‘I agree. It would take a miracle, but if Winter thinks she’s got something that big, and there’s nothing else we can think of…’
‘Well,’ Aneka said, ‘there’s one other thing, but it’s just as unlikely.’
‘Oh?’
‘A bunch of Xinti willing to fight for the Jenlay.’
Ella frowned. ‘If they worked out what the Herosians did and decided that everyone else could be saved…’
‘We’ll know in a hundred and ten days.’
‘Wake me up in a hundred. If we’re going to have a horrible death, I want to be really happy before we go.’
‘And if we don’t die?’
‘I’ll still be really happy.’
The Islands, New Earth, 20.7.529 FSC.
‘Reports are starting to come in from Beryum,’ Truelove said from the wall screen. She was at home, and behind her Elroy could see Justine wandering back and forth wearing a short, Nusilk slip. Normally Elroy would have been amused, or aroused, but today it just reminded him of Ollander.
‘I’m going to assume from your expression that the attempt to recapture that world was unsuccessful.’
‘Norton sent nowhere near enough ships to mount a viable attempt. We think it was a total loss, though some ships may have got out. We won’t know for sure for a few days.’
Elroy swallowed back bile and nodded. ‘What did you tell the Oversight Committee?’
Truelove’s lips twitched. ‘I knew about the Garnet Hyde, but it was not an FSA operation and therefore none of their business.’
‘And I assume they were exceptionally happy about that?’
‘Usher just about blew her stack, but there was nothing she could do.’
‘The Administration was similarly unhappy,’ Elroy stated. ‘But they were also presented with a sealed deal, and could also do nothing about it. Let’s just hope Aneka is right about this.’
‘I trust her, but it’s going to take time. It’s over a hundred days to their destination.’
‘You know where they’re going?’
‘Not the coordinates. Safer that I don’t. I know the timescales.’
Elroy’s thin lips pursed. ‘Say a hundred and fifteen before we can possibly hear anything. Over three months. This is going to be difficult.’
‘If anyone can keep a lid on this, you can, Senator.’
‘Thank you for the vote of confidence. I hope it’s deserved.’
FScV Garnet Hyde, 2.8.529 FSC.
‘You have got an amazing body,’ Abby commented as Cassandra finished taking off her shipsuit.
Cassandra smiled at her, a little timidly. ‘Thank you, Abby, though it is that of a relatively well-known sex robot. Many Jenlay view me as… “off the shelf.” Your lack of familiarity is working for me.’
‘You’re selling yourself short,’ Aneka told her. ‘Whoever designed you, they had a reasonably good eye.’ She sniffed. ‘We don’t have a fancy rig, so we’re going to have to make do with the table.’
Sighing, Cassandra clambered up onto the small table bolted to the room’s floor and lay down on her stomach. She looked uncomfortable, but not because of the position.
‘Still bothered about us seeing you opened up?’ Aneka asked.
‘It is not exactly me at my best,’ Cassandra replied. ‘However, it needs to be done.’
‘And I for one,’ Al said, his voice going out to his friend over radio, ‘do not find it even remotely off-putting.’
Cassandra turned her head to give Aneka, and thus Al, a smile. ‘Initiating shutdown. You may proceed when ready, Aneka.’ Her head lowered onto her arms, her body went limp, and two panels hinged back from a seam which appeared from nowhere along her spine.
‘That’s amazing,’ Abby said. ‘I mean, you can’t even tell there’s anything there until it opens.’
Aneka was busy locating the charging port near the base of Cassandra’s spine. ‘That’s bioplastic for you.’ She plugged in a heavy power cable and was rewarded with a red charging light. ‘That’ll take about an hour, the diagnostics will be faster.’
‘And you learned this to work on Ella’s eyes?’
‘Not quite like this, but yes. There isn’t a panel in her head or anything. It’s done by remote. Delta can do it too. She’s actually better than me. As long as there’s nothing wrong, nothing too complex anyway, I can handle it.’
‘But you don’t need this?’ Abby asked, looking up and down Aneka’s body.
‘I do, but I have a bunch of nanobots that do it constantly. Every morning, when I wake up, I get the diagnostic readouts. They usually say “optimal.”’
‘Not always?’
‘I’ve been known to take significant damage. An Enforcer came fairly close to taking me out entirely.’
‘The one you mentioned to Charley?’
‘Uh-huh. I wear heavier armour these days.’ Aneka plugged in a diagnostic computer and began its test sequence. ‘Twenty minutes and then we just wait for her batteries to charge up.’ She glanced at Abby. ‘You know, you’re not used to robots, but you seem to be taking this in your stride.’
‘Cassandra’s not a robot,’ Abby replied instantly. ‘I mean, she is obviously, but she’s a person. And this… Back home they make us have quarterly medicals to make sure they aren’t overstressing us. This isn’t really that different.’
‘I knew there was a reason I liked her,’ Al commented.
28.10.529 FSC.
‘Reading?’ Aneka asked.
‘Uh-huh,’ Abby replied. ‘I hope I haven’t been too boring as company.’
Aneka laughed. She was on the bottom bunk, Abby was on the top. In the morning the frozen crew would be waking up for the final ten-day stretch to their destination. ‘To be honest, it’s sort of a pleasant change.’
‘How so?’
‘It’s different. Being in a room with someone who doesn’t want sex every night.’
‘It’s not like we haven’t indulged once or twice. And that time Cassandra joined in…’
‘She is very adept.’
There was some shuffling from the bunk above. ‘Her tongue…’
Aneka giggled. ‘As she pointed out, her model is a popular one, and for good reason. Even if it’s more popular on the Rim. Core world Jenlay like to think they’re above such things.’
‘Is it just me, or do the Jenlay seem kind of hypocritical about sex to you too?’
‘They have a number of little foibles. You’re not wrong. They like to think they’re incredibly liberal, but they have some very conservative attitudes at times. They like to think looks don’t matter, but try getting a partner if you’re ugly.’
‘Is there such a thing as an ugly Jenlay?’ Abby asked, laughing.
‘I’ve met some that could be better. The worst was a man named Ardus Quint. He was a telepath and used to turn women into mindless slaves to get them to sleep with him.’
‘Oh. You said he was a telepath?’
‘He’s dead,’ Aneka said flatly.
‘That… sounds like a good thing.’
‘Yeah…’
There was silence for a few minutes, then the sound of shuffling from above again. Abby’s legs appeared over the side of the bunk and she dropped to the deck.
‘Uh… It is our last night and now I’m stuck thinking about Cassandra’s tongue…’
Aneka laughed and scooted over on the bunk. ‘Come on then. Maybe she’ll join in when she gets back from the lab.’
29.10.529 FSC.
‘I am getting too old for this,’ Gillian moaned.
Delta handed her a water bottle. ‘You volunteered,’ she said.
‘Exactly.’ Gillian flipped open the top and drained half the bottle. ‘Clearly all the freezing is bringing on early-onset dementia.’
Drake shook his head; Gillian complained, in the same way, every time she woke up. ‘Aggy? Everything okay?’
‘All systems and crew are functioning within parameters, Captain,’ the AIs voice re
plied.
‘No Shannon to meet me? I expected her to deliver that report.’
‘Shannon indicated that you should eat and then go to your cabin where she will be awaiting a full debriefing. I would like to point out that this is obviously a euphemism since she is not wearing briefs.’
Abby burst into a fit of giggles and Drake rolled his eyes. ‘Uh, yeah,’ the Captain said, ‘I kind of got that Aggy.’
‘We are nine-point-eight Federal Standard Days from the target system,’ Aggy went on. ‘As yet sensors are picking up nothing much aside from that there is a star there. Doctor Wallace is in the lab with Cassandra working on getting more data, but does not expect to see details soon.’
Drake nodded. ‘Let’s get some food in us. Tomorrow we can discuss plans for our arrival.’
‘Not that there’s much to plan for,’ Aneka said.
‘No,’ Bashford agreed, ‘but you know how I like to have contingencies covered.’
7.11.529 FSC.
‘Definitely eleven planets,’ Wallace said. ‘Four gas giants, three rocks, one icy rock, and two planets so close to their star they’re ovens.’ The crew were gathered in the lab where a schematic display of the system ahead of them was gracing the screens.
‘That was ten,’ Drake commented.
‘There’s a garden world, or there would not be a “G” designation. At this range, and with the warp drive engaged, the best I can get is a fairly standard, nitrogen-based atmosphere. It looks like it has a moon from the orbital wobble.’
‘Our target?’ Aneka suggested.
‘That would seem to be a logical conclusion, but I’ll continue refining the scans. We will get more detail as we get closer.’
‘Then we wait,’ Drake said. ‘We can decide on where to exit warp when we know more.’
‘You’re not enjoying this, are you?’ Aneka asked him.
‘Neither is Bash,’ Drake replied.
‘I’m not,’ the facilitator agreed. ‘Too much in the way of unknowns.’
Aneka nodded. ‘Yeah, I can get behind that.’
9.11.529 FSC.
‘I’ve enough data to indicate a breathable atmosphere. With the distortion from the warp field we can’t be absolutely certain about contaminants.’ Wallace checked the screen in front of him. ‘I’m detecting three satellites, but the orbits suggest two of them are artificial.’
‘Artificial satellites?’ Gillian asked. Wallace nodded. ‘That system is too young to have a spaceflight-capable civilisation.’
‘Oh, far too young. If I’m detecting them, they have to be fairly large structures. We are talking about an advanced spacefaring culture. That probably means…’
‘Someone has come in and colonised the place,’ Gillian finished for him.
‘Yeah, but who?’ Drake asked. ‘We’re way outside Federation space. Abby?’
‘Not us,’ the ambassador replied. ‘Herosians?’
‘It seems unlikely, but we should be cautious.’ He looked upward. ‘Aggy, give us a course toward the fifth planet. We’ll exit three light-seconds out and scan from there.’
‘Course laid in, Captain,’ Aggy replied. ‘Warp exit in eighteen minutes, twenty-two seconds.’
‘All right. Shannon, Aneka, you’re with me in the cockpit. Everyone else, let’s get ready for whatever reception we have waiting.’
~~~
The view through the front window of the cockpit shifted to normal. Even at this range they could see two large stations hanging in space on either side of the single moon. What they could not see, even after three seconds, were missile launches, and there was no sign of active scanning.
‘Atmospheric data is coming through,’ Wallace’s voice said. ‘Trace chemicals in the atmosphere suggesting volcanic activity. Nothing dangerous. Atmospheric pressure is within tolerances. It’s warm, but nothing excessive.’
‘There’s also surface plant life,’ Ella added.
‘I’m more concerned about those stations,’ Drake said.
Aneka was frowning. ‘Doesn’t one of them look just a little too much like…?’
‘That’s impossible,’ Gillian broke in.
‘Unlikely,’ Wallace corrected. ‘Am I correct in remembering that War mentioned a weapon that could cause a star to go nova which employed a wormhole?’
‘Yes,’ Aneka replied. ‘She did.’
Almost as if in answer, the radio spoke. ‘Federal Science Vessel Garnet Hyde, this is Shadataga Control. Welcome. Please proceed to docking.’
‘Shadataga,’ Aneka said. Drake and Shannon looked at her. ‘It means “Reaching for knowledge,” education.’ She waved at the control panel. ‘May I?’
‘Be my guest,’ Drake replied, activating the transmitter.
‘Garnet Hyde to Control,’ Aneka said, ‘we will set course to your docking bay. You guys have a lot of explaining to do.’
Control’s voice held a hint of humour as she replied. ‘It has taken rather longer than expected for us to speak again, Aneka. We are looking forward to providing you with all the answers you seek.’
Shadataga.
‘Yes, the wormhole we used to collapse our star also acted as our escape route.’ Speaker looked just as he had aboard the station in the Negral system: a distinguished old man in a white suit with a cane clutched in one hand. ‘If you want the details of how it was done, you’ll have to talk to Reality. Physics is not my speciality.’
‘I shall take great pleasure in doing so,’ Wallace said, beaming in anticipation.
‘I take it you’ve been here for a while?’ Gillian added. Her gaze wandered over the courtyard they were in, and the buildings around it.
The AIs had been busy; that was clear just from the construction. To the north were low buildings with large windows which gave the impression of housing; a lot of apartments set around small quads and gardens of local plants. Off to the east and west the structures were more utilitarian and gave no indication of purpose, though there were towers suggestive of cooling systems so there was possibly some heavy machinery in there. To the south, however, there was a more grandiose structure with a motto in Xinti, Latin, Hani, Toremic, and Herica scripts above the large doors. In all of them it read, ‘Seek Knowledge and You Shall Be Rewarded.’
‘We began construction sixteen months ago,’ Speaker said, ‘by your calendar. We needed to build equipment to do the work prior to that. We decided that the attack on Negral should not stop us from continuing our plan for a university.’ He nodded toward the big building with its multi-lingual motto. ‘That is the result. We have student housing to the north, recreational facilities to the east, and our computer and operations centre to the west. Everything is functional, though we have not finished decorating all the apartments.’
‘I’m disappointed, Speaker,’ Aneka replied, grinning. ‘Inviting us here before the work’s finished?’
‘War and Winter were very insistent that we get you here as soon as possible. They are waiting for you in the operations centre. Don’t keep them waiting. Winter has developed quite the independent temperament and she’s getting impatient.’ He smiled. ‘She used to be such a mild-mannered AI.’
‘Huh, right. In that building?’
‘I’m coming too,’ Ella burst out. ‘They’re going to ask you to do something really dangerous. I’m not waiting to hear about it second hand.’
‘Let’s go then,’ Aneka told her, starting toward the western buildings.
~~~
War was a statuesque woman, a warrior figure in a white tunic. Winter’s tall, blonde Number Seven avatar seemed small beside her colleague. The two were waiting in a large room full of consoles and a big, circular, central display table, which looked rather like Winter’s operations room aboard her ship.
Currently, the image hovering over the display table was a galaxy map marked with several bright lights. Al’s pattern-matching algorithms quickly identified several of them. Old Earth, New Earth, and Shadataga were there, so were Beryum, Lon
ar, and Marchant. There was a dotted line moving out from the furthest out of the lights toward the one which marked New Earth. Aneka frowned at the other lights and then glanced at the two AIs.
‘We have probe ships out in strategic locations,’ Winter said. ‘I’m sure you’ve identified some of them. Possibly not Herosia and Galinor, the current Herosian capital. We detected a large fleet of Herosian ships leaving Herosia. The line is our expectation of their course and an approximate time to arrival at New Earth.’
‘Early next year,’ Ella said, her voice quiet.
‘Unfortunately,’ War said, ‘we cannot enact our plan before they get there, unless our estimate is wrong.’
‘I really don’t think that’s likely. What is it you want Aneka to do?’
‘Straight to business then,’ Winter said. ‘It’s nothing too bad. Just fly to Herosia, plant a computer virus in their central communications hub, and get out without them noticing.’
Aneka looked at the display. ‘That could take most of a year. And when I get there they’ll spot me as soon as I come out of warp, if not before.’
‘We have something special arranged for that,’ War said. ‘A present for you.’ She waved a hand at the display and it shifted to show a sleek, black hulled spacecraft. ‘This is Gwy. She’s waiting for you in the orbital station. Optically camouflaged hull, with stealth characteristics, cloaking system, force field defence system, full electronic warfare system, and beam weapons for offence.’
‘And she’ll do close to a light year in a Federal Standard Hour,’ Winter added. ‘She’ll get you to Herosia in about seventy-one days.’
‘A present?’ Aneka said, her eyes on the image.
‘She’s yours,’ War said. ‘You’ll need to familiarise yourself with her. She’s different from the ships you’re used to.’
‘Once you’re ready, however,’ Winter said, ‘you need to go.’
‘We need to go,’ Ella stated flatly. ‘I’m going too.’
‘Ella…’ Aneka began.
‘No,’ Ella interrupted. ‘You’re going to need help. The AIs can get me chips for engineering skills, electronics operations, piloting… And if you’re walking into that, I’m not letting you go by yourself. You could get killed…’
Aneka Jansen 5: The Greatest Heights of Honour Page 19