“Are those mushrooms growing on the walls?” Asger whispered.
“They appear to be.” Kim gazed around the large clean entry area, the familiar scent of disinfectant reminding her of her own lab back home, though a faint mealy, farinaceous odor lingered under it. “I assume those are decorative or for hobby purposes and that more controlled grow rooms exist elsewhere. The laboratory synthesizes mycological drugs and supplements for numerous consumers in System Stymphalia. I saw a mention of a gift shop where you can purchase lion’s mane and reishi teas.”
“They’re on the ceiling too.” Asger gazed upward.
Kim walked toward a wide door-filled corridor leading away from the entry area they had entered. A sign did indeed promise numerous growing chambers, spawn rooms, and laboratories in that direction. She didn’t see a sign mentioning offices or her contact Scholar Natasha Sunflyer.
“I’m now suspicious of the protein burgers Tristan and I had for dinner last night.” Asger lowered his gaze from the ceiling and prodded one of the wall mushrooms. “They didn’t taste like real meat or vat meat or anything meatish.”
“Mushrooms have been a food staple since Old Earth days, but if it makes you feel better, I think those burgers were made from insects. Crickets have proven adaptable to space station living, so they can easily be bred for food.” Kim had actually referenced some of the work done to increase their viability in space for her bee project. She didn’t care for foods that crunched and squished oddly in her mouth, though she found insects less unappealing than so much of the rubbery seafood her father had tried to foist on her as a kid, but she acknowledged them as practical for others.
“I do not feel better, no.” In fact, he looked a tad green.
“You’ve never had inago or hachinoko in the capital? There are a lot of tsukudani vendors that serve them as street food. I seem to remember a vending machine at the university.”
“I don’t know what those are, but no. I’d have to be extremely drunk to buy insects out of a vending machine.”
“Scholar Sunflyer?” Kim called uncertainly down the corridor. “Are you here? I messaged you a few days ago about visiting when I arrive. Can you use a helper?” She looked at Asger. “Or two?”
Kim thought it would be politic to offer her services instead of coming straight out and asking for lab space and use of the equipment here. Besides, it wasn’t as if she truly wanted to make progress on Jorg’s bioweapon assignment.
“I’m here more in the capacity of bodyguard,” Asger said.
“Oh?” Kim asked warily. She and Casmir had deliberately not told him about their Rache-kidnapping plan. Asger couldn’t have found out through some other channel that Rache was coming, could he? “Is there some reason you believe I need a bodyguard here?”
Asger hesitated. “My father is the one piloting the shuttle that’s coming.”
“Coming to pick you up?”
“Yes,” Asger said, “but that’s a secondary task. When the Osprey rendezvoused with Jorg’s ship, the prince noticed that you weren’t there to transfer over. He sent my father in a shuttle to retrieve you.”
Damn, she had two would-be kidnappers? What if Bjarke got here first?
“There’s more,” Asger said. “The fleet sent a Kingdom freighter to Stardust Palace for a provisions run. It left shortly after my father’s shuttle. Rache’s Fedallah popped out of nowhere and attacked the freighter. It put up a fight and maneuvered as well as it could, and that bought my father time to get away, but he thinks Rache might be right behind him and headed this way too. With his stealthed ship, there’s no way to know. It depends on if there’s something here that he wants, or if he wants to stay back by our fleet and harry it.”
No, Rache was coming here for Kim. Did that mean it was her fault that he’d blown up that ship? Or had he seen an appealing target on the way and gone for it?
“Did the crew of the freighter survive?” she asked quietly.
“No. He blew up the entire ship.”
Kim bent over and rested her forehead on a cool counter. Rache wouldn’t have crossed paths with that freighter if she hadn’t asked him to come here. This had been a mistake. She should have told Jorg to screw off and accepted that her life on Odin was over.
“Rache wouldn’t be after Casmir again, would he?” Asger sounded puzzled. “Because of however many gate pieces he got away with? I assume, if he was going to kidnap anyone again, it would be your mother and that other loaded droid professor.”
“I…”
Footsteps sounded, saving Kim from answering. At least for now. But it wouldn’t save her from worrying. Where could she hide that Bjarke wouldn’t find her? And that Rache would? And should she even go with him after this?
“Hello. I’m Scholar Natasha Sunflyer, Scholar Sato. Please forgive my slowness—I was in the middle of an experiment.”
The woman walking toward them in a white lab coat had atypically long fingers and a brainpan that appeared one and a half times its normal size, though she was of average height and build. Kim had seen genetically engineered humans on Tiamat Station and here on Stardust Palace, but she hadn’t gotten used to it yet. Most of them had either been wildly different, like Qin, or exactly like humans, if perfect-looking specimens. Natasha, who appeared to be in her early twenties, didn’t fall into either category.
She nodded politely at Kim, then smiled curiously at Asger.
“I understand completely,” Kim said, hoping she caught herself before she gaped too long at the woman’s large, broad forehead. “As I said in my message, I’m a bacteriologist from the Kingdom, and I’m visiting for a few days.”
Or at least, she had expected to be here for a few days. If Rache and Bjarke were both on their way here and would soon be on the station searching for her, there was little point in getting involved with anything in the lab. Other than being able to say she’d visited the research facilities here, should her plan go awry and Bjarke succeeded in dragging her back to Jorg.
“Oh, wonderful.” Natasha smiled. “It’s been so quiet here since my father disappeared. Do you want a tour? We develop custom fungi strains to create new antibiotics to combat resistance to old antibiotics and send them to hospitals and medical centers throughout the system. I don’t know why I said we. It’s mostly just me and a few android helpers.”
“Your father disappeared?” Asger frowned. “From the station?”
“Yes. Three months ago. He’s a virologist.”
Kim rummaged through her mind, trying to think if she’d read publications by a Scholar Sunflyer. She wouldn’t have likely come across Natasha’s work, since her lab back on Odin didn’t handle mycology, but they did have virologists on the staff.
Natasha guided them into the complex on the tour she had offered. “It’s too bad he’s not here. He would have liked to meet you.” She smiled back at them.
“I assume she doesn’t mean me,” Asger murmured.
“Scholar Sato,” Sunflyer said. “I’ve read some of your papers and about your work. We’ve brought in some of the transgenic bacteria your corporation makes for producing enzymes that break down antibiotics in the wastewater treatment plants in the Kingdom. Such a wonderful idea. And you’ve proven that it helps reduce antibiotic resistance in general, haven’t you?”
“Proven is a strong word, but numerous studies have lent evidence toward that,” Kim said. “Enough that the government has employed them on a wide scale. Who is your father?”
“Scholar Serg Sunflyer. He had us created twenty-four years ago.” Natasha waved to her head and wiggled her long fingers. “My three sisters and I. He’s a music lover and wanted us to be superior players of the nebula piano, but he also gave us enhanced intelligence in the hope that we would go into research. I’m the only one who did. One of my sisters fixes auto-cabs, one teaches poetry, and one is traveling the system and finding herself. Genius doesn’t always impart ambition.”
“Did your father have a lab here too?” Kim
asked.
“Yes. He was working on methods to keep DNA from mutating under the effects of certain common viruses. He prefers work that helps people now. Years ago, he worked in System Cerberus at Sayona Station and created virologic weapons.” She shuddered. “He’d been recruited, and the pay was very high, but he’s such a warm-hearted man that it was hard to imagine him engaging in that.”
Kim eyed Asger, though she didn’t know if he’d twigged to the ramifications. He hadn’t been in the room when Jorg had said Royal Intelligence believed Dubashi had a bioweapon. Was it possible that Dubashi had kidnapped this expert and forced him to build one?
“I do hope that some old enemy or competitor from System Cerberus hasn’t come back to haunt him,” Natasha continued. “There was no sign of a fight or damage to belongings in his quarters. And the cameras didn’t catch anything. He simply disappeared from Stardust Palace. I’ve heard nothing from him, and I’m worried.”
“We have a friend who finds people,” Asger said.
Kim grimaced. If Dubashi was responsible, the last thing they should do was send Bonita in that direction. But Asger didn’t seem to have made the connection yet. Admittedly, Kim had no proof. Just a hunch based on the sudden interest in bioweapons in this system.
“Oh, really?” Sunflyer laid one of her long hands on his arm, and there was a hint of the adoration Kim had often seen in young women’s eyes when meeting knights. Or maybe that was desperation. Did Sunflyer think a knight had special enough powers to easily find a missing person?
Asger’s eyes widened in what might have been incipient panic at this closeness from a strange woman, but he covered the expression and didn’t pull away. “Yes.”
“A Kingdom knight, like you? I was thinking of hiring a private investigator to look for my father, but knights go undercover and have all manner of combat skills, don’t they?”
“They sometimes go undercover for the king, yes, if they have the knack for it.” Asger’s lips flattened, and Kim wondered if he was thinking of his father’s undercover stints. “But I meant Captain Bonita Lopez. She has a freighter called the Stellar Dragon, and it’s docked here now. Technically, Bonita is a bounty hunter, but she might have the resources to locate missing individuals.”
“Oh.” Natasha’s lips rippled. Perhaps bounty hunters were less appealing than knights. “Are you sure I couldn’t hire you to look for my father?”
“I’m not a mercenary, ma’am. Uhm, Scholar. I can’t hire out my services. Maybe Tristan could. He’s not a knight anymore.”
“No, but he is a real-estate developer now, and that keeps him busy. I’ve met him. He’s a nice boy. Polite. Nice ass.” She nodded firmly at her assessment.
Asger’s eyes flew open. Apparently, he hadn’t expected the comment from an erudite scholar.
Asger turned to Kim. To hand the conversation off to her? For verification on the ass?
“I hadn’t noticed,” Kim said.
Asger shook his head in mute horror. Maybe that hadn’t been what he’d silently been asking.
“Scholar Sunflyer,” Asger said sturdily. “I highly suggest you contact Captain Lopez. This is her line of expertise.”
Natasha released his arm. “Ah, I understand. Forgive me. I was excited at the idea of having a knight work with me. Yes, I’ll look into her.”
Kim thought about mentioning her burgeoning hypothesis that Dubashi had been involved, but that might unnecessarily alarm Natasha. And she had no evidence yet, nothing but a passing remark by Prince Jorg, who was a dubious resource at best.
“If you recommend her, I will contact her.” Natasha nodded. “Thank you.”
Asger looked relieved to have her attention focused elsewhere.
Kim hoped that whoever had taken Scholar Serg Sunflyer, it wasn’t Prince Dubashi. She feared Bonita and Qin would be in over their heads if they tried to extract someone from a base that had to be well-guarded by people and technology. And… a bioweapon? Kim shuddered at the idea.
If Dubashi had poor Scholar Serg Sunflyer locked up in his base creating something horrific, it might be a suicide mission for any of her friends to go there. And yet Casmir was planning right now to infiltrate it. His crushers might not be affected by a biological weapon, but they also wouldn’t know how to disarm it safely. The only one in their group who realistically could…
Kim dropped her face into her hand and, with dread and certainty, sent a message to Casmir. I think I need to go along with you to Dubashi’s base.
She would figure out how to tell Rache that later. She hadn’t even told him that Casmir was coming along with her.
“One problem at a time,” she murmured.
15
Casmir carried a bar of diuranium to the cart in the refinery he’d claimed for transporting his raw materials, positive the hunk of metal would weigh more than sixty pounds on Odin and telling himself that meant it only weighed thirty pounds here in the lesser gravity. That should mean he wouldn’t break out in a sweat or start panting. Definitely not.
“It’s fine,” Casmir muttered to himself as he most definitely panted. “You’re still recovering from being deathly ill. A little sweat is normal.”
He eyed a robot loader parked against a wall and thought about putting it to work, but he already had an assistant.
Zee trotted past, his arms morphed into something akin to shelves, shelves stacked high with a dozen bars identical to the one Casmir carried. He slid them onto the cart and passed Casmir on his way back to retrieve more.
“Show off,” Casmir said.
“It is unnecessary for you to assist me in this task, Casmir Dabrowski.” Zee loaded up his arms with more bars.
“I know, but I feel guilty when I ask someone else to do work while I’m sipping lemon fizzop while sitting in the shade under a palm tree.” He hadn’t been doing that, but he could have, since several types of trees were potted along a long side wall of the manufacturing facility. A robot vacuum trundled under their branches, sucking up leaves that had fallen during the night.
There was sun, too, in a manner of speaking. A dangling spherical light fixture on the ceiling radiated something similar to noon sunlight back home. The wall behind and above the trees had been painted a pale blue imitation of a sky. The wall opposite featured a darker blue ocean at the bottom. The gritty metal floor had been given the color of a sandy beach. The riotous color in the palace and the visitor areas hadn’t surprised Casmir, but he hadn’t expected anything other than utilitarian gray in the manufacturing area.
“You were not sipping or sitting,” Zee said. “You were retooling Assembly and Manufacturing Area Number Three for production. Perhaps you should be sitting. You have been ill, and humans need to rest and recover from illnesses.”
“Yes, thank you, but Kim assures me I’m ready for work. Also, I finished the retooling and am waiting for that android to return with the nanites and nanite-programming machine from the medical laboratories.”
Casmir wondered if Kim was in one of those labs. This was his second day on the job, and he hadn’t seen her since the day before. They had exchanged a few messages, but he didn’t know where she was staying.
He’d slept in this facility, in a little office he’d discovered with a sofa—one made from softer materials than a crusher—and a beat-up coffee machine. It also had a wall display that ran the financial news, where System Lion’s war was being mentioned frequently in relation to how it was affecting the markets everywhere else. There had been few details about what was going on, but Casmir’s stomach knotted with fresh worry every time he walked past the display. He couldn’t bring himself to turn it off in case… In case something important happened.
Would he and a little army of crushers be able to make a difference? Was there some better use of his time and his brain that he could be employed in? He had to believe that going to Dubashi’s base in this system and capturing the prince could turn the tide of the war. That made this project seem worthwhile and not s
omething wasteful that he was doing while his family and friends back home were in danger.
After surreptitiously wiping moisture from his brow, Casmir picked up another bar. Not that Zee would mock him if he noticed the sweat. And nobody else working in the area was close enough to observe him. Most of the employees here were automated, robotic, and indifferent to his presence.
A grinding noise sounded across the bay, and orange sparks flew, highlighted against the dark background of ocean waves painted on the wall. Casmir’s vision blurred, and a faint buzzing came from the back of his mind. He closed his eyes, grimacing and willing his brain to straighten itself out. He’d taken his seizure medication that morning, damn it. And faithfully since he’d wakened from his Plague-induced stupor.
His sensory awareness intensified, and he grew highly aware of the faint fumes of molten ore, the drone of ventilation fans, and the grinding of machinery.
As he was thinking that he should set aside the bar and sit down before he fell down, a hand gripped his shoulder, as if to hold him upright.
“Are you having a seizure, Casmir Dabrowski?”
“Maybe a little one.” The uncomfortable sensation passed slowly, though a pulsing behind his eyes suggested he would have a headache for the rest of the day. So long as he didn’t collapse and lose precious work time recovering. He risked opening his eyes, but he kept his back toward the corner where the grinding was going on. “I’ll be all right.”
“I will assist you.” Zee wrapped an arm around his waist and carried Casmir and the bar he still held to the cart and set him on it. “We have now loaded the two hundred bars you asked for.”
“Very efficient. Thank you for the help.” Casmir set his single bar down and rested his hands on the forward console. “You’re almost as good as the therapy dogs back home on Odin. One of Dr. Rothberger’s patients has one that can tell when a seizure is coming on before she can.”
Planet Killer (Star Kingdom Book 6) Page 20