The Syn-En Solution

by Linda Andrews

  Twirling her fiber optic cables around her index finger, Shang’hai paced the bridge. “Just as soon as the chief gives me speed. Thanks to Nell, I already have their ordinal system figured out.”

  Bei rubbed his hands together as anticipation coursed through him. Although regulated to more administrative arenas, he would soon find himself back in the thick of things. Only he would rescue Nell. “Status of ground forces on Mole?”

  XO Penig ran his fingers along the glowing green button on the edge of the helm. On his right, the brown moon ballooned up. The hologram tightened on a small area near the equator. The image displayed dozens of brown-clad soldiers, whose features were distorted by their enviromasks. “The Beagle survivors are down. They’ve lost a few arms and legs, but they’re ready to go.”

  Bei watched as one soldier chucked his broken right leg to the ground. The damaged man checked his weapon, before allowing his comrade to help him rise. “Send them the co-ordinates of the nearest munitions battery. Constant monitoring. I want to know if ET has an ace up his sleeve before he plays it.”

  “Aye, Admiral.” Penig left his post at the helm to prop himself up against the nearest wall. His eyes shone like onyx in his sockets as he merged his consciousness with the team on the brown moon.

  Captain Petersburg joined the XO on the deck. Although her upgrades were newer than Penig’s, he knew she wouldn’t risk dividing her consciousness. A life might be saved because she found something others had overlooked. “Ghost Force is repelling into the crater. No sign of traps and the array is still dormant.”

  Bei gripped his fingers hard enough that damage alerts popped up in his mind. The problem with being in charge was every one had tasks to complete while he had to wait for results. Focusing on Ghost Force, he watched the men descend into the shadows of the crater. Their uniforms and armor quickly changed from white to black, but the camouflage was ruined by the white powder clinging to their clothes.

  A soft hum filled the air as the round elevator panel in the floor swished open and the glass lift rose into the room. Head bowed, Doc muttered to himself inside the clear cylinder. A moment later, the glass melted away and Doc glanced up. “Ah, Admiral. I found something.”

  “A way around Bastard’s control?” Bei tempered his impatience. If their theories about the array were correct, he’d be on his way to Nell’s side soon.

  Doc swept a hand through his black hair. “That and more. Bastard sent a coded message when he passed the moons. It’s on the same frequency as the one he knocked us out with.”

  “Got it. Very interesting.” Shang’hai closed her eyes and sighed. The woman loved her computer code. “Virus is ready.”

  Doc’s lean fingers danced on the helm controls. Ghost darted closer to her sister, Mole, shortly before a hologram of a Syn-En male spun slowly over the console. “I can change the software in our cerebral interface, and Bastard won’t be able to get in, but you won’t be able to get out either. Completely self-contained with no wireless capabilities.”

  Bei dried the moisture from his palms. Without the WA, he wouldn’t be able to use his rifles or guns, but he still had his knife and his implants. If Bastard was anything like Nell, he was organic. Fragile. Breakable.

  Chief Rome glanced at Doc’s code. “We can use hand signals to coordinate. Will it work?”

  Doc nodded, but doubts clouded his brown eyes. “It will stop what he’s already used against us. But there’s always a possibility he has other capabilities we don’t know about.”

  Bastard wouldn’t be defenseless, but Bei knew his own strengths. He would risk it. For Nell. His blood heated at the thought of seeing her again and making Bastard pay. “When will it be ready?”

  Doc smiled. “Now.”

  Bei turned his back on the doctor, giving him access to his neural interface. He quickly packaged up his authorization codes and sent it to his XO. “I’ll go first.”

  “Admiral,” Penig growled from his seat on the floor. “We are in the middle of an operation.”

  “Which you don’t need me for.” Bei felt a slight tickle at his nape and then heard the click of his plating being removed. “You can still reach me through the com.”

  Penig frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Now you sound like a damn citizen.”

  Captain Petersburg set her hand on the XO’s. “You bring Nell Stafford back, Admiral.”

  Doc cleared his throat. “There’s something else. I’m not sure, but I think there are passive sensors on the planets we passed. Might be on the others as well.”

  “Got them.” Shanghai’s smug bark echoed around the room. “Ha! I caught a data stream heading toward the array, Chief.”

  A muscle ticked in the chief’s square jaw. “Aye. They know the strength of our fleet, numbers and weapons.”

  Bei felt a tingling at the base of his skull then silence. Complete and utter silence. Fear soured his mouth as the dead air suffocated him. How did civilians live like this? His thoughts practically screamed in his head, and they were not good company.

  Bei heard his plating snap back into place and the rustle of fabric as Doc stepped back. Bei glanced at Shang’hai. “Can you infect the array from here?”

  A frown thinned her lips. “Not in the time you’d like. There’s some sort of entry code required to be accepted, and it changes practically every nanosecond.”

  Captain Petersburg rose to her feet. Everything fell away but the images coming from Ghost. White swirled across the deck as if they were on the planet and the lights dimmed, mirroring the shadow cast by the crater. “Admiral, I think you need to see this.”

  Chief Rome and Shang’hai stared at a spot over Bei’s shoulder.

  He turned and jerked back. Doc stood in the body of an oval transport, smiling through the opaque windows. His black boots were rooted firmly on the ground by curved sleigh runners supporting the ship’s weight.

  Bei stepped closer. “It looks like a shuttle.”

  Designed, no doubt, to hop between the moons and the planet. The glass prevented it from being used for deep space exploration. Unless, ET had found a way around the radiation. Turning on his heel, Bei noticed three more shuttles. The armor plating between his shoulder blades began to itch. Something was wrong.

  Ghost Force moved closer, increasing resolution as they crept over the powdery terrain.

  Using both hands, Chief Rome flattened his blond hair against his head. “It’s possible they abandoned the place before it was finished.”

  “I don’t think their quarantine worked.” Doc pointed to the humanoid remains, clearly visible in the cockpit of one shuttle.

  Decomposition marred the elongated face—large deflated eyes melted against hollow cheeks, the tip of the aquiline nose was eaten away, black pustules dotted his arms and gouge marks scored swaths of exposed skin. The moon had no atmosphere nor insects to perform the decomposition post-mortem which meant the damage must have been done while ET lived.

  A memory stirred deep in Bei’s subconscious, but without WA access he couldn’t chase down the meaning. Still focused on the corpse, Bei reshuffled the team’s mission. “Tell Ghost Force to hold position. Get a medic to perform a hazard assessment before proceeding. Route all information to the America.”

  Chief Rome drummed his fingers along the helm console and glanced at Bei through narrowed eyes. “The longer that array is active, the longer Nell remains a prisoner of Bastard.”

  Bei silenced him with a look. He knew what was at stake, but he knew his duty better. “Is Starflight 1 ready to depart?”

  Chief Rome rolled his blue eyes. “Commander Keyes is double checking the diagnostics.”

  Doc covered his smile with a cough. “I’m receiving a data stream. Whatever killed them is no longer viable.”

  Bei glanced at his medical officer. “Ghost Force you have a go for entering.”

  Captain Petersburg resumed her seat next to the XO. “Bombay and Casablanca, see if those shuttles will fly.”
r />   Two white and black uniformed crewmen veered away from the others to approach an intact vessel.

  XO Penig straightened. He superimposed the square building on the large, brown moon over the one on the Ghost. “Mole Force is approaching.”

  “They’re definitely the same architecture.” Chief Rome eyed the images while Doc stood behind him, working on his neural link, no doubt anticipating the trip to Terra Dos.

  Bei welcomed the company, but wanted the kill for himself. When Bastard had stolen Nell, he’d made the mission personal.

  Captain Petersburg pointed to the structures. The tip of her index finger peeled back and small red light streaked down the gap in the side of the white-tinged building. “This one’s not complete.”

  XO Penig grunted as the men circled the cube rising from the brown ground. “Mole’s is.”

  Shang’hai sat down next to Penig and clasped his hand. “I’m using Bastard’s frequency and boosting it through our people.” She flinched and leaned against the wall. “I’m in. Damn. ET is one kinky dude. I need a heads up.”

  Bei sighed, although he’d expected it, he had hope not to sacrifice any more probes. The weapons must be active to expose the firing codes. Bei pulled back from the close-ups and filled the bridge with the space around the larger moon. “Chief send the first probe.”

  Rome winced as the wires in Doc’s fingertips made contact with the sensitive interface embedded in his skull. Hissing through his teeth, he jabbed a red button on the console. “Probe away.”

  Blue light pulsed from the moon’s surface and collided with the probe. The fragments burst like silver fireworks.

  Shang’hai rubbed her temples but didn’t open her eyes. “I’m reading the code. Got it. Wait. There’s multiple codes. Knocking out velocity. Give me a second before sending another.”

  Captain Petersburg’s white teeth flashed against her dark skin. “Ghost Force reports that the two vehicles are usable and that the building is empty.”

  Empty. Bei grinned. The news was getting better. “Tell them to use ET’s transports and check the other batteries. Make sure they’re all dead before returning.”

  Shang’hai buried her fingers in her pink hair. “Okay, Chief. Send another probe.”

  Bei watched the silver ball arch in front of the moon. Lasers took it out before it had gone a kilometer.

  Chief Rome snorted. “Shang’hai, the idea is not to have us shot down.”

  Shang’hai winced. “Sorry. I think I changed distance not velocity. Okay, try it again.”

  Chief Rome punched the LCD. The probe circled the moon. “Increasing speed and measurable mass.”

  The probe corrected for an elliptical orbit and accelerated. Bei held his breath as it swung around again. They had done it. The Syn-En now controlled the array. He straightened his uniform and headed toward the elevator.

  “Shit.” Doc’s cursing deflated the bubble of satisfaction.

  Bei stopped himself from calling for the elevator and focused on the doctor. “What did you find?”

  Doc’s skin looked pasty and he swallowed twice before speaking. “The virus. It’s the same one that caused the plague on Earth.”

  Bei stomped on the call button for the elevator. “Did ET try to exterminate us or did they catch our cold?”

  Doc sidled over to Bei. “Given the odd protein in the virus, I think they got us sick.”

  Bei’s gut clenched. Billions of human beings dead, their civilizations reduced to archeological studies, and the majority of the survivors enslaved. And for what purpose? To colonize Earth? The elevator opened, and he stepped inside.

  Chief Rome and Doc quickly joined him, filling the tiny space as the doors closed and the lift dropped to the lower decks of the America.

  Doc scratched his head, elbowing Bei’s head in the process. “If they wanted Earth, why did they take Nell? Why not just experiment on her when they invaded?”

  Bei pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping it would stem the flow of crazy scenarios. Jabbing the com button in the elevator panel, he contacted Starflight 1. “Commander Keyes, lay in a course to Terra Dos. Prepare to leave as soon as we board.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” Keyes’s soft voice filled the already cramped space. “Course set and engines ready.”

  Hang on, Nell. I’m coming.

  Lying is necessary for survival.

  Syn-En Vade Mecum

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Land there.” The deck of the Starflight shuttle hummed under Bei’s boots as he pointed over Commander Keyes’s shoulder. The LCD bands, displayed like windows in the cockpit, relayed the snow-covered mountains and the torrent of mud and debris from the spring thaw cutting down the jagged slopes. White capped rivers snaked through the towering trees and lush plains. Ignoring the raw vistas, he tapped the screen near the ship in the meadow. The tall grass and purple flowers beat the ground of Terra Dos from the turbulence created by the ship’s exhaust.

  “Aye, Admiral.” Commander Keyes gripped the yoke, easing it down then turning it slightly. “The ground is soupy but it’ll support our weight.”

  Despite the inertial dampeners, Bei swayed with the motion as the shuttle swung into position. His knees bent a little as the ship touched ground, compensating for the abrupt contact.

  Sitting at the helm next to Keyes, Doc frowned at screen in front of him. “Still detecting no chemical or biological weapons’ residue. Radiation readings are well within normal tolerances.”

  “Life signs?” Bei walked the two steps to the weapons locker by the double doors to the crew compartment and twisted the latch. The vacuum seal released with a sigh, and the locker’s door swung open.

  Doc unsnapped his safety harness, swiveled the chair around and pushed out of the seat. “No humanoids, but plenty of game.”

  “They’ll be close.” Bei dismissed the neat row of energy rifles in the cabinet. With his WA capabilities offline, the weapons wouldn’t fire. Smiling grimly, he selected the low tech projectile rifle and added seven-one hundred round clips to his uniform pockets. Although one bullet would be enough to kill Bastard, Bei planned to cut the man in pieces if he’d harmed Nell.

  A soft grating noise echoed around the cockpit and the Starflight rocked. Boots pounded the metal deck beyond the doors.

  Commander Keyes’s tan finger gathered her long black curls at her nape, and she turned to face him. “Doors open. Strike Force One is approaching Bastard’s shuttle.”

  Bei grunted. As the highest ranking officer in the fleet, he was forbidden to take point. He hated the restriction, hated risking his men on a personal mission. But Keyes had laid down the ground rules as soon as they’d gotten underway. Hell, the woman had even locked him out of the ship’s system. To stop himself from strangling the good intentions out of her, he removed one of the packs from the compartment under the weapon’s locker and shrugged it onto his shoulders, securing the harness with a snap. “Open the door, Commander.”

  Commander Keyes’s brown eyes narrowed for a moment before her gaze scuttled to Doc.

  Doc cleared his throat and tugged on his collar. “Admiral, perhaps I could finish my tests before you go after Nell. There’s something wrong with the vegetation.”

  Strike Force One’s ‘all clear’ sounded across the com.

  “Keyes,” Bei growled. They’d had their damn protocol, now he wanted to hunt. He checked to make sure a round sat in the chamber before aiming it at the tan-skinned Commander. “Open the door.”

  Blue light pulsed through the fiber optic cable at her neck and the double doors eased open.

  Chief Rome leaned against the shuttle’s open back end, cradling a projectile rifle. “Protocol dictates you wait another—”

  “One more word, Chief, and your protocol will be shoved someplace no one made enhancements for.” Bei stormed down the narrow aisle of the empty crew compartment and into the breaking dawn. He eyed the tree line beyond the meadow before switching to infrared sensors. Instead of findin
g the residual footprints, the whole field glowed the same red color. He would have to track his enemy the hard way. Bei clomped down the ramp.

  “Sun’s just coming up and the ground’s too cold for an IR trace.” Chief Rome sauntered to his side. “To add to the challenge, this grass is more resilient that that on Earth. Only bent or broken blades are near Bastard’s ship.”

  While the green uniformed strike force fanned out from Bastard’s ship, a shadow raced across the meadow. Bei glanced up the see a dense flock of screeching birds soaring overhead. He zoomed in on them, noted their large, feathered wingspan and their furry rat-like bodies.

  “Damn.” Chief craned his neck to watch them pass. “I hope they taste better than they look.”

  Bei loped across the clearing to the other shuttle. The ramp hadn’t been deployed but something had snapped a few blades of grass. He set his hand on the green pieces. Was this where Nell had jumped, or had she fallen. He felt… He felt nothing.

  “You shouldn’t worry. Nell is smart. She knows we’re coming for her.”

  “What makes you think I’m worried?” Bei dropped the blades and eyed the terrain. A soft furrow appeared in the meadow. Could that be a path leading to the tree line?

  “She’s your woman and…” Chief Rome flicked Bei’s pack. “You’re wearing the pilot’s bag. I don’t think there’ll be much need for parachuting, but the three days of rations might come in handy.”

  Bei considered leaving the pack but decided against it. Three days rations would be enough to find Nell. Anything else was just overkill. Not that there wouldn’t be killing…

  Doc raced up behind them. His pack bobbed up and down his back as he stared at the wafer-thin computer screen in his hand. “There’s lots of ash under the vegetation. We might be able to use the trace or the higher blades to track Bastard and Nell.”