Archaea 2: Janis (3 page)

We had a lot of work ahead of us, but if there's one thing I've learned in my time with the captain, time is never a commodity we have in abundance.

He thinks fast (or so he claims) but moves faster... which seems to mean that he moves before he thinks. Not that I would dare say that out loud, of course. His damned eyebrows notwithstanding, he is the captain after all.

*****

I sat in the quiet bridge deck, and watched my holos for any word from Yak or Shorty, and despite my direct command, they failed to materialize.

“Janis, please display current atmo conditions to my screens dear”, I ask, knowing as I open my mouth to speak, the speed of her response will always catch me off guard. I am used to computers being fast, but Janis is instant.

Janis doesn't fail in the slightest, the moment I ask, she has the report I wanted visible on screen, providing as much detail as I could want, more than I could need.

She's the brainchild of Steven Pauline, his pet project to create an AI in our nexus core, a sort of grand experiment that worked. Does she ever – she can do darn near anything you want, and was built around a novel predictive analysis engine that Pauli wrote to identify trends and changes in data requirements, and once he plugged it into the mil-spec nexus core aboard the Archaea, we learned Janis could quantify results for data that hasn't happened yet, that she could preact to some as-yet unknown amount beyond our subjective 'now' and prespond to input and requests to a scary amount in advance of our need.

Janis is the ultimate crew member however, she's articulate, polite, and utterly capable. Enroute to Vega 6, we tangled with a million-ton destroyer called the Mantis, under the control of a mutineer named Red Martigan, and if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't even be here.

We weren't sure at first what to make of her. When she became aware, she re-wrote a tremendous amount of the Archaea's systems, altering rate limiters for the main cannon, the tokamak generator, and just about everything else on board. We had some tense moments trying to understand her changes, but a series of events threw us into accepting it, and eventually, welcoming her support and tireless, perfectly flawless execution of any task she was given.

At this point, I can't imagine what life on the Archaea would be like without her. She's become the very heart and soul of this ship.

“Janis, we seem to have misplaced Shorty and Yak. Are you aware of this situation, dear?” I asked the air, something I was still getting used to.

“Of course Captain. I am afraid I am not able to accurately pinpoint their location at this time, but my best estimate places Yak on wharf 14, at the last warehouse, number 43. I reviewed Unet-connected security monitors throughout concerns along wharf 14, and was able to collect data points showing their movement together, then their subsequent separation.”

“Janis, what do you mean by separation?”

“Sir, Jane stopped to attend to an urgent medical need and was subsequently detained by authorities. Yak proceeded down the wharf after that time sir.”

Jane was nabbed? The thought of her processed deep into the bowels of the local law enforcers of New Turiana was disturbing, to say the least. They were efficient, officious, and obnoxious, the perfect extension of the police state.

“Do you know why they took her, Janis?”

“Sir, I have accessed their systems, and the arresting officer referred to her as 'suspect in custody', sir.”

“Suspect in what, I wonder?”

“I am unable to access any case file associated with this apprehension, sir. It appears that the ground vehicle she was being transported recently radioed for assistance, and  reported disaster status. The arresting officer then stated he had a suspect in custody, with his location as being two kilometers south of exit 14 on route 12. As best as I can determine sir, they are currently trapped at this location.”

A screen showing a grid overlay on a road map displayed on my center holo. Janis added additional layers as selectable tabs to the report, as she accessed different systems. I was able to select local wind conditions extrapolated from the nearest three stations, and they looked absolutely miserable. Wind speed was 384 with gusts to over 400. That's no place to be trapped in the back of a squad car.

I gestured the next tab, showing a holo-v taken from a waypoint camera, probably used by traffic control. I couldn't see which grounder Shorty was in, but I didn't need to... they were all getting mashed against the barricade, and one by one they were flinging up and over the barricade and shearing off out of frame as they fell out and down.

“Gene, I am going to need to raise ship in moments, mister. What is your ETA for ramp-up?”

A brief pause, as he either made a monkey face, or crawled out of the bowels of the Archaea. Either way, brief pauses were not on my agenda for the day.

“Captain, Gene is not available at the moment, all I see of him is his boots, sir”

“Pauli, I need him on station at his earliest possible convenience, and that better be on the double-quick. I need you on the bridge as well son, right away.” I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do yet, but from what Janis was able to scope out, we didn't have much time to do whatever it was I decided to do. Probably would involve some bit of tricky flying, followed by an inevitable fine for flying without clearance.

“Dak, I am done securing the turrets, though they're not yet wired in, they're airtight. Did I hear Pauli right, you want ramp-up at this time... sir?”

“Affirmative Gene. Janis has a pretty good hook on Jane's location, and it looks pretty grim, she's wedged tight on an elevated expressway that is getting peeled good and proper by this howler. I can't tell from the holo-v that Janis scared up, but it looks to be a pretty big drop if her grounder is peeled.”

“Ramp-up in 5, aye sir.” Gene said, clearly concerned.

Right about then Pauli climbed up into the bridge deck and into his station.

“Thanks for coming right up Pauli”, I flashed him a brief grin.

“What's the plan, Captain?” he asked, settling in and firing up his holos.

“Pauli, I think it's a nice day to take her up for a little spin. What do you think?” I said in my most confidence-inspiring voice, trying it on for size. I have to say, the view out of the forward port was almost the perfect thing to look at if you were inspired to attempt something shamelessly heroic.

“Sir? Can we fly in this?” he asked with a voice blue with fear.

“Well, son... not as such. Not fly in the classic sense, no. We're going to probably do a lot of veering, some hurtling, some careening... but Pauli, we have to try. Shorty's out there, trapped and probably dying...”

A low rumble and hum signaled the ramp up of the tokamak to nominal levels, just enough to power up the lifters.

“Gene, I need 20% on the tokamak please, and energize the Duron, there's bound to be some fast moving debris up there. Janis, please keep trying to locate Yak, and bring Pauli up to speed on what we know of Shorty's location.” As I spoke, I skipped through most of the pre-flight checklists, looking mostly for caution-and-warning lights. If a screen looks green it's probably good to go. As I worked through the screens, the feeling of urgency increased, until I felt like leaping out of my seat.

“Gene, are you ready?” I asked, finger on the lifters.

“Dak... I'm... yeah, I'm ready sir.” Engineering lit up green on my board.

“All hands General Quarters, General Quarters. Stand by for condition zebra and dust-off in 15 seconds.” I took a deep breath and a brief moment to ask myself if I was up for this, and found myself lifting off before I could answer.

Chapter 3

The gravel cut into my knees, and the silica dust filtering in from the cracks in the warehouse filled the air, burning my sinuses and lungs, but I didn't dare sneeze, with the cold barrel of an automatic rifle pressed into the back of my neck. I kept my ankles crossed, and my hands on my head.

“Where's the other one”, a man said behind me, in a low voice. I could hear approaching footsteps in the gravel behind me, as three, maybe four new actors walked in from the depths of the warehouse. The howl of the wind through the upper rafters had grown loud enough to almost completely drown out their voices.

“She was taken by the LEOs, sir. They pinched her and this one kept moving down towards this warehouse.”

As they spoke, the footsteps approached behind me. I let my eyes glance from side to side, and counted at least 6 in a loose circle around me, all merc types, armed and watching me like pros. My only play was to see where this went, there would be nothing gained in trying to force the issue.

“What is your name and mission” a new voice behind me said, in a low-pitched voice.

“My name is Yak Onebull sir. I am tasked with contacting a person from Solis system, regarding a shipment. I am afraid I don't have any other information other than that, sir.” I pitched my voice as low and casual as possible, far more casual than I felt.

“This person from Solis... do you know their name?” the voice asked.

“I was directed to meet him here, in this warehouse, to make contact here. I am afraid I have no idea who I was supposed to meet with, except they were supposed to be here. Are you from Solis?” I asked, hopefully, though I think I knew the answer... these folks smelled like gloms.

“We are from Solis... but we don't represent the individuals you were going to meet with. We represent Americo Ventures, contract owner of Solis system, and many other systems in that sector. Were you aware that you are colluding with unlawful insurgents?”

“I am afraid I don't know anything about that, sir” I said as brightly as I could. This was not going well, not at all. “I was just asked by my captain to come to this location to discuss a shipment.”

“Do you know what materials are being shipped?” he asked, looking intently at me, making my spine itch.

“I am sorry sir, I don't.”

“I see. You have your orders, just as we do...” he paused, as if choosing his words carefully. “It is regrettable that you are unable to provide us with the information we need, but I am confident this information can be extracted. Bind him, and prep for transit.”

My heart skipped a beat, but I forced myself to take a deep, measured breath, to relax as much as possible against the sudden urge to fight or flee. The longer I remain alive, the more opportunity I have to get out of this nightmare.

Someone behind me hauled down and bound my arms tight enough to make my fingers tingle. Before I could react, a black bag came down over my head and a drawstring pulled it tight against my throat. It hurt to swallow. A little voice in the back of my head started getting pretty noisy, but I told it to simmer down and relax. These guys want to learn what I know, they're in no hurry to space me.

My first reaction was to forget my eyes. As a sense, they were gone. I started listening, smelling... sensing, trying to extend the hairs on my neck out. I was starting to freak out a bit, but I went through SERE, it wasn't as bad... yet.

I was grabbed and hauled to my feet, and pulled back into the depths of the warehouse, towards the unmistakable sound of turbines screaming above the howl of the wind.

*****

I was choking in the swirling dust, and unable to see more than a squint. My hands had gone numb in binders behind me, and I had slid off the bench seat and onto the floor when the windows had blown out of the grounder. Wherever I moved, I felt little chunks of sharp-edged safety glass pressing in to my neck, my back, and my arms.

The wind screamed through the car, howling like a banshee, tearing the air out of my lungs. Massive shuddering shook the car and a sound of screaming metal filled my soul as I was hurled up and down, crashing into the floor over and over. I tried to scream, but my mouth was full of dust.

The Archaea leveled out at 500 meters and I fought the yoke to prevent her from tumbling as the winds buffeted us, hauling us around against everything I could do. At this altitude, the winds hit us like a solid wall, buffeting us back and forth as I fought for control – it was looking more and more like a fight I was going to lose.

Janis had an infra-amped view of the city-scape on my forward holo, which helped me orient myself considerably as we approached the downtown arcos. I am without a doubt the best pilot alive, but I was having serious doubts about my ability to fly in this mess.

“Janis... we're in a bind here dear, can you assist?” I asked in a voice that wasn't exactly my standard calm, cool and collected tone.

“How can I help sir?” she said brightly.

“Janis, I need to know wind velocities as we approach downtown. Can you overlay some sort of velocity map on my forward screen?”

As the words left my mouth, my forward screen changed to show a color-coded wind speed layer, showing from red to purple as the winds accelerated through the massive towers of the looming arcos.

“Sir I have placed the layer on screen as you requested, though I am afraid it isn't completely accurate. I extrapolated these values from gravimetric returns on airborne particulates, but the ground clutter and proximity of this planetary body makes gravimetrics challenging to process. Please allow a variance of between 11 and 14 kilometers per hour, sir.”

“Thank you Janis, this is outstanding”, I said, as brightly as I could. Unfortunately, in a very short amount of time, it looked like we were going to be facing a venturi effect accelerating these winds above 500 as they compressed between the towers downtown... if we got sideways in that, there would be no recovery.

The Archaea started wallowing from side to side. As I over-corrected and more and more wind caught us on the beam, she started to wobble, an oscillation from which I was afraid we couldn't pull out of. Ahead of us, and approaching fast, trillions of tons of steel reaching into the sky, waiting.

I swallowed and took as deep of a breath as possible, desperately trying to remain calm, to think clearly.

*****

As we stepped out of the back of the warehouse, the winds swirling over the buildings down into the enclosed courtyard just about threw us to the ground, though the mercs on either side of me held on, and kept their barrels pressed into my ribs. I wasn't at all inclined to die at the moment, so I went along nicely, and didn't take the opportunity to try and fall. I didn't like my odds of taking on a crowd of mercs all heavily armed with my arms bound and a bag on my head.

Outside, the scream of the turbines and the roar of the winds were ear-splitting, loud beyond belief. I was shoved ahead and forward, through the bag I could barely make out the shape of some sort of craft, and an interior lit by red flouros, into which I was shoved head first. Hands slapped crash bars down around me, and the hatch was cycled shut as other mercs stowed gear and clipped in.

“Dust-off in 30, people. Get that gear stowed” a commanding voice rang out in the enclosed space, though the whine of the turbines fought to drown him out. The enclosed space smelled of sweat, dust, and more sweat. I couldn't see much through the bag, just a hazy dim outline of the racks across from me filling with mercs, some blinking lights, and the red flouros at the top of the compartment shining dimly through the fabric of the bag.

As the turbines ramped up to a deafening scream and we launched full burn straight up, the crushing acceleration shoved me deep into the couch, holding me there despite a vicious back-and-forth pummeling as we punched through the turbulence of the howler and into space. I thought of Jane, and Captain Smith, Pauli and Gene, and wondered if I was ever going to see them again.