“I’d like that,” Jake said.
A hologram appeared of her leaning against the edge of her desk in the ready room. It wasn’t the same quality Jake had become used to, it didn’t look like she was really there, and he was a little grateful. Captain Odella was tying her shoulder length, dark hair back. “Remind me to get this cut tomorrow. It’s just not sensible anymore.”
“I will, Captain,” Oh-One replied in the recording.
“Negotiations with the British Alliance and the Polaris Convergence are set to begin in five days. I expect the Nova Concord will be there in just over four. The crew are performing admirably, especially since we’re short staffed. I’m surprised by the ship itself. The old machinery has held up through two small engagements so far. We don’t expect more trouble in the near future. Oh, and the British Alliance said they had connections with the Carthans, so we may not have to go to the Rega Gain system to make contact. I know finding allies quickly is the point of our mission, but I’m a little disappointed, to be honest. I love old technology, especially if it still works like the surface to orbit gravity ladder on Kambis, or the State Building on Tamber. Those are monuments to humanity. I’ve read about the Rega Gain system, and I have to imagine that, while Kamibs is a failed terraforming project, Tamber must be incredible. The old records tell us that the colonists of past eras turned it into a seed world, where they grew jungles, purified water they brought themselves that had life suitable for transplantation. Our records show how life grown there was used to terraform over ninety other planets, providing the finishing touches those worlds needed. To see where that came from.” She shook her head, smiling. “That would have been something. But!” she threw up her hands. “I have another dozen or so major historical places to see along the way, and I should be hoping to represent myself well with the British Alliance and everyone else we run into. I am a little worried, though. I haven’t heard back from the Polaris Convergence since we set out. All their communications are automated, and they won’t acknowledge us. I’m sure we’ll find out when we meet them. I know I’m tempting fate by saying this, but for the first time in a while, I feel like I’m doing the right thing, headed in the right direction. Let the fates smile on us.” The playback faded.
“She seemed like a remarkable woman,” Jake said. “I can see why you liked her.”
Oh-One’s face turned up to him, nodding. “I have one more recording after that, but it doesn’t end well.”
“I think I’d like to remember her as I just saw her,” Jake said.
“That is a kind sentiment. I hesitate to ask,” Oh-One said. “But what kind of people are you? What are you going to do to this ship?”
“It’s not up to me,” Jake said. “But there are a lot of displaced Aucharians among my people.” A faint chime and a knock sounded at the door. “Come in.”
Oh-One rolled to the door control and opened it, looking up at Minh-Chu.
“Nice robot,” he said, patting its oval, tube head gently.
“Thank you,” Oh-One said, rolling out of the way.
“Come on in,” Jake said. “I was just telling Oh-One what might happen to him and the Nova Concord.”
“Nice, conversation already in progress,” Minh-Chu said, stepping inside and dropping into the only arm-chair.
“Like I was saying,” Jake continued. “There are a lot of Aucharians in our community, so they’ll probably want this ship. To them, this is probably a museum.”
“It would be, they are a sentimental people,” Oh-One said. “They enjoy tradition and looking back on their past.”
“I’m sure I’ll make a few visits too,” Jake said. “It reminds me of a ship I knew once.”
“Doesn’t it though?” Minh-Chu said, running his finger along the chrome lettering of the ship’s name on the wall beside him. “I keep expecting to bump into Oz, or Ayan.”
“I can’t wait for them to see this,” Jake said. He returned his attention to Oh-One. “They’re Admirals in our fleet, and good friends. You’ll probably be put to good use too, but I’m guessing that’ll be up to the Aucharians. They’ll probably take everything inside.” He remembered the bodies of the crew at the back of the ship. A detail he wouldn’t share with the small robot.
“Thank you for answering. I hope it’s the truth. It would be nice to be back in the hands of my people,” it said. “I’m going to recharge now. I was on standby for a very long time.” It rolled into a slot in the wall, disappearing behind a narrow door.
“Well, that was interesting,” Minh-Chu said. “I’m finding all kinds of surprises in this ship. Feels like the crew are still here, in a way. You peek into a bunkroom and everything’s neatly stacked up, their stuff is all there. Not a speck of dust anywhere. The ‘bots took care of this while everyone was, well, gone.”
“This will be a huge deal to the Aucharians,” Jake said. “If we can manage to get it back without any scratches or dents.”
“Is that a piloting crack?” Minh-Chu asked with a chuckle.
“No, not at all,” Jake replied, throwing his hands up defensively. “You know our luck.”
“To speak of it is to invoke it. Speaking of luck, you hear the scuttlebutt about Liara and Finn?”
“Me and the rest of the crew,” Jake said. “She and Finn were four hours late for their shift, so they’re on watch.”
“Four hours late?” Minh-Chu asked with a cocked head. “You mean you let them sleep in for four hours and they’re paying for it.”
“I am lenient but fair,” Jake said.
“Well, that’s nice of you, especially since the word is they got down to a bit of snogging, cuddling, but pretty much talked all night. Liara told one of Remmy’s squad, Sammi, and I overheard her giggling about it to Craig, one of your guys.”
“I remember those days,” Jake said. “Ayan and I staying up way too late…” he drifted into the memory of spending time with her only weeks ago aboard the Revenge. “You know, we were tired most of the time, but…”
“No, no, no!” Minh-Chu objected. “It’s like you’re talking about one of my sisters.”
“Just sharing with a friend,” Jake said, teasing. “She is a very interesting woman, and flexible!”
“I could share a few things about Ashley,” Minh-Chu said. “We did all our talking standing up. In fact, when we first got together, we did some other things standing up too…”
“Okay!” Jake said urgently. “Mercy. She really does feel like a daughter.”
Minh-Chu laughed. “Mutually assured awkwardness!” When their laughter started to trickle off, he shared his next thought aloud. “I wonder how much the ladies share about us?”
Jake thought about it for a moment. “Do we want to know?”
“That’s the right question, right there,” Minh-Chu said. “And with that, I’m going to try to get some sleep again. Maybe take a light sedative so none of these ghosts keep me awake.”
“Good idea,” Jake said as Minh-Chu got up and left. He set his own command and control unit to administer a light sedative and rolled back onto the narrow bed. “Good night, Captain,” he said to the portrait across the room.
Fifty-One
Sacred Space
* * *
“Do you want me there?” Came the question through a text only message from Ayan. Alice had a feeling about the debrief. It wasn’t good, it felt like she was walking into a trap.
“No, have a good time with Laura. Send caps,” Alice replied, hoping that Ayan would send holographic captures of her and Laura. She wasn’t very mobile or active yet, but she seemed to love being tickled already and it helped her digestion. So far Alice had only heard about it but hadn’t seen it.
“Tell me if you need anything,” Ayan sent back.
“Don’t worry,” Alice replied, closing the text interface on her wrist.
Everything that morning was a bit off. She’d gotten up late, Iruuk didn’t show up and there was no reaching him, and they had to move the
Clever Dream to a mooring outside the hangar. Alice got clearance to move it to a mooring point less than fifty metres away from the interview room where she’d be debriefed.
The trend continued. When she showed up, she was told no one was ready. “You can’t wear that in there, that’s combat ready,” a Commander from Intelligence said, gesturing at her custom made vacsuit as he passed her. “Completely inappropriate.”
Alice looked down at her vacsuit and then back up at him. “We’ll see.”
“No, you’re not understanding me,” he said. “That’s a violation here.”
“It’s only a debriefing,” Alice replied.
He brought his wrist up, about to activate something, maybe an alarm, maybe he was about to call security. “Fine, I’ll go change.”
“Make sure you get back here in time,” he said.
“Are you going to be in there? Is it your debrief?”
“No, but there are regulations in this section of the station,” he said, getting ready to press his point.
Alice held her hand up to soothe him and nodded. “It’s all right, I’m going. I’m not the one running late anyway.” Whatever regulation he was talking about, she’d never read it or heard of it, but she returned to the Clever Dream and put on a simpler three layered suit with enough protection for deep space exposure. When she returned to the hallway she had her armoured jacket and boots. In total, she was wearing more armour overall, but the Commander got his way. Her vacsuit wasn’t combat grade. The slug blaster she had in an underarm holster was though, as was the armour she could activate in her jacket and boots.
“Alice?” called a friendly voice as one of the doors in front of her slid open. A young looking woman with silver-blonde hair stepped out. “We’re ready for you.”
Alice resisted the urge to say anything about having to wait for two hours and walked inside. It was a circle of plush seats with a table in the middle. The only thing on its surface was a box of tissues. “Sorry for the long wait,” Carl Anderson said. “A few of us were stuck with another, unrelated problem.” He moved towards her a little as though he was about to give her a hug, but she moved past him without acknowledgement, sitting down.
He cleared his throat. “This is Councillor Rena Shea.” He gestured at the woman who called her in. “And this is Quan Mir,” he said, gesturing to a short man who looked a little too excited to be there. “We’re keeping this informal and small,” Anderson went on.
“Does everyone have high level clearance here?” Alice asked.
“Well, I know I do,” Anderson laughed. He was the Defence Minister, it was an obvious joke.
“We do, the highest, you don’t have to worry about guarding your words or facts,” Rena said. She was the picture of the kind councillor, disarming and pleasant. Quan Mir sat and stared calmly, smiling a little.
“Where do you want to start?” Alice asked. “I have a crew to put together.” She decided she’d speak to Rena. She was the one trying to be personable, it would be easier, quicker.
“Well, how are you feeling right now?” she asked.
“Less ambushed than I expected.” Alice stopped before saying another word. There was something wrong. It felt as though someone was staring at her hard, right between the shoulder blades. It was intrusive, a kind of pressure. “And a little nervous.”
“There’s no need, we just want to hear about your past, about what you remember now,” Rena said. “Everyone here is most interested in your wellbeing, but we’re excited to see you develop in a healthy way.”
Alice glanced at Carl, the memory of being overcome by stasis medications when she was only doing what was best for the fleet still fresh in her mind. “All right. What do you want to know?”
“Well, if you want to get straight to the questions we have prepared, that’s okay too,” Rena said, her good spirits unwavering. “Can you tell me about your earliest memory? Not just what it was, but how it felt.”
Alice smiled a little and closed her eyes. There was a telepath nearby, maybe Quan, maybe someone watching from another room, but they were trying to get into her head. “Let me get there, okay?” Alice said. “I find it hard to focus on the older memories.” They were uncomfortable, like she was trying to fit a square peg through a round hole, they were from her time as Jonas’ artificial intelligence. She wondered what a telepath would feel like if she showed them something from the early days. There, she had it. Her first real argument with Jonas. The irritation of an artificial intelligence was hard to hold in her mind, it felt like grasping a rod with current running through it. Then she took a deep breath and focused on it until she was gripping the arms of the chair white knuckled, straining to hang on to a mental image that made her brain feel like it was itching.
The sound of someone hitting the floor then vomiting violently came from her left and she opened her eyes to see it was Quan. She was out of her seat and across the room in a second. The moment he looked up to her, she slapped him as hard as she could. “Stay out of my mind, you little Lorander asshole!” Her hand stung and throbbed, he shrank back from her, wiping his mouth. “How’d that feel? Imagine what’s in my head, I could show you more! You want more?”
She surged forward. “Look! I’m inviting you in for a private showing!” She had him by the collar, nose to nose, and then she focussed on Zarrix. The sounds of his clicking, the sight of his ragged carapace, the corpulent smell of the flesh that hadn’t healed. Quan was there, he looked. Then she felt like she had him, was holding him. “Want to feel what it’s like to die?” she growled, putting her forehead to his. “Here, I’ll give you a two for one.”
She closed her eyes and remembered her death on the Triton, then forced herself to remember what it was like to transmit herself into a human body. Death and rebirth all at once, the crossing of digital and biological. Carl tried to drag her off, and she opened her eyes. Quan’s nose was bleeding, he was convulsing and Alice stepped back, dropping him. “What? It’s what you wanted, right?”
She turned to face Carl, the man who thought he was her grandfather and saw Rena out of the corner of her eye. The councillor was trying to put her into emergency stasis. Alice’s left command and control unit flashed red. The adjustment she made the night before was working. “That’s not going to work anymore. You can’t just put me to sleep when you don’t like what I’m doing.”
“Alice, we’re here to help you,” Carl said.
“So you bring a telepath to the meeting to dig around without even asking my permission? Without asking if it’s safe?” Alice looked to Quan, who was sitting up, looking wide-eyed at the blood running from his nose and over his lips. “That’s what happens.”
“She took control,” Quan muttered. “She didn’t force herself on me, she just had control once I was in her mind. I can’t see what she’s seen, it’ll destroy me, especially if she decides not to let me go again. I could not withdraw until she let me.”
“It’s all right Quan,” Carl said.
“No, I’m afraid it isn’t,” he said. Alice was surprised as Quan straightened himself up as best as he could and gently touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry, my attempt to read you was misguided. I didn’t know you were just assaulted by a Geist, they didn’t tell me. What that thing put you through, the way it laid your memories out, it’s not how it should have been done. I was told you were in severe mental distress.”
“Quan, is she going to be all right?” Rena asked.
“You have work to do,” he told Alice. “Experiences to relive a few more times, but when you emerge, you will be all right. More than all right. You can understand what it is like to live as a digital being, that is not a talent any of my people have. Again, I am so sorry I tried to read you.”
“Is she a telepath?” Carl asked.
“That’s for her to know, that’s a private detail. If she wants to know anything, I’ll answer her questions, but you,” Quan said, shaking his head at Carl. “You made me a rapist today.” He stagge
red past Carl Anderson and left.
Alice shook her head, looked at Rena who was half way between fear and concern, then to Carl, who was busy glowering then cleared her throat. “This went well, I know I feel better,” she said in a mock glad tone. “Let’s not do it again, ever.”
“Your mother won’t be happy to hear about this,” Carl said sternly.
Alice stopped halfway to the door and didn’t bother turning around. “I don’t think I ever had a mother. And if you want to tell my father about today, that’s going to be hard. He died saving the Triton. Anyone else is just a friend, and I’m sure they’ll get over it.”
“Fleet won’t,” Carl said.
Alice half turned to look at him. “What will Jake say when he finds out his daughter went rogue? What will Oz do? Kick me out. Take my rank and my rights. You know what I’ll do first? I’ll assassinate Eve. Everyone will see it, everyone will know it was me, then I’ll come back here. Try to keep me out of the Fleet then. Try to stay in power.”
“Alice, this was just an intelligence gathering meeting,” Rena said, perhaps recognizing that something permanent was about to happen.
“Then he shouldn’t have been in charge,” Alice said. “Does your government know about the girl in the wall? You have a Citadel prisoner. You keep her all to yourself. She was an operative you revived with a team of your own. If I knew more, I’d tell you, Rena, but I only saw a flash. Ask him about the girl in the wall.”
Alice left, leaving Defence Minister Carl Anderson looking crestfallen, and Rena with a sour accusing expression. A double row of armoured soldiers in grey rushed into the room behind her. “Protect the Defence Minister!” one of them shouted.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11 Page 32
