“Yeah, yeah…you have my word. I’m curious how you convinced the boy to do this for you.”
“He doesn’t really have a choice. I’ve implanted an AI in his brain, he’s not in control of his actions.”
“I didn’t think you could be that devious, Altanor. Color me impressed.”
That’s fine by me, keep underestimating me, so that I can keep your father’s throne once I get it.
“We’ll need to create a distraction once we’re there though…we could use more firepower.”
“What do you expect me to do? Attack my own people?”
“At the moment, they’re your father’s people. And last I checked, you are attempting a coup, so yeah, pretty much.”
“Touché. Very well, I have a package to recover first, but I’ll meet you there, you’ll have whatever forces I have left to help you in your mission.”
“That’s more like it. Smile, Xonax, you’ll be emperor soon.”
“First you need to deliver my father’s head.”
“Don’t worry about that, you’ll have it. As long as we’re clear that I’m keeping the AI, and the boy, if he survives.”
“What do you mean if he survives?”
“That’s not exactly going to be the easiest of missions. I’m confident of its success, but I can’t guarantee the boy won’t perish in the attack.”
“I’m not sure that’s acceptable, his brain is very valuable.”
“Don’t I know it, but let’s not forget one thing, he’s mine, whether or not he’s still alive after the mission.”
Altanor could tell Xonax wasn’t happy about being reminded of that detail.
“Understood. We’ll rendezvous with you tomorrow, then once it’s nighttime, we’ll help you attack the palace.”
“Make sure that you do.”
11
Kevin was counting the minutes until the AI had to power down to regenerate. On his way back to his quarters, he noticed that the cell he was previously held in wasn’t that far from where he was sleeping now.
He would only have five minutes to act and while this didn’t give him enough time to try and free himself from the AI, perhaps he could check on Leg’olas.
Why aren’t you sleeping? asked 8-3-9-6.
It’s hard to find sleep when one knows that the next day they’ll be assassinating the most important man in this galaxy.
You shouldn’t worry yourself with such thoughts, it’s not like you have any choice in the matter.
Look, you don’t have emotions, but I do. And I think that’s why our brains are superior and why they wanted me for this mission.
Your brain has an incredible ability to learn fast. But I doubt your emotions are the reason. If anything, emotions are hindering your potential.
Well, believe what you want.
I can’t have you pass out from tiredness tomorrow, and this could put both our existences in jeopardy. I could zap you unconscious if that would help you sleep.
If you want to take the risk to damage my brain and perform mediocrely tomorrow, be my guest. Perhaps if you stopped chatting me up I would have an easier time at finding sleep.
That’s a fair point.
Interesting. Kevin had simply assumed that maybe the brain zappings might be detrimental to his brain efficiency over the long run, but that had been a bluff on his part. Apparently, that was something he could use against the AI.
It would also help if I could find a comfortable position to sleep.
I need to recharge anyway, I’ll go into regeneration mode now, so you can adopt whatever sleeping pose you want. But no funny business while I’m offline, or there will be hell to pay.
Understood. Good night.
A bleep resounded inside Kevin’s mind and all at once he recovered access to his body. Even though it would be a short reprieve, it felt amazing to be able to move again freely. Kevin jumped out of bed and exited his quarters.
A guard was waiting outside and he raised his weapon at Kevin.
Kevin swallowed hard and tried to make his voice as emotionless as possible.
“This body’s muscles are frail, if I don’t use them every few hours, they lose efficiency. With your permission, I’ll take a walk and return here within five minutes.”
The pirate guard nodded. “Understood, five minutes.”
Kevin walked at a normal pace until he was no longer in the guard’s sight and sprinted to his old cell. There was a door control, which he pressed, half expecting it not to work. But to his surprise, the door slid open.
He entered and crouched. “Leg’olas, are you here?”
Kevin heard a high-pitched cry and Leg’olas jumped out of the darkness and landed in front of him. She kept jumping around him.
“Kevin!” she said. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Settle down, I need to talk to you, we don’t have much time.”
“Okay. What’s going on?”
“I’ve been invaded by an AI.”
Leg’olas blinked multiple times at Kevin. “I don’t understand.”
“There is a bad man in my head, he controls me, if he sees you, he’ll probably kill you.”
Leg’olas jerked back and trembled.
“I don’t want to scare you, my friend, but I need your help.”
“How can I help you?”
“Tomorrow this man will take me on a mission, and I might get hurt. I may need you to heal me if that happens. But you’ll need to try and hide from the bad man. If he sees you, I won’t be able to stop him.”
“You’d let Leg’olas get hurt?” said the spider sadly.
“I would never, but remember, I won’t have control of my body.”
“But you’re here now, this is confusing.”
Damn, I don’t have time for this.
“Listen, I only have a couple of minutes before the evil man inside my head wakes up. I need you to listen to me very carefully and stop asking questions, can you do that for me?”
Leg’olas nodded.
“In two minutes, you can’t trust me anymore, I won’t be your friend, and you have to consider me dangerous. You got that?”
“I think I understand.”
“No, don’t think, just trust me.”
“Okay.”
“Can you hide in the light? Preferably somewhere on me, but where I can’t feel you, if I feel you like when you were crawling on me…well something bad will happen, let’s just leave it at that.”
“You want to play hide and seek?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly it, but you can’t reveal yourself until I call your name again, or, if I’m incapacitated, try and heal me. But first things first, how do you hide on me without me knowing it?”
Leg’olas scratched its head with one of her legs.
“Hurry, Leg’olas, he’s going to wake up.”
“Oh! I have an idea.”
Leg’olas became smaller and smaller until Kevin couldn’t see her anymore.
“Are you still here?”
Leg’olas’ voice became so tiny and high-pitched it was hard for Kevin not to laugh at hearing it.
“I haven’t moved.”
“I can’t see you. Did you just become smaller?”
“Yes.”
“Can you also get bigger?”
Kevin quickly regretted asking the question, especially when Leg’olas grew bigger than Kevin himself. His heart beat strong, and Kevin had to remind himself that the spider was his friend, not an easy feat to accomplish with the horror of seeing this arachnid twice his own size and still growing.
“Stop!”
“Too big?” asked Leg’olas, with a much deeper voice.
“Yeah, but do that in case you’re discovered or ever in danger, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Get back to minuscule size and hide in my hair.”
“Okay.”
A few seconds later, Kevin couldn’t see his spider friend anymore.
“Remember,
in a few seconds it won’t be me, you need to stand still, make no noise.”
“I remember, no moving, no talking until I hear my name, heal you if you’re hurt, and get big if in danger.”
“Exactly. You’re on me?”
“Yes, in your hair.”
Wow, I didn’t feel a thing. Good.
Kevin fought an urge to scratch his scalp and hurried back to his room and got back in bed just a second before a new bleeping sound resounded in his mind.
Did you find a comfortable position? asked 8-3-9-6.
Kevin was relieved that the AI asked the question. Apparently, there wasn’t any part of the AI or its sensors that worked while he was regenerating.
Kevin moved in the bed and tried to get into the best sleeping position.
I think so, yes. Thank you.
You’d better sleep now.
Ten-four!
What does that mean?
It means affirmative.
Kevin’s mind raced for a little while longer, worrying that Leg’olas would get discovered. He hated putting his new friend in danger, but if 8-3-9-6 was correct about his chance of survival, perhaps Leg’olas could help him tip the odds back in his favor. Right now she was his only friend and perhaps his only hope for survival.
Eventually, Kevin became too exhausted, and he fell asleep.
Onboard the Apophis, Lacuna had gone to find new clothes to wear while Boomer stayed on the bridge. The ship was in hyperspace, heading toward Kregan Prime.
“Why are we going to the heart of the Kregan Empire again?” asked Boomer.
“I’ve extrapolated the ship’s position provided by Lacuna,” said Mira, “and they’re all heading toward the main planet. At first I thought Xonax’s ship was going somewhere else, but they made a small detour and then took a similar heading.”
“So every ship we’ve fought will be in one place. That’s gonna make things a little harder for us, with only one ancient destroyer, won’t it?”
“Yes, we’ll have to stay hidden while we try to locate Kevin.”
“I wonder why the Kregan ship made that detour.”
“Perhaps they needed to pick something up or drop something off. Or just re-arm.”
Boomer thought about it. “What if it has something to do with Athala, though?”
“That’s an interesting hypothesis, what makes you think that?”
“That Xonax dude clearly isn’t trustworthy, and he didn’t give the princess’ sister back, even when he got his hands on Kevin. So it would make sense for him to either check on his prize or go grab her from wherever she was being held.”
“Do you think we should inform Kalliopy?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I’m reaching at straws here, she might not be there.”
“But what if she is?”
“Let Ziron know that we think this world could be of interest and let them decide what course of action to take. We need to stay focused on finding Kevin anyway, so if all the ships are converging toward Kregan Prime, then that’s where we should be as well.”
“Agreed. Boomer, I’m detecting some strange energy readings on deck four. Would you mind taking a look for me?”
“Could it be Lacuna? Looking for a uniform?”
“She’s on deck seven, so I don’t think so.”
“Alright, I’ll check it out.”
“Can I ask you something before you go?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Why are you still in tiger form?”
“I don’t know, I feel like I need to be ready for anything, you know? Maybe I’m a little afraid of doing this without Kevin. Or maybe I’m being a little paranoid. Do you think I’m using too much power this way?”
“Keeping this form will tax your power cell a little, but it’s the transformations themselves as well as firing of weapons and using the shields that really drain them, so I don’t think you have to revert to your original form if you don’t feel like it.”
“Good, because these old ships give me the creeps, and I feel less vulnerable in this form.”
“That’s understandable. Remember you can probably only transform into three or four different forms maximum, and they can only be quadrupeds. This armor isn’t nearly as powerful as the one you used before.”
“No wings?”
“Nope, you can’t fly with this one, I’m afraid.”
“That’s a bummer, the dragon was my favorite form.”
“Yeah, and nothing that big either, you’d risk running out of juice really fast. Be careful on deck four.”
“Roger that.”
Altanor was sitting in his captain’s chair in the middle of the bridge when Xonax opened a holo-channel. His face filled the holo-screen.
“I think I may have an idea on how to easily infiltrate the palace without firing a single shot.”
“Pray tell, that could help the odds of this mission.”
“Yes, my thoughts exactly. I picked up the princess’ sister before coming here; she’s on my ship. My father and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms lately.”
“The rumor is that you’ve been banned from Kregan Prime.”
“That’s not a rumor.”
“What makes you think he won’t shoot you the moment you show up, then?”
“Well, if I tell him I’m bringing a valuable gift that could help him win the war…maybe he’ll reconsider.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then we just proceed with our initial plan. If I can get down there and disable the planetary defenses, taking down the palace and my father should be infinitely easier.”
“Then let’s hope he believes your gift is significant enough to let you beam down on the planet. When will you be at the rendezvous point?”
“In a little under an hour, then I’ll place the call to him. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Make sure that you do.”
Kevin’s body walked from out of the shadows as soon as the holo-feed ended.
“What do you think, 8-3-9-6?”
“I think that if Xonax can disable the planetary defenses from within the palace, then the odds of success and survival of the body just shot up considerably.”
“Good.”
“We may not need the sister after all.”
“Doesn’t matter if we need her or not, two tech sorcerers are better than one. Can your matrix be cloned?”
“I believe so.”
Altanor smiled from ear to ear.
Kevin stayed silent in his own mind. It took a massive amount of self-control not to voice his anger bordering on hatred regarding Altanor and his plans to grab his sister. It was bad enough that he was in this predicament. Even if he and his sister had grown apart over the years, there was no way he would let these pirates transform her into a drone as they had done with him. Not if he could prevent it.
12
Kalliopy stepped onto the bridge of the Hathor. Admiral Corso and the rest of the crew all saluted the princess. She was still too young to be called a Queen, that title would be granted to her in the coming year, when she turned twenty.
But in the absence of a queen in the line of succession, Arcadians would let younger princesses lead them. The notion wasn’t the most popular with the older generation, as they were deep believers that an older person should be acting as a regent to the throne until the queen was of age.
Looking around at the predominantly older crew, she wondered how many of them believed in her leadership and how many were just going through the motions, keeping their opinions on such matters to themselves.
“At ease, Admiral.”
“It’s such an honor having you aboard for the Hathor’s maiden voyage.”
“Not to sound rude or impatient for that matter, but I’d like to see the message you received. Tell me again why you couldn’t send it through subspace?”
“We recovered a small holo-sphere at the coordinates you gave us. It won’t activate besides a simple header and requir
es you to touch the sphere to identify you as the princess.”
“Right…where is it?”
Corso moved to the side and guided the princess to the right of the bridge. “Over there, if you’d please, your majesty.”
Kalliopy didn’t like being addressed as her majesty, at least not until she was crowned queen. “Your highness” was the preferred address until such a day. But perhaps it meant those using it were seeing her as a queen already.
By the engineer’s station, a hovering sphere floated as if by magic, defying the artificial gravity of the ship. In reality, the spheres were made of a very light alloy and equipped with a magnetic field generator allowing them to hover with ease. A simple gadget that nano-tech had created eons ago.
“I just touch it?” asked Kalliopy. “You’re sure it’s not booby trapped?”
“I’ve had my engineer scan the device every which way, I would never put your life in danger.”
Kalliopy knew he wouldn’t. Admiral Corso had always been one of her strongest supporters and allies.
“Very well.”
Kalliopy touched the sphere, and a holo-screen sprang to life. It filled with Xonax’s face.
“I’m sorry to have broken my word, your highness, but it was necessary. You see, my granting you your freedom, as you already well know, was no accident. However, I still require your cooperation before I can return your dear sister back to you. Unharmed...well, mostly.”
“I’ll kill you,” whispered Kalliopy to herself.
But a quick movement in Corso’s eye told her she might not have whispered low enough.
“Before you say no, I’d like to show you how your sister is doing, as I believe a holo-feed speaks a million words.”
The holo-feed faded into a dark and dirty cell where Athala sobbed uncontrollably from one of its corners. The sight ripped Kalliopy’s soul like a dented Mandochukan knife ripping through soft flesh.
I’m so sorry, Athala. Hang on sis, I’ll get you out of there. Whatever it takes.
The holo-image faded back to a smirking Xonax.
“As you can see, she won’t last for much longer. I fear for her sanity and health as it is already.”
Make it So! Page 9