Dark Space: The Invisible War by Jasper T. Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

other human enclave.”
    “Yes, you mentioned that there was another group of survivors.”
    Atton nodded. “We’ll get back to that later.” Turning to the holo projector he said, “Holofield off.” The holo recording of High Lord Kaon disappeared, and the lights in the room returned to full brightness. “Otherwise, have I answered all of your questions?” he asked.
    Ethan nodded slowly. “For now.”
    “Good. Are you ready to answer my question yet?”
    Ethan took a moment to recall what question his son was referring to, but then he remembered: Atton wanted him to take over as the Supreme Overlord. Ethan took an extra moment to consider his answer before he replied. Was he ready to take on that much responsibility? His son certainly had faith that he could, but that didn’t mean it was true.
    Ethan sighed. There was only one way to find out. “When do we make the switch?”
    Atton smiled. “Come with me.”
    Ethan followed him to the door, and both of them turned their holoskins back on before leaving the office. From there they proceeded to the lift tubes and down through the ship until they reached the overlord’s quarters. Inside, there was already a med bot waiting with a syringe full of anesthetic.
    Ethan noted that with a snort of laughter. “Seems like you were one step ahead of me.”
    “I knew you’d accept,” Atton said, already undoing the gold buttons of his white uniform.
    “How’d you know that?”
    “ I accepted, and a son’s zeal doesn’t stray far from his father’s ideals.”
    “An old Rokan proverb. I wasn’t sure I had any ideals, Atton.”
    “Come now, Dad . We both know Destra Ortane wasn’t a stupid woman. She wouldn’t have agreed to marry just any outlaw.”
    “I suppose not,” Ethan replied, stripping out of his uniform and then rolling up the sleeve of his undershirt to present his wrist to the med bot. He winced as the needle went in and then he shook his head. “And my wrist was just starting to feel better . . .”
    Atton laughed. “Maybe you’ll want to have the blood sample taken from your other arm.”
    “More needles?”
    “I need to alter the Imperial records so that what’s on file for the overlord matches your actual DNA, blood type, and other markers. We’ll need to update the database over the net as soon as we get back to Dark Space, and out here in Sythian Space we’ll have to send the updates to each of our ships individually, since there is no commnet.”
    “Sounds like you have everything covered.”
    “The only thing we can’t fake with altered records is your approximate age, which can be determined from a sample of your blood. I’ll restrict access to those tests, but if someone gets suspicious they can always conduct the tests by hand.”
    Ethan nodded. “Well, hopefully no one gets suspicious.” He winced again as another needle went into his arm to take a blood sample. Ethan eyed the hovering med bot. “You like poking me, you blood-sucking little kakard, don’t you?”
    The bot gave no reply, but whirred away on its grav lifts to deposit the sample and pick up a scalpel. The bot returned to his side, apparently waiting for something.
    Atton nodded to him and then pointed to a nearby chair. “You’d better sit down over there. If your arm isn’t steady while he works, he might cut the wrong thing.”
    Ethan headed to the indicated armchair. “Wouldn’t want that, would we, Pokey?”
    The bot elicited an indecipherable beep, and Ethan grinned up at it as he sat down in the chair. “So you do speak.”
    Another beep.
    “His vocals are damaged,” Atton explained. “I like bots better that way.”
    Ethan frowned and looked away, and the bot set to work, tying a tourniquet around his arm, disinfecting his skin, and laying down surgical sheets before bringing the scalpel into line. Ethan turned back to watch the bot cut a bloody line across his wrist. Seeing the med bot expose bloody muscle and bone white tendons, Ethan’s