Chameleon in Chrome Ch. 08

"Shoot if you wish," he snarled, "You will all die before I do."

He looked at the captain and said in a low voice, "I work for my passage as was agreed. I cannot be in more than one place at a time and I cannot do what they want of me for the same reason as they now do this for sport."

"Give me back my shooter," the captain said coldly.

"Resolve this situation," The Anubian replied.

"Fine," the captain scowled, "You two," he barked at his crewmembers, "cut this shit out and don't do it again."

"Insuffucient," D'Jymm growled.

"Well what would you suggest?" the captain asked angrily.

"I suggest nothing," D'Jymm said, stepping over with startling speed to slap the weapon from the second crewmember's hand before backhanding him right across the cabin and managing to pick up the second shooter from the floor before any of them could move.

"I work for passage," D'Jymm repeated in the captain's face, "as was agreed."

He turned to go, but the captain held up his hand, "What about my shooter?"

D'Jymm shrugged, "Know what it is to be cheated as I was by you when we made our arrangement," and began to walk away with both weapons, "Try to harm me, any of you, and before I die, I will shoot through the wall and we will all die. Unlike you and because of who I am, I do not fear death. I was raised with the thought of it in my mind always."

He'd returned to his now-increased workload and kept his mouth shut from then on, waiting for his chance. From that moment on, their idiotic orders became coldly-spoken, reasonable requests and there was no more overt trouble.

And he never returned the captain's weapon, though there were times when he'd considered that he was doing everyone a kindness by keeping it.

It was a real, old-style firearm, actually a machine pistol, capable of firing in fully automatic mode just as a submachine gun can.

But it was a heavy pistol in the hands of a human. He liked it because it fit his hand well.

Though such a weapon is rare, most are produced in a normal pistol calibre. This one was chambered for a much larger round. When he'd examined it, D'Jymm was certain that there must have been a certain degree of overcompensation going on because he doubted that the captain - or likely any human could fire it and keep the thing pointing at the target.

But he knew that his time was limited from that point forward so he always carried at least one of the shooters on him. The day that he was almost forced to learn poker and then play for very high stakes the same evening was exceptionally explosive.

The captain had a gambling habit and D'Jymm had invested a large portion of his pay from the royal family and the greater share of his savings and he'd done quite well, more than tripling his money by the time that he'd signed on to the crew. Consider that he was from a noble family and had a fair pile to begin with. The money was in a bank on Earth, but there were branches and offices from that firm all over, pretty much wherever mankind and the Shm'Sha went.

Nobody ever said that you had to be a genius to throw your money away, and one evening, the captain had eventually worked his way through anyone in the crew who wanted to sit hunched over a table in the dining area, playing cards with the boss.

But he didn't want to stop playing.

D'Jymm walked into the room and the captain started right in on him. "Hey, D'Jymm. Care to play a hand with me?"

D'Jymm declined and got himself a meal.

"I don't play cards. I do not know how to play."

Over the next half-hour, the captain kept at it, alternately wheedling and then badgering until the Anubian finally acquiesced and the captain taught him. One round after another, the captain separated D'Jymm from his money and before long; the stakes exceeded what funds that D'Jymm had with him, though it amounted to thousands of units. It wasn't all losing but on the whole, the trend saw the slimming of the Anubian's wallet.

He stood up to leave and the captain wouldn't hear of it. And D'Jymm reluctantly sat down again. He won the next two rounds and again wanted to leave the dining area while he still had some money at all.

D'Jymm could be a bit of a cynic, but the captain knew a mark when he saw one.

"Tell you what. Let's play just one more. Winner takes all," he said. "Show me how much you've got in your thin little bank book."

D'Jymm shook his head. "If I lose, I will not have much of anything to show for the two years that I spent on Earth. Besides, how do I know you are good for it if I win? We are talking about a large amount here, either way."

The captain nodded, a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead over the slightly twitching eyes.

D'Jymm said, "I have shown you my balance in the record book that I use when dealing with that bank. That proves that my money is where I say that it is.

"But you say that you can't access your records from here. How do I know that you have enough to play?"

The captain thought about it and though he didn't say it, he felt confident that he could outplay the Anubian. "I'll bet this ship. Would that be enough to guarantee that I have enough?"

D'Jymm considered for a moment. "You would wager this vessel as security in a single game? Winner takes all?" he asked.

"Winner takes all," the captain smiled as he nodded.

D'Jymm thought about it for a minute longer and reluctantly looked across the table. "I will do it under two conditions.

"You must write out your wager on a piece of paper which you will sign and add that you are doing this of your own free will. You add that my winning the hand if it happens constitutes that you are ceding ownership of the vessel to me. I place my bank book on the pile, and you place the paper on top of it."

"That's three conditions," the captain smiled.

The Anubian shook his head, "That was all the first condition. The second condition is that you and I are the only ones at this end of the room when we play. The rest of the crew who have gathered here must stand by the far wall."

He reached down and brought up the other of the two weapons that he'd seized earlier and laid it where it would be near his right hand. "You have all seen how quickly I can move. The first man who tries to come over here or interfere in any way will be the first one to die."

He looked at his opponent, "Captain, you are many things, but I believe that you are a more or less honest poker player. I might lose everything that I have within the next few minutes, but one way or the other; I intend to survive this poker game."

The captain laughed until he had to wipe the tears of his laughter out of his eyes.

"Agreed," he chuckled finally.

He looked at the others, "The rest of you, go sit over there. For stakes this high, I'll have no undue interference. And no matter what happens, 'Winner takes all' is what stands. You're all witnesses to it."

When it was all over, D'Jymm took the pile of money on the table, his bank book, and the piece of paper.

He looked at the captain, "When we get to port, you give me the same value of my bet in units and I will tear up this paper right in front of you. I really have no interest in anything but the unit value. I meant what I said but I can see no good in taking more from you than that, so I do not wish to."

The captain nodded, feeling foolish, but learning something about D'Jymm from it. From then on, he permitted no snide comments or threatening gestures such as D'Jymm had seen from the rest of the crew.

As he walked away, D'Ymm thought about the amount of money that he'd gotten in the pile. The way that he saw it, he had all of the money back that he'd lost, plus about half as much again. He decided not to ever gamble like this again.

Then he thought about owning this rat trap of a vessel and how much it might cost to strip the weaponry from it so that at least it was legal to operate. Almost before he knew it, he was thinking about trying to set up a freight hauling service.

He wanted to shake his head. That wasn't the deal. He just wanted the worth of the last hand, not the boat.

And he still vowed to carry at least one weapon with him at all times.

The reason that he did that was twofold:

He'd learned firsthand what they all thought of him. Aside from the little that the captain might care, it amounted to a grand total of not much.

And yet he'd overheard the captain tell three members of the crew that 'the Anubian would never live long enough to disembark when they reached their next port of call'.

Over the next month, Earth time, D'Jymm quietly learned during what little rest time that he was given, everything that he could concerning the ship that he was on. He'd been given access to the Engineering files his first day out. After his conversation with the captain, his access had been revoked without notice, but by then it was far too late. He'd copied thefiles to his personal data device and communicator within the first two hours and had never logged on to that part of the system since because there was no need.

The captain mentioned it as though it was a fitting punishment for not returning his pistol. D'Jymm had just done his job using the knowledge from what he guessed that he was supposed to know.

But he'd learned a lot more than that.

The freighter had been upgraded many times within the past several years and all of the improvements had been made at places far from the ones which were approved to make the sort of changes that he'd learned about. In point of fact, if one knew where to look and also knew what you were looking at, the big grey thing was as illegal as he supposed it could be while still outwardly appearing as it's maker had intended.

The beast was still registered as a fast freighter, but almost all of it's hull had been re-skinned with armor.

The shields had been improved many orders of magnitude beyond just basic protection from random collisions with the sort of floating debris that one might find in the shipping lanes.

The engines were no longer the original equipment ones and though he'd have wanted better than what she now had, the big girl was now armed in several hidden ways.

The weapons systems mix was a bit of a hodge-podge and if he had the chance and cared to help, he knew that he could integrate them into a fairly good suite, but that meant taking control from a bunch of people who liked to play 'Star Gunner' or something and believed that they could be effective like that.

As it was, the armament was not visible, so that was a good thing - since aside from the larger (hard to find and expensive) missile systems, she was roughly equivalent to a small frigate in terms of firepower - all of it highly illegal.

He asked about one system that he saw jumbled up in a crate and was told by the captain that it had been a bad investment as none of them could get the thing to function beyond firing one shot and then jamming every time that it had been tried, so he asked if he might attempt getting the thing in order.

The captain scoffed but nodded, "You won't get it going, but if you want something to get frustrated over, you go ahead. I keep thinking of just leaving it behind the next time I have an upgrade done - to see what they'd give me for it, but I always forget until after we've gone again. Just don't shoot it in here. Wait until we put into a port and then ask me if you can try your fix."

D'Jymm already knew what was wrong, he just never told anyone.

It was electrically actuated. The drive motor spun the barrels in synchronization with a moving set of firing pins so that when there was a barrel in position to fire, there was also a firing pin lined up to fire the round that was in front of it. The firing pins were held in a collar and actuated at the correct time by a cam.

The next time that he had a bit of free time, D'Jymm removed the set of firing pins and reversed them before reassembling the thing. He was alone in the hold and tried the trigger with the large magazine removed.

The thing whined, the empty barrels rotated and he knew that if it were loaded, it would be firing flawlessly. The pin collar had been installed backward. With a little backyard engineering and some web strapping, he fashioned himself a backpack magazine which held eleven hundred rounds and a quick-release flexible feed chute to feed the rounds into the weapon. The web belts made the whole thing easily portable, if a little awkward.

Instant portable buzzsaw. It wouldn't do anyone else in the crew any good because it weighed a hundred and ninety pounds when it was loaded, but he could carry it with ease.

He put it in his cabin and told no one.

Knowing what he knew and what he'd learned of the vessel's systems, D'Jymm had also made a few quiet alterations looking forward to the day when he'd have to make his move.

And that day came not long afterward, as it turned out.

They received a low-priority distress notification from another transport about a fortnight later as they were about to configure for fast flight out of the system.

The call was a preliminary one expressing concern over some failed systems on a distant vessel and though they did not respond directly at first, they made to intercept and see what they could ... "collect" from the meeting.

Their positional plot revealed that there was a moon of the planet that they were behind in the way.

"Leave orbit and keep us behind that moon," the captain smiled, "send them a reply without specifics as to our ID and give them an arrival time that's an hour behind our actual."

But hours later, the captain looked up at D'Jymm while he was being told by his communications guy that they were picking up signs of intense combat on the other side of the moon which was still in the way for the moment.

The captain shook his head, not liking this news, "Turn us around and get us out of here."

D'Jymm shook his head, "You have announced our presence in the area at a given time and that time is now well past. This might be a trap to locate ... what you call pirates. Before I left Earth there were announcements about anti-piracy campaigns by the military."

Just then, they got a bare look sensor-wise as their nose came above the horizon of the moon. It was a bit far, but they could see that there were several ships locked in desperate combat against what looked like two large cruisers which their systems identified as belonging to Earth's vast military. The space in between the larger vessels swarmed with interceptor craft from the cruisers.

D'Jymm said, "Their systems will interrogate this vessel in moments and they will know that we are a freighter. They will note the number of living entities on board and wonder why there are so many who are not in cryogenic sleepers. It is unusual behavior for a simple freighter this far out. There are no trade ports here.

"A logical reason would be that this vessel is intent on committing piracy."

"How the hell would you know they'd think that?" the communications man asked.

"Because I spent two Earth years on that planet to learn exactly how your world does these things," D'Jymm replied. "I was a student on an exchange program just as there was at least one human on my world to learn the same things."

He turned to the captain, "If you just try to leave after announcing that you were inbound to respond to a distress message, they will guess that we are more than likely pirates seeking easy prey who have changed our minds because of the presence of the law."

The captain knew that he'd made a mistake by responding and he turned to look at the Anubian, "And I suppose that you've got an idea on how to avoid all of this?"

D'Jymm nodded, "Make it appear that the crew is in a cryogenic sleeper and that this vessel is being piloted by the only crewmember who is awake. It would be plausible then that the crewmember has responded to the call and wishes to ascertain the need for aid before awakening the rest of the crew."

The captain frowned, "And how exactly can we do that? The cryo sleepers are barely operative and none of us wants to trust them. I was hoping to pick up something of value here and use some of the money from that to get them fixed."

D'Jymm shook his head, "I said that you make it appear that they are in a sleeper. You do not need actual sleepers at all. This vessel has two shuttles. Place the crew in them and I will deal with any questions. Humans in sleepers cannot be detected unless the source of the scan is nearby. Even if one of those vessels comes close aboard, the only signatures which they will detect would be through two hulls and would appear to be people inside of sleepers.

"Seeing a law enforcement scenario in front of me, I will confirm our ship's identity if they ask, as you told me that the registration is valid and that the ship is not yet known to be illegal in any way. Otherwise, I will move us around the conflict quietly.

"They may elect to leave us alone or pursue, but in that event, you can take whatever actions that you see fit to defend us. Of course, you could also always pilot this vessel yourself."

"No, you fly," the captain said, "I wouldn't give any kind of odds that putting you into one of the shuttles 'with ten of these guys - " he gestured with his hand, "wouldn't just turn into a hard to clean up mess."

The pilot looked back, "HE'S gonna fly it? How do we know that we can trust him not to run us into that moon there. He's never flown this thing."

D'Jymm replied, "This vessel belongs to me on paper and my total wealth depends on it's arrival at a place where your captain and I can settle up and I will discharge his debt to me. Why would I take such a risk if I was not confident in my piloting skills?

"I have accreditation as a pilot on my home world and I sat for the examinations on Earth after that. Unlike you, I actually am a licensed pilot, legally fit and entitled to operate this vessel since I OWN it.

"From what I know from hearing you speak on the subject many times, you have no license at all or if you once did, it must have been stripped from you if you have done only a tenth of the things that I heard you speak of.

So in the view of the law over there, I am fully legal and you violate the law with every action that you take. This vessel requires at least one pilot and you all need me to speak to the law if they initiate a conversation since their recognition systems will not show me as wanted for any crime. I am your best chance to remain undetected and your best spokesperson if they pursue."

"Why would you do that?" the radio man asked doubtfully, "That would be your chance to request that they board and you can turn us all over to the law."

The Anubian shrugged, "Why? My visa to be in this system was revoked when I left to journey and meet what members of my family and clan that I can find. The authorities here do not want me to return to Earth. My being here is lawfully classified as illegal from the time that I boarded this ship unless I am intent on leaving this system - which I am. The only consideration that was given to me as it was to any of my kind in similar circumstances was a single opportunity to leave the system. I was given only one chance and I used that chance when I boarded this ship.

"If I allow them to board and find me here, it would amount to an uncertain period of incarceration at the very least and that would only succeed if they believed my tale that I was being held here against my will. And if that were to happen, it would take years to get my money from your captain - if I ever do, and in the meantime, I am in possession of a highly illegal freighter."

"That's right," the captain mused, "He's got no legal reason to be here either, but at least he hasn't got a bounty on his neck."