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“Nope,” I said.

  “Onward!” proclaimed Steve, and we set off into the deep darkness.

  Our suit lights didn't reach as far as I'd have liked. We only had one portable, but we didn’t take it since we decided Anne would need it more than we did.

  In the dark, it took almost thirty minutes for us to find the engineering control console in the docking bay.

  Steve tapped my shoulder and pointed at a bloodstain on the console.

  I nodded. “Maybe a mutiny?” I asked.

  “I wouldn't rule out anything at this point,” said Steve. “Leadership has its hands in a lot of pockets. Some willingly, some through other means like threats and blackmail.”

  I stopped and turned toward him. “Steve, I don't want to come off as insensitive, but what did your sister find?”

  He hesitated for several moments. “If I tell you, it'll put you in danger as well.”

  “I'm already in danger, remember? They would have blown up the Strider whether you were on board or not.”

  He considered that for a moment. “Okay, you're right,” he said. “She found proof that the Colonial Oversight Committee was directly involved with the deaths of many political opponents.”

  “The pirates?” I asked, piecing the pieces together. “They're funding the pirates in exchange for doing their dirty work.”

  Steve nodded. “She hacked into the computer system of the government office she worked at. When she ran with the proof, the pirates showed up unprovoked and destroyed her transport, along with ten others who happened to be on board.”

  “You know,” I said. “The captain’s journal from the Grey Wolf may still be intact.” I saw his eyes open wide through his visor as he realized the implications. “I bet you it has something on it that would explain what happened here.”

  “And connect it back to the colony,” he said. “Sounds like a plan to me. But first, we have to get the lights on and get ready for company.”

  The engineering console was a bust. Even powering it from our suits, we couldn't get it to fire up. We headed onward until we found markings painted on the walls dictating what each deck did, as well as which way to go.

  On the way, we found a few metal pipes randomly discarded in a hallway.

  I pointed at them and Steve nodded. These would make decent weapons, should we need them. With the pipe in one hand and the case with the neural interface equipment in the other, we set off in search of the engineering room and computer core.

  8

  Through the window, we could see that the engineering room was spotless. That was likely due to the fact that the doors had been sealed.

  We found a manual release panel and unlocked the door. With some effort from the two of us, we managed to pry the door enough to get some leverage with the pipes. After we exerted more effort than we would have liked to exert in our space suits, the door slowly slid open in its track. We squeezed past the half-open door and looked around the room.

  “You could almost eat off this console,” said Steve. “The place is spotless.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You think it's a little weird? I mean, it's so well maintained, and they just abandoned it.”

  “Bigger wheels turning than we can see,” he said. “Next round of drinks says they were ordered to abandon ship.”

  “What would be the point?” I asked. “Why shut down and abandon a perfectly good freighter and create a pirate gang?”

  Steve considered that for several moments while I tinkered with the backup console power. “Well,” he said. “There was a book about socialism my dad had me read. I think it was written in the nineteenth or twentieth century.”

  “What was it about?” I asked.

  “Socialism and totalitarianism, I think. It went on and on about certain conditions that had to be achieved in order to make a police state and have total authority of the people.”

  “What's a state?”

  “On Earth, they separated the continents into countries and those into states. Below those were counties, then cities, then districts, I think it was.”

  “This is all new to me,” I said. “I guess that's the difference with an education.”

  “That's another thing the book said. Someone who's poor, uneducated, and desperate won't rise up against a government who's giving them almost everything they need to survive.”

  “That sounds like a load of crap if you ask me.”

  “Yeah, but it worked. Every time some dictator put it to use, he had his entire country under their thumb. Anyhow, a police state was essentially where the law controlled everything a citizen could do.”

  “Like the colony?” I asked.

  “Like the colony,” he said flatly.

  “So, you think that's what this is all about? Control?”

  “I'm almost willing to bet my life on it,” he said.

  “Damn…” I said. “You're serious.”

  “As I said earlier, my sister found proof,” he said. “I'll expose them some day, and the people will realize what's been happening right under their noses.”

  “Hell, I just wanted to capture an asteroid and take it back to the colony ship and fix it up with all the extra resources. But if you're right, it'd be just like this freighter. Stashed away somewhere to keep the people trapped.”

  Steve nodded. “Now you're starting to get how they think.”

  “I almost have the console working,” I said as I connected the last few jumper wires to our suits’ power packs. A light began to glow on the console, and I pressed it. I watched my suit's power indicator drop by half almost instantly.

  “Whoa, my battery just about crapped itself,” said Steve. “We aren't going to have long like this.”

  “I know, mine too. Give me a second.” The controls were similar enough to the Strider's that I managed to blunder my way around. After several moments, the console came to life, and a crude menu appeared. “There we go.”

  I pressed the item labeled “SOLAR ARRAY,” and it moved into a submenu. I pressed the “INITIATE CONNECTION” item, and a circle started spinning. “PLEASE WAIT,” it read.

  “That looks promising,” said Steve.

  “"So far, so good,” I said. The screen switched, and it showed a bar graph with “CHARGING” in big yellow letters. When it hit two percent, the room's red emergency lights slowly faded on. I disconnected the links to our suits. The door hissed shut, and I could hear air pumping into the room. The windows instantly misted over and then froze.

  “Nice!” yelled Steve into the suit's comm system. I checked the atmospheric analyzer on my wrist, and it said that the air was breathable. I pointed at it and gave Steve a thumbs-up. I slowly removed my helmet. It let out a hiss as the bone-chilling air hit my face. Steve also removed his helmet.

  “Christ it's cold,” he said, breath visible in the frigid air. “Good thing the suit heaters keep working even with the helmets off.”

  "Yeah, thankfully. It'll be a while before we get enough power to run anything like ventilation and heating, but at least we have air in here. Let's get the gear set up and see what we have to work with.

  We spent the next twenty minutes taking off the upper half of my suit and making sure the gear interfaced with the console. The solar system was charging the ancient battery banks somewhere in the deep bowels of the ship. With any luck, they’d be able to power enough of the subsystems to jumpstart the reactor.

  “You ready to Dive into a ship that’s been offline for years?” asked Steve.

  “Ready as I’m gonna be,” I said. “As long as the engines and reactor are okay, we should be fine.”

  “Let’s hope,” he said. We connected the last cables, and I put the interface helmet on.

  The system slowly came online. It left me feeling like I was floating in a void, disconnected from everything. A glimmer of light caught my attention. The engineering console. When I reached toward it, limited sensory data flooded my mind. I could see the solar panels feeding energy to the battery b
anks.

  The console connected to several other systems that were all powered off but within reach. I found the reactor and focused on it. Its maintenance subsystem came to life and started running diagnostics on the core. I checked the reactor fuel level. Holy crap. The isotope tank is full!

  As I waited for the reactor diagnostics to complete, I moved onto the engines and started the self-check system there as well.

  I moved onto shipboard comms and brought them online. “Steve, can you hear me?”

  “A bit staticky, but I hear you,” he responded, also crackly. “Same kind of interference as the suit comms. I wonder what’s causing it?”

  “Who knows,” I responded. “Could be anything.”

  “How are things looking in there?” he asked.

  “Not sure so far. I’m running diagnostics on the engines and reactor at the moment. Have comms, obviously. Anything I should focus on next while we wait?”

  “Yeah, check the weapons systems,” he said. “And see if there are any messages left by the crew.”

  “Will do,” I said. I found the weapons quickly and ran through the list of available hardware. “Looks like there’s turrets fore and aft. And something called a…rail cannon? What the hell is a rail cannon?”

  “Holy hell,” breathed Steve. “A rail cannon is a big cannon that fires a projectile using electromagnets. It’s basically like a cargo mass driver but a lot faster and more power hungry.”

  “Wow,” I said. “How big?”

  “Big. It’s a capital ship weapon,” he said, “big enough to easily take out a freighter. Or a colony ship.”

  9

  “A freighter wouldn’t have a big enough reactor to power a mass driver. If it’s as powerful as you’re implying, how could they fire it?” I asked.

  “No idea,” he replied. “Maybe they were transporting it?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s hardwired into the shipboard network. If I had enough power, I could fire it.”

  “Definitely odd,” he replied.

  I moved onto the sensor system. I actually had enough power to bring the internal sensors online. Information started bombarding me from every direction as the system scanned the ship deck by deck. Except for one deck section. For a second, I was disoriented, but it passed.

  “I have sensors,” I said. “Except one area, they’re apparently manually disconnected. It’s a big section too, about a hundred sixty meters long.”

  “They had to be hiding something there. We’ll have to check that out once things settle down.”

  If the previous things weren't a red flag, what I found next should have been labeled with flashing neon signs. “Steve, the captain's journal has been wiped.”

  Steve swore loudly for several minutes. I ignored him. Some part of the interface processor gave me an idea. I swear it was trying to help me, but I was just out of reach.

  On instinct, I made a duplicate copy of the space where the journal was stored and sent it to my helmet for the processor to start reconstructing. With any luck, it would be able to put back together at least something useful.

  I increased the resolution another percent and barely felt the difference. Taking a chance, I cranked it up to forty-five percent and felt the familiar vertigo from before.

  The occasional thoughts became a whisper of a voice, warning me that I was past the acceptable risk threshold. I'm fine, I thought.

  “Only because the freighter's systems are offline. As they activate, you will experience major discomfort,” whispered the voice.

  Wait, what the hell? Who are you?

  “I am a Strategic Artificial Military Intelligence. Or Sami for short, if your limited compression needs an acronym,” whispered Sami.

  Wow, kind of a smart ass, aren't you?

  “Irrelevant. I serve a purpose. If you wish to use my faculties, you will, as they say, get over it,” he whispered.

  Fair enough. Why are you whispering?

  “As you increase the resolution, more of my being will become available to you. I'm sure you remember our introduction,” he whispered.

  Oh. The first time…that was you. Yeah, won't be forgetting that for a while.

  “I thought not. You will be pleased to find that the captain's journal is not entirely a lost cause. However, most of it is garbage.”

  Let me know when you have something.

  “Acknowledged. Also, the reactor diagnostics are complete.”

  I focused my mind on the reactor, and the information came to me. “There's nothing wrong with the reactor. It's ready to fire up,” I said. I primed the coolant flow and started the neutron injectors.

  The hum of the reactor began to pulse, like a heartbeat. It grew in intensity and speed until it reached a steady rhythm. Graphs of statistics appeared in my mind, reporting efficiency ratings and outputs and fuel usage.

  Really wish I could comprehend most of this. Clarity focused my thoughts, and suddenly, the information made sense. Sami? Was that your doing?

  “Of course. Did you think you had a moment of clairvoyance, perhaps?” he asked in the most condescending tone I'd heard.

  How?

  “Your mind is untrained, not handicapped. I simply taught you what the information means and why it's relevant,” whispered Sami.

  Oh. Well, that wasn't too bad. What else you have in there?

  ‘Two hundred ninety-seven petabytes of human knowledge. Your brain would most surely be handicapped if I simply transferred it to you all at once. Best to spoon-feed you for the time being.”

  Uh, yeah. Please don't fry my brain.

  “Noted,” whispered Sami.

  From my newly gained knowledge, I could tell the reactor was in great shape but in need of a minor tune-up. I connected the reactor to the ship’s energy grid and felt the surge as life energy began to flow out to the ship.

  I closed the docking bay doors and sealed all outer hatches. The freighter would pressurize in a while, and then the reactor cooling system would funnel heat throughout, providing a comfortable working environment.

  I turned my attention to the engines. The diagnostics looked fine; however, they wouldn't fire. Sami, what am I missing?

  “Scanning. Stand by,” he whispered.

  I started running sensor sweeps both inside and out. Might as well put my time to good use. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary other than the antenna array being manually disconnected.

  “Diagnostics complete. Antiquated fusion drive. Massive power surge needed to ignite engine cores. Estimated time until critical charge: Thirty minutes,” whispered Sami.

  Thanks. Is there anything else I can do in the meantime?

  “Negative. Your sister would likely appreciate some assistance, however,” whispered Sami. “And according to your biological requirements, you need fuel.”

  All right. I’ll head back to the ship then.

  I unlinked from the engineering console. Steve startled when I came out and removed his helmet. “Sorry,” he said. “Got really damned cold. I see the lights are on, good news?”

  I nodded as I packed up my gear. “Yeah, reactor’s cooking, engines are charging. Will be about thirty minutes or so before we can fire them up.”

  “What about the heaters?” he asked.

  “Those should be turning on sometime soon,” I said. “The ship’s pressurized, and the battery banks are charging up. With the reactor spinning up, it’ll only be a matter of time before heat is siphoned off of the cooling system and diverted to the rest of the ship.”

  “Huh…” he said.

  “What?”

  “You seem…different. I’m not quite sure how.”

  I smiled. “Just got a little smarter is all,” I said, smile turning into a grin. His eyebrows shot up. “You coming?” I asked, heading back toward the docking bay.

  10

  The freighter was a lot less spooky with the lights on. Even the massive docking bay just looked like a deserted ship instead of a haunted death t
rap. By the time we got back to the Strider, Anne had the power restored. The running lights glowed softly, and steam was slowly misting off the engine exhaust vents. The Strider still lived.

  The airlock was now closed as we approached the ship. I hit the button, and the light on the panel turned green. The door hissed open and waited for us to enter. Steve went first, and the door hissed shut behind me. We immediately began removing our suits as the interior door hissed open. After stashing our suits in our ship's cargo compartment, we headed into the main room where we found Anne, elbow deep in synapse cabling.

  “Having fun?” I asked. I dodged a wrench that was within her reach. “Guess not.” I laughed.

  “How's the ship?” asked Steve.

  “Fine, no thanks to you two,” she snapped. “I saw the docking bay lights come on. I assume it's safe to breathe out there?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, it's safe. The main engines should be ready to fire up in about twenty minutes, give or take. Figured we’d come back and lend a hand while they charge.”

  “Good,” she said. “See what you can do with the computer. I'm gonna head outside and work on the main power conduit.”

  “All right,” I said. “Be careful.” A sudden thought hit me. “Steve, can you go with her and take some synapse cabling and some power conduit and hook the Strider to the Grey Wolf?”

  “You want to hook the two ships together?” he asked.

  “Yeah, the freighter’s reactor will relieve the strain on ours, and I'll have access to its network so I can work on it from here.”

  “Will do,” he said as he grabbed bundles of cable from the storage cabinet. He followed Anne outside as they chit-chatted about what he’d seen on the way to the engineering room.

  Steve popped his head in as I connected to the Strider’s network. “The ships are connected, and power is flowing,” he said.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Keep an eye on her. I’m still a little creeped out.”

  He nodded. “Will do.”

  I connected to the system and was greeted by unease and pain. Damn. That drone really did some damage.