Deep Space Intelligence : Complete Series

by Gary Weston

  ‘Assuming they have hands,’ said Shorty. ‘If they aren’t human, they could be like anything.’

  Millet said, ‘Well, we know there are other sentient beings other than humans. Korvalians on Nyzon Five or the Varlindrans and the Graggons for example. Not that I’m suggesting any of those were responsible.’

  ‘No,’ said Shorty. ‘I’ve an idea this could be fun. Fancy a beer or three?’

  Millet grinned. ‘Now, you know what happened last time, Shorty.’

  ‘Why do you think I suggested it? Come on. Last one to the bar buys the beer.’

  Chapter 199

  Thorne slowed right down, allowing Captain Mabel Syrup to do the same, the rear fighter matching speeds. Thorne called Syrup on his radio, keeping his voice low.

  ‘You ever space-walked, Captain?’

  Surprised, Syrup said, ‘Once. Part of compulsory training. Why?’

  ‘You have a backpack?’

  ‘Two. Standard issue. Again, why?’

  Thorne said, ‘I want you to come over. One giant leap and all that stuff. You and I need to talk.’

  ‘We are talking.’

  ‘Just do it, Captain.’

  Syrup thought about it. ‘Ok. I’m coming over.’

  Syrup picked up her helmet and walked into the second bay where the flight engineers worked, controlling the systems for the entire ship. Lieutenant Steve Crocker and Copilot Su Kane, looked up from their work stations.

  ‘Captain?’ said Crocker.

  ‘It seems I’ve been invited over for cocktails or something. I’ve no idea. If I don’t make it back…I was about to suggest you get the hell out of here. Su. How’s the fuel?’

  ‘Not enough to get us all the way back home, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

  Syrup nodded. ‘That’s what I thought. I have to jump over to their ship. Not my choice, believe me. Steve. Anything happens to me, Su is in charge here. Other than that, I got nothing. Su. They might not let me back, so you get up the pointy end in case you have to fly this bird.’

  ‘But, Captain…’

  ‘Just do it, Su. I’ve enough to worry about. You can fly this ship if you have to. Steve, you look after her, ok?’

  ‘Yes, Captain. Good luck.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Syrup. ‘To all of us.’

  Syrup went through into the first of the main cabins. Rows of worried faces looked up at her. She had told them what was happening; that their ride home had been hijacked. No need to lie to them, so she hadn’t.

  ‘Captain,’ said a man on the aisle seat. He was with his wife and two teenage children, a boy and a girl. He was trying to put a brave face on things. With a nervous smile, he asked, ‘Everything ok?’

  With the responsibility for everyone resting squarely on her shoulders, plus the prospect of her first space-walk in thirteen years ahead of her, she thought she did well to smile back at them.

  ‘Mr Smithers, isn’t it?’

  ‘Charlie and my wife Anne.’

  Syrup said, ‘Look. We’re still in one piece. That’s a plus.’

  The boy said, ‘They don’t want to kill us. They’d have done that by now. They just want to hold us to ransom. They’ll let us go when that’s paid.’

  Syrup was impressed. ‘You are very smart. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. What’s a few million credits? The bean counters back home are probably counting it right now. Look. I have to go. I’ll have a chat with…What’s your name, sonny?’

  ‘Vincent.’

  ‘Suits you. A good man’s name. Later, Vincent.’

  Parrying other questions with smiles and nods, Syrup came to the galley and the stewards, preparing the next meal for everyone.

  ‘Captain,’ said a middle aged man, named Seb Anflo. ‘Mind if I have a word?’

  ‘Seb. Not really a good time.’

  The man persisted. ‘Captain. The supplies.’

  Syrup nodded. She knew what was coming. ‘There’s always enough for three times any flight time. You have heaps.’

  ‘If we knew where we were going. It’s the water I’m concerned about. We’ll be fine for about a month, but…I was wondering if we should be cutting down on water use? Not drinking, of course. Just showers. That sort of thing.’

  ‘Not at the moment, Seb. I promise to talk when I get back.’

  ‘Thanks, Captain.’

  Hurrying through to the cargo holds and then the main airlocks, Syrup passed between the strapped down luggage then she keyed in the combination which released the locks. Putting her helmet on, she checked her pressure and air. The green lights of the locks lit up in a row, she grabbed the handle and pulled the inner airlock door open.

  Inside, she closed and locked the inner door again, took one of the jet backpacks from the locker and checked everything. She wriggled into it and secured the straps. Taking a deep breath, she keyed in the code for the outer airlock door, which opened with a hiss. And there it was, sitting in a sea of deep space, was the pirates ship. A stolen D S I fighter. They had been watching her, and the moment her airlock had been opened, their airlock was opened, also. It looked impossibly far away, but in reality, she could tell it was no more than two miles away. The last time she had walked in space, she had completed three loops of the training ship to pass that part of the course.

  ‘You can do this, Syrup.’

  She fired up the compressed gas jets a little too much, and propelled herself too fast out of the airlock. She cut the power down and let the momentum carry her across the gap towards the ship. She knew Lieutenant Crocker would close the airlock door remotely. For a moment, it looked as if she was going to miss the ship, and adjusted the jets to correct her path. As she approached, she could see the suited man in the airlock, waiting for her. As she entered the airlock, he reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her.

  ‘You damn well let go of me, if you know what’s good for you.’

  The man said nothing but let her go. Then he closed the outer airlock door, and then opened the inner door.

  ‘I can understand you being annoyed with me.’

  ‘Annoyed,’ bellowed Syrup. ‘Just be glad I’m not packing a gun.’

  Thorne removed his helmet. He nodded for Syrup to do the same. Syrup’s hands went up to her helmet, then she lashed out, catching the man a solid blow to the side of his head. His knees buckled, but he didn’t go down. Then Syrup took her helmet off.

  ‘I feel heaps better now, thanks,’ said Syrup.

  Thorne rubbed the side of his head. ‘I wish I could say the same. Please don’t do that again’

  ‘I’ll try to resist the temptation.’

  ‘I appreciate that. Come and meet my crew.’

  Syrup said, ‘This isn’t a damn social call, Thorne.’

  ‘All the same. Please. Through there.’

  ‘I know one end of a ship from the other.’

  Syrup entered the small passenger section of the fighter. There were three men and two women. They all had the same almost appologetic expressions on their faces as Thorne had. Thorne introduced them, but Syrup immediately forgot their names, having no inclination to become friendly with her captives.

  Thorne said, ‘We decided to chance everything and tell you what this is all about.’

  ‘You’re damn pirates, is what this is about, Thorne.’

  ‘Pirates?’ said Thorne. ‘I figured you’d be thinking something like that. I wish to God it was that simple.’

  Syrup said, ‘Now I’m getting really worried.’

  ‘You should be. I’ll tell you what we know.’

  Chapter 200

  ‘So, I ask you, Captain Syrup. If your child would be killed or at least tortured, what would you have done?’

  Jack Forbes, Thorne’s number two said, ‘And not just one child. There are hundreds back there. We don’t return or deliver the goods, namely you, they will all suffer.’

  ‘Crap,’ said Syrup. ‘I really wanted to hate you guys. Now I feel sorry for you. For the rest of us
, too.’

  Thorne said, ‘We are taking a big chance telling you all this. But we figured the Masters would know that you would find out everything when you landed, anyway.’

  ‘Understood. I appreciate what you’ve done by telling me. If you don’t mind, I’ll not tell anyone of this back on my ship. Following you will be bad enough without them knowing we’re to end up as slaves and fodder for the Masters.’

  Forbes said, ‘That’s the best way. But we wanted to tell you. We haven’t given up hope. If we could find a way to hit back, believe me, we would.’

  Syrup said, ‘Those sons of bitches think they just filled up the food cupboards with us. What they’ve really done is to bring them over three hundred more very pissed off humans.’

  Thorne grinned for the very first time in ages. ‘Not quite as sweet as your name suggests. But please save your anger for the real enemy, ok?’

  ‘Damn sure I will. Those critters take a chunk out of my hide, the least they’ll get is indigestion.’

  Thorne laughed. ‘I like you, Syrup.’

  ‘Then call me Mabel. Ok. I’ll get back to my ship. Take it as slow as you dare. Give us time to think up a plan.’

  ‘We can do that,’ said Forbes.

  ‘I’ll see you get back across to your ship ok,’ said Thorne. ‘Come on, Mabel.’

  Chapter 201

  ‘Ok,’ said Boss. ‘Order please. Thank you. Ok. As of this moment, the demands from the pirates have not come through. Like you, I have no idea what the hell they are up to. Maybe you can go find that out for us. Sorry we can’t say any more about what you’ll find, if anything. Human. Alien. We just don’t know. If we do hear from the pirates in the meantime, we’ll try to head you off in their direction. So. I wish you all a safe and productive mission. Do the D S I proud, as I know you will. Beers on me when you get back. Thank you, General Millet.’

  ‘Ok. In good order, get on board and buckle up. Take off in six minutes.’

  The crews for the two fighters filed on board in orderly fashion into their ships and took their places for take off.

  ‘Good luck, Frank. Come home safely.’

  ‘Just keep those beers on ice, Boss. A few more for good measure for Shorty.’

  Millet and Raven shook hands and Millet went onto his ship, the airlock swinging shut behind him. The landing and take off thrusters swivelled into place and blasted out the power, warming up to a screaming pitch for take off. The beasts of combat took to the air, the plasma engines kicking in, then in a blast of blue, the two ships were specks in the sky.

  Boss sighed. ‘Good luck, people. Come home safe.’

  When Raven got home, Joy sensed his mood and poured him a bourbon, easy on the ice.

  ‘They’re a good crew, Tagg. They’ll be able to take on anything.’

  Raven sipped his drink and swirled the ice in the glass. ‘Well, we know what they accomplished at the space-station. Outnumbered three to one and still kicked ass. I sometimes thought Boss, the old Boss, had it easy. Any dirty work to do, he just sent agents or military off to do it. Now I realise he had the hardest job of everyone.’

  ‘No regrets you becoming Boss?’

  ‘Regrets? I have a few. Then again, too few to mention. I wasn’t given much choice. Boss gave me the gold badge of office and said, “Here. You’re it.” Bless him.’

  ‘Hey. He’s doing a great job on the Council. He got the D S I extra funding.’

  Raven nodded. ‘And that’s when the others wanted to cut the budget, not increase it.’ He drained his glass. ‘Here’s to you, Councillor Boss.’

  Chapter 202

  Captain Mabel Syrup entered her ship and closed the airlock behind her. Her responsibility before was more than most people could handle, being captain of the space-liner with hundreds of lives in her hands. Now she had the extra burden of having the terrible, dark secrets Thorne and his crew had told her. No way could she tell anyone the truth. Not that they’d believe it anyway.

  That they were going to a planet which had been partially terraformed into a poor compromise to sustain both the hosts, the Masters, and the slaves and food supply, the humans. The atmosphere had been been improved, but it was far from healthy for the humans. Their life expectancy was half that on their home planets. And that would be with them not being eaten by the Masters!

  No way was she going to reveal that little nugget. She put on a big brave smile for both passengers and crew, ignoring Seb Anflo’s attempts to stop her, with her raised eyebrow and a wave of her hand. She just shrugged at Su Kane and Steve Crocker, settled in her pilots seat and fired up the thrusters. Ahead of her, the light blue of Thorne’s ship told her that he had done the same. They took off slowly, all three ships matching speeds. Making the announcement it was safe to unbuckle, Syrup massaged the back of her neck. The door opened behind her and Copilot Su Kane entered.

  ‘Glad you came back,’ said Kane.

  ‘You would have coped without me, Su.’

  ‘Even so. Anything I should know about?’

  Syrup stared into Kane’s blue eyes. ‘Let’s just say we are not going home for a while and leave it a that, shall we?’

  ‘Fair enough. Let me know when want a break and I’ll take over.’

  Syrup said, ‘Now would be good. I could do with a few hours sleep.’

  ‘Then off you go. I’ll keep your seat warm for you.’

  Syrup got out of the chair and it adjusted automatically for Kane’s smaller weight and build. Syrup went through the door and up the short flight of steps to the confines of her claustrophobic quarters. She closed the door behind her, silently. She would sleep badly and dream of monsters called the Masters, and weep for the end of humanity.

  Chapter 203

  Captain Karma Casey never usually felt lonely. She generally enjoyed the solitude of the long haul flights, listening to her classic rock music collection as she danced naked, read a book or two on the ancient ebook reader somebody had thrown in the trash one day which she rescued. She played the ships computer at chess and always lost, chalking up her one time draw as a victory for the human race. But she did enjoy the odd conversations on the radio with passing ships, planets she passed and home base. The latter was usually too tedious due to the time delay.

  David Bowie’s starman didn’t get her dancing; she gave up on some ebook by an obscure writer named Weston; started a chess game and lost in six moves. She had a feed she hardly tasted, washed down with a beer, resisting the temptation to drink herself into oblivion.

  It was being effectively cut off that was responsible for her mood, she realised. Commander Gordon had advised her as he did everyone else in deep space at that time, to keep the radio for emergencies only, so as not to give the pirates any chance of homing in on their signals.

  So here she was, in the middle of nowhere, the remote possibility of having her ship hijacked by pirates, and not even being allowed to have a chin-wag with anybody. Those two things combined made her uncharacteristically edgy, and unusually lonely.

  ‘Y’know, Casey? Your mom was right. “You should get a proper job, young lady. How do you expect to meet a man out there in space? I’ll never have grandchildren, you carrying on like that.” Not that Casey was as pure as the driven snow.

  She had a boyfriend or two, for mutual pleasure when she was actually on land long enough. Peter on Mars. Nice boy, but not the brightest light on the Christmas tree. He had his uses though. Then there was Michael back home. God’s gift to…everything. A legend in his own lunchtime. He would take her out for a meal, splitting the bill, naturally, and he’d have one eye on her, the other on the waitresses backside. Neither men were ever going to give her mother grandchildren. Casey was close to thirty and it was time for a re-evaluation of her life. Perhaps she would be whisked off her feet by a swashbuckling pirate, and they would travel the depths of space in search of adventure.

  ‘I wonder what swashbuckling is anyway? Sounds dirty. Yep. You gotta get a grip, Casey. Get a life wh
ile you’re about it, too. Computer. ACDC. Full volume.’

  Chapter 204

  General Millet looked at the screen. They had come to the first planet on the mission.

  ‘P C L S P N X one three seven, class three.’

  Shorty said, ‘You make it sound so romantic, General.’

  ‘Potential Colonisation Life Sustaining Planet N X, which means not fully explored.’

  ‘Sounds like me, not fully explored. Ooh! I just went all weak at the knees.’

  ‘Behave yourself, Shorty. Captain Dorran. Do a complete D N A and visual sweep. North to south then east to west.’

  Mick Dorran said, ‘Yes, Sir. Will we be landing?’

  Shorty nudged the General and wrinkled her nose. ‘Go on. Say yes. I could do with stretching my legs.’

  ‘Stretch your legs you’ll lose you claim to be the galaxie’s tallest midget.’ Millet sighed. ‘Ok. Captain Dorran. Once the sweep has been done, set us down near the equator. Two hours only.’

  The sweep took seventy three minutes in both directions and revealed nothing. Dorran found a relatively green spot near the equator and set the ship down, ship two captained by Mario Luppino, landing by the side of it. Millet briefed both ships crews.

  ‘Ok. Listen up. ‘Two hours maximum. Go wondering off, you will be left behind. Technical Officer Warner will say a few words.’

  Troy Warner said, ‘Thank you, General. Ok. Nothing extensive has been done on this planet in the way of exploration. But this is what we do know. According to the specs, eat nothing growing on trees. There is a large blue butterfly thing. Pretty, but they’ll bite your finger off if given the chance. There is also a large red, six legged lizard. Spits venom. Kill you in five seconds if it gets on bare skin. See anything else, stay away from it. That’s about all I know.’

  Millet said, ‘Thank you, Warner. Right. Out, people. Stay by the ships.’

  As the others filed out, Warner said, ‘Sir. I’d like to spend my time testing what I can while we are here. Mind if I do that?’