by K. Gorman
“Yes,” he said. “She tried to take Renee.”
One of Nova’s moons. It would have been outside of the defenses that Nova had put up against her Shift Event powers, but eventually, even those would be overwhelmed by her Chaos powers.
Unless Karin could stop her.
As the Program that Sasha’s Chaos was built on, she should be able to.
You are able to. My programming will trump Sasha’s anytime. It already did.
She curled her lip. Gods, they’d wasted so much time on those combat missions.
But they were here now, and that’s what mattered.
It was time to end this.
“Where is she?” she asked. “Where can I find her?”
“In Tartarus,” he said. “That’s where she’s building the new world. She’s planning to be its base.”
“And the new universe her hive mind?” Karin shook her head, the knowledge gained from Tia answering questions even as her mind was asking them.
Without the other Programs, it wouldn’t work. The world would be empty, with just her. A lonely, wandering, despairing death.
What if she replicated the other Programs? she asked Tia. Remember the new Eurynome subjects we found on Chamak?
Tia hadn’t been there, but she’d remember it the same way Karin remembered her new knowledge of genetics.
Yes, that’s possible. She had them all from the same pantheon, too.
Yeah, her pantheon. She turned her attention outward, focusing on Tylanus. “Has she been growing a new set of Eurynome kids?”
He nodded. “Yes. Only a handful, just the ones we could salvage from the facility on Chamak before you ran us out. They are ten years old now.”
That coincided with her guess as to his new age.
“Only a handful?” Nomiki questioned. “What about the rest?”
Tylanus frowned.
“She already has them. She took them two hours ago, when I had my episode.”
The pit dropped out of Karin’s stomach, and a jolt of electricity flashed through her skin.
It had already started.
We need to move.
She turned on her heel, already bringing the communications device from her pocket.
“Tillerman, do you have that room ready? It’s time for our chat.”
They met in a small conference room on the same level as the bridge and her quarters. Quiet, elegant, with Artemide’s signature white and gold design worked into impressive detail and the Menassi Tri-Quad eagle on the back wall, and with a table clearly meant for a larger gathering.
She and Tillerman sat across from each other and hammered out the broad details of the Eurynome Code, her genetic engineering, the Shadows, the situation with Fallon and the Alliance, the basic stats of her new fleet and its capabilities, what was expected of her as its leader, and any threats that may come when those that dissented against her decided that assassination was too risky.
There were, after all, many ways to kill a person, and she had to sleep some time.
At one point, Tillerman stopped her, called an aide into the room, and had him record the basic situation with the Eurynome Code, the Shadows, and the basis of her power. He would then send a message fleet-wide, which would sate some of the worry and curiosity in her fleet.
It would also tell them that they, the Menassi Tri-Quad, were about to embark on a new mission to save the universe and stop the Shadow attack.
It sounded hokey when they drafted it, but Tillerman gave her questioning expression a subtle head-shake and kept directing the aide.
“And what were those other monsters you told me about? The things made of shadows with the blades?”
“I’ve been thinking of them as ‘Sentinels.’ They struck me as more intelligent, and definitely more goal-oriented when it comes to Sasha.” The creatures, which she had encountered on Nova during the Shift Events, were a lot harder to kill than Shadows. Blasters didn’t hurt them, not really, and even her light powers had a hard time bringing them down. “Tylanus said that his mother made them, so it makes sense that they would be loyal to her.”
“She didn’t make the Shadows?” Tillerman asked.
“No. According to them, they’ve been here all along. She can control them, but I don’t know how deep that control goes. They seem to be waking up more, if you know what I mean?”
“Sentience?”
“Maybe. I think they were sentient, but now, they are more self-aware, and aware of what they’re interacting with. When was the last time you had a Shadow attack you?”
“It’s been a while,” Tillerman admitted. “And what about that dream? With the ruins we found at the other compound?”
Ah, yes. That reminded her. She’d have to send a team to Macedonia to make sure Fallon wasn’t letting Seirlin put their grubby little child-torturing hands over their old compound.
Gods, and what about that other Cradle?
Yet another thing to check in with.
You need a secretary, Tia thought dryly.
Indeed. I can’t keep asking Tillerman to fulfill that role, though she’s doing a marvelous job as an assistant manager.
I dare you to call her that to her face.
She gave herself a shake and stood. “I need to speak to Kalinsky and Reeve. It’s time to get Earth and Fallon back in the loop.”
“What about that gentleman you left in your quarters?”
“Baik?” She frowned. He’d stayed behind to make some calls. “Yes. Let’s get him on the bridge. And Tillerman?”
The commander’s eyes took on a suspicious narrowness. “Yes, Regent?”
“Whatever I’m paying you, it needs to be more.”
“Yes, it does.” She stood up. “Don’t worry, I already have several pay requests in your queue, and you better accept them. I need to keep my wife happy on Jezebel.”
“Oh, you’re married? Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Tillerman grunted. “Now, let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I have so many questions about her wife, Tia thought.
You sound like Soo-jin, Karin thought-commented dryly. Why? I know they had lesbian marriage in your day.
Yes, you’re correct, they did. I’m more curious as to how marriage works in Alpha Centauri and how life is there in general. Tia paused. You know that I’m pansexual, right?
I’m pretty sure we’re both asexual at this point, unless you’ve been getting some cravings you haven’t been telling me about.
No, you’re correct. I…she hesitated. I did not include either my romantic feelings or my sexual feelings when I arranged my upload. They are all still in the tank.
A hollow feeling settled inside her gut, and Karin’s chest tightened.
Once again, it felt like something small was crumpling inside of her.
I feel incomplete, Tia said. At the same time, I feel more alive than I have been in seventy years. I can actually feel alive. And feel you touch stuff, and taste, and…She trailed off, and Karin saw her mentally shake her head. It’s odd, but it’s…nice.
Yeah, well, don’t get distracted. We still have a universe to save. And men to kill.
Don’t worry, Tia told her. I am quite aware.
“That person in your head―does she talk to you a lot?”
Tillerman’s voice pierced through her thoughts, and she focused outward, finding the cyborg’s deep brown eyes watching her.
“Yes, sometimes. She was wondering how life is like in Alpha Centauri.”
Tillerman let out a short breath and turned her attention straight ahead. “You’ll find out in a few weeks, I hope.”
Karin’s lips twitched.
She thinks we’re going to ditch her, doesn’t she? she thought to Tia.
To be fair, she’s not wrong. You are planning to go back to Sirius. I can’t blame her for wondering if you’re going to leave them leaderless. Have you given it a thought?
I decided that it was an ‘after the un
iverse was saved’ problem.
Fair enough.
She gave her head a shake. Up ahead, two soldiers, one of them a cyborg with visible metal hands coming out of the cuffs of her sleeves, stood to attention outside of a pair of doors.
“At ease, soldiers,” Tillerman told them as she went in. “We’ll be back out in a minute. Read the new data file that we’ve sent out.”
Karin gave them both a nod and stepped in.
Kalinsky and Reeve immediately turned from a terminal at the side of the room. Both gave a polite bow, though Reeve’s gaze lingered.
Then, he started forward.
“Grand Regent Makos,” he said. “I must protest the abduction of Tylanus Sasha from our Medical bay. The patient was in deep distress, and―”
“He’s fine, awake, and working with me now.”
“Grand Regent―”
“Reeve, let me just stop you there and bring you up to speed. It’s happening, right now. Sasha has already abducted the kids from the base on Chamak, and she’s already begun her Shift Event process. Currently, all I care about is stopping that. Call Fallon. I’m bringing you to the bridge. Don’t make me regret it. You will have an escort.”
He opened his mouth, looked at her, and thought better of it.
Good. They might have been friends, and he might have been her bodyguard and chaperone on Chamak, but the Fallon Empire was currently on her shit list and he was their fifth column whatever specialist, and she didn’t have time to deal with any shit he decided to throw.
She turned to Kalinsky. “Representative Kalinsky, I need clearance to land on Earth. Do I talk to you, or do I go through the UN in Geneva?”
“Either. UN in Geneva would likely be fastest, but I can be backup if you have a problem getting through.” He gave a subtle side-glance to Reeve. “It’s happening? On Earth?”
“Not yet, but I need boots on an actual planet so I don’t accidentally warp into a vacuum.”
“Ah. Yes. Good point. Where were you thinking?”
“Somewhere in the Canadian prairies,” she said. “That’ll keep us away from the radiation. We’ll find a nice bit of abandoned farmland to mess around with warps in.”
“I hear that Saskatchewan is very nice this time of year,” he said.
She doubted it. Based on Tia’s memories of the place, it was almost guaranteed to be a sheet of ice and snow with great wafts of blowing wind, but perhaps the climate shift over the past seventy years will have surprised her.
“You said you had something I wanted to hear?” Her eyebrows twitched. “Potentially about someone in a life or death scenario?”
“Yes,” he said. “I believe you were looking for Elliot Corringham?”
She sucked in a breath, and everything stopped.
Suddenly, he had her full and undivided attention.
Already, she could feel the trickle of adrenaline leaking into her system.
“Yes,” she said, careful to keep her voice even and calm. “Him and his brother, Bernard.”
“Bernard, we believe, is on Mars, which is out of my jurisdiction, but we have an address for Elliot. It seems that he moved to Japan two years ago.”
Two years ago.
He’s still alive.
A rush of bloodlust caught her as Tia’s emotions raced through. Rage pooled deep in her abdomen, hot and black and boiling, making her hands shake.
Sasha first, she told Tia, gritting her teeth against the flux of power. We need to deal with Sasha first.
I will kill them, Tia thought. I will make them suffer.
A memory bubbled up, bright and overpowering. For a second, she was no longer in her body but Tia’s, looking up from where Elliot pushed her wheelchair.
‘It’s going to be okay, love. You’ll come through this. I promise.’
Karin jerked herself back to the present. She clenched and flexed her fingers, dispelling the sensation that threatened to override her body.
“Karin?” Reeve took a step forward, concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
She let out a slow breath, then steeled herself.
“Yes. Fine. Kalinsky, I would very much like to get that address. Where’s the Martian rep?”
“On her way,” Kalinsky said. “I believe hers shuttle docks in ten?”
He lifted his expression speculatively at Tillerman, who nodded.
“Great,” Karin said. “Tillerman, have him on the bridge in fifteen. I need to murder one of his citizens. Everyone else, follow me. We need to deal with Sasha.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Instead of the bridge, they went back in the conference room, Captain Arnelli leaving Fiona Travers, a fully human technician who was First Officer, in charge of the bridge.
Someone arranged for refreshments, for which Karin was grateful―as she flipped back through her mind, she realized she hadn’t really eaten in quite a while, and the small amount of non-pollio grapes and onigiri just didn’t cut it for the brain and body she now had―and three-way feeds allowed both Fallon and the Alliance to have a live call into the conference room as they planned.
In the end, given her difficulty and the overwork involved with transporting the Artemide into the Shadow world before, they decided to take just two smaller ships, the Nemina and one of the Artemide’s patrol craft, Freccia 34. A small, elite crew of cyborgs would be joining them. Of the Nemina’s crew, both Marc and Soo-jin insisted on going with her.
She gave Soo-jin a hard look. “You are not going.”
“What―because I’m fragile? What if your ship breaks? You need an engineer.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but Soo-jin interrupted her.
“Seriously, think about it. What if you are flying around, all hunky-dory, and the Nemina’s fucking ion transistor goes mid-flight? You’re going to need someone who can change it out before the secondary input kicks the bucket and sends you plummeting to your death.”
“Sasha shot you, the last time you saw her.”
“Yeah? And maybe I just want to return the fucking favor,” Soo-jin hissed.
They stared each other down across the table.
“Look, either I go and provide some modicum of help, or I stay here and find a way to truly fuck myself up for the next few hours.” She turned to Tillerman. “Any idea where a girl can get a good deal of alcohol and marijuana?”
“You’re not going,” she said. “But you can stay here, get drunk, and pester my new crew.”
Soo-jin opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked around, eyes narrowing as she took in the understated elegance of the room’s design, the high-def holoscreens on the walls, the two cyborgs standing at attention at the door. One of them looked back at her, his eyes curious.
She opened her mouth again. “I’ll think about it.”
She’s going to get drunk and hit on every living humanoid on this ship, isn’t she? Tia asked.
Yes. And possibly the curvier pieces of hallway.
“Good,” she said. “Tylanus, Nomiki, Jon, you’re with me on the Nemina, as is Baik. Tillerman, you can either head the team on Freccia 34 or come with me.”
“I’ll be with you. Captain Tavano will head his team on Freccia.”
“Sounds good. Reeve…?”
She lifted a questioning brow to the man.
He inclined his head. “I’d like to go with you, if at all possible, Grand Regent.”
Hmm. Her eyes narrowed.
“Take him,” Nomiki said. “He’s good to have in a fight.”
All right, then. She nodded.
“Reeve, you’ll be on the Nemina. Cookie…” She tilted her head and consulted Tylanus. “Does your mother have any computer systems we need to decode?”
“No.”
“Cookie, you stay behind. Same with you, doctors. We’ll run a basic medical tech and trust our field patches, suits, and augments.”
“I can be a Med tech,” Soo-jin said, half-rousing herself.
Karin ignored her. “Everyone
good? Excellent. Let’s get ready and go.”
Fifteen minutes later, she was back in her quarters, and Lieutenant Seki, a female cyborg she’d seen escorting Tillerman around at the compound, was helping her into her new Centauri armor.
If she’d thought Fallon’s klemptas armor had been form-fitting, the Centauri tech had zero boundaries. It came in two layers, a gel suit to absorb shock and regulate her body, and the outer shell and panels that housed its circuitry, augments, weaponry, and protective components.
It fit her like a glove. If the glove had been made of some odd, squishy, semi-intelligent latex that fit itself right up and around the webs of her fingers and monitored every nanometer of her body―including, apparently, right up the crack of her ass. A quick slice of pain on her thigh identified where its nanomachines had injected into her thigh.
Foreign nanos in my body. Yum. Just another day in my life.
She’d refused the helmet Seki had offered her, needing to feel the world on at least some part of her skin―plus, if Sasha were going to snipe at her, she doubted it would be with actual bullets.
Without the helmet, the suit’s holo projected its HUD on the underside of her wrist.
She checked it a few times, flipping her forearm to activate it, then let the arm drop and leaned forward in a hunch onto the suite’s main table in the kitchen.
Fuck. It was finally happening. One way or another, she’d make sure that this whole thing came to an end.
Beside her, Seki glanced up. Without a word, she handed over a new Centauri blaster.
Karin gave a quick check of its activation and safety nodules, then slid it into the holster on her thigh. Seki had already gone over how to fire them. “Thanks.”
Seki nodded. “Anytime, Regent. Will there be anything else?”
“No. Thank you, Seki. Hopefully next time, I’ll be able to dress myself.”
“It’s your first time, Regent.”
Was there an edge to Seki’s tone? She didn’t think so, but the cyborg had taken care to keep it precise, and she hadn’t met Karin’s eyes when she’d said it.
A moment later, Seki bowed out and left.
Karin let out a heavy sigh and slumped forward over the table, her hands making slight clicking sounds where parts of the armor met the glass.
