23

I arrived at the bridge before the rest of the crew. Tom had taken some much-needed down time while he could. Jelly had been cruising along on her own, not requiring human assistance during the simplest part of the trip. She was in constant communication with X-37, who would’ve updated me if something needed doing.

The room lights were low, the bridge silent, and the viewscreen split to show the facility we were approaching beside the more distant view of the Union Ship. The captain was taking it all over the system, and his actions suggested he was very confident it could handle us before we escaped.

Which pissed me off, if I was being honest. Cocky bastard.

"What exactly is that ship doing?" I asked.

"The unknown ship is working the system on a three-dimensional grid, possibly checking what we checked, but also leaving markers and or relays," Jelly said.

I fired up one of my best cigars and went over checklists. Being a Reaper wasn’t all glamour and high-speed fights.

The administrative routine was a good time to gather myself and think about what needed to be done. The situation had become more complicated than I liked.

I’d been doing solo missions for years before getting thrown in prison. The bomb incident had bothered me afterward. Tom and Elise had both been at risk. Thoughts of what would have happened if I hadn’t accepted help from Tom were a constant reminder that I needed help. Reapers were trained to work solo more often than not, but it had always been stressed that there were some missions that required a team.

I still felt reluctant to endanger them needlessly. I knew the game better and had learned what to look for from watching Tom work. Nothing scared me more than watching Tom or Elise die. They were the closest thing to family I’d had for a long time.

So this time was going to be different.

I expected my team to argue with me, including my not-quite-as-loyal-as-he-should-be limited artificial intelligence.

The door opened. Elise, Tom, and Path arrived almost at the same time. They waited for me to begin the briefing, probably suspecting what I would tell them. None of them were dumb and they all had good instincts. We spent a lot of time together on the ship and knew each other well.

“Jelly, are there any last-minute updates before we begin?” I asked.

“Yes, Captain. It seems the unidentified Union ship has completed its operations near the second facility and is headed this way. The speed of the small carrier is, how should I describe it in layman’s terms, alarming,” Jelly said.

“Keep us updated,” I said, then addressed Elise and Tom. “X-37 and Jelly have provided a mockup of what they think we will find on the third station. Their analysis suggests all three stations were built along the same blueprint. Since the second station was mostly intact, this should be less exploration and more room clearing,” I said.

Elise crossed her arms, already giving me a challenging look.

“The bomb incident was an unnecessary risk to the entire team,” I continued.

“Here we go,” Elise said scornfully.

Tom looked worried.

Path, well, he was Path. Henshaw was still in his cabin. I assumed he was lounging about as a drunkard but had no evidence this was actually the case. All I knew for sure was that the ocular engineer had been keeping to himself since our last encounter.

“I’m going alone. No matter what you think, there’s a good reason for this,” I said. “I need someone on the ship when things inevitably go wrong and the Union gets here ahead of schedule. I can’t count on Henshaw to safeguard both ships, even if he wasn’t a lying snake. The man has no tactical experience.”

Elise said nothing. Her gaze stabbed into me and she kept her teeth clenched. Self-control was nearly as foreign to her as it was to me.

“I don’t see why one of us can’t come with you,” Tom said. “Two sets of hands could be useful. Especially if you need to carry something or take apart more explosives. It would be logical to assume there will be at least one more device on this facility.”

“Agreed,” I said. “But the last one was straightforward and only served to hide a message. I think I can handle it. Stay here with Elise and Path, and outfit them for whatever they need to help me when I call for them.”

“Oh, you’re going to call for us? How magnanimous. You trust us to come save you?” Elise asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.

I finished the meeting and told them to get out. Nothing about what needed to be done had changed. I needed my space before going into hell.

“You’re quiet today, X,” I said as I headed for the shuttle.

“I’m just taking it all in. You may not know this, but it is extremely entertaining when you make bad decisions,” X-37 said.

“That sounds like something I would say,” I murmured, climbing into the shuttle and running through flight activation checks.

“It is, Reaper Cain. We’re kind of stuck together,” X-37 complained. “Your bad decisions affect both of us.”

Before long, the ship was ready. “What’s on your digital mind, X?”

“I’ve been in deep contemplation of the message we found on the second facility,” X-37 said. “There are very few data points, but my analysis suggests this trip to the third facility is unnecessary.”

“Maybe, but we’ll only have one chance. The Union will be here before we know it, and if there was something important here, then it will be beyond our reach at that point. Why would they build three stations if they only needed two?” I argued.

“Knowing the Union as I do, it’s equally likely they had three identical stations, any one of which could have operated independently. We are risking our lives to check out a redundancy,” X-37 said. “The message you recovered advised you the answer was on the planet serving the station, not the station itself.”

“I thought the same thing, but I don’t know what to do when we get there,” I pointed out. “Someone is leaving us clues and we need to find all of them.”

“Then you must carefully consider what I’m about to say next,” X-37 said. “I believe you should bring the Reaper mask and the stealth armor with you. You took it when you were dealing with Henshaw but didn’t use it in the gladiatorial fight.”

I interrupted, “I thought I would need it to get back to the Jellybird, but that wasn’t how things played out. And I was even less confident I could use the mask then.”

“No need to explain, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “But if what I suspect about the messages is true, the Reaper mask and the stealth armor will be part of the final solution. This is the end game.”

A chill went down my spine when he said the end. “Who do you think is sending me the messages and why do you think I should bring the mask with me when I can’t even use it?”

I knew the answer to this question, but it was good to keep my limited artificial intelligence honest. And maybe he would come up with something I’d missed. That was one of his main functions, in any case.

“I believe the messages are from your mother,” X-37 said, surprising me with his bluntness. “The images are female. The elaborate multistage revelation of clues suggests careful planning and total dedication to the process. Had this mysterious benefactor taken any shortcuts, the Union would’ve already found our destination. Arriving there with them already waiting would’ve been a bit awkward, even for you, Reaper Cain.”

I weighed each word X spoke. Hope and dread struggled for control of my emotions. Apparently, I hadn’t known my mother well. She’d always been like the sun to me when I was young, but now I was learning she had skills and resources beyond what I had suspected my father to possess. The long game she had apparently played boggled my mind. How had she recruited Byron Thane II to her purpose? How had she guided him toward me so that it would be delivered? Had she suspected I would kill him to take possession of the mask, and if this was the case, what type of person was she?

“My analysis suggests that someone wants you to use the mask. It wasn't delivered to you by accident,” X-37 said, breaking the chain of my increasingly dark thoughts. “It has performed more reliably each time you dared use it.”

“It wasn't delivered. I took it,” I reminded him.

“Of course, Reaper Cain.”

“You probably think you’re clever for a cluster of computer-enhanced nerve-ware,” I said.  I was still deciding how I felt about this new topic. X-37 had confirmed my suspicions but hadn’t given me the tools to deal with what it meant. There were places in my soul I didn't want to go.

“All of this, however, leads us to a much larger question,” X-37 said. “If your mother was merely kidnapped by agents of the Union, how would she have the ability to set something like this in motion unless she was more than you’re telling me?”

“How can I not be telling you something?” I said defensively.

“I can’t read your mind, Reaper Cain, and your emotional output is uneven—irrational to be honest. I detect dishonesty but have marked several indicators that you are not doing this intentionally,” X-37 said, echoing one of his common sentiments.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded.

“You may be lying to yourself,” X-37 explained.

I wished there was a physical version of X I could punch. “Whatever, X. Don’t quit your day job. Your psychoanalytic skills suck.”

“Then explain why I am wrong,” X-37 said, refusing to back down from my churlish tone. “What prepared—or provoked—your mother to create this grand plot?”

“I don’t have any answers,” I stalled.

“Which only means she kept her vocation a secret. It seems your family has a history of this behavior,” X-37 said. “Regardless, whoever this person is, she has set a very narrow path for you to follow. One step in the wrong direction will lead to disaster.”

“Thanks, that was helpful,” I said, then steered the shuttle toward the darkened facility where it orbited a desert world.

* * *

The hallway curved ahead of me, following the shape of the station. "Tell me what I'm looking at, X."

"We never went to this part of station two," X-37 explained. "We're going to cover a lot more distance on this away mission. You'll need to move faster. Jelly says that the Union carrier is accelerating toward our position at maximum possible speed."

I ran at a brisk pace, aiming my HDK at intersections before reaching them, then angling out into the hallway to give myself a better view of what was inside before I passed the open areas. It was a technique we in the RC called cutting the pie. Simple, effective, and it worked on the move if you knew what you were doing.

The trick was to see one slice of the next room at a time—as quickly and accurately as possible.

"Good news, Reaper Cain. There is some residual power on this facility. Should make things much easier, including piggybacking on their security nodes. Scanning for enemy units," X-37 said.

"Why would there be power?" I asked, suspicious of any good fortune.

X-37 didn't hesitate to answer. "Because someone activated it by remote beam. The Union stealth carrier should have that capability."

"Are they using it against us?" I asked, not slowing my pace. No matter what they saw, speed was still the primary tool in my toolbox right now.

“Unknown. The third door on the right leads to the interior,” X-37 advised.

I cleared room to room, moving quickly but not rushing. This was different from searching rooms with a team. This was running and gunning. I couldn't control territory I had taken. Instead, I checked over my shoulder often—not wanting to be the Reaper who let an enemy sneak up on him. X-37 did his best to help me stay alive by monitoring my feed and marking areas of potential danger.

“You have been searching for hours. Union troops will be deploying to the station soon,” X-37 said.

"Where are Jelly and the crew?" I asked.

"Unknown. I believe they have gone dark and moved out of the area until we really need them," X-37 said.

I had already searched the laboratory that resembled the one from the second facility. With the exception of a few specialist tools I gathered up for Tom, it was a disappointing haul.

The only place left to search without going room by room were the dorms, storage areas, and comm room. It only had a small workstation and I wasn't hoping for much. I had already searched the station bridge and Reaper laboratories. There was less than nothing. I wasn't sure what they even did for the program on this facility.

"I told you this was a dangerous waste of time," X-37 said.

"Not helpful." There was no way to explain to my limited artificial intelligence that my gut told me there was still something there.

"I can't stop you from being irrational," X-37 complained, “but I can inform you of such.”

Thinking about the message that had been left under the bomb on the second station, I got an idea. “X, you’re fired.”

"You can't fire me. I'm part of you," X-37 said.

“Still fired.” The message had been don’t make me whistle twice for dinner.  I realized in a flash where the next clue would be.

“This conversation is beneath me," X-37 continued, “and we are running out of time."

“I’m hungry. Which way is the cafeteria?” I asked.

X-37 let out a faux sigh. "I am sending the coordinates to your HUD now, and I would also like to advise you that Union troops have boarded the station. How hungry are you? Because this really isn't a good time."

"My mother used to whistle twice to call me to dinner," I said, already headed toward the station’s cafeteria.

"Why didn't you say so?" X-37 asked. "In that context, it is obvious where the next clue should be."

"Where are the Union troops?" I moved quickly, expecting to be challenged each time I reached an intersection. X-37 put up icons on my head, warning me each time I nearly encountered one of the patrols.

"Good news, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. "None of the teams are moving toward the cafeteria. Apparently, they're smarter than that."

"I'm embarrassed for them. Any good soldier knows to look for food first," I joked, feeling a better mood despite the unrelenting pressure of the situation.

"I'm glad you're amused. I must advise you that we are running out of time,” X-37 said, then displayed several dots on my HUD indicating the increasing number of enemy troops on the station.

"Don't worry, X. We've got this," I assured him, heading for the one place I knew my mother would hide a message just for me.

Running between empty tables, I made for the dessert section. I wasn't sure how old the treats were, but they seemed to be sealed in their containers.

"You're not actually going to eat one of those?" X-37 asked.

"I should, but I gave up sweets on New Year's," I said, then lifted the chocolate chip cookie jar over my head. I slammed it down, watching the contents scatter. The delicious smell was tempting, but I remained focused. It wasn't just my life on the line now. Elise and the others were counting on me.

Amidst the sugary confections was a small data stick. “What do you think of that?”

X-37 processed the image. “It should be a match for the processor we recovered on the second facility,” X-37 said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a plan to get you off this station before several squads of Union soldiers close in around us.”

I picked up the data stick. “What’s your plan?”

“It starts with an escape pod or a shuttle, whichever we can find first.”

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