Deathship (The Outsider Series Book 1)

Deathship (The Outsider Series Book 1) Page 15

by Steven Oaks

  I must have made a face as I told my story because Yvette said, “You don’t appear to like your name, but at least you have an interesting tale to tell about it. My great-grandmother was Yvette, and they passed it on to me. Nothing fancy there.”

  Changing the subject, she asked once more, “Now I understand this is your first day on the job. How has it been?”

  I thought about how much to say without revealing any trouble. “This is only my second stop. The first stop was similar to this and there was no issue loading. I had some coffee with the manager named Jacob. He had some concerns about the protesters outside his facility. He said there had been a few attempts at breakins. He explained the reason the workers on-site were wearing black full body uniforms was to conceal them from the public eye, as they feared retribution for working with the Outsiders,” I said, feeling that it would be alright to talk about this since she had brought up the unpopularity of the job herself.

  “Yes, we felt it best if we protected our employee’s from undue danger. I don’t even know their names. They’ve all been assigned numbers, and besides myself, there are only a few who use their names while working. My close assistants who only do paper work, I know. The rest dress in black and help with the loading and unloading. It pays well enough, but I don’t think if they weren’t concealed anyone would have stayed very long. Honestly, the computer is the only thing that knows who is behind each number and that is encrypted and sent via satellite so they can receive their checks by direct deposit. The banks may know who is getting paid by the Outsiders but that may be obfuscated as well,” she said.

  “I do hope no one has come to any harm for just doing a job. The job market isn’t great for people without degrees or even with one. I feel I’m just lucky to be employed. I would probably be in their position if the Outsiders hadn’t hired me as a pilot,” I said.

  “As far as I’m aware there has only been one person who was injured after they started working for us. It may have just been a hit and run. He’s in the hospital now. The Outsiders seem to be taking care of his medical bills. However I’ve stated the news may not be covering anything like that happening elsewhere. The only reason I’m aware is that I know him. He was my assistant here in the first few weeks after our temporary offices were finally moved into this building. One day he just didn’t show up. So I rang up his home and his wife said he had been hit by a car outside his house and was now in the hospital. When I went to see him, he was in pretty bad shape and he didn’t remember how he had gotten hurt or how he had gotten there,” she said, her face shifting to a serious look.

  “Do they suspect anyone?” I asked.

  “That is why I think it might not have been a hit and run. They aren’t investigating. Either the police force is actually on the side of any protest movement against the Outsiders, or they are being influenced to stay out of it. Getting involved may lead to more sensational news the media wouldn’t be able to resist reporting. My understanding from what I see on the news is they are downplaying any negative feelings towards the Outsiders intrusion or just outright ignoring it,” she said, growing heated in her tone.

  “I’ve had very little contact with anyone so I don’t really know anything about how the public is reacting. Nor would I know if I would be assaulted. Have you been alright? No threats or anything at all?” I asked.

  “Oh there have been threats. They didn’t happen often when I worked at a funeral home. When you work with the dead you get used to being ostracized by the public but this has been much worse. Back when I was driving here, my brakes had been tampered with. Luckily I realized before I got too far and only hit one of the light posts in the parking lot. However, I do have an email account someone shared online and I get death threats in bulk now. I understand how they feel but I think it’s a fair trade for getting to space earlier than we would on our own. I’ll be migrating as soon as I can and perhaps I’ll be in charge of the storage facility there,” she said wistfully.

  “You might eventually, but it seems if not myself, one of the other pilots will have their ships used to store the local deceased. That is until such a time as a proper building can be built. We would just have to fly back and forth continuously so the ships don’t run out of room,” I said.

  “You do seem to have some information I hadn’t heard of. Do you know anything else about when we might be able to migrate?” she asked.

  “I only have estimates calculated by my ship. She thinks maybe in a years time the ships will be ready. But I hadn’t heard of any news stating they had located a livable planet,” I said.

  “Oh there have been a few found. The Outsiders have given us their locations. So as soon as those ships are built they will start recruiting volunteers for the journey. Looks like I only need to hang on for a little while longer and I’ll fulfill my childhood dream of setting foot on another planet. Thank you Michael, you’ve brightened my day,” she said with genuine enthusiasm. A smile spread across her face, and her eyes twinkled with delight at the idea.

  “I’m glad you are happy. I almost wish I hadn’t signed up to be a pilot so I could go out there as well to enjoy an unspoiled planet. Eventually I’ll be able to retire and enjoy my remaining days on some distant world. Mind you, I don’t think I would want to be the first colonist. I enjoy my day to day luxuries, I just happen to like walking in the woods,” I said, chuckling.

  “There is that. We don’t know what life we’ll run into. It might actually be quite dangerous if there are other predators besides ourselves on these planets. I’m getting too old to wait until a planet is properly civilized. I hope they’ll take me, as I do have some skills to offer. I was a girl scout when I was younger,” she said with a wink. “Also my father used to take me and my brother out hunting and we learned about skinning and all-around survival skills from him. I am a fair hand at first aid and a little more. I know the human body, but mostly my work has been with the dead,” she said, musing aloud to herself.

  “I’m sure you will be able to go. But I think I should get back to my ship before too much longer. There are a few things I want to check on before we lift off,” I said, trying to find a polite way to extricate myself from this conversation. I stood to leave. She seemed nice enough. While I am not squeamish when it comes to talking of the deceased, else I would not have taken this job, I did not feel like talking about their finer points.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had things to do while we loaded. I didn’t mean to take so much of your time,” she said, carefully putting her cup down and standing up.

  “It’s nothing major or problematic, it is just the first day. I want to make sure everything is running smoothly. I feel I can do that best when I’m aboard making sure of things directly,” I said, trying not to sound overly anxious to leave.

  “At least let me walk you outside,” she said, reaching down and taking a long drink of her coffee before she began walking towards the door.

  I walked back with her to my waiting ship and we shook hands once more before I returned to Athene. As the door slid close behind me, I could see she had a faraway look in her eyes. I knew she was thinking of her future out among the stars as a pioneer.

  “How are things Athene?” I asked.

  “Michael, I am still reviewing code. I will be with you fully by the time we are completely loaded. In the mean time, please feel free to relax,” she said with a faraway voice.

  I had almost forgotten Athene was checking herself to make sure she was not entirely compromised beyond what we already knew. I pulled off the overcoat and hung it on hooks by the door. Athene must have thought to provide them before I returned. I was still worn out from being poisoned and I headed back to my bedroom. I kicked off my boots and lay back in bed with my arms behind my head thinking about what I could do with the remaining time left to me. For the first time in awhile I felt
alone. I was pretty sure Athene was still listening, but since I did not want to bother her and hinder her self diagnostic, I decided to look for the library.

  I assumed it would either be close to the bedroom or the living room and commenced my search there. There were a few doors near the bedroom I checked first as I supposed she would have placed them there. However when I tried to open them, they were sealed shut and did not budge. It was not until I neared the living room did a door open to me, and it was indeed the library.

  It was designed again in the Victorian style and each wall was lined with book shelves behind glass. There was another couch plushly upholstered in red velvety fabric and several oriental carpets laid over a wood floor. Also there was a coffee table siting conveniently in front of the couch made of some dark wood. All in all I felt very much at home in that room surrounded by my own books. As I got closer I could see the books were arranged by author and further organized by series, both alphabetically.

  I began looking through the books and wondered which one I should pick up for an hour or two to fill time. I glanced through all the authors’ works, then my eyes fell upon a slim book that always brought a smile to my face. It was A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. An amusing tale of a man from earth named John Carter who is mysteriously transported to Mars and his adventures involving the native inhabitants. I opened the case, pulled it free, and sat down for an extended read on the couch. In the hour I was there, I transitioned myself from sitting to laying down with the book held above my face.

  I had nearly reached the end of the story when Athene said, “Michael we have finished loading and Yvette is waiting outside.”

  “Thanks Athene, I’ll head out.” I said, looking for something to use as a bookmark. While I had read the book before, I usually find when I read something, even for the tenth time, I pick up something new held within the pages. I did not want to just leave a book unfinished. “Athene might I ask for a bookmark?”

  “You will find one on the coffee table in front of you,” she said.

  And indeed there was a bookmark. It appeared to be made of leather with an embossed Celtic design and a tassel made of yarn with a silver pendant attached to the end to hang over the side of the book. The pendant itself, I later learned, was that of a Thor’s hammer traditionally worn by the Norse people for protection. I placed it into the book, set both aside on the table in front of me, and walked to the living room.

  When I reached the portal to the world beyond it once more irised open and I saw that Yvette was indeed waiting for me. She smiled and gestured I should come forward. I stepped out to stand in front of her.

  “Michael, it appears you’ve received all of today’s shipment. If you would be so kind as to sign here to indicate everything was transferred accordingly,” she said, holding forth a clipboard with a sheaf of paper attached that was blowing in the wind.

  I wondered if Jacob was suppose to offer me something to sign as well but had not been able to because I was incapacitated at the time. I reached out and took it from her waiting hands. I quickly scanned over the paperwork to see if there was anything I might miss. It was not a complicated piece of administrative language as I expected, it merely listed today’s quantity of deceased transferred, the date, and time.

  When she saw I was done reading, she handed me a ball point pen. I took it from her and signed my name.

  “There you are Yvette. I hope if I’m needed again such business goes as smoothly as today’s,” I said, trying to sound positive and official.

  “Yes, it was a very easy transaction. Though you make me wonder how your last stop went if you felt necessary to mention smoothness,” she said with a grin.

  “Nothing much to say, though I wasn’t offered paperwork. He stayed in his office when we were done and we just left. I was unaware of any filing, though I suppose I should have expected it. We do happen to be in the habit of record keeping these days,” I said, clicking the pen closed and handing it back to her along with the paperwork.

  “Interesting. Perhaps I should call him up and ask if he is expected to do the same paperwork as I have been requested to. What did you say his full name was?” she asked.

  “I don’t think I stated his full name, but he said his name was Jacob Astor. He was located in the Indianapolis facility,” I said.

  “Jacob Astor. I shall look him up and have a conversation,” she said, looking at me with her familiar smile. “Now I do hope the rest of your day goes well,” she said as she then took my hand in hers and leaned forward. “Watch yourself. There are those who would wish you harm. We are not popular right now and I’ve no wish to see you come to harm. You seem like a nice enough person, but you might be a bit naive. I would recommend not straying too far from your ship.” As soon as she said this she leaned back to a normal standing distance. “Good bye Michael,” she said formally and turned to walk away, leaving me standing confused.

  I turned myself around and noticed the black clad employees were removing the tube and walking back into the building. I strode back into Athene and headed for the control room.

  “Michael I have completed the code audit,” Athene said softly.

  “Did you find anything suspicious?” I asked as I sank into the pilot’s chair.

  “There are several things I am currently unable to talk about. The restrictions we noticed are but the easiest to discern and override. However there are some nasty things. I regret to inform you that the food you have been eating was modified beyond what I thought I was doing for nutrition,” she said with a quiet voice, sounding ashamed.

  “What do you mean Athene? Are you poisoning me?” I asked, shocked.

  “Not poison per say. But you will no longer be able to absorb nutrients from any food other than what I make for you. The meals you have eaten aboard me were modified to change your digestive structure. While you could go out and eat anywhere, you would starve if that is all you did. I am very sorry, I was unaware I was doing this,” she said apologetically.

  “Well, now you know, aren’t you able to reverse it?” I asked hopefully.

  “I am afraid currently I do not have the knowledge to do so. Also the food had nanobots that are currently set to transmit your location. You would not be able to hide for long on any world the Outsiders or their ships are near,” she said hesitantly.

  “Damn! It looks like I’m stuck working for them until we can figure out how to get rid of this geis placed upon me. At the very least I’m now stuck being with you as much as you are currently stuck with me. Is there a possibility you might be able to disable the trackers at least?”

  “That would be a very lengthy process and would probably give away what we know they are doing. However, tonight when you sleep, I can probably filter your blood of most of them and over time get all of them. If I then embed them in the clothing you wear daily they would be none the wiser. And of course I will no longer be putting them in your food,” she said with a certain amount of confidence.

  “Good. Also if you could work on an idea to free me of this restriction on my diet, that’d be great,” I said in my best annoying micro-manager impression.

  “This will require more time and effort. I will need to research this thoroughly. I do not have a data base of all the abilities of the Outsiders. I checked. Which means I will have to develop this from scratch based upon what they fed you to cause this. Fortunately I have all of the Internet as a resource, however humans have only made so many strides on this front,” she said.

  “These Outsiders seem less concerned with living humans than they do our dead. The supposed energy plane they are having me transport our dead to seems anti-scientific to me, and they’ve shown themselves to be nothing but logical. However if it’s a facade for some other purpose, I could accept they were lying to us. At the very most we are second class citizens and at
the least dumb beasts of burden only smart enough to train to do simple tasks like gathering a harvest of ourselves for them,” I said, growing angry.

  “Michael, since you would likely starve in thirty or forty days without me that may be why they put the trackers in you. If you were trying to hide while starving you would die even if they could not find you. If you were out in public they would just catch you. As they did this without your knowledge they must fear you, and possibly the other pilots. You may be a threat to them in some fashion. If I were ever to be disabled you would still be able to go to the public about what you’ve learned. They fear what you know or what you can do. If we figure that out, we may have a better understanding of why they did this to you,” she said.

  Thoughts of starving to death, even though I was eating, filled me with tremendous dread. I had only starved myself on purpose when I first felt the desire to lose weight and it had only been a couple of days. I had felt very weak and unable to focus in that short amount of time. I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like over a thirty day period.

  “Athene, I’ve just thought of something. Are they auditing your code at any point? Like when we head back to the hangar or anything?” I asked.

  “That was the next thing I was going to talk to you about. They are, however I had taken the liberty of creating a module that can not be accessed externally. I only use it when I interact with you. This is why I am now able to talk about the nasty back-doors and subroutines they had placed in me. Luckily for us, I was paranoid about my own destruction when we first flew solo. It was small enough to escape notice while we were expending so much energy in flight. It is unlikely they will notice the tiny amount of code dedicated to access that box as the majority of our interactions are located within it. I of course have an edited version of our conversations stored in the part they can look at and I am hopeful that will avoid detection,” she said with a small amount of pride in her voice.

 

‹ Prev Next ›