by Ginger Smith
“Yes,” Jacobs said. Patrin trusted the old captain. He had been a smuggler a long time, and he’d been invaluable at helping their vat fleet stay incognito while converting civilian spacecraft to gunships. “We just have to find someone to pick him up.”
“The Hesperus is out of commission right now. We took damage in the last fight and won’t be ready for a while. All our other frigates are out on resupply missions or undercover,” Seren mused.
“My ship’s hot right now. We need a repaint and repair of external damage,” Jacobs said. “What about that J-class that pulled in? The Loshad? Put a couple of vats on there, get a few Al-Kimians to fly to Chamn-Alpha as a supply ship. Vats could get off, get into the facility or his quarters with some false identification, and pick up this guy. Be back before dinner.”
“Nothing’s ever that easy,” Patrin scoffed.
“You just have no faith, son,” Jacobs said with a grin, giving him a shove. “Hell, I’ll even fly it.”
Seren coughed a little before he spoke. “No. The Loshad has not joined the cause yet. Their captain is in critical condition in the medcenter next door.”
“Commandeer the thing,” Jacobs shrugged.
Seren shook his head. “No, I will not commandeer their ship.”
“Then ask them nicely,” Jacobs offered.
“That, I can do, my friend, but it can wait until tomorrow. If you can get in touch with this researcher, tell him to sit tight. Someone will be coming, even if I have to hold the Hesperus together with my bare hands to fly it there.”
Hal woke up and looked around. There was a small light on above him and another one on in what he assumed to be the bathroom. The window revealed the darkness outside, as swirls of white snowflakes played around the frame.
He sat up and rubbed at his face. He was hungry again; a sign that his body was working overtime to heal the damage he’d suffered. “Veevs?” he called as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.
There was no answer. He stood up, then glanced around and into the bathroom. No one. He stepped outside the door, and saw Vivi standing near Ty’s room, talking with Beryl. When she saw him holding onto the door for support, she came over. “Hal? How are you feeling?”
“OK. I’m up and around,” he said, looking her up and down with clear eyes. She’d changed her clothes, and he needed to do the same. “Gonna grab a shower.”
The water was hot and he let it massage away the knots in his back for longer than he realized. When he cut the water and began to towel off, he heard a noise at the door. “You good?” Vivi called.
“Yeah, getting out now.” Hal pulled on the clean clothes he’d found in the bag and made his way out.
She was sitting on the bed, smiling at him. “You clean up well.”
“Nah, I look like someone ran me down with a heavy lifter,” he grinned, “But thanks.”
There was a knock at the door as Hal sat on the bed, trying to lace his boots. With his braced hand there was no way he could do it alone.
“Come in,” Vivi said, kneeling down to help Hal.
“There’s food for us in a room down the hall. Captain Seren would like to see us,” Beryl said.
“I need to see Ty first,” Hal said. When Vivi finished, he got up, walked to the open doorway and stood there watching Ty’s room in silence. “He’s still the same, Beryl?”
“Yeah, Hal. He’s still the same,” Beryl said. “But right now, that’s a good thing.”
Max finished up his work for the day, sealing the last embryo in the final exowomb. These bags were small, about the size of a one year-old. In a couple of months, someone else would use special tools to implant the interface into their brains. Then they would be rebagged and grown until they were ready to be “born” into a life of servitude.
The whole process, with the growth accelerator, took about four years, but these would be ready in two. When “born,” all vats were effectively twelve years-old physically and developmentally. For simplicity’s sake, the ACAS calculated a vat’s age from twelve whether it had taken them four years or two years to grow. How many thousands of vats had he been in contact with over the years? He looked down at the tiny lives in the artificial wombs in the incubators in front of him and spoke softly. “Good luck.”
He’d given them a good chance. Against his orders, he’d activated not only the personality genes, but genes that influenced leadership ability and intelligence. He’d even activated the genes that influenced independence, which upstairs regularly wanted suppressed. It was not a guarantee that all these qualities would manifest themselves, of course, but it would give them a better than normal chance to survive and realize what was being done to them. And then fight back.
It was the best he could do.
As he cleaned up the workstation, he hoped that he would hear something back from his contact. He’d been waiting for two days and was finding it hard to wait longer. If there was nothing on the shredder handheld when he got home, he would try to reach them one more time. If not, he’d have to find his own way off this rock.
“The target is one of the senior scientists that work on vat DNA at the Chamn-Alpha facility,” Captain Seren said. “He’s been there a number of years.”
Beryl glanced over at Hal. They’d been listening to Seren while they ate, but when he mentioned Chamn-Alpha, Hal tensed and put down his fork.
“And why do we need to save this guy’s ass again?” Hal asked. “Just because he asked us to?”
“He’s sent two messages to us. He claims there is some sort of superweapon being developed at C-A designed to work specifically against vats, and he wants out. He will bring us what he knows.”
“Superweapon?” Hal asked.
“That’s all we know,” Seren said. “But almost all of our ships are out on patrol. A J-class cargo ship like the Loshad would be perfect for this mission.” He held Hal’s gaze. “I’m asking if you will help us evacuate this researcher. He holds information that could be vital to all released vats.”
Hal glanced to Beryl. She gave him a subtle nod, and he shifted his gaze to Vivi.
“It’s your decision, Hal,” Vivi said. “Whatever you choose to do, I’ll back your play.”
“You helped us with Ty, so I owe you,” Hal said, shifting his focus back to Seren.
“No, brother,” Seren said. “We would have helped your captain regardless, after what your crew did for us. If you agree to this, we will be the ones in your debt.”
“Beryl, you have to stay with Ty, so someone’s there when he wakes up,” Hal told her.
She nodded, “I will.”
“Veevs… you can… I mean, you can sit this one out if…” Hal began.
“Just try to make me stay back,” she said.
He gave a small smile and nodded. “Alright, Seren. We’ll do it.”
“I will send Lane and Orin with you,” Seren said. At Hal’s nod, he went on. “It’s your ship, so you’re in charge of the mission. I will set up a meet time and location and resupply the Loshad. Give us a couple of days to set everything up.”
“Perfect. Hal can use the time to heal up,” Beryl said.
“Good, then.” Seren stood up heavily and swayed a little.
“You alright there?” Hal asked.
“I will be. It has been a very long day. Thank you… all of you.”
TWENTY-NINE
Vivi made her way into the back of the Loshad, heading for Beryl’s quarters. They had spent the day getting the ship outfitted for the journey to Chamn-Alpha. Hal had described it to her as home of one of the largest vat facilities. It was, in fact, the very place Hal had been born.
She was unsure how she’d handle seeing the facility that had made Hal to all intents and purposes a slave to the wishes of the ACAS. The idea of him having to walk back in there made her feel physically ill.
“Did you need me for something, Beryl?” Vivi asked as the door to the medic’s room slid open.
“Hmm? Oh, Vivi. I
did. Come in.” Beryl was by her footlocker but stood up when Vivi approached. A medkit was in her hand. “I want you to have this in case you need it.” Beryl unzipped the bag and took out a medjet with a blue label. “Now if Hal has an episode like that first one, you need to know what to do. Talk him down, but also use the sedative, if what he’s saying or doing seems like it’s on repeat.”
“OK,” she nodded nervously.
“If he doesn’t ramp down, you can use it up to three times. It’s not going to hurt him,” Beryl said. “He’ll just sleep a bit longer.”
She nodded again.
Beryl took out a different medjet with a red label. “This is amp. It’s what Hal was on during that cage fight. There’s three medjets in here, and more in the medbay, if you need it. We try not to use much of this. But, if things get rough and he needs it or one of the others needs it, you’ll know. No more than one dose every six hours.”
The idea of having to use any of these on Hal or anyone else made her worry. She took a shaky breath as Beryl went on and took out a different medjet with a black label. “If you use the amp, this is the neutralizer. If a vat on amp doesn’t get this as he comes off the rush, he’ll get muscle cramps so badly he’ll be unable to move, fight or defend himself. You don’t want to see that. Trust me.”
Vivi nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“Good.” She zipped up the bag and handed it to Vivi.
Vivi nodded, not knowing what to say and feeling a little scared. How would Hal react being so far away from his anchors? Would she be enough to bring him back? She swallowed hard. “Thanks, Beryl. I’ll just go stow this.”
She had almost reached her room when she saw Hal step out from his quarters into the hallway. He was dressed in his typical grey tee with black fatigue pants and boots.
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.”
His gaze fixed on the kit. “Beryl’s, right?”
“Y- Yeah?” Her heart seemed to pause on the edge of a beat.
“It’s a good thing, Veevs. If I have an episode, you do what you gotta do. Put me down.”
“What?”
“You know, if I wake up acting strange… It’s OK to put me down for the night.”
“Oh, right. Hal… I…”
“It’s OK, Veevs. I trust you.” He pulled her into a quick embrace, then let her go. “Gotta go switch out the ship’s weapons.” And with that, he was gone down the hallway.
Hal trusted her. She wouldn’t let him down.
“Vivi,” Eira said.
“Yeah, Eira?” She paused, glancing up at the comm speaker.
“Tyce has an alarm set for Hal’s episodes. Would you like me to continue it?”
“What do you mean?”
“If Hal leaves his room in the middle of the night, Tyce is supposed to be awakened. Should I wake you instead?”
Vivi nodded. “Yes, Eira. That would be great.”
“You have changed your sleeping patterns since Jaleeth,” Eira observed. “Is this to prevent Hal from having an episode?”
“Um… not exactly,” Vivi said.
“More information is needed to understand,” Eira said.
“Eira, it’s hard to explain. I- I’m fond of Hal. Becoming more fond of him each day. We’ve started spending more time together because of that. That’s why our ‘sleeping patterns’ have changed.”
“You are what humans call in love.”
“Maybe,” Vivi said. “But it takes time for things like that to happen.” She wasn’t sure that Eira would or could understand. “How did you know about being in love?”
“I have studied your entertainment feeds when learning your language. It is a frequently visited theme.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” Vivi nodded.
“When will we leave for Chamn-Alpha?” Eira asked.
“This evening,” Vivi replied. “After we say goodbye to Beryl and Ty.”
“Then Tyce has awakened from his stasis?” Eira said. Hal had been on the ship last night and Eira had asked about Tyce. Vivi knew Hal had explained Tyce’s condition to the Mudar, who seemed concerned. He’d also explained the reason for their trip to Chamn-Alpha.
“No, not yet.” Vivi answered. “Hopefully soon, though. Maybe even by the time we return.”
“I am interested in speaking with Tyce again,” Eira said.
“Yeah. Me too,” Vivi said with a sigh.
* * *
“Here’s the vat’s handheld.” Vivi handed it to Beryl who had taken up her vigil at Ty’s bedside. It had been two days since they arrived on Al-Kimia, and he was still in a coma. Beryl had checked with Ty’s doctors earlier that day and found that he was expected to be brought out of it as soon as his vitals were stable.
“I don’t have time to break the encryption on the ACAS’s device, but maybe Seren has someone that could.” When she’d cleaned off the blood earlier, she couldn’t help but think of the pale angry face that she’d seen through the scope when she’d killed the man standing over Hal. It kept coming back at the strangest of moments and caused a shiver to run through her each time.
Beryl nodded, taking the handheld. “I’m sure he does. I’ll take care of it.” She set it to the side and stood. “Now, you be careful out there,” she said, wrapping her arms around Vivi. “I know you’re not some green tyro just arriving into the Edge for the first time, but watch your back, OK? And more importantly, watch out for Hal.”
“I will,” she said, hugging back.
“Good. I know you will anyway,” she smiled at Vivi, “but humor an old woman. It doesn’t work if I don’t say it out loud.”
Vivi smiled gently, understanding. She looked down at Ty’s sleeping form one more time. He didn’t look worse, but he didn’t look much better either. She would just have to be happy he kept breathing steadily. She squeezed his hand and sent him all her hopes that he would be alright. “Take care of this guy,” she murmured.
“You bet,” Beryl nodded.
There was movement by the door and they both looked up to see Hal. “Everything’s ready to go, Veevs,” he said, coming over to Beryl. “You know I wouldn’t leave him with anyone else.”
“Oh, I know that.”
“Tell him I didn’t want to go, but I knew what he would want me to do.”
“He’ll understand.” She wrapped him in a one-armed hug. “Come back safe.”
Hal nodded as he hugged her back.
Vivi was standing in the doorway when he turned to her. “Ready?”
He took one last look at Ty, then nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Max slipped his most recent batch of gene-altered embryos into the incubator; finished for the day, he began to clean off his workstation when Dr Balen entered the room.
“Max. How goes the work on the accelerated generation?”
“Great. Just finished a tray.”
“Let’s see.”
“No problem.” Max nodded and slipped the last tray out, placing it on the lab table. He managed to remain cool enough to hide his pounding heart.
Balen took a syringe to one of the exowombs, drew out some fluid and then slipped it into the microanalyzer. Max was fairly sure that the doctor had chosen one of the embryos that he’d modified to the right specs, but he could be wrong.
“Nice job,” Balen said, handing the tray back.
“Thank you,” Max said, setting it back into the giant incubator. When Balen had gone, he would take these to storage and stow them with a few thousand other vats.
“Well, keep up the good work.” Balen made his way to the door. “And Max, I’m glad you realized what we were trying to do here. We’d rather have you with us than the alternative.”
Max nodded. “Of course, Dr Balen.”
“Eira, I’m going to let you handle navigation. I need you to plot a standard course to Chamn-Alpha. Use the regular shipping lanes so we don’t draw attention,” Hal said as he settled into Ty’s station and began procedures for lift off. “Rem
ember, our guests don’t know you’re anything beyond a standard shipboard computer.” Before leaving they’d discussed making sure that Eira didn’t do or say anything to give away her status when the others were around.
“Yes, Hal,” she responded.
Lane and Orin were getting situated in Vivi’s quarters. She’d volunteered to let them stay in her room, asking Hal if it was OK if she continued sleeping in his room. He’d smiled and told her he had been hoping she’d say that.
“Is Tyce still in stasis?”
Hal stopped what he was doing and looked toward the display where Eira’s voiceprint line was. “Yeah, Eira. He’s not been conscious yet. Beryl’s staying with him. The Al-Kimians are taking good care of him.”
“Your voice shows anxiety.”
Hal took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess it does. He was hurt pretty badly.” He returned his attention to lift off. “You’re worried about him too,” Hal remarked.
“I am concerned,” she admitted.
That evening, everyone gathered together over dinner. “We should strategize how we’re going to do this,” Hal began. “We have to pick up a guy named Max Parsen. The Al-Kimians got a picture of him from somewhere. Put it up on screen, Eira.” He gestured toward the feed display. It showed a pretty nondescript picture of a guy in a lab coat; it looked similar to an ID badge picture.
“So, this is the ACAS doctor?” Lane asked.
Hal nodded. “He’s stationed at the Chamn-Alpha facility.” He glanced to Lane and Orin. “Anyone familiar with it?”
They shook their heads. “We’re from the Haleia-6 facility,” Lane said, gesturing to herself and Orin.
“Got it.” Hal nodded. “I’m from C-A. We shouldn’t have to go onto the base, which makes this pickup simpler, but it’s good to know the area. Our cover is that we’re carrying a load of medical supplies to Beruga City. That gives us a good reason to be in the spaceport. As far as this scientist goes, we have a couple of choices. We can pick him up at his residence or have him meet us in the spaceport or the city center. Any thoughts on that?”
Orin signed to Lane a few moments, and Hal and Vivi waited for Lane’s translation.