Changing of the Guard (A Galaxy Unknown - Book 11)

by Thomas DePrima

  "What does it say?"

  "I don't know. It's encrypted. Perhaps the decryption officers at Quesann will be able to decipher it."

  "I'm sorry we injured you."

  "As you Terrans say, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

  "I believe it was a bomb from my ship that destroyed the ship you were on. As the bomb exploded, my Com Chief got the signal you sent."

  "I never sent any signal. The transmitter was in the concealed opening in my left leg where SCI hid it. I suppose the explosion was responsible somehow, or perhaps when the overhead crushed my legs and they were broken off."

  "Apparently. I'll be right back."

  Stepping out of the cell, Christa said to the Marine guard, "Corporal, have this prisoner taken to Shuttle Bay 2."

  "Uh, I'll have to check with the officer on duty in the security office first, ma'am, and get authorization for a prisoner transfer."

  "Corporal, do you know who I am?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Then you should know that I'm operating under the orders of the Admiral of the Fleet. Now, once you issue instructions to begin moving this prisoner, you go check with whomever you want. But I order you to begin moving this prisoner. NOW!"

  "Yes, ma'am," the corporal said, saluting. "Right away, ma'am."

  The corporal signaled to two guards, who came over quickly. They had probably heard the exchange.

  "Prisoner transport," the corporal said to them. "Take it to Shuttle Bay 2."

  While the gurney was being pushed out of the security area, the corporal was on the com speaking with someone, but Christa ignored him.

  As the gurney reached the shuttle bay, Eliza approached Christa.

  "You've got all my security people on edge."

  Christa grinned. "I don't usually have to throw my weight around."

  "It's okay. They need a little discipline like that from time to time. They shouldn't have questioned the orders of a senior officer moving a prisoner who represents no possible physical threat to anyone. There was plenty of time to verify permission for the transfer once it had been initiated. Where are you taking it?"

  "To the Koshi. This is the cyborg that SCI reprogrammed and sent in."

  "Really? I thought you said it had been killed during the battle."

  "I thought it had. As you can see, it's not in too good a condition."

  "Yeah. It's needs a bit more than a new coat of paint."

  "Technically, it's one of ours, Eliza, so I'm going to do whatever I can for it."

  "Okay, sis. Good luck."

  "Talk to you later."

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  ~ March 6th, 2292 ~

  "Where are you taking that— thing," the young doctor asked as two enlisted rolled the gurney into the sickbay aboard the Koshi. Christa was a few paces behind them and heard the challenge.

  "I need you to patch it up, Lieutenant," Christa said.

  "What? Oh, sorry, Captain. I didn't see you back there."

  "I want you to do everything you can to help this cyborg."

  "Why?"

  "Because I've ordered you to do it."

  "But Captain, I'm a doctor, not a mechanic."

  "It needs help, and I can't very well take it down to engineering. But I'll get a couple of engineers to come up here and work on it. And you will assist. Perhaps you'll learn something they didn't teach you at the medical college."

  "But Captain…"

  "Are you resigning your commission and requesting to be released from Space Command?"

  "What? No! Ma'am."

  "Then you have your orders, Lieutenant. Carry on."

  The doctor looked up into her eyes for a second before saying, "Aye, Captain."

  The doctor directed where the two enlisted were to take the gurney. When they reached an examination table, the cyborg was lifted off and gently laid onto it. Then the two enlisted left the sickbay. The doctor turned and walked into his office.

  "D01?" Christa said.

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Are all cyborg bodies built to the same specifications?"

  "Not all, Captain. There are tiny cyborgs that work in the engineering access tubes and very tall cyborgs that work in the holds. But most cyborgs, according to my electronic memory files, have been built to the same physical specifications for decades. Materials for the body may vary slightly, depending on what's available at the time of construction."

  "So if I gather a few of the expired cyborg bodies that have good working parts and we replace your damaged parts, your body will operate properly and won't reject them?"

  "The parts from most Denubbewa cyborgs are fully interchangeable."

  "Excellent. That's what we'll do then. Uh, D01, do you understand gender in biological life forms?"

  "You're referring to the difference between males and females and how the females have eggs to produce the young when the eggs are fertilized by sperm from the males?"

  "Yes."

  "Yes, I understand. You are a female, Captain."

  Christa smiled. "I'm not talking about me. I wanted to know if your original body was male or female."

  "I don't know, Captain. My memory has been erased. I don't know what sex I was, what species, or even how old I was."

  "That's terrible. I'm so sorry."

  "You had nothing to do with it, Captain. Nor did your species. That much I do know."

  "I was expressing empathy, not apologizing for what happened to you."

  "Oh. I understand."

  "The main reason I wanted to know was to give you a proper name."

  "Is D01 not a proper name?"

  "Uh, it's a bit too generic. How about the name Lucky?"

  "Lucky?"

  "Yes, because you were lucky to be selected for this mission and lucky to have survived the bombing of the ship you were on."

  "Lucky. Lucky. Yes, I like it. My name is now Lucky instead of D01."

  "Let's keep D01 as your official identifier."

  "Okay. Should I be D01 Lucky, or Lucky D01."

  "I think I like Lucky D01."

  "So do I."

  "Okay, Lucky. I'm going to make arrangements to get you some arms and legs, and perhaps a new chest plate."

  "Thank you, Commander."

  ~ ~ ~

  "There you go, Commander," Lt. Hudden said. "Your cyborg has arms and legs again, and we replaced the chest plate."

  "Excellent work, Lieutenant. Lucky, how does it feel? Move your arms."

  The cyborg stretched its arms out and wiggled its fingers, then rotated its arms to the stops.

  "Are your receptors working?" Christa asked.

  The cyborg stopped moving for a second and then touched its fingertips together.

  "All receptors in my hands and arms are active and normal, Captain."

  "Good. Now move your legs."

  The cyborg stretched out its legs and wiggled its toes.

  "Everything feels normal, Captain. The receptors in my feet and legs are working properly."

  "Good. Stand up."

  The cyborg grabbed hold of the edge of the examination table and twisted its body so its legs were over the edge, then bent at the knees and moved to place its weight on its legs and stand. As it stood and rose to its full height, Lucky said, "It feels normal, Captain. And it's a pleasure to stand up again. I had begun to think I was going to have to be on my back for the rest of my life."

  "You know, Commander," Lt. Hudden said, "I bet we can put together some casings for its arms, legs, and torso to make it appear more Terran and less intimidating to crewmembers."

  "What do you think, Lucky?" Christa said.

  "As long as they don't interfere with my mobility, I have no objection."

  "We'll make them from a flexible material so they bend when you move," Lt. Hudden said to the cyborg.

  "Like Terran skin?"

  "Somewhat. Naturally, you won't have the sense of touch that Terrans have."

  "It
would be nice to blend in a little more. At Quesann, Terrans always leaped out of the way when I approached. They seemed to expect me to attack them."

  "That's understandable, Lucky. Most only know the Denubbewa cyborgs to be merciless killers."

  "Yes, I understood, but it didn't make the situation any more comfortable. Lt. Hudden," the cyborg asked, "can you change my eye color to something a little less intimidating such as blue or light green?"

  "That might be possible. I'll check the eyes on the expired cyborgs who donated your body parts to see how the eyes are constructed. Perhaps we can even produce a full head mask as well."

  "With synthetic hair?"

  "Of course."

  "Wonderful."

  "Okay, Lucky, Lt. Hudden will begin work on making your appearance less intimidating to Terrans. And this Marine will show you to your new quarters and stay by you to see you aren't disturbed. A Marine will plug you into your power supply each night and unplug you the next day."

  "Am I to be treated as a prisoner?"

  "It will seem like that for a while— until the crew gets used to having a cyborg in our midst. I know you're not like the cyborgs we've just spent many months chasing down and fighting, but not everyone sees things the same way because they know most cyborgs have been programmed to destroy this nation and its sentient population. Just be patient and continue to be cooperative. You'll see attitudes eventually change."

  "I understand, Captain."

  "After you arrive at your room, a com chief will come to download the message the Denubbewa security officer uploaded into your electronic memory. It's going to be transmitted to SCI so they can have a crack at decrypting it."

  "I understand, Captain."

  "Good. That's all for now, Lucky."

  "Captain, thank you for everything. I know I'll never be considered a member of the crew, but since SCI resurrected me, I've felt like I have a life. When I was aboard that Denubbewa ship and saw all those cyborgs mindlessly doing what they were programmed to do, I realized how lucky I was to be rescued."

  "Uh— yes, Lucky. You go along with the Marine now and he'll get you settled in."

  "Okay, Captain."

  ~

  As Christa sat in her office a short time later, she thought about the situation with Lucky. She feared that with its mission completed, SCI might decide to return it to the spare parts inventory. She had tried to avoid any personal attachments, but she'd felt some responsibility since it was first deposited in the Denubbewa ship. She decided that if SCI tried to send Lucky to the scrapheap, she would talk with Jenetta about a better disposition for the cyborg.

  ~ ~ ~

  "Come in, Christa," Captain Gavin said when she appeared at his office aboard the Ares. As the doors closed behind her, he added, "Let's skip the formalities. Have a seat."

  Eliza was there, seated in a side chair. She looked up from her viewpad without expression.

  "I sense bad news," she said.

  "No," Gavin said. "Not bad. Not exactly. We've completed the searches of all the motherships. Not a single cyborg was found anywhere. We did find enough spare parts to build an enormous army of cyborgs, but no brains. I guess they figured they'd pick up the brains here."

  "That's a gruesome thought," Christa said.

  "No doubt about that," Eliza said. "We know what they intended for us."

  "Have all of the motherships now been sent to their designated locations?" Christa asked.

  "All but the last one," Gavin said, then lapsed into silence.

  "Here's where I get the bad news, isn't it."

  "I'm afraid so, sis," Eliza said. "You drew the short straw."

  "And I don't even remember getting to draw a straw."

  "I represented you."

  "Then you should have to get stuck aboard that new space station."

  "You're not getting stuck aboard the station," Gavin said.

  "I'm not? I don't understand."

  "'Your ship, the Koshi, and your squadron, are being assigned to the station, not you. At least not on a permanent basis. You'll be in command of the station, but only until a new administrator arrives."

  "Isn't that what happened to Jenetta on both Dixon and Stewart?"

  "Uh, yes, but it won't happen here."

  "Can I get that in writing, sir?"

  Gavin smiled. "Jenetta knew you'd feel this way so she ordered me to assign you to the last of the space stations so the permanent administrator would already be on their way here."

  "Who is it?"

  "I don't know. The individual hadn't been named before we left Quesann, and I haven't received any updates that included that information. But Jenetta said the person would be underway by the time you had to take command of the station. Since travel time from Quesann is forty-eight days, that should be the most you'll have to wait."

  "I suppose that's not too bad, as long as the new administrator is underway and doesn't get sidetracked."

  "Your sister is not in the habit of lying."

  "No, but my sister can't control everything. I have no doubt that the administrator is on his or her way here, unless the Senate intervened or some other such problem arose."

  "We'll learn soon enough if that's the situation. In the meantime, you'll move the new space station to its designated area and wait for the contractors, supply ships, and new administrator to arrive. Once you turn over control of the station, you'll return to patrol duty in this sector until you receive new orders. Six CPS-16s will remain in the station at all times as a protection force, and be rotated as you see fit."

  "Yes, sir."

  "It's about lunchtime. Why don't you ladies join me in my quarters for lunch? My steward is preparing one of my favorite meals. It's grilled chicken breast fillets coated with breadcrumbs. The sides are broccoli and baked potatoes."

  "I'm in, sir," Eliza said. "I love the way Bertram prepares chicken."

  "I'm in also, sir. Today is pizza day on the Koshi, and I do enjoy it, but we have that every week. It'll be nice to have something different on Pizza Friday."

  ~ ~ ~

  "We're here, ladies and gentlemen," Christa said in a ship-wide announcement that also went out to all twenty-four CPS-16s in her squadron. The Koshi, Seeker, Khatanga, Ottawa, and three other Scout-Destroyer squadrons had been assigned to each of the seven motherships, with orders to move them to new locations in Region Three in preparation for becoming Space Command's newest bases. And until further notice, those space stations would be their home port.

  After the Koshi and all but one of the CPS-16s had entered the newest space station in the G.A., the giant doors had been closed. The one CPS-16 was enough to tow the former mothership to its destination. Once they arrived, the doors would be opened wide enough for the CPS-16s to enter or leave and eighteen would begin patrolling space around the new station to a distance of four hundred light-years. That meant that no ship would ever be more than ten days' travel time from the station. The Koshi would have to remain at the station until the new administrator and three destroyers arrived. The destroyers would serve as the protection force until the space station became a regular port with multiple Space Command vessels assigned there.

  ~ ~ ~

  The following day, many of the squadron officers and enlisted were wandering around the enormous space station. It was already underway to its newly assigned location. The Space Command and Marine personnel had been instructed on how to open and close doors and how to use the lifts but had strict orders not to touch anything else as they wandered around.

  Christa was touring the station with her XO, Lieutenant Paul Mollago, Lucky, and one of the Marine security guards who normally spent their days standing outside the cyborg's door. Lucky, excited about the opportunity to do something other than sit in his quarters all day, had practically jumped for joy when Christa invited him along. It would be the first time he'd have an opportunity to walk around in the new synthetic skin that now covered most of his body. And with baby blue eyes, he a
ppeared a lot less intimidating now. He'd also been given a Space Command uniform similar to those worn by the enlisted men and women.

  The group had been walking for well over an hour when they came to a door with a large sign on it. Usually, the doors just had numbers and letters.

  "Can you read that sign, Lucky?" Christa asked the cyborg.

  "It says 'Interactive Dispatch Hub.'"

  "What does that mean?"

  "I don't know, Commander. My electronic database allows me to translate the Denubbewa language, but I don't always know what the words refer to."

  "XO. Any ideas?"

  "None, Captain."

  "Let's take a look," she said as she tapped the control that caused the two doors to slide into their pockets.

  The interior of the area looked quite ordinary. There were several worktables around the periphery where Denubbewa were to stand while doing whatever they were supposed to do, and a large cabinet— two meters square and four meters tall— in the center of the room. It had a single entrance but no door and no other openings. The two officers studied the control panel mounted on the outside for several minutes.

  "I can't make any sense of this," Christa finally said.

  "Nor can I, Captain."

  "Lucky, does anything look familiar?"

  "It's very confusing, Commander. I can translate some of the words, but I don't understand their meanings, except for these two," the cyborg said, pointing to the two words next to a button.

  "And what do they mean?"

  "On and off."

  "But what do they turn on and off?"

  "I don't know."

  "One way to find out, Captain," Mollago said.

  "Okay, but no one walk into that opening."

  Everyone backed away from the cabinet except Christa. She took a breath and then depressed the button that Lucky reported as being the 'on' button. A soft white light came on inside the cabinet that illuminated the interior and a panel on the outside surface glowed with a series of Denubbewa symbols. The same symbols were visible on a side wall inside the cabinet. Nothing else happened for about fifteen seconds.