Whisper & Fury: Eydulan Series Book 1 (5 page)

The air leaking out of her ship pushes her away, and the tips of her fingers barely miss the edge of the door frame. Her heart sinks as the realization of failure hits her. This was it, this was all she could do. She was angry, sad, afraid, and disappointed in herself. This wasn’t how she imagined it all would end. She wanted to be sitting on a porch on some distant world, with her husband sitting next to her and kids running around a yard.

Waiting for her life to flash before her eyes, she sees Crucible’s engines fire up like a firework show, and the ship rolls toward her. She passes through the outer door upside down, and slams into the wall, only to hit her head on the floor as the door seals shut.

Whisper’s says concerned, “Are you alright Kat?”

“You couldn’t be a little gentler could you?”

“Oh good, sarcasm. Next time I’ll leave you out there for a minute or two longer so you can line up with the door better.”

“No thanks, that is the last time I’m pulling that stunt.” Kat stands and looks out the porthole, and can see the Mars Security Forces ship pulling away with the box inside the folded up bridge. “Whisper, pull us a safe distance away from that ship, and ready the FTL drives. Fury ready the weapons. This is about to get crazier than a wizard’s hundredth birthday.”

Kat gets off the ground, and heads to the bridge. The bomb was going to explode any minute now and she needs to be in that chair ready to go before it does. If she isn’t, it might be a bumpy ride. She falls into the door as the ship flies forward from another barrage of attacks.

Alarms are sounding off over Whispers voice, “Shields off line, with minor damage to the hull. The FTL drives are still functional, barely, but I don’t know if the ship can handle a jump.”

“Fury, ready the guns with cryo shells. We’re about to blast a hole through them.”

“Alright Kat, but calibrations aren’t finished yet.”

“That’s fine, I just need them to move out of the way. I don’t really want to start a war with Mars.”

Whisper says in a panic, “Mars ships preparing to fire.”

Kat grabs the grip of Fury, and the targeting reticle appears on the main screen. She aims the main cannons at the ship that tried to board hers. “Whisper get ready to for the FTL jump, once I make the opening.”

“This is going to be too close Kat.”

“It’s going to work, trust me.”

She pulls the trigger. Two shells leave the cannons grazing the shield of the targeted Martian ship. Each shell explodes against it as the outside of the hull gets splashed with a liquid. The Martian ship freezes, and a moment later an explosion takes out the bottom half of the ship.

“NOW Whisper!”

Each other Martian ship opens fire on the Crucible with full barrages. Explosions rock the ship on either side, narrowly missing Crucible. Kat slams up against the right of the captains chair. She feels an acceleration in the pit of her stomach as the FTL drives engage at full power. With the shields down, there is a rumble across the ship that worsens until the ship breaks into FTL speeds. Her stomach settles and she slinks into her chair.

Whisper says, “You know, now that is all out of the way, it might be a good time to take those pills the doctor gave you.”

Kat lets her head rest against the back of the chair. She just wants one minute with out anything shooting, exploding, or asking her questions.

She takes a calming breath, and says “I can’t trust that doctor, he was under employed by Mallory. If those drugs have Compel in it… wait a minute. What if Gravan has the pheromone half, and I just brought him on board. They could be tracking him, or something else.”

“Where’s this paranoia coming from. Gravan the monkey won’t be going anywhere for a long time. I just preformed major heart surgery on him to take out that bomb. I’m also monitoring all the com channels in and out of the ship. Right now nothing is leaving this ship. Also if you don’t take those pills your arms, and right leg are going to fall off.”

Kat rolls her eyes, “The doctor said if my body rejects the cybernetics that could happen. It isn’t a guarantee.”

“What about all of that itching you did back when you picked up Fury, and after Gravan shot you?”

“Fine, but not until you have the things examined, and are sure that Compel isn’t in them.”

Kat takes a few minutes to compose herself and her thoughts. She just fired on a Mars Security ship. This was not the way she had planed on rescuing Fury, but it’s done. She still has conflicting feelings on what she should do next. There are two uninhibited AI’s with her, and she can’t just turn them in to the Earth Forces if she would report back. They would destroy them, or worse, put heavy restrictions on them.

Revenge was the next thought that crosses her mind. Mallory dead at her feet, bleeding out from the wounds she gave him. Then what to do about Gravan. He was being controlled just like she was, but she still doesn’t know where his loyalties lie. The doors to the medical bay swoosh open, and she can see Gravan laying on the table with a blue sheet over his chest.

Kat says, “Whisper have you finished looking over the medications I received yet?”

“Should be done in a few more minutes, why?”

“I just don’t want to be too close to this guy, what if he wakes up?”

“He’s going to be out for at least a few more days still. He’s receiving some sedatives to keep him docile, just in case, and to help him heal for the first few days. There isn’t anything to worry about. He couldn’t even get off that table even if he did wake up.”

“Well I still feel uncomfortable here in this small ship with a man I don’t know on board.”

“This ship has over twenty thousand cubic feet of available space.”

“That’s not what I meant Whisper.”

“Then why did you bring him on board.”

“I don’t know. It felt right at the time, but now it doesn’t. I have the right to change my mind when I want.”

“Monkeys, I will never understand you monkeys.”

Kat glares at the camera in the corner of the room. “What
ever
.”

“There is something else I would like to talk with you about.”

“Oh God, what?”

“I would like to monitor your vitals. You are my only connection to the physical world, and if something happens to you, or the bangle I’m housed in.” Whisper pauses, “I’m concerned is all. If you lose your limbs that could mean your facial prosthetics could be next, and that would be something fatal for a monkey like you.”

“You know what, you’re right. Go ahead. If there is something alarming to you, tell me.”

A few days past, and the Crucible goes though a few more FTL jumps to make sure the Mars security forces weren’t able to follow them. There was nothing to do on the ship. No internet connection, no tv, not even any books. Kat just stared at the stars from the cockpit, thinking about the next move, whatever that might be.

The fifteenth night comes along, and she starts to go crazy. They had just finished their seventh jump for the day, and her stomach was feeling queasy. She goes to bed early that day, not really knowing what time it was, just knowing that she was tired.

Whisper wakes her up a few hours later. “Kat there is something that is concerning me about your health.”

Kat raises her head out of the bed, still groggy from being woken up. “What is it?” She asks, while rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and slobber from her mouth.

“You’ve been taking the pills for your cybernetics, and everything seems alright, but you have been moping around for the last couple of days. Your mental health is not in a good state.”

“Yes well there isn’t anything for me to do in this box.”

“There is something else that’s been concerning me, since you’re up.”

Kat sighs, because the only reason she was up is because of this conversation.

“Alright, what is it?”

“Our passenger hasn’t woken up yet. It’s been about two weeks since we left Mars, and twelve days since we stopped giving him sedatives.”

“What do you think is wrong?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not a medical virtual assistant.”

“Can’t you access those, and learn it all?”

Whisper says angrily, “Not from out here, the bandwidth is terrible. All of these alternate routes, and older jump points can’t access the information I need.”

“Oh, I didn’t even think that was an issue. We can’t take any of the normal routes right now, with the Mars Security Forces out looking for us. We did just blow up one of their military vessels.”

“On that, I have an idea.”

“Do you now, what’s that?”

“This ship isn’t currently registered at all, which is why they thought we were part of the Guild.”

Kat adds,“That and the special shields this ship has.”

“What if we were to paint over the white exterior, and get the ship registered. We could really make this vessel a cargo ship, it has enough space in the hull.”

“You mean make my lie I gave to the Mars guy real.”

“Yes. Then we wouldn’t have to use these bandwidth forsaken places anymore.”

…

“Hey Knox, sorry to be contacting you like this, but I need a favor.” Says Kat on the main screen of the bridge, leaning up against the cockpit in the center of the room. She watches his facial features as he looks down and away, rubbing at his gray beard.

“I’m not sure who you think I am, but I think you have the wrong person. I’m just run a simple taxi service out of Bexar Omega. If that was what you were looking for young lady, then I might be able to help you.”

She knew what was going on. Mars Security must have run a facial recognition of her and looked through her known acquaintances. They might have already tapped the line, and he knows it.

“Oh sorry about that mister. I thought you were my friend Knox.”

“No trouble at all, I run taxis out of Bexar Omega and every now and again I get a job in Apollo Prime. Look me up if you need anything later.”

“I will, thanks,” and cuts the transmission.

“Kat what was that all about?” Whisper asks.

“Knox must have known the Martians are after me, and have his line tapped. Even if it is just a program scanning over the line, It would be too dangerous to talk to him.”

“You monkeys are a strange lot, playing pretend to fool a computer program.”

“Set a course for Apollo Prime, Knox is going to meet us there. Also try to find a port off the books.”

“Why’s that?”

“The Martians might be there too. I had been living there for a few months while I was looking for your original blueprints.”

“You were looking for me? Well this is news to me.”

“Set the coordinates and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Kat walks over to Knox, and gives him a bear hug. It had been three weeks in space with little more than MREs to keep her belly filled, and she missed the man she considers a father. There had been too many things that have happened since she last left him, and she can feel tears welling up.

Knox hugs her back, “Watch it now Kitty Kat, you don’t want to break me.”

“Right, sorry, I have cybernetics now.” Kat backs away, looking away from his eyes.

“Really? How did that happen?”

“Long story, and there is something I need to talk to you about first.”

“Alright, tell me what’s it going to cost me.”

“Ha ha, you always think it’s going to cost you something every time I talk to you.”

“That might be because every time you’re around I’m spending more money than I normally would.”

“Ok. You’re right this time, it’s a big favor.” Kat tells him about what happened for the last few months of her life. The reason she disappeared on Apollo Prime, the surgery, Whisper, Fury, Crucible, and Gravan. He listens patiently, adding in a few audible grunts here and there. Kat isn’t sure if this is going to get him in too much trouble or not, but she needs his help right now.

She says, “So that sums it up, and that’s why I need a new ship Id and a coat of paint.”

“Well now, ain’t that something. I think I might be able to help you, but if I do… you know it might bring attention to me.”

“I know Knox, and I don’t have anyone else to turn to. You have been like a father to me for years now. The last thing I would want to do is to see you or Gale in trouble or worse, because of me. You are just my last hope.”

Knox shakes his head, letting out a sigh, which turns into a chuckle. “Gale’s probably gonna kill me, but if you asked her directly like that, I know she’d do the same. You might not be our blood, Kitty Kat, but you are our child. Just like you said.”

The tears she was holding back begin to streak down her face, and a pair of strong callused hands wipe away her tears. She looks up to him, and he has a big smile on his face behind his white beard.

He says softly, “Hey now, no tears.”

“I know, but this is the first time we’ve talked about this. It’s nice to hear, because I have felt that way for so long. I was just afraid to hear the answer, and I shouldn’t have been.”

He reaches his arms around her, giving her a comforting squeeze. “I love you like my own child, remember that.”

“I will, and thanks Knox.”

“Right,” he says clearing his throat, “Now have you picked out a color?”

…

It had been two days since she got back to Bexar Omega. She was sitting down in the dock staring up at Crucible, eating last night’s left overs. Gale’s cooking was better than ever, and she wonders why she ever left her loving family. Memories of Mallory remind her why she left. She had to search for the plans for him. Whisper and Fury came from the same AI core, and were prototypes for an AI controlled nano-tech device. While she was healing from her surgery she could hear the scientist talking about the tests they were going to preform on Whisper. Trying to find out what would cause the AI’s psyche to break.

The robot arms begin to put the first coat of paint on Crucible, and the color looks perfect. She can hear boots walking up behind her, and she quickly turns to see who it is. Knox was there with a big smile on his face.

He says, “So I see you finally chose a color.”

“I did, yea. Do you like it Knox?”