Harvester 7 (7 page)

For the first
time since their introduction Maulik felt a genuine gratitude
towards the Chancellor.

"You do not
have to thank me, thank Kressa." replied Go'an as he picked up
Maulik's emotion, "look after her, and she will look after
you."

"Where next?"
purred Kressa as she decelerated and hung in the gravity of a small
moon.

"You can't be
serious," gasped Maulik as he stared through the front screen at
the green and blue globe that filled his sight, "It can't be?"

The throaty
purring returned and he felt a wave of pride welling up from within
the living ship around him, "It would have taken your harvester
three hours to arrive," she chuckled, "It took me six minutes... I
told you I was fast."

Maulik's
stunned silence spoke volumes.

"Well, I shall
take that as a compliment," she teased, "look at that asteroid,"
she guided his vision, "Now you see it," she laughed, "And now you
don't."

Maulik barely
felt the pulse as Kressa fired, yet the charge was so strong that
the small asteroid disintegrated before his eyes leaving little
more than a cloud of dust.

"Did you enjoy
that?" he chuckled as he struggled to comprehend the power she
possessed.

"Not as much
as I would have if it had been moving," she laughed, "I feel like
hunting."

"Well what do
you suggest?" he replied, relishing the thought of experiencing her
abilities matched against a live prey.

"I don't think
it is a good idea to go looking for a fight," she laughed, "Just
let me play for a while so that I can burn off some of this
frustration, I have a feeling when we meet the Diurians I will get
plenty of opportunities to hunt and fight."

Maulik smiled
inside, for weeks he had felt a growing concern over the upcoming
contact, yet sat inside Kressa he felt protected and
invincible.

"Play Kressa,"
he laughed, "This is your time... have fun."

***

Over the six
weeks that followed Maulik noticed a subtle change in Kressa, she
purred more, her purring reminded him of the scale rattling that
his lizard displayed, it was a joy the creature felt to see him, it
was then that he fully understood that the brain of Kressa was
animal, an L4 animal, the same level as his pet, it was the
computer that boosted her intelligence and understanding, yet deep
down she was an affectionate animal that drew comfort from his
attentions and company.

"How good are
your shields?" He questioned one day as they approached the first
harvesting planet.

"Adequate,"
she replied dismissively, "With my agility and instincts I really
don't need them," she explained, "They actually cloud my judgement
a little so I don't raise them unless I have to."

"I wouldn't
want to think you put yourself in any danger." he stated.

"I will never
risk your safety." she replied instantly.

"That's not
what I was thinking, my concern is for you, not me."

"I know
Maulik," she replied quietly, "I just find it surprising that you
are worried for my safety, I am after all only a ship, there are
hundreds more exactly like me on Watuma."

"That is where
you are wrong," he flashed her a grin, "To me you are much more
than just a ship... you are my friend."

Maulik felt a welling emotion inside Kressa that shook him,
the word
friend
had affected her deeply, and with a sense of urgency he
changed the subject.

"Do you have
any data for planet X7997?" A rapid stream appeared but Kressa
remained silent. "We arrive tomorrow and I want to know about the
atmosphere, will it be dangerous for you to enter?"

Quickly she
analysed the data stream, "Maybe a small risk of hull ionisation,"
she stated, "But with shields on minimum that can be
prevented."

"Good," he
replied with enthusiasm, "Because I want to take a trip down there
and watch the harvester drones in action, I also want to make a
survey. I want to see for myself how the ecosystem has recovered
since the last harvesting fifty years ago."

"I will enjoy
that," she purred, and clung to the word friend.

***

"How is the
ionisation?" Maulik requested a status report as they burst into
the thick lower atmosphere.

"Zero," she
chuckled, "But I feel like I'm looking through frosted glass."

"Seriously?"

"Don't worry."
she chuckled again, "I'm joking, I can see perfectly well."

"I can see my
Kressa is developing a sense of humour." he grinned, and felt the
purring return.

"Now let’s
start on the largest southern continent, there are five drones
working there, let’s check on their progress."

It took less
than a minute for Kressa to pick up the activity and they hovered
above the action. Two of the small remote drones were working a
grid pattern across a dry yellow brown savannah. As they passed
below Maulik felt the vibration from the shock waves directed at
the planet’s surface, shock waves that stunned or killed selective
life in their path ready for the collectors that followed close
behind.

The drones
were nothing more than modified pulse cannons but rather than fire
plasma they fired sound, it was a good system that worked well
regardless of the world that they visited, all of the selected life
forms were rendered unconscious or killed, and felt no pain.

The collectors
on the other hand were a work of art, state of the art. They housed
banks of bio-filters and processors, super computers that
constantly evaluated the classification level of the raw protein
below lying either dead or stunned, the computers were selective,
all life from L2 and above was harvested, yet L1 life was never
killed and only partially collected, L1 was the least appealing
protein source but that was irrelevant, the continuation of the
ecosystem balanced on those tiny bacteria. Maulik knew that total
harvesting of L1 spelt death to the planet, those micro-organisms
were the building blocks for all life, take them away completely
and the food chain crumbled, vegetation perished, higher life forms
starved, loss of L1 signalled the beginning of the end.

"Move in
closer to the collectors." he asked and Kressa dropped almost the
surface to give him the best view. Transport beams flickered across
the bellies as the computers identified each creature, both above
and below the surface, the bodies beamed directly into chilled
storage in the vast holds.

It was an
efficient system and the fully automated craft would work around
the clock stripping 20% or 30% of the continent before moving on to
the next target zone.

"we've seen
the dead, now let's witness the living," he exclaimed, "Northern
continent, Sector 8 please."

Two minutes
later Maulik stared in disbelief at a wasteland, not one blade of
vegetation was in evidence.

"Scan for life
please Kressa." he asked with a sinking feeling.

"Sorry
Maulik... 0.0%"

"The lazy
fools." he shouted, "You never harvest everything... please extend
your scan and let me know where life signs begin again."

A second later
Kressa replied, "There is no life in the northern hemisphere."

"Yeah, I had a
feeling you were going to say that." he replied with a heavy heart,
"Relik." he signalled 7, "Withdraw the drones and harvesters, we're
moving on."

"Please
repeat." came back a confused reply.

"The northern
hemisphere is stripped, dead, we can't continue the harvest."

"Understood, recalling now," it wasn't the first time Relik
had received the order, but it still sickened him.

"Come on Kressa... take me back please" he asked dejectedly,
greed had closed another planet to harvesting for many hundreds of
years, if it managed to recover at all, but in addition to the
pointless destruction Maulik knew that his trip would now be that
much longer as he would have to detour to another planet to ensure
he met his full quota.
"How many extra
months?" he asked himself.

"You could
always make up some of the difference on the new world that is
approved for harvesting." suggested Kressa as they burst through
the upper atmosphere and back into the vacuum of space.

"How do you
know about that?" he questioned.

"7's computer
told me" she replied innocently, "I had to talk to someone while I
was stuck in that hold" she laughed.

"So you weren't
that
lonely" he chuckled.

"Have you
tried to joke with a computer" she replied, "I was lonely for
conversation without logic and endless algorithms."

"OK, so what
do you suggest?"

"Well," she
purred, "If the data is correct, the planet has an infestation of
L6 life forms, far more than is realistically sustainable, if you
harvest just 3,265% above quota you will meet your target and
negate the need to harvest elsewhere."

"Outstanding,"
he declared, "I wonder if it really is that over-run, we might just
be helping the ecosystem recover by pushing the quota."

"You don't
need to justify yourself," she chuckled, "The last harvester here
went 100% over quota, I don't think three and a quarter percent is
going to make you a galactic criminal."

"I like your
logic." he grinned.

"Relik," he
called, "Drop a quarantine beacon, let's make sure no other crew
harvests here again," "And get us ready for FTL, we leave the
second the collectors are back on board."

***

"26,000 tons."
announced Relik and Maulik's heart sank as he hoped that his
actions hadn't started the planets gradual slide towards death.

"Master,"
commented Relik formally as he caught the thoughts of guilt, "I
doubt very much if we have done any lasting damage, the southern
continents are flourishing and with time the north will recolonise,
yes it will take a very long time but that planet is far from dead,
your conscience should be clear, it is the previous Master that has
to pay... and," he grinned, "At least we have fresh meat on the
menu tonight."

"Thank you for
explaining the positives to me." laughed Maulik shaking off his
darkening mood, "Something fresh will make a very pleasant
change."

***

Maulik placed his fingers gently on the surface of the meat
and savoured the flavour, this was a treat. For months the ships
diet had consisted of reconstituted proteins, and re-cons were just
not worth tasting. With any reconstituted meal flavour was a
secondary issue, a quick dab of the finger to confirm the meat was
safe and then it would be quickly slipped into the digestion pouch,
"
feeding the body not the
mind
" was the expression used, it was fuel
and nothing more.

But at their
evening meal a chorus of happy groans resounded as fingers pressed
and receptors stored the memory for the duration of digestion, a
feeling of satisfaction hovered in the air, and in the minds of all
present.

Maulik slipped
the last sliver into his pouch and sighed. Decorum had started the
trend for the digestion pouch and as a Territe reached a higher
status a genetic alteration could be requested, Maulik had once
witnessed his "manuals" at their daily meal and the sight of their
inverted stomachs protruding from their distended belly’s rapidly
dissolving the reconstituted meat had disgusted him, some cultural
modifications were welcome he decided and thanked his former self
for going to the expense of preparing him for polite society.

His thoughts
were shattered by an urgent and shrill alarm.

"Report;" he
signalled to the bridge.

"Weapons
lock." replied the duty officer, "Multiple unknowns."

"Shields up."
he declared and raced ahead of the rest of the off duty bridge
crew, many of them running clutching the remains of their meal.

"Have you
identified them yet?" he called as he stepped onto the bridge and
felt the shudder of an impact on the port ventral shields.

"Negative, the
computer can't identify them," suddenly a thought entered his mind,
"Feed the data down to Kressa" and without another word he raced to
the grav-lift.

"Relik" he
called as he reached the lowest deck, "Maintain shields and
increase speed."

"I know them,"
she confirmed the second he placed his finger on the touch pad,
"They are called the Su'al."

"Are they a
serious threat?" he asked quickly.

"On their own,
no, but they are pack hunters, usually they scout in three's, when
they discover a target two will pursue and the other will signal
the rest of the fleet, a fleet can number in the hundreds... then
they become a very serious threat, they will bombard your shields
and drain your energy until you are powerless to resist."

"We can out
run them." replied Maulik with confidence.

Kressa
disagreed, "They are a primitive race, but their ships are fast...
much faster than 7... let me out Maulik," she pleaded, "We have to
neutralise the scout that has gone to signal the fleet, facing that
many combined, I'm not sure even I can handle them all."

"Relik...
assemble the gunnery crews and drop out of FTL, all available power
to be diverted to the shields, Kressa and I will handle this, she
will send you all the tactical data on the Su'al she has now,
prepare a defence strategy in case we don't make it back."

"Understood,"
replied Relik, "And may the Gods be with you... both of you." he
added privately making Maulik smile, he was beginning to accept
Kressa for what she actually was, rather than what he perceived she
was.

"FTL
disengaged," she growled, "Get the hold doors open Maulik," he felt
her tension and for the first time he felt raw primal aggression,
"Quickly." she urged.