by M. D. Cooper
While they waited for the meat to arrive, the pair worked quickly, getting the kitchen ready for the meal prep. Jessica was reclining at the table and Trevor was putting on a pot of coffee when Ron came in.
“Got your special delivery here,” he said and waved in a guard carrying a crate to set it on the table. “You finally figured out the way to the big man’s heart: food. He doesn’t like boys or girls, just his next meal.”
“Was kinda staring right at me,” Jessica said with a laugh.
Ron chuckled. “Course, if he doesn’t like your cooking, things’ll go badly for you. He goes through a lot of chefs. Killed the last one a few days back. That’s why there’s no one else in here.”
“Shit,” Trevor muttered. “That’s a man who takes his food seriously.”
“You have no idea,” Ron said with a grin as he turned and left. “Good luck!”
The guard set the crate on the table and then left the room, leaving Jessica and Trevor with just the two guards who had been with them all day.
“Want some coffee?” Trevor asked.
The two looked at one another and shrugged. “Why not,” one replied.
Trevor poured two cups and set them at the table, then placed a tray with cream and sugar on it. One of the guards pulled out a scanner and checked over the drinks.
“Not that we don’t trust you,” he said. “Well, it is that we don’t trust you.”
Trevor shrugged. “I don’t blame you.”
The guard’s scanners came up empty, and they both doctored their drinks the way they liked and took a sip.
Two minutes later they were out.
Iris suggested.
Jessica pulled back her sleeve and touched her forearm to the case. Sure enough, the assimilator on her arm registered it as formation material and drew it in.
Jessica looked around at the kitchen.
The pair spent the next hour preparing a meal consisting of flame-grilled medallions of beef wrapped in strips of honey-cured streaky bacon and a mushroom and whole pepper jous. To accompany the succulent meat, they included a salad of steamed broccolini and baby asparagus tossed in a sweet pomegranate and mustard dressing.
After a bit of wrangling, with Trevor arguing the merits of balancing all meat dishes with a side of garlic drenched potatoes, they added roasted garlic and rosemary smashed potatoes in a garlic-butter and white wine sauce.
A meal fit for a king.
* * * * *
Cheeky walked through The Reach’s long corridors, heading toward the point of the V where The Perry’s offices lay. She’d spent a little more time with Bill, trying to ferret out where the self-destruct system may be, but the bartender had no idea.
Cheeky shrugged.
Cheeky smiled as understanding dawned on her.
Cheeky slowed as she neared the larger doors leading into The Perry’s offices. There were heavily armored guards both without and within. She could probably use nano—people on The Reach seemed to have almost no defense against advanced nano—to take some of them out, but not all.
Piya nodded in her mind.
Cheeky sent a warm feeling to Piya.
* * * * *
Trevor offered each of the guards standing in The Perry’s office a travel mug filled with the special coffee—albeit with a longer delay in place—while Jessica set the tray of food in front of The Perry.
“Woman, this smells amazing. For a glowing purple bimbo, you sure can do something magical.”
Trevor replied.
Jessica watched as The Perry picked up his utensils and began to dig into the meal. She had a moment of silence for the amazing meal that he shoveled into his mouth like it was the only way to stop his body from instantly imploding.
Iris gave a low whistle.
Jessica nearly gagged.
Trevor interjected.
d with a wicked smile.
Jessica swallowed her disgust.
* * * * *
Cheeky stood at the unmarked grey door and brought up the access code Piya had located: ‘Simon is a Fucking Asshole’.
Cheeky said while grinning.
She hit the send key, and without a moment’s hesitation, the door popped open.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she muttered and stepped inside.
Cheeky found herself in a long corridor with several doors along either side and crept down it slowly, sending out a passel of probes to check for any surveillance systems, or approaching people.
Cheeky approached the door and pulled it open to reveal a mop closet with a pair of meter-high cleaning bots backed into charging stations.
Cheeky walked to the next one and found herself in a store room filled with chairs and desks.
Cheeky returned to the mop closest and closed the door after herself.
Cheeky tried to activate the first bot and it wouldn’t turn on, so she wrestled it off its charging station. The moment she did, the thing came to life and started banging into the door, trying to get out.
“Shit!” Cheeky swore. She tried to turn the thing off, but saw that its main power switch was already in the off position.
Cheeky pushed the bot back with a foot and then opened the door wide. The bot rushed out and almost knocked over a woman walking by.
“Hey! Whaaat the? Who are you”
Cheeky wiped her forehead and smiled. “I got sent down to fix the bots, but that thing went psycho on me!”
“Get out of there! Those bots don’t work,” the woman admonished. Her long red pony tail shaking angrily as she gestured at Cheeky to come out of the closet.
“I know. Why do you think I got sent down here to fix them?”
“Who are you?” the woman asked, stepping closer to reach for Cheeky.
“Arn. Here to fix the bots, like the one you just let get away.”
“Arm?”
“No Arn. Oh for fucksakes.” Cheeky grabbed the woman’s outstretched hand and pulled her into the closet, then slammed the redhead’s temple into a shelf and then drove a fist into her solar plexus.
The woman crumpled, and Cheeky reached behind her head and touched the woman’s neck.
“I don’t know how we managed before we had the Intrepid’s fancy nano,” Cheeky said.
Cheeky prised the panel open—which proved to be an easy task as it was on hinges. Behind was down-sloping narrow passage which led into a room five meters across and five deep.
The moment she laid eyes on what rested in the center of the space, Cheeky began to sweat.
* * * * *
The Perry was in mid-chew when he stopped, and his eyes grew wide.
“What…!”
Jessica glanced back at Trever, who pushed over the pair of wobbling guards, and smiled. “Looks like we make a killer meal.”
“How?” Perry gasped as he clutched his throat and gagged. “We scanned it…”
“Your tech sucks, Perry,” Jessica replied. “Maybe if you spent your money on something other than expensive chefs who you kill when they displease you, you’d have spotted the metric crunkload of nano that we just got you to eat.”
Perry’s look of fear turned into one of sly rage. “If you’re trying to kill me, it won’t go well. I have…a bomb,” he rasped.
“Not trying to kill you,” Jessica replied as she sat on the edge of his desk. “My AI, Iris, is just looking through your…body…to find out where your transmitter is. Once she finds it and we replicate its signal, then we kill you.”
“No,” Perry said with a wicked grin. “I kill you.”
He reached under his desk, and Jessica dove to the side, thinking he was going for his gun, but he just pushed on something and then sat back, wheezing softly.
“There, it’s done. See you in hell.”
Jessica rushed around his desk to see a mechanical lever that had been pulled down.
“A lever?” she exclaimed. “Damnit!”
Jessica sighed. She didn’t even care enough to do that.
“I guess we know where his money went,” Trevor said.
Jessica shook her head and leaned against the wall. “Well, shit.”
THE BOMB
STELLAR DATE: 04.21.8940 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Beneath The Perry’s offices, Ellis Reach
REGION: Perry System, Stillwater Nebula, Perseus Arm
Piya said.
Nance’s words were calm and reassuring.
sharply,
Cheeky bit her lip.
Cheeky drew a deep breath.
A strange, light seemed to fill Cheeky and she felt a surge of energy—she could feel Nance in her mind, and then suddenly Nance was her mind and she was just an observer in her own body.
Then everything went black.
When Cheeky came to, Jessica was holding her and whispering something in her ear…she couldn’t make it out, but she picked out the word safe. She tasted iron in her mouth. No, not iron, blood.
Then Cheeky passed out again.
PERINA
STELLAR DATE: 04.23.8940 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Perina’s offices, Ellis Reach
REGION: Perry System, Stillwater Nebula, Perseus Arm
“Ron, if you call me The Perina one more time I’m going to punch you in the mouth until it falls off,” Jessica said from behind her large mahogany desk. “Now, how is the process going with the bombs?”
Ron swallowed and worked his jaw for a moment. “Uh, well, most of them are fake, as it turns out, but some were real. I guess enough to work as an incentive.”
“Enough to make the medics careful to, I suppose.”
“Yes th—uh Perina.”
Jessica hated the fact that she had to adopt a stupid title after deposing Perry—who wasn’t dead, just in prison. However, she couldn’t go by her name if the plan was to convince RHY that she had never been there. She could have picked something else, but the populace—who seemed very happy to have the previous Perry gone—started calling her Perina right off the bat.
The people of The Reach were very accommodating, their general efficiency improving almost overnight. The first task Jessica set them to was removing all record of Sabrina having ever been in the system. The ship was then moved to an internal docking bay.
