Use of Emergency: The Si-Carb Chronicles Book 1

by Kate Kyle

  "What?" she asked.

  "Just wondered why you even bothered asking about the purpose. Never thought it would matter to you," Rutger replied.

  She tried to shrug, but her shoulders were too tense.

  "Yeah, you two have those lofty, noble goals and I'm here to get my stuff back."

  But she wanted more. More meaning, deeper meaning. She wanted to have something to offer in exchange for awareness that it helped someone else, or something.

  Like she could with this investigation.

  "As you said, as long as the-" Rutger said.

  "Oh, shut up," she interrupted him and sighed. "I'm not as noble as the two of you."

  "You've got different priorities, of course," Rutger said.

  Oh, crap… couldn't he just condemn her? It'd be so much easier to have a row with him and then shout back into his face that he was forcing her into all the save-humanity quest? Did she really have to do it herself?

  "Unless you want to join us on our noble quest…" SingMa chipped in.

  Jax jerked her head to glare at him, but she couldn't face looking him in the eyes.

  "The choice is yours," Rutger chimed in.

  When did the two of them get so chummy?

  Why were they teaming up against her? Blooming team players.

  Ah, crap! Now they made her want to be part of it, too.

  "Yeah, I know," she grumbled. "I'm going with you anyway, and I'm at a loose end, so I may as well sort of… Eh… join in that noble quest."

  Cheesy. Cheesier than a packet of all-natural-flavored-cheesy-chips.

  "Sounds great," Rutger said.

  "Awesome!" SingMa joined in.

  The panel beeped.

  "You are approaching your destination. Deceleration procedure initiated.

  She was off the hook. Now was the time to focus on the next steps.

  Jax saw Lulu as soon as the cart started slowing down. Petite, even in the full flight suit, she was the only human figure in sight. The hangar was empty and dark except for yellowing glow of the emergency lightning.

  Jax jumped out of the vehicle as soon as the door lock was released.

  "Lulu Zhou, stop," Jax yelled, pulling out her paralyzer. "I've got a stun gun and I'll use it if you move."

  Her words echoed in the hangar. The air was cool and oxygen thin. Her head swirled and began to ache.

  The little gray figure stopped a few steps away from the entrance to the shuttle. She turned around.

  "Ah, it's you again," Lulu called. "What do you want?"

  "I want my device back."

  "I need it"

  "So do I."

  "I'll return it once my mission is over."

  "What is your mission, Ms. Zhou?" Rutger cut in.

  "None of your business," Lulu shouted back. "Drop your weapon. I've got permission from the Rebels' government to access the location to conduct my research. I'll return your device as soon as I'm back."

  "If you're on Rebels' official business, why aren't you flying with one of our pilots?” SingMa called out from behind Jax.

  "None of your business. Who are these people, Jackie McCarthy?"

  "They're friends…" Jax replied, surprised she could even pronounce the word 'friends'. "They're helping me get my stuff back."

  "As I said, I will return the device to you, I promise. And everything you had on it will be untouched. Now, drop your weapon and let me go."

  "But you can't go to the station," Rutger cut in. "It's condemned. It's dangerous. What if the virus infects you?"

  Lulu gave a sharp laugh. The sharpness of it was intensified by the echo.

  "I don't think so, but honestly, I don't care." Lulu's gaze slid from Rutger's face, above Jax's shoulders, to her right. "Besides, it's not a virus, not yet," she added, staring into the distance. "It's a hoax."

  SingMa jumped in front of Jax. His elbow hit her in the ribs. She hunched in reflex, lowering her weapon.

  "How do you know it's a hoax?" SingMa yelled.

  Jax straightened.

  "Professor Li? It's Manish Sing," he added.

  But Lulu had already disappeared inside the shuttle.

  "Crap!" Jax hissed.

  "Sorry," SingMa whispered. "I just hoped she'd listen knowing it's me."

  Rutger broke into a sprint, but they were too far away. The shuttle's airlock shut with a click.

  "We were too late," Jax said. Pulsating in her head intensified.

  All that talking, not enough action…

  16

  Rutger

  Rutger watched Lulu disappear inside the shuttle.

  Shit!

  If he had a gun, he would have shot the bloody woman in her… whatever part of the body would slow her down the most.

  Who was she that she thought she could just use someone else's property not only without their consent, but clearly against it? Moreover, Lulu was openly using the stolen pilot accreditation to fly off the station. But why the fuck didn't she just ask the RR to get someone to fly her if, as SingMa said, she didn't have the piloting skills.

  "We can't let her disappear," Jax said. "Come on, what can we do?"

  "Sorry. It's all my fault," SingMa mumbled.

  "Yeah," Rutger agreed. "First, if you hadn't taken so damned long to spin your story and now-"

  "I think she was just too far ahead of us," Jax said. "And frankly, there's no point arguing about it now."

  Rutger released the breath he'd been holding long enough to make him a little dizzy. The docking gate started to flash red, the inevitable sign that Lulu's shuttle was prepped for imminent departure.

  The sluice door started to close.

  "Rutger," Jax said, giving him a nudge on the back. "I don't intend to chase her around the Solar System. What do suggest we do?"

  Problem was, he didn't have a clue. The most obvious thing would be to chase Lulu, at least to Vindolanda, but what if Lulu was wrong and the station had been contaminated by an actual virus? After all, the scientists had been sick for months…

  The sickness and the discovery had to be connected. Otherwise, Lulu Zhou wouldn't be going to the station, where everything originated.

  No, everything started ten months earlier, near Jupiter, and had something to do with the girl with the red balloon, and the virus.

  But the girl with the balloon was associated with a computer virus. People were sick because of faulty brain implants. Even if the girl with the balloon virus somehow contaminated the brain implants, which was impossible, how did it all connected with the errant — and subsequently destroyed – piece of rock? Computer viruses couldn't jump from a piece of rock into a piece of equipment in someone's head. It didn't make any sense at all. Yet, a world-class AI specialist turned Cricket Lady who was a Chinese spy, was on her way to a condemned and abandoned research station. All by herself. No doubt on a mission more secret than Rebels could see.

  Yeah, that must have been the reason Lulu Zhou didn't want to be observed by any of the RR agents.

  Rutger's brain began to ache.

  He rubbed his temples. There was only one way to find out if and how all those crazy things were connected.

  "We're going after her," he said. "She's dangerous. I've got a feeling she's on to something, and it's not good."

  "I doubt it," SingMa squeaked. "Professor Li… I mean Zhou is a renown-"

  "Will you shut up with your praise!" Rutger interrupted. "You're biased. Jax?"

  Jax snorted.

  "Have you fallen off your rocket?" she asked.

  The common sense girl. He'd even forgive her the incorrect use of the saying. Ha!

  "Nope. Not yet," Rutger replied. "This is a spaceport. There must be another shuttle that is able to fly. SingMa?" he called out to the local.

  No reply.

  Rutger glanced at the Rebels' AI specialist, who was standing a few steps away from Rutger and Jax, with his back turned to them.

  "Hey, SingMa, we need you," Rutger called out louder.


  "Maybe you need him," Jax mumbled under her breath. "I'd rather go back."

  Rutger's heart clenched, shooting a bolus of hot blood up his body. His face burned.

  This girl could really use an attitude adjustment. He thought she was shifting her views, but her negativity was all too deeply rooted in her upbringing, her culture. Bloody Americans. Forever focused on their rights and privileges. Forever seeking to increase their individual power, riches, welfare. But only for their own country.

  Shit.

  Even the centuries of man-made climate change, devastating wars, dirty politics, failed states, social uprising and pandemics had not taught them anything about the value of looking out for each other at the expense of your own immediate comfort. They still couldn't see the value of working together even when they couldn't see the direct profit to yourself. Because the whole was always greater than a sum of its parts. Even the ancient Greeks knew that.

  He exhaled slowly.

  "I do need him, and I also need you," he drawled out through the teeth. "And you need him and me. If we want to achieve our goals, individual goals, that is, we all need one another," he carried on as calmly as he could. "It'll take you a while to learn to think differently, but you have to accept that this is a team effort for your own sake, for SingMa's friends, and maybe even for the whole of humanity. How do you expect to be a mother if you can't understand the value of working together? What values are you hoping to instill in your child? Cut-throat competition for resources? Endless consumerism at the expense of others?"

  Her face darkened. Fire burned in her green eyes.

  "That's too personal and unfair," she hissed. "And it's none of your business what parent I'll be, if I'm ever a parent."

  "But it's my business to rely on you as my teammate, right?"

  "Have I done anything that makes you think I'm unreliable?"

  "No, but you've said things that make me doubt the authenticity of your motivation to join this mission."

  Jax stepped forward. He could see an artery pulsating under the skin on her temple.

  "You want me on this mission or not? Because if not, I can easily turn around and go. I don't need to listen to your condescending lectures. You think you're better than me because of your fancy European education and all your 'saving humanity' missions. Maybe you've learnt all these things, but you can't even pilot a simple shuttle or use a taser. Can you even defend yourself if anyone attacked you, without using words…" Jax spoke at a lower voice, but her words echoed in his head as if she was shouting.

  Rutger lifted his hands.

  "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I've gone too far. And yes, you're right: you're much better than me at practical things and those are the skills we need for this mission. This and your cool headed, rational thinking and focus on solutions. I need you and you need me. Mind your antisocial attitude though, eh?"

  She set her jaw and narrowed her eyes.

  "And you mind your European smugness."

  "I will," he said, pushing aside his growing frustration with her. And himself, for all the wasted time. "So, you're coming or not. Because…."

  A cautionary beeping filled the hangar.

  "The shuttle's leaving," Jax yelled over the beeping and pulled him towards the bulkhead of the docking bay. "It's safe, but just in case," she said as he trotted beside her.

  SingMa was already there, standing by a screen built into the wall by the entrance.

  "Finished arguing?" he asked as they approached. "If not, hurry up. We've wasted enough time. We've got to fly after her. There is another shuttle here, and I've just hacked it." He carried on, still busy tapping on the screen. "It's a strange unit, completely cut off from the station. Suspicious, I admit, but it's is the only one that the port can't see. We'll be able to sneak in and out unseen and hopefully unstopped."

  Rutger's pulse accelerated. There was hope again.

  He stood by SingMa and watched the shuttle being lifted to the opening in the ceiling by two massive mechanical arms.

  "Done," SingMa yelled and rushed to the gate. "The shuttle is ready. Hurry up. We still have to find a way to gain entry to the station."

  Rutger followed him, only slowing down to glance at Jax.

  Thank God, she was coming, too. Her jaw set, reluctance obvious on her suntanned face, but she was coming.

  They ran to the next bay. As they entered, dim light powered up, revealing a small, bare space with a shuttle docked within a short distance. The room was cold, the air was even thinner than 'next door', and it stank of… Rutger wasn't quite sure. A strange odor of something spacey, not known on Earth.

  "The suits," Jax pointed to the pile of gray clothing on the ground by the entrance.

  Rutger breathed out with relief. She was on board with the mission. Amongst other things, they really needed her skills as a pilot.

  He donned his suit – yet another thing that his prep training included just in case, even though he wasn't expected to be outside a human-friendly atmosphere at any point during his mission.

  Except, of course, he had to expect the unexpected.

  He clicked the helmet into place and a light turned on at eye level and slightly to his right.

  "All life-support functions active and nominal," the display read. "Comms radio short range only. Access via the implants. No access."

  What did that mean? That there was access but not for his implants?

  He searched for the manual control menu, but… no luck.

  His chest tightened. His hands jerked to the helmet to find the release button.

  Click…

  The seal released the helmet. Rutger released his breath.

  He didn't really need to remove the helmet, but it sufficed to know there was a way to get out of the suit. And since he was able to breath in the suit, it must have been in fully working condition, except for the comms.

  He noticed Jax waving at him. He nodded. She gestured for him to remove his helmet.

  He and SingMa followed her instructions.

  "Guys, I've no idea how to operate these," Jax said. "They're implant-interface suits. Apparently, the radio comms are working, but without implants, I can't access it. Can any of you use the suit's comms?"

  "I can't," Rutger replied. "Mine are definitely too primitive for that."

  "No, the brain implant interface is off," SingMa said. His voice seemed tense. Definitely more tense than earlier. "I've tried connecting, but I'm getting a denial of access message."

  "That's strange," Rutger said. "I thought you'd be able-"

  "They are… I think… I suspect… I mean…" SingMa stuttered. His dark face paled. For a moment, Rutger thought the man was going to throw up.

  "Yeah, now you're going to tell us that the suits are poisoned or something," Jax said gloomily. "I'm not going to search any other ones. We've already lost a good fifteen minutes. How far is the station from here?"

  "About a twenty minutes flight," SingMa replied, automatically. "These suits are… I think this is the shuttle they transported the sick researchers in."

  Jax shrugged.

  "So what? They don't have an infectious disease, do they? It was some sort of computer virus, right? I suspect that's why the comms units in the suits are down. It's not like one of those pandemic-causing viruses like they had on Earth. Otherwise, it would have been out and spread a long time ago."

  "I agree with Jax," Rutger said. "Plus, we don't have any other choice, do we?" He looked at SingMa, who was sweating profusely despite the hangar's low temperature.

  "There are no more shuttles in the port at the moment," SingMa replied. "Not that I could see, if that's what you're thinking."

  "That's what I meant," Rutger said and walked up to the other man. "Hey, friend. You've got us here, and this is the only shuttle we've got. The suits are working, except for the comms. It's either this, or we'll never reach Vindolanda. You'll never get to see why your friend's so sick, and I'll never get to… do my bit for humanity." Rutger glanced
at Jax. Hopefully, she was still on board with the original plan.

  She nodded.

  "Rutger's right," she said. "We've got the basics covered. We're already in the suits. If we were to be infected, that would have already happened, so let's just get on with it. Right? We're wasting time again. You've done a good job so far. Now, get us into the shuttle, will you?"

  SingMa nodded. He returned to the entrance and tapped at the panel by the door.

  Seconds later, the shuttle came alive. A dim light seeped along the walls, and a low hum filled the hangar.

  "It's on. We can operate everything else from inside. I'll get you in," he said, heading for the shuttle's airlock.

  Rutger and Jax followed him.

  "I need coordinates for the destination," Jax said, stepping inside the shuttle and heading for the ladder leading up. "I could find the station with the radar, of course, but I need more info for approach. Is the shuttle online?"

  "No. Definitely not," SingMa replied. "Remember, it's short-range radio only."

  "And you can't hack us into it?"

  "I wouldn't dare. In case, it is infected with a virus."

  An idea vaguely emerged in Rutger's mind. He climbed the ladder, following Jax's footsteps.

  The inside was cold. Their steps echoed as they headed towards the control deck.

  "What do you think might be infected? The network?" Rutger asked as they walked.

  He had to wait for the reply. SingMa was not used to climbing or running, as was made evident by his puffing and blowing – and by the sweat pouring from his face.

  "The logs suggest that the shuttle arrived using short-range radio comms," SingMa replied, catching a breath. "This port had been closed before the shuttle arrived. It operates on its own circuit, and I've seen no evidence of any virus. If anything, I think it's the interfaces that can be infected."

  "So, we can't use any of the terminals to access the info we need, right?" Jax asked.

  "No. Not here. These are only short-distance operators. But…" SingMa hesitated. "The network is on."

  "Strap up, we're leaving in sixty seconds" Jax called out. "What do you mean by the network is on?"

  "It means it can be accessed with a working interface," Rutger replied, jumping into the nearest seat and grabbing the harness. A solution was becoming clearer and clearer. "SingMa, can you access the network using your implants?"