Burnt Ice (34 page)

Once the Administration personnel
had finished, the crew were individually, then collectively, subjected to a
hostile series of meetings with senior Games Board officials, who were not at
all happy about how things had transpired with Sirius. Much to their great
annoyance, the crew were split up again for a full day, while interrogated
about Sirius. They had all believed they had done well, considering the
alternatives.

A week went by before they were
formally cleared. They were then directed to
Gamma,
then to the sector
engineering facility at
Delta
for repairs and refurbishment, depending
on a decision to be made by the crew, including Patrick.

‘Hey, boss. So what is this
decision we have to make? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?’

‘You’ll see soon enough, Marko.
Better get ready at your board. There is a tanker coming alongside in five
minutes to fuel us for the jumps down to
Gamma.
All crew: get tidied up
please. In an hour the local sector head of accounting will be on board.
Colonel Pereira will speak with each of us individually about our entitlements
and bonuses.’

It was only after Harry had, with
some disquiet, viewed how his bank balances had skyrocketed over the last week,
that he realised just how popular their story had become and the extent to
which his images would be plastered all over the Sphere. He had worried that
the Games Board would be annoyed about them re-lifing Sirius, but that did not
stop them from turning a handsome profit from the shows that Sirius had
submitted to them. He also noted that everyone had been awarded additional
funds for the technology developments that had been made during the journey.

Once the crew had gathered, the
captain introduced Colonel Pereira, who was quick to reveal the main reason for
her visit.

‘Thank you all for meeting with
me,’ she said. ‘Before our individual meetings, the issue I need to discuss
with you is about this ship,
Basalt.
Most of you will not be aware that
an important point was passed during the time that you were away. It occurred
some eight months ago:
Basalt
was formally written off as lost at six
and a half years. The relevant authorities were given the task of deciding when
re-lifing for any of you would occur. You are fortunate that those decisions
were very slow working their way through the Administration and no steps have
yet been taken towards that re-lifing.

‘Yes, we had been observing
something accelerating and then decelerating towards the Octopoid Library, but
we had no proof it was you until you started broadcasting your messages.
Subsequently, the ownership rights to the vessel formerly known as
F3578A
Basalt
now belong, collectively, to you, according to some peculiar
regulations in the rights of salvage. I can assure you that we do not all agree
with this directive, but it would seem you have some very powerful friends, who
brought some extraordinarily persuasive arguments to the discussions. You now
have to decide whether you remain in the service of the Administration or
become a private concern.’

The colonel placed a sheaf of
documents on the desk. ‘I shall leave you to this matter, but I advise that I
must have your decisions tomorrow. I shall wait in the orders room should you
wish to discuss your individual interests and concerns, or indeed, your
collective ones.’

As the crew discussed their
situation, it became clear that no one could see any reason for leaving the
Administration, except Sirius, who wanted no part of the deal. When the captain
asked her outright what she wanted to do with her share, she told him that he
could divide it up between the remaining crew, so long as they agreed that she
would be their PR agent. Stephine must have suspected this would be the case as
her documents appeared with speed, which brought a huge smile to Jan’s face —
she too was pleased to see the back of Sirius.

The colonel was invited back to
hear their decision. She notarised all the respective documents and immediately
communicated their decision to the
Gamma
proxy.

‘Basalt,
this is
Gamma.
My thanks
to Colonel Pereira. I formally welcome you all back. I am most pleased you will
remain in service. My compliments on an extraordinary mission and a great many
worthy and may I also note, lucrative, achievements. Before too long we will
all get together for a proper celebration of your return. I have now opened all
the communication channels to you and will see you on your return from
Delta.
You are officially placed back under
Epsilon’s
control.’

The crew watched the captain for
his reaction.

‘Well, now. That’s a first for
me. Not often I get to hear from one of
Gamma’s
proxies. Wonder what would
have happened if we hadn’t agreed?’

Later that day, as they readied
themselves to jump out of the Cygnus system, Marko decided that the time was
right.

‘OK, everyone is here. Please
give me the code card, Topaz.’

The ACE was sitting on his
haunches, watching them, relaxed and looking very dog-like. Marko read out the
code. The realisation of sentience, then existence, flashed into his eyes, and
Marko knew what to call him.

‘Hello, Glint.’

~ * ~

Part
Three

Chromium

~ * ~

One

‘Safe
travels,
Basalt.
You are cleared to jump. See you all on your return.’

‘Thank you,
Epsilon.’

‘All crew. Stand by for the jump.
OK, Patrick. Take us through.’

Sitting at his console, Marko
watched as the accumulator units throughout the ship discharged the enormous
surge of exotically tuned, pulsed and focused energy required to form the
wormhole that
Basalt
would use to jump across to the Crux system.
Patrick controlled the jump with his usual quiet efficiency.

They popped into existence
precisely where they were meant to. Immediately they were hailed with ID
challenges by the sentinel units, which were answered by Patrick and verified
by Harry. Once cleared for transit across the system, Marko fired the fusion
engines and they spent a quiet couple of days working their way to the local
quadrant’s main engineering base. The base was deliberately set away from the
local Lagrange points to give it warning of incoming traffic, friendly or
hostile.
Basalt
was in reasonable shape, but needed a week or so at the
maintenance base before the ship could be certified as fully operational again.

Rather than using a chair, Glint
leant back on his tail to form a third leg to rest on, watching and taking in
everything.

‘When can I try out the weapon,
Marko?’

‘Not today, Glint. We will be
docking with the main base shortly. I’ll see what I can do about booking a
weapons range so you can try it out, OK? How are your studies going?’

‘Very well, thank you. I have
spent much time with Veg and Stephine. She allowed me to interface with her
computer and I have gained a much better understanding of humans. You are a
weird lot. I like Nail and Flint. We have agreed to explore the base together.’

Oh shit, Marko thought. Three of
his creations all exploring in the same space and time! Scary

‘Yeah, OK. But you know the
rules, right? Be polite, ask for things if you want them, and tell me instantly
if something happens that you’re not sure about. Better still, I’ll get all of
you together so we can have a little chat before you leave the ship.’

The captain’s voice came through
the comms link. ‘Marko, can you flash the repair and refurb lists across to
Delta engineering?’

‘On it, boss. I’d like to add
number three skua to the list.’

‘Yeah. We are coming up fairly
tight on the budget from
Epsilon.
Can we handle that one ourselves?’

‘Captain,’ Stephine interrupted. ‘I
believe Veg and I can cover the costs on the skua. After all, you covered the
repairs to our craft twice. I have access to our accounts again and would like
to help.’

‘Your call, Stephine. As section
members now, it is your privilege. My thanks.’

‘Add the skua to the list, Marko.’

‘Will do, Stephine.’

After almost eight years away,
having to make their own decisions, it had been an interesting shake out for
the crew to be back with the Administration — and back following orders. Sirius
had left them along with Colonel Pereira, quickly gathering her gear and
wishing them well, then marching off without a backward glance. The captain had
been promoted: Major Michael Longbow had a nice ring to it, he announced.

Each of the crew had been stepped
up a notch in rank and privileges, including Patrick, who was given additional
memory and cognitive modules in recognition as the AI for
Basalt.
It
transpired that the major had had to argue long and hard to keep Veg and
Stephine in the section. The main problems were just what rank to give them,
considering who they were and their capabilities. The decision had been made on
high that they should both be captains, but that they would have to go through
a short officer training course, which the rest of the crew, particularly
Fritz, found hugely funny. Veg and Stephine, however, took it quite seriously.
The decision had been made that they would do the training while
Basalt
was undergoing repairs at
Delta.

The other sticking point had been
Veg and Stephine’s ship. Although it belonged to them, with the documents to
prove ownership, it contained much equipment the Administration had openly
stated they were interested in acquiring. Because it had been an Administration
ship and crew that had aided them, they believed they had a right to full
disclosure of its contents. It was unlikely that the Gjomvik Corporations would
agree.

The events at the final meeting
regarding Stephine and Veg’s ship were peculiar, to say the least. Just when
they thought they would be forced to hand over the ship,
Epsilon
joined
in. His proxy arrived, stating that a Hauler named
Rick
had also claimed
an interest in the ship.

The major thought it very strange
that suddenly all the Administration lawyers hurriedly apologised, stating that
they needed to be somewhere else. When he asked Veg about the Hauler
Rick,
all he got, by way of an answer, was a beaming smile.

The
Delta
complex was one
of the larger off-planet repair and maintenance facilities operated by the
Administration. It was a series of large ship structures, attached to a huge
central hub, containing all living quarters, manufacturing and power systems.
Each part could break away from the central unit and all had their own
abilities to jump from star system to star system as required. They could
handle ships up to cruiser size, so the frigate posed no problems for the
engineering facilities. At any time, there could be upwards of twelve hundred
personnel, not including visiting crews. Patrick took
Basalt
within a
few hundred metres of its designated docking station, where he was told by the
Delta
AI to stop and hold station, then shut down.

As Marko felt the nudge of the
docking tugs, he powered down propulsion systems, purging the fuel lines by
evacuating them then opening them to vacuum, except the antimatter units, which
he isolated. Harry was making safe all the weapons systems and Fritz was
securing their communication systems, locking down the computer systems and
quarantining any private data. Jan was auditing all their stores, medical
supplies, suits and personal hardware. Stephine prepared long lists of what was
required to maintain the hydroponic gardens in her absence.

News of Stephine’s botanical
achievements had spread throughout the Administration to such a degree that the
ship was made off-limits to visitors. The gardens had endured too many prying
fingers and samplers after the crew had eventually returned to
Epsilon
from their debriefs with
Gamma.
Those days of the
Basalt
crew
being confined to their cabins or interviewed had not been good for the
gardens. Stephine had been furious about these samplings. She pulled some
serious strings in the Administration hierarchy and the visitors had suddenly
stopped. Then she documented everything she had achieved in the gardens and
placed it on the Administration notice boards for all to view.