Fulcrum of Odysseus
Page 24
“It wasn’t what I wanted,” he said. “They’re twisting it to serve their own desire for power. You can’t blame me for giving you what you want.”
“‘War is the game of the elite. Its cost is paid in the blood of our children.’ Do you remember those words? They’re yours.”
Paulson nodded.
“What you failed to realize is that as you climbed the ladder of power, you would someday be one of the self-same elite you wanted them to despise.” He tapped the icon on his desk to summon the guards.
“Perhaps it will appease both FleetCom and the Unaligned Masses when I hand them the body of their real enemy?” The door opened and the four security officers charged into the room. Lassiter started to jump up, but the closest guard pushed him back down firmly.
“You cannot kill him,” Odysseus said through his link.
Why? You don’t care about him, he thought back.
“Only he knows the command codes for the fleet. We need him alive until we can get them.”
“Fine,” Derek snarled out loud. “Paulson Lassiter, you are bound by law for treason and other crimes against the state.”
“You can’t do that,” Lassiter hissed.
“I can do whatever I please with you,” the Director said. “Your continued existence is only because Odysseus isn’t through with you yet. You betrayed me and that will never happen again.”
Waving a hand like he was telling a servant to dispose of an offensive lump of trash, he turned toward the captain of his guard. “Lock him up.”
Katana: Outbound from FleetCom Lunar L-2 Shipyard:
“You hungry?” Saf asked as Tana appeared from the lower deck. She glanced over her shoulder and stopped in shock. The doctor had bruising all over her face and arms that looked like someone had beaten her with a pile of bricks. “Oh my god, you look like hammered hell.”
“If they use hammers in hell, I’ll repent now,” she said, settling into a seat at the small galley table.
“What’s with the gravity?”
“This ship has a secondary drive. It’s called a Plasma Induction Engine. It keeps us accelerating without using the main engines.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Actually, you do. There is a rumbling hum that’s not much louder than the air ventilators,” she said. “It’s damned efficient too. From here to Mars it won’t use 500 kilograms of reaction mass.”
“If we’re still accelerating then we’re going to reach a max safe cruise, eventually?”
“Yah, I thought so too, but when the AA asked me if I wanted to use the cruise engine, it deployed a set of small sensor buoys in front of us to make sure we don’t have garbage in the way. It called them whiskers, and what they do is make sure space is empty for several million kilometers in front of us. With the maneuverability of this thing that puts our upward limit way above what anyone else could even dream about.”
“Sounds smart,” she said. “And it’s nice having gravity while we cruise.”
“I haven’t even begun to learn all the slick features this thing has, but the AA is sharp enough to offer help if it thinks you need it. It’s a level eight or nine hybrid-core.” Saf came over and put a plate on the table in front of Tana. “Sorry, the galley is kinda simple, but the bulk protein vat and the veggies are limited since the airponics are small and hadn’t had a chance to get much growth yet. In a couple weeks we should be eating better. But we’ll almost be there by then.”
“To Mars in two weeks?”
“Fifteen days, three hours and six minutes,” the AA said.
“Thank you Joe,” Saf said.
“I assume there’s a reason the AA is named Joe?”
“This vessel is named the Katana after the weapon of the ancient samurai warrior. The name is from a video entertainment series popular in the late 21st century. Samurai Joe,” it explained.
“Who gave you that name?”
“I chose it for myself,” it said. “The moniker seemed like a logical choice as it was easy to remember.”
“I can live with that,” Tana said. “Welcome to the crew Joe.”
“Welcome to my body,” Joe said.
“While accurate, that is a bit creepifying,” Saf said, winking at her wife.
“You should try living your life with humans crawling around inside your body,” it said.
Tana laughed and shook her head. “So was the Katana designed to be an emergency medical transport?”
“That was one of its primary design considerations,” Joe said.
“That explains the top tier equipment in the MedBay,” she said. “It’s small but whistle sharp.”
“How’s Edison?” Saf asked, looking at the bruises on Tana’s face and realizing that he must be in much worse shape.
“Am I dead?” he asked, his head appearing at the ladder to the lower deck. He groaned and winced as he pulled himself up another rung.
“Not anymore,” Tana said, jumping over to help him.
Saf passed her and jumped through the hatch before she covered half the distance. She had her arm around his waist to support his weight. He almost screamed.
“Careful he’s got broken ribs,” she said. “He should still be in bed.”
“Don’t want to miss the party,” he said, rolling his eyes and trying to smile. There wasn’t an inch of his exposed skin that wasn’t red or bruised purple. “I just thought I should come up here and spank the pilot.”
“That sounds like fun,” Saf said, feeling her skin almost blush. “I think you might need to get better first.” She was trying to figure out how to catch him without making his injuries worse if he fell. Fortunately, he made the climb even thought it took several minutes.
“Are we there yet?” he asked, easing gingerly into a seat.
“Nope, another two weeks,” Tana said.
He looked pointedly at the plate that sat anchored in place in front of her.
“It’s the slick ride we stole,” Saf said. “We’re still accelerating.” She came back to the table and put a small cup of something that looked like motor oil in front of him.
He nodded, willing to accept her answer without questioning. “What’s that?”
“An organic suspension that resembles coffee,” Joe said. “It is actually a blend of enzymes and nutrients designed to restore your health.”
“Do I smear it on my skin?” Edison asked, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
“The advised method of consumption is to ingest it,” it said. “A topical application may be useful, but it is not recommended.”
“Useful for an engine perhaps,” he said taking a sip. His upper lip retreated beyond his teeth and he hissed.
“It’s not poison Eddy,” Saf said, trying to stifle a laugh. “It will make you feel better.”
He slid his eyes in her direction, disbelief evident on his face. “So says the woman who tried to kill me.”
“I promise no more crazy piloting shit,” she said, reaching out and touching his arm gently.
He flinched in pain, even from her minimal contact. “Crazy piloting shit is fine. As long as you kill me first.”
THE END
Pick up your copy of Redemption of Sisyphus and experience
the gripping conclusion to the Shan Takhu Legacy.
Follow the link to learn more about Fulcrum of Odysseus.
Trapped between war and redemption.
Six months ago Jephora Cochrane was Commander of an ice prospecting mission, now he’s governor of the newest colony in the solar system. A colony that’s become the front line in a war for the future of the Human Union.
Struggling to understand the technology left behind by the ancient Shan Takhu, Cochrane and the residents of Gateway Colony must first defeat the warships of a merciless cybernetic entity known as Odysseus. It will stop at nothing to control the power of the alien structure they’ve discovered, including destroying it.
With no choices left, they have to keep Odysseus fro
m burying the key to the future of humanity back into the ice from which it came.
When all of civilization hangs in the balance, only a handful will have the strength to protect it.
Grab Redemption of Sisyphus and learn what really happens when we discover that we are not alone in the universe.
Thank you for reading Fulcrum of Odysseus. If you enjoyed the story, please take a moment and consider leaving a review.
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Thank you. EMC
Other works by Eric Michael Craig
Atlas and the Winds
Book One: Stormhaven Rising
Book Two: Prometheus and the Dragon
Shan Takhu Legacy
Book One: Legacy of Pandora
Book Two: Fulcrum of Odysseus
Book Three: Redemption of Sisyphus
Short Story
Ghostmaker
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Michael Craig is a Hard Science Fiction writer living in the Manzano Mountains of New Mexico. He is the former Director of Research for a private consulting laboratory in Phoenix, where he experimented with inertial propulsion and power generation technologies.
Fascinated with the "cacophony of humanity," he dedicated much of his life to observing society and how people relate to each other and the world around them. Ultimately this drove him to write full time.
When not writing, Eric is active in Intentional Community Design, plays guitar and bass, occasionally dabbles in art of various forms, and designs websites. He also owns way too many dogs.
Eric is a founding member of the SciFi Roundtable. The SFRT is an active online group dedicated to supporting indie and traditional authors by networking them with other writers and professional resources.
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From the Desk of Eric Michael Craig
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my beta readers: Victor Acquista, and Jennifer Amon. Without you, this book would not be finished. As ever, thank you to my editor, Ducky Smith, without her there would be no Shan Takhu Legacy.