Frontline sf-4

by Randolph Lalonde

  “As long as she's my ship, and the crew knows they're being sold. I don't want to face some kind of zealot mutiny as soon as I'm finished hound dogging Jake.”

  “So you have been paying attention to some of Collins' more important memories.”

  “Oh yeah, Vindyne's habit of taking control of any ship they manufactured at a moment's notice using the manufacturer's command code. It wasn't even legal in most systems.”

  “But we rarely did such a thing inside a solar system, so we never really broke those laws.”

  “Loopholes, every successful member of that company thought in loopholes, especially Collins. I won't get caught in one.”

  “Then you won't be. We'll give you access to the manufacturer level codes and all you'll have to do is shut down the engines so you can enter new ones. Hampon won't be pleased, but he has his army of dull minded zealots, so he'll forget before long.”

  “I'll have to find out more about this cult he has going, Collins didn't exactly stay up to speed on it.”

  “He thought subjugation through religion was a mistake,” Gabriel said absently as he considered some other data passing through his mind. “We'll see.”

  “So when are you going to take Gloria down to the chamber?”

  “She's already being prepared on the Saviour. You will have to go ahead of me and open the vault. It will not open if I'm aboard that ship. I trust you have no significant objections?”

  “To opening the vault for you? No. I know that's the real price on my freedom. Good of you to let me realize it for myself.”

  “Collins was paranoid where Eve was concerned. Didn't let anyone in, wouldn't let me near her.”

  “Paranoid is an understatement. The thought of you getting access to the Eve brain crossed his mind every hour after he took possession. He never figured out what you'd do if you got to get close.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think I should do whatever I need to to get clear of the mess you and Hampon are making and mind mind my own business as much as I can while I try to force Valent and the Triton out of hiding. How do you know they'll disappear anyway?”

  Gabriel grinned broadly, the expression looked out of place somehow, his eyebrows were drawn tightly into a malicious counter-expression. “You would never leave this room if I were to tell you.”

  Lucius just stared at the man for a moment before nodding and standing up. “I'll get dressed and shuttle over to the Saviour.”

  “Thank you, I'll eagerly await the message that the vault is open,” Gabriel said as he left the room.

  Lucius Wheeler had heard of shuttles moving between large ships during wormhole travel but had never done it. The large pair of warships shared one massive wormhole with the Malice in the lead and the Saviour beside and behind. As the lensed, stretched view of the stars came into sight he couldn't help but feel absolutely infinitesimal.

  The chances of the pilot making a mistake in the hundred twelve meter journey between the vessels were slim, but the shuttle he'd gotten into was little more than a squarish service pod with eight seats and a small cockpit. The carpeting, faux leather seats, dim lighting and synthesized wood panelled walls made the thing look expensive and even a little more sturdy on the inside but he knew that if this pilot went off course even a little or twitched the controls so they came near the edge of the wormhole they'd be tossed out into open space at over half the speed of light.

  If they survived the passage over the edge they would be travelling much faster in space and time than any rescue ship would bother matching. If their luck was good they wouldn't collide with anything solid or harsh enough to lethally irradiate them through the hull and they could begin decelerating. Judging from the size of the small engines on the craft decelerating to a normal speed could take weeks and he doubted that they had enough provisions for that length of time.

  Even though Collins had gone through ship to ship travel inside a wormhole, that experience was like watching a holomovie in his head, worthless to Lucius for reassurance. Wheeler tried not to show it, but as the Saviour drew nearer he was nearly overcome with relief.

  The sooner he could get out of the shuttle the better. The only people aboard were the pilot, her copilot, a coffin like stasis tube on a gurney and himself. He made the mistake of looking through the transparent lid of the stasis vessel and upon seeing the soundly sleeping face of Gloria he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

  She was an abrasive woman, not one he had ever truly called a friend, but for years she had been dependable. The fact that Gabriel had given him a choice, even if only as a gesture, to save her from being used as nothing more than a body for another mind to inhabit was sheer emotional manipulation. Guilt was just another distraction and Gabriel only gave him a choice so he could somehow displace the blame for what was about to happen to Gloria. Gabriel gave me the opportunity to say I would trade her to the company and I fell for it. I could have just said something neutral and left it all up to him, but no. I had to sell her for top dollar after they officially made her the first person in my chain of command. They made me responsible for her and now if they ever wanted to persecute me for anything they could come after me for murder. I have to take a lesson from Collins. He thought he was the king of the sector and before he knew it Gabriel was on top of him bashing his head in. I have to keep a back door open whenever I'm dealing with these people, especially Gabriel. He's a freak, but he's got a wicked intelligence. God, how the hell did Collins let the freaks take over? There's Gabriel, the new and improved Hampon, a pre-adolescent body with Hampon's twisted mind imprinted, like that's not creepy. To think he almost took my framework body for his own, if I could meet Collins I'd buy him a drink for stopping that.

  His thoughts were interrupted as the shuttle docked with the mooring point on the Saviour's hull and the cabin pressure equalized with that of the massive vessel. A moment later the hatch gracefully slid open, revealing one of the main hallways.

  As Lucius stepped outside and recognized two of the fully uniformed bridge officers who had been sent to meet him he nervously ran his hand over his stubble ridden head. He recognized them instantly from replays of Collins' memories. They were good, well trained officers who had served him faithfully for the entire time he was in command of the Saviour.

  The sensation of instant recognition was so strange. Lucius found himself disliking the way Collins used to regard them. The older commander kept his people in the peripheral, not rewarding good work and using his immediate underlings as the long stick with which to punish performance shortfalls. Collins had as little contact with his crew as possible and made sure his quarters were near the bridge so he could be completely separate from them while being close enough to attend to an emergency at a moment's notice.

  Lucius Wheeler was the opposite. For the time he was on the Triton he kept everyone close. Even people he didn't particularly like got to see him personally at least once a week, at least for a moment in the hall or in the lower observation deck near the hangars. He knew everyone's name, something of their history and how they were socially tied with other people on the ship. Gloria was a huge help with that, and even though his memories of the years he spent on that ship weren't very clear, he still had memories of her. She was always trading information on the crew with him, together they were social animals who trusted each other as much as you could trust anyone on a scrappy, under used mercenary ship and until he had awoken in his new body she was more like a comrade and friend than anything else.

  Everything was different, shallow until he took on Collins' memories and after that his perception changed once again. He had full access to the memories of a great, intelligent, military and corporate man who didn't see his end coming. It wasn't the first time he had a live lesson on enjoying every moment in life because it could come to a sudden, abrupt end in the very next and as a result he and Gloria crossed the barrier that lay between friends and lovers. She was different too. It was as though bein
g in the belly of the beast, Regent Galactic, relieved her of some kind of pressure or heavy load and she was more light hearted than he had ever seen her.

  It wasn't a lover he'd miss, however. It was the trustworthy friend he had found in Gloria after being with her for years. Before stepping out into the hall he couldn't help but look over his shoulder and lay a hand on the polished stasis tube. “Goodbye baby, I know you'd do the same to me if they gave you the chance,” he whispered, his gaze lingering on her peaceful face.

  As soon as he was out of the shuttle four medical technicians in their loose fitting self sterilizing smocks, gloves and hoods moved in to claim his sleeping gift of flesh. Lucius didn't look back but walked between his first officer and operations officer with a passive expression on his face. I'll keep things cool and formal until I know the lay of the land. I haven't been in command of a ship with a full crew in ages, not since I was working for Freeground Intelligence. No matter what I can learn from Collins, if I want to do this my way, to do this right, I'll have to take it one step at a time.

  “It's a pleasure to have you with us, Captain Wheeler,” burst the young, blond haired first officer. “I'm Major Tammerlan, your First Officer here and this is Senior Lieutenant Immain.”

  Wheeler shook the young man's hand and looked him in the eye. “Thank you, I'm glad to be here.” He then turned to the young operations officer who was looking at a holographic status display coming from her left palm. Her brown hair was bound up in a bun just under the rear of her grey cap which made her look a little more serious when she wasn't smiling but when she flashed her grin he couldn't help but smile back a little in return as her soft hand shook his.

  “We're glad to have you sir. Everyone's heard about how you apprehended and captured Jacob Valance before and we're anxious to see how you're going to flush him out this time.”

  “Are you a bit of a hunter yourself?” Wheeler asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Don't let her post fool you,” Tammerlan started with a smile. “Off duty she's a bit of a bounty hunter groupie, sir.”

  “I prefer enthusiast, Major.”

  It was difficult not to get pulled into pleasantries with the pair, who had the ease of two people who had been working together for quite a while. Lucius smiled and nodded as he led the way towards the secure section of the ship, the forward hold where he'd find the main vault. “I've been out of the action for a while, so you'll have to bring me up to speed. How long has Jacob been in hiding for?”

  “Well, he hasn't. The last time he came up on a report he was on Pandem and considering the situation there it's doubtful that he's gone anywhere. Our intelligence tells us conclusively that he and his crew will be going into hiding soon and there's little we can do to stop it.”

  Wheeler looked at the Major for a moment, trying to read any uncertainty in his expression. “So you're telling me you know he's on Pandem and he's going into hiding no matter what. Is anyone tasked with tracking him right now?”

  “Regent Galactic just handed that ball off to the West Watchers and they're giving it to you, sir.”

  “We won't be there for some time.”

  “Their not concerned.”

  “It doesn't sound like we're getting much help on this.”

  “With the crew we have aboard you won't need it, sir,” interjected the operations officer, who was closing a holographic report on quarter assignments.

  “I hope that's true. I'm wondering, some of your intelligence seems to make assumptions on things that haven't happened yet. Do you have some kind of predictive system aboard?”

  “Not at all, Captain Wheeler,” said the holographic image of a young, sandy haired boy in robes as he appeared just in front of them, walking backwards. The image looked to the officers at Wheeler's sides with a nod at each; “Senior Lieutenant, Major. Please leave us so we can speak privately.”

  “Yes your Grace,” they said in near unison as they quietly turned and walked off down another broad, silver and grey corridor.

  The boy's image, looking as though the pre-adolescent child were really there, fell in step beside Lucius. “I owe you an apology for my actions while I was with Vindyne. It wasn't my decision to betray you, but the powers that were thought that as long as you were free to return to Freeground you presented a significant risk.”

  Collins knew that Hampon had been reborn in the shape of a much younger clone body, but it was still strange seeing the long nosed child speak with the bearing and very intentional diction of a stuffy, self important adult. “That's why I had you give me the master command codes to this ship. Next time you see her she won't even have the same transponder system or comm keys.”

  The child's laughter bubbled out of the small smiling face at his side. “Oh, I understand, trust me, I understand. You, like many long time survivors in this galactic arena have learned to be cautious from being bitten. Speaking of learning experiences, how have Collins' memories been serving you lately?”

  “Good, he was a great man. I'm learning a lot from him.”

  “You're not suffering any memory intrusions?”

  “Nope, it's like watching a movie.”

  “Isn't it simply fantastic? I enjoy reliving experiences from all the imprints I've managed to collect.”

  Wheeler looked down at the robed figure; “You have more than one?”

  “One from each corner of the known Galaxy. I believe that there will come a day where memory imprints become a truly precious and widespread commodity. I plan to open the market with scans of tens of thousands of individuals. The Order Of Eden demands that every Saved, West Keeper and West Watcher is scanned as part of the initial testing.”

  “So that's the back end of the scam you have going, thinking pretty big.”

  “Scam? As long as I'm offering some kind of valuable commodity, such as their safety, there's no scam here. We are an organization preoccupied with momentum, with progress. The Order of Eden is purest at the top and hardest working at the bottom.”

  Lucius shook his head, smiling at the sound of the child's preaching. “How many people have gotten wrapped up in this? I mean, I heard about it a year ago on the mining colony and if I can hear about this religion there, I'm sure word's pretty much everywhere.”

  “Oh, we have a few thousand Grading Stations, mostly on Regent Galactic and Core Worlds. Regent Galactic gave us broad licence to set up shop in all their Spacerwares stores. Fringe territories are just discovering us now. You should get graded some time, I'll waive the fee if you like.”

  “No thanks, I'm more interested in making a paradise in this life than working for one that probably won't be there at the end of the road. Besides, thanks to Collins I know exactly where the Eden system is and how to bypass the security measures.” The audacity of the religion that Hampon had created around the terror the Eden Fleet and Holocaust Virus was incredible. Collins had been a secondary architect, designing the militarized portion of the ruse. One would pay a hundred thousand Core World Credits in order to rank as Saved and become recognized as an ally by all infected machines. It took up to three days for your name to make it to the Order Of Eden Temple, and during those days you would be Graded through a number of tests.

  Depending on how high you score on a scale that was kept away from all but the highest ranking West Watchers they determined how close you were to Eden. You could also make extra donations to buy your way deeper into the organization. Through the Grading and donations you'd be given a position amongst the Saved, who were civilian servants, or the West Keepers who were either military or higher ranking civilian servants or the West Watchers who were the leaders, spies or other high rankers in the organization. Members advanced by doing their jobs well, committing good deeds and helping others with their accomplishments. Followers could also increase their chances of advancement by buying training and it was all measured weekly as progression or regression by a Progress Monitor who invariably accepted donations to offset any regression or transgressio
n.

  If you had enough money you could get away with murder. How many points you had on the Progress side of your personal chart was not to be discussed with anyone but a Progress Monitor or a West Watcher and the amount recorded there helped the organization's leaders determine how close you were to Eden in your lifetime. The ultimate accomplishment in the faith is to gather so many points that you could retire on the Eden II world itself under the protection of the Eden Fleet and in the natural paradise most people would never see in their lifetimes. The fastest way to Eden, however, was to sacrifice your life in the service of the Order. If your Progress was high enough your soul would make its way to Eden on its own.

  Lucius saw it as a near perfect scam, providing the Order of Eden with a vast military, large body of civilian workers and thanks to the Holocaust Virus and Eden Fleet everyone knew that the threat of destruction if you weren't a member was very real. Collins was of the same opinion but he didn't allow a Progress Monitor on his ship until just before the scan. He didn't believe that his own people had to subscribe to the dreamt up religion of the half mad Hampon.

  “You misunderstand me Lucius,” Hampon's boy grin smiled up at him. “I'm opening the doors for you, giving you the opportunity to be a West Watcher, among our elite. I know you disabled our mechanism of control on your body and I understand. Your mistrust doesn't give me pause. I'm willing to take you in, invite you into the inner circle.”

  “Thanks, but I'm pretty sure I'll be happy enough just catching Jake for you and moving on. You probably won't see me after I'm done,” Lucius said as he stepped through two meter thick security doors. They closed behind him with an ominous sound.

  The holographic image of Hampon flickered for a moment as the projectors built invisibly into the ceiling picked up the transmission and carried it forward. “There will be benefits when the great battle comes. Trust me.”

  “Great battle? That's a new one. The fear of getting torn apart by some random infected bot isn't enough to scare people into the recruitment centers?”