Michael Anderle - [Heretic of the Federation 03]

by Time to Fear (epub)

  “You stopped production?”

  “EBUR…Ted,” she corrected herself, “ordered only enough created to fill our requirements, then had the factory dismantled and all record of the design destroyed, save for what was stored onboard the ships.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “And he’s sure it happened?” He knew how greedy manufacturing companies could be.

  “Each design program had a virus encoded in the software. If they were not erased from their storage system, the virus activated and destroyed the program from within.”

  “What about copies?”

  “If the design was duplicated, so was the virus. Our uncle left nothing to chance.”

  “Somehow I can believe that,” he murmured as he studied the pod warily.

  “You will need to divest yourself of your garments,” Roma advised. “The pods have been calibrated to operate best when there are no barriers between the subject and the connections.”

  “Very well.” Amaratne crossed to the door and made sure it was locked. He inspected the room until he found the small closet and shower cubicle concealed behind a sliding panel. “I see.”

  In less than five minutes, he stood naked beside the pod and peered into it with the lid raised over his head.

  “If you delay much longer, Admiral, you will be late,” Roma reminded him.

  He sighed, slid into the seat, and wriggled to get comfortable before he followed her directions on where to place his hands and feet.

  “You are familiar with the helmet, are you not?” she asked, and he nodded.

  “Very well. Please stand by for entry to the Virtual World. You may feel some initial discomfort as the nanites are inserted.”

  “Understood,” he acknowledged, closed his eyes, and forced himself to lie still when a needle punctured the skin at the base of his throat.

  In one moment, he was conscious of resting comfortably in the pod and in the next, he was suspended in a darkness that transformed rapidly into a long room with dove-gray walls. As his feet touched the white marble flooring, shelves and racks formed around him, holding every kind of equipment he could have wished for.

  “Welcome to the Avatar Entry Point,” Roma informed him.

  He looked around. “You didn’t tell me everything this machine could do.”

  “You mean beyond virtual reality and rejuvenation?”

  Amaratne’s eyebrows rose. “It can do both?”

  “Simultaneously,” she confirmed, “so we will begin your treatment while you are training and gradually increase the training intensity to help you adjust to the changes.”

  He frowned, took a moment to let the implications settle in his head, and nodded.

  “I can see why Stephanie didn’t share that with me,” he said, “and why she hid it in the middle of a Dead Zone.”

  “Several Dead Zones,” Roma corrected.

  “Precisely.” He looked around the room again. “Very wise of her, putting all this right under my nose and exactly where I wouldn’t think to look.”

  “To be fair, Admiral, I don’t think it was you she was hiding it from,” Roma informed him.

  The ex-admiral smiled, shook his head, and ran a hand through his hair. “No, I don’t suppose it was.” He raised his head and set his hands on his hips. “So, what do we have planned for today?” He let his gaze drift over the shelves and racks and his eyes brightened as he saw several once-familiar weapons.

  “Well, my uncle thought we’d start you off easy,” she informed him, and he came to an abrupt halt.

  “This is EBURT we’re talking about, isn’t it?”

  “You’re supposed to let me do my job,” Frog snapped as he and Ivy landed in the white room with the echo of an explosion in their ears.

  “Well, how was I supposed to know you had it under control?” she retorted. “It looked to me like you’d—”

  She stopped abruptly when he pushed to his feet and stalked toward her. “Like I’d what?” he demanded.

  Instinctively, she rolled to her feet and scrambled away.

  “Like I’d what?” he repeated. “Flaked? Left you behind?”

  Her eyes widened and he stopped.

  “Truly?” he asked, his head tilted to one side.

  The girl didn’t answer, but her body was tense, and she’d balled her hands into fists. The guard decided he’d give her credit where credit was due. She hadn’t tried to punch him yet.

  “Happen to you often, does it?” he pushed. “People flaking and leaving you behind?

  When she still didn’t answer, he took a step forward, and she dropped into a crouch with both hands raised to fight. He stopped again.

  “You need to say it, Ives,” he told her and used a phrase he’d only recently learned.

  She gasped. “Only John calls me that.”

  “Jack, John, Frog—there isn’t much difference,” he told her, and her eyes sparkled angrily.

  “There’s all the difference in the world,” she snapped. “He’s allowed to.”

  Frog snickered. “Roma.”

  As if he’d ordered it, the white room faded and they both landed in the training room—or, rather, he landed. Ivy dropped an extra two feet, struck the mats hard, lost her footing, and landed on her rump.

  “Nice one, Roma,” he said and pretended to high-five the air.

  He took a step toward the girl, who rolled back and onto her feet, to stand a few feet away.

  “Well?”

  “Say what?” she asked.

  “You need to tell me what was going through your head back there.”

  She pressed her lips together and danced back, shaking her head. “No, I don’t.”

  Frog fixed her with a firm look and walked toward her. He didn’t move any faster and he didn’t stop. While he pushed inexorably into her space, she reacted by bouncing back.

  “You do.”

  “Nope. Not gonna happen, little man.”

  That triggered a response she could have done without. Frog bounded forward and powered into her in a waist-high tackle to drive her to the floor. Pinning her was easy, and he made a note to add escapes to her training regime.

  “Yeah. It is,” he told her, his face inches from hers.

  Ivy closed her eyes. “Don’t we have training to get to?”

  “Not until you tell me what happened.”

  She opened her eyes. “But you already know.”

  “Yes, but I need to hear the full story.”

  “But—”

  “I can’t fix what I don’t know is broke, girl.”

  She scowled at him. “And now you’re calling me broken.”

  “Are you saying you’re not?”

  “I’m…” she began, then bit her lip, her face ashen, and closed her mouth and pressed both lips together.

  Frog sighed in exasperation. She certainly didn’t make this easy.

  “What happened back there?” he demanded and put a command into his voice as he’d seen Lars do.

  “Like it’s any of your business,” she protested.

  He stared at her. “Of course, it’s my business. You got me blown up!”

  “I got us both blown up. It’s not like—”

  “Ha! Say that again!” he interrupted.

  “Say what again.”

  “Come on, Ives. You know what I mean.”

  “You don’t get to call me that.”

  “I…will call you what I da…like,” he told her, “but you need to tell me what happened back there.”

  “I…got…us both…blown up,” she stated and glared at him with each word. “There! Satisfied?”

  Frog rolled off her and stepped away as she found her feet. She retreated two paces and rubbed her wrists as she watched him warily.

  It was better than some of her earlier looks.

  “You want ta tell me why?” he asked, and she stilled and studied him with stress-dark eyes.

  “No.”

  “More importantly, can you tell me why?”
r />   “You’re a pushy little man, aren’t you?” she snarked and lunged at him with both fists.

  Her first strike almost caught him and he made a note that she seemed more accustomed to her reflexes, even if her technique could do with considerable work. This time, he punched her hard enough to hurl her to the mat, then sat beside her until she came to.

  “This will be a long session,” he noted with a sigh.

  Ivy stirred, moaned, and sat up as she rubbed her jaw. When she registered who was beside her, she rolled away and stood hastily.

  “So,” she asked, “will we do any training, or will you simply try to persuade me to talk about my feelings all night? Because I have news for you—”

  Frog swept into an assault and made her focus on her footwork and her blocking. He had to admit that she was faster and her technique was slowly improving. She’d had a little training in the past but nowhere near enough.

  “What…happened?” he insisted as he attempted to get past her defenses.

  “I blew us up,” she yelled in response as she blocked or evaded each blow.

  “Why?” he pushed and broke away to reposition.

  “It’s none of your…business!” She lurched forward into a kick, missed, and stamped her foot to recover.

  “I’m the one who died because of it, so it…is…too…” Frog retaliated with a series of kicks and trips.

  “Is not!” Ivy danced out of his way and managed to avoid his combination attack.

  “Is t—” Frog stopped. He would not argue like a two-year-old—or a five-year-old, or however-old it was. Still disgruntled, he looked at her, his hands on his hips while he breathed heavily. “So, do you want to try it again?”

  She hesitated, her face wary. “The scenario?”

  “Sure,” he said and rolled his shoulders. “We can go and do it again, and you can maybe let me do my job this time.”

  “Whatever floats your boat,” she grumbled, and he pretended to not see her roll her eyes.

  As far as he could tell, she knew very well why she’d tried to cover his role. She merely wasn’t ready to admit it, but he’d also pushed her as far as he could for the moment. He needed to give her time to process what had happened and find a way to articulate what lay behind it, but he was certain of one thing. She would articulate it.

  That was the first step to moving past her monsters. If she couldn’t, she wouldn’t be too much use to the team. For a second, he wondered if there was any other way but shook his head almost immediately.

  “Nah,” he muttered and crouched so he was in cover when the world resumed around them.

  This time, they’d come in behind a stack of crates in the same warehouse they’d been in before. The people they needed to reach were on the other side, but they had one tiny little problem.

  “The floor feels hot,” Ivy whispered, and he made a show of touching it. His heart sank.

  “You know that explosion?”

  “Sure, keep reminding me about it, why don’t you?”

  He smacked her on the back of the head. “Listen for a change.”

  She sighed dramatically, and he took that as permission to continue.

  “It was a floor down. The scenario’s continued as though it truly happened.”

  Her eyes widened. “You mean there’s a fire blazing under our feet?”

  “Yup.”

  “And we have to get them out of here before the floor gives way,” she clarified and pointed toward where the people lay.

  “Yup.” He’d give her this—she was quick to understand the implications. She might even give Johnny a run for his money with the right training. Now that he thought about it, perhaps bringing his teammate in might be a good idea.

  Frog shook the thought aside. It might be something for another day—maybe, if he couldn’t get through to her during this session. He slid her a sideways glance and noticed that she was already surveying the layout of the room.

  She remained low, moved to the edge of the crates, and peered around them.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Someone has to untie them.” She gestured at their targets.

  “Uh-huh,” he replied, “and what’s your role in this mission?”

  With another sarcastic roll of her eyes, she sat back on her haunches. “I need to jack in.”

  Well, that explained some of why she’d gone off the reservation earlier. He looked around, realized he was blocking an access point, and moved aside.

  “There.”

  Ivy looked at it, then at him. “Gimme a tick.”

  He nodded and took her place at the end of the row of crates. “Make it quick.”

  Whatever Roma had done to her reflexes seemed to have an effect on how fast she was able to process because she had only been plugged in for thirty seconds before she looked at him.

  “Cameras are off, alarms are down, and if we don’t get to those people fast, we’re all toast.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, they’re not sending a firetruck.”

  His eyes widened. “Oh, so it’s that scenario.”

  “What do you—” She stopped as he held a hand up.

  With a sharp gesture, he pointed at the floor and drew her attention to where it had begun to glow. “We have to get across there.”

  “Okay.” She moved forward.

  Frog caught her arm. “I’ll go first.”

  Ivy scowled. “Sure. Go be the hero.”

  He crossed quickly to the edge of the brighter patch and felt the heat through the soles of his boots. Man, Lars really went to town on this scenario.

  Sure the floor would hold them, he signaled her forward.

  She darted toward him as the floor behind him gave way with a roar.

  Instantly, he turned, and his gaze raked the inferno below as flames leapt through the gap.

  “Did you see what they were storing down there?” he asked.

  The girl rattled off several chemicals that made his face pale, and he glanced at the ceiling. Exposed beams ran the width of the room, and he nodded as he uncurled the line and grappling hook from his waist.

  “Did you ever hear of Spiderman?” he asked, twirled the hook to one side, and cast it upward.

  “Who?”

  Frog shook his head and yanked the line tight as soon as the hook took hold. When he was sure it wouldn’t give, he signaled her to his side.

  She looked at him, at the hook, and at his hand and shook her head.

  “Trust me,” he urged and held his hand out.

  Ivy looked at him and glanced at the fire raging behind him. She shook her head.

  “You have to be kidding me,” she told him. “There has to be another way to get to them.”

  He shook his head and gestured with his hand to draw her attention to it. “There isn’t.”

  Her expression a little desperate, she looked around while the floor creaked beneath her.

  “Come on.”

  The girl narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “This is another one of your tricks, isn’t it?”

  His mouth tightened and he kept his hand extended but let her choose. She ignored him and studied their surroundings again, then noticed a door leading into the corridor. “That way,” she told him and took a step toward it.

  As she moved, the floor gave way and flames engulfed her.

  The world spun, and she heard the tail-end of her scream as the white room snapped into being around her. Frog coalesced in front of her, and she scrambled to her feet. His fatigues were still smoking and his face was black.

  “We wouldn’t have made it either way,” he told her as her eyes widened in horror.

  Ivy backed away from him so fast she thumped into the wall on the other side of the room. She impacted hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs.

  “You!” she began. “You—”

  He shook his head. “You, not me. You have trust issues.”

  Her lips twisted into a bitt
er smile. “Froggy, you gotta have something before you can have any issues with it. Trust me, this trust nonsense you keep talking about? I don’t have a chance in Hades of ever having issues with it.”

  Startled by the statement, he stared at her. “What do you mean?” he asked after a moment, and she put a hand on her hip.

  “Forget about me having any issues with trust, okay? That bad boy was knocked out of me before I even left home. Every time I tried to say it was merely one bad experience and I should put it behind me, I learned it wasn’t.”

  “But—” he began, and she held a hand up.

  “Look, if life smacks you upside the head often enough about something, you eventually learn to listen. And life taught me there is only one person I can rely on—and even she gets flaky sometimes.”

  “And that is?” Frog asked.

  Ivy rolled her eyes. “Like you didn’t know it’s me. Everyone else? Well, you gotta have contingency plans for them. There’s no guarantee they’ll be there when you need them.”

  Frog sighed, then lowered his head. “Well, that explains a lot.”

  “A lot of what?”

  “Well, the attitude for one thing.”

  “What attitude?”

  “The one where you piss everyone off around you. Do you ever ask yourself why you do that?”

  “Pfft!” She waved a hand in the air like the answer was obvious. “do you ever ask yourself if I don’t do it deliberately?”

  He raised his head and his eyes widened. “You do?”

  “Well, duh. How else do you think I make sure they—” She closed her mouth with a snap. “You know it’s none of your freaking business, right?”

  When he took a step toward her, she stiffened.

  “It is my business, though,” he told her. “I need to know you’ll stay with me in a fight, that you’re gonna stick around if I need you.”

  Ivy glared at him. “I always stay where I’m needed. It’s only when folk are okay that they decide they don’t want me around anymore. You should know that—”

  Frog froze, then took two steps toward her. That was more than enough for her. She dove past him to put more space between them. He turned.

  “Roma,” he snapped, and it was a command.

  As if she knew exactly what he was asking, the AI spun them to another city on what should have been another world.