Prime Deceptions

by Valerie Valdes

  “Walk in the Light,” Sapri said. Without further ado, the xana approached Regina, stationary inside her protective bubble.

  Agents continued running across the platform, chasing down Pod Pals and trapping them, either in their capsules or in isospheres. Some even wrestled the robots to the ground or hit them with stun batons, which appeared to have little effect. The bots fought back with their arsenal of upgrades, shooting flames from their mouths or producing intense jets of water, or even releasing clouds of what Eva assumed was poison like she’d been hit with by the Attuned in Rilia. It was complete pandemonium, and she didn’t envy the BOFA people their job of capturing all the critters.

  Eva climbed onto the Pod Pal’s back, marveling again at the sophistication of the technology. It definitely felt like she was on an animal and not a glorified toaster. Pink and Sue each wrapped themselves around one of its clawed feet, clinging tightly, and Jei hopped onto his dog-bot hoverboard next to them.

  Across the platform, Regina was still barking orders as if she were dealing with wayward children instead of federal agents. She paused and turned to regard Eva and the others on their massive mount, her mouth fixing itself in a firm line. Then, with a deliberateness that had to be intentional, she turned away again and continued what she was doing as if she hadn’t seen them at all.

  Eva let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. All they could do now was get back to their ship and hope they could leave before the lockdown started. She opened her mouth to ask Sue to order the robot to leave, then stopped.

  “Where the hell is Mala?” she asked.

  “Miau,” a tiny, smug voice answered from her lap. Mala looked up at her with wide hazel eyes, their pupils entirely dilated in the darkness.

  “How did you—never mind,” Eva said. “Get in my fucking backpack before I feed you to this bird.”

  For once, Mala didn’t argue.

  Chapter 22

  Nadando Contra La Corriente

  It was still the night cycle when the giant robot carried them through the darkness of the home-trees at the outskirts of Rilia, to the base where Dr. Lucien and Felsira awaited them. Not even the faintest twinkle of starlight was visible through the thick canopy of leaves above, and Eva’s spacesuit informed her the air was even colder and damper than it had been when they left. Various nocturnal animals and Attuned fell silent as they passed, no doubt cowed by the perceived predator in their midst, or maybe because giant robots were weird and scary. Hell, Eva was riding the damn thing and, as exhilarating as it was, she couldn’t wait to get down. Still, they were alive, and safe for the moment, and it was enough given the circumstances.

  Felsira rested in her hammock and Dr. Lucien checked Jei and his dog-bot for damage as they gravely listened to the story of what happened at the lab. Pink, in the meantime, did the same for everyone’s organic components, which had generally avoided more than bruising thanks to their suits. They’d been incredibly lucky, and Eva couldn’t help but feel like that meant the karmic balance of the universe was waiting to shift in the other direction.

  “Those obstinate fools,” Felsira said finally. “Did they not consider that they will be interrogated about more than this single incident? Our entire operation will be jeopardized over this.” Her psychic emanations were more intense than any she’d exhibited before. Anger, disgust, sadness . . . Her emotions were like a ball of cats wrestling with each other.

  “They made their choice,” Eva said.

  “And we will pay for it with our blood,” Felsira replied coldly.

  Dr. Lucien replaced Jei’s prosthetic with a loud click. “Problems will not end,” he said. “But we are still alive, and free, and with that we may accomplish much.”

  “Maybe you will,” Pink said sourly, kneeling next to Sue and shining a light in her eyes.

  “I do not understand,” Dr. Lucien said.

  “Our mission is screwed.” Pink clicked off her light and stood, glaring at no one in particular. “We had to get Sue’s brother and we didn’t. So now we don’t get paid, and we’ve lost two weeks of other work running all over the galaxy.” She scowled. “I don’t even want to think about how many of my patients are waiting in my queue or left to another practice.”

  Eva cringed. Pink was right. For all that they’d had a string of successes with The Fridge leading up to this debacle, now they were arguably worse off than when they’d started. Pink’s work was backed up or gone, Vakar was in deep shit with his bosses and would have to leave as soon as they got back to civilization, Sue would probably never see her brother again since he was likely going to jail forever . . .

  “At least we got half up front,” Eva muttered. “And Min got all the fuel she needed.”

  The room was silent for a few moments as everyone present got lost in their own separate mazes of thought. Eva wondered how she was going to explain it all to Mari. We found the guy, but then we lost him, sorry, you can bust him out of BOFA custody if you want. Hell, maybe they could; Eva didn’t know what The Forge was capable of. They managed to infiltrate The Fridge, certainly, so maybe BOFA would be easy for them.

  Ah, The Fridge. Architects of the utter fuckening of so many people’s lives. If it hadn’t been for them, poor Sue would probably still be happily fussing with her robots at her parents’ house, and Josh would be engineering spaceships and whatever else. And he wasn’t the only scientist-type they’d kidnapped for their many illegal experiments . . .

  Eva stood up so fast it made Mala hiss. “Alabao!”

  “What?” Pink asked.

  “Josh wasn’t working alone at The Fridge, and he didn’t escape alone.” She turned to Jei, who was staring at her like she’d grown an extra head. “I need your help.”

  “Mine?” Jei asked. “What do you want?”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Eva said, “but I want . . . Miles Erck.”

  Getting back to La Sirena Negra was a challenge. The lockdown at the spaceport was in full swing, leaving literally thousands of travelers stuck on Garilia, including a lot of angry rich people who weren’t accustomed to being told what to do. Unfortunately for them, no amount of waving money around was going to make BOFA budge on letting them off-planet, not with each of them potentially carrying illegal Proarkhe technology in a conveniently portable capsule. Everyone had to be searched with special devices, of which only two were currently available; more were on the way from the nearest Gate, along with additional personnel and a more robust quarantine setup that would virtually halt all ingress and egress to the entire system.

  Fortunately, because BOFA didn’t have the manpower and tech already on hand, there were still ways to get out for those who knew them. Vakar had apparently gotten word about the lockdown with enough time to have Min take off, so they were in orbit nearby rather than stuck at the port. All Eva had to do was borrow a resistance shuttle and take that to the ship, then start the slow cruise to the Gate three cycles away. Some light hacking and cloaking tech were involved to ensure the planetary surveillance systems didn’t notice them sneaking away, but compared to everything else they’d been through, that was practically boring.

  As he’d suggested he might, Jei decided to come with them. Eva was a bit surprised given how close he was to Dr. Lucien and the resistance, but it seemed like he thought he could do more good elsewhere; Eva didn’t want to pry, especially since he’d been so hostile to her before. He agreed to be dropped at DS Nor, where Eva could refuel and pick up Vakar’s cruiser in case he had to leave; after that, Jei retreated to the passenger cabin as soon as they were all aboard. Occasionally she caught him skulking around like one of the cats, but any attempts at conversation were met with enough awkwardness to shut them down quickly.

  Two related things were more surprising: that Jei was marginally friendlier with Sue, perhaps because of all the help she’d given the resistance or her fight with Josh, and that Min was in the darkest mood Eva had ever seen. The latter would have normally sent Ev
a running to the bridge to figure out what was up, but she was busy with her own issues.

  First, she and Vakar had some extremely personal catching up to do, in more ways than one. Selfish, yes, but they presumably had only a few cycles before his bosses gave him new marching orders.

  Second, she had to deal with Miles fucking Erck.

  Once Eva had stored up enough patience to tolerate Miles for more than a few seconds, she dragged him to the mess and settled him into a chair. He regarded her sullenly, his limp blond hair falling over his pale face, mouth twisted into a stubborn frown.

  “Welcome back,” Eva said. “I hope you’ve had a comfortable ride so far.”

  “Well, actually, you locked me in a shipping container,” Miles replied.

  “I could move you to the cat box if you’d prefer.”

  Miles glared at her and didn’t respond.

  Eva smiled. “Gracias, muy amable. You may recall that I was looking for Josh Zafone back on Abelgard.”

  Miles remained quiet, so Eva began to make herself a coffee. He watched hungrily, and she wondered whether he was a caffeine addict, too. She made a show of every part of the process, grinding the beans and slowly spooning them into the cafetera, even pausing to sniff them and sigh appreciatively. Once the water was boiling, she turned back to Miles.

  “Josh had information and skills that my bosses need,” Eva continued. “Unfortunately, he’s no longer available, because BOFA arrested him for experimenting with illegal Proarkhe tech.” Sure, it was a little more complicated than that, but Miles didn’t need to know.

  “Let me guess,” Miles said with a sneer. “I help you and your little friends, or you’re going to turn me over to BOFA, too?”

  “Well, actually,” Eva said with great relish, “I don’t give a shit about you. You’re only here to make my life easier, because whether you help me or take a walk out the airlock, I still get what I want.”

  Curiosity and obstinacy fought each other all over his face until Miles settled for a frown again. “What do you want, then?” he asked finally.

  “Emle Carter,” Eva said. “Where is she?”

  Miles managed to get paler, which was a feat. “N-not telling you,” he said, his voice breaking.

  “Tell me or don’t, I’m still going to find her,” Eva said. “It’s just a question of when.”

  Miles pressed his lips together, but he was trembling, and sweat began to form on his forehead.

  Eva stared at him, first in confusion, then in dawning comprehension. He was scared of Emle. He hadn’t even been this freaked out around Rubin Hjerte, and that lady had a box of teeth. She tried to remember Emle, but they’d met so briefly, and all Eva could summon up was the vaguest image of a woman hiding under a table while Eva punched Miles Erck in the face for being his usual insufferable self.

  “How about this,” Eva said. “You tell me where she is, and when I pick her up, I don’t tell her you’re here?”

  “Y-you’ll leave me in the sh-shipping container?” Miles asked.

  Eva nodded.

  “And Emle won’t know I’m in there?”

  Eva nodded again.

  “Okay, yes, fine.” Miles swallowed. “You have a deal.”

  Eva smiled and finished making her coffee. Maybe the whole mission wouldn’t be a bust after all. Now she just had to get in touch with Mari about the change in plans and start putting together the invoice.

  After leaving Jei at DS Nor, Eva summoned Sue to the mess, a glass of synthesized root beer already prepared per Pink’s recommendation. The doctor had spoken to Sue a few times since Garilia, but Eva had to do her part as well, and she knew rushing it wouldn’t help. It was easy to think of crew members as parts of the ship that needed maintenance like anything else, and in a way it was true, but you couldn’t slap a patch on hurt feelings or solder a relationship broken by an argument.

  “How are you holding up?” Eva asked as Sue sank into her seat and pulled her drink closer.

  Sue took a long sip of the root beer and put the glass back down, absently wiping away foam from her upper lip with her sleeve.

  “It hurts,” Sue said quietly. “The Fridge took advantage of my family, and me, and . . . Josh didn’t know, but he didn’t bother to find out, either. And when he did, he didn’t care.”

  “Yeah, that was really shitty of him,” Eva said.

  Sue’s eyes filled with tears that didn’t fall. “You had it worse,” Sue said. “At least Josh didn’t sell us out himself.”

  Eva leaned back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest. “It’s not a contest,” she said. “If it helps you to compare your situation to mine, go for it, but nobody is handing out awards for worst sibling experience.”

  “I guess.” Now the tears did fall, and Sue sniffled. “I thought I was going to be a hero, you know? Find him, save him, bring him home, and celebrate.”

  “Yeah.” One out of four, Eva thought. More than she’d managed with Mari, but again, it wasn’t a contest.

  “Does it ever get better?” Sue asked, her voice raw. “I know you and Agent Virgo are working together now, but you’re still not, um.”

  “Friendly?” Eva supplied. Sue nodded, and Eva puffed out a breath. “Scars are scars,” she said. “They don’t go away, but you can learn to live with them.”

  Sue fell silent, fidgeting with her glass and occasionally drinking from it. Eva waited, digging deep into her own reserves of patience to keep from filling the silence with stories, advice, chatter—distractions that would have been more for her own comfort than Sue’s.

  “Jei’s looking for his brother, too,” Sue said.

  “He what?” Eva asked, surprised. After everything that had happened, she still knew next to nothing about him.

  “He used to work with you,” Sue said. “Jei’s brother. With that guy you talk about sometimes. Tito?”

  Ah, mierda. That explained why Jei thought Eva was an asshole. Because she had been.

  “What was his name?” Eva asked.

  “Buruusu. Rokku Buruusu.”

  Eva searched her memories, trying to place someone with that name, someone who maybe resembled Jei. Most people who worked for Tito used aliases—Tito certainly did, and Eva had as well—so it was possible she knew him by another name.

  Of course. The arm cannon. She knew she’d seen it before, and not on a stranger from a distance.

  “Joe,” Eva said. “He called himself Joe back then.” She couldn’t help the half-smile that tweaked at the corner of her mouth. “He was always whistling. You could hear him coming from half a ship away. He had an arm cannon like Jei’s, but he used a prosthetic arm most of the time. Hell of a sniper, and brutal with blades.”

  “Was he nice?” Sue asked, eyes wide with hope.

  “He was quiet, except for the whistling.” Eva’s smile faded. “Some comemierda picked a fight with him once, and he beat the shit out of her with a practice sword. Pink did a lot of sewing that day, and not the relaxing kind.”

  “Oh.” Sue fell silent again for a moment. “Jei told me about it because of what happened with me and Josh. He said sometimes siblings fight and it feels bad at the time and then later it’s hard to remember what was so important about it.”

  Eva shrugged. “He’s not wrong. But it’s also true that a person can fuck up so bad, you write them out of your life and move on. That’s your call, and you don’t have to make it now.”

  “Yeah.” Sue finished off her root beer, wiping her mouth clean again. “What would you do, if you were me?” she asked.

  “I’d give it time,” Eva answered. “And I’d punch the shit out of the bag in the cargo bay.”

  Sue giggled. “Maybe I’ll use Gustavo’s flamethrower to set something on fire!”

  “Maybe,” Eva said. “But how about you wait until we get off the ship, okay?”

  Sue nodded, smiling and racing off to tinker with her mech in anticipation. A temporary relief from all the big feelings floating around like a
steroids, but that’s all anyone got, really.

  It was enough for now. With a sigh, Eva left the mess and went back to work.

  Three and a half cycles later, La Sirena Negra returned to the Forge station in Suidana. It was in a different part of the system, but still limned by the blazing light of those dying binary stars, and now there was a substantial amount of ship activity swarming around it like bees coming and going from their hive. The Gate being towed along behind the station was equally busy, people in spacesuits or small vessels crawling along the length of its massive ringed form. Unlike other Gates, this one was clearly inactive, the familiar, inscrutable patterns on its surface dark rather than glowing the usual soft magenta.

  Eva scowled at the hull camera display as they slowly docked. The Forge had not agreed to pay yet, which was understandable; they needed Josh for something specific, and even though Emle was theoretically an acceptable substitute, they’d refused to confirm that over comms because of secrecy concerns. So Eva and her crew still had to fly all the way to Casa Carajo and hope it wasn’t a waste of time.

  Emle stood next to her, staring at the Gate with an expression somewhere between awe and horror. The woman was taller and heavier than Eva, her skin a shade darker than Pink’s and her black hair shaved close to her head, and it turned out she was also an engineer like Josh. She’d been nothing but nice—grateful, in fact, for the part Eva played in helping her back at the Fridge base, though Eva remembered it very differently. She’d also been eager to help anyone who was working against The Fridge.

  Eva liked her immediately, though it was hard to see why Miles was so afraid of her.

  Mari was waiting when Eva descended from the ship with Emle trailing after her. She looked surprisingly well rested, given her appearance the last time Eva had been there, like she’d just gotten back from a mandatory vacation involving mind-altering substances and sleeping meds. She wore the same red armor again, though, and was packing a pistol on each hip and a nasty little submachine gun nestled in the small of her back.