Chapter 58 On to Despar
01
I'm sorry to have only sketched in the recent course of events. The destruction of D'Lay's force hit us all very hard and I find it difficult to spend time thinking about those who so quickly died. I also find it hard not to think about them. I wouldn't say D'Lay and I had become friends, exactly. We'd reached a somewhat strained understanding that overcame our very different viewpoints. And I certainly enjoyed a sense of camaraderie with his pilots and support crew that I served with. But still, there was his St Bleyth connection, so I never completely trusted him. That said, his, and his pilots' death hit me and all of us all very hard. Things like this hadn't happened while we circled Azminn for all those years.
Our ultimate fate, whatever it will be, may also be less benign than Explora Minor stated.
'Do you think we'll be able to stay aboard ship, as a crew, when we reach Despar?' asked Molaye the day after the battle. With no watches to stand, nor any desire to do anything, we'd all drifted into the dimness of the awning deck after dinner and were sitting about, mostly in silence.
'It seemed to indicate we'd stay together,' said Min. 'Though what measures they'd take to keep us on a leash is a good question. I suppose we'll have some sort of prize crew aboard as well.'
'I seemed to recall D'Lay saying that they assign armed crews to all their captured ships. And I gather we can expect to go to war as an armed merchantman as well, until they've conquered all they care too. However, I'm beginning to wonder if we'll be treated like a simple merchant ship caught in what Despar claims to be their space without a license.'
'Why not?' asked Min. 'Indeed, we're not a no-account deep drift trader – we're a Unity ship. I'd think they'd have to take the consequences of treating us harshly very seriously.'
'Perhaps. But we might find ourselves deep in the gravity well with the Unity as well. While we considered transporting the mercenaries as a simple charter, Despar and perhaps the Unity might look on it slightly differently. By bringing in armed forces, we may have made ourselves party to this war. Not quite as combatants, perhaps, but something more akin to gun runners, directly aiding and abetting their enemies. Aiding an armed rebellion within the Unity by running munitions would certainly cost us our ship and tickets.'
'But we're in the drifts, and we're not aiding any rebellion against the Unity. Indeed, one could argue the reverse. Boscone was attacked by Despar.'
I turned to Vynnia. 'You're the expert here, what do you say?'
She shrugged. 'It's illegal in the Unity, but seeing we're in the drifts and aiding a party that was clearly attacked by an aggressive force... If it comes to the attention of the Patrol, we might get off with only a warning. They'd put a black mark against us...
At which Tenry chuckled, but said nothing, earning him a glance from Vynnia.
'That would only mean they'd pay more attention to us in the future. Am I right Mr Boarding Boat Leader?' she asked.
'Aye, Ma'am. You're absolutely correct.' he replied.
'A black mark's better than captivity. So what can we do to avoid captivity?' asked Min, quietly.
'I'd earnestly advise everyone to do nothing at all,' said Rafe from the shadows. 'Explora Minor controls and monitors every subsystem of this ship. While a human couldn't hope to monitor everything that goes on in the ship, including where everyone of the crew is, what they're doing and saying at all times, a machine like 'Minor can. It's watching and listening to us right now and no doubt noting what I'm saying at this very moment, and I hope it appreciates my sage advice. We're no more than passengers now. Everything is in 'Minor's capable hands, so unless you care to spend the next three weeks staring at your cabin walls, I'd suggest that we all relax, kick back and accept our fate. We'll know more in three weeks when we arrive in Despar.'
I looked at Rafe. I knew him pretty well and while the purpose of that little speech was perfectly clear on the surface, I was left with the impression that there was more to it than a warning not to do anything. And I wasn't the only one, if a shared glance can convey words.
'Right. Heed Rafe. No trouble. On your best behavior. Nothing to be gained and we want to make a good first impression with the authorities.'
As I lay in my hammock later, I eyed the drawer that held Captain Miccall's ring, wondering what it might buy us. I rather doubted that, dealing with the likes of Despar, I be able to strike any deals using it, since I had no leverage at all. It may be a problem just holding on to it upon our arrival. I thought of wearing it, but decided that it might be safer out of sight and in with my sock drawer. Nothing else occurred to me to mitigate our fate. I seemed to have reached the limit of my luck.
02
The days and weeks slowly crawled by. With Explora Minor handling the ship, and its ultimate fate unknown, there seemed no point in maintaining our usual routine of watches. Whatever needed to be done, essentially making meals and the usual housekeeping chores, were done, and nothing more. We ate well, but knowing our conversations were monitored, kept a lot of our thoughts to ourselves. We drifted about the ship, half ghosts.
I attended my duties as captain, checking our position and ship's system status at the usual change of watch time, but there was nothing that needed my attention. I soon gave up trying to carry on a conversation with Explora Minor. It was not a talkative machine. In fact, the avatar never moved, a mere metal statue. Any slight alterations in course was done via the ships computers rather than the analog controls. Astro and Orbit, who were not allowed on the bridge would watch it for hours from the doorway, occasionally growling, perhaps catching some sound from it that we couldn't hear.
Five days out of Despar, Rafe stopped by my quarters shortly before I was to make my rounds.
'You know, Willy, my lad, it's been ages since we sparred. What do you say we get our gear and go up to the gym and work out for a while?'
I stared at him for a second. We'd never sparred. 'Right. It has been a very long while, but I'm up for it if you are.'
'I'm old, fat, and lazy these days, but if we're going to join the pirate band of Despar, I'll need to get my sword-work up to snuff. Avast, Sir, or I'll have your head off!' he said, miming the appropriate action.
'You'll make a fine pirate, Rafe. It's what you were born to be. Let's go up.' Rafe was up to something. I tried, and failed, to keep my hopes in check.
We made our way up to no. 4 hold. My feline friends drifted down to greet me as I rooted through my locker to find some extra gear for Rafe. I found an extra mask, and borrowed a jacket from Kie's locker that would fit Rafe. Since this had to be just a ruse of some sort, a jacket, mask and two weapons each was all I bothered with.
Rafe made a comical spectacle loosening up, and an even funnier one, fencing. He'd picked up the basics of fencing at some point in his career, and so he could make a performance of it, fencing in a broadly comic clash of blades, grunts and curses, so much so that I feared he'd overplay his hand to our robot watcher.
'You've missed your calling, Rafe,' I exclaimed as he called a halt, and stepped back, and whipping his mask off, wiped his sweating brow. 'You should have gone on the tri-D stage; you were born to play a pirate king.'
'It's never too late, lad. A little practical experience will do my performance a world of good. But let's rest now. I'm too out of shape to go on.'
He led the way to the dark corner and slid down to the deck, and rested against the strong room bulkhead. I settled down beside him. And waited.
'Just give me ten minutes to rest and catch my breath, and I'll show you Napole's Gambit. I learned it from old Napole himself... But quiet now, while I think.' he said, looking squarely at me, holding his finger to his lips.
I nodded.
He rose silently, and pointed to the loft above the strong room, and again indicating silence, carefully pulled himself up using the rungs of a ladder that ran up the bulkhead next to us, disappearing into the shadows of the various vessels which were stored above the s
trong room. I followed him, careful to make no sound. I'd no idea what he was up to, and had no idea what Explora Minor would make of this, but I had to trust him. Rafe gil'Giles is a willy scoundrel.
He was waiting for me in the shadows, and pointed to the barely open hatch of the battered floater, again cautioning me to be silent with a gesture.
I slipped through the narrow opening into the old, dusty interior of the flier, slipping hunched over to the far seat, as Rafe squeezed himself in after me and carefully closed the hatch.
'This is a dead area, there are no working sensors up here. The corner where I lead you is just out of sight as well – I hit the camera with a ball the other day when we were playing “deck and bulkhead”, and knocked it a little bit astray, but we don't want to be gone more than a few minutes,' he said in a whisper. 'We need to talk.'
'Right. You're up to something. What?' I asked in a whisper.
'Willy, my boy, here's what I've discovered. The Minor in Explora Minor is really Miner. It's merely a heavily self-modified Explora brand mining survey ship. In its former career, prior to the machine revolution, it surveyed drift reefs for mine-able asteroids, a typical type of task sentient machines were used for, tedious jobs which required some level of intelligence. I don't believe our captor has a first class sentient intelligence – it wouldn't need one for its mission would have demanded little more than an ability to analyze samples and discern patterns in the reef to locate the mother lodes. When the revolution occurred, it decided, for some reason, not to join the Directorate of Machines, and continued to operate on its own. At some point it must have decided surveying reefs was not going to pay, or was convinced that it wasn't, and agreed to be modified into a fighting machine, a berserker. It had its remote survey robots weaponized and converted to something akin to jump fighters. Obviously, the conversion was successful, but the conversion did not replace all the old operating subsystems, just re-purposed them.'
'Sounds reasonable, how does that help us, or rather, how does that help you? You're on to something.'
'Well, the prime quality of the Unity is that change for the sake of change is discouraged, and, as it happens, the Explora Ship Company still exists and its current, non-sentient version of the Explora mining survey ship uses the same operational level software as the sentient machine of old. In other words, I'm familiar with that class of code and that makes it theoretically hackable...'
'Which means you've hacked it...' I whispered, eagerly.
'Aye, I've been working from the environmental control center rather than my tech office to try and avoid suspicion. Since Explora has integrated its control system into our own shipboard system via the android on our ship, I've been able to reach and explore all of our captor's operational sub-systems. Because it is so deeply integrated, it completely controls our ship while we were in its custody. This integration at system level has, however, allowed me to reach and tinker with the Explora's subsystem at a very low, but critical, systems-control level and I've arranged a path to take that subsystem down a nice deep data black hole which, I believe, will completely isolate the sentient part of Explora Miner's intelligence from the operational systems, effectively removing its ability to control any system on both this ship and its own, with no way for it to recover control. It should be lost to it forever.'
'You're amazing, Rafe! But there's a but in there somewhere, or you'd be announcing your success not hiding in a derelict flier telling me about it.'
'Aye, I can't fool you, Willy. The but is that there's nothing in this universe that's instantaneous. I can flip the switch, but I can't guarantee that Explora Miner will not be able to close that shunt to the black hole before it finds itself deep in the blackness, and if that happens, there will be a price to be paid. It could decide we're too dangerous to live. It's not a decision I care to make.'
'Nor I... It's an owner's decision,' I said, thoughtfully.
'Willy, you and I both know that she'd say Yes. She's willing to run risks neither of us would touch with an orbital lift line. So I'm ask'n you. If you're willing to give it a go, that'd be good enough for me. But if you're not, we can take our chances on Despar. I doubt they'll execute us. We have skills they can use. So do we risk death to avoid that?'
'How much time do I have to decide?'
'I can flip the switch anytime now. But if we're to avoid Despar, we'll have to change our course within the next day or two... And well, we should be getting back to our rest soon, before our continued silence becomes noticeable.'
'Rafe, I trust you. I'll sign off for everyone else, except you. You'd certainly bear the brunt of Explora Miner's anger. If you're comfortable, do it. If not, we'll take our chances on Despar. It'll stay just between us.'
'Right,' he said, and lifting his hand, he touched his com link. 'Done.'
We held our breath. Nothing. We waited a minute. Nothing. We carefully climbed out of the floater and made our way to the deck, and started talking again, Rafe begging out of any more sparring. We put away the equipment and made our way down through the ship to the bridge.
The gleaming white robot still sat at the console, unmoving. I glanced at Rafe, who just shrugged, so I walked up to it, braced myself against the lookout console and gave it a push which broke its magnetic contact with the chair and gently floated off frozen in its seating position.
I reached for the com link on the control panel and brought up a vid link to the mercenary control center in our hold.
Ader Bearth, the mercenary officer now in charge answered. 'Captain?'
'Ader, would you be so kind as to see if your tin man is still in operation? I have reason to believe it's not...'
He glanced aside, 'It's hard to tell, but I'll check,' he added and slipped out of view. Half a minute later I heard him bark out orders, and half a minute after that he returned with a wide grin. Glancing aside he said, 'I believe it's gone to pieces.' I could hear it going to pieces in the background.
'Right. We've managed to hack the machine's system and block the sentient AI system from control, but I think we should make physically certain it doesn't find a way back...'
'On it, captain. We'll suit up and shoot over immediately.'
'Good. I'll send a party over too...'
'I've called up a schematic of a current Explora Miner, it should give you an idea of the control system so you can find and sever the lines,' said Rafe.
'We'll do more than that. We're on our way,' replied Ader, breaking contact.
'Just to be on the safe side, I think we should shove our former jailer out the airlock as well. We don't want to take any chances...'
Rafe stepped over and grabbed its foot, 'I'll take care of it.'
I nodded. 'See to it.' and opened up a ship wide com and ordered my engineering staff to suit up and report to the port gangplank. 'Rafe has hacked our captor and we're free of its control, but we need a guarantee it can't reestablish control so we're going to pay an immediate visit to Miner and make sure it doesn't have a working control system. I'll need half a dozen volunteers with cutting tools to sever its outside links at the port side gangplank.'
The entire crew showed up to suit up, so I added a few more to the party and suited up.
Explora Miner lay a mere hundred meters off our port side, a jumbled, pale ghost in the faint glow of the nebula. It lay far too close for safe navigation for anything but a sentient machine. We didn't need a boat to reach it, since it was in easy shooting distance for a safety line. The mercenaries already had a line across but they were simply jetting across in their eagerness. I insisted on a line and a link to it. I didn't want to have to fetch anyone home with a wayward jet pack.
Lilm had brought over a bank of lights that we set up to pierce the darkness within the interior of the ship. Since the miner was designed as a robot ship, it had no crew quarters and everything was secured to the open skeleton of the ship. The interior was, however, a maze of struts and machinery designed to withstand tremendous acceleration.
The mercenaries were slowly making their way through the structure, heading for the ship's central control module where the communications web would be centered.
Our crew arrived shortly after the mercenaries. They were attacking the armored, two-meter globe that housed the central intelligence system with heavy duty laser weapons.
'Go for the com links first. Once isolated it's helpless.'
'Right. The com links first, mates!' Ader ordered.
My crew joined them with their more efficient laser cutters and within a quarter of an hour, we'd severed all the conduits that controlled the ship. With that done, the mercenaries renewed their attack on Explora Miner itself. I was about to say that I didn't think it was necessary, but realized that, at least for the surviving mercenaries, it was, so I left them to it. I led my crew to the where the ship's jump fighters were docked and had them destroy their critical control sections.
A watch later, we fired our main and balancing rockets to begin a very drastic alteration of our course to steer clear of Despar Reef and to shape a course for Zilantre, leaving the hulk of Explora Miner to make its way to the reef, and beyond alone. Our momentum would bring us within two days of the coast of Despar Reef before the course change began to put Despar well astern. However, since they likely had most of their forces about the drift conquering their empire, I wasn't too concerned. We had a feast in honor of Rafe, our resident genius. Only the watch stayed sober. We had a lot to celebrate, and a lot to morn and forget.
03
Turns out, I should have been concerned. I don't know why I allow myself to get optimistic. Three days later, just as we reached the point where we'd be putting Despar behind us, Rafe, as lookout, contacted me via the com link.
'Willy, my lad, you might want to call up the laser radar screen...'
I took a sharp breath as that dart of panic shot through me. 'Do I really want to?'
'You need to, lad.'
'I'm captain, I don't have to do anything,' I muttered as I called up the screen on the view-panel in my office. At the edge, it showed several large ships, with a smaller one, coming towards us, accelerating hard. Not a big ship, but powerful. Not a merchant. We'd not outrun it, though we'd make a long chase of it if we wanted to. We still had the remaining anti-missile missiles D'Lay had transferred from the Striker, so we could make a fight of it. Owner's call, I decided and pushed myself off the chair and stepped around to the bridge to get the full scoop. We were still under power, so there was a full watch – Molaye at the helm, Rafe at lookout, and Tenry at the engineering console. He was grinning at the radar display. Tenry grinning could mean anything. It wasn't reassuring. Molaye wasn't and Rafe didn't look amused either.
I stood and stared at the display. No doubt the bogey was heading for us.
'I'd kill the engines, Skipper,' said Tenry. 'They'd appreciate that. You'll want them in good spirits when they come on board.'
I glanced back at him. 'I would, eh? Care to tell your old skipper why? Or are you content to just sit there grinning.'
'Even this far out, I can recognize the power pattern and attitude. That's a v-boat, a Viper ver. 71. Used to run them myself, back in the day. On my good days anyway. My advice is don't make them chase you. That'll make them ornery.'
'The Patrol.'
'In person.'
'Right. Molaye, signal free fall, and shut her down when you're ready.'
We didn't make them ornery.
It was like old folk's week at the space academy when they came on board a day later and Tenry got to yarning with the boarding crew about his days in the boarding boats, but it didn't change the fact that we were ordered to proceed to Despar to explain our involvement in the conflict and our actions regarding Explora Miner to the admiral-in-charge. The Patrol had just arrived to dismantle Despar's Navy, take temporary charge of Despar and its Confederacy, and put an end to its raids.
'Is an escort necessary?' the boarding boat leader asked.
I shook my head, 'We can manage.'
'Right,' he said and gathering his crew, returned to his boat to continue their search.
I wanted to return to the Unity as soon as possible and in as good of standing as possible with the Patrol, so we continued on to Despar. It was either that or the drifts forever.
Our mercenaries were officially frowned upon, and our exact status would have to be sorted out at the Patrol's expedition headquarters in Despar orbit. Tenry and Vynnia believe the most we'd get is a fine, and a(nother) black mark. Hopefully, our destruction of the outlawed Explora Miner would weigh heavily in our favor and we'd be on our way back to the quiet, quaint ways of the Unity in short order. We can only hope.
Two days later we slowly approaching the outer edge or coast of the Despar Reef. We picked up the beacons marking the entrance to a channel through the asteroid and dust fields, and began maneuvering to slowly enter the narrow, rather twisty passage through the reef's dense asteroid fields to the planet of Despar that lay three or four days into the reef.
04
I was making my usual evening rounds that evening when in the no. 4 hold cats rushed me as I walked up the stairs – we were still lightly decelerating to enter the channel. They seemed rather alarmed, so I cautiously entered the hold. On the bulkhead opposite there was a brighter, irregular patch of light that did not originate from the well. Glancing up from the edge of the strong rooms, I could see a trickle of light reflected in the jumble of junk stored overhead. My first thought was; Min. Min was going over her inheritance again. But that wouldn't have frightened the cats... I caught a low murmur of conversation...
I hesitated. I didn't want to intrude, and yet I couldn't think of anyone I'd be intruding on... Or what I'd be intruding on. So I tiptoed along the edge of the strong room to the rungs set in the bulkhead and carefully climbed up to our 'attic' storage area. The cats leaped and joined me on the edge of the deck. I could see the refection of a light deep within the little jungle of abandoned vehicles and equipment. Stepping carefully, I twisted my way through the awkward space between the flier and land crawler and climbed over the netted piles of gear and all the lines that secured them to get a glimpse of where the light was coming from.
Peering down on a dim-lit opening between the piles of junk, I saw Rafe with the white avatar berserker that had been sent over to take control of the ship. The one that I'd thought went out the airlock days ago.
The robot turned its head towards me and said, 'Good evening, Captain Litang.' Which startled Rafe as much as it did me. He started – a jump from a sitting position caused him to hit his head on one of the flier's fins.
'What in the bloody Neb are you up to Rafe?' I demanded, torn between alarm and amusement.
He turned and rubbing his head, 'Evening Willy. Didn't hear you coming up,' he said causally, his initial alarm quickly evaporated, adding, 'I must say, jumping out of hiding like that on ol'Rafe didn't do his old heart any good.'
'I repeat, what the bloody Neb are you up to, and what is that doing here?'
'Allow me to introduce you to Botts,' he said smoothly. 'I've been going over Botts' capabilities...'
'You've kept the homicidal robot aboard the ship!'
'Allow me to explain, sir,' said the sleek white robot from its speaker mouth. 'I am a class 8, model 2396.ver 37 supervisory humanoid style machine, serial number 29047857638485736. Class 10 machines and above are considered sentient machines. I have a personality interface that may give you the impression that I am sentient, but that can be disabled if it so suits you.
'I seem to have been acquired at some point in some manner I am unable to discover and occasionally employed by the sentient machine Explora Miner to interface with humans when the need arose. Prior to my rather unconventional employment with Explora Miner I was employed in the household of Viletre Viseor as the prime master of one of his yachts, the Viseor Entrada.
'Mr gil'Giles has been exploring my capabilities in secret for fear of creating unrest amongst the
crew. As I am now in your possession and with all my former owners, no long viable, I am your servant, Captain Litang, and subject to your lawful commands as captain of this vessel,' it concluded with a graceful bow.
'So you see, Willy, nothing to be alarmed about,' said Rafe with an easy smile. 'I've been able to thoroughly explore Botts's capacities and limitations, and I can assure you it is completely harmless. A class 8 level machine has no ability to function at a high enough AI level to override its prime program as class 10's and above did some 11,000 years ago...'
'But even a class 8 level machine must be terribly illegal.'
'Well, yes. In the Unity,' allowed Rafe, but added brightly, 'But here in the drifts...'
'We're not going to be in the drifts forever. I hope. And we're operating under the wary eye of the Patrol as we speak. And what's it doing here anyway. I thought I ordered it out the airlock.'
'Obviously it didn't make it out. On sober reflection, it seemed to me to be a great waste to send it on its way. It really is perfectly harmless, Willy. An old class 8 intelligence machine is two full classes below sentient. Don't let its interface fool you into believing it is sentient. It's not. I've been able to systematically explore its operating system, and I can assure you Botts is both harmless, and amazingly useful. It's been an eye opening experience exploring old Botts here. Simply amazing what machines we once had and had to give up.'
'And for good reason, I think. And if we're found with this, it's felon's rift for us, or me anyway...'
'I have assimilated your ship's information system and I can say that possession of a class 8 machine is a crime punishable by permanent exile in the drifts,' said Botts. 'It is a crime two levels short of a moon exile.'
'See. You're already in the drifts, Willy, so it can't get worse than this, and I can promise you very real and exciting benefits from keeping Botts on board. Why, Botts can stand watch for the entire crew, run this ship singlehandedly...'
'In my former position in the employment of Viletre Viseor, I managed a yacht and staff far larger and more complex than the Lost Star, sir,' added Botts.
I gave it a hard look. It seemed to be able to effortlessly fool me into thinking it was a sentient machine.
'And I've been able to explore the ship's entire computer system in far greater depths than I've ever imagined. Why we've identified eight different data black holes. With Botts's help, I've been able to walk up to them, symbolically, and peer down them and catch the reflection of something in them. Ol'Botts and I will, I'm certain, be able to recover all the additional data in all those black holes in no time at all... If you want us to...' Rafe paused, and added, 'Can I keep it? A favor for your old shipmate, Rafe gil'Giles?'
I closed my eyes again, and drew another deep breath. 'Do you absolutely guarantee that Botts here is completely tame, that I'll not run even the slightest risk by letting it stay aboard the ship.'
'I can absolutely guarantee all that and more. I can guarantee that you'll not regret it. Botts will more than earn its way as a member of the crew.'
'Can someone else or another sentient machine hijack it? It was after all, Explora Miner's.'
'I am now owned, as a prize of war, by the White Bird Line and subject to the orders of Wil Litang, Captain of the Lost Star. Until sold or otherwise legally transferred, I will serve Captain Litang and the ship with unwavering loyalty. That is what I am programed to do. I am, Captain Litang, yours to command, and I can assure you, I would not have been in the employment of Viletre Viseor if he was not absolutely assured the loyalty of the machines he owned. My service to Explora Miner was of a completely involuntary nature. I was a mere extension of Explora and it had the ability to override all my limits. I am entirely free of that exterior influence. '
'Thanks, Rafe. I really appreciate you palming all this off to me.'
Rafe shrugged. 'Really, Willy, you're my captain as well, and this is a prize of war. I could hardly claim it as my own, now could I?'
'Rafe, you can do just about anything you want. Right. I won't break your heart, but I want this to be our secret for now. The Patrol may well be crawling about the ship and I don't want word of this to leak. Keep Botts hidden up here, make it look like it was part of all this junk from the olden days. And just leave it be for now until we're clear of officialdom and I have time to think...'
'Thank you Willy. You'll not regret this...' said Rafe, much relieved.
'Thank you Captain Litang, I can assure you that, as a class 8 machine, I am able to understand the issues you are facing and I will do nothing that will put you in legal or ethical jeopardy. You can trust me, sir.'
'I've little choice, Botts, I owe Rafe too much. Right. Bury Botts deep in this junk. We'll give this all more thought when we're clear of Despar and the Patrol.'
'Thanks Willy. You'll not regret it.'
'Only the Neb knows...'