The Stars Came Back (60 page)

Allonia: So, bigger
faster stronger better, basically.

Helton: Pretty much. Gotta get this to Kwon. See you later, dear.

Helton heads for the door, leaving Allonia happily tending her plants.

FADE TO BLACK

Surprise

DISSOLVE TO

INT - DAY - Engineering

Stenson and his team examine readouts, tired but happy. Helton and Quiritis stand next to him looking over the readouts and data.

Stenson: There is
something about the combination of density, mass and drive distribution, power density, power flow… Same mass but much larger, can’t do it. Same general dimensions, lose the armor, can’t do it. Same mass, but just a load of ore in the middle, can’t do it. Lower flux density, can’t do it. Same density, missile size, no can do.
Taj
is right at a sweet spot, a golden ratio of mass, dimensions and drive flux. We can transition deeper in the gravity well than anything I’ve ever seen. Might even be able to use an L1 to transition between a planet and a moon.

Helton:
L1? Shiny.

Stenson:
Indeed. We have much tighter control over time flow and dilation-

Helton: How much?

Quiritis: Normal trip in the current swirl to Eridani is four or five days subjective depending on route, a week universal. We could do it in about three days universal, and anywhere from a day to nearly six weeks subjective.

Helton:
Hell of a range. No need to go that slow.

Quiritis:
Maybe. The fuel usage on the long course is almost zero. Nearly coasting along a subspace field line. Really slick. All sorts of interesting subspace curves to surf, depending on what you need to do.

Stenson: We can cut a lot of corners planning trips. Not sure how far into
The Deep we can go, but places that are just past the edge for any other ship should be doable.

Quiritis: And we can
skip like you wouldn’t believe. Transition in, get a fast look, disappear from this universe in a heartbeat.

Stenson: And we can open a transition field, then
extend it a ways into other fields. Not just pulse the drive field like we did with the interceptors, but I think we can do all kinds of things, including hitch a ride on another ship when it’s trying to leave. Need another ship to really test it fully, but the possibilities are fascinating.

Helton: So, anyplace in particular you’d like to go to test more?

Quiritis: Well, we-

Ship AI: (OC, brisk male voice) Yes. There is.

The three raise eyebrows in surprise.

Ship AI: (OC) Tau Piper II.

The three show expressions of either non-recognition or puzzlement.

Ship AI: (OC) It does not have any known human habitation. A failed terraforming operation
on the edge of The Dark, only a day’s subjective flight under current conditions, half that universal. It has something I would like to investigate.

Helton: Close. What’s there?

Ship AI: (OC) The second planet was a promising world in the water zone. There are several potentially interesting items there. I’d like to keep the specifics a surprise, if I may.

Quiritis: You want to surprise us?

Ship AI: (OC) Yes. Don’t you like surprises?

Helton: Most of the surprises we’ve had are
not
the kind I normally want.

Ship AI: (OC) Perhaps so. Nonetheless.

Quiritis: Well, we can certainly run faster if it turns out to be unpleasant.

Helton: OK, then. Lay in a course.

DISSOLVE TO

INT - NIGHT - Bridge

L
ights are dim and reddish. Helton, Quiritis, Allonia, Kaushik, Bipasha are at stations. Lag and Kwon stand in the doorways. A graphic of the local system displayed on the screens show the star and a half-dozen planets. Their position is shown approaching the second planet, which, as the diagram zooms in, shows numerous moons. They approach close, a bit outside the most distant moon’s orbit.

Helton: So, let’s see what the big surprise is.

Quiritis: Here we go. Ready to skip. Reentering the universe in three, two, one-

CUT TO

EXT - NIGHT - Space, not far from a moon of Tau Piper II.

The planet lies in the distance, a nice-looking marble covered in a swirl of green and tan land, many small seas, one ocean going nearly pole to pole, and scattered clouds. Space shimmers and glows, and
Tajemnica
fades into view in the middle of the glowing patch to hang motionless in space, with a moon that has regular circular patterns on its surface clearly visible in the distance.

CUT TO

Bridge

Helton: Nice view. Planet looks pretty good.

Quiritis: I thought it was a terraforming failure?

Kaushik: A whole line of ships detected. Gas Transports.

Allonia: Looks like a lot of water. Clouds are a good sign.

On the speaker, a mechanical voice calls.

Tau Piper II Robo-Moon: (OC, on cabin speaker) Challenge germanium Alister cheese tendinitis.

Quiritis: Skipping in three!

Ship AI: (OC, similar voice) Respond Alfred airport Cato gorgon tropical
.

Helton: Wait,
what
?

Tau Piper II Robo-Moon: (OC, on cabin speaker) Challenge Crete Alcibiades Tacitus Gemistus.

Kaushik: Target locks, but no launches!

Ship AI: (OC, similar voice) Respond Themistocles Alexander aspis garden gander

Quiritis: -two-

Helton: Hold a sec! Wait!

Tau Piper II Robo-Moon: (OC) Send cladistic profiler for final.

Ship AI: (OC) Confirmed. As I thought. Thank you, Allonia.

Allonia: I… what?
Me
?

Helton: Details, everyone!

Kaushik: No more target lock! Just normal dual-pole radar. No launches.

Allonia: Nothing but the line of GTSs on sensors!

Bipasha: Nothing more on com, just a couple of carrier signals, and a… landing beacon.

Quiritis: Ready to skip any moment if we have to.

Ship AI: (OC) No need. We passed.

Helton: Passed WHAT?

A
Tajemnica
avatar appears onscreen, a peaceful looking elderly monk. Dressed in dark robes similar to Brother Libra, he sits in a lotus position with a quiet smile on his face. He’s in a simple garden with a small hut and orchards in the background.

Ship AI: (Calm elderly voice) Please set a course for the landing beacon. We have been granted entry.

Helton: Are you
sure
?

Ship AI: Yes. Please proceed promptly.

Helton nods to Quiritis to do so. She looks skeptical, but works the controls, and the moon slowly starts growing larger on the screen.

Allonia: Why did you thank
me
?

Ship AI: Our previous encounter at Emirate with a corp-war moon provided the clue. Allonia’s DNA had a number of sequences that didn’t match any known pattern. The problem of how to only let authorized people near is simply solved. The challenge uses words that start with letters corresponding to one of the unexplained DNA sequences, and the response is words that start with the subsequent DNA sequence. I
speculate a cladistic profiler is one from whom they take a DNA sample to verify the sequence. Quite literally,
you
are the key to the moon base.

Helton: OK, that’s
great! Then what?

Ship AI: I do not know. That is
your job. I will help if I can.

Helton: Gee, thanks. Next time you want to surprise me, try to keep it something more along the lines of a birthday cake.

Ship AI: Noted.

Helton: So what if they want to test ALL of us?

Ship AI: That eventuality might become… interesting.

Helton: Define “interesting.”

Ship AI: I’d rather not.

Entrance

CUT TO

EXT - NIGHT - Space, not too far from a moon of Tau Piper II.

The space around
Tajemnica
glows softly as she gently approaches the moon-base, seeing details more clearly as she nears. The entire surface is covered with thousands of circular weapon emplacements. In the middle of each armored ring is a missile launcher, railgun, laser, or particle weapon. As
Tajemnica
nears on final approach a pair of massive doors, capable of admitting much larger ships, swing inward. Ahead they see a long, well-lit tunnel lined with gun turrets. As
Tajemnica
glides across the threshold into the moon the doors close ponderously in her wake.

FADE TO BLACK

FADE IN

INT - DAY - Robo-moon entry tunnel

Aerial shot following the ship.

The tunnel is over one hundred meters
wide. It is lined with different kinds of turrets.
Tajemnica
moves slowly down the tunnel with massive doors opening before them then closing behind, a series of giant airlocks. They pass five sets, and the space between them is much longer than the ship. They are penetrating deep inside the moon. The last set of doors opens into a large domed room, over a kilometer across.
Tajemnica
rotates and settles down toward the “bottom” of it, settling onto a large X on the floor, one of a half dozen. There are numerous large doors and hatches, both at ground level and higher on the walls. The side ramp lowers slowly. Allonia walks down the ramp to a nearby kiosk and cautiously extends her hand.

CUT TO

Tajemnica
bridge

Everyone watches the view unfold on the screens, breath
s held. Her extend hand is placed on a glowing palm-print scanner. She holds it there. The view of the screen on the kiosk flickers, shows readings scrolling by.

Ship AI: (
Elderly monk avatar) They have a sample. Testing it may take a few minutes. Possibly much longer.

Helton: At least they haven’t shot us yet. Be kind of hard to fight our way out of here.

Robo-Moon: (OC) DNA screen passed. Epoch failsafe mode engaged. Please scan all personnel for future access.

Helton: Can’t be
that
easy… Can it?

Ship AI: (
Elderly monk) Perhaps. I’m talking to the moon AI now. The “epoch failsafe” activated when there had been no contact at all from a controlling authority for more than two centuries, standard time. At that point,
any
provided valid engineered source DNA was acceptable for a restart and redirection, and it wants redundancy. The programmers apparently thought that if it had not been checked on in two hundred years something went wrong, and a re-boot might be in order. Not sure if that is SOP for all moons.

Helton: Well, it sure as
hell is good for us
here
. Let’s go see what we just inherited.

CUT TO

S
eries of scenes within the Robo-Moon

● 
A long, wide, low-ceiling tunnel with grow lights lining the roof, and neat, uniform rows of green grain going into the distance. There is a bulkhead with airtight doors every hundred meters.

● 
Another long tunnel, this one much narrower, lined with heavy metal shelves, each neatly stacked with ammo crates. Harbin is examining an open crate of linked light machine-gun ammo, long, pointy 6.5mm bullets shining a bright copper in the light. Again, there is a bulkhead with air-tight doors at the end.

● 
Long, low tunnel lined with racks holding 3m missile transport tubes.

● 
Long, low tunnel with racks of high-tech armor, clearly in different sizes.

● 
Long, low tunnel with racks of crates labeled “Rifle, 6.5mm, M210” with Kaushik function testing one of them.

● 
Entry to a tunnel. It is completely blocked by a stack of floor to ceiling boxes, wall to wall. Helton, Allonia, Kwon, Sar, and Quinn sample food ration bars from an open box tucked under Helton’s arm. They are alternately nodding or frowning a bit, expressing their general thoughts on the flavor and texture of the food, while Kwon critically eyes the package data.

● 
Long, low tunnel with endless racks of Roman-style
lorica segmentata
, shields, swords, spears, and similar tools of ancient war.

● 
Long, high tunnel lined with four-high bunks, with many sets of wall lockers and footlockers underneath the bunks on the floor.

● 
Large tunnel with open door showing the huge landing cavern with
Tajemnica
in it. Lining the sides are three rows of grav tanks, each row a different model. One row of them look just like the ones they used in the level violation enforcement action. One is much larger, and would barely fit aboard, with multiple heavily armed turrets. One is smaller, more like a one-man light tank, with many smaller weapons sprouting from its turret: lasers, railguns, conventional Gatling guns, grenade launchers, looking like it’s designed for ground fighting against lightly armored targets rather than tanks.