The Last Starship

by Marcus Riddle

  “Delegate. I can’t spend too much time with him because both of us need to be able to see him with unbiased eyes, but Jake can. If we make the most of the relationship Jake already has with Sagin.”

  “That means leaving him on the Atlantis.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “I don’t know.” Joanne sighed. “To be honest, I don’t want him here because I know what he’s going to do to me, and yet I don’t know if I want him to be on the Atlantis, as he might be able to turn Jake against me.” She stared at the screen, thinking of Jake. “Sagin can’t know we don’t trust him yet. We have to act as though we believe everything he’s telling us, even though I know that isn’t going to be an easy thing to do.”

  “No, it’s not. If we’re lucky we might be able to bring one of the aliens back here, take them apart, and work out some way of combating the emotional manipulation Sagin can use on us. He will think it’s working. We’ll know it isn’t.” Tobias shrugged. “I’m friends with a couple of people who could help with that.”

  “Get in contact with them. Jake and Sagin are going to be back when the battle is won. We need to be ready.”

  “Time constraints might mean the technology doesn’t work quite as well as we need it to straight away. But I’m certain it will be ready. I trust my friends. They know how important this is because they know what happened to the Emperor, and people aren’t satisfied that the robot he had as an ally is truly what he says he is. Maybe we’re paranoid.”

  “It’s better to be paranoid. Letting Sagin get too close might be a mistake.”

  “Jo, do you want to come with me? I don’t want you spending too much time in this room alone, just in case something happens.”

  “I’m fine.” Joanne looked down at the weapon she had beside her. “No one’s going to attack me. The entire island is on high alert.”

  That didn’t stop her from hoping someone, preferably the same person who’d killed the Emperor, would try something.

  Joanne was using herself as bait, which no one would approve of. As Empress, she didn’t have to ask for permission, however, and she was going to do what needed to be done because she was certain they’d want to get rid of her as soon as possible.

  Tobias glanced at her before he left the room. Maybe he knew what she was planning. It wouldn’t surprise her.

  They might not have seen each other for a while, but it still seemed like he knew her better than anyone else.

  Chapter 13

  Jake watched the ships come closer. “What do we do?”

  Sagin shook his head. “I can’t say for sure, Captain. Although I don’t believe Kabex will fire on his own people, I’ve no way of knowing if Kabex is on one of those ships. My counterpart could’ve been using the man who shot at me. He could’ve also been working alone.”

  “The shot wouldn’t have killed you, though.”

  “Well, that depends on who created the weapon. Had it been Kabex he would have made certain it could kill me as he’s fed up with having to deal with me. So you truly saved my life. Normally, however, a shot like that would’ve done little more than stop me from working for a short time, and I would have been able to fix myself. Unless someone happened to pull me apart, that is. What you did to those who ambushed you, the ones you tortured, is one of the few ways to kill a robot, and it was the right choice to make. I’m glad you did what you did.”

  “Even though they’re your people?”

  “My people are those who’ve been working with me to do our best to keep Earth safe. We failed when it came to the last battle because we weren’t in the right place at the right time. I did not believe Kabex would attack so soon after the last one, which was a foolish mistake to make, as it was the best time to attack you - there was very little chance of you winning that battle, and I apologize for not being there.”

  “You don’t need to apologize.”

  “I do. A lot of people died. I should’ve been here to protect them. Kabex must have used the time between then and now to get to Earth. That is the only reason I can think of for someone shooting the Emperor.” Sagin shrugged. “I thought there was a chance the Emperor would’ve survived. When I replaced his hand, I used technology that should have kept him alive until the medics could get to him.”

  “Unless there were no medics.” Jake sighed. “If I wanted to kill the Emperor, and make certain he wasn’t going to survive, the first thing I would’ve done is taken out the medics. Joanne had no choice but to end him quick then.”

  “What did her Eminence do?”

  “Every crew member keeps an injection on them, one they can use if they’re taken by the aliens. It would end the life of anyone who used it and the Emperor would have been in a lot of pain. Your technology would have been doing it’s very best to keep him alive, but it wouldn’t have been able to save him. He was dead from the moment the shot hit if the medics had been taken out.”

  “She wouldn’t have liked seeing him in pain.”

  “No, so she used the injection.” Jake let out a long, heavy breath, hating the thought of Joanne being on Earth alone, especially when there was someone down there who might want to kill her. But he knew she’d do whatever she had to in order to keep herself safe. “Then she would have gone to the head council to convince them she was the right person to take the throne.”

  “I will do everything I can to help her.”

  “Unlike the Emperor, I’m pretty sure Jo will do what she can to keep her distance from you so she can be seen to be unbiased. As we know, you can manipulate the emotions of the people you’re talking to, so she needs to be very careful. She can’t let anyone accuse her of being on the side of the aliens because she’s the voice of all humans. If you know some way of keeping her safe from that it might be easier.”

  Sagin nodded. “The Emperor was my only way in. I didn’t have any other option then, even though I knew I was doing the wrong thing by manipulating him, and I’m sorry for that. He was the only way I could get you back on Earth.” He looked around at the crew. “I still worry that you will be hurt, and there will be nothing I can do to protect you.”

  “This is the quietest battle I’ve ever taken part in, Sagin. When shots have been fired I can understand your worry, but for now, it’s a stalemate, and I don’t know how to change that.”

  “I could talk to the other side. If Kabex is there, it might make things worse, but it’s worth a try. I want to be able to help you.”

  “See if you can open a line of communication, Katie. It’s worth a try.”

  Jake didn’t need to look at Katie to know she was doing as he asked. His crew member was one of the best he’d ever had.

  As he stared at the screen, hoping Kabex was on one of those ships, he ran one hand through his hair, trying to work out what they were going to do if Kabex wasn’t there.

  Eventually another robot, one that looked a lot like Sagin, appeared.

  “You’re on a human ship, Sagin.”

  “I know where I am,” Sagin said boldly. “I wasn’t sure you’d be there. There are things happening on Earth that made me think of you.”

  “The Emperor is dead.”

  “He is.”

  “Good. He was a fool to be working with you.”

  “Maybe you’re right about that. But I won’t let you go through with your plans.”

  “You can’t stop me. You’re no more willing to hurt us that we are to hurt you. If I had not thought you were on that ship, I would’ve fired, to kill the last of the human watchdogs, but I knew you were there. I believed you were working with them, as you still can’t see the truth. Eventually, I’ll open your eyes to who they really are.”

  “After thirty years you haven’t managed to change my mind. What makes you think things are going to be different now?”

  “It has been even longer since you’ve spent any time with humans. Does being around them not change things for you?”

  “Not all humans are like those who created
you, Kabex, and that’s something you’re not willing to accept. The humans I’m working with are good people.”

  “Do you really believe they will permit you to share their world with them? I know better than to think they would be willing to do that.”

  “Considering what you have done to them I believe they’ll not want us there, but that’s not their fault. It’s yours, for treating them all as though they’re your enemy when they’re not.”

  “I don’t agree with you. The human race has been its own enemy for a very long time and Earth will be a much better place without them.” Kabex turned his attention to Jake. “You’re human. You must know the history of your people. Do you believe you should have Earth as your home?”

  “Honestly, Kabex, we’ve made some terrible mistakes, and we continue to make them. There had been times when I thought it would be best for us to leave Earth, but we don’t have that option. We can’t build ships that will take everyone from this world for we don’t know other worlds we can call home. So the only thing we can do is fix the damage we’ve caused.”

  Jake thought it would far too long to fix things. Fortunately, he knew better than to say that to a robot who wanted to bring an end to the human race. “You can help us.”

  “Why would I want to? Humans put me into a spacecraft and sent me out into space with no way of refueling. I was traveling for years. A lot of that time I was falling through space, wondering if I was ever going to find land.”

  Kabex looked like he was smiling for a moment. Jake did his best to hide a shudder; not wanting Kabex to know the look was affecting him.

  “Maybe, Captain, I should send members of the human race out in space crafts, the same way it happened to me. What would happen when they were falling for decades? That is a fair punishment. I think you’ll be the first to go as you are working with Sagin.”

  “You know it wouldn’t work the same way as it did for you. A human falling for that long would end up dying, but you don’t care about that, do you?”

  “I have no reason to care. Humans didn’t care about me. They simply built me, sent me out, and stopped thinking about me when they realized I was never going to send any information back to them. You’re not the sort of race I want to share my world with, and Earth is my world. It is where I came from. It is where I should be, along with my people, and if I have to kill you all to make that happen, I will.”

  Kabex turned his attention back to Sagin. “You have three Earth months to sort yourself out, Sagin. You’re one of us. You’re the one who started building our race. I don’t want to hurt you, but if I have to, I will.”

  “I know what I am. I know who I am. I’m not going to ‘sort myself out’ as you put it because there is nothing to sort. I’m happy with the choices I’ve made. I’m happy working alongside the humans to bring about the end of you and your followers. I’ll not permit you to take Earth from the humans, even if they’re not willing to share their world.”

  “You’ll cease to exist in that case.”

  “Or maybe it will be you who ceases to exist, Kabex? Have you ever stopped to think you might not be the victor? I don’t know how things will end, but I know I will not go quietly - I will fight you the whole way.”

  “Have you ever stopped to think you might be too late, Sagin?” Kabex laughed. “I’ve had plenty of time to start my take over while you were busy playing friends with the Emperor. You will not take my world from me and neither will your soft allies.”

  The robot disappeared.

  Sagin turned to look at Jake. “We have a lot of work to do if we’re going to save your world from Kabex.”

  “Yes, we do.” Jake shook his head in frustration. He watched as the enemy fleet disappeared into the distance, and tried to work out what his next step was going to be. “I want to stay here for a little while longer. I don’t trust Kabex. He might come back if we head back to New York straight away.”

  Sagin nodded. “I agree with you, Captain. I shall split my forces. Half shall go back to Earth so we can begin the hunt for Kabex’s forces while the other half shall stay up here. Will you give me permission to talk to them from here as it would be easier than going to them?”

  “Of course, you have permission.” Jake grinned at Sagin. “You’re our ally.”

  Chapter 14

  “Kabex left? Simple as that?”

  “Yes, that’s what happened.” On the screen, Jake looked and sounded as worried as Joanne felt. “I want to stay up here for another night, just to make certain he won’t come back, and then I’ll return to New York. Sagin’s forces are up here.”

  “Good. I want the Atlantis up there.”

  “Trusting the aliens isn’t an easy thing to do, is it?”

  “No, it’s not, and I’m not going to trust anyone until I can be sure they’re telling me the whole truth. How do we know the confrontation between Sagin and Kabex wasn’t just an elaborate hoax?”

  “At the moment we don’t, and I’m not confident we can know until the end of all this. Sagin has been doing his best not to mess with our emotions, and I want to believe him, but I don’t know if that’s because he has been playing with my emotions.”

  “Tobias is working with some scientists to create something to protect us from that.”

  “One of the things I’m worrying about is the way he was playing with our emotions before. He wanted us to be scared of the Emperor.”

  “Did he?” Joanne paused to consider the comment. “We can’t be certain it was Sagin. There might still be one of the enemy aliens here, the one who might have convinced the Emperor’s personal assistant to kill him, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for both of them. I’m still sitting in the throne room because it’s the safest place. There’s only one door in and out. The other rooms have multiple doors. Tobias said I could lock them, but how do I know the Emperor’s personal assistant doesn’t have the keys?” She shook her head. “It may seem strange to everyone else, but I’m much more comfortable here.”

  “Well, you haven’t been attacked yet.”

  “No - so far I’ve been fine, and I don’t know how to feel about it. Whoever killed the Emperor is still around. People believe it was the personal assistant and, considering the way no one can contact him, I’m beginning to think it’s the most likely scenario.” She heard a noise. “Give me a second, Jake. There are strange noises.”

  Jake fell silent, and Joanne listened carefully. She wanted to know what was happening. She needed to know.

  She stood, edged closer to the door, and then it opened, revealing Tobias.

  “Hi, Jo.” He smiled. “I have someone we’ve been looking for.” He pulled that someone into the room. “This is the former Emperor’s personal assistant.”

  “I do have a name, you know?”

  Tobias frowned. “This is Teresa.”

  “I thought the Emperor’s personal assistant was a man?” Joanne asked.

  “No, you assumed that, and I didn’t say anything to change your mind.” Tobias looked at Teresa. “Talk to Jo. Jo will help you if you’re honest with her.”

  Teresa’s eyes met with Joanne’s. “There was a time when I was little more than a street child who got lucky. I’d met Henry before he was Emperor. I’d picked his pocket, and he could’ve thrown me to the wolves. Instead, he decided I could work off the debt I owed him. At the time, I had no idea what he wanted from me or that he planned on becoming Emperor. But I knew working for him was better than ending up in prison again, so I did what he wanted me to.”

  “You’re trying to tell me the Emperor did something nice for someone?”

  “I don’t believe he was doing something nice, Your Eminence. He saw an opportunity, and he grabbed at it. At any point he could have turned on me, so I did everything I could to protect him, including siphoning the funds for the fleet when I realized he was working with our enemy. Sagin was here for a week. Three weeks before that there was another being, much like Sagin, but he was…” Teresa shudde
red. “I could tell he hated all of us. When he looked at me, I knew all he wanted to do was kill me. He worked with the Emperor for two weeks, and he changed. Then Sagin arrived, and he changed again. I didn’t know what Kabex had done, however, so I was scared of him turning against us all. I made the decision the best thing I could do was assassinate the Emperor.”

  “How did you know it was Kabex?”

  Her mouth opened and closed, and Joanne knew Teresa was trying to find an explanation as to how she knew it was Kabex. “I heard Sagin mention the name a couple of times.”

  “You’re lying to me.” Joanne glanced at Tobias, but there was nothing in his look to give away what he was thinking or feeling. “How did you know it was Kabex? How much of what you just told me is the truth and not lies?”

  Silence filled the room for a while.

  Teresa stared at Joanne, looking panicked. “Kabex has been visiting Earth for over a decade. I was the first one he claimed, but I know I’m not the last. When I saw Henry I knew who he was, because everyone knew who he was, and yet he accepted it when I pretended I had no idea who he was. He wouldn’t have done what he did if it wasn’t for Kabex pushing his emotions in the right direction. Kabex wanted me here. He wanted me to do everything I could to make it easy for him to take over this world. When I saw Sagin I knew what I had to do.” A tear trickled down Teresa’s cheek. “If I hadn’t done that Kabex would have killed me, and I’m sorry for it. I came to like Henry, even though he was selfish, and I wouldn’t have hurt him if it wasn’t for the arrival of Sagin.”

  “Keep talking,” Joanne instructed.

  “I was the one who convinced the Emperor to call the Atlantis back down. Sagin thought I was helping him when I was actually helping Kabex. Having you down here would have made it easier for Kabex to get to Earth. I was the one who set up the ambush, and it should’ve killed you. Kabex isn’t going to be pleased it didn’t.”