“Yes, sir.”
Harr kept digging for records until Sandoo showed up. So far he’d found nothing on the books, but that didn’t mean nothing was there. Many treasures took lots of sleuthing before they revealed themselves.
“Sir?”
“Shut the door. Now, listen good. I don’t know what it is that Yek’s got planned, but something is definitely going on that we’re not being made privy to, and I want to know what it is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I brought you in here to see what you know, Commander. And don’t give me any garbage about not knowing anything more than me. I know your type, Commander. You don’t like being in the dark, but you’re a people person. Whatever is best for the crew is what you’ll do, mission orders or not.”
“Thank you for noticing that, sir.”
“So what do you know?”
“Honestly, sir,” Sandoo said with a look of helplessness, “I don’t know anything more than you do about Yek. The first time I met him was on this ship.”
“And what about Jezden and Laasel? What do you know about them?”
“Same as you know, sir.”
“And yourself? What do you know about yourself?”
“Sir?”
“I’m being serious here, Sandoo. How far back does your memory go?”
Sandoo looked like a man who’d just realized that he was sitting in a room with a crazy person. He blinked a few times and then raised his eyebrows. Then he furrowed them again while scratching his head.
“Actually, I can’t remember back all that far, sir. Maybe two years, I guess.”
“Where were you born?”
“Oh, I was … uh … huh. I don’t know.”
Harr nodded. “I’ll bet the others don’t either.”
“What’s going on, sir?”
“I’m not 100% certain, Commander, but for now let’s keep this chat between us. I don’t want to alert Yek that something is up. He’s more than a little unstable, if you ask me.”
“He’s nuts, sir.”
“As we all know, but I think all of us may have a screw or two loose at the moment, Commander. Let’s just proceed with caution until I can figure out what the hell is going on.”
“Do you have your memories, sir?”
Harr nodded gravely. “I do, but I have a feeling that me and Geezer are the only ones who do. Let’s get back to work, Commander, and remember to keep this to yourself.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
THE WRINKLE
After Sandoo had left, Harr put in another call to Rear Admiral Parfait. His assistant put Harr straight through this time.
“Everything back on track, Lieutenant?”
“Commodore, sir, and mostly yes. Sir, I have a question for you and I hope you’ll be forthright with me when I ask this.”
“I’ve been waiting for this, Lieutenant,” Parfait said, dimming the lights, “and it’s okay to have the feelings you’re having. It happens to every man at some point or another. The main thing to know is that there is nothing wrong with it. Sure, some may find it unfitting of an officer in the SSMC, but one by one we’ll make them come around to our way of thinking. Not that I’m saying we want to change anyone from what they are naturally, of course, but I knew from the first day I met you that you had similar thoughts and feelings …”
“Sir?”
“Hmmm?”
“I’m not going to ask about things regarding sexuality. I wanted to ask you about the crew you assigned to Platoon F.”
“Oh, right, I uh … I was just pointing out … uh … well, yes … uh … what’s your question?”
“Are they all androids, sir?”
Parfait sat back with a look of a man who was just zapped by an electronic pulse. He was slightly wincing, but calmly so. Obviously Harr had struck a nerve. What it was connected to, he wasn’t sure, especially since Parfait was a bit of an idiot. Either way, Harr had hit something.
“Sir?”
“Yes?” Parfait said, refocusing on Harr.
“My crew. Are they androids?”
“Not all of them,” Parfait replied with a sigh.
“Sandoo?”
“Yes.”
“What about the toes?”
“Makes him seem real.”
“Laasel?”
“Yes.”
“The multiple personalities make her seem real, too, I’m guessing. I don’t suppose there’s anyway to shut that off?”
“Not that I’m aware of. I designed the Hank Moon personality myself,” the Rear Admiral said, beaming.
“Jezden?”
“Yes. No way he would have won that particular award on Klood without a little influence from my side.”
“Anyone else?”
“The junior staff are all androids, of course,” Parfait said as if that would be common knowledge.
“And Yek has to be as well.”
“He’s not,” Parfait replied, lucidly. “He’s eccentric and more than a bit loopy, but he’s not digital.”
“Does he know about the androids?”
“He does not, and we plan on keeping it that way. Fact is, that he’s the reason we put all the bots on board. If he gets out of line, meaning if he decided to turn that ship toward us instead, for example…he is rather unstable, after all…well, it’ll take mechs to knock him on his ass.”
“No argument there, sir,” Harr said, after a pause.
It added up, the more Harr thought about it. Yek was definitely human. If he had been a bot, that would have gone way beyond abnormal programming. Any programmer that could slap something together as insane as Yek would have been too smart for his own good. Fortunately, or not, as the case may be, Yek was just as real as …
Harr blinked. “What about me, sir?”
“What about you?”
“Am I an android?”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“I have no idea. I mean, I remember where I was born and all of that, but I did just undergo a lot of work. For all I know, you could have just built me to believe that I was really me. It’s not like I look all that much like I used to, after all, and the enhanced genitals …”
“You’re human, Harr,” Parfait interrupted. “And so am I. That’s what makes it important for us to stay close. Very close. Very very close.”
“Thank you for the information,” Harr said before quickly changing the subject. “Sir, I do have a question about this mission.”
“Shoot.”
“Why are we attacking the Kortnor? I mean, I know you said that this new station is supposed to be used to spy on us, but we’ve had pretty solid relations with them for the last 20 years, sir.”
“It’s all Yek. He’s of the belief that the Kortnor have been infesting our ranks with androids and we don’t know they’re doing it.”
“I see,” Harr said, thinking. “But now that our engineers have perfected the ability to build out our own androids, how would we tell the difference anyway?”
“Oh, we don’t have that skill yet, soldier. No, no, no. The androids on your ship were built for us by the Kortnor.”
Harr sat back and blinked at the Rear Admiral. “Then, in a manner of speaking, Yek was right.”
“About what?”
“The Kortnor, sir.”
“What do you mean, Lieutenant?”
“It’s Commodore, sir. What I mean is that we have a ship full of Kortnor androids and we’re going to use them to attack a Kortnor station. Don’t you think that might backfire?”
“Hadn’t thought of that,” Parfait answered and then he started digging around for a bit. “One second …” and then, “ah, here it is. Nope, we’re good. This contract says that the Kortnor would not put in any programming that would stop us from attacking them.”
“Wait … that’s actually in the contract?”
“Contrary to popular belief, young man, we at the SSMC are not as dimwitted as you may think. We consider things like this very c
arefully.”
“But, sir, that contract notifies the Kortnor that you’re planning to use the androids that they built for us to attack them.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
Harr shook his head and wondered, seriously wondered, how the hell the Segnal System managed to survive as long as it had. It had a long history of doing stupid things, but this took the cake. Of course, being that the Kortnor were an all robotic race, it could be that they didn’t understand the concept of deception—so this may have been one of those times where the idiocy of the Segnal government didn’t impede anything. Then again, all the androids on The Reluctant seemed very capable of deception. Not that Harr had noted any of them engaging in it, but they were so human that it just had to be possible.
“And the design specs were handled by you, sir?”
“Just some bits and pieces. We all chipped in, of course. I was in charge of making sure that they seemed sexually believable.”
In who’s world? thought Harr.
“At least now I know what the F stands for in Platoon F.”
“Well done, soldier.”
“So, if Yek is the mastermind behind the mission, where did he get the support to actually attack?”
Parfait shifted, looking suddenly uncomfortable. It was the same type of adjustment that Harr had noticed when he and Yek were meeting with Parfait earlier.
“Truth is that we’re all terrified of him, Lieutenant.”
“Does the SSMC or the Segnal government want war with the Kortnor?”
“Hell, no, but we also don’t want to wake up and find ourselves dead at the hands of a lunatic like Yek!”
“If Yek were out of the picture, you’d be fine with us not attacking the station?”
“Certainly, but people like him don’t die easily, Lieutenant.”
“Leave that to me,” Harr said seriously. “And, sir, it’s Commodore.”
THE CLOSET
It was apparent to Harr that Geezer was the closest thing to a confidante that he had on this ship. The old-timer had seen a lot of action over the years, knew what was up with propulsion, had an equally vested interest in survival, and was the only other being on the ship, aside from Yek, that wasn’t an android.
The androids were impressive, definitely. Their personalities alone could win more than their fair share of awards. Amazing was the only word to really describe them. They didn’t look flawless, though Laasel was pretty damn close, and they all had very human idiosyncratic points. Now that Harr knew what they really were he was able to see that their peculiarities were a bit far-fetched, but just a shade.
Yek was human, sure, but he was a loose cannon. Dangerous. With any luck he’d be out of the picture soon, and that would just leave a ship full of androids, one robot, and a sole human that was commanding them all.
Did he let them know? Probably not the best idea.
Commander Sandoo was already aware that something strange was going on, so Harr would have to play off of the android’s obvious gung-ho programming to keep him on his toes.
For now, Harr had to focus on the upcoming launch.
He tapped his pad and pulled up the schematics on the rail system. The Reluctant was fast approaching the curve that was supposed to split them off toward 27-19.
Jumping the rails wasn’t something that was easily accomplished. Actually, the newer ships couldn’t possibly do it unless the tracks were somehow sliced.
Shit.
“Geezer?” Harr called through his pad, feeling suddenly worried.
“Yo, chief.”
“Can The Reluctant be derailed via speed alone?”
“No, sir,” Geezer replied. “She got updated back on ‘38 to …” Geezer paused. “Oh, shit … the rails.”
“Exactly what I’m thinking,” Harr said, fighting back the use of a choice word or two. “I’m not seeing anything on the feeds, but I doubt they’d broadcast that kind of data because the Kortnor would scrub and find it.”
“Explains the mag situation I’ve been seeing.”
“What mag situation?”
“I had to decouple the main polarity system in order to hook in one of the engines. That should have slowed the ship down. Ship kept going.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that the SSMC’s charging this section of the rail so we can’t stop.”
Harr sniffed. “Those bastards think of everything.”
“Except your propulsion plan, honcho.”
“Good thing. How’s it coming?”
“It ain’t ready, but you can damn sure bet it will be in the next few hours.”
“We’ve got about 90 minutes before we derail, Geezer.”
“How long after the jump before we strike the station?”
“About 30 minutes.”
“Goddamn brass,” Geezer said with a hiss. “No offense meant, sir. You seem like a decent kid.”
“None taken, and thanks. What can I do to help?”
“Let me get off this pad so I can focus … sir.”
“Done,” Harr said and then took to the main bridge.
The walls of the ship had the first layer of dust gone. It could probably have done with another wipe down in order to get the shine of the newer ships, but there was no time to worry about that right now.
Harr found the bridge teeming with movement. His officers—minus Yek, who was still working the bays—were directing standard personnel through each of their tasks.
Laasel’s personalities were all working together, which proved interesting because, depending on who she was working with, she utilized the identity that best suited the style needed.
Sandoo was the one that Harr worried about. The Commander knew something was up and Harr was going to have to address it. But if he dropped the full slate of intel on him, the guy might just unravel. Still, Harr made a promise that he’d let them all know the truth eventually, assuming they made it through this little venture alive.
Not surprisingly, Jezden wasn’t on the bridge.
Harr checked his watch. 85 minutes left before the rail situation. That much he could tell them.
“Listen up,” he shouted above the chatter, “we have a bit of a bump in our plan to launch the lifeboats. Turns out that The Reluctant is not capable of jumping the rails.”
They all looked suddenly relieved.
“Before you get all happy about that, I’ve just learned that the SSMC already took this into consideration. They’ve cut the tracks at just the right spot.”
“Can’t we jutht thlow down?”
“The SSMC charged the rails.”
“Bathtardth!”
“That’s what I thaid … uh-hem … said. This just means that we’ll be jumping the tracks soon. Good news is that Geezer should have enough propulsion to drop off course and then we’ll be able to find our way back in time. Anyone seen Jezden?”
“Ran downstairs a few minutes ago with one of the crewmen,” Sandoo answered. “Said he needed her help with a pipe issue.” Then Sandoo looked up from his station. “Oh, I just got that.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Harr said with a grunt. “Keep focused here.”
If that didn’t take the cake, Harr wasn’t sure what did. Jezden, an android who didn’t know he was an android, was currently in the process of banging an android who didn’t know she was an android. On the plus side, it wasn’t like there’d be any baby androids jumping about within the year. Also, as Harr thought about it and took one more glance over at Laasel, androids were disease-free. Then he cringed a bit thinking how they were just a step up from a blow-up doll. A massive step up, but still.
Knocking on the closet door, the only place anyone could go to have a bit of privacy on the boat, he heard, “Screw off … we’re busy in here.”
“Ensign Jezden,” Harr said sternly, “meet me on the main bridge when you’ve finished, which I’m assuming is now since you’ve just been busted.”
“Nope, I’m good. I’ll be up sho
rtly.”
“Get your ass up there now, soldier!”
“Dammit! Fine! I’ll be up in a minute.”
Android or not, there was going to be some adjustments to that one’s programming or he was going to be off this ship before any future missions could be considered.
Same with Laasel, and, frankly, all of them!
Then he stopped at the ladder and considered that thought for a minute.
If he had it set so that their programming took away their eccentricities, wouldn’t that just make them … robots? Their diversity made them think outside of the box, in a human kind of way. Damn convincingly, too. Harr had no idea that they were androids until things started falling into place. Obviously they were robots, in a manner of speaking, but if he took away that essence that made them unique, then they truly would lose their differences.
Behind him he heard the wall in the closet banging rhythmically and the female android, whoever she was, seemed to be greatly enjoying the rutting.
One thing was for sure—whoever the hell the Kortnor developers that worked on these things were, they were unbelievably talented.
BRINGING IN GEEZER
By the time Jezden and a rather disheveled Ooster climbed back to the bridge, The Reluctant was just over 30 minutes away from derailment.
Harr sat back in his command chair as everyone busily toiled at their stations. At some point, assuming they all survived, he’d have to learn more of their names. Everyone seemed adept at their stations, which, for now, was all that really mattered.
Even had Harr not known that they were all androids, he would have figured it out pretty quickly by just watching them. Fingers were flying over the consoles so fast that he was amazed there wasn’t smoke. It was literally a blur of activity. How they didn’t notice that about themselves was a testament to the level of detail that the programmers kept to.
Commander Sandoo was standing off to the side, overseeing the crew. There was something about the way he was moving his head that gave Harr a vibe that the Commander was directing things somehow.
Harr clicked his personal communicator and signaled Geezer.
“Geezer here, chief.”
“We’re only about a half hour from the break, Geezer.”
Platoon F: Pentalogy Page 6