“It wasn’t like that,” Kylan said.
“Enough,” Brit said. “We need to get the container with the AI onboard Sunny Skies. Fugia Wong said there are others? Where did they put them?”
“They’re in the safe room,” Cara said, still scowling at Kylan. “On the other side of the garden.”
Brit nodded. “That’s a good hiding spot.” She motioned for Kylan to get out of the way and activated the airlock. When the doors slid open, her mom stepped quickly into the shuttle and called for Cara to follow her.
Kylan stayed in the corridor as Cara followed. Em sniffed the air from the shuttle then decided to stay behind.
“Help me lift this,” Brit said, positioning herself at one end of a thick plas crate.
Cara took the opposite set of handles. When her mom told her to lift, she struggled with her end of the crate. She thought it was going to be too heavy until she managed to bend her knees and lift. Together, the carried the crate back into the corridor.
“Kylan,” Brit commanded. “Take the other side and help Cara.”
“I don’t want his help,” Cara said.
“Kylan,” Brit said, ignoring her. “Take that handle. Cara, you let go. You aren’t strong enough to carry it on your own.”
Tears stung Cara’s eyes. Why did her mom have to be so gruff? She’d been strong plenty of times. She’d piloted the ship when Dad was outside working on the sensor arrays. She’d helped Dad to the autodoc. She’d helped Petral distract the Mars 1 Guard. Her mom had no idea what she could do.
But Brit was right, Cara’s hands were slipping on the handles. She wanted to dump the crate and cross her arms as it hit the deck, spilling whatever stupid things were inside.
Reluctantly, she let Kylan take one side of the crate and they carried it back down the corridor with Em trotting behind. It took another struggle to get it up the shaft into the safe room, with Brit and Kylan pushing from the bottom and Cara pulling as she guided the crate into the safe room.
When all three of them were in the cramped chamber, Cara noticed her mom’s surprised face when she saw another flat crate leaned against one wall, almost as if she recognized it. Cara wanted to ask her what it was but her dad’s voice over the intercom stopped her.
“Brit,” he said. “Meet me at the hab airlock. We’re in position near the Forward Kindness. We’ll use your shuttle to get over there.”
“It’s not my shuttle,” Brit said under her breath. She nodded at Kylan. “Hear that? We’re leaving.”
Cara felt pained to see the flat response on Petral’s face.
“Where are we going?” Kylan asked. “I just got here.”
“We’re going to steal more of Heartbridge’s toys to use against them,” Brit said. She squinted at Kylan. “Maybe you should let this Petral out. I need a fighter. You were a fighter once, Kylan.”
“I know.”
“Can you fight again?”
Cara climbed into the chute, hands on the ladder, not wanting to look at Kylan anymore.
“Maybe,” he mumbled.
Brit slapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll see,” she said. “Let’s go. Follow Cara back down.”
Cara didn’t wait to help Kylan down the ladder. She made the drop using the soles of her shoes as brakes the way she and Tim had done when playing. She hit the bottom of the ladder and turned around to find Em grinning at her. She scooped him up and went out into the hallway. She didn’t know why but she wanted to go back to the command deck without her mom or Kylan, so she could walk in and see her Dad and Fran. She could imagine Tim was in the day room and just for a second pretend everything was all right.
Em yipped as she accidentally squeezed him too hard.
“I know,” she said quietly. “It’s time to stop pretending.” Cara nuzzled the dog. “I know.”
CHAPTER FIVE
STELLAR DATE: 09.23.2981 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sunny Skies
REGION: Jovian L1 Hildas Asteroids, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
Andy was adjusting the juice dispenser in the kitchen when he heard footfalls come down the passageway and stop in the doorway behind him. Even though it had been years since that pattern had reached his ears, he knew it without having to turn.
“Hello, Brit,” he said, keeping his focus on the dispenser’s nozzle.
There was no answer beyond the footfalls continuing into the galley. He tried the dispenser and filled a glass half-full with Tim’s favorite grape-aid, then turned to see his wife—his something or other—standing beside one of the tables with her arms crossed. She had a look on her face that reminded him of when they would spar back in training. When she planned to teach him a move by beating him senseless.
“There’s something I need to understand,” she said. “Cara said something when she saw Kylan—Petral, I guess her name is.”
Andy pursed his lips. Seeing Petral like that was heartbreaking. Knowing what Kylan was going through wasn’t much better. The boy had no idea what to do with himself.
“I can’t believe anyone would do something like that,” Andy said after a moment. “It’s monstrous.”
“What does that make you?” Brit asked. “Are you just a meat-puppet for Lyssa?”
Andy grimaced. “That’s a really unpleasant way to think of it. And no. Lyssa does not control me.”
“So you do have an AI in there!” Brit’s voice rose in pitch as she took a step closer to Andy, staring into his eyes as though she were trying to see the AI in his skull. “How do I know I’m not talking to her right now?”
<You could be if you wanted to,> Lyssa said to both of their minds.
<Lyssa,> Brit said the name as though it were poison.
“Lyssa is one of those you wanted to save,” Andy said before taking a sip of water. “How’s that for irony? You leave us to go gallivanting across Sol, and I’m the one that ends up rescuing children from Heartbridge.”
Brit’s mouth flattened out into a thin line. “I just saved hundreds.”
Andy wanted to remind her that without his ship—without Lyssa operating Sunny Skies’ weapons, her rescue would have been short-lived.
He was saved extensive internal deliberation by Lyssa.
<We all had a hand in saving those Weapon Born,>
Brit opened her mouth to furnish a retort, but then closed it once more. She ran a hand through her short hair and shook her head. “You have a point, Lyssa. But why? What are you doing in Andy?”
<Andy is taking me—and the other AIs—to Proteus. It is where we are gathering. Or so I’m told.>
“By way of Callisto,” Andy added.
“Right, your little errand for Fugia. She’s a crafty one…”
Andy gave a rueful laugh. “You can say that again. She has her own set of goals in all this—whatever this is.”
<We’re saving a people from slavery,> Lyssa interjected. <My people…I suppose. Though I must admit that I do not understand them that well.>
“How is that possible?” Brit asked. “You’re all AIs.”
<Do you understand all humans?> Lyssa asked. <Do you all share the same motivations and goals?>
Brit was staring at Andy intently and he found himself counting the seconds before she blinked.
“I guess that makes sense,” Brit finally said. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“Lyssa saved Tim and me back at Mars 1,” Andy said. “And she just saved you by running our cannons.”
He held off saying that Lyssa’s actions a half hour ago may have cost them Tim. He knew she thought she had done the best she could. And even AIs could make mistakes. He just wasn’t ready to think about it yet.
Brit nodded. “I guess that’s going to have to be good enough. We need to get onto the shuttle. I don’t like the idea of bringing Sunny Skies too close to that station.”
Andy couldn’t agree more. “I’ll go talk to Fugia and the Senator one more time about bringing Harl. Petral would be even better, but…well….”
Brit nodded. “Yeah. Meet you at the shuttle in ten.”
Andy watched his wife—Brit…she was just Brit now—walk out of the galley, her chitinous armor glinting in the light. She looked at home in it, cold steel, carbon fiber, and menace. It suited her a lot more than mother.
<I think I like her,> Lyssa said after a moment.
Andy shook his head. <I don’t know anymore. I used to, at least. I guess that has to count for something.>
CHAPTER SIX
STELLAR DATE: 09.23.2981 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Shuttle 26-12 docked with Forward Kindness
REGION: Jovian L1 Hildas Asteroids, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
Andy fit his helmet in place and faced the shuttle bay door. Brit and Harl Nines followed, adjusting sections of their suits before giving him a thumbs-up to cycle the opening. The shuttle door slid back, revealing the dim interior of a cargo bay.
Fugia and the Senator had finally acquiesced to Harl joining them after Andy had explained that his assistance would make their mission more likely to succeed, which would see them on their way sooner.
They still weren’t happy about it, though.
<Hello, Forward Kindness,> Andy said over the shared channel.
<Why are you just standing here?> Brit asked.
<Waiting for any defense systems to wake up.> He studied the dark space in front of him, easily large enough to hold three transport shuttles. <Lyssa, do you have anything from the onboard systems?>
<If there’s an AI, it’s completely powered down,> Lyssa said. <You’ll need to activate the central control systems if you want me to check.>
<That’s a great idea,> Brit said. <You know they’ll wait until we’re in a kill zone somewhere inside. Kraft is probably watching our progress from the clinic right now.>
Harl cleared his throat. <That’s a comforting thought. Why didn’t you plan for that?>
<I detect no EM spectrum activity from the Forward Kindness,> Lyssa said.
<Isn’t that encouraging. Either way, this wasn’t a big ‘plan ahead’ sort of mission, Harl,> Andy said. He deactivated his magboots and stepped through into the bay.
Several crates were stacked against a wall to his right, and three others floated free in the middle of the space, their cargo locks apparently having failed at some point. He followed the corners of the bay until he found the closed doors of a secondary airlock on the left side of the far wall.
Andy started at the sight of a squat transport drone slumped in the corner. When the mech remained powered down, he continued walking.
<Come on,> Andy said.
Even in storage configuration, the Forward Kindness had emergency lights that flickered on as they approached new sections of the ship. Andy moved quickly, aware of the fact that if sensors could turn on lights, they could also broadcast his team’s location if anyone was bothering to look. Fran and Cara were both on alert for transmissions from the mothballed ship, and he was counting on speed as their greatest offensive measure. Even if Kraft figured out they were on the ship, it would take him at least twenty minutes to get a response team on board. By then, Andy planned to be back on the shuttle, headed for the station. However, that didn’t account for any onboard weapons systems that might be waiting for intruders.
<You know where you’re going?> Brit asked as he got the secondary airlock open.
<The armory should be off the command section in the forward areas,> Harl supplied.
Andy stepped through the secondary airlock. <If Heartbridge is as repetitive in their ship design as they are with their clinics, that’s where the small arms will be. I think anything larger will be close to the engine sections and the repair access bays.>
<Let’s split up then,> Brit suggested. <You and Harl go down to the engine section and I’ll go to the command deck.>
<I don’t think one person should go alone,> Harl said.
Andy grimaced. <We don’t have time. Every minute we spend searching this dreadnought is another minute we don’t know what’s happening with Tim.>
<Still no message from Kraft,> Brit said. <He’s either too stupid to know what kind of leverage he has or he’s enjoying making us wait.>
<It could be a sign of respect,> Harl said. <He knows you love your son but any good soldier in the Collective would gladly give their life for the greater cause. It’s an honorable death.>
Andy shook his head. <Kraft isn’t from the Collective. He’ll use whatever he can against us.>
<He’s probably waiting until he’s got confirmation of reinforcements from Mars or the Cho,> Brit said. <Then he can weigh Tim’s life along with ours.>
Harl made a disgusted sound. <Hostages are dishonorable and everyone knows that. They have no value to a force that truly desires victory.>
Brit gave Andy a piercing look, and sent a private message. <Why did you want to bring him again?>
<He can pull a trigger,> Andy said.
<So can Cara. We’ll bring her next time.>
<Come on. Harl,> Andy said, <you stay with me. Brit, you can head down to the engineering section. Call if you run across anything. Don’t take it on by yourself.>
The tall man shrugged. Brit waved a glove at them and turned down the opposite corridor, walking stiffly in her mag boots.
Andy checked the ship’s schematics in his HUD one more time and started walking again. Once they left the cargo section of the ship, the walls shifted to the smooth ceramic material Heartbridge also used in their clinics. The place reminded Andy of some human-sized ant farm.
<Brit? You all right?> Andy asked.
<I’m almost in engineering. Their galley is empty.>
<You stopped to look for food?> He knew the joke would fall flat the moment he said it. Cara would have laughed, though.
<I didn’t go far. I want to make sure there isn’t anybody on board.>
<Lyssa would have found them with her scans,> Andy offered.
Andy didn’t know if that meant she didn’t trust Lyssa but didn’t want to get into it again—especially not right now. He was doing his best to focus on the task at hand, not on Lyssa’s earlier actions that may have caused all of this. It had never occurred to him that she might influence a situation, and now he needed to think of her like one of the kids: What problem might arise in any given situation where she was present? How was she in danger? How might she put them in danger?
Just like the kids, it didn’t do him any good to get angry with them. He could be frustrated with a situation but had to remember that they didn’t know any better. It was his job to see three steps ahead.
At least Tim was alive. She had solved that problem, even if there had been other options.
“Your wife doesn’t listen to anyone, does she?” Harl asked through his helmet speaker.
Jarred from his thoughts, Andy said, “She has her own way of doing things.”
“The Collective was founded on ideals of equality and individual expression. Marriage was explicitly excluded as an ancient method of societal control. Its nature enables the exploitative hierarchies still prevalent on Mars and Terra.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you,” Andy said, checking an open doorway into an empty stateroom.
“Some argue that partnerships between parents are the best method to rear children, but it’s always been said that the future belongs to the Collective. Most view natural childbirth as reckless anyway.”
“Why does everything you say sound like you’ve memorized it?” Andy asked, irritated. “There are still plenty of poor people on Terra, and I imagine Mars as well, popping out kids the old-fashioned way. That seems to be humanity’s fundamental skill: making more humans, whatever the situation.”
“The Anderson Collective was founded to elevate human nature.”
Andy glanced back at Harl. “I suppose that’s why they hate AI?”
“AI are not human. They deserve our respect as another equal entity. It is firmly within
the edicts of the Collectives charter to recognize and support other sentience.”
“It sounds like Senator Walton is the only person in the AC who still believes that.”
“There are others,” Harl said.
“But she still had to leave?”
“The situation has become heated. There was an attempt on her life and it was decided she would be safer in exile on the Cho. She can still communicate with her constituents from there.”
“Sure,” Andy said. They had passed through an open area that looked like a training room of some kind. Several lockers contained only hand weapons.
<I’m not finding anything up here, Brit. Any luck yet?>
<This thing is sitting on some seriously beefy engines. What do you think about stealing it for the attack?>
<You got the control tokens? We still don’t know if it’s got an AI onboard that might try to kill us.>
<Isn’t that what your AI is for?>
Andy didn’t like the reference to Lyssa as a servant but the AI answered before he could correct Brit.
<I could have told you what kind of engines are on board,> Lyssa said.
<There you are,> Brit said. <What have you been doing?>
<Monitoring status on Sunny Skies, spectrum traffic from the clinic as well as what data I can check on the other stored ships in the vicinity.>
<Well, check in every now and then and let us know where you are.>
<Andy can tell where I am.> Lyssa’s tone was smug, and Andy smiled.
<Lyssa can answer when she wants to,> he said.
<You’re nothing but secrets now, Andy,> Brit said. Her voice changed abruptly. <Hey! Look at that. I just found a service suit with an exoskeleton and a heavy plasma torch. We could cut into the station with it.>
<Let’s hope there’s something better,> Andy said, holding back from delivering one of the dozen accusations that came to mind regarding Brit’s secrecy in the past.
Beyond the training room were a series of crew quarters, followed by another galley and then what looked like a planning section with several empty holodisplays.
“If we reach the command deck and don’t find anything, this might be a bust,” he said.