The Ascension Myth Box Set

by Ell Leigh Clark

  Then it was Joel’s turn to flush. “We make a good team.”

  God, he wanted to kick himself. What the fuck was he? A high school kid with a crush? Normally he’d be… well, different. Why was this so hard? He dropped his arms and crossed them over his chest.

  “You know…” he started. Molly asked him something at the same time.

  “Sorry, you go,” she smiled.

  “No, go ahead…” he pointed to her.

  “I was going to ask how the search for Andus is going?”

  He wanted to roll his eyes. Oh my fucking god, we’re flirting over work stuff. I’ve reached a new low. When did I lose my game? “Oh, yeah. Good. Well, not good. Nothing’s turned up with any of my contacts yet. I take it Oz hasn’t had any luck?”

  “Nope. He can only access something if it’s in digital format and connected in some way to the XtraNET. These guys look like they’ve been careful. Andus must be pretty much off-grid.”

  “Or using a different name,” volunteered Joel.

  “Yes, we’d considered that. If your guys turn anything up, like a second name, or even a strand of DNA, then maybe we’ll have more luck with Oz.”

  “Sure, I’ll keep you posted.”

  Joel hesitated again, like he was going to say something else.

  Molly had gone back to her holo research, very aware that Joel was still standing there but pretending to read her screen anyway.

  “Whatcha looking at?” he asked after a moment of indecision.

  “Researching possible operations ships. We’re going to have to get off-world soon. Very soon. I don’t think Mac or his evil Syndicate are going to let us just keep interfering. And I want to do lots more interfering. So we need a safe place to operate from.”

  Joel frowned, “Wow. That was fast. I didn’t think we’d be leaving so soon.”

  Her eyes danced over the data on her screen. “Oz doesn’t think that we’re going to be safe for much longer either, and you know, algorithms never lie.” She had a twinkle in her eye as she gently mocked the situation with her passenger and her own nerdiness.

  She continued a moment later, “Not with the Syndicate and everything else that has gone on, and that’s not even taking into account the new cases we have coming in. He’s calculated a bunch of probabilities and scenarios using all that processing power he has. Some scenarios give us a month, but most only a couple of weeks before we’re found and taken out. We need a safe haven where no one will think to look for us.”

  “And so we need a ship,” Joel said, starting to follow her logic.

  “Exactly.”

  Joel’s face lit up a little. “A ship with guns?”

  You can take the man out of the military, but you can’t take the love of blowing shit up out of the man, thought Molly. “Preferably. Or if we can find one at the right price, maybe we can retrofit. We’re just looking into options right now.”

  “We? You and…”

  “Oz.”

  “Right. Oz.” Joel took a couple of steps and perched on the foot of the bed next to Molly. “How mad is that? You have an AI tied into your holo. And your brain.”

  “Yeah. Mad, or maddening,” agreed Molly.

  I heard that!

  You hear everything, Dickwad.

  “Yeah…I just, I can’t wrap my brain around it.” Joel was still working to come to terms with the idea.

  Well, that’s not unexpected.

  Get back to your searching, or I will upgrade your name to ass-crack or something similar. And c’mon, cut out the snark. Joel’s a good man, and our only team member.

  “Hey, you know what you could help with?” Molly looked up again from her browsing.

  Joel smiled over at her. “Anything…”

  “We’re going to need a pilot. And a really badass mechanic to keep this ship running. Someone ex-military. With experience. A variety of experiences. And someone who can adapt to the changing nature of our operation as we grow. Know of anyone?”

  Joel thought for a moment before answering, “Not offhand, but I can start asking around.”

  “That would be amaze-balls. Thanks, Joel.” Molly smiled encouragement, with a glimmer of flirtation.

  Joel just looked at her, a little stunned. She totally knew the effect that was having on him. Fokk, this girl is ruthless.

  He tried to slow his heartbeat back to normal, but it was so hard. He should go ahead and leave. Being here in her bedroom, his thoughts just got mangled. This was something he was going to have to manage carefully.

  Then reality hit him through the onslaught of his mind’s hormonal shields: “How are we going to pay for all this?”

  She cocked her head, “You mean the ship and the new team members? I have a plan.”

  “Uh huh. Care to share with the rest of the group?” he replied as he pointed to himself.

  She smirked, “It’s a very complicated plan, using the latest in AI research and, trust me, more than a shitload of computational power. Are you ready for this?”

  He nodded, so she answered. “We’re just going to take on bigger clients,” she admitted.

  Joel looked at her a moment, trying to figure out which part of that was true, and which part of that answer was false. He came to the conclusion the first part was her idea of a joke.

  “Just like that then?” he harrumphed.

  “Just like that,” she agreed.

  Joel was stymied. Her logic was clear, simple, and pretty damned direct. Often he couldn’t tell if she was autistic or a genius.

  It was like she had no anxiety around taking on a challenge and taking on even larger clients would be a challenge. She just did what needed to be done. It was always the same on operations, back when they were running the same missions. Sometimes he really envied that ability she had.

  Other times it was damned annoying, if not intimidating.

  “Okay, I’m going to hit the sack then.” He stood up and looked back at her.

  “Night, Joel.” She told him.

  “Night, Molly.”

  He headed out of her room, and into his own. Closing his door behind him, he leaned against it. “Goddamn it, Joel. You’re such a drulludel” He cursed himself, gently banging his head so as not to make too much sound.

  * * *

  The safe house was all quiet, and Joel’s light had been off for hours. Molly was still filtering through ship specs.

  As much as she’d always enjoyed her solitude in these wee hours, she was enjoying having Oz as company. Apart from anything, he was making the work go much faster. It was fun to cut out some of the mundane searching and just tell him what she needed.

  Maybe she just liked the feeling of making progress more quickly, and it had nothing to do with the company. She’d always considered herself something of a lone wolf, so maybe it really was the faster progress that made the difference.

  She set another search running, having adjusted the criteria to include the newer core fusion system and an operating system that was programmed in Estarian, rather than Ogg basic language, so she and the crew could actually understand the labels and directions on the ship. She hated not knowing which chain to pull for help and which to flush the toilet with when she traveled public air transport in Ogg.

  She hit search, and then made a note to make sure that she procured other items they would need once they got to a base off-world. Furniture. Weapons. This was turning into one mammoth project. She was starting to gain a new appreciation for all the administration the military did.

  She thought for a second she heard a noise somewhere in the house. She wasn’t sure, though. It might have been something in her auditory implant as she set the note to save. Plus she was tired.

  She paused and waited, listening.

  There was a noise again, like someone moved something in the kitchen. Stiffly, she put the holo to one side of the bed and wiggled off the mattress. She’d been sitting for too long with h
er legs crossed; she needed to give the blood time to run.

  Picking up her weapon off the makeshift bed stand, she started creeping towards the bedroom door. She noticed she was only in her underwear and a t-shirt.

  Oh well, maybe I can distract the intruder, she thought glibly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at herself.

  She had been expecting Mac to send someone after her. It had been a few days since her appearance in his office, and she had threatened him. She knew at the time it was probably a bad idea, but if she hadn’t riled him up, they wouldn’t know about the Syndicate or his involvement in the political landscape of fuckery that was the Central Systems’ way of governing.

  She wondered how they’d been traced, though. They took proper counter-measures whenever they went out, and she was pretty sure they hadn’t been followed when she rescued Joel. Of course, it may just have taken his team of assholes this long to be able to crunch through the shit-ton of traffic cam data to track them…but still.

  She made her way down the corridor to the kitchen door.

  Her heart was in her mouth. She was a techie. A lab rat. She wasn’t cut out for hand-to-hand or any other kind of combat, apart from under the supervision of real soldiers like Joel. Or in a controlled environment, like the dojo.

  Her arms and legs went weak with the adrenalin, as they had every time she had to fight in training. Fokk.

  Something toppled. Like a bottle. There was definitely someone moving in there. She rounded the doorframe and scanned the kitchen, expecting to have some dark figure jump her at any second.

  Nothing.

  No movement. No figure. Nothing.

  Then she caught something jumping from the counter onto the floor, and the sound of something scampering.

  Shit. This better not be something out of those archived alien films Grandpa would watch with her. Her heart was beating out of her chest.

  It seemed Joel had heard something and was moving down the corridor to join her.

  She was relieved.

  She was all for the independent female, and the every-nerd-for-herself movement, but there was something comforting about a soldier having her back. She turned back to the door and caught his eye, motioning in the direction of the movement. He had his weapon drawn too, and it followed the line of sight where she was indicating.

  He mouthed “on three”. And then…

  “One. Two. THREE!”

  He slammed the lights on and stormed the kitchen table, expecting to find a Sarkian of one race or another crouched under the table.

  What he found, he took a second to register.

  Molly watched as his expression turned from serious, “I’m going to blow the shit out of you,” to shock and surprise, and then to “I can’t believe we were so stupid.”

  Molly rounded the table and stooped down to see what he was looking at.

  There, staring back up at them, was probably the most adorable and weird-looking kitty on the planet, if not the system.

  Well, “kitty” isn’t exactly the description she could use to any of the Sarkians. A “kitty” was a human’s version of a cat. From the Pan galaxy. This was the feline companion of the Estarian variety. They were furless, with effulgent deep purple skin and bright orange eyes, and long associated with being able to cross over into the next realm with their owners who were destined for the next type of existence.

  Nope, technically this was a sphinx.

  His eerily bright orange eyes almost seemed to query them, “What’s all the fuss about?”

  Molly breathed a sigh of relief. A sigh that, mid-breath, turned into laughter. Joel found himself chuckling along with her.

  All their military training, stacked against…a kitty.

  A sphinx, Oz corrected in her thoughts.

  Molly ignored him.

  “Aww…he’s so sweet,” cooed Molly. She fell to her knees and reached under the table to pick him up. The sphinx didn’t resist. Instead, he let her pull him out from under the table, and then just curled up against her as she cuddled him close and stood up.

  “Yeah. How do you know it’s a boy?” Joel asked, putting the safety back on his weapon and stuffing it in the back of his sweatpants.

  Molly laughed. “I didn’t, but…” she lifted the sphinx a little higher and turned it over. “Yep, definitely a boy kitty.” She grinned at Joel. Joel’s big hands were petting him as Molly held the little guy in her arms. She felt Joel close to her and was still comforted by the presence of her teammate, who had demonstrated how he had her back even in the middle of the night against a very dangerous feline.

  The sphinx turned around and nipped at Joel’s hand.

  He snatched his hand back. “Hey!” he said playfully.

  “It’s okay. They do that. He’s probably hungry. Take him…I’ll fix him some food from our leftovers.” She handed the purring purple creature over to Joel and turned to the fridge.

  Joel looked awkward at first. All his training and muscle and people skills were worth nothing when it came to dealing with something so small, cute and eerily mystical.

  “Always thought these creatures were a little…off. I mean, look at him. It’s like he can read my thoughts.” He still held the sphinx, a little uncomfortably, like he was trying to keep him away from his body.

  Molly had one hand on the fridge door and was rummaging through the contents. She turned and looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

  He shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that! Seriously. It’s like it’s got the body of a sphinx, but the mind of a wise old grownup. It’s creepy.”

  “Anyone ever told you that you have an overactive imagination?” Molly remarked, gently mocking him with her signature straight face.

  The sphinx had settled into his arms and was purring again. Joel seemed to relax a little, and let him lean against his chest. Molly pulled a dish of food out of the fridge, and set about separating out a small portion.

  “So, we feed him and then what? Can we keep him?” He wondered if he sounded more like a boyfriend than an operations manager at that moment.

  Molly seemed to miss that, though.

  “Well, sphinxes are really rare, from what I’ve read. I can’t imagine he hasn’t got an owner. I’ll bet they’re pretty expensive, too. We should check with the landlady, see if she knows who he belongs to.”

  “Okay, I’ll handle that in the morning.” Yup, that sounded more like an operations manager, he reassured himself.

  Molly put the bowl of food on the floor for the sphinx and indicated to Joel to let him down. Joel seemed reluctant for a second, and then awkwardly tried to put him down on the tiles. Halfway down the sphinx leapt from his arms and deftly plunked down on all fours, heading straight for the food.

  “Damn, he must be hungry,” murmured Joel, now under the natural spell that small, cute creatures put their people under.

  Molly, having fed the creature and neutralized the threat of the “intruder,” had now lost interest. She started back towards the door. “I’m heading back to bed, then.”

  “What about a name?” Joel asked.

  “Huh?” She took a beat, and then realized he was talking about the sphinx. “Well, he might already have a name…”

  Joel nodded. “Right. Okay. I’ll find out. Night.”

  “Night,” Molly casually waved backwards through a yawn, as she disappeared up the short corridor to her room.

  Joel stood and watched the sphinx eat for a few moments, then checked the doors and windows before retiring himself.

  Wonder how he got in? he thought idly to himself, turning to check the doors and windows of the kitchen another time. Having examined all possible entrances and exits and confirmed the house was secure, he gave up.

  Must have come in when we had the doors open during the day, he concluded.

  Switching off the kitchen light, he headed back to bed. Molly’s light was still on. He shook his head.

&n
bsp; That girl kept bizarre hours…

  Chapter 8

  Spire, Capital of Estaria. Two hundred kilometers north of Uptarlung

  “Rassgat! Pick up the holo, Dewitt.” Garet was in trouble. His only chance at survival was to convince Dewitt he was faithful.

  He flagged down a cab and forced his way into the backseat, looking over his shoulder and struggling with his brown leather briefcase.

  “The Mandeli Hotel. Fast.” He barked his order at the cabbie. The cabbie didn’t acknowledge him verbally. He just pulled quietly out into the traffic, lifted off two seconds later when it was safe to pull out into a faster lane to get across town.

  The traffic below was intense. Garet craned his neck to look down through the window to see if he was being followed.

  If he couldn’t convince Dewitt he had no intention of using the files, he was going to need a Plan B which involved disappearing. And for that, he needed a pro.

  Just then he saw another car pull up and out of the traffic below. It was black, with blacked out windows. They’d found him.

  Shit!

  “I’ll pay you a hundred credits if you can get me to the hotel before that black vehicle catches us.”

  The cabbie spoke for the first time. “You got it.” He stepped on the accelerator, and the car heaved forward.

  After so much bad luck in the last few days, Garet had finally, if ignorantly, struck gold by jumping into Sean Royale’s cab.

  Not only had Sean been with the service for forty years, but he was discharged after being awarded the Seal. No one outside his unit would have known what that meant, but for the men, women, and others he’d worked with, it was the highest commendation one could earn.

  And he had been itching for a bit of action ever since he retired two years, four months and fifteen days ago.

  Not that he was counting.

  The cab pulled away at near warp speed. Damn, this cab has been kitted out, Garet realized. He scrambled in his bag for the hundred credits and put them in a pile on the seat next to him.

  He was going to need an extraction plan. He pulled up another contact on his holo and dialed.

  “Hi, yes, its Garet Beaufort. I need your help. I hear you’re still in the business?”