by M. D. Cooper
“That was bracing…” Tanis gasped.
“This really is a remarkable implementation of flow metal,” Ernest said as he peered at the grey material. “I would never have thought to make kinetic and energy resistant shielding with it.”
“And it only costs a year’s salary,” Tanis added.
Ernest shot her a questioning look. “Really? I could make this for not much more than the cost of a good meal.”
“Now that’s what I call a mark-up!” Tanis said.
“Well…maybe a couple of good meals, but surely no more than a week’s salary.”
“Does that mean you can make more?” Tanis asked.
Ernest nodded. “I imagine so, and I’d make it so that no one can do a fool thing like Angela did with it.”
“Hmph…I guess that is what the armor is for,” Ernest said.
“Once you get me cleared up I’m going to commission you to make more of this,” Tanis said.
“Yes, yes, now to deal with the rest of this stuff. The licensing on this is pretty strict; they have some strong controls. I’m going to have to introduce a retrovirus into it to gain control, and strip out the licensing.”
“How long will that take?” Tanis asked.
“A few hours. However, I won’t be able get it out without completely replacing your bones and muscles at this point—which I really don’t want to have to do, I’m pretty busy with the ship.”
“I know.” Tanis opened her eyes and looked at Ernest. “I really do appreciate you doing this. The doctors honestly seemed pretty scared to do anything.”
Ernest patted her shoulder. “I understand. Competence is hard to come by.”
Tanis smiled and laughed inwardly. Earnest seemed completely unaware of the fact that what was on his table was a naked woman in addition to being an engineering puzzle.
“So my bones and muscles will retain the armor’s properties?” Tanis asked.
“To some extent, yes. Your forearm can’t stop laser fire just because the armor is in your muscle, but it does mean that if you take a gut punch your muscles will lock up just like the armor and dissipate the blow.”
“My skin won’t really appreciate that,” Tanis said.
“Luckily, growing new skin is easy.”
* * * * *
Tanis left Earnest’s lab several hours later and boarded a maglev to the command deck.
Tanis didn’t respond at first. What the scan had shown was more than worrisome.
Tanis finally responded.
Angela sent an affirming feeling into Tanis’s mind.
<…on Toro,> Angela completed her thought.
Tanis stiffened.
A small part of her had feared for some time that her mind was too entangled with Angela’s. Too often she could hear Angela’s thoughts or her AI could hear hers. After Toro, and knowing the horrors that had been perpetrated on human and AI alike during the sentience wars, terror should have been her only response. Instead, Tanis could not bring herself to abhor the entanglement of her mind with Angela’s. To do so would be to hate herself, to hate a part of herself that she loved very much.
Angela smiled in Tanis’s mind.
A feeling of deep love and acceptance filled Tanis’s mind.
Angela responded.
Tanis laughed aloud.
STARING INTO THE BLACK
STELLAR DATE: 3241804 / 08.29.4163 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: ISS Intrepid
REGION: Interstellar space near LHS 1565
The lithium extraction from Fuel Dump was successful and the remains of the asteroid were released to drift between the stars.
The engines were another story. The port A1 engine was a total write-off. Investigations revealed cracks in the fusion chamber that would require a complete re-build to repair.
A balanced thrust was imperative and, as a result, the starboard B2 engine could not be used during the course correction burns. Abby and Earnest were working feverishly to tune the remaining two engines for the maximum output needed. The stress the pair exuded seemed to creep into every corner of the ship.
“I think we should make the correction for Kapteyn’s Star,” Joe said around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
Tanis glanced around the officer’s wardroom. No one was within earshot and she cast Joe an admonishing look.
“It doesn’t do to have the brass questioning orders, Colonel,” she replied.
Joe paused and looked around. “Sorry, I’m not used to being in the upper echelon. It’s really going to cramp my care-free attitude, you know.”
He looked serious and Tanis almost responded before she realized he was joking.
“Be serious, things are pretty on-edge right now.”
“I am being serious. I think we should plan for the burn to Kapteyn’s. It’s a much lighter burn—no need to try to eek every ounce of thrust out of the engines like we’re doing now; and we can take our time preparing.”
Tanis nodded. “It does have its merits. I’ll admit that right now I don’t even want to be within a klick of Abby. She seems to have it out for me, even though I’ve approved everyone she’s asked for. There are over five-thousand people out of stasis right now. It’s starting to feel like a zoo.”
“The ship’s bigger than a city,” Joe laughed. “Five-thousand does not a crowded Intrepid make.”
Tanis sighed. “I guess I liked the quiet, dark Intrepid more than I thought.”
“Depending on how things go, you may get plenty more opportunity to experience that.”
“That’s morbid,” Jessica said as she dropped her tray on the table and sat down.
Tanis cast an annoyed look at the other woman. Perhaps the thing she liked most about an empty Intrepid was more private time with Joe.
Angela didn’t respond, but Tanis could tell that she had hurt her AI’s feelings. She knew sarcasm was Angela’s way of fitting in when she didn’t understand human emotions; she should have been more understanding.
She caught a thought that wasn’t meant for her to hear… I do too understand your emotions; I swim in your chemical cocktail of a brain all the time…
Tanis barely had time to wonder about the further erosion of the barrier between her thoughts and Angela’s before her attention was pulled back to the physical realm.
“I meant that, as the XO, she will be out of stasis more,” Joe scowled at Jessica. “I didn’t mean that we were going to drift forever.”
Jessica looked down, her alabaster skin flushing bright pink, a response designed to match her hair and eyes. At times the former TBI agent’s aggressive sexuality was at stark odds with the softer woman Tanis suspected was underneath.
“Sorry about that,” Jessica said. “The atmosphere around here is wearing off on me and…well…I just wanted some company—sorry if I intruded.”
Jes
sica moved to stand up and Joe reached out to touch her arm.
“Stay,” he said. “You didn’t deserve that response; you have more than enough reason to be upset. We all signed up for this, you are getting all the risk with none of the mental preparation.”
Jessica settled back into her seat. “Yeah, when you go after a guy on Mars you don’t really expect to wake up a dozen light years from Earth on a one-way trip to a life you never planned on.”
“None of us really ever planned on this trip,” Tanis said. “But life made it our best option.”
Jessica nodded and chewed silently for a moment.
“Not to change the subject too much,” Jessica said. “I read the report on Toro the other day. You were completely justified. You’re even more bad-ass than I ever imagined.”
“What?” Tanis asked. “The report doesn’t really paint me in that light.”
Jessica smiled. “Now that the Intrepid has adopted a new legal structure, Bob is no longer constrained by SolGov regulations. He released the un-redacted version of the report.”
For a moment Tanis was angry with the ship’s AI. He didn’t have the right to release that information about her.
Tanis thought about it for a moment.
“I think that makes sense,” Joe said aloud. “You did the right thing on Toro, you should own it.”
Jessica nodded vigorously. “I’ve spent a lot of time reading your history. I have to admit I have a bit of a commanding officer crush on you. You’re one hell of a woman.”
Tanis smiled awkwardly. She had not often received such praise, especially not from someone who seemed on the verge of hero-worship. Jessica was a talented woman in her own right—she had her own ream of impressive accomplishments.
Jessica saw Tanis’s expression. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away. Either way, I respect you even when I’m being a bit of an ass.”
Tanis nodded. “Thanks, Jessica. When I called in the strike on Toro, I knew it was the right thing, and still think so, but not many people agree.”
“Forget them,” Jessica said to Joe’s nods. “Anyway, back to you being out of the pod more than the rest of us, do you think it’s because you’re so young?”
Tanis nodded. “They pretty much said so, Sanderson is over four-hundred, and Andrews isn’t too far behind. If we do have to go to Kapteyn’s, we could be looking at an extra two-hundred years on the trip. Even spending much of the time in the pod, that could chew up a lot of their lives.”
“So you got the gig because you’re young and beautiful, eh?” Jessica asked.
Joe laughed mid-drink and lapsed into a coughing fit.
“Har, har, mister,” Tanis said.
* * * * *
Angela replied.
the ship’s AI replied.
Angela sent data over the Link that could only be described as the AI version of a sputter.
Angela mentally recoiled from the thought of death. Her reaction was so strong that Tanis felt it and nearly dropped her BLT.
“What was that?” she asked. “Angela, what’s wrong? You seem upset.”
Angela wondered what Bob meant by that. There had been attempts in the past to merge AI and human, some even moderately successful—depending on criteria. How would she and Tanis be new?
Tanis asked.
Tanis laughed and Joe gave her a sidelong glance.
“Bob wants to cut my brain open and see how I’m put together,” Tanis said.
“What?” Joe’s eyes went wide.
Bob said over the local net.
Tanis raised an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”
“I’m not one to tell people to get serious,” Joe said with a grimace. “But you may want to avoid any morbid humor. It comes off way too ominous.”
“We should get back to the SOC,” Tanis said and rose from the table.
“I like how you get the big promotion, but then Sanderson goes back under and you get his job, too.” Jessica shook her head. “Some things never change.”
“I don’t mind,” Tanis said.
“Really?” Jessica asked.
“The job hasn’t changed. I just have fewer people getting in my way.”
The group entered the SOC just as Terry bust out of her office.
“I found an anomaly!” Excitement flashed in her eyes and she flicked the contents of a hyfilm onto the room’s central holo display.
Tanis looked it over. Terry was right, near the A2 dock there was an unaccounted for power draw. It could be a hidey-hole for Myrrdan, or another saboteur.
“Are you sure?” Jessica asked. “It could be a repair crew or some bot cleaning things.”
“Nothing should be there. Amy was nearby doing weapons surveys, so I sent her to investigate with her team.”
Tanis nodded. “Very well, but it seems like that signature isn’t unique.” She ran a series of tests against the anomalous energy sign and three other instances appeared; one near the ramscoop, one on the A1 dock, and one in Lil Sue, the starboard cylinder.
“I don’t know about this.” Jessica scowled at the holo display. “Why now, why are we finding these so easily?”
“I don’t know that it’s easy,” Terry said. “My team has been checking eve
ry voltage reading across the ship against crystal records for days now. Not what I’d call easy.”
“He always feints, it’s his way. Only sometimes when you think you spotted the feint, the thing you thought was real is a feint too,” Jessica said. “There’s always a game, a counter-move.”
“So what is it?” Tanis asked. “What is the real move?”
Jessica shook her head. “I don’t know—I don’t know what his motives are. Without that it’s impossible to say.”
Tanis looked at Joe. She could guess why Myrrdan was on the Intrepid, she just couldn’t say in front of Jessica and Terry.
Tanis sighed inwardly.
“Let’s say it’s some tech or treasure on the Intrepid,” Tanis said. “If it were, what would that tell you?”
Jessica shook her head. “That wouldn’t be it. Myrrdan, if that’s who we’re dealing with, had the run of the ship when Collins was making his move. If there was some tech he wanted he could have taken it by now and been on his way.”
Angela said.
Tanis invoked a dampening field around the group.
“I’m going to tell you something that doesn’t leave your lips or minds. There is tech on this ship of immeasurable worth. It’s more valuable than even the New Eden system. I can’t tell you more without leave, but I think Myrrdan knows about it and I do know that he has not found it.”
Joe nodded slowly while Jessica and Terry both gave Tanis penetrating stares.