“Track Hath-Frahk.”
“Linnea, tell it we are prepared for the second trial,” shouted Omandi. The communications officer immediately broke into a series of guttural hisses and clicks and the hologram turned toward the sound of her voice, vocalized something, then vanished. “What did it say?” asked Omandi.
“Predator becomes prey, but can the prey be caught?” said Linnea slowly, as if sounding out each word.
“What the fuck does that mean?” hissed Misha.
Damien looked up from his console. “Captain, a spacial disturbance is occurring around Nerr’ath’s pod.”
“It’s a singularity gate,” said Karishma, then added, “Their gates are just a lot more elegant than ours.”
“The pod is gone,” said Damien, “it vanished through the disturbance.”
“Our gate is opening now,” said Karishma, “sending transit parameters to Navigation and transferring engineering controls to the command deck. I’m coming up.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” shouted James, then spun his chair to face Charlotte. “That gate she made is about three feet wider than the Bladerunner…three feet. You do remember what Karishma said happens to things that touch the edges of those gates, don’t you?”
Charlotte walked over and squeezed his shoulder. “I do. So, my advice to you, James, is don’t let this beautiful ship you’re so fond of touch the edges.” She narrowed her eyes, “But get me through that gate right now!”
He swiveled and slid his fingers across the navigational controls. All eyes focused on the display screen as Bladerunner rapidly approached the shifting spacial disturbance in front of them.
The mag lift doors whispered open and Karishma stepped onto the command deck and froze. Misha turned to her and asked quietly, “What can you do up here that you couldn’t do below?”
Patel gave the security officer a grim smile and said, “Die among friends.”
Sokolov stared at her for a beat, then barked a laugh. “Finally, someone as dark as myself!”
“Thanks for the confidence, ladies, here we go,” yelled Branson, and the entire star-field winked out.
Chapter 46
A Trial of Speed
James ran his fingers through tousled black hair, glanced back at Omandi, and grinned, “I didn’t blow up the Bladerunner.”
“No, you did not, Lieutenant, and you didn’t get us killed or doom humanity either, which,” she added sarcastically, “I suppose is almost as important to you.” Omandi turned toward the science station, “Damien, what do you see?”
“I have Nerr’ath’s pod on sensors, sir. It is approaching Luna and about fifteen minutes from what our simulations projected would be an optimal Earth-attack vector.”
“Intercept that pod, Branson. I don’t want it getting anywhere close to Earth’s atmosphere.”
“Intercept course plotted. Tactical should have long-range weapon’s lock in two minutes. At current velocity, close-quarters-contact would take place about midpoint between Earth and Luna.”
“Rebalancing shields,” said Sokolov.
Charlotte sat in her chair with a sigh. “Misha, you are free to target-lock that pod, but do not fire without my express command.”
The security officer grumbled something vaguely affirming, as Chao leaned toward Charlotte and whispered, “How did you know to have Karishma create that singularity gate? The pod hadn’t even begun to form one when you issued that order.”
“In the first test, we were prey,” she said quietly, “I think they wanted to determine if we could survive. If we were nothing but a paper cheetah, it doesn’t really matter how fleet of foot we are. If we were prey before, I gambled our next role would be that of predator.” She shrugged, “If one’s prey travels faster-than-light, only an FTL-enabled predator can catch it.”
Keung nodded with both agreement and admiration, then asked, “And does this predator kill its prey?”
She smiled, but it held none of her normal warmth. “I wish I knew, Chao, I really wish I knew.” Charlotte gave a slight nod toward Misha, as she pored over her tactical console, “But since all I currently know is that I don’t know, we’ll keep our powder dry for now.”
“Positive weapon’s lock for long-range missiles and railgun,” confirmed Misha.
“Any projectiles coming from that ship?” asked Charlotte.
“Sensors are clear,” said Damien.
“I’ve got an incoming holographic transmission,” called Linnea. “It’s uncompressed.”
“Put it through,” said Chao. Seconds later, the now familiar image of Nerr’ath Salmix materialized on the command deck, and began speaking in its native tongue. Keung said, “Coleman, can you mute her and translate in real-time.” The first officer saw how Linnea looked away, then added, “No, Ensign, you’ve done exceptionally well. The only way our AI has a chance of translating is because you showed him how.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” said Coleman, “I have insufficient data to successfully translate. I estimate needing at least ten more minutes of diverse dialogue before being able to do so.”
“Linnea, still your show,” said Charlotte evenly.
The young woman nodded, then walked to stand beside the Salmix hologram which had stopped speaking several seconds before. “She says that her pod has no ship-to-ship offensive weapons and congratulates us on having successfully demonstrated faster-than-light capabilities.” The hologram spoke again, then paused. Linnea’s eyes grew wide and she said, “Captain, it says we have satisfied all the conditions of their Confederation Disaspora Act and no hostile actions will be taken against Earth.”
“Bullshit,” said Misha, “I don’t trust it.”
Omandi glared at the Russian, “If we can understand it, then it may very well be able to hear and understand us, Lieutenant. I will not set aside a peaceful resolution to this situation because your hackles are up. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” she growled.
The Salmix hologram began speaking again while Linnea kept pace with near real-time translations. “She asks to visit us onboard the Bladerunner and says she can transmit a data stream that will allow us to print an artificial body into which she can download her conscious-self”
“Mute our end, Ensign,” ordered Omandi. Linnea tapped her hand terminal rather than returning to her station, then nodded at the captain.
“I smell a rat,” said Misha, “A big, scaly, fork-tongued, rat.”
“Noted,” said Omandi, “Other thoughts?”
“Clearly she seeks to leverage the same technology Howard-Prime used to create my body,” said Damien. “I see no reason to believe it is not possible.”
“But why would she need to do that?” asked Doctor Carpenter, and everyone turned to regard him. He smiled, “I know, I’m the quiet one, but that’s just because I haven’t had much to add.” He gestured to the frozen hologram of Salmix. “This is more my area. I don’t see why she would go to all the trouble and risk of downloading into an artificial body when we could just dock with her pod and transfer her over.” He paused, then added, “Or am I just being stupid? I mean the only reason I’m questioning the situation is because we docked with the Chinese shuttle and that was under less than ideal conditions.”
Chao laughed, “A bit of an understatement, but Doctor, you are not being stupid at all. Docking with the pod makes much more sense than what’s being suggested.” He glanced at Omandi and said, “Occam’s razor, Captain.”
She nodded and motioned for Linnea to unmute the transmission. Charlotte stood and faced the hologram, then said, “As you might expect, we are immensely pleased that you have decided to refrain from any hostile acts against our planet and we would welcome you aboard our ship. We have the ability to either dock with your pod or bring it within our vessel. This seems far easier than what you’ve suggested.” Seconds passed and the hologram didn’t respond. Charlotte sighed, and glanced meaningfully to Linnea. “Did they get the message?” Sorenson nodded. �
�Ok,” said Omandi, “you try. Even though we’ve satisfied their CDA, maybe they will still only respond to their native language.”
Linnea looked down at her hand terminal and repeated Omandi’s words. The hologram responded seconds later. Sorenson was about to translate when Coleman said, “I believe I understood that response.” He looked at Linnea. “Would you mind if I translated, that way you could confirm if I was successful?” The comms officer smiled at Coleman and nodded. “Thank you, Ensign…the automated agent has indicated that Chief Xenologist Salmix cannot physically join us because she is still asleep, or in the process of waking up from stasis which can take several hours. However, the agent can transmit her memories and personality to be temporarily embedded in the printed body.”
The AI stared meaningfully at Linnea who smiled back, then turned to Omandi. “Captain, I think we can safely have Coleman dub future communications, but I’d ask that you let me confirm for nuance before you respond to his translated messages. For example, he said Salmix was asleep, but I believe a more accurate translation would be that Nerr’ath is dreaming. If I were to guess, I’d say the automated agent meant Salmix was in some kind of a lucid dream which enabled her body to be in stasis while her mind could still respond, at some level, to external stimuli.”
Charlotte nodded at this, considering, then said, “The implication being what?”
Linnea shrugged. Omandi turned next to Damien. “Hard to know for sure, Captain, but perhaps it means that Nerr’ath Salmix can speak through and with the artificial body while her own continues to wake from stasis.”
“Thoughts?” asked Charlotte.
“I don’t like it,” answered Misha immediately.
“Shocker,” murmured the captain, then added, “thoughts from anyone whose very DNA hasn’t been encoded with paranoia?”
“I’m not a fan of it either,” said James, then added, “and before you lot start your minds to spinning, it has nothing to do with my feelings for Misha.” He noted how the security officer’s face shifted into a scowl and raised a hand, “not that I have any feelings, mind you…other than collegial ones…for a colleague.”
Sokolov shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the pilot when Richard said, “It seems we have very little leverage, sir. Until we have either physical possession of whatever pathogen the Drac’ath planned to use, or proof of its destruction, I believe we should err on the side of accommodation.”
“I agree with the doctor,” said Chao, “but would want that Salmix-body under guard both during and after its printing.”
“Annchi? Linnea? Anything to add?” asked Charlotte. Both women shook their head and Omandi said, “What about you Karishma?”
“I’m keen on the under guard part,” said the chief engineer, “but I would like to request that Nerr’ath be shown a couple of our systems that I haven’t been able to get functional. Maybe she could help, you know, assuming she doesn’t try to kill us all first.”
“Which she probably will,” grumbled Misha. “If we do this, I want to go with Doc to the med-bay and keep eyes on this thing.”
Omandi nodded. “My thoughts exactly. Okay, Linnea, please tell our holographic guest that we would welcome her more physical representation.”
The communications officer relayed the message and exchanged several additional words with the figure. “She…it…wants to know when we will be ready to receive the data stream?”
Doctor Carpenter stood and turned toward the mag-lift. “I need about fifteen minutes to set things up and secure the amino acids necessary for printing. Ensign Sorenson, can you route that data to the med-bay once I signal my readiness?” She nodded and the doctor looked over at Charlotte, “With your permission, then, sir.”
Omandi gave a nod first to Misha and then Richard, “Let me know when you’re both ready down there and I’ll have Linnea contact Nerrath’s pod.” Mag-lift doors swished open to admit Misha and Richard. Charlotte turned to Linnea and said, “All right Ensign, please pass along that we will be ready in…make it twenty minutes.”
Sorenson spoke in the, now familiar, hisses and clicks as the Salmix projection turned to face her. It seemed to acknowledge the message, with a slight incline of its head, then vanished from the command deck.
Omandi felt her hand terminal vibrate and shot a curious glance to her command chair’s display. It remained blank. That’s odd, she thought, and fished the small device out of a pocket. Charlotte stared at it for several seconds before saying. “Commander Keung, the command deck is yours. I’ll be back in no more than fifteen minutes.”
“Captain?” he said, eyes registering confusion. Omandi rose, but said nothing further, as she disappeared into her private office that sat adjacent to the command deck.
Charlotte turned around after the office door hissed shut. She looked through the large window’s one-way glass and into the Bladerunner’s command deck. Several of the crew continued to stare in the direction of the door she’d just entered. Chao said something and all eyes faced forward again. Omandi took a deep breath, looked down at her hand terminal, and stared at the red letters that continued to scroll across the top.
Priority Message Received from Damien Howard—Open In Secure Location
She circled around the polished desk made of the same African wood as was the door to her Ice Station Zebra quarters. Charlotte sat down and tapped the scrolling text.
Immediately the aged figure of Doctor Damien Howard appeared in front of the desk.
“Oh, shit,” Charlotte whispered, under her breath, and the figure shifted slightly to face her more fully.
“Oh, shit, indeed,” said Howard warmly. “I bet you weren’t expecting to see me here.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” she replied, then added, “but I’m a bit busy right now so is there any reason I can’t review this holo-tape another time?”
“Busy?” he chuckled, “Don’t be so modest, Charlotte. You are up to your ass in alligators. By-the-way, really impressive job figuring out that Nerr’ath’s pod was about to warp its way toward Earth. I didn’t see that coming because its previous trajectory would have had it arriving just before the Trinity deadline without needing to activate its FTL drive.”
Howard waved a hand dismissively then gestured to one of the chairs. “Mind if I sit down?”
“You’re dead,” said Omandi.
Howard sat, “So you’ve mentioned on several occasions. Strictly speaking, that’s not exactly true.”
“Not exactly,” she repeated, then started to get up. “I don’t have time for any more of your AI mind games.”
“I am not an artificially intelligent construct, and you have fifteen minutes. I’ll need less than twelve. Now please, sit down Captain Omandi.”
She squinted at the hologram, then tapped her hand terminal and sat down. “You have ten minutes. Start by explaining what not exactly means. You told me your corpse was in some kind of deep freeze until you figured out how to reanimate it without losing your soul.”
He smiled. “And does that sound like something that’s possible, Charlotte?” He didn’t wait for her response, but asked, “Do you remember my asking if you believed in God? Well, I did that for a reason. Many reasons actually, but one of them was because I hoped to someday have this very meeting. I’ll cut to the chase. Dead is dead, Charlotte. There is no magic soul-catcher and there is no coming back.” He chuckled, “Oh there certainly is a period of time when one is only—” Howard affected a gravelly accent, “Mostly dead.” He paused and noted Omandi’s flat expression. “Mostly dead…Miracle Max from The Princess Bride, I know you watched it because I—”
“Nine minutes,” said Charlotte flatly, and Howard frowned.
“Fine, I can see it will take more time than we have now for you to warm back up to me.”
“I was never warm to you, Doctor. You abducted me, fucked up my life, and saddled me with the salvation of Humanity. You are an asshole and I find myself sitting here praying that you actu
ally are completely dead.”
He opened his hands, “But you know I’m not. That voice inside your head that is unerringly right is telling you every word I’ve spoken is truth. That’s why you’re so pissed off right now, but fine I will net it out for you. My body is in a secured and undocumented alcove adjacent to Bladerunner’s med-bay. No one knows about it so don’t get all pissy toward Coleman. He’ll be mad at me too, assuming he’s capable of it. I am using the same stasis technology that is being used on Nerr’ath. In that state, a person can be roused temporarily by inducing a condition known as lucid dreaming.”
“Oh fuck,” said Charlotte, “you really aren’t dead.”
Howard grinned, “I’ve been saying that, but what made you come around? I hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet.”
“Linnea mentioned Nerr’ath being in a lucid dream state just minutes before you buzzed my hand terminal.”
“Yes,” he said, “that must have been the event that triggered my own stasis pod to initiate another lucid dream state.”
“Another?” asked Omandi “How many have there been?” She pointed angrily at the hologram, “Have you been hi-jacking Coleman or—” Charlotte growled, “Have you done something to Damien? I swear, I will find that alcove of yours and blow it into space.”
Howard sighed. “I believe your use of foul language has some odd inverse relationship to your capabilities as Captain. In answer to your questions, only one other Lucid state. I have never hi-jacked anyone, including Coleman, and as for Damien Smith, he is his own man. I’ve never laid a metaphorical hand on him.”
Charlotte glanced at her countdown timer and shook her head. “Then I don’t understand. When was the other lucid dream?”
“At the very beginning, my dear, when we first met. Didn’t you notice how lifelike that first Damien Howard hologram seemed?”
Paradigm 2045- Trinity's Children Page 51