Aneka Jansen 6: The Lowest Depths of Shame (2 page)

Aneka gave a nod and returned her attention to the display where the dots were performing an audacious bait-and-switch operation.

‘Guardian Norden, the Old Earth strategist, was more capable,’ War went on. ‘His plan was risky, but it worked and the Herosian fleet was almost entirely wiped out. There were significant losses on the Jenlay side, and extensive damage on the surface, however.’

Ella looked at Gillian. ‘You said Ape was out securing Lonar, so the Banfry got through it okay.’ Gillian just nodded in reply.

‘The Delta Brigantia,’ Winter said. ‘They took out the last gunship attacking the planet, but… No one survived. I’m sorry. Norden put through a recommendation for posthumous awards for them. Abby has suggested that Old Earth send something as well.’

‘Oh,’ Ella said, staring fixedly at the display.

Aneka closed her eyes for a second, did not like the images she saw there, and said, ‘What about the surface?’

‘The spaceport was reduced to a smoking pit,’ Winter replied. ‘It was, thankfully, the primary target and they used kinetic impactors rather than nukes.’

‘The university was flattened,’ Gillian said flatly. ‘Which is why… Well, we’ll get to that.’

‘One of my avatars kept your mother safe, Ella. Sharissa and Elaine were in a mobile command centre I arranged years ago, so they are fine. All of them are staying at Gillian’s house, which escaped the collateral damage. Katelyn and Dillon came off the worst.’ Ella gasped, staring wide-eyed at the blonde synthetic. ‘They’re alive and also at Gillian’s house. Dillon suffered a broken back. His spine was severed. The Old Earth medical teams got to him and replaced his spine with a cybernetic one. He’s still recovering, but he will be fully mobile and probably capable of lifting
heavier
weights.’

‘Cyborgs are becoming the new black,’ Aneka commented.

‘Indeed. More than a few Jenlay have had to choose between functionality and prejudice. A lot of the taller buildings in Mid-town are still being checked for structural stability. The Islands are more or less a wasteland. The other city zones escaped relatively intact.’

‘Elroy?’ Aneka asked.

‘Was with Elaine and Sharissa. He’s a very busy man at the moment so he’s basically living in his office. His house is a ruin, so that’s likely a good thing.’

‘What’s this thing with the university?’ Ella asked, focussing on Gillian.

‘Well, it’s gone,’ the archaeologist replied, ‘and we’ve been offered new positions, but we’ve been waiting on you before accepting them.’

‘Me?’

‘Both of you, but especially you, Ella.’

‘Uh…’

‘New positions here,’ Aneka said, catching on.

Gillian nodded. ‘The AIs want me to be the Dean. I said it should be one of them, but they seem to still have this “natural minds are more suited” thing going on…’

‘It is not quite as hidebound as you would believe,’ War cut in. ‘We have exceptional organisational skills, and our ability to research and implement plans for discovery is good. We are less adept at teaching and we are, frankly, not designed for a leadership role.’

‘Speaker will work alongside Gillian,’ Winter continued, ‘so we get all the talents of a Higher AI, but without the tendency to indecision since Gillian will be there to figurehead things. There is one other obvious reason for doing it this way…’

‘It’ll go down better with the people coming to learn,’ Ella finished for her. ‘It makes perfect sense to me.’ She gave her boss a small grin. ‘You’re just worried you’ll never get to do field work again.’

‘Yes,’ Gillian said, ‘but watch yourself. If you accept, you’ll be heading up archaeology, social sciences, psychology, and psionics. Speaker will be helping you too…’

‘I don’t know the last thing about psionics!’ Ella broke in.

‘Neither do the AIs. The Xinti never developed the talent and then they went electronic.’

‘We’re creating our first new Higher AI in centuries to head the sub-department,’ War said. ‘We haven’t selected a name for it yet, it’s barely conscious, but your telepathic pilot, Shannon, has taken to calling it Psyche.’

‘Abraham will be heading up the physical sciences with Reality,’ Gillian went on. ‘Cassandra is going to split her time between his department and yours. Machine psychology fits into both, to some extent, and she is quite knowledgeable about physics.’

‘Bash…?’ Aneka began.

‘Is heading up “vocational studies” with Drake, which means you will still be our lead Facilitator. Again, this assumes you’re both happy with the jobs.’

Ella was frowning uncertainly. ‘I guess… Do you really think I’m up to it?’

‘Before you met Aneka I’d have had to say no, but the last couple of years have changed you. For the better, I might add.’

‘You’re up to it, love,’ Aneka stated, ‘and there doesn’t seem to be much change for me. We’re keeping the Hyde?’

‘In a manner of speaking,’ Gillian replied, ‘but Drake and Aggy wanted to tell you about that. I’m sworn to secrecy.’

‘What’ve they been up to?’ Aneka asked, narrowing her eyes.

~~~

‘The Amethyst Hyde,’ Drake said as they looked out through one of the observation windows at the huge bulk of starship sitting in one of the hangar bays of the orbital starport. ‘Three thousand tonnes of state-of-the-art science vessel. She’s ten times the size of the Garnet Hyde, but she’ll do twice the speed in warp and she’s got one of their high-end reactionless drives in her so she’ll turn on a pinhead and pull a hundred Gs.’

She was an attractive vessel, all gleaming white metal. The hull was smoothly curved and more or less elliptical with the front slightly raised toward the nose and more pointed, and the rear a blunter shape housing that powerful reactionless drive.

‘The sensor systems and lab are incredible,’ Gillian said. ‘The lab space is not quite up to what we have at the university, but it makes what we had on the old ship seem like heaven. And the drones…!’

‘There are two hangar bays,’ Drake said. ‘One’s big enough to house Gwy, and the other is fitted out for launching ten-tonne drone ships. We can carry ten, and they come in defensive, survey, or transport models. We can pick and mix according to the expected needs of any operation. The ship has no weapons, but between the drones, the exotic matter stealth hull, the force screen and the cloaking system, we figure we’re covered for all eventualities. And there’s one other gadget we won’t be able to test for a while, but Abraham is very excited about it.’

‘Oh?’ Aneka asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘Can you tell me, or are you sworn to secrecy?’

‘Wormhole transition shielding system.’

‘They’re building another wormhole system? I thought it took a collapsed star to power those?’

‘According to Abraham and Reality,’ Gillian said, ‘they’ve got a lot better at it. It’s still going to take some engineering, however. They’re building another star tap in one of the nearby systems.’

‘They expect it to be up and running early next year,’ Drake told them. ‘And then we’ll be able to hop from here to New Earth in a day. Most of that will be getting to the tap system.’

‘Well that settles my last worry,’ Ella put in. ‘I thought I’d hardly ever see my mother.’

‘And Aggy?’ Aneka asked.

‘They finished installing her into the new computer system last week. Abraham and Cassandra have been helping her adjust. She seems quite happy, but she did want to see you.’

~~~

‘Aggy?’ There had been no sign of the golden-skinned avatar Aggy generally used to make appearances, but Drake had directed them to one of the cabins in the forward section where he said she would be waiting. So far, however, there was no sign of her.

The ship was definitely a step up from the Garnet Hyde. There were ten cabins as well as a complement of twenty stasis pods. However, these cabins came with facilities to generate as much resource as was required to keep the crew going indefinitely so the pods were there for extra staff or to stave off boredom on exceptionally long trips.
And
the habitation area had a couple of lounges and a kitchen in which food could be prepared. No one was slumming it on
this
ship.

The cabin they had been directed to was like all the others: a large bed, two desks, en-suite bathroom with a shower large enough for three people, and a couple of built-in wardrobes. The walls were video-capable, but currently dark.

At least they were dark until a section of wall lit up as though a door had opened in it, and there was Aggy, smiling at them from the surface of the wall.

‘Good morning, Aneka,’ Aggy said. ‘Welcome to the Amethyst Hyde. What do you think of my new home?’

‘We’ve hardly seen any of it,’ Aneka replied, smiling back, ‘but…’

‘It’s amazing,’ Ella finished for her.

‘It really is,’ Aggy said, and then she walked out of the wall and into the room, giggling at their reaction. ‘More or less everywhere is covered by holographic emitters. I can project myself wherever I’m needed without all that business with connecting through to your visual electronics. Plus, you get full tri-D projected entertainment if you want it and I can provide very realistic training simulations.’

‘You know,’ Ella commented, ‘that’s supposed to be impossible. I know they do it with the display tables, but…’

‘This is a rather more extensive use of the technology,’ Aggy acknowledged. ‘The AIs thought it would be useful. The light from the projectors interacts with a low-powered force field. That provides the necessary projection surface.’

‘So they could make you solid?’ Aneka asked.

‘Technically, but a drone body would be more practical. This has the advantage that I can be in several places at once without worrying over motor function and getting there.’

‘Huh. You know you do kind of look… sharper. More detailed. It’s kind of… like you’re more there.’

‘My processor systems are significantly more powerful, and the technology I have available to provide this avatar is, ahem, rather more advanced than my old equipment. Would you like the tour?’

‘Sure, why not?’

Aggy beamed. She was clearly rather happy to show off her ‘new equipment.’ It was cute in what had to be an extremely intelligent AI now that her processors had been bumped up several technology levels.

‘This is your cabin when you’re aboard. I’ve pre-set to your preferences, both modes, sex and sleeping.’

‘Thanks, Aggy, it’s nice to know you thought of us.’

‘You and I have been together for over a thousand years, Aneka,’ Aggy replied, ‘even if a lot of that time neither of us were active. It would not be the same without you.’ Her projected image set off across the carpet and Aneka could swear she saw the soft fibres deform as her feet touched them.

She gave short shrift to the control room embedded deep within the core of the forward section: it was essentially the same sort of featureless, VR-based system as Gwy, but with two flight chairs, and both Aneka and Ella were familiar with the design.

The mid-section was more interesting. Here was the secondary habitation block and the lab. Ella cooed over the latter which was ten times the size of the one on the Garnet Hyde and equipped with state-of-the-art instruments. There was also, however, a nanofabrication system, two offices, a full-sized gym, a five-bed sickbay, a mess hall, space for five tonnes of cargo, and a classroom!

‘It’s perfect,’ Aggy said as they stood in the last of those. ‘I can be involved in discovery
and
education. It’s like… Well, I don’t dream, but it’s as if I did and one came true.’ She developed a look on her face which, in a Jenlay, would have looked a lot like lust. ‘Oh… and wait until you see my engines.’

Drake and Abraham Wallace were in the engine room when they got there, the latter examining a display on one of two workstation units. This room was twice the size of the cubbyhole on the old Hyde, stretching from the bulkhead door forward of the engineering section through to a gantry overlooking the spherical reactionless drive at the rear. All around them were the vast coils of the warp engine, though that seemed to be in two distinct sections.

‘The forward part is the wormhole shielding,’ Aggy explained as they looked upward. ‘Now that
is
exciting. Gwy is fifty-point-oh-nine per cent faster than I am in warp, though I can match her in normal space, but I should be able to traverse wormholes while she cannot.’

‘But she can sit in your hangar when you do,’ Aneka said, grinning at the apparent competitiveness.

‘She can. She’s a sweet child and we should make an effective team. I believe she has put through a request to have her sensors upgraded to allow more detailed scientific analysis.’

‘It was suggested while we were in Herosia,’ Ella explained. ‘She wants to feel useful beyond combat situations.’

‘Commendable,’ Abraham commented. ‘I’m happy with the diagnostics, Aggy. We’re ready for the shakedown flights.’

‘Oh… excellent,’ the golden woman said, trying very hard not to look like a kid who had just been handed the keys to the sweet shop.

Amethyst Hyde.

Everyone
wanted to be aboard when Aggy first put out of dock. Even the AIs had developed an interest. Aneka could see why Reality was aboard; he was down in the engineering room with Abraham, monitoring the drives and making sure nothing was wrong. But Winter, Evolution, Speaker, and War had all decided that they might be needed for some reason or another and were in the lab with their more organic colleagues as the sleek vessel pulled out of the hangar.

Outside the station, Gwy was waiting rather enthusiastically. She was in constant communication with both Aneka and Aggy, chattering about thrust vectors and clearances.

‘She’s clear and free,’ Gwy informed Aneka. ‘I can’t
wait
to see what she can do. She’s so beautiful.’

Aneka giggled, which got her a couple of perplexed looks, but she was not going to explain that her ship was infatuated with her sister vessel. ‘We’re clear,’ she said aloud.

‘All hands,’ Drake’s voice said from the speakers, ‘we’re going to push her out at ten Gs to start with. Are we ready?’