by Isaac Hooke
The craft swerved as Harlequin initiated evasive maneuvers. He flew the shuttle very low to the dunes, which was the best strategy to avoid presenting the drones with an easy target. The rearmost turrets fired constantly.
Rade glanced at the overhead map and saw that the powerful shuttle was easily outrunning the drones. In a about thirty seconds, the Perdix craft had fallen behind by four kilometers. Harlequin swerved the shuttle behind a rock formation, cutting them from view entirely.
“Keep going on this track until we’ve put about twenty kilometers on them,” Rade said. “Then take us into orbit. Oh and, see if you can reach the colonists. Let them know we’ll return for them when we can.”
“Done,” Harlequin said. “I was able to connect with the comm node Fret left with them. Farhad wishes us the best of speed.”
In about twenty minutes the Model 3C had accelerated to escape velocity and reached the upper atmosphere.
“I’m detecting debris in orbit,” Harlequin said.
“Is it the Argonaut?” Rade asked. Was Shaw gone?
“No,” Harlequin said. “The elemental composition is consistent with the Amytis transport.”
Rade slumped in his seat. “Tell me you have a bead on the Argonaut?”
“No, I—” Harlequin said. “Wait. I’ve found it. The Argonaut is three hundred thousand kilometers distant, on our starboard side. It’s heading toward the return Gate. To SK space.”
“Set a pursuit course,” Rade said. “In the meantime, see if you can tap her in.”
Harlequin paused. Then: “The Argonaut isn’t answering.”
“What’s the maximum speed on this shuttle as compared to the Argonaut?” Rade asked.
“About a quarter the speed,” Harlequin said.
Rade nodded slowly. He glanced at the tactical display that now overlaid the upper right of his vision, as fed to him from the shuttle’s AI. The ice giant whose moon contained a Sino-Korean military base was not far from Lang. “Are the two corvettes still in orbit around the abandoned military base?”
“They are,” Harlequin replied.
“If we make a detour for those two corvettes,” Rade said. “And are able to salvage them, how long would it take to intercept the Argonaut?”
“It’ll take four days to reach the corvettes from here,” Harlequin said. “Then, assuming we successfully obtain control of one of the starships, we should reach the Gate in another six days. Or four days behind the Argonaut.”
“And if we fly directly to the Gate with the shuttle?” Rade asked.
“It will take about a month,” Harlequin said.
“Four days behind versus a month behind,” Rade said. “It’s an easy decision. Harlequin, set a course for the SK military base. And keep trying to reach the Argonaut. Let me know if you ever get through.”
Rade ordered the cabin pressurized so that he could treat Tahoe’s laser injuries. Before he opened Tahoe’s jumpsuit, he had the internal cabin sensors run a complete scan for contagions. Lui ran his own scan, and also concluded that no one harbored any external pathogens or microscopic bioweapons on their suits, or in the case of Ms. Bounty’s unsuited robots, their polycarbonate shells. Lui performed a final sweep of the cabin itself and then gave Rade the go-ahead to proceed.
Rade removed Tahoe’s leg assembly, and then thoroughly disinfected and bound the entry and exit wounds. When that was done, Bender revealed that he, too, had been hit, though in the shoulder region, but had applied his own suit patches. Rade treated him as well.
When that was done, Lui took blood samples from the both of them, and confirmed that they were not infected with anything. Rade ordered everyone else to keep wearing their jumpsuits as a precaution, and instructed Lui to keep the pair under observation for the next few days. It was as close to a decontamination watch as Rade could come up with, given his limited resources.
When Rade returned to his seat he stared angrily at Ms. Bounty.
“What?” she said.
“I’m going to need you to tell me who the hell this Zoltan is,” Rade said. “And what you intended to capture with that glass cage of yours.”
“I don’t have to reveal that to you,” Ms. Bounty said.
“I think you do,” Rade said. “Given the hell my team went through to rescue you. And considering that I’ve lost my ship to this character. Not to mention, my girlfriend. I need to know what we’re up against if I’m going to help you any further. Otherwise, when we get to the corvettes, I’m going to quarter you and your career mercenaries in the brig for the rest of the trip.”
The mercenaries bristled obviously at those words, with their hands reaching toward the blasters at their belts. Rade’s own team members did the same.
Ms. Bounty glanced at her hired soldiers. “Get your hands away from your weapons. We’re working with these men, not against them.” She looked at Rade, then sighed. “As you wish, Mr. Galaal. I will answer your questions to the best of my abilities. I cannot reveal everything to you, however. Not yet. But I will share relevant details.”
“And why can’t you reveal everything?” Rade said.
“Some details you are not ready to understand,” she said. “Not in your current state of mind.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Rade said.
“I think she’s referring to the fact that Zoltan has your girlfriend,” Harlequin said.
“Tell me everything,” Rade said. “Never mind my state of mind. What’s your interest in this Zoltan character? You came to capture him, correct?”
“I did,” she said.
“Why? And don’t try to tell me it was to help the colonists.”
“I came partially to help them,” Ms. Bounty said. “Let’s just say, he you name Zoltan is a danger to the galaxy.”
“A danger? How so?”
“He wishes to destroy humanity,” Ms. Bounty said. “What he did on Lang was merely his proving ground. He was testing out various concepts; I interrupted him before he could complete his tests.”
“Is that why he was creating bioweapons?” Rade said. “To use them against Earth?”
“Yes, but not in the way you think,” she said. “He was trying to create something, a specific type of creature. Something that would allow him to generate geronium from the crust of a populated world.”
Geronium was the fuel that all starships used.
“So what are you saying, he was trying to create his own navy?” Rade asked.
“Essentially,” Ms. Bounty responded. “But the creation process involves the destruction of the populated world. Or rather, the inhabitants themselves.”
“I see,” Rade said. “So what did you intend to do with him, once you captured him?”
“I would interrogate him,” Ms. Bounty said. “To learn what he has discovered, find out what he has communicated to others like him, and then kill him.”
“Others like him?” Rade said. “You mean there are more Artificials like him out there? What is this, some kind of robot revolt?”
“No,” Ms. Bounty said. “But there are other Artificials who share Zoltan’s... thirst for geronium. It’s a thirst that will devastate humanity.”
“So you’re going to save us,” Rade said, unable to hide the doubt from his voice.
“Indeed,” Ms. Bounty said.
“Don’t Artificials follow the Machine Constitution?” Manic said. “They can’t harm humans.”
“He and the others have overcome that programming,” Ms. Bounty said.
“And you haven’t?” Rade told her.
She smiled coldly. “If I am helping humanity, then evidently not.”
“You know, it would have been easier if you let us go down with you from the get-go,” Rade said. “If we had taken our Hoplites, you might have this Zoltan in custody by now.”
“After reviewing the report from the drones I sent down to the surface,” Ms. Bounty said. “I thought I could take him with my handful of robots and ex-soldiers. I was wrong
. I underestimated his ingenuity. I did intend to contact you if trouble arose. However, we were unable to reach you after we were trapped in the pedway system.”
“All right,” Rade said. “Is there anything else we should know about this Zoltan?”
“Only that he will stop at nothing to achieve his machinations,” Ms. Bounty said. “And that he cannot die by ordinary means. When we encounter him, you must let me trap him in the cage.” She nodded at the large glass container strapped into one corner of the cabin, where she had placed it with her remaining porter robot.
“What, you’re saying this Zoltan has some sort of energy shield around his body?” Rade asked.
“No,” Ms. Bounty said. “But he can switch robot bodies. If you disable his current body, he will merely migrate to another. This cage will prevent him from doing that.”
Rade glanced at Tahoe. He didn’t like the sound of that. Not at all.
“An AI intelligence that migrates between bodies?” Rade said.
“It’s possible,” Tahoe said. “But we haven’t developed the tech for that, not yet.”
“What are you not telling us, Ms. Bounty?” Rade asked.
“You know more than enough to successfully complete the mission,” Ms. Bounty said. “That will have to do, for the moment.”
“There is one last thing I need to know,” Rade said. “What’s Zoltan going to do with my girlfriend?”
She stared at him unblinking. When she spoke, there was pity in her voice: “I’m afraid, Mr. Galaal, that’s one question I truly don’t know the answer to.”
twenty-two
During the long flight to the corvettes, the crew passed the time in the cramped quarters in various ways. There wasn’t enough room in the cabin for more than two people to do proper physical training at once, so they took turns doing calisthenics throughout the day. They engaged in VR war games often; the addition of Ms. Bounty’s four mercenaries made things interesting for the first while, but there was only so much gaming a person could take in a twenty-four hour period.
Rade caved out in VR when he needed to, usually two or three times a day. He muted all external sound, instructing the AI to interrupt him only in the event of an emergency, and immersed himself in a cavern environment. He placed the cavern mouth on a cliff near the sea, so that he could sit there, look down and watch the waves from on high when he so desired. He tried to clear his mind during the sessions, but his thoughts kept returning to Shaw, and the worry he felt for her. He had no idea what had happened aboard the Argonaut. If that Zoltan character harmed her in any way, Rade swore he would hunt down the Artificial and tear it limb from limb.
On the fourth day, the shuttle used the gravity of the ice giant to slingshot toward the moon, matching its rotation speed, and in another two hours finally reached the abandoned military base and the two derelict corvettes in orbit.
The docking mechanisms on both ships were inactive, so Rade had Harlequin magnetically mount the shuttle to the closest ship and they boarded via an external airlock hatch. He sent in the HS3s and Centurions to secure the corvette, and when that was done he dispatched TJ and Bender to engineering, and from there the pair were able to restore power to the ship and boot the AI. TJ applied a special security chip to the AI core before the boot, which allowed him to elevate his privilege level to the maximum available. Once the AI was online, TJ was able to assign captain privileges to Rade. Needless to say, that chip had cost TJ a fortune on the black market.
“I’ve set the language to English, you should be good to go,” TJ transmitted after Rade and the others had taken their places on the bridge around the circular series of stations that were the equivalent of the Sphinx. The compartment was far more spacious than their own bridge aboard the Argonaut of course. The only thing missing was Shaw in the astrogator’s seat. Harlequin had taken that role. The Artificial would never replace her, and judging from the contrite expression on Harlequin’s face, he knew that.
“Greetings, Captain,” the corvette’s AI said. “I am Zahir, AI of the corvette Tiger. Please state your name and set a password.”
“Rade Galaal, password is tango beta five niner,” Rade said. He planned to change it in private later.
“Thank you, Captain Galaal,” Zahir said. “How can I be of service to you?”
“Tell me what happened here,” Rade said. “Where is the crew?”
“Those records have been wiped,” Zahir replied. “However, judging from the airlock access logs, it appears the skeleton crew manning this ship was spaced to the last man.”
“Do you have any record of an Artificial named Zoltan taking over?” Rade asked.
“No,” Zahir said. “The last I remember, I was in orbit above Lang. I see that the autopilot was engaged while I was offline, with instructions to fly to the military base on this moon. I also see that the comm system was left active, with an automated system set to answer inbound comm requests. It is very strange.”
“Yes,” Rade said. “I suppose it is. Are there no combat robots remaining aboard?”
“There are fifteen offline combat robots in storage area C-22,” Zahir said.
“Bring them online,” Rade said. “And have them assume master-at-arm duties. What about mechs? Are there any mechs aboard?”
“Negative,” Zahir said.
“Too bad. Shuttle complement?”
“Five Model 4As and one Model 3C,” the Tiger’s AI said.
“Nice,” Rade said. “All right, bring us closer to the second corvette. We’re going to board it. Bender and Tahoe, get down to sick bay. I want the Weavers to check on the progress of your wounds, and to double check you for any bio-contagions.”
When the Tiger closed with the remaining derelict, Rade sent TJ, Fret and a team of robots to the second corvette via the shuttle, and TJ usurped control of that starship in the same manner. Once the AI was activated, Rade instructed his team to return, and then he ordered the second corvette, the Camel, to journey to Lang to retrieve the colonists. He had the Camel’s AI activate its own offline combat robots aboard, with the hope that the units would be able to lead the colonists to safety. If that task proved too difficult—what with the lingering Perdix drones and potential bioweapons roaming the dome—Rade instructed the Camel’s combat robots to simply guard the colonists until the SK military arrived to investigate.
During the past four days, the Argonaut had continued toward the exit Gate, never deviating. Rade ordered the Tiger to pursue. They had six more days until they reached the Gate, but in two days the Argonaut would pass from the system.
“Let’s just hope she doesn’t blow the Gate behind her,” Fret said.
That was a terrible thought, and Rade tried not to think about it. With the Gate gone, they had no way to pass through the Slipstream and follow. They’d be trapped in the system until an SK Builder arrived to construct a return Gate. That could take anywhere from six months to a year.
The Argonaut was well beyond the range of any of the corvette’s weapons, of course. Not that Rade would have ever risked firing at the ship, not while Shaw was aboard.
Bender and Tahoe rejoined the crew shortly after the Tiger was underway; the Weaver had declared them completely fit for duty.
The crew passed the time in a similar manner as they had aboard the shuttle. Lots of VR sessions. Listening to music on their Implants. Engaging in simulated war games. Physical training.
As for the latter, there was no gym aboard the corvette, but Rade had the crew move aside all the junk in one of the cargo bays, converting it into a makeshift workout area for group calisthenics. Rade led the crew through PT three times a day.
A day out from the moon, Rade found himself leading one particular workout. There was something off about him that day, he couldn’t quite place it. He felt... defeated. And angry. During the workout, he just kept pushing himself and the others. After completing one hundred pushups, he ordered another hundred. When he finished that, he demanded a hundred more.
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He pushed himself and his men harder than any of them had ever worked since MOTH training. Rade took them through an endless series of exercises, cycling between pushups, pullups and abs.
“Come on you fecal eaters!” Rade would say. “Are you men, or are you maggots?” He’d pick out individuals who were lagging. “What’s wrong, Manic? You claim you were once a MOTH? Bullshit! Push ‘em push ‘em push ‘em!”
A few of Ms. Bounty’s mercenaries threw up near the hour and a half mark, and another defiled his pants. By the two hour mark, all four career mercs had excused themselves. None of the Argonauts left; they continued pumping out sets for their boss, despite the stench of feces and vomit that lingered in the compartment.
Finally, at the third hour mark Fret collapsed. Rade only noticed when one of his men shouted at him.
“Boss!” Manic said.
Rade looked up from his pushups.
Manic was giving him an accusing look. The man nodded to one side. “Fret.”
Rade followed his gaze and saw Fret lying on his back, staring up at the overhead; beads of sweat streamed down Fret’s pale face, yet he seemed to be shivering.
“That’s it,” Rade said, rolling out of his pushup position. He could hardly speak for his panting. “You’re all dismissed. Zahir, send a Weaver down here immediately.” He pulled himself over to Fret. Manic was already there, supervising Fret as he drank from a water bottle.
“Are you all right?” Rade asked his prone brother.
Fret smiled weakly. “Yeah. I just need to lie down for a sec. Don’t crowd me or anything.”
“You can go, Manic,” Rade said.
Manic gave Rade one last condemning look, then left.
An MA robot arrived, escorting a Weaver. The surgical robot promptly delivered glucose and rehydration therapy to Fret via intravenous.
When Fret was well enough to stand, Rade ordered the MA to escort Fret to the shared berthing area.
