by Robert Boren
“Thank you, sir. See you tonight.”
“Good day.”
I left the conference room, getting into the hallway. As expected, I was unsure of how to find my way back to the ship, so I asked the PA to guide me. I was about half-way through the maze when somebody tapped my shoulder. I spun around. It was Ostermann.
“You walk fast,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “Can we talk?”
{ 9 }
Railguns
I eyed Ostermann as she waited for my response, standing next to her in the hallway.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.
“It’s sensitive,” she said in a hushed tone, doing an obvious glance at her arm, the PA system showing the yellow status indicator.
“You’ve got it sleeping,” I whispered. “I don’t trust that.”
“Yours is on,” she said.
I chuckled. “Yeah, because there’s no way I’d find my way back to the hangar without it.”
“I’d suggest you turn it off, but…”
“I know, if we’ve both got them turned off and we’re being watched, the level of surveillance will increase,” I whispered.
“You’re concerned too,” she whispered back. “I thought so.”
“Let’s go to my ship. We can chat there. Turn on your PA and think of a reason for going there with me, all right?”
“I’m in charge of the cloaking retrofit, remember?” she whispered. “I have reasons to interact with you. We could pretend to be interested in each other too. We’re of similar age and background. That could provide us some explainable time alone.”
I smiled at her and we started walking again. She touched her PA and the status light turned to green.
“What’s it like to live here?” I asked, loud enough to get picked up by the PA.
“It’s got it’s good and bad points. There’s plenty of nice recreation, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
“You’re not?”
“I’d rather cuddle up with my reader than sit in a bar and fend off propositions.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure you get lots of those. You’re very attractive.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.” Her right hand showed a thumb’s up, and she smiled at me.
“I’d be interested,” I said, playing along, watching her pale white skin turn red.
“Okay, I might give you more time than most men who approach me,” she said, on the verge of laughter. “The hangar is getting close.”
“Is somebody working our retrofit yet?”
She smiled. “The software update has already been uploaded and installed. That’s one of the reasons I want to go there. It’s always best to check things before we go further.”
We approached the gate and submitted to the bio checks, the attendant waving us through.
“That color is interesting, Captain.” Ostermann said. “All gold. Looks like something out of a twentieth century sci-fi movie.”
“It does,” I said. “Oh, and you can call me Trey.”
She nodded. “You can call me Chief Technologist Ostermann.” She watched for my reaction, then giggled. “Just kidding. Call me JJ, if you’d like.”
“JJ it is,” I said, leading her to the rear of the ship. I spoke the code into my PA and the ramp lowered. “After you.”
She walked up the ramp, me following. I tapped the PA and the ramp closed.
“Quiet in here,” she said as we walked through the loading dock.
“Most of my crew probably went to the recreation area. Let’s go chat in my stateroom.”
She nodded, and I took her there.
“Nice,” she said, walking in.
“It’s a third the size of my stateroom on the New Jersey. Have a seat. I nodded at the table and chairs against the far wall. “I’ll have to put most of my possessions in storage now that I’m moving here full-time. They won’t fit.”
“Does that upset you? It wasn’t the nicest way to let you know.”
I chuckled. “That’s Vermillion. He thinks I’m onboard with everything he wants to do.”
She got closer, moving her chair towards mine. “Sure you want to say that?”
“Nolan came up with a way to wipe the PA devices and the Zephyrus sub-net.”
“That’s not legal.”
“I know, and Vermillion already called me on it. I told him that Nolan did it, and why. He’s not going to deal with it until this mission is over, so don’t worry. Anything we say here will be gone before they can access it.”
“Won’t mine transmit directly to the base sub-net?”
“Not through the shielding on this ship. It’ll record to your PA for upload later, and since you’ve already been auto-logged onto our sub-net, your device will be wiped of everything said onboard through that connection, as long as you’re here for the next run.”
“Ah, I get it, so I’ve got a free pass, for now.”
“Yes, for now. What were you going to tell me?”
“The Overlords convinced the Central Authority Intel Committee to add a new bundle of enhancements to the PA System.”
My stomach dropped. “Oh, shit, what now?”
“Lots of little things for future use, but two things that they want available as soon as possible.”
“What are they?” I asked.
“One is the capability to override privacy modes and settings.”
“So they can listen in without us knowing. I thought they could already do that.”
“Well, yes and no,” she said. “Currently they must upload a temp system to your PA device to take control, and they have to go physically to your sub-net to do the install. It’s illegal to do it remotely.”
“They still have to get a warrant, though, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. They’re saying they need this capability because of the black-market smuggling of spikers that’s been going on lately. They can’t get to the sub-nets on suspect spacecraft easily. Apparently their last few attempts have resulted in missing agents.”
I chuckled. “They’ve always got to portray the Central Authority as being in grave danger.”
“The other piece is worse. I wanted to bring it up in the Council Meeting earlier.”
“Vermillion shut you down.”
“Yes, even though he expressed deep concern when we talked about it yesterday.”
“I don’t like the look on your face,” I said.
“They’ve developed and tested a stun capability.”
“What?”
“If the Central Authority thinks you’re doing something illegal, they can use your PA to stun you into unconsciousness.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Son of a bitch. They still have to get a judge to sign off, I hope.”
“Yes, but everybody gets the updated software on their PAs, like it or not.”
I shook my head. “They’ve fudged the requirements for oversight before. This is bad.”
“On the good side, the proposal was met with a mixture of laughter and outrage in the Senate.”
“That’ll only hold until they get scared of something.”
JJ’s brow furrowed. “Yes, like Clan ships in the Central Authority Zone.”
We stared at each other for a moment.
“This is like a bad dream. Maybe I ought to pay more attention to Nolan when he spouts off on the bridge.”
“You think he knows what’s going on?”
“He’s scared to death about the way our society is going,” I said. “Do you know anything about his background? I tried to snoop a little. His records are hidden.”
“He tipped off a radical group about an Overlord raid on his home planet.”
“What is his home planet?” I asked.
“We used to call it Kepler-22b. Their name for it is Aeolia. It’s a level two world, with a much longer space-aware history than Earth.”
I chuckled. “He’s ridiculed the idea that Earth is level two.”
&n
bsp; “Most other level two worlds do,” JJ said. “They think we’re more like a level four. Some even say we’re barely level five.”
“Screw them. Thanks for the info, though. It makes sense. Simone risked a lot trying to nail us when we left Earth. She’s got a pretty harsh grudge against Nolan.”
“I don’t understand Simone,” JJ said. “Too many contradictions. Everybody was shocked when she was appointed to lead the Overlords. I liked her before that.”
“She’s a thug in my book. I don’t take kindly to anybody firing on my ship, no matter who they are.”
“She’s been lobbying the Central Authority about the Corporation, you know. She wants tighter controls on prototypes. She says it’s a loophole.”
I laughed. “She’s right about that.”
“You don’t trust the Corporation?”
I eyed her. “Do you?”
“Not as much as I’d like to. I trust Chairman Vermillion.”
“Notice that he shut down conversation about the Neanderthals?”
She was silent for a moment. “Yes, I did notice that. What were you gonna say?”
“I was only going to bring up something that’s common knowledge.”
“And that is?”
“They don’t like the Clan, and they can hear Clan military personnel coming.”
“Oh, I remember reading about that. They can hear the Clan’s artificial pieces. Their eyes in particular. Scientists think it triggers a fear response. They’ll get violent. Is that really true?”
“I’m no expert, but it appears so. The Clan operatives had cloak suits on. They weren’t the best, but the Neanderthals heard them coming. They could see the flaws in their suits also.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, and one other thing. The Neanderthals didn’t have a shock fight or flight response. They planned the attack. Three of them worked together. They were hiding in trees, firing arrows at them. Killed one and wounded another.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. That sounds way beyond their intelligence.”
“They’re smarter than most humans think they are,” I said.
My PA dinged. I looked at it. “Nolan. He wants to come talk to me.”
“Want me to take off?”
“No, but let’s go meet him on the bridge. You can check out your software load from there.” I sent a reply to Nolan, and we headed to the hallway.
“Nolan, what’s up?” I asked as we entered the bridge. “You know Chief Technologist Ostermann, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do,” he said. “Nice to see you again.”
“Likewise,” she said, shaking his hand.
“I saw the new software install. It’s already running. Very interesting program. Did you come up with it?”
“My team,” she said. “It tested out well on the Tristar.”
“Excellent. Combined with my module, this ship will be very stealthy. Will you need help setting it up? I’d love to participate.”
“I was going to suggest that,” I said. “I want somebody onboard who understands how that system works inside and out.”
“Perfect,” Nolan said.
“What did you want to talk about?”
Nolan glanced at JJ, then looked at me. “Is it okay to talk?”
“She’s on the team, Nolan,” I said, glancing at JJ, who nodded in agreement.
“I think we ought to call the crew back here. Something’s going on.”
“What kind of something?”
“Several evacuation modules have been released,” Nolan said. “They’re floating to the surface now.”
“That could be nothing, if there are ocean ships waiting,” JJ said. “I’ve seen them do it before. Some of the muckity-mucks who come down here make a party out of it, complete with private cruise ships.”
“Only the best, huh?” I asked.
Nolan laughed sarcastically.
My PA beeped at me with an urgent message. I read it to myself.
“Who is it?” JJ asked.
“Vermillion. We’re about to come under attack.”
“I knew it,” Nolan said.
“Who would dare?” JJ asked.
“Three guesses,” Nolan cracked.
Izzy rushed onto the bridge, Tim right on her heels.
“There’s a red alert,” Tim shouted.
“Yeah,” Izzy said, getting into her seat, talking into her PA. “Sir, there’s an override keeping me from accessing the ship’s controls.”
“Dammit,” Tim said.
“Who else is onboard?” I asked.
“Deacon, Deneuve, Caraway, Dr. Hazelton, and a handful of others,” Izzy said. “Most of the crew is at the rec area.”
“Call them back.”
“Too late,” Nolan said, as they felt the floor moving. “The AI just unhooked our umbilical.”
“We’re being moved towards the door, aren’t we?” JJ asked, eyes wide with fright. “I’ve got to get off this ship.”
“Negative,” I said. “If this base gets attacked, a lot of people will die. I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“The Tristar is moving towards the door too, Captain,” Tim said.
“That’s the only other ship at the base that’s flight-worthy,” JJ said.
Impacts hit, shaking the floor, which stopped moving the ships towards the door.
“We’ll be lucky to get out of here,” Nolan said.
“The airlock door is opening,” Tim said. “Grab onto something. The outside door was already open. The hangar is about to be flooded.”
“Oh, God, all those poor people,” Izzy said. “I don’t have access to the controls yet.”
“Autopilot is gonna move us out of here,” JJ said. “We don’t allow anybody to pilot out of here manually.”
“Here comes the water!” Tim shouted as the hangar flooded, the ship’s stabilizers coming on automatically. “We’re moving.”
“Turn on the cameras,” I said. Izzy nodded, talking into her PA. The video feeds appeared on the main screen in a grid.
“They’re on, Captain, but I still can’t control the ship.”
More impacts rocked the base, a shockwave rippling through the water.
“We’re in the lock, now,” Nolan said. “The Tristar is right behind us.”
“They don’t have the module,” Nolan said. “They’ll be followed.”
“They’ve got the cloaking system,” JJ said. “The Tristar is safer than you think.”
The Zephyrus moved through the outside doors, the systems releasing to Izzy. “We’re back in control, Captain.”
“Get us out of here now,” I said.
Izzy nodded, talking into her PA as Nolan worked on a jump path.
“Heading for the surface,” Izzy said. We felt the sensation of rising, the front camera now taking the place of the grid.
“Why do you bother with that display?” Nolan asked.
“Knock it off,” I said. “We don’t know if the base was attacked from the water or the sky.”
“That was a railgun,” Nolan said. “I’d know those impacts anywhere, and my sensors verified it. We’re getting hit from orbit.”
“We’re almost to the surface,” Izzy said.
“The jump codes are on your PA,” Nolan said.
Izzy nodded, sending the data to the ship, which breached the ocean’s surface and shot into orbit in a split-second, plasma blasts hitting the shields as soon as we were out of the atmosphere, the Samson Drive kicking in, the dizziness hitting me. We were out of the solar system in less than five seconds.
“Whoa,” Tim said. “That was hairy.”
“You aren’t kidding,” Izzy said. “Who’s she?”
“The Chief Technologist,” I said. “JJ Ostermann, meet Izzy and Tim.”
“Hello,” she said, preoccupied as she watched her PA. “Can somebody give my PA access to the in-flight systems?”
“Captain?” Izzy asked. I nodded yes. Izzy spoke a command
into her PA.
“Thank you,” JJ said.
“What are you doing?” Nolan asked.
JJ glanced at him for a moment. “I want to see what the sensors recorded before we jumped.”
“Multiple railgun attacks,” Nolan said. “I’m already reviewing it. Looks like a Centurion Class ship again. Maybe the same one that tried to take us out last time we left Earth.”
“Simone,” Tim said. “I hate that bitch.”
“We don’t know that,” JJ said. “We lost several Corporation bases.”
“Why didn’t we explode the Samson Drive in that Centurion ship?” Tim asked.
“We might have,” Nolan said. “Won’t know until we get out of the jump.”
“Where are you taking us?” JJ asked.
“Same place we were before we came to Earth,” Nolan said. “We can change course if you want something different, Captain.”
“That’s as good a place as any,” I said. “JJ, let’s go to my stateroom.”
JJ stood as I started for the door, my PA beeping. Deacon’s face appeared.
“That was crazy,” he said. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Railgun attack,” I said as I got into the hallway, JJ next to me. “I don’t know more than that yet.”
“Fair enough,” Deacon said. “The Samson Drive is in good shape, but somebody’s messed with our shields.”
“That’s an upgrade,” I said.
“We still need to tune that,” JJ said.
“Who’s that?” Deacon asked.
“JJ Ostermann,” I said. “Do you know her?”
“Heard of her. Can we trust the shields?”
“Yes,” JJ said. “We installed new code that added cloaking capability.”
“I had a feeling,” Deacon said. “Is it the same one being tested on the Tristar?”
“That is correct,” JJ said.
“We need to go, Deacon,” I said as we got to my stateroom door.
“Aye, Cappy. I’ll talk to you soon. We’re down to a skeleton crew, you know. Just five plus myself, and one of them is still wet-nursing the Neanderthal.”
“Understand,” I said. “Later.”
We went into my stateroom, and I locked the door behind us.
“Security?” JJ asked.
I nodded. “Did Vermillion tell you what we’ve been using this ship for?”
