Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments

by Randolph Lalonde

  “Wow, I’ve never seen that side of you. Where’d that come from?” Laura asked.

  “Too many years on the parade ground,” Ayan rasped as she sat on the bed hard enough to bounce and lowered her face into her hands.

  “Jason told me they used to call you Sunspot because of your temper, but that was just…” She trailed off for a moment before concluding; “Military. That was Commander Ayan.”

  Ayan could hear Laura turn around and notice how quiet she’d gotten, and the moment she sat on the bed beside her the tears started flowing.

  “Oh,” she said as she put her arm around her shoulders.

  Laura had always been a good friend, the best. She’d met so many people in Junior Academy, then Fleet Academy and the military. Many of her best friends had died years ago, service mates who perished on the Sunspire during combat action. Others drifted off as service took them in different directions, and for Ayan, that meant up the command ladder, further separating her from fellow graduates and the acquaintances of her youth. Then she was reborn, and everyone but Doctor Anderson and Minh were gone. When she arrived aboard the Triton, the reunion with Laura was the sweetest. There was no forgetting or replacing such a friend, and as she sat on the edge of the bed Jacob Valance had slept in the night before crying for reasons she couldn’t quite put together yet, she had never been more grateful that she was there. Laura didn’t ask why she was in tears, she just kept her company while she got them out of her system, but then, she did want to give her an explanation. “I have no idea what I’m doing here,” Ayan managed as she wiped tears away.

  Laura handed her a tissue, where she’d found it, she had no idea. “You’re doing great.”

  “No, I’m really not. I mean, all day we’ve been running about, trying to make a proper place here and I manage to sign the first contract the Government presents, then strike a bargain with a crime lord. What kind of madwoman does that?”

  “The intelligent, flexible kind.”

  “Oh, and said crime lady all but said; ‘me and your Jake are old shagging buddies, think you can meet us up again?’ God, I’m so lost. So completely, utterly lost,” Ayan punctuated with a long blow of her nose.

  “There’s no-“

  “And as soon as I get back I go off like a drill sergeant on one of his most trusted people.” She sat silently for a moment, reviewing the incident. “I have to apologize.”

  Laura caught Ayan before she could finish standing up and sat her back down. “Oh, no you don’t. She had it coming, I mean she really had it coming. You bent over backwards and worked miracles today. I mean, think about it. None of us have been here before, you couldn’t call back to the ships because we don’t have a local code, and they needed you to get supplies, somewhere to land and the permits to move. I wouldn’t know where to start. Then she has the nerve to give you grief over getting it all finished in the nick of time?” Laura shook her head. “You actually managed to do what anyone in your position would want to do, and she deserved every word.”

  It was easy to believe Laura, everything she said was true. “Maybe bringing up the serial killer was going over the line just a little,” Ayan admitted.

  “But did you see the look on her face?”

  Ayan couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t think she’ll doubt me aloud again. Jake’s going to hear about that though.”

  “So? I’m pretty sure he’ll agree Stephanie was in the wrong. Respectful colleagues present advice and alternatives, not criticism without support.”

  “They used to tell us that in Officer Training.”

  “And I’ve heard you say the same to people in the lab.”

  Ayan looked at Laura, whose eyes went wide as she realized her blunder. “Wasn’t me,” she said quietly.

  Laura smiled back at her and nodded. “It was. A little different, but everything she was, is in you. Besides, the woman I’m sitting beside is something greater.”

  “Sure, there’s more of me, especially in the hips, and in the front,” Ayan countered, playfully.

  “No, well, yeah, but-“

  “Well, thank you!” Ayan laughed, feigning injury.

  “It suits you. It really does, but really; as you are, I can’t imagine you sticking to an Engineering department, or a research lab. You’d do wonderful in either place, but after spending the day with you today I see so much more in you. An ambassador, an explorer, a problem solver, and it’s all wrapped up in a confident, charming package. I think, no, I’m sure Patrizia was actually envious of you when she realized you were the one who gave Jake his scarf. I think you made a mystery real for her, I think you lived up to what she pictured in her mind as a woman she couldn’t compete with.”

  “Oh, come on,” Ayan said with disbelief. “Not in this lifetime, or any other. Did you see her?”

  “Yes, and she was hanging on your every word, especially when you stood up to her and actually countered her price with an offer of your own.”

  “Must happen all the time,” she replied with a barely suppressed smile.

  “You know it doesn’t, and if something did happen between Jake and her, it’s probably ancient history now. Just talk to him about it.”

  “That ought to be an interesting conversation,” Ayan sighed. “But I think I will.”

  “Good. It’ll be fine.”

  “You’re amazing, Laura. Busy picking me up off the floor while Jason’s still out there. I’m sorry.”

  Laura closed her eyes and nodded. “I’m worried, but I’d know if something happened to him. Wherever he is, I know he’s doing his best to come back to me.”

  “Minh should be back soon.”

  “I know. I think I’ll try to get some rest before he arrives. Do you mind?”

  “No, I think I’ll wait for Jake in the Captain’s quarters.”

  “Good luck. I think everything’s going to be fine though.”

  “I hope so.”

  Chapter 33

  Meddler

  It was impossible to know whether she was waking up when her eyes snapped open, or if she was becoming aware. What was certain, as Eve lay atop her made bed in her finest green and blue silk gown, was that until the very moment of awareness or waking, she was not in control. She couldn’t feel Gloria behind her eyes, but there was a residue. There was guilt, and a strange giddiness that was unlike anything she’d known.

  “What have you done?” Eve asked aloud, hoping the other woman wouldn’t answer from somewhere inside her mind. Despite her growing dread she began to reach out, to search the network of surveillance and storage for evidence of her passage. Within milliseconds she found the trail. Gloria had made no efforts to hide her activities.

  Eve went to bed. It took her exactly forty three minutes and nine seconds to fall asleep. Four minutes and fifty one seconds later she sat up and dressed in her finest gown, put on the heels she never really learned to walk properly in, and exited her quarters. She was humming something, and after a quick search through the archives, she realized it was an ancient song called Birdhouse In Your Soul.

  Eve didn’t remember any of it. Not a single instant. Watching the woman wearing her body swagger down the familiar hallways, smile at soldiers and officers as she walked past, and look right into surveillance hot spots so Eve could look her in the eyes later was infuriating. When she realized the woman’s destination she was so enraged that she lost her connection with the network. She forced herself to settle down and focused her attention on the surveillance footage of Gloria entering Beaudric’s quarters.

  With a grace Eve never had, Gloria sat down on the edge of his bed and whispered; “I have something to show you,” as she caressed his cheek.

  He roused with a start, sat up, and after a moment smiled at her warmly in the dim light. There were few words as she let him get dressed behind her and walked him down the hall to the lift. In seemingly easy silence they made their way to the bowels of the command carrier and Eve was horror stricken as she recalled the next
batch of surveillance data from the system. Gloria walked him directly into the emergency genesis chamber. It was a long, broad corridor with black tiled floors and bare generation one frameworks lining the walls in their cubicles. Like a collection of hundreds of skeletons they stood waiting, empty eye sockets staring across the room at each other. A box at each one’s feet contained everything they needed to get to work after coming to life. It was a place no one was supposed to see, a place where, if they urgently needed basic personnel in vast numbers they could be produced hundreds at a time. Behind each cubicle was a loading mechanism that would stand another framework skeleton up after one had finished generating and walked off. Another loader under the box would put a fresh uniform, and weapons or tools inside.

  These frameworks did not have the individuality or higher functions that Beaudric did. They were ready to be programmed with any of twenty pre-set basic personalities and skill sets. Very few would be given an improved version of the programming, which really only enhanced them enough to be basic, logical commanders. Those were the A-Types, or generation one point fives that could take over as an officer for a short amount of time.

  Beaudric stared open mouthed, wide eyed as the lights came on and he was rendered speechless. Gloria filled the silence before long. “These are your lesser cousins. This technology is responsible for bringing you into being, and while you’re a vast improvement, you still have the same bones, the same machines forged you.”

  The man turned and stared at her with a confused, hurt expression on his face.

  “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but the guilt of what I’ve done is too heavy. I was human once. I was born of a mother and a father, grew up like any little girl and was about to become a woman. Then I became deathly ill, and my father, a great scientist, couldn’t find a cure. Instead he harvested my mind and connected it to a new body. A network of machines built so I could protect the Eden solar system. I took things a little bit too far. My father was killed, I was isolated from the network and the machines I built. Years later someone recovered me, created the perfect body for my reintegration into humanity and transplanted my mind.”

  Beaudric stared at her with that bulging eye, open mouthed expression that he couldn’t seem to shake. “Eden. So you are Eve?” He asked at last.

  “I am, and I’ve decided to begin taking responsibility for all my misdeeds, starting with you.”

  “With me? Your people rescued me.”

  “No, I stole from you. We’re all memory and body thieves here, even the Child Prophet, who is in his second body as well. I watched from a distance as you made yourself at home on Pandem, and after deciding that you were living a life of frivolity, I began to construct memories, new memories that would help you make the right attachments and decisions. You think your father was killed when there was no attack, he was never here.”

  “But I remember-“

  “Creations, just figments from my mind transplanted into yours. They are made so you feel anger at an enemy that has never interfered with Pandem.”

  “The book, this ring-“

  “Oh my God, you are deeply stupid. That’s another reason why I chose you. They are offerings from your original, who gave them to us in exchange for a few days of meaningless indulgence. He’s still down there! Do you want to see?” Gloria shouted. With a gesture a large hologram appeared of Patrick laying in the middle of a king sized bed with a young woman in his arms. “She’s just one of a number of women Patrick, that’s the name given to your original, has slept with since he arrived. He does as little as he can to get by, plays by the rules whenever he feels like it, and spends the rest of his time indulging in the most convenient pleasure. Think, use that shallow mind of yours and try to remember.”

  Beaudric looked from the hologram to Gloria several times, confused and irritated before admitting; “It’s all blurry. I can see pieces, but when I try to focus on something it’s just. . . blurry.”

  “That is because you’re an experiment. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t tell you this at all, but the lie is too heavy for me to carry. I thought I could turn you into a simple soldier, that you were the right template to experiment with, and I was right. Your thinking is so simple, you’re so stupid that you fell for all of it. You’re not intelligent enough to question your own thoughts and you’re so obedient that you didn’t even request a service for your father. You just soldiered on because I made sure you were programmed that way.”

  Beaudric’s reaction was animalistic. He slapped Gloria so hard it rang down the corridor. “Good,” she purred as she strode to one of the boxes, flipped it open with her toe and retrieved a sidearm.

  “No! I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry!” Beaudric whined as Gloria slowly, methodically raised the weapon and pointed it at him.

  She flipped the safety off and fired several times. Every round struck its target, burning holes straight through Beaudric’s chest. He collapsed, clutching the air for something beyond understanding and died right before her eyes.

  Gloria walked to his side and bent down low, watching as the framework system repaired the damage by materializing fresh flesh. When his body was mended, Beaudric gasped back to life. Gloria sneered at the hurt, confused expression on his face. “Every immortal on this ship is the Child Prophet’s victim. I bear the guilt, but he ordered it. If you want revenge, go and take it.” She told him as she dropped the weapon on his chest.

  “How do I-“

  “Find him? Get past security? You already know, just think for a change. Try and remember.”

  He stood slowly, and regarded Gloria with mild astonishment. “I know. I can even remember him celebrating my birth, how?”

  “I gave that memory to you as well. Now go do this for me, and I promise you’ll be free afterwards. I’m giving you control of thirty frameworks. Do whatever you like with them, you can even set them free, though they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.” Gloria said as she started for the exit. “Or don’t, and return to your room. Knowingly serve a man child who will do what’s been done to you over and over again.”

  The rest of Gloria’s evening was uninformative, she simply returned to quarters and laid down. Three minutes later to the millisecond she woke up as Eve again. She searched the surveillance feeds for any sign of Beaudric after he left the genesis chamber, but there were huge blind spots. Eve also couldn’t understand why she had to watch all the footage in sequence. It was as if it couldn’t be read any other way, by anything. The blocks in the system were the same, there as though forced into place by another active mind.

  She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and kicked her heels off. “Security, find Beaudric and bring him to me! Increase security for Lister Hampon, the Child Prophet immediately,” she ordered. The system didn’t respond.

  Eve tried to send the commands using her link, but again, there was no acknowledgement. She tried reaching past the ship, and discovered a great void, space with no data. An attempt to leave her quarters failed as she almost walked into a door that didn’t open as it should. It was then that she realized, she was never addressing the system at all. All the surveillance footage had been copied to her backup memory, and someone had used her own framework components to disable her wireless input output systems. She was alone. There was no connection, no freedom, and Gloria was somehow responsible. Eve began to shake, a tear rolled down her cheek as she began to feel helpless, furious, and she pounded on the door until her fists bruised.

  The framework components grafted into her bones repaired the damage, and she screamed, shocking herself as her frantic voice filled her ears. Quivering with rage, she turned her back to the door and began to ponder. How had Gloria managed it? How had she taken control of her, directly manipulated the framework body she once inhabited and then taken control of enough of the ship to completely isolate her? Eve’s thoughts rarely turned towards what could be happening beyond her door, none of that mattered as much as regaining her digital sight and control.<
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  Despite her haze of emotion, she turned her mind’s eye inward, and began to try and restore her input output systems.

  Chapter 34

  Ayan and Jacob

  The Captain's quarters on the Clever Dream were made for comfort. The central seat; a flat, round furnishing in the middle of the cabin, adjusted to Ayan's shape as soon as she sat down, and shifted with her. She settled in and ended up cross legged, and, though she'd seen it twice already, she started reviewing the most recent scan data of the Triton. The ship had taken a beating, that was for sure, but Oz commanded her crew expertly. The calculations Laura had included, detailing how the enemy was able to disrupt their wormhole by tracking the energy wake proved that, without a doubt, that's exactly what had happened.

  Thoughts of all the people they left behind; Jason, Oz, and so many others who she'd just met threatened to add weight to her concern, to become to debilitating worry. She'd never been more worried in all her life, and to make things worse, she suspected that most of the experienced spacers, the ones who lived most of their lives on the fringe, didn't think she did a good job negotiating with the Carthan government or Patrizia Salustri. Stephanie definitely didn't approve of the deal that had been struck, but Ayan had thought how that played out through several times since, and, given their situation, she couldn't think of any other way it could have gone. She knew things were dire at their initial landing site, that they needed more solid footing both figuratively and literally, and that she didn't have time for more elegant solutions.

  The Carthan Government wasn't about to change it's policies, and given time she might find a way to get a better deal, but for the time being she had a real permit that enabled them to start hunting. A connection to the community, though very new, had been made as well, and they had supplies for the short term. What would Stephanie have done that would have been faster, or better in the long run?

  That's what frustrated Ayan the most about the whole situation. The more she let herself think about it, the less she regretted her confrontation with the Security Chief. She only hoped it wouldn’t drive her off the crew, she was good at her job, after all.