Crystal Venom (23 page)

Marko’s mind was still in a state of turmoil over what to do about the information that Stephine was a construct of the octopoids. Not even Fritz’s music could calm him. He wanted to yell it at everyone, but realised that it would just cause harm, so resolved to keep it to himself. He knew also that the virus that Lilly and Jasmine infected him with to prevent him discussing Stephine and Veg had been somehow purged from his system, as he could now feel that he had total control. He had discussed it with Glint, Nail and Tux and they did not see any real problems. Glint commented that they were all constructs of some sort or another, but just by different mechanisms, so there was no real point in worrying about it, and besides, Stephine and Veg were family as far as he was concerned.

That, for Marko, made it a lot easier. He considered also that they were all just travellers, slowly working their ways through life, and good friends were indeed just as close, if not closer, than biological family most of the time. He spent the time on the return to
Basalt
learning as much as he could about the biotech newly inside him. He also decided the
Blackjack
was more then it seemed; he could not find any evidence of an AI present but had the distinct feeling that the ship was looking after them.

Odd little things happened on that week’s journey. Marko would think that a coffee would be nice and would wander down to the compact galley to find the beans being slowly warmed, and the paraphernalia for the ritual of coffeemaking laid out waiting for him, and when he queried him, Glint several times denied any involvement. Marko had thought it would be comforting to make bread and had searched high and low for the tins and mixing gear. He could not find any, but when a day or so later he wondered about the smell of a walnut loaf, and thought of its components, and of how he could tweak the recipe now that he could taste each memory of the best and worst ways to bake, in a cupboard he had searched in vain previously, he found everything he needed. He queried Nail, Glint and Tux but they had nothing to offer once again. He even asked the ship out loud if any sentience was present, but got no answer. The confirmation came when, on the third day, he sat down in Stephine’s seat and found that it contoured to him beautifully. However since it was the ship of an octopoid construct and her companion, he really didn’t know why he should have been surprised by
Blackjack.

They arrived back at the target LP, between the stars, to find
Basalt
patiently waiting. Patrick made contact as soon as they emerged from their wormhole.

‘Welcome back, Marko. I trust your journey was a pleasant one?’

‘Thanks, Patrick, yes. Bay Five, I presume?’

‘Outer door is open.’ the AI replied.

He merely envisioned
Blackjack
sitting on the pad of Bay Five and the beautiful sleek ship first pirouetted, then backed in through the airlock, positioned itself precisely on the pad and powered down, as Bay Five’s doors closed and sealed.

The major, watching from the bridge, couldn’t resist commenting. ‘Now that was a very nicely executed landing, Marko. Well impressed. You obviously listened closely to the instructions from Veg.’

Marko brightened a little, knowing he was back among his friends. ‘Yeah, you could say that, boss.’

Marko patted the console in front of him and stood up, and the three of them left the ship as atmosphere flooded into the hangar bay. Glint and Nail vanished through the door ahead of him. He turned to look at
Blackjack
and was a little startled to realise that Tux was walking behind him; at least he had had the decency to polarise the faceplate otherwise it would have looked very spooky. He wondered how he was going to explain it, but need not have bothered as Jan walked briskly to him, wrapping him up in a bear hug, and giving him a big kiss ... and right behind her was her suit, also following.

‘Walking talking suits.’ said Marko. ‘This is just getting wilder by the minute!’

Jan laughed. ‘Don’t stress, Marko. Yours will even scrub your back in the shower if you ask it nicely. Quite nice, actually, having the suit always there if you need it in a hurry. Does yours talk? Sentient? Not mine. What do you think of
Blackjack
?’

Marko smiled and nodded. ‘Yes, mine’s sentient.
Blackjack
? It’s bloody fantastic, really! Can’t decide if it’s an AI, a supercomputer or something else altogether.’

He was about to add more when the major interrupted. ‘Good to have you home, Marko. Five minutes to stations: we jump as soon as everyone is ready.’

As they started walking, Marko called out, ‘On the way, boss. Did you miss me?’

The major laughed. ‘Yeah, I missed your baking.’

Jan and Marko ran up the spiral stairway, Marko shouting hellos to everyone and seeing that the living ship was growing an unfamiliar species of flowering scented orchids from its walls, and made their way to their jump stations. He slid into his engineering seat and looked across the boards. Everything was good to go, excepting that they were well down on fuel of all types. He examined the jump sequence requirements and saw that it was a big one. Would be fine with reserves, but he noted aloud that they would need fuel soon.

‘Yeah, I know, Marko,’ the major answered. ‘Don’t worry, mate. Our destinations have plenty of everything. Jasmine, you have control. In your own time, please.’

Marko always found it comforting how quickly ship routines reestablished themselves, although without the rest of the crew
Basalt
was lacking spark. Jan had told him that the jump sequence entailed a quick stopover to uplift Harry and Fritz from one of the Administration’s medical facilities at Gliese 370, set up specifically to deal with the new biological weapons patients. They jumped down into the system to the facility. It was located on a small moon orbiting a fairly plain, dull grey gas giant with the peculiar name of Mushroom. Whichever stellar cartographer had named it must have been having an off day, Marko thought.

They uplifted a few stores from the Orbital above the moon and replenished the fuel tanks by fifty per cent. Lilly had taken over from Stephine as the purser, although not as the First Mate, and she handled things just as smoothly. A few hours after they had finished provisioning, the guys arrived on board with Harry piloting them up in the latest-generation two-seat Skua that he had purchased for himself.

~ * ~

Although the two men looked a little worse for wear, it did not stop Harry from taking up with Julie where they had left off and Fritz was totally enamoured with both Jasmine and Lilly. He managed to get himself totally plastered and treated them all to one of his better joke performances, sending everyone into absolute hysterics, before he sculled one too many pints of beer and toppled off the table into Lilly’s arms, comatose. She lifted him effortlessly across her shoulders and walked up the stairway to the accommodation deck, returning ten minutes later, smiling. ‘He asked me first if I would do his clothes washing for him, and then invited me into his bed, but as soon as I placed him on his mattress he started snoring, so I left him to it. Must discuss with him his work with esoteric physics sometime soon. The Haulers find him interesting and want some insights. I hope that you do not mind me doing so, Major?’

A cheerfully relaxed Michael Longbow waved a hand. ‘Not at all, Lilly. Just copy me the report when you are finished. I would love to know a little more of what makes him tick as well.’

The next morning they started the week-long jump sequence back out through the system and onto the New Daemons system at Gliese 433, where the major had booked them for a six-week stand-down. He called for lists of anything they needed done on
Basalt
and they also spent time going through the screeds of information on what tourists could do while on the primary planet, which, from all accounts, was the closest in climate to Old Earth. It even had a large moon similar to Earth’s, together with two smaller companion moons.

Basalt’s
destination was the smallest moon, where one of the Administration’s biggest shipyards was located. Topaz, Glint and Marko spent time itemising the repairs and augments that they could afford for his Hanger. He sent the lists up to Lilly to arrange for payment and was not really surprised to find that Stephine had made available a large sum of money for repairs and a note to Marko, insisting that he use whatever he needed.

~ * ~

The shipyards were huge, stretching for many kilometres in all directions and plainly visible from a long way away. The defences that they had seen throughout the system were impressive, but the variety of protection around the small moon almost defied imagination. They had been stopped some hundreds of thousands of kilometres above the moon and were now effectively under tow, being taken in by a large system tug, as no visiting ships were allowed to be under their own power around the shipyards.

The major quietly walked up behind Marko. ‘Thought that I would find you here. It is a beautiful ship, this
Blackjack.
I have been on board countless times but it still fascinates me. Have you decided if it is AI yet?’

Marko shrugged and shook his head. ‘I simply don’t know, boss. There is something here, but it has not engaged in communication with me. I think that it is aware of us and looks after us, but I’m wondering if it was grown like the Hauler tech, rather than assembled like the Gjomvik. Like Stephine, it’s an enigma. So, what’s the plan?’

‘Well, we sign
Basalt
over to the yard. They need it for a week to give it a good scrubbing inside and out, a resurfacing job on the exterior, per your suggestions, upgrade the Skuas and generally finish off the jobs we did not do at the last refit. While that is going on we can either muck about with the likes of the Hog and the Gunbus, or go across to the other moon for a look. Harry and Julie are staying on board with me. I have booked Lilly, Jasmine, Fritz and Minh Pham for specialist courses at the base on the other side of this moon. You and Jan can do whatever you wish. Once
Basalt
is sorted, we will take it down to the primary base above the planet and we are all booked for a month’s stay at one of the resorts, Patrick’s treat. He is insisting that he picks up the tab for that. He also tells me that Veg left a series of large data blocks with him and told him to start construction of the new suits for the rest of us. Would be very keen to have one myself. I am sure that I could get used to having a suit following me around.’

He hesitated. ‘Oh, by the way, been meaning to ask, would you consider building me my own ACE, please, Marko? I would like a small bird of prey if at all possible. I will pay you for it. Yes, I know that we are good friends and colleagues, but I would not feel right asking you for this and not paying you for it. There was a bird from a place called New Zealand on Old Earth which was called a Karearea — one of the smallest of the Old Earth falcons — and I have obtained a copy of its genome file for you to have a look at. Right, I am on dinner duty tonight so I had better get started. Been meaning to say also that it was a good call allowing Lilly and Jasmine on board. Stephine’s gardens have never been in better hands to say nothing of their other spectacular attributes. Oh, and have you seen our new pay rates? The Administration is keen that we stay in its service. See you later on.’ He clapped Marko on the shoulder, smiled and walked out through the airlock.

Marko spoke aloud. ‘Patrick, do you have a file from the major marked Karearea?’

‘Yes, Marko, a very pleasing bird of prey. Shall I send it to Topaz and Tux?’

Marko grinned when he opened the file and rubbed his hands together in anticipation, but had sudden doubts and decided to leave it for a while until he understood himself better.

‘Yes, but put a hold on it. When are we due at the shipyards?’

‘At this current glacial pace I would say some seventeen and one quarter hours.’

~ * ~

Two

Marko felt out of sorts. He liked the Karearea but decided against starting it as he wanted to do more research on how he could make it better. Quietly thinking about things he found himself in Stephine’s gardens. Veg had built a corner with rough real-wood benches, a small table and a vista of the flowers and ripening fruit, so Marko sat and opened his senses to the sounds and smells. He could clearly distinguish between the flower scents and the aromas given off by the ripening fruits, and could hear each of the hydroponics units; he took off his glasses and was startled to sense the varying temperatures in each of the units without using his inbuilt electronic augments.

He looked down at his hands and started to shake, scared of what he had become. He looked up to see Jasmine watching him. She walked over, taking off her gardening gloves and sat beside him.

‘Do I look different to you, Jasmine? I feel changed.’

‘No, Marko, you look just the same. We are all concerned for you though. Do you wish for Stephine to remove the technology from you?’

Marko emphatically shook his head. ‘No, no, no, not that. I feel more alive than I think I ever have and I can control every part of myself, but I wonder how removed I am now from humanity. What should I be doing with all these new tools? One thing I certainly seem to have is Stephine’s affinity with all living things. I worry how good a soldier I will now be. Could I still kill if I have to, or would I hesitate and wonder if there was an alternative to pulling the trigger and so place everyone in danger? I really need to talk to Veg. I have been through everything that he left, but there are gaps in the data.’