by Robert Boren
“Such a rules follower. Emerald, wake up please.”
“Emerald, sleep please,” JJ said. She looked at me. “Put Butch to sleep.”
I shot her a quizzical look, but then shrugged. “Butch, sleep please.”
“Okay, there you go.”
She pulled me into her arms, both of us still naked from the cleanser. “What did you want to do, exactly?”
“I think you know, and I could ask you the same thing. We don’t have enough time.”
She kissed me passionately, then backed away, staring into my eyes. “Tell me what you want to do.”
“Canoodle.”
She cracked up. “Talk about a wet blanket.”
I pulled her closer. “I’d like to take you to bed and make love. For the whole day.”
She swooned into me, trembling, then looked up at me. “I’m falling in love with you, Captain.”
“You already know how I feel, but we have to go. Before we won’t.”
She giggled. “I guess we’d better. We’re not going to wait too long, are we?”
“Probably not, at the rate we’re going. C’mon.”
We got dressed and headed back to the bridge, Nolan getting there at the same time.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Hi, Nolan. You did get some sleep, right?”
“Almost five hours. You were right. I needed it. You two?”
“We’re both rested up,” JJ said.
“Dojo gave me a report on the weak spots of the New Jersey, and they’ve already fixed them. We were in danger with the Samson Drive ports.”
“We got the rundown from Butch and Emerald on the way here,” I said, shooting a glance at JJ, who nodded in agreement.
“There you are,” Sondra said, sitting next to Skip as we entered the bridge. “We sent the others back after a quick debrief. Everything’s fine, and we’re about five minutes from the natural worm hole.”
“Good.” I sat down in the Captain’s chair.
“I’d better scan for more new documents real fast,” Nolan said. We could see him dictating the instructions to Dojo.
“You still have the Nano suit on?” Skip asked.
“Yep, the designer suggested that I wear it as much as possible for at least a few days, so the suit learns me and I learn it.”
Skip grinned. “When do we get a chance to try them?”
“While we’re in the jump. I know enough to get you started with the basics.”
“We should wake our AIs,” JJ said. “Emerald, wake up please.”
“Butch, wake up,” I said.
JJ and I exchanged a knowing glance.
“Should we put them on speaker?” JJ asked.
“Nah, let’s wait until they get tired of teasing us.”
I ignored Butch for the moment, watching as Nolan looked through some documents on his screen. “Got more?”
“Yes, Captain. Once we’re in the jump I’ll put them up.”
“Excellent.”
Skip turned towards us. “We’re at the entrance. Permission to launch into the jump.”
“Permission granted,” I said. Then we all felt the dizziness as we surged forward.
“Whoa, these natural worm holes feel a little different, don’t they?” Sondra asked. “Been a while.”
“The dizziness hits me harder,” I said.
“Wonder if we’ll have competition from the Clan for the Boron on Boroclize?” JJ asked.
“That’s been in the back of my mind for a while,” Nolan said. “Let’s hope not. It’d be nice not to have to fight as soon as we get there.”
“We’re going in cloaked,” Sondra said. “They won’t see us until we want them to.”
“We might want to enlist Barney when we go down to the surface,” JJ said.
“I’m okay with that, as long as he is,” I said. “We’ll have to talk to him about joining the crew. Right now I consider him to be a passenger. I suspect he’d be willing to join, but the choice will be his.”
“Shall I put up the news items?” Nolan asked. “We only need to look at the last two. The prior articles were mostly speculation that they were able to confirm and add to in the last two articles.”
“Fine by me,” I said. “Put them on screen.”
Nolan nodded, and the big center screen lit up. “This one is from the Central Authority outlet.
As we reported earlier, the Overlords attempted a coup, their agents arresting two-thirds of the Central Authority Legislature. Prime Minister Aeon evaded capture thanks to his Secret Service detail and Central Authority Marines. The Overlord Razor battle ships broke free of impound and went into orbit around Devonia Axxiom, sending two legions of troops to the surface.
The resistance showed their strength, attacking Overlords troops on Devonia Axxiom while convincing the Central Authority to launch an attack on the orbiting Razor ships with sixty Centurion Class battle cruisers. The Centurions weren’t successful in beating the Razors, most having to jump away after a third were destroyed. After that engagement, all but two of the Razors jumped away. Later twenty Centurion battle cruisers returned and attacked again with their fighters, this time killing one of the two Razors left behind. The Overlords legions were fought to a stalemate on the planet surface, and promptly surrendered after the bulk of the Razor fleet jumped away. It’s safe to say that this coup has ended, and it was not successful. The arrested legislators have been released, and the Overlords Caucus members have been arrested. Closed door meetings are going on now with the remaining Legislature and Prime Minister Aeon.
“Well, they said as little as possible,” Skip said.
I nodded. “Pretty much. Let’s see the other one.”
“Yes sir,” Nolan said, switching to the next article.
Greetings, Fellow Travelers. It’s your old buddy Hamilton Zenos. Hard to believe how fast things are moving right now.
A few days ago, I was working on two rumors. I haven’t been able to completely confirm either one (with on-the-record statements, that is) but I do have more information than I had then. Yes, there have been other engagements between the New Jersey and Razor ships. They haven’t gone well for the Razor ships, and why would they? We have a company called the Samson Corporation who have been building battle ships for four hundred years. They’ve gotten very good at it. Now we have an unknown upstart company putting together new ships, but they’re output isn’t at the same level as the Samson Corporation. Not even close. They can destroy Centurion-Class battle cruisers that are nearly two decades old, but they have a problem with cutting edge output from experts. No, it’s worse than that. Of the two Razor ships left in orbit around Devonia Axxiom, a group of Centurion ships destroyed one with their fighters. Do I sound like I’m cheerleading for the Samson Corporation a little bit? So sue me.
Anyway, the
latest rumors are that there have been two engagements between Razor ships and the New Jersey. The first is about like we heard initially, from what I can tell, and the second was worse, with several Razor ships destroyed. I’ll say more when I can confirm more.
“Dammit, where are these leaks coming from?” I asked, glancing at Nolan.
Nolan threw up his hands. “Believe me, Captain, I haven’t leaked anything. Really. Might be coming from the Chairman’s back channel communications.”
“He’s right,” Sondra said. “If I had to bet, I’d say that’s where it’s coming from. And frankly, it’s not all bad. I’d rather be thought of as heroes than fugitives.”
I sighed. “Okay, sorry.”
The Central Authority news outlets have come back to the center after the ejection of the Overlords from their ranks, so I don’t feel the need to correct the reporting on the Devonia Axxiom battles. Suffice it to say that Simone and her thugs did a massive overreach and took a lot of damage as a result. The Overlords have lost their position of power in the Central Authority, and have taken their remaining Razor ships and gone into hiding. Their other ships have disappeared as well, from the space docs orbiting Mars and three other planets. Does this mean that the battle is over? I doubt it. Simone is a maniac, and she’ll try again, probably after fixing some of the problems seen with her hardware and tactics. Message to the New Jersey: Find the Razor production facilities and destroy them as fast as possible. If anyone can do that, it’s Captain Clarke and his merry band of freedom fighters.
There is one other item I would like to discuss, which worries me and should worry every one of you. Word from the crew cleaning up the wreckage of that Razor ship over Devonia Axxiom is that there were only about ten thousand humans on board the Razor ship. Yes, that’s what I said. Ten thousand. A ship that size, especially a battle ship of the type we’re talking about, would require a crew of roughly two-hundred thousand humans. This isn’t dictated by practical needs. It’s dictated by law. The law was originally put into place during the robotics crisis three-hundred years ago. The reason was economic. There weren’t enough jobs to keep people employed after the robotics revolution, and the Central Authority Legislature used this law to keep people busy. The alternative wasn’t pretty. It was like Earth’s early twentieth century depression, with people moping around penniless and hopeless.
We’ve solved most of the economic problems caused by the robotics revolution. We don’t need this law in regards to starships. In fact, that law now causes more problems than it solves, except for one thing. To mount an action like the coup attempt that the Overlords just tried, you’d need to have a massive number of humans involved. Just to give you an idea, the twenty Razor ships which were in orbit around Devonia Axxiom should have required about four million souls. The Overlords were able to field this juggernaut with a mere two-hundred thousand people. Huge difference. Dangerous difference.
My final comments are a series of questions. If anybody is listening out there, love to hear your thoughts.
Where did the Razor ships flee to?
How many more Razor ships are out there?
Where are the Razor ship manufacturing facilities?
How did the Overlords hide the massive supply chain required to build a fleet of these giant ships?
Who developed the AI capabilities they were obviously using to run the Razor ships?
Why were the Overlords so obsessed with finding and destroying the New Jersey and the other remaining Samson Corporation ships?
Love to know the answers to those questions. We’ll see what happens. That’s it for now. Ta ta.
Hamilton Zenos.
“Wow,” Nolan said.
My heart was beating a little too hard in my chest. It must have shown on my face, because JJ made eye contact and nodded towards the door. I excused myself and followed her outside.
{ 14 }
Pirates
I followed JJ off the bridge.
“Think we can use the conference room?” she asked.
I nodded and pushed the door open for her. She locked the door behind us.
“Well?” I asked.
“That last article hit you like a lightning bolt. Why?”
“Our AI capability is clearly illegal. I’ve pushed that to the back of my mind, but seeing it in print forced it to the forefront. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
“It’s illegal to use the AIs to run the New Jersey, but we have enough humans on board to satisfy the law. It’s not illegal to use the AIs as personal assistants or interfaces to our equipment and spacecraft.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I’ll grant you that we aren’t out of compliance yet, but what happens when we finish the next two New Jersey class ships? We don’t have enough people to man those ships legally.”
“I say we cross that bridge when we come to it, and try not to worry now. There are a lot of things happening at once. It may never be an issue.”
“How could it not be?” I asked.
“Think about what Vermillion is doing now with his back-channel discussions. We may not be outlaws for much longer. Then we can recruit people for the new ships.”
I thought about that for a moment. “That should make me feel better, but for some reason it doesn’t. The Central Authority set this whole mess up by welcoming the Overlords into the government. I think they tried to use the Overlords to neutralize the Samson Corporation.”
JJ eyed me after we both heard Butch’s comment.
“No, Butch, that’s wrong. I’m not going to go against an elected government. That would put us on the same level as Simone.”
“That doesn’t matter,” I said.
JJ looked at me, her eyes glassing over. “You’re a patriot. I guess I knew that already, but it’s really hitting home now.”
I watched her for a moment, not sure what to think. “Sorry.”
“Are you kidding? You’re a better man than any I’ve ever known. You keep right on with what you’re doing.”
“What I’m doing?”
“Being our rock. Making sure that we do the right thing.”
Somebody tried the door, then knocked.
I looked at JJ, and she nodded. “Yes, please.”
The door clicked, and Nolan came in. “Everything all right, Captain?”
“Everything’s fine,” JJ said. “Our Captain was just having a crisis of faith.”
“Faith in what?” Nolan asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Liberty,” she said.
I looked at Nolan, then shrugged. “What Hamilton Zenos said about AIs controlling battle ships kinda hit home.”
“We’ve got enough humans on board to be legal.”
“I know, Nolan, but what happens when the second and third New Jersey Class ships come on line? We don’t have enough humans for that.”
“Then we recruit, with or without support of the Central Authority,” Nolan said. “I’ve been scanning message board content that I downloaded while we were on impulse power. We’d fill every position we need in a very short time. We’re superstars, in case you hadn’t heard. We’re more popular than the Central Authority by far. There are millions of people who’d jump at the chance of serving on one of our ships. Trust me.”
JJ snickered, Nolan getting the message too.
I held up my hands. “A
ll right, hold it, you guys. I know these are good suggestions, and we might even do them, but let’s not put the cart in front of the horse. We need to focus on our fuel supply and actually getting the new ships built, plus extending the AI capability to our entire crew. We’re a long ways from crew recruiting.”
“I think it’s prudent to start sowing seeds sooner rather than later,” Nolan said, “Make it more of a fan club to start with. It’ll help us gather names.”
“It might get us caught, too, by the Overlords or worse,” JJ said. “I’m with Captain Clarke on this one.”
The doorknob moved.
The door clicked, Vermillion walking in.
“Anything wrong?” he asked, eyeing me.
“The Hamilton Zenos report got me spun up, but our friends here talked me down.”
Vermillion nodded. “That thought hit me the minute I read it.”
“That we’ll be out of compliance?” JJ asked.
Vermillion chuckled. “No, that it would bug Captain Clarke.”
I shrugged. “We’re okay until the other New Jersey ships are built.”
“We are, and we’ll be okay after that,” Vermillion said. “We’ll either get more people or get dispensation from the Central Authority.”
“Is the back-channel campaign bearing some fruit?” Nolan asked.
“It is, but we’re in the early stages. Suffice it to say that the Central Authority recognizes we’re all that stands between the survival of the Republic and an Overlords coup.”
“Is Hamilton Zenos getting his info from the back-channel campaign?” I asked.
Vermillion smiled. “Not from me, but it’s likely somebody’s talking to him. It’s not all bad.”
Nolan snickered.
“What?” Vermillion asked.
“It’s not all bad. That’s exactly what Sondra said, and I agree.”
“Tell him what you were saying about the message boards and recruitment,” I said.
