Eye of the Abyss: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 3

by Michael Formichelli

  “We head to Zov.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter

  Diplomatic District

  41:2:30-41:2:31 (J2400:3157-3158)

  “Starborne Arms Apartments” appeared in her vision when she emerged from the taxicab and looked up at the cluster of high-rise towers between the diplomatic and residential districts. A tall, metal fence ringed the complex from either side of a gatehouse wide enough to allow vehicles through its broad arch. The gritty smell of the fastcrete pavement stung her nostrils and tickled her throat. Standing a few steps away, Shkur’s small, yellow eyes looked up from an automated suitcase to the taxicab behind her before he noticed her gaze. His nose-petals fluttered and his pointed, jackal-like ears drooped.

  “We have nothing to talk about, Cygni.” His words brought her up short, but she made herself continue towards him.

  “Yes, we do,” she said with her heart racing. “You need to listen to me.”

  “No, I don’t. I found you trying to mate with that other male. That is the end,” he growled out in Nyangari. “You are lucky I did not kill you both.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. “You don’t mean that.”

  “Don’t tell me what I mean and what I do not. You have no right to that.” He snorted. “It doesn’t matter now that I am a sub-par male.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  He gestured to the beige shirt he wore beneath his low-hanging neck-pouch. “I am no longer a member of the embassy. I am not even allowed to go home to Nyangar. I am nothing.”

  He looked away from her, staring down the night street.

  “Shkur.” She touched his shoulder, but he flinched away.

  “Spare me your weakling Solan gestures. I will not have your pity. Leave me alone.” His three lips peeled back from the curved teeth behind them.

  “This is all my fault,” she said, feeling her throat tighten. “If I hadn’t asked you to get me on that damn ship none of this would be happening. I’m sorry, Shkur. I need to make this up to you. You can stay with me—”

  “In that house of betrayal?” His nose-petals vibrated as he snorted through them. “I’ll never step foot in that place.”

  She winced, but this was her Shkur, the male she loved for years. She had to keep trying. “If you need a job, I can help.”

  He looked her over. “A Nyangari does not accept pity. Go home, Cygni. You are wasting your time.”

  “No, I’m not. If I can help you, I’m not wasting anything,” she said.

  “I cannot be any clearer. Get away from me.” He glared at her.

  A taxicab descended from the stream of traffic above and landed next to hers. Its wing-like door swung up, and a pleasant chime sounded. Shkur’s suitcase rolled itself over to the open aperture, reached out with a metal arm, and hauled itself inside.

  “I love you,” she said as he headed for the vehicle.

  “No, you don’t. You only love yourself.”

  “At least tell me where you’re staying.” She felt as though the ground was falling away from her.

  He paused, his nose-petals twitching. “I found a place in the Bazaar. Do not pity me, just go away.”

  He climbed into the passenger compartment, and the closing door separated them. She shuddered as the taxicab lifted off and launched itself into the stream of night-sky traffic. Shkur was the best boyfriend she could remember, and it sent razor-blades through her gut to think she screwed up their relationship. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and closed her eyes. Maybe he was just angry. Maybe he’d come around later. It was possible, right? She wanted to believe it was.

  The urge to escape the sharp pain in her chest hit her hard, but the tin was back at her apartment under her bookshelf. She was looking forward to fetching it when she heard the whine of another air-car descending towards the pavement. The black, Groombridge-model luxury vehicle almost landed on top of her, forcing her to jump out of the way of the pink field of dark energy pulsing from its undercarriage. The gull-wing door slid up as soon as the car touched down.

  “Good evening, Cygni,” Thuban said from the pilot’s seat. The sight of him in his crisp, CSA uniform sent a shock of cold through her. “Get in. I need to talk to you.”

  “I have a cab.” She backed towards it, feeling a chill go through her.

  His dark eyes narrowed, and he rubbed the base of his Roman nose with the back of his hand. The odd pin, a black opal in a gold circle, gleamed at her from his right lapel. She still hadn’t figured out what it meant, and couldn’t find any reference to it on the Cyberweb, though she spent plenty of time staring at it during their long interrogation sessions in that CSA holding cell. The sight of it set her heart racing.

  “Don’t be foolish. I can give you a ride right now.” He shifted so that his jacket opened enough to reveal the butt of a pistol peeking out from beneath his arm.

  “Shit,” she muttered, making her suddenly heavy feet move towards the open door. “How did you know I was here?”

  “I’ve been tracking you since you left headquarters.” He patted the forward passenger seat. “Sit here.”

  The thick smell of his cologne choked her when the door shut.

  “What’s this about? Am I under arrest again?”

  “No. I wouldn’t be offering you a ride if that were the case.” The car took off.

  “Is that what you’re doing? Could I have said no?” She glared at him, doing her best not to tremble.

  “Well… I reviewed the records from your cerebral computer.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. The CSA downloaded the contents of her cerebral computer when she was arrested. Among other things, she knew that meant Thuban saw the videos showing Baron Revenant working with Sinuthros, the VoQuana she killed in the AgroWorlds tower. Thuban didn’t want her to kill that monster, and as she recalled, he said something about it ruining his investigation. She wondered if he was finally going to see the threat to the Confederation now, or if the CSA was just another puppet of Baron Revenant.

  “And?” she said.

  He was quiet for a while, clenching and unclenching his jaw as though trying to work through something in his head. It puzzled her. Was telling her his opinion difficult for some reason?

  “Do your superiors know you’re with me tonight?” she asked. After years of interviewing people she could tell when someone was hiding something. He was acting that way, but it didn’t make sense—unless, maybe, he was operating on his own.

  “I assume you are planning to go public with all this? Do you think you can bring Baron Revenant down this way?” he asked without looking at her.

  “I don’t know. I thought so before, but things have changed.” She sighed.

  “What changed?”

  She gave him a look. “Why are you asking?”

  “My father died.”

  “I heard. My condolences.”

  “I wasn’t close to him, not like my sister was. He and I didn’t see eye to eye on a few things. He didn’t like my profession.” Thuban shook his head. “Doesn’t matter now, does it? It makes you think, though. Reevaluate a few things.”

  “I guess.” She frowned. What was going on here? Did he pick her up to confess he was a bad son or something? “Look, I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I’ve had a bit of a rough night already—”

  “We’re going to your home, don’t worry.” He sounded irate for a moment, so she shut her mouth. “You know, they won’t let me investigate his death. Daedalus hasn’t sent an Abyssian yet. We should have jurisdiction until it does, so…” He sucked in another breath.

  Cygni felt the chill in her veins shift to her stomach. Was she in danger? There was something about the way Thuban was acting that she realized meant he wasn’t entirely himself, not that she knew him well, but something was off. She looked out the window trying to spot the familiar landmarks that meant they were headed for the Terran Ghetto. Off in the distance the seven talons of Revenant Tower dominated th
e skyline.

  “Did you know they’re going to try and saddle me with a partner?”

  “No,” she half-whispered. Her eyes darted down to the butt of his pistol and back again.

  “I haven’t had a partner since I started. We don’t do that—the partner thing.”

  “I thought CSA agents always came in pairs.” She regretted speaking when his expression darkened.

  “They do, but not us.”

  “You’re not CSA?”

  He snorted and wrenched the car out of the flow of traffic. The move threw her against the window. The vehicle climbed up over the tops of the towers and off the official flight-paths in which the central computer confined civilian vehicles. This was something only government and diplomatic cars could do.

  “You must work for the CSA, right? That’s where you interrogated me.” She tried to keep her frayed nerves calm. Was she sharing a confined space with a maddened government agent with a gun? The thought of what he might do was driving everything else from her mind.

  He gave her a sidelong glance. “What changed?”

  “Huh?” She blinked.

  “About your plans to go public? What changed?”

  She licked her lips. “I’d rather not say.”

  “I’ll find out anyway.”

  “Maybe you will.” She looked out the window again. They were approaching the Terran Ghetto. A very small part of her was relieved, but she wouldn’t feel safe until she was out of this car and away from him.

  “Fine. Be coy. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to help me.”

  “Excuse me? You’ve got a hell of a way of asking.” The ice started to leave her body. Anger was good, she realized. If she could be angry she wouldn’t be so scared.

  He sighed. “Okay, you’re right. Let me rephrase. I think we can help each other.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “Are you still sore about the interrogation?”

  “You kept me in a square, fastcrete room for days on end with no—you know what? I’m not going to do this. I’ve got too much to worry about already. Forget it. Why the hell should I help you?”

  “Because things are worse than we thought,” he said. “Your records prove Baron Keltan is compromised, and considering he’s going to be the next Premier of the Confederation, that’s bad.”

  “How do you know that?” she asked.

  He gave her a look.

  “Okay, fine, I’ll accept that you do. So, what does that mean?”

  “It means we have common interests.” He slowed the air-car and started descending towards her building. “And I need your help.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, and I’m not explaining. That good enough for you?” He cocked a thick, black eyebrow.

  “I’ve got no choice,” she said.

  “No. You don’t. Here.”

  Her implant received a secure CPAd transmission. She hesitated for a moment, but accepted. He already knew everything, after all, and he was still in her cerebral computer, tracking her. The thought gave her a shock of dread. She’d have to get Sanul to poke around and see if Thuban was Fleshriding her or something.

  “That’s a secure line. You can use it to contact me without fear of eavesdroppers.” He set the car down on the pavement in front of her building. “I really think this is a good opportunity for both of us. I’m being watched, so I won’t be seeing you for a while. Remember, that line is secure. You’ll be hearing from me soon.”

  “I’m already tangled up with something. I’m not going to be your errand-girl or anything.”

  “Let’s call it a pipeline of information. Leave it at that.” The door swung open. “I’ll be in touch.”

  She gave him an unpleasant look before getting out of the air-car, but it was wasted.

  He kept his eyes straight ahead.

  Are you coming? Cygni messaged Biren. They’d been waiting for more than thirty minutes for their “courier” to arrive from Elthroa. In order to get him into the building, she had to schedule him to deliver a crystal athenaeum with vital data this afternoon. The permit would expire within the hour, and if he was still on the premises security would be alerted. That left them little time to carry out the operation.

  “Still no response?” Giselle asked. She, Ila, and Sanul were sitting in Cygni’s office as they waited.

  “Nothing. Maybe he’s in trouble.” It was a strange thing, but she would rather think of him as under arrest, or lying in some alley somewhere than confront the thought that Biren left them all in the lurch. She knew he was capable of it from Minlea, but she also thought this new, more mature Biren wouldn’t do that. Was she wrong? She didn’t want to think so.

  Ila ran a hand over her split head-crest. It was unusual among her species as most Isinari had a single, Mohawk-like ridge running from their brows over the arch of their scalps. Ila’s forked soon after rising from her forehead and terminated at the top of her nautilus-like ears.

  “He is strong, and the goddess is with him,” niu said.

  “We should at least start talking about what we’re going to do,” Giselle stated. “Time’s wasting.”

  Sanul’s little ears flicked at the air.

  “You’re right.” Cygni felt her nerves churning in the pit of her stomach. She considered telling them about Thuban for a moment, but rejected the idea since Giselle was around. Maybe she would tell Sanul and Ila later, though.

  Giselle raised an eyebrow, looking right at her. For some reason, the hair went up on the nape of her neck.

  “So, we’ve got to get up to Revenant’s personal office where his private system is located,” Giselle said.

  “It’s an isolated system, disconnected from the Cyberweb. We can’t get at it electronically.” Sanul flexed his nostrils.

  “What tower is it in?” she asked.

  “Tower One, of course.” Giselle moved over to the broad window and looked out at the city. Dusk cast an angry, reddish-purple light on the towers around them. “It’s located in the highest levels where Revenant’s living apartments begin, and it is heavily guarded.”

  “By his androids,” she nodded.

  “Those, at least, are connected to the tower’s Cyberweb,” Giselle commented. “Sanul?”

  “I can hack them, I think.” His nostrils flared.

  “You’re not sure?” Cygni hadn’t intended the question to sound as accusatory as it did.

  He licked his thick lips. “I can do it. There’s just more risk associated with hacking Revenant’s personal guards. They aren’t static systems. Each is an independent AI linked through the security server. Hacking them isn’t so much a matter of straight-up digital attack as it is deception. It requires finesse.”

  She bit her lip, letting her hand stray into her pocket. She was surprised to find a small cube of organic material there. She hadn’t realized she put some of the Kalkoa in her pocket before she left home. “Is it too risky?”

  “I can do it.”

  “Can I suggest something?” Ila said, drawing their attention.

  “Go ahead. This is an open discussion,” she responded.

  “Why try to hack an AI? We know it’s next to impossible without one of our own. Why not put some kind of order into the tower system that gives us an excuse to go into Revenant’s personal apartments?”

  “It’s a great idea,” Giselle said, “but what possible reason would strangers have to be anywhere near Revenant’s living quarters?”

  “We’re not strangers. We’re employees of Cosmos Corp,” Cygni said.

  “We have nothing to do with Revenant’s living arrangements,” Giselle countered.

  “At the moment, at least.” She let go of the kalkoa cube and tapped her chin with one finger. Thinking about how to break into one of the most secure areas on Kosfanter felt good; it felt like what she used to do before all this began. “What about delivering something?”

  “Handled downstairs at reception,” Sanul said.

  “Maintenance?�
� she suggested.

  “Handled by robots,” Ila responded. “But Sanul, can’t you arrange for those to be indisposed?”

  “Indisposed?” He tilted his head to the side, swaying his horns dangerously close to Ila’s eyes. Niu evaded them with a tilt of niur head and scooted over a bit to give him more space on the sofa.

  “Malfunctioning?” niu offered.

  “Oh. The maintenance ‘bots aren’t high-level AI’s like the guards, so yes, I can shut them down temporarily,” he answered.

  “And then I can pose as a technician for the bots.” A half-smile formed on Cygni’s face.

  “The tower computer knows you, though,” Giselle said.

  “I have a chameleon implant, it can change my appearance as well as my electronic signature.”

  “I bet that cost you a lot.”

  “Worth it, though.” She turned her eyes back to Sanul and Ila. “The only problem is that it takes time to alter more than just superficial features. If I need to alter bone structure that’ll take a week we don’t have. I’d rather get this over with soon.”

  “How much can you change right now?” Giselle asked.

  She set her chameleon implant to work. Her eyes shifted from dark-brown to bright green, and her hair went from black to red.

  “It’s going to take more than that.”

  “Give it time, shape takes a bit.” Her chin broadened as the micro-implants around her body started to inflate with water. She moved around to sit at her desk while her cheeks and hips swelled. She checked the chronometer display in her UI. Biren was running seriously late.

  “Ah, I see it now,” Giselle said.

  “Still no Biren.” She sighed.

  “I’ll find him while you take care of getting that itinerary. How do you intend to get it out of Revenant’s files, by the way?” Giselle asked.

  “Spy-grain. I’ll put one or two around his desk-terminal, then we can access it remotely.”

  Giselle nodded.