Port Casper (Cladespace Book 1)
Page 18
But the dog didn’t bite, after all. It spoke.
“My father’s dead. And Simone. Now Martin,” it said.
Maud reeled. The voice was different, but the cadence. The connections. Her mind had difficulty wrapping around the inevitable conclusion.
“Junior?”
The dog stared back.
“Junior!” Maud planned ahead, frantically. “Junior, I can help you find the killer. I know who—”
“Goodnight,” Tim said.
• • •
Tim’s LEMP struck Maud full in the face. Her body went limp, folding to the bridge. He immediately felt weak. He’d never discharged a pulse that strong. He also felt sick. He’d killed her. Essentially killed her. Her frontal lobe would be completely re-initialized. He knew what she was, what she’d done. But he’d killed a sentient person.
Tim shakily padded over Maud toward Raj. Raj was sitting on the bridge where he’d crawled to safety, his head drooping to his chest.
“Raj?”
“Hey, buddy. Still here.”
There was a loud thud behind him as Grace landed on the bridge.
“Raj will need some help,” Tim began, then turned. Grace was staring at Martin’s remains.
“Oh, Martin.”
Her voice faltered. She sat on the deck between Raj and what was left of Martin, hunched over, her face in her hands.
Chapter 35
“Don’t worry, Grace. Nasal reconstruction is a fairly fast procedure,” Tim said for the third time.
Grace smiled at Tim, forcing her shoulders to relax. Seeing Raj injured had upset her. On the transport back from ITB, she had more than once snapped at concerned passengers. The blood on Raj’s shirt and face looked worse than his injuries were, she reminded herself. It wasn’t as if he had shared poor Martin’s fate.
Martin.
Tim nosed her leg.
“You’re doing it again,” he said.
“Yeah, well. Human body,” she said, wiping away her tears.
“He was a loyal protector, Grace. A good man. I wish I had known him better when he worked for us.”
“Yeah.”
She rubbed her nose absentmindedly, and felt the smooth metarm of her implant brush against her upper lip. That’s how quickly mechflesh becomes second nature, she thought. Please remove it. Please?
“Hey, the nose feels great!” Raj bounded into the room with a mirror, comically squeezing his nose between his fingers, moving it from side to side. He clearly admired the handiwork of his surgical program.
“The greater alar cartilage was damaged, too, and now it feels smooth. Mango!” He sniffed deeply. “You can’t even tell where I added the enhanced olfactory grafts.” He turned to Grace. “Brilliant, right? Now I can smell poison!”
Grace considered Raj’s new nose. “It looks the same to me,” she said. “Just less blood. Why’d you keep that hump in the middle?”
Raj laughed and gave Grace a hug.
“Hey! What’s that for?”
“Just wanted to say thanks for getting me out,” Raj said, breaking away. “You and Martin saved my life, Grace.”
Grace punched his chest. “Just returning the favor. Thank that guy,” she said, pointing to Tim. “He’s got more weapons on him than a squad rushing a grinder.”
Raj turned to Tim. “Dope or LEMP?”
Tim started to answer but then Raj laughed. “I know, LEMP, huh? Always works well on protectors.”
Raj glanced slyly at her. Grace decided to hit him later.
“You know what doesn’t work on protectors?” Grace asked.
“What?”
She extended her right arm. “Here,” she said, showing Raj the implant. “Can we take it off? Now?”
“You sure you want to, Grace? Looks swell to me,” he grinned.
“Now.”
Chapter 36
Grace woke up early the next morning. She was in Raj’s spare bedroom, just like her first morning in Port Casper. Her head rested on her right forearm. She felt skin, her skin, against her cheek. She turned over and felt her right arm. Normal. Normal again.
Grace reached out automatically to the bedstand, where Ronnie and Jonnie were conspicuously absent. Her father’s legacy and Flora’s bet, both gone. Instead, she had Martin’s gun. It was a Cloister Arms 6060, a beautiful little antique. She turned it over in her hands, her eyes welling up.
“Bounce, cadet!” she whispered to herself.
Raj was already having breakfast at the kitchen table when Grace came out of her room. He smiled as she walked over, and waved her to a giant bowl of oatmeal. With bacon in it. Oh yes.
“Morning, Grace,” he said, grinning as she dug into the bowl. “Our antics at ITB last night have proved most popular. There’s been a flood of intel, official and hearsay.”
“Isn’t it all hearsay?”
“Ha.” Raj maneuvered his display so Grace could look, too. “Two kidnappings, corporate espionage, the murder of a vice minister. People are now shocked at how the Bransen family was removed from power at ITB. And Maud was in the middle of all of it.”
“Let me see.”
Grace scanned the readouts. Maud had been sent to the Luna-Six penal colony. A notorious place. She wondered what Maud thought of it.
If Maud could really think. Tim had explained that his LEMP would have robbed Maud of her mind. But if that were so, how could a court have found her guilty?
“Maud was in the middle of it, but she was still a scapegoat,” Grace said, peering at the displays. “We saved Varghese’s position when we had him launch that AI initiative. Now everyone thinks he was making a power-play against Maud.”
Raj rose and walked to the kitchen. “Varghese will be hampered without Maud. At some point the board may move against him.”
At some point. Grace glanced at her right arm. Technology created greed, like the gold of yore. Why else the swift “justice” for Maud? She doubted Varghese would be removed. And if he was, it wouldn’t be for justice.
Grace’s eyes darted back and forth between news sources as she finished her oatmeal. “Huh. They aren’t mentioning us.”
Raj returned with a steaming plate of eggs. He deposited it in front of Grace, who happily dug in.
“That’s because Tim and I stayed up all night, removing our names and circumstances everywhere they popped up—at least on the grid.” Raj sat down heavily, and it was only now Grace noticed the lines around his eyes.
“It won’t last,” Raj continued. “Too many footprints; too many witnesses. The compstate will undoubtedly issue writs for you and me. We have a few days at most.”
Grace nodded. “I was somewhat surprised somebody didn’t wake me up last night and haul us all in.” She tossed her fork on the empty plate. “And that’s for the best, anyway. I want to give my deposition to the compstate.”
“I understand, Grace. But consider doing it remotely.”
“Remotely?”
“Maud had allies, a lot of them in Port Casper. I want you to get out of here. Tim has altered your contract at ITB. You’re on indefinite leave. With pay.”
“But I don’t want to quit. Or leave.”
“I understand, Grace,” Tim said from the floor. When had he walked in? “Eventually, I hope to return to ITB too. But now is not the time. We need to regroup at a safe distance.”
“We?”
“The safest place for me,” Tim said, “is in space.”
“When other firms find out about his technology, this might all repeat itself.” Raj reached out and took Grace’s hand. “I think you should go with Tim. Actually, it’s his idea. I didn’t like it, but he convinced me otherwise.”
“Space? I can’t go into space.”
“I’m getting payment from UU,” Raj said. “We can afford the fare. And I can use some of that money to start the wheels rolling on AI acceptance.”
“No, you don’t get it. I don’t want to go into space. It isn’t…” Grace trailed off. Why didn�
�t she want to go? Because it wasn’t Earth? Wasn’t cloister? Hadn’t she left that behind?
“I have booked passage,” said Tim mildly.
“Grace hasn’t said yes, Tim.”
Grace looked from Raj to Tim. Too fast, she thought.
No, not too fast. This was the speed of life.
“Fine,” she said. “Yes.”
“Really?” Raj sounded incredulous.
“Yes, really.”
“I had a whole argument prepared.”
“Save it,” Grace said. “I’ll go. But on one condition.”
Raj cocked his head.
“Once we’re in orbit, I transmit my deposition to Wyoming Compstate.”
Raj nodded. “Definitely.”
“Absolutely,” piped Tim.
“So, where to?” she asked.
“Ceres,” said Raj. “Kyran moved there a while ago. You can stay with him until the dust settles. And the Bode-Six colony was founded by our compstate, so you can freelance there if you like.”
“Just a girl and her dog on a whirlwind tour of the cosmos,” she said.
“Did I mention that the ship leaves in less than an hour?” Tim asked.
“An hour!” Grace pushed back her chair. “But I haven’t even—”
“I took the liberty of having new clothing and provisions delivered, Grace,” Tim said. “Best to avoid your apartment.”
She looked at Tim. “Did you pack for me, too, pooch?”
Raj laughed and he left the table. He returned with two duffel bags.
“Tim needs a duffel?”
Raj smiled. “I’m going, too. But only as far as your layover on Mars.”
“We’d better hail a transport.” To Mars! Grace thought. She fingered her ptenda as they locked up the apartment.
A mover zipped up to the curb as they reached the street. The driver started to exit, but Grace waved him back to his seat. “No time,” she said.
Tim bounded aboard, followed by Grace and Raj.
“I wonder what my liquid matrix will do in low gravity,” Tim said as the driver accelerated.
“No talking, Tim, until we get someplace safe during the Mars layover. Stick to the dermal.”
Tim lopped his blue tongue out at Raj.
“The cruiser has standard grav much of the time,” Raj said.
Grace heard Tim’s voice in her dot. “I wasn’t talking about the trip. I was talking about Ceres.”
“That’s the whole point of the gel. It will handle zero grav and body crushing grav equally well.”
They argued, a buzzing in her dermal. Grace looked out the window as they sped past the Frawley. To Mars.
“I have to send a note to Dad,” Grace said to herself, manipulating her ptenda. She wished she could have done the same for Martin. I’ll miss you, Martin. Thank you. She swallowed, her eyes burning as she hastily entered a message. Grace noticed Raj watching her as she finished.
“Everything going to be okay with your dad?”
“Yeah.”
All too soon, they were at the spaceport entrance. Less than an hour ago, Grace had been waking up, pinching the skin of her arm like her graft had been a dream. Now she was going to Mars. Was she still dreaming?
The launch complex was a vast circular area, with individual launch pads along the circumference and a gleaming three-story structure in the center. Each pad sported a tall, white number.
“Pad three,” Raj said. “I don’t see any buggies. We should probably run.”
Grace unceremoniously scooped up Tim and followed Raj through an open gate.
“Have you gained weight?” she said, and heard a playful growl through her dot.
As they sprinted, Grace looked at their cruiser. It was small by Belt standards, roughly twenty meters in length. Very industrial looking, Grace thought. Not many windows. Utilitarian, with three large ion drives.
A dour man in a dark green uniform raised his hand as they approached the cruiser.
“Scan check,” Tim whispered in her dermal.
“Please place the dog on the ground during your scan. Also, note the regulations: animals are not permitted in the cabin.”
No, she thought, Tim will not be going below. Grace transmitted her credentials and watched the man’s face change. He waved all three of them aboard.
The ship was empty except for five roiders in the back. They chose seats up front. Tim sat on Raj’s lap while Grace adjusted her four-point harness. She tightened the belts and helped Raj strap in.
“Here, I’ll hold Tim,” she said, and lifted the PodPooch onto her lap. He curled up.
Raj’s fingers danced on his ptenda. “That’s strange.”
“What?” Her voice cracked. Relax, she thought.
“Probably just a glitch. Djoser gave me the comm addresses for Elysium Planitia, but there’s no data. Not even a transmission heartbeat.”
“Can we have one day without a glitch, please!”
“Heh. Sorry, Grace.”
“Conspiracy theorist,” she grumbled.
“Hick.”
She punched Raj.
“You’re jostling my seat,” Tim complained.
They were interrupted by the chatter of safety protocols, and then the vast sound of the engines coming to life. The cruiser left its moorings and, without ceremony, lifted into the sky. As they pitched higher, Grace closed her eyes and imagined the view from below. How many ships had she seen leave the spaceport? Watched from the outside. And now she was going, leaving only a transient contrail behind. Her Dad might pause and watch it from the ranch, and then return to his cattle.
Huber had been right all along, she wasn’t meant for cloister. She had too many cravings.
“Know what, Raj? I’m still hungry.”
Further Reading
Hang out with Grace, Raj and Tim.
Visit our website http://portcasper.com to find out about our ongoing research and upcoming books. Be sure to join our mailing list!
Acknowledgements
Port Casper began when Justin wrote a snippet of Grace looking aghast as Raj removed his mechflesh hand. Three months later, we finished the first draft.
Corey continued to write and edit Port Casper culminating in two more drafts before the story was ready for an editor. His wife, Nenita, was invaluable during these revisions, helping to bring sanity and focus to the tale.
Editing commenced under the masterful guidance of Vanessa Phin. Her comments, corrections, insights and gentle prodding made Port Casper come alive. Fittingly enough, Vanessa finished the edit on Thanksgiving Day and we are very grateful for her extraordinary work. She deserves a round-trip ticket to Planitia Dome.
Alan Gutierrez’s cover art beautifully captures Grace and her adventures, harkening back to the classic sci-fi covers of the 1950s. The cover layout and typography are the fantastic work of Kit Foster. Last we heard, the two men were hosting a huge bash at Balaharas.
Many dear friends helped along the way. We’d like to thank our posse of beta readers: Darlene and Bob, Charlie, Lana, Nastasya, Scott and Shawna. We’ll meet you for breakfast at the Freer Diner.
Thank you for visiting Port Casper. Check your luggage for a wayward PodPooch. Don’t worry. He seldom bites.
December 2012
Copyright
Port Casper
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright ©2012 by Corey E. Ostman and Justin A. Pecot III.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
Published by Fifteener Press, LLC.
Fifteener Press, LLC
45 Lafayette Road #245
North Hampton, NH 03862
1-857-244-1493
http://fifteener.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-939475-00-8
Edited by Vanessa Phin.
Cover Illust
ration by Alan Gutierrez.
Cover Design by Kit Foster.
Kindle Version, December 04, 2012.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Table of Contents