Diamond Cut: Book Three in The Glass Complex Trilogy Read online

  DIAMOND CUT

  BOOK THREE IN THE GLASS COMPLEX TRILOGY

  JOHN HINDMARSH

  REXON PRESS

  CONTENTS

  Diamond Cut

  Disclaimer

  Cover

  Editing

  Beta Readers

  Newsletter

  Reviews

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  About John

  Thrillers

  Science Fiction

  DIAMOND CUT

  A Science Fiction Novel

  Book Three

  of

  The Glass Complex Trilogy

  John Hindmarsh

  Copyright © 2017 John Hindmarsh

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author.

  DISCLAIMER

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations, and incidents are entirely fictitious, invented by the author for the purpose of the story. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, business establishments, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  COVER

  Mark J. Brady did an excellent job of designing three covers for The Glass Complex Trilogy. See his work at - http://mjb-graphics.co.uk/glass-complex-triptych/

  EDITING

  This book was copyedited by Sasha Paulsen.

  Any errors were introduced by the writer.

  Sometimes British terminology or spelling somehow finds its way into the story; that’s because I’m Australian.

  BETA READERS

  A number of people took time out of their busy schedules and read Fracture Lines in draft and pre-edit form, and they made very helpful and constructive comments. You know who you are – thank you very much.

  I want to thank my wife Cathy for her continuing patience, for providing her utmost support, and finally for re-reading many drafts.

  This book is for Cathy.

  NEWSLETTER

  Learn more about me and my books. Sign up for my newsletter.

  You’ll receive: updates on my writing schedule, the occasional freebie (e.g., books, short stories, excerpts from my current work in progress), advance details of discounts, and be part of my street team for new releases.

  Go here: John Hindmarsh

  You can unsubscribe anytime! NO SPAM guaranteed! [I should be far too busy writing to send out spam].

  REVIEWS

  Oh yes, I almost forgot. Reviews are what keeps a writer going. Thank you for purchasing and reading this book. Reviews, whether positive or negative, are indispensable to an author, so please add your review on the vendor site where you made your purchase.

  Or send me an email. Go here: John Hindmarsh

  Or indeed, do both!

  CHAPTER 1

  STEG DE COEUR looked at the faces around him. His audience had heard his story followed by details from Dekker, a fellow Homeworlder. No one spoke. Even Steg was taken aback by Dekker’s details of the huge starship they now occupied. He hoped his companions would recover from their shock on hearing that, in addition to traveling to distant systems, they would be pushing through 150 years in the final transit to reach his home time.

  Stunned, he surmised, was their likely state of mind. It certainly was his. Within minutes of boarding, the starship had commenced a series of s-t jumps, the last of which apparently would implement the time component.

  Wanderer was heading to 1800 Post Diatonic, whereas the current year was 1650 PD. The Diatonic Era was the period dating from when the new Western Star Empire fought with aliens, the Triads, who had come close to defeating the Imperial military forces.

  Steg and his companions, including his Ebony Company, mercenaries, had boarded Wanderer earlier, at the starship’s request. Of those present, the exception was Commander Jessie Brent. The strange starship had sent a shuttle to Defender, an Alliance destroyer, requesting her presence, and she had boarded seconds before the starship had launched into its first s-t transit.

  Steg confirmed, “So the Glass Complex reprogrammed the ship’s AI?”

  Dekker replied, “Yes—well, the Acolytes replaced the original AI. He was called Faethon. Flaws in its programs were significant, and they decided the damage to the main processor was unrepairable. When I was with a prospecting team, we found and retrieved a C-90 diamond rock. It consisted of high quality diamond nanothreads, ideal for a new quantum processor and the Acolytes pruchased it from us. It was probably large enough for fifty or more standard systems. The Acolytes claim it will outlast the starship. Once the new core was in place, they uploaded as much of the original AI personality as possible, removing features that had been either corrupted or damaged. They created three AIs to replace the damaged one. I think they copied components of the Glass Complex itself into the software. You’ll see, I’m sure, that the results are impressive. Wanderer has huge arrays of quantum processors and glass storage racks, some new and some ancient. There are vast quantities of old data still to be explored.”

  “I can sense some Acolytes on board?”

  Dekker nodded his head. “There are two—they’re providing program support, monitoring the AI software. I suppose they’re really in an acceptance test phase. Your friend Tziksis recruited a hundred and fifty personnel, mainly Homeworlders, for engineering, catering, ship handling, and other general duties. There is a weapons company, including armorers and mechanics, in case you need support with the ship’s military environment. They’re all permanent crew; they’ll remain with the starship.”

  “So you’re part of the permanent crew?”

  “Not really. The Glass Complex wanted someone to assist you with a familiarization program, so that’s my task.”

  “Good. And when you’re finished?”

  “I’ll return to Homeworld once we’re back in time. I’m contracted to do some more asteroid exploring.”

  “So Wanderer is taking us back to PD 1800. Tell me—what happens when we arrive?”

  “It’s still not clear to me why we’re here,” Jessie Brent said, adding weight to Steg’s query.

  “I have the same question,” Kirby said. He reported to Steg as captain of the Ebony Company.

  “Me, too,” echoed other voices.

  Dekker looked concerned. “I can only give you broad details. The Acolytes and the AIs have a detailed briefing for you. Faethon was worried about a massive attack on our civilization by the Xesset. His files plus data he’d discovered were transferred to the new Wanderer installation. T
hat’s why our destination is Jochum II—the Complex assumed you’d want to work with the Imperial people who you know. I believe the Glass Complex determined you and your team will constitute the core senior command team in a task force set up to battle the aliens.”

  Steg raised his hand, silencing the rush of voices. “You mentioned AIs. There’s more than one?”

  Dekker said, “It’s far more complicated.”

  Steg waited for the explanation.

  “The Acolytes removed Faethon’s program when they rebuilt the core system. They created three high-level AIs; they said there’s capacity in the system for up to ten if ever there’s a need for more. As you’ve seen, this is a huge ship. If she had a full crew, there would be a thousand or more crew members on board. Also, she’s capable of carrying and supporting up to five thousand starfighters and transporting tens of thousands of marines. And their equipment. Those numbers are conservative.”

  “And the AIs?” Steg prompted

  “I think I should introduce you to the Acolytes, and they’ll tell you all about the AIs.”

  “I agree,” Steg said. “Let’s go to the bridge. Kirby, you can board the company, get them housed and fed. I’ll brief you, and later, I’ll speak to them, once I have a better idea of what this is about.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m sure our marines will cope with whatever we throw at them.”

  Steg continued, “The rest of you, come with me. Dekker, please lead the way.”

  “There’s a couple of electros waiting for us. It’ll take about ten minutes to reach the bridge.”

  Steg followed Dekker onto the bridge and immediately dropped to his knees in shock.

  The electronic noise—most of it consisting of excited welcoming messages from the AIs—was overwhelming. Stacia and Finch rushed to his aid and helped him stand. He mentally shouted, “Stop. Stop all this noise. Control your messaging.”

  There was instant electronic silence. Two Acolytes, recognizable because of their saffron robes and the tethers reaching from the back of their skulls into computer communication points, looked up in surprise. They had felt the impact of his command.

  The bridge was large; it contained workstations and seating for a duty shift of fifty or more. Steg later discovered there were five other bridge environments, each operating independently and fully equipped, located on different levels of the superdreadnought. The redundancy was probably not required; however, the original builders had been painstakingly cautious with their design. Each responsibility area had its own set of huge screens; they reached halfway to the ceiling some ten or fifteen meters overhead. Workstations flickered soft muted displays; most were unattended apart from Astro, Engineering, and Weapons—the starship was running primarily under AI control.

  Dekker led Steg and his companions to the two Acoloytes.

  “Earl—sir—Steg, I’m Helen,” the young Acolyte smiled as she corrected herself.

  The second Acolyte stepped forward, “Tobias, sir. It’s good to meet you after working on your project for so long.”

  “My project?” Steg could sense a build-up in the softer electronic noises in the background.

  Helen interrupted. “Sir, the AIs—they want to meet you.”

  Holograms formed in front of Steg. They were life-size and female, wearing smartly-tailored uniforms. The image in the center of the trio stepped forward.

  “Steg de Coeur—I am Alke. This—” She indicated the AI on her right and then the one on her left. “—is Adrias and this is Ioke. We are under your command, responsible for Wanderer, her crew, and your survival.”

  The background rush of bubbling electrical excitement threatened to overwhelm Steg.

  “Alke, Ioke, and Adrias, I’m pleased to meet you.” He indicated each of his companions and provided introductions to both the Acolytes and the AIs. He added, “Captain Kirby is boarding his marines—I’ll introduce him later. I do have a small favor to ask. Please, keep the noise level under control, for my sake.”

  Alke said, “Yes, sir.” She turned to her two companions. “You heard the request.”

  The silence was sudden.

  “Thank you. Tobias, Helen, what can you tell me—all of us, about the AIs, and why we’re on board?”

  Tobias explained. “I’ll start with the AIs.” He indicated each of the three life-sized holograms in turn. “We—not Helen and me—it was the First Senior who named them after some ancient mythical female beings. I don’t know the details. Alke’s in overall control. Adrias runs all the standard starship functions. Ioke is responsible for military strategy and tactics including defense of the ship and any offensive actions. Alke has override authority if ever it’s needed, which would be if there’s a deadlock between the other two. You will have total control over all of them. Now that you’ve boarded and been introduced, Alke, all of them, will accept master commands only from you.”

  Alke added, “You’re now our boss, boss.”

  Steg said, “Thank you, Tobias. And you too, Alke. I have one question: what briefing did you receive from the Glass Complex on the Xesset?”

  oOo

  CHAPTER 2

  DR. YI CHECKED the departure schedules for the next five days and shook her head, bemused that the video display did not include the starship she expected. She was two months into her three-month journey, and it seemed she was stalled. Not that she lacked comfort; her travel arrangements were indeed first class, with luxury at a standard she would never be able to personally afford.

  She was, she had to admit, marginally apprehensive. Pictor Deeps Way Station—one of the largest in either Imperial or Alliance space—had two well-catered and attractive transit levels and a number of five or even six-star hotels such as the Wellington. That was her current address where she could reside for a month or so without running out of new restaurants. The only issue, in her opinion, was that Pictor Deeps was located inside Imperial territory. By treaty with numerous alien and human polities, two levels of the way station, which accommodated mainly alien crew members, traders, and transiting passengers, were defined as an independent region and thus were outside both Imperial and Alliance government control. The existence of such a treaty did not always stop those or other governments from breaching the derived anti-privacy and protection laws, especially if a waiting passenger was purported to be on someone’s wanted list. There was a legally defined extradition process; however, it required a detailed submission that was not always resolved in favor of the requesting government or system.

  She simply had an apprehension about ImpSec; the Western Star Empire’s outreach was well known for its attitude that treaties and, indeed, laws did not apply to its activities, and ImpSec was worse. Not that she had committed any crime, but if ImpSec thought she was somehow a danger given her involvement with Steg de Coeur, she was at risk, treaty or not.

  Occasionally, she felt as though someone was following her or that she was under observation; why that should be so, across the reaches of space from her home planet of Freedom on her way to Homeworld, she could not say. Her musings were interrupted by the message chime. She stood and stretched. She stepped over to the hotel’s internal video and read the contents of the short communication. It was simple enough, politely requesting she report to the hotel’s first class travel desk for a possible modification to her itinerary. She sighed. She could think of activities that would be preferable to waiting for another seven days or more, even with five-star treatment.

  The travel advisor was efficient without being officious. She had checked the itinerary details with interest; a starship journey of three months, while not rare, certainly was not ordinary, especially given the first class nature of the arrangements.

  “Yes, Dr. Yi,” said the agent. “There’s been an issue with the starship scheduled for the next leg of your voyage. Mechanical problems, it seems. We’re trying to rebook everyone. You could remain here, of course—your travel package provides for delays. Although it might be a number of tendays, ac
cording to the shipping news, possibly seven or eight, before the cruise line can schedule a replacement to resume your itinerary.”

  Dr. Yi was not surprised; she had enough experience from her years as a medical doctor on Imperial hospital starships to not expect a long journey to go smoothly.

  “What are my alternatives?”

  “Let me see. There’s—no, that wouldn’t be suitable, it’s a freighter. Now, this is interesting. The shipping company is making a yacht available for you. A luxury yacht—wow, it’s beautiful. It’s called ss Dreamer. They’re pulling out all stops for you.” She turned the screen towards Dr. Yi. “See, it’s a lovely craft. Owned by House de Coeur and managed by Djiis—strange, I haven’t heard of either of them.”