Paradox Hunt

by Dee Garretson

  Once I was on the main bridge, I realized there were a lot of Combined Forces soldiers on the ground. They were wearing the gray-brown desert version of the CF uniforms, which made them stand out among Reyetans’ loose robes designed for the hot, dry climate. I tensed, knowing if anyone had put out an ident bulletin with a recent image of me, my eyepatch would be a dead giveaway.

  I watched them spread out through the crowd, stopping random people and demanding to do idents on them. I stuck my hands in my pockets and did my best to saunter off the bridge onto the main road that ran along the gorge. But I was hardly in a sauntering mood, and I’m sure it looked like my feet weren’t connected to my brain.

  “Hey, you, boy in the gray. Stop!”

  Chapter Three

  I was so tired I had to look down at my shirt to remember what color I was wearing. It was a dusty red, not gray. Two soldiers came up on either side of a boy standing in line at a food stand nearby and grabbed him by the arms.

  “What do you want?” the boy cried, struggling to free himself.

  I did a double take when I got a better look at him. It was almost like looking into a mirror. He could have been my twin, though a shorter one. He had my long face that some people called hawk-like, the same black hair, and black eyes.

  “You’re coming with us,” one of the soldiers said.

  I moved faster, turning my head away though I didn’t think they’d notice me. I felt bad for the kid, but at least it might buy me a little time until they figured out they had the wrong person.

  Once I reached the hospital it didn’t take me long to find Saunder. Everyone who worked there knew him, and they directed me to a room on the second floor. I looked in to see Saunder sitting next to the bed of a man with grayish skin who looked really ill. The man was actually smiling though, and as I walked in, he reached out to pat Saunder’s hand. Saunder said something, and the man’s smile grew wider. I wasn’t surprised. Saunder made it a habit to be kind to old people and children the rest of us didn’t even notice.

  The man closed his eyes. Saunder got up. When he saw me, he put a finger to his lips and motioned toward the hall.

  “Why are you so out of breath?” he asked.

  I hadn’t noticed I was until just then. I explained about the troops looking for me.

  “Not good,” Saunder said. “We need a plan. Did Riley find you? He’s been looking for you.”

  “No, why?”

  “He’s worried about Mags. She’s pulled out several of her feathers and won’t eat.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. I’d asked Riley to take care of my parrot while I was gone and until my father recovered. I couldn’t exactly haul along a bird on a raider ship. I felt bad enough at what the bird had been through on Reyet. After they’d arrested my father and quarantined his ship, they’d taken Mags off to the offices at the jail, thinking she’d be an entertaining mascot. Mags did not have the personality to be a mascot, and she was still upset by it all.

  I’d hoped I’d come up with the perfect solution for Mags. It appeared I hadn’t. One more thing to worry about.

  “Have you seen your father this morning?” Saunder asked.

  “No, I have to talk to you first. Things are complicated. Is there somewhere we can go?”

  I followed him to an empty patient room. I sat down on the bed, wishing I could stretch out for a while. My eye pulsed with a dull throb that meant I’d been upright too long. Saunder sat down in a chair. He looked as tired as I felt. I launched into an explanation. It took a while to explain everything so it made sense. As I talked, Saunder’s face showed more and more distress. I finished and said, “So that’s the plan, such as it is. We need to get to the spaceport as soon as we can. Lainie and Decker are meeting us there, though I have no idea what Decker is going to do.”

  He sighed. “I know I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, so I won’t even try. I also know you realize how dangerous this all is.”

  “I do. I didn’t plan on anyone else going with me, but Fade changed that. You don’t have to go, you know. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t. Decker warned Lainie you wouldn’t want to. You can stay here and keep helping out.”

  He got up and stood at the window. “I’ve realized some things while I’ve been here.” Turning back to me, he said, “I want more medical training. If I’m ever going to be a doctor, I have to go to school. I can’t just pick up the skills I need by helping out at hospitals. That means I have to get the military training out of the way first. By then I’ll be able to apply to a medical program.”

  I got up and joined him. There were more troops in the streets, which meant there were probably more troops at the spaceport.

  “Everyone in Earth’s military can’t all be corrupt, can they?” he said. “There are a lot of good people doing good work. My dad, your mom, all the scientists on the station.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t know.

  A woman stopped in the doorway calling out Saunder’s name. “Can you help me in room four?” she asked him.

  “I’ll be right there.” He took a step and then stopped and turned back. “I don’t know what to do. Maybe I should go with you. I don’t like letting Lainie go alone.”

  Saunder was meant to be a doctor. I’d known that for a while, but just seeing him in the hospital confirmed it. We couldn’t let him go with us on such a risky expedition.

  “No, you should stay here until you find a way back to Earth,” I said, trying to sound like it was no big deal. “Lainie can take care of herself. And I’ll be there. Go, they need you in room four. I’ve got to see my dad.” I clapped him on the shoulder and then forced myself to walk away. I don’t know why I had a terrible feeling I wouldn’t see him again.

  “Be careful,” he called after me.

  “We will.” I waved a hand in his direction. “Now go do something medical.”

  I tried not to think of Lainie’s reaction as I headed up one level to my father’s room.

  Doctor Laurita was in the hall. “How is he doing?” I asked her.

  “I checked on him a few minutes ago. His vital signs are good, but he’s sleeping. It would be best not to wake him up. He’s improving, but it’s going to be slow. I wish someone would have treated him right after he got the injury.”

  “Well, since the people who beat him up were the ones holding him in prison, there wasn’t much chance of that.”

  She sighed. “I know.” She looked at me. “I’d be happy to examine your eye for you now that things have calmed down. We haven’t had a chance to talk about why you’re wearing that eyepatch.”

  “Maybe tomorrow,” I said, not wanting to explain my plans. “About my father. Are you sure I shouldn’t try to find a way to get him off the planet and into a bigger hospital? I know you don’t have much staff, and you are low on supplies.” The hospital was so rundown, it was more like a makeshift field infirmary.

  “Unless you could get a doctor to go with him and arrange for a medical pod he could travel in, I really don’t think he should be moved. He mainly needs time and to stay still, and we can provide him those conditions here—if he cooperates, that is.”

  “I need to see him, or at least get to his room. I don’t want to disturb him. I just want to leave him a message.”

  The communications gabber band on her arm beeped. “I never realized how much I relied on these until we couldn’t use them when communications were blocked,” she said. She put her hand to her ear pin and listened, then said, “Good timing. Your father wants to see you. The nurse says he’s very agitated. Please try to convince him he needs to stay calm.”

  My father didn’t look any better than when I’d seen him a few hours earlier. A man in a hospital uniform was adjusting his pillows. “Now, that last dose will help you calm down,” the man said. “Try to keep still. It will help you recover.”

  “I don’t want to calm down!” my father yelled. I didn’t understan
d why he was so agitated. He’d understood that he needed to stay still because of his head injury. When he saw me in the doorway, he said to the man, “I need to speak to my son. Go away,” he added, waving at the door.

  “You do realize we’re only trying to help you,” the man said before turning to me. “I’ve given him something so he’ll stop trying to get up. He should be asleep very shortly.” He left, muttering something under his breath.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked my father, taking in the pallor of his face and bruises from the prison-guard beatings.

  “Like my head has been stomped on, but that’s not important right now. I heard the story about the MI. Does Lainie still have it?”

  “Don’t worry about that. We’re taking care of it.”

  “What do you mean, you’re taking care of it? Does she still have it?” He grabbed my arm.

  “She does, but she’s going to give it to the commander of the Combined Forces troops who have landed.”

  “No!” He tried to sit up.

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “Dad, calm down. You aren’t supposed to get upset. What’s going on?”

  “You have to keep the MI until we can get it to your mother.”

  “Why? It’s not fully functional, and she can help them make more. What’s special about this one?”

  “Your mother just got another message to me.” He took a few breaths. I didn’t like the raspy sound of them. “She’s been taken off the MI project!”

  “No! How could they take her off the project? She was the lead engineer.”

  “She told them her concerns about the bots’ capabilities and our lack of control once they are fully operational.” He slammed a fist on the bed. “After what that one did to your eye when it gave you a shock, she’s been determined to go over all their programming before any more are made. You’d think they’d agree since they’ve seen what Ansun has managed with them, but they didn’t like her questioning the project.” He winced and then took another breath. “She wants to know if Gregor told you anything about how he adjusted the particular machine that fixed the flaws in the iridium sections. I can’t remember its name … ”

  “It was a plasma nanoslicer. And no, he didn’t tell me anything.” Gregor had been the facilities manager aboard the space station, though he also had some incredible mechanical skills he’d put to use helping my mother. He’d been my friend as well, and Ansun was to blame for his death. “Doesn’t Mom know?”

  “No, she told him to record it all in the lab notations. They were planning to go over it, but the raiders took over the station before she could. She can’t get any information about whether the government recovered any of the records from the station, and since Gregor is dead, she doesn’t know if he recorded anything, but she thinks the MI might have a record. That’s why she doesn’t want it in the hands of the wrong people. She doesn’t know who to trust right now. You have to tell Lainie to give it to you and then you can bring it to me. I’ll hold onto it until she tells me what to do with it.”

  “Where is Mom?”

  “I don’t know. She couldn’t tell me, but I’ll find out.”

  “Why couldn’t she tell you?” When we’d been on Fosaan, the location had been classified, and we couldn’t tell anyone we were there. Had they established a new research station?

  “She doesn’t know where she’s at. They wouldn’t tell her where they were taking her.”

  That shocked me. People at classified locations were usually told where they were. “Can they do that? That makes it sound like she’s a prisoner or something.” It didn’t make sense. She was one of their top scientists.

  “They can and they did. Once I get out of here I’m not going to let that continue, no matter how loud I have to get.” His words slurred a little, and his eyelids drooped. I assumed the medicine was taking affect. At least I hoped that was all it was. He tried to grab for my arm again but he missed. “You’ve got to get that MI.”

  I didn’t think he should have to worry about the MI in his current state, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk him out of it. He was stubborn when his mind was set on something, especially something my mother asked him to do.

  “Okay, I’ll bring it here.” I calculated how long it would take to get to the spaceport and back. I’d need to see the raider woman and convince her to wait for me, and I’d need to avoid the troops looking for me. It was a lot of extra time in the open. “If I’m going to do this, I need to go now,” I said. “And stay calm until I get back. You won’t do Mom any good if you don’t get better.” It was the only thing I could think of that might make him follow the doctor’s orders.

  He closed his eyes without replying.

  As I headed out of the room and toward the exit, I heard some loud voices coming from outside. They sounded like they were being broadcast over speakers, but I couldn’t make out any words.

  When I turned down the corridor to the main hallway, I saw a large group of people gathered at the hospital’s main entrance.

  I zigzagged through them to the door. A man said to me, “We’re not supposed to leave.”

  I could see people outside moving around. Some of them were running, though not in any one specific direction. Others had stopped and were looking up at the sky. I pushed open the door.

  There were multiple broadcast flyers hovering overhead, all delivering the same message. “An immediate curfew is in effect. Remain at your current location until the curfew is lifted.”

  I heard Saunder’s voice behind me. “I’m coming with you.”

  I sighed. “You really should stay.”

  “Just to the port. I need to tell Lainie myself.”

  “It might be easier if I tell her.” I was afraid once he was in Lainie’s presence, she’d convince him to change his mind.

  “No, I know Lainie. She’ll march right back to the hospital so she can drag me to the ship.”

  “Okay, right.” I realized Saunder could help. He could take the MI back to my dad if the raider was impatient to leave and I didn’t have time to do it myself. “Let’s go. We’ve got to hurry.”

  Because of the steep cliffs on either side of the gorge, there was only one main road to the port, and it was crowded with people. I was glad they were ignoring the remain-in-place order. We’d have been very noticeable otherwise.

  I thought we were going to make it, but when we were halfway to the spaceport I heard my name. “Quinn! Quinn!”

  I forced myself to stay calm, though all I wanted to do was bolt. “Saunder, I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to go on straight to the port. Get the MI from Lainie, and take it back to my dad. Tell her it’s important that he have it and not a CF officer.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll figure something out.”

  He took off, and I tried to locate the voice so I could go in the opposite direction. It sounded like it was to my left, so I dodged to the right, trying to merge into the crowd and hoping whoever it was would pass me by.

  “Quinn!” The voice was familiar. It took me a moment to remember where I’d heard it—my grandfather’s office aboard the Everest when he had introduced me to a Mr. Ronti, a man with an elaborate title and a mysterious job. He was officially the chief political psychology advisor of the Department of Military Cooperation, the DMC. That meant he was basically chief manipulator of propaganda.

  Ronti had questioned me about Ansun, as if I could give him some insight to decipher what was going on in Ansun’s brain. I didn’t like the man, and I didn’t trust him. My father had warned me about the DMC. He said they had far too much power for a group that operated largely in the shadows. I had no idea why Ronti would be on Reyet. I didn’t know the DMC was ever involved in active operations. But since I’d already been spotted, it made no sense to run.

  I saw him moving toward me behind two soldiers who were pushing through the crowd, ignoring the protests
of the people they knocked aside.

  I decided it was better to acknowledge I’d seen him and pretend to play along with whatever he wanted. I could give him the slip later on when he wouldn’t suspect it.

  The soldier who reached me first grabbed the front of my shirt like I was a criminal trying to get away.

  “What are you doing? Let go of me.” I said, trying to remove his hand.

  He tightened his grip and leaned in, sneering at me with a mouth so narrow it looked as if someone had just slashed a line across his face. His eyes were narrow too, and a sick shade of slime green. “Don’t move,” he said.

  Wrong words to speak. Of course I moved. I shoved him away from me with one hand while I used the other to pry his fingers off. He let go of me. I think it only worked because he was surprised I hadn’t obeyed his order. Once he got over his surprise, he came at me again.

  “Graster! Stop! You are out of line! Let go of him at once!” Ronti snapped at the man. Ronti was red-faced and breathing hard. He was the type of person who looked like they never went outside, and being on Reyet was obviously a struggle for him.

  Graster released his hold on my arm, but not before digging his fingernails into me like he was trying to leave marks. I clenched my fist, wishing I could leave a few marks on his smug face.

  I took deep breaths. I needed to concentrate on getting to the port. “I’m surprised to see you here,” I said to Ronti, trying to sound as if I was happy to see him. His angry expression disappeared and was replaced by his usual smile, a smile I knew had nothing to do with what he was actually feeling.

  “I’m delighted to see you,” he responded, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “You’re looking well considering what you’ve been through. Your grandfather will be so relieved. How is the eye?”