Heart Of The Machine (Soulmates Book 2)

by Don DeBon

  "Umm, you know we're in Bermuda right?"

  Deven chuckled. "True, bad comparison. But you get the idea." He walked past her and started taking off his leather jacket revealing his well muscled arms and torso beneath a tight fitting shirt.

  Aleshia slammed the door and spun around. "I get the idea, but I don't get why you had to—wait a minute, did you say he found something with regard to the Nexus?"

  Deven sat on the bed and pulled his boots off. "Yes I did."

  Aleshia's foot began tapping again. "Well? I'm waiting."

  Deven's head turned. "For?"

  Aleshia glared as she took a step forward and stomped the other foot when it came down. "For the reason why you had to leave on our honeymoon! You promised me we would be alone."

  Deven smiled. "We are alone. No one is here. Besides if there was anyone around, you would feel them."

  Her mind reached out, grabbed the nearest pillow, and hit him as hard she could. Then another one levitated up from the other side and whacked him again. "We might be alone at the moment, but if you didn't realize, it is kind of hard to have a honeymoon when you keep leaving!"

  Deven turned as he took off his shirt. "Hey! I have only left once."

  "Yes, two minutes after we got here."

  "It was longer than that."

  "Okay, five minutes."

  Deven grinned. "Well five is better than two." Three pillows levitated up and whacked him from several angles over and over again. "Okay! I give up!"

  The pillows stopped but continued to hang in the air. "Now tell me what is going on?"

  Deven blinked. "What do you mean?"

  Aleshia glared. "Don't you give me that innocent look Mr. Doran. You know very well. Miles called you regarding something to do with the Nexus, and considering he wanted to talk to you in person, it was very important. I don't care if you said he was paranoid. I think there is more to it. Now spill it!"

  Deven raised his hands. "Okay, okay! I should know better than to try to put one over on you."

  Aleshia folded her arms. "Yes you should. Now, I'm waiting." Her foot began tapping faster.

  Deven's hands dropped as he sighed. "He thought he saw a signal from the Nexus."

  Aleshia's eyes went wide. "What? We destroyed her carrier and everything on it. Heck, it almost took us out when it blew."

  "I know. And I told him as much. But he is certain a momentary transmission matches her signature."

  Aleshia sat down on the bed next to Deven. "If Miles contacted you, yes he is certain. What did you tell him?"

  Deven wrapped his arm around Aleshia and pulled her close as she tucked her head against his neck. "I told him it must be a glitch or a random blip from some malfunctioning Mechand. She couldn't be alive, not after her carrier exploded."

  Aleshia sat up and her eyes met his eyes. "Unless she managed to transfer herself somehow."

  Deven shook his head. "If she did, we would have heard something long before now. Most Mechands have lay dormant ever since her carrier exploded. No, if she survived they would have sprung to her call."

  Aleshia stood up and walked over to the window her heels clicking softly. "I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this."

  Deven turned on the bed. "This is why I didn't want to tell you. I don't think it is possible, and no sense in worrying you for nothing."

  Aleshia spun around. "This is not nothing. I can feel it. And next time you try to hold something like this back from me, I am going to knock some sense into you with something more than pillows. Got it?"

  Deven raised his hands. "I got it. Believe me I got it. I don't want to make you mad."

  Aleshia smiled as she walked back and sat back down on the bed. She took his hand into hers. "Good because I don't want to lose you. We have spent enough of our lives searching for each other, I couldn't take it if I were to lose you now."

  He squeezed her hand. "Aleshia, there is no way you are going to lose me. I promise."

  "Good. Now that's out of the way, I suggest we get down to business."

  Deven cocked an eyebrow. "Business?"

  Aleshia glanced down at her silk and lace clad body. "But if you prefer, we could go play cards."

  "Oh! Sorry love. My mind has been elsewhere."

  "I knew it wasn't here. Otherwise, I would have had your attention the minute you walked in. It is also how I knew you were worried, even if you didn't say it. So what it'll be? Cards? Poker perhaps?"

  Deven laughed. "Poker? You take me to the cleaners every time!"

  "Well don't look at me. You are the one that leaves their mind open wider than the Defiant's main landing bay."

  "I do not!"

  Aleshia laughed. "Yes, you do."

  Deven leaned closer and kissed her soft lips. "I think we have spent enough time talking."

  She kissed him back. "You are learning Mr. Doran."

  Behind them, on the desk, Deven's data tab beeped.

  "Dang it," Deven muttered still kissing her.

  She leaned into the kiss. "Ignore it. We're on our honeymoon."

  "But it must be important, or no one would call. I have to get it," Deven said as he got up from the bed.

  "No you don't—" Aleshia started to say as she tried to kiss him again. But he moved quicker than she expected and she fell forward to kiss a pillow.

  Deven picked up the data tab and flipped it on. "Deven here."

  Leon's face smiled. "I am sorry to bother you on your honeymoon—" Aleshia appeared behind Deven and Leon's eyes went wide seeing her gown. "Now, I am really sorry. I can call back later."

  Deven sighed. "No, you wouldn't call unless it was important. What's the problem?"

  "I don't want to discuss it here, even with our encryption. Let's say Miles found something very disturbing. Along with some new, umm, interesting developments."

  Deven's eyebrows met. "What kind of developments?"

  "Just get back here as soon as you can. Both of you." Leon's face disappeared as the connection severed.

  Aleshia sighed. "So much for our honeymoon."

  Deven kissed her. "I will make it up to you my love, I promise."

  "But it took us months to get here."

  "Look, for every day we are back on the Defiant, I will give you three days here. Deal?"

  "Don't make promises you can't keep Mr. Doran."

  "Have you ever known me to break one?"

  "Well, not yet."

  "Then trust me, I won't now."

  "All right. Let me get dressed first. But oh one thing."

  Deven turned around. "And what is that?"

  Aleshia smiled as she pressed a hidden button on her gown. It shimmered, went shear showing her breasts and panties beneath. Then the panties also turned transparent a second before the whole thing turned black and opaque. "Just a taste of what you're missing."

  "Dang! Well don't just stand there. Hurry up and get dressed. The quicker we get there, the quicker we get back."

  Aleshia smiled. "I thought that might speed things up," she said disappearing into the bathroom.

  Chapter 5

  The Nexus approached the giant manufacturing plant and dropped to ground level to avoid being detected. She knew it was offline, but that didn't mean the monitoring systems were.

  She landed and walked to the front doors. They remained shut when she requested access. Even with the proper codes the doors remained firm. She peered to the right of the keypad and found the access panel. Lacking the appropriate tools, she ripped it off with her left hand and peered inside. The internal diagnostic said it was functional. "Must be they changed the codes," she said grabbing her right wrist and raising it up. The index finger opened and the plug extended. She jacked into the hidden access port and smiled. "Good, they didn't alter the protocols." The doors acknowledged the command ground open.

  Inside she gasped. The light from her screen lit so many offline Mechands had been blown to pieces, or ripped limb from limb. Their remains strewn all over the deck plate
s. Corridor after corridor showed the same devastation. "Oh my poor units!" Deeper inside the complex, the central manufacturing systems were still intact, but everything produced had been laid waste. "At least they left the equipment."

  She hoped to find something to fix her arm, but everything was either incompatible or blown to bits. "They didn't need to destroy them. My units were all harmless without me!" She stopped. Her screen showed a tear running down her cheek. The memory of what she had done came back and haunted her like a bad dream. A dream she knew was real. She tried to shake it off, and continued on.

  She climbed the steps in the back of the main assembly room and into the central control area. Tapping the power activation, all the lights turned on bathing the complex in white light. To the right of the manufacturing console she found the access port. Using her working arm, she grabbed her right hand and raised it up to the access port. The end of her index finger flipped up and the connector extended. She moved her hand forward towards the port and the last inch was bridged as the connector extended into the jack. A light next to the jack lit up and several status lights flashed indicating a secure connection.

  At first there was nothing. Then the world came alive in her mind as the connection to the Global Network activated. She searched for Aleshia and Deven. The first results came up with nothing more than basic newsfeeds, not even a contact listing. Several deep searches later, she found a beach reservation in Deven's name. "Finally!" she muttered disconnecting from the network and retracting the connector.

  She turned off the lights, powered down the systems, climbed down from the control room, and left complex sealing the doors as she did. "Can't let anyone know I was in there." She activated the hover units in her feet and headed for Bermuda.

  Deven stormed onto the bridge. "This had better be good." Aleshia followed a few seconds behind him.

  Leon shifted in his seat. "I wouldn't have called you otherwise."

  Deven sat in his chair like a ton of bricks and sighed. "I know. And I have a feeling I already know what it is. But I hope I am wrong."

  "I doubt you are."

  Aleshia sat down in the chair next to Deven and grumbled. "Leon, will you just tell us what is going on?"

  "But that should be reserved for the—"

  "Leon! Please!"

  Leon sat back. "Miles?"

  Miles' camera focused on Aleshia and Deven. "Thank you Leon. As you know I have been scanning for the Nexus. I did find her, but it was too abbreviated of a signal to ascertain a location."

  Deven sighed. "Yes, we know that. However, Galina and Leon do not. Best to brief them in full."

  "No need. They have been informed of the situation."

  Deven sat forward in his chair. "What? I specifically told you not to discuss this with them."

  "I know, and I followed your instructions, until I found more evidence to support my suspicion the Nexus did survive the carrier explosion."

  "And why didn't you contact me first?"

  "You were reluctant to come here the first time, if I had contacted you and the information turned out to be in error, the situation as you humans put it, 'would not have been pretty'."

  Deven sat back in his chair and turned towards Aleshia. "I guess he is right. I might have been a bit grumpy last time I was here."

  Aleshia eyed him. "A bit? Try a lot. And you haven't stopped yet." She looked at Miles' camera. "Miles, please continue."

  "Thank you. As I was saying, I found more evidence. A very slight signature located in North America. While the connection was longer this time, it still didn't give enough information for a precise location. However, I did narrow it down to the Midwest section of the North American continent."

  "Well that leaves about a million square miles to search." Deven rolled his eyes. "It should only take us a few years. And how certain are you this is the Nexus?"

  "While the signatures are of different sizes, they are no doubt the same system. I would not have brought this to your attention otherwise. Confidence remains high."

  Deven raised his hand. "Wait a minute. Signatures? Purl?"

  "Yes, the second time I detected her I compared it to the previous signature, and the one I have on file. The signatures are the same except for one part of the latest one. I cannot explain it. It is the Nexus, but the size variable has changed. But even with the difference, as I said, confidence remains high."

  "I suspect we will hear more from her, sooner than later. Hopefully, you can get a fix on her at that time and we can find out why."

  "Very logical and I am still scanning for such an outcome. However, I did find another odd random piece of information I have not told you yet."

  Galina sat back in her chair. "Glad you both are sitting down for this one." Miles' camera focused on Galina. "Sorry Miles, please continue."

  His camera turned back to Deven. "Thank you. As I was saying, while I have been trying to find the Nexus I have been using every resource available on the Defiant. Including some older equipment we never used before."

  Deven cocked an eyebrow. "Which is?"

  "The Defiant has the ability to access and scan frequencies that are no longer in active use due to their failure during a solar flare. However, they are extremely long range."

  "So?"

  "I have detected a probe on the outer edge of the solar system."

  Deven coughed. "A probe? Who's?"

  "Human, or at least built by humans. A long time ago. It has been in sleep mode and I have woken it up with my scanning attempts."

  "Who built it?"

  "I cannot say. It has refused me access. I only know it is very old as the communications it is using have not been active for hundreds of years."

  "Can you break into it?"

  "While the security system is antiquated, the distance is limiting the speed at which I can attempt entry. It may take me years to gain access. And I do not know if its power source will last that long. It has been in a power save mode until now, and constant access attempts may drain the reserve."

  Deven's gaze shifted around the bridge several times. "Any thoughts?"

  Leon looked up from his console. "We suspect this was built by the same people that designed the Mechands and the Nexus."

  Deven raised an eyebrow. "The founders? Why would they put a probe at the edge of our solar system?"

  Leon folded his arms. "It could be an experiment, but I have my doubts."

  "Why is that?"

  "Because if it was an experiment it would have been more forthcoming when activated. It won't even give us its ID code past the prefix. Not that it would tell us much at this point."

  Aleshia turned. "Why not? Shouldn't there be records of its launch?"

  "That is the thing, as far as I can tell, nothing was ever mentioned. Granted, not everything survived from that long ago. It was a very turbulent time. But I can't find one shred of this things launch. And a probe launch during that time would have stood out like an explosion on a dark night."

  Deven's eyebrows went up. "A secret launch? Is that even possible?"

  Miles' camera centered on Deven. "It is theoretically possible, if a location was found far enough away from a population center, and the tracking systems of the time could either be disabled or something else attracted so much attention causing the probe's launch to go unnoticed."

  Aleshia squeezed Deven's hand. "From what I know of our history, that would imply something with military origins."

  "Correct. However, even military launches we now have records of. If the mission was classified, it should still be listed. But this probe is not in those records."

  Deven rubbed his chin. "Is it possible it was labeled something else?"

  "Negative. All launches have been accounted for during the time when this could have been launched. The only logical conclusion is it was a secretive launch, to the level we have not encountered before, even by the military of the time."

  "I know it doesn't make sense," Galina said. "Why be so
secretive with a probe, and how did they manage it in the first place?"

  Deven shook his head. "No it doesn't. None of this does. The Nexus is alive and how is the question considering we saw her explode. And now this probe." He toggled the intercom. "Otis, can you join us on the bridge?"

  The intercom crackled. "Sure thing Boss. Be there in a minute." A couple of minutes later a man with a dark complexion, wearing black cargo pants, and a well-worn brown synth leather jacket stood in the bridge doorway. "So what's up?"