The Cold Steel Mind (6 page)

‘Initiating data link,’ Al informed her.

‘He’s going in,’ Aneka said aloud. Around the room, the other members of the team watched nervously.
That
was not really helping Aneka’s mood either.

‘Connection established,’ Al said. ‘Attempting to access basic interfaces…’ There was a pause which felt far too long. Aneka was about to say something when he continued. ‘Key systems held in static memory are intact. Atmospheric processing, internal gravity obviously, inertial compensation system, basic input-output mechanisms have all restarted normally. The core machine operating system is up and operating within parameters. Access to bulk data storage is operating, but there is extensive damage to the data across all sectors.’

Tilting her head back to look at Gillian, Aneka said, ‘Al says the basic ship’s functions and the bottom-level operating system are functional. I think he said that those programs are held in some sort of solid-state storage system. The main memory of the thing is basically garbage at the moment.’

‘Can he fix it?’ Ella asked.

‘That was a reasonably accurate summary,’ Al commented, a touch of humour in his tone. ‘I am uploading a data recovery program to attempt to restore function. It will, however, take some time to execute. Probably several days.’

‘He’s set something to work,’ Aneka reported, ‘but we’re probably looking at a few days before it’s got back what it can.’

‘Program uploaded and initiated, connection severed,’ Al told her.

‘Now can someone get me off this thing.’

Ella was grinning. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Just think of the possibilities.’

‘Yeah, I could freak out during bondage sex. You can tie me up in our cabin if you want, just get me off this damn bench!’

Corax, 10.8.524 FSC.

If Corax was a moon, it was a really big moon. Half the diameter of New Earth, it also had half the gravity, and it managed to hold onto a thin, entirely un-breathable atmosphere. With a surface temperature a bit over one hundred and twenty kelvin, it was a little cold for most people as well, so the facilities there were all underground or in surface domes. Primarily it was used as a research and military base. The Navy did hostile environment training there and there were various low-gravity research stations.

There was also a small colony of Torem living there since the gravity was more suited to that race. Aneka, Ella, and Shannon were down there to collect one of them, but that was going to be happening the following day. First, with nothing much to do but wait for Al’s program to do its work, they were taking some shore leave.

The spaceport could only handle small craft, nothing much bigger than the Hyde’s shuttle would fit in the landing bays, and there were few facilities for visitors. Most people coming to Corax were headed for longer-term accommodation in the Torem Enclave, the military base, or corporate housing facilities. There was a small transit hotel, however, and that was where the three of them had encamped, taking just one room which did cut down on costs, but also made the inevitable group sex easier. The room had one thing that Aneka wanted to use as soon as she saw it: a really good shower.

The Garnet Hyde had perfectly efficient showers with running water, but they were cramped and designed to use the minimum of water to the maximum effect. Here there was lots of space and, while the lowered gravity made the drops bigger and slower, Aneka stood under the jets and sighed as she was gently rained on. Ella would likely want to join her at some point in the trip, but for now Aneka was last in, alone, and could take her time.

Finally turning off the water, she engaged the other neat feature of the cubicle and turned slowly to allow jets of warm air to dry her before grabbing one of the over-fluffy towels you only find in hotels to finish her hair and walking out into the bedroom.

‘Nice?’ Ella asked from her position sprawled on the bed.

‘Gorgeous.’

Shannon was sat at the room’s terminal, looking at several windows of information. ‘There’s a floor show on at Feathers,’ she said. ‘It’s a little rougher than Copperhead, but a lot more fun. The naval staff tend to go there. Copperhead is… more corporate.’

‘You know this place then?’

‘I used to run shuttle flights to and from New Earth for a while. Got to know Corax reasonably well.’ She gave a wistful sigh. ‘I was fucking this big marine who was stationed here for a while. Not much brain to speak of, but a huge cock. Both are advantages when you’re a telepath who likes it a little rough.’

Aneka and Ella laughed. Aneka said, ‘Okay, you’re the expert so Feathers it is. What sort of clothing is appropriate?’

‘The usual,’ Shannon replied, shutting down the terminal. ‘Minimal.’

~~~

Minimal was something Ella took very seriously. Her skirt was at least two inches shorter than Aneka’s, maybe an inch shorter than Shannon’s, and her top was a strappy, wrap-around affair which would have been tight and moderately revealing even if it had not covered her breasts in nothing more than fishnet. Since she was a little self-conscious about her height relative to Aneka, she was in black, platform pumps with a little ankle strap. Apparently Aneka’s lesson on ‘less is more’ had not sunk in yet. To be fair, Shannon was not a lot better in a Plastex mini-skirt and an Ultraskin bra which was at least opaque, though the uplift on it showed off her magnificent breasts rather extravagantly. Aneka had elected to wear her basque, which she liked, and a skirt Ella had persuaded her to buy which was short, and largely semi-transparent lace, but it still managed to hide what was beneath effectively.

That explained many of the looks the three women got as they walked through the tunnels and plazas which made up the main habitat of Corax Commercial Station, the central hub of activity on the moon. The hotel was on one edge of it, next to the spaceport, and the bulk of the area immediately beside those buildings seemed to be either shops or offices of some sort. The entire structure was low, generally no more than a single storey in height, but built like a maze. There were some taller structures built under domes which sometimes broke the surface of Corax to show the grey sky above. Most of them seemed to belong to one company or another which had research facilities in other parts of the complex. A couple of the larger domes were more like public parks or plazas, and that was where the majority of the looks from those standing around were obtained.

Feathers had its entrance set into the side of one of these plazas. It was out of the way, off the main areas of the complex, while they had passed Copperhead within a couple of minutes of leaving the hotel. This, Aneka guessed, was where the locals came for their entertainment. Watching people getting turned away at the door by the two bulky looking bouncers, she was actually unsure of getting in, but one of the men gave them a quick glance and then waved them through without comment. They walked in through the matte black door, down a short corridor, and then through onto the club’s main floor. Aneka came to a stop, her mouth falling open.

The ‘floor show’ was a group of four men and three women performing what could best be described as exhibition sex on a round stage in the middle of the large, more or less circular room. The rest of the floor area was tables with four to six chairs arranged around them. Several of the larger tables had dancers on them, all in various states of undress, and most of the customers appeared to be either locals or military. You could spot the navy types by their not-quite-uniforms of dark green T-shirt and slacks, and sometimes a jacket.

‘You get me dressed up as a hooker and then you bring me here?’ Aneka commented wryly.

Shannon was already heading for an empty table, one of the larger ones. ‘Don’t worry, paid sex is on the next floor up.’

‘Comforting.’ Aneka followed her to the table and they sat down with a good view of the stage, though that was lost fairly quickly as a tall blonde wearing only high heels appeared, climbed nimbly onto the table, and began dancing. A topless waitress appeared for their drinks order almost as fast. Feathers obviously catered to a particular market: the sex-starved. Aneka was a little surprised that it had any customers.

After a moment or two Aneka had given up on the stage and was watching the dancer. ‘Is that a particular dance style? Aside from “sensual.”’

‘It’s based heavily on the Torem mating dances,’ Ella supplied. ‘It’s actually quite difficult to learn for a Human. You have to be very flexible. My mother is great at it. I’m… not too bad. The dances evolved in low gravity, so this place is perfect for them.’

Aneka nodded at their dancer. ‘Well she seems to be very good.’ The dancer smiled and appeared to add an extra bit of sensuality to the smooth, writhing motion of her movements.

‘You’ve made a friend,’ Al said and a window popped up in Aneka’s vision field. It contained contact details for the dancer; her name was Lena Backfall. As usual, Aneka was not really sure what to make of these overtures.

‘You’ve been quiet,’ she said to cover her mild embarrassment.

‘I haven’t. I’ve simply not been talking to you. I tapped into the local communications network and I’ve been talking to Cassandra. She finds this interplay between organics fascinating.’

‘I’m not organic.’

‘Lena thinks you are.’

He had a point. Once again diverting the conversation she said, ‘You seem to spend a lot of time talking to Cassandra.’

‘She’s… fascinating. I’ve never encountered an emergent AI before. Xinti AIs were all created specifically and with a purpose. She created herself and, like any organic, has had to discover a purpose for herself.’

‘If she keeps talking, she must find you interesting.’

‘I believe she is interested in my purpose-driven nature as I find her nature compelling.’

‘Uh-huh. That’s it? Just a mutual interest in discovering more about your natures?’

‘Of course. Your drink has arrived. Watching Ella get drunk is always fascinating.’

Aneka picked up her glass of wine and took a sip; it tasted about as much like wine as the coffee tasted like coffee. ‘And fast,’ she said. ‘She may be up there with the dancer before the evening’s out.’

‘As long as she isn’t on the stage.’

~~~

With the second round of drinks the waitress brought a note that told Aneka that Lena would be finishing her shift in an hour. The girl was keen, that was for certain. Ella’s view on the matter was predictable: she suggested they invite Lena to the hotel.

Any decision was put off for the time being by the arrival of three men at the table. They were all navy, and a mismatched bunch. One was big, heavy on the muscle, with short-cropped, blond hair, and a slightly flattened nose. One was handsome, dark-haired, fit, and self-confident, and the last was smaller than his companions, clearly the one who followed rather then led. They sat down without being asked, though the third looked hesitant about it.

‘Are you boys lost?’ Shannon asked, her eyes on the handsome one who was sat beside her.

‘I’m a trained navigator,’ the man replied. ‘I don’t get lost. I’m Brin, this is Donnal,’ he indicated the big man, ‘and over there is Kennan. We thought you looked lonely.’

‘Thought you might like to come upstairs with us,’ Donnal said. Aneka saw Brin’s eyes twitch at the unsubtle suggestion. Kennan’s cheeks coloured.

Shannon turned to Aneka. ‘They rent rooms by the hour as well as people.’

‘I’d guessed,’ Aneka replied. ‘Charming as the thought of playing pro for some horny sailors is, I’ll pass.’

Donnal, it seemed, did not wish to give up so easily. ‘Tell you what. Drinking contest. You match me, shot for shot, and we’ll call it quits. You lose, you come upstairs.’

‘What do we get out of this?’

‘Free drinks?’ Brin suggested.

Aneka looked around at Ella and Shannon; both of them were trying not to laugh. ‘All right, you have a deal.’ It was going to be a cheap evening.

~~~

An hour later Donnal was looking slightly shaky, and Aneka was not behaving any differently than before. Ella, on her third glass of wine, was getting on quite well with Kennan. He had got the impression early on that she was not interested and that actually seemed to make him relax. Similarly, Brin was chatting casually with Shannon as though the outcome of the drinking contest meant nothing to him. Aneka was pretty sure he did not have a lot of trouble getting women who actually wanted him, so a failed conquest this evening was not going to harm his self-esteem.

They were all members of the same crew aboard the Delta Cuprina, a frigate. The Delta-class frigates were, apparently, among the fastest fighting ships in the fleet, but theirs was in dry dock and they were doing hostile environment training in the downtime. It was, according to Brin, hard work and unlikely to ever get used in action.

‘I did the equivalent years back,’ Aneka commented as she waited for Donnal to sink his next shot. ‘Jungle survival training in Brunei.’

‘You’re that woman they found on the Xinti ship, right?’ Kennan said.

Aneka suppressed a wince; she hated being famous. ‘Uh-huh. Ella was one of the ones that found me. Shannon’s co-pilot on the Garnet Hyde, which was the ship that found the derelict.’

‘So this “Brunei” was on Old Earth?’

‘A small country in Southeast Asia.’ Donnal put his glass down, empty, and Aneka threw back her next shot without a second’s thought. ‘I spent two weeks with mud in every crack and nothing to eat but grubs. It didn’t leave me with a great love for the place.’

‘I heard you were ex-military,’ Brin said. ‘Didn’t recognise you from the vid footage. You’re… better looking in reality.’ His eyes were on her chest when he said it; did the camera shrink her boobs?

‘Thank you.’

‘You’re also not even slurring and Donnal’s about to keel over.’

Aneka smiled. ‘I really don’t get drunk easily.’

Donnal gave a grunt and conceded defeat. ‘If I won I doubt I could do ’nything ’bout it.’ He sagged back in his seat and gave her a broad grin. ‘Y’re one chin man da pyow tser.’

Brin pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, but Aneka just laughed. ‘And thank you, Donnal. I think.’