Alpha Class - Graduation_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by N. D. Roberts

  “Okay, we’re gonna have to get you back into a Pod-doc to get checked out.” He looked at Craig. “I have to go and deal with the situation that brought us here in the first place. You take Maxim up to the med bay while I handle it.” He patted Maxim on the shoulder again. “When I get back we’ll get to the bottom of this, Maxim. Okay?”

  Maxim nodded, which was all he was capable of at that point. He thought he remembered seeing his fingernails replaced with impossibly sharp claws. He looked blankly at his hands in his lap, his head growing heavy.

  He lay down across the bench, half-listening to Commander Silvers instruct Craig to keep Maxim within sight. The last thing he saw before sleep stole him away was Peter pointing at the vending machines across the lobby as he left. “And get some food for when he wakes up.”

  ___

  Peter hurried to Ward G, hoping that Maxim’s diversion hadn’t kept him from getting there before the mystery patient was sedated again.

  He wanted to try to speak to him to see if he could glean any more clues about the man’s origins before he went on the hunt for the man’s past.

  Nobody should have to live in torment like that.

  By the time he got there the situation had been contained. He saw Dwayne, the Guardian on duty, standing by the reception desk and went over to get a report. He nodded at Lucy, who was on duty, before turning to Dwayne. “I got your message. Is he awake?”

  The Guardian shook his head. “He’s out cold, sir. We had to sedate him.”

  “Gott Verdammt! Won’t drugging him over and over like this make him worse?”

  Lucy came out from behind the desk as she answered him. “No, the sedation between active periods actually gives his brain a rest and speeds healing time.”

  Peter frowned. “So why aren’t you keeping him sedated until he’s fully healed?”

  “It doesn’t work like that.” Lucy chuckled as she passed him a tablet. “Here, see his notes? The brain is a complicated organ. Wakeful periods are just as important to the healing process as resting ones. Besides, he wasn’t under any sedation at all today because we needed him alert for the scans. I was bringing him back when he reacted to something. I was lucky Guardian Dwayne was here to restrain him while I administered the tranquilizers.”

  Peter looked up from the tablet. That was the second time he’d heard that phrase. Only a small part of what he was reading made sense to him anyway, and Lucy may have inadvertently given him a clue. “He reacted to something?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. He’d been calm all morning, but all of a sudden he leapt out of the wheelchair and shouted, “‘Why?’”

  Peter grinned and handed the tablet back. “Finally, something I can work with.”

  He left the ward, taking his tablet out and pulling up the video from the other times Ilya had escaped. He replayed each incident as he walked, beginning with the first time it had happened.

  The man sat in a chair in the dayroom of the long-term ward, staring at the unfinished jigsaw puzzle on the table before him with the glazed eyes of the heavily medicated. Peter zoomed in, watching closely for the moment when he went from catatonic to Defcon One.

  Peter saw it. A twitch of the man’s nose, and a fraction of a second later the detached expression was replaced by one of utter and desperate longing.

  He bolted upright, knocking the chairs and tables over as he made a break for the door. Peter froze the video and checked the other incidents.

  They were all pretty much the same as the first. The man was mostly calm and malleable, going about his daily routine as peacefully as the other patients on the ward. But no matter how calm he was, when he caught the scent he had to be restrained and sedated by the nurses.

  “Meredith, take a look at these vids. What was happening around Medical at the same times the patient has tried to escape?”

  Meredith answered through his implant almost instantly. There were twenty-three thousand six hundred and seventy-two separate events across the level for the first time stamp alone, Peter. If you tell me what you are looking for perhaps I can narrow it down.

  “Look at the moment before he goes bananas,” he told Meredith. “He’s reacting to a scent. He thinks the person he’s looking for is here, so let’s try and find out if he’s right.”

  We can certainly try, although a scent is not much to go on since I cannot process olfactory data. Meredith paused. I think the more pressing concern is how young Maxim managed to unlock his Pricolici. A hundred thousand Pricolicis rampaging across the station would be disastrous for us all.

  Peter stopped walking. How had Maxim gained his third form?

  With a few exceptions, all of the Wechselbalg had been in the Pod-doc for reprogramming by TOM to prevent the Pricolici pathways from being activated. It was safer for everyone that way. If there was any chance the programming could fail they needed to get on that.

  Like yesterday.

  “You’re right, Meredith.” The mystery man would have to wait for now. He hurried to the elevator, which Meredith had the doors open for him.

  “Contact Bethany Anne. If TOM’s programming has failed, we need to know why.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Alpha Class Dormitory

  Tina woke up and immediately noticed that Fudge wasn’t on her bed.

  The kitten wasn’t on her own bed, either. She saw that the door to the sleeping area was ajar and groaned, standing up. She did a quick sweep of the room, but she couldn’t see Fudge anywhere. “Where is she? Fudge?”

  Ron was on the sofa when she entered the living area, engrossed in a thick manual. She ignored him and started looking under the furniture.

  Ron put his manual down and got up. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m looking for Fudge. Have you seen her?”

  “Not since last night,” Ron replied with a worried look. “Try shaking the kibble box. That usually brings her running.”

  Tina did as Ron suggested, but Fudge didn’t appear. “Where is she?” Her frustration was rapidly turning to worry when there was a knock at the door. She opened it and Devi sauntered in followed by Kris, who was holding a squirming Fudge in her hands and getting clawed by the protesting kitten for her trouble.

  “Ow!” She thrust Fudge at Tina. “Here you go. Someone left your door open and she got out.”

  Devi chuffed. “I found her destroying school property. I told you she was bad news!”

  Tina took Fudge and cradled her close. “Thanks, Kris.” Fudge began to purr, snuggling close to Tina.

  “No worries,” Kris told her. “I better go. See you later.”

  Devi sniffed moodily at Fudge. Then her puppy nose twitched and she yipped at Tina. “Can you smell that?”

  “Human, Devi.” Tina deadpanned, waving her finger in a circle around her nose.

  Devi let out a barking laugh. “Oh, yes, I forget. Your nose doesn’t work like mine. There is an interesting scent that requires my investigation. Would you care to join me?”

  Tina snickered at the puppy, who was already moving away, drawn by whatever irresistible scent she was picking up. “You’re funny, Devi. I have to get to class soon, and Fudge and I haven’t had breakfast yet.”

  “Your loss,” Devi replied, already halfway down the corridor. “Whatever the smell belongs to, my nose is telling me it’ll be well worth finding!”

  “Just stay out of trouble,” Tina called as she shut the door.

  She went over to Ron, holding Fudge up to chastise her. “You can’t go wandering around like that!” Fudged mewed in return, which melted Tina’s resolve. “Oh, I can’t be mad at you. You’re too cute!”

  Ron laughed. “You spoil her.”

  “So I should,” Tina retorted. “She’s adorable.”

  Ron went to say something but stopped himself.

  “Spit it out,” Tina told him as she shook kibble into Fudge’s bowl. The kitten began to crunch away happily.

  Ron shrugged. �
�I don’t think I should. You get mad every time I bring up the future.”

  Not this, again. Tina sighed mentally. It had gone on too long. They were going their separate ways and there was nothing that could be done about it.

  “See, I only have to mention the word and you’re rolling your eyes!”

  Whoops. Tina sat down next to him on the sofa. “Ron, look… We’re just making this painful. For both of us.”

  Ron opened his mouth to speak. “Tina…”

  She waved his protest off. “No, Ron. I can’t keep going around in circles. It’s driving me crazy! What do you want, for us to run off together into the sunset? Be practical! Use the brain that attracted me to you in the first place and actually think about what you’re asking me to do.”

  “I’m asking you to stay with me. To share my life,” Ron declared.

  Tina crossed her arms. “That’s the problem. You want me to share your life. What about my life? Where does that fit in?”

  “After we get married you can…” Ron faltered as her eyes pierced him.

  “Married?” Tina was momentarily speechless. His suggestion that she delay her studies the other night had been bad enough, but marriage? Was that where he saw them going? “Is that what you were going to talk about, kids of our own?” She shook her head in disbelief. “Do you even know me? Next you’ll tell me you want a steady job in finance. It would be less ridiculous than what just came out of your mouth.”

  Ron threw his hands up in despair. “What’s wrong with knowing what you want from life?”

  “We are seventeen, Ron! Seventeen! We have our whole lives ahead of us and you want us to decide on everything now? People change and grow, Ron. It’s already happening.” She sighed sadly. “We’re through, and I think one of us should transfer to another dorm if you can’t accept that.”

  Ron’s head jerked in surprise. “Are you kidding?”

  Tina shook her head. “No, Ron, I’m serious. I can’t do this anymore and it doesn’t matter how many times we have this conversation—we aren’t getting anywhere. I’m not going to avoid the inevitable. Please just accept it too, so we can get past all of this and be friends again.” Fudge jumped onto her lap and Tina wrapped her arms around her, letting the kitten nuzzle her. She refused to meet Ron’s searching gaze. “If you can’t be my friend right now, then just leave me alone until you can.”

  Ron’s face grew redder, but a few frustrated huffs were all he could manage. He got up without another word and walked stiffly out of the dorm, slamming the door behind him.

  Tina sobbed into Fudge’s soft fur while the kitten licked her tears away with her sandpaper tongue. Fudge mewed, not understanding what was wrong with her human. Tina let out a choked laugh and tickled the kitten’s chin. “I know, Fudge,” she told the kitten in a small voice as she wiped her tears away. “I won’t be sad forever. It sure hurts now, though…”

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Medical Level

  Craig sat by the Pod-doc that Maxim had been inside for the last few hours, waiting for Commander Silvers to get there. He sighed, thinking that he spent more time in this place than anywhere else.

  Maybe he should have considered a career in orthopedics instead of the military. He stood to stretch his legs and leaned over to peer through the window at Maxim.

  The doctor had explained to Craig earlier that there had been an unexpected fault in Maxim’s nanocyte programming that had forced him into Pricolici mode. Maxim’s first session in the Pod-doc had blocked the normal triggers—anger or protective instinct—but the hidden pathway, the one that had been triggered by the neurochemical overload caused by Maxim’s grief, had remained viable.

  All the Wechselbalg aboard were being checked for the same fault. If nothing else, Maxim’s predicament had uncovered a potential ticking time bomb. What if that pathway was triggered at the wrong moment?

  “Sneaky Kurtherian... Y’know what, there isn’t a curse strong enough. I hope they only found it in you, dude,” he murmured. “It’d be like a space-werewolf horror movie if every angry Wechselbalg aboard the Meredith Reynolds suddenly went Pricolici on our asses.”

  He heard a noise behind him and turned to see Commander Silvers and a nurse coming in through the door. “Hey, sir. What’s the news?”

  Peter nodded. “Nice situational awareness there, Craig. It’s almost time for Maxim to come out of the Pod-doc, and I have another assignment for you.”

  “Sir?”

  “First of all, get your ass down to the APA and start getting yourself back in shape for duty.” Peter held a tablet out to Craig. “In the meantime, I have a little assignment for you—and maybe Maxim too if he’s feeling up to it after he gets out of here. There’s a man on the long-term psych ward; nobody knows who he is. I want you to show his picture to all the Russian Wechselbalg and see if you can find anyone who knows him, or of him.”

  Craig glanced quickly at the photo. “Of course, sir. Any other instructions?”

  Peter thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. If you do find anyone who knows him, don’t tell them he’s here. Just report straight back to me. A lot of people lost or left family behind during the evacuation and I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”

  “Sir.” Craig nodded and made to leave the room. He looked back as he reached the door. “Sir, Maxim’s gonna be okay, isn’t he? He’s kind of grown on me.”

  Peter placed a hand on the lid of the Pod-doc. “I hope so, Craig. Kid’s gone through enough.”

  Craig looked at the photo of the man as he left. He looked kind of familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on why he thought so.

  He left Medical wondering where the hell to start.

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Ventilation System

  Masha halted her slow crawl forward to flick away the rabbit droppings in her path.

  “Ow, watch it!”

  Masha twisted to look back at her sister. “Quit bumping into me! And stop talking so loudly; the echoes will get back to someone. We can’t be far now. I can see where it opens up ahead.”

  She began shuffling along the narrow duct again, pausing now and then to flick the ‘breadcrumbs’ away as she progressed toward the junction.

  Mischa huffed. “Yana was right, we shouldn’t have done this. Ow!”

  They reached the junction and Masha squirmed out of the duct, making use of the open space of the junction to stretch out her cramped muscles as Mischa struggled out of the duct to land a little less than gracefully. The poop trail had disappeared for now. “Where has the little stinker gone?”

  Mischa shrugged.

  “For crying out loud, Mish, use your nose!” Masha made a face and crouched to sniff at the mouth of each duct until she picked up the scent of the rabbit. “Oh...”

  “What is it now? Mischa demanded.

  “I can smell the rabbit, but I can smell Devi as well!”

  She dove headfirst into the duct, calling behind her as she went, “Come on! We need to find them, and quickly!”

  They shinnied through the duct and Masha was rewarded with confirmation the rabbit had passed that way a few moments later when she came across a pile of droppings. She poked the pellets with her finger.

  Still warm.

  “Mish, we’ve nearly found it. These droppings are fresh.”

  “I know, I can smell it,” Mischa retorted, giving Masha a little push to get her moving. “Come on, let’s just get out of this stupid duct!”

  They came to another junction, this one opening out onto rows of hissing pipes and ductwork. Steam from the pipes hung ominously in thick layers, diffusing the overhead lights.

  Masha looked at the eerie halos along the ceiling. “We’re down in the basement,” she told her sister, who was staring at it all with a puzzled expression. “It’s where all the utilities for the Academy come in.” She cast her gaze around the floor, looking for any sign of the rabbit—or Devi, whose scent was stronger now that they were out of the duct. “We’ll spl
it up. You go left, I’ll go right and we’ll meet in the center.”

  Mischa looked uncertain.

  “Come on, before Devi finds it and spoils her surprise!”

  They split, Masha keeping low to peer under the rows of hissing pipes whilst keeping an eye out for Devi as she went up and down the rows. She crossed paths with Mischa when she got to the center.

  They paused in the open space between the rows, Masha wiping the sweat from her forehead. “It’s too hot in here. No rabbit?”

  Mischa shook her head. “Not a sign, but I can smell it! Where has it gone?”

  Masha closed her eyes and focused, searching out the rabbit scent amongst the many-layered basement smell.

  “What are you doing?”

  Masha opened her eyes and glared at her sister. “I was trying to concentrate.”

  Mischa put a hand on her chest in mock-horror. “Well, excuse me.”

  Masha rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Come on, I think it’s somewhere this way.” She moved off in the direction she’d indicated, scanning the floor as she went.

  They were rewarded a few minutes later when Mischa spotted a tuft of white fur on a jutting pipe near the floor.

  Mischa held it up, triumphantly accepting Masha’s high-five. “We almost have it now!” They hurried on, keeping their eyes peeled for the next clue.

  As the path split, Masha caught a twitch of movement out of the corner of her eye. “There,” she whispered. “Look.” She pointed to the end of the row, where the rabbit, whose nose was twitching, was perched on top of a mess of cables next to an open door.

  Masha froze, not wanting to spook the rabbit into making a break for the dark corridor beyond the door. “Don’t make any sudden moves, Misch.”

  “What do you think I am? Of course not! Now go and get that rabbit so we can get the hell out of here!”

  Masha crouched as she advanced slowly toward the rabbit.

  She was just about to cup her hands around it when a shaggy black blur came bounding around the corner, yipping excitedly.

  The rabbit bolted before Masha could grab it, moving faster than either of them had anticipated as the German Shepherd puppy gave chase with a happy howl.