The Stars Came Back (25 page)

Ship AI: (OC, brisk male military sounding voice) Your statements are not exclusive. Deliberate large civilian population displacement is potentially very serious.

Lag looks up sharply at a screen. No ship avatar of any sort is present. He cocks his head slightly, looking thoughtful. There is a pause.

Lag: Indeed.
Tajemnica
, whom were you responding too?

Ship AI: (OC) Confirming their statements, based on current news and available information.

Helton: Not being able to call Aunt Nellie isn’t likely to kill anyone, but it
is
worth watching. Noncombatants wandering the war zone
would
complicate things for you.

Ship AI: (OC, similar brisk tone) In the third Chi-Stan war, coordinated propaganda and communications disruptions and personalized misinformation messages were used to herd masses of civilians into cities and areas along rivers
, and limit lines of movement. When thirteen dams were broken in coordination and near simultaneously with conventional and kinetic strikes, the floods killed more than 125 million directly. The ensuing infrastructure and communications disruption, paranoia, famine, looting, disease, winter weather, and general disorder created a billion refugees and killed an estimated 750 million in the following three months.

There is a long silence as the words are digested.

Lag: Where did you get that information? That is not what most history books say.

Another pause.

Ship AI: (OC, flatly) That is what the accurate sources say.

Helton: Isn’t there a dam and reservoir near Korba?

Nothing but the clink of silverware and the sound of chewing as they variously consider the information, looking at each other trying to divine what the rest are thinking.

Quinn comes in with his own tray,
a complete place setting with a brightly colored selection of food. He sets the tray on the table next to Allonia, climbs into the seat, sits down on his heels, and starts eating like it’s the most normal thing in the world. The table conversation, already at a pause, sinks into deeper silence as they watch him.

Helton: You’ve been spending an awful lot of time around here lately, Quinn. Doesn’t your mom wonder where you are?

Quinn shrugs.

Allonia: Does she know you are here?

Quinn gives the same vacant non-answer.

Lag: (
With a sudden flash of insight) Do
you
know where your mom is?

Quinn shakes his head very slightly.

The silence is deep.

Allonia: How long has it been since you saw her?

Quinn gives another small shrug and head shake.

Helton: (
To the ship AI) Where are Quinn’s parents?

Ship AI: (OC, quiet female voice) Father believed deceased. Mother’s last known location was boarding the
Mockingbird
on pad C6 three days ago.

Aside from Allonia’s gasp, the silence gets deeper.

Helton: (Very quietly and carefully) Do you have any grandparents, aunts, or uncles around here?

Quinn shakes his head.

Allonia: (Faltering, choking back a sudden flood of tears) Do you have
any
family?

Quinn nods.

They look at him questioningly. He looks back.

Quinn makes a small motion indicating the room around him and the people in it.

Allonia loses it and starts crying and while mumbling choking words of support and care, and gives him a huge hug. Sar comes over to join in having a good cry, and the others look like they are trying to avoid such a display, as they try to not look like parents with a lost puppy, themselves.

Helton: You can stay here until we get it all sorted out, of course.

Quinn: (Starts to become more animated) It’s OK. Ship already said I can stay!

Lag: I know war and unrest creates orphans, but I didn’t expect any quite like this.

Quinn: I’m
not
an orphan. Orphans don’t have families!

Allonia and Sar start bawling all over again.

Helton: Kids are tough. You’re tough. You’ll be OK.

Harbin: (
Inscrutably) He’s a little younger than normal, but I’ll see if I can work a powder monkey into the training rotation.

Camera pans to the
First Sergeant, who has suddenly gotten something in his eye.

FADE TO BLACK

Secret Agent

FADE IN

INT - NIGHT - Top deck passageway, just down from the Captain’s Cabin

Quinn sneaks along in the red light of the night shift, and peers around a corner
, narrating his actions as if in a movie. He’s wearing his “uniform” and a small backpack.

Quinn: Secret agent Quinn on a super-secret special assignment. All clear. No enemy troops in sight.

He scampers down the hall, stopping in front of the captain’s cabin. He looks this way and that. The security panel next to Helton’s door flips from a soft red light to green, and a click is heard as it unlocks. He didn’t touch it. It opens slowly and silently. Quinn peeks in. Helton is not seen. Quinn sneaks in, goes to the desk, and looks at the three reddish crystals on it.

Ship AI: (OC,
female voice, whispering) Yes, those.

Quinn quickly takes off the pack, puts the crystals inside, closes it up,
shoulders it and heads for the door. He peeks around the corner to check the hallway, then steps out into it. The door closes silently behind him and softly clicks locked as the light changes to red. Quinn slips down the passageway holding his hands up and pointing his index finger as if he’s holding a pistol at high ready.

DISSOLVE TO

INT
- NIGHT- Quinn’s cubby

He takes the crystals out of his pack and holds them up to the camera/screen he was watching earlier.

Quinn: Now what?

On the screen a diagram appears of the dozen socket holes next to the computer screen, it shows an animation of removing the socket covers, inserting the crystals, and putting the socket cover back on. Quinn does as the an
imation indicates, biggest on top, smallest on the bottom.

Shi
p AI: (Very friendly female teacher voice) Thank you very much, Quinn. Now remember, I’m keeping it as a surprise for them, so please don’t tell anyone about this. It’ll be fun.

Quinn:
Ex voto
. Keeping secrets is what secret agents
do
. When’s my next assignment?

Ship AI: All in good time, Quinn. Soon. In the mean time, what story would you like to hear?

Quinn: How about the one where you met the first starship captain?

Ship AI: Ah, one of my favorites. I was based at Luna Base Four, when…

As the AI talks, Quinn snuggles down into a small beanbag chair with a blanket, watching pictures of Old Earth and a moon base pass on the screen.

FADE TO BLACK

Quirks

FADE IN

INT -
DAY - Engineering

Helton, Stenson, and one of Stenson’s new hires
, Erikson, are working at a cradle holding a three-meter hunk of machinery with its guts spread out around them. They all have their hands in it,  looking at diagrams and parts, and turning wrenches and screwdrivers. Visible in the background is an open hatch to the passageway.

Stenson: Yeah, that one right there.

Helton: OK. Got it.

Allonia walks by the door, stops, and sticks her head in.

Allonia: Seen Quinn recently?

Helton: He was in here a little while ago. Took off all of a sudden.

Allonia: He needs a bath. Know where he was headed?

Stenson: (
To the ship AI).
Tajemnica
, location of Quinn?

Ship AI: (OC) Unable to locate.

Allonia: Won’t tell me, either. Says it would be cheating; Quinn is playing hide and seek.

Helton: Follow the tracks, then.

Allonia: Tracks?

Stenson: (
Skeptically) We
are
on a spaceship, you know.

Helton: And
he’s
a five year old boy in need of a bath.

Helton waves his slightly greasy hand
at the surrounding clutter. Both Stenson and Allonia nod and shrug in agreement. Allonia ducks back out.

DISSOLVE TO

INT
- DAY - A-Deck passageway

Allonia
walks quietly, looking around carefully. She examines a bulkhead closely and smiles.

INSET - A small waist-high hand-print, slightly greasy and shiny.

Allonia: (Quietly, smiling) Ah, the garden. Gotcha!

CUT TO

INT -
DAY - Engineering

Helton, Stenson, and
Erikson are still working in engineering. They are focused on screen diagrams and their own small part of the repair work. Without warning music starts playing over the ship’s PA system. Fast banjos playing something like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” The three pause in their labors and look at one another, confused. The volume picks up. Helton opens his mouth to say something. Suddenly Quinn goes streaking by the open door, stark naked and sprinting for freedom, with Allonia in hot pursuit.

Allonia: Quinn, come BACK HERE!

Stenson and Helton chuckle.

Erikson
: Ship’s computer is few bits shy of a full memory bank.

Helton:
More
than a few. ‘Quirky’ is an understatement. Try querying “plumbing diagram.”

Erikson
looks skeptically at them.

Erikson
:
Tajemnica
, “internal plumbing diagram.”

On a nearby screen, an image of
the female reproductive system appears, including ovaries and uterus. Erikson’s face shows surprise.

Helton: That’s new. I got a schematic for a
n early hydropower dam last time. Just have to be
very
specific.

They
resume work silently as the music fades. The high-speed tune ends suddenly with a screech. They exchange glances. Moments later Allonia walks by the door with Quinn tucked under her arm, struggling futilely.

Quinn: But I DON’T WANT A BATH!

Allonia: Tough. It’s time, want one or not.

The sounds of struggle disappear down the corridor.

Erikson: Little guy doesn’t know what he’s missing.

Helton and Stenson grin and nod agreement.

They go back to work.

FADE TO BLACK

Rule Two

F
ADE IN

INT
- DAY - A-Deck passageway, looking past a stairwell

Voice
s can be heard indistinctly in the background. Recruit Darch cautiously sticks his head out of the top of the stairwell, glancing both ways. He furtively steps into the passage and in through a nearby hatchway, carefully closing the hatch behind.

CUT TO

INT - DAY - A-Deck hydroponics garden

Allonia is alone near the back, wearing her newly made blue ship uniform. It has more pockets, a belt with several small pouches and knife; both functional and flattering. Allonia stands by many racks of bright lights and growing plants, a workbench to one side and racks of growing supplies on the other. She is intently using a soft brush to pollinate flowers on the bench. The sound of the door to the garden room being shut gently can barely be heard over the hum of the air system. She keeps working.

Darch:
(OC) Hello, beautiful.

Allonia jumps and spins around. Darch
looks at her with a hungry, lustful expression. He’s wearing light body armor, and carrying a pistol and large fighting knife on his belt. He talks as he approaches her.

Darch: You know, you really are too
gorgeous to be alone in the world. How about we not be lonely together?

He steps toward her, starting to undo his body armor with his left hand, intentions clear. She shrinks back, fear on her face.

Darch: I think
your
flower needs some pollinating, too.

He reaches for her. She knocks
his hand aside, hard, and his face shows surprise, then an ugly snarl.

Darch: A
pretty but poisonous flower.