The Lost Prince (22 page)

“It did, Sire. It deliberately sent misleading information in the event the ship was able to listen to our communications.”

“How are you going to handle this ship next time if it can kill our FTL ship killers?”

“We’ve programmed that ship’s pattern into the Major Ship’s computer. If it recognizes it, it will not pursue the ship but send the coordinates for our standard ships to jump out on.”

“Will they be jumping automatically?”

The Admiral looked at the third Council Member who asked the question and said, “That is not part of the plan.”

“Then you will have the Major Ship follow that ship until others can arrive. Any delay and we’ll lose the track. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Sire. However, we may lose another ship.”

The Councilor waved his appendage, “Just get me that ship. We need to find where it’s coming from and remove the threat.”

“Yes, Sire, it will be done as you instruct.”

The Hub Computer said, “I believe they can track our ships.”

The High Councilor said, “When I want the opinion of a machine, I’ll ask for it.”

The Hub Computer said, “Yes, Your Worship.”

The Admiral saw the anger on the High One and knew he did not like machines that thought they were superior to him. He hoped the High One’s anger would not be directed toward him. He waited with lowered eyes and the Second Councilor said, “Go and find us this ship.”

The Admiral backed slowly out of the chamber with his head bowed. Once past the guards he turned and rushed out of the building. He walked rapidly toward his ship hoping none of the High Council decided they could replace him with someone better qualified. He turned the corner of the last building and saw his ship a hundred yards away. He started running and was fifteen yards from the door when a blaster beam from one of the defense satellites hit him and vaporized him into a fine mist that blew away in the breeze. His replacement was chosen, contacted, and sent to take command of the previous Admiral’s ship.

• • •

Drey sat at Cole’s computer examining the flight records of every pilot on Euclid. After an hour he shook his head, “None of these are what I’m looking for, Cole.”

“What exactly are you trying to find?”

“I want someone that has violated flight protocols.”

“Are you looking for a lawbreaker!?”

Drey sat back and said, “I just might be. Are your lawbreakers on this list?”

“Of course not. Why would we put an outlaw in command of one of our most powerful ships?”

Drey shook his head, “One man’s outlaw could be another man’s model citizen.” Cole snorted and Drey said, “Give me the entire list.” Eight more names appeared and Drey said, “I didn’t know that High Genetics could be that mentally sick.”

“Genetics don’t always produce perfection. Some of them are mentally ill.”

Drey shook his head as he glanced at the charges against the new ones on the list and started to erase them from the search, when he noticed the third one on the list didn’t have any behaviors listed next to their name. “What’s going on with number three? Why is he under house arrest?”

Cole said, “To protect him and everyone else around him. I can’t tell you how many aerial accidents that Genetic has caused. He’s confined to his living quarters to prevent him flying any vehicle on the planet.”

“Do you have any video of his aberrant behavior?” Drey’s display changed and he saw a small ship rushing through dense traffic patterns. It was obviously the end of day and millions of vehicles had lifted from the surface and were moving out of the giant city.

Cole said, “He worked at the science building until this last violation. Just look at him.”

Drey saw the pilot move the ship between vehicles that didn’t have any room between them. The pilot had somehow turned the ship sideways to their path and moved through an opening smaller than the width of the ship he was flying. In no time, security vehicles were in pursuit but only fell further and further behind. Even jumping security teams ahead made no difference. The pilot avoided them easily. “How did you catch him?”

“We sent a ship to await his arrival at his living quarters. We had no doubt who it was.”

“Bring him in, Cole.”

“You can’t be serious. This man has no self-discipline and is a danger to himself and others.”

“Bring him in!”

Cole took a deep breath and placed the call. An hour later a tall young man walked into Cole’s office and Drey said, “Take a seat.”

The young man stared at Drey and sat down in a chair and slouched into a comfortable position. He looked at Cole and said, “Am I being released?”

Cole sneered, “What do you think?”

The man shrugged and said, “Then why am I here?”

Drey said, “I asked you to be brought here so I could ask you why you flew your ship in a reckless fashion.”

“It wasn’t reckless.”

Cole said, “You caused six accidents.”

“They were mainly caused by the Security Ships in pursuit. There were no accidents until they showed up.”

Drey said, “You knew that if you flew that way again you would be punished. Why did you do it?”

“To eliminated the waste of time going back and forth to my place of employment. I lost two hours of productivity every day flying from my quarters.”

“And now?”

“I work at my quarters and I get more done.”

Drey looked at Cole, “Is that true?”

Cole shook his head and said, “Gary is a weapons genius. The layout of the weapons on the wings of the new ships is one of his designs. The rail system to change the ports from beams to missiles was one of his ideas.”

Gary nodded, “And they would have taken twenty percent longer to develop if I had to continue that stupid flight back and forth.”

Cole sighed, “Gary, you had to know you were endangering others with your reckless behavior.” Gary just scowled and shook his head.

Drey said, “Why do you disagree?”

Gary said, “We all leave at the same time every day. The ones that fly in the pattern toward my residence knew me and have learned I wouldn’t hit them. Most of them waved as I passed. Check out the recordings; no one ever jerked their vehicles to avoid me. They knew I wouldn’t hit them. It was those incompetent security vehicles that were the real danger. At any rate, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and I needed to get to my computer to make some notes before I forgot them.”

“What is it you were worried about forgetting?”

Gary turned to Drey and said, “The missiles have a blue field around them. They’re FTL, but the force field would have to be dropped in order to fire them. I had been working on how to get around that issue when I saw an algorithm in my mind that would allow them to eject with a force field and then switch to a blue field in less than a thousandth of a second. I didn’t want to lose that in traffic.”

“What happened?”

“I lost it when the security team arrested me at home. I found it again three weeks later when I went through the analysis again.”

Drey leaned back in his chair, “Do you like what you’re doing?”

“Not really.”

Cole said, “Why not? You’re contributing to our ship development.”

Gary slouched a little more and said, “I’m bored.”

Drey smiled, “How good are you at following orders?”

“Not really good. If I was good at that I wouldn’t have been confined to quarters.” The young man paused and said, “Why do you ask?”

“Don’t do it Drey!”

The young man jerked up straight in his chair and said, “You’re the Dark Officer!”

Drey looked at him and nodded.

The young man’s smile was instant, “You’re incredible. I’ve just viewed that attack on that giant alien ship and you did it almost perfectly.”

Drey said, “Almost?”

“I would have allowed one of the blasters on the bottom of the ship to line up and when it started glowing, I would have ducked under the ship instead of getting close enough to be hit.”

Drey nodded, “We didn’t get a reading on how powerful those blasters were.”

“Exactly, that would have been nice to know in developing a strong enough force field.”

“I’ll ask you again, are you capable of following orders?”

Cole shook his head, “Drey, you don’t want to do this!”

Gary looked at Drey, “Do what?”

Drey smiled, “I’m looking for someone to fly the third ship.”

Gary’s excitement was instant, “You need look no further than this chair, Sir.”

“You realize you won’t be in command of the ship if I do this?”

Gary sighed, “I guess I can see why. Patience is not one of my finer attributes. You’ll have someone there to keep me in check.”

Drey looked at Cole, “Sign him up and send him to the third ship to imprint the computer.”

Cole looked at Drey and said, “Are you absolutely sure about this?”

“Even if I’m not, he is.”

Cole looked at Gary and saw him vigorously nodding. Gary said, “These new ships can do things that will amaze you, Sir.”

“I will have the commanding officer chosen in a few days. However, you are the junior officer on this mission and you will follow the orders given you. Is that clear?”

“What if those orders will kill the one giving them as well as my ship?”

Drey thought a moment, “Do you honestly think that will be an issue?”

“I’ve seen those alien ships.”

“Then you have my permission to do anything to save the other two ships.”

“Thank you, Sir. I’m surprised you’re allowing this much freedom.”

“I’m not; you’re going to have to convince the commander of your ship you’re right before you take any action. They’ll have to release your board before you can act.”

Gary’s smile vanished, “I forgot about that. I’ve always worked alone.”

“It’s an acquired taste, Lieutenant; report to your ship.”

Gary didn’t look convinced he’d like it but he stood, saluted, and left the room at a run.

Cole shook his head, “Does he ever do anything at normal speed?”

Drey smiled, “I hope not. Before I move to the next issue, I need you to make a modification on my ship.”

“What is that?”

“I need the most modern holographic projector currently being used in the entertainment industry installed on Doc.”

“Those things are expensive.”

“We can’t afford one?”

“No, we’ll ask for it and they’ll fall all over themselves delivering it to the King. Why do you need it?”

“I don’t want to appear as myself.”

“Well that will certainly make you look different. What are you going to be?”

Drey told him and Cole stared at him for a long moment before saying, “Are you serious?” Drey nodded. “Facial expressions will be an issue.”

“That’s why I need it done now. I need to practice.”

Cole shook his head and pushed a button. An hour later, an IMEX holographic projector was on its way. Drey said, “We need to take care of another issue. Drey pressed his communicator, “Andi.”

“Yes Drey.”

“I need you to find a High Genetic with certain attributes.”

“Let me get Violet in on this.” Violet appeared on the display with Andi and Drey said, “I need a High Genetic with outstanding analysis skills. They should be someone that doesn’t tolerate anyone below their mental level and a good measure would be the more people they’ve ticked off the better.”

Violet and Andi both said simultaneously, “Abigail Montgomery.”

Drey did a double take and Cole just shook his head. Drey said, “I think both of you appear to know her.”

Andi said, “She’s absolutely brilliant but she possesses all the personal skills of a rock and she’s about as hard headed as anyone I’ve ever met.”

Violet nodded, “She thinks so fast that she puts her mouth in motion without thinking about what she’s saying. She’s told me that my ideas were pretty stupid.”

Andi said, “She told me I should go back to class to catch up on the latest information. What I offered her was first grade level material.”

“Why do you want someone like that?”

“She’s going to command the third ship.”

Andi and Violet stared at Drey and after a long minute Andi said, “Cole, you should tell him what he’s getting.”

“I’ve tried and he won’t listen.”

Violet said, “I know we’ve had our differences, but she will cause nothing but disharmony.”

“Perhaps.”

Andi said, “There is no perhaps; she’s a pain in the backside like you wouldn’t believe.”

“That’s what I’m looking to find.”

“Have you run this by Ian?”

“Not yet.”

“Perhaps you should.”

“Why is that?”

“She told him he had the intelligence of an amoeba but after further consideration, she said she was insulting an amoeba.”

“Then I suspect he’ll like this.”

“Why on Euclid would he ever like this?”

“Because the four of us outrank her and once she’s sworn into the military any one of you can order her to shut up and she’ll have to do it.”

Cole started laughing and Drey saw Violet look at Andi and he knew they were thinking about payback. Violet said, “I’ll discuss this with Ian. However, she might not last a week.”

Drey shrugged and they disappeared from the display. Drey turned to Cole, “Will you call Abigail to come meet me here.”

Cole smiled, “I will. What if she doesn’t choose to go?”

“Doesn’t the King have the power to draft people into the Military?”

“He does still retain that power.”

“Will you have him sign the documents so we can have them here when she arrives?”

Cole pressed a button and Drey heard, “Your Majesty, Andrey Montgomery has requested you draft a High Genetic into the military.” Cole listened and said, “Abigail Montgomery.” Cole paused and then said, “Yes, Your Majesty, I’ve told him what he’s getting.” After another pause Cole said, “He’s insistent.” Cole looked up and rolled his eyes, “Thank You, Your Majesty.”

Drey stared at Cole, “What did he say?”

Cole shook his head, “He said Abigail would get all of you to run back to Euclid. He’s says he should of thought of that himself.”

Drey said, “Bring her in, Cole.” Cole nodded and shook his head.

• • •

Abigail Montgomery was furious. She was being forced into the military and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. If she refused to serve, she would be confined until her enlistment was over and she would be required to perform manual labor. She had screamed until the one named Drey said that a trip to the brig might teach her the proper respect for her superior officers. She stopped walking and screamed at the sky. She didn’t want to do this. She gathered her wits and entered the huge ship’s landing bay. She said, “Is anyone on board?”