The Black Sheep (A Learning Experience Book 3) by Christopher Nuttall Read Free Book Online

don’t wind up dead within the next couple of weeks anyway, no matter what we do.”
     
    Hoshiko winced.  “Is there nothing we can do for them?”
     
    “I’ve put the worst cases in stasis, but I’ve already run out of stasis pods,” Shari said.  “They really need extensive nanotech-treatment, Captain.  I can work on them one by one, once we have the rest of the refugees under control ...”
     
    She shook her head.  “They really need better facilities,” she admitted.  “We’re not set up to handle so many casualties.  Ideally, we need to keep them in stasis until we get them back to Earth or a fleet base.  The facilities on Martina may not be sufficient for the task.”
     
    “Thanks to the Tokomak,” Hoshiko said, sourly.  Humanity had been able to unlock the full potential of nanotechnology, but the Tokomak had made damn sure that the nanites they supplied to their client races were deliberately limited.  Having made themselves effectively immortal, they’d been determined to make sure that no one else lived so long.  “Can we adapt a local autodoc?”
     
    “Probably not,” Shari said.  “The Tokomak made certain the base codes couldn't be altered without special access permissions.  Trying would merely render the autodoc useless.”
     
    “And we don't have a full-fledged AI on the squadron,” Hoshiko muttered.  It was the one concession to the Tokomak fear of artificial intelligence, although humanity’s homemade AIs hadn't become monsters.  The Tokomak must have had a bad experience with AI somewhere back in the mists of time.  “Cracking the base codes would be beyond us without one.”
     
    “Yes,” Shari said.  “Those limitations are hardwired into the base codes.”
     
    The Tokomak might have had a point, Hoshiko conceded, privately.  Immortality had turned the Tokomak into a stagnant race, unable to advance because of the growing population of oldsters who kept a firm lock on the levers of political power.  Her grandfather, Steve Stuart, had departed the Solar Union because he feared what would happen if he remained as President indefinitely, but there were others who were growing older and older ... and not dying to allow the younger officers a chance to claim the highest positions.  Great-Uncle Mongo was still fleet commander despite being in his second century ...
     
    But we’re expanding , she told herself, firmly.  There will be room for all of us for thousands of years to come .
     
    Great , her own thoughts answered her.  I’m sure the Tokomak thought the same when they cursed themselves with near-immortality .
     
    It was a chilling thought.  The Tokomak Navy was the finest in the universe ... when it came to parades, formation flying and stately advances towards its few targets.  It hadn't been prepared for anything outside its understanding of warfare, let alone how a determined and innovative race could actually produce newer and better weapons.  Could the Solar Navy end up that way, one day?  Humanity had had long periods of stagnation on Earth, after all ...
     
    She pushed the thought aside, angrily.  “Do what you can for them,” she ordered.  By now, her officers would have reviewed the recordings she’d made.  “Have a report on their condition uploaded to the datanet by 1700.”
     
    “Aye, Captain,” Shari said.  She cleared her throat as Hoshiko turned to go.  “Do you expect the locals to play host indefinitely?”
     
    Hoshiko sighed.  The human settlements on Martina had agreed to allow the refugees to land, thankfully, but they’d insisted on being paid in advance.  Hoshiko had paid out of her emergency expenditure fund, yet she knew it wouldn't last indefinitely.  Galactic currency was no longer worth what it had been, two years ago, and human currency was barely recognised outside Sol.  It was just another reason to be confident that life in space was far superior to life on a planet.
     
    “I don’t know,”