by Duke, Nathan
As if Rick’s words were an invitation, the other worker pushed Lord Baylor aside, pulled Rick’s electric sword from his belt, pushed him onto the floor, and took out two electric guns: one for Rick, the other for Lucas. Lucas stopped jotting things down on his tablet and came back to reality for the first time in years.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen.” Lord Baylor gestured at them to calm down, but it was hardly easy when you have a gun pointed at you. “Change of plans. Ever heard of the elixir of youth? Of the philosopher’s stone? Well, I’m older than either of you, and I’d like to elude death for a while. You may keep the advance I’ve paid; I’m afraid I won’t be sharing this finding.”
“Advance?” Rick said. “My contract didn’t include any advances. I’ve been paying out of pocket for this expedition.”
Lord Baylor let out a deep laugh and held his stomach with both hands. “Indeed. Better luck next time, then.” He nodded at the worker, who pressed something in his sleeve and made the cave explode. Rocks flew in the air and the floor rumbled. If the tomb had hidden any other secrets, none of them remained. He gave them a curt bow and headed for the transport shuttles.
Rick instinctively headed after him, but the brute with the gun loaded the stunner and it hummed aggressively. Rick stopped in his tracks and folded his arms. “Guess it’s just you and us, then,” he told the brute. “Mind if you give me my gun back and we part as friends? I’d rather not hurt you…”
“Shut up,” the worker said, and he brought his gun closer to Rick. His weathered voice definitely belonged to someone who’d spent most of his life hunting or on the run. There was no way to get him to reason.
Hopefully, Lord Baylor would’ve instructed him to let them live once he left.
Hopefully.
“This can’t end like this, Richard,” Amy said through the intercom. “If you aren’t going to do anything, I will.”
“No, wait!” Rick said.
The brute’s arm tensed and he aimed the gun straight at Rick’s head.
“No, not you,” Rick told him, and he pointed at his ear. “My ship’s AI is going to do something stupid.”
The brute hit him on the ear with the gun, hard. A warning. Blood trickled down Rick’s head.
Awesome, Amy. See what you’ve caused?
“Not stupid, Richard,” she said. “Rational. I’ve calculated the probabilities of you two surviving, and it’s unlikely that they’ll let you live unless you stop Lord Baylor from running away. It’ll be easier for him to kill everyone on the planet instead of paying you.”
Rick gave the brute a tense expression. “I won’t stop her if you don’t want to, but I warn you: she’s a stubborn woman. I’d duck if I were you; things end up breaking when she’s angry.”
“Shut up,” the brute said. A man of few words, like most of the genetically engineered marble-brains that rich men hired to clean up after them. It wasn’t that they didn’t like to talk; it was some sort of mental impairment that geneticists had created in their brains to make them incapable of thinking too much by themselves. They followed orders, got paid, and didn’t ask questions. They were more impulsive and violent than mentally advanced men, and they wouldn’t use information against their masters. A good silence guarantee.
Rick shrugged.
Amy’s shuttle took off and started chasing after Lord Baylor’s. Her weapons were as hopeless as his, but she was angrier and she had a computer’s reflexes.
The workers looked up and shouted in admiration, pointing at her. Amy shot at one of the Argonaut’s engines to disable it, but she forgave Lord Baylor’s transport shuttle. She dove down and shot straight at the brute.
An impeccable shot, as always. She hit him straight in the heart, and he fell to his knees.
With one last effort, he aimed his guns at both of his targets.
Rick jumped aside and dodged the beam.
The brute fell forward and hit the ground with his head. Rick ran to take his weapons in case any of the other workers were still loyal to Lord Baylor.
Rick waved at the intercom in his ear. “Not bad, but I’d rather not dodge any bullets.”
“If I didn’t know you, I’d say that you’re jealous that I’ve had to save you again.”
Jealous? Not really. He was just annoyed that he always ended up having to risk his neck because his ship’s computer had far more personality than she was supposed to.
Lord Baylor boarded the Argonaut. She accelerated and left the planet’s orbit. Her broken engines slowed her down, but she was still capable of escaping. Lord Baylor wasn’t going to let them catch him that easily, and he still owed Rick a fortune.
“What now?” Rick asked. They couldn’t chase after him aboard one of the shuttles; they’d only manage to reach a couple of nearby bases.
“Richard…” Amy’s voice was tense and regretful.
What? A bad feeling ran down Rick’s spine. He looked around, but none of the workers had decided to attack him.
On the floor, a few feet away, Lucas was on his knees, holding his stomach with both hands. Blood gurgled out of a large wound in his stomach. He looked up with an apologetic expression.
Why did people want to say sorry after they were shot? Damn it; they weren’t supposed to feel bad for being hit!
Rick walked over to him. Lucas stank of iron, and his eyes were looking straight at death. He was scared to die. His chances were slim.
“Richard, I—” Amy began.
“Shut up and bring that shuttle down here,” Rick said. “He needs medical aid right now.”
“I don’t have my tools or my systems.” The transport shuttle didn’t approach them. She was paralyzed, incapable of deciding. Not a good time for a computer to learn about regret.
“Well sew him up with a robotic arm,” Rick said. “Just do something, but do it right now.”
Damn, damn, damn!
Out of all the possible outcomes, Amy’s improvisation had ended up hurting someone. Rick wouldn’t have minded being hurt, but he was used to it. Lucas had never left his library; he was too soft to survive a wound like that without surgery.
And they didn’t even have any anesthetics. It was going to be a long day.
Chapter 3
Amy used the shuttle’s robotic arm to sew Lucas up while her hologram stared at the scene and tapped her foot on the floor. Even though she was a robot and she wasn’t supposed to have any feelings, she was concerned for Lucas. The wound had been deep enough to cut through his organs. If she’d been a few minutes late, he could’ve died. Now, he slept peacefully as if nothing had happened.
“This is all I can do,” Amy said. She turned around and avoided looking straight at Rick. She spoke as if she were annoyed, as if it had all been Rick’s fault.
“If you hadn’t shot the guy, he wouldn’t have shot us either,” Rick said.
“Oh, so now it’s my fault!” Amy scoffed and started pacing around the shuttle. “What do you think would’ve happened if I’d let Lord Baylor run away? The workers would be dead, you’d be dead, and I’d probably be dead, too. Or at least disconnected. Lord Baylor was after that silly rock, and for some reason he didn’t want to share it with you. Do you think he’d have broken his word if this weren’t serious?” Her black hair fell over her eyes and she shook her head violently to get rid of it. That wasn’t the time for hair problems.
Sometimes, Amy acted like an annoyed ex, and she treated Rick accordingly. Sometimes, Rick forgot that he’d never had any kind of relationship with her. It was weird, but they felt like an old couple. Only that she was always trying to wear the pants in the relationship.
And that wasn’t the right time to dispute Rick’s leadership. Without Lord Baylor’s payment, they wouldn’t be able to pay even the cheapest of nurses for Lucas. And they were going to lose the ship if they didn’t find a way to pay for it. Lord Baylor’s treason had come in the worst moment, just like all treasons do.
“We could’ve thought of something,” R
ick said. “The guy wasn’t going to kill everyone straight away, or the workers would’ve scattered. He needed time to gather us up, take us somewhere where the blood would be easy to clean, and start shooting. You know how that works; he’d have been distracted for a moment, and I would’ve jumped in to stop him.”
“And now you’re Superman?” Amy said. “He was twice your size, Richard. You could’ve tried something, but you’re nothing more than a bug on those people’s shoes. You may have been a smuggler for a couple of weeks, but you aren’t a mob leader. And you were a fairly bad smuggler, if you ask me.”
A bad smuggler? Rick had been able to take motherboards to the anti-technological colonies, and he’d even sold milk in the vegan starbases. Granted, he’d had to sell those supplies below cost, but he’d become one of the top suppliers!
Okay, maybe it sounded pathetic in retrospect. He’d never been able to kill anyone in action, not even any animals.
But that didn’t mean that he was going to acknowledge defeat. Not before Amy. “Look, I know you were trying to do the right thing,” he started. She nodded energetically and folded her arms, expecting him to stoop low and hail her as a goddess. It wasn’t going to happen. “But I’m the captain here, and you can’t jump in and start making decisions without my approval. I didn’t want you to do anything stupid because the risks outweighed the prize, and now we’re as poor as before, and Lucas is going to spend a while in hospital.”
She shook her head in disdain and curled her upper lip. She wasn’t going to accept that her choice wasn’t the best alternative. Rage incoming. “I’ve hit Lord Baylor’s engines and disabled his warping mechanisms, and he’s going to need to repair them. Where do you think he’ll stop, huh? He’s going to go to the nearest port. I don’t know about you, Richard, but my impulsive decision may give us the chance to get back at him. But of course, I’m only a dumb machine without feelings…” She sniffled a fake sob, like she always did whenever she wanted to manipulate Rick into doing something. She was good; really good.
And she was right, and that made her even more hateful. They couldn’t let their money run away without trying to get it back. Rick’s banks were going to stop giving him credit unless he paid his bills soon, and he wasn’t going to pay anything unless he got paid first.
“Don’t start acting wounded with me,” Rick said.
A smile flashed on her face and she raised her eyebrows excitedly. “Does that mean that we’re going to hunt Lord Baylor down?”
“Turn on the engines,” Rick said. “We’re on a hunt. On the hunt for an aristocrat.”
Amy squeaked in excitement and her hologram took a seat beside Rick. She added holographic seatbelts to give the impression of being made of flesh and blood. Whoever had coded her had definitely been too lonely. She was far too real to be useful aboard a ship.
Chapter 4
“A transport shuttle is no ship for a military confrontation, Richard.” Amy hadn’t shut up in the whole time they’d been aboard the transport shuttle. “Are you aware of the Argonaut’s weapons systems?”
Yes, Rick was aware of the Argonaut’s superior firepower, her superior speed, and the risks of facing her without a proper plan. And Amy had reminded him of the risks incessantly. Yes, they could die, but they’d die anyway if Rick’s loan sharks realized that he couldn’t pay them back. The concept of modern banking had evolved throughout the years, and bankers could become very persuasive whenever someone’s payments came late. Persuasive in the sense of breaking people’s knees and chopping their ears off to mark them as debtors for the rest of their lives. Rick would rather keep his body untouched.
“Why do you keep ignoring me?” Amy insisted. “This shuttle isn’t good enough for you to fly, and I don’t have my systems here. What do you expect us to do once we catch up with Lord Baylor? He’ll crush you before you can even hail his ship.”
It was never a good idea to confront a member of the nobility. The laws protected them, and if that wasn’t enough, most people were afraid of their power and their influence. If Lord Baylor decided to annihilate someone, it was a good idea to run. But Rick had a natural skill for getting in trouble, and he wasn’t going to skip the chance to do so.
“I was planning to ask him nicely,” Rick said sarcastically. “He might decide to give the ship back and pay us.”
“That is highly unlikely, Richard,” Amy said matter-of-factly. She was just like one of those nerdy people who attended the Academy and never knew anything about the real world. Sarcasm sometimes flew over her head without her noticing. “You do have a back-up plan, don’t you?”
“Well, I was thinking of going through the justice systems.” Rick looked away from her to hide his grin. His ship was gone, his money was gone, and Lucas was wounded, but at least he could enjoy the trip. “The cops will help us get my ship back and sentence Lord Baylor to a long stay in jail for robbery, assault, and taking part in a murder attempt.”
“With the current levels of corruption in the government?” Amy stared at him and blinked incredulously. “It’s unlikely that any judges would consider going against a lord, and you’re a former smuggler. Do you think that your word weighs as much as theirs? Even if you gathered up all the workers in the expedition, no judge would ever find him guilty.”
“Hmm…” Rick acted as though he were thinking. “Let’s go ahead and steal the Argonaut back from him, shall we?”
“He’ll be expecting us,” Amy said flatly.
“He won’t be expecting what he’ll find.” Rick’s cocky words came out of his mouth almost automatically; the consequence of years of acting as though he knew what he was doing.
“Bluffing?”
“Yeah, but I’ll think of something.” Rick had enough time to improvise a plan to get the Argonaut back. Lord Baylor had had to dock somewhere nearby, and there were only two planets with adequate installations. That gave Rick the advantage of knowing where to look for his ship. And besides, the nobility were inbred and dumb. How difficult could it be to outsmart just one of them?
“You’ll end up dead one of these days,” Amy said.
“Thanks for your trust in my abilities.”
“It isn’t about trust, it’s about chances of success. You’re more skilled than many non-genetically modified humans, but that still places you at a disadvantage if you want to fight the world.”
“Does that mean that you won’t help me in this mission?”
“Who’s said anything about avoiding trouble? I’m only stating your chances; you should be aware of them in order to make an informed choice. Otherwise, if you’re killed and I end up being resold, they’ll accuse me of not informing you of the kind of idiot you are. This is purely a self-preservation instinct. I wouldn’t like to have my hard drives formatted and my personality altered.”
“You’re such a romantic, Amy,” Rick said.
Ahead of them, the Java port appeared on the screens. It had been a relatively short trip, and it was time for them to face their fates. Lord Baylor would have landed there, and he wouldn’t expect an unarmed archaeologist and a sassy artificial intelligence to attempt anything.
Lord Baylor was in for a surprise.
Chapter 5
Modern ports had nothing to do with old orbiting junkyards. Scientists had invented the terraforming revolution and several other tricks, and it had changed everything people knew about space ports. Instead of metallic boxes orbiting around planets, they were now nice and comfortable buildings on solid ground. The weather and air purity were sometimes bad for human health, but nobody stayed there for long if they could avoid it. The mechanics and other residents would’ve died of other causes anyway if they’d stayed on Earth, so the space ports weren’t harming anyone. Or at least that was the official version.
Lord Baylor had taken the Argonaut and several of his huge gorillas to the port’s main hangar. He wanted to get his ship fixed as soon as possible to get a proper appraisal for his magical stone.
&
nbsp; The situation wasn’t too difficult: a fat and old lord talked to a mechanic, and several of his gorillas patrolled the area. Rick had seen worse. At least this time he had a weapon. Even if it didn’t work, it was intimidating. He only had to get inside, steal the Argonaut, and ask Amy to join him using the transport shuttle’s autopilot mode. It would’ve been way easier if she’d been one of those transferrable programs, but she wanted to act human, so she never left her CPU. That implied physically carrying her in order to change ships; one of Amy’s peculiarities.
“Your heart rate is too high, Richard,” Amy said through the intercom. “Some adrenaline can enhance your instincts, but you’re far too nervous to do anything properly. It is unwise to attack a group of men unless you have a clear advantage. Are you sure that this is a good idea?”
“Can you be more pessimistic, or is this your maximum?” Rick whispered. He was half a mile away from the port, but he didn’t want any long-range microphones to hear him and get him killed. Amy didn’t care about those mundane details; she was, after all, an immortal being.
“Why do humans always ask rhetorical questions whenever they’re out of arguments?” she said. “You know that I’m right, yet you don’t want to acknowledge it. In many circumstances, it would be a reasonable cause to strip command from you.”
“One: you’d need to be the second officer to do so, and two: computers can’t decide when a human is unfit to command.” What the hell was he saying? He was arguing with a can about his rights as a captain, when smugglers and other vermin didn’t follow the Laws of Space. “We aren’t even in the Navy. Why don’t you keep quiet and let me decide how to get our ship back?”
Ugh. Amy could sometimes act like a little, annoying child. She was stubborn, irritating, and way smarter than most people. A recipe for disaster.
“Oh, so now you’re a racist bigot and you consider computers inferior.” Amy tried to sound annoyed, but she was messing with his brain, just like she liked to do whenever she had the chance. Torture the human was one of her favorite games.