by Isaac Hooke
Rade disconnected. It was late evening, so he retired to his quarters to relax with Shaw. She cooked him up a dish of chicken and rice.
“This is fantastic,” Rade said, downing the food voraciously.
“Thank you,” Shaw said. “Just doing my part to protect you from the atrocious food of the wardroom. Robots can’t cook.”
“Don’t tell that to the rest of the crew,” Rade said, finishing his plate.
“Here’s something else I’m not telling the rest of the crew,” Shaw said.
She dragged him to the hydro-recycle container in the head, and they showered together.
Some time later he found himself lying awake on his bunk. A bad dream had awakened him.
He went to the head, activated the noise canceler, and asked the Argonaut’s AI: “Bax, any news? Did we get an answer from the colony yet?”
“There has been no answer from Kitale, no,” Bax replied. “But Bender has some news.”
“Is he still awake?” Rade asked.
“Yes,” Bax said.
“Tap him in.”
A moment later a hologram of the heavily muscled black man appeared in front of Rade.
“Hey Bender,” Rade said. “I’m surprised you’re still up.”
“I keep late hours, bro,” Bender said. “Getting in some quality sniping time.”
“Oh yeah,” Rade said. “What’s that new VR game you and Bender have been playing?”
“Me and Bender?” Bender asked. “While it’s true I’ve been known to play with myself, I don’t usually do it in VR, if you catch my drift.”
“Sorry, late night,” Rade said. “I meant you and TJ.”
“Mechs vs. Aliens IV,” Bender said.
“Nice,” Rade said. “I’ll have to try that sometime. Listen, Bax said you had some news for me.”
“I do,” Bender said. “I finished my analysis of the packets passing back and forth between Kitale and the Gate comm nodes. It’s just your standard InterGalNet traffic. Freetube videos, app downloads, messages sent between friends and family, the usual crap. Kitale colony seems to be just fine. I’m not sure why they’re ignoring us.”
“All right,” Rade said. “Thanks.” He disconnected.
There was nothing more they could do but continue toward the planet.
Rade glanced at his tactical display, and regarded the location of the outgoing Slipstream with suspicion. There was no Gate in front of it, meaning that the Argonaut wouldn’t be able to pass through, but that didn’t necessarily mean alien craft couldn’t enter. He had seen alien ships traverse Slipstreams without Gates before. Specifically, Phant ships.
The next morning, after Rade had settled in on the bridge, Lui spoke up.
“This is odd,” Lui said. “I’m detecting what looks like the wreckage of two Kenyan corvettes on the surface. Tanga class, according to Bax’s analysis. There is also debris from what I’m guessing is an orbital defense platform on the same continent. I’m getting a ping from the black box associated with the defense platform. Looks like it went down a month ago.”
“And the corvettes?” Rade asked.
“I’m not getting any ping from their black boxes,” Lui said. “My guess is, either they were destroyed, or removed. But I’d say they probably went down at around the same time as the orbital defense platform.”
“Bender, I don’t suppose you can remotely hack into that black box to find out what happened?” Rade said.
“No,” Bender said. “The ping is mostly for retrieval purposes. There’s no remote interface to the actual contents. You’ll need to open up the box and remove the holographic storage chip if you want to get in.”
“Too bad.” Rade glanced at Lui once more. “Are you detecting any surface-to-space defenses on the planet yet? Or anything else that could have downed those corvettes?”
“Nope,” Lui said. “The only thing that could have eliminated those corvettes is the orbital defense platform. And the warships apparently took it out at the same time.”
“Are you seeing any signs of life in the cluster of habitation domes composing the colony?” Rade said.
“Yes, in fact,” Lui said. “People are walking about, driving and flying vehicles, generally going about their lives. They’re all fairly dark-skinned. Typical of Kenyans, I suppose. Data packets continue to transfer back and forth between the planet and the comm nodes near the Gate. They’re piggybacking off the comm nodes built into the Argonaut, in fact, as per standard networking protocol.”
Rade glanced at Fret. “And yet their government is not answering our hailing requests?”
“No,” the communications man replied.
“The mystery deepens,” Shaw said.
“Why don’t we try contacting a citizen?” Rade said.
Fret shrugged. “It’s worth a try. I can extract the recipient ID from one of the packets, and use it as the destination address for a message. Bax can handle the translation between English and Kenyan. What would you like me to say?”
Rade rubbed his chin. “Tell them who we are, and ask them if anything unusual is going on in Kitale. Ask them what happened to those ships.”
Rade tapped in Batindo. According to the location data, the Kenyan was located in sickbay.
“Batindo, why are you in sickbay?” Rade asked.
“Err, I tried to talk to the strange woman you mentioned,” Batindo replied.
“What happened?”
“Like you told me, she doesn’t like strangers,” Batindo said.
“What happened...” Rade pressed.
Batindo sighed. “I tried to touch her. An innocent touch, mind you! On the shoulder! She spun around and gave me a black eye. Your crew seems to dole them out with alarming regularity.”
“Yes, they do that,” Rade said.
“So I trust you weren’t tapping in merely to check upon my health?” Batindo said.
“No.” Rade updated him with the latest news regarding Kitale.
“The wreckage of two corvettes, you say?” Batindo asked.
“That’s right,” Rade said.
“That is very disturbing. It would seem we have discovered the fate of the two corvettes my government sent to the colony a few months ago. Tax compliance vessels.”
“Kitale wasn’t paying its taxes?” Rade said.
“Exactly so,” Batindo said. “And apparently, they weren’t too happy to see the tax collectors. It is sedition, then.”
“Probably,” Rade said. “Which means you might not get the welcome you were expecting.”
“You will accompany me to the surface to investigate?” Batindo asked.
“We’ll do whatever you need us to do,” Rade said. “We agreed to provide you with security services, and we will.”
“Thank you,” Batindo said.
Three hours later Fret reported in. He had received a response from the private citizen. “The recipient says everything is fine. He didn’t answer my question about the crashed corvettes, however.”
“Let’s try another random recipient, same questions,” Rade said.
During the final leg of the journey, Fret repeatedly sent different inquiries to inhabitants of the dome, but always everyone replied that all was well. And they either ducked the questions regarding the warships, or claimed not to know anything about them.
And so the Argonaut began its final approach to the planet while there were still many questions left unanswered.
three
Put us in a geosynchronous orbit above the dome cluster,” Rade said.
“Will do,” Shaw replied.
“Fret, any response to our official communications yet?” Rade asked.
“No,” Fret said. “But I’ve been in contact with more private citizens. They keep saying everything is fine down there.”
“Lui, any change in the habitation domes?” Rade said.
“Not really,” Lui said. “People still seem to be going about their daily lives. If anything, it almost seems a li
ttle too busy. As if they’re trying to put on a show for us watchers in orbit, to make sure its perfectly clear that everything is A-okay.”
Rade leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on the station in front of him. “This is damn strange. Tahoe, what do you think?”
“I don’t know what to believe,” Tahoe said. “The citizens tell us everything is normal down there. And for all intents and purposes, everything does seem normal. But then you have the official channels refusing to answer our hails. Which leads me to believe that everything is not fine.”
“It’s almost like something a despotic government might orchestrate,” Shaw said. “Hoping to get rid of us.”
Rade thrummed his fingers on the station for a moment.
Tahoe extended his noise canceler around Rade. “You’re planning an away mission.”
Rade nodded. “I promised Batindo I’d escort him down.”
“Maybe we should only take some of the crew,” Tahoe said. “In case things sour down there.”
“Probably a good idea,” Rade said. “Except that if things do sour, we might need every last man.”
“But if we’re captured, wouldn’t it be helpful if we had someone still on the ship to spring us?” Tahoe asked.
“I definitely agree,” Rade said. “I do plan to leave a few combat robots aboard. They’ll be in charge of any rescue.”
“I’m not sure I trust some robot...”
“Robots are just as capable as anyone else,” Rade said. “I consider them part of our brotherhood. Especially those we’ve fought alongside already.”
Tahoe bowed his head, ceding the point.
It’s just too bad that many of those robots that fought alongside us were destroyed in those past battles, their personalities restored from backups.
Rade glanced at Shaw. She was looking right at him.
A text message appeared from her. You better not be planning to leave me behind.
Rade smiled sadly at that. He sent her a text back. I wouldn’t dare.
Rade sat straighter and dismissed Tahoe’s noise canceler. “Lui, you’re absolutely positive there are no surface-to-space defenses down there?”
Lui sighed, obviously becoming a little annoyed that Rade had asked so many times. “Unless they’re running some new weapons tech we’ve never seen before, then no, they absolutely, positively have no surface-to-space defenses. One-hundred-percent guaranteed.”
“Famous last words!” Bender quipped.
Rade nodded. “All right. I’ve made up my mind. We’re going in. Tahoe, prepare two shuttles. We’ll go down in separate fire teams as a precaution. I want five Argonauts per shuttle, and four Centurions.”
Tahoe nodded. “It’ll be like traveling overwatch, except in shuttles.”
“Exactly,” Rade said.
“So eight Centurions in total...” Manic said. “Half our inventory. That should leave enough combat robots aboard to defend the ship.”
“That’s right,” Rade said. “More than enough, actually, considering how dead the system is.”
“What about Hoplites?” Manic asked. “Can we bring them down?”
“Good luck getting them past the port authority,” Lui said.
“He’s right,” Rade said. “And given that everything seems relatively normal down there, I can’t justify the expense, as much as I’d like to charge Batindo for their deployment. If we do end up needing them, we can have Bax drop the mechs from orbit.”
“Could be too late by then,” Fret muttered.
“Bax, have Batindo meet us in the shuttle hangar bay,” Rade said. “Have one of the Centurions help suit him up.”
“Surus is coming?” Tahoe asked. “You said five Argonauts per shuttle. That makes ten of us in total. If you’re counting her as an Argonaut.”
“I didn’t mean to count her as one, no,” Rade said. “But I would assume she is coming. I can’t force her, obviously, but I’ll confirm with her on the way.”
In the tight passageway outside the bridge, he did just that, tapping in Surus.
“We’re escorting Batindo down to the surface to investigate,” Rade said. “Do you want to come?”
“Mmm,” Surus said.
“Is that a yes or a no?” Rade asked.
“I’ll consider it.”
“Fine,” Rade said. “If you’re not in the hangar bay in ten minutes, we’re leaving without you.”
He and the others proceeded to the bay and suited up. The robots were already waiting inside the cabins of the respective shuttles.
Rade took his place in the second shuttle, between Bender and Batindo. Rade was surprised to see Surus seated opposite him, already suited up.
“Quick change,” Rade commented.
She nodded stiffly behind her faceplate.
So she’s coming after all. She can bemoan the mission all she wants, but she’s got cabin fever like the rest of us. Wants to see some action, no matter how small and inconsequential.
When everyone was aboard, the ramp closed.
Batindo was uncharacteristically silent next to Rade.
“First time making a drop?” Rade asked.
“No, of course not,” Batindo said.
“Could have fooled me,” Bender said. He switched to a private line that excluded Batindo. “This is going to be fun watching this bitch! Manic, you have a front row seat.”
Next to Surus, Manic was seated across from Batindo, and facing the consular official.
“Mind if I hitch a ride on your cam, Manic?” Fret transmitted from the other shuttle.
“Go right ahead,” Manic said. “I’m authorizing all of you now.”
Rade smiled, shaking his head. He had no interest in watching Batindo sick up, so he switched to the external camera of the shuttle and watched as the hangar bay depressurized instead. Moments later the first shuttle departed.
“Take us out, Shaw,” Rade said.
“Roger that,” Shaw replied from the pilot’s seat.
The shuttle lifted from the deck and accelerated into the zero gravity of the void. To the left, the planet swallowed the view. Shaw began decelerating, taking the vessel into free fall. And Rade thought his stomach was doing somersaults before...
After the flames of atmospheric entry subsided, Rade saw the greenish hued planet below. There weren’t any oceans; the surface was covered in bleak, rusty-gray rocks. According to the scans, the planet had an atmosphere and magnetosphere, but was otherwise uninhabitable by humans. The sensors had picked up a few Forma pipes embedded near the equator—those were used to pipe gases locked away within the mantle into the air for terraforming purposes—but the project seemed to have been abandoned after only four pipes, either due to lack of funding, or the trapped gases proved far less abundant than originally believed.
The shuttle shook violently.
“It’s going to get a little rough here on out,” Shaw said.
“Look at that sissy bitch,” Bender said over the private line.
Rade dismissed the external video feed and couldn’t help but glance at Batindo. The shuttle shook again. The man’s eyes bulged in his head, and his faceplate became smeared with fresh vomit.
Rade checked Batindo’s vitals, wanting to ensure the vomit hadn’t clogged his oxygen vents. He seemed fine, other than a skyrocketing heart rate.
Rade remotely accessed the AI of Batindo’s suit and had it apply a sedative. It didn’t help, judging from the continual protrusion of the man’s eyes.
Shaking, the shuttle made its way toward a cluster of geodesic domes that were linked together by metallic conduits running along the rocky surface of the planet. The overall effect, at least when viewed from above, was to give the domes the appearance of a giant molecular model.
“See that,” Bender said. “That’s the molecular model for butane down there.”
“So that’s what you snort,” Manic said.
“Least I don’t sniff glue like you,” Bender said.
“Sha
w, how does it look down there?” Rade asked.
“All clear,” she replied. “The automated air traffic controller systems are guiding us in.”
“I’m not sure if that’s good or bad,” Harlequin said over the comm. He was piloting the other shuttle.
“Probably good,” Rade said.
“Unless they intend to take us prisoner,” Fret commented over the comm.
“What, you really think they’re going to take a consular official prisoner?” Manic said.
“Uh, yeah?” Fret said. “If the colony has declared independence, then this guy has no standing among them at all. And neither do we, I might add.”
“Got my standing right here,” Bender said, patting his rifle.
“Fret can’t see what you did,” Manic said. “He’s in the other shuttle.”
“Let me guess, he patted his rifle?” Fret transmitted.
“Yeah,” Manic said.
“How clichéd,” Fret said.
“You’re clichéd, bitch,” Bender said. “Who even says that?”
A wide metal rim lined the bottom of the main geodesic dome. Several pairs of hangar doors were embedded within it.
One of those pairs opened and the lead shuttle containing Tahoe and the first fire team flew inside.
“Shaw, circle until we hear from Tahoe,” Rade said.
Shaw turned away at the last moment and circled back as per his instructions.
“So,” Tahoe said. “We got some other shuttles docked here with us, but otherwise it’s clear. Port authority hasn’t arrived yet. Should I tell them to shut the doors and proceed with pressurization?”
“No,” Rade said. “We might as well come in, too. Take us there, Shaw.”
She turned the shuttle around and steered toward the double doors, then touched down inside. The bay doors closed and atmosphere began to vent inside.
Surus sat up straighter in her seat. “There’s a Phant here.” She was transmitting on the private line that excluded Batindo.
“What, in the bay?” Bender said.
“No,” Surus said. “Somewhere in the colony. Maybe the adjacent dome. The feeling is faint, at the moment. But there’s definitely a Phant.”
“Bet you’re glad you came along after all,” Bender said.