City of Phants (Argonauts Book 6)

by Isaac Hooke

  Warheads...

  Rade had a sudden fear. “Eject the missile. Now! And fire lateral thrusters to put some distance between us!”

  “It’s gone,” Harlequin said. “Firing lateral thrusters...”

  A moment later the hull groaned and an alert sounded.

  “Our attitude has pitched sharply,” Harlequin said. “I’m firing thrusters to reposition our heat tiles toward the sun.” A moment later: “It’s done.”

  “What’s that alarm?” Rade said.

  “Hull integrity has dropped to fifty percent,” Harlequin said. “We have taken hull and armor damage. Thankfully, all of the heat tiles are still intact.”

  “So the missile detonated?” Rade said.

  “Correct,” Harlequin said. “How did you know it contained a warhead?”

  “It didn’t have Surus inside it,” Rade said. “I figured that the heat must have disabled the proximity fuse, which is the only thing that saved us all this time. That crafty bastard Falon intended to blow up any rescuers. When I realized what he had done, I knew it was only a matter of time before the heat melted through the warhead itself, and caused a cascade detonation.”

  “What about the other missile?” Harlequin said.

  Rade pursed his lips. “It shouldn’t have a warhead, if it contained Surus. But better safe than sorry.” He tapped in the second shuttle. “Jettison your missile as soon as possible.”

  “It’s away,” Surus replied.

  No detonation came from that missile, however. Rade was right.

  “Heat is now eleven hundred fifty Kelvin,” Harlequin said.

  “Yeah,” Rade said. “I don’t need any reminders going forward. It’s hot. Just let me know if we’re about to experience a cataclysmic hull integrity failure.”

  “I will certainly let you know if we’re about to burn up,” Harlequin said.

  “Thanks,” Rade said, his voice oozing sarcasm. “Appreciate it.”

  The Dragonfly approached.

  “All right, Harlequin,” Rade said. “Maneuver us on top. We might as well let that shuttle act as our heat shield while we do this. Attach magnetic mounts when in place.”

  The hull shook slightly a moment later, and the bulkheads moaned.

  “We’ve attached,” Harlequin announced.

  Rade tapped in the second shuttle. “Surus, see if you can extract the shuttle’s AI core. No point in letting it go down with the ship.”

  Surus replied: “Got it.”

  “Good,” Rade said. “Open up your down ramp and prepare to transfer to our craft. Harlequin, open up our ramp. Only halfway.” Rade was trying to avoid exposing Surus’ host to the intense plasma of the sun. By having the bottommost ramp open entirely, and the topmost only by half, he was ensuring that Surus would remain in shadow the whole time. Or that was the hope.

  The ramp opened up behind Rade, pausing at the halfway mark. There was no explosive decompression, as Harlequin had flushed the atmosphere beforehand.

  “Cabin heat is spiking,” Harlequin said.

  “I see that,” Rade replied. The internal temperature of his jumpsuit was forty degrees. And he thought he was perspiring a lot before...

  A metal form floated upward rapidly, grabbing on to the tip of the ramp with one hand. Surus, inside Algorithm. The robot pulled itself over the ramp, then shoved off, plowing inside.

  “Shut the ramp!” Rade said.

  As the ramp sealed, Surus took a place in the seat across from him. The clamps telescoped into her sides, securing her robot body. She carried a long, cylindrical tube in one hand—the second shuttle’s AI core.

  “You forgot to smack me in the face,” Rade said.

  “Later,” Surus promised.

  “Harlequin, have you connected the fuel line yet?” Rade asked.

  “No,” Harlequin replied. “I’m having some difficulties.”

  “Damn it,” Rade said. “What now?”

  “The automatic fuel line attachments aren’t working,” Harlequin said. “Someone will have to go out there and perform the connection manually, via a spacewalk. The heat will be... extreme.”

  “I’ll do it,” Surus said.

  “No.” Harlequin detached himself from the cockpit seat and shoved into the cabin. “I will do it. You’ve risked your life enough today.”

  Rade dismissed the clamps holding him in place and floated up from his seat. “I’m the one in a suit.”

  “Your jumpsuit will last just as long as my skin out there,” Harlequin said. “In other words, a few seconds. But the fact of the matter is, I can still function without my skin. Can you say the same without your jumpsuit?”

  “No,” Rade said quietly. He pulled himself back down to his seat and let the clamps secure him. “Be careful out there.”

  As the down ramp opened entirely, Harlequin said: “Do you remember what I told you once? That I hoped one day, when the time came, I would be able to sacrifice myself, as the previous Harlequin did?”

  “You’ve already proved yourself many times over since then,” Rade said.

  Harlequin smiled sadly. “Perhaps to you. But not to myself.”

  “Remember our talks,” Surus told the Artificial. “You don’t have to keep proving yourself like this.”

  “I know,” Harlequin said. “But it’s the only way I can muster the courage to do this.”

  With that, he floated out above the ramp, and then grabbed onto the small retractable handles with his fingers. Staying close to the open cabin, he used those handles to crawl to the edge of the ramp.

  Once more Rade felt the heat spiking inside his suit. But he hardly noticed. His eyes were riveted on Harlequin.

  His friend wrapped his bare fingers around another handle near the edge of the cabin. Rade noticed, sickeningly, that the hand slipped as the skin seared to the surface and tore away, leaving metallic robot fingers to grip the handle lower down.

  Harlequin reached over the ramp edge with his other arm. Then he apparently found purchase on the hull lower down, because he pulled his head and upper body over the ramp and out of view, while still hanging onto the cabin edge with his other arm.

  Harlequin’s legs slowly floated upward.

  I should have ordered him to suit up. Because at least there were magnetic mounts in jumpsuits that would have secured those legs.

  If those loose limbs continued floating upward, in a few moments nearly all of Harlequin’s body would be exposed to the intense plasma.

  Rade dismissed the clamps securing him to his seat and shoved off.

  “What are you doing?” Surus said.

  “Helping my friend.” Rade fired his jetpack to halt his motion above the ramp, and then he grabbed onto Harlequin’s legs.

  “I got you,” Rade transmitted.

  He activated the magnetic mounts in his boots and attached to the ramp, keeping the rest of Harlequin’s body shielded from the sun. Even in the shade, the heat was something Rade’s jumpsuit couldn’t regulate well at all: the internal suit temperature was closing on fifty degrees.

  Now that Rade was holding him, Harlequin released his grip on the cabin and twisted so that his entire upper body disappeared over the edge.

  “Come on, Harlequin,” Rade transmitted.

  Harlequin didn’t answer.

  Rade was getting ready to haul the Artificial’s upper body back onto the protection of the ramp; he began to worry that there might not even be anything left of his friend, and that he would retrieve only two legs connected to hips.

  Got it, Harlequin texted back, direct to Rade’s Implant. Pull me back.

  Rade retreated up the ramp using the magnetization in his boots to secure each step, and carried Harlequin over the side. As the upper body of his friend came into view, what Rade saw wasn’t as bad as his previous imaginings, but it was still a horrifying sight. The skin of Harlequin’s face and upper body had melted away entirely. The remaining metal underneath was seared black, and some of it appeared to have melted and fu
sed; Rade had no doubt that if atmosphere were present, the entire area would be emitting smoke.

  “Dragonfly, close the ramp and proceed with fuel transference!” Rade shouted over the comm as he entered the cabin.

  He secured Harlequin to one of the seats. His friend’s robotic upper body remained stiff, the arms lifted toward the ceiling.

  Rade peered at the faceless black head. “Harlequin, are you still with me?”

  I am, Harlequin texted. However, I can no longer move my upper body, let alone speak verbally. But I can still open and close my fingers. So that’s something.

  “Dragonfly, let me know when you’re done siphoning the fuel!” Rade said.

  Rade secured himself in the seat across from Harlequin. Surus was leaning toward the Artificial, likely exchanging private texts with Harlequin to reassure him.

  “Fuel transfer is complete,” the shuttle’s AI replied.

  “Release the other shuttle and take us back to the Argonaut,” Rade said.

  “The fuel line is still attached,” the Dragonfly stated.

  “Then seal your end and let it tear off,” Rade said. “Because none of us are spacewalking out there to unplug it.”

  “Releasing magnetic mounts and initiating return course,” the shuttle’s AI replied.

  Rade felt his seat shudder slightly.

  “The fuel line has torn away,” the Dragonfly said. “Our tanks are still intact, and secured.”

  “Good,” Rade said.

  On the tactical display, he watched the shuttle begin the long journey back. Overhead, the Argonaut continued to flirt with its point of no return. Below, the first shuttle slowly drifted away. It would burn up within the next several hours, its constituent molecules swallowed by the sun.

  The Dragonfly eventually docked without further incident. Atmosphere vented inside the bay, and Rade instructed the shuttle to match the cabin to the outer environment.

  When the ramp opened up, Rade stumbled outside and tore off his helmet. The cold air hitting his sweat-covered face was a true relief. His hair was literally drenched—it felt as wet as if he’d just emerged from a pool.

  Obviously he was severely dehydrated. He was surprised he was still standing.

  Sure enough, his knees buckled.

  Shaw was there to catch him.

  twenty-one

  Rade lay in sickbay. He was undergoing treatment for radiation poisoning, and had drifted in and out of consciousness for the past few hours.

  Bender, along with Manic and Tahoe, visited when Rade had stabilized. Shaw was there of course as well, near Cora and the kids; she resided just outside the noise canceling area.

  “Good to have you back, boss,” Bender said.

  “Thanks,” Rade said.

  “You know, during the last time you blacked out, I volunteered to change the self-cleaning diapers of your kids,” Bender said. “Apparently the little tubes got clogged at the same time.”

  “And how did that go?” Rade asked.

  His nose wrinkled up. “I’m just glad I ain’t never having no kids. Though I have to admit, I was curious what the little dick and pussy parts would look like.”

  “Yup, he’s a pedo,” Manic said.

  “Shut up, bitch,” Bender said. “I knew you’d go and take it out of context like that. Curiosity is not arousal.”

  “Though you could have used less crude terms to describe them,” Shaw said.

  “What?” Bender said. “Dick and pussy is less crude than vagina and penis, isn’t it?”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘genitalia,’ but I guess that word isn’t in your vocabulary,” Shaw said.

  “Not in my vocabulary,” Bender said. “I don’t know how you put up with her, boss.”

  Rade chuckled, glancing her way. “Yeah. She’s a real handful.”

  Shaw rolled her eyes.

  “Anyway, yeah,” Bender said. “I changed those stinky diapers. I’m so damned proud of myself. I deserve a hike in salary. Or a cancellation of a previous pay docking. Not that I did it for money of course.”

  Rade chuckled. “I appreciate the gesture. But unfortunately, I can’t give you a hike in pay, or cancel the amounts I’ve taken off.”

  Bender seemed uncertain of what to say for a moment, and then he shrugged. “Not a problem. As I said, I didn’t do it for the money. Least I could do, considering everything you’ve done for us.”

  “Thanks again,” Rade said. “But I have to ask, please never change their diapers again.”

  “No problem at all,” Bender said. “It’s not something I plan to repeat anytime soon. And I get it, you don’t want me near your kids.”

  “It’s not that,” Rade said. “I just don’t want any of the men having to change diapers. The twins are my responsibility, and Shaw’s. And the few nursemaids we’ve assigned. I sired them. I have to take care of them.” He glanced at Tahoe. “How’s Harlequin?”

  Tahoe and Manic stepped aside to reveal a patient lying on the bed across from Rade.

  “Ernie finished repairs to the metal part of his body earlier,” Tahoe said. “And wheeled him to sickbay so that the Weaver could begin applying a graft of artificial skin.”

  “Hello, boss,” Harlequin said. His face had returned, though the rest of his upper body remained metallic while the Weaver slowly bioprinted and applied the necessary skin.

  “I’m very glad to see you pulled through,” Rade said.

  “Thank you,” Harlequin said. “I feel the same way about you.”

  “What about Surus?” Rade asked Tahoe.

  “She’s resting in the cargo bay,” Tahoe replied. “Still inside Algorithm.”

  Rade nodded. “What’s the status of the Argonaut?”

  “The Argonaut continues to slowly climb to a higher orbital altitude,” Tahoe said. “We’re using the gravity of the sun to slingshot past it, toward Falon’s Corsair, and the other three ships heading toward the Gate.”

  “Does Falon know we retrieved Surus?” Rade asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Tahoe said. “The thermal wash from the star would have prevented the sensors of the three other ships from detecting the shuttles. Especially considering that the Argonaut was above the shuttles for most of the operation. And Falon’s Corsair itself was past the star and out of view at the time.”

  “That puts us at a partial advantage, I think,” Rade said.

  “Yes,” Shaw agreed. “He thinks Surus is trapped in the star. And everything she knew, gone with her.”

  Rade was quiet for a moment.

  “Thank you for what you did out there,” Harlequin said into the silence. “If you hadn’t grabbed onto my legs, I don’t think I would have been able to pull myself into the shuttle.”

  “No, thank you,” Rade said. “For risking everything. Surus owes you big time.”

  “Oh she knows,” Tahoe said. “She already tried to give him a huge cash reward. But he wouldn’t take it.”

  “What?” Bender said. “She offered you cash? Damn, I’ll take it if you don’t want it.”

  “Don’t think the offer extends to you,” Tahoe said.

  “Well, it should,” Bender said.

  Rade closed his eyes as a sudden dizzy spell bowed his head.

  He felt a touch on his forearm.

  “You all right?” Shaw asked.

  Rade opened his lids and gazed at her. “Never better.” He glanced over his shoulder, at the two cribs Cora tended. “I’m with the girl I love. Surrounded by friends. Close to my kids. What more can a man ask for?”

  “I can think of a few things,” Bender said. “Namely, a bump in salary, and some bugs to kill.”

  Rade couldn’t help a vicious smile. “I’m sure we can arrange the latter, at least. Very soon now.”

  THE ARGONAUT EMERGED from the gravity well a day later, moving at high speed thanks to the slingshot maneuver. Rade dispatched the repair swarm to handle the heat damage the starship’s hull had suffered. The ship had also
lost another engine, giving the Argonaut a speed slightly less than the Corsair. Bax gave a repair time of about a week. Given that the alternative was to proceed to the nearest dry dock, there was nothing Rade could do but accept the diagnosis.

  Centurions also handled the repairs of the remaining Dragonfly. Surus promised to replace the one that was lost as soon as she was able.

  Rade visited her in the cargo bay shortly after he was discharged by the Weavers.

  She stood before him inside her new host, Algorithm, the green condensation visible around the chest area where the AI core in that model resided.

  “How are you liking your new body?” Rade said.

  “It is... versatile.” Surus said with Algorithm’s voice.

  “I thought you were going to say ugly, at first,” Rade said.

  “It is that, too,” Surus said. “I am unused to peering into a mirror in this reality, and seeing a faceless head gazing back in return. But on the plus side, at least I don’t have to worry about any comments from Bender.”

  “That is a plus, I suppose,” Rade said.

  “Though I admit, I miss the attention,” Surus said.

  “Maybe you should leave the cargo bay once and a while,” Rade said.

  “I have,” Surus said. “I visited the wardroom while much of the crew was present. I was met with an uncomfortable silence.”

  “Could be that the crew wasn’t excited about the green condensation visible on your torso,” Rade said. “Knowing how easily you could disintegrate them, after all...”

  “Yes, hiding that condensation on the nape when in Artificial form does wonders to human-Phant interactions,” Surus agreed. “As does assuming the form of a beautiful woman when aboard a ship of mostly men. Sex-starved men, at that.”

  “I’m not so sure they’re sex starved,” Rade said. “They all have a healthy appetite for VR porn.”

  “True enough,” Surus said. “I wondered what was stopping them from attempting to throw themselves at me while Ms. Bounty served as my host. Besides the threat of incineration of course.”