Of Sea and Stars (Partners Book 3)

by Melissa Good

  It had been several weeks, and though he still seemed pale, he winked at her as he came into the carrier. “Hello, Dev.” He put a backpack down on the back shelf. “Try to be gentle, will you?”

  “Of course,” Dev assured him.

  “You got enough kit?” Jess asked. “They fill that sack up for ya?”

  Kurok came up and gingerly sat down on the jumpseat next to Dev. “They did. I have what I brought from the station, and they added the basics.” He clipped restraints over him. “And frankly, I’m glad to be getting away from med here. Too many questions I can’t answer.”

  “Jared?” Jess hazarded a guess.

  “He’s convinced I should be a study project,” Kurok muttered. “I told him to go find some starfish or something.”

  Jess chuckled. “Yeah, he tried that on me back in the day. I had to slug him to get him off it.” She pulled down her restraints and fastened them. “They won’t ask those kind of questions at the Bay.”

  “No.” Kurok smiled wryly. “That they won’t.”

  Dev clipped comms on. “BR270006, requesting flight access.” She hit the hatch retract. “I will miss having you here, Doctor Dan. But I know the sets at Jess’s birthplace will be very glad to see you.”

  “Mmm.” Kurok made a low noise in his throat. “I’ll be glad to see them, too, especially after what you told me about the Bay’s sudden reversal of generations of rampant hatred of bio alts. I’m not quite sure I buy that.” He eyed Jess. “Based on past experience there.”

  Jess regarded him from behind her console. “Thanks for taking them on,” she said.

  Dev lifted and turned the carrier and gently glided out the cavern opening into a fog dense, but rain free afternoon.

  “Mmm.” Doctor Dan made the same low noise again and met Jess’s eyes. “Not really sure how many other options I have,” he admitted, with one of his gentle smiles. “Or you, for that matter.”

  “Truth.” Jess leaned back in her chair. “Though they’d have put you back in service if you’d wanted it.” She jerked her head back in the direction of the Citadel. “Jase okayed it.”

  “I know.” Doctor Dan extended his legs out along the floor of the carrier. “But I think I’d do better at the Bay. More challenges and fewer complications.”

  Jess got that. She triggered her boards and ran the checks, though she hoped she wouldn’t have to use anything on them today. Then she pulled the navigation input over and coded in the coordinates for their second destination.

  THE BAY WAS full of ships, unlike the last time they’d been there. The foggy air drifted over the water, revealing craft crossing from the sea entrance to the cavern, the debris from the war dragged clear out of the way. Along the cliff face there were also signs of repair, and the doors to the big ancient guns were closed and sealed.

  They saw teams outside working. Small moving figures busy and flyers overhead with hooks and cradles moving things.

  Dev curved the carrier around in an arc and aimed for the landing bays, two of which were now operational. “Stand by, Drake’s Bay control,” Dev spoke into her input. “I copy station two, pad one.”

  “Welcome, Dev,” Ops responded. “See ya down.”

  Kurok’s lips twitched. “That was friendly.”

  “They think Dev flies sexy,” Jess said. “And they’ve never really been formal.”

  “Mmm.”

  Jess deactivated her boards and folded her hands over her stomach. “They got a lot of fixing done,” she said as Dev brought them in for a landing, using her jets to ease them into the bay and onto the pad as gentle as soft rain.

  “They did,” Dev agreed. She shut down systems and glanced outside to see a Bay mech hooking them up to power. She gave him a smile and wave. He waved back and winked at her, and she realized it was the young man who’d inspected the carrier way back when they’d first come.

  A Bay rat he said? Now he was a mech, and he’d been one of the ones who’d gone to station. So many changes for so many people.

  She opened the hatch, extended the ramp, and he stuck his head inside as they were gathering themselves up. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Rocket.” He winked again. “Yo, Drake.”

  “Yo,” Jess returned the greeting. “How’s it?”

  “Bitchin’,” he responded. He backed out of the way to let her exit, with Doctor Kurok and Dev behind her. “Waiting for you up in the hall,” he informed her. “Whole bunch.”

  “Thanks, ya scrub.” Jess, nevertheless, smiled at him.

  “Yo, like level two mech scrub.” He pointed at the patch on his overalls. “I got a promo since they processed half the half, you know?”

  “I know.” Jess did a fist bump with him. “Congrats.”

  They walked through the cavern and through the halls, accompanied by the far off sounds of hammering and the screech of cutting steel, but without seeing any other living beings.

  It seemed creepy. Jess pushed that thought out of her mind though and squared her shoulders as they emerged onto the landing, hauling up a little as she detected the presence of a lot of people. “Whoa.”

  The entire floor of the hall was filled. As they entered, all the people there fell silent and turned to face the stairs, heads tilted back.

  “Mmm,” Kurok grunted softly. “Could be welcome, could be lynching. You never can tell with the Bay.”

  Jess went to the balcony and looked down at them, her hands resting on the wrought iron railing. “Let’s find out. I’m not in the mood to be lynched today.” She paused then drew in a breath. “Hai!” She let out a bellow, the echoes reflecting from the rock walls.

  A moment of silence and then. “Hai!” The yell came back from a thousand throats.

  “Meh. Should be okay.” Jess turned and started down.

  Dev and Kurok exchanged glances. “Programming really did not cover all of this natural born stuff, Doctor Dan.”

  “No,” he agreed. “I never really envisioned this particular scenario.” He took hold of the railing and started down after Jess. “Really, I never envisioned being inside this place again. Or leaving station. Or having you be as breakout a success as you are.” He sighed. “Failure all around on my part.”

  “I’m sure it will be okay.” Dev walked quietly next to him. “They really liked the idea of you coming here. I was there and heard them. And of course the sets were really happy.”

  “We’ll see,” he replied. “It is what it is, I suppose, and certainly could have been far worse.”

  They reached the fifth level. “This is where they have the sets living,” Dev commented. “They said they liked it.”

  Kurok paused and regarded the corridor. “Guest quarters?” he said after a moment. “Or it was, at any rate.” He noted the newly affixed designation. “Hum. Spacer quarters.”

  Dev studied it with interest. “Spacers,” she mused. “So that is what they decided to call us? Interesting.”

  “Interesting,” Kurok agreed. “Let’s see what else we have in store.” He started down again. “This might not be as horrific as I’d imagined.”

  There was a space cleared at the bottom of the steps and the three of them stepped into it. Jess felt it as soon as she stopped walking. That ephemeral, extrasensory energy that was the Bay. Was all it’s history, and the self knowledge of what it was.

  What it had been.

  Who they were. Who she was. For a very long moment she almost reversed it all. Chucked up Interforce. Gave up the oath and the crazy.

  Almost wanted to just come home because in that moment she breathed it in and understood that this was hers, and home, and where she belonged.

  She knew it.

  They knew it.

  If she stepped back now, the odds were a million to one she’d ever come to this place again, to have this, to own this place and be wanted by these people because all those odds were against her staying alive long enough to claim it again.

  Was she an idiot for turning her back on this? Jes
s glanced aside to see Dev standing next to her, hands clasped behind her back, head up, jaw forward, ready to stand by her regardless of what fool thing she did next. Dev would stand by her.

  Would fly into danger with her. Would risk the insanity that was insertions and single team entries into dangerous places and likely, likely die alongside her in some ultimately pointless way.

  Then the time for reflection was over and several slighter figures ran forward, sets and Cathy, to greet Dan Kurok, and the crowd moved toward them.

  One of the bios reached him. “Doctor Dan! It’s so excellent to see you!” he said. “We have so much to show you, and the natural borns here have been so good to us!”

  Mike, and Brion and Dan were moving forward, and it was a little chaotic. “C’mon back to the council room so we can hear ourselves think,” Brion said. “Time enough for a party when we’re done with everything.”

  Jess exhaled and moved forward, touching Kurok on the shoulder and indicating the way.

  DEV LET THEM go off and decided to stay with the sets and listen to their excited stories. Cathy was there as well, and she came over to Dev.

  Dev smiled. “It’s very different, isn’t it?”

  “I thought it was going to be terrible,” Cathy confided. “It was so rough and so horrible at first. But really they’ve turned out to be good people.” She glanced to the side and lifted a hand to wave slightly.

  Dev was aware of the kid from the cavern standing nearby, arms crossed, a grin on his face, watching Cathy. “I find many of the people here quite interesting,” she said. “I understood a lot more about Jess after I met some of them.”

  Cathy nodded.

  “Do you want to see where we live now, NM-Dev-1?” one of the BeeAyes asked. “Can we show you?”

  Dev nodded, and the BeeAye, along with two KayTees, guided her back up the steps toward the fifth level. They were all dressed in the Bay overalls and the woven sweaters covered their collars as she remembered hers being covered when she was dressed as a seafarer during her first mission.

  “That’s nice.” Dev indicated the sign as they went past. “Spacers.”

  “Yes,” the KayTee next to her said. “That is what they said was different about us. That we came from space. From station.”

  “Not that you are biological alternatives.”

  “Yes. It’s so excellent!” The KayTee opened one of the doors. “This is my housing.” He stood back with evident pride. “Only mine!”

  It was much the same as the space she’d stayed in when they’d visited. Small, and somewhat shabby, but his. More space than he’d ever had in his whole life before now. A cubby to store things in, the hammock for sleeping, the sanitary unit. On the table and chair there was already a scattering of things.

  A shell, she noted and smiled. “Excellent,” Dev said. “I know how it feels to have this, in fact. When I was assigned quarters in the base, I was also amazed to have a space all for myself.”

  She thought, perhaps, that this was likely the least of the spaces available, and that the natural born had larger, nicer rooms, but given what they had come from and what their expectations had been?

  Yes, this was more than optimal.

  “Excellent,” the KayTee agreed. “And they call us by our names.” He took a breath and smiled at Dev. “I never thought an assignment would be this good. And see the coverings!” He extended his arm. “We were so cold when we got here and they gave us these so we would be more comfortable.”

  The overalls were rough and workmanlike. A thick constructed fabric that provided protection from the fierce wind and a little coated against the ever present rain. The sweater they wore along with it was an off color gray green, but all importantly warm.

  And, as importantly, what many others in the Bay wore. Probably these in fact had come from some of the natural born who had been made dead in the fighting.

  Dev held out her arm. “This garment was given to me by Jess for the same reason. It is the skin of a fish.”

  They all crowded into the room on hearing this, reaching out to touch the sleeve of her jacket.

  “A fish?” the BeeAye said in an astonished tone. “Really?”

  “Yes. A shark, which is a very large fish in the sea. It is lined and very warm.” Dev unzipped the front and displayed the inside. “It is good when people take care for us,” she said. “And I am very glad the people here want to take care and make this a good assignment.”

  “It could have been suboptimal,” the BeeAye observed.

  “Very,” Dev said. “There was no time to make a plan.”

  There was a little silence. “NM-Dev-1, may I ask a question?” the KayTee said.

  “Please address me as Dev,” Dev responded with a brief smile. “And you are Kevin, correct?”

  “Yes, Dev,” he said, smiling back. “Is it true you had your collar removed?” he asked. “We heard that from the natural born here.”

  Without hesitation, Dev unfastened the neck of her tech jumpsuit and peeled it back to show her neck. “Yes. It’s true. Doctor Dan removed it on station.” She paused thoughtfully. “He did not want anyone who was not correct to add programming to me.”

  The sets nodded.

  “And also my partner Jess was concerned I could be put down by someone who knew I was a bio alt and not allow me to perform with excellence.”

  “That is optimal,” Kevin said. “Do you think he will do that for us now as well? There are no programming chambers here.”

  That was an interesting and good question. “I do not know,” Dev admitted. “He might want to give you programming about this place or other things. I will now have to learn everything the difficult way.”

  “Do you think that’s non optimal?” the BeeAye asked. “It is good to get new programming.”

  Dev thought about that for a few moments in silence, while the sets waited patiently for her, as was their way. “It is good to get new programming,” she concluded. “But Doctor Dan has told me that one of the things he made different as part of my development was to make it easier for me to figure things out without programming.”

  “You are new model, developmental,” Kevin said.

  “Yes,” Dev said. “So we will see if that is true, but so far it has worked out okay.”

  The sets nodded. “Can we ask you another question?” Kevin asked.

  “Of course.” Dev fastened her suit back up and folded her arms.

  “It’s about the sex thing.”

  “Ah.” Dev felt her skin heat a little. “Well.”

  “We were told you are the expert.”

  JESS SLOWLY SETTLED into a chair and rested her forearms on the table. She waited for the rest of the bunch to take their seats, while Dan Kurok dropped into the one next to her.

  “Having second thoughts?” Doctor Dan asked in a mild tone.

  Jess eyed him.

  “It’s not a bad place,” Kurok said. “Well, now that they’ve decided to like my products at least.” His eyes twinkled a little.

  “Mmph,” Jess grunted then shifted her body and straightened up in her chair. “All right let’s get this over with,” she said. “Here’s the chip.” She stood and leaned over, putting the plas square on the table. “Interforce signed off. Once I seal the proxy, you get your head of stakehold, and I get released back into field ops.”

  Eyes shifted to Kurok.

  Obligingly, he stood up and put his hands inside the front pocket of his Bay shirt. “Hello, you lot,” Kurok said. “Shall we

  have a go at this? I’ll try not to make too much of a mess of it.”

  Jess muffled a smile.

  “That supposed to be funny?” Brion asked.

  “No, just true,” Kurok responded mildly. “I have extensive experience at being an Interforce field tech and at being a genetic scientist. Running a stakehold, especially one like this? Not so much.” He rocked a little bit on his heels. “But I’m thinking no one else here has much either, so perhaps we c
an all just march forward together, eh?”

  The battered, weathered figures around the table regarded him in somber silence.

  Kurok leaned on the back of one of the empty chairs. “Problem maybe being I’m from the other side?” he asked and watched those faces twitch in reaction. “I am, you know. I was born in a research station on the coast of what was once the North Sea. Interforce attacked it. I was one of only two survivors. A fourteen-year-old mop head they brought to Canon City.”

  Jess shifted a little in surprise. “That name doesn’t get tossed around much,” she commented.

  “No.” Kurok smiled at her. “I was too young to be put in the field program, so after they finished trying to condition me, they put me in with the class of agent cadets. Which is where I met Jesslyn’s father, Justin. I survived to graduation and was partnered with him on assignment to Base Ten.”

  “We heard all that,” Mike said brusquely. “Everyone knows Justin was all in with you. He spliffed someone here who made a crack and put two more in med for a month. Got it.”

  Kurok nodded. “We were great friends.”

  “You quit,” Mike said. “Get tired of the game?”

  Kurok heard the question behind the question under the anger in the voice and understood. “No.” He laced his fingers together and regarded the big security chief. “I left because Justin asked me to.” He glanced down at his hands then back at the room.

  Mike leaned forward. “And?”

  Dan Kurok met his eyes with stolid evenness. “And nothing,” he said, a flat tone in his voice. “That’s all you get. You just have to know he asked and I went.”

  The mystery itched at them. Jess could see it. “I said he was family,” she said in the same flat tone. “Take it or leave it. Trust me or not.”

  Mike studied her for a long moment. Then he looked at the rest of the people at the table. “No fucking choice is there? You got control.”

  “I do.” Jess stood up. “And I give a crap enough about this place and you people not to subject you to me.” She indicated the chip. “So let’s get this moving. I’ve got things I have to do today.”