by S. H. Jucha
The bridge crew focused on Z. Their eyes blinked. They desperately wanted to believe Z’s assumption that the danger had passed.
Suntred glanced at Sargut, who was whistling his relief. “We’re safe?” she asked him.
“Anything from Artifice, Miriamelle?” Sargut asked. He thought it odd that he’d come to depend on a SADE for absolute accuracy.
“Your concerns are understandable, Commander,” Miriamelle replied. “Rest assured that I would have informed you immediately of any such conditions. This is your ship; I’m here to serve and protect you.”
“Thank you,” Sargut replied. He looked at the anxious faces of his bridge crew and said, “We’re clear.”
Loud whistles echoed around the bridge, as the crew celebrated.
Sargut quieted the crew and ordered contact with the other two ships so that he could inform the commanders that the SADEs believed the ships and crews were safe.
A bridge officer pulled up the ship’s diagram. He accessed the shuttle deck and indicated the bay that held the commander’s shuttle, and Z and Luther exited the bridge. When the SADEs arrived at the traveler’s bay, they found Chandra standing beside a grav pallet, which was loaded with the sisters and the ancillary support equipment.
“Well done,” Z said pleasantly, after conducting an inventory, which had taken him a couple of ticks to manage. He had no doubt that Luther had done the same thing.
“May the stars watch over you,” Chandra said. She smiled briefly and reentered the airlock to take up her post in the traveler.
The commander’s shuttle pilot was befuddled by the sled that Z pulled. It was heavily loaded and yet floated off the deck.
“There’s cargo room below the passenger level,” the pilot offered.
“Pressurized and heated?” Luther asked.
When the pilot shook his head, Luther ascended the ramp, and Z quickly passed him bundles of equipment. They swiftly unloaded the pallet. Then Z hoisted the grav pallet and passed it to Luther.
Alex had worked quietly and diligently to prevent alien races from knowing the extent of the SADEs’ strength. They would expect Z, by his mere size, to possess enormous power, but Luther had just demonstrated that the typical SADE avatar was also tremendously strong.
The shuttle’s interior was without seats. Instead, rods hung from the overhead for grasping. The Toralians slipped off their padded deck boots, grabbed the rods with their hands, and swung their feet up. Their elongated toes and flexible feet wrapped around the bars, and they released their hands to hang upside down.
“We don’t fly far in our shuttles, and we don’t fly fast,” Sargut commented, before Suntred and he wrapped their short wings across their faces.
Z remarked to Luther.
Not knowing what the flight would be like, Z eyed the shuttle’s narrow diameter and sent an image to Luther. Each of them reached out a hand to press against the bulkhead. They used their free hands to grasp each other’s. Then they locked their avatars. It gave them a modicum of stability.
Sargut’s impression of not flying far and not flying fast wasn’t the same as flying smoothly. The shuttle’s jet pulsed to clear the ship of the bay. The shoves were mild. Then its engines ignited, and the g-force rose. The SADEs’ avatars held their positions, but the equipment slid toward the rear of the shuttle.
Z and Luther watched the Toralians swing on their bars by their feet, and they wondered how the pilot coped with the acceleration.
The shuttle reversed orientation to negate the ship’s velocity. Then it eased into a bay with its jets and landed with a thump on the deck.
The SADEs unloaded their sisters and the equipment. Then they followed Sargut and Suntred through the battleship. In contrast to the rest of the fleet, Tranimus’ ship was more powerful and considerably outmassed the other battleships.
The grand commander waited in his quarters for his guests.
Z left the grav pallet in the corridor. He noticed the eagerness in the grand commander’s eyes fade, when he saw who accompanied Sargut and Suntred.
“Miranda is with Alex, Grand Commander Tranimus,” Z said.
“Perceptive of you,” Tranimus allowed. “But then that’s part of your makeup, isn’t it?”
“If you’re referring to our computational speed, awareness of minute details, and ability to formulate logical conclusions, then you’d be correct, Grand Commander,” Z replied.
A tap at the door announced the entry of Taralum. Sargut and Suntred were surprised to see her. As the expedition’s senior commander, it was Sargut’s job to render the report, and they wondered what was transpiring.
“We can begin. Report, Commander Sargut,” Tranimus said, taking a position on a padded stand and inviting the other Toralians to do the same.
“If I may,” Z interrupted, “I’d like to assist Commander Sargut in the delivery of his report.” While he spoke, he unloaded a portable holo-vid from his pack, strapped it to his forearm, and powered it.
“Excellent,” Sargut said. A soft whistle followed his approval.
“The attacking fleet first, Z, if you would,” Sargut requested. “The Omnians preceded our arrival at the Chistorlan system, Grand Commander. By the time we transited outside the system, the fleet we were sent to monitor was inbound.”
Z delivered high-resolution images of the aggressors, and Tranimus stared at the imagery’s quality, not to mention the fleet’s two heavies.
“Some images of the battle, please,” Sargut said, and Z flicked through thirty short vids spaced along the battle’s timeline. Near the end, the vids detailed the final actions of Svetlana’s Trident, as the sister sought to make the ship’s death count by ramming one of the heavies. The scenes of the explosions made Tranimus flinch. Finally, the grand commander viewed the onslaught of the wedge of massive missiles that were destroyed by the banishers.
“A moment,” Tranimus said, raising a hand. “The fleet that was sent to destroy the Chistorlan home world was defeated, but how did the Omnians fair?”
“Alex said that about one in four ships were lost,” Suntred replied.
“We would have fared better, if we had more time to prepare,” Z said.
Tranimus reviewed the battle’s outcome. His fleet was nearly equal in number to the one the Omnians eliminated, and he was certain his fleet was more powerful than that one. In fact, he considered his fleet invincible against most other battleship fleets, except for a few other races he’d met. He certainly thought his ships could best the Omnian fleet, which might exist in greater numbers but whose ships lacked any notable armament. The image of the tri-hulled vessel, with one hull missing, slamming into a heavy and the cascading detonation taking out the other battleship, had stunned him.
“Who destroyed the two heavies?” Tranimus asked.
Z accessed his memories and played an image of Svetlana laughing uproariously at someone’s joke. “A wild woman by the name of Admiral Svetlana Valenko,” he said.
“May the stars return her to us one day,” Luther intoned.
“The Chistorlans, Z,” Sargut requested.
“Wait!” Tranimus cried in horror. “You didn’t immediately reverse course after the battle?”
“Everything is fine, Grand Commander,” Suntred said in soothing tones. Her speech was accompanied by the whistling tones that females made to comfort males.
“The Omnian SADEs ed
ited our data recordings, Grand Commander. We reviewed them and could detect no inconsistencies,” Taralum said. “The data streams were downloaded by Artifice soon after arrival. Apparently, it couldn’t detect any issues either.”
“You took a great risk, Commander Sargut,” Tranimus admonished.
“We’ll have to take even greater risks, Grand Commander, if we wish to neutralize Artifice,” Sargut retorted.
Tranimus eyed Sargut. He’d always considered the commander competent, but never one who might succeed him as the fleet’s grand commander. He now revised that opinion. Then again, he considered that at the rate events were accelerating, the fleet might not exist soon.
Sargut, Suntred, and Taralum walked Tranimus through the rest of the presentation. Tranimus was overwhelmed by the rapidity with which the Omnians made progress with their plans.
“Do the Omnians believe Herrick can best Artifice?” Tranimus asked.
“That’s unknown,” Luther replied. “It’s the SADEs’ consensus that it might prove deadly to us to connect to Herrick.”
“But what if Herrick can’t eliminate Artifice?” Tranimus persisted.
“At that point, we’ll hold Toral, and we’ll consider a new plan,” Z replied.
Sargut completed his report shortly afterwards.
Tranimus turned to Taralum and said, “Before we enjoy a meal, Commander, do you have anything to add?”
“Only this, Grand Commander,” Taralum replied. “I asked to be here for this one reason. I admit to feeling slighted when Commander Sargut was made Senior Commander. However, I can say that, without doubt, he conducted himself in a manner befitting the role. We found ourselves in the strangest of circumstances, and I believe I wouldn’t have led our squadron as well as he did. He’s to be commended.”
Taralum ended by giving Sargut a salute, the heel of a hand touched to a forehead crest, and Sargut returned it.
* * *
Chandra received Miriamtess’ notice that Z and Luther had launched from the ship.
“Time to go to work, Miriamtess,” Chandra said.
“One of us has been working,” Miriamtess retorted.
“That’s because you’re a diligent entity, and I’m a slovenly shuttle pilot,” Chandra quipped.
“That’s true,” Miriamtess agreed.
Chandra delivered a raspberry to her sister and settled into the pilot’s seat.
Miriamtess immediately subjugated most of her emotional algorithms and prepared to work. She enjoyed bantering with Chandra and would miss her when the sisters left the fleet. Only a few humans knew that event was forthcoming, while the majority of humans believed that the sisters would assume human-like avatars and join the Omnians.
“Can you determine our orientation?” Chandra asked Miriamtess.
“Our telemetry collection is limited. We can see in the direction of the bay doors, Chandra,” Miriamtess replied. “However, the battleship’s mass blocks us in most every other direction. At present, our view is along the ecliptic at approximately eighty degrees spinward from Talus.”
Miriamelle assumed.
Miriamelle determined their ship’s position relative to the fleet and the nearest probes. Moving the battleship quickly wasn’t recommended.
“I’ve noticed that the nanites’ spread in your pilot seat is indicating a change in your shape,” Miriamtess commented.
“Are you saying my rear end is spreading?” Chandra accused.
“I possess the data, if you’d like to review it,” Miriamtess suggested. She kept her voice neutral, tantalized by the opportunity to tease Chandra.
“It’s a shame that SADEs believe they’re infallible,” Chandra shot back. “I fear for the day when they’re forced to confront their hubris.”
“Be that as it may, I suggest some exercise to reverse your trend,” Miriamtess said.
Before Chandra could reply, music filled the pilot’s cabin. “That’s pretty,” Chandra commented. She accepted the program that her sister sent. It contained a couple dancing and laid out the sequence of steps.
“This is one of the easiest to learn,” Miriamtess said.
Chandra set her helmet aside and stripped out of her environment suit. She chose to practice in the ship’s rear area, which was empty of seats and available to load cargo.
Miriamtess taught Chandra about the music’s cadence and moving to its motions. Chandra worked at it until she was out of breath. Laughing, she took time to visit the facilities, get some water, and prepare a meal. She did choose to limit the amount of food on her tray.
Chandra was relaxing in her pilot’s seat, pleasantly satisfied with the exercise, when Miriamelle contacted her.
Chandra thanked the sister, donned her helmet, and linked to Miriamtess.
A New Terran, Chandra thought by virtue of the greeting. The captain hadn’t picked up her bio ID.
Chandra smothered her laughter. She could imagine the Trident sister attempting to educate the captain, with whom he was communicating.
“Hello, pilot?” Miriamtess queried, and Chandra giggled at her sister’s imitation of the captain. “It’s a wonder you didn’t hear, ‘Howdy, missy,’” Miriamtess added.
“What?” Chandra asked in confusion.
“Ser’s vid library,” Miriamtess explained. “It’s an ancient greeting in a group of vids called westerns.”
“Western where?” Chandra requested.
“Let’s save that for later, Chandra, when I show you one of the vids. In the meantime, we should notify Miriamelle that she’s free to reorient the ship to a position where we can gather system’s telemetry, specifi
cally on Toral.”
Later, Chandra watched a vid with Miriamtess. She didn’t understand most of the actors’ lines and wondered why they were behaving as they did. Miriamtess helped her with translations and described the society under which the early Earthers lived.
After the vid, Chandra stretched out to get some sleep. She dreamed of men with slug-throwing weapons, riding animals, and shooting people.
-20-
One by One
“Our sister is installed on your bridge, Grand Commander,” Luther announced, “and your ship is free of Artifice’s code.”
“That was quicker than I expected,” Tranimus replied.
“As we’ve done for the first three ships, Grand Commander,” Sargut interjected, “the bridge crew has reviewed all systems. There’s none of Artifice’s programs to be found.”
“We’ve learned, Grand Commander,” Suntred added, “that the sisters are a unique group of SADEs. What one of them knows, they all know. They’re accelerating their process by which they access our data, locate Artifice’s code, and remove it.”
“The longest part of the process is the installation,” Z admitted. “The sisters are faster than our fingers,” he quipped.
“Then we’re ready to proceed?” Tranimus asked. When he saw the Omnians nod, he added, “And now comes the difficult part.”
“I’ve not communicated your presence to the other commanders,” Tranimus admitted.
Despite the fantastic processing speeds of SADEs, Z and Luther paused for several ticks, while they digested that information.
“The commanders know that Omnians exist, correct?” Z clarified.
“Yes, and they would diligently search for you when it was their turn,” Tranimus said. “I visited every ship personally to relay those orders.”
“But they didn’t learn that Commander Sargut’s ship found us, and they’ve no knowledge of anything that has transpired since then?” Z pursued.
