Caleb waived him off. “I got it.” He groaned as he stood. He had to hold onto the wall for a moment as the blood rushed to his head. The room beyond was a typical prep room, loaded with the gear necessary for space exploration. Beyond that was a central corridor with mummy bags affixed to the walls with lockers next to each and lots of hand holds. It was a cleanly designed ship. Caleb figured Italian; the engineering guts, electronics, and air ducting, were hidden behind panelized flooring. It was otherwise a barebones setup, too small to have state rooms. He passed two unisex toilets and decided he needed to use one. Space toilets were always a nuisance, and even with some low gravity he had a clumsy time of it. He found that all of his soft tissues had suffered some damage. Peeing turned into quite a painful chore. The blood was mildly alarming.
At the end of the corridor was the galley. The tables and chairs had foot straps on the floor so that people could attempt to sit and eat while in zero gravity. Bert had finished helping Jennifer sit in front of a meal that looked like steaming meatloaf. Caleb reluctantly felt grateful for the bot. It was laying a plate for Caleb as well and had set out two bottles of what was probably electrolyte water. He found himself blurting out a thank you as he sat.
“You are of course, welcome, sir. Sir, may I inquire by which name or honorific you prefer to be called?”
“Sire works fine.” Caleb was aware of the slip of the tongue, but he let it go to see what would happen.
Jennifer shot him a look, then said, “My name is Jennifer, Bert. Please call me Jennifer.”
“Sire and Jennifer, per our stated plan, if you are feeling comfortable and at ease, and while you take some nourishment, I shall go and prep things so that you may remove your companions from their state of hibernation.”
“Sounds good,” said Caleb.
“Thank you, Bert.”
“My pleasure, Jennifer.”
When Bert was down the hall, Caleb said, “You know they can’t feel pleasure, right? They don’t feel anything.”
“What have you got against robots?”
“They took away my planet.”
Hours later, the five other survivors lay or sat in various states of post hibernation grogginess. But for a general feeling of profound weakness and disorientation, they seemed no worse for wear. Caleb and Jennifer described what had transpired while they had slept. They marveled at their situation, and found it difficult to get their bearings after awakening on yet another ship. That they had survived a crash landing was amazing. Bob, on the other hand, fell into a state of shock over the loss of Rob, and kept quiet as the others asked question after question.
As the remainder took in Caleb and Jennifer’s experiences, they were left speechless. Even Bert could be seen raising a preprogramed eyebrow as he calculated the chances of surviving such a series of events. The grim discovery of the remains of what for all intents and purposes was the release of a nano bomb, made them feel paralyzed. They’d come to this place on the run. A weapon of mass destruction had been released. Didn’t they have a responsibility to sound the alarm? Saanvi finally asked, “What is this place?”
They all looked at Monty expectantly. He shrugged. “A school chum of mine, a chemist, he got a job here through Hanson himself. It’s a hush hush place. Terry never gave me details. Between the lines of our conversations, I’d say they were doing research on how to neutralize AI. Whether back on Earth or in the event of an attack here, I don’t know.”
Trey said, “So much for that. Looks like AI got them first.”
Saanvi said, “So we call the authorities.”
Monty said, “How can we not?”
Caleb said, “Am I hearing you people correctly? The same authorities that wasted your farms.”
Jennifer said, “What happened on Dione could not have been sanctioned by Hanson. He’d be inviting anarchy. Those cops, yourself excepted, had to be rogue. At the least we should contact Hanson City and tell them about this. We don’t have to stick around after we call in the fire.”
Saanvi said, “I second that. We call it in and get out of here. This ship is well stocked and can take us anywhere in the system.”
Monty held up his hands. “Now hold on. Where is anywhere?” His hands shook with slight tremors, and he set them firmly on the tabletop.
Jennifer said, “It doesn’t really matter. There’re settlements all over the system and plenty of land or moon dust that hasn’t been claimed. No one is watching what the typical farer is up to. We just need to get out of here and let some time pass.”
“I have a better idea,” said Monty. “You and I are officers of the law, Caleb. We take that cop ship over there and report this in. With both sides of the story on the Dione assault working together, we will be accepted back into their good graces.” He took a sip of water and looked at the others. “Just in case I’m wrong, we let you folks head out to whatever safety you choose and when the coast is clear; we’ll reach out to you.”
Caleb said, “Thanks, but I’m over being a cop.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Trey to Monty. “I need to connect with my parents. You can come too Stephanie. They’ve got to help some kids. Right?”
Stephanie spoke for the first time. “My aunt and uncle are in Hanson City.”
Monty patted the child on the shoulder. “Then you and Trey should come with us. I don’t see how it works without you Caleb.”
“If I may?” queried Bert. Everyone turned to the robot. “By calling in the nano assault, Mr. Teach will likely be legitimized in the eyes of the Hanson authorities.” He turned to Caleb. “On the other hand, if you no longer choose to be a policeman, Sire, then your choice is limited to being AWOL.”
“Who asked you?” said Caleb.
Bert cocked his head in surprise at himself. “No one, Sire. Forgive me. I have no excuse to explain my interruption.”
“The bot’s right,” said Monty.
“Bert if you don’t mind,” said the robot with a polite correction.
Monty gave the robot a queer look. “You’re an odd bot. Bert.” He looked squarely at Caleb. “You don’t go back with me, you become an outlaw.”
“Suits me.”
Monty growled in frustration, then looked at Saanvi. “You’re a legitimate doctor. You’re a pinnacle of society.”
Saanvi rolled her eyes. She had parlayed her experiences in Mumbai to become a well-established ENT specialist at a successful practice in Delhi. When she had arrived in Hanson those credentials became nearly worthless. The city was awash in doctors; the wealthy by far the bulk of the population. She cleaned apartments to get by. When the call went out for a general practitioner needed on Dione, she leaped at the opportunity, literally jumping on the first shuttle available, no questions asked. She’d be damned if she was going back to clean apartments in Hanson. Not that these people needed to be aware of that. She said, “Those Wang Fat bastards aren’t going to let witnesses live to tell the tale and spread the word of their actions. You might have a star to hide behind, Mister Teach, but I don’t. I’ll stay with Mr. Day.” She looked at Caleb. “Assuming that’s all right with you?”
Caleb shrugged. “Fine.” For the first time, he analyzed the doctor from a traveling companion point of view. The woman was beautiful. Big brown eyes capped by dense sharp eyebrows, high cheekbones, and white teeth. Beautiful white teeth. Her rack wasn’t half-bad, either. The butt, a little flat. But still, how had he not noticed before?
Jennifer said, “Me, too. I agree with the doc.”
Caleb felt a certain amount of Christmas cheer. He’d be traveling with two beautiful women.
Trey said, “I need to find my folks. I’m with you, Mr. Teach.”
“So what about you, Bob?” asked Monty. “You haven’t said a word.”
Bob had moved to a corner, away from the rest, his eyes staring at nothing in particular. He told them he would sleep on it. He was too distraught to consider anything big right now. They all agreed. Despite the long hibernation, everyone felt exhausted. They would sleep and make plans when they were fresh. Caleb secretly wished Bob would go with Monty. He fancied himself a dashing rogue with a pair of hot female outlaws at his side. A sad gay guy along for the ride tossed cold water all over his fantasy.
They were awakened hours later by the sound of the airlock door chiming. Caleb was able to scramble from his sleep sack first. He ran to the back of the ship into the prep room. Yellow lights flashed, warning that the airlock was in use. He peered through the observation window and watched in astonishment as Bob stepped naked out of the airlock and hit the door close button. He saw the man slowly slip off the edge of the ramp as the door shut. Monty scrambled up behind him, followed by Jennifer and the others. Caleb immediately began stepping into an exosuit hanging from a wall.
Bert said, “You will only be able to retrieve a body, sire. The time it takes to put on that suit and recycle the airlock is far more than your companion, Bob, will survive.”
Jennifer said, “Infected. Somehow the nanos have got in.”
“No, Jennifer,” said the bot. “He said he wanted it this way.”
“Who said?” asked Caleb.
Bert pointed in the general direction of the outside. “Your companion Bob.”
“He spoke to you?”
“Yes, sire.”
“And you let him walk out?”
“It was his choice, sire.”
Caleb pulled his leg back out of the exosuit. “You’re a fucking bot! You’re supposed to save lives.”
“My programing does not allow me to override the wishes of humans as to how they treat their own persons. It is essential to my ability to work as a member of the Saturn System. Mister Bob did not want to live without his husband. His choice, sire.”
Caleb let out a guilty sigh and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s
sir
, Bert, not
sire
. Call me sir.” He continued pulling the suit on. “I’ll, uh, I’ll drag him over to my old ship and put him inside with Rob.” He glanced at Jennifer. “And Dave.”
She looked at her feet. What else could she do?
Going back to bed seemed absurd, so instead they planned for their exit. Monty disconnected the shuttle’s transponder by writing code into the programming that made it read as if the transponder was still connected to the antenna array. It could easily be overridden if they chose to do so. He also took a quick walk over to the cop ship. His police issue exosuit had a biometric key built-in that gained him access, and he was able to confirm its fuels and provision.
Caleb couldn’t help but ask, “Did my suit have that key, too?”
Monty said, “If that was your assigned suit, then yes. It will only work on your living body, but it will open any cop ship.”
Caleb looked at Jennifer who was staring darts at him. “I didn’t know. I only got a month of training. What? You don’t think if I knew, I’d have gone straight for that option?”
She turned away from him and looked at Bert. “At least we met you. What do you wish to do, Bert?”
“I am not designed to make choices of free will, Jennifer. I can only follow the wishes and instructions of humans.”
“So if I ask you to come along with me, you would do it?”
Caleb groaned.
“I functioned as a personal assistant to Scientist Romano. As Scientist Romano is dead, my current function remains unstated. Scientist Romano neglected to arrange a beneficiary.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“I believe it means that I am free to join you if you command it.”
“Cool, then join me.”
“Yes, Jennifer.”
“Great,” said Caleb, slapping his hand to his forehead.
“I’m fine with it,” said Saanvi.
“Of course you are,” said Caleb.
Caleb, Saanvi, Jennifer, and Bert watched from the cockpit of the shuttle as Monty, Trey, and Stephanie blasted off in the cop ship to head back to Titan, Hanson City, and an uncertain fate.
Because Jennifer knew someone else in the pharmaceutical industry who had supposedly set up shop on a little moon called Albiorix, they chose to go there and hope for the best.
Even though Jennifer was a terrible pilot, she was the default copilot for the shuttle and settled herself in next to Caleb who was just fine with her company. Saanvi and Bert strapped into two of the twenty-five jump seats in the main compartment behind the cockpit.
With a quick punch from its belly thrusters, the shuttle shot straight up until it broke with most of Phoebe’s gravity field, then its rear rockets ignited to send it on its way. Outside, the event was utterly silent, a feast for the eyes only.
The food printer on the shuttle turned out to be a fancy model named after a video chef. The clever device took the fundamental building blocks for food and with astonishing speed, printed out and cooked various meals from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. It wasn’t the Jetsons, and it didn’t beat an old-fashioned frozen dinner, but it satisfied. Caleb, Jennifer, and Saanvi put on a couple of pounds each while they made the trip to the mini-moon Albiorix. Saanvi was naturally svelte, but the hibernation had made her look gaunt. Now, the new weight filled out her cheeks just enough to make her high cheekbones look chiseled not unhealthy, and her butt appeared a little less flat. Caleb caught himself regularly checking out the two women, made frustratingly easy by Jennifer, who insisted on floating around in her skivvies. The woman’s positively spectacular breasts were juxtaposed by boyish hips, but her skin was exceptionally smooth. Athletic, she had very full lips with striking light blue eyes. Saanvi was more modest; remaining in her standard jump suit, but jump suits were by nature, form-fitting. Caleb couldn’t help but compare her to a comic book super hero. She was
that
curvy, from the front anyway. Neither woman seemed to be offended by his stolen glances or so he assumed.
To maintain human circadian rhythms, all space ships and bases were capable of shifting the quality of light as the hours passed to mimic 24 hours on Earth. The human animal might be capable of conquering the vast reaches of space, but it still needed to maintain some semblance of the night-and-day pattern-response built into its DNA. So far, this remained true even for children born outside of the planet. At dinner one night, Saanvi noted Caleb’s appreciation for her breasts saying, “Look me in the eye, please, Caleb, at least while I am talking to you.”