Without a word, he set her down and waited.
It took almost an hour for her to regain consciousness. For that entire time he simply sat right by her side, his arms locked around his knees, and his mind deep in thought.
Though it had cost him dearly, the entity had given him valuable information. Now they had a concrete plan. All they had to do was access as much information as they could from as many sources as they could. Then they could analyze it for any mention of strange spatial anomalies where objects were either sucked into a point or floated into the air.
It sounded simple when he thought about it, but he knew how complex it truly was.
Judging by the current political situation on this planet, it would be fair to assume that the general populous would be paranoid, and the government even more so. If such spatial anomalies had been found, no doubt all information of them was top secret. The people of this time didn’t have the technological and scientific know-how to understand what the anomalies were, so they would probably assume they were some kind of radical new enemy weapon, and treat them as such.
So if he wanted to find any information about them, he would likely have to gain access to restricted information, which meant gaining access to restricted buildings.
As he sat there waiting for her to rouse, he tried to figure out if that was feasible.
With his armor, his gun, his scanner, and the device, it could be. But he couldn’t exactly afford to take any of these restricted buildings on with a frontal assault. As soon as the people in this province became aware of how powerful he was, they would send reinforcements. And considering the Vex did not value life, the governments of this world would think nothing of throwing life after life at Carson until he failed.
The only other option would be to infiltrate these facilities secretly, and that was something he could probably pull off, especially with the use of his scanner. If any of the information he was after was stored electronically, he would be able to access it from a distance, especially if it was being talked about over the airwaves. And if not . . . if he had to actually physically gain access to some restricted building, he could probably do that. With time and a great deal of planning.
As he sat there and thought, he looked up at her once every minute.
She looked pale, really, really pale. He’d already pulled the glove off her left hand, and he could only vaguely see a hint of blue to her flesh.
That really worried him.
The entity could further corrupt at any point, and he’d seen what would happen if it did.
He found himself rocking back and forth where he sat.
Then she snuffled.
And it made him want to cheer.
He pushed himself up, practically scrabbling towards her. ‘Nida?’
It took her a long time but finally she opened her eyes. ‘Harry?’
‘No, Carson,’ he said, incapable of keeping the high-toned indignation from his voice.
‘I was teasing,’ she managed as she winced and pushed herself up. ‘What happened?’
He swallowed. He took a breath. And then he spilled, ‘it was my fault,’ his voice shook, and so it should, because it had been his fault. He deserved to feel completely guilty about this. ‘I’m so sorry I pushed the entity,’ he began.
She put her hand up, closed her eyes, and looked as if she was about to fall asleep again. But then she sighed, winked an eye open and shook her head. ‘It isn’t your fault. I’m sure the entity would have intervened and told us at some point anyway, and it’s lucky that you forced it to do so in the forest. I just . . . what if that had happened in a city, with people around?’
He didn’t answer her question. There was no point. Because the answer wasn’t something she would want to hear.
He had to distract her, so he pushed himself to his knees, stood up, and walked several steps away. ‘We have a plan now,’ he said as he clasped his hands behind him, feeling and no doubt looking like a lieutenant in the Galactic Coalition Academy. It was as if he were giving a briefing, and he glanced over to Nida to note that his distraction was working. She was staring at him with the perfect kind of rapt attention he would hope any cadet would hold for one of his briefings.
‘What do we do?’ she asked.
‘We continue as planned. We go to the city, we scout it out, and we try to find any restricted buildings. Now I’m just assuming, but I imagine it is a good assumption, that the data we’re looking for will be locked down tight. The races of this planet are paranoid, and they’ve been at war for years. They don’t trust each other, and they don’t trust surprises. And spatial anomalies are pretty damn surprising.’
She nodded, looking suitably attentive. And even though she occasionally closed her eyes and appeared as though she was about to lose consciousness again, she managed to stay awake.
Though he wanted to rush to her side to check she was okay, and possibly even give her a shoulder to lean on, he soon realized that appealing to her duties as a cadet would be more likely to keep her awake.
‘This is a dangerous mission, way beyond anything an undergrad at the Academy would be asked to join in,’ he said, forcing his chest out as he spoke.
‘Wow, I hope I get extra credit for it then,’ she quipped. She tried to laugh at her own bad joke, but winced, clutching a hand to her mouth.
‘Are you alright?’ he asked automatically, briefly dropping his authoritative routine.
He couldn’t hold his concern in any longer, and he started to edge towards her.
She shook her head. ‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ she said suddenly, lurching to her feet and stumbling off into the bushes.
Her thoughts were correct, and she was sick.
When she stumbled back out of the bushes, he gave her a commiserating, thin-lipped smile. ‘Feeling better?’
She shrugged. ‘I could really use some advanced medical treatment right now. My stomach is doing loops around my feet.’
He didn’t quite understand that image, but whatever she was trying to convey, he could bet it wasn’t pleasant.
Deciding the best thing to do was to distract her again, he clapped his hands behind his back. ‘So, to repeat, we will concentrate on infiltrating the city, scouting out the important buildings, and figuring out what kind of data they may hold. It’s just a guess, but I imagine what we want is in research facilities of some kind. Especially weapons research facilities. The city we’re heading to may not have one, but if it does, that’s where we should start. If the people of this province have ever come across a spatial anomaly, they are going to want to use it to their advantage. And that, unfortunately, in this day and age means weapons.’
She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, but managed to nod. ‘All right, let’s do it.’
Though he was acting gung ho, he gave a lengthy pause. ‘. . . Now?’
She still had her hand pressed against her mouth and she looked up at him from over her fingers. ‘Yes, is there a problem?’
Sure, there was a problem; she had just been sick in the bushes, and she’d only regained consciousness a few minutes ago.
Maybe she could read his mind and guess his hesitation, because she suddenly forced herself to her feet.
Though he was at her side, hovering next to her like a worried parent, she managed to stand on her own.
She shot him a terse look that told him she was fine. ‘We have to do this. No time for lying around in the bushes. We’ve already wasted a day and a half.’
He grimaced at her statement. It was true.
It was time to get to the city.
He turned, instinctively knowing what direction it was in. He was still wearing his armor, and the on-board scanners helped him orient. ‘Okay,’ he said under his breath. His voice sounded weak because his resolve was weak. He shot a nervous glance her way.
She held it. ‘I’m fine. I’ve got you, right?’ she added at the end.
‘For what good that’s worth,’ he said
awkwardly.
‘Just say yes,’ she pressed her lips together, and just for a moment looked as if she wanted to cry. She had been through a hell of a lot, after all. But that didn’t stop her from repeating, ‘just say yes.’
So he did. ‘Yes, you’ve got me.’
‘Then let’s go,’ she said in a husky voice as she walked past him. Though she was unsteady on her feet initially, with every step she took, her natural balance returned. Well, her unnatural balance returned. Because Nida had never been stable on her feet. But now at least she didn’t stagger quite so much.
His mad run through the forest with Nida in his arms had taken him further behind the city. Now it would take a good eight kilometer walk through scrub to reach a meadowland, and then, beyond that the outskirts of the town. The city itself was surrounded by an enormous 10 meter wall. Reinforced, of course, and guarded 24 . . . nope, 28 hours a day.
They had to get there before nightfall. They couldn’t afford to waste another day.
‘Do you know if we need ID yet?’ she asked as she walked beside him.
‘Yes we do,’ he answered plainly. ‘I’ve kept the scanner on, and it has been assessing all radio and television traffic. It has picked up on several mentions of an identification system.’
She suddenly stopped. ‘Well, how are we going to get through?’
‘Through the front gates,’ he said simply. ‘You know how I said this era in history has strange technological progression? That the constant warring between the three provinces has caused them to focus on technologies like communication and weapons above comfort and medicine?’
She just looked at him silently. Then she shrugged her shoulders. ‘And?’
‘Well, it seems one of the areas to have benefited from their ad hoc technological progression is their identification system. It works on radio tags. Unique radio tags that each citizen of this province is given at birth. And unluckily for the fascist government running this place, we are going to be able to hack that identification system without breaking a sweat,’ he gestured to the scanner still locked in a magnetic holster on his hip.
She pressed her lips together and smiled. And it was good to see her smiling.
‘Do you have any other good news for me? Like, oh, I don’t know, you’ve found something other than leather straps for me to wear?’
Despite his best efforts, he knew his cheeks reddened. He’d completely forgotten about that. ‘I . . . will have a look now.’
She shook her head. ‘Give me the scanner. I’ll look.’
‘What, don’t you trust me?’ he asked playfully.
He stopped abruptly.
Because, seriously, he was talking to a cadet.
She didn’t suddenly scream at him that he was being inappropriate. Instead, she rolled her eyes, ducked in, and took the scanner from his holster. She inexpertly started manipulating the controls, her tongue held between her lips as she did.
. . . .
She really was the worst recruit in 1000 years, wasn’t she? Mastering scanners was one of the first lessons at the Academy. Just what exactly had she been doing for all these years?
She caught him looking at her, and turned away haughtily.
‘Watch where you’re going,’ he warned, just as she tripped over a branch and almost fell to her knees.
‘I’m fine,’ she shot back.
‘Of course you are,’ he said under his breath.
Then he smiled.
And he didn’t know why.
Which was extremely frustrating.
He kept on doing things for no reason, feeling things he didn’t understand. And, frankly, now wasn’t the time for any of that. Now was the time for concentration, action, and diligence. He had just entered into the most dangerous mission of his career, and he had to be at his absolute best. He couldn’t afford to be a fitful, emotional little boy.
Sighing, he walked forward, one step after the other, marshalling his control as he did.
He would get through this, he told himself firmly.
Because he would have too.
Chapter 8
Cadet Nida Harper
At least now they had a plan, even if that plan had cost them.
Cost her.
. . . .
She brought a hand up and placed it over her implant. There was a cold, strange kind of energy building there that did not for a second feel natural. It was almost like a void. She had not and would not breathe a word of this to Carson. He was already stressed enough as it was without her adding to his problems. Plus, what was there to say? That, in all likelihood, the entity was corrupting?
They already knew that the longer the entity stayed in this dimension the more it would break, until it broke reality with it.
Well now she tried to rub warmth back into the flesh surrounding her implant, she realized she was likely feeling the first stages.
As she walked, she was more careful to watch where she was going. Though she had always been a clumsy child and an even more uncoordinated adult, with the corruption of the entity, she was having trouble staying on her feet.
Carson was several steps ahead of her, but about once every minute, he would turn around to check on her.
She was starting to realize he was a lot of things, but he was certainly diligent. In fact, if you had to pick one word to describe the legendary Lieutenant Carson Blake, she would now choose dedicated.
Once he picked a cause, he would lock his jaw in place, narrow his gaze, focus his attention, and plough down on it like an unstoppable force.
In other words, he was just the kind of person she needed with her right now. Yet, if that was the case, why were things so . . . awkward between them?
Because they were awkward. She wasn’t so vague as to have not noticed that. Every conversation they had either ended with nervous silence, a tense moment, or awkward smiles.
‘We are going to enter the precinct of the city soon. There’s only about 300 meters left of the forest, then we will quickly come across several roads, and then I guess what you could call a major thoroughfare leading right up to the main gates. We need to be careful,’ he began, his expression becoming gravely serious.
She put up a hand. She didn’t need a lecture right now. Of course they needed to be careful. By the sounds of it, this planet was populated by war-loving, chauvinistic brawlers.
Carson would not be so easily put off though. He cleared his throat and once again got the distinct look of an officer about to tell her off.
She’d been reprimanded enough times in her life to recognize the particular glint in his eye.
‘I know, Carson,’ she began, trying to head him off at the pass, ‘of course I’ll be careful.’
‘If we are going to be staking out government buildings, we are going to be clear targets for the army and police or whatever law enforcement officials will be in that city. We are going to need to be discrete,’ he continued, completely ignoring her attempts to silence him.
She sighed, heavily. And as she did, she shifted her shoulders back, distractedly rubbing at her implant.
Carson looked as if he was ready to serve her another volley, but then he stopped. With a quick, worried look, he looked from her eyes down to her implant, then back up again. ‘What is it?’
‘It’s irrelevant,’ she tried.
‘We can’t keep any information from each other,’ he said blankly.
‘Does that mean you’re going to tell me why the Force were directed to Remus 12 in the first place?’ The question popped into her head, and she couldn’t help but ask it.
He looked momentarily surprised, then his eyebrows descended low over his flashing gaze. ‘I’m afraid that is top secret,’ he began.
‘Then I’m afraid you were wrong: clearly we can keep information from each other.’ It was a petulant thing to say, but what with one thing and another, she was in a petulant mood. She knew the importance of the mission, and didn’t need to be reminded of it like she was,
well, the worst recruit in 1000 years. That wasn’t the point though; Carson did not have to treat her like a child.
He looked furious, then some of that anger abated as, once again, he caught her rubbing her implant. ‘What is it? Does it hurt? Is the entity trying to communicate anything?’
She sighed, shifting back as she did. ‘It’s nothing, just a slight itch,’ she lied.
He shot her a calculating look that told her he didn’t believe her, but thankfully he didn’t press the issue.
Then, once again, they found themselves in silence. After a pause, they continued on.
It was such a strange experience to be walking through that alien landscape, stranger when you considered it wasn’t all that alien. There were slight, noticeable differences in the foliage and in the general look of the land around her, but that was it. It was still very Earth-like, from the existence of trees and grass, to the clothes they were wearing, to the clouds racing through the sky.
The city wouldn’t be though.
There, no doubt, the true alien characteristics of Remus 12 would come to light.
With a shudder, she wondered whether she would be ready for it. Though she had tried to be diligent at the Academy, she couldn’t deny she wasn’t the best student they had ever had.
And she knew one thing as fact: before missions to alien worlds, especially recently discovered ones, people trained for months and months so they didn’t botch things up. Because, frankly, there was a galaxy full of things you could botch up. Add to that the pressure of the entity’s currently weak state, and the fact it could, at any moment, suddenly start attracting enormously large and dangerous objects right towards her head, and Nida was not in a good way.
She wasn’t about to tell Carson though, so she tried to soldier on.
The only problem was, he wasn’t about to let her.
As she pushed off, heading further down the heavily wooded hill, he marched up beside her. ‘You can’t afford to keep things from me. If there’s a problem with the entity, tell me.’
She tried to ignore him, but he simply pestered her further.
Ouroboros- The Complete Series Page 34
