Free Orphans of Earth by Sean Williams, Shane Dix Page A

pristine central sphere.
    A male voice issued into the cockpit: “You’re human?”
    Hatzis’s jaw dropped open in surprise.
    “Of course we are,” Alander said. “What were you expecting?”
    There was a pause that felt much longer than it actually was.
    “ Pearl ,” Alander said. “That transmission—it came from that hole ship, right?”
    “Not as such,” was the reply—not from the AI, but from the male voice that had spoken before. “I’ve temporarily linked our ships—made them semi-independent nodes of the same mind, if you like. That makes it easier to communicate.”
    “How—?” Hatzis started.
    “Hole ships have the ability to cross-talk when sufficiently close. You didn’t know they could do this?”
    “No. Who are you?” she asked, looking around the cockpit as if the answer to her confusion might be found there. “And how the hell do you know?”
    “The name’s Axford,” he answered. The voice held a mixture of amusement and challenge. “General Francis T. Axford. And now’s not the time to stand around chatting. Even if you hadn’t just told me, I’d know where you came from. Only a bunch of incompetent scientists like you would go about things in such a crazy, half-assed fashion.”
    Alander’s memory worked furiously. The name rang a bell, but it wasn’t on any of the mission registers he had memorized, and he didn’t recall a ranking general qualifying for the survey program. All the military officers were trained for administrative command. Unless...
    “Frank the Ax?” he asked incredulously.
    The man let out a low chuckle. “My reputation clearly precedes me,” he said. “Or outlived me, depending on how you look at it. Either way, I’m—”
    “But you can’t be,” Alander cut in again. “It’s not possible.”
    “Can be, is, and I am,” said the man. “Listen, I don’t particularly like sitting around in the open for long, so if you want to continue this conversation, then I suggest we go somewhere less conspicuous.”
    “Where exactly would that be?” he asked.
    “Your hole ship has the coordinates, Dr. Alander,” said Axford. “I can’t actually command its guidance system, but I can tell it where to go. Just give the word, and it will take you there. Don’t bother asking it for the exact destination, because I’ve already instructed it not to tell you.”
    Alander frowned. “Wait a minute. How did you know that I was—?”
    “Your expression. Like I said, the ships can cross-talk,” he replied with obvious irritability. “They can exchange data. But I haven’t got time for this right now, people. If you want to talk, then you’ve got to instruct your ship to follow me in.”
    “ Where ?” said Hatzis.
    “Hermes Base,” he said. “My headquarters. Can’t you see it?”
    Both looked simultaneously at the hellish solar vista on the screen.
    “No,” said Alander after a moment.
    “Good,” said Axford. “That’s just the way I like it.”

    1.1.4

    It took some convincing to get Hatzis to follow the ex-general after the hole ship on the wall screen disappeared. Alander appreciated her apprehensions (making a blind jump into God only knew where, he said, didn’t much appeal to him, either), but he argued that the presence of the hole ship indicated that there had been a Spinner drop, and they should find out what they could about it—especially given the fact that nowhere else in the system had they found any evidence of the Gifts. There were no normal planets around which to anchor orbital towers, so they must have used a new design. At least in systems containing alternate gift configurations, the Spinners had had a solid planet to work with. But it was the presence of Axford—former military cost cutter, then senior financial advisor to UNESSPRO—that seemed the greatest lure for Alander. Everyone who had argued for funding prior to launch had crossed swords with him, usually to their loss. There had long been rumors about