Gray Lines
31 Mar 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Gray Lines
Colonia Region
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The last day's haul was a tidy 11,138,035 million credits. Nothing grandiose but not a bad living either. I was impressed at how fast Tara had learned the trade, being in command the entire day with me manning the scanners, watching for any prospects and threats. Sena was good to her word, with two million of those credits being one of her faction's ships, which attempted to interdict us.
Tara’s skills in offensive and defensive combat were equally impressive. She did not attempt to splash the pirate Mamba class ship, but instead attempted to disable it, to see what it might also be carrying. Their Mamba class ship, like the Fer-de-Lance class, were built more for pure speed and brute firepower and were two of the best manufactured fast attack ships on the market, but neither would have much cargo space, making them useless for pirating.
The Mamba could outrun the Krait, but it could not outmaneuver it, and Tara capitalized on that. She expertly targeted and disabled its huge thrusters on its second attack run against us. Tumbling out of control, Its pilot knew they had been tricked into making slashing attacks, that would expose its thrusters on each pass. Left with no alternative they opted to destroy themselves, versus being captured.
It didn't matter; in the end, their bounty belonged to us, and whatever trouble that pilot posed for Sena and her clan was now just another tale among the stars.
We made a brief stop at one of the faction's minor orbital outposts to sell our haul and turn in the bounties we had collected. Aby kept himself occupied by downloading and correlating all relevant system information while the outpost restocked and refueled our ship, just as Sena had promised.
Not wanting to linger in case anyone else sought our company, we departed, setting course deeper into the system toward the third furthest star. There, several science and military-related planetary settlements awaited us, along with two large ringed gas giants boasting pristine resources. A ship carrying such wealth could fund several campaigns unless we helped ourselves to it first.
With the ship restocked and a healthy payday in our account, I opted to keep us in normal space for a while. This allowed each of us to attend to our individual needs. Aby was the simplest to accommodate; he remained on board most of the time, tending to various tasks and checking in on the other androids in person, so to speak. Meanwhile, Tara and I sat down for a meal. While Tara didn't strictly require human substances, she could consume food or any other safe material that met the requirements for her synthetic biological systems.
“I had a few question that I didn’t want to ask at the starport, as we were being monitored, and once back aboard the ship, we were overly busy and Aby was present. Now that we are alone, what do you think will happen to Hilario, and why is Sena sending her own kind to interdict us, so that we can claim their bounties?”
I shrugged while chewing. “He has to be connected to someone important otherwise someone like Hilario would have been pressed into combat at one of the planetary facilities, as fodder. As for Sena, her exact role is far above that of a black marketeer. It is an amusement for her, and I imagine a minor avenue of personal revenue.” I paused to take another bite of food and wash it down with an iced tea, as Tara studied me with her pretty eyes. That observation tripped up my mental thinking rhythm. Tara leaned forward on the table, a wicked little smile crossing her face. She knew I was thinking of something that caused me to pause. “And?”
I refocused on the questions she had asked. “Sena’s sending out a few of their own ships, with experienced commanders with decent bounties, is her way, or that of another above her, of keeping us incentivized. Those commanders will be someone either she or they feel is no longer useful, or they have breached some code, either her own or that of the clans. We get their bounties, and they get deniability. It is a win-win unless we lose.”
“We are useful and expendable,” Tara said, leaning back in her seat, picking up a piece of her food and inspecting it. A wicked smile appeared on her face. “I think we should continue profiting off of her until we can profit directly from her,” she said, popping the food into her mouth and biting it.
The next relative day I sat in the galley sipping on my first coffee of the relative day, as Aby studied me with his head cocked to one side as was his custom to do when his inquisitive programmed nature had the better of him.
“What is it,” I asked, in a low, energy-depleted tone.
“I have been surprised by your actions, as of late, and of your presence in here, so early in this system’s relative day. It sounded like there was quite a strenuous event taking place in your quarters last night.”
Great, now Aby is listening to Tara and me, during our more intimate moments. Aby was saying something else, but I did not hear it, as the thoughts of the blurred line between free will and programming, synthetic and sentience, rolled through my mind. Tara knew the answer but would not give it to me, wanting me instead, in her playful way, to discover what I thought the truth was. All things were possible, I suppose, as I took another sip of my coffee.
“I didn’t hear that last part, what was it again Aby?”
“I was curious if you are alright. All of these transitions are taxing for you and as a representative of your benefactor, it is part of my role to ensure your well-being.”
A reflex huff escaped from me.
“What of my benefactor? I’ve had no directives from him and you have reported nothing more to me, for several weeks. Has he vanished or have I been discarded or released?”
Aby shook his head. “No, he is pleased with your progress.”
A huff escaped again. Progress? Sitting out here, picking the holds of laden cargo vessels in the shipping lanes of a system that is almost in a never-ending cycle of war?
“You should also be aware that Ms. Sena’s faction has won their conflict, most decidedly. Several wings of ships joined their side, tipping the scale fully in their favor, decimating their adversaries in short order. They managed to gain control of a major extraction facility in doing so.”
“Let me guess, the ships bore the identity of Shinkai Industries.”
Aby nodded. “Your benefactor had me tasked with maintaining a distant observation of their activities. He did not want them to meddle in his own affairs and in doing so place you in a position of harm.”
I took another sip of my coffee. “He’s back in the bubble and holds no sway out here. What could he have honestly had they chosen to harm me?”
Aby cocked his head to the other side, studying me for a moment. “To repeat what you already know, you are not the only one here.”
There was a lot of everyone and thing, not answering my questions directly and it was becoming annoying. Aby nodded at me, leaving me to think he had to have read what I was thinking by either my gaze or body language.
“With their third war concluded, what are your intentions,” Aby asked, changing the subject. “Should I send a message to have the Python prepared or the Vulture?”
It was bad enough being at the mercy of my silent benefactor, but to be a tool of Kagehiro, Sakura, and Sena was already starting to grate on my nerves. What Tara had said last night resonated in my mind. ‘we profit from our relationship with them until we can profit from them.’ Spoken like a true pirate and bounty hunter.
Tara had demonstrated her knowledge of piracy and bounty hunting, at a pace that was beyond impressive, even for an artificial sentience. There my thoughts went again, low grav hopping between the gray areas of real and artificial. Damn if this wasn’t becoming annoying.
“No, I think we will stay here, at least for the moment.”
Aby nodded, not pressing for an answer as to why. Even he was learning.
Making their way to the bridge, Ryuko took his place in the pilot’s seat with Aby sitting in the seat behind and to the left of him. “Shouldn’t we wait for Ms. Sha?”
“Not for a passive sneak peek. Curious to see what the traffic looks like. If we get picked up, they will have to drop to sublight and come into normal space. We can outrun most threats.”
Space and time appeared to blur for a brief instant as the ship went from sub-light to luminal. The scanners required a relative minute to catch up with the new time reference, as the Krait made slow faster-than-light turns, resembling a lighted circle in the blackness of space.
“Four contacts, all small craft. A hauler, a pair of eagles, and a cobra mark three. All are headed to destinations that do not intersect our position.”
After three circles, no other traffic was detected, as the ship reduced velocity, dropping back to sub-light velocities and into normal space.
Something was off. It was too quiet. Especially after a major victory.
“Were you able to download a current system update?”
“Yes. The news is reporting the recently vanquished is experiencing significant civil unrest at the moment. This is not unusual considering they have lost their first of three wars on their rapid ascent. Their main rival, who is not Ms. Sena’s faction, has managed to move ahead of them, placing themselves as the number two power and potential next contender These are the same group who were attempting to expand out of the system, during the conflict. The two lower factions remain locked in what is becoming a one-sided war. It appears they will likely gain control of one of the system’s large surface settlements. This will provide them with the capital required to make good on their losses.”
The war must have taken a lot out of the Sena’s clan. While the two lower factions are moving their logistics and ships to the war zone through normal space as was the standard operating procedure, the major faction victor should be displaying themselves in the open, boldly.
A lot of credits and pain, and little to show for it, unless there was more to it. “Show me the one expanding.”
The screen changed, highlighting the information. Four draws, two defeats, and one war are still ongoing, which was costing them dearly, right in the home system of Shinkai Industries. So Kagehiro and Sakura were backing Ms. Shae’s clan, getting what they wanted, a contract on equipping and maintaining their new extraction acquisition. The graphs on the one who was attempting to expand all over the place, showed a lot of ruses, to hide their real target, the home system of Shinkai Industries.
“Looks like we are taking a little trip after all. I want a closer look at this group.”
“Should I wake Ms. Sha from her maintenance cycle?”
Ryuko said nothing for several minutes, trying to think of how he would answer that question while programming the navigation computer.
“Her maintenance cycle? You mean to wake her up from her sleep.”
“I apologize, I thought you knew, since you did fund her creation. Ms. Sha is a well-built Xihe biomorphic.”
Had to play this one as innocent and naive as possible. “I have spent a lot of credits on several things. What makes you think that?”
“As you know, part of my tasking, from your benefactor, is to ensure your safety and that you remain within the guidelines of the arrangement. Not finding a background for her I sampled several genetic samples from items she has touched or drank from. Those revealed an almost perfect replication of a human life form. I then had the ship’s medical monitoring system run several scans on her. While her skeletal structure appeared human, a closer examination revealed their composition of graphene carbon nano-molecular design. This makes her structure stronger than this ship's armored hull, with self-repair abilities. It required several weeks of in-depth research to conclude that she was a near-perfect manufactured replication.”
Aby was too damned efficient. “If she learns that you know, she will dismantle you to keep her secret.”
“I calculated as much. She is safe as long as you two remain out here. In the bubble, her design and (AEI,) adaptive learning, and synthetic sentience, would be a capital offense, for both of you.”
“And, will you tell our benefactor?”
“He is aware and is happy that you have a companion.”
Ryuko turned in his seat, looking back at Aby. “Why did you not say anything until now?”
“It was beneficial for you. You do not know that your benefactor is himself married to a human synthetic. While she is human with more than half of her being cybernetic and synthetic, Ms. Sha is the opposite. A mirror image as it were. As you are unaware, they have a child. Are you and Ms. Sha trying to achieve the same?”
How the hell was that even possible. “Wouldn’t that make them liable?”
Aby shook his head. “No, she started life as a human whereas Ms. Sha did not.”
There had never been thought of even attempting to sire someone. I wasn't even sure how I felt about Tara, or if anything she portrayed was real or mimicry.
“Did they adopt the child?”
Aby shook his head again. “No, they have adopted one, who was already grown. The other was achieved naturally, utilizing a surgically implanted artificial womb. It was quite an impressive technological achievement. There a medical papers still being written about it. Would you care to review some?”
This was too much information too fast. It was like being force-fed knowledge with a plasma conduit.
“Is it possible for the line to cross between synthetic and sentience and mimicry with reality, with an (AEI,) adaptive learning, and synthetic sentience?”
“Yes … Ms. Sha approaches.”
Ryuko turned the ship on its jump heading, diverting power to the frameshift jump drive engines as Tara walked onto the bridge.
“Good morning, sleepy head. Aby got us a complete system update. You are going to enjoy this. We are off to snoop around and see what we can do either for or to Kagehiro and Sakura."