En Route

by Maksim Malik

  “Yes, we—I would like to schedule a meeting with the station master,” Nadani said politely.

  “Okay, and who are you, and to what does this regard?” the other asked.

  “I’m Nadani Jagi and this is regarding the destruction of Jehlengen station,” Nadani replied.

  “Terrible tragedy that,” the person said. “Might I inquire for further details? That’s not something a station master typically deals with.”

  “I have important information regarding an upcoming attack, if only the station master will have a look at some images I have prepared—”

  “Is this another CAAI trick? No, we do not want to view any more of your propaganda. Thank you, good sol.” The connection went dead.

  “Are you fucking serious?!” Nadani yelled and placed both hands over her face as her anger flared.

  The nerve of the person thinking we’re CAAI, Adan said, its own frustration only aggravated Nadani’s.

  Nadani forced herself to relax although it took several minutes before she began to cool off.

  Adan, connect me to Ruthan T’vari, Nadani said.

  T’vari? Are you sure? Adan asked.

  Yeah, I think so, Nadani said. He must have connections.

  Ruthan T’vari lived on a ship the size of a small space station along with his people. It was a movable city. Nadani worked for him once and in doing so became involved in a galactic affair during which she ended up captured, tortured, and sent to various labs. Though she supposed she ought to be thankful as well since the result of it all was her current method of making creds. She didn’t know whether she hated the man or not.

  “Hello,” it was Ruthan’s voice.

  “Ruthan, I—”

  “I’m not here right now. I’m a busy guy. Please try back later.” The automated message finished, and the connection dropped.

  Nadani felt like crying.

  CCHQ is probably our best bet still, Adan said and sent warm feelings and comfort.

  “Yeah,” Nadani said. “We’ll be fine once we get there.”

  Septiva IX

  An alarm chimed in Annabella’s ears; she had fallen asleep in the pit. The sound stopped when the ship recognized her to be awake. Harmonic Essences had three minutes left in foldspace until endpoint. She stifled a yawn and checked all the ship’s systems—all green and good to go.

  A brilliant blue planet displayed on cameras as soon as the ship dropped out of foldspace. There were islands scattered all over the planet but none nowhere near large enough to be declared a continent. Jagi must have had doting parents to fit the bill for such a paradise planet’s education for their daughter. Thinking about it made Annabella sick.

  Exanet access became available at this distance from the planet, likely a wide enough radius to cover the orbit of a station, so she looked up the university’s coordinates as well as the nearest starport. Luckily for her, the starport and university were on the daylight side of the planet.

  “Shir—er, Annabella Summerlin, Harmonic Essences Z681-09C to starport Alpha-Sigma-Sigma, requesting permission to dock for short term, sending current coordinates,” she laughed at the starport’s name to herself and looked up the history behind it via Exanet. Apparently when naming the starport the university held a poll and the most voted name would win and that’s what the students voted for.

  “Harmonic Essences, follow incoming trajectory and set down on landing pad zero-three,” a man’s voice replied.

  Annabella didn’t reply and waited for the trajectory to be intercepted by her ship. Once her computer had it, she eased the ship onto the proper course, flipping the ship to burn retrograde to follow the steep decline. As she did this—it was a slow process—she skimmed through news headlines. One about aliens destroying stations made her raise an eyebrow.

  The planet refined into more detail as she drew nearer and took her breath away. The islands were lush and green—even the ones with buildings had jungles of greenery. The sheer amount of water below her ship, sparkling waves almost mesmerizing her, boggled the mind. Annabella, being born in space and having not visited many planets, never saw even a tenth of the amount of water she saw now. Sadly, she tore her attention away from the sights, worried she would go off course.

  After a few minutes she lined herself up with her landing pad and brought the ship down. She landed as a leaf through the air coming to rest at the ground.

  I should change out of my plugsuit, she thought as she stood from the pilot’s pit. She wanted to be a simple face in the crowd—not that there was much of a crowd in the starport right now. If she looked more like a student, then nobody would remember her. At the moment she knew she wasn’t actively tracked but, in the future, someone might try to follow her footsteps for some reason.

  In the bedroom she stared at her wardrobe for a couple minutes before deciding on an outfit. She stripped out of her plugsuit and dermasuit and put on holopants and a loose, red t-shirt. The holopants showed the viewer waterfalls pouring water down her legs from every angle as she moved; the t-shirt was simply a shirt. She slipped on some sandals and exited the ship. Although her age was nearly thirty, she already began the age-prevention process at twenty, so she still looked twenty.

  The small starport didn’t have many people in it, and Annabella didn’t pass anyone on her way out. Outside the wind blew lightly—the air had a fresh quality to it she had never experienced and would be hard-pressed to describe. Someone waited at the exit of the starport.

  “First time to Septiva IX?” he asked, looking down at her. He dressed in a variation of security uniform she hadn’t seen before: short sleeve shirt, and shorts.

  “Yes, yes, it is,” she said pleasantly, giving the man a smile. He must want to scan her ident for the records.

  “I need you to take this and let it dissolve in your mouth,” he said and held out a small, round, and pink pill. “There’s a local fever you might catch otherwise.”

  “Ah, very well,” Annabella said and took the proffered pill popping it in her mouth where it dissolved. It had a sweet taste.

  “That’s all then,” he said. “Enjoy your stay!”

  “Thank you,” she said with cheer, surprised she felt genuine happiness at the sentiment.

  Around the spaceport were some restaurants and shops—the typical traveler amenities. She paid those no mind and rented a hoverscoot from an automated vendor near the road leading away from the starport plaza. There were no vehicles larger than a hoverscoot as far as she could see.

  The provided helmet conformed automatically when she put it on her head. Annabella sat on the scooter. As soon as both of her legs were on it a visible energy shield encompassed the hoverscoot—a sort of half sphere starting above her head and cutting off at the bottom of the hoverscoot. She turned it on and the vehicle lifted about half a meter from the ground.

  “To the university, please,” Annabella said. She didn’t know why she added the “please.” She spoke to a mere computer after all.

  The vehicle sped down the road, slowing for curves, and taking appropriate turns. On straightaways she found to her surprise the hoverscoot traveled at 120km/h. She preferred cars for land vehicles, but this would get her to the university fast enough.

  When she arrived at the university, the hoverscoot found an empty parking space, lowered itself, and turned itself off. The energy shield dissipated, and Annabella dismounted. Here there were crowds. Small groups of people dotted the cut grass, under the trees, or laid flat under the star’s rays. Nearer the university itself, student groups attempted to attract members. They sat at booths, handed out fliers, asked people to fill out surveys, and similar actions.

  She walked casually through the corridor made by the booths, ignoring either side. Even CAAI had a booth here, she noted as she continued. People tried to get her attention, but she ignored them like many other students did.

  How frustrating it must be for these booth workers, she thought.

  A map of the university foun
d on the Exanet helped her navigate through the myriad of sidewalks she needed to walk down to get to the university’s library. As soon as she entered the library her interface received a query asking permission to connect to the library’s net. She approved it and the library became accessible to her.

  They don’t even check if I’m a student, Annabella thought. I suppose it really is a public library.

  A quick general search found a section on University Projects which listed all past and present special projects happening. She searched for Adan and returned nothing. Searching for martial arts returned a few dozen results. An epiphany came to her—why wasn’t she searching for Jagi?

  One result showed when searching for Nadani Jagi—a project initiated several years ago.

  Strange, it doesn’t have an end date, she thought, refreshing the information to see if it loaded incorrectly. No, it loaded the same the second time as well. She read the project goals and felt cold as blood drained from her face. The project was not about martial arts taught by AI but about merging with AI itself. Jagi had been the volunteer for a temporary merge. But why the incomplete date? Curious and a little frustrated, Annabella searched for Bernard Feckwell, the professor in charge, on a general Exanet search.

  Many results came back, all dating around the time the project started. Most were newspaper headlines referring to the mysterious disappearance of the university professor. The rest regarded other people with the same name. Everything made sense to her now.

  The project never ended because the professor disappeared—and Jagi still had the AI! She merged with an AI. It was incredulous. She saved copies of the project listing and all the articles about the professor disappearing and disconnected from the library’s net.

  An idea formed in her head, causing her to smile as she walked out of the library and back toward the parking lot. People smiled back at her which caused her smile to grow even brighter as she thought the idea through.

  Annabella stopped at the CAAI booth on her way back to her ship. Soon the entire galaxy would know about her pet AI.

  Just Desserts

  Nadani smiled sadly to herself as she made her way through the station toward Astromancer from the shopping area. Her left hand carried a bag with delicate chocolate. She and Adan made sure everything in the ingredients was edible for Dr. Tysgan’s species. This would probably help cheer up Dr. Tysgan. He was more depressed at losing his friend and his chance to get home than he let on. Each would receive a miniature chocolate caked, with chocolate-covered ponberries on top, drizzled with chocolate syrup. Of course, she picked ponberries because she loved them—she could only hope Dr. Tysgan liked them as well. If not, then the cake could be eaten without them. Nadani would gladly eat any extra ponberries. How she wished Trisha could share this with her. Nadani missed her with all her heart, and Trisha always perched in the back of her mind.

  The station had small clumps of crowds here and there, and Nadani approached one group traveling the other direction. She prepared herself to move through them. Without warning, the man she almost went by stepped in front of her and shoved her, hard. She stumbled backward and nearly lost her footing.

  “Nadani Jagi,” the man said. “And her AI.”

  This is not good, Adan said. These are CAAI activists.

  Shit, Nadani replied. Her heart leapt, and she was at a near panic. How did they find out?

  Good question, Adan said. But focus now.

  “Sub-human!” called out another one—a girl around her age.

  Can I legally hit them? Without getting in trouble—since he shoved me and they’re threatening me? she asked Adan.

  If they move on you then you can, Adan said. But you cannot make the first attack.

  Nadani grimaced and set the dessert bag onto the floor. There were six of them now fanned out side-by-side in front of her. Two of them from either side rushed at her at the same time. One was the girl who yelled earlier. She blocked a punch from each of them, one after the other, and realized neither of them were trained fighters.

  You can take down these two, Adan said. It had not taken over her body yet. Nadani whirled in place and delivered two swift kicks, catching the girl on the side of the head, and the other, the man, on the side of his neck. They both fell to the ground though. The girl unconscious and the man lied there groaning.

  “You’re nothing but a machine,” said the first guy, the one who pushed her.

  “You’re making a mistake,” Nadani said. “I’m just a pilot.”

  “Bullshit!” the man yelled.

  All four of the remaining CAAI members rushed forward at the same time. She belatedly realized they must be communicating using Exanet or personal links. The momentum of four charging her would be overwhelming. A quick glance at the desserts caused her to hesitate before she turned to run.

  Nadani made it a few steps before one of them tackled her to the ground. She struggled beneath him but couldn’t free herself. Even letting Adan take over didn’t help. Soon she felt sharp impacts where the others kicked at her sides. The one on top of her tightened his grip around her throat and blocked off her airway. She saw stars and her vision faded around the edges.

  “Security! Stand away from the woman or prepare to be fired upon!” came a yell from nearby.

  Suddenly she could breathe again and the weight of the man atop her vanished. After a long gasp of air, she coughed. Nadani felt concern emanating from Adan. She looked up from the floor to see half a dozen armed security personnel putting the CAAI members in restraints.

  That was too close, Nadani thought.

  I’m glad security is quick to respond here, Adan said.

  Yeah. And it looks like I must go private ident every time we dock, Nadani said. That is going to get expensive. Ten thousand creds each time—it’s robbery.

  You have enough creds to do that for a long while, Adan replied. More importantly, are you injured? Nanobots are reporting possible broken ribs plus several deep bruises.

  I hurt, yes, Nadani said after a moment. And, yeah, my ribs are probably cracked at least from all the kicking.

  “Miss Jagi, can you get up, or do you need to wait for a stretcher?” a woman said. Nadani turned her head to see who spoke. The ident read Elanie Schmeckenschoen—one of the security personnel.

  “I think I can get up,” Nadani replied. When she moved to hands and knees she hissed in pain as her side flared.

  Oh, yeah, that’s broken, she thought, fighting nausea, and clutched at her side with one hand.

  “A medic is on the way,” Schmeckenschoen said. “Let me help you.”

  With Schmeckenschoen’s help, Nadani made it to her feet, gasping at the sharp pain radiating from her left side.

  “That was some move taking out those first two,” Elanie commented. The unasked question of how Nadani learned to do such a thing hovered in the air.

  “I spend a lot of time in a self-defense simulation in foldspace,” Nadani said. “Seems it didn’t help quite enough though.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Elanie said with pride tinging her voice.

  “Yes, thank you,” Nadani said. She felt awkward about saying it.

  “We have the footage of what happened. Assault is a highly-punishable crime,” Schmeckenschoen said. “Is there anything you wish to add to the case against them?”

  They’re CAAI scum, she thought to herself but didn’t want to bring up the topic of AI. Until there were laws protecting people like her she didn’t want her name out in the open.

  “No, they just attacked me. I don’t know any of them—I’m from off station,” Nadani replied.

  Unfortunately, it might already be a moot point, Adan said. If CAAI know then who else knows?

  How did CAAI find out? Nadani asked, frustration mounting. We’ve been careful.

  Yes, and that is troublesome, Adan said.

  “Here comes the doctor,” Elanie said, nodded her head, and moved away.

  And are the desserts okay? Nad
ani said and looked around for them. She spotted them back where she left them, unharmed.

  “I’m Dr. Fukuhara,” the tall, handsome man said as he approached. He had black hair, purposefully tousled, and a bright smile. “Let’s have a look,” he said, indicating the side Nadani held her hand over.

  “Right,” Nadani said and removed her hand. Fukuhara reached toward her with a device in his hand and scanned over the area.

  “Ouch, broken ribs,” he said. “Hold still please.”

  Nadani complied and he ran the device around her body, scanning for other anomalies.

  “Bruising here and there, nothing a healing bath can’t deal with,” Dr. Fukuhara said. “The ribs will have to be dealt with at a MediScan. You can come with me to the clinic and we can get that taken care of—there is a stretcher to keep from jostling those ribs around.”

  “Um, I’d rather go to my ship,” Nadani said. “There’s a MediScan there,” she added, “and I’d feel much safer being there sooner rather than later.”

  “Hmm,” the doctor hummed audibly while thinking. “I suppose I can accompany you to your ship as long as you ride the stretcher there. I will verify it is updated and can handle the task. It’s not often pilots have their own MediScan.”

  “Okay, I’ll ride the stretcher,” Nadani sighed. “But I need to pick up my desserts first.”

  “Very well,” Fukuhara said.

  After walking the few meters to pick up her desserts, Nadani turned around to find the stretcher following her.

  The doctor sure is persistent, she thought.

  True, but it’s a worthwhile precaution I think, Adan said. It would look bad for him if a patient were to be hurt even further while under his care.

  Nadani sighed and sat on the edge of the stretcher, which lowered its hover height to adjust to her leg length and winced as she laid down. At least they weren’t far from the ship.

  “Now, where is your ship?” Dr. Fukuhara asked when Nadani settled onto the stretcher.

  “Pad twenty-two,” Nadani said.