“Dynamic shielding,” Ricket said. “Very difficult to breech.” He took another step forward and the shield segments repositioned themselves and added new ones, separating itself even more with Ricket’s advance.
Jason continued to watch Ricket incite the drone to react in different ways. It obviously was a highly intelligent piece of technology, but something wasn’t adding up. Why hadn’t the Caldurians sent other ships to rescue the Minian? Perhaps the better question was, why no retribution?
“Ricket, is the Minian able to communicate with other vessels, ones that exist on other planes across the multiverses?”
“I do not believe so, Captain,” Ricket answered, taking another step closer to the drone.
“Aren’t you afraid of it firing on you, or the thing exploding?” Billy interjected.
“No, I’ve disabled those functions.”
“So, in all probability then, the Caldurians are not aware of what has happened to the Minian?” Jason asked.
“I do not believe what we accomplished, utilizing phase-shifting as a weapon, would have crossed their minds. We are unique in that we have a Caldurian vessel of our own, The Lilly, that has phase-shift capability. I’ve noticed the Caldurians are overly arrogant and take pride in their unique technologies. To them, the Minian was impregnable; it is their latest, most-advanced vessel. We may still have time before they send another ship to look for her.”
Jason let that sink in for a moment. But how much time? He turned three hundred and sixty degrees, not looking at anything in particular. “This ship, what’s left of her, may be our best and only defense against them when they do come.”
Ricket smiled and gestured toward the phase-synthesizer. Jason hadn’t noticed, but numerous items had emerged out of several ports. Some were small, no bigger than a cellphone; others were the size of a minivan. Hover drones, retrieving the items as they appeared, placed them off to the side.
“I anticipated this, Captain. As I mentioned, this device is quite amazing. Amazing enough to manufacture, replicate, everything required in rebuilding the bridge and other damaged areas of the ship. With the help of the hover drones, she can be completely restored.”
“Timeframe?”
“Perhaps a week, maybe less.”
“What’s your estimate for finding a weakness on the drone we can exploit?”
“By tomorrow morning. That is if it’s even possible.”
“Do your best. We’re in a lot of trouble if you can’t,” Jason exclaimed. “Also, you’ll be part of the assault team that’s going to Earth to disable those five drones. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll be running into down there, but I have a feeling we’re in for a wild ride. One that makes what happened to us on HAB 12 seem like a walk in the park in comparison.”
Billy and Orion looked at each other and smiled. Dira crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe I should sit this one out?”
“Sorry, we’ll definitely need a medic.”
“What about Mollie? She’s going to need a lot of TLC over the coming days, perhaps even weeks.”
“Already have something in the works for Mollie. She won’t like it but my options are limited.”
Chapter 7
“No! I want to stay with you.”
“I’m sorry, Mollie. It’s not safe where I’m going. You’ll be with people you know, and Grandpa.”
“Will Dira stay with me?”
“Not this time, Mollie. Think of it like you’re going on your own adventure.”
“Where’s that?”
“To a place where there are other planets and different kinds of people.”
“Can Teardrop come with me?”
“Of course. Teardrop is yours.”
Mollie chewed the inside of her lip, seeming to weigh everything in her mind. He watched her as she scooted up in her bed. She had bed hair and a bad case of morning breath. Without her mother around, he’d need to help her stay on top of such things. Jason’s heart froze, realizing with Nan gone, his little girl would now depend on him more than ever. Guilt tugged at his heart—of all times to have to leave her …
“Will Uncle Brian be there?”
“Uncle Brian? Um … I’m not sure. I guess I can find out.”
“OK. If Uncle Brian is there, then I’ll go.”
Jason smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I need to make arrangements; why don’t you hop in the shower. And don’t forget to brush your teeth.”
But Mollie was somewhere else. Her teary eyes glazed over and Jason knew she was thinking about her mother. She leaned forward for a comforting hug and Jason, wrapping his arms around her, kissed the top of her head a second time. “We’ll be all right, little one. I promise.”
* * *
The admiral ran his fingers through his own crop of disheveled bed hair. Jason had obviously gotten his father out of bed, and by the looks of things from sixty light years away, he wasn’t too pleased about it.
“If you haven’t forgotten, Jason, I’m the commanding officer for the entire Allied forces. Not a good time to make a play-date for me and Mollie.”
Jason let his father’s words hang in the air.
“But of course she can come,” the admiral relented. “There’s nothing more important to me than my granddaughter.”
“She wants her uncle to be there, too.”
“Brian?” the admiral asked, sounding amazed anyone would actually want Brian around.
“Probably something to do with him saving her life back at the scrapyard. Is there a problem? Has he already left?”
“No, although we’ve certainly tried to expedite that process.” His father looked as though he regretted what he’d said and continued, “It’s not so much Brian, but that creature, hopper thing. If it’s not nonstop eating, it’s shitting in the corridors. We were just hoping to get them off ship as soon as possible.”
“Why don’t you drop the hopper off on Trumach. Probably lots for him to eat down there.”
“That was my first suggestion. Brian seemed open to it, but the hopper wouldn’t go along. Seems to have developed a bond to your brother.”
“To Brian?” Jason asked, not understanding how that would be possible.
The admiral shrugged.
“I’m sending The Lilly back to you, Dad. It’s just a matter of time before the Caldurians come looking for the Minian. We’re no match for their technology. How we overtook that ship was a fluke, and not something we should count on happening again. I don’t want to jeopardize the crew, especially Mollie.”
“And you’ll be able to deactivate the drones on Earth?”
“We have the Epcot shuttle, as well as what’s left of the Minian that we can use for a base of operations.”
“Let me know prior to your spooling a wormhole. And son, I’m staying optimistic you’ll be able to deactivate those drones. Seven billion displaced people are quite a burden for anyone to manage.”
“Thanks for reminding me. I’m well aware what’s at stake. Returning Earth to the twenty-first century is at the top of the list.”
Jason cut the feed, turned in his chair, and saw Mollie coming down the hallway. Her hair was wet and she was all dressed, though barefoot.
“Well, is Uncle Brian going to be there?”
“Looks like it. Grandpa’s going to talk to him.”
“What should I pack?”
“Nothing. You’ll be going in The Lilly. Things won’t change all that much for you. You can even keep working in the Zoo, if that’s what you want.” Mollie brightened with that bit of news and even smiled. Jason heard noises coming from their kitchenette area: cabinets being opened and closed, the hum of the replicator, and silverware being laid out on the table. Teardrop hovered into view behind Mollie.
“Go get your shoes and socks on before sitting down to breakfast. Okay, kiddo?”
* * *
Why was the Minian’s AI being so amiable was a question still on Jason’s mind, as Billy showed him a part of
the ship that was very unusual; in fact, an entire deck that had no correlation to anything like it on The Lilly.
They entered another compartment similar to four others they’d exited from over the last few minutes. It, too, had rows of equipment, like generators or turbines; the ten-foot-high by thirty-foot-long items occupied every inch of the five compartments. Jason stood with his hands on his hips and looked up at the closest of the huge pieces of equipment. Black and heavy looking, they looked similar to early nineteenth-century locomotives. There seemed to be a layer of grease covering each mechanical component.
“Like I said, Cap. There are hundreds of these things,” Billy said.
“It’s a Zip farm,” Ricket’s voice commented as he entered from the far end of the compartment.
“What the hell’s a Zip farm?”
“I’ve never actually seen one,” Ricket said, stopping to take a closer look at one of the strange devices. “Only seen theoretical models. And certainly nothing of this scale.”
“Are these used to support some kind of weapon?” Jason asked.
“No, these are referred to as Zip accelerators and are how the Caldurians cross over to other planes of the multiverse.”
Jason nodded, his mind returning to the AI.
“AI, are these devices of Caldurian technology?” Jason asked, out loud.
“No, Captain. This technology was developed on Alurian, a planet in the Corian Nez constellation system, one hundred thirty light years from Earth. Caldurians only discovered this technology eighty-nine years ago.”
“AI, can you tell me why you are assisting us?” Jason asked.
“Recent modifications to the Minian’s command structure subroutines necessitates my compliance with any and all of your requests.”
“When were these changes made?”
“Four days ago.”
“Who instigated these modifications?”
“That information is not available.”
Ricket moved to Jason’s side. “Can you provide the user’s designation?”
“Only that it is designation BRSTL.”
Jason shrugged and repeated the letters phonetically. “Bristol?”
Billy said, “Isn’t that the name of that scrawny kid—the traitor on board The Lilly? Could it be the same person?”
“Where is he now, AI? Is he currently onboard this vessel?”
“Access to that information is provisional.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Provisional in what way?”
“Captain,” Ricket said, “I believe your question, asking the AI why it is helping us, triggered this AI subroutine.”
Ricket asked, “AI, what are the provisions?”
“Non-retribution.”
Non-retribution? Jason’s anger flared. It was Bristol’s brother, Captain Stalls, who’d shot Nan, causing the wound that eventually led to her death.
Both Jason and Billy removed their helmets. Billy brought out a cigar but when he saw Jason’s expression, he put it back away.
“AI, tell me where Bristol is.”
“Access to that information is provisional.”
“Perhaps we should hear him out, see what he has to say. Without his help, I doubt we would have survived on this vessel more than a few seconds,” Ricket said.
Thinking, Jason paced up and down between two rows of Zip accelerators. With Stalls dead, revenge hadn’t been an option. He’d buried his anger, his rage, until now.
“AI, the provision is accepted.”
Chapter 8
“So where is Bristol?” Jason asked the AI. No answer came—the compartment was quiet with the exception of a low-frequency hum from the multiple Zip accelerators.
Bristol entered the compartment and stood at the far end of Jason’s row. He wore an ill-fitting environmental suit and was holding an energy weapon. “Move and I’ll shoot you. As you can see I’m armed and I can easily shoot all of you,” Bristol said, his high-pitched voice revealing his nervousness.
Jason and Billy slowly turned toward Bristol at the same time.
“How’d you get here?” Jason asked.
“Shut up! I’m asking the questions now. Do you understand?”
“Sure, whatever you want. You’re the one in charge, Bristol.”
Ricket, the only one still with his helmet on, would have access to his HUD and phase-shifting capability. Jason had just begun to wonder if Ricket would take the initiative when the compartment flashed white. Ricket had phase-shifted to a new position behind Bristol. Realizing too late what had happened, and feeling Ricket’s sidearm poking into his back, Bristol raised his hands.
“Crap!”
“Drop your weapon, Bristol. You know I don’t need much of an excuse to shoot you,” Jason said.
His energy pistol hit the floor with a metallic clunk. Ricket reached down and retrieved it.
Bristol swung around. “Push me like that again you little troll, and I’ll—” Seeing Ricket’s face through his helmet’s visor, Bristol cut his rampage short. “Looks like someone’s had a little corrective surgery.”
“Shut up, Bristol,” Jason said, striding down the row and stopping in front of him. “Again, how did you get here?”
“I have no fucking idea.”
Jason raised his gun and placed the barrel to Bristol’s forehead. “Then there’s no reason for me to let you live.”
“My brother’s fleet was in Earth space and immediately we came up against some outpost ships. Even with close to one hundred ships of our own, we were no match for Craing technology. Anyway, I thought it was a stupid idea, but we faked surrender; we then used one of my phase-shift devices to allow the raiders and me to subversively board one of their cruisers. But we totally botched it. They were ready for us. The other raiders were killed, all except me. I got away and ran. But when I realized I had nowhere to hide, I jumped into the phase-shift void. I thought I was going to die.”
“Okay, so you didn’t die, obviously. How did you end up here?”
“I told you already. I have no fucking idea. One moment I was jumping to my death, the next I was sprawled out on this vessel.”
“Where exactly?”
“Engineering. I was dangling half-off of a catwalk. I almost fell over the edge, but I swung my legs over it and was safe.”
“Nobody saw you there?”
“That’s the strange thing. Other than me the ship was pretty much deserted—like a ghost ship.”
“Pretty much deserted, so there were others?”
“I’m just assuming there were. Like on the bridge. But no, I never saw anyone else.”
“So, what have you been doing for the last four days?”
“Staying out of sight. The AI was hostile and took shots at me from several defensive locations. Twice it tried to vent me out to space,” Bristol added. “That’s when I went to work at one of the Engineering consoles. I was familiar with the basics of the ship’s programming, although this ship is far more advanced than The Lilly. But in time I was able to hack the core and grant myself administrator rights.”
“You’re a smart kid; too bad you’ve wasted it on being a pirate,” Jason told him.
“We don’t get to pick our families. My brother’s a dick, but he’s my brother.”
Billy looked over to Jason, then back to Bristol. “Well, kid, hate to be the one to break the news, but your brother’s dead.”
Bristol nodded and smiled, “Uh huh, sure he is.”
“Flattened to the size of my hand,” Billy said. “That’s what happens when a fifty thousand pound bin lift falls on your head.”
Bristol stared at Billy with the same sardonic smile, then his face registered shock. His shoulders sank and his eyes filled with tears. He folded, dropping to the deck, and cried out loud, burying his head in his hands.
Coming down the row of Zip accelerators, both Orion and Dira heard most of the conversation with the young pirate. Dira went to Bristol’s side and sat down next to him
. Orion, now standing next to Billy, said, “Nice, real nice Billy.”
Dira had an arm around Bristol’s shoulders and pulled him close to her as he continued to cry. “I’m so sorry, Bristol. Let it out … let it all out.”
Jason held up a finger—unable to speak. He felt his rage build, increasing tenfold. “You do know what he and his brother have done, right? You know that Nan would still be alive if—”
Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time Page 4