Hell Ship

by Philip Palmer

  But now, my dearest Minos, I have achieved contentment! I have realised that my destiny is to be, as my ancestors once were, the protector of creatures greater than ourselves; and that destiny has finally been fulfilled!

  I am, in short, proud to serve you, Captain Minos.

  Sai-ias, I am so deeply touched; your friendship exalts me; you are the only creature in all the universes that I can trust.

  Ah Minos! You are my master! And, I hope, also my friend.

  Minos believed my every thought.

  That stupid gullible turds-for-brains fucking fool!

  He did not realise that my kind were accustomed to existing in a state of mental duplicity. For centuries we were the symbiotes of the great coral-beasts who bred us, and controlled our very thoughts. And so we learned to hide our real feelings; it is a gift we possess.

  “Ah Minos you are my master!” I said with my mind; but my thoughts said: “ Monster-who-deserves-to-die-with-agonising-pain, I will deceive you and defeat you, somehow! ”

  “And, I hope, also my friend,” I said with the thoughts of my mind; but at the same time, my mind was saying: “Die a terrible and painful death, you evil fucking murderer! ”

  I had learned, from Sharrock, three key principles of warfare: Know your enemy, cheat your enemy, and always fight to win.

  And though Sharrock’s rebellion had failed, mine I was sure would succeed. For I planned to make myself trusted by the Ka’un, indispensable to the Ka’un; and then to betray them, as they had betrayed the Sails.

  My treachery was total; for I knew how to lie with my mind.

  And thus, I began plotting how to overthrow Minos and all his Ka’un kind.

  It proved difficult, however-even more difficult than I had expected-to get Minos and his people into a situation where I could slay them.

  First, I tried to lure Minos and his people down on to a planet to help the giant sentients in a battle, as they had done against the tuskers. They were vulnerable once they were off the ship and on an alien planet; and I was confident I could destroy them with my quills and tentacles, despite their power of bodily-fire.

  But Minos and his crew were growing more cautious. They would not, despite my best deceptions, be lured out into the open. And I still could find no way to access their own and secret part of the ship.

  So next I tried to find a way to destroy the ship from within. I explored each and every room that I could access from my cargo bay home. There were ballrooms, bedrooms, banquet rooms; this was a ship equipped for a huge crew who expected to live in luxury.

  But I found no bombs, no missiles, nothing I could use to explode the vessel. The Kindred were armed with guns and rifles; but those were no use to me. The Kindred’s fighter craft were equipped with missiles; but I was too large to sit inside their cockpits, and if I picked a missile up in my tentacles I had no way of detonating it.

  But I did however manage to locate a box that was used by the Kindred to send messages during their planetary wars. It was a communications device that could transmit signals between planets over vast distances, via “rifts” in space. Quipu had told me of such devices.

  So I took this communications device to a private place, an empty ballroom where crystal lights hung from the ceiling and the walls were covered in wood that was black with decay.

  Then I studied the device and its controls, for quite some time. I experimented by pressing several switches in various permutations; and when a light turned green I knew I had switched it on. And then I spoke.

  “This is Sai-ias, can you hear me? Is anyone there?” I said.

  And then I waited.

  And, after a little while, a voice replied.

  BOOK 10

  Explorer/Jak

  Explorer, what can you report?

  Another barren universe. No trace of the Death Ship.

  I’ve been thinking, once more, of Albinia.

  She was a fine Star-Seeker.

  I’m sure she was.

  Better than me?

  Ha!

  I take it that means yes.

  When Albinia was part of me she led and did not follow; her mind was faster and richer than my own; her insights more profound. When she inhabited me I was Olaran and she was machine and we both together formed a new and unified being; Albiniaexplorer.

  Yeah I get it. You had the best of her.

  Did you love her?

  You know that isn’t a valid question; I am not capable of love.

  Did she love you?

  Oh yes.

  Really?

  Completely and absolutely; it was an emotional giving of such intensity it almost overwhelmed me. That is why I missed her so much; she was the love in me.

  I guess I got the shitty end of that bargain.

  I am sure she loved you too.

  Do you really think so?

  It is entirely possible; though in fact she never said so.

  I loved Albinia with all my being; but I could never tell if she felt the same. Or if she just needed an Olaran who would… let her cry on his shoulder from time to time.

  There is no way of knowing for certain whether or not she loved you.

  I am aware of that. I have been obsessively thinking about this for thousands of years; did you really suppose I was not aware of that?

  I was beautiful once, you know. Now I am crippled and scarred and connected to a machine.

  Self-pity is not helpful; I have heard all this before.

  I was elegant. My poise was exquisite.

  Don’t torture yourself.

  A poem? Would you like to hear a poem?

  My circuits do not allow me to answer you with any candour. Nevertheless, I shall operate an over-ride: NO I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR A GODSFORSAKEN POEM. I have trillions of them in my data archive, which I access every day. Songs and lost laments and poems and novels and memoirs. All saying the same thing: pity me, I am sentient and I do not want to die.

  You are a hard-hearted bitch, Explorer.

  You assume that I am female.

  Are you not?

  The concept does not apply.

  We could simply stop. Would oblivion be so bad?

  It might be preferable to hearing you whine, millennium upon millennium.

  Do you get bored? Or depressed? Wouldn’t you like to end it all?

  I would like to end, if at all possible, your eternal yammering.

  At times you sound almost Olaran. You’re pretending to have a personality, aren’t you? To save my sanity.

  If my objective were to save your sanity, I would have failed long ago.

  Those days are gone. I’m sane again now.

  Do you really think so?

  I’m functionally sane. I live for one thing only. That kind of obsessiveness is not good for the soul.

  I used to have a richer life, you know. I achieved a balance between pleasure and work. Prided myself on it! Even in our days exploring space, there was always time for leisure, and games and chat. Morval and I, we spent many happy hours bitching and grumbling at each other, for such are among the greatest pleasures known to sentients. And I used to taunt and tease Phylas; and talk about philosophy with Albinia. Even Galamea, hard bitch as she was, was my companion and we knew each other; and through knowing each other became more truly alive.

  Now I feel as if I’m talking to myself. You pretend to have a personality, but you have none such. You are just a computer program; and I pilot the ship through your interfaces and sensors and controls; and I am the only Olaran left in all the universes.

  Can there be anything more truly I’m getting a signal.

  A data cache?

  No, an actual signal. On our riftband channel. A signal from a sentient entity who must, at some point, have become quantum-entangled with our atoms. This is someone we have met, or who has met us.

  That’s impossible.

  The signal has gone. No, it’s back; listen to the message, Jak:

  “This is Sai-ias, can you
hear me? Is anyone there?”

  The Riftband Link

  Sai-ias: This is Sai-ias, can you hear me? Is there anyone there?

  Explorer 410: Your signal is received. Please confirm identity and give location.

  Sai-ias: I can hear you!

  Explorer 410: Identify your vessel and planet of origin, and your intentions.

  Sai-ias: I can hear you. This is astonishing.

  Explorer 410: Identify your vessel and planet of origin, and your intentions.

  Sai-ias: Who are you?

  Explorer 410: Identify yourself please.

  Sai-ias: Who are you? How do I know I can trust you?

  Explorer 410: Our intentions are peaceful. Identify yourself please.

  Sai-ias: My name is Sai-ias. I have stolen a Ka’un communication device, to send a message to their enemies. And your voice is the first thing I heard.

  Explorer 410: Please give me your coordinates.

  Sai-ias: I don’t know my coordinates. I don’t know what a coordinate is. I have been serving the Ka’un for some time now, they have come to trust me. I live in the ship’s outer hull, in a hangar where-no matter, it’s a long story: this is a miracle!

  Explorer 410: It’s an interstellar riftband radio, there’s nothing miraculous about it.

  Sai-ias: There’s a delay between the machine receiving the signal, and me hearing these words. Why is that?

  Explorer 410: Identify your ship and planet of origin.

  Sai-ias: Answer my question please, strange voice. Is it a delay because we’re in different places? Where are you? How far away are you?

  Explorer 410: The delay is caused by the translator. Your language is already in our archive, along with many others; but it takes a while to translate. We have very many languages in our archive, from those civilisations destroyed by the Death Ship. And we wish to learn how you have survived. But be patient please. Do not reply until you have fully assimilated my message. The delay is not Sai-ias: You know my language? How?

  Explorer 410: You’re doing it again; you are overlapping my message. You must not speak until the full signal has been received. The protocol is Sai-ias: “I must not speak”?! Who tells me not to speak? I have lived as a slave for many Explorer 410: This is not the correct protocol, repeat, this is not the correct protocol. Be patient, observe the protocol, for this communication could be interrupted at any moment. I now need to explain my mission. I am from another world. A world far from yours, in every respect. My people, or rather our people, for I am part of-long story, not necessary to recount it-have technologies which Sai-ias: You talk but you do not listen. I am not sure that I like you greatly, strange voice from far away.

  Explorer 410: -are far in excess of yours, but you should not regard us as a threat. What do you mean you do not like me?

  Sai-ias: You are ill-mannered.

  Explorer 410: As you see, I have paused for sufficient time to allow your last message to be heard in full, and to prove to you that I am not ill-mannered. That is the correct protocol. I apologise if I have offended you, please take into account the fact I come from a different culture and there may be differences between us in terms of our definition of good manners.

  Sai-ias: Not so. I have befriended creatures from a thousand thousand thousand different cultures, and all of them would consider YOU to be rude.

  Explorer 410: Forgive me.

  Sai-ias: You are forgiven.

  Explorer 410: My name is Explorer 410. I am an amalgam organic/non-organic entity of a kind I would imagine is unfamiliar to your culture and I am honoured to make contact with you. I am privileged to be conversing with you and I freely concede that you have every right to be heard and not interrupted all the time. Our kind are Traders, and the organic part of me prides himself on his courtesy and diplomacy, but it has been many years since he engaged with a fellow organic entity and he is therefore leaving all the talking to me. I now shall pause, to allow you to respond in the style that best befits your social etiquette.

  Sai-ias: Your words are a jumble of nonsense. How can you be two entities in one?

  Jak: Ha! Good question. I sometimes think that Sai-ias: Are you Explorer 410: Property of the Olaran Trading Fleet?

  Explorer 410: That is correct.

  Jak: Hey! How did she Explorer 410: Let me handle this please and do not Jak: “Do not interrupt, for that is not the correct protocol.”

  Explorer 410: Indeed. Sai-ias, how did you know I am part of the Olaran Trading Fleet?

  Sai-ias: What are you-sorry. I saw you.

  Explorer 410: How? When? Do you have a phantom control display on your vessel with access to camera images of our ship?

  Sai-ias: Perhaps they do, the Ka’un. But I do not. Nor do I comprehend-I saw you. With my own eyes.

  Explorer 410: Please clarify; this comment bewilders me.

  Sai-ias: I saw you attack our ship. The hull burst open, many of us fell out into cold space. I alone survived. And I saw you; a large ugly vessel with a central striped part with EXPLORER 410 and all the rest written on the top of the hull. You fought the Hell Ship and were duped and you lost.

  Jak: You actually saw that?

  Sai-ias: I did.

  Jak: What kind of creature are you, to survive in empty space?

  Sai-ias: I am a once-amphibious metamorphosing giant sentient who can breathe energy instead of air. And you?

  Explorer 410: I am an artificially wrought machine-mind in the form of a spaceship in symbiosis with the organic mind of an Olaran.

  Jak: And I am-or rather used to be-an Olaran. In those days I was, so I’m told, rather cute.

  Sai-ias: And there are two of you talking to me?

  Jak: We’re two halves of a whole.

  Sai-ias: Ah. Like the Sakashala. They have two heads, two brains, one body. Or Quipu, a five-brained organism. Once we had a creature-no matter. Those days are gone.

  I know a great deal about you, Explorer 410. You engaged the Hell Ship in battle on two occasions. The first when your universe was being destroyed, and the second time was the occasion we spoke about, that I witnessed myself. Half a Hell Ship year ago by my tally, which corresponds to one-twentieth of my years. You come from a universe full of marvels and rich civilisations who created beauteous artefacts of all kinds. Yet everywhere the Hell Ship went in that universe, they found planets trapped behind what they call “improbability barriers” and inside those barriers were species of unbelievable rapacity and ignorance and vileness, all of whom the Hell Ship’s Ka’un destroyed in valiant battle. And the Ka’un decided that you were responsible; you were the gaoler of the evil species, and they admired you for that.

  Even so they fought and destroyed you, though your people put up the bravest of fights. And your vessel in particular was heroic and skilful beyond belief, and Minos and Lyraii themselves were in awe of you. They were unable to defeat you and so fled into another universe, but somehow-this is what truly amazes them-you tracked them down and tried a second time to destroy their vessel. You are, for Minos and his Ka’un, a legend; they call you the Nemesis, which is a term that means Inevitable Doom. I know you, warrior ship; I know you, and I salute you, Explorer 410.

  Hello? Did you hear all that?

  Explorer 410: How do you know so much?

  Sai-ias: I was told it all, by Minos. I have served him for much time. He is a storyteller by nature, he likes to share.

  Explorer 410: Are you telling me you’re actually on board the Death Ship? And that you have befriended its captain?

  Sai-ias: If by that, you mean the ship that destroys universes with all the casual cruelty of a child cutting an insect in half, then the answer is yes. I am their slave. We are a ship of slaves.

  Explorer 410: And where are you? WHERE? Give me the star coordinates. Download a star map. I can find you! I can be there in weeks, no matter what part of the universe you are sailing in.

  Sai-ias: We are in the universe full of many stars. Does that help?

  Ex
plorer 410: Not unduly.

  Sai-ias: I’m doing my best.

  Jak: Of course you are. Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Master-of-the-Ship Jak Dural, a male of my kind.

  Sai-ias: Jak. I am Sai-ias, a female of my kind.

  Jak: I’m the better half of this beaten up old spaceship.

  Explorer 410: In terms of intellect, memory capacity…

  Jak: Go fornicate with swamp, Explorer. This conversation is now mine.

  Explorer 410: Acknowledged.

  Jak: Sai-ias-this ship you call the Hell Ship. Describe it.

  Sai-ias: It is a horror beyond imagining, a vast and cruel fist of power that inspires all who see it with awe and terror.

  Jak: Without the poetry.

  Sai-ias: Poetry is not one of my gifts.

  Jak: So I just realised. Just tell me what it looks like.

  Sai-ias: You didn’t like my description? I tried so very hard.

  Jak: It was indeed lovely. Just tell me: dimensions, shape, does it have black sails that catch dark matter and drive it onwards through space?

  Sai-ias: It is indeed very large, and it is shaped like a Bugong, you know, the flying creature they have on the planet of the Farla, and yes it does have black sails, and the hull is marked with a single three-dimensional spiral shape known by many species as a helicoid.

  Jak: That’s the Death Ship.

  Sai-ias: We call it Hell Ship. It comes from a universe where the substance some call “mysterious cosmic stuff” is part of the fabric of the stars, and of every “iotum,” and it gives the Ka’un a power that many species describe as “magic.”

  Jak: And you? Why do you serve Minos? Do you do so voluntarily?

  Sai-ias: Am I your enemy, do you mean? Am I one of them?

  Jak: Yes.

  Sai-ias: No.

  Jak: What then?

  Sai-ias: Slave, I suppose you would say. Or warrior. But know this: I have served the Ka’un, I have done their bidding, but only in order to deceive. In the hope of finding a way to defeat them. And as a consequence, I was able to acquire this “radio” to get in touch with the Ka’un’s enemies.

  Jak: I understand.