Deep Space Intelligence : Complete Series

by Gary Weston

  ‘I had a friend make it for me.’

  ‘I wish I had breasts.’

  Saltoe laughed. ‘Not like these you don’t. Put a pair like this on a slip of a girl like you, you’d fall over.’

  ‘Maybe just more then the bee-stings I’ve got. I just wanted to see you are ok.’

  ‘I will be when I’m on Transporter One.’

  The girls said, ‘Sorry. My manners. I’m Dawn Goodwind. Copilot.’

  ‘Is the captain your mother?’

  ‘Yes. And my sister Grace is our technical engineer. Miss Saltoe. I’m sorry my mother has given you a hard time.’

  Saltoe shrugged. ‘My detour has put her behind schedule.’

  ‘Yes. By another three days. We were already a week behind. None of it our fault.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  Dawn said, ‘If the Councillor wants to see you, you have to go. A pity about our penalties, though.’

  ‘Penalties? I don’t understand.’

  Dawn explained. ‘It’s a tough business at the moment, hauling freight. Too much competition, not enough freight. We’re all cutting everything to the bone just to exist.’

  ‘But if the delays aren’t your fault…’

  ‘It makes no difference. It’s our contract to deliver. We have a three day extension on the delivery date, which is standard, then we can be hammered after that with penalties. We might have just squeezed in, but this detour has made that impossible. Basically, our profits gone. We’re working for nothing.’

  Saltoe felt terrible. ‘They can’t do that. It isn’t fair.’

  ‘There’s nothing fair in business. Hey. These things happen. Why don’t you join us in the galley for a feed?’

  ‘Is that such a good idea, with your mother angry at me?’

  ‘She’s asleep at the moment. The computer’s doing the boring bits. Come on.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll just get out of this dress and I’ll be right with you.’

  A few minutes later, she joined Dawn and Grace in the galley. Grace smiled at Saltoe as she dished up and put a pitcher of juice to share on the table.

  ‘I’m glad you joined us,’ said Grace.

  ‘As long as your mother doesn’t come in. She might hit me.’

  Dawn chuckled. ‘She’s angry, but she’s not prone to violence.’

  As they ate the simple ship meal, Saltoe said, ‘Dawn told me about the penalties, Grace. All because of me.’

  ‘It would have been touch and go if we made it to Tryzon in time, anyway,’ said Grace. ‘I told mother that, but she had convinced herself we would have made it.’

  Saltoe said, ‘Look. I know people. I’ll see if I can pull a few strings. No promises, but I’ll do all I can to get the penalties dropped.’

  ‘You must know some very important people,’ said Grace.

  ‘Me for one,’ said Saltoe. ‘I’m P A to Boss.’

  Both girls gasped. ‘The Boss?’ Dawn said.

  ‘And thank heavens there’s only one of him. Yes, the Boss. I’m still training him, but I almost have him working for me.’

  ‘You do?’ Grace said.

  Saltoe leaned forward. ‘He can almost make my coffee how I like it.’

  ‘But…He’s Boss,’ said Dawn.

  ‘And a man. Girls. Hasn’t your mother taught you anything? We only let men think they run everything. That’s how it’s been for many hundreds of years. Of course, a few women have tried to ruin the whole charade by being equal with men, but, and I quote a very famous actress from Earth, she said, Women who want to be equal to men lack ambition. Not only was she jaw-droppingly beautiful, she had an I Q higher than Einstein.’

  ‘She sounds fantastic,’ said Dawn.

  ‘Marilyn Monroe. She was. Actually, some people say I look a lot like her.’

  ‘You do?’ said Grace.

  ‘Only in my dreams. Hey. Thanks for this. I really appreciate it. I’d better go before your mother walks in on us. Oh. Say nothing about me trying to get the penalties lifted. I want to make sure I can deliver. I will need the name of the customer the load is going to, though.’

  Dawn said, ‘Jordan. He owns the ski-lodge this ski-lift is going to.’

  ‘Right. I’ll try to remember…’ Saltoe stopped. ‘Wait. Jordan? And he has a ski-lodge on Tryzon?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Grace.

  Saltoe chuckled. ‘Interesting.’ She suddenly felt a lot more confident about being able to help out.

  Chapter 317

  Jackie Cracker said, ‘A gap?’

  Frogmorten said, ‘That’s all I can think it is. To be honest, I thought I’d dropped off to sleep and missed something, but I went back to it and the gap’s still there.’

  ‘Aristotle. Have you been messing? Have you wiped a load of data away?’

  ‘No. I swear. I’ve just been playing it and listening. I’ve touched nothing.’

  Cracker looked suspiciously at him. ‘Because if you’ve stuffed up….’

  ‘I’ve touched nothing. You’re the expert on all this stuff. I’d let you do the messing about.’ Frogmorten passed Cracker the spare goggles. ‘Here. See what you make of it.’

  Cracker sat in the seat next to Frogmorten and placed the goggles and earpiece unit on. Then, she pressed play. It was the same old stuff as before, then nothing. ‘Are you sure…?’

  ‘I swear, Jackie. That’s as I found it.’

  ‘What the hell? Did you notice the timer?’

  ‘I had my eyes closed. I just listened. Why?’

  Cracker reversed the recording and started again. ‘See?’

  ‘See what?’

  ‘Are you sure you’re a real scientist? Bottom right. Red numbers.’

  Frogmorten said, ‘Sure I see it. It’s just the automatic timer. Oh!’

  ‘Oh, indeed. Let’s fast-forward. Ok. Heck. Hang on. I’m taking it back again. Now onto normal speed forwards. There, see it?’

  ‘Yes. We’re missing about fifty seven years. A malfunction?’

  ‘Possibly. But malfunctions don’t normally just correct themselves. I’m speeding forwards again. Oh, heck. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?’

  ‘Of course. I just wish I wasn’t.’

  Jackie repeated the exercise several times, each time understanding a little more of the mystery.

  Frogmorten gasped,‘That, is impossible.’

  ‘If we are seeing what I think we’re seeing, we have just put ourselves in the history books. Have you any idea what this could mean?’

  Frogmorten said, ‘I’m too scared to even think about it. What do we do?’

  ‘Nothing. Not just yet.’

  ‘Jackie. You heard General Millet. He needs answers fast. This could be that answer.’

  Cracker said, ‘I agree. But we don’t want to make total idiots of ourselves. This gap, as you call it, and what was happening just before it, could be huge. You and I need to do some serious thinking about what we think this all means, then we speak up.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  Chapter 318

  It was inevitable that Salto and Captain Goodwind would clash. It happened in the galley, when Saltoe had dared to venture in there, for a coffee. To Saltoe, it was like suddenly walking into a polar icy blast, but it was actually far worse than that.

  ‘Captain Goodwind.’

  ‘If you say so.’

  That was such an odd response, Saltoe thought. ‘You’re not Captain Goodwind?’

  ‘Probably not for much longer.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  Goodwind glared at Saltoe. ‘Then grab a drink and join me. Allow me to enlighten you.’

  Saltoe made herself a coffee, sipped and winced at the cheapest of cheap syncoff brands, then she sat at the same table as Goodwind, who said nothing, but glared angrily at her unwanted passenger. Then she put her beaker down and leaned back in her seat.

  ‘We would have made it. We would have got there on time. Avoided the penalties.’

  Saltoe picked her words caref
ully. ‘I had a lovely chat with your daughters. Lovely young women. A credit to you, by the way.’

  ‘Cut the crap. Saltoe. I don’t like you.’

  ‘You don’t know me.’

  ‘I don’t want to know you. This is the end of my business.’

  Something wasn’t stacking up, Saltoe realised. ‘Your girls said it was a setback. Nothing more than that.’

  Goodwind took a deep breath. ‘Repeat this, I will throw you out of the airlock.’

  ‘And I wouldn’t want that. So, tell me.’

  ‘Eleven years ago, before the drixolate wars, I had a, what could loosely be described as a partner. He’s the father to my girls. The excuse for a turd dumped me for a younger model. Lasted two months, then she realised what a total shit he really was. He could be anywhere. I don’t really care. But what I do care about, is my business and my girls. Nothing, and I mean nothing, means more than those. Now it’s over.’

  ‘Surely not one penalty kills your business?’

  Goodwind thumbed the outer wall. ‘See that? Space. Big, wide and very challenging. I have busted a gut for many years to give my girls a future. Gone without. Sacrificed. My girls don’t know this, but we were close to going to the wall three jobs ago. Yet we scraped by. This job would have given us a breathing space. Now…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’ll have to sell my ship for a knock-down price, and live my old age trying to pay off a pile of debt.’

  Saltoe said, ‘If you had a wish-list, what would pull you through?’

  ‘Are you yanking my chain?’

  ‘No. Seriously. I’d like to know.’

  Goodwind couldn’t help herself. She started to cry. Saltoe knew when a hug was called for and went to Goodwind’s side and wrapped her arms around her.

  ‘Tell me. What would make it all go away?’

  The captain forced a smile and wiped away her tears. ‘Do I get three wishes, fairy godmother?’

  ‘One. And make it a good one.’

  ‘I need that penalty to go away and to pick up a regular contract.’

  Saltoe said, ‘I said one wish. That’s at least one and a bit. Listen. I can only imagine the effort and struggle you have gone through. And yet, you have battled through and raised two wonderful girls. Do yourself a favour.’

  ‘What? Throw myself out of the airlock?’

  ‘You dare, I’ll be very annoyed with you. Self-belief and sheer guts has got you this far. Use that one more time. Trust me.’

  Goodwind said, ‘My tank is empty.’

  ‘No it isn’t. You’re one of the strongest beings in the galaxy. A human woman. Please. Trust me.’

  Goodwind stood up and wiped away her tears. ‘I can’t stand being let down any more. I’m out of fight.’

  Saltoe took Goodwind’s hands in hers. ‘Trust me.’

  ‘Talk is cheap. I’d better go make sure we’re still on route.’

  Saltoe watched the woman, slumped and subdued, one of the strongest beings in the galaxy, walk out of the galley.

  Chapter 319

  ‘No,’ said Frogmorten. ‘Are you even listening to yourself, Jackie?’

  ‘Sorry. Are we even on the same ship?’ Cracker stared at the young man beside her. She wasn’t impressed. ‘This is big. Like Interplanetary Golden Gobs, big.’

  Frogmorten said, ‘An Igg? We can get an Igg?’

  ‘Think about it. We have irrefutable evidence of two new races, and…’

  ‘Don’t say it.’

  ‘What are you afraid of? The unknown?’ Cracker sighed an exasperated sigh. ‘This is what totally pisses me off about you.’

  Stick me with a poisoned dart, why don’t you? thought Frogmorten. ‘I piss you off?’

  ‘Frequently. Do you want in on this find, or not?’

  Frogmorten had been battered, bashed, humiliated, told exactly where his chances with the most fabulous woman in the galaxy, no, Universe, lay, which was several degrees below, it seemed, and he was still supposed to think logically. His heart had been broken. Shattered into a thousand pieces; if he knew of any bridges, he would throw himself off one. The airlock. That would do it. The modern equivalent of a bridge. Words spewed out.

  ‘We’re in this together. Now is as good a time as any.’

  They went to the flight-deck where Captain’ Casey and Thorne sat side by side, Shannon with a doll in one hand, her reader in the other, in her modified seat.

  ‘You two look excited about something,’ said Casey.

  ‘We’ve gone over it a dozen times,’ said Jackie Cracker. ‘Chipping away at it. We think we know what we’re looking at. These are the edited highlights. General Millet needs to see this right away.’

  Sam Thorne took the cube from Cracker and said, ‘I’ll hook up all the ships.’

  He clicked the cube home and was about to press play, when Frogmorten said, ‘It might be a good idea for Shannon not to see it. It’s pretty scary stuff.’

  Thorne said, ‘Shannon. Can you go to your room, please?’

  ‘But I want to see it, Daddy.’

  ‘You heard Aristotle. It isn’t for little girls. Now, do as you are told.’

  Shannon pouted but got down from her chair. ‘It isn’t fair.’ Then she took her doll and her reader to her room.

  Cracker said, ‘I’d like to speak with General Millet before we play it, if that’s ok.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Casey. ‘Just a minute. ‘General Millet. Cracker and Frogmorten have discovered something of interest. Cracker wants to talk to you first, Sir.’

  ‘Put her on,’ said Millet. ‘Cracker. You have found something?’

  ‘Several somethings, Sir. We spent a lot of time trying to understand what we were looking at. Some of it is self-explanatory. Some of it is open to interpretation. Once we have played the edited version a couple of times, Aristotle and I will do our best to explain what we think is going on.’

  Millet said, ‘I see. Ok. Let us see what you have.’

  Thorne pressed play.

  Chapter 320

  Captain Goodwind tightened the straps securing the backpack to Saltoe. Then she double checked the suit before opening the inner airlock door. The two women stepped inside the airlock, and Goodwind locked them inside. ‘We are as close to the Councillor’s ship as we can be. Are you ready to jump over?’

  ‘I’m a little nervous, but I’ll be ok. Look. Before I go over. I’ll do all I can to help you out. I’ve a feeling everything will be ok.’

  ‘I wish I could be sure of that. You’re ok, Miss Saltoe. Right. You mustn’t keep the Councillor waiting. Are you sure you have all your luggage?’

  The two large cases were strapped together and secured with a short line to Saltoes belt. ‘Everything I need. Thank you, Captain.’

  ‘Right.’

  Goodwind opened the outer airlock door. Just twenty yards away, Transporter One was waiting, its airlock open, and one of the crew waiting to help Saltoe on board. Goodwind fired the line across to the man on the other ship, who caught it and fastened it to an anchor-point on the wall. A loop went over the line and the end was fastened to Saltoe.

  ‘Nice and easy with the backpack jets,’ said Goodwind. ‘Minimum power will be plenty.’

  ‘Here I go. Bye, Captain.’

  ‘Good luck.’

  Saltoe fired up the backpack and the rear nozzles let out a gentle pressure which lifted her and her luggage clear of the freighter, and she glided gracefully over to the welcoming hands of the man in the airlock. He took her luggage, unhooked the lines and waved to Goodwind to reel in the line. Saltoe waved a friendly wave to Goodwind as both airlocks were closed up. The freighter was first away, Captain Goodwind eager to be on her way to Tryzon.

  Saltoe followed the man into the ship where someone familiar waited.‘Welcome, Miss Saltoe.’

  ‘Councillor Freeman. A pleasure to meet you again.’ Saltoe removed her helmet and shook her hair in what she hoped was a seductive way.

  ‘I’ve had you
r luggage taken to your room. We all dress more casually, on this ship.’

  ‘So I see.’

  Freeman was wearing a pale yellow one-piece outfit. He was above average height, and for a man in his mid-forties, he was lean, with no sign of a paunch. But it was the way he smiled with his eyes as much as his lips that enthralled her. The grey in his dark hair was actually a turn on for her. Then she realised she was wearing a dreary suit, with a backpack which probably had her looking like a cross between the hunchback of Notre`Damme, and an overweight troll. Not exactly the first impression she’d have wanted to give.

  ‘Mind if I slip into something more comfortable?’

  ‘Go for it. Through that door, then the third door on the right.’

  ‘Thanks. Don’t go anywhere.’

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’

  It took half an hour and seven changes of outfit later. The black dress she would save for another time. What she decided on, was a dark blue skirt that cosseted her backside, just covering her dimpled knees. The top was a matching colour with a zip with which she could adjust the amount of cleavage she showed. She experimented with the zip.

  ‘Steady, Maj. You don’t want to terrify the man. Oh, come on. A little bit more than that. Perfect. Just obvious I’ve nothing on underneath, without looking like a tart.’

  In recent years, skirts and heels had made something of a comeback. It was fashionable to look sexy again. The heels gave her legs at least the impression of being shapely. She applied her make-up and brushed her hair. A dab of perfume and she was good to go.

  When she joined the Councillor, he was with a man and a woman. The conversation froze in mid-sentence, and she swore she heard Freeman gasp.

  ‘Miss Saltoe,’ said Freeman. ‘You are a sight for sore eyes.’

  ‘Just an old outfit I brought along.’

  Freeman said, ‘Allow me to introduce my P A, Toby Miles and my pilot, Captain Anne Chimes.’

  They all shook hands, and with just a subtle hint from Freeman, Miles and Chimes made themselves scarce.

  Saltoe sat opposite Freeman.

  Freeman got up and went to a cabinet in the corner of the room. ‘I have a rather nice brandy, if you’d care for a drink?’