Black and White

by Mark Wandrey

  Several of the other kids were getting together to swim later. He wasn’t as interested as he would have been before leaving Earth. Yui wasn’t there, and he spent half the day in the water already. He thought he might go this time; it was usually fun to play with the bottlenoses. Then he found something that changed his plans for him. Messages from Earth!

  * * *

  Terry opened the packet from his mom’s account. There was a brief note attached.

  “Terry, these came in a couple of days ago. We weren’t keeping them from you; we just wanted to be sure no virus or anything else was attached. If you want to wait until I get back to our compartment before reading them, I’ll be there on time tonight. If not, well, you’re grown enough to make your own decisions. Just know the Earth Republic has been intercepting our messages, just like we thought. This got through because we paid a trader to bring them. Love, Mom.”

  He stared at the email packet for almost an entire minute. Eventually, he elected to open it. There were 32 messages inside. Terry yipped with excitement, until he realized only 11 of them were personal messages.

  A bunch were from the middle school informing him he’d been suspended, and threatening disciplinary action if he didn’t report back to school. Those messages made him laugh. “Come and get me!” he said, and moved the messages to the archive. The next were more worrisome. The World High Court had tried the staff of the PCRI in absentia.

  Terry used the Human internet and looked it up. It meant they had been tried without being present, something apparently allowed in the Earth Republic. Everyone on staff was found guilty of various crimes, ranging from illegal experimentation on an endangered marine mammal to destruction of evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was mentioned prominently in the last.

  While he hadn’t been directly tried because he was a minor, he was remanded into the custody of the state for psychological evaluation. Parental rights were stripped from his mother and father, and he would be tried in juvenile court once he returned to Earth. Apparently the ability to try people without being able to defend themselves didn’t extend to kids.

  “We’re all criminals,” he realized. Attached were a slew of news articles dating from a month ago up to only a week ago. Huge banner stories proclaiming that “The Hawaiian Mad Scientists” were found guilty. “Bastards,” he said. The press had tried and found them guilty long before the courts, apparently. There was even a picture of him and his parents taken two years ago, long before all of the events that had led him hundreds of light years from his home.

  One video showed the press trying to get into his old middle school to interview his friends. He had a second of video showing a teacher escorting Yui away as the staff tried to stop the press from getting to her.

  They’d prosecuted Doc and his men, too. They’d gotten him on the same contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge—for him, of course. The other men, including the two who were now dead, were tried as traitors to the Republic and found guilty as well. They’d still been on active duty. That explained why Doc hadn’t been back to Earth in all these months, too.

  Afterward, he went looking for personal messages. There were three, one from his father, and two from Yui. Just two messages in the months he’d been gone. He opened the one from his dad.

  “Son,

  I don’t know how to say I’m sorry. Everything just went wrong. I know people are telling you I hurt your mom, but I didn’t. Please believe me, I did it all for her. I just got carried away. Do you understand? Of course, you know the pinplants on the cetaceans were an accident. We should have waited and got outside help. Again, your mom was right, and I was wrong. I made more mistakes than I did things right. I only wish I’d been able to go with you. Please, write back?

  Dad, I love you.”

  He’d never really apologized for what he did, only how it went wrong. Terry could clearly see his dad trying to justify his actions and avoid the truth. It made his dad more guilty in Terry’s mind. He knew for a fact that Doc and his SEAL buddies had gotten the alien nanite treatment to his mom, and his dad wouldn’t allow it, so they did it in secret. Not allowing Doc’s friends to try, more than any other act, convinced him his father was lying on some level. Maybe on all of them. He didn’t write a reply. Maybe later. He opened the first message from Yui. It was marked only a day after he’d been spirited away.

  “Terry, OMG, I can’t believe what just happened! It’s all over the news! There are like a million reporters all over Molokai! I tried to talk to you longer, but the phone cut out. I wanted to say...I wanted to say how much...how much of a friend you are. We know you’re on a ship and the Winged Hussars are taking you out-system. The government is pissed! It’s funny. LOL. Everyone at school knows you guys didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll write again soon, and hope you can, too.

  Bye, I miss you.”

  “I miss you too,” he said, even though he knew she couldn’t hear him. He opened the second email.

  “They convicted you guys in court. I’m sneaking this message out, but it’s the last one. My father’s forbidding me to send any others. I’ll try, but I don’t get an independent account until I turn 16. You know Dad’s a government contractor; if I get caught...well, he could lose his job. I wish you’d sent something, or someone came back to fight in court? I...goodbye.”

  “No,” he said, “what?” He reread it, wondering if she’d put in a hidden code. No matter how he read it, the message came out the same. Goodbye forever from his best friend. He was still staring at the message when his mom came in. The look on his face told her he’d read the messages.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Terry said. He was surprised he wasn’t more emotional. Maybe there weren’t any more emotions left in him. “Maybe it will all get fixed down the road.”

  “Maybe,” she said. The sad smile on her face told him the truth of it; she didn’t believe it would ever be fixed. Terry would never see Yui, or Earth, again. Terry went back to his school work.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 10

  Teddy Roosevelt, Karma Star System, Cresht Region, Tolo Arm

  December 4th, 2037

  Terry turned 12 years old with Doc away again, working a contract on which none of the details were shared. It had something to do with the machine they’d been working on in the mechanical area aboard Kavul Tesh. Thanks to the huge infusion of credits, they were no longer in any danger of losing a place to stay, either. Doc’s Last Call merc company sent millions more, and the captains of the three ships were just as happy to float near Karma and get paid as they were to fly around the galaxy. “Less risk,” Captain Baker said with a wink.

  Terry pushed his lessons hard. The lessons and taking care of Pōkole kept his mind mostly off the loss of Yui as a friend. Before her message, he’d been able to tell himself it was only temporary, like a long summer vacation, and they’d be diving off Molokai again sometime soon. The illusion was revealed now, and the bitter truth hurt. He buried his feelings in his duties and studies. Pōkole enjoyed the attention, and Moloko even began referring to Terry as a member of the Shore Pod. Of everything, having them think of him as a member of their pod helped. It helped a lot.

  Thanksgiving passed, and his mom was pretty sad. Terry could tell she’d become quite attached to Doc, and he was off on some alien world fighting to make them money. She was quiet the entire time they ate. Besides, zero gravity turkey wasn’t as fun as the regular kind, or as tasty.

  It wasn’t just his mom, Terry noticed, the general mood of the staff was down. Of course everyone knew they weren’t going back to Earth any time soon, or possibly ever. He wondered if those feelings were at all blunted by the knowledge, had they been still on Earth, most would now be in jail. Terry decided it was best not to ask anyone.

  On the morning of the 4th, he was awoken to the sounds of more activity on Teddy Roosevelt than he’d heard in qu
ite some time. Sounds he knew meant they would be getting underway. He dressed and quickly headed for the big dome observation blister, the location he knew his mom would be running things from.

  Terry floated in through the hatch and immediately saw Doc talking with his mom and Captain Baker. Doc noticed him come in and threw him a wink. Terry waved and stayed by the door. Adults talking usually meant they didn’t want kids in the middle of it all. He caught a handhold and waited. In addition to the captain, his mother, and Doc, all the senior scientists from the institute were there.

  He didn’t wait for long. The conversation finished, and his mom turned to him and beckoned for him to come on over. Terry pushed off the wall and expertly grabbed a hold next to them. “Hey, welcome back!” he said to Doc.

  “Good to be back, kiddo.”

  Terry turned to his mom. “I heard all the noise; we’re getting ready to move?” He tried to control the surge of hope flowing through him at the slim chance everything was fixed on Earth, and they were heading home.

  “We found a place to go while we figure out what to do long term,” his mom said.

  Not home. “Is it nearby?”

  Doc and his mom looked at each other, and Doc said, “It’s about 8,000 light years from here.” Terry’s eyes bugged out. “That isn’t as far as it sounds.”

  “Sounds pretty damn far to me!”

  “Watch your language,” his mom cautioned.

  “Sorry,” Terry said.

  “We can get there in one jump,” Captain Baker told him.

  “Why are we in such a hurry?” Terry asked.

  Doc looked at his mom, who nodded, so he explained. “Just before I got back, an Earth Republic corvette jumped in-system. They had orders to board Teddy Roosevelt and take as many of us into custody as possible.”

  “I didn’t hear about it,” Terry said in surprise.

  “We didn’t tell anyone,” Captain Baker said. “Or how all three of our ships powered up their weapons and shields, refusing to be boarded.”

  “What happened next?”

  “The Earth ship tried to send over boarding parties,” Doc said. “My men and I got in a shuttle and were going to return the favor. They were less skilled in such tactics and only had a few security forces.”

  A small smile appeared on the captain’s face, and she winked. “They decided it was in their best interest not to enforce those orders.”

  “But it’s a warship, right?”

  “A small one,” Doc said. “All ships carry some form of weaponry. The corvette might be more than a match for a single merchant, but not three of them. They were outmatched on all fronts.”

  “So they went back to Earth?”

  “No, they’re still here, waiting.” Captain Baker said.

  “We’ll be leaving,” Doc said. “Catching a ride in a few hours.”

  “How?” Terry wondered.

  “On a Behemoth.”

  The captain pointed out the observation dome, and Terry could see a growing shape in the distance, a huge round structure growing steadily closer. To his shock, he realized it was a spaceship.

  * * *

  Its name was Second Octal, a 29,000-year-old ship that had plied the galactic space lanes while Earth was still held in the grasp of a global ice age, and man had yet to learn how to read or write. At a diameter of just over two kilometers, Second Octal was a medium-sized Behemoth-class transport.

  Terry spent the hours before they docked digesting all he could on the Behemoth-class transports. He learned they made a large part of their income from simply carrying non-hyperspace-capable transports like theirs from system to system. They also carried untold billions of tons of freight every year. Everything from huge automated factories known as manufactories, to shipments of the tiny robots known as nanites, like the ones that had healed his mom. They also never, ever, stopped moving.

  The vast spherical ships contained entire families who spent their entire lives on board. They would be born, grow up, live, and eventually die there. The ships maintained a constant spin, producing gravity on the inside of the outer hull. What they didn’t have was powerful engines. A Behemoth was lucky to generate 1/10th of a G in thrust. They moved from system to system on courses planned years, sometimes centuries, in advance. Using this method, they could arrive at just the right time, and in the right direction, so they didn’t have to use their engines at all, simply coasting from one emergence point to the system’s stargate, and onward.

  In each system, ships would meet them to transfer cargo and passengers. It was extremely efficient, if not always easy to coordinate.

  As Teddy Roosevelt, Kavul Tesh, and Kavul Ato accelerated toward the Behemoth, Terry was in the observation dome watching the ship get closer. It was like the old movie Star Wars in some ways. The closer they got, the more details he could see. It began as a featureless form and slowly gained more detail.

  The ship was shaped like an elongated sphere, spinning with its narrow ends facing perpendicular to its angle of rotation, so it flew through space almost sideways. He began to see bands around the widest part in the middle and could see large structures on the bands. Then, as they got ever closer, he realized there were ships, like his, docked along the outside.

  “How are we going to dock with the outside spinning?” Terry asked.

  “Carefully, lad,” Captain Baker said and shook her head. “Very, very carefully.” She left a short time later to go to the bridge, leaving the rest to watch from the dome.

  Doc talked with his mom, describing the merc contract he and his men had completed while they were gone. No fighting was involved, which greatly relieved both Terry and her. They’d scouted an old abandoned industrial complex on an out-of-the-way world. Terry didn’t know mercs did those sorts of jobs, but Doc said they’d do whatever paid them. The bonus this time was they’d gotten an opportunity to live on the same location.

  “What’s it like?” Terry asked.

  “It’s hard to explain,” Doc said. “We’ll be having a big meeting once we’re back in hyperspace.”

  “We’ll have nine hours after we dock with Second Octal,” his mom said.

  “If we dock with it,” Dr. Patel said.

  “What do you mean, sir?” Terry asked.

  “I’ve seen this operation before. I’ve made two trips to space before this, both for research. The second time we saw one of those,” he pointed at the approaching ship. “This freighter was trying to dock with it. They tried three times, and missed every time. It’s a little like trying to jump on a moving train from a moving car. There isn’t much margin for error.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, they tried a fourth time and missed again, badly. They hit the Behemoth and a big chunk of their hull was torn out. A bunch of their crew died. I think they had to pay the Behemoth for the damages, too.”

  “Suck city,” Terry said.

  “I concur, young man.”

  An hour before they met up with the bigger ship, their three vessels undocked. The scientists split up and left to tend to the various pods. Terry’s mom asked him to stay with Doc in the observation bubble.

  “You’ll be safe here and have a great view,” she said. Teddy only had the one docking collar capable of mating with the Behemoth, but it was on her belly. Sadly, their safety would be paid for with the worst seats in the house.

  “I’ll keep an eye on him,” Doc said; Terry made a face. “We’ll have a good view of the other ships docking, though,” he reminded Terry. Then the ships were undocked and under power for the first time in months.

  The trick was to match courses with the Behemoth, approaching at the larger ship’s velocity and its speed of rotation. You came alongside, perfectly timed with your docking collar rotated into the exact position, clamp on, magnetically lock yourself to the hull, and hang on. The stress on your ship could be substantial as you were pulled into their rotation. Captain Baker said a couple seconds of three Gs would be about it.
<
br />   “The docking collar flexes to take up the forces,” he explained over the PA as they approached. “Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the inertial forces of being slung around. After we dock, we can enjoy half a G all the way to our destination.”

  Kavul Tesh was first. The three ships were strung out in a line, with Teddy second, and Kavul Ato last. In the middle they had a good view of the insectoid shape of Kavul Tesh rolling so it’s back was to the Behemoth as it caught up to it. The huge spinning transport loomed over the other ship like an elephant over an ant. Terry realized he was shaking his head and holding his breath at the same time.

  It was anticlimactic when it happened. One moment Kavul Tesh was directly alongside, the next she was accelerating away and quickly lost around the middle of the Behemoth’s bulk.

  “Our turn,” Doc said.

  The three transports had requested adjacent docking positions, and had been granted them. Thus they were spaced so as to be in position at exactly the time it took for Second Octal to orbit around once. Terry and Doc saw Kavul Tesh coming around just as the captain rolled Teddy Roosevelt’s belly toward the Behemoth, blocking their view.

  Doc made sure Terry was secured in a chair, then himself. The seconds crept by.

  “Standby to dock,” the confident voice of Captain Baker came over the PA. Terry tensed. There was a bump followed by a resounding Clang! though the hull, and suddenly they were thrown upward in their chairs.

  Terry looked up at the dome, which was now decidedly down, with alarm. The straps held firm as it felt like his eyeballs were going to pop out. A second later, the force fell off.

  “There we go,” Doc said. He unclamped his harness and did a graceful flip, falling a couple meters to the glass dome with a thump. “Come on, kiddo.”

  Not to be outdone, Terry unlocked his. It came undone much faster than he’d expected, and he fell face-first toward the glass. “Shit!” he yipped.

  “Gotcha,” Doc said and caught him easily, then spun him around and put him on his feet. Terry wobbled at bit. Months in zero G with only a single day on Karma Station had left his legs wobbly. They all exercised every day, but it wasn’t the same thing.