Star Thief

by T. Jackson King

  Thank you for the info, Akantha. Please have one of your mechbots load the shuttle with my field work tools and backpacks. It will be the same team as before. Lotan will stay here with you.

  Joy, joy. His efforts are boring to me.

  I grinned. Then play three-dee chess with him. He’s beaten me several times.

  I noticed. Perhaps the effort will occupy a small part of me. The rest of me will monitor the gravity projector installation. Some of the work being done by Stars’ mechbots concerns me.

  What? Explain your concerns.

  A feeling of puzzlement combined with irritation flooded through me as Akantha shared her feelings.

  The mechbots have installed a control nexus crystal along the route of the conduits that will link with the gravity projector panel in the Control Chamber. The conduits link directly to the projector itself. They also link to my memory core.

  I frowned. Is this control nexus crystal needed for projector operations?

  That is what Stars told me via mind touch. Yet I sense she is only telling me part of the truth.

  Damn. Was this crystal related to Stars’ task that I had yet to learn? Akantha, keep monitoring. We need the gravity projector. And the sensor improvements she provided you. Is the sensor revision work done?

  It is done. The sensors of this vessel will have twice the range they had before, and they will be able to track emissions down to the gluon and graviton level. We will also be able to detect objects hiding behind a star. By way of what seems to be a twisting of neutrino dimension space. I’ve never encountered such a sensor.

  Good to hear.

  I got out of bed and walked over to the wall closet that held my field clothes. And my Yakuza cloak. While the Harl research post seemed power dead, I had learned that when visiting any Harl ruin you prepared for the least likely and watched in all directions. A Harl planet might be ‘dead’ in the absence of living Harl, but Harl devices and Harl buildings were often partly alive. The smell of pancakes touched my mind.

  Akantha! Stop torturing me by activating that memory!

  Laughter echoed in my mind. Just sending you the true odor of your breakfast that is now ready in the Galley. Eager to eat?

  Damn right! I touched shut my one-piece field coveralls, grabbed my plasma pistol belt and headed for the room’s entry. It spiraled open just before I got there.

  Nice AI. But do not try to anticipate everything about me.

  I won’t. You Humans are nicely variable in your emotional and intellectual responses. Sometimes the obvious response is your last choice.

  I know that. I have my reasons.

  So you do. Enjoy your pancakes!

  I plan to do exactly that!

  Stepping into the central hallway I turned left and headed for the Galley Chamber that lay 20 meters down it. The odors of a meerkat, a purple-feathered giant bird, a walking worm, a sexy female reptile and a praying mantis filled the hallway. They were odors I’d encountered four years ago, when I’d hired these five aliens to be my crewmates. They were now my family. No doubt I smelled as weird to them as they did to me. Sniffing again I followed the odor of hot blueberry pancakes and maple syrup through the open Galley entry and into a busy room that was only slightly noisy. The pheromone language odors of Lotan almost overwhelmed my breakfast smells.

  “Captain! We have much to discuss!”

  I stepped around the brown and white-furred meerkat, intentionally not watching the flowing movements of his hands and arms. Food I needed. Food I wanted. Conversation with an alien came a distant second in priority.

  “Then sit with me as I eat.” I grabbed the tray holding my breakfast from the infrared heating alcove where Akantha kept warm those things that needed to be warm after emerging from the Synthesizer. Draken and Sharp Claw were already eating from a nearby table. I stepped over to a table occupied by Meander and Flow. I sat between the two. Which forced Lotan to occupy the seat across from me since it was the only unoccupied bench seat for this table. I bent my head down, grabbed fiber utensils and began slathering the pancakes with fake butter and almost real maple syrup. I stuffed a bite into my mouth. “Speak or eat as you wish.”

  Lotan’s slim, expressive hands moved atop the metal table like snakes making love. I looked away and up to his face. His soft brown eyes, bordered by black circles, drew me in. His pointed muzzle with its black button nose opened slightly.

  “Captain, I wish to join you on this next expedition. Staying here is boring,” he clicked amidst a wave of cinnamon pheromones.

  I exhaled, doing my best to avoid being mentally flooded by his pheromones. “No. Stay here. You’ve been out in the field on other expeditions. I need a crew being here, inside the Akantha, in case one of the Primaries tries to take over this vessel.”

  His brown tufted ears flared outward. “Your AI Akantha would prevent such an event.”

  “Probably. But not to a certainty. You can sleep or play virtual video games while we’re gone.”

  His eyes drew me in. “We Torsen prefer engaging with living beings. AIs are useful but not as . . . helpful as living beings.”

  I knew he meant his people preferred being around other beings they could influence by their pheromones and gestures. This meerkat only felt secure when surrounded by beings he could influence. Which included Draken the segmented walking worm, to my astonishment years ago. And me of course. But I’d learned how to resist his emphatic gestures. Still, Lotan was a smooth operator who almost always got whatever he wanted. Whether from an alien on a vessel guarding a Gate or from me. I’d paid Lotan first after receiving the advance payment from Laserta. I told myself I did that because Lotan had been very helpful in dealing with Laserta’s representative while we were in orbit. But it could also have been due to Lotan’s unique abilities.

  “Understood. Still, you will stay here. I do not expect to encounter intelligent bioforms at the research station.”

  Lotan’s mouth pulled back slightly in his imitation of a human smile. “But we Torsen can influence animal lifeforms. If I had been with you yesterday I could have diverted the carnivore attacks.”

  Could he really influence hunter wolves? My study of his home world and his people said they had influence over all predators on his world. Maybe he could influence alien predators. I’d seen him do it a few times in past visits to other dead worlds. Briefly I considered letting him come with us. Then I recalled what Akantha had said about the control crystal.

  “I know you can defend us against predator animals. But I need you here to be a defense backup to Akantha, in case something goes wrong with the projector installation.”

  His soft white-brown fur laid down on his forearms and shoulders. Those were his visible parts. Lotan usually wore a sleeveless smock that reached to his knees when awake. In the field he often wore an enviro-suit as a safety backup. Sharp Claw, Meander, and Pilot also often wore suits. Draken was nearly impervious to lasers, predator teeth and falling rocks. He rarely wore any protection, except when exiting the Akantha to float in space for absorbing star radiation. It was his version of getting a tan on a beach. Lotan’s muzzle lowered. He made a sigh. Another human imitation.

  “I will comply. Perhaps Akantha will challenge me in a game of three-dee chess.”

  I looked around the Galley. Most of my crew were done with their meals. Time to check in.

  “Akantha, show me a holo of Employer Laserta. She is still inside Purple Glow, isn’t she?”

  “She is. Holo appearing between your tables.”

  Laserta appeared. She still wore her green shorts, brown leather staps, sandals and sensor belt, plus the green gravity band. She looked ahead, no doubt seeing a holo of me conveyed by Akantha through Purple Glow.

  “Captain, why do you disturb me?”

  I gave her a half-smile. A full teeth display was seen as a predatory threat by her and by other mammal-evolved species. “Employer, I have learned a Harl research station exists on an island near this world’s south p
ole. My crew and I will leave shortly to explore it for useful tech. Do you wish to join us?”

  She showed her fox-like incisors in a full-on predator reminder. “It is good you remember who paid you to come here. No, I will stay and continue studying this Harl vessel. Its AI responds to my questions. Slowly, but it responds. If I need food I will enter your vessel. You are leaving a crew being behind?”

  “I am. Lotan the Influencer will accommodate any reasonable request.”

  Her pale brown lips tightened. “I would prefer the walking tube of meat. Be aware, I will make Employer’s Claim on any tech you find that appeals to me.”

  I nodded, not showing any expression. I had expected her to assert Employer’s Claim. That still left me with a chance at finding and keeping useful tech. And very special tech could be kept hidden upon our return. My crew were loyal that way.

  “Understood. Contact me in case of any emergency. Akantha will route your vidcall through this world’s orbital comsats.”

  She looked away and reached out to touch something on the right rail of the captain’s seat. “I do not expect emergencies to arise. Until you return.”

  Her holo image vanished. I inhaled the smell of the maple syrup that I had wiped up with the last piece of pancake. Then I stood up. “Crew, put on your enviro-suits and meet me in the midbody hangar in fifteen minutes. We leave for the Harl island very soon.”

  People moved. Whether on two, four or six legs, my crew folks moved toward the central hallway entry. I followed them. Already I looked forward to exploring a Harl ruin without the bother of Laserta’s presence. Surely this ruin would have some useful tech in it. And likely a few surprises.

  Flow guided the shuttle down from its fifty kilometer high flight level toward the avian-like island below. The island had a central body dominated by a mountain ridgeline. On either side were two peninsulas of lower rock and soil. Which made it resemble the two-winged avians on her world and on many other oxy-nitro worlds. As she touched the piloting controls of the shuttle, Captain Vitades leaned forward from his co-pilot seat.

  “There! See the round spot at the upper end of the island?”

  “Of course I do,” she said. Her vision focused in on that spot. “I am avian, after all. My vision is better than that of any mammal.” She did not add ‘like Humans’.

  A chuffing sound came from him. “So you do.” He looked rearward. “Everyone back there seems ready to get out of this coffin.”

  She felt bemusement. Her hearing was also better than that of any Human. So the sounds of movement against the accel straps was as clear as the squawk of a flight leader from kilometers ahead. Her fellow crew beings did not like being confined to a bench seat. While the shuttle’s gravplates provided a replica of the Akantha’s seven-tenths gee gravity, the shuttle could not provide inertia protection. That required a fusion reactor’s energy. This shuttle’s internal power was provided by a magnetohydrodynamic power unit. Flight power came from hydrogen pulse jets. Which worked fine in space. But they were slow compared to any true star vessel moving in normal space. Or so it felt to her.

  “Your antique method of body disposal does not go well with the concept of repeated safe landings,” she chirped, hoping the captain understood her point.

  “You are correct. Perhaps I should say this shuttle reminds me of a baby carriage. Comfortable but of limited spaciousness.”

  Her study of Humans allowed her to understand his reference. But the concept of securing a young one inside an enclosure was the opposite of what her Lunteen people did. And the matter of shuttle comfort was about to end positively.

  “All beings, we are about to land.”

  She touched the control that rotated the midbody pulse jets to point downward. Then she slowly drew her wing-hand down one side of the control panel, in the area related to thrust levels. The shuttle’s vibration level grew lesser, lesser, then stopped as the vessel’s landing struts contacted the black stone of a small round plaza. She tapped the panel’s sensor segment. Imagery in UV, infrared, microwave, radio and true light appeared on several round vidscreens. Flow looked up and out the forward windshield. The high point on the ridge was dominated by a single black stone tower. Three black domes butted up against the tower. Nothing moved. No energy was emitted. It looked dead. A status she hoped was true.

  “Captain, we are landed. No activity or emissions are noted. It is mid-morning local time.” She pulled her wings close to her chest as the captain moved out of his bench seat.

  “Thank you, Pilot.” He walked past her and out into the open space of the shuttle’s midbody. “Crew, secure your enviro-suit. Put on your packs. Have your weapons ready. Then follow me out.”

  Flow tapped the ramp control, then released the airlock securement. Her fellow crew beings could now enter the inner airlock hatch, close it, then exit and move down the ramp that had unfolded from the hull of the shuttle.

  “Shuttle Icarus, go to rest mode,” she chirped.

  “Icarus moves to rest mode,” chirped the shuttle’s small mind.

  Icarus was not self-aware. But it responded to word commands spoken by any crew being. And it also provided constant translation of acoustic speech spoken by any crew being, including any words spoken by a Harl entry intelligence. While she missed the light musical tones of Akantha, this small AI was sufficient to support their exploration efforts. It would alert them if any other vehicle or tech approached from the sky, the ground or the nearby ocean. Its single plasma beamer would discourage simple tech. She hoped nothing dangerous appeared. But she knew from her service with Vitades that apparently dead ruins rarely were truly dead. Flow unlatched her accel straps, moved off her bench seat and joined the captain and her crewmates as they entered the inner airlock. The five of them were about to go ruin exploring. Maybe it would be safe. Maybe they would find useful tech. Finding danger was a near certainty, even if it was just some fallen rocks.

  Draken walked down the ramp after Flow, Meander, the captain and Sharp Claw. He did not mind always being at the rear of any exploration group. His ground-low stance and slower pace made it logical for him to follow faster-moving beings. And the rectangular floater pad that was attached to his back limited his ability to twist and turn. Though it had not stopped him from moving quickly enough to block the charge of two predator quadrupeds as they approached the black stone dome that held the Harl star vessels. Last night he’d rinsed clean his mouth of the taste of the Dogon carnivore in his cabin. The gravity there was set to a comfortable 1.4 gees like that on his home world. And the ceiling light projectors emitted UV rays at a level harmful to the captain and other mammals. To him, the ultraviolet rays were a wash of invigoration.

  “Draken!” called the captain. “Do you sense anything?”

  Inside he felt satisfaction. While the captain, Sharp Claw and his other crewmates each had sensors attached to belts or chest bands, Captain Vitades knew his radiation sensing was better than that of any tech device. Draken concentrated, putting aside the neutrinos streaming down from the white-yellow star above them. He also ignored the cosmic rays flashing in from distant space. The universe was full of radiation sources. While the magnetic field of this world and of other oxy-nitro worlds deflected charged radiation, it was powerless against neutrinos, gluons, hadrons and gravitons. He felt a small pulse of gravitons come from below his six feet.

  “Captain, there is a localized source of gravitons somewhere within this site,” he honked.

  “Damn. Well, no Harl site has ever been truly dead. Onward to the tower.”

  The captain’s flowing, almost musical acoustic language was something Draken enjoyed hearing. It was so different from his own Woomba people’s deep honking. Long millennia ago his people had learned to communicate while living in underground lava tubes. Bass level sounds traveled best along such tubes. On the star-blasted rocks above the tubes deep sound traveled even better. But the musical tones spoken by Humans and by other mammalian-evolved species were unique to
his hearing. And the musical tones spoken by Akantha were similar to Human singing. The recorded ‘music’ from sound instruments was something he collected and enjoyed. The captain nearly always bought him a sound disk at worlds they visited when picking up an employer. However, the alleged music of Laserta’s people was not as harmonious as that of Humans or Sharp Claw’s people.

  Ahead Claw stopped before the circle outline of an entry into the base of the black stone tower. The Weapons master had her magrail aimed forward while her other hand held a plasma pistol. The captain stopped to one side of her. He too held two plasma pistols aimed forward. It was a standard armed approach similar to what the captain always did on a planet full of high tech ruins.

  “Entryway! Open!” the captain said sharply.

  Nothing happened. Draken moved to one side of the group. They had crossed a black stone plaza similar to that on which Stars That Beckon had landed them. No tiles had opened to refuel their vessel. No sensors had scanned them. Except for the graviton emissions somewhere below his feet, there was no sign of an aware AI or entry mind. The captain motioned Sharp Claw back, then gave the gesture they all knew. Draken fell into the half circle they now formed, facing the circle entry. Which now lay ten of his body lengths ahead of them.

  “Plasma pistols everyone,” the captain said, his voice coming clearly over the ear buds Draken wore. “Claw, you take the left side. Meander, fire on the right side. I will fire at the top of the circle. Flow, you fire at the base of the circle. Let’s see if we can vaporize this stone.”

  Draken did not pull his plasma emitter from where it was hidden in a segment seam. While close enough to his front segment arms, he had no wish to advertise that he always carried a weapon when out of the Akantha. He liked giving people the impression he was invulnerable. Which he was, almost. Vacuum did not bother him. Nor did laser beams. Nor did x-ray or gamma ray lasers. They were all radiation levels his body absorbed and used. However, plasma was different. Long ago he had been touched by a small plasma cloud while floating in space above a star vessel. It had hurt. Ever since he was prepared to use his own plasma emitter against any lifeform armed with plasma.