Demon Star

by B. V. Larson

  “Everyone standby!” he barked. He slammed the door and turned to the prisoners, pointing his laser at them.

  “Kwon, good to see you in action,” I said, tossing Galen down roughly and knocking over his fellows in a heap.

  “Mercy, Captain,” Galen said, and the others echoed his words.

  “Why do you deserve mercy?” I asked. “We’re your allies, the only other humans you’ve ever met. We’ve been risking our lives to kill Demons, and you tried to stab us in the back. In my book, you should be strung up by your toes until you tell us everything about your mind-tricks, and then spaced. In fact, as I’m sure you can surmise, Kwon here would be happy to do the deed.”

  “Mind-tricks?” Galen seemed genuinely confused. “No, Captain. We only influence the lower orders. They serve us because it’s right that they do so.”

  “Lower orders?” Kwon roared. “I’m getting sick of this ‘lower orders’ crap. You tried to get me to turn against my boss. I could feel an urge to do so in my head. I’ll show you ‘lower orders,’ you dirt-bags.”

  Galen held up his hands, placating. “But you did not submit which demonstrates you’re not one of the lowest orders, so you should not be insulted. The bird-aliens, though…they seem particularly susceptible.”

  My blood ran cold. If they could influence Raptors in close proximity, maybe they could do it across space and take control of Kreel and Stalker. A sneak attack on Valiant could cripple her, putting everyone into the hands of these bastards.

  “Are you even Argos’ son?” I asked.

  “Of course I am,” Galen replied, drawing himself up. “My flesh was once part of his flesh. I’m of the highest-order stock.”

  “That’s great,” I said. “How do you define these higher and lower orders?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? By mental resilience. The weaker serve the stronger. We thought you knew this, though your lack of precautionary measures was puzzling.”

  “We base who serves whom on other factors, such as demonstrated fitness for command,” I retorted. “Your system is just a refined version of dog-eat-dog, king-of-the-hill. And I don’t really believe what you’re saying is true. Argos came aboard and made contact with many of my crew. He did this on purpose, so he could pass on some kind of biological agent, didn’t he?”

  Galen looked nervous. “I’m sure it was something like that.”

  I snorted derisively. “Then it really doesn’t matter who has the strongest mind. You drugged people somehow. Poisoned them.”

  “Oh, no, Captain. The higher orders, like you, can resist. I would guess you’ve had contact with our kind before—or you have a genetic difference in your make up.”

  He was right, of course. My parents had endured all kinds of reconditioning. My father, in particular, had once been rebuilt by Marvin’s biotic baths so he could survive on a gas giant. Some of these alterations had been passed on to me. But I didn’t feel like enlightening Galen any further.

  I held up a hand. “Wait a minute. Kwon, guard these guys, but keep them alive. I have a lot more questions.” I strode over to the door and yanked it open to see two squads of Raptors standing in ranks, tails in their hands.

  “Drop those tails!” I said.

  “But commander, we have failed you,” the senior squad leader said.

  “Not yet you haven’t. The Elladans used some form of mind-control on you, so that’s not your fault. We’ve captured them, so forget about killing yourselves and get back to your duties. Spread out and set up a perimeter to guard against any more Demons that might be here, and any Elladan you find take prisoner—but try not to hurt them.”

  “We hear and obey.” The Raptors fell out and scattered in all directions.

  “Suit, access the repeater,” I said.

  “Repeater on line.”

  “Valiant, this is Riggs. You read me?”

  “Loud and clear, Captain Riggs,” came Valiant’s welcome voice. “Shall I put you through to Lieutenant Commander Hansen?”

  “No, Valiant. This is private, me to you, for now. First, be aware the Elladans have delivered some kind of contact poison that will allow them to control some of our people, Raptors are particularly susceptible. They tried to capture my forces and me. We’ve overcome them, but this puts a completely new spin on things.”

  “I understand. I’ll take precautions against all Raptors interfering with ship operations.”

  “And keep a close eye on Stalker. Make up an excuse to maintain your distance, and stay out of their main weapons arcs. Snap on the shields and get the hell away if they try a surprise attack. They won’t be responsible for their actions, so it’s better to simply avoid fighting with them.”

  “Understood.”

  “Now listen carefully. I also need you to temporarily override your usual protocols on command personnel because of the possibility of outside influence. I seem to be immune. Six Elladans tried their trick on me and failed. Kwon seems resistant, too, but I have no idea about anyone else. So until I tell you differently, you have to comply with my orders. Do not be confused by the orders of any other command personnel. Even if that goes against your usual programming.”

  “I have no problem with that.” Valiant sounded smug, as if happy to be given an opportunity to defy other biotics.

  “Good. Anything that seems out of character for our command personnel and crew—except me, of course—you’re free to ignore or modify. Do your best to use biometric data to identify people that are under outside influence. It might manifest as unusual stress, such as sweating or inability to concentrate, or maybe unusual anger.”

  I thought about how Hansen had been acting lately. Could this effect have spread all over my ship?

  “But what about you?” Valiant said. “How do I know you’re not under outside influence?”

  This statement concerned me. Valiant was thinking on its own, and it seemed like it was looking for reasons to ignore human commands.

  “Download everything that happened from my suit and Kwon’s, right now. Use it and our records to baseline us. Do you see evidence of us being subverted?”

  There was a pause as the ship digested the data.

  “I see no clear proof of misconduct,” it said at last. “I accept your new protocol.”

  I could have bet a stack of credits there was a hint of disappointment in the ship’s voice.

  “Good,” I said. “Pass my order on to Hansen. He’s to bring the ship down here immediately.”

  “I have relayed the order. He appears to be complying. ETA is fourteen minutes.”

  “I hoped that means the Elladans are too busy with the Demons to try to influence my people… Valiant, I also need you to put me through to Marvin, and don’t let him ignore you. Tell him it’s top-priority, life-or-death with a technical puzzle involved. In fact, add in that there’s a completely new field of research to interest him, something where he’s superior to biotic life, but which also threatens his survival.”

  Valiant didn’t respond right away. When it finally spoke, it sounded suspicious. “Are you certain you’re mentally balanced, Captain? You’ve ordered me to lie to another commander. Further, you’ve given me a list of fantasies concerning—”

  “Enough. Be insistent.”

  “Order relayed.”

  Star Force had spent a lot of time and effort making sure our brainboxes couldn’t take over from our biotic personnel, to the point that I wasn’t at all certain what would actually happen if Hansen or other officers were to try to override Valiant.

  Could Sakura or someone else like Kalu do it? I knew that most competent programmers could find a loophole in any protocol or script, given enough time. So I had to get back aboard.

  While I waited for Marvin, I checked the local situation. Kwon seemed to have firm control of the Elladans, making them sit on the floor, their ethereally handsome faces turned upward toward us. Again, I resisted the urge to open up my faceplate. I had
no idea why I had been able to fend off their amplified mental attacks so well, but I wasn’t going to give them any edge if I could help it.

  Instead, I paced up and down, scarring the deck with my heavy boots, until I heard Marvin’s voice in my helmet.

  “What is it, Captain Riggs? I’m very busy.”

  “Doing what? You haven’t been fighting.”

  “I am continuing to research Demon technology and biology in order to develop your ‘bug spray.’”

  “Well, I’ve got information for you that will stun your artificial mind.” And then I stopped because I realized what kind of power I was about to hand over to the robot. If the Elladans could come up with a suggestion agent that could work at a distance and Marvin could replicate it, he might be able to zap Star Force personnel with it without them even knowing.

  After a moment’s thought, I pushed the worry aside. After all, I seemed to be highly resistant. Kwon was as well, so I had to think about short-term concerns now and worry about the long-term stuff later.

  “Go on, please,” Marvin said in what I would call a very interested tone.

  “The Elladans have the ability to influence minds. There must be some kind of biotic agent, something Argos passed around when he visited our ship. I think the existence of this toxin, or whatever it is, explains the slime coating inside the Demon ships. I also think the effect caused Demon ships to suddenly turn on each other during the battle.”

  Marvin was silent for a moment, processing. “Your premise is odd, but given recent events it seems plausible. I have no evidence or even a hypothesis about what kind of agent could influence something as complex as a biotic mind across the vast distances of space.”

  “I don’t think it works that way,” I said. “I think it makes a person more suggestible. They find they want to mutiny. Maybe this happens after talking to an Elladan or maybe they just want to do whatever might help the Elladans. Maybe they just suddenly decide they like people from that planet. The Whales certainly act that way.”

  “Interesting…” Marvin said. “A methodology allowing the reprogramming of a living neural net—without killing the host? I’ve sought such agents in the past and failed to produce anything practical.”

  “What? You tried to come up with a contact-based biotic poison that would—”

  “I would suggest you calm down,” Marvin said. “My goals were purely scientific in nature. Nothing but research, in the interests of expanding humanity’s pool of knowledge to the benefit of all.”

  I knew horseshit when I heard it, but I didn’t have time to play twenty questions about Marvin’s many questionable past experiments now.

  “If I create such a suggestibility defense, will I be promoted?” Marvin asked.

  “Absolutely. You’ll be Lieutenant Junior Grade Marvin.”

  “In that case, I’m on my way. ETA four minutes twenty seconds. Please have a sample Elladan for dissection along with the contact agent and more of the insectoid slime. I’ll get to work immediately.”

  “Dissection? No, Marvin. That isn’t happening.”

  “Can I at least have a subject for study? Perhaps the smallest of the females. You won’t even miss her.”

  I frowned in disgust. Marvin often asked for test subjects for his studies. His track record wasn’t good on such matters. He tended to kill anyone and anything we let him study.

  “Not happening. I’ll let you take samples from their hands and from the affected Raptors. No living test subjects. Riggs out.”

  His complaints were cut off. I updated Kwon on the situation and marched a squad of Raptors to the airlock. At the appointed time, I opened the door and stepped out onto the hull to meet Marvin.

  Greyhound slid across my field of vision, seeming huge from a range of ten feet. A tentacle reached toward me and stopped at arm’s length. “Greetings, Captain Riggs,” the voice of a brainbox said. “It is good to see you again.”

  I realized it was my old suit AI, which now served as Greyhound’s brain. “Good to see you again too, Greyhound. How do you like being a ship?”

  “I like it very much. However, Captain Marvin is—”

  “Please disregard my lazy and often insubordinate ship, Captain Riggs,” Marvin interrupted. “May I grasp one of these Raptors with my tentacles?”

  They shuffled uneasily, but no one complained.

  “Take him,” I said, pointing to the squad leader. “But I want him back intact in ten minutes—that means breathing and in fighting shape, Marvin. Don’t remove any organs or anything.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  The tentacle snaked forward. The Raptor squad leader was alarmed, but he didn’t struggle. They were loyal and obedient to the last—unless someone messed with their minds.

  We waited out on the hull while Marvin worked on the Raptor. I checked my chrono. “You’re two minutes over, Marvin. Is that Raptor still breathing?”

  “Yes. Rapidly breathing, in fact. I’ll return him shortly—you could always retire into your ship to relax.”

  “No way. Give me back my soldier.”

  Reluctantly, the tentacles uncoiled and the raptor squad leader was returned. He looked a little woozy, but he didn’t complain. His kind rarely did.

  Greyhound slid away then. I sensed Marvin was eager to scurry away to some private place and work on his findings.

  “Captain Riggs, my ETA is now two minutes,” Valiant said in my helmet.

  “Good. We’re waiting outside the airlock. Pass the info about the suggestibility agent to Adrienne and have her start locking up anyone who appears mentally unstable. Then—”

  A searing flash darkened my faceplate at that moment. It was close, dangerously close. It felt as if my eyeballs had been seared.

  -18-

  Blinded by a sudden burst of light, I staggered into the back of the airlock. It was the only cover I had.

  “Suit, I can’t see. Guide me to the controls.”

  The suit servos moved my arm until my hand touched the keypad and I pushed at the big “close” button. I felt the airlock door clang shut.

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked, but no answer came. I was pretty sure we’d been hit by a ship-mounted laser from outside, but it must have been diffuse or from long range as I hadn’t been fried outright. It had apparently burned off the smart metal repeater antenna, though.

  The two Raptors grabbed onto me. “Captain, we are blinded,” one said.

  “Your nanites will fix you eventually,” I replied. “Until then, have your fellows guide you.” Their suits didn’t have their own brainboxes like ours. I retracted my gauntlet to better feel the controls, using only my thin internal glove to find the “open” button for the inside door, and pushed it.

  The inner door swung away and we stumbled into the fortress.

  Other Raptors seized us, babbling in my ear on the short-range com-link. I told them to bring us to Kwon.

  Before we got there, I heard Valiant’s voice in my helmet. “Captain Riggs?”

  “I’m here, Valiant. How are you reaching me?”

  “Via the ansible installed in your suit.”

  Of course. The quantum signal wouldn’t be stopped by the mere hull and armor of the fortress. “Good idea,” I said. “We got hit by a laser.”

  “I must apologize for that, Captain. One of our gunners fired a laser on her own initiative. She was evidently under the influence of the Elladans, though she claims to have no memory of firing the cannon. She’s now under guard in the brig.”

  “Well done. Keep a close eye out for others that are susceptible. What about the senior officers?”

  “After being briefed, they all self-reported what appear to be feelings of remorse for being aboard this ship.”

  “Remorse?”

  “Yes. They say they feel like intruders, interlopers that should abandon ship and aid the Elladans. Their biometrics, however, indicate they’re still able t
o control themselves and follow orders.”

  “Good to hear. Let me talk to Hansen, then.”

  Hansen’s voice broke in. “I’m here, Skipper. We’re all pretty freaked out about this mind-control thing, but I think we’ll make it through.”

  “Look out for unwarranted sympathy for these aliens,” I told him. “And don’t accept transmissions from one of them. They might be able to convince you to do something you’ll regret.”

  “Will do, sir. We’re on approach now. We’ll have you off that rock in…oh, shit!” His voice broke off.

  Valiant came back on. “Captain, Stalker has begun firing on us from long range, and all our Nano frigates are closing on attack vectors. I was able to raise the shields in time, but we cannot remain here without taking significant damage or having to return fire. We are moving behind the fortress. Can you make your way across to the other side?”

  My heart began to pound. The Elladans had upped the ante. My Raptors were turning on us.

  I tried to pull up my HUD, but then I remember I was still blind. “

  “We’ll try, Valiant, but I think you should run away for now and come back for us later. We have the supplies on our pinnace, and there are probably a lot more stored here somewhere. We’ll be fine. Riggs out.”

  “Captain, we are here,” a Raptor told me, guiding my hand to the frame of a door.

  “Kwon?”

  “Yeah, boss, I’m here. You’re blind?”

  “For the moment. Laser strike. No idea how long this will last. I can feel the nanites working.”

  I could, too. My face itched like hell, but I wasn’t going to open my faceplate yet. “We need to get to the other side of this fort. Stalker’s shooting at Valiant, and she moved over there to hide behind it, but we have to hurry.”

  “Okay! You, Sergeant, have your squad bring these prisoners. The rest of you, go get all the supplies you can carry and come after. Boss, tell your suit to follow me. Everyone else, get moving to the coordinates I’m sending.”

  “Suit, follow Kwon in walking mode,” I said.

  “Following.”

  I felt my suit take control and start jogging. I relaxed, not fighting it. I wondered whether it would be worth it to investigate some kind of implant into my visual cortex, a backup for situations like this, but none of the salvaged Nano technology had included biotic-to-machine integrated cybernetics, so that would be some bleeding-edge technology, probably beyond the means of my expedition right now.