by Far Freedom
“How do I find my memories?”
“We’re not sure,” Mnro said. “Your memories were stored in your auxiliary memory and erased from your mind.”
“Direk and Aylis invented the auxiliary memory devices,” Demba said, “which, in addition to providing secrecy of our important memories, also allowed us to retain much of the skills of the body and the details of expertise that most people lose through rejuvenation. But the auxiliary memories don’t play before our conscious mind the way normal memories do. We can’t summon them forth at random and at will. When they do come they are unexpected and powerful.”
“I do have these memory devices?” Khalanov asked for reassurance.
“We know you have them,” Mnro said. “We don’t know how functional they are or how they can be accessed. We don’t remember how we might have keyed them. Usually another person’s DNA - or even their proximity - provides the key to unlocking our memories. You wouldn’t be likely to meet this key until it was safe to remember. In your case, we don’t remember who could be your key.”
“Can you perform some test?” he asked.
“Don’t worry,” Mnro said, patting Khalanov’s hand. “Time will erode the lock on your memories. It can’t be much longer.”
“Damn! Damn! I feel like I’ll explode!”
“Let me show you one final thing,” Demba said, “that will provide some proof of what we say. Hopefully, you will not explode!” Demba removed a small silvery pouch from a pocket of her uniform. She opened the pouch and removed an object from it, cupping it in her palm so that Khalanov couldn’t see it. “Hold out your hand, Iggy.” She placed a solid but weightless object in the upturned palm of his hand and she closed his fingers around it. “Once upon a time, you found this, Iggy. Look at it.”
Khalanov opened his fingers and slowly manipulated the egg-shaped object until he could see it clearly. The alien beauty of the cryptikon brought him to shocking recognition of its identity. “You stole the cryptikon?” His voice was hoarse with stress.
“There is more than one. You found several. This is one of ours, Iggy.”
Section 006 What Admiral Ever Wept?
“Sit down, Jones.”
Jamie sat down, fatigue cap in hand, in the admiral’s office. It was a bare office with only a few chairs and a display screen that showed a view of the ship’s biosphere. It should have been a comfortable office but Jamie was never comfortable in the presence of admirals, and especially this admiral. She was more than uncomfortable. She could barely contain her anger at the handling of the Mnro Incident. She could barely contain her questions about everything that swirled about Admiral Demba as mystery. She waited with nervous anticipation to hear what Demba would say.
“I’ve studied your record thoroughly.”
And I yours, she thought. “I know it’s bad, but I wouldn’t have done anything differently, Admiral.”
“I don’t judge it as you might think, Jones.”
“How do you judge it?”
“Never mind. I’ve also studied the records of the other Marines. I think I would trust all of you to perform your duties faithfully. Would you agree?”
“Is this a serious question, Admiral?” She had already been prevented from performing her duty, in the case of Aylis Mnro. Other than pomp and ceremony, what use would she and her Marines be to this mission?
“Deadly serious.”
“I agree with your analysis.” Jamie hoped she wasn’t being too generous to her squad. She only had a hunch that they could be good Marines. “If we’re given moral duties and lawful orders we’ll obey them. Every one of us was court-martialed for disobeying questionable orders.”
“I’m giving you the absolute authority to remove anyone from this ship who doesn’t seem right.”
“‘doesn’t seem right?’ How do I interpret that?”
“You should already have a notion, because of what happened to Aylis Mnro, that this is an extraordinary situation. We have enemies in the Navy. There could be spies or worse among us or among those waiting to come aboard. I have a list of Navy personnel who should not set foot on this ship. You are authorized to use lethal force to stop them. Screen everyone. If they don’t smell right, get rid of them. Do the best you can. I realize time is short and the Marines are few, but our lives may depend on it.”
“Spies? Why spies? Lethal force? Admiral, is that a lawful order?”
“No, it isn’t.” Demba conceded the point with slight humor, then resumed her serious intent. “You may execute the order however you choose, and I will back you as far as you need. I’m not completely sure there will be spies or sabotage. I am sure that if there is, it will be dangerous.”
“Why, Admiral?”
“That isn’t clear enough to me that I should bother you with it, Lieutenant.”
“Does it have anything to do with the fantastic story you promised to tell me?”
“Indeed.” Demba stood up. “You’re dismissed.”
It seemed to Jamie they had only just sat down. The meeting was at an end and she had learned nothing but bad news. She didn’t want the meeting to end. She didn’t want to continue in ignorance. She wanted to hear the story Demba promised to tell her. She stood. “About Aylis Mnro. I have at least one Marine keeping watch over her at all times.”
“I know. She’s complained to Jon.”
“I thought I was going too far with the bodyguard. I’ll back off. But all of us Marines could use a convenient refresher course in emergency medical aid, and that would keep us near her for awhile.”
“Don’t back off. And medical training would be a good idea, but I doubt you’ll get it soon.”
“This mission is a lot more dangerous than most of us think, isn’t it? And you still want to bring the child with us.”
“Everything is more dangerous than you think. Sammy was only days or hours away from dying when I found him. He was in danger almost continuously, until we boarded this ship. I feel he’s a little safer here.”
“You found him? He has no real family?”
“None. The Mnro Clinic has no record of him or of anyone who is related to him.”
Jamie didn’t know how complete the Mnro Clinic’s records were, but the way Demba spoke made her feel that Sammy’s lack of identity was more unusual than she would have expected. “Where did you find him?”
“Earth.” Jamie waited for Demba to say more, explain more, but she seemed reluctant. This small amount of information only made the mystery greater, the ignorance harder to bear. “If something happens to me, please take care of Sammy,” Demba added, just to make Jamie’s dismissal even more unbearable. One of these days she would corner Demba and - admiral or not - Jamie would get her questions answered!
Jamie applied herself to the task Demba set for her. She knew her Marines would think she was being too thorough and too paranoid. The few strange facts she learned from Demba made her imagine there was very much more to be learned that was menacing. She knew she was too sensitive to the admiral, too eager to believe what she said, but she never let logic override her feelings. She called a meeting to explain things to the men. Blind obedience was never as good as informed obedience. She embellished the facts without lying, trying to motivate men who were still strangers to her. They were already susceptible because they knew Aylis Mnro was aboard and that she needed protection. It was a bit ridiculous that she couldn’t just give them a simple order and expect obedience, but these guys were not good Marines. They could be good Marines, but only if she could make them her Marines. They were all attentive to her because Jamie Jones was somewhat famous in the Marine Corps, and because she would make it painful for them to ignore her. However thin her explanation for Demba’s security directive was, they became as motivated as she was.
A day later, the Third Watch woke her shortly after her head hit the pillow. It was midnight and shift change. Two Marines met her at Security Ops.
“There’s something down there,” Aguila said,
pointing to a sensitive engineering area on their ship map. “I know the sound of breathing through the neck joint of a cheap i-field. Here, listen to this.”
Jamie listened and knew Aguila was correct. Goodman responded by drawing arms from the locker. “I want three more bodies. Get them up and armed.”
Ten minutes later they were converging on the location of an invisible intruder. They were also invisible.
“Tell me this isn’t a drill, sir,” Goodman said quietly by shiplink.
“Not a drill,” Jamie whispered. “Do you have the corridor blocked?”
“Yes, sir.”
” Stop breathing. He should be ten meters away from you.”
Jamie and Aguila turned off their i-fields. Aguila sprayed the middle section of the corridor with snowflakes and an outline of a human figure briefly emerged before the i-field adapted. A few seconds later the invisible man ran into three invisible Marines at the other end of the corridor. There was the sound of scuffling followed by a rapid return to visibility by the three Marines. Goodman was sitting on the still-invisible intruder while the other two searched for a control switch for his i-field.
“Hey, an admiral!” Goodman exclaimed as the intruder became visible.
“He’s on the list,” Jamie said, checking his identification transponder. “Get off him, Goodman.”
“You letting him go?” Aguila asked.
“Just want an easier shot,” Jamie said.
The admiral got to his feet and straightened his uniform. He looked at the weapons pointed at him. He seemed calm. He looked at Jamie. He smiled. He had a small scar on his left cheek. “Well?” The admiral held his arms out, expressing what Jamie imagined was contempt.
“Bang,” Jamie said. “You’re dead. Now get off the ship.”
“I don’t think so,” the admiral said.
Here was the prototypical Navy admiral, Jamie thought. All muscle and bad attitude. He wasn’t offering a reason for his skulking presence on her ship. She wasn’t interested in any lies he might tell her. All she knew was that his name was on Demba’s list and that was a bad thing. “We can drag you off.”
” You’ll need to kill me first, Lieutenant.”
“I’m authorized to use lethal force, Admiral.”
“Really? By whose order?”
“Admiral Demba.”
“Let me talk to her. My inspection-“
“Shut up! Get off my ship!” She saw anger flare in his face. She liked that. He wanted to fight. She wanted to fight, too, but she would deny herself the pleasure because that would deny him the pleasure. The admiral stared at her, challenging her, until her patience expired. She shot him with a nerve gun very accurately, so that he remained conscious while they dragged him off the ship.
Jamie felt the presence near her in the garden next to her cottage. The presence didn’t resolve itself at once but remained at the edge of her senses. She was tired and this irritated her and she chose a combative response. She slowed to allow the stalker to come nearer, until she caught a glimpse of him in the corner of her eye. She judged the distance and selected the maneuver that would bring the person to a satisfying impact on the ground. She moved.
He moved. Jamie never touched him. She pivoted away to block a counterattack which never came. She blinked, and her tired eyes finally found enough moonlight to discern the Navy captain’s uniform. She read the signal in her shiplink that identified him as regular Navy crew of the Freedom. She stood to attention and saluted.
The captain returned the salute. “I was waiting to meet you. I apologize for my hesitation. I assumed you would react somewhat differently.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’ve processed about a thousand people aboard the Freedom today. I’m too tired to function predictably. Captain Direk, what do you want?”
“I have your promotion orders from O2 to O4.”
“Promotion? Two grades?”
“You were a major before. I trust it will be within your abilities.”
“I was a major three times, light colonel twice.” Jamie moved closer to the Navy captain and stared at him. He gazed back, not revealing anything by his facial expression or body language. He moved a step back from her, as though needing more personal space. He was a large, pleasant man. But many men were large and handsome these days, if they were vain enough to have their bodies altered by genetic and cosmetic surgeons. There were as many women who did the same. This man was paler in complexion than was currently popular, with very short blond hair. He had the almost-clear Essiin eyes but otherwise looked Earthian. Jamie admonished herself for dwelling on the physical attributes of a man. She was too old and too abused in her current lifetime to care about such things. “I wonder why you chose to bring this news in person, sir.”
“I wanted to meet you. Please don’t misinterpret my presence.”
It wasn’t a matter of interpretation. She never trusted anyone. She was a Marine, a woman in a military service dominated by the male gender. She heard everything a man could say to a woman, and saw everything a man could do to a woman. But it was impossible to decode a motive behind the Navy captain’s statement. Why would he have any interest in her? He looked like the intellectual type, not a man who would risk his virility on a female Marine. It finally emerged from her fatigue-muddled thoughts that here was another person who seemed to know of her but who was a stranger to her. “Introductions are over, sir. Thank you, for the promotion, I think.”
“I’d like a brief talk with you.”
Was he just a Navy technical officer seeking a change of flavor in female companionship, innocent in its own way? “You wouldn’t be the dissenting member of a promotion review board, would you?” She led him down the path between the flower beds. Her home on the Freedom smelled like marigolds. She entered her apartment and turned on the lights. The captain came in behind her and left the door open. “I haven’t had time to decorate and furnish the place. I’ve never served on a ship like this. Even we Marines can live in privacy. My men all prefer the barracks. Damned if I’ll join them. All I have is a bed, if you want to sit on that.”
“I’ll stand. Do you know what happened to my mother?”
She was shocked, because she could deduce the identity of his mother. Blond men were rare and Mnro was blonde. She had to ask it anyway. “Your mother?”
“Doctor Mnro. She was assaulted. She wouldn’t speak about it to me. I didn’t want to increase her distress, but I want to know what happened.”
Here it came again - The Big Mystery. Quickly her physical and mental fatigue were gone and the questions queued up in her chain of thoughts. “You’re her son? Even so, I’m not sure I should tell you, sir. I was ordered not to talk about it. Why did you come to me for this information?”
“There are others I can query, including Admiral Demba. I wished to meet you.”
“The infamous Jamie Jones. Why did you wish to meet me, sir?”
“I’m afraid to tell you.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Why did it? “This is a bad time to play games with me, Captain. I’ve never been so tired in my life. I have a crazy admiral and her mystery child to plague my thoughts. And I have Doctor Mnro to worry about. She’s your mother?”
“She is.”
“But that isn’t… I mean, everyone knows the story of her life… What proof do you have?” She knew she was naïve about a few things, but why was Aylis Mnro one of them?
“You can ask her.” The captain was starting to stare at her the way Admiral Demba stared at her. “Do you, in fact, know what happened to her? Have you filed a report?”
“I started a report.” Jamie sat down on the bed, took off her fatigue cap. She immediately stood up, feeling self-conscious in the steady gaze of this handsome man. Her impulse was to trust him, based on his relationship to Aylis Mnro. She was appalled she did not cross-check his identity, that she unconsciously assumed he was someone who “smelled right.” She quickly retrieved his record and crew status from her shiplink
. He was a Navy scientist. But he stared at her too intently and his announced need to see her in person was strange and opaque to her reasoning. Her imagination made her worry. She became uneasy in his presence.
” You started a report.”
“It was so strange! They wouldn’t explain to me why they didn’t want me to investigate and bring charges. Doctor Mnro wouldn’t tell me who attacked her. I got upset. I said things I shouldn’t have. Admiral Demba was extremely patient with me. God, that’s a whole different story! I had just met her and Sammy.” She stopped. She was tired again. She wasn’t being professional. She didn’t think she should discuss the matter with him without proof of his kinship. Her uneasiness continued. Even though he stood well apart from her, his pale eyes seemed to invade her privacy and cross the threshold of intimacy.
“Her injuries were serious,” Captain Direk said. “I saw her not long ago and she claimed to be recovered, but I could tell she was emotionally damaged. This suggests a certain form of assault.”
He knew his mother was raped! It bothered her that he could sound so dispassionate. “I offered to kill him for her, if prosecution wasn’t possible!” She shouldn’t have said that again! It was wrong the first time. She would never learn.
“I can also theorize that her attacker was someone of significant power. I can think of only one person with sufficient power to arrange the opportunity for such a crime against someone of my mother’s status. The motive, however, completely escapes me.”
Jamie sat down on the bed again, despite herself. She followed the captain’s logic to realize where it pointed. It made her feel sick to believe the Navy Commander could be the perpetrator. She always knew the Navy had its criminal element, but to see it risen to the top of the Navy made her lose all respect for the most important institution in her life. Further, to see this clear-minded scientist embrace his logical deduction without apparent doubt amplified her loss of respect for her military service. “That’s why we can’t prosecute! If I wasn’t shipping out on this big boat, I would kill him!”