The Silver Liner: Takes Flight!

by Daniel Sullivan

  “Yeah, I guess so. Good thing you were a celebrity, though.”

  “Not really; just makes it harder to blend in,” countered Royce. “Anyway, we’re here.”

  The two walked into Jasper’s Body Crafters. They were greeted by a younger man in denim pants and a blue service shirt, and an older man in coveralls and a baseball cap, a patch on his shirt reading, “Jasper.”

  “Hello, Jasper,” said Kendrick curtly.

  “Captain Kendrick Royce!” Jasper sent the other man away and came out from behind the counter and tried to hug Kendrick, who promptly held up his hand and shook his head. “Long time no see! What brings you here? Ain’t you supposed to be racing?”

  “The Fujin was destroyed; some kind of sabotage,” Kendrick said, sparing the details. “Race is off and my ship was attacked. I got hull repairs, including an engine nacelle. Some of the damage is serious and all of it needs fixing. Tonight if possible.”

  “Sure, we can get that done for you,” said the older man in coveralls.

  “Twenty-four hours, Jasper,” stipulated Kendrick. “No wiggle room here.”

  “Kendrick,” replied Jasper jovially, spreading his arms in a disarming gesture, “When have I ever let you down?”

  “You really don’t want me to answer that, Jas,” replied Kendrick somewhat menacingly.

  “Look, it was for a good cause,” protested Jasper. “My sister still talks about that night.”

  “Yeah, send her my regards,” said Kendrick. “But I have no regrets about Suzy; she’s a nice gal and that wasn’t what I was thinking of.”

  “Oh.” Jasper stood silent for a moment. “Well, there was that…”

  “Yeah, that,” replied Kendrick. “I wouldn’t even be talking to you, except that you’re the only person who can get the job done that quickly and you’re the one I mistrust the least.”

  “Look, Kendrick,” said Jasper, “I’ll get you taken care of. We’ll head over there now and get started. Trust me, I’ll get her all fixed up for you.”

  “See to it that you do,” said Kendrick. “If you want your credits, that is.”

  As Kendrick and Mun walked off, Mun asked Kendrick, “So… what was that?”

  “That,” growled Kendrick, “is something you don’t get to ask me about until you know me a lot better.”

  Selena was assessing the damage to the computer systems. It was clear that they were indeed beyond repair. Thankfully, new equipment was on Kendrick’s shopping list and probably already loaded. Until the new parts were installed, Selena was literally the ship’s computer. She was about to call Heather to ask, when Heather’s voice sounded over the com.

  “Selena, we got the parts you asked for.”

  “Thank you, Heather,” replied the gynoid. “I will come for them.”

  “Aye, see you soon.”

  Selena made her way through the now quiet ship. With the crew of the Fujin gone, except Mister Mun and Mister Tanaka, only Dr. Kinsale, Heather and Selena remained. As the ship’s AI, she never noticed it. As Selena, a self-aware gynoid, she was acutely aware of it. She actually liked the buzz of people around her, though she predicted that once Kendrick and Mun were back aboard and they were on their way, it would be pleasant. The gynoid entered the engine room and saw Heather working.

  “Hey, Selena,” greeted Heather. “Your computer stuff is on the cart over there.”

  Sure enough, six cabinets, each about a meter long and two-thirds of a meter wide and about ten centimeters deep, consisting of servers, drives and all of the associated hardware were on a hand truck. She looked at them and determined that they were the proper size for the rack. She picked one up and inspected it, drawing Heather’s curiosity.

  “You can lift that?”

  “Yes,” replied Selena. “They are not heavy.”

  “Wow,” said Heather. “I couldn’t budge ‘em. Captain Royce did all the lifting, but he didn’t handle ‘em like they were empty!”

  “They weigh what I would expect,” replied Selena. “This will undo the damage done by the virus. They will also greatly expand my abilities when I am on board or within tight beam communications range of the ship. Do you need this cart?”

  “Yeah,” replied Heather. “Once you’re done with it, I’ll need to load the old couplings on. Why?”

  In answer, Selena simply picked up all six of the cabinets as though she were picking up a stack of pizzas and walked away, Heather staring open-mouthed at the sight.

  As she walked to the lift, Selena was postulating several reasons as to Heather’s surprise at seeing her lift the servers and drives. She knew that Heather was aware that Selena was a gynoid, so having greater strength should not have been at all a surprise. As she walked, a thought came to her: I think of myself as ‘she’ even though my body being female is mainly in a cosmetic sense and to the degree that it needs to be to engage in intercourse and to pleasure a partner. This was due to the design’s original function as a sex-bot. She wondered if, now that she was self-aware, her own experience during the act would be altered.

  Selena also noticed that aside from all of the computations, her CPU ran in the process of enabling her physical mobility and daily functionality, she had developed a running train of thought, similar to what humans described having. The thought gave her positive feedback, causing her to smile reflexively. She arrived at the computer room outside of the bridge and set to work replacing the servers and drives.

  Once installed, she would copy her files onto the new servers, making the ship completely functional, as it had been before her coming aboard. This would allow her much greater flexibility; she could actually exit the ship without impeding its ability to fly. Though she could not think of anything in Kendrick’s profession that would necessitate this, but in her former life, the ship being tied to her would have been a serious liability.

  Kendrick and Mun were on their way back to the ship, having made their rounds to other vendors after hiring Jasper. Kendrick was pleased to see that the merchants from whom they had made their purchases were already delivering their goods. Food was a big priority, as were various lubricants that were not in and of themselves hard to find, but which were peculiar aboard the ship to the gynoid Selena. Kendrick had purchased more substantial food, food that required an actual cook. He considered trying to pick up a chef, but did not wish to make himself too conspicuous. Of course, he made sure to stock up on coffee, Earl Gray tea, Jameson and Guinness.

  Kendrick was also pleased to see that Jasper’s crew was already hard at work on the hull plating. Heather was waiting on a fuel line to replace the ruptured unit on the starboard engine, which he had managed to locate. He even got several spares. Kendrick and Heather had already gotten couplings and he had made sure to get several spare couplings as well. In all, it looked like they would be able to sail out the following day as planned.

  “Captain Royce,” said Selena, greeting them as they entered the bridge. “It is good to have you back. I have replaced the computer hardware and am running the necessary software updates as we speak.”

  Kendrick noticed that she smiled faintly when she saw them. “Thank you, Selena,” he replied. “You’re amazing, you know. That would have been a much lengthier project for me.”

  “I am pleased to be of service, my Captain,” she replied.

  “Wow,” said Mun, “Nobody was that affectionate when addressing Captain Fujita.”

  “Yeah,” said Kendrick, “I got the impression that you guys were more military.”

  “Most of us were,” conceded Mun. “Tell you the truth, though, I’m looking forward to working with you. I got kind of tired of military life when we weren’t actually in the military.”

  Tanaka entered the bridge and joined the group, Kendrick and Mun nodding in acknowledgement.

  “I liked the military style,” Tanaka said, joining the conversation before anyone had a chance to greet him. “I was really missing military life when Captain Fujita’s offer came my way. Loo
ks like he’s out of the game, but I’m not looking to retire just yet.”

  “What did you do in the military?” asked Kendrick, curious about his new communications officer.

  “Communications, same as on the Fujin,” he replied. “I did code breaking and hacking too, but there wasn’t much call for that on the Fujin. I suppose that with us being kind of on the run, I might have to start putting those skills to use again, though.”

  “What prompted you guys to stick around here?” asked Kendrick. “Knowing that I’m kind of a marked man and all, I’d have thought you’d want to get as far away from me as possible.”

  “Well, someone wanted us dead pretty badly,” offered Mun. “Badly enough to just blow us up. We’ve had people after us for a while now. Probably influential enough to get us wanted by your government or the UPA. You looked like a better chance of survival. Besides, this ship is amazing.”

  “Also, we aren’t wigged out by the android,” added Tanaka. “To us, she seems like a great addition to the crew. Not only is she capable, but she’s friendly and doesn’t come with medical problems and doesn’t consume food.”

  “Thank you,” said Selena. “I reasoned that my addition would be beneficial for precisely those reasons as well and was prepared to make that case if I had needed to.”

  “You are the ship, Selena,” said Kendrick. “If anything, it should be me making my case to you.”

  “Captain Royce,” the gynoid said, “you have treated me very well as a ship and you saved my body from the void of space. I am in your debt for those reasons.”

  “It’s weird to hear that coming from an android,” said Mun. “No offence.”

  “None taken,” she replied. “My CPU is a heuristic unit that is designed to form relationships and attachments. They replaced me with a unit that did not have that feature precisely because of that. It was the way that my CPU works that caused me to become self-aware and to resist my orders.”

  “Glad to hear that,” said Tanaka, sounding somewhat relieved by her words.

  “Me too,” laughed Mun. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” she replied, smiling slightly.

  “Well, we’re stocked up on all of your personal maintenance items, Selena,” said Kendrick, “and we’re stuffed to the gills with food. As soon as the hull repairs are complete, we can take off.”

  “The sooner the better,” said Mun. “I feel like a sitting duck here.”

  “Yeah,” laughed Kendrick, “That’s because we are.”

  “It is late, Captain,” said Selena. “If you will feel more secure, I will keep watch so that the crew can sleep while you attend to Miss Rhoads.”

  “I appreciate that, Selena,” replied Kendrick. “I’ll help you out with maintenance in the morning while we’re still parked.”

  “That would be most agreeable,” said Selena, smiling slightly.

  “Speakin’ of Miss Rhoads, I’d better git on over there now.”

  “Punctuality with a woman is always advisable,” said Selena.

  The freighter arrived at Atlas Station at midnight. Cargo was unloaded and trucked to a warehouse. All was found to be in order as the doors were closed and locked. Once the teamsters had delivered the cargo and left, only two security guards remained in the warehouse.

  “You see Kendrick Royce’s ship?” asked one of them.

  “Yeah, but I heard that Fujita and his crew got off of it and caught a flight back to Earth,” replied the other.

  “Weird,” said the first guard. “Guess that means Royce won. Glad I didn’t bet on Fujita. Wonder what happened to the Fujin?”

  Their conversation was interrupted when they saw a box open up and a man rising up out of it. The warehouse was not brightly lit, but he appeared to be clothed in black robes of some kind. They drew their guns and pointed them at him.

  “Hold it right there …” one began, but the man was now floating in the air, slowly coming towards them.

  Now that they could see him, it was apparent that he wore a black cloak and a black suit of some kind that reminded them of a ninja from a martial arts film. His face was covered by a mask that obscured everything but his eyes. Glowing, red eyes.

  Terrified, they fired at him several times, but their bullets seemed to have no effect on him. They tried to run, but when they turned, he was in front of them. When they turned back, he was again in front of them. Before they could react, he quickly struck at them with his hands, each of his index fingers penetrating one eye of each guard. They convulsed a few moments before collapsing. The man produced a vial of liquid and poured out some of it on one of the guards. He activated a button on the bottom of the vial that caused it to light up on the bottom and the liquid slowly dissolved the dead guard.

  He then lowered his mask and bit into the neck of the other guard, draining his blood. Once he had had his fill, he placed the vial into the guard’s mouth, its light still lit. The man then left the warehouse. The remaining liquid in the vial, now activated, slowly dissolved the vial and soon began dissolving the second guard. By the time the body was dissolved, the man from the box was long gone.

  14

  With the others out making their excursions, Fiona had ample time to retrieve her cargo from Kendrick’s amplifier. Her excursion to locate a public terminal had been successful and nobody had spotted her. More importantly, she had made contact with Jack O’Hare, her faction’s agent on Atlas. Fiona had a hard time convincing O’Hare that she was indeed genuine. He had instructed her to go to the Shrine of Saint Joseph of Cupertino and leave the package in the kneeler of the third pew, just under the loose padding, and he would retrieve it later.

  This would be it; with her cargo delivered, she would have completed her last mission. Fiona hated doing it; it broke a promise to Kendrick to leave her old life behind, but after this, she really would be done. And her cargo had to be delivered; this was non-negotiable. Joyce Keene dies tomorrow, Fiona thought. She would go the church early, long before take-off. Thankfully, the church was not too far from the docks, apparently having been placed to be convenient for incoming travelers to find, so travel time to and from would be minimal.

  Additionally, she could receive the sacrament of reconciliation from the priest. It had been some time since she had been to confession and she really felt the need to go. This was likely to be her only opportunity for the foreseeable future, so she had to seize the day. Also, she felt that she needed counsel about her life and hoped that Saint Joseph’s pastor could give the guidance she so desperately needed.

  Fiona still questioned whether or not it was wise to have her formula and notes included in the package, but she reasoned that it could be used for a good purpose one day and had to be preserved. She could not risk having it on her person or on the ship, but the doctor felt that she could trust the GLF with its safe keeping. For some reason, she was still uncomfortable with the idea, but at the same time, she was uncomfortable with the idea of just destroying it. Fiona told herself that it was God’s will that the data be preserved and went to bed early in anticipation of her morning mission, though the sleep she found that night was troubled.

  Father Ronan O’Carmody held a small service every morning at sunrise. He loved celebrating Mass as much for himself as for his parishioners. He usually had little to no attendance at the early Mass, but he felt that consistency was important. Thus far, his little church was barely surviving on Atlas Station. He had amassed a tidy fortune prior to the priesthood and had used personal wealth to make up for the little church’s shortfalls.

  Of course, since coming to Atlas Station to serve as pastor for the Shrine of Saint Joseph of Cupertino, his fortune had been nearly exhausted on upkeep of the shrine and on aid to financially strapped travelers as well. He also had occasionally sheltered people who were in trouble. Father Ronan was a very large and imposing man, and in a previous life, his size and skill had served him well in physical confrontations. Now, he served as a protector of others and as an instr
ument of the Lord’s peace.

  This morning, it was a middle-aged lady who graced the pews and was the only one present to join the celebration of the Mass. One is better than none, he had thought and he preached as though he had a church filled to capacity. When the Mass was over, he blessed her and was expecting her to go on her way, when she asked a favor of him.

  “Father,” she said, “it has been quite some time since my last confession. If you would be so kind as to oblige me, I need to confess my sins and receive absolution.”

  “Of course.” Father Ronan spoke with a discernible Irish brogue, but its prominence enhanced his very articulate speech. In the three years he had been here, never once had anyone asked him specifically for the sacrament of reconciliation. People who came through here tended to keep their private matters very private.

  “There is nobody else here, my child, so we can remain here if you wish.”

  “That would be fine,” she said. “I have been spending enough time in confined spaces.”

  “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen,” the priest said.

  “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” she began. “It has been six months since my last confession.”

  As the woman began to lay out her sins, Father Ronan simply listened without judgment. He took pity on this poor woman before him. He truly respected her courage in seeking out a confessor on this station, as in doing so, she was putting herself at serious risk, though he suspected that there was more to her leaving the ship than just that. She will tell me if she feels the Holy Spirit’s prompting, he thought. He then absolved her of her sins.