by Jake Bible
“No,” Bishop said. “You’re gonna burn me, man.”
“House of Teeth,” Roak said.
“And I said no,” Bishop replied. “My comm tech is heavy duty, but the weight your little job has brought down on a lot of people is heavier. I can’t say for sure that no one is listening.”
“All I need to know is where the House of Teeth is,” Roak said. “I’ll owe you. Big.”
“Not worth it,” Bishop said. “On your own with this one, old friend. Eight Million Godsspeed.”
The comm went dead and Roak blinked a few times before dialing another signature. That one did not answer. Not even a hint of connection. It was as if the signature didn’t exist any longer.
“Nothing about this job should warrant this bullshit,” Roak snapped.
“Roak?” Hessa asked.
“Spit it out, Hessa,” Roak said.
“The last time you made some calls there was a third party you spoke to,” Hessa said.
“Yeah, so?” Roak replied. “I’m not going to tell you who it was.”
“I do not need to know who it was,” Hessa said. “I am curious, but knowing the woman’s name does not get us any answers. What does get us answers is something she said.”
“She said a lot of things,” Roak replied. “None of it helped much.”
“You are entirely wrong there,” Hessa said. “Roak, she gave you the answer before you knew you needed it.”
“Hessa, I’m starting to get grumpy,” Roak said.
“Your use of the word starting is amusing,” Hessa said. “Roak, where did she say the one reliable source had said Jonny Nebula might be found? Where is the system that he was seen?”
“The Cortch System,” Roak said then sat up very straight. “Which is filled with a shit ton of asteroids.”
“According to Mr. R, the House of Teeth is a scientific facility made up of asteroids,” Hessa said. “I find it hard to believe that is a simple coincidence.”
“She gave me Jonny Nebula’s location before I knew I needed it,” Roak said.
“I already stated that,” Hessa said with a good amount of annoyance in her voice.
“Right. Sorry,” Roak said. “You plotting a course?”
“I am,” Hessa said.
“It’s a big system with a lot of asteroid clusters and belts,” Roak said. “No planets. Just asteroids around asteroids. What’s the star there like?”
“Three stars,” Hessa said. “Each with a different radiation pulse. Highly unstable.”
“Which renders our scanners almost useless,” Roak said. “It is a great system to get lost in.”
“In more than one sense of the word,” Hessa said. “We stay too long and the ship will be affected unless we are in a shielded hangar.”
“What about the stealth tech?” Roak asked.
“No,” Hessa said flatly. “Not with those stars. Too unpredictable. We could end up being ripped apart at the atomic level or simply lose all power and drift until the stars’ radiation kills us both.”
“So our only choice is to come in naked and risk detection then hope we can find the House of Teeth and be allowed to land before we’re cooked by three highly unstable stars?” Roak asked. “Am I missing anything?”
“I believe that covers it,” Hessa said.
“Thoughts?” Roak asked.
“There are none left to give,” Hessa said. “Unless we want to do what your friend Bishop suggested and kill off Roak so you may take a new identity and become a farmer.”
“I’m not becoming a farmer, Hessa,” Roak said. “I’d make an awful farmer.”
“You would be exceptionally good at tracking down pests,” Hessa responded.
“That’s funny,” Roak said. “Doesn’t change anything. You have the course plotted, so let’s execute and head to the Cortch System.”
“Cortch…System?” Ple asked as he slowly rolled his head towards Roak, eyes still closed. “Why would we go there?”
“System filled with asteroids,” Roak said. “I’ll let your fuzzy brain figure out the rest.”
“Oh…right,” Ple said and opened his eyes. He tried to glare at Roak, but he wasn’t quite with it enough to pull off any type of intimidation. “Asteroids. House of Teeth.”
Roak grunted an acknowledgement then reached over and tightened Ple’s straps.
“Might get kind of bumpy on exit,” Roak said.
“Glad you…care,” Ple said.
“I don’t want you flying about the bridge, Ple,” Roak said. “That could get messy and I’m too busy to bother with cleaning up after you.”
“Yes…of course,” Ple said and his eyes closed again.
“Damn, Hessa, you really zapped him,” Roak said.
“I may have put a little extra into the voltage,” Hessa replied. “Just in case.”
The view changed as the ship headed back to the wormhole portal.
“Roak?” Hessa asked as they waited for the portal to fully power up so they could slip into trans-space without risking quantum destruction. “The woman that gave you the information regarding Cortch System.”
“I said we aren’t going to talk about who she is,” Roak replied.
“No, I do not want her identity,” Hessa said. “It’s just that I have to wonder if–”
Hessa did not finish as several ships came flying out of the wormhole portal and straight at Roak’s ship.
“Full shields!” Roak yelled.
“Done!” Hessa yelled back as the ships opened fire. “Hang on! There is no time to calibrate grav dampeners!”
The ship dove and Roak was shoved back into his seat as it accelerated at a rate that was not safe for any living being. Roak’s mouth opened and he began to yell as the ship continued to dive then came back up in such a tight arc that he thought the hull would be torn right from the main structure.
But Hessa had gotten them under and past the incoming ships. The impacts of plasma canons on the aft shields continued to shake the ship, but all that was in the view shield ahead was the wide-open wormhole portal. Roak’s knuckles cracked as he gripped the armrests of his seat.
“This could be upsetting,” Hessa said as the ship plunged into the wormhole portal and was thrust into trans-space.
Roak turned his head and threw up. Ple didn’t turn his head; he simply vomited down the front of his clean suit as his eyes popped open.
“What the hell?” Ple shouted as he spat vomit from out of his mouth without regard as to where it went. “What is happening?”
“I am attempting to smooth the ride, but we came in at a bad angle and most certainly at the wrong speed,” Hessa stated. “Please remain seated while I work.”
Ple looked over at Roak.
“Huh?”
“We were found,” Roak said. “A lot of ships came into the system with canons blazing.”
“How did they find us?” Ple asked.
“That is exactly what I want to know,” Roak replied.
The ship shook and shuddered as the swirling mass of quantum energy of trans-space pummeled the vehicle. Then slowly, very slowly, the chaos smoothed out and the ship was riding like it should have been from the start.
“There,” Hessa said. “The worst is over. Although I cannot guarantee that there will not be moments of unpleasantness. The port side shielding took a beating from those ships’ plasma canons before I could dive. I have diverted energy there from the starboard side, but the shielding will need repairs soon.”
“I doubt the House of Teeth has a contingent of mechanics and techs just waiting to serve visitors,” Roak said.
“That would be an excellent assumption,” Ple said. He wrinkled his nose. “Is it safe enough to get clean? Again.”
“Yes,” Hessa replied. “You should both get clean and rest while we travel. I will have a maintenance bot take care of the mess on the bridge.”
“How long until we get there?” Roak asked as he undid his straps and stood up on shaky legs.
“Eight hours, give or take an hour,” Hessa said.
“Give or take?” Roak asked.
“I did say that we may have more unpleasantness ahead,” Hessa stated.
“That you did,” Roak said and snapped his fingers at Ple. “Come on. You stink.”
Ple tried to stand and shook his head.
“I’m afraid my legs are not cooperating,” Ple said.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Roak growled as he stood there and glared down at Ple.
“Roak, you will have to assist Mr. R from the bridge,” Hessa said.
“Yes, I know!” Roak barked.
He growled some more than grabbed Ple and helped him up, averting his head away from the stream of puke that covered the Spilfleck’s chest.
“I really should just eject you from an airlock,” Roak said.
“You do what you feel you must,” Ple said, barely able to get his legs moving enough so that Roak wasn’t having to drag him to the lift. “I can say I would appreciate if you did not.”
“Appreciate this,” Roak said and stuck his middle finger in Ple’s face as the lift doors opened.
22.
Roak had a sick feeling in his gut when he woke up, an alarm sounding quietly in his comm.
“Shut it off,” he mumbled as he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and took a couple of deep breaths.
The alarm went silent.
“That damn noise was one reason I never had implants,” Roak said.
Hessa didn’t reply. Roak glanced around his cabin and cocked his head. The engines were off. Yes, they had sound dampeners that would make it almost impossible to hear them, but Roak knew the ship well enough to tell that the small noises it made were absent. The creak of a panel, the vibration of a vent, the tinking sound the third rivet down in the seam in the left corner made. None of it was there.
“Hessa?” Roak called.
Still no answer.
Roak got up quickly and grabbed his boots. He’d slept on top of his bed in his light armor, as he usually did when he knew he may need to get moving fast, but he’d taken the luxury of removing his boots before his rest. The door to his cabin slid open, and he hopped his way out as he put on one boot then shifted legs and put on the other.
Ple was standing in the corridor looking as puzzled as Roak felt.
“They shut down about five minutes ago,” Ple whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Roak asked.
Ple put a finger to his lips. “Because Hessa said to. Right before she killed the engines,” Ple replied. “I thought it a good idea to listen to the strange AI.”
“Good call,” Roak said, adjusting the volume of his voice to match Ple’s. “Let’s move to the bridge.”
A panel by one of the extra cabins began to flash and Roak crossed the corridor to it.
“Stay where you are,” the words on the panel said.
“Why?” Roak whispered.
The first words disappeared and were replaced by, “We are being scanned. Heavily. I am shielding the living quarters’ deck as much as I can.”
“Scanned heavily? By who? By what?” Roak asked.
“I do not know,” the panel stated.
“The House of Teeth,” Ple said and shivered.
“Did you just shiver?” Roak asked. “Why did you shiver? Out with what you know, Ple. Now!”
“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” flashed over and over on the panel.
Ple pointed at the command and shrugged. Roak flipped him off.
They stood there and waited. And waited. And waited.
Roak was ready to punch a wall.
Then there was the distinct hum of the engines coming back online and Hessa said over the corridor’s loudspeaker, “Close one. I cannot say where the probe has gone, but the scans have stopped. It could be an automatic response triggered when a ship comes through the wormhole.”
“You shut down the engines, but so what?” Ple asked. “The ship was still scanned. The House of Teeth knows we’re here.”
“No, the House of Teeth knows a damaged ship without engine power came through the wormhole portal,” Hessa replied. “You should see our hull. It is scorched like it was in a fight with the Skrang. I kept your life signs from being detected, so the results should show a derelict ship that happened to come into the system. It is rare, but it does happen.”
“True,” Roak said. “Can we go to the bridge now?”
“Yes,” Hessa said. “And we need to plan our search of the system. The illusion of the derelict will be lost as soon as we start moving.”
“If anyone is watching,” Roak said.
“They’re watching,” Ple responded as they walked to the lift. “The Klav that run the House of Teeth see all and not because they’re a race of beings that are basically balls of eyes.”
The lift rose to the bridge. Roak kept his eye on Ple the entire ride. When they reached the bridge, he let Ple go first and carefully opened a panel by the bridge door so he could extract a small pistol and place it in his belt.
“I’m unarmed,” Ple said as he sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and swiveled about to regard Roak. His eyes caught sight of the pistol immediately. “And I am giving up on trying to tie you up as a loose end, Roak. I think we both know I’ll more than likely get myself killed. I’m good, but my years as an attaché have made me soft. There. I admit it. Out here, you are in your element and luck seems to always be with you.”
“Not luck,” Roak said.
“I admitted I’m soft, you should admit you’re lucky,” Ple said.
“Some luck,” Roak said as he took his seat. “The question is whether it’s good or not.”
“We should discuss how the ships found us in the other system,” Hessa said.
“What have you got?” Roak asked. “Find anything while we slept?”
“There must have been a tracker placed somewhere while we were on Ballyway,” Ple said.
“No,” Hessa stated firmly. “There is no tracker. Not on the ship. I made sure of that.”
“How can you be sure?” Ple asked. “Tracker tech can easily be overlooked.”
“I found the six that your people put on the ship back at Jafla,” Hessa said. “And the two that random parties tried to get away with.”
Ple was quiet for a moment then smiled at Roak.
“I only ordered four,” he said. “Shava Stemn Shava must have ordered two more.”
“I expected as much,” Roak said. “So, nothing was put on while we were on Ballyway, Hessa? Are you sure?”
“I am sure,” Hessa said. “However, that does not mean we are not being tracked.”
“Obviously,” Ple said.
“Our ship has a very singular profile, even among other Borgon Eight-Three-Eights,” Hessa said. “If a determined party could somehow have locked onto our profile, created an algorithm that alerts them whenever the ship enters a wormhole portal, and managed to get some sort of homing signal aboard, then that could explain how those ships found us so fast.”
“They would have needed to know our destination to reach us so fast,” Roak said. “Was our navigation system hacked?”
“No,” Hessa said. “I have found no evidence of hacking anywhere.”
“Again, doable without detection,” Ple said. “But I am sure you can detect it.”
“I can,” Hessa said. “Hacking into our system would be akin to someone sticking a meter-long needle into your brain. You would see it coming and also feel it.”
“I should think so,” Ple said. “Then how did they know where we were going?”
“What he said,” Roak said.
“I believe something else aboard the ship was hacked,” Hessa said and the tone of her voice caused Roak to narrow his eyes. “And I must take full responsibility for this.”
“Am I about to say I told you so?” Roak snarled.
“I am afraid you are,” Hessa said.
Roak stood up.
“Where are you going?” Ple asked.
“To the med bay,” Roak said.
“Why? Are you ill?”
“No, but I’m sick to my stomach,” Roak said. “With rage, Hessa. With rage.”
“When I was healing Roak one time, I may have given him a comm implant without his consent,” Hessa said.
“Without his consent? An AI cannot do that,” Ple said. “That goes against every law of artificial intelligence programming.”
“Tell me about it,” Roak said. “I tried that argument too, but here I am.”
“What are you?” Ple asked, obviously addressing Hessa.
“Unique,” Hessa stated. “While I may have violated Roak’s personal rights, I still stand by my decision.”
“Until now,” Roak said.
“Until now,” Hessa agreed.
“Okay, then let’s take it out,” Roak said and moved to the bridge doors. They didn’t open. “Hessa? This is pretty Eight Million Godsdamn cut and dry. Time to take out the implant.”
“I believe it will be more beneficial to leave it in,” Hessa said. “I have calculated the pros and cons and the pros far outweigh the cons. By a good margin.”
“Except that I never wanted the damn implant in my head in the first place!” Roak yelled. “Take it out!”
“No, she’s right,” Ple said. “Keeping you two connected is a good thing. I’ve witnessed that first hand. Plus…”
“Plus, we can use the fact the implant has been compromised against those tracking us,” Hessa said. Then she sighed. “Roak? The woman you spoke to. Who is she?”
“Why?” Roak replied.
“Because she hacked your implant,” Hessa said. “I ran diagnostics on your implant and found a trans-space quantum signal being transmitted every two seconds. I traced the root of the issue back to that call. There is evidence that the signal began only moments after you cut the comm.”
Roak didn’t move. He stood facing the doors that refused to open.
“Roak? Who is she?” Hessa asked.
“None of your damn business,” Roak said. “We’re taking the implant out.”
“The signal has already told them where we are,” Hessa said. “They are on their way.”
“No, they’re already here,” Roak said. “Hessa, she told me where Jonny Nebula was. She’s known all along. It was simply a matter of her finding someone to hire her for the hunt. Once she found that person or organization, she came here immediately. Those soldiers she sent at us on Ballyway were designed to distract and delay.”
