Interlude-Extra Innings

“Where is this Beacon operator?” Trakin asked.

“Not far, according to ENVY,” Nora said. “She’s at a research station a few hours from here.”

“[A few hours away? In the middle of space?]” Dustin chuckled. “[…Wait, seriously?]”

“[Tim-me is a matter of sp-peed up-p here,]” Michelle said.

“…Did you understand that?” Nora asked Trakin.

“I got the gist,” she muttered. “She’s not wrong. This ship can sustain point eight G’s indefinitely. We could get to Harrogate in less than twenty hours.”

“Then what are we waiting for? ENVY’s got my video. They said as soon as this Beacon tech cycles to the backup, our update can go out,” Nora said. She was antsy, and even the Vorak were noticing.

“I don’t care how much of a hurry you’re in, we don’t go anywhere without authorization,” Trakin said.

“Then get Tox on the [phone],” Nora huffed. “I know they’re still on Archo. Light delay isn’t thirty seconds.”

“Light delay works round-trip,” Trakin said.

“Well we both know what Tox is going to say, so hurry up…” Nora sighed. “This trip is already going on long enough. If we can do something quickly, then let’s get Tox’s authorization, get it done, and get back.”

Trakin wasn’t happy about it, but the rak pushed toward the comm station.

Nora gently kicked and pushed her way to the back of their rocket. It had been a while since she’d been in zero-G like this. The last time had been when the Athena had come to a terrifying halt in the middle of nowhere space. It had just been her and twenty-two other abductees then, all clueless about what was coming.

Once the fear had lost its edge, they’d passed the time figuring out how to adjust to zero-G.

They’d spent six days—give or take—learning to float around the abduction ship. There had even been a few games made. Fun was almost had.

And then alien otters had come knocking.

It was unnerving to find how little of the skill she’d lost. Dustin seemed similar in that respect. He didn’t seem ruffled at all by zero-G.

He was slowly turning over in the air while he fiddled with a large cube laden with basic tubing and wiring.

“[Does it work?]” she asked Dustin.

“[I think so? Here…]” he said.

The same words scrolled across one of the cube’s screens.

“[Good enough,]” Nora said. “[If ENVY doesn’t like it, that’s just tough.]”

“[I’ll go drop it off,]” Dustin said. “[Unless Michelle wants to do any final checks?]”

<[All good here,]> she replied. <[N-nora’s work m-made it easy.]>

“[You know how to cycle the airlock?]”

“[I saw you do it, didn’t I?]” Dustin said, pulling his helmet back on.

Nora rolled her eyes, but was grateful. He might come across as laidback, but he did pay attention. Very much like Caleb in that regard.

While Dustin moved the module she and Michelle had drummed up, Nora left ENVY a message on that same module.

<[ENVY, this module is an Adept-made signal hub. I have an Adept method of communicating with it from almost anywhere. I don’t know how far the signals I create can reach, but if the range turns out to be big enough, we can stay in contact with this. The button on the top will trigger a transmitter, on and off. Since you have movie quotes up to your gills, I’m sure you know Morse code too. Tap out your message with a drone, and the module will send the message to me. The whole module is Adept made and will decompose in roughly ninety days. Before that deadline passes, I’ll see about replacing it. For now, stay in touch. We’re en route to your Beacon operator now.]>

It wasn’t until Dustin was back, and Trakin had received Tox’s okay, did their rocket lurch into motion again. They got underway for Min Shei-Tor-Phin’s research station.

Ten minutes later, Nora got her confirmation.

Understood. Do not give Vorak access to this line of communication.

<[Wilco,]> Nora replied.

ENVY’s Morse code message was translated into English automatically by the psionic structure Nora and Michelle had collaborated on. The groundwork had already been there with Caleb’s dictionary and transceiver updates.

She winced even thinking about Caleb. They were moving away from Paris right now, however slightly. It was increasing the light delay on their signals from the battlefield. Caleb might have died hours ago.

Flying away might delay that news even a little.

So while they flew, Nora occupied her attention mulling a new hypothesis. Meeting ENVY for a second time had been illuminating.

“[I’m pretty sure ENVY isn’t a computer program,]” Nora confided in them.

“[…What do you mean? It’s not an AI?]” Dustin asked.

“[No, I think they’re definitely an AI,]” she said. “[But I’m coming to appreciate that’s a wide umbrella. I thought ENVY would just be able to escape by downloading themselves somewhere, but after this, I don’t think that’s possible. That’s why they were actually upset at this station being discovered.]”

“[An-n AI that doesn-n’t live in a com-mputer?]” Michelle asked.

“[I think…that’s like saying a human who doesn’t live in meat,]” Nora said. “[To operate the module we left, ENVY needs to physically press a button somehow. They had to move something from their old station too. I think it’s them. Their body.]”

“[Ah…]” Dustin said. “[Not a sentient computer program, but a whole sentient computer: hardware and software both.]”

“[Exactly—well, technically it’s ‘sapient’, not ‘sentient’—but yes. I think ENVY has a body they’re limited to. The software can’t be separated from the hardware for whatever reason. It would explain why they don’t seem to be capable of some of the other godlike AI stuff you might otherwise expect.]”

“[They could just b-be usin-ng a dron-ne to p-press the b-button,]” Michelle reminded her.

“[True,]” Nora said. “[This is just a theory. But it’s something to consider, and it’s what I have to stay busy with right now.]”

“Human!” Trakin called from the cockpit. “Light delay is shrinking. What exactly did this machine say for this technician to do?”

“[Duty calls,]” Nora huffed, climbing up the rocket. “Trakin, ENVY said to ‘reconfigure the primary intersystem broadcast modules’ on any Beacon still in operation.”

“I don’t know what that means. You talk to the technician,” Trakin said. “We’re still decelerating for another thirty minutes, but I want anything we need ready before we get there.”

“Trakin, with any luck, we won’t even have to set foot on the station.”

The otter grunted doubtfully, but didn’t press. It was less hassle for Trakin to just hand Nora the handset and sulk.

“Hello? Min Shei-Tor-Phin?” Nora asked. “Receiving me?”

“…I receive you,” a voice replied on the radio. Light delay was still just enough to stutter the conversation.

“Are there any credentials you need from Sten Trakin?” Nora asked.

“Sten Sendin,” Trakin grunted.

“I understand this is a directive from the Red Sails fleet?” Min replied. “But we aren’t a military installation. This is a civilian research station—”

“I know, I know,” Nora said. “This is not a military operation, I am not a member of the Red Sails, they are just providing assistance.”

“The Sten ’s credentials clear,” Min replied. “But if this isn’t a military operation, why am I being shown those credentials at all?”

“Because we’re short on time,” Nora said. “We have a message that needs to be broadcast into every corner of as many systems as possible. And I’m being told our signal won’t go anywhere unless we ‘recongifure the primary intersystem modules’ on a Beacon.”

“That’s…not something that happens every day…I’m not willing to change a Beacon’s communications configuration on a moment’s notice for no one but a voice on a radio.”

“[Godammit…]” Nora muttered, glaring at Trakin. The otter only shrugged. “This is a First Contact operation. You’ve been hearing about that?”

“…Yes?”

“Well you’re talking to one,” Nora said, barely keeping her calm. “What rumors have you heard? I’ve been on Lakandt for the last two or so months. I was roommates with the Warlock. You can look out the stupid window when our ship gets closer. But this is time sensitive, and I don’t have all the answers. So please explain what we need to do to let you reconfigure this Beacon, and please bear in mind that if we arrive without any progress being made, I’m fully prepared to force your cooperation. Lives are at stake here, and I’m not playing games.”

It was only partially a lie. Nora’s superconstruct was still in tatters from using it against Caleb and Nai. Maybe she could get a few pieces back in alignment in time to make it partially functional again.

Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

“…I’d need to know that both me nor my staff are not committing a criminal or military violation,” Min said.

“Best I can do is take responsibility for whatever happens,” Nora said. “If it’s any reassurance, if something goes wrong, it means thousands of my own people will die. I think the only way any blame makes it to you, is if you somehow do nothing.”

“…Alright. It’s out of schedule, but we can order Beacon 10 to reconfigure within the hour. Is that acceptable?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Nora said. “Is reconfiguring a normal process?”

“…It’s part of scheduled maintenance, but I don’t understand why that would let you send a message anywhere. The Beacon’s intersystem signal bandwidth will constrict while the primary modules are reconfiguring. It’ll just be the secondary modules handling the signals.”

Then what was ENVY’s interest? Why would that let the AI broadcast anything if it were part of ordinary procedure? But the obvious possibility was that ENVY knew something they didn’t. This could be something they had access to somehow. If ENVY had been blackmailing Asu Tolar in the Coalition, odds were they had at least a few people in the Red Sails too. But why should it stop there? They could have the odd agent in place in the Organic Authority…or…even these Beacon operation crews.

Probably not this one—or else why would ENVY need human help contacting them? No…ENVY probably only had hooks in lower-level people somewhere else. Or they had a drone ready to inject some code somewhere seemingly unimportant until, say, someone triggered an off-schedule reconfiguration of the system.

“…Are there tertiary modules?” Nora asked.

“Yes, they would only be brought online to handle emergency signaling though.”

That had to be it. Maybe it wasn’t, but exploring the details of what ENVY had them doing was a luxury. Nora was not unaware to the fact that she was one of those people ENVY had hooks in.

Hopefully that wouldn’t be permanent.

“Trust me; this qualifies,” Nora said. “That has to be it, Trakin. I have no idea how these Beacons work, but tell me it’s impossible for someone to have a secret way to access and utilize emergency communication systems in the Beacons.”

“Systems that are only active if the primary ones aren’t enough to handle it,” Trakin agreed. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“ENVY somehow has access, I guarantee it,” Nora said. <[Don’t you? You’re dumping our message through the emergency modules.]>

ENVY’s response through the psionic box took several minutes, but it came.

That was the plan. Progress?

“How long before the Beacon undergoes reconfiguration?” Nora asked into the radio.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“…I have…sent the signal for maintenance,” Min said. “It should reach Beacon 10 in…eighty-one minutes, but I’d like to insist your ship dock here so we can verify your story. Failure to convince us will cause our little station to make a lot of noise very quickly.”

“Relax,” Trakin said into another handset. “We’re not here to make trouble. We’ll verify it all. We’re still twenty-eight minutes of deceleration away from docking. We’ll keep you informed.”

Nora made a note to calculate the delay talking to the psionic box while she updated ENVY. It was something Caleb hadn’t pinned down on Lakandt, and she wanted to better understand how long distance psionics compared to conventional radio.

But that could wait for another moment.

Because while they decelerated, attention turned back to the signals still coming in from the moons of Paris.

There was a video this time.

One thing after another. Nora felt like she was skipping from one thing to the next at breakneck speed. She couldn’t wait to be back on Archo and decompress, hopefully with the worst of her tasks behind her.

Now…she had to watch and see if she’d gotten Caleb killed or not.

Trakin displayed on the largest screen the rocket had: so not a very big one.

The picture was fuzzy, from a hundred miles into the sky.

As the figures moved, the image on screen lost coherency. It was a blur of a person trailed by pixelated distortion. The screen lagged every time Adeptry was used. Bursts of flame and solid masses just ‘popped’ into view between frames.

Four figures were in motion around the first—who could only be Caleb Hane—moving to cut him off before he could move too far in one direction.

Gunfire flashed occasionally, and Nora’s heart would clench each time. But Caleb didn’t stop moving.

It was genuinely like watching a different person.

The quality of the footage limited the detail she saw, but it was obvious Caleb was performing on another level than the one she’d seen in the Adept workshop spars.

When lightning bolts started flashing on screen, the impulsive part of her brain urged her to look away. Watching this was too much, too painful. How long would this drag on? Nora felt drained just watching the battle. How were any of them still standing?

The footage was too much. It demanded she cry, browbeating her into crumpling, averting her eyes, something.

But she didn’t move an inch.

It didn’t matter that Nora didn’t know the specifics of who was fighting. She knew the four Vorak were fighting Caleb ultimately as a result of her decision. She’d done her level best to prevent him from dying, but it hadn’t been enough.

Caleb was fighting four trained soldiers with superhuman abilities. Nora knew firsthand Caleb was no slouch, but she was watching an execution.

She refused to look away, no matter how much watching hurt.

This was her responsibility, and it would have been wrong to try separating herself from the consequences.

Those consequences came when a huge ripple went through the area, and one of the Vorak darted for Caleb.

The two figures clung together in frame for a few seconds, and then one fell over. Nora’s teeth squeezed together so hard, she thought they might crack.

Caleb Hane was—

…still alive.

The one who’d fallen was a Vorak.

She was confused only long enough for the fighting to start again, and then anguish roared back up again.

·····

This Caleb guy was something else.

Dustin had imagined having to fight the otters, armed or unarmed, one versus one, full blow rumbles…He’d never actually gone through with one of his theoretical scrapes, be he felt confident in his judgement regardless.

He’d realized that even if he weren’t up against one of the so-called ‘Adept’ otters, he’d still lose. To even begin to have a chance, he’d have to get very lucky against a very stupid Vorak.

Caleb wasn’t just going toe-to-toe with four of them now, he was winning.

Looking at the other faces present, Dustin saw that Nora didn’t realize that. She was too stressed about the event itself. Shakri noticed though.

A surge of blue fire on the monitor made her lurch back in fear.

“No! That’s not possible!” she hissed.

Even with the gaps in Dustin’s Starspeak, Trakin’s reaction was not a subtle one. “[I’m going to go out on a limb and guess this isn’t what anyone expected?]” he asked.

“You recognize that?” Trakin asked Nora.

Dustin’s boss nodded shakily.

“Yes…but…I don’t understand how Caleb…” Nora gaped.

Huh. Turns out being in the know can actually slow you down sometimes.

“[What’s so sp-pecial about this?]” Michelle asked.

“[All of it,]” Nora said. “[That teal stuff is something only one alien knows how to create. It’s her specialty. Caleb can’t make it. He shouldn’t even be able to make this much mass. His limit when we were practicing was less than twenty kilograms.]”

“[That’s a lot more than twenty kilos…]” Dustin whistled. “[Oh jeez!]”

More flashes of lightning lit up the screen, but Caleb didn’t stop. In fact, fighting against just three Vorak now, he had the upper hand.

It wasn’t long before the footage showed Caleb blast a Vorak with fire, create a small flood, and then launch one opponent up toward the camera’s perspective.

The details weren’t discernible from this distance or quality of footage, but Caleb was the one to walk away from the battle.

Everyone was stunned.

“…That is not good,” Trakin murmured.

“[He’s alive,]” Nora croaked. The look on her face said she could scarcely believe it. “[He’s actually alive.]”

“You don’t understand,” Trakin said. “One of those soldiers was Marhsal Tispas themselves. If they’re dead…”

“[…Oh shit,]” Nora said. “Would his next in command keep our deal?”

“…That depends if that person is Tox or not,” Trakin said. “The report with the footage lists…the Marshal is alive, but in critical condition. Accounting for light delay, they’re probably back on the flagship by now getting medical attention.”

“What about the other soldiers?” Nora asked. “Did Caleb kill all of them?”

Trakin’s eyes roamed the reports coming in onscreen. “Bestir is also in critical condition, but alive. Sten Span is dead. Stens Conchu, and Sanhei are still unaccounted for. Details will be thin until more unfolds.”

“Do we know where Caleb is going?” Nora asked.

“We’re too far away to see if their rocket launches at all, much less what its heading is,” Trakin said. “…If I am to disclose honestly, it would probably be best for you to not contact the flagship or anything near the battle.”

“…Why?” Nora asked.

“Because as long as the Marshal is incapacitated, someone else will have taken charge of the fleet to manage the chaos. It’s probably best to not remind anyone you exist while Tispas is incapacitated,” the otter said.

“[Fuck’s sake…]” Nora sighed. “[One thing after the goddamn next!]”

Dustin had to fight his natural urge to try comforting her. He was here. He was present. Jacob would have told him that if there was anything he could do to help, he had to trust that Nora would ask. Jacob’s advice was pretty good.

Silently checking with Michelle told Dustin that she had similar concerns.

“[…This doesn’t change anything,]” Dustin decided. “[Does it? I mean, Caleb is alive. Cool. But until someone in charge actually tells us to stop what we’re doing, we don’t have a reason to change our course of action. We don’t know anything new to tell Caleb or Trakin’s commanders, and we still need to follow through with this junk ENVY has us doing.]”

“[ENVY pinged back with the box,]” Nora said. “[They said everything is ready for the update as soon as Min’s signal reaches the Beacon. So I think we’re done with that. It will be weeks before we find out if the update broadcast worked, so…you’re right. We’re done.] This is Trakin’s show now.”

Considering so-called ‘Starspeak’ and English, the otter, like Dustin, wasn’t helpless in the unfamiliar language. Trakin was just barely keeping up with the English. Ever since Nora had got back, this Tox otter had thrown his weight around.

Trakin wasn’t nearly as uncooperative as when Jacob and Dustin had first tried exchanging languages with the Vorak.

“You heard back from the machine?” she asked.

Nora nodded. “Yes, but we won’t know if it worked until we actually manage to find more abductees. Whatever deadline we were pressed against, we’ve done what we can. Anything further isn’t time sensitive.”

“We’re still going to follow through with this research station,” Trakin said. “You took responsibility for whatever just happened, and I’d like to clarify as many details with as many people involved as possible. Whatever your ‘ENVY’ had us do, I fully intend to find out the extent of it.”

“No argument from me,” Nora said. “But for now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go collapse into a heap for…I don’t know how long.”

Dustin thought about stopping her, but Nora didn’t get a chance to leave.

A message was coming in from the research station.

“Sten Sendin, are you receiving me?” Min said. “Have you broadcast anything to our station?”

“What? No. Everything we sent is what you’ve been party to.”

“We’re seeing some odd readings on our equipment, I can’t explain them, and the timing with your arrival does not seem coincidental,” Min said.

“What exactly is wrong?” Trakin frowned.

“Not sure. Equipment says the Beacon might be trying to widen its skips,” Min said. “Not much, but even a few nanometers changes our readings.”

“Wait, what Beacon?” Trakin asked.

At the same time, Michelle suddenly let out a wince. “Agh!”

“[What? Are you alri— agh!]” Nora gave the same reaction slightly delayed.

“[What’s going on?]” Dustin asked. He didn’t feel anything, but he wasn’t taking to psionics so swimmingly.

“[Som-me kind feedb-back…]” Michelle said.

“[I feel it too,]” Nora said.

“In Starspeak!” Trakin barked.

“Psionic feedback,” Nora shared. “Not sure what more yet.”

Trakin turned back to the screen. “What Beacon are you talking about? Helm, scopes on the station, now!”

“Yes Sten,” the pilot said. One of the rocket’s displays began enlarging a picture of an oblong metal tube floating in the void.

It was massive, bigger than the tallest skyscraper on Earth.

“Why is there a Beacon here?!” Trakin shrieked.

“The station is attached to one…” Min said slowly.

“We’re inside Yawhere’s orbit!” Trakin said. “Why is there a Beacon here? It couldn’t possibly be traversable!”

“It’s not,” the technician scoffed. “This is a research and development station. This Beacon isn’t even paired yet. It won’t be launched toward a new system for another four year; we don’t need it to be traversable. We’re only testing its abridgement capability for signals so far…hang on.”

“Nonono…” Trakin mumbled. “Helm, decelerate harder. We need to reverse away from the Beacon immediately.”

“We’re at a few thousand meters per second. Even if do a blackout burn, we—”

“Sten Sendin, what are you doing to our station?” Min asked. “We’re showing electrical failures in our Beacon. It’s beginning to—wait…what is going on? Why did it do that? Vorak, why is our Beacon shutting down?”

Dustin watched the horror play across Nora's face. With every passing second, he began to feel a…pressure…on his mind. Nothing painful, but definitely there, ever so faint.

This was a disaster.

Dustin’s mind immediately went to Caleb’s battle with the Vorak. This was why those soldiers had attacked him. Somehow this Marshal Tispas’s insane theory was looking possible.

A ship with psionic-capable people coming close to a Beacon, and seconds later the thing shuts down? Ever since Boss had gotten back, she’d been looking to prove psionics weren’t behind the Beacon failures. Not only was everyone in the star system going to think psionics were to blame now; knowing Nora, she’d go to awful possibility they might be right.

“[Fuck!]” Nora said.

Dustin couldn’t help but respect the woman. She went through every thought he did, but faster. And on the other side of the realization, she collected herself and went to work, cool as a cucumber.

“…We need to talk to Caleb before the Coalition tries moving out of the system. The Red Sails are going after Caleb’s ship, right? They know where it is?” Nora asked.

“Yes,” Trakin said.

“We need to get them a message to pass. Caleb needs to know. We need to warn him and the Coalition to stay away from Beacons…” she repeated.

“They and he haven’t listened before,” Trakin said.

“Nobody’s really talked yet,” Nora said. “No one’s shown anyone evidence, weak or strong. Well this is real evidence, and he’ll at least listen if it comes from me. How long will the signal take?”

“Going from here to the flagship, then getting redirected toward their ship? At least three hours,” Trakin said.

“No time to waste,” Nora said. Again.

“So much for not reminding anyone you exist…Comms, record a transmission for the Human. Flag the signal to be redirected,” Trakin said, counting Nora down. Three, two, one…

Trakin pointed to her, and Nora spoke into the handpiece again, “Caleb don’t go near a Beacon. I know it’s insane, but we just shut down one on accident, and we’re getting psionic feedback like crazy. Just listen to this…”