53
T HEY TOOK A RIFTER TO VALENTIN’S PERSONAL SUITE, but they didn’t say a word during the two-minute ride. Valentin insisted on silence, and James assumed why. He tossed around strategies in his head, considered probabilities given what his growing insights told him about the compound. Yet he never took his eyes off Rayna, whose heartbeat rang clear and whose blood flowed hot inside him though he only held her hand. The air between them smoldered with the scent of the union they both craved.
He saw the triumphant moment in his mind – the two of them together in every way. More than love. More than intercourse. A destination out of reach for ordinary humans: The sharing of energy more than a million years old.
James remembered his vow to Michael and Sammie: He’d kill the Jewels then take his own life, for the good of all humanity. Now, he recognized how naïve Jamie Sheridan was. A damn fool. James intended to save the Jewels. For the good of all humanity.
First, he needed to reset his focus on the here and now. Without quick action, thoughts of the future would be moot.
Valentin tapped his amp outside his suite; the door disappeared long enough for the three to enter. James muzzled his amazement as his eyes befell what might have been his own in another life.
The suite was a smorgasbord of every luxury befitting the prince of a Chancellor king. Beneath a live panorama of the sky outside the tower, the suite featured a sauna, a multi-tiered training station, virtual battle simulators, a bar stocked with beverages behind glass, two food kiosks, and a hemispheric sofa behind which a black monolith called a UNIFAC glowed in colors of the rainbow. On the near wall, images of Valentin’s peacekeeper history – from induction to combat to shore leave – flashed in sequence. A short set of carpeted stairs led up to what James assumed was a bedroom, its external walls decorated with artifacts. He wondered whether they too were stolen from the colonies. Jealousy made an appearance.
At first, James didn’t realize Valentin broke away as he and Rayna gawked at the spectacle. He caught Valentin fingering a cube to open a panel on the outer wall beyond the sauna. He surveyed several shelves and found a small, hand-held device. When he returned, Valentin displayed a green cube the size of a golf ball. He pressed it against a holo-window he threw open and analyzed the results. He sighed in relief when the results came back.
“We’re in the clear,” he told them and swiped away the window. “We can talk.”
“What were you looking for?”
“Bleeders. It’s UG tech. We can plant them on anyone by touch. They hide in the bloodstream. Everything you say or do, everything you see, is sent back to the monitor. They dissolve after two hours.”
“What made you suspicious?”
Valentin smiled. “Aside from my parents and the Major being, as you would say, raging dicks? They allowed us to leave the observatory too easily. No escort. I thought it over. Mother slapped you, but she touches no one other than Father. When I asked permission to leave, Father touched my hand. Perhaps he hoped I’d see it as him making an effort, but he could have planted a bleeder.”
Rayna laughed. “You have worst parents in history of humanity. Maybe for all Earths.”
“They may not be the best, but they gave me all this.”
“Pretty toys for boys with big muscles and big penis. You are proud of this? Da?”
“Yes,” he said. “I spent many happy days here. I wish they had given my brother the same chance.”
James intervened. “We don’t have time for this. Rayna, we are depending on each other. What we need now is a plan.”
“Yes,” Valentin said. “First, we need objectives. We must leave SkyTower, but where do we go?”
“As long as we stay on Earth, they’ll track us and kill us. But if we’re out there,” he pointed up, “we have a chance. There are eight other Jewels. I’m sure there’s a plan to bring them together. If we had that information, we’d have a destination.”
“Good, James. I have an idea how to acquire the details, but I’m not sure how long the task will take. Assuming we know the destination, we have a more immediate concern: Transportation.”
Valentin led them to the hemispheric sofa and spoke to the UNIFAC monolith, asking for surveillance of the compound’s landing platforms. Images of the three docks did not surprise him. Peacekeepers guarded Perrone’s Scramjet with blast rifles. Three levels higher, on the south side, another Scramjet sat quiet with a similar complement of soldiers. The third option – two levels below the residence – sat empty.
“Lots of security,” James said. “Worried we might try to leave?”
“Ship on 9 is the Major’s,” Valentin said. He pointed to the empty platform. “There’s our best bet. They won’t expect the move.”
“What do we do there? Jump?”
“My friends and I used to. Grav-mod boots. It’s not a huge drop to the observation platform above Stage 1. It would also give us access to the Transport Core.”
“Then to the surface. How long to Hinton Station from there?”
“By loop, less than a minute. The challenge will be booking passage on an intersystem transport. They come in and out all day. It’s an endless parade. But as soon as I enter my credentials, it goes into the public datastream. We’ll be discovered if they are looking.”
Rayna grabbed James’s hand. The uncommon warmth returned.
“Is too complicated. We have simple way out.” She pointed to Perrone’s Scramjet. “We kill those assholes and take ship.”
James and Valentin glowered at each other. She was right.
“It is the most direct way,” James told his brother.
“Yes, but they are not mercs. They are soldiers of the Guard. Like me and you. To murder a brother in arms is worse than treason.”
Rayna was having none of it. “You sound like scared child. Look at you. Giant warrior. Trained killer. You have no duty to these men. They are not brothers. They are your enemy. You kill enemy. Da?”
“She has a point,” James said. “These soldiers have orders. They will see of us as hostiles. Brother, the Guard has been your life. But not for me. The only reason Perrone inducted me was to keep me on his string. You don’t have to do this. I have no problem killing those men, or anyone else who gets in our way.”
Valentin leaned forward. “You’re right. If these soldiers are willing to kill me in my home, then I have no allegiance. And if I have no allegiance, I have no home.” He pointed to the surveillance image. “But if I do this, there’s no coming back. Even Father couldn’t fix this mess. All I ever wanted to do was serve the Chancellory. All I wanted to do today was get you two off-world. Can’t do both. If we make it out alive, we find a new home together. Yes?”
James patted him on the back. “Are you kidding? Always, brother. You’re willing to give up everything for us. Rayna?”
“New family is good. So, I will be sister?”
“Or more,” James said. He saw the twinkle. She understood.
Valentin took a deep breath.
“OK, we have three pressing issues. One, a Scramjet is not system-capable. Best option? Fly into orbit, rendezvous with Camellia Transfer Port. The Marks Presidium maintains five system-class transports. Private luxury carriers. I’ll arrange a pilot in advance – CTP is crawling with colonial free agents looking for contract hires. The ship has no arsenal, but it will take us to the Fulcrum, and that’s all we need.”
“Good plan,” James said. “The second issue?”
“Weapons. We need more than these to have a chance.” He motioned to his side-arm. “The soldiers guarding the Scramjet aren’t wearing bodysuits, so they’re vulnerable.”
“I saw this,” Rayna said. “Why do they not wear ugly red skin?”
“Those are called combat bodysuits. They aren’t wearing them for the same reason James and I changed after Seneca. If we came here in full armor, it would be considered a military siege. They’re creating the illusion we came by invitation rather than invasion. Walks a f
ine line but stays within Earth law.”
“You are very confusing people,” she said. “I wish to have biggest gun. My shashka is only good when close.”
“We have an armory for our security teams,” Valentin said. “One level down.” He pointed to a hovering, three-dimensional schematic. “My UG status gives me access.” He grabbed at the room and threw it open to visual surveillance. No one stood outside.
“What models?” James asked.
“Everything you‘ve already used, brother. Top military grade.”
“Good. After we break in, we’ll be exposed. If it’s this easy to watch the facility, they’ll send everyone after us. We need armor.”
“That’s where you come in. You learn entire systems through keywords. I have a ReCon tube in my bedroom. Standard civilian model. If I showed you into the customizer algorithm, how quickly could you access the programs for military bodysuits?”
“As long as I don’t stop to look around? Seconds.”
“We must move fast. If they,” he said, pointing to the soldiers on the platform, “get wind too early, they’ll go inside and hit those ReCons. If they match armor for armor, we’ll have a problem.”
“Understood. You said earlier there were three issues?”
Valentin hesitated, making James uncomfortable.
“Third might be the most complicated. We need to know where the others like you are being taken. Without it, we’d be searching the Collectorate blind. There are five people in SkyTower who have that intelligence. Only one will be motivated to give it up.”
James’s shock wore off. His brother was making sense.
“Perrone. He knows he’s finished, but he still has leverage. We offer him a way out. Just a matter of where they’re holding him. Teach me the security basics, brother, and I’ll do the rest.”
Valentin nodded, but he appeared to have an upset stomach.
“There’s something else. If we succeed, you and Rayna will discover where your people are. I want to find the others like me. James, I am almost fifteen. He must have created thousands of us by now. But I have no access to the R&D datastream. They have never allowed me above Level 8. I wouldn’t know how to lead you in. The proof could be anywhere.”
After an awkward pause, Rayna spoke up.
“I know where it is.” She waited as they looked at her in shock. “Is true. When Admiral was taking us on tour, he was talking to awful people. I called them fools. He tried to send me away, but I heard him. He said in next laboratory was greatest single threat to Chancellory. He said it was your father’s most stunning treachery. When doors opened, they took him. Must be place.”
Valentin showed a spark. “Do you remember the level?”
“Was Level 10. I ignored corridors and names of divisions. I heard only bioengineering. Dr. Tomelin knows. She was not surprised. I think she worked on project, too.”
Valentin walked into the giant schematic and flashed his hands at key locations in the facility: The armory on Level 5, the landing platforms on Levels 6 and 9, and the nondescript quarter of Level 10 designated for bioengineering.
“Once you determine Perrone’s location,” he told James, “we can build a strategy. If we can’t include Level 10, I will understand.”
James felt the same thrill of the moment that overtook him in the woods near Lake Vernon; again during the firefight outside the IDF; as he fought his brother to the death; and as he descended from a Scramjet to Seneca, his blast rifle blazing. He heard the call of the dark and felt driven to show his enemies what they most feared.
Rayna spoke for him.
“All will be good, Valentin. We will find our people. You will find yours. We will kill these assholes with our big guns, but there is more. We can do more. Da, James? We can make these fools remember us forever. Those who live will tell stories. We will be free. And I will have babies with James. New family is good.”
James wanted to kiss her right then. And more.
He knew better.
“Planning ahead,” Valentin said. “Good goal. Father told me I would be a proud uncle.”
“Before I can be a proud dad,” James said, “we have work to do. They’ll be coming soon. We can’t be here when they arrive. Let’s start with the security for … Valentin?”
His brother stared into the void, as if transfixed by a ghost or demon. His lips moved, but James couldn’t make out the syllables. After a moment, Valentin snapped out of it.
“It’s worse than we thought,” he said.
54
O PHELIA WENT FOR A SWIM. Only after Emil made the proposal, did Ophelia recall why she used to love the pool in the residence. Exercise and stress relief had nothing to do with it.
She recalled the first time: A few casual laps offered as reward for a vital research breakthrough. Even then, she sensed Emil was softening her, preparing for the day when she would become more than a mere employee. She never allowed such a disgusting thing to come to pass, but she always took advantage of the pool.
Especially after her discovery.
As a condition of R&D employment, they restricted her amp to internal circastream only. No communications beyond SkyTower. All new data planted to her stack existed only inside the barricade.
Then she swam. Backstroke at first, butterfly next. After a spell, she became disenchanted with the repetition. She slipped an air cavern over her head then dived to the bottom. She wanted music both grand and sweeping. She wanted Sibelius. Ophelia tapped her stack but realized she forgot to plant his works there – always, she listened to him instream. She double-tapped her amp to find a resource beyond, forgetting about the rules.
After ten minutes listening to Sibelius did Ophelia realize she was violating her terms of employment. She tried other comm links, including circastreams with friends and former colleagues. She communicated with ease. How had no one spotted this flaw? For ten months, she swam. For ten months, she delivered Bouchet secrets to other presidiums and deepened her financials.
Now, with time running out for her hybrids, she swam again, hoping the flaw remained undetected. Her amp was not as restricted today, but Ophelia assumed instream communications were being monitored until the siege ended. One slip, and she’d never leave alive. She was relieved to discover the security hole still existed.
She worked quickly. She contacted the system transport Emil put on hold. The pilot of the Passaic Dawn was a CTP contract hire, not a fulltime Bouchet navigator. All he cared about was the job and the pay. No loyalty to Emil. An easier negotiation.
Ophelia gave him instructions, made certain he programmed in the ship’s coordinates and fed the proof back to her. He did so merrily when she transferred 15-K credits to his business account.
“Be there,” she told him. “The next time I signal, you will have forty seconds to act, or I will rescind the credits.”
“I will be there,” he said. “How many passengers?”
“You will know soon enough. Mr. Bouchet appreciates discretion.”
She disconnected the pilot. Her air cavern held eight more minutes supply. Ophelia felt a tingle of additional tension as she prepared her next move. The ship’s arrival wouldn’t matter if this communication proved unsuccessful. The trick was being able to find him amid the clutter of military-assigned amp stacks. Sexton Marshall showed her the techniques and provided her with authorization codes months ago, a necessity for maintaining their quiet alliance.
She opened a holocube at twelve feet below water. Stream filters trickled down as if sliding on ice. She spoke to the glass.
“Open InterStream diode. Command authorization 1-12-Tomelin-X-Invidious-TellSync.”
When the action completed, she said: “Find UG property First Specialist Valentin Bouchet. Identify by registry code.”
The result came back in seconds: Q#Z,1,06.
“Initiate contact with UG authorization stack for Bouchet.Valentin. Q#Z,1,06. Override internal security field. Command authorization Classification.G3Tomelin
.”
She waited for the field, knowing this was her riskiest move. In her years in his father’s employ, she saw Valentin twice, both times at a distance, never sharing a word. Even on the Scramjet from Seneca, they were strangers. But he had to know how important she was to the hybrids. Ophelia’s concern: Was he irrevocably loyal to his new brother?
The field opened, and she waited. Valentin did not tap his amp. She didn’t want to theorize. Instead, she spoke, knowing her message would plant itself on his stack. He’d see it right after.
“Valentin, this is Dr. Ophelia Tomelin. Please listen carefully. You, your brother, and Rayna are about to be taken. The Major and your parents have reached a deal. You are to be charged with murder in collusion with Augustus Perrone. You will be stripped of uniform and imprisoned for two years. James and Rayna will be shot on sight. If you resist, the soldiers have orders to kill you as well.
“I will provide refuge for James and Rayna far from Earth. I am trusting you will help me. I am sending you information on a rescue ship. Provide this data to James and Rayna along with a route to the platform. Valentin, I have known you for years though we have never spoken. I believe in you. Give your brother a chance. I will protect him. I will give him purpose and freedom. I place my faith in you now.”
She checked her remaining oxygen and continued. “You have four minutes should you choose a direct response. If you choose silence, I will be left to hope you make the honorable decision.”
Ophelia waited and stewed over her last encounter with the Bouchets. Yes, Frances, they DO make a statistical difference, she thought. No, Emil, this is NOT for the best. Yes, Frances, he IS more than a calculation. No, Frances, I will be a GREAT teacher.
She twitched as a vibration struck her amp. Valentin responded.
She listened. She raged.
She surrendered.
Just before her air cavern timed out, Ophelia concluded her plan was certain to fail.
55
V ALENTIN STOPPED TRYING TO MAKE his father proud after he spit on Emil during his fourteenth birthday celebration and left behind the six hundred invited guests. He spent a night of debauchery down in the city with his friends and later reported to Hinton Station for deployment. He hated the way they parted, and even hundreds of light-years away, he never gave up on the idea of a happy reunion.
The Impossible Future: Complete set Page 58
