Star Force 11: Exile Page 3

  I nodded. “Anything else I need to know?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Very well. Carry on.” I wandered into the factory room. It chugged along making incomprehensible noises and churning out parts for our vital machinery. If there was one thing humanity had to thank the Nanos for, it was bequeathing us these universal thing-makers. Without them we’d have been royally screwed.

  Sitting down I reviewed the settings and scripts trying to figure out what the factory was doing right now. To me it looked like plumbing.

  “Ah, young Riggs.” I felt a touch on my shoulder and turned to look into one of Professor Hoon’s stalked eyes. He’d learned not to poke me with his claws by now. Unfortunately I still had trouble getting him to address me as “Captain.” I guess when you’re a couple hundred years old and hold a dozen academic degrees everyone else seems young.

  “Yes, Professor?”

  “I see you’re looking over the upgrade to my quarters.”

  “Is that what this is?” I cocked my head left, then right, trying to make sense of the diagrams flowing across the console. “My staff gave you more room?”

  “Still inadequate, but if I must suffer for the cause of knowledge I am pleased to do so.”

  “You could have stayed on the ice moon with the whole ocean to raise your children personally.”

  “Oh, by the Great Singularity, you humans do have the most radical ideas. Just what one would expect from those who do not allow natural selection to ruthlessly and properly take its course. No wonder humans haven’t evolved as far as we.” Hoon’s eyestalks waved in the pattern that was the Crustacean equivalent of a headshake as his translator released a rasping sound. I wasn’t sure if he was laughing or sighing. Maybe it was a little of both.

  “If natural selection had taken its course your entire race would be extinct,”

  I pointed out rudely. “Also, I’d be careful with that kind of talk around our women. They take children very seriously.”

  “Ah. You and your female are implementing procreation protocols?”

  I smirked. “Let’s just say we’re practicing very hard and probing the possibilities deeply.” I rose from the seat as Adrienne approached, wondering to myself what the point was of talking to a lobster who couldn’t possibly understand my innuendoes.

  “What was that I heard?” Adrienne asked as she slid into the seat shoving me playfully out of the way with her butt.

  “Hoon was just talking about his quarters upgrade. I’ll leave you two to discuss it,” I said casually, extricating myself from the conversation. Adrienne gave me a reproachful glance as I sidled away.

  Normally today would be the day Marvin briefed the staff and me on his progress—or his lack thereof—with the technology of the Square. Since he wasn’t here I’d canceled the meeting. I had little else to do, so I decided to review the vid recording of the last one he’d presented. I’d slept through half of it anyway.

  It was close enough to lunch that beer was in order. I made do with just one factory brew. I brought it back to my—well, our—stateroom, Valiant’s captain’s quarters, which were bigger and better appointed than any other cabin aboard.

  “Valiant, play the record of Marvin’s last weekly briefing. Put it on the main screen.” Sitting back in an armchair, I sipped my beer and watched, unreasonably hoping I would see something to give me a clue as to what had happened.

  * * *

  Out of mercy I’d kept the briefing group deliberately small and insisted Marvin present his findings in person aboard Valiant, which was one way to ensure he didn’t get any bigger. As it was, he’d pared himself down to a mere two tons and was no more unwieldy than a fire-team in battlesuits or a walking ground car.

  Marvin blathered on for the first few minutes talking about highly technical stuff for as long as I would let him. No matter how many times I gave him instructions, he just couldn’t stick to a simple overview so I had to break in. “Marvin, please. Is there anything truly new that you can tell us about this place? Something we can use from all that junk you’ve found?”

  “If we radically increased the size of Valiant, we could manufacture gravity weaponry based on the designs used on Phobos,” he said, referring to the dreadnought we’d captured from the weird, gas-giant-dwelling Blues. “With the things I have learned here, I am sure I could dramatically improve and miniaturize the equipment.”

  I rubbed my forehead. “Marvin, we’ve already talked about this. It would take over a year to make those systems, then more time to find an asteroid and install them because Valiant doesn’t have the mass to anchor gravity weapons. I don’t want to try to fly a dreadnought home. It’s too slow and too big a target. It would also be horribly vulnerable to Litho templates unless we could locate one of solid metal—and we haven’t done so yet, right?”

  “No,” Marvin admitted.

  “I think you’re stalling. You don’t want us to leave. You’d rather spend decades studying this place.”

  Marvin didn’t say anything as he stood there in relative stillness, which usually meant he was waiting for me to make up my mind about something and was afraid of saying anything.

  “Well, I’m sorry you won’t get your wish. We’ll be leaving in a few weeks. Space trials start in ten or twelve days and that means you’re going to have to give up your studies for the time being to do some work for me. You’ve put off investigating what’s on the other side of the ring for too long.”

  “But the Raptors forbid us to send probes through and will not give us information from their own,” Marvin protested.

  We’d had an uneasy truce with the Raptor government ever since half their home world’s population had been wiped out. Their military leaders understood that we’d helped them save billions, but the civilian governments and populace seemed to have bought the comforting lie that we had somehow screwed things up. That allowed them to believe that it wasn’t their fault and that we were to blame for their misfortunes. Every race had its conspiracy theorists it seemed. My great hope that we would make allies of these people had never quite panned out. That was too bad. I thought they had a lot of good qualities.

  “Not having permission has never stopped you before, Marvin. Anyway, I’m going to force the issue with them,” I said. “I’ll talk to Senior Director Shirr and make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

  “What would that be?” Marvin asked curiously.

  “Information for information. There are still some technologies the Raptor military would very much like to have. The stronger they are, the better they can hold back the Litho threat.”

  “And if he refuses?”

  I smiled. “I have a few other cards up my sleeve if it comes to that. Since I have you here, I need to know whether you intend to come with us or not.”

  The robot’s camera stalks and tentacles fidgeted aimlessly. “I am not certain yet.”

  “Well, let me help you decide. I’d like you to come along. You’re amazingly useful when you’re not being a total pain in the ass. If you don’t, though, you can dismount your micro-factory here at your base before you get Greyhound shipshape again.”

  “How can Greyhound not be shipshape if it is shaped like a ship?”

  “Well…it’s not really shaped like a ship anymore, is it? Besides, Marvin, I’ve told you many times, ships are ‘she,’ and ‘shipshape’ is a nautical idiom meaning ‘in order.’ Look it up.”

  “Idioms degrade my processing speed.”

  “They improve mine,” I retorted.

  Suddenly, Marvin seemed to realize what I had just said. “Dismount the factory? Get Greyhound shipshape?” Suddenly all his cameras were looking at me from every possible angle.

  I nodded heavily with fake sadness. “Unfortunately, yes. She’s a Star Force vessel. Naturally we’re taking her with us. That’s all right; you can build a ship from scratch with your factory, though it might take you a few years. Oh, and you’ll have to resign your warrant officer rank. No more Capt
ain Marvin. I’ll make sure your accrued pay is put into a trust for when you return.” Hopefully that would convince him to come along. Marvin was a wild card that sometimes won a losing hand.

  “I…I will have to process this information.”

  “Take your time, but either way, I’ll need you to help us get ready. When we go, we’ll go fast and we won’t be looking back.” I glanced around and then slapped the table with my palm. “Briefing adjourned. See you next week, Marvin.”

  -3-

  After watching the record of Marvin’s briefing I was still no closer to answers regarding him and the Square, but it did remind me of something I’d neglected over the last week of searching. Tossing the empty beer bottle into the recycler, I stopped by the wardroom for a quick lunch and then headed for the bridge.

  In rebuilding Valiant I’d had a small ready room added off the bridge, a place for the duty officer to have some privacy for conversation or communication and still be immediately available. After waving to Bradley I slipped in there, shut the door and sat down in front of the wall screen. “Valiant, please put me through to Senior Director Shirr.”

  Shirr was the liaison the Raptor military had assigned to me. He was a fairly decent guy. He was the only one I’d talked to since I’d defeated their Admiral Kleed in personal combat when he boarded Valiant and tried to steal our factory. No matter where we aimed our transmissions, we either got an automated reply or we got Shirr.

  This time I got another computer that told me my request would be passed on and Shirr would get back to me, and then the channel closed. I was persona non grata with the Raptor government, that was for sure. It seemed the old saying “no good deed goes unpunished” still applied.

  When I stepped back onto the bridge, Bradley signaled me. “Sir, did you redirect our comm equipment toward the Raptor homeworld?”

  I frowned, unaccustomed to having my actions scrutinized.

  “Yes,” I said stiffly. “I did.”

  “The redirection of the repeaters also shifted our long-range sensors. We picked up a new contact pretty far out. It’s a ship inbound from Orn Three.”

  That was the outermost of two main Raptor colonies. Orn Prime was their home planet.

  “What kind of ship?”

  “Looks like a military transport, sir. Lightly armed. No threat to us if we keep our eyes open.”

  “How long?”

  “Twenty hours.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. Leave word to notify me if they communicate or anything changes.” I thought about beaming a message to them directly, but I was tired of always making the first move with these stiff-necked aliens.

  On the way out of the bridge, I bumped into Sergeant Moranian. She blushed beneath her short red hair as she braced the wall. I couldn’t help but notice how her overly tight marine uniform hugged her ample curves. That had to be a deliberate choice as the smart cloth was infinitely adjustable. I realized I’d been bumping into her—or maybe she to me—at least once a day since the monster fight. Hero-worship for sure. I couldn’t ignore it anymore, but I didn’t want to crush her spirit either. Besides, officers shouldn’t get involved with enlisted personnel, especially on the same ship…and particularly not a captain who was already solidly hooked up with a gorgeous, jealous woman.

  Down, boy. Yeah, that’s what I told myself, quite firmly.

  “Sergeant,” I said, nodding as I pushed by, not making eye contact.

  “Sir—”

  “Yes, Sergeant?” I said, not turning around.

  A moment passed. “Nothing.”

  She hurried away, and I heaved a sigh of relief. That was a complication I didn’t need.

  I found Kwon in the gym with four hundred pounds on the curl bar and pulled him aside. “Kwon, do me a favor and schedule Sergeant Moranian for duty when I’m off, and vice versa. Put her in charge of something and tell her it’s a reward, but keep her out of my hair.”

  Kwon chortled. “She’s hot for you, boss!”

  Great. It wasn’t just me who had noticed. “How about if I tell your girlfriend Steiner that Moranian is hot for you?”

  Kwon held up his palms in horrified mock surrender. “Okay, I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks.”

  Just then the intercom beeped. “Captain to the bridge!”

  “What now?” I left Kwon to his workout and hurried back to find Bradley and Hansen both staring at the holotank.

  “Marvin’s back,” Hansen said without preamble. “And he’s brought a buddy.”

  “What, another robot? An alien?”

  “Looks like a human to me.” Hansen dialed up the magnification on the holotank to show a shaky long-range shot of Marvin walking through the Square. A suited figure trudged next to him.

  “Something funny about that suit…” I fiddled with the holotank settings but couldn’t get a better view. “Valiant, hail Marvin.”

  “Already tried, sir,” Bradley said. “He didn’t answer.”

  “Might be the usual interference from the Square. We’ll just have to wait. He looks to be leading the…person toward us.” I chewed the situation over for a moment. “Send out a large rover with a couple marines and tell Kwon to deploy a squad on the surface. Power up the point defense lasers too.”

  “For one guy?” Hansen scoffed.

  “One guy that appeared out of nowhere from a mysterious artifact built by the Ancients. Who the hell knows what Marvin has been up to? Maybe he’s been reprogrammed. Too many unknowns—we don’t even know what we don’t know.” I stared Hansen down for a moment before he nodded sharply and relayed my orders to the watch.

  In a few moments Kwon had deployed a squad and spread out in the shadow of the grounded battlecarrier. When our rover, a vacuum-capable cargo truck, drove toward Marvin and his companion, the marines bounded along with it as escort. We watched as the robot and the man in the suit climbed into the back and the whole mob returned to Valiant.

  I suited up and met them in the cargo bay at the top of the ramp. When the big doors closed and we had air, I opened my helmet and waved for the other to do the same. The man—I didn’t see any female curves—wore an old-style suit made completely of smart metal except for a glass faceplate. It looked like something from the vids of the Nano fleet period before there really was a Star Force except in name.

  There was no insignia on him, but once he opened up I could see he was human. Stout, bearded and black-haired, he looked older, in his early fifties I would guess, with untrimmed eyebrows like wooly caterpillars. His black eyes were beady, narrow and my first impression was of an unpleasant demeanor backed up by a more unpleasant smell. He must have been in that suit for a while.

  I was sure I’d seen his face somewhere, too. “Who are you and what the hell are you doing out here?” I asked him in a neutral tone.

  “I am General Sokolov,” he answered with a scowl and a Slavic accent. “Who the hell are you?”

  “My name’s Riggs,” I said coldly. “Captain Riggs.” I disliked this man immediately, although I wasn’t certain why.

  “Kyle Riggs?” His tone turned to one of wonder. “That’s impossible. You can’t be more than twenty-five years old.”

  “I’m Cody Riggs, Kyle Riggs’ son.”

  “That’s impossible!” he repeated. Sokolov seemed to be a man of absolutes even when the facts stared him in the face. “Colonel Riggs’ family was killed the day the Nanos showed up…or so he said.” His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  “Look, I’m not in the mood to be called a liar. Not on my own ship. Now you need to answer a few questions and maybe we can figure things out. You say you’re a general. General of what?”

  “Star Force—at least that was what it used to be called before I was kidnapped.”

  I clamped my jaw shut to keep it from dropping. Now I realized where I’d seen this man’s picture. He’d been mentioned in vids of the early days of the Macro Wars. Sokolov had been one of Admiral Crow’s cronies. The last Nano ship, my fa
ther’s original Alamo, had snatched him and carried him off into God-knows-where along with the rest of the departing Nano fleet. He’d never been heard from again.

  I realized I had a dilemma that could quickly become a crisis. Should I recognize Sokolov’s rank and authority? Star Force had changed so much since then it wasn’t really the same organization. Besides, if I remembered correctly, Crow had slapped the rank on him arbitrarily, probably just for being a suck-up. Then again, my father’s rank had been pretty arbitrary too…

  I decided to put off the question and give myself some time to think. “I’ll call you ‘General’ as a courtesy for now, but that doesn’t put you in command. Not without confirmation from Star Force. It’s been more than twenty-five years since you disappeared. Now you just show up out of the blue?”

  “Twenty-five years?” he muttered.

  That seemed to stun him, and his face sagged. Suddenly I felt a bit of sympathy.

  “I thought it was only a year or two,” he said. Then he straightened, composing himself. “I understand, Captain Riggs. I won’t make trouble. I would appreciate a hot shower and some real food, please. I’ve been living without amenities for a long time—however long it’s been.”

  “A hot shower and a bunk we can give you. Real food…eh. It’s nutritious anyway.” I forced a smile. At least the man seemed reasonable. “We’ll get you cleaned up, but the first thing we’ll give you is a full physical evaluation. Kwon, can you and a couple of marines show General Sokolov to the medical bay and have a corpsman look him over?”

  When Kwon had led the man away I turned to Marvin. “You. I have a bunch of questions for you. Don’t move from that spot.”

  Turning away from Marvin, who had not responded, I activated my headset and had Valiant patch me through to Dr. Kalu. While she wasn’t a medical doctor per se, one of her academic doctorates was in biology. When I reached her, I briefed her on the situation and told her to take blood and tissues samples from Sokolov and run a thorough analysis. She seemed annoyed with the assignment until I mentioned the man had been a general officer. That seemed to brighten her day. She’d always liked officers and there weren’t enough of them aboard Valiant for her tastes.