by Jay Toney
Beverly, Sultan, and their children were next off the ship, followed by the Iniguar woman, who were busy fussing over the twins. I waved a greeting, but kept my distance from them. Red walked up to me, with Natty keeping her distance.
"Nathaniel, is Natty's being here going to cause a problem?"
"No, I still like her, but I can't have her aboard the Persephone as one of its officers. She has broken the trust I extended to her and needs to find a way to earn it again, before being allowed an board again."
"Aren't you being a little excessive punishing her by throwing her off your ship?"
"What would you have done if one of your officers failed to show up, in one of your campaigns, endangering the lives of the rest of your men?"
"Looking at it that way, she would have been whipped in front of the crew before being thrown off the ship. Had we been in space, that would have meant a long walk in space without a spacesuit. But, she does have a good reason for not showing up. She is pregnant."
"She should have at least let me know, so I could have changed the plans. I expected her to be a part of the operation, like she promised. My ship was hit by gun fire from targets she was supposed to take care of. She endangered the lives of all of us during the raid."
"She is new to dealing with her emotions, and is going to make a lot of mistakes."
"She will have to learn by them. I made mistakes when I was younger and was forced to learn by them. One of my mistakes got a good pilot killed doing a joyride, while gathering intelligence. It took me years to regain the trust of my fellow pilots. Congratulations, on making her pregnant."
"Who said the child was mine? I will care for it regardless though."
I couldn't think who Natty had been with other than Red or I, and it had been awhile since I was last with her. It couldn't be mine. Never the less, I would send Doc over to do a compete examination and covertly find out who the father was.
After Amber and Jewel joined me on the dock, and we headed to the nearest spacers inn. We checked into a suite, before heading out to see the sites. I grabbed a handful of credit chips from my suitcase, before locking it, and leaving.
The first thing on my list was the aquatic gardens. It cost 10 credits each for us to enter the gardens. UV light flooded the room sized aquariums, illuminating several different species of plants, fish, and the rocky caves they inhabited. Jewel and Amber were having a good time pointing and chatting about each different species of fish. The view was okay, but I had hoped we would get a chance to swim with the fish, like the commercial hinted. The brochure had a picture of a tour guide in a wet suit, fins, mask, snorkel and a spear gun.
After a long day of looking at fish we couldn't catch and eat, we headed back to the hotel suite. There was a dead man in our room. His body was hunched over my suitcase and his hands were still on its latches. I called the manager to have the body removed. It was the only excitement for the day, for me.
He arrived with a cleaning crew and the police. It was obvious that the hotel's guest services employee tried robbing me, and was probably responsible for many other hotel thefts. The body was taken away and the room cleaned. The manager assured me there would be no other attempts to steal from us. He brought a complementary safe up to our room to use while we enjoyed our stay here. The safe was programed to our biometrics, and wouldn't allow anyone else to open it.
The next morning we went flying. The advertisement pictured a man in a low gravity flying suit and wings. I did my share of zero gravity and low gravity flying, and enjoyed it. Instead of going deep into the stations core where gravity would be less, we only moved slightly coreward. It didn't take a genius to realize that low gravity flying couldn't be done at .9g.
Amber and Jewel were still delighted by the prospect of flying and wanted to continue. After paying our fees, we got in a slow moving line. Once we reached the end of the line, we were strapped into a harness, and our harness was then fastened to a slow moving cable. We were lifted and carried over the buildings on this level, and treated to several billboards advertising various products and services. Finally we were carried past the barrage of advertisements and over the stations promenade. At least we were able to get a discounted view of the aquatic gardens. I was contemplating pulling the emergency release on my harness, when we abruptly stopped on the landing platform. I was out of my harness, and heading towards my wives long before the rides attendants could get to me.
That was another attraction off my list. I'd go back to my ship, if Persephone would allow it, but she wouldn't. I hated the space stations poor excuse for entertainment. We either had to pay another 15 credits to cross the station using the wire and harness rig, walk through the stations warrens, or walk around the stations docks. I started walking heading rimward. At least I could also scratch shopping off my list.
When we got up after an exhausting day, and short night, I scanned through my list. I was contemplating spending the day in bed with Jewel and Amber, at least that would be fun. I dreaded the next attraction, the girls were excited about it. I picked up one of the hotels brochures at random, not really caring what it was:
See how the wild west was won. Authentic saloon with dancing girls, booze, gambling, and shootouts with the villains.
I was sold with dancing girls and booze. We left early enough to catch the first show. From the outside, the old fashioned western saloon looked inviting. We could hear piano music being played for the dancing girls. I couldn't wait to get inside.
The admission was a little steep at 30 credits apiece. But, it included two complementary drinks. We were all issued pop guns. If these were for the shootouts, I was already having second thoughts. Our hostess brought us to a table and brought our first round of drinks. I looked around the saloon. It was completely run down from neglect. The music we heard was from an old player piano. The synthetic person sitting at the piano, didn't even pretend to play. I wasn't sure he was even functional. The dancing girls weren't functional either. They were either sitting or laying on the stage, also neglected.
I took a sip of my drink. It was awful. Not only was it some low grade vacuum still alcohol, it was watered down. Six gangsters walked into the saloon. It was part of the show. At least they were working. The leader called me out for a duel. By this point I was more than ready. I unfastened my blaster, easing it slightly out of the holster, and stood up.
"Do you want to do this outside?"
"No in here is fine."
My wives, and the few other patrons took cover. The gangsters moved the furniture out of the way. We moved roughly twenty feet apart.
"Draw!"
I drew my weapon and fired six times. All the robotic gangsters laid dead at my feet. The attractions owner shouted for the police. It only took a couple of minutes for them to arrive.
The owner demanded 200 credits for each of the damaged robots to be repaired. He could have bought better androids for half that. He also wanted an additional 800 credits for loss of business, while his robots were being repaired.
I agreed to pay the damages, it was better than sitting in jail.
"There ought to be a law about selling rotgut watered down liqueur," I told the police officer. He raised an eyebrow at me in question. "As long as I have to pay for it, drinks are on the house. I jumped behind the bar before the owner could stop me. The police officers put a restraining hand on him as I poured them free drinks from behind the bar.
They all spat the foul tasting liqueur out, without drinking it and placed restraints on the owner. "Make sure the credits go to repairing the androids and not his bail," I said giving the police officer the 2000 credits that were demanded. He gave them back saying, "He won't need your credits where he is going. Passing off that cheap rotgut as top grade liqueu
r is both a sin and a crime. Worse is the fact that he watered it down."
The three of us left heading back to our suite. At least I got to have some fun today.
I met up with Red. He just came from a meeting with the stations officials.
"Nathaniel, these men are in need of some serious training, and we don't have the time to stay and train them."
"How about asking for a few volunteers. The planets would make a peaceful home for some of your men. I'm sure you have several you can choose from. Then you can hire replacements for areas you are short in, such as pilots."
"Nathaniel, we would have been great partners, had we met long ago. We would probably have been retired to our own private oasis by now."
"I've got the money to retire, but not with the threat of the Alliance hunting us down. We need to get somewhere safe from them first. As soon as you get the defense training started, we can make a deal for all the weapons I acquired during the raid. It should add a comfortable amount to our accounts."
Red had more requests than he expected. He was able to get his volunteers hired as top officers, with housing and land to use. In turn he was able to hire a good cooking staff. He got used to eating home cooked meals with Rosie and Doc both cooking our meals. I also got top price for the arsenal I had aboard. I paid both Red and David their shares, then paid my officers and crew.
I got good news from Doc. I was definitely not the father of Natty's child. Red was, without a doubt, the father. He probably told me what he did to make me wonder, and perhaps get closer to Natty. She was going to have a long struggle earning my trust again. She broke my heart twice, then failed to show up for a mission she promised to do her part in. Any redemption for her would be a long time coming.
We spent the final week on the second planet, Proxima Beta. The Inn we were staying at was right on the beach. This time I would get my hot sun, in fact two of them, and warm water where we were able to swim with the fish.
We took a charter boat out to a reef where we were able to see a true aquatic garden, and swim with the fish. There were fish of every different color, most having multiple colors. The coral varied from brown to red, with different species of eels, crabs, and lobster hiding in the fissures. Schools of fish darted past us while we swam.
After swimming, we were treated to a fishing trip. I didn't catch as many as the local people, but I caught more than enough to contribute to the cook out, for the local community. One of the fish I caught was as large as I was tall, and had several rows of needle sharp teeth. The person next to me assured me that it was good eating, and told me to make sure I got a portion of it.
The entire catch was given to the people who would be cleaning and cooking the fish. The cleaned fish were seasoned and wrapped in some type of leaf. The larger fish were cut into smaller pieces before also being wrapped in the leaves. The fish were placed in a shallow pit and covered with more leaves before being covered with hot coals.
When the coals finished burning, the fish were brought out of the pit, unwrapped, and served to everyone. Rosie and Doc could have done a much better job of seasoning and preparing the fish, but it wouldn't have been as much fun. We returned to the ship, feeling much happier after our stay on the planet. We had plenty of stories to tell our friends about our vacation.
On a parting note, I told the station's officials to keep their patrol ships near the spaceport. That way they could quickly respond to either planet. The Alliance would try to draw their ships off, so they could raid the colonists without interference. Do not let them be drawn off. The Alliance would be less likely to attack a defended target. For now, they would be busy dealing with the failure of their allies on Sirrah IV. It was unlikely they would be attacking anyone else, any time soon.
Vamps
Sigma Mizar was an unusual system. Normally unoccupied or unexplored systems were given an alphanumeric listing instead of a name. This system had a failed sun. The brown dwarf on our viewscreen emitted very little light or heat. Its few small planets should be frozen, in near absolute zero.
Mining co-ops occasionally mined these dark systems, if there was a profit to be made. But even established mining systems were given alphanumeric designations. Nothing in our files indicated any type of established outpost or colony that would otherwise give a system a name.
The exception was alien inhabited systems. They were also given an number and letter designation. There were many systems with worlds that were fit for alien life, and not for human colonization. We each tended to keep apart, so we didn't disturb each others societies. Some of the species, like insectoids, were openly hostile towards humans. Very few, mostly humanoid, greeted us as friends. Even fewer traded with us, considering us as inferior, or barbaric.
"Captain," Amber's voice disturbed my thoughts, "I am picking up an old communications satellite, or possible a beacon on short range scan."
"Put it on screen."
The image of an old satellite appeared on the main viewscreen. From its looks alone, I couldn't discern its purpose.
"Jewel, is there any form of communication coming from the satellite?"
"No, as far as I can tell its dead."
"I can't pick up any energy readings from it either," Amber added to Jewels report. "Are we going to investigate? It may offer some clues. Mike may even be able to get it working again."
Amber had a good point. The only way we were going to find anything out was to go to the satellite, open it up, and try to repair it.
"Jewel, have Red and David bring their ships to a stop."
"Mike take a small team over to the satellite, and see what you can find out."
"Do you want me to take a marauder or a transport shuttle?"
"I think a transport or cargo shuttle should do."
"I'll keep in constant contact, sending both video and audio. Finding a satellite out here in the middle of nowhere kind of spooks me."
Mike left the bridge to gather his team. I ran through the data we had on the system, and included a query on the system with the system data we received from both the Iniguar, and the Vorg. The search through the databases came up blank.
Did the early colonists make a mistake in naming this system, or was its purpose lost in time? Many of the old records no longer existed. Nearly all of the records of the early pioneers were gone. The archival records were damaged by both the neglect of our records keepers and the ravages of time.
Mikes voice came over the ships comm system loud and clear. The video images he was sending were clear and bright. He must have positioned the shuttle close to the satellite and turned on its search lights for illumination.
"I'm opening the upper access panels now."
The viewscreen showed us the components inside of the satellite. "The transmitter and receiver look intact. Its hard to tell if they still work. I haven't seen anything like this outside of a museum."
He opened the next set of panels, in the middle of the satellite. What the cameras showed was mostly melted and charred remains of what had been the power supply and main computer. It was a total loss. There was no way it could be repaired, or the data recovered.
"Mike what caused the damage?"
"You can bet it was no accident. It was made to look like the power supply overheated and burned everything up. There is no way that could have happened. There are more safety protocols in these old satellites than there is in your ship. Someone used some type of energy weapon and repeatedly fired into this compartment until there was only melted slag left."
He spent the next few minutes opening the lower access panels. "The circuits and computers in here are mainly used to keep the satellite in its programmed orbit. But, if I remember right there is a secondary, or
what they use to call a backup computer in here complete with the latest stored data. You can bet this antique has been drifting for a long time to be all the way out here."
Mike pulled module after module out of the satellites interior, before finding and removing a bright orange box. "This is it. When I get back, I'll get with Shree'tek and see what we can find out."
The video ended, all we could do was to wait for Mike to return, and see what secrets he could pry from the computer module.
It was hours before Shree'tek and Mike came to the bridge wheeling a cart with several low power storage units, linked together in series. Mike explained that these were similar to what the ancients called batteries. They were connected to a wire harness leading out of the now open computer module.
This was a lot easier than I thought it would be. All of the circuit cards have a diagram of their components, and input-output functions. He connected another wire to a comm unit. "I had to make some modifications and changes to this comm unit. It should work though."
"You mean you haven't tested it?"
"We can't, this will be a one time playback of any data stored in memory, our newer technology isn't compatible with these old parts. The computer module will most likely burn itself out playing back whatever message it has stored in its memory. Hopefully it will hold together long enough to playback whatever data it has. Persephone, prepare to receive a signal from 21.37 MHz."
"I'm ready to receive your signal."
Mike switched on the power, and a loud squealing sound emitted from the comm unit. It lasted for about half a minute, before the old computer gave out and started smoking.
"Persephone, translate the digital file, and display its contents on the viewscreen."
The image of a human vessel came on screen, being invaded by another human or humanoid species. Then the video image stopped.
"Persephone loop and enhance the video," I commanded.