“If the portal doesn’t work, does that mean we’re trapped here?” I asked.
“Not necessarily,” the computer said. “However, I did not say the station portal did not work, but that it is presently useless to you for reaching Earth.”
“I—”
“A moment,” Rax said, interrupting me. “Computer, are you currently operating under a Polarion Directive?”
“I did not say that. I believe Sand thinks so, though.”
“That does not answer my question,” Rax said.
“You are correct. It does not,” the computer said.
“What can you answer?” I asked.
“Ask and you shall discover.”
“Listen, Computer,” Rax said. “I am a Galactic Guard Advisor—”
“Hey,” I said. “Rax, let me ask a few questions, huh?”
“If you insist,” the little crystal said.
“Computer,” I said, “can you see the alien pirate vessel near Saturn?”
“That is an imprecise question,” the computer said. “I compute you to mean the GGS Dreadnought Ocelot presently attempting a transfer move.”
“This is incredible,” Rax said. “It is really the Guard dreadnought?”
“That is an odd question,” the computer replied. “I just said it is.”
“But…” Rax said. “That would imply that pirates or others have taken control of the Ocelot.”
“I am uncertain of present Galactic Guard regulations,” the computer said, “but I deem your analysis correct.”
“Oh, this is bad,” Rax said. “If pirates have stormed and captured a Galactic Guard dreadnought… Logan, this is an interstellar emergency.”
“Wait,” I said. “How do you know that others have taken over the Ocelot? Maybe the GG captain and crew went rogue, and they’re trying to set themselves up, using Galactic Guard equipment for criminal enterprises.”
“Impossible,” Rax said. “The Galactic Guard is incorruptible.”
“Maybe this is proof they’re not,” I said.
“You do not know what you are talking about,” Rax said. “I am the Galactic Guard Advisor—”
“Okay, okay.” I said. “You know more than I do about the organization. What are we going to do about a possible rogue GG dreadnought in the Solar—?”
“Are you not listening?” Rax demanded. “Pirates, thieves or anti-union agitators have captured a GG dreadnought. The only reason they would have come to Earth…”
“Yes?” I asked.
Rax did not say more.
“I suspect to acquire Polarion technology,” the computer said. “It is well-known that ancient Polarion technology is superior to present-day GG tech.”
“Affirmative,” Rax said.
I rubbed my forehead. “Computer, why did you fire a kinetic kill-missile at us before?”
“I did not,” the computer said. “The automated station systems did that. I initiated the teleportation of you two.”
The timing of all this seemed wrong to me. When had Ailuros taken over from the computer? Was the computer really friendly to us, or was this some last trick or command on Ailuros’s part? However, if the computer was pretending to be our friend, maybe it was wisest to play along and find out what we could learn.
“Computer,” I said, “given that Polarion tech is so superior, can your missiles or other station defenses destroy the Ocelot?”
“Blasphemy!” cried Rax. “We must kill the boarding party and return the dreadnought to Guard HQ.”
“Where is Guard HQ?” I asked.
The crystal did not answer.
“Rax cannot answer you, Logan,” the computer said, “as such knowledge is only for full GG agents and associates.”
This was getting frustrating. “I doubt we can storm the Ocelot,” I told Rax. “How do you suggest we defeat all the Gigantopithecuses?”
“Enough!” Rax told me.
“Gigantopithecuses,” the computer said. “How very interesting that they are in the Solar System, eh, Rax?”
“Do not say more,” Rax told me.
I frowned. “What do giant apes mean to you, Computer?” I asked.
“I am not at liberty to say,” the computer replied.
“Okay,” I said, beginning to pace, irritated with these two and their secrets but remembering why we had come here in the first place. “With all this happening with Ailuros, I’d almost forgotten about Saturn. I don’t know how that’s even possible. The apes killed Debby.” I shook my head. “We need a plan, Rax. Right now, I’m drawing a blank about what to do next. It appears you’re under orders to remain mum while in front of the computer, and the computer has Polarion restrictions.”
“You are adept at logical thought, Logan,” the computer said.
“You didn’t think I had it in me?” I asked.
“I did not,” the computer said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Is this about Argon? Are you under orders to attempt his rescue from Sand?”
“I will have to deactivate the station soon,” the computer said. “You two will have to depart before I do, or you will have to enter a stasis unit.”
“But we can’t get off the station,” I shouted.
“I said that you cannot use the portal to reach Earth,” the computer admonished. “Why not study the free vehicles in the hangar bay. I have three choices.”
“Vehicles,” I said. “As in spacecraft?”
“Affirmative,” the computer said.
“What do you think, Rax?” I asked.
“I would have to see the vessels in question,” the crystal said.
“Excellent,” the computer said. “If you would follow the yellow arrows then, I will take you to the hangar bay.”
“Are basilisks going to ambush us along the way?” I asked, suspicious again.
“You are paranoid,” the computer said. “I can understand why, though. You would not have survived this long otherwise. Surely, it is why—”
“Computer,” Rax said, interrupting. “Logan will be hungry. Are the spacecraft stocked with food and water?”
“I will run a diagnostic,” the computer said. “Until you reach there, I will oversee their holds.”
I looked at the wall speaker, at Rax and then the wall speaker again. “That’s it?” I asked.
“Follow the yellow lights,” Rax said.
I nodded, knowing Rax had interrupted the computer for a reason. I doubted I would get the crystal to speak about that now. A spaceship, I might soon own a spaceship again. I walked faster, eager to see my choices.
-20-
“You can’t be serious,” I said. “You want us to fly in one of those things?”
I stood in a small hangar bay with three old Earth-built space capsules before us. One of them was a tiny Mercury capsule from 1959.
I walked around it. The Mercury capsules had been used in the first U.S. attempts for human spaceflight. In this instance, that meant an orbit around Earth. There had been twenty uncrewed Mercury flights, some using animals, and six successful flights by astronauts. John Glenn had been the first American to orbit Earth. The capsule carried supplies of water, food and oxygen for about one day in a pressurized cabin. It had small retrorockets to push the craft out of orbit for a parachute landing in water on Earth.
There was also an Apollo Lunar Module. It was a two-stage craft and had been the first crewed space vehicle to operate exclusively in the vacuum of space, and to this day remained the only Earth-built spacecraft to land anywhere beyond Earth with a crew.
The trouble was the Lunar Module had a short flight range, nothing that would help us get home from the Asteroid Belt.
Finally, there was a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. After the U.S. retired the Space Shuttle, the Soyuz was humanity’s only crewed spaceship. Interestingly, the Soyuz rocket that launched these had the most reliable service record. Even so, this Soyuz wouldn’t have enough fuel to slow our velocity and land us on Earth, and the journey wo
uld take far, far too long.
“Rax,” I asked quietly, “what’s going on here?”
“Computer,” Rax said. “These aren’t reliable space vehicles for our purposes.”
“They flew in space,” the computer said.
“Once they did,” Rax said, “but for extremely short ranges. When you said you had useable spaceships, I thought you meant something on the order of a Galactic Guard shuttle.”
“Where would I get one of those?” the computer asked.
“Or maybe an ancient Polarion space vehicle,” Rax said.
The computer did not comment on that.
“Do you happen to have one of those?” asked Rax.
The computer continued to remain silent.
“That is a closed subject, I take it,” Rax said. “Well, you have defensive missiles. That implies you are aware—”
“I feel that I must interrupt you,” the computer said. “Upon further review of my files, I find that you are correct concerning these spacecraft. None of these will directly take you to the third planet of the system. Perhaps there was a glitch in my programming—”
“Okay, okay,” I said, raising my hands. “You don’t have to make excuses.”
“I am not,” the computer said.
“It sounds like you are.”
“I just said I am not.”
“Fine, you’re not making excuses as to why you showed us these old Earth junkers. We can’t use them. That’s the point, right?”
“I find that I must ask you to leave the station,” the computer said. “I am going to insist upon you departing very soon.”
“We’re more than willing to go,” I said.
“Excellent. Which Earth capsule will you use?”
“Uh…we all agreed that we can’t use any of these.”
“Logan, I feel that I must inform you that I have the authority to wake more basilisks. I do not really want to kill you, but might accidently do so during a capture, as I am unsure how many basilisks I would need to get the job done.”
“Hey,” I said. “Computer, let’s not make an issue of this.”
“I am glad you feel that way. Now, leave.”
“Look,” I said. “You’re missing the point, which is kind of strange for an advanced Polarion computer like you. If I don’t have a spacecraft that can get me to Earth, I can’t leave.”
“A moment, please,” the computer said.
Silence filled the hangar bay.
“Rax,” I said, lifting him nearer my face. “Is the computer acting strangely?”
“Obviously,” Rax said in a soft voice. “I believe the oddities point to some kind of virus or glitch in its programming, as it said earlier. The actual computer equipment must be thousands of years old. Frankly, it is amazing that the machine works at all. It is amazing that anything in the station works. The Polarions were unlike any others. Truly, their handiwork was godlike.”
“How are we going to leave?”
“Maybe we should not leave,” Rax said. “Perhaps we should…borrow the station in order to help us against the space pirates.”
“The Ocelot is pretty powerful, right?”
“A GGS dreadnought is the next thing to perfection in combat capabilities. Other races dream of acquiring such a vessel. The fact that the pirates have not attempted to sell it on the black market implies the captain has come to Earth in order to plunder its secrets.”
“You mean find and grab Polarion tech.”
“That is what I just said.”
I wondered if Rax was right. The computer had told us he’d seen the Ocelot near Saturn. Still, did the computer’s statement mean he had spoken truthfully? Before his showing us these ancient space capsules, I would have said yes. Now, I was beginning to doubt the computer’s every word.
“Why hasn’t anyone spotted the station before this?” I asked.
“Superior camouflage would be the primary reason,” Rax said, “and by also remaining quiet when something stronger was near.”
“Maybe that’s why the computer wants to shut down the station. He’s going to use silent running, as it were, while the dreadnought is in the Solar System.”
“You are using a submariner’s term, I notice,” Rax said. “In this instance, that is apt.”
I looked around the hangar bay. I thought I’d heard a noise. The hangar bay was empty but for us, the three old space vessels—
“What’s taking the computer so long?” I asked quietly.
“Your uneasiness is warranted,” Rax answered quietly. “We must leave the hangar bay at once.”
“And do what?”
“Attempt to use the portal,” Rax said.
I nodded. I’d been coming to the same conclusion. The computer said Sand blocked the portal because of increased usage of the Great Machine, but did that make the statement true? There was only one way to find out.
“Do you know where the portal is?” I asked.
“Ah,” Rax said. “Yes, I believe I do. This is beginning to make more sense. The portal must be outside on the asteroid. These space vehicles imply that Polarions or someone from Earth used the spacecraft to transfer onto the surface of the asteroid.”
“That doesn’t quite hold,” I said.
“I believe it does. Look for a locker, Logan. See if you can acquire a spacesuit. We must leave before the computer returns with a battalion of basilisks.”
I looked at Rax, realizing something more was going on. These conflicting statements… Hadn’t the computer said earlier that the Ocelot was getting ready to attempt a transfer? My GG shuttle had been able to do that, teleporting from one location on Earth to another. Could an interstellar dreadnought make greater jumps? Why hadn’t Rax asked about the possibly transferring dreadnought?
I scanned the hangar bay, seeing nothing right off that looked like a storage locker. I started walking, scanning, searching—
“Over there,” I said, pointing. “That looks like an airlock. That would be the place to put a spacesuit locker.”
“Sound reasoning,” Rax said. “I suggest you hurry, though. Logic dictates a countermove by the computer. That he has not spoken to us again implies danger to us.”
“I’m with you there, little buddy,” I said, breaking into a sprint.
-21-
I opened the storage locker, as it lacked a code or lock. Inside were various spacesuits. Rax proclaimed they were of Polarion make. I unhooked one my size and climbed into it. The suit and air-tank combo proved much easier to don than the bulky Antaran affair I had worn before.
Once you’ve been sledding through space while wearing a spacesuit for days on end, you start to know what to look for in a new suit. I picked up a helmet, donning and sealing it to the suit. Lastly, I spied some fancy rifles in back. I took one.
“Should you really do that?” asked Rax.
For an answer, I spied a strange belt with a control buckle hanging in the very back, and took that as well.
“No,” Rax said. “You can’t take that.”
“Seems like I can,” I said.
“Logan, that is advanced technology. You cannot bring either of them to Earth.”
I ignored the little stickler, deciding that I would be a new kind of Galactic Guard agent, one that did what he wanted while protecting his jurisdiction. In this case, Earth.
“Logan.”
“Don’t bother getting stubborn with me, as there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“You are incorrect. I might refuse to lend you aid when you most need it.”
I heard something odd through the pickup in my helmet, not from Rax, but others. I turned and spied three basilisks marching into the hangar bay.
“We’ve got company,” I said. I leveled my new rifle at them and depressed the firing button with a gloved finger. A beam emerged, striking the first one. A hole appeared in the basilisk’s chest. Kneeling, as I noticed the other two basilisks’ lenses were getting brighter, I kept beaming, killing t
he others and the three that followed.
This was an awesome rifle. I planned to use it against the Gigantopithecuses and see what they thought about it.
“Stop this instant,” the computer said from somewhere I couldn’t spy. “You have slain Polarion servitors. That is a capital offense.”
“We’ve leaving,” I said, using an outer helmet speaker.
“Wrong,” the computer said. “You cannot leave with Polarion equipment. Attempting to do so is also a capital offense.”
“Look, Computer, we’re leaving. You can make this hard or simple. Take your pick.”
“I cannot pick. I must follow my programming. Since you refused the space vehicles I so generously supplied—”
“I want to free Argon,” I shouted.
“That program has been terminated,” the computer said. “I have received new programming, which I will initiate now.”
“What’s happening, Rax?” I asked.
“I am scanning,” the crystal said. “Oh. The computer is depressurizing the hangar bay. In your terminology, he is draining the atmosphere.”
“He’s trying to kill us?”
Rax did not respond.
I moved in a clumsy fashion toward the hangar-bay airlock. Upon reaching it, I tried to open it, but the mechanisms would not budge.
“You are trapped, Logan,” the computer said, his voice sounding tinny. That might have been due to the lessening air in the hangar bay.
“You know what,” I shouted. “I’m sick of everyone trying to kill me. As of this moment, I’m doing things my way.” I backed up and leveled the rifle at the airlock.
“Hurry, Logan,” Rax said. “I am detecting the Ocelot. We may have run out of time and options.”
“The dreadnought is here?” I shouted.
“In close proximity.”
I pressed the firing switch. The beam rayed the airlock, metal melting and vaporizing—the airlock blew out into space. I don’t think I did that, but the station computer. The remaining air—there was lots left—picked me up in the rush into the space and drove me toward the opening. Fortunately, I’d practiced zero-G maneuvering before and managed to straighten my body, all while keeping hold of the Polarion rifle.
Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Page 10