Spin could tell that Nigel was reaching for something to say, but he couldn't find the words, and she was grateful when Boro put his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Not for the same reasons, but I was going to say you should go too. For now, at least. Maybe it's time to get to know Shamus, to get educated and join a fight that you can really believe in."
"The Order aren't here, though," Nigel retorted, a tear rolling down his cheek.
"They were," Boro said. "You remember the signs. 'Darkness is coming, buy your ticket to salvation.' That's what the signs said before mad bot day. That was them, and if they're not stopped, they will be here eventually. I like your chances down there better than I do up here, if I'm honest. I'll make sure this crew doesn't get slagged, you watch your uncle and make sure that his lady and the newest member of our family knows where we come from. Well, at least the good parts."
"He has a baby coming, I forgot," Nigel said. "But you need me here," he looked to Spin.
"The Academy looks amazing," Spin said. "You'll learn more there than you would in a lifetime here, especially working with the tech they have out there."
"So, you want me to go too?" Nigel asked, looking crestfallen.
"No," Spin said. "I'll miss you like crazy, but I know it's where you should go, where you have a better chance at a future. We'll see each other again though, I'll make sure of it."
"So will I," Boro said.
Shamus slipped into the compartment silently but was noticed by Nigel anyway. He nodded at his nephew. "They'll run out of places to hide out here, you can guarantee they'll come racing down to Haven when they do."
"Always the optimist," Boro said under his breath. "He might be right, though." He turned his attention to Nigel. "We're going to make a real mess of things up here, stealing synthetics, platinum, whatever we can fit in our hold and sabotaging the rest."
"It sounds like Haven Fleet could use the lot of you," Shamus said, specifically regarding his brother. "But you're not coming back with me, are you?"
"No, Shamus, I'm sorry," Boro said. "Too much to do up here."
"Nothing I can say to get you lot off this revenge trip?" he countered, nodding at the prince's corpse.
"There's more to it than that," Boro said. "But no, there's nothing you can say that'll get us to the Haven System right now. Maybe someday."
Shamus nodded, his head low. "Someday, aye. Don't keep me waiting too long."
Boro stepped over to him and took him into a firm bear hug, one which Shamus reciprocated after a moment. "Aw, they're huggers too," Ashley cooed under her breath, leaning on Hal's shoulder.
There were a few words quietly exchanged between the pair before they parted, Shamus wiping a tear from his eye. "You keep safe, brother. You have a growing number of relations on the fringe, don't forget us."
"Give 'em hell and come out shining," Boro said to his brother. "Take good care of that family of yours."
"Aye. Guess it's almost time then," Frost said as he turned to Mirra and Della. "You ladies coming home with me and Nigel here?"
"I'd like to go," Della said. "If that's okay." She looked to Spin.
"I'll miss you, but I can't imagine anything better for you," Spin said, crossing the room and giving her a hug. As expected, Della's tears came, and Spin wiped them away. "You're going to tell me what it's like though, so I expect plenty of holo recordings."
"Okay," Della said, nodding.
Spin went on to embrace Mirra, who laughed and said. "I'm not going anywhere unless it's with you. She and I already talked about it. Someone has to take care of you and your ship while you focus on raiding."
"Oh, I was afraid I'd lose both of you," Spin said.
"No, the cooking won't be as good, but we couldn't leave you alone with the rest of this crew. Besides, who would become the cook if we both went? Leland? I doubt he could make a good waffle."
"Hey," Leland objected.
"Ever make one?" Mirra asked.
"Make one? I've never tried one," Leland replied with a chuckle. "You might have a point, I wouldn't be your best choice for cook."
"Well, it's almost that time," Shamus said, turning towards the hatch that would take him up the length of the ship to the bridge. "Oh, and the rest of your people have signed on to follow me to the Haven System. Except for Kline. He did great on the military entrance tests but failed every part of the psyche evaluation. I can't take him."
"Aw, nuts," Ashley groaned.
Spin regarded her quizzically.
"He's a crazy mess. He was made to be a soldier and all he was allowed to do was work out and do puzzles for twenty-five years. We tried talking to each other through comms and did nothing but argue, I've never met anyone ruder in my life. Not that I've met a lot of people or anything, but, I've met enough to know he's a pain in the butt."
Spin turned the idea of losing all the people she rescued to Shamus and the promises he made and was surprised to find that she didn't find the idea very offensive. It was enough that they were free and had a place to go. Even still, she wasn't willing to let him off the hook entirely. "If you lied in that presentation and lead them to trouble, you'll be hearing from me."
"Aye," Shamus said, smiling at the threat almost as though he appreciated it. "And before you leave this ship with the hardware I'm letting you keep, I'd be an idiot if I didn't warn you that trying to get revenge against these royal bastards is going to get you all killed. Take on good work, or turn pirate for all I care, but stay away from royal arseholes. They'll be the end of you. If you'd stayed true to your word, and convinced Boro to join me, I wouldn't have a worry about anyone I was leaving behind here. I won't forget that."
"I tried," Spin said. "But he's his own man. If you can't convince him, then what in all the stars makes you think I can?"
"You could have come with me too, that would have done it," Shamus said as he took his leave, closing the hatch behind him.
"We should be days from Beta Bio, right?" Nigel asked.
"Oh, right, that's why I came back here, I totally forgot," Hal said, glancing at Ashley. "We hit a high energy pocket, the quad drives tunnelled right through, and it cut our transit time down to about eight hours. We'll be flying into port soon. I should show you the gear bags the Chief set up for you last night, then get to the bridge."
"It seems like it's too soon, I just met a bunch of you and most of you are going away," Ashley said. Hal rolled his eyes as a new round of parting embraces and comments began. Spin noticed Ashley slip away after she finished her rounds.
* * *
Shamus checked on the recruits he'd taken on in the name of Haven Fleet. The dolls he was taking back were looking through the basic survival bags he set them up with. There were meal bars, a spare vacsuit, a days' water, a personal communications unit, and a few other things he managed to scrape together. He would have been surprised that the new dolls, the ones that were just saved from their maturation tubes, weren't more loyal to Spin, but Sophia still blamed Spin for not being able to save more, so she made a good case for going with Shamus, where they'd be able to decide on what kind of life they could have in the Haven System.
The only thing he wasn't sure about in the presentation he altered for everyone but Spin was the accuracy of the Order of Eden threat. He included Regent Galactic and the Order in the short brief, but it was presented by Ayan as footage of several victories played behind her. Not only that, but he left the threat of the Edxi out. He knew it was inaccurate, but he didn't have enough information about the insectoid invaders to paint any kind of accurate picture, as far as he was concerned.
"Chief McFadden?" Ashley addressed from the threshold of the bridge. "Okay if I come in?"
"Aye," he said, surprised, turning in the pilot's seat. He still found the sight of the woman who looked almost exactly like Ashley Lamport unnerving. Much of her manner was the same, even her lisp, which softened her speech. "Call me Frost," he said, flashing back to the first time he met the other Ashley aboard the S
amson.
"Frost? Okay," she said, leaning against the back of the co-pilot's seat. "You know one of my sisters, a doll from my line, where you come from?"
"Aye, and I've always liked her," he said, intentionally leaving out the detail that there was a period where he's make a game of flirting with her, even though he knew she'd never join him in his bunk. Those days were long past, there was no need to share, especially since she was happy with Minh-Chu Buu, a man he liked and respected a great deal.
"I know, I saw your relationship in her civilian file. I think I'd like her too if we met, but that'll never happen."
"Oh?" Shamus made a mental note to find out how she got into the civilian records later.
"It's kinda mean, I realize, but I was hoping that I was the last one from my line. Maybe other dolls celebrate their numbers, but I don't. I don't think she'd like to hear that there's another woman made the same way either, so I'd like to ask that you don't tell her that I exist, or that she's a doll at all."
"I don't know if that's for me to decide, lass," Shamus said.
"If it's not for you to decide, then don't tell her. Revealing any of this to her or anyone else would be the same as making that decision for her, right?"
"What if our scanners eventually find out. We have serious tech," Shamus said.
"They never will. She probably even thinks she can have babies, but without the cure Spin has, she never will. If technology from your part of space hasn't determined that she was manufactured and grown, not born, then nothing you have will."
"Why don't you want me to tell her?" Shamus asked. "And what if she wants to have children? What do I do then?"
"Slip her the cure, it's already in your computer system," Ashley said. "Oh, and I don't want her to know because I'd have knowledge of her wiped from my mind if I could. It's selfish, I know, but knowing that she's out there makes me…" she hesitated for a moment. "…maybe there isn't a word for it yet, but it's kinda like jealousy. I'll get over it, sure, but why put her through the same thing? I feel like if she knew it would make her feel like this, or even worse, maybe she'd want to find me, and I don't want to be face to face with her. Maybe someday, but not now."
"I thought all that time in isolation, seeing dolls made for years would get you ready for this. That you'd know there were a lot of dolls that…" Shamus watched something happen that he'd never seen from Ashley. The woman's expression began to sour, as though the idea he was sharing was so distasteful that she'd rather be anywhere else.
"There were thirty-five of my model made, thirty-four of them got to have memories imprinted on them that convinced them that they were human, born of mothers. They were woken up as toddlers, not like Spin's line. They were made to live for centuries, to stop aging at about twenty-five old calendar years, and they would see things I never would. Most of them would probably outlive their masters and be free one day, but I was stuck. Knowing that they were out there, experiencing the galaxy, knowing a life even if it was on the arm of some prideful owner, or as a servant in some corner of the universe, made me crazy sometimes. It still does. I resent every copy of my model, especially since I came first. I came first and they put me in a clean, safe environment where I was watched, and even my thoughts were moderated if I got too lonely or mad with envy. So, don't tell her. Let me have my own exciting life and let her continue hers."
"You have my word," Shamus said. "Good luck, lass. I hope you have the life you're looking for here."
Thank you
Thank you for reading. The adventure continues on Patreon and in Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion.
Chronology of Science Fiction & Fantasy By Randolph Lalonde
Chronological Order of the Spinward Fringe and Chaos Core Books
* * *
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 1 and 2: Resurrection and Awakening
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 3: Triton
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 4: Frontline
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Fracture
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments
The Expendable Few: A Spinward Fringe Novel
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8: Renegades
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath
Trapped: Chaos Core Book 1
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground
Cool Pursuit: Chaos Core Book 2
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10.5: Carnie's Tale
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge
Savage Stars: Chaos Core Book 3
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion
* * *
Chronological Order of Fantasy Novels by Randolph Lalonde
* * *
Highshield Book 1
Brightwill
Highshield Book 2 (Expected in 2019)
Savage Stars Page 37