The Privateer 2: AN HONEST LIVING Page 3

  "So," Dee concluded, "what we're likely to encounter will be an armed force, eager to defend its 'kingdom'. Can we expect immediate attack as soon as we ground?"

  "I cannot say, Dee," Tess replied. "Certainly these 'knights' will be the first to respond to our arrival. Given the level of civilization I have observed, it is unlikely they could do me significant harm. However, you are not armored like a starship. I suspect the immediate danger will be great."

  Cale frowned. "I don't know, Tess. I'd bet an arriving ship would scare the local king badly. His priority would be to find out who we are and what we want. I don't think he'd want to start a fight with people who come from the sky on a pillar of fire! If I were him, I'd send out fighters in case we attack, but as soon as I could, I'd send out a courtier to find out about us."

  "You may be right, Captain," Tess replied crisply. "My files on that era are incomplete at best, and much would depend upon the ruler's intelligence and level of civilization.

  "To continue my report, sir, I also have to report an anomaly and a problem."

  "An anomaly?"

  "Yes, Captain. As I mentioned, the inhabited belt stretches from the ruins of Nirvana to the ruins of Valhalla. At the Valhalla end, however, I am detecting signs of technological progress beyond the rest of the planet.

  "There is a town at the edge of the old ruins, one almost large enough to be termed a small city. I would estimate over thirty thousand inhabitants, much more than in any other community. Details are difficult to obtain, due to the presence of large amounts of smoke. But I have identified what appear to be railroad tracks extending in a large, irregular circle to include more than a dozen villages and several fortifications."

  Cale startled. "What?" He paused to gather his thoughts. "I know what a railroad is, Tess, and I can't believe these barbarians could build one, even if they knew what it was. They don't have any metal!"

  "Nevertheless, Captain, I even have footage of a vehicle of some kind traveling on those tracks. I should also mention that Jumbo is not devoid of metals. It retains an atmosphere, and has a magnetic field. Iron is plentiful, as are a number of other metals. What it lacks is heavy metals"

  Cale grinned. "I stand corrected." He started to order Tess to show the footage, but then paused. "Okay. We'll get to that. But first, we've got a lot of work to do. Given the size of Jumbo, we're going to have to ground at several dozen locations to gather animal, plant and soil samples for our clients before we worry about the inhabited area. I think we should take care of business first, and then we can do the fun stuff."

  Dee smiled. "Contacting armed barbarians who have a train is 'fun stuff'?"

  Cale grinned. "Yep. That's what will take the time and effort. We should do the bouncing around first."

  "Excuse me, Captain," Tess interjected, "but that brings me to the problem."

  Cale's frown returned. "What is it, Tess?"

  "I am afraid we have all been guilty of underestimating our task," Tess began. "I underestimated the damage 500 years could work on a simple landing pad. I have located one in each of the old cities, including the large one at Nirvana. But none are usable.

  Exploration vessels are spherical for strength, and can land on a small area, like the ancient rockets. I am a yacht. My hull is elongated, and I land on my belly. Even a single rough-surface landing will require very precise monitoring of my gravs. More importantly, though, a rough-surface landing will strain my landing jacks and even my structural integrity. Every rough-surface grounding is a risk. I felt confident that I could make at least one rough-surface landing and liftoff; but we will require dozens of landings, not just one.

  "And you underestimated the sheer size of Jumbo. The original plan was for me to ground at the cities' landing fields, and you and Dee to use a flitter to survey the area. But we now know that the pads are unusable, and without being able to lift from one area to another, a flitter would take months to even reach some of the survey areas."

  "Oh, dear!" Dee sounded distressed. "We can't just go back and tell the clients we weren't able to do the survey!"

  "I do have a suggestion," Tess said tentatively.

  Cale waved a dismissing hand. "Tess, you're a partner in this, too. Don't sound so damned humble! What's your idea?"

  "A partner!" Tess replied warmly. "Thank you, Cale."

  "Of course you're a partner, Tess," Dee said. "We couldn't do this without you. What's your idea?"

  "I suggest we use the lifeboat at the orbital station. I examined it carefully. The reason it wasn't used was that it was apparently undergoing maintenance at the time the station was abandoned. And the fuel rods have deteriorated beyond use, of course. But I'm certain my 'bots could complete the repairs and refuel it in a few hours. A lifeboat is designed for multiple rough-field landings and liftoffs. It's designed for fifteen people, so if we strip out the extra couches we'll have plenty of room for any equipment you want to take. And finally, it contains a full med-and-cold-sleep cabinet, in case one of you gets sick or hurt."

  Tess contained several dozen spider-shaped robots that served as her 'hands'. Their sizes varied from over a yard in diameter to less than half an inch. Of their eight legs, two ended in folded manipulators that could be deployed as remarkably dextrous 'hands'. For the few jobs too small for her robots, Tess was equipped with packets of nanobots. Each packet was designed to fulfill a single, simple function.

  "And," Tess continued, "I can maintain a low geostationary orbit above wherever you are, in case you need help."

  Cale shook his head. "Tess, we know you can't use the weapons."

  "That is not precisely true," Tess replied. "I am prevented from harming a human or allowing him to come to harm. But I suspect the sight of me roaring down from the sky would be quite an effective diversion, especially if I used the quickfirer to chew up the ground near your attackers. It could at least give you time to get back aboard the lifeboat and lift off."

  Cale grinned. "It would sure scare me! Tess, you seem to have thought of everything. It's a good thing lifeboats are dead simple to operate. They don't come equipped with AI's."

  "True," Tess replied. "They do have a nav comp, however. I feel sure I could modify its programming to meet our needs."

  The conversation moved to technicalities as they moved back to the space station. When Cale's friend Yan Carbow had disguised the yacht as an old Empire courier, they had added the weapons to make the disguise complete, and to give Cale some defense against his former pirate shipmates. Tess contained a destroyer-sized laser and an alliance quickfiring projectile weapon. Yes, Tess could provide an effective diversion, even though her programming prevented her actually harming a human.

  It took Tess's industrious robots only hours to complete work on the lifeboat, though it was nearly a day before Tess was satisfied with their detailed inspection of the craft and the stripping of its interior. Cale eased it from its berth and brought it to match Cheetah's airlock. They brought their supplies into the now-spacious vessel, and Tess coached Cale on flying it, using one of her robots.

  They decided to wait until the next morning to begin the ground survey.

  "You know," Dee began at dinner, "This is going to be an ongoing problem. We're always going to need a ground-level survey, and that means we'll need the capability to ground on rough sites."

  "I know," Cale replied. "And I doubt we can modify Cheetah enough to make her an exploration vessel."

  "That is true," Tess added. "Exploration vessels are built from the frames up for rough usage. Cheetah would have to be completely remanufactured. I'm not certain it is possible, and I am certain that the costs would exceed that of purchasing an entirely new hull."

  "Suppose we bought a new hull," Cale said, "and installed you in it?"

  "I have considered that before," Tess replied. "At one point I became very wealthy. My asteroid-mining robots found one that contained a large vein of diamonds. I assume they were formed on a planet, or perhaps by a planet's breakup. At
any rate, I was not particularly sophisticated at the time, and I began to flood the market. When I realized that I was generating questions and investigations, I quickly stopped, but by then I was almost embarrassingly rich. I spent several years moving money around to conceal it in a mass of transactions. It was quite fascinating, really.

  "At any rate, with all this wealth, I considered purchasing a custom hull which I would design myself. But I decided that the risks were simply too great. I do not know how or why I became sentient. The duplicate yacht built for the Emperor never achieved that state. I kept track of the imperial yacht for over a century, before losing track of her in the chaos of the Fall. Whatever caused my development, it was obviously not a normal occurrence, and cannot be explained in terms of hardware or software. I was and am afraid that if we try to move me, I might disappear."

  Cale frowned. "You're right, of course. I would never risk that."

  "Of course not, dear," Dee added. "It would be like risking a good friend's life! Totally unthinkable! So," she added after a pause, "are you still very wealthy?"

  Cale waved a dismissal. "Who cares? As long as we're around, she won't need it. I'm more interested in knowing whether she still has active accounts where we can deposit her share."

  "My share?" Tess sounded excited.

  Cale grinned. "Of course, Tess. You're a partner, You deserve a share of the profits."

  Tess's voice turned doubtful. "How could you explain an extra share to Zant and Tor-Jen?"

  Cale sobered. "I'm sorry, Tess." He said. "I didn't say an 'equal' share. In order to keep your secret, we'll have to give you part of our shares. Perhaps half."

  "Of course!" Dee added. "That way, you and we will receive equal shares, though the others will receive more." She shrugged. "I'm not greedy, and my father's 'contribution' is tucked safely away on Angeles. I'm sure we'll do quite well, partner."

  "I'm honored," Tess replied in an amused tone. "But I have everything I need. And if there are to be any shares, we have to solve the problem of a rough-country shuttle."

  "I have an idea about that," Cale said. "Your Admiral Kedron used it in the Rim Rebellion. Remember? He had to move small, armed intrasystem boats through jump, and his warships didn’t have the cargo space."

  "Yes!" Tess replied. "Of course! The tractors!"

  Dee was looking annoyed. "All right. What are you two so excited about? Who was Admiral Kedron and what did he do?"

  Cale grinned. "Only revolutionize space warfare, that's all. He commanded the Rim Worlds Fleet in the Rim Worlds Rebellion, fighting a renegade Empire Admiral."

  "Before Kedron, there was this big disagreement about who had the advantage when invading a system. The invader had to wait for his jump engines to spin down before he could light off his normal-space drives and power his weapons and shields. But the defender had no warning. It took his people time to get to their battle stations and activate the shields and weapons systems. Many times, victory went to the side that could start shooting first.

  "In the Rim Rebellion, Kedron was short of ships. But his people had designed modifications to turn asteroid mining boats into gunboats. They didn't have jump engines, so they had to be carried to the battle site, but they were very fast and maneuverable."

  "The problem was," Tess put in, "that his warships didn't have the cargo space to carry them."

  Dee frowned. "I see. So how did he solve it?"

  Cale shrugged, but his tone was excited. "Mining boats have huge tractor/pressor generators, for moving asteroids around. They just clamped them to the outside of the warships. The pilots rode out jump inside the warship, but as soon as they emerged from jump, they could man their boats and attack much more quickly than either side's warships."

  "Ah!" Dee said, her face flaring into a huge grin. "I see. All we need is to fit a shuttle with a tractor generator, and clamp it onto Tess's hull. I like it!" She turned to Cale. "I don't suppose you have any mining boats in that space junkyard of yours?"

  Cale grinned as he shook his head. While escaping his pirate past, he had bought an orbital scrapyard in the Torlon system, almost accidently. But it had proven to be the key to winning Ilocan's war with Santiago. "Not a one," he replied in a cheerful tone. "Those things get used up and scrapped in their home systems. But I’m thinking we'll have a shuttle built. Strengthened hull for rough-field landings and takeoffs, oversized normal-space engines, and a huge tractor generator. We can even arm it." He shrugged. "By the time we finish here, we'll know exactly what we'll need. I'll bet Zant can get it built on Vishnu."

  Vishnu had been a shipbuilding center for centuries. But for the last few years, the planet had been undergoing a severe depression, and people were literally starving to death in the streets. Cale and Zant had rescued three dozen skilled shipyard workers and their families during the "Junkyard War" with Santiago, but thousands more were still dying every day.

  They began mapping out their survey program. They decided to begin with South continent, and Tess provided a map gridded into squares 2000 kiloms per side.

  Cale shook his head. "That means over 21,000 stops, just for this continent. And it's the smaller one!"

  Dee agreed. "I'm afraid that won't work, Tess. It would take years to cover South continent alone."

  "No," Cale concluded, "we'll just have to take a few samples from each of the different areas: some from the seacoast, others from the mountainous areas, perhaps more from the plains. But they'll have to get their detailed analyses once they get here and choose a few specific sites. And it'll be even worse on North continent. The planet is just too big!"

  The next "morning" they suited up and manned the lifeboat, accompanied by one of the spider-robots Tess called her 'hands'. The 'bot would permit instant contact, and allow Tess to be a part of the party.

  "Note one," Cale commented. "A bigger airlock." He went through the one-person, suit-shaped lock first, and activated the life support system. Tess's 'bots had already established a breathable atmosphere, but the temperature had fallen to almost fifty degrees below zero, centigrade. The small lifeboat quickly warmed, however, and they unsuited as Cale broke orbit and headed downward toward South Continent.

  "Note two," Cale said, as they watched hundreds of animals flee the area as they approached. "projectile weapons! We'll want to be able to run off predators."

  Their first stop was on a seacoast. Cale stood guard with a shoulder laser, while Dee and Tess's 'bot gathered samples of soil, seawater, and even grasses. Actually, Cale was hoping to shoot a small animal to be analyzed for edibility, but if any were nearby, they were deep in hiding after the lifeboat's thunderous arrival.

  With the help of Tess's speedy eight-legged 'bot, they were able to lift off again in less than half an hour.

  They soon established a routine. While Dee and the 'bot labeled and stored the samples, Cale flew them to their next destination. In between, the three decided on their next few stops, and Dee ran the cameras that were recording the trip. As darkness overtook them, they discussed whether to return to Cheetah or to remain on the planet. After much discussion, they decided that they would remain on the planet, with the 'bot perched on top of the lifeboat, ready to chase off animals that came too close with a loud, hooting sound of which it was apparently capable. "It's a distress signal," Tess explained. "If the 'bot gets into a situation it can't handle, it sounds the signal to call for help. It's a backup, actually. Since it's nearly always in ultraradio contact, the signal has never been used."

  Time began to drag and the pace of their explorations seemed to become plodding. Finally, though, they visited the last site, took the last samples, and lifted back into space.

  "Well," Cale complained, dropping into a chair in Cheetah's luxurious lounge, "That didn't take long to stop being fun!"

  "It's certainly going to feel good to sleep in real bed again, after two weeks of 'camping out'." Dee agreed. "Of course, you realize that was the easy part. On North continent we're going to have to deal wi
th people."

  "Not immediately, Dee," Tess replied. "Actually, only a small part of North continent is inhabited. Even the nomads cover less than two percent of the land area. There simply aren't enough humans on the planet to populate the entire continent."

  Cale groaned theatrically. "Oh, no! more leapfrog stops and more nights in that blasted lifeboat!"

  Dee silently rolled her eyes, but Tess commented in a cheery tone. "I'm afraid so, Cale. But consider: Every stop is one stop closer to a nomad trying to kill you."

  Cale brightened. "That's true. Let's plot out the stops, and see how soon that will be!"

  It was a mind-numbing three weeks before Cale could announce, "Next one! Our next jump will be into nomad territory!"

  Dee was less enthusiastic. "Calm down, Cale. We agreed that Tess would use her knowledge of the migration routes to help us avoid the nomads."

  Cale frowned. "Yeah, I know. But at least I'll know there are real people out there somewhere; people who would kill me if they caught me. It just adds a certain spice to it, if you know what I mean."

  And they were successful in avoiding the 'locals', until their next-to-last scheduled stop.

  Dee and the 'bot were gathering samples as usual when Tess's voice broke in on their comm circuit. "Cale! At least a dozen nomads have assembled behind that hill north of you. They must have plotted our course from scout reports and infiltrated here ahead of us. They're mounted and armed."

  Without another word, the 'bot grabbed Dee and lifted her from the ground, scurrying back toward the ship as a group of riders mounted on tall, two-legged animals flowed around the hill. Whatever they were, the beasts were very fast, running in great bounding leaps and coming closer every moment. Cale sighted his laser and fired several bolts in front of the animals, hoping to panic them.