But then, that was all a part of the game.
As soon as course was established, Captain Northern announced that a crew meeting would be held after dinner. Laura Shemzak, cleaned up and feeling good after her little blip-ship exercise, sat down at the table where the military commander robots were serving the meal, and said: “Okay, Northern. Dr. Mish. I don’t think I want to wait. I got your butts out of a crack. I want to know now!”
The assembled crew seemed weary from the encounter with the Federation, and not exactly prepared for any space-shaking pronouncements. But Laura was right—her exploits had helped them and their captain, and so the response to Laura’s uncouth demand was muted. Besides, some honest curiosity flickered in their aspects.
“Ah, Laura, so glad to see you remaining in character,” Captain Northern said. After a soothing shower, he had put on his best uniform. His buttons gleamed in the candlelight, emphasizing the trim cut and fine material of his jacket. “I had rather hoped that we could eat dinner now, but perhaps my mood is much too formal.” His eyes surveyed the group. “Laura refers to my promise to her, or rather, Dr. Mish’s promise to her, to explain the whole truth about the nature of the Starbow. As you know, part of your duty as members of the crew has been not to ask too many questions. But it has been my observation that we are growing closer, working better together as we strive for our individual and collective goals. We have become as one and it is just as well that certain truths, previously hidden, emerge.”
He paused for a moment to let that sink in, then continued. “Our worthy if often rude and troublesome new member, Pilot Laura Shemzak, in a situation which in no way broke her commitment to the Starbow and the crew, entered the Hub Room, which as you all know, is off-limits to all. What she discovered there makes it necessary to explain the full story of the Starbow.” He turned to Laura, sitting beside him. “Please, Laura, tell them what you saw there. Right now you needn’t go into how you got there or what happened.”
“It was this mammoth monolith—a block,” she said, trying to recall the details. “It had this squiggling stuff all around it, like some kind of weird and bizarre alien machine, that was part biological. But one side was like a smooth black mirror. It pulsed with all kinds of strange lights. Damn spooky, I’ll tell you!” She leaned over and addressed Dr. Mish. “So, Dr. Mish, what the hell is it? I’m dying to know!”
Dr. Mish smiled pleasantly. “It’s really quite simple my dear.” He turned his mild gaze to all. “It’s a portal.”
“A portal?” Laura said. “A portal to where?”
“A portal to Omega Space, a portal to different galaxies, possibly a portal to who knows where else at this time.” He took a deep sigh. “But only in potential. Because, you see, it is a very ancient portal, and at the moment it doesn’t work at all. I’d very much like to fix it, you see, because it’s a part of me.”
“Part of you …. You’re the goddamn Guardian that that Jaxdron thing was crowing about!” She looked perplexed. “But why would the Federation build this weird kind of thing?”
“That’s just it, Laura. The Federation didn’t build it,” said Captain Northern. “Ten years ago, in a routine exploratory mission, the Federation ship Frankfurt discovered a small flotilla of five alien starships, abandoned for God knows how many millennia in a system at the edge of the known universe. I was on that mission. I helped explore the vessels. The Starbow, in a different form, was one of those ships.”
Looks of great surprise appeared on most of the crew’s faces.
“And this portal … this was on it then? And the other ships … did they have portals as well?”
“Oh yes, indeed, but we didn’t know what they were. There were so many strange things in the starships. But can you imagine the impact of this discovery upon the Federation authorities?”
“The Overfriends must have wet their drawers!” Laura said.
“Almost. Imagine. Another race of intelligent creatures with stardrives, operating thousands upon thousands of years ago! What secrets of advanced technology must be hidden onboard these spaceships? What knowledge? And best of all, what advanced weaponry! Perhaps, they thought, we can use these ships ourselves!
“But most fascinating of all, when we boarded these ships, they woke up. But they didn’t tell us about it. All we knew right away was that we had five usable starships on our hands. Gradually, we came to discover that these starships were actually sentient. But that’s a long story and the details on that can wait until some other time. Apparently these entities, including Mish here, were extremely groggy for a long time after we tripped their wake-up call. Groggy and without much memory.”
“Even now,” Dr. Mish said, toying with his tie, “to this day, I am mostly an amnesiac. But then I am not whole, for my core does not function properly. And what is a Guardian without something to guard?”
“After we became aware of the sentiences and they were deemed harmless,” Northern continued, “indeed potentially useful, the hull and interiors of the ships were refitted toward a more human-designed look, and the AI project was born, purely to masquerade the true meaning and nature of the project. Overfriend Zarpfrin was placed in command of the ships and I became one of the pilots. Chivon Lasster was my copilot.
“To abbreviate a complicated tale, as the consciousness—friendly and cooperative from the start—began to learn more of their inner natures, they revealed to Zarpfrin their true duties—and the nature of their interiors, the inoperative portals. They requested help in repairing them. I was a part of that campaign.
“But I also was coming to realize that the Overfriends were becoming quite troubled concerning these portals. For you see, as the intelligences remembered back, it was to a universe teeming with strange and exotic civilizations, most warlike, fighting for new territory all the time, here and in other dimensions. Stochastic predictions based on the information presented to us revealed that at least another five hundred years of technological and by-our-bootstraps evolutionary growth is needed by the Federation worlds before it is ready to take its place in the cosmos. In the meantime, Overfriends see humanity—or most importantly, the Federated Empire—as vulnerable to conquest and enslavement by any number of these spacefaring civilizations out there, if they are aware of us.
“Zarpfrin and his fellows saw the portals as a threat. The Federation has no desire for further expansion. It wants to consolidate its gains. If we opened these remarkable mobile portals, God knew what might come crawling through, they thought … so they and their alien Guardians were deemed as threats and scheduled for execution.
“I anticipated this move after digging into Overfriend Zarpfrin’s private correspondence. I was in a position to do nothing more than ‘steal’ the Starbow and become a freelancer.”
“While I seek quantities of the substance attilium,” Dr. Mish said, “which might allow me to reopen my portal and the depths of myself.”
“But what about the alien hordes that might come crawling through!” Laura said, alarmed.
“Only the tyrants see other civilizations as threats, Laura. The whole matrix of the universe will be open to us through this wonderful door! How can a free and thinking human being do anything else but feel the need to explore the treasures of this universe and perhaps the next! To seek, to explore, to know the secrets that there are to know! Is this not a wonderful opportunity?”
“And you think, Dr. Mish,” said Laura, “that my brother Cal can help you fix this portal.”
“Yes, that is most likely.”
“But now the Jaxdron know about it, and wouldn’t mind having it for their own,” Laura said, shaking her head. “As I mentioned, they seemed terribly excited at the prospect.”
“Which is why they wouldn’t mind trapping us,” said Northern. “But that is the chance we’ll have to take. Who knows what new talents the doctor and the Starbow will own if we can open up the port
al and make them whole? I see the whole thing as an answer to our dreams, my crew, my friends. With our knowledge and power, we can serve as a focal point for a coalition of the Free Worlds and thus unite against the threat of the Federation!”
“Just a moment,” said Gemma Naquist. “I must admit this explains a lot … and I can certainly understand why you haven’t told us the whole truth as yet, Tars, though you certainly hinted at this all the time. But exactly what was the purpose of this portal which seems to be the reason for the existence of this ship?”
“Doctor?” said Northern, assigning this task to the robot extension of the Starbow.
“I do not fully know yet,” Dr. Mish confessed. “As I say, incomplete as I am, most of my memory nodes are either corroded or non-functional. But I have snippets of memories, gleams of dreams … inexpressible, all of them. I can only surmise that my creators—the builders of these portals—were somehow overcome by a hostile race. Perhaps they hid the five of us. Perhaps there are more roaming the universe. I strongly suspect that. But there is so much for me to relearn ….”
“And by cooperating with our goals, you see the possibility of recovering your memory, your powers,” completed Gemma, “and reopening your portal again.”
“How do we know that these portals weren’t closed for a reason,” Laura said. “Like, to keep something out of this universe that ain’t supposed to be here.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Dr. Mish said, laughing. “You and your brother must have watched a great deal of old movies. Perhaps you even read some H. P. Lovecraft from the sounds of it. Now, do I seem the sinister sort to you?”
“I don’t know, Doc, that room you got down there is pretty damned spooky!” said Laura.
“Alien, perhaps, Laura,” said Captain Northern. “But certainly no spooks!”
“Sounds like we got a ghost in this machine though,” Laura said, jabbing a thumb Dr. Mish’s way. “We’re not really sure just what you are, are we Doc? I mean, for a while I thought you were human. Then I thought you were an artificial intelligence. Now I find out you’re some Guardian ….”
“A life form previously unencountered by humanity?” Dr. Mish said. “I can fully agree that this is the case. As to what exactly I am … well, again, that is a mystery to both me and you. A mystery which I am hungry to solve.” His eyes grew far off, perhaps even haunted.
Captain Northern took a moment to survey the crew somberly. Then he said, “We share this secret with you freely because we feel this crew has grown into something more than merely a crew of individuals. But I want you to know that if any of you, knowing what you know now about our true intents and purposes, feel that you cannot continue with us or do not wish to participate … ” He frowned and hung on to his silence awhile. “Well, we shall be glad to let you off at some nearby neutral port on our way to our destination.” He smiled just a bit, then swept his gaze slowly from individual to individual.
Each met him eye to eye.
“Hell, Captain, things were getting boring anyway!” said one, and laughter volleyed all about.
“One thing I can promise you people,” said Captain Northern, pouring himself a glass of wine. “From now on, on the good ship Starbow things will never be dull.” He held up the glass. “To our success on Walthor!”
“To Walthor!” cried the others.
Laura was still bemused at all of this. Ancient alien race … portals … a universe teeming with potentially malevolent civilizations, ready to pounce upon humanity—it all made her feel very small and insignificant.
But she had to find Cal, no matter what. She had promised herself that, and if she did nothing else in this life that was good and true, she kept her word.
A frisson of liveliness swept her that had nothing to do with the drugs in her body. “You know,” she said, grabbing her own glass and filling it. “Even I’ll drink to that!” But she could take a mere sip. “All right, confession’s over. All that activity has made me damn hungry. Let’s eat.”
They all supped with renewed appetites.
Chapter Twenty-three
To: Captain Tars Northern
FROM: Dr. Michael Mish
Subject: Walthor/Pax Industries
Timestamp: 24281122T04:20:43+10:00
Per your request, I’ve assembled a brief outline of information concerning our destination, the Federation activities there, and the information accidentally culled from Laura Shemzak’s memory nodes stocked with decrypted information concerning Jaxdron infiltration of Pax Industries.
The planet in Federation Exploratory Charts AB 40 was discovered 153 years ago by a survey expedition mapping the fringes of the nearest Federation-controlled sector (see links sent to your inbox). Second planet of six orbiting primary Beta Theta; sensor readings indicated it as a perfect world for biotechnological ecoforming into a top-secret prison, utilizing prisoners for biotech experiments and as special factory workers for construction of questionable items for various purposes (further details, use retinal ID for access).
In short, it is a place few members of either the Federation or the Free Worlds know about, yet it serves as a detention place for criminals, a laboratory world, and a manufacturing world for specialized products.
Walthor itself, with an 86 degree axial tilt and a regular orbit, combined with a high water-land ratio, is a planet lush with flora and fauna and natural resources. Three separate species of intelligent alien life—all agricultural/hunters, all preindustrial—have been subjugated in various ways by the Federation for use in exploiting the planet. None of this has been through military means, though a military security force is stationed on the planet, but rather by the anthropological/cultural socialization that has been so successful not only on many other planets, but on the Federation’s people themselves (see inbox for more links and background information).
The planet’s computer network and central operational building lies within what is simply known as the Block. It was here that Laura Shemzak was sent to test the strong security measures against outside infiltration. Her mission was successful and she tapped into the Heart Computer, stealing a large amount of information. Immediately following this effort, she learned of the capture of her brother by the Jaxdron, and shipped back to Earth. Apparently in the confusion, her superiors neglected to debrief her properly and wipe away the recording she had taken in breaching the Block’s security.
During the removal of the implant which forced her to shoot her brother, this memory node was tapped into. Analysis indicates direct reference to Jaxdron infiltration of Pax Industries—and possible manufacture of devices shipped throughout the human universe for purposes of subjugation and conquest. It is possible that through these means, the Jaxdron discovered not only the nature of the work being performed upon Mulliphen, but the nature of Cal Shemzak’s activities, and thus thought to kidnap him for their own purposes.
However, the actual details included in the decrypted material were scanty.
In working out the possibilities, I am convinced that rather than pursue the Jaxdron blindly to a place they apparently want us to be (most likely a trap), further information might be obtained by having Laura Shemzak once more infiltrate the Heart Computer and determine exactly the nature of Jaxdron activity there.
As to how this will be done, that would be left up to Laura Shemzak, since she has the full knowledge of and contacts on the planet.
They landed just outside a small alien village in a clearing of the jungle by the side of a river.
Laura was distracted by the unusual cargo in her rear hold. The compartment in the rear of the vessel was designed for supplies and souvenirs, not a full grown human being.
Her consciousness folded back in on itself slowly as she began to disengage herself from her interface with the blip-ship, satisfied that the vessel was on solid ground and wouldn’t sink into quicksand or slide into the river.
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“Can I get out now?” said Captain Tars Northern, his voice muffled within the compartment. “I feel like I’ve been buried alive!”
“Told you it wouldn’t be long, though, didn’t I?” said Laura, fighting the disorientation that always came when she changed from blip-ship consciousness to normal human consciousness. “Besides, you were the one who wanted to come along! Let me tell you, you might want to lose a few kilos. Your extra weight was a true headache!” Laura leaned over behind her and released the catch. The hatch sprang open, revealing Captain Tars Northern securely harnessed into a horizontal squat.
“Any length of time is too long for a claustrophobe!” growled Northern.
“You didn’t tell me you were a claustrophobe, Northern!” Laura said as she pushed the buttons that released the harnesses.
“I think I am now!” he said and grinned, getting out of the cramped space.
“Phony phobia if I ever heard of one,” Laura shot back. “You just like to complain.”
Northern would have followed her down to the surface of Walthor but for one problem: the intense security measures that surrounded this world. Patrolling ships, radar—you name it and this place had it. A shuttle would have set off all the alarms, but Laura’s XT Mark Nine was specially fitted with a cloaking device able to easily hide its activities. Besides, after spending over a month here on her Federation mission, she knew the systems of Pax Industries very well. If anyone could penetrate this planet’s security measures—again—it was Laura Shemzak.
The problem, as Laura readily pointed out, was that as good as the blip-ship was, it could not remain undetected if it landed on the Block or its nearby spaceport. Some other route had to be taken.
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