Stephen Berry - The AI War

"How long?"

N'Trol shrugged. "Two, three days."

"You have the balance of this watch, Engineer." He silenced the other's protest with upraised forefinger. "Maybe. Once whatever is about to happen on Alpha Prime happens, N'Trol, that monster's coming for us. Believe it. Work on that shield as if all our lives depended on it. They do."

D'Trelna switched to the complink. "Computer. I want everything you have on tactical operations against mindslavers by non-symbiotechnic vessels-priority one to be L'Aal-class cruisers, if any. Run it to hard copy, print to bridge flag station."

Waiting, the commodore sat brooding, eyes on the shuttie. Even at highest magnification, it was almost lost against the mindslaver.

R'Gal's face appeared on the commlink. "The news about Harrison and T'Lan is all over your tactical network. What are you doing about it?"

D'Trelna glared at the screen. "Nothing, Colonel. There couldn't be a better person on that shuttle if we'd run through the whole Fleet order of battle-except maybe Zahava Tal. Both were covert operations specialists on Terra. One or both of them always fought beside us, almost from the moment we entered the Terran system."

"Then your pet Terrans could be S'Cotar, D'Trelna."

"R'Gal, I haven't time for your paranoia. Vanish."

The printer stopped as the commlink beeped off. An ensign brought D'Trelna the printout-it wasn't long, but he lingered over it, reading it three times. Finishing, he saw the shuttle was gone.

"She's inside the slaver, Commodore," reported K'Raoda.

Nodding, D'Trelna touched the commlink. "H'Nar, have you secured hangar deck?"

"Not much to secure." The captain stepped back, letting the wall pickup scan the deck. Blue-uniformed medtechs were wheeling away eight green-shrouded carts. "Just us, Zahava and the dead down here, J'Quel. Whatever T'Lan is, he's a very efficient killer."

"Smart money says he's not human, H'Nar. Our Alien Artifacts Officer is an alien."

"Agreed. What now?"

"Meet me at the lift, outside Armory One. Alone. We're going to see a special friend." The captain's eyes widened. "Your little souvenir?" D'Trelna nodded solemnly.

"You get that thing started, J'Quel, there's no telling…"

"There's no other way, H'Nar."

"Very well," nodded the captain. "I'm on my way."

Stephen Ames Berry

The AI War

The shuttle had an aft storage compartment, accessed from either the passenger section or from outside, through a hatch. John hid there in the dark, pressed against the bulkhead, waiting for whatever had just exterminated ten crew to leave the pilot's cabin. He was going to wait until T'Lan had passed by, then empty the M11A's chargepak into that perfect body, holding the trigger back until the reload chimed. Forget John Wayne, the Army had taught him a million years ago-kill the enemy with the least possible risk to yourself. Although, he recalled with a faint smile, that wasn't quite the way Drill Sergeant Eddy had phrased it.

The pitch of the engines changed, climbing an octave. Must be almost to the slaver by now, thought John.

From below came the faint whine of landing struts deploying, then silence as the shuttle landed and the n-gravs died. The Terran drew his blaster and waited, a hand on the door switch.

Hurried footsteps followed the distant hiss of a door opening. The footsteps stopped in front of the storage area.

John clicked off the safety and leveled his weapon at whatever was beyond the thin slab of steel.

There was a faint click, then the whir of the passenger airlock cycling open. John counted to three, pressed the door switch and stepped squinting into the harsh light, his finger curled around the trigger.

The shuttle and the ramp were empty.

He had a glimpse of the darkness beyond the circle of light thrown by the shuttle, then T'Lan's voice spoke softly from behind. "Put it down, Harrison."

"Not following the antics on the bridge?"

Zahava looked up from her untouched food. A short, wiry-framed officer stood beside her table, wearing brown combat dress with unfamiliar insignia.

"Do I know you?" she said, pushing her tray away. With the ship on full alert, the officers' mess was deserted.

"Colonel R'Gal, Fleet Counterintelligence Command. May I?"

The Israeli shrugged.

R'Gal took a chair opposite her. "Sorry about Harrison."' She looked up, startled. "What do you mean? There's news?"

R'Gal shook his head. "No. I meant about his being… off-ship."

"He'll be back," she said quietly, lifting her fata cup. "Word is you're a S'Cotar hunter."

"One in need of some help," he said, smiling ruefully. The smile vanished. "You want to sit and wait, I'd understand."

"If you're looking for Guan-Sharick, we've seen him," she said, and told R'Gal of the meeting in the observation dome.

"Odd," said R'Gal, frowning as she finished. "That's the second time the bug's warned us. The first time was about the S'Cotar fallback point on Terra Two."

"I wasn't in on that," said Zahava. "How'd you know Guan-Sharick was on board?" she added.

The colonel made a V with each hand. "Two and two," he said, crossing the Vs. "According to ship's roster, a dead man came back from the Lake of Dreams battle-one Corporal S'Gat. He was killed in an assault and cremated with the rest of the dead, there on your moon. And yet"-he held up a finger-"this same corporal was later seen on Vigilant, disembarking with the rest of the commandos. Seen there, but never again.

"Then, during the Terra Two affair, Guan-Sharick was flitting about. Checking the times of his appearances against Implacable' amp; positions, we found that this ship"-he waved a hand-"was always within easy transport range for a S 'Cotar transmute.''

"Circumstantial," she shrugged.

"He only showed up when her shield was down," said R'Gal, unruffled. "Over a ninety percent correlation."

"I see," said Zahava. "Kind of compelling."

"So we thought."

"Now what?" she asked, sipping her fata. "We find him."

"You're crazy, Colonel," she said pleasantly. "'Fifty miles of corridors, hundreds of compartments, passageways… Plus Guan-Sharick's got a device that fools your S'Cotar detectors."

"I'm a Watcher," said R'Gal.

"Oh?" she said warily. "And what do you watch?"

The K'Ronarin laughed. "It's a stupid title," he said. "Some of us have this gift." He tapped his head. "We can detect a transmute."

"Like that?" she said.

"Usually. That damned device Guan-Sharick's wearing though…" He shook his head. "I can tell where he's been, but not where he is. It's maddening."

"But it leaves a trail?"

R'Gal nodded. "Nothing consistent, though. However…"

"Yes?"

"There're some very strong traces in the lifepod section. And I was thinking perhaps…"

Zahava grinned. "You were thinking, Colonel, that with everyone at battle stations but us, now would be a fine time to check out the lifepods."

The K'Ronarin grinned back. "If you want to."

Zahava stood. "What are we looking for?"

R'Gal led the way past the food machines and into the corridor. "Anything that doesn't belong. It's the least visited part of the ship. If I had something to hide, I'd hide it there."

Waiting for the lift, he pointed to her holstered Mil A. "I hope you can use that."

The lift arrived with a loud ping.

"Let's hope I get a chance to show you," she said as they boarded.

The doors hissed shut on the empty gray corridor.

"You could be brainwiped for this, J'Quel!" L'Wrona's voice echoed down the passageway.

"I certainly will be if you keep announcing it, H'Nar," said D'Trelna mildly.

The two rounded the corner. In the distance, at the end of the corridor, a squad of black-uniformed commandos guarded a closed door.