by Pruden,D. M.
“I believe you. I just prefer if you not do that. I signed a confidentiality agreement and all that.” He jumped off the table. “Can I go now?”
“Sure, no problem. You don’t appear to be suffering any ill effects from your bang on the head.”
“Great. Thank’s Doc. I need to get back down to finish up in engineering.”
He waved goodbye cheerfully and hurried out the door. I watched the closed door after he left and tried to make sense of the last few minutes. His story about a confidentiality agreement seemed possible, but also sounded too convenient. He hadn’t expected me to show any serious interest in his little buddies. What was he hiding? I then noticed I still held the gauze used to clean up his wound.
I smiled to myself as I took the bloody cloth to the microscope in the corner. My intentions violated some kind of patient confidentiality, but I wasn’t hired for my ethical standards. I wanted to know Hodgson’s big secret. Within ten minutes, I knew, and I was stunned.
I brought up on the screen a view of one of his nanites. Beside it, on a second monitor, I placed an image of a dead nano-virus. His nanite almost mirrored the shape of the virus. His bugs were an attempted engineered cure for the bio-weapon that killed the crew of Helios. On close examination, they weren’t an exact match. They would slow down the virulence of the nano-virus, perhaps even render it harmless long enough for the bioweapon’s lifetime to expire. One thing seemed certain. Hodgson possessed the closest thing to immunity of anyone. He obviously did not join this mission to cook meals for Dunn.
I looked at the bio-containment chamber, the green light glowing. I was tempted to extract a live nano-virus and test Hodgson’s nanites effectiveness against them. I shook my head.
What the hell is the matter with you Destin?
Then I started to wonder; how would my own nanites do against the virus? I grabbed the venipuncture kit and within a minute held a sample of my own blood in a vial.
The image in the microscope soon reminded me of something I conveniently chose to forget. My system possessed two different populations, neither of them even close to the required parameters to put up a fight with the nano-killer. Somewhere in the back of my head, I came up with the vague notion that if the company went to such extreme measures to recruit me, perhaps they also manipulated the injection forced on me back on Luna. It would make sense for them to do so if they intended for me to risk exposure. I would have done so if I had been plotting the whole thing.
Maybe Rego didn’t have the cure. Dunn owned no nanites in his system at all. Surely he would have been injected if one were available? All this suggested to me that Hodgson did not work for the corporation. He was a spy for someone else.
Chapter 20
Erik Dunn entered his quarters and locked the door. He unlatched the helmet and pulled it off to the hiss of escaping air. Leaning against the door he inhaled deeply, glad to be rid of the pressure suit’s confinement.
The room smelled musty and stale and he detected an odd chemical odour. He decided it must be the precautionary cleansing agent the doctor ordered pumped through the environmental system. He shook his head at her naivety. If she only perceived what she was up against she would realize the stupidity of her order. Just as well that she didn’t understand. If she did, it would be more difficult for him to accomplish what he intended.
He chuckled at her impertinent attempt to force a better deal for herself. She had absolutely no clue what she’d become involved in. Charlie Wong had been right about her, though. She was intelligent and resourceful. She would need to be watched.
Now, though, more pressing matters demanded his attention. The idiot Terran captain showed up far too soon. Apparently he doubted Dunn’s word and set out to confirm the course of the Fortuna for himself, putting everything in jeopardy by allowing himself to be spotted. To further complicate everything, Mundi’s spies infested every ship in the fleet. Dunn needed to find out what Mundi suspected.
He retrieved his personal bag from the closet and removed a small box from a secret compartment. It cost him considerably to customize a quantum radio transmitter into such a compact package, but his need for near instantaneous confidential communications necessitated the expense. Unavoidably, the miniaturization lengthened the time required for it to establish the linkage with its counterpart. Dunn decided he could enjoy a shower while that took place.
By the time he returned to it, the transmitter indicated an established a link. He sat on the side of the bed wrapped in a towel and entered the contact protocol. Following a short wait, he heard the raspy voice of a woman, obviously roused from sleep.
“Erik? Is everything all right?”
“Sorry to wake you. There’s been a development and I need your help.”
“What’s happened?” Kiri sounded wide awake now.
“We’re being tracked by a Terran military cruiser.”
“What? There aren’t supposed to be any in your sector for another three days.”
He smiled at her apparent surprise.
She continued, “If the Terran’s spotted you, how do you intend to proceed? Do you want me to launch the Victorem early to meet with you?”
“No, proceed as planned. I’ll think of something to distract them.”
“Mundi has spies on board all the Terran ships. I’ll try to find out what I can.”
“I’ll contact you again once I come up with a plan to shake the Terrans,” he said.
“Be careful, Erik.” She sounded genuinely concerned for his well-being. There was more to her than her looks.
Dunn signed off and stared at the wall.
Kiri had strong potential, but her inexperienced slip up doomed her. She couldn’t know the extent of Mundi’s network unless told by someone like Felix Altius.
Damn! Such a waste.
He made an adjustment to the small box and established a second communication link. The ability to pair the Q-radio to more than one other receiver is what really cost him the credits.
A deep male voice responded to the hail.
“I have a mission for you,” said Dunn.
“Yes?”
“I want to leave a message for someone. Once the Victorem launches, retire Kiri Mason.”
“Understood.”
The link-up ended.
Dunn wondered who first approached whom? Altius probably sought her out. She was impressionable, and Felix Altius could be extremely persuasive. A pity she wouldn’t survive to collect the rich fee he undoubtedly bribed her with.
Not yet bedding Kiri was his biggest regret about her. He should have done so right away after hiring her, but her sweet face tempted him with the foolish romantic notion that it would be better for her if he waited and built her trust.
Trust is a two edged blade. Dunn trusted nobody. Why he made that mistake with Kiri, he didn’t know. Maybe he was getting old and sloppy. Perhaps now was the perfect time for him to retire.
The point was moot, anyway. Mundi would not let him live, even if he didn’t plan betrayal. The very fact that Mundi co-opted one of his agents demonstrated his precarious position.
He smiled. It was good to have no options. It prevented wavering from the chosen path.
Now he needed to consider how to handle his other situation. The loyalty of almost every other person on board he owned. The doctor and the engineer were acquired by less conventional means and certainly not motivated or inclined to work on his behalf. Schmaltz he could do nothing about at the moment. His skills were needed for a while, yet. As for Melanie Destin, it would be best to minimize her interaction with the crew.
Now convinced of his plan of action, he unpacked his bag and looked for a change of clothing.
Chapter 21
I re-ran the facts but came to the same conclusion. Hodgson was a spy. Only two questions concerned me now: who did he spy for, and what should I do? I locked myself in the med bay’s water closet. I needed time to think without interruption.
Dozens would ki
ll to possess the nano-virus. Rego Corporation demonstrated that quite clearly. We only found the Helios because someone sabotaged it, murdered the crew and abandoned it here. Somehow, Dunn miraculously knew where to look, so a genius level IQ wasn’t needed to determine who was behind everything. Something went terribly wrong. Perhaps the release was intentional and hadn’t gone as planned?
Think, Destin! Think! This ship is Terran, so the virus must be as well. Hodgson is former Terran forces. Is he working for them to recover their missing bio-weapon? How he managed to dupe his boss into recruiting him for the mission by declaring himself up front as ex-Terran military smelled of some level of genius.
What could I do? Informing Dunn was the first obvious dumb answer. I didn’t like where the trail led. Hodgson would die, and despite the fact he possibly worked against us, I had become fond of him. I had done a lot of questionable things in my life, but killing was not one of them. Exposing him would make me as culpable in his death as Dunn.
If Dunn conspired with Hodgson and I told him what I know, he would murder me, a prospect I liked even less. So, telling him anything was obviously not a good idea.
They must have some kind of a plan to take the viral agent and escape without our immediate objections. I hoped their plans didn’t involve releasing it amongst the rest of us though Hodgson’s anti-nanites indicated that a strong possibility. Of course, that line of thinking suggested he didn’t work with Dunn.
My head started to hurt.
A viral release remained possible and Dunn, if involved, must hold a means to deal with the situation. Hodgson’s presence in engineering was the answer. His voluntary helpfulness gave him access to any of the systems. What had he been so focused on when I surprised him? I needed to talk to Schmaltz.
I heard the door to medical open and somebody call for me.
“Give me a moment!” I flushed the toilet and washed my hands to complete the charade, then exited to find Dunn waiting for me.
“What can I do for you?”
“I want to inspect the integrity of the isolation containment field.”
I’ll bet you do. “Of course, it’s over here.”
I led him to the chamber and he glanced at the monitors still displaying my nanites. He stopped to examine them without any change of expression. My stomach tied itself in knots. I had to assume he was familiar enough with nanotechnology to grasp what he saw. If he suspected I understood the nature of the nano-virus, things might become bad for me.
“Is this the virus?”
I relaxed a bit. He was either ignorant or leading me on.
“No, those nanites are from my system. I hoped they might offer some kind of resistance to what killed the crew.”
“And do they?”
“I can’t tell. The samples are too degraded to determine their exact structure.”
“Oh, that’s a pity. It would have been comforting to know there might be a way to protect us from another accidental outbreak.”
“Yeah, that was my hope. We’ll just need to maintain the highest level of security in this room and make sure the power isn’t interrupted.”
“My thoughts exactly. As of this moment, I am giving you sole access to this facility. Nobody is to enter. You will be sleeping and taking your meals in here.”
A jolt of adrenaline shot through me and my hands shook involuntarily.
“Do I have visitation rights?”
Dunn chuckled. “Not to worry. The situation will only be for a few days until we reach our destination. Besides, you’ll be able to guard the prize so I don’t cheat you and run off with it.”
The predatory grin spread across his face. I responded with my best ‘fuck you’ smile. He left the medical centre without another word and I could only stand there and watch him leave, helpless to do anything else.
The klaxon sounded once and Garrick’s voice boomed over the speaker.
“All crew, report to launch stations. Lift off in five minutes.”
The Terrans would be waiting for us unless they took the bait and chased after Fortuna. I wished I knew who Dunn played for in all this. I hoped he still worked for Rego as that gave us the best chance of escape and not being shot at if his plan succeeded.
I was not surprised to find the door locked from the outside. Panic welled up in me. I did not like being confined. I had endured enough of that shit as a kid. I looked desperately around the room for something to distract me.
If part of the scheme entailed a viral release then I would be the first to die unless I came up with a way to prevent that. The easiest way for Hodgson to engineer things was to cause the containment field fail. If that happened, the nanites would move through the spaces between the molecules of the wall and escape. It took some time to happen, usually on the order of an hour for facilities built to laboratory specs. I required a way to ensure the power couldn’t be interrupted.
I scanned the room and spotted the isolation chamber Hodgson and Limn wrestled in only a few hours before.
“Hello, there!”
I rushed over and placed my hands on top, wanting to give the bulky box a big hug. It contained an independent battery source that might be usable as a power backup for the ship’s system. I wanted to dance around the room. Maybe I wouldn’t die a horrible death.
It took me a long time to figure out how to remove it from the portable unit. Not having the right tools, I modified a surgical laser to cut the casing, a major accomplishment in itself but once done, the rest of the operation was easy.
Within two hours I was finished. With Schmaltz’s help, I could have installed an automatic power transfer switch. As things stood, I had to keep an eye on that fucking green light and flip to the battery when it went out. The situation would be nerve-wracking, but this solution would keep me, and everyone else, alive, at least until Hodgson figured out the virus wasn’t released. He only needed to unlock the door, smack me around and turn off my creation. I’d only bought myself a little time.
My eyes fell to the monitor that distracted Dunn. There sat an image of my useless nanites. But were they totally useless? On closer examination I found a strange looking, second nanite. It was a hybrid of mine and the ones I’d had forced on me on Luna. Somehow, when the two populations encountered each other in my bloodstream, they went about creating something new. I thought about the biophysics of the whole process, then turned to consider the chamber holding the nano-virus.
A very dangerous, desperate, hail Mary idea formed in my churning little brain. What if they could do it all over again? Why not try to push their evolution into something that might save my life, if nobody else?
I was out of my mind. Why else would I even be consider using my nanites, along with the sampled ones from Hodgson to bio-engineer my own version of a vaccination. To do that, I would need to extract an active sample of the nano-virus. I was definitely crazy.
Chapter 22
Though the engineering behind the containment field technology existed for years, I was still nervous. While I handled the most deadly bio-weapon ever invented with the robotic manipulator arms, visions danced through my head of the tiny little machines crawling through the gloves and into my body.
With a sample extracted from the chamber, I began my experiment to try modifying my nanites to fight off the nano-virus.
The truth about medical school for me was that I found it boring and considered quitting before I took my first class in nano-medicine. Charlie might have called me a brilliant doctor, but my passion resided in these little buggers. Nanites fascinated me and I made them the focus of my studies, taking extra classes and pulling off insane hours to graduate with a double doctorate in medicine and nano-medical technology. I guess I was good at both, but I loved the nano-research. I was prepared to do post-doctoral work in the subject when my life turned to shit and I left everything.
After a few failed experiments, I glanced at the chronometer to see six hours now passed. No wonder my stomach protested. When Dunn tol
d me I’d have to take my meals in here, I assumed they would bring them to me. I called him on the comm.
“Hey, Warden, do I get fed in this dump?”
“Feeling peckish, Doctor? I’ll have something brought down to you.”
“No chance for me to earn a day pass for exercise?” I knew what the answer would be.
“Hodgson will be down shortly.”
Hodgson! I couldn’t risk letting him see what I might be up to. I scrambled to clean up the experimental chamber and make the place appear unused. As I turned off the monitors displaying the microscopic images, the door to medical opened and he entered, pushing a trolly.
“Are you bored out of your mind yet? Dunn tells me you are babysitting the virus.” His broad, genuine smile displayed white, slightly misaligned teeth.
“Yes, we can’t afford for a repeat of what happened to the previous tenants, can we? Since we haven’t blown up, I’m assuming Dunn’s plan is working? Any sign of the Terrans?”
“Looks like they fell for the bait and are chasing our old ship in the opposite direction. We’ll be out of their detection range soon if they even bother to look back.”
“Let’s hope that’s the case. I don’t really want to spend the rest of my days in a Terran work prison.”
“That would not be good.” He uncovered the tray to reveal a beautiful looking steak dinner, with fresh vegetables.
“Where did we get the meat?”
“It’s soy. The food system on this ship is better than most. It actually tastes like the genuine article.”
“I don’t remember the taste of steak. I’ve only eaten it once when we splurged at graduation from med school. My stomach ached for two days after.”
“Yeah, real meat will do that to you. This should be okay, though.”
After asking if I needed anything else, he left me to my dinner, giving no sign to suggest this would be my last meal.
I returned to my work and pressed on for the next twelve hours, every attempt to modify a change in my own nanites a failure. In truth, I didn’t realistically expect to succeed. Random hybridization was rare and dependent on too many factors. Though the populations inside of me accomplished the miraculous once, there was never any guarantee that I would be able to force a second adaptation.
