by Isaac Hooke
Shortly afterward, he received a message from Shaw on the InterGalNet. She’d done an exhaustive search of the station, ripping open all the closets in the private storage facility with the warrant Surus arranged, and looked everywhere else she could possibly think of—restaurants, cafes, sanitation closets—and reviewed all of the station security camera footage, but hadn’t been able to turn up anything.
“We’re going to start reviewing the station departure logs,” Shaw finished. “To try to find out which other ship Zhidao potentially used to leave the station. Maybe he took the twins with him.” She seemed about to lose it: her eyes were blinking rapidly. But then she finally got control. “We’ll find them. I know we will. Anyway, I’m gonna go now. Miss you. Love ya.”
Rade sent her a message back: “We’ve just confirmed that the Argonaut is here in Raltarus. Seems to be adrift. At least Zhidao didn’t throw it into a star or gas giant. That’s always a good sign. Anyway, I’ll keep you updated if we find anything. Miss you. Love ya.”
It took another two days to reach the vessel. Rade led the boarding party, borrowing pressurized jumpsuits from Snakeoil. The rest of the team went with him, along with two Centurions and two HS3 scouts Snakeoil lent.
“Are we going to dock with an airlock?” Fret asked.
“Won’t have to,” Rade said. “According to Snakeoil’s crew, all airlocks and hangar doors have been opened.” Snakeoil had deployed drones to circle the Argonaut, and the small scouts had scanned and catalogued every square meter of the hull. “My guess is, breach seals throughout the compartments and passageways are open as well. First order of business after we land: proceed to engineering, restore power, close all airlocks and hangar doors, and pressurize the ship.”
“What about the twins?” Bender said.
“They’re obviously not aboard,” Rade said. “At least, I hope not.”
A grim silence settled among the team.
TJ broke it. Thankfully changing the subject in the process.
“I’m assuming the mech bay doors were open,” TJ said. “Did we get any visual confirmation on our Hoplites?”
“The mech bays were open, yes,” Rade agreed. “But no Hoplites. I suspect Zhidao took them with him to serve his own purposes. Either that, or he spaced them.”
The Dragonfly flew carefully into the hangar bay. Rade had elected to allow the shuttle’s AI to pilot it.
“Artificial gravity appears to be inactive,” the shuttle’s AI said. “Which isn’t entirely unexpected. I am using the magnetic clamps to attach to the deck.”
The cabin shuddered.
“Attachment successful,” the AI said.
“Evacuate cabin atmosphere and lower the ramp,” Rade instructed.
“Evacuating atmosphere,” the AI echoed.
The ramp began to lower a moment later.
“Centurions, secure the hangar bay,” Rade said.
When the ramp opened, the two Centurions jetted into the hangar bay. Once outside the cabin, the robots promptly activated the magnetic mounts in their boots to secure them to the floor.
The combat robots vanished from view. A moment later Centurion A spoke over the comm.
“Hangar bay is secured,” the robot said.
“All right, TJ, dispatch the HS3s,” Rade ordered.
The fist-sized HS3 scouts hovered down the ramp and swerved from view. On the overhead map, Rade watched as the green dots representing the drones reached the open hangar bay airlock and parted ways, each one taking a separate direction into the branching passageway beyond.
“This should be fun,” Manic said.
Staying aboard the shuttle, Rade tapped into the camera feeds from both drones and placed the small video windows in the upper right of his vision. Sure enough, the breach seals throughout the passageways were all open. That was good in a way, because the drones could complete their exploration without any impediments. Bad, because it meant the entire inner environment was exposed to the void of space: any belongings the Argonauts had aboard would be freeze-dried.
A few minutes later TJ said: “Take a look at the feed from drone two.”
Rade enlarged that particular video window. “Harlequin.”
Obviously deactivated, the Artificial was floating in the wardroom.
The HS3s discovered most of the remaining robots similarly deactivated in engineering. Cora, Dora and Algorithm were offline in sickbay.
And other than that, the ship was empty. No Hoplites. No Zhidao. No stasis pods. No twins.
It was obvious by then that Zhidao had switched vessels at the station.
One of the drones lingered on the bridge. TJ had sent it inside an open floor panel.
“Well well well,” TJ said. “Look at that.”
“What is it?” Rade examined the feed. The bridge drone was hovering above a series of messy wires and conduits.
“The shielding we installed around the AI core to protect it from possession by Phants is gone,” TJ said. “I suppose after Zhidao stole the ship, he wanted more direct control over the vessel.”
“We Phants usually don’t like to live vicariously,” Surus agreed.
Rade split the away team into two parties, and assigned one of the Centurions to each of them. Rade brought his team to the bridge, while TJ led his unit to engineering.
About an hour later TJ was able to restart the reactor and restore power to the ship. TJ left the main AI core offline until he was able to comb through the codebase, but he did reactivate most of the subsystems. He closed all airlocks, pressurized the ship, and restored artificial gravity.
“All right,” TJ said. “You can take off your helmets now if you want.”
Rade deactivated the magnets in his boots now that artificial gravity was restored, and then he studied the external environment readings displayed on his faceplate. The atmosphere was breathable.
Sick of inhaling recycled air, he removed his helmet and attached it to his harness.
“How long will it take to activate the engines?” Rade transmitted.
“So,” TJ said over the comm. “I was just about to bring up the bad news.”
“What is it?” Rade asked.
“Okay, first of all, the Vipers are all offline,” TJ answered.
“How many?” Rade said.
“All of them,” TJ said. “The focusing mirrors are smashed.”
“How long for the repair drones to fix it?” Rade said.
“Ordinarily, a few weeks, maybe less,” TJ said. “But unfortunately, Zhidao emptied the cargo hold of all refined elements. And spaced our repair drones. As well as the 3D printers.”
“Wonderful,” Rade said.
“He also fired off all our Hellfire missiles into space. And the slugs for the mag-rails.”
“So we have no working weapons whatsoever, you’re saying,” Rade told him.
“That’s right,” TJ said. “But I’m not done yet. Engines are damaged. And I mean big time. From the inside, out. I’m guessing he programmed the AI to fly at emergency power until the engines burned out. This isn’t something we can fix on our own, not even if we pick up new repair drones. We’ll need to open up the engines completely. Bottom line: we’ll have to bring the Argonaut in to dry dock for a complete overhaul.”
So much for Rade’s hunch about Zhidao not damaging his property.
“A little parting gift from Zhidao.” Rade glanced at Surus. “What, he thought we wouldn’t be resourceful enough to acquire a new ship?”
“No, he thought you wouldn’t have me with you,” Surus said. “Or hoped, anyway.”
Rade tapped in Snakeoil, voice only, and his friend answered from the Motley Brown.
“How’s it look?” Snakeoil said.
“Not good,” Rade said. “We’re going to need a tow.”
“Well, that’s what I’m here for,” his old friend said. “Snakeoil’s Haul and Tow Service.”
“Why does that sound like something sexual?” Bender asked.
&n
bsp; “He said Haul and Tow,” Manic replied. “Not Tug and Lug.”
“Oh,” Bender said. “My bad. I was confusing it with the services you provide.”
“Har har,” Manic said.
“Snakeoil, if you ever need a Tug and Lug, Manic’s your man!” Bender said.
“Thanks Bender, I’ll keep that in mind,” Snakeoil said. “But to be honest, I’d rather hire you.”
“Ooo baby!” Bender said. “For you, I’m available every night! Surus, wanna join in the fun?”
“I’ll pass,” Surus said.
“I’m guessing Metare is the destination, Rade?” Snakeoil asked.
“Take the Gate to Metare, yes,” Rade answered. “And dock at N’Yarranth so we can rejoin the rest of the crew.”
“You’re going to wait there until the Argonaut is repaired?” Snakeoil asked.
“Doubtful,” Rade said. “TJ tells me the ship will be in dry dock for weeks if not months.”
“Ah.”
“Yes,” Rade said. “So we’ll probably be employing your services for a while longer. It all depends on where Zhidao has gone, and how long it takes us to figure that out.”
Snakeoil had the Motley Brown fire several grappling hooks in order to attach to the Argonaut, and then got underway.
Rade and company remained aboard the Argonaut, if only for the extra living space. There were enough frozen chickens in the pantry to last for a long time, after all.
“You know, we’ll need freight clearance at the Gate,” Fret said after most of the Argonauts had settled in on the bridge. “Customs likes to impose stiff salvage levies on recovered derelicts.”
“I’ll arrange the necessary clearances,” Surus said.
“I don’t think the levies will be too high,” Rade said. “Considering that we’re the owners of the towed ship in question. So technically, it’s not salvage.”
“Leave it up to customs to find a way to charge us,” Fret said. “They’ll classify the Argonaut as a derelict, just watch.”
TJ and Bender worked on reactivating Harlequin and the other robots during the journey. But first, they were doing a complete code review of each unit. No cutting corners: they promised that any malicious code fragments would succumb to their needle-tooth combing.
A few hours into the journey TJ got in touch with him.
“Boss, better get down here,” TJ said. “I found something in Harlequin’s holographic storage. It involves the twins.”
Rade glanced at Surus, then essentially leaped out of his seat and ran off the bridge. Surus followed close behind.
When he reached engineering, he saw TJ and Bender hovering above Harlequin, who lay flat on a work bench. A panel was open in his chest, revealing the conduits of his insides. Portions were glowing, showing that the Artificial had partial power.
“Have a seat.” TJ beckoned toward a chair.
“The news is that bad?” Rade said. But he sat down without waiting for an answer.
He received a video sharing request on his HUD a moment later.
The old Ms. Bounty appeared on a video window in front of him.
“I might have lied about the children being aboard the Argonaut,” Ms. Bounty, or rather, Zhidao, said. Her voice sounded strange, with each word seeming slightly garbled. It could’ve simply been a recording glitch. “But that’s all right. I’m sure you’ve figured out what I’ve done by now. I’ve spaced them.”
Rade simply stared at the video feed. He couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to.
Ms. Bounty smiled calmly on the feed. She gazed at the camera intently, well aware of the reaction her words would evoke. And then she continued.
“Just kidding,” Zhidao said.
Rade could have wept for the relief he felt.
“The children are alive,” Zhidao said. “And in stasis, as I promised. However, their time is quickly running out. They will be incinerated, I guarantee you, if you don’t find them. I leave you with a riddle. Decipher it, and your children are saved. Fail, and they die.”
Zhidao stared intently into the camera once more.
And then the video clicked off.
“That’s it?” Rade said. “Where’s the goddamn riddle?”
“The video ends at this point,” TJ said. “At first we thought it was just another trick on Zhidao’s part. But did you notice how her voice sounded a bit strange, with a slight distortion to it, as if she was speaking over a comm line that was slightly out of range?”
Rade nodded. “I did.”
TJ continued: “Yeah, so we slowed down the feed and analyzed the voice, and discovered that Zhidao had hidden a secret message in plain sight, or hearing, as it were. The individual sounds composing the message were inserted in between the syllables of the other words, at half the volume level. It’s something only an Artificial or robot could do. Or a Phant.”
“Let’s hear the message, then,” Rade said.
An audio sharing request appeared on his HUD and Rade accepted.
Ms. Bounty’s voice filled his ears. The words sounded even odder this time, with some of the syllables dragged out, and others cut off, as if snipped together from another recording. “Find the children in the system where time stops. In storage, yes, December twentieth. Fourth star on the left and straight on until midnight.”
When the message ended, Rade sat back to consider the puzzle.
“The system where time stops is Metare of course,” Rade said. “When the Argentines colonized it, they originally named the system El Fin De Los Tiempos, or The End of Time, because it was on the very outskirts of explored space. But the rest?”
“We already know Zhidao made a stop in Metare,” Surus agreed. “My guess is the rest refers to a location inside N’Yarranth station. Most likely the storage facility.”
“But Shaw searched the place from top to bottom already,” Rade said.
“She must have missed something,” Surus said.
Rade nodded. “TJ, forward the riddle on to Shaw. Flag it high priority. Maybe she can make something of it.”
Rade returned to his quarters and sent a quick message of his own, updating Shaw on the situation.
He sincerely hoped she could make some sense of the riddle when it reached her. Because he believed Zhidao’s promise that the stasis pods would incinerate the children if she didn’t find the twins soon.
And if that happened, Rade’s universe would end.
But so would Zhidao’s, he swore.
eleven
Shaw replayed the message TJ had sent again. Ms. Bounty’s odd-sounding voice filled her hearing.
“Find the children in the system where time stops. In storage, yes, December twentieth. Fourth star on the left and straight on until midnight.”
She glanced at Tahoe and Lui, who were with her in the quarters they shared aboard the space station.
“The first part we know,” Shaw said. “Rade thinks it stands for Metare system. Which makes sense, considering Zhidao stopped here.”
“It’s almost as if he didn’t realize we would be able to track the Argonaut’s route,” Lui said.
“Either that, or Zhidao wanted to make sure we’d get that first part,” Tahoe said.
“It’s also possible he just wanted the clues for his wild goose chase to sound feasible,” Shaw said. “This could lead nowhere.” She sighed. “In any case, Rade thinks the riddle points to the private storage facility aboard this station, because of the ‘in storage’ comment.”
“So then we just have to figure out the significance of December twentieth, and the fourth star on the left part,” Tahoe said.
“According to my Implant, the last bit is a play on Peter Pan,” Lui said. “Quoted by Peter when Wendy asks him where she can find him.”
“Not sure how that helps us,” Tahoe said.
“Every bit of knowledge helps.” Shaw intertwined her fingers and set them down on the kitchen table they sat around. “December twentieth. There are a few major incidents that happ
ened on that day in history.”
Lui nodded. “The bombing of the embassy that triggered the Mongolian war in 299 AS. The discovery of an ancient alien vessel in the Butari system in 315 AS.”
“Yes,” Shaw said. “But otherwise nothing about those years seems applicable.” She steepled her index fingers. “Hmm. Maybe it’s something simpler. December is the twelfth month. Twelve, and twenty. Maybe it’s the first part of some digital lock key? Or... twelve plus twenty equals thirty-two. Lot thirty-two in the storage facility?”
“But we searched all the lots,” Tahoe said. “Twice!”
Shaw reviewed the archival footage her Implant had recorded when she had last searched the storage facility, and she paused during the replay of lot thirty-two. The rectangular unit was completely empty.
“Time to search them again,” Shaw said, standing. “At least the one lot.”
“It was empty last time,” Lui said. He must have checked his archival footage as well.
“Yes,” Shaw said. “But it’s possible we missed something. Probable, in fact.”
They made their way through the station’s promenade until they reached the storage facility. Digital signage overlaid her vision.
Welcome to Sphinx Storage! If you can think it, we can store it!
Sphinx was a franchise that operated throughout the galaxy. Surus had stored a certain powerful teleportation device in a unit inside one such facility. That had ended rather badly...
Shaw approached the small egg-shaped robot that stood near reception.
“Hello, and welcome to Sphinx Storage,” the robot said in its high-pitched voice.
Before the greeter could continue its spiel, Shaw quickly transmitted the digital warrant that the station commander had issued her, thanks to Surus.
“Oh,” the robot said. “You again. Go ahead. Sphinx Storage is happy to comply with law enforcement requests.”
Except we’re not law enforcement.
But she didn’t see the point in telling the robot that. Especially considering it said the same thing every time.
She made her way up the spiraling ramp. Sealed security doors interrupted the wall at intervals on the right. Digital signage indicated the unit numbers.