by Terry Mixon
They stepped into the building, and Harry immediately saw trouble coming. Stalking from one side of a long hall was Secretary of State Josh Queen. From the other direction came Ambassador Chen Jian of China, if Harry remembered his name correctly.
Both looked pissed and not just at one another. Well, this was going to be interesting.
13
Brenda woke late, stretched, and smiled over at her unexpected yet completely welcome companion in her bed. All she could see of Karl was his muscular back, as he was turned away from her, but the urge to run her fingers along the defined creases between muscles was strong.
She resisted the urge, though. Time was short, and if she did that, they wouldn’t get out of bed before noon. Instead, she carefully extracted herself from between the sheets and padded into the bathroom on silent feet.
Once she had the door closed, she took an amazing shower. She expected him to still be asleep when she came out, but he was gone. That was a tad irritating.
Her annoyance abated a few minutes later when he knocked on her door, freshly showered and dressed, but also carrying a tray with two cups of hot coffee and a light breakfast of sunny-side-up eggs, lightly crisped bacon, and seasoned potatoes.
“You got all that while I was in the shower?” she asked as she let him in. “I’m impressed.”
“I’m a Navy SEAL. We’re very task oriented.”
“I remember,” she said with a somewhat wicked smile. “You weren’t asleep, were you?”
He shook his head. “You said we have things to do this morning. I figured it was best to play possum and save round two for later.”
“Round two?” she asked, raising one eyebrow. “Round six by my count.”
“I count last night as one extended round with multiple engagements,” he said, setting the tray on the bed between them before carefully lying down beside it.
“You are my hero,” she said with a sigh, joining him and loading her plate with food. “And we do have things to do this morning, at least if we can come to terms on what you can pass along to Secretary Queen and when.”
He sipped at his steaming coffee, his eyes sharp over the rim. “That depends on what we’re talking about. I’m flexible, but I am representing the United States, not just myself.”
“You’re very flexible,” she said coyly, lowering her eyelids and smiling a sultry smile at him. “But you’re right. I’m representing the Families too, so I have my limits as well. Knowing you as… thoroughly as I now do, I’d wager we can come to some kind of agreement.”
His smile widened slightly. “So, I need to know some of the details to know if it’s even possible for me to make a deal. What’s this about?”
“You know the Volunteers came from the US long after the Asharim-led heavy-worlders crushed my ancestors. We have maps of the general locations of the bases we had a thousand years ago. Nothing in North America, but that’s where they came from.
“I’ve spoken with them and have a very rough idea of where the cave was probably located. Harry and I took them out for a look but didn’t find anything worth exploring. It was just the four of us on foot, and we were worried about someone spotting us. I’d like to find it in a more open fashion, and I want you with me, but I don’t want Queen to know the details just yet.”
“That’s asking a lot,” he said after taking a long sip of his coffee. “Too much, maybe. That base is inside the US borders, and we want a facility of our own.”
“The Families were here first, I’ll remind you. Perhaps not physically inside the US, but we’ve been looking for a base like this for a thousand years. I didn’t have to invite you along on this.”
He nodded and picked up a slice of bacon. “True enough, but then it would get very awkward between us. Personally, I wouldn’t like that.”
“Me either, but if we already had the base in our possession, my agreement with Queen would protect it.”
“That agreement was for what you already had, not what you might get between then and now. At least I’m sure that would be how the secretary would see it, so that’s how I have to play it. How do we find common ground between those two positions?”
“It’s called horse trading. If I want something valuable from you, I have to be willing to part with something equally valuable. In this case, I’m talking about knowledge.”
“We already have an agreement to share data,” he countered, using a slice of toast to sop up his yolk before popping it into his mouth.
“What about the same level of knowledge that Jess Cook has? Or, I suppose Kathleen Bennett might be a more familiar example to you.”
“She is now. I missed her change at the time because I hadn’t seen her before, but I’ve seen Miss Cook since she came out of that machine. It didn’t just heal her, did it?”
Brenda shook her head. “The sarcophagus healed her, regenerated her body back to about twenty-five years of age, and based on what we’ve seen from Jess, implanted some advanced knowledge into the woman. Jess can read Asharim, speak the heavy-worlder language, and operate several pieces of equipment that we tested her on. Not all, mind you, but some. She’s now also a wicked shot with her flechette pistol, so it gave her some combat skills.”
“And she has no idea where the end of it is?” he asked slowly. “That’s scary.”
“The Asharim used the device on their most trusted minions,” Brenda said, nodding in agreement, “but that still doesn’t mean we understand the full implications of what it did.
“We do know that it never had a whiff of mind control in the legends. It’s only knowledge, regeneration, and potentially some other tweaks. We’re willing to give you that kind of inside knowledge.”
“I’d have to talk that over with Queen. There’d have to be some kind of selection process for someone with that kind of power. Even so, I’m still not sure he’d agree that was a good trade.”
“Then we can call it a down payment. Also, when I say you, I mean you.”
He blinked in surprise. “Me? Are you serious? The risks are incalculable.”
“So are the rewards. And you don’t need to feel like I’m picking on you. I’ll go through it first, you big baby.”
He laughed out loud at her verbal poke, showing it hadn’t gotten under his skin at all. That was excellent.
“And in exchange for this dubious honor, you want me to keep my damned mouth shut about the base?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You can tell them about it. In fact, I’m sure you already have as part of the Volunteer World briefing. All you have to do is keep our search for it quiet. We don’t really know who these people were, and I’d like to keep the US from sending people out unescorted into the universe until we have a better idea of what we’ll find there. That’s bloody dangerous, and I don’t trust Queen’s judgment.”
He seemed to mull that while eating silently and then nodded. “I see your point. We have an agreement, but a gentleman always takes the risks before a lady. Me first.”
She stretched her hand over the tray holding their meal and took his with a wicked smile. “We have a deal. We can start after just one more engagement.”
Jess marveled at how everything seemed to snap into place as she walked around the Asharim-designed lander and checked the status of every system. She’d have to check with Black Jack but was inclined to believe she was understanding everything.
Well enough to take the chance of taking it for a spin around Freedom Express, at least. If that worked out, she’d consider taking it through the gate herself. After coming back for her official guard team and the prisoners, of course.
“You might want to step out while I give this thing a test drive,” she said as she strapped herself into the pilot’s couch when she was finished.
“Are you kidding?” he asked, settling into the co-pilot’s spot. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“You say that now. Wait till I crash.”
Merely thinking of bringing t
he ship up and moving toward the gate in the interior landing bay of the dormant comet had her hands on the controls. All at once, the knowledge appeared as she needed it. Like remembering how to drive after being in space for a year or remembering how to drive with a manual clutch.
They’d finally found a concealed gate on the surface of the mobile base, allowing the landers inside it to exit into the same area of space, so all she had to do was tap the code onto the built-in gate controller.
Once the wormhole had stabilized, she took them smoothly through it and out into space, her hands automatically correcting their course as they moved.
The process was captivating. Once she performed a task, she knew how to do it again and what had happened. That suggested that she could move beyond the basic skills with experience and practice.
After circling the comet and then the station a few times, she was satisfied that she had a good grasp on how to fly. She had some experience in regular landers, and that was helping a lot. Getting back through the exterior gate and into Freedom Express was straightforward, and she landed without issue.
“Well done,” Kevin said. “You looked like you’ve done it a million times.”
“It didn’t feel that way,” she confided. “I’m more confident now. Let’s get our guests and head out.”
Summoning her guards and the prisoners, she had them back out in space an hour later. The three prisoners were shackled and secured at the back of the lander under heavy guard, with Sandra watching them. The team Harry had insisted on sat around them.
As soon as she had the lander in front of the large gate on the side of the Asharim station, she gave Kevin a nod. “Open it up.”
He responded by activating a handheld controller. “The lander is forwarding the signal, so it should be good.”
With a mixture of relief and trepidation, she watched the massive gate come to life and open the universe to her small ship. She nudged them through before she had a chance to change her mind.
The other side of the gate was a mess, and alarms started sounding as soon as she came out. Space around them was filled with debris. She was forced to dodge a large chunk of metal moving energetically past them within seconds, even as the gate closed behind them.
“Hang on,” she called out. “We have debris from the nuke, I think.”
“It can’t have destroyed the station, or the gate wouldn’t have opened,” Kevin said. “Perhaps it would be safer inside that.”
She had to admit that she liked that idea and brought the lander around. A huge station filled the viewscreen, almost completely intact. There was some obvious impact damage, but it seemed the station had weathered the explosion well enough.
It wasn’t just a station, she noted. It was a space elevator, and the cable seemed to be intact as well. That matched up with what Kerrick Vidar had told them. The ship that the Bennetts had stolen must’ve been safely away from the station when it was destroyed.
A few moments later, she found a large set of doors that she suspected led to an interior bay. To her annoyance, the basic command to open them failed. She supposed that wasn’t a surprise, but it complicated their choices.
“The hatch won’t open,” she told Kevin. “I suspect the lander Kathleen Bennett used had a code on it that we don’t. Any chance you can get it open for us remotely?”
He shook his head. “I’d have to go out and open it manually. Let me suit up.”
Jess considered that and then shook her head. “Hold up. If we go down the cable, everyone below will see us coming. It might be better if we just land in an area near the city and walk.”
The hacker’s eyebrows rose. “Landing in an atmosphere is a lot harder than puttering around in space. Are you sure you’re up to that?”
Her instincts screamed at her that this was inexcusably reckless, but her brain told her she had the skills. “I’m good. Everyone strap in a bit tighter. We’re going down.”
14
Queen scowled at the smug Chinese man walking casually down the corridor toward him, forgetting Rogers for the moment. Red tinged his vision, and everything else seemed to fade from view.
He imagined it was what it had been like back in the old West when two gunfighters faced off. Too bad he’d had to leave his weapon at the entrance. If anyone deserved to be shot, it was Chen Jian.
Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Queen continued walking until he was standing right in front of the man, with Rogers, two of his men, and some UN flunky just off to his right. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face in the United States again. How did you slip through customs?”
“Diplomatic immunity,” the large man said with a self-satisfied smile. “As the new Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, I have automatic passage. It isn’t like in the old days when the US had a say over visas for the UN. Thank your government for that.”
The thing that pissed Queen off about that was that he’d supported the change in the damned laws that allowed it. Oh, he’d only been a flunky in the State Department back then, but it still stung.
He considered punching the bastard in his self-righteous face but decided not to. He had things to do that being tossed out on his ear would interfere with. Far better to outmaneuver him and watch him rage.
Queen turned toward Rogers. “What are you going to do?”
“Right now, I’m going to explain the situation to the secretary general. Then, depending on what she says, I’ll either speak to the General Assembly or every reporter in New York City. You kicked my feet out from under me with your little speech, so now I’m going to make sure that everyone on Earth knows exactly what we’re facing.”
“Some of that information probably needs to remain secret,” Queen argued. “We need to discuss what you can say and what you can’t.”
“You’re not the boss of me, as they say,” Rodgers said. “I’ll do what I need to do to protect Earth from the Asharim and their tools.”
“When you have an opportunity, we should speak as well,” Chen said with a hint of a smile. “There is much we need to discuss.”
The look Rogers gave the Chinese diplomat was so cold that it was all Queen could do to avoid stepping back. “You think so? Perhaps you’re speaking of the armed mission you’re sending to Mars to attack my people? Bring it. Their lives are yours to throw away. Literally, in this case, if I’m right. Are they heavy-worlder descendants like you?”
Chen blinked, likely shocked beyond words.
Queen felt his eyes narrow as the implications sank in. “You’re one of them,” he said to Chen. “The secret cabal of alien worshipers. How could I have missed it before? I suppose that makes sense, since you’re still alive after the coup.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Chen said, just a shade too quickly. “There is no such thing.”
“DNA doesn’t lie,” Rogers said. “We have the heavy-worlder gene sequence. One cheek swab will prove it.”
“There is no such thing,” Chen said again. “My country and yours have an agreement that we will defend Nauru. That has nothing to do with sending our men to Mars so that we can find what luck allows. Are you going to allow these fantasies to nullify our agreement?”
“Since you seem determined to see Humanity Unlimited as a target of opportunity that is something separate from Nauru, I’m not sure why I should look at it any differently. We can talk—and I think we should—but don’t mistake me for someone you can fool.”
“I feel that I should accompany you to see the secretary general,” Queen said, inserting himself into the conversation. “And as a member of the alliance, I think you should refrain from speaking to Chen unless others are present so we can represent our own opinions and needs.”
Rogers raised an eyebrow at him. “Where was that thought when you ripped the cover off what we were working on? No. I won’t object if the secretary general wants to have you present, but I’ll negotiate without someone looking over my shoulder, thank you.”
With
that, Rogers turned back to the UN man. “Shall we?”
The man inclined his head. “Secretary General Almen has already agreed that Secretary of State Queen may be present. I regret that she has limited the meeting to only them, Ambassador Chen. You may wait to speak to President Rogers, if you so desire.”
“I will wait,” Chen said after a moment.
“Excellent. I will see that the sitting room nearest the secretary general is readied for you. We here at the UN are always pleased if we can help facilitate discussions among warring parties. If we could moderate a discussion between China and the United States, we would be more than pleased to see if we can stop any further bloodshed.”
“I’m more than willing,” Queen found himself saying, somewhat surprising himself by the impulse. He had the threads of a plan but wasn’t sure how it would play out. “I have a number of things to say that might make the continuation of hostilities no longer necessary.”
Chen was giving him a well-deserved eye, not sure what was happening. Good.
“Again, most excellent,” the man said. “If you will come this way, the secretary general is waiting.”
Queen placed Rogers’s men between himself and Chen as they walked to a bank of elevators. The UN man had to use a keycard to get them to the uppermost floors, but very shortly they were standing in the outer office of the secretary general of the United Nations.
The UN flunky escorted an annoyed-looking Chen away, and the secretary general’s personal assistant showed them into her office.
He’d met the woman any number of times and never thought she was very skilled at either diplomacy or leadership. He supposed with a global conflict breaking out between the two strongest nations on Earth, she would either prove her mettle or break.
In person, she was a somewhat stout woman with dark skin. Today she wore a sari of bright colors that swirled as she stood from behind her desk.
