November 04, 2361 AIA
The Golondrina
“I wasn’t going to kill her.”
“You’re a liar.”
“I wasn’t going to kill her.”
Vas had taken the Golondrina out into space. Teo Bhrams was a good man, and Gaoyun had laws. What was happening on the ship was so far beyond the concept of laws and jurisdiction, the only proper place for it was thousands of light-years away from civilization.
Moric’s wrists were constrained by a set of security cuffs. Gardner sat across from him. The general was leaning forward.
“You might believe that, Sipos. But I don’t,” Gardner said. “I know you. I know what you are.”
“Do you realize how paranoid you sound?” Sipos said. “Yes, I wanted to find Dr. Bonumomnes! She’d taken over my work. What kind of a scientist would I be if I didn’t try to find out what she was doing?”
“You’re so obsessed with your work you’d risked capture rather than staying away from the xenos?” Vas asked.
“What risk, Captain? There’s no warrant out for my arrest. I don’t even exist! There were only two people in the entire galaxy that I was reluctant to meet. Fable, I understand, is already dead. And I had good reason to hope Gardner would be as well. But the assassin failed.” Sipos shook his head. “Really, the quality of work these days.”
“Deplorable,” Gardner said.
Sipos continued, “If the handful of other people who even knew of my existence were to find me, the worst thing they’d do is send me back to Galen.”
“Galen?” Ciro sat forward on his bench. “The Galen Military Center for Excellence in Mental Health Research?”
Sipos wouldn’t answer. When Ciro turned to Gardner, the general nodded.
Ciro rose to his feet. “It was you! You sent those emails!”
Adan was unnerved by the fury on his brother’s face. “What’s going on?”
“He’s the stalker,” Tate said from beside Dr. Sipos.
“I’m not a stalker!” Moric’s objection was loud and quick.
“‘You’re nothing but a vile whore that presumed to step somewhere she wasn’t wanted!’” Ciro shouted. “Does that sound familiar, Doctor?” Vas had to put his arm out to stop him from charging Sipos. “You teased her! You asked if she’d figured things out, or if she’d tried experiments! The person who wrote those emails seemed to know a lot about the xenos!”
Sipos’s face pulled back in a slight grimace.
Even across the ship, Jane saw his expression. Her breath caught in her chest. “Oh my god! It was you!” Jane crossed over to him. Reyer followed close behind. “You threatened to rape me with a broken bottle and slit my throat with it! You—you—”
Jane slapped Sipos so hard the resounding crack reached every corner of the cabin. His head whipped to the side. Jane clenched her fists up by her head and buried her face in Alix’s shoulder.
Sipos stretched his aching jaw and probed the injured cheek with his tongue. There was a small welling of blood where one of her nails had caught. In a voice so calm it sounded cold, he said, “I didn’t know you when I wrote that.”
“Kill him,” Reyer said.
Both Vas and Tate moved to obey.
While Gardner shouted at them to stop, Sipos launched himself off the bench. He pushed his shoulder into Tate’s sternum, knocking the e-pistol out of his grip. Tate and Vas were on him less than a second later. Lynx took two steps, reached down into the brawl, and hauled Moric Sipos off the deck. He shoved him against the bulkhead, pinning both his arms. The pressure was so intense, Moric’s shoulders threatened to collapse.
The robot was unsympathetic to the crushing pain his captive was experiencing.
“I’m curious what good you thought struggling would do, Dr. Sipos,” Lynx said. “Where did you think you could escape to?”
Vas and Tate were on either side of the robot. Both were breathing hard and glaring at the captive.
“A man struggles when he knows he’s about to die, Lynx,” Adan said.
“It’s not logical,” Lynx said.
A rough, breathy laugh came from Sipos. “You want logic from these apes?”
When Vas raised his gun, Gardner grabbed his sleeve and yanked it down. “For god’s sake! Listen to me! Don’t kill him.”
Another laugh. “Ah! My good friend, Gardner—”
“Not yet.”
“Yes, that’s about what I thought it’d be worth.”
“Captain, he might have information we need. Please, calm down.”
Vas and Tate both glanced back at Reyer. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
The captain clicked on the safety and lowered his e-pistol.
“At least now I know who’s in charge on this ship,” Sipos said. “Here’s a hint, Captain—it’s not you.”
Joseph slammed his fist into Moric’s stomach. The man’s whole body seized. He retched, but the hold on his shoulders was unrelenting.
“Tate!” Reyer snapped.
“Sorry, Sarge.”
“I don’t think you’re sorry, Joseph,” Sipos choked out. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you preferred hitting people when they’re restrained.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, Doctor, I enjoyed hitting you. What do you expect from a bunch of apes? But Sarge doesn’t put up with abuse of prisoners.”
“And make no mistake,” Vas said, “you are a prisoner. If you try anything or hurt anyone, we will kill you.”
“Then how will you get your information?”
“I’ll use a Ouija board!” Adan put his e-pistol in its holster. “Lynx, take him back to the airlock. I think we could all use some space. Watch him.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Sipos went without protest. When the door sealed behind them, Lynx stood in front of the hatch. All they could see through the small window was the distorted shape of his metal shoulders.
“Gardner, how dangerous is Dr. Sipos?” Vas asked.
Gardner sat down on the bench behind him with a sigh loud enough to pass as a groan. “That’s an ugly and difficult question, Captain. I’m going to have a hard time answering it.”
“General, I have a serial killer on my ship! I want answers. I don’t care how ugly they are or how hard it is to get them.”
“Yes. Of course. I’ll do my best.” Gardner lifted his head. “He is dangerous. Moric Sipos is certifiably insane. I didn’t put an inconvenient man in a mental hospital simply to make him disappear. He belongs there. He has zero empathy for anyone and places no value on any human life but his own. However, his madness isn’t unpredictable—”
“Isn’t unpredictable!” Ciro shouted. “Do you have any idea the stuff he wrote to Jane?”
Jane pulled away from Alix’s shoulder so she could look at her face. “You knew?”
“Ciro told me there was a problem,” Reyer said.
“And I was right.” Ciro took a step toward her, pointing a single finger at her face.
“Watch it!” his brother snapped.
“It’s all right, Adan,” Alix said. “He’s scared and angry. We all are. And I told him not to do anything”—she looked at Jane—“when he wanted to drop everything to go get you.”
“He was with her!” Ciro cried.
Vas put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I need you to calm down.”
Ciro knocked it aside. “You don’t know! You haven’t read the emails. They were sick! Gardner’s told us what he’s done, and you—”
“Hey!” Tate yelled.
Ciro fell silent.
Tate said softly, “I would never have let him hurt her. Sarge knew that.”
“And I had work to do,” Jane said.
Ciro’s voice was quiet. “But if he’d gotten any closer…”
A shiver rolled through Jane’s body as she thought of the times she’d hesitated when Sipos had invited her out for a drink. She remembered his easy smile and strange, unblinking stare.
“You were watching us,” she said to Tate. “You were always hovering nearby. What would you have done if I’d said yes?”
Tate dropped onto a bench. “Doc, I had no idea what I’d do. I still don’t. I had to pray you had better taste than that.”
“You didn’t tell me you thought he was the stalker!”
“I didn’t know he was the stalker! I only knew something about him was…wrong. My skin would crawl every time he touched you.” Tate laid down along the bench and rubbed his face with both hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how much more of this I can handle. I need some rest.”
“Oh?” Alix said.
“You don’t have to give me crap about going soft, Sarge. I know it.”
Alix kicked the bench he was laying on. “Soft in the head, maybe. I’m not a sergeant anymore, remember? The name’s Reyer.”
“Right. Sorry, Sarge.”
Gardner saw how Jane was standing—head lowered, her arms wrapped around herself. He’d read the psychiatric evaluation from when Sipos had been incarcerated. It wasn’t hard to imagine what might’ve been in those emails.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that Dr. Bonumonmes,” Gardner murmured. “Sipos wasn’t supposed to have access to computers.”
“How serious do we have to take those threats?” Vas asked.
The general lifted a hand in a shrug. “I don’t know. At the time he was writing them, he had no idea he’d be able to escape. I presume he was writing them mostly for himself—as some form of cathartic entertainment to make himself feel more powerful…” He faltered but forced himself to say, “Or aroused.”
Jane paled.
The general continued, “I doubt he ever thought he’d get the chance to find you, so he probably didn’t intend to act them out.”
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“You’re saying I don’t have to take them seriously?” Jane asked.
“On the contrary, Doctor! He never thought he’d meet you, so he didn’t bother trying to hide who he was. You want to know how dangerous Moric Sipos is? He’s that dangerous. Those are his real fantasies, and he would act on them if he could do so without consequences.”
Ciro said, “If he’s that dangerous, we should kill him now!”
Vas felt his stomach tighten in response to his brother’s rage. He’d never seen Ciro display so much as a speck of bloodthirst. The captain waited for Jane to object to the proposed murder, but she said nothing.
Gardner unclenched his jaw and tried to make his voice soothing. “I don’t think that’s necessary, Mr. Vas. Sipos is highly intelligent. He doesn’t act on his impulses often. He’s spent his whole life watching other people, learning what’s expected of him and what’ll happen if he disregards society’s rules. He knows how dangerous this situation is to him. Everyone on this ship knows who he is, and we’re all hostile to him. Under these circumstances, I don’t think he’ll try anything.”
“Are you sure?” Vas asked.
“As sure as I can be, Captain.” Gardner pointed a lazy finger up at Ciro. “I think, right now, this young man is far more likely to kill me than Dr. Sipos is.”
Ciro didn’t disagree.
“Dr. Jane?” Vas said.
The doctor roused herself. “Captain?”
“What do you think?”
She only stared at him.
“You have more right to speak on this than anyone. It’s you he’s been threatening.”
“Leave him in the airlock.”
Vas frowned. “I’d be happy to oblige you, Doctor, but if I’m going to kill a man, I prefer to do it fast and merciful.”
When Reyer saw Jane’s confusion, she explained, “It’s not heated.”
Jane scowled.
“Will you be all right if we bring him back in here?” Vas asked.
“Why not?” Jane said. “I’ve been working close to him for days.” The frustration in her voice so belied her words, no one knew how to respond. She turned to Gardner. “Would he have hurt me?”
“Inevitably. But perhaps not violently.”
“His emails—”
“Dr. Bonumomnes, I think he’s infatuated with you. For as long as he was trying to charm you, you had nothing to fear.”
“And now?”
Gardner shrugged.
Jane said to Vas, “You can bring him in here. I’ll be all right.”
Vas recognized the look on her face. He’d seen it too often on Alix. Jane was steeling herself to act as if everything was fine. “If anything happens,” he said, “if he makes you uncomfortable at all, tell me.”
“Are we letting him out now?” Tate asked.
“No. He can chill in there a while longer. I’d rather not deal with him at the moment.”
“Good.” Joseph closed his eyes.
“What happens now?” Jane asked.
Vas pushed away from the bulkhead he’d been leaning on. “We’re going to get you somewhere safe.”
“Not Home Base,” Reyer said.
Adan looked over at her. “No. Not Home Base.” They’ll never let Gardner go again once we take him there.
Reyer, who was watching his face, nodded.
Vas went on, “We’ll find an abandoned planet or a free-plane. Somewhere safe and anonymous.” The captain turned to the cockpit. “Ciro, Alix, may I have a word with you?”
“But—” Jane started.
“Captain!” Gardner said.
The both took a step toward him.
Vas stopped halfway up the short staircase. “Was there something unclear about what I said? I’m very familiar with Alix Reyer, Doctor, and I’m damn sure you’re not her. And I’m afraid you’re not skinny enough to pass as Ciro, General.”
“Don’t you think I should have some input?” Jane asked.
“This is a small ship, Dr. Jane. I have no doubt you’ll make your opinion known.”
“But it sounds like you’ve already decided.”
“Unless you have one hell of a compelling argument, I have.”
“You’re going to get the files on Project 32, aren’t you?”
“After we get you somewhere safe, yes.”
“Captain, we do need to hurry,” Gardner said.
“And I want to go with you!” Jane added.
“I’m sorry, Doctor,” Vas said. “It might be dangerous.”
“I’m not afraid of danger, Vas.”
“I haven’t forgotten. I respect your courage, but I don’t think you realize how important you are to us.”
“Yes! I’m your friend! I want to help you.”
Reyer walked up to them. “That’s not what he meant. If we die, someone else will take our place, but if anything happened to you—you’re irreplaceable.”
“That’s idiotic!” Jane cried. “I gave a copy of all my notes to Bhrams!”
“Did you give him a copy of your brain?”
“Alix, if I’m supposed to be your expert, I’m going to need the information you find in those files anyway.”
“And we’ll get it to you,” Vas said, “but there’s no reason to put you at risk while we retrieve it.”
“I told you, the base is completely abandoned!” Gardner said. “How much risk do you expect there to be?”
“More than there would be if she didn’t go.”
“Captain—”
“General, is there any evidence that a day’s delay will make a difference?”
Eventually, Gardner growled, “No.”
“Then that’s the plan.”
“I suppose you’ll pick the planet for me too?” Jane huffed.
“If you want me to,” Vas said, “but I thought you didn’t like it when other people made decisions for you.”
Jane let out a frustrated cry as Adan climbed up the last step. Raising both middle fingers to his back, she shouted, “Thank you for your consideration, Captain!”
“You’re welcome, Doctor. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I do need to talk to my brother and Alix in some semblance of privacy.”
“You know, this is a small ship.”
But she’d gone too far.
Vas turned. When he spoke, his voice was quiet. “That airlock is big enough for three more people.”
After a tense moment, Tate raised his hand without moving from the bench. “Captain, I’d like to point out, I’m just laying here.”
Reyer reached up and put her hand on Adan’s arm. “Before we resort to locking them in with a man who’s killed over a dozen people, do you think we could try asking them nicely?”
Vas looked down at her. There was a slight smile at the edge of her lips and a small arch to one of her eyebrows. That teasing expression always managed to completely disarm him. He wondered if she knew that. He prayed she didn’t.
“Right,” he said. “You pull the gun, and I’ll tell them to please mind their own business.”
Reyer’s smile widened. “I guess you can’t get much more polite than that.”
“I’d be careful,” Joseph called out. “Sarge’s warning shots don’t bounce off walls. They tend to take out a leg.”
“Aren’t you pretending to be asleep, Tate?”
“Yes, Sarge.”
To Gardner and Jane, Reyer said, “Please take a break. You could both use it.”
They finally broke away and went toward the rear of the ship. Vas took his normal place at the pilot’s controls. Ciro jumped up the steps, but before he could sit down in the copilot’s chair, his brother stopped him.
“That’s her seat.”
“Adan,” Alix said.
Ciro stepped away. “No, he’s right. I’m not pretty enough.”
“Lynx usually sits there,” Reyer said.
“Lynx is gorgeous.”
As Reyer passed Ciro, she gave him a look that clearly showed concern for his eccentric tastes. She eased herself into the chair and opened her eyes when the worst of the pain faded.
Vas nodded when he saw she was settled. He turned to where his brother was sitting near the top of the stairs. “Ciro, are you calm now?”
His brother grimaced. “Calm enough.”
“Have you at least decided who you’re angry at?”
“I’m fine, Adan.”
“I’m not doing this to pester you, Ciro. I need to know if you’re going to start shouting again.”
“No. I’ll—I won’t.” Ciro leaned back against copilot’s chair. He saw his brother still watching him and repeated, “I won’t.”
“Good. Why don’t you two start by telling me what the hell’s going on and why I’m only hearing about it now?”
Neither of them rushed to answer him.
“From how everyone was acting,” Vas said, “I can guess those emails were pretty horrifying. How long has it been going on?”
“A little over three months,” Reyer admitted. “It wasn’t consistent, but sometimes she’d get two or three a week.”
“Three months! Someone’s been threatening her for three months, and you did nothing?”
“It wasn’t like that. Every email that Sipos wrote made it sound like he was off planet and had no way to get to her. If I’d thought she was in eminent danger, of course I would’ve gone to get her. But Tate was protecting her, and I didn’t want to interrupt her work unless we had to.”
“When would you have finally done something?”
“We were doing something,” Ciro said. “We were trying to track him down and find out who he was. It wasn’t easy. Sipos is good with computers. It took a month of work for me to trace him back to P41.”
“P41,” Vas noted. “That’s why you insisted on coming.”
“I couldn’t break in without being in the network. When I heard you’d be going there, I had to take the chance.”
“Is that how you knew the name of his asylum?”
“I was able to find it while we were on planet, but I was only able to get that far before we had to rescue you.”
Vas said to Reyer, “Did you know what Ciro was doing?”
“No—” Ciro started
“Yes,” Alix said over him.
The captain’s glance moved between them.
Reyer clarified: “He wouldn’t admit it, but I would’ve been stupid not to guess.”
“And you didn’t tell me,” Vas said. “Neither of you told me.”
“Ciro didn’t tell you because I asked him not to.”
There was a long silence.
“Ciro,” Adan said, “if you could please go help Dr. Jane find a planet she wouldn’t mind visiting. I’d like to talk to Miss Reyer alone.”
His brother walked down the stairs, casting an uneasy look behind him as he went.
Vas waited until Ciro was sitting down with Jane before he spoke. “Alix, why didn’t you tell me about the emails?”
“You’re upset,” she said.
“You sound like Lynx. Yes, I’m upset. Please answer the question.”
Reyer took a breath to give herself time to think. “Adan, you’re a hero type.”
“There you go insulting me again. What does that have to do with anything?”
“I had enough trouble keeping Ciro from charging out to rescue her. And he didn’t have his own ship! It seemed easier to—”
“Lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie to you. I didn’t tell you. That’s not the same thing.”
“You were worried that I’d do something stupid, so you willfully held back information to manipulate what I would do.”
Reyer said nothing.
“Alix, I know you like to manipulate officers, but this has to stop. If we’re going to work together, we have to be a team. You can’t decide what information I’m allowed to have.”
“I’m not in charge.”
The comment was so unexpected that Vas’s mind went blank. “What?”
“I know I’m not in charge,” Reyer said. “You’re the captain. I—I’m…Look, whatever Sipos said—”
Reyer wasn’t sure where the sentence was going anyway, so she felt relieved when it was interrupted by Adan’s quiet laugh.
“Mi vida,” he said, “I kind of make it a point to not pay too much attention to the words of someone who recently broke out of a mental institution. I’m discerning like that. Never mind what he said. This is about you deciding you couldn’t trust me.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Reyer said.
“It’s not?”
“I know you. If I’d told you about those emails, what would you have done?”
“You don’t trust me to make the right choice.”
“It wouldn’t have been the wrong choice.”
“Just not the choice you would have made.”
Alix wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“You’re right,” Vas said. “My first inclination would’ve been to go get her. But do you know why Sipos made the comment he did? About who was in charge? Because in only a few seconds, a complete psychopath managed to figure out something you haven’t wrapped your head around yet—I actually listen to you.”
Reyer smiled. “Oh, Falk and Jordan would be so jealous if they knew.”
Vas waited until he could subdue his own unwilling smile before he continued. “After you stopped me from charging off like an idiot, I would’ve listened to you long enough to hear what you had to say. Can you give me that much credit?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alix, don’t call me sir. I’m not your commanding officer, and this isn’t a dressing down. I’m your lover. And I’m asking you to trust me.”
“This coming from the man who created an anti-Reyer program.”
Silence.
“That’s different,” Vas said.
“How?” Reyer said.
“I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. Until then, I’ll conditionally allow that you might have a point.”
“So you’ll remove it?”
“Let’s not be hasty! You haven’t won the argument yet.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Besides, it’s a good program. There needs to be something in your life you can’t talk your way around.” Adan leaned forward in his seat. “But I’ll make you a deal. I’ll avoid using it unless I think it’s important—”
“And I’ll avoid keeping things from you unless I think it’s important.”
Vas grit his teeth. “All right. Not such a good deal. How about this? I promise I won’t use the program unless I’ve talked to you first.”
Alix opened her mouth but wound up shutting it after nothing came out. Vas smiled.
“Oh, fine,” she grumbled. “I guess I promise I won’t hide anything from you unless I’ve talked to you first.”
“Now that’s a much better deal, don’t you think?” Vas said.
“For you, at least.” Reyer made a face at him. In spite of that display of maturity—or perhaps because of it—he smiled at her. She fixed her eyes on the copilot’s controls. “You promise you’ll listen to me?”
“I promise.” He reached out and took her hand. “Don’t worry. How often am I going to do something that I know makes you mad at me?”
She liked the reassuring feel of his hand in hers. Ever since they’d started the mission, most of the contact was nothing more than a passing gesture, and even though it was Reyer who’d insisted they keep their affection subdued, she held tight to his fingers, reluctant to let go. They would have stayed like that for longer, but the sound of the airlock opening drew their attention to the back of the ship. As Lynx and Sipos emerged, the captain and Reyer came down to the main deck.
“I’m sorry for interrupting, Captain,” Sipos said, “but I’d rather have you shoot me than freeze to death.”
His words were slurred, and his shivering was so severe that it was obvious from several feet away.
Vas nodded to the bench beside the airlock. Sipos collapsed on it and folded up around himself.
“Lynx,” Adan said.
The robot said, “Captain, I realize that you gave no order to contradict your original instructions, but I need more information.”
“Explain.”
“Is a human still the same human if they’re dead?”
Everyone but Sipos stared at the bot.
Reyer took a step forward. “Lynx, why are you asking that question?”
“Dr. Sipos implied I would fail my orders if he were to die under my watch.”
“Did he tell you how you would fail your orders?”
“The captain told me to take him back to the airlock and watch him. Dr. Sipos pointed out that he wouldn’t still be him if he died. My orders are interpreted according to the probable meaning of the terms as understood by the person using them. However, Captain Vas has never defined the nature of self.”
“Was he going to die, Lynx?” Vas asked.
“Certainly. He was already displaying the symptoms of hypothermia. Without intervention, it’s lethal.”
“How long would it have taken for him to die?”
“I don’t know all the information needed to account for the variables—”
“Best guess, Lynx.”
“If nothing had been done, taking into account his general age and health, twenty to forty-five minutes.”
“So what you’re saying,” Tate grumbled, “is that we could’ve been spared his delightful company for at least fifteen more minutes?”
Lynx scanned the faces of everyone on the ship, looking for any body language cues his programing could recognize. “Captain, I don’t understand.”
Vas raised his hand. “Not now, Lynx. I’ll explain later—I’ll try to explain later. Get Sipos a blanket and two SAR pads.”
“The cuffs?” Sipos stuttered.
“You want them tighter, Doctor?” Vas said. When Sipos didn’t respond, the captain turned back to Lynx, “Continue watching him. He’s a captive hostile.”
“Understood, sir.”
“And Lynx,” Alix said, “begin anti-Reyer program.”
“Duration?”
“In regards the last order given by Captain Adan Vas, indefinite, unless otherwise contradicted.”
The robot waited for Vas to nod before acknowledging the order.
“May I ask what an anti-Reyer program is?” Sipos leaned his head against the bulkhead.
“You can ask,” Reyer said.
“You won’t answer.”
“You are smart.”
As Lynx fetched the heating pads and blanket, Gardner joined Reyer and Vas when they moved toward the front of the ship.
“He manipulated the bot?” the former general asked.
“Oh, yes,” Alix said.
“But how did he know he could?” Vas muttered. “Lynx is unique.”
Gardner half turned toward where Sipos was sitting. “It’s possible he was playing around, not knowing if it would work. He’s disturbingly good at manipulating people.”
“Bots aren’t people.”
The former general slowly shook his head while watching Vas. “You still don’t get it, do you, Captain? To him, there’s no difference between us and your bot. We’re all nothing but tools to be manipulated.”