She took a breath, collecting herself.
“Once we’ve got the bird prepped, I’d like Brock to man the base here. If we have any anti-toxin precautions, suits or equipment, let’s get it loaded up ASAP. The toxin is not airborne; it dissolves in water, and needs to be inhaled or ingested to be fatal, so bear that in mind. Paige, you’re with me. Joel will be coming with us to the surface, and then staying there. Crash will be flying us there, and bringing Paige and I back in quick turnaround. Stay alert, people. And stay safe.”
With that, the team was dismissed, and on their first case together. The conference room emptied out, and the base was a hive of activity for the next couple of hours.
Dead on time, Crash lifted off with the team on board. Only Brock remained in the safe house, with Neechie on hand for emotional support, should a demon actually venture forth from the creepy door in his workshop.
Spaceport, Hangar 08771A, Outskirts of Uptarlung
“Okay, folks, that’s all.” Crash announced their arrival over the PA system.
Paige let out a sigh of relief. “Finally! Back on solid earth.”
Joel leaned over, and lightly punched her arm. “You realize the asteroid is solid, right?”
Paige looked indignant. “No, it’s not. Brock told me it was empty inside. That’s why we need the gravity generator.”
Molly looked back at the rows where Joel and Paige had been sitting for the landing. “I think Brock has been pulling your leg,” she said plainly.
Joel slapped his thigh. “Seriously, that dude. Honestly!” he laughed.
Paige frowned, trying not to smile. “You mean this whole time, he’s been spinning me a yarn?”
Joel shook his head. “Not entirely. There is a grav generator on there, but the asteroid is solid all the way through.”
Paige humphed and started gathering her things. Molly was already standing up at her seat, packing stuff into her backpack.
Paige paused. “Do you think maybe he made up the bit about having to collect antigrav matter from the generator for his mug when it runs out?”
Joel exploded in laughter.
Molly sniggered.
“Shit,” Paige said.
Once packed up, all four of them made their way off the ship.
Molly turned to Crash as they reached the hangar door. “Okay, so are you good for a few hours?”
Crash stepped out into the open air and stretched him arms backwards. “Golden,” he told her. “I’m just going to take a nap, and then maybe wander over to air traffic control to see if we’re all still legal and everything. They have nowhere to send any fines, so if we did get blacklisted on our last exit, it’ll need some finagling to get us cleared.”
Molly nodded slowly. “Ah, our speedy exit when we were being pursued by men in black who wanted to kill us. Yes…”
Crash smiled and nodded.
“Yeah. We might need some supplies and stuff, too. I’ll check and make sure we can get things ordered up.”
Molly looked out towards the airfield, watching another ship take off silently in the distance. “Cool. Keep me posted if you need authorization for funds or anything. Or if anything is going to interfere with getting off-world… like a long delivery time.”
“Roger that, lady-boss,” Crash smiled, imitating Brock’s language.
“’Lady-boss,’” Molly said, shaking her head. “That guy…”
Paige scowled at the reference to him. Even Crash couldn’t help but crack a grin.
Joel had wandered off a few paces, stretching his legs and swinging his arms to loosen his back. He wandered back over, talking to Molly. “So, you sure you’re good to deal with the client, if I run off and meet the little dude?”
Paige looked confused. “’Little dude’? Why d’ya call him that?”
Molly shook her head again. “He’s like twenty-five or something,” she told her.
“Yeah, but he’s not little little?” Paige asked.
Molly didn’t know if she was asking about his height, or something else.
Joel was swinging his arms again. “I dunno. He could be…”
Paige suspected they might be just teasing her. She shifted her bag on her shoulder, pushed her nose in the air, and wandered absently in the direction of the main gates, as if ready to head out.
Molly watched her. “Erm. You gonna walk to the client in Spire?”
Paige clamped her hands over her mouth. “Oh! Shit. No.” She giggled, turned back, and noticed that Crash had disappeared inside again to pull the car out. “It’s another couple of hours from here, right?”
Molly nodded. ”Right. More traveling. But we should pick up food on the way.”
Joel’s eyes lit up.
“Something without dead animal on it,” she qualified.
His face fell, conveying his disappointment.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ventus Research Facility, downtown Spire
The meeting room hummed with artificial lights, and artificial air. Molly and Paige sat patiently, waiting for the client to arrive.
Ventus Research Facility was a little intimidating, Molly realized now she was here. The blue lighting, the polished floors and glass meeting rooms, the perfectly manicured receptionists, and indoor plants; she half expected the scientists to show up in tailored suits or something. As yet, though, they were a no-show.
“Wish I’d managed to get some more sleep on that trip,” Paige grumbled, fidgeting in her seat. “How many hours were we traveling for?”
Molly was slumped back in her chair, and shuffled to sit up a little more. “I think the total flight time is twenty-something hours.” She tapped a finger on the armrest. “It’s Crash I feel sorry for. He did most of the flight monitoring.”
Paige pulled one leg up, resting her heel on the edge of the seat. “Yeah. He seems happy, though.” She looked towards the door. “Do you ever get the feeling he’s more antsy when he’s on base?” She started whispering, like someone might overhear her talking about her teammate.
“Honestly, I hadn’t noticed.” Molly’s eyes drifted off, as she thought back to her experience of him. “He always seems so cool and collected.”
Paige grinned. “Ah!” she said, her eyes now lit up. “So you haven’t been watching him when he works out…”
“But you have, by the sounds of it?” Molly looked at her sideways, a slight smile at the corner of her lips.
“Can’t blame a girl,” Paige said laughing. “But yeah, he’s been getting more and more intense in his workouts. I think his flying is his outlet. You know, his happy place. Or safety valve.”
Molly made a mental note to be aware of that. “That would make sense,” she mused. She might even mention it to Joel, to see what they could do about making sure he didn’t go stir crazy on the asteroid.
It’s a good point.
What is?
Well not everyone seems to be as… self-contained as you are.
What do you mean?
Well, give you a project and a holo and you don’t move for hours at a stretch. But the others, they sit for maybe an hour and then have a conversation with someone, or change what they do.
Of course, you’re monitoring them.
Yes, and a good job too, or else I’d think that all sentient beings behave like you. You’re definitely proving to be on the extremes of the bell-curve in many ways.
Molly decided it was best not to respond to Oz’s last comment. The last thing she needed now was the distraction.
Paige started swinging her foot. Molly checked her holo to see how long they had been waiting.
Just then, there was movement in the reception area, and two figures started wending their way through the corridors to the meeting room to join them. As they approached, Molly could make out that they were both male. Both Estarian.
And both looked very fatigued and stressed.
The door swung open, and they bundled in one after another.
“Greetings of the da
y upon you,” said the slightly older man. “I’m Dr. Carl Knotts. We’ve been in communication. This is Dr. Eugene Philips, who has been working on the project since before the vials were stolen.” The two shook hands with both the ladies and invited them to come into a meeting room next door to sit down.
“May I offer you some mocha?” Dr. Knotts looked at each of them in turn as they entered the room.
“No, no thank you. We had plenty on the trip over here.” Molly said, noticing that Paige had also waved ‘no thank you’.
“Oh, you flew, then?” he asked.
“Yes.” Molly left it at that. She didn’t want them knowing too much about their situation needlessly.
“Okay. Right then,” Knotts started gathering his thoughts as the two men sat. “As you can imagine, the situation here is pretty fraught. We’ve had teams working on this around the clock. I’ve just sent a number of them home, since they were operating on no sleep for a day and a half now, and mistakes were being made.” He breathed in through his teeth. “We’re hoping that you are able to help.”
Molly nodded. “I understand that the toxin was developed using the same sequencing method I used when I proved that the Yultok plant could be genetically modified to make the nectar into a toxin. Is that correct?”
Eugene, despite his fatigue and the immediate danger, perked up when she mentioned the research. “Yes! Yes. And I must say, your paper is quite famous around here. We’re thrilled that you could work on this with us…” He caught himself, and noticed the concerned look on his boss’s face. “Of… of course,” he stammered, correcting himself, “we wish it were under better circumstances.”
Molly nodded politely. “So you followed the exact method?”
“Yes,” Eugene continued. “For the most part, anyway. Equipment has moved on somewhat since you published that paper, and we took advantage of newer technology. But more importantly, once we saw that it worked for one sequence, we experimented with switching pieces of the code around… just to see what happened.”
Molly’s face dropped, but she remained quiet.
Both Knotts and Philips noticed, and looked at each other.
“What?” Knotts asked eventually. “There’s something wrong?”
Molly took a breath, and leaned forward on the table. “You could say that.”
Paige felt a knot in her stomach. She sensed that this was more serious.
“Do you know which sequence could be out there?” Molly asked.
“Erm.” Knotts and Eugene exchanged glances again.
Molly waited. If they wanted her to fix it, they were going to have to tell her.
There were mutterings, and “um”s and “ah”s. And then a bunch of non-committal statements.
Finally Molly broke. “Look. I’m here to help. But in order for me to save your collective asses, and potentially the population of Spire that you’ve put in grave danger, I need to know what the FUCK is going on!”
The meeting room fell silent.
Eugene shifted awkwardly in his chair and avoided eye contact with anyone.
Finally, Knotts spoke.
“The strain that got out isn’t out as a result of user error. A number of strains of the toxin were put into one vial, extracted from the secure unit in the lab, and likely stolen. As in, walked out of the doors by one of our scientists. So we have two researchers who have disappeared, and an unknown number of strains of this toxin that could be being used to cause any number of problems.”
Molly considered what she had heard for a moment. She was in ops mode, though, just as she’d learned from Joel. There was no time for disbelief or judgement. She needed the facts.
“Multiple strains in one vial?” she confirmed.
The two scientists nodded.
“Do we know why?” she asked.
Both shook their heads.
“Any ransom demands?”
Knotts shook his head.
“You sure?” Her eyes burrowed into him.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?” she pressed.
“I’m the managing director of the facility. I’d be notified.”
“Not necessarily. Not if someone’s family is in danger. I need you to start digging, and ask around. We need to know if this is the case. It could affect everything. I’ll also get our team onto checking all communications with your staff and decision-makers. If this was walked out of the building, there has to be motive; we find that, we find who has the vial.”
Already on it.
Thanks, Oz.
“Any political considerations? Contracts you’re up for?”
Knotts shook his head. “We’re just a research facility…”
Molly raised her eyebrows. “And your funding comes from?”
He looked flummoxed. “I… I… There are multiple sources,” he stammered.
Oz.
On it.
Paige had started taking notes.
Molly could feel Oz pressing on the capacity in her cortex right now.
Oz, I’m going to need those neurons.
Out loud she told Knotts, “I’ll also need the names of the two missing scientists. They’re our best lead.”
Eugene answered that question. “Dr. Ana Grossman and Dr. David Rek.”
“Thank you,” said Molly, making a mental note.
“Ana was David’s supervisor. She was the one with access to the samples,” Eugene offered.
Molly turned to look directly at him. “Okay, and have you documented everything that might be in the vial?” she asked.
“Yes, and no. I can take you to the lab and show you the lab reports from the last 18 months while this project has been running. But we haven’t figured out what is missing from that, yet.”
“Okay. Let’s go take a look. We might be able to shortcut that…”
The four sarkians stood up from the meeting room table and filed out into the labyrinth of corridors to make their way to the lab. Along the way, Dr. Knotts took his leave to try and find out what he could in terms of ransoms.
He knows more than he’s telling us.
I don’t doubt it. When I get some operating capacity, I will endeavor to find out what.
Okay, let’s go look at these lab reports first so we can figure out what we’re dealing with.
Molly and Paige followed Eugene.
Ancient Moon Bar, downtown Spire
Pieter Alexander was excellent on paper. His skills were outstanding, and his experience was wide and varied. But standing in front of Joel wasn’t the person that he had expected to be meeting.
Pieter didn’t appear to be your average nerd. In fact, if you saw him sitting on a train or in a fancy restaurant in town, you might mistake him for an artistic type. With a large trust fund.
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