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Pandora’s Crew (StarWings Book 1)

Page 20

by Gorg Huff


  This was a new interpretation of the data to Rosita. “I thought that as the trading houses got bigger, trade opened back up?”

  “Volume is up, but not innovation or variety,” Sally said. “Instead, the Drakes and, to an extent the Cordobas as well, stifle innovation that might seem to threaten them and work to maintain a stranglehold in other fields.”

  “That’s true,” said Pandora. “The genetic modifications of Cybrant Five are not available to most humans, but the elite of both the Drake and Cordoba power structures routinely include them in their lines within a generation or two, while publicly condemning the ‘self-styled supermen.’ They encourage system laws against genetic mods, then send sperm and eggs to Cybrant Five to be tested and tweaked.”

  “All right, Sally. Send a study guide to my PDA and I’ll look it over,” Rosita said. Who knows? Maybe there’s something to this.

  Standard Date: 07 07 630, Two Hours Later

  Gerhard was in his lab when Angi came in. “Whatcha doing, Grandpa?”

  “I’m working,” Gerhard said distractedly.

  “Whatcha working on?” Seven-year-old Angi was picking up things and putting them down and Gerhard was now completely out of his analytical zone, too concerned with what the little girl might drop or break to focus on his designs. That was one of the disadvantages of living on a ship instead of a station. Everyone was in everyone else’s lap, and you couldn’t escape to your office across the station. Robert was busy with shipboard work and Jenny was too. It was too easy for the girls to come interrupt him.

  “I’m trying to figure out why the Pandora is better at finding jumps than more modern ships.”

  “Is she? I thought it was Captain Danny.”

  “Yes, she is. Captain Gold may be part of the reason, probably is. But he doesn’t explain it all.”

  “So what’s different about Pandora?”

  “That was what I was trying to figure out,” Gerhard told her.

  Angi chewed her thumbnail, then said, “That’s simple. Pandora is an artificial brain like Sally, and Sally is way smart.”

  “Well, not like Sally. Sally is designed to be an administrative assistant and I’ve added nodes to her so that she can operate microbots to build and repair artificial brains. The Pandora is an integrated ship manager with direct connections to the wings, the fusion plants, and pretty much everything on the ship.” Gerhard looked at his granddaughter. “That might be it. Pandora is directly connected to the wings. She gets direct feedback of the raw data that the wings generate. Could the micro-brains of the wing controllers be missing data? Or, more likely, the significance of data they are picking up.”

  “What does that mean?” Angi’s face showed her confusion.

  “Perception trails behind reality. Brains, like yours and like Sally’s, build the world they perceive out of sensory input, and the now of perception is built from the data of the immediate past.”

  “Grandpa!” Angi stamped a foot, and Gerhard knew she was a little young for this explanation.

  He nodded at her and said, “Sorry, Punkin. What it means is the wings controlled by wing controller brains react faster than Pan’s wings. But, maybe they don’t understand as well as Pandora does.”

  Angi apparently decided to ignore the parts she didn’t understand. “Pandora’s got to be better than expert systems. You’re always saying artificial brains are better than expert systems.”

  “You know, Punkin, I think you may be right.”

  That truly began the Arachne project. A new design for an artificial brain ship manager that would manage the wing controllers, but also take the raw data from the wings and other ship’s systems. There would be inconsistencies, times when the wing controller brains perceived space one way and the central brain another. But if Gerhard could get the structure right, the manager brain would teach the controller brains to respond more accurately with practice, providing both the speed of the autonomous wing controller system and the greater depth of understanding that the Pan enjoyed.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  The actual naming of the project would wait until the next day when Gerhard told Rosita about his new Pamela project that would use aspects of Pandora’s design and of Sally’s to weave together the wing controllers and other small artificial brains into a network. “If I’m right, Pamela-style ship brains will be faster to build because they can be built using several brain bots.”

  “Why Pamela?”

  “Pandora and Sally. Pamela sounds a bit like Pandora and is a regular name like Sally.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. If it’s going to be weaving data you should call it Arachne—” A short pause. “—but make her humble. The original Arachne was a great weaver, but arrogant, and things didn’t turn out well for her.”

  Location: Cordoba Space, Delta Outsystem,

  Standard Date: 07 11 630

  Danny was in the galley when the screen lit and Pan reported.

  “We have plasma.” She gave a vector and threw the image up on the screen, then piped the incoming message to the galley.

  “Heave to and prepare to be boarded.” At the same time, the galley main screen showed new characters identifying the two circles as Cordoba customs cutters.

  “It will take them seven hours to make zero-zero intercept,” Danny muttered, “and that’s if we cooperate. If we don’t, or run, it’ll take them almost twelve hours. We have the starting velocity.”

  “But they will catch us,” John said. “The next jump is four days away, and it’s a switchback.”

  A switchback was where the vector exiting the last jump has the ship moving almost directly away from the next jump. When a jump was made, the jump ship emerged with the same vector, velocity, and direction relative to the exit end of the jump that it had when it went in, relative to the entrance end of the jump. So with a switchback, the common practice was to start killing velocity before you got to the jump.

  It was always a balancing act, though. The more you slowed down, the longer it took. A good captain figured the angle he wanted for the next several jumps. In this case, they left the jump with plenty of velocity, but in the wrong direction.

  “I know, John. They have us good and proper.” Danny agreed. “Start us heaving to, Pan. And let everyone know we have company.”

  Location: CSFS Tortuga, Bridge

  “You figure they’re smugglers, Captain?” asked Ensign Hubbard from the engineering station.

  “They’re all smugglers, Hubbard, even the ones flying Cordoba colors.” Pavel Stein scratched his stubbly chin. He was a seventy-five-year-old lieutenant commander. His stubble had a bit of gray in it, but his hair was still light brown. If he was lucky, he would retire a full commander in another twenty years. “In all my years, I’ve never met a trader who wasn’t smuggling something. The trick is separating the dedicated smuggler from the casual smuggler.”

  Chief Petty Officer Garnjag, the cruiser’s bosun, looked up from his screens. “Which do you think this one is, Skipper?”

  Stein turned his head to his bosun. He was a casual commander, at least among his bridge crew and senior staff. “I don’t give a crap at this point, Bosun. I just want to find enough contraband to force them to cough up a bribe.”

  The captain and the bosun shared a grin at the shocked expression on the ensign’s face. Hubbard would learn, and here was a nice object lesson for the kid.

  The Tahiti signaled and Pavel turned to the screen. “Our turn, Jacki!”

  “Sure, but it’s such a big juicy one,” Jacolin Tie, commander of the Tahiti, said. The agreement to take turns was long-standing but often modified. It all depended on what they found. If it was a big haul, they would share and the turn wouldn’t switch. That happened with the last ship, through, and Pavel was just reminding her that they were still the primary. Jacki was trying to horn in as she usually did, and if they got a big haul, he’d probably let her.

  Location: Pandora

  It took a few minutes to confirm
everything, giving Rosita time to get to the galley. The other ships were indeed the Cordoba patrol cruisers, Tortuga and Tahiti. They were stationed here looking for smugglers, and they were going to examine Pandora in detail.

  “Did you think they were pirates, Captain?” Rosita asked as she walked up to Danny. “Not a real customs patrol?”

  “Do you think there is a difference, Professora? My, you have led a sheltered life.” Danny grinned.

  Rosita rolled her eyes. “Pandora, would you mind opening a channel from us to the Tortuga, please.”

  “Go ahead, Pan,” Danny said, clearly wanting to see what she had in mind.

  Well, I’ll show him. “Good afternoon, Captain Stein. Would you mind putting me in touch with your Stockholder Relations Officer? I am Professora Rosita Stuard, a tenured professor of linguistics at the Danworth Institute of Technology, and a Cordoba stockholder. My husband, son, and others on board are also stockholders.” At least the girls will be, while these cretins are aboard. And if we can come to an agreement, perhaps Danny Gold will become a stockholder, covering the entire Pandora.

  The time code on the screen indicated twenty-eight seconds and started counting down. That was the amount of time it would take Rosita’s words to get to the Tortuga and the reply back.

  Now is the opportunity to get some ownership in the Pandora, Rosita thought as the clock counted down. At twenty-two she said, “Sally, please confirm the immediate transfer of one share each from Gerhard to Angi and Geri, and one from me to little Rosita.”

  She turned her attention back to Danny. “Captain, the laws protecting stockholders from unreasonable search and seizure of their property are quite strong. However, for non-stockholder residents of Cordoba space, the bar is set quite a bit lower. If the owners of this ship are stockholders, it will be much—”

  “I get it,” Danny said. “Pan, how severe are those legal differences?”

  “She is quite correct,” said Pan, “both in terms of what they can search and in terms of what we have a legal right to have on board. For instance, if the lab is ours, it might well be subject to seizure. On the other hand, as Robert’s property, legally acquired, it’s protected.”

  Just then the Tortuga responded. “Of course, Stockholder. Our SRO is Mr. Davis, who is in engineering at the moment, but we’ll have him up here before we’ve matched course. It would be helpful if you could send us the proof of stockholder status now.”

  “Is there really any hurry, Captain?” Rosita asked. “After all, it will be hours before we get close enough for you to send a boat across.” Then, to Danny, “That bought us another thirty seconds or so. But the captain is probably getting a little suspicious. It would be better if we settled this quickly. It’s not that what we’re doing is really illegal, but it could be seen as attempting to hide contraband behind stockholder status. Which doesn’t come up to probable cause, but brings us a lot closer.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Danny asked.

  “We give you a share of stock and you give us ten percent ownership in the Pan each.” That would give the family control of the Pandora. We won’t get it, but it’s a very good starting point.

  “Better yet, I give you one percent ownership each and you give me a share of Cordoba each. Doesn’t that seem more equitable?”

  “Come now, Captain. A share of Cordoba stock is worth . . . well, perhaps not as much as this ship, but much more than one percent. And I would remind you, the clock is running.” Rosita pointed at the numbers on the screen counting down to the Tortuga’s next response.

  “Ten percent total. Five to you and Gerhard, five to Robert and the girls. That gives you all a safe base on the Pan, anyway,” Danny said quickly, without looking at the clock.

  “Done,” said a new voice. Gerhard walked into the galley, followed by Checkgok.

  “Gerhard!” Rosita started, but Checkgok interrupted.

  “Most of the cargo that is still aboard is the property of Clan Zheck. Is not that property still subject to examination?”

  “Yes, it is—”

  That was when the comm came back up. Captain Stine smiled pleasantly and said, “Oh, there is no particular hurry, but stockholders are expected to have that sort of documentation ready on request. Is there a problem?”

  Danny looked at Rosita, then waved a hand, as though passing responsibility for dealing with the Tortuga to her.

  Rosita nodded and turned to the screen. “More an opportunity than a problem, Captain. Your fortuitous presence acted to remind Captain Gold of the value of stockholder status. Nothing underhanded, just business. As of about ten seconds ago, Captain Gold became the proud owner of a share of Cordoba Combine Limited, and my husband bought ten percent of the Pandora. We do have a little more negotiating to do, Captain, but be sure we will have all the documentation to you in electronic form before we dock and will hand you the papers on your arrival. Even if the ink is still drying.”

  Rosita turned to Checkgok and Danny signaled Pan to stop transmitting. “The problem is, Checkgok, that Cordoba Limited may not be sold to institutions. Or, rather, that when it is, it doesn’t carry all the stockholder rights. I could sell you a share, but the property in the holds would still belong to the clan, not you. I can’t sell your clan a share. I would have to sell them enough shares to cover every clan member and I don’t have that many. The law is designed to keep people from splitting their stock by selling to corporate bodies that they own. I don’t think they ever considered your sort of people when they wrote the laws. On the other hand, if they had, it’s likely that they would have outlawed sales to aliens, period.”

  “So selling me a share wouldn’t protect the clan’s cargo?”

  “I didn’t say that. It wouldn’t give the cargo full protection. But it might give it some, and it would certainly give you standing in Cordoba courts. It might not protect the cargo, but it would give you the right to complain if the cargo was seized. And in this case, that might be enough.”

  Location: CSFS Tortuga, Bridge

  “Well, Ensign, if you were a virgin, you aren’t any more,” said Captain Stein, disgustedly. “We just got screwed right through our suits. Bosun, get Davis up here. And when they send us that documentation, I want the both of you to go through it with a fine-tooth comb. We might get lucky.”

  Then Pavel Stein called the Tahiti and told Jacki what had happened. “You still want a share of this one, Jacki?”

  “Oh no, Pavie,” Jacolin said, smiling sweetly. “Enjoy your stockholders.” Then she signed off.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  It took Warner Davis a few minutes to get up to the bridge from the engine room, and he was still wearing a fairly worn flexsuit. It was one of the older models with the internal musculature, even though the regs specified the newer models. “What the hell is going on, Skipper? I was working on the stern C. You know how it’s been sticking.”

  “We have customers, Warner. And guess what? They’re stockholders.”

  “So let them go, Skipper. We don’t need the hassles, and we sure as hell don’t need the Department of Stockholder Relations going over the ship’s books.”

  “I’d agree, but they are apparently sharing out the stock just for our benefit. And I don’t like the idea of them getting away with it.”

  “Skipper, even if you’re right, hell, even if they are hiding a hold full of hunter-seekers to deliver to the Drakes or the frigging Skull System pirates, it doesn’t matter. Once an investigation gets started, we’re cooked.”

  Captain Stein sneered. “Maybe. But you’re going to go over their paperwork and if you find something, we’re going to run a little bluff. We can always back down out of deference to stockholder rights if they look like they’re going to fight.”

  Warner shrugged. He hated it when the skipper got a wild hair up his ass. But he knew better than to complain.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  It was almost an hour later that Pandora finally sent the documentation. And wonder of wo
nders, it did have a bug in the works. Well, at least a Parthian. It was obvious, and the people on Pandora made no effort to hide the fact that the transfers were made after they were seen by the Tortuga. Unfortunately, that didn’t do much good. The same investigation that might find it reasonable grounds for searching Pandora would put the captain and every member of the crew either in prison or up against a wall.

  The best point for running a bluff was the sale of the share to the Parthian Checkgok as agent for his clan, in exchange for twenty-four damaged artificial brains. Four for ship’s boats, five for ship’s drones, three for mining drones, and the rest for everything from personal assistants to translators. The interesting thing was that in exchange, the bug got not only the one share but also other valuable considerations not specified in the contract. Warner was pretty sure what those other valuable considerations were. What the whole deal was about was putting the questionable cargo in the hands of a stockholder.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  By the time the three ships matched course, Captain Stein was almost resigned to the loss of any significant bribes.

  Almost.

  He was less resigned to the fact that Jacki would be getting the next merchant through and would be crowing about this for months. He sent Davis, Ensign Hubbard, and the bosun over to have a chat with the captain and crew of the Pandora.

  “We’re closing to wing distance. Pandora, please cut your wings,” Davis commed. Pan cut her wings so that the flapping of the magnetic wings wouldn’t interfere with the docking shuttle. The shuttle continued its flight and docked. The moment it was docked, Pandora resumed her one standard gravity acceleration.

  They were met at the lock by Captain Gold and Doctors Rosita Stuard and Gerhard Schmitz, who handed over the actual documents to examine. All the proper codes were in place. In fact, the codes were more up to date than Tortuga’s.

  “We are less than two weeks out of Danworth, Lieutenant Davis,” explained the professora.

  “And we’re running light since we sold most of our cargo in Danworth and didn’t buy nearly as much equipment as we expected to. Prices were ridiculous,” added Captain Gold.

 

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