A Mind Programmed

by Vox Day

  “Nothing of that nature,” Hull told her. “None of our weapons utilize poison, although of course some of the nuclear materials in the warheads are, technically, quite poisonous. But they're virtually inaccessible even if one had the time, tools, and access to the warheads required. The same would be true of Rigel.”

  “Thank you, Captain.” She turned back to Barngate. “Where were you when the emergency occurred, Chief?”

  “I was walking through the central corridor, headed toward the bridge,” Barngate answered. “I was slated to go on watch there in about a half-kilosec.”

  “What happened, in your words?”

  “Well, I was near the ladder when I caught a whiff of something that stung my throat, then burned all the way down. I got one lungful of the stuff—I'll never forget that—then I held my breath and headed for the closest mask locker. I got one on and ran for the bridge. When I got there, the captain, navigator and man on the communication watch—that was Jerry Dakart—they was already down. The captain was on the deck too, he was crawling and trying to get to the general-alarm.”

  “Didn't you think to take masks to the bridge?”

  “No, ma'am, they have a mask locker there,” Barngate replied. “And also, everything happened so suddenly that I didn't have time to think. At least I wasn't thinking about anyone else, I was just thinking about getting a mask on before it was too late.”

  “What did you do next?”

  “I ran to the mask locker.”

  “The one on the bridge?”

  “Yes, but I was too late. By the time I got a mask on the captain, he was gone. So were the others.” He gestured helplessly. “There just wasn't nothing I could do.”

  “I see,” York said. “Did you see any other men during that time?”

  “Jarrett ran to the bridge about that time.” He nodded toward Shumway. “He was in pretty bad shape. He'd caught a few whiffs before he managed to get a mask on.”

  York glanced at Shumway. “How much did you breathe?”

  “Two, maybe three breaths,” answered Shumway. His anger was palpable. “I was close to the locker when it happened.”

  “Which locker?”

  “The one in the central corridor. That's at the foot of the ladder leading to the bridge.”

  “The same one Barngate used?”

  “Yes, ma'am. I wasn't far behind him.”

  “What did you do after you got the mask?”

  “I followed the chief to the bridge.”

  “But you were too late.”

  “They were dead,” said Shumway flatly. “Everyone was dead.”

  “Except the chief, of course.”

  “He was trying to put a mask on the captain, like he said.”

  “Did you see any other men during this time?”

  “Nobody,” Shumway declared. “What's the point of all this, ma'am? We wrote it all down already!”

  York ignored his protests and returned her attention to Barngate. “What happened next, Chief?”

  “I sounded the alarm. I didn't know how bad the extent of it was yet.”

  “And then?”

  “Then I ordered Jarrett to run down to the ECS room to see what the trouble was,” Barngate answered. “I knew we was in bad shape. The captain and navigator was both dead, and the only thing I could think of was to find a safe landing spot. As nearly as I could figure, the Gelhart system was it.”

  “When did you take the Rigel out of hypertransit?”

  “Almost immediately. We were real close to the system by the clock.”

  “Quick thinking,” York observed. “Very commendable. Did you see or hear anything unusual while all this was going on?”

  “Unusual? Are you kidding me? There was, like, nine dead bodies lying around, including the captain, and the alarm klaxon was shrieking every other second! Don't you think that's unusual enough?”

  “I mean noises you couldn't identify, voices, explosions, or anything like that?”

  “I heard some shouting, but that was earlier, before I got onto the bridge. I suppose it was people realizing the same thing I was.”

  “You remained on the bridge during this time?”

  “Yes, ma'am. I'd just taken the ship out of transit and was trying to run her computers to calculate a course that would put us in orbit. I didn't really know what I was doing, so I had to concentrate pretty hard.”

  “Did anyone join you on the bridge at this time?”

  “Join me?” Barngate frowned. “Wooten came up while I was still working out where Bonoplane was, followed by Hing Poy. I can't recall the exact time or anything, though.”

  “Wooten and Hing Poy?” York shot an inquiring look at the comm tech.

  “That was a few minutes after the gas hit,” Wooten explained. “When I realized what was happening, I grabbed a mask, ran to the communication room and sent out a distress signal.”

  “It's a good thing you did. Was anyone there?”

  “The man on watch was lying on the deck. He was dead.”

  “How soon was that after you sensed the gas?”

  “It seems like only a few seconds.” Wooten shook his head. “I really couldn't say. I guess I was too scared.”

  “Understandably. Was the ship in hypertransit?”

  “I don't know. I couldn't tell.”

  “What did you do next?”

  “I thought I'd better sound an alarm. I didn't know the whole ship was affected. That's when I ran up to the bridge. The chief chased me back down to see what was going on with the air system.”

  “Why did you go to the bridge?” York raised her eyebrows.

  “To send another signal. That's when I realized the message didn't go out. We can't send or receive in transit, you know.”

  “I'm aware of that,” York told him. “Now think carefully, Wooten. Who suggested the second message, you or the chief?”

  “The chief did,” the young tech promptly answered. York saw Barngate's eyes narrow slightly, though whether it was at the answer or the line of questioning, she couldn't tell.

  York glanced at Captain Hull. He was staring intently at the chief petty officer. She turned her attention to Shumway. “Mr. Shumway, what did you find in the ECS room?”

  Shumway indicated the two Dai Zhani with his head. “I saw Hing Poy running out of the room.”

  “Mr. Poy?”

  “That's my normal duty station,” Poy explained. “I ran there as soon as I got a mask.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Peterson. He was lying on the floor.”

  “Was he, in fact, dead?”

  “He was, but I did not know it at the time. I did not check on him. My first thought was the air system. I realized right away that something wasn't right.”

  “How?”

  “There was some pressure cylinders lying around on the deck.”

  “Can you remember how they were marked?

  “They weren't marked. They were just plain and gray. We keep ones what look like that in oxygen and nitrogen, but I don't think they were either of them.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I switched on the emergency air-exchange system to try to flush the atmosphere.”

  “Perhaps you'd better explain that to me,” York suggested.

  “It's an emergency backup system,” Poy explained. “It's so that if the carbon dioxide content gets too high or the main system breaks down, we can switch to that system.”

  “Can it scrub the air if the purifiers break down, or, in the case of a lethal additive?”

  “Yes, ma'am, that's just what it does. It sucks out all the old air and ejects it into space while it pumps back a fresh supply from the backup tanks.”

  “A cruiser isn't a small ship. Wouldn't that require quite a bit of oxygen?”

  “Oxygen and nitrogen,” Poy corrected. “Yeah, it's expensive so we aren't supposed to do anything like that except in the case of a real emergency. The gases are auto-mixed to the right per
centage before they're pumped into the system. Total atmospheric exchange takes point five six kilosecs.”

  “That's fast. So that's what you did, you flushed out the poisoned atmosphere?”

  “No, ma'am. That's what I tried to do. I switched it on, but it didn't start. That's when I knew we were still in transit.”

  “Ah, because you can't flush the atmosphere in hypertime?”

  “Yes, ma'am,” Hing Poy repeated steadily.

  “What happened next, Hing?”

  “I got to thinking I'd better tell someone what the problem was. I was running out to find my chief—that's Chief Patterson—when I ran into Shumway.”

  “And then?”

  “Shumway told me to find Chief Patterson. Said if I couldn't find him, I should report to the bridge. He said Chief Barngate was there. I found Patterson dead by the mask locker, and there was crew lying dead all along the corridor. As soon as I saw that, I ran to the bridge. Chief Barngate sent me to see if I could find any of the officers alive.”

  “And you didn't?” asked York gently.

  “No, ma'am, they was all dead.”

  “So, I assume you cleared the ECS system once Chief Barngate brought the ship out of transit.”

  “Yes, ma'am.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Poy.” York looked at Lee Chun. “You're maintenance first, as I recall.”

  “Yes, ma'am,” Chun responded. His voice was polite and steady.

  “What did you do when Hing ran to the ECS?”

  “I ran to the damage control center,” Chun replied. “That's my duty station.”

  “Where is that?”

  “Forward on the second deck, next to the ship's hospital.”

  “Go on,” she encouraged him.

  “I didn't see anyone alive. I ran to the hospital, but it was the same there. Then I thought of the bridge. I was running toward it when I met Hing. I went with him to see if we could find one of the officers still alive somewhere.”

  “Without any luck,” York observed. She glanced around the room. Lieutenant Tregaski was leaning forward with a somewhat perplexed expression on his face. Benbow looked curiously expectant. Most of the Rigel survivors were hunched forward, watching her intently. Shumway's scowl had deepened, and he refused to look her in the eyes. Barngate's friendly expression had vanished; he seemed to be taking her a good deal more seriously now.

  “We have several more men from whom to hear,” she continued. She indicated a modestly overweight man with a bald crown. “Gordon, I believe?”

  “Sam Gordon, engine technician,” the man responded nervously.

  “Where were you when the emergency took place?”

  “In the crew's galley, ma'am. I was with Ival, Mason and Bagby.” He gestured toward his companions.

  You were together?”

  “Yes, ma'am.”

  “What doing?”

  “Well, it's a little difficult, ma'am.” He floundered, clearly fearing to divulge something.

  “Speak up,” she ordered sharply.

  “We were playing a game.”

  “What sort of game? Krabacci?”

  “No, ma'am, we was gambling,” one of the other men said. He met York's eyes without hesitation. “My name's Jack Ival, armament apprentice.”

  “Thank you, Ival.” York favored him with a little nod. “How did you know something was wrong?”

  “The gas didn't seem to strike so fast where we was,” Ival said. “We caught a whiff of it and I yelled for the masks. We all made a break for the lander.”

  “The lander?” York raised his voice.

  “Number two starboard lander,” explained Ival. “It's docked just off the crew's galley. Someone, I guess maybe it was me, remembered that the landers are equipped with masks. Number two was nearer than the lockers.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “Aside from that, we could shut it off from the rest of the ship, at least until we knew what was going on. I figured that if there was something wrong in the air, we'd at least have a different supply, you know?”

  The young man was a bit sharper than the others, York observed. He'd almost certainly saved their lives. That, or he'd known it was coming. “You said the gas didn't hit very fast?”

  “Like I said, we caught just a whiff at first. I realized what was happening because Mason and Bagby started coughing right as my lungs started to burn.”

  “What happened next?”

  “We sealed off the lander and broke out the masks. Then I got on the comm to sound an alert. I couldn't raise anyone.”

  “Did you stay in the lander?”

  “No, ma'am. Since I had the mask on, I slipped out and made a break for the port laser compartment. That's my duty station. I brought two masks with me in case I saw anyone who might need it, but it was already too late.”

  “Very commendable,” York said.

  “I passed a lot of men who looked dead, and that was the way I found things in the port laser too,” Ival continued. “I tried to contact the hospital, but I couldn't get an answer. I was just starting toward the officers' deck when I ran into Gordon. After that we met Poy and Chun and helped them see if anyone else was alive.”

  “That leaves you two,” York said, looking at Mason and Bagby.

  Yes, ma'am,” one of them answered.

  “Your name?”

  “Carl Mason, apprentice cook.”

  “What did you do after Ival and Gordon left?”

  “Me and Joe went back to the galley. That's our duty station. So did Joe. We stayed together.”

  “You and Joe Bagby?”

  “Yes, Miss York, I'm a cook apprentice too,” Bagby added. He started to say something else, but hesitated.

  “Keep talking,” she told him.

  “Well, later I got wondering why the gas seemed to hit everyone else so much faster, so I started looking around–”

  “Everyone else outside the galley?” York interrupted.

  “Yes, ma'am. Looking at how the men couldn't even make it to the masks, it seemed as if it came into the galley a lot more slowly. When we found out that most of the others were dead, I got curious. Turned out the galley's air vents were shut. That's what gave us more time.”

  “Shut?”

  “Yes, ma'am, you can do it manually from the inside.”

  “Are they often closed?”

  Bagby shook his head. “Not that I seen before that.”

  “Mason?” she asked. Mason had raised his hand timidly, as if he were a schoolboy.

  “I shut them before the game,” he explained lamely. “It keeps the voices from traveling.”

  “You seem to have chosen a fortunate time, Mason,” she said grimly. Fortunate or forewarned?

  “Yes, ma'am.”

  York returned her attention to Barngate, then abruptly addressed him without warning. “You said you set course for Bonoplane after coming out of hypertransit. How long did it take you to reach orbit there?”

  “A little over five days.” A note of caution crept into the quartermaster's voice. “You can't chance coming out too close.”

  “So I've been told,” she agreed. “Were you on the bridge all that time?”

  “No,” Barngate shook his head. “I broke it into two watches. I stood one with Jarrett. Chun stood the other with Poy.”

  York heard Hull shift his position and glanced over to see a frown crossing his face. “Any particular reason for that selection?”

  “Chun was the next senior petty officer present,” Barngate explained.

  “Very good,” York assented. “And what were the others doing?”

  “I had the other men move the dead into the escape pods and the two launchers, to improve our living conditions and to reduce the risk of sickness,” answered Barngate. “We didn't know how long we would have to live there.”

  “An unpleasant job but a necessary one,” York commented. “So, to be clear, you and Shumway had the bridge half the time, and Chun and Poy the other half.”


  “That is correct.”

  “For the entire time from your emergence from hypertransit to the arrival of Draco?”

  “Yes, ma'am,” Barngate affirmed.

  “We found the one launcher. Where is the other?”

  “Somewhere out in space. The autolaunch routine went wrong on Launch Two and she exited the bay five decaseconds late. We had it set to red, burn red, and since we were in high orbit, that was enough to push her out of the gravity well.”

  “Unfortunate,” York commented. Burn red? She wasn't familiar with that terminology, but she let it pass. “While you were on the bridge, did you at any time go down into the forward missile compartment?”

  “No, sir, that's not permitted,” Barngate replied sharply.

  “Shumway?”

  “Never got near it,” Shumway answered defensively.

  “I ordered everyone to stay away from it,” explained Barngate.

  “And you're certain they did?”

  “I can only speak to my own watch, but on my watch, yes. I'm certain.”

  “How about the two of you from the second watch?” York asked the two Dai Zhani.

  “Neither of us went down,” Chun answered evenly.

  “At any time did you hear any strange sounds?”

  “No, ma'am.”

  “You already asked us that,” Barngate snapped testily.

  “I'm sorry, Chief, I'm trying to refresh my memory. So, nothing?”

  “No,” Barngate shook his head.

  “Shumway?”

  “Nothing,” Shumway declared.

  “Hing Poy?”

  “Nothing, Miss York.”

  No one had heard anything. The bridge had been continuously occupied. And yet, an explosion had ripped open the door to the forward missile compartment. She reflected on the possibilities in front of her. Four men. Two watches. As she weighed the two alternatives and reached a conclusion, Doctor Benbow entered the room. He caught her eye and nodded. Good. It was time to bring this charade to an end.

  She cleared her throat. “I believe I should clarify matters. I am here not only as a representative of the High Admiral, but also as an AID agent. The latter position, incidentally, is my primary employment.”

  “The Directorate!” someone was heard to murmur amidst the general hush.

  “Ascendancy Intelligence.” York nodded. She looked at the survivors and registered their responses. Bagby's mouth hung agape; so did Mason's. Gordon had lifted his head in shocked surprise; Ival and Wooten appeared to have taken the announcement in stride. They watched him steadily. Lee Chun and Hing Poy appeared as inscrutable as ever, except perhaps for their sharpened gaze. Shumway scowled at his hands. Barngate sat straighter, his eyes weighing.