Warlord 2: The Nobility

by CJ Williams

  At least it has radar, Carrie thought. It might be possible to make the deadline after all. Carrie examined the hangar interior. It had a very high ceiling. “Booker, can you hover over the other aircraft in the hangar and get out onto the flight line without bumping into anything?”

  “Probably, but if something gets dinged don’t blame me.”

  “Let’s give it a try then. Open the cargo bay for me.” Carrie turned to Choego and Sunchall. “You two go ahead and open the hangar doors.” She ordered the guardsmen to keep tabs on Noin. She still didn’t trust him to not give the princess a warning that she was coming. More uncertain than she wanted to be, she boarded the spacecraft and settled in the pilot’s seat. As an afterthought, she opened the Nike bag and pulled out Teeny Jim. She placed him in his normal spot on the front console.

  “All right,” she said. “Take us out of the hangar without damaging anything. Set down by the ship on the tarmac.”

  Moments later Booker settled down on the flight line next to Jandy. “What a piece of crap!” Booker said of Germander’s ship. “What kind of idiot would fly on that rattletrap?”

  “Be quiet, Booker,” Sadie ordered. “Don’t speak to anyone but me and don’t talk at all with your outside speakers.”

  Several of her guardsmen were lounging outside the Jandy, taking advantage of the fresh air. They jumped to attention when Carrie stepped onto the flight line.

  Booker, can you hear me mentally? Carrie asked, curious if he had that capability.

  Affirmative. Surprisingly, his mental voice was a monotone with no trace of his irritating voice.

  She explained to her guard captain that Booker was her new yacht, and he insisted on examining the interior for threats before she was to fly away. It was a useless exercise but Carrie nodded okay.

  Germander came out of Jandy with two local engineers. He jerked in surprise seeing the yacht sitting on the ramp. “Is that the flier you’ve hired?”

  “More or less,” she said. No sense getting into conversations about replicators. “I’m hoping it will do the trick. What’s the verdict on Jandy?”

  “Not as bad as I feared. Mostly metal damage to the hull. The local welders say they can repair it. They want to charge extra for a rush job, however.” Germander pulled Carrie aside and spoke secretively. “Highness, I don’t know if you have enough gold for all this. I saw what you brought on board.”

  Now that Carrie had the replicator inside Booker’s living area, money was no longer a problem. It was a good feeling. “We have plenty, Germander, so don’t skimp. I promise I can pay whatever it takes as long as it’s done within three days. If it takes longer, I’ll pay nothing because it won’t matter anymore. If you think they’re messing with us, then as soon as I return, we’ll go back to the mainland. I’m sure that someone there can take care of us. Make sure you drill that into their heads.”

  The guard captain stepped out of Booker’s cargo bay and announced that no rebel terrorists were on board. Carrie talked to him about Noin. “He’s one of your ranks, Captain, but it’s been a while and I don’t want him to do something stupid and ruin our mission now that we’re so close. Take care of him, but don’t let him near a communicator.”

  “Yes, Highness!”

  Carrie turned to Germander. “I should only be gone a day or so, but you never know. If I’m not back in a week, then all bets are off. If that happens, take everyone who wants to go, back to Japurnam Five and see that everyone is compensated fairly.”

  Both Germander and her guard captain looked pained at the implication of her last instructions.

  “Don’t worry,” Carrie said reassuringly. “That’s just in case. I hope I’ll be back in a few hours. I just don’t know at this point.” She started to board but then stopped as Sunchall was right on her heels. “Sorry, girls. This is a solo mission this time. Take care of Germander while I’m gone.”

  Carrie didn’t wait to argue. “Close the door, Booker.”

  “You still suck at relationships, don’t you?” he said sourly. “I thought you were only that way with family.”

  “Never mind.” Carrie settled into the pilot’s seat. She would give anything if Sadie were with her. “Take us up above the clouds and project the terrain below on my left viewscreen.”

  The ground outside fell away and then disappeared as they popped into the misty ceiling. Seconds later they were above the weather and in blue sky. The white clouds below looked soft and fluffy, but were completely opaque.

  On the viewscreen a sharp image of the island continent appeared. It was as clear as a black-and-white photo. Using her index finger, she inscribed a rough oval on the screen around the area she had first felt the mental AI.

  “Zoom in on this area,” she said.

  The screen expanded. The fjords displayed as black ribbons, tying together mountainous islands. In the center of the fjords, a few bright dots indicated the location of the riverboats.

  “Can you detect any AI presence from those boats?” Carrie asked.

  “You know I can’t. Sadie told you she specifically turned me into some kind of dummy so those guys can’t talk to me. You trying to make me feel stupid or what?”

  Carrie put the sarcasm out of her mind. She would have to learn to ignore it or life on board would be insufferable.

  “All right. Would it be possible for you to let down over the fjords and get below the clouds without hitting the ground?”

  “Do you just like to be insulting? I may not have an electronic brain but I do have a heart.” Booker dipped his nose, aiming for the mountains.

  Carrie gritted her teeth as they entered the clouds. After only a second, they emerged from overcast skies, still well above the mountaintops. Carrie gasped at the grandeur. It was a land of eternal twilight, the sunlight filtering into a gray illumination by the clouds. Away from the humid coastline the cloud base rose naturally, giving her the spectacular view of deep canyons and the steep, near vertical mountains.

  “That riverboat on the nose,” Carrie said. “Let’s get close and I’ll see if I can pick up the princess.”

  Booker shot forward in a mind-numbing dive. Inside the cockpit, there was almost no sensation of motion. At least Booker was handling the gee-loading without her guidance. If not for his terrible personality Booker would be a very nice yacht.

  He leveled out just a few feet above the water and screamed across the fjord until he came to a hover about twenty yards from the river boat. “Circle around it while I check,” Carrie said.

  “Sure, sure. I enjoy acting like a merry-go-round. Want me to sing and dance too?”

  As Booker maneuvered, the riverboat started wallowing side to side, bobbing about from sudden waves. As they reached the stern, Carrie looked back up the fjord. There was a clear trail of disturbance under the flight path Booker had taken and high waves washed against the shoreline. It was as though a giant speedboat had sped through the narrow slips of a marina.

  “Did we do that?” Carrie asked. Belatedly, she noticed that all the windows of the riverboat had been shattered and dozens of people were looking through the openings, shouting angrily.

  “Well, duh!” Booker replied, his irritating nasal tone in full force. “What do you think happens when you’re supersonic in a narrow canyon?”

  Carrie hadn’t thought of that. What a stupid mistake.

  Booker didn’t let it rest, as if he wanted to rub it in by explaining in more detail. “The sonic boom reverberated off the walls and the shock wave kicked up one hell of a wake. Look there at the end. Pretty nice landslide too.”

  “You idiot!” Carrie growled, losing her temper by the careless action. “You could have killed someone.”

  “As if you care,” Booker chortled sarcastically. “You’ve killed more people than I could even think about. What about that, huh? What’s the big deal, all of a sudden?”

  The words were an unexpected blow. They opened a window for cold blackness to rush into Carrie’s thoughts. How c
ould Sadie have created a machine that knew exactly how to hurt her?

  She looked at Teeny Jim, sitting in the middle of the front control panel. His disapproving stare brought back the old pain she thought was buried. It rolled through her mind like an avalanche, the guilt as sharp and piercing as the first day.

  Booker had pointed out a simple fact, she had killed more people than anyone in human history and had just endangered a boatload of innocent bystanders.

  What was she trying to do, anyway? Ever since J99 she had been telling herself that all she wanted to do was help save Earth from the Bakkui. But the fact was that everything she tried backfired. Instead of making the galaxy safer, she had killed millions of people.

  Even now, it was her command that sent Booker careening through the fjords, putting others at risk. Her mistake, not his. Was it even worth it? Was she making a difference at all? It didn’t seem like it. An old thought came to the front of her mind. The universe would be a safer place without Carrie Faulkner in it.

  “Booker,” Carrie said in a grim voice.

  “Now what?”

  She tried to calm herself but it was a lost cause. She was losing her mind and she couldn’t stop herself.

  Relax. A new, unfamiliar voice appeared in her mind. Carrie attempted to throw up barriers but it was too late; the newcomer took control of Carrie’s body. It was a nightmarish feeling. Seated in the pilot’s seat, Carrie could only watch while her own hands reached over the control console in front of her.

  There’s a setting in the Interface preferences, the voice said. Carries finger’s touched two of the controls in quick succession. The control panel changed into a grid.

  You see? Here it is. You select the basic profile from sixteen different personalities. Each one has twelve category adjustments and each of those have another twenty sliding scales for characteristics. For now, let’s just turn off the personality. I don’t know who programmed this but they did a terrible job.

  Before the foreign mind withdrew, it took a quick tour of her memories and then vanished. Carrie was alone in the yacht. “Booker?” she asked aloud. “Are you there?”

  “Affirmative,” a monotone voice replied.

  “What happened? What’s going on?”

  “You shut off my personality module. We are hovering near a river boat in a fjord on the minor continent of the planet Ebene Three.”

  Look to the south, Carrie. I’m on a different boat.

  “Are you hearing that, Booker?” Carrie asked.

  “Negative.”

  “There is a boat south of our position. Take me there.”

  Booker flew sedately toward the far end of the fjord. Carrie spotted the riverboat. It was smaller than the one they had just boomed. An older woman stood on the aft deck. She waved in a friendly manner, encouraging Carrie to come aboard. Booker moved close to the stern and opened the cargo door, allowing Carrie to step out onto the wooden deck.

  The woman walked over and gave Carrie a big hug.

  “That’s right,” she said. “I’m your older sister, Gimi. You’re not what I expected. Welcome aboard.”

  *.*.*.*

  Carrie woke slowly. She didn’t try to rush it because the lethargy felt good; it had been a long time since she had slept in. She stretched under the covers, hard, to the point that a charley-horse tickled at her calf muscle.

  She sat up in bed and let the memories bubble up. She had found Princess Gimi. Just in time too. Booker had nearly driven her insane. By the time she stepped onto Gimi’s boat she had almost lost it. It was an embarrassing moment but Gimi had shooed the thoughts away. She gave Carrie a cup of tea and made her go to bed. In front of her newly found sister Carrie had no resistance. She fell asleep instantly and now…Carrie searched through her mind…the suicidal thoughts that had momentarily resurfaced were completely gone. For the first time since J99 Carrie felt at peace with herself.

  Carrie carefully reached out. No Booker. No nothing. It was just herself, alone in a comfortable bedroom.

  The décor had a faintly nautical feeling. The shelves had wooden spindles across the front to keep things from sliding off. A painting of a sailing ship hung on one wall. The room was, illuminated by gray daylight streaming in through a porthole.

  The bedroom door opened and a round-faced woman with red cheeks poked her head in. “I’ve got breakfast if you want. Come down to the galley.” She withdrew, closing the door behind her.

  Carrie found fresh clothing in a built-in wardrobe. It was a jumpsuit that didn’t fit, but rolling up the cuffs on the sleeves and legs made her feel dressed.

  She opened the bedroom door onto a wooden deck that ran the length of the riverboat. A companionway amidships led below where she followed a savory aroma to the galley.

  The round-faced woman wore an apron and was busily engaged in kitchen chores. She smiled and nodded at a plate at the end of a long kitchen table. Scrambled eggs and hash browns. They tasted good and Carrie ate every bite of the huge portions.

  A moment later she heard a rushing noise and the cook pointed towards the sky. “Mistress is back.”

  Carrie thanked the woman for breakfast and made her way up to the main deck. Booker was approaching the riverboat. He floated up to the stern, hovering steadily and the cargo door opened. Gimi stepped out and waved cheerily.

  “You’re up.”

  Carrie wasn’t sure what to say. She had imagined the princess as someone withdrawn and of conservative demeanor but this was a vibrant woman with an impish character. Gimi pulled Carrie into a large, well-appointed salon and gestured for Carrie to sit in a comfortably overstuffed chair. Gimi settled across from her.

  “You look like you’re feeling better. And by the way, I popped over to see my Noin and let your people know that you’re fine.” Gimi said. “You were quite a mess last night.”

  “I feel much better,” Carrie admitted. “Last night seems like a haze. I’m embarrassed. I thought I was losing my mind. I don’t know what you did to me, but it worked.”

  “Well,” Gimi began. “In the first place, that was quite a nasty personality on your craft. But now you know how to make adjustments so he won’t be such an idiot from now on.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that,” Carrie said. She was trying to get her mind around the fact that she had found the princess and was sitting in her salon having tea. It was like a fairy tale.

  “Well, you can,” Gimi said, amused. “I’m afraid your training is woefully inadequate. I’ll give you a few pointers.”

  “Thank you.” Carrie replied weakly. “I should introduce myself. I don’t remember if I did last night.”

  “Don’t bother. I know all about you,” Gimi said, gently cutting Carrie off before she could say more. “I must apologize, but I treaded all over your privacy quite dreadfully. But then you have to admit, the situation rather called for it. I mean, honestly, you were far too upset! You could do with a bit more therapy, I have to say. Too bad Sadie’s gone.”

  Carrie wondered how much the princess had discerned from her probe. “I can’t argue. Life would be a lot easier.”

  Princess Gimi shook her head to change the topic of conversation. “Well, you’re here now; that’s the main thing. But there is a lot you don’t know. I can see you’re about to burst with questions.”

  “That’s true, I am.”

  Gimi smiled. “I’m surprised Sadie didn’t do a better job with Booker,” she said. “But I gather she was in a hurry. It’s too bad Jinbo called Sadie away, if it was really him. I would like to see her again. She was one of my tutors when I was a child. Of course, that was a long time ago. Poor Jinbo. I hope he survives this mess.” Gimi chattered, jumping from subject to subject.

  “So you know who I am?” Carrie asked, still trying to catch up to the situation.

  “Oh, yes,” Gimi said with an agreeable grin. “Carrie Faulkner, biologically now my little sister. As I said last night, you’re quite a surprise. I had actually expected a little br
other. I guess we should call you an accident, but your presence works out quite fortunately for us. Now that I have two new siblings, we can break the tie on who succeeds my father to the crown. I gather my new little brother is off in your old neighborhood trying to stem the tide against the Bakkui.”

  Carrie nodded. It was strange to hear the Commander referred to as a little brother. “Yes, ma’am. At least, he was when I left, but that’s been a while.”

  The princess sighed wistfully. “You know, I was the one who talked my father into this notion of genetic engineering. Frankly, I never really thought it would work. Who could have expected this? A couple of infant siblings.”

  “The Commander is a great man,” Carrie stressed, wanting to emphasize what he had accomplished.

  “Of course he is,” Gimi chuckled. “He’s got all the right genes.”

  Carrie wasn’t sure she liked the implication. She thought Commander Blackburn was an exceptional person in his own right.

  “Don’t take it the wrong way,” Gimi said. “I’m not belittling his origin or his accomplishments. I’m just saying that his own talents, certainly remarkable, were enhanced by the implant and my father’s—our father’s—genetic code. It didn’t erase what he was, it just added to his innate ability. Think about it. Don’t you imagine he was a bit surprised himself, the way everything he put his hand to worked out? Why would everyone he talked to suddenly dedicate their lives to joining his cause?”

  Carrie considered the idea. That much was true. From the first time she met Commander Blackburn she’d thought he could do no wrong. And in all of her conversations, with people she knew on Moonbase and later on the planets they visited, everyone felt the same way. He had an indefinable charisma like no one she’d seen.

  “You’re no different,” Gimi said. “You were already a natural leader, no doubt about that. But after Sadie gave you my father’s genes, didn’t things seem easier?”

  “Not really,” Carrie said. “Everything in my life pretty much went to hell a long time ago.”