The Complete Clockwork Chimera Saga

by Scott Baron

  “Thanks, Finn,” Vince said as he slid into a seat and joined Daisy and Gus. “That all you’re eating?” he said, gesturing to Daisy’s modest plate. “I hear you had one hell of a workout today. Figured you’d be loading up.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing, just that Chu mentioned whatever you said to Fatima earlier had her running you all over the base. Like, seriously far. I guess she had originally planned to just have you do a simple series of tasks more or less right outside the airlock door, but after you pushed her buttons, she suited up and changed the whole thing.”

  “Well, I could have been more tactful, I suppose.”

  “So, what was it like?” Gus asked between bites. “I’ve only done a couple of really quick EVAs on the surface just outside the doors, but nothing like what you were up to. Was the funky gravity hard to work in?”

  “Nah, you get used to it. Besides, Tamara switches up the gravity when we spar sometimes, so I’m kinda accustomed already,” she said. “Though trying to run in it—now, that is a different story. You can’t really dig your feet for traction unless you let your legs really bend. Otherwise you’ll just rebound off the surface up and down and not make much forward progress.”

  “Heard you found something, while you were out there too,” Vince said.

  “Shit! He knows!”

  He doesn’t know anything, Sarah. Chill out.

  She cast a calm eye on him.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Chu said you made a surprise discovery.”

  “Um…” She searched for a way out of the topic.

  “Yeah,” he continued. “I guess she was one of the original victims of the attack. Ash brought the body in a half hour ago. Commander Mrazich is having her prepared for a proper ceremony before we cremate her.”

  Daisy didn’t know why, but the fact that the steel-jawed, crew-cut commander would do that for someone long dead made her dislike of his replacement part-enhanced self diminish just a little. It still creeped her out, but his decision somehow made him seem more human.

  “Makes sense,” she said. “Can’t very well be burying people on the moon. They’d never decompose, which kinda defeats the purpose.”

  “Yeah,” Gus chimed in, “and this way, it really is a true ashes-to-ashes kinda thing.”

  “And there’s nothing but dust out on the surface,” Vince added.

  “So, what about you, Gus? How’s your mapping of the debris field been going?”

  Gus lit up at the mention of his pet project, and the conversation quickly shifted to less morbid topics from that point.

  By the end of their meal, all were happy, full, and in good spirits.

  Back in her quarters, Daisy was enjoying a much-deserved evening free from tasks and training, which also afforded her time to think further on the hidden panel mystery awaiting her far across the moon’s surface.

  “So, what do you think it is?” she asked her clever mental passenger. “It’s obviously hidden for a reason, but it also looked like it wasn’t tied in to the normal base systems.”

  “Yeah, I saw that,” Sarah answered. “We won’t know for sure until we get inside, but from what I could tell, it looked like a totally stand-alone facility. It was probably just a bit of blind luck that there was that one backup power cable running through the main conduit, otherwise I doubt you’d have ever powered that door up.”

  “Agreed. So what do I do about it? I mean, I can’t very well go running off across the base every time I do one of Fatima’s training circuits. Eventually they’ll notice.”

  “What about creating a shadow suit locator scan? You could load it into the system from the console itself. Keep it localized to where Fatima and Chu monitor from. That way it should stay off of Sid’s readouts entirely, and if it does show up, it’ll register you as wherever you want it to.”

  Daisy liked the idea. So long as she was quick about finishing whatever tasks Fatima had for her, she could use the extra time to work on the mysterious door, and if her understanding of Sid’s scanning system was correct, she could likely even re-configure her EVA suit to not register at all, if she wanted it to.

  “I’d be like a space ninja, stealthily walking the surface, undetected.”

  “Only ninjas carry swords. And don’t wear space suits.”

  “Or maybe they do, but no one has ever survived the encounter long enough to spill the beans,” she replied with a chuckle.

  It was a good idea, though, and the intriguing task warranted further thought. She settled into a comfortable position and started her routine.

  Soft is strong, she thought as she took a slow, deep breath.

  A calm began to flow within her, but just as she was settling into a comfortable meditation, her door chimed.

  Daisy sighed as she rose to her feet and answered the comm panel.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hey, Daisy,” Vince said. “Fatima mentioned she gave you the evening off. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to watch a movie with me.”

  “Ooh, look who’s coming around early. You gonna let him in?”

  I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I should probably focus on meditating tonight. Need to figure this thing out, she replied to her sister.

  “Come on, Daze, you can do that anytime. After a few hundred years, it’s not going anywhere. Besides, I get bored in here too, ya know. Even if you zone out, at least I can still watch the movie.”

  She considered a moment longer, then reached for the door controls.

  “Hey,” she greeted Vince as he leaned against her doorframe.

  “Hey,” he replied with a warm smile. “So, whaddya think? I found some pretty fun sci-fi flicks, but then there’s always that Japanese cartoon stuff you dig—”

  “Anime,” she corrected him.

  “Yeah, anime. Whatever you’re in the mood for.”

  “Wow, that’s almost as impressive as giving you the remote,” Sarah joked. “You sure you want to keep him in the doghouse?”

  Daisy ignored her and invited him in, moving aside as he slid by her passing through the doorway. The brief contact flared a physical longing, a memory of times they’d shared before she found out what he was. She took a deep breath and focused on lowering her heart rate. The heat in her belly, on the other hand, took a fair bit more concentration to vanquish.

  “I’m telling ya, Daze, you should give him a second chance.”

  You keep trying, but I’m not having any of that. He’s a machine, Sarah. Stop pushing it.

  “It’s for your own good,” she replied. “He treats you well, and you still like him. I’m your sister, I can tell these things.”

  Daisy tuned out her sister’s voice and shifted her attention back to her visitor.

  “So, you want some tea?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

  Daisy brewed up a quick pot of smoky lapsang souchong and poured him a cup.

  “I brought something,” Vince said, pulling a sealed container from behind his back. He opened the lid, and the smell of fresh popcorn wafted into the air. “The real deal, not food replicator made. Tamara had a few ears that she grew on the way here that dried out, and a bunch of kernels were left over.”

  “I was in the mess hall the same time you were, but I didn’t see you make this.”

  “I popped ‘em over the hydrogen generator’s heat sink. Wanted it to be a surprise.”

  Daisy smiled, and the damn fluttering stomach flared up again.

  Stop that! she told her uncooperative organs.

  “Pretty sneaky, Vince. I’m impressed.”

  He beamed brightly.

  “I hoped you’d like it. So, pick a flick while I use the head, okay?”

  Daisy selected a film from the mid-twenty-second century—a silly buddy cop movie following the exploits of a human detective and his Martian partner—then settled on her bed with the bowl of popcorn. Vince joined her, keeping a slight space betwee
n them, as she’d made clear was the way things had to be many times before.

  The movie played on, and despite herself, Daisy felt the exhaustion of the day take hold. In no time at all, she drifted off to sleep, sliding down into the comforting, familiar warmth of Vince’s shoulder. He gazed down at her, resting so peacefully, and smiled. Then he turned his attentions back to the vid screen, letting his wiped-out friend catch some much-needed sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  It had been two days since she had been pleasantly surprised by Vince’s popped treat, and Daisy had barely begun her morning centering exercises when Fatima dumped a particularly large box of parts in front of her.

  “What’s this?”

  Fatima pointed to the label on the box. Heavy Machinery Transport, it read. Daisy sighed and began assembling the model.

  Fatima had taken up the habit of randomly giving her this task at any point in their training, saddling her with any one of the dozens of ship models stored in engineering. For Daisy, the reassembly process was becoming second nature at this point, and almost a meditative practice.

  “Done,” Daisy said a few minutes later.

  “Already?”

  The prodigal pupil smiled mischievously. That is until another larger box was emptied in front of her, its parts strewn across the table.

  “Go!” Fatima said, starting the clock once more.

  Daisy’s hands started moving with purpose.

  “So, Daisy, I hear you and Vince are spending more time together. Change of heart?”

  “No. There’s nothing there. We’re just friends, is all.”

  “So, you can be friends with him despite the processor in his head?”

  “I’m stuck here with him, so I might as well be, right?”

  She jammed her finger as a piece didn’t fit as expected.

  “Ow!”

  “Soft is strong, Daisy. Relax. Don’t get distracted.”

  “I know.”

  “Mm-hm,” Fatima said with a little smile. “And how about your training with Tamara? I understand she’s still whooping your behind something awful.”

  Daisy felt a surge of frustration.

  “She’s not whooping me, she’s just better, is all.”

  “Not what I hear. It looks like you’ve bested everyone on the base but her. Even Shelly’s pair of metal arms are no match, yet Tamara only has one.” She studied her pupil quietly a moment. “So, what’s the deal, then? Has she got your number?”

  “No, it’s just she’s still pissed I blew her out the airlock.”

  “Well, one would tend to be less than thrilled about something like that. Might even hold onto a grudge for a good, long while.”

  “But it was the logical thing to do at the time. She’s a soldier. She has to know that.”

  “Knowing and forgiving are two entirely different beasts, as I’m sure you are well aware.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Nothing, dear. So, if she’s not a better fighter than you, why does she keep beating you? Any theories?”

  Daisy’s hands moved rapidly as she mulled over how best to phrase her reply.

  “She’s got that angry edge, you know? I just can’t seem to get past it. Whenever I think I’ve finally got her beat, that rage wells up in her, and she finds some way to spoil my plans.”

  “Daisy, you mustn’t fight with your emotions. That’s a surefire way to lose. You have to disconnect from all of that and let the training within you flow out.”

  “Is this more of that ‘The One’ stuff you all keep going on about?

  “Not exactly. The principle applies to all people. It’s just that in your case, there is a wellspring of talent that your own deep-rooted issues are preventing you from tapping into. You have to trust yourself. But more than that, you have to put aside all of your doubts and guilt and fear and just let it flow.”

  “Always back to that ‘Find what’s inside you’ line.”

  “And you will, once you stop fighting your power and instead learn to relax and embrace it. As they say, ‘Muddy water unstirred becomes clear.’”

  “Look, I know what’s inside of me, and if there was something special lurking around in there, I think we’d have found it by now.”

  “We?” Fatima said, a slight arch to her eyebrow.

  “I,” she corrected herself. “I’m not special, Fatima, and even if I was, I have no desire to go on some suicide run to Earth just because a few old-timers can’t accept that there was a war, and we lost. I mean, why don’t we just go find a new planet that’s not swarming with plague, and AI viruses, and nasty, four-armed aliens?”

  “You know how few planets there are with the right environment, Daisy, and no matter how you feel about the moon at the moment, one day, you’ll want to go home.”

  “Fat chance,” she replied. “Done.” She dropped the ship onto the table and made a clean hands gesture, like card dealers of old.

  “Daisy,” Fatima said, her eyebrow raised in an inquiring arch, “what’s that?”

  “That? It’s the ship you gave me.”

  “No, it isn’t,” she replied, picking up the sleek-lined vessel.

  “Fatima, I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but that’s what you gave me.”

  “It’s the parts I gave you, yes, but not the ship.” Fatima turned the model over in her hands, smiling brightly. “Oh, but look at those lines. What is it? A fast recon ship, but with additional crew and research space? Such an elegant design. And the unconventional configuration of the crew quarters pods between the storage and water treatment ones—extra shielding given the different sizes, but also contributing to a more functional and atmospherically dynamic airframe.”

  “Um, okay, if you say so.”

  “Daisy,” Fatima said, handing the ship back to her, “that wasn’t a specific ship I gave you. It was a box of random parts. Sid and Mal ran simulations, and they came up with several likely configurations, but nothing like this.”

  Daisy felt a warm flush rise to her cheeks as she fought to suppress the proud smile that threatened to split her face into a beaming grin.

  “I…” she found herself at a loss for words.

  For once.

  Fatima pulled another bin out and dumped it on the table.

  “I was planning on saving this one for tomorrow, but let’s see what else you come up with, shall we?”

  Daisy put the model down, and with a little grin, began digging through the bin, feeling better about herself than she had in days. As she worked, quickly fitting pieces together, Fatima looked directly at the tiny video feed link in the corner of the room and smiled.

  “Well, that’s interesting,” Commander Mrazich said from behind the monitor in his private conference room. “It seems your Ms. Swarthmore is finally finding her groove. And none too late. We need to get our mission back online, and we need it to happen now.”

  Captain Harkaway nodded his agreement, eyes stuck to the screen as he watched Daisy run through a new configuration of ship components he’d never seen before.

  “Amazing,” he said. “Utterly amazing.”

  Daisy lay in bed that night but found herself unable to sleep. Her mind was buzzing with possibilities. What else could she do? Were all of the others somehow missing things that to her seemed obvious? It boggled her mind.

  “Sid?” she said, keying the comms unit open.

  “Yes, Daisy?” the AI replied.

  “I was wondering. I mean, I know some early ship models aren’t modular like the newer ones, but are there any built-in restrictions on ship configurations?”

  “What exactly do you mean?”

  “Like, are there any design factors that would restrict use of components that maybe aren’t common knowledge? You and Mal and Bob would know, since they’re both ships, and you used to be one.”

  “Technically, we aren’t ships, exactly. Mal and Bob are integrated with ships at the moment, yes, but the cornerstone of our level of AI tec
hnology is our ability to repurpose from device to device. I, for example, was able to swap from a fairly large command ship to a massive moon base. It took some adjustment, of course, but we were designed to adapt this way. Of course, some AIs might be a bit locked into their ways. Conditioning, you could say, but given time, any of us from the higher-tier systems should be able to reconfigure.”

  “And the ship designs themselves? Mal didn’t seem to have any detailed files in her systems, and I haven’t found any here, either. At least not beyond the most basic maintenance schematics.”

  “That’s because when I was installed in the base, I found that the original Dark Side AI had already been destroyed, melted to its core by the AI virus. It was gone, along with all of its files, lost when the surviving crew purged the systems.”

  “You say it, but with the other AIs, you always talk of each other in the gender you’ve adopted.”

  “True, but the purge left no record of the previous operating system. I use the neutral ‘it’ because I simply do not know what gender it had chosen.”

  “Oh, got it.”

  “But back to your original query about configurations. I don’t see why there would be any restrictions. The underlying premise of the system was to allow for rapid assimilation and recovery of damaged ship components, and in the original design phase the engineers made sure that only compatible units could integrate. So far as I’m aware, you could not make non-compatible parts join in a stable unit, no matter how hard you tried. Is that of any help?”

  The gears were already turning in Daisy’s head.

  “Yeah. Thanks, Sid.”

  “My pleasure. May I ask why this question arose?”

  A smile teased Daisy’s lips.

  “Ideas, Sid. Just ideas.”

  The powerful AI waited a moment, a quiet pause over the comms.

  “Very well, then. Sleep well, Daisy.”

  “I will, Sid.”

  Daisy keyed off the comms and lay back down in bed. Her mind was racing, but sleep finally took hold of her, relaxing her body as her slumbering mind dreamed of ships never before imagined.