Week 32 + Audiobook
04 Aug 2023Ryuko Ntsikana
Week 32
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Closing steps.
Location: Eudaemon Anchorage, Ocellus Starport.
Rohini System, Inner Orion Spur.
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Monty skimmed through the combined transcripts of the interviews he had concluded under the guise of a historian. He picked out the random relevant wording that, when combined, created a better glimpse into the region where Xochitl had disappeared. Once again, she had vanished in plain sight. Based on her previous patterns, Monty suspected she had jumped back out to the hinter regions; she wasn’t one to hover.
The entity concurred with Monty’s assessment, booking passage for them to travel four thousand light-years closer to the Sacaqawea Space Port. Its nearness to the system called “the Collection of Wonders” was the perfect location for a traveling historian working on their thesis.
Monty debated on how far he could carry his current cover persona before he would be required to adopt one of his chosen alternates. So far, everyone had been cordial and obliging. He wondered what the entity's reaction would be to someone less than accommodating.
He had learned a lot about the entity, but intelligent or not, it had its idiosyncrasies as did any creature, whether biological or other. It did not have a temper in the traditional sense of the word, as you or I would understand it, but it did respond negatively to the actions and comments of others.
Fortunately, it was not leaving bodies on the deck, or at least not in the manner that required a quick wit and explanation or a body recovery cleanup. It had evolved into more clever forms of expression. As was the experience of a pair who recently arrived at the station from some deep space exploratory adventure. They were in a foul mood and sought to transfer that towards the wait staff at a restaurant Monty liked to visit. He did not know how the entity did it and knew better than to ask, but the pair were sent drooling to the medical facility, afflicted by some unknown ailment.
The flow of traffic moving between the bubble and Colonia wasn’t grandiose, but it was steady. Fleet carriers looking for fares to pay the exorbitant Tritium prices, or asking for the same in donations for passage, were a norm. While he had none of the ore required for the carrier's fuel, the entity provided him with more credits than he knew what to do with.
Monty had agonized over how he would approach Xochitl about the entity, without triggering an immediate unpleasant response. He knew he would need to extend an olive branch of sorts while being completely honest with her. Any attempts at subterfuge would be detected by her cybernetic systems. What the olive branch would be, he had yet to discover, but he knew time was running out, the closer their paths became.
Tranquility Base.
Location: Beluga class liner.
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The Beluga’s gargantuan size was deceptive, maneuvering nearly as well as any medium-class ship on the market. Saud Kruger, the creator of the three passenger ship classes, required this optimized level of maneuverability to ferry those, within the safety of her hull comfortably, to their respective destinations in not only style but comfort. Like the Dolphin and Orca classes, the Beluga could turn within her own radius, and accelerate and reverse with equal power and ease.
That Xochitl had chosen all three of Saud Kruger’s designs for her exploration vessels of choice was viewed as a smart decision by many. While they could not reach the larger single jump range distances of more purpose-built exploration vessels, they could carry with ease far more modules than the others, along with the additional fuel tanks to insure their overall range of endurance—before requiring a refueling—was greater than most others. As a side note, they also were capable of being respectable combat vessels, with the right modules and engineering, as Xochitl’s armor-hided Beluga could attest.
With the inclusion of the modified Beluga to the carrier’s ship compliment, a series of dedicated lifeboats had been fulfilled for the clan as a whole. With the Dolphin, Orca, Python, Krait Mk II, and Phantom combined, there was enough comfortable room for everyone, bristling with firepower behind a wall of heavy shielding and hardened deep-plated layered armor, the clan’s relative safety was insured.
Xochitl knew that if there were any downside, it was in finding a place to land the Beluga on rocky and mountainous planetary surfaces. While the Dolphin could squeeze into ridiculously tight places, the Beluga—like the Imperial Cutter—required a large clearing for its weight and girth. Not that she was in any rush to be anywhere. There remained a few additional items she would like to add to the Beluga, but her exposure to humanity had to be undertaken in limited portions.
Xochitl was never the most social of persons even before her accident, and especially not after. She dealt with humanity only as much as required, but no more. Over the months Xochitl had conformed to her role, not entirely cognisant of the subtle changes that had taken place. Liken to a cocoon, she had been transforming into something more; but a butterfly was not it.
She had never been fully comfortable aboard her carrier. There existed a part of her that still liked the feel of a ship beneath her boots. Some things could never be changed, as she maneuvered the Beluga to a point about the planetary body of interest, picking a specific spot on her heads-up display to begin the descent down to its surface, where biological readings were said to exist; or so the ships discovery scanners said.
Passenger ships had the best inertia dampeners as the Beluga descended past the planetary orbital lines, on a forty-five-degree angle towards a distant mountain range, which was becoming larger by the second. As the Beluga slowed from its hypersonic glide, Xochitl lowered its enormous landing gear, to help manage its descent speed and profile. The gears of all ships had speed limiters as part of the flight computer programming. This feature allowed the flight management software to activate the reverse thrusters as required, to limit the maximum thrust the ship could sustain, making it a useful tool.
Xochitl chose an area at the base of the mountain range, where several flat areas presented themselves.
The Dolphin class ship could venture into the denser parts but not the Beluga. That was of no consequence as there was no rush to get anything done, except to relax and explore. No manifest or Tritium usage reports. Only a solitary planet that no human had ever ventured to, and the beauty of the stars above.
There was no glamour of high-g maneuvering space or atmospheric ship battles or the lightning raids of a settlement or outpost. This was tranquility. An always sought-after commodity, worth more than Void Opals, that every space jockey sought but could never find. It held no adrenaline rushes, or the gentle caress of death’s icy touch, moving across one's skin. There was no burnt metallic smells, or the thumping of railguns punching through the hulls.
Xochitl knew too well, having serviced and saved many from surfaces such as this, that those overstimulated moments could appear without warning, like a sudden interdiction from a pirate. Only those moments here could not be counteracted by fancy flying and better weapons management. No, only the skill of how to survive in an environment that the Pilot’s Federation never trains the new recruits for. Most who experience them, do not survive. Those who do, are looked upon with quick glances, and hushed tones.
Surviving those types of experiences changes a person, and it is reflected in their eyes. On the way, they talked and walked. Xochitl knew that type all too well, catching her own reflection in the large windowed cockpit. Yatziri knew that type too, as she rested in her quarters, two decks down.
Life aboard the carrier was getting to her too. She was a smuggler, raider, pirate, and a good friend. The type you needed in those situations, and the type you needed when you wanted to play the game of who would go under the table first, with empty bottles scattered around.
Zooey was along for the ride as well, with little to do. Art was off mining the Tritium ring near the carrier, topping up its fuel tank. Chief Bowen and Carlos, her dad, had all of the maintenance covered, and Zarathustra, the carrier’s head of security, had little to do as well, since their departure from Colonia proper. This left Zooey with little to do but twirl her hair, and that game could only be entertaining for the first few seconds.
Xochitl smiled, having most of the original group back together and on board a ship, that didn’t have the mass and gravity to be a station unto itself. The only annoyance out here was Avery, her android assistant and physical manifestation of the carrier’s AI. Avery would never leave her side, regardless of what she was doing– the carrier wouldn’t allow it.
At least Xochitl could keep her out of her hair, managing the android master chef that came standard with this ship model. Better to have her ensuring they were well fed than popping a chip over how Xochitl liked to fly and go about her business.
The gear compressed under the weight of the Beluga as its engines spooled down. Zooey looked over at Xochitl, excited to be going with her on a biological scanning run. Zooey wouldn’t be doing much but riding in the turret of the Scarab reconnaissance vehicle, but it was better than staring out the cockpit window, and besides, Xochitl might let her put a boot mark on the planet too.
First Time.
Location: Beluga class ship.
Black Hole. Dryooe Flyou FG-Y g112 System.
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Zooey was beyond pleased, unable to remove the smile from her face since descending to the planet the other day, with Xochitl, joining her on a surface expedition in the Scarab reconnaissance vehicle. In a move that still surprised her, Xochitl ordered her out of the turret and onto the planet’s surface. The computer recorded her first steps on the planet, adding her name to the universal records as the first human to set foot on its surface, forever placing her name in the history books.
Yatziri’s smile was one of humor. She remembered the first time her name was added to the records, but it wasn’t for stepping foot on the planet itself, but for raiding a military settlement as part of a larger band of raiders, taking advantage of the system owners financial troubles. They were unfortunate enough to run into the personnel responsible for temporarily taking the settlement offline, and a battle ensued, earning her the first bounty of the day.
Xochitl’s plan for Zooey wasn’t complete, as they arrived in the unique system, with one end of the hyperspace tether being a black hole, orbited by a class M star, which itself was being orbited by 5 planets and one class 1 gas giant with two metal rich rings in orbit around it.
Skirting the black hole itself, Xochitl set course for the first planet orbiting the class M star, descending on the planet’s terminator, where the light and dark sides met. With its 2.4 day rotational period, it rotated slowly enough for the pull of the black hole to be physically felt, but far enough away where it provided for a comfortable feeling in opposition to the planets quarter of earth gravity pull.
Tears formed in Zooey’s eyes as she cried with joy over all of the experiences she had, since signing on with Xochitl. A dredger pilot in a backwater system, with no hopes of becoming something far more, had become a trained crewmen of a fleet carrier, able to work in the majority of its departments. Now she was in the history books, and the next day she was able to witness and physically feel a rare sight.
Yatziri winked at Xochitl in acknowledgment, as Xochitl patted Zooey on her shoulder.
‘Just wait, it gets better.’
Sacaqawea
Location: Sacaqawea Space Port.
Planetary Outpost.
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The entity connected to the outpost’s data banks the moment Monty disembarked for his ship. By the time he made his way to the pilot's lounge kiosk and rented quarters at the outpost itself, the entity had parsed through the data, isolating Xochitl’s last reported position.
As Monty checked the layout of the outpost, making note of places he wanted to inspect more closely, the entity's voice provided him with its findings. ‘A member of her crew has been recently reported as being the first human to step on a distant planet. Xochitl herself is in a system with a unique black hole, orbited by a class M star, itself being orbited by other planetary bodies.’
‘Sounds like she is enjoying herself. What is our current distance?’
‘We are now 9706.12 light-years apart. Based on our mutual closer rates, you will be in a position to contact and approach her, within a week.’
Monty referenced the last system she was reported in, taking note of the outposts, stations, and mega ships, along the Colonia highway route, running near her position.
‘She is keeping her distance from the highway itself. Are you sure my presence will be enough to draw her to one of these distant locations?’
‘Yes,’ the entity responded. ‘The probability she will come to our location, out of curiosity as to your presence in this region, is high.’
Monty huffed. ‘The more I have thought about it the more I realize she is going to be on her guard. If she is smart, and she is, she will not be alone. The moment she learns the truth, she won’t hesitate, regardless of where we are and who is near.’
The entity was silent for several minutes as Monty made his way to the outpost's central concourse, familiarizing himself with the kiosk, shops, and restaurants on its three lower levels.
‘Using the lessons of psychology you have shown me, through first-hand demonstration, we are curious if it would not be easier to persuade another of her members and perhaps she would be more apt to listen first before acting?’
Monty sighed in resignation. ‘I was hoping to keep others out of our affairs, but at the moment I don’t see how that can happen. If it is all the same to you I want to stay at this place for a moment and try and think of a better alternative.’
‘We concur,’ the entity responded as Monty found a local coffee house where he could sit with a warm beverage and observe, finding the pulse of his new temporary home.
That evening, as Monty slept the entity busied itself spreading through all accessible systems, collecting and correlating as much data as it could, infecting other permanent residents of the outpost, creating within them separate synthetic nucleic acid chains as a data-dense storage medium. This kept its host free of housing additional strands the entity needed for other uses concerning their symbiotic relationship.
The entity furthered its host's thoughts and concerns about including others in their business. The solution it believed it had an answer to. It would take time to bring its concepts into reality as the middleman was not at the outpost themselves, but would soon be set on their path. All of the preliminary formalities had been prepared, requiring only their physical presence to put its plan into motion.
The entity had used Monty to place his previously discarded Federation Inspector identification, back into his suit, while he slept. Its host required rest and did not need to be bothered with the minor details, that the entity could accomplish, with the use of his body.