Blood of the Scarecrow: Book 3: Solstice 31 Saga

by Martin Wilsey

  “Barcus had insights that made the entire picture clear for us. It gave us a massive advantage, really. Otherwise, we would have just walked right back into a meat grinder.”

  --Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Captain James Worthington, senior surviving member of the Ventura deep space survey ship.

  <<<>>>

  “Let me get this straight,” Hagan said to Barcus, quietly. “You know about the classified Echo mission?”

  “Yes. I think I know the whole picture now.” Barcus sat down on a tool chest, next to the strut where Hagan was working on the Memphis. He put his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees.

  “You can't tell Jimbo. A lot of people will die if you do.” Hagan looked over his shoulder.

  “Look, Echo implied the same thing. Who else knows? I could be executed for this.”

  “Just me and Wex,” Barcus said, still holding his head, not looking up. “She won't say a word, won't even speak to you in advance. About anything.”

  “You guys are killing me.” Hagan whispered angrily, “That Echo has two smart nukes. Not just smart, aware. I hate those. They autonomously decide when the best time to go off really is, based on predetermined priorities, set by SOMEONE ELSE!” He looked around again.

  “Wes, you ever study temporal physics?”

  Barcus held up his hand, stopping him. “Yes. At MIT, I know. You thought it was all theoretical bullshit. You were in your ‘everything is bullshit’ phase, except for practical engineering. I know you remember Eve Lancaster.”

  Hagan's eyes went a little wide.

  “You ever tell me about her? Ever tell anyone about her?”

  Hagan just stared at him, incredulously.

  “She was a temporal physics major, working on her PhD thesis on temporal evidence verification.”

  Barcus stood slowly and moved closer, whispering.

  “She told you one day someone would approach you and know you had that conversation with her. And more to the point, know that she was fucking you in her car at the time.”

  Barcus paused, in case he wanted to say anything. He was in shock.

  “You ever tell anyone that?”

  Barcus raised an eyebrow.

  “You ever tell anyone that she got pregnant that night and had an abortion without telling you, until after?”

  Hagan staggered backward as if Barcus had struck him.

  “That isn't even the proof part. I could have gotten all that info from her.”

  Barcus moved closer again.

  “Did you ever tell anyone you were in love with her? That she is why you never had another serious relationship, ever, sixty years later.”

  Hagan was in shock.

  “You ever tell anyone any of that?”

  Hagan's head shook, side to side, slowly. His full realization sunk in.

  “You will tell me one day, the whole story. And more. Even the embarrassing part.”

  ***

  Wex watched Barcus talking to Hagan by the front strut of the Memphis. She was high up on the old shell of the Maker, in the darkness.

  Jude spoke in the darkness.

  “Will he be a kind master?”

  “He will be far kinder than I,” Wex replied.

  “How do we serve a master that asks nothing of us? Requires nothing other than which he can do himself,” Cine replied.

  “Simply carry the same goals. It will be a lighter burden...soon,” Wex said.

  “Po will help you, and push you, and show you the way,” Wex said. “She will show you ALL the way.”

  “She was made the best they could make her.”

  Jude's odd accent was thick again.

  “And they never knew.”

  “While they were distracted doing that, they didn't notice their house was on fire,” Cine added.

  ***

  “Rand and Hume, please report to the Memphis main conference room. The captain would like to speak to you,” Ben said, formally, over their HUD comms.

  “Acknowledged,” Rand said, simply.

  They were together, working with the grays that had just completed restoring the seals on the PT-137 quad shuttle.

  “Uh-oh. We've been called to the principal’s office. Now, what did we do?” Hume said.

  “I swear to God, I haven't killed anyone all day.”

  Rand threw her hands up, after she pressed the control and closed the gull wing door on the PT-137. The new seals sounded very different as the door compressed the last centimeter closed. Six gray spiders scrambled out just before the door closed.

  They walked across the hangar, toward the Memphis, as they heard the doors open again and more spiders crawled over the craft, inside and out.

  “Have you seen them stack up and make larger machines?” Hume asked, as they walked. “They can assemble into an approximation of a human. Creepy but they can get things done fast.”

  “Hagan says they each have a grav-cell inside. The grape-sized ones,” Rand said.

  “I am so glad I am not an engineer. This shit would creep me out even worse if I knew how complicated it really was,” Hume said, as they ascended the ramp. The lights were bright in the dock, and the spiders were everywhere. The place had never been so clean.

  “The little bastards use dirt and debris as ingest for their mini fabrication units. Even the stuff they cut away. No waste.”

  “I swear, if we gave them enough time, they could eat this entire ship and make a whole other ship,” Rand said, but it didn't seem to amuse either of them.

  They entered the conference room and Worthington immediately waved for them to be seated. He picked up his mug of tea for a sip but realized it was empty.

  “Hume, good work yesterday with the Warmark. Restraint. Good work.” Worthington rubbed his face, hard, with both hands.

  “Ronan wants one of the Warmarks. I cannot, in good conscience, leave one of those things here with him. If the wrong person gets ahold of it they could burn down this entire planet.”

  “Ronan can already do that, sir. With nukes,” Rand noted.

  “Yes, I know. More reason to refuse. I want to know what you think of this compromise.” Jimbo gestured, and a list was projected of conventional weapons.

  “These are all simple projectile weapons. Enough to outfit two platoons.”

  Hume studied the list.

  “Plus, the PT-137 with the dual 10mm cannons.”

  She saw it in the list.

  “Yes. Air support,” Jimbo said, waiting. “Your thoughts?”

  “This will make Ronan the most powerful man on this planet,” Rand stated flatly.

  “Not quite. I want to leave two Warmarks in our base at Salterkirk,” Hume said, reminding them that Salterkirk was the hangar base in the north that was above a salt mine.

  Jimbo finally got to the point.

  “Can you train Elkin, Ibenez, Tyrrell, Weston, and Shea to drive the damned things?”

  Without hesitation, both Rand and Hume said, “Yes, sir.”

  Hume said, “They will just need the HUD upgrade.”

  Rand added, “I recommend the upgrade for the whole team, sir. If there is an emergency, there will not be time.”

  “Hagan tells me these Warmarks have custom sensor packages and remote weapons control systems. I want Salterkirk to be a secure base of operations. The automated sentries are already in place, in case we have to run.”

  “I have to warn you. These nanites are not gentle. You should have Shaw administer them in the med bay.”

  Hagan saw them both opening the injection tubes.

  “Seriously,” Hume said.

  “We hear you.” Rand placed the injector to her neck at the same time as Hume did and injected. “We will make that recommendation for the civilians...do you smell toast?”

  ***

  Rand woke up last.

  She was in the med bay. She turned her head only to find pain in that direction. Moving just her eyes, she saw Dr. Shaw's back.


  “I'm OK, really,” Hume said to Shaw, as Rand tried to focus.

  “What was that?” Rand croaked through a dry throat.

  “That was you being an idiot. You fell and smashed your cheekbone on the railing.”

  Dr. Shaw turned from Hume to Rand and shined a light in her eyes, one at a time.

  “At least, you could have stepped off the apron and done it in low-G.”

  “Well, at least, we know what to expect, so when the rest of the crew gets the nanites—” Rand started.

  “The rest of the crew is already done. Recovered. Back to work,” Shaw said.

  Hume slowly sat up.

  “Oh, man.”

  “Jimbo pissed?” Rand asked.

  “Actually, he didn't know it would happen either,” Shaw replied. “It could have just as easily been him. So, you get a pass,” Shaw said.

  Rand realized she was naked, covered only with a sheet.

  “How long,” she croaked, “was I out.”

  “It was about thirty hours.”

  “I need to pee,” Hume said.

  Shaw set a pile of folded clothes down for Hume, and then one for Rand.

  “There are a few additional things you need to know about this HUD upgrade. It has a dedicated, hardware-based, encryption interface to the ECHO AI. And a full-time connection,” Shaw said. “It's damn handy, if you don't care about privacy. I am finding it very useful because it has full-time bio-monitoring of the whole team, and the ECHO has made me the unit’s medic. I even know you are hungry without even scanning you.”

  “Echo, do you have overview capability briefings?” Rand asked, absently.

  “Yes, Rand. I do,” AI~Echo replied, confirming her full-time presence.

  Rand was surprised that her voice was a soft-spoken, young female.

  “I'll let you get some coffee and food first.”

  Rand's bed rose, putting her in the sitting position. She pulled a tank top over her head and slowly swung her legs over the edge.

  Shaw looked at them both, almost reluctant to speak.

  “I need to warn you about something. To warn you about the next time you see Barcus.”

  ***

  Rand walked into the mess hall on the Memphis with Hume right behind. She didn't expect to find anyone there.

  Barcus and Wex were both there, with fresh cups of coffee in front of them, as if they were waiting.

  “I know, I know.”

  Barcus held up his hand as if to surrender. Wex rolled her eyes and smiled.

  Rand and Hume stared at them as if they were naked.

  “I presume Beth warned you?” Barcus said, as he stood up.

  In their HUDs, he was highlighted. Initial encounter silent alarms were activated in their vision. It was like they saw directly into his body. His guts and nervous system highlighted in red. His brain and lower intestines were detailed in high definition. Wex was completely highlighted.

  “What the hell, man?”

  Rand pounded her fists on the top of his shoulders and hugged him in a gesture that was one of old friends.

  “What the fuck is L-Matter?” Hume added, as she retrieved two cups of coffee. “My HUD says it’s inside you.”

  “Have you seen the briefing yet?” Barcus asked, obviously already knowing the answer.

  “Give me the short version, asswipe,” she said, sipping her coffee.

  “It's difficult to explain, in any version. It's Tech.”

  Barcus turned around, like he was showing off a new suit.

  “L-Matter is the material the tech is made of. It's a kind of persistent nanites. Basically, damaged cells are repaired at the atomic level, instead of the cellular level. The replaced cells are more durable.”

  He looked at Wex as if making sure he had it right.

  “The L-Matter is somehow networked together. It remembers the structure it has replaced.”

  “So if your brain is all L-Matter, will you still be an asshole, all the time?” Rand asked, unable to hide her smile.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Weapons of Gravity

  “Lifeboat number 4 on the Memphis was actually a Black Badger drop ship. It was armed with weapons we had never seen before. If only the Black Badgers had survived. Maybe we would not have failed so utterly.”

  --Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Captain James Worthington, senior surviving member of the Ventura deep space survey ship.

  <<<>>>

  “How the hell did lifeboat number 4 get refitted onto the Memphis?” Rand asked as she and Barcus crossed the hangar.

  “The gray spiders each contain controlled grav facilities. They all worked together to raise the boat. They even restored the anchors. Don't ask me how,” Barcus replied.

  They surveyed the side of the ship as Hume walked up with Hagan.

  “You guys need to come and look at the weapons inventory now that you have the ECHO upgrade,” Hagan said, as Hume nodded.

  They were not standing in the lights, and would be difficult to see, unless they were backlit from the correct angle. They saw that Jude and Cine were working with several spiders on the top hull. Po came around the side, speaking to them, above. She did a vertical jump that took her straight up about nine meters, grabbed the edge, and pulled herself up with ease.

  Barcus turned back and noticed that conversation had stopped.

  Hume spoke first.

  “I'm a specialist in low gravity and zero-G combat.”

  Hume circled and pointed over her shoulder.

  “A low G jump like that is not that unusual, with training. Most people have a hard time not falling down when they walk.”

  “Me included,” Rand said.

  “What is unusual is that she has an instant sense for the gravitational state she is in.”

  Hume circled around again.

  “Tell me you don't watch Jimbo every time he transitions to and from the apron, just hoping he will stumble?”

  They all laughed.

  “She can run from one to the other without missing a stride,” Hume said.

  “Cine and Jude can as well. They try and hide it, though. They watched us. They try to blend in. They already walk like Hume. I mean it's like a mimic. I'm not even sure they do it on purpose.”

  “It's how they were made.”

  Barcus was suddenly angry.

  “Let's see these weapons.”

  He marched to the ramp and paused at the transition to feel the gravity increase by a factor of six.

  Three minutes later, they entered the lifeboat 4 hatch and turned left to the weapons room. All the remaining Warmarks were already loaded and in their individual docks. Ready racks were now deployed, filled with a frightening array of weapons of mass destruction.

  As Barcus slowly moved down the center aisle, he focused on individual weapons and his new Heads-up Display conveyed each weapon’s specs. Additional data, in other windows, showed the various ammunition options available and their capabilities.

  He reached the end of the rack, and said, “What the fuck?”

  He picked up a carbine-sized rifle from the end and looked up.

  “Is this right?”

  “We don't know,” Hume said. “Echo says it could destroy the whole moon base with one shot.”

  The weapon was labeled in his HUD as a g-rail. WARNING: Not for use in a moving ship or in atmosphere.

  Barcus slowly placed it back on the rack and secured it. He looked to an open space on the rack just to the right of there. His head snapped back up to look at the others.

  “Where the fuck are the goddamn smart bombs? The Nukes! Do not tell me that you actually assembled those fuckers?”

  Barcus was only surprised for an instant. He thought about it for ten seconds.

  “Never mind.”

  He shook his head.

  “Everyone out. I need to talk to Echo, alone.”

  ***

  Barcus sat in the pilot’s seat. The hatch had closed and secured five mi
nutes ago.

  “Echo. You already know how this part plays out. Just not the details. When this is all over, I want a full recount of the events. You will do everything within your abilities to survive. All weapons hot, as you see fit.”

  “Yes, Barcus. Sir, I have a message for you from Miles,” AI~Echo said, in a preemptive tone.

  “I know,” Barcus said. “Do it.”

  Barcus lowered his face into his hands and placed his elbows on his knees, preparing for the gut punch he knew was coming, had to come.

  “Just because these things you see will happen to you, does not mean you know the truth. You will want to believe you know the truth. You never will, not the whole of it. There is no solving it because there is nothing to solve.

  “There is only one more long white before the war is over. The small war will end the same day. He will never know you exist, never know he was defeated. He will never know he died because he was responsible for the death of one woman in front of your eyes. He will never know that he was a fool that could be lied to. I'm sorry, Barcus. Just know, our wars will be done soon. Yours and mine.”

  Barcus wept there alone, for lost friends, for the deaths yet to come. The suicide he would allow and even encourage. For himself in selfish doom. He knew he would, knew he would feel it.

  An hour later, he stood. Barcus walked down the ramp of the Memphis. He drew his Telis blade as he walked into the dark.

  He said only one word, “Now.”

  From out of nowhere, Jude dropped from the blackness above and swung her flute at his head, a blur in the dark. Barcus was not there for the flute to find. His Telis blade was so sharp, the lightest touch left a shallow cut on her back. There was a storm of kicks and circular lightning strikes that left Barcus untouched and Jude covered with cuts.

  She suffered them, silently, until Barcus caught her with a deep cut to her left breast. She screamed, out loud; and suddenly Cine was there, pressing Barcus back, though never landing a blow. Jude joined in, holding the wound in her left breast; and they circled him, intensifying the storm of attacks. The flutes were making a haunting sound as they were swung at that speed.