Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (75 page)

Alice gingerly touched the surface of
exposed bone and gasped. “He’s still here, the framework did it,
his mind’s been preserved.”

She touched the exposed flesh beside his
spine and jerked her hand away. “Ew, that bit’s been dead awhile.”
Alice put both hands on the exposed part of his cranium and tried
to block out everything around her. “I’m going to bring him back,”
she whispered as she felt the framework system preserving his
brain. The instant she sent power into it, the few emitters left
inside his skull surged to life, using all the energy she could
provide to rebuild other emitters, to grow the framework
system.

Alice channelled all the power her vacsuit
could provide, and heard the crowd gasp and shift as oddly coloured
bone began to form. She looked to her right, where Frost stood in
his suit and said. “I need more, a lot more.” She pointed at a
power socket on the left leg and said. “There! That! Take the cap
off!”

Stephanie hurriedly pulled the cap off and
Frost stepped in closer. Alice jerked as she touched the socket and
channelled the energy through a circuit in her framework body into
Jacob Valent’s. In seconds he regenerated, appearing freshly whole
in the middle of the crowd. His regeneration was faster than she
expected, much like her own framework system.

Jake struggled to remove his headgear, and
Alice helped him pull it off. The rest of his face reformed, and he
looked up at her, stunned.

“You remember me, right?” Alice said
hopefully, sniffling and crying. “Please tell me your brain isn’t
too scrambled! Look at me, and just say the first name that comes
to-“

“If you’ll let me answer,” Jake said.
“You’re Alice.”

She bent down and squeezed him. “Thank you
for not leaving me, thank you so much for not dying.”

Applause and cheers went up as the news of
Jacob Valent’s survival spread through the crowd.

“I’ll never leave you,” Jake replied,
embracing her. Agameg came through the crowd and smiled.

“I thought you were dead?” Jake said.

“I thought
you
were dead,” he
replied, cocking his head at Jake.

“I saw a feed of you getting killed by a
grenade,” Jake replied. He realized then that it could have been an
illusion. “Fake. There was never a counter-attack,” he said.

“After you went in?” Stephanie asked. “There
was, but it was small. One armoured framework and a couple of
squads of troops. We didn’t lose anyone.”

Alice withdrew and helped Jake to his feet,
her eyes widening as she realized that the only armour he had was a
shoulder and neckpiece. She turned and backed into him to offer
some modesty. “Um, awkward,” Alice said.

* * *

“He’s alive,” Captain Gregor McPatrick said
as he entered the bridge of the Triton. Crewmembers were busy
calibrating systems, coordinating repair crews, and doing any
number of a hundred different things that contributed to the
resurrection of the ship.

Captain Terry Ozark McPatrick didn’t turn
around, but let his uncle sit down on a command seat beside him. “I
know, I got the message.”

“You don’t sound surprised,” Gregor
said.

“Some of us had faith,” Oz said. “How is the
Sunspire?”

“Repairs are going well, we’ll be on patrol
in two days.”

“We could use a hand with repairs here once
my people are finished prying people from the wreckage in Port
Rush. Can you spare anyone?” Oz said.

“No, I’m afraid not. I need my crew at full
strength and my ship with a full compliment. It’s bad enough that
things are being held back by this New Years’ celebration in a few
days.”

Oz stood and walked towards his ready
quarters. His uncle hesitated a moment then followed. As soon as
they crossed the small, secure hallway and into his ready room he
turned on the other man. “All right, this is your first visit to
the Triton and the second time you’ve spoken to me since you got
here. What do you have to say to me in person that you couldn’t say
over comms?”

Gregor McPatrick didn’t seem fazed by the
sudden turn in conversation. “Straight to it, all right. You’re a
coward for abandoning your post with Freeground Fleet. Several
commands abandoned after you left, and I believe your example is
partially responsible for the political failures at home. The wrong
people were in power, and you gave them an example of desertion,
corruption, and a failing resolve in the military. It’s why I’m
here, it’s why there’s a ship full of outcasts with me.”

“The military was failing before I left. I
was already branded as an untrustworthy commander. I left because
they made everything I earned look like a farce, and I knew I would
be more helpful elsewhere,” Oz replied, trying to keep calm. He’d
squared off against his uncle before, but never about something so
important.

“Help whom?” Gregor replied. “Jacob Valent?
Your friends? Who did you want to help out here?”

“Results prove me right,” Oz growled.
“Thousands of refugees down there, hundreds of people on this ship,
owe their lives to Jacob, Ayan, Minh-Chu, Jason, Laura, and yeah,
they owe me, too. Those are people who would still be in bondage or
dead if we didn’t step in. In case you didn’t notice, our little
band killed two galactic war criminals a few days ago, and we
nearly broke ourselves doing it. That’s more of a difference than
any group of people from Freeground can claim they’ve made. You
left us and brought allies to the table, but tell me those
negotiations weren’t easier because they’d already heard of
us.”

“He’s right, Gregor,” Carl Anderson said
from the doorway. “They were already gearing up when we arrived in
the Virrig System. The British were coming either way. They knew
the importance of setting up a forward position in the Rega Gain
system weeks before we got here. We just advanced their plans.”

“We made sure it all happened in time,”
Gregor said.

“A few hours’ difference, maybe. Not enough
to say it was meaningful,” Carl said.

“Without Alice and Jacob Valent, those two
war criminals would have either escaped or dug in enough to build
infrastructure, and hold until more ships could arrive. They were
killed, the offensive lost its teeth. The other garrisons on Tamber
are isolated, not coordinating. It’s just a matter of time before
we dig them out.”

“And what did you do while the Valents were
off being heroes?” Gregor asked.

“He-“ Carl Anderson started, but halted as
Oz shook his head.

Terry Ozark McPatrick looked to his uncle,
staring him in the eye. “I gathered with the best soldiers I’ve
ever known and held the line. Just like you, my parents, and the
Freeground Military taught me to do. I fought for what I could
protect until the day was won.”

“When you feel that someone else is in
charge and you’re not powerful enough, are you going to up and
leave again?” Gregor asked.

The thought made Oz chuckle. His bond with
Triton was deeper than anyone but Ashley could hope to understand.
“There were two times in my life where I’ve felt accepted, at home.
The first was on the First Light, the second is on this ship. I’ll
die on this ship someday. Whether it’s tomorrow, or after a century
of service, I’ll know I’ve died in the right place.” The statement
seemed to take both men aback, and Captain Terry Ozark McPatrick
pressed on. “I’m glad you’re here, Captain McPatrick, and I’ll work
with you, I’ll even learn from you, I’m sure. Just don’t expect
reverence on my ship, or to have your opinion treated with any more
weight than any other captain in this fleet. You don’t want to help
rebuild the Triton? That’s fine, I know you’ll make yourself useful
elsewhere. Just don’t expect to find family here.”

Gregor McPatrick looked stricken for a
moment, then composed himself and withdrew from the cabin. “I’ll
have your effects from the Sunspire brought over,” he said on his
way through the door.

“I’m sorry,” Doctor Anderson said after
Gregor was gone. “I knew there was history, it had to come
out.”

“Don’t worry,” Oz said. “He had to have his
shot, I turned away from everything he respects. I knew I’d have
knocks like that coming when I deserted the Sunspire.”

“You seem happy here,” Doctor Anderson said.
“It’s quite a ship, even in its condition.”

“We’ll rebuild. It’ll take a year with an
ideal crew, longer with the people we’ve got, but it’ll happen. I
believe in what Jake is doing, and what Ayan wants to build. Triton
will benefit from everything they do, and then they’ll benefit from
Triton.”

“You’ve done more than I would have
imagined, I can honestly say that I’m proud of everyone from the
First Light. You’re the root of something incredible, and I’m glad
I’ll be here to see it,” Carl Anderson said.

“Thank you,” Oz replied. “That means
something coming from you.”

“I only wish,” Carl Anderson said before
hesitating and crossing the room to the transparent hull. Two dozen
battered destroyers and carriers from the British Fleet moved past
slowly in formation. “I wish it were during a different time.”

“War,” Oz said. “The ship computer has seen
it too.”

“The war of our time, and that’s saying
something when we’re expected to live to two hundred years or
more,” Doctor Anderson agreed. “Eve has made another appearance,
promising immortality and paradise to the most dedicated Order of
Eden humans. I thought we were going to have it easy when reports
of Eden Fleet ships withdrawing and disappearing started flooding
in.”

“Now they’re recruiting humans who sign up
for their cult,” Oz said, joining Doctor Anderson to take in the
view. One of the largest ships, the BSF Hammer, was starting to
pass the Triton slowly. “It won’t be just frameworks next
time.”

“Religious fanatics, only the promises of
eternal life are real,” Doctor Anderson said. “Everyone who worried
about framework technology, and how it could change the galaxy were
absolutely right to raise the alarm. This will be galactic
war.”

“How much time do you think we have before
they try to take Rega Gain again?” Oz asked.

“With the beating we gave them, and the
increasing presence of the British with their allies? I think they
might try to go around this system first.” The pair stood in
silence, watching the BSF Hammer go by with three heavily damaged
Carthan battle cruisers keeping pace. Carl Anderson finally broke
the silence. “Do you think we can win, Oz?”

“Yes,” he replied. There was no hesitation,
as though the word was at the ready. “Especially if they have to
take a turn at licking their wounds.”

“Speaking of taking time,” Doctor Anderson
said, trying to shake the melancholy. “Are you coming down for the
New Years’ celebration on Friday?”

“No, we’re having something here. We’re
holing up in the Botanical Gallery for twenty hours of leave. I’ll
authorize a holo-uplink to the party down there. We’ll be there in
image and spirit,” Oz said.

“Good, I’ll make sure I pass through here on
my way down to Tamber,” Carl Anderson offered his hand and Oz shook
it. “I feel like I’m in the right place for the first time in a
while too, Oz.”

“It’s good to have you here,” Oz
replied.

* * *

“It never stops raining here,” said Burke,
expanding the collar of his grey jacket into a hood. “You’d think
he’d pick somewhere sunny.”

Wheeler stepped around the corner into the
alley to find Burke and Doctor Thurge there. She was dressed in a
long, multi-layered coat that had a pulse module somewhere inside
that repelled the rain above so it fell around her. Burke had spent
his money elsewhere, or lost it, judging from his simple spacer’s
attire. “It’s where I could be without drawing attention,” he
said.

“Finally,” Burke said. “So, what’s next? You
have a line on some cash somewhere in this mess?”

Lucius Wheeler looked from Burke to Thurge,
who raised an eyebrow. “You’re still out for revenge, aren’t you?”
he asked.

“Profit is easy. Getting even takes skill.
It takes resources,” she replied. “You promised the latter, just
like I promised my family on the Palamo that I’d avenge them.”

“I promised that you’d have a good run, an
in-road. You threw them off-balance enough to put a divide between
Ayan and Jake. That’s all I needed,” Wheeler replied. “Now, I’m
done testing my luck for greater causes. I think I spent the last
of it getting off the Ferryman before the Warlord emerged from its
wormhole.”

“So you’re just going to leave us like
this?” Burke reached inside his coat. “That’s bull-“

Wheeler’s pistols were out and pointed at
the pair before Burke’s hand touched his weapon. “I’m leaving you
just like this, and if you see me again it’ll be because there’s a
damn good reason for me to get drawn back to the Rega Gain system.
Right now, I can only think of reasons to leave and never look
back.”

“Why did you want us to mess with Ayan’s
love life, anyway? I thought it was leading to something, but now
I’m just disappointed,” Thurge asked.

“For a while, some of us got to see the
future,” Wheeler said. “And the future with those two together
didn’t leave much room for people like us, or the Order of Eden.
Now they’re broken, so the galaxy gets to be wild wherever the
Order isn’t around, and that’s a lot of space to get lost in. I’m
not going to leave you two with a grudge against me, though.” He
holstered one of his guns and pulled a heavy bag filled with
Galactic Currency from his inside jacket pocket. He threw it to
Thurge, who almost dropped it once the weight of if landed in her
hands with a satisfying chink. “Twenty eight thousand, more than
you earned. I have a transport waiting, so good luck, and
goodbye.”

He backed out of the alley, stepped around
the corner, and activated his stealth system. Wheeler turned on the
hover systems in his long coat and accelerated down the street
towards the spaceport at the centre of Whule. “A good tactician
knows when to retreat,” he said to himself. It was time to leave
Kambis, to avoid Tamber and the Rega Gain system.