Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  But she’d been assigned to the advanced section early and if she had to bear up under the strangeness of being a one off, at least she had that to comfort her.

  A teacher had given the book to her when she’d left basic, on the day her birth group had sat in the speaking hall for the last time.

  It was an old favorite of his, he’d told her, the book given to him by his grandfather, and passed down through his family. Dev wasn’t sure why he’d given it to her, aside from him saying he thought she’d enjoy it, but she was very happy she had it and she often took minutes like this to read a few pages.

  She spent a quarter hour immersed in the book, then put it away and headed for the door. The lights dimmed as she left, trading the quiet dimness for the bright lit common space of the crèche and all of it’s inhabitants.

  The sun speared through the station walls and Dev walked through slices of filtered light, lifting her hand a little to intercept a bit of it and watching as it gilded her skin. It made her smile and she kept smiling as she turned down the hallway and entered the big cross tunnel that led to the tech lab.

  The walls slanted into the entrance, which had a bio reader and a screen. Dev stepped up to it and waited for the soft glow to appear overhead. She felt that little tickle on her skin, then the screen lit up.

  “Ident.” It said, briefly.

  “NM-Dev-1.”

  The door slid open and she continued inside, moving directly across the big entrance to the processing desk that squatted directly in the center. She went to the processing agent and unclipped her badge, handing it to him and waiting as he keyed it in.

  He studied the screen, then handed her badge back. “Lab twenty-six, first corridor, third door, eight hours. Reset when done.”

  “Thank you.” Dev clipped her badge back on and then circled the desk and headed for the lab. She didn’t pass anyone on the way there, the halls were quieter than usual. Most of the labs were dark and empty, their doors gaping open into the hall.

  Lab twenty-six illuminated as she entered and the door closed behind her. Dev paused and looked around, seeing floor to ceiling gray consoles packed into every square inch of the room, leaving only a half octagon desk with a chair behind it.

  It smelled just faintly of silicon. She circled the lab first, examining the consoles, but found nothing on them to indicate their purpose, which was intimidating in and of itself. Usually tech rigs had plates and decals, but these were blank and somehow seemed a little scary to her.

  Maybe it was the flat gray color.

  With a sigh, Dev went to the console and sat down in the chair, feeling the surface of it warm to her body, and conform to her figure a little. She adjusted it to her height, then put her hands down on the tablet surface and heard the almost soundless click and hum of electronics starting up.

  A panel slid aside, revealing a headset. Dev took it out and put it on, smelling the newness of the plastic and steel as the contacts settled over her head and she felt the ear piece snuggle into her ear. For another moment here was silence, then the boards all lit up.

  She jerked a little, surprised at all the activity. The half octagon suddenly came alive with sensors and readout panels, the banks lining the walls showed a thousand or more systems and she waited, just letting her eyes roam, for the programming to kick in.

  It took a little while, sometimes. The instruction sets were all in there, but it was like having a book and it being just out of focus. You knew the words were there, but you couldn’t quite see them until you brought them closer or a little further and your mind pulled them into clarity.

  Until then, it was just a blast of lights and gauges. She felt a slightly crawling sensation on the back of her neck just before the flickering kaleidoscope abruptly shifted and took on meaning as a blast of comprehension overcame her.

  A machine voice started whispering into her ear as she found herself short of breath, her body shaking a little as she tried to sync with the program, let it take over and show her what she needed to know.

  She knew what the gauges were now, what that screen was, and this screen was, and why that set of readouts was so important.

  A wash of tingling dismay made her lean forward as she took in the whole of it, and understood what the assignment was they had given her. She sucked in a breath hard, her heart beating like thunder as the lights dimmed and went to blue and a scenario started.

  The consoles shifted and the two nearest to her changed to show controls her hands jerked back from as the voice whispered about metrics and targets and the three dimensional spatial understanding that now flooded up into her conscious mind.

  She felt like throwing up. This was wrong. This was dark and cold and implacable.

  But the program had her good and no matter how much she tried to pull her mind back from it, the insidious comprehension pushed aside her doubts, spurring her body to obey the insistently whispered instructions as her hands moved. Her breathing slowly steadied and she lost herself to the rush of it. Lost her grip. Like the knowledge was water, flowing fast as it had in the old story she read, carrying her along to a destination of it’s own choosing.

  There was no fighting it. The seduction of knowledge pulled her forward after her brief struggle, as she sensed the opening up of corridor after corridor of new skills she knew were waiting for her.

  As good as a narcotic to one of her kind. The one thing they all craved, at least those who comprehended that much, was to be given the skills that took them beyond a superficial mediocrity. This was that kind of program, she now understood.

  It was tech. Deep tech. Really knowing things that mattered. Knowing people who mattered. Being a part of something truly important with the opportunity to do more than she’d ever dreamed of.

  Did it really matter if it was dark? If she sensed it was going to be scary?

  The whispered voice wound around her and took hold. She felt her heartbeat settle as her body translated the understanding to a sensual level, as a trigger inside her released a jolt of pleasure into her awareness.

  It felt good. The more she relaxed and thought about the skills, the better it felt. The fear faded and the sense of nausea with it, replaced instead with a tingling in her guts and a feeling of anticipation.

  She drew in a breath and refocused her eyes on the screens, now nodding just a little as the voice started reporting what she was seeing. Her reflexes woke up, responding to the prompts as the scenario progressed.

  She was sure it would turn out all right.

  STEPHAN WAITED UNTIL they were halfway through dinner, with a half a liter down before he told her. Public space, he figured, with all the rest of the ops around them would keep her from at least punching him in the face. “So that’s the deal.”

  Jess leaned back and twirled the glass in her fingertips, watching him with an expressionless face. “Let me make sure I understand,” she said. “Some idiot decided it was a good idea to try making a bio alt into a tech ops agent?” She had kept her voice down. “Really?”

  “Really,” Stephan said, encouraged by the calm response. “Frankly, Jess, I told him I thought it was crazy.”

  “I see.”

  “It’s become really political,” Stephan said. “The rest of the ops group lodging protests like that. It got them embarrassed. You know how dangerous that is.”

  Jess studied the liquid in the glass. “Despite what you think, I didn’t kickstart that. Everyone’s just watching me and saying that could be them.” She looked up at him. “So their answer is to come up with the equivalent of me walking in front of a laser cannon? ‘Cause that’s what it is. Never mind not trusting it at my back—the poor stupid critter will probably shoot me in it accidentally.”

  Stephan frowned. “Jess, they said they were programming it to be able to do this.”

  Jess rolled her eyes.

  “Look, what do you want me to tell you? Tell them?”

  “That they’re liars,” Jess said. “Because they are. Th
ey’re just looking to save face. Put that thing in here, we both get offed, everyone turns around and says, well, I guess the council knew better all the time, and should go on picking the way they always have. But look. We listened to them. We tried!” Her voice dripped with raspy sarcasm. “Rest of the group’s just relieved it wasn’t them.”

  Stephan exhaled, an unhappy expression on his face. He’d known Jess for most of the years of his life, had sat across a table from that tall, rangy form with it’s dark hair, and those light blue eyes many times, had fought many fights with her. And of all the agents in the group he trusted her the most.

  Not because Jess was nice. She wasn’t. But she was honest and her focus was true and it killed him that it was her that Joshua had knifed because there were others who deserved it more. “It’s a political thing.” He repeated. “Not really a whole lot of choice in it, Jess.”

  “What does that mean?”

  They were both keeping their voices down, ostensibly just enjoying dinner together in the uncrowded ops dining hall on level three. There were six other people in the place, three pairs of two at the small tables and everyone else was making a show of pretending to ignore them.

  “What does that mean, Stephan?” Jess repeated, slightly louder. “You know I’m not going to agree to this.”

  He leaned forward. “Not sure you have a choice.”

  Jess’s face went very still.

  “Look.” He glanced around. “I told you this is political. Bricker has a lot on the line. He has debts to pay to the council. So it’s either we cooperate, or—”

  “Or?”

  “Or he said there’s no place in the organization for people who didn’t.”

  Jess’s expression got even more still. “So, let me see. Either I agree to walk into fire, or I get booted out into the streets, since I don’t have enough years in to retire. Is that right?”

  He couldn’t even look at her. “It’s political,” he muttered. “This whole thing got bigger than us.”

  “Are those my choices, Stephan?”

  He finally looked up. “That’s what Bricker said. Either you cooperate with the plan, or you’re out. But, Jess, listen, give it a chance, for Pete’s sake. You don’t know, maybe it’ll work.”

  “It won’t work,” Jess said in a remote tone. “I’m not going to go out on a failure that also kills some poor beast that has no choice in the matter. Tell Bricker he can take his political ass and trash compact himself.”

  “Jess, think about what you’re doing.”

  Jess put her glass down. “Screw yourself.” She stood abruptly. “Process my outpapers. I’ll go pack. Not that I’ve got a lot to.” She tossed a chit down on the tray and turned, heading for the door to the hall.

  Stephan was far too stunned to react until it was too late and she was gone. He stood up and started after her, aware of all the eyes on his back as he got to the door and went through it, looking quickly right and left.

  The hallway beyond was empty however, only two cleaning staff were carefully vacuuming along the wall, their gray coveralls almost blending into it. Of Jess there was no sign, and he debated whether he should go to her quarters.

  Go and try to talk her down? Stephan frowned. He started toward the bunkhouse but his comm unit chirped and he stopped as the soft bing and central comm’s voice sounded in his ear. “Commander Bock, to central ops, priority.”

  He paused, then reluctantly headed down a slightly different corridor, a sinking sensation already in his stomach.

  JESS KEPT HER pace relaxed until she’d entered her living space, waiting until the door slid shut behind her before she let herself react, spinning her body and slamming her fist into the wall with enough force to dent it.

  Then she dropped into one of the chairs and stared at the ceiling, her eyes staring at the Interforce shield above the workspace. “Mother fucking bastards.”

  Her voice sounded loud in the room. There was no echo. The fabric on the walls absorbed everything, even the crack of her fist against the surface underneath.

  Her stomach was in turmoil. The meal she’d just eaten was lodged somewhere up near her breastbone and she suspected it wouldn’t be long before she ejected it. “Damn them,” she whispered. “Spend your whole life giving it all to them and what does it mean? Jack nothing.”

  Jack nothing. Jess rested her head against her hand. A hundred emplacements, countless liters of blood shed, more successful missions than any other agent and on top of it, this last damn cluster and what?

  Nothing. “What have you done for me lately? Wasn’t that the old saying?” Jess felt the anger draining out of her, leaving her mostly just depressed. “Come cover our asses or get lost. Yeah well...” She glanced around. “Guess I’ll go get lost.”

  Literally, she would get nothing. Her last pay transfer, any supply chits she had on record, and a ride out to the nearest shelter. They wouldn’t even give her a transfer home.

  Not that home had any meaning for her anymore. Jess half closed her eyes. She’d been submitted to the corps when she was old enough to walk, and entered for school and training. The cost was covered by the agency and she was guaranteed a job for life, as long as that life lasted, given what they did.

  She’d been back home maybe a half dozen times in all. Strange, awkward visits with her mother and two brothers, the one hardly knowing what to say to her and the two boys resentful they didn’t get to go where she had.

  No way was she going back there. No way. If her father was alive then maybe it would have been bearable, but without him? No way.

  He’d been one of the lucky ones, able to retire to inactive, go civ for a while, get married and have kids and live a kind of life out at the Bay.

  But they’d gotten to him in the end. She remembered getting the call at base and the long, somber ride in a transport home surrounded by active members of the force, all in blacks, all grim and angry.

  She remembered standing in the cavern and watching his outprocessing, barely exchanging a few words with her blood family as she stood with her service family to say goodbye to a brother.

  Ten generations. She was the eleventh. To now find out just what that was worth—it hurt.

  Maybe she’d just tear into central command and go after Bricker. They’d gun her down and at least she wouldn’t have to suffer living in a crate, scraping seaweed from the rocks downstairs. Be a fast exit, wouldn’t it?

  She was glad Dad wasn’t around to see it. Even more glad he hadn’t been around to see Joshua’s defection. Close as he’d been to his tech partners, he’d have lost his mind with it.

  With a sigh, she pushed herself to her feet and went over to her workspace. She sat down in the big, comfortable chair and keyed in the pad. Would Stephan have already processed her? She waited for a lockout, but the pad logged in and gave her access with no complaints.

  She keyed in her own profile and watched it form on the pad, sliding at her command to the section where her service status was and pausing. She reached over to tag herself inactive, when a soft chime indicated some incoming event.

  Maybe Stephan was just a step behind her. She keyed over to the input and opened it, finding instead an info packet there.

  “That makes no sense.” Irritated, she was about to flip back and effectively kill herself in the system when she caught the sending entity and paused, realizing it was from the district assignments group. Reluctantly, she keyed it and watched it open, reading the first few words before she realized this had to be part of the insanity Stephan had told her about.

  “Screw that.” She closed the file and went back to the status, resetting the field to voluntary dismissal, applying it before she could talk herself out of it and into a compromising honor suck. “Done.”

  The screen went blank immediately, and she heard a soft whir and clack from upstairs as the weapons locker sealed itself. A glance to the door showed a red light next to it as well and she got up. An irrational sense of loss hit her unexpec
tedly.

  Even though she’d made the choice. Even though she thought it was the right choice, and that it would at the very least save the bio alt they’d picked for a gory, terrifying sacrifice. Knowing she was now no longer a part of this place, of these people, of this world she’d been given to was hard to accept.

  Hard to fathom. But she could hear the echo of the weapons lock in her mind and she knew if she tried to go outside she’d be met with an armed guard, denied access to anything except the lockdown if she persisted.

  She could stay here until they mustered her out. Then she’d be taken to the service exit and the door would shut behind her, and she would never enter it again.

  Done. Over. She doubted any of the others would even come to say goodbye. You didn’t, when someone walked out. She certainly had never, though she’d seen a half dozen agents do it, some she’d considered friends.

  Quitters. She remembered feeling embarrassed about them, unable to understand why they would just walk out.

  Well now she knew.

  Jess walked over to the bed and lay down on it, half curling up in a ball and wrapping her arms around the pillow. She felt an odd sensation in her throat, and a tense pain around her heart. She closed her eyes tightly, focusing on letting it all go past her.

  Chapter Three

  STEPHAN ENTERED CENTRAL comms just as the big screen was fizzling to gray. He walked over to where Bricker was leaning against the main console and looked at him in question.

  “Took you long enough,” Bricker said in a crisp tone.

  “I was in the dining hall.”

  Bricker turned and put his hands on his hips. “Danao just transmitted a burst report. They got word through some scientist who just transferred up to Garden Station there’s been a breakthrough.”

  “Yes?” Bock tried to focus on it, his mind distracted by recent events.

  “Light amplification screen. They got photosynthesis working on a twelve by twelve meter platform,” Bricker said. “We need that tech. Council’s told me to get that tech.” He put a hand on the planning board. “So let’s get going on it.”