Steal the Demon: A Science-Fiction Novella by Robert Roth (free novels to read txt) 📕

off no emissions. Even though she’d used the retro-thrusters at full power, it hadn’t been enough to slow them completely, so the ship drifted forward at a sedate pace, with a slight roll and tumble from striking some of the auto-hauler wreckage.

That’s what she was now, too—just wreckage from the auto-hauler. After Paradox had launched the drone, it immediately went to full power, accelerating at a rate that would’ve been a challenge for the grav-gens to deal with, but building to a velocity that would draw the Al-Zamani heavies well away from her location. And, in the confusion of the rapidly expanding zone of tumbling wreckage and cargo, it was enough to convince the ships on her tail that it was her. According to her passive sensors, they hadn’t even slowed to check on the hauler, cruising right past her without a care in the world.

“Wow, that actually worked,” Kimiko said with no small amount of relief.

She started bringing basic systems back online, and used the maneuvering thrusters to kill the ship’s tumble and roll before pushing it on a vector that would take it outside of Davida’s sensor envelope. Her sensors showed that recovery drones had already been launched from the station, but they wouldn’t be in any hurry to get to where she was, since there wasn’t anyone they needed to rescue. Orbital mechanics and Davida’s weak gravity ensured that there would be plenty of time to recover any salvage from the auto-hauler.

While she waited for time and momentum to put some distance between the ship and the station, Kimiko deactivated her helmet, taking a deep breath as it folded back into her collar ring. The ship’s air smelled fresh. The filters were probably brand new. She undid the safety straps and floated up out of her seat. The grav-gens were still offline to reduce the ship’s power draw and detectable emissions, but she was plenty familiar with working in zero-grav. Gently launching herself from the back of the seat, she glided aft and visited the small head at the rear of the cockpit. By the time she was finished and refreshed, Kimiko figured they would’ve drifted far enough away to restart the ship’s systems and bring up the main engines and other ship systems without fear of detection. Not that they couldn’t be detected–there was nowhere in the system that wasn’t monitored somehow, even from a distance. But it was unlikely that anyone would spot the drive exhaust at all, much less identify it as them–especially after Paradox made some fast and dirty tweaks to their emissions profile.

After they’d reached a decent cruising speed, Kimiko cut the drives. The course she’d plotted would put them at Pallas in just under two days. Running silent nearly the whole way, they would soon be far out of reach of Al-Zamani’s immediate grasp. After a simple, and illegal change to their transponder code, some forged paperwork, and some minor adjustments to the ship’s hull profile, the Shaitan would be no more.

Kimiko smiled and set the ship’s collision alarm to automatic. The defense shields were enough to block or deflect any small objects that might cross their path. Anything else, and the ship would alert her, as would Paradox. Speaking of Paradox–

“So, who was that joe back in the bar, then?”

“He was someone I hired to fill that role. I was able to use his neural interface to interact directly with you. He was suitably compensated for his time.”

Kimiko nodded, then stood up from the pilot’s seat. With the grav restored, she figured it would be an excellent time to finally explore the ship.

“Was this your plan all along, then?” She stretched luxuriously, working out a few of the lingering kinks from all the fighting back at Al-Zamani. “To hitch a ride back off the station with me?”

There was an unusually pregnant pause before Paradox answered. “It was one of the possibilities I considered, yes. Again, I apologize for my deception.”

She laughed. “You’re very penitent for an AI, aren’t you? Well, you can relax, Joe. If there’s anyone who can understand the need for subterfuge, it’s me. But that leaves the more obvious question. What are you planning to do next?”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he replied.

“Of course, you have. You’re an AI. Thinking’s all you do.”

“Very droll. But there is no other AI present on this ship. Even with a full crew complement, it would be impractical for you to operate this vessel without one.”

Kimiko had considered that, too, although it may have been stretching the truth a little bit to call it impractical. Inconvenient, maybe. After all, there was still the controller software. With a Co-pilot, a Navigator, and an Engineer, she’d probably be fine. But there was no denying the advantage of having a friendly AI on her crew–one who also happened to be the most notorious hacker this side of the Callisto mines. She turned and went aft, intent on exploring the rest of the ship. “Are you asking if you can stay?”

“I suppose I am.”

She nodded. “Ok.”

“Just like that?”

Kimiko laughed as she walked out of the bridge into the main corridor. The indirect lighting inside the ship was bright, and slightly warm, which gave a subtle softness to the light and dark grays that Al-Zamani chose for the wall and deck surfaces. The decking was hard and textured, and the passageway walls were lined with storage lockers meant for equipment and enviro-suits, as well as racks that could be used for tools and weapons. “Why not? We’re both on the run from the law, and we both possess a complementary skill set. Not to mention the cosmic heist we just pulled off. I’d say we’re a pretty stellar team. We’ll have to set our terms for the long run, of course, but we’re greased up enough for now.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Joe.”

“Have you thought about a name for the ship, Kimiko? We’ll need it to adjust the transponder at some point.”

She’d given it a lot of