by Terry Mixon
“Are we going to do that?” Olivia asked. “Give them implants?”
Jared nodded. “Of course. We have more than enough Fleet implants to share at this point. They’ll need them to absorb all the material.
“I like that idea, particularly if we can introduce a system like Sean is proposing. Something like an identify friend or foe check.”
Their combat forces used IFF systems to recognize friendly units. It should be possible to do the same as everyone got the longer range com systems Carl Owlet had designed. Lily had finished her checks and they were almost ready to start replacing the standard units in all Fleet personnel.
The new implant coms would have better range than the headsets the Old Empire had used. She’d verified Carl’s declaration that they were stable and consistent at ten kilometers.
In fact, she’d had no failures until just a bit more than thirteen kilometers and had had successes out to sixteen. They’d publish ten as the listed maximum just to be conservative.
As part of the implant procedure, the units could be given the codes specific to their own universe. This might not work if they ever had visitors from a universe that had implants and upgraded coms, but they’d deal with that when the time came. This solved their current problem.
Sean nodded. “Good idea. If it’s implemented correctly, we should be able to update things seamlessly in the future, if we have to. Luckily, Omega will have insight if anyone else from other universes arrive.”
The commodore smiled a bit more widely. “I had Doctor Stone and her people make a modification to the basic package Carl developed. His original setup didn’t allow us to turn the implant signals off. One of the captured officers at Erorsi spotted the marines as implanted and flipped out.
“With the new implants, we can activate what I’m calling stealth mode. The implants stay active, but don’t interact with anyone else. No external signals.”
“That’s a great addition,” Jared said. “Well done. Contact Lily and work out the details for rolling out the upgrade. I want priority for everyone on Invincible and Athena. Make sure Grand Admiral Yeats has the most recent specs for all the other units.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Who is going to accompany her?” Olivia asked. “It needs to be someone with implants. You can’t be sure you get back the same person otherwise.”
He gave her a considering look. “You’ve made a good impression with her and seemingly don’t have a doppelganger. Would you consider going?”
She nodded at once. “Of course.”
Based on his scowl, Sean disagreed but he didn’t say so out loud. “Getting everyone over will take a while if they’re as suspicious as she was. Are we going to do the tech transfer, too?”
“No,” Jared said with a shake of his head. “That’ll take too long and they need training for it. This is a dangerous mission, so she’ll need to bring two sets of people, I suppose. One to go to Boxer Station and one to come with us.
“I know this is important, but we need to get Athena on her way. The messages have always been perfunctory, but we know how things change. If we assume this is going to be an easy mission, it’ll go to hell.”
Sean snorted. “Isn’t that the damned truth. I’ll start ferrying the suits over to Omega in anticipation of the transfer. Olivia can speak with Kelsey and make sure she knows the rules.
“The visitors will have escorts outside their quarters and we’ll make sure the duplicates are monitored even more closely. Marcus can keep a close eye on everyone aboard Invincible. We’ll have to take extra precautions and be diligent when anyone leaves the ship.”
“That works. Are you going to be able to manage that, Marcus?”
“Yes, Admiral. If you mandate that they be monitored for potentially hostile activity, my subroutines will make certain they don’t plan anything out of the ordinary even in their private quarters. None of the data is retained or made available to my primary personality unless it meets very stringent criteria.”
“Do exactly that,” Jared ordered. “I’ll make sure that Kelsey knows in general what I’ve ordered. We’ll keep the specifics to ourselves unless she directly asks. We won’t lie, but just not volunteer unnecessary detail. Understood?”
The other two nodded.
“Excellent.” He focused his attention on Olivia. “We’ll need a verification code to be sure you’re you when you come back. How about a quote from one of the old Terran movies? ‘I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum.’ They shouldn’t know that.”
“Not many people would,” the woman said with a sly smile. “‘And I’m all out of bubblegum?’ You have as odd a sense of humor as your sister. So be it. When are you sending her?”
“As soon as she finishes on Caduceus.”
“Then your timing is good,” Marcus said. “Her cutter just detached.”
Jared stood. “Then let’s be about our business.”
It was actually the next day before Olivia stood inside Omega with Kelsey. She’s seen how worn the other woman was and put her foot down. Jared might want to move on, but eight more hours wouldn’t hurt them.
The princess seemed refreshed the next morning so it had been the right call.
“You look better,” Olivia ventured as they waited for Sean to clear the area around the extra suits of people.
Kelsey had been delighted when the marines had shown her how to activate the holographic projector. That meant Olivia could see her face rather than a blank expanse of metal.
On the other hand, she was grateful they hadn’t told her about the demon heads that her Kelsey favored during battle. She’d seen the one that the princess had worn while attacking the island on Harrison’s World. The loyalists had tried to use a nuke get Calder and King freed. Talbot had called the attack the Fist of God.
“That’s part of it,” the other Kelsey said. “Mostly I think the nanites are doing something. And the regeneration session I had right before we left might have contributed. I woke up after six hours of sleep and pestered Invincible’s doctor to do it. Stone sent him the details last night.”
After a long moment, she continued. “I can’t believe that ship. She’s a monster. I wonder where the derelict ships ended up in my universe? I want her.”
Olivia smiled sadly. “I suspect you won’t find her. She probably died ten years ago trying to beat the AI in my system. I can’t imagine they moved all the ships in the decade that followed, so they might have dropped them into the sun. I can’t imagine why they didn’t do that in the first place.”
Kelsey blanched a little. “I’m sorry. I forgot for a second that was your system.”
“As sad as it is, that really wasn’t me. I have to accept the world as I find it. In your universe, I’m dead. In return, I know for a fact you have some people there that are dead here. It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t that the damned truth?”
“Ladies, are you ready?” Omega asked over their com. Once they said they were, he gave them a countdown and then opened the hull of the station. The way it came in and plucked them out into space was disconcerting.
“That is very disorienting,” Kelsey said. “It’s like he’s some kind of space monster devouring us and spitting us back out.”
“You realize I can hear you, right?”
Olivia laughed at Omega’s dry tone. “You’re getting quite good with human humor.”
“Thank you. The ship you arrived in the system is too far away to see, Princess Kelsey, but I’ve signaled them to come pick you up. The cutter will be in range for com in a few minutes. Should I bring the suits out now?”
“I think so,” Kelsey said. “Can you do it a little bit away from us?”
“I can do it on the other side of the station, if you like. The surface of my station doesn’t need to correspond to a specific point inside.”
“That makes no sense. Then again, none of this makes much sense. Bring them out just a little bit away from us.”
Olivia watched the hull deform about a hundred meters away, sinking down in a moment and then rising with suits made to repel the radiation standing like a cluster of statues. They began floating slowly away from the surface, but stopped within a meter.
Like the suit Olivia wore, they were designed to keep station above Omega’s hull. The strange metal surface wasn’t ferrous, so magnetic boots didn’t work. Small grav units in the suits used the built-in scanners to stay near the surface.
Then two of the suits moved, coming closer. They weren’t empty. Once they got closer, Olivia saw Sean and Elise inside.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“It’s my fault,” Elise said. “I decided to come with you and Sean wouldn’t let me come alone. It took me a while to convince Jared to let me. Sorry.”
Kelsey smiled. “Don’t worry about it. You’re always welcome.”
Olivia gave Sean a hard look. “You were just looking for an opportunity to come keep an eye on me, weren’t you?”
“I’m only making sure Elise is safe,” he said with an obviously false smile of innocence. “Admiral Mertz would be very upset if I lost his wife.”
“She’s in no danger here,” Kelsey said with a grimace. “No matter what we feel about him, she is beloved among my people.”
A flicker of movement off to the side resolved itself into a cutter approaching slowly.
“I think our ride is here,” Olivia said. “Kelsey?”
The other woman watched the cutter come to rest on the surface, not sticking to it, but floating much like the suits. The ramp lowered.
“Let’s grab a dozen suits to take with us,” Kelsey said. “We’ll put them in the back of the cutter.”
Getting them inside was simple: just detach the line from the suit and tug it along. The built-in grav unit did all the hard work.
Fifteen minutes later, they were flying away from Omega. The cutter pilot spoke briefly with Kelsey, but was locked into the flight control area. They mostly rode in silence.
Olivia wondered what meeting these people was going to be like. Kelsey had been difficult at first. Would they present other problems? She hoped not. There was too much to do.
Five minutes later, the cutter docked with a thump.
“Welcome to Ginnie Dare,” Kelsey said.
The other woman took off her helmet and was first onto the ship. She met the armed and armored marines waiting for them. A Fleet officer stood in front of armed men and women, smiling.
Olivia recognized Commander Scott Roche. He was dead in their universe, but alive here.
“Princess Kelsey,” he said with a smile. “Welcome home. You brought guests?”
“I did. We brought along some radiation resistant suits. You’ll need to send a team out to recover the rest of them from the alien station while I get out of this armor.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
They all followed Kelsey into marine country. Unlike in Olivia’s universe, there was a separate area for women.
The suits were designed for easy removal and entry, so Olivia was quickly free, as was Elise. Kelsey took longer, but they were able to help her get out.
The visitors had taken the precaution of bringing clothes, so she was quickly dressed, as was Elise. Kelsey retrieved a Fleet uniform without any insignia from a handy locker.
Once they were ready, she came out and rejoined Sean, who was deep in conversation with Commander Roche. She remembered that he’d served with the other man for a long time. His death had deeply saddened her lover.
“Well, what do we do now?” she asked Kelsey.
Before the other woman could answer, Roche cleared his throat. “As much as it pains me, I need to verify who I’m dealing with. Princess Kelsey, until I can be sure you’re the same person who left, I’m going to have to take you into custody.”
He looked at the rest of them. “And the rest of you will be joining her in detention until I have a better grasp of what we’re dealing with. You’ll note that the marines have neural disruptors. Please don’t make them stun you.”
16
Sean was a little surprised that Scott Roche had waited as long as he had to take them into custody. He’d been expecting the move as soon as they boarded the destroyer.
Perhaps Scott was concerned that the suits were like Kelsey’s armor. Or that they had weapons stashed inside the suits. Or all of the above.
Whatever the case, he wasn’t going to resist. Far from it.
While there were obvious differences, he felt certain he could bring the Fleet officers around more quickly than Olivia would have been able to. She might be a great politician, but a familiar and trusted face carried a lot of weight.
His assumptions were proven correct when the marines separated him from the three women. Apparently, they’d be staying in a locked compartment in marine country for now, which made sense. Don’t let someone you aren’t sure you can trust wander around your ship, even under guard.
Four marines escorted Sean into the marine briefing room where Scott sat waiting. Two were close at hand. They were burly, but unarmed. The trailing pair had neural disruptors. If Sean put up a fight, they’d almost certainly stun everyone and sort it out at their leisure.
“Have a seat,” Scott said. “We need to talk.”
Once Sean was seated at the other end of the table, Scott eyed his rank tabs. “A commodore? Congratulations. You were a captain the last time I saw you.”
Sean smiled wryly at this version of his dead friend. “I was a commander in my universe when the promotion came. It was a bit of a shock, let me tell you.”
The other man nodded. “I’ll bet. We’re going to sort out the situation with Princess Kelsey in short order, but I wanted to take the time to ask you a few pointed questions.
“She came back from the alien station and told us that she was going to a different universe. I confess I didn’t believe her. Not until you came aboard. You and Crown Princess Elise. I know for a fact that you’re at Harrison’s World and Princess Elise is back on Pentagar.”
“It was hard for us to accept, too,” Sean said softly. “Even with the proof we found on the station. Dead bodies of others trapped there. Including multiple versions of a number of people.
“After talking with your Princess Kelsey for a while, I think I have a fair grasp of events here in this universe. Some came out better for you, but most didn’t. Believe it or not, we’re here to help as much as we can.”
Scott leaned back in his seat and considered him for a long moment. “Perhaps. That’s actually above my pay grade. Oddly enough, you’ll be making the final decision on what to do about…well, you.
“This is such an odd situation, that I just wanted to see if it was really was you. I’m going to send you to the medical center for a checkup. It’s not optional, so please don’t resist.”
“I wouldn’t dream of doing so,” Sean said. “I want to convince you that we’re for real and that there are things we can do to help you fight the AIs.”
“I’m sure you’ll explain that in more detail, but first my questions. When did we meet?”
“That’s not a good question,” Sean said. “If you’re the man I think you are, I can do much better than that. We met when we were lieutenants serving on Orbital One in my universe. A lot of people might know that. I bet they don’t know about Commander O’Neil.”
The other man’s face paled a little. “God, I hope not. What a disaster that was. I learned the lesson about dating superior officers—even if they weren’t in my chain of command—the hard way with her. I never told anyone about her except you.”
“It went bad fast,” Sean agreed. “Let me add that you absolutely shouldn’t get caught two-timing a lieutenant commander before the second date.”
“I wasn’t and you damned well know it,” Scott groused. “Lieutenant Arnold made the pass, not me. I turned her down, but O’Neil came in at the wrong time. Man, I had no idea she was so jealous.”
The other officer shook his head. “I’m convinced. You’re Sean Meyer. Now, since you’re here to help us, why don’t you give me the digest version of your plan?”
“In a nutshell, we had better luck retaining Old Empire technology in my universe. The suit that I came over in is an example. We have hardware and knowhow that we’ll be happy to share.
“Your Princess Kelsey also wants us to help her get to Terra and recover something to stop the AIs. We’re going to do that, though I have my doubts about the keys being the same in both universes.
“Honestly, if we can show you how to get inside the Imperial Vault and get your own version, that would be the best outcome.”
“I have difficulty imagining how that’s even possible,” Scott said with a shake of his head. “Terra is a long way from Pentagar or Harrison’s World. We’re not going to be able to just slip over there without them seeing us. We have no idea what lies between us.”
The other man sighed. “Maybe if the Bastard hadn’t stolen Courageous. Losing it hurt us badly and I’ll wager you don’t have a way of getting us anything like that.”
“Maybe,” Sean said. “There are a couple of options that might see that outcome.”
That caused Scott to sit up straight. “Really? How?”
“The first way is the alien space station. It was designed to open portals to other universes. It’s going to take a while to store the energy to do so, but Omega knows where this universe is now. He can create a bridge between your universe and mine big enough to send ships through.”
Sean had never discussed that potential plan with Admiral Mertz, but he wasn’t giving much away. Anyone with three working brain cells could guess what the station was built to do, particularly since it already provided a way into other realities.
“That’s quite a helping hand,” Scott said softly. “I have difficulty believing you’re so generous. You have a powerful enemy to fight, too. The same one we do.”