Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1)

by Mary Fan

  Corsair: Still working on it.

  Who’s this Corsair character? She was about to ask when Devin yanked the steering bars. The Blue Tang flipped over, racing in the opposite direction from the one it had been traveling in.

  “Hey!” The artificial gravity took a few seconds to compensate. Jane felt as though liquid sloshed in her head.

  “They were trying to surround us. That was the only way out.” Devin reached for the control touchscreen in front of him. “I’m engaging lightspeed. Brace yourself.”

  He swiped a command. The ship lurched forward, flattening Jane against the back of her seat. The Bettas matched speed and attempted to block the Blue Tang. Devin twisted the steering bars. The ship spiraled.

  Jane grabbed the straps of her safety belt. “You’re insane.”

  “Drones run on pre-programmed algorithms. ‘Insane’ is the only way to shake them.” As if to highlight his point, he zigzagged his course.

  Dalarune’s aquamarine surface glowed in the distance. For a moment, Jane forgot where she was as her thoughts turned to Adam. “Machine logic is no match for human irrationality.” Has he really only been gone a day?

  A drone barreled toward the viewscreen. She gasped and squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Don’t be afraid.” Devin sounded unfazed. “The Bettas aren’t firing. They’re only trying to slow us down.”

  Jane opened her eyes. “I know. I’m not afraid.” Lies. Her excitement had given way to anxiety five near-crashes ago. She’d stifled many girly yelps in her attempts to hide her fear.

  She concentrated on her breath to keep her stomach in its place. After several minutes of spinning and staggering, she became accustomed to the crazy movements.

  Lurch, spin, flip…

  “How long can you keep this up?” Oops. Didn’t mean to say that out loud.

  “As long as I have to.” Devin didn’t seem to mind the question. “Won’t be long before we pass through Ibara’s orbit.”

  Flip, spin, lurch…

  Jane took a moment to appreciate the absurdity of what she witnessed. There was her brother, still looking like a tool in his black suit, flying a junker that should belong to a Fringe smuggler when he looked as if he should be heading to a board meeting. And there she was beside him, in her inappropriately colorful office dress, feeling as though someone had copy-pasted her out of her desk and into a salvaged wreck. What the hell.

  Devin turned from the viewscreen to face her. “It was the internal defenses.”

  “Huh?” A Betta flew at the ship. Jane pointed in alarm. “Look out!”

  Devin flipped the ship in time to avoid collision. “I meant Dad. He was shot by his own internal defenses.”

  Jane couldn’t believe the nerve of him. He wanted to tell her what had really happened—while running from attack drones sent by a giant warship and pulling the most crazy-ass maneuvers she’d ever seen. “I don’t think now’s the time! If—”

  “Jane, please!”

  Although she could only see Devin’s profile, she recognized the desperation in his expression. She shouldn’t fight it. She was also just as anxious to know what he wanted to tell her, so she bit back her protests.

  Devin glared at the viewscreen. “I tried to tell Dad that everything you’d said about the machines was true. He started going off at me. I didn’t want to hear it, so I turned away from him. I noticed the internal defenses were online. I tried to warn him, but—”

  A drone barreled toward the ship, and he yanked the controls much harder than necessary. “One of the guns fell out of the defense system. It was mine. I don’t know how it got there, but I realized what it looked like, and I ran. Someone must’ve hacked the monitors on the walls and projected a fake video of me. I listened in the conduits when they interviewed witnesses. They were so certain, like they’d expected something like that to happen. They said they always knew there was something wrong with me.”

  Jane clenched her fists. “They’re liars. I didn’t believe it. I saw you in the conduits. The officers were about to see you too, but I distracted them. Pretended to faint like a ninny and forced them to take care of me.” She smirked. “You’re welcome.”

  Devin shot her a rather impressed look. He snapped back to the viewscreen as a drone collided into the Blue Tang from above. “Shit.”

  A jarring alarm buzzed. The cockpit door slammed shut as the Blue Tang’s emergency protocols engaged. Jane heard the ominous whoosh of air leaving the ship and prayed the door would remain sealed. Devin scrambled to engage this-or-that control. The viewscreen filled with red as Bettas surrounded the Blue Tang.

  The whooshing ceased, and the alarm stopped. Jane exhaled when she saw the message indicating the hull breach had been sealed off.

  The Bettas blocked the Blue Tang in every direction as Devin tried to break their perimeter. “Dammit, Jane! What the hell am I supposed to say when they ask why you’re here?”

  Jane watched the drones in nervous silence. An idea struck her. “Hold me hostage. Use me to make them back off.”

  Devin looked horrified. “Hell no.”

  “I’m serious! Tell them you’ll shoot me if they don’t let you go. They’ll have no choice! Here, use my stunner. It’ll look the same from a distance.” She reached into her pocket.

  Devin grabbed her arm. “Hell no.”

  Before she could ask why the hell not, a new message appeared on the slate from Corsair.

  Corsair: We’ve hacked the Granite Flame.

  “How long?” The slate transposed Devin’s question.

  Corsair: Very soon.

  Jane reread the previous messages to see if she’d missed something. “What’re you talking about? What’s the Granite Flame?”

  “The warship controlling these Bettas.” Devin released the steering bars. “Citizen Zero’s been working on getting into the Mega’s central computer.”

  “Citizen Zero? Is that like Earth Zero?” The long lost and virtually mythological planet from which humans had originated seemed like an odd name to reference, even for a demon.

  Jane realized Devin was allowing the ship to idle in the sphere of Bettas. “Why’re we sitting here?”

  He watched the viewscreen. “Just wait.”

  The fugitive’s daring antics impressed Commander Vega. The Blue Tang had made it past the orbit of the Kyderan system’s outermost planet. Pity the hooligan was a good-for-nothing criminal. In another life, he or she could have been a decent fighter pilot. What a waste.

  “Broadcast a message to the target.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Commander Vega addressed the Blue Tang. “You are under arrest. You are to—”

  The Bettas broke their formation. A gap opened in the perimeter, and the Blue Tang zipped through it.

  “Follow it!” Commander Vega glared at the weapons officer. “Why did you break the perimeter?”

  The officer looked flustered. “It’s not me, Commander. I didn’t—”

  “Commander Vega!” the cybernetics officer called. “The Granite Flame’s central computer has been hacked, and the command code for the Bettas has been changed. Someone else has control of them now.”

  “Get them back!” Commander Vega barked.

  “We’re locked out of the system, and it’s going to take several minutes for—”

  “Do not waste my time with excuses for your ineptitude.” Commander Vega turned crossly back to the communications officer. “Open a communication with the Shark Team.”

  “Yes, Commander!”

  “Shark-Three and Shark-Seven,” she said, calling for two of her Barracuda fighter pilots. “Man your ships. Pursue and disable the target.”

  Two quick voices responded over the comm, “Yes, Commander!”

  C
ommander Vega pursed her lips in vexation. Why had the command center not informed her that she pursued a demon? She had assumed her target was a lone hooligan. Judging from the cyber attack, he or she was more likely a member of that bothersome Netcrew, the Collective. A similar incident had occurred a few months ago in the Lithran system. The command center should have warned her that hacking was a possibility.

  Irritating, but not a serious threat. And still not worthy of direct confrontation with the Granite Flame, which would surely result in the junker’s destruction. Commander Vega abhorred waste. No matter what the hooligan had done, it most likely wasn’t worth wasting ammunition and certainly not lives.

  “Commander Vega, Shark-Three and Shark-Seven have taken off.”

  “Good. Open a communication with them.” In accordance with protocol, Commander Vega gave the two pilots an overview of what they were permitted to do along with a strict warning not to harm any bystanders.

  When she was finished, the customary “Yes, Commander!” was missing.

  “Shark-Three and Shark-Seven! Did you hear me?”

  “I… not… to… you… hear…” Static obscured the voice.

  “Commander?” The cybernetics officer sounded nervous. “The hackers tampered with the communications.”

  “What?” Commander Vega strode over to him. “How are those hooligans still in our system?”

  Before the cybernetics officer could reply, the communications officer said, “Commander Vega, we are receiving an anonymous written transmission.”

  Must be the hooligans. Commander Vega spun toward the viewscreen. “Put it through!” The damage had been done. Little risk remained in allowing an anonymous communication.

  A message typed out in real time:

  We are Citizen Zero. We are the strangers here. We believe in neither nation nor religion, neither good nor evil. We believe in freedom, not authority. There is no system that cannot be corrupted, no truth that cannot be questioned. If you think we are fake, remember ideals are never fake. If this is a mistake, we will make one more mistake. Beliefs cannot break. We will do whatever it takes.

  Commander Vega scowled, piqued at the arrogance and sanctimony the self-righteous delinquents displayed in their trite so-called mission statement. “Who sent this?”

  “We’re trying to trace them, but they are very heavily veiled.”

  “Keep trying. And open a communication with the command center.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Admiral Landler’s displeased face appeared on the viewscreen. “Yes, Commander Vega?”

  “I want to know whom I am pursuing.” Commander Vega restrained her frustration and kept her tone firm. “Because I was not informed of the nature of the target, I was unprepared to deal with the cybernetic attacks that are now preventing me from controlling my drones or communicating with my fighter pilots. Had I known of this possibility, I would have taken extra precautions to prevent these occurrences.”

  The admiral knit his bushy eyebrows. “The target has no known current affiliations with cybercrimes. We were not aware of this possibility. Recent intelligence indicates that the target was once involved in a cybergang, but we were not informed until now.”

  Commander Vega understood. When she had received her order to pursue, nobody had known who was in the junker, only that he or she had entered a restricted area.

  Admiral Landler looked down at something out of Vega’s view. “It is now confirmed that the target is a twenty-eight-year-old male named Devin Colt. The details are being transmitted to your ship.”

  Devin Colt’s case file appeared in a new window on the viewscreen. The more Commander Vega read, the more furious she became. He was not some punk hacker. He was a cold-blooded murderer who’d shot his own father out of uncontrolled rage. The thought of a child executing his parent disgusted her. Monster.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Sir, I request permission to use deadly force to prevent the target’s escape if necessary.”

  Admiral Landler nodded. “Granted.”

  A long line of interstellar tunnels that served as bridges between star systems stretched across the forward view. The sight reminded Jane of a cosmic string of black pearls. Warped images of the stars and ships shimmered at the center of each moon-sized sphere. The tunnels’ edges glistened with distorted visions of vehicles passing through, which quickly resumed their proper forms as they sped toward the Kyderan system or curved into other tunnels.

  Ever since the Bettas had gone offline, the Blue Tang had been playing a kind of ring-around-the-rosie with two Barracudas. Since the Blue Tang couldn’t outrun its pursuers, the only choice was to stagger toward the tunnels. The Barracudas had only fired a few light blasts aimed at the Blue Tang’s engines, which Devin had avoided. Clearly, they’d been ordered not to use any real force.

  The communication window on the slate shifted. Jane looked over at it, wondering what Corsair, whoever he was, had to say.

  Corsair: I tried powering down their lightspeed engines, but now that they are aware of us, they have taken precautions and are making things more difficult.

  “Can you blind them?” Devin asked.

  Corsair: Let me see.

  He’s good. Jane didn’t know much about computers, but it had to take some fancy digital footwork to mess with a Megatooth warship.

  The Barracudas changed course, heading away from the Blue Tang.

  What’s happening? “Devin, the Barracudas… They’re leaving.”

  Confusion crossed Devin’s expression. “Corsair, did you call off the Barracudas?”

  Corsair: No.

  Jane glanced briefly at the image of the warship behind them. She doubled back with alarm. “That’s not good.”

  The enormous red Mega seemed to expand as two long rows of cannons extended from its sides.

  Holy shit. “They can’t— They wouldn’t—”

  The warship fired a bright red blast. Jane screamed. The Blue Tang pitched violently as Devin veered to avoid getting hit. More blasts came. He twisted the ship to dodge them.

  Jane turned to prayer once again, reverting to facetiousness to deny the danger.

  Dear Absolute One, You can’t let me die yet. I still owe You that motet, remember? So be it, truly. This would make Adam so mad…

  An abrupt lurch. Jane crashed forward. The straps of her safety belt cut into her torso. “This is absurd! Why would you send a huge freaking warship after a stupid little junker like us?”

  Something was hit. Alarms blared.

  “Fuck this.” Devin directed the Blue Tang straight at the tunnels, weaving slightly, but otherwise making a line toward his target. Blasts hit the ship from behind. More alarms. Bits of the damaged hull formed a dusty trail.

  Jane watched in horror. “What are you doing?”

  No response. Devin’s gaze fixed on the viewscreen. As the Blue Tang drew closer to the distant swarm of civilian transports and supply ships by the tunnels, she understood.

  We’re gonna make it. She clenched her safety straps. We’re gonna make it.

  The blasts stopped. Puzzled, Jane looked at the rear view. The warship no longer fired.

  Corsair had left another message:

  Corsair: I have successfully disabled their targeting systems and their viewscreen. They won’t be able to track you or fire without risking civilian casualties.

  Jane’s muscles seemed to melt from relief. She released the straps. “He’s a genius! Tell Corsair I send him a hug!”

  Devin smiled. “My sister sends you a hug.”

  Corsair: Uh… Thanks?

  “How long before they get their systems back?”

  Corsair: Not long.

  A few minutes later, the Blue Tang reached the edges of one of the interstellar tunne
ls. Devin steered the damaged junker into the spherical vortex. It instantaneously sent the ship out of the Kyderan system and across the galaxy.

  Chapter 7

  Falsehoods Found

  The tunnel spewed the scarred Blue Tang out at the edges of Iothe, one of the most peaceful systems in the Interstellar Confederation. Devin, tired of the alarms’ ringing and buzzing, flipped a switch to disable them. His first thought was to leave Jane at one of the nearby floats—self-sufficient space habitats about the size of a city—and insist that she return to Kydera before he put her in any more danger.

  Jane seemed to figure out his intent when the ship turned toward the IC system. Devin tried to tell her that he was the target, and that it wasn’t her fight.

  “Not my fight?!” Jane bolted upright in her seat. “Some sonuvabitch shot my father and framed my brother, so you bet your toolish ass it’s my damn fight! You can be a jerk and knock me out or something, but if you do, I’ll get my own black market starship and continue looking for the deranged asshole, anyway!”

  You’re not winning this time, Pony. Devin tried to ignore her as he veered the ship.

  Jane unbuckled her safety belt and stood. “Hey!” She shoved his shoulder. “Do you really expect me to go back to my stupid boring life as if nothing happened? Turn this freaking ship around!”