They all grinned and Jan patted Fritz on the shoulder as Marko opened the file and listened briefly to the music. It seemed gentle and quite innocuous, but knowing Fritz it would be packed with high maths.
*
They slid up the ramp many hours after sunset and were treated to the sight of a beautiful conjunction of the planet’s twin moons as they eased into the hangar. Nothing else blew up and nothing else failed except, as they arrived and came to a complete stop, the ramp finally gave up the ghost and fell onto the workshop hangar floor with a loud clatter.
The crew assembled in front of the battered Mudshark as the monitors and proxies left.
Marko looked at Glint. ‘Did it taste nice?’
‘What?’
‘The octopoid’s brain, Glint.’
‘I was not eating it, Marko, I was trying to kill it.’
He sounded quite indignant and became even more so when Jan and Marko grinned at him. ‘Just as well, Glint,’ Jan said. ‘I wouldn’t want you getting a reputation.’
Glint shrugged and with a wicked smile said: ‘I think it actually needed frying and sprinkling with a little pepper.’
*
Michael Longbow addressed the crew as they waited outside Mudshark. ‘OK, people, well done. Take the day off tomorrow. Party, my place, tomorrow night. Harry, make sure that booze is secured and bring it along.’
Harry nodded. ‘No problem, boss. This is the good stuff. Hey, by the way. A small niggling question. Why did you want Glint hidden?’
The major looked at Harry and gave a curt little nod. ‘The baron is an inquisitive chap and I have been advised that he has taken a serious interest in Glint and what is inside him. Seems that he knows rather a lot about our little mate here, and knowing that the baron almost always gets precisely what he wants, I did not want to give him the opportunity.’
*
Four
The following morning, as the first light of the day was creeping skywards, Marko, Jan, Glint and Flint were inside an aircraft maintenance hangar at the base airfield. Flint had jacked himself into the living building’s audio system and was waiting until the other three had seated themselves at its centre.
Marko turned on the amplifiers and played the music track, seeing in his brain the beautiful, tonal, mathematically soothing music, and admiring Fritz for his total devotion to the art form. Ten minutes later, as the tracks of music slowly changed to further aid a troubled ACE mind, he saw the little monkey-like creature move about in the building’s security system high above him. A further ten minutes went by, with Marko wondering if he was going to have to play the entire suite of music over again, until the monkey came out into plain view and crept across to where the three were seated.
Marko turned slowly as the small silver-coloured primate walked cautiously towards him. He gestured for the ACE to sit with them and stayed quiet until the music stopped. He then looked at the creature, allowing his augments to visually map it. He slowly nodded as it signed to him.
‘You are Marko. I am so pleased to see you. Are you really Marko of the Spitz family from Waipunga?’
Marko nodded and the monkey continued: ‘I was created by the Dines, but the family that I was indentured to did not send me back for the full augments when the children grew up.’
‘I know the Dines well. Are you capable of seeing my biometrics and can you vocalise?’
The ACE signed back to him. ‘No and no. I am sadly lacking in most skills apart from caring for small children. Do you know of any here who I can help? I feel so good this day, so much better than I have in a long, long time.’
The Basalt crew members gave silent thanks to Fritz and his genius. Glint took one of the little monkey’s hands in his.
‘Have you a name?’ Jan asked the creature.
‘LSM … it is for Little Silver Monkey.’
They all frowned at that. Marko wondered why many humans had an ACE created, but as soon as the creature had worked out its indenture, abandoned it and did not fulfil the final part of the contract to equip the ACE with all that it needed to survive and prosper in the Sphere of Humankind.
Flint, who had joined them, looked up at the monkey. ‘What do you call yourself, ACE? LSM is insulting.’
The creature slowly looked at each of them and shuffled about, looking embarrased. ‘I like Josey.’
Glint clapped a hand on the monkey’s shoulder, startling it. ‘Right! Come on, Flint, let’s take Josey to see Topaz for a few checks and some augments. In a couple of days, once you are sorted out, Josey, we will take you over to the Base school. I know you’ll enjoy it there.’
As they watched the unlikely trio walking out of the hangar, Jan gave Marko an exuberant kiss. ‘Well done us! Another one rescued!’
*
Two days later a short, fat cylinder slowly surfaced south of the battle zone and sent out a tiny focused squeak to Basalt, which was listening for it from orbit.
The Harpoon core, once recovered by an Aurora’s drone, gave up a lot of new tech information about the Gjomvik sub. The best part was that the Games Board did not know that Basalt’s crew had the information, otherwise they would have insisted that they be given a cut when it was sold on to the Administration Intelligence group.
Later the same day Marko received a message from the local Administration Intelligence group’s accounting division to let him know that one of his accounts had been credited with what he considered was a tidy sum for the information he had passed on about the baron.
*
The following morning Marko, Harry and the major were back in Mudshark’s hangar, looking up at it.
‘So Harry, is there anything else we can learn from Mudshark?’ the major asked.
‘Not really, boss. Very interesting design which certainly has potential for future use. I have noted in the report how we could improve upon it further. I hope like hell you are not going to ask me to patch it up so we can take it on board Basalt. Fritz says that the Gjomvik coding is hardwired into a large part of it, and without spending a lot of time ripping it completely to pieces we would never guarantee a hundred per cent control of it.’
Major Longbow, who was known to ‘collect’ interesting artefacts, said, ‘Nope. Intel AI wants this one. Wants to see if that code can be broken. I’m a little concerned that we’ll see this beast, or something very like it, again though. Games Board is very pleased with what we did and wants to see another Mudshark in another AV. Sirius, yes that Sirius, who is our Games Board handler and agent, has been in touch again and wants us to do that battle, but I declined as we have real work. Harry, give the troops a twelve-hour movement notice, please. Marko, could you go have a talk with Stephine and work out a price for the Harpoon Intellectual Property? Admin wants it in production and deployed soonest. Right, see you both in a couple of hours.’
The two men watched him depart as Harry said, ‘Where are those ACEs of ours, Marko?’
‘Last seen with Glint furiously pedalling that push bike you gave him for his birthday down the main road with an MP in hot pursuit an hour or so back. Didn’t know that such a contraption could go so bloody fast. They were clocked doing sixty-five kilometres per hour in a twenty-five kilometres per hour zone. Have not heard from them, so I presume it’s been sorted. You know, Harry, I should really have given Glint sweat glands. That frill we installed on him as a heat exchanger is just too fierce-looking when he’s hot.’
‘Coffee’s up, guys,’ their comms announced.
Harry answered. ‘Ta, Veg; nice to have you back! Interesting critters? On our way. Spread the word, twelve-hour movement order.’
After they had finished their break Marko went back to the quarters he shared with Jan and packed up their meagre belongings. He activated both packs but left them where they were for the time being. Jan had left a message for him an hour earlier telling him she was saying their goodbyes around the base. He wandered across to the accounts section of the Sergeants’ Mess, squared away their
bill and, for the first time, had to pay for Glint’s consumption as well. He decided that he would have to have a word with the ACE about doing some chores to pay his way.
The rest of the day was spent with Harry sorting the stock materials from the metal production mill for use on board Basalt. Harry then put a call through to Major Longbow. ‘Marko and I have squared away the metal requirements and also the fabrication consumables, new tools, cutters and abrasives for everyone. We are up tonnage wise. What do you want to do? Have Patrick bring Basalt down, two trips with the Albatross lander or make up a container and have the Base punch it into orbit?’
They waited a minute or so before the major replied. ‘Basalt is on the way down. Will land in a couple of hours.’
*
Marko was leaning against the chain-link fence separating the Administration area from the airfield as Jan, with Glint following on his bike, joined him.
Jan gave Marko a hug and leant into him, letting him shelter her from the stiff sea breeze. ‘What’s happening, lover?’
‘Look at the entrance to the third hangar from the left at that beautiful, vintage design aircraft. It’s called a Pitts Special biplane. Totally aerobatic. They started it up, ran it for about ten minutes and I had hoped to see it flying, but they shut it down again. Nice design; no doubt they probably built it here. Plenty of facilities available as long as one is prepared to pay.’
Jan looked across at Marko, smiled, and rubbed the top of his smooth head. ‘Still basically a kid. Nice, shiny, dangerous-as-hell toys attract you, don’t they, Marko?’
He grinned, pushing himself against her beautiful curves.
‘Yeah, I am. But you’re not that shiny! Hey, guy in what looks like a real leather flying suit has just climbed into the cockpit. Great! Going for a start-up.’
As they watched, the aircraft taxied over to one of the runways and minutes later was airborne, howling over their heads and out across the bay. They walked down to the shore and watched the little electric-blue-coloured aircraft giving a good aerobatic display. Glint laid his bicycle down, pointing at the waving tendrils some hundreds of metres out in the bay.
‘I hope the pilot knows that adult whorl crustaceans are in the bay and that the mating season is fast approaching.’
‘Why, Glint? Oh, I see, data coming from you … wow, they can throw adolescents that high! Yeah, I hope he knows. But the whorls should be much further north? That’s what I read in the local environmental hazards brief last week. What would have attracted them here?’
Glint flashed another information packet across on their crew comms directly into Marko’s eyes.
‘Ah,’ Marko nodded, ‘simple as that. Alter three elements in the river water and they will come closer to the seashore, attracted by a possible aphrodisiac source. Trying to get a warning to the pilot but I am either being blocked, or he is just ignoring me!’
They watched in silence, with a slowly gathering group of spectators from the base, as the inevitable happened. The aircraft swooped low and dozens of two-metre-diameter young whorl were thrown upwards by the adults. The pilot suddenly realised his predicament, but the trap had been sprung and the whorls quickly unfurled multiple tendrils with one grasping the aircraft as it desperately wove through the others’ tendrils.
There was a loud bang followed by multiple shots as Glint fired on the whorls, but many more were shot out of the water and Glint ran out of ammunition. The alarms were sounding all over the base as additional weapons started firing but it was too late; a single whorl landed in the aircraft’s cockpit, instantly dispatching the pilot by biting off his head. It then dragged his body out of the aircraft to fall with it back into the ocean. The aircraft flew straight, unmolested by the other falling whorls; obviously now under remote control, it banked and minutes later landed. There was silence for a few seconds before the whorls turned towards the shore. The crowd rapidly moved inland as the local defences activated, frightening the sea creatures so that they moved into deeper water.
As they walked back towards the frigate Basalt, Marko looked at Jan and whispered, ‘Was that pilot a good Gjomvik or a bad Gjomvik, Jan?’
She shrugged and gripped his hand a little tighter, saying nothing.
Glint looked at them both and said, ‘Well, if he could afford that aircraft I would say that he was wealthy Gjomvik, so would have had a Soul Saver and a link. I could ask Gerald if you like?’
Marko nodded.
Glint contacted the Base AI and said, ‘Yeah, he did. He was a military contractor and had one. Gerald said that the pilot’s zygote will be attached to his Soul Saver data unit and the re-lifing of him will start tomorrow. I wonder what it will be like for him to be conscious for a year as he concentrates on growing himself a new body. Would not bother me but I wonder what it is like for a true human.’
*
It was not often that the famous ship was seen in an atmosphere and close to a terrestrial base, in daylight and on the ground, so they had quite a few sightseers lining up against the fences as Patrick refuelled the ship via the large diameter, tendril-like pipes which slid from Basalt’s base then snaked out to locate and latch onto the various fuel feeds. Marko flew the Gunbus and its trailer down from the great wasp-shaped vertical mass of Basalt and ran a few trips lifting the materials back into the engineering deck access hatch in the side of the ship.
He enjoyed flying the odd little machine and got a few enquiries from some of his mates wanting to have a go. He had to admit it was great fun with only a low little windscreen and then nothing out in front, so he felt quite daring. Veg suggested that he needed a leather flying hat and aviator goggles. On the second run, Glint arrived, and promptly hung out over the front making appreciative noises as they swooped down over the complex. Marko grinned as he opened comms. ‘Major.’
‘Yes, Marko.’
‘When are we going to tart up Basalt, exterior wise? Looking a bit worse for wear, don’t you think?’
Marko heard the major give a little grunt. ‘Agreed. Put a file together and send it at your leisure. Won’t be this trip, but soon. OK?’
The comms link cut off abruptly as Marko swore quietly and wondered why he did not engage his mind before his mouth. He saw something below and turned to Glint. ‘Glint, do I spy your bicycle on the ground beside Basalt? When we drop this load off I want you to go get it and store it properly.’
The ACE looked off into the distance, shrugged and muttered, ‘Flint said that he would do it.’
‘Flint wouldn’t be able to manage it — he simply does not have the mass. Your bike, your responsibility, end of story. What would the boss have to say? When we land go sort it, or no more rides today.’
A few moments later he had to stop himself from laughing out loud watching the steel-grey ACE trying to stomp away and act bad tempered, which was not really his nature. Marko looked across to see the Albatross lander descending to settle beside the main accommodation area just as the comms link chimed open.
‘Crew, this is the major. We lift in two hours Standard Time unless there is a pressing need for a delay? No. Right, two hours to sort out your stuff.’
*
Patrick remotely took control of the Albatross, after they had dumped all their gear on board, flown it up the side of Basalt and gently eased it in through the tight main hatchway. The winds were gusting a little so it was much easier for Patrick to do it.
Jan was privileged to fly Stephine’s craft up into the hangar deck once the Albatross was sorted, with Veg riding shotgun. Later she told Marko that she really wanted to take it for a decent blast but controlled herself, although she felt that the craft wanted to go much faster. The last job Marko had was to go pick up Ernst from the repair facility, where he had been acting as a standard dumb medical unit. He was very relieved to be back on board and able to behave as a sentient individual once again. Jan performed all the standard tests including a 17J5AI as he had received an upgrade from the base facilities along with the oth
er two medical units on board.
When everyone was finally on board, the major said, ‘Lift stations, please, five minutes.’
Most of them were already at their stations although Fritz was late as per normal. Harry ran to get to his comms station in time to hear the major say: ‘Harry, whenever you are ready.’
Marko had brought all the antigravity units and thrusters online a few minutes earlier to warm them up. He had also opened the atmospheric jet drives, rotating them out from their housings at the waist of the ship, so he shunted control of them across to Harry, who lifted the ship and rotated it around its axis so he could see out across the barren rocky hills and wide blue ocean bay. Using the AG and side thrusters, Harry took the ship out over the workshops and wharves, slowly climbed up a kilometre or so, powered up the jets and gathered speed. Once they were a few kilometres downrange of the facilities, he lit up the fusion rockets and they roared out through the atmosphere at a leisurely one gravity of thrust.
The major visibly relaxed and issued instructions. ‘Two-hundred-kilometre orbit, please, Harry. All crew, we have three hours to establish biosecurity protocols. Once under way to the local Lagrange point, I will brief you on the mission.’
It was one of the drawbacks of bringing the frigate down onto the surface of a planetary biosphere. Bad enough with the lander, but with the frigate, even if they had only had it on the ground for a few hours, the checks still had to be carried out. It was a bit easier with the ACEs helping, and they only found a few of the planet’s spider-type beings. This pleased Patrick, who had a phobia about insects in general, having confided in Harry how he had once had a colony of ant-like creatures invade his outer casing. They dutifully set off the bio-gasbombs to ensure they got everything, and then each of them was scanned and tested for pathogens or unwelcome hitchhikers of any kind by Topaz and Ernst, before the major gave the all-clear. The information was logged with the Orbital local control and they were free to be on their way.
Crystal Venom Page 6
