‘Human male,’ the Sentinel interjected over their conversation abruptly. ‘You will sit at the helm of this vessel and follow instructions provided, or the female will be terminated.’
Maddox glared at the Sentinel holding them hostage and quickly contemplated his options. Do as it said and Maia would live for the moment. Resist and he had no doubt it would simply add her to the body count it had already racked up and Maddox had witnessed in the replay on screen moments earlier.
‘Okay chuckles,’ he replied with an air of resignation as he began to move around to the seat before the helm console. ‘I have to warn you though, I’m used to much older controls than these so it may take me time to work out how to….’
‘You will comply or the female will die. Attempt to deviate and the female will die. Attempt to stall us and the female will die,’ the Sentinel remarked.
Sitting himself before the controls, Maddox cast his gaze over them for a few moments to orient himself to the layout of the panel.
‘Okay. I get the message,’ he grumbled. ‘Where are we going to then? No point me being here if I don’t know where we are headed.’
‘Co-ordinates are being input to your screen now. You will lay in that course and engage the engines or…’
‘The female will die!’ Maddox barked back over the Sentinel’s own voice. ‘Yes, I got that bit! Now, let’s see. Manifold pressure optimal and power available. Course co-ordinates laid in and plotted….. Wait, that’s beyond the belt out towards Jupiter?’
‘You will comply.’
‘Right. Fine. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking, please fasten seat-belts for our journey to the region of Jupiter.’ He muttered more for Ezri’s benefit than simple joviality. ‘Engaging engines now.’
Ezri watched as the Martian patrol craft lurched into life as she was bringing the Erstwhile to a stop, the former suddenly streaking away from their present position at high velocity, its course arcing outward towards the outer edge of the belt but no sign of its velocity abating.
She took a few moments to quickly correlate her previous extrapolation of the radiation source and proposed origin of the transmission against the suggested heading Maddox had eluded to over the comm channel and confirmed the two of them made a general match, they were heading towards the vicinity of Jupiter.
Laying in a pursuit course, she fired the Erstwhile’s engines. There was no doubt in her mind that the Captain would need her help.
9 Jupiter Calling
Maddox glared at the helm controls before him, concentrating hard on the fine course corrections and control over the ship as it hurtled through the asteroids and chunks of debris towards the outer edge of the belt.
The loss of contact with the Erstwhile had him bothered as he did not know whether she would be in pursuit, but in his experience he knew that Ezri would more than probably be pushing the old girl to her limits in an effort to chase him down. Chances were that this vessel had much more powerful engines than his tramp freighter, but that would not stop Ezri in her dogged attempt.
His attentive administration of the helm only abated once they were clear of the spurious clusters of fine debris littering the outer edges of the belt, fine enough to be considered dust clouds by astronomers, but large enough to punch holes in one’s hull should you decide to just plough on through. This far out from any form of civilisation such damage to your infrastructure or engines could prove fatal to any crew on board, which is an eventuality Maddox wanted to avoid at all costs. Checking their heading and speed once more, he relaxed a little and pushed back from the console, spinning his seat about on its pivot and facing the Sentinel which still stood before it’s captive within the Captain’s chair.
‘So there you go chuckles, we’re well on our way now and away from the debris clouds. Any chance your lords and masters would grace me with an explanation now?’
Seemingly in response, the Sentinel lowered its arm which bore the laser cannon, away from Maia’s chest and downward towards the floor. It was a positive sign at the very least.
‘This unit is monitoring your responses and will respond with terminal force if you attempt to sabotage this vessel or its course,’ was the simple reply. ‘However, you are both free to move about should you wish to do so, but only within the confines of this immediate location.’
Despite the lack of explanation which Maddox had hoped for, the ability to stand and stretch his legs was very welcome and he took full advantage of this. Subtly he gestured to Maia that she should join him at the forward controls, away from the Captain’s chair where she had been held captive for this long duration and away from the statuesque form of the Sentinel who stood in watchful guard over the bridge and their actions.
‘So then,’ Maia said in an almost conspiratorial tone as she joined him and placed her hands against the small of her back, arching her spine backwards slightly as she applied a little pressure to try and negate the stiffness from sitting so rigidly for the past eternity she seemed to be under threat of the Sentinel for. ‘What’s your elaborate and cunning plan for this one Captain?’
‘Working on it,’ he muttered back, his gaze cast around the bridge for the mere opportunity to try and alleviate their predicament. His eyes came to rest upon his pistol sat atop the console from which he had been trying to obtain information when they had first ventured onto the bridge. Mentally noting this, he continued his gaze about the room, as if to not make too obvious a point about the item which had grabbed his attention.
‘So we’re heading for Jupiter? I didn’t think there were any colonies out this far?’ Maia enquired.
‘There aren’t, well not officially anyway,’ Maddox replied. ‘There was a plan a few years back to expand mining efforts deeper out into the Solar System, but the Aries Corporation ran the figures and deemed it too costly to establish and freight any ore back to the inner worlds to prove cost effective. They deemed their resources were better engaged expanding current efforts into colonial expansion and development upon the established worlds.’
‘So who are these Children of Earth then? Another one of your freedom fighting groups?’
Maddox glanced at her for a moment, his own thoughts pondering the same question as he tried to assess their options.
‘Supposedly. I mean, no one has actually stood up and claimed to be a representative, until now that is. There were little things, almost fractious pranks which were attributed to the group, but these were put down to disaffected computer hackers trying to cause a little mayhem. When the explosion happened on Luna they suddenly became enemy number one, with Mars taking them very seriously as they took their case to the Solar Council and obtained support to target resistance groups who may have contributed.’
For a brief moment he paused and glanced in the direction of the black uniformed body on the other side of the control console from their position. Although the console obscured his view of Tam’s body, he wondered if he should mention her own involvement once again. His thoughts resolved into a dismissive shrug as he tried to be as general as possible to spare her any further pangs of emotion or grief.
‘Operations and directed strikes were conducted all over the place apparently which directed even the largest of the resistance groups to advise their operatives to go to ground. It was very well orchestrated and effected, but as for the Children of Earth themselves I can’t say that I have ever come across anyone purporting to be a member of that organisation.’
Maia simply nodded in acceptance of his explanation, a quiet moment passing between the two of understanding as to how they had come together under one of these very operations and which had led to their flight from capture and this situation they now found themselves in.
‘An elaborate and well expressed explanation,’ a voice replied over the speakers on the bridge, seeming to come from all about the occupants as both Maddox and Maia glanced about to locate the source. Their efforts were rewarded as the main screen came to life, depicting the t
heatrical mask visage that had been presenting the transmission to the core worlds earlier, but this time there were no accompanying sounds, just an apparent interface which purported to be the representation of the group.
‘I see we have visitors on board who are not reading as Martian in origin. It is why our agent has allowed you to survive this long,’ the voice said over the speakers of the communication system. ‘Now we have to decide what to do with you. We really did not want uninvited guests, but your presence has proved advantageous in piloting this vessel to us, therefore we shall express our gratitude in not ordering your elimination.’
Maddox listened intently but did not respond immediately. His gaze flitted to the Sentinel standing motionless by the Captain’s chair before returning to the screen on which the face was depicted. Quite obviously this was the front of the organisation who were in full control over their fate, so he had to choose his words with care.
‘I think I speak for us both when I offer my thanks then,’ Maddox replied. ‘Actually, no, a double thank you I think is in order,’ Maddox corrected himself almost as an afterthought. ‘One for the metal beast staying its hand in our execution and the other for us not being in a few million little pieces right now.’
‘You are most welcome,’ the voice replied. ‘Although it was never our intent to destroy the ship, it is to play a part in the events to come, but as for you….’ There was a protracted pause and Maddox glanced upwards with a raised eyebrow, his ears straining to glean any hint of voices conversing just out of microphone reach. ‘It has been decided that we will indeed allow you to return with the ship, as you may have information on the workings of the core worlds and the communities therein which we could utilise in our return to civilisation. Please be aware that although the Sentinel has been ordered to spare you for the time being, any attempt to interfere with this ship you are on or try to evade us on your arrival will be dealt with swiftly by it. Whilst we do not wish you any harm currently, we will not tolerate any disruption to our plan. Are we understood?’
‘Absolutely clearly,’ Maddox responded pleasantly, nudging Maia slightly and she nodded as she agreed also. Although he did not like being dictated to, the simple fact they were being spared in return for compliance both now and on arrival posed a positive result for the time being. It was more than worth their while actually enjoying the ride while it lasted and seeing where this avenue was to take them, although Maddox silently prayed that Ezri was following closely behind should things take a turn for the worse and they needed an exit strategy.
The screen before them returned to an image of space as the ship’s sensors were recording it, and for a moment Maddox’s gaze remained upon the sight of the stars against the velvet blackness of space before he glanced sideways at Maia.
‘Not big on pleasantries, then,’ he commented and sat down in the comfy seat beside the helm panel. As Maia took the seat in the neighbouring station at the forward controls, Maddox glanced about at their chaperon stood motionless on the bridge and contemplated his options for retrieval of the pistol he had abandoned previously. Would that be seen as a provocative action and cause their demise? Its continued existence was certainly an oversight on the part of the machine which guarded them, as it had ensured the one Maia had thrown over to him and he was forced to give up to save her life was most definitely put out of action.
One laser pistol in such a confined space was a rather tenuous advantage, and it would take a few good sustained blasts to take down the Sentinel. He had seen these machines face down heavily armed troops on the surface of Earth as they advanced under heavy fire relentlessly. In light of this, one human with a sidearm was not going to be too much of a threat.
‘Well, seeing as we have a little time to pass why don’t you tell me about yourself?’ Maddox said to his companion. ‘You were on Venus working in the space port? Was that New Elysium, Tellus Regia or Hestia?’
Maia snorted slightly, before apologising quickly to cover her lack of diplomacy.
‘I would have loved to have been stationed in New Elysium, but my work crew moved between Hestia and some of the Aerostates as they deemed it necessary. That’s why we had the luck to deal with the little battered independent freighters unlike the lucky sods who got to work on the luxury liners berthing in New Elysium.’
Whilst he listened to her recounting Maddox nodded in the appropriate places and made the necessary sounds, but a good part of his mind was focused upon their immediate future and their impending meeting with the Children of Earth.
‘The ship followed this trajectory,’ Ezri stated as her long finger traced the graphic displaying on her screen, which projected the course of the ship outward away from the belt and to Sinope in the outer region of Jupiter’s orbital bodies.’
She paused for a moment and looked up from the screen towards the empty chair she was more than familiar to witnessing Maddox lounging in as he furnished him with such details, normally to receive a look denoting either bewilderment at the level of detail she incorporated, or boredom. The line between the two was often blurred. At that very moment in time, her thought process contemplated the fact that he was distinctly absent and the fact that she was providing this information out loud to an empty bridge.
Turning her attention back to her screen, she mused on the fact that Captain Maddox would probably inform her jovially it was the first sign of madness, but her program had safeguards in place to detect aberrations from her standard operations. Regarding the information presented once more, she pondered on the existence of a colony this far out from the established space lanes, far beyond known civilisation. It had certainly been projected that Jupiter would one day house the next wave of expansion as the moons of Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto proved to be worthwhile targets for such endeavours, however these were just plans with no real world basis at present.
The concept did occur to her that if one wished to strike against the Martian establishment whilst remaining far from reprisal and detection, then such a distant outpost would possibly be the ideal venture to establish, albeit dictating a need for some effort to actually commit any form of physical attack against their target. In this case they would undoubtedly require agents operating within the core worlds, or some collusion with those groups already present.
Attending to the course of the Erstwhile she determined that whatever the situation out here, the limited amount of space traffic meant that the Erstwhile was rather exposed in its pursuit of the Martian Patrol ship and she had to be on her guard, as undoubtedly they would be monitoring her approach.
Snapping awake as the ship jolted around him, Maddox realised that with the comfort of the helm station chair, he had obviously slipped into some level of sleep, but as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs from his mind he quickly glanced at the various screens nearest to him through a slightly bewildered haze.
‘Nice of you to be so attentive,’ Maia remarked with a sneer as she observed his sudden movements at the station beside her. ‘You were drooling by the way.’
Maddox wiped at the corners of his mouth, not quite convinced she was serious but just as a precautionary measure.
‘Sorry I must have drifted off,’ he muttered and returned his attention to the helm panel, noting that the engines were powering down as they had reached the destined co-ordinates he had programmed in. He did feel a little awkward as she had been relating some adventures aboard a floating city high above the acidic clouds of Venus, something involving the Mercurian ambassador and a couple of Venusian dancing girls but that was where he must have drifted off. Trying to hide the slight embarrassment he turned his seat about to face the Sentinel, which remained motionless in the centre of the bridge near the Captain’s chair.
‘So chuckles, we’ve arrived at your coordinates in proximity to Sinope and currently standing by for the next instalment. Where to now?’
Without a word the Sentinel straightened slightly and marched forwards, causing both Maia and Maddox to pre
ss backwards in their seats as it came close to them and raised its left forearm, a small spike shooting out from between the knuckles of its hand before it levelled the new protrusion towards the console and slipped it into a waiting receptacle.
Maia and Maddox shared a moment of relief as they both exhaled slowly and quietly. The depiction of the horrific slaughter of the Martian crew they had both bore witness to on the replay earlier had this spike being used for entirely different purposes to it’s current computer access mode, which was its normal operation. It just happened to be a rather handy melee weapon also.
‘No floating head person this time?’ Maddox quipped as looked up towards the face of the Sentinel.
As if in reply the main screen display changed to the image of the theatrical mask face, regarding the occupants of the bridge.
‘Please do not interfere with the Sentinel unit, it will now bring the ship in to land at our facility under control by ourselves.’
Maddox turned his seat to face away from the Sentinel and stood, stretching his arms and legs before wandering apparently aimlessly up to the consoles along the side of the bridge, glancing at the various displays as he moved along.
‘Sinope, one of the outer eight orbiting bodies around Jupiter and in contra-rotation to the inner orbital moons. Orbiting on an elliptical path about the planet which completes its circuit in a little over 2 of our normal earth years.’
Maia cautiously stood too, moving over to the Captain’s chair as she navigated about the Sentinel, her attention split between their mechanical host and the apparently unconcerned Maddox as he continued to move around the side of the bridge spouting astrometric details about their destination.
‘Interesting, only has a diameter of about thirty miles, so tiny in comparison to Io or Ganymede, but rather considered to be a fragment of some larger solar body which was in a collision and broke apart, its fragments being drawn into their irregular orbits around Jupiter. Hence why they orbit in the other direction to the inner moons.’
Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1) Page 9
