Anarchate Vigilante (Vigilante Series 4) (44 page)

Everyone laughed, including
Child, Mata Hari and Gatekeeper.

Matt realized that the new AI baby, and their baby to be, were their call to the universe that they believed there was a future life of joy for them and their babies.

“To the future!”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Mindstorm inhaled the scented salty water of his basin as he hovered on Nullgrav before the Council of Sixteen. All the lifeforms of the council had gathered here at the call of Sooteen of Sector 16. His Intel Chief Sytoon floated in his own water basin behind the brown and red colors of Sooteen. Their leader’s four brown eyestalks fixed on him.

“Mindstorm of the Nik-nik thot species, your hereditary claim to leadership of Sector 14 has been called into question by your Intelligence High Commander, one Sytoon.” She paused in her high tone Belizel clacking to scan the assembled council. “Sector 13 Leader Noktoren
of the Solink species has argued against this conclave, saying the loss of battleglobes in your sector, the decimation of your naval bases, and the destruction of tachlink nodes has happened before.” Sooteen spurt exhaled water into the middle of their Nullgrav supports. “However, I disagree. Scores of attacks on Anarchate ships and bases in other sectors have occurred. Our battleglobe strength is down to 9,943 on active duty. And the galactic tachnet is filled with words that question the value of the Anarchate to Trade. Your response?”

He stood upright on all six pincer feet, telling the overhead lights to shine brightly on his traceries of colorful stones. “Council Chief Sooteen, I admit to failure to capture this renegade biped whose strange alien ships have cause
d so much harm. However, I relied on the Intel data supplied by Sytoon! And I ordered the destruction of my remaining battleglobes in a Nova Blast aimed at destroying this renegade!”

“An effort that did not succeed,” whistled
Sector 15 Leader Rolette am-tok. The Hootnai quadruped slowly scanned the entire council. “My offer of 200 battleglobes is withdrawn. Further battle within Sector 14 is clearly useless under the leadership of Mindstorm of the Nik-nik thot. I support a change in Sector 14 leadership.”

Mindstorm felt the storm clouds gathering all too closely. Soon a wave would crest over him and smash him against shore rocks. “Leaders! Fellow sector administrators! I offer my own corpus! If you defeat this effort to violate ancient tradition, I myself will lead my remaining battleglobes against this biped who spreads Trade heresy!”

The tone of surprise from his fellow council members encouraged him. Then his Intel Chief clacked loudly.

“Sector 14’s remaining battleglobes amount to just twelve. And none of them are outfitted with the Black Hole ejector and Alcubierre Bubble generator that
were developed by Sector Captain Running Leader.” Sytoon cast its eyestalks his way in a Loglan slant that indicated high skepticism. “The Observer Globe record of battle at Orion Nebula shows the biped’s fleet destroyed even the refitted battleglobes of Running Leader. New sector leadership is required.”

Mindstorm wondered if Sooteen’s offer of her fellow Loglan Sytoon
to be his new Intel chief had been part of a plan to displace him from the beginning of this trouble in his sector. He put nothing beyond the power-hungry reach of the Loglan species.

“And who would lead this sector?” he clacked to the council members. “I have extensive experience in dealing with this insane biped! My advice has been well-considered. Only the inaccurate intelligence of High Commander Brrzeet led to the loss of so many battleglobes.
This council should respect tradition and—”

“I offer myself as leader of Sector 14,” clacked Sytoon in his
second break with ancient decorum. A tradition violation allowed by Sooteen.

“What!” he clacked loudly, pointing a pincer toward the disloyal Intel commander. “He is an upstart! That amphibian has never
administered any group larger—”

“Council members,” growled
Dooshesh mik-mal of Sector 9. “I offer a means of defeating the 501 T’Chak warships that now harass our sectors.”

Everyone went silent, even the two sectors run by people who spoke with light glows. Then Sooteen’s soft shell changed color to a mix of orange, yellow, brown
, red and the pink of curiosity.

“Explain your statement, Sector 9 Leader,” she clacked in a Belizel tone suggestive of intense interest.

The Meligun biped looked toward Mindstorm, then at Sytoon, before fixing its two pink oculars on Sooteen.

“Council Chief Sooteen, my Melikark Conglomerate has obtained the design for a new stardrive. It is twice as fast as our Alcubierre stardrive. And, most importantly, it does not emit a gravity wave pulse when it re-enters normal space-time.”

An intense wave of clacking, hooting, whistling, sonar echoes and jumbled light glows filled the council chamber.

“Silence!” clacked Sooteen. “Stop emitting conversation in whatever mode you use! Leader Dooshesh, explain the source of this new stardrive. And indicate whether it will be made available to Combat Command.”

The black-
haired biped flared its narrow ears in a Meligun body speech that Mindstorm recalled meant Satisfaction Achieved. “Surely, chief of this council. The stardrive relies on Dark Energy to move a ship through the Dark Chamber of the universe. The drive takes energy from the nearly infinite Dark Energy that makes up three-fourths of all the matter and energy in our universe. The Dark Energy star drive is the result of our long Trade negotiations with the aliens of the Bogean Harmony. As you recall, we entered into Trade with these aliens more than a cycle ago. But the Bogean terms for entering Trade and selling this drive to us required our modification of the standard bondServant contract. This council sanctioned our Trade decision.”

Mindstorm sank into his water basin. He had been a chief proponent of punishing the Melikark Conglomerate and its council representative for its unilateral change to bondServant terms.
He used his implanted tachlink module to call for his personal Courier ship.

“That council action can be reversed,” clacked Sooteen.

The Meligun biped stepped off of its gravplate pallet and began walking on Nullgrav plates attached to its black-clawed pincer-feet. “Such action is overdue. But appreciated. And yes, our Dark Energy stardrive—which is the same stardrive possessed by the command ship of the biped Dragoneaux—will be made available to Combat Command.” The Meligun biped paused for what everyone knew to be dramatic effect. Even the light-talkers dimmed their emissions. “For a price of one million platinum Standards per ship. The council will also order the sharing of the new Sector 14 weapons of Black Hole Ejector and Alcubierre Bubble generator with our sector’s shipyards. We will fabricate such weapons for the use of all battleglobes in the galaxy. The price of manufacturing such items will be modest.”

Mindstorm knew defeat when he heard it. His neurolink control ordered his water basin to leave the council chamber. Which it proceeded to do as council members debated the demands of the Melikark Conglomerate representative.

“Mindstorm!” clacked Sytoon of the Loglan. “You cannot escape me! My agents will locate you and show you an impoverishment you will never escape!”

Mindstorm’s water basin tilted a bit as it rounded a curve in the hallway of the skyrise on Central Nexus that housed the council chamber.
Water spilled out. Moving upward to the top of the skyrise, he gave thanks that his Courier ship responded only to his speech acoustics and his bodyheat signature.

As for his future impoverishment, well, the jewels that encrusted his shell had a large value in platinum Standards. Enough value to buy him intelligence on the Human renegade who had cost him
the hereditary post on the Council of Sixteen!

Mindstorm would never stop hunting for this Matthew Raven’s-Wing Dragoneaux. He would
not seek a return of luxury on a distant resort world. Perhaps he could recover his position on the Council of Sixteen if he captured this Trade heretic. If not, then there would be at least one benefit to his loss of status.

“Vengeance will be mine!” he clacked to the empty hallways of Central Nexus.

The End

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T. Jackson King (Tom) is a professional archaeologist, journalist and former Hippie. He learned early on to question authority and find answers for himself, partly due to reading lots of science fiction novels. He also worked at a radiocarbon dating laboratory at UC Riverside and UCLA. Tom attended college in Paris and Tokyo, then helped organize anti-Vietnam War demos in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tom is a graduate of UCLA (M.A. 1976, archaeology) and the University of Tennessee (B.Sc. 1971, journalism). Tom has worked as an archaeologist in the American Southwest and has traveled widely in Europe, Russia, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. Other jobs have included short order cook, hotel clerk, legal assistant, telephone order taker, investigative reporter and newspaper editor. He also survived the warped speech-talk of local politicians and escaped with his hide intact. He writes hard science fiction, anthropological scifi, dark fantasy/horror and contemporary fantasy/magic realism. Tom’s published science fiction novels are
THE MEMORY SINGER
(Fantastic Books, 2014),
ANARCHATE VIGILANTE
(Wilder Publications, 2014),
GALACTIC VIGILANTE
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
NEBULA VIGILANTE
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
SPEAKER TO ALIENS
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
GALACTIC AVATAR
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
STELLAR ASSASSIN
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
STAR VIGILANTE
(2012),
THE GAEAN
ENCHANTMENT
(Wilder Publications, 2012), 
LITTLE BROTHER’S WORLD
(Fantastic Books, 2010),
ANCESTOR’S WORLD
(Ace Books, 1996, with A.C. Crispin), and
RETREAD SHOP
(Warner Books, 1988, 2012). His short stories have appeared in the collection
JUDGMENT DAY AND OTHER DREAMS
(Fantastic Books, 2009). His poetry has appeared in the collection
MOTHER EARTH’S STRETCH MARKS
(Motherbird Books, 2009). Tom lives in Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. He has three grown children. Tom can be reached at
[email protected]
. His
writings can be viewed at
http://www.tjacksonking.weebly.com/
.

PRAISE FOR T. JACKSON KING’S BOOKS

RETREAD SHOP

“Engaging alien characters, a likable protagonist, and a vividly realized world make King’s first sf novel a good purchase for sf collections.”–
Library Journal

“A very pleasant tour through the author’s inventive mind, and an above average story as well.”–
Science Fiction Chronicle

“Fun, with lots of outrageously weird aliens.”—
Locus

“The writing is sharp, the plotting tight, and the twists ingenious. It would be worth reading, if only for the beautiful delineations of alien races working with and against one another against the background of an interstellar marketplace. The story carries you . . . with a verve and vigor that bodes well for future stories by this author. Recommended.”–
Science Fiction Review

“For weird aliens, and I do mean weird, choose
Retread Shop
. The story takes place on a galactic trading base, where hundreds of species try to gain the upper hand for themselves and for their group. Sixteen year-old billy is the sole human on the Retread Shop, stranded when his parents and their shipmates perished. What really makes the ride fun are the aliens Billy teams up with, including two who are plants. It's herbivores vs. carnivores, herd species vs. loners, mammals vs. insects and so on. The wild variety of physical types is only matched by the extensive array of cultures, which makes for a very entertaining read.” –
Bonnie Gordon,
Los Alamos Daily Post

“Similar in feel to Roger Zelazny's Alien Speedway series is
Retread Shop
by T. Jackson King. It's an orphan-human-in-alien-society-makes-good story. Well-written and entertaining, it could be read either as a Young Adult or as straight SF with equal enjoyment.
”–
Chuq Von Rospach,
OtherRealms 22
“If you liked Stephen Goldin’s Jade Darcy books duo, and Julie Czerneda’s Clan trilogy, then you will probably like
Retread Shop
since it too has multiple aliens, an eatery, and an infinity of odd events that range from riots, to conspiracy, to exploring new worlds and to alien eating habits . . . It’s a fun reader's ride and thoroughly entertaining. And, sigh, I wish that the author would write more books set in this background.” –
Lyn McConchie, co-author of the
Beastmaster
series