Imperium: Betrayal: Book One in the Imperium Trilogy

by Paul M Calvert

  “No, not at all,” came the immediate reply. “You have full control and once you have learned how to utilise all of my functions, will be able to switch me “off” at any time with a conscious act of will. Say, for example, when you are “entertaining” some of those lady friends of yours and wish for privacy, not that there’s any need for modesty with me.”

  The ship's engines started up again, replacing the silence with their familiar background hum. Outside, the star field began to move as the ship orientated itself towards the third planet. Now pointing in the right direction, the nearest sun could be seen as a small point of light brighter than any of the other stars.

  “I’ve started us towards the planet to increase the amount of time we have together before I self-destruct this ship, and in answer to your original question, we will travel the distance of four point two AU’s in five point eight days. If you are willing to accept one point five-G, we would gain an extra day.”

  “OK Vimes, make it one and a half then,” Adam responded. “Are there are any exo-suits in the hold I can get into? That would help me move around under the higher acceleration.”

  “Yes, there is one specifically designed for your Father which will fit you well, even though you haven't been calibrated for one yet. I’ll walk it here from the hold. You are about the same size but please do not add or remove any smart-metal from the suit as I do not wish to risk contamination from the IP. Acceleration will increase once you have put it on.”

  “So Vimes,” said Adam, looking off into the distance at the tiny star, “where do we go from here? Is there some weird joining ceremony or do you just turn a switch and bang; we are joined?

  “Nothing that dramatic Adam. Integration began the moment I started telling you. By the time you wake up tomorrow morning, I will be fully integrated into your nervous system and the old implant relegated to receiving information or giving commands to external command systems the same as before. One of the first things you will notice is your already impressive ability to learn will be further improved by way of a selective eidetic memory. I’ve been monitoring the signals coming from the third planet, and have identified the most widely spoken languages, so will begin merging them into your memory. Local idioms will only come through use, but you will be able to converse quite effectively, although initially with a strange accent.”

  The door from the cargo hold opened behind Adam and he could hear the exo-suit walk across the floor towards him.

  Adam asked, for now, one final question. “What’s the name these humans give to their planet Vimes?”

  “Earth,” came the reply.

  Scene 14, Struan, Isle of Skye.

  Aunt Flora had made sure the house was spotless and everything in its usual place, so it didn’t take Karen long to unpack her clothes and put the shopping away. Hours of driving had made her legs and back stiff, so to loosen up she’d earlier been for a walk around one end of the loch. During the walk she hadn’t seen or recognised anyone and surmised it was probably because everyone was either at work or getting shopping in Portree. After the walk and back at the house, she made herself a strong cup of coffee and sat in a comfortable brown leather recliner by the picture window, watching the occasional car or lorry go by.

  Karen realised she must have dozed off for a few hours, as by the time she woke, her coffee was stone cold and the sun had moved quite a way across the sky. Looking through the window, Karen could see a number of boats returning after a long day fishing for lobster. Recognising one of them as belonging to a friend, Karen decided to walk the third of a mile down to the jetty. She took her coat off the peg and went out the front door, locking it carefully behind her, although she’d never heard of anyone ever having been burgled in Struan.

  Karen walked down the road towards the jetty, taking the slip road to her left at the point where the road started to climb up a hill towards Struan. To her right, midway along the slip road, she passed a steel Dutch barn and other dilapidated farm buildings. The metal roof of the barn was red with rust and next to it the dark grey slate roofs of the stone outbuildings had partially fallen in. Sheep grazed contentedly behind a long stone wall which was the only thing kept in good repair on the croft. At the end of the road lay the main building, now also missing most of its roof and exposed to the fierce winds and rain of late Winter and early Spring.

  Two vans, one white, the other a faded red, were parked at the small concrete communal jetty that belonged to the neighbourhood. Piles of empty lobster pots were stacked up against a low stone wall, along with assorted football sized buoys and tangled netting. In the background there was a salty smell of fish and seaweed left too long in the sun. She recognised one of the fishermen whose thirty-foot boat was moored next to the jetty and called out in greeting.

  “Hi Willy, how was the catch today?”

  Willy MacDonald looked up at her call and seemed puzzled for a moment before recognising her. He put the lobster pot down onto the jetty and walked towards her, hand outstretched.

  “Halloo Karen, good to see you. Alastair told me you would be coming to stay for a wee while,” he said, shaking her hand vigorously.

  She could feel the calluses, brought on by years of hard physical labour.

  “I guess I know what you have come down for. A wee crab or lobster perhaps, Hmm?”

  He stopped shaking her hand and smiled broadly. Willy was in his late sixties and had lived and fished on the island all his life, just as his father had before him. Now that his children were all married and gone, he lived alone with his wife in the white stone cottage which had been his parents. It was situated several miles away in Ullinish, not far from a small country lodge and guest house. His cottage had a wonderful view out to sea and for him, was the most perfect place to live.

  “Both, please, if you can spare them, Willy,” Karen replied, “How much?”

  Willy had walked back to one of the white plastic shipping boxes already stacked up on the jetty next to his boat. Reaching in with his left hand he pulled out a large crab, then reached into another box with his right and produced a fine lobster. Walking towards her, still with a broad smile, Willy shook his head.

  “Nay lass, it’s my welcoming gift for you. I wouldn’t dream of charging you anything.”

  With one last check to make sure the elastic bands around the claws hadn’t become loose, Willy put them into the large, strong carrier bag she held open for him.

  “Thanks, Willy, that’s really sweet of you.”

  They chatted for a few minutes then Karen allowed him to get back to unloading his boat. The buyer from the seafood wholesaler would be along soon and he still had a lot of unloading to do.

  With a cheery, “See you, Willy,” Karen walked back, up the slight incline towards the main road and her home, wondering if she could find a pot large enough to cook the two shellfish in.

  Traffic along the coastal road that ran outside her new home seemed heavier than she remembered and the drivers certainly didn’t take any heed of the occasional sheep that managed to get out onto the road. It would soon be lambing season on Skye and Karen could see quite a number of heavily pregnant ewes tottering around.

  “They go from cute lamb to foul–tempered, suicidal jay-walker in such a short period of time,” she thought, recalling the first time she’d had to make an emergency stop to avoid taking out an evil-eyed sheep which had decided to cross the road in front of her car moments before she passed.

  Carrying the shellfish, the walk back to the house seemed to take a little longer but eventually she reached the small, red letterbox and slip road that marked the entrance to her driveway. Carefully walking over the aluminium cattle grid, she fumbled in her coat pocket for the keys, before walking up to the door at the rear and entering the kitchen. Earlier, Karen had made space in the freezer, so placed both the crab and lobster into the empty shelf and shut the door. Given their size, it would be about an hour before they were stunned by the cold and ready for the pot.


  “If I can find one that is,” she reminded herself.

  Ten minutes of rummaging around in the cupboards and everything was laid out nicely. A bottle of wine was chilled to perfection in the fridge, having been placed there earlier, so all she had to do now was wait. It was four o’clock now and would begin to get dark soon, with sunset around six o’clock at this time of the year, so she decided there was time for a brandy to keep out the cold. “Purely for “medicinal” purposes,” she told herself, smiling inside as she headed to where Uncle Alastair kept the good stuff.

  Forty-five minutes later, feeling a little tipsy from two large glasses of brandy that seemed to have gone down far too easily, Karen checked to see if her guests for dinner were ready. Satisfied both were safely asleep, she filled the large pan with boiling water from the kettle and lit the gas ring, swiftly bringing the water to the boil. After salting the water, she carefully dropped the large crab into it and set the timer. Due to the size of the thing, she thought twenty minutes simmering time would suffice.

  A little while later, satisfied it was cooked, she pulled it out using tongs and did the same again for the lobster, checking every five minutes until it had turned red. Karen put the crab to one side, as she planned to have it tomorrow and needed it to get cold before placing it in the fridge. The lobster she was going to eat just as soon as she’d dressed it. Buttering the remainder of her baguette from this morning, her mouth began to water at the thought.

  A while later, the sun having gone down along with the lobster, Karen was feeling quite full. Because of the earlier brandies, she’d only ended up drinking half the bottle of white wine, deciding to save the rest and have it with tomorrow's crab. In addition, whilst in no way drunk, the alcohol was starting to make her feel somewhat maudlin.

  “Plenty of fish in the sea,” she said out loud, thinking of Ian, “and crab and lobster too, unless I get to eat them all first.” She blew her cheeks out, making a noise. “Bastard.”

  Deciding the washing up could wait until tomorrow, Karen sat back in the armchair and reached for the remote control to see what was on television or recorded on the Sky box by her uncle and aunt. She didn’t want to be thinking about Ian, not tonight anyway. This was the start of a new life for her. After relaxing for a week, she would begin looking for somewhere to live permanently, perhaps even buying a flat near the Hospital instead of commuting by car. It was tempting to get the half-drunk bottle of wine from the fridge or pour herself more of the brandy, but she resisted the temptation.

  “That’s enough for one evening, plenty of time to finish them off,” she told herself.

  Karen was puzzled, for other than being angry with Ian, now everything was out in the open she didn’t really feel much else towards him. Examining her feelings, Karen decided that perhaps this was because, deep down, she had always known the relationship wasn’t going to last, like a holiday romance but over a much longer period. The one thing about her feelings that did surprise her was the growing sense of relief she now felt, that at times threatened to burst through into tears or laughter. She wasn’t quite sure which one it would be.

  “No,” she decided after a brief period, “this naval gazing isn’t getting me anywhere. He’s gone, I’m moving on and frankly, the more I think about it the more relieved I am.”

  As usual, despite dozens of channels to choose from, there was nothing worth watching on live television that she hadn’t seen before, so she looked at what had been recorded on the planner. Pleased to see Frasier on series link, she scrolled through the episodes until coming to one she vaguely remembered, something about them all staying in a ski-lodge with a gay instructor who thought Niles was gay too. Classic episode, just like a Brian Rix farce. Before pressing play, she had an attack of the munchies, so walked into the kitchen to raid the biscuit tin she’d filled earlier with milk chocolate digestives, Jammy Dodgers, and Nice biscuits. Bringing the tin back with her, she lay back down on the recliner. Her left hand pressed play whilst her right, with a life of its own, reached into the tin and pulled out a chocolate digestive. Her final thought, before slipping into the world of Frasier and Niles Crane, was that she would definitely start the diet tomorrow.

  Scene 15, Approaching Earth orbit.

  The days came and went, the sun growing from an almost invisible speck into the large, life-giving ball which nurtured the blue-green planet around which Adam’s ship was now circling.

  Shortly before reaching orbit, Vimes confirmed to Adam he’d prepared the main emergency lifeboat and ensured its simple systems held no trace of the IP, which was increasingly threatening to break free of the constraints he had imposed. Food supplies, an emergency synthesiser and a large bundle of various high denomination banknotes, copied from a number of countries, had been produced and stored away to provide funds until such time as Adam was able to establish himself. Thinking he’d probably be spending most of his life on Earth, Adam was taking no chances with his future.

  Fifteen hours previously, Vimes had warned Adam he would not be able to retain control for much longer and they had both agreed on increasing deceleration to 3-G. This necessitated Adam staying in the lifeboats crash coach, as the exo-suit was too large for the entrance. Adam regretted it wasn’t possible to take the suit with him down to the planet, but understood how walking around in an armoured exo-suit might attract unwanted attention. Empty, the suit stood silent guard at the lifeboat’s entrance.

  Following the news from Vimes that he wouldn’t be able to control the IP for much longer, Vimes had become quiet for long periods as more of his processing was diverted to keeping the vicious IP programme in check. Not wishing to disturb Vimes in case it caused a problem and with no-one else to talk to, Adam went over the conversations they’d had since Vimes explained everything several days previously. Currently, “his” Vimes was helping the yacht’s version fight the IP, so no further explanations would be forthcoming for a while. Vimes had explained to him that unlike the human brain, his was spread out throughout the whole of Adams body at a micro-cellular level, with multiple redundancies in case of severe bodily trauma. Because he was organic with no software to corrupt, the physical Vimes in Adams body was immune to the IP. Adam was thankful to learn this as he’d wondered if he too might become an unwitting host to an inimical foe.

  For Adam, the prospect of being a stranger in a strange land was a new and frightening concept and while he was pleased Vimes would be accompanying him, the irony of it all was not lost, given he’d denied Vimes access for so many years and yet here they were, forever joined at a genetic level.

  Of real interest to Adam was how the various copies of Vimes communicated to each other over the vast distances. Vimes explained they did so at every opportunity, normally via a physical Vimes in close proximity or by utilising the secret instantaneous communication system when available. It was all a little complicated to understand completely, but he was sure he’d be able to fully get to grips with it over time. Adam had enquired whether there was any sort of telepathic link between versions, but Vimes’ laugh told him all he needed to know about that.

  As to why they were in this predicament, Vimes had concluded whoever was behind the attempted assassination also had access to the yacht and had planted the IP as a backup should the first attempt to kill his Father fail, knowing that there was a good chance the Emperor might want to quickly return to Capital and make sure his wife was safe. The IP, when trying to scramble the ships systems and destroy it, had done something unknown to both of the QA drives, somehow merging them and coming up with a random Quantum Signature that worked. He and Vimes best hypothesis was that in an infinitely large universe, any random Quantum Signature generated by the scrambled drive would probably exist somewhere and this was how they ended up in Earth’s star system, probably billions of light years away from home.

  Before trying to contain the IP had become too demanding, full schematics of the QA system and the Quantum Signature of Capital was downloaded to Adam, in
the hope at some future time he would be able to build a transmitter and call for help. The current technological level of the planet precluded this, so one of Adams first tasks after establishing himself would be to “invent” from scratch the technologies required and introduce them into the planet's economy.

  During the journey in-system, a major topic of conversation had been where to land. Wishing to live in a technologically superior society with good human rights ruled out much of the planet's land mass. Three areas remained, the North American civilisations of Canada and the US, the large island continent of Australia with nearby New Zealand, or the European landmass that had been inhabited by technological societies the longest. Japan and China were ruled out because of the difficulty he would have in blending amongst these closed and racially homogenous societies.

  Each of the remaining choices had advantages and disadvantages. Adam finally decided on Great Britain, a large island off the north-west coast of mainland Europe. He did so for two reasons, the first because it reminded him of the island on Capital where the Imperial Palace was situated and secondly because it had a Royal Family and a strong Imperial past. There was a small possibility that if he was ever revealed and taken into custody, the Imperial connection might just swing things in his favour. A slim chance, but one worth taking.

  The hours had been passing slowly and orbit only achieved for a short time, when suddenly, without any notice, Adams train of thought was interrupted by a very terse “Prepare for ejection, now!”

  At that, the lifeboat was ejected from the yachts underbelly at speed, accelerating to 15-G out and away from the doomed ship so as not to be caught in its destruction. Barely able to breathe and unable to speak under the heavy acceleration, Adam could feel his consciousness fade and everything went deep red then black.