Kris Longknife - Admiral
Page 19
Kris looked around her staff. “So, are there any good singers among our various associates and subordinates?”
“May I suggest, Love,” Jack said, “that you delegate that delicious problem to your junior diplomatic associates? With any luck, that will keep them busy and out of your hair for at least a day or two.”
“Thank you, General Jack. Once more, a thoroughly brilliant idea. Once again, the Marines have achieved a great victory on the field of high society’s endeavors.”
“Now you’re just getting nasty,” Jack said, but he kissed her hand softly.
“Down, jarhead. I’ve got a few more lemmings to skin. Nelly, if we were to double the amount of Smart Metal and reactors in my castle, what would it look like?”
“I have been thinking about that since the business types started belly aching,” Nelly said.
A holograph appeared of an even taller castle, with wide swiping twists rising even higher than the first one. In this version, the twisting braids looped out. It was possible for people to have balconies all around the braids before they touched again, “Unfortunately, this would rise higher than the spire in the Imperial Palace.”
“We have no idea what that spire is,” Jacques said, “but overtopping it with a tower of our own would not be wise.”
“I agree,” Kris said.
A different holograph replaced the first. This one was higher than the Pink Coral Palace, and spread out to overshadow the moat before rising higher. It turned the overall appearance of the palace into a pyramid.
That send a chill up Kris’s back, and she wasn’t alone in her reaction. Both Jacques and Amanda’s bodies were wracked by a shiver.
They'd all seen what the alien raiders did under a pyramid like that.
“Not such a good idea, Nelly,” Kris said.
“How about this? A third concoction of light flashed into being to replace the second. On the north, east, and west side, it rose in stair steps, overtopping the palace walls by a good thirty or forty stories. The south side allowed light into the plaza and its gardens. The castle rose tall, twisting like three vines around each other before the three tops rose straight up as combat turrets.
“That looks good, Nelly. With all that extra space, we could convert all the rooms on the south side of the Rose Coral Palace into meeting rooms.”
“That was my thoughts, Kris.”
“Abby, I should be very pleased if you could get a certain pain in my neck to ask for something like this and offer us a ship to make it happen.”
“I think I can arrange that,” Abby said through a grin.
“Oh, Jack, ask Captain Klum if he’d like to reload all or some of those thousands of tons of Smart Metal that he donated to the castle. I’d very much like to keep the Princess Royal capable of being a very luxurious princess barge.”
“Will do. Ah, Kris, is anyone else feeling their head is a bit light at the moment?”
“Nelly?”
“I and all my kids are with Megan at the moment. Our little adventure into the Iteeche net isn’t taking all of our capability, just a lot of it.”
“Megan?” Jacques asked.
“If it works,” Kris said, “you’ll hear about it. If not, don’t bother. Now, Jack and I have had a run in with Iteeche justice that I think you would find interesting.”
For the next thirty minutes, Kris discussed what they’d discovered after the latest attempt on her life. None of them were bothered by the lowered presence in their heads.
30
Megan’s body sat in a comfortable chair, down in the cool basement of the Pink Coral Palace. Her head rested on the concrete plug that was supposed to resist all efforts by the humans to access the Iteeche network that had, previously, streamed out from the palace via that tunnel.
At the moment, Megan, herself, was somewhere in virtual space. She was one of those long-horned cows, trotting along, pregnant with data.
If the junior Navy officer had very much loved being a bird, she very much hated lumbering along across a dusty, rolling plain, bloated with data to the point of discomfort.
Nelly had used her facility with Iteeche to load them up with a whole series of questions she wanted answered by the Iteeche information system. That was what was in the digestive tracts of the ten beasts.
Megan was not alone; she enjoyed the company she was keeping. In addition to Nelly, Sal and her own Lily, today she was joined by Abby, Amanda, and Jacques’s computers. Nelly had also added the additional presence of Special Agent Leslie Chu’s, General Bruce’s, and Senior Nanny Gabby Arvind’s computers for a total of ten beasts trotting along together.
It was good that they were traveling in a herd and had long sharp horns that they could flick about with a twist of their heads. On both sides, as well as loping along behind them, were a pack of evil looking wolf-like creatures.
The wolves had been there when Meg and her companions materialized. They’d followed them as the herd took off at an easy trot in the direction Megan felt the urge to follow. The wolves followed them, never racing in to cut one of them out, but not letting them go anyplace but where they were headed. Megan lead the other nine; they formed a diamond formation behind her, Nelly to her right rear, Lily to her left.
The wolves seemed content to follow along on their flanks so long as they kept headed in the direction Megan lead them. Once, the human thought to edge off to the left, but the wolves would not give way and Megan chose to let the wolves provide the guidance she was none too sure of.
She needn’t have worried.
Megan topped a rise to see stretching out before them, as far as the eye could see, an apparently limitless herd of the horned beasts. She angled her small herd to the left, the direction all of them were headed in and kept them to the edge of the herd.
The wolves merged just as effortlessly into a huge pack of beasties like themselves that loped loosely along, not quite herding the horned beasts.
Suddenly, Megan found her bowels releasing. Rather than huge cow pies, the data left her rear as nice round pellets, more like a rabbit or a goat. She trotted along, laying down a long stream of data, and found herself feeling better by the moment.
This animal was clearly intended to eat data, process it, and eliminate it.
For a moment, Megan found herself trying to figure out what this metaphor was trying to show her. She knew that her mind was processing the appearance of what was actually happening into something that she could comfortably grasp. It had seemed to work like this for great-great-grampa Ray when he discovered this aptitude on Santa Maria.
It had worked this way for Megan when she began to flash into computers, and she knew how human computers worked. This was not science, but art, and she wasn’t a computer design engineer to start with. No, she was an artist, weaving words and thoughts into a whole cloth that got the job done, even if only metaphorically.
Her bowels felt empty. Ahead of her, the horned bovines were heading off in small groups. The wolves were making no effort to keep them together.
“Time to be birds,” Megan said, mashing the words in her big, wide mouth. “On three. One. Two. Three.”
In a blink, the ten large cows morphed into beautifully colored birds the size of gulls with long beaks. They joined flocks and flocks of birds, picking at the dung that the cows had spread over the plain.
Megan lead her nine birds back to do some picking of their own. Now, when they swallowed down the data, they had some idea of what they were picking at. Here were parts of the questions Nelly had turned into data packets.
It wasn’t all just pecking at data. Some of the guy avatars were doing those hops that made them look so sexy and attractive. Some of the gals were turning in place. Both were flashing their wing plumage.
Nelly did her own thing, flying at her kids, squawking at them, interrupting the mating dances, and getting them all back to work. This experience of flesh and blood, even if virtual, was definitely having an impact on the kids.
From a few hundred meters above the trees, Megan spotted a marsh. Those leading her were headed for it. As she had watched before, they splatted the surface of the water with their own droppings.
Megan added her own to the water. It might have gotten quite messy, but eel-like creatures surfaced continuously to gulp down the data and process it again.
Once again, Meg watched as the eels lit up in brightly flashing colors. Only this time, she understood what they were saying. She found she could understand the messages from a dozen eels at the same time. Then a score, then a dozen score of fish. They were all flashing, all telling her something.
Around her, the other computers were soaking up data streams even faster than she was. Their birds’ eyes took it all in and stored it, shipped it back through Meg and deposited it in their own computer reality. Megan could not keep up with the flow of data, but she knew Nelly and her kids could, and that what they knew, the humans would know in good time.
She watched until the data readouts from the eels turned into gibberish. They were dining now on droppings from other birds. They were reporting out other data.
“Let’s go home, kids,” Nelly said, and Megan opened her eyes.
She smiled at the redheaded young man in front of her.
He smiled back, then grabbed for her as she collapsed into his arms.
“We’ve got to keep meeting like this,” he said.
“I think it can be arranged,” she said.
He offered her a sugar-rich soda, and she guzzled it down. In a moment, she felt a lot better. “Want to see a video?” she asked. “I understand a courier boat brought in a whole batch of new ones. Latest releases from back home.”
“I’d be delighted to. Your place, mine, or someplace else?”
“Mine,” she said. She wanted to get into something comfortable. And beautiful. Definitely something beautiful. And very, very colorful.
31
Her Royal Highness, Grand Admiral Kris Longknife, First Emissary from Humanity to the Imperial Iteeche Court, got the diplomatic pouch before anyone else did. No doubt, there probably were a few under the table agreements to get news from the courier boat only a bit slower than her, but she suspected she got it all first.
A glance at the message from King Raymond I of the United Society managed to calm any remaining doubts she had that her grampa had sent her into harm’s way without out warning.
Well, he had sent her into harm’s way. He just didn’t know any more than she did.
KRIS,
NOW THAT YOU’RE THERE, COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON IN THE ITEECHE EMPIRE? THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME.
LOVE,
YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER
He truly had been jobbed by the Iteeche as much as any of them had!
“Nelly, are you back yet?” Kris asked. She’d had more of her computer in her head than she normally had in the unusual situation where Nelly needed to devote all of her magnificent abilities to a problem. Still, she’d done her best not to joggle her computer’s virtual elbow.
“Yes, Kris. We got what we were looking for. We may need half a day to process all we learned and put it to use, but I believe that we have cracked at least part of the Iteeche enigma.”
“Half a day?” Kris said, and found she’d raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her computer.
“Yes, Kris. The Iteeche data puzzle is enough to tie up me and eight of my children for a good twelve of your hours. Now, what do you want along with the key to the Iteeche net?”
“We humans are never content, are we?”
“No, but if you were, it would be a very boring existence for me and mine.”
“Grampa Ray wants to know what we’ve stumbled into. I think he also wants the Royal courier boat on its way back to him soonest. There’s a note here from the captain of the Princess Royal that the crew were ordered to maintain four gees for the entire trip.”
“That must be very hard on flesh and blood.”
“It was. I think Admiral Ajax is asking for volunteers to take the courier back to Wardhaven.”
“They will need to be very young and very underweight,” Nelly pointed out.
“Likely, the first command for some slip of a boot ensign or J.G.,” Kris said, grinning at the memory of all the strings she’d pulled to get her first command as a very green lieutenant.
“I have been writing up reports on all that has happened since we left Wardhaven. I have an executive summary that I’ve updated as we went along. All that it requires is for you to add your own comments and a request, if any, for more forces.”
“Record, Nelly. ‘Grampa, as you can see, the situation is much more dangerous than we were led to believe. The Emperor has commissioned me an Imperial Admiral of the First Order of Steel, and given me command of the entire Iteeche battle fleet. In actuality, I have control of very few ships. The few I do have fired on me twice. I am arranging to have a thousand ships seconded to my personal command, but we are finding that a human battlecruiser can beat six, eight, and even ten Iteeche battlecruisers. Still, if we only wiped out three hundred and twenty Iteeche, there would be a hell of a lot left. I am holding the 6th Battlecruiser Task Fleet here. I require at least two more. Four would be better.
‘As you can see, I don’t dare go anywhere in the capital without an armed and armored escort. Not only is Iteeche space dangerous, but the streets are as well. Thus, I require a full brigade of Marines and another brigade of armor.
‘I know that this request is not what you were expecting. I know that I’m asking for blood from a turnip. Still, I and some of your great-great-grandkids are out here on the tip of the spear. You know me. If everything comes unhinged, I will do my best to run for cover. However, you know that I tend not to start galloping for the exits until all hell is popping. We both know that sooner or later, I’m going to misjudge the right moment, and start the run out a few seconds late. Anything you can give me will be much appreciated and very much used’.”
Kris paused for a moment to think if there was anything more for her to say, then said, “Nelly, sign it with my personal code. Get a Marine squad to run this pouch back up to Admiral Ajax and ask her to get it away soonest.”
“You’re not going to wait to give the other ambassadors and business princes some time to send back their own reports?”
“No, Nelly. My rank and ambassadorial needs trump them.”
“Yes, Kris.”
A Marine lieutenant knocked on Kris’s door, entered and double-timed to her desk.
“Get this to Admiral Ajax on the Intrepid. I will send her orders under separate cover.
Kris slipped the data device in the pouch, sealed it, activated the self-destruct routine, and handed it off to the lieutenant.
He saluted, and jogged for the door.
“Nelly, tell Ajax that the diplomatic pouch is headed back up. I want the courier away as soon as is humanly possible after that pouch arrives.”
“She says, ‘Aye, aye.’ The crew that brought the Hermes out is not happy, but I’ve told them we’ll be rotating crews with each arrival. They signed up for the courier service. They know whatever gets things there the fastest is the way it’s going to be.”
“Good. Any more things on fire?”
“No, Kris.”
“Very good. I think I made an appointment for lunch with my kids. Where are they now?”
“At the pool,” Nelly said.
Kris sighed. There were ten pounds of baby fat that stubbornly refused to melt away. Jack insisted she looked great, and the lecher was always eager to prove it. With another sigh, Kris headed for her day quar
ters to change. If everyone in the pool was bare, being the only one in a swimsuit would stand out. It was best that she submerge herself in her own community. Oh, the pun.
Kris was right, Ruth and Johnnie were too delighted to see her, and she them, to be bothered by the lack of a few stitches. The kids were so intent on showing Kris all they’d learned since they started swimming regularly in the big pool that Kris lost all thought of herself.
She was back in a ship suit and the kids in summer jumpers when they headed off to the embassy’s main dining hall. There, Kris was joined by Abby, Amanda, Jacques, and their kids.
Talking business was impossible. The kids just wouldn’t allow it. Kris let their eager, high pitched voices occupy her mind and fuel her smiles.
She was much more relaxed when she turned the kids over to their tutors after lunch.
Soon, she’d be looking back on that time with fondness. There was little relaxing about the afternoon.
32
Kris was hardly back to her desk when Nelly said, “Ron has just passed the outer Iteeche gate.”
“Have the Marines bring him through to me immediately,” Kris ordered, wondering why Ron hadn’t called. He had a human computer and he’d used it in the past. Interesting.
“Nelly, is this room secure?” Kris asked, thinking of the only thing that might cause Ron to go silent.
“There are not bugs. There are no recording devices except yours truly.”
“Thank you, Nelly. Could you get a few nanos to check Ron out on his way up here?”
“I’m already on it, Kris. Ah, yes, he’s got a couple of devices broadcasting from him. This is most interesting. They are human nanos, very good human nanos. He is also trailing a line of repeaters. What they’re seeing and hearing is going outside the palace.”
“See if you can silence any of those bugs on him.”
“I’m on it.”
A few moments later, there was a knock at Kris’s door. Maybe having fast, direct elevator service was not such a great idea.