The hell with secrecy. She called the base and requested an RRT.
The hydra was too massive to squeeze through the cave entrance, but it was not giving up. Talia shivered as she saw one of its tentacles slithering into the cave. She tried to remember what Adrian had told her about those creatures.
Okay, okay, stay calm. Deep breaths. Nean lifeforms are blind, but they have excellent hearing and sense of smell. Humans smell nothing like a hydra’s prey. Just keep quiet, and it won’t detect you.
Okoro was about to say something, but Talia hushed her. They froze and remained silent while the tentacle crawled toward them. The hydra’s limb was so close Talia could detail the barbs on its skin and the red marks left by blaster bolts.
After a minute of speleological exploration, the tentacle retreated.
Talia exhaled slowly, hoping the nightmare was over. But the injured tex gave out a moan, and the tentacle thrust back into the cave. Talia grabbed Okoro’s blaster and squeezed against the cave wall. The tex blanched and lay still. The tip of the tentacle moved straight toward his chest. The limb stretched to its limit, but couldn’t reach him.
For the second time, the tentacle started retreating.
Talia held her breath while it slithered past her. Its barbs almost brushed her protective suit.
Suddenly it stopped. Its tip rose into the air and turned to her. The tentacle looked like a giant cobra poised to strike. It aimed straight at Talia’s chest.
It can hear my heart beating!
04
Music of the spheres
Commander Riley Lance was not the patient type. She buzzed at the door of the suspect for a second time. “Mr. Chen, I’m Commander Lance, ASF. Open the door. I need to ask you a few questions.”
The door slid to the side, and a petite female in her late thirties appeared in its frame. “Mr. Chen is asleep. I’m his wife, Lian Chen.”
Riley stepped forward, but Ms. Chen blocked her way.
“I must talk to your husband,” Riley said in a tone tinged with threat. “Official business.”
Ms. Chen glared at Riley, her slanted eyes narrowed. “My husband just finished a twelve-hour shift. He needs rest.”
“Your husband is jumping out the window of your bedroom. I’m a bionic; I can see him through the wall.”
Ms. Chen opened her mouth, so bemused she didn’t resist when Riley pushed her to the side to dash into the bedroom. A gust of wind erupted through the open window.
Chen’s apartment was on the ground floor. He sprinted barefoot down the street, struggling against high gravity. Running on Neo wasn’t easy for a non-enhanced human.
“Mr. Chen?” Riley called. “You can’t get away from me. I’m a bionic with military-grade implants.”
Chen stopped and turned to her, sweating and panting. He was short and skinny, the same age as his wife. Riley hopped out the window and strode to him, her hand set on the grip of her blaster.
“I… I haven’t done anything,” he wheezed. “I’ve seen nothing, done nothing.”
“Then why did you try to flee?” Riley asked, showing him her ASF badge.
He lowered his eyes and shivered. He wore nothing but pajamas, and the night was cold. “Oh, stars,” he moaned. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
“You’re not referring to your attempt to flee. Perhaps your other mistake was borrowing from a loan shark.”
Chen bobbed his head, pressing his arms against his chest to keep himself warm.
“We will protect you,” Riley said in a softer tone. “Please return to your apartment and put on something more appropriate.”
When they returned to Chen’s apartment, his wife speared him with an angry glance. He stared at the floor, avoiding eye contact. Disappearing into the bedroom, he reappeared a minute later dressed in a casual coverall. Meanwhile, Ms. Chen offered Riley green tea, synthetic of course. She declined politely.
The three of them settled at the dining table and Riley started the interrogation, “Mr. Chen, you work at the electronics plant Alpha Three, correct? You’re employed there as an engineer. Do you know Mr. Sun Jin?”
He nodded, still avoiding eye contact. “Yes, I know Sun Jin. We journeyed together on the ASC Tesla.”
Riley already knew that, and she also knew that the two men had met recently. Earlier that day she’d helped Kwan Kor gather all the information they could find on Jin and his friends.
“He’s a good man,” Chen added. “I hope he’s not in trouble?”
Riley ignored that and said, “We know you borrowed from a loan shark on the Dionysus. We keep an eye on such things. Why did you do that?”
“I need to pay for my son’s treatment. Alliance credits are worthless, so I borrowed ten packs of energy cells. That’s the equivalent of three months’ salary.”
“I take it your son isn’t being treated by a registered practitioner. Alliance doctors offer their services for free, and no licensed physician would accept payment in energy cells.”
Mr. Chen bit his lip. “Not a regular doctor, no. A medic on the Dionysus. I don’t ask any questions, as long as he keeps my boy alive.”
“How do you intend to repay your debt?”
Ms. Chen glared at Riley, as if the latter were responsible for their predicament. “Why are you talking to my husband like he’s some criminal? He’s just trying to save our little boy. What choice do we have? Alliance doctors don’t have enough medicine to treat everyone. They say they don’t have enough resources, and it’s all because we came to this accursed world.”
“We had no choice,” Riley said firmly. “We do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of our species.”
“But Neo’s barely inhabitable,” Ms. Chen insisted. “We have to work hard just to stay alive, and we live like prisoners in our own bases. Why didn’t we settle Chloris?”
“Because the Taar’kuun would’ve sent their armada to crush our forces, and that would’ve been the end of the Alliance,” Riley replied.
“We could’ve traveled to Earth,” Ms. Chen said. “Why did we have to come to this awful planet instead?”
“Same reason—the Taar’kuun occupy Earth,” Riley countered. “We don’t have the firepower to engage them in open battle. Neo is our best chance for survival, as our enemies ignore its location.”
Riley turned to Mr. Chen and resumed her interrogation, “Please answer my question: how do you intend to repay your debt? We know that you met with Sun Jin three times over the past two weeks. We searched his apartment and found sophisticated electronic components that came from your factory.”
He raised his eyes and gave Riley a nervous glance. “You searched Sun Jin’s apartment? Why?”
“Mr. Jin is dead. I’m sorry, Mr. Chen.”
His lips trembled, his gaze wandering through the room.
“Oh, stars have mercy,” his wife whispered while he remained speechless. They both understood what that meant. Without the payment Sun Jin owed them, they wouldn’t be able to honor their debt and pay for their son’s treatment.
“The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Galen, is a friend of mine,” Riley said. “I’ll ask her to treat your son. Of course, she’ll do it for free. But you must help me with my investigation. Tell me why Sun Jin needed those components.”
Mr. Chen threw Riley a distrustful look. “Where were your doctors when my son was dying? We’ve been told that human society is just. That all citizens have the same rights. That there are no castes, unlike in the TGS. But that’s not what I see.”
“We all have to work hard and make sacrifices so our species can survive,” Riley pointed out. “We all lost people we cared about. Dr. Galen lost her sister; believe me, she understands how it feels to lose someone close to you. If Alliance doctors denied treatment to your son, I’m sure there was a good reason. Maybe they didn’t have the equipment to synthesize the medication, or maybe they thought that wasn’t the best treatment for his condition. In any case, I’m sure Dr. Galen will do everything
in her power to save your son.”
Ms. Chen set her hand on her husband’s forearm. “We have to trust her. Tell her everything you know. If you don’t, they’ll send you to the prison ship, and our boy may die.”
Mr. Chen took a deep breath and confessed, “I stole those parts from the factory. Sun Jin promised me fifteen packs of energy cells for them. Five in advance, and ten more after final delivery tomorrow. The parts are for a long-range transmitter. That’s all I know.”
Riley thanked Mr. Chen for his cooperation, promised again to talk to Talia about his son, and left. The next step in her investigation was clear—she needed to talk to an expert in interstellar comms. She took a shuttle to the ASC Remembrance.
*****
Captain Hunt’s appearance hadn’t changed much since she met him five years back. In his case, retroforming had stopped half-way, and his face bore characteristics of Taar’kuun physiology. She found him in his quarters, at his desk, typing on a virtual keyboard. The dark scales on his forehead reflected the light from the holo-screen.
“Captain, I need your expertise,” she said. “A technician has been murdered—”
“I know,” he cut her short, his voice cold and husky as usual, his eyes riveted to the holo-screen.
“If it’s not a good time, I can come back later.”
He tilted his head slightly, which meant she had his attention. “You’re investigating the murder of Mr. Sun Jin. I knew him. He was no simple mechanic, but a specialist in interstellar comms. He was working as a mechanic only temporarily due to shortage of staff.”
“He was crafting a complex device, some sort of transmitter. I have the list of components, but not the schematics of the device. Sending the list now.”
Hunt’s dark eyes stared at the holo-screen without blinking as he examined Riley’s list. “The music of the spheres,” he said pensively.
“Captain?”
As he lifted his eyes, his gaze lost its sharpness, as if he could see a different reality through the fabric of spacetime.
“Musica universalis, or music of the spheres, is an ancient philosophical concept,” he said. “Some philosophers believed there was a connection between music and astronomy. They weren’t wrong. Every celestial body produces unique gravitational ripples, so small that only the most sensitive instruments can detect them. They’re like a subspace signature. It’s called gravitational music. Explorers and navigators use it to find their way through scantily charted regions of space.”
“Artificial black holes produce those ripples too, correct?”
Hunt nodded. “Anything that bends spacetime produces gravitational ripples, like a musical instrument produces sound waves. Every planet, every star, every black hole has a unique voice. The whole galaxy is a symphony, and our journey through the stars is a musical experience.”
Riley cleared her throat. She thought—not for the first time—that her captain was a frustrated philosopher. Who knows, maybe he missed his true calling?
“But you’re not here to listen to me blabbering about the esthetic qualities of the cosmos, commander,” he added, his gaze sharpened. “You want to know what kind of device the murder victim was crafting. That I can tell from the list of components. It was a converter for an interstellar transmitter. Such a converter allows one to send a huge amount of gravimetric data in a single burst. It’s like converting gravitational music into a quantum beam. Very ingenious. We detected an emission from an interstellar transmitter on the planet’s surface. Chances are, Sun Jin was working for the owner of that transmitter. I’ve sent a landing party to investigate.”
05
Talia and Adrian
The hydra’s tentacle was poised to strike. Rows of barbs reflected the flames, like dagger blades made of dark metal. Talia remained still, barely daring to breathe.
A shrieking noise hit her eardrums. Its pitch so high it bordered on the limit of audible frequency.
The tentacle froze for a second. The noise resonated again, and the tentacle slithered out of the cave. The ground quaked, and Talia imagined the massive body of the creature crawling back into the lava tube.
The noise stopped. A bluish cloud erupted through the cave entrance, stifling the flames. A man in a protective suit stepped toward her, holding a small device in his hand.
“Adrian!” she cried.
He beamed at her. “I did it! I created an effective hydra repellent.”
She exhaled slowly, her hands still shaking. “Your timing is impeccable. How did you manage to get here so quickly?”
“I called you on your cell, but the signal didn’t get through. Then I called the hospital, and they told me you were on an urgent rescue mission, but they couldn’t tell me the details. I figured it had something to do with a classified ASF op, so I called Captain Hunt, and he explained what was going on. I knew there were hydras in this area, so I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“And you wanted to test your new toy, of course.”
ASF marines rushed into the cave, carrying stretchers.
“We’ve got two wounded to evac, and two more trapped in the cave system,” Talia said. “Adrian, I have to take care of the wounded. We’ll catch up later.”
He nodded, his eyes returning to the hydra repellent device. The marines carried the wounded out of the cave. Talia stayed beside Okoro’s stretcher and monitored her vitals. A Guardian Angel waited on the ground, doors open and turbofans whirring in preparedness for takeoff. Another one hovered about thirty meters in the air, guns at the ready in case of another attack.
Talia climbed into the gunship and started treating Okoro’s burns. Fortunately, they were superficial; her body armor had done its job. The Guardian Angel rocketed toward Base Alpha. When she was finished treating Okoro, the lava lake had disappeared behind a mountain, and Talia could see only darkness through the windshield.
She called Hunt. “Captain, I appreciate the need for secrecy, but you should’ve requested an RRT to the crash site.”
“It was a calculated risk,” Hunt replied coldly.
“What was so important about that transmission from the cave?” Talia asked.
“The source was a military-grade device. Only the ASF uses such technology; therefore, I assumed someone had stolen classified military tech.”
“Any suspects?”
“I can only speculate at this point. A criminal organization possibly. If the mob has infiltrated the ASF, we ought to find the mole.”
“I don’t mean to criticize your decisions, captain, but your propensity to gamble with your people’s lives worries me. You could’ve sent a bigger landing party with adequate air support.”
“Doctor, I have to make tough command decisions, and when doing so I must keep the bigger picture in mind.”
Talia sighed. “Lieutenant Okoro and the tex will live, if that is any consolation. There’s a good chance your people trapped in the cave will be rescued. Still, we lost five people today: two when the dropship crashed, and three more due to the hydra attack.”
“However, we learned valuable information. Your assistance is much appreciated, doctor. Captain Hunt out.” He ended the transmission.
*****
The Guardian Angel landed on Base Alpha’s hospital roof, and Talia’s assistants transported the wounded to surgery. Talia treated them herself. By the time she was finished, Adrian arrived at the base and called her on a secure channel.
She went to her office and locked the door.
“I found the weapon that shot down the dropship sent by Captain Hunt,” he said. “It created a focused EMP that fried all onboard electronic systems. The two marines we rescued from the cave found a small facility deep within the cave system. The ceiling collapsed before they could thoroughly explore it or recover any equipment. And I’ve made one more discovery. At first, I was surprised that lava hydras attacked you, as they usually ignore humans. Then I found a device hidden in the rocks. That device emitted an infrasound that stimu
lated aggressive behavior in hydras.”
“The arrival of our gunship must’ve triggered the device,” Talia guessed. “Who has the know-how to craft such a device?”
“That’s the problem—I can’t think of anyone. Designing such a piece of tech requires knowledge in xenobiology, and I’m the only certified xenobiologist on the planet. It must be someone with access to my research.”
Talia pondered for a moment, then said, “Someone with access to military-grade gear and classified info has made an unauthorized interstellar transmission. That’s an unsettling thought. Now I understand why Hunt insisted on secrecy.”
Adrian changed subject. “I’m starving. Let’s meet at the ASF cafeteria.”
Talia accepted. She left the hospital and strolled to a building at the edge of the base, a block away from the hospital. She took the elevator to the top floor.
The view was worth the trip. The horizon in the east was an incandescent line, and the rays of the rising sun colored the clouds in orange and purple hues. She could make out the peaks of distant mountains through the morning fog.
Adrian waved to her. He’d made an attempt at elegance and wore a blue overall that suited him. She’d only ever seen him in protective coveralls or geeky T-shirts sporting mathematical formulas. With brown hair, brown eyes, and plain features, Adrian was physically unremarkable, yet something in the expression of his eyes set him apart.
“May I offer you a drink?” he said with a little smile.
“It’s time for lunch,” Talia replied. “Let’s grab something to eat.”
They settled at a table next to a window of transparent nanoalloy, activated the holo-screens, and studied the menu.
“Oh, a green salad,” Talia said with enthusiasm. “A real, naturally-grown salad. That’s a dream coming true.”
“I take it you didn’t enjoy synthe-steaks?” Adrian’s smile grew broader. “You know people called them Steak à la Darus, as I’m the one who came up with the process to mass-produce them?”
Survival Strategy Page 3
