Jayne looked concerned. “What does that mean for tomorrow? What kind of time do you need?”
Merry stretched her arms and rolled her wrists. “I made a pre-emptive strike earlier with that trojan horse mail. I plan to keep them busy with that and maybe a denial-of-service on the sally port opposite you so they won’t suspect. Like I said, they have some real pros on staff. I was able to change a scheduled maintenance time to the two-hour window in which we are likely to arrive, so Control expects some glitches. I used Captain Unicorn’s email to send out that message.”
“Hang on,” Jayne stopped her, holding up a hand. “Won’t this person know you used his email?”
“Not for a week.” Merry bit her lower lip in excitement. “He left for a family vacay last night. I timed the email so the date and time stamp reflects about five minutes before he clocked out. After the distraction at the sally port, it’s a matter of disabling the vent security for 35 minutes. That’s the best I can do. It’s still pretty damn good, though.”
Jayne’s expression relaxed. “Bravo, Merry. Looks like this mission won’t be a complete wash after all.”
Merry bowed her head slightly and saluted with two fingers on her eyebrow.
Jayne turned off her projector. “Ok folks, we’re there. Great work. I’ll see you at the shuttle tomorrow, bright and early. And thanks for everything.”
The crew started to gather their stuff. “Oh, and guys? That’s a full lid.”
Merry whispered to Fred. “Holy shit. She has a catchphrase already!”
+++
Shuttle Bay, Central Space Port, L75, Theron Techcropolis, Armaros
It was 7:57 AM.
Merry and Fred dropped their bags onto the shuttle port floor. Fred pulled his wallet out and darted to the vending machines. “Watch my stuff! I’ll be right back.”
Vlad was already there, impatiently waiting for them, standing with his contact, the other scientist.
The two grad school scientists on this same mission had bumped into Merry on their way to the port. Only the male one in the black Tesla University hoodie had bothered to apologize. Now, Merry eyed them both with a moral superiority, hoping they were embarrassed to see she was going to be on their shuttle.
Vlad was deep in conversation with the other scientist. They seemed to be discussing logistics and the arrangement of the equipment that needed loading. Merry studied the female scientist that must be Cynthia MacLeod. Her perfectly angled black bob and glassy blue eyes gave her an icy, no nonsense beauty. Merry noticed Vlad’s animated body language around her. For a moment she thought they were flirting. Then she realized that he appeared to be laughing at his own jokes. Cynthia MacLeod stood with her arms folded, completely unmoved.
In fact, a moment later she looked past Vlad to the large LED clock on the wall. 8:03. She smoothed her belted black jacket over her black, skintight. “You know I don’t like to be late, Vlad.”
Vlad turned to face the clock, his heart sinking in his chest. “I know, Cynthia. She’ll be here.”
Cynthia’s face was tense now. “Is she absolutely necessary to your research team?”
“Second only to me, yes.”
Merry shook her head discreetly and cased the waiting room. It was probably one of the nicer, roomier shuttle ports she had ever seen. Each reclining chair was about the size of one and a half of each chair in Jayne’s office. She noticed the attached tables were about three feet long, which was great if you were working from a laptop and tablet while waiting for the shuttle. Merry settled into a seat for a power nap.
She heard Fred sigh as he threw himself down in the seat next to her. He offered her an open chip bag. He spat crumbs at her when he asked,“Hungry?”
A smoky, sweet flavor wafted from the bag. Barbeque. Merry opened one eye and gratefully took a few. Fred looked concerned. “You think Jayne is going to be here?”
Merry chomped on the chips. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
His eyes widened. “Because she’s not here yet.”
She savored the salty, overly processed taste of the chips. “I don’t know what would keep her away. I mean, I think she’d haunt the fuck out of the facility if she died on the way to the shuttle.”
“That’s a morbid thought.”
“What’s morbid about being a ghost? Sounds dope as hell.” A female voice interrupted them, but Merry and Fred ignored her. It was the youngest grad student, Miranda. Her gray pearl stud earrings, matching sweater, and solar-helix wristwatch screamed ‘daddy’s money’. She was pretty and had a nearly poreless complexion, but her resting face included eyes that narrowed as if finding fault. Her lips were always slightly pursed and almost sneering. She had the kind of nose one could only look down from.
Her minion Ethan had a fine-featured, expressionless face and a chiseled jaw that mirrored his severe haircut. He appeared to be busy fiddling with some of the equipment they brought onboard. He lightly tugged on Miranda’s sleeve. “It’s okay, Miranda. We’ve got time.”
Miranda sniffed and looked at her 2000 credit watch. “Well, if this team makes us late…”
Merry smiled as sweetly as she could muster. “Why don’t you ask Daddy if he can buy you some more time?”
Miranda put down one of her equipment boxes and pointed her index finger at Merry. “I don’t think you understand. Our research is important. We have exacting deadlines. We can’t miss this window for takeoff. We have team meetings when we get to the ring.”
Merry sat up straighter and glared at the girl. “If you honestly think giving yourself a coronary will make our colleague get here faster, then I whole-heartedly support your approach.”
Miranda turned bright red and sank into a seated position. Ethan smiled apologetically.
Vlad hurriedly approached Fred and Merry’s row. “Guys, we need to talk,” he whispered to them urgently.
Merry whispered back, “Why are you whispering?”
“Because,” Vlad said with no small measure of annoyance, “Jayne isn’t here yet and we’re already late. Also,” he looked over his shoulder, “Cynthia does not like to be kept waiting.”
Merry frowned at him. “What do you want us to do?”
His face was taut with stress. “We can’t do much of anything without Jayne. Look, we may have to let the shuttle leave without us and find another one to Tarem.”
“Are you crazy?” Merry exclaimed, still trying to maintain a whisper. “Our plan kinda depends on multiple things happening at certain times in a very specific order. Besides, Jayne will be here.”
Like a pimple on prom night, Professor MacLeod suddenly appeared behind Vlad. “I’m sorry Vlad, but my team and myself have decided to leave now. If your research assistant arrives we’ll reconnect on Tarem. I’m sure you understand.”
Vlad sighed. “One more minute, Cynthia. She’ll be here.”
“We’ve already—“
As if on cue, Jayne scrambled into the waiting room carrying her messenger bag and a laptop case. “Hey! Sorry. Am I late?”
Professor MacLeod nodded towards Jayne, then turned back to Vlad with a smirk “Is this her?”
Vlad grinned in relief. “The one and only.”
Merry shrugged her bags over her shoulders. “Glad to know you care about punctuality.”
Jayne took one of the bags from Merry as they made their way onto the shuttle. “It was kind of important. Mission critical, you might say.”
Merry shook her head and laughed to herself. The group traipsed onto the shuttle and started allocating seats and stowing luggage. Merry noticed Ethan was staring at Jayne—practically drooling—as she lifted her bag into the overhead compartment.
Meanwhile, Miranda also watched Ethan give Jayne the once-over. Her face took on the look of a jealous wife. Jayne appeared oblivious to the entire psychodrama sinking into a window seat, and reclining it as far as it would go. Merry scooted in next to her, leaving the next row for Vlad and Fred. The crew buckled their seat belts and settled in.
Merry casually glanced around. Once she was confident they were out of earshot, she whispered to Jayne. “So what was so important?”
Jayne fished a piece of paper out of the jacket on her lap and handed it to Merry. Merry scanned the scratched out coordinates on the piece of paper, and then the finer details of the location of Burrett’s cell, and other instructions. She smiled, satisfied, and gave the paper back to Jayne. “Relieved to know I sent trojan horses to the right fake grain farm.”
Jayne stuffed the paper back into her jacket. “I had to wait for the last piece of intel. I thought it would help you figure out which systems to screw up.”
Merry put in her ear buds and cued up some anime on her tablet. “A heads up would’ve been nice.”
Jayne leaned closer to Merry and took out one of her ear buds. “Have faith.”
Merry replaced it and snorted. “Faith is for the unprepared. I prefer rigorous exploitation of data mining and uncovering of secrets.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Shuttle Bay, New France Sector, Tarem Ring
“Attention ladies and gentlemen, this shuttle will be docking in the New France Sector in five minutes. We will be docking in the New France Sector in five minutes.”
Merry noticed Miranda giving Jayne sidelong glances as if she were a mother lioness and Ethan was her cub. “Well, at least we can land on time,” she hissed as if no one could hear her.
“Yeah,” Merry pointedly muttered, “then maybe you can get that stick dislodged from your ass.”
Jayne looked at Merry quizzically, appearing not to notice Miranda. “Who has a stick?”
Merry went back to the game on her tablet. “Nothing. There’s no stick.”
Jayne put her fingertips on the window and contemplated the atmosphere. Something about passing through the clouds and light blue sky in the troposphere and barely kissing the darker edge of the mesosphere felt comforting to her. She nestled back into her seat and mentally rehearsed the critical points of the mission.
“Attention ladies and gentlemen, we are currently docking in the New France Sector. Prepare for final descent.”
Merry took a quick mental inventory of her bag. Some of her most black hat root tools were loaded on her burner. Merry figured the ‘grain farm’ administrator with a unicorn fetish should be feeling the consequences of shopping on his work computer any minute now. Her heart was beating insistently.
Little did she realize that her latent anxiety was nothing compared to what Fred was going through. He looked like a cat trying to escape from a bath. His face was whiter and clammier than a bowl of chowder. “I hate this part of flying.”
Merry looked up at him. “It doesn’t show,” she said dryly.
The descent into the New France Sector was relatively smooth, but Fred still shrieked when the shuttle braked. Merry muttered under her breath, “perhaps he should have used some of that Talon-R on himself.”
Once the shuttle had come to a complete stop on the landing pad, the gang gathered their laptops, tablets, and messenger bags from the overhead compartments, almost tripping over each other all the way. Miranda sighed irritably at their every misstep. “Oh, my gawd.”
Once off the shuttle, walking through the terminal, Ethan repeatedly checked their itinerary on his tablet. “According to this, we will need to take a few back roads to make up for the time we lost on the planet…”
Miranda clicked her tongue while she wrestled with her canvas bag of scientific gear. She sped up to a near-jog. “I. KNOW. We literally need to run.”
Merry casually caught up with her and put a hand on Miranda’s shoulder as they walked. “So where are you guys going anyway? You’ve been such gracious hosts that I feel like a heel for not asking.”
She looked deeply offended by Merry’s gesture. “New Norway. We’re checking out unusual atmospheric activity in a crater.”
Merry kept her hand on Miranda’s shoulder, which slowed her down somewhat. “New Norway… That’s near the center of Tarem. Sort of, yeah?”
“Yeah…”
Merry turned and walked backwards so she was facing Miranda and grinned. “You’re checking out a hole, in the middle of the ring. And you’re going to use that?” Merry pointed to what looked like a long, skinny pole in her bag.
Miranda nodded, “Get to the point.”
Merry shrugged, keeping her face deadpan. “I’m just hoping everything goes smoothly for you and you’re able to dislodge that stick from your ring hole.”
Jayne, not wanting to miss out on some rich girl bashing, widened her stride and caught up with Merry. “You’ve been waiting the whole trip to say that, haven’t you?”
Merry’s grin was on the line between triumphant and the cat who ate the canary. “That’s classified.”
Vlad and Cynthia strolled behind Merry and Jayne. “Thank you for letting my crew of misfits travel with you today.”
Cynthia smiled as they walked. “It’s what colleagues do for each other, Vlad.”
“No, I mean it. I deeply appreciate it.”
Cynthia moved just far enough away from Vlad to make her point, but not be rude. “Again, I would’ve done it for anyone on the faculty.”
Vlad smiled, showing off his dimples. “Whatever the case, I was hoping we could get a drink the next time you’re planet-side.”
Cynthia looked uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, Vlad. I don’t drink.”
“Dinner and a movie?”
She shifted her bag on her shoulder awkwardly. “I don’t like most movies out today.”
Vlad put his free hand in his jacket pocket. “That’s fair. A museum, then? They have a great Old Earth exhibit at the-”
Cynthia held up her hand as if to form a barrier between them. “Vlad, no. I’m not interested. Sorry.”
Vlad’s face dropped for a microsecond before composing himself. “Yeah sure. Of course. Another time then,” he waffled, turning a deep shade of red as she increased her walking pace.
Crestfallen, Vlad watched Cynthia’s tight, muscular frame walk away. Merry slowed down enough to walk with him. “Awww. Looks like Vlad won’t be doing any impaling tonight.” She patted his arm.
“Not now, Merry.”
Merry put an arm around his shoulders. “Why? Because the whole shuttle station got to witness you crashing and burning?”
Vlad gave a begrudging smile. “Watch your language, or security is going to think you’re a terrorist threat.”
“No tragedy would compare to what you just went through.”
The view from the shuttle station showed a snippet of Tarem’s expansiveness. Jayne looked out the window, comparing the sprawl to the cramped and busier skyline of Armaros. She felt a sense of peace wash over her and found herself wanting to remember the skyline forever.
Jayne smiled to herself.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Fred grunted from beside her. His eyes still had dark circles around them, which were further highlighted by the pale green tinge to his face.
Jayne noticed he looked physically wilted. She handed him her bottle of water. “You gonna be okay for this mission, Baggins?”
Fred took several sips of the water. “Do I have a choice?”
“I had no idea you hated flying so much.”
Fred nodded weakly. “Always have. I just get so sick.”
Jayne helped Fred onto the shuttle station’s conveyor belt. He limply propped himself up on the railing, reminding Jayne of seaweed stuck to the side of a ship. Jayne estimated she’d been on hundreds of shuttles but the New France shuttle station took the tech-meets-ancient-art trend to new heights.
There were mosaics on each wall running the length of the conveyor belt. They looked to be made of bits of materials from failed planetoids. Jayne made a mental note of each item she recognized—sea glass, rocks from the Lorinox Casade, Orbexian anti-matter gems, textiles from Xanan, and pieces of the Telos Royal Chalice. Jayne enthusiastically took pictures with her hand held.
“A spy’s supposed to blend in, right?”
“Too true, Ms. Austin. Too true. Stay right there. I need to herd you cats to the tube station.”
Jayne watched as Vlad brought Merry and Fred over. Fred still looked miserable. She could see Merry sneak furtive looks at the array of Tarem men, all of whom seemed to be tall and dimpled, often favoring black skinny jeans and moto atmos-jackets.
Vlad appeared to have no patience with either of them. “Fred, stay with me here. You can sleep on the tube. Merry… Merry… Okay, Merry, focus.” Vlad’s frustration was growing palpable to Jayne. His sentences were punctuated with deep sighs and running his hand through his hair. Jayne felt anxious just watching him. “Something wrong, Vlad?”
His eyes focused on everything but Jayne, as if he was trying to catch his racing thoughts with eye beams. “I… No. I’m fine. I’m just a little anxiety is—I mean.. I feel… I am feeling a little anxious.”
“Out of curiosity, when did you smoke your last doobie?”
Without having to think about it, Vlad blurted out “7:25 this morning, and my high wore off during my nap on the shuttle, and dammit I need some green.”
Jayne patted Vlad on the shoulder. “Perhaps you should invent the patch, Vlad.”
He barely seemed to register her comment. Instead he was focused on watching Merry take in the local male scenery. “They have eyes, Ms. Winterbourne,” he called to her.
Merry pried her eyes off an especially tall and gaunt specimen with the symbol for HALO KAISER, a Tarem hardcore band, on his black jacket. “Huh…?”
Vlad shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck like he was trying to keep himself in his skin. “Never mind.”
Jayne swatted Vlad on the shoulder to get his attention. She pointed at the sign for the New France Sector Tube Station. “Is that us?”
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