“We showed that map individually to our paralyzed Krall, and when Noreen pointed out Poldark’s and Koban’s stars, we got a mental image of Poldark or Koban as seen from space, from each one of them as we frilled them with Kit’s help. We get images of other apparently habitable planets when we move the pointer around various stars in the volume of space the Krall seem to control. Some stars give us no such image, and may harbor no useful planets from a Krall perspective. We think that’s how they travel to where they have been before. They have the star maps in their own memory, and tap where they want the ship to go. By zooming in for high detail, the Krall can refine where they want to White Out in a star system.”
“Did you learn if any of the livable worlds you had in images were production centers?”
Marlyn gave her husband a look of irritation. “Gee, how much in half a morning did you think we could dig out of them? Based on their lack of information on many stars in their own space, I don’t think they would ever have gone looking for our worlds on their own. They don’t have much curiosity if they were never in a star system. When they captured their first humans, they then had specific stars to investigate for prey.”
“Excellent work by you two Ladies. We have to let Tet know, and arrange for him to spend some time learning more from those two reluctant informers. How is their health holding up? They sure healed fast from their injuries at capture. However, when I saw them last week it was the first time in two months. I had no idea what an emaciated Krall would look like. Is it a matter of our not knowing what nutrients they need?”
“Avery and Rafe think it’s not that. We feed them meat bits and water through the tubes we inserted into both stomachs. They are clearly aware that we extract information from them, and they can’t stop us. Kit and Kobalt transferred fearful images into their minds at first, as punishment for their “evil deeds,” but we finally convinced the cats to block sending anything other than what we ask them to send, and filtered out any feedback of what we learned from them. However, like this morning, the way we used the star map told them we had located some of their useful star systems. They want to die, and have tried to do so since the day we captured and numbed them. I think they are gradually making that happen.”
Sarge expressed his sincerest sympathy. “It couldn’t happen to a nicer set of murderous killers.”
Marlyn delivered a bit of trivia she thought Reynolds might enjoy. “You do know that Toltak apparently thinks your imaginary sleep drug is connected to how we are doing this? I think she believes the scary images from the cats were what we call nightmares. Carving you up alive and eating the pieces is her favorite mental fantasy, which we have to pry her mind away from to get information.
“She thinks the cats are there to protect us if their muscle control suddenly returned. They can only see where we turn their heads or can roll their eyes. We don’t let them see the cats when the frills touch their deadened fingers, or when we touch the cat frills for the mental relay. If they knew we had that mind reading ability, they might find a way to try to block or fool us.”
Thad brought up another subject, related to frilling, that he suspected was her main reason for looking for him right now. “You know we aren’t taking any of the cats with us when we Jump. If the Krall caught a glimpse or scent of a ripper, it would lead them directly here, the only place where they exist. However, we do need contact telepathy for gathering intelligence from any other Krall we might capture.”
Her words confirmed his suspicion. “Thad, you know Noreen and I are worried about the impact of this particular mod. The other remaining Koban mods, visual and auditory, are complex sensory mods, which are more examples of pure physical improvements, and those are still on hold for now. The contact telepathy mod has the potential to affect the kid’s minds and perceptions. Perhaps changing how they think.”
“Hon, you know that I have no more insight into this mod than you do. What has Dillon said to Noreen? He works with Rafe on the genetics and mapping of the nervous system integration. Aldry or Maggi can also give you a more technical explanation. You know that, so what is it you expect from me?
“Is it reassurance, which I don’t have to offer? I’m as worried as you are. I have the added responsibility of putting our son in harm’s way when we confront more Krall, which we will do. I can’t allow myself to consider my personal feelings when I make a combat decision. For the decision on the telepathy mod, you and I can’t make that for Ethan anyway. It is his decision, and he has decided. I plan to support him in any way I can, and I’ll hold your hand if you will hold mine, as we wait for the results.”
Marlyn sighed, and hugged her husband. “OK. They will start the mod for the ten TG volunteer’s tomorrow morning. Ethan and Carson are going first, claiming they earned that right, and not just by earliest birthdate this time. Ethan insists on going ahead of Carson, not that one hour sooner will make a difference. Alyson has also opted for the mod. She is the only Hub City kid already fully adapted to the earlier Koban mods. I can imagine her parent’s fears, since they never wanted her to select any of the Koban mods, and they won’t even be here for her.”
“I’ll be honest, I’m more worried about bringing these kids home alive than I am this particular genetic change. We need additional Krall Clanships to explore the worlds deep inside their space unnoticed. The Krall aren’t going to hand them over, we’ll have to steal them, and we need more warriors captured alive.
“I warned every one of our two hundred TG force personally. Don’t let me catch them knife fighting a Krall, unless they are damned well out of ammunition. We will have an ample supply of the Death Lime thorn extract, but in light of our kid’s superior skills with guns, I told them to use some of the new hollow point rounds with a bare slug tip exposed. They put a drop of the drug in the hollow point, shoot to wound, and then just wait for the warrior to go numb. Carson didn’t really have much option for his own duel. We didn’t have the new slugs yet, and he needed to stall while Ethan and the cats worked their way closer to the shuttle hatch.”
Reynolds decided to ask the same tired question again. “Are you sure I can’t have the Koban nerve mods, and then the mind reading mod? We still have months before the Jump.”
“Sarge, Marlyn and I already have the Koban nerve mod, as a passive feature. However, we can’t integrate our Koban nervous system mods with new Koban muscles or the contact telepathy mod because we were not born with the organic superconductors in place. We received those genes specifically so our children would inherit them, and be born with them in place. Rafe doesn’t know how to form the superconducting linkage to the Koban muscles if we grow those in our in our older bodies, and the telepathy nerve endings will not form in our bodies if we can’t do that part. The organic superconducting neuroreceptors and motor axons formed in our children as the embryos developed. Me, you, and any Normal made into a SG lacks those.
“We would already have incorporated that mod if we could, and then would know in advance how it would work, before our kids find out.”
He waved his hands at Reynolds dismissively. “Anyway, I think you only want that telepathy mod for playing poker. You’d find some way to touch an opponent’s hand to see an image of their damned cards. I’ll bet you have a way to do that to me already.”
“Colonel, I’d be offended if I offended easily. How about a little game tonight? My boots are smudged again.”
21. On the Mark, Get Set
Mirikami held Alyson’s right hand, as her left hand grasped a thick finger of Toltak’s right hand. The girl was the conduit, linking Mirikami’s mind to the Krall’s mind. It was stunning how quickly she, and the other nine Mind Tappers, or they had shortened the original nickname even further to simply call themselves “Taps,” had mastered the use of the ripper contact telepathy mod.
Years of frilling the cats had prepared the TG1s for the experience, but along with becoming the focal point of the mental sharing process, rather than a “client” of one o
f the cats in a relay, they had shot well beyond the cat’s capabilities. They managed that feat in less than three weeks of practice, after one or two weeks that were required to establish the neural links within the brain and hands. The end cap superconducting neuroreceptors and motor axons completed the new mod’s linkage via the pre-existing “wiring” of the superconducting nerves. There was less physical change than for the muscle and bone transition they experienced previously.
Ethan and Carson were the first two to report the sudden clarity of the thoughts they could sense from contact with each other, and found they could easily select what thoughts and images they chose to send. The thought filtering for humans, already well adapted for lying and deception by nature, had no more trouble holding back a particular thought or image than they had not blurting out something like “Yes those pants make you look fat!”
It was possible for a TG1 to send thoughts and words that were purely fabrications, and to have thoughts that Taps could withhold. They soon found it was also possible for a human that was aware of a Tap’s ability, to prevent their private thoughts from leaking. If you were not aware, and were unguarded, the Taps said it was as if you were mumbling aloud to yourself all the time and they could make out most of what you were thinking. The Krall, with no concept of such a mental ability, not only didn’t mumble, they sent their arrogant thoughts and images boldly on any subject, particularly when you pushed them in a desired direction, either verbally or with a though picture.
Even when Mirikami suspected that both Krall were aware that humans were sometimes stealing information from them, they didn’t seem able to hold back thoughts. Perhaps their thousands of generations of breeding for superiority made them indifferent to what “lesser animals” learned.
Just now, Mirikami had sent a silent thought question to Alyson, to place in Toltak’s mind. How is K1 defended from human raiders that would try to land?
He was vaguely aware of Alyson’s dismissal and filtering of Toltak’s initial and automatic mental snort at such a ridiculous idea. She was one of the best of the ten new Taps at eliminating the “chaff” of a Krall’s splatter of uninformative thoughts, which followed most questions. Alyson’s follow-up thought did better. If humans were stupid enough to try, how would the Krall on K1 detect them and kill them?
That drew some smug information about how alert Tanga clan was in watching for inbound human ships, how their grounded Clanships had a warrior on duty in every craft to respond to another futile human attack. That some Clanships were always in orbit, ready to intercept human ships or missiles before they could enter atmosphere. A spontaneous contemptuous thought, concerning small Dorbo clan, passed Alyson’s filtering. Toltak thought they had not learned from past human attacks to maintain an alert ground force, as did larger clans. Half or more of their Clanships sat empty on the tarmac around their two domes.
At Mirikami’s request, Jake found an archived dynamic image of K1, formerly named Greater West Africa, before the Krall exterminated its population to have a base. When Toltak was shown an image of the rotating planet, they asked her for the two Dorbo clan dome locations.
Alyson relayed the Krall’s thoughts, and received an image as the locations passed. With Jake recording, they identified precise coordinates for each dome. The two were only a few hundred miles apart.
Next, Mirikami asked about landing procedures for returning Clanships, and the identification process or codes required at K1. He received another mental snort. Because it was impossible for humans to fly a Clanship this was a pointless, inefficient thing to do. No clan had the right, or a reason to question the coming or going of any other clan. They seldom even questioned the comings and goings of their own Clanship commanders.
Mirikami mentally signaled Alyson he was finished, and motioned her to come with him, deciding he had enough information for now. “Alyson, please Link with the other two hundred mission TGs, and tell them I want to meet with them this afternoon, at 1400 in the Great Hall. I’ll locate Colonel Greeves, Sergeant Reynolds, Colonel Martin, and Commanders Martin and Greeves. We’ll all be there, for a mission update.”
“Wow. Yes Sir. I caught a bit of your thoughts Sir. I hope you don’t mind. I wasn’t trying to snoop.” She was looking very pretty, with her big blue eyes wide with excitement.
“Then you know some what I have planned. Please keep that to yourself until the meeting. It won’t be a secret for long so it won’t be too much of a strain to hold it in for a few hours. Even if you should you spend some of that time kissing and snuggling. Have a nice lunch with Carson.”
Her face flushed, and she instantly wondered how good her own filters were, if a non-Tapper had read her so easily. Mirikami grinned at her red face, turned and walked away without explanation.
The blush confirmed it for him actually, but he knew from Noreen that the two had been seeing each other every evening. Carson had asked Reynolds for two hours away from training, a subject which casually came up when Mirikami shared a late breakfast with the Sarge and Chief Haveram. Carson told the Sarge he wanted to eat his lunch out on the top of the ridge in the former combat range. In spring that was an attractive place for a picnic, especially if you had a pretty girl to improve the view.
It was fun for the older generation to keep these young supermen and superwomen on their toes. Particularly the TG1’s, the designation the geneticists decided to give the TGs with the contact telepathy mod. It was good to keep those kids wondering how the slow old SGs seemed to read their guarded thoughts. A lifetime of experience, their own past mistakes, and many romantic dalliances was enough of a predictor for the older generation. Of course, for these youngsters, they knew they were the first to ever feel this way.
As he walked away from the adjoining compartments where they kept the two Krall secured, he linked with the AI. “Jake, lock the prisoners in, access limited to the Inner Circle unless Maggi or I tell you different.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Has Mel Rigson tested the forty seven spare transducers we have now, with you?”
“Yes Sir, and they all function, but older models can’t directly Link with the other newer transducers. They require a relay through my system.
They had gained spare modern transducers (well, no more than twenty-one years old) from the OBO ships when they moved them to low Koban orbits, and combined them with the three spare units left from the Flight of Fancy’s original stores. Then they had a half dozen older transducer models from the Rimmer’s Dream, also sitting on Prime City’s tarmac for almost twenty-one years.
“Not a problem. Link me to Mel.” His former Steward greeted him from the Fancy’s old infirmary, where the transducer implant equipment he tested was located.
“Mel. I want only twenty of the newer styles for this mission, except we know that twenty-one year old equipment isn’t actually new. Sarge has the only modern piece on the planet, and Jake can talk with him, but none of Sarge’s advanced features will work with our older capability. I don’t want to take every transducer we have with me. I certainly expect to return, but carrying all the eggs in the same basket isn’t smart.
“OK, Tet. Who gets the implants?”
“I want ten implanted on our TG1s, and the other ten implants go to the team leaders Thad selected. You’ll have to check with him for all of the names. Try to call them in by noon for their implants if possible, since I have a briefing for them at 1400. Please catch Carson and Alyson early because they have a picnic lunch date they tried to keep confidential. Let them think you picked that little secret up from their thoughts after you touch hands. It’ll drive them crazy to think their thoughts leak to us old SG farts.” Laughing, Rigson said he’d do that.
“Set up a Link test using the new Jakob on the Mark, as well as Jake on the Fancy.”
“Will do, Sir.”
The Rimmer’s Dream older JB series computer had hosted a backup copy of Jake’s software for years. The clone programing replaced a simpler AI, nicknamed Jeb,
on the Dream. Marlyn had proposed they install her old ship’s AI computer hardware on the Bridge of the Mark of Koban. This permitted them to take a reduced version of Jake with them, calling that version Jakob, to avoid a confusing communications overlap before they departed.
The transmitter power from the new ship was increased for Jakob, to achieve at least a thirty-five mile range to send to a person hosting a transducer, but the tiny transducers still only had a return send range of about six or seven miles.
“Jake, Link me with Thad, Dillon, Marlyn, Noreen, and Sarge. Call back when they’re all able to talk.” He started down the cargo ramp of the Fancy, tempted to jump down as he thought back to how dangerous that ramp descent had felt the first day he set foot on Koban.
He glanced up to note there were two squadrons of wolfbats circling overhead. Rather than a threat, now they patrolled for scorpion skeeters that sometimes strayed into the compound. Food rewards had made them allies, and they took their paid obligation seriously. No one inside this compound or at Hub City had been stung in years. He saw two children playing with a ripper cub. From this distance he couldn’t tell which cub it was, Kyla, Krome, or Kandy. Rippers were a major part of improving their lives now.
He was halfway to the Mark of Koban when all the conference Link parties were ready. “Ladies and Gentle Men, I’m on my way over to the Mark from the Fancy, after having an extremely informative interrogation of our two Krall prisoners. When you can join me on the Bridge I’d like to begin planning an exciting little detour we will make on the way to Poldark.”
Thad asked first, “Detour? What sort of detour?”
Koban: The Mark of Koban Page 60