From the journal of Jannisett.
I have asked Art about its experiments. Art is growing cells, Banker's in a container all by themselves, and the others all mixtures: Eddie, Jamie, the foreman from the Island, Shepherd, me. There is something about cells that makes them want company; Art said it is more natural to combine than to keep separate as it has Banker's cells. Easier as well. I realized that Art had built bio-matrices but it says they will never be born. I do not understand how it can be efficient and useful to curtail a bio-matrix unless, of course, the product is faulty. I keep forgetting that Art is a fellah and not a tabib. Perhaps it is practising with the bio-matrices like I practise with Apprentice.
[INT roll +EGO roll +3 = each Apprentice pilot roll; with GM permutations as required.]
When I started bleeding (Oops. I'm not supposed to talk about that.) on FRW, Annie explained how most human women were themselves bio-matrices - or, rather, that the bio-matrix replicates a human woman's reproductive biology -- which explained a lot about why the clans of other humans are so very different from those of Home. All of the other humans on this ship had "mothers" and "fathers" and families that are very much smaller then clans. They must be more precious. Like Jinan.
Art is interested in human games. Banker has many and he has been helping all of us play different ones together. I have not mastered any, but I like to be with the others. One cannot find pleasure in forever crashing the Apprentice; most of the games do not require the level of concentration the Apprentice does. But games seem to encourage people to talk about themselves. I will try to record what I have learned about my shipmates. I'm learning many new words.
Banker
Banker and Jamie discovered that they were from the same planet. It is a very big planet - Banker said it should have been a 6G planet but is only 1G; Eddie said that means it was engineered. Since Eddie told me that I was engineered, I have come to think that engineering is an all-encompassing human activity of which I am woefully ignorant. I build nothing. Does that make Art more human than I am?
Jamie's family was rich - like the Malik; Banker's was poor, manual labourers like fellah. As a "kid" Banker was a "fry chef" in lots of places. But he was good at a game called "Gravball". He is very, very good at estimating exact distances and angles of ricochet. [Spacial Awareness.] I can imagine how that could be useful for an asim; apparently it was useful in Gravball, helping him hold his own against the big, burly "guys" who usually make up a team. I believe he took a job with such a team and was able to "set up" one of the "privileged players" for a "record scoring night." Thereafter Banker accompanied that player doing "demo games" on a "luxury liner". He developed his skills on the liner for some 4-5 years before a "frequent flyer" made him a "beneficiary" in her will - like Grey did me. She left him the pilot toy I call Apprentice. Then he spent a "handful" of years as a "tramp spacer." Then he met Eddie and they tried to "stake themselves", eventually finding the Sorcerer.
It's not clear just when, but Banker - like Jamie - was accepted to the University. But he decided not to go, because he wanted to be a pilot. I guess the University does not have pilot toys. Or maybe, with the Apprentice, he did not need the University. Jamie seemed surprised. Apparently Banker's family was more than surprised; they got mad when he refused the University and would not talk to him for 10 years. Banker has 4 siblings of which he is the youngest. Four people like you; I wonder what that would be like? I would not be happy if Jinan would not speak to me for years and years. That would be worse than if she had never been born.
Banker had given me a disc of Adventure stories and borrowed Becca's disc of Romance stories. He told me which were his favourites; I have read them and they are a little like a Security Sim but more entertaining. He returned Becca's disc after a month or so. I wonder how much practise it will take before I will learn to read that fast. I am very much behind in such skills. I am not halfway done with Becca's disc.
Sometimes Banker has spoken to me like the men in some of the Romance novels. I would like to feel in love - like those stories describe. I really want to know what it is like. But with Banker, so far, I have mostly thought that I could try to be his concubine and try to pleasure him, but that would be pretending he was like M- like an Owner. I would be treating him like a thing. I don't want to do that to Banker, or anyone. Perhaps some of the novels I have not yet read will teach me more about how to feel breathless and passionate. Not yet.
Jamie said that Banker was "happy to fill any needs that the ladies might have." I think she was using sarcasm.
Eddie
Eddie grew up on a mined-out asteroid. His father was a miner - another type of fellah - and his mother was a tabib who had not finished her education. She died of a "plague" brought by an "off-worlder" when Eddie was 7. Most kids on his asteroid are "feral."; Eddie was lucky. When Eddie said he'd started work on the space station at age 12, I felt another surge of kinship with him, but Banker seemed surprised, disapproving, perhaps. Jamie, too, adding, "And you can't read!" I did not know that; I thought all humans outside Home could read.
Eddie: "I can read a circuit diagram. I can look at electronics and figure out how it's working or not. I can see power moving."
Banker: "You can't see through metal. You can't see my hand behind this plate."
Eddie: "If you were holding a power cable, I could see it. That's how I could find this ship and see that it could work."
Banker: "I thought you found it by tripping over your shoe lace. That's really weird." If Eddie is weird to Banker, am I scary?
Eddie: "My neighbor told me not to tell anyone about being able to see stuff, that somebody would want to poke through me to see how I did it even if the poking didn't leave much of me left."
Art: "When did you first start seeing cables?"
Eddie: "When I was pretty young. My neighbor was working on a vehicle and I pointed out the thing behind the thing that was fouling the system. After that my neighbor set up my apprenticeship with the fix-it guy. I made the fix-it guy look pretty good and, when he got promoted to the space station, he took me along. Eventually he got promoted away and couldn't take me. So I became a space bum. I'm a lousy businessman and there was no point to settling down. Then the ship I was on was boarded by pirates. I told you about that before. I don't like pirates. Spent some time on a pirate planet; when we left, the non-pirate lady was aboard. So I gave her an 'out' when I blew 'em up. Next planet-fall she said, 'Guess I'll go back to hooking.'"
Eddie's story made me feel sad; at least I have Jinan. And Sam and Annie and Roxie and Lee and Becca and the Designer. And the crew of the Sorcerer. Eddie just seems to like machines better than people. I wonder if he would like to learn to read?
The others were just as interested in Eddie's story as I was. Art and Roks seem very interested in Eddie's way of seeing. But Jamie and Art "see" different things too. Will I ever understand things I can not see?
Roks: "If you don't try, can you see the power move?"
Eddie: "I have to pay attention. I usually pay attention." [It's a Detect, not a Sense.]
Jamie: "That's why you're usually distracted."
Art: "This is the Pillar of your life."
Roks, translating further: "It means you wouldn't be what you are without this ability."
Art: "This added function obviates learning."
Eddie: "Did he say that I didn't go to school 'cause I didn't need to?"
Roks: "Maybe."
Eddie: "There were no schools."
Art, horrified: "How much have I seen of your civilization?"
Jamie: "An iota. Such a small part, I can't put a number to it. Essentially nothing."
Banker: "I've traveled more than anyone here and I've seen less than 1% of human space."
Art: "Not the physical size. Rather, I'm asking about the representation of human existence, such as the levels of education."
Jamie: "Approximately zero."
Roks: "I've traveled for thousands of years in human systems and I, maybe, understand half."
Jamie: "Civilization is completely different from one side of human space to another."
Banker: "You're wrong. People are people."
Jamie: "You can't say where Jannisett came from is the same as our home planet."
Banker: "Jannisett did not have a human experience. She has the experience of a thing, not an actualized human person."
Jamie: "I can almost say the same of Eddie. The poverty of his people bears no resemblance to the opportunities of the upper class in the Core." Jamie and Banker argued strongly for awhile about "human experience."
Jamie: "Regardless of how you are treated, you are human. Therefore you are having a human experience."
Banker: "You cannot say that Janni grew up in a human society."
Jamie: "That is irrelevant."
Art, sounding like he'd had a sudden insight: "He's talking absolute; you're talking delta. But where do the deltas occur."
Jamie: "With the individual."
Banker: "There are Societal breaks."
Art: "When does the break move?"
Jamie: "When it is forced to."
Banker: "In my experience, they don't."
Jamie: "Human social systems break at the Fringe where Individuals choose to go their own ways. It's a completely different society from the Core which doesn't change."
Art: "Do they not mutually co-exist?"
Jamie: "It doesn't feel that way. There's nothing mutual about it. There's low communication and low trade. People from the Core may go to the Rim; people from the Rim don't go to the Core. If a Megacorp thought there was something of value in the Rim, they'd take it. The Empire of the Core would have taken anything it valued from the Rim a long time ago; now - it doesn't care. And there's a law: the Empire is not permitted to have any standing relationships with the Rim. It cannot send a permanent police force even if the Rim people ask for them. Even the Rangers exist because they have only a loose association with the Empire. The Rim and the Core are separate places."
Jamie
Jamie has two older brothers, Ian and Sean. They work with her father and their "McFarlane Enterprises". They seen to want Jamie but she does not want to live in the Core. So she too is separated from her family and clan. However, it sounds as though Enterprises and Corporations are very powerful clans and Jamie thinks that hers can help her even if it is in the Core and she is with us in the Rim.
I've talked about Home and the Maliks - Owners -- and Jinan. So the others have started talking about helping do the job that Grey gave me. Jamie says Home is actually owned by a "corporation" and that treating my People like things is "slavery" and "illegal." The Core has many corporations. (Query: How can there be such very different things all called corporations? How does one tell if a corporation has Maliks or McFarlanes? Annie might not want me to be near any corporation. I wish I knew.)
Jamie: "I'll give your Maliks a 'royal shafting'!"
Banker: "How does one give a Corporation a 'royal shafting'?"
Jamie: "Give its information to another company. I can do that."
Eddie: "What if it's on the fringe?"
Roks: "A Ranger was there so it's not in the Core."
Jamie: "Slavery is, at the very least, frowned upon. If done carefully, a bit of corporate mayhem can be achieved."
Art: "Throwing a stone and watching the ripples is very different from draining the pool."
Eddie: "If you want to hurt these Owners, you should kill the ones you can get to. But if they're defended by people like Jannisett...."
Jamie: "A corporate strike team might work.... Talking to Jannisett's Sam would be a good idea too."
Eddie: "Just get them on the same ship with me and I'll take care of 'em."
Jamie: "It sounds like Sam went to investigate Grey's death, fell out of communication with Annie who then went after Sam. Perhaps," she turned to me, "it's time to let Eddie work on Grey's PDA."
Art
There are many places where a person can be alone on the Sorcerer. I am not very accustomed to being alone, but it is good to be able to practise with the Apprentice or even my katas where no one is around to distract or get hurt. I have noticed that Art does not wish to be alone at all. Even in its "cabin", Roks or I are usually there. And, of course, Shepherd. Only when it is re-charging the ship and we can't be in Engineering without e-suits is Art alone.
Art also seems worried about us, about what it should do if decisions have to be made about us the way we had to make decisions for Shepherd.
Roks translated: "If you get Shepherded, what do you want to be done to you?"
Eddie: "If I can get back to some part of myself, go for it."
Jamie: "Same for me."
Art: "What do you do if a limb has been hacked off."
Jamie: "Get help getting stabilized. Then get to somewhere to have it replaced."
Banker: "If you can afford it." Jamie spent some time explaining the expenses involved in limb-replacement therapies; I did not pay enough attention.
Jamie: "If I need to get my arm back, I want it sooner rather than later. But losing my arm wouldn't keep me from giving consent at the time."
Banker: "As long as you can restore me - fine. But if I'm gone, I want to go."
I was uncertain: "Recycling is what an - Owner would do."
Banker: "You shouldn't let what those Owners would think affect your decision. You get to decide."
I: "I like being of use, and the Shepherd-thing seems to be of use. So that would be acceptable for me. I do not wish to be maintained if I am not of use.
Banker: "Not even in cold freeze to be fixed later?"
I: "If I could be fixed later to be of use, that would be fine. If I am never to be of use, I should not be maintained."
Art: <"As you are nominally human, the parameters I am establishing should allow for your repair to usefulness under most circumstances.">
Roks, objecting and not translating: <"What do you mean 'nominal?' You have said that her gametes combine with the others, that she is human.">
Art: <"Her parameters are more narrow, more organized, more streamlined, than the norm.">
Jamie told Art that, if he has problems fixing her eyes, she wants them integrated properly. If that is not possible, Art is to do the best it can to give her the most capability possible. However, if Art can manage such that she is only temporarily incapacitated, such as being temporarily blind, while brought to consciousness so that she can make her own decision about it, that is what should be done.
So I told Art my preferences about the zot box. (1) It should be removed leaving myself and my abilities intact. (2) The control an Owner has over it should be deactivated. (3) The effect the StarGate has on it should be deactivated. Fainting does not frighten me as much as being back under Killian's control.
Eddie spoke up. "If I can't keep fixing stuff, I don't think I want to keep on living."
Art: "What you do is greater than continuing to exist?
Eddie: Well, if something really bad happens to me and I lose my ability with energy - I'd have to really think about it."
Roks: "The things within you might make you unconscious. If it could kill you quickly, do you want it destroyed? Art might not be able to just turn it off."
Eddie: "I'd rather it be fixed to work."
Roks: "Then the Genetic Manipulator needs to examine you more closely. It's not in the samples it is growing."
Eddie: "I thought I was born with it!"
Roks: "The Genetic Manipulator says it does not exist in your gametes."
Eddie: "Then my kids wouldn't have it. Well, it's not likely I'll have kids anyway."
Roks: "You are very young to make such a claim."
Eddie: "It's not that I don't want them; it's just unlikely I'd have any."
Roks: "Even after we get back in our own galaxy?"
Eddie, shrugging: "Stranger things have happened. Will Art have to poke a hole in my head?"
Roks: "Like the ship, Art can look through things. But when it does it, it holds up its stick, so maybe it's not Art doing it."
Eddie: "If it's going to kill me sometime, then maybe I should let him look closer. It's just, like my neighbor said, I don't really want to be taken apart just to see how I do my energy stuff."
Roks: "Art sees danger in its unpredictability."
Eddie nodded.
I asked Art about its people: clans, family, sibs.
Art: "There are no subdivisions. My race is all my brothers and sisters." How very strange. Is it any stranger than the uterine replicators of Home must seem to these others who have mothers and fathers?
Art is very concerned about not being misunderstood. "The Place I come from is so different. We interact; we don't interfere. Our interference is interaction." When Roks translates like that, I fail to see how Art could not be misunderstood. Or, perhaps, it is a failure in my understanding.
Art: "There is shared information in my race. But there is no one around with whom to share save for those brief moments I shared with Shepherd. Once, amongst my race, there was much discussion and debate on the purpose of our race, on what it means to raise to sentience and what should be so raised."
Eddie: "Didn't your people make ships sorta like this one?"
Art: "Transportation was provided by the Progenitors."
Jamie: "Progenitors?"
Art: "The Progenitors brought my race into sentience. We emulate that. It's not even bringing a life form to intelligence; sometimes it is just establishing an ego, guiding it through all the steps. There weren't many races then. There is a sense of abandonment - of emptiness - once the Progenitors left - if they did. That too is one of our great debates."
"Not all emulate the Progenitors. Or, rather, each has our own interpretation of what emulation entails. I was studying their path, their passing. Some of their race did the time travel thing."
I: "What do you mean - 'time travel'?"
Roks translated: "Time is a sphere, increasing and decreasing. You can move to points therein."
Then Roks said, "I'm interested in signs of the Progenitors in post-ancient times. Art studies ancient times."
Roks translated: "There may have been a minus-one generation of my race that worked with the Progenitors. And they continued to look in on us, forward in time."
Jamie thinks this ship is a sign of the Progenitors because it is like but different from the ships the Progenitors gave to Art's race. But she says that it could be either pre- or post-Art's race in time.
I: "Could I go time travel back and save Grey?"
Roks: "Going back to save Grey may mean you don't get saved and thus you cannot save him. It is probable that time travel is exclusive to the Progenitors. Perhaps even they could only look through time. However, the Progenitors existed before this universe so physical time travel must have happened."
I did not understand at all; perhaps I will ask Eddie to explain.
Other Events.
Eddie has made me a communicator so that he and Jamie and Banker can talk to me with their chips. How kind of him!
Art and Eddie managed to open up one of the hidden spaces in the Sorcerer. It is a small room. When Eddie entered, he fell and sprained his ankle and acquired some bruising. I was able to help him a little with the medkit. He said the room is an "alien environment" made for a different body shape than that of the people who used the rest of this ship before us, and that it has 3-3.5 times normal G. I have learned that different places have different gravitics; that is the reason I felt so clumsy on FRW and other planets. Jamie thinks the gravitics of the Sorcerer must be close to that of Home.
Nonetheless, Eddie's accident gave him insight into the Sorcerer's gravitics and he has been playing with her capabilities. A gravity field can be extended outside the ship but, if it goes at all far, it functions in only one direction, leaving those of us on the other side - stuck to the roof or a wall. A very scary feeling; I had even less control than in the heaviness of FRW. He also said that extending the field had a noticeable effect on the ship's power supply. The power supply is a constant worry.
Corrected date. Day 284. Fri., Froddelberg.
Roks: "I have obligations. I may not be able to continue with Art on the Sorcerer, although it is welcome to come with me. But I won't know if or where I have to go until I've spoken over link with some people. (Eddie and Banker seemed to think this was odd but did not explain why.) You can let me off anywhere where it's civilized and I can find my own way. I hope to get my stuff from the planet I was shanghaied from."
Art: "I would still like to access the information in your 2nd brain, Roks."
Roks: "If I'm going where I expect to be going, you won't be able to send messages. I could try to send a message for you at FRW, but after that....?"
Jamie: "I can help Art get a General Delivery message box."
I: "Should we not just take Roks back to get his stuff? Do we have to be anywhere else?"
Eddie: "It'll raise eyebrows if anyone ever investigates us. We'd have left from there and come back without jumping through their StarGate."
Jamie: "We'll be long gone before anyone investigates."
Eddie: "Hopefully no one will ever care."
We landed at the spaceport.
Banker: "Should we take Shepherd to a hospital? Can normal human physicians help him or will they call the authorities about his alien technology?"
I: "Eddie has said that the alien ship technology is such that people will want to take this ship away from you. If Shepherd has this alien ship's technology in him, will they not try to take him and the ship away?"
Jamie: "We don't want anyone else touching this ship. Are its defenses active?"
Eddie: "Yes."
Banker: "That's odd. There are two other ships in port. Usually one starship in a port is more than enough."
I: "That is the ship that would not take me from Trinkal. It left before you arrived."
Jamie: "Perhaps that's where those guys who attacked us came from."
I: "If they were left by that ship, then they would not be on it."
Jamie, with satisfaction: "Yes. We killed them on Trinkal." She looked thoughtful, "But their compatriots would be."
Roks: "You should all get back on the ship and leave. I'll stay. I can take care of the berthing fees."
Jamie: "As much as it sucks, Roks is right."
Banker: "Can't we use this advantage ... since we know they're here and they don't know we're here?"
Jamie: "They have computers. They know."
I: "If we did not ask about them when we arrived, why would they ask about us?"
Eddie: "Maybe they've been following us. Waiting for us."
Banker: "Jannisett, come with me to the terminal and we'll see how long they've been in port."
We did so and Banker reported, "Ship's been here 6 months. You were right; they've been waiting."
Eddie: "Kinda hoped I wasn't. Gotta figure they'll follow us after we leave. If we lose 'em, it'll tell 'em things about the Sorcerer we don't want 'em to know. We could go out and turn on our defenses and wait for 'em."
Banker: "So far the ship's only blown up stuff on a collision course. Don't think we know how to use the defenses yet."
Eddie: "Roks, you still plan to stay here when we leave? I'm absolutely sure none of the guys who attacked us were shooting at Roks. He wasn't with us then."
Roks refused to be reimbursed for the docking fee. "You're bringing me back."
Jamie muttered, "Yeah, you'll be famous for bringing word of your God. If you're believed."
Roks practised his chameleon traits as he crossed the meridian to the terminal. Eddie, Jamie and I watched. They had their weapons drawn. Just as Roks reached the terminal, I looked over to the other ship and told Eddie to shoot. Someone with a really big gun was pointing at Roks. Eddie hit the target in the head and it fell back into its ship, never getting a chance to shoot. Eddie muttered, "I'm not happy with this weapon at long range. Quite a kick too."
With precise timing, two warriors emerged from the opening door near the terminal and pointed weapons at Roks, trying to step on him. Jamie shot; her target flew back in a shower of blood. I had already taken off, managing to run half way across the meridian. The other warrior hesitated at my rush [having seen the tape on Jannisett from the last firefight] and I was able to slam into him and kick him into a wall.
Roks was fiddling with the terminal so I moved over to protect him. I was startled as Jamie's voice issued from my pocket: "Heat source just around the corner. I've got the door covered. Get Roks back here as soon as he's done." I only really heard the last sentence and it felt like a Command. I grabbed Roks [doing 3 Body] . He still managed to swipe his data-crystal and enter the code.
Banker's voice sounded from my pocket: "Readying lift off."
Art said something too: <"What's going on?">
I asked Roks, "Are you done?" He gasped out a "yes", so I sprinted back towards the ship. I heard the spatter of a blaster behind me. [Jamie shot the incoming aggressor who took partial cover behind the door, [8,16] in the gun hand.] A blaster beam skipped off the Sorcerer's side as I reached the hatch.
Art: <Violence is being perpetrated upon the vessel. >
Jamie's gun sang again [8,24] and there was a faint clatter as something metallic fell near the terminal door. [Hit in the arm and dropped his gun.] Eddie followed me in, sealing the exit behind us. A few seconds later, the Sorcerer lifted off.
I know Roks is much softer than he looks and I tried to apologize but he said he was fine. Jamie said, "You lie." Art took him away. Roks: <"Those were not the friendliest humans I've ever met.">
Day 285, Sat., Froddelberg System.
The sensors indicated that the Other Ship was still on Froddelberg. It wasn't chasing us. It was on-loading a satellite.
Jamie: "Bet that things was in orbit watching for us."
Eddie: "Bet there's a ship waiting for us at the StarGate."
Banker: "That's a lot of resources!"
Eddie: "Planting a star ship in port for 6 months says they've got lots of resources."
Day 288, Tues., Froddelberg System.
We reached the asteroid belt.
Eddie: "Make some vector changes here so it looks like we're hiding."
Banker: "Then hide behind an asteroid and Jump."
Jamie: "Where?"
Eddie: "The ranch place or one Jump away and use a StarGate."
Banker: "The first Jump through a normal StarGate should be in this system."
Eddie: "If we use the ship's StarGate, we reveal to the Rangers that we have a ship that doesn't use a normal StarGate. Rangers have known connections to the Empire."
Jamie: "Do it."
Eddie: "'kay."
We Jumped and it took the ship below 7% power. Banker made sure that we were far enough and close enough. I stayed awake. Art's getting really good at helping me. It was only a little bit uncomfortable.
Eddie: "I want a freaking shower and a beer!"
Day 289, Weds., FRW System.
Eddie got Roxie Bryce on the com system. She started chattering at me as soon as I mentioned my name, not letting me answer her questions about where I was or anything. "Come to the cookout Saturday," she insisted. At sign-off I turned to my friends. "They must have changed the schedule somehow. The cookouts have always been on Sunday."
Banker: "I've already scheduled our landing in port. We're the only ship to be in dock."
Eddie: "'s shame. We coulda turned the hull transparent to radar and come down in the back 40."
Jamie: "Roxie was trying to warn us of something, but I'm not sure what. She must have thought someone was listening and she wanted them to think we'll turn up on Saturday."
It took sometime to get the ship berthed in the port. It is five miles from the port to the city where I lived with Becca. It is 80 miles to the ranch. We unloaded the hover truck so that Art and I could stay undercover. A couple hours later, Eddie parked in a copse and we all walked towards the ranch. Art was very slow. Before we crested the hill, Eddie stopped us, "Art, you and I have to talk. Something's up there." He pointed up one of the trees on the hill.
Jamie: "No heat signature."
Eddie: "Electronics. Probably in a bush or tree."
Art: "I see something. A tight beam going up and a forward conical array. It covers all the buildings of your ranch."
Eddie: "If we don't disable that device, we'll show up on it. Art, there's a mesmeric regularity - I'm starting to see like you see."
Jamie: "Can you turn it off?"
Eddie: "From here!?" He pointed and twitched his finger. "I'd have to turn that switch that way."
Art: "It just turned off."
Eddie muttered, "Never 'saw' at that distance. Never made it work at a distance. Never before at least."
Banker, quietly: "Had you ever tried before?"
Eddie: "It's not really off. Or, at least, it wants to be on."
It was midnight, 12 hours after I had talked to Roxie. The main house looked dark; so did the others, for that matter. I led the way to Roxie's door and knocked. Quietly. Eddie was going to knock loudly when Jamie hissed, "Heat signature coming." Then I was flat on the ground in a tangle. Jinan's got quite a body hug that she certainly didn't learn back Home.
Lee and Roxie made my friends very welcome. Eddie and Jamie got the first showers. Lee even found clothes that didn't hang too badly on Eddie. Jinan scolded me about how badly I smelled and started telling me about her friends and school work. She has grown in a year, but it will be another two years or so before she iss as tall as I am. Roxie started to "rustle up some grub," saying we did right to come when we did and in the dark. As Jamie came out toweling her hair, Jinan pushed me into the shower. I heard Banker say something about "something to stiffen up the coffee you haven't made yet?" Roxie called out, "Jinan, make sure she stays in there 'til she's clean!" So my little sister decided to supervise. I am not sure what I have gotten myself in for.
With the two blue girls out of the way, Eddie and Jamie got down to business.
Eddie: "Was that surveillance gizmo yours?"
Lee: "The one watching the calf pen?"
Eddie: "No, the one watching all these buildings. I - it's not working right now."
Lee: "Roxie's had a suspicion that we were being watched or listened in on."
Jamie: "Jannisett's told us why she had to leave. What's happened since?"
Roxie: "Concerning Janni?"
Jamie: "Yes, and other things. Has Sam returned?"
Roxie: "Sam's not back."
Jamie: "Did Annie return."
Roxie: "Annie came back; she's here. But we shouldn't involve her in this. She's pretty distraught. Something's happened to or is happening to Sam. We shouldn't talk about this in front of the girl - both of them. They're a mite protective..."
Eddie: Can I look at that surveillance thing?"
Lee: "Ya oughta do whatever you think's best."
Eddie: "I want it destroyed and I want it to look like a natural thing turned it off. Can you run cows over those trees."
Lee: "The ones you're talking about'd need a bull, I reckon."
Roxie, gesturing towards Art and Roks: "Does your big friend eat."
Art, practising his Common: "Guess... I...eat." He took a sample of everything and found it very annoying that butter, in the slab, was not comestible. His mouth fringe felt slimy.Jamie continued her heart-to-heart with the ranch woman. Jannisett had angered some powerful locals and their upset had not yet smoothed over. Sam, clearly, had run afoul of powerful business interests or "maybe the government. Don't know what to tell you. Annie's calling in all the favours she knows to look into the matter. We really need to get Jannisett out of here before morning."
Jamie: "What about Grey's ship?"
Roxie: "Yeah, people are wanting to get into that."
Jamie: "I think Jannisett can. It's hers."
Roxie: "Yes. Annie knows."
Jamie: "Then we should go talk to Annie."
Roxie: "I think it'll be a real problem for Annie and for Jannisett if you go talk to Annie. I wouldn't recommend that."
Then we could see the lamb led on a leash out from the barns. And Ferdinand followed - with 20 wranglers holding his ropes. I had forgotten just how impressive 12000-lbs of bull with 15-ft span of horn looked. I still think Sam should give up on cattle. They are dangerous!
We backed up away from the treeline. I heard something and turned - and froze. Grey and somebody else had just come up behind us. Grey! I could not think straight. The somebody sprang forward screeching something as she slapped me. [20 doubled to 40 stun.] I tumbled down in a daze - and kept tumbling down the slope as Jinan leapt upon my attacker shrieking something about "my sister." They too rolled down hill fighting.
Eddie reached for his gun and found it not quite right in his holster. He decided to be prudent. The other man drew his weapon and pointed it at the engineer, saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're all more or less friends here." He started sidling down the mountain towards the combatants. Eddie sidled right along with him, "Anybody who gets the drop on Jannisett is too dangerous to be next to me without my gun out." The other man holstered his gun and said, "Then stay back." Eddie watched him jump on the pile to separate the fighters.
So we went back to the Bryce house. Lee was there saying the boys weren't strong enough to get the bull up the hill. So Jinan, Art and I went back out to help. It is right to do what one can do for ones friends. I wanted so much to stay and look at Grey. Does he blame me too?
The bull rammed through the trees and lots of trunks splintered and branches fell. Eddie picked out one that had fallen on the side of the hill away from the ranch. He muttered, "It should not uplink again, though it might have internal storage." Ferdinand actually seemed to like Art; it convinced the bull to step on the branch. "That proves it," Eddie said. The branch was embedded in the soil but still intact. At least it was pointed nowhere near the ranch buildings. I stayed as long as Art needed me, then I raced back to the house.
Meanwhile.
Jamie: "Who are you?"
Grey: "James Grey. And I don't know what you all know about all this; it's probably best kept that way."
Jamie: "Who's keeping surveillance on these people?"
Grey: "There're various possibilities. There's a local company looking to do harm because of Jannisett. And - although I can't tell who the Players are, there's a faction or three involved with what's going on with Uncle Sam. An..."
Eddie: "Is he really your uncle?"
Grey: "Oh, yeah."
Jamie: "How's Jannisett going to take all this?"
Grey: "There's a question I can't avoid asking Jannisett. We're lacking in some resources that are needed to get something done. I'm going to have to ask her if we can have use of her spacecraft."
Jamie: "Why?"
Grey: "There's a thing needs to be done and I'm going to do it but it won't get done without that craft. My brother gave a data crystal to Sam that told all and more than I'll get from that ship. But Sam's fallen of the edge of the universe, and I need that information."
Jamie: "I want information from that ship too."
Grey: "We're looking at a world of trouble that you really don't want to get involved in."
Jamie: "I'm going to take those damned Owners down."
Grey: "I don't think you understand the kind of pull Sam had. He's Somebody in the Rangers an' ... well, whatever he got into was over his head."
Jamie: "I've got connections."
Grey: "You try this and you're gonna have trouble, even if you have good connections. Me and some friends'll take care of this. But I need to know where that ship came from."
Jamie: "Same information I want."
Grey: "I assumed as much."
Eddie: "What makes you and your friends able to do what a whole bunch of Rangers couldn't."
Grey: "Most of those Rangers hadn't finished training. Didn't know that, didja? And not a one of them is as mean as I am."
The door opened and Jannisett came in.
Grey: "I'm taking this a step at a time. The first step is to help Sam and his boys. The second step I think you can guess. You can make what I'm doing easier." He turned to me again. "Janni, I need the ship Glen gave you."
I said, "You're Grey's brother. I will give you his ship. You should have it."
Grey: "No, little lady. Glen wanted you to have it. I only need to borrow it to find where it's been."
I: "But Sam needed it to find where Grey had been, to find Home." I suddenly understood; after all, he was Grey! "You - you want to do what Grey wanted. Take me! I want to 'take down the Owners' too!"
Eddie: "Jannisett, you can't! Not 'til Art can do something about that damn thing in you!"
That stopped me for a moment. I just looked at Grey. I never knew I could want so many things. I told him, "If you are helping Sam and I can not help because - because of the box, you can have the ship. It can find Home."
Grey: "You shouldn't be thinking of that as home, young lady. You've got better places to think of as home." His words scolded, but his tone was warm. I started to consider what he meant and almost missed the conversation.
Jamie: "I know corporations - my father runs McFadden Enterprises. I think Jannisett's origin is some corporate holding, some planetoid."
Grey: "I haven't met too many corporations that couldn't take over a planetoid."
Eddie: "I don't think you and a few friends can deal with a corporation..."
Jamie: "But I, personally, would like to help."
Grey: "You and a whole lot of others. That's for after part one is done."
Eddie: "We've got a fast ship."
Grey: "Fast is a good thing. The Ranger ship is fast. But this is a stealth mission."
Eddie: "If you ever have a bunch like those Owners on a ship, I'm a good engineer to have on that ship."
Grey: "You're Eddie, right?" He seemed to recognize something about Eddie. "We're not likely to have a need for something like that this time."
Eddie: "It worked the other time I felt like killing a bunch of people."
Grey seemed to come to some decision. "It won't hurt to give you access. Just don't run at cross purposes with me. In a year or two, if we haven't been heard from, another group ought to try."
Jamie: "Could we exchange messages?"
Grey: "You could route info through the Homestead. But it's not secure. And I don't know who's chasing you."
Eddie, a little sheepishly: "Yeah, well. Somebody is. They were waiting for us at the last system."
Grey: "I'm not saying I'm not trust-worthy. But you folks really don't have much experience in this. You ought to be more circumspect. Sam wouldn't be in this mess if he'd been more - subtle."
Eddie: "I'm a pretty direct man."
Grey: "Yeah." Then he seemed to change subjects. "What's your offensive capabilities."
Eddie, sheepish again: "We haven't figured out how to use it yet." Grey looked skeptical.
Art, in Common: "Star..Gate..make."
Jamie to Eddie: "You've danced around it. Just say it."
Eddie: "We don't need a StarGate. The Sorcerer makes her own. Our ship is alien make and she's really, really old."
Grey: "You all are really trusting souls! There are lots of people you shouldn't say such things around."
I: "But -- you're Grey!"
Grey: "I'm not your Grey! We went our different ways. Most of our family become Rangers. I didn't. I'm the black sheep. We're not clones. We look alike but I'm not your Grey." He turned away muttering, "How will I deal with my aunt?"
I: "Aunt... Annie? Where is Annie?"
Grey turned to Eddie: "Did you get any information from that device. Was it sending to a satellite or a ship in orbit? If it's a satellite, it's not the locals. What was the tech like: Core or fringe?"
Eddie: "It didn't break, it just bent."
Grey: "We should get in our ships and get out of here. Percy," he turned to his sister, "pretend this never happened. Crawl back through your window and, in the morning, act like you never saw these people, never heard anything, except, maybe, the bull."
Art: "I .. detect.. no.. further.. surveillance."
Grey: "I guess I believe that too."
Banker and Eddie brought the truck and we all met in the storage hanger. Grey's ship was there. I'd brought my box in case, well, because Sam and Annie had given it to me from Grey. So I handed James Grey the ship control. It opened the ship. Grey checked the computer, "As I expected, encrypted. I don't suppose any of you have the skills to deal with this?" He looked from face to face, "Guess I gotta get my sister. She can hack into..."
Eddie: "Wait. Shouldn't Grey have told Jannisett the code? She has his PDA too and it's also encrypted."
Grey looked at me. "Did he tell you anything - special? A word or phrase? My brother liked poetry. The Romantic poets."
I nodded: "Yes. He recited poetry to me often. There was one," I felt a little warm again, "that he even said pieces from when he was drifting in and out ... when he was .. dying." I can remember all the sweet words that Grey ever said to me. I said them and James Grey put them in the computer.
Grey: "That's it!"
Eddie had out the PDA: "That works here too. We're in."
Then I could only sit and watch and remember.
Grey and Jamie and Eddie arranged to get food and water to the Sorcerer. The Homestead could provide that, Grey said. I noticed he left a handful of gold in the storage room. Eddie assured him that fuel wasn't a problem. "It's a different issue that can't be solved on the ground." Grey: "I didn't know that; it's good to hear." Then he looked at my Grey's ship. "I'm taking this to keep my aunt or my sister or anyone else from taking it and doing something stupid." He turned back to me, "Persephone's not normally like that. There was a lot of emotion there." I didn't know what to do with my emotions, so I just looked at him.
I did take a few minutes to hurry back to the Bryce house to tell Jinan goodbye. It had not occurred to me that she would want to come with us. I argued with her, sure that she ought to stay and protect the Homestead and Roxie and Lee. "I'm not a protector!" she declared. I was dumbfounded. If Jinan is not a protector, what is she? Eventually I told her that I wanted her to be the one to field Grey's messages. I thought she'd understand that a Marr - even one who has not completed asim training - should be able to hold secret any message no matter the cost. She did not understand. I did not know what to do. She has changed so much. "Why did you even rescue me?" she cried and I did not know what to say but "goodbye." I left. And now she will blame me too - because I have left her, because I did not find what she needs to be rescued from here, because Eddie told her that I am - a killer.
We headed back into the dawn with the truckload of supplies. There were birds perched on the ship, just waking up. Eddie turned off the ship's defenses. No one stopped up from driving on board. Jamie paid the docking fees from her own funds, she said. Then we lifted off.
Jamie: "We are still low on energy and Art is in no position to recharge us."
I: "Let us go to the rendezvous point and recharge there."
Banker: "I concur. At least we'd not have to be in the ship the whole time."
Eddie: "It costs twice to do 2 Jumps; let's do it in one Jump." As they input the course into the ship, some unfamiliar lights came to life on the console.
Jamie: "Warning lights of some kind."
Eddie: "Low fuel warning, I guess. We'll be fine."
Banker: The place we're going to has a rep. Lots of people call it 'The Right Place' 'cause when you come looking for trouble you've..."
Eddie joined in: "Come to the right place." He grinned. Then he turned to me. His tone of concern surprised me. "Jannisett, you're going to be a particular problem there. You're going to attract a lot of attention."
I: "But I have not hurt anyone there."
Eddie: "A different kind of attention. You're an awfully attractive woman and a bunch of 'em are going to hit on you. Some of 'em won't take 'no' for an answer. Then we're likely to find out if any of 'em are tougher than you are."
Jamie: "And it will escalate."
Eddie: "Stay with one of us. All the time."
We made the Jump.
Art said, "Gooood ... sun. I .. hang out .. here. Recharge ... self."
I do not have a job aboard the ship. So now I am in my room. Remembering. I remember what Persephone was yelling when she slapped me: "Murderer!"
(EPs: 1, total: 5; Peter: 1, total 4)
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