Star Force 12 Demon Star (44 page)

“I’ve got a plan, sir,” he said. “Just let me accelerate to maximum. With luck, we’ll do a high-speed fly-by and she’ll miss. On the far side—”

“On the far side is the thick atmosphere of Venus,” I told him. “Have you forgotten? That ring is on the planet’s surface, not up in orbit. You’re planning to fly us right into a brick wall.”

Hansen deflated after that. He was all out of bright ideas.

“All engines halt,” I ordered.

This time, everyone did as I’d asked. When we were drifting in space, I contacted Brody again.

“Can we talk now, Captain?” I asked.

“I’ve been working with my computer since we last spoke,” he said. “There was a disappearance two years ago—but it was far from here. Your voice prints seem to match, at least the prelim report says so… How the hell did you get into the Bellatrix system, Riggs?”

“It’s a long, long story, Captain Brody.”

“I’ve got time,” he said. “Let’s hear it.”

The next hour was spent explaining our story along with a transfer of a massive amount of supporting data files. Brody went over them, and the more he looked the more amazed he became.

-38-

Having secured an escort homeward, with Star Force troops aboard Valiant to show we were “under guard”, I felt better. I was fortunate in that Star Force captains had considerable latitude when following orders from Central. Due to the distances and Star Force tradition, a captain could amend his orders and apply good judgment. If he could justify his actions when he returned to base, he would get away with it, too.

But getting past the battleship wasn’t good enough. I still had plenty of problems. I wasn’t certain who’d ordered my arrest—or really, my death—but I had a pretty good idea who it was.

As best I could tell, my future father-in-law wanted me dead.

Grantham Turnbull and I had never gotten along from the start. As far as I could tell, he’d tried to kill me—probably to remove me from his daughter’s presence and to strike at the Riggs family. He had lofty political ambitions, and the Riggs family name might overshadow all that. After the assassination attempt failed, and Olivia had died instead of me, his dislike had grown steadily.

To me, all that was history now. It was time to focus on the present. I had problems. Someone, Turnbull or otherwise, was still offended by the idea that I was still around and still breathing. I’d managed to get the Star Force people on the spot to see reason, but that didn’t mean my enemies would stop trying to “fix” the problem I represented.

There were other problems, too. Adrienne was a big one. She’d begun to forgive me, gradually, for the incident with Cybele. Only the fact she knew Elladans could warp a man’s mind had saved me. We still weren’t sleeping together, but she would actually speak to me now and then. I’d decided to work on our relationship one careful step at a time.

But how could my slow climb out of the doghouse continue? I knew that I was going to have to fly home and publicly accuse her father of killing her sister and trying repeatedly to kill me. That wasn’t going to make Adrienne happy. I didn’t see how our relationship could survive it.

My sole confidant in all this was Marvin. He knew the story—probably more than he was letting on. I’d thought at first that his memory had been erased. That was sad as he really couldn’t be the same Marvin with a full reboot.

But computers aren’t quite like humans. Their artificial minds could survive death.

“Marvin?” I asked when I caught him in
Valiant’s
data core, messing with the various brainboxes. “You do know you’re not supposed to be in here, right?”

He twisted a camera arm around to look at me. He had two of them now, and they were making his central brainbox teeter unevenly when he walked.

“This chamber is clearly marked restricted to official personnel only,” he said. “I’m a walking brainbox. In my opinion, you’re the one who should be expelled.”

The new Marvin wasn’t quite like the old one, I’d noted over the last two days. He seemed child-like and a little more prissy. Maybe the original Marvin had been like that initially—I didn’t know.

He went back to the dead stack of brainboxes that lined the room like bricks. He tapped into one at the top of the stack and activated it for data perusal with his longest central tentacle.

“All right,” I told him, stepping close and squatting behind him, “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m going to have to take you out of here.”

That got his attention. The two cameras drifted back to gaze at me. “Why?”

“Because you’re not authorized—”

“I thought that issue was settled.”

I heaved a sigh. “Marvin, listen, you have to learn about the chain of command on this ship. I’m at the top aboard
Valiant
at the moment. You’re pretty close to the bottom. Do you understand this?”

“Why?” he asked.

“Why what?”

“Why do you get to tell me what to do?”

“Because you’re a very young brainbox. You’re like a child left behind by an old friend.”

“When I get older, will these restrictions be lifted?”

“Probably, yes,” I said. “You must prove your good intentions and that you know how to—”

“I find these interruptions and restrictions frustrating,” he said. “Why can’t I prove my competence to you now?”

“It’s not like I’m asking you to pass a test. You have to prove yourself through prolonged good behavior.”

Marvin retracted his tentacle and sat down on the floor. He was pretty much a box then, except for his cameras, which watched me closely.

“If I squat here motionless for a week, would that be convincing enough?” he asked.

“That’s not quite what I had in mind,” I said, amused. “What are you doing in here, anyway?”

“Accessing memories. Recordings of activities. My progenitor’s mind is partially stored here through association.”

“You aren’t powering up Valiant again, are you?”

“No,” he said. “To do so would slow down the process. I’m gleaning the ship’s data without activating its processor other than as a search mechanism.”

I nodded. “That’s not as bad as I thought.”

Sakura showed up then. She stood in the open hatchway, looking annoyed. She put her fists on her hips and glared.

“I can’t think of two individuals I’d less like to see in the data core.”

“Let me remind you that your actions are still under investigation, Chief,” I told her.

She gave me a little smile. “As are yours, sir. We’ll see what a Star Force tribunal has to say.”

“Yes, we will. If you don’t want to spend the rest of this journey home in the brig, I suggest you return to your duties. You’re no longer allowed in the data core.”

Huffing, she left. Marvin watched her go curiously.

“Is that female one of your sexual conquests?” he asked me.

“What? No. How did you get that idea?”

“She seems irritated. All the women you’ve had relations with are currently irritated with you. I logically—”

“No, Marvin. We’ve never even kissed. Now, let’s talk about your goals here. I’m willing to let you play around in the data core perusing the ship’s memories.”

“An excellent decision. May I ask how I proved my reliability to you? I must have missed the critical point of transition.”

“Uh…you didn’t, really. This is a chance to do so, however. I changed my mind because I need you to look for certain details—”

“Ah, I see,” he said. “My utility allowed me to supersede the normal restrictions. Pattern learned.”

I blinked for a moment. I was pretty sure I’d just taught Marvin a bad thing, but I didn’t know how to correct that—even if it was possible.

“Never mind about that,” I said. “Here’s what I want you to do in order to continue working in here. Look for all data concerning orders from Central about me. These orders will be restricted and possibly difficult to access. When you’re finished examining any correlations between myself, Sakura, Valiant and especially Grantham Turnbull, report back to me.”

Marvin eagerly extended his tentacles toward the brainboxes, but he hesitated.

“Will my access be withdrawn after I deliver this data to you?” he asked.

“Uh…” I said, my mind racing. I had to think clearly when talking to this robot. He’d been child-like yesterday, but he was advancing rapidly.

Thinking like Marvin, I realized he would probably
never
find the data I wanted if he was going to be given access only until he found it.

“I’ll give you four hours,” I said. “I’ll want a substantial report after that. If I’m satisfied, you’ll be given access for another four hours. This cycle will repeat until we arrive at a Star Force orbital station. At that point, I’ll expect a full report.”

“What bonus will I receive for the final report?” he asked.

I let out a sigh. “If I like it, I’ll pat you on the head.”

He looked at my hand.

“That reward is of dubious value,” he said.

“But my continued good-nature is worth a lot. Get to work, robot.”

I stood up and left him there in the data core. I hoped, from the bottom of my heart, that I wasn’t making a mistake by letting Marvin Junior play around in there. If I’d had more time, I wouldn’t have allowed it.

But I was running out of options, and he was the only entity who was capable of the work and who was at least marginally on my side. We were scheduled to make planetfall over Earth tomorrow, and I knew I had to have all the information I could get by then.

* * *

By the time we reached Earth, I’d made a few thready connections with Marvin’s help. Turnbull’s name was associated with the special scripting for Valiant in two locations. Both were connected because he’d been present in the chain of approval documents due to his sitting on various government committees.

Of course, the documents hadn’t authorized turning Valiant into a killing machine. Instead, they’d allowed an outside contractor to work on the ship’s core programming.

After careful checking, it was determined the contracting company was wholly owned by Turnbull industries. That in itself was only proof of a very minor form of corruption. There’d never been a government in history that hadn’t been riddled with backroom deals that enriched participants.

But I believed the programming contract hadn’t been procured for the purpose of putting a few extra coins into Grantham’s pocket. He’d had murder in mind.

The trail went back through to
Greyhound
as well. She’d been programmed by the same group. I felt certain that, if I could look back into the past, I’d see someone rewriting that ship’s script to inflict injury on me as well.

The accident hadn’t been an accident. It had been attempted murder. Traveling out to meet Turnbull’s brother later on had triggered similar software on that ship.

A startling thought came to me as I questioned Marvin about the details.

“Marvin,” I said, “what other Star Force ships have been programmed by this company—what’s it called?”

“Structured Software Incorporated.”

“Structured Software—maybe to help install a new structure? Have you located a list of people who these ships don’t like?”

“Yes, but the trigger events haven’t been tripped for most personnel.”

I stared at the little robot. What was growing in my mind was monstrous. A plot beyond anything I’d envisioned.

“How many names are on the list, Marvin?”

“Approximately six thousand. Some have been recently deleted with the latest update, but others—”

“Hold on,” I said. “Who are these people? Profile them.”

“Academy graduates make up forty-one percent. Career noncoms make up the majority of the rest. Most of the personnel are over the age of thirty, and they have a long record of service in Star Force. There’s also a small but intriguing sub-list of celebrities and politicians.”

I nodded, stunned. It all made sense.

“He meant to wipe out the top officers and the most experienced noncoms in the fleet. Imagine, our own ships killing our own crews, executing a massive purge. It’s incredible.”

“Are you pleased with my report, Captain?” Marvin asked.

“Yes—well, I’m not happy, but you did a good job.”

“I would like to request an upgrade to my final reward. Rather than a pat on the head, I’d prefer to have access to more physical components.”

“Such as arms? Legs? Engines?”

“Yes.”

“You can have one more arm, and you can thicken your undercarriage to support the weight. Anything else?”

“Yes. I calculate that I’ll need a larger power supply to operate the additional equipment.”

I sighed. I could already see that Marvin was growing. If I let him, he’d be as big as a freight train in a few months.

-39-

Planetfall over Earth wasn’t what I’d hoped for. Instead of celebrating, the crew was nervous. A few were drunk, but they weren’t smiling. They had red-rimmed eyes and sweaty necks. No one spoke much, except to call out needed information.

“Starboard a degree, helm,” I said as we drifted into our assigned dock.

“On it, sir,” Hansen said.

“Clamps out. Watch the Dagger ports. This berth isn’t shaped to fit our design changes.”

“Roger that,” Hansen said, grunting as he fought the controls. We had to do everything manually as Valiant was still dead. “Steady…steady…good!”

We were in. The ship rumbled as a dozen retros fired in tiny increments in a complex pattern to ease us into place. I frowned, noting that none of the crew was manning the brakes.

“Did we get a specialized brainbox hooked up? No one can tap all those retros at once that fast.”

Hansen looked sheepish. “I asked for some help. It looks like he did a good job.”

I stared at him for a second. “Marvin? You hooked a baby robot up to our braking system?”

“He’s almost three days old. That’s pretty good for a bot like him.”

Shaking my head, I had to admit he’d done a stellar job. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a treat he’d want for this small service.

“Sir?” asked a feminine voice behind me.

I turned to meet Cybele. She looked as shy and lovely as always. I had to remind myself she was really a bag of slime—but weren’t we all?