The Silver Liner: Sails to the Edge!

by Daniel Sullivan

  As the lead scientist, Doctor Davis had his own office and a Starfleet rank of lieutenant commander. Though Miss Reddy’s rank was equal to his own, his prestige meant that she would likely defer to him on most matters. Science – it was his raison d'être, his reason for being. This mission was about discovery, and Davis was convinced that the studies of things aboard the Selene would prove just as crucial as the discoveries made on Ceres and Ganymede. Nothing could stand in the way of science on this mission – it was likely the only chance the scientists would have to work without constant interference from the corporate world or the government.

  With that in mind, he submitted his requisition request for the Ursula AI to Captain Giffords. He also requested the body of Shonda Richardson and the construction of four medical androids for use in the science and tech labs, submitting custom specifications for the androids to make them suitable for the needs of the science team.

  The door chime sounded, indicating a visitor, prompting him to say, “Open.”

  The door slid leftward, revealing lithe silhouette of Doctor Xenia Xayasith, the NessCorp furnished AI architect. Her tall frame equaled Captain Giffords’ in height, and her face was framed by luxuriant long dark hair with deep purple highlights. Davis could not help but notice her comely looks and had to force himself not to stare at the woman’s shapely figure.

  “Doctor Davis,” she said with a congenial smile. “First, let me say what an honor it is to be on this mission with you.”

  “That’s hardly necessary, Doctor Xayasith, but thank you.”

  She smiled back at him. “Oh, come now, Doctor – you’re legendary, and this mission is the pinnacle of scientific research. I know I’m technically not Starfleet – just a vestige of General Tracht’s once cozy relationship with NessCorp – but I want you to know that I am with the team one-hundred percent.”

  “I had no doubts,” he assured. Privately, he had held reservations about a corporate scientist on this mission, but looking at her and hearing her earnest appeal, he felt that his reservations were unfounded. “I look forward to working with you, Doctor Xayasith, and to that end, I have already requisitioned the Ursula AI. I want you to discover its secrets. I also want you to coordinate with Doctor Liu; she is an Alliance contribution to this mission – a nanotech expert. I need the two of you to unravel the secrets of Doctor Fiona Kinsale-Royce.”

  “For that, I will need access to things that only she would be able to grant – specifically her computers and datapads.”

  Hutch Davis nodded. “Giffords would probably not confiscate those, but … I believe that Ursula may already have the data from them. In addition, I have already obtained samples of her blood from Doctor Biggs – he practically begged me to take them to facilitate studying this woman.”

  Xayasith nodded. “I heard that he has concerns about her.”

  “He views her as an existential threat to humanity,” Davis replied. “We can determine if his concerns have any merit. Also, the existence of a being like Fiona Kinsale-Royce demands that she be placed under the white-hot scrutiny of science.”

  Xayasith nodded again. “I will place all of my considerable expertise into this endeavor. Also, I wish to unravel the secrets of the AI, as I believe understanding it is the key to understanding Kinsale-Royce.”

  “I agree. Henceforth, we will refer to Doctor Kinsale-Royce as Phenomenon X, and I will place the full weight of my rank behind the study of this phenomenon.”

  “You truly are as wise as I had heard, Doctor Davis.” Xenia flashed him a grin. “I am of course at your disposal as well, Doctor.”

  “Please, when it’s just us, you can call me Hutch.”

  The younger woman grinned and winked. “I’d be happy to … Hutch.”

  Something in the way she said his name brought a smile to his face. The wink, her body language, her voice, her very looks themselves conspired to make her irresistible. Davis chided himself for such a reaction, but as Xenia walked from his cabin, his eyes fixed to her shapely posterior and long legs, all wrapped up in the form-fitting uniform, he could not help his infatuation.

  She turned her head and looked back over her shoulder, flashing him a grin before the door closed. Davis leaned back in his chair, smiling like a schoolboy. He had caught the eye of a beautiful woman, something totally unexpected on this mission.

  Davis looked at himself in the mirror. He was tall, about as tall as Royce, and still fairly trim. His hair had gone gray, and he sported what he considered to be a distinguished beard and mustache. It was thick, but not bushy. He kept it trimmed and groomed. His spectacles added further to his professorial look. Not the image he imagined a beautiful woman like Xenia finding attractive, but then, younger women often were attracted to older men.

  He smiled at his reflection and stood a little taller before returning to his desk. Perhaps this mission would be memorable for more than just the science after all.

  3

  “Rodas! You’re on deck in five!”

  Corporal Maggie Rodas looked up from her datapad, and seeing Lieutenant Fleischer enter the crew quarters, she stood from the edge of her bunk.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Commander Jax needs a shuttle pilot for the first excursion to the crater.”

  “Me?”

  “You got a problem with that, Rodas?” Fleischer demanded.

  Maggie shook her head. “No! No, ma’am; respectfully, I thought Lieutenant Royce would be doing any flying on this mission, ma’am.”

  The lieutenant laughed at the thought. “Don’t expect Royce to be doing recon – we’re expendable; he’s not.” Then, Fleischer added, “Besides, the commander asked for you by name, Corporal Rodas. Grab your gear and get to the shuttle bay.”

  “Yes, ma’am; on my way, ma’am.”

  “Gardner will meet you there,” Fleischer replied. “He’s on this one too. And Corporal …” Fleischer smiled. “Congratulations; Commander Jax doesn’t request people by name very often, and when he does—well, let’s just say that a good report from the hero of the Conflict goes a long way professionally.”

  “Yes, ma’am! Thank you, ma’am! I’ll do my best!”

  Fleischer laughed. “Don’t thank me, Corporal—whatever he sees in you, it ain’t from anything I said; I recommended Cortez for this one.” Fleischer walked away, calling back, “Good luck, Corporal; you’re gonna need it.”

  Maggie had the shuttle prepped by a very thorough Father York – it seemed that the Selene’s chaplain was also a skilled mechanic - and had gone thoroughly over every preflight check. She expected to be ferrying cargo about the outpost site or retrieving space rocks or something like that. Never in a million years did she expect to be Commander Donavan Jax’s personal shuttle pilot on a mission to investigate a crater that contained a possible alien life form. Not only would Jax be aboard, but the science officer, Lieutenant Commander Vanya Reddy would be along as well.

  Maggie had fully expected the legendary Ken Royce to pilot any shuttles with Jax or Giffords aboard. Having Maggie pilot did not make sense until she remembered: We’re expendable; he’s not.

  Two marines – Braxton and Rodriguez – boarded the shuttle through the open hatch, interrupting her inner monologue.

  “Rodas!” Private Braxton made his way to the cockpit and slapped her shoulder. “Knew Jax would pick one of us! Nice going!”

  “Yeah, Braxton,” she confirmed. “I hear he prefers marines to Starfleet’s crybabies.”

  “Ground pounders for life,” Private Rodriguez, cheered as she boarded, fist pumping as she took her seat.

  “You think this is gonna be intense?” Braxton asked. “Aliens coming after us, and we’re all shooting flamethrowers an’ shit?”

  “Git yer head outta yer ass, an’ let the woman do her job,” Sergeant Gardner barked as he and two more marines; Privates Jackson and Harris, boarded. “The science team is on the way; Ms. Reddy and some of the scientists for us to babysit.” He paused, and added, “
Commander Jax is already pissed at them for something, so don’t piss him off more.”

  “I hear the science team wanted one of their own to fly the shuttle,” Harris remarked.

  “Yeah,” agreed Jackson. “Fleischer said Jax threatened to drop one of ‘em for pushups if they didn’t shut the fuck up.”

  The marines all laughed at this, but Maggie only made a weak laugh, hoping that Sergeant Gardner would not notice. As she predicted he was not amused.

  “Save the gossip for People Magazine, Sugar and Spice,” Gardner barked at Jackson and Harris, to the amusement of the other marines. “Let the officers worry about that shit; we got work to do.”

  As soon as Gardner stopped speaking, the scientists appeared: Miss Reddy, Doctor Hutch Davis, and three other scientists, whose names the marines did not know. One of them – a tall, comely woman with a long dark hair – wore a NessCorp field jump suit. The science team looked annoyed when they saw the marines, Miss Reddy shooting Gardner an undisguised look of disgust.

  “There a problem, ma’am?” The gruff sergeant’s question was practically a challenge, and Miss Reddy looked away sullenly before taking her seat.

  The NessCorp doctor, whose badge read, “Xayasith,” haughtily regarded the marines with an air of mere tolerance, seemingly oblivious to the admiring gaze of the older Doctor Hutch Davis. When Reddy noticed, another look of disgust crossed the science officer’s face.

  This is going to just peachy, Maggie thought sarcastically to herself.

  Sergeant Gardner rapped hard on the cockpit’s bulkhead and leaned through the doorway, a sour look on his weathered face. “We ready to go, Rodas?”

  “Aye, Sergeant,” Maggie replied as professionally as she could. “Just waiting on the commander.”

  “Good—cause he’s here.”

  Gardner took his seat as Donavan Jax boarded the shuttle. The two-meter tall commander was an imposing sight, and the look on his granite-hewn face made Maggie gulp audibly. He pulled the door closed as soon as he stepped inside, then addressed the team.

  “This is alien life, people,” the commander began. “Whatever it is, it survived the vacuum of space and the landing on Ceres. Take no unnecessary risks ….”

  “We know what we’re doing,” Miss Reddy said, clearly perturbed.

  “Yes, Commander,” Hutch added. “We do have PhDs in the field, you know.”

  Jax glared at him, causing the older scientist to shrink back in his seat. To everyone’s surprise, it was Miss Reddy who spoke next.

  “We only get one chance at this,” the science officer said, shooting a disapproving glance at Davis. “The commander is absolutely right about unnecessary risks—if we’re careless, we could put our own people in jeopardy, not to mention the possibility of damaging the first extraterrestrial lifeform we’ve ever encountered.”

  Jax actually smiled approvingly. “You heard the lady; let’s keep it by the book. Are we clear?”

  With the science team in agreement, Jax gave quick acknowledgements to the marines. Then, he stepped into the cockpit and took his seat next to Maggie.

  “Commander,” Royce said, his voice crackling over the com. “I’m lowering the door now; you’re cleared for takeoff.”

  “Acknowledged, Mister Royce,” the commander said. He spoke in a deep baritone that had an edge like steel.

  “Good hunting, sir,” Royce added as the shuttle bay door lowered.

  Jax cracked what was a surprisingly warm smile and turned to Maggie. “Anytime, Corporal.”

  “Aye, sir,” Maggie said nervously. “Sir, may I ask you a question?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why did you pick me?” She knew it was out of place to ask him, but she had to know.

  “You did a number of extractions on search and rescue missions,” he explained. “The one on Luna’s dark side last year was as dicey as they come, but you pulled it off without a hitch. That’s why you’re on this mission, Rodas.”

  She beamed at his comment in spite of herself. “Thank you, sir; I won’t let you down.”

  4

  Lieutenant Fleischer had seen engineers set up modular buildings before, but even so, she was always impressed. Watching a pile of building materials morph into two serviceable modular units in only two hours was amazing. Sinking the supports into the mountain and setting up the G.E.M. gravity generating platforms took the longest. Once that foundation was in place, the floors, walls, and roofs went into place quickly. A tube connected the two modular structures, making her think of the Habitrail enclosure she had for her hamsters as a child.

  “Looks like they’re ready to start moving their equipment in,” Captain Giffords noted as she walked over to stand beside the Lieutenant.

  “Looks like it,” Fleischer agreed. “This is huge; a footprint on Ceres! This is the first human presence outside of the inner solar system, and we’re it. Ours are the first footprints on Ceres!”

  Giffords nodded. “I don’t normally get excited until everything is up and running, but this time… this is different. This is the kind of thing I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl. Normally, I’m leading troops into combat or sailing into hostile territory, but this time? This time we’re doing something amazing, something that’s never been done. So far, apart from an attempted hijacking, everything’s even going according to plan.”

  The two stood silently, watching the marine engineers build the structures, both relieved that the mission seemed to be going like clockwork. If things continued to be this easy, this mission would be a cakewalk. A voice in the back of her head told the lieutenant that nothing like this would ever be a cakewalk, but for now, she ignored it and savored the moment.

  “Any ideas on what they’ll find out there in that crater, ma’am?”

  “Not a clue,” the captain sighed. “I suspect it’ll be some kind of space goop for the scientists to study.”

  Ariella giggled at the captain’s use of the term, ‘space goop.’ She hoped that space goop was all they would find. There was, however, a far more serious matter that dogged the back of the lieutenant’s mind.

  “Ma’am, are we going to go about this all business as usual and not discuss what happened on the trip here?”

  “What is there to discuss?” The captain seemed more puzzled than annoyed. “The Zduhać are in stasis, along with Lawson. They killed their two henchmen, and their AI is contained in a powered down server with no connection to the ship.”

  “Respectfully, ma’am, we’ve suffered two coordinated attacks before we even set foot on Ceres, and both came from within. I keep looking at people I’ve known and trusted and wondering if they’re with those America First terrorists – or bribed by a foreign government to perform some kind of hijacking.”

  Giffords nodded. “I know, Lieutenant. This is hardly ideal, and I’m having everyone see the shrink for a psyche eval.”

  Ariella was quiet for a long moment before broaching the next subject.

  “What about Doctor Kinsale-Royce? I hear she’s some kind of human-AI hybrid now. Is that… normal… or expected?”

  “No,” the captain said definitively. “Not at all.”

  “Can we … trust her?”

  Giffords sighed. “What choice do we have? The Zduhać and Lawson destroyed the Selene’s AI, and I am not considering for a nanosecond using their ‘Ursula’ AI in its stead. For better or worse, Fiona is the ship.”

  “That’s not an answer, Captain,” Fleischer countered. “Saying we have no choice but to trust her doesn’t mean that we can actually trust her.”

  “No, Lieutenant, it doesn’t. It’s too early to tell, but Royce trusts her… and I trust him.”

  “Hard not to,” Fleischer noted. “He’s one of those perennial good guys from what I hear. But he’s hardly objective when it comes to Doctor Kinsale-Royce; I mean, she’s his wife for crying out loud.”

  “That has not escaped me, Lieutenant, but my gut tells me we can trust her to at least not kill us
all.”

  “Then, I’ll go with your gut, ma’am.”

  Giffords laughed. “Hasn’t steered me wrong yet.”

  Fleischer just nodded and continued to watch as the outpost came together. Captain Giffords seemed to be doing the same, contemplating their circumstances the same way that Ariella was. By the time all was said and done, some of the soldiers would be stationed here for at least a year, possibly longer, depending on how long it took the next ship to arrive.

  The lieutenant tried not to think about the political shitstorm they had left behind on Earth. Earth as they knew it would be gone by the time they returned home, and the possibility of the Ceres outpost being hung out to dry for political expediency was a very real. Ariella feared that more than she feared any lurking America First Terrorists or human-AI hybrids – those, they could fight. Those, they could find a way to deal with. Politics on Earth were completely out of the marines’ ability to confront.

  Ariella hoped that it would all work out. She hoped that the mission would go on as planned in spite of the setbacks. Hope was all she could do. She hated that. It was the most infuriating thing to a soldier to have to rely on the hope that politicians could figure out how not to screw everything up – screwing things up was the only thing politicians were really good at.

  5

  Corporal Maggie Rodas flew the shuttle steadily toward the crater. Jax would have preferred Royce, but Corporal Rodas seemed more than up to the task, and she had a good record as a combat pilot. The commander had chosen five marines to accompany him on this; one shuttle pilot, two for exploring, and two to keep an eye on the scientists. Jax had no doubt that Miss Reddy could handle herself, but the over eagerness of the others worried him.