I'm angry at Red for keeping secrets from me, angry at the galactic security for allowing all these attacks to happen, angry at myself for not getting to Mars sooner and lastly I'm angry at my mother for keeping so many secrets from me. My emotions ring loud in my ears.
Derek intertwines his fingers with mine and I don't pull away this time. Although I keep my attention on Red, I'm grateful for Derek's calming presence. I can feel my muscles starting to relax.
The captain orders everyone to get back to work and an uneasy sense of normal returns to the bridge. Red nods toward the door and walks out with his hands in his pockets. I look at the captain and he doesn't move until I follow Red.
We walk in silence as Red leads us down the corridor. He scans open a door to reveal a small conference room. He walks around the oval table as we all file in and the door closes behind us.
Red falls heavily into one of the chairs and leans back as he watches the rest of us sit down. I take a seat across from him with Derek next to me. The captain walks around the far side of the table, careful not to pass by me, and sits next to Red. The room smells new, hardly ever used. I'm sure this is a room saved for meetings with dignitaries or ship inspectors.
My body is still strung tight. Derek squeezes my hand but I'm having a hard time coming down from this dark emotional high. I grind my jaw and wait for Red to speak first.
"I know I haven't been completely open with you, Brenna."
My fingers twitch. Not a good way to start, Red. My jaw hurts as I glare at him.
"The only reason we're talking in here is because the crew has a job to do. They need to get us safely down to the planet and I didn't want to distract them anymore than we already have. I honestly don't have any other details to tell you." He gives me a weak smile.
"Except who 'we' is," growls Derek.
My jaw relaxes a bit as Derek gets right to the point without me having to blow up again.
Red runs his hands through his dirty brown hair and glances at the captain. Fukuda sits back and crosses his arms.
I grin.
"Thanks for the help, Andrew," Red says frowning.
"It was your idea to allow her to go back to Mars."
I slap my palm on the cold table making both men jump. "No one allowed me to go anywhere. I am going to Mars with or without your help."
"She's got you there, Andrew." Red lets out a small laugh. "Brenna, what the captain here is trying to say is that I made it easier for you to get to Mars by talking him into taking us down there. Yes, I knew you'd do it anyway." He looks right at me. "But I wanted to make sure you did it as safely as possible."
"Again, who is 'we'?" repeats Derek, less growly this time.
"Yes, sorry got off track." Red glances at the captain before turning to face me. "The 'we' is a small group of friends, including Aubrianna who were frustrated with Sol government's control over our supplies on Mars."
Red pulls out a holo keyboard and a vid screen opens up on the wall over the far end of the table. We all turn to watch as Sol system is displayed with trade routes highlighted as they wrap around the planets and asteroids. "You're both familiar with how the Sol's supply routes are organized? With Earth as the center hub."
I frown. "Yes, but what about the quadrants out toward Delta station?" I'm thinking he just hasn't zoomed out enough yet.
"Not there. The outer quadrants are not a part of Sol's official routes," Red states darkly.
I stare at the map. Different colors show the traffic going to and from Earth and the hundreds of different stops along the way. I stand up to look as Red commands the vid to turn three-dimensional. I walk around the solar system and watch the patterns. Something here was important to my mother. Enough that she was part of a group that had a problem with the normal order of things.
When I see it, I pivot toward Red, opaque planets swirling around me. "There's only one route to and from Mars, even though it's the oldest and largest mining operation. Most of the others are serviced at least two or three times in each cycle."
"And?" encourages Red.
"And nothing. Literally nothing out to Delta station or the quadrants out toward the Fringe. Where in Charon's ice are we getting all our supplies? Why did Earth build Delta station if they weren't going to supply it?"
"Proxima Centauri's flares! Told you she'd figure it out before we got to Mars." Red elbows the frowning captain.
"Exactly on point, Brenna. Your dad was hoping after Delta was completed Sol government would kick in the extra supply routes. But they haven't yet. Oh, they've got all sorts of excuses for it, but still nothing's happened. Everyone out toward the Fringe has just become very self-sufficient and has learned how to use the courier systems to bring supplies from the interior."
"That's why our food and tools and supplies are so much more expensive." I frown and walk to the other side of the room to examine the whole map.
"Yes, and why the EPL has grown stronger over the years. This is one way they have influenced the Sol council to make it harder to live out toward the Fringe. No trade routes means less expansion." Red stands up, his fingertips still touching the table.
"Why are you so sure the EPL has influence over the council?" My anger is dying to a low simmer now that my brain has a puzzle to solve.
"Because starving the outer colonies and stations is exactly what the EPL is all about. You wouldn't know this, but the original Sol council charter described in detail a systematic reach toward the other galaxies. There are plans hidden in the archives for supply chains and how to keep them stable, even galaxies far away from Earth. But they've been buried and not taught to the young people anymore."
I bite my lip. "I thought it was just Mars' leaders keeping us from learning about space expansion."
"Nope. It's everywhere."
I step forward. "Red."
"Yes, Brenna."
I wait until he looks me in the eye. "Does my dad know about any of this?"
Red straightens up and comes over to stand in front of me. "He knows about the supply problem, of course. He's always been active helping facilitate getting the outer quadrants what they need. That was one thing he and your mom actually agreed on."
Red breaks eye contact and my stomach sinks. "But what they didn't agree on was using the AI tech. Your mom's version of what artificial intelligence should be used for, anyway. Not what they've done to it with this new research." He waves his hand toward the map spinning slowly over my head.
"So she really did start all this?" I whisper, afraid if I say it any louder I'll break in half.
"No, Brenna." Red wraps me in a fierce hug. "Your mom didn't start any of this. All she did was create a better interface between machinery and the AI brain. She was using it for the miners to be able to control their digging machines better and to help locate stranded miners. The bio scanner is a similar type of interface, she just took that tech with her medical knowledge and applied it to a few machines in the mines."
"I had no idea she was doing even that." I frown and step back from Red. I don't want to be angry with her and I don't want to cry, so I focus on my role as an investigator. "Let's not address that issue right now. So if she developed this to help the miners, how did it get into the hands of Ash Corp? And the EPL and everyone else who is involved in this huge mess?"
"I think I can guess at that one," the captain says quietly. Red steps back so both men are to my right side by side. "Red had already left for the Fringe when Aubrie had her AI patch installed in a few of the diggers."
I cringe again at the familiarity. I try my hardest to remember this captain from my life on Mars.
"They worked fairly well," continues the captain, "until the Mars council forced her to shut them down. She was mad because they were working smoothly, they reduced the number of injuries in the mines for that month, and the machines actually discovered a new pure vein of red. The same vein that is making Sol's government so rich right now."
"Why did they make her shut
them down?" The room feels stuffy as I imagine being down in the humid mines again. I shrug off my pack and throw it on a chair.
The captain sits back down at the table and the rest of us do the same. "I really don't know. They didn't exactly give her a reason. Probably something political. She met with them several times at the main complex, but they wouldn't ever tell her why they made that decision. Most people just thought it was the fact that the council was made up of older members, ones who wanted to see things stay the same."
"Or someone who wanted to exploit the pure red rock she found," Derek suggests.
I nod. "I could see that too. Are there EPL members on the council?" I look between Red and the captain. I haven't kept up on the politics at this end of the galaxy, so this is all new to me.
"We don't think so, but some of them could be sympathizers," answers Red, as he looks sideways at the captain.
I drum my fingers on the table as I watch the map still shining in detailed 3D above us. "So back to Ash Corp. Did they take my mom's prototypes? Is what we're finding in the attacked mines the same design as what she had?"
"No, this looks nothing like what she showed me at first. But at that time I was making weekly runs down to the seven districts of Mars. Each day I was delivering to a different mine. So I didn't see her that often. She could've updated her designs." The captain points up at the domes that cover the planet.
"I thought there were more than seven mines?" I still my hands flat on the table as I look up at the captain.
The captain chuckles, which is probably the first positive sound I've heard from him since we left the bridge. "There are dozens of mines, but only seven are setup for space deliveries. Once the supplies are down on the planet, they're taken to the other mines on the cross-planet train system."
"Mom couldn't have been the only coroner on Mars then. We rode the trains often, but not often enough for her to be able to be of service to that many mines."
"Correct. Each district has its own medical examiner. Your mom was just responsible for the main mine."
"And you're saying she set up these experiments in the biggest and oldest mine on Mars? That doesn't sound like her. Even though I didn't know about this project of hers, I do know she wouldn't have been that careless with new tech." I can feel my face getting warm but I refuse to look away.
Red and the captain look at each other white as ghosts.
Red speaks first. "No, she didn't. That's where these vicious, greedy pirates got their research procedures from." His voice is tinged with anger. "She set her AIs up at smaller mines in different districts. She wasn't confident exactly how they would work and she didn't want to cause harm physically or financially."
I look around the room and plant the palms of my hands on the cool surface of the table as I stand up. "They stole everything from her. Her AI tech idea and the way she ran her experiments. And then twisted it into some sort of greedy, dangerous, political weapon. And it cost her life. Didn't it?"
The muffled background noise of the ship is all I can hear as my own words echo in the small room. They reach down into that part of me that was so angry with Mom for keeping all this from me. Now that the pieces are starting to come together I understand why she didn't say more. And why she tried to keep this contained on Mars. She knew how dangerous this tech could be in the wrong hands.
I drop my arms to my sides. My eyes unfocus as my mind tries to play back the last couple years of my life to see where I could've missed clues of what Mom was doing. There's no way she could've kept something this big completely from me. I must've missed something while I was concentrating on school, my friends, and trying to get off this rock. Come on, Bren, there are always clues. You just need to look for them.
3
Commander Guram
I feel a warm arm around my shoulder. "Bren, you all right?" Derek whispers in my ear. I look toward him and my brain fog slowly dissipates as I realize the others are staring at me. I keep eye contact with Derek, not wanting to deal with the captain or Red yet.
I turn slightly so I'm within Derek's embrace but still facing him. His brown eyes are crinkled with worry, but his lips are curled up in a smile. I know that smile. The one that indicates he’s trying to figure out what my next move will be.
Red shifts behind me, his anxiety almost a physical entity in this small room.
I take a deep breath and look sideways at Red and the captain. "Yes, I'll be fine. It's just a lot to digest at the moment."
The display above us disappears and an alert message bathes us in red light. All it says is "alert" so I look to the captain who taps the comm on his lapel. Emergency sirens start up just then so I can't hear what the captain says, but his expression isn't happy.
The siren stops even as the lights continue to strobe and we're treated to silence once again. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and strain to hear his conversation over the ringing in my ears.
Red makes eye contact with me as I hear bits about a galactic ship wanting to board us. It seems like an eternity before the captain finally turns to us. "Seems your 'creepy' commander is alive and well and wants to come aboard my vessel." The captain's tone even makes Red lean backwards.
"What?" Derek and I say together.
Creepy commander? Does he mean Guram?
But the captain is already heading for the door. The three of us don't hesitate to follow him as he hurries back to the bridge.
As we enter the chaotic room, my breath is taken away as a galactic one-person Neptune ship hangs before us up on the vid screen. "Wow," slips out of my mouth.
Derek steps up next to me as we stare at the ship. "I haven't seen one of those outside of textbooks. The galactic cruisers never use their emergency single ships."
And then Commander Guram's face pops up on the screen and my sense of awe is replaced with irritation.
"So do I have permission to board, Captain?" Guram's voice is formal but I can see the physical toll the near death experience has had on him. He's lost weight and he looks to be straining to just stay upright and at attention. Even strapped into his pilot's chair.
The captain glances over at me with a questioning look mixed with a bit of a death glare. It's not a good look on his pasty face. I quickly step forward so I can talk to him without the rest of the bridge listening in.
"Do we have a choice, Captain?"
"No. He's a galactic commander for Charon’s sake." There's a line of warm sweat on his forehead and his narrow eyes are blood shot as he tries to yell at me in a whisper.
"If his ship is inside your bay, will it still be blocked by the sensors on Mars?" I'm not sure what the commander is doing here, but I'm going to get down to Mars no matter what.
The wrinkles between the captain’s brows deepen as he stares at me with his mouth open. "What? Why?"
"Because not even a galactic commander is going to keep me from getting down to Mars. If we have no choice to let him board, then we'll have to. But as long as his ship doesn't trigger any planetary alarms we can still sneak down to Mars, right?"
He snaps his mouth shut. "Yes it will still be blocked once inside my ship. But what do you propose to do with this commander while we're violating space and Mars regulations on this mission of yours?"
I grit my teeth. "I don't know yet, but I'll figure something out." I don't look away from the captain's glare.
He turns away. After a scorching glance at Red, he then turns to the commander and pastes on his best captain smile.
"Of course you can come aboard. I'll have my crew waiting for you in the bay." The captain's accommodating voice is sickening sweet.
Must be years of practice dealing with politicians and galactic troops.
Guram's eyes land on me, instantly making me shiver. "Good. Make sure Miss Teves is there as well." He disconnects the feed and we're left staring at his ship, now enveloped in the green glow of a tractor beam.
I'm slack-jawed as my pulse races wildly at his words.
Derek grabs my hand and pulls me along after the captain. I hear Red's uneven steps behind me. Ahead the captain holds open a lift door for us and we quicken our pace.
Once inside the lift I have to let go of Derek to wipe the sweat from my hands. "Red. I thought this guy was in a coma when you left him?"
"He was. I tried my best to keep him alive when we were dumped on that asteroid, but he'd been aboard starships too long. I wasn't even sure he'd live until the miners found us."
I chew on the inside of my cheek and look up at the ceiling. "Well you did a fantastic job of saving him. Now we have to figure out how to keep him from turning us in so we can continue down to Mars."
"Yes, that will be fun," Red quips.
I look at Red, who's got that annoying grin on his face. "Any ideas?" I challenge.
The lift opens just then and we pile out, the question forgotten as we watch the small galactic ship being secured inside the cargo bay. Although tiny by starship standards, the small work of art fills the space shared by cargo containers. My hands automatically reach for the tablet in my pack before I catch myself. I roll my eyes and look sideways to see if Derek noticed.
He's grinning at me and alternately looking at the ship. He knows I'm aching to sketch it. I elbow him. "What? I haven't seen this kind of ship before in person."
"I know." He elbows me back. "Actually not many people have. They don't have much use for these small runners anymore. Now they have large escape pods that can take hundreds of people off the galactic ships in just minutes. This commander must be quite eccentric to still be using one."
"Or crazy," I add, my stomach churning.
Despite my queasiness about the commander I hurry over to the ship. So far the commander is still inside, so I take the opportunity to look the ship over, walking around it and getting a good idea of its craftsmanship. It's obviously older, since as Derek said they aren't made anymore. But this one is in pristine shape. I slide my hand across the smooth metal. Looks like the commander took good care of it. The commander's creepiness factor just slid down a notch. I admire someone who takes good care of their ships.
Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 37
