Read Space Relics (Galactic Archaeology Book 1) Online
Authors: Nathan Duke
Is there anything worse than waking up to the pain of broken tissues, a buzzing in your ear, and a constant headache that feels as though an entire building had collapsed onto your head?
Rick had to stop doing whatever he’d done to end up aboard a transport shuttle and at Amy’s mercy. She was a good doctor, but she reprimanded him too much. He opened his eyes, and his eyelids almost fell back onto place. His eyes were heavy. Every single muscle in his body hurt.
He tried to sit up, but his body didn’t react and his head fell back down. Had he lost mobility?
Amy’s hologram stood to his right, staring down at him with both hands on her hips. She was annoyed, but she didn’t look too concerned by his paralysis. With some luck, it would be temporary. “Did you seriously expect me to leave your spine connected to the rest of your body?”
Curse her. The images appeared in his brain: the virus, Lord Baylor’s men, and Amy’s sonic attack. She hadn’t had enough by drilling his eardrums; she wanted to turn him into some sort of vegetable.
“Whatever you’ve done, revert it,” Rick said. “I need to stand up.”
“Revert it, revert it… Won’t you even say thank you for a change? You could’ve died!” She stared at him, and he stared back. Neither said a word. She finally exhaled and shook her head, ordering a robotic arm to do something behind Rick’s neck.
Something pierced through Rick’s neck and every nerve in his body shook violently. He groaned in pain, but his arms and legs moved again. He sat up, feeling the dried blood that had trickled down his neck and shirt. He tried to stand up, but his ribs sent a shock of pain through his body. He’d been wounded in the past, but this time was worse. “I feel as if the workshop had collapsed on me.”
“Well, it
did
collapse…” Amy said, turning her back to him to avoid making eye contact. “I may have overdone the rescuing part, but I
did
rescue you on time.”
Rick tried to complain again, but his chest hurt with every word he said. “I don’t know if it’s worth it.”
“Isn’t it?” she said cheerfully. “Why don’t you look around?” She gestured around her, but the transport shuttle was exactly like they’d left it before. “Well, not here. We’re aboard the Argonaut, thousands of miles away from the port. I managed to stop the virus on time and get her out of the workshop. I’ve even made a couple of those absurd and useless aesthetic upgrades that you humans love.”
A comfortable pilot’s seat?
Wait a minute. Rick didn’t care about those upgrades. He’d been close to death, and he had no idea of what had happened. The only one who knew was a mentally unstable AI who may have opted for something extremely stupid. She made that kind of choices; it was in her DNA. Or her source code.
He wanted to know what had happened, and he couldn’t let her dodge the topic.
“What about Lord Baylor and his men?” Rick asked.
“Well, I did rescue them too… I may have been too slow, and they’ll be in hospital for a couple of months, but they’ll be like new. Just like Lucas, only that they’ll take longer to heal.”
“Just about enough time to give us a head start, huh?” It was amazing that she was starting to understand the concepts of real versus expected priorities. Were computers supposed to learn those things?
“A head start for what, Richard?” she said.
“To run back to Earth and sell the stone.” He didn’t dare to ask. She couldn’t have saved everyone and then forgotten to take the stone before leaving. If she’d left it there, someone would’ve taken it as soon as they’d left.
“What stone?” she said.
No, no, no. That couldn’t be happening.
Her lips broadened into a mischievous smile. “I want you to invest half of it in improving the Argonaut. And I want a robotic body. I’m tired of being a hologram. I want to slap you when you’re being stupid.”
Was she really making demands? She was supposed to be serving him, not the other way round.
Well, if it was a matter of bartering, they could always reach an agreement. “I’ll pay half of it as taxes, and Lucas will get some, too. I’ll invest 50% of my share on the ship, and you don’t get a robotic avatar. Hitting the captain is grounds for a court-martial.”
“You know I could choose not to give you the stone, don’t you?”
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“I’m informing you of my options, Richard. Artificial intelligences do not resort to blackmail. It would be a horribly low move.” She smirked at him and sat on the seats across the transport shuttle’s room.
Indeed. A very low move.
Richard groaned. The last thing he needed was a real, robotic avatar chasing him everywhere.
She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “I’ll accept 50% as long as my avatar comes first.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ve always wanted to have real hair that didn’t always look perfect. The beauty of imperfection and ephemeral objects.”
He didn’t have a choice, did he? He’d have to bribe a computer to get his share of the loot. Working with Amy was like marrying without a prenup; you never knew how much of your fortune she’d expect.
“You’d make an awesome pirate,” he said, yielding to her demands.
“Piracy is illegal,” she said matter-of-factly. “Everything I’m doing is perfectly legal. I’m using information I have to get an economic compensation. That is the basis of Wall Street, isn’t it?”
The next time Rick bought an AI, he was going to get one that didn’t learn from the people nearby. Amy had learned far too much to be a reliable companion.
“Would you like anything else?” he said. “A house by the beach? Real estate on one of the Gliese colonies?”
“Just take us back to Earth, Captain.” She highlighted his rank as if he were the one in charge. “I’ll start working on my avatar design in the meantime.” She turned on several screens and began generating holographic 3D models of her uniform. She looked perfect as she was, but she was even more image-concerned than most teenaged girls.
Rick walked over to the pilot’s seat and connected the transport shuttle to the Argonaut. They were in the hangar and he should’ve walked out, but his body stung too much to walk. It was best to fly the Argonaut from there until he recovered.
“Richard,” Amy sang. “We’d make a good duo, you and I. Why don’t you make a site on the Net and advertise us as
A & R Associates, specialist bounty hunters
?”
No, there was no way that Rick was doing anything borderline illegal. Not anymore. He ignored Amy and continued plotting a course back to Earth.
“Richard,” she insisted. “And what about starting a martial arts school with the money? You’d make a fine teacher, and you could use your students to chase after bad guys.”
Ugh. No, no martial arts, no schools, and no going after anyone. Rick had been too close to death that time, and he didn’t want to take more risks. He turned off Amy’s volume and focused on the navigation screens.
“Don’t mute me, Richard,” she said. “You know I can override this whenever I want.” She sat on the copilot’s seat beside him. “And what about posing as a couple and robbing banks? We’d be amazing at it, and it suits you better than being a boring archaeologist.” She grinned at him, but he didn’t say anything. “And becoming private investigators? They chase after bad guys, fight every once in a while, and get paid for travelling around the galaxy.” She didn’t lose any excitement despite how annoyed she’d been only minutes before. She waved her hand in front of him to catch his attention. “Mercenaries? We have a ship and we’re good with weapons.”
No, not mercenaries, nor private investigators, nor robbers. Rick wanted to sell the stone and hopefully retire on that money.
Amy didn’t care what he wanted. And she never got tired because she was a computer.
It was going to be a long journey.
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Copyright © 2015 Nathan Duke.
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