Tin Space

Cola let the kits suckle until they slept. Smiling, contented, she closed her eyes and called up the next chapter of Herbert's journal.

---*---

We landed at Gort and Spiron immediately told us that there was no time for carousing. We had a lot of things to load onto the ship and had an important mission to undertake.

Damn that meant Fader again. I really wished I knew why Spiron worked for that slimy piece of galactic dictator. I really wished I was brave enough to try to get off this ship. But who would take two conies from an interdicted planet on their crew? Any background check on us would reveal that we shouldn't be here. If they did too much checking they may find out Fader's connection to our home and that could jeopardise our families or even the whole planet. There is a story about a dictator in the dim galactic past, once he was disposed, the rebels destroyed all life on his home planet as a lesson, in case the preponderance to being a dictator was genetic.

I thought that was a little stupid, but it was enough to help me keep Fader's secret and to want my secret to be kept too. The guards at that prison we'd both been in had felt scared of me - I'm pretty sure that was because I looked like Fader and I'm pretty sure that's because he's a coney too. The presence of that other coney in his complex who'd put the nasty nano into Malcolm hammered it home.

I was beginning to wonder whether there was one or two conies involved. I'd not seen the black bunny and Fader together, and one bunny has got to be a lot easier to explain than two...

We loaded box after box after box onto the ship. The cargo hold was fit to busting by the time we'd finished. Then a shock, the black bunny turned up and came aboard.

Spiron got us all together in the mess hall.

"This is Gilchrist." He told us, "He's a very important client of mine. I want you all to treat him with the utmost respect. Treat him with as much respect as you'd give Lord Fader and I'll be happy." He turned to me, "Keep Malcolm out of his way."

Malcolm was sitting in the corner singing. He'd been pretty useless since being implanted by this bunny. At least I had a name for my hate now. Gilchrist.

---*---

Cola suddenly realised that she was crying. If only..

Huge sobs racked her frame, the kits woke up and, sensing their mother's anguish began to cry too. Orla rushed in to see what was the matter and found Cola incoherent.

"I could have known." She sobbed, "I could have made it all better, if only I'd have read faster!"

Orla couldn't tell what Cola was going on about, but in these cases she considered that a hug was the best thing. She put her arms round the sobbing doe and rocked her and her kits to sleep.

Cola awoke a few hours later and felt a little cleansed.

"I will get rid of that traitor and get my warren back." She said quietly to herself, stroking Gorden's and David's ears. "Oh bugs! I have to read this through to the end, maybe it can tell me all I need to know."

---*---

Malcolm was in a frenzy, the Translation had affected him harshly. He has always said that he Translated badly, but since the implants he just went into a screaming fit whenever the ship entered hyperspace.

Vestock helped me hold him down. Richard helped and got some cargo restraints and we strapped him to the mess hall table. I looked around at the broken chairs and crockery.

Vestock patted me on the back. "All this can go into recyc. Don't worry. We'll grab some nano from engineering and grow a couple of new chairs. Be good as new before you know it."

I didn't feel happy that the breakages would be easy to fix. "But the next time we Translate, he'll go nuts again. I'll be lucky if Spiron doesn't throw him off."

Vestock lowered his voice, "I don't think he will, I get the feeling that Fader wants to know how Malcolm lasts." I grunted acknowledgement. From what I'd seen of Spiron he didn't suffer fools or dangers to his ship gladly. "I'd lay money that Malcolm is our most important cargo." I frowned and Vestock saw, "From what you said, if Malcolm ever calms down then Fader might decide to use the same treatment on himself, then he'd be assured of staying in control when he turned his devices on."

It made some sort of sense. Malcolm was a test subject that Fader wouldn't want to let out of his sight. Or out of Gilchrist's sight.

Spiron's voice came through the intership comms system.

"I see you've got the madman under control, good. We now need to get these packages delivered. Gilchrist will supervise."

It took over a day to deploy the packages, it was deploy rather than deliver because we were seeding a planet with orbital devices, in a particular pattern.

Malcolm eventually calmed down and I was allowed to cut him loose. I got him washed up and tried to get some food down him - he wasn't having any, 'though.

We got the last device deployed and Gilchrist brought us together in the mess hall to congratulate us.

"Thank you good people, you should be proud to stand here on what is possibly the greatest victory for Lord Fader." I didn't realise he was going to speech us too. I turned a couple of 'sects loose on a scouting mission to the planets surface whilst he was talking.

"Some of you have seen the great work that we do in the name of Lord Fader. Some of you have seen the calmness and peace of a city's population under his thrall. Well, today we are going to attempt the same thing, but on a planetary scale. We have seeded this orbit with sufficient field generators to cover the entire surface of the planet below. When we turn these on we will be able to see what a whole planetary population can be like under the calming influence of Lord Fader."

I huffed. A little too noisily obviously as Gilchrist began to speak at me.

"You don't understand, young buck, the chaos that reigns in the galaxy. The sheer uncertainty that everyone feels when they don't know their place in the whole scheme of things. This project will give everyone a valued place in the universe, Everyone will feel the pleasure of knowing that they are a useful and vital cog in the machinery of life. No one need do anything needlessly. All working towards one greater purpose!"

I was utterly convinced that he was mad.

"I will now turn on the orbital transmitters!" He flicked a switch.

Everything and everyone stood still. Gilchrist, Spiron, Vestock, me. I started getting pictures from the 'sects I'd sent out. The planet below was home to a very conanoid life-form, and they had all stopped dead in their tracks. Vehicles swerved from the roads at the first corner, machinery ran on and on with no one taking notice of the outcome. People fell over as they lost their balance - everyone that was standing or walking was soon lying prone.

But not just the people - all life on the planet seemed affected. And not just the planet. I felt myself topple over and could see my friends do likewise, Gilchrist included. The field was too strong and not directional! The gold ring that Gilchrist wore had not protected him. I would have laughed, but I couldn't move a muscle.

Paws strode past me and I could hear swearing.

"When will they every learn not to play with things they don't understand."

There was a lot of tapping and mumbling which I took to be sub-vocal commands to the ships computer. Then the treacle melted and my limbs became my own. I pulled myself up, as did my compatriots. We all looked over at Malcolm, he knelt on the floor banging his hands into the sides of his head, rocking backwards and forwards, repeating "Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid."

Gilchrist's voice pierced over and above Malcolm's."He's destroyed them all!"

"What?" Spiron quizzed, "How?"

"It looks like he sent your complement of combat 'sects out and organised a coordinated, simultaneous strike on all the transmitters."

"He saved us." I said in a low voice. "He was the only one who could act."

"He destroyed a lot of valuable machinery to do so!" Gilchrist said, angry.

"If you want to try again, he could attempt to leave you controlled and just to free the rest of us?" I suggested. Gilchrist pinned me with a stare, but I wasn't going to back down from this. "You're the one who nearly killed us all. You're the one who nearly killed the entire fauna of a planet." I went over to Malcolm and put my arms around his head to stop him hitting himself. I looked up at Gilchrist, "Why are you?" I asked, "Why are you such a piece of work?"

"Because I can be." He said. He didn't storm off. He sort of floated. I didn't consider that I'd lost the exchange, but I got the feeling that he didn't think he'd lost either.

---*---

Malcolm was in such anguish, he'd regained his coherence and had to lose it to save us, that when we Translated away he didn't get worse or better, he just kept on rocking and trying to hit himself.