To replace it with what?
No. Even if the thought of AI self-replicating an army to fight the Deeks didn't raise major red flags with him, his years as a privateer had left him more jaded than he'd realized. In his youth, idealistic zeal had urged him to throw himself into a struggle between two colossal forces, even though the likely outcome would be getting crushed in between them. The knowledge that he was on the right side had been enough to spur him into bringing his ship into one hopeless fight after another, with the unshakeable certainty that he was making the galaxy a better place by blowing oppressive monsters to the void.
But that zeal had faded to something else. He'd never give up his war with the Movement, but this wasn't what he'd been looking for. Especially not when neither side particularly appealed to him. Better to simply walk away, and hope to stay ahead of the supermassive singularity created by Deeks and Caretakers warring across the universe.
He returned Ali's almost expectant look with a brisk nod. “Well, we're here. Let's drop off our passengers, collect our reward, and be on our way.”
The AI wasn't the only one who stared at him in blank disbelief. “Wait, just like that?” Belix demanded. “We just found out HAE is an actual force to be reckoned with, and we're currently on their good side. Not to mention they're about to treat us to the sight of a mining ship devouring an entire planet, and possibly the refining and ship building processes as well.”
“Besides,” Barix added, “there's nothing out in the wider universe but people who want to kill us. What's your hurry to leave the super secret base?”
Ali, Aiden thought grimly. Speaking of which, he still hadn't decided whether he was going to ditch her here with the others. On the one hand, things would be a lot more difficult without her helping out, but on the other, she'd betrayed him and was now clearly motivated by desires other than serving his best interests as his companion.
Maybe he could talk HAE into giving him a new adult companion. Only it seemed kind of pointless, since they'd probably just co-opt that one, too. Besides, absurd as it seemed that felt disloyal to Ali.
He must be losing his mind.
“Well?” he growled at Ali. “This is still my ship, isn't it? Take us in so we can get this over with.”
The Caretaker gave him a sad look. “Course laid in, my love.”
Aiden wordlessly turned away from her to face the scientists. “Ladies, gentlemen, a pleasure to have you aboard my ship. Shall we head back to the cargo bay and prep the rest of your people to leave stasis?”
Terra nodded uncertainly. “Thank you, Captain. We'll always be in your debt for what you've done for us.”
“That's what I'm getting paid for,” he growled. Without another word he turned and led the way off the bridge, the others reluctantly following.
* * * * *
It turned out that both the colossal mining vessel and the two space stations had living quarters for humans, the shipyard's large enough to be considered a separate space station in its own right. Between the three, HAE accommodated tens of thousands of humans, some of them employees but many of them refugees who'd fled from other corporate facilities before the Deeks attacked.
Ali flew them to the shipyard's station, where Aiden received confirmation that the promised payment had not only been transferred into one of his anonymous accounts, but that the Caretakers were going to refuel and resupply his ship. In fact, HAE was even willing to purchase the tech he'd stolen from the ERI facility, as well as the data from the secret base's computers that Ali had downloaded.
“Aren't you just going to give that to them?” he asked the Caretaker, unable to keep from sounding at least a bit petty.
She didn't deign to reply, other than to shake her head in mild disapproval.
In spite of the complications of the job raiding the ERI base, including taking another employer halfway through, they were going to make an obscene profit from it. Enough to live lavishly for years, if that was what he wanted. Lana would probably jump for joy at the prospect of not having to hit any more Deek ships, but that was too bad.
He was a privateer, and he had no intention of doing anything else.
In fact, he was ready to get back to it. The Caretakers had offered them a chance to stay at the station for a few days for R&R, and Aiden had a feeling his crew kind of wanted him to say yes. But he couldn't help but be suspicious of the invitation, if for no other reason than it gave Ali more time to give him the grand tour of her corporation's awesome enterprise, and try to convince him to join up with its robot army.
He'd pass on both offers, thanks.
Still, he wasn't churlish enough to simply kick the scientists off his ship without escorting them onto the station. Some time would need to be taken to refuel and resupply the Last Stand in any case, and he had to admit he was a bit curious about what the inside of a shipyard larger than an entire planet looked like, at least when it came to the human living areas.
Unloading the scientists still in their stasis pods, as well as the resupply and refueling, were all done with swift efficiency by impossibly perfect men and women who were almost certainly companions. Barix, loitering around watching them work, obviously couldn't help but be himself, because he sidled over and propositioned one of the female robots as she was moving a stasis pod.
He wasn't the
