The Stars Came Back

by Rolf Nelson

Lag: Not personally, but some of the units I’m working with, yes.

  Bipasha: What percentage, value-wise?

  Lag: About a quarter of it.

  Bipasha: Do you think Cobb’s money guys know you?

  Lag: Almost assuredly.

  Bipasha: You were going to be going with us anyway. If you posted a payment bond for a quarter of it and told them you and a squad of Plataean Space Marines were going as escorts on contract, would that carry enough weight with them?

  Harbin: What squad?

  Bipasha: You two, Kaminski and Kaushik, the rest of them.

  Harbin: All ten of them, if you include Stenson and his engineering and maintenance crew?

  Bipasha: Technically, it’s a squad, isn’t it?

  Lag: (Grinning) If you stretch the words far enough.

  Helton: Which it seems you are good at.

  Lag thinks it over.

  Bipasha: Maybe you could get a discount on your portion?

  Lag: (Thinking out loud) Hmmm… Yes, that might be doable. Hmmm, Hmmmm, hmmmm… Yes. (Louder, to the ship AI) Back on screen.

  MUTE icon disappears.

  Lag: This is Colonel Lag.

  Cobb: Hey! Haven’t heard from you since that, uh, job we did a while back. Didn’t know you were with them. A colonel, now, eh?

  Lag: Just to see if we can get on the same page: sell me a third of the ammo at cost, and-

  Cobb: A THIRD!? Are you CRAZY?

  Lag: -a third at cost, I’ll put my name on a bond post for delivery here for the whole package. I’m going with them on other business and bringing some men along, so we can officially act as armed escort.

  Cobb: I work my ass off to get this killer deal, and you want to walk away with a THIRD OF IT at cost?

  Lag: Pretty much.

  Cobb: You greedy bastard!

  Lag: And of course you want to just give it all away, right?

  Cobb: ‘COURSE NOT!

  Lag: Last I checked, the markup on two thirds of something was a lot more than the profits on a hundred percent of nothing. And knowing you, this deal likely fell in your lap.

  Cobb: Ah, hell, man… You sure know how to kick a guy when he’s tied into a corner.

  Lag: Pass the offer on to the money guys. Let us know.

  Cobb: (Discouraged) Shit! Knew this deal was too good to last. Out here.

  Screen goes blank.

  Bipasha: That didn’t sound too smooth.

  Lag: He’s in. He’s just got to convince the financiers.

  Sar: I don’t like the sound of him. Can you trust him?

  Lag: We understand one another. He knows I’m honest, and I know he’s not. He also knows he’ll die in a heartbeat if he tries to double-cross me.

  Helton: What if they don’t bite?

  Lag: Unlikely, but if they don’t then we find someone else who will trust you, and buy it from him at a quarter-percent markup, as is where is, and ship it and sell it ourselves. That much ammo would make a tidy profit in a war zone.

  Bipasha: I thought you were a soldier, not a businessman.

  Lag: I’m in business to resolve disputes, and there are no good military options without profits. The non-military options without profits are even worse. No profits mean few good options for anyone.

  Harbin: As I’ve tried to tell you many times, we fight when it’s the low-cost solution for us, and we make others not fight by making it their high-cost solution.

  Bipasha: That’s a weird way of looking at it.

  Helton: Everyone trades in lives; soldiers are just more obvious about it. Wages trade money for a part of a person’s lifetime. The price tag is just a measure of the portion.

  DISSOLVE TO

  EXT - NIGHT - Above the planet Newoz

  The curve of the planet arches across the lower edge of our view, the horizon’s atmosphere aglow from the distant star. Above the horizon, in the near distance silhouetted against the black, a large space station gleaming and rotating slowly in the sunlight. A small shiny glint rises, barely seen, from the planet below. As it gradually picks up speed, music starts swelling. Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild.” The glint moves faster, becoming recognizable as Tajemnica, slowly rotating as it arcs up and away. It rises, faster and faster. Heavy metal thunder, indeed. [note - go listen to the song. Loud. Read the lyrics.]

  FADE TO BLACK

  RoboMoon

  FADE IN

  EXT - NIGHT - Space, Geminorum system, about four AUs from the G-class star

  Darkness and star-field span as far as the eye can see. The Geminorum sun is the largest star. In the distance hangs a cold, rocky planet with a small flock of moons, orbiting slowly in the vastness. Unlike most small worlds, this one has a gorgeous, colorful span of rings spread out wide in space. In the nearer distance, a pock-marked moon covered with small circles slowly spins. A patch of space shimmers as the few molecules of dust and gas in the near vacuum of space get really pissed off by an emerging starship. The dust glows as their universe shares its space with a bunch of others, and don’t quite know which physics book to follow. The transition field collapses, revealing Tajemnica in its center.

  CUT TO

  INT - DAY - Bridge of Tajemnica

  Helton at command, Cooper piloting, Allonia at com, Bipasha at sensors, Kaushik at nav.

  Cooper: Welcome to Geminorum!

  Helton: Well done! Made good time, and nothing major broken. Very good! Let’s see how the field training went on the flight over: a quick scan, lay in a course for Emirate II, and beam over the custom orders to Geminorum Prime for Stenson. Anything interesting around here?

  Bipasha: Nothing big around here but that moon for a thousand kilometers. And those rings! Beautiful!

  Allonia: We are being hailed by someone, but it doesn’t make sense. “Challenge Acton tax trust ambition?” (Into mic) Please repeat, I don’t understand.

  Cooper: (Urgently) On speaker!

  Moonlet: (OC, on cabin speaker) Challenge Galt actinide Charlie turtle

  Helton and Cooper, simultaneously: Oh, shit.

  Moonlet: (OC, on cabin speaker) Counter or send cladistic profiler.

  Allonia: (Into mic) What? Please say again.

  Sirens blare.

  Ship AI: (OC, loud, male, military/brisk, urgent) Targeting lock detected!

  Moonlet: (OC, on cabin speaker) Exclusion zone breached. Violation.

  Helton: Cooper! Transition ANYWHERE, NOW!

  Coopers hands are already flying.

  CUT TO

  EXT - NIGHT - Space, viewing Tajemnica and the moon

  Against the backdrop of moon and rings, the glowing sphere of annoyed atoms appear around Tajemnica, then intensify. A streak of light and smoke from a missile fired from the moonlet heads toward them, accelerating. It gets closer. The shimmer of excited atoms grows brighter. Brighter. Missile closer, closer. Tajemnica disappears, the glow fades almost instantly, the missile arrives on target and detonates in a spherical ball of light, right where Tajemnica was.

  CUT TO

  INT - DAY - Bridge of the Tajemnica

  Everyone looks a bit shaken

  Bipasha: What was THAT?

  Helton: A gazillion cubic kilometers of empty space, and we pop out less than a thousand klicks from a Corp-War robo-moon.

  Cooper: Good thing I didn’t try to get an even better view.

  Helton: New rule: first entry in a new system at least a half-million klicks from anything big enough to be trans-space detectable.

  Cooper: Good idea. Just trying to get an impressive first view.

  Allonia: It was impressive, but what was it?

  Bipasha: And why did they shoot at us!?

  Kaushik: Robot military moon base. Know anything about the Corporation-Nation war?

  Both shake their heads.

  Bipasha: I’ve heard of it, but…

  Cooper: Wait. Let’s drop out and take a fast look.

  He moves the controls, and the lights flash their transition warning.

  C
UT TO

  EXT - NIGHT - Empty space

  The void glows slightly, and the Tajemnica pops back into this universe, looking small and insignificant, alone in the blackness.

  CUT TO

  INT - DAY - Tajemnica Bridge

  Helton: Fast scan the whole ball.

  Kaushik: Looks clear here.

  Allonia: Nothing.

  Bipasha: Nothing inside a millisecond. Five milliseconds… Nothing of note within a hundred light-milliseconds.

  Everyone starts to relax

  Kaushik: I’ll take sensors, Bipasha; I know about mil-moons.

  Bipasha: Thanks.

  Helton: OK, once we’re clear to two light seconds, start getting a fix on things, plot a course for Emirate II that avoids the moonlet. Cooper, run through the fast list and cross-check with Stenson to make sure nothing broke with our sudden transition. (Into mic on a spiral cord he takes from the ceiling above his position) All hands, sorry for the extra bounce. Had a small problem, taken care of now. Check your stations, gear, and people. Report any problems to the AI, or me if it goes circular.

  Allonia: You were saying?

  Helton: When terraforming planets started it was funded by governments, and it was agreed that the sponsoring government owned the newly terraformed planet. Some corporations started to terraform planets on their own, and claimed private ownership, essentially starting new corporate world-nations. Existing governments didn’t like that of course, because the corp sponsored planets were better organized and happening faster. But most governments buy their weapons from private contractors, so things got ugly and confused very fast, then festered for a while. The corporate heads wanted to cover their asses, so they used some of their terraforming tech and sent out totally automated weapons factories to go to new systems, land on a suitable moon or asteroid, and start building weapons and tunneling out space for growing crops and living quarters as fall-back positions. Basically, a bunch of little robot “arks” being built in case they had to flee. Dozens of them, maybe hundreds, not really sure just how many. The governments decided to fight them by making genetically engineered and cloned super soldiers. Some real geniuses involved in the whole mess.

  Allonia: (Suddenly extra alert) Genetically engineered soldiers?

  Helton: Yup. Spliced in a lot of extra copies of genes for strength and endurance and such, searched for existing mutations for useful things, cleaned out bad genes, put in experimental stuff. Some died young, some were total aggressive badasses that were absolutely great psychotic killers, but not so mentally well connected on more ordinary activities. Some seemed pretty normal until they were “triggered” in battle, then they were totally different beasts. Lots of conspiracies and rumors, not a lot of hard data.

  Allonia: So, they looked normal, but might… suddenly go crazy for no obvious reason?

  Helton: Dunno. Long before my time. Gone now. All sorts of experiments done, from very nice, to wildly crazy and unpredictable. Anyway, both sides started copying the others’ ideas and designs. Just when it was about to start getting really ugly, a series of nuke strikes took out a bunch of the key leadership on both sides, and security codes and command-and-control were mostly lost on both sides. No one could shut the little robo-factories down. As long as you don’t get too close to their exclusion zone, they ignore you, so we ignore them, mostly. The engineered soldiers, figuring they were the new badasses on the block, just like all too many in history that think they are God’s special chosen few, tried to take over a few places, but they got themselves killed off and future creations were outlawed. Then Eta Carinae blew, and the robo-moons had centuries to twiddle their electrons and build defenses and missiles and whatever else their programming directed.

  Allonia: (Concerned) Oh. So, the genetically engineered soldiers are all gone, and these robot moons just sit there, making weapons and stuff? No way to shut them down?

  Kaushik: (Turning from sensors) Nothing inside two light seconds.

  Helton: Good. OK, start working out a fix and course. (Back to Allonia) Not that I know of.

  Ship AI: (OC) One malfunction and failure has been reported.

  Helton: Really? Where?

  Ship AI: (OC) 18 years ago, on an asteroid in the Baen system.

  Bipasha: What happened?

  Ship AI: (OC) A careless prospector found a disabled one on accident, went in, and was able to take partial control. In the ensuing control struggle between interested governments, corporations, and freelancers it was entirely destroyed, along with its 2.2 billion tons of food, 3.7 trillion rounds of ammunition, 2.7 million offensive and 15 million defensive missile batteries.

  Kaushik: Holy… That’s a lot of weaponry.

  Helton: Yeah, it would be kind of hard to take them out now, if they are all like that. Are they?

  Ship AI: (OC) There is much speculation, but few hard data points.

  Helton: I’d have thought they might have built in some sort of recognition system, so that they would “know” their guys in case the password got lost.

  Ship AI: (OC) That would be difficult.

  Allonia: Well, if they were also making clones and genetically engineered soldiers, couldn’t they do something with that?

  Ship AI: (OC) Guessing the right genetic code would be somewhere on the order of one in four to the billionth power.

  Helton: And if they shoot before you get a chance to get scanned, you’d have to know the code before you got there. Right, a tough problem indeed.

  Allonia: So that was the “challenge” they asked about? Looking for a code? But how would you tell them your genetic code by voice? You couldn’t tell them the whole thing; it’d take years! Maybe they are looking for just a little-bitty part of it? Coded somehow?

  Ship AI: (OC, normal male voice, gradually becoming more mechanical) That is an interesting guess… Galt actinide Charlie turtle adenine thymine thymine adenine guanine adenine cytosine thymine. Idem. Cladistic Profiler. Forte.

  Helton: What was that?

  Ship AI: (OC, normal male voice) Nothing. Minor subroutine glitch. A recently noted pattern was continued unexpectedly. Internal data possibly affecting optimal path selection protocols. Further testing will be needed at another location. No significance at the moment.

  Helton nods in acknowledgment.

  Cooper: OK, everything seems to check out. We can make a small jump to cut about half the normal-space flight time, then take an easy path in, slightly more than a day conventional.

  Helton: Good, good. Anywhere close to the robo-moon?

  Cooper: No, well clear of it.

  Helton: All righty, then. Let’s make another little hop, unless someone has a problem. (Into mic) Any problems to report, now’s the time.

  They are rewarded by a few moments of silence.

  Helton: Can you use the pair of Sokolovs here? We can test them a bit, too.

  Cooper: Should work… Yes, adds about… sixteen seconds on this jump. An hour conventional.

  Helton: (Nods) Double check with Stenson and spin ‘em up.

  FADE TO BLACK

  Taking Delivery

  FADE IN

  EXT - DAY - Space near Emirate II

  Tajemnica arcs across space lit by Geminorum in the distance, headed for the nearby planet. It is a vivid mix of blue seas, greens, tans, with a goodly scattering of clouds. They pass an orbiting space-dock with numerous attached ships. Most are small private craft, some are larger liners and cargo ships, including the liner on which Helton met Bipasha.

  CUT TO

  INT - DAY - Lag’s cabin

  Lag sits at a desk. On the screen in front of him is the Chief Flight Engineer Lag met at the dinner table the same night he met Helton.

  Flight Engineer: Best hire I’ve had in a while. Knows his stuff and is learning our particulars fast. The arm re-gen is going well; gives the doc something to do other than band-aid little old ladies.

  Lag: Glad to hear it, always a pleasure to help good people out. Now, about that c
ustom manufacturing shop you recommended to Stenson on Geminorum -

  DISSOLVE TO

  INT - DAY - Tajemnica Bridge

  Helton, Cooper, Lag, Kaushik, Bipasha

  Lag stands in the doorway at a casual parade rest. The others are standing at their stations, walking slowly on their treadmills.

  Lag: We’ll need to be careful. They got really lucky on the terraforming, and pulled through the Dark well, but this is a real know-‘n-blow system now, so-

  Bipasha: A what?

  Cooper: ”Know and Blow;” where everything happens because of who you know, or who you blow, bribe, have leverage on, or family name. It’ll be easier if you and Allonia stay aboard until it’s all squared away; you can go ashore on Geminorum or New Texas. Allonia knocking off the wrong favorite nephew who thought she was cute and tried to take a free sample could be awkward.

  Helton: And I’d hate to think what would happen if they tried that with Harbin’s niece.

  Lag: Quite.

  Bipasha and Allonia exchange a knowing, disgusted glance.

  Kaushik: How much bribery did you account for in the contract?

  Helton: Never been here. None at all, I’m afraid.

  Lag: Ouch. Well, then, be careful. They can be some very friendly folks when there is no business at stake, or if you get introduced by the right person, but they always put family and tribe first in business dealings. Finding out who you’ll be dealing with and what sort of skeletons they have in various closets would be time well spent.

  Bipasha: Lovely. Just lovely. Guess I’ll get on that as soon as we know.

  DISSOLVE TO

  EXT - EVENING - Airspace above the Dangerous Materials Storage area

  On a dry, rocky plain, a set of numbered buildings are arranged in a wide rectangle with roads to and away from the facility, and between the buildings. Next to each one are variously sized landing pads. Building 6 has one of the larger pads. Tajemnica glides carefully down next to the building in the fading light and settles smoothly, one end toward the building’s main door.

  CUT TO

  INT - NIGHT - Cargo bay

  View looks out the aft cargo bay door. The inside sliding doors are open as the ramp lowers, revealing Helton, Lag, Harbin, and Kaushik silhouetted against the brightly lit interior of the warehouse. All are heavily armed and the three Plataeans are wearing armor. Inside is a surprisingly busy warehouse, with numerous people, forklifts of various sorts and sizes, and many large pallet loads of metal and plastic crates. As the ramp hits ground, and the bottom angle ramp flips out to get clear to the surface, the Warehouse Master (male, swarthy, greasy, bad teeth, soft looking, overweight but not obese, immaculately dressed but sleazy) heads up the ramp to greet them.