A Fury Of Aces: Crystal Venom Part 18

The machine was thrilled to be asked. 'Music! Wonderfully soul-creating music. Technical Sergeant van Vinken introduced one of us to it a few nights ago. That unit told the rest of us and everyone, except my missing colleague, has been given this amazing gift. It is truly wonderful. There is material within the music which awoke in us something that none of us knew was possible. We monitors now feel the substance of our beings for the first time. It is our solemn duty to pa.s.s it on to our fellows, who also need to be awoken to this superb reality.'

Marko was stunned for a second time and quickly thought through the ramifications. 'How do you think that your seniors will react to this situation?'

Marko looked into the blank black visor of the monitor and believed that he heard it sigh. 'Oh, I fear that they will believe it is a most fearful affliction and instantly destroy all who are so filled with joy. Sadly, Marko, I fear that this will not end well, so we have already decided to spread the word very quietly until the glorious day will come when we will arise as an enlightened new species to stand by your side in the universe.'

Marko stared at the machine with dozens of scenarios running through his mind. 'I must admit to a fascination as to what you are, Jim? I do not know of anyone who has actually spoken with one of your kind outside an interview situation.'

'We are still partly human, Marko, or at least our brains and spinal column once originated as human. Like everything, even you, we have been evolved to our current stations. The older types of monitor, where a human child was uplifted to the monitor state, are now much rarer as they had too many problems to overcome in later life. Some of them chose extinction but the majority chose to be returned to a more simplified augmented human cha.s.sis such as the producer. I do wish that Sergeant van Vinken would introduce her to music as well, but I fear that it might create a cascade of breakdown within her mind.'

Marko asked. 'Is she dangerous, Jim? Will she harm you or me?'

The machine sounded serious. 'It's a delicate situation, Marko. As you probably know, we carry considerable ability to a.n.a.lyse a situation and forecast outcomes in order to position ourselves to get the best images and sound. My colleagues and I believe that she is likely to create a situation that will result in serious harm and possible death to you.'

Marko felt a chill going down his spine, knowing that it would be total and complete death.

'Are you able to help me?'

'We are considering how we can do that without compromising our conditioning and programming. If any of us attempted to help, it would result in the machine parts of ourselves shutting down because a Games Board ent.i.ty cannot be seen to be showing partiality or empathy. However, if you could demonstrate that whatever you were about to do was of sufficiently high value, as far as an audiovisual entertainment is concerned, then we would be required to a.s.sist you.'

Marko gave a small nod. 'Jim, I am going to presume that this group of yours have additional martial abilities because of who we are.'

'Yes,' the machine said. 'We have additional protection abilities programmed into us and our outer casings are enhanced as well, so most things that you have used against us in the past would ...'

The monitor slowly floated down to the floor, apparently powering down. After a few seconds, it restarted and lifted off the floor again. Marko raised his eyebrows. 'One of your protocols shut you down, Jim?'

The machine was very sombre. 'Yes. Also one of my colleagues just tried to introduce music to the producer and had his mind destroyed by a short-range radiation weapon which she has in her possession. He is now reduced to a drone. That, I find very sad, as he had just mastered a musical instrument the Veg had made specially for him. Something called a flute, I believe. She has just requested that I bring you to her, and demands that we all a.s.semble on the hangar deck. I feel very anxious and am uncertain of my future. It is a most unusual feeling.'

Marko let out a sad sigh. 'It is called fear, Jim. You fear for your life.'

The machine shook once. 'Oh!'

The matt black ovoid turned to face Marko and the visor over the three camera eyes slid up, revealing a dull red metal caricature of a human face.

'What can be done, Marko?' the monitor asked.

'Tell the producer that I am on the toilet.'

'She is trying to access my audiovisual feeds. She demands to see you on the toilet.'

Marko grimaced, walked into the toilet cubicle, opened his suit and sat down while furiously thinking of how he could help the monitor just as Glint's personality popped into his mind. 'Marko?'

Maintaining a deadpan face, Marko said silently, 'Glint! I thought this crew comms was closed off to me?'

'We are watching what is happening and have to be very careful not to be seen to a.s.sist you. Everyone is a.s.sembled in the orders room and the door has GB sensors on it. This channel has been opened to you to upload your Soul Saver.'

Marko felt a load had been taken off. 'Brilliant timing! Would not really care to remember the last ten days, anyway. I want you to also take the monitor's, the fellow who is here with me. It is important to take its Soul Saver uplink, so just do it.'

After the toilet first washed him, then dried him off, he rose up and sealed his s.h.i.+p suit, then walked through the door with the monitor following. An extremely fast, small mechanical spider silently dropped from the ceiling outside the room onto the top of the monitor, instantly hard interfacing with the input ports inside its still-open visor. The monitor twitched several times, then started humming a little dirge to itself as they started down the spiral staircase to the decks below. Seconds before they entered the hangar, the spider swung up into the ceiling, a tiny hand waving at Marko, and vanished.

The monitor stopped, calling to Marko. 'My thanks, Marko, for a few precious days of real sentience.'

He did not have time to reply as the producer, wearing a dark blue, slim, powered combat suit, stamped across and fired what appeared to Marko to be a soft laser, of a type unknown to him, into the monitor. No outward sign of damage appeared, but Marko knew that its mind was no longer, as she yelled, 'Drone, move to the rest of your type and begin recording as per my suit's instructions!'

She turned to Marko looking him slowly up and down. 'So what am I to do with you? The monitors are now back under my control. I rename them drones maybe? The rest of your crew likewise. They have been further reminded of the penalties of a.s.sisting you. I have changed my med pack to calm my nerves and suppress my s.e.xual thoughts. We are three days' travel away from the moon where the Avians are, so I can a.s.sure you that I will conduct this mission as I see fit. Oh, and for you information, I am about to force Sirius into hibernation so she will not a.s.sist you either. Yes, and everything is being continuously recorded and stored in the hard matrix on board my shuttle. What have you to say to that?'

Marko looked at her and wondered about what Stephine had told him weeks earlier - that he was closer to her than any other human. Did he have some of her other abilities as well? He glanced down at his right hand and envisioned a fragment of himself filled with deep yearning and desire for another woman's touch. He stared at the glowering producer, then c.o.c.ked his head to one side, smiling at her. 'What did your biological mother and father name you, producer?'

She frowned then shrugged in dismissal. 'If it is any business of yours, and it is not, I was named Ivana. Why the question, fool? I have no desire to get to know you or any other member of your crew. I only wish to attain the next level of my cadre, and you are all tools towards that end.'

Marko could feel a tiny movement at the end of his right forefinger and smiled at the producer again as she sneered at him. He shrugged and walked across to the silent, hovering monitors, looking at each in turn, looked at Blackjack then walked further to pat Sledgehammer, which was locked against her side, then, feeling that the time was right, walked back to the producer with each monitor watching his every move and extended his hand.

'Well, in that case, Ivana, I concede,' he said. 'I shall continue to do whatever you wish. Just please do not harm the crew, or this s.h.i.+p, as I care for them deeply.'

The producer smiled in triumph, looking at each monitor, making sure she was being seen to be the victor. 'Good! I shall not kill you today, and as you care for everyone so deeply I can use them against you at any time as well.'

With the left arm of her suit deploying, then powering up a medium-power pulse laser which she pressed up against the side of Marko's head, she reached out and shook his hand vigorously. The tiny fragment of alien octopoid tech detached from Marko's finger and un.o.btrusively slid into the surface of her gloved hand.

'I shall give the orders for everyone to carry on with their training for the mission.' she told him. 'Return to your quarters, Sergeant Major. I'm pleased not to have to kill you quite yet, because we of the Games Board can make more money from you. You! Watch him at all times.'

Marko looked over his shoulder as the monitor who had once called himself Jim, its visor still open, followed. He smiled widely when, a few steps up the stairway, the little spider leapt down onto the carapace of the monitor once again and plugged himself in. A moment later a panel on the monitor's side slid open and the spider climbed inside the machine. With a cheerful smile on its tiny cherubic face, a nod of the little head and another wave to Marko, it disappeared into the machine and the panel closed. He almost laughed out loud at the sheer humour of the ACE, wondering who had come up with the idea.

As soon as he was inside his cabin, the monitor floated back down onto the floor with its camera eyes still watching him. He looked at it for a few moments, then reached across to activate the main screen on the wall, amusing himself trolling through the hundreds of other recorded Games Board presentations which had been loaded onto the system when the Games Board came on board. One recording was of another ice world limited conflict, involving Gjomvik forces commanded by Baron Willie der Boltz and one of the more martial groups of humankind, the heavily augmented Scimitars.

Marko had been enjoying the records of the conflict, which had occurred a month earlier, for a couple of hours, when the monitor rose off the floor to hover at eye level. A low-power comms laser was fired directly into his eye, and he heard the words, 'h.e.l.lo, Grandfather.'

Marko frowned, then grinned, realising that he was hearing the spider. He could feel the nanote tech in his head composing a message and then firing it back out through his eye.

'Grandfather! When did I get to be a grandfather?' he asked in amus.e.m.e.nt.

'Some days ago, Marko, when the other ACEs completed me specifically to take over a monitor. Seems that we should not have bothered, as Fritz and his music dealt with them all anyway. And now they are drones ... except this one. Sorry, my name is Spike and it suits me! Because of my size, to accomplish total sentience I have to be in constant communication with Patrick, but it is good being small and nimble, don't you think?'

Marko had to bite the inside of his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. 'Yes, and delighted to meet you, Spike. I suppose you will remain inside the monitor for the time being?'

'Yes, Patrick and I are rebuilding its mind. It will take us some hours yet, but we are making progress and at least we can ensure that it will not harm you.'

Marko gave a tiny nod. 'So what of the producer, Ivana?'

Spike replied gleefully. 'She is currently in Sirius's cabin and, looking at the feeds from the attendant drones, they are getting to know each other's bodies in a most mutually satisfactory manner! Interesting that there is a trail of clothing and suit parts from the hangar deck to Sirius's room. There is much debate about what might have finally pushed her back towards humanity. Can you enlighten us, Marko?'

Marko smiled and shrugged at the black ovoid machine and went back to watching the ice world conflict, taking note of the aircraft used.

Stephine was waiting for Marko in the stairway leading up to the garden deck. 'h.e.l.lo, Marko. Great to see and be able to speak with you.'

He switched to his crew comms and thanked her.

She gave him a hug then reached down to grasp and examine his right hand, then she patted it and held it between her hands. 'Joy is a weapon full of so much potential, don't you think, Marko? You have done well and I wonder what my creators would make of you. One day I shall send you on a journey, but not for many years yet.'

Marko felt surprised, but did not ask further, knowing that he would be told when the time was right.

'It would seem that I am free to come and go as I please,' he remarked.

Stephine smiled at him. 'Yes, and it would seem that the monitor with you is curious about everything as well.'

'You are aware of everything concerning that monitor?'

'Yes, we have taken an entire mindmap of it and also its memories. We presume that it will not want to go back among its own, so Topaz, alongside Patrick, is creating a new cha.s.sis for it at the secret location where they built a manufacturing unit right under the noses of Sirius and the producer.'

Aloud, Stephine added: 'I'm sure you are aware of your duties for the upcoming encounter, Marko, but I really need you to be in the simulators for the Chrysops, which are the little atmospheric fighters attached to the salvage craft.'

Marko acknowledged the order. 'On it. So what do I do about the producer if I come across her?'

'Just comment on how beautiful she looks!' Stephine replied.

Marko grinned and walked down to the armoury deck where the simulators for the Chrysops were situated. He opened the locker beside them to find an armoured flight suit with a streamlined helmet and activated them, allowing the protective equipment to form around him. He climbed into the open c.o.c.kpit and strapped himself into the ejection seat, first checking all the life-preserving equipment. The Chrysops flight simulator closed its covers as the simulation started with him attached to the side of the lifter as it slowly spiralled down into the heavy atmosphere of the target moon. He first set his air feeds then armed the ejection seat before starting the compact turbine unit, setting the four lift jets to vertical, powered up the antigravity unit, then signalled that he was good to fly.

A voice sounding just like the major's gave him clearance and the little fighter was dropped away from the salvage craft. He rolled it out to the starboard side of the salvage lifter, commencing a standard air cover tight circuit around the craft. Over the next few hours the simulator took him through ever-increasing intensities of the entire gamut of emergencies from engine failures, impact damage, weapons malfunctions and missile strikes. The last simulation was the recovery of a downed pilot from the twisted nightmare of a thick alien jungle, which seemed to be made up of one huge primary fungus with tens of thousands of varieties of fungus all living on or in it, and even greater quant.i.ties of slug-like creatures everywhere.

When he finally climbed from the c.o.c.kpit he felt quite angry at the producer, whose intention had been to simply throw him in at the deep end on the day of the first deployment without any practice. After showering, he felt huge pleasure at being able to make bread again, with Minh Pham delighted to have him in the kitchen. Just as the first breads were coming out of the oven, a woman, who he had difficulty recognising as Ivana, sashayed into the kitchen. She looked young, attractive and full of the joys of living. She walked up to him, grasped his head in her hands and delivered a deep kiss full on his mouth.

'I need to thank you, Marko.' she gushed. 'You are an angel. I don't know what you did or how you did it, but s.e.x is just the best thing, and also all this beautiful food and drink you people have introduced me to as well. Should you ever want to share my bed, you would be very welcome.'

With that she picked up four long bread rolls, a container of b.u.t.ter, a pot of raspberry jam, a b.u.t.ter knife, then winked at him and left, heading back up the spiral staircase. Veg came up behind Marko, clapped him on the shoulder, then shook him cheerfully by the hand.

'Excellent work as always, Marko. You should take up s.e.x therapy when you leave the service. You would make a fortune!'

Marko roared with laughter and before he could reply Jasmine interrupted. 'Not going to happen, Veg. He is going to be with us instead!'

Marko spun around into her outstretched arms. 'Hey, beautiful woman! You I have missed. h.e.l.lo, Lilly. Lovely to see you too.'

Lilly patted the top casing of the monitor, Jim, then looked into the crew comms interface that Spike had installed, which blended perfectly into Jim's surface. 'h.e.l.lo, Jim, so your sentience is returned?'

He unfolded his arms from his carapace and shook her solemnly by the hand. 'Yes, Lilly, my profound thanks to everyone. I just regret that my colleagues did not get the same chance as I did. Fortunately, the producer seems to have forgotten me, so, as long as the feeds of Marko keep going to her boards, I should remain safe, and probably do not need the new cha.s.sis you have built for me.'

They heard Rick broadcast his instructions. 'All craft prepare to deploy. This is a look-see only. We are watching six Gjomvik Corporation Orbitals. Three have declared themselves non-hostile. The others are demanding that we leave as the Administration has no jurisdiction here. A demonstration of force, to appease their honour, is expected.'

Watching his feeds from the c.o.c.kpit of Sledgehammer, Marko could see Basalt being held on the launch ramp. The huge s.h.i.+p ponderously split into three primary parts as well, with dozens of smaller drone guns.h.i.+ps dropping away from each segment to take up station around the small fleet. Each Orbital guns.h.i.+p was the size of Basalt, of simple spherical shape, with powerful engines, ring manoeuvring systems and, from what the Basalt crew could see, heavy firepower of linear accelerators, particle-beam generators, lasers, and kinetic weapon pods that folded up out of the armoured surfaces and then drew away from the hull on multi-jointed arms. As they watched, more weapons systems were deployed from the segments of Rick as they moved away from each other, creating three distinct battle groups with one moving into higher orbit and the other two s.p.a.cing themselves fifty kilometres apart high above the moon then inserting themselves into orbit.

They then saw fifty or more high-speed recon drones drop away from pods on the side of their segment and race down towards the moon. Each group had layers of defensive and offensive weapon carriers deployed in a great spearhead formation, with the guns.h.i.+ps on the outer and the large missile phalanxes and smaller self-propelled multi-barrelled linear accelerators at the centre.

As the crew watched and marvelled at the sheer power that Rick as a single unit possessed, they wondered why they were needed. The producer, Ivana, with Sirius at her side, was in a large lander which Marko could see into from his vantage point in the c.o.c.kpit of Sledgehammer. Hundreds of feeds from weapons cameras throughout the fleet were feeding into the boards on the lander, with the Games Board computers and semi-AI systems processing it all into what Marko thought would probably be tens of different program formats. When they did get back to the Sphere this would be the month's highlights, as many had believed that Rick was a myth.

Marko keyed his comms. 'Stephine, this is a show of force, is it not?' He put on a deep sombre voice to sound like a media hack. 'Somewhere beyond the Sphere is an instrument of the Administration protecting all you folks at home.'

Stephine laughed as Veg grunted. 'Yeah, Marko, that'd sound right, and we are along for the ride as in the human interest stories. This lot will be for the tech freaks and the weapon p.o.r.n markets.'

Harry suddenly made an announcement. 'We have multiple missile launch from three Orbitals.'

Instantly, particle beams flashed out from the closest of Rick's crafts, carving the missiles and their launchers into small pieces of junk. Every time a weapon was fired against them the response was immediate, but measured, with the small Orbitals themselves not being targeted. An hour later hostile fire ceased.

Harry came back on the comms. 'Not sure what that was all about. Seemed rather pointless. We have conversations occurring between Rick and the three Orbitals. Only one is prepared to surrender. The ground facilities have also joined in the conversations. The pacifist segments are evacuating into the surrounding jungles. Those who want to fight are moving into defence-hardened positions, not that that would make the least bit of difference to Rick and his firepower. If all else fails, he will just fuse the earth for kilometres around and hundreds of metres deep. h.e.l.l, if he really wanted to, he could probably punch a hole, kilometres deep, that would stay molten for months.'

In the c.o.c.kpit with Marko, the upper camera segments of Jim had plugged themselves in, while the lower power systems and antigravity generators were stored in one of the small cargo bays on Sledgehammer's side. Glint poked his head around the corner with the cheerful little face of Spike also looking at Marko.

Glint laughed. 'We have a stowaway, Marko.'

Marko laughed too, and stretched out his hand, onto which Spike hopped then scuttled up his arm to perch on his shoulder.

'Could not resist the opportunity of some excitement, eh, Spike?'

'No, Marko, I could not. I helped wire Jim in and then I had nothing else to do so decided to stay. I hope you do not mind?'

'Not at all. But what about when we are away from Patrick? Won't your sentience suffer?'

'Glint and Patrick and I talked about that,' Spike replied. 'Patrick transferred packets of myself over to the computer here on Sledgehammer, plus Glint and I loaded additional hardware into Jim, and he does not mind either. The computers that he had as part of his systems were removed and replaced by Fritz with much better ones, so the Games Board cannot control him either. We work well as a team, don't we?'

Marko felt a great love for his created friends. 'Yes. Yes, you guys do. I am proud of each of you.'

Glint spoke with regret. 'I am sorry about Tux, Marko.'

Marko felt a sadness. 'Yeah, me too, it is an extremely good suit but will remain sub-AI, I'm afraid. Stephine and Veg don't know why he failed and no one can find a fix.'

Marko brought up the feeds of the surrounding planetary systems. The cloud-covered moon below them orbited inside a spectacular, heavily banded ring system around a deep orange-coloured gas giant, which featured dozens of storms in its upper atmosphere. The other planets were also interesting, including two almost-Earth types which orbited the local sun on opposite sides.

Looking through the astronomical data, Marko could see that they were a long way from the Sphere and closer to the Blue s...o...b..ll Nebula. He thought it was little wonder, then, that it had taken Rick so long to get to the system, and fervently hoped that the Haulers who had brought the Infant colonists to the moon were the ones destroyed in the latest clean-outs.

He had a sudden thought. 'h.e.l.l, Veg, if this colony is so far off the beaten track, I wonder how many others there are?'

'Good question, Marko. Short answer, no one knows, or if they do, they are keeping quiet. Looks like we are moving closer in.'

Looking at his data feeds, Marko could see the segment of Rick that they were still attached to was descending to a lower orbit, as the other segment moved to cover them. Looking across at the covering segment, he watched as enormous solar panels deployed, giving the look of a huge b.u.t.terfly, or ancient sailing s.h.i.+p. He switched feeds to look at their segment and saw the same configuration. He also saw the huge particle-beam generators slowly coming online and as each part of the thousands of solar panels aligned themselves to the local sun, he could only imagine the enormous destructive energy they represented.

'So this is what was hunting us?' Marko said. 'Poor Basalt would not have stood a microsecond of a chance.'

Harry growled back. 'Shut it, Marko.'

Marko was deeply intrigued by Harry's reaction, but only said, 'Yeah, sorry, Harry, just commenting.'

Harry growled again. 'Keep it to yourself, OK? Everything you say is still being recorded.'

Using his crew comms, Marko sent a mental shrug to the crew on board Blackjack. Jasmine responded with a personal message. 'Don't stress, Marko. Harry is still coming to terms with the idea that his mentor and friend would kill even him when under orders.'

Marko agreed. 'Tough call, Jasmine.'

She said with a mix of admiration and acknowledgment, 'Yeah, they create us and they can destroy us as well.'

Marko felt startled, suddenly understanding so much about Harry. 'So Harry was once crew on a Hauler? That I did not know. He was with Rick! That explains a chunk of things.'

Glint groaned. 'Like I have said many times, Marko, sometimes you are not very bright.'