THE PRIZE: BOOK TWO - RETRIBUTION (14 page)

Penn lay on the contoured command seat on the bridge of the million year old ship the entity called Michael had provided. When Ellis had first heard about the old ship, she had expected a filthy rust bucket, full of dust and cobwebs, and maybe a spider or two. That sent a similar creature with icy cold feet running up and down her spine. Just the thought of the horse-sized white spider she and Penn had encountered in the pyramid made her shiver. What she actually saw was an enormous mirrored teardrop, with the tapered end resting on four landing struts. The inside was pristine as the day it had been built, and not a spot of rust or dust anywhere, inside, and out. Even so, knowing the ship, if it could be called that, was over a million years old hadn't filled her with a lot of confidence. Nothing that old could still be sound and leak free, but it was. Not that the hull had any seams to leak air from in the first place. To all intents and purposes, it looked as if the hull of the ship was one seamless whole. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn this ship was straight out of the yards. It functioned perfectly in every way, right down to the food replicator and recycling system. One thing, which did puzzle her, was the bridge layout.

“Michael. How come this bridge looks like it was configured for humans?”

“It wasn't Alexis. I reconfigured it for you and Richard to use.”

“Wow. Thanks. I hope it wasn't too much trouble.”

“None at all. From your memories I grew the necessary interfaces so you'd be comfortable operating the vessel.”

“Grew?” Penn asked.

“Yes, Richard. This ship is more akin to a living organism than the more rigid ships most species build.”

“So, all you need to do is feed it?” Ellis laughed.

“In a way. As long as the central power plant remains online, this ship will continue to maintain itself in the same perfect condition as the day it was constructed. In English I believe you call it nanite technology.”
Neither Penn, nor Ellis could imagine a technology so advanced that ships could be ‘grown’ rather than built.

“So what did your people use to control this ship?” She asked.

“They used direct mind control.”

With so much to do, and so little time to do it, they’d decided that Richard would go and talk to the Silurians, while she would start organizing the rebuilding project around Tucson. Mainly that entailed giving detailed instructions to Michael, who in turn relayed them to the robot demolition and construction bots. She thought at first it was just a question of filling in the crater in the center of the city, and simply building outward over the rubble. Michael suggested they clean out the crater, level the bottom at a depth of a hundred feet and turn it into a lake. That appealed to Ellis better. It would be the center of the new Tucson, especially if they landscaped around the lake for a mile or so before starting on any building. Having agreed on that, Penn took off in the ship, while Ellis got to work on the design of the first public building.

* * * * * *

By Human or Imperial standards, the trip to the Silurian home planet in the Vega Systems was incredible fast, as they jumped from warp nexus to warp nexus in the blink of an eye. Having jumped in Empire ships, and having felt the disorienting and debilitating effects, it was a little surprising that he now felt nothing. On the other hand, considering how advanced this ship was, even if it was a million years old, it shouldn’t have been. It seemed the creators of this vessel had long ago mastered the technology to make distress free jumps. Even so, the distance from Earth to the Vega Systems was almost one hundred and three light years, on the other side of the Tellurian Empire yet it took no more than a week’s travel. Even though they passed directly through the Tellurian and Thrakee Empires, none of their formidable Navies or detection networks even heard a whisper of their passing. Michael suggested he use the inter-dimensional gateway system, but Richard declined, mostly because he needed time to think and come up with some logical reason for the Silurians to help the human race by giving them ships.

“We have reached the heliopause of the Silurian home system, Richard.”
Even from Penn’s limited perspective, it was a beautiful system, and much like the Sol system. It had the typical Saturn and Jupiter planets, as well as two planets in the Cinderella, or life bearing zone and four between them and their parent star.

“Can you tell which of the two worlds the Capital planet is?”

“From electronic emissions and the amount of traffic this one would be the prime candidate.”
As he spoke, Michael zoomed in on what could be the capital city.

In many ways, it resembled Emperor Cytec’s capital, with the Royal Palace at its center, and the city spreading out around it. Unlike the Tellurian capital, it didn’t have sprawling slums, or drab housing for the low class workers and slaves. That was a plus in Penn’s book, and showed that at least the present monarch took pains to take care of the people.

“Now the question is, how do I get in to see the Queen?” As this was greeted with silence, Penn guessed that Michael didn’t have an opinion on the subject. “A lot of help you are.” He muttered under his breath. There was some sort of electronic sound that Richard could only interpret as a raspberry, or the electronic equivalent of one.

“Just what I needed, a smart-ass computer for a companion.”

As before during the harrowing ordeal to get to the Prize, the self-aware super computer now known as Michael, offered no assistance in making a decision. You sank or swam on your own choices. Sitting back in his comfortable command chair he went over the possibilities in his mind, rejecting one after the other. His one option was to do as he and Ellis had done with Emperor Cytec, and simply barge in and play it by ear. That had worked out well for Earth, but that game plan wouldn’t fly in this case. In the end, he settled for the direct approach. He’d land in a shuttlecraft, ask the customs or immigration officials, if they had such things, how one got to see the Queen. At least this way he could gauge their reaction. They’d either laugh their heads off, or throw his ass in jail were his first two thoughts.

“Well, in for a Penny, in for a pound.”

“I have the shuttlecraft ready for your departure, Richard.”

“Will you please stop reading my mind! I haven’t said I was going to do it yet.” Sometimes it was very disconcerting, not to mention annoying to have someone else, especially a computer, read your mind.

“Oh. You have a better idea?”

Michael swore that he didn’t have any emotions, but Richard could have sworn he had a sense of sarcasm. Richard let out a sigh.

“No, not at the moment.”

“I could transport you directly to the surface, inside or outside the palace.”

“Right. They’d probably shoot me on sight. No, I’ll go with my plan and see what happens.”

Michael configured the shuttle to resemble one of the intersystem runabouts they’d observed, and Richard brought it in until he was picked up by the planetary traffic control. Richard let Michael handle all of the questions and sat back until they received their descent window. All went smoothly and they didn’t deviate from the traffic control instructions. After circling the planet twice, they were given clearance to land at the capital spaceport and set down on the designated landing pad at what appeared to be mid morning. The moment they did, a ground car came racing towards him, with what Richard guessed were the local officials. Now came the interesting part. Opening the rear ramp, Richard waited at the top, seeing the car come to a stop at the bottom. Three people emerged, but due to the dimness after the bright sunlight, they didn’t actually see Richard until they were half way up the ramp. When they did, all three came to a sudden stop, one of them reaching for a sidearm.

“What… who are you?” The front Silurian asked. As before when he’d met Tarl Regina and Rem Timor, all three sported the Mohawk haircut. Theirs were slightly different from either Tarl Regina or Rem Timor, but being members of the Imperial High Guard they liked to keep it high and tight, as the Marines liked to say. Maybe it was genetic and he wondered for a moment how far the hair went down their backs.

“Protector preserve us! It’s a human.” The second Silurian exclaimed. Penn saw it coming but rather than react he let it happen, seeing the security guard draw his stunner. What he didn’t expect was the guard to fire.

“Shit! That didn’t quite work out the way I expected.” Was the last thing he thought before the lights went out. An hour later, he woke up in a cell, minus the headache this time.

“Richard, I mitigated the side effects from the stun bolt.”
Michael whispered in his head.

“Thank goodness for that. I didn’t need the headache or the shaky nerves right now, thank you very much.” One thing he wasn’t expecting were the heavy steel shackles around his wrist and ankles.

“If need be, I can transport you out of the cell.”

“No, let’s see where this goes first.”

It wasn’t long before he heard footsteps approaching and the cell door slide open. Five people stood outside, four of them pointing weapons at him. By the look of the weapons, they were slightly more lethal than stunners. They obviously thought he was dangerous.

“Come out of the cell slowly, human. Any wrong move and we will terminate you on the spot.” From the small chrome bars over his uniform breast pocket, Penn assumed he was the officer in charge. Richard did as ordered, shuffling awkwardly out of the cell into the corridor.

“Go to the end of the passageway.” The officer pointed. With a slight shrug, Richard complied looking at the two nervous individuals backing away in front of him.

As the group approached, a door at the end wall slid back, indicating they were being watched on hidden cams, but nothing unusual in a security facility. Shuffling into the sparsely furnished room beyond the door, the officer pointed to a chair in front of a table. Richard sat, whereupon the four officers with weapons closed in on him while the officer locked his wrist cuffs to a ring between his legs. Shifting his weight slightly Richard found that the chair was locked firmly to the floor. Once secured, the officer stood back, motioning the guards to do the same. At that point, a second door opened and in walked a short portly Silurian with the air of a nervous official. That he’d waited until they had him locked down said much about his courage. Richard kept his face blank, sensing the guards relaxing now that they had him secured to the chair. He didn’t need to look to know they were far enough away that they couldn’t see him holding his hands together, one hand folding the other so he could slip his hand out of the cuff. He did the same with the other as the officious little prick sat on the other side of the table.

“What mayhem do you intend to cause here, human?” It was an odd way to start an interrogation, but maybe here they did things different.

“Don’t you want to know my name first?”

“We don’t care to know it. My inclination is to have you taken behind the security building and executed on the spot.”

“Oh, you don’t want to do that. The Queen might not like it.” Clearly, this wasn’t going the way he’d planned.

“The Queen… what do you know of our beloved Queen, human?”

“Just that I’ve come a long way to see her.”

“So, that is your plan. Director Markoff sent you to get into the palace and kill our Queen. We suspected as much. Captain. Take this pile of filth out behind the building and execute it now.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we have no authority to perform such a task. It’s… it’s against the law.”

“The law be damned. These humans are known killers, and I’m giving you the authority Captain.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Captain. As I said. Neither the Queen, nor Cohort Commander Tarl Regina and Sub Commander Rem Timor would like that.”

“What… who did you say? How is it that you know these names, human?”

“That, you will have to ask them.”

“Don’t listen to him, Captain. He knows no such people, unless...” His dull brown cow eyes opened in surprise. “Unless they are co-conspirators in this plot.” He squeaked. “Kill him, kill him now!” He stammered as he stumbled back from the table.

As he did, the chair crashed over, and for a moment all eyes turned towards the sound. That was the moment Penn moved, reaching down to snap the chain between his ankles before flowing around the room, stripping each guard of his weapon and knocking them unconscious. The last was the Captain, and Penn relieved him of his weapon before using it to stun the little official. The Silurian fell to the floor like a sack of lard and lay there twitching. Penn slowed from combat speed and placed all the weapons on the table and turned to face the stunned Captain. The Captain looked down at the broken ends of the short chain between Richards’s feet.

“How… what…” He stammered, unable to grasp that the human had not only got out of the wrist cuffs, snapped the chain between his ankles and knocked out all four of the guards before his mind had time to react.

“As I said, Captain. I am here to talk to the Queen, not harm her.” The Captain looked around.

“How can I believe you after this.” He waved his hand around the room. Richard shook his head.

“You are not thinking clearly, Captain. I could just as easily killed all of you and been out of this room before the alarms sounded. And getting into the palace to kill your Queen would have been just as easy.”

“And your claim to know Senior Captain Tarl Regina of the Queens own guard, and Commander Rem Timor?”

“We met under unusual circumstances recently. Call them and tell them I am here.”

“I have no authority to make such a contact, only my Commander can do that.” Richard sighed. Wasn’t anything easy?

“There must be a way you can call the palace and leave a message for them, or something.” The look in the Captain’s eyes said he was thinking of something else.

“Yes, yes. We can do that.”

“Then do it.”

Richard sat down to wait, not even bothering to move the weapons out of the Captain’s reach. That didn’t go unnoticed, but he made no move towards them. The portly little Silurian still lay on the floor, twitching slightly less now, not that Richard had any sympathy for him. Sooner than expected, the door slid back and a well armed group of richly dressed soldiers poured into the room. Richard didn’t move as they surrounded him with weapons pointed at his head. The slight smile on the Captain’s face was all the evidence Richard needed to know he’d placed a different call to the palace than he’d expected. This time they made him cross his arms before shackling his hands, running the chain behind his back. Richard winced slightly as they tightened the restraints, including the electronic collar around his throat. He didn’t fight as they bagged his head in a black hood and practically carried him out of the room. The short trip by shuttle lasted no more than ten minutes. Again, he was hustled off the shuttle and through several doors before finally coming to a halt. From what he could tell from inside the hood, they were in some sort of large chamber with a goodly number of people standing around talking in whispers. The stamping of feet indicated more guards were surrounding him, and at a guess, pointing lethal weapons at him.