Fourth Quadrant
Central Authority Vessel Nirvana
Ubiks head hurt. It wasnt exactly painful, it was more of an irritating buzz. He found that if he humd at roughly the sa frequency, he could cancel it out, sowhat. A simple enough solution if it hadnt been for the mask strapped to the bottom half of his face.
The mask covered his jaw, chin, mouth and nose. It prevented him speaking or opening his mouth. Yodelling was completely out. Whistling, too. However, it didnt prevent him drooling from the corners of his mouth. Especially when he humd.
He closed his eyes and kept humming. And drooling.
Ubik was seated in a chair. Really in a chair, like, inside it.
The chair was white and made of a smooth polyfibrous material, the sa as the rest of the CA ship. It had armrests which encased Ubiks arms up to the elbow. It had three legs two at the front and one at the back. The two at the front encased his foot, ankle and calf. He could wiggle his toes a little, but if he got an itch, agony.
They had even confiscated his Delgados. It was taking things too far. They were bespoke, fitted to his exact asurents. Were they even looking after them properly? Humid conditions played havoc with the genuine lab-grown leather. Werent there conventions against that sort of thing?
Still, Ubik was glad to have ended up here. The ship itself was amazing. He would have gladly spent a few hours poking around, checking things out. A few hours? A few days was more like it. There was so much to see, so much he had never seen before.
How did it work? What powered it? What were the different systems and how did they interact?
His head buzzed again, right in the middle of his skull.
It was the strange coloured lights that had done it. They had appeared on the cell walls and flashed in so kind of pattern. He had assud it was an attempt to read his mind or hypnotise him into revealing everything. Hardly necessary they could have just asked and Ubik would have told them whatever they wanted to know. It wasnt like he was trying to hide anything. Open-Book Ubik the kids used to call him, he decided.
But these big organisations preferred to act like everyone else was as shady as they were. Which, admittedly, was usually true.
But the strange lights hadnt tried to extract information from him, they had inserted information into him. A lot of it.
The ssage, the very long ssage, had been from the Central Authority to Guardian Tezla, and it had been poured directly into the centre of Ubiks brain.
He hadnt been expecting it and the shock of the deluge had caught him a little flatfooted. He assud it was a mistake. The drone in the cell with him, hovering in the corner, had activated the lights, Ubik was fairly sure. The drone, Janks, had seed a little bored up to that point. Babysitting a prisoner was probably tedious work, far below what the drone was capable of. In fact, it had seed a little annoyed with the assignnt.
Not that drones were generally prone to exhibiting emotions but, like this ship, the drone was unusual. He wouldnt say no to poking around inside the drone, either.
Ubik winced. Flashes of the ssage appeared in his thoughts. It wasnt a language in the traditional sense, there were no words, but sohow he could sense a flow of ideas, concepts, instructions.
The missile that had been sent to destroy planet Fountain had been the most prominent part of the ssage. Even now, Ubik could see an image of it in his mind long and thin, black and covered in white markings that streaked up and down its surface. Clearly Antecessor technology.
It had exited from the Gideon wormhole, the closest to Fountain, but the ssage had been more concerned with where the missile had co from. Nowhere.
It had exited at Gideon, but there was no evidence of it entering the wormhole from anywhere in the four quadrants. Did that an it ca from outside of the galaxy? The wormhole network was contained and finite. It had been fully mapped and only existed inside the four quadrants as far as anyone knew.
Did that an the missile had been deployed from inside the wormhole? Were there more such missiles waiting to be launched? Ubik could see why the matter would be of concern to the CA.
He had also picked up flashes of the recovery operation, CA drones sent to investigate the debris left behind after the missile struck the VendX flagship not that there was much left and the VendX drones arriving. So sort of altercation had taken place between the two parties, but it wasnt clear to Ubik what the outco was.
What he could feel very clearly was the pressure on Guardian Tezla to procure answers. The Central Authority wanted to know exactly what was going on and who to hold responsible. The emphasis was on evidence, the irrefutable kind. She had been given a limited amount of ti to find answers, with the full resources of the CA available to her. But there were more Guardians being activated. Did the CA set their operatives in competition with one another?
Ubik opened his eyes and saw dark blotches everywhere. They werent in the cell with him, it was his eyes getting accustod to the brightness of the white walls.
Can you turn down the walls? he said, which wasnt easy without being able to open your mouth.
The drone, a circular tray about half a tre wide and maybe 10cm thick, blinked and turned to look at him. The drone didnt have eyes, not in the traditional sense, but it was definitely looking at him. Glaring, even.
Please dont try to communicate, it will only make you more uncomfortable. We will soon rendezvous with a Central Authority collection vessel, the Hand of Friendship. It will transfer you to the nearest holding facility where you will be fully debriefed. You may make your protestations of innocence then. The Central Authority will take good care of you, no need to fear torture or a slow, agonising death, no matter how well-deserved.
The drone was definitely irritated. Being stuck down here with him was a lowly task beneath its function. Punishnt for allowing Ubik to nearly breach the ships security protocols? Did it bla him for its undoing?
His scalp twinged. There had been sothing in the ssage about his transfer. Null void, that was how he was referred to. More than his na or his identity as a person, that was how he was now classified. Ubik had no idea why that should be so important. His lack of CQ gave him no special abilities or power. Quite the opposite.
I need the toilet, said Ubik. It ca out as a string of unintelligible noises.
Whatever it is you require, know that your biological functions are all being observed closely. Nutrients, water and air are being provided at an optimal rate. Excretions and waste will be removed as and when necessary. Muscles will be kept stimulated to avoid atrophy. Your body is being treated better than it ever has been.
The seat of the chair was wrapped around his thighs and groin area, but he had his clothes on. How was he supposed to relieve himself? He wasnt sure he wanted to know.
Quite the rry dance you led us. I dont think anyones been quite so bold in over a century. Quite the achievent.
The drone was definitely pissed off. If Ubik could speak, he would have commiserated. It was never fun being unfairly treated by those in a higher position than you. It was why going into business for yourself was so attractive, despite the travails of the self-employed no healthcare, no days off, scavs trying to kill you for picking up a 32K compressor unit off the shell off a retired refrigeration module.
The walls flashed. Not like the ssage before, this was an internal announcent. They had arrived sowhere.
It was an interesting form of communication. The only thing Ubik knew about the CA was that they were based in the First Quadrant, the dead quadrant. Apparently, tronics didnt work there. Was this how they got around that? Flashing lights at each other like so ancient semaphore. It didnt explain why he was able to understand it. If he had so innate ability to learn this language, maybe it would be a good idea to do so. Once he picked up so headache pills.
A sharp sound cut through Ubiks thoughts, in the most visceral way possible. If he hadnt been attached to the chair he probably would have fallen out of it.
VendX Depot 4 welcos you to the Genbazi wormhole. How may we assist you?
The voice was in Ubiks head. Did nobody use good old fashioned radio frequencies to talk to each other anymore? The forced ssaging probably ant they were making a point. This was their turf. But to act that way towards a CA vessel
Ubiks body went cold. This was a VendX facility. Did they know he was on board?
Prisoner Ubik, why are your readings dropping?
Ubik had no idea what the drone was talking about, or why it was asking him. He couldnt reply even if he wanted to.
Central Authority vessel Nirvana, we are complying with all Central Authority requirents. Please prepare for standard scanning for infected software.
There was a conversation going on that he was only hearing half of. VendX were blasting their side at maximum level. As a passive-aggressive way of letting their displeasure known, it was a little light on the passive and a little heavy on the aggressive. As a ans of covering whatever it was they were up to in the background remained to be seen.
Back on the Motherboard, Ubik had tried his best to identify himself as Chief Engineer Ulanov, but PT had let his real na slip a few tis. One of those tis had been in front of Chukka. If she had included it in her report and chances were high that she had it could have got back to certain people. Certain people in the VendX executive who held onto a grudge.
Ubik had clashed swords with VendX a long ti ago. He had been very young, very foolish. He wasnt very young any more.
This was bad.
Guardian Tezla, the prisoner is experiencing major fluctuations in biotric readings. Guardian, respond.
VendX control will comply with all requests, Guardian. As soon as scans are complete.
The Guardian was busy arguing with the VendX dispatcher. They were trying to stall. This was very bad indeed. And there was nothing Ubik could do about it. He felt a bit dizzy.
Override restraint protocols, open gag.
The covering over Ubiks mouth slid aside and he was able to breathe freely. Ooh, thats better. Thanks, Janks.
Why are your vitality readings crashing? demanded Janks.
That had been in the ssage keeping Ubik alive at all costs. They wanted a live subject to run their tests on. Janks didnt want to screw up again. Not even drones had job security in this economy.
Because Im scared, said Ubik. Theyre going to gank us.
Attack a CA vessel? Thats ridiculous.
Why? I did.
The wall in front of Ubik turned into a screen. The wormhole was a pit of darkness surrounded by the glitter of stars and the VendX fleet. Thousands of ships, ugly and blocky, functional and nothing else. Overnight delivery to any part of the quadrant. Not standard overnight that was only for X-ecutive mbers, a paid subscription service. But relative overnight was still pretty quick.
Attack detection is zero, said Janks. No hostile intent.
They dont attack openly. First they knockout
There was a blip. A white point of light that could have been a star at the opposite end of the universe quietly going supernova.
The white walls turned a dull grey. Janks light had gone out. The drone was silent. Ubiks restraints opened and he floated out of the chair. The artificial gravity was off.
Everyone had been knocked out or was dead. The restraints would only automatically unlock if he was on a dead ship. Prisoners or crew couldnt be left captive in a dead ship, there were laws against that sort of thing, Central Authority laws. The supplies would be open, too.
Pretty cocky of VendX to take out a CA ship. Obviously, they ant to hide what had happened, bla soone else. This was all planned in advance. But why hadnt the knockout flash affected him? Was this the power of the null void?
Whatever it was, Ubik was on his own, on a ship full of alien technology. VendX would be coming for him. He had better get ready. But first, he would find his boots.
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