“It’s hard to think as anything in your life could be boring.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
“I mean, look at you. You’re one of the lead researchers on a station that’s going to create the cure that will save millions of lives. You make tons of money, you have an amazing place to live, and you’re going to change history. Kind of hard to think that you would have time to consider anything humdrum.”
“You’d be surprised how even the most exciting of things can become mind-numbing after long enough.”
I thought back to my hours of grousing during training. “Yeah, I guess I can understand that.”
“This, of course, is the room where I get away from it all.”
He opened another door and I was completely unsurprised to see a bedroom. It was decorated just as impressively as the first room, but alarmingly had even more red and gold details. I took in as much detail as I could in a quick second before turning to him with a raised eye.
“Your bed is made. Either this room isn’t as fun as you say it is, or you’ve got a maid.”
He scoffed playfully. “Please, like ninety percent of scientific minds, I wouldn’t be caught dead without a self-making bed. It saves me two minutes a day, and I will continue to maintain that two minutes is worth the cost.”
“You’re an adult. It’s your money.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
He went to take a step in, and I could tell where he was trying to herd this conversation and that it was about exactly the opposite of where I wanted it to go. “How about a drink?” I blurted.
He paused, and I was afraid he was about to lay down some drinking-on-the-clock condescension on me, but instead he seemed more than game. “I think I have something that might fit the occasion.”
“Brilliant.”
I followed him back through the Livingroom into the cleanest and shiniest kitchen I had ever been in. Did he ever even use this place?
I didn’t get a chance to ask, however, because he was already crossing over to a clear cabinet and punching in a code. Looking absolutely delighted with himself, he pulled out a crystal-like bottle with an almost glowing red liquid in it.
“Nesr Rock-Juice.” He said proudly, and I assumed that probably meant it was high end. “Just hit its second decade.”
“You certainly don’t hold back on treating a girl, do you?”
“Something as fine as this should only enjoyed with company equally as exquisite.”
I swallowed down a snort and nodded, allowing him to hunt down a pair of glasses with his pride still intact. But the moment his back was to me, I move the bottle to what I hoped was the perfect position.
“Oh, Maven.”
He whipped back to me and sure enough, his elbow hit the delicately curving neck of the bottle, sending it shattering to the floor. He spat several curses and I saw his face go red for the briefest of moments.
“I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed. “I just wanted to know where your bathroom was!”
“It’s fine. Just a waste, that’s all. Around the corner to your right. I’ll get activate the bot to clean this.”
“Okay. Hopefully that won’t give you any trouble.”
I could hear Viys’k snicker in my ear. “I’m guessing that’s you telling me to make it give him all the trouble?” I was still quickly exiting the room so I said nothing, but I could hear the thief crack her knuckles. “Now this sounds like something fun.”
I almost wished I could stick around for the circus that was no doubt happening, but I had very little time and a whole lot to do. Namely, determining if this Maven fellow was a willing participant in all this, or an unwitting pawn with a slightly inappropriate take on work-place dating.
I passed right by the only other closed door that I assumed was to the bathroom and went straight to the office.
“Are you finally going to tell us what you’re up to?” Angel hissed in my ear.
“What does it look like?” I whispered back. “Now tell me how to get into this holo-terminal so we can get the information we need and I can get the hell out of here without having to play tonsil hockey.”
“Right. Teach someone who’s not from this dimension on how to use technology about a million years more advanced. No problem. First, do you see a sort of power button? It should be colored either blue or green and on the input board at the bottom.”
I crouched and looked, fingers scrolling past the variously hued buttons. I found one that was a bit bigger and looked like sort of shade of cerulean, then pressed it, hoping for the best.
The screen popped into existence, blinding me for a moment, and I closed my eyes against the harsh light.
“Good! Now take one of your nano-generators and put it on the base.”
“Got it.” I fished into one of the deeper pockets on my standard issues jumpsuit and pulled out the button sized metal circles that Angel had supplied me with. I turned it on with a quick swipe of my fingertip across the sensor, and then pressed it where she had instructed.
The holographic screen flickered for several seconds before I heard Viys’k borderline trilled in excitement. “Those little suckers work fast. I’m able to remote access now. So what am I looking for?”
“I don’t know. Anything on Jyra, or the cloud, just anything suspicious. I wanna know if he’s had sudden large and mysterious pay offs, or a mansion on some far-off moon, anything.”
“Why? We already know he was possessed by the cloud thing at least once. What does it matter if you know that he was paid off or not.”
“Because,” I hissed, eyes still on the door. I could hear Maven cursing faintly from the kitchen as he argued with the cleaning bot. “People who are paid off know things. Things that you can interrogate or trick out of them.”
“Huh. Should I be embarrassed that I didn’t think of that?”
“Maybe.” I answered. “But you could always focus on that after getting any useful information from this.”
“Relax. I’m doing my due diligence. We’ve got reports, reports, receipts to expensive dinners, reports, some emails. Oh! Silly boy, I found his bank info right in a file labeled as ‘important’. Rookie mistake.”
Information flitted across the screen, then settled on what looked surprisingly similar to a user interface for any financial institution back on earth. I guessed some things were universal.
“Well, this is interesting.”
“What?” I hissed, still having difficulty making sense of what was on the page when my brain was still learning how to read the strange symbol based language.
“Looks like your friend Maven here got several millions in credits deposited into his account by a Council account.”
I cursed quietly. “I knew it.”
“Huh.”
“Huh what?”
“Just something interesting. Apparently Mr. Maven is used to moving around large sums of money. I show three different payouts to former Serkasis Labratories employees.”
“I’m on it.” I heard Angel say. “Looks like we’ve got a Meandra Dayton, a Soo Min-Yo and a Bruno Marcon. All females, all human, and all between twenty and twenty-eight.”
“That is a bizarre consistency.” Bajol murmured.
“No, it’s not.” I murmured. “That’s hush money if I ever saw it.”
“Yup. Just looked into it some other files, and I found several H.R. reports on inappropriate that have been dismissed. Looks like not only do we have traitor on our hands, but he’s also a creep.” She sighed. “And he was so cute for a human, too.”
“Yeah, but if only three have been reported, imagine how many others he’s done this to and gotten away with it sans a payout.”
“I don’t want to think about that.” Angel retorted. “But you’re probably right.”
I sighed. I didn’t like being right about this. “Anything else?”
“No. Unfortunately he seems to be otherwise clean as a- Wait! I think I found something.”
I felt my anticipation spike and fought to keep my volume lowered. “Wouldn’t happen to be a full written confession, would it?”
“Better! Well, not really but still good. It’s the transport log from the company vehicle he used during his first week here to bring personal belongings.”
“And that’s important how?”
“Because one of the engineers reported that there was a discrepancy in the gas left and an erased point in the Nav-log. That’s gotta be where he took Jyra!
“If you can just get to that ship and get me the Nav, I bet you credits to cronk that I can find out exactly where they’re holding her.”
“Yes!”
“Heads up, he shoved the bot back in the closet and is heading your way.”
“Dammit! Shut the thing down!” The hologram flashed out of existence and I looked around. “Do I have time to get to the Livingroom?”
“Negative. He’s in there and he’s already looking for you. What are you gonna do, Andi?”
I took in a deep breath and quickly unbuttoned the top two fastenings of my outfit. “Bluff really, really hard.”
“What do you-” I crossed to the front of the desk and hopped on, crossing my arms to have a hopefully playfully impatient look on my face. “Oh.”
Maven burst in, and the look on his face was frighteningly dark until his eyes landed on me. “What are you doing here, missy?”
Missy? “Waiting for you,” I said slyly.
“This isn’t the bathroom.”
His powers of observation were really and truly stunning. “Well I was on my way to there when I got distracted by this big, shiny desk and all of its…potential.”
“Potential, huh?” He took a step forward between my legs, and I moved my arms back around his shoulders. “What kind of potential?”
“Do I really need to explain it?” My mind was racing. I wanted more than anything to extricate myself from this situation and be done with it, but if I just bailed that would be super suspicious. I just needed to play along just enough to be reasonable, then make my exit.
I was expecting more sexually tense banter, but instead suddenly his face was moving towards mine and we were kissing.
I hated making out.
I didn’t know why, but ever since I was young, the thought of mashing your mouth against someone else’s and swapping spit was not my idea of a good time. I had grown to like it with the occasional right person, but I definitely was not fond of it with strangers who just so happened to also be a coworker and a sellout of the entire universe.
Nevertheless, I didn’t flinch away, and forced myself to respond to his ministrations. His hands gripped my waist, thumbs circling on my uniform and his tongue was… pushy. It seemed to take forever before he pulled back, although he was still pressing me to him urgently.
“So, what were some of the potential things you imagined here on this desk?”
“Actually,” I murmured, trying to look flushed with excitement and not sick to my stomach. “I think I should probably be heading back. Perhaps a raincheck? Maybe after my shift.”
His hands only gripped me harder. “Don’t worry, if you get in any trouble, I can take care of it. What’s the point of fooling around with a superior if you don’t get all the benefits?”
I laughed, tilting my head back to get my mouth away from his, and wiggled my hands between us to gently push him away. “Good point, but I don’t want to miss anything important. This is fun, and I’m glad to know we’re on the same page. Maybe after you treat me to another dinner, we can start round two.”
I expected him to protest a bit more, and maybe try to cajole me into staying. Instead, one of his hands moved to grip my chin and yank my face to his. “I said, you should stay.”
“And I said,” I retorted, still pushing lightly instead of using my full strength, “maybe later. Not now.”
His fingers dug in and suddenly I was being slammed backwards. My head spun as it connected with the desk, and I gasped audibly. “You little tease. I really don’t like teases, so why don’t you be a good girl and forget about your silly little training?” His other hand went to wrap around my throat, squeezing at the sides. “Are you going to be a good girl now?”
I nodded, eyes wide and watering. A slow smile spread across Maven’s face, and he released me. The moment he did, I let all the anger, all the vitriol, pool into my fist.
“Smart move. So, this is what you’re going to do. You’re going to get up, follow me to my room, and show me exactly how grateful you are for that lovely dinner we had together.” I sat up slowly, allowing him to pull me to my feet. “Now, what do you say, my little Natalie?”
I looked up at him, my voice shaking with rage. “I say go screw yourself.” I spat before slamming my fist into his stomach as hard as I could.
He went flying across the room and slammed into a shelf, trinkets and awards that probably cost a year of my salary falling and shattering to the ground around him. Dust rained down from the ceiling I stood over him for a moment, feeling a bit like my predecessors had a tiny sliver of justice though me, before spitting on him and heading out.
Chapter Eight: Free Pet Day with more Explosions
My anger was still pumping hotly, burning along my skin in itchy waves. I needed to collect myself if I was going to make it back to class. I doubted Maven would report me or anything like that, considering he would have to implicate himself in both bringing unauthorized personnel past their clearance level and assaulting an underling. No, as long as I played it safe, I would be-
Fingers curled themselves in my hair and ripped me backwards. I flew right into that same desk that had so much ‘potential’, and the breath was knocked out of me. I struggled to my feet, and when I looked at my attacker, I could tell that Maven was not the same Maven I had just pummeled.
His face was the same, and yet it wasn’t. Black energy crackled around him, and his eyes were a feverish yellow. I didn’t need a drawn-out explanation to figure out that the cloud hadn’t totally left him. “You clever, clever little girl. That’s why I was so drawn to you. I should have known better.”
He advanced on me so I made my move. I surged forward, shoulders lowered to barrel into his middle. We collided and it was like hitting a brick wall. We both fell to the ground, but I could tell that I was hurting a lot more than he was.
I landed over him, and tried to bring my fists down on my head with all of the energy I had inside me. He caught my wrist, and a smile that I could only describe as predatory spread across his face.
“So, you must be Andi, then.”
“Consider me not pleased to make your acquaintance.”
I tried to pull back, but his grip was like steel. It bit into my skin, burning. “You look different than what I was shown.”
“The magic of science. You’d be amazed.”
“Apparently.”
The energy crackled around him, and I was thrown back again. The scientist had some great aim, because I crashed right back into the desk, knocking it back several more inches. I groaned, and before I could recover I was being picked up.
“So, why’d you do it?” I gasped, trying to pull against his hold. “Didn’t make enough thousands with your nice job?”
He laughed. “You think I did this for money?”
“Well yeah, the evidence would point to yes.”
He dropped me onto the desk, a cat playing with the mouse. “You think you’ve got everything all solved, don’t you?” He laughed again and the sound grated against my soul. “Sure, the money was a nice perk, but that’s not nearly enough to just sign away my personhood to some intergalactic death monger.
“No, what I signed up for was the power. You have a little taste of it -quite literally- but you have no idea of the types of gift our friend is capable of giving.”
“Gifts? Like your indelible charm and easy going nature?”
“Not quite. But something more like… this.”
He pulled his fist back
and the next thing I knew I was crashing through the desk into the floor. To say I was winded was an understatement, but I didn’t allow myself to reel in pain. I kicked out, summoning as much power as I could into my feet.
Somehow, they connected with something solid, sending Maven went through the air and out the door.
I got up and rushed him, barreling out the door at full speed. He had started to get up, but I caught him off balance, my foot connecting right with his ribs.
He went down once more, and I decided to make a break for the door. I made it maybe one full step before two impossibly large hands gripped me and I was physically lifted off the ground.
I punched and kicked, but those movements quickly stilled as I was flipped upside down and pulled into the air.
“How are you doing this?” I cried, trying to get my perspective collected. I looked up at my feet to see the hands that were gripping me were massive, disembodied amalgamations of energy.
“Like I said, you only know a fraction of what he can give.” He advanced on me, his skin slowly beginning to crack and more of that dark energy crackling through the gaps in his visage. “But now you’re going to learn what I can take away.”
I knew in this situation I should probably be scared. Heck, it wasn’t like I was used to that being my constant state of being for the past few months. But I wasn’t scared.
The Rescue (Alternate Dimensions Book 3) Page 8
