The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [67]
‘Ah, I see – you would rather use them aboard Heracles than deploy them against the mystery leviathans?’ The sim nodded. ‘Yes, their inertial u-fields can be merged with the ship’s, as I understand it.’
‘Good,’ said Velazquez, turning to Robert. ‘Mr Bauer, we’ve not had much opportunity to get acquainted but going by the ambassador’s tales you have already put yourself in harm’s way on more than one occasion on behalf of Darien and Earthsphere.’ A smile creased the man’s craggy features. ‘And I must say, I wish it were me heading for this gateway, but I am sure that the Construct was wise in choosing you for this mission. Good luck to you, sir – may God come between you and danger in all the dark places you must walk.’
There were brief, firm handshakes which Robert chose to see as brotherly rather than valedictory. Ten minutes later he was down in the Heracles’ high, narrow hold, climbing into the belly of the Construct scout tiership. Locked into a cradle berth, the craft’s thruster sponsons and prow-mounted, fan-shaped sensor emitter made it look like a pale blue turtle with big back legs. From his adventures aboard the Plausible Response, however, he knew that the hull configuration could be altered as and when required.
The ambassador sim’s face was watching him from a secondary monitor as he clambered into the pilot recess and eased back in the couch.
‘Wish I was going with you,’ the sim said. ‘Well, in the flesh at least.’
Robert smiled. It had taken some determined getting used to but seeing the aged appearance of his earlier self no longer sent chilly fingers up his spine.
‘How long?’ he said.
The sim glanced sideways at another display for a second. ‘Ninety-eight seconds till we jump,’ it said. ‘You’ll see that most systems are on standby, and the ident has been disabled – on arrival you’ll be berth-launched with engines dead. Heracles, on the other hand, will be making plenty of wideband noise to draw off the creatures. The scout’s passive sensors will be monitoring the diversion and when your vicinity is clear the systems will be brought online and the thrusters will go for a fast burn to get you to the anomaly quickly.’ The sim gave a somewhat mischievous smile. ‘That is all. Safe journey – and see you soon.’
The screen went blank. Robert shook his head, wondering what the sim was planning. As the seconds ticked away he could feel a tense fear building in his chest, fear and a dull dread. Perversely, he laughed and shook his head. After all the tight spots and life-or-death situations, you’d think I’d be used to it …
The hyperspace jump caught him by surprise, the usual twist of vertigo and a ripple of indeterminate sensations. Before him, the main holoplane shrank to a standby bar while part of the cockpit quivered into transparency, showing him the hold of the Heracles. And the Construct craft was being tilted forward to point at the deck as it began to open, heavy pressure doors sliding to either side. Robert could see the drag of evacuating air making net-lashed crates shift on the wall racks.
There was a deep grinding sound, a harsh whine, and the scout shot forward, straight out of the hold. Robert, already strapped in, was shoved back into the couch by the force of the launch. The frontal pressure eased after a moment or two, followed by an odd, muffling silence. Interior lights were muted to some console glows and a few button symbols. One status display on the secondary screen showed that the ship was spinning slowly around its axis as it flew forward at a laggard 43 metres per second.
In the hush, thoughts pestered him. Thus far, the Construct had made two sim versions of Rosa and two of himself, so far as he knew. In Earth culture, despite several decades of embedded AI use, the creation, use and abuse of intelligent software entities was hedged around with questions of morality, both religious and secular. Robert had grown up with his AI companion, Harry, until it was expunged by the Sentinel of the warpwell on Darien. Was he really in any position to decry the Construct for creating