The Forgotten

Boy that's a cliff hanger. Hurry and write more Chris

 

Thank you! Interesting tie in with Galt’s Gulch, Vaster, and Jenifer...

 

Your writing talent is rare to be able,to write so many different types of fiction.
You have caught my eye,thats for sure.You have me reading types of fiiction that I normally wouldnt be bothered with.
Thats no mean feet.Thank you for sharing your tales with us.
Matt

 

Thanks! More will be coming tomorrow

Chris

 

I'm Hooked Chris...great job!

 

Chapter Ten<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

The System Navy didn’t stand on pomp and ceremony. Back in the early days of the System, days that were legendary even to the System’s enforcers, such trifles had been deemed inefficient and abandoned. The later generations of enforcers, those who knew more about the universe than those kept in ignorance, had profited from their position in many ways, but they hadn’t developed a taste for meaningless formalities. Wild teleported onboard Hunter without any formal reception.

Hunter was an impressive ship, even though she had served the System for nearly twenty years and had been extensively refitted twice. Like most cruisers, she was nearly four hundred metres long, packed with the latest in weapons, sensors and defence technology. The System deemed her a general purpose starship, one capable of responding to any problem that might confront the System. Very few alien races could produce anything to match her.

But she isn’t a match for the Brilliant, Wild thought, as one of the ship’s crew escorted him to the Admiral’s private briefing compartment. Under other circumstances, he might have enjoyed watching the young officer’s attractively-shaped buttocks in her tight uniform, but there was no time to indulge himself. The System’s masters would not reward him for failing them – and somehow he had to ensure that Jennifer remained alive and free, without making his compliancy obvious. He might have been granted full power and authority, but he knew that he would be watched through unseen – and perhaps unknowing – eyes. The young lady, barely starting her career, might be implanted with sensors that reported everything she saw to higher authority. He would have to be very careful – and very paranoid.

“The Admiral is waiting for you,” the young officer said. She seemed to be terrified of him, although she was doing a good job of trying to hide it. An Enforcer had vast powers and he could have ended her career with a word, if she failed to please him in any way. “He is looking forward to meeting you.”

Wild rather doubted it, but there was no point in commenting. Instead, he studied the bare bulkheads and noted with approval that the ship’s crew seemed to be brisk and competent. He’d taken the chance to study the ship’s records during his long flight to the System Naval Base at Wolf 359 and he’d been impressed. On the other hand, he knew from personal experience just how easy it was to insert false information into the databanks and he’d braced himself for disappointment. So far, it seemed that his worst fears had not been realised.

They passed through a set of sealed hatches and into the ship’s inner compartment. According to the naval databanks he’d accessed, Hunter could continue to fly and fight even if her outer hull was breeched; the officers and command crew would be safe within the inner compartment. Wild suspected that their safety would last until the ship’s power plants blew or the enemy completed her destruction, but the illusion of safety was part of the System. It was rarely spoken aloud, yet everyone knew the truth. The System ensured that loyal citizens were taken care of, for their entire lives, as long as they were loyal and useful. There was no room for those who chose to live independent lives. Wild had exiled countless thousands of restless citizens – and rebels from the Undercity – to penal worlds, where they could live or die without the System. It provided a salutary lesson for anyone contemplating rebellion.

A final hatch hissed open and he was motioned into the Admiral’s private compartment. He wasn't impressed, right from the start. The Admiral had clearly used the power of his position to decorate his cabin, according to a personal sense of taste. Wild studied a holographic painting of a pair of naked women and scowled to himself. He’d never allowed himself to be tempted by the trappings of power – the System gave, but it could also take away – and it suggested that the Admiral was given to indulging himself. And that suggested moral weakness.

Admiral Pasha rose to his feet as Wild entered the compartment. He was a tall man, with dark skin and a build that suggested extensive gene-tailoring in his past. Like most of the System’s servants, he would have been enhanced with augmentation technology, although he shouldn’t have anything that matched the augments inserted into Wild – or Jennifer. Indeed, once Jennifer’s children, created from mating her eggs with sperm from suitable candidates, had been raised to maturity, they’d probably replace Admiral Pasha’s entire genetic line. The files on the Admiral showed him to be a competent and loyal servant of the System, but lacking in imaginative flare. If he’d been marginally more imaginative, Wild would have considered recruiting him long ago, before the **** had really hit the fan.

“Welcome aboard, Enforcer,” Admiral Pasha said. The slight – very slight – quaver in his voice would have been missed by an ordinary person, but to Wild it was obvious. The Admiral might as well have looked uncomfortable. He knew that Wild could end his career with a word. “I was informed that you would be briefing me on our mission.”

Wild nodded, allowing his attention to be diverted slightly by the second holographic image, hovering over the Admiral’s desk. The 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Fleet, four hundred cruisers and a multitude of support ships, hung in position around Wolf 359. It had been deployed to the far reaches of the galaxy, fighting rebels and aliens who didn’t understand that their only hope for survival lay in adapting themselves to the System, but now it had been called back for relief and refurbishment. He was pleased to note that the ships looked ready to depart. He’d been warned that it might be some time before the starships could be assembled and unleashed upon the System’s most dangerous foe.

“Two days ago, a cruiser – the Brilliant – was hijacked by a group of TechRats,” Wild said, without preamble. Social graces would only delay the start of their mission. “The rebels somehow managed to create an implant that allowed them to subvert and cripple the starship’s AI. They used this to take over the ship, kill or imprison the crew and then take the ship into hyperspace.”

It wasn’t the truth, of course. The System’s masters wouldn't want the truth to spread any further than strictly necessary. If the Admiral learned what was locked away in Jennifer’s mind, he might find himself tempted to turn against the System. He’d been selected for a slight shortage of imagination, which tended to keep him following orders and not asking questions, yet he wasn’t an idiot. And even an idiot would realise that he’d been offered a chance to seize ultimate power.

Besides, the lie sounded plausible enough, if incomplete. The TechRats had been attempting to subvert the System’s technology ever since the first Scientist had gone rogue and fled down into the Undercity. Most of their attempts failed, of course, but the System was still determined to wipe them out before they stumbled on something really dangerous. It provided a suitable excuse for the raid that had returned Jennifer to custody and then to have them all transported off-world before the System’s masters realised what was happening.

“Our mission is to recapture the ship,” he added. That too wasn't strictly accurate. The System’s masters wanted Jennifer recaptured or dead – and if she died, they would want ironclad proof of her death. If the worst came to worst, he would have a chance to unlock her memories and strike against the System himself. Even a sociopath like himself could be tempted by the prospects of ultimate power. “We have complete authority to requisition whatever we need, provided only that we succeed.”

The Admiral looked down at his fingers, and then up at Wild. “You do realise that we will be searching for a needle in a haystack?” He asked, finally. “If the ship is controlled by someone who wants to hide, they could already be outside the System’s borders, lost in unexplored space.”

“I believe that they will seek to use the cruiser to strike back at us,” Wild said, firmly. He was sure of it. Even if Jennifer’s worker persona was still in control, the rebels with her would want to wage war on the System. And the Brilliant had the firepower to be a major nuisance before it was hunted down and destroyed. The System controlled nearly two-thirds of the galaxy. It was impossible to be strong everywhere. “We must stop them before we have a general rebellion on our hands.”

“I understand,” the Admiral said. Wild could almost read his thoughts and taste the despair lurking in the man’s mind. He’d been given an impossible mission – and one with an Enforcer watching over his shoulder to relieve him if – when – he failed. “If they intend to strike at us, where do you think they will strike first?”

Wild had no time or patience for political games. “Admiral,” he said, tartly, “perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. We have absolute power to issue orders to catch the rogue cruiser. If necessary, we can summon reinforcements from all over the System. We even have permission to pull encirclement forces away from the rebel worlds and redeploy them to catch this ship. I have orders coming from the very highest levels, Admiral; deploy your forces as you see fit.”

He almost smiled at the Admiral’s expression, even though it reminded him of a quiet nagging doubt. How did he – how did anyone – know that the Thirteen were truly the very highest level? The System was intensely compartmentalised. Wild hadn’t known about the Supervisors until he’d graduated from the training centre…and he hadn’t known about the Thirteen until he’d become one of their foremost Enforcers. If there was another level, higher than the Thirteen…

It was easy to see how the System had remained in power for thousands of years. Anyone who wanted to strike against the System would have to identify the correct places to hit, and then move upwards towards the ultimate leadership…while the System mobilised and struck back against the plotters. The rebels had believed that they could fight the System in a general war, but they’d been disastrously wrong. And Jennifer had discovered something so dangerous that her mind had been wiped and she’d been dumped in the worker pool. If they hadn’t needed her alive so they could mine her body for tissue samples so they could clone her – if her children didn’t work out – she would be dead by now.

“I see, sir,” the Admiral said. He stood up and keyed one of his consoles. “You’ll see that we have bases and observation posts scattered around most of the important systems and industrial nodes. A rebel attack against any of them would be broken easily, perhaps even without inflicting any damage in return. They won’t go to those worlds unless they want to die.”

He smiled at the concept. “We will run patrols up near the worlds and bases that are not so well defended,” he said. “If we move the bulk of 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Fleet up to here” – he tapped a location near the Forbidden Sector – “we should be able to react quickly to any sightings. I’ll divide the fleet into squadrons and deploy them separately, in places linked to the stellar communications network. That should speed up our reaction time by an order of magnitude.”

Wild nodded, slowly. “And what if they run for one of the remaining rebel worlds?”

“Those systems are already heavily blockaded,” Admiral Pasha said. “Should they try to break the blockade, we’d have a good chance of recovering the cruiser or destroying her. The remaining rebel fleets are no match for our ships. We will complete the task of obliterating any world that attempts to shelter the rogue ship.”

“We have authority to scour any world that dares to shelter them,” Wild agreed. “And what if you’re wrong and the rebels simply vanish?”

The Admiral turned to face him. “Enforcer Wild, you must understand that even the largest starship in existence is tiny when compared to a single star system, let alone the entire galaxy. If the rebels are sufficiently careful, they can remain undetected permanently – or they have the power to head outside the galaxy completely, perhaps even reach another galaxy. We know that some rebel forces were planning to head to the Clouds before we shattered their alliance – hell, some of them may have left already and made it there.

“We cannot cover every possible target, nor can we guarantee success. We could not be sure of success even if we had every starship in the galaxy assigned to the fleet. All we can do is start deploying our forces and hope.”

Wild knew that he was telling the truth. In fact, if it was someone else in command of the Brilliant, he might well expect them to take the ship outside the System and flee. With the starship’s resources and databanks, including a complete copy of the System’s technological database, they wouldn't have any difficulty in setting up a hidden planet and building shipyards of their own. Indeed, the only reason the rebellion had gone on so long was that the rebels had succeeded in building a hidden support network that had taken years to track down and destroy.

“Then I suggest that we begin deploying our forces at once,” Wild ordered. He stood up. “I will be in my cabin, meditating. Should you require my assistance, please don’t hesitate to call.”

The Admiral’s expression was a study as he called for an ensign to escort Wild to his compartment. Wild was amused to discover that his previous escort had been replaced by someone who looked as if she’d barely graduated from the academy. Her bright smile made him wonder if he was growing old. The System had enhanced him to the point where he had a natural lifespan of nearly three hundred years, but Enforcers rarely lasted that long. They tended to become careless and get killed, or they killed themselves. It was not a particularly stress-free job.

He kept his expression under control as the alarmingly young ensign escorted him to his compartment and insisted on talking him through the various systems in the bare compartment. Wild dismissed her as soon as he could, wondering absently how she would survive the next year of her naval career, and then lay down on the bunk. Closing his eyes, he activated a section of his augments few knew existed and scanned the compartment for surveillance devices. It didn’t surprise him to discover that there were no less than five in the compartment, including an optical pickup in the fresher. He chuckled as he hung a towel over it, wondering if the ship’s security department was run by a pervert. It wasn't as if there was a shortage of pornography on the ship’s computers. The video files helped keep the masses distracted from considering the injustices in their lives.

On the other hand, the System was very good at identifying people with the right talents and inclinations and pointing them towards careers that allowed them to flourish. The right-thinking security officer would be a voyeur, with the inclination to violate a person’s privacy without them ever knowing that they were under surveillance. It was impossible to know when one was under surveillance or not, which meant that even the rebellious found it impossible to build a conspiracy and then mutiny against their commanding officers. Only a handful of mutinies had succeeded onboard System starships and all of them had been led by the security officers.

Closing his eyes again, Wild accessed his implants and started to open a set of files that didn’t – officially – exist. He’d informed his masters that they’d been destroyed, years ago, yet he’d kept copies. Merely being caught possessing the files would lead to rapid execution. He was still immersed in the files when the intercom buzzed loudly.

“This is Wild,” he said, annoyed. He’d been using his implants to scan the files quickly and he always felt a slight headache when someone jarred him out of the trance. “What’s going on?”

“We had a stroke of luck, sir,” Admiral Pasha said. He sounded delighted and perplexed, suggesting that he hadn’t expected to be proved right so quickly. “We just picked up a report from the Cyrus. They picked up the rebel starship, heading right towards Ashfall.”

Wild nodded, unsurprised. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Jennifer was going there, which suggested that she’d recovered some of her memories. The information on Ashfall had led her to her downfall, last time, but this time everything would be different. And yet, she wouldn't stay there for long. She'd have to know that the System Navy monitored the approaches to Ashfall. Even if she didn’t remember that little detail, or what had happened the last time she’d set foot on the alien world, the AI she’d stolen would know.

“Assemble the fleet,” he ordered. Now that he’d had a moment to think, it dawned on him that the stroke of luck could be disastrous. How could he allow the Brilliant to escape when the Admiral and his command crew would be watching over his shoulder? “I want to move as soon as they enter the hyperspace distortion.”

“Understood,” Pasha said. His tone altered slightly, indicating his reluctance. “Will you be joining me in the CIC?”

“Yes,” Wild said. It would at least allow him to see what was going on. It wouldn't take more than a few hours to reach Ashfall from Wolf 359, at least if hyperspace conditions allowed for rapid transit. If they had to alter course to avoid energy storms, they might end up taking several days to reach the alien world. He could only hope that they’d encounter the mother of all hyperspace storms. “I’m on my way.”

Wild pulled himself to his feet and headed for the hatch. It was time to move.

 

Nice...thanks for this one!

 

Chris, one comment about the story itself is you wrote the phrase"end her/his career with a word" two times about two different people really close together. Not a big deal just constructive criticism...in the 6th and 9th paragraphs

 

Chapter Eleven<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

“You’re sure that that was a System starship?”

“It is impossible to be certain in hyperspace,” Ghost reminded her. “The contact was vague and imprecise. However, I am confident that it was indeed a starship, lying low and watching for ships heading towards Ashfall.”

Captain Vaster shrugged. He’d come uninvited onto her bridge and, for some reason, Jennifer felt irritated by his mere presence. There was no logical reason to be annoyed by him, yet she felt irritated – and she couldn't say why. He lounged in one of the chairs, watching the sensor displays Ghost had thrown up in front of him, the very picture of languid unconcern.

“The System knows where we are,” he said, dryly. “They might not be able to get at us, but they certainly want to know who goes in and out.” He grinned. “They may not have seen us in the storms.”

Jennifer privately doubted it. As they approached Ashfall – or the region in hyperspace that corresponded with Ashfall’s location – the hyperspace storms had grown worse. They’d had to alter course twice to avoid storms that would have torn Brilliant apart if she’d flown right into them. Ghost couldn't account for it, but Jennifer had a sneaking suspicion that the Slugs – whatever they were – had some form of control over Hyperspace. Entering and leaving their system was very difficult.

Sensors simply didn't work very well in hyperspace. Active sensors returned conflicting readings, while passive sensors couldn't pick up much against the constant waves of disruption from the hyperspace storms. And yet a single ship, lying doggo and expending only the minimum power required to remain in hyperspace, would probably be able to see more than a moving starship. Jennifer knew that they had to assume the worst. They’d been seen and the System would be sending ships to catch them before they could escape. Common sense told her that it might be time to head away from Ashfall, before the System’s forces could arrive, but the locked compartment of her mind kept pushing her forward. There would be answers on the planet ahead.

“We'll keep a close watch for pursuit,” she said. The System’s scout would have to return to normal space to report their presence, which would give them time to hide themselves in the energy storms. “Take us in towards the funnel.”

Whatever the cause, hyperspace near Ashfall was badly distorted. There were entire regions that were almost completely impassable, permanently. It suggested to her that the Slugs might well have developed some form of hyperdrive – despite the System’s propaganda, she knew that some races had developed hyperdrives before the System reduced them to little more than slaves – and discovered that leaving their system was almost impossible. They might have abandoned the technology before they developed systems that would allow them to avoid the worst of the energy storms. Once human explorers had charted the energy storms, they’d been able to reach the planet. And now the Brilliant was approaching one of the paths that led to safe harbour.

“Keep watching for their scouts,” Captain Vaster put in. “The planet’s council will have a ship or two watching the approaches. They may not be too pleased to see us.”

Jennifer scowled at his tone. “I thought you said that they were allies,” she said, waspishly. She should have had him watch from the observation blister, she told herself. “Won’t they be pleased to see you?”

“They won’t be pleased to see a System cruiser,” Captain Vaster pointed out, sardonically. Jennifer scowled at her own mistake. “I think you’d better be careful not to make any hostile moves before we establish communications. The Slugs might decide to take a hand.”

Jan looked up from his station. “And what kind of weapons do they have?”

“No one knows,” Captain Vaster admitted. “But if the System isn't inclined to scour their planet clear of life, they must have something pretty impressive in reserve.”

Or they’re content to watch and see who comes and goes from a rebel world, Jennifer thought to herself. Through her link with Ghost, she could see towering walls of energy flaring through hyperspace. The AI draw a link between hyperspace’s weird topography and how armies moved across planetary surfaces, although few planets had geography that was as randomly mutable as hyperspace. Jennifer felt the merge grow stronger as energy flared around her ship, watching for weaknesses. A single fluctuation in the drive field could doom the entire ship.

Hyperspace felt weird to her mind, as if something about it was utterly beyond anything the human mind could experience. Reality just seemed to slip and slide away; every time she focused on a fixed location, her mind just refused to accept its presence. Only an AL could navigate in hyperspace for long periods without becoming hopelessly disorientated. Jennifer forced herself to breathe as another flicker of energy flared against the ship’s hull, taunting the puny humans who were trusting themselves to the dangerous environment. After everything they’d accomplished, it would be the height of irony to die in hyperspace. And yet entering hyperspace felt almost like coming home.

“Contact,” Ghost said, as the waves of energy grew closer. Jennifer didn’t like it; they were flying down a funnel, with a very predictable course. Anyone who wanted to set an ambush could do so with ease. “One starship of uncertain design, holding position ahead of us. They’ve probably seen us by now.”

“Good,” Captain Vaster said. Jennifer pulled most of her mind out of the merge and focused on him. “That will be the guardian ship, watching for System warships. I suggest that you allow me access to the hyperdrive control processors. I can use precise modulations to signal to them before they start screaming for help.”

Jennifer hesitated. Part of her was adamantly opposed to allowing Captain Vaster any kind of control. If only she could identify the source of her unease! And yet, he was right; they were flying a System warship and the rebels up ahead were likely to panic before they could identify themselves.

“Do it,” she grated, finally.

Ghost passed control to the helm console – currently useless, at least until they could recruit or train a suitable pilot – and Captain Vaster sat down. “It’s very hard to transmit anything in hyperspace,” he explained, as he keyed a series of commands into the console. “On the other hand, they will have detected our hyperdrive by now. If we modulate the drive field, just for a handful of seconds, they’ll know that we are friendly.”

“I’ve got the code,” Ghost said, right into her mind. “It’s a very basic transmission, just a name and a request for clearance to approach. I don’t see why the System couldn't duplicate it.”

“The code is personalised,” Captain Vaster said, when Jennifer asked. “The wrong answer will sound an immediate alert.” There was a long pause. “And if they know I was captured, they may suspect that the System managed to get the code out of my mind.”

Jennifer frowned. “And is that possible?”

“Not unless I gave it to them willingly,” Captain Vaster said. “The implants they gave me should prevent me from being compelled to talk. Of course, after a year or so on Rupert’s World, I imagine that pretty much anyone would consider making a deal with the System.”

“I’m picking up a response,” Ghost said. “They’re granting us permission to approach and warning us to stay clear of the mines.”

“A very good idea,” Captain Vaster said. If he was annoyed at having the code broken so easily, he didn’t show it. “Ramming a mine would destroy this ship.”

Jennifer extended her mind back into the AI merge as the ship headed deeper into the funnel. Space was littered with mines, each one holding position with the aid of a small hyperdrive and awaiting a target without the proper ID codes. It was normally very difficult to mine space in sufficient numbers to deter the enemy from simply blasting their way through them, but the weird geography of hyperspace ensured that the enemy had to come from a specific direction. They’d run right into the minefield before they realised it was there.

It was impossible to tell what warheads had been loaded onto the mines, but it hardly mattered. So close to an energy storm, the slightest disruption to the drive fields and the entire ship would be scattered across several light years. Jennifer watched cautiously as they flew past the first wall of mines and then the second, hoping that they’d all picked up the message. Minefields, the locked part of her mind whispered, were sometimes not very good at separating friends from foes. By the time they were past the final layer of mines, she felt as if she had aged several years.

Hyperspace smoothed out in front of them. The star extended its presence into hyperspace – its gravitational shadow creating an area where no starship could go, save at risk of destruction – allowing them to chart their location and head towards the planet. Smaller energy storms flared ahead of the Brilliant, but compared to the raging storms behind them it was almost tranquil and Ghost had no difficulty navigating them and locating a proper emergence point. Jennifer allowed herself a sigh of relief as the hyperdrive disengaged and they slid back into normal space. Ahead of them, the planet glowed blue-green against the darkness of space.

“One of the few free worlds in the galaxy,” Captain Vaster said, quietly. He sounded odd to Jennifer’s ears; it took her a moment to realise that he was on the verge of crying. “I never thought I would see it again.”

“There are seventy-one spacecraft in orbit around the planet,” Ghost said. “Several of them are hailing us, demanding to know who we are before we approach the force shield.”

Jennifer sucked in her breath. Ashfall was protected, all right. The entire planet was surrounded by a force field far more powerful than the one protecting her ship. Ghost ran a comparison for her and demonstrated that the System would need at least a hundred cruisers to break through the field, exposing them to whatever defences protected the planet. Anyone who could generate a force field of such power had to have remarkable offensive weapons as well.

“We don't know,” Captain Vaster admitted, answering her unspoken question. “The Slugs have refused to comment on weapons or on supplying the rebels. All they do is extend their protection to anyone on the planet’s surface.”

“Curious,” Jennifer said. Something was nagging her, deep within the back of her mind. “Why don’t they rule the galaxy instead of the System?”

“They won’t leave their planet, even though they now understand the true nature of hyperspace,” Captain Vaster said. “You’ll see why when you meet them.”

He tapped the console in front of them. “They’ll be pleased to see me again, and you,” he added. “Once we get into orbit, we can teleport down to Freedom Island. It’s the one place on the planet where they permit settlers.”

“Found it,” Ghost said. A medium-sized island blinked up on the display. “There are over forty thousand human life signs on that island; none outside the island. The Slugs don’t seem to register clearly when I scan the other continents.”

“They wouldn't,” Captain Vaster said. “There’s a theory going around – or there was, last time I was here – that the Slugs aren’t really life as we know it.” He gave Jennifer one of his droll smiles. “Most aliens are humanoid; evolution, faced with a multitude of similar problems, comes up with similar solutions. We don't know how the Slugs evolved, but they’re very far from humanoid. You’ll see when you meet them.”

Jennifer listened as the starship passed through a gap in the force field and settled into a parking orbit over the settled island. The first colony ship had found a path through hyperspace during the System’s expansion away from the Core Worlds. They’d been desperate – or crazy – enough to risk an uncharted and unstable region of hyperspace, but when they’d broken through they’d discovered an inhabitable world – and the Slugs. The Slugs had contacted the colony ship and, for whatever reasons of their own, offered to allow the humans to settle on a small island. They seemed to get nothing from the arrangement, something that had puzzled the human settlers as they got to know their neighbours a little better. The Slugs didn't encourage idle chatter; indeed, they left the humans alone.

They did have rules, though. The human settlers weren’t permitted to leave their island, nor were they permitted to establish orbital stations or colonies on the other planets in their system. Humans were not allowed to wage war on each other; the human settlers had been warned that they would be held accountable for any unnatural deaths – for whatever reason – on the island. Jennifer suspected that that, more than anything else, explained why the System had left the world alone. Ashfall simply didn't have the capability to pose a threat to the System. And if the Slugs were powerful enough to generate their force field, they might have really terrifying offensive weapons locked away, waiting for anyone stupid enough to pick a fight with them.

“The Freedom Council has invited us down for a meeting,” Ghost said. Jennifer smiled as she saw the message download into her implants. “They want to meet with our leaders before they allow us to disembark the crew for shore leave.”

“I’ll go down,” Jennifer said. “Jan, Ali and Captain Vaster will accompany me.”

“You should take an escort,” Ghost objected. “Alvin’s team have mastered their powered combat suits...”

“No weapons,” Captain Vaster said, sharply. He looked up at Jennifer, his eyes shadowed. “Understand this; the colony on Freedom Island exists because the Slugs allow it to exist. If they make the slightest hint that they’re unhappy with us, the Council won’t hesitate to force us off the planet before the Slugs evict the entire colony. There is a permanent truce on the surface.”

“I can't remove my implanted weapons,” Jennifer pointed out.

“Just don’t activate them,” Captain Vaster warned. “Believe me; the last thing you want to do is irritate the Slugs.”

***​

The teleporter room shimmered out of existence and reformed as a grassy knoll, just above the human settlement. Jennifer caught her breath as she saw the green fields, the stone human buildings and the deep blue sea in the distance. She’d never been outside the megacities – at least as far as she remembered – and yet the sight struck her right between the eyes. It wasn’t just familiar; it was right. The smell of grass and plants almost brought tears to her eyes. She thought about the billions of workers, living out their lives in the concrete and steel megacities, and shuddered. How could the System take this from them?

“Welcome to Freedom Island,” a voice said. She looked away from the sea and saw an older man with chestnut skin, wearing nothing apart from a wrap around his waist. His hairless body suggested that his genetic line had been enhanced sometime in the past, yet there was something about him that felt natural. “I trust that you have a pleasant trip?”

“Councillor Dowd,” Captain Vaster said. He held out his hand. The Councillor gravely shook it before turning to look at Jennifer. “Captain, this is Councillor Dowd, one of the descendents of the early settlers. You can trust him as much as you trust me.”

“You hate me,” Councillor Dowd said, with a wink. It took Jennifer a moment to understand his reaction. It was a joke – and the Councillor had grown up in a place where every word wasn’t carefully monitored by the omnipresent System. She felt an flash of envy, even though the human settlers were dependent on a mysterious alien race. If she’d been brought up in freedom, what would she have been like? What would she have become? “Captain Jennifer – welcome to our home.”

“Thank you,” Jennifer said. She pushed her thoughts aside as they shook hands. “You have a lovely island.”

“We’re very proud of it,” Councillor Dowd said. He shook hands with Jan and Ali, and then turned to lead them down a path towards a large building, towering over the human city. “If you will come with me...”

“He just stung you,” Ghost commented, through their private link. “You’re currently carrying at least four surveillance devices, each one broadcasting your location and doings to the Council. I suspect that this lot are not as trusting as they appear.”

Jennifer kept her face expressionless, concentrating on keeping her words in her mind. “Did he sting the others?”

“Unknown,” Ghost said. “I do not have full-spectrum coverage of them myself. It is very probable, though. This paradise may have a snake hidden away under the bushes.”

Jennifer kept her thoughts to herself as they passed a set of buildings that looked as if they had been grown out of the ground. The planet’s settlers were quite recognisable; unlike the visitors from off-world, they were nearly or completely naked, as if nudity didn't bother them at all. She watched a girl running by, concealing her amusement at how both Jan and Vaster looked at her bare breasts, just before they entered the big house. Dowd explained, as they passed through the doors, that it served as the government centre for the human settlement.

“You will have to meet the Council before you do anything else,” he continued, as they entered a large room. It was empty, but dominated by a large painting set above the fire. “Please wait here...”

Jennifer didn't hear him. The woman in the painting had long dark hair, with a face so pale that it was almost pure white, yet she was familiar. It took her a few seconds to realise why she was familiar. The woman in the painting, staring towards the room as if she could dominate it with her mere presence, wore Jennifer’s face.

“Impossible,” Ghost murmured in her ear. “It’s you!”

 

Another great twist .. WAhoo.

 

YES! I am hanging on every chapter...

 

torture of tortures, awaiting the next installment

 

Here you are...

Chapter Twelve<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

It took everything she had to stay on her feet as the world blurred around her.

The woman in the painting couldn't be her, she told herself. There were differences; the woman had dark hair and darker eyes – and an expression that suggested she intended to wage war against the entire universe until she got her way. She couldn’t be Jennifer…and yet she knew it was, beyond doubt. Her mind spun around in circles. Who was she?

Jan caught her arm. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” Jennifer said. It was a risk, but she had to know. “Who is she?”

“We don’t know,” Councillor Dowd admitted. There was something in his tone that bothered her. “The System never revealed her name. We call her the Dark Lady, the Admiral who led the merciless campaign against the rebel worlds. The painting up there is the only one we have, done by one of the few survivors. It reminds us of where we came from.”

Jennifer shivered. His voice had dripped hatred. And yet…he hadn’t recognised her. Perhaps he didn’t expect the Dark Lady to be hiding under a different hairstyle and colour, or perhaps he was just keeping his mouth shut until he could get her alone. Jan gave the painting a closer look, frowned and then looked at Jennifer. She guessed that Jan, at least, had drawn the connection between the Dark Lady and Jennifer.

“I have no details within my databanks,” Ghost said, through her implants. The AI’s calm and measured tones helped Jennifer to calm herself. There was no reason to panic. Ghost was holding a teleportation fix on her and could yank her out at the slightest sign of trouble. “If the Dark Lady was indeed a System Admiral, her details have been removed from the database. You may well have been charged with an offence against the System.”

Jennifer pushed the thought out of her mind as they were led into a smaller office. Four people stood there, waiting for them. They wore more formal suits than the people outside, although one of the women had undone her shirt to show off her breasts. Jennifer felt a touch of envy at the woman’s calm disposition. The worker Jennifer would never have shown herself off so calmly.

“Captain Jennifer, please allow me to introduce the councillors,” Councillor Dowd said. “We’ve all been elected by the human colonists to speak for them to the Slugs. This is Councillor Arunika, Councillor Aisha, Councillor Circe and Councillor Fitz. We’re all very keen to hear your story.”

Jennifer allowed Captain Vaster to tell his part of the story first. It was clear that the councillors respected him, even if they didn’t like him very much. None of them seemed particularly skilled in concealing their emotions, although Jennifer warned herself that they might just be very practiced in deceiving outside observers. When they heard the news of the brief battle at Rupert’s World – which Captain Vaster turned into a great victory – the councillors looked oddly nervous, as if it wasn't good news. It struck her that they might nor be as confident in the Slugs and their protection as they seemed.

Once Captain Vaster had finished, Jennifer told her own story, very briefly. She didn’t mention Ghost, or Wild, suspecting that the councillors might recognise the Enforcer and start wondering about Jennifer herself. The tale seemed to puzzle them and they asked a number of questions, including several that forced Jennifer to dissemble. Her mind kept floating back to the painting, and the Dark Lady. She would have to order one of her crew to ask questions. Perhaps the other settlers would be more forthcoming.

“They’re using implants to confer,” Ghost reported, when she’d finished talking. “Surprisingly advanced ones, too; the encryption is impossible to break quickly, even for me. It may take several hours before I crack it using brute force techniques.”

Jennifer blinked in surprise. One thing she had done during the voyage from Rupert’s World to Ashfall had been to study technology and military tactics, hoping that something would jar loose another trapped memory. She’d discovered, fairly quickly, that the System enjoyed a significant tech advantage over the Rogue Worlds, although quite a few Scientists and Researchers – humans trained and bred for scientific research – had deserted to the underground and attempted to uplift rebel technology. And yet it lingered behind the System’s general tech base. Where had they developed communications implants that were beyond Ghost’s ability to crack quickly? The scans of Ashfall hadn’t revealed any tech base; indeed, the entire planet seemed to be remarkably primitive.

“But that can’t be right,” Jennifer subvocalised. “The humans may not have a tech base here, but what about the Slugs?”

“They’re a mystery,” Ghost admitted. “My current position doesn’t allow for optimal observation, but I have been unable to identify any technological base on the surface of the planet. The only detectable power sources are a pair of fusion reactors that apparently provide the human settlement with power. I cannot even locate the source of the protective force field. Even the System would be unable to conceal something that powerful.”

Jennifer frowned. “Would it be worth switching to active sensors?”

“If the Slugs are so determined to hide, using active sensors to scan the planet might provoke them,” the AI warned. “If their technology is an order of magnitude more advanced than the System’s technology, they may be able to express their displeasure in manners we would not survive. I believe that we should not annoy them unless we have no other choice.”

“Point,” Jennifer agreed. The councillors were still exchanging silent messages, their expressions almost blank. “And what do we do if the System chases us here?”

“We run,” Ghost said. “It is possible that they’re hiding all of their defences in hyperspace, which is at least theoretically possible. It is also possible that the force field is all they have and that the System could take the planet if they were prepared to spend time and energy breaking through the force field. I do not need to add that using enough force to break through the force field would scour the planet below.”

Jennifer pulled her mind back to the conference room as the councillors ended their private discussion. “We have considered your case,” Councillor Dowd said. He seemed to be the official spokesman for the group. “We are prepared to grant you and your crews visiting rights here. We are not prepared to support you directly if you intend to continue waging your war against the System.”

Captain Vaster leaned forward, angrily. “Councillor, with all due respect, the System is unlikely to leave you alone forever,” he said. “Once they have eliminated the other rebel worlds, they will turn on you. And that will be the end of your magnificent world.”

The Councillor didn’t seem abashed. “We understand your position,” he said. “However, protecting the settlement is our first priority. We will do nothing to imperil our position here, which means that we have to uphold the rules the Slugs laid down for us. One of those is that we are not allowed to act directly against the System. They have chosen to turn a blind eye to your attempts to convince some of our younger men to join your crusade and fight the System, but we are not convinced that they will always be so accommodating.”

He shrugged. “There are people here, part of the settlement, who have vast sums on their heads,” he added. “Do you really wish to have them forced to leave this planet, where the System will grab them and kill them all?”

Jennifer frowned. “Will you allow us to recruit from the settlers?”

“If you can convince people to leave with you, that’s their problem,” Councillor Dowd said. “We will not allow you to use the settlement as a support base for your ships.”

“We thank you,” Captain Vaster said, formally. “I believe that the crew would appreciate a chance at shore leave.”

“There is one other detail,” Councillor Dowd said. He sounded like a man who had just been badly shocked. “The Slugs wish to speak with Captain Jennifer.”

Jennifer fought to conceal her shock. “Me?”

“You,” Councillor Dowd said. “Inform your crew that they may teleport down and enjoy some shore leave, as long as they behave themselves. I’ll take you to meet the Slugs.”

The air was even warmer when she stepped outside the building, after bidding Captain Vaster and Jan farewell. Ali would go back to the ship and help Ghost arrange a shore leave rota, but the other two intended to see who was at the settlement and attempt to recruit additional crew. At least two of the starships in orbit were rebel ships, Captain Vaster had commented to her, and he should be able to make contact with their crews. Jennifer herself had another mission. There was no logical reason why the Slugs would want to meet with her – unless they knew she was, or that she had been, the Dark Lady – yet something about it just felt right.

“Come on,” Councillor Dowd said. “I'm afraid it’s a long walk.”

He was right. Even with her augmentations working, the walk up the hill taxed her to the limit. Sweat poured down her back and she started to understand why the settlers wore so little, although her worker modesty prevented her from undressing down to her underwear. Besides, the beaming sun threatened to burn her skin. The System had engineered greater resistance to disease into the standard human genotype – a legacy, Ghost said, of the Genetic Wars – but they’d done nothing to protect her against the sun. If she’d remained a worker, she reminded herself, she would never even have seen the sun. She’d barely been aware that stars existed. Perhaps, she told herself, that was the System’s greatest weapon. Selective ignorance kept the lower classes from questioning their place in the universe.

“You have a beautiful world,” she gasped. Nearly at the top of the hill, she could turn and look down upon the settlement, and then out to sea. She could see dozens of small boats bobbling around in the water, one chasing a creature that looked like a weird combination of squid, octopus and whale. Back at Centre, the only time she’d seen any of those creatures was at the zoo. Even personal pets were discouraged. Here…the entire world seemed to swarm with life. She broke into a smile as a stream of butterflies floated past her, their wings beating frantically as the wind blew them through the air. “I could get to like it.”

“Really?” Dowd said. “Most of the visitors we get from Centre have real problems adapting to the open air. They spend their entire lives in the megacities, in the caves of steel and iron, where their every move is controlled by the system…and then they come into freedom and become terrified of the very air they breathe. You seem to be adapting quickly.”

Jennifer kept her thoughts to herself. Her memories told her that she’d never been on any world apart from Centre, but somehow she knew that she’d walked on many worlds, enjoying the open air. She took one last look at the settlement and then followed Dowd up the rest of the path. Everything changed as they crested the hill and stared down towards the sea. The vegetation looked thinner, stranger…and alien.

“Look,” Councillor Dowd said. “You can see the Slug.”

Just for a moment, Jennifer’s mind refused to grasp what she was seeing. She’d scanned some of the files on alien life forms, but most of them were humanoid, even if they weren’t human. The Slug was so different that it took her several moments to recognise that it was even there, instead of a strange part of the landscape. Indeed, if it hadn’t been for the trail of cropped vegetation, she might never have seen it at all.

The slug was huge, easily three meters tall and four meters long. It did look like a slug – one of the many creatures humanity had spread across the skies – but it was an eerie green colour that blended in neatly with the vegetation. It’s crest – she assumed that that was the front – was covered in fronds, each one waving in front of it, allowing the creature to manipulate its environment in a way not unlike human hands. Two giant eyestalks topped the crest, swivelling around to watch the surrounding area. Unlike a human, the two eyestalks – a moment later, a third eyestalk rose out of a darker patch on the creature’s skin – seemed to operate independently. It would be very hard to sneak up on a Slug.

“There are only a few million of them, we think,” Councillor Dowd said, as they started to walk down towards the creature. “There’s only five of them on this island. We sometimes try to ask questions about their world and their society, but they never answer them. I think, from what I have observed over the years, that they actually lay eggs and leave them for their mates to fertilise, a process that can take years. We’re not even sure of how to tell the difference between males and females, or even if there are males and females. They might combine both male and female aspects in one creature.”

Jennifer wrinkled her nose. She could smell something in the air, hanging around the Slug, a stench of ammonia and something else, something darker. If it bothered Dowd, he ignored it as he walked up to the Slug and kicked its green flesh. Jennifer winced and prepared to run, expecting the creature to roll over and squash Dowd beneath its massive bulk, but it merely turned one eyestalk towards him and studied him, thoughtfully. Up close, the eye was thoroughly weird. Jennifer felt her mind swim…

…The Slug looks down at her, as if she is nothing more than an annoying insect. Its expression irritates her, for she is not a woman who cares to be ignored, or dismissed. She speaks words of caution, warning of what might be coming in the future. And finally the Slug agrees. It grants her one boon and then warns her never to return, unless it is time to call in the boon and…

…She sees faces all around her, faces that seem almost impossible to make out. She tries to see, but the harder she looks, the more the faces swim out of view. The blinding light grows ever brighter…just for a second she feels something – someone - intruding into her mind and…

Jennifer felt someone shaking her. “Are you all right?”

She closed her eyes, realising that she’d fallen onto the ground. “I’m all right,” she said, untruthfully. Her head was still swimming. The flashback made no sense, unless…she looked up at the Slug, patiently waiting for her to recover. Merely seeing the creature, and smelling it, had brought on another flashback.

The Slug lowered it’s eyestalk until its eye – a ball larger than Jennifer’s entire head – was peering into hers. It struck her that the Slug could read the retina patterns inside her eye, although she couldn’t account for how she knew. On the other hand, even the System would have difficulty duplicating a retinal pattern reliably enough to fool a Slug. She saw the collection of manipulating tentacles at the creature’s front begin to shift, revealing a mouth that made her want to flee. The Slug wouldn’t bite or chew its food. It would simply pull its victim into its mouth and hold it until it dissolved.

“WE HAVE WAITED FOR YOU,” the Slug said. Jennifer covered her ears instinctively. It spoke loudly enough to deafen her. Each word sounded like a gunshot. However the Slugs communicated amongst themselves, it was clearly hard for them to speak to humans. “YOU DO NOT REMEMBER US – INTERROGATIVE.”

It took Jennifer a moment to understand. “I do not remember you,” she admitted. Puzzled, she stared up into the massive eyeball. Were the Slugs telepathic? She’d never heard of a telepathic race, but it was theoretically possible. The System could use implants to read thoughts from a person’s mind. Why couldn’t an alien race develop natural telepathy? “Why did I come here?”

“WE ARE NOT INVOLVED WITH YOUR QUEST,” the Slug stated.

Jennifer frowned, before she realised that the Slug had actually answered her question. The Dark Lady had anticipated having her mind wiped at some point and had chosen to leave a message for her future self with the Slugs. It made a certain kind of sense. The System taught its servants to regard aliens as lesser than humans, justifying its own tyranny with claims that it was necessary to protect humanity from the alien horde. They wouldn't think to look for a message among the Slugs.

And the Slug had mentioned a quest. “What was I looking for?”

The massive mound of alien flesh quivered. “EVERYTHING,” the Slug said. “YOU SOUGHT EVERYTHING.”

Jennifer rubbed her forehead. The answer made no sense.

Perhaps the Slug understood. It spoke again. “YOU LEFT US A KEY,” it thundered. “YOU ASKED US TO KEEP IT FOR YOU. YOU WILL TAKE IT – INTERROGATIVE.”

“Yes,” she said, flatly.

The Slug seemed to move, its tentacles quivering to life. A moment later, something appeared in its grasp. It seemed to defy her eyesight. No matter how hard she looked at it, it was hard to get an idea of what it actually was. The Slug held it up and passed it to her. As she touched it, she felt a tingle, yet it still seemed impossible to understand. It wasn’t the product of human technology.

“IT IS A KEY,” the Slug said.

It turned and started to inch its way through the alien vegetation. Jennifer watched it go, barely aware of Councillor Dowd’s astonished gaze, and then called Ghost. Once they were back on the ship, they could start studying the device. If it was a key, she told herself, there would be a keyhole somewhere. They would just have to find it.

 

Yeah...I wouldn't want to mess with the Slugs! So was the slug speaking telepathically? That was not really clear.

 

No. It isn't built to speak like we do, so it produces loud words and stutters.

Chris

 

and the plot thickens......lol

 

Chapter Thirteen<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

“So what the hell is it?”

Virgil swallowed hard. Life on the starship might have been infinitively preferable to life on Rupert’s World, but he hated the drills and the training and the fear that someone might brand him a coward, someone who couldn't be trusted to uphold his side of any plans. He’d been forced to coax the sickbay medical processors to crank out some drugs that would help him remain calm. Melody’s soft voice and adoring eyes helped, even though he was scared of trying to make love to her. He didn't think he could bear it if she decided to leave him after he’d fallen in love.

The device lay in front of him. It seemed shrouded, as if there was something about it that the human mind refused to grasp. None of the sensors he’d had the fabricators rig up for him gave consistent results. One insisted that the device was actually made of antimatter and the ship was about to be blown to atoms; another insisted that the device was thousands of miles across and refused to accept that it was inside a ship that was only a mere six hundred meters long. The third device insisted that the mysterious key didn't exist at all and the table was empty. Virgil prodded the device with one finger and scowled. Even touching the key made him feel uneasy. It just wasn’t designed for human hands.

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing,” he said. He was frightened of Jennifer. Rumour had it that she’d killed ten Peacekeepers with her bare hands. Virgil, who hadn't offered any resistance when the Peacekeepers arrived to arrest him, found that impressive and terrifying. And he was stuck on a starship with a woman who was super-strong and probably insane! “It isn't a product of system technology.”

He made a show of scratching his head, cursing the device under his breath. Nothing about it made sense, which was downright peculiar. Ever since he’d managed to obtain a data-access implant from Ghost, he’d been scanning the files on alien tech as quickly as he could, in hopes of finding something useful. Most alien tech was understandable – aliens were bound by the same laws of science that bound humanity – even if it was weird, but the key was just strange.

“There is another possibility,” Jan said, slowly. “It could have come from hyperspace.”

Virgil swallowed at the mere possibility. There was no intelligent life in hyperspace; in fact, there was no life at all, just constant energy storms. He’d found whispered legends – banned by the System, of course – of strange starships being sighted in hyperspace, great black bat-shaped ships, all alone in the night. The System dismissed the legends, which suggested to Virgil that there was at least some truth in it – unless, of course, the ships were secret research prototypes launched by the System itself.

“I doubt it,” Jennifer said. She didn't sound pleased. “Why hyperspace?”

“This device – this key – should be understandable,” Jan said. “It isn't even remotely understandable; we don’t know what it’s made of, we don’t know what it does and we certainly don’t know how it works. Our sensors cannot even begin to grasp its nature. I suspect that that means the device exists in multiple dimensions at once, flickering through different planes of existence. It could be the key to accessing dimensions above hyperspace, dimensions that could be used to shorten interstellar travel times or even allow passage to other galaxies.”

Jennifer snorted. “If...”

She broke off, clearly consulting with Ghost. “The Slugs felt that it was important,” she said. “Could they have built it?”

It was Captain Vaster who answered. “We know nothing about their technology,” he said, slowly. “They might have been able to produce it, but then why would they give it to you?”

Jennifer shook her head. “We’ll take it with us when we go,” she said, picking up the device and holding it gingerly. “The rest of you can take shore leave, if you like. I’ll have a clear plan when we speak next.”

She walked out of the compartment, followed by Jan and Captain Vaster. Virgil waited until they were gone, and then swallowed hard. It had occurred to him that he could desert on Ashfall and find a safer place to live on the planet’s surface, yet he had the uneasy feeling that Jennifer and her comrades would track him down to bring him back to her ship. She clearly felt that he had yet to work off his debt to her.

“It doesn't make sense,” Virgil said, plaintively. “Nothing about it makes sense.”

“So you break a problem down into smaller chunks until you can solve it,” Melody said. She stood up and pulled him towards the hatch. “We’ll go down to the surface, have a restful few hours, and then you might have a better idea.”

Virgil allowed her to half-drag him out into the corridor – and stopped. “Perhaps it is weird because it doesn’t belong in our space,” he said, slowly. “What would something that existed – naturally – in hyperspace look like in normal space?”

The thought was tantalizing. Ever since humanity had figured out how to access hyperspace and find paths through the colossal energy storms that raged through hyperspace, no one had ever found anything material in the alternate dimension. Anything from normal space in hyperspace without a drive field simply fell back to where it belonged, often scattered over several light years. And yet...if a human fabricator could produce material objects from energy, why couldn't something like it do the same in hyperspace? Why couldn't it tap into hyperspace’s native energy and use it to produce material?

And if it did, he asked himself, would it create a starship that existed naturally in hyperspace?

He kept the thought to himself as they reached the teleporter chamber and asked the AI to beam them down to the planet. Knowledge was power, after all, and he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his idea, if it was even remotely practical. If he offered it to the System, it would guarantee him a long and wealthy life filled with every luxury he could imagine. Or the few remaining rebels could use it to strike back at the System...

“Come on,” Melody said, as the teleporter lit up. Virgil would have preferred to take a shuttle, but somehow he didn't want to appear a coward in front of her. “Let’s find somewhere nice to sit and rest. And then we can go swimming.”

***​

Jennifer’s implants had provided a live feed from her senses to Ghost. The AI had recorded everything that had happened to her ever since she bonded with Ghost and sparked the AI’s jump into intelligence. At her request, the AI displayed a picture of the Dark Lady – the same painted image she’d seen down on the planet – in front of her. The more she stared at it, the more she wondered why none of the people on the planet had drawn a connection between Jennifer and the Dark Lady. Apart from hair and eye colour, there was very little difference between them.

“Perhaps they didn't expect to see the Dark Lady bringing a crew of refugees and a stolen cruiser and begging for help,” Ghost suggested. The AI had been scanning its records to try and identify the Dark Lady, in the hopes that he might find something to unlock Jennifer’s mind. So far, the search had been completely fruitless. “And you’re not the same person.”

Jennifer started. “I know I am her – or I was her,” she said, feeling her mind spinning again. She’d hoped, deep inside, that she’d been a rebel against the System. Instead, she’d discovered that she’d been one of its most trusted servants, which raised the question of what she had done to deserve having her mind wiped. “I know it.”

“You may be physically the same person, but your memories are different,” Ghost said, seriously. “Memories are what defines a human; memories make up the experiences humans use to shape themselves and their reactions. The Dark Lady was operating from a completely different set of memories. You and her may share a body, but you are not identical.”

“Maybe,” Jennifer said, unconvinced. It sounded more like meaningless platitudes to her. “And what about Wild? Where does he fit into all this?”

The thought bothered her, although she couldn't say why. She was sure that Wild had arranged for her to have a chance to steal an entire cruiser from under the System’s nose. He might even have started the process of unlocking her memory blocks. From what Ghost had been able to pull from the files, a memory-wiped person could be expected to regain memories if confronted with stimuli from his or her former life. And she’d had a flash of memory the moment she’d faced a Slug at close range.

She scowled, rubbing her aching forehead. The memory flashes always seemed to bring a headache in their wake, something that no amount of massaging could deflect. If Wild had intended for her to steal the starship, had he tampered with the ship’s memory banks? It would have been easy for an Enforcer to ensure that anything relating to the Dark Lady was removed, long before the Brilliant was pressed into service as a prison transport. And that would mean...?

Jennifer cursed under her breath. She didn't know.

“Captain Vaster is asking to speak with you,” Ghost said, interrupting her brooding thoughts. “Do you wish him to join you in your cabin?”

Jennifer hesitated. She’d removed most of the former Captain’s possessions, dumping them into the fabricator or passing them on to others who expressed interest. Without the paintings and decorations, the compartment – the largest on the ship – was looking bare, as if she were only a visiting guest. And yet...she didn't want to invite Captain Vaster into her cabin. There was something about having him in her private space – and on the bridge – that annoyed her. She didn't know why.

“I’ll see him in the observation blister,” Jennifer said. She stood up and reached for her jacket, pulling it on. Some of the crew had gleefully adopted uniforms they’d designed themselves, but Jennifer felt that she had no time for fripperies. “Guide him there. I’ll meet him in a moment.”

The ship felt more like home as she walked through the small network of corridors, allowing her feet to wander where they would. Through trial and error, she’d discovered that she could unlock some memories merely by allowing the locked part of her mind to lead her. Whenever she worked the starship’s consoles, concentrating on the task, she fumbled it, but when she just let her fingers wander she managed it perfectly. Her body remembered, even if her mind remained stubbornly blank.

Ashfall was glowing above her as she stepped into the observation blister. She could see a handful of other starships in the distance, exchanging signals with Ghost. It had amused her to discover that AIs chatted amongst themselves, even the System’s loyalist AIs. The whole process usually passed unnoticed by the humans who were meant to be in charge, reminding Jennifer of the rumour that the secret masters of the System were rogue AIs. It would explain a great deal.

Captain Vaster came to his feet as she entered, presenting her with a salute. “Thank you for your time,” he said, seriously. “You’ll be pleased to hear that a handful of ships have agreed to accompany us.”

Jennifer felt her eyes narrow. “And where are they going to accompany us?”

“Wherever you decide, of course,” Captain Vaster said. “I was also able to pick up some intelligence that is actually current. Several worlds are still holding out against the System. We could hit the System’s lines of supply, distracting them long enough for the rebel worlds to rebuild their defences...”

“Perhaps,” Jennifer said. She wasn’t comfortable with Captain Vaster making decisions, even though she told herself firmly that she was being irrational. He was a rebel leader of long standing, and rebels would listen to him when they wouldn't listen to her. And if they ever suspected her connection to the Dark Lady...

“We have to do something,” Captain Vaster insisted. “We cannot just stay here and wait for the System to find us.”

“I know,” Jennifer said, with more irritation than she had intended. “Send me the details of your little fleet and I will consider what we can do together.”

She’d wondered if Captain Vaster would argue, but he seemed to accept her words. The files appeared in her brain, downloaded through her augmentations, and she skimmed them rapidly. She wasn't impressed. Two of the rebel ships were old warships, probably built by a rogue world, but the others were converted civilian craft. Jennifer didn't need Ghost to tell her that the civilian craft wouldn't last longer than a few seconds against a System cruiser, even one like the Weygand.

“There are supposed to be other warships serving the rebel worlds,” Captain Vaster said. “But the System is very good at ensuring that civilian yards only produce civilian craft – and then they make sure that everything is registered and checked constantly. In the long run, they will insist that everything hauled between stars is carried in System-designed starships. It will make it much harder to run a rebellion.”

“So we have only one real warship,” Jennifer said, slowly. The odds didn't look good. “And what happens when the System blows us out of space?”

An idea – vague and shadowy – was beginning to form in her mind. They had to destroy the System, yet the System had the resources of two-thirds of the galaxy to draw on. It possessed hundreds of thousands of cruisers, thousands of shipyards and fabrication nodes – and effectively unlimited amounts of manpower. Perhaps the workers had had all aggression beaten out of them, but then any worker who showed the right instincts was taken away from his or her parents and taught how to commit violence in the name of the System. Jennifer and her crew had very limited resources. They could inflict a thousand tiny blows before they were destroyed – and the System would still come out ahead. It seemed utterly hopeless.

And yet...the System wasn't an amorphous monster. It was monstrous, but there was purpose – direction. Who directed the System?

She posed the thought in her mind. When she’d been a mere data-entry technician, where had her orders come from? Her manager, who’d issued them every week in a bored monotone and then returned to whatever he did when he wasn't issuing orders to his workers. Who gave him his orders? He’d had an upper manager, a mysterious figure Jennifer had seen once or twice, someone who’d sent some of her worker co-workers into fits of excitement. The silly women had talked about how they could advance by seducing the higher-ranking male...

And who had given the upper manager his orders?

The System was a hierarchy. Breeding was strictly controlled in the Core Worlds, allowing the System to monitor childbirth and observe the children as they grew towards maturity. Children who showed promising traits were taken away from their parents and schooled in the ways of the System, becoming its enforcers, administrators and warriors. The ones who showed signs of true genius, like Jan, became Scientists and Researchers, pushing forward the limits of knowledge.

And if the System was a pyramid, who sat at the top?

The thought excited her. The System was simply too powerful to be attacked directly. And yet...what if it could be decapitated? Would the lower levels just rise up and become leaders, or would the System collapsed without direction from its masters?

And there was something about that thought that resonated in the locked compartments of her mind.

***​

Virgil had been born and bred in the megacities. He’d never seen so much open space in his life, even when he had attended sports matches in order to defraud the managers who ran betting shops that never gave a sucker an even break. The mere sight of the sea – all that water – was enough to make him want to flee. If it hadn’t been for Melody’s hand on his arm, he thought he would have called the ship and insisted on being teleported back, immediately.

The settlement was so strange that he found that it hurt his eyes. The locals – the ones born and bred on the planet – had a quality he couldn't recognise, at least not at first. They were free! The children ran and played without the strict supervision of the System and its appointed guardians. They had to go to schools, of course, but the children seemed to be encouraged to develop their minds, rather than having knowledge and social conditioning hammered into their heads. Virgil could remember seeing one of his former classmates, an eleven-year-old girl, taken away for reconditioning after she’d asked too many questions. The empty shell that had returned hadn't been her.

And yet, it was alien – and terrifying. Everything was terrifying to him.

“Perhaps we should stay here,” Melody said. He was so taken aback by how she’d spoken of them as a couplethat he almost missed her next words. “What kind of children would we have here?”

The System had told its children that it existed to preserve the human race from falling under alien domination. And on Ashfall, humans lived under the Slugs. The old terror – the hatred of the alien, of the different – rose up in his mind...and yet the settlers were happy. They might have respected the Slugs, they might have been grateful for being allowed to settle on the planet, but they weren't slaves. The concept of humans and aliens being friends was almost beyond him...

Virgil took a breath, and then another. It was how life could be, once the System was defeated. And it was worth fighting for.

 

any chance of 3 or 4 chapters a day?...lol

 

Maybe when they pay me for it...

Chris

 

lol, dont blame ya for that
your work is definitely worth buying to keep