Authors: Steve Wheeler
At any other time, Marko would have been overwhelmed by the compliment but he was just too tired. ‘Right. Patrick, please start waking Jan, Julie Mapp and Major van Beere. Please pass our thanks and debt to
Chrysanthemum,
Jasmine.’
She smiled at him. ‘Done. He passes on his best wishes and wants to meet you in person someday soon. He is leaving now. He also passes on his thanks for a dog you made for him a long time ago. It is his constant companion. He regrets that he altered part of its programming so that it no longer reports back to you.’
‘Ha,’ Marko exclaimed. ‘Always wondered what happened to that one.’
Patrick then spoke. ‘The unit manufactured for the testing of the remains of the urchin colonel will dock in twelve minutes. I have instructed it to dock with the ship
Crystal.
Your requirements, please, Marko?’
Marko sighed, then quietly said, ‘Patrick, how soon before I can have something to eat? I really need sustenance. What about the emergency rations?’
‘Fruit and nuts are the best we can do, Marko. A drone is en route with a fresh selection from the garden deck. That entire deck is free of any contamination, which is something I find most curious and worthy of my investigation. Maybe the colonel wanted it for herself?’
Marko immediately felt a little better. ‘Fruit! Excellent. Right now I will take anything, thanks.’
The drone arrived a few moments later and gave Marko a basket piled with fruit and nuts.
‘Right, Lilly, your first job for me, and yes it’s rude of me to ask, is to slice and dice and open these nuts, please.’
She merely smiled, nodded, and started preparing the pineapple since it was the juiciest of the lot. As he munched his way through a large plate of fruit and nuts, he had to laugh at his situation. Nuts! Berries, apples, oranges, the weird but delicious feijoas, and he was still in a prototype suit talking to a drop-dead gorgeous construct of a Hauler who was feeding him like some emperor of old. The Universe was definitely quite mad, but he now felt that he might actually survive the day.
‘OK, fellow sentients,’ he said. ‘Please forgive me as I munch and discuss what we need to do at the same time. Patrick, your priority is to decontaminate both ships. If you are not doing so already, use every resource available including all the spare drones. Lilly and Jasmine: learn as much as possible of what we are dealing with here. Catalogue and cross-reference everything. Break it down so that my feeble brain can assimilate it. Once finished, gather any contaminated material and use a Compressor on it. Topaz, Ernst: first find a cure for Stephine and Veg, then find out if we can extract the alien material from our fellow crew members and sort the ACEs.’
‘Marko, I have decontaminated a few hundred litres of water,’ Patrick reported. ‘You can shower if you wish. Your cabin has been checked and is also free of any contamination. I would prefer that your current suit be thoroughly cleaned before you walk around the ship any more. Strip and leave it where you are. I have had one piece of soap manufactured for your use. Do not be concerned if you feel a slight burning sensation when you use it. We start with you and clean everything. There is also a drink waiting for you in your cabin. Please consume it immediately. Ernst manufactured it for you.’
He walked naked up the few decks to the accommodation area, padded into his cabin and straight into the coral-lined shower. Just as he was about to turn it on he remembered the drink. It looked like a banana milkshake and tasted like one too. He climbed into the shower and scrubbed himself with the harsh medical soap that seemed to be peeling an entire layer of skin off him, because he was stinging all over. Scrubbing the area where the octopoid had touched him all those years earlier, he could just make out the five tiny marks. He wondered whether he should tell anyone about them, but decided that it was nice to have a little secret of his own considering the great number of them already on the ship.
He had the sudden urge to piss so did it right there in the shower, looking down and noting a very dark urine stream. This seemed unusual and he hoped the AIs were actually looking after him and that the whole performance was not some horrible trick on their part. Then he considered that if they had wanted him out of the picture they could have had him on ice a hundred times already. He dried off using the long soft fibrous towel which was growing from the wall, fully intending to climb into a ship suit and get back to work, but his bed suddenly looked hugely inviting.
‘Patrick, crew, I need sleep. Wake me in six hours, please.’
‘Yes, Marko,’ Patrick replied. ‘In fact, we shall wake you in ten hours. We are going to UV irradiate the ship. Your cabin has already been done. Sleep well.’
As sleep reached for him, he thought: The buggers wanted me out of the way, anyway.
He awoke to the extraordinary naked vision of Lilly standing beside his bed, slowly lifting one leg to rest on the mattress, opening herself up to him. Her body scent was simply superb.
‘Hello, Marko. Do you find me desirable?’
He decided that he was in a dream, thought ‘what the hell!’ and he pulled aside the silken living duvet for her to join him.
~ * ~
He awoke at the ship time of 7.00 a.m., remembering every detail of what he could only think was the most vividly erotic dream he had ever had because he could not detect any of Lilly’s delicious scent on him. As he showered, he put it down to a side effect of the previous days and possibly the drink that Ernst had made for him. He opened the wardrobe to find his suit folded and waiting with his favourite padded helm on top of it and decided that a housekeeping drone must have been in the room as everything was neat and tidied away. He picked up the suit, draped it around his shoulders. It activated, slid down and around him, sealing as it went, plugging into all his shunts, and as he lifted each foot in turn, the sleek boots formed over his feet. He slid his helm over his head as it too activated, contouring perfectly to his head, then when he thought the instruction it peeled back to roll down against his neck. He patted the suit, feeling the best he had in a long time.
Marko tapped the main wall screen. ‘Hello, Patrick. What is our status, please?’
‘Both ships are decontaminated. They are as clean as they have ever been. Jan, Julie and Jonathan will be fully functional in thirty-two hours. Food supplies are sufficient for the foreseeable future. All stored food is being reprocessed. Twenty per cent of water reserves have been processed and are now available. The information concerning the urchins, the cargo of the Hauler,
Cactus 3,
the escaped scientists and their probable location, is available to you. We have determined that the sick crew members can be cured of the urchin-based infections. It is a violent pathogen which ultimately takes over the host, creating a creature similar to the urchin colonel you killed.’
Marko stood very still, thinking about what the octopoids had given him years before, and that it was extraordinarily fortunate that he should have it, as Patrick continued. ‘We are still unable to determine why the real Colonel White is relatively intact. She is, however, compromised, and it is probably beyond the facilities we have here to clear her of her condition. We have started the warm-ups of the remaining crew and without waking them fully will place them in the tanks. We have initiated the growth of a new set of medical nanotes which we will inject into the crew members once they are supported by the fluid in the tanks and all their physical needs are taken care of. The nanotes will expedite the removal of the pathogen and then the healing of each member of the crew. The first ones will be members of the salvage crew; they will be cured in twenty-one standard days. Sergeant van Vinken and Warrant Officer Stevens will follow at twenty-four days. The major will not be rejoining us for twenty-nine days.’
Marko allowed himself a little smile.
‘Now, concerning Stephine and Veg,’ Patrick said. ‘We have isolated the pathogen that made them ill. It is a virulent form of an ancient disease. We can be thankful that
Chrysanthemum
is one of the oldest of the Haulers, with a great store of eclectic knowledge; we must also be thankful for Stephine’s deep study of plants, as each of them unwittingly held the necessary information to effect a cure. They will be joining us in a matter of days.’
Walking down to the main galley, Marko was cheerfully greeted by the two women, with Lilly enquiring if he had slept well. His heart skipped a beat, thinking of his dream, but he thought it would be rude to tell her about it so let it be, saying instead that he felt great. He started his day by making what he believed was a passable coffee, which Lilly and Jasmine pronounced horrible. The two of them were fascinated by the garden deck and its produce so they prepared good bread, some grown pork steaks, mashed potatoes, yellow beans and orange juice for lunch.
Lilly looked across at Marko with a huge smile on her face. ‘This is delicious, Marko. Jasmine and I are very happy to be here, just to experience this food.’
‘Without being rude, can I ask what you are? You seem human. The AIs treat you as standards, but you call yourself constructs. You’re obviously hellishly intelligent and carry considerable knowledge.’
The women smiled, showing perfect teeth, as Lilly answered. ‘Jasmine and I are basically human, Marko. The Haulers create their own crew, for whatever reasons they deem necessary.
Chrysanthemum
was a very wealthy man for a long time before he accepted the invitation to be grown into a Hauler and join the Collective. He had been asked to join them fifty years earlier. He had always surrounded himself with beautiful and intelligent women and didn’t see that becoming a Hauler should mean that he behave any differently. We are actually his great joys, as he loves to create very beautiful woman. Jasmine and I were created over twelve standard years ago. He constantly strives to find exotic genes for his next group of companions.’
Marko wondered what the ACEs would make of these two as Jasmine added, ‘As we have both been with him for twelve years, we were offered a post anywhere in the Sphere, whatever we chose, as
Chrysanthemum
insists that his companions have what he calls “real lives” as well. We chose to move over to
Basalt
and to be with you, because from what we have seen you are in the thick of developments and here seems to be an exciting place. Because we, as Hauler constructs, have been very efficiently made and have total control over our physical selves, we are able to withstand most things. We are also able to assimilate and actualise any skills necessary in a very short time. However, the only problem with any of this, Marko, is that our primary affiliation is to the Haulers. We must always defer to them; it is part of who we are. What do you know of them, Marko?’
He pursed his lips. ‘They are the ones who keep the entire fabric of humanity together by transporting cargos and information right across the Human Sphere of Influence. It is also believed that the Collective pretty much looks after humankind’s welfare. So where do Stephine and Veg fit into all of this?’
‘Lilly and I only know that Stephine is very important to the Haulers. We have been told that she is also a construct, made by another group of Haulers. Sorry, but we know nothing of this other group, only that they exist. The Collective knows of a few others like her and all are regarded as most precious, as all forms of life seem to flourish in their presence. That is why she is referred to as an Angel. Not as a mythical all-powerful Godlike being, but rather as a beautiful entity who creates and sustains life wherever she goes and by whatever means available to her.’
Marko slowly nodded, missing his other companions and wishing they were part of the conversation. ‘I understand ... well, I think I understand. So what’s next? I suppose that under the Administration protocols I am in charge of this ship, although I would much rather it was someone else. Do you all agree, until Major van Beere is with us? OK, conference time, fellows. Let us have a look at the data recovered from the Hauler core.’
~ * ~
Over the next ten hours, with breaks for exercise and a meal, they went through the data looking at the most relevant blocks.
‘So a few of the developers of some of the nastiest weapons from the Infant conflict are apparently alive.’ Marko said grimly. ‘They have created a whole series of even more potent biological weapons and are going to use them to destroy a world in order to teach the Administration a lesson for killing their system. They would regard it as a holy act. This is absolutely insane! Then again, Infant was an insane war as well. Why do these people still harbour such hatred? I seriously wonder sometimes if we should have allowed ourselves into the Universe. They have been developing a base at HD 69830, in secret, for over three years and their target delivery time is not known. The Haulers’ Collective can certainly create a task force and get them, but the timing ...? Patrick, how soon before
Cactus
3, with the Busters attached, is destroyed?’
They waited a few seconds before he replied. ‘That is an irrelevant question, Marko. Its speed is such that destruction is inevitable. The mass and inertia it now holds is so large that no technology we know of could alter its course significantly, or slow it down. It will impact the star in seventeen days, five hours, twenty-three minutes. The Administration orders were to witness the destruction. May I suggest that we leave a pair of astronomical drones here. They would record the event and we could return and uplift them after delivering the information we have to the Administration.’