Part 9

Chapter44

Anima’s announcement was met by stunned silence on my part, with a rising babble of voices from the crew. We were back to sitting on our crates and boxes discussing the contents of Enigma’s hold.

Kit arrived with the detailed cargo manifests among the first items stripped from Enigma’s AI. The manifest listed ‘Lenny’, the owner of the Prime strip club and deluxe whorehouse on St. Louis Station, as the cargo titleholder.

Andrea asked an obvious question. “I understand Lenny wanting bots for Prime. Why would he need assault rifles and propulsion parts?”

Molly had the puzzle in a nutshell. “The Stepfords? Are they Lenny’s? Who knew they were hidden on Enigma?”

Charlie asked, “Captain do you still plan on going directly to Death Bringers home base? Would you rather drop Enigma at St. Louis?”

I asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Andrea looked around the hold at the crew’s headshakes as she said, “Your call, Captain.”

I asked, “I have some questions we need answered before I can make a decision. What about the two bots, Aurora, and Dawn?”

Beverly and Agatha stood up, as Agatha answered, “We can subdue them both with a guarantee of their loyalty to you and Shark, Captain.”

I said, “Proceed immediately. Make it your number one task until completed. I want their memories available for study and collating by the AIs...”

Bev and Agatha were moving almost before I was done talking.

I asked, “Captain Bowen?”

Molly answered, “I’ll take charge of Lucina Bowen. Let’s see how she responds to me. If the Captain needs further compulsion Carlisa will help me ‘train’ her.”

I looked into her smile as I growled, “I want her information, Molly.”

Molly saluted me briskly as she responded, “Of course, Captain Master Darling.”

I said, “A simple ‘yes’ would be sufficient, my love.”

Andrea snickered as she softly said, “But not nearly as much fun, Master.”

I pointed at Molly as I said, “Get to work, Slave Molly.”

The crew was laughing as Molly jumped to her feet. Molly stopped only long enough to give me a languid kiss before proceeding to the Enigma’s bridge to collect Lucina and Carlisa.

Kit was standing patiently. I turned to her.

“Kit, can Shark drag Enigma to Death Bringers base world and land?”

Kit went into communication with the other AIs.

Very quickly she replied, “Captain, both craft are designed to land. Some additional cabling and connections will be required. There are persistent leaks that should be repaired. Power must be routed from Shark for cloaking and life support. We have to purge Enigma of the malicious code, including the phantom transponder. Shark has more than enough propulsive power.”

I asked, “Do you have analysis or opinion?”

Kit answered, “None of the tasks are out of reach of our shipboard resources, but they are time intensive.”

I quickly said, “Then let’s not waste any more. Andrea, Charlie, and I are outside in armored suits. First making the cable connections, and then repairing leaks. Anima is in charge of routing power to Enigma. Daisy and Aella are in charge of purging bad Enigma code and removing the transponder. Cara has the bridge with Abbi on guns. Questions?”

With their headshakes we proceeded.

Andrea, Charlie, and I locked out. There was nothing technical or sexy about the next part. We dragged cable across and around Enigma. We connected the cable to pad eyes with shackles. Twice, with no ‘eye’ at the location Crystal requested, I cut a pad eye off Death Bringer then welded the eye to the Enigma hull.

Andrea finally said, “Eddy, somehow rich kid welder seems like an odd combination.”

Charlie and I both laughed. I took a break, sucking on the refrigerated water nipple in my armored suit as I replied, “I met literally hundreds of scouts who came to visit Charles, William, and Gran. I quizzed them about their ships and supplies. I asked about what worked and what didn’t. I always asked if there was a skill they needed that they didn’t have. Something they wished they knew before they left. Almost all of them related a story about some ship failure that would have been a quick welding job but ended up being a huge, jury-rigged mess. I decided early on to learn to weld. Then Sensei took a hand. He decided that that process of welding would be an ideal exercise for me to find my center.”

Charlie said, “A Martial arts welder? That’s pretty strange on its face, Eddy.”

I smiled as I continued, “Actually it does make sense. Once my instructors taught me proper technique, welding became a matter of practice. It requires refining hand eye coordination, and muscle memory. Sensei would give me a thin piece of steel with the instruction to build a pad many centimeters thick with weld metal. He and my instructors would examine the result. Sensei required each bead to be flawless, looking like every other bead. Sloppy work was unacceptable. Worse than that, sensei regarded it as an insult to my instructors.”

I could see Andrea and Charlie nodding through their visors. as I said, “Enough slacking off. Back to work, you two.”

I hailed Crystal on the radio with a question. “Crystal, are we tethered to Enigma well enough for you to control and land, inside the planet’s gravity well?”

Crystal came back quickly. “Yes, Captain. It looks ugly, but I will be able to control them both.”.

I growled back, “You crash us, Crystal, and I’m leaving you there in the fucking forest.”

Crystals trilling laugh came over the speaker as she replied, “No problem, Captain Master Darling. We won’t crash.”

I looked over at Andrea, who was laughing behind her visor.

“It’s your Goddamn fault discipline is just falling apart. I see spanking in several crew members’ immediate futures.”

Andrea’s armored suit straightened into a caricature of attention with a quite exaggerated salute. Charlie quickly followed.

I said, “Just you both wait until I get you inside. We’ll see if Carlisa has any rope left.”

With both of them laughing, our break was over. Time to fix some leaks. Andrea was back to business. She had a question as she asked, “What do you want to use for patches?”

I pointed across the gap to the hulk of Death Bringer as I said, “Your patches. We’ll cut what we need from Death Bringer’s hull. The plate you cut out can be oversized.”

We developed an efficient division of labor, a ballet of heavy lifting. Andrea marked the leaks from Crystal’s information display on her suit visor. Charlie, after some quick instruction, used the plasma cutter to cut loose the large chunks of plate. Andrea dropped the plate patches into position covering the leak sites. I welded the plate into place, sealing it to Enigma’s hull. Hours later Crystal pronounced Enigma tight.

Chapter45

We locked through into Shark’s hold. Bev was there to help us out of the armored suits. Despite the cold-water supply and excellent refrigeration in the big suit I was hot, tired, and sweaty. Bev handed each of us a large bottle of water.

Bev softly said, “Captain, I must report that Agatha and I have made an error.”

I interrupted her as I said in a very tired voice, “Bev, honey, I give you fair warning. This is not a good time for bad news.”

Bev looked sad and embarrassed as she stood looking at the deck. I walked over to her, taking her hand. I said, “It can’t be that dire, Bev. Tell me what’s going on.”

Bev looked up with a stricken expression as she said, “Agatha and I took Aurora and Dawn into the ready room. Aella was there to help. We downloaded their consciousness and memories into the AIs. We planned to use a new technique for modifying the bots. We copied our own information into AIs and then had ‘that’ information transferred to Aurora and Dawn. The idea was our basic programming with our loyalties and allegiances would replace theirs.”

I nodded as I said, “That all seems reasonable.”

Bev looked straight into my eyes now as she continued, “We over did it.”

I was very puzzled as I asked, “Over did it how?”

Bev looked all around the hold before she would meet my eyes, as she replied, “Everything in our programming replaced everything in theirs. A tiny bit of Aurora’s and Dawn’s core personality imprinting from the makers remains. Otherwise, every bit of our sexual, medical, martial arts, and ship skill programming replaced theirs. All the expertise gained in training we were part of is now as if they had also been there. All the proficiencies, that is, all of OURS now reside in the brains of Aurora and Dawn.”

I said, “I need to understand this, and I am very tired. Aurora and Dawn are not precise doppelganger of you because they retain some core individuality. They, however, will be fully as loyal and loving as Agatha and you?”

At her nod I continued, “Aurora and Dawn now have you and Agatha’s complete package of skills. They know everything you both know, up to the time of this transfer operation?”

She nodded again as I said, “Wonderful. Congratulations. Serendipity strikes again. Beverly, you, and Agatha are perfect crew for Shark. Everyone on board agrees. You have added two more ‘perfect’ crew to Shark. Great job. Thank you.”

I hugged her. Bev looked happier as Andrea and Charlie both hugged her. Bev led us to the bridge to meet our newest crewmembers.

Agatha had them kneeling naked next to the command chair. Aurora and Dawn were twins, tall, with the elongated lean look of a spacer. Their long black hair was in a single braid far down their backs.

I could see a change in their posture and demeanor instantly. Agatha introduced them. They were still Aurora and Dawn. More importantly they were now bonded to me, and to Shark. If they ‘really’ had all Agatha and Beverly’s knowledge they were an addition of incalculable value, given the audacious plan I was hatching. I had them stand as we welcomed them as full members of Shark. I handed them off to Crystal for a console assignment.

I stood just behind the command chair. Cara tried to get up to relinquish it. I gently pushed her back down with a hand on her shoulder.

I asked, “SitRep, Crystal?”

She answered, “Enigma is firmly connected to Shark, with leakage under control. Temporary power routed for cloaking and life support accomplished. Temporary connections from Shark’s AIs to take over Enigma’s AI functions completed. Malicious coding and phantom transponder removed. Course laid in to Death Bringer base.”

I clapped my hands leading a round of applause as I said, “Great job everyone, very well done.”

I looked around tiredly asking, “Melete, can you show us the world and the raider base?”

Melete put up two holo displays. One globe, and the other a detail of the ‘settlement’ the raiders were using for their base. They had established their base on a small island next to a broad river. The landing area for their craft was on a plain, across a bridge over a small creek from their housing. Warehouses were across another bridge. A third bridge led into the forest.

Melete refined the holo display upriver from the raiders. I pointed at a spot up stream as I said, “There. You put us there, Crystal. I’ll float down and scout them out. Then, far down stream of their site, Andrea will pick me up with our flitter. Even cloaked we stay far away from them until we’re ready to move. We attack using the river.”

Charlie asked, “Captain, do we have enough troops for this operation?”

I shrugged as I asked another question, “How many bots are aboard Enigma?”

Crystal said, “Unverified manifest lists 250 complete bots, with additional parts.”

I pointed at Beverly and Agatha as I said, “A task for you two, as well as Aurora and Dawn. Power up thirty-six of those bots. No more mistakes! By the time we reach the ‘DB’ world, I need them skilled with the assault rifle and able to follow orders. That’s all, nothing fancy. Can you do it?”

They both smiled as Bev said, “Yes, Sir.”

Then Agatha said, “Yes, Sir, Captain.”

I looked over at Aurora and Dawn as they enthusiastically and in perfect unison said, “Yes, Sir.”

Chapter46

I looked around the bridge, assessing the crew. I looked at Crystal as I said, “Crystal you have the bridge. Please send a message probe to Westphalia informing them of this encounter, including claims for both ships, and with Death Bringer’s base location and our intentions. Shark is at DefCon One. Make best cloaked speed for Death Bringer base. We are all tired. I want Shark’s crew to sleep and eat before we arrive there. Questions?”

Crystal laughed as she said, “We’re not all tired, captain. Those who do not require sleep to regenerate will operate Shark until those who require slumber have completed a respite cycle and are ready to return to duty.”

I smiled as I spoke loudly to the entire bridge, “Thank you, Crystal. The rest of you listen up! Sleep and Food! I want all of us well rested and well fed before we make planet fall. Thank you. Dismissed.”

I sagged back into Charlie’s arms. She hustled me into the shower. I was quickly stripped, then pulled into the rainfall of water by a naked Charlie. She washed my hair, and then soaped my body, using her fingers to scrub every inch.

When I was clean Charlie stepped out of the shower, engaging the side sprays, massaging me with hot, pounding water. All too soon she dragged me into the drying chamber. Charlie gave me an invigorating, rough towel rubdown before sending me, still naked, into the master bedroom.

I never figured out how the ladies decided these things. All I knew was that the ‘sleeping arrangements’ changed without notice and without controversy.

I walked in to find tiny Anima in the big bed on her tummy, with her legs spread in a wide ‘V’. Her toes were hooked on the very edge of the bed. Carlisa was in her accustomed spot, kneeling at the foot of the bed.

Anima wiggled her butt while she reached back with both hands to spread her ass cheeks. She had her favorite anal probe inserted with its bright red eight-centimeter ring tight against her rosebud.

I stood, leaning on the end of the bed. Carlisa engulfed my cock, stroking me to hardness with her mouth while caressing my balls. I reached down, fondling Anima’s ankles as I leaned forward to kiss the backs of her knees. I lifted Anima’s tiny perfect right foot kissing her instep. I sucked each of her petite toes, finally taking all five minute toes in my mouth clear to her arch.

Anima growled deep in her throat, “Quit teasing me. Fuck. My. Ass!”

Hey, I can take a hint. I crawled up on the bed between Anima’s widespread legs. I licked the backs of her thighs up to her tight elfin butt. I bit her left cheek as I grabbed the ring on her anal probe stroking it in and out of her ass. I pulled the probe out replacing it with my cock. I slowly pushed the head of my dick past her anal ring. Anima impatiently flexed back to meet my thrust. I pushed until my hips were tight to her butt.

Anima growled her arousal, “Fuck. Me. Hard. Now. Fuck.”

I was fucking into her, driving her diminutive body up the bed by the force of my strokes into her ass. She was grunting in time with every thrust pushing back to meet each one with enthusiasm.

Her tight, hot anal passage sucked the come out of my body in an intense orgasm. I fell with my full weight across her miniature body with my cock deeply buried in her ass.

My eyes opened.

I was lying spooned up behind lovely Anima with my cock pressed into the groove of her butt. My arms were wrapped around her holding her tight to me. Carlisa was behind me holding me. I could feel her breathing softly on my back. Molly was leaning over Anima kissing me into wakefulness.

She softly said, “One hour to planet fall, love. Time to get up.”

I rolled on my back as Anima and Carlisa snuggled against me holding hands across my chest. Molly giggled as she said, “None of that. You don’t have time. Everybody UP!”

There was significant moaning and groaning as we sat up. This action was accompanied by considerable kissing and fondling. Anima finally had me on my feet leading me to the shower. The tempo was different today. Before we go into action the contact is less overtly sexual and more loving.

We completed our clean up, dressing in our combat armor and personal weapons. Our wakizashi and assault rifles were racked in the hold by the exit lock.

Abbi and Cara were in charge of the galley, serving a filling meal in the ready room. We carried final beverages out onto the bridge for our landing.

Crystal announced the captain on the bridge as I sat again in Shark’s command chair. We watched the next piece intently.

Crystal brought us to the planet opposite the raider settlement. She floated us down slowly, until we were only meters above the terrain. Only then did we make for the same hemisphere as the raiders. Crystal used a polar orbit, maintaining our low profile.

Upstream of their base, we found a tiny clearing next to the same river flowing past the raiders. Crystal landed us with astonishing precision among the trees. We quickly exited Shark with our wakizashi and assault rifles, fanning out to verify that the LZ was indeed deserted.

Next, we dragged the camouflage netting over the two ships. The netting used chameleon-cloaking technology augmented by the natural native vegetation we threaded through the lattice.

It was time for me to begin my personal scouting foray. I would be very lightly armed. If I had to fight, then my mission was a total failure, and we were all compromised.

I would have my rail handguns, one of the ‘silent kill’ guns, knives, and my ‘spare’ wakizashi. A piece of camouflage cloaking netting would be my ‘ghillie’ suit. I would depend on my nanite leather from Caddis to keep me warm and dry as I floated downstream. I had a recording scanner on a head mount with another on my wrist. I would have other scanners and sensors in my small pack.

Charlie would be picking me up in our small two-person rail flitter well downstream of the raiders. Andrea had command of our miniscule beachhead.

The ladies each kissed me then they stood on the bank. I swam to the center of the broad channel, grabbing a floating branch that would be my conveyance to the raider camp.

They stayed on the bank watching until I was out of sight.

Chapter47

I hooked my climbing flip line to the floating tree branch and settled back, allowing it to carry me downstream.

Charlie had striped my face with black, covering my hands with the same color. I pulled my balaclava down completely over my face. My eyes were covered with light absorbing membranes, shielding them. The black cloth was dappled in several shades and threaded with chameleon tech to break up my most recognizable outline.

The dusk thickened as I floated closer to my destination. I reviewed my options. There were few good ones if I was discovered!

Dying far from those I loved would not be a fitting end to this journey.

As I rounded a broad curve in the river, a brightening on the horizon gave warning sign of the settlement. I unhooked, sinking down into the river opposite the raiders camp until just my eyes peeked among the trailing branches.

I kept watching for sentinels or warning devices. I was astonished to find none as I floated closer and closer. Could they be that arrogant? Could I be missing them?

Rounding one more curve I was there. I pushed off the branch, making for the shallows across from the raiders. I found something akin to willows, with long branches overhanging into the shallow water. This was my first haven and observation post.

The raider’s rude settlement was made of native wood buildings. The tallest was three stories, with most just one story. All were built on a shallow island that split a small stream flowing into the river. The buildings were haphazardly backed up to the stream banks, fronting a single rutted dirt road that crossed a bridge disappearing into the woods.

The island must have been under water during the ‘flood’ season. A fact confirmed by the meter or more high ‘stilts’ under each building.

Their landing zone was across a small bridge on a higher plain. Judging by the stream banks it was probably not subject to the flooding. Another bridge crossed close to the warehouses.

Both my head and wrist mounted scanners were capturing the details of the raider nightlife.

What I assume was a captive emptied a slop bucket or chamber pot off a second-floor balcony toward the stream bank. The contents didn’t quite make it! It dawned on me that the flood might be a ‘house cleaning’ event for these raider pigs.

I slowly crawled up on this bank under the cover of the ‘willows’, still looking for traps and guards, and still finding none; which, unaccountably, made me even more nervous.

At a broad tree trunk just back from the bank, I flipped down my climbing irons and started up, pausing every meter to look and listen. A massive limb jutted over the river. I stretched out on this vantage, looking over the settlement with my binoculars while the scanners kept running. My exit plan was to drop into the river if discovered.

I crawled close to the end of this tree’s bough, placing a portable scanner with a panoramic lens aimed at the island. I backed up to the trunk, pausing to rest. I ate an emergency ration bar, washing it down by sucking some water out of the bladder in my pack.

The main activity seemed to be centered in the largest building. This would be the saloon, restaurant, and whorehouse judging by the noise and activity.

It was time to move. I left my pack, wakizashi, and silent killer tied to the limb. I crawled down slowly and watchfully. It was dawning on me that I might be the only one on this fucking planet being ‘watchful.’

I moved upstream to cross the river. Lying on the bank with just my head out of the water, I listened. I slowly crawled up the bank, until my eyes went over the top behind a clump of bushes.

The raider craft were parked in a cluster some distance from the bank. There was no intervening cover. There also did not seem to be a watchman or any guard. I set another portable scanner and crawled back down the bank into the relative safety of the water.

I swam with a heads up breaststroke across the small stream, to the bank of the raider settlement. The low bank was covered in unkempt grass and brush. As I looked closer it was also streaked in garbage and shit! Human filth speckled the bank and floated in the water.

Maybe they were treating this like an ancient moat, hoping to make it so disease ridden no one would dare approach. Maybe they were just muck lovers unable to stay clean in the most advanced age of human history. Whatever. I had to move through their wastes as I explored. I made a note that Andrea would get a chance to swim here before we cleaned things up. She might enjoy this! I certainly wasn’t!

I found a patch of long grass with some reeds. I used this for cover as I crawled up the low bank to observe the raiders ‘close up.’ The windows were bright, and the lights pinned to the building fronts pointed at the single street. The noise was raucous, with all attention focused on the three-story building in the center of the settlement.

There was a movement behind the nearest building. I slowly dropped my head behind the reeds. A figure stepped out of the deep shadows moving toward me. My right hand slid down my thigh to where I had Charlie’s favorite dagger sheathed. I froze as the figure came closer. I’d found my watchman!

The watchman was carrying a sheathed katana. He had a light but the way he was deploying it, shed little illumination, mostly butchering his night vision. As he stood over me, he tucked his light in his belt, digging a bottle out of his pocket. Now I smelled the liquor. Watchman took several healthy swallows before putting it away. He belched loudly before pulling out his dick to piss all over my left hand. His gaze never fell below the horizon as he farted with a sigh of satisfaction, tucking his dick back into his pants.

Watchman turned away from me without a backward glance as he continued around the outside of the island. I felt better. At least they had a watchman, even if it was this very low-quality specimen. I would need to be more vigilant just in case he had a companion with a tiny bit more skill. I might not be so lucky next time.

I set another scanner in the reeds then backed into the water. I moved into the creek between the island and their LZ. I floated close to the higher bank, staying in its shadow as I moved along the settlement. I stopped under the bridge to place two thin ‘pin’ scanners through the bridge deck. Dropping silently back into the water, I moved further, until I did the same thing at the bridge leading to the warehouses.

I slid back into the water, swimming silently to the bridge leading into the forest. I placed two pin scanners in this deck as well. I moved up the bank watching and listening until I was prone, and on the verge of the right next to the path crossing the bridge.

Crawling into that forest, I climbed another hefty tree, leaving a scanner in a lofty branch overlooking the camp. I climbed down, lying in the brush across from the camp, observing the watchman as he passed my location. He was enormously distracted by the activities in the ‘saloon’, spending little effort observing anything else.

I moved into the stream, following him on his round. He finally reached a dilapidated shed on the end of the row of buildings. Under an awning in back was a threadbare, overstuffed chair. Watchman leaned his katana against the building as he settled into his comfy chair.

Mystery solved! I had found the watchman at the beginning of his rounds, probably just up from his nap. It was time for me to seek shelter as well.

I moved upstream before crossing the river. I moved down the bank, coming out of the water under the willows. I climbed ‘my’ tree, reaching the substantial limb where my pack was secured. I tied myself off with my flip line wrapping up in my ghillie suit. I made myself as comfortable as possible and closed my eyes.

Chapter48

I woke to the faint pink of false dawn. I was unmoving as I listened, probing to hear if ‘something’ had awakened me. Deciding that my internal timer had done its job, I began looking around. I once again stretched out hugging the branch with my binoculars focused on the camp.

The raider camp was silent, with a distinctly ‘hung over’ look to it. That might have been my imagination. It was indeed well past sunrise when the first person appeared outside.

There were several small rickety docks out into the streams, each with a tiny house at the end. Watching the morning activity explained the purpose of those little houses and explained the large quantity of human waste in the streams.

The tempo picked up after that, as females hauled garbage and trash as far as the nearest bank. They were also assisting a constant stream of almost comatose men from the saloon to other quarters along the street. The aroma of cooking floated across the river to my perch, as smoke came from several of the low buildings.

Some traffic flowed across the bridge to the raider spacecraft. Looked like a crew change. Maybe they weren’t as sloppy as first glance indicated. They seemed to have at least one ship manned through the night. During the day it appeared more than one was crewed. Another factor to add into the planning.

I was not seeing a simple solution to my biggest problem. I was hoping for a dormitory or central holding area for the captives. Unfortunately, the captives appeared to be scattered. Captives were in every building. Many captives were being held in the saloon, compromising an obvious first strike target for a dawn assault.

I leaned back against the tree bole, sipping my water as I ate another ‘delicious’ emergency ration bar. I kept hoping for a sudden epiphany that would magically solve my problem of killing raiders without killing captives. None showed itself.

I climbed out of my tree, fading back into the forest, moving upstream to complete my own morning ablutions. I found a partially uprooted tree nearby. I crawled into the tangle of roots until I was completely hidden. I curled up to sleep through the day.

I woke up. I stayed still listening. No sounds at all. I missed the help of animals in my little game of raider hide and seek. Animals can provide a single person on reconnoiter with advance warning of pursuit. On this ‘lifeless’--at least no animal life--planet, I was left to my own human senses. Not a good trade at all.