6


Green-dot-Elise moved through the void, out of range for an argument. She approached red-dot-Beaufort at a maddeningly slow rate. Sure, the interior of the slip tunnel was a big place and they were falling behind the Jumping Fox slowly, but it was aggravating to wait for news.
On another, larger holo view, a fleet coordination officer was scanning the rest of the area for similar problems and found nothing. I wasn’t interested in that scene, but the image of hundreds of ships trailing back into the slip tunnel stuck in my mind. I only hoped Elise didn’t slam into one of the ships that was now moving faster in relative terms.
“Sir?” Elise’s controller said nervously.
“What?” I snapped, moving close to him as I searched for whatever was on his screen that had alarmed him.
“Elise will contact Beaufort in fewer than two minutes,” the young ensign said. “Once her course intersects with his, we should know if my calculations were correct. And they will be, don’t get upset. Once she bumps him off his current course, they will both remain within the slip tunnel for eventual pickup.”
“Your calculations?” I asked, staring into his eyes.
“Yes, sir,” he said.
“Are you good at your job… what’s your name?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. Very good, sir,” he answered. “My name’s Michael Junkboss, Ensign Michael Junkboss.”
“I’m not even going there,” I said, but couldn’t resist. “Your family name is Junkboss?”
“It’s a common name among my people,” he said. “I’m the first in my family to become an officer.”
“As long as your telemetry calculations for Elise are perfect, you’ll be fine,” I said.
“My analysis suggests that intimidating the boy will not improve his performance,” X-37 said.
“You’re doing a great job, Michael,” I said, patting him on the shoulder with my cybernetic left hand. “This Beaufort character, however, is going to have some explaining to do when I get a hold of him.”
“I’ve done a quick scan of Xad social media and cannot find any evidence that Elise and Beaufort are an item,” X-37 said.
“I don’t need evidence,” I said, stepping back from Ensign Michael Junkboss to let him concentrate.
“My relationship algorithms recommend choosing your words wisely, or better yet, dropping the issue entirely,” X-37 said. “Whether she finds Beaufort or anyone else attractive should have little or no effect on future missions.”
“I disagree,” I said. “Stuff like that can get into an operator’s head and ruin his or her concentration.”
“There is an idiom in my conversational database that suggests you should not borrow trouble,” X-37 said. “My advice is to not worry about things that have not happened yet.”
“You’re right,” I muttered, watching the dots collide.
The green dot and the red dot touched, then parted ways. Michael Junkboss banged his fist once on his terminal and exclaimed his excitement.
“Yes! That was perfect,” he said, and I realized he wasn’t talking to me. “Good job, Elise.”
“Are you talking to her?” I asked, not realizing that was possible.
He looked embarrassed and unsure of what to say to me.
“Tell her I’m gonna talk with her when we’re done.”
“I advise against starting this argument now,” X-37 said.
“Um, I don’t think I should do that,” Michael Junkboss said.
“Tell her,” I repeated.
He muttered something into his mic that I couldn’t hear even with my enhancements.
“X, did you get that?” I asked.
“Of course, Reaper Cain. I can hear him perfectly,” X-37 said.
“Then what did he say?” I asked.
“I’d rather not tell you, because you are being an asshole,” X-37 said.
“You can’t refuse to answer me,” I said.
“On the contrary, I am often required to filter information in a way that protects you and keeps you on task to complete any given mission,” X-37 said. “That is what I am doing now.”
“Bullshit!” I shouted loud enough to draw attention from other rescue mission controllers.
“Calm yourself, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “If I were a person, I would be quite embarrassed by your behavior.”
“Patch me through to Elise, X!”
“You know that is much more difficult now that the Bright Lance belongs to Xad,” X-37 said. “And it would not be helpful to the situation.”
“I don’t want excuses, X. I want to talk to Elise right now.” I needed to pace the deck but there wasn’t room. Bumping into people would probably get me banned from the bridge.
“There is literally nothing you can do. Leave it to the professionals,” X-37 said. “For someone who’s terrified of the void, Elise certainly does spend a lot of time out there. My analysis suggests she will be fine.”
“She’s facing her fears. I get it. You can’t let something like the freezing atmosphereless expanse of space get the best you,” I said. “Do we need to go through Younger to put me through their system?”
“That will not be necessary, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “Since you are going to cry and whine about it, I managed to find access to a suitable communications channel. I am contacting Elise and her EVA unit now. You might be interested to know that it is an Archangel unit.”
“Check yourself, X. I’m about one more argument from having your personality reset. And what did you say about Archangel armor? We’re still figuring out what that stuff can even do,” I said.
“Do you want to talk to her or not?” X-37 asked.
I groaned, then dove into the conversation. “Elise, this is Cain.”
“I’m a little busy,” she snapped.
“Doing what, floating?” I asked.
“That’s funny, Reaper. Very reassuring. Michael told me I have at least an hour before I drift into one of the other ships in the exodus fleet,” Elise said.
“We need to get to a planet where I can keep better track of you,” I said. “This is stressing me out.”
“Hello, I’m the one drifting through a slip tunnel. It’s not all about you, Reaper,” she said.
“Who is Beaufort?” I demanded.
“Random,” she shot back.
“You know who I’m talking about. The guy you risked your life to save,” I said.
“I didn’t ask what his name was before I made my decision,” she said, sounding more serious. “You would’ve done the same thing in my place.”
I didn’t answer. Suddenly, I felt out of my depth. What had gotten into me? I wasn’t her parent or even her guardian. Operationally, I might be her mentor or unit commander but that would assume she actually listened to me half the time.
“X, I didn’t sign up for this,” I said.
“If you are referring to the semi-parenting role that you assumed, that is correct. Your original mission was only to save Doctor Hastings and had nothing to do with Elise,” X-37 said.
I gave X-37 a hand signal, requesting confirmation that we were speaking privately.
“Yes, Reaper Cain, I did not think that Elise would appreciate this particular aspect of our discussion,” X-37 said.
“Was there a point to your interrupting my mission?” Elise asked.
“I just…” The right words wouldn’t come. “I was checking on you. Next time could you warn me?”
“I can do that, Reaper,” she said, sounding calmer than I thought she had the right to sound.
“Reaper Cain, we have a serious problem,” X-37 said.
“What was your first clue?” I asked as I watched the rescue procedures. They were scrambling a second wave of shuttles. A tone of fresh urgency spread through the room.
“What’s going on, X?” I asked, moderating my tone, trying to be less of a jerk because I was now more worried than I had been when this entire disaster started.
“New calculations are coming in,” X-37 said. “The safe zone, as previously conceptualized, was calculated improperly. No one, not even the people of Xad, possess much experience operating like this within a slip tunnel.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I said, moving for the door.
“After a careful analysis, my recommendation is to pull Elise from the void as quickly as possible,” X-37 said in his extra neutral tone that conveyed the cold logic of an LAI.
I ran for the flight deck as X-37 explained it to me.
“Elise is far outside their operational envelope. Commander Gile has sent rescue ships but there are more people needing rescue than there are rescuers,” X-37 said.
“We’ve got to get to her before she drifts into the wall of the slip tunnel,” I said.
“Colliding with other ships in the exodus fleet is the greater danger now,” X-37 said. “Ensign Michael Junkboss did an outstanding job plotting her intercept course of Repairman Beaufort.”
“Is that a rank in the Xad military?” I asked, panting slightly as I ran.
“It is, Reaper Cain,” X-37 provided. “My analysis suggests you could run a bit faster without crashing into any of the crew.”
I sprinted onward.
* * *
It took me three tries to close the micro-fighter canopy when I finally reached it. The flight deck of the Bright Lance was a flurry of activity. Shuttles were coming and going, either to rescue people or bring them in after they were recovered. The stealth carrier wasn’t made for this type of traffic. Most of the ships attached to the outside with the landing and launch bays being used only for specific purposes or in emergencies.
The flight deck supervisor, Warrant Officer Suzan Sun, quickly checked my ship, then waved me toward the launch area.
Not waiting to be told twice, I was soon in the void rushing toward Elise. There was one shuttle closer than I was, but I was going to get there first. The micro-fighters were extremely fast over short distances and could maneuver around larger ships with ease.
“X, can you patch me into Elise?” I asked.
“With difficulty,” X-37 said. “The rescue operations are running smoothly now, but there is still a lot of comm traffic and ship to ship data transfers to coordinate everyone.”
“Do what you can, X,” I said, as I fled around other rescue operations and lumbering transport vessels.
Elise was well into the main fleet now, barely missing a freighter. I noticed, as I passed, that they had tried to collect her but missed. The people of Xad were good at this sort of thing but overwhelmed by the volume of search and rescue to be done.
“How did one ship malfunction turn the entire armada into a beehive of screw ups?” I asked.
“It’s a good reminder that anything can happen,” X-37 said.
“That’s not helpful,” I said as I banked the micro-fighter around a medical vessel while heading the final distance toward Elise.
“When we get closer, you may use a direct link to communicate with Elise,” X-37 said.
“Great. Let me know when we have a connection.”
The exodus fleet looked strange with the green walls of the slip tunnel all around it. Some of the ships were large, not leaving a lot of extra room for maneuvering. When I finally had a visual of Elise, she looked like a mere spec with danger all around her.
“How you doing, kid?” I asked.
“Not a kid, Reaper.” She twisted her Archangel armor to face me.
“How is the EVA functionality on that hunk of junk?” I asked.
“Only you would consider state-of-the-art battle armor junk,” she said. “To answer your question, I don’t have a lot of air left. Did they get Beaufort picked up?”
“No idea,” I said. “X, can you check on that?”
“He was picked up by a rescue shuttle. He wishes to convey his thanks to whoever saved him,” X-37 said.
“Let’s tow you to the Jellybird, unless there’s another ship close enough to help,” I said.
“I am on final approach to your location,” Jelly said. “I will prep the cargo bay to accept Elise.”
We were extremely close to the slip tunnel wall now, so near it that all I saw was a shimmering green energy field with Elise so close it seemed impossible she wasn’t touching it. “You’re in a really bad spot.”
Her answer was more subdued than normal. “Yeah, I know. That’s why none of the other rescue attempts were able to pull me in. They’re a little squeamish about getting this close to death. The crew has hundreds of stories about what happens if you run into the wall.”
“Most of them are completely wrong,” I said.
“Because you have lots of experience running into slip tunnel walls,” Elise said, but she sounded out of breath.
“I’ll tell you what, just stop talking. I’ll tow you back from the wall so you can get on the Jellybird,” I said, steering toward her with the micro-fighter.”
“Thanks,” she said.
X-37 assisted by plotting approach vectors and suggested throttle settings as I piloted. When I finally reached Elise, it was anticlimactic. I dropped a line, she fastened it to her armor, and I carefully pulled her to safety.
Jelly approached none too soon. Elise had quit talking completely to conserve air. The sense of relief I felt when she was safely on board the Jellybird was enormous.
* * *
That evening, I stayed up way too late talking to Warrant Officer Suzan Sun, the flight deck controller I promised a drink after rescuing Elise. How many years had it been since my last conversation with a member of the opposite sex who wasn’t the focus of a mission or part of my team?
After the first couple of drinks, we told stories and watched the slip tunnel. There hadn’t been as many people on the observation deck as previous evenings. The semi-disastrous rescue mission had taken a lot of manpower, and people were tired or still doing work.
“You shouldn’t have stayed out so late,” Elise said the next morning, holding back a sly chuckle.
“I wasn’t on a date,” I said.
“You were drinking with a woman and trying to be funny, right?” Elise said, pointing at me. “People talk, Reaper.”
“Wasn’t a date.”
“Whatever.” She smiled, shrugging as she turned away to climb into a flight simulator. “I’m going to own you in this dogfight.”
I went through the start-up procedures, paying careful attention to each step. The value in a simulator lay in its user. Or that’s what I thought until I observed the souped-up ship Elise was using.
“What is that?” I asked, scrolling through the readings my imaginary micro-fighter provided.
“I uploaded the actual schematics of my micro-fighter,” Elise said.
“You can’t incorporate Archangel armor into a micro-fighter chassis,” I said. “Or can you? X, why didn’t we try that?”
“Elise asked me not to tell you until after this contest,” X-37 said.
“Traitor.” The closer I came to my enemy in the simulation, the more readings flowed into my HUD. Elise had in fact incorporated the Archangel armor into the micro-fighter system.
“Did you wish me to improve your micro-fighter’s design,” X-37 asked.
“Always, X. Always get me the best equipment you can. I shouldn’t have to tell you this.”
“Noted,” X-37 said.
The ships were small and now I saw how they had been developed from accessories to combat armor. The possibilities were intriguing. I didn’t know where she found the time to get such complicated work done.
“Let me ask you this before we start, Elise,” I said. “Did Tom help you?”
She laughed. “Everyone helped me, especially Tom. Prepare to get owned.”
“My analysis suggests it is a good thing this is not a real contest,” X-37 said.
“It’s okay, Mister Reaper,” Bug said. “I didn’t help her. I wanted to, but I didn’t think you would like it. And I was kind of embarrassed at how bad you were going to lose.”
“X, why is Bug on this channel?” I asked. “He’s supposed to be watching Ayres.”
“I can do both,” Bug said. “Trust me, he’s not going anywhere without me knowing.”
“X?” I wasn’t sure which annoyed me more—that Bug was multitasking when I wanted him to focus on Ayers, or that my duel with Elise had become common knowledge.
My limited artificial intelligence gave me the bad news. “Someone mentioned there would be a contest in the flight simulator arena. One person told another, and now there are a lot of people watching your dogfight with Elise.”
“Is there betting involved?” I asked.
“That activity has been concealed through various means, but I suspect your hypothesis is correct,” X-37 said.
“Can everyone talk to me?” I was already in trouble. From what I could see, Elise could make that micro-fighter move even faster with her Archangel armor integrated into its frame. “Because that will be distracting.”
“I’m the only one who can talk to you without authorization from Captain Younger,” Bug said. “You know that’s what I do.”
“All right then,” I said. “See if you can help me win.”
“Hey, that makes us a team!” Bug’s excitement was over the top. “You better watch out, Elise. I’m on Mr. Reaper’s team.”
“Good luck, Bug.” Elise maneuvered her fighter in a long powerful arc, then aimed at me. “Come at me Reaper!”