Star Force 12 Demon Star (43 page)

“Why do you allow aliens on your vessel? Why isn’t access to the bridge restricted?”

I looked at Marvin sharply. I snorted. “I let you up here.”

“That was another inexplicable error in judgment.”

“Look here, robot—” I began, then I calmed myself through an effort of will. “Marvin, at this stage of your development I’d appreciate it if you would observe and learn rather than criticize.”

“Objection noted,” Marvin said, then he trundled off to peer at each individual workstation.

People cursed and almost stepped on him. Watching him, I questioned my own sanity. Why was I letting Marvin 2.0 get the better of me, even at this late date? Was it because I felt guilty about killing Marvin 1.0? Possibly.

Whatever the case, I liked having him aboard. It wasn’t like having the original Marvin back—but it was damned close.

-37-

Star Force patrol vessels approached us on the second day. By that time, we’d gotten our bearings despite the radiation and computer failures. We’d also pinpointed the location of the ring that led to Venus. It was a thrilling moment.

The Bellatrix system was largely uninhabited. The system was too saturated with radiation and deadly heavy metals. There were, however, numerous automated mining facilities located here. Occasionally, Star Force ships would poke their noses through the Venus ring and check on things.

It was just such a patrol that discovered us and approached us.

“Unknown ships, identify yourselves,” demanded the task force leader.

“I’m Captain Cody Riggs,” I said. “I am the acting commander of
Valiant
, and our companion ship is
Stalker
. We’ve been lost on the frontier for a long time, and—”

“Is this some kind of joke? What is that ship with you? That configuration is alien…how did you get an alien ship this far into home territory?”

“Excuse me, could I ask you to identify yourself, madam?” I asked as politely as I could.

“I’m Captain Madison. This is a restricted area, Riggs. You’re in violation of a dozen protocols, not the least of which is bringing an alien ship into our home territory. Stand-to and prepare to be boarded.”

“Captain Madison, will you listen, please? I’m part of a lost expedition. I came to this system via a previously undiscovered ring.”

There was dead air after that. Hansen and I exchanged glances, and he shrugged.

“Maybe there’s new management,” Hansen said.

“Certainly seems that way.”

The channel opened again. “
Valiant
was lost nearly two years ago in another star system,” Madison said. “You can’t be Riggs. Abandon the alien vessel immediately.”

I frowned. “What? Why should we abandon our—”

“They’re launching fighters, sir!” Hansen shouted.

“Dammit. Shields up.”

Adrienne, who hadn’t talked to me since she’d found me with Cybele, craned her neck around from her station in disbelief. “You’re not going to destroy Star Force ships, are you? After we came all this way?”

“I’m going to defend myself. I’m going to defend all of us. The information stored in this ship is more valuable to Star Force than three patrol boats.”

“Sir,” Hansen said, “the enemy missiles and fighters—they’re only targeting Kreel’s ship.”

“Shit…they think it’s some kind of alien invader. Well, it
is
, but…since when have Star Force ships fired first and asked questions later?”

“What are your orders, Captain?” Hansen asked.

“Keep our defenses up.”

“Should I launch our last Daggers?” Bradley asked.

“No, CAG. Hold onto them. Get Kreel on the line.”

The Raptor came on-screen immediately. He was clearly spoiling for a fight.

“Riggs, sir,” he said. “We are ready to fight to the death for—”

“Kreel, I’m going to have to ask you to do something neither of us wants to do. I’m going to have to ask you to abandon your ship.”

“What, Captain…?”

“You heard me. All hands abandon ship—now. Don’t launch any weapons. Don’t fire on the patrol boats. Get away from your ship, and we’ll pick you up when we can.”

“I hear and obey.”

Kreel killed the channel, and I sighed.

Hansen caught my eye.

“That’s crazy, sir,” he said.

“Yes, maybe, but we can’t start our homecoming party by shooting up Star Force ships. How will anything we say be accepted after that?”

White-faced, the crew watched while three small Star Force vessels engaged and destroyed
Stalker
. It took them quite a while, and it was hard to stomach.

When the engine core finally blew, I signaled communications to connect me to Captain Madison.

“Madison here,” she said.

“I hope you enjoyed that massive loss of intel, Madison,” I said. “You’ll be lucky if your career survives it.”

There was a period of silence.

“We’re just following orders, Riggs,” she said, “if this is Riggs. This is a restricted area. My rules of engagement—”

“Yes, all right. We complied with your demands. Now, will you escort us to the nearest Star Force base so I can be debriefed? We have valuable intel for Central Command.”

“All right. Keep your gun ports closed and stay on my fantail. Any hostile moves will be met in kind.”

“I need a few minutes to pick up survivors.”

“We’ll wait.”

The rest of our journey back to Earth was tense and unfriendly. Clearly, there wasn’t going to be a hero’s welcome for me—not for any of us.

When we’d almost reached the ring that led out of the Bellatrix system and back home to Venus, our spirits rose slightly. Here at last was a chance to glimpse home.

But it wasn’t to be. There was another ship waiting there for us, guarding the ring.

It was a large ship—a battleship of the Potemkin class.

“Identify that ship,” I ordered my bridge crew.

Everyone was sweating, shaking their heads. We were still following the three patrol boats. They were in tight formation, guiding us right toward the larger vessel which sat in the center of the ring like a spider sitting in a web.

“Captain Madison,” I called ship-to-ship, “why are we being greeted by a battleship? That’s not a standard patrol boat.”

“Stay on my fantail, Riggs. All will be clear shortly.”

I began to sweat. We were crawling closer and closer. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Dammit…” I said aloud. “If we had Valiant’s brain working, she could identify that ship. I’m sure of it.”

“I know what it is,” said a voice next to me.

I looked down. It was Marvin 2.0. He was holding up a new camera—who knew where he’d gotten it. Probably he’d stolen it and attached it to himself. Whatever the case, it looked like it was high quality and expensive.

“Tell me, Marvin.”

“In my infancy I was able to intercept transmissions, but I didn’t understand them all,” he began.

“In your infancy? You’re talking about yesterday, right?”

“Yes, exactly. At that stage, I was able to use the ansible in my internal structure to listen to transmissions, but I wasn’t yet able to interpret the data accurately.”

“Wait a second,” I said, “you were built with an ansible inside your brainbox?”

“I believe that’s already been made clear. Please pay closer attention.”

“Go on, Marvin. What did you overhear?”

“With added processing power and more time, I puzzled out the communications. Valiant transmitted a high-priority scrambled signal to this specific vessel. It’s called
Vladivostok
.”

“What’s its mission, Marvin?”

“Why, to oversee our destruction of course. I would have thought that to be self-evident. Ah, see there? They’re opening their gun ports. If I don’t miss my guess, we’re coming into optimal range at this very moment.”

“Shields up!” I shouted. “Gun ports open! CAG, dump those Daggers.”

“Should I sic them on the patrol boats, sir?” Bradley asked eagerly.

“Negative. Not unless they fire on us. Ignore them unless they engage.”

“Sir,” Adrienne said. “Captain Madison is attempting to contact us.”

“Tell her to stand down and stay out of this, or we’ll be forced to gut her ships, Star Force patrol or not.”

“Yes sir.”

It was on. I realized now that I should never have allowed them to destroy
Stalker
. They’d hurt me, and I’d let them do it while I remained passive.

But the only other option would have been to destroy Madison and her boats. I couldn’t do that. They’d been the first Star Force people I’d met in two years. To come home shooting—it just hadn’t been in me.

Now, however, I was in a fighting mood.

Madison called me back then. I saw her ships drift away, break formation and fall off behind us.

“Riggs,” she said, “I’m going to pretend I’m not in this. Sorry about your alien prize. These orders from Central…they’re bullshit if you ask me. You proved you were on the up-and-up when you stood down and abandoned
Stalker
. I’m not going to fire on you now.”

“Thanks Madison,” I said, “I owe you one.”

“Luck. Madison out.”

The channel closed, and the first big beam slashed out toward us less than a minute later. Such range, such power! The shot was a miss, but it didn’t leave us any doubt it had been meant in earnest.

I would have ordered Hansen to begin evasive action and countermeasures, but he was already standing the ship on its head and making me sick.

“Contact that ship!” I demanded. “Get
Vladivostok’s
captain on my screen.”

“Channel refused.”

“Keep trying. Marvin? Where did that robot go?”

Adrienne looked over her shoulder at me. “He scuttled off about a minute ago.”

I froze in thought. What would his big poppa robot have done?

“Get someone down to the life boats and capture my chicken robot,” I ordered. “I need him up here on the bridge.”

The next shot came in hot. It was another near-miss. We were dancing for all we were worth. Hansen was accelerating toward the ring and a possible escape. The battleship coiled in the center of it blocking our way, but I ordered our gunners to hold their fire.

Two security Raptors brought Marvin 2.0 back to the bridge at a run. Lifted in the air between the two marines, his stubby legs were churning. His single arm whipped around in alarm, and the camera on the end of it panned toward me.

“Captain Riggs,” he said. “These creatures have violated my person.”

“No, Marvin,” I said. “They’re following orders—my orders. I need you on the bridge to help me.”

“I would find it infinitely preferable—”

“I’m sure you would, but I need you to talk to that battleship out there. It’s not allowing me to open a channel. Use your ansible to hack into their com system and connect me with someone in charge.”

It was a tall order, especially for such a young robot. Valiant could have done it, but she was offline—permanently. The only operating ansible that could be used for a special job like this was inside Marvin’s metal skull.

“I doubt they possess an ansible,” Marvin began.

“Don’t even try that one,” I told him sternly. “You just got through telling me that you’d listened to an ansible transmission from
Valiant
to
Vladivostok
. I know they can hear you.”

“I wasn’t expecting to form such a specific memory in your organic brain with that comment,” he grumbled. “It was my impression you had only short-term mental capacities.”

Sighing, I had the Raptors set Marvin on his feet, and I knelt down to talk to him.

“Listen, Marvin,” I said. “Your life is on the line, here. That ship out there—”

“It seems premature, not to mention counterproductive, to utter threats now.”

“Threats? Oh, no. That’s not what I meant. I’m trying to tell you that battleship out there is taking shots at us. If it hits us with one, we’re all dead: humans, Elladans and robots together. You need to help us because—”

“The channel is open,” Marvin said suddenly.

“Thank you,” I said tightly. “Hello? Who am I talking to?”

“Lieutenant Stinson, orders processing. You need to get off this line. This is for classified traffic only.”

“Listen to me, Lieutenant. This is an emergency. I’m Cody Riggs, a Star Force officer, and I want to talk to your captain. I’m aboard
Valiant
, the ship you’re firing at. This is a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t know who you are, but—”

“Listen, Stinson,” I said. “There’s something wrong. An alien trick has gotten us to start firing at one another. Unless you want to be featured in a report that involves the destruction of Star Force vessels in a blue-on-blue fuck-up, I’d suggest you pass me up the chain of command.”

The line fell quiet, but it didn’t close. I was betting on the natural urge of any middleman to pass the buck. This time, it worked.

“Commander Mackle,” the next guy said.

Everyone was a stickler, but before we’d dodged two more salvos, one of which took some paint off my hull, I was talking to
Vladivostok’s
captain. His name was Brody.

“Captain Brody,” I said, “I don’t want to damage a Star Force battleship, but I’m going to have to if you keep blasting at me. We’re getting close to our optimal range.”

“They don’t teach us to respond to threats in the academy, Riggs,” he said. “Or whoever you are.”

“Brody, listen to me. Let’s stand down and talk a little. This is a misunderstanding. Let me have ten minutes, and if you’re still not convinced, I’ll surrender my ship to you without loss of life.”

He paused at this offer. “You’re on my kill-on-sight list, Riggs,” he said.

“All right,” I said, “I get that, but does that mean all my crew and passengers deserve to die as well?”

I had him there. If I was willing to surrender, there was no call to destroy my ship, orders or no.

“All right. Hit the brakes. We’ll talk.”

The channel closed. Hansen, who’d been listening in, shook his head at me.

“If we hold still, we’re toast,” he said.

“If he’s lying, we’re dead anyway. We’ve got no AI. We’re damaged and low on everything. That big ship only has to tag us once with her mains, and we’re gone.”