Cadet: Star Defenders Book Two: Space Opera Adventure

by Pamela Stewart

  Most of the files were shielded, and even I couldn’t decode them.

  And what was in the back lab behind that sealed door? I had to wait to find out until the doctor deemed that I was worthy.

  I usually didn't mind being alone while doing my work, but today I wanted interaction. Someone to talk to about fashion or share my thoughts on the Hub, but I worked separately from the rest of the lab workers.

  Break time rolled around, and my adrenaline surge sputtered out. The lab cleared. Mess was soon and then Combat Class. I would rather swim with these critters than have my internal organs pummeled by Gleason again. But after last night, I supposed I had no choice but to commit to the hand-to-hand lessons. There wouldn’t always be someone there to rescue me, whether I was on a ship, in a base, or on a research colony.

  Vega had been right. About a lot of things. But Dax confused me. Why not take credits to help his family? I teetered from anger to confusion and back.

  Emotions were so hard to quantify, and there was never a right answer.

  The stillness of the lab chafed like one of Madam Sosa’s dresses. I could almost feel someone watching me.

  A low moaning sound emitted from the sealed door in the back of the lab.

  The door I wasn’t supposed to enter.

  I removed the prong from the vat and rubbed my sore upper arm. I should go to mess, but there was a chance I’d run into Dax, and I was still feeling raw.

  Calm understanding did not come to me naturally. It was best to hide out here and wait until combat class.

  The moaning increased. Dr. Sinclair had said he had other experiments behind the door, to ignore the area, no matter what I heard or saw.

  I donned my magnifiers. Having a complete knowledge base of the last few centuries always gave me a warm, secure feeling, like holding my stuffed tanger.

  The sound registered as organic. Maybe another type of hybrid? The heaviness I’d worn like a jacket slid off.

  I was alone, so just looking at the lock wouldn’t hurt. I used my wristlet to lay out the map showing dots where cadets, officers, and security roamed. From the pattern, I had ten minutes before the next security patrol. The doctor wasn’t even on this section of grid, far enough away to allow me to explore.

  The door was at least fifteen feet high and five feet wide. The portal could accommodate something massive.

  The keypad was bio matched. Damn. Those were the hardest to break. Not impossible, but hard.

  This system consisted of an optical analyzer, height, and weight verifications.

  Of course, the one thing I wasn’t supposed to do was the only thing I wanted to do.

  To get past the weight and height code, I could use one of the snowmen bot assistants. I could change its density by removing the top section and add height as necessary.

  All I had left to overcome was the optical scan.

  I pulled an image from the doctor’s med info and used a 3-D printer to create a replica of the iris and optical nerve.

  Once the 3-D printer finished, I attached the copy to the front of the snowman bot and lifted its head six inches.

  I should stop. This was insanity.

  But the thrill of breaking the rules and finding out something new was just too much. I pushed the dismantled bot in front of the keypad.

  The door clicked open. “Welcome, Doctor Sinclair,” a disembodied voice intoned. The smell of stale air wafted out and reminded me of a petting zoo I'd once visited with cloned OE canines and felines.

  What would I find? More bio experiments? I took a tentative step forward and paused. This was the point of no return.

  If I entered, I could get a whole heap of trouble. I double-checked the map. Then I double-double checked the door and stepped over the threshold. Automatic lights popped on.

  Inside, a hallway led deeper into the station with six more locked doors lining each side of the corridor.

  The hairs on the back of my neck bristled. I gave myself a ten- minute time limit to explore with four minutes to get back out and lock up. I set a timer on my wrist com. I also set it to flash red if anyone got within 100 feet of the lab door.

  I knew I’d get distracted in a lab full of top-secret scientific experiments.

  A giddy joy bubbled. I’d not felt this excited in forever.

  At the end of the hall, the moaning started again—louder this time. Before, the sound had seemed angry. Now it sounded pained and frantic.

  Not an aquatic creature. Was it a bioweapon being developed by the doctor?

  The door at the very end of the hall had an optical entry. Dammit. I ran back into the lab and snagged the eye replica and dashed back down the hallway. This time I was not tentative. This one only had an optical scanner. Thank Sol for small favors.

  I flashed the eyeball in front of the scanner, and the door slid back into the wall.

  The stench of animal waste choked me. Eyes watering, I held my nose and crept forward.

  The big overhead lights didn't flip on in this chamber as they had in the hallway.

  An ambient glow illuminated a large lab, and an opaque plexiglass cage spanned the back wall.

  A creature moved behind it. Pacing.

  Something wanted out. Something big.

  I took a step toward the enclosure. My heart quivered.

  The material holding the subject was four inches thick and should’ve been soundproof, yet I heard its growling. What the hell did the doctor have in this cage? The enclosure seemed too small for such a large creature.

  It sensed I was here. The activity level increased threefold.

  A holo chart hovered next to the enclosure. If I could get close enough to read it, then I would have some insight.

  I took a tentative step toward the cage. I could hear ragged breathing. It reminded me of someone on a ventilator, sharp intakes of breath followed by rushed exhales. The alarm on my wristlet didn’t detect any vid capture tech, which was a relief. This had to be secret.

  A larger display hung in the air with biofeedback beeping quietly, tracking nerve reactions, heart and lung capacity, O2 usages, hydration, and BP. This experiment was similar to my little swimmers but definitely land-based.

  The digital screen showed everything a high-tech satellite hospital would have run on its best patient—so much detail. I absorbed every detail and took a step toward the cage.

  Now to see what was inside. Some primal part of me did not want to get anywhere near it. My fingers and toes tingled. My back itched. My instincts screamed at me to run, lock the door behind me, and forget any of this had happened.

  Something stronger grabbed me. Curiosity.

  I tiptoed forward as if that would help. Who knew what keyed into this creature’s senses?

  Sound? Smell? Movement? Could it see through the opaque glass? The schematic showed the internals. The reading reminded me of some form of reptile but unfamiliar.

  Two steps away, I captured information from the screen with my magnifiers and even downloaded the open files.

  I wiped my traces with a few detailed lines of code. Taking one more step, I reached out toward the cage.

  How was the creature fed? What did it eat? Did it have enough room? It sounded...upset.

  A howl vibrated the air, and I leaped back, knocking into a table behind me. The enclosure shook violently. My heart hammered against my eardrums.

  Snarling, it slammed against its cage again. Something cracked.

  I righted the small table and scrambled to the door and pushed it closed. Then the alarm on my wristlet flashed red.

  By the sparkling moon of New Paris, I was unlucky.

  Someone was coming and fast. I sprinted out the external door and locked it. With a giant heave, I pushed the robot into a corner and said a prayer to any deities of logic and intelligence, like the goddess Athena. Or perhaps another OE god would fit better?

  Focus. The door slid open. The doctor darted to the reinforced door and went inside. I held my breath and pretended to
be working. Sweat gathered on my palms as I stirred the vat.

  Five minutes. Ten. My arms ached, and I slowed down. At last, the doctor came out and shut the door behind him.

  I didn’t look in his direction.

  “Cadet Dupree?”

  My heart stopped for a second as I pulled the prong out and tried to keep my face completely blank.

  “Yes sir?”

  “I’ve been invited to a soiree in your honor on Friday. Tell the Lord and Lady I’d be happy to join them should my work schedule allow. Some of my experiments are”—he glanced back at the door and sighed—“at difficult stages right now.”

  “Of course, sir.” I felt the urge to bow as we did on the satellite but stopped myself.

  When parties and my parents were involved, there were rules of engagement. Other protocols existed here.

  Thank Sol, the doctor seemed to have missed the fact that I’d broken into his private lab. I allowed myself to relax as he strode away. Before he hit the door, he swiveled and looked at me again.

  “Looks like you got curious about our lab assistant globe bots. Put it back together before the next shift, and try to control yourself in my lab. That’s one demerit.”

  With that, he left. I pressed my eyes closed tightly. So close. It had been so close. Too close.

  No more chances. I would follow the rules and not explore anymore or hack systems or cause any problems. My logical self said the probability of that was slim, but I had to.

  I handed off my duties to the incoming assistant and walked to the mess hall, repeating my new mantra.

  Be good. Be better. Be perfect.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Dax

  I knew this part of the Mil-station. My wristlet informed me that my afternoon assignment had shifted from the Engineering core to another location.

  A hot ball of worry rooted in my stomach, but I ignored it. Amelie had fixed the records, and I had complete faith she had done the job. This morning my schedule showed R&R. I’d visited the infirmary for a follow-up. Whatever that doc had done had fixed me up pretty good. Only minor cuts and bruises.

  But now, my schedule had shifted again. I ventured deeper toward the rotational center of our group of stations. The halls widened, and natural Sol light crept through the portholes.

  I climbed many levels up from my bunk in Engineering. Why had I been summoned here? I didn’t see any other cadets. A touch of worry danced over my nerves as I arrived at the door. It was large enough to allow at least three people to enter shoulder-to-shoulder. I waved my hand over the entry pad.

  It was like the atrium, but the plants were fuller, and they were real. The air smelled strange. Not like the weird sulfur air on Clementine, but there was a clarity to it, like when I'd first come from the Hub and started inhaling the Mil-station air. But this was cleaner. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

  Chirping and beeping sounds filled the moist air, not mechanical. It sounded more like an old vid clip.

  In the center was a giant hydroponic sprout with wooden offshoots covered in green, fluttering pieces of decoration.

  Such a strange thing. Beautiful.

  Since I had nowhere else to go and didn’t know where the class was supposed to be, I decided to ask the only person I could see. A slight man stood on the observation deck. He wore a white uniform and had his hands thrust into his pockets. I marched to his location and recognized Lieutenant Commander Petrov, my instructor from Engineering.

  What was he doing here? I stopped behind him. He stared out the plexiglass at the expanse. And by Sol, it was breathtaking.

  “Sir?” I cleared my throat and stood at attention.

  Petrov lifted his head slightly but didn’t turn. “Smith. Come here. I want to show you something.”

  The strangeness of the situation wasn’t lost on me, but I complied with the command. I held onto the thread of a hope that this meeting could be happening for a good reason.

  “See the binder in the center? The axis of the Axis.” He indicated the spear visible with a hundred thousand offshoots connecting the center with the multiple parts.

  “Yes sir.”

  “We keep the Axis turning. The population shifts keep teams busy for years. Trying to maintain the proper rotation is an impossible task. Just to keep us all alive out here in the black.” He leaned forward, still not looking at me, and placed his hand on the rail that kept onlookers from falling. “Few realize how much work goes into it. Fewer care.”

  He pushed away at that and swiveled to look at me. “We need people who know and care. We need to hand down the knowledge to the next-gen so that we all survive. Bonded forever isn’t just a military motto. It’s a promise. We all work together, or we all die.”

  I appreciated his sentiment. It was very similar to what he’d said the first day. But I still knew that working in Engineering in that pit was droid work at best and Hub fodder work at worst.

  “You didn’t show up for your morning sessions, so I looked at your file,” he said.

  My heart stammered, and I stopped breathing.

  “It showed that I’d approved a trip to the Hub and a delayed start time for you.” His voice was low and calm, but underneath there was something else. A threat?

  I blinked rapidly, processing what that might mean.

  “I didn’t give you permission to leave the base or to be out of class.”

  I opened my mouth and snapped it closed. I had no excuse. He’d caught me, and my next stop was the brig.

  “Do you have an explanation, Cadet?”

  I shook my head. If I admitted anything, Amelie, Vega, and even Ethan and the others might get caught in the crossfire. Better to take the punishment than to allow any of them to be hurt.

  He sighed heavily. I could see his scars up close now. They moved slightly as his face changed expression. They’d healed long ago but still gave him a fierce look. It was a constant reminder of the pain he must have suffered.

  “You have the eyes I need. In the few days you’ve been here, you already picked up on two different things that my senior students take years to understand. You’re intuitive and intelligent. Perfect for this work.” He splayed his hands out toward me. “But falsifying records and going AWOL... I can’t keep you on the roster if you don’t work with me.”

  “I’ll do whatever you need to keep my spot.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely.” It was a crap job, but it was a job. I needed it. I needed the Academy.

  He nodded to himself.

  “Then you have to try. You have to believe in the work. You have to take it seriously.”

  A slight frown seeped onto my face before I could hide it.

  “The work is vital, and without us, nothing moves.”

  “I can’t see how anything I do could be as important as you’re saying. It’s good hard labor, and I’ll do it, but I know I’m just a cog.”

  For the first time, something besides gung-ho excitement ran across his face. His jaw tightened, and he sucked in a harsh breath through his nose.

  “Son, I’ll let that go because I don't think you understand the gravity of what you're saying. Can an engine work without propulsion magnets or pistons? Is one part of the engine more important than the others? They work in tandem. Every part is important to make your ship fly or to make your transport move. But some parts are more important than others. You have something that will be very important to the Axis very soon.”

  He exhaled harshly and pinned me with a laser stare. “I can’t protect you from yourself. You want to continue to think you’re a Hub kid who can do nothing but get into trouble? Then go ahead and drop out of the program and regain the grunts. I won't waste any more time on you.

  Or you can stick with me. We can create something here that will keep the Axis safe and flying for the next century. All these people's lives depend on us. Whether they realize it or not. Don't you ever disparage that again.”

  The muscles in his jaw
worked. He turned back to look at the deep space that lay beyond—pinpricks of silver representing the thousands of planets spread around us.

  “Sir?”

  “Yes?” He turned back to me again, his lips a thin line.

  He was still angry. His face was flushed, and his eyes narrowed. The three deep divots on each side of his face stood out in sharp relief. He looked like a warrior and sounded like a leader. Something in my chest stirred, and my back straightened.

  “I never thought I could do much. I just wanted to survive and help people, maybe see the stars. But this is important. I'll try. It’s all I can do.”

  “That's all I can ask of you, Cadet Smith.” His face relaxed, and he clasped my shoulder, making real eye contact.

  I usually looked away when somebody stared at me for too long. I was from the Hub, and they were judging me, or at least that's what I thought. But there was nothing but admiration on Petrov’s face. The anger melted away, and he gave me the slightest smile.

  As his hand dropped back to his side, he straightened to attention and saluted me. I followed suit.

  “You have half an hour to get back on duty, Smith. Report to Engineering.”

  “Sir, yes sir.”

  Even though most of my body felt worn and damaged, I found myself smiling for the first time as I rushed out the door and back down to the Engineering level. Maybe working in engineering wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

  Chapter Seventy

  Vega

  When I entered the classroom, I knew something wasn't right.

  The automatic lights in the ceiling grid flickered and washed the empty room in a dull yellow glow.

  My wristlet flashed my schedule, Propulsion and Aerodynamics. I’d just followed the prompts for the proper directions, but normally I’d been going to hand-to-hand. This wasn’t even a valid class. Something had glitched.

  I stood in the doorway and sighed. The gym was halfway across the base, and I was going to be late. I turned to leave when hands grabbed me from behind.

  I swung around as a fist collided with my face.

  My head exploded with pain, my ears ringing. I reeled backward and caught myself.