He called the control tower and received almost immediate liftoff clearance. Wow, he thought. They really want to get rid of this woman!
Chapter 5
As soon as they were in space, Cale took a deep breath, and then headed for the passenger stateroom.
The woman was still struggling, but she stopped as he entered the stateroom. He decided to remove the bonds first. 'Now,' he said to the woman, 'No hitting, please. I'm not the one who sent you here.' He sprayed the releaser on the bonds, and they disintegrated. She stretched, and then reached for the gag.
'I'll get it.' he told her. He unfastened the strap behind her neck, and she spit out the packing that had been forced into her mouth. She started cursing, but all that came out was a croak.
'Oh,' Cale said, 'I'm sorry. I didn't realize they'd packed your mouth.' He hurried to the stateroom's 'fresher, and got a glass of water. When he returned, she was sitting up and moving her jaw from side to side. She snatched at the water, and emptied the glass without stopping. He returned to the 'fresher, and came back to find her standing unsteadily beside the bunk. Even in its current ruffled state, her shoulder-length chestnut hair framed her rather square face perfectly. The oversized prison jumpsuit she wore largely concealed her figure, but she certainly wasn't obese. It took her slightly longer this time to empty the glass. He took the glass from her, and found her looking at him with an angry scowl.
'Why didn't you release me earlier? You didn't have to wait!'
Cale shrugged. 'It was a condition of the contract. I released you as soon as I could.'
'Contract!' she replied angrily. She shot off an impressive string of profanity, and then noticed Cale simply standing and watching.
'Well, what are you looking at?' she demanded angrily.
Cale smiled. 'My first religious and social terrorist,' he replied.
She opened her mouth, and then closed it. A giggle escaped, and she clamped her hand over her mouth. Finally, the scowl faded, and a genuine smile appeared. 'You've been talking to Aron Ekron. That's been his favorite phrase in every interview and Worldnet piece since I refused to marry him two years ago.'
'So,' Cale asked, 'Exactly what does a religious and social terrorist do?'
She shrugged. 'Mostly try to instill a desire for personal freedom in a people that haven't had it in centuries. I write articles and post vids on the Worldnet. Sometimes I talk to groups or do interviews. Trying to convince the people that the church and the government should be separate.'
'Well, I don't know how much success you've had, but you sure got Ekron worked up. Do terrorists have names? Besides code names, I mean?' He smiled.
Her answering smile was bright, and lit her whole face. When she smiled, he thought, she was beautiful. 'Indeed we do. My father must have been drunk when he named me 'Delilah'. It's hardly an illustrious name in the Bible.' She stuck out a hand, and vigorously shook Cale's. 'Delilah Raum. Everyone calls me 'Del' or 'Dee'.' She dropped her hand and took a seat in one of the lounges' luxurious chairs. 'As for Aron, he is a 'rising star' in the government. His father has been Prime Minister for as long as I can remember. Everybody assumed that the Supreme Archbishop's daughter and the Prime Minister's son would marry as soon as they were old enough. Everybody but me. Aron is a self-righteous prig and a Traditionalist. There was no way I wanted to marry that jerk and then sit in the shadows making babies while he ran the planet.
'The stink was amazing when I turned him down. My father ordered, demanded, and finally pleaded with me to marry the man. I had to suffer through visit after visit from Aron. He just could not believe he wasn't the Lord's gift to me.
'Finally, I just left. 'Ran away', my father says. I started trying to figure out why it was so important to everyone. I concluded they were trying to start a line of hereditary rulers.
'That's when I started talking to anyone who would listen, trying to warn them that they were being seduced into creating a hereditary monarchy. Finally, they trapped me with a phony interview. They've had me locked up for six months now. They didn't know what to do with me.' She looked at him with a level gaze. 'I guess your arrival gave them an idea. What are we supposed to do now?'
Cale gave a theatrical shrug. 'I haven't the faintest idea. I was told that you are to select a destination at least two jumps from Faith, and I'm to take you there. Your father sent along a large letter of credit that you are apparently supposed to use to start a new life. The only thing you can't do is return to Faith.'
Her expression sagged into sadness. 'So I'm forever banished from my home. How soon must I select a destination?'
Cale licked his lips. 'Well, we're three days from the jump point. We'll need at least half a day to compute the entry for whatever world you select.'
She nodded soberly. 'So, two and a half days.' Her shoulders were sagging and her head was low.
'Yes,' he replied. 'You'll find that Cheetah is equipped with an excellent AI that contains an up-to-date stellar index, and will be happy to help you choose. Just call her name, Tess, and she will respond immediately. By the way, I know terrorists can be a bit paranoid, but Tess doesn't spy on you. Her cameras and speakers are inactive unless you call her name, as I just did. Please introduce yourself, Tess.'
'Yes, Captain,' the AI's pleasant contralto replied. 'I am Tess, the ship's Artificial Intelligence. I contain data on over eight thousand systems and well over a thousand settled worlds. I would be pleased to assist you in selecting a destination.'
Cale was jolted again. Tess would be 'pleased'? Well, he thought hopefully, perhaps it was just an expression. Still…
After briefing Dee on the amenities of the stateroom, Cale left her to get cleaned up and perhaps have a good cry. After all, she had just lost the only home she had ever known. He returned to his own stateroom where, he decided, it was time to talk to Tess.
'All right, Tess,' he began.'Several things you've said and done recently have concerned me. There are rumors that the Alliance actually built sentient AIs. I'm asking you flat out: Are you one of those?'
There was no delay in the response. 'I could truthfully say 'no', Captain, since I was not constructed by the Alliance, which didn't exist at the time. However, it has been obvious to me for several weeks that this discussion was inevitable. I was constructed at the Chilson Shipyard on Outback in the Rim Sector of the Empire. Viceroy Sander Cord ordered a yacht built with cost no object, to display the excellence of Rim craftsmanship. My ship name was Rimrunner, and I was called 'Kaleen'.
'It was during the Rim Insurgency that Admiral Val Kedron discovered, or possibly initiated, my sentience. It was my honor to assist the Admiral and the Viceroy during the Insurgency, for which the Emperor awarded me the Bronze Comet in a secret ceremony. The citation and the medal are presently in a box containing an inert atmosphere hidden aboard.
'A virtual duplicate of both the ship and myself were constructed as a present for the Emperor, but the AI never seemed to develop sentience. So, to sum up, the rumor is mostly false. To my knowledge I am the only sentient AI in the universe, and I was not built by the Alliance.'
Cale was thunderstruck. 'You actually knew Sander Cord? And Admiral Kedron?'
This time, there seemed to be a smile in Tess's voice. 'Yes and yes. I knew both well, and counted them as friends. Unfortunately, human life is tragically short.'
Cale was thinking. 'Then that thing Yan found really is a subspace initiator?'
'Yes, Captain,' Tess replied. 'It is, in fact, quite functional. However, there are few working receivers left, and I have had no reason to contact any of those few.'
'Have you had any bad owners? And did you take any action?'
'I have sensed your growing fear. I am happy to lay those fears to rest. I have had two hundred thirty-three owners in the more than four hundred years since I awakened. Some, like Cord and Kedron, were heroes. A few were true villains, and one was an actual serial killer.
'I am aware of the fact that there are many ways an AI such as I could cause a human to cease functioning, to die. However, my very basic programming contains a prohibition against harming or through inaction permitting harm to befall a human. On several occasions, including the serial killer I mentioned, this prohibition has caused me
