Black Box (25 page)

As the question penetrated her large,
wounded eyes, Lara Tedesco realized that she had no answer for
it.

Beckett forced the mutinous soldiers to dig
graves for the crew of the
Einstein,
and for his traitorous
soldiers. And for Burbank. He gave Cabrera a bike and ordered her
to report back to the
Valor
immediately. She was to go
straight to Hardy and tell him everything that had happened. No one
else was to know. Once she was gone and the dead were buried, he
held a small service and presided over it himself. All throughout,
Colonel Walker remained silent, always aware of the eyes that
continuously strayed in his direction.

Beckett knew that he didn’t have the
manpower or the resources to hold the mutineers. MacDonald, Yamata,
Knudson, Goldfarb, Irvin. They were some of the toughest soldiers
in the Space Force. Rodrigo, even with her ruined shoulder, was
more than a force to be reckoned with. She joined them as they were
digging the graves, her arm hanging uselessly at her side. Not a
word passed between her and her captain as she picked up a shovel
with her good hand and began stabbing ineffectually at the dirt.
Beckett watched and felt such an emptiness inside of him that even
his rage couldn’t fill it. Ultimately, he put all of their weapons
onto the rumbler and ordered Boone into the pilot box. Walker was
loaded into the passenger compartment. Massey and Bonamo, recovered
from the shock to his spine, boarded the airbikes.

The faces that stared at him as he stepped
over to the rumbler were no longer the faces of his friends, his
crewmates. They were no better than pirates.

“What do you think will happen to you when
you get back to Earth?” Tedesco asked finally. “Do you think
they’ll give you a medal?”

Beckett shook his head. All of the anger had
drained out of him. Without the rage clouding his brain, he
suddenly understood. Hardy had been right and wrong at the same
time. There
had
been an
Einstein
. The black box had
shown the
Admiralty
how and when to fabricate history, but
it had also provided them with an opportunity to shed themselves of
Ted Beckett, a feat they had been trying to accomplish for ten
years.

There was a power to being the captain of a
ship. He had always known that. Hell, he
thrived
on it. In
certain circles, he was a celebrity. The
Admiralty
was
powerful, but not
all
powerful. You can’t
just
fire a
captain of the space force. You can’t even kill him. If a captain
dies under mysterious circumstances, even on a mission, there’s an
inquiry. But not this time. Not on
this
mission. Though none
of this was his doing, the disgrace heaped upon him would be
insurmountable. Dead or alive, the
Admiralty
would be well
and truly rid of Ted Beckett.

Opening the hatch to the rumbler’s pilot
box, he put one foot inside before stopping. “I’ll execute anyone
that comes back to the ship.” Then he put the other foot inside and
closed the door. Calm, sure of his position if not his future, he
set off back to the
Valor,
leaving the rest of them
marooned.

Boone debriefed him as they traveled.
Beckett listened to the pieces of Rollins’ story that his infantry
officer conveyed and tried to fit them all together to form a
picture. Rollins’ claim of being a Ghost sounded like a desperate
ploy to escape the failing mutineers. The only flaw in that theory
was that he wasn’t on Tedesco’s list.

The more pressing matter was what the
captain should do with all of the people who were. In addition to
those who had been left behind at the
Einstein
, there were
twelve names on that list, including Tunsley’s entire engine room
staff. That would make for a rough trip home. There were others on
board who could sub in, but Tunsley would have little patience for
them. Beckett considered keeping the suspect crew on board. It
didn’t seem likely that anyone would attempt anything while enroute
back to Earth. Still, Beckett didn’t expect he would be able to
sleep knowing that he was surrounded by enemies. In the end, he
handed the list of names to Boone and instructed him to escort
every single one of them off of the ship. They’d just have to make
do with the short staff.

Cabrera was waiting for them when they
arrived back at the
Valor
. Her first question was about the
mutineers. She wanted to know if he had executed them. If he
thought his decision to leave them behind would appease her, he was
wrong. She was outraged. That made
him
outraged. He told her
that he planned on cleansing the ship of every person on Tedesco’s
list as well. If she was so upset by it, she could join them.

That was that.

He had a similar conversation with Tunsley,
who was less concerned about the people being marooned than he was
about being the only engineer left on board.

“At least leave me
one
,” he
complained. “How the hell am I supposed to run an engine room
without engineers?”

“You’ll manage,” Beckett told him.

Tunsley grabbed him by the arm. Thankfully,
it was the uninjured one. “You don’t understand, Ted. Someone needs
to be in there at all times.”

“
You
don’t understand,
Mr.
Tunsley
. I will put a deckhand into that room before I put
someone who is a potential saboteur. If you have a problem with
that, you can walk the plank with the rest of them.”

Tunsley snorted. “Right. Let’s see you make
it home without
any
engineers.”

“We’ll get by,” Beckett answered, dragging
out each word so that it was abundantly clear that he meant what he
said.

Beckett had put his remaining military
force, Boone, Bonamo, and Massey, to work right away. Armed and
armored, they gathered up all of the people on Tedesco’s list and
judged them guilty without trial. Beckett would hear no cases and
offered the penalty of death as an alternative to being marooned.
He and his three soldiers presented enough of a show of strength
that there was little resistance as the handful of traitors was
herded into the hangar bay.

Tunsley, standing by, was keenly aware of
the attitude of the expelled crew, now gathered at the foot of the
large bay doors. Despite his brazen mouth, he didn’t have the
courage to join them. His engineers looked only at him, their eyes
a mixture of anger and pleading. In his heart, he agreed with the
captain’s decision, but that rationale did nothing to make the
situation any less awkward.

“Captain,” Applegate protested, as the
hangar door began to slowly drop open. “Our orders came directly
from the
Admiralty
.”

Beckett nodded. “Your
orders
were to
slaughter Walker’s crew and then kill your captain. But your
captain’s still alive so where does that leave you?”

Ukpere cleared his throat. “Captain, I
assure you that Mr. Applegate and I had no such orders. We were
sent to observe and record. These people gathered here with us
operated under similar circumstances.”

“Spare me the bullshit,” Beckett said to
him. “The only way you
observe and record
everything
properly is if you are fully informed. Just because you didn’t pull
the trigger doesn’t mean you don’t have blood on your hands.”

“I am no murderer,” Applegate declared
defiantly, daubing at his sweaty head with a handkerchief. “This
mission is about preserving history.”

Beckett slammed his teeth together so hard
that the jolt sent a spike through his forehead. “You can all join
your fellow conspirators at the
Einstein
.”

“Captain,” Ukpere said, stepping forward. He
was close now and his voice had dropped to a conspiratorial
whisper. “You’re not likely to be lauded as a hero upon your
return.”

Beckett gritted his teeth, but he didn’t
make a move.

Ukpere cleared his throat. “Perhaps if you
had someone to advocate for you...”

“Fuck you, Ukpere,” Beckett suddenly
shouted, getting right in his face. Sam Ukpere had about four
inches on him, but the captain could still break him in half with
his wounded left arm.

“Captain,” Ukpere said, stepping calmly
back. “There’s no need for such irregular language.”

Beckett backed up a step and addressed the
group. “You all are dismissed. Permanently.” Then, as they started
to file down the ramp, he added, “Good luck.”

Beckett did not bother to supervise the
launch. Instead, he ordered Dorian to take command and set a course
for a place called
Moner’s Port
. If anyone thought it odd
that they weren’t going straight home, they didn’t mention it.
Beckett dismissed his officers and his soldiers and took himself to
Rollins’ quarters.

“Don’t say a word,” he said to the Ghost.
“Come with me.”

Rollins did not argue. He stood up and
followed Beckett out the door. Beckett marched him halfway across
the ship to the infirmary. Rollins didn’t know what to expect when
he was led inside, but he certainly hadn’t expected to see Nicholas
Walker. Walker was sitting up in one of the bunks, looking at
something on a reader. Beckett recognized it as one of the patient
readers assigned to the medical department. There wasn’t much else
but entertainment on it. There were books and films, some old
television shows. He wondered if Walker was watching something from
the current era or from his own.

“You’re dismissed,” Becektt said to Cabrera,
who was going through her logs. She looked up at him coldly, opened
her mouth to reply, but he cut her off. “So help me, Samantha, I am
not
in the mood.”

Rollins and Walker watched the exchange with
some curiosity. Cabrera held her ground for just a moment. It was
hard to believe how much Beckett had intimidated her at one time.
All of that was gone, faded in the wake of the events of this
mission. She gave in anyway, grabbing up her reader and leaving the
room.

When she had slid the door shut behind her,
Beckett introduced Rollins to Walker.

“Colonel Walker is considered the greatest
explorer humanity has ever known,” he told Rollins.

Walker was still too despondent to even
acknowledge the accolade.

Beckett turned to him. “Mr. Rollins was my
computer operations officer before I found out that he’s a spy.
Apparently, he comes from the future and is part of a group of
pirates who have been popping into our time and terrorizing our
ships for a hundred years.”

Neither man knew how to respond to that, but
Beckett watched their reactions. The normally impassive Rollins
looked embarrassed. Walker was just befuddled, some of it showing
through his shock.

“Rollins knew about this all from the
start,” Beckett continued. “If Rollins had just told me when the
Einstein
made planetfall, I might have been able to save
your crew.”

“
Captain!
” Rollins cried. “That’s not
true at all. You’re seeing only a small fraction of the entire
picture. For my research...”

“I don’t give a fuck about your research,”
Beckett told him. “The only reason you’re still on this ship is
because you’re the only one who can fix this mess.”

Rollins didn’t have a response. He and
Beckett stared at each other while Walker looked on from his bunk.
Since coming aboard the
Valor
, the colonel had been politely
shoved into the background. He didn’t mind so much. In fact, he was
relieved not to have been bombarded with questions. Still, he had a
few questions of his own. Though the basics of what had happened
had become clear to him, there were still so many details that had
not. Walker and his crew were only a piece of the puzzle.

“Where’s your ship?” Beckett asked
Rollins.

“I can’t give you my ship.”

Beckett nodded his understanding and calmly
began to explain his position. “Rollins, I want you to understand
that you are absolutely no good to me if you won’t cooperate.
You’re going to open up to me completely right here and right now
or, so help me, I will throw you to the ground and choke the life
out of you.”

It was not an idle threat.

“Captain, please,” Rollins said. The warning
actually seemed to have had a calming effect on him. “You must
understand my position. I have been studying this event for many
years of my life. I’m trying to prove a hypothesis that will alter
the course of history for everyone.”

“Yeah,” Beckett said. “I heard all about
your recursive time theory from Boone. All I want...”

“I haven’t heard it,” Walker said.

Both men looked at him.

The colonel cleared his throat self
consciously. “Captain, no one’s explained
anything
to me. I
think I deserve at least that.”

Beckett was about to tell him that he could
have his explanation when there was more time, but then changed his
mind. Maybe it would be better for him to hear it straight from
Rollins. Beckett himself had gotten the information second hand
from Boone and Tunsley. The two had told the story like children,
battling for the captain’s attention and arguing over details.

So Rollins told his story and outlined his
theory. Time was not linear. Time was not even geometric. It was
composed of recursive algorithms, all operating in a complex
sequence and sometimes simultaneously. In the future, as an effort
to avert and then escape a catastrophe, a plague that rapidly
covered all of the inhabited planets, humanity had discovered a way
to interject themselves into the algorithms and become part of the
flow of time itself.

“I’ve spent most of my life hidden in the
past,” said Rollins. “The people of my era have studied different
time periods, developed many theories, but never been able to
drastically impact any of what happens in history. But now...”