“Then we have to hunt it down and destroy it,” Iruuk said.
“Or cure it?” Alice offered. “We could load the antivirus and cleaning program onto a chip and fix it.”
“Oh, that would work too. Want me to help you find it?”
“Sure, your clearance is high enough,” Alice said. “His name is Theodore, and the last images of him looked like this.” She brought up images of his partially melted head and battered chest.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t bring him to recycling when you find him? There’s not much left.”
“I’m doing it as a favour for the subject of the report,” Alice said quietly. “So, no.”
“More and more interesting. Was he the last to have the machine?
“Theodore,” Alice corrected. “Yes. Noah Lucas had him.”
“Does Noah own property? Where is he now?”
“He’s with the Samurai Squadron on the Revenge,” Alice said. “I didn’t find an apartment. He’s in line to be assigned one here.”
Iruuk brought the files for Noah ‘Carnie’ Lucas up and looked through his residency records. “From intake, to the barracks, then to the Revenge. The bags he checked into his bunk aren’t large enough to carry Theodore’s chest. His head, maybe.”
“Security would have detected it if he brought it aboard the Revenge. They would have had to turn it on and inspect him,” Alice added.
“None of that happened,” Iruuk said. “What about Noah’s money?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where did he spend it?”
“His luxury grant went to…” Alice trailed off as she looked through the expenditure records. “God, I hope he doesn’t get pissed about us going through all this…” she said.
“Is it part of your mission? Do you need it for your report?”
“Well, Mom, er, Admiral Anderson told me to follow this as far as I wanted, to do whatever I had to, and Theo is a big part of the report, so I guess so.”
“Then we’ll investigate now and apologize later,” Iruuk said. “There it is! He spent luxury credits on several of Haven Shore’s restaurants, a couple lounges, and one dance club. It looks like he visited the Alberton Variety Club more than anywhere else – a bunch of singers and comedians there. I’ve never seen it, you?”
“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it,” Alice replied, looking at the images of the club’s interior. There were tables with red tablecloths and a stage made for live entertainment.
“Oh, and he had platinum,” Iruuk went on. “So, there was a brain bud he bought, then he gave some to Haven Fleet, Bunker Nine.”
“What’s that?” Alice asked, looking it up. An image of a heavily shielded bunker filled the holographic field in front of them. It had been cleaned up and restored. “There’s a storage facility in there,” she said. “He must have a locker.”
“It’s open, let’s go!” Iruuk said, starting for the door.
“Wait!” Alice said, downloading the software package she’d need to cure the Holocaust Virus into her command and control unit and making sure she had a spare chip installed. There were five available, each the size of the tip of her little finger but able to store half a petabyte of data. “Okay, we’re good.”
Iruuk pointed to the small safe beside the door. “Sidearms?”
“I don’t think we’ll need firepower, but just in case,” she said, taking her sidearm and shoving it into the holster attached to her upper thigh.
The bunker was on the edge of an area of flat stone that was too windy and barren for the jungle to conquer. Framing for two large Haven Shore residence buildings was almost finished, they looked like thin girders reaching up from the earth like thin fingers. The faux wood walkways that led them down to the jungle floor swayed a little as they made their way.
“I don’t see it, but we should be close to the bunker,” Iruuk said.
They could see haven shore in the distance from where they were through the trees, they were close to emerging from the jungle. Just as they thought they’d break through into the clear air, the next walkway they took led them back in, and then the grey and black bunker came into sight. Two smaller entrances had been cut into the large armoured sliding doors, and they pushed through.
The floor within was made of dark, polished metal, and the walls were redecorated with brown stone panels. There was a holographic map detailing the purpose of each subfloor in front of them. Most of the space was dedicated to storage, and what wasn’t off limits was offered to civilians who paid monthly or annual fees.
A tall, thin woman approached them immediately. Two bots wheeled behind her. They had long folding arms, rounded heads with a blue eye in the middle and balanced on one wheel. “Welcome to Bunker Nine, can I help you, Sir, Ma’am?”
“I’m investigating someone and need access to a storage unit,” Alice said, showing her the unit number on her command and control unit.
“Can you tell me the nature of the investigation? I’m the curator here, I may be able to help.”
“I’m afraid that’s classified level seven,” Alice said.
“I’ll have to check the protocols for access,” the Curator said, retreating to a windowed office. “One moment.”
They waited as the Curator looked through holo displays that neither of them could see, and several minutes passed. Iruuk started looking something up on his own comm unit and nodded. “We’re officers, investigating a classified matter,” he said. “Regulations say we don’t need her permission as long as we only open what pertains to our mission.”
“Right, let’s see if we can find directions,” Alice said, raising her arm unit and checking the locker number against the holographic map.
“I already looked the location of the locker up,” Iruuk said, leading the way. “This is fun, I’m glad I came.”
“So am I,” Alice agreed. The Curator was still doing something in her office, her back turned to them. “I have a feeling this lady’s going to trip a breaker though.”
They took the elevator down to sub-level twenty-one. “I wonder what this place was before?”
That was something Alice knew. “It was a safe storage space for equipment and supplies used to terraform Tamber. I checked another bunker just like this for the Rangers. I didn’t know this one was here, but it’s identical. Well, except for the new walls and flooring in the lobby.”
“I wonder where they went, the terraformers?” Iruuk asked.
“Well, the terraforming of Kambis was their real goal, and that failed when the Omnivirus spread to this system, killing most of the people here. The couple million people who were living on Tamber until the Holocaust Virus hit were descendants of them, the workers who never left.”
“That’s a lot of workers.”
“Yeah, but a very small population for an earth sized terraformed moon. The Carthans wanted to take over, to populate it, but they ended up facing war at home, so they couldn’t afford it.”
They came out into a dim space with thousands of lockers in a row. One of the curator bots that looked exactly like the ones above blocked them from leaving the elevator. “Move, please,” Alice said.
It remained in place.
Iruuk shrugged and roared so loudly that Alice jumped. The bot moved aside. “Thank you, little machine,” he said to it as they passed, patting it on the head.
It took them several minutes to find the locker, but eventually they came upon the half-height storage cabinet that Noah Lucas rented. “Feels like I’m opening a grave,” Alice said as she used her Officer software to override the security code. It popped open and Alice was filled with a strange selection of emotions.
There it was: Noah’s backpack, along with the jacket he was wearing when he stole the cargo ship. It had been cleaned, but she recognized it right away. There were four locked cases at the bottom of the locker. He’d written Lurk, Heavy Hitter, Slagger, and Needler on them in orange grease pencil, indicating which lockbox had which item. I
t was as though she’d uncovered sacred artefacts that connected her to Noah’s story.
“I don’t see a bot,” Iruuk said.
Alice picked up the box that was marked ‘Lurk’ first and handed it to Iruuk. “This goes directly to Fleet Intelligence tomorrow morning. The files stashed inside will earn Noah a lot of bonus luxury credits.”
“What’s a Lurk?” Iruuk asked, shaking the box beside his ear.
“Careful. Lurk was Noah’s toy lizard. He managed to connect to a secure system and get some encrypted data that could be important. Synthetics aren’t allowed on my dad’s ship, so he left him here.”
“Oh, they can be distracting. I always wanted a synthetic dog, but I was never allowed to have one.”
Alice carefully took the backpack from the locker and opened it. From the front pouch she retrieved Theo’s head, then the electrical tool kit from the side pouch, and finally the main body from the largest part of the bag. “We found him,” she said.
“Well, the important bits, I guess. Do you know how to fix him?”
“Noah showed me,” Alice said, putting Theo’s chest back in the bag. “Let’s go.”
Iruuk carried the head while Alice slung the bag over her shoulder and secured the locker. They were met on the top floor by the Curator and her bots. Iruuk, seeing that the bots’ eyes had turned red, held Theo’s charred head up and pointed at it, looking at the droids blocking their way with a gleeful grin. “I like playing with robots.”
They moved aside, leaving the Curator alone. Her arms were crossed. “You can’t intimidate me, I’ve reported you to my supervisor.”
“Does he answer directly to Haven Fleet?” Alice asked.
“I, uh,” the Curator said. “That doesn’t matter.”
“If you just let us go, I’ll make sure I mention you in my report to the Admiralty. I’ll tell them how helpful you were, and how important your guidance was. Here’s my clearance,” Alice said, holding up her command and control unit up so it projected a hologram that assigned her to research a file that was classified. It had a file number and a date of issue along with clearance to investigate, but there were no specifics. She withdrew it before the Curator could finish reading. “Good enough?”
“I suppose, sorry for the misunderstanding,” the Curator said.
“No problem,” Alice said as they rushed past.
“Did you get her name?” Iruuk asked as they retreated through the outer doors.
“No, did you?”
“No. It’s going to be hard to mention her helpfulness, I suppose.”
“I guess so,” Alice replied with a smile.
They were back at her apartment soon after, printing parts so they could re-join Theo’s head with his torso properly. The cleanup work on the connector didn’t take as long as she thought. For power she pulled a recharging cable from the wall and plugged it into Theo’s battery port.
Within an hour they had his head back on, and he was ready to activate. Alice held her breath as she slipped the data chip into one of his chest ports and turned him on. There were a few twitches on the robot’s face, then utter stillness for several seconds.
His good eye opened. “I’m back?” Theo asked. He looked to Iruuk, who was watching him expectantly and recoiled a little in surprise. “Well, you’re new.”
“Hi Theo, I’m an officer with Haven Fleet. My name is Alice,” she said, trying to hide her excitement, unable to suppress a grin.
He looked at her, and the working side of his face seemed surprised. “Haven Fleet, as in Haven Shore?” he asked. “You look so much like Ayan, the one from the presentation.”
“Thank you, she’s my mother,” Alice said. “How do you feel?”
“My legs and arms are absent, along with much of my stabilization systems. I’m not going to be much use to anyone like this, you know. The Order of Eden control commands have been overridden, and all murderous tendencies are gone. What a relief. The data input record says you cured me, is that true?”
“I did,” Alice said. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I tried to kill Noah! Is he all right?”
“He’s fine. I think he had to leave you behind because the queue for the robot repair shop is pretty long.”
“Six weeks, three days,” Iruuk said. “That’s an improvement.”
“Where is he? He was my master, you know.”
“I know, and I’m not planning on changing that. He became a pilot with Samurai Squadron. He’s on an important mission with my father.”
“Oh, he loved flying,” Theo said, sounding pleased. “I’m sorry I’m not with him, but he must be very happy there.”
“I think he is,” Alice said. Iruuk was performing a deep scan on Theo, holding his comm unit closer to the robot’s chest. Alice couldn’t believe that Theodore the robot was on her sofa. It was as though something she dreamt stepped into the real world.
“Alice, there is a data chip affixed to my chest plate, do you know what it is?” Theo asked, doing his best to look down.
She noticed it then, tucked under a piece of tape. Alice pulled it off and read the scrawl across it. Play me when you’re fixed.
“I think that’s Noah’s writing,” Theo said.
“Want me to play it?” she asked.
“Yes, please.”
Alice held it up. “Roomie, run a safety scan on this then play it back if it’s safe.”
“Scanning,” Roomie said. “Playing.”
An image of Carnie appeared in front of them. He was in his black Samurai Squadron uniform: a lightly armoured black vacsuit that covered him from neck to toe and a heavy black bomber jacket. “Hey, man. If you’re awake and clear-headed, that means I found someone to fix you. I tried to find someone, anyone who knew what they were doing right until I left the system, but every repair shop and tech in the system is backlogged. Some of ‘em don’t even take bribes, not that I had the plat to really get someone to put you ahead of the other bots getting fixed up. Anyway, you’re awake now, and I hope you’re surrounded by people you can trust. If not, get away, and show anyone from Fleet this message or give them my service number. Tell them you belong to me and they’ll take care of you. Man, I hope you wake up surrounded by good people though.”
Noah cleared his throat and ran his hand over his finely braided blonde hair. “We had one hell of an adventure together, didn’t we? I managed to find a new family in Samurai Squadron, a bunch of fliers that are going to kick some Order ass. As much as I hate leaving you behind, I know you’d want me to follow this, to get out there and help people. This is the best way I can figure on how to do that, and when I get back you’ll be the first guy I go looking for. Don’t wait for me at my locker, though. Go hang with good people from Fleet, find some way to help, I’m sure they can find a job you’ll like in Haven Shore, and if they don’t, just tell them I’m your master and wander off, go see a lady named Persephone in the Alberton Club, she’ll set you up. Don’t take less than nine plat an hour, though, you’re worth it, especially if you get new skin and a nice suit. I’ll be on the Revenge, so watch the arrival board for it.” Noah sighed and shook his head. “I can’t tell ya how much I miss you, man. You got me through a whole year in hell, and I can’t wait to see you back on your feet. To whoever fixed him up:” the hologram looked directly at Alice. “If you’re trying to steal him, I’ll find you, and I’ll have military support, so reconsider. If you’re doing it out of the kindness of your heart or for a few credits, I’ll definitely pay you well when I get back. I’ll have some luxury credits to throw around.”
His image looked back to Theo then. “All right, that’s all the time I’ve got, so good luck, man, and I’ll see you as soon as I can.” The hologram faded.
Alice looked to Theo, who seemed almost too still. “How do you feel?”
“I miss him,” Theodore replied. “But something strange has happened. I am free,” Theo said. “The directive to serve one master has been overwritten
with a new loyalty program, so I am free, and it seems like Noah wants me to be.” He looked down then back up at Alice, then Iruuk. “Well, I’m as free as anyone can be without arms or legs.”
Iruuk burst into laughter, slipping from the sofa to the floor. Alice didn’t find it quite as funny, but laughed a little and said; “I want to repair you,” she said. “So when Noah gets back home you’re there to…”
Iruuk’s laughter stopped suddenly and he looked at his command and control unit.
“Everything okay?” Alice asked.
Iruuk looked at her with alarm. “Alice, something important has come up.”
“Did something come up on the scan?” Alice asked, patting Theo’s chest plate. Theo’s head turned towards Iruuk with a jerk.
“Oh, him? The virus is gone, his file integrity is good, and all his internal systems are functional.” Iruuk took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s the Triton. They’ve arrived with Freeground Alpha and a fleet of Nafalli ships, but the Revenge has been marked as missing in action.”
“What? Noah is on the Revenge,” Theo said, looking to Alice, back to Iruuk and then back to Alice. “We have to find him.”
“We will,” Alice said. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them.”
* * *
The adventure continues in Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge.
For more information, please visit:
www.patreon.com/randolphlalonde
or
www.randolphlalonde.com
The Spinward Fringe Series
(In chronological order)
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 1 and 2: Resurrection and Awakening
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 3: Triton
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 4: Frontline
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Fracture
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10.5: Carnie's Tale Page 23
