Supergiant (Gigaparsec Book 2) (22 page)

After months of buildup and worry, the military outpost was
almost a letdown. The listener’s letter of passage, combined with references
from the other nobles, granted them access to the prison gateway. The search of
Sphere of Influence
, however, was more thorough than anticipated. The
military commandeered the spare reactor.

Roz fumed on the bridge while Ivy
guarded her. “They can’t just take things that belong to other people. The
frontier planets need that power.”

“Evidently, electricity is
counterproductive to piety and submission to authority.” Ivy monitored several
comm channels at once. “Be glad they didn’t take your steel spinner. Grady
convinced them it was necessary in case we need to deploy our solar sail.”

Panning the cameras to follow her
reactor, Roz wasn’t appeased. “We don’t
have
a solar sail.”

“Relax, if corrupt bureaucrats
always have to find something to dispute. They won’t stop until we give them
something. We kept them out of the quantum tubes and away from Echo.”

“I know. Small victories. Why are
the soldiers clustered at the cargo bay?”

“Kesh is negotiating for the
garrison to pay the loan sharks the same price we’d get from the shipyard.
There’ll be a delay, and the transfer will come from navy headquarters. That
should throw the Blue Claws and Bankers off our trial.”

Roz grudgingly acknowledged the
good news. “You know what would really make me happy? I’d like to get rid of
the governor’s men. They’ve been poking their noses into everything. I’m afraid
they’re going to try to take over our ship if things don’t go their way at the
prison. Which reminds me, before this happened, I was going to install a panic
button under the dash that I can hit with my foot.” She crawled onto the floor
and unrolled her toolkit.

Ivy chuckled. “Maybe we can insist
the governor’s men carry the reactor into the space station and then lock the
doors behind them.”

“The same way you’d get rid of
one-night stands who didn’t know when to leave.” Roz located an appropriate
touch-activated switch in her parts stash. She had most of the lockdown
subroutines written already, but the activation trigger had to be out of sight.

Surprised, Ivy said, “Look at you,
joking about sex. You’re really coming out of your shell. Are you happy?”

“Max and I don’t get much time
together, but yes, gloriously.”

“How do you cope with the third
person in the mix?”

“That’s personal. We’re not
supposed to talk about it.” Echo rode along in one of their minds and offered
decades of experience on what each gender enjoyed, not that Max needed a lot of
coaching. Roz attached the new switch under the main control panel. “I mean,
some parts are obvious. We can’t link-bond like normal people, so Echo fills in
that gap.”

“Sort of like spirit glue.”

“Yeah. She helps us share and avoid
misunderstandings. The relationship is still a lot of work. I didn’t consider a
lot of things when I agreed to this arrangement, like decontamination.” Roz ran
a wire from the switch to an auxiliary input port. “We have to live in Echo’s
quarters, although the ship had to reclassify our race as Magi to manage that.
At least when Max can’t be there, she keeps his side of the bed warm.”

Struggling to broach a new topic,
Ivy looked lost. “Speaking of Magi. Yenang is still convinced I’m Echo.”

“Why?” Roz attached the first layer
of defenses, without sirens, to the switch.

“He wasn’t there for the wedding,
but I stood next to you during the whole reception.”

“You were pretty drunk, and then
you disappeared for a few days.”

“I confessed to Reuben I wanted to
kiss you again.”

Roz sat up so fast she smacked her
head on the console. “Ow! Crap.” The switch caused an extra blast shield to
seal off the elevator and the hatch from the crew floor. Red lights flashed
everywhere. She staggered to her feet, holding her forehead with one hand and
slapping off alerts with the other. “Well we know that works.”

“Sorry,” Ivy whispered.

Roz’s eyes didn’t refocus for a
moment. “When we were living together, did you like me that way?”

Ivy blushed for the first time
since the two had met. “No. Maybe I just don’t want to lose my only friend.
I-I’d understand if you want me to get off the ship here.”

Laying a hand on Ivy, Roz said,
“No. You haven’t lost me, but I do think we should switch shifts for a while.
Not because I’m afraid of you. Echo did something to me that made me a Magi.
Your alien DNA might be … attracted to my new species, as opposed to me
personally.”

“I can’t stop thinking of that time
we kissed outside the bar,” Ivy said.

How do I explain that to my
mates?
“I’ll have Max take the rest of your shift.”

Ivy took a shuddering breath. “I
only want you to be happy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Roz asked, “Can you hold it
together enough to kick out the governor’s Bats?”

“In my sleep.”

While Ivy went to take care of
unwanted passengers, Roz rode the lift down to the astrogation chamber. She
woke Echo and told her about the embarrassing situation.

Rather than being upset by the
flirtation, Echo’s anger flared at the possible explanation. “Anodyne
University stole our genetic material?” the pale Magi roared, storming toward
the security console. “We must isolate the contamination.”

Roz held her back easily. “Ivy told
me in confidence as a friend. I refuse to punish her trust. She has my
protection.”

“Our secret must be kept. The hand
of the uplifter must not be seen.” Echo’s knees buckled, and Roz dragged her to
a seat.

“I haven’t told anyone, not even
Max. The sample that the
Sanctuary
team discovered was partial
mitochondrial DNA from a thousand years ago. The only witness to the original
strand died alone on Labyrinth. I’m amazed Dr. Baatjies was able to make the
splice Human-compatible.”

“Not so very difficult. He’s the
reason your people had to take the sentience test twice.”

“An evil genius. I heard. What do
you mean, ‘not difficult’?”

“Anyone could splice our people
together. We were once the same race.”

Roz furrowed her brow. “Pardon?”

“I told you about our civil war.
Humans were the faction who destroyed the Enigma. They wanted nothing to do
with the gift of the Forerunners. Humans claimed the Enigma was controlling us
and tainting our people. They wanted freedom, so we gave it to them.” Echo
sighed wearily. “Stripped them of everything the Enigma had given us since the
beginning, all talents, and the nature of the three.”

“So it wasn’t modesty. All this
time, you’ve kept your identities secret because you’re ashamed of your
backward cousins?”

“The Destroyers. The Virus-ridden.”

Roz plopped onto the floor beside
Echo. She remembered the early communications with the Magi and how these terms
were synonymous with the devil. “You hate us that much and you still visited
us?”

“Every 512 Earth years.”

“Of course, two to the ninth power.
You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting your holy number around here,” Roz
complained. “I meant, why did you help Earth if we’re so heinous?”

“We have the same rules for all
species. Frankly, we didn’t expect you to pass the test before you destroyed
yourselves. If not for Anodyne, the destruction would have happened many times
over. It may still.”

Roz poked Echo’s chest with a
finger. “You’re the ones who called us space monkeys.”

“As a joke. Your people
oversimplify the names of all other races. We were trying to teach you the
error of your ways.”

“Right now, I want to take you over
my knee,” Roz said, clenching her fist.

“Violence is not our way, child.”

“Our violence saved your asses in
the last war.”

Echo held up a finger. “The only
reason I allow you to speak to me thus is that you bear the office of adversary
in our triad. That office is for reasoned discourse not insults.”

“We bled so the Magi could be safe
in their ivory towers.”

Her voice strained, Echo said, “I
am still coming to terms with what happened while I was away.”

“So why did you marry us if we’re
nothing more to you than savage monkeys?”

“I decided I would suffer any
indignity to solve the Enigma.” Echo put a hand against Roz’s face. “When I
least expected, both of you gave me hope. Then the impossible happened. I fell
in love.”

That word softened Roz’s stance but
didn’t negate the anger entirely. “My question stands unanswered. Do you think
Ivy is attracted to whatever you did to me?”

Echo sighed. “Perhaps. I activated
a few more parts of your heritage, including the hormones I need to survive.
Ivy has been without her true kind for most of her life. With her neutral
genes, she’d be drawn to either of you.”

“Crap!” Roz hopped up. “I sent her
down to Max!”

“That should be avoided.”

Already slapping the lift controls,
Roz said, “Some things you don’t have to tell me.”

When she arrived at the loading
dock, Ivy was already crouched beside the airlock. She clutched Roz’s leg. “I
feel like an animal. What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing. You promised to stay
clear of my man, and you did.” Roz stroked her hair, and Ivy closed her eyes.
“You’ll just have to trust me. I know what’s happening, and it’s not your
fault. Until Max and I get a few things worked out, we have to keep our
distance from you. No big deal.”

She called Reuben to help. He
announced, “We managed to ditch all but one of the governor’s flunkies. No plan
is perfect.” Reuben handed her the final passenger manifest, which skipped the
mimic but listed seventeen souls for their voyage: eight Bats, a Saurian, a
Goat, three Magi, and four Humans. “What next, great Captain?”

“Take Ivy to my old room. Tie her
to the bed until we leave the outpost. Keep her distracted.”

The young Goat saluted. “Yes, sir.”

Roz locked in the ship’s course
from the safety of the mirrored room. Working in mental concert with Echo saved
a lot of time. The trick was not
reaching
the supergiant node. That was
easier than hitting the broad side of a barn. Their goal was to avoid being
crushed by tidal forces or debris on the far side while escaping the enormous
sun’s pull. The algorithm from the shipyard carried them 90 percent of the way
to their desired destination. Echo refined the jump parameters to several
points past the decimal, and Roz guided them to the target with equal precision.

As they approached the final
window, Roz broadcast shipwide, “Anyone have any last words for the sake of
history?”

Max replied over the intercom, “May
God have mercy on our souls?”

Several nuns and the priest said
the Bat equivalent of “Amen.”

Dr. Lisheen offered, “Our lives in
the hereafter don’t matter if we do nothing to improve the lot of the suffering
among us. If one child among us suffers, we will be questioned at the gates of
paradise.”

“That’s beautiful,” Roz said.

“From Stewart Llewellyn’s speech to
the Union when he fought to build worlds to save your overpopulated Earth,”
Echo said. “That’s why the council loaned Anodyne trillions of credits.
Anything you want to add, Shiraz? You’re the pilot and the reason we’re on this
mission.”

“Dear God, don’t let me screw up so
bad I can’t fix it before we all die.”

As promised, Roz had the honeymoon she wanted, with complete
access to Echo’s mysterious floor. Other than a robe, most of the clothes Max
chose hugged her curves like paint. As a compromise, she would wear them under
her flight suit and unzip the front to tantalize him. The Magi pheromones that
caused the problem with Ivy faded when they found a way for Echo to feel
treasured and satisfied in the relationship.

Even after the ship reentered
normal space, the trip to the habitable zone of this huge, hot star took longer
than normal. Indeed, Roz had to spin the ship constantly to keep the hull heat
uniform, one benefit of a spherical design. She left their room only to gather
more food and to visit Jeeves. He was getting bigger and more trusting of the
Bats, especially the dedicated Dr. Lisheen, whom he called “She-sheen.”

After weeks of mutual discovery,
the newlyweds decided to rejoin the rest of the partners for a status meeting
in the officers’ quarters below the bridge. After Kesh provided a financial
update, Roz announced the estimated time of arrival. “The question of the hour
is whether we contact the guards, the inmates, or attempt to find the professor
on our own.”

Kesh cleared his throat. “That not
a choice. If at all possible, we should do this discretely. If anyone with
weapons finds out Crakik is valuable to us, they’ll kidnap him and set his
price higher than we want to pay.”

“I concur,” Max said. “Hostage situations
rarely end well. We can bargain with the factions after we scout the surface
and get what we need.”

Reuben propped his feet on the
common-room table. “How are we going to find the professor’s needle in a
planet-sized haystack?”

“You underestimate me,” Echo said,
standing behind Reuben in her Gina disguise. “From our position in
geosynchronous orbit, I can scour the surface out-of-body.”

Reuben snorted. “How long will that
take?”

Echo pushed his feet off the table,
and Reuben almost fell onto the floor in shock.  He did spill a juice bulb on
his shirt. “That is an
eating
surface. Triune knows how much bacteria
your feet carry after all that fertilizing you do in the garden.” She was solid
and outside her room for the first time since her emancipation.

Reuben left the room to grab dry
clothing.

Ivy grinned. “Your aura’s much
healthier. The therapy seems to be working.”

Max covered his mouth for a cough.
“Let’s see that infrared scan of the planet together with the maps the Bats
gave us. We’ll plot a search pattern.”

“We have a preliminary proposal
already,” Roz said. “We just need to adjust for population densities and new
settlements. The real issue is who do we take down to the surface once we find
the professor?”

“I was thinking that Reuben and I
have trained the most together at hand-to-hand,” Max said. “He can also carry
the professor out if necessary, and I can take care of any medical issues.”

Ivy drew herself up to her full
height, which was still shorter than every other adult on the ship. “Absolutely
not. MI-23 will not allow you to risk the future Black Ram.”

“Is that the intelligence community
or his girlfriend talking?” Max asked.

“I have to be on the mission
because of my ability to sense life at a distance and my infiltration training.
You’re right that a doctor is also necessary in case the professor has been
injured or severely malnourished.”

Deke’s expression went from bored
to alert, ears erect. “I say we keep the nuns and other civilians aboard until
we scout for hostiles.”

Reuben wandered back into the
common room, clueless that his fate had been decided without his presence.

“We’ve seen no signs of the Phib
ore hauler,” Roz said.

“They could have cannibalized it to
make generators and a high-tech living space,” Kesh argued.

Reuben shook his head. “Bro, don’t
use the word cannibal around people whose family has actually been eaten by
those monsters.”

Max said, “I’ve been thinking.
There’s no way a significant number of Phibs would have survived over a
century. I doubt they had any females on their ship.”

“Good point,” Kesh agreed. “So if
we avoid the guard station labeled on the map, we only need to worry about Bats
reduced to primitive status, wielding spears and stone axes.”

“They could have stolen blasters
during the uprising,” Deke argued.

“For heaven’s sake, Lisheen can
stay safe on the ship. We won’t risk your lady,” Roz said. “We can remount the
turret inside the shuttle’s cargo pod. With medicine and food to trade, the
smaller cargo pod can hold four passengers. The large pod would make us too
much of a target.”

The others nodded. Max said, “With
the ramp down, the gunner should have a wide enough field of fire to stop the
locals from swarming our ride home. The pilot can ride in the cockpit. Ivy and
I will be first boots on the ground. We have to leave room for Professor Crakik
as the third passenger. He’s the whole reason for this mission. That leaves one
open seat.”

Roz said, “I’ll be the fourth
passenger. I can’t manipulate your odds of success from here.”

“Out of the question,” Max replied.

“Actually, she’s pretty good with a
ranged weapon, passes unseen better than you, and can listen to my remote
instructions,” Echo said bluntly. “Shiraz is a better candidate.”

Roz experienced a twinge of doubt.
Did Echo want Max to herself?

“Fine, we’ll both go,” Max said.
“Won’t risking both pilots be a problem?”

“You need me as translator,” Deke
insisted.

“Actually, Yenang can do that, and
he’s better with a laser turret,” Roz said.

Kesh shook his head. “I don’t know.
That thing sucks up seven Mahdra crystals at a time. We don’t want a massive
weapon or those crystals falling into inmate hands.”

“So we rig them with a phoenix
charge,” Roz said. “A thirty-second burst of gamma radiation and the crystals
explode in spawn mode.”

Max nodded. “Fireworks. Anyone who
overruns our position dies in the shrapnel, but we could still take off. She’s
good at this contingency stuff.”

“You’re not going to take
my
blade,” Deke insisted.

Clearing his throat, Kesh said,
“Strictly speaking the shuttle is owned by our corporation.”

Roz could sense Deke digging in his
heels for a long battle. She decided to nip this in the bud. “Your protection
of that shuttle is a function of your loyalty to your church and your crown.”

“So?”

“I submit that both have thrown you
under the bus lately. You don’t owe them anything. Stay on the ship. If we
screw up and die on the surface, you get to live the rest of your life with the
lady doctor. Choose: your blade or a real life. Keep in mind that I’m going to
tell Lisheen your answer.”

“Having Roz in the cockpit will
give her extra armor,” Max said. “I’m willing if you are.”

Deke squirmed under the ultimatum.
“This isn’t fair.”

“When you tell the story to others,
you’ll have an excuse. We forced you to let a Magi fly your precious blade.
Everyone will understand.”

“I don’t like you right now, Mrs.
Ellison,” Deke said.

Roz understood now what the
adversary role meant to those in other species. “My job isn’t a popularity
contest. It’s to find the best alternatives for my triad to survive.”

“I hope you find you professor’s
bones slow-roasted over a fire,” Deke said, leaving the meeting.

Kesh didn’t bat an eyelid. “Next
agenda item, what should we take on the first mission as trade items. If the
natives are friendly, do we give them the tools necessary to overthrow the
guards and become independent?”

“We give them every opportunity for
a long and prosperous life,” Roz said without hesitation.

“But anything potentially lethal?”
asked Kesh.

Ivy snorted. “Anything can be
lethal.”

“Our people have sworn not to take
sentient life,” Echo replied.

The debate raged on for hours. In
the end, no ranged weapons would be decided upon until they met with the
leaders of the prison and determined their governing principles.