It meant he was breathing clean Earth air courtesy of the rent in the hull. It also meant Hope, who was in Engineering breathing the same air, had her rig’s visor down, tired face bared to all. Nate paused at Engineering’s airlock, then said, “Sorry, Hope. Didn’t know you were here.”
She looked up at him. “It’s okay, Cap.” Hope stared at the hole in the hull. “Or, it’s not okay, but you being here is okay. I mean, of course it is. You’re the captain. And the emperor. Um.”
“Still your Engineering,” said Nate. “I should have knocked.”
Hope had a cable looped from her rig and into the Tyche’s Engineer’s console. She was feeding it power, the holo bright, as she worked through diagnostics. “Cap? I want you to see something.” Hope pointed to the holo. “Here, this bit.”
“Signals, looks like,” said Nate, feeling like he should sound authoritative, despite not knowing what she was pointing at specifically. It was the captain-y thing to do. “Signals happen all the time.”
“When the ship came in over Osaka, there was a comms blackout. Those … things we fought? They silenced the Tyche’s voice. But here,” and she jabbed a finger at the holo, “they’re still talking just fine. They’re using their voices to drown ours out.”
“Is that unusual?”
“I don’t know,” said Hope. “I guess it might be? I mean, we could ask Chad. Or Karkoski.” She ruffled a hand through pink hair. “But they did it with a lot of precision. Their signal took advantage of, of, I guess, the knowledge of their own signal. I think they had a local network.” Here, the holo cleared, playing back a recording of the battle, with the positions of their four adversaries as the Tyche flew in. “I think they talked to each other, so they knew what they would broadcast out, and then synchronized the broadcast out so the general comm jamming was interleaved with that.”
“Wait,” said Nate. “Wait a second.”
“I know, it’s pretty cool,” said Hope.
“It’s not the cool level I’m too worried about at the moment,” said Nate. “They were broadcasting out?”
“Yes,” said Hope. “The entire time they were fighting us, they were talking to someone else.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” said Hope. “The other person wasn’t talking back. Or if they were, we couldn’t hear them.”
“Why would they do that?” said Nate.
Hope shook her head. “I don’t think that’s too hard to work out,” she said. “Here. Let me show you something else.” She played the holo forward to where Nate fought one, blade to blade. “Here.”
“It wasn’t my best moment,” said Nate.
“It was a moment you shouldn’t have lived through. No offense,” said Hope. “Cap, you were fighting a machine. And here,” she pulled up Kohl’s fight, “is October. I’m sure they were watching the fights to learn.”
“Learn,” said Nate. “Like, this was a classroom?”
“Yes,” said Hope. “This was a big classroom for them. Just four of them shot a starship out of the sky. They didn’t know how the starship worked, or how many people were in it. And during that fight, they learned a lot. About stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Tactics. Weapons. Stuff,” said Hope. “That’s what I think.”
“It seems crazy to send four people to die, just to learn that,” said Nate.
“I don’t think they expected to die,” said Hope.
“No, I mean, they could have learned about the Tyche from any recent holo. It’s the emperor’s starship.” Nate flexed his metal hand. “We’re kind of a big deal.”
“Oh, right,” said Hope. “No.”
“No?”
“No,” she said. “The emperor’s starship is bigger. A carrier, or a destroyer, or a corvette. But that’s not the ‘no’ part. The Tyche was upgraded. She’s not flying with the original specs. I think it’s why she wasn’t atomized. Just a few lucky upgrades changed her specs enough to be difficult to predict with certainty.”
“Hope, who were we fighting?” said Nate.
“I don’t know.”
“But you suspect,” said Nate. “You’ve been sitting alone in Engineering for thirty minutes looking at logs.”
“Yes,” said Hope, then bit her lower lip.
“What’s in the box?” said Nate, but softly, like he didn’t want to frighten her away.
“AIs,” said Hope. “That’s what they were. Sentient, artificial intelligences.”
Nate leaned against the broken lip of Engineering’s airlock. “They’re all gone,” he said. “The Guild made sure of that.”
Hope laughed, a broken, bitter sound. “No,” she said. “I think they lied about that. I’m not sure. I think they turned them off. But they didn’t kill them. Osaka is one part.” She nodded at his golden hand. “That’s another.”
“This old thing?” said Nate, lifting his hand.
“That ‘old thing’ is a piece of Old Empire tech that learns from you,” said Hope. “I think your brother was talking to the Guild about how much I could go with the A before they became death robots.” She nodded at the holo. “I think someone just went all the way to the death robot end of the scale.”
“But they don’t work for us,” said Nate. “History says they never worked with anyone. Just got ornery and pulled out guns.”
Hope bit her lip again. “What if there was a thing they really, really wanted? A thing that all life wants.”
“What could machines want from us?”
“Well,” said Hope. “I don’t know for sure, but I have a few guesses.”
“Your guesses are better than all the facts,” said Nate. “You’re the best guesser I know.”
“Oh, thanks,” said Hope. “It didn’t start with Guild Master Chinnery, but I’m positive he knows all the dirty secrets.”
• • •
Hope gave him about a million things to worry about. Or was it think about? They were the same thing right now.
Leaving Engineering, he was sauntering along the crew deck when he heard a noise from down in the hold. There should have been no one on the Tyche except Nate and Baggs. Hope was a surprise but not surprising, on account of her taking the ship’s wellbeing personally. Grace was supposed to be safe and sound on a lifter with El, Kohl, Ottavia, and Saveria. Nate had asked to be left alone with his ship for a reason that hadn’t been more specific at the time than wanting to atone for something he hadn’t been able to prevent. It sounded stupid to say it out loud, which meant he’d gone off half-cocked, got a couple of shitty looks, and everyone left him alone anyway. It was a positive result without a positive process. Got to work on your approach a little more, Nate.
Anyway, noise in the hold meant either the Tyche had picked up some huge rats, or Baggs was down there snooping about. Moving to the top of the hold’s ladder, Nate had a moment to see Baggs in a couch in the ready room. Which meant whoever was in the hold wasn’t supposed to be on the ship at all.
Nate sighed, put a hand on the ladder, and slid down. His boots hit the decking with a clang, causing the hold’s other occupant — the Empire’s Bulwark officer Ottavia, to jump, let go of the lid of the case which closed with a snap, and span about.
“Hi,” said Nate.
“Sire,” she said, going for a bow.
“Nah,” said Nate.
Ottavia paused half-way into the bow, then stood with a shrug. “Would you believe I was taking inventory?”
“I would,” said Nate. “But you’re not supposed to. How’d you get it open?”
“I’m a spy,” said Ottavia. “It’s what we do.”
“You’re not supposed to spy on me,” said Nate. “I’m the guy in charge.”
Ottavia leaned against the case. “That’s a curious thing to say.”
“No, really,” said Nate. “I’m in charge. I admit, it took getting used to. Sire this, bow that, lots of people looking at you like you know what you’re doing.”
She laugh
ed. He detected something practiced in it, being more than a little familiar with how a woman might attempt to play a man. Just watch, Nate. In less than a minute she’ll have a hand on your arm. “Not that,” Ottavia said. “Why do you think we wouldn’t spy on you? All the worst things will happen right next to you.” She stopped leaning on the case, walking around the hold. “I mean, take this starship for example.”
“The Tyche?” said Nate. “This starship’s a stroke of luck. Brings good fortune wherever she goes.”
Ottavia moved a little closer to him. “The Captain of the Black was just run through with a piece of steel. One of the Black got killed. The ship was shot down.” She put a hand on his arm. Knew it! I knew it. There’s the hand. “It’s unlucky, I’d say.”
“You know what I say?” Nate looked into her eyes, leaning a little closer.
“What’s that, sire?” said Ottavia, on her part leaning even closer still.
“Don’t sell to a seller. Don’t play a player.” Nate, very gently, removed her hand from his arm. “And never try to rob a pirate.” He pulled back from her startled expression. “You were in here, trying to find out what was in the case. Oh, sure,” and here, he held up a hand to forestall her objections, “it was for a good reason. Protect the Empire. Or the emperor. Or whatever Chad signed you up for. Don’t know, don’t care either.”
“But—”
“The thing in the case? It’s not yours. It’s not for you. It’s not for Chad either. It’s not, if I’m being honest, meant for humanity.” Nate took his turn leaning against the case. “Best thing we could do is throw this thing into a star and never look at it again.”
“You know what’s in the case?” she said.
“Sure do,” said Nate. “Was just up in Engineering.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, then couldn’t resist the question. “What’s in Engineering?”
“An Engineer,” said Nate. “And a very good friend of mine. Without her, we’d be dead to the roaches a hundred times over. She told me what was in the case. Told me some other stuff too. I can’t say as I’m pleased with how this has turned out, but I’ll not do anything about it.”
“There’s a naked woman in that case. A dead body, and you’re not going to do anything about it?” Ottavia crossed her arms. “If you’re at the top, you need to be the cleanest of all. If you don’t mind the advice, sire.”
“Well, I’ve got a mind to do a few things,” admitted Nate. “First, I’ll get a beer. Soon as we set down at Guild Hall.”
“We’re not going to the palace?” Ottavia blinked. “Why not?”
“Well, because Guild Hall has better beer,” admitted Nate. “They’ve got this new process for clean pressing the hops. Don’t understand it myself.” He took in her ever-widening eyes. “Look on your face says you don’t either. Anyway, smoothest damn beer I’ve had in a long time. They won’t tell me the recipe. If you can’t make Mohammed go to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammed.”
“I don’t want to be indelicate,” said Ottavia.
“Two minutes ago you were trying to play me,” said Nate. “I think we’re well past delicate.”
“In your scenario, who is the mountain, and who is Mohammed?”
“The other reason we’re not going to the palace is because that’s where everyone will be who wants to kill me. They will expect me to go to the palace. What I think is likely to happen, on account of Osaka, is that in just a few hours we’ll be at war again.”
“The Ezeroc?” said Ottavia, looking around like the roaches were in the hold with them. She dropped a hand to her sheathed knife, the other to her empty holster.
“Probably,” said Nate. “I’m more interested in who’s coming with them.”
“What?” said Ottavia.
“See, instead of stowing away on the emperor’s ship, and then looking in the emperor’s belongings, I spent time talking to folks,” said Nate. “I’m curious about you, though.”
“Me, sire? I’m nobody special—”
Nate held his hand up again. “Ottavia, this will go a lot faster if we both agree we know what we both know. You’re a spy. Your boss works for me as my spymaster. Chad is literally the guy who knows all the secrets. Hope says you engineered — pardon the pun — your way onto a Guild mission into Osaka. Seems an odd thing for someone with an evolved survival instinct to do. Why’d you do it?”
“For the Empire,” she said. Nate watched as she took a couple subconscious steps backward.
“Sure,” he said. “But more specifically.”
“We had intelligence suggesting the Guild were doing illegal research,” Ottavia said.
“Of course they are,” said Nate. “They’re a bunch of clever kids with too many ideas and not enough oversight. Bound to be something wrong in there.”
“You’re … not surprised?”
“Nope. More surprised that you went to Osaka.” Nate rubbed his face with a hand. It had been a long day. “Osaka suggests you have a little more specifics into what the Guild were doing. As we’re about to meet with that cockthistle Chinnery, I’d like your inside line on what you thought they were doing.”
“What did Hope say?”
“Don’t bring my Engineer into this,” said Nate. “She’s a good person.”
“Even knowing what’s in the case, you still think that? She’s collecting dead people.”
“Kinda,” agreed Nate. “I would trust her with my life, Ottavia. You haven’t earned that yet. So, get talking.”
“Would you trust her with your Empire?” said Ottavia. “No disrespect, but you’re just one man. We could put another on the throne and no one would blink.”
“I could think of a few people who might blink,” said Nate. “But to answer your question, I would trust her with all the stars in the sky. Hope has never done anything wrong.” He held a hand out, palm up, to Ottavia. “Ottavia. I need to know.” He saw the set of her shoulders. “Please.”
“You’re scared,” she said. “I can feel it.”
“I’m terrified,” admitted Nate. “But I’d like the inside oil on what I should be terrified of.”
“It’s not monsters in the closet,” said Ottavia. “But it’s close. Here’s what I know.”
• • •
Nate stood outside the Guild Master’s office, trying not to feel like he was waiting to see the principle of Ganymede’s worst school, which was where he spent a lot of time avoiding any act that could bring him too close to learning something new. The memory caught him unawares, and he felt it was unwelcome. He glanced at Grace. “Do you think he’s keeping us waiting on purpose?”
“Definitely,” she said, hand on the belt of her scabbard. “I think Chinnery is just the kind of guy who wants to make sure you know you’re merely the emperor, and he’s the one who makes everything work.”
Nate thought that through. “If true, he’d have a point.”
“I could go in,” offered Baggs. “I could persuade him that time is money, or opportunity was ready to knock.” He shifted in his black ship suit. “Truth, I could use a cold beer and a hot shower. I’d settle for a hot beer and a cold shower. To my mind, both feel as likely as the fanciful constructs of sirens, luring us to the rocks, but there you have it.”
Nate shook his head. “I think if we want to do this, we need to be polite. We still need Chinnery.”
“Define ‘need,’” said Kohl. He was leaning against a wall, and on Baggs’ mention of a cold beer he’d dared to look hopeful.
“The entire universe will stop working without the Guild,” said Hope.
“Seems the universe worked fine before the Guild,” said Kohl.
Hope gave Kohl a stare. “You know what I mean.”
“And you know what I mean,” said Kohl. He shrugged. “I don’t mean nothing personal by it, Hope. Just, there’s only one Engineer I figure is worth a Shingle, and she ain’t in there.” He jerked a thumb towards the closed door.
Hope looked at
the floor. “I know, October.”
Saveria, trying hard to look like she was invisible, shifted a little from foot to foot. “I mean, I guess I don’t need to be here, right?”
“If I’ve got to be here, you’ve got to be here,” said Ottavia. She sat on the case that contained the body of what looked a lot like Reiko Crous-Povilaitis. Nate hadn’t stared too close, but Hope wasn’t willing to go anywhere without the case, so here it was along with the rest of them.
The sound of hard shoes walking on polished floors came from the corridor they’d entered by. Two sets, by Nate’s reckoning, and his estimate was rewarded when Karkoski rounded the corner, Chad on her heels. Karkoski did a double take at the number of people in the anteroom, then saluted. “Sire.”
Nate winced. “Jesus, no. Not you too.”
Chad walked past her, slapped Nate on the shoulder, and shook his hand. “Boss.”
“Chad,” said Nate.
Grace walked past Nate, sweeping Karkoski into a hug. “Thank you for coming.”
“Emperor’s orders.” Karkoski winked. “Apparently there’s something bad happening.”
Nate glanced at Ottavia, then back to Chad. “Yep.”
Chad winced, gave Ottavia a hard look, then said, “Everything she told you is a lie.”
“How do you know?” said Nate.
“She’s unreliable. Terrible field agent,” said Chad.
“Hey,” said Ottavia. “All I said is—”
“Anyway,” said Chad. “Why are we here?”
“Waiting to speak to Chinnery,” said Nate.
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