Chapter 3 - The Chase
Gumptor Fi was sick and tired of this insufferable engine aboard
Maiden’s Kiss. It wasn’t problematic, it
was too perfect, too annoyingly perfect.
It was his job to predict the unexpected and he was good at his job. Officially it was his job to ferry and protect
the assistant deputy director of stellar affairs, Preator Keizari but really it
was his self-appointed job to accomplish her unreasonable missions in hopes of
winning her heart.
On
this particular day he had engine parts splayed out on the floor. They weren’t accelerating with the thrusters
engine in several dozen pieces laying on top of cotton towels. Gumptor’s only hope was that his beau was
sleeping but he wasn’t surprised as he heard her light but impending footsteps
on the catwalk above him. She would
never enter engineering at his level by the main entrance but always chose to perch
herself on a different level.
Gumptor broke his
promise and spoke first, “My dear Preator are you ready for your formal
dinner?”
She looked down at
her blue dress and yellow sash with gold highlights across her waste. A small piece of her dark skin near her waste
showed. “Oh this old thing? Now please tell me, what are you doing with
the engine in a thousand pieces?”
“I will tell you
everything your lovely heart desires after you tell me something. Were you dressed like that when you woke up
or did you dress up just for me?” He knew he was pushing it but it was also a
good tactic for getting her to calm down.
Preator was on the
precipice of getting annoyed but her curiosity overtook her. “The Maiden’s Kiss is the best that Diamond
Industries has to offer so what are you doing by dissecting her?”
“It might come to
pass my lady that we could, hypothetically of course, be chasing a ship through
a planet’s atmosphere and at the same time be trying to outrun hostile craft.’
Preator folded her
hands in a gesture of pleasantness, “And that’s what I need you for Gumptor, to
expect the unexpected.”
“And nothing else
my lady?”
Now she gyrated
her hand to express her annoyance with his question, “Not this again
Gumptor. Every time I pay you a
compliment you’re dishing for more.”
Gumptor
stood up and looked straight at her.
“We’ve spent a third of our non-relativistic lives together and there’s
just the two of us on this ship but we choose to be alone. I have to ask that?”
“Have you not had
an escapade on one of our stops?”
Gumptor felt hot
under his dungarees collar, a man is a man after all. “well, I, might have made a friend or two.”
“You know what,
don’t answer that. It’s none of my
business. My proud engineer, have I not
made you a rich man? I keep no fortune
for myself but if you want to retire after this mission you should do so. Find a wife, start a family and settle down
on some luxury world.”
“I would but I
would dream of the adventures I should be having. Let me turn the question back on you. Why are you still out here doing field work? You should be at least a deputy if not a full
Director.”
Preator blushed
slightly and her hand grazed her sash.
Did she secretly want such a prestigious position? For a corporation that employed millions and
oversaw the assets of trillions of people there were but a hundred
directors. “Gumptor, you are very good
at distracting me. We are headed toward
the Hokori homeworld of New Nippon to see if Cathy and Salvador Dalasie have
headed there. Do we have any assets
there?”
“Only non-organic
ones my lady.”
“That will have to
do.”
“What is so
important about these two? You traded a
whole planet to those people back on Acorn for information on the possible whereabouts
of a warp engineer?”
“Gumptor, aside
from the Hokori refugees, he is the only person in the known galaxy who
understands warp cloaking”
“I understand its military
application but there’s no guarantee he’ll help is. Even if he does it’s not like our ships are
outmatched against the pirates.”
“You’re the
engineer but have you not heard the theory of warp convergence?”
Gumptor let out a
snort. Someone once tried to tell him
that there was more than one kind of warp and it started to sound like magic.
“Space can be folded and I can only imagine that the cloaking is achieved by
the same method,”
“Open your mind,
consider if the theory is true and space is even more malleable than we
know. One important aspect of the
company is we always dream big. If
something is possible, it’s worth pursuing.”
“Yes, my lady
we’ll find out but to what end?”
“Have you ever
heard the phrase, ‘You can’t rule an empire by horseback?’” She waited a moment
before continuing. “I know it’s archaic
but on a primitive planet they sometimes ride these animals called horses. They travel at ten to twenty kilometers per
hour. Anyway, if an empire were to expand too far, it becomes unwieldy and
difficult to govern. Diamond Industries
has now reached this point where it’s unwieldy to operate and control all of
our installations.”
“Which is why we
use the quickships traveling in excess of a hundred times the speed of light or
folding space to that degree to transport goods and information in our sphere
of influence.”
“Why yes of course
and your particular contributions has made this more effective. However to have a two way contact to our
medium distance installation takes an average of four standard years. Imagine if we could piece together the right
technologies to have instantaneous communication? That would be one of the great discoveries of
humankind.”
“Now I know you’re
completely delusional Preator.”
She waved her hand
in his direction forcefully and turned around.
“Fix the engine Gumptor, I expect a full status report in tomorrow’s
staff meeting.” She practically stomped out of the engine room. Gumptor was mildly satisfied with himself for
when she was annoyed she wasn’t so demanding.
He turned back to his pieces the thruster engines.
Preator headed
back to her cabin instead of the bridge, the ship wasn’t going anywhere so what
was the point? Her quarters which no one
but her had ever been in were draped in delicate pink fabrics to cover the
walls almost like living in a tent. She
passed through to a small crevice towards the back opposite from her small
bedroom where her mirror was. She looked
at her face and by habit started to search for any signs of wrinkles. Her console beeped and though she tried to
wave it away it beeped again.
“Priority delayed
quick ship message.” After nearly missing Cathy and Sal they had rendezvous
with a quickship. It contained mostly
standard galactic sector updates, a few supplies for Gumptor and a small
crystal statue addressed box for her.
She never thought it was tech and foolishly didn’t run it by
Gumptor. The company would never send
anything dangerous would they? A face
appeared on her mirror it was of a man in his late fifties or maybe early
sixties. His skin and eyes looked
different from hers. Her completion was
dark, very tan like and her large round eyes and high cheekbones complemented
her. His complexion on the other hand was
olive, much lighter than hers and his face long and slender. She wasn’t startled, all mirrors could change
into screens but his appearance made her freeze.
“I don’t
understand what’s going on.”
“Assistant deputy
defector of stellar affairs Preator Keizari I am well pleased with your performance.
As you might have guessed, I am the Founder.”
Preator had
amazing grace that allowed her body language to take over a situation. She sat down on her chair as if she was going
to comb her hair and crossed her legs.
“I thought the founder was dead.”
“I am dead. You are speaking to a virtual
representation. I have many traits,
history, and knowledge programmed in but I was sent here by the board with
specific instructions.”
“Proceed.”
The image smiled,
“How is your mission progressing? Are
you experiencing any difficulties.”
“I should have
guessed this was a canned program. Yes,
everything’s fine. We uncovered the
whereabouts of a warp engineer who understands warp cloaking and is not from
the Hokori fleet.”
“That is
excellent, where is he now?”
“He and his wife
are heading to New Nippon, why I don’t know.
Gūmptor is upgrading the engine while we speak.”
“Can you reach
them before they arrive? Our assets in
the system indicate the planet is hostile to outsiders. If they aren’t destroyed they will likely
never leave the planet.”
Preator found herself
surprisingly impressed about how this ‘program’ was able to reason. “Program are you self aware? The questions you ask and the manner in which
you react are very realistic.”
The founder
laughed. “It is a common
misconception. Not only am I programmed
with vast stores of knowledge and logic, I incorporated all of the written and
visual experiences of the founder on the public and private domain. I am not however sentient.”
“What’s the
difference? If you can think and reason,
what’s the difference?”
“I have no
will.” With a mock sad face he
continued, “I do whatever the company tells me to do.”
“As do I,” she
replied.
“Yes but I have
to, you choose to.” For once Preator was silent so the founder continued with
his preprogrammed checklist. “And how is
your relationship with Gumptor, is there any friction between the two of you?”
She sighed, “he’s
a good hardworking man. Being how men
are, I assume you know, he seeks companionship so he thinks he’s in love with
me.”
“Ah I can tell
from your tone that you don’t feel the same way. It doesn’t matter whether his feelings are
genuine or simulacrum they are none the less going to impact the effectiveness
of your team. Your reports of him are
exemplary and the results of your many missions are evident. I think the best
course of action is to bring another woman on board. I see no difference in result if she’s a love
interest or not.”
“Why a woman? Why not a man?”
“He already has an
interest in you, a man, any man would be seen as a rival. No matter how evolved we think we are, we
still have our baser instincts very much intact. A woman would either pull his interest away
from you to her or would isolate him completely if he thought of you two as his
competitors for the power structure on the ship but either way it would be a
less volatile situation.”
Preator raised her
eyebrow, “Not bad, if you were human I might have to worry about you taking my
job.”
The founder got
back to business. “The ship should be
ready by tomorrow, see to it you get to the system of New Nippon as quickly as
possible and there you will find the correct assets to get you the Intel you
need. I’ll be here to advise. You need to make sure the engineer is
escorted out of the system unharmed and convince him to share his secrets.”
