Marko nodded as Harry lightly punched him on the shoulder. ‘Thanks, Base.’
One of the Science AI drones was waiting for them as they descended from Mudshark. The sealed container was passed across and it disappeared in the direction of the AIs labs. Marko looked down at the stump, feeling a little depressed, and shuddered remembering the day years earlier when an urchin had snatched his arm away at the shoulder. He activated his internal controls and the helmet de-formed and slid down into the suit’s collar as the major said: ‘Early smoko today, people.’
Glint had disappeared but now returned, running on his back legs, with Marko’s number five lower arm in one hand and a tray of cream doughnuts in the other. Perfect poise, balance and doing sixty-five kilometres per hour, thought Marko, wondering if the MPs would book him for speeding. Then again, it would be a very brave MP who would write a ticket out to Glint.
Marko locked the number five lower arm on, establishing the sensory protocols between his augmented brain and the arm, while the crew introduced Glint to smoko, in the real sense. He was able to partake in doughnuts and it was amusing for everyone to watch his expressions of delight at tasting whipped cream, which he promptly introduced into his coffee as well, when the major asked him, ‘So why now, Glint? Why do you want to eat and drink? What’s the purpose of all this exotic engineering?’
‘I am curious, Michael; it is another aspect of my creators that I wanted to explore. Once I have tasted everything, I will know you all a little better. And it is useful. And I can now drink beer as well! Oh, I like that thought, as I have watched you all drinking alcohol and wondered why it seemed to be so good for you.’
Jan watched the interplay and mused that Glint was the only one of them, excepting Veg and Stephine, who called the major by his first name. The boss seemed to like it and although everyone sometimes worried about his occasional fits of self-doubt, they liked him a lot and would happily follow him anywhere. He did tend to over-analyse things that might better be left alone, but hey, she thought, he was certainly ‘the boss’: very intelligent, genuinely caring for his people and he could be plain nasty and very forthright when it came to doing the right thing. Glint had brought that up in private conversation with her and Marko and wondered why the major was even with them.
They all believed, in fact, that by being buried deep inside the military wing of the Administration, and therefore constantly on the move, Michael Longbow was probably hiding from something. Still thinking on that and about a little project that her Military Intelligence handlers had just given her she heard him say: ‘Right, back to it, people. Repair and replacement modules are starting to arrive. There’s going to be a hassle with an Intel and Materials crew. They’ll be here in a few moments to go over the entire craft and recover as much as possible of that critter. They consider it may be off-planet tech, so watch yourselves. Deal with it as best you can. I just hope like hell it’s not octopoids from Cygnus 5 all over again, although they say it’s not. Similar … but almost as if the octopoid we knew had dramatically regressed, and none of their suit technology present either. Anyway, they have priority.
‘Jan, you’re with me. I want to have a close look at that hangar space on Mudshark. Harry, sort out those main weapons, will you, please? Fritz, keep at the computers and the sensors, and get ready for the Tech AI package. I want absolute control of that machine as soon as it can be done. Marko, Glint, back to the engine room and find out how a kilo or so of gristle got in there. Materials AI already has a couple of drones working on the antimatter units; he’s very keen to get a handle on it soonest. Don’t worry, we salvaged the beast machine so we get the cash on anything found. Had a bit of a stoush over that and the Financial AI is a bit put out, but Base is feeling very pleased with us and told it to release the bucks. Glint. Was the Base AIs original personality that of a Tech General? Yes … explains a few things then. I’ll eyeball that data packet that you have assembled on him early this morning, thanks.’
Marko had locked on the number five, which was a good arm, heavier than the number one, which he knew he would be rebuilding. He linked to his private data and flashed to Financial the parts lists and costs and seconds later received an ‘unlimited within reason’ response which generated a smile, so he sent another message across to Topaz for him to start the design process for an arm which incorporated weapons.
He stripped off the damaged suit, placed it in the crew refurbishment unit and lifted another out of his locker. Looking around, he noted that everyone had armed themselves: all sidearms, all teched up, all nasty, all rebuilds or originals created by Jan or Veg. Veg had made Marko an elegant, long knife that could cut through anything, so he strapped that on after putting the long-barrelled handgun Jan had made for him back in the locker. He thought it might be a bit too much firepower for internal work. He looked across at his companion of many years. ‘Hey, Jan. When you get a spare couple of hours could you make me a nice compact pistol of some sort, please. Something suitable for up close and personal?’
She smiled a special smile which he knew was reserved only for him. ‘Sure, darling. Will have a think about it for you. Something in 5.56mm maybe? An old calibre but a good one.’
‘Yeah, that would be great. I’ll even give you another of those eel teeth for the grips if you need it.’
She smiled again and kissed him on the back of his head as she walked by.
Back on board Mudshark, Glint and Marko soon discovered a sizable crack in the starboard antigravity unit housing, and after removing the burnt-out guts of it, they could see there were holes and tears in its base, leading down to buckled hull plates. Steadily working at it, they stripped off the damaged plates under the other unit and found the same, along with a couple of smashed octopoids looking as if they had been used as wedges to force the damaged plates further apart. Intel was all over it and asked them to step away for an hour while they learnt as much as they could. Marko uplinked as many images as he could across to Materials so they could start on the replacement internal framework and then informed the major.
Jan announced that lunch had arrived. When they were all gathered in the smoko room, she said: ‘There was something fairly big deployed from the hangar. Probably a submersible looking at the gantry configurations and some fresh scrapes on the tops and bottoms of the door and ramps. There is also a large and hugely strong crynogenic freezer container in the rear of the hangar.’
She uploaded images onto the base net and they could sense the AIs pondering what they were seeing.
Fritz pointed at the images. ‘They were looking to capture some octopoids.’
The major stroked his chin, slowly nodding. ‘I think you might be right, Fritz. So there is a nice compact Gjomvik sub still out there maybe. Now, any serious objections to going like hell on Mudshark? No. OK, I authorise stims. People, you have a few minutes to sort out any private info. No sleeping tonight. Base, do I have authorisation to go after the sub? We may gain additional Intel as well. I have a horrible feeling that this is another fragment of the Cygnus 5 situation. The alternative is to use our own equipment and forget Mudshark for the moment.’
Seconds later the Base AI replied. ‘You have full authorisation, Major. Games Board wants to fund the mission and is subsequently insistent that you use Mudshark. They think that, due to its uniqueness, and the possibility that a few interesting tech programs can also be generated from the rebuilding, it will be a good revenue earner. All normal fees, et cetera, will be credited to you and your crew. Bonus packages are also authorised for any base engineers and techs required. All materials are now top priority. Please note if the submersible is not recovered Games Board will still pay out, but at a reduced rate. They do, however, include a special bonus package should there be a conflict with the submersible, or with the as-yet-unidentified octopoid entities or derivative types thereof. Games Board monitors are now en route. You have thirty standard minutes to select base engineers and techs of your choice before a total
lockdown at your location will occur. Military Police are en route, as is Catering, with four days’ supplies. Materials and Intel proxies are also en route. With the exception of me, total communications blackout will occur in five minutes. Base out.’
The major, with Harry’s help, quickly went through the base personnel selecting who they wanted, and sent messages out to them advising how they should equip themselves for the job ahead.
Marko flashed a message to Catering for the little extras he liked to eat and drink when in the field. He then sent another message to double the order, knowing that Glint would now like some too. Then he sent ‘hi and how are yous’ to his far-flung family and friends. The final action was to check his financials and also set up the upgrade package for Glint in case the ACE got damaged or worse. He then instructed the base net to uplift his total life files from his Soul Saver as of that instant — not that he had any intention of getting injured or killed. Although it was nice in some respects to have a squeaky clean new body, it did mean no scars and the tattoos would have to be done again. And neither the scars nor the tattoos came cheap, to say absolutely nothing of having to teach the new body everything, and then a few months of hard work to build up body mass again. He thought that on reflection death was really not worth it.
They finished off lunch in a hurry as things stepped up a few notches. The security cordon arrived, and chain-linked glass walls put up by the MPs’ armoured vehicles soon surrounded the building. A pair of checkpoints arrived and positioned themselves as the AI proxies arrived together with two Games Board monitors. Marko looked over the proxies, as they were the latest versions. High tech, tough and super helpful, he noted; nothing was any trouble for them. They did not seem to have any problems with Marko despite knowing that he had killed off a couple of their fellows in the past. The Tech one had a compact manufacturing plant built into it so could repair smaller things, given sufficient time. The Intel AI had flight capability and could be a seriously tough customer when it came to gaining information. They also had fusion piles at their core, and if their controlling AIs thought it necessary they would turn themselves into very effective bombs, Marko having seen them do so a couple of times. He had never heard of a Games Board monitor doing such a thing. Thinking about it, he had never heard or seen a Games Board monitor doing anything remotely helpful, either, with the exception of Sirius, who had been strange right from the outset. There was a rumour that Harry had seen one stand by and watch and record as a child endured a particularly nasty total death, with no hope of re-lifeing. The major said he had heard that Harry destroyed it with something rather elegant and frightening later the same day, and that some standard weeks later the controlling Games Board Producer for that theatre got fried as well. The extended rumour was that Jan was in on that one. No one would elaborate, although Jan did once admit it to Marko in private, but would not fill in the details.
*
The replacement parts for Mudshark came thick and fast and the job went relatively smoothly. From a control unit linked into the local computer, Harry used the building as a hoist as it first lowered its vaulted ceiling then unfurled plastic and metal ‘ropes’ which knotted themselves around the lifting lugs on Mudshark. When instructed the building straightened and slowly lifted Mudshark two metres off the floor to allow everyone ready access to the hull plates.
The maintenance crews worked on the damaged underside plates by injecting an enzyme into the bonds between them and the frame, which softened the sealants, allowing the plates to swing down and then snap out of the hinged clips. The new plates were clipped in position, swung up against the framework, and sprayed with an activator which reestablished the bonds, firmly locking them in position. In the cockpits and engine spaces, after the codes had been hacked, the units were instructed to open for inspection: each did so and presented its individual components.
The larger units unfolded with the top casing of the hull also opening out until the entire ship resembled a strange metal and plastic flower in full bloom. Fritz commented that it was definitely Gjomvik Corporation tech as he could not see any plant-or animal-based grown parts in the ship. The techs servicing the units high above the floor activated one-person cages, which formed from augmented wood on the ends of tough fibrous aerial roots. Once the tech climbed into the cage, they would be held in any position they required; the cage would rotate or even hold the tools when instructed. Heavier metallic aerial root structures were used to grasp, then lift down, damaged components and when instructed would pick up and position replacement parts, holding them firm until they were affixed.
As Marko watched the work, Harry called down to him. ‘Hey, give us a hand on the port AG unit, please, mate.’
Marko walked around the side of the ship looking up to where Harry and two other techs were waiting for the replacement core of the antigravity unit to be lifted into position. ‘Hold on. Where do you want me?’
Harry pointed. ‘Forward port side.’
He walked across to the grey-green wall looking for the nearest instruction node. Seeing it, he tapped on its surface to open up a small screen. He rotated it until he could see an image of the area where the AG unit was to be placed, tapped on the personnel-lifting cage icon, tapped again on the screen where he wanted to be and waited. A moment later a soft rustling sound reached him and he looked up to watch as a unit folded away from the wall, opening and reaching down to him. As soon as it was close enough, he lifted his tool box into a side portion and then stepped backwards into the barely pliable structure, which had had its beginnings in basket fungus before being augmented with plastics and metal. It contracted around him, holding him firmly, but leaving his head and arms free, then lifted him up and swung him over the upper deck of Mudshark as the replacement AG unit was lifted from its carrier under Harry’s direction. As soon as it was close to its intended position, the unit began communicating with the craft’s computer to activate the control and power cables which snaked out of their recesses like living creatures looking for their mated plug-ins.
As was always the case with the installation of non-matched components, there were a number of cable bundles which did not automatically lock correctly and instead gently but insistently tapped against each other, trying to mate. Marko and the other techs slowly moved around the unit watching for them. When located, they would grasp the coupling then manually unlock further parts of it, allowing it to reconfigure then lock itself on. After fifteen minutes the computer lifted the humans away from the unit and the entire thing lifted a few centimetres, rotated and then, after powering up, floated down into the housing, locking itself. The onboard computer, once satisfied, would flash the results to the techs so they could move onto the next task.
As each task was completed, the covers would fold over the exposed parts, so that, as the hours ticked by, Mudshark slowly started to look more like a ship than some bizarre flower. The final jobs they completed were adding their own weapons systems, and housings for their drones, to the hull using the universal locks and electricals common to most Administration and Gjomvik craft. Fritz upgraded the comms gear, loaded his drones, then installed a backup computer system. Jan upgraded the medical suite on board, then checked everyone for fatigue and passed out stims as required.
A Manta V two-man combat submersible was loaded into Mudshark’s hangar, with the refurbished Harpoon missile in its launch housing loaded onto the side. Two four-man escape pods were also loaded. As they could not get them to fit in Mudshark’s afterdeck cradles, they stored them in the hangar. Harry considered this solution a messy one, but at least they had something and when asked about the pods by Fritz, he confirmed that they were good. ‘MK-19 units. Basically, four coffins each built around a life support and propulsion system. Really cramped, but very tough and able to support their occupants for one hundred standard hours in hostile or extreme conditions. If they decide that rescue is not imminent within that time period, you will be turned into an icicle. Just hope you never
have to spend time in one.’
By 7.00 a.m. planet time Mudshark was ready. With the mechanics and engineers watching, the Basalt crew climbed into their new craft.
The major took the main helm seat, with Harry in the co-pilot’s seat and Flint perched on his shoulder. In the compartment behind the cockpit, Marko naturally took the engineer’s seat, with Fritz on comms and sensors. Jan took the commander’s seat, which earned her some stick, to which she responded by saying she was the colonel for the day and that they had all better behave.
Topaz elected to stay behind in the workshops. Marko had no idea where Glint was until he saw him outside with his head jutting out over the side of the machine. He smiled, knowing that sometimes he acted like a dog with its head outside a vehicle window, tasting the slipstream.
The major powered up the main generators and then eased the antigravity units online. Mudshark lifted a metre or so off the hangar floor; a tractor pushed them out through the main doors into the sunlight. Main propulsion was then brought online and the major taxied it up and down a large shoreline access slipway to get a feel for it. Once he was satisfied, he moved them at a respectable speed across the ocean bay towards the huge crater walls, where the seaborne craft-firing range was located. Once at the range, the major slowed Mudshark down to a walking pace so Jan could test the weapons.
Jan, as weapons controller, deployed the rail guns on their high-speed hydraulics, allowing them to slew forty-five degrees sideways and swivel one hundred and eighty degrees through vertical as well. She then test fired each gun with different power settings and using the varieties of ammunition that they had on board. Once everyone was satisfied, they took Mudshark on a high-speed series of manoeuvres across the ten-kilometre-wide bay, guns deployed and at rest, snuggled against the main body. They were pleasantly surprised at how fast it was, easily cruising up to two hundred and fifty kilometres per standard hour and able to climb to an altitude of fifteen metres before the AIs detected flight instabilities. They were horrified, however, by the flight characteristics when the guns were deployed away from the craft’s main body. Harry remarked that this was an artillery-style support craft and most definitely not a fighter.
Crystal Venom Page 3