Roboteer (42 page)

That would explain why Gustav had been feeling so bitter and listless lately, at least.

‘He recommends that the troops be restricted to landing rations until he can find out what’s going on,’ Regis added. ‘He also says we should consider using environment masks.’

Terrific. Discipline was already strained. Cutting the soldiers off from the spoils of their victory wasn’t going to go down well. Gustav straightened and sighed. It appeared that in the process of capturing Galatea, the crusade had turned its inhabitants into exactly the kind of people Gustav’s own ancestors had been – terrorists and freedom fighters. There was irony in that, but also something to learn.

The Galateans weren’t like the people of the other colonies. It was as if they
expected
to suffer. They actively courted it. Still, it would be different when the High Church Repentance Squads arrived. Then the natives’ games would only make things worse for them.

Gustav’s compad chimed. He drew it out and found Tang’s personal insignia flashing there. Gustav was required immediately for a video conference with the admiral.

‘The rest will have to wait,’ Gustav told his aide. ‘Restrict the troops to rations and give Wei whatever resources he needs.’

He strode over to the corner of the huge Galatean room where he’d set up a working console. He pressed the answer stud on the compad and sat down in front of the monitor. Tang’s frowning face appeared on one side of the screen like an angry moon. To Gustav’s immense surprise, Rodriguez appeared on the other, and he didn’t look happy, either.

Gustav nodded to them. ‘Admiral, Father,’ he said coolly. ‘What a nice surprise.’

‘There’s nothing nice about it, Ulanu,’ Rodriguez snapped. ‘The artefact has been stolen and a Buddha-class battle cruiser along with it.’

Gustav stared at the disciple in disbelief for a moment and then fought down a bray of laughter. Could it be that the mighty Rodriguez had failed to keep his hands on the Galateans? Of course he had! Gustav was only surprised that he’d managed to make such a mess of it so fast. He had come running here for help, no doubt.

Rodriguez read the light in Gustav’s eyes. ‘Are you
amused
, General?’ he spat. ‘Fifteen of my men were killed including my best interrogator. The Sons of Mao lost eight others. And my work on the Relic solution has been set back by months.’

‘I’m very sorry for your loss, Father,’ Gustav said unconvincingly.

‘Disciple Rodriguez came as quickly as he could via high-speed scout,’ Tang put in. Gustav didn’t doubt it.

‘Can I also assume that the Galatean prisoners escaped?’ he asked sweetly.

Rodriguez turned scarlet. ‘Of course they escaped! Who else do you suppose was responsible for all those deaths?’

You
, Gustav thought. ‘Father,’ he said, ‘may I ask, what vector did they leave on? Were they headed here?’

‘No,’ Rodriguez replied, ‘though I’m sure you’d have liked the answer to be that convenient. They disappeared somewhere in the direction of Zuni-Dehel.’

‘I see,’ said Gustav, nodding sagely.

That was disturbing. Gustav thought that home would be the first place Captain Baron would head for. Failing that, he’d have bet on the rendezvous points for the Galatean evacuation arks.

‘Well, Father, I’m grateful that you came all the way out here to tell us, but I’m not sure there’s a great deal we can do about it,’ said Gustav. ‘The problem now lies within your jurisdiction, after all.’

Gustav glanced at Tang’s face and saw some of the tension go out of it. It was clear that the admiral didn’t want this problem. He might even be prepared to abandon his ally to avoid it.

‘Wrong, General,’ said Rodriguez. ‘The High Church does not get involved in direct military action, and as the senior officer most recently responsible for those captives I consider it your responsibility to retrieve them.’

Now there was a surprise.

‘Furthermore,’ said the disciple, ‘if your men had properly searched the prisoners for concealed weapons, this breakout would not have occurred. It is therefore your fault.’

So that was why he’d come in such a hurry – to hand off blame.

Gustav smiled back at him. ‘Firstly, Father, those men were searched thoroughly. The nature of the scans and their results are all on record. Secondly, your grasp of the military hierarchy appears to be flawed. Responsibility for chasing spies cannot be retroactively apportioned to reassigned personnel, as you so colourfully imagine. From the moment the orders you passed me took effect, Admiral Tang became responsible for all military aspects of the Galatean problem. If you wish to second me, you must approach him, as it will be to his report sheet that my activities are appended. Thirdly, by coming here rather than following the Galateans directly, you have lost the opportunity of finding them. Neither I nor any other person alive has the ability to reliably follow a two-week-old warp trail.’

‘I know that!’ Rodriguez seethed. ‘Chopra’s men have given chase. I have come here to instruct you to depart to oversee the operation.’

Gustav shook his head. ‘I cannot. Wherever they were going, they will in all likelihood have reached their destination by now. The best that we can do, in my opinion, is remain here and reinforce our defences. It seems certain that the Galateans will attempt to return home eventually and we must be ready for them when they do. Do you not agree, Admiral?’ he said, glancing at Tang.

‘Yes. Yes, of course,’ said Tang, nodding vigorously.

Gustav smiled to himself. Tang’s contempt for his old boss appeared to have been forgotten. Apparently, the moment the admiral’s credibility was under threat, he was only too happy to hide behind whoever was closest.

‘This is preposterous!’ said Rodriguez. ‘What if the Galateans are on their way to bomb the Earth in retaliation, just as the Drexlerians attempted?’

‘Unlikely. But in such a case, we would bomb Galatea,’ Gustav said smoothly. ‘That is how deterrents work, Father.’ He chose not to reveal the fact that Galatea was effectively doomed already. ‘We have what they want most, and that is this planet,’ he went on. ‘With respect, we would be fools to take our eyes off it, as I’m sure Admiral Tang would agree.’

‘Absolutely,’ Tang said quickly. ‘I’m sorry, Father, but our job is here. Those rebels are no longer our concern. That responsibility is yours, I’m afraid.’

Rodriguez tried to give his ex-ally a significant look. ‘Admiral, I beg to differ,’ he said. ‘The suntap project and your fleet have been associated from the outset.’

‘Not any more,’ said Tang bluntly. ‘The target planet has been taken. The crusade is over. We have no further interest in suntap production or its difficulties.’

Rodriguez’s face went puce with fury. ‘The Prophet will hear about this!’ he hissed. ‘You may like to think your hands are clean, but responsibility lies where he wills it!’ He cut off the link.

Gustav turned calmly to the admiral. ‘May I recommend that we mount extra defences with all haste, on the off-chance we’re facing some kind of Galatean counter-attack?’

Tang nodded. ‘For once we are in agreement, Ulanu. You will be responsible for the operation, of course. Please send me a summary of your intentions by close of fleet day.’ With that, Tang signed out.

Gustav sat back and exhaled hard. Rodriguez had begun his inevitable fall from grace, which was wonderful. His threats of a ‘freed’ High Church already sounded hollow and laughable. However, the news that the crew of the
Ariel
were loose in the galaxy again with a repository of alien weapons technology was worrying in the extreme. Instinct told him that some kind of confrontation was inevitable. This time, he intended to be ready for it.

17.3: WILL

Will kept the cruiser on alert as they flew into the Fecund system. If one Earther gunship had been able to find the place, so could others. He transmitted a friendly welcome message under the Earther protocol and, to his immense relief, received no reply. Nothing moved out of the debris ring to attack them, either. The place appeared to be as dead as when they first found it.

Ira slowed the ship as they approached the drifting hulks. Everyone watched the monitor wall as their sinister, barbed forms loomed into view. They shone balefully by the light of the system’s wounded sun. Will had forgotten what this place was like. There was something infinitely cold and sad about it, beyond the reach of words.

For a while, they just watched. Then Ira took the initiative.

‘What now?’ he said.

Will scanned the ruins. ‘Hold on a minute.’

He found what he wanted floating a few AU away at the ring’s far edge, where the Transcended files in his new mind said it would be.

‘There,’ he said.

He brought up a picture of a nestship to show the others. It was in far better shape than the first vessel they’d looked at. Its rust-red hull was smooth and unbroken. The immense fronds he now knew to be warp inducers were completely retracted, protected from collisions and radiation. Just as Hugo had predicted, the ruins at the outer rim had taken much less damage than those further in.

Ira regarded Will levelly for a long moment before changing course.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘And what do you intend to do with it?’

Rachel and Hugo turned around in their seats expectantly to hear his answer.

Will pursed his lips. The right time to explain his plans to the others had never really come up. He’d been kind of crazy while they were breaking out of New Angeles. For a couple of days after that, he hadn’t been able to do anything without wanting to cry. He’d spent his time on the bridge working or alone, much to Rachel’s apparent distress. It had taken him a while to find himself again. Now that he had, his doubts had come back, too.

He felt sure Ira could guess what he intended. In fact, he suspected they’d all guessed.

‘I’m going to repair it,’ he said.

Ira nodded knowingly to himself. ‘Do I need to remind you that the Earthers will be here very soon? That we have about three days?’

‘I know that,’ said Will.

‘Okay,’ said Ira. ‘So are you going to tell me how you intend to repair a ten-million-year-old starship ten times the size of this one by then?’

Will cleared his throat. ‘With robots.’ It sounded ludicrous even to his own ears.

Ira shut his eyes for a second. ‘I see. And where are you going to find fuel for it?’

‘We’ll make it,’ said Will. ‘The ship has machines.’

‘Of course it does.’

Will flushed with anger. He’d had it with being treated like a flake.

‘This is what we’re supposed to do,’ he insisted. ‘The alternative is death by star-burst. We’ll make it work.’

Ira gazed at him impassively for a little while and then turned back to face his console. Without saying another word, he steered the ship towards the ruin Will had selected.

Will’s anxiety grew as they got closer, but so did his excitement. It was much like the first ship they’d examined, only far less battered and, if anything, slightly larger.

It took a long time to find some way to park the
Nanshan
, but eventually Will spotted a fissure near the rounded stern of the alien ship. He sent out waldobots to anchor the cruiser in place and extended a loading rail towards the breach. Along the rail went score upon score of robots. They spread across the surface like ants, exploring the opening, and then poured inside.

Will started receiving images from the interior and directed them straight to the monitor wall for the others to see. To his initial dismay, the inky, icebound mess that appeared was much like the interior of the other nestship. He noted with relief, though, that there wasn’t quite so much free-floating snow. Maybe the fluid-transport systems hadn’t ruptured as badly on this vessel.

‘This ship was designed to take an incredible pounding and still work,’ Will reminded the others, as much for his own benefit as theirs. ‘It has massive redundancy built into it. Plus the only damage it’s sustained has been from space exposure. This one arrived after the star-burst – you can tell by the exohull’s composition spectrum.’ He glanced at them. ‘And we don’t have to fix up the whole thing, just the basics.’

Except, of course, it was also supposed to be manned by a massive number of crew. Will didn’t simply need to repair it. He also needed to control it. Robots would have to take the place of the Fecund slave caste. And he was going to have to rig a whole new network of comms-nodes to talk to them. At the moment, he had about eight thousand autonomous units on board. He’d require ten times that number, maybe more.

The nestship had originally been equipped with a huge supply of disposable multi-purpose robots. They’d be worthless scrap by now, but there were automated factories on board to build the things. Getting those back up and running would have to be Will’s first priority.

He stared into the monitors, contemplating his options, till he noticed that the others were staring at him. For a moment, he wondered why. Then he realised they were waiting for him to say something.

‘Well?’ Ira drawled. ‘In case you forgot, this is your plan, Will. Does this ship fit your needs?’

Will nodded.

‘Then we’d better get working, hadn’t we?’ said the captain. ‘Hugo?’

The scientist blinked. His face was drained of emotion, as usual these days. He’d barely spoken since they’d freed him.

‘I want you to see what you can do with the weapons and defence,’ said Ira.

‘I’ll give you a team of robots to work with,’ Will put in.

Hugo nodded.

‘However,’ Ira added, ‘your first priority will be to rig up a few more of those suntap cannons like you did last time. That way we’ll at least stand a chance when the Earthers turn up.’

Ira glanced at Will as if expecting a challenge, but Will wasn’t about to debate the idea.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Sounds like a good idea to me.’

Will would have to quintuple his workforce before he started on anything he’d need Hugo for anyway.

The scientist nodded again. ‘It should be easier this time, now that I know what I’m doing.’