Free Burnt Ice by Steve Wheeler

while most of the others
managed to get them back under control. No one can find the MP frigate. It’s
gone, and no record can be found of the jump-out point, so no one knows where
it’s gone. Stupid, stupid bastards. We warned them. Shit, what a bloody waste.
OK. Fritz, what are we looking at here, mate?’
     
    ‘Well, it’s definitely a computer
of some sort, boss. But what sort is the question. I have every available AI
working on it with me. We have cross-referenced everything and yes, it’s based
on light. So, I’m going to have a shower, a feed, a walk along the beach. No, I
mightn’t do that. Some idiot grunts are evidently going to have a squid
cook-up. That is just sick. They eat us, so we eat them? Fuck! Whose idea was
that? I hope the pricks all puke their arseholes up.’
     
    ‘Agreed, Fritz. But what are you
going to do?’
     
    ‘Nothing yet. Gamma Command is bringing income quality boffins to help me out. I specified who I
needed and they’re all mates of mine. Suggest you all bugger off for a couple
of days. Hey how about going back to the moon and finishing that investigation?
Nah, that’s probably a dead end. I’ll get Gamma to send a bunch of
drones. Yeah, I’d better set up a subroutine for that search. Um, how about you
go back to the squid city and see if you can find a few more of these computers?
With my luck we’ll crack this one open to find a shitload of housekeeping crap.’
     
    They left Fritz to his own
devices. Walking around the base, they saw that the place was alive with
engineering robots, drones and crews brought back from the moon to help out.
The captain disappeared, having quickly found his girl, but Marko learnt that
Helena had gone — she sent word that they were holding all the pilots available
at a couple of the Orbital training facilities in case the aliens came back for
another battle. She was loving it, and was being given crash courses in the
transport aircraft. She hoped to get at least one flight in combat aircraft
before too long. They were all getting a day off at the end of the week, so
they would get together then. She asked Marko to keep the bed warm for her, and
to eat lots of steak and drink red wine.
     
    With nothing to do, he went
across to the Sunfish that was still assigned to them and sat in his seat,
intending to work up search parameters of the alien city for more of their
computers. What he was actually doing was carefully examining the wing of the
native raptor that Jan had given him. As he was thinking about its structure he
saw through the lowered rear ramp another dropship land. The big craft had come
in with a beautiful flowing action, which was either an AI taking pleasure in
what it was doing or — much more likely — a very highly skilled human pilot.
     
    He smiled at the skill, then
turned his attention to work. He went through the underwater areas his section
had searched with the base AI, who had returned only hours after the all clear.
Together, they started to identify possible sites of the alien computers. He
decided that she was a good stick and, after he had ensured that their line was
secure, asked about the bullshit spin that the aliens were Chromic Squids. The
AI then became more than a little formal, telling him in no uncertain terms
that it would be a very good idea to keep very quiet about what had happened.
Realising the delicate situation he was in, he readily agreed.
     
    There was a knocking on the
bottom of the ramp and he walked towards the stern of the sub. A guy who looked
the spitting image of Captain Longbow but who was dressed in an orbital flight
suit was below, looking up at him.
     
    ‘Sergeant Marko Spitz, I presume?’
     
    ‘Sir! Yes, I’m Marko.’
     
    ‘Marko, I have an hour to spare
and a little proposal. Can I shout you a beer?’
     
    ‘Come on up, sir. I have some
here.’
     
    The closer he got, the more the
man reminded Marko of the boss. He gestured the man to follow and pulled a
couple of