They were revolting, brutish thugs, but they were also useful thugs.
He motioned agreement then toward the door. “Very well. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll begin the operation.”
EXOBIOLOGY RESEARCH LAB #4
MILKY WAY SECTOR 23
When Nyx reached Exobiology Research Lab #4, she strode quickly from her berth and through security without stopping while she queried the system for the locations of certain resources then headed directly to the upper labs. A vague warning buzzed at an accelerating frequency at the base of her skull, telling her to make haste.
Administrator Logiel ela-Erevna stood at a glass wall observing two subjects on the other side. A glance as she approached revealed naked Anatype aliens bearing rich golden skin huddled together on the floor.
“Fear can enhance a creature’s natural traits, but too often it dampens them instead. They are weak and will have nothing to offer us.” He activated an overlay on the glass and ordered their termination, turning his attention to her an instant before she reached him and demanded it. “Inquisitor Nyx. How may I be of service?”
“I require the use of your office for an indeterminate period of time. When I’ve concluded my business, I will provide you with two Katasketousya, confined inside diati cages so they cannot escape, as well as their bodies in stasis. Conduct any experiments you wish on them. When you’re finished, kill them.”
His eyes lit up in macabre delight at the prospect, but he merely gave her a haughty, closed-mouth smile. “Of course, Inquisitor. Consider my office and myself at your disposal for the duration of your stay.”
Nyx crouched beside the stasis chamber and studied it with a clinical gaze.
The design was unique—Katasketousya in origin and non-standardized to current regulations. The species had developed the technology and forewent their corporeal bodies millennia before the Anadens had encountered them, and in a gesture of goodwill the Directorate had declined to force them to restructure the pods to Anaden specifications.
She wiped the condensation off the glass cover and recoiled in disgust at the puny, wilted figure hibernating inside. No wonder the Kats elected to spend their time in spectral form, if this was the alternative.
She reviewed the readings and controls decorating the outside of the chamber until she was confident she understood their functions.
Then she increased the internal temperature by five degrees, stood and waited.
She could have chosen an interrogation room to stage the encounter, but the Katasketousya would perversely take comfort from an inhospitable, clinical environment. On the other hand, they tended to get anxious in enclosed living spaces, so instead she chose the office of the facility’s administrator. The warm, lived-in if overwrought décor could only serve to enhance the expected anxiety.
The wraithlike form of a great antlered creature swept into the room in less than ten minutes. So they did maintain at least a tenuous connection to their stasis bodies. Good.
The form shrunk away on seeing her, but didn’t leave the room. Inquisitor. I do not understand. What is the purpose of your possession of my stasis chamber? Why do you toy with it?
“What is your name?”
The churning lights moved toward the stasis chamber briefly before it noticed the second chamber in the rear corner of the room. It paused, during which time she expected it began to acquire an inkling of understanding, then grew in size to fill half the room in some sort of display of pride.
Eusebe.
“Hello, Eusebe. An Inquisitor has gone missing, and his movements were traced to the Katasketousya Provision Network. What malfeasance are you committing in the Network?”
I know nothing of these occurrences, Inquisitor. I study stellar dynamics on the periphery of galactic cores’ black hole event horizons. I have never visited the Provision Network.
She reached down with one hand and turned the temperature on the stasis chamber up another six degrees, her eyes never leaving the vacillating figure.
“Are the Katasketousya in league with the anarch resistance? Why did you disappear a primitive species prior to its Eradication? What malfeasance are you committing against the Directorate, and how are you using the Provision Network to effect it?”
Please. There has been a misunderstanding. We are innocent scientists. We serve the Directorate and have done so faithfully for many epochs.
“I will end your life, Eusebe.” She intended to end it in any event, but across all species no more powerful motivator existed than the possibility of survival, however slight it may be.
Its presence lunged for the stasis chamber, likely hoping to surround the chamber and spirit it away. Inquisitors had little in common with these eccentric aliens, but the ability to teleport themselves and a variety of objects was one.
She commanded a wall of diati into existence around the chamber.
The lights slammed into it, sending a wave of energy cascading out across the room as Eusebe’s essence scattered. A sculpture teetered and fell off the large desk in the center of the office, and the chamber in the corner rattled against the wall.
Eusebe slowly coalesced into a semi-tangible form once more, shuddered and diminished in size.
No, please. You cannot.
“Answer my questions and live. Refuse and die. You have five seconds to decide.”
PART V:
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
“Something unknown is doing we don't know what.”
— Sir Arthur Eddington
AURORA
34
ROMANE
IDCC COLONY
* * *
THE POWER HAD BEEN RESTORED by the time Richard reached Curación Hospital a little over two hours after the attack. Early evidence indicated the underground maintenance tunnels were infiltrated and the power distribution module for the hospital’s sector spiked with precisely the required amount of power to short it out.
He sent one of his investigators to work with the utility techs so he could concentrate on the hospital.
There were enough emergency vehicles outside to service a war zone, but he credentialed his way through the barricades and headed inside.
Brooklyn Harper met him outside the ICU wing. He didn’t know her well, but they’d bumped into one another a few times on the Presidio in recent weeks. Scattered bloodstains marred her clothes, and the sheen of sweat on her brow suggested she’d been working nonstop since the incident.
He gave her a sympathetic grimace. “Are the patients all right? And the others?”
“Lekkas and Emily Bron were unharmed. Mia Requelme, too. She’s currently in Ms. Bron’s room giving Devon Reynolds a dressing down. He has a couple of lacerations and bruises, and if he were remotely human he’d have a savage concussion. As it is….” She shrugged. “Three members of the security detail were injured, two from a nerve gas grenade and one from weapons fire, but they should recover. We’ve got eight dead intruders, all Prevos.”
Richard scowled at the body bags gracing the hallway. This was the third time in a week he’d stood over dead bodies. Worse, it looked increasingly as though all three instances were tied to one another. “None alive, then?”
“Sorry. Nonlethal force wasn’t a viable option.”
“No need to explain. I’ve been there.” He motioned at the pile of debris a short distance down the hall. It appeared to be the remains of a former wall, given the gaping hole near it. “They used explosives, too?”
“Uh, no. Mr. Reynolds claims to be responsible for the physical destruction on this floor, with the exception of the window in Ms. Bron’s room.”
“He ‘claims’?”
She rubbed at her forehead. “Mia said you were a friend of his? It would be best if he explained it.” She waved Richard down the hall. “You can go talk to him now. I need to borrow Mia, and it’s probably time to break up the catfight in there.”
The sound of heated voices wafted out as they approached the room with the missing
wall.
“There wasn’t time to ask for your help! And it was only for a second—”
“Never invade my mind without permission again. Never. Do it again, and we’re done.”
He reached the opening in time to see Devon lift his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay. I felt like I didn’t have another choice, but…I’m sorry.”
Harper cleared her throat. “Mia, if you have a few minutes, now that the situation is under control there’s a conversation we need to finish.”
“I’m done here. Oh, Mr. Navick, it’s good you’ve arrived. Malcolm’s looking for you. You barely missed him up here.”
I just bet he is. He’d read Jenner’s field report on the incident at her house on the way from the Presidio. “Was he caught up in the attack here, too?”
“No, he was at Headquarters briefing investigators on the earlier attack. He got back here damn fast, though.” She smiled, but it didn’t seem to be for his benefit.
“I’m sure. I’ll find him as soon as I talk to Devon. I understand you’ve had a busy night, Ms. Requelme.”
“Is it still night?” She sighed. “Anyway, Malcolm’s talking to the head of hospital security down in the admin offices, but I’ll tell him you’re here.”
“Thanks.” He stepped around the rubble into the room, where Devon now ignored everyone to stare into the isolation chamber.
He went over and clasped the young man gently on the shoulder. “Is she all right?”
“Same. They didn’t get to her, though. I stopped them. All of them.”
“So I heard. Why don’t you tell me what happened here?”
Richard met Malcolm down the hallway in the hopes of giving Devon a few minutes of peace and quiet. The normally composed Marine resembled a raging bull in search of a glass shop, and he held up a hand while Malcolm was still several meters away. “I know. I read your report.”
“This is why Paredes and Devore were killed. Anyone involved in taking out Dolos Station is being targeted.”
“I know. In fact, it’s even wider than Dolos. Now I realize it’s been a rough few hours, but calm down. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“You need to alert Majors Grenier and Berg and their squad leaders.”
“Already done.”
“The attack here was an attempt to take out those they missed on the first try—Devon Reynolds, Mia, Harper. I wouldn’t be surprised if they expected me to be here, too, which I should’ve been.”
“I did actually figure all that out on my own, Brigadier.”
Malcolm’s expression softened. “I’m sorry. I’m overstepping. But it’s my people. Several of my squadmates are dead. Mia was almost killed twice in one night.” He shook his head and sank against the nearby wall. “The only one I can’t really figure is Devon’s girlfriend.”
“Emily was just collateral damage. Devon was the target—another reason why they hit here tonight.”
“But he wasn’t involved in the Dolos Station mission.”
“He passed on the details for the shield disrupter you used to get past Montegreu’s personal shield. Dr. Canivon developed it, but in her absence, well, it’s enough of a link when you’re psychotic.”
“Olivia Montegreu is dead. I blew her brain out of her skull, ripped open her spine, vented her office into space then detonated her station into dust particles.”
Richard made a prevaricating motion. “She always was exceedingly resourceful.”
“No one’s that resourceful. It’s a feint. Voices can be modulated and replicated. But right now, I don’t even care who’s trying to impersonate her. This all stems from the destruction of Dolos Station and the killing of Montegreu. There’s an endless supply of mercs in the galaxy for the perpetrator to hire, and these attacks aren’t going to stop until we take out the source. So find me a target.”
Nothing like having those you cared about put in danger to get a Marine’s blood boiling. “I plan to do exactly that.”
Malcolm fished a small object encased in a clear container out of his pocket. “I got this off one of the attackers who tried to break into Mia’s house. She extracted a portion of the contents to study, but the rest is yours. I was planning to bring it to you when I got back to the Presidio.”
Richard nodded. “Good work. You didn’t find more of these on the men who attacked you? The injector they tried to use on Devon got crushed during the attack.”
“No. The initial attacker intended to blow my head off from under my chin. Exactly the way I did Montegreu’s.”
“You think it was that personally targeted?”
“It felt like it—albeit not as much as having her voice threaten us inside Mia’s house, using her own communications system, did.” Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “You said this was wider than Dolos. What did you mean?”
“I’ve got a disabled hybrid transport with twelve dead Triene mercs on it, including the man who spearheaded taking over Zelones headquarters the day after Dolos went down.”
“Mercs take each other out all the time. It’s a bit curious, but what makes you think it’s related?”
“Because they were killed by some kind of robust and sophisticated EMP, similar to the crew of a certain Alliance cargo transport I believe you found near Orellan a few months ago.”
“Huh.” Malcolm frowned. “So maybe these hits are basically revenge for her being dead, not merely for killing her?”
“Seems like, and I don’t know how wide the circle’s planning to expand. I want to stop it before it gets any bigger, but I’m not there yet.”
Malcolm eyed him for several seconds. “When you get there, comm me with a target.”
35
PRESIDIO
GCDA HEADQUARTERS
* * *
“SHOW ME WHAT the problem is.”
“I’m not certain I can, Ms. Rossi. See, we haven’t been able to precisely…identify a problem. The bot refuses to install the power allocation optimizer in the junction between the main engine and the power distribution module. It says the control system refuses the connection, which doesn’t make any sense.”
The shift supervisor looked pained. “But I’ve never worked on ships with sentient control systems until now, either.”
“Well, let’s go out there and take a look.”
“Yes, ma’am. You can get an environment suit in the staging area two floors below, and any tools you require should be available out on the docks. I’ll meet you at Bay E-3.”
Kennedy forced a polite smile and headed for the lift; halfway there she added a spring to her step for good measure. A spacewalk followed by getting her hands dirty in ship wiring was going to be good for her. Help to clear her thoughts.
She might even forget about the elephant in her head for an hour or so, which would be the best thing to happen all day.
On getting word of a glitch in the assembly line for the troop transport-class vessels, she’d cleared her schedule and left Romane for the Presidio as quickly as possible. Noah hadn’t offered to come with her, and she hadn’t asked him to.
The thing was, she knew he loved her. And she’d never wanted her parent’s lifestyle, so…what exactly was it she believed she did want? What was she chasing? A child’s romanticized fantasy of a larger-than-life fable that must be more fiction than truth?
The spring in her step faded as the uncomfortable possibility occurred to her that part of her wanted him to prove how much he loved her. Or worse, wanted him to demonstrate it by coming one hundred percent of the distance to her. This way she didn’t have to move at all.
She argued back while locating a suitable environment suit. She’d moved quite a lot, dammit—upended her entire world, in point of fact, to repudiate the Alliance and strike out into the unknown.
But that had worked out.
Also, though he’d stood beside her and supported her in the venture, the move had served her own interests more than his.
And now she’d worked herself into an ugly l
ogic knot. Damn, she wished Alex were here to help her talk her way out of it. But this time she didn’t begrudge her friend the absence. Not much. Alex had stuck around long enough for them to make up properly and…well, Kennedy understood the stakes now.
She yanked the suit up over her waist and fought with the sleeves, taking her frustrations out on the stubborn material instead. Why couldn’t life be simple, just this once?
“Hey, Ken—you know what else isn’t simple? Building Artificial-inhabited warships so innovative and cutting-edge no one knows how to build them. So quit feeling sorry for yourself and get to work.”
When she spun around to leave, she found a tech staring at her askance from the entrance. She pointed at her temple and rolled her eyes dramatically.
He scooted back far against the wall to let her pass. She put the odds on him reporting a deranged person to security as soon as the door closed at, oh…thirty percent.
Tugs had hauled one of the half-built transport ships to an auxiliary bay in the maintenance area by the time Kennedy and the shift supervisor reached the manufacturing floor. They traversed the skeletal catwalk leading to the separate area off to the right of the main lines.
She smiled in genuine delight as she grappled her way into the frame of the ship. The energy of the assembly operation, out here in space, totally buoyed her spirits. The fact there was a problem needing fixing meant this was all real. Not designs or mock-ups or proposals, but real.
The supervisor was droning instructions in her ear on how to safely get to the engineering well. Since she could have made her way there with her eyes closed, she ignored him to enjoy being up close and personal with one of her designs physically manifested. She hadn’t appreciated how big the vessel truly was. Obviously, of course it was big—it was a troop transport. But it was big in a way schem flows and virtual scale models couldn’t convey.
Relativity: Aurora Resonant Book One (Aurora Rhapsody 7) Page 23
