En Route

by Maksim Malik

  “That clarifies that,” Nadani said. “So, about passage—to where, and why?”

  “CAAI is why,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Told some colleagues at the lab about Park, few years ago. Now CAAI knows about me and working is not safe. And to where: it is to Jehlengen station.”

  “Jehlengen?” Nadani sounded surprised. “That’s five sols of foldspace travel. Why there? That’s on the border.”

  “Well,” Dr. Tysgan sighed. “Not human, maybe you guessed,” he paused. “I am kahelek and wish to go back to kahelek space. A friend waits at Jehlengen to take me.”

  “Oh, I understand,” Nadani said. “That is a good way to avoid CAAI.”

  “Exactly,” Dr. Tysgan said.

  The kahelek were shapeshifters to an extent. Trisha didn’t know what a non-shapeshifted kahelek looked like but knew when they presented themselves to the JUS to become allies they came as short humans to better put the JUS officials at ease. Trisha had not guessed Tysgan was an alien—she thought he was just someone who didn’t speak Common often with his stilted speech and accent.

  “What do you think, Trisha?” Nadani asked her.

  “Well, we were going to idle in nullspace so being in foldspace for a few sols is pretty much the same thing, isn’t it?”

  “That’s true,” Nadani smiled. “Adan agrees too. We’ll take you, no fee. I still feel like I owe you.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Dr. Tysgan hopped off the bench, smiling brightly at Nadani and then Trisha. “Do you have room in cargohold for three crates?” he asked.

  “We should,” Trisha said.

  “Yeah, we do,” Nadani confirmed. “Our cargohold is pretty spacious at the moment.”

  “Excellent! What time will you start the journey? I am readied for any time,” he said.

  “How about as soon as you get your stuff loaded?” Nadani asked.

  Trisha wished they had a little more time to explore the planet, but if CAAI’s presence here was so bad then it was probably best to leave.

  “I will follow to the ship then, yes?” Dr. Tysgan asked.

  “Sure, we’ll take a taxi back to the starport,” Nadani said.

  The way back to the starport was a little bit of a squeeze—how could such a small man take up so much space?—but they made it without incident. The walk through the spaceport to the docks was silent.

  “We have ordered lifters to bring the crates and my suitcases,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Maybe fifteen minutes to get here.”

  “That’s not bad,” Trisha said. She knew they had plenty of time left on their docking time frame of six hours.

  “Yeah,” Nadani agreed and stepped into the ship.

  Trisha followed. Both airlock doors were up to allow ease of access in a pressurized environment. Dr. Tysgan was right on her heels.

  “This is good ship,” he said. “Efficient design. Good use of space.”

  “Her name is Astromancer,” Nadani said. She sounded proud. “She’s been a great ship and gotten me through some tough scrapes too.”

  “Excellent, excellent,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Now, I assume there is a place of sitting?”

  “Of course,” Trisha said, motioning for Nadani to move down the small corridor.

  Nadani complied and all three of them entered the lounge. Nadani sat on the far end of the only couch in the room, Trisha sat in the middle leaning on Nadani, and Dr. Tysgan sat on the other end. The armored plates on Nadani’s plugsuit made it a little awkward for Trisha to lean against.

  “You’ll have to sleep on this couch, I’m afraid,” Nadani said. “There’s only one bedroom.”

  “That is fine, yes,” Tysgan said.

  “I have spare blankets and a pillow you can use,” Nadani added.

  “That is fine,” he said.

  The crates and luggage arrived safely and in a timely manner. When Nadani stood to go to the bridge, Trisha stood to follow her. She sat in one of the observation chairs while Nadani went into the pilot’s pit. Dr. Tysgan joined her on another observation chair. The viewscreens covering the walls in the bridge flickered on and showed different exterior cameras on the ship. Trisha kept her eyes on the forward cam for the most part.

  She didn’t hear anything, but Nadani must have gotten undocking permission, for soon they headed toward the stars.

  Sulai Station

  “I know you said Jehlengen Station, but we need supplies, and we can get them much cheaper at Sulai,” Nadani said. “I know it adds to our total travel time. It is on the way. In a manner of speaking.”

  “My friend will wait for me,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Do not fear. We live so long, what is another few sols?”

  “I can get a few things from my apartment while we’re doing that,” Trisha said, smiling.

  Adan, can you get us headed to Sulai? she asked.

  Certainly, it replied.

  “It’s a small ship so there isn’t much to do,” Nadani said to Dr. Tysgan. “There is a media library which is updated every time I dock somewhere with Exanet access.”

  “That will be splendid enough,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Time spent reading is good.”

  “There is a literal library available to you as far as reading goes,” Nadani said. “It also has a huge selection of vids to watch, games, and stuff like that if you’re into it.”

  “I will indeed be happy. Thank you,” Dr. Tysgan said.

  “We have one FVR chair setup in the cargohold if you like sims or games,” Trisha added. FVR—Full Virtual Reality—involved the user’s entire body and mind. For a sim, the user’s strength in reality was reflected in the sim, and any training done in FVR was reflected back on the person’s body. Trisha had been using the FVR chair for training martial arts like Nadani for the past year and now she had definite self-defense capabilities.

  “Perhaps, but ah! There are scientific papers available!” Dr. Tysgan hopped onto the sofa in the lounge, crossed his arms, and sat still, apparently reading already. The lounge held one green sofa large enough for three people, a large viewscreen on one wall, and a small kitchen along the wall opposite the corridor.

  He will be kept busy for a while, Adan said. There are plenty of papers dealing with his area of research. I’m sure he’s read many of them though.

  “Want to break out the sparring gear?” Trisha asked.

  “Sure, I could go a couple rounds. Let me get out of this plugsuit and I’ll join you in the cargohold,” Nadani answered. Pilots typically wore a plugsuit to interface with their ships. They were nearly skin tight, worn over a sort of secondary skin called a dermasuit, and had three plugs at the top of the neck aligned vertically with the spine. The entire suit would then connect to the pilot’s pit, a cocooned cockpit, and connect with various parts of the ship.

  Once she changed out of the armored plugsuit and into some basic sweats she headed down the only corridor on Astromancer to the cargohold.

  Sparring each other compared to training in FVR seemed a little tamer to Nadani. In FVR there were no pads and the opponents were not pulling their punches. When she sparred against Trisha, being the better martial artist, she always pulled punches and especially withheld the full power of her kicks. Still, the workout gave them something to do, and do together.

  This sol they spent a couple hours sparring together. Trisha improved since the last time they sparred—probably a month ago, give or take a few sols. Near the end, Nadani picked up the pace and Trisha struggled to keep up. Nadani felt certain Trisha would gain the speed she needed with practice.

  Nadani had Adan to help her in combat by taking over her body if necessary and reacting much faster than she herself could react, but when sparring, Adan watched and never interfered. Nadani guessed she improved so quickly because of those times when Adan took over. Trisha had no such help. Dr. Tysgan had an AI too, and Nadani wondered if Park, his AI, could take over and fight for him.

  The time traveling to Sulai went by swiftly. Dr. Tysgan spoke little, completely absorbed in whatever he read. Aft
er the single sparring session, Trisha spent her time working on a to-scale model of a ship in which she had to build even the smallest parts with a tiny multitool which she adored. Nadani spent her time reading and watching vids whenever Trisha worked on her model ship.

  Guilt washed over her the night before they arrived at Sulai. Trisha tossed in her sleep, having another nightmare. Nadani woke her and calmed her down but couldn’t help but blame herself. About a year ago a group of tetchnans, a humanoid alien race with red skin and large bumps over their body, kidnapped Trisha and enslaved her, forcing her to do engineering work for them. Through her own cleverness, Trisha escaped, and the group of tetchnans were found guilty of illegal slavery along with kidnapping, harming a citizen multiple times, and a few more charges.

  Nadani had nanobots with data on them which several groups wanted to have. The tetchnans thought they could get information from Trisha about Nadani’s whereabouts. Trisha gave in, but the tetchnans didn’t release her or believe she gave all the information she possessed.

  It’s not your fault, and you know it, Adan said.

  Logically I know it, she replied. Emotionally and subconsciously I still blame myself. If Trisha hadn’t come into that office with me, they never would’ve taken her.

  I would blame Ruthan T’vari for arranging to have the infobots imported into your system, Adan said. That is how it all started. Or blame him for the trade job you had which caused you to unknowingly transport the infobots to him in the first place. Either way, I firmly place the blame upon him.

  I suppose that makes sense. I wish I could convince myself of that, Nadani said.

  Adan replied wordlessly, sending a feeling of comfort and support.

  Nadani spent the last hours of the night half-dozing, waking often.

  Ten minutes until we reach endpoint, Adan said finally.

  Nadani got out of bed, careful not to disturb Trisha, and dressed for the sol. She ate a simple breakfast bar and climbed into the pilot’s pit.

  Endpoint in 5 seconds, Adan said.

  Nadani counted down and suddenly the ship’s sensors came alive with readings. The forward camera showed Sulai station and she felt a pang of homecoming. The last year she had spent living on Sulai, only using Astromancer whenever they had a deal setup somewhere. She’d lived on a planet, during college, but she preferred life in space. Her preference would have been to live on her ship, Astromancer, but some sacrifices were made in the name of love.

  “Astromancer SM522-16A to Sulai,” she said, broadcasting it over open coms. “Requesting docking permission. Six-hour slot would be fine.”

  “Sulai docking control to Astromancer SM522-16A, proceed to docking pad nineteen. That is docking pad one, niner. Welcome home, Astromancer.”

  “Wilco,” she replied and smiled at the welcoming.

  People are getting to know you around here, Adan said. That could be both good and bad.

  As long as they don’t go prying too much, Nadani said. The law said nothing about it being illegal to be merged with an AI, but it didn’t say anything about it being legal either. With CAAI becoming more popular she became more nervous about anyone finding out about Adan. She knew a strong presence of CAAI existed on Sulai, so perhaps she ought to make certain Dr. Tysgan stayed aboard the ship for the duration of their stay.

  Within five minutes Astromancer touched down at the correct docking pad, light as a feather. As soon as the ship settled the station’s docking clamp secured the ship; it would be impossible to go anywhere without the station’s say.

  “We’ve landed,” she said over the ship’s com system. She climbed out of the pit and stretched her arms into the air, arching her back. She lowered her arms and saw Trisha walking toward her.

  “Do you need anything from the apartment?” Trisha asked. Thanks to all the trade deals they had made, Trisha had purchased her apartment outright; it was a significant moment for Trisha.

  “No, I have enough of my stuff on the ship,” Nadani said. She knew Trisha understood she meant clothes, wigs to cover her bald head, and that sort of thing.

  “Okay, I’ll be back soon then,” Trisha said and stepped close to Nadani. She pressed her lips against Nadani’s, which sent a thrill throughout Nadani’s body, and kissed her. They wrapped arms around each other and Nadani teased Trisha’s lower lip with her tongue. Even when Dr. Tysgan stepped into the bridge to break the kiss took a severe amount of effort.

  “Ah, yes,” Dr. Tysgan cleared his throat. “Did I interrupt?”

  “No, no,” Nadani said as Trisha withdrew and left the bridge. “Trisha was just—was just leaving to go to the apartment.”

  “Hmm. I see, yes,” Dr. Tysgan said. “I thought I might ask if some help is needed with the supplies upon their arrival.”

  “Oh, well there will be a little bit of sorting to do,” Nadani said. “But most of it is prepackaged. I get flash frozen veggies rather than fresh. They last longer and taste almost the same.”

  “We kahelek do not mind the taste so much as long as something is edible,” he said. “It is interesting though to see humans enjoy food. They have made an art form of cooking. It is quite amazing from my point of view.”

  “I can’t imagine not being able to enjoy it,” Nadani said, thinking it must be bland and mechanical to eat without taste.

  We could simulate it, so you can find out, Adan said.

  No, thank you, she replied to it. I don’t want to know that badly.

  You and your spaghetti, Adan teased.

  Damn right, Nadani said with a mental laugh.

  “Park says I might have embarrassed by coming in without knocking,” Dr. Tysgan said. “For that I apologize.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Nadani said, ears warming intensely. “This is the bridge anyway. You don’t have to knock to come onto the bridge when you’re a passenger on my ship. There are passenger seats there for a reason.”

  “Yes, yes, I see,” Dr. Tysgan stroked his chin. “So how long until supplies arrive?”

  “Oh, they’re being loaded into the cargohold as we speak,” Nadani said. “I ordered them when we first arrived—well, Adan ordered them. We can go start now. It’s mostly food so we’ll either move things into the freezer in the cargohold or the fridge in the lounge.”

  “Very well,” Dr. Tysgan said, turned around, and headed toward the back of the ship with Nadani following.

  They sorted everything as it came in. The number of boxes coming in from different vendors made it seem like Adan ordered more than it said. All the goods came nestled in packaging, making the boxes far too large for the small goods inside.

  “Now we just need to have someone come take care of the boxes—”

  I need to interrupt! Adan exclaimed. She could feel waves of panic emanating from it.

  What is it? she asked.

  The station is under attack! I’ve been monitoring open coms via the ship and everything is in chaos! I’m telling Park as well!

  Nadani’s stomach sank and her heart beat sped up, sounding loud in her ears, with one thing on her mind: Trisha!

  “Oh, no,” Dr. Tysgan said in almost a whisper.

  Storm

  “I have to get Trisha,” Nadani said and moved toward the exit of the cargohold, intent on retrieving her single-handed blaster.

  “Wait!” Dr. Tysgan called out.

  Stop, Nadani, Adan said. He has something.

  Nadani stopped and turned around, walking toward Dr. Tysgan who now stood next to one of his crates. He held out a strange rifle. Its white, smooth form, unlike anything she had seen before, caught her interest.

  “Take it,” Dr. Tysgan said. “But listen. Switch on the bottom for single-target or multiple-target. Do be careful with multiple-target.” As he spoke, he pointed to the switch. “Currently on single-target. Here is safety.”

  “How do I aim at multiple targets?” she asked as she took the light-weight weapon from his hands.

  “Just point in direction and fire.
Aim not necessary,” he responded. “Now go!”

  Nadani didn’t hesitate. She turned to exit into the ship, so she could leave through the airlock. It would be dangerous for Dr. Tysgan if she opened the cargohold to leave there. As she exited Astromancer, she flipped the safety to off on Dr. Tysgan’s rifle. She saw the docking bay swarmed with aliens—a type she didn’t recognize. They walked on two legs but there the resemblance to humanity ended. Tall, slender bodies were covered in a chitinous armor, separated at the joints, and the head was round with two, large black circles for eyes above a short proboscis. Color varied wildly between them: one had different shades of green, another almost black, yet still another a mix of bright blues and pinks.

  Unknown aliens. I cannot find any trace of this species in public records, Adan said.

  None noticed her, so she watched for a moment to see what they did. What she saw made her furious. They took every person they found, collared them, and then herded them into a ship about three times the size of Astromancer.

  I don’t see Trisha among that group. Let’s go, Adan said with urgency apparent.

  With nowhere to hide, she had one plan.

  Nadani ran. The aliens and group of captured civilians were to her left about 200 meters away, so she ran straight for the dock exit to the right. She expected yells in an alien language when they noticed her, but they kept silent. They did shoot their blasters at her. If the blasters stunned her then she failed. If they killed her, she failed. She didn’t know which was the worst outcome.

  Don’t think about that. Just focus, Adan said.

  She made it out of the docks but didn’t stop running until she found a large sign to hide behind. Once behind it, she swapped her rifle to multiple-target mode and waited. The aliens showed up in little time; they must move fast. All four of them kept running. Popping out from the side of the sign Nadani pointed the gun in their general direction and fired. A sweeping wave of white energy burst from the weapon and struck all four enemies. They fell to the floor, their limp bodies carried forward by the momentum from running.