Free The Star Pirate's Folly by James Hanlon Page B

were entirely wrong, and that he in fact knew the only proper
method. Until he had the chance to teach Gim himself, the Governor refused to
allow him to brew the tea. Now, having been shown once, Gim would never forget
the Governor’s instructions. He would repeat the process exactly any time he
was asked. Fabricants never forget, barring brain trauma or deletion of data.
    Gim turned the sausages and oiled the other pan for the
eggs.
    ***
    “Amazing what fabricants can do these days,” Strump said
around a mouthful of fried egg. “You’re just so damned smart now. I remember I
had one of the first organic models back in ’32. Back when they still had
memory problems. Back up your backup’s backups, that’s what they used to say.”
    They sat at the marble countertop in the kitchen, which
doubled as a table for two. The counter was empty underneath, and two chairs
tucked in neatly to fill the space when it was not in use.
    “Yes, the early models were unreliable,” Gim said. “We’ve
come a long way since then.”
    Gim had set the table for just the Governor, but Strump
insisted that Gim at least keep him company so Gim sat patiently with his hands
in his lap as the Governor ate. Strump stabbed the juicy slices of aquamarine
lotus fruit two, three at a time onto his fork and finished them first. As he
chewed, he nodded his head in satisfaction.
    “A long way, yes,” the Governor said. “A long, long way.”
    He grew quiet then, and took on a distant stare, half-chewed
fruit resting in his hanging jaw. He looked pale and distraught. Gim, in an
effort to make himself good company, took it upon himself to liven up the
conversation.
    “How are your wife and children?” Gim asked, confident that
speaking of his much-loved family would brighten the Governor’s mood. His
conversational guidelines indicated that, rather than asking a simple yes-or-no
question, it was much more beneficial to ask open-ended questions which
provoked a better response.
    “My family is away at the moment,” he said. “I’ve sent them
far from the planet. It's unsafe.”
    An unexpected answer—it did, however, explain his mood.
    “I’m sorry to hear that, Governor.”
    “Yes. It’s a regrettable set of circumstances we’re in, my
biofabricated friend.”
    Gim frowned. “There must be something I am unaware of.”
    “Yes,” the Governor said. “There’s a great deal of things
you are unaware of. Tell me something. If I instruct you to keep our
conversations secret, can you?”
    “Of course. My social protocol allows for confidentiality.
In fact, if you told me to I could encrypt anything we’ve spoken about.
Absolutely no record of it would remain in my memory. Fabricants are very good
at keeping secrets.”
    “How wonderful. You were designed with such consideration.”
    Gim smiled. “We’re here to be helpful in any way we can.”
    “And say some nefarious agent were to set his mind on
gaining access to some of this sensitive information? What sort of
countermeasures do you have?”
    “A successful intrusion attempt would require extremely
advanced knowledge of fabricant security infrastructure. The cryptographers at
BioLock, my manufacturer, consider our defenses essentially hack-proof. If you
require I can go into further technical detail.”
    The Governor skewered a sausage and dabbed his egg’s yolk
with one end, releasing a wave of yellow-gold that crept slowly toward his last
sausage. He shook his head unhappily as he took a bite.
    “Well, I suppose if the good folks at BioLock say so it must
be true. In that case, I request that all of our private conversations be kept
private, full security measures and whatnot.”
    “Of course, Governor Strump.”
    Strump prodded quietly at the yolk with the other end of the
sausage, then dropped his fork on the plate with a huff. “I’ve sent my family
away because they’re in danger. We all are. I’m sure you’ve heard about our
recent sweep through the pirate