Gavin Smith: The Age of Scorpio

‘I don’t like this,’ the feline said.

‘Can’t you say anything else?’ Eden demanded. ‘Very little heat bleed. If its internal systems are working then they are very efficient – fuck all is penetrating its hull. Also getting some very strange energy readings from it, in weird spectrums. Like it’s generating a field of some kind.’

‘Be more specific,’ Eldon snapped.

‘Can’t,’ Eden said, sharing her readings with the rest of the crew.

‘It’s a Naga spore ship,’ Melia said.

‘There’s no such thing as Naga,’ Eden scoffed. Melia looked like she was about to argue.

‘You know what it looks like, don’t you?’ Brett asked. ‘A colonial carrier.’ Eldon started laughing; he liked it when Brett said something stupid.

‘Except they were made of metal. We’ve all been in one: they’re museums and churches now.’

‘Actually I grew up on habitats,’ Brett said. Eldon rolled his eyes as if that explained everything. ‘But I’ve seen pictures, and if they had been made of some kind of flesh then that’s what they’d look like.’

‘He’s got a point, boss,’ Nulty said over the interface. ‘Knew this guy once who claimed that all the museums and the churches that we supposed were in the hull of old colony carriers were actually fakes. ‘Course he also said he used to be one of the Lords of the Monarchist systems.’

‘Nulty, what do you make of the composition of the hull?’ Eden asked. She knew but she didn’t want to be the one who said it.

‘That hull’s alive,’ Nulty said, the first to give words to what they’d all been thinking. ‘That’s Seeder biotech, that is.’

On the bridge the four of them glanced at each other. They knew that managed correctly this could be worth a fortune, if they could hold on to their claim. The Seeders were the semi-mythical progenitor species of the uplifted races as well as the inspiration of worship for the Church. Most of the uplifted races having long abandoned the idea of actual supernatural gods.

‘Why’s it speaking monkey if it’s Seeder tech?’ Melia asked before remembering everyone else on the Swan was either human or started off that way. Brett looked at her reproachfully. Eden just glared.

‘I don’t know. I’m not getting anything through the hull. Eden?’ Nulty said.

Eden went through the sensor suite, but a combination of the Red Space environment and the craft/thing’s hull/skin was blocking even the harshest of active scans.

Something occurred to Brett. ‘Was this the area where the glitch was coming from?’ he asked Eldon.

Eldon considered this. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘So what? We tow this to the rendezvous and get paid?’ Melia asked, undisguised greed in her voice. She was not very interested in sensor glitches. Eldon seemed reluctant to answer the question.

‘What?’ Melia demanded.

‘We need to go on board,’ Eldon said. Melia looked at him like he was insane. Brett was nodding eagerly.

‘Fuck that!’ Melia said.

Eden was irritated to find herself forced to agree with Melia. ‘Go inside what? We don’t even know if it’s a ship! It could be a fucking animal for all we know, and I don’t want to get swallowed. If it is a ship, the environment might be completely inimical to human life.’

Melia was nodding in agreement.

‘Then why’s it broadcasting in human common?’ Eldon asked.

‘I don’t know, a caught transmission? A lure?’

‘How dangerous can they be if they’re transmitting a mayday?’ Brett asked. Eden just looked at him as if he was a moron.

‘He’s right,’ Nulty said. ‘We want to salvage this, we have to check to see if it has crew.’

‘The crew of that thing can’t be subject to Consortium salvage laws,’ Eden said, getting more heated. ‘If that’s Seeder tech, what if the whole thing is filled with servitors? Have you thought about that?’ They gave a shiver. All of them had seen the wedge-headed, multi-limbed, armoured carapace effigies of the last living remnants of Seeder biotech, crucified on the X-shaped crosses in churches.

‘Then we can’t take it back into Known Space,’ Nulty said.

‘Look, this is a big fucking score—’ Eldon started.

‘Yeah, for you. Even with a bonus it’s not worth the risk for the rest of us,’ Eden said. Eldon was less than pleased to see Melia nodding in agreement.

‘But, Baby Doll, you’ll get to share in my fortune,’ Eldon pleaded.

‘Uh uh, not this time. I want an equal share. When I agreed to our little arrangement you misled me into thinking that you were a ship’s captain…’

‘I am.’

‘No, you’re owner of a piece of shit. I want an equal share.’

‘Equal share? Are you actually going to do something or just hide in your cryo-pod until it’s over?’ Eden asked.

Melia turned to glare at the more masculine, scaled woman. ‘I’ll do my bit,’ she answered haughtily. Eden just raised an eyebrow.

‘Look. I am the captain, and you will fucking do as you’re told or you’ll be out that airlock for mutiny!’ Eldon screamed at them, visions of his fortune slipping away. Melia, Eden and Brett just looked at him sceptically.

‘And how do you intend to enforce that?’ Eden asked. Eldon turned to look pleadingly at Melia. He couldn’t believe she’d turned on him after he’d treated her so well.

‘Oh, grow up,’ the feline snapped.

‘I think it’s time to negotiate, boss,’ Nulty said.

‘This is mutiny,’ Eldon said weakly. The rest of them ignored him. ‘We don’t even know how to get in.’

Eldon had finally admitted how much his mysterious contact was paying him after Eden held him upside down and Melia threatened to torture him. To make matters worse, Brett had had to intervene on Eldon’s behalf, further adding to the humiliation.

Brett was piloting the Swan steadily nearer to the craft/thing, trying to get close enough for their active scans to work, when it happened. During a very slow pass, something seemed to grow out of the craft. It looked like a tunnel made of the hull’s rubbery flesh.

‘What is it?’ Melia asked. There was something obscene about it, Melia decided, and it wasn’t as if she had terribly delicate sensibilities. ‘Some kind of defence system?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Nulty communicated over the interface. ‘I think it’s a docking arm?’

Brett swung the engine arms around to bring the Swan to a halt. The tunnel seemed to be swaying in the cloudy Red Space in front of them.

‘You’re going to let that touch the Swan ?’ Eden asked doubtfully, looking over at Eldon. Eldon was crouched in the corner, sulking. He had been trying to work out how get the money for the ship/thing and then burn the rest of the crew. He looked up at the sound of Eden’s voice.

‘Oh what? Am I captain again? Is there actual work to be done?’

‘Take it easy, Cap’n,’ Brett said good-naturedly.

‘Go and fuck yourself, muscle-head,’ Eldon muttered. Brett just laughed as if it was friendly banter.

Eldon had seen the thing in his mind but he walked over to look through the transparent hull.

‘Nulty, if it goes badly do you reckon you can cut that thing?’ Eldon asked.

‘Er… yes,’ Nulty said. He did not sound very sure of himself.

Eldon turned to Eden. ‘Sure, why not? A fifth of something is better than nothing and you gotta take risks if you want the pay-off. Besides,’ he stabbed a finger at Melia, ‘maybe then I can get rid of this bitch and get a decent concubine.’ Eldon glared at her. ‘You’re coming. None of your bullshit. I’ve got the contract. You don’t come, you don’t get paid, understand me?’ Melia looked like she was about to argue. ‘Besides, if it all goes horribly wrong I want to make sure that you die as well as me.’