Read Online Indigo Squad by Tim C. Taylor - Free Book Online

monitoring communications at all times. You are experiencing a buffered conference at a virtual time rate sped to appear a thousand times normal. The outside universe hasn’t really slowed to a thousandth of its normal rate, but it will save us a lot of trouble if you assumed it had.”
    The image of Krimkrak fizzed with static for a moment, long enough for Arun to notice that the AI had spoken with Arun’s own voice. Oh, well. One more slug of impossibility didn’t make much difference.
    “McEwan, the ensign expects he isn’t your favorite officer right now, but assures you that you and he are fighting on the same side.”
    “Sir, which side is that?”
    Virtual Krimkrak looked peeved at the interruption before nodding – which was strange because that was a specifically human gesture.
    “That is an important question. I am on the side of Colonel Little Scar, and Sergeants Bryant and Gupta. Of your ally amongst the insectoids of the moon Antilles, whom you call Pedro. Do you accept our shared allegiance?”
    Arun imagined shrugging. “I don’t recognize we have a side, a team with an agenda, but I do recognize those individuals as having tried to keep me alive. I guess if you knew who they were and you were hostile to me, I would already be lost.”
    “That is a logical position. You should trust me because the alternative is to assume that you are already doomed.”
    “Agreed.”
    “You must work with the ensign to defeat mutiny on Beowulf . On Bonaventure , Lieutenant Balor and Ensign Geror were murdered by human Marines acting on orders from traitors. We must assume that Captain Mhabali is the leader or at least prominent in the rebel group.”
    The odds seemed insurmountable. Captain Mhabali commanded Charlie Company. With the rest of the battalion in cryo, that made him the most senior active Marine on the ship.
    Did it even stop there? “Do you think there are rebels amongst the ship-rats too?” Arun asked.
    “Do not interrupt.”
    “Or what?”
    “Do not question your superiors.”
    “Superior? No, you go vulley yourself. You’re a wetware construct here to communicate. The most efficient communication is two-way, so frakk your stupid sense of superiority and answer my damned questions.”
    The virtual officer hesitated, but only for a moment. “Very well,” it agreed, “I believe members of the crew are involved too.”
    Krimkrak vanished.
    “Come back. Tell me what I need to do.”
    “Can’t you see me?”
    “No,” screamed Arun.
    “Shit.”
    That shut Arun up. He’d never heard an officer swear before. Theoretically, they didn’t even permit bad language to corrupt the mouths of their Marines, although there they realized they were messing with the laws of nature.
    “Having killed the other ‘C’ Company officers,” said the wetware construct, “I expect the rebels’ next step will be to remove opposition from the Navy officers and then murder me.”
    “What must I do?”
    “Act swiftly. You must take risks. Sergeant Gupta was a good ally but he is unreliable now. The ship’s cryogenics teams are still feeding the drugs to the sleeping Marines. The must know they are doing this. Try from your end to uncover who’s doing the drugging and why. Look for the unusual that your comrades cannot see. Distrust your fellow Marines; they have been compromised. Make allies instead with the human ship crew. Don’t move until we have evidence so that we know whom to go to and evidence so that we can prove what is happening. At most, we w – ggg– ddd”
    “What? You’re breaking up. I can’t hear you, AI.”
    Arun heard only static and then silence.
    He looked around at the featureless white of the conference world. What was he supposed to do now?
    “…we will get one chance to do this right.” The words swirled around Arun’s head, the illusion of someone speaking to him had died. “Here’s how to contact me…”
    Arun felt a spike rammed through his mind. The knowledge of