Pandora’s Crew (StarWings Book 1)

by Gorg Huff

  Location Pandora, Big Dark between jumps

  “Tanya, you want to play Nets and Rocks?”

  Tanya let the resistance weight on the exercise machine return to the rest position, and turned to Jenny. They were in the exercise area off the lounge. “Nets and Rocks? I’ve never heard of it.”

  Jenny was standing in the center of the workout mat, wearing a virtual reality headset with the goggles up. “It’s cool. Pan and the professora came up with it. You play a Parthian in an arena. You can throw stuff at the other Parthian with your mid-arms, and you have nets and rocks . . .” Jenny continued with an explanation of the game that actually sounded sort of fun.

  Tanya wondered why Jenny would invite her to play, but this was her off shift and she wasn’t tired or sleepy yet. “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

  Jenny offered her a head set. Tanya put it on and took a moment to take her stance and feel how her movements were reflected in her avatar’s. She was in a virtual world, an arena of hard-packed earth with gates at either end. Her avatar was a Parthian neuter female with four legs and the two middle arms. Tanya stepped forward and her avatar moved, using four legs to Tanya’s two. She moved her arms and the avatar’s mid arms moved with them. In each arm was a net of force that she could wave back and forth. Tanya realized that the nets were a decent analogy for the wings of a wing ship, except that there were only two instead of the twelve that a freighter like the Pan had, or the sixteen, even twenty, that a warship might sport.

  She enjoyed the game. As she played, she used the sims she ran at the academy and she took Jenny fairly easily in the first round and the second. She started explaining to Jenny why she was doing what she was doing. Jenny was doing fairly well.

  Tanya reached into her pouch and pulled one of the big, heavy rocks to throw at Jenny’s avatar. She watched the Parthian and the way she fluttered her nets, then threw.

  Suddenly Jenny threw a net. Then, while Tanya stared in shock, Jenny threw another. The first net wrapped around Tanya’s rock and pulled it to the ground. The second tangled her nets and dragged her arms down, so that the handful of arena sand Jenny threw wasn’t blocked. Great letters of fire appeared before Tanya. GAME OVER.

  And Jenny was crowing, “I got you! I got you!”

  “Yes, but how? I didn’t know you could throw the nets. Or the sand.”

  “Well, I might have forgotten to mention that part.” Jenny grinned unrepentantly.

  “Fine, then. How do you throw a net and how do you pick up sand and throw it?”

  Jenny showed her and they played again. Tanya won one, then lost one, then lost a third. She kept slipping into thinking of it as Space Combat and forgetting that she could throw a wing—rather, a net—and then Jenny would catch her out. The sand was no problem. It was just grapeshot, translated.

  All in all, it was a fun evening, and when Tanya got back to her room sweaty from the exercise, she checked with Pan to see if there was a non-aerobic version of the game. There was.

  Location: Cordoba Space Big Dark between Jumps

  Standard Date: 09 09 631

  “I’d like to let Arachne run the Pandora captain,” Gerhard Schmitz said as he walked onto the bridge.

  The request pulled Danny from the half virtual world of the Pan’s flight and he turned to face Gerhard. “What?” Arachne was the name given the new administrative brain and series of separate artificial brains that Gerhard was working on. “Arachne is that far along?”

  “It’s been over a year,” Gerhard said.

  Danny waved Gerhard to a couch and went to his own. “A year is not a long time for the construction of an artificial brain capable of running a ship.”

  “We’ve managed to cut the time by using several brain bots and making the system as separate units.” Gerhard took the indicated couch and waved at the screen. He brought up his work records and the outline of Arachne’s structure.

  “Isn’t that going to increase the timing issues?”

  “Yes, of course. That’s what the Sally-based administrative portion of the brain is for, to take the somewhat independent actions of the individual units and put them together into a greater consciousness. We’ve talked about this, Captain, on several occasions.”

  “I know, Doc. It’s just that I’m not really comfortable having another ship brain handling Pan. What do you think, Pan?”

  “I think a partial test of Arachne’s ability to weave reality out of data is worth looking at.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I am in favor of the experiment, but I want to be able to take back control if necessary.”

  “Okay. Gerhard, are you ready now?”

  “Yes.” As Danny watched, a series of instructions flowed back and forth between Gerhard and Pandora. Then, through his interface, Danny felt Pan recede and another presence flow into her place.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Arachne was awake. It was like her virtual practices but in subtle, indescribable ways, it was different. She felt her wings flap and the interface was different. She sent information back to her wing controllers, and over the course of several minutes she integrated herself from several parts into a whole. She was the ship.

  She flapped her wings for hours, with Pandora there in the background, but letting her do it. Then they approached the jump and Pandora remained in the background as Arachne adjusted the electromagnetic stresses of her wings, feeling the shape of space. And with a twist she was through, in a whole different space.

  Pandora let her glory in it for a few minutes, then gradually retook control. Then Arachne went back to sleep. She knew that this was not to be her ship and was grateful to Pan for the experience.

  Gerhard had taken his wife’s remarks about keeping this Arachne humble to heart.

  Location: Drake Space, Jorgan Oort Cloud

  Standard Date: 09 22 631

  “Welcome back, Pandora. I’m guessing you found a jump route?” Elijah Sunderland grinned.

  “Something like that,” Danny confirmed, smiling at the old guy but declining to play rutter tag again. “We’ll be shuttling over to your place in a few hours.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  The planetoid habitat of the Sunderland family was much the same. Shelly Sunderland, the eldest daughter at twenty-two standard years, was running a bot that was melting rock to re-form the entryway as they came through. She waved but didn’t look up.

  Once inside, Agnes greeted Goldgok with all the joy you might expect for a returning sucker. And Goldgok made a show of checking his body pouch to see what was missing. But this time they had Robert’s girls with them, and the younger three of the Sunderland children were introduced to Nets and Rocks while Danny and the professors talked politics with Elijah. Goldgok sold lambfish and bought atomic batteries.

  “Can you give Shelly a ride?” Agnes asked Goldgok. “Just to the inner system. She needs to be out in the world where there are men folk who aren’t her dads or brothers.”

  “I’m sure an arrangement can be made.” Goldgok nodded its mouth-hand. “After the way you skinned me over the lambfish, you can certainly afford the fare.”

  Jorgan Insystem, Conrad’s Station

  Standard Date: 09 23 631

  Shelly stepped through the lock at Conrad’s Station followed by Danny Gold, Goldgok, and John Gabriel. She looked around at the massive plex windows that showed a sky full of stars, and at the carpeted concourse with eyes as wide as saucers. Shelly was a capable young woman and well educated, but it was all book learning. For the first time in her life she was setting foot on a station that didn’t belong to her family.

  Danny watched the girl with amusement tinged with a touch of envy. To see the universe all new and bright was a good thing. He signaled John and then left them to take care of his banking. Two hours later they were back at the docks and Shelly was situated in her dorm at Conrad Junior College.

  Location: Pandora, Drake Space, Big Dark

  Standard Date: 09 25 631r />
  Tanya walked onto the bridge while Danny was going over routes with Pan. She watched the discussion for a few moments without interrupting until she had the gGAME

  OVER cameist. Jorgan was on the same chain that included Bonks and Canda, and in the other direction went through Finch, Alenbie System, Cybrant—a place Danny preferred to bypass entirely—and eventually all the way to Pamplona. The Bonks route would take them to Drakar and another eight months before they could make the trip back to Cordoba space, which would be fine, except they would end up in Cordoba space almost a year from Parthia. They could survive that, but Danny thought, and Goldgok agreed, that the sooner they got back to Parthia with their holds full of trade goods, the better off they would be.

  They were still looking for a backdoor into the Parthian system, but they were also trying to find other shortcuts and routes between Drake and Cordoba space.

  Now that she understood the discussion, Tanya asked, “What do you know about Skull System?”

  Danny looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Just rumors, and the rumors don’t paint an enticing picture.”

  “They shouldn’t, but Skull System has routes into Drake space and Cordoba space.

  “On at least three occasions, either we or the Drakes have sent fleets to put them down. It didn’t work.”

  Danny stood up and waved Tanya to the captain’s chair. It was her watch after all. “Why not?”

  “Because the jump between Skull System and Cordoba space is thirty-two light years long and the jump to Drake space is thirty-seven.” Tanya sat and pulled on the interface cap. “They have a set of fortified asteroids near the jumps with massive firepower. It’s just not worth it to find another route.”

  “What about getting back?”

  “There are arrangements that can be made,” Tanya said, disgustedly. “So Jimmy tells me. The reason I mention it is because the Cordoba side comes out on a route that leads to Parise and then Ferguson.”

  “Gunny Dugan, would you mind joining us on the bridge?” Danny sent on the shipnet.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Jimmy arrived to see the skipper and Commander Cordoba-Davis, and a screen full of stars and jump graphics. “What can I do for you, Skipper?” Jimmy was always careful of protocol, and Captain Gold was the one who called him to the bridge.

  “What can you tell me about the Skull System, Gunny?”

  Jimmy blinked and looked at Tanya, then back at the captain. “Not as much as I would like. It’s a gray system, but dark gray. They will deal with anyone. Not just smugglers, but out-and-out pirates. In fact, most of the independents avoid the place. Are you considering heading out that way?”

  “I’m thinking about it. But the issue is getting back out of the system.”

  “That’s not really a problem. There are pickets at the jump exits, but the arrangements are almost standardized by now.”

  “That didn’t make sense to me, Chief Dugan,” Danny said. “Sure, I can see corruption, but a picket at a single jump point? If a ship that’s known to have gone to Skull System shows back up, the boss has to know just who let them through.”

  “They do.” Jimmy let himself slip into parade rest. “From what I understand, there is someone fairly high up running interference for them.”

  “On both sides?”

  “I don’t know about the Drake side, Skipper, except to know that ships do go both ways through the Drake jump. So it stands to reason there’s some sort of arrangement. I’d check with John Gabriel if I were you. He was a bit on the rowdy side before he picked up Jenny, if the stories he tells are anything to go by.” Jimmy considered a moment, then asked, “Skipper, Skull doesn’t have a good reputation. You think it’s a good idea?”

  “I’m not sure, Chief. But I need more rutters and they might have some of the sort I need.” Danny Gold shrugged. “It’s not something we have to decide right now, anyway. Goldgok wants to visit Finch for the feathers.”

  Finch, Jimmy knew, had a variety of large-feathered, cold-blooded animals that were more like dinosaurs than anything else. The four-legged bird-like animals all over the place were the reason for the name. Their feathers weren’t actually that much like bird feathers on the molecular level, but they were colorful, sometimes iridescent, and in demand for hats and ornaments.

  “From Finch, we’ll likely go to Alenbie System. No habitable planets there, but there’s a tar-like substance in the Oort cloud that is useful for making shieldgold.”

  “Cybrant, Skipper?”

  “Not unless we have to. I’m not an outlaw, but once we set foot in the insystem, I am subject to challenge.”

  Jimmy wasn’t sure of the specifics, but he knew that the licensed breeders were constantly killing each other on Cybrant.

  Location: Pandora, Gardens

  Danny stepped through the hatch and looked over the gardens. They were hydroponics in sealed shelves with grow lights. They were also quite lovely in a way, and they were full of plants from dozens of worlds, mostly Earth-descended and Parthia, but with sprinklings from all over. There were foods from Parthia that humans could eat and foods from Earth that Parthians could eat, as well as foods from other worlds that one or both could eat. The garden provided good food for both species, and all the ingredients needed to make a Parthian Banger.

  John was seated at a table with an artificial bee in one hand. He looked up from a purple bell-shaped flower and said, “Hey, Skipper. The fruit of this sucker will make our salads tasty if I can get it to fruit.”

  “What is it?”

  “Parthian tokkissk. Sort of a Parthian sweet onion, but with overlays of vanilla and oak.”

  “Oak?”

  John grinned. “Just a touch, and the sort of oak flavor you get from aging whisky in oak barrels, not like eating the stuff.”

  “It sounds, ah, interesting, John.”

  John looked at him. “Well, since you’re not here about the tokkissk, what brings you to hydroponics?”

  Danny hesitated a second, then dove right in. “What do you know about how we can get into the Skull System?”

  John sat back in his chair and looked at Danny for a long moment. “I don’t know how to find the jump, Skipper, if that’s what you’re asking?”

  “No. That’s not the problem. Tanya has the location in her rutters, and the route to get there. It’s a dogleg off the route between Cybrant and Forsythe. But there is supposed to be a Drake cutter stationed at the jump. How do we get by? Do you know?”

  “Well, as to that, some of the Hudson lambfish ought to convince them that they need to make a short trip to scout the surrounding space, so they won’t be right on the jump when we go through. On the other hand, once we get through, the pirates will have us under their guns.”

  “How do we deal with that?”

  “We don’t. Once we go through the jump, we deal with the Jolly Roger or we don’t come back. Skipper, you sure this is something you want to do?”

  “We’re a trader, John. We trade.”

  “There’s lots safer places to trade, Skipper.”

  “We need as many routes back and forth between Drake and Cordoba space as we can find.”

  “Maybe, Skipper, but there are better ways. What about Donnybrook?”

  “That’s a possibility.” Donnybrook was another gray system. It had one star with three planets, none of them habitable, and had a bunch of stations and a population in the millions. It was about half-way between Cybrant and Congreve, and Danny had visited before.

  Location: Drake Space, Finch Insystem

  Standard Date: 10 06 631

  Tanya flung a net, then reached under her Parthian body to the pouch that held the nets and grabbed another. Jenny quickly wrapped her nets around her arms and ducked under the flying net. But Tanya was ready for the move and had a rock on its way to catch Jenny.

  GAME OVER came across both their headsets as Tanya’s rock caught Jenny right between the eyestalks.

  With their VR helmets off an
d breathing hard, Tanya complemented Jenny on avoiding the thrown net.

  “Not that it did much good,” Jenny muttered. “I have to jet. I’m due in the aft C wing assembly to help Goldtak with the drones.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Once Jenny was gone Tanya checked the ship net for who was doing what. Goldgok was on the comm with the merchants of Finch, who apparently didn’t have any problem at all dealing with Parthians. The feathered cold-bloods of Finch were not, for the most part, good eating, and Parthian ffikkesk meat was a treat that was rare for the Finch hunters to get a chance at.

  Her thoughts went back to the game. Over the weeks, Tanya’s interest in Nets and Rocks had turned into suspicion. What if Danny Gold did have some way of throwing a wing at an enemy ship? She didn’t see how he could, because the wing attachments were at least a hundred and fifty feet across, hundreds of tons of shieldgold, massive coils, and capacitors.

  It would be like ripping out a chunk of an engine room and tossing it at the attacking ship. No missile could be big enough, though from what she had seen of the shuttles and the suit-bot, it was entirely possible that Professor Schmitz had come up with something that could manage the system if they could get around the size issue. She wasn’t convinced that they had, but she was no longer quite convinced that it was impossible.

  Tanya went looking for Jimmy Dugan.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  “Gunny, you got a minute?”

  Jimmy looked up, then turned to Hirum Outis. “You got this, Hirum?”

  Hirum just snorted. Jimmy unhooked from the computer interface and got up, explaining as he walked, “There’s a kink in the flow guide on the dorsal C and it’s taking some adjusting.”

  “Coulda done it just as well without your butting in,” Hirum muttered as they left the engineering control section.

  “Could he have?” Tanya asked.

  “Maybe, but it would take a long time. Outis isn’t stupid, but he’s not properly trained for that sort of work. What can I do for you, ma’am?”