Lucifer's Star

by C. T. Phipps

  “You know your sister is kind of crazy,” Judith said, holding my hand tightly as we stared into space from the Revengeance’s observation lounge.

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I deadpanned.

  “Just saying, her experiments are pretty damned ruthless. She actually talked about using live targets in her cyber-soldier tests.”

  “My sister grew up in a family that treated her poorly. A family which defined itself by military service and political power had little place for a woman of science. Hell, her mother’s enemies tried to drown her when she was seven. Honestly, without me and Thomas, I think she would have retreated entirely from the world.”

  “That’s one possibility. I have another theory.”

  “What’s yours?”

  “That she’s just a crazy psycho bitch.”

  The conversation degenerated from there.

  “Why did you do it?” I asked, unsure what I was asking about in particular. Killing the crew, building my doppelgangers, helping Ida, helping the FSA, all of it was confusing to me. Even so, I would forgive her all of it. I was just glad to have my sister back.

  I didn’t expect an answer, but Zoe gave me one. “Because she ordered me to.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “Ida.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I walked into Ida’s room where she was sitting on her couch and looking over daily reports on her infopad. There was the full tea-seat on the table in front of her, not yet cleaned up by Hunk-A-Junk.

  I walked over and kicked over the table, spilling all of its contents on the ground before taking position over her, my arms crossed in front of my chest. I did my best to give her my most intimidating glare.

  Ida didn’t bother to look up from her infopad. “I take it you’re upset?”

  “You take it correctly.”

  “You’ll have to be specific about what. I upset a lot of people for a lot of reasons, darling.”

  “I’m not your darling. Zoe works for you. She was on that ship, possibly dead, and you didn’t bother telling me. You didn’t bother telling me she was involved in the Free Systems Alliance, a contact of your Watchers, or that my brother was involved. I could go on, but I think we can simply stick with you sending me into a ridiculously compromised situation for shits and giggles.”

  Ida put down her infopad and called over to Hunk-A-Junk. “Clean this up would you, dear? Wash it in the sink, too.”

  “Yes, ma’am!” Hunk-A-Junk called from the kitchenette.

  Ida turned to me. “Yep, I did all of that.”

  “Why?” I said, close to throttling her.

  “When I was a newcomer to the spy game, one of my long-term contacts was marked for termination by the higher-ups. I had allowed myself to become close to him despite the fact he was a prick who probably had it coming. The thing is, they didn’t let me know he was targeted and, instead, let the net close around him while I was forced to try to and figure out who was trying to kill him. In the end, after a failed attempt to rescue him got two of my assets killed, I walked into my chief’s office and demanded to know why. He said that you never actually know someone until you’ve seen them under fire.”

  I stared at her. “So because your boss was a psychopath, you are too?”

  Ida shrugged. “No, psychopaths make terrible spymasters. A lot of Commonwealth agents used to have their moral centers compromised to be better agents but, shockingly enough, this meant they didn’t have any real reason to work for the benefit of Mother Albion. The simple fact was, Cassius, I wanted to test you and see how you reacted.”

  “So you fed me that bullshit excuse of not knowing who I was before I came on board your ship?”

  “Pretty much,” Ida said. “Note, if there was the absolutely insane coincidence of you getting on board my ship by accident and then me only finding out this week, then I’d never admit it. It would make me look like the worst spymaster in the world.”

  “So you’re denying this was all planned.”

  “I’m leaving that for you to decide. The fact is, yes, your sister was on board that ship working for us. Sort of.”

  I blinked. “Sort of.”

  Ida shrugged. “Operation: Electric Bookmark was designed to move the best surviving scientists from the Archduchy of Crius from its territory to Albion. There, they’ve been working on various projects for the transtellars to maximize our economic and technological growth. If I wanted to send one of them back to spy on their fellows, I imagine they wouldn’t send the actual scientist but a bioroid with all of their skill and knowledge as well as memories.”

  I processed that, feeling like I was on an emotional virtu-real game. “That isn’t Zoe back in the medical bay?”

  “It’s Zoe,” Ida corrected. “Just a version of her. Her advances in the field of robotics and cybernetics have the chance to change the way we define humankind. That’s not my job to investigate, though, only the parts that result in defeating the Free Systems Alliance.”

  “What the fuck is going on, really?”

  Ida looked down at her infopad. “You’re not being paid to ask questions.”

  “Screw the money. I’d prefer answers.”

  Ida chuckled. “See, I am learning a great deal more about you, Count Cassius, than I ever would have learned just hanging around you. Say please, son.”

  I continue to stare at her. “Please.”

  Ida sighed. “You want the long or the short version?”

  “The true version.”

  Ida looked forward. “That’s harder to give than you might think. The short version is I sent your sister’s doppelganger into the Crius Reborn Movement. Your brother, Field Marshal Plantagenet, bought her presence hook-line-and-sinker. He had her make a bunch of mock-ups of famous Crius soldiers to support his revolution. Yourself included. I had Zoe feeding me information from the very beginning right up until everything went pear-shaped.”

  “The Free Systems Alliance.”

  Ida nodded. “Yep. Suddenly, a nuisance we could control and manipulate was a serious problem with unlimited amounts of funding as well as war material. A combination of Chel, transtellar backers and secessionists with enough power to potentially break the Commonwealth into a dozen individual states.”

  “How did they get involved?”

  Ida shrugged. “Honestly? I have no idea.”

  “I want the truth.”

  “I’m not omniscient, Cassius,” Ida said, frowning. “However much the Watchers would like to claim we are, the truth was we were caught with our pants down. I could theorize all the live long day, but this is bigger than all of us. If I had to make a guess, though, I’d say it was aliens.”

  “Aliens.” I blinked. “Seriously.”

  “Ever met any?”

  “A couple.”

  Aliens were, in simple terms, real and almost irrelevant to the lives of most humans. Aside from the Community, the nearest extraterrestrial alliance outside of the Galactic Core, none of them wanted anything to do with us. Even the Community’s dozen or so species had only a few scant interactions with human territory. To quote one of the Old Earth books that survived the Galactic Dark Age on Crius: We have nothing they want, and they have nothing we can afford.

  “You think aliens are orchestrating this war?” I asked, skeptical.

  “Not a chance,” Ida said. “I think the fact humanity has, after one thousand years in space, finally developed technology on par with the Community. The Commonwealth will probably join it in the next two or three decades with all barriers on trade and interaction lifted. They just need enough resources to not be a complete joke.”

  I took a deep breath. “That’s why the Commonwealth keeps reclaiming worlds. They want to be able to sit at the adults’ table.”

  “One of the motivations,” Ida said. “The other being that everyone loves winning a war. Boosts the economy and morale. It blinds people to the fact you just encourage the people you’ve beaten to come back for round two.�
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  “So you think this whole revolution is from the people who want to break up the Commonwealth before it decides to end humanity’s eight millennia of isolationism.”

  “That and the fact everyone hates the Commonwealth who isn’t sucking from its teat.”

  Well, that certainly put a new spin on things. “So my sister or her doppelganger was your spy. Why did you order her ship attacked?”

  “Your sister had been discovered,” Ida said. “So we did what she had to do. Sabotage the ship, gas the crew, send all of the information she’d found in their databanks to the Commonwealth, and then hide out until we arrived. I don’t know why the privateers turned against us, though. I’d argue it was part of my master plan, but I think we’re a bit past that point.”

  “Zemov claimed they had the codes to prove they were friendlies to the Commonwealth.”

  “They might. It wouldn’t be the first time the right hand didn’t know what the left was doing or was flat-out trying to stab it with a pencil.”

  “What’s a pencil?”

  Ida gave a dismissive wave. “The fact is, we’re now capable of finding out what this terrorist organization is really up to and might be able to nip it in the bud before it becomes a revolution that consumes half of humanity’s territory.”

  “The fact is you ordered the murder of a bunch of men, women, and children on board that research vessel.”

  Ida paused. “Yeah, I did.”

  I couldn’t read Ida’s emotions in that moment. Was she really that dismissive or was she just very good at controlling her emotions? Everything I’d known about her up until today had been a lie so could I really judge her? It didn’t matter either way. I didn’t want any further part of this. I’d let myself forget just how vile war was. Mostly because it was the only thing I was ever good at.

  I clasped my feet together, clicked my heels, and gave the sideways salute of Crius. “Captain, I must regretfully tender my resignation to you as both your navigator and catspaw. You can guess where I believe you can shove it.”

  “Do you really think you can just walk out like that?” Ida asked, reaching under a cushion and pulling out a fusion pistol.

  I put my hands on my hips. “Go ahead.”

  “Bang.” Ida said, then tossed it to one side. “Thing hasn’t worked since the Marquitz administration.”

  “I’ll be dropping myself off at our next port of call,” I said, thinking about what I was going to do with the rest of my life. “I wish you and the others luck.”

  “Nothing I can do to persuade you to stay?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I doubt that, but I respect your decision.” Ida picked up her infopad and typed on it. “I’ve unfrozen your accounts despite the fact you’ve only gone halfway with me.”

  I debated my response and, in the end, just said, “Thank you.”

  Turning around to walk out the door, Ida then said, “Cognition A.I.”

  I was halfway out when I stopped dead in my tracks. “Fuck.”

  “Sorry,” Ida said, sighing. “I really wanted to let you go but the fact is you can walk and chew popgum at the same time. That’s better than the vast majority of my agents.”

  “I’m not your agent.”

  “That remains to be seen,” Ida paused. “Just how many people did you kill in the war?”

  “Directly or indirectly?”

  “Both.”

  “Hundreds of thousands,” I said, sighing. “I don’t know what that has to do with our situation.”

  “That’s a heavy burden to bear, even with memory drugs,” Ida said. “I think you’re looking for a way to redeem yourself, though.”

  “I’m not going to find that in your service.”

  “Aren’t you?” Ida said. “As bad as the things you saw over on the Rhea were, they’re insignificant next to the kind of things which the Archduchy of Crius did on a regular basis. Slave labor, comfort slaves, human experimentation, and the destruction of whole populations. That’s going to be insignificant, though, the moment the Commonwealth falls and all the various groups fighting over it carve it up like a bison on Prideday.”

  “So, I should fight with you because the lesser evil is the greater good?”

  “Isn’t it always?”

  “When I first joined the Starfighter Corps, my father was angry beyond belief. He let me know in no uncertain terms that he thought those who fought on the front lines were nothing more than fools and pawns. His opinion of the Archduchy was one that existed for the nobility and by the nobility. Those sacrificed in its name were nothing more than yokels, deluded by thoughts of glory or patriotism. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did if I hadn’t appealed to his political enemies. Men and women who just wanted to see me die and my siblings inherit his fortune.”

  “And yet you live while everyone else there has died.”

  “Yes,” I said, sighing. “I wanted to believe the Archduchy was worth fighting for and there was an honor in its service. That by serving it, I elevated myself above those who merely profited from it. It’s been a hard and bitter pill acknowledging I was wrong. I am not going to fall into that same trap again.”

  Hunk-A-Junk finished cleaning up the broken tea set on the ground. It then squirted out a liquid that dissolved the liquid and sugar then evaporated so the floor was clean and beautiful.

  “People don’t change,” Ida said. “We like to think we can, but the nature of a man is inviolate. We just chip away the detritus around our inner core. You’ll always be looking for some means of being more than your selfish and greedy father, just like I’ll always be trying to make up for the people I killed as a smuggler.”

  “Who did you kill?”

  “People, like any other. I was a rich girl who wanted to slum with the poor folks and help them achieve independence from the Commonwealth. I sold weapons, drugs, and brought terrorists, though I called ‘em revolutionaries, across borders in hopes of eventually seeing a better world. Eventually, I saw just how much damage I was doing and asked just how bad it would be for the Commonwealth to be in charge of everything. People don’t give a shit about freedom as long as their bellies are full and there’s something good on the holo.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “No, but I also believe most people don’t give a shit about politics either and hate getting pulled into the fights of those who do.”

  She had me there. “How did you get into the Watchers with a past like that?”

  “Money.”

  “Ah.” That was how everything worked in the Commonwealth. “All right, just for the sake of argument, what do you mean, Cognition A.I.?”

  “Zoe claims the Free Systems Alliance is building one as a weapon against the Commonwealth.”

  I tried to control my reaction but failed. “Even they’re not that stupid.”

  “I think any gamble about the human race that starts with us not being that stupid is a sucker’s bet.”

  “Surely, we’ve improved our defenses against them in the past two millennia?”

  “Oh, sure, there’s no way they could shut down the jump systems the way they did before. That doesn’t mean something one billion times smarter than any human isn’t going to be able to crush us like insects, especially since we only survived thanks to our own A.I. last time. Also, don’t call me Shirley.”

  “I didn’t. I used the word surely as in talking about a near-certain likelihood.”

  “You’re no fun, Cassius.”

  I pondered the weight of her words and what, exactly, might be accomplished if I went along with her. Cognition A.I. were one of the few purely evil things in this world, at least in public perception. If it came out, the Free Systems Alliance would lose all public support and those who stopped them would be considered heroes.

  The Spiral’s people would burn any planet or people involved, even if they were as powerful as the Chel. It might lead to a Galactic War, but it would save my reputation for future gener
ations whether I lived or died. Which was the matter’s crux as I couldn’t trust what I was fighting for or the person telling me to trust them.

  Punching the side of the wall, I said, “The problem is I can’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth, Ida. Maybe a Cognition A.I. exists. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe the Commonwealth is working on it. One of the first lessons I picked up in the Academy was you had to always trust your wingman and I don’t trust you. I’m leaving at our next port of call.”

  “All right,” Ida said, looking unconcerned with my rejection. “It’s Shogun. We’re going to be investigating the Rin-O’Harra clan’s ties to the FSA.”

  “Does Clarice know?”

  “Nope. Could you be a dear and tell her?”

  I growled and stomped out.

  Chapter Seventeen

  To say I was troubled was an understatement. I should have gone to my quarters, gathered up my few possessions, and prepared to leave at Shogun. I wanted to be able to leave all of this behind, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t help but think about Ida’s words. Was it true I couldn’t change? That I wanted this? To feel needed? By anybody?

  I needed to talk to someone. As much as Clarice deserved to know we were going back to her homeworld, I didn’t feel up to confronting her right now. Later? Perhaps. Maybe we could talk about the business with the Chel if she was willing to confide in me about it.

  Maybe not.

  Heading down the ladder to the medical bay, I heard Ida speak on the ship intercom. “Ladies, gentlemen, and others, I’m pleased to say I have been in contact with the Wayward Ship Authorities. While, sadly, we weren’t able to recover any more than a single survivor from the Rhea thanks to a catastrophic life support breakdown, they’ve decided to honor our salvage contract for the vessel. It has been sent on an automatic flight path back to Albion and every crewmember is going to be given a share of the prize money amounting to 25,000 credits. Consider the risks we took rewarded.”

  Reaching the bottom of the ladder, I saw several of my fellow crew members standing in the hallway. All of them gave a resounding cheer before immediately starting to talk about how they were going to spend their bonus.