Close Proximity - An Aeon14 Space Opera Adventure (Perilous Alliance)
Page 19
Grayson didn’t say anything because he didn’t know what to say. Since being aboard the Dauntless, everything had gotten complicated. It shouldn’t have mattered if Kylie lived or died, but it did. To him, it mattered. Rules and regss aside, Grayson didn’t want her to die. Maybe that made him weak, but it was the absolute truth.
But General Samuel and his daughter had to come first. They were, of course, the mission, but it hadn’t been part of the mission for a bounty hunter to show up. He nearly killed Maverick, got his hands on Nadine, none of which was supposed to happen—or be Grayson’s problem—but he still cared.
The general hadn’t told him something. Just what it was, or why it was so important, Grayson had to figure out before it came back to bite them in the ass. He had served under Samuel for years and never had he felt left in the dark like this. Samuel had always proven himself trustworthy, or so Grayson had liked to think. So what was his game now?
Rogers rounded the corner from the outside hall and Grayson tried not to glower at the man. It wasn’t his fault Kylie agreed to get a black market AI. Kylie did what she wanted, just as she always had, but Rogers was the one who happily facilitated this whole mess. He was the one who hooked her up. If something went wrong, Grayson would hold him accountable.
“They don’t have much in way of anything remotely edible here, but they do have everything else you need.” Rogers offered Grayson a food pouch filled with a gray, slimy, nutrition-rich goo.
Grayson held up his hand. “I don’t think I could stomach anything, but thank you. It was kind of you to allow me to be here when she woke up.”
“She’ll kill us for letting you off the ship, but being that you used to be married, I’m easily swayed,” Rogers said.
Grayson nodded. “And the facility where we believe Lana is…once we get out of here, any idea how long it’ll take us to get there?”
“Four days tops. How we’ll get close enough to get Kylie down there is something else entirely.”
The door opened, and both Rogers and Grayson straightened and turned. “Excuse me,” Gert said with her hands folded in front of her. The beautifully exotic, green-skinned woman looked utterly inhuman with her simple features, button nose, and flowing tentacles. The way her voice pulsed was almost erotic.
“Kylie is starting to awaken.”
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
STELLAR DATE: 08.42.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Finn’s Mod Shop, Heaven
REGION: Scattered Disk, Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Kylie had what must have been the worst headache in the galaxy.
She groaned and touched her forehead, but even just the simple movement felt foreign, like she wasn’t even in her own body. Plus, the pain in her head intensified from the minute motion, and she hadn’t even tried to open her eyes yet.
On the plus side, she could move her arm—mostly. It was more than Gert told her would be possible right off the bat.
The voice came from inside her own head, but it felt different than a communication over the Link. It was as though it didn’t come from any specific place. It came from all the places all at once. In her mind, Kylie saw a smiling face. She couldn’t quite make out the features, but its mouth was definitely smiling.
Kylie struggled to take a breath. Her chest was tight and she had a sinking sensation she was on the cusp of a panic attack. Could she even still remember how to breath?
“I’m not sure I remember how,” Kylie muttered aloud even though she meant to say it in her head.
“What’s your name?”
Marge. A strong name for someone who sounded so simple. “Then you can call me Kylie.”
“What is that?” Kylie asked.
“So, eventually you’ll know everything about me? Every thought?”
Marge showed Kylie an image of someone clapping.
Kylie hadn’t meant to. She had meant to think that thought to herself. She suddenly had buyer’s remorse—she wanted to go back to how things used to be. She was hungry, thirsty, and she didn’t want to lay in that bed for three days waiting for things to either get better—or get worse.
Suddenly, the curtain brushed aside. It sounded louder than it should have—like her ears were able to pick up every rustling fiber in the fabric. Kylie lifted both arms to cover them but the movement sent a wave of vertigo over her.
“She’s awake,” Gert said to someone. Kylie wasn’t sure who until she got a whiff of spicy aftershave.
It was Grayson.
“Well, look at you,” Grayson said as he sat beside her and Kylie felt an intense wave of emotion wash over her—one that shouldn’t have been there. “Awake, blinking, and everything.”
“It’s not a time to make jokes,” Kylie said. “My head has gotten very crowded and the headache….”
Grayson took her hand. “I know, but it’ll get better. Your brain is undergoing an intense process but in a day or so you’ll feel like yourself again.”
“I don’t have that long. Nadine….”
“Isn’t going to be hurt. Jason knows if he hurts her, he doesn’t get the information that he wants.”
Kylie nodded and immediately regretted that decision. She closed her eyes and moaned. “Has your AI spoken to you yet, Kylie?” Grayson asked, and Kylie got a distinct impression that he did so to distract her.
“Yeah, her name is Marge.”
Grayson’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh, a female AI? Is she nice?”
“So far, but this headache definitely isn’t.”
Grayson smiled at her. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“What?” Kylie asked. “Oh…I’m sorry…”
“You were talking with your AI. That’s good, real good. Soon, you’ll be able to talk to her while remaining aware of what other things are going on around you. Don’t worry, Kylie. You’ll come through this. Jerrod had a chat with your AI too and looked at the interface. It looks like they did things well here—a lot better than I expected.”
Kylie hoped so. She had been raised to never trust AI, and now she shared headspace with one that she didn’t even know. Nothing about this situation sat right with her.
“Rest, and before you know it, we’ll be out of here.” Grayson gripped her shoulder and kissed the top of her forehead.
“You really think I can do this? What we’re planning to do…”
“We’ll get it done. For Nadine and for Lana,” Grayson said.
For Nadine…
* * * * *
True to everyone’s assurances, in a few days, Kylie felt a lot better. She had gotten to know Gert, or Gertrude as she had come to call her, quite well.
Gertrude’s upbringing and life on the station had been hard, a lot of jobs had required a lot of mods, and not good ones, either. She learned how to keep them functioning, and slowly saved the money to turn her body into something she liked, not loathed. Her work had attracted Finn’s notice, and she took special pride in doing mods that were as beautiful as they were functional.
Despite her alien appearance, Gertrude was a kind, sweet woman. Kylie liked her quite a bit and found herself warming to Marge, as well. The new AI in her head seemed like a simple being at first but as Kylie trained with her, she discovered that Marge knew a lot about weapons and combat…and espionage.
Maybe it was part of the training all AI were part of, but Kylie had a feeling Marge had picked up a lot of her knowledge firsthand.
Marge took a few seconds to respond.
That told a lot more than anything else Marge might have said. Kylie didn’t like it. It occurred to Kylie she might have stolen goods in her head. It wasn’t like she could do anything about it now, and they had to get on with working together—especially now that Kylie was feeling better. Stronger. It was time to move on.
It had been two days, and Kylie was supposed to stay one more night, but that wasn’t going to happen. She had to get back to the ship so they could continue on with what needed to be done. Kylie was ready, and in fact, if she didn’t get on her way, she might jump right out of her skin.
Rising from the bed, Kylie dressed and donned her leather jacket while investigating the weapons in front of her. It was getting easier to control what she saw and what she thought, keeping her ideas private, but it still took a heavy dose of concentration.
Kylie sighed and rubbed her forehead.
That information was private. Kylie’s pulse raced as she realized what had been revealed.
“Let’s just,” Kylie sighed out loud, “get going.” Marge didn’t answer, and Kylie knew that meant she was going to get her way. The nice thing about Marge was she didn’t assert herself past a certain point. Kylie was in charge, and her AI appeared to respect that.
Outside, in the front room, Finn wasn’t around, but Gertrude was. “Miss Rhoads? What are you doing up?”
Kylie walked by the table Gertrude was standing at with a wave of her hand. “So long, Gertrude. Thanks for everything.”
Gertrude didn’t let her go that easily, though. “You’re not ready to go. You should be laying down. Resting. Your body is—”
“Building new neuron pathways, I know. Plus, it’s under a lot of stress. I know that, too, but I have a long space flight ahead of me. It’ll take me a few days to go where we need to go. I’ll get plenty of rest.”
Gertrude’s tentacles flicked back and forth as her eyes studied Kylie’s. They went from sunflower yellow to an angry red. “I guess I’m not going to change your mind on this.”
“Not really. Thanks for everything. Girls like me, we can’t stay still very long.”
“Don’t go get yourself killed,” Gertrude said, her voice soft with a hint of what Kylie took to be a genuine worry.
Kylie ignored Marge. All she wanted was to get back to her ship and crew.
Marge fell quiet again, and Kylie was grateful for the reprieve but hated the idea she might have hurt its feelings. Her feelings. AI were living entities, right? But they were also machines. Advanced computers and advanced tech. Now another being was living in her brain, whether she wanted it to be or not.
They shared things. Knowledge. Body functions.
How would Kylie ever come to grips with that? God, what would her parents think if she ever got around to seeing them again? She wasn’t sure if they’d even talk to her. She walked away from their life a long time ago, but this was so much different. This was a slap in the face to everything they believed. To everything Kylie had been taught: AI were dangerous and eventually would turn on humans. She didn’t know if it was true, but her parents sure believed it—droves of people living on the fringe did, too, thanks to her father’s teachings.
She climbed a long stairway and came to Heaven’s docking ring. The Dauntless was just a few hundred meters away, and when she saw it, all her worries melted away. The airlock was open, awaiting her arrival, and Kylie sprinted toward it, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Finn there, moving several large crates on wheels toward the exit.
“Finn,” Kylie said, forcing her voice to remain level. “What are you doing on my ship…taking my things…?”
He chuckled and pulled four bags of chips out of the top crate—one in each hand. “I never had seventeen varieties of chips before! Ketchup and octopus flavored!”
Kylie laughed and waited for him to leave before closing the airlock. She walked as fast as her sense of balance would allow in the narrow confines of the ship and stepped onto the bridge with a smile on her lips. “I’m onboard and ready for takeoff.”
“Aren’t you a sight?” Winter gave her a big hug. “It’s a relief to see your brain hasn’t bled out your ears, or anything like that.”
Kylie couldn’t fault his sentiment, though his delivery left something to be desired. She signaled Rogers over the Link.
Kylie didn’t know, but it was nice to be back. It was nice to be home. She turned back to Winter. “Where’s Grayson? Any problems?”
Winter shook his head. “Everything’s been quiet as can be. He’s in his quarters. I think he’s just anxious to get started. Like we all are.”
Except his reasons were different, weren’t they? As long as he was agreeable and he did what needed to do, everything would be fine.
INTEL
STELLAR DATE: 08.42.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Finn’s Mod Shop, Heaven
REGION: Scattered Disk, Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Grayson nodded, and Jerrod connected him.
Surprised to hear from the general himself, Grayson sat down on his cot and steepled his fingers.
We? Why did the general talk about his daughter like she belonged to all of the SA and not just himself? It’s possible he was refering to himself and his wife, but he rarely even mentioned her.