Orli and DD went back to the control chamber and watched a Worker compy connecting power blocks to the alien reactor, as if it were simply another task. These compies knew they would cause their own destruction, but Olaf Reeves had given them commands. Even though compy core programming had self-preservation subroutines, they understood the larger picture. Their work and their sacrifice would save human lives, which took precedence over their own self-preservation drive.
Orli could not convince the compies otherwise.
Watching them, she thought fondly of the misfit compies she had rescued, retrained, reprogrammed, and sent out in civilization again. She thought of LU and the too-diligent Domestic compy, MO. They’d been her companions when Matthew was gone. She was glad that they, at least, would have stable and satisfying lives.
The Worker compy turned from his work at the reactor and directed bright optical sensors at her. “We can complete our preparations within fifty minutes. You should get to safety.”
Orli loaded the files BO had collated into the Proud Mary’s computer and then stood on the boarding ramp with DD. All six clan Reeves compies gathered with her in the launching bay, their work done. She said goodbye and tried to tell them how much she—and by extension the human race—appreciated their efforts, but she ran out of words. The compies understood anyway.
She and DD stepped inside the Proud Mary and sealed the hatch. “Time to retreat to a safe distance, but I want to stay until the end. We owe them that.”
“I agree, Orli,” DD said. “We can record the image to complete the story.”
She replaced the hand jazer in the captain’s locker, bitterly amused at herself for thinking that a hand weapon could have protected her against what had killed the Retroamers. She had been cautious, but not in the right way. Orli powered up the systems and eased the Proud Mary away from the derelict city.
DD said, “You called those compies brave, Orli. Do you truly believe that? They were merely following instructions, as compies do.”
“I choose to think they were brave, DD.” She looked through the windowport of the Proud Mary, studying the strange beauty of the dead city.
“Are we being brave, Orli?”
“Yes, DD, I think we are.”
“My self-preservation programming compels me to avoid being destroyed. And I have a great many fond memories. My existence has been filled with experiences, but I cannot say that I am afraid to die. Are you afraid to die, Orli?”
She swallowed hard and avoided the answer. “I know what we need to do, and it’s important that we survive for just a little longer. We have to deliver this vital information so that it isn’t lost forever. Also… Rlinda Kett deserves to know what happened to us. I suppose even Matthew deserves to know.” Otherwise, she and DD would have just disappeared in space, leaving only a void of questions.
As the Proud Mary hung at a safe distance from the derelict city, Orli considered her life and now her own mortality. She had been with old Mr. Steinman when he passed away, and she knew he was at peace. She thought of how Rlinda Kett kept BeBob’s small capsule of ashes with instructions to join him when she died. Orli didn’t have anyone… except DD. The little compy would have to be enough.
“I’m not necessarily afraid to die, DD, but I’m not looking forward to it, and I don’t want to hurry it along.”
In the last minute, BO transmitted, “We are prepared, Orli Covitz. Final countdown initiated. We have thirty seconds.”
“I’m proud of you,” Orli said. “All of you.”
The Teacher compy stared back, as if she were contemplating the proper response. “Thank you. And we are proud to do our best.”
The space city exploded.
The first eruption blossomed bright as a star in the central hub, the nucleus of the jagged metal snowflake. Heat and shock waves radiated outward while additional explosions rattled along the five spokes, detonating the separate modules.
The compies had been very thorough in their planning. Orli felt a pang as she saw the bright flash, the expanding cloud of debris. She knew that nothing would be left. The disease was eradicated.
Except in her.
She used the medical kit and took her temperature to find that it was elevated—possibly because of her anxiety, the effort of rushing to get away—but she had been sitting in the cockpit for some time, resting in the Proud Mary’s worn pilot seat. No, the fever was already starting. She would finish her work, deliver the data and her messages… and then DD would complete his job, too.
A sensor blip alerted her to another ship approaching. As the debris of the Onthos city continued to spread and the thermal glow faded, the new ship raced in like a projectile heading toward a target.
“Now who the hell is that?” Orli already guessed it was some treasure hunter, do-gooder, or curious spectator, just as Olaf Reeves had predicted. She let out a sigh; the Retroamer compies had done their work just in time.
“DD, open a comm channel.” She turned to the Proud Mary’s screen. “Incoming ship, please stay away from the vicinity. This was a quarantine station, all members of clan Reeves are now dead. The area has been sterilized.”
The other pilot responded, “No survivors?” His voice was clipped and businesslike. “Everything destroyed?”
“No survivors of the original group, but I believe I’ve also been exposed, so please keep your distance. I’ll maintain a self-imposed quarantine until… until everything else can be taken care of. But I have a compilation of data I can transmit to you. That should give you all you need.”
After a long silence, the other pilot appeared on the screen. His face was lean, his skin a dark brown as if carved from mahogany. “My name is Tom Rom. I will accept your data, but that is not my priority. If you’ve contracted the disease, you have something that I need. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”
NINETY-FIVE
ADAR ZAN’NH
His maniple of warliners was en route to the Plumas system, ready for an exhilarating test engagement with the Confederation Defense Forces. He had new information about the Shana Rei to share, as well as a surprise or two. He liked it when he could surprise General Nalani Keah.
Zan’nh considered Keah a tactical genius. Fortunately, she intended to remain in the background for the Plumas maneuvers, merely observing how her Grid Admirals handled a realistic combat scenario. Adar Zan’nh would do the same, allowing the maniple commander Qul Uldo’nh and his seven septars to demonstrate their prowess in the space engagement near the ice moon.
A clash with the CDF, however, would be quite different from a battle against the Shana Rei. On Ildira, Anton Colicos and the rememberer kith had been discovering information about previous battles with the creatures of darkness, stories of Tal Bria’nh’s engagements and his plans for unusual weapons that might have some effect on the Shana Rei. But they remained to be tested.
The grand procession flew through space, forty-nine warliners closing in on the Roamer water-pumping station, precisely on schedule. The Solar Navy crews were drilled, the ships in perfect shape.
As the maniple approached the system, however, three fast CDF Remoras soared toward them. The lead warliners in the formation immediately went on alert. “Human ships approaching rapidly, Adar,” Qul Uldo’nh reported.
Zan’nh was immediately wary. “Shift warliners to defensive formation. Are their weapons active?” He suspected this was some surprise from General Keah.
“They are coming too fast for us to tell, Adar. The pilots are sending an urgent signal.”