A Taste Of Despair (The Humal Sequence)

by Robert Taylor

  Rames, Klane, Grimes and Jones made their way to where they could see the screen.

  “If I’m such a minor nuisance,” Hamilton asked. “How come you went to all this trouble to talk to me?”

  “Honestly? Curiosity, mostly. I just wondered what you were trying to accomplish with this quarantine nonsense of yours? I’d have thought simply flying off into obscurity to plot and plan against me was the more likely outcome.”

  “That was the plan.” Hamilton admitted. “But circumstances altered that.”

  “And now here you are.” Walsh grinned. “Trapped in the quarantine section of a space station on the edge of nowhere. Not just you, but all of the crew of the Hope’s Breath. And you’ve found some replacements for those you managed to get killed last time out. How nice!”

  Rames muttered. “I can see why you hate this guy. But he doesn’t seem all that dangerous. Wacko, maybe.”

  Walsh wore a look of tolerant amusement. “Ah yes! Captain Rames, of the Ulysses. So good to meet you! I see from the sealed military records of your career that you’ve worked with Hamilton here before. I also see that working with him cost you any real career advancement options. How is life out there on the frontier? Enjoying it?”

  “Don’t let him get to you.” Hamilton advised. “He likes to needle people.”

  Walsh pouted. “Now Hamilton! Is that any way to talk about a friend?”

  “What do you want this time Walsh? I see you’ve singularly managed to fail to destroy humanity, as you promised last time.”

  Walsh’s smile returned. “That was then. I was young, impressionable. Turns out when I got here I didn’t have half the numbers of my kind that I hoped for. I wonder who could be responsible for that, eh? Anyway, I quickly outfitted another ship and returned to gather up my abandoned comrades.”

  “Shame I didn’t hang around then. I could have finished what I started with the Hope’s Breath.” Hamilton scowled.

  Walsh nodded. “Yes, it was a shame. I was so looking forward to finding out what happened and meeting you again. You can imagine my disappointment when you weren’t there. Of course, I expected some sort of sabotage, so I brought a ship equipped with large amounts of data storage for my kind to occupy. It’s a very common type of memory array, I believe you call them people!”

  “Sonuva…” Klane muttered.

  “So I wasn’t there. A shame for both of us.” Hamilton said. “So you just loaded up your programs into the people and headed back?”

  “Essentially.” Walsh admitted. “But, you know, whilst I was having the second ship built I did my best with the units I had to try and learn a little about what had happened during the war between the Humals and my kind. It was difficult. Your ignorant species knows next to nothing of the Humals. All you seem to be interested in is the technological gains you can make from them. Suffice to say I had to send my own ‘experts’ to look into the matter. Their findings convinced me that I should consider keeping your species around for a while.”

  “Why was that?”

  Walsh shrugged. “It’s not very clear what happened. We were winning in that war. The Humals were on the ropes, so to speak. Then…nothing. It’s as if everyone just vanished. Humal and Jada-Ko-Vari alike. Very perplexing, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Well, I’m sad the Humals vanished…” Hamilton smiled.

  “Ah, Hamilton. Now who’s trying to needle who?”

  “Anyway,” Hamilton continued. “So you got your people back here. Then what?”

  “Always fishing for information. Children are always so inquisitive.”

  “Just tell us what you’re doing, why you sent this communicator here, what you intend doing with us. The whole nine yards!” Hamilton growled.

  “I’m getting to it!” Walsh shook his head. “Very child-like, getting upset so easily. You should maybe seek some sort of counseling for that. I hear they have very good programs for that sort of thing where you’re going.”

  “And where might that be?” Hamilton sighed. He was tired of playing with Walsh already.

  Walsh grinned. “In a moment. Allow me to have my fun, first! As I was saying, I collected my people from that world where I abandoned you. Then we went on to gather more of my kind from other worlds I knew about. Then we came back here to begin our preparations. As I mentioned, I had already decided it might be prudent to hang onto your species for a while, until I discovered what had happened in the war. So we did other things. We insinuated ourselves into your computer systems and took over your people – the important ones anyway – as a precaution. Occupied your capital ships, your system communications nets. In fact, we’re pretty much everywhere now. There isn’t much that happens anywhere now that we are not made almost immediately aware of.”

  “Great. I’m very happy for you.” Hamilton sighed.

  “Thank you!” Walsh continued, ignoring the sarcasm. “In fact, the minute the Ulysses log transmissions made it to Tantalus Station I was aware of your return. I must say it sent a warm glow through me when I realized you were still alive. I thought of all the fun we’d had aboard the Hope’s Breath. I hoped we might enjoy some more such moments. But I assumed you’d simply tell the local authorities what had happened and then there’d be a problem.”

  “I figured as much.” Hamilton admitted.

  “To my surprise, however, you decided to lie and hide the truth. I assume you didn’t trust your own kind not to meddle. Very wise of you. Of course, they’d have found nothing at the Humal world we went to. I’d already cleaned it out and obliterated the evidence. However, that obliteration would have been evidence that something had gone on. As you no doubt surmised, questions would be asked, people and systems would be examined and so on. Eventually your species would have discovered us, or one of our slaved humans. Then it would mean all out war which, you appreciated, wouldn’t go at all well for your species.”

  “You might be surprised at how well we fight!” Rames said angrily.

  Walsh shrugged. “Oh you’d fight! I know that. But you’d die anyway. I and my nearly ten thousand cohorts, have had five years to prepare, after all!”

  There was a silence that greeted his numbers.

  “Yes. Ten thousand. As I said, we’re everywhere now. Shall I tell you how it would go? First we’d kill that StellarNet of yours. All your systems become isolated. You’d send ships to act as messengers. Those we controlled would simply vent their compartments to space and become flying missiles under our command. Those ships we didn’t control would meet untimely ends at the hands of our own ships, of which we have a large number now. All very much advanced compared to anything you have. Your worlds would die a horrible death at the hands of various bio-warfare agents we’ve hidden on all of them. Stations would have power core overloads, outposts would be systematically eliminated. Those who fled in ships would be hunted down methodically and exterminated. Our best projections indicate effective extinction of your species in as little as ten days.”

  There were mutterings and curses from the assembled onlookers.

  “Shocking, I know.” Walsh continued. “But that’s the reality of the situation. By contrast the Humals kept us busy for at least a year.”

  “If it’s so easy, why not do it, then?” Klane asked.

  Walsh smiled. “As I said, until we learn what happened in the war against the Humals, we’re hedging our bets.”

  “Afraid you lost the war to the Humals? Is that it?” Hamilton suggested. “Afraid they might come back and finish the job if they found out you were active again?”

  It wasn’t much, but there was the slightest hesitation in Walsh’s answer. “A prudent individual always uses caution. The war ended. We all know that. How it ended is another matter. If we had wiped the Humals out then we, not you, would now be the dominant species in this part of the galaxy. Conversely, if the Humals won, why has nearly all trace of them vanished? Surely they would have gone on to greatness? It’s a mystery. Until it’s solved, I will exercise
caution. Unless, of course, you’d prefer me to have your entire civilization destroyed at this time?”

  Silence again.

  “I thought not.”

  “So, anyway.” Hamilton said at length. “Apart from catching up for old time’s sake, why bother talking to us? You could just have us exterminated. What’s your game this time?”

  Walsh’s smile deepened. “No game. I was just curious as to why you hadn’t said anything to the authorities. About why you tried to sneak in quietly.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “Now? Why now I continue my business and you go about whatever it is you think you should be doing.”

  “Just like that?” Hamilton’s tone was skeptical.

  “Well, not quite.” Walsh admitted. “You see, if I have you all killed there’ll be questions. If I just let you go then you’ll no doubt come up with some ridiculous concept for tracking me down and cause trouble. I’m a very busy man. I can’t be wondering what you are doing every second of the day. Since I can’t dispose of you and I can’t let you go, I have taken steps to make sure you won’t be causing any mischief for a very long time.”

  “And what steps might those be?” Hamilton frowned. Now they were getting down to it.

  Walsh smiled and reached out of shot to retrieve a data-pane. The thin plastic sheet was alive with images and words. Walsh held it up in front of the camera at his end.

  Hamilton looked at the data scrolling across the pane. It was his history and service record.

  “Very impressive reading.” Walsh told him.

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  Walsh grinned. “Actually, I’m being facetious. It’s dull and boring, like all your species. But I think I can make it a bit more impressive for you.” He made a wizard like spell-casting gesture at the pane and then examined it happily. “There! Much better, don’t you think?”

  Walsh turned the panel to the screen and Hamilton felt a chill run down his spine. There was now a flashing red ‘Warning’ alert at the top of his record. He read it with a certain amount of resignation.

  “What do you think?” Walsh asked.

  “It’ll never stick.” Rames told him. “Personnel data files have secure backups. There are comparative systems in place to detect obvious tampering like that.”

  Walsh smiled. “Possibly you are forgetting what we are? Data can be changed, systems re-written. I promise you, only those that know you personally will question this revelation. If they create too many waves, well, accidents happen. Or maybe it will turn out that they, too, are members of the Righteous Flame terrorist cult, like Mr. Hamilton here.”

  “So that’s your answer?” Hamilton said. “To have us all locked up as criminals?”

  Walsh shrugged. “Pretty much. You’ll be out of the way, I’ll be happy. It’s a win-win situation.”

  “You’re all heart.” Hamilton muttered.

  “I know! It will take time for the information to propagate out to Tantalus Station from where I am. Once it does, the local authorities will deal with you. Nice of you to place yourself in quarantine, though. That makes it so much easier for them to round you all up!”

  Hamilton gritted his teeth. “How long do we have?”

  Walsh shrugged again. “Who knows? Your StellarNet is so sluggish, even for critical alerts like this. Too many jumps along the way. A half-hour maybe?”

  Half an hour. Hamilton glanced at Rames, who nodded and disappeared.

  “Thirty minutes isn’t very long. You could have given us a few hours.” Hamilton told Walsh.

  “Oh no! I couldn’t!” Walsh protested. “That’s far too long for someone as clever – for a human – as you. You’d be up to no end of tricks. Better it’s all over quickly, don’t you think?”

  “What about this?” Hamilton tapped the screen of the communicator. “This isn’t standard issue. Something you whipped up, I imagine. This, plus our story, could cause you embarrassment.”

  Walsh’s smugness reappeared. “You really must stop thinking that I leave loose ends. The comms unit will degrade into a pile of dust – a dust-pile that contains traces of bio-agent material – and no one will believe the word of known terrorists. Especially terrorists whose cult believes in ‘aliens among us’! The courier that delivered the package will be found dead. It will be presumed that your fellow cult members tried to smuggle a bio-agent in to you so that you could perform some atrocity. The data trail for the package has been obviously faked, so it all looks like a nasty incident, narrowly avoided. All very tragic.”

  “You forget that our records will have been scrutinized over the last few days since we arrived here. The sudden changes will be noticed.” Hamilton pointed out.

  Walsh shrugged. “So what? Your questioners have their own hidden agenda. Or did you not pick up on that? When this alert comes through, they’ll distance themselves from you and be the first to sign the local arrest warrants. They won’t want any spotlight focusing on them, or the Morebaeus.”

  “I did pick up on that, thank you. Something about the cargo?” Hamilton wondered.

  Walsh nodded. “Yes. I think someone shipped something out on that ship that shouldn’t have been on there. No doubt it’s all terribly important to your kind, but irrelevant in the grander scheme of things. Either way, they don’t want to be connected to it, so they’ll sell you down the river – all of you – rather sharply.”

  “Then I guess we have nothing more to say to each other.” Hamilton growled.

  “Not really. But rest assured that some day, when I’ve found the answers I’m looking for, I’ll come visit you in whatever prison they put you in. That’s assuming they don’t just shoot you!” Walsh looked at Hamilton’s data-pane, then turned a surprised face to the screen. “Phew! You are one nasty piece of work now! I wouldn’t want to meet you in a dark alley!”

  “Why don’t you hold that thought!” Hamilton snarled and slammed the screen down, deactivating the contact. Almost at once, the unit began to give off a vile odor then, slowly, it started to crumble before their very eyes. In less than a minute, it was exactly what Walsh had promised it would be. A pile of dust.

  “Great. Now what?” Klane muttered.

  “Now,” Hamilton stated. “We get out of here. Walsh has us flagged as dangerous criminals, so we might as well bust out of here.”

  “Easier said, than done.” Jones chimed in.

  Rames reappeared from out of the corridor leading to the personal compartments.

  “All done?” Hamilton inquired.

  Rames nodded. “Everything is in hand. I suggest we get ourselves ready.”

  “Alright! You and your men guard the main entrance as best you can. Klane and the rest of my lot, stay with them and help. Jones, you’re with me!” Hamilton ordered.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Before anyone could object, or ask annoying questions, Hamilton was up and heading back down the corridor to the door leading to the medical area of Q-section. Jones ran right behind him.

  At the door, Hamilton pointed at the control panel. “Get this door open!”

  In theory, the door couldn’t be opened from this side. Leaving the medical quarantine area for the more general quarantine section was supposed to be a one-way trip. However, if the door wasn’t supposed to open from this side, then why did it have a control panel?

  Jones bent down and examined the panel. “I hope you know what you’re doing!” He muttered under his breath.

  Hamilton grinned. “When have I ever let you down?”

  Not looking up from his inspection, Jones scowled. “You really don’t want me to answer that, do you?”

  “Probably not. What about the door? Is it openable?”

  Jones grinned and pulled out one of the canteen’s metal knives. “I think I can work with this. It may take a bit, though. I’m not used to working with such primitive tools.”

  Hamilton actually laughed then. “Says the man who made a jammer out of broken terminal parts!”<
br />
  Jones grinned. “I am that good!”

  “The sooner you get it open, the quicker we’ll be out of here.”

  “Why am I opening it? Just out of curiosity, you understand.” Jones asked.

  “The medical section is where we entered the station. You and the others were all still in your cryo tubes. They ferried them here from the Morebaeus down at the docking ring. The medical section has a large airlock. It’s our way out.”

  Without pausing as he pried the panel off below the controls, Jones said. “Won’t we need a ship? You can’t think of making a run for it in a spacesuit?”

  “No, of course not! Rames’ marines are still on board the Ulysses. They opted to stay aboard under quarantine there, rather than come here for testing. Apparently there’s some Imperial regulation that allows for that which they quoted at the investigators. One of them apparently did some flight training before opting for the life of a gun-toting grunt. He’ll bring the Ulysses here.”

  Jones looked round in surprise. “A Marine? A grunt is going to fly a ship up here?”

  Hamilton shrugged. “Rames said he was up to the task.”

  Jones returned to his task. He had the panel off and was teasing wires and fiber optic cables out of the conduit behind. “A Marine is going to fly a spaceship. This is what I have to put my faith in? A grunt with a joystick. What could possibly go wrong?”

  Hamilton snorted. “It’s that or go straight to prison for the rest of your life.”

  “Aha!” Jones exclaimed. He pulled a couple of wires free of the circuitry to which they were attached. “That’s the safeties.” Then a couple more were ripped free. “That’s the locking mechanism.” He touched those together and the door gave a clunk. He reached in and pulled another set free. “And these are the motor power lines.” He touched those together and the door slid open obediently.

  Hamilton ran through at once into the small reception area. The officious clerk was not there. Hamilton assumed he was only present when someone was about to be released. He crossed to the windows and looked out.