Ship of Ruin Read online

  Her breath caught. There it was. A man walking with what looked like the same piece of circuit board that Kim had first seen in the video with her mother. It was secured in a clear insulated bag, but that wouldn’t have done anything to block her pseudo radiation.

  “Sync the footage from the other cameras,” she ordered the computer, “and track that team as they walk through the ship.”

  All of the cameras showed footage with the same time stamp, and she watched the team progress through the ship, some splitting off to go to sickbay, others to the bridge, and others to their cabins. She stuck with the man carrying the circuit board. The two-thousand-year-old circuit board. Maybe she should think of it as an artifact.

  The man carrying it removed his helmet, revealing sweat-dampened gray hair—had he been afflicted with symptoms at that point?—and stepped onto the bridge. He had a long chat with the bridge officer in the command chair. Kim remembered the lone body they’d found on the bridge and shuddered.

  Another soft beep sounded as a different camera display alerted her to movement. It was one of Rache’s marines, and it was happening now, not in the past.

  Kim had decided against trying to drag them to a cell, especially when the computer had informed her that the Machu Picchu didn’t have a brig, because she’d been too tired to contemplate finding a hover gurney and maneuvering the men onto it. They also hadn’t been moving at the time. This one was on his knees, though, and looking around. Maybe he was sick and needed a place to throw up. Or maybe he was debating taking over the ship.

  Kim commed the other two doctors, each working in different labs. “We have a problem.”

  “What’s going on, Kim?” Dr. Sikou asked from the doorway a few seconds later.

  Dr. Angelico also stood there, leaning heavily against the jamb.

  “A couple of things,” Kim said, only glancing at them as she divided her attention between the footage of the bridge—she had to figure out where that artifact ended up so she could get it off the ship—and the mercenaries. Most of them were still slumped down in the corridor. Dr. Peshlakai hadn’t moved. “You said none of the Fleet marines survived the attack, right?”

  Angelico grimaced. “Correct. I’m lucky those animals didn’t rip my head off when they saw me.”

  Kim didn’t point out that she’d glimpsed him hiding behind a lab station. It wasn’t as if she could blame him for that. Being brave hadn’t gotten her anything except kidnapped.

  “You, Angelico, and I are the only ones who aren’t in quarantine and are ambulatory,” Sikou said. “Mostly ambulatory.” She glanced at her comrade. “I told you we’re showing signs of the cellular degeneration now too, right?”

  “Yes. Because, unless I miss my guess, that’s still here.” Kim pointed to the artifact on the camera display. The archaeologist was still discussing it with the captain, but he’d laid it on a nearby console. “It’s a small piece, but I’m assuming it also puts out the pseudo radiation. When I was kidnapped, I hadn’t been exposed to enough here yet to show symptoms, but everything was accelerated down on the moon when I was in a shuttle parked right next to the wreck. I suspect anybody who’s had contact with the wreck or any of the gate pieces will be in trouble. The more exposure, the worse it’ll be.”

  “We should go find that then,” Sikou said. “And get it off the ship.”

  “I will in a moment. I want to see if they moved it after their chat.” Kim waved at the bridge. “What I need from you two is to visit the mercenaries and get them into a room we can secure.” She pointed at the one who’d managed to get to his feet. “Also get them out of their armor, so we can stun them if needed.”

  “You want us to move a bunch of trained killers?” Angelico asked dubiously.

  “Yes, please. I’ll deal with that.” Kim pointed at the artifact. “We’ve got to get it off the ship if anyone is going to have a chance at recovering.”

  “I’d rather deal with that than murderers,” Angelico said.

  “I wouldn’t,” Sikou said grimly.

  “If they won’t cooperate, maybe you can tell them you have a treatment and that they need to remove their armor to get it.” Kim hated the idea of lying, but they couldn’t risk someone getting an itch and deciding to take over the ship. “I’m hoping we’ll have a genuine treatment soon. At the least, a way to clear the pseudo radiation out of the body.”

  Kim shifted her pointing finger to her strains of bacteria.

  “Me too,” Sikou murmured.

  After they left, Kim ran the footage on fast forward. The artifact remained on the console for a long time, for more than one shift change. She had been on the bridge earlier and was positive it wasn’t still there. The crew moved around it, never interacting with it, but she knew it was silently killing them, and she blinked away moisture in her eyes when she was forced to watch people showing signs of growing weaker. Some left. Some left and came back. The captain slumped in his chair for a long time, then stalked to the artifact. He glared at it and snatched it up.

  Had he realized it was what was making them sick? He stalked off the bridge.

  Kim was thankful for all the cameras on the ship, as she was able to follow him. He carried it down two decks and locked it in a vault in an engineering lab, maybe choosing that because it was far from sickbay.

  “Time for a walk,” she muttered, glancing at the mercenaries on the display before heading out.

  Sikou and Angelico had reached them, Sikou waving a medical kit and holding up a jet injector. One full of a tranquilizer, Kim hoped.

  Trusting them to handle Rache’s men, Kim strode out of the lab.

  She paused when she reached one of the dead marines—the body had been partially dragged into a lab so it wasn’t in the walkway, but the combat armor would have made it onerously heavy to deal with. Kim knelt to pick up the rifle the marine had been holding as he battled the mercenaries. A part of her wanted to jettison Rache’s men and let them die for their crimes, but she’d gathered that neither Jess nor Yas—especially Yas—was a killer or had wanted to kidnap her. She would do her best to save them. But if any of the others attacked her again…

  She slung the rifle over her shoulder. She would deal with them without hesitation or remorse.

  “Can you fix the pods and revive the handlers, Casmir Dabrowski?” the android asked, his wrists clasped behind his back.

  Casmir had his toolkit open and a scanner out, pretending to contemplate the pods and the machinery linked to them as he bought time to think. “I’m attempting to diagnose the problem now. I’ll let you know shortly.”

  The android accepted the answer without comment, but he hadn’t given an order for all the robots on the bridge to stand down. Right now, several of their arm guns—more like cannons or grenade launchers than guns—were pointed at his back. Actually at Zee’s chest, because he’d moved to stand behind Casmir to do his best to block any assault that might come.

  Qin and Asger crouched nearby, their weapons in hand as they faced the robots. They kept glancing at Casmir, as if waiting for an order. Was he in charge of this strike team? A terrifying thought.

  The only potential upside of the situation was that if everyone started firing, it might do damage to the computers, including the system that controlled the ship’s stealth capacity. The cargo ship would be much easier for the Fleet warships to disable if it was visible.

  Casmir had pulled up a schematic of the bridge, which had no mention of a stealth device, and decided it might be the large piece of jury-rigged equipment sticking out in front of a bank of computers on the side opposite from him. It was shiny and new, more so than the rest of the ship, and hummed and whirred, indicators flashing with activity.

  “Are you the only one left in charge here, android friend?” Casmir suspected the armed robots had been programmed with security routines but not the ability for independent reasoning. “And do you have a name or designation?”

  “I am Tork-57. I assist the handlers.”<
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  “Who’s running the ship’s attack and defense program? Are you trying to get through the gate as soon as possible, or waiting until the bridge crew is revived?”

  Casmir downloaded everything he could find related to the ship as they spoke. Unfortunately, he didn’t see any schematics on the network that matched what he’d chosen to dub the stealth generator. He couldn’t even find a description of such technology to prove it existed. He did find the schematics for the astroshaman pods—apparently, they were standard interfaces for spacefaring followers of the religion—but with the people inside dead, there wasn’t much point in examining them further.

  “I will not answer your questions,” Tork said. “You must be deemed an enemy and hostile until proven otherwise.”

  “Hostile? Me? I hardly think you have anything to worry about.”

  Tork glanced at Qin, Zee, and Asger and did not reply.

  Through his chip, Casmir investigated the ship’s local wireless networks. Not surprisingly, the pods, the main system computers, and security—did that include these robots, by chance?—were protected by passcodes, with some requiring retina and fingerprint scans as well. Even if he found materials, he doubted he could build a passcode cracker with Tork watching his every move. It would be easier to find a way to physically or virtually interrupt power to the systems.

  What happens when he realizes those people are dead and you can’t fix them? Asger asked in a message.

  I’m not sure there’s a way around fighting him—fighting all of them, Casmir replied. I’m trying to figure out a way to interrupt power to the machine I believe is controlling the ship’s stealth capabilities, at which point the Kingdom ships will start firing at us. Relentlessly. And at which point the robots and Tork will realize I’m working against them.

  You want the Fleet to fire at us while we’re on the bridge?

  I’m hoping that you, Qin, and Zee can best the robots, especially if they’re distracted by an attack, and that we can take control and tell Ishii and the others to stand down. I’m hoping they’re not going to try to obliterate the ship when the gate they want is in the hold.

  Or so he hoped. Casmir hadn’t been down there to look yet.

  I’m ready, Asger said. Get down and stay out of the way once the fighting begins. And don’t have a seizure.

  I always suspected knights of having great wisdom. In some matters. Casmir kept himself from glancing at Qin and reminding Asger he was being an idiot in that regard.

  In some, Asger agreed.

  Casmir pushed back from the machinery by the pod he’d been poking into and started toward an electrical panel on the opposite side of the bridge. A couple of the robots shifted their aim to follow him. Zee hurried to do his best to block their access.

  “Explain your actions, Casmir Dabrowski,” Tork said.

  “Oh, sorry.” Casmir waved nonchalantly and pointed. “I need to get into that panel over there.”

  “That is an electrical panel. Electricity is flowing to the pods. That is not the problem.”

  “I think there may be voltage fluctuations. Perhaps the reason for the alarm.” He licked his lips and ignored the bead of sweat that trickled from his hairline.

  “You show signs of nerves,” Tork announced. “I believe you may intend duplicity.”

  “I’m only nervous because of all the weapons pointed at me. Can’t you convince your robots to stand outside while I work?”

  He kept walking, hoping the android was desperate enough to get his handlers back to risk putting some faith in Casmir.

  Tork’s pale silver eyes watched him intently. Casmir felt bad for trying to dupe him, but he didn’t know what else he could do. Like the android, the robots would have their own power supplies, so he couldn’t cut their electricity. And he’d likely need a manual connection to the android to alter his programming. He hadn’t seen a wireless network specifically for Tork, though it was possible one of the jumbles of numbers and letters represented him. It was also likely he was connected to the security network. Someone was giving those robots commands.

  As Casmir slid open the electrical panel, Tork walked over to stand beside him. “I do not see anything that would indicate power fluctuations. There are no errors to the bridge currently. I have been running diagnostics and repairs on the minor damage we’ve received from the enemy ships.”

  “I’ll just take a quick peek.” Casmir whistled cheerfully—and nervously—as he pulled up the bridge diagram on the touch display inside.

  Zee moved to stand close enough to Tork to react if he reached for Casmir. Several of the robots moved close to ensure they had a line of fire if Zee did anything to their leader.

  “Casmir,” Qin whispered tensely. “You’re in the middle of—”

  “Stop.” Tork reached for his arm.

  Zee snatched him around the waist and hurled him across the bridge.

  “Down!” Qin and Asger shouted at the same time.

  A barrage of fire opened up, and Casmir flattened himself to the deck.

  Zee lunged at the closest robot, knocking it into a bulkhead. But the robot recovered and lunged back. Asger sprang behind two of them, wielding his pertundo like a logger. Casmir had no idea where Qin was. Red and orange DEW bolts flashed as they pounded into the deck, ceiling, and equipment, and he didn’t dare lift his head.

  Shouts, crashes, and thuds rang out over the buzz of weapons fire. An explosion ripped through the bridge. One of Qin’s anti-tank rounds?

  Casmir resisted the urge to hide behind something and curl up into a tiny ball. As good as his allies were, he feared they would need help to win this. He also feared Tork could call up more robots from the bowels of the ship.

  Trying to make himself as small a target as possible, Casmir pushed himself into a crouch so he could reach the touch display. A bolt slammed into the panel door, blowing it off its hinges.

  “Shit!” He ducked down, glancing back.

  Zee slammed into the robot that had fired toward him. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

  Across the bridge, Qin grappled with Tork.

  Casmir rose up, knowing he had to try again. Without the android watching on, he let his fingers fly over the interface. He found a recently added unlabeled line that was in use. Hoping it led to the stealth generator, he did the computerized equivalent of switching off a circuit breaker in his cottage back home.

  The indicators on the physical unit went dark as Asger was hurled over it, flying and crashing into a bulkhead. Nothing greater happened. Was it still humming and whirring? Casmir couldn’t tell over the cacophony of the battle.

  A bolt slammed into the wall near his head, and he dropped to his belly again.

  Was there more he could do? Had what he had done even accomplished anything? What if that generator had backup power? Or what if the Kingdom ships weren’t in a position to take advantage of the now-visible cargo ship?

  “Need to get control of the robots,” he muttered, using his chip to look for networks again.

  A feminine cry of pain came from across the bridge. Tork had gained the upper hand—with help. He and two of his robots had Qin pinned to the deck.

  Casmir grabbed the stunner off his belt, but it would be useless here. Why hadn’t he asked Bonita to borrow a weapon with more power against robots and androids?

  Qin grunted, trying to fling off her attackers, but they’d torn her weapon out of her grip and kept her down.

  “Zee, help her!” Casmir cried.

  But Zee had been mobbed by five robots with the same strength that he possessed. They blocked his attempts to obey orders. One fired a huge bolt of energy at his head, and it exploded. It overwhelmed Zee’s surface tension, and his head and neck warped into indistinguishable pieces.

  Casmir scurried behind a console, hoping it would provide cover enough to keep a stray shot from hitting him. He needed a minute of peace to work. He needed to gain access to the robots’ network. Or to shut it down. If he knew
where the damn router was, he might have been able to pull the plug, but it was probably down in engineering somewhere.

  The ship lurched, hurling Casmir sideways, and the force of rapid acceleration pitched him against a bank of computers. The cargo ship had started evasive maneuvers.

  “We’re being hit by the warships’ fire now!” Asger yelled as he sprang onto Tork’s back, pulling him off Qin.

  “No kidding!” an angry Qin yelled back.

  She found the energy to throw off her remaining robot attackers. Asger spun about and hurled Tork across the bridge. The android slammed into the electric panel and tumbled down right behind Casmir.

  His first instinct was to scurry away, knowing the android wouldn’t be down for long, but he spotted a small panel ajar on the back of Tork’s neck. Casmir fought to stay put against the myriad forces trying to throw him in different directions as he tore it open, hoping for an off button. All he saw were access ports with connectors he didn’t have a match for. Wait, there was an ID code on a tiny plaque across the top. Casmir recognized it from his network search. Underneath it, a line held a bunch of symbols. The passcode? Was it possible the crew wouldn’t have changed the factory settings?

  As Casmir ordered his chip to try to make a connection, the ship lurched again. A snap and a pop came from the front of the bridge, and the acrid scent of something burning filled the air.

  Even as Casmir linked to the android’s network and tried the passcode, Tork turned his head, eyes locking onto him.

  “Would you believe I’m still checking voltages?” Casmir blurted as a screen came up on his contact. Commands for Tork. He’d gotten in.

  Tork’s arm moved faster than a viper, and a hand wrapped around Casmir’s neck. Before he started to squeeze, another attack from outside hit the ship. The deck heaved, throwing them both into the air. The android’s head cracked against a railing, and his grip slipped.

  Casmir jerked his neck out of reach as he surfed through the menu. Diagnostics, file downloads… power off. There!

  Tork grabbed him and snatched for his neck again.