by Terry Mixon
He leaned forward and clasped his hands in front of him, resting them on the table. “What I need you to understand first is my goal. I believe that you can live a better life than what was planned for you.
“Quite frankly, the ruling caste is filled with monsters. Coldhearted people that enhance their lives to the detriment of everyone below. Then, when those people are no longer useful, our rulers dispose of them.
“The vast majority of people inside the Singularity are slaves in everything but name. Do you understand what that term means?”
She’d never heard the word before, so she shook her head.
“I thought not. A slave is someone who’s entirely under the control of another. They don’t have the freedom to do as they choose, and their lives are spent solely for the benefit of those who control them.
“The entirety of the base caste are slaves by that definition. The rulers of the Singularity can come in whenever they like and take whatever they want. In an instant, those people can lose everything they’ve spent a lifetime achieving.
“Their children can be killed if they deviate from what the ruling caste deems genetically acceptable, their spouses can be sent to other areas in the Singularity without appeal, they can be told what work they’ll perform—whether they like it or not—and they can be executed without any consequence simply for existing.”
“I hear your words, but I don’t understand their meaning,” she said slowly. “Inside the crèche, all of those things were true for me as well. Perhaps Keeper had a better life, but I don’t know how she behaved outside the crèche.”
Kayden nodded. “I suppose that’s a fair point. Like I said, I don’t have any information about what your life was like there. I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did.
“I suspect that you’d have gotten more training in ruling as you became older. You’d have learned how the ruling caste are groomed to become the strategic leaders of the Singularity. How they allocate resources in a manner that benefits themselves and use people as if they’re simply supplies to be expended.
“To your credit, you’re not as cold as they are. You’re not withdrawn and superior. I believe that there’s still a chance to save you, and I’ve dedicated myself to the task of helping Grace and the marines to make sure that you don’t become the kind of person you’d have become without our intervention.
“I’m going to be honest with you. I hate the ruling caste with all of my being, and seeing those tattoos on your face makes me so angry that I can barely speak. I’m doing the best that I can to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I’ve got a lifetime of experience that tells me who you were meant to be.”
He held up a hand when she made to speak. “Allow me to finish, please. I’m going to grant you a clean slate, as much as I can. It’s going to be challenging for me, but I’m going to do everything that I possibly can to not hold any of my feelings against you personally. I beg your forgiveness if I slip. If so, I ask that you remind me that you’re not a member of the ruling caste.”
She considered his words and slowly nodded. “I’ll do that. I could see that kind of coldness in Keeper. She was of the Andrea Line, just like I was, but older. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she behaved in the manner you’ve indicated and would’ve trained the rest of us to do the same when we’d grown older.
“I don’t yet understand what it means to be different, but I’ll pledge myself to try and understand what you’re teaching me. I have no idea what it means to forge a new life, but I’m no longer a member of the ruling caste or resident of the crèche.
“The moment that Thirty-One separated me from my line sibs, my fate was sealed. If I’m ever captured, I’ll be executed immediately. I can’t think of anything that would make a separation from my old life more immediate and permanent than that.
“Honestly, I don’t think I’d have made it out of the crèche alive in any case. My curiosity was just too great. I’d get sidetracked from the assignments because something else interested me, and Keeper had to chastise me again and again. That kind of behavior simply isn’t tolerated inside the crèche. My time was likely short.”
She took a deep breath and turned her focus to Grace. “You’ve said that you’re my guardian and that you’re to guide me when we make it to the Empire, where they’ll see me as property. Am I to be some type of curiosity for the amusement of others? Is that all I can look forward to in my new life? I have to be honest: that doesn’t sound very appealing.”
“I’m going to fight to give you as full a life as I can,” Grace said seriously. “If I get everything that I want, you’ll be treated just like any other citizen of the Empire. I want you to have the same options and choices that any free human being should have.
“As I said, I’m pretty sure that that law was written to be a poke in the eye of the Singularity’s ruling caste. Few Imperials will genuinely believe that you’re property. Even those that do will have to readjust their expectations and beliefs when confronted by a real person rather than an abstract concept.
“I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy, but with hard work and a lot of pain on both of our parts, it should be possible to forge a new life for you that pleases you. Once I’ve secured your immediate safety, the next step is going to be finding some accommodation under the law that allows you to live your life as a normal person.
“Sadly, that’s not going to happen quickly. The law will have to be changed, and that will take years. Hopefully, by the time you’re an adult, we’ll have made the changes that you need to live your life as a free person.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes as One Twenty-Four digested everything she’d learned.
“What about your government?” she finally asked. “Are you sure that they aren’t going to want to perform experiments on me?”
“I’m sure that no one would actually want to cut you apart. There’s no need. What would they find? Even though your DNA has been edited, you’re still a human being. There’s no purpose to be served by that kind of butchery.
“Even if someone had a mind to do so, the law inside the Empire gives me complete and utter say over what happens to you. Perhaps, if I was an evil person, I’d allow something monstrous like that to happen, but I won’t. You’re going to be safe.”
“They could just kill you,” One Twenty-Four countered. “If someone in your society behaved like Thirty-One, they’d arrange to eliminate you. They could then take possession of me and do what they wanted.”
Grace opened her mouth to say something but closed it again without speaking. She took a deep breath and then started again.
“As I said, I’m a lot harder to kill than I look. For the time being, I’ll make sure that all of my property is inherited by Fei. Frankly, she’s even harder to kill than I am. I’ll set up a legal framework that makes absolutely certain that only people who have your best interest at heart will represent you.”
Before One Twenty-Four could respond, a hidden speaker overhead came to life. “Grace, we need you on the bridge. We’ve got a situation.”
Grace stood. “I’d best go see what’s happening. Kayden, if you’d be so kind as to escort Andrea back to the marine area when you’re done, I believe that Sergeant Na has some hand-to-hand training that she’d like to begin.”
With that, Grace strode out of the room without another word.
One Twenty-Four was more than a bit concerned about what was happening. Had the Singularity caught up with them? Might her new life be over before it had really begun?
That would be a tragedy, and she hoped with all of her heart that Grace could handle what was coming next. Whatever it was.
24
Grace made her way up to Bright Passage’s bridge and found Anders examining a readout on one of the consoles facing the command chair. She stepped around to stand beside him and was able to tell that it was a navigational plot but not much else, since she wasn’t trained to read that kind of display.
He turned toward her, his expression concerned. “We’re about halfway to the next flip point, and a pair of destroyers just flipped into the system. They’re headed directly toward us.”
“Do you think they’re on to us?”
The ex-Fleet officer shrugged. “It’s hard to say. They could be heading for the Aponte system, since its flip point is directly behind us. Freighters of every size and shape scattered before the transshipment center blew up, and you can be sure that news of attack is spreading like a shockwave. There’s been enough time for the next system over to have gotten word about what happened. Barely.”
Grace considered that possibility while she rubbed her nose. “We have to plan for the worst-case scenario and assume that they’ve gotten word of the attack. The question now is whether or not they intend to stop us or are going directly to the source.
“Dozens of the ships running from Aponte are in this system and are even now in the process of scattering toward various destinations. There’s no way that those destroyers are going to stop every single one of them, so why should we assume that they’re coming for us?
“As far as we know, there’s nothing to connect us with the attack. Bright Passage didn’t do anything to directly draw attention to itself, so it’s unlikely that anyone pointed us out as the source of the marines when we invaded.
“Hell, that Keeper woman blew up the place with almost no warning. They might not even suspect the Empire was involved yet.”
Anders slowly resumed his chair. “True, but we can’t count on that being the case. If either of those ships decides to board us, we’re screwed. With two destroyers, they could stand off and blow us up without any difficulty at all.
“Just the marines on those ships are more than capable of overwhelming your platoon. No matter how this plays out, if they’ve singled us out for attention, we’re done for.”
Everything the man said was true, but Grace wasn’t going to give up hope just yet. Since they were on a direct path toward the flip point that the destroyers had come from, they couldn’t jump to the conclusion that they’d been targeted.
“Nothing in the information that Kayden gave us indicated there were destroyers deployed in the system ahead of us,” she said. “We didn’t come through it on our way in, so we don’t know for sure, but that system is mostly supposed to be used for transit.”
“It isn’t supposed to be guarded,” he agreed. “That said, we can’t count on our intelligence being perfect. As a marine, you already know that. Just because none of the destroyers stationed at Aponte was supposed to be in the next system over doesn’t mean that they weren’t.
“For that matter, these ships might’ve just been passing through on their way to another posting when they got word of the attack. If that’s the case, they could’ve diverted on their commander’s orders. All that really matters is that they’re going to pass right by us.”
That was true. The back story didn’t change the results. All that mattered was whether they were challenged or fired upon.
Well, if they were going to have trouble, she might as well get the marines ready to dance. Grace walked over to the wall communicator and signaled Na. As soon as the noncom came on, she ordered her to get the marines into their battle rattle.
If it looked like they were going to go down fighting, she’d head back and join them. It was far better to die with a weapon in one’s hand then stand around bleating about their bad luck.
With that done, she returned to Anders’s chair. “How long is it going to be before we know for sure what their intentions are?”
“We’ll be in weapons range in about an hour and a half. If I were in command over there, I’d wait until my ships were inside weapons range before opening communications. They’re not going to want to telegraph their intentions.
“There are five other freighters from Aponte traveling in a rough cluster around us, and we’re all headed for the flip point that they just came through. It’s possible that they’ll just command us all to heave to.
“If that happens, we can play dumb and then open fire with our concealed weapons if they come close enough. We’ve got enough firepower to cripple one or both of those ships but probably not destroy them. If it comes down to shooting, they’re going to blow us into little bitty pieces, and then they’re going to board what’s left.”
Grace considered heading back to join the marines but decided against it. They’d be much better prepared if she knew exactly what was happening. To know that, she needed to stay here and see how things played out.
The next hour went by so damn slowly. She gave in to temptation and paced the rear of the small bridge to bleed off some of her tension. Eventually, she gave up on that and went to pester the navigator on some instruction about how to read his display.
Anders ordered the man to put something up onto the small screen on the front of the console that the captain faced. It showed a blue dot that represented Bright Passage in the center of the screen. Some of the other freighters fleeing Aponte were scattered loosely around them and represented with amber dots. Ahead of them, two red dots crawled toward them.
Even though those red dots weren’t moving very quickly on the scale of the display, Grace knew that they were coming as fast as they possibly could. The navigator had informed her that the destroyers were moving at flank speed.
In Fleet parlance, that meant that they were going even faster than what was normally considered their top speed. They were pushing their engines as hard as they could to eke out every single bit of velocity.
Grace thought that was a good sign. If their only intent was to intercept the freighters, they didn’t have to rush. The civilian ships weren’t going to get away. Bright Passage couldn’t outrun a destroyer even with its upgraded engines.
Her expectation at this point was that the destroyers were going to fly past the freighters without giving them a second look.
To her immense relief, that was exactly what happened.
The destroyers sprinted past the cluster of freighters and continued on toward the Aponte flip point, no doubt racing to help secure the system against whatever attack they thought was taking place.
She finally let out a sigh of relief once the destroyers were outside weapons range again. Anders looked as relieved as she felt. Nobody wanted to die on this mission, even though they all knew that was still a real possibility.
They’d escaped immediate confrontation, and now they could continue on to the next system in line and make the flip on to engage the first of their secondary targets in the system beyond that.
Personally, Grace doubted they were going to be able to hit all three secondary targets. That was just begging for trouble. If they managed to just hit one, she’d be pleased. If they got two, she’d be ecstatic.
She stayed on the bridge until Bright Passage finally flipped to the next system. Once they did, she waited anxiously as the officer manning the scanners began gathering passive information from deeper into the system.
Grace didn’t expect there to be much. This system wasn’t a major hub for the Singularity. It served as a transit point between more populous systems, containing no habitable worlds of its own and holding no military bases.
There was some mining going on in one of its asteroid belts, and one of the gas giants had a commercial orbital used in harvesting hydrogen for industrial processes elsewhere, but that was it. Unless there were other warships in the system, Bright Passage should have a smooth transit to the next system.
When they got there, Grace expected that news of the attack at Aponte would’ve already arrived. Gossip traveled at almost the speed of light, after all. Bad news spread even faster than good.
The man monitoring the scanners looked up with a quizzical expression. “Sir, I’m picking up active scanners at the gas giant. I’m still gathering the details, but I think they’re military grade.”
Anders rubbed one hand across his face and sighed. “Why am I not surp
rised? What can you tell me about the gas giant and the scanner signature?”
“The gas giant has only one commercial orbital used for siphoning off hydrogen, according to the information listed by Imperial Intelligence. It’s not supposed to have any military presence whatsoever.
“I’ll get better data on the scanner source as we get closer. Our current flight path will take us near the gas giant as we make our way to the next flip point. It’s only a single scanner signature, and now that I’m getting a longer exposure to it, it looks odd.”
“In what way?” Anders asked sharply. “Are they scanning for us?”
The man shook his head. “No, sir. It looks like a general scan of the area around the gas giant, but it’s the modulation that’s strange. It’s not utilizing the frequencies that I’d expect from a Singularity warship. Frankly, it’s a lot closer to Fleet modulation.”
“Are you saying that’s a Fleet warship?” Grace asked incredulously.
The man shrugged. “It’s not an exact match for Fleet frequencies, but it’s not far off either. That’s what makes it strange.”
Anders leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head. “This doesn’t make any sense. First of all, there shouldn’t be any Fleet vessels inside the Singularity at all. Second, if there were any, why the hell would they be advertising their presence?
“And yes, I understand that it’s not precisely using normal Fleet frequencies, but if it’s not a Singularity vessel, then we have to start asking questions about who it really is and what they’re doing.”
“You said that we’re going to be passing fairly close by the gas giant,” Grace said. “If so, why don’t we deviate a little and see how close we can get to whatever is generating that signal? It’s not going to see anything other than a freighter on its way to the next flip point. If we can get close enough to get some real data, that might be valuable to Imperial Intelligence.”
