Trampship Wars 2

by L. D. Roberts

  “Ask Who? That is the second time you have said Mickey. Just who this Mickey? ”

  “Oh that is what I named my AI. From the letters engraved on her case sir.”

  “Her? Case? And just how am I supposed to do that Mr. Collins?”

  “Well.” Mark pointed over to one of the chairs on the side of the room. “Captain Meet Mickey my AI.”

  The Captain did a double take then starred for a good 10 second s as Mickey got up and walked to the middle of the office. “I am glad to meet you Captain.” She said without holding out her hand but instead bowed slightly. “I am Mark’s AI partner.” ” Dressed conservatively with a short hair scarf holding her hair back behind her head . The vague ghost image of the furniture behind her could be seen.

  “Yes I am glad to meet you as well, ah Mickey. So why did you pick Mr. Collins and just what does pick mean.”

  “After a thousand years , he was the first person with the intelligence, education, honesty and need that my altered emergency protocols would allow me to bond with and he was so cute with his black r immed, glue repa ired , rimmed glasses I just had to hug. That simple Captain. Of course falling in love with him the first time I saw him helped to.”

  "You’re in Love with him?" The Captain’s mouth dropped open for a second as she stared at Mickey's face.

  "No Captain don't be ridiculous. Computers cannot love their controllers. Mark simply is the first to meet all my parameters to bond with."

  "Ah Captain. About that. A thousand years ago when the first bombs went off starting the Cleansing , or Bug war that wiped out the Empires Factory Planets, Mickey was in the middle of mapping her control's or inspector's brain. The last step before bonding a pair of A.I. glasses to a human highly trained detective. The massive amounts of radiation and sub atomic particles from the close neutron bomb detonation , seem to have etched the woman's mind into the A.I.'s processors. Th e at inspector's aaa, ghost, lacking a better word, has a habit of popping up every once in a while kind of like a split personality."

  The Captain looked at Mark for a few seconds shaking her head. Then turning to Mickey. “And Ah. Mr. Collins is now some kind of super cop detective?"

  “No Captain Cook. He does not want to pursue that occupation and has always wanted to become an Engineer repairing and designing Machines and structures as well as flying ships. I have reprogrammed my matrix to assist Mark in those endeavors with massive science and engineering programs from my data storage box that I am downloading into him when he sleeps . ”

  Mickey sweetly smiled at the Captain. “ When he was s worn in as an officer of this ship, I added that to the matrix as well. Though my law enforcement sub routines must still remain in place in the background preventing Mark from doing anything illegal or criminal even if he wanted to. My Corruption Core routine requires me to execute my controller if he or she commits murder or execute myself if he does manage to participate in criminal activity. Though it is my investigative enhanced sensors and teaching subroutines that he has been taking utmost advantages of . These enhanced abilities are what has allowed M ark to excel in the situations he Mark has been getting into that have saved lives and caused trouble for him in other aspects.”

  The Captain looked at Mark and back at Mickey. “Mr. Collins managed to increase the profit s during the car auction by a thousand percent by acting as a shill and bidding up the prices. That is as illegal as they come there Miss Mickey.”

  “Actually Captain. Though I did participate by informing Mark when bidders where extremely interested in a car as well as when the bidder had come to his or her limit so Mark would not bid again. Something most good salesmen can do themselves from experience and facial expressions. It was not for personal profit but to repair an unfair and bad situation for the ships company who had to sell their cars at an incredible disadvantage. I also side tracked Mark during the bidding on the pickup truck to ensure he bought something that would be beneficial for himself and the ship and prevent the letter of the shill law from applying We also found evidence of collusion between the dealers who were bidding from a list all of them had that divided the air cars amongst them . Highly illegal. I also made sure Mark bought at least on e car to make his participation legal. ”

  “Oh and the fighter was not enough? He bought 5 others. ”

  “The Sports car that turned out to be a fighter, was later when Mark was simply bidding in an attempt to get interest going on it. Though due to circumstances , the bid was put in just before the gavel and did not have time to draw attention to the vehicle. T hough the sports car’s bad reputation (we did not know about at the time) for killing its pilots was a big detriment to the dealers. At the time neither Mark nor I knew it was the original fighter version of the Muscle Sports car that had a reputation as a killer . I was concentrating my sensors on the bidder’s emotions and state of mind about the cars. It did not matter what the cars where.”

  “Now that could be very useful in trade negotiations. I could double our profits. Hell, you would have made splitting this ship's crew possible years ago.” The Captains face and eyes lit up like a ships landing light.

  “No Captain.” Mickey said softly, almost apologetically. “I have am bonded with Mark and cannot and will not work with anyone else even if Mark where to pass away by accident or design. And while we can help you in trade negotiations by telling you if someone is lying, if they are interested in something or has reached the limit of what they will do or pay as I did at the auction. As well as the truth of the statements of the people you are dealing with. We cannot help in anyway cheat anyone in on anything.”

  Mickey smiled at the Captain. “That includes any agreement you may make verbally in our presence. An Inspector Judge's word is legal in any court in the galaxy , or it was at one time. Anyway a re cording of the deal and can be played back to reinforce the terms. ” Mickey shrugged as she frowned. “ Willfully breaking any terms reached with the help of Mark and me constitutes criminal activity and will result in at least the loss of our cooperation and could even mean our terminations if lives are lost.” Watching the Captain frown at that last statement. “Let me repeat that; death for both Mark and myself if lives are lost even if we unknowingly commit a crime that results in the loss of life . A crime can be as simple as you going back on your word or contract we have helped and witnessed if we do not arrest you and my core judge so proclaims us guilty . For instance, you agree to deliver a vaccine to a place and time and deliberately without justification or for other profits, do not make the delivery and it is proven that people die because of your actions. We could also be obliged to execute you if my core judge rules you guilty of murder.”

  Mark’s mouth dropped open as he stared at Mickey .

  Captain Cook started turning red. “What! I will have you know little lady that we take pride in our reputation for delivering on time and completing our contracts to the letter. As far as wanting you for myself, I would never have even thought of taking you away from Mr. Collins or using you for illegal activities!”

  “While the part about taking me for your self is a Lie Captain, even though it was only for a few seconds. It is an expected lie and shows you how special Mark is. While Mark and I can do incredible things to help the ship survive and prosper in the outback, I need you to understand Mark has no designs or even wants to become a commanding officer of any kind and he is totally devoted to you and the ship. He is young and tends to get carried away in things he does and does not always think things through so he tends to unintentionally intrude into areas he should not. It is and will always be truly innocent and without malice and I am working on the forethought aspect of his thinking before acting. And because of our abilities it will always seam worse than it is.”

  “Now that is a mouth full Miss Mickey and yes we will have to work on Mr. Collins’s lack of thinking things through to the consequences.” The Captain’s arms were crossed under her breasts as she s tared at Mark while was leaning back in her chair. “A
ll I am interested in is that Mr. Collins obey orders and do the best he can for the ship and that is all. ” Turning to face Mickey. “ I do not need a smart ass AI with a split personality, second guessing my decisions or those orders is that understood.”

  “Yes Captain. Please understand that when Mark took your oath, I took it as well. As Captain, your orders are the Law. Disregarding any of your lawful orders by Mark is breaking the law and cannot be tolerated in my matrix and could result in our death. I have every incentive to make sure that never happens Captain.”

  “That is all I wanted to hear Miss Mickey or should I call you Mr. Mickey. If you did take the oath that makes you an officer as well if I c hoose to take you up on your offer. but d D oes that mean you have to take my orders to if I do make you an officer ?”

  “That is the Imperial Law Captain. As long as you do not order us to break my our prime Imperial directives or Laws . Yes. And that is not all you wanted to hear but trust will take time Sir.”

  “Even if I order you not to help Mark in anyway?”

  “Yes Captain. While I would die after a few days if you took me off of Mark as he provides my power now . Mark would be blind if you ordered that but I would have no choice until you rescinded that order. Though I would hope you would still allow me to provide basic sight for Mark in that event. I would still be required to protect him without breaking the spirit of your orders. Are you ordering me not to help Mr. Collins?”

  “No, not at all Ensign Mickey. Though I am uncomfortable calling you by your first name Ensign. Do you have a last name?”

  “Collins sir.” Came Mickey’s prompt reply.

  Mark's eyes jerked over to Mickey as his mouth dropped open in surprise. Not quite knowing what to make of the declaration.

  Rolling her eyes the Captain continued. “Great. I am not about to call you Mickey Collins every time I want to talk to you. And M Collins is little better. Do you have a middle name?”

  “No Captain Cook. Should I.”

  “In this case yes. Well. So how about A. Collins? You can pick a middle name that starts with an A if you want unless you have another preference." The Captain looked at Mickey for a few seconds.

  Mark started to say that his middle initial was A for Adams but shrugged. Thinking that as long as she did not pick Adams it did not mater.

  When Mickey remained silent Captain Cook continued. “Very well raise your right hand and repeat after me.”

  A minute later after finishing the oath , the Captain shook her head. "Ensign A Collins. I can’t believe I am making an AI an officer.” T Shaking her head t he Captain chuckled. “Next thing, you will want to be paid.”

  “That sounds good to me Captain.” Jumped in Mark.

  “Don’t push it Commander. You are already a permanent Lieutenant Commander. At least now I know how you earned it even though you had help.”

  “Thanks Captain.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I sent you out to fail yesterday to knock you down a notch, to destroy you, so I could demote you back to at least Lieutenant JG without upsetting the En glish, t h e h n build you up into a good officer. But instead of coming back with a bunch of junk I could throw out and ridicule you with until you felt like crawling into some hole and dying. Well, we saw how that worked out and it looks like no matter what I do, Mr. A Collins will do her best to make sure you succeed.”

  “My apologies sir but if I had none it was for Mark’s own good for him to fail and that you wanted him to fail; I would have let him fail. Though I must tell you that most of what I did was simple book keeping and analyzing equipment needs of the ship. Not counting helping Mark fly an un-flyable truck after he had already saved his own butt . Mark’s the one that made all the decisions about trade goods. Even if I had tried to let him fail by not helping him when his life was not in danger, he still would have succeeded in acquiring the APCC and APC’s and still may have been lured down into the AI’s cavern to be enslaved. The important part is that without the both of us working together, Mark would have been enslaved. Second and even more important. If Mark had not gone down into that hole at that time. He would have been arrested before you lifted ship and would have disappeared down that rat hole never to be seen again and you could not have stopped it. All records of his arrest and where he went would have been wiped so even if you or the military looked for him, he would never have been found. Do you want me to let him fail now Captain Cook?”

  “Hey that’s not fair ganging up on me, besides I am right here in front of you Captain. And you Mickey, are sitting on my face, so what’s all this plotting against me?”

  Captain Cook leaned forward tapping her stogy in the ashtray. “The Commander has a point. If he knows he is supposed to fail then there is no lesson to be learned except hate. And there appears to be no way I can talk to you Ensign without the Commander knowing what and when.”

  “That is not entirely true Captain but that can be dealt with at another time. I think you have more important items on your agenda today sir.”

  An email started flashing on the Captains screen from Ensign A. Collins. The Captain smiled. “Yes that is for a fact.” Reaching forward she cleared her screen as she dumped her cold chewed stogy in the tray and lit up another one before she leaned back in her chair. “Very well then. What is going on with all the equipment that flooded into the ship last night and what happened to our airtrucks?”

  “Well Captain , the airtrucks where impounded as unsafe to fly because the heavy fan blade containment belts where missing on the shrouds.”

  “And how did they know that? The light weight shrouds look just like the old heavy ones. Or more important; why did they care?”

  “It is all in the report on your desk sir but a short version is that we strayed I was flying over the military base and the front right corner fan disintegrated taking out most of the other fans. After I landed they figured out why the first fan was hit by ground fire and destroyed itself and then the rest of the other fans fratricide destroyed down the line . They each other and decided to check ed and then grounded the rest of our trucks. Though I have to admit I hinted at it to make room for the new Gravity Coiled Armored Trucks or APCC’s I was buying .”

  “Let's ignore the fact that I cannot imagine an airtruck was able to fly with most of the front lift the front fans gone long enough to land. Though I am glad you are still alive. Why did they give you or us all these grav trucks Mr. Collins? They are fucking expensive. Not to mention gravtrucks are plasma hogs making them short ranged which is why we have never even thought about getting any before or making our own. The true reason and not the crap about a grateful government and bounties. No bounty is worth even close to what we have gotten from them so far.”

  “Well technically the APCC’s are for the bounty on the Pirate boats I shot down when I reentered from the space station. But even at junk prices as you said, the bounty cannot even begin to cover the price of the APC’s and fighters. Though I am finding out that uncovering the fact that the pirates plant bacons and nerve paralyzing gas on ships is rather important as reports come in about other planets finding similar equipped loaders. It is possible that my little discovery will save England bi llions of credits. So technically in my book, they have a long way to go yet to paying us enough. As for the APCC’s being plasma hogs I made sure both the APCC’s and the APC’s and fighters and bombers after the fact, all have fusion cores powering them.”

  The Captain’s stogie fell out of her mouth hitting the desk still l it. “You know how fucking expensive fusion cores that damn small cost Commander?” Shaking her head as she picked up the stogie as it tried to set the desk on fire and plopped it back in her mouth. “Ok. And just what else are they giving us?”

  “Nothing now Captain. It seems that the head of the program, a Captain Summers has decided that we don't deserve anymore equipment. But Rear … , N n o, now Vice Admiral Edwards, had me take a walk through the planets military supply warehouse before the Captain arrived t
o take over and told me to picked out a few things and he would see about getting us as much of it as possible, but he is gone having to take care of his onto other projects now. OH. and Captain Summers has ordered me to get our junk trucks off the base. I think we should just leave them there myself. They are the ones that impounded them. At least we don’t have to return the 13th APCC since we have it and according to Captain Summers , the Admiral approved it her . Something about possession being nine tenths the law when in the military during a war ."

  Turning her swivel chair to stare out the port and blowing a smoke ring. "Quit trying to make trouble with the English before we can get the hell out of the system. You will take that 13th APCC truck back to the English base and pick up the junk trucks and bring them back here for stripping and disposal. Maybe even selling them." The Captain took another puff on her stogie. "Yes that is it. You started it so now you can add selling the trucks to your list. Oh and where the hell do you think we were going to put 6 5 0 odd APC's and why do you think we need them?

  "I was told that the Outback planets get pretty lawless wild and that normal trucks don't stand a chance of delivering cargo around cities and the country side without being shot up or down ed like I was and even robbed when we do land . Not to mention that the longer we are pitted, the higher the risk gets for large mobs and even armies to mass and attack us. Every day we spend planet side our risk doubles. The additional APC’s with their armored trailers along with the big armored weapon’s carrying APCC's will assure that our loads get delivered quickly and payment picked up safely across planets with rapidly deteriorating transport systems if they even have roads left." Leaning forward , Mark thought for a moment. "And I was given the impression that if we do not have life boats, it counts as a strike against our even receiving clearance to leave the planet. The APC's will fit inside our life boat locks and will count as lifeboats so we can pass the inspection." Mark noticed the Captain's brief look of surprise then skepticism and added. "They are passenger rated, the English use them for assaults from orbit which is more than most lifeboats can do. That is if they don't count bodies on this ship. Though we could add an airlock to the truck deck so we could count the big APCC;s as life boats since they too were designed to assault planets from orbit."