Of Sea and Stars (Partners Book 3)

by Melissa Good

  “Still nothing but phosphor to me,” Jess said. “I was hoping for baby on the bathrug shots.”

  Doctor Dan chuckled. “Later.” He picked up a light pen and traced a line on the screen. “This is the complete structure for the technician programming, you see that Dev? It fits here, along the Satlut promontories, and curves around inside the section here.”

  “What does that mean?” Jess asked.

  Surprisingly, Dev was the one who answered. “Programming goes in different places in our heads,” she said. “Sometimes they just put it in some empty space where they find it, and you have to hunt around for it. But this wasn’t like that.”

  Doctor Dan nodded. “Right.”

  “This was put in this place here, and that’s right between the general area, and the part where you don’t have to think about what you’re doing.” She leaned closer to the screen. “It makes it easier.”

  “Instinct,” Jess guessed.

  “Mmm...artificially induced instinct,” Kurok said. “So the specifics, like about the carrier, the controls, and so on, that’s in general.” He touched an area. “You can overwrite it if you need to, with newer data, and that kind of thing. But this here...” He touched another. “That’s a little magical.”

  Jess’s dark eyebrows hiked up.

  “It’s not data, exactly. It’s a methodology that blends a framework with a natural inclination.”

  Jess stared at the screen, thoughts shifting through her mind with a jittering rapidity. “So...you take something like the natural ability to problem solve and give it a specific structure.”

  Both Dev and Doctor Dan looked at her in some mild surprise. “Yes,” Kurok said. “I designed Dev to have a flexible, powerful mind, and then shaped that with technical detail.” He paused. “Very good, Jesslyn. I didn’t realize you had that background knowledge yourself.”

  Jess shook her head. “I don’t. You know perfectly well I don’t. It just makes sense.” Her eyes took on a darkly humorous glint. “After all, that’s exactly what they do with us, isn’t it? They take a natural twist and give it a purpose.”

  Doctor Dan grunted.

  “Isn’t that where you got the idea?” Jess asked. “Watching my dad?”

  For a moment, she thought he was going to get mad at her for saying it. She waited, seeing the tensions shift, as his eyes lifted to meet hers, in a fine intellectual fencing, probing gently with respect.

  Then he smiled, with a touch of sheepishness. “Not consciously,” he said. “But there’s probably a grain of truth in that, Jesslyn, even as I see where you see that in hindsight.”

  “So Jess was right,” Dev said. “She told me we were not that different.”

  Doctor Dan chuckled under his breath and shook his head. “Anyway,” he pointed back to the screen and shifted the input, “this is what the design is for the new techs. I shifted some of the integration into general because we’ll have more time to give them specific information.”

  “So they won’t have to guess all the time,” Dev said. “That will make them be in less discomfort.”

  “Exactly.” He paused. “Was it terribly uncomfortable for you, Dev? We just had so little time.”

  “Not really, Doctor Dan. I got used to it. It made me work harder, but in a good way.”

  Jess wandered off, roaming around the lab and peering at the tridimensional models integrated into the walls, all genetic representations marked with cryptic symbolism. She studied one of the models, seeing different colored pathways marking out something apparently relevant, branching into this area and that area.

  It was the most intricate of the models, and Jess circled it curiously, leaning over to read the cryptic label, already sure of what she would see. “Hey, Dev. It’s your head.” She peeked past the model to see Dev looking back at her.

  Doctor Dan smiled. “Yes. That’s the developmental new model. Hidden in plain sight as it were.”

  The doors to the lab opened, and three men entered, two of them with the belts the guards had worn in the crèche. “Doctor Kurok?”

  Jess circled the model and got between the men and the table Dev and Doctor Dan were at, standing squarely in their way. “Stop,” she commanded them.

  “It’s all right, Jess.” Kurok gently eased past her. “What’s the problem, boys?”

  “There’s a missing person, Doctor.” The guard in the lead looked nervously at Jess. “They would like your help in finding them, with genetiscan,” he said. “It’s one of the children. We think they might have gotten lost during the malfunction.”

  “Absolutely. Give me the designation,” Doctor Dan said. “Sit down, friends. This won’t take long.”

  Jess moved aside and went back to the table as the guard handed over a plas to him. She saw his eyes drop to it then jerk upward in confusion to stare back at the guard.

  “This is a natural born,” Kurok said, watching the guards nod. “And you think they’re lost?”

  The guards nodded again. “Doctor Doss is asking.”

  Kurok sat down behind another console and keyed it on. “I see.” He started tapping in data. “Or at least, I hope I don’t see.”

  DEV LOOKED UP from the screen she was studying, sensing motion. She watched the guards, who had retreated to the far wall, and saw one of them fingering the device on his chest. “Jess.”

  Jess eased in next to her. “Yeah?”

  “The thing those guards have,” Dev said in a low tone. “That is what they use to stop us.” She watched the man. “Remember I told you?”

  “I remember.” Jess leaned against the table, tilting her head to keep the guard in her peripheral vision. “That square thing on his chest?”

  “Yes.”

  “They use it often?”

  Dev’s eyes narrowed. “We think it’s more often than they should,” she said. “There are different levels. Some of them hurt.”

  “I figured.” Jess leaned on the counter. “Hey, Doc?”

  Kurok looked up from his task, visibly irritated. “Yes?”

  Jess raised an eyebrow at him, and after moment, a faint grin appeared on his face. “Wanna dump the badges?” she mentioned casually. “They’re making me twitch.”

  He glanced at the guards. “Boys, you can take off. This’ll take me a while. I’ll call it in to operations.”

  The guards looked uncomfortable. “Sir, they told us to stay.”

  “And I’m telling you to leave,” Doctor Dan said, “unless you’re here to arrest me.”

  The nearest one’s eyes widened. “Oh no, Doctor Kurok! We’re here to um...”

  “Protect me?” Kurok’s eyes twinkled. “From these two, huh?” He gave Dev and Jess a sideways look. “You dangerous characters you.”

  Jess chuckled audibly. “Can’t decide which is funnier. That I’d do something to you, or that they think they can stop me from doing something to you.”

  The guard frowned. “Hey. We have a job to do here. Doctor Doss sent us.”

  “And Jesslyn’s point is, if she decided to break my neck, there’s not a damn thing you could do about it.” Kurok shook his head and returned his attention to the screen.

  Dev now regretted saying anything. She started toward Doctor Dan, ready to offer her help in the search. “Can I scan that for you?”

  “Hey!” The guard started forward. “Stay away from him.”

  Doctor Dan looked up over his screen. “Please don’t be an idiot,” he said just as Jess started to follow Dev over.

  “Hey!”

  Jess sensed the change and her eyes widened as she saw the flush on his face. Then too many things happened at once. He slapped at his chest, Dev jerked and cried out, then dropped like a rock, and then it all went black and white for her.

  Cold.

  Hot.

  Rage swept over her like a wave in the ocean, and she let instinct take over and surrendered to it.

  Before anyone could draw another breath she was over the console, reaching for him,
batting the other guard out of the way and booting the third across the room in one long rippling motion that ended with her and the guard who had zapped Dev nose to nose.

  “Dev!” Kurok dropped to his knees on the ground. “You bloody idiots!” he yelled. “What in the hell was that for!”

  The guard tried to bring his hands up between them. “Hey I—”

  Jess’s right fist hit his jaw, and a moment later he was dead on the ground. Just like that, just that easy. She turned, grabbed his body, lifting it up and throwing it against the wall with a sodden, heavy crunch.

  She went for the next one, and as her hands touched him she heard two sharp, staccato syllables and went still. She held him in a grip and turned her head to look at where the sound came from.

  Shocked, a little, when she realized it was Kurok, looking slightly shocked himself.

  The stop code. Probably written in the quirk of his brain somewhere, a reflex trained bone deep inside the techs that went through field school who had to be paired with an agent and knew when they were in the zone together they might need it.

  Nothing exotic. Just a code that was just as deeply drummed into the predatory spirits that lived just under the skins of people like Jess.

  Kurok looked at her, one hand lifted in her direction. “She’s only down, not out,” he said, in a gentle tone. “And we need to find out if they did that on purpose.” He pointed at the guard Jess had her hands on. “Mind asking him?”

  The guard in her grip had the sense to stay still, breathing hard, staring at her. Jess looked at him, and his heels rattled against the floor as he pissed himself in fear.

  “Did he?” Jess rasped, feeling her fingers twitch against him.

  His teeth chattered. Jess held him up with little effort, barely keeping herself from breaking his neck, and he probably knew that, could see it in her eyes and in the vibrating tension in her body.

  “Did he!”

  “Okay, maybe I should ask.” Kurok stripped off the harbor jacket he was wearing and wrapped it around Dev’s quiet, still form. Then he stood up and walked over to them “Albert, please don’t be stupid. You don’t want to die or get hurt, and there’s a very good possibility of both if you don’t tell us.”

  “Nnnno.” He managed to get out. “Told us to guard you.” He turned his head so he could avoid Jess’s eyes. “Said they were dangerous.”

  Doctor Dan sighed. “Yes,” he said. “But what would make Edgar use his controller? Dev wasn’t doing anything to me.” He reached over and grabbed the man’s jaw, turning his head to look into his eyes. “Albert?”

  A mediocre man, a guard because he had no other use. His face was twisted, and his nose had been broken before, and now he just shook his head. “Dunno.”

  Jess shifted her grip and put pressure on him, bending his back into an arc and he screamed in fear. “Cough it up,” she said. “I can hurt you so badly you’ll beg me to kill you, and buddy?” Jess tightened her fingers, “I promise you it’ll just make me laugh because that’s just the kinda gal I am.”

  He stared at her, shaking, into those ice cold blue eyes.

  “You can’t even make charges. You injured an Interforce op,” Jess said. “I’ll cut you in pieces, slowly. Leave parts of you all over the station.”

  One more moment of resistance, and then he broke. “No no no...just...didn’t mean to take her down. Swear it! Just stupid! Just mad about her!” He was babbling now. “One of them!”

  Kurok sighed.

  “Not fair!” Albert squealed. “Make it better than us!”

  Jess dropped him and watched him bounce off the hard steel ground with no expression on her face. “Idiots.”

  “Yes.” Kurok looked over at the dead guard, and the unconscious one, and the puddle of stinking, shuddering coward at his feet. “Sorry, Jesslyn.”

  “For what?” Jess turned and went to one of the specimen sinks, releasing cleanser over her hands before she shook them free of the residue and went back to where Dev was lying.

  Then, in a breath, it was color again and she felt her guts clench and she dropped to one knee as the other refused to hold her up. “Hey, Devvie.” She braced one hand against the floor and touched Dev’s face, which was still and blank. “Hang in there, huh? Doc’ll fix you up.”

  She was suddenly scared. An uncertain terror filled her, and she could barely keep herself propped upright. “She’s gonna be okay, right Doc?”

  “Yes.” He came over and patted her shoulder. “Do an old man a favor hmm? Can you carry her over into that room on the far side there? I have a programming table I can use to bring her back up.”

  For a long moment Jess was afraid she couldn’t do it. Her body was shaking inside and she had no real idea why, but after a few breaths she leaned forward and gathered Dev’s slack form up and stood, cradling her body against her.

  The room to the side was quiet and had no star windows in it. It was roundish as most of the spaces in station were, and there was a console on a raised platform on one side and a rectangular table on the other.

  Jess very gently laid her burden down on the table, as she heard Kurok come in behind her.

  Kurok joined her and then pulled down an overhead rig. “I locked the outer door. Last thing I need is some wig head stumbling in here to ask me a question and tripping over a corpse.”

  “She was scared of those zappers,” Jess said, moving aside a little. “What are you going to do?” After a little pause, a hand reached out to touch Dev’s without conscious thought.

  “I’m going to connect up and make sure they didn’t do any damage.” Doctor Dan undid the uniform at Dev’s neck and eased the dark fabric aside, exposing her collar. “Then I’ll bring her up.” He glanced up at Jess’s face. “She’ll be fine,” he added, in a gentler tone.

  Jess went around to the other side of the table and rested her hands on it, facing him. Her fingertips were still twitching. “That going to cause you trouble?” She jerked her head in the direction of the outer chamber.

  “Probably. But I did warn them.” Kurok carefully attached the programming rig to the jacks on Dev’s collar. “We scientists tend to be really obtuse at times.” He shook his head absently. “We think what we want to think and never stop to remember the important details.”

  “You managed to remember the stop code.”

  “Mmm.” His face creased into a smile. “Remind me to tell you later the first time I had to use that with your father.” He went to the console, sat down behind it, and brought up the screen. “This doesn’t have an input to station systems. It’s standalone.”

  “Good.”

  Kurok looked at her. “Got that prickly feeling, do you?” He ran the calibration automatically, watching the tall figure across the room. “I never lost it,” he admitted. “As long as I’ve been here, I’ve been looking over my shoulder.”

  Jess found herself distracted by Dev’s quiet, pale face. “Doc?”

  “Hmm.” He glanced over the console at her.

  “Can you take the collar off her?”

  Doctor Dan waited for the program to boot up, his hands leaning on the metal of the console as he regarded her with a serious expression on his face. “That will limit her,” he said. “There’s a lot left for me to give her that way.”

  “Could also save her life,” Jess responded. “Anyone finds out about that zapper, they got an angle I can’t counter.”

  Kurok grunted in acknowledgment. “We all have weaknesses, Jess. Not to mention it should be her choice.” He concentrated on the screen a moment, pausing to look back up at her. “But yes. I can.”

  Jess curled her fingers around Dev’s, convincing herself that she felt a return pressure, even though there was no motion at all other than a steady motion of Dev’s chest.

  Doctor Dan peered intently at the screen, his hands still on the input pad. “My god.”

  Jess stiffened. “What?”

  “No, it’s all right. Just way more synaptic growth t
han I expected.”

  Jess reached over and moved a bit of hair out of Dev’s eyes. “Yeah okay. Can you wake her up and then look at all the googlies?”

  “Give me a minute.” He started inputting. “I will.”

  Chapter Eight

  SHE HEARD WHISPERING in her head and at once became aware of being down and knew she was being programmed.

  Her heart pounded and she tried to move, but part of being down was being frozen still. So instead she tried to force herself up.

  She felt the insistence of the programming and panic started to take her over. She was aware of a hand on her and voices, as she fought the hold of the rig and against the paralysis. Then the release came. She was up.

  Her eyes snapped open and everything was blurry. Then a face came close and she saw sparkling blue, and it was Jess. She gasped and reached out, her hands finally freed. Jess caught them and pulled her into a hug.

  She was sweating and breathing hard, but the hammering in her chest was easing as Jess patted her on the back in awkward comfort. “Jjjjess.”

  “Yeah it’s me. Take it easy, Rocket,” Jess said. “You’re freaking me and the doc out.”

  The doc. Dev straightened up on the table, half turning in Jess’s arms to see Doctor Dan there, his hands leaning against the surface. He looked upset. “Oh! Was that you, Doctor Dan? I didn’t...oh, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” Doctor Dan still looked upset. “One of the guards put you down, Dev. I was just taking the opportunity to put in some updated data before I brought you back up. It’s me who should apologize. I should have asked you first.”

  Dev felt herself calm, a very quick search finding all of her recent memories firmly in place.

  And Jess was here, and there, in her heart, in that special place. She leaned her head against Jess’s arm then got herself sorted and sat up, blinking sweat out of her eyes. “I didn’t mean to...um.”

  “Freak out?” Jess asked. “I was hoping you’d have all your eggs scrambled when you woke.”

  Dev laughed faintly. “You know, the morning before I found out about going downside I had eggs for breakfast.” She exhaled. “Gigi and I.”