Deadly Betrayal

by Maria Hammarblad

  Sound advice, but how could we adhere to it? Especially when Jia’Lyn demanded to see us for a meal? She was definitely changed. How long had she been like this?

  John sighed and put his mug down, untouched. “So what you’re saying is, I need to keep a clear head. Dammit, I’ve been sober for a year.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Entering my old home felt like walking through a portal to another world. No one had touched anything. I wished I could pack some of Adam’s clothes and things and bring them, but that could awaken suspicions.

  Maybe I could bring some more of our belongings if we found a way to leave without fleeing.

  “This is so weird. I expected someone else to live here by now.”

  “We were here for a long time, weren’t we?”

  Neutral conversation. I wished we could go home, back to his ship, but that would come across as odd when we had a perfectly fine suite here.

  Damn.

  A soft knock on the door made me jump. The computer used to announce visitors, but it hadn’t said anything. Maybe that didn’t work as it used to either. I hadn’t loved it during my years on the ship, but now I missed its snark.

  John stepped up to the door, opened up a hatch that had probably always been there, unseen by me, and used a manual release to open. Adam stepped in and slammed his hand against the closing button.

  He looked around with a frown and gestured for silence. Both John and I followed as he crossed the floor to his study and folded up a computer terminal. His fingers danced over the keyboard for an eternity before he nodded.

  “The computer was listening in on you.”

  I said, “How did you get all the way here?”

  “It’s a computer. Avoiding the cameras wasn’t hard, I just programmed them not to see me. Avoiding people was trickier.”

  Data flickered past so quickly no human could read it.

  John said, “Stop that. We don’t need to know what’s going on, not right now. We need to figure out a way to leave, alive, and without having the long arm of the Confederacy chase us.”

  Adam made a dismissive gesture. “Knowing what’s going on will help us leave.”

  I glanced over at John. “Tell him.”

  I was too stressed out and didn’t trust myself to convey everything that happened and get it right.

  *****

  “You can’t go to dinner with her.”

  I was usually the one stating something obvious. Good to see Adam had a talent for it too.

  John ran his fingers through his hair.

  “I agree, but I don’t know how to get out of it.”

  Adam’s steady gaze made me forget about our problems and Anya’s warnings, but only until he spoke.

  “I should go with you.”

  Both John and I said, “No.”

  I elaborated, “The longer we remain free and undetected, the better our chances, for so many reasons. And once whoever is behind this knows you’re alive, you will be a prime target.”

  Adam turned to John. “I guess I can’t take your place.”

  I gave my head a slight shake. It would have been possible at one point in time, but John and I aged. Adam did not. The resemblance between them was still uncanny, but even if we could imitate John’s longer hair and the silver streaks that had snuck into it, and his characteristic stubble, his face had changed. The fine lines around his eyes were deepening into wrinkles, his skin looked different…

  When I first met them the time difference between them was already more than a decade, and as years went by, it would keep growing.

  Looking between them I loved them both so much it hurt. I wanted a group hug, but they probably wouldn’t go for it.

  The doorbell rang and the computer announced, “Ensign Hurst.”

  Already? We had spent quite some time with Debana, but I expected us to have at least another couple of hours before anyone came looking for us.

  I took a deep breath and headed for the living room.

  A young man waited outside the door.

  “Ma’am, the Captain wishes to see you and your friend in her quarters. Right now.”

  “I’d really rather stay here. There’s a time difference to our ship, and…”

  The young man interrupted. “Right now, ma’am.”

  John came out of the study. “And the Captain’s wish is our command. C’mon, honey. I’m sure you’ll get a nap later.”

  He was right. Standing our ground wouldn’t make anything better.

  I wanted to run back and kiss Adam, just in case this was the last time I met him as myself, but it wasn’t an option.

  *****

  I had visited Jia’Lyn’s home many times in the past.

  Her rooms had been close to ours and so cozy. She had a large wooden table and comfy chairs where we sat for hours, talking about anything and everything. She liked food and cooking, and more often than not the table had been covered in fruits from different worlds, exotic dishes from whatever culture interested her that week, or bread baked by her strong hands.

  Now, the ensign brought us to the Captain’s quarters where Blake and Ima once lived and the rooms had an abandoned air. I saw nothing of Jia’Lyn in there, but expected the closets to be filled with Ima’s things.

  On the bright side, I didn’t see dinner either. Getting out of ingesting something would be easier if no food was present. I was starving too and might not be able to resist the allure of a meal.

  Jia’Lyn met us at the door and nodded towards the sofa. “Sit.”

  We obeyed, but I made sure to sit close to John, because it made me feel better.

  “You two went down to the labs earlier. Why?”

  This wasn’t dinner; it was an interrogation.

  I shrugged. “Visiting a friend. Do you remember when Eve took over the ship?”

  She should. I sought refuge in her home when I learned about the things Adam’s wicked sister made him do. He had been under duress with half his face burned off, the skin on one arm devoured by small robots, and the crew and ship in mortal peril, but I had still been furious with him.

  Furious, and betrayed.

  Jia’Lyn made a dismissive gesture. “It was a bad day. Doesn’t explain why you would need laboratories today.”

  A bad day? My husband cheating on me while I was kidnapped by the dirtiest aliens anyone could imagine was more than a bad day.

  She clearly had no idea what I was talking about.

  “Yes it does. I’m sure you remember telling Adam he had to make up for his mistake. He gave me Eve’s cranium to destroy, and the crew down in the labs helped me.”

  Since she didn’t seem to remember anything about it, I might be able to avoid mentioning just one person. Debana did not need Jia’Lyn’s personal attention.

  She changed the subject. “You’ve been away for a long time.”

  Didn’t she say that earlier, or was my mind playing tricks on me?

  John nodded and rubbed my back. “Being here still upsets her. Bad memories. That’s why we want to leave. Alex doesn’t need to relive all that.”

  “Oh yes, you were distraught when you left.”

  Jia’Lyn looked like she had no idea what he was talking about.

  I made a grimace. “Distraught? I guess you can say that. Hysterical is a kind of distraught.”

  John concealed laughter with a cough.

  I bent forward and reached out my hand, and Jia’Lyn stared at it for a long moment as if uncertain what to do with it. Then, she rested her fingers in my palm.

  I pretended I was talking to the real her. For all I knew, she might still be in there somewhere. “It’s so good to see you again. I have missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too.”

  Yes, that sounded completely natural. This would be a good time to at least try to make a great escape.

  “Jia’Lyn, I’m so tired. I know you wanted to have dinner with us and we have so much
catching up to do, but can we postpone that until tomorrow?”

  John interjected, “Our ship is on another time. It’s in the middle of the night to us.”

  This seemed to interest her. “You’re going to bed?”

  “We’re thinking about it, yes. I’ve missed that bed. It’s a good bed.”

  I didn’t expect her to agree, but she nodded.

  “Very well. Go to bed and get a good night’s sleep, it will help clear your heads. I will see you tomorrow.”

  When leaving the room I felt like I just escaped a carefully set trap.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Adam looked relieved when we returned.

  I had used up my abilities to play cool. I hugged him and whispered, “That’s not her.”

  John nodded in agreement. “It might be her body, but it’s not her in it.”

  He sank down on the sofa and Adam took a seat in an armchair, pulling me down on his lap. His arms around me made me feel a little better.

  Adam said, “If this is happening here I think it’s safe to assume it’s happening on other Confederacy ships as well. Maybe whole worlds.”

  It was probably spreading to the stations too. There might not be any truly safe places left. Following that line of thought, we might have been lucky to be interrupted before docking with GA95.

  I tilted my head against his. “I think it’s safe to assume they won’t just let us leave.”

  John crossed his legs and leaned back with his hands behind his head. “And right now the two of you are thinking you need to do something about all this. Save that for later. We need to prioritize getting some distance between us and this ship. We can’t do anything if we’re dead.”

  He was right. We couldn’t take the risk of being changed too. Every minute we spent on the Bell was one too many. Unfortunately, they were also more than able to shoot us down.

  “Guys, I’m so tired I can’t even think. I need to go take a nap.”

  It was early evening on the Bell, but my body announced it must be at least four in the morning.

  Both men followed me to the bedroom. I loved them, but right now they made me feel a bit crowded.

  Just a little…

  John said, “I don’t like the way you’re avoiding the subject.”

  Was I? “Do you think I’m influenced by something already? Because I think I’m just tired, but I might be wrong.”

  Adam watched the bed with his head tilted to the side. It was a good bed. It served us well for a long time and I looked forward to reacquainting myself with it.

  “I’m just saying, it’s not like you to go to sleep in the middle of a life or death situation, even if it’s late.” John sounded concerned.

  “Really? Well, I guess we hadn’t met the time the ship was invaded and I took a nap on the floor in Engineering.” Adam had let me sleep, making everyone else wait.

  I shuffled towards the bed. It was there, and I could at least get to sit down.

  Adam still stared at it, until I almost sat on the edge. He grabbed me before my butt could touch the mattress and tossed me to the side.

  He normally calculated his force with great care, but this time I flew and would have hit the wall if John hadn’t caught me.

  John said, “Son” in a reprimanding voice.

  Adam backed towards us. “Stay away from the bed. Go to the front door right now.”

  I didn’t see anything wrong with it, but if something about it was unusual enough to scare him, he threw me far away from it on purpose.

  Jia’Lyn had seemed keen on getting us on it.

  Adam went to the closet and tossed over a pair of bulky glasses. I fumbled with my pair and almost dropped them. “It’s the night-vision thingies?”

  “Infrared. Turn them on, put them on, and go to the front door.”

  He didn’t sound impatient, but in a hurry. I obeyed, probably much too slowly for his taste, and yelped the moment I saw through them. Microscopic dots on the bed combined into an intricate pattern, moving towards us.

  “What are those?”

  John tugged me backwards, into the living room. “I’m guessing small robots, and they’re here for us.”

  “No wonder she said sleeping would clear our heads.”

  My previous lingering and reluctance to obey Adam seemed careless on the verge of suicidal.

  Leaving the Bell was no longer a matter of going gracefully or not being pursued, it was a matter of immediate life or death. Home was no longer home; it had turned into a nightmare. Hopefully, the icky little crawlies wouldn’t be all over John’s ship too.

  The eerie stream ignored Adam, but followed John and me faster than I would have thought possible.

  I almost forgot the android head when running through the living room and had to go back to get it. Adam’s nameless brother might never be completed, but I didn’t want to leave him to this, and whoever was behind it should not get their hands on any more technology.

  Adam stopped by the door. “It might be worse out there.”

  Cheerful.

  John said, “Do you have any other ideas? I don’t think we can stay in here.”

  Adam shook his head, opened the door, and looked as surprised as I was to see two armed guards outside. At least there were only two, and the corridor didn’t hold any red dots scurrying towards us.

  John shot one of the guards and Adam hit the other, saying, “I’m sorry about this.”

  “You know who liked nanites? Eve liked nanites.” Both men ignored me.

  Our old home wasn’t far away from the lifts, and I wasn’t surprised to see Anya appear next to one of them. She waved to us, “This one.”

  Once the doors closed, she appeared beside us.

  “I will try to clear a way from here to the docking bay and buy you some time, but there isn’t much I can do.”

  I wanted to take her hand, but she didn’t have any substance. “You have to come with us.”

  “I can’t.”

  John said, “Honey…”

  She shook her head. “You know it’s not that easy. It’s not like you can stay and wait while I do a data transfer. Besides, I still wouldn’t be able to leave. My programming requires approval of the Captain to leave the ship.”

  I said, “Anya, I love you.”

  “I love you too, Alex. All of you. Now, run!”

  The lift stopped and the door opened. It was time to take her advice.

  *****

  I felt a little better when the heavy door to the ship closed behind us. Instinct said to run to the bridge, but Adam said, “Wait.”

  He inspected John from top to toe, even under his shoes. It only took a minute, if that, but I could feel our pursuers closing in.

  “Go.”

  John ran into the ship and Adam said, “Your turn. Then you’ll have to check me. They didn’t seem interested in me, but that doesn’t mean they can’t catch a ride.”

  The responsibility of looking for a microscopic particle that could ruin all our lives was too much. What if I missed it and condemned us to a faith worse than death?

  Adam saw the brewing panic on my face. He took my hands. “I will help you, but there are places I can’t see. Look on my back and in my hair.”

  I obeyed, but my hands shook and my legs wanted to buckle. Not in a good way this time.

  “What if some reached us and snuck under our clothes, or if they’re already in here?”

  He looked at me with a frown, as if not understanding why I would say such a thing, or worry about it. The next moment he scooped me up and carried me through the ship, towards the bridge. It was the right decision. I wouldn’t have been able to remain standing much longer.

  I clung to him and buried my face against his shoulder. This had to be the worst day since he died.

  “Alex, listen to me. The ship has been closed and locked all this time. No one has been in here.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because of the security systems. No on
e could have broken in without us knowing about it. And remember this is a spaceship. It is hermetically sealed, with airlocks. Nothing, not even something as small as a nanite can get in unless we bring it. I know this to be true because they’re bigger than the atoms and molecules in the air you breathe, and if the nanites could get in, our air would get out when we’re in space. It doesn’t do that.”

  Normally, his calm and thorough explanation would do the trick, but this time I couldn’t stop shaking. Reason did nothing to quench my fear.

  Adam said, “Even if there were one or more hidden inside our clothes, I don’t think it would be enough to change a person, or they wouldn’t have come in such a big scale. But, we will check once we’re out of here.”

  “They’re so creepy, like being chased by millions of tiny red spiders that want to take over my mind.” My voice was anything but steady.

  “And you don’t like insects. I didn’t make that connection.”

  In my opinion, the lack of arachnids was one of the best things about being in space. The nanites probably didn’t look like creepy crawlies to him, but they sure did to me.

  What would happen to all the people we were leaving behind? Debana, Anya, everyone else? Would Jia’Lyn be like this forever, or could she be turned back? Were all the ships like this? Confederacy worlds? Wondering who did it might be more prudent, but my imagination had many answers to that.

  Adam entered the bridge and put me down on a chair, freeing himself from my death grip around his neck. I cringed, imagining nanites materializing under me and crawling up my back.

  John said, “I need your help.”

  He clearly wasn’t talking to me and I ignored them.

  Adam said, “They won’t hesitate to shoot us down, not knowing what we know. This will not be easy.”

  “I don’t need it to be easy, just possible.”