Deep Space Intelligence : Complete Series

by Gary Weston

  ‘Never a dull minute on that planet,’ said Casey.

  ‘I wasn’t expecting a return visit so soon,’ said Jordan. ‘I must drop in on Mom and Dad.’

  ‘That’ll be a nice surprise. Tilly. I want to stop that space-liner landing on Tryzon. I don’t want to give the Masters the slightest chance.’

  Tilly said, ‘I’m with you on that. My understanding is that it’s the Masters trapped for a change. Those on the ships don’t even know we have them under our control for a change.’

  ‘I won’t be taking any chances. But that space-liner is unarmed. I don’t anticipate any trouble from them.’

  ‘We’ll just play it by ear,’ said Tilly. ‘Pleased to be flying again, Karma?’

  ‘Seems to be my destiny in life. Can’t fight destiny.’

  ‘What about the baby thing?’

  ‘Maybe I can recruit a copilot and we can make babies while we fly around the galaxy.’

  ‘Ah!’ said Tilly. ‘Love amongst the stars. How romantic.’

  ‘I can dream. Ok. I’ve set the ship on an intercepting course with the space-liner. We can kick back and let the computer do the boring bits.’

  ‘You mean we can catch up on sleep?’

  ‘I’d recommend it. In this business, it is grab it while we can.’

  Tilly said, ‘I don’t need telling twice.’

  * * *

  ‘Will you stop messing, Su. And go easy on that oil. I smell like a wilted salad.’

  ‘Now then, Captain. If it keeps us alive, we shouldn’t complain. Just a little more sand and there we go.’

  ‘It bothers me that we haven’t heard from Captain Casey for hours. Or Commander Gordon. Or…’

  ‘Mabel. They’re on their way. That’s all that matters. Just think…and say happy thoughts.’ Kane pointed towards the back of the ship with her thumb.

  ‘I will. Now. Your turn. You have a bald patch.’

  Kane said, ‘I do not.’

  ‘A bald patch of sand, you Muppet. Now. Keep still.’

  ‘Go easy on that stuff,’ said Thorne. ‘I only managed to sneak a small amount on the ship. Once its gone, its gone.’

  ‘Relax,’ said Syrup.

  Thorne’s eyes went cold. ‘Relax. My daughter is back there with thousands of those monsters. I’ll not relax until I know she’s safe. Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.’

  ‘It’s ok. I understand. It won’t be much longer.’

  Chapter 234

  ‘Ok,’ said Karma Casey. ‘With cannon, there are always two triggers.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because…I have no idea. Because it was designed by a man? Anyway. These are the triggers. Above is the screen. What you get is a computerised representation of what is actually out there. Good, but not perfect. The laser has a range of about five thousand miles. The computer can magnify the target by a factor of ten, but your chances of hitting a ship from that distance, is, well, pretty remote. Anything further than five hundred miles, forget it. Especially for a novice, and especially at speed. There’s a rock out there; just a small detour. I want you to get some practice shots in. In the meantime, just get used to the feel of the triggers and manoeuvring the cannon. Do not fire it.’

  ‘I can do that,’ said Jordan.

  Jordan spent the next hour working the triggers, moving images on the screen.

  ‘Ok,’ said Casey. ‘No more play-acting. That rock is coming up in a few minutes. Ready?’

  ‘I’m always ready,’ said Jordan, wriggling herself into a comfortable position.

  Casey wasn’t about to make it easy by slowing down, but didn’t do any barrel rolling. The rock just hung there, a casualty of some collision or other, millions, maybe billions of years before it settled into its place in the scheme of things. Its antiquity didn’t impress either Jordan or Casey. It was just a rock.

  Tilly took her first shots, missing by hundreds of miles. ‘I can do this.’

  Her second flurry missed by only tens of miles.

  ‘Close but no cigar,’ said Casey.

  ‘I don’t smoke,’ said Jordan.

  Casey took them around the rock in a slow orbit, three hundred miles out. She could feel the tension in her wannabe shooter without looking at her. Jordan concentrated and fired the cannon, scoring a bullseye, blasting the rock into three smaller pieces and many tiny bits. Casey put some speed on and Jordan took out each of the three pieces in three shots.

  ‘Not bad,’ said Casey. ‘I just hope you don’t have to shoot in action.’

  ‘That was fun.’

  ‘Enough fun for now. We’re back on course to that space-liner. We’re heading towards each other. Another day or so, and we’ll be with them.’

  Chapter 235

  Smithers was summoned to the sea. He stood and allowed his mind to be probed, hoping his thoughts and memories didn’t give him away.

  ‘Has our ship contacted your radio?’ a Master asked.

  ‘No,’ said Smithers, truthfully.

  ‘Perhaps something is wrong. Some human trickery?’

  Smithers replied, ‘How could that be, Master? You are too powerful for us.’

  ‘Humans are weak. But you understand the consequences of treachery and how your people would suffer?’

  He knew that only too well, but controlled his anger. ‘We understand that, Master.’

  ‘Then go. Bring us any word from that ship when it comes.’

  ‘I will be vigilant for my Masters.’

  The dark shape in the thick green liquid circled like a hungry shark, then disappeared into the murky depths of the sea. Smithers spat in the sea and returned to the shanty-town. Elizabeth was waiting for him, brushing Shannon’s hair. When a human was summoned by the Masters, it was never certain that they would return.

  ‘They’re becoming restless,’ Smithers said. ‘They expected to hear from the ship by now. I fobbed them off.’

  ‘Where is my Daddy?’ Shannon asked, pushing the brush away.

  Smithers pointed to the sky. ‘Out there. You know that, Shannon.’

  Shannon ran outside, not wanting Smithers to see her crying.

  ‘She cried all night in my arms, ‘ said Elizabeth. ‘It would be good to have word from them. Just so we…’

  ‘They wouldn’t risk it,’ said Smithers. ‘As long as they call us sometime soon. Agitated Masters we can do without.’

  * * *

  Flashing through deep space at the phenomenal speeds only ships with double plasma engines could achieve, Casey’s freighter and Syrup’s space-liner, were on course to meet. They saw each other first on the screens, two white dots careening inexorably towards each other.

  ‘There they are,’ said Su Kane. ‘Dare we call them?’

  Before Syrup replied, the computer translated the Morse code message. ”Slowly turn around and head back. We will follow. C.C.”

  ‘There’s your answer,’ said Syrup. ‘We do nothing to tip our hand. Crocker. Set the new course.’

  ‘Setting new course.’

  The great ship turned so smoothly without a hint of a change in the engines harmonics; only those flying it had any idea they were racing back to from whence they had come.

  Chapter 236

  Captain Dorran gave a wry smile as the never used language of Morse was interpreted by the fighter’s computer. Nothing, it seemed, was being given to chance. He passed the translated message to General Millet.

  ‘Looking good so far,’ said Millet. ‘How much longer?’

  ‘If we match speeds with Casey, we’ll arrive a little ahead of them. They’re fast, but our fighters are faster.’

  ‘Right. Change course. I want us all together on this one.’ He tapped the chart. ‘Meet up about here, or as close as we can.’

  Dorran said, ‘That’s about fifteen hours, Sir.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. Let Luppino know the change of route.’

  ‘Yes, Sir.’

  Millet found Shorty in the galley, eating as usual. ‘Just had
a message from Captain Casey,’ whispered Millet.

  ‘Why are you whispering? The bad guys can’t hear you.’

  Millet said, ‘We have no idea what those creatures are capable of. Do you ever stop eating?’

  ‘I’m eating for two.’

  ‘What?’ gasped Millet. ‘You’re not…?’

  ‘No. I meant, I had to eat yours because you weren’t here. You should see your face.’

  Millet sighed with relief. ‘You have a warped sense of humour, Shorty.’

  ‘I must have, to put up with you. I always have a good feed before we go into battle. We never know when we’ll get the chance once things heat up.’

  Millet watched Shorty finish the last of her meal. ‘And I suppose I have to cook my own, do I?’

  Shorty belched. ‘Well. Seeing as how you outrank me, I’ll make you a sandwich.’

  Millet sat down as Shorty made him a feed. ‘I just remembered something,’ he said.

  ‘Like how I can never have kids, maybe?’

  ‘Yes. Sorry. It slipped my mind.’

  Shorty placed the plate on the table and sat opposite Millet. ‘I was shot in a very unfortunate place one time. They had to take out a lot of my plumbing. You know that, seeing as how you saved my life that time. Is that why you never want to make you and me…us…official?’

  ‘That you can’t have kids? I never thought about it. Always too busy flying around the galaxy.’

  A rare serious expression crossed Shorty’s face. ‘Not sure who dishes out the irony around here, but you lost your boy Marley, and I can’t have kids. How sad is that?’

  Millet pushed his half finished plate of food away. ‘I think we both know the answer to that. I hoped that when we smashed that space station, and that tank of Masters, that was the end of them. Because of them, you were almost killed, and my Marley was.’ He took Shorty’s hand in his. ‘Vickie. You are the most remarkable woman I ever met. I promise you this. Once this is over, you and I become official.’

  Chapter 237

  ‘Like one big happy party,’ said Tilly Jordan. ‘General Millet. How are you?’

  ‘Keen to get this over with. Did Boss think I needed an agent along on this one?’

  Jordan said, ‘Don’t get testy, General. Captain Casey needed a shooter and I was available.’

  ‘Agent Jordan. Shooters are intensively trained to be exceptionally in-tune with the cannon. For every ten trainees, only one makes it through to be qualified. You, Agent Jordan, are not a shooter. I cannot afford to have, if you pardon the saying, a loose cannon, when in all probability we will be engaging the enemy with our ships. You will not shoot anything. You will leave it to the qualified and experienced shooters. Do we understand one another, Agent Jordan?’

  Jordan looked over at Casey. ‘Ouch! Ok, General. I’ll only shoot if we are directly under attack. Just self defence. Is that ok?’

  ‘Jordan…’

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Casey. ‘I’m the captain of this bird. I haven’t come all this way with a cannon to take on the enemy and not be allowed to throw some rocks. They still have a couple of fighters on that planet, and crew to fly them. They shoot at me, I wanna shoot back.’

  Thorne, his face running with freshly applied oil and sand, made his presence felt. ‘I should remind you all. Only humans fly humans ships. You should take that into consideration. All of you.’

  ‘We do understand that,’ said Millet. ‘Should you be speaking in that ship? Can’t they read your minds?’

  Thorne said, ‘We have protection from that and they can’t hear us in that tank.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’ Jordan asked.

  ‘No. Of course not. But it seems to work,’ said Thorne. ‘I hope.’

  Millet said, ‘Well, have they probed your mind since you used this…protection?’

  ‘No. I’m sure…almost.’

  ‘Great,’ said Casey. ‘Nothing we can do until we get there, anyway.’

  * * *

  And get there, they did. Thorne, Syrup, Kane and Crocker in the unarmed space-liner was instructed to hang back, two hundred thousand miles away from the planet. Thorne didn’t object. Nobody knew if the mental powers of the Masters extended across space. Was there a limit? If they could control humans within a few miles of the sea, did the vacuum and vastness of space become a barrier to them, or not?

  Nobody knew for sure, certainly no human did. Millet was used to taking the fight to the enemy. He had the fastest ships, the latest, most powerful laser cannons and best of all, had a small army second to none in the galaxy. But. Were the Masters aware that the D S I were circling like hungry hawks, ready to swoop? And, if the Masters somehow, were aware, would they not defend themselves by any means possible?

  They had the power to force the crews of the fighters to take to the air, made to attack the very ones come to rescue them, having no choice but to attack their own kind, because of the hold the Masters had over their families, their children.

  Killing vile, cruel scum like the Masters was one thing. Could Millet order his shooters to fire on humans ships, piloted by humans? If those ships took to the air, Millet knew he would not have time to think about it. And what if the ships did not take off? There were still over two thousand people under the iron fist control of the Masters. Fire upon the Masters and their screams would surely be drowned out by the screams of the people; the screams of the children. Thorne’s voice added one more piece to the puzzle.

  Chapter 238

  Captain Dorran said, ‘General Millet, Sir. A ship has just taken off down there. A fighter class.’

  They were words Millet had dreaded hearing. ‘We’re going in,’ said Millet. ‘Luppino. We’re going in.’

  ‘Yes, General. Shooters, get ready. Fire on the General’s orders.’

  ‘Yes, Sir,’ came a chorus of replies.

  ‘Look at that,’ said Casey. ‘Notice we didn’t get an invite.’

  ‘One of the fighters has taken off,’ said Jordan. ‘That could be Captain Fuller down there. D S I captain. I can’t shoot at him, Casey.’

  ‘Maybe not. But even you can hit the sea, can’t you?’

  ‘We’re going in?’

  Casey said, ‘We’ll let General Millet decide what to do about the fighter. If those Masters are sending our own against us, then we can hit the Masters. Hang on.’

  Out in deep space, a freighter with a cannon was nearly as agile and as fast as a fighter. Not so much in any significant atmosphere.

  ‘Just keep us well away from that fighter, Casey. I don’t even want to think about having to shoot at it.’

  Casey said, ‘It’s a big sea, Jordan. We don’t have to go anywhere near the fighter. Be ready to blast the sea when I tell you.’

  * * *

  Captain Mark Fuller looked over at Sergeant Tammy Belle. ‘Are you ready to do this?’

  Belle had her fingers gripping the double triggers of the cannon. ‘I’m ready.’

  Fuller took the fighter high, ready to swoop down and blast the sea. It was something he had dreamt of for a long time. Skimming the surface of the sea, he was about to give the order to fire when the massive freighter appeared right in front of them.

  ‘Where the hell did that come from?’

  ‘Are they after us?’ said Belle.

  ‘I…I don’t know.’

  It was the same doubtful questions being asked on the freighter.

  ‘Casey. Is that freighter coming after us?’

  ‘I damn well hope not. Jordan. You be ready to fire that cannon.’

  Jordan said, ‘Not on one of our own, Casey. Not on one of our own.’

  The freighter and the fighter flew across the surface of the green sea towards each other, seconds ticking away.

  Fuller yelled, ‘Fire, Belle. Fire.’

  Belle squeezed the triggers, the deadly bolts of laser energy hitting the green liquid, sending steaming jets high into the air.

  ‘They’re on our side,’ said Casey. ‘Do
n’t let them have all the fun. Hit that sea with all you got.’

  Jordan grinned. ‘My absolute pleasure, Captain.’

  General Millet cursed Casey and Jordan, and then ordered his captains to join in. It was fire at will, the sea foaming with the blood of the Masters, limbs, heads, half bodies floating obscenely as three fighters and one armed freighter crossed back and forth over the blood-covered green liquid. It was a relentless carnage.

  The freighter and the fighters hammered the sea together, passing each other still firing. It was a celebration of death. The death of the hated enemy. As the lasers found their marks beneath the surface, dead and dying Masters came up. Some thrashed wildly in their death throes, the relentless cannon fire exacting the humans revenge for years of misery and suffering inflicted by the Masters. The green was becoming darker as the blood of the Masters floated on the top. It was a truly satisfying sight for the humans to behold. But the Masters were not entirely beaten.

  A thousand male Masters still unscathed from the attack, joined together in one hidden cove, out of sight of the humans. They concentrated the power of their minds to control the two thousand humans. The humans left the shanty-town.

  Chapter 239

  ‘Sir,’ said Captain Dorran.

  ‘I see it, Captain,’ said Millet.

  Just when the humans in the ships had thought they had everything their own way, they saw more than two thousand men, women and children walking out of the shanty-town.

  Dorran said, ‘The Masters must be controlling them, Sir.’

  ‘But I thought…Wait,’ said Millet. ‘They’re not heading to the sea. Where the hell are they going?’

  ‘There, Sir. To that crater.’

  ‘Captain. Magnify the image.’

  ‘There, Sir. What are those things on their heads?’

  Millet laughed. ‘Protection, Captain. Let that be a lesson to you. Always use protection.’

  * * *

  With so much going on, Elizabeth lost sight of Shannon Thorne in the mass of the crowd as they gathered together in the crater, giving the Masters no chance at all to control them. With the sand and oil covered squares of cloth on their heads, it didn’t hurt to have faith in the tried and trusted. The crater. From the centre of it, they watched the four ships fly back and forth across the sea, their shooters determined to kill off every last Master.