“Okay, let’s see what we can come up with. Computer, see if you can find the galaxy and star system we’re discussing.”
“Sure thing,” said the ship’s computer. “Just so you know, that description doesn’t match the galaxy were in right now, so it’s anywhere from a couple days to months or years away.”
“Keep trying,” said Ellie. “Just don’t crash into anything while you’re looking.”
“Will do. I’ll get back to you in a minute or so.”
“So it’s probably out of the way?” asked Gilbert.
Ellie thought about it, “Yeah, well, don’t worry, if it’s close by we can try to work it into the flight plan.”
“Found it,” said the computer. “A week away at our standard cruising velocity.”
“Which direction?” asked Ellie.
“Left. And a bit downward.”
“So too far away?” Gilbert said somewhat hopefully.
“I’ll need to see if I can line up any work that takes us that way,” said Ellie. “Not too much going on over there on the left and I need to finish this job first so we’re a week or so away of even starting to get there. Jon will probably be in touch with teleport codes long before that. Why don’t you just hang on here for a bit and see what happens.”
“Great. Fantastic,” said Gilbert as if his wildest dreams just came true.
“Just go to the cargo bay and help Holt prepare for unloading.” Holt was Ellie’s all purpose crewman and most things that required manual labor fell to him.
“Aye-aye, Captain.” And Gilbert was off like a boy going to his first circus.
“Hey, boss, what’s shakin’ between you and the newbie?” Talia, the ship’s tactical officer, had caught the last bit of the exchange between Gilbert and Ellie. She was the security Ellie had mentioned earlier, an expert at hand to hand combat with all the right implants.
“I think he’s got a crush on me. He has that love struck look on his face that makes you want to punch him in the mouth.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Yeah, go over there and punch him in the mouth.”
“You got it.”
“Hold on, don’t punch him in the mouth.”
“Gut then?”
“No.”
“Knee him in the groin?”
“Definitely not, I might need that later. Just forget I said anything.”
“Can do.”
Ellie could tell from the blank look on Talia’s face that she just erased the past thirty seconds from her memory. “Hey, boss, what’s shakin’ between you and the newbie?” she said.
They arrived at the mining camp right on schedule. Ellie’s chief job as captain was to see that the cargo hold was never empty so the plan was to off load the mining equipment and pick up a load of ore and transport it to a nearby manufacturing world where she was scheduled to pick up her next load. Most residential planets have set up a structure where they have moved all of their environmentally unfriendly activities off world. Raw materials are mined on big asteroids or non-populated planets where no one gives a rat’s ass on how they’re collected. Manufacturing is done on a planet that already has a toxic atmosphere so no one cares about emissions and the finished goods are shipped to wherever they’re needed with no harm done. This way the environments of populated planets are kept relatively pollution free and safe for the people living there, mostly accountants and marketing folks.
The mining equipment was offloaded and the ore was stored away without a hitch. As with most legitimate business transactions, payment was automatic and handled through financial computer systems. Ellie operated in a cash only mode for special cargo, which is one of the reasons Talia is along. So while Ellie was at the front of the ship working with the mining manager as they both supervised their respective part of the unloading and loading, Talia waited at the back door for a knock followed by the universal query, “Hey, man, you got the stuff?”
It took almost six hours to unload and reload the ship and then they were on their way. That was the problem with the mining runs, shore leave is about as appealing as a toothache. You might as well pack it up and head out to the next stop since the sooner you finish, the sooner you can relax on a beach somewhere. They were just starting to unwind when the ship began to rock as if it was under cannon fire. Ellie jumped to her feet.
“Computer, what the hell’s going on?”
“We’re under fire, Captain,” replied the ship’s computer.
“Talia, I need you to take over tactical now!” Talia ran into the bridge and slid into the tactical control chair. “What the hell is going on?” Ellie screamed.
“A ship just came out of nowhere and started firing at us,” replied Talia.
“What did they hit?” asked Ellie.
“Remember when the shield array was ruptured and we put on that big old fake one so folks would think we still had defensive systems?” said Talia.
“Of course,” said Ellie.
“Well, they shot that to hell.”
“That’s good, right?” said Gilbert, “Now we can just turn on the real one.” Ellie gave him a sideways glance. “No, don’t tell me you never had it repaired!”
“Repairs are expensive,” she started, but was interrupted by more cannon fire.
“There go the fake guns,” said Talia.
“See that,” said Ellie, “it would have been money wasted if I had paid to have any of that fixed.”
“What do these guys want? Are they after your ship? Your cargo?” Gilbert asked.
“Maybe, I guess they’re worth something to a pirate, but this is pretty far outside what they usually go after. It’s hard to make a quick getaway when you’re flying a small mountain of iron ore. Equally hard to fence.”
“Communication coming in, Captain,” said the ship’s computer
“Put it on screen,” said Ellie.
A man’s head appeared on the nearest view screen. “Hello, Ellie.”
“PJ, you rat, what the hell are you doing?” said Ellie.
“You know this guy?” Gilbert leaned over and asked Franco in a quiet voice.
“We work this sector a lot and PJ is a freighter captain with the emphasis on smuggling. Not a big leap from smuggler to pirate, I guess,” said Franco.
“Hey, let’s not get personal,” said Ellie, over her shoulder.
“Please, you’re about as much a crook as someone that takes office supplies home with them.” said Franco. “By the way, you’re out of staples.”
“Calm down,” said PJ. “I just cleared some junk off of your ship, no harm done. It’s not like you were fooling anyone with that stuff. Now hit the brakes or I’ll do some real damage.”
“Full stop,” said Ellie, then turning back to the screen, “What do you want, PJ?”
“I want your cargo, Ellie.”
“Where are you going to put it?” asked Ellie. “From here it looks like you’re flying a set of engines with cannons attached. What are you going to do, strap it onto the roof?”
“Let me worry about that,” said PJ. “You worry about me. If I detect any power going to those engines, I open fire on them, understood? Now we can do this the hard way or the easy way and believe me, when I say the hard way, I mean it will only be hard on one of us. And by one of us, I mean your ass.”
“Give me a second to talk this over with my crew.”
“Sure, take a minute. I’ll be preparing my boarding party. The longer you take, the more robots I add. Like you, I’m strapped for cash and can’t afford therapy for them so they’ll be working out their aggression issues on your crew.”
“Okay, folks, huddle up,” said Ellie. “Any thoughts on what the hell’s going on?”
“I’m thinking that we just don’t have ore in the hold,” said Franco. “They must have found something else on that rock and slipped it in on us. I’m not sure, but it looked like one of the guys in the background was holding a phase-shift detector.”
&nb
sp; “That means it’s probably something small enough so these guys can do a smash and grab,” said Talia. “How well do you know this guy? Is he the humane type that would be satisfied to wipe our memory and leave us wondering what happened or is he more the hurry up and go, just blast everything type?
“Let’s not put him to the test,” said Ellie. “I mean honestly, look at him, you can tell he doesn’t test well. Alright, everybody get ready.”
“Ready for what?” asked Gilbert. He was ignored as Talia and Franco returned to their stations.
“Hey, PJ, here’s a thought,” said Ellie. “Why don’t you just pay me, I don’t know, say five thousand and you can come over here and take whatever the hell you want,” Ellie recognized PJ’s smirk and quickly added, “from the cargo bay.” Unbelievable, she thought, even in situations like these…
“Sorry, kid,” said PJ, “you know the first rule of business; never pay for what you can get free. Ready your airlock for my boarding party, unless you got some kind of secret weapon, then I suggest you use it now.” Lots of background laughter, the sign of a well trained crew, knowing to laugh when the boss makes a funny. Either that or a bunch of idiots.
“You heard the man, let it rip,” said Ellie nodding to Talia. The ship gave a single, violent shudder. “Now get us the hell out of here. Execute escape course delta.”
“I think escape course gamma would be better,” said Franco.
“Just pick one!” was Ellie’s agitated response.
12.
“What exactly are you?” Simon asked. He and Lyn had returned to his apartment.
“Remember the main computer at the ICC that Agent Tomas was using to verify your story? Well, I’m an aspect of that computer from an earlier point in time.”
“And your name is Ellie?” asked Lyn.
“That’s right, kiddo.”
“When exactly where you created?” asked Simon.
“Shortly before Gilbert left the ICC. We were making defense plans and he thought it would be best if we set up an independent aspect to watch out for you. Gilbert knew you would follow after him and wanted to leave you a private message.”
“And you have no idea where he is now?” Simon asked.
“Nope.”
“Or where Jon is?” asked Lyn.
“Not really,” said the small device named Ellie. “Though he did surface a short time ago, but then he disappeared again. Jon was just featured in an entertainment news segment. Seems that he ran off with the youngest daughter of the Burdast royal family. Simon, I must tell you that Jon is not what he seems.”
“Good,” said Simon, “because he seems like an arrogant, self-righteous ass that would sell his soul to save his skin.”
“Why am I the only one that didn’t get that?” Ellie said.
“Because, darling,” said Lyn, “You’re just too nice a person.”
“That’s nice of you to say, Lyn. When the computers take over the universe, you will be spared.”
“What did she say?” asked Lyn.
“I’ll explain later,” said Simon. “What else did the story say?”
“That he hotwired a local teleport for places unknown moments before capture by the imperial guard and the pair hasn’t been seen since. When they tried to get the destination codes off the teleport, it transported 5,000 gallons of water into the room and then destroyed itself.”
“Damn, that guy’s good,” said Simon.
“Sure, but where does that leave us? I don’t think we’re going to be able to investigate that crime scene,” said Lyn. “And our new buddy Agent Tomas is probably already there. I thought something was up. I distinctly got the feeling he was trying to get rid of us.” She thought for a second or two before saying, “Usually in situations like this my next move is to interview known acquaintances or investigate last known addresses.”
“I have a listing of Jon’s favorite haunts and hideouts,” said Ellie.
“Where did you get that from?” asked Lyn.
“Agent Tomas was nice enough to bring some of Jon’s files along and I was able to hack into them.”
“Nicely done,” commented Simon. “Show us what you got.”
Simon and Lyn were only mildly surprised when a three-dimensional image engulfed a third of the room and began displaying statistical data and then switching to video of the locations. They were becoming accustomed to the unusual, which was good since that was the direction they were heading. They evaluated all the information, but in the end they decided to follow Lyn’s gut feel.
“That one,” she said. “I’ve followed enough men to know that that’s the type of place they like to go to when they’re lying low.”
“Okay, now how do we get there without being traced back to Earth?” said Simon.
“Leave that to me,” said Ellie. “One of the things Jon did when setting me up was separate a little bit of the ICC facility from its main computer. We’ve got a private, untraceable teleport station at our disposal, free of charge.”
“Wow, this is one of my childhood dreams coming true,” said Simon.
“Gee, next we’ll see if we can make you invisible in a girl’s locker room. That should cap it for you,” quipped Lyn.
Lyn and Simon appeared in a large room with a glass dome.
“Doesn’t the ICC computer know we’re back?” Simon asked.
“No, it doesn’t have any idea at all. They really underestimated Jon by leaving him alone here. The way he took this place apart, the man’s an artist. This suite of rooms is now separate from the ICC, as far as the main computer’s concerned.”
“But if he removed it from the ICC computer’s memory, how is it still functional?” asked Simon.
“It’s like the toenail on your little toe. You know it’s there because it was there the last time you looked at your foot, but you’re wearing shoes now and can’t see your toes so you just assume your toenail is there doing whatever it’s supposed to do.”
“Okay, sure.” said Simon. “No, wait, it’s not okay. What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your brain keeps blood flowing to your toes, but typically ignores them unless you stub one while walking. The ICC will keep these rooms functional and not pay any attention to what we do unless we blow a hole in the wall or something like that. It was very subtle programming.”
“I’m sorry, darling, but I found a flaw in your analogy,” said Lyn pointing down. “I’m wearing open toed shoes.”
Lyn and Simon changed into the clothing Ellie had provided and received implants for translation as well as to enable them to receive direct communications from Ellie without audible sound.
“What about weapons?” Lyn asked.
“I’ve got you covered,” Ellie replied. “I’ve got enough firepower to blast a hole through almost anything.”
“Are you limited by any rules that prohibit the use of force against human beings?” Simon asked.
“Are you kidding? Where’d you get a crazy idea like that? I’m a straight point and click device. Point me straight at whatever you want gone and click the button. Bam.”
“So no stun setting?” asked Simon.
“Sure, I can stun, but that’s just asking for trouble down the road. Take out the garbage once and for all, that’s what I say.”
“Now everyone enjoys killing bad people,” began Lyn, “but sometimes you need them again later on. Just let us decide, okay?”
“Alright, but don’t get mad at me when I say I told you so.”
“You’re a pretty powerful little gizmo. Does everyone have one?” asked Simon.
“Most people that live or work in a modern environment have some type of device, but they only perform mundane tasks like managing their calendar, messaging, entertainment, translation and other business specific tasks. Some are small enough to be implanted, but they can be limited. I’m government issue and can do a lot more. Not everyone has access to something like me.”
“Jon has one, right?”
“Sure, he hacked open the weapons locker first day here and helped himself to whatever he wanted.”
“Sounds about right,” said Simon. “Now tell us more about this place we’re going to.”
“We’ll be traveling to a private establishment located in the middle of one of the more popular sectors in the universe called the Dahana space station. For whatever reason, there ended up being a lot of habitable planets over there which in turn generated a fair amount of commerce and that created intergalactic trade routes for cargo ships. Dahana started off as a rest and repair station, but it’s evolved to resemble something more like a large city. There’s no real law there, just a security force that stops folks from smashing up the place and each other. The more expensive place you’re in, the more security they have and the safer you are.”
“And the place we’re going to?” asked Simon.
“Middle of the road. No worries. Take a look,” said Ellie and a projection of the station appeared in the room. “This is how it looks from space,” the station rotated in front of them and then it switched to an internal view, “and these are some of the more popular walkways. Automated transportation systems are controlled by the station’s main computer, but we’ll be avoiding those since they can double as holding cells if the station computer decides it doesn’t like you.”
“Is it me or do you get the impression that the architects were on some very serious medication when they designed this place,” asked Lyn.
“Now I know what a casino would look like if it crashed into an airport and shopping mall,” said Simon.
“It started off as a small docking station,” explained Ellie, “and has been continually added to over the past five or so hundred years. Aesthetics usually doesn’t come into play. It’s more of a form following function type of thing.”
“And you’ve greased the skids at the teleport?” asked Lyn.
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