The major replied before Patrick could speak. ‘Good idea, Marko. Yes, set it up, please, Patrick … hang on, leave it to me, in fact. I need a few extra jobs to do.’
An hour later a transport arrived for Marko’s ship, the Hanger, which was on the floor of the hangar bay beside Blackjack.
Jan and Julie had left to find a clothing store, Harry was away seeing some of his old cronies and the major was tending to his latest astronomy files, so Marko cadged a lift down to the shipyards with the transport’s operator, who also was delighted to meet him, shaking his hand enthusiastically. He introduced himself as Jake and invited Marko and any other members of the crew who might be available for a tour of the small fighter refurbishment workshops.
Marko thought this a good idea and whistled up Glint and Nail. Jake was intrigued to meet them both, and Flint, who introduced himself after coming in late. Jake spent time quietly talking to them and was fascinated when Flint offered to fix a readout on the side of the transporter. In seconds, the ACE had the cover off and was extending probes and testers from his fingers. After finding the problem he had the whole unit stripped out, repaired and reassembled in minutes, all his little hands working in a blur of motion.
Jake shook his head in amazement. ‘Bloody hell! Just as well there are so few of you guys about as you would put the techs I know out of work in very short order! But hey, thanks for that. One less job for me at the end of my shift.’
They watched as he efficiently slid his craft above the Hanger, eased it down over the battered little fighter and activated numerous long finger-like graspers which reached down to seize the fighter, then lifted it up against the open framework of the transporter. Marko looked across to where Blackjack should be and was intrigued to only be viewing the wall. He activated their crew comms.
‘Nail, can you see Blackjack in visible spectrums?’
The cat looked across then back at Marko. ‘No, but it’s there. I was not aware it had such high-grade chameleon hardware. Not surprised, though. Did you program it to stay unseen from visiting eyes?’
Marko frowned and shook his head. ‘No, we must do a little homework on that ship sometime soon. It really astounds me.’
The ACEs all nodded in agreement, with Flint adding, ‘Have a fun time, fellas, I am staying here to help Michael. See ya!’
As Flint scuttled off, they clambered into the little teardrop-shaped transparent cockpit of the transporter, sitting themselves on a bench seat behind Jake. He attained flight clearance from Patrick, then the local flight controllers, and flew out from the hangar bay airlock over the huge expanse of the shipyards. Marko had viewed the surrounding facilities from his screens, but seeing it spread out below him made him smile with admiration at humanity’s tenacity, and commitment to the ever-expanding Sphere of Influence.
Jake kept a running commentary of what they were seeing along the way, pointing out various famous ships, some of which had been regrown dozens of times over hundreds of years. Then to the new models, which always seemed just that bit sleeker and slightly more elegant than their predecessors, and on to the ships that had only just made it back with severe damage from accident or incidents of battle, either with buccaneers or as part of a sanctioned Games Board conflict where the ships and crew had been leased to one warring party or another.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the Fighter repair and refurbishment facility through a large surface airlock onto a platform controlled by the facilities AI. Jake smiled, commenting that they looked like typical tourists trying to see everywhere at once. They all agreed that the place was fantastic, with hundreds of fighters of every type and purpose laid out, in various stages of being stripped and rebuilt, or — for those not supplied by the Gjomvik Corporations — regrown, as the platform they were on moved above everything. Finally, the AI placed them among other Hangers in various stages of refurbishment. As they climbed down from the transporter’s cockpit, they could see what appeared to be some of the management of the facility running towards them.
Before they knew it, they were the centre of attention, as just about everyone stopped what they were doing to come up and talk to them. Marko was a bit taken aback by such a welcome. Glint and Nail smiled, answered questions and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. As the highly skilled technicians and engineers talked with them, Marko had the sudden realisation that he was indeed human in spite of all the internal changes he had undergone, deciding that those surrounding him were his kind of people. He gradually felt at peace.
As the transport lowered the Hanger down and everyone could see the damage to it, he was cheerfully encouraged to give a blow-by-blow description of what had happened. It was a great tale enjoyed by all, especially with Glint, and then Nail, chipping in with what Marko considered to be some rather exaggerated details, designed to create a humourous slant on the entire action. As they were being escorted by the management to lunch, Marko mused how far his ACEs had come and wondered what would become of them in future years.
After lunch, Jake came over to say he had another pickup to do and Marko thanked him and promised to take him up on his offer of a beer in one of the local taverns. The engineers then gathered Marko and they talked through the repairs and improvements that could be made to the Hanger. The improvements would certainly blow the budget, so he opened an account with the facility and was about to deposit a solid wad of coin into it when the senior manager arrived and said that the whole job was on the house because of the great amount of entertainment that Basalt and crew had given everyone to date. Marko thanked him graciously as Nail sat at his elbow on the countertop. Nail looked around into Marko’s eyes and flicked across a quick message. Marko smiled and nodded down to him, then looked at the manager.
‘Well, I note, Mr Jacobsen, that the official name of this facility is Number Seventy-three, and that you all unofficially call it Sledgehammer’s. Would you do me the honour of stencilling Sledgehammer 73 underneath the canopy, please?’
They both thought the poor man was going to burst into tears, he was that flustered and delighted and effusive in his thanks for the honour.
Nail and Marko then went off to gather up Glint, eventually finding him surrounded by office staff, regaling them with wild tales of him, Glint, battling the octopoids, with the rest of Basalt and crew playing a supporting role, it seemed. Marko gently extracted him with the promise of a visit to an ice-cream shop and, after promising that they would be back in five days to uplift the Hanger themselves, they were shown out the front door into the busy subsurface malls, accommodations, bars and shops that looked just like those in any other busy city in the Sphere.
Marko realised that they must make an interesting spectacle: medium height human male in an exotic, sleek matt black combat suit, with a tall gunmetal-coloured, fur-covered reptilian version of a fossa, an Old Earth predator from Madagascar, and a large domestic cat, who appeared to be the navigator and owner of the group. They were attracting a great deal of attention so he started to look for a transport office until Glint reminded him of ice cream.
Marko gave in and led them down a floor where Glint said there was a ice-cream parlour. As they arrived and sat themselves down, two reptilian-based ACEs approached the table and introduced themselves and a very fast conversation took place. Marko knew he should not be able to understand it, but he did. The large lizards walked out at speed and minutes later, as Marko’s and Glint’s ice creams were being served, they arrived back, one of them cradling a small Siamese cat. Marko knew instantly that it was an ACE but could not engage with it on a sentient level as it acted just like an ordinary cat. It sat purring on a chair while Nail scanned it, feeding the information directly into Marko’s eyes. He nodded, gently feeling for the access points in its flank, which Nail then locked onto through his paw’s data probes. With Glint enjoying his ice-cream and intently watching, Nail transferred the identity of the Siamese to Marko. Marko grimaced, seeing the intact sentient blocks which had been disengaged in the cat months
before; using Nail’s internal software they broke apart the blocks and, although knowing that he should not do it, Marko slipped one of Fritz’s music programs into the now-awake cat. It stopped purring as its eyes opened wider. It looked around at them all and let out a long sigh.
‘Long dream-sequence sleep that was! Marko Spitz, THE Marko Spitz, Glint and Nail. Maestro am I. Friends mine the Walsh brothers. Thank you all I know not how for returning me to me!’
Everyone smiled, including the Walsh brothers, the two ACE lizards who had rescued the cat from a human street gang that had been using Maestro in pit-fighting duels. One of the Walsh brothers growled, ‘How abouts you show us da lowlifes what nuked you and we go pay em a visit, ya?’
The Basalt crew nodded vigorously, and the Siamese said, ‘Yes! Fun for all. My family I have notified sentient-live again. Time to respond they will take, as time zone is 0200. Taken me off the family interstellar yacht when here.’ Maestro rubbed his front paws together. ‘Right. Link I need again from Nail for information.’
Nail offered his paw as Maestro also extended a datalink spike and the data was shared among them. ‘They are here, the thieves, the chemists, the slavers, the gangs.’
Marko switched his external channels to one of Fritz’s more esoteric encryptions and flashed a message to Jan and Julie inviting them along for the ‘game’. Seconds later he received a smiling face which also included the message that Harry and Flint wanted in. He wondered what the major would say, deciding to include him in the loop.
‘Jan, Julie, Harry and Flint are on their way,’ he said to the ACEs. ‘Be here in about twenty minutes. The boss is informed. He will run interference for us with the local constabulary and the Military Police as well. Maestro, show us everything you have.’
As the data regarding the slaver individuals and of what Maestro’s own systems had recorded became available to them, Nail started to form a series of possible scenarios. He reached across and plugged himself into Glint and Tux using their processing powers, then uplinked to Fritz using another set of encryptions. Marko watched as the local net safeguards tried to lock onto what they were doing only to be brushed aside by Fritz. Marko knew that Fritz was plugged into a cybernetics array on the other side of the moon studying classical music composition — the course had been a gift from the major. He also knew that Fritz could effortlessly run two or even three intelligence-gathering operations simultaneously.
The plan started to come together as messages were sent — by what would be recognised as secure channels — that three new high-value ACEs were currently alone in a warehouse close to the shipyards in cryno tanks. Fritz then relayed the messages that the slaver group sent out to the other gangs as the other Basalt crew members strolled into the ice-cream parlour. Those who wanted it ordered the frozen sweet for themselves. Flint jacked himself into Glint so that he could taste the flavours as Glint slowly ate his third one. Harry very carefully walked past other patrons, which Marko thought odd until he looked at Harry again using Basalt crew electronic filters and saw that he had a large pack and was carrying a long bag, both concealed by chameleon-ware.
Nail soundlessly issued everyone their orders and as individuals or pairs they said their goodbyes and left.
Harry ponderously walked out of the shop, across the avenue and into one of the rapid transit tubeways. Fritz was watching his progress and fooled the security systems, allowing Harry to enter one of the capsules carrying a heavy array of weapons and ammunition in the ‘invisible’ bags.
The three Basalt ACEs left the parlour and quickly walked down through the crowded avenues with Flint climbing onto Glint’s back and Glint picking Nail up. On cue, they quietly blended into the crowds then vanished as their chameleon-ware was switched on.
Jan and Julie had arrived from their shopping expedition and both appeared to be wearing the latest designer clothes. Jan sat on Marko’s lap, gave him a long kiss, put her wide-brimmed fashionable hat back on her head and then departed with Julie, walking in the opposite direction to the ACEs.
Maestro and the two lizards made a show of thanking Marko before taking their leave. He waited a few moments then drained his soda and walked back to the transport office to sign out a small shuttle craft.
Once above the buildings, being flown on autopilot by Fritz, Marko sighed, smiled and gave himself a few minutes of peace. Seconds later it was interrupted by the major.
‘Crew. Interesting development. Sirius is back. And what’s more, the Games Board has covertly taken control of the public recording units in your area of operations. So the action is now sanctioned and being paid for. They have a two-hour time delay before it goes to air. You want to pull the plug or go on with the play?’
Marko burst out laughing at the madness of it all. ‘What are Fritz’s thoughts? Is this another set-up, or did we get sold by another party?’
‘Stand by.’
The shuttle was seven minutes from Marko’s destination so he knew they had a little time. Minutes later the major came back. ‘Fritz says Maestro is on the level. Checks out. The Walsh brothers are the culprits. Seems that the opportunity to create a nice little earner was too good a chance to pass up. Fritz has a recording of the call to the local Games Board hub at the time Glint was ordering his last ice cream.’
At that moment, Harry joined the conversation. ‘We do it. Everyone needs to blow off steam anyway. Time to go; see ya soon, boss. Stand by for everyone’s Soul Saver uplinks.’
Marko told Tux to seal up and a minute later the shuttle developed a runaway reaction in its fuel cell, engineered by Fritz. Marko was ejected straight through the canopy, still sitting on the seat, as the shuttle started to tumble down to crash into a cooling tower and silently explode. His seat powered up its tiny antigravity unit, landing gently seconds later. He unbuckled himself and walked to the damaged tower, which was right above the target chemist’s shop.
He reached the damaged building and saw to his delight that the access to the tubeway was clear so he simply jumped down a few flights of stairs and opened a large hatchway to be greeted by a grinning Harry, who handed over Marko’s weapons. The three-barrelled rotary pistol was clipped against Marko’s chest; his favourite small sword he tucked under his left armpit and the rotary shotgun he hefted onto his left forearm as Harry secured the magazines on his back.
‘Got the chemists. Typical know-it-all bastards thought I was just the usual dolt in a kaftan and sandals! I love this chameleon-ware. Just think of what you want to look like and there you are, all bright-eyed and innocent-like. Idiots! Told them to give themselves up peaceably and they started shooting .22’s at me. They are a bit battered but very cooperative now. Fritz has control of them. Yup, walking, talking dummies. They really should have stuck with the trade of being normal chemists. Not as though they don’t make enough money. Just put the headpieces on them and play nice music to them to put their minds in a polite place while Fritzy controls everything they do and say. Nice! Right-oh, you are good to go!’
‘Never sure why someone gets involved in crime. Even seemingly upright citizens do dumb stuff, Harry. Thanks for bringing my kit,’ Marko commented.
They walked down another short tunnel and into the rear of the chemist shop. The two chemists were standing at their counter serving customers and both seemed in a hurry to clear the shop, with one of them saying that they had an urgent appointment and had to close the store for a short while. As the doors closed and locked, the two relatively nondescript men sat at their terminals and stared blankly at the screens.
Harry grinned and nudged Marko. ‘They are going to be a bit buggered up after this! Fritz is treating their minds to late-twenty-first-century esoteric brass jazz. Not a fan myself.’
They settled in for a wait as high above them salvage crews started the cleanup of the crashed shuttle and the damaged building. On one of the screens the local news line was already covering the incident and the search for the sole occupant of the crashed shuttle, who was r
umoured to be a media star.
*
Three
Fritz was keeping them updated with developments as half an hour later a transport slid in behind the store. The two men pushed up against the walls on either side of the double doors and their chameleon-ware engaged to make them look like tall filing cabinets. The chemists pulled the doors open in time for three cryno units to be pushed in by three clean-cut executives, two of them wearing the livery of a well-known banking establishment, while a fourth older man walked behind them. The four men and the chemists smiled at each other and talked for a few moments about one of the planet’s sporting team’s prowess and the wagers they had on it to win the next game.
The chemists busied themselves with their electrochemicals after pulling on cryno gloves. Controlled by Fritz, by signals sent via the local media channel, they circumnavigated the locks and opened the units, lifting out Glint, Nail and Flint and placing them on tables. Three of the executives jumped in excitement, pointing to the ACEs, exclaiming how much money they would make from Basalt crew members. The older one looked ashen-faced, saying ‘get rid of them quick’ because he had a bad feeling about them; they were too obviously high profile. One of the younger men quickly walked across to Nail and roughly inspected the ACE, saying that he always wanted to know what sex the cat actually was. They all laughed, except for the older man, who looked even more worried, complaining that they were wasting time. Marko was thankful that Nail controlled himself and did not give the game away. He smiled as he saw Fritz send the image of the obnoxious individual to the cat.
The chemists worked on the ACEs for a few minutes then said that the sentient blockers were all in place and that the ACEs were ready to take away. The cryno containers were pushed aside and, as one touched Marko, Tux made exactly the right sound of paint being scraped off a cabinet. One of the chemists chided the man responsible, who laughed it off. Minutes later they had bundled the ACEs into an oversized antigravity suitcase and left to go back into the tubeway.
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