by S. H. Jucha
Cordelia made several requests of Julien—his holo display controls, an extended memory allotment in his crystals, administrator install-rights for her programs, and author rights to her work. At any moment, she expected Julien to object to the intrusion or simply block her. That none of those reactions were forthcoming intrigued her. Cordelia entertained a suspicion that the Admiral might have curtailed some of Julien’s autonomy, but her interactions with him contradicted that suspicion. In fact, Julien appeared to her to operate with greater freedom, not lesser. His confidence and generosity had been enhanced to the point that he gave her, an unknown SADE, access that should have been denied—all because his Admiral wished to see her art. It occurred to her that fortune had smiled on Julien in the aftermath of his ship’s misfortune. She felt privileged by the courtesies Julien was extending to her and sent him a thank-you.
In turn, Julien shared the gift he received.
Flower petals unfolding
Beauty bestowed.>
Alex watched a pastoral scene build in the holo-vid, which had expanded its view to reach from the deck to a half-meter above his head. A gentle waterfall tumbled down a smooth cascade of rocks into a quiet pool of water. The presentation’s clarity was like that of all Méridien displays, highly detailed and lifelike. It was pretty, but a little disappointing to Alex. Then, remembering Cordelia’s request to share his thoughts, Alex let his disappointment leak through to her, and he recalled the entrancing, wild waterfall that flowed kilometers behind his parents’ house. Alex had no sooner expressed his thought than the holo-vid’s waterfall began to grow in height. The angle steepened and the water crashed into the pool below, which deepened and darkened. Spray from the water’s impact fogged the air above and beyond the pool. Alex laughed at the interaction, and on a whim, he approached the holo-vid.
Cordelia had waited her entire artistic life for this moment. Julien had been effusive about his Admiral. She had heard his words, but found the context difficult to understand. It was as if Julien described a character from one of his New Terran vids, not a person who could exist today. Every Independent who had viewed her art in her small one-room display on Libre had sat patiently observing her entire demonstration. Not one had ever taken her demonstration to the next level, and she had never requested that they do so, although she couldn’t say why she hadn’t. She watched as the Admiral stepped, not up to the holo-vid, but into it, closing his eyes to the waterfall’s spray. She smiled to herself and rewarded him with the algorithms that had been prepared long ago for just this moment.
Alex stepped into the holo-vid and cool spray splashed his face. It was illogical, but his implant senses, driven by Cordelia’s algorithms, felt the spray, cool droplets running down his face. The waterfall thundered, and its sound shifted as Alex changed his orientation. He laughed and clapped his hands in delight.
Lieutenant Hatsuto Tanaka was thunderstruck as he watched the Admiral spin and dance in the holo-vid, his arms held wide and his face upturned to the spray. Suddenly the Admiral stopped, looked at him, and sent him an order to join him, hooking him into a comm with the SADE called Cordelia.
Hatsuto felt unnerved by the Admiral’s actions, but calmed by Cordelia’s soothing tones. When he stopped just outside the holo-vid, the Admiral reached out and yanked him in like an older brother taking charge of his younger sibling. When the spray touched his face, Hatsuto panicked and jumped back out of the holo-vid. The Admiral laughed at him and turned back into the waterfall’s spray. Hatsuto touched his face and found it was dry. Tentatively he stuck his hand into the holo-vid and felt the spray on his hand. He examined his hand for wetness, but it was bone dry. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Hatsuto stepped completely into the holo-vid to feel the cool spray. He kept his eyes closed. Despite knowing that the spray couldn’t exist, Hatsuto was unable to suspend his disbelief. The Admiral laughed beside him, and it became infectious. Soon Hatsuto found himself laughing and spinning around in the holo-vid with his Admiral.
Cordelia, on board the Freedom, viewed the two New Terrans immersed in her art.
The two SADEs paused to watch the two humans laugh and play in the waterfall’s spray.
Julien felt as if he had passed Cordelia’s test. He liked her and had to admit it was an odd concept for him to consider another SADE in this manner. That Cordelia was an Independent occurred to him. Perhaps I have always been an Independent in disguise, Julien thought.
Alex halted his antics, breathing heavily, and signaled Cordelia to end the display. He and Hatsuto were still laughing. “How was that for an experience, Lieutenant?”
“Incredible, Sir, absolutely incredible,” Hatsuto replied.
Cordelia politely thanked the Lieutenant and closed his connection. She was wondering what this all meant to her, knowing it would be ten years of servitude before she would be allowed to practice her art in this manner again. Then the Admiral signaled her.
Cordelia wanted to enjoy the Admiral’s flattery, but the thought that this was a one-time opportunity dampened her spirit. Still, courtesy was required. She’d displayed her art to an appreciative audience, who had applauded her gift.
Before Julien closed his connection with his fellow SADE, he sent,
As the connection closed, Cordelia realized the extent to which she felt unsettled. The presentation, despite its relatively small sampling of her skills, gave her joy, and the Admiral’s reaction was a memory to treasure. But her sadness went deep, born from decades of limited outlet. She clung to the thought that the Admiral might request another presentation soon, and she began searching through her files for the appropriate demonstration. One question remained—just what had she sent the Admiral to hunt?
* * *
Alex’s check of Renée’s status revealed her asleep in bed. So he slipped into their cabin suite and tiptoed about the salon, removing his uniform and boots, then quietly entered their sleeping quarters and slid into bed. His thigh brushed hers, and a sigh escaped Renée’s lips as she rolled over and slid nearly on top of him. It had become her unconscious habit when Alex came late to bed, a reaction to his touch without her waking.
While Alex cradled Renée, he replayed Cordelia’s marvelous presentation. She had provided it on the spur of the moment and through Julien, who had been very accommodating to Cordelia—now that he thought
about it. It meant that, in many ways, her capabilities had been attenuated for the demonstration. What could she do when her full power was technologically augmented? Alex wondered.
Julien smiled to himself, enjoying these moments of serendipity that wove themselves into patterns.
Julien detected Alex’s fading biorhythms and suspected their conversation would end there. But before Alex fell asleep, Julien received a series of requests before the comm was closed.
-8-
After morning meal, Alex joined Andrea and Tatia on the bridge for the missile test. He hoped the test would provide further information that would support their efforts to hurt the enemy while they were vulnerable—before they swarmed. We need a break soon, Alex thought, because without one, we’re going to be joining the exodus until one day the silver ships come for us.
As Alex took a command chair next to Andrea, he asked, “What’s the status of our test, Captain?”
“Captain Manet has proffered the Outward Bound for the test, Admiral. He considers this an opportunity for a missile shakedown, and I approved his request. Mickey has tagged the silver ship with sensors, per Julien’s request. We are ready to launch craft.”
“Excellent work, Captain. Please continue,” said Alex, proud that his officers were stepping into their new roles under difficult circumstances.
“Julien, take us to our launch point,” Andrea ordered.
“Yes, Captain, I estimate 0.19 hours until our first position is achieved,” Julien replied.
The ship’s movement was so smooth that it was undetectable. Only the view through the plex-shield changed—the orbital station sliding away, the planet crossing the view, and finally the shifting stars as Julien brought them to an empty section of space 500K km from Libre.
“Position one achieved, Captain,” Julien announced.
“Commander Tachenko, have Chief Roth launch the shell when he’s ready,” Andrea ordered.
Chief Eli Roth had readied his flight crew for this moment. With the help of Mickey and his engineering team, they had maneuvered the silver ship up to the bay’s door. On the XO’s order, they opened the bay doors and Mickey began a countdown. When the countdown reached “one”, Julien cut the power to the grav-plate section at the bay’s mouth and switched off the beams anchoring the hull. Two of the larger techs, massing almost 250 kilos between them, stuck boots on the silver ship’s bow that now floated above the deck and unceremoniously shoved the vessel out into space. Mickey and Eli couldn’t resist snickering. It seemed a fitting end for a terror of humanity.
“Shell is clear of the bay, Captain,” Tatia reported.
“Next position, Julien, please,” Andrea requested.
At the second position, Andrea ordered the release of the Outward Bound after Captain Manet had confirmed his readiness.
“Last position, Julien,” Andrea ordered.
“Holo-vid, Julien,” Alex requested.
The holo-vid activated, displaying three points of light—the silver ship and the Outward Bound, static in their positions, and the Rêveur moving to a central position between the other two ships but out of the shuttle’s line of attack. Julien had positioned the Rêveur where he could maximize his telemetry reception for the event.
When Julien confirmed he was ready, Andrea looked to Alex, who nodded his approval.
While Edouard had waited, he had spun his starboard carousel to select warhead missiles. Miko, in the copilot chair, was manning the targeting board and was sighted on the floating hulk of the silver ship even though they were out of missile range.
When Edouard received his go command from Andrea, he launched the shuttle into an attack run. At max missile range, the controller signaled a lock and Miko launched the missile. It tracked unerringly toward a targeting sensor attached to a central position on the alien ship’s hull. When the missile reached separation stage, only one warhead fired. The others had been deactivated by Chief Roth. The missile honed in on the sensor, penetrated a pristine area of the hull and exploded, shattering the hull into hundreds of pieces.
Andrea snapped her head around to look at Alex, who sat quietly in the command chair, a neutral expression on his face. She was speechless. They had thrown nearly every missile of their four Daggers to capture this one silver ship, and it had cost them dearly. Now it blew to pieces with just one warhead, which had struck a pristine part of the hull.
Tatia smiled and said,
Suddenly everyone joined the comm until they heard Senior Engineering’s priority comm. Then all went silent to hear Mickey.
Andrea regained control with her override.
Andrea recalled the Outward Bound, and after it was secured, she had Julien chase down several pieces of the silver ship’s hull and internal elements for inspection. It had been Julien’s suggestion that they attach a myriad of comm receivers to the hull. At the time, Andrea, Mickey, and Eli thought it excessive, but decided it was better to back their SADE’s suggestion. The Admiral always did.
As the Rêveur’s crew tracked and secured the pieces of debris, Andrea sent,
After the reclamation was completed, Andrea turned over the bridge watch and ordered her senior officers to the Captain’s suite. Once assembled, Andrea signaled Julien to join her, Tatia, Mickey, Edouard, and Sheila.
Tatia chimed in first.
Mickey added,
