The Seiner floated in a shallow liquid pool with many tubes and wires embedded into her blue fish-scale skin and skull.
She stared at him from her pool. She had narrow eyes like a cat, with the pupil-slits standing up and down instead of side-to-side. The Seiner stirred, but she seemed fragile and possibly sickly.
Benz had been ready to kill her on the instant. He paused, perplexed by what he saw.
“You desire my death,” the Seiner said in a weird accent. “Go ahead and do the bitter deed. Kill me and get it over with.”
Benz moved to an obvious comm console. He clicked it on and spoke hurriedly to medical personnel.
“There’s been a horrible accident,” the Premier said. “You must come on the double and attempt to save the Vice Premier.”
“What?” a man said.
“Hurry,” Benz said in a hoarse voice.
“W-W-Where is she?” the man asked.
He gave the man the coordinates.
“I’m on my way,” the medical officer said.
Benz clicked off the connection. He paused. Please, God, let Vela live. I beg You. She doesn’t deserve to die.
When Benz opened his eyes, he found the Seiner staring at him. If she told him she’d “heard” him pray…he wouldn’t know what to think. Yet, how could she have heard? He wore the helmet and it still buzzed.
“Are you prolonging the moment to increase my torture?” the Seiner asked.
The question so jarred his thinking that Benz found himself bewildered. He dragged his gun-arm across his open mouth. He had to concentrate. He kept worrying about Vela. He wanted to go outside and comfort her. He couldn’t believe she might well die because he’d deliberately shot her. He—
With an inarticulate growl from the back of his throat, Benz advanced upon the prone Seiner. He aimed the blaster at her. He debated beginning with her legs. How many body parts could he burn to make her suffer the longest?
“You did this to me,” she told him. “It wasn’t the choking. I can hold my breath far longer than you would believe. Banging the back of my head back on Mars—you are a true barbarian, Premier. You tried to destroy the part of me that you cannot understand.”
“You can’t get up?”
“I may never rise again,” she said. “You destroyed much of that function by your savagery.”
Benz shook his head.
“I don’t understand how you’re here inside the cybership,” he said.
“It should be obvious how I made it here,” the Seiner said. “Despite my paralysis, I could still twist you upright apes with my thoughts. I could cause others to see what I wanted them to see. The new secret police chief was easy to manipulate. Your Vela proved stubborn at first. Once I broke her to the trace, she proved the most useful of all. I had almost decided to undergo brain surgery. I detest lying here as an invalid. You have destroyed me, Premier. It is thus quite gratifying to know that I have destroyed something important to you.”
Benz found it difficult to concentrate on her words. He was too worried about Vela. A thought struck then, a new worry.
“If you hinder Vela’s rescue in any way, I’ll kill you.”
The Seiner sneered.
“That is not a credible threat. You will kill me in any case. Perhaps in this way I can goad you to kill me quickly instead of having to endure prolonged torture.”
“Do you want to die?”
“Of course not,” the Seiner said. “The intensity of my struggle for supremacy aboard your cybership proves otherwise. Vela believes you are a genius. I have failed to see any evidence of that.”
“Why not convince me to let you live?” asked Benz.
“That is unreasonable, as I cannot offer you such an inducement. Besides, I do not care to trust your word.” The Seiner pondered a moment. “However, if you remove the helmet and let me peek into your thoughts—to see if you are trustworthy—then I might agree to a partnership.”
Suddenly, Benz felt unaccountably weary. He was sick of the Seiner. Her intense suspicion and her constant struggle for domination—
Weird croaking noises emanated from the creature’s throat. He realized it was probably Seiner laughter. Yet, what would cause the hateful creature to laugh?
Benz stepped closer to her.
“What are you attempting now?” he said.
“Yesss,” the Seiner hissed. “That is the question, Premier. You have been tardy using your opening with me. Now, it is too late. I have nailed down your pilot’s suspicion regarding Jon Hawkins. The pilot is thus about to begin firing at the Nathan Graham. Do you hear that, Premier? I am about to initiate a final round of battle between your cyberships. You should have—”
Benz shouted with rage, holstered the blaster and drew a knife. At the same time, he knelt beside the Seiner in the liquid. He clutched her throat and pressed the point of the knife a centimeter from her right eye.
“I’m going to blind you first,” he whispered. “I’m going to make you suffer intense agony if you don’t release your hold of my pilot this instant.”
The Seiner stared up at him.
“Decide,” he said.
She closed her eyes and then opened them wide.
“It is done,” she whispered. “I have returned the pilot’s rationality to him. I have also withdrawn from the minds of the approaching medical personnel.”
Benz snarled. He shook her by the throat and tensed his shoulder as if to thrust the knife.
“I have complied,” she said in a loud voice. “Do not touch my eyes.”
There was such a desperate, pathetic tone in her plea that Benz believed she truly feared for her eyes. It seemed as if he’d found a weakness in her, like a person held at the edge of a tower who was desperately afraid of heights.
In that moment, Benz wondered if he should strike hard and fast. The Seiner was too dangerous to try to use. And yet…if they were going to defeat the AIs, the machines…
“You have one chance,” Benz said, as he hunched over the prone Seiner, the small humanoid with blue fish-scale skin. “I want to trust you, but I know you are treacherously dangerous. More than I hate you, I hate the AIs who have almost destroyed humanity. I am willing to make a deal with you.”
“You will let me control you?” the Seiner asked in wonder.
Benz laughed bleakly.
“No,” he said. “I am going to get a trank. I want to put you under for now.”
“I do not desire to lose my eyes, but I will not trade them for a life of enslavement.”
“Think for a minute,” Benz said. “I have not desired your enslavement. I want your help.”
“You forget, Premier, I have read more than one human mind. I know the depths of your deceptions. I know that you are like all other dominant species. You use the weak to further your goals. That is the nature of the universe. You cannot escape that.”
“That doesn’t mean the strong must cruelly enslave the weak,” Benz said.
“I do not worry about how ‘things should be.’ I struggle with is. That is enough for me.”
“Then you refuse my every entreaty?” Benz asked.
“It is not refusal. I simply do not desire worse bondage. I know the human mind hates what it does not understand. It is obvious that you can never understand the beauty of the Seiners.”
“But we have a common enemy. Is there no way to work together?”
“Of course,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Let me rule you and I promise to save the human race. This I vow…”
Benz heard a stealthy step behind him. He knew without looking what it would be. The Seiner had lied to him.
He clutched her throat harder and pressed the tip of the knife against her cheek directly under her right eye. He pressed enough to draw blood.
“Your race has forgotten one thing,” Benz said. “It is called hope. You seem to thrive on despair. Maybe you know too much. Maybe you see into others too deeply. That seeing has destroyed yo
ur hope because you have seen everyone’s ugliness. Humans hope and thus we have beaten the AIs at least a few times. You Seiners ran away because all you have left is despair. This isn’t merely a chance to save humanity and save your life. This is a chance to save the Seiners from extinction and from their eternal despair.”
The Seiner stared at him.
“A medic is aiming a gun at you,” she whispered. “One thought from me, and he will blow a hole in your head.”
“Do you want to die in despair?” Benz asked. “Have you forgotten what it is to hope?”
“You crippled me,” the Seiner said. “You slammed my head against the floor in a fit of rage.”
“This is an opportunity to work together. If we defeat the battle station, it will start a new era. We humans will not have simply defended ourselves, but sought out and attacked the AIs in one of their star systems. What other race has ever done that?”
“None…” the Seiner said. “The reason for that is quite simply because it is impossible.”
Benz laughed with a hysterical quality.
“Do you hear yourself?” Benz asked. “None. Yet, we humans are attempting it with a good chance of success.”
“I cannot believe that.”
“Right!” Benz shouted. “Because all you know is despair. All you know is master and slave. We humans have another concept. It is called friendship. It is called an alliance. The living races must work together to defeat the machines. Why is that so hard to understand?”
“This is a trick,” the Seiner said.
“No!” Benz shouted. Then he took a gamble. He did it partly because he believed in the strength of his mind. He believed that he could dive down at the Seiner and stab her to death. But he also sensed that they were going to need help to defeat the AIs. One battle wouldn’t win the war. But to enlist enough alien races in the cause might help turn the tide of battle.
Benz stood and ripped off the buzzing helmet. As he stood, he saw a medic behind him with an automatic clutched in his hand. The gun was aimed at him.
“Read my thoughts!” Benz shouted at the crippled Seiner. “See that I mean what I say. Even after all you’ve done against us I’m offering the Seiners hope in a future where they can thrive.”
The blue-scaled alien stared up at him as she began blinking wildly.
“It is not a lie,” she whispered.
“No,” Benz said.
“But you have given yourself into my hands.”
“Have I?” Benz said. “Or have I taken the first step toward a real alliance? Maybe this is why the AIs always win. Maybe it’s time for the Seiners to try a new strategy. The old hasn’t been working so well for you.”
The moment stretched…
A loud clunk sounded behind Benz. He turned. The medic had dropped the automatic onto the floor. He seemed bewildered.
“What am I doing here?” the man asked.
“Vela is outside,” Benz said. “You were leading the team that’s helping her.”
“Oh,” the medic said. He turned and rushed outside.
“I have made a terrible error,” the Seiner said.
Benz scooped up the helmet from the floor. He put it back on his head.
“I will now die slowly and hideously,” she whispered, as she turned away from him.
Benz went to a machine and withdrew a hypo. He advanced upon her, kneeling in the water.
“I am a fool,” the Seiner whispered. “I have soiled my line. I should have slain you when I had the chance.”
“Hope can be difficult,” Benz said. “But it is better than bleak despair. Now, for the first time, you and your race have a chance of truly living.”
The Seiner made a mocking sound.
Benz pressed the hypo to her shoulder, giving her the trank.
She turned and looked up at him with shining eyes. “I hope that my irrational faith in your word has not been misplaced.”
Benz said nothing more as her eyelids flickered and she fell into unconsciousness.
-11-
As the struggle between the Seiner and Premier Benz took place—with Vice Premier Vela Shaw’s life in the balance—Hawkins summoned Walleye to his ready room.
The ex-assassin from Makemake soon walked onto the bridge. He’d never been here before. The place was huge. It was his understanding this used to be near the AI brain core of the cybership.
Once more, Walleye marveled that puny mankind could dare to challenge the titans of space. It wasn’t the daring that produced the marvel, but that they’d been getting away with it for some time now.
Walleye shrugged inwardly. Maybe this was the dusk of an era. The giant dinosaurs—the AIs—might not be able to compete against the tiny mammals eating their eggs.
“Captain Walleye,” Hawkins said from the hatch to his ready room. “This way.”
The commander waved, beckoning him.
Walleye in his buff coat made a sharp contrast to the regular bridge personnel. If the differences bothered him, he didn’t show it.
Soon, Walleye entered the ready room. It was also spacious with a large screen on a far wall showing a star system. Hawkins stood to the side of the screen. The commander did not sit behind his desk. Did Hawkins know that Walleye did not care to slide onto a chair so he seemed like a child?
“The Allamu System,” Hawkins said. “Premier Benz has been studying the star system. I thought that a good idea and have been doing the same.”
“Studying it through telescopes?” Walleye asked.
“Exactly. We haven’t pinpointed any construction, but at least we know the general layout of the star system. It got me to thinking. I’ve come to believe it behooves us to send a scout vessel ahead of the flotilla.”
Walleye nodded. Now, he understood. No good deed goes unpunished. He’d performed in the past. Now, Hawkins wanted him to perform again.
“I’m the—” Walleye stopped himself from saying, “sucker.” That would likely not go over well with the commander. “I won the short straw?” Walleye finished.
Hawkins frowned until understanding lit in his eyes. “I see the reference. No. I did not pull straws. I made a decision. This could prove to be a harrowing assignment. There’s no doubt about that. Some men might view this as an awesome privilege.” The commander paused. “Some might view it as a possible death sentence.”
Walleye said nothing. He noted that Hawkins seemed to want to ask him which he thought it was. In the interest of honesty, Walleye kept his opinion to himself.
Every incident with an AI or robot had proven to be extra dangerous. Walleye had no doubt this assignment would be the same.
“The mission shouldn’t be overly dangerous,” Hawkins was saying. “You’ll come out of hyperspace beyond this system’s scattered disc region. That means you’ll likely appear far from any enemy probes, satellites, ships or buoys.”
“What about the robot ship that escaped this region?”
“You mean escaped from the rogue planet region?” Hawkins asked.
Walleye nodded.
“That ship left some time ago,” Hawkins said.
“Begging your pardon, sir, but I took the liberty of studying videos of the vessel’s departure. The enemy ship left at minimal velocity. I believe that means it will enter the Allamu System at minimal velocity. My ship, by necessity, will be traveling considerably faster than that. What’s more, I will likely appear much closer to the enemy ship than the great distance that separated us out here.”
Hawkins stared intensely at Walleye.
“You’re sharp, Captain. I see I’m making the right choice. Before your ship leaves, we’re going to give it half a dozen of our biggest ship-killing missiles.”
“Strapped to my ship like suicide bombs, sir?”
“No,” Hawkins said, as he continued to stare at Walleye. “As weapons of vengeance, as the hope of mankind.”
“Sir?”
“You’ve got to take out the enemy ship, the one that left here. Mayb
e you can do it before it gets off the entire data packet. Maybe you can’t. We must try every angle, though. You’re my best captain. You’re the quickest-witted and, quite frankly, the most dangerous.”
Walleye rubbed his left cheek.
“Back-handed compliments, sir?”
For some reason, that made Hawkins bristle.
“If you don’t want the assignment, just say so,” Hawkins said.
“Thank you, sir,” Walleye said. “I don’t want the—”
“But,” Hawkins said, interrupting. “If you tell me that you don’t want the job…”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to have to wonder why you’re here. I’m going to have to wonder why you gutted it out in the Kuiper Belt all alone, and later in the clutches of a robot killer.”
The answer was obvious to Walleye: he wanted to keep on living. Dying was never an option with him. Yet, he doubted Hawkins wanted to hear that. Maybe the best thing would be to accept the assignment. If it proved too difficult…he had the hyperdrive. He could always leave the Allamu System and head back to the Solar System. He’d have to make sure about his crew, though.
“I can see you’re thinking about this,” Hawkins said.
Walleye nodded. It was often a good idea to let others believe what they wanted to believe.
“I hope you don’t think about this too long,” Hawkins said.
“I’m your man,” Walleye said.
Hawkins grinned.
“I knew it,” the commander said. “I’ve always been a good judge of people. We’re counting on you, Walleye. You had a hard time of it the last time the AIs invaded the Solar System. But you made the right decisions all along the line and reached Senda in time. This time it could be worse. This time, you’re going to be all alone until the rest of us show up. While you’re there, you need to gather as much information as you can. We’ll be coming along shortly…”
Walleye waited.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that attacking blind is a bad recipe for us,” Hawkins said. “Some of the worst disasters in military history took place when a commander charged into a new situation blind. If I could have you turn around and come back to report, I would. But I don’t see how we have the time for that. The robot picket ship is forcing us to accelerate our timetable. Nail that ship, Walleye. That’s your first order of business. Collect info and stay alive long enough for us to appear and receive it.”
A.I. Battle Station (The A.I. Series Book 4) Page 21
