| |
When the message came to meet Mom and Dad at the old base, Ezekiel decided to surprise them with his catch. He had it under pretty good control now, with little fear of it suddenly bolting. Even so, Roger kept a good tight grip on it, and a tap into its nervous system, like a leash.
On the trip, he’d learned a lot of new stuff about the Meme, and the Empire, perhaps more than he wanted to know. That store of knowledge made it all the more important that he get his prize to Dad...and, he had to admit, to the quads. They would suck its mind dry for sure, just like everything they got near.
When he finally arrived, he was tired, but not unduly so. He hadn’t hurried. The Denham was already there, settled in against the old comet and apparently resting on top of the base. In reality, it looked like Dad was eating it, through some new mouths he had created on his underside.
“Hi, Mom,” he said when the link came up. “Look what I found. Can I keep it?”
“Oh, my,” she replied, immediately joined by his dad’s avatar. “That looks like a Sentry!”
“Yeah, I guess that’s how you’d say it in English. It knows a lot of stuff. I thought you guys would want it for intel exploitation.” That was the word for investigating captured things, if he remembered right.
“Yes we certainly would,” Rae breathed, amazed. “Bring it up to the side and pass it to your dad. Then you can set Roger out to pasture and come eat dinner with us. He looks tired, and I bet you are too.”
“Okay.” While reluctant to give up his new pet, he really could use a rest, and so could his ship. “Coming alongside now.”
Once the Sentry was firmly in the Denham’s grip, Zeke climbed aboard the bigger ship and immediately headed for his room. Even though a VR sarcophagus was supposed to take care of all of his human needs, he still felt grungy and smelled bad after days inside of it. One long hot shower later, he sat down to dinner with his family after hugs all around.
“That’s an absolutely amazing thing you did, son,” Alan said through his avatar. Zeke figured his dad was already exploiting the Sentry, as he had that distracted look in his eyes he got when he was splitting his attention.
“Thanks, Dad. Once you get all the data, can I have him back?”
“Let’s wait and see, all right?” Rae replied.
The quads all smirked in different ways, united in nothing except schadenfreude at any discomfiture of their older brother.
That’s what parents always say: let’s wait and see, Zeke thought in irritation, but held his peace. The thought of getting the Sentry as his personal pet was enough to put up with almost anything, so he kept his expression bland and refused to be baited. Instead he reached over and helped himself to some shepherd’s pie, one of Mom’s better dishes. Given that all the ingredients except a few spices were manufactured by Dad’s ship-body, mishmash things like casseroles, pizza or medleys tended to hide any discrepancies in taste.
Besides, he was used to it. Dad took on as much standard food as he could whenever he got in to one of the human bases, but he always ran out too quickly.
When dinner ended, the avatar led them all into a cargo bay, where they found the Sentry lying quiescent, an umbilical leading from the ceiling to a port in its side. “I’m keeping it unconscious, but I’ve already downloaded its whole knowledge store. Zeke, you can stay and join in or go get some sleep. Kids, I want you to link in and I’ll show you around this thing’s mind.”
Ezekiel was happy to go rest. Staying in the biological mind-link with Roger was exhilarating but tiring. He knew that Meme could do it for long periods of time without resting, but his body was human, mostly. It needed a break, and his brain needed sleep.
