by Damon Alan
No. There didn’t seem to be any immediate threat to her ships or Refuge, so she didn’t feel it her duty to pry. It would come out in time. Corriea would make a good decision regarding that.
Plus she still had the recording.
Admiral Dayson was mending, but Heinrich would be in charge for another month or so.
“Captain Kuo,” she said to her XO, “I think the crew deserve a week of downtime, but after that we should get busy with our plan. Do you know the Alliance systems very well?”
“I’ve been meaning to speak to you about that. Emille Sur’batti and her swarm can steal ships, can they take something larger?” Kuo asked.
“We can find out,” Heinrich said. “How big are you talking?”
“Have you ever been to Tandella Station?” he asked.
“No, but I know what it is,” Heinrich said. “Layover point, also has a cyclotron producing anti…” Her voice trailed off.
“That’s right,” Kuo said. “I once had to take Sarah there after a mission, when she was injured. I understand that having been there, my memory is enough for the adepts to get us back?”
“Absolutely!” Heinrich said, excited.
“So you see the potential,” Kuo said. “Either it’s compromised and one of our enemies are using it to make antimatter, or it’s like Chungathi and still independent. Either way, we win. Take out enemy supplies, or we bring it here if the adepts can do that.”
“I feel like Emille isn’t much challenged by the transferences anymore,” Heinrich replied. “But I don’t know, it sounds like this thing is massive.”
“The accelerator ring is about five hundred kilometers in diameter,” Kuo replied.
“We have our next theft,” Heinrich said.
“Yarrrrr,” Kuo replied.
“What’s that mean?” she asked him.
“According to the stories my mom read me when I was little, that’s the noise a pirate makes.”
“Really?” Heinrich wondered. She didn’t think of herself as a pirate. More like a person fighting for the salvation of everyone. “We’re more like liberators. Freedom fighters.”
Kuo pumped his fist into the air. “For the cause!”
Heinrich laughed. It was hard to do otherwise. Kuo was a good man. At times she regretted not just diving into him and seeing what happens.
“We’re going to need Alarin and Emille, hopefully he can pull himself away from leadership of Zeffult once again,” Heinrich said. “Antimatter production would be useful.”
“Imagine how small a missile could be if it only needed a magnetic containment bottle and a few grams of antimatter,” Kuo said. “It’s the dream of every military that has to feed their hungry FTL drives instead.”
“Imagine how cheap they’d be to make, and how many we could produce,” Heinrich replied. “We could saturate the enemy.”
His smile was half smirk of disbelief and half excitement.
“We should go through our arrival checklists,” she said. “We can talk to Admiral Dayson about our ideas if we can actually take the station.”
Kuo nodded, then turned back to his work.
Heinrich watched the view screen for a bit, ignoring the command displays in front of her. Refuge’s surface glided by, ocean and white clouds below. In the distance the green arc of the atmosphere enveloped the moon. As she watched, Jalai, slowly recovering from Merik’s punch, rose over the horizon.
The universe was a beautiful place.
It deserved the best its inhabitants could give it.
Chapter 48 - Friendship
05 Mapri 15332
Eris boarded Gaia with the intention of studying the ship’s expression of loneliness at New Kampana. Now that the AI had returned to Refuge, the opportunity to study her wasn’t something to pass up.
Emille was due to meet with Peter in a few days, Eris had to wrap this first meeting with Gaia up quickly, but she’d return for many more.
As soon as she floated through the airlock and up to the observation area from the hangar deck, she turned back to look at the bay. The air had been pumped from the chamber, the egress doors were open to space, and the vibration of engines could be felt through the bulkhead. The personnel shuttle she’d arrived on lifted from the deck, spun one-eighty, and rocketed back into the darkness.
At least this time the departure was successful.
“Hello, my friend,” a familiar voice said. “You were concerned that this shuttle pilot was also at risk?”
Eris smiled. “I was, which makes no sense. Still, I am comforted knowing he’s away and headed back to the surface.”
“Humans do so much well, but perceiving probability is not one of them,” Gaia said.
“You got that right,” Eris said as she slung her travel bag over her shoulder. “Do you have a place for me to stay?”
“I do,” Gaia responded. “Follow the floor guides.”
Lights illuminated along the passageways, and Eris followed them.
“It is nice not to be hunted this time,” Eris said.
“That will not happen again. I now know the protocols of the Seventh Fleet, and no unauthorized people will be able to board.”
“Who set that up?”
“It was my idea,” Gaia responded. “I believe most fleets work similarly, although most warship are rarely unoccupied, if my understanding is correct.”
“You’re right,” Eris said, as she turned a corner. “You know why I’m here?”
“Because you want to study me some more, I assume.”
Eris waited for more, but the AI said nothing. “And?” she prodded.
“Because you are my friend?”
It surprised her that it was a query. Didn’t Gaia know she’d earned the trust of the people she’d come in contact with?
“Because you have several friends in the fleet. Me, Heinrich, Stornbeck, Peter, Admiral Dayson, and probably more I don’t know about.” Eris stopped pushing her way down the corridor and looked up at the ceiling. “Gaia, are you feeling insecure?”
“No. I have a need in my programming that I need you to help me fulfill.”
“A need in your programming?”
“The settlers here on Nye Hjem, they were always my first responsibility. It is my belief that with the discovery of enemy warships in the adjacent systems, I must find a new place for some of the descendants of the original colonists.”
“Isn’t that what you did with Eislen?” Eris asked.
“Yes, it is. But that is not satisfactory. For the sake of statistical assurance that the successor to the human race survives, I must take some to a new world outside the Milky Way.”
“Where would you take them?” Eris asked. “It might take a long time to find a world.”
“I have one already selected.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, Eris,” the ship confessed. “It is a data selection within my hard storage.”
In front of Eris a door slid open, exposing a fairly large living compartment, and disrupting the conversation for a moment.
After a few seconds of Eris gawking at the spacious quarters, Gaia resumed talking. “This was Captain Gunnarson’s quarters, ten millenia ago.”
“And you want me to stay here? Are you sure?”
“Why would I offer if it was not what I wanted?”
It felt like they were probing each other with questions, trying to feel out what would satisfy the other that their friendship was deep enough to survive indefinitely.
“You’re right,” Eris said. “I’m sorry I questioned your generosity.”
“You can stay here, in this area. There is a gymnasium, a recreation area, and sanitary facilities are in the quarters,” Gaia said. “I feel like we should spend our time talking, sharing the things that we feel about our friendship, about what we can do to protect the adepts, and about how I can serve the needs of the most people.”
“We should do that,” Eris agreed. “Let me put this bag down and fi
nd something to eat.”
“I will bring you food,” Gaia said, insisting on it when Eris said it wasn’t necessary. “My maintenance spiders will cook you a meal like you may never have tasted before. Recipes from old Earth itself.”
“I’d like that.” Eris settled into the room, impressed by both the spaciousness and the sheer luxury of it. The sleeping area was well padded, not just a sleeping net for 0G and a thin mattress for sleeping under acceleration.
A wooden desk was attached to the wall, gleaming from ages of polishing by the spiders. They’d kept the wood in top condition. And while the room didn’t have a view port to space, there was a display wall that would show the scene outside Gaia in any direction.
“Did all the colonists live so well?” Eris asked.
“The few that were awake, yes. Most slept in coldness for the centuries it took to arrive and terraform Nye Hjem,” the AI responded. “Would you like to discuss saving the adepts now? Or would you like to discuss it after other small talk?”
Eris laughed. There was still something a bit alien about Gaia. But she was trying, and Eris reminded herself that was what friends did. Tried.
“Let’s get started,” Eris said. “We can chat over my dinner and into the night.”
A long pause followed, until Eris almost asked Gaia if everything was alright. Finally the ship answered, and it felt much as if the AI had been choked up.
“I’d like that,” Gaia responded.
Chapter 49 - Presents
06 Mapri 15332
Peter stared at the objects on his lab table. Six containers, each similar to an overly large briefcase. Emille stood next to him, Eris sat on a couch nearby, reading.
Emille had told him the entire story of the AI, and had even brought a recording of the conversation for him to listen to.
It had taken both he and Eris a while to absorb the idea that they are the original source of the mutation that creates Emille’s species. According to the AI, anyway. That meant they had to travel through time to the past. When was a question, but it had to be during Eris’s fertile years. It would be hard to be a progenitor if no children were possible.
“You think these packages are from the future?” Emille asked.
“I don’t think so, but the knowledge in them probably is. We don’t know exactly what the limit is for sending matter through time, since the black holes of the universe would have to buffer the arrival of new matter by altering their mass instantly,” he said. “Nobody has ever had a reason to care about this before, so nobody has ever tested the maximum rate of black hole evaporation.”
“How would you even test such a thing?” Eris asked.
“No idea,” Peter replied. “I am guessing, and I emphasize, guessing only, that the black holes would become something more like white holes when the limits approach. I assume that’s how the adepts in the future tested their limits, if such a test takes place.”
“The creators of the AI seemed to have a lot of faith we’d figure it out,” Eris added. “I’d imagine that they have strict controls on moving in time. If more than one transition into a time happened, or there was no control, the absorption ability of the universe might well be breached.”
“I agree,” Peter said. “The adepts probably have strict rules on the process.”
“The universe has its own strict rules on the process,” Emille said.
Peter’s eyes narrowed, he didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the time coordinates count the future at one speed. There is no fast travel to the future. But I can reset the counter to anywhere in the past I like.”
“It’s one way?” Eris said, wide eyed. “We know we go to the past, and we can never come back once we do?”
“Yes,” Emille confirmed. “That’s correct.”
They all stared at the ominous boxes for a few minutes.
“What do we do now?” Emille asked. “What’s in these?”
“No idea. I don’t have the slightest idea how to open them,” Peter said. “They’re uncooperative.”
“Maybe,” Eris speculated, “they open when they’re in the proper time?”
“How would the box know?” Peter asked. “Wouldn’t any timer inside just keep counting?”
“For the entire object. Maybe there is something inside that measures that counter and will open when the time is right?” Emille asked.
“Is it possible we also have to be in a certain location?” Eris added.
“How would the boxes measure?” Emille said, her question keying a thought in Peter’s brain that might hold the answer.
“Gravity wave patterns,” Peter replied. “If they do measure location, I bet they open at a specific location based upon gravity wave patterns passing through the case.”
“How—”
“We simply have to find out where the Gaia was built,” Eris said, interrupting Emille. “It stands to reason that we are either on the ship when it launches all that time ago, or we have children who are.”
“Not just that,” Peter said, “but we have to know exactly when the ship was built as well. The stars that create the gravity waves change their locations in space as time unfolds. If we’re not where we need to be and when we need to be, the cases won’t open if that’s the locking method.”
“That’s fricking genius,” Eris observed.
Peter’s mouth hung open.
“What’s wrong?” Eris asked.
“You… me… I bet we build the Gaia.”
“We don’t know that,” she replied.
“It’s future tech even for today, Eris,” Peter said. “I bet the design of the ship is in these cases.”
“Eris is right, we don’t know that,” Emille insisted.
“Then for now we have an unknown mystery,” Peter said. “But I’d guess there are technological secrets in there to keep us busy for a lifetime.”
He was sure of the contents. It made sense. He and Eris were the most technically capable people in the fleet, and they were a husband-wife team.
“As long as it’s you and me,” Eris said, smiling. “I’ll miss this place, but anywhere with you is where I belong.”
Chapter 50 - Tandella Station
27 Mapri 15332
The Stennis transferred, landing at coordinates almost uncomfortably close to the station after several jumps spent looking for it.
“Passive sensors,” Heinrich ordered.
“Tandella, zero-eight-four mark two-one-seven, range twenty-two thousand kilometers,” Mors reported.
“Wow, bullseye,” Algiss cheered. “We found it.”
Heinrich nodded her approval. “Details, Mister Mors.”
“It’s powered, so someone is home. I’m starting to pick up passive returns of several ships,” Mors replied.
“Hold condition one, prepare to launch the swarm,” Heinrich ordered, then spoke to the flight control deck. “Emille Sur’batti, standby, it’s almost time for the party.”
“We are being hailed,” Seto reported.
Heinrich looked at Kuo, he was the one who knew the station.
“Let’s hear it,” he said. Looking back at her, he shrugged. “I don’t know who’s operating it anymore than you do. I also didn’t think we’d pop in twenty thousand klicks out.”
“Unknown vessel,” a monotone voice said. “You are in Komi controlled space. You are to power down and prepare for customs boarding.”
Heinrich laughed. “Well now we know who is controlling it.”
Kuo rolled his eyes. “Apparently the bigwigs at Mindari haven’t told the rest of the Komi about us yet. That will change after today, this is probably the last time we’ll have this level of surprise.”
“Launch the fighters,” Heinrich ordered. “Dobornik, stand by with the boarding shuttles. We’ll capture what we can, but I’d expect a lot of damaged ships. So choose carefully what’s worth salvaging.”
She pointed at Algiss. “Mister Algiss, evasive,
at least the best this old boy has. Emille Sur’batti, after the fighters launch, jump us away, Ensign Algiss will provide you coordinates shortly.”
Looking at Algiss to confirm her order, he nodded his enthusiasm for the plan. “Right away, Captain.”
“All ship railguns, fire at will as soon as you have weapons lock. Ships only, do not fire if the ship is between the station and us. We can’t risk a pass through hitting the containment field of the station. We’re going active on sensors now,” she gestured at Mors, “expect lock within 30 seconds. I repeat. Do not target the station. Ships only.”
“Full sensors,” Mors reported.
In the background she heard Kuo issuing orders to damage control, and then speaking to Emille. “She says she can move the entire station, but it might take all the adepts.”
“So no ships this trip then,” Heinrich said. Her eyes narrowed. Crippling them would leave them to die in the cold of space. Besides, they needed to leave nobody present on site to report the Stennis’s presence if another ship showed up later. Let the Komi figure out what happened to their station when they find a cloud of debris and empty space where Tandella was.
“All fighters, nuclear release codes are forthcoming,” she gestured toward Seto, “and your orders are to destroy all of the enemy ships. Swarm them, kill them, no survivors.”
“Mister Kuo, once we’re on station at our new jump location, launch the EF-2358 from the large hangar. We might need the extra railgun coverage.”
He nodded and contacted the small frigate stored in the massive hangar amidships.
“Tactical frequency on the speaker,” she ordered.
Immediately the room filled with the sound of pilots calling out their plans.
“Oh-Four, jumping from position on notification from flight control.”
“Oh-Six, reactor at full, nuclear release just came in. Dispersing codes to the squadron.”
