Spectra's Gambit (6 page)

“Why is he reluctant to sell it?”
I sent.

“He might be greedy, but he is no fool. He has too much to lose if he burns the Wizard Kingdom on their very first deal with him
,
”
she sent.

“Look, really I would love to sell it to you and get that hunk of junk off my hands, but I can’t be held responsible if it gets you killed,” he said.

“We know the risks, and Doctor Hawthorne here is a witness to your warning,” she stated and then named a price, which started their haggling again. I had no idea what was a good price for this ship, but I knew that she would get us the best deal possible and enjoy every moment of the competition to get it.

“By the way, Dusty, what is my budget for this?”
she sent.

“It’s a little late to ask that! I actually don’t know. Just get us the best deal you can and I am sure it will be fine,”
I sent back. Technically I should have asked before spending the kind of money they were talking about, but there was no limit on my budget for defense purposes. Master Shadow would probably question me about a purchase of this size, but I figured it would be no big deal since we’d had plans to buy a ship out here when we left.

“Then we have a deal?” I heard Spectra ask.

“Yes, but I would like it to be noted that we are knowingly trading defective goods, just so that the Merchants’ Consortium has no reason to come after me,” he said.

“He doesn’t care about them. He’s worried we will blow ourselves up and then our people will come for him,”
sent Spectra. I could sense a chuckle in her mental voice. She was enjoying this greatly.

“Agreed,” I said. “Don’t worry, we have a team that will fix it in no time.” I used my communication terminal to transfer credit to escrow. “The funds will be released once we get the ship back to the hospital.”

He hesitated, then said, “Fair enough.”

Once the transaction was complete, Doctor Hawthorne told his shuttle to launch and we boarded our new ship, the Nemesis.

“Are you sure this thing will fly?”
I sent as we cycled through the airlock.

“All we need to do is get out into space, and then the hospital can send a tug our way,”
she sent back.
“This ship is the only thing he has that is even close to what we are used to. Anything we buy our techs will have to strip and rebuild anyway, so the condition of the ship doesn’t matter much
.
”

“How good a deal did we get?”
I asked.

“We paid about a quarter of what it is worth. That should make the Council happy, at least,”
she sent
. “Of course the trouble is that they think it is cursed. I don’t detect a curse, so there must be something else going on.”

“Why do they think that?”
I asked.

“They feel that the ship constantly fights against them and can’t find any logical reason for it,”
she sent.

“How do you know this?”
I asked.

“While I was up on the ship looking around, I convinced a deck crewman to give me the details,”
she sent.

I decided not to ask how she had convinced him. Once we were aboard the vessel, we headed for the bridge. As we walked, my heightened awareness was warning me that something was wrong. I drew my staff down from the air and said, “On guard!” before opening the door to the bridge. Spectra drew hers also, and Doctor Hawthorne fell back a few steps.

“What is it?” asked Spectra.

“We are not alone,” I said.

“A member of the trader’s crew?” asked Doctor Hawthorne.

“No, something else; something that does not belong here,” I said. “The source of the supposed curse on this ship, perhaps.”

Spectra chanted a spell and power flowed around her, wrapping her in a protective cloak. “I will go in, straight up the center. You break left and be prepared to assist. Doctor, find cover and wait for us to give the all-clear.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said the doctor as he fell back around the bend in the corridor.

Spectra was the better warrior by far, so I didn’t question her taking charge in times like these. “Ready.”

“Now!” said Spectra as she opened the door and charged in.

As Spectra moved through the door, I broke left and looked for cover to dive behind.

“It appears empty,”
she sent.

“There is a presence here. Surely you can feel it too?”
I asked.

“Yes, but where?”
she sent back.

The bridge looked completely normal. There was nothing out of place. I moved to one of the control panels and entered the command codes that the trader had given us. I quickly established Spectra and myself as the only authorized command personnel, and changed the codes while she kept watch. That allowed me to access the internal security systems of the craft and to verify that the three of us were the only life-forms on board.

“System shows all clear, and the ship reports it’s fully operational,”
I sent.
“According to this, we are the only three life-forms on board.”

“That means we are probably dealing with a demon, elemental or other spirit,”
she sent.
“We’d better call the doctor in. I don’t want him out of sight until we can find it.”

“Doctor, come on in!” I called.

“Did you find whoever it was?” he asked.

I was about to answer when I saw some movement across the bridge and suddenly the ship’s alarms started sounding off. “Ignore them,” I said.

“Do you see something?” asked Spectra.

“Yes,” I said and chanted a reveal spell. The spell showed me a vague, humanoid form standing on the bridge watching us. “Identify yourself,” I said as I lowered my staff.

Spectra could now see it too, and she moved so that she was between it and Doctor Hawthorne. It stayed still and did not move. “We can see you,” said Spectra. “There is no point in trying to hide anymore.”

“You can see me?”
I heard … no, it was more that I felt a voice say.

“
Yes, we can see you,
”
I said.

“How? No one can see me. I am the unknowable, the undefined,”
he sent.

“
What are you doing here?
”
I asked.

“Just trying to survive.”

“
What do you mean?
”
asked Spectra.

“Just that. Aimlessly watching. Trapped and alone.”

“I don’t know who you are talking to, but we should launch soon before we overstay our welcome,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“What do we call you?” I asked.

“I am Nemesis,”
he sent.

“Okay, Nemesis, we are going to launch. You just relax and we will see if we can help you once we are safely off this carrier? Okay?” I said. It was interesting that he had taken the name of the ship for himself.

“Help me?”

“I don’t know if we can, but we can work on it once we are away. Okay?” asked Spectra.

“Okay.”

He never touched any controls, but all the alarms stopped and all systems went back to indicating normal.
“Spectra, I’ll fly us out. You keep an eye on him,”
I sent privately. “Doc, can you take the comm. station and contact Shuttle Control to get us clearance to launch?”

“Certainly.”

I took the navigator’s station and began to familiarize myself with the controls.

“Can you fly this?” asked Spectra.

“Maybe, but … ” then a thought hit me. “Nemesis, can you get us safely launched?”

“I can,”
he sent.

“Would you do that for us? I could get us off, but I’ve never flown this ship before, so I suspect you could do it far better than I,” I said.

“What are you up to, Dusty?”
asked Spectra privately.

“Making a friend, I hope,”
I sent back.

“Yes, I will,”
sent Nemesis. He slowly faded into the ship’s controls and disappeared from sight.

“Nemesis, you are cleared for launch. Do you need assistance?” asked a voice over the comm.

“Acknowledged. We will launch presently,” said Doctor Hawthorne. His head snapped up as a computerized voice came over the internal speakers. “Are we ready?”

“Yes, Nemesis, I believe we are,” I said.

Spectra slipped into the science station and strapped herself in as Nemesis gently took us out of the bay and into space.

“I am not sure whose voice that was, but if you take us to one hundred kilometers from the station I can contact them for clearance to land,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“Dusty?” asked the voice. I wondered how he knew my name, then realized that either he had overheard us talking or had taken it from the computer into which I had just entered my command
codes.

“Yes, Nemesis, please take us to that point and hold us there. Doctor, the voice you hear is our new friend Nemesis,” I said out loud, and then privately,
“Spectra, if you have any ideas about what is going on, I am ready to hear them.”

“Nemesis, how did you get here?” asked Spectra.

“I don’t remember very well. There was a big fight with a lot of energy flying around when I appeared. I have been trapped in that horrible shuttle bay ever since,” said Nemesis.

Spectra slowly turned around in her chair to face the main viewing screen. “Is that why you have been interfering with them, hoping they would get rid of you?”

“At first I tried to help, but they got angry and hurt me,” said Nemesis.

“Who did? The traders?” asked Doctor Hawthorne.

“Yes. They were planning to strip me down for parts and sell me off. I could not let them do that,” said the computer voice.

It was an odd voice, completely devoid of inflection or emotion.

“Well, you do not have to worry about that anymore. We’ve just bought you from the traders,” said Spectra.

“How could you see me?”

“We are wizards. We can see far more than any mundane can,” I said.

“Dusty, Doctor, this spirit has somehow become bound to this vessel,”
sent Spectra.

I saw the Doctor jump a little. I realized this might have been the first time he had ever experienced telepathic communication.
“Easy, Doc. It's the only way we can talk without him hearing.”
Being a mundane he could not send any messages, but we could read his surface thoughts, which was nearly as effective.

“Yes, Doctor Leslie taught me as much as she could, but what do you mean by ‘bound?’”
he asked.

“Doctor, this ship is alive,”
sent Spectra.

“And this man?” asked Nemesis.

“Doctor Hawthorne is the chief medical officer of that hospital over there. He is a mundane, so he cannot see or hear you, unless you speak like you are doing now,” I said.

“Is he a friend?” asked Nemesis.

“Interesting. I think he trusts us, possibly because you took control of the computers,”
mused Spectra.

“Yes, he is on our team. He is like an engineer that fixes people instead of ships,” I said.

“It seems that station wants to talk to us,” said Nemesis.

“Please open a channel so that we can hear and respond,” I said.

“Doctor Hawthorne, are you all right?” asked the voice over the comm.

“Yes, everything is fine. We will need a place to dock shortly. Can you see to that?” he asked.

“Bay T13 is ready,” said the voice.

“Okay, we will be along in a bit. Doctor Hawthorne out,” he said and Nemesis closed the channel.

“What do you plan to do with me?” asked Nemesis.

“Well, we intend to land there on the station and, if it is okay with you, I would like to have a team of wizards look you over and see if we can adapt your systems to our technology,” I said.

“Will it hurt?” asked Nemesis.

“Um, will it?”
I sent.

“No idea. What does ‘hurt’ mean here?”
asked Spectra.

“Nemesis, in all honesty, you’re the first of your kind we have seen, so I do not know. We will just have to move slowly and learn as we go,” I said.

We talked for a while longer about what the process might look like and what could come of it. Spectra wanted us to sit there and just talk with Nemesis for a while. She felt that it was bonding with us, and she did not want to risk harming that attachment. Eventually when we felt we had accomplished all we could, we asked Nemesis to dock with the hospital.

“Doctor, I strongly suggest you seal off any data or other connections to the station. I think we need to control how much and how fast it learns,”
I sent.

“That seems prudent,”
thought the doctor. I knew he was uncomfortable with telepathic talk, I could easily read that, but it was the only option here.

Nemesis gracefully flew into the shuttle bay and docked. Doctor Hawthorne disembarked straight away, but Spectra and I lagged behind for a moment.

“Nemesis, Spectra and I need to go onto the station for a while. Once we get in touch with our team we will be back. You are safe here. These are good people,” I said.

“Are you sure?” asked Nemesis.

“Yes, but before we leave I will summon you some company and protection just to ease your mind, okay?” asked Spectra.

“Who?” asked Nemesis.

“A spirit, kind of like you,” said Spectra.

“Why?” asked Nemesis.

“To keep you company, and make sure nothing happens to you while we are not here. She is a gentle spirit. You will like her,” said Spectra.

I noticed she was using a softer tone with Nemesis now than when we had first discovered it. “The spirit will also be able to contact Spectra if you need something.”

“Okay, if you think so,” said Nemesis.

Spectra smiled widely and said, “You’ll like Nanny. She took care of me when I was little.” Casting a spell, she summoned her. “Nanny, this is Nemesis. Would you mind watching over him while we are gone?”

The spirit smiled and said, “For you, anything,” and drifted off toward the controls. “Ah, you’re bound up in there?”

Once Nanny was settled in, we left the ship to find Doctor Hawthorne. We found him chatting with Doctor Leslie in his office.

“Is the station secure from Nemesis?” I asked.