The Age of Scorpio Read Free Page B

We’ve all been in one: they’re museums and churches now.’
    ‘Actually I grew up on habitats,’ Brett said. Eldon rolled his eyes as if that explained everything. ‘But I’ve seen pictures, and if they had been made of some kind of flesh then that’s what they’d look like.’
    ‘He’s got a point, boss,’ Nulty said over the interface. ‘Knew this guy once who claimed that all the museums and the churches that we supposed were in the hull of old colony carriers were actually fakes. ‘Course he also said he used to be one of the Lords of the Monarchist systems.’
    ‘Nulty, what do you make of the composition of the hull?’ Eden asked. She knew but she didn’t want to be the one who said it.
    ‘That hull’s alive,’ Nulty said, the first to give words to what they’d all been thinking. ‘That’s Seeder biotech, that is.’
    On the bridge the four of them glanced at each other. They knew that managed correctly this could be worth a fortune, if they could hold on to their claim. The Seeders were the semi-mythical progenitor species of the uplifted races as well as the inspiration of worship for the Church. Most of the uplifted races having long abandoned the idea of actual supernatural gods.
    ‘Why’s it speaking monkey if it’s Seeder tech?’ Melia asked before remembering everyone else on the Swan was either human or started off that way. Brett looked at her reproachfully. Eden just glared.
    ‘I don’t know. I’m not getting anything through the hull. Eden?’ Nulty said.
    Eden went through the sensor suite, but a combination of the Red Space environment and the craft/thing’s hull/skin was blocking even the harshest of active scans.
    Something occurred to Brett. ‘Was this the area where the glitch was coming from?’ he asked Eldon.
    Eldon considered this. ‘I don’t think so.’
    ‘So what? We tow this to the rendezvous and get paid?’ Melia asked, undisguised greed in her voice. She was not very interested in sensor glitches. Eldon seemed reluctant to answer the question.
    ‘What?’ Melia demanded.
    ‘We need to go on board,’ Eldon said. Melia looked at him like he was insane. Brett was nodding eagerly.
    ‘Fuck that!’ Melia said.
    Eden was irritated to find herself forced to agree with Melia. ‘Go inside what? We don’t even know if it’s a ship! It could be a fucking animal for all we know, and I don’t want to get swallowed. If it is a ship, the environment might be completely inimical to human life.’
    Melia was nodding in agreement.
    ‘Then why’s it broadcasting in human common?’ Eldon asked.
    ‘I don’t know, a caught transmission? A lure?’
    ‘How dangerous can they be if they’re transmitting a mayday?’ Brett asked. Eden just looked at him as if he was a moron.
    ‘He’s right,’ Nulty said. ‘We want to salvage this, we have to check to see if it has crew.’
    ‘The crew of that thing can’t be subject to Consortium salvage laws,’ Eden said, getting more heated. ‘If that’s Seeder tech, what if the whole thing is filled with servitors? Have you thought about that?’ They gave a shiver. All of them had seen the wedge-headed, multi-limbed, armoured carapace effigies of the last living remnants of Seeder biotech, crucified on the X-shaped crosses in churches.
    ‘Then we can’t take it back into Known Space,’ Nulty said.
    ‘Look, this is a big fucking score—’ Eldon started.
    ‘Yeah, for you. Even with a bonus it’s not worth the risk for the rest of us,’ Eden said. Eldon was less than pleased to see Melia nodding in agreement.
    ‘But, Baby Doll, you’ll get to share in my fortune,’ Eldon pleaded.
    ‘Uh uh, not this time. I want an equal share. When I agreed to our little arrangement you misled me into thinking that you were a ship’s captain . . .’
    ‘I am.’
    ‘No, you’re owner of a piece of shit. I want an equal share.’
    ‘Equal share? Are you actually going to do something or just hide in your cryo-pod until it’s