Ghost of Mind Episode One

by Odette C. Bell

Chapter 13

  Alice

  She could hardly move. It wasn't just the cold snaking up from the bench underneath her, it was everything. This transport was not atmosphere proof, and the fell wind from outside managed to snake its way in, the frozen cold shifting through everything.

  But it wasn't the cold that had made her give that shudder. It was his promise. Pure, clear, and simple. The way he'd said it had left no doubt in Alice's mind; if she didn't manage to get out of here, John Doe would reveal her.

  As the transport slowed down, the mag clamps of the building they had just reached locking onto it and guiding it safely through the hanger doors, she indulged in another shake.

  She hadn't been expecting him to transport back to the planet. Then again, she hadn't been expecting he'd manage to get a transporter lock on her.

  It seemed there was no predicting this guy and the lengths he'd go to.

  ‘Inform the Security Chief we need a portable containment field, level three,’ John turned on his heel, his helmet twisting her way.

  God, he was looking at her. And though she couldn't see his eyes under the opaque plating of his armor, it didn't matter. It was the way his head twisted in obvious interest, one shoulder high the other hand dropped into a tight fist by his side.

  Though Alice could not have a classic panic attack; her alien body was too far gone from a human's to undergo such a thing, she could freak out in her own unique way.

  She became so stiff it would take a rock warrior to move her. As her fright rose and bucked within her, she lost control of her energy. Or whatever was left of it. Because if she’d been her usual self, she would never have let John Doe get close enough to latch hold of her hood. She would have kicked out the side of the transport, sailed down to the surface of the planet, and run like the wind.

  She was not her usual self, and she did not have the energy to fight the impediment field John had stuck her in. And that was why her emotions were rapidly spiraling out of control. As they did, her energy ran amuck, forcing her limbs and body to stiffen until they were stronger than a battle cruiser's hull. It also stopped her breath, stopped whatever could be called her heart. It froze her to the spot.

  It was a last ditch survival move that she had no control over. If she could not escape, then her body would hunker down, making itself as strong as possible to withstand any blow it could.

  The problem was, no blow would come, and now was not the time to ground to a halt. Now was the time to be clever, to look for an opportunity, and to run like hell. But no matter how much Alice told herself that, she could not shift through the block of fear that locked her in place.

  ‘Come on, get up,’ John called to her as he motioned an arm her way. ‘You can do this the easy way,’ he began. He didn't finish his sentence.

  He didn't have to.

  Alice had just enough control to dart her eyes to the left. The transport hanger was now fully open, and it was large enough that she could see into the hanger bay of the room around her.

  She was in Central Security; she recognized the logos on the walls. She also recognized the device they were now wheeling up into the transport.

  A portable containment field, level three, just as the good Commander had ordered.

  She didn't have the energy to fight it, she didn't have the control to move, so instead Alice watched in abject horror as they set it up. Within seconds a vibrant yellow energy shot around her, surrounding her in a force field strong enough to contain a plasma explosion.

  Her eyes wider than they had ever been, watering from the pressure of having them stuck so far open, the containment field lifted her off her feet. She had no choice in the matter; the powerful bio electrical field just pushed her up until she was floating, stiff as a rod, in the center of the blue bubble that was the containment force field.

  ‘Where do you want her?’ one of the officers who had walked in with the containment field flicked his gaze from Alice over to John.

  ‘Take her straight to a holding cell,’ John replied quickly.

  ‘Okay, sir. We've got it from here,’ the officer nodded John's way, flopping a hand towards him as he did. The movement triggered the field, and the blue crackling ball shifted forward at a slow pace, Alice still suspended within.

  Though no one could see her eyes, her hood still flat in front of her face, if they had, they would have noted how scared she was.

  She had never been trapped like this. She had always had an avenue for escape. But she did not have the strength to fight this field. Even if she had been her usual self, and that transport beam hadn't syphoned off her energy, she would have still picked up a sweat breaking through a containment field like this.

  John took a slow step beside her, never speeding up faster than the containment field as it rolled its way down form the transport and into the hanger bay of Central Security.

  ‘Sir, it's okay,’ the security officer repeated, voice deliberately slow and clear, ‘we've got it here. You can go and report to the Chief.’

  ‘Oh no you don't. This woman has given me too much trouble,’ John turned to face her, his helmet angled high as his eyes no doubt locked on her bottom lip, ‘too many surprises too. Humor me, but I'm going to accompany her right to that holding cell. If the Chief is desperate for a debrief, tell him where I am.’

  The security officer gave a strangled little cough, but did not add anything.

  The next few minutes were some of the most agonizing of Alice's life. As she lay suspended in the containment field, she saw the corridors and cells of Central Security as they travelled slowly through them.

  ‘Maybe we should increase speed,’ the officer mumbled after a few minutes of slow pacing by her side, ‘if we take a little energy from the field—’ he began.

  ‘That's not going to happen,’ John jumped in before the guy could finish.

  He was looking at her again.

  God, what she wouldn't give to see his face, especially his eyes. Though it would likely freak the hell out of her, she could use his expression to try to understand just how much John suspected.

  While Alice doubted the guy had jumped to the conclusion she was an Old One, it wouldn't take long once the computer had scanned her. But what did he suspect? Just what was he thinking as he angled his head slowly her way?

  Alice wanted to throw up, which was funny considering she hadn't eaten food in over a month.

  ‘Okay sir,’ the officer eventually mumbled, voice low.

  ‘Trust me, son, you do not want to lower that field. This woman jumped off the side of Block Alpha and didn't die.’

  The officer gave a short snort and raised an eyebrow. He obviously didn't believe John, but he was obviously also smart enough not to challenge a commanding officer, especially not one who was heading up the Union's new mission into the Rim. John Doe was a little bit of a superstar at the moment. With the importance the Union placed on Old Tech, he might as well have been tasked to protect life itself, considering how much attention he was receiving.

  Finally the containment field rolled into a holding cell, and when it did, the very sophisticated fields locking into place over the door, Alice was about ready to die.

  This was it, it was over.

  The containment field winked out of place, but rather than let her down gently to the ground like it was supposed to, it gave up halfway through and Alice slammed against the hard floor of her cell with a resounding thump.

  ‘Hey,’ John snapped from outside the door.

  ‘Wasn't me,’ the officer answered immediately, ‘lost field integrity at the end there . . . not sure why . . . some kind of fluctuation in the power grid.’

  It had not been a fluctuation in the power grid, it had been Alice. Her own energy had fed right back into it, overloading the circuit. Though she hadn't been able to do that while she'd been stuck inside that blue bubble, as it had cut out, her body had linked to it automatically.

  It wasn't something she could control. Bu
t it was something Alice had to be very, very careful of. Whenever she was tired, injured, or very, very scared, technology, Old or New, would integrate with her. And it would usually not be a pretty sight.

  Groaning a little, though not loud enough that it could pick up and press through the fields covering the large open door in front of her, Alice picked herself up.

  The holding cell was huge, way bigger than Alice's own quarters.

  It was probably intended for a rock warrior or one of the colossal hard races from the Farrier system.

  Instead it was currently housing little old her.

  There was a thick high bench that ran along the back wall, and there was a door approximately 10 meters across that was covered with so many flickering fields it looked like a rainbow. A dangerous rainbow. One that wouldn't just repel you, but that would burn all the skin off your hands if you tried to so much as touch it.

  And right now John Doe was standing behind it with his arms crossed and his head held at that particular angle that was threatening to make Alice pop.