by M. D. Cooper
The time for indulging her emotions was over; it was time to act. She was going to get her wife back.
As she walked along the narrow passageway to the living area, Isa said to Phaedra,
It was the answer Isa had predicted. She was only an artist from Carthage, after all. Why would she need to see the plan of the PETER unless she had nefarious motives?
Isa halted and leaned back against the wall while she composed a message to Tanis. She hadn’t spoken to the governor much following the invasion drill at her gallery on Troy.
Since returning to Carthage, the relationship between her family and Tanis’s had never regained the same relaxed friendliness. Isa wasn’t one for holding grudges, and Erin liked Tanis and Joe a lot, but Martin seemed unable to forgive or forget the terror Jude had suffered during the drill. He didn’t seem able to be reasonable about it.
Despite that, Isa knew Tanis well enough to feel confident she would pay attention to her concerns. She wondered if anyone had even told New Canaan’s governor that Erin was believed to be dead.
“Tanis, I’m aboard the PETER on Athens. You must know about the ongoing problems with the planet and the evacuation. Did you receive a report that Erin died in the eruption? I know this might sound crazy, but I don’t believe it. I went to the coordinates where Phaedra last registered her presence, but her body wasn’t there. And what’s more, two of the Transcend’s engineers—Reiko and Leif—didn’t return to the ring’s C&C after the eruption. They went to a different section entirely.
“Perhaps this sounds crazy, but I think they might have done something to Erin to cut off her Link access and then took her there. I think they could be holding her. I want to search for her. I need the plans, but Phaedra won’t give them to me without your permission. Could you send it? And any other advice or help too, I guess. It’s vital that the TSF engineers don’t know what I suspect, so please don’t send in Marines, or at least not just yet. I don’t want these bastards to cover up what they’ve done by killing Erin and disposing of her body before we can find her.
Isa sent the message, but it would take a little while before she would hear back from Tanis. In the meantime, she had a charade to maintain.
She resumed her walk to the living area. When she arrived, Reiko and Hal were sitting in the lounge, chatting about what might have caused the eruption in spite of the PETER’s improved performance. They looked up briefly and then resumed their conversation. Isa went into the kitchen to grab some dinner before sitting down at the table.
“You didn’t choose the pasta, did you? It’s pretty bad,” Hal joked. “Right, Reiko?”
“I’ve had better hundred-year-old rations,” the woman agreed.
“No, I didn’t choose the pasta,” Isa replied.
Hal seemed to remember that Isa’s wife had supposedly just died. His face dropped. “Er, is your room okay? Got everything you need?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, thanks.”
Embarrassment and discomfort written large on his features, Hal turned to resume the technical discussion with Reiko, but she said, “Do you mind if I ask you something, Isa?”
“Depends what it is.”
“What are you doing here?” Reiko’s gaze was level and cold.
Isa took a breath. She needed to choose her words carefully.
“I’m going to need a while to process what’s happened. I wanted to spend some time where Erin worked.”
Hal looked downward, as if wishing he were somewhere else.
“I guess I know what you mean,” said Reiko. “Lark said you didn’t find Erin’s remains at the eruption site.”
“That’s right.”
“Unfortunately, a volcanic eruption is so devastating, it’s possible that you might not find anything at all.”
“I realize that.”
“I understand how you feel,” said Reiko. “We’ll all miss Erin a lot. She was a good person and a great engineer.”
“She was,” said Hal.
Lark entered the room. “I thought I’d find you here,” she said to Isa. “It’s good you helped yourself to some food. We don’t stand on ceremony up here.”
“Don’t worry,” Isa replied. “I’ve lived with Erin long enough to know that manners aren’t high on engineers’ list of priorities.”
“Shit!” Lark exclaimed. She paused, looking downward.
The other engineers were also concentrating on their Link feeds.
“What’s wrong?” asked Isa.
Lark raised her head, her forehead creased in concern. “Another earthquake. Seven point nine, thirty-six kilometers outside Attica, twenty kilometers deep.”
“Oh no!” said Isa. “How’s the evacuation going? I hope there aren’t any casualties.”
“Me too,” Lark replied. “All the buildings are earthquake-proof, and so is the spaceport. Most of the city’s population has already gone up, but people from outlying areas are still funneling in. I’ve told Phaedra to send them here if enough ships don’t arrive in time.” Lark filled her own plate before sitting down next to Isa.
As the woman ate, she joined in the discussion with the other engineers about the PETER. They were running through the fixes they had already tried, and deciding what to try next.
Isa was surreptitiously watching Reiko, but the woman maintained a convincing façade of normality. If Isa didn’t trust her gut so deeply, she might have begun to wonder whether her suspicions were correct.
Then something occurred to her: she’d met all the engineers Erin had mentioned except one.
“Where’s Leif?” she blurted, halting the engineers’ deep discussion.
“Oh, he’s finishing up some work on the other side of the PETER,” Reiko replied casually. “He’ll be back soon.”
“Jere says he’ll also be back soon,” said Hal. “He just sent Fazir on his way to Carthage aboard one of the ISF corvettes.”
“That’s good to know,” said Lark. “They must have moved him to the front of the evacuation list.”
“Of course,” said Reiko. “He’s gonna need half his body regrown.”
The conversation moved on, and Leif’s absence was forgotten by everyone except Isa. When she’d asked about him, Reiko’s gaze darted toward her in an unfriendly fashion.
She would have liked to grab Reiko by the throat and not let go until she revealed Erin’s whereabouts, but that wasn’t a viable way forward—especially when Erin’s other kidnapper appeared to be with her right then.
Isa had finished eating and was disposing of her plate and cutlery when Tanis’s reply arrived.
Isa, I’ve given you clearance for the PETER’s structural plans. This turn of events is very concerning on a number of levels. I love Erin like a sister, but for now, we can’t accuse the TSF’s engineers without proof—things are too tense.
I’m trusting you to conduct a careful search and not arouse suspicion. I’m also sending the Andromeda and two companies of Marines to assist in the evacuation. They’ll be there in two days, but until then, you need to keep Usef in the loop.
Most of all…dammit. Most of all, Isa, even if they have Erin’s body, we can’t let them escape with any of her datastores, Walter, or her mods. No matter what. She knows too much about our plans and facilities.
Stay safe, and once you have proof, call in Usef.
Isa was still thinking over the governor’s words, when Reiko suddenly shouted, “Oh!”
The engineer had half-risen from her seat, shock written on her features. Then she seemed to remember where she was and sat down again.
“Is something wrong?” Lark asked.
“No, I….” Reiko rubbed between her eyebrows with two fingers. “I received some news that surprised me, that’s all.�
�
“From the Transcend?” asked Hal. “I didn’t receive anything.”
“It was something personal.” She gave Hal a hard look.
“Okay, sorry.”
“I hope it wasn’t bad news,” said Lark.
“No. It wasn’t anything important,” Reiko replied, appearing oblivious to the contradiction between her words and her reaction. “What were we talking about?”
Lark reminded her of the point of their conversation, and the discussion continued.
Isa made herself a drink and returned to the table. She pretended to be concentrating on watching something on the Link, but every so often, she would lift her gaze to Reiko.
Whatever it was the woman had learned, it was calamitous enough to cause her mask to begin to slip. Whereas previously she’d been animated and vocal in giving her opinion on the problems with the ring, now she barely said a word. Her color had paled too.
Something had gone wrong for her. Perhaps Erin had escaped and was on her way back to them. Isa certainly hoped so. If she wasn’t, now that Isa had the PETER’s plans, she might be able to find her wife that night while the engineers slept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
STELLAR DATE: 05.13.8942 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: PETER (Planetary Exo-Thermic Extraction Ring)
REGION: Athens, New Canaan System
The pool of blood that had formed beneath Leif’s body had widened to its farthest extent and begun to congeal, and Erin still hadn’t figured out how she could successfully attack Reiko when she returned. There was nowhere to hide in the bare room, and Reiko would be entirely aware that Erin would be waiting for her. Erin would not have the advantage of surprise, as she’d had with Leif.
The only saving grace in the situation was that Erin was fairly certain Reiko wouldn’t have a weapon to shoot her with. Nothing like that existed on the PETER, as far as she was aware, and it would be impossible for Reiko to bring in anything military.
On the other hand, she might have been able to mock something up from the scant resources available to her. If she had, Erin’s job would be that much harder.
She had searched Leif on the off chance he was carrying something she could use to attack Reiko, but she’d turned up nothing on the cooling body. All she had was the torture wand Leif had brought along with him, which, in her hands, was nothing more than a piece of metal.
Erin took stock of her situation. She had two pieces of metal, one good hand, and two feet against whatever weapon Reiko could invent.
Things weren’t looking good.
Doing her best to ignore her bone-dry throat and tongue, aching body, pain-ridden hand, and exhaustion, Erin scanned the chamber for the hundredth time. Its bare walls and floor seemed to mock her.
Can’t think of anything? they said. Tut tut. Usef would be disappointed in you.
Usef would be disappointed in her. In her situation, he would know exactly what to do, she was sure. Hell, he would probably just rip the door from its hinges or ram it open with his head. In fact, Usef probably would never have gotten himself into her situation in the first place.
But she wasn’t Usef. She didn’t have his bulk, his strength, or his long years of military experience. She was short and not particularly strong, and while she might have done well in drills and the dangerous situations she’d found herself in previously, there had always been guns involved. She couldn’t rely on her sharp-shooting abilities here.
There has to be something I can do.
She thought back, trying to remember if she had ever been in a fight without a weapon before. When she’d stopped Nathan Hart from stealing the picotech, she’d had a gun. Both times. When the SSA terrorist, Pippa, had attacked her, she’d had the weapon Tanis had insisted she carry. When she’d fought Tony on the seabed in Troy, she’d had a knife.
Troy.
Erin recalled the invasion drill at Isa’s art gallery. She’d had nothing to fight with then, but she’d wrested a weapon from the soldier who had been guarding Martin, Isa, and poor little terrified Jude. That time, she’d managed to surprise her enemy….
Erin looked upward. Exposed pipes ran across the ceiling, perhaps part of Lark and Fazir’s earlier attempts to fix the structure, or perhaps just because the PETER was not built for show. The pipes were not thick and didn’t look particularly strong, but she was not heavy. She guessed they would probably hold her weight.
She smiled wryly. She had a plan Usef would not have been able to execute. One day, she would tell him about it.
However, when she looked at the pipes again to gauge the distance she would have to jump, she doubted she would make it—the ceiling was high. Still, she didn’t have a better plan.
She had no choice. She had to reach those pipes.
Erin checked the position of the two torture wands she’d tucked into the back of her pants. If either of the devices fell out as she jumped, she would have to drop down to retrieve them and then jump again. The metal pieces seemed secure, though.
Next, she gingerly rewound the bloody, stiff cloth around her injured hand. The pain from it soared higher then subsided again to a deep throb. She would never attempt her feat single-handed; she would have to ignore the pain as well as she could to grab one of the pipes.
When she had readied herself, Erin walked to one end of the room, focused her gaze on the area of the ceiling above the door, and ran.
She leapt and fell, crashing into the door. She estimated that she’d missed reaching the pipes by about thirty centimeters. She tried again. She ran, jumped, and failed again, this time by an even greater margin.
Erin tilted back her head and regarded the pipes. If only she could reach them, they would give her exactly the advantage she needed. If she couldn’t, she was as good as dead.
She forced herself to her feet and walked resolutely to the opposite side of the room. Mustering all her energy and focus, she ran toward the door, leapt, and…missed again. This time, her shoulder thudded brutally into the door as she came down, setting off a torrent of agony in her damaged hand.
This third failure lit a fire of anger and frustration in Erin. She couldn’t exhaust herself further with these fruitless attempts. She would need all her remaining strength to kill Reiko when she came through the door.
Erin climbed to her feet and strode across the room, thinking, her head lowered in concentration. She had to get up to the ceiling, but she didn’t know how. She simply wasn’t tall enough to do it naturally, and to continue trying and failing would exhaust her so much that she would complete Reiko’s job for her before she arrived.
Erin turned and paced across the room again, wishing she had something to stand on that would give her a little more height. She moved sideways to avoid the pool of blood, and halted. Her gaze shifted from the floor to Leif’s body.
Erin stepped to the head end of the corpse and bent down to grab under its shoulders. The body was heavy and unwieldy, but she managed to drag it over to the door and position it so that the head was touching the door.
Why didn’t I think of this before?
Reiko would now have to contend with Leif’s body in order to enter the room.
Erin kicked his legs apart so that she wouldn’t tread on them in her run up.
Again, she walked to the opposite side of the room. As she prepared herself for her running start, she noticed that a new, wet, red streak now ran right across her path. Sighing, Erin returned to Leif, pulled off one of his boots and then his sock, and used the material to clean the smear off the floor.
Finally certain she had eliminated the slipping hazard, she was ready to try again. Erin took a deep breath. She focused on Leif’s back and then lifted her gaze to the pipes. She had to succeed this time.
Gathering herself into a ball of speed and determination, she sped across the room. Her foot landed square on Leif’s back and she launched off. Her arms reached upward, her body curved with effort. Her hands snatched at the pipes.
And
missed.
Erin landed on the soft, unstable surface of the corpse and fell off, coming down heavily on one knee.
Dammit!
She rose to her feet, wincing with the new pain. She had the almost uncontrollable urge to kick the corpse, but that would only make her knee hurt worse. She’d been so close this time. All she needed was another fifteen centimeters or so of additional height.
It was so obvious. If she hadn’t been so debilitated, she was sure she would have seen it immediately.
Erin knelt down next to Leif’s body, ignoring the pain from her knee, and slid her good hand under the corpse’s shoulder. She tried to lift him, but quickly realized she would need to use both hands to turn him over.
In the end, Erin required both hands and a knee to accomplish the feat, but eventually the corpse flopped onto his back, Leif’s unfocused eyes staring up at the pipes that Erin was trying to reach. His blood had matted in his beard and hair. Erin shuddered. For the first time, she wondered what had happened to his AI. He had to carry one; all engineers did.
She hoped it was as dead as Walter.
Now all she had to do was to prop the corpse back up against the door.
This proved harder than turning him over. Whenever she pulled the body’s top half upward, the corpse would slip down again, though never quite as far down as its original position. Gradually, she moved Leif into a sitting position with his back against the door, his chin resting on his chest.
Luckily for her, rigor mortis was beginning to set in, and the body was losing its floppiness.
Her uninjured hand on her hip, Erin debated what to do next. She could either run up again and try to launch from Leif’s shoulder, or she could simply attempt to scale the body. She settled on the latter, guessing that the force of herself pushing off after a run up would thrust the body down and cause her to fall short. Again.
Erin stepped onto Leif’s thighs. Pressing on the door with one hand for balance, she lifted a foot and placed it on Leif’s shoulder. She bent her knees, craned her neck to see the pipes, planted her other foot on the corpse’s head, and jumped.
Her open fingers closed around the pipes.