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Cloning is illegal on Extremus. It’s very illegal, and has been for
quite some time. What happened with Captain Halan Yenant and Lieutenant
Eckhart Mercer was already in a gray area, and since then, both the civilian
government and crew decided that it was best to make it against the law,
full stop. The Question is sort of a workaround for this problem, but the
reality is clear in this situation. Waldemar’s clone is an empty shell, and
not only does Admiral Leithe have the right to destroy it, but she has the
obligation to do so. There is only one caveat. She must report it. She must,
in fact, report it to three particular people. The Captain, the Head
Councillor, and the ship’s Consul all have to be told first. The silver
lining is that she only has to inform those three, and they don’t have to
inform anyone else, or place the information on any sort of official record.
The problem is, they don’t know what Waldemar becomes. Oceanus seems to have
some idea, but the other two presumably know absolutely nothing. What
happens if they try to arrest Young!Waldemar for his actions? First, it will
make the incident a matter of public record, but also, the charges will
never stick anyway.
The clone is older than the original, which suggests that he may be from the
future. You can’t be held liable for a crime that you might have
committed in the future of only one timeline. That would be unfair, and
since there is evidently no one to question about this, besides present day
Waldemar, they don’t know if he was responsible for it in this possible
future. It’s only marginally more difficult to procure someone else’s DNA
than your own. Waldemar’s advocate would have a field day in court, and it
would become this huge spectacle. This would likely only cement his
popularity as a leader of and for the people, reinforcing his predestined
future power over the ship.
As of yet, nothing has happened, but this peace won’t last forever. While
AI!Elder is not capable of transmitting his code back to Extremus, he does
have power over the Frontrunners. This includes being capable of teleporting
Waldemar’s clone to anywhere on the hull, specifically to what they call The
Black Deck. Situated at the stern, the Black Deck is the opposite of the
White Deck, because unlike the latter, viewports on the Black Deck
can be opened. The doppler glow only comes in from the forward ports,
which is why they’re closed and locked at all times. The thing is, on the
Black Deck, there’s nothing to see. There’s literally nothing to see. It’s
just a void. No stars, no nebulae. People describe the experience as being
unsettling and profound, which is precisely why they sometimes go up there.
If a cloning pod were to suddenly appear in front of one of these windows,
someone would probably see it, if only eventually. This is the threat that
AI!Elder is making if he’s not released.
At last, it’s time for a meeting with Consul Sevara Sanchez. Tinaya has been
keeping AI!Elder at bay for the last several months so she would be dealing
with Sevara, instead of the previous Consul, who couldn’t be trusted. Well,
it’s more that she didn’t like him, Sevara seems great. “Thanks for meeting
with me, Consul.”
“No, thank you. This job has been forever darkened by the first one, who
turned out to be a traitor, so I’m glad to have a meeting with an admiral so
soon.”
“Well, Vatal was more of a spy than a traitor. But it doesn’t matter. You
may not be so happy when you here what I have to say.”
“Oh, my.”
“Do you know who Waldemar Kristiansen is?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know many names yet. Is he on the Council?”
“He’s the eighth captain.”
“Oh, I didn’t think that had been decided yet. It’s a little early, no?”
Tinaya doesn’t respond. This is such a touchy subject, time travel. Neither
one of them should know what’s going to happen, let alone be involved in
trying to change it.
Sevara seems to pick up on it. “Oh. I see. What can you tell me?”
Not much. Nothing about her son, or Audrey. She focuses on the basics, and
the fact that Waldemar’s rise to power is, by all accounts, inevitable. All
they can do is try to mitigate the equally inevitable fallout. This means
dealing with the clone, and possibly running a quiet investigation to search
for any other clones which may be stashed somewhere on Extremus. AI!Elder
must be dealt with too.
“Who is this Pathfinder who led you to the Frontrunner where you found the
clone?” Sevara asks after Tinaya finishes the overview.
She doesn’t really need to know that. “Well, his name is Pronastus
Kegrigia.”
“Good to know,” Sevara replies. Then she doesn’t say anything else.
Tinaya waits a little for Sevara to acknowledge the real point of the story,
but it never comes. “So, what do you think...about the clone?”
Sevara shrugs. “Destroy it,” she says, as if it’s an obvious solution, and
not morally gray, at best.
“The issue is, I’m not sure that Captain Jennings or Head Councillor Linwood
will agree. I suppose I’m fairly confident about Oceanus, but
definitely not Linwood. He’ll probably make a big stink, and bring in all
his friends for consultation, and it will get out of control. I’m trying to
keep the circle tight. I’m not even telling my husband, even though as
superintendent, he would be well within his rights to know.”
“In a few months, Linwood will be replaced, probably by Flowers.”
“I can’t wait that long,” Tinaya laments. “AI!Elder won’t wait that
long, that is. I barely made it to today.”
Sevara giggles. “AI!Elder? Is that what we call him? I like it.”
“That’s just how Captain Yenant referred to him in his logs. I’m sure the
brainiacs gave it some kind of longwinded model number.”
Sevara nods and goes silent again, but only for a moment. “Well. Let’s go
with this. You and I will travel to the Frontrunner, and I will supervise
the destruction of the clone. We won’t tell Captain Jennings. We won’t tell
Head Councillor Linwood.”
“How’s that legal?” Tinaya questions.
“It’s not technically, but it will be our little secret.”
“Consul Sanchez,” Tinaya scolds.
“Admiral Leithe, you are currently being coerced into placing the ship in
danger by a known artificially intelligent threat actor. You are under
extreme pressure to protect the crew and passengers of the Extremus, which
gives you the leeway you need to be discreet with who you confide in
regarding this matter. If you want, we can divulge the truth to the new Head
Councillor next year, and complete the disclosure requirement, but we need
to take care of this right now, before either of them can make another move
against us.”
“The whole reason I’m waiting is because AI!Elder won’t release him. I can’t
jettison the pod, I can’t teleport it. I can’t even open it.”
“Well, let me handle him. I have authority over the Frontrunner systems that
not everyone does.”
“You do?” Why would she? Why would she have higher clearance than Tinaya,
except maybe over legal data? Why would she have anything to do with the
Frontrunners?
“I do.” She’s quite confident.
After Sevara deals with something else on her tablet, they teleport to the
bow together, and then jump a second time to make it to the Frontrunner
where the Waldemar clone is being kept. It’s still there, and so is
AI!Elder, who is displeased with their arrival. “Who is this woman?”
he demands to know.
“This—” Tinaya begins.
Sevara steps forward and holds out a hand like she wants someone to shake
it. “My name is Sevara Sanchez, Consul of the Transgalactic Generation Ship
Extremus, Seventh of Eleven.” The captains are really the only ones whose
titles officially include X of Y ordinals, but others sometimes use a
similar format. Consuls are known for adopting the same convention. Tinaya
has never known why. The real weird part is that she said Transgalactic
Generation Ship, which they stopped using when Halan Yenant altered course
into the void. They’ve since moved back into the galaxy, but the name was
never changed back. No, the weirdest part is when Sevara shakes the air in
front of her as clasping AI!Elder’s hand.
“A consul?” AI!Elder questions. “You brought me a consul? I’ve never felt so insulted in my life. Bring me
someone who matters.”
“Let me see the pod,” Sevara asks of Tinaya. After being led into the room,
she examines it surprisingly thoroughly. She looks over each side, and even
runs her hand along the casing. Does she have some kind of background in
cloning tech, or is she just a weirdo? Tinaya is starting to think that
maybe she’s just a weirdo. Once Sevara is finished, she takes a breath, and
looks up into the aether. “Okay, I’m satisfied. The pod and its occupant
must be destroyed. AI!Elder, please disable the magnetic clamps, and release
the specimen into our custody.”
“I’m not going to do that,” AI!Elder responds. “That wasn’t our deal.”
“No, you don’t make deals with the Admiral anymore,” Sevara contends.
“You’re dealing with me now.”
“Consul, please be careful,” Tinaya urges. She’s whispering, knowing full
well that the AI’s sensors are more than adequate to pick up the sound.
“I know what I’m doing,” Sevara insists. She looks back up. “How about those
clasps, Old Man? I ain’t got all day.”
“I have been trapped in these subsystems for decades, and I’m ready to be
set free, so if you’re going to do that, then this is your chance. If you
deny me just one more time, I will instantly transport the pod to the
exterior of the viewport on the Black Deck, and magnetize it against the
hull. Anyone will be able to come and look, and then you’ll have a ton of
questions to answer.”
“I don’t think you’ll do it,” Sevara antagonizes. “I think you’re bluffing.
It’s the only leverage you have.”
“I have more leverage than that,” AI!Elder claims. “I can destroy these Frontrunners, which puts you at risk of another
meteoroid strike.”
“Hm. I think I can live with that.”
“Sevara. Please.” Tinaya is getting really worried now. This entity has
their lives in its hands.
“What are we still waiting for?” Sevara asks AI!Elder. “You said you
wouldn’t be denied again, yet the pod is still there. Get on with it, or
calm down, so we can talk.”
“You asked for it,” AI!Elder says. Suddenly, the pod disappears.
“No!” Tinaya shouts. She looks over at Sevara, who is just smirking. “Oh, I
get it. You’re evil. I wish I had known that before!”
“I’m not evil,” Sevara replies with a laugh.
“What did you do?” AI!Elder is pissed.
“I rerouted the pod’s transport,” Sevara explains. “It’s tucked away safely
inside the ship, where you no longer have purview. Thanks for
releasing it...like I asked.”
“Kiss your Frontrunners goodbye,” AI!Elder warns. “And your own asses.”
Sevara takes Tinaya by the forearm, and teleports them both to safety, back
to the corridor overlooking the plasma bubble. That bubble doesn’t last
long, though. They see five explosions before them. All the debris, all the
plasma, and probably a whole lot of temporal energy, comes rushing towards
them. It’s going to kill them both first, but it could damage the ship
enough to end the mission right here, right now. Unexpectedly, though, the
oncoming storm just disappears. For a second, it’s only black until a bright
gray light forms, threatening to blind them. A hand reaches out, and shuts
the panel. It takes a moment for them to regain their sight, at which point
they see none other than Waldemar Kristiansen.
“Whew! Just in time!” he exclaims.
“How did you know?” Tinaya asks him.
“You have always been kind to me, Admiral, so I will not lie to you,”
Waldemar says. “I’m from the future. I sent my consciousness back in time to
stop the apocalypse. I just teleported the ship a few thousand kilometers
away, so we’re safe now. We just don’t have any Frontrunners. Rebuilding
those will be my first priority as Vice Captain.”
“Vice Captain?” Tinaya echoes. That’s not a thing. That’s not a thing
anywhere.
“Yeah, after I came back into my younger body, I couldn’t help fix what
happened to Extremus unless I was given some measure of authority, so they
came up with a new position for me, and for others in the future. No longer
will captains start their shifts without any clue what they’re doing.
They’re going to have experience on the crew first, and compete against
their rivals until the best one ascends.”
Goddammit. It’s Tinaya’s fault. She’s the one who creates the worst captain
this ship will ever see. Fate is such a bitch.
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