the Noise Within (2010) (34 page)

Philip Kaufman, who knew more about starship drives than any man alive, had never seen, never
dreamed
, of anything like this.

"My God," he whispered, awed beyond anything he had previously encountered in his life. "What
is
that?"

"A Byrzaen stardrive augmenting my original Kaufman Drive," the ship explained in its customary moderate tones. "Byrzaen technology has taken a very different development path to human technology. The drive gives me much greater flexibility."

Flexibility
? Now Philip was intrigued. Wormhole technology had opened the way to the stars, but it had restrictions. You couldn't simply punch a hole from anywhere to anywhere but only to and from specific points - a wormhole produced a shortcut between different parts of the universe by enabling a ship to dip out of this reality, skim through another and emerge back into this one at the far side of a 'fold', like a needle stitching through gathered material. It was initially hoped that these limitations would enable ULAW to trace
The Sun Seeker
after she fled, but it soon became clear that she had instigated a series of consecutive jumps and eluded them.

Was the AI suggesting the Byrzaens had discovered a way of avoiding these restrictions? According to every law of physics Philip had ever been taught, that ought to be impossible, but judging by what he could
almost
see in this room, nothing would surprise him. "I'd be interested to hear more about that," he said, as casually as he could manage.

"An exchange of knowledge is one of the things the Byrzaens have sent me here to promote," the ship replied.

"What's changed?" Leyton demanded, much to Philip's annoyance. The question cut straight across what promised to be an interesting conversation. "Why have you suddenly decided to abandon being a pirate and go back to being a diplomat again?"

It
was
a good question; Philip had to give the big man that.

"Aided by the presence of the four humans welcomed aboard, I have sufficiently mastered my phobias for my mission to reassert itself as an overriding priority. I must now discharge my duty by opening a path for diplomatic discourse between mankind and the Byrzaens."

"Good luck," the government man said. "You're going to have your work cut out with ULAW after the way you've announced yourself."

"I understand that; which is where you two come in."

"Do you know anything about this New Paris?" Kaufman asked.

"Not much," Leyton had to admit. "The station was originally built as temporary home for the families who were due to colonise Dionese IV once that world had been terraformed, but the money ran out. Dionese IV is still essentially uninhabitable and the colonists' descendents are still in orbit."

Kaufman grunted. "So we can expect something cramped and decrepit. I wonder why the ship's delivered us here of all places to make its big announcement?"

"Not necessarily; the station might surprise you. From what I remember, the man who built New Paris was something of an eccentric. He wanted everyone who was waiting to go dirtside to be comfortable for however long they had to stay there, so he built something pretty spectacular. By all accounts, it's a veritable palace in space."

Kaufman smiled. "Sounds a bit more like it."

Leyton could only agree.

This was a very different Philip Kaufman from the tense, obsessed man who had emerged from the shadows on Frysworld and then kept himself to himself aboard
The Noise Within
. He was actually being friendly, or at least going through the motions. Leyton was trying to do likewise. The conversation helped distract him from the inner turmoil of his own thoughts, as he struggled to come to terms with the gun's duplicity. He was itching to find a gym, to punch something,
anything
, to work off his frustrations.

"Privately owned, then?" Kaufman asked.

"It was at that time. I've absolutely no idea what the setup is now." The sort of thing he might have asked the gun once, but the betrayal was still too fresh and, although the weapon again nestled in its familiar holster, the eyegee hadn't addressed it since leaving
The Noise Within
. Whatever happened now, events on
The Noise Within
had changed things for Leyton. He hadn't realised the degree to which he'd come to rely on the gun. He never would again; not in the same way.

"I wonder whether New Paris still lies within
The Sun Seeker's
trial areas."

Leyton looked at him enquiringly, his full attention focused; this was something new.

"
The Sun Seeker
didn't disappear during her maiden flight. In fact, the programme of trials was quite advanced when she went AWOL. Since reappearing,
The Noise Within
has limited her operations to the areas she was familiar with as
The Sun Seeker
, which makes me wonder whether this Byrzaen stardrive might not be quite as liberating as the AI implied."

"Also makes
me
wonder why ULAW have had such a hard time catching her," Leyton said. And why they felt the need to assign so many eyegees to the chase in order to do so. Mind you, First Contact with an alien civilisation more than justified that level of commitment, which raised an uncomfortable question: did somebody within the ULAW hierarchy already know
The Noise Within's
true nature? Something he would doubtless ponder at greater length later, when time allowed.

"The connection wasn't made right away and, besides, you caught her," Kaufman pointed out.

"True; or the other way around," Leyton replied.

They both smiled at that.

Philip was feeling increasingly comfortable with this government man - a distinct contrast to the way he had felt not so long ago. There was still a sense that Leyton was on edge - a prowling tiger constrained by the demands of civility - but he supposed that was only to be expected in an agent, or whatever the man was.

"We'll be arrivin' soon," Hammond's gruff, uncultured voice announced. "Startin' final approach now."

Philip had all but forgotten the man was piloting them. Had he heard any of what they'd said? It seemed unlikely from his isolated position in the cockpit, but so what if he had?

As yet, Jim had made no move to identify himself to the New Paris authorities. Philip presumed he was waiting until they disembarked. He was more than happy to follow the other's lead. After all, Leyton was the government man here, not him.

"What sort of population are we talking about on New Paris, do you think?" he wondered.

"No idea; why?"

"No real reason, just wondered," whether Kaufman Industries had a branch here. He certainly didn't recall ever hearing mention of one, but that proved nothing.

It turned out that there wasn't; not even a representative of the company, which meant that New Paris must offer pretty close to a zero opportunity for sales or market development.

As anticipated, Leyton took the lead when they docked, demanding to speak to whoever was in charge of the station first opportunity they had. The pent-up tiger Philip had sensed aboard the shuttle now came to the fore, clearly anxious to be doing something and impatient with bureaucratic restraints.

Within minutes they found themselves talking to a fresh-faced woman who introduced herself as "Marie, the terminal duty manager."

Philip could sense the simmering impatience within Leyton and felt certain that the woman could as well.

"Marie," the large man said. "I'd like you to take retinal scans of both of us, please, and then get us in front of the highest ULAW authority you have here. Quickly."

Her answering smile was as disarming as you could wish. "If you'd care to come this way, I'll see what can be arranged."

She led them to a small office, where the retinal scans were duly conducted on a hand-held device which Marie then stared at intently, waiting for the results. Whatever she saw on the small screen caused her eyes to widen and the smile to slip ever so slightly.

"Mr Kaufman, and Mr..."

"Leyton," the other man supplied.

"Welcome to New Paris."

"Thank you. Now will you
please
put us in front of whoever runs this place?" Leyton may not have literally spoken the words through gritted teeth, but the effect was much the same.

The woman nodded. "Of course. That'll be the mayor." She sat down behind her desk and touched a section of it, saying, "Mayor's office." A few seconds passed before a woman's voice answered, confirming connection.

"Jenny, this is Marie at the docks. I need to speak to the mayor on a matter of the utmost importance."

"Sorry, Marie, but he's unavailable."

The woman looked enquiringly at Leyton, who shook his head slowly, his lips pursed into a thin, angry line.

"Jenny, could you please interrupt him. This is ULAW business and it can't wait."

"Marie, I would if I could but he's not here... We don't know where he is at present, but he'll be back in a while and I'll make sure he calls you straight away."

"Please do."

Marie sat back, the connection broken. Philip had to fight back a smile at the look of dismay on her face as she stared at Leyton, who looked fit to explode.

"Either contact this mayor or get us in front of his deputy. Now."

Leyton somehow managed to look menacing without the need to lift a finger in threat. The intimidating glare was enough. To her credit, Marie's smile returned as she rose to her feet in a controlled fashion, but it was clear to Philip just how rattled she was beneath that tightly controlled veneer.

"Leave this with me," Marie said, and walked out of the office. Nice legs, Philip couldn't help but note.

Leyton had balled his fists and looked as if he was in need of something to punch. He shook his head. "What kind of a place is this?"

"A small one," Philip answered, "which has managed to avoid getting half its population caught up in the machinery of bureaucracy by the sound of things."

"Unreal."

Philip did laugh now. Probably not the most sensible thing he could have done, certainly to judge by Leyton's answering scowl, but it had been a whirlwind day and he was short on sleep and, as his rumbling stomach chose to remind him, sustenance.

"Sorry," he said to the government man, not really meaning it, "but here we are with the most momentous news in the whole of human history, and we can't find anyone to tell."

For some reason, Leyton didn't seem to see the funny side.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A
s far as anyone had been able to conclude,
The Noise Within
was oblivious to the existence of stealth capabilities. Careful analysis of the historical record confirmed that when
The Sun Seeker
fled into the unknown, stealth technology was merely one of a hundred promising avenues of development being explored by the military tech boys, almost all of which were doomed to yield nothing of any practical use. ULAW's strategists believed that stealth might be the one advantage they had over the AI-controlled ship. Certainly Jenner had yet to see any evidence to the contrary.

He could still barely believe how quickly everything had happened. The new variant of Syntheaven proved to be the key, pushing back the headaches to the point where hours of link-up to the AI were possible without any stabbing pain waiting to pounce afterwards. The more they worked with it, the longer the 'safe' period became. Everything else had been ready, poised in preparation for that one break-through. As soon as the pilots were able to sustain their links for an entire day, it all changed. Suddenly they found themselves out of the simulators and into real needle ships. The simulators had been strikingly accurate. Nothing was different; and yet
everything
was different. This was real.

He missed Lara. That was the only downside in all of this. The needle ship squadron had been rushed into active service so quickly he'd barely had time to say goodbye, but he knew she understood. She'd been there throughout, part of the team developing the AI-human link. In a sense, this was both their dream. The difference was, he was the one actually living it.

Now here he was, very much at the sharp end of the whole Kaufman Industries project. He was about to engage the enemy.

After dispatching a shuttle to the space station New Paris,
The Noise Within
seemed in no hurry to leave the system, but instead maintained its position, as if waiting for something; presumably the return of the shuttle and whoever was on board.

None of which was of any interest to Jenner. He had his standing orders and the pirates' failure to depart as anticipated suited him just fine. Others could concern themselves with the shuttle, who was on it and whatever their purpose might be. His attention was focused entirely on taking out
The Noise Within
herself.

He and his squadron slipped forward on minimum power so that there was as little energy emission to hide as possible. He had fought this battle dozens of times, yet in none of the simulations had the pirate vessel been sitting there almost inviting attack. Always the ULAW needle ships had been required to hunt down and attack a fast moving vessel, working out the best strategies with which to do so based upon the extensive intelligence their target had so graciously provided.