“So I’m told. He was so distraught at his condition that he went into a psychotic rage. The doc said he had a psychotic break, but who knows. My father is on his way to double check Dr. Sinclair’s work and try to prevent more undead breakdowns.”
“Your father is Jason Thorpe, correct?”
“Unfortunately.”
I furrowed my brow. “Unfortunately?”
“My father is obsessed with his work. He has been for as long as I can remember. It doesn’t leave much time for family.”
“Oh,” I said, at a loss for words. For as long as I’d known Isabelle, she had had mysterious parents. She never talked about them, and it turned out they were fake. Now it seemed she didn’t want to talk about her real parents either. At least her father. “And your mother?”
Isabelle shrugged. “She’s the head of the Federation Intelligence Agency, so she’s as busy as you’d expect. She was building her network of spies while I was growing up. Then by the time I went to the Tower she was busy sailing around the world hunting down the Cult of Rae. She hasn’t stopped.”
“But you joined her in the FIA,” I pointed out. “Surely you two see each other sometimes.”
“The known galaxy is a big place,” my friend pointed out. “And it’s filled with dumpster fires waiting to be put out. So, it’s rare that we’re in the same place for long. In fact, it’s been over five years since I saw her in person.”
“Is she going to come here, to help with...whatever all that is,” I pointed toward the floor, symbolizing Galatia IV.
“No, she’s got bigger fish to fry right now. Her words were, ‘this is your mess - you clean it up. I have complete confidence in you.’”
I winced. I never knew my mother, but I imagined a stinging rebuke like that would hurt, no matter how old a person was. My curiosity got the best of me. “What did she mean, your mess?”
“I wasn’t on Galatia IV to cultivate a friendship with you,” she began.
“I know that. My father told me. But he didn’t tell me much about your mission.”
Isabelle nodded. “Well, it all began three years ago when my mother briefed me on a lead the FIA had about a virus that a shadowy organization, the Xanos Reapers, were working on. They’d raided an archaeological site on Tar Ebon and stolen some important genetic material. It was the dubbed the ‘primordial strain.’”
“Wait,” I said, “this virus hit Tar Ebon?”
“Around two thousand years ago, yeah. It’s not in the official records, and it never will be. It was deemed too dangerous for anyone to know about.”
“You can tell me though, right?”
Isabelle smirked. “Of course. The Isle of Patmos was the name of the island. A friend of the family, Favio, returned from there telling tales of the dead walking. So of course, my family had to investigate. We found a city besieged by the walking dead. They only came out at night, though, but they swarmed the island. We eventually defeated them - we destroyed every one - but it was one hell of a fight.”
“Someone dug up the bones of the dead you defeated, and reverse engineered the virus?” I hadn’t been in the top of my biology class for nothing.
“You got it. I followed all the leads along the way, but I kept hitting dead ends. Finally, I heard whispers of a Doctor Hague operating in a shell corporation on Galatia IV. I manufactured an identity for myself, delegated my responsibilities in the FIA and assumed the life of a teenage girl - again. I must say there was more death and destruction this time around...and that’s saying something.”
I had to chuckle at her grim humor. I imagined it hadn’t been easy growing up in the age of wooden ships and primitive technology. That said volumes about what she’d seen on my home world. “Kimberly was the key?”
“Yes. I needed access to her father’s home so I could try to collect evidence and gather clues. It didn’t work out as planned, however. Remember how many times we were invited to her house?”
“Like two,” I said, thinking back.
“Yeah. And I didn’t get anything those times either. And their lab was shielded with an energy nullification field which blocked both my power and any surveillance equipment I deployed. It took me a lot longer to do my job and I wasn’t fast enough.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” I said. “You couldn’t have known how far along they were to producing the live virus.”
“Tell that to my mother,” she replied sardonically.
“I will, if I ever get to meet her. My aunt.”
“She knew you existed and never told me. Some trust.”
“She did?”
“Yep, from the moment you were born, I suppose. She didn’t tell Dawyn, but she wasn’t surprised when I told her you existed. I pried the truth out of her that she’d known for as long as you’d been alive.”
“Wow. She really is a woman of secrets.”
“Secrets and misdirection. She won’t lie to her family - not directly - but she’s the master of omitting information or answering the question you didn’t ask.”
“I suppose that makes her a good spy,” I countered. “Need I remind you that you lied to me for two years.”
Isabelle laughed at that. “If you’d asked me if I was your cousin I would have answered with the truth, but touché, you’re right, I’m not that different from my mother.” She frowned, as if considering the implications of that truth.
“Where is Kimberly, anyway?”
“Her father sent her to go hide in a tree.”
“A tree,” I repeated blandly.
“That’s why she didn’t answer you that morning. Her father sent her into the middle of nowhere.”
“Because he knew the virus was going to get free?” I asked.
“Or knew it had already been unleashed. I’m still trying to piece together the timeline of events. In any event, after I dropped you off I detected a beacon from her and went with a team of Marines to rescue her. Then we stopped by her dear old dad’s laboratory.”
“Was he there?” I asked, finding myself sitting there with bated breath.
“His corpse was,” my friend replied as if reporting that it had rained that day. “We found his logs and a monstrosity created by the virus. That’s how I sustained my injuries, from slamming into terminals repeatedly, and a little friendly fire. Kimberly was hurt in the fighting but she’s recovering in the medical bay.”
That explained why my other best friend hadn’t come to visit me along with Isabelle. “I assume Kimberly knows about you.” I hesitated, though I wasn’t sure why. “Did you tell her about me?”
“That’s not my secret to tell,” Isabelle replied. “You can tell her when you see her again.”
“Was she infected?” I swallowed hard. “Did she die?”
“Surprisingly she didn’t. Apparently, she was inoculated against the virus at the hands of her father.”
“There was an anti-virus?” I prompted.
“Not so much an anti-virus as a vaccine. It prevents a person from contracting the virus but does nothing to stop the virus if you’re already infected.”
“I guess that’s good. If it destroyed the virus it would be a bio-weapon to be used against people like me.”
Isabelle raised an eyebrow. “You’re thinking like an FIA operative there, cousin.”
“I guess dying made me smarter,” I joked.
“Or at least more cynical.”
We both shared a laugh at that. For a moment it felt like old times - as if we were sitting on my bed talking about boys or studying for a test together. But then reality crashed in and I remembered things would never be the same. We would never sit on my bed talking about boys again or studying for tests. My childhood had been ripped away from me before I was ready.
The old me would have cried in that moment - or at least teared up. But the new me, well, the new me didn’t have time for tears. It was done and over. I could no more go back to the way I’d been two days earlier than I could fly. “Where are you goin
g next?”
“Back to the bridge to see what my dear uncle needs from me. If nothing, I’m going to follow the trail the Reapers left.” She hesitated. “Kimberly is joining the FIA.”
I perked up at that news. “She is?”
“She feels there’s no place for her on Galatia IV, not after what her father did. In the FIA we can scrub her history and she’ll just happen to share the last name with a mass murderer, instead of being his daughter. For the record, I wanted to change her name entirely, but she is attached to it.”
“Can I go with you?” A scene flashed in my mind of the three of us fighting faceless bad guys in space.
My best friend shook her head. “Your father would have my head if I endangered you any further. Stay here, get adjusted to your new social status and keep your head down.”
“That sounds so exciting,” I said while rolling my eyes.
“Think about this. It’s fun being rich.”
“Just how rich?” I asked, smirking.
“Let’s just say your father’s had funds gathering interest for two thousand years. You do the compound interest math.” She smiled and stood. “We’ll chat again soon, but duty calls.”
“I’ll go see Kimberly after you leave,” I said, standing and embracing her. “Stay safe.”
Isabelle nodded in agreement and a moment later had turned to the purplish mist I’d seen in my school and was gone. That was so cool. I wished I had a super power like hers.
Chapter 6
My guards insisted on following me to the medical bay. The nurses station had been repaired and was staffed by nervous-looking nurses, coordinators and doctors, despite the armed guards now stationed at every corner. They clearly didn’t want a repeat of the slaughter from before.
“Is it really necessary for the four of you to follow me everywhere?” I asked. “Couldn’t two suffice?”
“It’s standard procedure,” Terrence said.
“’It’s standard procedure,’” I mocked. “That’s your common refrain, you know that, right?”
“That’s because it’s typically the answer for the questions you ask,” he shot back.
We stopped in front of the door I’d been directed to. Door 666. If that wasn’t ominous, I didn’t know what was. I didn’t recall my suite number. “Will you at least wait outside while I talk to my friend?”
“After we check the room.” He gestured and two of the guards, Eleanor and Delenn, I think, though it was hard to tell them apart, entered. After several moments they emerged and gave a nod.
“Thanks,” I said sardonically, not waiting for Terrence to verbalize what the nods symbolized. The door opened at my approach.
Kimberly, who had obviously been alerted by my guards intruding, smiled at seeing me. “Rachel!” Her smile faded. “Sorry if I don’t get up. I’m still recovering.”
I smiled back, feeling genuine warmth toward my other best friend. “Hey. Isabelle told me about what happened to you. Dick move on behalf of your father.”
Kimberly blushed. “You mean a deadly move. Something a terrorist would do. I’ll never live it down.”
“Hey,” I scolded, “you had no way of knowing your dad was working on a deadly virus. You’re not to blame.” I continued to approach and put my arm around her in a sisterly embrace. “Chin up.”
Kimberly smiled. “You always know the best ways to encourage me.” She pulled away and pointed toward the door. “What’s with the heavy security? Personal guards?”
“Well,” I began, hedging, “You remember how Isabelle told you who she really was?”
“Yeah,” Kimberly said. “That was a shocker. Second highest person in the FIA - can you believe it?”
“I could believe it...after I found out who I really am.”
Kimberly blinked, her face scrunching up in a confused expression. “’Who you really are?’ Who are you?”
I took a deep breath, more from habit than a biological need. “I am the daughter of Dawyn Darklance. The supreme commander.”
Her eyes went bug-eyed and her mouth dropped open. She snapped it shut a moment later. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” I replied. “Well, I’m not sure how heart attacks would affect someone like me, but you get the point.”
“And you didn’t know you were his daughter? Were you raised by a different family or something?”
“No, no, my father, the man who raised me, is the supreme commander. He went into self-imposed exile to raise me after my mother died.”
“Wow. So all those times I was at your house...I was at the supreme commander’s house? Why didn’t Isabelle tell me this sooner?”
“She said it was my secret to tell. There’s something else.”
“What? Was your mother the crown princess of Monta Nallie?”
I rolled my eyes. “I wish. No, I...died.”
Kimberly stared blankly at me. “But you’re standing right in front of me.”
“I know. But, here’s the thing. The virus killed me...and then reanimated me.”
“My father’s virus? The one he helped create,” she amended.
“The same.”
“Wow. Do you feel any different?”
I shrugged. “A little more apathetic? Maybe a little smarter - I can’t tell.”
“You seem like the same friend I always knew,” Kimberly mused.
“Well I’m not,” I said, a little snappier than I would have preferred. I let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“No, it’s okay,” she replied, looking at the floor. “I don’t mean to diminish what you went through. I get what you meant about heart attacks, though.”
“Anyway,” I began, wanting to change the subject. “Do you know any more about what happened to Silver City in particular?”
Kimberly shook her head. “No. I tried reaching out to my remaining family down there but no luck. Obviously the news isn’t reporting anymore and the military isn’t telling me anything.” She nodded toward the door, beyond which my guards waited,
“I’ll see what I can find out,” I said. I was curious to see what remained of my house, my school and the town in general. How many had survived? Our town had been suburban. It wasn’t as densely populated as the more urban locales, but it still housed thousands of people and I had seen many die and rise again before my eyes. “I guess I don’t need to study for that test tomorrow.” I laughed.
Kimberly joined me in laughing. “With who you are you can go to any school in the Federation now.” She frowned. “Meanwhile I’ll be a pariah.”
“No, you won’t,” I reiterated. “Nobody has to know you were the daughter of the mad scientist.”
“Isabelle offered me a job at the FIA - if I can make it through basic training. I think that might be the route to go - to disappear like a ghost.”
“If anyone should be called a ghost, it’s me,” I said.
“We can both be ghosts,” Kimberly replied. “You physically, me figuratively.” She nodded as if the matter were settled.
I smirked but didn’t argue further. What would I do, anyway? My ambitions of being a nurse had just gone up in smoke, hadn’t they? Nobody would want an undead nurse around them, and the daughter of the supreme commander couldn’t be a common nurse. Stop it, I scolded mentally. You’re the same Rachel - nothing is beneath you, no matter who your father is. If only I believed my self-talk.
My friend and I lapsed into a long, comfortable silence. How could we talk about mundane things like clothing, boys or the latest reality TV shows after what happened? It felt like our innocence died along with my body because of the virus. The weight of adulthood, and all the dangers therein, had fallen upon us.
I decided to change the subject. “I didn’t ask what you’re in here for. What injuries did you receive?” A sheet covered most of her body below her chest.
“My legs were burned in the explosion.”
“Explosion? At the lab?”
; “Yeah. Who knew that when Isabelle shifts it’s not your whole body in one instant? She shifted us but not before the explosion burned my legs.” She shrugged. “They’re treating the burns and the doctors say I should make a full recovery.”
“Oh, that’s good,” I said. Isabelle hadn’t looked like she had any burns - but then again, she had been wearing a skin-tight armor of some kind that probably absorbed energy, if the holos were to be believed. “Did any of the Marines with the two of you die?”
Kimberly averted her eyes. “Yes. A lot. There was this monster - it was some kind of mutated test subject. It was three times as tall as a man and twice as wide.” She met my eyes. “I saw it crush a Marine with one motion, armor and all. Lasers had no effect and bullets barely penetrated.”
“How did you kill it?”
“Orbital strike.” She paused, waiting for me to catch on. Then, seeing the lack of understanding in my eyes said, “That’s how I got the burns. Command sent a tactical nuke down to sanitize the site and kill the thing.”
“You were burned by friendly fire?” I asked, aghast.
She shrugged. “Technically. But they also saved my life. When I was in that tree a bunch of the walking dead were closing on me. If Isabelle and her Marines hadn’t arrived, I would have been zombie chow.”
“True,” I conceded. Still - why would her father have authorized something like that - knowing his niece and daughter’s best friend were down there, not to mention the Marines? “Did the remaining Marines die?”
“No, Isabelle shifted the survivors out.”
I blinked. “Oh.” I knew next-to-nothing about shifting. “She can shift more than one person at a time?”
Kimberly raised her eyebrow. “Didn’t you pay attention when we were watching a documentary on shifting a few months ago?”
“No,” I admitted. “I mean, I was but I don’t remember seeing that.”
“How did you think they shifted ships if they could only shift one other person at a time?”
“Shift the ship and it shifts everyone within?” I guessed.
“No, it doesn’t work like that. If she shifted only the ship, then everyone inside the ship would instantly be exposed to vacuum and die.” Her voice took on a lecturing tone. “That’s what happened once in the early days of space flight - Flight 102. Bridgette shifted a transport ship into orbit and then back down. Only, some people didn’t come with it. She had forgotten two children were aboard and her mind didn’t encompass them. Historians say that set the space program back thirty years and led to a branching in faster-than-light research.”
Ghost Ranger Page 5