by M. D. Cooper
“Not yet...with what she’s been through—and I bet we still only know the half of it—she’s gonna need a bit of time to settle down. I’ll go check on her in an hour or so.”
Sera killed the hour running through a few checklists and doing a circuit of the ship. She stopped in the galley at the end of her tour to see Tanis sitting at the table alone, another glass of whiskey in front of her.
“Mind if I join you?” Sera knocked on the wall.
The major looked up and nodded.
Sera sat and poured herself another drink.
“It’s a lot to absorb,” Tanis said, her voice devoid of emotion
She nodded. “I can only imagine. But you left before I could tell you the good news—well, sorta good news.”
“I already know it,” Tanis replied. “The Intrepid is worth an immeasurable amount now.”
Sera wondered exactly how Tanis knew that, but let it slide for the time being.
“I knew you were smart, that clueless act you tried to pull was pretty pathetic,” Sera chuckled.
Tanis joined her in short laugh. “Yeah, it really was—not sure what I was thinking.”
“Let’s go up to the obs lounge. Its small, but it has a nice view of Sabrina’s ass,” Sera said as she stood and picked up the whiskey. If there was ever a good reason to break her ‘no drinking onboard’ rule, this was it.
They climbed up the ladder to the bridge deck and then followed a short corridor aft to a small room. There were several low couches and four windows facing out over the rear of the ship. Nothing beyond the ship was visible in the dark layer, but the inspection lights were on, casting the stern of the ship in a soft glow.
“Don’t your engines emit light here?” Tanis asked, when she noticed there was no illumination coming from the back of the ship.
“We kill ‘em in FTL, the hum you probably heard back in the med lab was our reactor. Our batteries are a bit low from the excitement in Trio, so we’re charging them. There’s nothing to thrust against here in the DL anyway, you can’t maneuver or accelerate—except with grav drives against globs of dark matter. Once we come out of FTL, we’ll need to do some serious braking since we entered it at well over half the speed of light. It took Cheeky some time to figure out when we’ll need to drop back into normal space.”
“Cheeky?” Tanis asked.
“Our pilot. You’ll meet her soon enough.”
“How big is your crew?”
“Six humans. Seven with you aboard.”
“AI?” Tanis asked.
“There’s Sabrina, the ship’s AI and Helen who is embedded with me. Nance, Cargo, and Cheeky have what you would probably call NSAI. Flaherty and Thompson don’t have a lot of mods.”
“Well, at least I won’t have to remember many new names and faces, though I’m going to have a bit of work learning about the last five millennia.”
“To be honest, things have been a mess,” Sera responded. “FTL has been the bane of humankind.”
“It has?” Tanis asked. “After more than a hundred of years drifting interstellar space, I sort of imagined it would be the opposite.”
“What could never really happen in your time?” Sera asked by way of response.
Tanis knew the answer. “Interstellar war—though I wouldn’t say ‘never’.”
Sera nodded. “Bingo. Let’s just say there have been some setbacks. Humanity has only just recently begun to pull itself out of the toilet. For instance, there was even a period in the eight millennia when the bulk of humanity completely lost knowledge of nanotechnology. It’s been rediscovered since, but believe me, your nano is better than any you’ll find across a thousand systems.”
Tanis realized Sera had continued speaking while she and Angela talked.
“…I’m willing to bet you’ve got tech on your ship that the rest of mankind would kill for—probably has killed for. That’s why we found you in a shipping container. I bet that Kade wants to have a nice long chat with you about where your ship is.”
“Kade? Who’s he?”
“Local scumbag. We have some dealings with his group, called The Mark, from time to time. Pays pretty well.”
“I do hope you’re not going to turn me over to him. I won’t go quietly,” Tanis’s voice was level and dead calm.
Tanis watched Sera’s face grow more serious as they stared into one another’s eyes. She wondered how she appeared to this not-so-simple freighter captain: a problem and an enigma, but a possible payday as well. The moments dragged on, but Sera must have come to a conclusion about Tanis, because she suddenly smiled and leaned back in her seat.
“No, I don’t transport slaves, and I certainly wouldn’t turn you over—threats notwithstanding.”
“Good, that makes our relationship a lot more agreeable.” Tanis took another drink from her glass and relaxed into the deep leather couch.
“However, Kade’s going to expect to get you and I can’t directly cross him or my ass is grass. How’s about you tell me the rest of your tale so I can make sure whatever we work up jives. How did you end up at Coburn Station?”
Tanis held that conversation with Angela as she ran a hand through her long blonde hair. “I don’t know how I got there, but I do know at least the start.
“We didn’t exit gracefully from what you call Kapteyn’s Streamer. In the split-second we transitioned out, something hit the ship at relativistic speeds. I was in the bow and managed to get to an escape pod. We ejected and then the Intrepid was gone. Angela and I were trying to find the it when a small ship appeared out of nowhere—using FTL I now realize—and snatched the pod.”
While querying Angela, she continued her recitation to Sera.
“When they boarded the escape pod, I could tell right off that they weren’t any sort of official representatives…of anywhere. Though I must admit, they had some good nano suppression tech in their interrogation room. I almost got past it a few times, but I had a limited supply of bots and I decided to hold back to repair what they were doing to me.
“They beat me for a few days trying to get any detail they could from me. I was pretty messed up—Angela tells me I was on death’s door. I guess they—what? Cryostasis?” Tanis sputtered as Angela fed her more details. “This is the dark ages!”
“Sorry, I should really give you Link access so you and your AI can chat with the rest of us,” Sera apologized. “Sabrina, can you give the major and Angela our protocols?”
“Certainly, Captain,” the ship said somewhat icily.
“No wonder everything aches,” Tanis said while rolling her shoulders. “I can’t believe it. How long was I under?”
Sera looked perplexed. “What’s wrong with cryostasis? It’s pretty common; keeps you alive and all that.”
“No, stasis keeps you alive, cryostasis freezes you! As in it makes you very cold!”
Tanis’s eyes widened and she flexed her fingers one-by-one as though she expected to find defects.
“Oh wait…you have true stasis on the Intrepid, don’t you?” Sera sat up, eyes wide.
Tanis nodded. “Yes, when we left Sol, everyone had stasis; no one had used cryostasis in hundreds of years. I can’t believe I was frozen!”
“There’s some tech that’d be worth a pretty penny,” Sera said with a smile. “True stasis tech was lost thousands of years ago. No one could figure out how the null field was created without ridiculous amounts of energy.”
Sera sighed. “War, people hoarding tech and not sharing it, piracy, you name it.”
“This is going to take some getting used to,” Tanis said. “So what’s our deal here? I’m guessing you’re more than happy to take me back to the Intrepid if we provide you with something in trade to make it worth your while.”
Sera leaned back again. “Look, I’ll be honest. I won’t hand you over to Kade, but I also won’t traipse across human space on a courier run without payment—especially when everyone and their dog probably wants to find you and get a piece of your hide.”
“I have one priority,” Tanis said. “To get back to the Intrepid and ensure it remains safe. I can personally guarantee that you will be exceptionally well compensated.”
Sera took a sip of her drink as she considered the Tanis’s words. She certainly believed what she was saying, but the shrewd businessperson in her wondered what ability Tanis had to deliver on her promises. What sort of deal could she make with a major that would be binding? There was a lot of risk here.
“I would love to help you, Tanis, but how do you know that your ship will still be there? They may have retreated to interstellar space, or been captured by some other force. This is a pretty big risk.”
“I can promise you one thing,” Tanis said. “The Intrepid is there, and it is still sovereign. There is no force in the galaxy that can stop that ship—especially given the state of things right now. They will reward you handsomely for returning me. If they’re not there, then I will give you specs for enough advanced tech that you’ll never have to work another day in your life.”
“You have them on you?” Sera asked.
“Yes, I’ve taken to carrying a lot of data with me.”
Sera nodded. “Very well, before we enter into this deal, I want to make sure I know how many factions are involved. Did you notice anything significant about the ship that attacked you?”
“Not much. It was obviously not a cargo hauler by primary trade. My scan of it showed some pretty impressive lasers for a smaller ship. When they tortured me I noticed that they both had an odd tattoo over their right eyes.”
Sera pulled a plas sheet from a pocket and marked a pattern on it. “Like this?”
Tanis nodded. “That’s the symbol. What’s it mean?”
“Padre. It’s his sign; all his guys have it tat’d on.”
“Padre, as in a priest?”
“Priest? No, he’s a pirate. One of the distinctly less pleasant ones. It was his guys that chased us out of the Trio System.” Sera took another sip of her drink. “I’m betting that somehow Kade got wind of what Padre had found and snatched you up. We’re supposed to deliver your container to him in about seven days.”
“What a mess,” Tanis sighed.
“It’s gonna take some fancy footwork to pull one over on ol’ Kade. I’m probably going to have to fake logs and show that Padre’s ships boarded us and toss your container out the hatch here in the DL so he won’t find it if he comes aboard.”
“What about finding me?” Tanis asked.
Sera winked. “You’re much smaller, I’m sure we can tuck you away somewhere.”
A STARSHIP NAMED SABRINA
STELLAR DATE: 07.02.8927 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sabrina, Interstellar Dark Layer
REGION: Galactic South of Trio Prime, Silstrand Alliance Space
It certainly was a motley crew, Tanis thought as Sera introduced her to each of them around the galley table. Cargo, the first mate, seemed to be the only normal one in the group, which was a disturbing thought.
The bio and life-support engineer, who apparently was just called the bio in the ninetieth century, seemed to live inside of her hazard suit. She didn’t even pull off the hood as she ate, and only unhooked the mouth filter, which exposed a circle of pale skin around her lips. She seemed passionate about her job though. At first Tanis couldn’t understand the need for a dedicated bio on a ship this size, but she was realizing that technology wasn’t quite as fool proof as what she was used to.
Everyone taking a shower or two a day probably didn’t help with the volume of waste management.
Angela had already gotten to know the other AI. Sabrina seemed a bit touchy, almost as though she was a little insecure in her place as the ship’s AI. Angela was obviously superior in capability, but even without that, it seemed as though Sabrina had already felt threatened.
Angela expressed surprise to find that Helen was something of an equal, though evasive on her origins.
Sera was correct in that Cheeky’s didn’t have true AI, but it wasn’t an NSAI either. Cargo’s and Nance’s were similar; both clear violations of the Phobos accords.
Tanis was appalled at the thought and looked around at the ship’s crew. They didn’t seem like barbarians, but their treatment of AI would have landed them in prison back in Sol.
Thompson and Flaherty didn’t have AI at all, just simple Link interfaces—most of their information access was through retinal overlay. It was crude enough that Tanis could even see it on the backs of their eyes when she dialed up her vision.
Though she suspected that Flaherty might have an additional interface, his retinal overlay rarely showed any information. Initially she thought him to be little more than a deck hand, or perhaps an enforcer of some sort, but something about that assessment didn’t fit.
He had glanced at her when she entered, and then again when Sera introduced him. He nodded his greeting, not saying a word. His build wasn’t heavy like Thompson’s or Cargo’s, yet that didn’t diminish the growing impression Tanis had that he was the most dangerous person in the room. Every movement he made was both spare and precise.
She had no doubt that he had also observed her completely and had formed his own silent opinions.
An additional clue was Sera’s introduction of Flaherty. It was obvious she had a personal connection with the man, and was very comfortable around him. Yet his lack of internal AI and little more than a personal Link, combined with what was obviously the lowest position on the ship didn’t make a shred of sense.
Even though the pilot was a self-modified nymphomaniac, Tanis found herself taking a liking to the woman. Cheeky had bounced into the wardroom on what had to be twelve-centimeter heels, wearing a miniskirt that barely covered her ass, and a tight top with a semi-lewd slogan dancing across her breasts.
She had gushed how happy she was to meet Tanis and how cool it was to meet someone over five thousand years old. Her smile and laughter was infectious and Tanis found herself reminded of Trist.
“Watch out for her,” Sera said. “You are witnessing the mating ritual of the sexually aggressive Cheeky. In the wild, they are truly dangerous. She’s tamer than usual since she gets a lot of it out of her system when we’re docked.”
Tanis laughed. Perhaps the woman was a bit more like Jessica.
Sera moved on to the next m
ember of her crew, a large man named Thompson. She was amazed at the presence of body hair. Tanis had to restrain herself from touching the peach fuzz on his arm. It looked like pictures of men from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She had always thought it would be repulsive, but seeing the somewhat rough blonde man with his soft blond hair in person, she found it to be quite the opposite. Despite that, Tanis noticed how he shifted uncomfortably when he shook her hand and had shot Sera some significant looks.
“So what’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed so far between your time and the ninetieth century?” Cheeky asked after the introductions were done.
Tanis pondered the question for a moment while the crew stared at her, greatly interested in the answer.
“Aside from the obvious FTL and gravity drives, it’s the attitude you’re able to have about the galaxy and humanity’s place in it. I grew up in the crush of Sol—people everywhere, a military with a million warships. Yet if you wanted to get away from it all, you could. You could go to a colony world and live a simpler life—knowing that the overpopulation of Sol would just be a memory—you would never encounter it again, because you were just too damn far away. Now it would be a week’s trip and you’d be back in it.”
“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Cheeky said. “I can’t imagine how different it must have been. You lived in the time of greatness, the planetary rings, space elevators everywhere—moving worlds, terraforming everything…near immortality, it must have been amazing.”
“Is all of that lost?” Tanis asked.
“Not all,” Sera replied. “Worlds are still terraformed, planets moved, but not commonly, not like in your day when Sol had dozens of habitable worlds. There are few rings left; in Sol only High Terra remains.”
Tanis felt her breath catch. That meant the Mars1 ring was gone, Ceres, the Cho, all no more. She knew losing a ring was no small thing—it meant those worlds may have been destroyed as well. She decided not to ask, she didn’t want to know.
“We didn’t have all those things,” Tanis said. “No one was immortal.”