James Wittenbach - Worlds Apart 08

by Hellfire

  Aso: Felt them?

  Change: I could sense their position through their gravitational field. It’s pure instinct.

  Aso: Impossible

  Change: Apparently, it is not impossible. Now that we are here, I expect you to fulfill the terms of the deal.” Aso: Warrant Officer Ono was the guarantor of your deal. If you had a deal, it died with her.

  D r i v e r ’ s I n t e r r o g a t i o n

  Aso: You were present at the death of Pilot Aha.

  Driver: Aye.

  Aso: What was his cause of death?

  Driver: Shrapnel to the throat severed his carotid artery.

  Aso: What happened to his body?

  Driver: It was lost when the airlock was blown open into space, which was caused by shearing of the shuttlecraft away from the primary ship during evasive maneuvers.

  Aso: Was anyone else present at the time of his death?

  Driver: Warfighters Jordan and Rook.

  Aso: Did any of the Hellion crew witness his death.

  Driver: Nay.

  Aso: What did he say before he died.

  Driver: Nothing. He said “Gurp” and then he said “Good” and then he died.

  Aso: Gurp?

  Driver: I believe it was an expression of surprise at having his throat cut by the shrapnel, possibly an attempt to speak that was inhibited by shrapnel damage to his vocal cords and windpipe.

  Aso: What was the source of this shrapnel?

  Driver: There was an explosion outside the shuttle, which we subsequently determined to be a Solarite space-mine. This was the first sign of a Solarite pirate attack which commenced seconds later.

  Aso: The shuttle’s blast guards were open at the time?

  Driver: Affirmative.

  Aso: Why were they open inside the stellar atmosphere?

  Driver: I don’t know. Aha had opened them earlier to assist in docking with Liminix CH-53. I don’t know why he did not close them.

  Aso: What were you doing at the time the Solarite space mine detonated?

  Driver: I was trying to prevent Warfighter Jordan from hugging me.

  Aso: Why was he trying to hug you?

  Driver: It’s a behavioral idiosyncrasy.

  Aso: Lieutenant Commander Change tells me you are an experienced combat pilot.

  Driver: Aye.

  Aso: She is confident that with you at the helm, she can bring Liminix CH-53

  and its cargo of fuel back to your ship.

  Driver: I think we have a chance.

  Aso: Why does your ship need this cargo?

  Driver: We use the fuel as an initiator for the drive generators on our Aves-Class Spacecraft. Our supplies are reaching critical levels.

  Aso: That will be sufficient. Thank you for your cooperation. You may now return to your cell.

  M a x J o r d a n ’ s I n t e r r o g a t i o n

  Aso: What were you doing before the Solarite Pirate attack?

  Max Jordan: That’s kind of personal.

  Aso (louder and angrier): What were you doing at the time the attack commanced?

  Max Jordan: All right, if you must know, I was arguing with Johnny Rook.

  Aso: Rook is the other soldier who was sent.

  Max Jordan: That’s Right.

  Aso: What were you arguing about?

  Max Jordan: He was mad because I had simulated sexual relations with his wife.

  Aso: You had what?

  Max Jordan: It wasn’t my idea, it was Caliph’s idea.

  Aso: Caliph? Who is Caliph?

  Max Jordan: She’s an artificial intelligence that arose out of the ship’s Primary Brain Core because it contained cloned components of a bio-organic alien artifact. Sometimes, she rides around in my head.

  We’ve been… intimately involved with one another for almost three months.

  Aso: I see…

  Max Jordan: She can stimulate the sections of my brain associated with sex and sensation, and precisely create a simulated sexual experience with virtually any female. One night, she made herself into a simulacrum of Rook’s wife Anaconda while we were having simulated sex.

  Aso: Excuse me…

  Max Jordan: I told him about it later when we were running through the Agro-Botany Bays. He got really, really angry with me, almost like I had had sexual relations with his actual wife.

  Aso: We do not need to pursue this line of questioning any further.

  Max Jordan: Since then, I’ve had some time to think about it, and try and see things from his perspective. I didn’t understand why he was so upset, but maybe, Rook has a point, because Caliph must have picked up that I’m subconsciously attracted to her. Caliph had direct access to my brain, so her simulations of sex are exactly like the real thing.

  Aso: I do not need to be hearing this.

  Max Jordan: Well, maybe you shouldn’t be asking such personal questions, then.

  J o h h n y R o o k ’ s I n t e r r o g a t i o n

  Cancelled

  L i e u t e n a n t J e f f ’ s I n t e r r o g a t i o n Aso: Please identify yourself.

  Jeff: I am Lieutenant Jeff Zulu, of the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus, also known as the all-knowing, all-sensing, all-feeling Maharishi of the ion-drive.

  Harmless, lovable little fuzzball and all around good-slash-nice guy Aso: What was your role aboard Liminix CH-53.

  Jeff: I am a trained and certified ion engine and battle damage specialist, the doctor of the ion-drive, with half my brains tied behind my back just to make it fair.

  Aso: How were you were able to bring the ship’s ion-engines on line.

  Jeff: With talent on loan from the All-Being, that’s what I do. God gave humanity the ion engine, and he gave the ion engines me.

  Aso:Did you see what happened to Technician Tama?

  Jeff: That was a tragic, tragic event that could have been avoided if she had listened to me. I don’t want to say ‘See, I Told you So,’ but I warned her again and again to shunt the plasma gas through the Engine Number Three bypass, but she refused. The plasma degronificator on Engine Exchange Two was critical, but she thought she could hold it. But you can’t just let that plasma pressure build, you have to bleed it off. But she wouldn’t listen.

  Aso: My lead repair engineer has given me the following list of repair areas on Liminix CH-53. Engine number 2 is non-functional. Engine number three is destroyed and will have to be replaced. Engine field synchronizer requires complete teardown, rebuild, and recalibration. Interplexing navigational array is shorted out, possibly irreparable. More than four hundred significant hull impacts and microfractures. The spars beneath the number one and number three engines are bent. Starboard maneuvering thruster inoperative. Fuel timing sequencers out of synch. Two out of four airlocks damaged beyond repair… And it goes on. He says that Liminix CH-53 should never fly again.

  Jeff: Your lead mechanic is a pessimist smeghead. I’ll have that ship up and running before you know. Just let me get my formerly lubricant-stained fingers into the drive systems, and I’ll have that ship running rings around anything in your fleet.

  Hellfire Station 3: Command Center

  The day after he had finished interrogating the crew, Aso recalled Eliza Change to his command chamber. He offered her a seat, and then he told her, “Apart from your pilot, your crew are little better than vagabonds.” “You wouldn’t say that if you knew Flight Captain Driver a little better,” she responded.

  “Now, as to the matter of the deal…”

  “Ah, the deal… yes…” Aso spoke very slowly. “You have salvaged Liminix CH-53. We are to fill it with Tritium. You will fly it out of here, distracting the Solarite pirates long enough to give us a chance to escape with our three ships loaded with Tritium for Hellfire Prime.” Aso frowned and waved a small device at her, like a datapad but smaller and thicker.

  “This is an encrypted order, found on the body of Technician Ono. It essentially confirms most of what you have told me about the deal. I have reviewed the orders from the Board of Di
rectors, and they are legitimate.” “I trust the deal is back on then,” Change was using the hard stare she used when dealing with idiots who had previously pissed her off and were likely to do so again.

  Aso managed a fake and uncomfortable smile. “It will be difficult. We will have to scavenge from the other three ships to make yours operational, but we have begun repairs. It will take at least eight millicycles to perform repairs. Loading the cargo will take another three millicycles. A Solarite attack could happen at any time. For the safety of your crew and this station, your people will remain in their quarters, unless you are escorted by station personnel.” He turned to his aide-de-camp, the rat-faced little man in the goggles from earlier, “Mr.

  Moto, Inform the crew to begin preparation for evacuation. Make sure the other three transports are fully-loaded…” “Wait a micron,” Change interrupted.

  Aso turned back to Change. “You do not seem pleased with our arrangements.” “The repairs could be completed more quickly if our people helped,” Change insisted.

  Aso began to protest, “As I told you, the risk is too great…” Change thundered over him, “What risk? Just escort us to the ship and confine us on board. Do you think we would sabotage the ship we’re going to use to get out of here? Do you think we’re going to somehow blow up this station with us still on it? What are you, an idiot?” Aso gave a slight, shabby smile and argued, “I will reconsider after I have had some time to review your people’s… demeanor.” “Our demeanor should be the last thing you have to worry about,” Change roared, still up in his face. “We fixed that ship, and we can get the job done. You’re only chance of getting off this station alive is with us. Now, are you going to let us help, or are you going to yank us around for no slagging reason.” Aso slumped back in his chair, looking weary for once, “I will ask our chief mechanic if he wants your assistance.” At this point, he seemed to want nothing more than for her to go away.

  But Eliza wasn’t through with Aso. “There’s one thing that continues to vex me about this arrangement. Your people are abandoning their last and only source of tritium fuel. Why?” “Once we have delivered this load, there will be no more need for Tritium,” Aso told her.

  “Why not?”

  Aso hesitated, as though the information was sensitive. Then, since he didn’t want to go another round with her, he explained, “Our engineers believe that long before then, we will have perfected the use of stellar plasma for fuel, a far more abundant energy source, which can be collected without conflict with the Solarite Pirates. We can then co-exist peacefully.” Change knew he was lying, at lest partially. But she also sensed that getting the whole truth out of him would have been pointless and boring. She decided to just focus on getting the Tritium fuel.

  “Are we finished, here?” Aso asked her.

  She gave him a single curt nod and he buzzed the intercom on his desk. A pair of armed guards entered the room and Aso gestured them toward Change. “These men will escort you to your quarters. If there is anything you require, you may ask them, or any of the other guards.” Hellfire Station 3: Living Quarters

  Two and a half ship-days had passed since they had docked with the station.

  Like the rest of the crew, Driver had been put into one of the communal living quarters of the station, another cylinder among many joined to the axle in the center of the station like pins stuck in a post. This particular tube had not been used in some time, nor had the bedding been changed. That was okay, he had no need of sleep.

  The quarters were only three meters wide and four meters long. Four narrow bunks folded down from the long wall. Driver barely fit onto the bunk, and he was the smallest man in the recovery crew. There was a metal bench affixed to the floor, and a 3-D display screen affixed to the wall.

  And that was pretty much it.

  Once they had determined that the deal was on, the Hellions provided him with technical manuals on Liminix CH-53. He was trying to familiarize himself with the ship’s handling characteristics. Having only one of the old tri-d flat screens to work with, it was a challenge. He would have preferred a simulator, or access to the bridge, but the Hellions had made it clear that would be impossible. It was also impossible to know what state the maneuvering thrusters would be in once repairs had been carried out, or how repairs would affect the ship’s weight and balance.

  Every few hours, whether he wanted it or not, Logo brought him something to eat. And a few hours after Eliza Change had made the station manager miserable again, Logo entered carrying a tray on top of which was a yellow plastic container. “Are you hungry?” she asked Driver.

  “I am very hungry,” he told her, taking the tray off her hands.

  “It’s just protein cakes and soylent bars,” she told him apologetically.

  That was no surprise, it was always protein cakes and soylent bars. He set the container on the bench and opened the lid. There were two items on the tray. One was a sausage-shaped tube of some brown and greenish brown material aggregated together. The other looked like a bar of soap made out of tree moss.

  “I never thought I’d ever miss the flash-fried animal parts Eddie Roebuck used to serve,” Driver mused. Still, he was very hungry, and bit into the brown bar. It tasted as good as it looked.

  “They are having problems repairing the ship,” she told him. “The timing sequencers on the ionic plasma regulators have to be entirely rebuilt. The spare parts we have are not to specifications and have to be recalibrated. They’ve decided to restore only minimal life-support and sub-systems, since the ship will only be in for a short flight.” “Then, they can put additional power into shields and propulsion, we’ll need it,” Driver told her. “Is Technician Jeff helping with repairs?” She averted her eyes. “He is confined to a holding room, as you are. They do not trust your people.” Driver pretended to turn his attention to his protein cake. “That’s too bad. He is very good at repairing battle damage. That’s why we brought him.” Logo said nothing. Even Matthew Driver, not the most emotionally perceptive of people, could sense this meeting was awkward for her. She was attracted to him, and yet inhibited from touching him not just by their circumstances, but by the strong social taboos of her people. That was how he read it, anyway.

  “Do you intend to stay here until it is time for mission departure?” Logo asked Driver.

  “I would rather be on Liminix CH-53 fixing the control systems, but they won’t let me near the ship.” “I could show you around the station,” she offered.

  “There’s really not much to see, is there?” Driver observed.

  “No, not really,” she admitted.

  Then, a sort of puppyish noise squeaked out of her throat and Driver reached out and gently cupped her chin in his hand. The light in his quarters was dim, but now he could see by the red rims of her eyes that she had been crying. “Are you all right?” “My injuries were minor,” she told him, trying not to cry again. “Warrant Officer Ono and Pilot Aha…” she began, but could not finish.

  “Aha was a good man,” Driver said, by way of consolation. “And Ono was an unfortunate loss as well, I guess. I hope their families are comforted that they lost their lives helping to rescue the people on this station.” “They did not have families,” Logo told him. “I have no family, either.” Driver was surprised for a moment, but then he supposed it would make sense to only send those without families on a mission as dangerful as this one. “Their friends will remember them, then.” Then, it occurred to him, they might not have friends either, and he felt the flush of embarrassment coming over him.

  “A family would be a great comfort in times like these,” Logo told him.

  “If it’s any comfort, I’m sure some day you will have a family.” He thought he might take her hand then. But then, she might think he was propositioning her. So, he gave her a friendly tap on the shoulder.

  “I do not think I will have a family,” Logo told him. “Ono, at least, had a husband. But, he was killed.” “Why do you think you’ll
never have a family?”

  “I do not believe the Sustainment Committee will allow it. In our social organization, there is a committee that decides who is allowed to marry and reproduce. Our resources are very limited, so it was decided to limit our numbers.” Driver brightened slightly, thinking he maybe had found something he could relate to her about. “Republic used to control family size, too, because resources were so limited. At first they tried issuing reproductive permits, but that didn’t work because people kept breeding without a permit. Then, they tried forced sterilization, but there was a rebellion. The rebellion became a war, and after the war, the population had been reduced to the point where reproduction was an imperative. So, then, they tried to force people to reproduce and… well, that didn’t work out very well either. Eventually, they just decided to let people reproduce however they wanted. “ “For us it worked well,” she told him. “There were once nearly half a million people living in this system, but we have reduced it to a number…” She was about to tell him something, but paused and changed course. “… to a number our resources can support.” “How many of you are there now?” Driver asked.

  “I can not say.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  She stood to go. “I have said too much already.”

  “Then, it doesn’t much matter, does it?” Driver said. “Is this why you won’t tell us about your homeworld, or even where its location is?” She looked suddenly sad, and not a little frightened. “We do not like to speak of our home.” But Driver was curious by this time, and he pressed her. “I’ll most likely never even see your planet. I am curious what it’s like to like on a small planetoid only a few thousand kilometers in diameter. The closest thing I can think of would be the moonbases in the Republic outsystem.” “It saddens us to be reminded of how much our world has been reduced,” said Logo.

  “It saddens me to know that I will never see Republic again,” Driver replied. “Even if I could go back, hundreds of years would have passed. It would not be the same. My world is gone.” After a pause, Logo began speaking as though reciting a school lesson. “Millions of years ago, when this sun was small, bright, and yellow, our homeworld was the moon of a gas giant planet. The sun swelled up, the gas giant blew away and its moons moved into orbit around the sun. Our planet was sterile when our ancestors arrived, but they managed to partly terra-form a large valley on single continent, mainly to provide a base for the families of those employed at Tritium refining operations.” Driver nodded and made a “go on” gesture. “Well, that tells me how your world came to be, but what is it like now?” “I’m not supposed to show you any information about our planet,” Logo said. “It is forbidden.” “All right, I understand,” Driver replied. “I was just curious.” He pointed at the image of Liminix CH-53 on the quarter’s only display. “After I leave, it won’t matter much anyway.” “We’ve been preparing so long, so carefully…” she whispered.