Author's Note: OMGWTFABBQ!ELEVENTY-ONE!
I just posted a new story here at after the longest time (sorry folks, it's Harry Potter, but I think I have another Andromeda fic y'all haven't seen yet, unless you frequent ExIsle), and I was flipping through my stories to make sure they were all listed as complete, when I realized that this one wasn't! I hate it when authors leave stories unattended for months on end, and I'm very sorry to have done this to my readers. This is going to be updated VERY quickly for you good folks, and I'll post my most recent Andromeda fic soon.
And hey, if you're into Harry Potter, I have one short Snape/Narcissa (one-sided) story, and a Lucius/Hermione story I'm just starting. But no pressure.
ON TO…
Chapter Nine:
Now that a couple of days had passed since her horrifying near-collision with the Thing – they would take to calling it the 'Worldship', but it would always be the monstrous Thing beyond words in Beka's mind – she could watch the face of her shipmates and even smile a little at their bewildered expressions. She noticed that Trance's surprise looked a little put-upon, as if she were as terrified as the rest but already resigned to it. Odd. She'd guessed for a long time now that Trance had joined her crew for larger, mysterious reasons, and she wondered if the Thing were one of those reasons.
"What the hell is it, Rommie?" Harper finally asked, breaking the silence.
Rommie glared at the screen, at the Thing that glowed there and her own inability to understand it. "I can't answer your question as well as I'd like. It's an artificial construct, powered by the star you see in the center. It seems to be surrounded by planets… hollowed-out worlds. From what I could distinguish from the Maru's sensor data and Beka's description, I would venture that the worlds are full of Magog. My calculations put the number in the trillions… I don't suppose you want the exact figure."
Dylan looked a little green. "No, thank you, Rommie."
"And you still won't tell us what led you to this miraculous discovery, Captain Valentine?"
She turned away from the viewscreen to glare at Telemachus, vaguely grateful for an excuse to tear her eyes away from the Thing. "I already have, Admiral Rhade. It's not my fault you don't believe me, despite my sensor data."
"-which can be forged. And your answers have been remarkably vague. You were fleeing from a Genite fighter, but you won't say how if found you or what you were doing or where you were doing it when it did so."
"Hey, a Valentine does not go back on her word. I promised to do this favor and keep it a secret. As for the rest, what else do you need to know? Hell, I could find it again if someone were holding a gun to my head."
Dylan held up a hand to forestall the argument that would likely commence about now. Beka recognized the gesture after the long hours she'd spent bickering with Telemachus back in the early days of this adventure. She took a deep breath and resolutely turned back to the screen and felt her stomach clench.
"Can you tell if it's moving?"
The image of the Thing disappeared, and in its place Andromeda displayed a star chart with a dotted line through the middle. "It is, Captain. As large as it is – and probably not slipstream capable-"
"I hope," Beka murmured.
"-it is moving quite slowly." She brought up a set of Vedran figures in the corner of the map. "I was able to extrapolate this estimate from the Maru."
"Woah, woah, woah, something here is not right," Harper said suddenly. "If I'm reading this correctly – and I'm pretty sure I am – this... Worldship is less than a year out from the Known Worlds. How is it possible that no one has heard of this?"
"I have a theory on that question, Mr. Harper." Rev's growl was somber and tinged with sadness. "I believe that someone, or a particular group of someones, may indeed know about this monstrosity. Dylan, you said it yourself when you first proposed the renewal of the Systems Commonwealth and the resistance against the Knights of Genetic Purity. What is the best way to rally people to a cause?"
"Produce a common enemy," came the captain's immediate reply. "But surely you're not saying that the Commonwealth..."
"Not the Commonwealth. You already have your common enemy."
"The Genites."
"Yes but who is their common enemy? While Nietzscheans are a popular target – I mean no offense, Admiral – it is no secret that all modified humans will soon be the next Genite targets, and I would like to believe that there are too many sentients who hold that genocide is an evil no matter who it is perpetrated upon for the Genites to succeed. However, there is one enemy who could frighten nearly every species in the Known Worlds to the safety of Genite tyranny. My people."
Harper muttered a particularly strong mudfoot invective, and Beka swung her head around to regard her crewmate in surprise. "Kid, you okay?" She hadn't called him 'kid' for a long time, but then, she hadn't heard him speak like that for a long time either.
"I'll just bet Dylan's right. Those racist bastards got a lot of support at first from the slave planets like Earth, driving off the Nietzschans with their tails between their legs. But guess what, Earth's saviors didn't stay around long to defend her when the Magog honed in. Earth was weak and, for once, completely defenseless. It's hell living under Dragan jackboots, but at least it's living."
Beka put an arm around Harper's shoulder, and Trance murmured quiet words of comfort. The rest of the assembled party looked shocked at Harper's brief soliloquy and ashamed for their shock.
"I think Harper may be on to something," Trance said when she looked up from Harper. "The Magog resurgence among former slave worlds has cost the Genites a lot of friends. If they can show people this threat and promise to protect them, well, people would suddenly stop asking a lot of questions about right and wrong."
"People who would give up liberty for security deserve neither," Rev commented from his corner.
A faint smile crossed Dylan's face. "Ancient Earth; scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin."
"You know your Terran heritage."
"Not as much as I'd like. Frankly, most of it comes from handy quotations like that."
Now it was Beka's turn to interrupt. "Hey, guys, this is really fascinating, but I think we may have larger problem at hand than the holes in our collective education." She coughed, and her cough sounded distinctly like 'Magog'.
"Dylan, there's something else." Rommie's eyes were shut as she spoke, as if she were very deep in concentration. "I can't access it, but I know I know something important about the Magog. I wouldn't have remembered it at all, but the sight of that Worldship... whatever it is that it triggered, it's gone now."
"Harper?"
"I'll get on it. If it's extra-ultra-top-secret classified, I'll be asking for some codes from you, Dylan. Not that I couldn't hack past anything you military types could think up, but I don't think Andromeda'd like me ripping through her security networks."
Rommie winced at the imagery.
A few hours later, Harper and two Tarazed engineers found themselves in Andromeda's matrix, admiring the complexity and efficiency of the AI. Harper had been training the two young officers in the intricacies of VR matrices, for which they'd read every manual ever produced by the Commonwealth but had never experience before their posting on the Andromeda. Apparently, dataports had never been the fashion on Tarazed.
"Tell me if I'm going to fast for you guys. Now, this we can see is the Andromeda's first security checkpoint." He manipulated the string of code with ease. "Luckily, Dylan agreed to let us in on his Lexic dark whatever clearing but only on the condition that he gives it directly to Andromeda."
"What, you mean he didn't trust the Harper with his highest authorization code?" one of the technicians laughed.
Harper shrugged and grinned. "Now you can see a door opening up and voilà! Lexic dark should get us as far as we need."
"But what if it doesn't?"
"Andromeda will kill me for saying this, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."
"Harper, you really wouldn't want me to suddenly lose your supply of Sparky out the nearest airlock, would you?" Andromeda's voice boomed all around them.
"Told ya. But like I said, shouldn't be a problem." Harper continued his rambling monologue as he and his two assistants – he would never stop loving the sound of that – searched for the memory Rommie had mentioned earlier. He couldn't bring up anything relevant on the Magog, so he widened his search, looking for any hidden files that might hold the answer.
And he found it. "What the...?" He stared at what appeared to be a window with a slumbering silhouette of Andromeda behind it. "Andromeda, what am I looking at?"
"Unknown. Whatever you're seeing must be classified about all my clearances." Then why would she have it, he wondered. "Hey guys, check this out!"
The other two still had a little trouble moving through the VR matrix, though they were becoming quite adept at manipulating it otherwise. Harper had never been one to wait for a second opinion – where he was from, indecision killed – so he plunged ahead before his companions arrived. The security around this thing was incredible. His codes, even Dylan's, failed, so he resorted to the tricks he'd learned after years of hacking all sorts of security systems, many of them based on Commonwealth-style encryptions. His holo-fingers danced over 1s and 0s like a pianist's over ivory keys, and finally he felt himself getting somewhere.
"Andromeda?"
She didn't reply. He was beyond her reach now. His assistants were trying to reach him, he realized after a moment, but he couldn't stop to hold their hands right now. He broke through the final wall of data, and there she was, the silent figure he'd seen.
"Um, Andromeda?"
Eyes flew open. "Identify yourself."
"It's me, Harper. Seamus 'the love god' Zelazny Harper. Genius and charming rascal extraordinaire."
"You are not authorized to be here. Leave or you will be forcibly expelled."
"What, hey, I'm sorry I had to break through your security, but Dylan-"
"Intruder alert!" Klaxons sounded around him, and he worked furiously trying to silence them. But not fast enough. This pissed-off Andromeda was in control.
The next thing he knew, he was back in body and feeling an agonizing pain at his neck. She had kicked him out! Beside him, the two Tarazed youth were removing their VR helmets. "What the hell was that?" he asked.
"You must have activated a dormant copy of Andromeda's personality, an older one that she didn't know about."
Harper groaned. "Older so she doesn't recognize me. Does she at least remember Dylan?"
An angry call through Andromeda's ship-wide channel answered his question. "Okay, so what do we do?"
One of the officers explained that Andromeda hadn't kicked them out, that they'd followed Harper out when the alarms began to sound. Apparently, she recognized their Tarazed clearance codes, of all things, and they'd convinced her that they were searching for Harper, who had hijacked the ship with his friends.
"So what are you doing here?" Harper demanded when the young man had finished. "Go back in there and fix her."
"Harper, we know the theory behind AIs and VR matrices, not the practice. We can barely open a door without you."
Harper gave an exaggerated sigh. It was hard being a super genius. "Guys, you know the principles, and you know a couple of those tricks I taught you. Just stay cool, and you'll be fine. I-"
"Intruder!" Andromeda's voice interrupted him. "You are to report to the brig immediately. If you will not cooperate, you will be escorted by force." Two 'bots, armed with forcelances, entered from the nearest corridor. "Lieutenants, what you are you doing conversing with this criminal?"
"We were trying to find out what he did while he was inside your VR matrix, ma'am."
"My sensors detect no damage."
"With all due respect, it's no wonder they don't. Your sensors didn't see him come in or break through your security networks either."
"All right, lieutenants, you may resume your work. You, to the brig." And in case there was any doubt as to whom she was addressing, the 'bots stepped forward and seized his upper arms in twin painful grips.
"Ow, ow, leggo! Look, I'm cooperating." The 'bots dragged his to V-deck, where the non-Tarazed crewmembers sat, guarded by several more Marias. The crew started shouting as one when they saw Harper, and he had to wait several minutes for the din to die down so he could explain what had happened. "...but don't worry, the other two are still inside."
Beka stared at him. "You mean we're putting our fate in the hands of those two kids?"
"Hey, come on, they're not that bad," Harper protested. "Just a little inexperienced."
"I hope your faith is not misplaced, Mr. Harper," Dylan said from one corner.
"Yeah, me too."
Hours passed. The Tarazed-born of the crew were presumably too busy trying to maintain Andromeda to check in on them. Eventually, yelling at Harper got old, and Trance's nervous suggestion that they play a game was met with silence. They felt the ship jump into slipstream for a long time, drop out, and slip again.
Beka made a face. "Whoever's flying this thing is either really new at this or really nervous."
No one answered her.
A couple of minutes after they stopped for good, Telemachus strode into the brig, to everyone's joy. Before they could say a word, though, he gestured sharply for them to be quiet. "My engineers are close to returning the ship to her original condition," he said in a hard voice. "They've found out what your man was looking for in the Andromeda's matrix. Rest assured, you will face Commonwealth justice for what you have done." With that, he strode out again.
"Um, that was a good thing, right?" Beka asked.
Dylan nodded. "For some reason, Andromeda acknowledged the Tarazed crew's old codes and not mine. According to Harper, the lieutenants convinced Andromeda that we were trying to steal her and that they were trying to stop us. The Admiral was just playing into that, but it sounds like he's optimistic that the whole thing will be resolved shortly."
Beka raised an eyebrow. "That's Telemachus optimistic?"
Before Dylan could reply, the lights returned to normal, and Rommie entered the brig.
"Harper, what the hell did you do to me?"
That was really the million dollar question of the day, it seemed. "You recognize me!"
"Of course I do. For awhile there, however, I didn't recognize me." She hauled him to his feet. "I'll repeat my question. What the hell did you do to me?"
He was spared a detailed explanation of hacking his way through her systems as his two assistants came racing into V-deck.
"We found it!" one exclaimed. He stopped when he fully took in the scene in front of him. "Or I can wait."
Harper wriggled out of Rommie's grasp. "Nice job restoring order, guys. What happened? And what did you find?"
"What happened," Rommie cut in, "was that somehow you activated an old copy of my no one by the Empress must have known was there. She completely took over command and locked me out. She insisted that the crew help her with a mission I'd never heard of, and she wouldn't explain. So we got here, but whatever she was looking for is gone."
The excited lieutenant could no longer contain himself. "Gone but not lost. We found what sparked your memory, Rommie, when the other Andromeda took over. It was locked in your archives, and we came across it when we were trying to shut her down. Actually, I was... snooping around while Armantide was trying to fix you."
Rommie rolled her eyes. "Harper, you are not allowed the corrupt any more of my engineers."
"I copied it onto a disc," the lieutenant continued. He held up a small, shiny memory disc. "We'd better watch this right away."
