Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  “I assumed that,” Dev said. “The children in that room had knives on their belts.”

  Jess stopped and looked at her.

  Dev sensed it and looked up. “I thought it was interesting,” she said. “Did you see them?”

  “Went by too fast.” Jess sat down on the bed. “Little kids?”

  Dev nodded. She adjusted a setting. The scanner had scoped out the inside of the ship and drawn her a wiremap of it, pinpointing human figures and mechanical devices, the probes now working on the electrical components. “Here.” She pointed to the room with the children in it, showing three small heat signatures.

  “I see it.” Jess glanced at the scanner, then at Dev. Then she shook her head. “I remember how long it took me to learn how to use this,” she said. “Knowing you picked it up in a few days...” She let the words trail off.

  “It’s intimidating, I guess,” Dev said.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s just how I always learned so it never seemed strange to me,” Dev said. “But I guess it is, isn’t it?” She looked at Jess. “Can they do that with you?”

  Jess remained silent for a long while. “Not...” She hesitated. “If you’ve been in something bad, really bad, they can do something to kind of...change it. Make you not think about it. I’ve seen it done to agents once or twice.”

  “Ah.”

  “It’s scary,” Jess admitted. “They wipe parts of your memory out I think. They offered to do that to me after I got back last time. Didn’t want it.”

  Dev reached out and put her hand on Jess’s, squeezing it a little. “They can do that to us too,” she said. “Sometimes, when bio alts get older, they get—they change. They argue and things like that so they take them and they...” She paused, then looked at Dev. “They come back and they don’t argue anymore. I think they’re happier.”

  Jess made a face.

  “Yeah.” Dev nodded. “We think about that when we go down for programming. They can take stuff, you know? You never know what’s going to be there when you come back up.”

  Jess stopped cold, and thought about that.

  “Programming is different,” Dev said, after an awkward pause. “It’s all skills and knowing things. But this—it changes you. It changes what’s in here.” She touched her chest.

  “I never want to have that happen,” Jess said. “To either of us. Someone tries that on you I’ll shoot them.”

  Dev smiled and gave her hand another squeeze. “It takes a registered programmer to do that,” she said, matter of factly. “Not just anyone.”

  Jess leaned against her and returned her attention to the scanner. “So, what...thirty people aboard?”

  “Yeah, looks like it.” She traced the wire line with one long finger. “That’s the engine room.”

  Dev regarded the heat signature. “Yes,” she said. “Most of the people are here.” She pointed to one spot. “And the three I saw here.” She touched the smaller room. “Everything down below here is empty.”

  “Fish tanks,” Jess said. “When they catch ‘em they put them in there until they get to the offloading station. Then whoever they’re selling to takes them and processes them. Back in the day they all worked for big processing companies. Now there’s much less fish, so they sell direct.”

  “I see.”

  “Families are competitive. Each one has a boat, maybe two, and they fight for fish out there,” Jess said. “Mostly live on the boat. Not a comfortable life.”

  Dev looked around. “I can see that.” She adjusted a setting. “Should we go get a full scan?”

  “Let’s.” Jess stood up and offered Dev a hand. “We’ll go to where everyone is. Chances are, they’ll have a hot drink there.” She rubbed Dev’s back as she stood and headed for the hatch. “Captain’s family, way way back, came from Norway,” she said. “That’s where Vikings came from. They were ancient fighters who went out in boats and conquered places.”

  “I see.”

  “Nordies mostly have blonde hair and pale eyes,” Jess said. “Kinda like yours.”

  “Oh.” Dev pushed the hatch open and stepped into the hallway. “Really?”

  “Really.” Jess kept her light hold on Dev as they walked along, feeling the motion of the ship become much more pronounced. “We’re out in open water, I think.” She could hear voices ahead of them. “So that’s the Viking connection. Don’t discard it. If they think you’re a long lost cousin it could be good for us.”

  Dev thought about that. “If they start asking me about my ancestors we could be in trouble. All my aunts and uncles are test tubes.”

  Jess choked off a laugh. “Shh.” She pushed the big hatch at the end of the hall and they entered a medium sized room that had a metal table mounted in the center, and built-in cabinets all around. About a dozen people were standing around, and they all looked at them as they came inside .

  It was an awkward moment. None of them looked friendly.

  “Hi.” Jess broke the silence. “My name’s Drake and this is my partner, Dev. We’re here to put our lives between you and whatever the hell’s attacking people, so lay off the screwy eyeballs and just tell me where to get something hot to drink before I risk my ass for you.”

  Dev worked to keep a startled look off her face. She’d never really heard Jess talk like that, her voice all low and growly and rough. She sounded mean, and the rest of the room reacted to that, taking a step back away from her and looking alarmed. Jess also had her hand resting on her blaster grip and Dev eased back behind her and out of the way.

  Most of the people were of middling height, save two men who were around Jess’s length. One of them pointed at a rust stained dispenser and actually walked closer to them. “Cups in the top,” he said. “We appreciate you being here, agent,” he said. “No need to be a jackass.”

  Jess gave him a droll look. “You mean the bitch you were referring to before I walked in wasn’t me?”

  The man actually blushed.

  “Hello.” Dev gently eased from behind Jess. “I don’t think Jess wants to be a jackass.” She paused. “Whatever that is, but we know we’re not really exactly welcome.”

  The man studied her. “Tech,” he said. “We just don’t like outsiders on the ship. No offense was intended.”

  “I’m sure.” Dev said. “Could you explain how all this works?”

  The man unbent visibly, responding to Dev’s gentle inquisitiveness. Jess took a step back and watched Dev work, wondering how much of what she was doing was programming and how much was just her. It made her think again about what they’d talked about in the room, and she felt a sense of discomfort when she thought about someone messing around in Dev’s head.

  Jess took another step back and leaned against the table, letting Dev become the center of attention as the ship people drifted over. They were all pale haired and Dev fit right in with them, nodding somberly as the tall man pointed out the consoles over the cabinets and explained them.

  They seemed to accept her. But every one of them was giving Jess a wary look and she finally found it all just a little bit funny.

  The inner door opened and the captain stepped in. He walked over to stand next to Jess, watching the rest of the group around the met scope. “Finding things?”

  “Dev’s doing a primary sweep,” Jess said. “So what’s the pattern been? They wait for you to get fishing then hit you?”

  The captain chuckled. “Nah. Wait till we’re hauling half full at least. Ain’t stupid,” he said. “Hope your little friend there has a strong stomach. We’re heading for storm edge.”

  “I asked her,” Jess said. “She said something about null gravity, and regurgitation and the fact she’d gotten over that at age two. So I suspect she’ll be fine.”

  The captain looked at her, then at Dev. “She’s really a spacer?” He asked, his voice rising in surprise. “Born up there?”

  Jess nodded.

  “What the hell is she doing down here? I heard they got li
fe good up there. Plenty of work.”

  “She wanted some adventure,” Jess said smoothly. “You know how it is. You can have a nice safe, plush life but be bored to death.”

  The captain snorted. Then he faced Jess. “I told the crew you’re here. You can go where you want, but if I were you I’d not go alone, and bring your hardware with you,” he said. “Nothing personal, agent. You seem a good sort. But we don’t fly either flag, and we’ve had some of your kind do the same as those pirates.”

  Jess stiffened. “What?”

  “You heard me,” Sigurd said. “Now, I know your family name, Drake. You’ve got history with us. But not all your lot does. I’ve seen with my own eyes black and greens boarding a ship and taking from it.”

  Jess stared at him. “I’ll shoot them as fast as a pirate.”

  “Know that. It’s why I told Jacob I’d take ya.” Sigurd squinted at her, then winked. “All right you lot.” He lifted his voice. “Let’s get this tub ready to fish!”

  The group broke up and headed for the big, sealed doors that led from the housing area to the ship’s deck. Dev came over to where Jess was standing and leaned against the table as the room slowly emptied and they were left alone. “You look unsettled.”

  “I am,” Jess said. “Just heard something I didn’t really want to.” She sighed. “Why in hell did I have to make up those damn ice pirates? Next thing you know we’ll find Santa Claus flying over a berg and he’ll dump a load on top of us.”

  Dev eyed her.

  Jess sighed. “Let’s go out on deck. Might as well get a view while we can.” She shoved away from the wall and headed for the hatch, just as the ship pitched to one side and nearly sent her tumbling. She grabbed a rail with one arm and Dev with the other, and waited for the deck to right. “Oh, yeah. Gonna be a picnic.”

  “What is a picnic?”

  “Later.”

  Chapter Twenty

  DEV BRACED HERSELF against part of the ship’s metal structure, leaning back as she watched the waves roll toward them and lift the vessel up. The motion was rough and impressive, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. It reminded her of the sim sessions for the carrier she’d run, only this was real and she was getting a faceful of cold wet spray when the ship plunged down into the waves.

  Behind her, back past the structure on the flat part of the ship, the rest of the crew were working to get things ready to catch fish. They were preparing cages and nets, but nothing they did triggered any programming in her so she had no idea what it all was for.

  Ahead of them, she saw the darker, roiling clouds that were the front of the storm. From what she could tell, the ship was heading right toward it.

  Why? She’d heard the captain tell Jess that storms brought the fish up. Interesting. Dev glanced down at her scanner, observing the cluster of returns around her, and then a few much farther out. She looked out over the ship’s rail, and squinted, as she thought she saw another profile on the surface heading in the same direction they were.

  It matched scan. She extended it and tuned the probes. The wiremap came back almost instantly, showing her a profile that was like, though not exactly the same, as the craft she was on. She heard a door close behind her somewhere, and then a moment later the captain crossed the deck and took hold of the outer wall, peering over it.

  Then he turned around and came right over to her. “That thing comp?”

  “Portable scan analyzer,” Dev said. “Is that another fishing boat out there?”

  “That thing say it is?”

  Dev obligingly showed him the screen. “It looks like it,” she said. “I saw the other ship, and I thought it might be like this one. Scan said it is.” She reviewed the results. “Here’s a hires.” She tapped a control and the wiremap was replaced with a realtime image, bounced to the analyzer from an overhead met sat.

  “Ah!” The captain leaned closer. “It’s the Seagull.” He nodded. “Headed same place we are. Lucky for me we’re faster.” He winked at Dev and spoke into a comm clipped to his shoulder. “Bridge, put the fire on. Plane up.”

  A moment later the ship surged forward at a higher rate of speed, and the front part lifted up out of the water.

  Dev enjoyed that a lot. “Excellent.”

  The captain eyed her. “Like that?”

  “I do,” she said. “It’s fast like when I pilot the carrier.”

  He leaned against the structure next to her, bracing himself against the motion. “Must be real different from up in space,” he said. “Been down here long?”

  Dev shook her head. “Not that long. Have you always been on this boat?” she asked. “And your family? I thought I saw some children before we left.”

  “Ah, yes.” He smiled. “My little ones. The latest generation in a very long line going back way before the end times. Long before the world took itself back from us. When there were still trees and grass back in the home country.” He folded his arms. “But my family’s always been on the sea.”

  “Wow.” Dev was impressed. She knew Jess talked about her family’s long history but this was something else entirely. There was a sense of independence about the captain that was interesting. “That is a long time.”

  “What about you?” Sigurd asked. “What does your family do up in space?”

  Dev had thought a little about how she would answer that question, since she and Jess both figured it would get asked. It was interesting, in a way, to get a chance to build a history for herself other than her real one. “I grew up on a bio station,” she said, since it was the truth. “I don’t have a family. I never knew them.”

  She saw the reaction in his face, a look of near dismay. “Now I”m a tech, so the people around me there are sort of like family, but it’s not the same, is it?”

  “No,” he said. “Not the same at all.” He studied her face. “You could be kin of mine, y’know. I got a daughter looks pretty much just like you. I can see it in the bones of your face. We probably share a great great somewhere way back.”

  Dev smiled a little. “That’s nice to think of,” she said. “The one thing that really interested me when I came downworld was the water here.” She indicated the ocean, which was pitching and rolling around them full of whitecaps. “I thought it was amazing. It was one of the first things Jess showed me and I will never forget it.”

  “It is amazing.” Sigurd smiled. “And that’s a sure sign you’re one of us.” He chuckled, turning slightly as Jess appeared and made her way along the deck to where they were standing. “Looks like we’re in a race.”

  Jess went to the outer wall and put her gloved hands on it. “Another fisherman?”

  “Yup. I even know who it is, thanks to your tech here,” he said. “Not one of my bigger enemies. We trade met sometimes.”

  Jess turned and came back over to them, rocking a little with the motion. She took hold of the grab bar Dev was leaning against and regarded the sea. “Aside from the obvious, how do you win the race? What do you do when you get there?”

  Sigurd folded his muscular arms. “Thought you were out at sea?”

  “Never saw any other boats, and besides I was six. You might have changed your methods since then.”

  Sigurd laughed. “We’ll change our traditions when Interforce does,” he said. “It’s a stake. You pick your spot in the ocean and you got that, plus the distance a boat can travel at ten knots in ten minutes to fish in.” He spoke into the mic again. “Head for the banks. Drill it between the deep reef and marker twelve.”

  “How do you know where to go?” Dev asked. “To find the fish I mean.”

  Sigurd winked. “That knowin’s been in the bloodline for a good long time. You just know.” He pushed away from the wall. “Gotta get ready to work. Stay out of the way. Don’t want to explain to Jacob if either of you get nailed by a hook.”

  He ambled off, his body balanced against the movement in a completely natural way.

  Jess waited for him to disappear, then she took up the spot
against the wall he’d vacated. “So,” she said. “What do you think so far?”

  “What do I think about what?” Dev asked. “I think this is amazing.” She indicated the ocean. “I really like riding on the boat.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” Dev showed Jess the scanner. “I showed this picture to him. I hope that was not incorret.”

  Jess studied the live image, then she shrugged. “They know we bounce off the sats, so don’t see much harm in it,” she said. “Did he tell you anything interesting?”

  Dev keyed off the image and reset the scanner to long range biological. “He does think I’m related to him apparently. Something about sharing an ancestor way back.” She pondered that. “He said I looked like an offspring of his.”

  Jess studied her for a moment, then shifted her gaze to one side. “I can see it,” she said. “Might even be true. Do they keep track of that sort of thing up there?”

  Dev waited for her scan to parse. “They keep very close track of the genetic arrangements, of course,” she said. “They mix and combine them for specific sets. But making that trace back to actual people? I don’t think so.” She looked up at Jess. “You know all about your family, don’t you?”

  “Sure,” Jess said. “I”ve got a family scrapbook in my quarters at the citadel. I”ll show it to you when we get back. Helps when you’re in the out beyond sometimes, if you’re from a known family. Like with Sigurd here. He knows my bloodline, so he knows what to expect from me.”

  Dev pondered that. “Not that different from us then, is it?” she said. “They know what to expect from us, because they know our genetics and programming.”

  “Sometimes,” Jess said. “But not always. They don’t program us.” But as she said it, she had to wonder. What then was the training she’d gotten since age six if not programming, just in a different way? She pushed the thought aside and bent over the scanner. “Whatcha got?”

  “I was looking for bears,” Dev said. “But I don’t think that’s them unless they swim under water.” She indicated a mass below the surface ahead of them. “What are those?”