Ok, this is the first time King appears in my WIP, so do I pull off the info dump well?
Am I over cooking the Ship thing? I have reasons for the hero idea that links into my ending, but even still, I feel I'm pushing my luck some.
Thank you all for any comments. I'll be running silent on the on crit postings for a while after this so all comments welcome.
# # #
Much to Captain King’s great frustration local space remained empty of any sort of spacecraft, not even the ever present robotic heavy lifters, just dead space between the jump gates. He’d been sure this junction between a series of gates would have landed his prey, but it’d been too long now. He’d guessed wrong again.
He was disturbed by a message icon which he answered, happy to set aside his planning for a moment. ‘Wilson,what is it?’
‘The Ship has had something forwarded to it that may be of interest,’ linked Wilson.
‘What something?’
‘It was a financial transaction coming through the gates.’
Hardly unusual, all sort of communications used the gates, it wasn’t just ships that could travel quickly between the stars. ‘What makes this transaction so different?’
‘It was for an environmental engineer, human, and from Ceptor space.’
Unusual, but hardly conclusive, yet it had his interest. ‘Wilson, can we have a conference?’ linked King, who had no means of talking, being little more than a brain encased in a Fast Picket Warship designed for high speed and high gee manoeuvers. A human body could never survive the forces combat in this ship would bring about, so he had no body.
‘Yes, sir, uploading now,’ Wilson linked back.
King found himself sitting next to a dark conference table with Wilson sitting at the other end, whole again. Wilson smiled and nodded hello, his bald plate reflecting the tasteful lighting in the simulated room.
‘Why don’t you ever give yourself hair,’ asked King, ‘why do you insist on staying bald?’
‘It wouldn’t be real hair, so why bother?’
King just shrugged his shoulders. ‘We’d better bring the Ship in on this meeting.’
‘Yes, sir,’ replied Wilson, and Ship appeared.
‘You called?’ Ship stood proud, a perfect Captain America.
‘Are you still on super heroes?’ asked Wilson, with a resigned tone.
‘I find the costumes artistic,’ replied Ship, ‘and a political statement of the times.’
‘We’ve spent billions on developing computer intelligence,’ said King, winking toward Wilson, ‘and all you want to do is wear tight underwear.’
‘I’d say it was money well spent,’ replied Ship, placing a star spangled shield on the conference table. ‘Bright colours suit me so well!’
King laughed, raising his hand to start the meeting as time was pressing. ‘Alright, why was this transaction flagged for our attention?’
‘It’s unusual for one,’ replied Ship, its tone masculine and super confident.‘We can also track the gates it used into human space.’ A detailed image flickered into life over the conference table with a flashing route marked out in the centre. ‘We could get to the last gate in human space in less than a week.’
‘And then what?’ demand King, turning the floating image around so he could study it better.
‘We’re left with three possible routes to choose from,’ replied Ship, lighting up the gates in question. ‘Two are Brown Dwarf stars and of little interest I’d say, but this sun is a GV Star, Earth like.’
‘Hhmm,’ replied King, looking toward Wilson who just shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s not a whole lot to go on. How do we even know this destination is of any interest to us?’
‘We don’t,’ replied Ship, with a smile that could have melted teenage hearts. ‘The decision to jump into Ceptor space would have to be ratified, we’re not welcome there. Not advanced enough,’ scoffed ship, ‘as if… just look at me!’
‘Yeah… right,’ replied King, looking Ship up and down.
‘So, what do you think, sir?’ asked Wilson, now studying the route himself.
‘It’s a long shot, and permission to enter Ceptor space is unlikely to be given.’
‘Maybe,’ replied Wilson, ‘but positioning the ship while we wait for permission could be sensible.’
‘It could be seen as sensible,’ said King, ‘or be viewed as me upping the pressure and trying to get my way.’ Both Ship and Wilson waited; this decision would be his responsibility. All this could have been easier if the surveillance team hadn’t screwed up on New Hope, they might have been able to track the Spacers instead of all this guess work. ‘One last roll of the dice?’
‘Your permission to engage engines?’ asked Ship, smiling.
‘Yes, permission granted,’ replied King, sitting back and relaxing now his decision was made. ‘Signal command, Ship; let’s see if they back our decision.’
‘Already done, sir.’ Ship rose, picking up its shield and flashing a perfect smile ‘Keep flying, son,’ it said, and disappeared.
‘How very odd,’ said King, staring at the empty space where Ship had stood.
‘If we do stumble across any locals,’asked Wilson, smiling, ‘I wonder what they’ll think of us?’
‘We’ll be ok…,’ replied King, ‘as long as they like tights.’
Am I over cooking the Ship thing? I have reasons for the hero idea that links into my ending, but even still, I feel I'm pushing my luck some.
Thank you all for any comments. I'll be running silent on the on crit postings for a while after this so all comments welcome.
# # #
Much to Captain King’s great frustration local space remained empty of any sort of spacecraft, not even the ever present robotic heavy lifters, just dead space between the jump gates. He’d been sure this junction between a series of gates would have landed his prey, but it’d been too long now. He’d guessed wrong again.
He was disturbed by a message icon which he answered, happy to set aside his planning for a moment. ‘Wilson,what is it?’
‘The Ship has had something forwarded to it that may be of interest,’ linked Wilson.
‘What something?’
‘It was a financial transaction coming through the gates.’
Hardly unusual, all sort of communications used the gates, it wasn’t just ships that could travel quickly between the stars. ‘What makes this transaction so different?’
‘It was for an environmental engineer, human, and from Ceptor space.’
Unusual, but hardly conclusive, yet it had his interest. ‘Wilson, can we have a conference?’ linked King, who had no means of talking, being little more than a brain encased in a Fast Picket Warship designed for high speed and high gee manoeuvers. A human body could never survive the forces combat in this ship would bring about, so he had no body.
‘Yes, sir, uploading now,’ Wilson linked back.
King found himself sitting next to a dark conference table with Wilson sitting at the other end, whole again. Wilson smiled and nodded hello, his bald plate reflecting the tasteful lighting in the simulated room.
‘Why don’t you ever give yourself hair,’ asked King, ‘why do you insist on staying bald?’
‘It wouldn’t be real hair, so why bother?’
King just shrugged his shoulders. ‘We’d better bring the Ship in on this meeting.’
‘Yes, sir,’ replied Wilson, and Ship appeared.
‘You called?’ Ship stood proud, a perfect Captain America.
‘Are you still on super heroes?’ asked Wilson, with a resigned tone.
‘I find the costumes artistic,’ replied Ship, ‘and a political statement of the times.’
‘We’ve spent billions on developing computer intelligence,’ said King, winking toward Wilson, ‘and all you want to do is wear tight underwear.’
‘I’d say it was money well spent,’ replied Ship, placing a star spangled shield on the conference table. ‘Bright colours suit me so well!’
King laughed, raising his hand to start the meeting as time was pressing. ‘Alright, why was this transaction flagged for our attention?’
‘It’s unusual for one,’ replied Ship, its tone masculine and super confident.‘We can also track the gates it used into human space.’ A detailed image flickered into life over the conference table with a flashing route marked out in the centre. ‘We could get to the last gate in human space in less than a week.’
‘And then what?’ demand King, turning the floating image around so he could study it better.
‘We’re left with three possible routes to choose from,’ replied Ship, lighting up the gates in question. ‘Two are Brown Dwarf stars and of little interest I’d say, but this sun is a GV Star, Earth like.’
‘Hhmm,’ replied King, looking toward Wilson who just shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s not a whole lot to go on. How do we even know this destination is of any interest to us?’
‘We don’t,’ replied Ship, with a smile that could have melted teenage hearts. ‘The decision to jump into Ceptor space would have to be ratified, we’re not welcome there. Not advanced enough,’ scoffed ship, ‘as if… just look at me!’
‘Yeah… right,’ replied King, looking Ship up and down.
‘So, what do you think, sir?’ asked Wilson, now studying the route himself.
‘It’s a long shot, and permission to enter Ceptor space is unlikely to be given.’
‘Maybe,’ replied Wilson, ‘but positioning the ship while we wait for permission could be sensible.’
‘It could be seen as sensible,’ said King, ‘or be viewed as me upping the pressure and trying to get my way.’ Both Ship and Wilson waited; this decision would be his responsibility. All this could have been easier if the surveillance team hadn’t screwed up on New Hope, they might have been able to track the Spacers instead of all this guess work. ‘One last roll of the dice?’
‘Your permission to engage engines?’ asked Ship, smiling.
‘Yes, permission granted,’ replied King, sitting back and relaxing now his decision was made. ‘Signal command, Ship; let’s see if they back our decision.’
‘Already done, sir.’ Ship rose, picking up its shield and flashing a perfect smile ‘Keep flying, son,’ it said, and disappeared.
‘How very odd,’ said King, staring at the empty space where Ship had stood.
‘If we do stumble across any locals,’asked Wilson, smiling, ‘I wonder what they’ll think of us?’
‘We’ll be ok…,’ replied King, ‘as long as they like tights.’
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