17

The celebration showed no signs of slowing when I left the observation deck. X-37 marked several nearly vacant areas of the ship where I could get some peace and quiet, but I walked to the medical recovery section of the Bright Lance without thinking.

My sister was asleep, the fingers of her left hand intertwined with her short hair. She looked young and happy in the state, and I hoped she was having dreams of a brilliant future.

My mother, Olivia Anna Cain, sat in a chair next to Hannah’s bed, sipping tea. She smiled as I entered, then motioned with a free hand for me to sit.

“We have a lot to catch up on,” she said.

I kissed her on the top of her head before dropping into a chair, and she smiled again. “I’m glad you and Hannah are okay.”

She nodded. “I knew you would find us.”

“The mask and the clues helped,” I said.

This made her laugh gently. “I sent a lot more than the mask your way. There were several weapons caches, a ship, and contacts to a team of commandos I paid a small fortune to assist you. It seems, however, that you managed without all of that.”

“What kind of ship?” I asked, a bit stunned.

“A Lightning Star 5000,” she said. “But I also had people I trust improve the armor, weapons systems, navigational databases, and they boosted the ship AI by three hundred and twenty-five percent. That’s right below the legal limit. I would’ve gone over, but I thought it would draw too much attention. It’s all about trade-offs and that sort of thing.”

“I’ve never heard of anything newer than a Lightning Star 3000,” I said.

“I know the developer from before I met your father. He has his flaws, but he was a good friend. Now I’ll never know what happened to him or anybody else who risked their lives to help us,” she said.

I wanted to talk more about what happened to my father, but there was a pain that came with the thought and I guessed it wouldn’t speed my mother’s recovery to break open old wounds. We both knew the score now. The Union had taken him out to provoke me and blamed it on the gang members of Boyer 5.

“Tell me about Nebs. Is he really dead?” she asked, and I sensed tension in her voice.

“He’s gone. So are most of his officers. They died when I located a secret vault on the ship.”

Color drained from my mother’s face. “Was it empty?”

I shook my head.

She closed her eyes. Her hand started shaking until I thought she would spill her tea, so I took it from her and placed it on a small table near my sister’s bed.

“What did Ayers do?” I asked.

She opened her eyes, clenched her fists on her lap, and looked at me very directly. “He tried to play god. The part that infuriates me is the complete and totally unnecessary nature of it. The man wanted to resurrect aliens from their DNA profiles to prove they existed, when Nebs had already found evidence that they still exist somewhere in the galaxy.”

“You’re talking about nonhuman, truly alien life-forms?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“I am,” she said.

“From what I’ve seen, they don’t look friendly,” I said, thinking of the monsters in the secret cryo-pods.

“Our only hope is that his experiments caused them to mutate, which is a distinct possibility. Ayers blended DNA recovered on a lost world with human test subjects. What I tell myself so that I can get to sleep at night, is that this bonding was unnatural and caused them to be freaks.”

There wasn’t anything to say. X-37 and I had had a similar conversation with Henshaw and Tom, basically trying to convince ourselves that we hadn’t just found a deadly new enemy in the galaxy.

“It’s more than just a theory,” she said. “I know that Nebs was pushing him to make weaponized life-forms he could control.”

I interlocked my fingers and stared at my feet for a time, then faced my mother’s intelligent gaze. “I told Rejon and Coronas the monsters should be destroyed and the remains jettisoned toward a sun.”

My mother looked as though she might be sick. “I gather this idea was rejected. Are they complete idiots?”

“There are the same idiots everywhere, even if we leave the Union fifty slip tunnels behind us. Some of their scientists want to study them. They give different reasons, of course,” I said.

“Like being ready for the real aliens when they come? Learning about alien biology? Discovering the secrets of the galaxy for the good of humanity?” my mother asked. “I’ve heard all of these arguments and I’m not surprised.

“There are three dozen of them.”

“What about on the Black Wing?” she asked.

“That ship was destroyed,” I said.

She seemed relieved. “Good. That was where they stored most of them. There were several hundred on the Black Wing. Was it actually destroyed or just lost? Could there be survivors?”

“The Black Wing was a total loss. It came apart all around us,” I said.

She snorted gently, a sound that was both measured and amazed. “You must tell me the rest of that story sometime. It sounds like it was quite an ordeal.”

“Hopefully we’ll have lots of time to catch up,” I said.

* * *

I walked the hallways for a long time after the visit with my mother. My sister slept the entire time, her face a mask of peace I could only dream of. X-37 told me I was long overdue for sleep, but I didn’t care.

Somewhere between the physical training rooms in the observation deck I encountered Elise at an intersection.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” she asked.

“Are you doing something you don’t want me to know about? I wasn’t born yesterday,” I said.

“Maybe not, but you were born paranoid and suspicious,” she said. “Mavis told me that you were walking the decks and I was worried.”

“Do you talk to the ship AI much?” I asked.

“She’s very helpful. Tom and Henshaw agree that the system reset was the most complete they’d ever heard of, but they disagree about why. Tom believes the initial programming of Union ship AI is inherently good, based on the values the Union claims to be built upon rather than how the government is actually run,” Elise said.

Feeling restless and needing to move, I motioned for her to walk with me. “What does Henshaw think?”

“He believes that Captain Younger and her prize crew have conditioned Mavis to behave with dignity and respect,” Elise said. “I don’t think it matters. The main thing is, she’s much better than Necron, who is still kind of a jerk according to Novasdaughter.”

We came to a lift that would take us into the more secure area of the ship and I suddenly understood what destination I had been wandering toward all night. Elise and I stared at each other for a second.

“We’re going to the vault, aren’t we?” she asked.

“Yeah. I need to see the test subjects,” I said with a quiet intensity that didn’t encourage further discussion.

We descended the lift and passed through two regular guard stations before arriving at the final door to the restricted area. Two of President Coronas’s honor guards in their exoskeleton armor towered beside two Xad warriors in their best gear holding their weapons at port arms.

“One moment, Reaper Cain,” the ranking Xad guard said. “I need to check with Mavis to confirm you have unlimited access to the ship.”

Elise and I waited without talking. Seconds ticked by and I wondered how these men remained vigilant hour after hour.

“You are cleared, Reaper Cain,” the guard said.

“Thanks.” I led the way into the most secret and dangerous part of our fleet.

“I need to show you something, Elise,” I said.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

“Do you remember Commander Briggs? I asked.

Elise stopped abruptly. “What the hell are you talking about? He can’t be one of these freaks.”

I moved along the first dozen pods, stopping at the last one and pointing. Elise looked down, squinting to see through the glass. She stepped back shaking her head.

“I never really knew him, but you’ve talked about him. Are you still convinced he let us go when the Union had us dead to rights on Greendale?” she asked.

“That’s what it felt like at the time. Either way, he was worse than some but better than most. And no one deserves this fate,” I said.

“Unless he volunteered,” Elise said. “That would be messed up.”

“I wish I could talk to him and get some answers, but it’s too dangerous,” I said.

We spent the rest of our time looking for other people I knew. The spec ops community wasn’t enormous, and I discovered most looked familiar to me even if I couldn’t identify them.

“Do you still want them destroyed and jettisoned into a star?” Elise said.

I took my time answering. “That would be the best thing for them.”

* * *

Elise and I went to the brig to confront Ayers. The guards passed us through. We stopped outside of his door to develop our game plan.

“AI Mavis is asking if you require her assistance,” X-37 said. “I’ve been running several assessments and believe we can trust her.”

“You don’t think she’s going to become another Necron?” I asked, wanting to focus on the scientist more than I wanted to deal with the most powerful digital entity on the ship.

“Mavis has not attempted to quarantine me. She’s prompt when answering my queries, and firm when I attempt to enter restricted data areas unguided,” X-37 advised.

This surprised me. “She’s allowed you into restricted areas? And you’re just now telling me this?”

“I found nothing of interest in these restricted areas. Even with her help, it seems that information on Doctor Ayers and his experiments was purged from the system. The restricted information systems she escorted me through involved the details behind weapon systems, stealth cloaks, and other navigational protocols. I didn’t think it was anything you needed to know or would be remotely interested in talking about,” X-37 said.

“You got that right, X,” I said. “If you trust Mavis, I trust Mavis.”

“I’m flattered, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “Or would be if I was truly sentient.”

“How do you want to handle this?” Elise asked.

“We go in, I tune him up, you talk me down and then take the lead,” I said.

“You think that will work?”

“I’ve never worked with a partner other than X-37, so I haven’t had much field practice with team interrogations,” I said.

Elise psyched herself up, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet, then exhaling until she appeared much calmer. “This is worse than preparing for a sparring session with Path, but I think I’m ready.”

“Interrogations are stressful for everyone, but let’s make sure Ayers gets the worst of it,” I said.

When Mavis opened the door to the cell, I saw Doctor Ayers standing there asleep. His eyes were open, but unfocused. They twitched but he didn’t seem to know we were there.

“That is so weird,” Elise said.

“I don’t think your plan is going to work. You should have warned Elise of the man’s peculiarities,” X-37 said.

“Ayers, wake up,” I said, moving close enough to shake him if needed.

The man blinked and focused on me. “Good morning, Reaper. Have you come to release me?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “I came to throat punch you until you tell me why you forced Briggs and the others into your experiments.”

He didn’t answer immediately, which suggested my guess was at least close to the truth.

“What’s the matter, Ayers? How did you think I would react to my friends being turned into monsters?” I asked.

When Ayers spoke next, his tone was righteous but subdued. “Some of them were volunteers, understanding the most important contribution they could make to humanity was submitting to the experiment.”

“You asshole!” Elise shouted. “Have you ever been part of a Union experiment? Never free to make your own choices, always worried you were being turned into something horrible!”

She balled up her fists, bounced on her toes once or twice like she was going to restrain herself, then lunged at the man with her teeth bared.

I held her back with one arm, which only caused her to push and squirm past me. I grabbed her with both hands and walked her back toward the door, not happy that I had to turn my back on Doctor Ayers.

“It seems Elise has elected to play the role of bad cop during this interrogation,” X-37 chirped. “My analysis suggests the spontaneity will be quite effective.”

“Get control of yourself or you can leave,” I said.

“Whatever. You saw what he did to them. It’s not right,” Elise said. “Neither of you understand!”

Still blocking her from access to Ayers, I looked him over and saw that he had an expression of betrayal and confusion on his face. The man really had thought Elise was his friend. Now he knew he was in trouble.

“Listen, Ayers,” I said quietly. “I was in special operations for years before I became a Reaper. Some of these men came after me on Dreadmax and Greendale. I know them. We weren’t exactly friends, but I’m certain they would’ve never volunteered to be mutated with experimental DNA research.”

“Maybe you don’t know them as well as you think. Everyone wants to be stronger and faster and smarter than they are,” Ayers said.

“That’s such bullshit,” Elise said. “This is why I hate the Union.”

I held up a finger for her to stop talking and gave her a warning look. In reality, I didn’t care what she said or did, but I wanted Ayers to think I was protecting him from her.

“I need you to come clean with me, Ayers. If you want access to even a small portion of the research, you need to start building some trust with me and my people,” I said.

“You’re never going to let me do research,” he said. “I know how Reapers work and how they are trained. You’re a master manipulator and when you don’t get your way, you just start killing people.”

“You’re mostly right,” I said. “But we are way beyond known space dealing with problems no one ever imagined, and the rules have changed. Tell me about Briggs and the others.”

Ayers sat on the edge of his bunk and massaged his temples.

I gave Elise a hand signal that suggested we were very close to a breakthrough and hoped she was acting. Her rage looked too real. Neither of us spoke as Ayers gathered his thoughts.

“I suppose what happened to Briggs and the others is my fault. I miscalculated,” Ayers said.

“Explain what that means,” I said.

“I was trying to convince Nebs to give me more space on the ship for my research. He was in one of his moods and told me no. So I warned him of how dangerous the aliens could be—showed him concept art of what I thought they might look like.” Ayers put his hands together almost like a man who was praying and exhaled over his fingertips. “That really got his attention. He responded like he always did, saying we needed to have better weapons and better warriors than they did. The next thing you know, I’d been given the full go-ahead on human test subjects. Briggs and the others were called in for what they thought was a checkup.”

Neither Elise nor I interrupted him. The tension in the room was almost a physical force.

“We did them one at a time, expecting problems. Briggs caught on quicker than the rest and almost escaped. He didn’t buy my excuse that his medical exam had shown he had an extremely contagious variety of the flu,” Ayers said.

“You told him he had the flu? Really?” I asked.

“Common sickness can be very dangerous on a starship far from home,” Ayers said. “The Union has strict regulations regarding that type of thing.”

“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since somebody had the common flu on a Union ship?” I asked.

“I didn’t think that common soldiers cared about that sort of trivia.”

“None of these test subjects were common soldiers,” I said.

“That, Reaper, is true. What do you want from me?”

“I want to toss you out of an airlock, but I’d settle for the complete truth.”

The smile he gave me was unnerving. “The complete truth is that you will never be prepared for what’s coming. Not with this ragtag fleet.”

“He is trying to manipulate you, Reaper Cain.”

I silently acknowledged X-37, checked to be sure Elise wasn’t about to make her own move, and extended my Reaper arm blade.

“Wait, I have proof,” Ayers said, holding up both hands defensively. “Nebs gave me no choice. I have all of the documentation, and Mavis can show you holo footage of what he did to me.”

“Mavis, can you hear us?” I asked, my gaze locked on Ayers.

“I can, Reaper 29C071,” Mavis said, voice smooth as silk. “Would you like to see Doctor Ayers being tortured? Over one hundred hours of recordings exist.”

“Maybe later.” I needed to think this through and develop a new game plan. “I never really liked Briggs anyway.”

“This is a false assertion,” X-37 said. “You were at odds with the man more times than not but respected him in a general sense at least.”

I ignored my limited artificial intelligence and checked to see if Elise had anything to add.

She shook her head.

“I still think I should throw you out of an airlock,” I said, and then we left the cell.

Outside, Elise surprised me. “You should teach me the hand language you use to talk privately with X-37.”

“There’s no secret hand language,” I stated, wondering if X had let something slip. He was able to communicate with my team even while I was asleep via their earbuds.

“Right, that’s why you’re always fidgeting during those awkward pauses Reapers are known for. Honestly, I’ve never seen you at a loss for words. How do you expect me to believe you’re not answering X-37 nonverbally,” Elise said. “I get it, X is your LAI. But if I knew the hand language, Tom could design haptic feedback gloves allowing me to talk to X in the same manner. Then X could relay messages during interrogations and other situations like this. We could communicate without someone like Ayers catching on.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I said.

She smiled and punched me in my arm. “I knew there was a secret hand language.”

“I knew you knew.”

“Whatever.”

OceanofPDF.com