Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5)

by Scott Rhine

  When Stu pointed to a spot on the arch of one foot, the doctor said, “I can’t see any bruising or damage.”

  “Sympathy pains,” suggested Conrad. “Mira and I had them a few times after bonding. You’re feeling what Laura is through your link.”

  “If it’s nothing physical, he’s cleared for duty,” the doctor said.

  “So I can carry her across the threshold of our house like I promised?” Stu asked.

  “I’d like that,” said Laura, realizing just how much she did.

  Smelling the aroma Laura was emitting, Auckland shook his head. “If we scrub the boy, she’s just going to reinfect him the moment he’s clean. We should put her in a pod, too—if for no other reason than she’s our backup Index.”

  “Thank you. I wanted that but couldn’t ask,” Mira admitted.

  Laura panicked a little. “Isn’t that the Magi device you strap someone into and drown them in antibacterial gel until they pass out from having their blood filtered?”

  “We’ve all been through the process, Herk and Lou several times. It’s a quick nap, and you wake up a lot healthier,” Conrad assured her.

  “For Stu’s sake,” Laura said.

  ****

  Taking off her clothing in the chilly decontamination area made Laura nervous all over again. The long tube under reconstruction by the doorway, Stu described as some sort of generator they had scavenged. However, the two-meter, gray toadstools in the center of the room were certainly not human technology. “Will the ship try to probe my brain?”

  “No, we had to outfit Stu’s special.” Mira pointed to golden frills dangling from the mushroom cap above Stu’s head. “These are called dendrites.”

  “Like the connectivity brain cells,” Laura said.

  “The golden Page material we salvaged from the first pod is psychoconductive.” Stu reclined in his pod, wearing only his trademark underwear.

  “None of this bothers you?” Laura knelt beside him.

  “You mean other than the fact that Snowflake may have been a girl this whole time? No.”

  Laura kissed him good-bye. “Why can’t your mother, Mercy, imprint Snowflake again?”

  “She’d need to be unconscious. Right now, she’s keeping the habitat’s hundreds of grav generators running. Without her concentration, the whole balloon deflates.”

  Mira pulled Laura back as the doctor lowered the clear sides of the pod. Stu resembled Houdini during an escape as tentacles wrapped his wrists and ankles and pink fluid filled the tank. Even before the fluid covered him, the golden dendrites entangled his head like a Portuguese Man of War consuming its prey. His eyes closed.

  “Come back to me,” Laura begged.

  “Your turn,” Mira said, guiding her toward the next pod. “It’s very restful. You can’t have slept much the last couple days. You need this.”

  Laura crawled under her toadstool. “When you meet someone important, priorities shift. You find out everything you put your time into before them was rubbish.”

  “I know what you mean.” Mira placed her hand against the glass bubble and exuded comfort.

  Laura matched the hand with one of her own.

  Chapter 43 – Desperation

  In the loading dock, Kaguya paced the shuttle nervously. Now that she has her biological parents, will Laura forget all about me?

  Eowyn appeared in the airlock, startling her.

  “The unloading is almost done. How is Laura doing?” Kaguya asked.

  “Better than her husband,” Eowyn replied. “They’re rushing him to a pod for repair. Turns out he hurt himself during the rescue. She’ll need a quick rinse in the pods to keep from killing him with germ warfare their next make-out session.”

  “Stu would take the risk. He’s that devoted,” Kaguya said, happy for her daughter. “How’s Conrad?”

  “You’ve aged. He and his lovely wife haven’t,” Eowyn said cruelly. “He’s never going to leave her for you. Mira isn’t likely to forgive what you’ve done.”

  “They’ll put me in stasis because they won’t know what else to do with me. By her mid-thirties, Mira will succumb to Fortune syndrome like the rest of her family. When she dies from overusing her abilities, the others will beg me to save Conrad. He came close to bonding with me before. I can arrange it again.”

  “You deluded harpy. What makes you think he’ll let you sink your filthy claws into him again?”

  Kaguya removed her right glove so that her touch could incapacitate the deranged woman. Engage her. Remind her I’m human. “I’ve sacrificed everything for twenty years to achieve this goal. What do you recommend I do instead?”

  “Solve the problem your family created.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Koku is patterned after your mother. I helped to create the monster. A transfusion from your personality could alter it, give it a conscience.”

  “You overestimate me,” Kaguya explained. “My personality would do more harm than good. I care nothing for the charter or the masses of humanity. My family is my only concern. Speaking of which, my daughter is injured, and I’d like to check on her.” Empathic influence didn’t seem to be working.

  Eowyn pulled out a pistol. “Stay out of my head! You’re a wanted fugitive in several countries—the death of dozens of men in Rio, a mass prison escape, and the theft of an Icarus-capable shuttle, which counts as a weapon of mass destruction. All of this makes you UN jurisdiction and permits me to employ lethal force. I can force you to pilot this craft to the UN Moon Base and face incarceration in the very prison colony you raided.”

  During Eowyn’s self-justification under the charter, Kaguya could see the transparent girl, Joan, point to the airlock handle and hold up three fingers, followed by two, and then one.

  When the airlock clicked, Kaguya was ready. She deflected the gun with her sling and struck the base of Eowyn’s skull with a psi-bolt. She followed up with one to the base of the spine for good measure.

  Mouth stuck open, Eowyn collapsed.

  Oleander retrieved the weapon and checked the clip. “Nothing in the chamber. The first lunatic didn’t stand a chance.”

  “I’m the wronged party here,” Kaguya insisted. “How did you know she was threatening me?”

  “The red wristband broadcasts on security channels whenever the wearer is alone with another crewmember.” Cuffing Eowyn, Oleander said, “I don’t disagree with anything she said, just her methods.”

  “What about the things I said?” asked Kaguya.

  Oleander shrugged. “I stole another woman’s fiancé. I’m not exactly the poster child for healthy relationships.”

  “So you’d allow my stasis idea if I found a way to mitigate my father’s out-of-control pet?”

  “Maybe after we fix Herk. It wouldn’t hurt, but there’s no guarantee any prince is going to wake you with a kiss.”

  “Deal,” Kaguya said, handing the gun to the head of security butt-first.

  Oleander gave an uneasy snort. “What would you have done if I said no?”

  Shot you and blamed Eowyn. “Sooner or later, someone would have agreed.”

  “What makes you think Z would ever accept you?”

  Kaguya smiled sweetly. “I gave him two fine children, a shuttle, and founded the Near-Earth Rescue Organization fleet. With me, he can finish stocking for his next colonial mission, rescue Stu’s aunt, and fly up the surgical team Herk requires. Without me, none of that happens.”

  “Oh, you should have led with that,” Oleander replied. “Typical Mori—never ask for what you can’t take.”

  “Don’t let him know about the threats. I want him to accept me for me.”

  “Why wouldn’t I warn him?”

  “With controlling interest of NERO, I can make sure your brother is the pilot of the supply ship that delivers the gear you need. If I get my dream family, you get yours.”

  The head of security stared at her, weighing the carrot. “Even if I keep my mouth shut, Z will be too good for you.�
��

  Kaguya sighed. “By then, he won’t remember a few youthful indiscretions, only the woman who gave him his beloved children. Remember his motto—everyone deserves a second chance.”

  Oleander shuddered.

  ****

  Kaguya arrived at the control saucer with Joan. The girl talked like she was thirty, but still had no discernable curves. Looking up through the skylight of the round room, Kaguya was baffled. “We’re upside down.” Whole forests and rows of crops were visible above them. Stranger still, giant slots in the ground let in light.

  Nurse Yvette, a shorthaired French woman, sat in the control chair. “Since the lens is facing Earth at the moment, most of the sunlight has to come in from the mountainward hemisphere.”

  “Where’s Z?” asked Joan. “We’d like to talk to him without Mira.”

  “They’re waiting for the Llewellyns to come out of decontamination,” Yvette explained. “Mira will be waiting below for as long as it takes. When the shuttle has been unloaded, in around twenty minutes, the commander will run another orientation. Has Ms. Mori had her physical exam yet?”

  “No,” Joan replied.

  “Then you cover the bridge while I check her over. Since she recently had medical attention for that sling, I should be able to borrow most of the data from that exam.”

  “Broken left scapula. I ejected into a tree,” Kaguya explained.

  “Ouch. Better than staying in the cockpit of the helo when it was vaporized, though. Joan said you saved them all. You can pull Z aside after the welcome lecture while I’m inspecting the rest of the newbies.” Yvette led Kaguya to the medical lab.

  “Are we all accepted as crewmembers?” Kaguya asked.

  “Officially, you’re here for the tour, but no one gets beyond the saucer without approval. Anyone on the crew can veto a candidate for any reason. I’ve washed out one prisoner so far—a smoker. Addictions of any kind are bad in space, particularly ones that burn communal air. Oleander vetoed Eowyn. Both will be returned.” Yvette closed the door. “Medical alert card?”

  Kaguya handed over the platinum-edged ID. “Eowyn seemed okay to me before the gun. What happened?”

  “I don’t know. Based on her hormone samples, Eowyn had some major stressor that tipped her scales. Something got her all worked up over the moral imperative to stop Mori’s evil plan. Did you do anything to antagonize her?”

  Reviewing the incident, Kaguya admitted, “She didn’t go off the deep end until I exerted Empathic controls. Perhaps she’s overly sensitive because her mother, also an empath, tried to direct Eowyn’s behavior too often with the talent growing up.”

  “Maybe. The only other people she had contact with beforehand were the Nyxians. Since they’re not talking, I’m shipping her home.” The nurse ran the card through her reader. “Strip down. Lay on the exam table. Last period?”

  “I don’t remember. Laura takes care of that for me. I lose track of time.”

  Yvette started a log on her computer pad as Kaguya unzipped her flight suit. “Subject is a forty-three-year-old female with astronaut training. Weight is? Oo. You’ve got a little belly there.”

  Mortified, Kaguya stopped unzipping. “Having a child and frequent bouts of computational catatonia will do that.”

  “I’m sorry. That was insensitive. With the Ethics Page, I don’t have much of a filter on what I say. To me, only a few months have passed since we saw you last. You were a pop star in Spandex. Now … it takes a little getting used to.”

  Kaguya hugged herself. “Don’t tell anyone. Please. I still spar and keep active on my flight hours, but the other things I let slide. The preparations take so much of my time.”

  Yvette scanned several pages of medical documents. “It’s okay. Zip up and talk to me. What preparations?”

  “For Sanctuary’s return.” The Mori heiress described her shuttle designs to fit the landing bay and the equipment each had access to at a moment’s notice. Because Yvette was such a good listener, Kaguya described the experts she had recruited and the large quantities of frozen human and animal embryos stored at the NERO Moon Base. She took off her sapphire ring and said, “All the specs are on here.”

  “You’ve put a lot of time and resources into planning the next colony. Why?”

  “I want to go along on Sanctuary this time. I want to be with … my daughter. I’m sure as an ethics officer, you’ll support my claim.”

  “This should be good,” Yvette said, sitting back with folded hands. “Why am I going to wrangle Mira into accepting the woman who tried to rape Z and turned her uncle Daniel into a vegetable?”

  “Without Laura, I lose my anchor. It would be inhumane to separate us,” Kaguya reasoned. “Since you’ve invested so much of your limited resources to clean her and due to her unique status as Index, she shouldn’t leave this ship. Therefore, you’re ethically bound to accept me into the biosphere as well.”

  “You waited until we couldn’t stop your daughter’s scrub cycle to announce this. Slimy.”

  “My father’s influence. Forgive me.”

  “Oleander mentioned that you’re blackmailing us. You haven’t changed.”

  Kaguya removed the gift envelope Mary Smith had handed her at the wedding reception. “A good-faith offering. Both the imposter and I signed off, and I completed the transfer before we left Rio.”

  Yvette opened the envelope and gawked. “Stu and Laura now own controlling interest in NERO?”

  “I have placed myself at your mercy and demonstrated twenty years of service toward your community.”

  Yvette cursed for a moment in French. “What? You studied our journals to find just the right thing to say?”

  “This is too important to leave to chance. Let me present my designs to Conrad. He’ll agree.”

  Yvette shook her head. “You’re right that this is significant enough to call a meeting of the whole crew, but you and Mira would eventually claw each other’s eyes out. I don’t see any way this could work.”

  “Oleander agreed to keep me in stasis until Mira dies.”

  “Oh. Wow. That’s dedication. Why is Mira going to agree?” asked Yvette.

  “Because she’s all about revenge. I can arrange a forced Ethics Page reformat for the individual responsible for the murder of those aboard Ascension and rigorous enforcement of the charter throughout the Solar System.”

  “That would do it,” Yvette agreed, “but how do you plan on accomplishing that coup?”

  “We overlay my image onto the lunar portion of my father’s AI, Koku. Once my mother dies, the newer codes should become dominant on Earth as well.” Anticipating the next question, Kaguya explained, “I’ll fly the shuttle to NERO base. With gear Sojiro can provide, I’ll attach to the Koku at the spill site on the far side of the moon. Then I’ll return on a fully stocked NERO cruiser, manned with whatever personnel you people pick from the résumés on that ring.”

  Yvette smiled. “A few small flaws in your plan.”

  “Yes?”

  “You’ll need access to the accident site.”

  Kaguya nodded. “I have Officers Onesemo and Quinn at my disposal. I can select any number of NERO experts necessary to fight our way back out of the facility.”

  “And you need to be reformatted yourself to succeed in infecting the AI.”

  “Merde,” Kaguya echoed. She searched for an excuse to avoid the treatment. “The old Pages are kept in a UN vault in New York.”

  Yvette sat on the exam bed next to the worried woman. “Actually, we have one here. It used to be instructions for operating the escape pod. Once the pod was vaporized, the instructions changed to the same default as every other Page—a copy of our charter, humanity’s agreed-upon behavior code for space.” She put an arm around Kaguya. “As a subset, it wouldn’t force you to tell the truth in all cases, like the original Page did for me. However, you would be incapable of violating the charter’s principles.”

  Reformatting was a horrible fate, reserved for the w
orst criminal offenders. The sentence required the agreement of three Active judges. Kaguya leaned her head on the nurse’s shoulder. “I don’t have much me left. I don’t want to lose the rest.”

  “You’ll still be you, but people will be able to trust you.” Pausing, Yvette added, “Z could trust you then. He might meet with you alone.”

  “I’ll do it,” Kaguya said.

  Chapter 44 – Lies and Politics

  Kaguya sat in on Conrad’s orientation lecture and accepted the green jumpsuit in her size. “Those who the ambassador invited have names stitched into the clothes. For the rest of you, pick something from the unmarked piles close in size.”

  Over a dozen unclaimed jumpsuits remained for missing invitees. Most names were stitched in black on a white background. Stu had ordered hers in gold. The color indicated access level. Such a kind boy, but the angels may not let me enter your promised land just yet.

  Since she was a trained astronaut, Kaguya tuned out while the crew reviewed the essentials of space travel. Not counting the two rejects or the three transcends, Sanctuary now had fifty-seven crew members and fourteen invitees. She didn’t think the camera operators were particularly qualified, but Conrad valued loyalty above skill. During the lecture, he indicated that the biosphere could support up to seventy-five people, and the saucer could hold another six. Reserving a spot for Johann Dalhstrom left ten slots open. Eliminating the known lesbian couple, the male-female ratio was evenly balanced.

  Stewart would have no end of mundane volunteers from the STEM school, but the ship had enough engineers and settlers now. What they lacked were competent replacements for specialists like Dr. Baatjies: plant biology, nanomedicine, and ranged fighting. She mentally flipped through her NERO staff, writing a list of recommendations on the back of her prescription for pain medication from the university. By the time she tuned back in, she had nearly twenty possibilities.

  Then Prathiba, the mayor of the little town below, spoke about wages. “Workers in Sanctuary are paid in minutes of nanofabricator time. Almost anything you need can be fabricated or traded. Duties will be assigned by the planners based on ship needs and crew talents. For harvests, everyone participates, just like the early Puritans. During winters or planetfall, we all make sacrifices for the common mission. Some talents will only be useful in niches, so all my people cross-train. For example, the Indian tracker Stu invited may be extremely useful on scouting missions, but we’re likely to put him on fishing and raft repair duty here.”