Corruption_Age Of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Sarah Noffke

  Lewis shook his head, but resigned a bit of his tension. “I tried to vanish, but what good is that when my uncle can teleport me?”

  Jack couldn’t help but laugh. “I might have a bit more influence than most.”

  “That’s an understatement,” his nephew mumbled.

  Jack diverted his attention to Bailey, who was politely watching the exchange. “I understand this is a lot, but we need sharp, fresh eyes. You were handpicked specifically because of your well-rounded experience, combat abilities and pilot skills. Are you willing to look at this case and see what you can find?”

  Bailey slid back in her seat, considering the offer.

  Before she could respond, Jack said, “I have no idea what the scope of this case is. It could be quite complex. Honestly, we don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with right now.”

  “Even though you have it trapped in the bottom of the ship?” Lewis cut in, gaining their attention.

  “What?” Bailey asked, standing suddenly.

  Jack drew in a breath, smiling inside. “Yes, we trapped what we originally thought was the cosmic storm. A monster of sorts. I’m not the right person to tell you about that, though.”

  “Who would be?” Bailey asked.

  “Well, you did say that ‘almost everyone’ disappeared when this thing attacked the ship,” Lewis stated. “So I’m guessing you’re referring to them.”

  “You’re correct. That would be our project mechanic, the only one who remained after the attack,” Jack stated.

  “This person was on the ship when it was attacked and the crew disappeared?” Bailey asked.

  Jack nodded. “Yes, and Dr. A’Din Hatcherik is the best one to explain how he escaped being caught by this thing.”

  “I’ll do it,” Bailey said adamantly, abruptly accepting his initial offer.

  “Thank you,” Jack stated graciously, then he looked to Lewis. “And you?”

  His nephew’s gaze fell to the carpet as he considered. The floor shook under their feet, the movement followed again by thumping. Ricky Bobby couldn’t hold the monster much longer; when Lewis looked up at Jack, he seemed to know it.

  “Fine, I’ll take the case. But only this one.”

  Chapter Five

  Jack Renfro’s Office, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System

  Bailey’s eyes jerked to the side, studying Lewis. He was a detective. A damn good one, by the sounds of it…yet, something had pulled him out of the profession. He’d resorted to shoveling shit, or whatever he did on this farm. She supposed he wasn’t going to open right up and reveal his dark secret, but if she was going to be expected to work with him, she’d have to get to the bottom of his story.

  First she had to wrap her mind around what was going on. She’d been recruited for a mission concerning a black ops squadron on the frontier. None of this made sense but she wasn’t about to run from the challenge. She was strangely enlivened by it.

  A woman with short blonde hair and a grease streaked face materialized in the doorway to the office. She was wearing flowy bohemian pants and a tank top which greatly confused the fact that she was holding a greasy tool box. She let out a sigh, leaning on the doorframe, seemingly exhausted.

  “The shields are resisting my attempts to bring them back online,” the woman stated, her voice cheerful though coated with fatigue. She blinked her eyes open and looked up, seeing Bailey and Lewis for the first time. A smile sprang to her mouth. “Oh, I thought I felt new energies on the ship.”

  Jack held his arm out to the woman. “Lieutenant Tennant and Detective Lewis Harlowe, this is Liesel Magner, the ship’s chief engineer.”

  Bailey stood offering a hand to the woman. Liesel held it a bit loosely, her hands covered in black grease.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Bailey said politely.

  This woman didn’t look like any engineer she had ever met. Usually they wore overalls and tight expressions, but Liesel’s chin-length hair was pinned back in places with frayed wire, and around her neck she wore a large purple crystal. She also had unmistakably cheerful eyes as she waved at Lewis, who hadn’t made a move to greet her.

  “You weren’t on the ship when it was ‘attacked,’ ” Bailey guessed, using finger quotes for the last word, since they didn’t know yet what had happened.

  Liesel cut her eyes at Jack, and shook her head. “No, I was off the ship.”

  “Because you two were together,” Lewis said.

  Jack’s mouth popped open before he said, “Yes, we had business off the ship, and only returned this morning.”

  Bailey was about to ask Lewis how he’d guessed this, but was interrupted when a furry head popped out of the toolbox, its beady eyes looking up at them.

  A rat? she thought. The last time Bailey had seen one was in a rundown alley that was swarming with hungry rodents.

  “Uhhh…I think the ship might have an infestation,” Bailey stated, pointing at the toolbox.

  Casually, Liesel glanced down, a smile brightening her mouth. She set down the toolbox and pulled the animal from it. Its body was much longer than that of a rat, and its face was more like that of a cat. “Oh, this is Sebastian. He’s my assistant,” she said, nuzzling the rodent close to her cheek.

  Okay, shit just got weird…well, weirder, Bailey thought.

  “Liesel, I was hoping you could escort these two to see Hatch,” Jack stated and looked at Bailey. “Our project mechanic will fill you in on more details of the case.”

  Bailey nodded. The ship’s engineer might be a bit strange, but she assumed this Hatch guy had to be normal. Not that weird was a problem—it was just a lot to assimilate at once. She’d been transported to a broken ship on the frontier and enlisted to help find a missing crew, while a monster lurked on the lower decks. A hippie engineers with a ferret for an assistant was the glaze on the donut.

  “Absolutely. I need to see if Hatch has a solution for the shields,” Liesel said, putting the animal back in the toolbox.

  Jack nodded, a heavy expression on his face. He clapped Lewis on the shoulder. “Thanks for doing this.”

  Lewis returned a look of affection. “You know I wasn’t going to say no. Not to you.”

  “I know. I promise never to take advantage of that loyalty.” He looked at Bailey, his face taking on a more professional veneer. “Hatch will get you up to speed, and then we need to start following leads. Every hour the crew is gone, the farther I fear we are from finding them.”

  Bailey agreed with a nod. Investigations went downhill after twenty-four hours. At the forty-eight hour mark, the chances of finding missing persons plummeted.

  They followed Liesel out into the darkened corridor, which was punctuated every so often with clouds of smoke. The rattling under their feet made Bailey tense, now that she knew it wasn’t just engine-related.

  “The shields are down?” Bailey asked.

  “Yes, they were knocked out at the time of the attack,” Liesel said, hurrying in front of them. “The cloaks are also down, but they take second priority.”

  “This ship has cloaking technology?” Bailey asked, impressed.

  “Yes, it’s Federation-grade, but has a few off-market enhancements, thanks to Dr. A’Din Hatcherik’s patented technology. He is certainly one of the most prolific inventors of our time,” Liesel explained.

  Wow, that’s incredibly impressive, considering the Federation’s stock of scientists is mind-blowing.

  “And the engines, how are they?” she inquired.

  Liesel shook her head. “We aren’t going anywhere for a little while.”

  Bailey swallowed. “And weapons?”

  Shrugging, Liesel said, “They’re doing what they should, sitting still and being quiet.”

  “So, intact, then?” Lewis clarified, giving Bailey a curious look.

  “Yes.”

  Liesel pointed to a door up ahead. They entered a large lab that was both chaotic in its organization and pleasing to the eye. Pieces of single fliers lay scattered at the
front of the space; in the back were several workstations littered with equipment, some of them glowing with neon colors. There were also rows of classic cars, but many of them partially obscured by rolling carts full of tools.

  A giant computer station sat in the back corner and from it, Bailey could hear the clacking of keys.

  “Hatch, I brought your visitors, but you probably already know that,” Liesel said.

  “He’s been expecting us?” Lewis questioned.

  She shook her head. “I was referring to intuition. We all have it, and can know what to expect if we’re attuned.”

  “Riiiiight,” Lewis said quietly.

  “Hold on, I’m in the middle of something,” a deep voice said from behind the computer station. “All right, let’s give it one more try. Can you connect to her now?”

  Overhead, there was a loud sigh. “No, there’s nothing,” a voice said, its tone remorseful. The voice echoed the same way as the ship’s AI, Ricky Bobby, but this one sounded different. More nasally.

  “Dammit!” Hatch yelled.

  There was a clattering sound, like he’d pounded his computer station in frustration. A purple tentacle reached around the large monitor blocking him from view and swung it to the side.

  To Bailey’s surprise, a giant, purple, octopus-like alien stood behind the workstation, a frustrated look on his face. Hatch’s tentacles were busy doing other things, like typing on the keyboard or reaching for something at his back as he stared straight out at them. If Bailey remembered correctly, Hatch was a Londil, a race of aliens from the planet of Ronin.

  His bulbous eyes swiveled up to look at them. “Oh, there you two are. It’s about time.”

  Liesel smiled serenely at Bailey and Lewis. “Hatch arranged for your transport.”

  Lewis scratched the back of his neck. “It was a unique form of transportation.”

  “What it was was efficient,” Hatch said, bustling out from behind the workstation, a sour look on his face.

  “How exactly did you get us here?” Bailey asked. “I didn’t think teleportation was possible quite yet.”

  Hatch puffed out his cheeks. “Well, if you ask most dimwitted scientists, it isn’t, but a hologram named Kyra owed me a favor. I called it in, and she pulled you two here.”

  “And that was safe?” Lewis asked, sounding mostly amused.

  “You’re here aren’t you?” Hatch said in reply. “Kyra is the only entity I’m aware of who can teleport without tearing a hole in the galaxy—which, by the way, is ugly business. I had to upgrade her programming and bend a few rules, but your heads are on right, so it appeared to have worked.”

  Hatch had moved off to another workstation where engine parts were scattered, looking like he was trying to locate something. He turned around suddenly, wiping a tentacle across his forehead. “I’m sorry. I’d say ‘where are my manners,’ but I’m smart enough to know I don’t have any. With everything going on, I’m maybe a little frazzled. I’m Dr. A’Din Hatcherik, but you’re to call me ‘Hatch’.”

  “And I’m Pip,” the nasally voice called overhead.

  Bailey’s eyes drifted to the side as she tried to understand where the bodiless voice was coming from. Usually a ship had only one EI, and rarely an AI, like this one had.

  “Hi, Pip, how are you doing?” Liesel asked sensitively.

  “I’m wallowing in the depths of despair,” Pip said, his voice heavy with grief.

  “He’s being overly dramatic is what he’s doing,” Hatch stated. Reading the confusion on Bailey’s face, he waved a tentacle through the air. “Pip is an AI who was paired with the commander of this ship, Julianna Fregin. I had also established a solid connection for him to my lab, because he often helps me with projects. When the incident happened, his link with Julie was severed, and the only outlet that remained was his access to my lab. With the ship-wide system issues, he doesn’t have the same access to other areas as he did before.”

  “When a host dies, they lose their connection to their AI, isn’t that right?” Lewis asked.

  “Although that’s true, we have reason to believe that the link has only been interrupted due to whatever force stole the crew. An interference of sorts,” Hatch amended, but he didn’t look convinced.

  “Jules isn’t dead,” Pip said in a hush.

  Bailey gave Lewis a punishing look. “No, of course she isn’t. Similar to how you abducted us, the crew of this ship have obviously been taken. We have to figure out where they were sent.”

  Hatch pointed at her. “That’s exactly why I picked you, Lieutenant Tennant, besides your pristine record and credentials.”

  “You picked me?” Bailey asked, surprised. This was, according to Liesel, one of the top scientists in the galaxy. Why would he choose her for this case?

  “I did,” Hatch said. “And Jack handpicked you, Lewis. You’re apparently good at what you do, but I’ve found that detectives rely too heavily on their cynicism.”

  “I call it ‘using realistic, evidence-based data’,” Lewis said, a teasing quality in his voice.

  “Regardless of your semantics, I want someone with a quality of optimism who hasn’t been overly trained,” Hatch stated.

  “A good ole tabula rasa,” Lewis said, giving Bailey a confident smile.

  “So you recruited me because I’m a blank slate?” Bailey dared to ask.

  “Precisely,” Hatch chirped, like that was a sufficient answer.

  “You’re similar to the doc’s apprentice, Knox Gunnerson,” Pip said overhead. “He had the right potential without all the bad habits. Hatch wants someone who hasn’t spent so long in the system that they’ll overlook obvious clues.”

  “Has,” Hatch corrected, his voice gruff. “Gunner has the right potential, and you two are going to help find him, as well as the rest of the crew.”

  “That brings us to the question of how you, Hatch, were not affected by the incident?” Lewis asked.

  “I absolutely was, but I also happened to be at the right place and time, unlike everyone else on the ship,” Hatch explained. He waddled off like he’d finished giving all the important details, and disappeared behind the bow of a ship that was sawed in half.

  Liesel gave them a commiserate expression. She was obviously used to dealing with the scientist giving short answers, and putting everyone on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. “Hatch was in the place where the creature is now being imprisoned.”

  “ ‘Monster’!” Hatch corrected, his voice muffled. “It’s a monster, for a lack of a better term.”

  Liesel toggled her head back and forth. “Yes, according to your experience, it’s a monster, but we don’t understand everything about it yet.”

  “You show too much understanding,” Pip stated bitterly.

  Bailey read the impatient look on Lewis’s face. He wanted answers, but these crew members had been through a major trauma, and it leaked into their every interaction.

  “This monster is in the bottom of the ship, right?” Bailey asked Hatch, trying to steer the conversation back on track. “That’s where you were located.”

  He turned his head over his shoulder absentmindedly and nodded. “That’s correct. I was updating the drivers for the gate engines since Liesel was gone. Usually ship business is her responsibility. That area is where the backup servers are located, and therefore, it’s one of the most reinforced parts of the ship.”

  “Good place to keep a monster,” Lewis noted, kneeling down and placing his hand to the ground to feel the vibrations.

  “Yeah, it’s about like keeping a burglar in your bedroom. You know where he is, but you’re not going to get a lick of sleep,” Hatch grumbled.

  Bailey thought for a moment. “Because if the monster is locked in the backup server room, then—”

  “We’re screwed,” Hatch completed her sentence.

  “I’m certain I can still get the shields up without having access to those mainframes. And the engines will only take a bit more time, once I find a workaro
und.” Liesel pulled the ferret from her toolbox and held him up in front of her face. “Keep searching,” she said to the animal before setting him down on the ground. He took off, disappearing through the organized mess.

  “Searching for what?” Lewis asked as he stood.

  “For those not taken by the upload,” Liesel explained. “Hatch was protected based on his position, so there could be others on the ship that Ricky Bobby hasn’t found.”

  “Upload?” Bailey asked. “That’s what took the crew?”

  Hatch let out a loud sigh. “Yes. I noticed an encrypted code taking over the ship’s systems when Ricky Bobby passed through what we thought was a storm. Once the monster had the shields down, it began infecting the ship.”

  “So is it a monster or a computer program?” Lewis asked.

  “It’s both,” Hatch stated. “The monster is a bio-synthetic entity that, once it makes contact with a consciousness, begins to upload it to a remote server.”

  “Wait!” Bailey said, suddenly breathless. “You’re saying this monster used a program to abduct the crew? It’s imprisoning them in a computer database?”

  Hatch shrugged, appearing slightly defeated. “We know from AI technology that consciousnesses can be uploaded, so it’s not unfathomable to steal it through these means. I caught on to the disturbance based on my proximity to the backup servers at the time of the incident. Sensing the attack, I reversed the code and implanted a virus into the organism, and then shut off the backup server area, reinforcing it using Ricky Bobby’s help.”

  “So you have the monster trapped and disabled?” Lewis asked.

  “I have a secure enough hold on it that I could blast through all its firewalls and destroy it,” Hatch said angrily.

  “But then we wouldn’t be able to track down the crew,” Liesel reminded him.

  “And you’re sure that the crew is off the ship?” Bailey asked. “What about their bodies? What did this monster do with them?”