The Sculpted Ship

by K. M. O'Brien

  Hmm, that's...not bad, especially if I am being paid for it.

  Then she realized that by “special” cargoes, he probably meant illegal cargoes.

  “Hey, I won't carry really bad cargoes, like slaves or biological weapons, that sort of thing.”

  “You mean dishonorable cargoes. I can guarantee I will not require you to take any dishonorable cargoes.”

  There was still the usual complication she needed to mention. As polite as Mr. Ruscaban seemed, she didn't think it would be wise to cross him. “I'm willing to carry your cargoes, but until I get my parts back and installed, I won't know for certain that the Silver Queen will actually fly.”

  “Hmm. I appreciate your candor. Very well, I accept the caveat that you will not be required to fulfill your end of the deal until such time as you and your ship are capable of traveling to my required destinations. Are these terms acceptable to you?” He extended his hand.

  “They are acceptable.” Anailu took his hand and they shook on it.

  “Excellent. Now for your part in our little farce for the benefit of the ICS. Captain, you will return your ship and depart the area – quietly – as soon as possible. You will then return to Purport as a legitimate ship, using a course appropriate for your arrival from the City. You will land on the public landing pad, but you shall not debark.

  “Duro, you will go and prepare to send a message to the Silver Queen when she arrives. In that message, Grotehl will explain that unfortunately, the parts she wished to purchase have already been sold, perhaps suggesting she took too long to arrive. You will refuse to share the details of who purchased them. You may improvise as needed.

  “Captain, when 'Grotehl' calls you and tells you this news, you will be very unhappy with him. When he refuses you more information, you must swiftly depart and leave the area. Once you are gone, I suspect things will move quickly here. If all goes well, the ICS lieutenant will be very angry and take Grotehl with her.

  “You may then return, but quietly. I shall meet you at the teashop. We shall then retrieve your parts from Mr. Grotehl's warehouse so you may go on your way and our collaboration will be complete until such time as your ship is operational.

  “When it is, my organization shall contact you with the details you will need to complete the rest of our bargain.”

  Mr. Ruscaban looked around the table. “Are there any questions?”

  There were none. “Very well, then, go! Go!” He shooed them away. Duro headed for the door. Anailu thanked Mr. Ruscaban for the meal before they departed.

  Chapter 38: The Show

  Walking quickly, they returned to the airbike. As they walked, Anailu called V and told her to pick them up at the same place she'd left them out. They flew down the tower and out the side, just in time for the Queen to surface and open her doors. Anailu flew down and in, wasting no time. She knew they needed to get into position before the lieutenant returned from her lunch.

  From there, everything went according to plan. They stayed in the “low observable” mode, staying underwater until they were over the horizon from Purport. Then they surfaced and flew inland as fast as was safe, flying in the 'nap of the earth' until they were back in the same narrow canyon where they'd started from. Anailu returned the ship to 'incognito mode' and they took off, headed straight for Purport on autopilot at a more sedate speed and altitude. She hoped that would make it appear to any distant sensors that they had stayed in the little valley the whole time, totally missing the Queen's stealthy run. On the way, she took a few minutes in her cabin to remove her disguise.

  When they landed on the surface pad at Purport, Anailu wasn't sure how things would go. From the surface, there wasn't much to see beyond the desert, the ramps down to each of Purport's recesses, and the top of the cliffside tower where the top levels peeked over the top of the cliff.

  As soon as they'd landed, the call came in from 'Grotehl.' As far as Anailu could tell, it appeared to be him, with his personal encoding and coming from his comm.

  He gave the expected message, and she gave the expected response. It wasn't hard for her to act; she just had to imagine him actually telling her that. The only difference was her response. If he really had been telling her that, she would have gone down in person to give him a piece of her mind.

  Instead, they took off in the Queen, taking a course toward the city. Once they were over the horizon, they did everything again, even choosing the same landing site in the little valley. Anailu even got repainted, though she wasn't convinced it was necessary now. Finally, they were surfacing at the bottom of the Purport tower again, where Anailu and Diamond again took the airbike and flew up the tower, parked, and walked down the tunnel to the tea shop where they'd first seen Mr. Ruscaban. He was seated in the same alcove where they had first seen him. This time, Anailu accompanied Diamond inside.

  As they approached, Mr. Ruscaban stood to greet them, with a smile. “That was impressively fast, Captain. I believe you have returned swiftly enough that we can observe Grotehl being taken away. If you keep your hoods up, you needn't worry about being spotted – the ICS has descended in force but there's quite a crowd of spectators. I suspect that most of the town is watching.”

  She agreed, so they stood and Mr. Ruscaban again offered her his arm, and they made their way down the tunnel to the recess. As they came outside, there was a large crowd gathered in spite of the heat. Duro led the way, and it was obvious that the locals recognized him, since they were all happy to make way for him. Though they were following in Duro's wake, no one seemed to be paying particular attention to her or Mr. Ruscaban.

  The front of the crowd was at the ICS perimeter, with a barrier fence strung across the road, with a single uniformed ICS trooper standing several feet away watching with a bored expression. They could see the lieutenant in front of Grotehl's with the rest of her troops, mostly in plainclothes. As they arrived, Grotehl himself was led out of his shop in cuffs. The lieutenant was speaking even louder than before, so Anailu could hear everything clearly.

  “–were wrong to trust you, criminal scum. I'm glad it worked out this way. Before you go, though, I have some good news to share with you.” She smiled evilly as she read from her tablet. “In accordance with the Imperial Decree establishing Project Anchor, any person arrested for gross violations of the Imperial Criminal Code in the Doran System is subject to seizure of all property. Any property potentially useful to the Arch Project will be immediately commandeered to support vital Imperial Security. If, by some chance, you are found innocent of the charges against you, you may apply for reimbursement at a value set by an Imperial appraiser. You are hereby informed. Now, take him away!”

  Wait, what? Sure, the Empire seized smugglers' ships and smuggled goods, but “all property?” This is bad. This is very bad.

  This would put her parts in Imperial control, and as the head of the Arch Project, the count could legitimately commandeer her parts.

  Seeing the crestfallen look on her face, Mr. Ruscaban looked over at her. “I am sorry, my dear. I fear I have made a grave miscalculation. This Decree of full seizure is news to me, as well as being a clear violation of the rights of Imperial citizens. I don't know what we can do except wait and see how thorough they are.”

  They returned to the tea shop to wait, while Duro kept an eye on things. About an hour later, he reported that a pair of big cargo airtrucks had showed up and were loading equipment. Anailu checked the tracker. She could see they were taking all the Dove parts. When the trucks departed, the ICS cops left with them, leaving behind several security bots to watch the emptied shop.

  Mr. Ruscaban offered his apologies. “I am sorry, Captain. I will see what I can find out, but it may take time. I have not yet gotten access to this Arch Project.”

  At least she remembered to be polite. “Thank you for all your help. It was a good try. It wasn't your fault that it ended how it did.”

  Mr. Ruscaban gave a small, sad smile. “Alas. Keep this in mind, though: pe
rhaps you were not meant to succeed today, but that does not preclude you from succeeding tomorrow.” Now his smile grew. “I am still glad I met you, Anailu Xindar, and I look forward to meeting you again....” He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “...with your own beauty visible.”

  There was nothing left to do in Purport, so Anailu and Diamond returned to the Queen. Velvet greeted them excitedly until they shared the bad news. There was no time for moping, though. Anailu still had a contract to finish, and one last safari to support.

  Again, they returned to the small valley sneakily, switched to 'incognito mode' and immediately departed for the Torrells' base. As Anailu removed the makeup again, she thought back to Mr. Ruscaban's parting words.

  Chapter 39: Free Testing

  Anailu would usually be at the Torrells' compound by this time on the day of a safari set to start in the evening. She still wasn't actually late, but after such a busy morning, she was later than she wanted to be. Fortunately, the Queen was good at going fast.

  The first part of the flight was mostly vertical. This got them out of the thicker air in the lower atmosphere, and up to the stratosphere, where the air was thinner, so the Queen could go faster. As they rose into the stratosphere, they were already nosing over, aiming for the Lightness. By this point, they were moving pretty fast, but today she wasn't quite done going up yet. They went up through the stratosphere and into the mesosphere, the air getting thinner and the ship going faster.

  By the time they reached the thermosphere, Anailu had the ship flying ballistically, only using the CG to keep the ship stable and pointed the right direction. For a few minutes, Anailu had a smile on her face because she could see the darkness of space and the curvature of Doran below.

  Almost free....

  Then she remembered how things had ended up this morning, with the parts in the hands of the Imperial Customs Service.

  The Queen dropped back toward the ground, continuing to pick up speed for a while, now that gravity was working with them. By the time they dropped back into the stratosphere, Anailu was already using CG to decelerate pretty heavily. She kept the Queen's nose up, presenting her belly to the airstream to maximize drag. More importantly, it created a compressed layer of air that kept the worst of the heat off the ship as the air in their path heated to a plasma. If the Queen had full shields, she wouldn't have picked up any heat. Her current, flimsy microshield kept off some heat, but the hull took the rest of it. Since the IPC hull coating was designed to handle reentry heat, and they weren't even going at orbital velocity, none of the heating was transferred to the interior of the ship.

  They closed on the Lightness, still decelerating, only stopping just over the Torrell compound. Anailu brought the ship gently down the last few meters to the landing pad. As Anailu shut down the main drives, she patted the console and whispered, “I'll get you the rest of the way up there, where you belong. Somehow.”

  She immediately dropped both the ramp and the cargo lift, giving a warning over the loudspeaker not to touch the hull, since it was still a little hot. The Torrells' staff began loading immediately, with the large items coming up the lift and a string of smaller cargo coming up the ramp. Anailu went to check in with Mr. Torrell, only to discover that he and most of the staff had already departed for Arch Falls aboard the Torrell airship, in company with the additional airship rented to provide accommodation for even more guests. Anailu was surprised to be told that for this trip, they were meeting all the guests at the campsite below the Arch Falls. She'd been with the Torrells when they started a safari from the Doran City starport, but it was odd to have a safari where they met the guests 'out in the field.'

  Fortunately for Anailu, the guests would still be arriving at the usual time this evening. Some of them would not arrive until the middle of the night. The latecomers weren't her concern; the Torrells' butlers and stewards would handle getting them to their rooms.

  The remaining staff had her ship loaded in record time. Only a skeleton crew were staying behind at the compound. Everyone else came aboard the Queen and took seats in the entry bay and the lounge.

  As soon as she was sure everyone and everything was aboard, she made another maximum-speed flight, this time racing toward Arch Falls.

  As soon as the new government starport had become operational up on the plateau, they had instituted air traffic control for the surrounding area including the campsite below the falls. Anailu expected them to take notice of her when she approached Arch Falls, but this time, they contacted her when she was just past the top of her arc into the high atmosphere.

  “Silver Queen, this is Anchor Control. You are ordered to turn from your present course immediately or you will be destroyed. Your current course intersects an Imperial Restricted Zone. Acknowledge and comply immediately.”

  Anailu knew that a few months back, they'd shot down a supply airship that had ignored their commands. So, first she started turning the ship away from Arch Falls, then she called in to tell them she was complying. Planetary Flight Control in Doran City normally issued information about restricted flight zones and approach profiles, but she wasn't aware of any recent changes. She checked the nav computer, and according to the information she had, her flight profile was OK. She called in again. “Anchor Control, Silver Queen. According to PFC, my profile was clear of your zone. Why are you redirecting me?”

  “Queen, we've sent an update to PFC, but they haven't pushed it out yet. You should have gotten the local update pushed from our automated system.”

  Anailu checked. Her nav system was set to receive updates, but nothing had come in. “I've just checked my systems. They're up, but I haven't gotten an update.”

  “The problem has to be on your – just a moment. Queen, we see the problem here. The system was set to ping the update to approaching airships at 500 klicks out. I guess we weren't expecting someone in atmo going as fast as you. Sorry about that. Sending update.”

  “Thanks, Anchor Control.”

  Her nav system chirped as the new data was received. She'd have to spiral down well away from the base to meet the new requirements for speed, altitude, and approach corridors. She sighed. It was annoying, but it was better to arrive safe but late than to get blasted for being in a hurry.

  The extended restricted zone actually included Arch Falls. She followed the single approved approach corridor to a holding position outside the zone. Once there, she was told to hover and wait for an escort before proceeding. That was also new. The escort, when it arrived, was a pair of Imperial fighters. It seemed like someone was suddenly taking security way more seriously.

  The escorts gave her a specific flight path to follow, shadowing her the entire way. As they approached the campsite, she could it was busier than usual, with the Torrell airship, the chartered ship, and a pair of Imperial shuttles parked there. At least the Queen's usual landing site was clear.

  As she approached for landing, she was told to hold position again. As she did, one of the shuttles launched and approached the bow of the Queen. Over the radio, traffic control said, “Hold position for security scan.”

  Anailu, Diamond, and Velvet all looked at each other with wide eyes.

  Oh, boy, this is it.

  There was no time to do anything, as the shuttle moved above the Queen, flying from the bow to the stern, clearly already scanning. Anailu had been planning to test the “Sculpting” system by renting a high-resolution diagnostic scanner in Doran City. Instead, the system was getting tested with a military-grade security scanner, whether she wanted it or not. If it failed the test, they would know soon because everything would hit the fan.

  Except it didn't.

  The next message was, “You're cleared for landing. After landing, shut down your main drives and hold your position for inspection. Do not unload. All passengers must remain aboard until you are released by the inspection officer.”

  Maybe it was OK, maybe it wasn't. Either way, there was nothing else to do but land. “Inspection
” usually meant bringing a scanner on board the ship. Anailu thought about the individually shielded and masked components.

  I guess I'm getting all the test scans I could want, for free. If only they'd let me have access to their scan data.

  Over the intercom, Anailu let her passengers know about the delay, warning them to stay in place.

  Once they were on the ground, Anailu extended the ramp while she went down to the main entry. There was no way to escape, so she decided to take whatever happened with dignity.

  And maybe the scanner tech is blind. It could happen.

  Anailu arrived at the entry area and opened the main hatch to be met by a team of Imperial Navy personnel. They were led by a very junior officer, a third lieutenant. He consulted a datapad, and then looked at her. “Captain, we are are here to run an internal scan. It's standard procedure.”

  She nodded and stood aside. He entered, followed by a pair of crewmen guiding a large container, which held the scanner. They brought it into the entry area and opened it up to set up the scanner antennae.

  Once they got started, the scan itself took just a few minutes to complete. The technicians reported to their leader that everything was fine, and began packing up. When they were done, and the technicians were pushing their equipment back out of the hatch, the young officer thanked her for her time, and told her they were cleared to debark. As he followed his team down the ramp, she saw him calling in the results of the scan.

  Anailu, still amazed the Queen had passed the test, went to the intercom and let her passengers know they were free to go.

  She'd seen that the Sculpting system could fake out her hand-held diagnostic scanner, but how sophisticated did it have to be to fool military-grade scanning equipment, decades after being designed? Either the Sculpting system was incredibly sophisticated, or the Imperial Navy security scanners weren't very good.

  She'd managed to keep calm through both scans, but now that she was out of trouble, she could feel the adrenaline hitting her. Anailu knew she should go check in with Mr. Torrell, but she needed some time to calm down.