Transcendent (9781311909442)

by Halstead, Jason

  “No soldiers, I promise. Just me. I am in charge here and I’ve been able to make it possible for Krys to be accepted into our society. I’d like to think I can negotiate something that will allow you all to return as well.”

  “After you killed our families and stole our children?” Mig growled.

  Shelby held his angry gaze for a long moment and then nodded. “Frankly, yes. I’m sorry about what happened, but none of us can change that. I’m shorthanded and, simply put, we could use the help to increase our output. Krys is buried with keeping everything running and the men and women I have who are doing the farming and ranching are doing their best, but they could really benefit from the experience you and your friends have.”

  He looked at Krys and then back to Shelby. “Why wasn’t anyone thinking about this before you came in shooting three years back?”

  “Nobody’s thinking about it now,” she said. “At least nobody other than me. Fact is, if you agree to this, I can bring you in, but you’ll need to lay low. You won’t be in the system; that’s something I have to work at slowly. I’m hoping production increases offset the losses I won’t be able to officially account for.”

  “What losses?”

  “Clothing, food, and housing,” she said. “As it is, I’ve been fudging the reports to account for what Krys has been providing.”

  Krys turned to her and gasped, “You what? You knew?”

  She nodded. “For a while now. We keep records for a reason.”

  “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

  Mig chuckled. “Better watch yourself, Krys. You’ve got yourself a cunning one there.”

  Shelby spun head back to face him. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re smart. You’re trying to exploit a resource to help yourself out. Several resources now. And unless I miss my guess, the two of you are a lot more friendly than you’re letting on.”

  Krys felt his eyes widen and his face heat up. He glanced away and then looked over to see Shelby had a tinge of red in her cheeks. That made him feel better and confirmed that she cared for him. Or she was an excellent actress. He pushed the stray thought away and turned his attention back to Mr. Strain.

  “She took care of me,” Krys said. “She’ll stick to her word. I believe her.”

  Mig snorted. “It’s not about believing her, Krys. It’s about the risks.”

  “What risks are there?”

  Shelby nodded. “There are risks. Until I can figure out a way to get you registered in our society, you won’t be able to go anywhere or do anything. We’ll have to provide everything you need and hide the data trails. If we’re visited by anyone else, you’ll have to stay out of sight.”

  “Doesn’t sound promising,” Mig responded.

  “It’s better than the alternative,” she argued. “Living in the wild, no power, no food or water you can rely on. Not to mention the threat of being discovered by patrols.”

  “Only time soldiers have come for us, we got away,” Mig said. He glanced at Krys and winced. “Well, most of us.”

  Krys opened his mouth but a sharp look from Shelby stayed his voice. He clamped his lips together and waited for her to respond.

  “What?” Mig asked. He looked between the two of them. “What do you know that she doesn’t want you telling me?”

  Krys groaned and looked to Shelby. She sighed and answered for him. “Other colonies are having problems with troublemakers. Supply convoys have been ambushed and destroyed.”

  “Wasn’t us,” Mig said.

  She nodded. “I know. Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter. The guerilla tactics have gone on long enough and become significant enough to attract attention off-world. Last reports indicate we only have a little time left until reinforcements arrive.”

  “Reinforcements?”

  Krys blurted out, “Lots. Tanks and biomechs. You know, the big robots?”

  Mig grimaced. He turned and looked to the east. “We could run and hide. Tanks and robots probably won’t do well in the mountains.”

  “Neither will you,” Shelby said. “Unless you’ve managed to store away supplies and find a way to keep food from spoiling?”

  He frowned and didn’t respond right away.

  “Mr. Strain, Shel—Lieutenant Riggs and I have talked about this a lot. This really is the best thing we could come up with.”

  Mig nodded. “I’m seeing that, but I don’t like it. There’s a lot of hard feelings to get over and a lot of trust that hasn’t been earned.”

  “I’m here, with Krys, and without any backup or even a gun,” Shelby said. “What more do you need to believe me?”

  Mig stared at her a long moment and nodded. “Wait here.”

  “What?”

  He nodded at the pump. “Stay here. I have to go talk to my people. I can’t speak for them, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  “How many do you have?”

  He smiled and shook his head. “You can count the ones who come back yourself.”

  Shelby sighed. “All right, but please hurry. I need to get back. Things are heating up and if I’m gone too long, people will start asking questions.”

  Mig stared at her and said, “I don’t see how you trying to stay out of trouble is my problem.”

  Shelby raised an eyebrow. “Really? You are the problem here and I’m trying to help you. So I’d say that makes my problems your problems.”

  Mig’s nostrils flared. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and turned to Krys. “Watch her close, son; she’s crafty.”

  Krys grinned and nodded. Mig turned away and wandered into the rows of pineapple trees to consult with his friends. Shelby turned back to Krys, her lips opening to ask a question. Krys shook his head. “They’ll come around,” he assured her. “You did a good thing here. Reminds me of a soldier who shoved a kid in a hole to save him.”

  Shelby stiffened and smiled. She glanced around and then followed him to the shadowed side of the pump. “For being young and inexperienced, sometimes you know exactly the right things to say.”

  Krys grinned. “Sometimes I get lucky.”

  “Not yet, you haven’t,” she said with a wink. She laughed when Krys’s eyes widened and his jaw fell open.

  Chapter 37

  Lily studied the myrmidon class biomech as she climbed up the gantry to the open cockpit. She glanced, picking up places where hand and foot holds had been worked into the armor so it could be mounted or dismounted in the field.

  “This is incredible,” Palla whispered behind her.

  Lily couldn’t stop herself from grinning.

  “Are you ready for this?”

  “I feel like my entire life has been leading to this,” Lily admitted.

  Palla blinked and looked away. She laughed and turned back to her. “Three years. I’ve only known you three years but I know what you mean. This is your moment.”

  “I might not be here without your help,” Lily said.

  “Aw, thank you,” Palla said. “But come on, you’re the prodigy here.”

  “You’re no slouch.”

  Palla shrugged. “We can stand here and stroke each other’s egos all day, but you’ve got a biomech to pilot and I’ve got a ride to catch.”

  Lily grinned and caught Palla’s arm as she turned away. She twisted her friend back around and pulled her into a hug. Palla stiffened and then relaxed and squeezed her back. “Thanks,” Lily whispered. “For everything!”

  “Good luck, Lil!” Palla responded in a choked voice.

  Lily let her go and watched as Palla scampered across the gantry and back to the secure door of the drop bay. She ducked through the door and left Lily alone with the mechanics and other biomech pilots. All of them were focused on their own biomechs, leaving Lily a rare moment of respite. It was a calm before the storm and she knew it. Movement and chaos was coming, even if it was only trying to mobilize two brigades of armor.

  Lily’s part was keeping the five biomechs and support staff in her platoon toget
her. In the simulators, they’d gotten themselves together quite well. Everyone kept telling her how different things would be when it was real, but she couldn’t imagine it would be much harder. The sims were so realistic already: how much more difficult could it be?

  She pushed her thoughts away and climbed into the cockpit of her biomech. She settled into the armored cocoon and felt the cool padded material below her regulation blue shorts. She picked the helmet up and slipped it over her head and then fitted the breathing apparatus over her mouth and nose. Fully enclosed above her neck, Lily breathed in the first of the controlled air and tasted the faint metallic tint to it. She leaned back into the cocoon and shivered as the cool material chilled her through her t-shirt.

  “Myrmidon Delta-two-seven, initiate startup,” Lily said. “Authorization Captain Lily Evans.”

  “Authorization confirmed, pilot,” the smooth female voice of the biomech responded. “Ready for neural interface.”

  Lily took a deep breath and reached up to the side of her helmet. She could interface with the biomech automatically but for her first time she wanted to feel like it was completely her control. Her decision. Her desire. “Manual integration in three, two, one, inter—”

  Lily’s voice faded as she pressed the button on the side of her helmet that told the helmet to connect the cable to her implant. Her entire body stiffened as it felt like electricity was coursing through her veins and making her tingle all over. Then it burst through her and left her breathless and so completely relaxed she couldn’t feel her fingers or toes.

  Colors flashed in her vision that didn’t make sense until she focused on them. There on the right of her field of view, she could see a number. It read zero point zero kph. It was her speed! She focused on the other flickers and read off status screens of her biomech’s systems. Fuel cell capacity, charge rate, local sensors, ammunition levels, damage indicators, solid propellant, and other gauges and screens were available.

  After an eternity of time spent examining the screens and quickly practicing which was where and how she could find them when she needed them, Lily remembered her voice. “Myrmidon Delta-two-seven, establish new private designation.”

  “Awaiting designation, Captain.”

  “Sunshine.”

  “Private designation Sunshine confirmed, Captain. Thank you.”

  Lily felt like she was grinning. She didn’t know if her face was smiling or not, but she hoped so. Now she could speak to her biomech and call it Sunshine instead of Myrmidon Delta-two-seven. It was a trick her trainers had recommended to speed up the process and make the biomech more personal to her. Scoping it to a private designation meant her biomech wouldn’t respond to anyone else using the term, nor would it refer to itself as that way in any reports or communications to anyone else.

  “All systems optimal, Captain. Ammunition levels maximized. Would you like to load and charge weapons?”

  “Confirmed, Sunshine,” Lily said. “Load weapon systems but do not arm.”

  “Acknowledged. Loading weapon systems.”

  Lily faintly heard the whirring of machinery as her shoulder launchers cycled their first of four volley of rockets into the tubes. She checked and saw that her primary weapon, the eighty-mm electromagnetic rifle in Sunshine’s right hand, charged its coils up so it was ready to fire. A moment later, the magnetic feed link from the railgun to the biomech’s ammo bin flashed green.

  “Sunshine, open control comms.”

  “Acknowledged. Control comm circuit activated.”

  “Command, this is Captain Lily Evans, of Omega Platoon. Reporting systems green.”

  A man’s voice responded after a second. “Confirmed, Captain Strain. How’s your new ride?”

  “She’s beautiful,” Lily answered. “Please pass my thanks to the technicians who were able to rig up the railgun instead of the standard rifle.”

  “I’ll do that, Captain. Good luck. Stand by for launch orders.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Captain Strain?” Sunshine’s voice asked.

  “Sunshine?” Lily asked, surprised not only at the tone and familiarity of the biomech’s voice, but that it had spoken to her without her initiating it.

  “Correct, Captain,” the biomech said. “In addition to my self-learning artificial intelligence system, I have been programmed with extensive algorithms to interface with green pilots, allowing me to predict certain events and to take actions when within established probability thresholds.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Lily said with a frown. “This had better not interfere with my ability to pilot.”

  “Only in near-fatal situations when an alternative is available,” Sunshine said.

  “So you’re telling me this now to forewarn me?”

  “Negative, Captain. Part of the programming requires I make suggestions to aid and enhance your piloting abilities.”

  “Okay, um,” Lily paused and realized that this unexpected ability of her biomech could prove very handy. Or potentially distracting. “Thank you, Sunshine. Can I disable this at any time?”

  “Yes, you may.”

  “Good. Sunshine, open Omega Platoon comm channel.”

  “Channel open, Captain.”

  “Sunshine,” Lily said, knowing that prefacing any statement with the biomech’s designation would keep her words private. “Please proceed with informal privacy settings.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  Lily wondered if she was smiling again. She felt giddy. “Omega Platoon, report status.”

  “Hawkins, ready to engage.” First Lieutenant Alex Hawkins was the first to reply. He was in her platoon juggernaut class biomech.

  “Blain, ready to engage,” her scout, Second Lieutenant Kray Blain followed.

  “My ammo feed is jammed,” Second Lieutenant Ela Case growled into her ear. “Wait, it’s cleared now. These things are amazing!”

  Lily fought to keep her laugh out of her voice as she asked, “Lieutenant Case, is your dreadnaught ready?”

  “Sorry, ma’am,” Ela responded immediately. “Ready to engage.”

  A touch of laughter tinged the final member of Lily’s platoon to report in. “Brief, ready to engage.”

  Lily smiled at Jessa’s tone. She was in a myrmidon, like Sunshine, except Jessa hadn’t earned enough points and goodwill in training to swap out the standard seventy-five-mm rifle for something better. Her people were good; they’d been training together for the better part of a year now. She was the youngest, but she was also the best pilot in the group. She’d won their respect in the simulators and consistently scored at or above the top of every test to earn herself a commission to platoon leader. Now she had to keep her head out of the clouds and keep it! Fortunately for her, on Venus the clouds were few and far between.

  “Stand by, Omega, deployment light is still red. Keep your heads up and remember this is for keeps this time.”

  A chorus of verbal salutes and encouragement followed. Lily smiled to herself. “Sunshine, suspend Omega comms to audible only.”

  “Acknowledged,” the biomech responded.

  Lily rested silently in the biomech, familiarizing herself with the displays and controls again. She was barely into her second pass when Sunshine announced an incoming control circuit message.

  “All platoons, you are cleared to debark. Good luck, pilots.” The message came at the same time the clamps holding the biomechs in place in the ship’s hanger released.

  “Sunshine, for Omega comms: Green light to debark!”

  Lily knew her message was relayed when she saw the biomechs under her command begin to move out. Her heart leapt into her chest as she took her first step and felt the power of the massive organic muscles that powered her twenty-five ton robot beneath her. She didn’t just feel it move; she felt the muscles contracting and picking up the armored leg through her implant. It took her breath away.

  Lily struggled to regain control of herself. It really was like nothing she’d ever imagined!
The sims were a 2D video game compared to piloting a real biomech. She felt a shiver run through her body—her real body. It was a welcome relief from the growing warmth in the padded cocoon that protected her.

  The deployment from the hanger to the field outside of the starship was a success: only two of her biomechs ran into each other. Two other platoons ended up in heaps of fallen robots, leaving her men and women chuckling and offering snide comments on their private comm circuit. Lily agreed with them, but she kept her thoughts to herself. They had a long walk ahead of them from the starport and she was beginning to realize her biomech did lack one thing: decent cooling in the cockpit!

  Chapter 38

  “Will you just sign the damn contract?”

  A laugh burst out of Krys’s mouth before he could stop himself.

  “This is funny to you?” Shelby spat.

  “No! I—you just—”

  “I’ve risked my career to make you a citizen!” she fumed. “I’m doing it again to help your renegade friends! I’ve done everything for you and have plans for us! I’m not going to be stuck running an ag colony the rest of my life!”

  “Whoa,” Krys said. He held up his hands. “First off, I laughed because you swore. Normally you’re jumping on other people for using that kind of language.”

  Shelby clamped her mouth shut for a moment and then nodded. “You’re right,” she admitted. “But you’re so damn frustrating! Why won’t you sign a contract with me?”

  Krys sighed. “I never said I wouldn’t.”

  “Then why don’t you? You can move in with me. It’s a bigger residence. At least until we get out of here. Is it because we’ve never, um, been together?”

  “No!” Krys blurted as the heat rushed to his face. “That’s not it.”

  “Krys, it’s okay if that’s it. If you’re scared, we can wait. I have enough space you could have your own room. Look, believe it or not, but I’ve never done that either. I want you to be my first, though.”

  Krys stared at her and shook his head. “You’re ol—I mean, you’ve been all over and done so much.”