Willful Child by Steven Erikson

Author:Steven Erikson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction
ISBN: 9780765374899
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2014-11-03T13:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Hadrian found Buck waiting outside the airlock chamber on Deck Twenty. “Ah, my chief engineer. What’s up?”

“It’s Tammy, sir! The AI is infiltrating all the drive systems! It has to stop!”

Shrugging into a breathing pack, and then stepping toward a suit-spray pod, Hadrian said, “Tammy, what’s he complaining about?”

“Oh, some minor alterations to improve efficiency, Captain. Hardly a thing to panic about. By the way, do you mind if I attach a camera speck so we can keep an eye on you while you’re on board the Radulak ship?”

“What? No, that’s fine—”

Buck stepped in between Hadrian and the pod. “Nothing’s fine at all, dammit! Those are my engines! My drives! I don’t even recognize the configurations anymore! How can I do my work? Tammy’s making me useless!”

“Buck, for Darwin’s sake, not now. We’ll talk about this when I get back.”

“Captain, I’m warning you! I want satisfaction!”

“You want a duel? Between you and Tammy? Great idea. I’ll be your second. Now get out of my way—I have a ship to save.”

Stepping into the pod, Hadrian activated the spray. While this was going on, Tammy spoke. “I suppose it would be pointless to recommend a personal shield or body armor, wouldn’t it?”

“Getting sweet on me, Tammy?”

“No. I was calculating odds. Presumably, you want to live—I know, by all indications thus far, that may be a wildly inaccurate assumption.”

“What you might see as a death wish, Tammy, is nothing more than the bravado necessary to being a captain worthy of the name. It’s all down to calculating the risks and then throwing the calculations away, because the role of the captain on a Terran starship is a mysterious, ineffable thing when you come down to it.”

“Having observed you thus far, I have to agree. You’re imperious, contradictory, headlong, insulting, irrational, and indeed cruel. Not to mention lascivious. And yet, somehow, you’re still alive, still in charge, and the Willful Child is not a hunk of slag.”

As the faceplate hardened in front of Hadrian’s face, he said, “The risks of judging a book by its cover, Tammy.”

“Oh? You mean to suggest that, deep down inside, you are really none of those things?”

“No, I am. And worse, in fact. But my crew don’t know that, do they? They’re already convincing themselves and each other that I have a heart of gold. I mean, I must have, right?”

“I find that hard to believe, Captain.”

“Really. Fine, tap us into an audio feed of the bridge.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“Can I add holo?”

“Sure, why not. Pop it up on my HUD.”

He saw the bridge take form in front of his eyes, as if seen from the viewing screen. Sin-Dour was seated in the command chair. Eden was at his station, although he’d swung the chair around to face her. At the helm, Jocelyn Sticks had done the same, since the 2IC was speaking.

“… more than meets the eye, I assure you. After all, the Mishmashi Paradox is designed to test every aspect of personality, psychological profile, and cognitive abilities. It is, in fact, the sole determining template required to achieve the rank of captain.

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