The Spiteful (Learning.1)

Other people were looking for the Artifacts. That, I knew for sure. Not just Barrett. The Starborn- the Hunter- whoever he was or where he’d come from. He didn’t just want it, he knew I’d had it. He knew what it was, went out of his way to get there. He’d told me he was there ‘early’, for the artifact, like he knew I would be there. Unless he somehow had a bug or tracker installed in either the ship or Vasco, he couldn’t have known that. And he didn’t- otherwise he would have known about the self-destruct I’d put in the mining laser.

He just… knew.

And I could only think of one way for someone to know impossible things.

The Artifact. The curved metal seemed to shiver as I ran a bare finger along it. I could feel the alien knowledge it had pushed into me. Knowledge about science, technology. It knew about Grav Drives. About the software and hardware used to manipulate gravity. I could barely even articulate the knowledge it had given me. But just by thinking about it, just by taking my hand away, I could feel out what it had given me. Draw lines between what I had known already, and what it had taught me. Some of it overlapped. Things I had already known, I’d get extra context- almost like a completely different perspective, details I didn’t have before.

But it had empty spots. Hollow points- Spots where the artifact gave me nothing. They were few and far between, but they were there. Anything before the 2100s, for example, there was nothing.  Any of the old earth sciences, pre-gravity drive, there was nothing. But any technologies after 2138- after the invention of the Grav Drive- the artifact is chock-full of data, data that it had poured into my head when I first touched it.

And then there was the Hunter’s technology. The Digistruction, the Storage Deck, and the cybernetics. Even the software… the Artifact had nothing on it. It didn’t give me any insights, any hints… it gave me nothing.

We sat in the heliosphere around Alpha Centauri’s outermost system, the grav drive supercruising itself to the right velocity to orbit the system’s third planet, Jemison.

“I just want to confirm,” I told the robot. “Even though the ship belongs to Constellation, anything we brought with me from Kreet- after dealing with the pirates- is mine, right?”

“Confirmed. The base we located on Kreet was not officially registered to any system or political entity, and so falls under no particular law or polity. Under UC law, it would fall under the right of ‘Salvage’.”

“Right. International waters and all that.” I sighed. That was good. Chances were good the robot would try insisting I give my shit to Constellation… and that wasn’t going to happen.

“Technically speaking, that base could have been considered Crimson Fleet territory. In that respect, it would all be considered ‘Pillage’ by what passes as their code, and thus yours by right of piracy.”

I just rolled my eyes. The computer chirped- it was ready to grav jump from the heliosphere into the system. I tapped the confirmation button, and the ship bucked under me. We were weightless for a moment- and then we were in orbit around Jemison, the planet that New Atlantis was on. 

Otherwise known as the capital of the United Colonies.

The radio immediately chirped.

“Hello, Frontier. This is UC Sysdef, Helios 2. Giving you a routine scan,” The radio chirped. “Wait. What the hell is that?”

I knew exactly what he was talking about- the heavy cargo attached to the top of Constellation, fastened there only by thick structural wires.

“Hello, Helios 2.” I responded. “This is salvage from Kreet. We ran into some troubles with Crimson Fleet, and decided to steal their Interceptor in exchange for the inconvenience”

I was given the controls to the thing, after all. 

“Unmanned gravity-drive enabled vehicles are prohibited by the Terran Convention,” The man says. “Activation on any inhabited systems is worth tens of thousands of credits in fines, or imprisonment.”

“Fully aware of that. I don’t intend on turning it on. I’m going to break it down for parts.” I responded. “Or, uh, turn it in to you guys.”

There’s a momentary pause. I know that the sysdef guy is probably talking with his superiors, figuring out what to do about it. After a moment-

“Frontier, please dock with the Helios 2.” Comes the response. “We can’t let you set down with the Interceptor intact, but we can allow you to use our shipyard to disassemble it. There will be a small fee for using our equipment, though.”

“Sure thing,” I said. I stopped queueing the radio, and turned to Vasco.

“Shame, we’ll need another exception for your Indigo Protocol.” I told the robot.

“You are following directions from United Colony military personnel. Exception confirmed.” The robot responded.

I grinned at it as the ship’s controls unlocked, and I directed the ship into the space station’s shipyard. The docking procedure completed itself, and I stepped out to go talk with the technicians.

When I came aboard again, as machines attached and latched cargo containers- full of the parts from the interceptor.

“Hey, quick mention. They’re attaching some extra cargo pods to the sides of the Frontier. It’s a temporary measure - they’re mine. I’ll be taking them off again when we’re on planet.”

“Understood.” Vasco says. He didn’t seem to notice that I wasn’t carrying the Artifact nestled between my suit and boostpack anymore.

Other people may have been looking for the artifacts…

But this one was mine.

=====

Jemison was one of the few naturally earthlike planets we’d found, with a similar form of life as those found on earth. Carbon, complete with helical DNA, and convergent evolution had plants that resembled trees, algae that generated oxygen… all of the typical things we needed on earth, Jemison had as well. Only much, much less speciation.

The current leading theory is that life here was somehow seeded from Earth, Panspermia style. The lack of diversity on Jemison suggested the seeding happened relatively recently, on the evolutionary scale. Not that I knew much about it. I wasn’t a xenobiologist or anything, but… you know, I’d lived in New Atlantis for a few years. Spent too long looking up things on the internet.

The city itself was a towering thing. Plastics and smooth ceramics. Towers made from AI-designed architecture, swooping lines, in a strange kind of symbiosis with the environment. Most of New Atlantis was either in a tower, or underground. People had learned their lessons from urban cities on Earth- Personal vehicles had been disastrous for the environment, so most new cities the UC built were centralized around public transit and walkable cities. AI had technically designed the street patterns as well, and they’d done a good job. Jemison was a little dry for human comfort, but New Atlantis was placed next to one of the largest lakes on the planet for that reason.

The sunlight was nice, and the natural flora- broadleafed and sweet-smelling- put me in a pretty good mood. Which, well, I’d need, since I was going to be dealing with more Constellation today.

“If Barrett were here, he would tell you that you are part of something greater, now.” Vasco said.

The two of us were standing before one of New Atlantis’s oldest buildings. The door was pressurized and reinforced. A digipick wouldn’t get through something like this. Constellation’s money at work, I’m sure. But the robot opened it for me, and we stepped through.

The first thing I saw was a group of people sitting in fine chairs. A library, full of paper books and old oak shelves- from Earth proper, no doubt- sitting and chatting. 

“Oh! We appear to have a guest.” A man said. I recognized him instantly. It was impossible not to. It was when he didn’t recognize me back, I had to hold back a smile. Asshole doesn’t even know his own ex-employees.

Of course Walter Stroud wouldn’t be on Neon, where his company’s headquarters are located, but sitting here in the Old Boys club he bought.

A blonde woman with a military bearing suddenly turned, arms crossed. She was trying to be intimidating, but I’d worked with Lin for too long. This woman was a schoolmarm in comparison.

“Welcome to Constellation. My name is Sarah Morgan, and we have a lot to talk about,” She said. “For example, would you care to tell us what happened to Barrett? Why you’re here, and he isn’t?”

“He got me fired, and told me to. While he deals with bandits.” I responded. “Since it’s the only way I could get back to civilized space, I was forced into this. So here. I brought your robot and your ship. Here’s the chit for it.” I tossed her the small wifi key the landing authority gave me.

Sarah caught it out of the air, and directed that glare at the robot. “Vasco. Verify.”

“Vree Gannon is telling the truth.” It said. “Though I suspect there were other ways he could return to civilized space.”

Walter scoffed. “Oh, this is just typical. Barrett hands over our ship and our robot to some random employee of that discount mining outfit he uses. If you hadn’t insisted on installing that protocol-”

“Employee?” I asked. “Nah. Not after he got me fired. Asshole called in favors with my boss. But if that’s how you’re going to treat me, I’m out. Bye.”

I turned to leave-

“It was implied you would transfer the artifact to Constellation hands.” Vasco said.

“You mean my artifact?” I asked. “The one I retrieved? I never agreed to give it to anyone. Especially without compensation.”

If I’d still been on Argos contract, they could legally force me… but I wasn’t, anymore, and I wasn’t about to tell them where I’d hidden it.

“Barrett actually found another one of those?” A man in the corner said. “You don’t seem to be carrying it on you. Is it still on the Frontier?”

I rolled my eyes. Sarah didn’t seem like she knew what to say, but of course the smug rich asshole did.

“Compensation, you say?” Walter said. “Constellation’s goal is to discover the unexplored secrets of the universe, and that artifact- along with the other we’ve retrieved- offer indispensable knowledge. If you’d like some compensation, I’m more than capable of offering it.”

For the first real time, I locked eyes with Walter Stroud. 

I could walk out. I could just leave. Figure things out for myself.

I’d known Barrett had another artifact, but I wanted- needed- to learn more about them. This might be my only way.

Fuck Constellation. But…

I stopped, and turned.

“We can negotiate,” I said. Walter’s eyes seemed to twinkle… but he was underestimating how stubborn I could be.