by Melissa Good
Dev gave her a sideways glance then smiled a little and looked down.
“So, here we start going into the living quarters of all the bio alts,” Doctor Dan said. “They have a meal hall, recreation, and so on that’s exclusive to them.”
Jess studied the decks they were moving past and thought about the areas in the Citadel that served the same purpose. Were the corridors bleaker and more utilitarian? They didn’t seem to be here. They were still the same smooth curves and mild, milky colors.
The bio alt halls at Base Ten were more roughly cut, but Jess considered that most of the lower areas of the Citadel were like that, including the passages she took daily down to the power turbine tunnels where she surfed in the backwash.
Bio alts in the lower halls. Here. At the Base. Jess cocked her head slightly to one side. There were no bio alts at Drake’s bay but there...
No. There, lower levels were better. “Huh.”
“Something wrong?” Doctor Dan asked.
“Just thinking.” Jess returned her attention to their surroundings. “So what was all that about my dad being a rebel?”
Kurok chuckled dryly. “Had to say something,” he said. “I was trying to see who knew what there and failed rather miserably I’m afraid.”
“Someone knew something,” Jess said. “I could smell it.” She fell silent as they caught up with a larger group of bio alts, some of whom waved timidly at Gigi.
Here the floors were plain metal, and the doors had no ornamentation as they had on the upper levels. There was no soothing weave on the walls, it was bare and faintly reflective, and there were no pictures or random art anywhere.
They reached the next to last level and left the tube, emerging back into gravity in an area bounded by security doors with portals where they could see guards working at consoles. The guards looked up as they came into view, but relaxed when they spotted Kurok, who was apparently well known to them and expected. “Hello, Doctor Kurok,” one called out and gave him a wave.
“Hello, lads.” Doctor Dan returned the wave. “Just here for a visit.”
Each had a space jumpsuit on, with a tool belt that held several canisters and one rectangular device mounted prominently on the strap that came across their chests where they could slap it with one hand.
“No problem, sir,” the guard said. “They always love it when you come down.” He glanced at Dev and Jess and nodded at them.
Jess watched the guards thoughtfully. Gigi could have been a walking floor mop.
The doors to the interior were open and they walked through into a wide, busy space that held the soft murmur and echo of many voices.
Dev moved closer and lowered her voice. “This is the dayroom. And there, where the ramp goes up? That goes to the sleeping pods.”
“Hmm.” Jess looked around. The space was full of bio alts, all dressed in various color jumpsuits, some blue and red, some light green, some dun colored. All of them wore visible collars, and as they entered, a ripple ran across the room as the bio alts noticed them.
The black and dark green uniforms were unique and drew their gaze.
Then they all recognized Doctor Dan, and some reacted to seeing Gigi. Then they put two and two together as they realized the shorter of the two strangely dressed women was known to them.
Was one of them.
Jess easily felt the electric result. Excitement and interest as bodies straightened up and turned toward them. She sensed the response to be positive, her own body relaxing as her senses understood the people moving toward them to be friendly, or at least not dangerous.
There was a central desk, staffed by other bio alts, and they came to a halt near the oval structure as many sets moved toward them.
“Hello, Doctor Dan,” the closest of them behind the desk greeted them. “Hello, Gigi5 and NM-Dev-1.” He looked uncertainly at Jess.
“This is Jess,” Gigi supplied. “She’s a friend of NM-Dev-1’s, and also, of Doctor Dan.”
The bio alt behind the desk looked reassured. “Hello, Jess,” he said. “I am CeeEm245. I am on duty today here in the hall.”
“Hi,” Jess responded amiably.
Doctor Dan put his hands on the table. “We heard everyone wanted to say hello to Dev, so we stopped by to visit, and also, Jess wanted to see the crèche.”
Several proctors came over and paused uncertainly. Kurok glanced at them then turned and leaned on the counter. “Jess works for Interforce, who holds Dev’s contract,” he explained to the now clustered masses. “Dev now also works for Interforce as an operations technician, the very first of her kind to do so.”
“An excellent assignment,” the CeeEm said in an impressed tone.
“A very excellent assignment, and what you all might not know is that I, myself, was once an operations technician. I worked for Interforce just like Dev now does.” Doctor Dan acknowledged the murmured interest with a slight wave. “So I was very happy and very proud that Dev was able to do this.”
Dev maintained a prudent silence, merely standing next to Jess with her hands clasped behind her back.
Doctor Dan smiled. “I’m sure all of you have lots of questions,” he said. “Am I right?”
One of the BeeEffs stepped forward. “Yes, Doctor Dan, we do. We want to get such excellent assignments, too.”
The proctors looked unsettled and a bit nervous. They shuffled their feet as the crowd very gently eased around them toward the console. “Doctor Kurok,” one of them said, “are you s—”
“Good lads. Go get yourself some tea,” Kurok told them. “I can handle this.”
“But—”
“Go.” He shooed them off. “I want everyone to feel free to ask whatever questions they want and not be embarrassed. Go on.”
The proctors looked reassured and nodded. “I understand. We’ll be back in a while.”
“There.” Doctor Dan leaned over the console and tapped on an input pad. “Now, let’s have it, everyone. Ask away.”
There were a lot of questions. But first, Doctor Dan got behind the console, took over one of the positions and put vid on the screen. “This was Dev’s very first mission,” he said. “So you all can see what she does for her assignment.”
Jess chuckled.
“Hmm.” Dev muttered under her breath. “Isn’t that supposed to be restricted?”
“C’mon, Devvie. You’re a rock star.” Jess patted her back.
The screen lit up and then audio cut in, and they heard Dev’s voice on comms, requesting flight clearance. The KayTees were gathered near her and watched with deep interest as the carrier lifted out of the docking cavern and into the weather.
“We have programming for that location,” one of the KayTees said. “I recognize it.”
“It’s Interforce Base Ten,” Dev said. “It’s where we are assigned. There are KayTees there who fly from that cavern also.”
Gigi inhaled as the vid turned in a complete circle, showing first the craggy ridge line that the base was built into, and then the endless expanse of sea. “Oh! Is that downside?”
“That is downside,” Dev confirmed. “The substance hitting the window is called rain, and it happens a lot.” She sat on a stool next to the counter, and Jess leaned on it behind her. “It’s water,” she added. “Everything almost is water downside.”
“What is that you are flying?” One of the KayTees asked.
“That is BR270006, a Bantam class heavy armored carrier,” Dev said. “I am the pilot, Jess is the flight leader.”
“And the gunner.” Jess lifted her hands up and wiggled her fingers.
The carrier moved into flight and went through the speed of sound, the cracking booms echoing through the big space, making the bio alts jump a little.
“That’s a sonic boom,” Doctor Dan said into the quiet that followed. “You KayTees would have had that in programming also, since the courier craft you fly can go that fast.”
“Yes,” the nearest KayTee said. “We know that.”
“We have heard that in the sim,” a second said.
Dev’s voice came again from the vid, seeing a target. Then the carrier went into evasive maneuvers and the bodies all around them jerked in reaction, eyes glued to the vid screens as the POV from the carrier swirled and rotated, going up and over the incoming rogue carrier.
Then Jess’s voice, battle clipped and warning, and flashes of blasters coming past the nose of the carrier to blow the other one out of the sky, the implosion resounding through the screen as pieces of it went in every direction.
“That vehicle was empty. But it was dangerous,” Doctor Dan said. “Dev, did you find your programming useful during this event?”
Dev was quiet for a moment. “Knowing what controls to use and how to make the craft fly was excellent,” she said. “I knew exactly what to do.”
“My first experience in flying upside down,” Jess added. “But not my last.”
The screen now showed the approach to Gibraltar and Dev took a breath, knowing what was coming since she’d had to suffer watching it endless times in the operations lounge. “This was a bit more...um...”
The room went quiet as the carrier sped up and then went into battle, blasts coming past them and impacting them, rocking the carrier from side to side, the chaos an odd counterpoint to Dev and Jess’s calm voices in call and response to the situation.
“Here comes the big boom,” Jess said as the carrier went right at the mountain face, turning at the very last second as chasers zoomed past them and crashed into it, and then the rumbling thumps as Jess put plasma bombs into the slim opening going sideways across the rock.
A flash of the rear sensors as the firestorm erupted and then a shudder as the blast caught up to them and blew them sideways, the carrier tumbling almost at the edge of control, falling powerless down and down until the energy overload faded and Dev could start up the engines again.
She did, and then they were shooting over the ruffled waters. “That is the ocean,” Dev said. “There is a lot of it.”
“That is also water,” Gigi said.
“Yes,” Dev agreed. “I swam in it.”
Everyone nearby turned and looked at her.
“Jess taught me how to surf,” Dev said. “And when we collected Doctor Dan, we had to swim to get away.”
“Rescued me,” Doctor Dan gently corrected. “But that is another story.”
Jess pointed at the screen. “You don’t want to miss this next part.”
The heads swiveled back as Dev outraced the enemy, taking them down to the surface and then zooming through the big round wave. Many of the sets gasped and then gasped again as the carrier barreled at top speed at the rock wall, tip on it’s edge, and rocket straight upward at high speed right up into the clouds with enemy fire thundering at them on every side.
Only to tip and fall and circle, and then the mechanical voice noted the squirt from Jason and they heard Jess’s voice yelling for her to run, run, run, that it was over and they’d done it. And she put the engines into full, remembering that solid thump as it had driven her back in her seat and the restraints retracted.
As always, Dev felt her heart race, remembering that. Now she took a breath and lifted her head as a thick silence fell and she found a sea of eyes on her. It felt like it might be a little incorrect, those looks and all that quiet as the flares receded, and all you could hear was the alarm and the warning beeps.
She remembered breathing hard and feeling exhilarated.
Jess broke the silence, casually straightening up to her full height and draping an arm over Dev’s shoulders. “Best pilot in Interforce,” she said, “and a kick ass wrencher.”
Dev’s nostrils flared a little and she glanced back at her partner. “Jess.”
Doctor Dan chuckled. “And of course, that was just Dev’s first flight, so you see, with the programming track we developed for Dev, she was able to be quite successful at her assignment.”
The KayTee nearest them turned fully around and looked intently at Dev, then at Kurok, then back at Dev. “What is the thing on your uniform?” he asked. “The green thing?”
“That is my technician’s insignia,” Dev answered. “I received it when I arrived at the Interforce Base number ten and keyed in.” She half turned and looked up at Jess. “Jess has one as well.”
The KayTee examined it, the crowd moving closer. “Do the gold lines mean you are a natural born?” he asked Jess, a little timidly.
Jess shook her head. “Those mean I’m a senior operations agent. Dev’ll have those soon enough.” She glanced over at Kurok. “Just like the doc did.”
Gigi edged closer. “They’re pretty.”
“They are attractive,” the KayTee agreed, looking from Dev to Jess. “The green means you are a technician?” He touched her sleeve, briefly.
Dev understood the underlying question. “Yes, all techs wear green with black edging and agents wear black with green, when we are on duty.”
“All of you?” the KayTee asked. “You and the natural borns?”
“Yes.”
The bio alts looked at each other then up at Doctor Dan, who leaned against the counter on the inside of it, watching them.
“So you can see,” Doctor Dan said, after a moment of charged silence. “We have developed a very successful programming set. That’s why Interforce has asked for more resources like Dev.”
A CeeEff edged closer. “Could you give us that programming, Doctor Dan?” she asked. “We would like to be excellent and successful at our assignments also.”
Murmurs rose, and then there was a stir as some proctors emerged from the staff break room behind the ramp to the sleep chambers, coming to a halt as they saw the crowd. “What’s going on here?” one asked, loudly.
Doctor Dan straightened up. “It’s all right. I was just showing them a vid.”
“Oh.” The proctor looked a little embarrassed. “Sorry, Doctor Kurok.”
“No problem. All right everyone, that’s all for now,” Doctor Dan said, as the bio alts started to move off in every direction. “CeeEff, that’s a good question you asked,” he added, to the young woman who had stayed, watching him. “You already have some of the programming, you know. It was in the advanced B12 section.”
A faint smiled appeared on her face, and she nodded. Then she turned to Dev. “Congratulations, NM-Dev-1. You have done some excellent work.”
“I had a lot of assistance,” Dev responded modestly. “It was really Doctor Dan’s programming.
“Tch tch.” Kurok came around the counter as the proctors approached them. “We can discuss it all later, hmm? I think it’s time for us to finish our tour and go to the lab.” He casually eased between the proctors and Dev. “Something I can help you good folks with?”
“Oh, no, Doctor Kurok,” the proctor who’d spoken up before said. “We were coming to see if there was something you needed. We heard the reports of a crowd in here.” He glanced at Jess, who still had her arm draped over Dev. “Security told us.”
“Well, nothing to worry about. I was just showing off Dev’s first mission,” Kurok said. “I knew everyone would want to see it. After all, she’s one of them.”
The proctor nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...” His voice trailed off. “Anyway, is there anything we can do to help?”
“No.” Kurok patted Dev on the shoulder. “Now it’s time for Dev to see what we’ve developed for her successors. Excuse us.” He waited for them to move out of the way, and they did with some reluctance.
“Can we see the vid, Doctor Kurok?” The second proctor asked as they started to move away. “Is it in the library?”
Kurok looked over his shoulder, a bit of his sandy hair covering one eye. “You can. If you need any explanation of it, come see me later.”
All of them looked relieved. “Yes, Doctor,” the first proctor said. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “Not a problem, lads. Enjoy.”
Gigi gave t
hem a little wave as she left, returning uptube to her station in the outer office of the Director.
JESS ACKNOWLEDGED THE shift as they walked, her honed senses moving from a benign watchfulness to that inner tension of being in enemy territory. Something was in work around her, something other than the seed scam, which she reckoned was probably nothing more than a grab for cred.
“So,” Doctor Dan indicated a direction, “these are the genetics labs, where I spend most of my time on station.”
“This where you design people?” Jess clarified as they went down a long, long corridor, which curved up at its far horizon. “Cook up the spirals?”
“Yes.” Doctor Dan palmed into one of the side doors and stood back to let them enter. “This is my development lab.” He followed them inside. “Dev was born here, in fact, in this room.”
Dev suppressed a faint smile as she glanced around. The room was a large space with a curved outer wall that displayed the stars. There were comp stations in different locations, and one long wall was a workspace, now displaying genetic scribblings.
She had spent time in this lab, working on her final project for genetics class, but that had just been because the largest of the historical repositories was here, and Doctor Dan had made it so it could only be accessed from inside the space.
She hadn’t thought to ask why, then. She’d just been very glad to be allowed to use the systems here in Doctor Dan’s very own laboratory.
Jess strolled around the lab, peering into the screens. “All just phosphor to me,” she said with a smile. “I haven’t even seen my own scan, or if I did, I wouldn’t have any idea what I was looking at.”
“No, I suspect you haven’t and wouldn’t.” Kurok went over to the main station, sat down and pulled over an input pad, keying it on. “It’s an esoteric science, and you lot downworld don’t have much use for it.”
“True,” Jess said.
“Now, Dev.” He motioned her over. “Let’s start with your design.”
That got Jess’s immediate attention, and she joined them in front of the screen. Kurok called up a sequence and displayed it.
