“Then I will—”
The slidedoor admit buzzer sounded a second time. George looked startled, then looked questioningly at her. “Shall I allow whomever it is to come in?”
“Yes. We can send them away quickly enough once they see we are in conference. Thank you.”
George touched the admit patch, then stepped back as Eliana Themistocles looked at them from the Spine hallway.
“Leader Sarah, I need to talk to you about . . . about our upcoming rescue of the kidnapped humans and our later arrival at Morrigan. But . . . you seem busy so perhaps we can meet later in the commissary?”
Sarah liked it when serendipity brought her a solution to one of her problems. “No! Uh, I mean, Eliana please, do come inside.” The molecular geneticist and fellow Greek looked startled, then stepped into Sarah’s front room. “You know everyone here. George. And Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper was helping me with colonizing plans when George arrived moments ago with a special request for me. But with you here, perhaps he should redirect his request to you.”
Eliana, dressed in an embroidered peasant dress she had bought from Rebecca, smiled briefly, then turned to George.
“Yes, George? You have need of some help?”
“Mistress Eliana, that I do.” George described his wish to help Matt in his combat efforts, his own knowledge of lasers, and why his Irish heritage compelled him to choose the pathway of honor. “So, I really have no choice. Perhaps, like your Matthew had no choice but that of Vigilante after his lover and family were killed by the Anarchate.”
Eliana’s expression turned dark. Darker than Sarah had ever seen on the white face of the albino woman, a woman who seemed to always be smiling. But not now. Her eyes looked aside, as if remembering something. She refocused on George.
“Choices that are bound by honor are something that I understand . . . better now. Matt shared some personal experiences with me. They were not pleasant.” Eliana’s expression turned grim. “So, of course I will help. Sarah, is there room here for Mata Hari to materialize?”
Sarah nodded, then gestured to George to move away from the hallway entry and instead stand by the bedroom entry. Eliana looked up at the ceiling, then half-smiled as if recalling how the ship’s AI had sensors placed everywhere.”
“Mata Hari, Urgent Code delta fourteen zee. Please appear next to my physical location. I have need to talk to your real self, not one of your secondary linkages.”
“Arriving,” said Mata Hari’s normal brisk voice as a life-size holo took shape.
Sarah blinked. Mata Hari was dressed far differently than her Mata Hari spy image of a black-haired young woman wearing a white, floor length chiffon and lace dress with long sleeves and a low-cut bodice, with a large cameo at her throat. This time she appeared in silvery chain-mail that ran from neck to waist, a bronze studded leather skirt, and a Turkish-style steel saber in one hand. Her black eyes swept the room with a look Sarah had only seen in the eyes of Matthew Dragoneaux, and in the picture of her Greek independence ancestor. They were eyes that said “I give no quarter.” She bowed slightly to Mata Hari the warrior woman.
“Mata Hari, I’m sorry to disturb yours and Matt’s preparations. But one of our group, George here, has volunteered to be a combat companion to Matthew during the rescue of the kidnapped humans,” Sara said succinctly. “He wishes to see Matt about this offer.”
Mata Hari moved slightly to inspect George, her sword lowering to parallel her left leg. She looked George eye-to-eye. “Are you serious? And what besides muscle can you offer to assist Matthew?”
“I’m serious,” George said in his deep baritone voice. “As for my muscles, they reflect dozens of hours doing vacuum labor on jobs outside the casino dome. I used hand lasers to dig mounting holes for the port defense lasers, the struts for the Tachyon Pylon, and . . . small holes for the guests of Owners who chose to play a low gee in vacuum version of an ancient game called golf.”
Mata Hari lifted a black eyebrow, then swept hair from her forehead with her free hand. “Interesting. But you must be aware that this starship has thousands of combat devices, from nanoware energy seekers to nanoBeads for surveillance to Fire-and-Forget KKMs to self-guided Offense Sleds that can force an entry into any solid structure. As we did some months ago in Halcyon system,” she said, stepping back from George so everyone was in her view. “Also, Matthew will be in tachlink contact with me every step of his action onboard the harvester ship, while various of my small devices will assist him in locating the human captives. Your offer is . . . generous, but not needed.”
George’s lips thinned. “Mata Hari, you are clearly an amazing battle companion to your Matthew. As we have all seen lately in these different space battles. But—” he looked aside to Gatekeeper as if seeking help. “But Matt is organic. I am organic. Having someone to ‘cover your back’ is an ancient human combat tactic that can only be fulfilled by another organic. Like me. Let me speak to Matt about this, please?”
“Mistress,” Gatekeeper spoke to Mata Hari, who shifted her gaze to his light-studded sphere. “My experience with humans visiting and departing from the Omega casino verifies that organics of all species often desire one or more companions of their own species when facing difficult choices. I can uplink my organic encounter history to you if you wish. Lady of the Sword.”
“Proceed with the uplink.” The AI partner of Matt Dragoneaux looked intently at Gatekeeper, offered a sigh, then gave her fellow AI a tight smile. “Thank you, my friend. Your experiences are indeed helpful.”
Mata Hari turned her attention back to George. She swung her saber sword up to waist height, put its tip in her free hand as if testing its sharpness, then nodded abruptly. “Your point is valid, based on the human combat histories I have reviewed in the seven years of my work with Matthew. And based on Gatekeeper’s own observations. Follow me to the Bridge.”
She turned and headed for the slidedoor and Spine hallway, clearly choosing to act as human-like as George. Who followed her out with a Thank You wave to Sarah. She smiled at them both. This AI woman warrior already understood the value of keeping a friend close by. And George was on his way to whatever future would happen. She turned back to the twinkling lights of Gatekeeper and the helpful face of Eliana Themistocles..
“Shall we continue our colony planning and strategizing?”
Gatekeeper’s status lights turned from a solid green color to the normal variety her AI friend usually showed. “Yes, let us continue.”
“Sure,” Eliana said, moving to sit in a nearby cushion chair. Sounds like you have done some planning already.”
Sarah sat down and grabbed a datapad that held vital statistics on Morrigan, its people and its places of habitation. Someday she would ask Gatekeeper what was meant when its status lights all assumed one color. She had never seen it happen before on Omega, and now it had happened twice here on this starship. Both times in the presence of the Mata Hari AI. Interesting. She tapped the datapad and showed it to Gatekeeper, then to Eliana.
“This is a good design for a communal shelter, if we end up settling as a group in the countryside. What do you think of it?”
Shortly both of them were arguing nicely.
Matt left ocean-time as one part of his mind heard Mata Hari’s warning that she was returning with George O’Hussey, one of the human refugees who had a proposal for Matt. He grimaced, wondering if this was a tricky way to get him to change his mind about the rescue, but dismissed it quickly. George had always been a direct talking man who looked beyond immediate issues. Like his volunteering to help with pro-freedom messages. Matt had enjoyed playing chess with him during the Translation trip, and felt happy at the joint decision of George and Suzanne to be a Committed couple.
The Spine pressure hatch opened with a slight air pressure equalization sound, then Mata Hari stepped over the hatch rim, followed by George. They both stood at the back of the Bridge, outlined by the red diagonal stripes that encircled every pressure hatch on this al
ien starship. Pulling the fiber optic cable off his neck, Matt climbed out of the Interlock Pit and moved to sit in Eliana’s accel-couch, turning it to face his two visitors.
“George, Mata Hari has told me you are here because my Eliana thought you had something worthwhile to say to me. What is that?”
O’Hussey glanced around the Bridge, stared a moment at the cluster of Memory Pillars that housed Mata Hari’s AI mind, glanced at the front holosphere that depicted the space before them, and then faced Matt. He gave a slight bow.
“Vigilante, I am Irish by heritage. We of Eire hold tight to honor and the duty to show courage in a fight to achieve what is right. Your rescue of these captives is a right cause. I wish to accompany you to the harvester starship as you battle companion. I’ve used hand lasers before, in my Repairs job. And I’ve spent months in vacuum while working at Omega,” he said, running out of breath.
Matt scanned the flushed face of the stocky, heavily muscled man who kept his black beard properly trimmed, his Repairs jumpsuit clean and his boots decently secured. He knew that in combat the small details often became as important as who held what weapon. And while Suit would allow him to overcome any opposition from the ship’s crew, having George available as a human backup to help with getting the captives onto the Ariadne shuttle would be useful. Of course he would be in constant contact with his partner Mata Hari, and would rely on her SpyEye floaters and SensorBead gyrocopters to scout ahead, but having someone who could cover his back would be nice. But would George obey him instantly, since his cyborg senses gave Matt a reaction time faster than any normal human or alien?
“Thank you. Drop your jumpsuit. Get naked.”
George looked startled, glanced at Matt’s Barbarian Queen partner, then shrugged. “Sure.”
Without clothes George did indeed show a decent musculature from hard work and the weight of carrying tools that did not have their own Nullgrav plate. He appeared to be 35 Earth years in age, with no bags under his eyes nor excess weight from overindulgence. He doubted the man was a heavy drinker. Though Mata Hari would check his biochemistry before Matt left for the rescue. “Good. Mata Hari, make visible your laser beams as you scan George’s body for making a combat suit similar to the one you did for Eliana. And provide him with a cutdown Magnum laser handgun like Eliana’s.”
George watched dozens of red laser beams perform a low power survey of his naked body, then looked to Matt. “Is this kind of optoelectronic scanning the reason you sometimes go unclothed in the Spine hallway?”
“Yes.” It was nice to see George making the obvious conclusion from the body scan and Matt’s own nakedness. “Before your crowd came aboard, I was naked most of the time. Mata Hari prefers it as it gives her the greatest surface area in which to sensor link my body to her mind, and to link my body with functions of this starship.” Matt looked aside at the intense stare of his partner. Her eyes held a look he realized was similar to what he saw in his own eyes when using a mirror for cleanup. So be it.
“Mata Hari, please make the fabrication of a combat suit for George a top priority,” Matt said, turning his gaze to George. “Give his helmet full tachlink capability, multi-spectral vision and scanning, onboard food and water, Nullgrav boot plates, external speakers and pressors for basic defense against any solids that approach him. And provide any other option you think helpful to his support task.”
“Will do,” said the Barbarian Queen as she looked George up and down, then caused a holo combat suit to overlay George’s body. “Will something like this do, Matthew?”
He noticed the extra heavy ceramic armor, the coating of sapphire crystals for laser deflection, a copy of his Running Wolf motif and a sturdy helmet similar to the one he had while in Suit. No backpack, of course, since it would take weeks to fabricate a duplicate of Matt’s Suit. But her design for George would keep him safe from handgun lasers, thrown explosives and nerve gases.
“Looks fine to me,” Matt said. “George, dress and return to your lady. Mata Hari will call you in a few hours to try on your combat suit. Spend at least three hours walking in it and working its onboard Tactical CPU and other devices. You don’t need to be guessing how to turn on your Nullgrav boots when entering an enemy ship.”
“I will. And thank you, Vigilante. You can rely on me.”
CHAPTER TEN
Matt stared at the holosphere image of the genome harvester starship that had obeyed Mata Hari’s fake Anarchate Stop and Await command for a live inspection by Anarchate officials. It looked like an upgraded corvette, with top and belly mounted laser domes, plus a proton beamer mounted at its nose. Better armed than the local system’s corvette, he suspected, plus faster. It had indeed been accelerating up to one quarter lightspeed. Now, it floated in space in the darkness beyond Dagda’s seventh planet, but still far from the heliopause. Far behind was the Morrigan corvette, which only now was passing the sixth planet gas giant that someone had named Abhean. Matt shrugged. Names did not matter to him. What mattered was this ship, its crew, its weapons and how it might react to his arrival aboard their shuttle, Ariadne. He looked to his right at the dragon form of BattleMind, who had just now appeared on the Bridge.
“You know from sharing by Mata Hari why and how I plan to board this starship,” Matt told the scaly alien. “Because it is an outlaw ship that operates under Anarchate dominion, my combat on board it will be helpful to your conquest plans for this galaxy. Agreed?”
“Irrelevant,” growled BattleMind as it half-spread its giant wings. “This craft could easily be destroyed by a low power excimer laser. But you have this weakness for salvaging organic lives.” The dragon looked across at a seated Eliana and the holo of a battle-dressed Mata Hari. “At least the upcoming landing on the third planet will rid my home of most of this organic infestation.”
Matt gritted his teeth, wanting to argue. He did not. Instead, he climbed out of the Interlock Pit and walked toward Suit where it stood against the back wall. “Yes, soon the 152 human refugees will be gone from this starship. Then we will head for our next combat site. But until then, I have a duty of honor to carry out. If you have any concept of honor, that is.”
The dragon’s red eyes appeared in his mind via optical neurolinking. “My Task is paramount. Doing my job in the most complete way possible is why I tolerate you, your Eliana and the linkage you call Mata Hari. You three do have your uses. But while you waste time I will review the Anarchate Combat Command sites for a location suitable for a further lesson. Do not disturb me.”
The disappearance of BattleMind from his mind and from the Bridge left Matt feeling . . . less crowded. He nodded aside to Eliana. “My love, you will see all that I see via tachlink to the front holosphere. And Mata Hari can explain anything while also working with me and George. Now, it is time for me to enter Suit and join George aboard the shuttle. Later.”
“Later, my dearest,” came Eliana’s soft voice even as Matt entered Suit from the back, felt for the exoskeleton footpads, ducked his head under and up into the helmet, pushed his hands out into his laser-tipped gloves, and blinked his right eye to close the back clamshell. Its closure was signaled by an Eyes Up virtual reality checkout display on faceplate.
He stepped through the red-bordered pressure hatch to the Spine hallway and began his Suit checkout. A one kilometer walk would be time enough for verifying what Mata Hari had already checked.
Matt blinked to signal the virtual-reality display to split into three quadrants. Starship Mata Hari took form inside his helmet, its hallway and outer skin shape relegated to the faceplate’s right quadrant. He studied the central tube and outrigger pontoons of Hull Prime that Mata Hari had chosen as the least unusual appearance since the T’Chak ship could not imitate a twelve-kilometer wide battleglobe. The left quadrant showed the placement of lifeforms, energy sources, and motion vectors—all in three dimensions that rotated within a miniature graphics display. He focused on the left side as new data shimmered into being. A downlink from Mata Har
i glowed like a red cloud. Within that cloud floated the harvester starship that ID’d as Powerful, while also showing nearby space, unpowered asteroidal debris, gamma and beta radiation levels, and solar wind fluxes from Dagda’s yellow-white surface.
Matt went to gestalt focus, simultaneously seeing the faceplate images and the inner surfaces of his contact lenses. On those lenses flickered readouts from the twelve weapons systems of Suit. All showed green-light Ready status. Watching the empty Spine hallway through the center of his faceplate, Matt ordered Suit’s CPU to conduct a Systems Checkout.
Hundred megawatt laser pulse-cannons stirred to life on either shoulder, tracking around the hallway, seeking Lock-On. A thump-crump sounded from each bicep as ten rounds of High Explosive Discarding Sabot shells cycled into miniature rocket-guns; they made each bicep look like a bagpipes factory. On his chest, the pulse-Doppler radar whined on. Millimeter-wavelength pulses ranged down the long hallway, probing the optical matter side walls and the flexmetal composition of the hallway floor and ceiling. Hard against his spine, the rocket launcher backpack grumbled down to Standby, told by Suit’s CPU this enclosure was too small for a kiloton atomic. But on either hip, and snugged up against his belly, backup magnetohydrodynamic power units pulsed to life.
We are ready! The MHDs screamed, sounding like little electron bees. They stood ready to feed surge-power to the shoulder lasers, to his fingertip lasers and to Suit’s tractor and pressor beam emitters. Other weapons systems flashed by, also powered on. Ultrasonic vibers. Fire-and-Forget Nanoshell launchers. Nerve gas dispensers. “Now? Can we go now?”
Vigilante Series 2: Nebula Vigilante Page 15
