Sonata in Orionis (Earth Song Cycle Book 2)

by Mark Wandrey

  A week later they hadn’t gotten any further. Minu sent a message to Dram explaining her problem in as much detail as possible, then left for the day. She met Cherise at the Steven’s Pass gym for a rare workout.

  “What the hell are you doing up there in your lab, oh mad scientist?” Minu watched her friend stretch and limber up as she finished securing her sparring helmet. “Gregg was talking about blowing up pigs, and the rumors aren’t much nicer.”

  “We’re onto a new infantry weapon, but we’re having major problems finding some high-end components.”

  Cherise joined Minu on the mats and assumed a defensive stance. “Wouldn’t it be easier to buy better firepower?” She came at Minu low and fast, her foot sweeping out like a scythe.

  Minu hopped up and back, Cherise’s foot sweeping below hers, then aimed a jab at the other girl’s face. Cherise slipped sideways, then recovered her stance. “Firepower is easy enough; we have the beamcasters.” Minu attacked with a leaping kick at Cherise’s head.

  Cherise gave ground, slipping sideways, and blocked with a forearm. She caught Minu’s ankle and pushed up, hoping to spill her on her back. Minu brought her other leg up with startling speed, nearly catching Cherise in the side of the head. Cherise released her, and Minu landed lightly back on guard. “The beamcasters aren’t cutting it?” She rolled away from the double kick and almost kicked Minu in the side. Minu barely managed to check the kick with her left forearm, the impact leaving her arm numb. “Better concentrate,” Cherise warned her.

  “I’m trying,” Minu growled and regained her guard. They jumped at each other and fell away several times, trading a light punch or two. “The beamcasters aren’t well suited to our purposes.” Minu rested for a second and considered another attack.

  “Why not check a junk pile?” Cherise wiped sweat from her forehead, then suddenly sprang like a tiger. She didn’t fool Minu for a second. Minu caught Cherise by her wrist and ankle, using the bigger girl’s momentum to fling her over a shoulder in a jackknife move. They crashed to the ground together, Minu on top.

  “Aren’t junk piles full of trash?” Cherise tried an elbow jab, but Minu spun her around onto her stomach and got an arm around her throat in a second. She pulled back, arching Cherise’s back and cutting off her air. Cherise slapped her hand on the mat in submission. Score one for Minu.

  Cherise rolled over and sat up. Her face was red, and she was massaging her neck. “I didn’t teach you that one,” she said, surprised.

  “No, I saw it somewhere. What about the junk piles?”

  “Tell me about the move, and I’ll tell you about the junk piles.”

  “Deal.”

  “The junk piles are a combination of trashed and obsolete stuff.”

  “That doesn’t help. The components we’re looking for are advanced, maybe a generation or two old by Concordian standards.”

  “You’re saying they’re not brand new, not the hottest things out there?” Minu nodded. “That means they’re obsolete to someone.” Minu’s mouth fell open in understanding.

  “Why wouldn’t they sell them to someone lower down the food chain?”

  “Does a rich guy sell his old car or trade it in?”

  “I see what you mean. Junk piles are hot beds of supplies and equipment for other species. We’ve lost more Chosen at junk piles than anywhere else. It isn’t worth sending dozens of scout teams out, hoping to strike gold.”

  “You don’t have to. Our teams have been searching junk piles for decades and keeping extensive records of what they find and where. The stuff you need isn’t anything we’d have much use for or that would be particularly valuable in trade to the Tog, right?”

  “No, not really. Too specialized.”

  “So, if a team came across it, they’d likely log it and move on.”

  “I’ll be damned.”

  “I told you what I know. Where’d you learn that move?”

  “Bruce Lee, a movie called Enter the Dragon.”

  * * *

  Minu finished working out with Cherise, eventually progressing from sparring to working knife forms, then finishing with a recent addition, swords. Ever since the Trials, the knife was her favorite, even considering how her first knife experience had turned out. The blade was still in her field kit, even though she hadn’t been in the field for months. She went up to her room for a quick shower then into the lab. After checking on her team, she retreated to her office, where she began going over scout mission logs, looking for notations on junk piles. After her conversation with Cherise, she wasn’t surprised to find nearly a hundred of the enigmas.

  The search became easier. The scout teams were meticulous, and she wasn’t surprised that the best reports came twenty years ago from a young four-star scout team leader named Chriso Alma. Junk piles seemed to be his specialty; he’d gone on hundreds of junk pile missions all over the galaxy. Most of his reports listed categories of goods found in alien repositories, and some noted piles of obsolete equipment. A few of his reports read more like novels and included images or sketches of almost everything they saw. Chriso’s generation of Chosen was the first to really venture into the frontier, and that was the biggest reason why so many’d never returned home.

  She downloaded the entire database and began to compile it. She quickly discovered that most of the descriptions were abstract or too simplistic. ‘Computer parts,’ ‘energy conduits,’ and ‘broken robots’ were common. Those terms could describe any of a hundred things, most of which were useless to her. She settled for sorting by category.

  Later Minu met quickly with Alijah, who was working on a novel way to circumvent the targeting computer. After that, she had a light snack and returned to the data. She found herself alone once again, late at night, and the data began to blur. She needed to call it quits. She was hungry, so she went to the cafeteria and got some food from the overnight automated attendant. As she sat eating mindlessly, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen one of the cooking staff or eaten a fresh meal.

  “You’re turning into a vampire,” she heard someone say. Minu turned and saw Aaron standing in the doorway wearing only shorts, a towel around his neck. She’d forgotten just how well-muscled he was, and the intervening years had only made him more ripped.

  “I could say the same for you,” she said. Aaron shrugged and went to the attendant, taking a salad and a sports drink.

  “Can I sit?”

  “Sure.”

  He sat down and unwrapped the salad. She could smell the healthy musk of his sweat, and it made her nostrils flare. “What’re you eating?” he asked as he dug into the salad.

  “Burrito, corn chips, and a cola,” she said, feeling self-conscious after seeing his dinner. “Don’t say it.”

  “Wasn’t going to. With a body like yours, eat whatever you want. I doubt your body fat is over five percent.”

  “Four and a half,” Minu admitted, “the doc lectured me last week. He says that’s why I don’t have a menstrual cycle—” She realized how stupid she sounded, but it was too late to take her words back.

  “Hmm, thanks for sharing that.” Minu turned beet red. “Damn, now I’m sorry I got the French dressing.”

  Minu punched him in the arm. It felt like punching a slightly padded steel wall. She cursed and massaged her knuckles, and he laughed at her. She began to laugh, too, despite herself.

  “Look,” he said, “about the other day in the HERT…”

  “Don’t bother,” she said, the levity of the moment gone in a flash.

  “I feel like I have to.”

  “Aaron, I don’t think this is the time.”

  “It needs to be. I’ve never had a chance to talk about my feelings for you.” Minu looked up, her heart jerking. “Ever since the Trials I’ve been in—”

  “Hey Minu,” said a new arrival. Minu looked over her shoulder and saw Christian. She’d never been more grateful to see her unofficial boyfriend. “You want some more company?”

 
Aaron looked at her uncertainly. “Sure,” she said without taking her eyes off Aaron. Christian strolled up and leaned over her. Minu tilted her head up, and he kissed her fully. It was a very natural act. Aaron’s only reaction was a narrowing of his eyes and a little twitch of the corner of his mouth. “Have you met Aaron Groves?”

  “I commanded a scout team of which Aaron was a member once,” Christian said and offered his hand. Aaron hesitated the barest of moments before taking it. He rose and tossed the remains of his meal into the recycler on his way out. He didn’t bother saying good bye. “He seems upset.”

  “Old issue,” Minu said, chasing the last bite of her burrito across her plate. “I’ve been working on an idea, and I was wondering if you’d give me some input.” She outlined her issues with the components, taking longer than planned because he didn’t understand why the components necessary to finish the weapons were so difficult to obtain. “You’re a three-star command, can you get me a look at the off-world mission schedule?”

  “You hoping a scout team can bring back some of your materials?”

  “More than hoping, I’m counting on it.”

  “Why not ask Dram?”

  “Because he’ll tell Jacob, and I’d prefer he not find out.”

  “Okay, I think I understand. I’ll get you the schedule. But is there anything you can get me?”

  Minu glanced at the wall clock and gave him her most demure look. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 11

  June 22nd, 518 AE

  Science Branch, Chosen Headquarters, Steven’s Pass

  “Minu!” the voice yelled through her door. She almost fell out of bed trying to get to her feet and answer the door. Halfway there she heard her communicator chime and ignored it. She continued to the door, only pausing to snatch a robe from a chair to cover her nakedness. Her visitor started to knock again as she pulled the door open. It was Pip, and he looked very excited. “I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour!” he exclaimed.

  “I can tell,” she said and turned her back on him. He followed her in and closed the door.

  “We struck pay dirt.”

  “Tell me.” Minu silenced her communicator’s insistent attempts to wake her up, noting that it was not quite five in the morning. She really regretted the late night in Christian’s quarters, for many reasons. She dropped the robe and fished in a dresser drawer for clean clothes.

  “A team came back a couple hours ago with several hundred plasma channels.” Minu found clean clothes and began dressing. Over her should she saw Pip sneak a look, though he didn’t look as long as he might have a few months earlier. His regular trips to Chelan for ‘dates’ with Cynthia had made him a lot more grounded and a little less desperate. Everyone knew they were getting serious. Sure, she was a little on the round side and had bad skin, but they were a good match. She’d seen them together once, and they looked very happy.

  “Are they a perfect match?”

  “Actually, these are a little bit better than we hoped for.”

  “Outstanding,” she said and finished dressing.

  “They’re being delivered to our lab as soon as possible.” Minu nodded her head. “You’ve been working out a lot,” he noted in his typical offhanded manner.

  “Got a good look, did you?”

  “Don’t be that way,” he said, looking hurt and embarrassed. “I’m spoken for.”

  “Regretting your little round girlfriend?” Storm clouds appeared on his face, and she decided to calm things. “I didn’t mean anything by that. Cynthia’s a nice girl.”

  “She understands me,” Pip said, the perceived insult already forgotten. “What about you and Christian? You keep that pretty quiet.”

  “What about us?”

  “Is it serious?”

  Minu almost didn’t answer, and that surprised her. Was he her boyfriend? They’d talked the night before about what shared quarters would be like, but she still didn’t think about their relationship in ‘serious’ terms. Then Christian had made things more complicated. She opened the door and waited for Pip to pass through before closing it. She paused, and he looked at her expectantly. “He said he loved me last night.’

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh.” Minu headed for the lift to go to their lab.

  “Do you love him?”

  “How should I know?”

  “If anyone would know, you would.”

  “I’ve never loved anyone, so how do I know if I love him?”

  “I love Cynthia.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do.” Minu made a rude noise as the lift opened. “Really, it’s that simple. I feel it here,” he said and pointed at his belly button.”

  “What if you’re wrong? What if it’s indigestion?”

  “I can’t be wrong.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “You have to want to love someone for it to happen. You decide to allow it. Uncle Bjorn says it’s like giving up to God.”

  I didn’t know Bjorn was religious, she thought. “What if you want to love someone, but you think you love someone else, and you think about the second person every time you’re with the first one?”

  The lift arrived at their floor, and Minu stepped out. Their lab was right across the hall. Inside, she sat on a stool next to one of the many work benches covered in parts of shock rifles. Pip sat next to her looking as though he was giving something all his attention. “Then I’d say you’re in real trouble.”

  “You can say that again.” Minu brought the lab’s computer systems online.

  “Does Aaron know how you feel?” Minu spun around, her mouth open in surprise. She tried to cover it up, but the howler was in the house. “Hmm, that’s what I thought.”

  “How did you know—”

  “That you’re in love with Aaron?”

  “I’m not in love with Aaron!”

  “Then you’re the only one who doesn’t think so.”

  “I saw him last night,” she admitted. “I was in the cafeteria having a snack, and he showed up. We started to talk, but Christian showed up. Aaron left, and I told Christian about our need for parts. He agreed to help us search for them.”

  “Guy works quick. There must have been a team in the right place. Why didn’t you go to Dram with that?”

  “I didn’t like the idea of begging the Council for help.”

  “They practically fell all over themselves to help you.” She shrugged. “You know, you’re turning into something of a miracle worker.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. People talk about you in hushed tones and say how much they want to work with you.”

  “A four-star? Please.” Pip leaned over and covered three of the stars on her sleeve, leaving only one visible. He cocked his head from side to side, admiring the look. She slapped his hand away and laughed at him. “A woman First Among the Chosen? That’ll be the day. I’m not even eighteen yet!”

  “Things happen fast around here.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Pip jumped up to answer it. A pair of grizzled-looking scouts stood there with a cylindrical shipping case between them. “Where you want it?” one of them asked.

  While Minu examined the paperwork they stood patiently, one casually examining the tables of parts and wires. “Kind of like Frankenstein’s lab here,” he said offhandedly.

  “We get that a lot,” she replied.

  “You’re Chriso’s kid, right?” the other asked.

  Minu looked at him, catching the three black stars on his sleeve, and nodded.

  “I think it fucking sucks that you’re here in a damn lab and not in the field,” he said suddenly. She looked in surprise at him and his partner. The other man nodded in earnest agreement. “Regardless, you’re doing your family name proud.”

  Once Minu signed off on the delivery, and the two Chosen scouts were gone, she and Pip popped open the case. “I told you,” he said and gest
ured in the direction of the departed scouts.

  “Whatever,” she said, trying to brush it off. She understood what her friend meant a little better.

  The case contained dozens of plasma channels. Minu and Pip began sorting them by model and condition. Even though quite a few were damaged, there were almost five hundred suitable ones and another two hundred that were either too big or too small. She made a note to have Mandi catalog them, then deliver the unsuitable ones to Logistics.

  “We couldn’t have done better if we’d ordered them,” Pip said, giddy with excitement. Minu was still sorting, but he’d already strapped one into a tester and was watching the instrument pump live plasma through the device, monitoring how the apparatus did its job. “These are perfect, especially considering the price.”

  “Okay,” Minu said and picked one up. It was a damaged unit of the type they needed. She removed the red mock up from the exploded shock rifle and carefully fit the new part in place. “With the collimators we got last week, all we need are the computers.”

  “We knew it would come down to that,” Pip said, turning off the tester and looking at the exploded shock rifle. So close, yet so far.

  “You’re right. What can you do about it?”

  “The computing power is too much for any of the small application computers we have.” He picked up one of the small computers lying around the lab. Like the others, it was about thirty centimeters long, twenty centimeters wide, and five millimeters thick. “Between laser collimation, ranging data, plasma management, and plasma beam flow control, we need about half the power of one of these.”

  “We’ve been over this before; there has to be a solution.”

  “It isn’t that easy. The Concordia build computers into everything—well, almost everything. And like so much of what they make, even large durable goods are basically disposable. They strip out large sub-assemblies, but you can’t just snatch out a module and replace it. If it was our engineering, we could get a device with a comparably-sized computer, say a medical scanner or flight computer, take it out, and adapt it. Computers in Concordian-made transports or scanners are integrated.” Pip slammed the computer down on a table. It bounced once and slid to the floor. It continued to function faithfully, immune and indifferent to the treatment. “I wish I understood why they engineer things this way, but I don’t. There are shortages of so many small, commonly-used components, like EPCs, but we still see new, large-scale machines using the same damn upward scale of construction. It’s completely contrary to logic! In any sort of assembly process, you make small components and assemble them into bigger ones.”