Stowaway (Redleg in Space Book 1) Read online

  “You’re thanking me, but without your actions there wouldn’t have been a rescue for me to orchestrate. You are one of the only people in the Unity who would have risked his own life to help a settler. You saved my life twice on this mission, and my people will hear about what you did. We will name new planets after you,” Axis said.

  Sometime during Axis’s story, both Jorloss and Samix had returned to their respective work areas, leaving only the two members of the landing party in the cargo bay. Zade smiled at the thought of having a planet named after him and stood. Inviting Axis to join him for a meal, Zade explained that he was famished. Not only was Zade hungry but during the rescue Zade tore a couple of muscles in his left shoulder when he grabbed the rope Axis had provided for egress. The nanites warned him of damage as soon as it had happened, but only after Zade was safely aboard the ship did the nanites output a full damage report with corresponding resources required for repair.

  The two men, still filthy from their escapade, sat down to a large meal in the galley. During the meal the men chatted. Zade used the conversation to learn more about Axis, understanding that he must know as much as possible about his new situation to be able to survive in the Unity. As the men ate, Zade learned that the Settler faction of the Unity was called the T.A.R.C.C., or the Terraforming and Resource Collection Conglomerate. The T.A.R.C.C. was the largest and most financially influential faction in the Unity.

  During the formative years of the settlers, much of the Unity’s citizenry despised the settlers because of their looks, reasoning that no species as strange as the settlers could be equal to the sentient species that already made up the Unity. With the ensuing peace created by the formation of the Unity, many of the member species began to outgrow their home worlds and were forced to find other planets to populate. After many failed terraforming attempts, the species began to look towards the settlers for their services. As the settlers amassed great wealth from the terraforming services they provided, they were begrudgingly admitted into the Unity as a full member species. As the T.A.R.C.C.’s wealth and corresponding influence grew, their reputation deteriorated. The settlers were viewed as a necessary evil, accepted but despised by the other members of the Unity.

  Because of the hostile social and political environment in which the settlers lived, the species was forced to become almost reclusive in nature, looking inward for solutions to any problems that the species faced. Internally, the settlers were structured into tribes, and had a rigid class system. The tribes were based on the condition of the first colonies. The most powerful tribes, of which Axis was part of, developed on planets which were terraforming successes, while the less powerful tribes were forced to relocate to successfully terraformed planets, after their home-world terraforming projects failed. The classes in this society were based on the generations separated from the initial settlers who left their home world to settle the asteroids. The oldest members of the species, thus closest to the original settlers held the highest class, and were known colloquially as Ancients, while the youngest held the lowest class and were known as Children. Outsiders and the settlers who left the T.A.R.C.C. were known as Wanderers, and made up the lowest tribe and class possible.

  Axis explained that a yearlong ceremony was held during the year following the death of the final settler in a generation. The first half of the year was spent remembering the accomplishments of the generation that had passed. The second half was spent ensuring that all of the lost generation’s knowledge was passed to the generation which would rise to prominence in the tribes. Order was maintained by a strict set of laws developed and enforced by Ancients. The laws guaranteed the survival of the species, and many infractions elicited a punishment of death or exile, which ensured that no defective settler could attain the class of ancient.

  Axis formally introduced himself as the first son of the Elder Ancient of the highest tribe in the T.A.R.C.C. His father was charged with running the T.A.R.C.C. and representing the settlers to the Unity. As the first son, Axis would inherit the responsibilities of his father someday.

  “Pleasure to meet you officially, Axis. I have to ask, though, if you are royalty in your species, why were you sent on such a dangerous mission?” Zade asked, curiosity now peaked by Axis’s story.

  “This crew’s mission is an extremely prestigious one,” Axis explained. “My father should have been the representative of our species to the worlds explored by this ship but could not leave due to his responsibilities within the Unity. I, as his heir, was selected in his stead.”

  Zade spent the rest of the meal introducing himself and explaining some of the finer point about mankind. The arrogance he once felt based on his position in the army had now been tempered by the realization that his new status meant less than nothing when compared to others in the Unity. The two men finished eating and headed to their quarters. Once inside Zade turned on one of his favorite playlists as he showered and prepared for bed. As Zade laid in bed, unable to sleep, he thought about the repercussions of his actions to save Axis.

  ∆∆∆

  The next few days were uneventful, as the ship was on a short jump to the next planet of interest. Zade spent the time interacting with the crew and improving the kit he would carry planet side. Learning from the past exploration jaunt, Zade developed a myriad of different weapons and defenses that he could chose based on the ship’s threat analysis. Interaction with the crew, although not unpleasant, was minimal. The other members of the crew were absorbed in their research and only left their labs to eat and sleep.

  Just before night cycle on the third day of the flight, Samix called Zade up to the command deck. Unsure of what to expect, Zade worked to a good stopping point on the new SSILF he was designing and readied himself for the icy, passive aggressive bout that he was expecting. As he exited the robotics lab headed for the command deck, Samix’s voice popped into his ear:

  I’ll meet you up there in a second, I’m grabbing a cup of sloop. Want one?

  Sure. Care to give me a heads up on what this meeting is about?

  Just a mission brief. We should be hitting orbit any minute now.

  Zade beat Samix to the command deck, and took a seat at one of the workstations while he waited for her. Looking out the viewing windows, Zade could see a small, white marble slowly growing in size, and guessed that it was the planet they would be exploring. Samix walked onto the command deck, handed Zade his mug, and leaned against the workstation he was sitting at. Looking past her, Zade could see that the icy planet now took up most of the windows on the command deck. Samix turned and bent over another workstation, back to Zade, where she input the commands to start orbital surveys of the planet. With one of Samix’s finer characteristics at eye level and enticingly close to him, Zade couldn’t figure out what game she was playing. Was she taunting him into shooting his mouth off again, so she could send him out on another suicide mission? Was she toying with him? Was it an ego or dominance thing? Zade wasn’t sure, but what he did know was the last time he was in this situation he reacted and earned himself a nasty backhand and a mission that almost killed him. Trying to separate himself from the situation, Zade pushed his chair backward. It was mounted to the workstation, so it didn’t budge. Doing the next best thing, Zade closed his eyes and waited for Samix to stand back up. When he heard movement, Zade opened his eyes, he saw Samix looking back at him, the slightest hint of a smirk on her face.

  She’s toying with me. Trying to get a reaction so she can send me out to die on another stupid mission.

  “This is our next target. We need to get data from some ice cores on the planet. You and I will be the landing team,” Samix said pointing to the planet, barely able to keep the snicker out her voice.

  Awesome, she isn’t even going to let the local wildlife do me in. She’s going take me down the and either leave me or kill me herself.

  Zade had been burnt by bad leadership before, granted they were all human, but this reeked of bad. Samix started the brief by
explaining that initial surveys put the planet’s surface at around -300 degrees, making it inhospitable for any life to develop. Usually, Zade would use an environmental suit and take the core samples himself, but because he didn’t know the technology, Samix would have to go down as well. The environment was too extreme to adapt to even with nanites, so Zade would need to use Fern’s environmental protection suit. The suit was the only one aboard that could protect its user from the harsh conditions on the surface, and Zade was the only one who would fit inside it.

  Samix, as a Xi’Ga, could handle the extreme temperature without protection, and could complete the work on her own; however, after recent incidents, Samix had made the determination that anyone leaving the ship would have a buddy. The temperatures were too low to use SSILF, as their internal workings would freeze shortly after being exposed to atmosphere, so Zade would be doing the heavy lifting. The ship would land and offload the crew, who would then walk for five kilometers, in any direction, away from the landing site. This was to prevent the landing zone, which was all ice, from collapsing due to the weight of the ship combined with the integrity loss from core drilling. After the cores were drilled, Samix would drop a sensor through the hole and into the ocean below. The sensor would collect data on the lifeforms and makeup of the ocean. Upon completion of testing, Zade would carry the equipment back to the ship.

  After explaining the mission, Samix led Zade to the cargo bay where she showed him the environmental protective suit he would be using. Samix showed Zade to a nine-foot-tall crate that had been stowed in the corner near the ramp. As she opened the crate, Zade could see the towering, yellow and green, protective suit. The suit looked like high-tech armor, capable of withstanding some serious abuse. It was entirely mustard yellow, with a green face shield and green circle on the left chest plate.

  “That is beautiful and ugly at the same time. Fern must have had a horrible fashion sense,” Zade quipped.

  “Fern didn’t have a choice,” Samix shot back. “Those are the exploration corps colors, green on yellow with a circle emblem. Combat is red on grey with a triangle emblem. Transport is white on blue with a solid white square emblem. Command is red on red with no emblem. Do you want to see how it works?”

  “Absolutely,” Zade said as he walked around the masterpiece in awe.

  Samix walked up to the suit, pressed some buttons on the left wrist, which caused the back and shoulder area to slide open. As the back was sliding apart, splitting right where the spine would be, the upper body of the suit leaned forward. After some instruction, Zade climbed onto a nearby crate and stepped into the suit. As both feet firmly planted, Zade could feel the inside of the legs expand to fill the gap between his legs and the suit. Samix instructed Zade to lean forward and place his face in the helmet, while sliding his arms into the arms of the suit. Like with the legs, the arms compressed making the suit form fitting. With his arms snugly secured in the suit, Zade straightened his back so that he was standing upright. As he did, he could feel the back of the suit and helmet closing and like the arms and legs the torso compressed to make the suit form fitting.

  “The suit needs to be calibrated and you need to be familiarized with its functions. Stay here, and work through the functions check. It should take you 30 minutes, which is what the suit requires to calibrate,” Samix said as she turned to head back to the command deck.

  Zade tried to turn and look at her, but the suit had not engaged movement capabilities yet. Bringing his attention back to the face shield, a basic welcome message and brief description scrolled over the visor. The suit connected directly with the user’s interface and the goal of Argyle Industries, the suits manufacturer, scrolled across the screen: So comfortable, you forget you’re in a protective suit. The suit was a standard bipedal model that could be used by any species that would fit in it. Because of this, the suit required 30 minutes in a controlled environment so it could determine the user’s environmental needs. To accomplish this, the suit would run a function check for any first-time user, during which a user profile would be created. Any time a pervious user interface was identified, the suit would skip the functions test.

  The test began by ensuring the user that the suit could operate in any known conditions. As the motor skills portion of the test began, a warning displayed saying that the suit was capable of increasing the user’s strength tenfold and that they should take care when trying to complete delicate tasks. After the warning, the display prompted Zade to move every joint independently across its full range of motion. This allowed the suit to establish safety stops to prevent the user from hyperextending joints. After Zade finished walking two laps around the cargo bay, the final prompt, the suit began describing the user interface on the visor.

  The visor could display anything the user could view through their interface, but the exploration model came standard with a small map in the right corner, with known locations pinpointed in different colors to denote if they were friendly or unfriendly. A small screen in the opposite corner showed a compass with waypoint indicators across the top, and external conditions listed down the left side. Combat models had more armor, and could also display ammunition capacity and team member status on the left side in lieu of environmental conditions.

  The final phase of the familiarization covered entering and exiting procedures along with any additional features of the suit. Since Zade now had a profile created in the suit, he would never have to manually open or close the suit. Users could instruct the suit to open and close through their interface. Unlike other equipment on the ship, only users could instruct the suit to open or close, a measure to prevent accidental exposure to the atmosphere. The only additional features the suit had were twin 1,000-foot-long grappling hooks, one in each wrist, and feet with magnetic or spiked capabilities. With the final additional features explained, the tutorial dialog box closed.

  Whoever commissioned this suit, must have had great plans to traverse some broken terrain. But the spiked feet are going to come in handy on an ice planet, Zade thought.

  How much stuff are we going to be taking on this trip? He asked Samix.

  Everything we are taking is staged under the stairs on the side of the bay near the terraforming lab. Samix replied

  Zade walked to the steps and saw the three crates that he would be carrying for the mission. Taking one at a time, Zade judged that all three combined weighed nearly 500 pounds. After getting a feel for the load he would be carrying, Zade went back to the protective suit and began to inspect its exterior. The suit must have had some primitive form of AI because as Zade neared it, a message from the suit could be heard through his interface.

  Hello, User Two. What do you need me to do? Said a female voice.

  “Who is this?” Zade questioned aloud.

  This is the Argyle Protective Suit for which you just established a profile. Would you like to add a unique username?

  “What? The tutorial didn’t say anything about an AI.”

  I am a feature reserved only for users who chose to complete the tutorial.

  “Fair enough I guess, weirder shit has happened to me this month. Call me Zade. Since I am talking to you, do you have a name?”

  Hello Zade. I am designated as an environmental protective suit interface, or ‘EPSI.’ How can I help you today?

  “I will be carrying 500 pounds of gear five kilometers while in the suit. I need a way to do so while keeping my hands free. Input?”

  If you look at the back of the suit you will see four large holes, two on either side of the back. These are quick connect points for the Argyle load carrying system. After the suit is donned and closed, the user can attach the system. They are ballistic anchors, that can quickly detach the load in case of emergency. They are capable of carrying 1000 pounds apiece. Made from…

  “Enough, I have what I need. Thank you EPSI. See you in a couple of hours,” Zade said, cutting off the rambling AI.

  Chapter 8

  The ship was on its fin
al orbit of the planet, after which Zade would be going out on mission with Samix. He felt anxious about it, but not in the way he expected. He was almost excited to spend some time with her, one on one, though he didn’t want to admit it, even to himself. He was in the robotics lab fabricating a carrying mount for the team’s equipment, using the anchor point imagery captured earlier that day. He was working on his third, and hopefully last, attempt. The first could hold the load but as Zade picked up the frame and shook it, the bottom supports deformed and dumped the equipment on the floor. After reinforcing the support structure, the second frame’s anchor stubs were misaligned, meaning it couldn’t be hooked to the back of the suit. Zade hoped that this last attempt, the one being finished by the fabrication machine, would work.

  Zade grabbed the frame as soon as the machine had finished making it. Still warm to the touch, Zade turned it over in his hands inspecting it for any obvious defects. Finding none, he headed out the rolling doors at the back of his lab directly into the cargo bay. Lining up the frame, Zade pressed the it to the back of the suit. It fit perfectly. As he removed his hands from the frame, it fell with a clunk to the floor.

  Frustrated, Zade addressed the suit’s AI, “EPSI why won’t the frame stay on the back of the suit?”

  This equipment is not of Argyle Industries design; I cannot allow it to be installed on the suit.

  “Sure it is EPSI. I personally picked it up before we launched. I did modify it though, which is probably the reason you can’t recognize it,” Zade lied.

  Very well. Be advised the use of equipment not authorized for use with the suit by Argyle Industries constitutes a breach of contract and may lead to legal action.