A memory
“So what do you think?” asked the General.
[Charles] looked again at the image on the device he had been handed, and then back at the Human commander. The image was obviously taken by a man that had peaked out from behind cover for only the briefest moment to capture the image, given its distorted quality. It showed the Imperial forces surrounding the crater which was now the entrance to the Human bunker of which he was a ‘guest’.
“What do you want?”
“Your analysis on the current deployment of Imperial forces. What would be our best defense against the current deployment, for example?”
“Why would I ever tell you that?” [Charles] growled as he set the tablet down on the General’s desk.
The General pointed at the ruined weapon on his desk. The ‘Skinner’, as it was colloquially called in the Empire, was a weapon that spewed forth torrents of superheated plasma and slag. A target hit with it would not be killed by the kinetic impact, but rather the intense heat of the plasma eating away at them. It was particularly effective against armored opponents; while the slag might not pierce the armor, it would heat it up and cook the occupant of any armor system alive.
The weapon was banned from use and had been for nearly [thee hundred years]. The rumor that seemed to be constantly attached to the weapon was that it had been originally developed by a class C species. It was a weapon of brutality and domination, not one of precision and awe inspiring power as most Imperial weapons were.
“By your own admission, your people have broken a rule of war. If they continue to do so we will return the favor.”
[Charles] frowned, not sure what the human was trying to say.
“What would that entail, breaking a rule of war?”
“Radiation, specifically from Strange Matter reactions. I’m sure you are as aware as I am that if combined with uranium, the resulting reaction produces a massive wave of gamma radiation.”
“You would do that?” growled [Charles].
The General stood up and turned away from [Charles].
“To tell you the truth I had been considering this even before your own troops brought in these new weapons. I’m certain we would be able to irradiate the entirety of your ground forces. Your government would of course send more troops, or simply decide that trying to obtain our FTL designs is proving to be an unmitigated disaster and just destroy us from orbit.”
The General went silent. He took a breath and extracted a bottle and two glasses from under his desk. Pouring some of the liquid out into each of the glasses, the General slid one over his desk towards [Charles].
Taking the glass, [Charles] suppressed the thought that the General might have finally decided to poison him, and sniffed it.
“Alcohol?”
“Martian whiskey.”
[Charles] didn’t really care, anything that would take the edge off of all this was welcome.
Throwing the small amount of liquid into his mouth and quickly swallowing, [Charles] supressed a shudder. A warm feeling coalesced in his stomach; pleasant, but not nearly distracting enough given the current predicament.
The General simply held his drink, still facing away from the alien commander for several moments more before finally turning back around and sitting at his desk.
“I would. I have no particular interest in resorting to such barbaric tactics, but I am fighting for my very race’s right for survival. If by some miracle we survive, I have no doubt history will look back on me with disdain. Radiation and chemical warfare have, on my world, been used only by tyrants and madmen. But being associated with them is something I can live with, and if we as a species are going to die, I plan to make sure that we take as many of your people with us as possible so that you never forget who we were.”
[Charles] put his glass down on the desk and considered the man across from him.
The old Human looked gaunt, his face sunken and pale. His chin was unnaturally sharp. The uniform he was wearing literally hung from his frame, several sizes too large. There was enough food on the base, [Charles] knew, but it did not appear as if the man was eating.
Not that [Charles] would be particularly hungry if their positions were reversed, ordering what were essentially the last members of your race to death every day. It was the type of thing that ate away at the soul and left scars.
“So I help you,” [Charles] paused, “and you don’t use this gamma ray weapon?”
“I won’t guarantee that. Besides, you have no right to try and demand a promise from me. All I am saying is that if you help, I might not need to use it. Yet.”
[Charles] groaned and put his head in his hands. Helping the enemy to eliminate Imperial soldiers was traitorous behavior of the highest degree, but if he did not help the human would condemn them all to horrible deaths by radiation.
Still thinking, [Charles] tapped at the glass in front of him.
The General raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he refilled the glass.
Holding it for a moment, [Charles] stared at the amber liquid.
“What would you do?”
“If I were in your position?” asked the General.
[Charles] nodded.
“To be honest with you: I would jump across the desk and attack you. Try and get myself killed so I wouldn’t have to make the choice.”
[Charles] lifted the glass to his lips and quickly drained it.
“Is that a suggestion?” he asked.
The General smiled slightly. “Is that how you’re interpreting it?”
“The trouble is I’m not as eager for death as you seem to be. As much as I hate being stuck in this hole with all of you, I know that eventually the Imperial forces will make it down here. We will extract the FTL information from you and we will have won. You can try and force some sort of decision on me, make me feel guilty about killing loyal troops of the Empire. But really, all of this is just another tactic to try and get me to betray the Empire.”
“It is.”
Putting the glass down on the desk, [Charles] took a deep breath. “I’m not going to help you kill my people, nor do I want you to use your radiation weapon.”
“You have time to think on this. It will take the engineers some time to extract and combine the uranium isotopes from the reactor, as well as create the trigger mechanisms. We also need to reinforce our own radiation shielding against gamma rays. By the end of the week, however, I will have my dirty bomb… and I will use it.”
[Charles] stood and walked out of the Human General’s office, his mind racing despite the alcohol in his system. Those few drinks had not been enough to dull out his thoughts. Not nearly enough to dull out the guilt from the decisions he would have to make.
The Imperial, Deep Space
[Charles] looked at the two Humans inside the cell with him for a moment, as if daring either of them to make a move on him. Outside the cell, [Vann] and the others watched as the half-drunk, half-insane man challenged the Humans.
“What the hell is he doing?” breathed [Sam].
“Trying to get himself killed, I would guess,” grumbled [Syn].
[Vann] wasn’t sure what to make of the conversation between the old Captain and the two class C’s.
“So tell us then, how do you break a human?” the larger of the two alien abominations asked.
[Charles] looked up at him. “I don’t torture you. I don’t torture her. You’re Human; as much as you care for one another, you won’t betray your race under physical duress. So I offer you a choice.”
“That would be?” asked the larger alien.
“You answer all of our questions and I put her,” [Charles] pointed at the woman, “on a shuttle and neither of us ever see her again.”
The large class C stiffened at that, his eyes flicking between [Charles] and the female.
“Don’t you dare think about it,” hissed the female towards her larger companion.
He ignored her. “You killed off my entire race. Why do I have any reason to trust anything you say?”
“To be honest, you can’t. That won’t stop you from considering it, though, on the off chance I am telling you the truth.”
[Charles] stood up and went to the door.
“I’ll give you some time to think it over.”
[Sam] hit the door release and [Charles] stepped into the antechamber of the prison cell. The inner door slammed shut behind him and the outer door to the chamber opened.
“What the hell was that?” asked [Vann] as he took a step towards the delirious old man.
[Charles] shrugged. “Torture doesn’t really work on a Human, at least not in a traditional sense. Make them question their priorities and convictions, question what they truly value, and they might possibly break.”
[Vann] was silent for a moment. “You describe them as if they are Dorvakian.”
[Charles] looked at the young Emperor. “They are not Dorvakian, but that does not make them stupid or foolhardy. I’m not sure what you have been taught about class C species, but they can be as intelligent as or more cunning than Dorvakians. To consider them to be anything less will only give them an opening which they will take advantage of.”
“They are not as intelligent, though. Every test from the High Scientists has shown that –”
[Charles] cut him off. “Look at the reports from the first [100 years] of the Empire. During the reign of perhaps your greatest ancestor, Emperor [Gann].”
[Vann] looked at him skeptically for a moment, but thus far almost everything that the man had said which sounded insane had been true. Giving him the benefit of the doubt was probably the most prudent move in case he was right again.
“Alright, what will I find?”
“Something you won’t believe unless you realize it for yourself.”
“Do you always have to be so vague? I can’t tell if you’re trying to be mysterious or if you’re just drunk.”
[Charles] was spared a response, as [Vann’s] Comm unit chirped. Retrieving it, he held it up.
“Yes?”
“Sir, we have just received a communication that the Authority is inbound.”
[Vann] clenched his hands together, but otherwise didn’t react.
“Thank you,” he said, putting the Comm away.
“[Marcus],” [Syn] declared.
[Vann] nodded. “[Marcus]. You don’t think he’s gotten word that I have two C1764’s do you?”
[Syn] winced. “I want to say no, but it’s likely. I can’t contain a secret like their ship attacking us for very long. The fact that you called in reinforcements without giving explanation for the redeployment was more than enough for suspicions to be raised.”
“I want you to start looking for the leak,”
“I won’t find all of them,” said [Syn], her tone regretful.
“I know that, just find someone!” growled [Vann].
[Syn] bowed her head and disappeared into the lift.
“[Sam], you are not to tell the Consul anything about what you have seen here. Do you understand?”
[Sam] quickly snapped to attention. “I understand Emperor.”
[Vann] nodded. “[Charles]. Can I trust you to keep quiet?”
[Charles] grinned. “Emperor, even if you ordered me to talk to [Marcus], I wouldn’t. That man does not deserve any amount of loyalty, least of all from me.”
“The two of you have history?”
“We’re not friends.”
“I gathered that. Well so long as everyone understands, let’s prepare to greet the Consul.”
FORT, Eridani System
9 Years, 4 Months, 6 Days After Eridani Landing
“Night.”
The Tanuin continued to poke away at the circuit board, ignoring him. Maree, a Tanuin whose individual bodies were of the largest difference in size Ben had seen in any of them so far, paused and turned one of her bodies to watch Night and Ben.
“Night!” repeated Ben, louder.
When Night still did not respond, Maree turned and thumped one of the younger charge’s bodies using a body that was almost twice the size of Alpha.
Night let out a low, disgruntled squeal and rounded on one of Maree’s smaller bodies, one that was smaller than Night’s bodies.
“Why are you hitting me?!” she growled.
“The leader of this group has requested your attention. Pay heed and listen,” Maree said, her larger body still looming over another of the younger Tanuin bodies.
Night quickly turned around the body nearest Ben on the plating she was holding onto and faced him. “What?” she asked, spitting the words out as a hiss.
The open hostility from her was similar to the glare Diana had developed when she was upset. In fact, thinking on it now Ben couldn’t help but draw the comparison. Both his adopted daughter and this young Tanuin always thought they were right. They were, most of the time, but it was not a good thing to tell them that.
“What did you do to the power distribution computer in the aft section?”
“I fixed it!” Tanuin vocalizations were mostly too high for Humans to hear, with only a small portion of their communication frequencies being within Human hearing range. Night’s statement, however, could be heard coming forcefully from all of her bodies around the compartment. The Link translated the intonations as being angry, and almost petulant.
“I know you did, I’m asking what you did so that we can replicate it on the forward section,” said Ben as he pretended to read a report from his tablet, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“I didn’t -” Night paused. “What did you say?”
“I asked what you did so we can duplicate it. The modification improved power efficiency of the auxiliary systems by half a percent.”
“Oh.” Night shifted awkwardly on the hull section she was latched onto.
“I have the improved program somewhere. I fear the coding might be difficult to understand, I’m still learning the Human coding idiosyncrasies and formatting rules.”
“That’s fine, could you get it for me? We can look it over and you can teach me some of how you code.”
“Yes!” squeaked Night, excitedly jumping off and flying through the air, all of her bodies quickly abandoned the tasks she was working on in the compartment. In her haste she left several tools floating in the zero gravity, spinning madly from her hasty exit.
Maree sent one of her medium sized bodies around the room and quickly collected and stowed all of the tools before Ben had a chance to move and clean them up.
“You handled that well.”
“I’ve had kids. Although I only had to keep track of one body. I have no idea how Tanuin deal with a single child and multiple bodies that can get into trouble.”
Maree let out a short squeaky laugh. “Is childrearing ever easy? From what I have seen, your species’ children are even more inventive when it comes to getting into trouble.”
Ben nodded. “You were in the room with the girl?” he asked, referencing when the little girl had run into the home the Squeaks had made for themselves inside one of the barracks of the colony.
“She was a little grabby, but otherwise she just seemed curious. No harm was done.”
Ben nodded. “That describes most Human children. Watch out for the younger ones, though, they bite everything.”
Maree was silent for a moment. “You are not joking?”
“I’m not. Small Human children, barely able to move on their own, will put anything they can get their hands on in their mouths.”
“That sounds difficult. Tanuin children who have just hatched cannot move around or be moved, so that their minds can develop, as you know. During that time, they will not stop squeaking for nearly two months as they establish their internal language.”
“And I thought Human children kept you up late.”
Maree let out a noncommittal squeak and drifted back down stowed the tools.
“If you’re good here, I need to go sort out the communications concept with Alpha.”
“I’m sufficient.”
Nodding, Ben pushed himself out of the unfinished compartment of the Russia. Moving through the main passageway of the ship, Ben passed the other Human workers who were fitting panels, testing systems and adding the appropriate computer consoles and relays.
The Tanuin were there as well, but less visible then the Humans; it took a moment to spot them as they darted about behind the scenes. Small strips of material almost like Velcro had been installed along the walls of the main compartments to help facilitate them. In zero-g, the Tanuin could move like humans by jumping off of the walls, but they preferred to move along the walls. One wrong move in the ship’s passageways or rooms, which were cavernous in comparison to their size, could easily leave them drifting helplessly in the middle.
They were also small enough that they could fit inside all but the tiniest of service compartments. The wiring of the ships internal systems had moved forward at an unprecedented clip thanks to that, and when possible they preferred to move through these smaller areas. This made them hard to spot in areas that were still under construction. with open bulkheads that let them move from section to section.
There had been some constructive differences between the Human crew and the Squeaks. The amount of initiative taken, for example. Humans took pride in ingenuity, but the Squeaks took it to a new level. They would install a system and get it working in record time, but the wiring for the panel would be backwards or the panel itself would be upside down. Standardization was an unfamiliar concept to them; the near instantaneous communication of the different members of the species made standards unnecessary. Convincing them that something had to be done in a specific way every time so Human engineers could quickly perform repairs was taking time.
Drifting out of the open airlock of the ship, Ben moved down to the observation platform for the dry-dock. Megan and Alpha were inside, a small array of tools and components sticking to the hull in front of them.
“Anything?” asked Megan not noticing Ben.
“Something, but it is incoherent,” replied Alpha.
“Damn. How close in modulation does it have to be?” growled Megan.
“Apparently closer.”
Floating over to them, Ben looked down in front of Megan to see one of Alpha’s bodies patiently playing guinea pig to a small, customized Link transceiver on its back.
“No joy?” asked Ben.
Megan’s hand slipped on the instrument she was adjusting and she swore under her breath.
“We have not had success in adapting the communications systems as of yet,” replied Alpha.
Squeaks did not wear clothing. Their leathery skin they could survive the harshest of environments, including the vacuum of space for some time. They did suffer from needing to be in constant ultrasonic communication with the different bodies that made up their consciousness, though, so although their bodies could weather the harshness of space, their minds would be fractured.
The Tanuin had yet to fully describe what happened when a mind was fractured like that. As far as Ben could determine, it was cultural taboo to even mention the possibility. Alpha had only tersely touched on it for the briefest of moments. With no air to transmit sound, vacuum was worse than a death sentence for a Squeak.
They had used small pods and robotic arms own on their ship, but those were now gone and Humanity wasn’t quite sure how to construct them for the small creatures, nor how to construct communication devices for them.
So Megan had suggested a work around, a way for the Squeaks to communicate with their different bodies in a vacuum via standard communication channels. The Squeaks as a race had never really developed communication technology for anything except long distance messages. At close range they were always in communication with one another, so they never developed technology for those distances.
Megan’s proposed solution was to induce the ultrasonic frequencies in the skin of a Squeak. Transmitting the same frequencies back and forth via some sort of communicator, they would in theory be able to remain in communication with their own bodies as well as their brethren, even in a vacuum.
Tanuin have incredible hearing, though, with their entire body being sensitive to the ultrasonic frequencies they used, and it was proving difficult to replicate those sounds with any accuracy.
“Megan is attempting to induce ultrasonic frequencies by combining multiple transducers, passing the equivalent vibration into my skin as I would hear from normal communication. It is proving difficult, however.”
“Humans routinely go in and out of vacuum on ships, especially during combat. We’re going to have to figure something out,” said Ben.
“If this is not successful, we will have to wait for the development of pressurized suits which can house us. This is merely an attempt at something different.”
“Well I hope it works, but at the moment this is all moot. The Council is still deliberating on if we’re going to allow Squeaks to join our crews.”
One of Alpha’s bodies jumped up from the wall and drifted over to Ben.
“Were they not satisfied with the test results?” Alpha inquired.
Several days ago, Alpha had been allowed to participate in a simulation for the crew of the Russia, serving as the science officer on the bridge during one of the combat drills.
He’d performed well enough, although his major barrier had been the actual communication of information with the rest of the crew. In the heat of the simulation, he had started communicating information too rapidly for the translation systems to keep up. Although he had quickly realized his mistake and performed through the rest of the test flawlessly, it was not overlooked by those performing the test.
“We need to impress them if you want to convince the council that you should be allowed on our ships.”
“Do you have a suggestion?” asked Alpha.
“You were the captain of your vessel, right?”
“I was.”
“So we let them see what kind of Captain you are.”
Diana, Jikse
Leaning back behind the counter of the little shop, Diana tried to keep her attention from wandering too far. Unfortunately, the shop offered little in the way of entertainment, and for the moment she had nothing else to do.
For the first time since they had taken her in, [Hal] and [Orin] were both out at the same time, without Diana. They had never left her alone in the shop before. They were out meeting with their own boss, who was himself an underling to the one everyone in the city deferred to as the leader, as opposed to the Imperial Governor who was supposed to be in charge.
Not that the Governor pretended to have any real power, the most he did was have the Empire’s police catch and expose crimes that were sloppy, or on the verge of falling apart. Essentially, silence anything that might be heard of off planet and draw attention to the fact that he had little to no control over the planet and its single large city.
Sitting at the counter, Diana browsed through another of the files she had found on the alien data network. It was their equivalent to the human net which had existed on Earth for nearly 200 years and inside the system as a whole for nearly 75. Bellona also had set up a similar system, but then the Ark and the other systems that had escaped the Sol system had not been concerned with bringing the minutia of the net with them, only data that would be objectively useful. As a result nearly 95% of the data humanity had ever created was gone, although they retained most of the important and useful information.
The alien net, referred to as the Commset by the aliens, went back almost a thousand years, far eclipsing the net humanity had constructed. The fact that there was at the most only a few seconds of delay to communicate across the entirety of the Empire thanks to the tachyon relays also meant that it was still cohesive despite the size of the Empire.
Strangely, entertainment material was limited on the network, although as best as Diana could tell it was not out of any deliberate censorship, but rather cultural disinterest. The Dorvakian and their class B citizens were avid lovers of live stage plays; human style movies were a niche, and an incredibly small one considering the population size of the Empire.
Most of the data on Commset was informational, communicational, and music. Literature was also available, but again fairly limited, with popular stories and so called classics at the most only a decade or two old.
Reading through the history of the Empire was proving interesting. Diana hadn’t tried to dig too deeply into the nodes of the Commset network, but what little data she had found on the formation of the Empire that was not from official sources was contradictory to put it mildly.
Sitting up in her chair slightly, Diana stretched. She was itching to find more information in the siblings’ quarters above the shop, but she was fairly certain at least two or three hidden cameras were watching her, even if she was not being directly observed at the moment.
Diana jumped as her Link buzzed. “Yes?” she asked, quickly answering it.
“The boss wants to see you. Close up the shop and meet us at that warehouse where we dropped off that shipment last [week],” said [Orin], brusque as always.
“Alright, why’s he want to see me?”
“Just get over here.”
The communication line went dead.
Putting the tablet down and pocketing the Link, Diana stood, pulled her jacket on, and strode out of the shop’s back door. The locks would automatically activate behind her, now that no one who was registered as an employee was inside.
Her small personal transport, parked in the alley behind the store, was likewise keyed to her Comm. Stepping up to it, Diana felt the electronics for the transport start up.
The transport resembled a human motorcycle in basic design, but it had four wheels rather than two. There were two very thin tires on the front, matched by two more on the back, each powered by its own independent motor which afforded the vehicle an extreme amount of maneuverability.
Living with the siblings in a small apartment they rented out above the shop, the transport was the first thing Diana had purchased with her less than reputably earned alien money. Technically, she was still on assignment to gather as much information and technology as possible, so she justified the expenditure by rationalizing that she would need to travel throughout the city quickly to gather said information and technology.
The fact that ground transports didn’t need registration with the city government was also advantageous. Plus, Diana was still having a hard time trusting the floating vehicles the residents of the city used.
She had investigated the mechanics of how some of the machines worked, and although she was fairly confident that Humanity would be able to duplicate it, she had no idea what the actual science behind it was. As best as she could tell, the vehicles were manipulating or reflecting gravity in some manner so that all they had to fight for movement was air resistance.
Settling into the seat of the bike, Diana shot out from behind the shop, quickly accelerating to almost 100 km/h. The warehouse that [Orin] had referenced was near the official space port for the city, and where many of the goods that were shipped to the planet were stored before being distributed. As with human smuggling operations, less than reputable individuals found ways to stash illegal materials within legal shipments.
The week before, the three of them had removed small packets of what had to be a narcotic of some sort from a shipment of furniture. After collecting it all, [Hal] had taken it to their boss. What happened to it after that, Diana neither knew nor cared.
With the small amount of traffic on the ground, Diana made it to the warehouse in under twenty minutes. [Hal] was standing outside of the warehouse as Diana approached.
“Finally.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” asked Diana.
“Boss wants to talk to you.”
“I gathered that.”
“Other than that I don’t know.”
Opening a door on the side of the large building, [Hal] stepped inside, Diana following close on his heels. Walking between the dark shelves full of different materials, Diana saw a spot of light ahead of them. Several small portable computers, a table and some chairs.
Sitting in one chair was [Orin], who looked thoroughly disgruntled. Next to her was a rather large man who possessed the same traits as her, his eyes completely black, and only four digits on his hands.
The man looked up as they entered the room.
“[Orin] has said you might have some skill with computer systems?” he asked without preamble.
“I do, why?” asked Diana as she shifted her weight onto one leg and crossed her arms.
The man picked up the small data module from the bar, the one that Diana knew was at least empty.
“The data on this module is corrupted. I need access to it.” The man held it up.
Diana walked forward and took it. “Alright. What do I get?”
The man blinked. “You get to continue working for me!”
Diana looked at him and sat down, plugging the data module into the computer directly in front of her, and pretended to look through the data.
Surreptitiously reaching into her pocket, Diana connected her Link to the computer and pulled up the data that she had taken from the man back at the bar. The data that they had actually been looking for.
She had looked at it, but the only thing that wasn’t encrypted on it was some form of a manifest.
“I’m able to retrieve the data, but what do I get?” asked Diana, repeating herself and looking across the table at the small time crime boss.
The man, so far as she was aware, was in charge to the siblings as well as a few dozen other small groups. Nothing too terribly large.
“How many credits do you want?” the man growled back, standing suddenly and sending several small devices on the table flying in the process.
“Not credits. I want to be included in the meetings you’ve been having with [Orin] and [Hal].”
The man blinked, stunned. “That’s it?”
“That’s it. I don’t like being left out.”
The man nodded. “Whatever, fine. Just get the data!”
Diana turned back to the screen and pretended to work for several minutes as she transferred the files from her Link onto the memory unit. The man was going to be more easily manipulated then she thought if he fell for something this simple, or accepted her into his ranks with only the completion of a singular task.
“Some data is still encrypted. I can’t break through it with these little machines,” Diana said, gesturing at the computers in front of her.
The man nodded, “I just need the data intact. He has the decryption codes.”
“Alright then, here.” Diana removed the memory unit and the boss snatched it away from her hand.
He looked as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“Good, very good. He’s been looking for this data for a long time.”
Diana nodded but didn’t say anything else. She had time. It would be months before the Canada was back; months to work her way through all of the different secrets of the city. The more access she had to the criminal network, the easier obtaining technology and data on the Empire would be.