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  YOU ARE PREY

  ARGONAUTS

  BOOK TWO

  Isaac Hooke

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, organizations, places, events and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © Isaac Hooke 2017

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  www.IsaacHooke.com

  Cover design by Isaac Hooke

  Cover image by Shookooboo

  Special thanks to the following Beta Readers who helped out with this book:

  Nicole P.

  Sandy G.

  Gary F.

  Lance W.

  Lezza M.

  Amy B.

  Myles C.

  Lisa A. G.

  Gregg C.

  Jeff K.

  Mark C.

  Mark P.

  Jeremy G.

  Doug B.

  Jenny O.

  Gene A.

  Larry J.

  Allen M.

  Norman H.

  Robine

  Eric

  table of contents

  one

  two

  three

  four

  five

  six

  seven

  eight

  nine

  ten

  eleven

  twelve

  thirteen

  fourteen

  fifteen

  sixteen

  seventeen

  eighteen

  nineteen

  twenty

  twenty-one

  twenty-two

  twenty-three

  twenty-four

  twenty-five

  twenty-six

  twenty-seven

  twenty-eight

  postscript

  about the author

  acknowledgments

  one

  Rade took a seat on the bridge of the Argonaut. Around him, the other crew members sat about that circular arrangement of stations known as the Sphinx. There were no actual controls or screens or anything of that sort upon the Sphinx; rather, the crew interfaced with the stations via their Implants.

  “How long until we achieve orbit?” Rade asked Lui.

  “Another thirty minutes,” the ops station operator replied. The Asian American had undergone rejuvenation treatments at the last station stop, wiping away the few wrinkles that had started to form. However the procedure had stiffened some of his facial muscles, making him seem a little robotic. The rest of the crew had made fun of him relentlessly at first, but the automaton jokes had grown old quickly.

  “What do we know about Prattein XI?” Rade said.

  “Fourteenth planet of the system,” Lui said. “Entirely uninhabited. It’s similar to Pluto. Basically a big frozen iceberg.”

  “Sort of like Surus?” Bender asked. The black man was only wearing a few of his gold chains that day. He was cutting back, apparently.

  Rade glanced at the alien, which inhabited a stunningly beautiful Artificial. Behind the collar at the back of her neck, if Rade looked carefully he could see the droplets of mint-colored condensation that signified the Green Phant in possession of the body.

  Surus ignored Bender entirely. Rade had been worried her beauty would prove a distraction aboard the bridge, and it had at first. But the crew quickly learned she wouldn’t take shit from any of them. She behaved coldly to almost everyone, save Harlequin, another Artificial. For the most part, the crew tried to behave themselves around her, because ultimately she was their client and paid the bills.

  “The Hellenes haven’t set up any mining stations to collect liquid water?” Rade asked.

  “No,” Lui said. “They’ve plenty of water on their colony world.”

  “True enough.” Rade turned toward Surus. “This is the last planet. If we don’t find anything, is it safe to say your contact was wrong?”

  “He wasn’t wrong,” Surus replied. “If our prey isn’t here, we turn back and sweep the system again.”

  Rade wasn’t looking forward to that. They had already spent the past four months in the system moving from planet to planet, waiting in orbit while telemetry drones and Dragonflies scoured the surface for signs of their prey.

  “Isn’t it possible the Phant already left the system?” Manic said. The moth-shaped port-wine stain above his right eye seemed particular reddish that day. He sat at the tactical station.

  “My contact at customs would have sensed him,” Surus replied.

  She had another Green secretly embedded among the Hellene customs warships at the entrance Gate to the system. Since the officials boarded every outgoing and incoming vessel for inspection, it was the best possible spot for an undercover alien to operate, at least in terms of being able to sense other Phants.

  “And he’s sure it was a Black?” Rade said.

  “Yes,” Surus said.

  “Remind me of the significance of that color,” Shaw said. She sat to Rade’s left at the astrogator station. She looked ravishing as always. She had gone back to her brown eyes and dark hair, which she wore in a ponytail much like Surus. But that was where their similarities ended. While they were both beautiful, Shaw was just so wholesome compared to the Artificial. Shaw was tan, Surus was pale. Her eyes shone with joy; Surus’ were emotionless. Cute dimples formed in Shaw’s cheeks when she smiled, which she did often. Rade had never seen Surus smile even once.

  Well actually, there was one more similarity that the two shared... like Surus, despite her looks, Shaw was no distraction to the crew.

  “The significance?” Surus said. “The Blacks were the infiltrators and assassins. They were usually the most powerful, psychically, of all Phants. They would often turn the closest associates of their targets into killing instruments, transforming friends and families into weapons of assassination.”

  “You Phants are just lovely,” Shaw said.

  “Some of us certainly are,” Surus said. “Which is why I hunt them.”

  The bridge was quiet for a few moments.

  “Hey Surus,” Bender said.

  She ignored him.

  “Surus,” Bender pressed.

  Finally Surus glanced up. “What is it?” The alien seemed annoyed.

  “What are you doing tonight?” Bender said.

  Surus scowled and lowered her gaze once more.

  “I kid I kid,” Bender said
. “Seriously, I have a question. I’ve been wondering how the whole possession thing works. What happens to a host robot or Artificial when a Phant takes over? What happens to the AI core?”

  “The core remains intact, of course,” Surus said without looking up. “When I take over entirely, the AI still functions, but becomes a mere observer, unable to control its own body or even its own thoughts. But it sees, hears, and feels everything I do. This control doesn’t necessarily have to be absolute. In fact, I allow Emilia to operate some of the time, but I take over during critical moments of course.”

  “So who am I talking to now?” Bender said. “Surus? Or Emilia Bounty?”

  “Surus, of course,” the alien replied. “Since talking to you is a critical moment. I have to keep my guard up.”

  “I’m honored that you hold me in such high regard,” Bender said.

  “I want to talk to Emilia Bounty,” Manic said. “Let me talk to Ms. Bounty.”

  Surus turned her head toward the other ex-MOTH. “I’m not some puppet here to leap and dance at your whims.”

  Manic shrugged. “Could have fooled me.” He winked at her.

  Rade pursed his lips. He wondered if he was going to have to have a talk with Manic again. The crew had been behaving amicably toward her over the past few weeks. He could only attribute their current behavior to lack of action. He had to admit he was certainly growing antsy lately.

  “What I want to know,” Fret said. “Is what happens when a Phant touches a human? Why do we go poof?” The comm officer was the tallest present, though it wasn’t obvious when he sat at his station. He was also the thinnest, and looked like a stick compared to most of the men.

  “The Phant, which exists mostly in the supra-dimension, attacks the human’s imprint there,” Surus said. “An inter-dimensional reaction occurs, creating havoc on the cohesive elemental particles forming the human’s body in this reality, and the molecular bonds simply break apart. The process transpires from start to finish in a matter of picoseconds. Now, if you don’t mind...”

  The alien returned her attention to her station. Which wasn’t saying much, considering the station was empty like all the others. She would be viewing various data elements on her Implant equivalent, of course. Or whatever a Phant did in its spare time while occupying an Artificial. Perhaps communicating with the host.

  “I’ve placed us in orbit,” Shaw said after a few minutes.

  Rade nodded. “Lui, how does it look down there? Any obvious signs of habitation?”

  “Nothing obvious, no,” Lui said. “Though it’s tricky, because a lot of the surface is composed of methane and nitrogen penitentes.”

  Rade zoomed in on the video feed from the external camera, and saw the blade-like spires that Lui referred to, so-named because they looked like a bunch of kneeling penitentes. The spires were packed closely together, with some rising several hundreds of feet, others several thousand, depending on the region.

  “All right,” Rade said. “Launch the telemetry drones. Let’s hope we can scare up a Phant this time. I’ll be in my office.”

  Rade stood up and retired to his office. All they could do now was wait.

  Shaw joined him a while later, and took the chair across from him, next to the cramped desk.

  “So, how’s my favorite warrior doing?” Shaw asked.

  “Excellent, now that you’re here,” Rade said.

  Shaw smiled that dimpled smile of hers. “Did I give you enough time to cave out?”

  Rade nodded. “Yeah. I suppose.”

  “The counseling sessions with Bax have been going well?” Shaw said.

  “They have,” Rade said.

  “That true, Bax?” Shaw asked.

  The disembodied voice of the Argonaut’s AI answered immediately. “Rade has been attending his sessions, yes. He seems to be deriving some small benefit from them, though he still argues with me on almost every question. As far as the results of our sessions, he still experiences the occasional bout of lost time as far as I can tell. Usually when he is alone in his office.”

  “Which is exactly why I try to check in on him as often as I can,” Shaw said.

  “That is certainly a good thing,” Bax said. “Because he has ordered me not to notify you when he zones out.”

  “I wonder if I should change that order,” Shaw said.

  “No, Shaw,” Rade said. “I need the time.”

  Shaw sighed. “All right. You’ve been getting better, as far as I’m concerned. And I knew you would.”

  Rade inclined his head. Truthfully, he didn’t know if he was or not. He liked to think he was. But he still needed his cherished alone time.

  Shaw flashed a nervous grin. “All right then. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way. So... I’ve been thinking...”

  “Oh oh,” Rade said.

  She laughed. “Yes, I know, end of the world. But, well...” She took a deep breath, and then let her next words out all at once. “What would you say if I stopped taking contraceptives?”

  “Ah, no,” Rade said. “No no no. I’m not ready to be a father.”

  “Why not?” Shaw said. “We’d be fulfilling our biological purpose. It could be fun.”

  “Fun?” Rade said. “I can only imagine what a kid will do to my alone time. And there’s nothing like a crying baby waking you up every fifteen minutes when you’re trying to get in some sleep before a tough mission.”

  “That’s what nursing robots are for,” Shaw said.

  “Yeah,” Rade said. “I can see it now. Repurposing our expensive combat robots to act as wet nurses. Very nice.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

  “Well I do,” Rade said. He leaned forward, his hands balling into fists. “Listen. It’s a cold, harsh universe out there. And I won’t be bringing a child into it, especially not while we’re out here taking on clients and hunting Phants. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Raising a child on a ship... you really want that?”

  “Why not?” she said.

  “Because it would be a terrible life for the kid, for one,” Rade said. “Trapped aboard a ship, with no knowledge of what the real world is like. You’d be dooming our boy to a cramped world of steel bulkheads, overheads and decks.”

  “Who says it would be a boy?” Shaw said. “And anyway, we could set aside a full body VR area. Assign some AIs to babysit our child while we’re working.”

  “Uh, no,” Rade said. “Can you imagine how damaged our child would become? Raised by AIs into a closet psychopath.”

  “I’m glad you have so much faith in AIs,” Shaw told him. “Anyway, I never said we’d let the robots raise our kid full time. It would only be when we’re on duty.”

  “And what about when we have to go planet-side, on missions?” Rade said.

  “You usually make me stay behind anyway,” Shaw said.

  “No I don’t,” Rade replied.

  “So what, you’re saying you’re going to let me come with you if we find something on this dwarf planet?”

  Rade hesitated.

  “That’s what I thought,” Shaw said.

  “It could be dangerous...” Rade said.

  “Don’t give me that,” Shaw said. “You know I’m capable of fighting just as well as anyone else. Especially if I get a Hoplite.”

  He knew she was right, of course. Moments ago he had been telling himself that the biggest reason she had gained the respect of the crew was because she could hold her own in battle. Still, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t worry about her.

  “But we’ll need someone to watch the ship,” Rade said.

  “Really...” Shaw said. “You do remember what happened the last time you made me stay aboard the ship alone, don’t you?”

  “How could I forget,” Rade said, lowering his eyes guiltily.

  “Besides, Bax is more than capable of watching the ship,” Shaw said. “Right, Bax?”

  “That is correct,” the Argonaut�
�s AI replied. “Leave me a full complement of Hellfires and a few Centurion combat robots for anti-boarding purposes, and I guarantee you no unauthorized personnel will ever come aboard. Pirates will rue the day they ever crossed paths with the ruthless tactician known as Bax.”

  “Okay Bax, give us some privacy,” Rade told the AI. “Stop listening in.”

  “My apologies,” Bax replied. “I can’t help it. You’ll have to engage your noise cancelers and disable the cameras if you truly wish privacy.”

  “Disable my office cameras,” Rade ordered the AI. Then he raised his noise canceler around Shaw via his Implant. “Where were we?”

  “Talking about how we’re going to have kids,” Shaw said.

  “Not have kids, you mean,” Rade said. “I wasn’t joking. Kids are something for when people retire after two hundred years.”

  “You want to have kids when we’re two hundred?” Shaw said. She definitely sounded incredulous.

  “Why not?” Rade said. “That’s a good enough time as any. Keep taking your contraceptives, save your eggs until then, and we’ll have as many kids as you want.”

  “You know there’s a danger of ovary fatigue, right?” Shaw said. “I’ve seen it happen, women who stop taking their contraceptives after decades, only to discover the drugs rendered them infertile. And anyway, human life expectancy is only two hundred and fifty, even with rejuvenation treatments. I want to be with our children a little longer than fifty years.”

  “Fifty years is good enough for me,” Rade said, his mind filling with crying babies once more. “Besides, I intend to live until four hundred.”

  “Good luck with that,” she said. “Seriously, though, what are you afraid of? It’s not really because you’re scared of losing your precious quiet time, is it? Because you know you can still have that.”

  Rade looked her, but hesitated. He hated revealing his vulnerabilities to anyone, even for someone as close to him as her.

  She peered back at him, smiling very slightly in understanding. Then her features relaxed, became serene. “Come on, if you can’t tell me, who can you tell? The AI isn’t listening anymore. No one is. We’re speaking in complete confidence. You don’t have to worry about looking bad in front of the team.”