Pirates of Saturn (The Saturn Series Book 2) Page 9

  Dima touched a button on the side of the globe. A projection of Saturn and its moons appeared above. He stood and gazed at the system with a small sad smile. “It’s beautiful, but it is also dead. It’s a new frontier, and that is exciting to the imagination, but it’s dead. Nothing we do can change that. Even if by some miracle we do finish terraforming Titan, it will be centuries before it’s anything close to lush. We make up for it by telling ourselves we are free. Yet, we have fetishized the notion of individual freedom to such a degree that we have wiped out the very thing that makes us the most happy.” He paused, expecting Jada to fill in the blank.

  Jada uncrossed her legs and slurped the Coke. “I knows you be wantin' me to tell you what that is. I gots nothin'.”

  Dima kept his gaze on the projection as he spoke. “Theoretically, the vision that Bez Hanson has for this place is noble. We—outcasts— are mostly cut from the same cloth, in that we all agree that we have a preference for exile over symbiosis with AI.” He looked at her partially eaten sundae. “Are you not enjoying it?”

  “Huh?” She looked at the sundae. “It fine. You said somethin’ bout cuttin’ to the chase. Why yo be blatherin’ bout what we all be knowin’?”

  He nodded acceptance. “I appreciate your indulgence.” He looked again at the projection. “The implicit guarantee was that by choosing to fly to Saturn we would all get to experience freedom in its fullest form.” He touched another button. Nearly every moon became dotted with red marks. “Each of these dots represents a known incident. The bulk of these incidents are acts of violence of one sort or another. Some are small disputes, some are sad suicides, the occasional drunken brawl, but most are the result of too much freedom. When America had its wild west, it was wild because of a similar situation to what we have here. As it was in that time, Saturn’s meager police forces are not only incapable of protecting people from…” he paused, “…from what humans are inclined to do to each other when they want something, but in addition, the police are often wholly corrupt. We have all heard about Wang Fat and certain elements of the police forces. That was just one of dozens of criminal acts perpetrated by the so called forces of order.” He paused and looked hard into her eyes. “Criminal acts by all manner of people make up a disproportionate amount of activity here.”

  She cocked an eyebrow and broke from his gaze, sighing with feigned boredom.

  He pointed at the largest moon, Titan. “Bez claims to have a plan. Wants to betray his legacy and try old-fashioned federalism. That will go over like a lead balloon. Agreed?”

  Jada stood and arched her back in a stretch that intentionally pushed out her chest in a display of her figure. It was one of her standard moves, meant to throw off an opponent. Dima offered no reaction, instead keeping his eyes on hers. She returned to a more comfortable posture, but lifted her chin in a display of mild aggression. “Does I know what Bez Hanson be up to? Don’t care. Does I agree we be livin’ in the Wild West? Beats me. I be knowin’ nothin’ of no Wild West. I knows all about the inner city.”

  Dima smiled. “Fair enough. Perhaps the inner city is a better analogy—though I tend to doubt that’s your pedigree.”

  Her eyes closed down to slits and she reached over and touched the button, turning off the projection. “I knows that once AI took full control, that inner cities stopped bein’ inner cities. At least ones that be causin’ red dots. See what I sayin’?”

  He looked at her retreating hand, the brief violation of his space causing him to take a slight step back. He cleared his throat. “Yes, the red dots disappeared in the inner city. But due to what?”

  “You knows. We alls lived it. Violent folks getting disappeared—and pretty much any folk with crappy social credit. But that ain’t news.” She spun the globe and stepped back to indicate the whole room. “Why is I here? I gots stuff to do, places to go.”

  Dima took in her boldness. He knew that he shouldn’t have been surprised by it. Still…no one within his sphere would have the audacity to touch his globe without permission. “You are intrepid, Ms. Temple. I can see that.”

  “Intrepid?”

  “Fearless and plucky.”

  “I knows what intrepid be meaning.”

  Again, he nodded assent. “A simpler word would be bold.”

  Jada allowed her annoyance to show. She wouldn’t stand to be made fun of. “Bold. Yes, I is. And I’s gettin’ bored, and I’s gots a schedule to keep. For the last time, why I be here?”

  “My apologies, despite your offensive choice of dialect, I find conversing with you a pleasure. I so rarely get to experience such.” He closed his eyes briefly as though amused with himself, or perhaps annoyed. “But again, that’s besides the point.”

  She glowered at the insult and silently waited for him to continue, so he said, “What is the human connection with AI? You tried it. Why did you get out? It’s one of the hardest addictions to break.”

  Despite the disturbing fact that this man knew that she had at one time connected with the Singularity, a wistful gaze overtook Jada. “I don’t know what you be talkin’ about.”

  “I think you do. I think, like many of us, you tried it. Got a taste of it. It scared you and enthralled you. What is a connection with AI if not the ultimate sense of community?” He looked at her empty soda glass. “Would you care for more?”

  She tried to look irritated, but he was onto something. “No. Like I said, I ain’t gots time for more.”

  He pressed on. “What was the prime element in your connection with AI? I’ll answer for you. Despite being remarkable creatures of invention, at our most base level, we sapiens are communal apes. More than anything else, what made you want to stay connected?” Answering his own question again, he said, “The ability to ignore reality and create our own? No. It had almost nothing to do with that. It was the community. AI provided the deepest possible sense of community.”

  She rolled her eyes and checked the time on the antique clock behind him.

  Nonplussed, he continued, “There is nothing—not a church, not a synagogue, not a temple, not a mosque—that could touch the sense of joyful community that is every human connected symbiotically. We tasted it, became afraid of it and rejected it. Instead…” He pressed the button and raised the projection again. “We banished ourselves to this hell.”

  Jada said, “Can’t argue with that.”

  “Ms. Temple, believe it or not, I think you can help me restore freedom to this place in the manner that freedom thrives best.”

  Jada crossed her arms over her chest again. “Mr. Dimasalang, other than this here meetin’ right now, I is feelin’ pretty free these days.”

  “Are you? Or are you behaving in a manner that feels free, but is in reality a desperate reaction to a system of governance that allows chaos to reign supreme?”

  She laughed. “You definitely has the wrong woman. Chaos be the ocean I choose to sail in.”

  “Poetic. I’d say chaos is the ocean you have no choice but to sail in. I would argue that Saturn requires a benevolent ruler who can reign in the stormier seas.”

  Jada turned to the table and picked up her glass. “OK, you is makin’ me sleepy.” She loudly slurped the dregs of her Coke, then set the glass down. She cleared her throat and spoke with a deeper far more educated tone. “Since you know so much about me, I am sure you are aware that I am one of those who make the seas stormy.”

  Dima raised his eyebrows at the abrupt change. “I have no doubt that I underestimate you, Ms. Temple. But let’s be clear. You make the seas stormy because the current system drives you to it. I am suggesting there is a better way.”

  “And again,” she continued in her educated tone, “I think you may have me and my ilk, confused with someone else. If we’re gonna stick with the lame metaphor, calm seas hurt my source of income.”

  “Do they?” Dima pointed to England on the globe. “Are you familiar with Sir Francis Drake?”

  She was getting tired of rolling her eyes. Instead,
she slumped back into the chair. To her surprise, her tongue had struggled to form complete words in the previous straightforward literate sentences. She’d been speaking her version of poor street girl for so long that it had literally changed the way her tongue, teeth, and lips worked together. With sullenness, she said, “Nope, but I’s sure you is gonna tell me all about it.”

  Dima drew a line with his finger from England to the Caribbean, circled it, then circled the western side of South America. “Five-hundred and thirty years ago, Drake was commissioned by the queen of England to be a privateer. Are you familiar with the term?”

  Jada allowed an irritated look to cross her features. She wanted to call him an asshole, but instead, said with boredom, “Go on.”

  He crossed his arms behind his back and allowed himself a small area to pace. “Let’s agree that a privateer is a private person who has permission from one government to plunder the possessions of a state or group that is in opposition to said government. Sound familiar?”

  “You say so.”

  Dima smiled falsely and continued. “Drake was a common man, but through daring raids that gained him vast sums of treasure—which he split with the crown—he was ultimately made a knight and given significant power as an admiral. Among his many feats, he was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the Earth.” Dima then circled the English channel with his finger. “Perhaps most famously, he is given credit for leading the battle that defeated the Spanish Armada, in many ways disrupting the ruling order of the day. But I digress.”

  Jada wondered if this book-head was ever going to get to the point. He was nothing but digression. “Uh huh.”

  “Things are going to change with or without you, Jada Temple. That said, I would like you and your comrades to be my Sir Francis Drake. The version that splits vast sums of wealth with the crown.” He smiled warmly. “I think such a relationship will be fabulously beneficial for us both.” He once again sat opposite her. “And now I will cut to the chase. You currently have in your possession a slew of sentient robots.”

  Jada noted the robot Shu behind Dima, near the wall. The android’s eyes briefly shifted from right to left and back.

  Dima continued, “Did you know that a handful of those units are from Hanson’s original pioneer stock? The ones who built these cities? Those, or I should say, they, mixed with the skills for deception that you and your friends are capable of, are going to be the key to our success. Interested?”

  Jada cocked her head slightly and appeared to mull things over. “It be time to invites Mr. Schafer in the room.”

  PART TWO

  Bandits, Pirates, and Raiders — Oh My!

  I COVET YOUR SH_T

  BOYCE STOOD ATOP the robot pyramid and watched the goings on in the next launch bay. What he saw made his saliva glands shift into overdrive. The ship parked below was there but not. He could see the vague shape of it in a ghostly sort of way. A simple glance and he would have assumed the bay was empty. The ship somehow perfectly mimicked the surrounding environment to make it seem like Boyce was looking right through it. That there is Wonder Woman shit, he thought. The craft had some issues; the illusion wasn’t perfect and was marred by the effect not working on the leading edges of things. Then it popped back into full view. Boyce was so startled that he nearly fell backward off the pyramid.

  Jyme called up to him. “Well?”

  Boyce ducked down and called back. “Boss’s gotta see this... Invisaship.”

  Gina whined, “I wanna see.”

  “So come up here.”

  Gina looked at the humanoid pyramid of robots and caught the eye of the one called Klaus.

  Klaus said, “Go ahead.” He looked at Jyme. “You too, if you wish. We are quite stable.”

  Gina let Jyme give her an initial leg up, then she climbed with an adroitness in keeping with her permanent youth. A moment later, she stood between Boyce and Jyme, the tops of three heads looking over the wall. There were several people standing out on the platform now. The ship became invisible, then quickly shifted back. Gina let out a slight gasp.

  It was Hee Sook who heard it. She turned her head and back, looking so quickly, that it would have been missed in a blink. She kept her gaze averted, but said to Jennifer, “There are three humans looking over the blast wall behind us.” Jennifer started to turn her head. Hee Sook whispered, “Don’t look. Allow me. I will casually glance up there and let my eyes record their faces.”

  Jennifer stood stiffly while Hee Sook turned to her with a comically fake laugh and glanced up at the top of the wall. The three heads ducked down.

  Caleb said, “What the hell’s tickling your robot funny bone?” Then to Spruck while pointing at various spots on The Belle, “All the control surfaces and lots of other spots are getting worn. It’s not nearly as invisible as it used to be.”

  Trying to remain nonchalant, Jennifer said, “Hee Sook spotted people looking over the wall.”

  Caleb looked in the wrong direction. “What? Where?”

  “Behind me. Don’t look.”

  Caleb turned and looked up. “I don’t see anyone. How the hell is someone supposed to get up there, anyway?”

  Hee Sook said, “Mr. Day, if you wear augmented reality contacts, I can project their images to you. I was able to capture point-six-seconds of them looking before they ducked.”

  “I don’t. Can’t stand crap laid over my vision. Bad enough you gotta fly with it.”

  “I can also project the images to your wrist device, or, barring that, to a pilot’s helmet if you wish. Alternatively, I noted a non-secure holo-projector in the prep room.”

  Caleb sighed with irritation. “Too much with all the choices with your kind. Doesn’t matter if your woke or not.”

  Hee Sook contritely bent her head in a slight bow. “I will endeavor to estimate which answer is the preferred one before offering you choices in the future.”

  “Thank you. The projector will do fine.”

  The group filed back into the prep room. Spruck turned on the projector. After a short pause, the moving image of the three onlookers floated in the designated projection space. Hee Sook caused it to pause and focus.

  Jennifer said, “Those people were at the auction.”

  Natalie agreed, nodding. “Yup, bought the other eleven.”

  Saanvi shrugged. “Who does that? Peeks over other people’s walls?”

  Caleb couldn’t count the number of times in his life he’d peeked over other people’s walls.

  “Children and people like Caleb do, baby,” said Natalie, offering Caleb a shit-eating-grin.

  Caleb rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Question is why?”

  Spruck said, “Belle’s a rare bird. Don’t know how they could’ve known we were testing her, but they had to have seen her go blank.”

  Caleb said, “We should boogie.”

  Jennifer cocked an eyebrow. “Boogie?”

  Caleb said, “Come on. For someone who likes watching all those old movies. Boogie—get going.”

  “It was a kinda dance,” said Natalie helpfully.

  “Sure, that too.” He started waving them back toward the door. “Let’s load up. Not like we’re gonna get The Belle’s paint fixed here, anyway.”

  “Not anywhere. Nobodies got that coating,” said Spruck forlornly.

  Saanvi said, “That’s probably a good thing.” She nodded toward where the peepers had been. “We do not need people riding around in disappearing ships. There isn’t a reason in the world why people should have such things.”

  “Except us,” said Caleb.

  “Except us,” Saanvi agreed.

  Caleb said to Spruck, “Get us cleared for launch. I want to be feet up in fifteen.”

  As Jada and Schafer walked back into their own prep-launch room, Boyce, Gina and Jyme talked over each other with excitement about their find.

  Jada said, “Stop, stop, stop.” To Gina she said, “Spill it.”

  Gina caught her breath. “There’s a medi
um sized inter-moon ship next door that can disappear.”

  Schafer said, “Disappear as in… a radar/infrared absorbing coating?”

  Boyce blurted, “Disappear, man. Like, bye-bye, now you see it now you don’t.”

  Jyme said, “Well, you can still sort of see it. It’s there, but kind of not. It’s like… It’s like—”

  Schafer filled in the blank for him. “RACREM. Radar/infrared absorbing coating with reflective enviro-mimic. That’s a military grade cloaking device, banned on ships that came out here. Causes the ship to look like its surroundings.”

  Jyme snapped his fingers. “Took it right off the tip of my tongue.”

  Jada said to Schafer, “Wait. It can what?”

  “Adrift in space, there’s no way any sensor would pick it up. Even your own eyes. You might notice some warping stars. It reflects and mimics the surrounding environment.”

  Boyce said, “Exactly!” with boyish excitement.

  Schafer continued, “Be a pretty rare thing out here. I haven’t heard of anyone having the tech.”

  Jada looked at the wall that separated them from the next bay. “Seems like somethin’ we be needin’. Take the edge offa Pablo bout Dima comin'—”

  The rumble of a ship’s engines cut her off. Everyone, including the newly acquired robots looked at the blast wall and watched The Belle lift into the faux sky.

  Jada said to Schafer, “Tell Chico to track it.” To Boyce and Jyme, “You boys figure out the riding arrangements?”