Shadow Agents

by David Alastair Hayden

  “I do not have emotions, so I am not offended. And I understand that my dogged insistence on certain matters, methods, and procedures can be deemed fussy, bordering on irritating. So while it does seem inefficient, I do not mind.”

  His feet clicked rhythmically on the metal floor as departed the bridge.

  Oona flopped back into the command chair. Sinking as far into it as she could, she drew her feet up and hugged her arms around her knees.

  “Well, Arty, that’s all a lot to process.”

  “I’m already analyzing the data he gathered, madam. From a cursory review, I believe his conclusions are valid. And I should be able to extrapolate somewhat further, though it’s essential that you get Silky to analyze the data.”

  Oona nodded. “Octavian is certainly impressive for a cog.”

  “His processor is, I believe, the equivalent of a 7G chippy, madam. Also, I strongly suspect Silky upgraded the cog’s capabilities, perhaps even without Octavian realizing it.”

  “Using the same upgrade packet you received?”

  “Nothing quite as advanced, madam, but still enough to significantly further the cog’s capabilities. I suspect Silky did it a century ago. Otherwise, I’m not sure Octavian could have accomplished all that he did when the ship was hidden in storage.”

  Oona stared at the multicolored clouds of hyperspace rushing by. She had always thought that she had made Kyralla a guardian by choosing her and shaping the amulet she was using. But if they shared similar genetics and brain structures, then Kyralla had merely been born with abilities of her own.

  “Arty, what do we know about the birth order of messiahs?”

  “From what little data we possess, madam, messiahs always result in the mother dying during childbirth, and they are often the second or third child born.”

  “And the children preceding them are guardians with abilities like Kyralla’s?”

  "According to the documented messiah family histories we possess, that is the case, madam."

  “Were the abilities stronger with each child born?”

  “Madam, I don’t have enough data to answer that question. My apologies.”

  “Do you think the amulet even does anything?”

  “I am sure I have no idea, madam.”

  “Maybe it enhances the empathic link between Kyralla and me.”

  “Again, madam, I cannot say. Though perhaps you should get Octavian to do a thorough analysis of the amulet, or ask Silky. He has almost certainly studied Siv’s Ancient amulet in detail.”

  “I hadn’t even thought to ask him.”

  “You’ve hardly had the time, madam. And I’m sorry it didn’t occur to me sooner.”

  Oona had intended to close her eyes and contemplate everything she had learned. Instead, she instantly fell asleep curled up in the command chair.

  She woke up when they dropped out of hyperspace at the predetermined location two lightyears out from Zayer. Octavian spaced Zetta’s body, then Oona triggered the stardrive, taking them further from the system.

  19

  Siv Gendin

  Siv woke shaking and sweating as if his withdrawal from Kompel had just begun. It was their first night on the freighter, and they’d gone to bed three hours after the Outworld Ranger had departed.

  Mitsuki snorted loudly then rolled toward him, flopping an arm and a wing across him. He shuffled as far away as he could and turned onto his side so that his nose was pressed against the wall.

  The tiny mattress in the cramped room was barely big enough for him. Sharing it with someone, especially someone without boundaries, was more than uncomfortable. But it was still preferable to sleeping on a metal floor that looked as if it had never been cleaned.

  He considered throwing their only blanket onto the floor and going without covers. Starships were ordinarily cold, but their storage closet turned passenger cabin was hot and stuffy. Either the ventilation in here was poor, or wakyrans ran a higher body temperature than standard humans. Or both.

  Mitsuki scooted in close and spooned him. She was wearing only the ridiculous negligee she'd brought with her, while he was dressed in a pair of black linen pants. He felt way more of her body and skin than he wanted.

  “Mits,” he whispered.

  She stirred and half muttered. “Yeah, baby?”

  Ugh.

  A tiny voice laughed in his head.

  “Shut it, Silkster.”

  “But, sir, she just wants to cuddle with her little Sivvy wumpkins.”

  “I said shut it. How long was I asleep?”

  “Four hours, sir.”

  “It’s only been four hours?!”

  “Afraid so, sir.”

  “This isn’t going to work.”

  “It’s not Mitsuki, sir. It’s you.”

  Siv waited a few minutes, not wanting to disturb her more than necessary. Then he slid carefully out from under her limbs, pulled on his shirt and boots, and eased quietly out of the room.

  The air in the corridor was delightfully chilly.

  “You really should get some rest, sir.”

  “I’ll wander around a bit first.”

  “I’m sure Dragon Lady would be willing to sleep in shifts, sir.”

  “She needs the rest way more than I do. She has injuries to recover from, and I need her to be at the top of her game once we’re on Zayer Prime. Besides, I bet the common room has a couch I could crash on.”

  “I’ll pull up the map and check, sir.”

  “S’okay. I’d rather explore and get my mind off…things.”

  Silky would, of course, know what “things” he meant, but Siv didn’t want to voice it. Seeing that syringe of Kompel, holding it in his hands, had more than reawakened his hunger for it.

  “It’s true, sir. She does need rest. The car crash was epic. Would you like to see it?”

  The long corridor he ambled along was proving uninteresting, so he shrugged. “Why not?”

  Silky played the video of their daring assault on the freighter. Siv marveled at the audacity of their plan and how well they had executed their attacks against the sniper on the catwalk. But he was astounded, or rather dumbfounded, by Bishop’s driving skills.

  “What was Bishop thinking, driving that fast in so small of a space?”

  “It was his first time driving, sir. And he’d never fought in a battle before either.”

  “Maybe so, but he’s certainly capable of thinking. In fact, he’s smarter than most people.”

  "Humans aren't chippies, sir. Even the best of you can be highly illogical at times, especially in difficult situations. Like…oh, I don't know…when you abandon your friends to cradle syringes and—"

  “Fine, I get it,” Siv snarled, ending the conversation.

  He didn’t want to think about what he’d done and how weak he’d been. He certainly didn’t want to talk about it. Not with Silky, and especially not with Mitsuki. She’d brought it up twice before they went to bed. He snapped at her the first time and stalked away the second.

  “Show me the picture of the snake thing that popped off Zetta.”

  Silky loaded the image into Siv’s HUD, and Siv cringed.

  “Nasty, isn’t it, sir?”

  “Truth. You don’t have any idea what it was?”

  “I have searched the galactic net and every database I can tap into, some inaccessible to the public. I’ve yet to find a picture or description of anything resembling that creature.”

  “Was it living inside her?”

  “Attached to her navel and wrapped around her midsection, sir. I asked Octavian to do a thorough scan of it before spacing it along with Zetta’s body.”

  “Good idea. So are we assuming the alien beast was what allowed her to avoid detection and defy our sensor sweeps?”

  “It’s a valid hypothesis, sir. And it is telling that I could detect her as soon as the snake died. I haven’t the slightest clue how the creature could have accomplished that.”

  Siv glanced at the ima
ge of the one-eyed snake a final time before closing the window. “Octavian did a good job.”

  “I have never been more impressed with that cog. In fact, sir, I don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed with any cog, and I’ve worked with some amazing sky-blades and engineering cogs. Octavian’s annoying as hell, but restoring your dad’s transport skimmer, maintaining the Outworld Ranger for a century, saving your life, chopping an alien beast in half…it’s all very impressive.”

  “You upgraded him, didn’t you?”

  “Who, me? I would never.”

  “Silkster?”

  “Of course, I upgraded him. I uploaded the files the first week I worked with your dad. It took years for him to complete the installation.”

  “It didn’t take that long for Artemisia and Rosie to perform their updates.”

  “I had not refined the upgrade packets yet, sir. I spent another century working on them, along with my own programming. And Arty and Rosie are still working on the upgrades.”

  Siv stopped to stare out a viewport, but from this angle, nothing was interesting to see except for a few stars and the darkness of space. “Do you think I should restore Octavian’s vocal matrix?”

  “Only if you want to undo the warm feeling you now have toward him, sir.”

  Siv continued to walk around, exploring the mining freighter. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see, aside from primitive worker cogs, containers filled with various rare metals, heavy loading skimmers, digging machines, and scores of specialty devices he didn’t know anything about.

  After an hour of wandering around, Siv found what he at first thought was an observation dome on the aft bottom of the ship. It was a small bubble with a swiveling chair that he barely managed to cram himself into. There was a systems deck with an accelerator and a control stick.

  “Is this a piloting console?”

  “It is indeed, sir.”

  “What’s the point of it?”

  “It’s used for backing into a station or landing on an asteroid, sir.”

  “They have to do that manually?”

  “Like any ship made this century, it’s primitive. So instead of the AI and the pilot splitting tasks fifty-fifty, it’s more like seventy-thirty with the pilot doing most of the work. This is a backup system, in case the maneuver can't be performed from the bridge for some reason.”

  The chair was padded and surprisingly comfortable, despite how cramped the bubble was. As Siv stared at a marble-sized green gas giant shrinking into a field of twinkling stars, he found himself drifting off into sleep.

  Over the next four days, they made their way toward Zayer Prime slower than they’d expected. Mitsuki slept nearly twenty hours a day, hogging the tiny bed. So Siv slept curled up in the padded chair in the aft piloting station. When he wasn’t sleeping, Siv spent his time wandering around the freighter.

  He talked to the crew, sometimes chatting with them while they repaired and oiled their machines.

  He found them to be just as dull as Silky thought researching the mining equipment would be. The truth was, he didn't know how to relate well to people who weren't criminals or outcasts, and he had no idea what it was like to work an honest job.

  Captain Alois was somewhat entertaining when they dined together on Siv’s second day aboard the ship. But halfway through lunch on the next day, Alois ran out of interesting stories.

  Siv still found it comforting to sit with all of them and have dinner, though. He entertained them with a few colorful tales of his minor exploits on Ekaran IV, exploits that didn’t make him sound like too much of a criminal and wouldn’t give away his identity.

  He did everything he could to keep his mind off the Kompel, but it was nearly impossible. His craving had surged to desperate levels, leaving him fantasizing about ways to steal some from the Shadowslip headquarters. Or to make a deal with the Shadowslip, only one that wouldn’t compromise him or any of his companions. Or to track down where and how they made it. As if he hadn't tried that before.

  He knew all these increasingly complicated fantasies were foolish and unrealistic, that they only made his cravings worse, shattering any respect he had for himself, but he couldn’t stop. Even dead, Zetta continued to make him miserable. If she hadn’t shown up, his addiction would still be under control.

  He miserably alternated between wandering the ship, sleeping, and staring into space. And Silky was no help. Siv had apparently taxed the chippy’s patience. Fully sentient or not, Silky struggled to understand—much less empathize with—the more illogical human emotions, particularly self-destructive compulsions.

  Silky spent his time optimizing the freighter's operating systems and doing what few upgrades he could on the ship's AI. They didn't plan on telling Captain Alois what they'd done, but it seemed the least they could do since the captain had held up his end of the bargain and appeared to be a good, honest man.

  Siv had drifted off to sleep in the aft piloting station on the fourth day when Mitsuki woke him to say they were only an hour out Zayer Prime’s largest orbital station Zayer Beta.

  “So this is where you’ve been hiding?”

  “It’s surprisingly cozy,” he replied.

  “We could have alternated with the mattress,” she said.

  “You needed rest, and I honestly like sleeping here.”

  Mitsuki sat on the edge of the floor beside the bubble, staring down at him. “Still bothered by the Kompel encounter?”

  He looked away. “I don’t know why I can’t shake it.”

  “You need something to take your mind off it, and that’s not going to happen stuck here on this freighter. ‘Nevolence this place is dull.”

  “Tell me about it,” Siv replied with a sigh. “I guess we’re just not cut out for honest work.”

  “Doesn’t bother me. I like who I am.” She reached a hand down. “Come on. We’d best go to the bridge.”

  Housing fifty thousand people, Zayer Station Beta was a relatively small complex focused on trade and ship construction. As they approached, the station’s sensors did a routine sweep of the freighter before clearing them to dock.

  “Sir, I just completed a level five sweep of the station using the ScanField-3. I’ve detected a few problems.”

  “I wish I could say I’m surprised. What’ve we got?”

  “First off, sir, World Bleeders. We’ve got one of their ships in orbit, along with a ten-man strike team on the station. Eight of them are hiding in a storage bay near the docks. The other two are patrolling the station.”

  “Not doing a good job of hiding, are they?”

  “They’re using a secure-comm channel the Shadowslip hacked last year, sir.”

  “Why haven’t they altered their security protocols since then? The Shadowslip changes theirs every two months.”

  “My guess, sir, is that we’re dealing with a World Bleeder affiliate operation. They probably stationed their top agents in the Titus system then called in affiliates as backups to watch Zayer Prime.”

  “Any signs of Star Cutters or Shadowslip agents?”

  "Not yet, sir. But I would be shocked if they didn't have a presence. The Star Cutters we encountered on this freighter were using new frequencies, along with sophisticated jamming technologies so it may take a while to pinpoint them. As for the Shadowslip, I'm sure they've changed all their protocols, knowing you might still be involved."

  “Tekk Reapers?”

  “Not that I can detect, sir. But I’m sure they’re capable of avoiding my scans if they’re careful.”

  “Until a few days ago, I didn’t think anyone could sneak something by you so long as you were wary and had time to conduct a proper sweep.”

  “I’m not infallible, sir. And we’re dealing with much larger stakes than before. We’re in the big leagues now, and I can’t always guarantee I’ll get the jump on our enemies. However, I can promise you I’ll never again fall for that trick Zetta and the Star Cutters used on us.”

  “Well, pas
s on what you’ve discovered to Mitsuki.”

  “You’ve got it, sir.”

  Captain Alois talked them through the straightforward docking procedure. The freighter would pull up to a section used solely for mining vessels, which should mean encountering fewer people on their way to the spaceport where Mitsuki had arranged for a shuttle to take them down to the planet.

  The nominal, standard fee for a sizable surface-bound shuttle was more than reasonable, and Mitsuki had found a pilot who seemed trustworthy. It was unfortunate that they'd have to go to the planet at all, but the space station only housed essential personnel, service industry employees, and the crews of ships undergoing repair. Everyone else was limited to a twenty-four-hour stay, so it was highly unlikely they'd find the resources they needed on the station.

  “Captain, could you take us in a little more slowly than normal?” Siv asked.

  Alois laughed. “You’ve obviously never been on a mining freighter docking with a station before. It will take two hours for us to pull into the queue safely, and right now there’s a four-hour wait to get started.”

  Siv contacted Mitsuki through her chippy. “Got a plan for dealing with those World Bleeders?”

  “Avoidance,” she replied. “If we end up in a firefight, we’ll either get killed or captured.”

  “I agree,” Siv said.

  “We should assume other groups will have a presence here as well,” Silky added, “or at the very least are monitoring the station through hacked video feeds.”

  “This is going to be more challenging than I thought,” Mitsuki said.

  “Really?” Siv asked. “This is exactly the kind of backed-up toilet I expected to be swimming in.”

  “But with far less shit in it than we’ll find in the Titus system,” Silky pointed out.

  “We’ll need to find a way to kill time and stay out of sight until just before shuttle leaves,” Mitsuki said. “We can’t go to the shuttle bay too soon. Loitering about will raise suspicion.”

  “Proposals?” Siv asked.

  “I’ve got nothing as far as navigating the station without getting recognized,” Mitsuki replied. “But it shouldn’t be too hard to find a spot to hide while we wait for the shuttle’s departure time.”