by B. V. Larson
After making this lofty prediction inside my own mind, no one assaulted me with a new disaster for several minutes. That surprised me. I decided it was time to talk to Kalu.
“What took you so damned long, Captain?” she asked when I arrived and stood outside the bars of her cell. “Do I scare you somehow?”
“I’ll admit I’ve been avoiding this. I’ve honestly been too busy.”
Her confident smile faded. “Avoiding what? Aren’t you going to let me out?”
“This is an investigation. Anything you say may be held against you later—”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“—in a court of law,” I finished, following Star Force regs.
“I’m innocent!” Kalu complained. “All I did was follow my legitimate commander. He outranked you, and you were dead as far as I knew.”
“You did far more than that, doctor.”
She glared at me. “This is because I slept with him, isn’t it? I bet it comes from Adrienne. She still hates me because you snaked a kiss in front of her once. I’m always getting this kind of bullshit from—”
“Doctor,” I interrupted. “Let’s stick to facts, shall we?”
“I’m giving you facts. You might not like them, but—”
I stepped closer to the bars, and she backed away a step as if threatened. I hadn’t meant it that way. Taking a breath, I tried to look and act as professionally as I could. She wasn’t real Navy, after all, and Star Force had a reputation for being heavy-handed among civilian folk.
Putting my hands behind my back, I forced a thin smile.
“Kalu,” I said, “let’s begin again. Do you want to get the hell out of this cell?”
“Yes.”
“All right then. If you calmly answer my questions that might happen. As I said, this is an official investigation. Are you ready to proceed?”
Her eyes ran around the cell. She nodded. “Yes. Just do it. I’ll be good.”
I doubted that, but I managed to smile more broadly. “Good. Valiant, extrude four nanite arms into the doctor’s cell, please.”
She looked alarmed as four black segmented arms wormed their way into existence. Two sprouted from the floor and two from the ceiling.
“Extend your arms and legs as if you were doing a jumping-jack, please,” I said.
“Oh, hell no. That is not happening.”
“Kalu, just let the ship grasp your limbs.”
“Why should I allow it?”
“Valiant will measure your heart rate and other autonomic functions. That’s part of our interrogation technique.”
“All right, all right,” she said, letting the machine touch her. Once attached, she was able to lower her arms. She glowered at me through the bars sullenly.
“You better not try to come in here now,” she said.
I sighed. “That won’t be necessary. The apparatus is only—”
“It’s a lie detector, yeah, I get it. Start talking.”
After a few test questions, I threw in a zinger.
“Did you or did you not help to kill Olivia Turnbull?”
Her mouth sagged in shock. “Say what? That’s got nothing to do with—”
“Refusing to answer the question?”
“No,” she said. “No, I had nothing to do with that.”
Valiant spoke into my ear. “Answer truthful.”
I nodded. I’d suspected she was innocent of any involvement in that matter, but I wondered if she might still know something.
“Do you know anyone who participated materially in the death of Olivia Turnbull?” I asked next.
“I thought this was supposed to be about Sokolov!”
“Please answer the question.”
She glared at me for a second. “Yes,” she said, “I do know such a person.”
“Answer truthful,” Valiant said in my ear.
My heart began to pound. Could this be true? Could Kalu have been involved somehow, all along?
I reached up and grabbed the bars. My muscles shook and I squeezed. My fingers whitened as I gripped the bars ever more tightly, and they creaked slightly under the strain.
Kalu’s eyes ran over the bars and my hands. Her face changed to one of alarm.
“Who?” I demanded.
“You, sir,” she said, almost in a whisper.
I closed my eyes and heaved a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have played you like that. I just—I don’t know. I’ve been cooped up. I don’t like it.”
“All right. Besides my involvement, do you know anything about what happened to Olivia?”
“No. No, I do not, and I don’t think anyone else aboard does either.”
“Statement truthful.”
It took a few seconds for my mind to operate properly again. It was odd in my opinion that I could get so worked up so quickly about her answer. She’d been toying with me, trying to make me feel pain. She’d succeeded, but now I could see she was honestly regretful.
“You’ve gone through a lot, Captain,” she said. “We all have. I didn’t mean to make it worse.”
“Okay,” I said, “let’s just get through this then, shall we? Did you willingly aid Sokolov in taking over this vessel?”
She squirmed. “Yes. I obeyed orders. We all did, pretty much.”
“Statement truthful,” the ship said into my ear.
I nodded. “Did you conspire to mutiny against me?”
“Of course not!”
“Statement false.”
We eyed one another. “You knew what Sokolov was planning, didn’t you?” I asked. “You knew about his move to take over even before he did it.”
“Dammit,” she said, fingers prying at the tentacles that held her wrists. “This metal bitch. She’s telling you everything, isn’t she?”
My smile was back, but it was a thin line. “No, you’re doing that. She’s just reading your guilt. Now, let’s get down to details.”
Kalu ripped and heaved, and then tore one of the tentacles off her. It squirmed in the air. Some of her skin came off with the tentacle and blood dribbled onto the deck.
“Yeah, I’ve been nanotized too,” she said. “Let me just tell you my story in my own way, all right?”
“All right.”
“Sokolov was planning to make his move on you. I knew it—anyone with a brain could see it coming. He was a general. You were just a newbie fresh out of the academy, even after he crowned you captain—sir. Legitimacy-wise, he had you from the start. Every day he hung around and looked more like a real Star Force general he came closer to giving you orders.”
“Okay,” I said, thinking it over. “But was the takeover your idea?”
“No, it was his plan from the start. He made subtle undermining comments to a lot of us. How young you were, how inexperienced. How unorthodox your rise to power was. How it was odd—even suspicious—that after Turnbull’s niece had died her uncle died too, right after you showed up.”
Maybe I should have felt anger at her unstated accusations, but I didn’t. Instead I felt a sick sense of alarm. Could it be that many of my crewmen were suspecting me of being the perpetrator behind these crimes? That I was the climber, the opportunist scrabbling for power? I hated the idea of it, but I’d seen this sort of thought drifting behind Hansen’s eyes at least.
“Yeah,” she said, watching my face. “Some of us figured maybe you should be the one in the brig wearing these truth-manacles.”
“I should never have let Sokolov aboard,” I said quietly.
“Why not? Is he right?”
I reached out, grabbing the manacle she’d shed. I wrapped it around my own wrist and leaned close to her. “Valiant, speak aloud for both of us to hear.”
“Ready.”
“No, Doctor,” I said. “I didn’t plan my rise to the position of captain. It just happened.”
“Statement truthful.”
Kalu’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling and
down again. “Okay then,” she said. “What next?”
“After a few more questions you’ll be released.”
“Promises.”
“First, did you tamper with the computer system to mark Kwon and me as dead while we still lived?”
“No,” she said firmly. “I don’t have the clearance for that, and I wouldn’t know how.”
“Statement ambiguous.”
She rolled her eyes. “What I mean is I don’t have access to that level of the ship’s sensory logs.”
“Statement truthful.”
“Did you do it or not?” I asked again.
“No.”
“Statement truthful.”
I nodded my head, satisfied. “All right,” I said. “You went along with the mutiny, but no more than the rest of them.”
She frowned. “Not true. It wasn’t a mutiny, Cody. We didn’t know what to do. You were dead, and Sokolov outranked you anyway. Did you think we’d all keep saluting your corpse?”
“No, I guess you did what you had to. It was an ugly mess.”
“Statement truthful.”
Both of us smiled faintly at that.
“One last question,” I said.
“You said that was the last one.”
“I lied.”
“Statement truthful.”
She bared her teeth at me. “Ask,” she said.
“Do you know where Sokolov is now?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know for sure, but I have an idea. I did know him better than most of the people aboard.”
“I’ll say.”
She threw me a reproachful glare, and then relaxed. “I don’t think he could leave Natalia, his frozen lady-love. If he was nuts, she was a big part of it.”
“You mean he’s gone back into the maze? To his old prison?”
“Yeah, probably, but I’m just guessing. It’s not like he calls me or anything.”
“Statements truthful.”
I removed the cuffs and unlocked the door. Kalu walked out immediately and felt a sudden urge to stretch in front of me.
“You’re always going to be trouble, aren’t you?” I asked her.
She gave me a smile. “That’s what my professors always said back in school, you know that?”
On that point I didn’t doubt her for a second.
-35-
Six hours later, my fears materialized. Our perfect clockwork system of avoiding the Ancient’s snatching device—whatever it was—failed us.
The senior controller on duty at the time was a petty officer named Singh. She was a Hindi woman who reminded me a bit of my mother.
“Captain,” she said, “a surfboard drone has disappeared.”
I nodded. “That’s what they’re there for.”
“But sir—the disappearance is off-schedule. It occurred much earlier than expected.”
That got me moving. I reset the holotank to a tactical view and noticed the snatch countdown stood at thirty-two minutes. Immediately I understood what had happened. “They’ve brought a second teleporter online. Or maybe they doubled their current recharge speed.”
“What shall we do, sir?” Singh asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.” I didn’t have anything at that moment, but I knew I’d come up with something.
In the holotank, two Nano ships cruised directly behind us, followed in turn by two pinnaces, the shuttle and five remaining surfboard drones. Running the numbers, I noted that Valiant had about five hours left before we transited the ring.
It was going to be close.
If the thirty-two minute snatch schedule held, a toss of a coin would determine whether we lost the second Nano ship. All the others would have been taken by then. I racked my brain for some other solution.
“Valiant, connect me with Kreel.”
“Captain Kreel here,” the Raptor said after a moment.
“Captain, do you have any working shuttles or small craft aboard Stalker or Ox?”
“Unfortunately no, Commodore. All have been damaged, lost, or cannibalized for their parts.”
“Damn. Not even a working spare engine or repeller?”
“Stalker is heavily damaged from the recent battle and needs a major refit. Also, most of my troops are what you call marines and not ship crewmembers. Some of those manning Stalker are captured personnel and must be constantly watched. We have to…encourage them to perform their duties.”
I realized Kreel had plenty of problems of his own to deal with, and he’d been doing a fine job so far in carrying out my instructions and supporting Valiant as the flagship. This made my next order all the more painful.
“Captain Kreel, I’m going to have to ask you to make a sacrifice.”
“Speak and it will be done.”
“I need you to evacuate Ox and put her on remote control.”
“I do not believe that’s possible. Our ships are configured specifically to prevent such a possibility in case of factionalism within a fleet.”
“Damn. Can Ox’s computers navigate a preset route?”
“Before the battles she could have, but currently Ox is being run manually due to extensive damage.”
I took a deep breath, seeing only one way out of the dilemma. “Then I need a volunteer to stay aboard and pilot Ox. By my calculations, we need one more ship to sacrifice to the Ancient’s machines. The only consolation I can give you is that the pilot may not die. Once Ox is on course for the ring and under minimum power, he can abandon ship in a suit. If we are fortunate, he may stay on his trajectory and transit the ring behind us, where we’ll pick him up. Or, he might be collected as a specimen. I have no promises to give you, but sometime in the future we might be able to return to the golden planet and rescue all of our fellow biotics. Also, Ox’s loss may enable one Nano commander to survive.”
“Justifications are unneeded, Commodore. Our lives are yours. You honor us with the opportunity to give our all in your service.”
Not for the first time I had to remind myself I deserved such loyalty because of the tremendous efforts we’d made and the losses we’d taken saving at least a billion Raptors from the Lithos. Still, as that memory faded into the past, I felt more and more guilty consigning people under my command to grim fates.
“Thank you, Captain,” I said. “We will also honor your sacrifices in our memorials. Please have the pilot take position to the rear of the two Nano ships.”
“It shall be done. Kreel out.”
I set Ox to be snatched third-to-last because I very much wanted to keep at least one Nano ship for the future. Two would be even better. Each contained a small working factory, which meant that as long as one survived, we might rebuild our Nano auxiliaries via replication. In this case, Ox was the less valuable vessel.
I cursed Marvin then for running out on me. He might have been able to repair Ox’s autopilot or gotten an extra shuttle working, but he didn’t respond to my ansible hails. That might mean the quantum radio had a range limit and the system on the other side of the ring was too far away, or it might mean he just wasn’t talking again, the bastard. Our obvious need for him and his abilities just annoyed me even more.
Over the next several hours we watched as our trailing bear-bait disappeared every thirty-two minutes like clockwork. Bradley and Hansen rejoined me on the bridge as we approached the ring. We were pulling well ahead of the ships behind us. I had no idea how large an area of effect the snatch teleporter had, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way.
After the second pinnace had disappeared, I broke the silence. “Valiant, notify the Raptor on Ox to abandon ship. Pass the word for the Nano command personnel to be ready to do the same. Also tell our crew to shut down mass-dumping operations and prepare for ring transit. It looks like we’ll make it out of this system after all.”
“Transmissions sent,” Valiant replied.
Ox’s pilot leaped obliquely off the ship in order to clear the ship’s engine exhaust, and then slowly drift
ed backward as the Raptor vessel continued her gentle acceleration. As all other ships were also pushing forward toward the ring and there were no extra shuttles, I had to hope he would sail through the ring and could be picked up on the other side.
Thirty-two minutes later, Ox vanished. I tossed a salute toward the holotank in honor of the ship that had helped save us from the Macro assault and which had now given her all to save us again. She was just one more in a long line of sacrifices we’d left behind us on this journey through unknown space. I swore quietly that whoever had tossed us out of the Thor system and into this nightmare would pay—if they still lived.
“Stalker is about to transit the ring,” Hansen reminded me from where he lounged behind the controls. He manned the helm, but there’d been no piloting to do for quite some time as we were flying straight for the ring.
I spoke briefly with Kreel one more time, and then watched as the battered Raptor battleship vanished from the system. Ahead of us the darkness of the ring loomed, and it was only because of Marvin’s information that I had any confidence whatsoever in our destination. I sincerely hoped he hadn’t edited out anything really important such as the propensity of the inhabitants to eat visitors.
That stray thought triggered a question for Marvin, which I filed away for later.
“Activate the main shield,” I said to Hansen. “Make sure everyone is in suits and ready for anything.” I followed my own advice and got in my battlesuit. I then returned to the bridge.
We passed through the ring before I could see the last two Nano ships’ fates because they trailed Valiant by healthy margins. Just before we crossed into the new system, I gave Valiant’s brainbox a series of instructions in case anything went wrong.
As soon as we arrived, I turned to Hansen. “Reverse and decelerate, but stay on this trajectory if you can. I want to be ready to pick up those drifting Raptors.”
Hansen flipped the ship and began a gentle, steady deceleration while I eagerly watched the holotank. Data began streaming in and populating it, filling in the sketchy information Marvin had provided.
It appeared the ring we’d arrived through was near the stellar system boundary almost fifty AU out in a Pluto-distance orbit. At this range the central star-triple, despite their combined output, was distant, cold and relatively dim. The brown dwarf resembled a small bright moon.