Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (24 page)

“You got rid of
Kipley?” she asked, amused.

“Sold him to the
British,” Jake replied.

“I’m surprised you
didn’t have to pay them to take him,” she chuckled, thankful for
the relief humour brought. Alice wiped her tears away and stepped out
of her father’s embrace. “I thought you’d be angry.”

“I was jealous, you
know,” Jake said through a reassuring smile. “’What does she
need with these Rangers?’ I thought. ‘She could be on the
Warlord, the baddest ship this side of the Elek Strand.’”

Alice couldn’t help
but laugh. His humour could be cheesy, but she usually enjoyed it.

“I’m glad to have
you back,” her father told her. “When you’re ready, I’d like
to hear the story about you and the Rangers over the last two
months.”

“I’ll send you a
copy of the reports, they’re all clear to share with family now,”
Alice replied.

“I want to hear your
side, I don’t care what the reports say,” Jake said.

Alice stared at him for
a moment. Despite his armour, darkened appearance, or reputation with
everyone in the solar system and beyond as a criminal or soldier, the
man standing in front of her was just her dad. He was back, and
seemed to want nothing more than to spend time with his daughter. She
pulled herself up so she could sit on the railing and asked, “How
‘bout now? Do you have time?”

Jake looked a little
surprised, but smiled back at her. “Sure.”

She started by telling
him about meeting a former fellow Ranger trainee at her apartment,
and by the time she was telling him about meeting the pickers in the
jungle, the tale came easily. Alice didn’t realize how unusual and
amazing that day was until she was telling someone else about it,
even though it ended sadly. Her father listened intently to every
detail.

Fluid Thinking

For the first time
since the Everin Building came into being, the lowest floor was more
than a lobby. Small bots with protective shells on top of fine
manipulator arms, welders, spanners, and other tools rushed around,
beeping and ticking at each other. They were busy installing the
components for the transit system that arrived from the overworked
fabrication shop beneath the building. The little skitter bots didn’t
seem impeded at all by the removal of their wireless systems. They
used audio and visual signals to communicate. A few used full words
occasionally, something Ayan would ask a technician about when she
had a spare moment.

Ayan couldn’t help
but smile at the progress of the lobby. Before it had been a quiet,
visually appealing place, with polished floors that featured a gold,
blue, and green weaving pattern of stone, and a transparent metal
ceiling with mild illumination built in. Through it, travellers could
see the interior of the Everin Building. Open to the sky far above,
it was easy to get distracted by ships descending and ascending
between balconies with invisible impact shielding. There was a
security office in the middle of the large lobby, with two pairs of
officers on duty and access to the floor beneath, where the police
and emergency services centres would be built.

With the transit system
under construction, the lobby would become a hub for transportation,
connecting the Everin Building to the rest of Haven Shore and beyond,
if you included the nearby port, which was far from complete. She
couldn’t help but notice as a skitter bot stood as tall as it
could, about half a metre, in front of a pair of elevator doors and
started beaming shades of green from its smooth metal shell. “This
lift is ready for use!” it chirped loud enough for people nearby to
hear. It was as though the bot was desperate to see people try the
new thing his mechanical team had built.

It was what Ayan was
waiting for, and she joined five other people who stepped inside.
There was room for twice as many people in the fairly plain green and
brown elevator car, but no one else seemed interested in going first.

“Beats the
construction lifts,” said an older gentleman carrying a medical
case. “Never knew when those things were going to stop or for how
long.”

No one else joined him
in griping about the temporary lifts that were often overused, or out
of order. There was always one temporary lift working; the problem
was, you didn’t know which one, and sometimes you’d have to walk
the circumference of the building to find it. The top two-thirds of
the Everin Building were mostly empty thanks to that situation. Two
of the occupants, an older woman and a Haven Shore junior watchman in
his green and blue vacsuit, glanced at her as they realized whom they
were riding with. Their gawking was immediately followed by
uncomfortable averted gazes and fidgeting.

“Someone has to be
the first to go up the shaft,” Ayan said through a little smile.
The lift moved so gently that she couldn’t tell how fast they were
going. Her sensors told her the ascension was swift, and Ayan was
alone in the lift after three stops. It was no surprise that she was
the only one going to the top.

Her comm blinked,
indicating that she had a call coming in from Mischa Konev. She
answered and the image of Mischa's face appeared in front of her. It
was an image only Ayan could see, sent directly to her eyes, but it
was as though Mischa was standing in front of her. “Hi, Ayan.”

“Hello, how are you?”
Ayan asked, aware that Mischa wasn’t calling for small talk.

“Great, busy, how
about you?”

“Doing very well.
Testing the Everin Building’s first civilian lift.”

“That’s good.
Question for you,” Mischa said.

The lift doors opened,
and after making sure she was in the right place, Ayan stepped off
onto the rooftop. She spotted Lee in the middle of the temporary
landing pads. He was accepting a new delivery of refurbished skitter
bots from a cargo ship they’d converted into a mobile servicing
vessel. They came in crates made from recycled metal plating and
whatever else the welders could find. Once the skitters were
activated and their programming was verified, they would find a place
near their assigned construction post and make that crate their home,
where they’d recharge, service each other, and store spare parts.
Ayan had seen a couple of large ‘skitter settlements,’ as the
construction personnel called them, and was amazed at the
honeycomb-like structures that resulted from many skitter bots
gathering. “Ask me anything,” Ayan replied.

“Are you leaving
Haven Shore? I went looking for your apartment and found out that, as
of last night, you don’t have one here. Lacey said I should talk to
you directly about this, since I’m looking to nominate you to the
Military Liaison seat.”

“Thank you, I
appreciate that. After what happened in the port, I’m not sure what
I’m doing, to be honest.”

“Are you all right?
What happened?”

“I’m surprised you
haven’t seen, it’s at the top of the Crewcast Feed. A member of
the Warlord crew had a message for me, and he made sure I wouldn’t
forget it. No one was injured, but it’s got me thinking longer
term.”

“Not you, too. Did
you know Victor’s leaving?”

“What?” Ayan asked,
genuinely surprised.

“He’s turned my
nomination aside. Admiral McPatrick offered him the head of security
position on the Triton last night. He’s using the Council shuffle
to poach people for the Triton staff. He’s got two hundred or so
people transferring from Haven Shore back to the Triton, too. With no
representatives to monitor transfers, we could be out of
post-construction maintenance people by the end of the week.”

“I should have seen
this coming, he’s been starving for personnel for months.” Ayan
knew there was a solution, but it seemed too risky until Frost made
his point. He’d given her something she didn’t realize she’d
lost: a sense of urgency. For the life of her, she couldn’t
remember when that slipped away. Maybe it came with the rise of the
Everin Building, and watching families migrate from their converted
cargo crates, broken down ships, and temporary shelters into their
new homes. Perhaps it was because of the Council, or it could have
even been the fact that Tamber was protected from interstellar
bombardment thanks to the way it was situated in the solar system. It
was probably a combination of all those things, but the question of
when
her sense of
urgency slipped was unanswerable.

“Ayan, I need the
Council to form fast, and I need people who are reasonable most of
all. If the best of us transfer off-world, Tyra will bring in her own
crowd, and it won’t be pretty.”

“I’ll see what I
can do, Mischa.” A few nominees that could take her place came to
mind and she couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll definitely have a
couple of people you can trust by the end of the day.”

“I know them?”

“You will, and you’ll
thank me.”

“Thank you, Ayan, but
can you give me something to start with right now? I need an ally.”

“Give me an hour then
contact Carl Anderson, he’ll take my seat.”

“Your father’s
going to be available?”

“He’s already
detached from the Sunspire and he has interests in Haven Shore with
the Rangers.”

“Will he agree?”
Mischa asked eagerly. “Did you already speak with him?”

“Tell him I sent
you,” Ayan replied. “He’ll agree, and I’m sure he can suggest
a few other people to nominate for other seats.”

“Fantastic, thank
you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m just
wondering, why are you leaving?” Mischa asked.

Ayan thought a moment
and replied, “My personal drama got in the way of something
important, so it’s time to move on and let someone else take the
seat.” That wasn’t nearly the entire answer, but it was good
enough for Mischa.

“I’ll miss having
you at the table,” she said before ending the communication.

Lee Romita emerged from
a battered cargo shuttle and smiled at Ayan. “You must love the
view from the top,” he said. “Too bad I can’t get you within
spitting distance of the edge.”

“Can’t seem to stay
away from the surest sign of progress,” Ayan replied. “You and
your people have really surprised everyone, Lee.”

Lee Romita looked
genuinely surprised at the praise; he even took a half-step
backwards. “Just following the designs you and the team programmed
in.”

“Will you need us
architects around much for the final touches?” Ayan asked.

He thought for a moment
and shook his head. “No, why? You planning on going out of range?”

“Probably not, but
I’m starting to look at a few other problems on Tamber. Problems
that we could have a solution for if the Council members don’t get
in the way. I’m starting to think it’s time to go another way
without them so I can move on to more pressing things.”

“I’m not the first
you’re telling, am I? I haven’t heard about this yet, and
Crewcast is quick to move whatever you’re saying to the top of the
Feed.”

“I’m thinking
aloud, Lee. I find my situation is very fluid today, and I expect it
might remain so for a while. You’ll keep my thoughts to yourself
for now?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Now
you’ve got me wondering if I’m the one you’re up here to see
today, or if you have a shuttle coming.”

“You’re who I’m
here to see,” Ayan said. Her military comm channel warned that Carl
Anderson was on his way to her in a shuttle and she couldn’t help
but smile. “Though I think this rooftop is becoming my office for
the hour.”

“I’ve noticed you
don’t have a real one,” Lee said. “Something I think people
like about you.”

“I wish I had time
for an office some days,” Ayan replied. “Back to why I’m
braving the windy heights to see you in person. You’re going to be
finished all the critical structural work here in a few days, right?”

“Could be done by the
end of today, if you like. I could have two hundred and thirty souls
available to work on the port tomorrow morning, leaving just a few
here to supervise the bots as they put in the rest of the fixtures.”

Ayan knew there were
hundreds of fixtures left to install. The recyclers, waste
management, communication, and climate control systems were being put
in as quickly as the fabrication shop could manufacture them by
skitters and a few of the larger bots they had. “What about the
combat base features? I know the shield is finished, but you’re
still keeping the ship management and servicing systems until the
end, right?”

“Yes, but from the
sounds of it, you have something else in mind.”

Ayan was thinking on
her feet for the first time in what felt like months. “I’m
cancelling the construction on the permanent port here.” She could
picture the towering port buildings from the vision the Victory
Machine gave her in her mind’s eye. She could see how similar a few
facets of the Everin Building were to features of those towers. “I
may not be on the Council, but I am the primary signing authority for
Haven Shore. It’s time I used that power for something important
again. I feel more and more like ordering the construction of this
building was the last important thing I did.”

“No offense, but I
think you’re right.”

“It’s fine, I think
there are a lot of people who agree with you.”

“There’s something
else I’d like to ask, now that you’ve mentioned it. What does it
mean when they call you the Sovereign authority, or White Queen?”

Ayan hated both titles,
especially the moniker of White Queen. “I hope the ‘White Queen’
thing never catches, but the documents the Carthans had me sign were
that archaic. Liam and one of their upper officers performed the
function of witness, while two friends were named in the document,
both of them dead now.”

“I’m sorry about
that. So that leaves you alone on this document, which says…”