Warpath (38 page)

“It is for a few of
our leaders, the ones who are more interested in watching than doing.
I’m just passing some advice along. I’m more interested in the
overall picture here in the Rega Gain system. The odds are against
your people, but it is possible that this planet could become a
golden civilization. Until I met you, I didn’t believe it, but now
I know. You are not the war machine you once were, you are human, and
better for it.”

Jake didn’t normally
like being analysed, but Oru was only confirming what he already
felt. “What else can you give us that will help?”

“We’ve already
augmented several changes you were making to your new ship, working
through the Solar Forge. Our specialists are certain that Agameg and
Finn suspect that there are Lorander modifications to the ship, so
we’re not worried about them understanding the systems. If they
return from the mission you’re going on, they will have learned
enough about the technology to apply it to designs the Solar Forge
works from in the future. There is a lot to learn from the Solar
Forge, protect it well.”

“I have a daughter,”
Jake started, watching Oru’s reaction carefully.

“Have your medical
staff review the experiments,” Oru said. “Don’t let that work
go to waste, Doctor Messana was willing to sacrifice her career to
find a cure.”

“You really were
watching everything here,” Jake said.

“That is how we learn
these days,” Oru replied. “But it wasn’t always that way.”

“Lorander is more
than a Corporation,” Jake said, sure that their meeting would end
on that question.

“Why are the most
important questions so seldom asked?” Oru asked no one in
partucular, looking out to the water. “We are a different
evolutionary branch of humanity. Hundreds of years ago, Lorander
Corporation, a human exploration company, discovered the home world
of my people, and discovered humanoid life that almost completely
matched their own. The difference was an extra ten or so thousand
years of evolution, and my ancestors were intrigued by your culture.

There were terrible
cultural conflicts when Lorander Corporation ships began showing up
in number. So many of my people wanted to embrace the vigorous
lifestyle of humanity, but there were others who didn’t believe in
the culture. They saw a tendency towards conflict stemming from ideas
of religion and territory that we had left behind many generations
before. The melding of cultures took a century, but eventually my
people began exploring our small corner of the universe, because a
culture of curiosity was the result of that turbulent time. People
think we are powerful because we have advanced weaponry, but the few
warriors in my culture prize protection and precision over brute
force. They sent me because I have the dubious honour of being a
warrior in a society of scientists and explorers. My entire career
has been one of finding ways to protect my people while doing as
little harm as possible to the people who would steal from us, or try
to destroy us. I’m going off track, answering questions that are
drifting through your mind instead of addressing your central
curiosity.”

Jake nodded, that was
exactly what was happening.

“I’m not used to
being able to read a mind,” Oru told him. “I’m getting a great
deal of assistance. Back to your central question. Lorander
Corporation is a label our ships and our people wear when we’re
near the races of this galaxy. We bring back wonders from the
universe and trade for what we need, and we offer your people
opportunities to join us so our cultural evolution can continue at a
human pace. The best thing about this is that we look just like you,
so gaining your trust is relatively easy. The exchange between
cultures is easy now that we’ve been at it for so long too.”

“But it’s one way,”
Jake said. “You take people in and learn from them, but your people
don’t join us the same way.”

“Is that what you
think?” Oru said with an amused smile. “The thought never
occurred to you that some of my people find living in sectors of the
galaxy dominated by humans irresistible. You would be surprised at
how many Lorander people you’ve met.”

“That gets me
thinking,” Jake replied.

“I’m sorry, I could
answer questions about my people for days, but I am short on time.
Before I go, I need to tell you that there are worlds in the Iron
Head nebula, civilized worlds that haven’t been taken by the Order
of Eden. You can find allies there, some of whom may be critical to
your success in this war. Save Freeground, but don’t ignore a good
opportunity if you find one.”

Jake was irritated at
not being able to ask more questions, he wished the meeting would
continue for the whole afternoon, and he knew the sense of calm he
felt in that cave would be gone as soon as the meeting was over. “Can
you tell me anything else that will help us defeat the Edxi. The
Order I can fight, but I know they’re hiding the Edxi from the
galaxy.”

“Humanity only
believes what it can see, what it can experience,” Oru said,
standing up. “You can tell everyone that the Edxi are using worlds
in this galaxy for their broods, sacrificing millions of humans and
other species while they’re at it, but they will not know how dire
the situation is until they feel sympathy for the victims, until they
see the savagery of the brood. You only have to tell your people
exactly where it is happening and show them the right recordings.
Look for a story that makes you personally outraged and saddened at
the same time, then share it.”

“I understand,”
Jake replied.

“I knew you would,”
Oru said. He looked from the placid pool to the cave entrance. “You
know, this spring leads to the water table. It wouldn’t take much
effort to pump water from here to there,” he gestured towards the
hard baked dirt. “Add some minerals to the water and a forest will
grow out of that inert terraforming crust.”

Jake glanced at the
pool, then to where Oru was standing only to discover that he’d
disappeared. His command and control unit was immediately busy
downloading hundreds of gigabytes of data. “Well, good luck Oru,
and thank you.”

The medical bay of the
Revenge seemed cramped. There were nine treatments beds and two
surgical bays from what Finn could see. He knew from the
specifications that it was next door to a large briefing room on one
side, the brig on the other, and a small officer’s wardroom at the
end. All those walls were made so they could collapse, and grow the
medical bay into a much bigger trauma centre. He silently hoped that
he wouldn’t see the need for that.

Remmy and Ashley came
through the main doors, the chattering of crewmen and women in line
in the hallway outside came through the door with her while it
remained opened. “I mean, I get this whole, clock-stopping thing,
and I think it’s time, I’m old enough to be this age forever, but
the birth control?” Remmy was saying. “If all the women are
getting their eggs scrambled, I don’t know why the guys need a
vasectomy.”

“We’re not getting
our eggs scrambled, they’re just going to stop dropping for a
while,” Ashley said, sitting on the treatment bed beside Finn.
“Heya,” she said, bumping his shoulder with hers. “Getting your
stop shot?”

“Okay, so you’re
not losing anything, but you still can’t have kids, so why us guys
too?” Remmy replied.

“Because guests and
people off this ship may not have proper birth control,” Ashley
said. “Crewmen on leave inseminating small populations aren’t
going to help win the war. It’ll just make visits back that way
more awkward.”

“Do you really think
we run around the galaxy, using our willies as a loose lady
detector?” Remmy asked.

“I remember those old
science fiction shows you showed us on the Warlord. That captain you
idolize would stick it in a power socket if you put lipstick and a
dress on it,” Ashley replied.

Finn couldn’t help
but laugh at the mental image. He felt much less nervous about the
stop shot. He knew there were adverse reactions in a small number of
patients, otherwise their command and control units would synthesize
the dose they needed, and there would be no reason for the visit to
the med bay.

“Okay, that’s a bad
example,” Remmy said, holding his hands up. “Humans hadn’t even
been to the moon yet.”

The door opened and a
tall medical technician with a dark beard and darker hair strode into
the room. “I’m Ensign Levine,” he announced to them. “Sleeves
up, everyone. You are the last officers not to have your stop shots,
and there are about three hundred enlisted crewmen waiting. He picked
up an injector the size of his forearm. “My bots are stuck in a
loading bay, and they’re having trouble finding my med techs, so
it’s just me right now, unless you can train one of those skitters
to pop people in the arm with this thing?” he asked Finn.

“That’s not really
what they’re made for, but-“ Finn said, looking at the injector a
little closer. The business end was the same as the painless devices
he’d seen before, it just had an extra large reservoir for
medication.

“Oh, don’t worry
about its size,” Ensign Levine said, gesticulating with it as he
spoke. “Won’t even feel like a bug bite.”

Remmy was staring at
it, horrified. “Why is it so…”

“Convenient?” he
asked as he nonchalantly touched it to Finn’s shoulder. He felt a
cold sensation on the small spot for a few seconds, but there was no
pain. “There’s enough medication in here to treat two hundred
women and three hundred men with stop shots. It’s a miracle,
really,” he said, suddenly spinning on his heel and touching it to
Remmy’s arm. “Gotcha!”

He held it up in front
of Ashley, who bared her shoulder for him. “Here you go,” he said
as he touched it to her arm. “You may be in for a little swelling
for a couple hours, but that’ll be it. You are not going to have a
bad reaction, I can tell already.”

“What about us?”
Remmy asked, alarmed.

“Oh, men can have a
bad reaction within the first three minutes after the injection,
after that, you’re clear. You will stop aging, and the nanobots are
already on their way to cut and tie your vasa differentia. You won’t
even notice.”

“But, side effects?”
Remmy asked.

“Well, there’s
always the possibility that your testicals will panic and jump up
right into your abdomen. You’ll sound like a nine year old, but
you’ll have the singing voice of an angel.”

Remmy looked terrified
and confused, and Finn couldn’t help but let the silence extend for
as long as the medical technician allowed, which was almost too long.
Ensign Levine slapped Remmy on the thigh and said. “Nah, that’s
never happened. The worst you’ll get is some irritation because
some nervous men develop the unconscious need to scratch or grope
themselves. Other than that, the only thing you’ll notice is the
absence of any little ankle biters after a few years with the same
partner.” He checked his command and control unit, stared at it for
a few seconds then said; “and you’re all good! No adverse
reactions, see ya in three years if you want to breed when your
service is done.”

“You are an evil
man,” Remmy said as he left.

“Leave the door open
on your way out, I have to do that to a few hundred more today,” he
called after him. He looked to Finn then. “Seriously, if you could
do something about the medical bots in the loading bay?”

“I’ll send a
message down, get them to deliver them sooner,” Finn said.

“All yours, the
officers are all taken care of,” Remmy announced to the crewmen and
women at the door. The long line shuffled forward as people started
entering the med bay. He turned to Finn and Ashley “I’m off to
make sure I was assigned a top bunk. I’m in a room with three other
guys.”

“Good luck,” Ashley
said as he took a turn down a narrow corridor to the left.

“Headed to the
bridge?” Finn asked.

“Yahuh,” Ashley
said. “I have to start the longest pre-flight check in history. How
can a ship half the mass of the Triton have a list twice as long?”

“Everything important
is new, and everything else is reconditioned,” Finn said as he
turned down a corridor to his right. He couldn’t help but look at
the welds in the ceiling and floor. The quality was incredible, there
were no flaws anywhere he’d been in the ship since the Solar Forge
and the bots it used had its way with the Revenge. It had gone in one
end as the flawed, damaged Blessed Mission, and come out perfect on
the other side. That was with the exception of the sections of the
interior that had to be built while they were under way.

“Ah, I read that the
checklist will get shorter as we go, that makes sense,” Ashley
said.

“You okay?” Finn
asked. He’d never seen her have difficulty reasoning through the
why and how of ship systems.

“Just a big morning.
Your speech was wonderful, by the way,” she told him. “After we
finished there, I had to say goodbye to Zoe.”

“How is she?” Finn
asked.

“Growing by the
minute. I think she really likes living in the same section of the
Everin building as the rest of the nefalli. She’s going to have a
great time. She didn’t want to let go though. When I left, I mean.”

“She understood you’d
be gone for a long time?” Finn said.

“Yes, when Panloo
explained it to her. I’ve never seen Zoe cry like that before.”

“All the more reason
to get our mission done quickly,” Finn said. They passed a bank of
lockers and suspended their conversation as a crewman and woman
argued over which locker they were assigned at full volume. He
couldn’t resist but to turn around, step over the threshold and
force silence to fall as a crewman further down the locker
compartment called; “Officer on deck!”