sit out a battle, but I honestly didn’t think so. I had a headache, and taking a break in a quiet hold didn’t sound too bad right about now. But it wasn’t going to happen that way. My mind had run the odds, and I didn’t like the projections for this conflict. I felt I had to get involved.
My suit was spitting sparks, but the nanites in it were still active. I ordered them to form a film over my exposed head and I ripped two clear plastic covers off my dog tags. These I put over my eyes. When held by a sheet of nanites, they would serve as half-assed goggles.
I coaxed a very thin film of silvery nanites into crawling their way over my face, making my scalp itch horribly. When they’d managed to link up with each other, forming a surface rather like a bubble of mercury, I tried to get them to hold my makeshift plastic eyeholes into place. I was only partly successful, and could only see out of one eye. I decided it would have to do, as I didn’t have much time.
There was only one way out of the hold, so I didn’t stand around overthinking the situation. I activated the outer hatch on the hold. I was almost blown out into space by the explosive decompression. Fortunately, I managed to latch one hand onto the edge of the hatchway. When the gas had all escaped, I engaged my magnetics and crawled along the surface of the ship toward the prow.
I’d only gone fifty feet or so before I saw something on the hull. At first, I thought perhaps it was a gun turret or a sensor array. It was black, and consisted of a crouching spray of what looked like wires sprouting from its back.
Then it moved and turned to regard me.
I froze, staring. It crept forward. Frantically, I executed my reentry plan. The exterior of nanite-hulled ships were mostly smart metal, and they had generally been programmed to respond to certain stimuli. On most hulls, the regions that served as hatchways were designated when the ship was built. But really, any section of the hull could be breached. We did this every day when we tossed trash on the decks and watched them bubbled up and swallow it, expelling it out into space.
I simply tricked the ship into doing the reverse. By dialing up a menu and tapping at the right options, I was able to push one arm inside the vessel. It felt like I was trying to swim my way through a plastic bag.
The thing on the outside of the ship figured out what I was up to. It sped up and scuttled closer. I saw more movement off to either side. There were several of these things crawling over the ship toward me.
Then the nanite hull went soft, and I was swallowed completely. I found myself inside the ship. I was in what looked like the medical unit. Tiny black arms dangled down from the ceiling. As I came near, they reached for me and made fluttering contact. They wanted to know if I was injured and seeking aid. I pushed the blind little hands away in irritation.
Gasping for breath and feeling half-frozen, I tore the thin film of nanites from my face. They dribbled away back into my suit. I’d been barely able to breathe in there, as my suit was still dead. I stared back at the wall I’d passed through. I had no idea what those things outside were-but they didn’t look friendly. Could there be another force in operation in this system? A group of spacefaring creatures we’d yet to discover?
I exited medical into a central passageway. I marched toward the prow. The bridge had to be up here somewhere. On the way, I met up with an Ensign who looked like a kid. His eyes bulged in recognition and he reached for his com-link. I didn’t have time to explain things to him, or whoever he was calling. I swept up one gauntleted fist. It connected firmly with his chin and he did a backflip.
I frowned down at the crumpled form. I was pretty sure I’d broken his neck. It occurred to me I was definitely stronger than I had been before Marvin’s baths. I couldn’t blame the suit, as it was just dead weight on my body.
I checked his pulse-it was light, but still there. Good thing he’d been nanotized. His cells could be repaired in time. I left him to his dreams and moved on up the passage to a big hatchway. I straight-armed it and the metal melted away.
Sarin stood on the deck, with three other officers.
“Captain Sarin,” I shouted. “We have a problem. Are you aware there are enemy hostiles on the outer hull of this vessel?”
They were surprised, to say the least. Every eye bulged upon seeing me, and every jaw sagged open. Jasmine found her voice first.
“My rank is that of Rear Admiral, Colonel Riggs. I demand-”
“Not anymore,” I said, gesturing with the beam pistol I’d removed from the unconscious Ensign in the passageway. “Consider yourself demoted.”
— 38
I disarmed the rest of the bridge crew without any heroics on their part. It was a good thing for them, as I wasn’t in the best mood. My battle suit was dead, but they were only wearing light Nano suits. Their hand beamers couldn’t even hurt me unless they went for a headshot-and none of them had even dared to draw on me. Sometimes, having a bad rep worked in a man’s favor.
I had the newly demoted Captain Sarin order Sandra’s release and summoned her to the bridge immediately. Once Sandra showed up, I handed her my gun and got down to the business of running the battle.
When Sandra had figured out that Jasmine and I had had a disagreement over who was in charge and I’d asserted my authority, she seemed pleased. Anything that drove Jasmine and I apart was a good thing in Sandra’s book.
This bridge was set up in an entirely new arrangement. In the center of the large circular chamber was a globe of glass. I didn’t get it at first-but after I took a look, I realized it was a tank full of what had to be a fine, floating mist of nanites. They had an ability I hadn’t thought of before-the power to light up. By forming clusters, they could illuminate themselves in different colors. These pinpricks of light displayed the relative position of all the ships in the local region of space. Both our vessels and those of the enemy formations were represented.
“This thing is pretty cool,” I said, tapping at the sphere.
“I’m glad you approve,” Sarin said coldly.
The sphere was about eight feet in diameter and all of us sat around it, looking at it. There were no actual windows on the bridge. The walls were solid, opaque metal. But we didn’t really need windows. Everyone had a screen in front of their chair and sat encircling the sphere, which showed the big picture. On the touch screens at every station, I was quickly able to bring up images of any ship in the fleet, or any other sensory or logistical data I needed.
“This can’t be Crow’s work,” I said. “Who came up with this design?”
“I did,” Sarin said. She still wasn’t looking at me.
“Wow, this is really excellent. No wonder he promoted you. I can see the true purpose of this vessel now. It’s a flagship, isn’t it? A central command vessel. I’ve always wanted a ship like this.”
Jasmine still didn’t look pleased. I supposed it would take more than a few compliments to patch things up between us. At least neither of us had punched the other. I hoped the disagreement could be worked out in the future. She hadn’t done anything worse than some of the tricks Crow had pulled in the past. I figured that in time, we might be able to work together again. I also decided some of this command-and-control structure needed to be hammered out and agreed to by all parties. We weren’t just a bunch of pirates anymore. A military that didn’t clearly know who was in charge at all times was a weakling force. I would have to write a document and get everyone to sign onto it. But all that would have to wait until we survived our current predicament.
I worked on the display system, and soon found two critical control touch-points on the screen in front of me. I tapped them both in sequence as soon as I found them. The first brought up an external view of the ship, and the second one projected what was on my screen inside the central sphere for everyone to see.
Sandra was the first to notice the alien forms on the hull and she gasped. “What the hell are those things?”
“Some new kind of enemy, I’m guessing,” I said.
Captain Sarin stared in disbelief. “These things are crawling on the outer hull? How many?”
“Check all the cameras. Do a count.”
