Firewyrm

by Erik Schubach

  I pointed at the door and the man and woman said, “Bulkhead?” I waved them back to work.

  Standing at the door, I asked Mother to pinpoint my location. Then I walked to the other side of the door and asked how far I had moved. She replied, sounding confused at the question, “You're standing in the same spot. But I tracked your movement visually...”

  That made me grin. “Ok, so this is where Ember lives. Let's see just how big this pen is. I'm going to walk side to side, let me know when my location shows I have moved.”

  Graz said to mother behind her hand, “I think the Human has gone space-happy.”

  Mother ignored her then said, “There.” I nodded and walked the other way. “There.”

  I looked between the spots and nodded. “Ok so about twenty-five yards.” Then I crossed the corridor and started walking along the wall and asked, “Now?”

  She said, “I'm tracking your full movement”

  I pointed at the door. “So we know they are somehow blocking you with magic or...” I furrowed my brow. “Or with code? Mother calculate the diameter of the bulkhead corridor, skin side and envelope side. Does the math add up? According to you, it should be twenty-five yards shorter than it really is.”

  I could almost imagine her shaking her head as she answered carefully, understanding what I was driving at. “No, it adds up properly.” Then she blurted, “The bitches! They've messed with my code!”

  Chuckling I said, “Welcome to my world. The Fae are always messing with everyone. How deep is the bulkhead here?”

  She growled, “Seventy-five yards.”

  “So behind this door is a pen a hundred and fifty feet by two hundred and twenty-five feet. It has been literally coded out of existence in your core. It has to have life support and power, can you trace that?” I asked.

  She sounded smug when she said, “Yes. It was just part of the point zero zero one percent variance margins so I've never noticed it until now. Power and life support are being routed to the void in that area.”

  I looked at the workers and saw a Fae suit looking at plans with a job master. He must have been the Summer Fae Lord assigned to assist from the A-Ring. Or he was just a lesser Fae Lord who lives in the B-Ring here.

  He saw me looking his way and I motioned him over. The man stepped up, looking impossibly beautiful like all Fae, “Yes Enforcer?” He cocked an eyebrow as he appraised me, seeing I was human with a look of distaste.

  I pointed. “Can you see the don't look here right there.” I pointed at the door.

  He looked but I could see his eyes slide off of it to look beside the door. “There's nothing there, human.”

  I said, “Then you wouldn't mind touching the wall here?” I pointed and he moved aside and started to reach out. I said as I hovered my hand just shy of the wards, “No. Look at where my hand is and where you are reaching. Do they look like the same thing to you?”

  He furrowed his brow, then looked at his hand as if it were the one not complying. He moved beside me and I could see a concerted effort for him to keep his eyes on my hand as he reached forward.

  The man was blown across the corridor, his body actually denting an access cover, his hand was smoking, sizzling in both fire and ice. I nodded. So that was why even I couldn't step through it, both the Queens had pooled their power to create the wards.

  The man groaned and I offered a hand and pulled him up as his other hand healed. I gave him a toothy grin as he tried to focus on the wall while he rubbed his hand. “Thanks for helping me test a theory, your assistance has been invaluable, citizen.”

  He didn't even seem to notice the insult, me calling him citizen instead of Lord. As he glared at the wall beside the door. I pointed and grinned again, hooking my thumb at the door. “Don't look here.” Then I made a shooing motion to him. He walked off, vexed that he couldn't see or feel what I had.

  Mother sounded amused as she whispered, “Did you just use a Fae Lord as a guinea pig?”

  I snorted and said, “Investigative research, besides, I knew he'd heal up right away.” I absently worked my sore jaw, knowing the hairline fracture would be healed by the morning. Part of the surprise genetic tinkering Rory had done to my embryo.

  Graz wasn't repentant either as she shot me a toothy grin and two thumbs up. She wasn't a fan of the Greater Fae either since they treated her kind like vermin. “I wanted an encore. Grade A quality comedy right there.”

  I winked at her. We were so bad. “So we know, with that demonstration, that the wards were erected by both Mab and Titania, and not even Greater Fae can see or cross the wards. So that means what?”

  Graz offered helpfully, “That Mab is guilty! I'm going to go steal something so I can go down to work in the mines just to see her doing manual labor.”

  I shook my head. “No, it just means that there are two persons of interest so far, as the two Ladies of the Courts appear to be the only ones that can cross the wards. I doubt I can get any of their twenty-seven children to test them like Lord Snooty there did. But we can rule out that anyone let Ember out here, so that leaves about twelve million possibilities since I know where she got out. Hells, it could have been a complete accident that Ember herself caused. I won't know until I get out there.”

  Mother said as if she just realized my reasoning, though I'm sure she was thirty steps ahead of me in examining the corridor. “This area of the corridor is undamaged, no scorch marks.”

  I winked at the camera in my helmet and touched my nose. Then Graz said as if she had figured it out too, “Ohhh, yeah. I was gonna mention that. Didn't want either of you to feel like you were dim-witted or anything.”

  I cocked an eyebrow and locked her lips, making a show of throwing away the key. She flipped me off, then landed on my shoulder. Then I prompted, “Mother, I'm going to need a ride.”

  She sighed heavily, a great trick since computers didn't breathe, “It is an unnecessary risk, Knith. Maybe you could...”

  “Mother?”

  “Fine. I just worry that you take too many chances.” Then I could almost hear the smirk in her tone as she said, “Request sent to Commander Udriel.”

  I blurted, “For fuck's sake, Mother! A tug, a Brigade Crawler, or Skin Jockey rig would have been fine.”

  She was unrepentant, “It's what you get for taking unnecessary risks. Princess Aurora is not amused either.”

  “Rory?” My eyes were wide in panic.

  “Yes, she requested I keep her apprised if you ever did anything to jeopardize your safety. This qualifies.”

  I looked between the camera and Graz on my shoulder, looking for support. The Sprite shrugged. “Hey, don't look at me. I'm with them. You get yourself splatted in space, I lose my home.”

  I muttered to space, “Are all the women in my life bound to betray me?”

  “Yup.”

  “Pretty much.”

  Benedict Sprite pointed out helpfully. “You whine a lot, even for a human, Knith.” Mother made a sound of agreement and I just sighed. I'd never win.

  Mother provided, “Commander Udriel's ETA at Airlock B-38 Slash A is four minutes fifty-three seconds.” I sighed then turned and started double-timing it down the corridor as I grumbled under my breath.

  I sighed as I started to contemplate all the ways past the wards. It would depend on how far they extended. Just across the door or around the entire pen. I could think of two offhand, and possibly three depending on what we find outside of the world.

  My instincts were already telling me the how, it was just the who that I needed to work on. Just from what little I have seen, it looks as though Ember was somehow on the outside of the ship and melted her way into the airlock. It made sense with the impressions I got from her about the 'big black', that had to be space.

  The list of millions just got knocked down to a few groups. But who would have a motive? What would they gain in releasing a baby Firewyrm? And what made me sick to my stomach was that ma
ybe releasing her into the ring wasn't the plan at all, what if they had meant to space Ember instead, but she was able to hang onto the hull without being flung off by centrifugal force into the unforgiving vacuum.

  That thought enraged me. I know I had only just met her, but my impression of her is that she was very sweet and childlike. I don't care if she is over five thousand years old, who would do that to a child?

  I went through the list of people with access to EVA suits or remote maintenance drones. Battalion Enforcers, Engineering Corps, Skin Jockeys, and the Ready Squadron. That was still thousands of possible suspects. Plus the unlikely possibility Ember had somehow burned through her pen herself and found herself in the big dark as she puts it. Somehow I doubt the Summer and Winter Ladies would be so careless as to leave an area in her pen where Ember's magic could burn through the hull.

  My coms were pinging and I sighed, squinted an eye and answered, “Hi Rory.”

  “Don't hi Rory me. Mother told me what you're about to do. You can dispatch a Brigade Crawler to investigate with EVA qualified techs.”

  It was true, I could, but I hadn't ruled anyone out fully, not even the Queens, no matter how unlikely all these choices were. “I'm a hands-on investigator. And we're only going out for a look. I promise I won't leave Commander Udriel's ship.”

  After a pause, her voice sounded odd. “ Commander Udriel? As in your ex?” Was she jealous of someone I dated literally half my lifetime ago?

  I couldn't help but grin. “Why Aurora Ashryver, are you jealous?” She looked at her camera then cut to audio-only, but I had already seen the blush.

  “I'm not jealous. You just take too many chances.” She paused. “And there are hundreds of other pilots you could have called.”

  Tongue in cheek I shared, “It was Mother who called her, it wasn't my idea. It's sort of awkward for me.”

  She didn't say anything about that, instead, she changed the subject. “I see you got yourself out of custody. Commendable.”

  “Umm... actually it was, umm, the Summer Lady. She thought I was Mab for a moment, she wasn't happy when she figured out it was me. And for some reason, she's mad at me about it like it was my idea or something.

  She asked, “Why would she come to see my...” She trailed off to silence, speaking volumes.

  I prompted as I arrived at the airlock, “How much do you know about the Firewyrms? I've got a hypothesis as to why both of the Queens are so concerned about them.”

  Again, her silence told me she either suspected or knew. I nodded to myself and told her, “If you can locate her before me or Mother in her scans, tell her to leave the investigation to me or she'll make a bigger mess of things. I have a hunch I'm close to figuring out who did this, I just need to gather the facts to shake the tree a bit.”

  She reactivated video and said, “Fine. I've learned your hunches border on the improbable, I'd like to think I had something to do with that.”

  Chuckling I told her, “You sound just like a Fae,”

  “Mother, what is the proper response in this situation?”

  The traitorous AI replied, “Smartass would be the proper vernacular.”

  Graz unlocked her lips and offered, “If we stick with posterior descriptions, then asswipe works too. And we all know Knith has a weird thing about asses.” Her eyes bulged in alarm at the death glare I shot her and she mimed zipping her lips, then locking them then... was that plasma bonding?

  Ignored all of their needling, I said, “Gotta jet, Myra is docking now.”

  Before I could close the channel, Rory said in a quieter tone, “Be careful.”

  Sighing I nodded slowly. “See you soon.” Then I closed the channel. “Whose side are you on Mother?” I grumped.

  “Normally yours, but I agree with her, you take too many risks.”

  Graz nodded, grinning and making a show of keeping her lips together. I looked at her. “Oh you'd take Rory's side even if she was wrong, you've got Princess worship.” She nodded eagerly. Great, so much for loyalty.

  I straightened up when the airlock doors cycled, revealing a catlike human, tail twitching in amusement. “Twice in twenty-four hours, Shade? I'm not a taxi service you know, I've a job... an important one.”

  I sighed and hung my head, shaking it as I defended again, “It wasn't my idea to call you, Mother took it upon herself.” Then I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of shifts do you rocket riders work anyway? It was late last night you ferried me before.”

  She sighed, though her lips did quirk in a grin at the slang people used for the Ready Squadron pilots. She thumbed her chest and almost yowled out, “Ready Squadron, remember? Twenty four hours on, twenty-four hours off since we are perpetually short-handed. We shoot the shit before it hits the fan?”

  I chuckled at the old slogan since they literally had to shoot any incoming celestial debris big enough to damage the Skin. If they missed, we'd be hip deep in the shit as the ship's systems contained any hull breaches.

  Bowing I offered, “After you, kitty cat.”

  She lifted her nose regally and marched back into the airlock with us following. “That armor doesn't look anything like the Enforcer gear I'm used to seeing.”

  “Experimental nano-panels.”

  “Ah, like ours. How quaint, the Brigade is always five years behind.” The inner airlock door cycled closed.

  “At least we're not space-mad rocket jocks.” Ahh, the friendly rivalry between the Brigade and the Squadron.

  Her tail whipped behind her and she yanked my feet out from under me as she hit the controls to cycle the outer doors. “It looks good on you.” She looked over her shoulder and cocked her eyebrows when I regained my footing before I landed on my ass.

  She shook her head. “You've still got those reflexes, you've got to tell me someday how you do that.”

  I flipped her off, she chuckled as we stepped into the ship and sealed the ship and strapped into the cockpit seats. “I'm not fast, you're just...”

  “...slow? Fine, keep your secrets. My reflexes are enhanced by my implants and I'm still not sure I could recover that fast. Hang on.”

  We left my stomach somewhere behind us as we almost exploded away from the Skin. She asked, “Destination?” as she started to align us for another parabolic flight path.

  I winged my thumb. “Next airlock over please.”

  She chuckled and stared at me expectantly. “Wait, you're serious?”

  I nodded. “I need to check out the scorch on the Skin near it. We need to get close.”

  “You mean the micrometeorite strike? It's... oh, you think it had something to do with the fire?”

  Nodding she said, “Ok, let's get inverted.” The vessel snapped over one-eighty like it were on a spindle, and instead of flying above the Ring, my perspective changed as my mind now interpreted what I was seeing as flying below the ring.

  I muttered, “Everything is just a matter of perspective,” as I looked up out of the clear canopy at the ring. It looked so massive this close to it. Like it went on forever, curving over its own horizon. I looked down from the side window to see the A-Ring now below us at this perspective, looking even more massive. Well duh, it is more massive Shade.

  As we passed over the emergency breach dome that was fastened to the skin over the damaged airlock, she said, “Hmm... where is it? I swear it was right here. Did the skin jockeys already get it cleaned up?”

  “Can you get us closer?” I asked.

  She nodded and with uncanny precision, after shutting off the proximity alert alarms, she brought the canopy within a couple of feet of the Skin.

  I swallowed and said, “Good. Can you head a few yards sympathetic rotation?” We looked as pristine diamond-hard alloy, mesh, and photovoltaic scales rotated past, mating up with some that were slightly less than pristine.

  Rationalizing to myself, I muttered, “Some of the panels have been replaced. The skin jockeys have cleaned up the area.”
/>
  She nodded and I asked myself, “What are the odds?”

  Mother said, “There were no scheduled repairs in this area. Statistical probability of it being as serious as the blown airlock are seventeen thousand, three hundred and three, to one.”

  “It was rhetorical, Mother.” Then to Myra, I asked, “Redheads, am I right?”

  Mother harrumphed. I have always pictured her as a testy but helpful redhead in a professional suit and glasses, sitting behind a desk and pulling strings for my cases, a smirk on her face.

  Myra's catlike features scrunched up in confusion. “Redheads? She's an AI. Did she just harrumph?”

  “No.”

  “You're right, I'm going space-mad.”

  I chuckled and told her. “Thanks for the ride, I have what I needed, I know what my next move is now. If you could just drop me where you found me.”

  “In that Irontown Grunge bar, where you were singing off-key karaoke with what was she, a wolf shifter?”

  “She was a Faun, thank you very much. She wound up going home with some pretty half-elf who promised to show her the size of his tree. And no, smartass, the airlock. You know what I meant.”

  She half chuckled half purred in amusement.

  A minute later we docked again. I stepped into the airlock and turned to thank her again just to have the airlock door cycle in my face. She grinned as she flipped me off through the window. Ok, she was still as funny as she thought she was.

  I found myself comparing her to Aurora and found there was no comparison. I was one lucky human. Then I got back on task. “Mother?”

  “Checking all flight logs of all External Maintenance Crew ships and repair logs.”

  “Great, can you...”

  “Already informed the External Maintenance Crew shift commander for this sector to expect you within the hour.”

  “What would I do without you?”

  “Likely die screaming in space.”

  I chuckled and agreed, “Likely.” Then the smartass started playing Human, by the Human League in my helmet.