“What the hell is going on, Ramsey?” growled President Taylor.
Before the secretary could answer a mechanical voice filled the room saying, Greetings Professor Falken. A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?
A second later the air began to warp around the hand terminal Charlotte had purposely placed several feet away. She rose to look at the screen. “I did try to be reasonable, Mr. President, please remember that. Oh, and one more thing, it’s Captain Omandi, not Miss.”
Douglas Ramsey cried out in alarm and two United States Marines burst through the door.
“Secure that woman!” yelled the Secretary.
One of the Marines immediately moved toward Charlotte while the other paused for a beat as the room's visual display seemed to melt in on itself. Omandi pushed back from the table and circled around to grab Ramsey in a chokehold. Physical confrontations were not her strong suit, but neither was the Secretary a young man, and all she needed was a few precious seconds.
The air crackled and filled with the scent of ozone as a singularity gate morphed into existence. It’s edges wobbled, as before, but it seemed to stabilize much more quickly than she’d seen it do in New Orleans. Charlotte felt her heart fill with what she thought was a ridiculously undeserved sense of pride as Misha and Damien leaped through the, now fully formed, gate. They were immediately followed by Chao Keung whom she recognized from Howard-Prime’s candidate profiles, and a teenaged girl who she didn’t know. All four wore the stylized navy and red uniforms created by Linnea when they had first arrived in Ice Station Zebra.
Three more Marines suddenly entered from a secondary entrance located at the opposite end of the room. Misha and Chao both crouched facing in opposite directions. Each held what Charlotte knew to be HID weapons. They fired without hesitation and two Marines shuddered as blue-tinged stunning fields surrounded them.
A third Marine grabbed Damien by the wrist as he sought to bring his own weapon to bear.
“Tell them to stand down, or someone’s going to get dead,” growled Omandi. Ramsey struggled in her grasp defiantly. “Fucking idiot,” she hissed through clenched teeth. Omandi shifted her weight and slammed Ramsey’s head against the table in hopes of knocking him out. She jumped up and slid across the polished wood toward Damien.
“Forget the others,” slurred the Secretary, as he staggered upright. “Stop Omandi! Kill her if necessary.”
Charlotte pulled up short and faced the Marine who had managed to disarm Damien. She felt her eyes cross slightly as she stared at the HID weapon's steel gray emitter tip. Omandi almost laughed at the ludicrous thought that crossed her mind as well as the internal monologue which followed. Note to self: Androids are not better at hand-to-hand combat than exceptionally well trained U.S. Marines. Require all crew to certify in various forms of close quarters combat.
The Marine pulled the trigger. It flashed red several times, but nothing else happened. He tilted the weapon and stared at it for a fraction of a second, then reached for his sidearm. His hand never made it that far. Damien grabbed the man by the arm, twisted it backward, while slipping a hand under the Marine's other shoulder. Despite the man being well muscled, and over six feet tall, the android seemed to lift him effortlessly from the floor. Damien threw the Marine against the side wall then picked up the discarded HID and pulled the trigger. It flashed green for a brief second, then, like before, a stun field surrounded the man and he collapsed to the floor.
The air popped with the sound of gunfire and Charlotte whipped around in time to see blood spray from Misha’s left shoulder. She heard her security officer curse something in Russian before ducking under a second shot and kicking out with a foot. The last Marine’s weapon flew to the side and Sokolov gripped the man around the throat with her right hand. She lifted him off the ground and shook him. His eyes went wide, not with fear, Omandi noted, but with surprise.
“Misha, no!” Charlotte shouted. The security officer tensed at the command. “That’s an order!” yelled Omandi again. “Do not kill that man.”
“Fuck!” cried Sokolov, then grimaced as she used her wounded arm for leverage to move the Marine against a wall where she continued to squeeze his neck. His eyes rolled back and she dropped him in a heap.
"That's the last of them," growled Misha, as she turned angry eyes to Charlotte. Omandi saw Sokolov's expression change in an instant. Terror washed across her face. In that split-second of frozen time, Charlotte wondered, What in hell could terrorize Misha Sokolov?
“I’m sorry,” said Douglas Ramsey, “really, I am.”
Omandi saw Damien, Misha, and Chao all freeze in place and she slowly turned around to face the Secretary. He held the discarded Marine’s service weapon trained on her head.
I’m dead, she thought as he pulled the trigger.
It clicked and Ramsey's eyes widened in alarm. He tried to pull the trigger again, but the weapon seemed to waver beneath golden mist. A second later the entire weapon expanded in a cloud of component parts. They hovered for a moment then clattered harmlessly to the table.
It was only then that Charlotte noticed the young woman from before. She had her hand outstretched toward Secretary Ramsey and ribbons of undulating golden dust wafted around her.
Charlotte locked eyes with the girl and felt an odd connection as she did so. Annchi inclined her head. “It is an honor to meet you, Captain. I am Annchi Keung, daughter to your first officer. I hope to prove worthy of serving beneath you.”
Charlotte heard, rather than felt, herself laugh. She noted without any self-consciousness that the laugh held both relief and a touch of hysteria as she said, “Well, Annchi, I’d say you are off to one hell of a start.”
Chapter 41
TSS Bladerunner
Chao kept his HID weapon trained on Secretary Ramsey as the first officer hopped backward over the singularity gate’s threshold. It wavered dangerously, just as it had done when each of the extraction team’s other members had passed through.
He heard Karishma let loose, what he assumed was a string of curses, in her native Hindi, then shift to English. “If you are quite done, Commander, may I please close this fucking gate? Now, more than ever, I’m convinced that I’m absolutely bending some physical laws which were not designed to be bent.”
“Close it!” shouted Keung. A second later, the gate fell in on itself and vanished. Chao looked around and frowned. “Where’s the other gate? Captain Omandi and the others were supposed to hop from the Kansas gate to yours.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” yelled Patel. “I’m so sorry to disappoint you Commander, but I was unable to keep stable the equivalent of two micro-singularities which began acting on each other while both were open. Perhaps I should have just let them form a secondary conduit directly through the planet’s core, then we would have had no need to worry about alien pathogens.”
Chao opened his mouth to respond, but turned as he felt a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got this,” said Charlotte. He looked at her, for a beat, then nodded and took a step back. Omandi met Karishma’s furtive gaze, smiled at her, and immediately saw tension lift from her face. “Lt. Commander Patel, thank you for bending those laws for me and for not breaking the planet in the process. You are looking great by-the-way. I see you took my order to heart and got some sleep.”
Karishma smiled back. “I did, sir, but while sleep helped, I think the uniform and hair tie are doing most of the work.”
Charlotte chuckled and said, “I don’t know about that, but we can debate it another time. I assume everyone made it to Bladerunner ok?”
The chief engineer grimaced. “Not exactly, sir.” She saw their expressions, and waved both hands at the camera. “No, no, they are fine. They made it through the gate just fine. It’s Bladerunner, sir. She won’t let anyone in.”
“Except you?” asked Omandi.
“Including me,” said Karishma. “I’ve never been inside, not even onc
e. Everything I’ve done has been via bots I controlled from within the construction facility.” She noted the blank expressions then added, “Think of the construction facility as a nicely appointed three bedroom apartment, but where one of those bedrooms has been reconfigured into the construction hub for a starship. I control all the bots and run diagnostics from there. It’s where I am now.”
“Why won’t Bladerunner let you in?” asked Damien.
“Still trigger-locked, I’m guessing,” said Karishma with a shrug. “I gave up trying to hack my way in when Coleman took over operational control and was able to tell me about the Howard-Prime trigger-locks.”
Charlotte nodded. “Okay, then where are the others?”
“Wandering around the cavern, I suppose. I can’t say I blame them. She’s a beauty to look at. I think I might be a bit numb to it all because I’ve been here since there was nothing but pallets of raw materials.” Karishma glanced over at one of her monitors. “Yep, there they are.” She shook her head. “James is still grinning like an idiot and pointing. At least the damn fool stopped hopping around like a Mexican jumping bean. I’d show you the cavern but can’t transmit any internal images…more Howard-Prime lockdowns.”
“That’s fine,” said Charlotte. “Can you open a gate from Ice Station Zebra to you?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Karishma crisply. “I’ve actually gotten pretty good at it. That particular gate is the easiest since there are powerful fusion power sources at both ends. You ready to come through?”
Omandi turned and said, “Damien, I’d like you, Annchi, and Misha to go through the gate. Chao, would you please stay with me for a few minutes so we can secure ISZ, then we’ll follow along in short order?”
“I don’t like leaving you here by yourself,” said Misha.
“I’ve been in a prison cell. This is better,” said Charlotte reassuringly, “Besides, I won’t be alone. I’ll be here with Commander Keung.”
“Still,” began Misha.
“I’ll be fine, Lieutenant,” said Omandi, and Sokolov gave a reluctant nod.
“Forming the gate now. Stay clear,” said Patel, and a moment later the air began to warp in the now familiar pattern that indicated a gate’s formation. Karishma focused on yet another monitor as Misha and Damien hopped through. A moment later she said, “Ok, they’re good. The gate on this side opens near the facility’s fusion control room. I’ve sent Linnea to pick them up. It’s a pretty big cavern and fusion control can be a bit confusing.” Charlotte began to turn away from both the display screen and open gate, when Karishma said, “Uh, Captain, one other thing, if you don’t mind?”
“Yes?”
“How long are you going to be? I mean, if it’s going to be more than a couple minutes…”
“You can close the gate, Karishma. I know you are making it look easy, but also see how often you are adjusting something or other over there. I assume that’s to keep the gate stable.”
Karishma sighed, “Stable-ish. I just don’t want to make a mistake and turn Ice Station Zebra, and you guys, into a smoking crater.”
“Is that likely?” asked Chao, in mild amusement, but sobered when Patel nodded vigorously.
“Oh, yes sir, Commander. It’s just a matter of time before I screw something up. The Drac’ath developed these gates to operate in space as a means for ships to travel in a series of sequential hops. This enabled them to traverse vast distances or place communication relay stations to cheat light-speed constraints. I’m sure they would consider what I’m doing exceptionally stupid.”
Chao shared a look with Omandi and she said, “Close the gate, Karishma. We’ll contact you when we’re ready to leave.” A second later, the gate collapsed and Charlotte clicked off the display. She turned to her Commander and extended a hand. He smiled and accepted it. “I thought we should have a few minutes alone to get to know each other.” She grinned at him. “I’m Charlotte Omandi. Nice to meet you. Thanks for the rescue.”
He inclined his head. “Chao Keung. Nice to finally meet you, Captain, and you are most welcome.” He tilted his head toward the display screen. “You didn’t just want to secure the station, did you?”
She shook her head. “I’m sure we can get Coleman to do that. No, I thought it would be good for us to have a few minutes in private.”
“So you can be sure I’m ready to lay down the mantle of leadership?” he asked wryly.
She laughed. “Sadly, no. I’ve read all about you Chao and you’ve never coveted such mantles. Part of me wishes you did.”
It was his turn to laugh. “Because you’d let me keep it?”
“In a New York minute,” she said, then arched an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose my assessment of your desires in this regard might be faulty?”
“Not a chance,” he replied smiling. “You have the con, sir.”
“Wonderful,” she said dryly. “Anyway, let’s walk to the canteen. I could use a decent cup of coffee and want to pick your brain about our crew.”
She started walking and he fell into step beside her. “The crew, sir? If you have any misgivings about the crew, I’m not sure how much help I’ll be. You know them far better than I do.”
Charlotte glanced over. “Misgivings? No, not at all. I want to brief you on a simulation Howard-Prime ran me through when this all started and get your assessment of how you and I can best support our crew during the Drac’athian trials. I’m also interested in your impressions of their strengths, weaknesses, and things they should do more of or less…that kind of thing.”
The door to the canteen swished open as Keung said, “Well, I’m not thrilled Misha and James are sexually involved. I wish they could do less…of that.”
Charlotte paused at the door and stared at him, then nodded. “I’m surprised I didn’t see that coming.”
Chao snickered. “Don’t feel bad, sir. I don’t think they saw it coming. Anyway, nothing to be done about it now, but I don’t really like it.”
“Can’t say I do, either,” said Omandi, as she tapped several options on the coffee machine, then turned to Keung. “You want a cup?”
“At risk of reinforcing stereotypes, I prefer tea.” He smiled. “Earl Gray…hot.”
Charlotte stared at him for a long second then barked a laugh. “Seriously?”
He nodded, and she tapped a few more buttons. “Ok, Jean-luc, Earl Gray it is.”
Charlotte tapped her hand terminal and confirmed the elapsed time. “We should probably wrap this up.”
Keung nodded, “Agreed. I imagine we are already at the outer bands of them beginning to worry.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Omandi, “I’ll call Coleman and we can—”
Chao reached across the canteen table and laid his hand on Charlotte’s. She stared at him questioningly and he said, “Thank you.”
“For?”
“You know very well,” he answered, “but I’ll play along. For this, the conversation and inclusion.” He waved a hand. “We are faced with threats from all sides and you took the time to—”
“Chao,” interrupted Omandi, “it was not altruism. You are the only one with whom I can be completely open. If something happens to me, you’re it. Conversely, if nothing happens to me, I still can’t complain or worry to the crew. I have to be what they expect me to be, not so with you. If anything, I should be thanking you. It is a great blessing to have a partner.”
Keung affected a seated bow. “You honor me, Captain. Truly. I will not let you down.”
“Never thought you would,” she said with a smile, then turned her head slightly. “Coleman…”
Instantly the AI materialized. “I am here, Captain. How may I serve?”
“We need to secure ISZ against any chance it might be found once we transit to Bladerunner. I don’t want to run the risk of some U.N. assholes getting access to its offensive or defensive systems.”
“I could scuttle the station,” said Coleman.
“That seems a bit extreme,�
�� murmured Keung, and Charlotte shot him a smile of agreement.
“I was thinking something a touch less drastic. I’m hoping we all survive the next seven days, and have come to enjoy our icy fortress of solitude.”
“Very good, sir,” said Coleman, “I could power down the reactor, set all defense systems to automatic, and allow them to run off the station’s batteries. With the reactor off, odds of the station being found are almost incalculably low.”
Omandi nodded. “How long will the batteries last in that mode?”
“About two years.”
“I can’t imagine we’d need more than that,” she said, then glanced mischievously toward Keung before saying, “Coleman, make it so.”
Chao laughed. “Am I ever going to live down the implications of simply enjoying a hot cup of Earl Gray?”
“Nope,” she said rising. “Now let’s get into character, Commander, because it’s time to ask our long-suffering chief engineer to bend some more physical laws.”
Chao reached over to steady Charlotte. She gave him a grateful nod then leaned forward with her hands on thighs.
Rick stepped up and placed a hand on her head. It glowed for a brief moment and he said, “You’ll feel better in a few seconds.”
Charlotte took several deep breaths, then said, “This happened the last time too, when we gated from Kansas to ISZ. This feels worse though.”
The doctor nodded. “You are experiencing vestibular toxicity due to the rapid change in location. It’s likely the corresponding altitude shift is what’s making your symptoms more severe this time.”
Omandi breathed out slowly. “I don’t like it.”
Rick chuckled. “I imagine you don’t. Your mind works significantly faster than others so your reaction to such drastic shifts is more acute. What you’re experiencing is actually a residual evolutionary response to poisoning. That’s why you feel nauseous. Your ancient self thinks vomiting will make things better.”
Paradigm 2045- Trinity's Children Page 45
