Read The Dark Imbalance Online
Authors: Sean Williams,Shane Dix
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #Space Opera
The Dark Imbalance (11 page)
“How long will it take us to get there?”
“Twenty hours,” Kajic replied.
“And does the file tell us what we’re supposed to do when we get there?”
“No,” said Kajic. “Nor in the other destinations we’ve been given, either.”
“So I guess we’ll just have to wing it,” said Roche. “And no doubt stir up trouble in the process.”
“I bet that’s what Nemeth is hoping for,” said Haid. Shaking his head, he added: “Look, if you really think this is the right thing to do, Morgan, I’ll go along with it—but...”
“I know.” She stood. “Uri, advise Defender-of-Harmony Vri of our destination, and let him know the course you set. Get us on our way as soon as possible. And keep us camouflaged. The less attention we draw to ourselves, the better.”
She looked at the faces of the people in her charge. Maii, out of the hazard suit, seemed older, thinner, and paler beneath her hair than when they had first met. Haid’s dark black skin and biomesh looked out of place against the warm browns of the bridge, lending him an air of discomfort. Neither Kajic nor Cane had changed at all—the former’s image artificially generated and never looking as tired as he felt, the latter seemingly untouchable. The one and only time she had seen Cane at a loss had been when he was thawing from the coma Linegar Rufo had used to keep him contained on Galine Four. And even then, she had sensed dangerous aura around him—like a bomb that could explode at any time.
“Okay,” she said after a moment. “We need to be fresh when we arrive at Perdue Habitat. Unfortunately we no longer have the luxury of the Box to keep an eye on things, so we’re going to have to take shifts keeping watch.”
“I am alert,” said Vri, his face appearing on the main screen in response to Kajic’s hail. “I’d be more than willing to keep watch.”
“I appreciate it,” said Roche, “but I’d like one of my own crew awake too. And don’t you volunteer either, Uri; you can only run for so long on stimulants.
I’ll
take the first watch. If something comes up that Vri and I can’t handle, I’ll sound the alarm. But until then, I want everyone to get some rest. That goes for you too, Cane.”
“If you insist, Morgan,” said Cane.
Roche had expected some objection from him, but was thankful it didn’t come. Whether or not his obedience was offered in response to her earlier suspicions or for completely innocent reasons, she didn’t know. Nor did she care. She was simply grateful not to be getting into an argument right now. She was just too tired.
She watched as Cane stood with his easy, smooth grace, and strode from the room without another word. Haid was close behind, with Maii in step beside him. They stopped at the doorway and Haid turned to face her.
“You
will
call, right?” he said.
She smiled. “You know I can’t handle this ship without you or Uri.”
The ex-mercenary returned the smile and then, with Maii using his eyes for guidance, left the bridge.
“Now you, Uri,” she said to the hologram standing in the center of the bridge.
“I won’t deny that I am tired, Morgan,” he said. “But I am concerned that you are, too.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I’ll be okay.
And
I’ll be watching your systems to make sure you’re doing as you’re told.”
“Very well. I will rest for four hours, the most I need at this time. When I wake, it’ll be your turn.”
She raised her hand in mock salute. “Sweet dreams.”
His image flickered out, and she was left with Vri’s face on the big screen. “We’ll speak if something happens,” she said. “Otherwise, stay alert.”
“I will,” said the warrior, and closed the link.
Even then, she wasn’t alone.
Almost instantaneously a chart was displayed before her, showing numerous ships in a wide variety of orbits, none with any likelihood of crossing their path. Several were traveling in directions similar to the
Ana Vereine,
but that didn’t necessarily mean anything; there was so much traffic in the system the chances were high that at any given time there would be such a coincidence.
Two green circles winked around objects in the display. Neither was following them.
The simple response held a wealth of meaning.
No,
because the Crescend had far surpassed such simple beginnings.
No,
the Box wouldn’t tell her any more if she asked. She tried to imagine what sort of communications a being thousands of years old and comprised of many millions of mundane Human minds would use. Instantaneous? She wasn’t prepared to rule anything out....
She thought for a few seconds before responding.
She could think of plenty of reasons why the Box might not want that information freely disseminated.
She nodded.
The admission didn’t make her smile.
?
>
can’t...> She stopped, feeling cold at the thought. If the council, with the united forces of the four hundred plus Pristine nations behind it, couldn’t fight back—who could?
The answer came to her almost immediately.
of them—>
they are attacking. When the enemy as an individual looks like any other Pristine Human and as a group has become enmeshed in many Pristine governments, will any amount of higher thought or technology prevail?>
She wasn’t satisfied with this answer.
to the council?>
the High Humans involved? As far as I know, you’re the only evidence that they’re showing the slightest interest, and even then, you’re just a go-between.>
The Box hesitated, then said: <1 cannot answer these questions, Morgan.>
<1 am saying that you are Human,> said the Box.
There was another slight pause. <1 am in communication with my maker, yes.>
That stopped her. The High Human was eavesdropping on them; the being that had grafted the Box to her very cells and sent her headlong through the galaxy was actually paying attention to what she said! The thought was unnerving. Nevertheless, she had the ear of someone a million times more evolved than she was; she knew she should use the opportunity while she had it.
Only one question concerned her at that moment.
said the Box. They had come full circle: the Box was proof that at least one High Human was interested in what happened on mundane levels—was, perhaps, even concerned—but beyond that refused to say anything at all. He had access to technology undreamed of, but wouldn’t allow them to use it. He could step in at any time and be of great help in the struggle to understand and repel the enemy, but he did not. He preferred lurking in the shadows....
Roche saw no point in pursuing the matter for the moment. She had more immediate things to worry about. Things she could actually do something about—or at least feel like she was doing something.
Once again, as the
Ana Vereine
powered its way across the solar system, Roche suspected that they were being followed. Not overtly; two ships hung back a long way and changed their trajectory several times, presumably in an attempt to allay suspicion by diverting attention away from their true activities. But their signature always reappeared on the navigation chart, and there was no doubt in Roche’s mind why: they were in pursuit of the
Ana Vereine.
They could have been Ulterior drones or ships making sure she was doing the right thing; they could have been completely unrelated to her situation in the system—security probes or freebooter scouts, establishing the ship’s status as either threat or opportunity. Regardless, Roche’s first thought was to shake them, but the difficulty of doing so outweighed the benefits; evasive maneuvers were less effective at high velocities, and any change in course at all would mean recalculating their orbit around the sun. No large feat, but it would mean waking Kajic.
Her best chance of losing them would come when they reached a relative halt at Perdue Habitat. That was just under a day’s travel. Until then she would simply have to try to ignore them, and take action only if either ship made a hostile move.
Roche frowned.
but that is all.> The Box’s voice was soft in her mind, soothing.
Roche nodded.
The blunt and frank response surprised Roche. She had grown accustomed to the AI’s self-assurance, and despite feeling a certain trepidation at times, had come to take comfort in the idea that she could rely on the Box. To hear its uncertainty now was somewhat unsettling.
6
IND Ana Vereine
955.1.31
0050
Whether the Box’s prediction had been specific to their journey or not, it turned out to be correct. Three hours after falling dreamlessly asleep, Roche woke to the sound of alarms: a Kesh interceptor was moving in to attack. The alarms brought the rest of the crew to the bridge, where Roche, still shaking off sleep, coordinated their response.
“How the hell did they find out who we were?” she muttered to no one in particular.
The interceptor—not one of the two ships she’d had her eye on earlier—was determined. Its relentless assault ended only when Defender-of-Harmony Vri dispatched it with a sustained blast from his A-P cannon. Before they could even begin to work out what to do next, an entire Kesh squadron slow-jumped to their location and opened fire.
“I have no idea,” said Haid, operating the weapons systems with Cane as fast as he could. “But they want us
real
bad.”
Roche glanced up from where she and Kajic were plotting evasion tactics and escape routes. “It’s only one squadron,” she said encouragingly.
“One could be enough,” said Haid. “And to jump like that, at a moment’s notice—they must’ve been waiting for the word. This didn’t happen on a whim, Morgan.”
Roche returned to the task at hand without agreeing or disagreeing. The sound of incoming weapons-fire was distraction enough without trying to have a conversation at the same time.
“I can see why they’d miss the
Sebettu
at a time like this,” Haid said. “Which they probably blame us for too.”
“Forget the small talk, Ameidio,” said Roche. “Stay focused! Maii, how did they find us so
easily
?”
, they have been looking for Vri’s vessel. He wasn’t camouflaged. They simply deduced that any ship like his with a companion vessel was likely to be the target they were seeking.>
Roche cursed Nemeth’s insistence that they take an escort—and herself for allowing this chink in their armor. “How’s Vri doing out there, anyway?”
“Exceptionally well, actually,” admitted Haid. “There are only six ships left. If I were them, I would’ve called off the attack long ago.”
“They won’t do that,” said Cane. “Theirs is a suicide mission: it’s a matter of win or die.”
Roche didn’t need him to tell her that. The Kesh pilots were fighting for their lives in the truest sense of the expression. Failure was not an option.
“Well, I hope they’ve made their peace with Asha,” said Haid. “Because the way Vri’s going out there, they’ll be meeting her pretty soon.”
“Kajic,” said Roche. “Tell Vri to dock when this is over. I want him in
close
from now on, under our camouflage. He’s going to be one hell of an inconvenience if he keeps on giving us away like this.”
“Yes, Morgan,” said Kajic.
“And Maii,” Roche went on, “can you determine
who’s
been leaking information to them?”
Roche cursed again, although the news wasn’t all bad. Someone had set them up, yes—but that someone had only known who they’d be traveling with, not
where
they were headed. This at least put to rest her fears of an ambush at Perdue.
Nevertheless, it was frustrating. Word about her was obviously continuing to spread. The only time she’d been left alone since arriving at the system was while under the protection of the council. She wondered if the superior camouflage technology of the Skehan Heterodox alone was sufficient to explain that brief lull.
Cane exploited weaknesses in the engineering of three of the Kesh fighters, to cripple rather than destroy them. The remaining three were taken out by Haid and Vri with less compassion, or less skill. Roche plotted a high-energy course away from the area, which Kajic set off upon the moment Vri’s ship was safely enclosed within the
Ana Vereine
’s camouflage field. Disguised as an innocuous freighter, they accelerated rapidly toward the sun.
“Our route takes us through or near several densely occupied regions—regions we know next to nothing about,” Kajic warned. “We’re battered but by no means unable to fight. However, I am going to require some time to do repairs.”
“I understand,” said Roche. “Vri, do you know anything about where we’re going?”
“No.” The Surin’s stolid mien was unchanged by the battle. Despite being docked to the
Ana Vereine,
he remained locked in his ship, ready for anything. “I suspect that no matter where we go we will enter regions in which the risk of conflict is high. Such is the nature of this environment.”
“All we can do, then, is keep our guard up.” The two ships that had followed them from the
Phlegethon
seemed to have wandered off, but that didn’t reassure her. If someone was still watching the
Ana Vereine,
their new attempt at camouflage wouldn’t fool them, and neither would the change of course. And chances were that the Kesh probably weren’t the only people who had known about the Surin escort.
Despite that, when they ran afoul of a minefield an hour later, then triggered a security alert two hours after that, the occurrences seemed unconnected to their mission. They were random incidents exacerbated by the tension and uncertainty in the system. As they traveled closer to the sun, then past it, the density of ships, and therefore the possibility of conflict, increased. Their sheer velocity was considered by some a serious threat, especially with so much debris already filling the system. They spotted two hulks in close orbit to the sun—strange spindly things that looked as though they’d been tied in knots. Roche couldn’t tell how they’d been scuttled; she couldn’t even imagine how they’d looked before being damaged.
They passed beyond the innermost regions and reached the domain of the ring. Ships seemed to avoid the dust-filled area, choosing orbits that arced out of the ecliptic or never crossed its aegis. Apart from the ablative effect of the dust on shields and hulls, Roche could see no good reason to take such dramatic steps, yet she did the same. There may have been a reason of which she was not yet aware.
The ring itself didn’t look like much by visible light. Viewed in artificial colors revealing frequencies in the infrared and ultraviolet, and shown in rapid motion so that all the observations Kajic had made since their arrival in the system roughly two days before lasted only a fleeting minute, strange patterns swirled through the dust like standing waves in a torus made of water. What this meant, if anything, Roche didn’t know, but it did give her something to look at apart from the endless parade of other vessels. Compared to Palasian System, Sol had very little to offer in the way of natural spectacles.
Beyond the ring, their velocity decreased. The number of ships in the region surrounding them decreased also, until they reached a distance from the sun similar to that maintained by the
Phlegethon.
Roche recalled how crowded it had seemed when they arrived; now it felt like a vacuum.
As a result, she was forced to concede the possibility that their close pass by the sun might have shaken off any pursuit. Fifteen hours into their voyage, and feeling the effects of another long, stress-filled stint on the bridge, she decided it was safe enough to call another break. Kajic, not knowing that she’d had little sleep while the Box kept watch, insisted that she retire to her cabin—or at least get something to eat.
The latter she couldn’t argue with. Leaving the ship in Kajic’s capable hands, she went to the mess and ate as much of a standard meal as she could stomach. Then, anxious about what lay ahead, she went to her cabin.
* * *
The whirring of thousands of electric scalpels disturbed her rest. Tiny machines, ranging in size from a pinhead to her thumbnail, were drilling somewhere nearby. They burrowed. They buzzed. The noise was maddening.
It seemed to be coming from inside her mattress, or possibly from under the bed. She got up and turned on the light to look, but there was nothing there. Nevertheless, the sound continued— but behind her now. She turned. The room was empty. Still the noise persisted, growing louder—whining, sawing, grating.
Then something tickled her ear. She flicked it away in irritation: a black speck, like a bug. Another ran down the back of her neck. She flicked it away too, and felt more. She shook her head violently as a sense of unease rushed through her.
The noise became louder. It was coming from behind her head.
In the mirror, she saw dozens of minuscule machines crawling through her stubbled hair, the area blurred and hazy from the frenetic movements of their razor-sharp mandibles. She brushed them away in fright, but others quickly took their place. She couldn’t get rid of all of them; there were just too many.
With a growing sense of horror, she turned her head to one side to see the hole in the back of her skull, where hair, skin, fat, and bone had been carefully cut away, allowing the tide of machines egress from where they lived
inside
her....
She woke with a start to the buzzing of her alarm.
Sitting up, she ran a hand across her scalp and tried to gather her thoughts. Her first concern was for the ship. A quick check of her implants showed that she had been asleep for almost five hours—the longest she could recall sleeping for ages. Presumably nothing dramatic had happened, or else she would have been awakened, but she’d be surprised if nothing had happened at all.
“Box?” She swung her legs out of bed and thought about standing. She needed a shower and a change of clothes. All she could smell was the sweat the nightmare had left on her skin.
“Box?” she said again. “Why the hell aren’t you talking to me?”
She ignored the reprimand and headed off for the showers.
Roche exhaled heavily, and breathed in steam. <1 assume Nemeth gave us
some
information on who to contact. A name, at least?>
to the Administer of this habitat and, by default, of the region. The Ulterior had come to some sort of arrangement with him, I gather, in which he traded resources for assistance when or if it was required. He was the one who was to have provided access visas and such support as we would require to carry out our mission.>
she mused.
She savored the last few moments of the shower.
Ignoring the remark, she began to dry herself.
Roche wondered if any of this would prove relevant, but noted it anyway.
Roche nodded thoughtfully as she finished toweling herself down.