Touching Infinity (The Rogue's Galaxy Book 1)

by Erin Hayes

  And everyone is trying to leave it all at once. Delta’s demise must have scared them to action, because they all look like they’re about to meet their maker.

  I can’t believe how many Lifers live on Alpha. I’ve never seen so many humans with their bodies fully intact before. One of the hallmarks of a Free Agent is the presence of a bionic part—kind of like sharing stories about scars from old Earth. The more fortunate Lifers never had to worry about space debris, or their containment breaching and being sucked out into space.

  They’ve all lived charmed lives. And now? It’s their Armageddon.

  People dash from all directions, stampeding each other and shouting for everything to get out of the way. I have to duck around them, going against the flow of panicked traffic.

  I should have taken a different approach, but Dr. Jackson’s spectacles are telling me this is the most direct route to The Dungeon, even with the traffic. I just have to keep going. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

  “Watch it, you fucking cyborg!” someone snaps at me as I bump into him. He carries an armful of goods for his family of three. I make eye contact with a girl who can only be his daughter based on their shared ginger hair. She’s only about six years old. Her eyes are so wide, there’s more white than irises and pupils.

  She’s around the same age I was when Louis found me. And she may not get off this hunk of metal alive.

  I turn to her father, even though he had cursed me out. They don’t deserve to die, not at the hands of the virus.

  “Go to the docks on the starboard side,” I tell him, pointing in a direction that is a forty-seven-degree deviation from everyone else’s path. The spectacles are telling me which areas of Alpha are flooded with evacuees, and there’s far fewer at that dock than any other. “There are some escape pods there that have not been used yet, and it’s far enough from the virus that you won’t be at risk of infection.”

  He frowns at me, in disbelief at first, and then takes in my hospital gown outfit, the bag on my shoulder, and the zapper in my hand. “Why are you telling me this?” he asks.

  “Because you need to save your daughter,” I say, nodding to the girl who looks like she’s about to pass out.

  He doesn’t budge. “How can I trust a cyborg like you?”

  Did I mention that Lifers have a horrible prejudice against Free Agents? It pisses me off.

  “Just go!” I say, giving him a rough push. He stumbles, dragging his daughter and wife along with him, giving me a suspicious glare as they continue walking. To my relief, they’re moving in a different path than the rest of the crowds.

  Maybe he’s not an idiot and he’ll save his family. Hopefully that will teach him not to look down upon cyborgs.

  But I doubt it.

  Another alarm blares, this time more insistent than the first one. The spectacles tell me that the virus has taken out an entire side of the ship, rendering it impassable due to the spreading infection. I also receive a notification that the Feds have been alerted and they’ll be here in 25.7 minutes.

  That’s even less time than I had planned on initially.

  “Fuck,” I mutter under my breath as I look around for some sort of vehicle. There are still eighteen clicks between me and the Dungeons, and while I could have made it in my peak condition, I’m injured and weak. My only hope is to find something that will take me there.

  Miraculously, I spot an air scooter that no one else has thought to take in their mad scramble out of the main city. I swing my leg over it and secure the bag before I transform my right index finger into a tool that will jumpstart the bike without a keycode. It’s risky, and I can get electrocuted from the scooter, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

  “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…”

  The scooter roars to life, and I let out an excited whoop, which catches the attention of some evacuees.

  “Hey!” one shouts. “Take me with you! Take me—!”

  I hit the accelerator, and the air scooter shoots off into the air above them, at such a fast speed I don’t hear their cries behind me. I didn’t have the time to tell them that I’m going on a suicide mission. Even though I’m sure they would have knocked me off and used it themselves.

  I am a cyborg, after all.

  With the increased speed, my spectacles tell me that I’ll make it to the Dungeons in a little over six minutes. That’s a much better estimate than I had earlier, but I refuse to let myself celebrate just yet.

  Hovering twenty feet above the crowds, I can see the sheer swell of bodies as they press toward every available exit. Other air vehicles fly by me, and I have to watch out for collisions.

  But the miles fly by underneath me, and I make it to the end of the main city, toward the edge of the dome that makes up Space Port Alpha. As I park the scooter, I wonder if there’s any way I can keep it—once I find the crew, I’ll have to find Orion somewhere on this space port, and I may need it.

  I decide against it in the end. Let someone else have a chance.

  I push through the door and find myself in another hallway, this one less empty than the rest of the space port. Maybe everyone has evacuated the Dungeons, and the members of the crew have all been saved. I can hope, right?

  But the spectacles say they’re still there, captured.

  Just a few more doors, and I spot the sign that says Infirmary.

  “Or as Dr. Jackson calls it, the Dungeon,” I mutter as I palm the touchpad next to the door. Nothing happens. Of course, it would be locked. If Taka were on this side of the door, he’d be able to access the code in thirty seconds flat. As it is, I’m not as good at that, but I can try.

  I dismantle the screen and pull apart a few wires. My retina replays video of Taka doing this exact same thing, and I use it as an instruction manual for hacking this door myself. I mess up a few times, causing it to beep angrily at me, but then, finally, when I press two wires together, the doors iris open.

  I nearly sob in relief at the open door, but my revelry is short-lived. As I step into the Dungeons, I see why Taka hasn’t tried hacking the system himself.

  All around me are cryogenic capsules, similar to the one they kept me in the lab, only these are meant for extended prison sentences, keeping the captives alive when the Feds decided that death wasn’t a good enough punishment for the worst offenders. Why waste perfectly good specimens for experiments?

  There are thousands here spiraling upwards around the edges of the Dungeon, making me wonder exactly what Dr. Jackson had in mind for testing. Especially since this was originally called The Infirmary. Did she mean to experiment on them later? Use them to spread the virus? Or create something entirely new?

  As I look at them, I wonder if I had been in one of these capsules at one point in my life. I gnaw at my bottom lip, feeling that sense of dread clench my stomach.

  Then the spectacles alert me that another ward in Alpha has fallen to infection, shortening the estimated time for the ship to fall victim to it. I can’t stay here and wonder about what might have been.

  Keep it together, Clem, I tell myself. I suck in a deep breath, trying to steady my rapidly beating heart. Just find them and get out. That’s all I need to save them.

  I break into another pad for access to the files and numbers of the captives—wasting precious time when there’s a deadly virus headed our way. Luckily for me, everyone is grouped together, meaning that I just need to call that section of the prisoners. Huge, mechanical arms begin moving, going their respective direction to pull four different capsules that are placed in front of me.

  A sigh of relief catches in my throat, and I wipe the frost off the capsule closest to me. PC’s slumbering face greets me, and I almost thump the window to say hi. Not that it would work—they’re all in deep sleeps right now, and if I have any hope of getting them out of here, I need to wake them up.

  I turn the mechanical lock on the front, and it hisses open with a burst of cold air. Inside, I hear PC coughing.

&nb
sp; He’s alive. Thank the stars, he’s alive!

  I move to the other capsules, opening them up as quickly as possible, and they all hiss open to reveal the groggy, slumbering prisoners inside. Everyone seems fine. Everyone is in one piece.

  “Cl—Clementine?” PC asks. I turn as he sits up in his capsule, a dark, skintight uniform flush against his body, leaving nothing to the imagination. I’ve seen him naked before, so it’s no big deal, but these uniforms are one last insult to the prisoners.

  “Hey, PC,” I tell him.

  “What are you doing here?” He blinks at me, frowning deeply. “Are you still infected? Where’s Louis?”

  The mention of our former captain hurts me almost physically, and I grimace as I look at him. He’s not too drowsy to pick up on my distress, and his face hardens as he watches me. “What happened?” he asks, his voice steely.

  “Not enough time to explain,” I say as I press a button on the side of the spectacles so my human computer downloads all the information on the drive. Daisy, Taka, and Oliver sit up in their capsules, their attention on me. The perfect time to fill them in on everything. Hopefully they aren’t too dazed to understand.

  “It’s a month later,” I say. “We are on Space Port Alpha. And the virus is loose here, and if it doesn’t get us first, the Feds will blow us up.”

  I don’t tell them that I made a bargain with the virus to escape. That’s something to share when we’ve had a few drinks.

  Maybe. I still wonder if I’m a monster for selling myself out like that.

  “Daisy,” I say, taking off the spectacles. I hand them to her because she’s the fastest runner of the bunch, and she gives them a quizzical look, not understanding what they are. “Take these and go towards the nearest docks. And I want you to commandeer a ship for us.”

  “A ship?” she asks, confused. “But what about the Pícara?”

  Another blow to my fragile façade of being the brave leader. I try smiling encouragingly, but it fails. “It’s infected, too,” I say. “They have it as a biohazard, and I don’t think it’s safe to fly. Not unless you want to get infected.”

  “And you?” PC asks. “Are you infected?”

  “That’s…complicated,” I say. “And we don’t have time for it. What I need you to do is find a ship we can steal.”

  “And what about you?” Taka asks.

  I swallow back the thrill of fear. “I need to go find Orion,” I say. “They dismantled him somewhere, and I need to find what’s left of him and bring him back. And if I’m not back in ten—”

  “You’re not doing that alone,” PC says, grimacing as he gets to his feet. “I’m coming with you.”

  “You can barely stand, PC.”

  “And you’re wearing a paper gown,” he retorts back. “So you don’t have a leg to stand on. Mechanical or otherwise.”

  His comment strikes me as a joke, and I start chuckling in hysterics, clutching at my hair. He grins, knowing that he has me wrapped around his finger.

  “Fine,” I say, holding up my hands, “but it’s risky.”

  “And so was downlooting a dangerous virus,” Daisy mutters, “but we can’t stay away from trouble, can we?” She nods to Taka and Oliver. “We’ll find you a ship, Clem. Just make sure you’re back in time. Even if you can’t find Orion. Androids are replaceable. You aren’t.”

  I wanted to tell her that Orion is irreplaceable, too, but I don’t have the time nor energy to fight her. Or explain that one. So I just nod. “Call us with the location of the ship,” I say, tapping my temple. “And we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Right,” Daisy says as she puts the spectacles on. She pulls herself out of the capsule and doesn’t even sway on her feet as she gestures for the others to join her. “Taka, Oliver, let’s move!”

  The two males pull themselves out of their containers, although Oliver needs some help from Daisy. “Good luck, Clementine,” the boy says as Daisy grabs his hand, and they start running.

  I turn towards PC. “You know you’re stupid for coming along with me.”

  He grins snidely at me. “You know I can’t let you kill yourself over an android. Even if you’re in love with him.”

  I open my mouth to make a retort, but that would just be another lie. So I let out an exasperated breath and walk towards the door, hoping that can be the end of that conversation.

  “So where do you think they keep dismantled androids?” PC asks behind me. “Do you have any of that info from that thing you downloaded?”

  “No,” I say flatly. I hold up the zapper. “But I suggest we find someone who does.”

  A wicked smile comes to my surrogate brother’s face. “I like the way you think.”

  Chapter 23

  There’s one thing that PC and I know going into this: trying to find a dismantled android on a space station during an evacuation is like trying to find a speck of space dust in an asteroid field. We both know that it’s close to impossible, but to my relief, PC doesn’t try to talk me out of it or say that we shouldn’t keep looking.

  The only obvious place I can think of is the junkyard, a place all space ports have where they recycle metal and computer components to sell or to repair the port itself. A lot of the Free Agent space stations are made up primarily of space junk, but this Lifer base is immaculate.

  I wonder what kind of junkyard we’ll find, because most junkyards I’ve been to have been piled high with tons of rubbish. If Orion is in there, we may never find him.

  But we keep heading toward the location on the map my retina shows me.

  PC and I move together in a unit, with me at the front wielding my zapper while he follows at my back, keeping an eye out for any looters. I keep the bag of vials close at hand. I thought I should give them to Oliver, but in case I don’t make it in time, I need to have them with me for however long I’ll live.

  “So what happened to you?” PC asks, his tone oddly conversational.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, last time I saw you, you were unconscious on the floor after Venice touched you and turned into sewage.” He grimaces at the memory. “Orion went nuts for you, you know. He immediately went to the bridge, and no matter what we tried telling him, he refused to go anywhere but Alpha. You were infected, you know. We all thought you were going to die.”

  It feels odd, hearing this story now after a month of speculating what happened. “And then?” I ask.

  He frowns. “Well, we docked, and everything seemed peachy keen until the doors opened and the soldiers came in wearing biohazard suits. They knew exactly what they were getting into, Clem. They were treating this like some sort of recovery operation.”

  “It was,” I mutter, remembering how happy Maas was that he found one of the virus’s original test subjects. “They told me that they had to power down Orion before they were able to retrieve me,” I add quietly.

  “They shot him with a zapper first—with a blast that was meant to kill, and if he’d been a human, he’d be dead.”

  No wonder they used him for scraps. I grit my teeth. “They’re assholes,” I say.

  PC snorts derisively. “That’s the understatement of the century. Then they fired at us, and…the next thing I know, you’re waking me up in that glorified casket.”

  I nod. “Basically, that’s it.”

  “But…what happened to you, Clem?”

  “I was infected,” I say, “and now I have it under control.”

  PC stops short and gives me a hard look. “You mean you’re—”

  I shrug, not wanting to get into it. And footsteps save me from having to explain further. Both PC and I fall silent as we sidle up to a wall to see our intruder coming around the corner. I meet PC’s eyes as we both wait…

  And then I step out in front of the human running along the hallway. He’s a civilian, with a bandana tied around his forehead, with the distinct grease stains and look of a mechanic. In fact, he looks like a less severe version of Daisy.

&
nbsp; As luck would have it, we’ve found one of the very people who may know where Orion is. I remember Maas wondering if there was a higher power that controlled everything. I’m starting to wonder that myself.

  Without a cyborg part to help regulate his vitals, he immediately starts hyperventilating as he stares down the barrel of my firearms.

  I level the zapper at him. “Quiet, or I’ll kill you,” I say. PC gives me a surprised look, but I’m not playing games. Time is running out, and we have to get going.

  “Please don’t kill me,” the man says, and I smell ammonia. The poor man’s pissed himself, he’s so frightened at being held at gunpoint. I almost feel bad.

  “Are you a mechanic here on Alpha?” I ask.

  He swallows, the knob in his throat bobbing up and down. “For ten years, ma’am.”

  “So you’re familiar with the junkyard then?”

  He hesitates, his eyes flicking to PC, as if begging for help.

  “Answer me,” I growl.

  “Somewhat?” the man says, sounding unsure.

  Maybe we don’t have a miracle here. I fight back the disappointment that tries to bubble out of my throat. “I have an android that I’m looking for that has been wrongly dismantled. Where would you keep him?”

  He blinks. “What?”

  I cock the zapper. “Android. Dismantled. Where?”

  The man glances back at PC again, his expression confused. “Hey, don’t look at me,” PC says with a shrug. “The lady’s asking you a question, I suggest you answer.”

  “We’d, uh, put the android in the junkyard,” the man says.

  I don’t move my gun. “Take me to it. And the faster you do that, the faster I’ll let you go.”

  The man nods wildly, looking between us. “Okay, okay, okay!”

  He scrambles back in the direction he came, and I see the reason why he’s acting shifty. He has a pack full of parts that he must have looted. Some of the electronics are brand new, making his haul impressive.

  I don’t really care as we follow him back out to the main dome, and he ducks into a silo that hugs the side of the dome. My inner map tells me that this is the largest of the three junkyards on the station.