Ships of Valor 1: Persona Non Grata

by Aaron Kennedy

  “Knock it off you two. There will be plenty of time for traipsing about the galaxy when all of this is done. But Heart, I have dibs. I saw him first.” She gave me a quick hug from behind. “You best get ready. The real fun is about to begin.” I gave her a quick peck and hit the refresher.

  Chapter 50

  I was lucky enough to get a few minutes with the General alone before the assembly began. The gravity was turned down to about eighty percent Terra standard, making me feel bouncy and him look pale. Gravity acclimation is never really something I was able to get a firm lock on. I had joined the Legion immediately after coming from Terra, so I never had to deal with increased weight in the same way Looneys or Marsans did. The best description I ever heard was when someone compared the idea to being used to hot or cold. I grew up in Alaska, so I’m used to the cold. Cold doesn’t bother me like most people, unless I’m wet. I despise being wet and being wet and cold is something I go to great lengths to avoid. If given the choice, I’d rather be cold than hot. On worlds with heavy heat and humidity, I’m absolutely miserable.

  The General was in his version of a hot and humid world and looked positively horrible. That wasn’t even at full gravity. Were it me, there would be a lot of emotion bleeding out, and by emotion I mean downright nastiness. I am not a pleasant person when I am uncomfortable. He however maintained his charm and good-nature to the point where I felt like a dumb-ass for being upset about wet socks only a few days before. I needed to be better, like him.

  My original assumption was this visit was only to stop Heart’s one-person war against GSI. The General corrected that misunderstanding. After handing me a set of glasses, that I realized were a much more subdued variant of dampers he explained. “Son, a storm’s a brewing. We need to nip it in the bud quick like. Believe me or not, you boys did exactly what I sent you down here for. Not how I would have expected, but in some ways, it’s going to make this a lot easier.” I’d been around enough brass to learn how to control my swearing outbursts but his words almost tripped the line. He saw the look on my face. “You did good, son. Both you and Heart. I told you what I wanted to be done, not how, for a reason.”

  I was back in basic hearing the same words. If a leader directs how to do something, it limits actions. If a leader says what they want, it expands the possibilities of getting it done. The General had given us tools and let us figure out how to accomplish the mission. Things went sideways from our plan, but no plan survives first contact anyways.

  “General Campbell, what is the purpose of the assembly if our mission is complete then?” Heart asked through the dampers. Knowing he was going to be present significantly reduced my anxiety. Looking back to the couple of days I had lost him, I realized how much stress I had been under. Had our positions been reversed and I thought Heart had been destroyed there likely would be a smoking crater where Galactic Subsidiaries used to be and where all of the explosives I had found at Hayes’ safe house had been relocated. If the afterthought could cause so much emotional reaction from me, I really hated to think what Heart had gone through during that time.

  There was a sad smile, a shake of the head, and a slow exhale. “In order to reach a higher state of order, we must go through chaos first.” He said it like a prayer. Like he had repeated the adage thousands of times before. “There’s a mob mentality out there. We need to put a stop to it before the wrong people get hurt. Heart, my boy, you exposed a dark secret to the light. People don’t like secrets. That dislike, when exercised together, has the potential for catastrophe. We need to nudge the attitudes a little.”

  I got the feeling Heart was going to ask a follow on question but the door chimed and an escort arrived to take us to our place in the main hall. My social anxiety nearly redlined as soon as I walked in. The place looked to be filled with a Legion division’s worth of people. All staring at me. The General really, but since I was next to him, my brain was yelling they were looking at me. “Ari, calm down. Your heart rate is spiking.” I muttered something bordering on mean, quickly apologized, and told him I’d been fine in a moment. That, of course, turned out to be a lie, since the guide parked us dead center of the room, with me at the General’s right hand.

  Gladly there was no pomp to delay the start. That had apparently happened several hours before while I was lucky enough to be unwinding in my suite with Lysha. If I had had to go through any kind of ceremony I likely would have pulled my best Larry Talbot and the Wolf Man impression by ripping my shirt off and running from the room howling.

  Moments after sitting, the General took a sip of water instantly having the effect of quieting the room, even though I wasn’t sure how. Some people know how to walk into a room and make heads turn. Apparently, the General knew how to drink water. An absolutely mundane task pulling all eyes to him.

  “There’s lots on the agenda. So rather than waste anyone’s time. Let’s begin.” Like a light switch, the carefully crafted image of everyone’s grandfather disappeared and sitting next to me was a chief executive officer. A man with a vision. Someone in control of the proceedings. “First up is the matter of the Terran Alliance and the Galactic Union. Based on new information that has come to light, it appears there may have been subtle manipulation and malfeasance involved in the dissolution. Looking around, I see we have a quorum. I move for that issue to be revisited. Any objections?” He was staring over at one section of the room, but I couldn’t figure out who. It took me a moment to realize he was daring someone to say something.

  “Very well. Do we have a second?” Before he finished the words, several seconds were shouted from the crowd. “Good, carried to committee. Until finalized, Terra will have full privileges within the GU, per the charter.” Below the table, a pat on my leg jarred me. The words echoed in my head. If Terra was again part of the GU, then the Legion’s restriction was void. In under a minute he had accomplished what had seemed like such a big deal half a year ago. And I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Terra was no longer important to me.

  It took several minutes for me to process, as the simple business was accomplished. That was until the General made a shocking announcement pulling me out of my reverie. “It’s all well and good to have discussions about how we are going to handle the current situation; however, we really should have all interested parties here for discussion.” Smarter people than me caught on much faster and shouts of outrage happened as the previously unlit seats in the corporate balcony went live with GSI’s presence.

  “We are honored to be included.” The voice was feminine but disconcerting, as though a merger of several people. It twinged at my mind as I tried to place it unsuccessfully. From what I saw of the crowd, I was not the only one having a similar reaction. I caught elements of fear, awe, and hate. The entire gamut was present as everyone tried to make his or her displeasure known to the General. I’ll say one thing for the old coot, he had united them with a common enemy, him. Unfortunately, I was sitting right next to him.

  “Mistress Zhang, thank you for joining us. I believe there is much to discuss regarding the future.”

  Chapter 51

  A quick recess was called after the General dropped that atomic. We were ushered into a conference room less than fifty meters from our seats. The General had a grin larger than the moon itself. He seemed utterly pleased with himself. Already in the room were half a dozen people including Hayes dressed in her Imperial Whites. I gave her a nod, and she gave a quick shake of her head towards a younger woman sitting at the table who the General had made a beeline towards. “Your Excellency, a pleasure, as always.” The Empress motioned for him to sit.

  “Uncle Adam, knock that off. Do you really have to play the same games everywhere you go? Sooner or later you’ll run into a dictator who has more of an ‘off with your head’ mindset.” He laughed.

  I wasn’t quite sure whether the Empress calling him uncle meant they were actually family or if it was a sign of familiarity. I tried not my best not to stare but one thing made me
think the former. She had the same indigo eyes as the as General. Contrasting tawny hair in a lion’s mane made them all the more compelling.

  “Perhaps. Perhaps, but that’s why I always travel with the Legion.” Pointing towards me. As if I wasn’t already on edge.

  She eyed me up and down. It felt like being scanned at the doctor’s office, invasively. “So this your problem child? Figures. We have one of our own.” She said pointing at Hayes. I didn’t get the impression of disdain, however. It was more akin to deadpan sarcasm skirting the realm of private joke.

  “Sit you two. No protocol in here.” I had thought Lysha emanated power. The Empress seemed to radiate it as if it was part of her. My body reacted as though I was back in basic and I sat before my brain gave the conscious command. Hayes looked like she was about to have an aneurysm as her conditioning conflicted with a direct order from the Empress herself. Apparently sitting in the presence of the Nation’s leader was a no-go.

  She gave a quick glance at Hayes and then me and shook her head. “You two were effective at least. We would have preferred a smoother transition and something far less public.” Her voice didn’t change tone or even emphasis, but I swear the words echoed in my head like they were said in a cave. I saw Hayes react at the same spots so I knew she could hear it too. The subtle chastisement was enough to send me back in time to the first time I made my grandad really angry at me. He didn’t yell, he didn’t have to. I had disappointed him.

  The General, however, wasn’t having any of it. “Enough of that,” he snapped. “They accomplished something I couldn’t, and I’ve been doing this longer than both of them and you’ve been alive.” That was an uncharacteristic snap for him. I don’t think I had ever seen him lose his composure. I realized as far as he was concerned if anyone was going to chew our tail feathers, he was going to be the one, and it was going to be in private. He did not care whether the Empress had a point or not, it was not her place to light me up, and more importantly this wasn’t the time to do it.

  Without missing a beat, the Empress moved on. I didn’t get the impression she ignored the comment, merely absorbed the feedback and continued. “What is your actual take on the Zhang situation?” Great question and one I wanted to know as well. The General had blindsided me as well with the invite.

  The General spent quite a bit of time thinking before responding. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I don’t know how to describe the Mistress Zhang. It would be like an ant trying to explain a human. We’re simply not the same. I would have an easier time explaining Vrenyls or Targohs and they communicate with pheromones. As near as I can tell, she is GSI. GSI on Terra, GSI on Luna, GSI on Titan, all of GSI.” He stopped and looked at the ceiling. “She’s been in hiding for a long time, though. I think the smart play is to invite her to the table and treat her like an equal.”

  A heavy sigh from the Empress. “We do not like it. The manipulations were devastating. We’re still dealing with the repercussions, and now this. We would have preferred a little more warning. You have the luxury of not having to deal with advisers. We are going to hear about this stunt for weeks.”

  The General smiled at that, appearing to take an almost Terran pleasure at the comment. “Sometimes the bandage has to be ripped off. We could have spent months dealing with this new problem or we could deal with it immediately.” His grin faded back to seriousness. “It’s either now when we are prepared and we have them in the open, or at some unknown point in the future.”

  “So be it. But be warned. You created this mess, you clean it up or we will.” I’m not big on threats, regardless of where they come from but the General’s iron grip on my thigh kept me firmly planted in my chair. Then in the coldest voice I have ever heard another human use she said, “We’re not in the habit of spying on our friends, but allowances are sometimes made for the greater good.” That was a phrase I did not like. The greater good was a way of saying the individual was going to get screwed. The single person is the smallest minority there is and the easiest one for the majority to impose its will on. Sometimes sacrifices should be made, even demanded, but it should always involve choice. Without choice it was tyranny. But we were sitting in the Empire, not the Democracy so I kept my mouth shut like a good houseguest.

  After her warning, the Empress nodded and stood. Everyone else was instantly on their feet so I followed the example. When she and her group were gone, I looked at the General and asked about the uncle part. “Don’t give me any guff. Why do you think all these governments don’t lock me up or worse wherever I go? It’s not my charming personality or refined wit.”

  We headed back to the assembly room where the place was abuzz. It was interesting to see how many people were up near the GSI box and more importantly who. When the General sent me on the mission initially he had warned me there were no enemies or allies, merely alignments of interest. GSI had power and was a new player and all the other powers needed to discover whether they ran parallel or perpendicular. After sitting, the General pulled the water trick again and the room went quiet. I really needed to figure out how he did that.

  “There seems to be a lot of conjecture regarding you and your organization Mistress Zhang. Perhaps, if you cleared up some of your personal history it would alleviate some of the concerns of the gathered audience.” Although the General had phrased the statement like a perfectly reasonable request, he was also asking an extremely intimate question. He was asking for a detailed history of how she came to be.

  “We would be greatly honored.” The same cacophonous voice. “We are Zhang. Rather than lose the knowledge of our forbearers we developed technology to retain it.” Whew, that sounded like old school singularity talk. Centuries ago, the idea was to make computers powerful enough for the human consciousness to be uploaded into them. We never figured out how to do it, though. 2045 was the date the singularity was supposed to happen. That date came and went. The technology reached the theoretical stage, but no one could get it to work, or so we thought. If a corporation was the first one to do it, that was indeed a valuable secret. A secret worth killing for. “This institutional knowledge was the key to our success as an organization. As the family grew, so did our strength.” The way she was talking made the process sound like a collective. Not only one person transferred, but each member, no, every member of the family into the system. “As our strength grew, so did our influence. Eventually, we realized the mortal shell was unneeded. We could accomplish our goals in this present form.”

  Einstein’s Ghost. Heart’s original theory was only partially right. We were dealing with a distributed intelligence, but it wasn’t artificial. They were captured human intelligences, who had transcended. If I understood what she was saying correctly, we were talking about the entire family. No wonder we couldn’t find any management. The gasps from the audience reinforced my thought process was similar to everyone else’s. I asked Heart if this kind of lifeform was even possible. “Possible and impossible do not matter if it exists in reality.” He shut the argument down quickly, then added. “I have never heard of anything similar, however, until now.”

  “The idea is anathema. Multiple consciousnesses sharing a single host would constantly vie for dominance. I do not know how a personality matrix could remain stable.” His comments reminded me of our discussion regarding splitting him up so we could develop more plans. Before I could bring that old conversation up Mistress Zhang continued.

  “This reaction is one of many reasons we did not disclose our existence. We anticipated disapproval at our choice.” Had I not worked so closely with Heart I would never have spotted the subtle shifts in tone and structure of their phrasing. There was an underlying conflict in how Mistress Zhang was telling the story. I didn’t want to distract or call attention to the General, though, knowing any eyes not on her booth were on him. “We were concerned the criticism might turn violent. Our fears appear well-founded.”

  I saw the General’s jaw tighten. Mistress Zhang was flipping t
he script, making GSI the victim of the situation. I muttered under my breath about there being no way anyone could fall for this. “Ari, I would actually estimate a solid portion of the populace will have sympathy for them. Far from a majority, but enough to create a debate.” I saw the General nod at Heart’s comments as he could hear them through his own earpiece. “My actions were badly planned. I may have inadvertently set them up to become martyrs.”

  I swore silently as his words sunk in. I was the least intelligent person present but what Heart had said made perfect sense. Mistress Zhang had changed the entire game and anyone smarter than I could see it. She had effectively convinced the world they were the weak ones in the equation but done so in such a way the combined world governments couldn’t go after the corporation without making them the monsters. The Zhangs had become a virus no one was allowed to fight.

  I’m big on the concept of protecting the individual. Always have been. Anytime you get more than a few folks together there’s a habit of trying to force their will on the smaller groups. I don’t know if it’s a way humans are wired or what but history has shown us doing it over and over again. The idea pisses me off to no end. That made the Legion a good fit for me. We don’t really tolerate tyranny or bullies. The problem is when one individual is clearly wrong and the village has to take that person down. Sometimes there is a monster. Sometimes it hides under the bed or in the closet and it eats little kids. But what’s worse is when you find the monster and it tries to convince you it’s not really that bad of a monster so it can continue to keep eating little kids. Pretending to have changed its ways. That’s what the Zhangs were doing. They were a man-eating lion acting like a kitten so they would not be taken out. They knew it, the assembly knew it and they knew we knew it. It was all I could do to keep from stomping out of the room.