Of Sea and Stars (Partners Book 3)

by Melissa Good

  And slowly then, all nodded, an odd wave of motion around the table as though heads were tied with strings. Brion picked up the chip and stood. “We go,” he said. “See how it works out.”

  JESS FOUND A plas window and gazed out it, watching the wind ruffle pale green waters in the Bay near the shore. She felt a sense of relief, of some progress however skewed, and now there remained only one task left for her to do to complete the commitments she’d made.

  The deal she’d brokered with Interforce, to get what she wanted and do what she wanted that also got them what they wanted, in some way.

  She tapped comms. “Dev?”

  “Ah, yes.” Dev’s voice came back with a tone of definite relief. “Is it time for us to go?”

  Jess’s eyebrows lifted. “You in a rush?”

  “Actually, yes.”

  The brows lifted further. “I’m in the kitchen. C’mon over.” She shut down the signal with a bemused look. “Wonder what the hell that’s all about.”

  “Jesslyn.”

  She turned to find Brion there, looking a bit uncomfortable. Behind him was a short, apprehensive figure. “Hello, Mary,” Jess said. She took a seat on the window sill with an almost audible sigh. “You can come in. I’m not going to shoot you.”

  Jimmy’s wife, widow now, edged into the room around Brion, who unapologetically backed out and left them together. Mary had a haggard, haunted look to her, and she rubbed her hands together nervously. “I wanted to talk to you about Tayler.”

  Jess sighed again. “Okay.” She let her hands rest on her knees. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Don’t take him,” Mary said, getting it out in a rush. “You can make a deal with them. They want what you have here. Leave him alone.”

  Jess got up, went to the table and pulled out a chair. She sat down in it and gestured to a second one. “Siddown,” she said. “I can’t leave him. He passed the battery.” She rested her elbows on the wooden surface. “He can’t stay here.”

  “He won’t,” Mary said. “I’ll take him with me. I’m going to stay in Quebec City. I don’t want my kids raised here in this place.” She took a determined breath. “I don’t want him becoming a monster like you.”

  Brave, really. Jess regarded her mildly. Brave, just clueless. “Sorry my suck ass brother never explained it to you,” she said. “He’s already a monster.” She folded her hands. “He was born that way.”

  Mary stared at her. “That’s not true. He’s just a child.”

  “So was I,” Jess said. “So was my father, and his father, and my uncle, and my aunt out in the hills, and ten other generations of us.” She regarded her sister-in-law without emotion. “School doesn’t teach us to be that way. It just teaches us to,” she paused a little, “manage the crazy.”

  Footsteps approached, and the door opened. Dev poked her head in and then pushed the door open. “Hello,” she said. “I found Tayler looking for you, Jess.” She stood back to let the boy enter. “I told him I would help him get his things together to go.”

  “Auntie, Jess.” Tayler went around the table, ignoring his mother’s presence. “There ya are. When we goin’?”

  “Soon,” Jess told him.

  “Tayler, don’t you want to stay with your sister and me?” Mary asked. “We’re going to live someplace nice.”

  Tayler looked over at her. “Wanna go to school,” he said after a pause. “Like Auntie Jess.”

  Mary stood up. “Like your loving aunt who killed your father? Why not ask her about that, Tayler? You have no father now. Ask her why she killed him.”

  He was too young for that crap. Jess sighed internally, as the now six-year-old boy turned and looked at her, and their eyes met. “That’s true, Tay. I did kill him,” she said.

  He put his hand on the table and then his knee on the chair next to her. “How come?”

  She heard a faint sound and glanced up across the table to see Dan Kurok framed in the doorway. “How come? Because he broke a promise. And it was a wrong thing.” She watched the small face watch her and saw that difference, her difference, looking back.

  Tayler nodded a little. “He used to hurt my sister a lot,” he said in a thoughtful tone. “He would do things and she’d cry.” He looked over at his mother. “S’good.” He looked back at Jess. “We go now?”

  “Yeah.” Jess smiled at him, lifted her hand and offered a fist. He lifted his own hand and bumped his smaller knuckles with hers. “Go with Dev. She’ll help you get your stuff and you’ll get a ride with us. Okay?”

  “Yes!” He turned and ran back to the door as Dev hastily scrambled up to follow him. “Wooo!”

  Dan Kurok came and took the chair Dev had been sitting in as Mary just sat there, stunned and without speech. “That’s one of the differences,” he told her in a gentle tone, “that the battery was designed for. To find that lack of attachment.”

  “He doesn’t care,” Mary whispered, her eyes unfocused, not looking at them.

  “No, he really doesn’t,” Jess said. “He’d have gotten Jimmy himself. That’s why they take us at six. Before we get hold of old uncle’s fishing knives.” She leaned forward a little, forcing the woman to make eye contact with her. “Not your fault. You couldn’t have changed it. It’s what it is to be a Drake, both sides.”

  Mary pushed herself to her feet and stumbled out, crying.

  Jess sighed. “I’ll see if Jonton can keep an eye on her.” She stood up and went to the old style cabinet and reached inside to remove two fishrolls. “Want one?”

  Kurok accepted the offering. “Ah, my favorite kind.” He bit into the seaweed wrapped item. “Any last words of advice for me, Jesslyn?”

  Jess just laughed.

  Kurok chuckled himself after a moment. “Do you want to know why?” He eyed her.

  “No.” Jess chewed contentedly. “I know.” She swallowed and winked at him.

  “I see,” he mused. “And?”

  “And that’s all you get.”

  TAYLER RAN TOWARD the carrier, his eyes going everywhere as Dev followed him with a backpack and a duffel bag, the only things he’d be taking with him to school. “S’cool!” He paused near the engine pod as Dev triggered the hatch.

  “Yes, I think so, too,” Dev agreed. She watched him go over and trace the names lettered on the outside of the carrier’s tough skin. She mounted the ramp, and a moment later he scrambled up it next to her, racing inside and then coming to a halt. “Be careful.”

  He looked around with wide eyes as she stowed his gear into one of the lockers then went to her position up in the nose of the carrier. “You can sit there in Jess’s seat if you like,” Dev said as she dropped into her own and got ready to bring the craft active.

  He followed her instead. “C’n I watch?”

  “Yes.” Dev indicated the jumpseat. “But please do not touch anything. It might cause suboptimal results.”

  She heard chatter as she settled her comms rig on and tuned it. Bay ops, a young yet confident voice instructing a supply freighter in. She paused, listening, then touched the input. “Drake’s Bay operations, this is Interforce flight BR270006 requesting departure clearance.”

  A pause. Then. “BR270006, you are cleared for exit, please have a care northeast, there is other traffic approaching.”

  “Understood,” Dev answered with a smile. “Thank you, Kevin.”

  “You are welcome, Dev,” her crèche mate answered, a shared yet unshared pride in both their voices. “Please return soon.”

  So excellent.

  Boots on the ramp, and Dev felt the rocking as the carrier deck took Jess’s weight. “We are cleared to leave, Jess.”

  “Hell, yes.” Jess took her seat. “You ready there, Tay?” She fastened her restraints. “Get that belt on. You’re about to fly with Rocket.”

  Dev leaned over to help Tayler fasten the jumpseat restraints. “Is everything nominal, Jess?” She glanced into the reflector to see her partner shrugging with exaggerated
motions and lifting her hands. “I see.”

  “Is what it is, Devvie. Let’s get moving.” Jess relaxed against her padded seat. “School’s waiting on us.”

  “Yes. Stand by to lift.”

  IT WAS THE first time, really, that she’d flown west. Dev had the external inputs on, and they were cruising over a shallow inland sea, the weather so far holding and only producing some small, scattered showers as they made their way toward the mountain range that held the Interforce school.

  She’d seen some birds, and her sensors had detected some fish, but otherwise the trip had been empty of any ground or people.

  She had the forward screens on, though, and on the horizon she saw the fuzzed delineation that was an elevation of land. “Are there any settlements in this area, Jess?”

  “No.” Jess was leaning back in her chair, her hands folded on her stomach. “Some fishing towns to the west on the edge of the water, but that’s about it.”

  Tayler had been napping, but now he woke and rubbed his eyes. “We there?”

  “Almost,” Jess responded.

  He unhooked himself and got up on his knees on the jumpseat, looking through the front screen as the blur of land started to take on structure, the carrier moving toward it at just three times the speed of sound. “Oh we’re goin’ fast!”

  “Yes.” Dev saw the comms light up. “We’re being hailed.”

  “Send our ident,” Jess said. “You ready, Tay?”

  He sat down and looked at her. “I dunno,” he admitted. “Is it gonna be weird?”

  Jess swung her chair around to face him and leaned forward. “Yeah,” she said. “They’ll take you and talk to you for a few days. Then you should be able to go with the other kids, and it’ll be better.” She paused. “The class started ahead of you, but it’ll be okay.”

  Tayler nodded with a slightly doubtful expression. “Okay.”

  “Canon City control, this is BR270006, Senior Agent Jesslyn Drake in command.” Dev said into the comms. “We are on assignment to this location.”

  They were now within visual range and ahead of them spread a long, sloping plateau of red rock, beyond that towering walls. Atop them were guard stations and the flashback of plasma shields, but in the center of the wall were large doors that were open.

  “Roger that, BR270006. Understand you have a delivery for us,” a voice, calm and almost gentle, came back. “Please proceed to the intake and processing building on the left.”

  “Understood.” Dev slowed the engines as they came into approach, hearing the rumbling boom as they slowed below the speed of sound and dropped in altitude.

  Tayler had turned in his seat again and looked out at the buildings. “Wow. Big.”

  “Very.” Jess felt a mixture of nostalgia and good riddance as she regarded the complex. “Plenty of space, Tay. I think you’ll like the classes.”

  The large central space had people in it. Groups of assorted sized figures, all of whom stopped and stared as the carrier drifted in over them, their eyes following its progress as Dev picked her path toward the rust stained rock walls and structures she’d been directed to.

  There were a number of structures spread out around a central area of plateau, with smaller structures and walls crossing it.

  To one side of the red building there was a cleared pad, and she set the carrier down on its extended skids, the jets’ blast vaporizing the layer of water on the ground.

  A group of people, waiting in the shelter of the doorway of the building started toward them. Dev secured the carrier and released her restraints. standing up as the pilot’s chair moved back and cleared space for her. She went to the locker and removed Tayler’s things.

  “Tay,” Jess said, as she released her own restraints and he came back toward her. “It’ll be okay. You’ll make friends and have fun. They’ll understand how you feel here.”

  Tayler nodded a little, his bottom lip poking out just a bit.

  Jess hesitated. “But you’re always going to be different. Just like I was different. Because we come from Drake’s Bay. You know?”

  Now he grinned a little. “Yeah.”

  “That’s okay.” Jess reached out and ruffled his hair. “A lot of us came here. In some of your classes you’ll find us up on the vid, and you can tell people, hey that’s my family.”

  “Will you come see me?” he asked, suddenly the little boy who was scared coming out.

  “I will.” Jess held her hand out. “Just like my father came and saw me. Let’s go get you settled.”

  Dev opened the hatch and stood back as the ramp extended. She followed Jess and Tayler out to where the group of people were waiting a respectful distance from the carrier’s blunt outline. As she looked around, it occurred to her that the place itself was a somewhat forbidding one.

  All the guards.

  Nearby, a group of older teens were clustered, examining the carrier and pointing. They were wearing the gray suits she remembered the incoming new agents and techs wearing back at Base Ten.

  The tallest of the men facing them came forward and offered a hand. “Hello, Agent Drake. It’s nice to see you again after all this time.”

  “Yeah, been a while.” Jess clasped his hand and released it. “This is my partner, Dev.”

  “Oh, we’ve heard of her.” The man smiled and extended his hand toward Dev. “Welcome to Canon City, Dev. I’m John Callister, director of the school.”

  “Hello,” Dev responded cordially.

  “And this must be Tayler,” Callister said, looking down. “Are you ready to come to school, Tayler? We’ve been waiting for you. I heard you had a lot of adventures before coming.”

  Tayler seemed unsure, but then he released Jess’s hand and took a step forward. “Yeah,” he said. “I even been in space.” He watched as two other people, a man and a woman, came forward. The man reached out to Dev to take his pack and bag.

  “Can’t wait to hear all about that,” the woman said. “I’m Tracy, and I’m going to help get things arranged for you. Ready?” She held her hand out and waited until he reluctantly took it. “Thanks, Tayler.”

  He looked behind him uncertainly, catching Jess’s eye. She waved and smiled, and he relaxed a little, then he let himself be led off. “Bye, Auntie Jess.”

  “Bye, Tay. Have fun,” Jess called back. They watched until the remainder of the group followed Tracy and Tayler as they headed for the door into the processing hall. Jess sighed. “He’s gonna have a tough time.”

  “You all do.” Callister said, not without some sympathy. “But you’ve all ended up walking out that gate.” He glanced around. “Want to come in for a drink? I’ve heard a lot of stories I’d like to get a gut check on from you.”

  Jess looked past him then shook her head. “Gotta get back. Next time.” Without further preamble she turned and headed back to the carrier.

  Dev regarded the man briefly then followed, aware of a general sense of incorrectness but not entirely sure where it lay. She entered the craft and closed the hatch. “Was that suboptimal?” she finally asked Jess, who was slumped in her chair.

  Jess sighed. “I remember my intake day,” she said. “Peh. Get moving out of here willya, Dev?”

  “Of course.” Dev started that process going. “Jess, what is this facility? Is it just a school? It seems very imposing.”

  Jess remained silent as the carrier lifted. “Back in the day, in what was then called Colorado, Canon City was where they had all their lock ups.” She glanced forward. “Jails. Penitentiaries. Maximum security prisons. So that’s what that rock pile is. There are tunnels that connect them, and each one now holds different levels of classes.”

  “I see,” Dev said, who really didn’t.

  “Kids start in the easier sections. Not as scary. As you get older and more dangerous, they move you into places they can control you in if you let the crazy out,” Jess said. “He’s right. At least we Drakes end up walking out of there. Not everyone does.”

&nbs
p; Dev thought about the little boy with the starfish and felt a sense of sadness. “That does not sound very excellent, Jess.”

  Jess regarded her with a wry smile. “Worse than being a bio alt, huh? I’m hoping the doc’ll figure out how to flip our bit before the next generation.” She leaned back. “If anyone can, he can.”

  Dev exhaled slowly. “If he can, he will,” she murmured, meeting Jess’s eyes in the reflector.

  They stared at each other for a long moment. “Maybe he already has,” Jess said. “We just don’t know it yet.”

  About the Author

  Melissa Good is an IT professional and network engineer who works and lives in South Florida with a skillion lizards and Mocha the dog.

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