The Bright Black Sea (110 page)

Min took the
Ghost
down to meet Vinden soon
after our arrival in Ravin orbit. Before she left, she informed the
crew that it would be strictly volunteers from here on. Anyone who
didn't care to sail to ports unknown with the possibility of
hostile action could sign off with a generous bonus and a boxed
passage to the planet or drift station of their choice. No one took
her up on her offer. The young drifteers were all for an adventure
and the old crew, Vinden's employees for decades, were loyal and
trusting, and they found his darting of their poor captain more
humorous than their poor captain did. Molaye had hopes for the
ship, and I, well, I had my promise.

Min called up three watches later saying that we
should prepare to take on cargo. Two large 48x 12 meter containers,
two 24x8 meter containers –no doubt the ships I'd seen in the
warehouse on my last visit – and twelve standard containers. She
and Vinden would be up directly.

The old gang met them on the landing stage and they
made a very cheerful welcoming party. The new crew who'd never
known him, save rescuing me from him, watched with guarded
curiosity. I acted cordially, treating the dart and kidnapping as a
joke and Vinden was his jovial former self, even to me. Though I
can't say the joviality extended to his dark eyes when they met
mine. We had a feast in honor of his resurrection. All very jolly,
and afterwards he rose and addressed the crew.

'Shipmates,' he began. 'It is good to be with my old
friends again. It's been a long and lonely exile. I know you want
answers to many questions. And I wish I could answer all of them
tonight. But I can't.

'You see, you're about to sail for the deepest secret
in the Nine Star Nebula. In the desperate struggle we fought
against our foes over the decades, we all shared one common
commitment – to keep the secret of our heritage. I will share that
secret with you and trust that you'll keep it just as surely, but
not before I must. I can, however, give you an overview of what
we're about to do and why.

'Our story is a simple one. Tallith's Grandmother and
Grandfather – my parents – ruled a hereditary matriarchal empire
hidden in the drifts known as Cimmadar. They were deposed and
murdered by a faction led by my mother's older sister, Aunt Ossa.
She claimed the Cloud Throne by right of being the eldest daughter,
though her mother had exiled her and issued a decree barring her
from succession to the throne. Still, as the eldest daughter,
exiled or not, she was able to win over certain powerful factions
who supported her ruthless coup. Since this was an inner-family
struggle, and legally murky at that, the military and civilian
population largely stayed clear of it. Ossa eliminated nearly all
opposition but failed to kill my sister, Onala, who was, with the
death of our mother, the lawful empress of Cimmadar. With the help
of loyal servants and naval personnel, Onala and I managed to
escape and lead a fight to restore the lawful line of succession to
the Cloud Throne – some of you have heard stories of that struggle
and what we had to face in the decades that followed. In the end,
we failed and had to run and hide when we could fight no more.

'Looking back it is clear that our attempts were
either too hurried, too weak, or too ill prepared to succeed
against my powerful and ruthless Aunt Ossa. Now, after decades of
preparation, I'm finally fully prepared to take her on. While it is
true that many years have passed, Ossa, was never loved by the
people of Cimmadar so I don't expect any popular support. And the
same logic that kept the military forces from intervening in the
original palace revolution should allow us to stage a second palace
revolution without the bulk of the military opposing us. But even
if that proves to be too optimistic, the vessels I'm bringing
onboard will be invincible in Cimmadar and, together with my loyal
followers, who still a'wait the return of the true Empress, we
shall restore the Cloud Throne to its proper line of succession,
with my sister's daughter, Tallith Min,' he paused and looked
around.

'It is important for the safety and success of
Tallith's cause that she be treated as Onala and Martindale's only
daughter. With Olaeytha off on a 300 year long Survey mission, with
no guarantee of ever returning, she can be, for our purposes,
considered dead. I know all of you appreciate Tallith's courage and
honor and I don't think Cimmadar could find a better Empress than
Tallith Min. So I ask that you give her all of your support,
including treating her in every respect as the rightful Empress.
Can we count on you?'

They could, of course, and we said so.

'Right. Your task in this affair, my old shipmates,
is very simple. Once we reach our ultimate destination, we'll
transfer the warships, scout boats and supplies to a secret base.
This will take some time. However, this base is far from Cimmadar
and any danger of intervention, so it should pose no great danger.
Once this is accomplished, your role is finished. Tallith and I,
Vynnia, Tenry and possibly Litang will stay on, while the rest of
you return to your regular trade.

'The voyage, however, will be a long one. Forgive me,
but I can't say just how long. However, I believe that your
captain,' he nodded to Min, 'will find that most, if not all of you
can spend the greater part of the voyage in sleeper-pods, so you'll
not find it too tedious.

'And with that, I believe I've said all I can at this
point. I'll have more to say once we sail. Over the next few days
we'll take on my followers, my warships, and supplies – they're
already on the move to a spaceport where heavy lift lighters will
bring them up – and as soon as they are loaded, we'll sail for
Cimmadar.

'I have, however, one warning. The secret of Cimmadar
must be kept, no matter how things turn out. We kept the secret
during the long, bitter years of struggle. Nothing less is expected
of you. Win or fail, if you talk of what you're about to discover,
you'll be hunted in the Neb. I assure you, any hint of Cimmadar
will trigger alarms anywhere in the Neb and lead the killers to
you. I hope, however, that we can trust you. And we may, perhaps,
employ this ship as one of our traders since Cimmadar maintains a
clandestine trade with the rest of the Nebula. In any event, if you
don't think you can keep this secret, sober or drunk, you should
sign off now. I have followers of my own who will be joining us
shortly, so I can replace any or all of you, so you needn't feel
obliged to stay.'

'Any questions?' he concluded, looking around the
table with the hard look of a no nonsense shipowner. 'Ones I can
answer.'

I'd many, but I was certain they'd not be ones he'd
answer. I'd ask Min.

That seemed to be the general opinion as well, since
no one asked any.

Vinden stayed aboard ship, in the owner's suite,
while we loaded the four strange looking vessels along with the
rest of the boxes. In addition to the cargo, Vinden's eight
followers came up – a tough looking bunch that included Glen Colin.
Several looked familiar. No doubt I'd met them when I last visited
the zep factory. They brought their own sleeper-pods and Vinden had
them put in stasis and locked away in the suspended animation
strong room, so we didn't have to accommodate them in the crew
quarters.

We sailed eight days after we arrived, with the
Rift Raven
again in company. Once under way, the off duty
crew spent a lot of time in no. 4 hold digging out various relics
of the Four Shipmate's past under Vinden and Min's supervision –
much to the displeasure of the feline residents. With no clear
duties, I spent a lot of time helping with that project. One of the
curious relics we unearthed was that strange flier and set about
refurbishing it.

'How does this neb-blasted thing work?' asked Riv as
we secured it to the deck and took a step back to study it. 'Is it
some sort of submarine? It's certainly not an airship.'

'Oh, it's an airship alright,' said Vinden. He
paused. 'Imagine a hollow world, with very little gravity. For the
most part you'd be flying under weightless conditions, so there's
no need for much in the way of lift – only for takeoffs from the
surface. There are two more short wing sections up there somewhere
that would provide the necessary lift.'

'Ah, said Riv, studying the machine. 'What's with the
enclosed propellers?'

'Under nearly weightless conditions, vegetation tends
to float about. The shields keep the propellers clear,' said
Vinden. 'But enough talk. Let's get this refurbished. After
carrying Onala to safety a century ago, it's returning home to
bring her daughter back to claim her heritage in style. I want it
looking like new – though you can keep those dents as a reminder of
why we've come back.'

If Min knew more of what was going on than we did,
she didn't share it with me. I wasn't happy, but I let it ride.

03

Ten days after leaving Ravin orbit, Min ordered the
engines shut down, made the
Rift Raven
a drone again, and
its crew, Vynnia, Tenry and Dici joined us. She called all of us to
the awning deck. Vinden once again took the floor.

'You may wonder why I was so insistent to use the
Lost Star
for this voyage,' he began, looking at me. 'The
reason is simple. The
Lost Star
knows its way home. While I
could find my own way home, it would take years longer. You see,
the
Lost Star
has a hidden
pilot bot
– an ancient
machine dating from the years before the robot revolution that was
designed to manage an entire ship. We'll send our three drones and
the
Rift Raven
ahead to scout for the pilot bot, allowing it
to drive the ship at a far greater velocity than any human pilot
would dare drive her. Once I give it orders, we'll be in its care
as it unfailingly carries us to Cimmadar, handling all the
functions of the ship without any need for a crew – allowing us to
retire to our sleeper-pods, subjectively shortening the long voyage
to mere weeks. Should anything happen requiring more assistance
than our service bots can provide, it'll wake up the appropriate
crew members. In the old days, we made a number of voyages under
its care, sleeping all the way, so I assure you, you needn't worry.
I'm going to take to my sleeper-pod just as soon as the pilot bot
is up and running. I'm far too impatient to spend a long, tedious
voyage awake. I will leave the staffing decisions to Tallith, but I
assure you, there'll be nothing to do.

'Any questions?'

I was on the brink, fearful that someone would
mention Botts... As for Botts itself, well I'd been glancing at
Botts II, standing off to one side in the bistro, during Vinden's
announcement. Not that it could tell me anything, though it did
give me a subtle brightening of its eyes, which mean either
amusement or alarm. We were going to have to have an urgent talk
before the pilot bot came online.

No one said anything about Botts, though several
glanced my way and I shook my head. Still, being familiar with
Botts' abilities, we took Vinden's announcement without any show of
amazement or concern, which, I think, unnerved Vinden a bit. He
looked around warily.

Riv spoke up and asked a few questions, concerning
manning the engine room and general maintenance, which Vinden
assured him would be no problem, but that staffing would be up to
Min, as captain,. She could decide when the ship was ready to
operate solo, but, he assured us, at some point it would be clear
that the ship could be left to its own devices. There were no other
questions.

Vinden looked around, still uneasy by the casual
acceptance of his announcement. At last he shrugged. 'Well, if
there are no more questions, I'll get the pilot bot activated. It's
hidden amongst the fuel tanks to keep it safe from Patrol
inspectors,' he said, with a smile in Tenry's direction.

'Ah, so that's what that thingy was. Never could
quite make out what its purpose was,' Tenry replied with a lazy
grin.

'You never found it, Ten,' Vinden shot back.

'Maybe. I'll have to review the reports of my crews,'
he replied. 'Heads will roll if it was not brought to my attention
or missed.'

'Yours would've, if your superiors had ever
discovered you'd missed it,' replied Vinden. 'But they didn't. And
we'll all keep this a secret now, won't we?' The last was more of a
warning than a question.

We nodded our agreement.

'Right. Then I'll suit up and we can get the real
voyage underway.'

Min stepped over to me after Vinden had departed for
the spacesuit locker.

'Are you comfortable with this program?'

'Have I a choice?' I replied, just to feint some
expected unease with the plan. 'However, if you recall, there were
long, inexplicable gaps in the logs we recovered. Each more than
two years long. Vinden's announcement explains those gaps.
Apparently the pilot bot takes complete control of the ship,
including the automatic logs. So I guess if they did it before, we
can do it again.'

She gave me a look. She was also expecting more of a
resistance to the arrangement.

'What?' I asked.

She just shook her head.

'I'm eager to discover all the secrets. If I can
sleep a year or two and get there that much faster, I'll not
kick.'

'You're far too complacent, Captain.'

'Be careful what you wish for.'

'Good point. Forget I said it.'

I gave Botts II a look as she turned away, and I went
down to my office. I'd not been turned out of the captain's
quarters yet. It followed a minute later.

'What's a pilot bot and where do we stand?' I asked
as it slid the door-panel closed behind it.

'I've been clearing any trace of my activity from the
ship's systems,' said the real Botts, communicating through its
avatar version.