Cain pulled an insulbrick discharger from the locker and fired it as the Android loomed over him. The insulbrick discharged wet and sticky, then started to harden. The Android’s movements slowed. Cain sat on the floor, trying to catch his breath, thinking what else was at his command to fight the thing should it break free. His friend was down. Briz stood in the corridor, motionless, staring at the body of SI Hendricks.
The Android’s eyes glared at Cain as it tried to fight against the hardening insulbrick. Cain raged. He stood and swung the pry bar repeatedly until the Android’s face was bashed in. One last hit sparked the circuitry, killing it as it lost power. The magnetic grip failed and it toppled, falling against the wall of the corridor, a mass of insulbrick with an Android partially contained inside.
Cain dropped the pry bar and worked his way around the Android until he was kneeling next to Black Leaper. “Stinky! Talk to me,” he pleaded. He could see the Wolfoid’s chest expanding with each breath. He felt the pulse in his neck. Cain tenderly scratched his friend behind his ears, while cradling his head in his lap. The Wolfoid’s eyes fluttered and blinked open. He twisted around to see the Android, covered in insulbrick and leaning against the wall.
‘I guess we won,’ he said over the mindlink.
“Something like that, and we couldn’t have done it without you. I can’t believe you hung on to that thing’s arm for that long.”
‘It’s a gift, my man. You won’t tell anyone that you’re cradling my head and scratching my ears, will you? It’s kind of embarrassing,’ Stinky said, picking up strength.
‘Makes you want to dream of Wolfoid butts instead, doesn’t it?’ Cain countered.
‘Even that would be better, yes,’ Stinky answered as he struggled to stand, first on all fours, then on his back feet. With a foreleg over Cain’s shoulder, the two of them walked slowly to Briz. His mouth was no longer open and his nose twitched slower, but he stared. Cain and Stinky blocked his view with their bodies.
“Briz! Briz! Can you help me with Stinky? I think we need to get back where there are some people. Find the others, make sure everyone is okay.”
To answer his question, two crewmembers ran toward them, while their teammates peered around the corner. The ‘cat hissed beside them. The human crew slowed as they approached. One tapped his temple and his eyes unfocused in the telltale sign of a person using their neural implant to communicate directly with the Artificial Intelligence called Holly. The man pointed to Cain and directed him to a screen pad at the end of the corridor.
Cain shook his head and pointed to Briz. The other man grabbed the Rabbit roughly and shook him. Cain and Black Leaper jumped to their friend’s aid. Even though the Wolfoid was still shaky, he took one of Briz’s arms and together, they turned him away from the SI’s corpse and led him down the corridor. He walked mechanically, hopping every third step as Cain and Stinky supported their friend between them.
Cain stopped at the screen pad and tapped it with a finger for activation. Holly’s face appeared.
“Cain! I am so happy you are well. Your great-great grandparents would never forgive me if I allowed to be hurt,” the AI said with a smile.
“It was close, Holly. The Android looked at me, malevolence in its eyes. I think it was targeting me. It didn’t care about Stinky, I mean Black Leaper, only me. It killed SI Hendricks to get at me,” Cain said passionately.
“I can assure you, Master Cain, that it did not. You sound so very much like Braden and you look a little like him, too. I see him in you, especially your paranoia toward the Androids. Did they pass that on to you in their genes? I wonder…”
“You can assure me whatever you want, Holly, but you’re wrong. Can you look at their subroutines and see if there is a latent program triggered by someone of Braden’s bloodline?” Cain asked, happy that he’d taken some classes in computer programming while in school. He was horrible at writing code, but understood enough to ask smart questions. Humans generally didn’t write any programs. Holly and his offshoots took care of all that under the watchful eye of the Council of Elders.
“I have already started that review. I have dispatched Androids to your location to recover the malfunctioning unit. Please be aware that they are coming and as I had to plead with your ancestors, I beg of you, please do not destroy these. They are of the new models so if there were latent code, which I doubt, it definitely would not be found in the new Androids. Please don’t kill them.” Cain was surprised at how realistic Holly’s pleading tone was. His family had the greatest reverence for the AI, but Cain could sympathize with Braden. All it took was one time when an Android tried to kill him, and that was it. No more trust. Ever.
“I also want to convey my heartfelt apologies over the loss of your Space Instructor. SI Hendricks was specially gifted in understanding ship systems. The two crew members will recover his body and take him to the infirmary. His wishes for being buried in space will be carried out after the remaining recruits from your class have arrived. The crew will take care of everything. I have asked the ship’s captain to send someone to provide oversight for your group until you can return to earth in two weeks’ time.”
“We’re staying up here?” Briz interjected, finally speaking. Cain gripped the Rabbit’s shoulder, happy that he was no longer catatonic.
“Yes. Your training will continue without pause. Space is a dangerous place. It won’t do to be afraid. What matters is how you react to the danger. From what I’ve seen on the video capture of that corridor, you, Cain, and Black Leaper conducted yourselves exceptionally well, better than could possibly be expected of any recruit and probably most in the active SES,” Holly finished with a nod of his computer-designed head.
“It’s not all that, Holly. I was just trying to save my own skin,” Cain whispered. He looked around him. Besides Stinky and Briz, no one else was near. “Please don’t tell anyone that we used the SI’s body as a shield.” Holly nodded. Cain slowly reached a hand to the pad and turned it off with a soft touch. Briz was back to staring. His nose wasn’t twitching at all. A crew member had joined the others and was holding them beyond the door at the end of the corridor, on the catwalk overlooking engineering.
This corridor was supposed to take them to their berthing almost a kilometer away at the access to Deck 10, the Livestock Level. But it was now closed as the humans and Androids worked. Cain turned and glared at the new Androids who were attempting to clear the insulbrick from their fellow. The human crew members had put SI Hendricks on a stretcher and were carrying him to the elevator located next to the DC locker. They disappeared into it, leaving only the Androids. Cain swore one looked at him. He dodged out the door, happy when it closed behind him.
The crewmember who’d assumed the role as their guide looked at Briz, then Stinky, and finally at Cain.
“I’ve been working here for three years and never seen anything like that. I can’t imagine what happened, what set the Android off.” Cain looked away, over the railing, at nothing in particular. “You were the ones who stopped it,” the man added, pointing to Cain and Stinky.
Stinky read the man’s name badge, Lieutenant Simonds. “Yes, Lieutenant,” he responded, using the rank that crew members wore when on aboard an SES spaceship. The SES had adopted the ranks used aboard the Traveler in the time of the ancients. And they had created their ranks from Earth’s waterborne navies. A ship was a ship, they reasoned.
Cain remained distracted. The lieutenant touched him on the shoulder. Cain spun on the balls of his feet, fists raised, before quickly dropping them.
“Yes,” was all he would say.
“Would you have any idea why it broke down like that?” the man asked, as if he knew Cain had an opinion. He looked closely at Cain as the recruit narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “Do you?” he pressed.
“It was after me, because of what my great-great-grandparents did to the Androids. They’ve held a grudge for one hundred, thirty-six years against my family. Once they saw me, i
t triggered their repressed hatred. Holly couldn’t control them then. He can’t control them now. Just keep the Androids away from me and we’ll be fine,” Cain said firmly, daring anyone to disagree with him as he looked from face to face.
“Braden and Micah?” he asked. Cain nodded once. “Their distrust of Androids is legendary. I assure you that…” Lieutenant Simonds started to say how the Androids were perfectly safe, but that wasn’t quite true. He had no other explanation, so couldn’t discount the recruit’s theory. He remained skeptical but didn’t want to argue in front of the others. He was thinking of the word “unprecedented,” but the attack was not. It had only been a while since the last one was made on the recruit’s ancestors.
“Let’s find you some different quarters and have the medical team stop by for a talk. No one should have to see what you’ve seen, but sometimes, space tries to reclaim its dominance over humanity.”
“Have you ever seen anyone die?” Ellie asked, finally finding her voice. The others leaned in close.
The lieutenant shook his head tersely. He unfocused his eyes as he accessed his neural implant. The recruits waited, wondering where he’d gone. After a few heartbeats, he blinked and nodded to the group. “Follow me. You’ve been reassigned to the guest quarters in the next radial. Medical is on their way and will meet us there.”
He started walking briskly, which forestalled any out loud conversations.
‘Briz? Talk to me. Are you okay?’ Cain probed over the mindlink, trying to feel his friend’s thoughts, trying to will his friend back to the real world.
‘Come back to us, Briz. We’re here for you, ready to help in any way we can,’ Stinky added.
“It killed SI Hendricks,” the Rabbit said aloud. “It killed him!” Briz stopped walking and turned. Cain and Leaper each put a hand on his small, fuzzy shoulders, leaning in close.
“And nothing we can do now will change that. We need to save the ship, Briz. They’re counting on us to learn everything there is to learn about the ship so these bastards can’t sneak up on us again. And with that, we can save this ship and the others in the SES. They’re counting on us, Briz,” Cain lied.
“Are they?” Briz asked, turning toward the human and looking deep into his eyes. “Someday they will, Cain. Yes, you’re right. Someday they will count on us not only to know what to do, but then to do it. Like you did. You saved our lives, Cain.” Briz reached his small Rabbit hand up to touch Cain’s cheek. Tandy and Ellie appeared, their hands rested next to Cain’s and Leaper’s on Briz’s shoulders.
The lieutenant stopped and looked at the team, Black Leaper’s team. His team at Space School had already been tight, having been challenged with life or death at the obstacle course, learning how they could work together to persevere. This was different, but the same. They had to learn their way through tragedy after they made it into space, except for the lieutenant, trapped on the space station where only the mundane happened. The real explorers docked their spaceships briefly at the Traveler, where many of their families lived, before heading back into space. That wasn’t Simonds. SI Hendricks was the first death he’d seen since he’d joined the SES.
Without tragedy, no one can know how close they can get. Leaper’s team lived it, survived it, and was preparing to move on. Simonds would call whoever he needed to, to encourage them not to break up this team.
Ever.
Peace of Mind
Their quarters waited for them as well as a full medical staff, which consisted of two ‘cats, two Hawkoids, a Tortoid, a Rabbit, and an elderly human, all accompanied by two special medical bots. The recruits were shown their rooms then quickly returned to the common area of the eighty-four room billeting section. Leaper’s team went first, each paired up with a professional to talk about what they’d seen.
Leaper looked at Cain. ‘Whatever you do, don’t think about Ellie’s butt,’ the Wolfoid said in his thought voice as he turned and cordially greeted one of the ‘cats. Cain spluttered and started to laugh. The others looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. The Tortoid and human approached him and looked him over.
“I’m Doctor Kanter and this is an observer who asked to be present, Master Daksha, Third Master of the Tortoise Consortium. Please be seated and be at peace. We are here to help you,” she said in a soothing tone that Cain found grating. He surprised himself by how quickly he’d gotten over the incident. He was angry that their SI had been killed, but the perpetrator had been stopped. Cain found it too gratifying thinking back to pounding the life from the thing’s head. He was exhilarated and that scared him.
Maybe he did need to talk with these people.
‘I see,’ the Tortoid said, clearly listening to Cain’s errant thoughts. Cain cocked an eyebrow, encouraging the Tortoid to continue. ‘I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Your prejudice is based on the facts of your family’s life. The Androids have only reinforced your reasons to hate them. The actions of one are the actions of all as they are linked through common software, my young recruit. Did you know that my father was abused by the Androids?’
“You are one of Master Aadi’s children? How could you work with them after what they did to your father?” Cain asked.
‘Through force of will, young human. It is difficult and I try not to blame the actions of one on all, but that generation of Androids had glitches and a certain amount of autonomy that no modern programming has been able to wipe from their memory cores. Some things seem hard-wired, but the Android attack on Aadi was to get to Braden and Micah. They were the target, so no hard feelings between Tortoids and the Androids. Only you and your family, I’m afraid.’
“I think we need to assure Recruit Cain that nothing of the sort is going on. One malfunctioning Android and that’s all. There was no personal targeting. This Android did not come after you. If it had, you’d be dead and not SI Hendricks!” Both Master Daksha and Cain looked at Doctor Kanter.
“Okay,” Cain said coldly.
‘Come with me, Master Human,’ the Tortoid said as he floated higher and started swimming toward the kitchen. Doctor Kanter watched them go, scowling. ‘Besides beating the Android to a pulp, is anything else bothering you?’
Cain didn’t answer, but his mind raced.
‘Aletha. We all have our own Aletha out there, Master Cain, but life goes on. Do not let it pass you by. Do not miss an opportunity again, or try to make something that is not,’ Daksha advised mysteriously.
“I don’t understand,” Cain finally replied.
‘So like your great-great-grandfather. He would say the same things to my father, Master Aadi. You will understand in time. For now, nod like I’m giving you the full business. More vigorously. There you go.’ Master Daksha blinked rapidly and bobbed his head as he laughed in the Tortoid way. And they continued to talk about the people and what space travel meant for those who settled Cygnus VII so long ago. Cain had met Tortoids before, but never had such an in-depth conversation. He saw why he’d been raised with a strict mandate to listen to and trust Tortoids.
Briz was getting the full attention of Doctor Kanter and her ‘cat companion. The Hillcat sat on a tabletop next to the Rabbit and stared deeply into his eyes. Briz sat stiffly, his big back feet dangling from the chair, looking comical if they didn’t know the internal turmoil threatening to drag him into the pit of despair. The doctor talked in her soft voice while the ‘cat worked directly in Briz’s mind. Cain watched surreptitiously, as did the others on the team, while the Rabbit’s features softened and he nodded. He blinked and looked around, making eye contact with each of his teammates, tipping his chin at them in recognition. His ears wiggled as he started to take in the other conversations around him.
The relief was palpable. The others quickly came to grip with their own concerns, but follow-ups were scheduled for every day that Class Beta 37 was to be on board the spaceship. The medical team shook hands all around, while Doctor Kanter pursed her lips, looking unhappily at Cain and Daksha. Her ‘cat ran
toward the young recruit and jumped. Cain caught him and pulled him to his chest, scratching behind his ears and then quickly taking his hand away before one of those sharp claws left a scratch down his arm. A number of razor-thin scars already crisscrossed both of Cain’s arms. He was well acquainted with ‘cats.
‘I see that you are fine, surprisingly. Usually, human minds are less resilient. She thinks you need more attention.’ The ‘cat nodded toward Doctor Kanter. ‘I think a ‘cat needs to watch over you, otherwise you’ll constantly be in trouble. Yes. I shall arrange that. Now let me down, you miscreant,’ the ‘cat told him. Cain immediately released the ‘cat, letting him drop gracefully to the deck.
When the medical staff left, the others spent their time talking about the incident. Everyone took a turn expressing their support for Briz. He retreated to his room and closed the door quickly. The others drifted to their own rooms, bringing up the touch pads to browse what the ship had to offer for entertainment or education. Cain retired to his room and stretched out on his bed.
Cain heard a soft tap on his door. He opened it, finding Ellie standing outside. She looked to make sure no one was watching as she pushed Cain into his room. The door closed automatically behind her. Cain backed up until he was against the wall, confused. She continued, pressing her body against his as he had nowhere else to go. She guided his hand around her, where he cupped her butt and squeezed. He closed his eyes, enjoying the moment.
Cygnus Rising: Humanity Returns to Space (Cygnus Space Opera Book 1) Page 6