“I might have, under normal circumstances,” Jelly Bean said. “I believe she may have stepped out when I was, erm, preoccupied with the needs of the Chesed.”
“I asked you to watch her, Bean,” Shango said sternly, giving her an intense, scolding look.
“With all due respect, Captain,” Jelly Bean scrunched up her face, making it look especially cartoonish. “While I’m programmed for one thousand, two hundred and ninety-six ship operations functions at this time, babysitting has never been one of them.”
“Well, glad that’s cleared up!” Loco said, finding his seat while he began to remove what remained of his body armor. “So let’s just shove off already before more trouble finds us.”
“I can understand why she might want to wander off on her own,” Olofi admitted. “But even so, she knew what time to expect us back. Something could have gone wrong.”
“Something went wrong when she got on our ship,” Loco corrected. “And now? Problem solved.”
“You know we can’t just leave her if she’s in danger,” Olofi answered.
“I don’t think I do know that, Mister White Knight,” Loco scoffed. “Besides, she’s probably fine. I bet she just got her feelings hurt because we’re not rolling out the red carpet for a fucking stowaway-cum-spy.” He slapped one of his partially armored knees and stamped with one foot, looking at Jelly Bean. “Come on, let’s go already!”
“I find it unlikely she’d have just run off at this point,” Shango said.
“I agree, Captain,” Jelly Bean said as she gave him a virtual nod. “I’ll check her location on the global tracking device I placed on her. I’ll just need to borrow some processing power and network access from the Chesed’s main system…”
“Wait, hold up,” Olofi said, surprised. “When did you put a tracking device on Bentley? And how?”
“Within the first hour of our meeting,” Jelly Bean replied. “The technology is very easy to place without humans catching wind. Organic sensory acuity really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, you know. You predictably miss some very obvious things.”
“Why bother, though?” Loco asked. “Who gives a fuck where she went off to?”
“I do,” Jelly Bean answered in her most helpful tone. “As do the others. I anticipated they might if something like this happened. I also placed a tracker on your hostage. In case you lost her.” Jelly Bean looked directly at Loco when she said this, adding the subtlest emphasis on you.
“Enough questions,” Shango said. “Bean, please locate Bentley for us.”
“Yes, Captain!” Jelly Bean’s facial display went blank while she made her dive into the main computer. It took less than a minute before she returned.
“No signal in my base-wide search,” she reported. “I’m expanding my search now…” Her digital lips pursed while she analyzed the data coming in. “I think I’m locked in now… She’s moving. Mark 85, heading at a moderate speed… I believe she is on another ship.”
“So she hitched another ride out of here,” Loco said. “End of story. We all live happily ever after. So can we get going already?”
“She may have been taken against her will,” Shango stated.
Loco grinned at this. “You know, maybe Jedson or Max snagged her, thinking they could use her as collateral against us? Wouldn’t that be rich? Jokes on them if they think we’re going to give a fuck.”
“We should follow the signal,” Olofi suggested.
“Agreed,” Shango said with a nod.
“Are you serious?” Loco’s voice cracked in frustration. “Whoever took her, she’s their problem now. Which means she’s not our problem anymore. That’s supposed to be a good thing.”
“Just because we’ve been cast out doesn’t mean we can act like this, Loco,” Olofi protested. “If anything, it means the opposite.”
“Are you still holding out for redemption, brother?” Loco grinned cruelly, but the look when their eyes met told Olofi a different story. “Forget it. Embrace the shitshow already.”
“Bean,” Shango spoke to the android. “Set a course to follow your signal on Bentley. Catch us up, but don’t be too obvious.”
“Acknowledged,” Jelly Bean said as she once more interfaced with the Chesed’s computer. The ship’s engines began to come to life, initiating liftoff.
“All that is holy! Are you guys fucking with me?” Loco raised his voice. “After all this shit we’re in, you want to just start sticking your necks out for her? Why is it I’m the one who’s got to lay this out for you guys? She doesn’t matter. She’s mortal. Not one of us.”
“The same is true for you,” Shango reminded him. “Mortality is a curse we all share.”
“Not the same,” Loco said, crossing his arms in a huff.
“To blasters and blades, it certainly is,” Shango countered. “And that’s all that matters.”
“Can you actually catch us up, Jelly?” Olofi asked her. “Do we even know what kind of ship she’s on?”
“Negative,” Jelly Bean said. “My tracking devices only give spatial coordinates. We will need scanners or visuals for further information.”
“Then get us out of here,” Shango directed her. “Begin pursuit now.”
“Leaving Sparta Station dock now,” Jelly Bean affirmed.
“Good,” Shango said. “Let’s go get Bentley back.”
+++
Aboard the Chesed, Sparta Space Station, Klaunox Sector
Jade’s sudden amorous enthusiasm had somehow managed to infuriate Loco more than her kicking and screaming ever had. Combined with the fact that he was now refusing to do anything besides fume at the bar over the team’s decision to rescue Bentley, he had placed the responsibility for watching their hostage onto Olofi.
“You know, I really thought you were scary guys when I first met you,” Jade said to him as he led her back down towards her spot in the cargo bay. “But now I can tell you were just hired by some bad people.”
“Your first instinct was probably better,” Olofi said, feeling drained by the entire ordeal. Normally he’d have been relieved to have such a good-spirited, cooperative captive, but at this moment he was so caught up in the mass of worry that had built up over the past few days that he wished she would be quiet enough for him to gather his thoughts. “We’ve done lots of bad things, you know. Like you couldn’t imagine.”
“But you wouldn’t hand me over to those guys even though it put you in so much danger!” Jade insisted. “That’s more than I can say about Jedson… Didn’t even give me so much as a call before running away.” her lips turned into a pouty frown as she looked to the floor. “I really thought he loved me, you know. As much as a guy like him could love someone, anyway.”
“My guess is a guy like him isn’t capable of loving someone other than himself,” Olofi replied, looking forward while they stopped at the cargo bay gates. “Most people are like that, I’ve found.”
“That sounds really sad,” Jade said. “The universe must have been really cruel to you.”
“Not especially.” Olofi paused for a moment while he interacted with the gate’s security screen. “I’ve just seen a lot of it. Eventually you start seeing some patterns.”
“Oh, well…” Jade pushed a lock of hair back while staring at the floor. “I still believe in love. And I know there’s love out there for people like you, too. Whatever you might think of yourself.”
Olofi shut his eyes with a sigh and let the security screen drop out from five seconds of inactivity.
“Actually,” he opened his eyes and turned around to look at Jade. “I don’t see why we need to be shutting you in the cargo bay at this point. We’re well past only having you here for a few hours, and I don’t see you running off again.”
“I don’t know where I’d run to,” Jade admitted. “Right now, this is the only place I can feel safe.”
“May as well give you a room, then.”
“Really?” Jade’s face, gone forlorn from the topic of
discussion, lit up again. “With a bed and everything? For me? Here?”
“Just until we figure out what we’re actually doing with you.” Olofi walked away from the gates to lead Jade back to the elevator.
“Deck two,” Olofi instructed the elevator. It shut around them and they began to ascend.
“Does my room have its own shower?” Jade asked. “I feel so gross… I need to exfoliate, fix my makeup, wash my hair… You don’t have argan oil onboard, do you?”
“We’ve got an onboard chemfab system,” Olofi said. “It can mix most oils, soaps, and detergents, but we might be short on components if you try to do something fancy.”
“I’ve never made my own soap before,” Jade said with interest. “Is it complicated?”
“It’s as complicated as asking Jelly to make you something,” Olofi replied. “Though she might be a bit busy right now.”
“Oh. Something to look forward to, I guess!”
“Deck two,” the elevator announced before opening. Olofi led her through the main corridor and took a left, taking her to the room directly next to the one they’d assigned to Bentley. It opened up on his approach.
“It’s a bit small…” Jade said as she looked inside. “And plain.”
“Not what you’re used to, I’m sure,” Olofi said.
“It’ll do. At this point just to be able to lie down in a soft bed would be heaven!” Her heels clicked their way inside and she plopped down onto the bed. “I’m so stressed… Oh, for a massage right now!”
“We’ll need to lock you in here,” Olofi said. “For your own safety, too.”
“I’m just going to try to get some sleep,” Jade answered while kicking off her high heels.
Olofi set the door’s settings to restricted access, swiping the screen away as the door shut their hostage into her new accommodations.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Panopticon Chamber 001, Aboard the Geburah
Bentley awoke in a haze, as she had before, but this time without the comfort of not knowing how she’d ended up in this situation. It was still fresh in her mind how she’d been taken, and the moment she felt herself able to move, she jerked with every limb, finding them immobile.
“Subject is conscious,” a voice reported. “Ready to proceed.”
She couldn’t see anything, even though she was sure her eyes were open. She didn’t feel any kind of blindfold on her face, and gathered that she was in a totally lightless room. She was seated in some kind of uncomfortably angular chair with a twinge of cold metal to it where her skin touched.
“What the fuck?” she muttered. Her voice echoed slightly in the darkness.
Then the lights came on.
It was a sudden, intense flash of light that gave Bentley no time to adapt. She shut her eyes out of reflex and pain, but opened them again out of a need to see her captors. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out two humanoid shapes close in front of her. When she looked down, she saw that her bindings were a series of metal coils that wrapped around each limb and kept them cinched tight against her chair. She looked back up fluttering a few pained tears from her eyes, to get a better look at the two men.
The one further from her was one of those black-armored soldiers that had taken her. He was standing a few paces off while holding a large blaster rifle in both hands, tilted slightly towards Bentley. The one closer to her was a tall, gangly man whose face was obscured by green-lensed goggles and a black surgical mask. The room was circular, and its walls apparently were entirely composed of mirror.
“It’s time,” the masked man said. “Let us begin.”
“Well, shit,” Bentley said, groggily. “I know I’m probably a few months behind on my dentist appointments, but damn, you guys mean serious business.”
“This is no game, little girl,” he hissed menacingly. It almost seemed like a deliberate affectation.
“I know, I know,” Bentley replied. “Oral hygiene is no joke. I’ve gotten the talk before, don’t worry.”
“You’ve got a clever mouth,” the man said, slipping a plated multitool from his belt. He manipulated its home screen and two prongs protruded from it that sparked with electricity. “Perhaps you should put it to better use.”
“Wow,” Bentley scoffed. “Does that line ever get you anywhere? I mean, buy a girl a drink first!”
“Where is Legba?” the man came closer, staring at her behind those flickering goggles. “How did he escape undetected?”
“Legba?” Bentley pondered the name, looking up as though trying to remember. “Legba, Legba… Is that the new brand of toothpaste you guys keep pushing on your patients? I know you guys need your kickbacks but I prefer to go with gener-AGGGH!”
The two prongs of the doctor’s device pushed into her right arm, and her entire body felt like it had been set on fire in a brief surge of intense pain. The moment he pulled away, it ceased, and Bentley gasped, realizing the agony had left her unable to breathe.
“I’m a busy man, little girl,” he said, adjusting the settings on his device. “And I work for an even busier man with even less patience. Wasting my time is wasting his time. And wasting his time is very ill-advised.”
“Motherfucker…!” Bentley choked out, regaining her bearings.
“Well then, let’s start from the beginning. How did you first come to be acquainted with Legba and the sword?” He brought the prongs of his device up to her neck as a warning.
“Fuck, let me think,” Bentley said, shaking off the memory of that moment of pain. “It’s been such a long time.”
“I suggest you recall as quick as you can,” the masked man said. “You have little else to dwell on.”
“Sure, sure…” Bentley nodded. “But what was that name again?”
“Legba,” the man repeated.
“Sorry, again?”
“Legba!” he shouted this time. “Where is Legba?”
“Sorry, you’ve just said that word so many times it’s lost all meaning to me now. You ever have that happen to you? Like, you know the word means something but it just starts to sound like gibb-AAAGH!”
Bentley’s torturer let the prongs dig into her skin again, eliciting another scream.
+++
“This is taking too long,” Amroth said as he stared with contempt at the exchange taking place on the other side of the mirrored Panopticon Chamber. “She doesn’t seem to know anything of value. Are you certain you’ve acquired the right girl?”
“Absolutely,” his operations lead answered. “She meets all specifications based on profile and footage.”
“Something is not as it should be,” Amroth said. He summoned a large viewscreen in front of him and activated it verbally: “System, playback Meridian Station 6 footage featuring subject.”
The video came up as he had seen it many times before, depicting minidrone footage of travelers entering and leaving the spaceport. Thousands came and went every day, but hours of analysis had given them these few seconds. A girl and a hooded old man, hurrying into the departures section together. The man was one that Amroth could recognize down to the smallest detail.
“Legba,” he said with a hint of bitterness when his eyes went over the image of the man. “Just you wait.”
His sight moved to the girl, and he used his corteX uplink to pause it right as she came into focus, then zoomed in on her face.
“Give me an image of the girl we’ve got, now,” he instructed the computer. Another screen popped up with a close-up of their captive. She had beads of sweat on her face from the forced nervestim she’d been on the receiving end of, but still was managing to make a defiant smile. Amroth placed the two screens side by side.
“We have the right girl,” he concluded. “Now we just need to determine what use he had for her.”
“There was no sign of the sword on her person,” the Commander added.
“Of course not,” Amroth said. “Only a fool would carry something like that on their person. She’s hidden i
t somewhere. Or she knows where he’s hidden it. We just need to make her tell us where that is.”
“Our forced cortical readings show she hasn’t told anything like a lie so far, sir. Just deliberate nonsense. She’s being evasive.”
“Evasion is a fool’s tactic,” Amroth said. “It does nothing but waste time and energy delaying the inevitable. Given time, the truth always reveals itself. She will be no different.”
He turned away from the viewing dome to let the doors to the brig’s main corridor open up to him. “Keep me informed. I want coordinates and names.”
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