The Split Skies (The Possessor Wars, Book 4): The Possessor Wars, Book 4

by Chad Spencer

  “Uh, it’s Jeff actually,” Jeff mumbled.

  “Whatever,” Tiffany dismissed.

  Fire engulfed Harriet’s hands and crawled up her arms. She looked like she was ready to tear Tiffany’s head off. Tiffany returned her glare as sparks of electricity danced across her hands.

  “KANGAROO!” shouted Hugh as he pointed desperately across the large room. “Look, a kangaroo!” Completely surprised, everyone turned to look.

  Kent, who had been silent, blurted out, “Kangaroo? Hugh, how can there be a kangaroo on a spaceship?”

  “There’s no kangaroo,” answered Hugh. “But it was a good distraction. At least maybe now those two won’t kill each other and destroy the whole ship.”

  Kent scrunched his face and slapped his palm across his forehead. “Guys,” he forced out, “is it possible for you to keep your love lives out of this right now? We have a lot of questions that we need to be answered.” He dropped his hand to his side and stared at them all, obviously bewildered. “We need to see whoever’s in charge.”

  “Well,” Akio mused, “We’re kind of all in charge. My crew and me, we have a Living Fighter. Harriet and Hugh and Tiffany have their ship. The Argentineans own the gateship and they all follow Señor Otero. So basically we decide things together with Señor Otero.”

  “I think it’s time I met this Señor Otero,” Kent directed.

  “Ok,” agreed Akio. Turning to his brother, Akio instructed, “Akifumi, could you round up Ikko and Nikko? Take them back to the Hiryu and have them start breakfast. We could all use a meal.” To his crew, he added, “I’d appreciate it if you could all do a complete systems check of the Hiryu.”

  Moving as one, Akio’s crew exited the room.

  “Harriet,” suggested Hugh, “maybe you and I should do a check of our ship.”

  Folding her arms stubbornly and furrowing her brow, Harriet refused, “I’m staying with Jeff.”

  Amanda slipped her arm around Jeff’s.

  “Never mind, Hugh,” Tiffany interrupted airily. “I’ll help you with your systems check thingy. The sooner we get going, the sooner I go shopping. And don’t forget my androids.” Grabbing Hugh’s arm, she dragged him through the door. Jeff heard him faintly say, “Do you even know how to do a systems check?” The door slid closed behind them.

  Akio led the rest of them to the Libertad’s bridge. Señor Otero was there busily overseeing the reviving of his people. When they entered, he warmly greeted, “Ah, you must be from the colony. I am Augustin Otero, leader of the Argentinean colonists on this ship. I take it you represent the local government of this star system?” He extended his hand to Kent.

  Equally warmly, Kent shook his hand and introduced, “I’m Kent Bowman, one of the first settlers of this system. This is my son, Jeff, and my daughter, Danae. And this is Amanda Meadows. And yes, we are, in a way, government representatives.”

  Eying Kent’s pistol, Señor Otero commented, “I see you came ready for anything.”

  “Ah, yes. I was informed that a human-alien hybrid named Eden contacted my children telepathically and told them she sent this ship. We had no idea who was on board. May I ask why Argentina is sending colonists so far from the Alliance?”

  “Perhaps,” Señor Otero suggested, “we should continue this rather long discussion in our conference room. It’s immediately adjacent to this bridge.” He indicated a doorway at the rear of the room. Following his lead, they all went to the conference room for what did, in fact, turn out to be a very long discussion.

  20

  Akio was feeling drained. He and his crew, along with Harriet and Hugh (after the system checks were finished), spent the remainder of the day talking to the colony’s adults and explaining what had happened to them in the war. Jeff, Danae, and Amanda went through everything that happened to them as well. As the day wore into night, the Argentineans also told their part of the story. Long after Harriet, Hugh, Amanda, Danae, and the Argentineans left, they still were talking it over. Akio was tired of rehashing everything and he just wanted to go back to his ship.

  Governor Connors’ image showed from the main viewscreen of the Amsterdam’s bridge. He was at the Lethbridge Drift in the Colony Council Chamber with Porsche, Dirk, and the entire Colony Council. “So you think we can trust them?” he was asking Kent.

  Nodding, Kent answered, “Yes, Darius. I think we can. Akio thinks they’re trustworthy. I know Akio well. His parents were my friends for years. In my estimation, the boy’s opinion of them is reliable.” Akio felt extremely complimented.

  Governor Connors countered, “But the ship they’re on is armed.”

  “Yes. They’re riding on a very heavily armed warship. But they were very keen to make nice with us by offering ship seeds from both the Living Fighter and the Living Destroyer. And because these ships are made for long-range missions, they can even manufacture about anything you can think of from the materials they collect. That means we can download all their programming to our synthesizers and start manufacturing what we need now that the Living Miner is fully operational. And I think the fact that they’re willing to share their weapons technologies says a lot about their intentions.”

  “What are their intentions?”

  Akio interjected, “They want to hide.”

  Agreeing, Kent continued, “Yes, they’re expatriates from Argentina. As you heard Señor Otero say earlier, they left two generations ago and they were in cryostasis for a long time. So everyone they knew back in the Alliance has passed away. They were made into slaves of a criminal for years and then slaves of an invading army. The Alliance branded them criminals so they fled, taking the gateship with them.”

  “Can that gateship really make it back to the Alliance?”

  “It can,” responded Kent. “It takes a couple of decades to get there because it turns out that we’re nearly 50,000 light years from home. It’s a long haul but the gateship can make the trip. Both the kids and the Argentineans agree that we may be on the verge of a war with an alien species. The Argentineans want to hide and build their defenses. They also want to breed the korei and put them into their own people. I suggest we do the same. The Argentineans are very willing to combine our two groups into one colony. But they’re insistent that they get to keep the gateship. They want to use it to search nearby star systems for habitable planets. They don’t seem too keen on living life in deep space again. They’ve also developed Living Gateship seeds and offered us some.”

  “If they can find us an uninhabited planet that will sustain us, then I have no objections to them keeping the gateship. And I’ll gladly take ship seeds from them. Who are they wanting to run the combined colony?”

  “You. But they want seats for their own representatives on the Colony Council. Adding their representatives will double the size of the Council.”

  “Fair enough. But what do we do if they turn on us? We don’t have much in the way of weaponry. What if all their promises are just lies?”

  “Akio and his friends fought against an entire invasion fleet and won. Adding Harriet, Hugh, Jeff, Danae, and Amanda only makes a more formidable enemy. The korei have turned these kids into very powerful warriors. I think the Argentineans know exactly whose side the kids would come down on if there was a fight.”

  “What about that other girl? Tiffany is her name?”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry about her, Darius. From what I can see, the only reason she’d get involved in a fight is if it cut her off from shopping. And then she’d be after everyone’s heads until the shops opened again.”

  “So you’re recommending we let them come to the Lethbridge Drift?”

  “Yes. I think it’ll be ok.”

  “Alright, Kent. I’ll trust your judgment. Connors out.” His image faded from the screen.

  While Kent conveyed the message to Señor Otero, Akio asked Jeff, “Wanna come see my ship? It’s pretty great.”

  Jeff appeared equally glad to get away. “Sure. Let’s go.”

 
As they exited the Amsterdam and walked through the Libertad on their way to the Hiryu, Jeff solemnly commented, “You, Harriet, and Hugh have been through a lot.”

  Heaving a deep sigh, Akio concurred, “Yeah, it’s been hard.”

  “I’m … I’m sorry about your mom and dad.”

  Silently, Akio nodded. With dragging feet and slumped shoulders, he recalled his 16th birthday. “I had my birthday just a couple weeks before the invasion,” he told Jeff. “My parents gave me a hoverzet. It was a Barracuda.”

  Glancing sideways at him, Jeff’s eyebrows arched. “Seriously? A hoverzet? Those hovercars and hovercycles that look like animals? You guys must have been doing well.”

  For some reason, Jeff’s words made him cringe. “Maybe we would have done better if we’d stayed in the arcology back on Earth.”

  “Maybe,” Jeff replied. “But maybe not. Harriet stayed in the arcology but she lost her parents too.”

  Suddenly Akio felt rather trapped by the universe in a life he never wanted. But he just pushed it all out of his mind and tried to continue the conversation.

  “I guess,” he agreed. “We probably would have had to fight no matter where we were. That dairei wanted our korei. But still, if we’d been on Earth, my parents might have survived. Hugh’s did.”

  “Maybe,” repeated Jeff. Changing the subject, he asked, “You think we’re safe here?”

  Shrugging, Akio answered, “Probably. The only one that knows where we are is Eden.”

  They turned onto a walkway suspended over a large open area. Akio glanced down and then froze in his tracks. His heart felt as if it was being grabbed by a metal fist.

  “What’s wrong?” Jeff asked. His gaze followed Akio’s.

  The Argentineans had built a park-like setting into the area below them. Akio saw three children playing together.

  Jeff asked, “Who are those kids?”

  Pointing, Akio told him, “Those two are Jean-Paul and Noel. The Japanese boy is Nobu.”

  “Do you want to go down and see them?”

  Woodenly, Akio turned away. “No,” he spat bitterly, recalling his last encounter with Nobu. “Nobu wouldn’t want to see me again. He probably hates me.”

  “Why?”

  Akio resumed walking. Over his shoulder, he shot back, “Because I tried to give him a decent life.” He scowled deeply.

  Glancing backward, Akio saw that Jeff was still standing on the suspended walkway looking confused. After a moment, he scurried after Akio. Jeff followed Akio through the Libertad and into one of the Hiryu’s hatches.

  Inside the fighter, Akio felt better. His mood lifted as he showed Jeff through the ship. Jeff, for his part, appeared suitably impressed. He seemed especially pleased with the meal that Ikko and Nikko made.

  “It must be great to have all these androids,” he said with obvious envy. “I’ve got a robot that I rebuilt and upgraded. He’s an RVX, so I call him Arvix. He cooks pretty well, but not as good as your androids.”

  Picking lightly at his food, Akio commented, “You built a robot? I didn’t see it on the Amsterdam.”

  “Yeah,” Jeff agreed as he shoveled down his meal. “He’s back at the Lethbridge Drift. I left him there to take care of Bob.”

  Eying Jeff curiously, Akio asked, “Bob?”

  Jeff was gurgling down some synthmilk, but he answered with, “Mmmf.” He put down his cup and continued, “Bob is my gorillabug.”

  “Gorillabug?”

  “Yeah, I found him when I first landed. He was a dogbug then, but he changed into a gorillabug. Even though he’s nearly seven feet tall, he’s what passes for a pet in this colony. Anyway, how did you wind up with so many androids?”

  Akio explained, “Ikko and Nikko are programmed to build them. They were supposed to be able to repair Hikaru no matter what–even if it meant building a body for her from scratch. And they’re programmed to serve her. So they can create more android servants. They used our medical bot and a bioprinter the Argentineans built to make two androids and downloaded some standard android programming into them. By the time they were finished, we had more Living Fighters. So the new androids went to another fighter and started building a bioprinter and androids. And the androids they built did the same thing. It all happened pretty fast. They’re all integrated into the overmind network. So if they can’t figure something out, the overminds help them.”

  The rest of Akio’s crew arrived, interrupting the conversation.

  “You’re already eating?” queried Akifumi. “We usually eat dinner together.”

  “Jeff was really hungry,” Akio explained. “It’s really late at night for him and he hasn’t eaten since morning. So we went ahead. And anyway, I wanted to start adjusting to the local time.”

  That seemed to satisfy Akifumi and the others. Akifumi commented, “Nuraiyana will come later. She’s still on the bridge talking with Governor Connors and Señor Otero over the comm system. They want to know all they can about the aliens.”

  At the mention of Nuraiyana, Akio’s appetite disappeared. He stared absently at his food. Jeff tentatively asked, “You ok?” Akio shrugged and nodded.

  Kasumi interjected, “No. He’s not. Nuraiyana was mind controlled and she killed Hikaru, Akio’s soulmate. They were in love. It was beautifully tragic. And now Akio wants to hate Nuraiyana but he knows it wasn’t her fault, so he can’t because that’s how good and noble he is. And Nuraiyana has joined our crew, so he feels guilty and mad and sad for not hating Nuraiyana but he can’t because Nuraiyana is so much like Hikaru but not. So his emotions are in turmoil. He’s the one who saved us all and he’s our leader and he thinks he has no one to lean on now. He thinks he has to be strong for all of us. But he forgets that we’re not just his crew, we’re his friends and friends lean on each other when they need to.”

  Startled, Akio stared at her. “How do you know so much?”

  With a matter-of-fact expression, Kasumi explained, “I read lots of romantic books. Heroes like you always go through stuff like that in romantic books.”

  Akio didn’t know whether to laugh or pull his hair out. Jeff laughed loudly, as did several of the others.

  “I’m not a hero, Kasumi.”

  She ignored his words. Instead, Kasumi glared right into Akio’s eyes. It made him uncomfortable.

  “Akio,” she addressed. “We have to talk with you. It’s about Nuraiyana. Can you sort out your complex interplay of emotions enough to do that?”

  “Complex interplay of emotions?” Jeff muttered under his breath as he gave Akio a where-did-you-get-her look.

  Akio wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with whatever was on Kasumi’s mind. ‘But it’s probably better to get it taken care of sooner rather than later,’ he thought.

  “What do you need, Kasumi?” he asked.

  “First,” Kasumi stated, “Ikko and Nikko need to go clean the crew cabins.”

  Sighing, Akio instructed, “Ikko and Nikko, please go clean the crew cabins.”

  As soon as the pair of androids left, Kasumi closed the doors behind them. Without preamble, she asserted, “It’s time to build a body for Nuraiyana.”

  ‘Oh good grief,’ moaned Akio within himself. ‘Not this again.’

  “Yes, this again,” Kasumi answered his unspoken thoughts. It creeped Akio out.

  “We have a plan,” continued Kasumi.

  “We?”

  “Yes. I’ve been talking with Rick about this–along with that other friend of yours, Hugh. You know, he’s really, really smart. It’s amazing what he knows.”

  Akio saw a stony expression pass across Sebastian’s face. Kasumi didn’t notice. She kept talking about Nuraiyana. “Anyway, we can build her an android body.”

  “Will the overmind fit in an android’s head?” wondered Akio.

  Shaking her head, Kasumi informed him, “Not the one she’s in now.”

  At this point, Rick jumped in and said, “Before we went into cryostasis, I made an extra overmind to work on the
problem. We didn’t tell you about it because we knew it would be hard for you to deal with. Anyway, Hugh helped me write the program for the overmind and we used Señor Otero’s overmind designs to start with. We had the overmind design a new, more advanced overmind that’s much more like a human brain. The overmind that Nuraiyana’s in right now is not advanced enough. Nuraiyana can’t feel emotions as well as she should. And she’s not as intuitive as a real person should be. Being in that overmind is really limiting her. We need to get her out of there and into something better.”

  Acidly, Akio added, “Without having her kill someone else.”

  “Akio,” reprimanded Kasumi, “she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. She won’t take anyone as a host now that she’s not being mind controlled. She could have done that any time and she hasn’t. You know we can trust her.”

  With great reluctance, Akio quietly admitted, “Yeah, I know we can trust her.”

  Rick reentered the conversation. “The overmind used some really innovative algorithms Hugh wrote. It came up with a new overmind design–the overmind Mark II. It’s very close to a human brain but smarter and faster. In fact, it’s so close that it needs a cyberbrain to interface with an android body, just like a real human brain. If we tell Ikko and Nikko that the new overmind is Hikaru’s brain, then it might fool them enough to have them put it into an android body. They’re the only ones with the programming for that. And they’ll only do this kind of thing for Hikaru. We asked.”

  Akio soured. “We can’t tell them that Nuraiyana is Hikaru.”

  “We have to, Akio,” stated Kasumi. “It’s the only way they’ll do the operation. Our medical bot doesn’t have the programming to do an operation like that. And the Argentineans don’t know how either.”

  “I really don’t want to do this,” rumbled Akio, his frustration rising.

  Kasumi soothed, “You don’t have to. Rick and I have everything worked out. He and Hugh will build the overmind Mark II. The Argentineans will put it in a standard brain case used for human brains and fit it with a cyberbrain. Ikko and Nikko will make an android body and put the brain case in it. Then Nuraiyana will take it as a host. There’s only one thing we need from you.”