Black Swan Planet

by James Peters

  “When I got to Jamaica, I bought a handgun. It was a small thing, fitting inside my hand. I found Nicholai; it was at dusk, and I approached him with the sun behind me. Before he even knew who I was, I pointed the gun at his chest and…”

  “And?”

  “What do you think, ‘and’? I pulled the trigger. He died there, right before me. In the end, he knew who I was.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “He just asked why. He died before I could answer. It’s done now. I did get some important information while I was there. I have coordinates for another barbarian world we can escape to, but I’ll need your help. The shuttle’s equipped with a homing beacon, likely booby-trapped. We need to disconnect it before we leave. I don’t think I can remove it by myself.” I hope that was good enough.

  “I’ll raise the landing platform and turn on the landing assist. I look forward to seeing you again, Raka.”

  Her voice sounded sweet, which made it even more terrifying. I felt like a sheep walking into a lion’s den. How much of my story had she believed?

  Marco had found a small conduit to hide in near the drive, Nicholai hid in a false floor located in the Emperor’s closet that once held a wide assortment of latex novelties. I took the pilot’s seat and switched the system to the auto-approach setting. The shuttle set down with smooth Imperial efficiency; meaning an acceptably rough landing. It no sooner touched down before I felt the landing platform descending, as a massive elevator lowered us underground. Overhead doors closed above, as hundreds of lights came on inside the structure. The hangar had been built to impressive Imperial standards. The platform came to a stop and I stepped through the airlock. Maven approached; she had four female servants with her. I recognized the servants as Native American; all similar in size and appearance and each wore an earthen-colored poncho. Their hands hid underneath their ponchos, their movements stiff as if they carried heavy firearms or weapons of some sort.

  Maven broke the uneasy silence. “So, here you are,” Maven said as her servants spread out, surround me in a wide arc.

  “Yes I am. From what I found in Jamaica, Nicholai…”

  “Hold that thought,” Maven said, pointing to two of the servants. “Search the shuttle. Kill anyone aboard.”

  “The shuttle is empty,” I said, trying to sound convincing. I doubt it worked.

  “We’ll see. You do understand I have to be very careful, don’t you? It’s nothing personal, Raka, but I can’t trust anyone. Anyone at all.” Her eyes met one of the servant girls, and she mouthed ‘Watch him’ as she nodded toward me. She walked to another, whispered something in her ear, and the girl disappeared. We stood there, facing each other in awkward silence until the girl reappeared with a metal chair and a bundle of heavy rope. “Have a seat, Raka.”

  “There’s really no need…”

  “Sit!” she said, and I saw the barrel of a short rifle appear from under one of the girl’s poncho as I sat. Expertly, she wrapped the rope around one of my legs and tied a knot, then moved on to the next and did the same. She tied both my arms down, then the rope tightened around my thighs, another knot, and around my chest. I couldn’t move.

  “The shuttle is clear,” one of the servant girls said as she stepped out.

  I sighed in silent relief. “Can we talk about this?”

  She paced back and forth before me. “You brought me the shuttle; that was more than I expected. Yes, let’s talk. I’m surprised you made it back, Raka.”

  “I stuck to the plan, Maven. Just like we discussed. I went to Jamaica, killed Nicholai, retrieved the shuttle and learned some things. Untie me, and we can work together to get out of here.”

  “I’m not sure what to do with you yet Raka. I’m having a hard time believing you killed Nicholai in cold blood. I find it more likely you made a deal with him, perhaps you spared his life in exchange for the shuttle? Perhaps this is how you got the information you mentioned? Tell me the truth, Raka. Did you kill Nicholai?”

  “Yes,” I said, trying to sound convincing.

  Maven took a rifle from one of the servants. She pointed it at me, saying, “Bullshit.”

  “Go ahead. Kill me and you lose. Keep me alive, and I have a plan to keep the Empire from finding us.”

  She alternated pointing the gun at my head, chest, and crotch. “Tell me more.”

  “Untie me,” I said, and as I did, she turned the rifle around and shoved the butt of it into my stomach. I gasped for air, wheezed, and coughed.

  “Tell me the truth.”

  “I am. I killed him. Just like I said.”

  She struck me again, this time in the jaw. A horrific sting; my vision went dark for a moment. I finally spat out, “Are you enjoying this?”

  “This isn’t about me, Raka. This is about you telling me how you got the shuttle and this information you say you have.”

  “I went to Jamaica. I bought a gun for fifty dollars from some guy on the street. I paid another man to tell me where I could find Nicholai. I approached him at dusk with the sun behind me. When I recognized his face, I pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger.”

  She struck me in the groin. I violently and spastically reacted to the strike, and I fell over sideways. She struck me again, this time in the head, and everything went black.

  ***

  Pinpoints of light appeared in a universe of black. The lights expanded, merging together into a single mass of light. I heard a voice, ethereal at first, whispering a name, a name that seemed to have meaning to me, but I couldn’t recall why. It repeated.

  “Raka. We dunna’ have much time. Wake up you dinka’ fool.” The voice sounded strange to be an angel, then suddenly in a moment of clarity I remembered my own name and recognized the voice of Nicholai talking to me.

  “Nicholai?” I said, shuddering against the throbbing pain in my head. “How long was I out?”

  “Hours. I waited fo’ some time. Maven finally gave up and tol’ one of her girls to keep an eye on you. I set a trap in da shuttle airlock with a canister of happy-gas. I set a buzzer to go off, she stepped inside to see what da’ noise was, and I flooded the airlock. She’s sleeping it off now, and I have ‘er gun. Hold still. Yo’ legs are still tied.”

  “Smart move. Do you know the layout here? Where would Maven be?”

  He untied the last of the ropes and I staggered to my feet as the room spun about me. “She’s probably sleeping in her suite. We’ll need to get da’ drop on her. You okay mon?”

  “Yeah, just dizzy. Let’s get Maven.”

  Suddenly the lights came on in full intensity, and I heard a sound that sent a chill down my spine. A slow clap. Maven appeared in my vision in the corner of the room, surrounded by servants. This time they didn’t hide their weapons.

  “Dear, dear Raka. You never fail to disappoint.” Maven approached, pointing a rifle at me while she pulled a chair up for Nicholai. “I half expected that you’d bring Nicholai back with you. Do you think I didn’t know all the smuggler’s bins in the shuttle that are big enough for a person to hide in? Do you really think I’m stupid enough to just walk off and leave you with an easily-distracted guard? Give me some credit. Now, you two, sit back to back.” She tied us up together. “Now that we have that little charade taken care of, we can get down to business. What should I do with you two? You know, you’ve both caused me a lot of trouble, yet somehow you’ve both been useful from time to time.”

  Nicholai spoke from behind me. “Anna’ you been crazy from time to time.”

  “Nicholai. I gave you a chance when I let you take the shuttle off to that cesspool of Jamaica. You could have just stayed, but you came back with Raka. Why, Nicholai? Why?”

  “Da’ Empire is coming. Raka the… Raka has a plan. A plan to protect us, Earth and to keep da Empire from finding us. But he needs something from you first.”

  “What do you need, Raka?”

  “I already told you, I need an E-Med kit, complete with nanobots. Once I save Gina, I�
��ll do whatever it takes to keep the Empire from finding us. I have a plan.”

  “Tell me your plan,” Maven said.

  “Do you have the kit? Give it to me and we can fix all of this. But I’ve got to fix Gina first.”

  “Maven, dere’s already a lot o’ blood on your hands,” Nicholai said.

  “How dare you!” Maven said, striking him with the butt of the gun. His head flung back, striking me in the back of my skull, causing us both to yelp in pain.

  “Let Raka fix dis!” Nicholai said.

  “Okay, I’ll play along. I have an E-Med kit and it has the nanobots. But there’s only one of this technology on this entire planet. I’ve been advancing the technology here as fast as possible, but they are still twenty years from duplicating nanobots, even with my help. You just want to give away something that’s worth millions, if not billions? Why would I let you have that? I have the shuttle now. I can space you two and I go somewhere else.”

  “The Empire will trace that beacon, and you know the shuttle can’t outrun them forever. If you try and leave here, you’ll end up shot down, captured, or die drifting in space. Help me and I’ll help you; and in the process, we can save this planet that has nothing to do with the Empire from being destroyed. All I ask is we have to save the one person that has been true to me through all of this. You can’t deny me that. If you do, you might as well just shoot me now because I’ll never help you.”

  “So I throw away the technology that has the most value of anything I have here to save an Earth woman; a person so primitive she hasn’t even been prophylactically vaccinated against cancer? Why, Raka? Give me one good reason.”

  “Love. I love her, and I’d rather die than live without her.”

  Maven pointed the rifle at me. I stared straight down the barrel. She’d pull the trigger and I’d be dead. Oddly enough, I faced her without fear.

  “You son of a bitch! You said the one thing that keeps me from killing you right now.”

  She lowered the rifle slightly. “What is your plan?”

  “Bring me the kit. I need to see it and confirm it has what I need to save her. Everything hinges on that.”

  Maven sighed. “You’re not getting the kit. It’s too valuable.”

  “Then shoot me. It doesn’t matter. The Empire will be here soon, perhaps they are in orbit right now. If you help me, we can work together. If not, we’ll all die. If not today, probably tomorrow, or a few months from now. You know as well as I do that they’ll stop at nothing.”

  Maven shook her head. “It seems we’re at an impasse It’s late and I need time to process all this. You two aren’t going anywhere. This hangar is on lockdown, just in case you struggled and got yourself loose, you couldn’t get anywhere. Let’s come back to this discussion in the morning.”

  “You can’t leave us tied like this,” I said as she walked away.

  “Why not?”

  “I have to pee?” I said.

  “I’m not stopping you. By all means, pee.”

  As she left, she turned off the main bank of lights. The hangar went nearly completely black until my eyes had time to adjust to the monitor lighting, equipment, and backup lighting.

  “What do you think, Nicholai? You think she’s going to kill us?”

  “No. She’s intrigued by what’choo told her. She plans on torturing us. Prob’ly separate us, and try to work one against t’other.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “Wait for Monkey-Mon. He’ll untie us, and I hid some weapons on da’ shuttle. I coulda’ tell you the whole plan, in case you broke. I have a plan fo’ a trap. Maven will neva’ give you da’ kit willingly. Ah. Look what I see: Monkey-Mon.”

  I turned my head as far as I could and scanned the shadows, finally catching the glimpse of movement. Marco, moving like a thief in the night, working the shadows like an expert. I felt a hairy arm brush up against me, tugging on the ropes and a sawing motion as a knife worked its way through. I got one arm loose and wiggled some slack into the ropes. I slipped the other out and loosened the knots around my leg. I stood up, tried to step out of the last of the ropes, got my foot caught, and fell flat on my face.

  “Smooth,” Nicholai said as he grabbed my hand. “Let’s get to da’ shuttle.”

  We stepped inside the shuttle and I quickly made my way to the bathroom while Marco and Nicholai equipped weapons. Marco appeared with twin katanas in his hands that he quickly sheathed across his back and a wicked grin on his face. Nicholai had what appeared to be an army issue assault rifle in his hands, a huge clip attached to it. He handed me a tiny pistol. “Here mon, dis if fo’ you.”

  “What am I supposed to do with this thing? Bruise a bee’s wing?”

  The weapon looked more like a toy than anything that could cause damage, the barrel barely extending past my trigger finger. “What is this, anyway?”

  “.22 short. It holds five shots, so don’t waste ‘em. And try not to hurt yo’sef with it.”

  I put the tiny pistol in my pocket, and Nicholai continued. “Now, for da’ trap. Marco, you ready?” Marco made a series of pantomimes that amazed me in their complexity. He had some elaborate plan in place, and I knew nothing about it.

  “What’s the plan?” I said, stepping out of the shuttle, Nicholai behind me, and Marco following him. Suddenly, all the hangar lights came on again. I raised a hand in front of my eyes as to combat the glare and heard Maven.

  “Thank you Raka, for making my decision easier. Prepare to die.”

  She raised a rifle to her shoulder and pointed the weapon at me.

  I stared in horror, and as I did, I heard a battle cry come from Marco. He bounded from the floor, onto Nicholai’s shoulders, then into the air over me. As his arc crested above me, he unsheathed both katanas, spinning them deftly in the air in an impressive display of swords-monkey-ship. The air sizzled with the sound of spinning blades; Marco stood in front of me baring teeth and looking ferocious. A shot rang out. I stared unblinking as the chimpanzee fell backward, the swords falling to the floor and his body convulsing as blood poured from his chest.

  Chapter 28

  Predictive Analytics 102

  ESS Dissolute Ultralog-Complete™ Log, recorded in accordance with the Patriotic Love for the Empire and Freedom of Monitoring Act. Released under Imperial Order #C53TH341

  Denton Morrow furrowed his brow as the odor became more disgusting. “Smiles! Get this cleaned up immediately!”

  He hurried past the room the gorilla had vomited in. He tried not to look, but he couldn’t help himself. He fought the urge to retch, gagging and coughing as he sped away. He made his way to the navigation room to confirm all went as expected.

  “Positional data just now coming in. That’s what you are here for, correct?” Perry said as soon as Lt. Morrow entered.

  “Good prediction, or simply an observation that this would be my first stop?”

  “I didn’t do the calculations if that’s what you are asking. I simply expected you. So far, the data looks good. For the last jump, I had adjusted for the variation seen due to the age of this ship and the number of times she has jumped. This drive fits my expectation of ‘tired’, just by the fluctuations seen in the—”

  “Mr. Tremblan, I appreciate the depth of your analysis, but I need to know if the jump put us closer to our target. Was it successful?”

  “Most definitely. Here’s roughly where we are on the galactic map.”

  He displayed the map and pointed to a highlighted area. “We need to go to this node.” He pointed to another area that lit up as he did.

  “Where did we start?”

  Perry lit up a point on the map. “Here.”

  “I don’t understand,” Denton said, motioning toward the map. “You said we need five jumps, and we just made our second. Why does it look like we are well past the half-way point?”

  “I told you before. Space is very nearly empty. But there are some things you very much want to avoid. See this?”
r />   He lit up a section of the map. “This is a black hole. For us to get to our destination, I had to plot a course that took us sufficiently around it. That meant that we had to diverge from a direct path to the target in order to maintain a safe distance. Now we can jump back to a more direct course. Additionally, the further we get from the galactic core, the more variations we see in our calculations because we just don’t have as many positional beacons out here. Therefore, each jump has to progressively get shorter.”

  “I see. That makes sense, I suppose. Anything else I should be aware of?”

  “I’ve been thinking about the Black Swan discussion we had a while back. While these events are by definition unpredictable, if I look at the historical data through a series of filters for a variety of socio-economic factors, I have a relatively high correlation of…”

  “In layman terms, Mr. Tremblan?”

  “We could be due.”

  “Due for a Black Swan event?”

  “Yes. Could. We have no way to predict what the event would be or if any action we took to try and prevent it would just exasperate the results. If my analysis is correct, as there are lots of seemingly unrelated variables, we could have an eighteen point six three two percent chance of an event of the like.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a high percentage.”

  “But that is exponentially higher than the odds if it were truly random. If I’m right on this, we could substantially change the way…’

  “If you’re right, we may not have anything left to change.”

  Chapter 29

  Of Mice and Maven

  Maven gasped as Marco fell. She dropped her weapon and ran, faster than I imagined she could in a tight skirt and pumps, grabbing the fallen chimp in her arms. One of her servants carried the E-Med kit and rushed over. She opened the kit and fumbled through it until she found a small pressurized container, breaking the top off of it and spraying the contents into the bullet hole. Foam bubbled from the wound, temporarily sealing the opening. Marco screamed as the foam expanded.