Damien ignored her. “But I do know that Linnea is the youngest of all our potential crewmates so it follows that her enhancements may have been the most delicate and complex.” He shook his head and his voice grew softer, “Enabling telepathy…Captain…that’s an eleven on a ten point difficulty scale. It could also go horribly wrong for the subject if implemented poorly.”
“The subject,” said Linnea, as she rose to face Damien, “is standing right here. I’ll tell you something. From my perspective, it did go horribly wrong. Do you know what they call someone who hears voices?” She glared at Omandi, Misha, and Damien as they clustered around her, then yelled, “They call her schizophrenic. They try to put her in special hospitals and they try to fix her with drugs, surgery, or electrical shocks. I would probably be drooling in some padded cell right now if I weren’t lucky enough to have been picked up by an adoption agency that specialized in children with neurological issues.”
Damien shook his head. “That wasn’t luck, Linnea. That was him, Doctor Howard. The agency that placed you was called Harrow Aid wasn’t it?”
Linnea’s eyes grew wide and she tried to take a step back. “How did you know that?”
Damien shrugged. “You know that some of the original Damien Howard is within me. You saw that in the VR we shared together. Harrow Aid is an anagram for Ira Howard, the Robert Heinlein character who began a eugenics foundation to extend and enhance life. I don’t mean to be flippant, but Howard-Prime loved his little Easter eggs. I’m afraid your adoption agency was just one of them. I suspect there was no such agency and he just paid that family to foster you.”
“Asshole,” said Misha again.
Omandi shot her a look. “I think we’ve taken your meaning, Sokolov, but I want to get back to the point you were making, Linnea. Is that why you wanted to go in private, so you could read my thoughts and divine our intent?”
“Yes,” she said and reached up to touch Charlotte’s face.
“No!” yelled Misha and pushed Omandi aside while grabbing Linnea by the wrist. “She was about to attack you, Captain. I saw it.”
“Let me go, you Russian bit—” Sokolov choked off the rest of the young woman’s curse by wrapping her free hand around Linnea’s neck and lifting her into the air.
“Put her down!” yelled Omandi.
“But, Captain, she—”
“That’s an order, Lieutenant.” Misha immediately lowered Linnea to the ground. “Now step back.” She did. Charlotte focused on the young telepath and sighed. “What were you going to do to me, Linnea, and please don’t deny your intent. Misha cannot read minds, as far as I know anyway, but she can read intended threats. If she says you meant me harm, then you did.”
Linnea collapsed back into her chair. “This is impossible. “
“Perhaps,” offered Damien, “but as the least human among us, allow me to suggest you just accept the impossible, at least for the time being.”
She closed her eyes for several seconds then locked them on Charlotte. “I was going to place a thought in your mind. It doesn’t always work, but seems to more often than not when I’m scared. Given my current level of abject terror, I thought I had a pretty good chance of making it stick.”
“What thought, Linnea?”
“That you would all die if you didn’t release me.”
Omandi nodded, then sat in the chair beside Linnea. “All right then, go ahead and do it.”
“What!” yelled Damien and Misha at the same time, but Charlotte ignored them.
Instead she lifted the young woman’s hand and placed it beside her own head. “How can I expect you to trust me if I don’t trust you first? Go ahead, Linnea Sorenson, the choice is yours. Fill my mind with terror or take from it my true intent. The choice is yours.”
Chapter 18
Ice Station Zebra
“That was some outstanding tight quarters navigation, if I do say so myself,” exclaimed James as he bounded into the main cabin. He pulled up short and eyed Omandi and Sorenson. “What are they doing?”
“The Howard-Prime equivalent of a Vulcan mind-meld, would be my guess,” answered Damien.
Misha seemed to glare at everyone while vibrating with a combination of annoyance and anxiety. “This was stupid. I can’t believe I let her do this. What the hell was I thinking?”
Damien shot her a reassuring smile. “You were thinking that your captain gave you a direct order.”
Sokolov stomped a foot. “She can’t order me to let telepath-Barbie scramble her brains.”
“Actually,” declared Omandi, “she can and she did.”
Misha leaped forward and swatted Linnea’s hand as the younger woman began lowering it from Charlotte’s face. “Captain, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Lieutenant, and I’ll ask you not to strike a junior officer again, please.”
Sokolov squinted at Linnea. “A what?”
Omandi ignored the question and stared intently at Sorenson as she absently rubbed her wrist. “You are my communications officer, are you not?”
Linnea ran her fingers through a tangle of blonde hair and stared up at Charlotte. The young woman let out a resigned sigh. “Yes, Captain Omandi, I do believe I am.”
Branson tried to nudge Damien and stumbled as he fell through the AI’s insubstantial projection. Damien offered a hand to the navigator who reached up only to have his own pass through open air again. The hologram laughed, and took a step back, when James glared at him.
“Thanks, James,” chuckled Damien, “I’m glad you see me as real.”
“I see you as real, all right,” grumbled the pilot, then added, “as a real asshole. Now, clearly I missed something important while maneuvering the Gal through a maze of ice caverns that none of you could have managed.”
“I bet either Coleman or I could have navigated those ice caverns just fine,” chuckled Damien.
Omandi rubbed her temples and smiled apologetically at Linnea who still seemed somewhat stunned by recent events. “Let me apologize for our male crewmates. In my experience, men tend to remain boys when interacting with each other. Given the past couple weeks, my theory now extends to virtual AI males in addition to the regular variety.”
“I think we were just insulted,” huffed Branson.
Damien gave a snort. “I know we were, but what are you going to do about it? I doubt our little outlaw band has an HR department.”
Omandi extended her hand and Linnea stared at it for several beats before grasping it and allowing the older woman to hoist her into a standing position. “Congratulations, Ensign Sorenson, you are now the tip of our communications spear and likely the only one who will understand Earth’s extraterrestrial antagonists.”
Linnea shook her head. “Just because I can intuit human speech doesn’t mean it holds for aliens. I hope I don’t disappoint you guys and get all of humanity killed in the process.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” chuckled Branson, “I’m used to disappointment. Of course, the second part of your concern, would certainly be less than ideal.” The pilot snapped his fingers as a thought occurred to him. “Captain, maybe that’s not even an issue. I mean that lizard-lass, Salmix, she spoke to Howard-Prime in english didn’t she?”
Damien moved toward the shuttle’s exit and issued a command to activate the door. Immediately, it gave a soft popping as several seals and control bars started to release. “I wouldn’t count on that happening again,” said the hologram.
Omandi nodded. “I agree with Damien. While I suspect Salmix could communicate with us in any of our native languages, I don’t believe she will, not the next time we meet her anyway. I think her encounter with Howard-Prime was part of the overall chance she was giving us. If so, it wouldn’t have made much sense to deliver that chance in language we couldn’t translate. I suspect, if we are successful enough to meet her again, language will just be one of many tests we’ll need to pass.” Omandi saw the blood drain from Linnea’s face and Charlotte reached ou
t to give the younger woman’s arm a friendly squeeze. “You’ll do fine, Linnea. I have great faith in you. Perhaps, more importantly, Howard-Prime had great faith in you.” The Captain gave a low chuckle. “I mean you’ve defrauded half a dozen casinos and convinced the most recent French President to resign.” Sorenson’s eyes widened and Omandi pointed at her. “And, that was just in the last eighteen months.”
“How did you—” began the younger woman but Charlotte waved aside the question.
“Howard-Prime had us all under surveillance since we were fertilized eggs.” Linnea started to interrupt but Omandi shook her head. “No, I see where you’re going, and you can just stop. I’m the oldest one here so Doctor Howard has been snooping into my life longer than any of you. If I’m dealing with it, you can too.”
“Can I at least see my file?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” replied Omandi. “I made the mistake of reading my own and now wish I hadn’t. Suffice it to say, Ensign Sorenson, that I believe you to be the most capable woman for the job and, quite honestly, the only one who has both the raw talent and personality to get it done.”
Linnea gave a reflexive grin at the compliment and Misha groaned. “If we are done stroking Barbie’s ego, I suggest we exit the shuttle and see why in hell Howard-Prime suggested we come here.”
“I don’t see anything but black out there,” offered Damien, as he affected a squint through the now open shuttle door and into the distance.
“Coleman, will you join us?” asked Charlotte, and the air wavered for a moment as the systems-AI faded into view.
“I am here, Captain. How may I serve?”
“Can you confirm our current location?”
“I can,” replied the AI. Charlotte stared at him for several seconds, then made a rolling gesture with her fingers. Coleman continued to stare at her.
Damien snickered. “He’s not as advanced as me, Captain. No offense, Coleman.”
“None taken, sir,” replied the AI pleasantly.
Charlotte could feel her patience waning as she took a calming breath and said, “Coleman, please confirm our current location. Are we at the site where Nerr’ath Salmix provided the technology cache?”
“Yes, Captain, but Doctor Howard expanded that original site considerably. It now consists of the hangar complex in which we now find ourselves, a command center, dormitory, recreation facility, and dining area. The original cache site remains some distance away, but still part of the overall Ice Station Zebra facility.”
“Why can’t we see anything?” she asked.
“The facility has not yet been activated, Captain. Would you like me to do so?”
Charlotte paused for several beats, then said “Sure, that would be great, Coleman, but how exactly are you able to do that?”
Light blazed and Damien whistled as a pair of dark ray-ban sunglasses formed on his face. He turned and grinned. “Not dark out there anymore, Captain. It’s a huge subterranean hangar bay.”
Omandi pushed her way forward and walked right through Damien. She stood at the top of Galileo’s extendable stairs and frowned. The hangar bay was empty except for the shuttle. She turned to Coleman. “Is the Bladerunner at this facility?”
“No, Captain.”
She ground her teeth. “Where is the Bladerunner?”
“I’m sorry Captain, that information is currently restricted by a Howard-Prime trigger-lock.”
She glanced back into the empty hangar and asked, “Would the Bladerunner fit in this hangar?”
“Yes, Captain, this hangar was designed to accommodate the Bladerunner assuming that Galileo were first stowed within her mothership.”
“Wait, what?” said James who had barely been paying any prior attention. “Are you saying the Gal will fit inside this Bladerunner ship?”
“I did not say that, Lieutenant,” replied Coleman. “Specific details of the Bladerunner are currently restricted by a—”
“Yeah, a Howard-Prime trigger-lock,” finished Omandi. “Still, we did manage to squeeze a bit more information past ol’ Doc Howard.”
Branson joined his captain on the stairs, took in the expansive cavern, and murmured, “The Gal can fit inside? Shite and sugar, that Bladerunner must be massive.”
Omandi put her arm around the stunned pilot and leaned close to him while affecting his Gaelic lilt, “Oh you’re not afeared she’s too big to handle are you, James Branson?”
He smirked. “Captain, there hasn’t been a thing made that moves which I cannot make dance to my fine Irish tune.”
Charlotte looked at him for the barest of moments then gave a sharp laugh. “I believe you, Lieutenant, I believe you for true.” Omandi motioned to the rest of her crew as she descended the Galileo stairs. “Come on then, Ice Station Zebra awaits.”
Damien stared at the four advanced medical bays and equally advanced support equipment. “I don’t care what he says, this is a bad idea.”
Omandi let out a low chuckle and pointed at the illuminated display. “What do you mean by, he, isn’t that kind of your future self on the display screen?”
“That is not me,” replied Damien, “That is an old-fashioned, semi-interactive, holo-recording from Howard-Prime.”
“Right, but you are Howard-Prime, aren’t you?”
“Captain, are you testing me?” She arched an eyebrow but said nothing. He sighed. “No, you are trying to make a point aren’t you? Wait, don’t tell me, just give me a second to puzzle it out.”
“How much time do you think you’ll need?” she asked with barely contained amusement, “I don’t want to rush you, but maybe I should join the others in the canteen. Misha said there’s Coca-Cola there stored at the perfect temperature. You know, when ice crystals just start to form and—”
“I’m about to be insubordinate, Captain.”
Charlotte lifted both hands in mock astonishment. “Oh no, we can’t have that. I’ll just leave. Ring my hand terminal when you have things figured out.”
“Very funny, but I have things figured out now,” he said dryly. “You are trying to reinforce the notion that I am my own person and distinct from Howard-Prime. I assume you believed that your reverse psychology demonstration would be far more effective than simply restating empirical facts.”
“Really?” Omandi asked, “and why might I care that you see yourself as both distinct and apart from Howard-Prime?”
“Because you need me to be my own person, not simply act like my own person,” he sighed.
“Aren’t you that already?”
Damien stared at the wizened image of Doctor Howard and then back to Charlotte, “I’m not sure that I am. I mean, you selected—” he waved a hand to indicate himself, “this version of me over that older and more clinical version. What would have become of me if you had chosen the other?”
She shrugged. “We’ve already kicked that notion around a bit and my answer remains the same…no idea. Perhaps, you would have just been deleted, but that’s not what happened. I did choose you and here you are, a valued member of my crew.”
“But not him,” said Damien gesturing once again to the screen.
Charlotte shrugged. “He’s dead with all his memories stored somewhere along with what he hopes is his soul.” She turned to Damien and smiled up at him. “Avoiding potential conflicts born of foreknowledge is not the only reason you don’t have all his memories. Howard-Prime didn’t want you to be another him. He wanted you to have your own distinct life but with some of his earlier life experiences as a buffer for those you make on your own. That’s why he just referred to you as he did, Damien. That’s also why his suggestion makes sense.”
Charlotte turned to the display and said, “repeat playback.”
The screen went black for a moment then the Howard Technologies sound mark played just as it had when Damien and Charlotte had first entered the room nearly an hour earlier. The display brightened and Doctor Damien Howard walked into an exact rep
lica of the room in which they now stood.
Doctor Howard smiled out from the screen and gestured to the room. “Welcome to Ice Station Zebra, or ISZ for short.” His face split into a wily grin and he said, “Lest anyone think me a plagiarist, I give full credit to Alistair MacLean for the name. That said, my ISZ is cooler than his ever even dreamed of being. Now, Charlotte, Damien, I’m glad you are both here because there is something I need you to do together. And Charlotte, before you start losing focus and wondering about the how’s and why’s of things, let me tell you that I recorded a number of these videos and my daemon ran the script to edit together the right one in advance of you entering the med-bay. If you hadn’t been our Captain, or had chosen the less personable version of my digital self, then a different edit of this video would have played. Ok? So, do I have your full attention now, Captain Omandi?”
The recording paused a beat then Howard-Prime continued, “Good, I figured I would. Now, If you haven’t realized it yet, Charlotte, I’m a bit of an old romantic. I like what I like and I’m not going to apologize for it. I loved those Alastair MacLean books, so when I decided to build this safe-house complex around Nerr’ath’s technology cache, I wanted to give it a cool name. I’d say that you could sue me, but you’d just be suing yourself at this point. Given that, I suggest you rest up and get to know each other a bit because you still have some time before CDA zero-hour. Besides, the Bladerunner couldn’t possibly be finished and you have two other members of your crew to recruit.”
“Pause playback,” said Omandi, and the image froze. She turned to Damien. “I didn’t catch it the first time, but he said I needed to find two more members, which, according to Nerr’ath’s Drac’ath limerick, would be our doctor and engineer, right?” The science officer gave her an affirming nod and she continued. “Okay, but in my reading, Doctor Howard also had a first officer role identified. I met his preferred choice during my final simulation.” Damien shrugged. “Don’t you see, he said two more but I need three more.”
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