Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (15 page)

‘
You saved my life. I
owe you. I would never betray you.’

‘
Look, you basically
know the gist of it. I was hurt and it took the ship to fix me. I’m
not going to tell you exactly what it did to me. You know I can
read minds. If I couldn’t, then I would never have found
you.’

‘
I know of no other
being in this bloody universe that can read minds. You can’t tell
me that those little bots you have floating around your body are
responsible for that?’

Charlie took a deep breath, ‘I always
had an ability to sense when some bugger was after me. I couldn’t
read minds, but I could sense when someone was having thoughts
about me or intended me harm. We Humans call it a sixth sense; I am
not the only person like that. There are probably millions like me
back on Earth. It is something we grow up with and accept. The
thing is it doesn’t always work and you can’t actually read minds.
The part of your mind that processes that information is what we
call the subconscious mind, it has no direct link to your conscious
mind. When I was injured, part of that was severe head trauma.
Babes thinks that the medical bots discovered that part of my mind,
mistook the blocked neurons as an injury, and opened them up.’

‘
You mean they
created a pathway between your subconscious and conscious
mind.’

‘
Pretty
much.’

‘
Wow. If my people
find out they will probably catch you and dissect you.’

‘
You think mine
wouldn’t?’

‘
Point taken. Just be
careful my friend.’

‘
Remember, if anybody
asks...’

The Chief waved a hand, ‘Yeah I know
Charlie. You’re a weirdo that likes studying body language.’

‘
That’s the
one.’

They both laughed.

CHAPTER 20

The chiefs of staff and the President
had finally made up their minds which course of action to take.
Steven was relieved by the decision but was still uncomfortable
about the whole thing.

The fleet had enough fuel and rations
for another few months. In the next month they would empty as many
freighters as they could and send them back across the barrier,
with a small Modloch escort to see them safely there. From there
the President would announce publicly that the Earth’s fleet would
return home. At that point the course of action would depend on the
Modloch Emperor. If he turned against the Humans they would abandon
the last of the freighters and make a dash for the barrier. They
would do so without taking up arms against the Modloch race if
possible. They would only fight as a last resort.

The best result would be for the
Modloch Emperor to accept their decision and in good faith escort
the Humans back to the barrier. For some reason, no one quite
believed that would happen.

With the decision made, Steven was now
free from the process and could turn his mind back to more domestic
matters. He hadn’t even made it back to the ship when the first
problem arose. They were on a shuttle away from the Burning Wind
when the pilot’s voice came over the tannoy. ‘Listen to this
everyone.’ Everyone laughed when the strains of Glen Miller’s
‘Moonlight Serenade’ came through the sound system. When it was
finished he announced that it was racing up the Modloch music
charts and was being hailed as the next Empire-wide number one.

‘
How did they get
hold of that?’ Buzz asked. Steven just shook his head.

Babes talked to both of them at once.
‘It was Charlie. He made me steal a gold master disc.’

‘
What was that?!’
Steven had spoken aloud and received a few funny looks from the
rest of the passengers. He shut his mouth and asked again with his
mind.

‘
Charlie set up a
company and sold the music to the most prestigious music company on
the planet.’

Steven was stunned, ‘Our Charlie?’

‘
Yes
Steven.’

‘
How could he sell
anything? Did they pay him cash?’

‘
No, the Modloch have
set up a bank account for his company.’

‘
Why wasn’t I told
about this?’

‘
You wanted no
communication with Charlie in case he read your mind by
accident.’

‘
Is it just Charlie
that is involved?’

‘
No, I believe he
employed the help of the former ambassador. He gets three per cent
and Charlie gets seven.’

‘
When did this
happen?’

‘
Almost two weeks
ago. I am not party to everything Charlie is doing. He can block me
from his mind and I cannot read his thoughts.’

Steven was slowly getting over the
shock and it was being replaced by anger. ‘I want the command staff
assembled when I get back. I want to talk to them, and then I want
to talk to Charlie.’

By the time the shuttle had dropped
them off his command staff were already assembled. None of them
knew anything about it. Steven was beginning to see red when he
ordered Babes to ask Charlie to join them.

Charlie was using the ship to talk to
the Chief; both were in high spirits.

‘
That’s two payments
already!’

Charlie laughed, ‘I know, it’s great,
isn’t it?’

The Chief shook his head, ‘It is for
me. You’re not getting anything. I feel guilty.’

‘
Don’t be
stupid.’

Babes interrupted, ‘Charlie, could you
report to Steven? He is in the command briefing room.’

‘
About bloody time.
Sorry Chief, duty calls.’

‘
No problem Charlie,
catch you later.’

Charlie grabbed his briefcase and made
sure everything was present. It only took him a few minutes to
reach the briefing room. His first indication that anything was
wrong was from the dour looks on everyone’s faces.

‘
What’s wrong, has
something happened?’

Steven sat forward, the anger on his
face easy to read, ‘Charlie, do you know anything about a music
company that was set up?’

‘
Yeah that was
me.’

Steven stood, ‘How could you Charlie?
You know the whole bloody fleet is in dire straits, and you go
cashing in on music that doesn’t even belong to you!’

Charlie didn’t even have to open his
mind to know what was happening. He felt the first red hot flush of
fury surge through his veins. He approached Steven and slammed the
briefcase on the table. ‘If you werna´ so fucking paranoid then it
would never have bloody come to this! The company was set up in
your bloody name by your mother. The details are in this briefcase.
You might want to go through it before you shove your big fat foot
farther into the shit and I shove my fist down your bloody
throat.’

Steven felt his anger begin to
evaporate, ‘My mum!’

‘
Aye, yer ma. You and
Komoru are the directors of the company. We now have a bloody bank
account. That’s what you were after, wasn’t it? I also named Buzz,
Lewis, Mr Howe and Cookie as directors, and there are another half
dozen you can nominate yourself. Each named director has access to
the bank account. And as a matter of interest, I don’t. I have no
access to the account at all.’ Charlie snapped round and walked
away.

Steven got to his feet, the blood had
drained from his face. ‘Charlie wait.’

Charlie flipped him the bird, ‘Fuck off
Stevie.’

The door closed behind him. There was
silence in the room. Steven became aware that everyone was looking
at him. He sat back down slowly. An embarrassed silence seemed to
press in and he didn’t know how to deal with it.

‘
Oops!’ There were
some nervous chuckles, ‘I am sorry about that everyone. It looks
like I jumped to a bad conclusion before I heard all the facts. My
mistake, one which I will endeavour to rectify. In the meantime I
had better just discover exactly what Charlie has been up to. For
now you can all return to your duties.’

They all filed out. When the last had
left Buzz pulled up a chair.

‘
I made a complete
mess of that didn’t I?’

Buzz turned the briefcase towards him,
‘Let’s just find out all the facts before we go off half-cocked
again. You might want to give Komoru a call.’

An hour later they had read Charlie’s
report and began making checks on the information. Howe and Beaver
were called in and they too helped check. In the end it was Komoru
who confirmed everything by purchasing a couple of silk pillows on
the equivalent of the Modloch internet. They all sat around the
console breathless as she placed the order.

‘
That’s it,’ she
announced. ‘It will be delivered to the central space port in about
two hours. If we want it transported up here we have to pay extra
and set up some sort of beacon.’ She turned, ‘What do you think
Steven?’

‘
Is that an option
for fast delivery?’

‘
Yes but that is
extra too. Half an hour guaranteed to the spaceport.’

‘
Go the whole hog
Komoru. Pay all the extras.’

‘
Are you
sure?’

He shrugged, ‘If the transaction fails
then we will know within the hour.’

She saw the sense and clicked all the
extras. ‘We have gained some form of points as a valued
customer.’

‘
How nice to know.’
Steven grunted. They all chuckled at the sarcastic remark. He stood
up, ‘I think we should just about have enough time to have a cup of
coffee. Babes, do you know what kind of beacon they are talking
about?’

‘
Of course. The code
will be sent with the conformation.’

‘
Here is the
conformation,’ announced Komoru, ‘can you read it from the screen
Babes?’

‘
Yes, that is the
beacon set.’

It was quite a tense wait. ‘A craft is
approaching, my heart, and asking for permission to dock. They are
also asking for a signature from Komoru.’

‘
Inform the bridge to
begin docking procedures please.’

‘
Yes my
heart.’

Komoru got up and left. Ten minutes
later she reappeared, laughing as she struggled with a large
container. ‘Give me a hand Steven.’

They manhandled the container into the
middle of the room and Komoru opened it. She burst out laughing
again as she removed the first pillow. ‘It is huge.’

Steven removed the second one,
‘Wow.’

Her eyes gleamed, ‘Feel the
material.’

‘
I am. It is
something else, isn’t it?’

Komoru jumped on her one and it seemed
to envelope her. ‘Oh I love this.’

‘
But you know what
this really signifies?’

‘
Of course. If we can
buy luxury goods then we can also buy fuel for the
fleet.’

‘
Yeah, but how much
money have we got? How much is it for a tanker full of fuel?’ Buzz
asked.

None of them knew the answer. It was
Babes who answered. ‘The wallet the cards come in is also a secure
communications link to the bank. If the card is in the wallet, turn
it over and swipe the back.’ Steven did so. ‘There should be a
security pin with the wallet. Once you put the pin in then hold the
wallet in front of your face. It will perform a retinal scan then
ask for a thumb print.’

‘
Everything is in
Modloch,’ Buzz complained.

‘
I will guide Steven
through the process.’ She did so and the wallet was soon connected
to the bank. With her help Steven managed to look at the balance.
He grunted, ‘Now we’ve got Modloch numbers.’

‘
I will send
information to the bank so they can update their software with
English.’

Steven nodded, ‘Aye, we certainly need
that. Can you explain this to us Babes?’

‘
Three payments have
been made into the account in the past two days. One yesterday and
two today.’

‘
Is it a
lot?’

Beaver held up a pad he had been
studying, ‘According to this, if sales recorded amount to less than
one hundred thousand an annual payment will be made. If sales
exceed five hundred thousand then automated payments will be
triggered.’

‘
When was “Moonlight
Serenade” released?’ Steven asked Babes.

‘
It will be five days
ago at midnight, Modloch time.’

‘
And it has sold over
a million and a half copies already.’

‘
Obviously,’ Komoru
stated, cuddling into her pillow.

‘
What about
copyright?’ Howe asked.

Babes knew the answer to that one and
flashed it up on a screen, ‘It has been over seventy years since
the death of the original composer and the day it was broadcast for
the first time. That makes the recording public domain.’

Howe nodded thoughtfully, ‘I see, and
Charlie named the company Public Domain. Very smart.’

‘
Was it seven per
cent of the retail price?’ Steven asked.

‘
It was,’ Beaver
answered.

‘
Still no good if we
can’t read,’ Buzz stated the obvious. ‘Babes, can you find out the
price of fuel and calculate out how many ships we could refuel at
this very moment from empty.’

‘
From empty we could
refuel a hundred destroyers, thirty seven light cruisers,
twenty-eight heavy cruisers and fifteen battleships, not including
the Burning Wind. Or all the freighters within the fleet. There is
also enough money to refuel our tankers. If the record keeps
selling at this rate then we will have made enough money to refuel
the whole fleet within a fortnight, as well as fill all our tankers
to capacity.’