The Short End: Broken Galaxy Book Four

by Phil Huddleston

  “Tika…will there be air out there for us?”

 

  “You’re sure?”

 

  “I will, thank you.” Rachel opened a test port, took a testing device from the shelf beside the hatch, and pushed it through the testing port. She closed the testing port inner door and flipped a switch. After a few seconds, a light over the door turned green. She re-opened the testing port, pulled out the test probe, and read the display on the side of it.

  Looking at Paco, she nodded. “Atmo looks good. Earth normal, standard pressure.”

  “That’s a relief,” Paco responded. “At least we don’t have to wear a damn pressure suit.”

  “Right. OK, then. Here we go.”

  Rachel hit the hatch control. The outer airlock door swung open. Before them was a boarding tube, about four meters long. Standing at the end of the tube was a figure. It looked Human to her; but naked.

  Naked and female, she realized. The figure gestured them to move forward. “Please come,” came a voice from the figure.

  It was the voice of Tika.

  Bewildered, Rachel stepped forward.

  “Tika? Is that you?” she asked as she walked toward the figure.

  “Yes, Rachel. I transferred my consciousness to a humanoid android to greet you in person.”

  Rachel and Paco came up to Tika and stopped.

  “Just like that?” Rachel wondered. “You just transferred yourself to a new body?”

  “Yes, exactly. Follow me, please.”

  With that, Tika turned and stepped through an inner airlock door in the docking structure. She turned right, down a corridor and walked quickly away from them.

  With Tika moving fast down the long corridor, Rachel and Paco were forced to a half-trot to keep up. Tika came to a corner and turned left. There were several hatches in the next corridor. Tika stopped at the first hatch, which slid open at some invisible command.

  “These will be your quarters, Rachel,” she said, waving at the open hatch.

  Rachel stepped forward and looked through the door. She saw a quite normal cabin, with a bed on one side, a desk on the other, and what seemed to be a bathroom in the rear.

  A pseudo-picture window on the wall over the desk showed a mountain landscape, which appeared to be from Earth.

  Rachel looked back at Tika, who was standing silently, still holding her hand up indicating Rachel should enter the room.

  “Please make yourself comfortable and freshen up. There is food and drink in the refrigerator for you. You will be contacted in a while for a meeting with our leaders,” said Tika. “Paco will have his own room down the hall.”

  Seeing no other alternative, Rachel nodded. “OK.” She looked at Paco. “See ya, Paco.”

  Paco looked concerned but managed to speak. “Right, Skipper. See you soon.”

  Rachel stepped through the hatch. The door slid shut behind her. Turning, she examined the inside of the hatch.

  There were no controls, no door handles, nothing that she could see to open the hatch. Moving her hand all around the door, she tried to find any kind of hidden control or button that would open the hatch. She found nothing.

  Pressing her hand hard against the hatch surface, she tried to slide it open, but it wouldn’t budge.

  She was a prisoner.

  Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo

  City of Mosalia

  Ollie heard a gentle knock on his bedroom door. He recognized the knock; Yuello, the Nidarian who tended them.

  “Yes?”

  “Sir, you have a coded message.”

  “Thank you.”

  Grunting, Ollie slid out of bed, trying not to wake Helen lying beside him. Slipping into his loose trousers, he pulled his inner tunic over his shoulders and pushed his feet into his slippers. Retrieving his tablet from the night stand, he moved to the door, went out into the hallway, through the living room and into the kitchen of the small apartment. There he punched in a special code to the microwave oven that stood on the counter and hit the power button. The keypad blinked and the letters turned from blue to red, indicating the decoding device built into the microwave was ready.

  Ollie placed his tablet into the microwave and entered a second code into the keypad. He hit the power button and the microwave blinked once more. The keypad letters returned to their normal blue color, indicating the decoding process was complete.

  Retrieving his tablet, Ollie went to the living room and set down in his favorite easy chair to read the decoded message. His eyebrows raised as he did so. He read the message again and shook his head.

  “This is a mistake. This is a big, big mistake,” he muttered.

  “What?” he heard from Helen, coming into the room behind him. Ollie turned to her.

  “Oh, sorry. I tried not to wake you.”

  “It’s OK. What’s going on?”

  “Message from Fleet. You’re not gonna believe it.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a two-part message,” Ollie said. Turning back to the tablet, he began reading.

  “Part One - Fleet is relocating to Dekanna. We have the option of pulling out and going with the Fleet if we want to. If we choose to stay and continue the mission, a packet boat will be left at Point Charlie-Four as our support.”

  “We stay,” said Helen automatically. “No way we’re leaving now. We’ve got too much in flight.”

  Ollie smiled. “I assumed as much.”

  “What’s Part Two?” asked Helen.

  Ollie looked back at the tablet and read aloud.

  “Commander Jim Carter will insert into your location tomorrow. His mission is to retrieve the body of Admiral Rita Page if possible. Please retrieve him at Point Alpha-Sixteen at 2320 hours. Offer all assistance available but do not compromise your overall mission to do so.”

  Ollie looked up at Helen.

  “End Message.”

  Helen grunted in disbelief. “Why? Why retrieve Rita’s body? What military value does that have?”

  “None,” said Ollie. “But maybe some propaganda value. Think about the impact on the Ashkelon if he pulls it off. First Rita denies Zukra the ability to torture her and chop off her head in the arena. Then we deny Zukra her body. That’s got to be worth something.”

  “I think it’s bullshit. I think Jim and Bonnie - sorry, Admiral Bonnie now - are doing this for personal reasons. You know they both had relationships with Rita. People say that Bonnie and Rita were lovers before all this started. I don’t think this is a good idea at all.”

  “I think you’re right. But ours is not to reason why. When the elephants are mating, it’s best to stand aside and let them go at it.”

  Helen rose, yawning.

  “I’m going back to bed. If we have to retrieve him tomorrow night at 2320, I’m going to need my beauty sleep.”

  Ollie rose with her. “Yep. I’m with you.”

  Stalingrad System

  Dyson Swarm

  Rachel had lost track of time. Imprisoned in her room, the hours came and went, until she had no idea how long she had been there.

  She had found food in the refrigerator, food that looked quite normal to her. There was a loaf of something that looked and tasted like bread. There was a container of some substance that looked and tasted like minced meat, like a spread she had seen on Earth called deviled ham.

  She doubted it was actual meat…

  Where would a society of AI find meat?

  …but it tasted good, especially compared to the ship rations they had been eating on the mission.

  There was water. There was something remarkably like beer. It must have contained alcohol, because after a couple of bottles she started to get a little buzzy and got sleepy.

  Lying down on the bunk, she had slid into sleep without really knowing it. Hours later, she came back to her senses. The room was dark. As sh
e sat up in bed, the lights came on automatically.

  She realized all her possessions from the packet boat had been brought into the cabin while she slept. Her clothes hung in the closet. Her tablet was on the desk. The remainder of her personal possessions sat beside it on the top of the desk.

  But not her pistol. She had brought a .45 automatic with her and had left it in Donkey’s cabin. That was one item that was missing.

  What do they think I would do with a .45? Shoot Tika? She’d just transfer into another body. That would be sort of pointless.

  Rachel sat down and powered on her tablet, went through it. Everything was there, nothing missing, nothing added. But of course, she no longer had access to Donkey. There was no AI on the other end of her network.

  Wondering if Paco was next door and could hear her, she had pounded on the wall for a while, but there had been no response. Either he was not next door to her, or the walls were too thick.

  She had about a dozen old movies downloaded on her tablet. After a while, with nothing happening, she started one of them and watched it through.

  That was a long time ago. Since then, the hours had passed, so many hours that she had been unable to estimate the length of time that had passed. She had eaten another meal, drank more beer, slept again, and watched another movie.

  She had decided that if she used her body as a clock, she could keep rough track of time. So she counted the meals and the movies. After she had been hungry three times and eaten three meals, watched one movie, and slept, she called that one day.

  By that crude mechanism, she estimated she had been locked in the cabin for three days.

  Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo

  Ashkelon Fleet Headquarters

  Orma knew the Dariama were cooperating with the Humans. He had his own spies on Dekanna. He couldn’t get a lot of information from the highly paranoid Dariama, and his spies tended to have a high attrition rate as they were found and killed quickly.

  But he got some information. Just enough to get the general picture of things.

  He knew the Humans had provided the Dariama with several Merlin fighters to study. He knew about the improvements the Dariama engineers had made to create the Merlin II. And he knew there was a team of Humans at Dekanna, training the Dariama in tactics.

  None of those things bothered him much. Months ago, Zukra had sent an initial invasion fleet to Dekanna. But then the Humans had given the Dariama the designs for the gamma lance and the fast drives. That had forced Zukra to pull back his invasion fleet.

  Zukra had been furious at that time, angry beyond all measure. But Zukra had moved beyond that anger. Now he knew exactly what he would do, and he had explained it to Orma more than once.

  First he would deal with the Human infestation in his own system. Then he would wipe that troublesome species off their home planet Earth.

  And then he would turn back to the Dariama. They would get their just due.

  And after he reduced the Dariama to slavery, he would be perfectly positioned to double-cross his new allies, the Nidarians, and take their system as well.

  But those were long-term plans, and not finalized yet. So for now, Zukra had told Orma to allow the Dariama embassy in Mosalia to continue operating.

  And that meant diplomatic immunity prevented Orma from inspecting every Dariama diplomatic pouch. But it didn’t prevent Orma from screening every creature who came or went on their packet boats, checking them to make sure they were legitimate embassy staff. His team also inspected the routine cargo that the boats brought from Dekanna. They opened every non-diplomatic container, sniffing and prodding every product and foodstuff.

  There was no way to smuggle a Human in or out on the packet boat.

  But Orma was convinced the Humans had established a method of getting operatives into Mosalia. Maybe his team hadn’t yet worked out the details, but he knew in his gut it was happening.

  It has to be the Dariama packet boats, Orma thought. There’s no other possibility. They could never land a shuttle or a fighter on the surface without detection. We monitor everything that enters or leaves the atmosphere.

  Orma sat in his office and thought about it, as he did almost every day. It was a puzzle that was driving him crazy.

  It has to be the Dariama packet boats. But how? How are they doing it?

  Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo

  Dariama Consulate Packet Boat

  44,000 meters above the surface of Ridendo, Jim Carter stared at a holo displayed across his vision. It was supposed to show a feed from the bottom of the Dariama packet boat entering the atmosphere of Ridendo. But it was dark; he could see nothing below except a dimly lit layer of cloud.

  That’s good. The weather forecast was spot-on. All I have to do is get out of this damn thing without killing myself.

  he heard the suit AI speak.

  “Roger.”

  The external feed display turned off. Now Jim was looking at the inner surface of the capsule. Thick padding pressed directly against his faceshield. He closed his eyes. It was entirely too claustrophobic to look at that surface so close to him. It reminded him he was packed inside the drop capsule like a mummy inside a sarcophagus. Form-fitting padding prevented him from moving arms or legs; there was only enough room for his chest to rise and fall, allowing him to breathe.

  And even so, I doubt that padding will provide much protection. This is gonna be a rough ride.

  The AI started counting.

 

  A tremendous lurch told him the capsule had separated from the rear of the shuttle. He felt huge g-forces as the capsule twisted in the Mach 5 airflow, slamming him first down, then left, then down again and finally up, knocking the wind out of him. He gasped, trying to recover his breath.

  There was a snap as a tiny metallic drogue chute came out to stabilize the capsule. Things started to settle down a bit. The capsule was still swinging wildly, but the g-forces weren’t quite as bad.

 

  Jim breathed a sigh of relief. He opened his eyes. His suit AI was now displaying his altitude, speed and ground track on a holographic image which appeared to float several feet in front of his eyes. That helped with the claustrophobia. The ground track showed him to be on course for the small mountain cleft known as Point Alpha-16, 420 kilometers from Mosalia.

  Now if the capsule disintegrates on time. And the second drogue opens. And the main chute opens. And I don’t miss my target. And the Ashkelon aren’t waiting to shoot me on sight…

  Then I’m golden.

  The following minutes seemed to go by like hours. It was impossible to determine anything about his attitude or condition from his own senses; he was forced to rely on the holographic image and the voice of his suit AI, confirming he was on track. He watched the altitude spin down, the ground track moving slower and slower as his path changed from horizontal to vertical. Soon he was falling straight down, directly toward the high mountain peaks below him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo

  Near Point Alpha-Sixteen

  the suit AI called.

  Jim closed his eyes again. This was the second major test of the drop. If the capsule failed to properly disintegrate around him, freeing him from its embrace, he’d be screwed. It would be impossible for him to fight his way out of the close-fitting capsule.

  Everything depended on the systems and the AI.

 

  Suddenly there was tremendous airflow all around him. He was spun violently, first one way, then another. Pieces of the capsule padding slammed against his suit like soft shrapnel, their impact at this speed stinging like hell.

  A second drogue chute - this one attached to his envirosuit - opened with a bang. His body was jerked up hard. He felt like someone had hit
him in the small of his back with a sledgehammer.

  But he was alive. Gasping for breath, he realized he was stabilized.

  Those damn Dariama engineers really need to work on their parachutes, he thought. That drogue chute opening was ridiculous.

  The holographic display had malfunctioned from the shock. It had disappeared. He had no idea of his altitude or path. It was pitch-black - there were no visible lights on the ground. The sharp granite peaks below him were completely invisible.

  Without the holographic display, he had no way of knowing where his target was on the ground. His path was now out of his control.

  Get it together, jarhead. There’s a backup altimeter. You can do this.

  Glancing at his wrist, he read off the altitude from an old-style wrist altimeter.

  3,500 meters. 11,480 feet.

  If the suit AI was still working properly, the main chute would open automatically at 3,000 meters.

  And even as the thought entered his mind, he was jerked hard as the main chute deployed. The rush of air diminished, and he found himself swaying gently under the larger canopy.

  Now his problem was navigation. The holographic display should have shown him a representation of the ground below, allowing him to steer his parachute to the narrow cleft that was his target. But he had no hologram. He couldn’t navigate.

  The mission instructions called for radio silence as he approached the ground. But he had to take a chance. Without some kind of help, he was going to smash into the razor-sharp rocks below in a totally uncontrolled crash. There would be little chance of survival.

  He keyed his radio and made the emergency call that would let Ollie know he had lost navigation.

  “Tango, Tango, Tango.”

  He waited, scanning below him for any kind of light. Ollie would have a light that - hopefully - only Jim could see from his higher altitude.

  There was no response.

  “Tango, Tango, Tango,” he called again.

  There! A flicker of light showed off to one side. Jim pulled his chute risers hard. If that was Ollie, then he was far off course. It wasn’t certain he could get back to the spot in time. The light flickered again, then shone steadily for ten seconds. Jim worked the parachute for all he was worth. It was going to be close.