Interface

by Isabo Kelly

  “Two kilometers beyond the perimeter sensors. But it’ll be difficult with the storm approaching. The tunnels won’t get us near enough.”

  “Biosuits?” Nathan suggested. “We’ve got three in the tunnels.”

  “Only three?” Gina felt her throat closing up.

  BinRal smiled. “I’m from a hearty clan, Ms. Xanacovich. We’re adapted to cold temperatures humans would consider severe.”

  She nodded, trying to swallow past her panic. Her ears felt strange, blocked, like she was underwater. The sound around her faded until their voices sounded like they were coming through a wall. She clenched her jaw, trying to pop her ears without much success.

  “Are the biosuits necessary?” she murmured. When no one responded, she tried again, louder this time. “Alex, are the biosuits necessary?”

  Three pairs of eyes focused on her. “Yes. Storm’s too dangerous without them.”

  “No.” She straightened her shoulders and sound came rushing back.

  “What do you mean ‘no’?”

  “I can’t wear one.”

  Alex’s face stilled, his features losing all expression. “Can’t? Or won’t?”

  “Can’t. I can’t. There has to be another way.” Her gaze skipped over the faces of Nathan and BinRal before settling on Alex. “My father didn’t tell you that part, did he?”

  “You tell us.”

  She took a deep breath and ran a shaky hand over her eyes. “Remember the remains of the things, the M-SIDs, that were…in Jack Nevel’s blood? They’re micro-molecular scanning interface devises, M-SIDs for short. They were part of an experiment conducted by our team.”

  “Your father filled us in,” Alex said impatiently, cutting her off with a sharp hand gesture. “The M-SIDs interface with biosuits. You, Jack, and the other two, Barry and Mira, had these micro-molecular scanners injected into your blood stream. A biosuit activates them. We understand. And when we started, we didn’t think biosuits would be necessary. They are now, so you’re gonna have to deal with it.”

  “You don’t understand.” Gina tried to keep her voice even and calm, despite her rising panic. “The experiment had unforeseen side-effects. Trust me on this. You do not want to put me in a biosuit.”

  “I thought these things were just like sensors, scanning your biochemical state and feeding it back to the biosuit.” Alex moved closer to her and gently grasped her shoulders. She barely felt his touch through the thick material of the parka.

  With a deep gulp of air, she looked him in the eyes and said, “They induce telepathy.”

  His breath came out in a whoosh, and he dropped his hands to his sides.

  She looked down so she wouldn’t have to see the expression on his face, knowing already how he felt about telepathy. “It’s not a natural state, and it didn’t happen to all of us. Only Mira, Jack, and myself. Barry didn’t have any reaction. But because it’s not natural, we can’t control it. I think it’s amplified too. From the research we’ve done, natural telepaths don’t…experience the same things the three of us did.” She took a stuttering breath. “If I put on a biosuit while the M-SIDs are still in my bloodstream, I’ll be able to read your minds. I won’t be able to block it, or ignore it, or control it. We’ve been trying.”

  The silence around her was a physical pressure, and she felt something give inside her. “You have to understand, finding sufficient funding for micro-machine and nanotech research has been harder to come by since humans exchanged inter-stellar drive systems for Binnean molecular scanning technology. Our work was mostly theory and speculation until the Farseaker Foundation gave us a grant.”

  A hiss of breath made her glance up. Nathan was scowling, fingering a spot on his chest, beneath his shirt. She frowned but continued her explanation. “They gave us full funding for three years. It was a dream come true, but it also gave us a very tight schedule. We tried to take every precaution. We ran a million computer simulations and droid experiments. But the time came when we had to run human trials or risk running out of money before the work was finished.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself, cold despite the parka. “To reduce legal risks, we decided to use volunteer members of the team first. If the trials were successful, we could move on to volunteers outside the lab. We had to bring my mother in to monitor our medical condition during the trials in order to get my father to agree to let me participate. Everything was fine. At first.”

  Her voice dropped off and silence filled the corridor. She had to look up to see if the two men and the Binnean were still there. Nathan and BinRal looked thoughtful, concerned. But she could tell Nathan was already running through alternatives to the biosuit option. Ever the professional.

  Alex, on the other hand, looked shaken, confused, and very angry. She’d never seen him so close to losing control—despite her best efforts to get him to lose his temper over nonsense arguments. After what he’d said to her while she was watching the riot, she knew he hated the idea of anyone being able to read his thoughts. Now she was telling him she could.

  So much for chemistry.

  An alarm sounded from the control room. Nathan, with BinRal on his heels, pushed between her and Alex. Alex remained in the corridor, staring at her.

  “How could your father let you do that to yourself?”

  “It was my choice. I knew there were risks, and I was more than willing to take them. I still am to see this work completed. But the risks shouldn’t have been this severe. We were worried about the M-SIDs malfunctioning and making the suit produce too much heat or cold, or try to increase our oxygen or nitrogen levels too high. Something along those lines. We never considered that the M-SIDs might interact with our physiology. They’re just supposed to scan.”

  “The ship’s firing on the building now,” Nathan called from the control room. “Small controlled bursts aimed at the doors. Fortunately, they’re not trying to bring the place down on top of us.” He appeared in the doorway. “But the defenses aren’t going to hold out forever. We have two choices. We can run or we can fight. Without the perimeter sensors working, there’s no telling how many of those ships are out there.”

  Alex looked at the floor, silent for so long, Nathan said, “Alex?”

  “Are there any other side-effects,” Alex said, looking up at her, indecision evident in the creases on his brow. “Physically, will you suffer in any way?”

  “I’ll have a killer headache when the biosuit comes off. Until then, I’ll be physically better off than you. But I’ve never had the suit on outside of the lab, or for more than twenty minutes. I don’t know what will happen with prolonged exposure.”

  He hesitated again, staring at her. “If we stay and fight, we risk losing you. Your father hired us to protect you.”

  “He also hired us to protect what you’re carrying.” Nathan’s voice was quiet, directed at Alex more than her.

  “We have another alternative,” BinRal said. “I could go for my ship while you hold out here. We could rendezvous near a tunnel exit.”

  “You wouldn’t have any back up,” Alex said. “You won’t be able to contact us once we’re inside the tunnels.”

  “Alone, I’ll move faster. I’ll have a better chance of reaching the ship unnoticed.”

  “Sounds like the best plan D, Alex,” Nathan said just as another alarm sounded from inside the room. He ducked inside, reappearing an instant later. “Defenses still holding, but we’re running out of time.”

  Alex hesitated a moment longer before nodding. “BinRal, we’ll meet you in three quarters of an hour at tunnel G. We’ll hold here for as long as we can so you can contact us if you need to. They may be scanning link frequencies, so use the secure channel and code.”

  BinRal turned and disappeared down the corridor without a word. Alex continued to stare at her with an expression she couldn’t read. She stared back, not knowing what to say.

  Nathan broke the silence. “Alex, I think we need to talk.”

  “Later
.” Alex took her arm and started down the corridor. “Keep an eye on things outside, Nate. We’ll be back in a minute. Buzz me if there’s an emergency.”

  From behind her, Gina heard Nathan mutter, “What the fuck do you think this is, Alex, a party?”

  Alex ignored the comment, tugging her along until they were out of sight and hearing range. Then he turned on her.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?” Alex demanded. “Something this…this big is important to know if we’re going to keep you safe.”

  Gina shrugged and leaned against the corridor wall. She hadn’t wanted to tell him after finding out how he felt about telepathy. But too late for regrets now. “I assumed dad told you I couldn’t use a biosuit. The telepathy part is classified. Neither of us was supposed to discuss it. No one outside of my team and my parents know about that side-effect. My father’s even kept it from the Board of Directors. We’re trying to work out a way to control the reaction, temper it.”

  “Why? Why not just eliminate the effect, like any other bug?” He leaned a shoulder against the wall next to her, putting him close enough that she could feel his heat along the entire right side of her body.

  She turned her head so she could look at him. “That was our original intension. Who would willingly use technology that opened up an unwanted, and to tell the truth, disorienting and painful new sense, which couldn’t be controlled? Then one of the team pointed out how dangerous this could be in the wrong hands, this ability to hear other people’s thoughts.”

  “And that didn’t make you more determined to eliminate the bug?”

  “It probably would have if the conversation had stopped there. It didn’t. We wound out the possibilities for hours, and then someone mentioned the Shifters and the rumors that they communicated via telepathy, and wouldn’t it be great if our technology allowed real communication with them.”

  “Communicate how? Why? They’re just animals. Dangerous animals.”

  “Some people would argue that point with you,” she murmured.

  “You?”

  “Me.” She lifted her chin, met his gaze. The topic was so volatile it wasn’t something to discuss lightly. She was trusting him more than logic said she should just by telling him which way she leaned on the issue. But since she was already trusting him with her life, a part of her knew she could trust him with this. Even if, on a personal level, it drove him away.

  She shook her head, raised a hand palm open. “Whether the Shifters are dangerous or not, whether they’re telepathic or not, this technology could give us the ability to finally answer some of the questions. If it can be controlled.”

  “Can natural telepaths read thoughts as easily as you can with the micro-scanners and a biosuit?” He was leaning closer again, his voice low.

  “From what I understand, no. The few we’ve been able to find and interview, anonymously, said they never realized they had this trait until they met another telepath. They might hear a passing thought or murmur that didn’t seem to be their own, but most wrote those off as imagination. Even with another telepath, they don’t seem to be able to communicate well. None of them could do what Jack, Mira, and I did. Fortunately for them.”

  “Without the suit on to interface with the M-SIDs, they remain inactive?”

  “Yeah.”

  Alex sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Why haven’t you removed them yet?”

  “We tried, but they disassembled on removal. Another bug. Until we work that part out, we decided they were just as well where they were.”

  “So without a suit on, you can’t read minds?”

  “No.”

  “Probably a good thing.”

  Alex’s blue eyes darkened to a stormy gray, and Gina had to suck in a breath. He didn’t look angry anymore. “Why’s that?” she asked before she could stop herself.

  “Because you’d probably run screaming if you knew what I was thinking right now.”

  “I doubt it. I don’t scare that easily.”

  He grinned, and Gina shivered inside her too warm parka as much from relief as from the lure of that grin. “You’re a fascinating woman, Ms. Xanacovich. I’d like the chance to get to know you better when all this is over.”

  He leaned close, and Gina held her breath. The touch of his lips against hers was feather light and so temptingly brief she moaned.

  “God, Gina, don’t do this to me now.”

  “Me?” Her eyes fluttered open. “What am I doing?”

  “Driving me insane,” he growled, his voice thick and rough.

  Then he kissed her again, hard, pulling her shoulders around so that her body was pressed against his full length. His kiss fulfilled every promise her fantasies had been making since she’d first laid eyes on him. Just the feel of his lips firm against hers, his tongue sweeping hot temptation into her mouth, made her dizzy. How much better it would feel if they got rid of the damned parkas. She reached up to the zip of his jacket, but when she would have tugged, Alex broke the kiss and set her at arm’s length. His breathing was ragged and harsh. He closed his eyes and took several deep, slow breaths.

  When he finally opened his eyes, he said, “I just broke a rule I’ve lived by for years. But I’ve wanted to kiss you since you first stormed into your father’s office spitting acid and fire. Now isn’t the time. But later, when the job is finished, you and I will get back to this.”

  He wasn’t asking. He was promising. She nodded, her heart hammering. She could hardly wait.

  He dropped his hands from her shoulders and gestured back toward the control room. “We should get back to Nate.”

  She silently followed him, her mind reeling. She hadn’t been kissed like that in a very long time, and when this was over, she intended to take him up on his promise. If they survived.

  ***

  “Move it!” Nathan shouted as he came pounding out of the control room. “They’re breaking through the outer locks.”

  Alex grabbed Gina’s hand and raced down the corridor. Nathan followed, blaster raised, scanning the halls as they retreated to a part of the house that Gina hadn’t been able to explore thanks to the complex system of locks and checks installed. Alex swept a lock with his comm-link, pressed his palm to a prints and DNA scanner, and looked into the needlepoint light of a retinal scanner. The locks clicked off, and the door hissed open, revealing a steep spiral of metal stairs.

  “Down,” he ordered her then held the door until Nathan had passed into the dim stairwell.

  Lights flicked on as they moved lower. The walls of the stairwell were cut from the mountain, flickering blue-gray in the dim light. They hit the bottom of the shaft and turned toward one of the six corridors branching off from the circle of ground at the base of the stairs. Nathan pulled a small tube from the pocket of his parka and shook it. The corridor flashed to bluish visibility, the roughly cut stone of the walls wavering with shadows.

  “Won’t they see the light?” She nodded at the tube over Nathan’s head as Alex urged her down the dark tunnel with a gentle touch to her back.

  “Door sealed behind us,” he said. “By the time they get through, we’ll have passed too many turns.”

  “Unless they skip subtlety and blow the door off,” Nathan muttered from ahead of them.

  “True. But the door can take a lot of fire power before giving,” Alex said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It should hold long enough. We’ll just have to hurry.”

  She nodded, but her thoughts had skipped ahead, finally pin-pointing something that had been fidgeting at the back of her mind, “How’d they find this place?”

  Alex and Nathan exchanged a look over her head. Her gaze narrowed, but before she could question them, an explosion rocked the walls of the corridor, raining a fine mist of blue-gray dust over them. “There goes the door,” Nathan said without emotion.

  “Keep moving.” Alex squeezed her shoulder again.

  She was officially worried now. But somet
hing was still nagging at her logic. “The guy you left behind, he was trustworthy?”

  “He wasn’t the one that gave away our position.”

  Stunned by the utter calm in Alex’s voice, she said, “You know? You know how they found us.”

  “We leaked the information.”

  “What?” She spun on Alex as her voice echoed up the corridor.

  “Quiet,” Nathan hissed, before grabbing her arm to pull her along.

  She jerked her arm free and held her ground, the full brunt of her glare focused on Alex. When Nathan grabbed at her a second time, Alex warned him off with a look.

  “We have to move, damn it. Now. They’ll have heard her shout. If they’ve got a triangulation scanner, they already know which tunnel we’re in.”

  Alex ignored Nathan, but he did start her moving again with a hand at her back. “We did what we had to do to draw out the inside man on your team.” He spoke quickly and quietly, ushering her along at a trot. “We ran up against some serious walls and safeguards that we couldn’t bypass.”

  “You were only there four days! You didn’t even warn me.”

  “We didn’t expect them to beat us back here.”

  “So, I’m going to be tortured and killed because you didn’t expect them to be quick.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to you.” Alex pulled Gina to a halt and hauled her against him, bringing his face down to hers. “Nothing. I swear it.”

  Gina blinked at the fire and determination in his gaze. All of her outrage drained away.

  “Let’s go.”

  She didn’t resist when Alex urged her on again. They picked up speed, and she had to jog to keep up.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Disoriented by the wavering tunnel shadows and the quick pace, Gina kept her head down and concentrated on moving. When they reached the end of the tunnel, she was startled by a dead-end of nothing but rock.

  “Now what?” she asked, struggling to catch her breath.

  Nathan stepped to one side of the tunnel and pressed a spot on the rock. A hologram disguising the tunnel exit fell away, revealing a metal door barely large enough for the men to get through. Dim light filled the cavern, revealing a plexi-sealed room with three biosuits hanging on the wall.