by C H Gideon
John relaxed and leaned back. “Is that you, Reynolds? Looking like a human. What is the universe coming to? The most powerful ship in the fleet, and you leave it for that? Tell me you’re enhanced and like Superman.”
“I could tell you that, but I’d be lying.”
“Meatbag.” John pointed a finger at the screen.
“Is that who you got that from?” Jiya wondered, pushing Reynolds from behind.
“I haven’t had the pleasure,” John Grimes interrupted, fixing the group with his icy gaze.
“I’m Jiya Lemaire, First Officer of the Superdreadnought Reynolds. Geroux, Takal, General Maddox, Ka’nak, Ria, and Captain Asya.” Jiya pointed to the individuals as she named them. “Our crew is made up of people from different races, planets, and cultures. Still, Reynolds refers to us universally as meatbags. Are you an android, too?”
“Fuck off!” John spat at the screen. “One hundred percent human here, born and raised on Earth.” He counted off on his fingers. “Maybe ninety-eight percent.”
Somebody yelled from off-screen, “Seventy percent.”
“Fuck off to you, too!” John shot back before looking once again at the screen, his face returning to its naturally angry appearance. “What to do with an infested ship?”
Geroux stepped forward. “This ship is not infested, and we demand that you help us save Reynolds’ other personalities!”
John shielded his eyes with a hand. “I hear someone speaking… Oh, there you are. Geroux, if I remember the name correctly. You have some spunk. I’ve met others like you. I liked them. What’s your claim to fame?”
Takal gripped Geroux’s shoulder and pulled her back into the group. “She is my niece and a computer genius. We’re alive because of her.”
Everyone shouted their approval before Reynolds called for calm.
“She has saved our lives. And so has everyone else. My crew. A cab driver. A prisoner. A pit fighter. A recluse. No claims to fame besides crewing the most powerful warship in the universe.”
Ka’nak grimaced.
“You, pit fighter. What’s with the face?” John Grimes pressed.
The Melowi warrior stood tall. “We got our asses kicked once or twice, but we survived.”
“Maybe ten or twelve times, but that’s beside the point,” Reynolds confirmed. The others nodded in affirmation.
Someone whispered something from off-screen.
“I really fucking like the new Reynolds,” John remarked. “I’m going to come up and see for myself. I’ll be there soonest. Clear my Pod for direct access.”
“You don’t need a Pod,” Reynolds said slowly. His and Geroux’s eyes met. She tapped her wrist comp.
“Welcome aboard, John Grimes from Earth,” she said before one final tap.
His brow furrowed the instant before the Gulg transporter snagged him from his seat in Flight Control and delivered him to the bridge of the superdreadnought, directly into the captain’s chair with the crew surrounding him.
“That was great! Do it again,” he requested.
“We can send you home the same way, John,” Reynolds replied, offering his hand. The two shook, firmly, power in their grips. Ka’nak appreciated the show of strength, but Jiya and Asya both crossed their arms, wanting no part of a broken hand.
“I’m John Grimes,” he told the assemblage. “Show me what’s going on, and then let’s see what we need to do to patch you up.”
“Is the Queen around?” Reynolds asked.
“She’s indisposed,” he answered mysteriously. “A lot has happened since you left, and a lot has stayed the same.”
“I see you haven’t changed.” Reynolds crossed himself in the ancient religious style.
“Damn, Reynolds! You get a new body and a case of ass to go with it. Maybe we should spar and see what you’re really made of.”
“I’d love to give you a good thrashing, old boy,” Reynolds mocked in an accent that none of his crew recognized, “but I’ve got seven other versions of me that are dying. They need some hardware sooner rather than later.”
“For the love of his crew.” John nodded once. “Show me.”
“Geroux?”
“Follow me,” the young Larian said, glancing at Reynolds. “Uncle?”
Takal, Ka’nak, and Jiya fell in behind as Geroux led John Grimes from the bridge. After a brief pause, Reynolds hurried after them.
“You have the conn, Asya,” he relayed over his shoulder.
The group started to run, loping easily to quickly cover the distance within the massive ship. John was almost as big as Ka’nak but looked more refined and smoother. The Melowi saw it, too. Jiya bumped him. “No,” she whispered.
“I’m always up for a good ass-kicking, even if it’s my own.” He gave her the thumbs-up.
“Men are dumb,” she told him.
Ka’nak started coughing to cover his laugh. John looked over his shoulder at Jiya.
“What’s your claim to fame?” he asked.
“I’m a president’s daughter, relegated to driving a cab because I embarrassed my family. Reynolds kidnapped me. Not this one.” She stabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the android. “A creepy robot version.”
“You kidnapped your crew?”
“There were conversations and a negotiation once we got past the initial distrust of aliens. I only offered them the tender caress of manacles until they calmed down.”
“’The beatings will continue until morale improves,’” John quoted. “I guess you won them over, unless this is the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome I’ve ever seen.”
“How many cases have you seen?” Reynolds asked.
“Counting this time? One.”
“Not counting this time!” Reynolds grumped. “There is no ‘this time.’”
“Touchy. Is he always like that?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Jiya replied. “He only takes off our shackles in the daytime.”
“In here,” Geroux said loudly to interrupt the banter. John instantly turned all business. Geroux pointed to the circuits that were operational before taking two from a box on the floor and holding them up to John. “This is what happened when the fungus infested the hardware. With fire, the fungus was only temporarily halted. It stayed dormant at higher temperatures and replicated like crazy in the cold, until extreme cold, close to absolute zero, killed it dead. The damage it has done is irrevocable, though. Our friends are trapped in too small a space. AIs are always expanding along a non-linear path. New memories won’t necessarily be the first destroyed when they have nowhere to go.”
“No threat?”
“None.” Geroux was as confident as she could be. “We need processing power that only you people have. Our replicated processors aren’t working.”
John moved to an access station. He tapped the controls until he brought up a ship-to-shore communication channel. “John here,” he told the voice on the other end. “Send up the AI techs. Have them meet in the control room with as many memory and processor chips as they can carry. We’ll beam them up.”
“Beam them up?” the voice asked.
“It’s really fucking cool. Get them there now. No time to waste.”
The group stood around watching the technicians integrate circuits, reconnecting pathways with enviable efficiency. With additional jumpers to link the rest of the ship, they were ready.
“We push this in, and we’re live. There’s no risk to the rest of the ship?” the lead technician asked.
“We’ve searched the ship twice with all the crew and our maintenance bots since we’ve been here. Reynolds is clean,” Geroux replied.
“Stand by for fireworks,” John shouted and gave the technician the go-ahead. With a gentle push, the final circuit snapped into place, and the system energized.
“Who eats garlic kimchi before getting stuck in too small a space with his besties?” Tactical said in a series of belches. “This guy.”
“What in the fuck is that?” John asked.<
br />
“Thank the stars!” XO exclaimed. “It was nearly intolerable. We prayed for death rather than listen to one more of Tactical’s belch-fest singalongs. It was the most obscene thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Weapons on target. He shoots. He scores!” Tactical shouted. “I’m free, hahahahaha.”
“Your other personalities are insane?” John’s lip quavered in revulsion.
“Not any more than you or I,” Reynolds replied. “Tactical is a bit hard to take on the best of days, which today is shaping up to be. XO, Comm, the engineer, Doc, and a few others? They are individuals.”
“Funny you should mention that,” John started. “AIs have full rights as individuals now. That was a recent court ruling. We have to ask you as an independent sentient being if you want to serve the Queen and then negotiate a contract.”
“That sounds marvelous,” Reynolds replied.
“I’m warming to the idea, but it looks like we’ve got eight of you to rope in. Maybe seven, if that Tactical guy doesn’t measure up as intelligent.”
“Shackles?” Reynolds sent a single eyebrow upward.
“Just until you agree to our demands.” John offered his hand once more, and Reynolds took it.
“We’re clear,” the lead technician noted while they packed their gear.
“Come on down and meet the kiddos,” John offered.
“You have kids?” Reynolds was surprised.
“Not me, or rather, mine are grown and have left the nest.” John smiled conspiratorially. “The Queen’s…”
The End of Superdreadnought
Reynolds is home, and aliens from a distant galaxy came with him to establish their own place among the humans.
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Author Notes - Craig Martelle
October 26, 2019
Thank you for reading this book, and you’re still reading! Oorah, hard-chargers. I really hope you liked this story and this series! That is it. Superdreadnought 6 is the last book in the Superdreadnought series. We left some threads hanging and hopefully brought everything to fruition with this last book.
This series has run its course. We lost readers somewhere in there. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons, but when I have a series like Judge, Jury, and Executioner that blows up the charts when it’s released, I have to stick with that. Go with what works and our space lawyer is the best there is when it comes to working. But you’ll Superdreadnought Reynolds again. There’s a war coming and the Kurtherians are bringing it to Earth. Bethany Anne will be leading all available forces in the final fight, the end game. Reynolds wouldn’t miss his chance to support the Queen.
Back in Alaska, it has been unseasonably warm. Our lows every day are below freezing, but the highs are occasionally peaking back above 32F leaving us with no snow. It snowed this morning though when it was supposed to be raining. I just checked the ten-day forecast and it looks like we’ll be into November before the highs are consistently below freezing. A couple years ago, we had 142 consecutive days with the high below freezing, but that’s the way it is this close to the Arctic Circle. Snow is good, but we won’t get the solid blanket for a while yet.
When we have a blanket of snow, the trees fill with hoarfrost, sound from the main road a quarter mile away dampens, and it brightens the long, dark nights. It’s also a way for me to know which animals are out and about. Phyllis has been interested in one bush for a week now. This morning, I saw why. A rabbit frequents it. And judging by the massive bunny prints, it’s a snowshoe. We also have an Arctic Lynx that shows up on occasion. For a forty-pound cat, their paw prints are bigger than my size tens. That’s so they can run on top of the snow, just like the snowshoe. Big feet come in handy where you have six months of snow.
My tractor with snowblower is ready. My walk-behind snow blower is ready, but my generator is not ready. I couldn’t get it started last time I checked it. That could be tragic. I need to get that fixed and stock up on gasoline. I like having 25 to 30 gallons hanging around, just in case. Everything we do up here is just in case. We have six months’ worth of food, water, toiletries, and more.
Just in case. We plan for the worst – to be without power for thirty days. And during those thirty days, we expect to be generally trapped in the house, too. With temperatures that could plummet to -40F, extra measures have to be in place. A power outage becomes a life or death situation in mere hours if you don’t have your wits about you.
But we do, so all is well. Except for that generator. I’ll get to it one of these days.
Back to the word mines to find those golden nuggets for you.
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Peace, fellow humans.
Books by Craig Martelle
Craig Martelle’s other books (listed by series)
Terry Henry Walton Chronicles (co-written with Michael Anderle) – a post-apocalyptic paranormal adventure
Gateway to the Universe (co-written with Justin Sloan & Michael Anderle) – this book transitions the characters from the Terry Henry Walton Chronicles to The Bad Company
The Bad Company (co-written with Michael Anderle) – a military science fiction space opera
Judge, Jury, & Executioner (also available in audio) – a space opera adventure legal thriller
Shadow Vanguard – a Tom Dublin series
Superdreadnought (co-written with Tim Marquitz)– an AI military space opera
Metal Legion (co-written with Caleb Wachter) (coming in audio) – a military space opera
The Free Trader – a young adult science fiction action adventure
Cygnus Space Opera (also available in audio) – A young adult space opera (set in the Free Trader universe)
Darklanding (co-written with Scott Moon) (also available in audio) – a space western
Mystically Engineered (co-written with Valerie Emerson) – Mystics, dragons, & spaceships
End Times Alaska (also available in audio) – a Permuted Press publication – a post-apocalyptic survivalist adventure
Nightwalker (a Frank Roderus series) with Craig Martelle – A post-apocalyptic western adventure
End Days (co-written with E.E. Isherwood) (coming in audio) – a post-apocalyptic adventure
Successful Indie Author – a non-fiction series to help self-published authors
Metamorphosis Alpha – stories from the world’s first science fiction RPG
The Expanding Universe – science fiction anthologies
Monster Case Files (co-written with Kathryn Hearst) – A Warner twins mystery adventure
Rick Banik (also available in audio) – Spy & terrorism action adventure
The Dragon’s Call by Angelique Anderson & Craig A. Price, Jr. – an epic fantasy quest
For a complete list of Craig’s books, stop by his website – https://craigmartelle.com
Books By Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
All LMBPN Audiobooks are Available at Audible.com and iTunes
To see all LMBPN audiobooks, including those written by Michael Anderle please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/audible
