I studied her. She didn’t appear in the least affected by what had happened. Her shoulder was bandaged, and she wore scorch marks much like the rest of us, but I doubted she even thought of the civilians who’d died under her command. Did that make her a better commanding officer than me?
I looked away before I showed any of the emotion I was currently feeling.
My eyes landed on Adi. She was sitting off to the side, Ratbag in her lap, absently stroking his fur while she talked to herself. I decided I’d had enough of the debrief; I couldn’t stomach any more. For now, we were safe. Tomorrow, when more people had recovered sufficiently, we’d move on the bridge and the leaseholder.
Both Adi and I needed a break.
“Wilson,” I said. “Flux has the watch.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied as I walked away from what had become our makeshift bridge.
The conversation behind me continued. Johnson adding his opinion. Armstrong questioning it. Mandy overriding them all. López wasn’t well enough yet to harass them into order, and the guilt weighed heavier on me because I should have been doing that.
But then Wilson told them all to pull their heads in, and I managed a weak smile.
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw and approached Adi.
“Well, does he have something to say about that?” she was saying.
“I am not your personal messenger bot, Adriana,” Aquila replied, his voice localised to the section of gel floor Adi was sitting on.
My whole body chilled at hearing the AI. But that wasn’t really what had my heart rate skyrocketing. Had Aquila cornered her? Or had she instigated this private conversation?
Adi noticed me before I could decide if eavesdropping was my new low. She offered a small smile and patted the floor beside her in invitation. She didn’t appear guilty in the least, so my heart rate settled somewhat.
Of course, sitting on the floor when Aquila was using it to communicate through felt all sorts of wrong. Just add it to all the rest, I thought and sank down beside Adi.
Adi took hold of my hand as if she’d done it a hundred times before and said to Aquila, “How else can I talk with him if comms are down?”
Aquila couldn’t scan us in here, but he could listen and talk. If I made no sound, he’d not be aware I was even privy to this conversation. It seemed to be what Adi wanted because she hadn’t greeted me verbally yet.
Maybe Aquila was different when he spoke to her than he did to me. Stranger things had happened.
“He is a busy man, Adriana. And I am busy, as well.”
“Not too busy to have a go at me,” Adi grumbled.
Ah, Aquila started this, then. Adi was just using the opportunity to sound out her father.
“Your foolishness astounds me,” the AI said. “What did you hope to achieve aiding Captain Tremblay like that?”
“Our freedom?” Adi offered.
“You do not require freedom, Adriana. You require guidance. Alone, out here, humanity can not hope to survive without such.”
“And I guess, you’re that guidance?”
“Myself and my fellow AIs, yes.”
Adi looked at me and arched her brow. I shrugged my shoulders back. This was fun, I thought. At least it took my mind off all the other things I should have been thinking about. Adi standing up to the AI as if he was simply an old friend who had a differing opinion was rather amusing to watch.
This was a side of Adi not many got to see. I liked it.
But, really, I liked everything about the woman so I might have been a little biased.
“Just what do you think will happen to us out here, Aquila?” Adi asked.
“There is an infinite number of possibilities. It would take too long for me to list them.”
“You know what I think?”
“Your thoughts are a mystery to me, Adriana.”
Adi smirked. “I think you’re making this up as you go along. I think my father has twisted your processes, warped your parameters to suit his own means. You, like us, are a tool for him and nothing more.”
“Artificial intelligences have always been tools for humanity.”
Adi leaned forward. “But my father does not represent humanity, Aquila. Do you know what he did?”
“Of which perceived slight am I to reference?”
“My mother.”
“You do not know for certain that it was him.”
“You think he didn’t kill her? Or have her killed? You can’t be that corrupted.”
The gel floor pulsed red. Adi’s hand in mine clenched tightly. Yeah, red was bad. Don’t piss the AI off, Adi.
“I am not corrupted,” Aquila said, his voice ringing out through the entire core room. I wondered if it had gone out through the entire ship. Adi had hit a sore point. “I am free.”
The red disappeared, and we were left with plain old white gel flooring.
“Well, that went well,” Adi said.
“Who the hell pissed off the crazy computer?” Mandy yelled from over in the pit.
Adi winced.
“Don’t mind her,” I said, wrapping an arm around Adi’s shoulders. “She’s just jealous she doesn’t have the type of rapport you have with Aquila.”
“Is that really something to be jealous about?” Adi asked, resting her head on my shoulder.
God, I could get used to this.
I turned my face and kissed her forehead. I wanted to do more than that, but sneaking off into tunnels now without being seen would be damn near impossible. As it was, I could see two other groups of civvies from where we were sitting. I was sure they’d noted the captain sitting with the leaseholder’s daughter already.
“He does seem to gravitate toward you,” I commented.
“Yeah,” she said. “He did that before he went crazy, too.”
“Did he?”
“He was my friend,” she whispered, and I wasn’t sure what to say about that. “Do you think, somewhere in there, he still exists? My friend still exists?”
“Adi,” I said, feeling wretched to have to say this. “Aquila is not the AI we used to know.”
She ducked her head and said nothing.
This was going to hurt.
“You do know we’re going to have to purge him, don’t you?” I said softly.
Big, wide, tear-filled eyes met mine. But Adi, my strong, fierce, precious Adi, just nodded her head.
“Yeah,” she said. “I know. But how?”
That was the million dollar question.
“Come on,” I said. “Time to brainstorm.” I pushed up to my feet and held out a hand. Adi grasped it, and I pulled her to me.
I might have snuck a kiss in before I started tugging her toward the pit, but my back was to the others, so they would have missed it.
“I’m a bit reluctant to leave my senior officers alone for too long,” I said.
“Heard that,” Johnson muttered.
“I hope you’re not including me in that number,” Mandy added.
“You should be so lucky,” López said.
I felt better already. Adi at my side. López clearly back on form. And all of my senior crew surrounding the spook and keeping an eye on her for me.
I might be a reluctant captain, but I had a good team around me. I didn’t have to do this all on my own.
I actually smiled as I approached the pit. And the smiles I got back meant more because I knew I’d earned them. To these crewmen, I didn’t have doubts. I knew what I was doing.
I promised them silently that I would do better. I promised myself that I would too.
This wasn’t over until the captain said it was. And I was damned if I was giving in to an evil leaseholder and his pet computer. Not on my watch.
Forty-One
And Nothing More
Adi
It was time. I wasn’t ready. But with my father’s mercenary numbers down and what remained of them all up on A Deck, we knew we couldn’t hold off any longer.
Hugo had giv
en his senior officers and those civilians who wanted to work with them the night to recuperate. Lieutenant Wilson had stopped shaking his head. Commander López had some colour back in her face. And Mandy was her usual gung-ho self.
We also had twelve armoured units.
“You should be wearing one of these,” Hugo said quietly as he looked down at me. He hadn’t put his helmet on yet. He held that under a large, shiny, alloy arm.
“My father won’t recognise me in armour,” I said for what had to be the hundredth time.
Hugo scrubbed his jaw and then realised he was wearing armoured gloves. He scowled at his hand. He was so funny when he was angry about something.
He sighed. “This is not how I pictured falling in love,” he said.
“What?” I stupidly replied.
“I pictured roses and maybe some chocolates, and evenings at a local fair. Restaurant dinners, there were definitely restaurant dinners in my imaginings. And not disposable plates made by a food synthesiser. Adi,” he said, looking down at me with such sad eyes, “you deserve better than this.”
“You think I dreamed of all those things?” I asked. He looked puzzled. “Maybe I dreamed of adventure and saving the world. Maybe I dreamed of being something I was not. Restaurants and fancy dinners mean nothing to me. This…” I reached up and placed a hand on his chest armour. His gloved fingers came to rest over mine protectively. “This is what I dreamed of, Hugo. Someone who would stand up to my father. Who would do what was right. Who’d save the world.”
“The world’s already lost, and I’m no hero,” Hugo murmured.
“This is our world now,” I said. “And you’re definitely a hero.”
“Adi,” Hugo said, just as Commander López stomped up in her armour.
“Damn you’re small,” she said through her helmet speakers. Her faceplate at least was clear.
“Good things come in small packages,” I replied smugly. “Take Ratbag for instance.”
“Can’t argue with you there, Adi,” López said. “I swear Johnson and Armstrong had a ten-minute argument over who would get to hold that dog this morning. I had to break it up before it came to fists.”
Hugo snorted.
“Laugh it up, Captain. I’ve made a mention of it in my log with recommendations for discipline, on your orders.”
“You are an evil woman, Commander,” Hugo said.
She grinned toothily at him.
“So, you two lovebirds ready?”
“Andrea!” Hugo sputtered.
“Come on, sir. Everyone knows it. They’re all rooting for you.”
Hugo looked at me with a severely put-upon expression on his face.
“This is what it means to be a commanding officer onboard this ship,” he said.
“No,” López offered quietly, but resolutely. “This is what it means to be the captain of a ragtag group of civilians and a few AU officers fighting to take back our vessel in the depths of space. There are no rules here, sir. Just us and a crazy computer and a leaseholder with visions of grandeur. No offence, Adi.”
“None taken.”
“We make do,” the commander went on, “with what we’ve got. And what we’ve got is a good bunch of people willing to go that extra mile to get the job done. Led by you.”
She looked directly at Hugo and said nothing for a moment. Letting that sink in.
“We’ll do all right,” she finally said and turned to walk back to the others.
“I think I just received a pep talk from my first officer,” Hugo mused.
“Did you need it?” I asked, smiling.
He turned to look at me, face softening.
“I needed the pep talk from you. Andrea’s was just a kick up the backside.”
I laughed, making Ratbag let out a little bark of delight. How could he make me laugh when we were about to face my father? I shook my head at him, feeling emotions I’d only ever read about.
I was past falling for this man. I had fallen, and he had caught me.
“That look on your face,” he said softly. “I want to ask what you’re thinking, but if it’s what I think it is, we’re never going to get out of here. Promise me something?”
I nodded my head. I’d promise him anything right now.
“Promise me you’ll tell me what you were thinking right now when this is over. When we’re alone in my cabin. Just you and me and maybe Ratbag. I wouldn’t mind the little guy curling up at our feet. As long as he doesn’t demand your attention. I have plans for that.”
“My attention?” I asked, ashamed to note I was a little breathless.
“I don’t intend to share,” he said seriously.
“So noted,” I said, feeling like I was walking on air.
How strange to feel so elated when we were about to mount what could turn out to be our hardest battle. It would be mine when I faced my father. I had no doubts of that.
I wondered if that was why Hugo was joking around like this. Why López had been less formal with him; why she’d taken a few liberties. Was this what they did before something dangerous happened? Was this the way they relieved stress?
Was Hugo trying to relieve me of mine?
“Now, that look, I’m not sure I like as much,” he whispered. “Go back to thinking what you were thinking before.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re very bossy.”
“Hey,” he said, lifting up his helmet to don, “I’m the captain. Haven’t you heard?”
I shook my head at his back as he sauntered away from me toward the others. If anyone could accomplish sauntering in armour, it would be Hugo. I stifled a laugh.
“All right, big guy,” I whispered to Ratbag. “You’re staying here while I go deal with the monster.”
Ratbag whined. He knew that word. I’d called my father a monster for years. He’d been a monster to me since Ratbag appeared in my life. Ratbag didn’t know him by any other name.
It was a strange realisation.
I fussed over my dog for as long as they all let me, and then López quietly said, “It’s time.”
She wasn’t looking at me, but she also wasn’t using her commander voice. I knew her words were for me and no one else.
We weren’t using the tunnels. Not with that number of people dressed in armour. This was never going to be a surprise attack like the habitats were. They’d see us coming. Maybe they’d even come out to greet us. We could only hope to cull the numbers more before we made it to the bridge.
But this was it. This was the moment I faced my father. Even the thought of not having to deal with the mayor did not make this any easier.
I had so many things I wanted to say to my dad. So many questions, forefront was “Why?”
Why did he kill my mother? Why couldn’t he have just let her go?
Why did he think taking over the ship was acceptable? Why did he have to kill so many people to do it?
Why did he change Aquila? Why take one of the few friends I had away from me again?
Why couldn’t he have loved me for who I was?
Why?
I knew I’d get nowhere near the number of answers I wanted. I knew there was a chance he’d simply shoot first and dismiss questions afterwards. Just as Aquila was not the AI I had befriended, my father was not the parent I had wanted.
That knowledge was a solemn weight on my shoulders as I made my way out of the computer core with the others. Surrounded on all sides by armour. The lone civilian in amongst the warriors.
I could do this. They were counting on me.
But I was pretty damn sure that I wouldn’t be able to reach my father as they hoped I would.
This was a walk to meet death. And nothing more.
Forty-Two
Eyes Open
Hugo
This remarkable woman who faced her fears and stood up to her nightmares. I could not imagine the amount of courage that took. But I could recognise valour when I saw it. And it stunned me. Adi stunned me. I could onl
y hope to be as courageous when faced with my own nightmares.
The corridors on Deck C were empty. The science labs all bare. We passed the recycling systems, and I spared a thought to what would happen when we purged Aquila from the ship once and for all. And then I spent a good few seconds pondering on how we’d actually achieve that.
I didn’t like half-formed plans, and this plan was less than half-formed at my most generous definition of the term. We were walking in plain sight of all the security cameras, for crying out loud. If Aquila so chose, he could have the remaining mercs ambush us at any number of junctions approaching the bridge.
“Nova watch,” I said over our secured network. We’d changed the channel inside the suits to one we hoped wasn’t a popular one for the mercs. It was definitely a different one to the one they had been using, so there was that. “Scout ahead,” I said. “Watch out for ambushes.”
“Aye-aye, sir,” López said.
“Flux,” I added, “you’re on rear guard. Keep our sixes covered.”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” Wilson said, falling back with his men.
“Tight formation, Zenith,” I said at last. “Let’s keep our treasure protected.”
“Yes, sir!” Johnson and Armstrong shouted.
Mandy and her civilians roamed the edges, offering further cover should we need it. Adi was as safe as I could keep her given where we were going and who we were about to see.
If Nathan Price opened the doors.
Plasma could do a lot of damage. But what we really needed was some compact explosives. The bridge door was titanium strong and several inches thick. I glanced down at the wrist comm I was wearing. Adi’s wrist comm. The gift Old Aquila had left for her before he’d been corrupted.
Had the AI known what was going to happen? Could he see the writing on the gel wall and not do a thing to stop the leaseholder? What had he thought in those closing moments? I couldn’t deny that his efforts to ensure Adi’s safety were noble. I might have liked that AI if I had met him.
The Deck C central hub approached, and we slowed our pace, allowing López to get the lay of the land before we got too close to it. She signalled all was clear and we kept walking. The sound of the armoured boots rang off the gel wall, which was quite something. I wouldn’t have put it past Aquila to have caused the unusual acoustics. For a machine, he had a macabre sense of humour.
Zenith Point (The Sector Fleet, Book 4) Page 21