Sean carried Anne into the med bay where Emma already had both Paige and Maya in the med docks. “Well Emma, this is looking like old times,” he remarked as he stepped inside and opened the nearest dock for Anne.
He placed her gently inside. “It’s all ok. We’re just going to let Emma take a look at you. Make sure you’re ok.”
He smiled at her reassuringly. She stared back at him, her eyes wide but expressionless, as if half out of it and half fearful. She nodded, and weakly tried to return his smile.
“Good girl,” he told her, as Emma started the scan.
A pink gas started to fill the chamber, and a forcefield came over the open top to keep it in. Emma spoke to the girl softly through the audio in the dock. “I’m just going to give you a mild sedative to relax you a little. Breathe deeply. It’s good for you.”
The girl glanced at Sean. He nodded. “Go ahead. It’s all ok. Emma is going to take good care of you.”
Within minutes the girl was asleep.
Emma’s voice came over Sean’s implant for privacy. “She’s ok for the most part. She has a mild head injury, which I’ve started treating. Severe dehydration and moderate malnutrition. Also suffering the effects of bad artificial gravity. My guess is she had been on that ship long before it picked up the other two scientists. I’ll have Oz cross reference it’s passage prior to our team boarding. Might give you something useful to work with.”
Sean’s shoulder noticeably relaxed and dropped a little. “Great, thanks Emma.”
“Sure thing,” the ship’s EI responded.
He folded his arms, hugging himself. “How are the others?” he asked, glancing over at Maya and Paige.
Emma pulled up some charts on a nearby holo for him to look at. “Maya’s hand is a little bruised, but healing nicely,” she told him. “She’ll be fine in half an hour. Paige is in shock. I’ll need to treat her for a few hours. You can leave her on board when we land at Gaitune and Oz will give you a nudge when she’s awake again. Might be good for her to have a friendly organic around when she comes around.”
Sean smiled, making a mental note to be around. “Ok. Sure thing. Thanks Emma. What happened to traumatize her though?”
Emma responded matter-of-factly. “Oh, well from what we can gather she saw Molly get shot, and dodged the bullet.”
Sean’s mouth dropped open. “Shit. You’re kidding?”
“I’m not.”
Sean frowned as he wandered along the row of med docks, checking on the girls. “Is this part of the realm jumping super powers?”
“I think it might be,” Emma responded, still in his implant.
***
Back upstairs, Molly headed in to the cockpit again.
“Ok Crash, let’s get these scientists home,” she said brightly. “If you might avoid gating for the moment, I’d like to see if we can figure out who Anne is and what her story is before we turn her over to the authorities. I’m assuming she was also taken against her will, but she hasn’t said much to anyone so we’re just guessing.”
Crash rolled his head to look at her while he was steering the ship around some space debris. “Sure thing. I’ll let you know when we’re twenty minutes out so you can decide what to do. We’ve got a couple of pods on board for dropping people on the surface.”
Molly patted his shoulder. “Thanks, Crash. And also,” she turned back to him. “Thanks for having my back earlier. I appreciate it. A lot.”
Crash looked up at her. “You’re welcome,” he told her. Their eyes locked in an understanding only comrades in arms have, and then he turned his eyes back to the flying, as if the moment had never happened.
Molly patted him once more before removing her hand from his shoulder and heading out into the lounge.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Aboard the Empress, Lounge
Molly sat back in her seat, trying to rest her body while they figured things out. “Is she awake?” she asked.
Sean shook his head. “Not at the moment. Emma needs another half hour with her.”
Molly rested her head back, closing her eyes. “Did she say anything to you while you were in holding?”
“Not much,” Sean confessed. “Only that she had been kidnapped from her room in Estaria. Some kind of religious boarding school.”
Molly shook her head gently from its tilted back position. “But what would Pike want with her?” she mused.
Sean shook his head.
She lifted her head and looked at Sean. “Do you think she knows?” she asked.
Sean raised his eyebrows and then sat back himself. “I think she knows more than she’s saying, but I think she’s having problems trusting anyone.” He crossed one ankle over his other knee.
Molly sighed. “What’s the best call? I mean, is she a minor? I didn’t get a good look at her.”
Sean frowned. “No, she’s technically an adult. I think she’s just a little… strange. She told me she was nineteen.”
Molly frowned. “She looks much younger. Maybe she’s just small. Let’s see if Oz and Emma can get an ID on her and any background.”
Emma is grabbing her prints and DNA right now.
Great thanks Oz. Let me know when you find anything.
An hour later Anne was brought up to the lounge to sit with Molly and Sean, and come clean about what she knew.
She looked down at the mocha Molly had made for her. “It all started when my abilities started accelerating beyond the norm. And beyond what they could reasonably expect us to achieve,” she explained. Sean was mesmerized that the mostly-mute girl he’d known up until this point was suddenly so coherent and eloquent.
He made a mental note to find out what Emma had done to her to make her suddenly so… chatty.
Anne continued her story. “The teachers at the academy notified the elders, and they suddenly decided that I was a danger. But they said I was in danger, and should be locked away for my own protection. They’re very powerful. I always thought that they wanted us all to learn to ascend, but now that I suddenly might be able to I don’t think that is the case. I’m scared. And I don’t want to go back.”
Molly had been listening with rapt attention. “Is there anything else you can tell us? Anything that might help us find out who might be after you?”
She shook her head.
Molly sighed. “But you think it is someone other than the elders?”
Anne nodded. She had wrapped her hands around her mocha and now she had stopped speaking she took a slurp, carefully so as not to burn her lips.
Molly stood up. “Ok, give us a minute,” she said to Anne. “I’ll be back shortly.”
She tilted her head for Sean and Joel to follow her out to the cargo area, leaving Anne sitting in the lounge.
The two guys stood around her, waiting for her decision. Molly shook her head, taking a deep breath. “I think there is something she’s holding back,” she shared.
Joel nodded his head. “I agree. But we can’t blame her. I think she needs time.”
Molly shrugged, pulling her shoulders almost to her ears before relaxing them. “So what do we do?” she pressed.
Sean folded his arms. “Anything from Oz.”
Molly shook her head. “Only the usual stuff, and confirming what she told us about being enrolled in the academy.”
Sean frowned, shifting his weight as the three huddled conspiratorially. “We should probably let her come with us. It’s what she was asking earlier.”
Molly bobbed her head. “We’d have to clear it with the General.”
Joel cocked his head a little and turned to watch the girl through the door again. “There’s something about her that I can’t put my finger on,” he confessed. He glanced at Molly. “Don’t you get a sense of that too.”
She nodded. “I do. But I can’t put it into words. And right now my brain is foggy from everything that is happening.”
She folded her arms and looked down at the insulated floor. “If we can get the ok, I think we bring h
er back to base, and that will at least give us time to figure something out.”
Sean nodded. “I concur. There is nothing to suggest she’s a threat to us.”
Joel nodded. “Great. Well, keep me posted in case I have to add one more into my training exercises.” He winked at Molly as he headed back into the lounge.
They all chuckled and Molly and Sean headed back in.
Oz, can you get agreement from the General via ADAM for us?
Sure thing. Gimme a few. He’s been a bit slow responding the last few times I’ve tried him.
Molly chuckled to herself. Maybe he’s just behind on his holos she thought, remembering what it was like back in the day of being a part of an institution with demands that weren’t mission urgent.
Oh, you might also want to give them the ‘Go’ on the Teshov mission.
Will do.
Estaria, Spire
The group clustered around between the pods they had used to get down to the surface.
“We really can’t thank you enough,” Dr. Brahms said, shaking Molly’s hand, and arm, as he gazed in amazement at the pod he’d just got out of.
Lana descended from the second pod, helped by Joel. “Yes, thank you so much. To both of you. Or rather… all of you,” she said pointing up at the sky. She laughed nervously. “I really thought I was going to die on that ship at one point.”
Molly smiled. “I don’t think that was ever their intention,” she told the very relieved Lana. “Ok,” she said, turning to them both, “remember what we said about your rescue. You can’t describe us. You don’t know who we are. We just helped you get off the freighter and brought you back here, and that was it. Agreed?”
The two nodded. “Yes, of course,” Dr. Brahms said.
Molly continued debriefing them. “Ok now you’re going to walk around that corner and up the steps into the precinct and you’re going to ask for…?”
“Detective Chaakwa Indius,” the two scientists said in unison.
“That’s right,” Molly beamed. “Ok, so off you go. Have an amazing life!”
She waved at them as they walked off, looking back and waving uncertainly. Millions of questions played across their eyes, and yet the relief in their faces was palpable.
Joel looked down at her. “Good job, Ms. Bates,” he told her. “Anything else need doing while we’re down here?”
Molly thought for a moment before answering. “No, but did I tell you I called my parents like you suggested?”
“No, you didn’t…” Joel looked at her in astonishment, his tone positively impressed. “What happened? How did they take it?”
Molly smiled coyly. “Oh, turns out they already guessed I was still alive. Dunno how… And yeah. It was fine.”
“And…?” he pressed.
She shrugged. “And… nothing.”
Joel tilted his head towards her. “So no plans to meet up?”
Molly shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I’m not totally against it… now. But you know, one step at a time. The point is… I took your advice.” She patted him gently on his chest.
Joel grinned and draped an arm over her shoulders as they ambled back to the pods. “I’m glad you did.”
The pair hopped back into their respective pods, and buckled up.
As the pods lifted back up to the Empress, Oz came on over the audio. “Looks like we’ve got the all clear for Anne to stay with us for the time being while we figure this out.”
“Excellent,” Molly replied. “Have Sean let her know.” Molly caught Joel’s eye through the window in his pod. She smiled at him and Joel smiled back, putting his hand gently on his window.
Molly returned the gesture, and a moment later Oz had whipped them back up out of the atmosphere and into space.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Gaitune-67 Safe House
It had been several days since the team and Anne had arrived back on Gaitune. Things were slowly returning to normal, and Anne, though she had secrets, had been working on sharing in dribs and drabs and generally she was integrating with the others well.
Paige on the other hand took a few days after her time in the med dock on the Empress, and had barely stepped foot out of her room.
“You think she’s ok?” Brock asked, his concern showing in his eyes.
Pieter shrugged. “I dunno. From what I hear she’s been stressed trying to run the nail varnish business, her normal job and then this course… And then whatever happened with Carl, and that incident during the rescue… It’s a lot.”
Maya waved her hand at him to get him to lower his voice. “She’s only down there,” she said pointing at the corridor to the sleeping quarters. “You don’t want her to hear us talking about her.”
Pieter nodded. “Sorry.”
Maya pursed her lips. “But you’re right. She’s been through a lot. And goodness knows what’s going through her mind about Carl.”
Brock leaned closer into the huddle of close friends sitting in the common area. “D’you think someone should go and talk to her?”
Maya glanced over at the corridor and then back. “Maybe?”
Just then the odd sound of outdoor boots clunked through the corridor and into the foyer. It was Paige. She was dressed in full atmosuit and carrying an empty bag.
Maya sprang to her feet. “Hey sweetie. How you doing?”
Paige smiled weakly. “I’m ok. Just off to Carl’s.”
Maya cocked her head. “Everything ok?” she asked, unable to keep the concerned tone out of her voice.
Paige nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “Fine. I just need to pick up my things.”
Maya could hear the gasps and murmurs of the other two behind her. She stepped forward towards Paige. “You ok?” she said gently.
Paige didn’t fold. “I’ll be fine. Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
And with that she had headed out of the airlock and disappeared across the rock.
Maya turned to the others who were now sitting in stunned silence.
Gaitune-67, Carl Milberg’s residence
Paige came through the airlock, her heart in her mouth, wondering how easy or difficult this was going to be.
“Greetings!” she called, without any humor or lightness in her voice.
She heard movement. And then footsteps coming through from the other room. Then Carl appeared. His face was ashen, and his skin generally was dull. He looked like he hadn’t been sleeping. “Greetings,” he said flatly, his eyes fixed on her.
“I’ve come to collect my things,” she explained, holding up the bag.
He nodded. “Of course.” He paused, uncertain of himself. “I… erm. I thought we might talk, when you’re ready.”
Paige shrugged. “We can talk,” she said quietly.
He ushered her through to the kitchen where he set about making tea as a distraction. Paige noticed some things she’d left lying around. Jewelry and nail varnish samples. She gathered them up into a pile on the side ready to put into the bag.
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