Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (25 page)

“I still need to talk to Liam, a few nafali
and Agameg about it, but thank you, Lewis.” Ayan looked at the
hologram of the settlement she’d worked on. It was designed to fit
under a large protective energy field, had hidden long range
defences, room and reinforcements for a military base beneath, but
what she was most proud of was perfectly visible above ground.

The main structure was circular, with gentle
divots and bulges placed for balconies with sealing transparent
overhangs, enclosed exterior paths, and extendable landing
platforms for shuttles. From the base and middle, other
substructures curled out towards smaller buildings surrounding the
main structure. The curling irregular tubes made the main structure
look like a plant with external pods and smooth roots reaching back
into the ground. Those roots would house a high-speed
transportation system, apartments, small shops, viewing areas, and
other smaller establishments. A few of them led to an oval building
that was almost as large as the primary structure. It was hollow
through the centre, and served as a spaceport to small and medium
sized ships. All the facilities needed for travellers would be
contained within, so people in the main habitat could go on with
their lives in relative peace.

“How much of the land would this take on the
island we’re taking possession of today?” Ayan asked.

“Less than three point five percent if you
include the underground structure,” Lewis replied. “It is ambitious
though, and would take seventeen point six years to build with ten
times your current work force. Under current conditions, it would
cost-“

“It’s a creative exercise, Lewis.” Ayan
sealed the heavy vacsuit at the neck and turned her attention to
the armour overlay. “Would I like to see it built?” she asked no
one in particular as she stomped into the thick boots. “Definitely.
Housing a quarter of a million people in that kind of comfort would
be a great legacy project, but it’s really a distraction. Maybe
it’s something to hope for, but I may want to reduce the scale
before presenting it to anyone. I admit it is a bit grand.”

“People need something to look forward to,”
Lewis said. “That’s something Alice said to me a long time
ago.”

“You miss her,” Ayan said.

“So much. I run my recordings of her from
beginning to end, then start over. It was a comfort at first. What
do you do when you miss someone, Ayan?”

Ayan was surprised at the depth of emotion
she heard in Lewis’ voice, but answered just the same. “I build
something.”

Helper arms descended from the ceiling and
deftly helped her lock the horizontal plates of her exterior armour
over her heavy vacsuit. “Thank you, Lewis.”

“You’re welcome, Ayan. I am glad you’re
here.”

“You’ve been very good to me,” Ayan replied.
She shoved her sidearm, a heavy Violator Handgun that Lewis had
given her from his arms locker, into its holster.

“The transport carrying the payment for the
Enforcer 1109 is on its way. Commander McPatrick has already given
them instructions to land near my loading hatch.”

“We planned to use your secure storage area,
it should be large enough,” Ayan said.

“There isn’t enough room,” Lewis replied.
“You will have to load a quarter of the funds into another
vessel.”

“There wasn’t much on your manifest, it
should fit.”

“There is cargo off the manifest that I will
not allow you to move,” Lewis said. “A body in stasis.”

It was the first Ayan had heard of it. “Who
is it?”

“I do not know, but Alice would not allow me
to jettison him. He has been aboard since before I was initialised,
and I am under orders to protect the corpse.”

“Corpse. Is he too damaged to revive?” Ayan
guessed.

“Yes,” Lewis said. “If I were to rebuild the
body using onboard supplies and facilities, the body would be an
empty vessel. There was too much cranial damage for his memories to
be intact, and there is no scan on file.”

Ayan thought for a moment and asked. “Can we
move him to normal storage?”

“No, my orders prevent it.”

“All right, we’ll find a safe place for the
rest of the money.” Ayan knew she might have to defend her decision
more than once, but she wouldn’t go against Lewis until she knew
more. As emotional as he was, the only way to counter any notion
the artificial intelligence had was with pure logic.

“Commander McPatrick is waiting outside,”
Lewis said.

Ayan initialised the suit and felt it come
to life, actively embracing and supporting her. The energy shield
cycled on and off, and the micro-generator reported optimum power
levels. “I feel like I’m overdoing it.”

“I disagree,” Lewis said as he opened the
door. “You are visiting the Triton today.”

“Carthan Port Control gave us the all
clear?” Oz asked.

“The response to Commander Rice’s request
just came through a moment ago,” Lewis replied. “I’m excited.”

“I guess she’d be the mother ship of your
dreams,” Oz said, looking Ayan up and down.

“If I were to choose a carrier, Triton would
be at the top of my list,” Lewis replied. “You are correct.”

“It looks good on you,” Oz told Ayan,
tugging on one of the overlapping strips of armour on her shoulder.
“I don’t think you’re overdoing it either, not this time. Not if
we’re going to the Triton today.”

“I thought the main events would consist of
receiving payment and visiting the Samson,” Ayan said.

“Talking to Jake today?”

“Has everyone heard about our row?” Ayan
asked peevishly.

“Actually, I didn’t, but I saw it coming,”
Oz said. “Are you all right?”

“I’ll be fine,” Ayan said. “I was the one
who did the most damage anyhow.”

Oz regarded her with an expression of
surprise for a moment before turning his attention to the hologram
of the Shoreline Project in the middle of the room. “That’s
interesting.”

Ayan looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, just
some busy work.”

“Can I take a look later?”

“I’ll have Lewis send it to your comm,” Ayan
replied. “It’s nowhere near finished though, just a rough concept.”
She looked up and said, “I’ll see you later, Lewis. You can link
with my suit if you like, but we’ll probably be out of direct range
when we get to the Triton.”

“I’ll follow along and be quiet this time,”
Lewis replied.

Ayan and Oz started walking to the main
gangway, passing a small staging area that had been repurposed to
house four cots. The soldiers getting ready there saluted them as
they passed, regardless of their state. “How is base security?”
Ayan asked.

“Complicated. We’ve started to draw beggars
and applicants,” Oz replied. “At last count, there were nine
hundred thirty five people in line with applications in hand. A
couple were easy decisions because they were related to our people,
but most of the rest are getting screened through. The most
disturbing thing this morning was finding a kid wandering around
with a sign strapped to him.”

“Did someone lose an orphan?” Ayan
asked.

“No, I wish it were that simple.” Oz stopped
at the top of the ramp before going on. “Someone found a crack in
our walls and must have pushed him through. The sign said, ‘please
feed my son and keep him safe’.”

Ayan shook her head in disbelief. “Is it
really so bad out there?”

“If you don’t have a visa, or the skills
people are looking for, then yes. I hear the street-to-street
fighting in Rush City is worse too. Entire buildings are being
taken as territory, with gangsters becoming the new landlords.”

“I heard the Carthan Government is
abandoning their building there, something to do with protestors,”
Ayan said. “How is the boy?”

“He’s about two,” Oz said.

“No, how
is
he?” Ayan repeated.

“Oh, he’s good now. Seems pretty happy with
the other orphans, doing a lot of sleeping. I hope he’s the last
one we find smuggled in.”

They arrived at the bottom of the ramp and
Ayan couldn’t help but be amused at what she saw.

A guard sealed in heavy boarding armour was
trying to shake a dog with patchwork black and brown fur off his
ankle. The ferocious creature was no taller than thirty
centimetres. It snarled and tugged at the soldier as if he planned
to drag him off to some dark corner where he could devour him.

“What the hell is his problem?” asked the
soldier in a familiar voice.

The soldier’s counterpart, a woman with
short cropped blonde hair, laughed as she looked on. Four squads of
soldiers, all ready to guard the arriving shipment of Galactic
Currency, couldn’t help but look on in amusement as well. “Don’t
panic, Vic, he can’t get through your suit,” the young woman
closest to him said.

“I know, but I’m not going to be able to
guard anyone with this evil fur ball on my heel all day.”

“He probably just needs to see your face,”
she replied.

“That’s what he wants! I pull down my hood
and he goes straight for the throat,” replied Victor.

“Oops, head’s up,” said the younger woman as
she noticed Ayan and Oz at the bottom of the ramp.

Victor noticed them and tried to ignore the
dog, standing at attention. The dog frantically searched for
another way to grip his ankle and settled on the Achilles heel. He
did no damage, but that wasn’t for lack of trying.

“I’ve assigned Lieutenant Victor Davis and
Junior Lieutenant Jenny Machad as your personal guards,” Oz said.
“I chose Vic because you’ve worked with him before. They both
fought in the tunnels on Pandem.”

Ayan couldn’t help but snicker a little.
Jenny regarded her with an expression that was almost star-struck;
she reminded Ayan of herself when she was in the academy.

Jenny watched as a young girl, her hair as
dishevelled as a windblown bird’s nest, rushed to the dog and
picked him up effortlessly.

“Careful!” Victor said.

The dog licked the child’s face eagerly as
she held him against her chest. “He just wanted attention,” she
scolded before putting the dog down and running off with the mutt
close behind.

“Good to see you again, Victor,” Ayan said
through a smile.

He lowered his armoured hood and nodded.
“Good morning, such as it is,” he said, gesturing towards the
skyline. It was still dark beyond the bustle of port traffic
overhead. It would be for hours longer.

“No need to overdress in the future, Ma’am,”
Jenny said. “We armour up so you don’t have to.”

“I dress for comfort, Junior Lieutenant,”
Ayan said. “And this selection felt right this morning.”

“Understood, Ma’am. Please call me
Jenny.”

“Flight reports a shuttle incoming,” Victor
said. “The landing area is just this way.”

“Lead on,” Ayan said. She turned to Oz and
asked, “Aren’t they a little high-ranking for my personal guards? I
can take care of myself, after all.”

“They’re a good match. I’ve worked with
Jenny on security here for weeks, and you put a pretty positive
note on Victor’s file after the encounter on the station. Besides,
we couldn’t have a couple privates assigned to the matron of our
settlement.”

“Matron,” Ayan said the word to try it on
for size and shook her head. “Nope, don’t like it. Commander’s
better.”

“What’s wrong with matron? Sounds too old?”
Oz asked.

“Sounds too heavy,” Ayan replied.

A shuttle with mismatched panels touched
down swiftly in front of them. The door was open before they were
securely on the ground, and Captain Ruby Sima walked down the three
steps as they unfolded in front of the hatch. Her first mate,
Lombardo, was right behind her.

The pair wore colonist’s clothing – loose
fitting shirts, pants, and boots that Ayan only saw in period
dramas when she was growing up on Freeground. The more colourful
manner of dress was commonplace in the galaxy, however, since most
people were raised on a world with an atmosphere, and space suits
were for travel, worn under clothes by many civilians. Platinum and
silver chains rattled as Ruby moved, her long purple and green hair
stirred by the shuttle’s landing thrusters. It ascended as soon as
the pair were clear. “Good morning!” Ruby shouted over the din.

“Good morning,” Ayan said, surprised to see
the former British Colonial. “What brings you here?”

Victor looked to Ayan as Ruby walked in her
direction, and Ayan nodded, indicating that it was all right for
her to get close. Having guards would take some getting used
to.

“I’ve got business with you and your Captain
Jake,” Ruby said, smiling as she leaned down a little to greet Ayan
with a kiss on the cheek. “That’s from Patrizia,” she said in her
ear. “She’s happy you’ll be able to make your lease payment on this
oasis you’ve built.”

“She’s not the only one,” Ayan said. “It
looks like we’ll be staying here a little longer.”

“I’m glad to hear it, I think she is too,
judging from her gift,” At the mention of it, Lombardo presented
Ayan with a long white box. “She’s inviting you to Naer for a
meeting of her biggest and brightest partners. Our lady has a box
at the next Super Pongo game. Big special event, they’re
celebrating the re-opening of the stadium since the galaxy’s bots
went mad.”

“Do you know what’s inside?” Ayan said,
allowing Jenny to take the box.

“Judging from the box, Miss, that’s a
designer dress,” Lombardo said in his gruff English accent.

“I’ll open it later, after the Clever Dream
has performed a deep scan,” Ayan said.

Jenny called a lower ranking soldier over
and instructed him to put the box in Ayan’s quarters.

“Why do I get the feeling that Patrizia
Salustri is priming me for a proposal?” Ayan asked Ruby.

“She’s watched every news blip on you, luv,”
Ruby said. “Either she expects great things from you, or aspires to
add you to her long list of conquests. Or both. That’s a useful
spot to be in, but you’d best be careful. I’ll say her interest is
even deeper now that she’s heard you’re getting paid for your
salvage today,” Ruby said in a quieter tone.