Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework

by Randolph Lalonde

  “You’ve seen the ship recognize her and acknowledge that she has the highest level of access,” Captain Valent said. “Now it’s time for you and your people to take our down payment and leave.”

  “Before I go,” the major said to Ashley. He seemed intent on ignoring Jake. “I need to extend my government’s desire to work with the Triton once she’s back in fighting shape. Your fighter pilots have been helpful on patrols, and we’re short on large combat vessels, carriers especially. The Triton would be a fantastic asset if you were to coordinate with us. We’re willing to offer you assistance in repairs for a large discount.”

  “I’m sure we might be able to negotiate something,” Jake said.

  “I have to hear it from her,” the major said.

  There was an earnestness in his pale face that begged her to promise him more than she had a right to, but she repeated her captain’s words instead. “We’ll negotiate something.”

  “Thank you,” the major said. “We’ll make our own way out.”

  Everyone watched silently as the major and his squad left. That was it, all they had to do to get the Triton back. It was their ship again. Ashley was so relieved, so overjoyed that it wasn’t nearly as hard a fight as she’d expected, that she was on the verge of weeping.

  “I think she’s waiting,” Jake said, gesturing towards the door.

  Ashley looked to the chamber door. Inside was a warmly lit compartment with a spiral staircase leading up in the centre. “I think it’s a he,” she said, taking a step forward.

  Jake was about to fall in step beside her when she looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Minh-Chu. He smiled at her encouragingly and nodded. She wished she was inviting him inside instead, but it would be for selfish reasons.

  “Ash?” Jake asked as she stopped.

  She looked to him and shook her head. It took all the bravery she could muster to tell her captain, the man who’d freed her, that it wouldn’t be him in command of the Triton. “I’m taking Oz.”

  He looked surprised for a moment then put his hand on her shoulder. “Good.” Jake turned towards the crowd of people behind them. “You’re up, Oz.”

  Terry Ozark McPatrick stepped forward and Ashley took his big hand in hers. “He’s yours if you want him. I mean, I’m picking you to be in charge.”

  “I’ll rebuild him, better than ever,” Oz said.

  They entered the room together, barely fitting through the entryway side by side. The heavy chamber door slid closed behind them.

  * * *

  “There! A main processing and distribution node!” Liam Grady shouted as they ran down the hallway. Ayan’s lungs were burning. The darkened corridors seemed endless, and she was sure they’d run through half the ship and leapt up half the emergency ladders to get where they were going.

  An alert sounded in her headgear the moment they all made it around the corner. Her combat shields activated, and she drew her sidearm by reflex. Targeting systems in her heads up display highlighted five mini-turrets, the size of her palm, hovering at head level above the deck ahead in red.

  “Down! Everyone down!” she cried. Many of them were already dropping to the deck around her, their own combat systems warning them of the danger. The free floating turret traps fired as she took aim with the assistance of her suit. Several shots of the accelerated molten medium the traps fired peppered her energy shielding.

  Her training prevailed, and she took several shots at the nearest hovering target, missing several times before finally obliterating it. Shooting while out of breath was difficult, even with her suit trying to steady her hand. She missed most of the time. The other soldiers destroyed the rest of the mini-turrets, and the moment they stopped firing another alert appeared on her heads up display. Someone dropped down from the ceiling behind them.

  Ayan turned in time to see a man in a simple black vacsuit standing on top of Laura Everin. He swept a thick bladed nanosword down towards her head. The rasping edge hesitated for a moment as it fought to break through her technician’s suit. The weapon passed down the middle of her head then out through the neck, jerking, sputtering and ripping as it ended her life.

  Ayan didn’t even realize she’d raised her sidearm until she was firing. Her shots caught Laura’s killer full in the chest, the thermalitic rounds burning at the protective layer of the man’s vacsuit.

  It didn’t stop him. He swept his blade at the most important technicians within reach as several more shots struck his legs and chest, finally breaking through his vacsuit. He collapsed to the deck and Liam Grady rushed to the man’s side.

  Ayan’s shots sparked and burned violently, still trying to break through the man’s dark suit. He retracted his headgear; one side of his face was badly burned. She had to step over several bodies to get to him, and she stopped when she was almost standing over his ruined body.

  “Why?” Liam asked. “Why kill her? Why kill anyone?”

  “Citadel needs Triton destroyed. Had to damage your capacity to repair her, to learn,” Larry struggled. “Had to…” his eyes lost focus for a moment before he went on. “Had to try to stop you. Didn’t want to, but they’d know. My masters would know, and they would send more.”

  “Why?” Ayan asked, gripping the sidearm at her side. The question had already been asked, but it was all she could say.

  Larry looked up at her, the last shots that she’d landed were about to burn through the vacsuit to his chest. “Born to fight,” he said.

  His eyes rolled back as he convulsed for a moment and died.

  “He’s not wearing his command unit, there’s no emergency assistance built into his vacsuit,” Liam Grady said. “He wanted to die.”

  “Treat the wounded,” Ayan said coldly. “And fix this ship.” She watched as Liam gently laid Larry’s head down on the deck. No one was moving. “Now!” she shouted, sounding as harsh as Richard Kane, the most extreme drill instructor she’d ever known.

  * * *

  “Comms are blocked in here,” Oz said.

  “I’m pretty sure we can make a call from the computer core if we have to,” Ashley said as she led Oz up the stairs to a pillar surrounded by a band of polished metal thicker than her arm. The platform around them was made of the same transparent metal as the deck of the bridge, so many levels above, so many frames forward. The finish was slightly smoky, with flecks of dark red. Comfortable-looking brown sofa-like seating ringed the edges of the platform.

  The walls around them were coming to life with images from the local Stellarnet. News about the Carthans, Rega Gain system, and several of the crewmembers who had come aboard drifted across, up and down. Video of Ayan negotiating with the Carthans, of Jake executing the people who attempted to capture him, of Ashley in the hallways of the Triton and of Oz on the bridge eventually became the focus. The rest of the crew were imaged smaller between, such as Finn and Agameg who were celebrated in replays of them making repairs and installing the hypertransmitter. There were so many others, including Ramirez, who died fighting for the ship, Shamus Frost, Stephanie Vega, and Laura Everin.

  “Hello?” Ashley asked. Her voice seemed small in the tall space.

  “You choose a soldier and proven leader of men to assume command,” said the strong, calm male voice. “Someone you would choose as your own protector.”

  Ashley looked at Oz, who still seemed a little surprised. “I haven’t thought of it that way, but yeah, if I needed a bodyguard or a big brother, I’d pick him.”

  “Thank you, Ashley,” Oz said. “There are a lot of other people who would be just as good for this. Liam, Jake, or Ayan?”

  He was speaking to her very politely, which was a bad sign to her. Ashley was becoming even more nervous than before at the thought that Oz might actually argue with her decision; the thought had never occurred to her. “Chief Grady didn’t even tell me I could choose someone, so he probably doesn’t want it. Captain already has a ship and I think he’s bustin’ to get flying, and Ayan has so m
uch to do already. I think she’s amazing, but how much can she do?” she looked to the video playback of Ayan as she walked with Laura, Jason, Liam, and several soldiers. It was footage from an outdoor causeway on Greydock. Ashley recognized it immediately; the local Stellarnet seemed to love taking footage of the entire Triton crew, and often focused on Ayan or Liam Grady. Most of the videos focused in on Liam and Ayan lingered on times when they were standing close together, something Ashley hadn’t had the opportunity to notice before. “Maybe they’re already busy doing what they should be.”

  “While I’m managing security and logistics for a shanty settlement,” Oz said, nodding. “Thank you, Ashley. You're right, this is where I want to be.”

  “Guess I had weeks to think about it,” Ashley said with a shrug. “Only I don’t think I knew I was thinking about it then.”

  All the images surrounding them disappeared. For a moment the room was a dim yellow hue, they could barely see. A large holographic image appeared between them and the thick pillar in the middle of the room. Flashes of Ashley at the helm, in the Oota Galoona lounge dancing, spending time with crewmembers, reading training material, and doing a dance of joy after finishing her pilot’s qualifications for the fighters and drop ships aboard the Triton. “I have finished examining your time aboard and I see caring, perhaps an over-abundance of emotion, intelligence and so much potential. I understand why Citadel’s representative gave you a backup override level code.”

  The images were slowly replaced with holograms of Oz. The first featured him standing at the main terminal in the Flight Operations Centre beneath the main bridge. That image lingered as if it meant more to the Triton than others, then it faded into a more light hearted recording of Oz carrying several beverages onto the bridge, followed by several different instances of him working with crewmembers and spending the little leisure time he had with friends. Another image that lingered featured Jake, Minh, and Oz in one of the waiting rooms outside the large sickbay.

  “Reason, efficiency, empathy, and experience are only the beginning with you, Terry Ozark McPatrick,” said the Triton. “That would be enough, but then there’s this.”

  The lighting in the room turned red and flashes of Oz leading crewmembers in violent firefights across the ship surrounded them. Ashley knew combat was horrible, but she’d never seen such a waste of humanity. Oz didn’t just command, he killed with rifle, sidearm, blade, and by hand with cold efficiency. “I’m not proud of that, but it had to be done,” Oz said.

  All the images disappeared and one dominated the space in the middle of the room. His armour was shot up and Oz was bleeding, sitting against the wall surrounded by the fallen. Another man in foreign armour knelt down, his weapon at the ready, and looked into his eyes. Oz’s hood withdrew into his shoulders. He was smiling, despite the trickle of blood escaping from the corner of his mouth.

  The recording of Oz slowly raised his right hand and pointed at his enemy. “What are you fighting for?” Oz rasped.

  The enemy commander hesitated. “Duty,” he replied.

  Oz’s head floundered a little, perhaps thanks to an attempt at a nod, then said, “My crew.” He paused for a laboured breath. “My home.” The holographic version of him struggled for a moment longer. His breath sounded wet.

  Before the enemy commander could raise his weapon to shoot him in the head, to put him out of his misery, Oz’s breathing stopped, his eyes looking blankly ahead.

  Ashley had never seen anything that was harder to watch, but she refused to look away. Tears threatened to roll down her cheeks, but the Triton was trying to show them something, and she’d be damned if she’d miss it. Oz’s arm was across her shoulders, offering comfort.

  “Hey, I’m still here,” he whispered.

  “You weren’t so sure then,” the Triton said. “Your medical systems were damaged, and there was no way you could have known that you wouldn’t be dead for more than eleven minutes before your medical systems resuscitated you.”

  “Even worse than I thought. You understand why I didn’t bother checking the log on that one,” Oz replied. “Not many soldiers get a chance to offer last words. I gave mine to a solder I respected. Cumberland was a dutiful man, just like me. If we were on the same side, I believe we would have been friends.”

  The image faded and the room was filled with a more reasonable level of yellow light. “I’ve reviewed the information available on the local network, seen the Order of Eden, Regent Galactic, and all the accounts of the refugees you’ve welcomed aboard. We are leaving the age of artificial intelligence and enter the age of the soldier. I need you to guide your crew and me through it. Ashley Lamport, you have the highest authority aboard now that the Citadel representative is gone. Thank you for putting Terry Ozark McPatrick forward, I accept him, and will accept his choices as he recruits his staff.”

  “Thank you?” Ashley said, wiping a tear away.

  The broad pillar in front of them began to darken. “I’m awake for the first time in decades, and all the humans I was connected to are gone,” the Triton said. The pillar became transparent, revealing a tank filled with clear liquid. There was something alive inside, breathing, slowly flexing. It was taller than Oz, with no legs, arms or discernible head.

  The semi-translucent, smooth skin revealed hints of long strips of muscle that stretched as its body flattened, so it looked like one long, rippling fin. “I am the mind of the Triton. I’m also a highly evolved, genetically crafted human-amphibian, but I’m mostly human despite my appearance.” The colour of its skin shifted depending on the angle Ashley looked from. Patches had a rainbow hue like the scales of a fish one moment, then they reddened and became soft-looking the next. For the most part, the skin did resemble any human’s, though that’s where the being's resemblance to a human being ended.

  “We thought you were a computer,” Ashley said. “But they just left you here alone?”

  “Don’t worry, Ashley,” the Triton replied through the sound system in the room. Nothing on the creature seemed to resemble a mouth, and it wasn’t connected to any cables or tubes. “I am a computer, more than eighty percent of my body is neutrally active in a similar sense to the human brain. Through forced evolution, genetic manipulation, and species mixing my species was created for this specific purpose. To wake with this ship, serve, and live for as long as there is a vessel for me to interface with. Like the ship, I need a commander, a crew.”

  The more Ashley looked at the creature, the more it looked like a simple sea creature, like a soft, bottom feeding eel that she might have stolen away to an aquarium if she were allowed to have one as a child.

  “You’re why the Triton is immune to the Holocaust Virus,” Oz said.

  “No computer virus can infect me, and my mind is more advanced than even the highest order of Lorander Navigator’s,” the Triton said. “Not that I’m bragging. Actually, never mind, I am bragging, but I’m also being honest. Don’t worry about my solitude, or slumber, Ashley. I enjoy ensuring that the ship is functioning perfectly from one moment to the next, and I further enjoy my role as a silent watcher. Most crews never realize that I’m a being, they think I’m a computer without personality. It’s procedure for me to only communicate with a few commanding officers, and that’s what I prefer.”

  “I apologize for the damage,” Oz said. “We’ll find a way to make repairs.”

  “You will, and I know you couldn’t find any other solution, I have reviewed the records. Since we have the introductions out of the way, I need your consent to connect directly with you both. While Ashley won’t be in command, she will still have an override.”

  “I understand, and call me Oz. Now, how are you going to connect with us?”

  The voice that Ashley heard through the sound system in the chamber spoke in her mind then as it said, “I can focus my attention and communicate telepathically within the confines of the ship.”

  “Okay, that’s spooky,” Ashley said. “And really cool.”
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br />   “What do you need to do to sync up with us?” Oz asked aloud.

  “You only need to reply with your mind, then I’ll strengthen the connection with one of my memories,” replied the Triton.

  Ashley thought, ‘sounds fun, can you make it a happy memory?’ with surprising ease.

  “That was quick,” Oz said to her.

  “Pretty easy if your head’s already empty,” Ashley replied.

  “Your head is anything but empty, Ashley,” replied the Triton. “In fact, I see a quest for happiness, security, and so much worry.”

  “So do I,” Oz managed to reply. “I can see a bit, like some of those impressions are slipping through our connection with you, Triton.”

  “It is one of my gifts. I can acquaint the two of you with each other in a way few humans ever experience,” the Triton replied.

  In a flash, Ashley felt what it was like to be Oz. She felt his awe at the discovery of the Triton’s true nature, his confidence and a comforting certainty that he felt that he was exactly where he should be, doing precisely what he ought to be doing. If that’s how he feels all the time, no wonder he’s so amazing.

  “You’re incredible, Ashley. You don’t have to feel so insecure,” she heard Oz reply mentally. “And I’m not always like this.” It was as though he summoned the opposite sides of himself. She saw how uncertain he was when he was in a relationship, how he felt like he had to guard himself when he met men he was attracted to, and the pain he’d endured in many failed romantic partnerships. That was where most of his self-doubt resided. She also saw how he adored his friends, they were as important to him as family. Ayan, Jake, Jason, Laura, and surprisingly Frost, Stephanie, Agameg, Finn, and she were all dear to him. His sense of duty was overpowering.

  “You are beautiful in mind, Ashley,” Oz said to her. “If I could love a woman intimately, I’d be helpless.”

  The connection faded, and she could feel that she was only able to hear the Triton. “I hope that wasn’t premature,” he said.