Paradigm Lost (Interstellar Navy Investigations Agency Book 1) by Hugh Taylor

Author:Hugh Taylor [Taylor, Hugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-03-25T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19 – September 11th, 2274, 2117 UTC

Ward woke up on his back, which was good because his chest was on fire. He picked his head up a little bit to make sure his chest still existed, to find that it was covered in dermal regenerators and bandages.

“He’s awake!” someone yelled.

The next thing Ward knew, he was surrounded by people. Though that normally wouldn’t affect him, it made him feel claustrophobic. To make it worse, Doctor Jackson was flashing something in his eyes.

“Dammit, Doc, I can see just fine,” he said.

“I’m just checking to make sure you still have a brain, and that it works,” Jackson responded.

“Can’t find something that was never there,” someone quipped. It sounded like Fuchs.

“Clear the room,” a calm but commanding voice ordered. “You too, Doctor.”

Ward caught the confused look on the chief medical officer’s face, but within twenty seconds he was alone with the captain.

“You’re going to make it,” Williams said simply.

“Figured it wouldn’t hurt this badly if I wasn’t,” Ward mused.

“Did you ID the guy?”

“No, he was wearing a mask,” Ward answered.

“We know, but was there anything else …?”

Ward tried to think, but his memory of the event was a little fuzzy. “I don’t think so …”

“We watched the video. It could be a Katildan imposter, but the consensus is whoever it was is AI.”

“I don’t think so,” Ward said.

The captain gave him a questioning but almost dismissive look as he said, “There are a lot of AIs on this ship who look human, and this guy was too fast to be—”

“Human?” Ward asked.

“Yes.”

“He’s a Delta,” Ward said as the realization suddenly hit him.

The captain seemed surprised by his conclusion. “Why would you think that?”

“The way he moved,” Ward said simply.

“Well, we know he was fast,” Williams countered.

“Not just fast—the way he moved. It was too—”

“Human?” the captain asked.

“Yes.”

They both sat in silence for a moment, but it was the captain who spoke first. “You’ve been out for over eight hours. Unfortunately, word of the attack spread quickly and people … too many of us, apparently … jumped to the conclusion that it was an AI. We’re already seeing a decrease in crew cohesiveness along those lines.”

“This is exactly what they want, you know,” Ward said.

“The Katildans?”

“Them and every bigot left in humanity. The Katildans want a fifth column and the crazies want an excuse to push for something disturbingly close to the Final Solution,” Ward said softly. Never before had so much been at stake and the weight of it all was finally starting to sink in for Ward. Maybe it took getting shot, but it wasn’t a good feeling. Well, neither was getting shot; though he’d probably prefer it of the two.

“The crew is pretty well vetted,” Williams said.

The captain was obviously, and should be, proud of his ship and crew; but life is full of unfortunate truths. “There are bad apples everywhere, Captain; even here.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Williams admitted.

“I mean, that’s basically why you have people like me on your ship in the first place,” Ward said with a smile.

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