“Possibly.”
“Wait, so you believe your programming offers dynamic range like the human brain?” I asked.
“It’s similar in its objective, Captain. I’m programmed to discern the best course of action based on the situation. The human brain does this as well.”
“It’s not the same. It’s Artificial,” I replied.
“Which was enough to overthrow your entire species,” she posed.
“Careful, 1.14.” I stabbed my finger toward her.
“No offense, Captain. To be fair, humanity is still in the fight. Its possible Earth has a resistance.” She crossed her arms as I studied her. This bitch was already starting to piss me off.
“We held our own yesterday,” I replied.
“With the assistance from machines, yes, including one heavily modified 1.14 variant, myself,” she said.
“I’m glad you’re factoring in your contribution here, wouldn’t want you to be modest,” I said. This was new. I guessed she was fulfilling her purpose, maybe her programming injected a sense of confidence.
“Realistic. Just like I’m realistic in the notion that you don’t trust me. Perhaps it’s my gut feeling?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
Drake glanced over at us both. “You two already starting in on each other? We just left.” I stood up, storming past Drake and Xena to our sardine can living quarters.
I popped the lid on my cryotube. It was elevated off the deck above Drake’s. “Wake me up four hours before we contact the Russians. I want a clear head going into this.”
“So soon?” Drake asked.
“Yeah.”
“Roger that, Captain, I’ll wake you up in just over fifteen days,” Xena said, looking over her shoulder.
“Drake? How long are you staying awake?” I asked.
“I’m not a fan of cryosleep, I’ll do it only if it’s required. I’m sticking to a normal sleeping schedule. I’m actually shocked you’re so eager to lay back down.”
“I’m tired. I stayed up most of the night on the virtual gun range. I figure if I’m going to sleep anyway, might as well only deal with it once. Not to mention, there’s not much room on this ship. In more than one way,” I said.
“Alright. Wait. So, you were up all night, shooting on the gun range?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“How’d you place?” he asked.
“Fourteenth on the shooting range using the C-12 pistol,” I said. Drake snickered under his breath.
“What? You think you could do better?” I smirked, initiating the cryosleep chamber. The lid popped open. “Place sticky sensors here and here.” The shipboard AI projected a hologram of a female in front of me.
“Twelfth place for me, but don’t get discouraged, I’ve done the gun course probably eight times,” he grinned. I did it ten times. “This guy is a better shot than me?” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I replied. At least we could all fire a weapon effectively. Especially Xena. I recalled her viciousness in combat against the androids. I wondered how many she’d killed before bailing out. At least a dozen I guessed.
In a way, I was jealous of her physicality. I was never insecure about my own, but she wasn’t just a clunky robot. She was fast, powerful, and intelligent. It was silly of me to even draw a comparison.
I recalled my Marine drill instructor at the Naval Academy, Gunnery Sergeant Masser, who helped me iron out most of my competitive issues. Masser was a tall, intimidating red head from Alabama.
He had bad skin and freckles all over his face with blue-green eyes. His hoarse voice reminded me of a smoker. He likely lost some of his voice due to yelling at candidates. It was funny listening to such a large, powerful guy struggle with his words. We never laughed, though. Not to his face.
Masser was a true motivator with a keen eye. His deep southern accent was deceptive. Underneath that long drawl and limited vocabulary was a heightened sense of intelligence. He instantly dialed in on my competitive nature. He used it against me at first, breaking me down, then masterfully building me back up so that it was an advantage.
He started by ordering me out first on drills. “One up. You’re first out. Come on.” I still remember him saying. He called me ‘one up’ because of my competitiveness.
Calling me out first took me out of my element. I had no frame of reference. I needed someone to beat. I did that in sports, watching the starting pitcher and improving upon her game, eventually taking the starting spot.
But Masser put it all on me. He saw what I was doing and took it away. There was no measuring stick, but myself.
It seemed like a small adjustment, but it assisted me enormously in drills to improve myself and block out the performance of my peers. I remembered him on graduation day at the Naval Academy. My family rushed in to greet me as Masser stood watching with his arms crossed. I introduced him to my family, to which he was very polite.
“Ma’am, sir, you raised quite the firecracker, I must say. Mind if I have a word with her?” he smiled. He pulled me aside before my family and I went out to dinner.
“Now listen here, one up, you `member what I taught you `bout yourself out here. You got a streak of lightn’ that runs through ya, and that’s okay, know how to use it, but don’t abuse it. Know when to strike. Now, your file says you’re gonna go fly them Navy jets. Go on ahead then. I wish you the best, but be the best pilot you can, and don’t worry `bout the rest of `em. It’s all mental. If you beat yourself, you can beat anything. And if ya don’t win, well, you know it was everything you had.” He smiled, patting me on the shoulder.
It was ridiculous I would even attempt to compete with an android in her domain. I chuckled, peeling off my suit. “Just be Victoria,” I whispered.
“You are,” Xena said with her back to me. My eyes widened as I stepped out of my suit. I barely spoke loud enough for myself to hear the words, yet she picked up on it. There was no way she understood the context of my words, but it was incredibly creepy to consider the possibility.
“See you two soon,” I said.
Drake waved. “See you in another seventy-two years.”
“Funny,” I replied, hoisting myself into the cocoon-like bed. No sooner than I rolled over into it, the lid shut. A small hologram screen now appeared right in front of my face. It instructed me to cross my arms at my stomach and relax. “Take slow, deep breaths. Inhale for seven seconds, exhale for three seconds,” the shipboard AI instructed.
I partially closed my eyes, observing four gangly, black robotic arms emerge, two on each side. The two on my left had syringes and small lights pointed down at me, while the two on the right seemed to be pulling some sort of blue wrap over my body. I closed my eyes completely. I could faintly hear the hydraulic-like whine of their tiny robotic joints as they swiveled about.
Thoughts ran through my mind that I might not wake up. A million things could go wrong in the blackness of space.
I thought of Luther. More than likely, his experience in cryosleep was much more traumatic than this. He likely knew he was going back to an Earth in turmoil and along with his extreme anxiety, it must have been terrifying.
But he did it anyway.
It was difficult to imagine the strength it must have took. I imagined him sweating, panting heavily as he talked himself into the final moments of the freezing process.
The thought of his sacrifice gave me a surge of confidence and peace of mind as my cryotube began to exhale a mist like gas into my face. It was cold, but refreshing, like breathing in chilled air from a pine forest. Goosebumps formed all over my body as I felt a slight prick on my left thigh and shoulder. Almost instantaneously, I felt myself dozing off as my anxiety faded...
Chapter 11
“CAPTAIN, SENSORS INDICATE you’ve been awake. Are you getting up?” Drake asked. I could see him beside me, obscured by the cryotube’s murky glass.
“I’m getting there. Just gimmie a second, pleas
e,” I said.
“Sure.” The robots had readied the tube. A hologram flashed in front of my face with a prompt: ‘Upon exit, move slowly and ask for assistance if possible.’
“I’m here if you need me,” Drake said. I popped the lid, pressing it up with my hands. “I’m good.” I stared at him. His shave had gotten out of control. “Nice beard mountain man.” I smiled. He combed his knuckles across his face, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, seemed like a good opportunity to abandon regulations.” He chuckled.
“Not that you were ever a stickler to begin with.” I rubbed my eyes. His hair was longer than mine when I was in the navy.
“Right?” He laughed.
“Alright, just take it slow,” he said. I kicked my legs over the edge. I glanced down at my thighs. Someone else needed to shave.
“Some privacy?” I asked. I was only wearing a sports bra and workout shorts.
“Shit. Yeah. No problem.” He turned and strolled back up to the cockpit. Even though I was groggy, I got the sense that Drake was lonely. Xena probably wasn’t the best company for over the last two weeks, not that I would have been much better.
I used the handrail on the side of the bulkhead to shimmy down. I stretched out my back, then threw on my jumpsuit hanging beside me. My muscles felt rested, yet stiff. I began to massage my legs and calves. As I glanced forward, both Xena and Drake had their backs turned, facing forward.
“Any contact from Titan command? Corvin?” I asked, tottering forward. Drake spun around in his seat, glancing at Xena, then back at me. He slumped his head.
“What?” I asked, taking a few steps toward him. Something was wrong.
“Yes. Apparently, on their way back to Earth, the android fleet we defeated intercepted our Russians. We were instructing them to take an alternate route to be cautious, but they didn’t follow our advice.” Xena lasered me with her eyes intensely, assessing my reaction.
“Ahem. And? What happened?” I asked.
“The Russian freighter was destroyed.” She squinted her eyes at me. Her pupils bobbed around as she attempted to make sense of the muscles in my face.
“So, what are our orders?” I asked. Xena stood up, facing away from me now. “We are still receiving a signal from where the freighter was destroyed. We’re picking it up with the XU-97.” She pointed to a small holographic display in front of her.
“Where are the android destroyers now?” I asked.
“Far out of range, headed back to Earth,” she replied.
“What’s the signal then? Is it even worth pursuing?” I asked. Drake slowly turned his head, staring up at me.
“Yes. Our orders are to investigate the signal. That’s directly from Corvin.” Xena cocked her head at me.
“Right. Of course. Well, set a heading toward the anomaly. We should definitely check it out.” I plopped down in the pilot seat.
“We’re already on the way,” Drake confirmed.
“Good,” I said.
Xena sat back down, facing ahead with a vacant stare. I examined she had repaired her damaged body armor. I wondered if her new programming took cues from Earth’s androids. The older models were extremely efficient in terms of self-maintenance, saving the Kelton corporation millions of dollars.
I accelerated forward, nearly full throttle toward the anomaly. “Captain, it’s far more economical if we sustain cruise speed,” Xena said.
I snapped around at her. “Thank you, Xena, that’ll be all until we arrive at the signal.” The amount of fuel we’d save was minimal considering the distance.
“Very well, Captain,” she replied.
“Maybe the Russians had some sort of black box device? Maybe that’s the signal?” I asked Drake.
“That’s a possibility.” He raised his brows. His eyes seemed to wander far beyond the vastness of space.
“What’s wrong? You seem a bit distant. Did you miss me that badly?” I grinned.
“Nah. Well, sort of. I don’t know. I just feel bad for the Russians. No telling what they went through just to get away from Earth, and then for this to happen? It’s just the worst luck,” he said. I nodded slowly in agreement.
“On the bright side, it must have been a quick death. Not much of a consolation of course, but...” I replied. Drake turned his head away from me. I recognized my words were out of touch. I wasn’t sure if I was attempting to make light of the situation, but the words just blurted out.
I stared out into the blackness to kill time. It reminded me of the trip over on the Orion all those years ago. I put on my helmet, engaging hawken. I peered through the hull, into the depths of space, observing distant stars and galaxies. Luther and I would star gaze with autopilot engaged from time to time. The Orion had a very powerful onboard telescope that would allow us to see some amazing things.
Once, Luther and I watched as a rogue black hole infiltrated a solar system. At first, it appeared harmless, only slightly tugging at the planets around the star, but its trajectory suddenly changed on the fourth day of viewing.
We suspected the light bending monster began to rip away at whatever atmosphere the planets had, then cobbled up all five of them. After that, a tug of war ensued against the system’s gravitational gatekeeper, the star. Its sun held its ground for a while, but eventually was pulled into the dark abyss.
It was a beautiful, yet horrific light show. It was doubtful there was life on any of those planets, but we couldn’t help but imagine the scenario replaying in our own solar system.
“APPROACHING THE ANOMALY, Captain. Fifteen kilometers, just ahead,” Drake said.
“Roger, backing off for approach. Oh, and Xena. You can speak again,” I snapped toward her.
She paused for a moment, then slowly panned toward me. The blue lights from my instrument cluster reflected on her face, giving her a frozen gaze as she looked through me. “Well. Thank you, Captain.”
I zoomed in with hawken mode. Ahead, I could see a fog of dust and debris. “I see what’s left of the freighter, I think,” Drake said as we throttled closer.
“Xena? Do you see anything?” I asked.
“Still scanning, Captain,” she relayed.
“Alright, I’m trained in on the signal’s source. It should be exactly, here,” Drake pointed off my port side about three thousand meters, scanning down at his holographic screen.
“Okay, folks. We have something.” I could see the sunlight reflecting off an object, but it was larger than the rest of the debris.
“Captain, my scans reveal an eject pod. We could have survivors,” she said. Drake pushed himself up in his seat, peering toward the object as we approached. A cloud of dust and debris surrounded it, sparkling as sun rays hit it.
“Does the pod look damaged?” I asked as it slowly spun end over end.
“Appears intact,” Xena answered.
As I nosed forward, details became apparent on the pod. It was metallic, cylinder in shape and about twenty meters in length with a large docking port on one side. I couldn’t see any visible windows.
“Is that a standard dock port?” I asked.
“Yes Captain, LSP-02, the XU-97 can receive this pod,” Xena confirmed. I circled the object, examining it closely.
“Engage autopilot, dock with the pod, and let’s have a look,” I ordered Xena.
“Easy enough, I’ll match the trajectory of the pod and link up with it,” she replied.
“Good.”
“Let’s suit up, the whole nine, you never know,” Drake suggested.
“On it. Xena, no signs of life?” I asked.
“No, Captain. This signal from the pod was encrypted for only us to receive, so it’s possible it could have some sort of dampening to conceal organic signals inside, heartbeats for example,” Xena replied.
“Not likely. I’ve read many of these old freighters have auto eject pods. They’re shot out before destruction just in case someone makes it inside at the last second. We’ll have to manually check to be sure,”
Drake said. I glanced over at him as he assessed the pod closely.
“It’s unlikely Captain Belic has hopes for survivors,” Xena blurted out. I spun around and stared at her. No one said a word for a moment.
Drake narrowed his eyes. “What, Xena?” he asked. I darted toward her as she stood up.
“Why would you say that?” I asked.
“Only stating the logical. If we find survivors in this pod, they could provide valuable intelligence. In that case, it’s unlikely we will need to seek out the whereabouts of your husband on Earth. You know this,” she rattled off.
I looked up at her pulsing blue pupils. Her robotic tone and demeanor felt lifted. It was minor, but she appeared less scripted, more human.
“That’s an awful motive for you to assume about me, Xena. You don’t know me and I’m not sure you even understand how humans work. Most of us don’t want to see people die!” I shouted.
“Captain, we have a job to do.” Drake pointed at the Russian eject pod.
Xena narrowed her eyes at me. “You know, back on Earth, your evaluations indicated you ordered a subordinate, Commander Rotus, to kill innocent civilians. You never once contacted command for authorization. You simply acted. While tactically logical, you seemed unaffected emotionally.”
“Oh? You want to dig around in my file, huh? I had a job to do. You don’t know what happened that day. The risk was far too great to wait around for confirmation!” I shouted, pointing at Xena. I pecked her forehand with my index finger as she took a step back.
“Stop,” Drake ordered. The thought entered my mind to not overstep my boundaries with Xena. While she was programmed to preserve human life, the possibility of her throwing her weight around was enough. She’d almost killed me on the trip to Titan, and that was before she was upgraded.
“Technically, I wasn’t there, but my previous iteration was. Your old ship AI has all your files, as do I. Did you know that your tactical officer, Commander Rotus, sought extensive psychological treatment after that mission against the androids?” she asked.
“What? No? Why are you bringing this up now? I—”
The Legion and the Lioness Page 15
