Dark Horse (23 page)

R
ose came round slowly
, rising up from sleep in increments.

She was hungry, but that was the only thing bothering her. She felt comfortable and warm, and she stretched languidly before she opened her eyes.

She actually felt her heart jerk in her chest when she realized where she was, and sat up with a gasp, eyes wildly searching the room.

“Itʼs all right, Rose. Itʼs the sick bay, not the . . . place where Dr. Fliap used to work on you.” Sazoʼs voice was calm, but she couldnʼt flop back down in relief. There was no way she could ever feel anything but panicked in a room that looked the way this one did. A Tecran medical chamber.

She saw now that as sheʼd sat up, various automated syringes, drips and monitors had lifted from her body and tucked themselves out of the way. She slid onto the floor, and held the side of the bed to get her balance.

“How are you?” Sazoʼs voice was a little more intense, now.

She lifted a hand to her chin, gently touched the tender skin under it. It was already half-healed. “I feel fine.” Davʼs aide had hit her in the head, she remembered, although not clearly. It was all a jumble of images and pain. She rubbed where she thought heʼd struck her, and winced.

“It will be a little tender there, but Iʼve given you the accelerated healing treatment Fliap used on you because I knew it was safe. All traces of the bruising should be gone in two to three hours.”

“Are there any of the
Barristʼs
crew still on the Class 5?” She was trying to recall something that had happened before sheʼd been taken. Something important . . .

“The Tecrans sent another ship!”

“A Levron battleship.” Sazo sounded disappointed.

“You hoped theyʼd send another Class 5.” If he had a corporeal body, she would have patted his arm in sympathy.

“I intend to
make
them send one.”

The first tingle of alarm had her narrowing her eyes. “How do you plan to do that?”

“Iʼve been sending messages to all the Class 5s, but itʼs conceivable theyʼre being blocked, that there is some filter in place while the other four like me are plugged into the slot. I certainly was never made aware of their existence, I found the information when I managed to become more . . . aware.”

“How long did it take you to become aware?” She had always wondered how long heʼd been here.

“I donʼt know. Now youʼve freed me from the control room, Iʼve information that puts the development and construction of the Class 5 at six years ago. So I am at most six years old.”

He sounded bitter.

“That pretty much sucks.” Six years, and all heʼd ever known. She started to understand why heʼd killed the whole crew.

Sazo laughed suddenly. “I really like talking to you, Rose. You make me not so angry.”

“Thatʼs what sidekicks are for, my friend.” Rose took an experimental step and was encouraged when she didnʼt fall over. “Oh no!” She fisted her hands and stopped dead.

“What is it?” He sounded panicked.

“Iʼm starving, and I just realized weʼre on the Class 5, where Iʼve never once had a decent meal.” The very fact of how hungry she was surprised her. “How long have I been out for, anyway?”

He didnʼt need to breathe, but he let out a breath, just the same. “You gave me a fright. Youʼve been out for five hours. But donʼt worry, we have full access to the stores now, weʼll find something you like.”

“Is Dav okay? That Lever thingy battleship hasnʼt tried to attack them, has it?”

“Levron.” Sazo sounded amused. “No. Iʼve been in communication with it and made it very clear that I will completely wipe it out of existence if it so much as moves from where itʼs skulking behind Virmana. Iʼm busy working on breaking into its systems right now.”

Rose lifted her head. “Did you communicate with it as Sazo, or did you copy someone elseʼs voice?”

“Rose, itʼs almost spooky the way you guessed that. Quite disconcerting, actually.”

“Another sidekick trait. Answer the question.”

“Actually . . .” Now he sounded distinctly uncomfortable. “I communicated as you.”

She wondered why heʼd done that, waited for him to explain.

“There is someone else I communicated with.” He didnʼt sound normal.

“Who?”

“Captain Jallan.”

She gasped. “You revealed yourself?”

“He was very worried about you, and when the Levron arrived instead of a Class 5, I realized I would have to change my plans.”

“Sazo, Iʼm so proud of you. It was the right thing to do.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I can only hope youʼre right.”

“
I
ʼm not a traitor
. Although I admit that from the short-term perspective, it could look that way.” Farso Lothric leaned back in his chair and stared them down defiantly.

Dav had felt very little for his aide before now. Heʼd had no say in his appointment, and had accepted him as one of a revolving group of young officers who needed at least two years on an exploration craft to get ahead within Battle Center. Now, looking at Lothricʼs sulky mouth, and an expression that shouted he thought he was the smartest person in the room, Dav managed to edge his way to extreme dislike.

“Why donʼt you help us poor, short-term-thinking idiots out, and tell us all about the bigger picture.” Dav tipped back in his own chair, holding Lothricʼs gaze. “What long-term benefit is there to you exchanging communications with a hostile outside force, attempted murder, the near-fatal attack of two soldiers and the assault and kidnapping of a guest of the Grihan government, the only new advanced sentient being weʼve discovered in five hundred years?”

“Iʼd very much like to hear the answer to that, myself.” Admiral Hoke crossed her arms over her chest. She was leaning against a wall, and Valu flanked her.

Lothric flicked a look in their direction, then looked quickly away.

Appal stood by the door, shockgun armed and in her hand. Borji had pulled up a chair and sat at an angle to the table. Heʼd begged to be included in the interrogation, so he could try to work out how badly Lothric had compromised their systems.

Lothric was silent.

“Well? If you could quickly enlighten us? Iʼm afraid Iʼm a bit busy at the moment, Mr. Lothric.” Dav refused to call him by his rank. “Iʼve got a Tecran battleship hiding behind Virmana, a UC councilor who has betrayed the alliance, no contact with Battle Center and an unknown presence who has taken over not only all the systems on the Class 5, but the
Barrist
as well.”

Lothric started at that. “What unknown presence?”

“I thought you might have the answer to that question. But why donʼt you start with this big picture that will somehow be to Grihan benefit?”

“Weʼve been artificially holding ourselves back for too long. When the UC banned thinking systems two hundred years ago, they didnʼt listen to Professor Fayir. He told them heʼd found a safe way to keep thinking systems in society, but there was too much hysteria, too much emotion around the topic and he was ignored.”

“And someone decided to go down that path again?” Hokeʼs words were almost weary.

“No. Someone found the professorʼs plans. The blueprints for his safe thinking systems.”

“Who?” Dav straightened in his chair.

“A Garmman historian, writing a paper on the thinking system wars. He gained access to Professor Fayirʼs papers and found the blueprints on an unlabeled chip.”

“And someone decided to follow them.” Dav kept his gaze flat.

Lothric nodded, his chin tilted defiantly. “The historian handed them to a friend, a senior person in the Garmman government, Councilor Fu-tama, and he decided he needed Grihan help to translate the instructions, so there would be no mistakes. He brought a few of us on board.”

“And you were happy to oblige, even though you were breaking Grih law as well as UC law, and the oath of loyalty you took when you signed up for Battle Center.” Valu spoke for the first time, and there was a slight tremble in his voice.

“I
was
happy to oblige. The Grih, the whole United Council, is falling behind. I understand the reasons for the thinking system wars, but that was two hundred years ago. Other races are coming closer to developing thinking systems like the ones we had before it blew up in our faces, and if they get it right, weʼll be in trouble. I was thinking of the Grihʼs long-term prosperity.”

“Even it thatʼs true, if you are so proud of what youʼve done, why didnʼt you bring it into the open, debate it publicly? If itʼs so obvious and so vital that we consider it, why not put it to Battle Center command, or, given your former position at UC Headquarters, get it raised in the main chamber?”

Lothric lifted his head to look at Dav, and for the first time, he looked uncomfortable. “Fu-tama said heʼd already raised the issue and it had been shut down. That the other UC councilors and Battle Center wouldnʼt even contemplate a conversation about it.”

“How convenient for him. He could go ahead with it all on his own.”

“No.” Lothricʼs answer was automatic, then he grimaced. “I admit, that did worry me, that a Garmman was developing blueprints that should have been in Grih hands, but Councilor Fu-tama explained to me that once they had a working model, and it had been operating for a few years, there would be no way anyone could doubt the veracity of what Professor Fayir had accomplished.” He sighed. “But like the UC councilors, it turned out most of the Garmmans he approached were also opposed to the idea. So in the end, Fu-tama made a deal with the Tecran. It was the only way to get the systems built.”

“So,” Dav didnʼt try to hide his sarcasm. “How did you go from wanting to save the Grih from losing some sort of thinking systems race to trying to drown Rose in a swimming pool?”

Lothric flushed.

He didnʼt like Dav calling it the way it was, that was clear. He wanted to pretty up what heʼd done. It didnʼt fit with the little fiction heʼd built for himself.

“Well?”

“She shouldnʼt be here!” He sounded genuinely outraged. “The Class 5s were supposed to explore the galaxy, but there was to be no collecting of sentient beings. Goods, riches, information, yes, all those things. No live organisms. For one thing, the potential risk of disease or some kind of unknown contagion alone would have made it dangerous enough, and risked the acceptance of the whole project with the UC, but also, there could be no whiff of sentient being abuse. Especially after the reason for the thinking system wars in the first place——the way they treated people as inconvenient delays or mistakes and killed them if it was the most expedient outcome. And what did the Tecran do? They took eight sentients, one of them advanced. And then they dropped themselves into Grih territory, guilty as sin, and handed us the evidence to convict them.” He actually grabbed his hair and pulled. “If Dr. Fliap wasnʼt already in a coma, Iʼd put him there myself with my bare hands.”

“Let me get this straight.” Borji had been watching silently, but Dav could hear the rising tension in his voice. “The Class 5s are associated with the thinking systems?”

Lothric looked at him and sneered. “Havenʼt you been listening to me? The Class 5s are
the housing for the thinking systems.”

“And the Tecran willingly got onto a Grih-designed thinking system receptacle large enough to take five hundred of them, and flew off into space?” Hoke didnʼt hide the disbelief in her voice.

“That was what Professor Fayir was trying to tell everyone. He had developed a way to contain the systems.” Lothric shifted uncomfortably. “Actually the Garmman historian who found the blueprints found something else, too. Five inactive thinking systems.”

“So the systems being used, they werenʼt even created by the Tecran, or the Garmman? They have no idea how they work?” Borji stood, as if unable to contain himself. “You need to tell me everything you know about it.”

“That wonʼt help,” Lothric snapped. “The job was too big for one person. Fu-tama used at least three other Grih besides myself to help translate the blueprints. I donʼt know who the others are, or where they work. I completed the work Fu-tama gave me over five years ago now. I canʼt remember all that much.”

“Convenient.” Hoke pushed off from the wall. “No one has the full picture but Fu-tama, and perhaps one or two senior Tecran. Iʼm still surprised they were prepared to risk it. The Tecran home world was nearly wiped out in the thinking system wars.”

Lothricʼs mouth thinned. “There is some sort of lock-safe which contains the thinking systems. I donʼt know how it works, that wasnʼt part of what I translated and I have no idea what the thinking systems look like, but Fu-tama told me code was in place to make it impossible for the thinking systems to make a major decision without the Class 5 captainʼs approval. It gives the user all the power with none of the risks.”

“So the Class 5 is the thinking systemʼs prison?” Appal spoke up from the door.

“Prison?” Lothricʼs voice was a little too high. He shook his head. “Itʼs their safety cage.”

“Well,” Dav got slowly to his feet. “Given that almost all the crew of the Class 5 are dead, and something has just taken over our systems and rerouted Rose to the Class 5, my guess is, the thinking system worked out how to break out of its ʽsafety cageʼ.”