifting as the ICV-71’s engines thundered to life. The ship rose from the floor, allowing extra time for the maintenance drone to complete its manual task. As the path to freedom revealed itself, it was clear another obstacle would have to be overcome.
It’s like they anticipated our improbable escape, Cole thought, staring at the patrol ships awaiting their departure. “Activate Stealth and Cloaking, Cain. We’ve got company....”
“No, Cain,” Cole said, finished with playing second fiddle. “You got lucky once. Leave the heroics to me, and maybe you’ll learn something. Just focus on calibrating our jump...to wherever we’re going. I’ll see us past these clowns.”
Cole recalled the character of Alice Kramden from an ancient situational comedy show people used to watch on giant wooden television sets. What was her fat husband’s name?
“Noted.” Cole slapped his controls, and the ICV-71 rocketed toward the hangar bay door. “Set the cloaking function to mimic our surroundings when we cross the threshold.”
“I hope you know what the hell you’re doing, Musgrave,” Emmerich said, her voice shaky.
“I don’t believe in Hell.”
The three waiting ships took immediate action. Cole shoved the yoke forward, and the ICV-71 dove sharply alongside the S3’s hull. Danger lurked close behind, though no sign of weapon-lock appeared on the viewport screen. Cole kept the ship as close to the space station as he possibly could to deter a rear assault. Despite enacting both stealth and cloaking modes, he knew some part of the engine’s thrust would be visible to the three trailing vessels that had already spotted their location. And the cloaking function could only process the speeding surroundings with minimal accuracy.
“Maybe you can lose them in the trenches before you launch your torpedoes into the thermal exhaust port,” Emmerich mocked.
Cole laughed as he maneuvered the ship precariously close to the S3. “I never understood how the Empire had made such an egregious error while designing that battle station. Twentieth century films had a bizarre understanding of space aeronautical physics and engineering.”
“Should you be holding a conversation right now?” Lin snapped at Cole.
Cole shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like I had one too many before I got behind the controls. Besides, I perform better under pressure.”
Cole jerked back hard on the yoke before shouting, “Full engine shutdown, Cain!”
The ICV-71’s engines went silent as they continued to pull away from the S3. Without stabilizing thrust, they began to hurtle aimlessly.
“Are you crazy!” Emmerich shrieked. “We’ll be easy targets!”
“Not if they can’t locate our engine combustion exhaust. It’s the only thing they’ve been targeting since we launched.”
“But what if they crash directly into—”
The force of three ships passing at critical proximity truncated Emmerich’s sentence. The engine blast of the vessels’ wake scorched the hull and further altered their course. The viewport screen showed their pursuers at a growing distance; the threat had passed.
“Well, Inspector, they didn’t,” Cole said at last. Of course, he had had the same fear. Better to make them all think I know what I’m doing. “Now we wait.”
“Just putting a little breathing room between us and them,” Cole said, switching on power to the hull thrusters to right the ship’s course toward the assigned coordinates. He was careful to use minimal thrust so as not to draw unwanted attention. He pretended not to notice Lin’s curious gaze.
“I think it’s you who will need to do some explaining,” she said.
Cole nodded, smirking. “Not until we get to the dark side.”
THUD!
“Dammit!” Cole yelled, readjusting the ship’s course. Something large had made contact with the ship’s hull. “I didn’t see anyone coming. Damage report, Cain.”
“Oh, hey, that’s cool,” Cole said, throwing up his arms in agitation. “I’m fine with being on a need-to-know-basis. It’s not like we’re making a daring escape here or anything. Maybe we can make some room for a scout ship with a traitor on board while we’re at it. Oh, wait! We already did that once.”
“Quit your whining, Musgrave,” Emmerich snapped.
“Whining? Who’s whining?” Cole asked as the drone finished its docking sequence. He reengaged the engines and started toward the jump point. “I’m having a great time. Cain! Restart ‘Space Truckin’’.”
Deep Purple erupted once more on the loudspeakers. “I love this song! Seems appropriate now that we actually have some unexpected cargo. Space truckers... That’s us now! Only we’re the galaxy’s most wanted delivery service. Who needs a solid, well-paying job with a respectable company? Not me! I’d rather aid in terrorist activities, infiltrate a dangerous debt colon
y to free an infamous cult leader, blow up said debt colony, get caught by authorities on Mars, be interrogated by said authorities, and then be freed by a smart-ass AI pilot with an aspiration to flying to the moon for reasons unknown!” He single-clapped his hands and pumped his fists just as the wormhole opened for them.
Cole gazed at both Lin and Emmerich. “Whaddya say, ladies? Are you ready to spend the rest of your fleeting days evading the wrath of the whole of the United System with me?”
Only silence.
“Great! Let’s see how long the wax holds the feathers to this melting bird.”
PART THREE
UNCHARTED
ICARUS LOG 001: Concluded
“Despite everything that’s happened, I don’t regret my decision to turn and run. This is who I am now—who I’ll forever be remembered as. And after the Musgrave name finally dies out, the System will finally be....”
19
CRATER
“Are these our belongings?”
Lin knelt beside Cole to take a closer look at the crate through which he was rummaging. Inside were various compartments with boxes and plastic containers, all of which were hastily labeled. She recognized her name and the three others, leading to her assumption that this was a collection of evidence. She watched Cole slide out one of the containers with his name scribbled on the lid, though her eyes were upon his hands and forearms as he popped it open.
“It is!” he announced joyfully. He held up his flight jacket, artificial gravity allowing it to unfold and reveal it in all its creased, leather glory. His arms were sliding through the sleeves as a smile spread across his face. He dipped into the pockets and removed a pair of leather gloves. Those were slipped onto his hands faster than the jacket.
Lin removed one of the many boxes belonging to her. She stopped short of opening it and placed it back into the pile. “CAIN must have anticipated our needs prior to having us boarded. All of this cargo—the drone aside—must have some link to us and our venture.”
