HUSH

by Craig Robert Saunders

  ‘Yeah,’ said Cassie.

  ‘I didn’t,’ said Wain.

  ‘I did,’ said Djima, nodding to Cassie. ‘We’re clear.’

  Some people might be only one thing. Wain was a scientist, probably brilliant, probably dedicated. Djima was just a person, like Cassie Kiyobashi. On the same page, for sure.

  ‘What does she mean?’ asked Wain as they headed up.

  ‘She means watch our backs. That man’s bad news, okay?’

  ‘Jesus, we’re looking at planet, the stars...we haven’t even got there,’ said Wain, ‘And we’re ready to kill each other already?’

  ‘Maybe not quite ready to kill each other,’ said Djima. But he’d read the reports. Wain was pure science, and distracted, maybe not so great at reading people, but on that count, she was spot on. There were plenty of them ready to kill each other, and for all her smarts, Djima thought maybe she’d forgotten one fairly simple, very large detail. Everyone but for Wain and Doctor Skerry was a criminal.

  *

  Jin had not moved during the small confrontation between Djima Kanado and Steve Ames. Ulrich Bale had. He was close enough he could’ve slit Ames throat in less than a second.

  His hands, once tense, now relaxed.

  Coffee sounded great, but he was working, wasn’t he?

  That he wasn’t getting paid didn’t change the fact that this was his job, and just like Cassie Kiyobashi would be a detective no matter where she went in the universe, Ulrich had to be realistic.

  Wherever he went, he’d be a soldier, and a killer. It was what he was. His core.

  *

  15.

  The Ones to Watch

  Blue Sun Dawning

  Kanado and Wain went, but the others stayed, and Ulrich watched them while they watched the stars as the new world grew larger. Each wore expressions between wonder and fear to differing degrees seeing that strange ice planet. Mostly dark, and even lit from behind Blue Sun Dawning there was only the faintest hint of difference between the dark side and the light side, as though it was eclipsed, or as though other planets or a moon were in some phase of rare alignment.

  A planet so far from the solar system they knew, but it was the people Ulrich watched. Cassie Kiyobashi noticed.

  Of course she does, he thought. She knows what’s important right now, and what’s needed, too.

  He smiled at her, as she took it as a tacit invitation and slid into the seat beside him.

  ‘Ulrich, right? You used to be a soldier?’

  ‘Long time ago,’ he said. He’d read the files, same as everyone else. ‘You used to be a cop.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You read the other thing?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  Dig. Killing. A hard man for hire.

  ‘Not me anymore, you know?’

  ‘Me either,’ she said. She didn’t smile, her eyes appraising him, but she nodded. ‘Good to have someone aboard who knows how to get things done.’

  Ulrich was comfortable enough with her beside him. The two of them sat quietly. Both watching. Both appraising.

  If he was in command, he wanted to know his people. People who knew to do as they were told were good. People who knew when to do so, better. People who figured it out before he had to waste his breath, better still.

  ‘What’s your take, Kiyobashi?’

  ‘Cassie,’ she said.

  ‘Ulrich,’ he said, and held out his hand. They shook.

  ‘Ayobami...I like. Kanado, yes. Lian and the small woman – Anna? I’m not sure. Wain’s...nice. Weak,’ she said, and shrugged, like it wasn’t an insult, but just stating facts. Being realistic. ‘Orde Vella...smart. Probably useful if we make it...but the same problem, I think. Not a strong person. Ames, Alison, no doubt smart enough, but I wouldn’t piss on either.’

  Ulrich laughed.

  Cassie’d be fine. She got it, and she’d know how to carry a gun without shooting anyone in the face. At least, no one she didn’t mean to shoot, anyway.

  ‘Me? You?’

  ‘We’ll do the best we can.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ he agreed. ‘Jin?’

  He knew Jin could hear him.

  ‘He’s the one to stay close to,’ she said.

  For the first time for hours, Jin’s head moved slightly, and it might have been a nod, or maybe just to let them know he heard. Nothing more, but good enough.

  He hears everything.

  Ulrich tucked that into a vault inside his head, too. Everything and anything was useful, and information and knowledge were never wasted.

  *

  Anna didn’t say anything much. She watched the others, moving to each other, away from each other. She figured who liked who, those who didn’t like anyone, and those who tried hardest to pretend it didn’t matter.

  She figured Ulrich was smart. Lian, too.

  Anna knew herself well enough – she wasn’t anything special. Some of them seemed to think they were – Ames, the man Alison. Ayobami just looked angry, and right or wrong, Anna decided without even speaking to them to keep out of any of their business.

  She had her favourite, though.

  Jin.

  He was most like her. She ate, she drank, and he didn’t. He didn’t need to. Jin didn’t sleep. Not like her in most ways, but important things?

  Sure, she thought.

  While she studied the people around her Anna rolled her dislodged tooth between her thumb and forefinger, like a tick, almost, something she didn’t know she was doing. Back and forth went the tooth, and she looked at Jin through half-closed, tired eyes.

  Though he barely moved, and his face was expressionless, she knew he watched too. He wasn’t just some giant warrior, a Titan. He was maybe smarter than all of them. She liked him without really knowing why. He might be directly linked to Hush, or little more than another chattel of the Company...but she didn’t think he was.

  The reason she’d lived through wars and streets, poison and hunger, strangers who would’ve killed her for a warm spot away from the burning rain? She trusted her instincts.

  Of all of them, the one she wanted to be next to was Jin.

  She rose from her seat and moved beside him.

  *

  Jin watched, too. Ulrich, Kiyobashi, Anna, Lian, Djima ended sitting close to him. The reason they were close was the same reason Company soldiers had followed the Titans to war. Titans were safety, reassuring.

  I am the best place to be. He understood that perfectly.

  Not Blue Sun Dawning, not a combat suit or an environmental suit, or a weapon. Those things would be no comfort when they reached the alien planet. But something solid, something unwavering, a presence who would not be bowed by cold, or heat, or gunfire, who would never tire, never give up.

  Those who shunned him might be brave, or intelligent. Those who sat nearest to him, he knew, wouldn’t be ashamed to hold onto the hope that he, as a Titan, would be a shield for them, whether they knew why they gravitated to him or not.

  Pride, confidence in their abilities...these were true things. That he was their shield, no matter how brilliant they might be in their specialties...that was simple, hard realism, and realism, not hope or misplaced pride, might be the only thing which kept them alive.

  *

  16.

  Doctor’s Assessment

  Blue Sun Dawning

  Planetary Approach

  ‘I must close apertures for entry approach,’ said Blue Sun Dawning. ‘Should anyone have questions regarding equipment, please speak into the suit. Each is equipped with basic command and response capabilities.’

  Goodbye stars, thought Lian, and set about donning her gear over her black underclothes as the view was cut off.

  Her suit was lightweight, with a simple faceplate which was moderately flexible under impact, but it boasted great visibility, as good as any headgear Lian had ever worn. The suit’s damage protection was limited to reinforcements around joints, and spine, and skull, and as such little use defen
sively. Where the suit excelled though, was in harsh environmental conditions – the kind which they were likely to experience on the ice planet they were about to explore.

  Power was limited to 24-hours to decrease weight. Minimal med systems, temperature control, no strength or endurance modules, but it did have intake and outtake capabilities. No one wants to eat or shit naked in temperatures far below zero.

  Each member of the party was allotted a weapon. Small arms, rather than anything heavy. Nothing they were to take would weight them down. Mobility, flexibility, and survival were given priority. Defence and offence were secondary, though Hush wasn’t taking chances.

  How many Augs, not to mention the ships’ capacity for violence, backed them up? The ships could probably hold their own against pretty much anything outside the anomaly, and were powerful and hardy enough for atmospheric entry and planetary escape velocity.

  Drones in the other drop ships provided support, supply and communications. With AI ships, Augs and drones, most foreseeable eventualities were covered.

  Even should their team be separated, or lost, it was highly unlikely anything heavier than rifles and pistols would outclass a Titan. Jin was with the human crew to be whatever else they needed.

  Lian had never seen a Titan or Goliath in war, but the respect Ulrich held for Jin was evident.

  And, just look at him.

  He seemed aloof, almost, but she was beginning to understand more of the Titan than her initial disquiet had allowed her to see. He wasn’t aloof, but serene. A proud and honourable, beautiful creation which was born of horror, but he sat like some gaunt metal statue of Buddha, like the calmest being in history or myth had been on a diet, and yet he was still solid, still unbreakable. His limbs might have been slender, but he did not seem weak, rather the opposite.

  She’d rather it...he...were with them than a hundred emotionless augmented warriors. Jin, for all that he had no expression, and contained such obvious power, she thought Jin might be more human than most of the humans on their ship.

  *

  Lian was wary of augment humans, and her prejudice had long predated a career spent trying to understand and better the process. No matter how brilliant she might be, there was always that background fear of hers – a phobia, even. She was self-aware enough to know she chose her career path because of that fear. She wanted to face it down.

  She viewed Jin through a veil of her own experiences. Good reason, certainly, but her prejudices needed to be taken out, dusted off, viewed, remembered. She didn’t like remembering, but she forced herself to do so anyway.

  She’d been so young, and her brother younger still. Those days when she’d played at being a doctor, and then when he’d become sick...and what her parents did to save him? But really, they didn’t save him, did they?

  They kept him.

  And what he became...

  That was where her fear began, wasn’t it?

  No time pity or stupid memories.

  She fooled herself, of course. There was always time, but it was a lie she’d told herself so many times she came to believe it.

  Less than half a standard Earth day after being woken from a century and more of sleep, and they were headed into the unknown with barely a cup of coffee and a swift shower. Like they were all soldiers, used to waking and rushing into battle on empty stomachs with barely a hint of tiredness or reproach. Only two – Ulrich and Jin – were soldiers, though.

  She’d certainly have preferred some time to learn, get her head straight...to wake up.

  Maybe it was best that way, though. What kind of preparations could anyone make, leaping into a situation unknown to the entire human race?

  That was wrong, though, wasn’t it?

  Perhaps we’re not the first at all.

  Those thoughts, a sense of wonder, of urgency, or excitement, drove away all memories of her brother, of her parents, of Earth.

  There was always an excuse, it was always good enough.

  It wasn’t memories, or the past which kept her going. Those things were heavy. For Lian, it was curiosity. Wide-eyed in the face of the impossible problem. Not despair, panic, hopelessness. She, and most likely all the other humans on Blue Sun Dawning, were the ones who would grin and dive into a black hole just to see if there was anything beyond it, just to experience it.

  She might not like each of her new companions, but she was proud to be one of those who would turn a dark corner full of danger just because they wished to see what might be lurking there.

  We’re all the kind to tread unknown paths, aren’t we?

  That’s why Hush chose us.

  *

  17.

  Brief and to the Point

  Blue Sun Dawning

  With their equipment to hand, and with their environmental suits on, Blue Sun Dawning prepared for approach.

  ‘Hush requires any and all information, specifically pertaining to the unknown energy signature and drive capabilities, be returned to her. Whoever these people were, or are, offensive capabilities, technology, viability of colonisation, are secondary considerations. Any questions?’

  ‘Clear enough,’ said Djima. ‘I am entirely at your disposal.’

  ‘I appreciate the sentiment, Djima Kanado.’

  ‘I was being sarcastic,’ said Djima. ‘Not like we have a choice, is it?’

  ‘Better than being a corpsicle,’ said Anna.

  ‘I like that,’ said Cassie Kiyobashi, smiling. Anna returned the smile.

  No one seemed nervous, and Lian certainly wasn’t. What difference did worrying make? At the point Blue Sun Dawning left Hush, any control she had over their flight and descent was gone.

  She remained close to Jin, though.

  Not Ulrich Bale – he’s calm, assured, yes. But we’re all looking to Jin, sitting there, barely saying anything...and we’re all looking to him.

  Everyone but for Ames and Alison, anyway. She’d seen the way they looked to each other each time there was a snide or darker thought, like they were telepathic and assholes.

  ‘Blue Sun Dawning?’ she asked, shaking off thoughts of the two men she actively disliked. That wasn’t hers to control, either.

  ‘Yes, Doctor Skerry?’

  ‘When we...dropped? There were hundreds of Augs. Soldiers. Why? Should we anticipate...I don’t know. Resistance?’

  ‘They accompany you to support your endeavours. Nothing more.’

  Ulrich was a soldier, and he was listening intently, she was sure. This was his area of expertise, wasn’t it? An unknown world, with ships faster than Hush? Even with Hush’s ongoing upgrades while her cargo slept, it had taken her a hundred and more years to reach this place.

  There was a threat, and Blue Sun Dawning and Hush weren’t saying what. But if these ships were so far in advance of their own tech, with a power signature or source visible to Hush from beyond the heliosphere?

  Then were the people, their Augs, their weapons, far in advance, too?

  ‘Seems a better answer might be in order. It’s a reasonable concern, isn’t it? Are we in danger, Blue Sun Dawning?’ asked Djima.

  She imagined Djima, an engineer, was along to examine the strange ships’ drive capabilities. He seemed comfortable, assured, on both the ship and with the prospect of landing on an unknown and alien world. He wasn’t afraid...he was just sensible.

  ‘It is an unknown planet. A first experience. There are incalculable dangers. Yes.’

  The soldier’s face remained calm and studied, and there was something solid about him, too. She saw him wince when he moved, but he didn’t complain about his pains. A thoughtful man, one who listened more than he spoke. Now, his one functioning eye was closed, like he was deep in thought, not listening, but she imagined he was always listening, always watching, even when he wasn’t.

  ‘Not much of an answer,’ said Djima.

  Blue Sun Dawning chose to consider that a statement, rather than an enquiry, though, and gave no reply.

  Or, did
n’t wish to reply?

  Did Hush and Blue Sun Dawning lie?

  Blue Sun Dawning either didn’t know, or didn’t wish to say, and no questions she asked were going to change that.

  ‘Thank you,’ she told the ship.

  Lian thought perhaps artificial personalities did make mistakes, and were fallible - because of Anna.

  She serves no clear purpose. Each of us have a role...some specialty...but not her.

  Anna was as much an anomaly as the ships down there on that blue and white planet.

  ‘I am glad I was of assistance,’ Blue Sun Dawning replied.

  But you weren’t, thought Lian. She kept that to herself, though. Seemed to work fine for Ulrich and Jin, and she figured she’d do well to take her cue from them.

  ‘If you have any further queries before or after departure I will be at your disposal via comms, and Sergeant Ulrich Bale will be lead. Question may be addressed to either,’ said Blue Sun Dawning.

  *

  Ulrich looked up, moving away from his thoughts – cataloguing each and every resource at his disposal once they hit the surface.

  ‘Sergeant? Like in the war? Company?’ Ayobami asked, and didn’t look happy.

  ‘Not a Sergeant now,’ said Ulrich, ‘And never Company. AIN.’

  ‘Well?’ said Samantha Wain. ‘Do you brief us, tell us how to use these...’ she waved her pistol, a small bore EC gun that was light on recoil but plenty reasonable in power.

  ‘Apart from not waving a gun around on a ship on atmospheric entry to an alien planet? No. Listen...it’s too late. Okay? Sounds harsh, but you look to me, or to Jin, or Kiyobashi if things turn to shit. We don’t know anything – a few ships on a cold planet? An anomaly, sure. Great. Huge energy signature? Great. They’re not the problem. First thing? It’s cold. Stay warm. Second, if there’s any kind of fighting, don’t get shot. Don’t shoot each other. You want me to make you into some kind of combat team in the timeframe Hush has allowed? Not going to happen. We’re not some marine force, we’re not soldiers. I’m not a soldier. Not anymore. I can talk for the next thirty minutes, or you can remember two things about what you all think is my area of expertise: Don’t shoot anything. Don’t get shot. The guns aren’t toys, and you are not soldiers. You’re brilliant, I’m sure. You learned for years, top of your field? Great. A soldier does exactly the same. To be a soldier you train, and train, and never stop training. You experience war, and pain, and learn through experience. I don’t know shit about whatever makes these ships fly. I don’t understand how most weapons actually work. I don’t know how EMP works, or nuclear fusion, and I can’t mix high-grade explosives. You can probably do that stuff. I can’t. Stick to what you’re good at. Same as I haven’t got time to learn your skills, you haven’t got time to learn mine. Keep your guns in your holsters, and that’s it.’