Patrick nodded and did as she said. With a thought the language came to his mind, and he knew what the ship had said to him. “Welcome Pilot. Do you have any instructions?”
“What are you?” he said in the same language.
“I am the ship’s intelligence, pilot,” said the voice. “The ship is called the Daedalus. And I am ready for your commands.”
Patrick took a couple of steps further into the room. A trio of comfortable chairs rose out of the deck, seemingly of the same material, but flowing and shaping themselves. Shadow took a couple of steps into the room, and a concave pillow rose near one of the chairs, looking perfect for a cat.
“Ask it to show you a view of space,” said Alyssa, following him into the room.
“A view of the space surrounding this world,” said Patrick, sitting down in the center seat. The room seemed to disappear as a globular view of space appeared. The moon was centered in the front of the room, the massive shape of the gas giant beyond it.
“Uh oh,” said Alyssa, looking at the view that showed some blinking red dots moving toward the planet, looking to assume various orbits. “The Theocrats are getting ready for us. Ship. Do you have any weapons?” She looked up at the top of the display, as if that would give her a better answer.
“This is not a warship,” answered the well modulated voice of the vessel. “There are no missiles or antimatter torpedoes aboard. We do have some weapons though. Enough for defense against natural hazards, and hopefully small pirate vessels.”
“What kind of weapons?” asked Alyssa.
“We have some close in particle beam weapons,” said the ship, while a view of the ship centered on the screen, the indicated weapons blinking. “Main laser batteries are in the five hundred gigawatt range.”
“Five hundred gigawatt,” said Derrick in a hissing voice. “That’s bigger than what a battle cruiser carries.”
The ship image was fascinating, and numbers and words were displayed around it. Patrick found he could now read those words. The ship itself was shown with a scale of numbers running down the length. It indicated that the ship was two hundred meters in length, and over fifty in width.
“How are the weapons fired?” asked Alyssa, her own eyes darting back and forth from ship representation to the shifted planet.
“The commander issues a firing order,” said the ship. “I target the threat and fire on it.”
“Any threat?” asked Alyssa.
“Friendly ships not engaged in hostile actions may not be targeted,” said the ship. “I am not a warship, and safeguards are built in to ensure I will not be used as a pirate vessel.”
“And what is the arc of fire of the main lasers?” asked Derrick, shifting himself into a comfortable position in the chair. Shadow lay down in the bowl and curled up, though he remained alert.
“This ship may fire the main batteries at any target within the globe of space surrounding the ship,” said the vessel’s brain.
“Can you target the ships in space around this moon?” asked Alyssa.
“Only if they engage in hostile action against this ship or another Imperial vessel, military or civilian,” said the ship.
“I think we can guarantee that,” said Alyssa, nodding. “As soon as they see us and we don’t heave to, I don’t think they will hesitate to fire. Not with Chung in charge.”
Alyssa made herself comfortable in her own chair, and Patrick had to admit that the seat, which did not at first look comfortable, was the most sensuous piece of furniture he had ever occupied.
“What is your cargo capacity, ship?” asked Alyssa. As soon as the question left her mouth a part of the vessel was highlighted in green.
“I have one main hold and a pair of secondary holds. The main hold can be opened to admit an object forty meters by thirty meters.”
“That’s perfect,” said Alyssa, looking over at Derrick and smiling. “We can bring the Manta onboard, and have all of our own gear and databanks.”
“Do you have medical facilities onboard?” asked Derrick, looking down at his injured leg.
“There is a clinic onboard with six nanotech medical tanks,” said the ship. “I can repair your injuries in approximately ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes,” exclaimed Derrick in a squeak. “That’s got to be centuries better than anything we have. I want to make a date with that thing.”
“We might have to wait,” said Alyssa, pointing at a pair of blinking dots that were moving to directly over the monastery. “I think we have trouble coming in right there. Can you move us, ship?”
“At the command of the commander, I can run us out into the ocean or into space,” said the ship in its calm tone. “Whatever your desire.”
A dot left one of the blinking dots and started moving down at deceptively slow speed. Patrick couldn’t tell what it was, but from the expression on his compatriots’ faces it didn’t look good.
“Ship,” yelled out Alyssa, her eyes widening. “Get us out of here, now.”
“I can only comply with the orders of the commander,” said the calm voice of the ship.
“Tell it to get us out of here,” yelled Alyssa at Patrick, reaching over and gripping his arm.
“Get us out of here,” said Patrick, his eyes following that dot as it moved toward the surface.
“Please state a destination,” said the ship in its infuriatingly calm voice.
“Just get us out in the ocean,” said Alyssa, sweat breaking on her forehead. “A hundred kilometers out.”
“Get us into the ocean,” said Patrick, grasping the arms of his chair tightly. “A hundred kilometers out to the east.”
“Complying,” said the computer. “Undocking and opening outer doors.”
“Tell it to hurry up,” said Derrick. Shadow was nervous now, and jumped into Alyssa’s lap, letting out a soft meow.
“As fast as you can, get us out of here,” yelled Patrick.
“Complying,” said the ship. “Outer hatches are blown.”
They couldn’t feel anything at all, and Patrick looked nervously at the other two. He looked back at the viewer and saw a green dot that was moving away from the area of the monastery.
“Is that us?” he asked, looking at the dot.
“Affirmative,” said the ship. “The docking base has just been hit by a kinetic warhead. Estimated yield, two hundred megatons.”
The ship rocked for a moment, then bucked up and down before it smoothed out and to the occupants appeared to be doing nothing.
“Are we under water?” asked Alyssa, wiping the back of her forehead with one hand while the other stroked Shadow.
“Negative,” said the ship. “In standard aerial profile to target area.”
“Get us under water,” said Patrick as Alyssa nudged him.
“Complying,” said the ship.
“Tell it to go as deep as it can, and to run silent to the target area,” said Alyssa.
Patrick relayed the commands, then thought for a moment. “Show me the Monastery.”
The view changed on the screen and showed a far view of the island the Monastery was built on. A large mushroom cloud was rising into the air over the island, and a wall of water was moving outward.
“They destroyed it,” said Patrick, feeling real hate for the first time in this adventure. All that he knew, the towns and cities of the island, tens of thousands of people. All gone, because of these strangers.
He glared at Alyssa and Derrick for a moment. The ship must have gone underwater, because the view of the Monastery’s island cut off. Alyssa looked over at Derrick, her expression worried.
“Tell the ship to take an evasive course to our destination,” she told him. Her eyes narrowed when he didn’t respond with anything but a stare.
“Patrick,” she said, her tone one of speaking to a child. “It’s very important that we don’t go in a straight line. They’ll be able to drop more weapons on us if they can figure out where we are.”
“Th
at might be a good thing,” he growled, then looked away. “Ship. Take an evasive course to the destination you have been given. We don’t want them figuring out where we are.”
“Complying,” said the ship. “Depth is now one thousand, one hundred meters. This ship is not a deep dive submersible, and it is recommended we do not go any deeper.”
“Very well,” said Patrick, who looked back at Alyssa and returned her stare.
“What’s the matter, Patrick,” she said, putting her hand on his arm.
Patrick shrugged the hand off, got up from his chair, and stalked away. He turned around, the anger apparent on his face.
“That was everything I had ever known,” he said, pointing to the rear. “Everything I had grown up with. All the people I knew in the world. Gone, along with tens of thousands of innocent lives. All because your two peoples decided to bring your damn war to our skies.”
“But,” said Alyssa, looking down at the floor. “We didn’t do this to you. Our enemy’s did. You can’t blame us for this outcome.”
“I can’t,” yelled Patrick, walking toward the woman with his fists balled up.
Shadow jumped to the floor and got in front of the man, his fur puffed out and claws extending. Patrick looked down at the dangerous animal and stopped, then looked back up at Alyssa.
“If you hadn’t have come they would have either found this ship or not,” he said in a harsh voice, trying to keep the tears from his eyes. “But either way, the island and its people would be alive. Now…” He tried to keep the tears back, but they came anyway. “Now everyone I care about is dead, or might as well be.”
Patrick turned on his heel and walked toward the hatch. He didn’t want to show this kind of emotion to these people. He didn’t trust them enough for that kind of intimacy. He stormed through the door as soon as it slid open and headed up the hall, not sure where he was going, but certain that he would find somewhere to hole up and deal with his pain.
* * *
“Well,” said Colonel Nathan Chung, looking down on the moon they were orbiting. “At least we know they got out of that.”
An angry red smudge marked where the island that the Monastery had sat on lay under a layer of hot magma. There were large clouds rising along the edge of the island, magma falling into the sea and raising steam. The form of a wave front still moved out from the island, yet to intercept the circular wave fronts from two other kinetic weapons that had been dropped into the water after the ancient ship was spotted, then disappeared. Chung wasn’t sure how all those tsunamis would interact, though there was some merging from the kinetic hits out to sea. He knew he would want to be on any shoreline of that ocean come nightfall, when waves hundreds of meters high would come crashing in.
They’re going to die anyway, he thought of those near future victims. What’s another decade to these short lived people? And the terror of the wave will be nothing compared to the terror of a world falling apart around them. So it’s really a mercy.
He looked over at the native they had confined to a chair. The man was allowed his mental freedom at this time, and the expression of horror on his face as he watched the view of destruction was priceless to the Colonel. And we’ll see how you look when you realize you have betrayed your brother to us.
“We still haven’t detected them,” said the Commander, looking over a holographic instrument display.
“I don’t think we will,” said the Colonel, wishing it were otherwise. The ship was probably as well shielded from emissions as anything the Theocracy had, if not much much better. And it could have a thousand meters or more of seawater insulating it even more. “Just be ready for when they do appear.”
“What if they just wait it out,” said the Commander looking over at the Colonel. “They might just wait for reinforcements to arrive.”
“I doubt that,” said the Colonel with a smile. “Their home system will soon be repelling an attack, and I don’t think this backwater will be on their minds. So just keep a watch.”
The Colonel got up from his seat and headed to the hatch. He turned at the last minute. “I will be in my quarters, getting some sleep. Contact me if anything unusual happens.”
“I’ll signal you if we spot them,” said the Commander.
“No, Commander,” said Chung, pointing his finger at the man. “Anything unusual. I’ll look at it and be the judge of its importance.”
With that Chung was out of the bridge and heading toward his small cabin, fatigue warring with anxiety, and fatigue winning.
Chapter Thirteen
The cabin was the most magical thing Patrick had ever seen. It had been empty when he walked into it. He was wishing to find someplace comfortable to lie down, and was just about to walk out of the cabin, when a bed had grown from the floor. Like the seats on the bridge it had looked hard and uncomfortable. And like those seats it had proved to be anything but. It was seductively comfortable, and he had almost fallen asleep before he stopped himself.
I could use something to drink, he thought, and a cabinet had grown from the wall. He got up and opened the cabinet and was surprised to see a number of bottles inside. A touch showed that all were chilled, and he pulled out one that the ancient words told him was some kind of wine. A touch to the top and what looked like solid glass lifted open.
So advanced, he thought, as he tilted the bottle up and took a sip of the most delicious wine he had ever tasted. They use their advanced technological magic even on the sealing of common containers. And the wine tasted fresh, not like something that had spent untold thousands of years sealed away in a cabinet.
Patrick took another swig of wine and sat back on the bed, wondering if he might want something to assuage his hunger as well. Another cabinet grew from the wall, but Patrick decided to ignore it for the moment, even as curiosity drove him to explore. And then the depression was back over him, and he really didn’t give a shit about anything, not even his life, much less food.
“Everyone gone,” he whispered as he buried his face in his hands. “The teachers. Master O’Brien. All the craftsmen and their families who lived near the Monastery. All gone. And even the ones who live will die in the near future. If not murdered by aliens, then killed when the world falls into Brahma.”
Patrick felt the tears again come to his eyes, and he cursed himself for a weak fool. He had not cried since he had come to the Monastery, his brother holding on to him, comforting and protecting him from the world that had killed his parents. The monks had taken them in and provided a warm place to stay, food, and most of all, love. Master O’Brien had become like a father to him. And the discipline that a frightened child needed, until he had grown to become a warrior who could defend himself, defend his home.
Only I didn’t do such a good job of defending it, he thought, squeezing more tears from his eyes. Rationally, he could see how there was no way he could have taken on these invaders. Either set of invaders. But his feelings told him he should have stopped them, no matter what it took.
And that damned Colonel he had fought. Next time we meet it will be different. I will be coordinated with this body, and he will know fear.
Patrick lay back, closed his eyes, and felt sleep begin to creep over him. The bed started to vibrate in a very pleasing way, and soon his eyes couldn’t resist, and he faded into a deep sleep.
* * *
“What do you think our boy is going to do?” asked Derrick, who grimaced in pain after speaking.
“I really don’t know,” said Alyssa, looking at the three sixty view of the ocean around them. From the bubbles and swirls they were traveling at a good clip, she estimated at least seventy kilometers per hour. Not quite as fast as the Manta, but then again, that craft had been built to be an efficient submarine. And the ship had not been ordered to get to its destination at fastest speed, only to avoid detection. “We’ll be at the designated point in about two hours. Then we can ask him. But I think he will do the right thing.”
“And if he doe
sn’t?” asked Derrick, his face relaxing some, a sign that his nanites were jumping in to control the pain.
“We need to get you in a tank, buddy,” said Alyssa, sidestepping the question she didn’t want to answer.
“I’ll pass on that until we get away from this trap we’re in,” said Derrick, his eyes growing slightly unfocused. “I don’t want to get blown to bits while I’m under. I want to see what’s going to kill me coming.”
“Most people would prefer to die in their sleep,” said Alyssa with a grin.
“Most people are pussies,” said Derrick with a laugh. “Marines want to see what’s killing them, so we can spit in its face at the end.”
Alyssa laughed at the bravado of the man. She knew she would rather go in her sleep and never know what was happening. And no one would call her a pussy.
“And if he doesn’t do what we need him to do?” asked Derrick again, obviously not willing to be sidetracked. “Are you willing to enact the control protocols.”
“Only as a last resort,” said Alyssa with a shake of her head. “You know the Republic frowns on that type of mind control.”
“And I know you frown on it too,” said Derrick with a scowl. “And I also know you have resorted to it in the past, so don’t go Holier than thou. It’s a tool to complete the mission. And the mission comes first.”
“I know,” said Alyssa, looking down at the floor. “I know. But I still don’t like it.”
“So what are you going to do first?”
“I’ll have a little visitor pay his respects,” said Alyssa, looking over at Shadow, who gave her a frank gaze in response. “Cats are legendary on this world. Why not let my Shadow do some of the work for us.”
“Always a thinking and devious bitch, aren’t we?” said Derrick with a laugh.
“That’s thinking and devious bitch, ma’am,” said Alyssa with a laugh in return. She looked over at the cat and sent it a thought through the quantum entangled link. Shadow looked at her and meowed, then got up from his padded bowl and walked out of the control room. Alyssa smiled, looking out through the eyes of the animal as it walked the hallway, its sensitive nose picking up the path to the Monk.
Theocracy: Book 1. Page 14