Aneka Jansen 5: The Greatest Heights of Honour (24 page)

‘Cassandra’s not a robot,’ Abby replied instantly. ‘I mean, she is obviously, but she’s a person. And this… Back home they make us have quarterly medicals to make sure they aren’t overstressing us. This isn’t really
that
different.’

‘I knew there was a reason I liked her,’ Al commented.

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‘Reading?’ Aneka asked.

‘Uh-huh,’ Abby replied. ‘I hope I haven’t been too boring as company.’

Aneka laughed. She was on the bottom bunk, Abby was on the top. In the morning the frozen crew would be waking up for the final ten-day stretch to their destination. ‘To be honest, it’s sort of a pleasant change.’

‘How so?’

‘It’s different. Being in a room with someone who doesn’t want sex
every
night.’

‘It’s not like we haven’t indulged once or twice. And that time Cassandra joined in…’

‘She is very adept.’

There was some shuffling from the bunk above. ‘Her tongue…’

Aneka giggled. ‘As she pointed out, her model is a popular one, and for good reason. Even if it’s more popular on the Rim. Core world Jenlay like to think they’re above such things.’

‘Is it just me, or do the Jenlay seem kind of hypocritical about sex to you too?’

‘They have a number of little foibles. You’re not wrong. They like to think they’re incredibly liberal, but they have some very conservative attitudes at times. They like to think looks don’t matter, but try getting a partner if you’re ugly.’

‘Is there such a thing as an ugly Jenlay?’ Abby asked, laughing.

‘I’ve met some that could be better. The worst was a man named Ardus Quint. He was a telepath and used to turn women into mindless slaves to get them to sleep with him.’

‘Oh. You said he
was
a telepath?’

‘He’s dead,’ Aneka said flatly.

‘That… sounds like a good thing.’

‘Yeah…’

There was silence for a few minutes, then the sound of shuffling from above again. Abby’s legs appeared over the side of the bunk and she dropped to the deck.

‘Uh… It is our last night and now I’m stuck thinking about Cassandra’s tongue…’

Aneka laughed and scooted over on the bunk. ‘Come on then. Maybe she’ll join in when she gets back from the lab.’

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‘I am getting too old for this,’ Gillian moaned.

Delta handed her a water bottle. ‘You volunteered,’ she said.

‘Exactly.’ Gillian flipped open the top and drained half the bottle. ‘Clearly all the freezing is bringing on early-onset dementia.’

Drake shook his head; Gillian complained, in the same way, every time she woke up. ‘Aggy? Everything okay?’

‘All systems and crew are functioning within parameters, Captain,’ the AIs voice replied.

‘No Shannon to meet me? I expected her to deliver that report.’

‘Shannon indicated that you should eat and then go to your cabin where she will be awaiting a full debriefing. I would like to point out that this is obviously a euphemism since she is not wearing briefs.’

Abby burst into a fit of giggles and Drake rolled his eyes. ‘Uh, yeah,’ the Captain said, ‘I kind of got that Aggy.’

‘We are nine-point-eight Federal Standard Days from the target system,’ Aggy went on. ‘As yet sensors are picking up nothing much aside from that there
is
a star there. Doctor Wallace is in the lab with Cassandra working on getting more data, but does not expect to see details soon.’

Drake nodded. ‘Let’s get some food in us. Tomorrow we can discuss plans for our arrival.’

‘Not that there’s much to plan for,’ Aneka said.

‘No,’ Bashford agreed, ‘but you know how I like to have contingencies covered.’

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‘Definitely eleven planets,’ Wallace said. ‘Four gas giants, three rocks, one icy rock, and two planets so close to their star they’re ovens.’ The crew were gathered in the lab where a schematic display of the system ahead of them was gracing the screens.

‘That was ten,’ Drake commented.

‘There’s a garden world, or there would not be a “G” designation. At this range, and with the warp drive engaged, the best I can get is a fairly standard, nitrogen-based atmosphere. It looks like it has a moon from the orbital wobble.’

‘Our target?’ Aneka suggested.

‘That would seem to be a logical conclusion, but I’ll continue refining the scans. We will get more detail as we get closer.’

‘Then we wait,’ Drake said. ‘We can decide on where to exit warp when we know more.’

‘You’re not enjoying this, are you?’ Aneka asked him.

‘Neither is Bash,’ Drake replied.

‘I’m not,’ the facilitator agreed. ‘Too much in the way of unknowns.’

Aneka nodded. ‘Yeah, I can get behind that.’

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‘I’ve enough data to indicate a breathable atmosphere. With the distortion from the warp field we can’t be absolutely certain about contaminants.’ Wallace checked the screen in front of him. ‘I’m detecting three satellites, but the orbits suggest two of them are artificial.’

‘Artificial satellites?’ Gillian asked. Wallace nodded. ‘That system is too young to have a spaceflight-capable civilisation.’

‘Oh, far too young. If I’m detecting them, they have to be fairly large structures. We are talking about an advanced spacefaring culture. That probably means…’

‘Someone has come in and colonised the place,’ Gillian finished for him.

‘Yeah, but who?’ Drake asked. ‘We’re way outside Federation space. Abby?’

‘Not us,’ the ambassador replied. ‘Herosians?’

‘It seems unlikely, but we should be cautious.’ He looked upward. ‘Aggy, give us a course toward the fifth planet. We’ll exit three light-seconds out and scan from there.’

‘Course laid in, Captain,’ Aggy replied. ‘Warp exit in eighteen minutes, twenty-two seconds.’

‘All right. Shannon, Aneka, you’re with me in the cockpit. Everyone else, let’s get ready for whatever reception we have waiting.’

~~~

The view through the front window of the cockpit shifted to normal. Even at this range they could see two large stations hanging in space on either side of the single moon. What they could not see, even after three seconds, were missile launches, and there was no sign of active scanning.

‘Atmospheric data is coming through,’ Wallace’s voice said. ‘Trace chemicals in the atmosphere suggesting volcanic activity. Nothing dangerous. Atmospheric pressure is within tolerances. It’s warm, but nothing excessive.’

‘There’s also surface plant life,’ Ella added.

‘I’m more concerned about those stations,’ Drake said.

Aneka was frowning. ‘Doesn’t one of them look just a little too much like…?’

‘That’s impossible,’ Gillian broke in.

‘Unlikely,’ Wallace corrected. ‘Am I correct in remembering that War mentioned a weapon that could cause a star to go nova which employed a wormhole?’

‘Yes,’ Aneka replied. ‘She did.’

Almost as if in answer, the radio spoke. ‘Federal Science Vessel Garnet Hyde, this is Shadataga Control. Welcome. Please proceed to docking.’

‘Shadataga,’ Aneka said. Drake and Shannon looked at her. ‘It means “Reaching for knowledge,” education.’ She waved at the control panel. ‘May I?’

‘Be my guest,’ Drake replied, activating the transmitter.

‘Garnet Hyde to Control,’ Aneka said, ‘we will set course to your docking bay. You guys have a
lot
of explaining to do.’

Control’s voice held a hint of humour as she replied. ‘It
has
taken rather longer than expected for us to speak again, Aneka. We are looking forward to providing you with all the answers you seek.’

Shadataga.

‘Yes, the wormhole we used to collapse our star also acted as our escape route.’ Speaker looked just as he had aboard the station in the Negral system: a distinguished old man in a white suit with a cane clutched in one hand. ‘If you want the details of how it was done, you’ll have to talk to Reality. Physics is
not
my speciality.’

‘I shall take great pleasure in doing so,’ Wallace said, beaming in anticipation.

‘I take it you’ve been here for a while?’ Gillian added. Her gaze wandered over the courtyard they were in, and the buildings around it.

The AIs had been busy; that was clear just from the construction. To the north were low buildings with large windows which gave the impression of housing; a lot of apartments set around small quads and gardens of local plants. Off to the east and west the structures were more utilitarian and gave no indication of purpose, though there were towers suggestive of cooling systems so there was possibly some heavy machinery in there. To the south, however, there was a more grandiose structure with a motto in Xinti, Latin, Hani, Toremic, and Herica scripts above the large doors. In all of them it read, ‘Seek Knowledge and You Shall Be Rewarded.’

‘We began construction sixteen months ago,’ Speaker said, ‘by your calendar. We needed to build equipment to do the work prior to that. We decided that the attack on Negral should not stop us from continuing our plan for a university.’ He nodded toward the big building with its multi-lingual motto. ‘That is the result. We have student housing to the north, recreational facilities to the east, and our computer and operations centre to the west. Everything is functional, though we have not finished decorating all the apartments.’

‘I’m disappointed, Speaker,’ Aneka replied, grinning. ‘Inviting us here before the work’s finished?’

‘War and Winter were very insistent that we get you here as soon as possible. They are waiting for you in the operations centre. Don’t keep them waiting. Winter has developed quite the independent temperament and she’s getting impatient.’ He smiled. ‘She used to be such a mild-mannered AI.’

‘Huh, right. In that building?’

‘I’m coming too,’ Ella burst out. ‘They’re going to ask you to do something really dangerous. I’m not waiting to hear about it second hand.’

‘Let’s go then,’ Aneka told her, starting toward the western buildings.

~~~

War was a statuesque woman, a warrior figure in a white tunic. Winter’s tall, blonde Number Seven avatar seemed small beside her colleague. The two were waiting in a large room full of consoles and a big, circular, central display table, which looked rather like Winter’s operations room aboard her ship.

Currently, the image hovering over the display table was a galaxy map marked with several bright lights. Al’s pattern-matching algorithms quickly identified several of them. Old Earth, New Earth, and Shadataga were there, so were Beryum, Lonar, and Marchant. There was a dotted line moving out from the furthest out of the lights toward the one which marked New Earth. Aneka frowned at the other lights and then glanced at the two AIs.

‘We have probe ships out in strategic locations,’ Winter said. ‘I’m sure you’ve identified some of them. Possibly not Herosia and Galinor, the current Herosian capital. We detected a large fleet of Herosian ships leaving Herosia. The line is our expectation of their course and an approximate time to arrival at New Earth.’

‘Early next year,’ Ella said, her voice quiet.

‘Unfortunately,’ War said, ‘we cannot enact our plan before they get there, unless our estimate is wrong.’

‘I really don’t think that’s likely. What is it you want Aneka to do?’

‘Straight to business then,’ Winter said. ‘It’s nothing too bad. Just fly to Herosia, plant a computer virus in their central communications hub, and get out without them noticing.’

Aneka looked at the display. ‘That could take most of a year.
And
when I get there they’ll spot me as soon as I come out of warp, if not before.’

‘We have something special arranged for that,’ War said. ‘A present for you.’ She waved a hand at the display and it shifted to show a sleek, black hulled spacecraft. ‘This is Gwy. She’s waiting for you in the orbital station. Optically camouflaged hull, with stealth characteristics, cloaking system, force field defence system, full electronic warfare system, and beam weapons for offence.’

‘And she’ll do close to a light year in a Federal Standard Hour,’ Winter added. ‘She’ll get you to Herosia in about seventy-one days.’

‘A present?’ Aneka said, her eyes on the image.

‘She’s yours,’ War said. ‘You’ll need to familiarise yourself with her. She’s different from the ships you’re used to.’

‘Once you’re ready, however,’ Winter said, ‘you need to go.’

‘We need to go,’ Ella stated flatly. ‘I’m going too.’

‘Ella…’ Aneka began.

‘No,’ Ella interrupted. ‘You’re going to need help. The AIs can get me chips for engineering skills, electronics operations, piloting… And if you’re walking into that, I’m not letting you go by yourself. You could get killed…’

‘
You
could get killed!’

‘If we’re both there, then it’s less likely that either of us will!’ Their voices were rising and the two AIs looked at each other.

‘Ella is right, Aneka,’ War said, her voice calm. ‘The two of you together will have a far greater chance of success, and survival. Gwy can carry two easily.’

‘In comfort,’ Winter added. ‘There’s room for training. Seventy days of intensive study and Ella should be well able to handle backing you up.’

‘But…’ Aneka said, frowning. The frown was mostly because they were right and she hated it.

‘They’re right,’ Al said, ‘and you might as well admit it. If it makes you feel better, you can always try to persuade her to stay here while you’re getting ready.’

‘Sure,’ Aneka grumbled. ‘A few days of her proving she’ll be really useful and I’ll persuade her not to go. Uh-huh.’ Aloud she said, ‘I’m not happy about this.’

‘You don’t have to be happy,’ Ella replied, ‘but you
do
have to be alive. And I’m going to do my best to make sure you stay that way.’

~~~

‘Wouldn’t it be better for Bash or Drake to go?’ Gillian said, worry evident on her face.

The crew were gathered in one of the apartments in the students’ quarters, the one allocated to Aneka and Ella. Each apartment was about the same: a split level structure with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom on one level, and two bedrooms off a balcony above. The decoration varied. The AIs had decided to dispense with the video wall system most Jenlay housing featured, going instead for decorative styles from various periods of Xinti history before they had shifted into artificial bodies. This one featured various geometric designs which Aneka found oddly pleasing, as though she had seen them before even if she had no idea when.